Vette was standing in the archives of the Citadel, looking for files. She didn't get as many glares as she used to when she was but a slave in Badesh's service when she walked the streets of Kaas City – but being in the heart of Imperial Intelligence made her feel as if all eyes, visible and invisible, were set on her. Watching her every movement... Yet she knew that she had to get used to it. Badesh was now responsible for Imperial as well as Sith Intelligence. At least the force-sensitives in the latter agency used to look straight through her as if she didn't exist… Finally she pulled the last file and copied it on a secure data pad.
Vette was relieved when she returned into Badesh's office. Her Boss, as she called him secretly, sat at his desk mulling over reports. His black skull-like mask lay next to him. As usual he had the look of a caged nexu.
Vette walked over to Quinn who was working on the commstation and handed him her data pad and gave him a quick kiss on his cheek. It was inappropriate in this place and time, but she liked to touch and grab her lover and sometimes she just couldn't hold back. Their eyes met shortly. Quinn smiled as coy as always and returned to his work. Vette returned to the desk and sat down across from Badesh and picked up a data pad with the organisation chart of Imperial Intelligence. After a few minutes the intercom came to life as the guard announced the Minister of Intelligence and Keeper.
Badesh put his mask back on. The door slid open and the visitors entered. Vette had met the Minister, a fair-skinned balding elderly human male with grey hair, a few times since the time when Badesh had handled the conquest of Corellia. She was however surprised that the handler of all imperial top-agents was a rather young looking human woman with short dark hair.
"Darth Tenebra, good to see you," announced the Minister and bowed before Badesh who was now standing in front of his desk, hands clasped behind his back. Vette was standing further back next to the commstation, Quinn on the other hand stood next to Badesh.
"My Lord," said Keeper and bowed as well.
"Minister, Keeper – I summoned you here to officially inform you that I have taken over Darth Zhorrid's duties. I want to end the rivalry between Imperial and Sith Intelligence – our main goal has to be to destroy the Empire's enemies and not to entertain personal vanity… from certain Sith Lords."
Keeper seemed surprised about Badesh's statement while the Minister simply nodded and said: "My Lord, I'm looking forward to working with you. I have no doubt that our agency will operate at peak efficiency."
"My Lord, may I boldly inquire about your command structure? Since your companions are present I assume that they have also the highest security clearance," asked Keeper, she looked directly at Vette but there was no contempt in her eyes only curiosity.
"Indeed. Captain Quinn and Ensign Ce'na have my absolute confidence. I'm aware that usually the apprentice of a Darth also oversees daily operations, but since my apprentice got killed… Quinn will be my deputy should I be unavailable."
Quinn remained seemingly impassive but Vette knew him well enough to see at the way how he shifted slightly in his parade rest that he was completely taken aback by this development. And she knew him also well enough that he would protest in 3 2 1…
"My Lord, I'm honoured beyond words. But perhaps it would be wise to appoint a more seasoned officer as your deputy."
Badesh remained perfectly calm, Vette suspected that he had also anticipated Quinn's reluctance. "It's not about experience, Quinn… Do you have any objections, Minister? Speak freely, I'm not interested in a yes-sayer so please be blunt."
The Minister cleared his throat. "I have no objections against Captain Quinn, my Lord. I won't waste time by pretending that I haven't inquired about him or Ensign Ce'na – I'm sure he will excel. But might I suggest that you promote both your companions? It will surely make everything easier if at least Captain Quinn's rank would be more appropriate to his new post."
"A valid point, Minister – I will file the necessary papers as soon as possible. I'm sure that Grand Moff Kilran won't oppose the promotions."
Vette and Quinn simply bowed – the decision had been made. She felt a little strange at the prospect of getting fast-tracked into the imperial navy, but at the same time Vette realised that it would have been naïve to think that Badesh wouldn't give them the formal authority to be his advisors.
ooOOoo
A few days later they were en route to Korriban with the Fury. Badesh was to oversee a new batch of force-sensitives – he was in need of an apprentice after all.
Vette was replicating a cup of coffee in the mess hall when Quinn and Badesh joined her. She put two pieces of sweetener in her beverage and sat down.
"Is it really necessary to get another apprentice, Bo… my Lord? The last one almost got us killed." Vette though fleetingly of the mental and physical torture Jaesa had put her through.
Badesh pulled a tarisian tea from the replicator and leaned against the wall. Instead of his usual heavy black armour with spikes and armaments he just wore a simple grey tunic.
"It's an unwritten law that any Sith should take an apprentice – otherwise they would be considered weak or even worse: as cowards who fear younger and bolder Sith."
Quinn replicated two cups of coffee and brought one of them to Vette. She frowned, she had already a coffee… but a look in her cup showed her that it was already empty.
"Thanks Major!" she exclaimed and eagerly took a gulp from the new cup. "It's still weird – yesterday a few grunts even saluted me."
"As they should, Sergeant," replied Quinn. "But Vette has a point, my Lord. It seems… undeserved to get promoted so quickly…"
Badesh smiled at him, it was rare for the Sith to show his feelings. "Only you would question your own promotion, Malavai. This trait alone qualifies you to… you both deserve your promotions."
Vette got the impression that Badesh was about to say something corny before he stopped himself. He was a strange Sith, she mused, Badesh had clearly a very soft spot for Quinn and herself, but at the same time he was very ruthless – even sadistic – in achieving his goals.
A shrill beeping interrupted her thoughts; it was the signal for an urgent holocall. All three of them instantly gathered around the commstation, Vette put the call through. From the corner of her eye she saw how Badesh put his Sith mask on.
The bluish-grey image of Keeper appeared on the holo. "My Lord, I'm sorry to disturb you – but there has been a very important development on Cipher Agent Nine's investigation of the Dominator-bombing."
"Go ahead, Keeper," Badesh simply commanded.
"Nine is currently pursuing the man responsible for the heinous act – it appears that Darth Jadus is very alive and is the one responsible for the attack. He is on the dreadnaught Tempest, it seems that the crew is devoted to Darth Jadus and that they're attempting to defect into the unknown regions."
"Darth Jadus is still alive? That treacherous scum!" Badesh sneered.
"My Lord, Nine needs back-up. She and her partner are alone on the Tempest and they wouldn't stand a chance against a Sith as powerful as Jadus. A destroyer has already been deployed to intercept him, but we lack force-users. I don't have time to scramble anyone else and according to our intel your ship is merely a few parsecs away from the last known position of the dreadnaught. We have to stop the Tempest before it can jump into hyperspace, my Lord!"
"I will kill that bastard myself – transmit the coordinates at once!" Badesh's breath had quickened, he was clearly thrilled about the coming battle.
"Yes my Lord – good hunting," replied Keeper and her holopicture vanished.
"Coordinates received, my Lord – I will plot a course to intercept the ship," informed Quinn and strode into the cockpit.
Badesh walked briskly into his quarters, without doubt he was about to put his battle-armour on. Vette stayed in the middle of the Fury, despite all the battles she had already fought it still made her nauseous. She envied Quinn's cold professionalism and wished that she could also simply snap into a stoic-soldier-mode as soon as it got hairy. She checked her blasters and the vibro-knife she wore in her right boot, her hands trembled slightly.
Vette felt how the hyperdrive engines of the Fury became active and a well-know hum indicated that they had made a hyper-space jump. She took a few deep breaths and entered the cockpit. Quinn was completely immersed into piloting the ship, she sat down in the co-pilot seat. After a few minutes they jumped out of the hyper lane right into a full-scale space battle. Dozens of small tie-fighters were flying around the dreadnaught, red laser-bolts lit up the dark space. Quinn had to fly several evasive manoeuvers lest the Fury would be hit.
"We are being hailed by the destroyer – putting through now," said Vette. She tried to sound as calm as possible while watching how several imperial fighters were destroyed in the raging battle.
"This is Captain Dorne from the destroyer Tulak Hord, identify yourself!"
"This is Major Quinn from the Fury; Darth Tenebra is ready to board the Tempest. We're requesting an escort," Quinn replied calmly in his usual slightly arrogant inflexion.
"Understood, sir! Deploying an escort now!"
Vette sprang into action and hurried to the battle station in the lower section of the Fury. She brought all weapon turrets online. In a matter of seconds she was ready to fire upon any ships that pursued them, the scrambled escort, consisting of four fighters, did shield them from most of the attacks, but nevertheless Quinn had to fly several evasive manoeuvers and Vette shot down two enemy fighters who tailed them. Adrenalin was rushing through her veins as she hit another fighter with a series of shots, suddenly she heard how Quinn spoke to her through the commsystem: "Vette, get back up here! We're about to land in less than 45 seconds – it's going to be rough! We have to go in with high velocity!"
She left her post and returned to the cockpit as fast as possible and strapped herself down on the co-pilot seat. Badesh was already sitting in the command seat, seeing him in his battle-armour calmed her down. They were about to board a hostile dreadnaught and the prospect almost made her throw up. She had to calm down, they would make it! They had to! The landing pad was right before them, only a few kilometres…
On their right side one of the escort fighters exploded and a hail of laser bolts hit the Fury on the starboard wing. The spaceship trembled, but Quinn managed to stay the course. A few seconds later they flew into the landing bay and touched down. Due to the Fury's high velocity the ship slid towards the control centre in the back of the landing bay and collided with the wall. As soon as the ship stopped moving Badesh sprang to his feet and rushed towards the airlock. Quinn unfastened his seatbelt, and exchanged a quick glance with Vette before he followed Badesh. She took a deep breath and rushed also to the exit.
As soon as she stepped out of the Fury she saw to her relief that Captain Dorne had sent reinforcement – two small troop transporters had landed and at least two dozen soldiers were standing ready to accompany them.
"Quinn, take one platoon to the engine room and make sure that the Tempest can't jump into hyperspace! Secure the landing pad with a small detachment – the rest is with me!"
Quinn did as commanded and Vette followed Badesh. She wasn't familiar with imperial dreadnaughts, but she assumed that he led his troops straight to the bridge. On their way they met heavy resistance but Badesh was a force of nature, he jumped from one opponent to the next beheading them almost with only one swing with his red-bladed lightsaber. Vette wasn't a stranger to Badesh's bloodlust but the way he simply crushed the head of an enemy soldier with the force and hurled the body away like trash… he still scared her a little in moments like that. Finally they reached the door to the bridge; Badesh was covered in blood and little flesh chunks. He was breathing heavily and Vette suspected that it wasn't the exertion but the excitement that caused his panting.
Badesh turned to his troops. "I can feel Darth Jadus behind this door – he is a very powerful Sith and I will try to subdue him for questioning. Should he gain the upper hand – shoot him! Until then… stay back!" He turned his attention to Vette. She couldn't help but notice that little drips of blood were running down his mask. "Vette, I feel Cipher Nine's presence as well – make sure that she gets into safety. She has undoubtedly vital intel."
Vette nodded and readied her blasters. Badesh force-pushed the wings of the door away and stormed onto the bridge. Vette had expected equally heavy resistance, but she registered quickly that there were only three people present: Nine, a dark-haired human male and a man in red and violet robes with a golden mask. The agent and her partner were bound and knelt before Jadus, it appeared that they were unharmed.
Jadus ignited his lightsaber and attempted to kill Nine and the man but Badesh threw his lightsaber and deflected the attack. He jumped, catching his returning weapon in mid-air, at Jadus and their lightsabers interlocked.