Quinn opened his eyes as sweat raced down the sides of his forehead. He quickly sat up as the images of last night's dreams came rushing back at him. It was the same dream that has haunted the young Captain every night ever since his departure from Balmorra, ever since a certain young Sith Lord set foot into his office.

Quinn sighed as he rushed one hand through his damp black hair and then onto the back of his neck, rubbing it a little. His eyes shot around the room at the unusually quiet sound. To his surprise, both of his crewmates' beds were empty. To this the Captain raised a quizzical brow. Just how long had he been asleep for?

The Captain swung his legs over the side of his bunk and slowly stood up. Grabbing his towel nearby, he headed for the washroom.

Vette watched as the two Sith rushed at each other from afar. Each was carrying their newly acquired training saber that she, herself, had to go on an errand to get. Now that Xy'liah has an apprentice, the Sith Lord had made it clear that training was to be apart of their everyday routine and that everyone was to be participate.

Vette eyed the cargo's room entrance. Of course today, there was one exception. Vette and Jaesa both woke up early at the Sith Lord's command, but their Captain, however, seemed to be in a deep slumber that even the sound of two girls getting ready didn't wake him.

"I don't care about Quinn. I'm more concerned with you," said Xy'liah when Jaesa asked about Quinn.

Vette looked at her master curiously as she sat atop the cargo boxes within the room. Ever since their mission on Tatooine, she had become quite unpleasant toward Quinn. Her friendly nature turned into a cold one and for once, Vette felt bad for the Captain. Maybe he had done something on Tatooine to get on the Sith's bad side? Whatever it was, it had turned her usual laid back Sith Lord into someone like Darth Baras himself.

"Jaesa! You must allow your feelings to fuel you!" yelled the Sith Lord to her apprentice. Vette looked over toward the young girl, who had a frustrated look upon her face. She seemed to get quite frustrated easily whenever she couldn't get something down right away or when she could not understand something. "If you hold back, you'll never defeat me! Remember, your emotions are your source of power!"

Vette and Xy'liah watched as Jaesa tried to take her master's advice, concentrating on the Force with the help of her emotions. Once Xy'liah felt like she concentrated enough, the Sith Lord rushed at her apprentice once more.

Quinn's muscles relaxed as the hot jet of water hit him softly. He took a few minutes to enjoy the warmth before proceeding to start his usual shower routine.

Images of Xy'liah played in and out of his head as he went about his routine. No matter how hard the Captain tried to push her out, the Sith always came running back to him. His mind wandered to the bright yellow amber eyes that never failed to quicken his pulse whenever they gazed upon him. They were so malicious, yet mysterious and beautiful. It was an odd combo, yet exotic; they were the most unusual eyes Quinn had ever seen in his life, especially for one that is human.

Quinn stopped in the midst of his tracks, his eyes widened. He had almost washed his face with shampoo. Nowadays, his body and mind seemed to function separately. It was as if he was a droid. He would noticed his body going about his usual routine and business as his mind wandered and daydreamed about the Sith Lord. Every so often, his mind would come back in time to correct his body just as it was beginning to steer off course like how he did just then.

It was quite difficult trying to focus on his day to day operations with his mind in the state that it was. With each passing day, it seemed his mind became more and more absorbed in his fantasy of the Sith Lord and more distant from reality. This was something he needed to correct and fast before it took over him completely, rendering him useless to the Empire. He had thought distancing himself away from her would do the trick, but it only worsened. Get ahold of yourself, Malavai! He said to himself. How are you ever going to achieve your goals if you cannot control your own mind?

Quinn stepped out of the shower and back into the crew's quarters with nothing, but the towel draped around him. He reached for his small wardrobe and opened the metallic doors. He stood there awhile, studying the various clothes he had neatly pressed and lined up according to use. Instinctively he reached for his Imperial uniform. It was his default choice whenever he wasn't in the fields. His hand rested upon the hangar before moving the uniform aside and reaching for something more casual.

It was the only casual set he had and even then, it was issued to him during his training days as an Imperial officer. He barely wore this outfit and wondered why he hadn't thrown it out a long time ago, but today seemed the most appropriate out of all days. After all, they were on a short mini vacation and Xy'liah had made it clear the previous night that they were duty free for a couple weeks before heading back to rendezvous with the Dark Lord on Dromund Kaas.

Duty free. Quinn wasn't sure he liked the sound of that when the Sith Lord announced it last night. They were strange words to him and the concept even stranger. What was he supposed to do off duty? He couldn't think of anything that didn't involve working and this was only day one of the fourteen days they were off. It was the longest break Quinn had since he joined the Empire.

Laughter roared from down the corridor as Quinn dressed himself. His curiosity peaked at the sound. It was a mixture of all three women aboard the ship and the laughter continued for some time.

Quinn quickly cleaned up after himself before setting out to follow the sound.

His ears led him down the corridor and toward the cargo bay. He turned into the entrance and stopped at the sight. The first thing he saw was Vette sitting atop a few of the cargo boxes stacked on each other. She was sitting cross-legged while shouting comments to down below.

His eyes trailed down from Vette to Jaesa, who was sweating as she caught her breath, training saber in hand. His eyes then went to the last person in the room, the closest one to him. He eyed her as she too was busy catching her breath. She was wearing her usual black boots with loose black pants tucked into them. Her top was nothing, but a black bra to cover her essentials. Her hair was in the usual bun and she too was equipped with a training blade.

Vette caught sight of him first, "Look who is finally awake! Hi, Captain Sleepyhead! Care to join us in our training session for today?"

Jaesa and Xy'liah turned toward Quinn standing at the entrance.

"My lord, I wasn't aware of the training session today. I apologize for oversleeping," Quinn quickly began, but Xy'liah only shook her head.

"It's vacation after all, Quinn. You can sleep in once in a while. Besides I'm more concerned with training my apprentice over here."

"Jaesa hasn't found a way to beat Lord Xy'liah yet!" Vette exclaimed. "If you were here earlier, we could've had a bet going."

"I never knew that the Jedi withheld so much from me," said Jaesa. "I feel as if I'm learning everything all over again." She frowned at her statement as she shot her master a look.

"Don't worry, Jaesa. We still have time," Xy'liah said. "Now I feel like I'm on a winning streak. Anyone else wanna try their luck against me?" She eyed the twi'lek and Quinn.

"Why don't you try, Captain?" Vette suggested. "You're more rested than I am. I need to warm up a bit."

"Great, let's go, Quinn," said Xy'liah turning back and walking toward their training space.

Jaesa came forward and handed Quinn the training saber before giving the Captain a small smile, "Good luck." She turned and went to join Vette atop the cargo boxes.

Quinn looked down at the training saber in his hand, wondering exactly what he had gotten himself into. There was no way he could defeat her, especially with his state of mind. He gripped the training saber and walked to meet Xy'liah at the clearing. Slowly he got into position from what he remembered at his Imperial training.

"I'll give you three tries, Quinn! It's simple! Try and disarm me and maybe I'll reward you with an extra day off when we land on Dromund Kaas!" she shouted from across the room.

"Ready!" shouted Vette. "Begin!"

Without thinking, Quinn rushed at Xy'liah and striked at her. She blocked it with ease and disarmed him. The bout ended quickly and Quinn found himself with a training blade pointed at his chest. He turned to see his own training blade a few feet from him.

"You disappoint me, Quinn," said Xy'liah reaching for Quinn's training saber with her free hand. The saber flew to her hand and she handed the weapon back to Quinn, who took it reluctantly. "I would expect a Captain in the Imperial Army to last longer than that. You have two more tries." She lowered her weapon and turned to walk back to her beginning origin.

Quinn did the same, his mind replaying what had happened in his head. He should've known better. He had observed her, studied her style and habits during all the time he was with her. He should've been able to calculate and predict her every move.

"Ready?" Xy'liah called out.

Quinn nodded as Jaesa called out for the fight to start. This time, Quinn waited for the Sith Lord to advance to him. It took awhile though with Xy'liah staying at her end and him staying at his.

"What is this, a staring match?" Vette called out. "Do something!"

Quinn inched closer to the Sith Lord as he locked gazes with her. She smiled at him as she did the same, their training sabers almost touching.

"What's the matter, Quinn?" she taunted. "Did the last match scare you?"

"Lady's first, my lord," he replied, gripping the training saber harder as they began to slowly encircle each other.

"Very well then," said Xy'liah and she quickly jabbed her saber toward Quinn, who had to duck to avoid it.

He stepped away from the Sith, giving a good distant between them. Xy'liah began attacking fast, jabbing and striking in all directions. Quinn found himself being forced back as he defended the attacks. Come on, Malavai! You have to think! THINK!

Their sabers crossed each other and Quinn had to use a considerable amount of strength to keep the Sith Lord from pushing him over. They locked gazes once again and Quinn could see the smirk on Xy'liah's face.

"Much better, Captain," she whispered between them. "But you'll have to do better than that."

Quinn quickly stepped to the side just as Xy'liah summoned more power for the push. The move resulted in her almost falling to the ground as she stumbled clumsily, trying to catch her balance.

The Sith turned around, "Now we're talking, Captain!" She twirled the saber in her hands before rushing at him again.

This time, Quinn felt his mind go into focus. He started to calculate the various attacks the Sith was likely to pull and the counterattacks he would use against them.

Xy'liah came at Quinn full force, striking down at the Captain. He jumped out of the way leaving Xy'liah to rush at nothing, but air. This time Xy'liah didn't lose balance. She quickly swung her foot in a high roundhouse kick, turning to see the Captain ducking it just in time. He quickly used his own foot to swipe her off her feet. The Sith Lord landed on the ground with a thud! Her saber fell from her hand during the fall.

"Ugh," the Sith Lord used her arms to try and push herself into a sitting position, but was stopped by the end of a training blade pointed at her. She looked up to see Quinn, towering over her. His mouth was curled upwards in a proud, victorious smile.

"He…did it!" cried out Jaesa, astonished. "And he didn't even seem to have any difficulty with it or anything!"

Xy'liah eyed her apprentice as the young girl watched the Captain in awe, "Call it luck. I might've let my guard down since I defeated him so easily the first time."

"Did you really, my lord?" Quinn asked. The amber eyes turned back toward his. "What a disappointment. I was rather hoping you gave it your all." He pulled the training saber back and offered her a hand up. She took it, standing up and dusting herself off.

Vette and Jaesa came rushing at them as the Sith Lord picked up her training saber. Their eyes were filled with awe and newly found admiration for the Captain.

"Perhaps you can teach me a few tricks or two," Jaesa said.

"There is no trick. My time with Lord Xy'liah has allowed me to become acquainted with her style. That was how I was able to predict most of her moves."

Xy'liah snorted and walked away, "Perhaps you should've focused more on the missions than studying me."

Quinn frowned, sensing hostility in her voice. He watched her throw the saber back into the crate and walked out of the room, signaling the end of today's training session.

"This is so frustrating. I feel like I haven't learned anything from my time with the Jedi," said Jaesa as Vette patched her up. The two girls were resting in the medic bay while Xy'liah and Quinn went to take care of other businesses.

"You're a fast learner, aren't you? I'm sure you'll be able to pick up whatever it is you Sith study." Vette wrapped the bandage one last time around Jaesa's wrist. "There you go. Take it easy now."

Jaesa twirled her wrist and examined the twi'lek's work, "Thank you. We should get back. I'm sure Master Xy'liah has something in store for us."

The two girls walked out the medic bay to find Xy'liah and Quinn standing in front of the holoterminal, talking.

"I must implore high command to do something about him," the Captain said.

"I need this off your plate, Captain. As quickly as possible."

"Absolutely, my lord." The Captain bowed and headed off toward the crew's quarters, quickly eyeing the approaching the girls.

Xy'liah turned as Jaesa and Vette joined her, "Let's get back to training."