Vision of the future

Fel gestured to one of the Chiss. "Brosh, your charric. Set for level two."

"Wait a second," Mara said hastily, jumping to her feet as the Chiss drew his hand weapon. A brief flood of emotion surged through her— Stall, the urgent thought leaped into her mind—"Wait just a Hoth-frost second. I'm an unarmed prisoner."

The other Chiss were drawing their weapons now, too. "I know," Fel said. He sounded genuinely regretful, for whatever that was worth. "And I'm deeply sorry about having to do this. But I've had some experience with Jedi, and the only way I can think of to keep you a proper prisoner for a few days is to force you to go into a healing trance." He looked over at Brosh—

"Wait a minute," Mara said. Stall, stall, stall. "You said you wanted to make a deal with me, right? Well, I can tell you flat out that shooting me will definitely not get any such negotiations off on the right foot. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that it might put me off working for you entirely."

"It won't," Fel assured her darkly. "Not when you know the full extent of the threats facing us."

"Maybe it will, and maybe it won't," Mara countered. "And don't forget Karrde, either. If you really want information, he's the one you're going to have to deal with. And Karrde does not take kindly to anyone who takes potshots at his people. I've seen him take whole organizations apart for that sort of crime. In fact, there was one particular Hutt group—"

"Yes, I'm sure," Parck interrupted, frowning. "Really, Mara, you're making far more out of this than you need to. Charric burns are certainly serious, but that's hardly even a consideration for someone with the Jedi skills of pain suppression and healing. And General Fel is right: we do need to keep you quiet for a while."

"Yes, I understand that," Mara said. "And it's a brilliant idea—really it is. There's just one small problem: I don't know how to do either the pain suppression or healing tricks."

"Come now," Parck said reproachfully, gesturing toward the black-edged hole in her jumpsuit.

"Your shoulder indicates otherwise."

"Skywalker put me into the trance," Mara said, consciously relaxing her muscles in anticipation.

"And he's not here. I could die of shock, or bleed to death—"

"You'll do neither," Fel assured her. "I know both the power and limitations of Chiss weaponry. Think of it as an added incentive for Skywalker to surrender to us." He caught Brosh's eye and nodded. The Chiss nodded back and lifted his weapon—

And from it came a brilliant green flash.