A/N: Better late than never, I hope.
Vette wrinkled her nose against the stench of singed fur as she gingerly rolled the mangled remains of a Selonian rebel over with her foot so she could check the corpse for anything of value. Yards ahead of her, Torilya was already leaping into another group of rebels, her lightsaber an orange blur. Vette quickly stowed the stims she found and, sighing, hurled a thermal grenade at the pack before running to catch up. Tori had already cut down two of the weaker ones by the time she was within shooting range, and as Vette lined up her first shot, she couldn't help feeling a little awe at the Sith's prowess in combat: Tori was simultaneously holding one aloft with the Force while she continued to strike at it with her saber and deflect blows from another rebel. A couple of quick, clean shots from Vette finished that one, and by the time she had her blasters recharged for a shot at the one Tori was toying with, it was down.
Looking around, Vette didn't immediately see any more Selonians, so she holstered her blasters and took a moment to catch her breath. This type of job - randomly culling groups of beings just because they happened to be in the way of someone's grand scheme - wasn't something she enjoyed or normally condoned, nor was it something Torilya typically went out of her way to do, but it seemed to be just what her friend needed for the moment, so Vette had encouraged her to take it. The Hand still hadn't contacted them with information about the next assassin, and Vette knew just hanging around waiting wasn't going to help Torilya's state of mind at all - Pierce had that right. Maybe he's not as stupid as he looks, she mused, jogging now to catch up with Tori, who seemed to be tracking something Vette couldn't see. No problems with focus now, she thought, seeing Tori crouch in preparation for another attack. Unholstering her blasters, Vette braced against a pile of debris and readied herself for another round, grimacing a bit.
"Gonna be sore tonight," she grumbled, squeezing off a shot as the rebel's stealth generator failed under Torilya's assault.
"Watch the comm," Pierce growled at Jaesa, who'd come in just as he disconnected with Vette.
Jaesa snorted. "You don't expect me to bow or some shit, do you?"
"Just. Do it." Pierce ground out, spinning on his heel and heading for the cargo hold.
Jaesa stood for a moment before walking to the holoterminal and pressing a few buttons, then sliding her personal comm from her robes and switching it on. Tossing it in the air, she used the Force to hold it aloft while she sauntered after Pierce. When she reached the cargo hold, she found him there pummelling one of the dummies, still in full armor. Leaning against the doorframe, she casually flipped her comm repeatedly like a coin in the air, still using the Force to manipulate it. She watched Pierce, waiting until sweat began to build on his brow before she spoke.
"So, do you love her?"
Pierce did not slow his strikes in the least.
"Thought… I told you… to watch… the comm," he grunted between hits.
Jaesa whipped her comm across the room, inches from his face, recalling it to her hand just before it hit the wall.
"Forwarding here, genius. We aren't going to miss anything from your precious Lord," she said snidely.
Pierce's only response was to speed up his blows to the dummy.
"Well?" Jaesa jeered.
With a final hit, Pierce sent the dummy crashing to the floor in pieces. He stood quietly for a moment, breathing heavily, before turning to level his gaze on Jaesa.
"What the fuck's it to you?"
"Ooh, my, such foul words," Jaesa began to slink towards him, her face taking on a childish pout. "She's really gotten under your skin, hasn't she? Don't think the rest of us didn't notice your little slumber party the night before she left."
Pierce stood in place and said nothing, his nostrils flaring slightly with each shallow breath. Jaesa slid behind him, one hand on his chest, and stood on tiptoe, her chest pressing into his back.
"But then, that's not the only slumber party you've had, is it?" she breathed in his ear. "Barely waited for Captain Sadsack to take off before you jumped right into those tight little pants of hers. Tell me, do you just get off on the rebound, or is she that good of a lay? Because maybe I should get in on that too -" she started to slide her hand down his torso "- unless you think you can handle us both."
With that, Pierce's hand shot to her wrist and he yanked her around to face him, dumping her unceremoniously on the floor.
"Listen, little girl," he hissed. "Whatever now-I'm-a-big-bad-Sith power trip you have going on is going to get you killed when you mess with the wrong person. And I'm not saying that won't happen on this ship. I will say this once: Grow up. Get your shit together. Or the rest of your life will be very lonely - and likely very short."
Jaesa, for once stunned into silence, stared up at him, swallowing hard. He started to walk out of the room, then turned back to face her again.
"You wanna know why she's worthy of love? Mine, yours, Vette - and yeah, Quinn's, too, if that's what it ever was. Yeah, she's Sith. But even her darkness is rooted in humanity. And until you figure that out, until you truly learn from her example, you'll be nothing but yet another completely unremarkable Sith who thinks she rules the universe, but in the end will die powerless and alone. Scares the hell out of you, doesn't it?"
With that, Pierce walked out, making his way back to the holoterminal. He routed incoming calls back to the main terminal, then sank onto the couch. He leaned back, allowing his head to drop onto the seatback, and forced himself to take a few deep breaths, reminding himself of what Tori had said of Jaesa during one of their recent conversations:
I know she's beyond difficult, and she tries my patience as well. But, Pierce, remember - she's essentially relearning everything she's ever known, just as a small child might. She takes pushing her boundaries to the extreme, but I understand it in a way. She's had this immense power all along, but was kept on a leash, not allowed to fully explore this part of herself. Now, she gorges on this self-exploration to excess, but it must be so if she is ever to learn that discipline does not necessarily equal denying one's true nature or mindlessly following some bit of dogma, as the Jedi have taught her. She must have no questions or reservations about her chosen path. In time, she will learn that there is a difference between answering to one's own ideals and simply following whatever impulse strikes. But she must learn that for herself, and she cannot yet - she has yet to discover what her ideals and values truly are. It's my job to keep her tethered without making her feel trapped, to help her develop the tools she needs to be able to find that path, and it's no coincidence that she is in my charge. She would have suffocated to death under the Jedi, but she is too raw, too impressionable to survive more than a few days with virtually any other Sith. I've no doubt that her fate and mine are intertwined, even if I don't fully understand how yet myself. Though I at times lose my temper with her, I must remind myself of that.
As much as Pierce felt he could relate to and understand Tori, there were moments that she felt inscrutable to him, and that had been one. He never pretended to understand how she seemed to just know things at times, but as he had yet to find himself arguing with the results, he'd come to implicitly trust her instincts.
"Doesn't make her less of a pain in the ass, though," he grumbled under his breath, then lifted his head to listen to the ship's sounds for a moment before groaning and letting it drop back again. Seconds later, Too-Vee clattered in.
"Master Pierce, I have thoroughly cleaned and disinfected every surface on this vessel. As our Lord has placed me in charge of medic's duties aboard ship in Master Quinn's absence, I thought it most prudent to ensure the ship's environment was sanitary and harboring no possible carriers of illness or infection. I must report that I do not believe Mistress Vette has arranged the medbay's inventory in the most efficient way. Perhaps my next order of business should be to properly catalog and store every item so that no time is lost in case of an emergency -"
"Right, knock yourself out," Pierce grumbled, making a shooing motion with a hand.
Too-Vee clanked away to the medbay. Pierce remained on the couch for quite a while, head back, one hand pinching the bridge of his nose. Finally, he sighed and heaved himself to his feet, heading back to the holoterminal to resume monitoring comm traffic.
Quinn glanced irritably at his datapad for the umpteenth time in several minutes, but the thing remained dark - no little blinking light to tell him the message he was waiting for had appeared. Sighing, he threw himself onto his bunk. He closed his eyes, forcing himself to breathe slowly and deeply. Every fiber of his being screamed at him to pick up his holo and raise the Fury, just to check on Tori, but he knew the moment he disregarded her order would be the final blow to any remaining scrap of trust she may have had in him.
Against his better judgement, he allowed himself to think of her as he lay on his bed. His eyes still closed, he let visions of her float before him: her eyes looking into his from across the breakfast table; from beneath him as he cradled her in her - their - bed; flashing at him as she leapt into combat, wild and yet wholly in control; twinkling at him as she teased him. As residual fatigue pulled him further into his reverie, the sound of the ship's engines almost became an echo of her laugh, deep and throaty, and he could almost smell her distinct scent - a blend of the citrusy soap she used, the leatheris in her armor, and something uniquely her that he couldn't quite identify.
Just as sleep began to fully take him over, suddenly the images before him shifted back to the usual nightmare: Torilya, towering over him with fury and pain in her eyes; Quinn at her feet in a useless heap, his chest burning from lack of oxygen, grief, and fear. This time, though, he was saved by the chime of his datapad pulling him back to the moment. Rubbing his eyes, he powered on the screen to see a message:
Thanks for your note. Travels going great; holopics to follow - too many to attach here. Next trip I'll take you up on your kind offer of a free bunk. Love to the family. - Zee
Tossing his datapad aside, Quinn leapt off his bed and all but ran to the ship's holoterminal. Sure enough, an encrypted message was waiting and several files showed waiting to download. He quickly began to decrypt the message, cursing under his breath at the slow machine. Finally, he was able to read it:
You owe me. You know I hate messing about with Darths and their nonsense. Scoped your old office on Balmorra before I left. Same shithole. Some Imperial lackey looked to be squatting there, but no one of consequence. Someday you're going to tell me this whole story - or, at least, I'll get it out of Mel. Give her a hug for me. If this stuff gets you murdered in your sleep, never say I didn't warn you. - C9
Rolling his eyes at the signature, Quinn sighed heavily. There was no way the ship's holoterminal was going to be able to handle decrypting the files, much less in any sort of timely fashion. He had no choice but to find a machine that could do it, and unfortunately, the one on the Fury was out of the question. He had only one other option that he could be certain of, and he really didn't want to take it. Squaring his shoulders, he recalled the images of Tori that had lulled him into his earlier daydreams, then strode purposefully to the ship's navigation terminal. He punched in some coordinates - perhaps with a bit of vehemence - then went to Melia's quarters.
"Be prepared for some time in hyperspace. We are on the move," he announced as he stuck his head into her doorway.
Melia arched an eyebrow at him from where she reclined on her bunk, still reading on her datapad.
"Oh?" she prompted him.
"Yes. I must make a stop on Balmorra."
Melia shrugged. "I'll check the weather reports before we land," she said sarcastically.
Quinn nodded brusquely and started to make his way back to his quarters. A couple steps out of the doorway, he stopped and looked back over his shoulder.
"Oh, by the way - Zanebi says hello."
Melia's eyes widened on hearing her friend's name, and she shot off her bunk and to the door.
"We are so not done discussing this, brother dear!" she shouted at Quinn's back as he disappeared into his quarters and shut the door.
