Vette shuddered as soon as she felt the Dread Force oozing into the conference room. Luckily she was in another room, but even this weak taste of Nox' power reminded her of Kaon and he had killed a little boy because he had been bored.

Theron looked very pale, Vette assumed that his force-sensitivity made him more perceptive to the terror caused by the Dread Force. Theron wiped over his eyes and was visibly shaken up.

"Agent Heian, might I suggest that you increase the output of your implant?" Quinn suddenly said. "If you are affected so strongly now your functionality would suffer as soon as you are confronted with Darth Nox in person."

"I guess it is out of the question to ask the good Darth to turn down his powers?" asked Theron with a forced smile.

Vette knew that Quinn would not answer such an uncouth question and replied in his stead. "He is already holding back…" She knew of course that Nox could suppress his powers anytime, but she thought that this wasn't a detail the former SIS-Agents should know. Nox would anyway enjoy antagonizing them, she and Quinn had suffered in the past…

"He is holding back?" asked Kalda with a frown. "Are you kidding me? I feel like vomiting already."

"The Dark Council is composed of the strongest Sith in the Empire. Every one of them is… extraordinary," said Nine quietly. "I assumed that the SIS already knew that."

"Of course the SIS does! But I am only a lowly black ops grunt – I haven't met more than five force-users in my entire life." Kalda had a haunted look about her, despite the fact that the Dread Force had vanished; Badesh had probably ended the call.

"I on the other hand have seen my share of force-users… but I have to admit, Badesh and…" began Theron.

"Darth Tenebra," interjected Quinn.

"…Darth Tenebra and Darth Nox are on a different level altogether. But I'm curious, Sith usually have apprentices, right? Where is B… Darth Tenebra's apprentice?"

Vette and Quinn exchanged glances. Finally Quinn cleared his throat. "That is classified, Agent Heian."

In this moment Badesh returned, apparently he had heard Theron's question. "No need for modesty, Quinn. If you must know, my apprentice is dead – Vette and Quinn killed her in their line of duty."

Vette was surprised that Badesh disclosed this information. But probably he just wanted to see how Theron and Kalda reacted.

They remained impassive, only Theron's quick glance at Vette and then Quinn betrayed that he was taken aback by this new piece of information.

"We will meet up with Kilran's fleet and Nox in two days – Quinn, coordinate with Kilran and draw up battle tactics. Vette, you will keep an eye on intelligence reports and coordinate with the Minister and Keeper." Badesh turned to Nine and Vector. "Agents, you will fly ahead and do a reconnaissance mission on Illum. I will send you the coordinates of the Revanite base. If you can infiltrate the base without being noticed… even the better. I leave all the operative decisions to you, contact me as soon as possible."

"What about us?" inquired Theron.

"You will stay aboard the Fury and scour through the SIS-channels; perhaps you can identify other Revanites, in case that this operation fails."

"My Lord, might I suggest that Tovee flies the XS freighter to the Imperial Fleet? It shouldn't stay on Alderaan." Quinn stated.

"The Glowfly is our ship… we would prefer to fly it ourselves," objected Theron.

"No."

"You are now in the tender care of the Empire," smirked Nine. "Enjoy it… Or don't you trust us?"

Vette didn't like the way Nine taunted Theron and Kalda. Everybody knew that they weren't free to go, it wasn't necessary to rub it in.

"There is no need for sarcasm, Agent," Quinn said haughtily. Vette smiled at him, she was about to say something herself, but he had beaten her to it – she loved that Quinn tried to avoid humiliating Theron and Kalda.

"Yes sir," replied Nine calmly and stood up. "We will leave immediately – my Lord." She bowed towards Badesh who simply nodded. "Major, Sergeant – see you on Illum." With that she and Vector left.

Badesh clasped his hands behind his back. He had a contemplative expression on his face. Then he looked at Theron and Kalda. "Tovee, Quinn and Vette will accompany you to your ship – take what you need and return as fast as possible."

ooOOoo

On their way to the Glowfly Vette registered that Theron and Kalda were unusually quiet. They probably mused over their fate – the longer they stayed with them the more uncertain everything grew for them. Theron had probably envisioned some kind of short, temporary partnership, but it seemed that they had to work longer together than thought. Especially Kalda seemed to worry about what Badesh would decide to do with them.

"Is it really true that you killed his apprentice?" Kalda suddenly asked. They had almost reached hangar in which the freighter stood.

"Yes," answered Quinn curtly.

"She wanted to kill us and so we had to… shoot her," added Vette.

Theron walked in front of them and glance over his shoulder. "You really killed a force-user – just the two of you?"

"It was a necessity." Quinn stated with an even voice. "But there is no need to pretend that you don't know our SIS files, Agent. Surely you are fully aware of our… deeds."

"Come now, most Intelligence files consist of rumours and second-hand intel," replied Kalda, "we are merely wondering if the rumours are true. And your files only mentioned the casualties caused by your missions with Badesh…"

"Darth Tenebra!" interjected Quinn.

"… with Badesh. So, tell me… how many force-users have you actually killed – I mean just the two of you?"

Vette felt uncomfortable. She averted her gaze. "That is nothing to be proud of."

"Quit bullshitting around!" hissed Kalda.

"I killed three," Quinn coolly replied.

"Me too," said Vette and wiped her temple with her right hand.

Theron and Kalda turned on their heels to face them.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Kalda seemed shocked. "Three? Each of you?"

"That is correct," answered Quinn.

"I didn't even know that force users could be killed by normal people!"

"That's what they want you to believe," Theron put his hand on Kalda's shoulder. "They all seem so omnipotent and almost invulnerable. But the truth is that they are mortal like the rest of us." He looked Vette straight in the eye. "But of course it takes great skill to even hurt a force user, it is… a testament to your skill."

Vette didn't like the direction the conversation was going. Under the surface of this talk Theron had alluded that he knew that even a Sith as powerful as Badesh could be killed. He was right of course, Badesh had been hurt in the past – he could get hurt again. Theron and Kalda had seen what Badesh was capable of, they knew exactly how dangerous he was and that he could seriously hurt the Republic; with his individual power and his position in the Empire. Vette liked Theron and Kalda, she respected them and she didn't like the thought that she couldn't trust them. She wanted to trust them, she wanted to be friends with them.

They had reached the Glowfly. Theron pulled the hatch open and entered. Vette waited until everybody else was in the ship before she stepped in. She had no choice; trust was good but control was better. Vette felt a lump forming in the throat as she followed Kalda into her room and watched how she packed a few things. Quinn and Theron were in the other room.

"Kalda?"

"Yes?"

"You asked me on Alderaan to do you a favour… could I ask the same of you?" Vette knitted her hands together.

"What?" Kalda put a few shirts into a bag and then sat slowly down on her bed. She frowned at Vette.

"Should you try to capture or kill me… make it quick. I don't want to suffer. I have been in republic custody once and well, frankly they wanted to punish the traitorous Twi'lek. I assume you feel the same; I promise you that I will see to it that you won't end up in an imperial torture chamber – please do the same for me."

"Agreed…" Kalda said hesitantly and stood up again. She packed the rest and after they had met up with Theron and Quinn they left. As soon as they had cleared the hangar Tovee started the engines and flew with the Glowfly into the blue alderaanian sky. Kalda and Theron watched from the observation lounge how their ship was flown into the heart of the enemy fleet. Nobody said a word.

ooOOoo

A few hours later the Fury was on its way to Illum. Vette was standing sitting in the conference room with her feet on the table and scrolled through the newest Intelligence reports. So far nothing had turned up, but that didn't surprise Vette – after all the Revanites had no reason to get alarmed. But that would most probably change after Illum. She went to the commstation and began to write a program to track down movements in the intelligence databanks that weren't consistent with the day-to-day accesses. Usually it would be very difficult to write a useful program with such open parameters, but since it only had to work for the duration of the Illum-operation it might just work.

As she worked on algorithms Vette fleetingly thought to ask Theron for help. He was a far better slicer and programmer than she, but Vette didn't think that it was a particularly good idea to let a former SIS-Agent have a peek at the imperial databanks.

Finally she got the program working and decided to look after Theron and Kalda who were working at the main commstation in the middle of the Fury.

"How are things on your end?" Vette asked and beamed at them.

Theron looked up from his data pad. "Slow –we don't have full access to the SIS databanks; they change the codes in regular intervals and…"

"Long story short – nothing has come up." Kalda said calmly.

"Okay…" answered Vette and tried to think of something to say to them. Nothing came to mind. "I, uh, will check on Quinn."

"Wait – I need to talk to your boss…" said Theron hastily.

Something was strange about the way he… blushed? Vette also registered that Kalda frowned as she looked at her colleague. "He is in his quarters – meditating I think."

"Right… I will…" Theron didn't finish the sentence, instead he walked briskly towards Badesh's quarters.

Vette made briefly eye contact with Kalda, she had a worried look about her.

"Are you alright?"

Kalda blinked and crossed her arms. "Yes… I think so… I would like to discuss strategies with Major Quinn. Do you mind if I accompany you to the cockpit?"

"Not at all, come along!" Vette smiled at her.

Quinn was hunched over a small map of Illum, he was tipping something on a data pad as they entered. For a brief moment his lips curled up in a coy smile as he saw Vette. But as soon as he saw that Kalda had followed her he snapped in his usual rigid posture.

"Major, I just wanted to know what plans you have made for Agent Heian and myself. Are we going to be deployed at all?" inquired Kalda.

"Yes, we can't spare any manpower. Darth Nox needs back-up, as far as I know he only has one apprentice – you and Vette will act as his Lieutenants. Grand Moff Kilran and I agree that Darth Nox will lead a small and swiftly moving strike force while Darth Tenebra will lead the bulk of the imperial forces in a frontal attack. Agent Heian and myself will support him."

"Is there a reason for this division?" Kalda frowned.

"Of course there is," replied Quinn haughty. "Agent Heian seems to be far more affected by the Dread Force than you; and Vette also has a higher resistance against Darth Nox' powers than myself."

"I see," Kalda simply answered.

Vette studied the map. She didn't like the outlook of being in a team with Darth Nox, but Quinn was right of course. It made perfectly sense to put her and a fanatical former SIS-agent together in the care of an insane man who got off on driving people mad and letting them plug their own eyes out in terror… it seemed that it was another Wednesday in the service of the Sith Empire.