Badesh sat on his bed and was looking at the small toy farmer with dried blood on it. He tried to recall his last battle when he heard that somebody knocked on his door. Quinn and especially Vette would have simply entered, it could only be Theron – Kalda had no reason to visit him.

"Enter," he said in a firm voice.

As suspected it was Theron who stood in the doorway. Badesh turned his gaze away and stared again at the toy figure. Finally Theron cleared his throat and stepped into the room. He the door slid close behind him.

"I… I just wanted to talk about, hm, our actions in the Medbay," he stammered.

Badesh turned his attention once again to Theron. "Yes?"

"It was a mistake and I… well, I just wanted to make clear that it was a one-time thing."

"So, you don't want sex with me anymore?" Badesh blankly asked. He wasn't surprised, he wasn't… he was a very deranged man… No, he wasn't surprised that Theron didn't wish to be touched by him anymore. Theron blushed and to see him squirm like that aroused Badesh. The very thought that he had defiled… pleasured the only child of the Jedi Grand Master added to his excitement.

"Yes… that's right. It was a moment of weakness on my part and I don't intend to repeat it. You are not what I expected and…"

"A pity, but I understand," interjected Badesh. Against his will he felt sorrow.

"It is only a question of time anyway before our ways part anyway… but I envy you I really do. You will always have Vette and Quinn."

Badesh was slightly surprised about Therons statement. How had he guessed that he was saddened? "You are mistaken, I will always have Vette and Quinn – that is true, but not like that. I would never… spoil them."

"You mean… you have never... You didn't sleep with neither of them?" Theron stared at Badesh, he wiped across his face with his right hand.

"No." Why was Theron repeating what he had already stated?

"But you love them! You are a Sith! Why in the galaxy wouldn't you act on your passions?"

Badesh levitated the small toy and let his fly into his palm. Should he answer? It certainly wasn't wise to talk to a republican agent like that, but he felt the urge to say it lout. Perhaps he could better understand why he hadn't acted on his feelings? "Do you know how rare it is to meet somebody has isn't a cynic or hard-boiled to the point that they don't care anymore? Vette cares more than anybody that I have ever met, she even cares about her opponents. Quinn is doing his best to appear to be inhuman and cold, but he also cares more than he likes to admit."

"I guess you're right… they both aren't cold-blooded… but how does that answer my question?"

Badesh stood up and showed Theron the farmer in his palm. "I on the other hand wallow in the terror and pain I'm spreading; even now I like to think about the bloodbath in House Organa. Other Sith might say the same, but they don't mean it. They don't thrive on agony as do I, they only enjoy the power it brings." Badesh returned to his bed and sat cross-legged on it. "I can't act on my passions because I could hurt Quinn and Vette and I… I want to hurt them. I dream often of biting them and licking their blood." Badesh felt how his arousal rose again. "But I… I can't. I want to keep them safe and enjoy their company as long as possible."

Badesh fully expected that Theron would be shocked and disgusted, but to his amazement he saw something different on his face: Sadness and dismay.

"I don't want to presume to know you or your companions well enough… but I think that you made a false conclusion. You said earlier that you don't want to 'spoil' Vette and Quinn, you called yourself even a 'disturbed individual' once. You said that you are afraid to hurt the ones you love… but I have yet to see proof that you actually would hurt a lover. You, uh, were very tender to me and caressed me in ways I would never…" Theron blushed again. "I think you mistake your desire to be close to someone, to be united with your loved ones with actual violence. You didn't hurt me, and I would venture a guess that you would be even more tender with Vette and Quinn."

Badesh was completely thunderstruck. "What?"

"I repeat: I'm nothing but a 'republic worm' – and yet you weren't violent against me. Why should you be different to the one's your respect and admire?"

"I did bite you… I wouldn't call that 'tender'!" Badesh narrowed his eyes. Theron dared to speak in a condescending way because he had shown his weak side! "You don't know me and what I'm capable of!"

Theron remained cool. "You really think that you were rough? But hey, if you feel compelled to threaten me just because I wanted… okay, I don't know what I wanted. You are right of course, it's none of my business."

With these words Theron left. Badesh still sat on his bed and got angry at himself. He shouldn't have talked to Theron! He had made a fool of himself because he had lost his cool! And yet… Against his will Badesh was still fascinated by the idea that Theron actually thought that he could have an intimate relationship with his friends. He let himself fall backwards on the bed and stared at the ceiling. What if Theron was right?

In this moment the door slid open and Quinn entered, Badesh quickly straightened up. Quinn held a data pad in his hand and put a small holocomm-device on Badesh's desk.

"My Lord, Grand Moff Kilran and I have settled on a strategy. May I show you how we recommend to proceed?"

Badesh was still musing about Theron's suggestions and slowly nodded without averting his gaze from Quinn. Quinn activated the holo-device. He looked tired and at the same energized as he laid out the ground plans of the Illum operation. Badesh was listening to Quinn's explanations and let his gaze wander over the other man's figure. Every movement, the way he carried himself was very familiar to Badesh. He felt completely calm.

"Excellent; I trust in your judgement, Malavai. We will enact your plan."

"It wasn't my plan alone – Grand Moff Kilran…" he replied stiffly.

"Maybe, I don't care who came up with it. But if you think it is the best strategy it most certainly is," Badesh retorted. He felt a slight prickle and felt heat crawl up his cheeks as he continued to stare at Quinn.

"You honour me, my Lord," the faintest smile was visible on Quinn's lips.

Badesh suddenly felt nervous; he rose to his feet and looked out of the window. They were on the hyper lane and the Fury passed the stars so fast that they were but a blur.

"You may call me Badesh when we are alone," he said quietly and turned to face Quinn.

"I respect you too much for such an informal address, my Lord." Quinn shifted from one leg to another.

"Do you think that I call you by your first name out of disrespect?" inquired Badesh. He wasn't annoyed about Quinn's reluctance to employ a more familiar address, but he felt the need to clarify that he… respected him too.

"No, of course not. But you are an esteemed member of the Dark Council while I am nothing than a humble servant to your cause. It is your prerogative to call me by my first name." Quinn replied in his slightly arrogant intonation.

Badesh lost heart. "I see…"

"However… if you think that I have earned the honour to call you by your given name I would comply," Quinn added somewhat halting.

A hot, slowly growing feeling in his chest surprised Badesh. He felt… happy and at the same time he was a little overtaxed – the silence between felt heavy but Badesh couldn't come up with anything to say. What would Vette do? Make a joke of course… but everything he thought off seemed inappropriate.

"Will that be all?" asked Quinn.

"… yes, thank you," Badesh lamely replied.

Quinn denoted a bow and turned on his heel and left.

ooOOoo

Dinner was as always: Vette bantered and tried to get Quinn to respond to her puns. Badesh was content, he rarely participated in a conversation, but he enjoyed to listen to Vette.

"… but little did I know that Capt'n Crazy here would object against a little pet gizka!" Vette nudged Quinn and beamed at Theron.

"How dare you," quipped Quinn dryly, "I'm a Major."

"Uh, sassy!" laughed Vette. "You finally found the imperial navy's manual for back-talk, didn't you?"

Quinn lifted his hands in the air to show his defeat. "I'm not too proud to acknowledge when I'm outsassed."

Theron smiled. "You two should get your own show on the holonet."

"Good to know that we could always fall back to the entertainment industry should our gig with the Empire end," replied Vette.

Badesh didn't find the last comment amusing. It reminded him too much on how little Vette cared about imperial values. But he was immediately soothed when she turned to him and chirped: "No worries, boss – we would take you with us; you hardly say anything but then it's always a zinger!"

"Yeah, I can attest to that," added Theron.

Badesh didn't miss Vette's perplexed expression. And Theron blushed on top of it.

"You can?" asked Vette with a smirk.

Badesh was curious what Theron would answer. It satisfied him to see him shifting uncomfortable in his seat.

"Well, yeah – back on the Glowfly he was the life of the party!"

Sweet anger began to emanate from Kalda. She probably recalled how he had bullied her to call her 'my Lord'. Badesh liked the direction the conversation was going. But to his dismay Kalda didn't say anything, she simply stood up, put her plate into the refresher and left the mess hall.

Badesh waited for a few moments and followed her. He was curious how she would vent her frustration and anger. Perhaps she would use the cargo bay for exercise?

He felt that she was in the crew quarter and silently approached and was looking forward for a heated argument over imperial and republic values. Badesh was confident that he could rile her up even more.

Kalda sat on the floor and was leaning against the wall. She held a small holopicture in her hands. It showed an underage Togruta. Kalda reached out as if she wanted to caress the small bluish figure, put she simply put her hand over the projector and let the Togruta disappear. Then she lifted her hand again and the child reappeared.

"Is this child your sibling?"

Kalda jerked her head upwards and narrowed her eyes. "I should have known that you couldn't resist my misery."

"Or is it you own child?" Badesh stepped into the room.

"Do you really think that I'm going to answer your questions?" she retorted.

"No, it doesn't matter anyway. Whoever this child is, he or she motivates you to keep doing the Republic's dirty work."

"Yeah right… the simple alien woman has but one reason to fight against the Empire – a helpless child. Has it ever dawned to you that my motivations could be based on ideology?"

Badesh was intrigued by her response. She defied his expectations almost every single time they spoke. "You misunderstood me, I wasn't degrading you by tying your motivations to emotions; as a Sith I know that feelings are much more powerful than any intellectual explanation. Through passion one gains strength."

"So, you are telling me that your comment earlier was some kind of back-handed compliment?" Kalda put the holopicture back in her bag. "The scary Sith lowers himself to relate to the SIS-agent? Gee thanks! Now I have seen everything."

Badesh was confused. He hadn't complimented her! He had merely commented on her behaviour. "No, that's not…"

Kalda walked right in front of him and put her hand on her hip. "I think your sarcasm-detector is broken… my Lord." Then she walked out of the crew quarters, leaving Badesh puzzled in her wake.

After a few moments he realised that she hadn't answered his initial question who the child was.