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"You think having the authorities looking for you is a problem? You can’t imagine how that pales compared to having us after you." Kaird flipped the knife from hand to hand. "And Black Sun never gives up the chase."

"I’ll worry about that later. Right now, I’ll deal with you."

"I don’t think so. You’re larger and much stronger, true, but I’m far faster. You are obviously adept with these"-he waved the knife-"but I still have the ad-vantage."

It was Bleyd’s turn to laugh. "You really think so? I’m a hunter and a warrior, bird-man, and I’ve killed half a dozen opponents with this very blade. You are fast, yes, but your bones are hollow and your feathers no protec-tion against cold durasteel. No matter how fast you are, you can’t get to me before I gut you."

"You’re forgetting something," Kaird replied. "I’m an assassin."

Bleyd raised an eyebrow. "Which means...?"

"It means that getting the job done is more important than how I do it."

Bleyd frowned. What-?

Kaird whipped his hand back suddenly, snapped it forward, and threw the knife-!

It came too fast to dodge. Bleyd instinctively swatted at the incoming weapon, and, with reflexes honed by centuries of natural selection, managed to deflect it - barely. It nicked him on the hand, but that was all. A mere scratch.

He grinned as the Nediji’s knife fell to the floor, clat-tered, and bounced to his feet.

He crouched swiftly and scooped it up, then stood, a knife in each hand.

"Now you have no weapon," he said. "You don’t stand a chance, barehanded against two blades. Fool!" He brandished the knives mockingly.

The Black Sun agent backed up a couple of steps, un-til his back was against the transparisteel port. He rose slowly from his fighting crouch. What was he up to? Bleyd wondered. Did he have another knife hidden on him? Or a small blaster, maybe?

The Sakiyan paused, considering his next move. Then, to his surprise, the Nediji slowly shook his head.

"You could have taken me just then," he said. "If you’d come in fast enough, you might have backed me into the corner before I could have maneuvered around you. But you hesitated. And now you’ve lost."

"Lost? Nothing has changed. I still have you cor-nered." Bleyd smiled, a feral gleam of teeth. "Frankly, I was hoping for more of a fight, Nediji. I expected better of a Black Sun killer. Now we finish this."

"I don’t think so," Kaird said. His posture was quite casual now; he could have been carrying on a conversa-tion on a Coruscant street corner. Despite himself, Bleyd felt a slight sting of uneasiness. "Something has changed," the bird-being continued. "Time has passed. And all of a sudden, you feel... tired, don’t you, Ad-miral? As if you can hardly hold your weapons. As if all your strength has been used up."

Bleyd snarled. "Are you a Jedi, to try infantile mind tricks? Trust me, I’m immune to such claptrap."

"But you’re not immune to dendriton toxin."

Bleyd blinked. Then, suddenly, the pulse of uneasi-ness bloomed into full-blown shock.

The Nediji’s knife! The cut on his hand!

Bleyd gathered himself to charge, but his legs abruptly would no longer obey him. He tried to leap, and instead staggered to one side. Tried to take another step, and his left leg, now completely numb, gave way. He fell to one knee. He kept his grip on the knives, but he was so weak! And now a sudden fire raged within him, roasting his muscles, torching each individual nerve...

Kaird moved toward him, reached out, and took one of the knives from Bleyd’s burning fingers. The other one fell from the Sakiyan’s nerveless grasp.

"Dendriton toxin is a bad way to go," Kaird said. "Painful, slow-you’re literally immolated from inside out. But you were a brave adversary, Admiral, and I ad-mire bravery.

So, even though my superiors wish you to suffer, I’ll spare you the toxin’s effects."

He stepped to the side, caught Bleyd’s head in one hand, and tilted it back.

Bleyd felt the touch of the knife against his throat, but it wasn’t painful, just cold.