A/N: Another story from the depths of my fanfic folder… This was written in September 2005. That's like, so ancient. :-p I like this one for some reason. I believe I was experimenting with different styles at this time and meant to leave the ending open to reader interpretation.

Assassins

She stands, tall and sleek, at the corridor's entrance. Her poise is elegantly balanced, unperturbed by the menace that she faces. Both hands clutch the small, compact blaster, holding it steady, pointed directly at her target.

She is calm, cool, unthinking. She knows what she must do and she will do it, no matter what the cost. She isn't afraid of the blaster pointed at her from the opposite end of the hall. She isn't frightened by her opponent. She isn't scared of death.

She knows no death. It's not programmed into her.

Guri is special. She's known that ever since she was created. She's the only droid in the entire galaxy of her type. Almost all the people she's met didn't realize she was a mere droid.

Of course, she's anything but a mere droid. She wasn't commissioned for Xixor the way she was for nothing.

She's an assassin. And she's proud of it.

An assassin droid. No one can match her; no human can escape her deadly touch. She was sent on a mission – to kill the Emperor's own secret and deadly assassin – and she will do it. The Emperor's assassin is not match for her programming.

She won't fail to kill her target.

She wasn't built for failure.

She's the perfect assassin.

---

She stands in the centre of the archway, her right hand gripping the small blaster she had just slid from her arm holster only minutes before.

The assassin droid stands directly across from her, the perfect human replica staring determinedly at her prey. A smug smile spreads across her manufactured lips.

Mara Jade knows that smile. She's worn it herself many times. She's wearing it now. It's the smile of a killer who knows when they've got their prey cornered.

Mara's an assassin too; and she has been for a long time.

Her cool, catlike grace and instincts have been developed over long years of training and service to the Emperor. She has known little else all her life. She knows how to react in any crisis; her skills are undiminished. She is one of the Emperor's most powerful tools.

And one of his most secret weapons.

It is a secret to be an assassin. It is safer that way, and easier. A veil of shadows and a web of lies can easily hide an assassin from view and put the illusion of a citizen in its place. The veil and the web can hide all sorts of the things that are best to remain hidden. They make an assassin's target all the more vulnerable and easier to trap.

This has long since been developed and formed in Mara's mind. Unlike in Guri's, where it has been programmed.

Programmed without a chance of development. A fatal mistake.

Sleek and deadly as she is, Guri is not flawless. She cannot learn anything past what has already been programmed. She cannot elaborate on her plans.

Therefore, Mara knows she's the more powerful assassin.

Hence the reason for her smug smile.

---

They stare at each other down the length of their blasters, mirror-imaging each other. One is blonde, one red-haired. One tall, one short. One droid, one human.

Assassin, meet assassin.

The blasters fire.

Any person standing near by would hear the shots being fired, the cries of either hatred or pain, followed by a ghastly silence.

Then he or she would see the profile of a woman leaving the deadly hallway and making her way down the main corridor; back straight, arms taught.

The image of an assassin who has just completed their work.