When they met up with the others on the imperial base on the imperial controlled Landing Hook Seven, Vette gestured Jaesa to follow her in a quiet corner.

"Listen, I won't continue with the challenge," the Twi'lek began, "I had a talk with him and… well it seems very cruel to deceive him in that fashion."

Jaesa was obviously surprised, she looked at Vette and asked: "Are you serious? Come on, it's just a game, it will be fun…"

Vette shook her head. "I can't do it, Quinn is suffering, Jaesa. He is lonely and actually enjoyed talking to me, he said so himself. Imagine that! Capt'n Stuffy said that he liked talking to the insufferable mouthy Twi'lek! If he found out that I just followed a challenge he would be devastated." She omitted her suspicion that Quinn was interested in her, Vette thought that was a private matter.

The former Jedi slowly nodded. "I see, you're right of course. Strange, I hadn't thought about his feelings when I posed the challenge. Let me correct that." She closed her eyes and had a concentrated look in her face.

"Wait, what are you doing?"

"I'm reaching out through the force and see for myself. I never searched his feeling, Quinn just seemed too boring… wait… yes, there he is."

Vette was unsure how to react to Jaesa's attempt to understand Quinn. By the stars! I've grown protective of him! Well, I've discovered that there is a human being under his icy exterior… She looked around the corner and saw Quinn standing in front of a computerstation, he was tipping something into the machine, next to him stood Pierce doing the same thing. Suddenly he started to rub his temples, visibly uneasy.

"Stop it Jaesa, he feels that somebody is in his head!"

"Almost there, yes, there is a lot of self-hatred and guilt. You're right, he is lonely and almost desperate. But there is one part in his mind that's brighter… it's the imperial navy, and… us. What the…"

"I said stop it!" said Vette urgently. Quinn looked now paler than usual. But before Jaesa could reply or even react he simply lost consciousness and fell hard on the floor.

Pierce reacted quickly, he took a knee next to the Captain and felt his pulse. Vette rushed towards them.

"His pulse is through the roof," murmured Pierce in his typical growl. "Medic!"

Within seconds two soldier with a stretcher carried Quinn to the medical station. Vette, Jaesa and Pierce followed them. They stood next to the bedside while a medic scanned the man lying on the bed. To their surprise mere moments later Solange appeared in the room. At first sight she seemed calm, but the way she stared at Quinn let on that she was at least worried.

"Wow, you're quick," remarked Vette, "how did you know that something happened?"

"I'm keeping tabs on each of you, we've formed a bond through the force and I could feel that something was awry," answered the Sith frowning.

"Master, I'm sorry," whispered Jaesa so quietly that they hardly heard her. "I had a look at his mind and then he suddenly collapsed. I think I caused this."

"Strange, a simple mind probing shouldn't cause this. Was it hard to get into his mind? Did you have to push your way through?" asked Solange, her frown deepening.

"Why… yes, I had to concentrate real hard and just after I got through he went down. What does it mean, Ma… my Lord?"

"It means that somebody put a force blockade in his head! Damn him! FUCK!" she yelled so loud that even Pierce flinched.

"What's the matter, m'Lord?" he asked.

"There is a high probability that Baras messed with his head and put a blockade in there to prevent that anybody would discover what he had done. I assume he wanted to make sure that neither Jaesa or myself would learn of Quinn's assassination attempt."

"Baras? Are you sure?" asked Pierce, suddenly agitated.

"He told me today that he couldn't remember his conversation with Baras when he decided to betray us," said Vette with a firm voice. "Quinn suspected that he had force-persuaded him, but he wasn't sure."

"What?" Solange moved right in front of Vette. "Why on earth wouldn't he tell me if he was coerced into trying to kill me?"

"Who would've believed him? Quinn theorised that Baras worked with doubts that were already there, it's his own responsibility that he did what he did."

Solange groaned. "For the love of the Emperor, non-force users shouldn't theorise about the force! With the force everything is possible! Baras was a skilled mindfucker, he wouldn't need premade doubts to make somebody do something!"

Pierce narrowed his eyes. "Are you sure? You almost choked Quinn to death, we almost kicked the living daylights out of him when you told us what had happened. Never in all that time you felt that the old geezer was pulling Quinn's strings?"

"There is only one way to find out," said Solange. She went to the bedside and shoved the medic out of the way. The Sith clasped her hands together and entered a trance.

Vette watched her boss and hoped desperately that the Sith would find traces of Baras messing with Quinn's head. At the same time she was conflicted about the outcome, should Solange confirm that the Captain was indeed force-persuaded to do the deed it would cast a rather large shadow on their little group. All this time I was talking about my newfound 'family' and at the first sign of trouble in the paradise we chose to drop Quinn without even considering that something was wrong. Damn it, even from beyond his grave Baras managed to make her miserable! She averted her gaze from the bedside and stared at her feet. Just because Quinn was a sometimes a jerk and a pedant we abandoned him despite all these times when we saved each other's asses. Countless times their medic had saved their lives, she particularly remembered how he even 'saved' her back on Nar Shaddaa. It was an occurrence she had almost forgotten or rather chose to let fade away.

Shortly after Quinn had joined Solange they had been called to Nar Shaddaa to help out imperial troops in Shadow Town. First she didn't like the prospect of having another companion, she and Solange were a fine team and the rigid way Quinn conducted his business made her feel like he was a foreign body. So naturally she didn't listen to him when he cautioned her against wandering off in the imperial prison where Solange was interrogating a captured Jedi. Vette became soon bored after watching Solange for seemingly endless hours staring at the Jedi, fighting some kind of mental battle and decided to go for a walk. Quinn was reading a data pad and didn't seem to notice that she left. Vette strolled through the cell block for a few minutes.

"What do we have here? An escaped prisoner?" said suddenly a voice behind her. Vette turned around and saw two imperial guards.

"If I were a prisoner trying to escape, do you really think that I would lazily stroll down the corridor?" mocked Vette. "I'm with a Sith Lord, guys, so beat it."

"Mind you tongue, alien filth!" said the taller of the guards dangerously low. "There are many cells here, you would disappear and nobody would ever hear of you again."

Vette got a little scared, they were right and she had to admit that she had lost her orientation amidst all these same-looking cell blocks. But there was no way that she should bow down to these idiots. "You can try, sweetie, but you will regret it!"

"Indeed you will," sounded another voice behind her. Quinn had appeared out of nowhere. The guards remained quiet and turned to leave. Vette thought that the matter was solved, but Quinn stepped forward and yelled: "You haven't been dismissed!"

The guards snapped at attention and replied: "Sir!"

"Apologise to Vette," he ordered to her utter surprise. Vette was used to racial slur and didn't think that anybody would give a wombrat's ass about it. But obviously Quinn wasn't ready to let it slide.

"Please accept our sincerest apologies, Ma'am," said one of the guard through gritted teeth.

"I forgive you," said Vette in the most condescending way possible.

"Dismissed!" said Quinn and the two guards disappeared as quickly as possible.

Vette beamed at the Captain. "Thanks, Captain! That was satisfying!"

Quinn denoted a bow and replied: "Don't mention it."

They returned to the lounge and resumed the waiting. Quinn picked up his data pad and read on, while Vette observed him. She knew that the guards wouldn't possibly been able to actually make her disappear, at least not completely, and while the situation was an iteration of many other occurrences she noted a stark difference: This time somebody had insisted on her dignity as a sentient being. Strange that it had to be a stiff, boring imperial prick that had done something so… elemental for her. But Quinn's strict and aggravating behaviour in the following weeks caused her to see this act as a coincidence with no consequence.

She lifted her gaze again to watch if Solange was still meditating. What she saw now shocked her: Vette had seen Undead raised from their graves, large Sandmonsters, unbelievable fights between Jedi and Sith and yet nothing disturbed her more to see Darth Solange weep. Nobody said a word, the Sith hastily wiped her eyes and returned to her companions.

"Quinn had a force block in his mind, I guess it was Baras but it's impossible to be sure," she said with an even voice, nothing betrayed her inner upheaval. "I lifted it, we have to wait for Quinn to wake up before we can investigate further."

"Are you sure you can wait, love?" asked Pierce with a low voice and caressed Solange's cheek with his right hand. "We have to know…"

Solange nodded, tears welling up in her eyes. "Medic!" she shouted. "Medic! Use some adrenals, wake this man up this instant!"

The imperial doctor blanched and immediately prepared a syringe, in a matter of seconds Quinn opened his eyes, groaning. Vette touched his hand slightly and said in her usual cheery way: "Wakey-wakey, Capt'n, time to shine!"

Quinn was visibly confused to see the whole crew standing around him. "My Lord? What happened? Why am I in the medical bay?"

Solange pushed Vette away and looked Quinn straight in the eye. "Do you remember what transpired when Baras ordered you to kill me?"

"I… I do! My memory was hazy before, but I remember now!" Quinn sat up, he was exited in a way Vette had never seen before. The impeccable Captain seemed nervous and unsure and yet there was something like happiness about him. "Darth Baras contacted me and ordered me to kill you. And I… I refused and then he simply gestured with his right hand… and suddenly I felt like it was the right thing to kill Darth Solange. After our conversation I had a realised that I've lost about two hours in a conversation that only took about 10 minutes."

Solange stared at him, then she started shouting: "You moron! Why didn't you tell me that you suspected that you've been manipulated? I almost killed you… I… you made us miserable!"

Quinn let her anger wash over him and replied in a weary manner: "Who would've believed such a convenient story? And I knew that there had to be something for Baras to work with – I was weak!"

Solange put her hand on Quinn's shoulder and squeezed it. "Quinn, you didn't punish yourself, you punished me with your silence. Your alleged betrayal antagonised me in ways I never thought possible."

"I'm sorry, for everything," said Quinn, his voice was thick with tears. "I failed you, my Lord."

"Shut your damn trap, Captain!" snarled Pierce. "You failed us all – because you were rather wallowing in self-pity than telling us the truth! For fuck's sake, I almost stomped you to death!"

"Yeah right, LT, you would've believed him, wouldn't you? By the stars, you beat him almost senseless the minute Quinn returned from the transponder station," snapped Vette.

Pierce yelled something about Solange's honour and Vette replied in kind, they only fell silent when they saw how Jaesa approached Quinn and gave him a light kiss on his right cheek. "Welcome back, Malavai."

An awkward silence fell on them. Nobody knew how to proceed from this point on. Quinn's professionalism saved them from the embarrassing calmness when he smoothed his uniform and stated in his usual clear voice: "I will return to my duties, my Lord. We still haven't uploaded all the gathered data."

"Yay, Capn't Quinn to the rescue," beamed Vette and hugged him with all her might. "Please don't look at me with this grateful look in your eyes, I already miss the reprimanding one."

Instead of getting angry or distant Quinn smilingly replied: "You will get that soon enough, Vette."

"Don't think I'm letting you do all the work," growled Pierce, "you would hog all the glory of datastreaming for yerself!"

A week later they had stabilised Makeb and Darth Solange was hailed for her exemplary work for the Empire. On their journey to Dromund Kaas, where Solange was to be debriefed by Darth Marr Vette was surprised by a eardrum-shattering scream. The crew rushed towards the source of the ruckus, only to find Solange in her quarters – her new baby-blue quarters with stuffed cute animals. Solange turned towards Vette, but the Twi'lek just shook her head and pointed at Jaesa who grinned broadly. "I win!" Explaimed the former Jedi.

"Oh, you will regret that!" yelled Solange, now positively laughing and threw a fluffy bunny at her apprentice who ducked skilfully.

Vette laughed also and decided to congratulate Jaesa on her completed challenge – perhaps a nice drink in the mess hall to celebrate? She went straight to the replicator to check wheter it had still alcoholic beverages stored when she heard how Quinn called out for her. She literally pranced to the Captain and saluted in a mocking way.

"Aye, aye, Capn't! What is it?"

Quinn sighted and simply gave her a small package.

"A gift? For me? Uh, I LOOOVVEEE GIFTS!" she said and unpacked the small parcel. It contained a small quadratic glass cube, in the middle was a little red leaf encased. She recognised it, it was the plant from Makeb.

"Thank you for everything, Vette," said Quinn in is usual rigid manner.

"Oh boy, you're not condoling me – at least try to be, uh, cheerful." She looked at the leaf, it was a rather ordinary one, but that was hardly the point. With a calmer voice Vette continued: "That's a nice gift, Quinn. Thanks."

The Captain nodded and returned to his duties. And for a short moment Vette regretted that she hadn't gone through with the challenge, perhaps a date would've been nice. She hesitated shortly and followed Quinn into the cockpit.

The End