Disclaimer: Star Wars does not belong to me!

A.N. I have a feeling that this chapter is going to be the hardest to write. Oh well.

Thanks goes to Pandora of Ithilien, my one and only reviewer! I swear, you are the best! Am I really that bad at writing, folks?

Enough with that! Enjoy!

Part Two: Thunder

Shada took a hesitant sip of the steaming kaff that was placed in front of her then followed it with a longer, more content one. She vaguely wondered in the back of her mind, when and where Karrde had acquired the information on just how she liked her kaff.

Karrde placed himself across the table from his second-in-command, smiling as she seemed to relax. He had been disappointed when Shada had appeared outside of the ship. Not because he didn't want her company- in fact, he was grateful that she was there, no- it was when he had placed his hand on her back that he had been disappointed. Because he could feel her tense up.

He had felt much better when he had realised that her tensing up actually had nothing to do with the human contact. When she had unofficially joined the crew, a year ago, now that he thought about it, she had been so guarded- almost prickly. If one had surprised her with a touch on the arm, the individual was likely to get his fingers caught in the shell that she would surround herself with. The crew of the Wild Karrde, however, had been persistent. They recognised the worth of their new second-in-command and they had welcomed her, slowly breaking the constraints she had locked herself in.

Soon, she would be as raucous as the rest of the crew.

"What were you doing up at this hour anyway?" Karrde asked. "If I remember correctly, it was you who was so adamant that the crew got a decent nights sleep and some shore leave." He smirked at her, "Not following your own orders?"

Shada frowned, "I was trained to wake up at the slightest sound of trouble, Karrde," she stated, determined to be as truthful as possible, "and that storm is pretty loud. Can you really expect me to sleep through something like that?" She could barely hear the storm now. Karrde had brought her to the innermost part of the ship and the rolls of thunder were now muffled by the layers of durasteel that separated them from the night outside.

"No, I suppose not," Karrde continued the conversation, and Shada noted that his voice drowned out the very last remnants of the thunder. Was it possible, she wondered, that Karrde had brought her here for that very reason?

They talked for well over an hour about the most insignificant things and Shada found that the tension she had felt earlier that night was easing away from her. Talon Karrde was someone she was able to open up to, mostly without her realising it. She could have told him her deepest, darkest secrets and it wouldn't have mattered for somehow she knew that even if this endeavour to provide intelligence to the New Republic and the Empire simultaneously was to fail, and even if Karrde was to go back to being a smuggler and information broker to the paying public, he would never, ever, sell any information on her.

There was a voice in the back of her mind telling her to stop being so naïve, but it sounded suspiciously like one of her Mistryl teachers, so she paid it no heed.

For Karrde was a good man, she knew. Each of his crew had a story to tell, besides herself, that, no matter how you looked at it, Karrde was the hero who had taken them in. He had placed a roof over each of their heads, fed them, clothed them and taught them as if they were his own children. He stood along side them as though they were his brothers. He respected each and every one of them. Yes, they were still smugglers at heart, Shada knew that. But she couldn't help but be drawn in by the friendship, respect and trust these people put in their captain. And now, they were putting their trust in her too.

And just as she had relaxed enough to completely forget about the storm that continued to rage outside, there was a bang. She could feel the ship's shielding being struck!

Karrde was on his feet in an instant and Shada was following him as he sprinted towards the boarding ramp, on their way passing fellow bleary eyed crewmen who had been awoken by the blow.

It probably wasn't the safest thing to do, but they lowered the boarding ramp nonetheless. The building nearest them had obviously been hit by a stray bolt of lightening and the top few floors were now rubble, raining down on the ship below.

Karrde swore. The screams of pain and terror could be heard radiating from the building. Shada didn't say a word. She was in a daze. Blood pounded in her ears as she stepped forward.

She took another step, then another followed by another. She couldn't think straight. All she knew was that there were people there- innocent people who could be dying! She had to do something!

She was about to take another step when strong arms caught her around the waist. She struggled as Karrde tried, as gently as possible, to pull her back to the safety of the ship. "There's nothing we can do, Shada. The emergency crews will be here in a minute- it's too dangerous for us to go out there when the building's unstable."

She was shaking. Karrde had never seen her like this. She was, quite literally, trembling in his arms. Finally, she stepped backwards, further into his embrace, and allowed him to take her inside.

Balig and Aves were standing in the doorway to the Bridge. "Chief-" began Balig, but Karrde cut him off.

"Tell the rest of the crew to stay inside. The building beside us was hit by the lightening and you're liable to be hit by falling rubble," he explained as Aves caught his eye and nodded warily towards Shada, a look of utmost concern spreading across his features. Karrde shook his head warningly and they took that as their cue to leave.

Shada, on the other hand, had pulled herself slightly more together now that she couldn't hear the pained screams outside. Her breathing wasn't as erratic and her eyes had lost the look of utter terror that they had held only moments ago. She stood with her back straight and fists clenched at her sides. To someone who didn't know her, she would have looked perfectly calm.

Karrde, however, did know her. He knew that the calm, controlled and totally blank look on her face was a mask. He had seen it before, months ago, when she had first joined the crew. It had taken time and persistence for him to gain her trust enough to drop it, little by little. Now, he couldn't help but wonder if all his work had been undone.

He knew that the expression she wore was nothing but a mask. But he didn't know what lay behind it. He wasn't sure he wanted to. After all, he could guess.

Pain, despair and, worst of all, fear.

Pain and despair were emotions he knew she was familiar with. She had been banished from her homeland, never to see her friends and family again. But fear…

To be perfectly honest, it had never occurred to him that she, who was always so strong and so steady, who could stare death right in the face and stick out her tongue at it, could fear anything.

And it scared him that she could.

They were back in the mess hall again. The crew had slowly returned to the warmth of their bunks, leaving their Captain and his Second to themselves. Karrde could only imagine the rumours that would be flying around in the morning…

The lady that these rumours would undoubtedly include, was sitting opposite him. When he spoke to her, she didn't look at him, she looked through him. It unnerved him.

Shada had barely scraped up even a semblance of coherent thought. She hadn't been expecting what she saw, or rather, heard, outside. The blasts, the brief flashes of light, the screams… She had to remember that she was on board the Wild Karrde, not on Emberlene. She had just about managed to resist a breakdown and so long as she remembered where she was and that she was safe, she would be fine.

Karrde was watching her anxiously. He was worried, that much was obvious, and Shada could tell that he wasn't bluffing.

Her eyes were no longer as dead as they had been a moment ago, noted Talon. He wanted to know what, exactly, had happened and he needed to know if she would be alright. He just hoped that she trusted him enough right now to tell him.

"Shada," he began, cursing that he couldn't think of a softer, easier way to ask when he needed to the most. "Shada, what happened?"

The woman in question blinked. Didn't he see what had happened? Wasn't he out there as well? Why was he asking such an obvious question? "Th… The building beside us- it was stru-" Karrde cut off her stuttering.

"No Shada," he began, taking one of the hands that she had clasped on the table in front of her in his own, bigger hands. "No, what happened before?"

She looked down at their hands clasped together. She had wanted to tell someone, deep down, for so long now. And here was a man sitting in front of her who wanted to know. Not because he was a cold-hearted smuggler, not because he was an information broker who would sell her life story for a price. Here was a man, Talon Karrde, who actually cared.

"Emberlene was bombarded thirty five years ago," she said, not taking her eyes off their hands, "and I know now that we deserved it but…" she finally looked up at him imploringly. "But some of us were innocent too."

Karrde felt the hand that was clasped in his move ever so slightly, then grip one of his so that it was she who was holding his hand.

And she told him. She told him everything- from how it just wasn't fair that her mother died bringing her little brother into the world, just so that he could die a few months later, to how she had eventually wound up joining the shadow guard.

By the time she was finished, it was Karrde who was wearing the mask. He didn't want to insult her by showing her the pity that he felt for her, but it didn't seem appropriate to praise her for her commitment to what she believed in. He was at a total loss.

"Shada…" he said, his voice hoarse, "Shada, I can't promise you that you'll always be safe. I can't promise you that this organisation will always be legitimate. All I can say is that as long as I am in command here, you will always have a home onboard this ship."

She squeezed his hand tightly. "Thank you," she whispered, forcing back tears of gratefulness.

"Thank you."

A.N. dies That was so hard to write! I think I ended up deleting more than I actually have here because it was so OOC!

That being said, I hope Shada wasn't too OOC- she's difficult to write. And Karrde, come to think of it.

Well, I hope you liked it! Please drop me a line and tell me what you thought, good or bad! Next up is the epilogue!

Sweetdeath04