Nadia led him to a small room with a console; he stared at the back of her head, imagining cutting her tender neck. She had lied to him, disrespected him and dared to show him her back? She would pay for it, eventually…
"I can feel your hatred, Sith," said Nadia as she stopped and gestured towards a chair in front of the console.
"You would be a poor Jedi if you didn't," replied Badesh and sat down. "Shut the door behind you."
"It may be wasted on you, Sith, but I am truly sorry for deceiving you." Nadia looked firmly at him.
"You are right – it is wasted on me."
Nadia left him alone and as the door slid shut behind her Badesh connected to his holofrequency to check his messages. He searched for new messages from Quinn, Vette and then Azhikdae but he couldn't find any. With growing unease Badesh began to scour through the enormous pile of messages. Most of them were now obsolete news about the war and imperial edicts and a rather astounding one about the appointment of a new Empress.
ooOOoo
Two hours later he got up – his search for his companions had been fruitless. Badesh had tried to call them on their holofrequencies and sent messages to his imperial contacts – he was a member of the Dark Council after all, he should be able to find them within a heartbeat. Badesh was used that his requests were answered in a matter of minutes, but strangely enough no imperial response came to his inquiries. Just as he was getting impatient a beep indicated an incoming holocall. A quick look on the caller-ID told him, that it wasn't an official imperial holofrequency.
He pushed the receive button and saw a small figure materialize before him, it was an unknown imperial officer. The man's insignia indicated that he was a Lieutenant.
"My Lord," he said and bowed.
"What is the meaning of this, Lieutenant? Why is a low ranking officer responding to my requests?" Badesh hissed.
"Empress Alcina has issued a ban to all former members of the Dark Council, my Lord. We are forbidden to answer your calls or even recognize them." He said quietly. "In fact we are under order to shoot on sight should you approach Imperial space."
Badesh had read about the self-proclaimed new Empress, but he hadn't thought about the possibility that she had dared to ban him. He gritted his teeth.
"Indeed? And yet you call me. Why?"
"I fought alongside you and Darth Nox during the battle of Illum. I was only a recruit, but I witnessed your power and your conviction… I'm relieved to see you return, my Lord."
Badesh was uncertain how to respond. He never had such a strange conversation; what would Quinn do? What would Vette do?
"Very good… Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated."
"I'm afraid that my security clearance is too low to access information about Lord Azhikdae, Major Quinn or Sergeant Ce'na. But I will try to find more information and call you as soon as I find something," the Lieutenant said. It was hard to tell due to the small projection, but he seemed to have an earnest expression on his face.
"Name?" growled Badesh.
"Pardon me, my Lord?"
"What's your name?"
"Jaccol Tarsten."
"I expect to hear from you, Lieutenant Tarsten," said Badesh, "your help won't go unrewarded."
Tarsten bowed and Badesh ended the call.
He decided to meditate once more in an attempt to reach his companions through the Force. Azhikdae was a strong Force-user after all, and he shared a unique Force-bond with Vette and Quinn. It was a long shot, but Badesh was getting uneasy.
Badesh heard how the engines of the shuttle were getting slower. He opened his eyes and realised that he had been meditating for quite some time. He hadn't even asked where they were headed, Badesh thought sourly. Was it still the after-effect of the carbonite prison or was he simply unfocused?
He jumped on his feet and rushed to the cockpit; as expected the Jedi were both there. Nadia was checking something on her data pad while Jetiet stood next to the co-pilot seat. She had clearly expected him and smiled her usual infuriating friendly smile.
"I assume you came to a decision?" Jetiet asked.
"There is no need to be smug about it, Jedi!" spat Badesh. "You knew that I couldn't return to the Empire."
"It wasn't my intention to come across as condescending, Darth Tenebra. But you are right, I asked you to join our Alliance because I assumed that you had precious few options."
Badesh frowned, but even in his anger he registered the irritation coming from Nadia. He turned his head towards her, she didn't look at him, pretending to read her data pad. The emotion was over so quickly that he wasn't sure whether it was disgust, anger or even sadness.
Badesh turned his attention again to Jetiet and crossed his arms. "Where are we?"
"We are currently in orbit above a small trading post in the outer rim. Just in case you wanted to leave us after all."
Badesh just scoffed.
"Alright, we will plot a course to the Alliance base. We will reach it in two days, please make yourself comfortable in the meantime."
ooOOoo
Badesh lay on a thin mattress in the back of the shuttle. It was so small that it didn't have real beds or crew quarters. He didn't mind the lack of luxury, Badesh's thoughts still circled about the development of the past five years. He had read up as fast as he could and shook his head over and over again – how had the mighty Empire fallen! It was but a shadow of the Sith Empire it used to be. How any Sith could stand it was beyond him and yet there was an Empress, a Dark Council that was on Arcann's leash.
His thought returned to his companions. Quinn would despise this new Empire… Vette would too, probably… Azhikdae was too much of a pragmatist to care about one way or another. What if she had killed Vette and Quinn? He wouldn't put it past her to do anything to ensure her survival.
The very though enraged him, and pictures of the mutilated bodies of Vette and Quinn surfaced in his mind. Suddenly a very familiar urge for pain came over him. The mixture of excitement and fury made Badesh get up and grabbing a lightsaber he had taken from the Zakulan knights. He ignited it and held it close to his left arm. Slowly he lowered it until his skin was slightly burned by the blade. The searing pain made him calm and he pushed the images back in the deepest recesses of his mind.
Badesh was aware that his behaviour wasn't getting past the Jedi and thus he wasn't surprised to hear quick footsteps approaching him. He lifted his gaze from his arm to Nadia who had a peculiar unreadable expression on her face.
"What are you doing?" she asked and took a hesitant step towards him.
"It's none of your business," replied Badesh and put his lightsaber out. She was weak and full of compassion; Badesh briefly mused why Jetiet let her even talk to him. Nadia was still very young and full of compassion, she could easily be seduced by the Dark Side.
She simply frowned at him and left after a few moments. In the distance he could hear that Jetiet was addressing her. Badesh let himself fall on the mattress, staring at the ceiling, musing about his next steps.
