When Theron arrived at the galley in the morning, Vette and Quinn were already eating breakfast. He took slice of bread and a cup of caf from the replimat and joined them at the table.

Vette beamed at Theron. "You look surprisingly rested – it seems that you and Sai ... worked all night!"

"Of course," retorted Theron, "we will brief you later about-"

"Too much information! I don't need to know what you two were up to!" Vette groaned.

Theron laughed. "I mean we will brief you about the things I remembered from when I was captured." The moment he said the words he recalled the images and the pain and his smile faded. He cleared his throat and tried to smile again. "And besides, I thought that you and Quinn wanted to spend some quality time together."

Vette chuckled and took a sip of her yumba juice. "Yeah, right."

From the corner of his eye he saw that Quinn shifted in his seat and blushed a little. He expected that Quinn would protest any moment, but he stayed silent and just stared into his oatmeal bowl.

ooOOoo

"Hm, interesting," Lana said after Theron had shared the newest information about Revan. She was still on Rishi and her holo image was a little distorted due to interference, but Theron could still clearly see how she glared at him.

"Did you discover where the Revanites main base is?" asked Saikrâm.

"I'm afraid my resources are too limited to determine where all these shipments are sent. I questioned some cult members before I disposed of them – some talked about Rakata Prime, others mentioned the Yavin system."

"Perhaps I could add these new parameters to my cross-reference program – they are bound to leave traces somewhere," Theron said.

"Good idea," Saikrâm replied.

"Shall I return or observe them further?" Lana asked.

Saikrâm nodded. "Come back, I doubt that you will learn more than you already have; and we need to contact trustworthy allies to deal with this. It's only a question of time until they strike in full force."

Lana bowed and ended the holo call. Theron exhaled and checked quickly his data pad. He was about to adjust the search parameters when Vette nudged him.

"So, your mom is a Jedi, huh?"

Theron shifted his weight from one leg to another. "Yeah, she is."

"What is she like? Do you remember her at all?"

He realised that she wouldn't let it go, even though Theron would rather not think about his mother, let alone talk about her and his relationship to her. He frantically thought about an excuse to get away from Vette, at least until he had the nerve to address the issue. His sight wandered from Vette to Saikrâm who smirked at him and then finally stopped at a sour-looking Quinn.

"Captain! I have this headache, perhaps you could take a look?"

Theron sighed – really smooth, Shan, and you are supposed to be a professional liar and spy.

But Quinn was luckily still professional to a fault. "Certainly, agent. If you would follow me to the med bay."

ooOOoo

In the medbay, Quinn took a scanner from the table and activated it. His eyes were firmly locked on the screen while he moved it from Theron's neck to his cranial implant.

"Where is the pain situated?" Quinn asked while typing something on the scanner. He still wasn't looking at him.

"Down here," Theron pointed on his temple. "Now it's gone, but yesterday it did hurt."

Quinn lifted his left eyebrow. "So, you don't have headache now?"

Theron rubbed the back of his head. "I thought you got it that I just wanted to get away from Vette's questions."

"Why? Are you hiding something else?" Quinn checked the med scanner again.

By the stars, why had he thought that Quinn wouldn't ask him about his mother too? "No, but how would you like it if you were questioned about your mother in front of three people?"

"But my mother isn't a Jedi – that's bound the raise questions."

Theron decided to go on the offensive to avoid further inquiries: "Let me guess, she is a loyal soldier of the Empire? And I guess your father too?"

Quinn activated the scanner again and waved it in front of Theron's forehead. "They were, they both died in the line of duty."

Theron gulped and almost expressed his condolences. But he pulled himself together. "And you decided to follow in their footsteps?"

At first Quinn didn't answer, he checked the scanner again. Then he looked up, for a moment he seemed hesitant. "Of course. One does aspire to surpass one's parents."

Theron almost scoffed; perhaps he would've tried to do that if he had been Force-sensitive or had known that his father was the supreme commander of the Republic forces before he had joined the SIS. It didn't matter, not anymore. "Perhaps."

"The scans don't show anything, Agent Shan. Perhaps you're just tense."

"I don't know, I feel quite relaxed right now."

"I would think so after you enjoyed Lord Saikrâm's company last night," Quinn replied without batting an eye. "But muscular tension is something different. I recommend that you ask 2V to give you a back massage."

Theron felt heat crawling up his cheeks and stared at Quinn's annoying stoic façade – suddenly he felt the need to put a dent into it. "What about you? You were awfully quiet this morning. Didn't you 'enjoy' Vette's company last night?" It was childish and unnecessary, and Theron felt bad the moment the words had left his mouth.

Quinn clenched his jaw, the tips of his ears turned pink. "I think we are finished here," he pressed out.

Theron jumped to his feet and left quickly.

ooOOoo

Several hours later Theron watched how Saikrâm snored while drooling on his pillow, his duvet barely covering his lower half. He looked vulnerable and dorky – Theron smiled a little.

It was strange: He knew that Sai was the Emperor's Wrath, but he couldn't help himself feeling content when watching him. There was something about him … Theron couldn't put his finger on it. Was it the way Sai carried himself? Of course, he was ridiculously attractive but something else was drawing Theron to him. And since when was he calling Darth Saikrâm "Sai"?

He suddenly felt uneasy and decided to get a cup of tea. Theron slid out of the bed and put sweatpants and a T-shirt on before he quietly left Sai's quarters.

He heard voices from the galley and slowed down to listen in.

"… compiled astrological charts with the most interesting star constellations." Theron recognized Quinn's voice, his accent clipped and cool as ever.

"By the Emperor's shorts! More work!" exclaimed Vette.

"W-well it's not work, I thought you might find it interesting – you used to watch the stars back on Voss," Quinn stammered, Theron could literally hear how he blushed. Interesting, Quinn was seemingly flirting with Vette – or at least he was trying to.

"Yeah, but that was like once. But thanks anyway! I will check it out later."

Theron approached the galley and finally stepped into it. Vette and Quinn glanced at him while he went to the replimat and pulled a turu grass tea out of it. He hesitated shortly and sat down next to Vette. Quinn glared at him when he took the data pad lying on the table into his hand.

"What's this?"

"Quinn's put together star constellations," Vette replied with a smile.

Theron scrolled through it and nodded approvingly. "That's a lot of work you put in there, Captain."

Quinn blinked at him in surprise – gone was his glare. "Well, it wasn't work exactly. I, uh, like researching the constellations."

Vette frowned a little and took the data pad from Theron and began to scroll through it. Theron got up and left the galley, taking the tea with him. He entered Sai's quarters again and returned to bed.

He sipped his tea while checking the results of his cross-reference program. From time to time he glanced at the Sith snoring at his side. After a while he pulled the duvet up to cover Sai and kissed his forehead.

ooOOoo

"I've contacted my remaining allies within the Empire," Lana said while pacing back and forth in the ship's conference room. "It won't be enough. We need more manpower and more ships if we hope to have a chance against the Revanites. From what I've seen, they possess considerable firepower."

"Alright, I will use my influence to gain support from Darth Vowrawn and Darth Marr. I guess we could also trust Mortis, but I won't take any chances," replied Sai. Then he turned to Theron and gave him a broad smile. "Any idea where they could be headed?"

"All the leads point towards Yavin 4 – in all likelihood their headquarters are on the planet." Theron displayed the planet on the holo in the middle of the table. "I assume they use the thick jungle as a cover to hide infrastructure. Their capital ships will most likely hide somewhere in the system."

Sai nodded approvingly. "Quinn? What's your assessment?"

"My lord, I agree with Agent Shan's analysis. I recommend a full orbital bombardment before sending the infantry – there is an 80.27% probability that they will have underground bunkers, but we will kill the majority of their forces by surprise."

"There is no need to storm all the bunkers," added Vette, "we just need to take out the head honcho and I bet they will scatter like womprats."

"And how will we know where Revan is?" Lana asked.

Vette shrugged. "I know his type – every so-called galactic legend is so kriffing extra. He will be in the most symbolic place on this rock, some temple or something like that. But don't worry, I'll just check their communications and confirm his whereabouts."

Sai laughed. "You might be right. Tell me as soon as you have confirmation. But our biggest problem is our lack of manpower – we won't be able to do anything if we don't get some serious back-up."

Theron cleared his throat. "Well, it's a long shot, but I could try to reach out to some people in the Republic."

Quinn crossed his arms. "An alliance? Strategically interesting, but I'm afraid that it's unrealistic."

"It's worth a try – at least if you're certain that you can still trust your contacts," Lana said. "May I inquire who you're calling?"

Theron shifted in his seat, but didn't answer.

"Why would they help you now?" Quinn asked after a moment of silence. "They didn't help you back on Manaan if I recall correctly."

Theron grimaced. "But this time it's not about me. It's more important, it's about the safety of the Republic."