"Now I'm going to ask you nicely this one time," Jaina said as she regarded Kendros with a friendly-enough smile. "What did you do with the beskar from Hagamoor 3?"
Kendros was tied to the copilot seat of Partner's Firespray by some metallic cable and was absent his armor and physical weapons. However, even when he was reduced to his underwear, that didn't stop Kendros from spitting at Jaina in response.
But Jaina's Jedi reflexes allowed her to dodge the saliva and let it hit the bulkhead behind her.
"Go to hell, Jedi," the Sith sneered.
"Great, now I have to clean that up," Partner said as he looked at the spit on the bulkhead. He then turned back to Kendros. "You have any idea how much I hate to maintain this ship, necessary though it might be?"
He then punched Kendros across the jaw, prompting him to spit some blood out on the deck. The Sith looked back up at the Mando and laughed. "Well, now you just made me mess up your precious ship even more, Mando. Want me to do it again?" Kendros then started to deliberately spit more blood and saliva at the deck beneath his feet.
Partner soon stopped him from doing that anymore by placing his vibroblade near his throat.
Kendros raised his brows. "That would really make a mess, I think."
"Partner, if you'd let me?" Tahiri asked as she leaned on the bulkhead next to Kendros.
Partner waved at Kendros. "Be my guest; just don't complain about it to me later."
"No, no, no, you don't let her do that, especially not after Velias" Jaina insisted. She then looked at the other woman. "You've touched the dark side more than enough, Tahiri. I'm not letting you do anything to this man."
"If you know what you're doing, Jaina, I won't get in your way," Tahiri replied evenly.
Jaina didn't say anymore to Tahiri before she looked back at Kendros. With a more strict tone, she asked, "Where'd you take the beskar?"
"Up your ass," Kendros sneered.
"My ass has no beskar," Jaina replied glibly. "Now if you don't tell us where it is, I'm gonna have Partner here take you to Dathomir where they'll rob you of your underwear and make you a sex slave; it's a matriarchal society, men have virtually no rights there. And trust me, not all the woman there are attractive like in the Hapes Consortium; you'd be shocked at how many of them are hideously ugly. They live in a jungle, many of them have scars that you wouldn't find all that pleasing."
"I'd kill them if they ever tried that on me," Kendros replied contemptuously.
"Did I mention they were witches who were deeply sensitive, and highly trained, with the Force?" Jaina retorted. "They don't have any compunction toward compassion or empathy the same way we Jedi do; and you don't even wanna know what the Nightsisters would do to you if they got their hands on you."
"I'm not scared by any of this, Jedi."
"Oh? But you will be. You will be."
. . .
Aboard the ChaseMaster Uvak's Prey, of which Grand Lord Vol took command, Vestara had finished throwing up in the refresher of her quarters. When that was done, she checked into the ship's medbay to find out what kind of sickness she had fallen prey to.
It turned out that it wasn't exactly the kind of sickness that she expected.
"Pregnant?!" she asked in shock.
The physician to whom she exclaimed, Keshiri male Sith Saber Marklos Jegnak, nodded with an expression that didn't betray any of his personal feelings on the matter. "That's exactly what the results say, Saber Khai."
Ves sat back on the observation bed and looked away from Jegnak in disbelief.
The older Saber allowed Ves some moments of silence as she ruminated on what this meant for her before he finally asked, "If I may be so bold, who is the father?"
"Ben," she whispered; the way she said that, it was clear to Jegnak she wasn't even talking to him.
Jegnak allowed for another pause before he asked, "Do you wish to keep the child?"
Then Ves looked directly at him. "Of course I wanna keep him. Or her. I don't wanna..." She trailed off, as she couldn't bring herself to even utter the word "abortion."
"I understand. Should I inform Grand Lord Vol or do you want to do it?"
"I'll do it. Thank you."
By the time Ves got to the bridge of the Uvak's Prey, she walked toward an angry-looking Vol and asked him, "My Lord, may I have a moment with you in private?"
Vol regarded her for a moment before he said, "Very well. Follow me to the ready room."
Minutes afterwards, after Vestara explained to the Grand Lord about her pregnancy in the privacy of the ready room, he asked, "So you wish to be relieved of this assignment to carry out your term in safety, Saber Khai?"
"Not at all, My Lord. In fact, I now have more of a reason to bring Ben back to Kesh."
"So your child may have a father."
"Yes, My Lord."
Vol regarded Ves evenly before he spoke again. "You must understand, Saber Khai, that that might not be possible now."
"My Lord, I know that after what Jacen Solo did to us on Kesh, you want to see him dead-"
"And I will," Vol interrupted firmly.
"But if there's any chance that Ben can be saved, we should-"
"Saber Khai, I understand your concerns. But if we are to kill Solo and all the other Jedi as it is our sacred duty as Sith, I cannot allow your child not having a father to be an impediment to our goals. Is that clear?"
Ves looked dumbfounded; she didn't say anything in response.
Vol sighed. "If there is a chance that Ben can be saved, Saber Khai, then I will do everything in my power to save him. But know this: if there is no alternative, if it is imperative to our survival and the destruction of the Jedi... well, I'm sure you can find another suitor within the ranks of the Lost Tribe who can fulfill the role of your child's father. Now, will that be all?"
Ves pursed her lips, as if she were about to say something that would defy her Grand Lord. But then she just as promptly closed her mouth to take a deep breath through her nose before finally saying, "That will be all, My Lord."
"You're dismissed then."