Quinn

Fury

Quinn cursed and yanked his fingers back from the engine, waving them about to ease the sting.

"You kiss your mother with that mouth?"

He glared at the blue Twi'lek in the doorway.

"Don't you have something to do?" he asked irritably, grabbing a wrench from his toolkit. "Slicing? Sleeping? Reprogramming 2V for the tenth time this week?"

"Nah, Ish isn't up yet and I just finished with 2V last night." She examined her nails casually. "He speaks Jawa now, in case you were wondering."

"Does he now?" Quinn asked through gritted teeth.

Vette rolled her eyes. "Don't get too excited, Captain. Someone might actually think you have a sense of humor."

He didn't feel any need to reply to that comment. Vette stared at him for a few seconds, waiting for him to respond. When it became clear that he wasn't planning to answer, she began wandering about the engine room aimlessly. Quinn briefly considered kicking her out, but it occurred to him that she would probably find some other, even more obnoxious way to irk him.

She peered over his shoulder. "You tightened the reactor bolt too far."

He turned to face her, forcing himself to smile benignly. "What do you want, Vette?"

The twi'lek threw her hands up innocently. "Why do you have to be so hostile? I just wanted to chat!"

Quinn's scowl returned. "I seem to recall your master spoke to you about chatting."

"Ishtaa told me to stop bugging you about Moff Broysc," she said. "She didn't say anything about chatting."

Sighing, Quinn rubbed his temples wearily. "An omission I will soon remedy."

"You don't even know what I was going to talk to you about."

"No," he said. "But I know that it was you planning to do the talking. I think that's sufficient."

"What, are you going to rat me out to 'my master?'" Vette made a face and puffed her chest out. "My lord," she said mockingly, "Vette was attempting to be social in direct violation of section seven, paragraph C—"

"A word to the wise," Quinn said coolly, "don't pursue a career in acting or espionage. That was the worst Imperial accent I've ever heard."

She ignored his comment. "Why do you call her 'my lord?'"

Quinn raised an eyebrow. "It's military protocol," he answered, genuinely confused. Was she really curious about procedure? "Superiors are to be addressed as masculine, regardless of gender. Calling her 'my lady…'"

"That's not what I meant," Vette interrupted. "I mean, why don't you just call her Ishtaa like everybody else on this ship?"

He froze. This was dangerous territory.

At last, he shrugged, forcing himself to remain casually aloof. "Like I said: it's military protocol."

"Yeah, and I'm the Emperor's daughter. Last time I checked, it's protocol to do what your master wants, and I'm pretty sure she prefers her name."

"That may be the case," he answered, more firmly than was really necessary, "but I prefer to use her proper title, a fact I believe she understands."

Vette wrinkled her nose. "Why? It's so formal."

"I like formal."

"Yeah," she said, chuckling, "I got that. But why are you so afraid of being informal?" A look of understanding crossed her face. "Oh my gosh. You like her."

"I hardly see how that's some big epiphany," he said disdainfully. "I would never have come aboard this ship if I disliked her." Vette crossed her arms skeptically. Quinn squirmed at the silence. "We work well together. She's efficient, intelligent, honorable, powerful…"

"Cute."

He grimaced. "'Cute' is not the word I would use."

Vette put her hands on her hips, grinning. "But there is a word you would use?"

"Why are you asking me all these questions, apart from to annoy me?"

"Are you seriously blushing right now?"

Quinn ducked his head, embarrassed. "If you're not going to say something useful, I'd appreciate it if you could leave. I need to fix this engine before we can travel to Dromund Kaas."

"Alright, alright, I'll leave you alone. But you should really talk to Ishtaa. Wouldn't want your distraction to keep you from 'peak efficiency.'"

He shot her a glare. Tossing her lekku over her shoulder with a childish grin, Vette sprang into a mock salute and then exited, leaving Quinn alone to fix the engine…and mull things over in peace.