It confused him how she was getting so excited about seeing people who moaned about almost constantly. But if there was one thing he knew about the Sith Lord, it was that she liked a good moan.

"Ready to meet the menaces?" A cheerful voice asked suddenly, jolting Malavai out of his thoughts. As usual, Tali, the Sith Lord, had managed to creep up on him. Not that she looked much like a Sith Lord this evening - the dress she was wearing had almost certainly been the choice of Vette, who had been insistant that Tali didn't turn up to a party in her Sith robes. Tali's gaze flicked across her crew members, assessing them silently, before she managed "There will be Republic - and Jedi - guests, so under no circumstances do you kill anyone, got it?" Malavai nodded instantly, as did both Vette and Jaesa, Pierce and Broonmark were a little more hesitant, but they agreed. Tali consulted her data pad, then lead the group into the grounds of an exceedingly posh-looking property.

They walked mostly in silence, but for Vette keeping up her stream of constant chatter, and Tali's cheerful replies. Tali seemed so relaxed as she walked, with the occasional break to turn a cartwheel, just because she felt like it, that Vette was compelled to ask

"So what's your family like? And why are we on Naboo? I'd have thought we'd be somewhere a little more... Sithy."

"I was born here." Tali waved her hand to indicate to the planet they were on "My mother was Naboo's Senator in the Republic... my father... well..." She trailed off, abrutly, uncertainly.

"You don't have to tell us." Jaesa said gently.

"I think I do," Tali said, her eyes fixed on the ground "So that you understand. My father was an Imperial spy... he was spying on my mother throughout their marriage. My oldest sister was 12 when he realised his cover was about to be blown... so he killed my mother, took three of my sisters and myself away to Korriban, the others... he left to fend for themselves. Two of them were taken in by the Jedi, and the other three lived with my Gran on Coruscant until she died, then took their seperate paths. We're all close, and this house belongs to one of my sisters now."

Malavai felt a little sick at the thought of what Tali had been through, but it made him understand why she was so secretive, and so paranoid about people finding her personal comm frequencies. From the looks on the faces of the others, they felt the same. Jaesa touched her master's shoulder, in an attempt at reassurance, and Vette tried to lighten the atmosphere with a joke about a Bantha, which everyone laughed a little harder than required at.

Eventually, the little group arrived at the enterance to Tali's family home, which was a tall, imposing building, painted entirely white, and with intracate carvings in the stone pilars holding up the arch over the curved-topped wooden doors. "Sheesh... this place looks old." Vette remarked. The doors slid open as Tali approached, so they walked in. The noise greeted them instantly: multiple voices, raised but not quite shouting, music, blasting out at what was probably full volume. Almost as soon as she entered what looked to be the main room on that floor, Tali was surrounded by creatures yelping happily, starting with a tall, slim red Twi'lek woman.

"Tali!" The Twi'lek shrieked, at an ear drum damaging volume.

"Hey Lee," Tali grinned, hugging the Twi'lek "You lot, this is my older sister Lee, she's also a Sith."

Malavai politely greeted the Sith, and did Jaesa and Pierce, while Vette continued to chatter away, as if she'd known Lee all of her life.

After ten minutes or so, the group started to disperse to explore, and Jaesa soon found herself engaged in a fiercely competitive dance-off against a female Mirialan family friend, and a very drunk blue-skinned Twi'lek, who claimed she was a 'busy-ness woman' and also Tali's younger sister.

Vette was watching the dancing, while casually flirting with a small group of Mandalorian men, who clearly hadn't known there was going to be a party, or if they had, they just didn't care, as a good few of them appeared not to have washed for a week, as well as wearing their Beskar'gam to a party at a posh house on Naboo. One of the Mandalorian men, a young, blonde one, who had introduced himself as Torian Cadera, seemed to be the most sober of the group, as well as being the cleanest, and the most polite.

Pierce had got himself involved in a game of cards with a few shady looking characters, including, but not limited to: a male Cathar that had a bad attitude towards everyone else in the room; several partially drunk human men, and one Jedi Knight, who, despite being able to influence the cards if she so wished, was losing badly.

Malavai settled himself down at a table in the corner of the room, deciding to watch the party, incase any fights broke out, or someone decided to play any ridiculous pranks (he hadn't yet forgiven Vette for balancing that bucket of water on top of the door frame last week, no matter how much she swore it wasn't her). He'd lost track of how long he'd been sitting there, lost in his thoughts, when a silky female voice made him almost jump out of his skin by inquiring

"Do you mind if I sit here?"

"Oh! Of-of course I don't mind." He managed, stumbling on his words slightly, partly in surprise at being spoken to so suddenly, but partly because... well, the woman now seated delicately across the table from him was beautiful. He tried not to stare as he introduced himself, but it was difficult to tear his eyes away from her.

"Name's Holly." She shrugged casually "You work on Tali's ship, right?"

"Yeah," He said quietly "She's nice for a Sith."

Holly laughed "My sister's one of the nicest people in the galaxy! Which is good to know when there's so many people out there who aren't nice..." She trailed off, as if someone or something had sprung into her mind, and she was trying not to think about whatever it was.

"Thinking about something?" He asked, taking a sip of his wine.

"My ex-husband." She muttered "Father of that little monkey-lizard." She added, pointing to a small, blonde-haired girl, about five years old, running about with a group of Cathar children of about the same age.

"What happened?" Malavai asked, and immediately felt stupid, she wasn't likely to tell him, they'd only just met.

"He was an arse," She shrugged "Ran off the second I told him I was pregnant. Course, I told Tal, she chased him halfway across the galaxy and caused a pretty explosion of his new business... while he was still in the building. Good riddance, if you ask me. Shame Eva will never know her own father though."

Malavai chuckled softly, he could imagine Tali doing chasing someone who'd hurt someone she cared for, and killing them in revenge. "Maybe its better for Eva that she doesn't know her father, means his influence isn't in her life."

"Maybe you're right." She flicked a strand of her glossy blonde hair out of big blue eyes, turning her head in a way that drew attention to her face, with a scar across her right eye and cheek, standing out clearly against her snowy-pale skin. "So," she began, leaning forwards, resting her left elbow on the table and her chin on her hand, "What's your job aboard Lord Bossy's ship?"

He shrugged slightly, "Whatever I'm told to do, I don't want her to kill me because I don't do something I've been told to do."

"Aha, wise of you, she doesn't half have a short temper, even for a Sith."

Malavai laughed quietly, before asking "So what do you do for a living?"

"Bounty hunting, mostly. Always was good with a blaster." Holly shrugged. Then a grin lit up her face, "Want to dance?" she asked, eyes glittering under the low lights.

"I guess... I mean... ok, why not?" Malavai managed, hoping she didn't notice him blush, as he stood up, reaching for her hand, he helped her toher feet, then pulled her onto the dancefloor. She seemed to fit perfectly in his arms, as him she was always meant to be there, her head resting against his shoulder, her arms around his neck, fingery entwined in the end of his hair. His arms were round her waist, his fingers gently stroking her back. Her body was pressed so close to hers that he could feel the taut muscles of her body, and the frantic beating of her heart. He looked down, into her face, and he realised, as he fought back the longing to trace a finger across the scar on her cheek, that she was looking at him with the same desire he knew was written all over his face. Before he knew what he was doing, Malavai had lifted one hand from Holly's waist, and he cupped her chin in his hand, dipping his head down towards hers, feeling her breath on his face, and whispering softly,

"I've wanted to do this since I met you." And then he kissed her.