Vette reached the orphanage half an hour later. School had just ended and she found Barriss in the yard where she played huttball with other children. She had her doubts about sending the children into an imperial orphanage, but seeing them playing with human children dispelled her scepticism. Vette watched them for a few minutes, but then Barriss saw her and come running towards the Twi'lek. "Vette!" They hugged each other.

"How are you, Barriss?"

"I'm fine, this orphanage is way better than the one on Kaon. School is much tougher, but that's alright."

"Are they treating you well?"

"Yeah, some of the teachers don't like us, and even some of the other children call us names… but there are also others…"

"You can tell me if there's a problem, I can try to take care of it."

"It is hard to fit in, but I don't want you to tell Lord Badesh about it. He… he's so violent."

Vette gave the girl a holocommunicator. "All right, I understand. But call me if there is something you want to talk about, right?"

Barriss took the gift and beamed happily. "Thank you!" They walked around and finally sat down on a rather big stone quite far away from the other children.

"Is my brother alright? I haven't heard from him since Kaon."

"Yes, he is. He even helped me with a personal errant."

"Can you talk about it?"

Vette hesitated but then she said: "I was lured into a trap, but we knew in advance that there was a high probability that the whole thing was just a ruse. Darth Nox was ready to finish everything – as a last resort but luckily we managed to get away without using his help." Barriss tore a leaf from a nearby bush and let if fall on the ground shortly after. "I see… I admit I would've hoped that Zeven would have helped you in another way than just to offer to kill everybody."

"There is no sense in making you believe that he will care any time soon about you or even change back into the brother you knew. The dark side of the force makes them cold." Vette wanted to tell Barriss something hopeful, but she didn't know how to tackle this rather difficult topic without reverting to empty phrases.

"But you changed Lord Badesh, didn't you?"

"He's actually called Darth Tenebra now – by the stars I sound just like Quinn – but no, I didn't change him. It was Captain Quinn who convinced him to give me a chance."

"Really? Although… he gave us an inoculation back on Kaon, before he knew who my brother was. It is still a strange to be on Dromund Kaas and being surrounded by imperials, before we met I've never actually seen an imperial but I've heard horrible stories about them – and here we are being sheltered and fed by them."

Vette smiled sadly. "I know the feeling, I still feel sometimes conflicted about it. I mean, they're supposed to be the bad guys. My sister can't understand why I chose to stay in this so-called realm of evil."

Barriss looked Vette straight in the eye. "Look, I don't mean to come off a know-it-all being a kid and all that, but I've seen really bad things on Kaon, and I know that people manage to be evil pretty well without being in the Empire or even without being Sith."

"I can't believe that I'm being consoled by a kid," said Vette and started to beam at the mirialan girl. "And I thought I visit you to cheer you up!"

"Oh, you did cheer me up, Vette. It's nice to have someone I can talk to about Zeven – the other alien children try everything to adapt and don't want to talk about Kaon or even the slave camps."

"I see," said Vette, "I was once in a slave camp…" Pictures of Badesh killing slaves came to her mind. "And I can't even stand to think about it. What I did was cowardly and despicable…" She trailed off.

"Hey, don't make me recite something I've learned the other day in 'military history'."

"Ok, now you made me curious, you have to tell me."

"The teacher told us that morale was something only useful after a victory. That only weak people allow themselves to have scruples."

"I hope you don't really believe that."

"No, not really, but I thought about my time on Kaon, back then I did steal quite much… but I did it because I wanted to survive. And then I realised that wasn't a question of morale and that it's exactly the other way round – only strong people can allow themselves to have scruples."

Vette frowned. "Isn't that too easy? My deeds weren't bad because I was only a slave? I do think that we have to take responsibility for our actions, no matter what the circumstances."

"That may be, but I can't think that way, otherwise I would have to blame me for everything and I can't believe that we're so independent from our environment that I was my sole responsibility."

Vette thought about what Barriss had said, no, she couldn't accept it. All the people she had killed… but she decided to keep it to herself. "By the stars, you're bright."

"No, I just try to cope with everything and this is the only way I could explain everything…" Barriss stood up. "I'm sorry, Vette, but I have to get back – dinner is about to be served." They hugged each other and the Twi'lek left the orphanage.

On her way back into the city Vette mused about the discussion she had with Barriss. As the ad with the Cathar came in sight Vette understood suddenly that all her brooding wouldn't change what she had done. Badesh had started as a homicidal maniac and had been able to embrace new philosophy, Quinn had been a xenophobic prick and overcame his prejudice and she had a part in all that however small it was. She could waste her energies on her past mistakes or look forward and do something about it. The Empire was indeed changing and she would do everything in her power to make it a better place.

The End

xxxxxx

Thank you for reading my story.

I really hope you enjoyed it. I'm currently thinking about writing a sequel with focus on Badesh. So, if you have any tips on how I could improve my writing – fire away :D You can also suggest which story-elements you would like to see, I will try to put them into the sequel.