Star Wars_ Darth Bane 03_ Dynasty of Evil - Drew Karpyshyn [67]
She had been witness to dozens of battles between the pair. She had watched the man kill the woman, yet she had also seen the woman kill the man. She understood these were visions of the future, each a possible reality that might or might not come to pass. Usually when she caught glimpses of the future, however, there was purpose or meaning behind them. The visions would help direct and guide her actions. Yet this seemingly random collage of images did nothing but confuse her, and so she had done her best to ignore them and focus on the job she had been hired for.
The princess had offered her twenty well-trained mercenaries for the job, and she had been as good as her word: twelve men and eight women, all with prior military experience, had accompanied the Huntress to the world.
She had also sent along Captain Jedder, a senior member of the Doan Royal Guard. The Doan noble houses had a long history of supplementing their numbers with hired soldiers for particularly dangerous missions, and Jedder had handpicked this particular team from crews he had worked with in the past.
Technically, the mercs answered to Jedder, though he, in turn, answered to the Huntress. That was fine by her. Mercenaries had been known to cut and run if things went bad on a job, but if they had worked with the captain in the past they were more likely to stick with the battle plan right to the end.
The front entrance to the mansion was open and spacious. The door opened onto a large foyer, which flowed into an oversized sitting room furnished with two couches and a large glass table. A spiral staircase led off to one side, curling up to a balcony that overlooked the sitting room.
“We should try to take him here, when he first comes in,” she said. “He’ll sense that something is wrong right away, so we need to hit him fast.”
“Set up a pair of sonic detonators on either side of the door,” Jedder said into his radio. Instantly two of the soldiers ran over to comply with his orders.
“I fought against the Sith, you know,” Jedder told her as the Huntress turned slowly in place, scoping out the rest of the room. “Twenty years ago. During the war. I was barely more than a kid.”
“That’s probably why the princess sent you along,” the Iktotchi replied absently.
“I’m surprised she didn’t send Lucia with us,” Jedder noted. “She fought for the Sith during the war. Probably knows their tactics better than anyone.”
She cares for Lucia, the Huntress thought. She knows how dangerous this mission will be. She’s not expendable like the rest of us.
Out loud she told him, “Position two of your team with the stun rifles up on that balcony at the top of the stairs. That should give them a clear shot down here into the foyer.”
“I wish we had carbonite guns,” Jedder lamented. “Freeze him solid.”
The Huntress had already considered and discarded that idea.
“Same problem as the force pikes. You have to get in too close for them to be effective. And the carbonite will only freeze him for a few minutes. What are we supposed to do when he thaws out?”
“The tangle guns aren’t any better,” he countered. “A lightsaber will slice through the webbing like it was made of flimsi.”
“They aren’t meant to hold him,” the Iktotchi explained. “They only have to slow him down long enough for me to administer the senflax.”
She held up a long, thin blade to illustrate her point. The edge was coated with the potent neurotoxin. According to the princess, any wound deep enough to draw blood would get the poison into his system.
“After the toxin is introduced, we’ll have to keep the pressure on,” she reminded the captain. “If we even give him a chance to breathe, he’ll recognize that the