When she heard the muffled explosions Vette suspected that Badesh had arrived. There was no doubt that he would tear through every defence the Organas had set up; she stared at Quinn who lay on the table and was tortured by the droid. Seeing her lover bleeding and screaming hurt her so badly that she had started weeping. She would kill them, let them suffer for putting Quinn through this horrible torture!

Suddenly the door was blasted open and Badesh stepped into the room. Behind him a hallway smeared with blood was visible. His brown robes were burnt, ripped and also covered in blood. She wept more, but this time they were tears of joy. They would be freed!

Badesh subdued the guards quickly and bent down to Quinn. Next to her she could hear how Theron sucked in his breath as Badesh caressed Quinn ever so softly. After this display of affection any bystander knew without doubt that the Sith loved Quinn.

After a moment Badesh strode towards her cell and deactivated the force field. Then he knelt down and embraced Vette. Never in a million light-years Vette had thought it possible for Badesh to actually hug somebody on his own accord. She smiled and leaned her head against his and was surprised to feel warm tears moisten her lekku.

"Good to see you, boss," Vette whispered.

"Good to see you too, Vette," replied Badesh smilingly. Then he put his left arm under her legs and lifted her up, Vette felt strangely as Badesh carried her over to the table on which Quinn had already begun to vet himself with kolto. Quinn stood up and Badesh put her on the table. Vette grimaced, every fibre in her body seemed to hurt. Of course Quinn immediately begun to inject kolto to lessen her pain. When he was close enough she grabbed his collar and drew him down to her to kiss him. Quinn didn't resist. In fact he passionately kissed her back. When they broke the kiss, Vette turned her head and saw that Badesh had liberated Vector and Nine and was on his way to Kalda and Theron.

"Can you move?" asked Quinn with a sorrowful expression on his face.

Vette sat up, most of the pain was gone, but she wasn't feeling too well. "Yes, but it still hurts… don't you have any more kolto?"

"Unfortunately not, I used some for me, so that I could function as medic. But we need larger kolto supplies."

Vector approached them, he looked remarkably well for a man who had been tortured twice in the last 20 hours. "Our enhanced Kilik-physiology enables us to heal quickly, Major. We will search the fallen for kolto packs."

Vette rose to her feet. She wanted to see how Nine and the others were doing.

As she was about to walk over to Nine she saw that Badesh stood in front of Theron's cell, the force-field was still active. She stepped next to him.

"What's up – why haven't you freed him?"

"Agent Heian is force-sensitive and apparently trained in the force. But I didn't sense it before. I wonder what that means…" Badesh replied, hands clasped behind his back. "How did you hide from me, little Jedi?"

Theron simply stared at Badesh, sweat was running down his temples. Kalda's force-field was already down, but she was in a bad shape and didn't say anything either.

"Theron deactivated his implant after we were captured…" said Vette slowly. "Perhaps it was some kind of force inhibitor?"

"Possibly, but we have to discuss it later." Badesh deactivated Theron's force field and returned to the two guards who had interrogated them.

Vette crouched down next to Theron and Kalda. They were looking very pale. "Vector is looking for some kolto – perhaps we can fix you up."

"Vette," panted Kalda, "can I ask a favour?"

"Sure, what is it?" asked Vette. She expected Kalda to ask for water.

"Promise me that you will kill us quickly. Please don't let us suffer."

"Wha… what?" Vette was taken aback. Hadn't she just told them that they would be vetted?

"The only reason you needed us was to track down the assassin, we aren't of any use to Badesh anymore. I assume that he will kill us. I have seen what he can do, there is only one thing that I ask of you – make it merciful."

"Kalda…" begun Theron, "I don't think that they will kill us. Otherwise Badesh would already have done that – besides, I don't think that he works that way."

Kalda frowned at him, but she didn't answer.

Vette left them and went to Nine who was already receiving medical treatment from Quinn.

"One day you have to tell me how Lord Badesh did find us. Did he feel your pain? Was that the reason why to pounded like mad against the force fields?" Nine inquired. She looked less pale than before.

"That is all I can do at the moment, Agent," said Quinn stiffly. "I need to save some kolto for the Republicans, otherwise it prove difficult to move quickly enough."

Quinn was about to move on to Kalda and Theron, Vette grabbed his arm. "Badesh just told me that Theron is force-sensitive – be cautious."

He nodded and left to attend to his medical duties.

Vette helped Nine on her feet and together they walked towards Badesh who was standing in front of the two guards. "Agent," the Sith said and nodded towards Nine. "You and Vette can guard these two miserable bastards. I will search the estate for Giselle Organa – it shouldn't take long, I suspect she has barricaded herself in a room – these republic officers seem to lack self-preservation as soon they face Sith." Without waiting for their answers he put his mask back on and walked out of the room towards the elevator.

Nine took a blaster from the floor and leaned against the table. "You two are professionals, aren't you?" she asked.

The men nodded.

"Good, in this case you know better than to beg – so keep quiet until Lord Badesh returns."

Vette looked over her shoulder and saw that Kalda and Quinn were supporting Theron and were headed to the table. Vector came to help and together the lifted Theron on the table.

"We had very little kolto left and I decided to use it on Kalda – after all Jedi are known for their self-healing abilities," said Quinn dryly.

"I am not a Jedi – I am merely force-sensitive but I decided that I didn't want to become a Jedi a long time ago. So, would somebody bandage me or are you going to let me bleed to death?"

"Of course I will indulge you, Agent," replied Quinn and tore long stripes from Theron's shirt to cover the wounds on his chest.

"We are fascinated, Agent Heian. Why did you choose to work for the SIS instead of becoming a Jedi?" asked Vector. Vette got the impression that he was honestly curious.

"Long story," retorted Theron curtly.

"Oh, do go on," smirked Nine, "I think we have got a few minutes before Lord Badesh returns with Organa."

"No, really, it's a very long and a very boring story. Perhaps you should entertain us with an anecdote from your life, Nina."

"Alright, once I met an SIS-Agent who could've been a paragon of light and justice and decided to live and work in the gutter with the scum of the galaxy…"

"You are too hard on yourself, Nina – to me you and your imperial friends are not the scum of the galaxy," deadpanned Theron. "Although some in the SIS might say that."

Vette giggled at that despite the dull pain that still seared through her body and got an annoyed look from Nine. "What? That was a good come-back!"

"We agree with Vette, Agent – the humorous comment was well placed," added Vector earnestly.

Nine rolled her eyes at Vector and turned her attention back on the prisoners.

Everybody tensed up as they heard how the elevator door slid open, but the relaxed as they saw that it was Badesh who was carrying somebody over his shoulder – Vette had no doubt that he had captured Giselle Organa. Badesh threw his prisoner roughly next to the guards, it was indeed Giselle Organa, she looked like hell: There was one large bruise on her cheek and she was bleeding from her mouth. Apparently she had fought against her captor – but of course a skilled force-user like Badesh had no problem subduing her.

"Do what you want with me, Sith! I won't talk!" Giselle spit.

"I don't need you to lead me to Revan or whoever is responsible, General," replied Badesh with a low voice. Vette looked at him; so his trip to the mystics had been fruitful? "I doubt anyway that you would know where the Revanites are hiding – you are but a pawn."

"My Lord, shouldn't we at least try to coerce information from her?" Quinn stood next to Badesh, but not in his usual up-tight posture, instead he had a pained look on his face.

"And we will, but we don't have much time – soon reinforcement troops could appear and we should leave before that," answered Badesh. "But firstly I will show them what happens to people who dare to act against… the Empire."

Vette was surprised to see that Badesh pulled a small toy figure from his pocket.

Badesh went down on one knee and showed the toy Giselle. "Today I learned that Alderaanians appreciate force tricks. I hope you enjoy it as well, General." The figure began to float and slowly moved towards one of the guards. It was directed at his right eye. It floated closer and the soldier squinted, but the toy didn't stop, instead slowly blood and then another clear liquid started to pour from the man's eye as the toy drilled itself through his eyeball. The man screamed and tried to grab the toy with his hands, but Badesh simply cut them off and watched him twitch and shout in pain. Vette averted her gaze and did only hear a dry snap as Badesh broke the man's bones. But his screaming didn't stop. She had thought about revenge and had even wished that Badesh would be brutal in extracting his revenge – but she regretted that she had ever thought about it. Nobody, not even these men deserved this.

Finally the screams stopped. Vette stared at Quinn, he looked at her and grabbed her hand.

"A lightsaber can cut through durasteel – but it can also melt one's skin…" she heard Badesh say and then the humming sound of a lightsaber was heard.

"I don't want to see or even hear this!" yelled Theron. "Someone – bring me outside before I throw up!"

Vette forced herself to look at Badesh and the prisoners. The dead guard was bloodied beyond recognition. Giselle and the other guard were in absolute horror. Badesh glanced over his shoulder at his companions.

"You all can wait outside, but please be careful – I won't be long. I just have to keep my promise that I will make them suffer." Badesh's tone wasn't hateful but matter-of-factly. "Perhaps the General will reconsider her stance on sharing information with us after I'm done with this one."

Nobody had to say anything, it was clear that none of them was agog to witness whatever punishment Badesh intended to hand out. Vector and Vette supported Theron as they walked to the elevator. As the door slid close the last thin Vette heard was the hissing sound of burnt flesh and screams.

ooOOoo

True to his word Badesh appeared about a quarter of an hour later outside and strode towards Vette and the other who had hid in the forest.

"Did she talk in the end?" asked Nine.

"No, but she did scream," replied Badesh calmly. "Very much." He opened his hand and Vette saw that the toy figure lay in it. It still had blood on it. "I decided to keep it – it was a gift after all."

"By the stars!" muttered Theron as he stared at the toy.

"I will call a shuttle – we have to get back to the Fury. After Quinn has vetted everybody we will decide a course of action. And of course we will listen to Agent Heian's story."

Theron wiped shuttle droid's memory of the flight. He was still quiet injured and was suffering the after-effects from the torture – Vette thought that it really showed how skilled he as a slicer was that he could pull it off under these circumstances.

She didn't miss how Badesh kept his eyes peeled on Theron during the shuttle ride. At first she had thought that he wanted to make sure that he couldn't pull of some Jedi trick, but when she registered that his glances sometimes slid over Theron's chest Vette began to suspect that Badesh also had other reasons to stare at him.

She was a little surprised; it was clear that Badesh was still in love with Quinn and yet he stared at Theron in this way. Come to think of it… why didn't Badesh lust over Quinn as he did with Theron? Even the way Badesh had kissed Quinn back then after their celebration party, it had been more coy had she had ever thought that a Sith could be. She had seen him look at Quinn in a loving way on countless occasions, but these gazes seemed… chaste.