Okay, I know that this particular portion of the Sith Warrior story has been done to death, but I feel that this particular moment is very important in defining the Wrath's character, so that's why this is here.

Chapter 8: In Their Midst

Vette p.o.v.

Vette's eyes adjusted to the near blinding light in front of her as she woke from her slumber, finding herself in a completely unfamiliar room.

Rubbing the sleep from the corners of her eyes, and immediately regretting it as her arms were unusually heavy, Vette looked around the room that she was in. Wherever she was, it wasn't the Fury.

A set of monitors dotted the far wall, each with their own incomprehensible layout of numbers and lines on their display. An opaque, glass, door covered the entrance to the room, preventing her from seeing anyone who may be looking at her. A looping beep was emitting from another monitor above her head. Looking, Vette very quickly realised the rhythmic, high-pitched, noise was the machine monitoring her heartbeat, as she noticed a device attached to her index finger.

Swinging her legs over the side of the bed, Vette sat up and found her body immediately regretting the sudden movement as she felt an excruciating pain in her side.

'You really should be taking it a lot slower than that,' chuckled a familiar voice. Looking around, Vette tried to identify the source of her husband's dulcet tone as the door slid open and the zabrak walked in, 'You took quite a beating in your fight with Draahg,' Artagesh explained, 'I'm guessing he thought you weren't worth his lightsaber so he attacked you the old fashioned way.'

'Yeah,' Vette muttered, remembering the encounter, 'that seems about right.'

'Luckily for you, however, you seem to be more-or-less okay,' Artagesh explained, clearly trying to keep his wife positive, 'with the exception of some bruises and a cracked rib, you got away more or less unscathed. Pretty soon you'll be back to full health.'

Vette lightly smiled, happy to hear some good news, but it quickly faded when a more concerning thought came to mind. 'What about the others?' she asked, looking up at her spouse with concern, 'are they okay?'

Artagesh shuffled his feet, proving that Vette was right to be worried. 'Quinn is on his way to making a full recovery,' he explained, 'most of the lightsaber strikes were only minor injuries. Broonmark took a pretty serious beating but, as expected, he's already up and moving,' Vette smirked at the concept of Broonmark being confined to a medbay, raging as he was dropped in a kolto tank to heal, considering that that it was pretty much impossible to get even the smallest amount of kolto on him.

'And the others?' Vette asked, gesturing for him to continue as she knew how badly the others had been beaten up.

'Pierce took some pretty bad hits from a lightsaber,' Artagesh explained, trying to stay positive, 'but he should be up and moving in about a week or so.'

'That's good,' Vette sighed, somewhat relieved, 'and Jaesa?'

Artagesh didn't respond straight away, which his wife knew was a bad sign, 'Can you walk?' he asked, stepping over to his wife's side and offering his hand, prompting the twi'lek to take it and pull herself to her feet. Allowing her husband to lead her down a medcenter hallway, which was lit like basically every Imperial spaceship in existence, Vette slowly, but surely, pieced together that they were probably on Vaiken Spacedock. After all, when in need of assistance, go to the Fleet. Or the Citadel on Dromund Kaas. Either one.

As Artagesh led her down the hallway, Vette looked into several other wards, seeing Quinn sitting up in his bed, Broonmark pacing his ward, clearly ready to leave, and Pierce lying on his back, wrapped in bandages, awake, but not exactly moving.

After walking past Pierce's ward, Artagesh stopped outside the next ward and paused, turning to face his wife, 'Jaesa will hopefully be okay,' he explained, not really helping his wife relax. 'She only got hit by Draahg's lighsaber once, but it was pretty devastating, she's lucky she didn't instantly die from it.'

'Not making me feel better,' Vette groaned, pinching the bridge of her nose in disbelief.

'Sorry,' the zabrak sighed before leading her into Jaesa's ward, where she was met with the sight of an unconscious human female rigged up to several machines.

'Aside from the hit that she took from Draahg, her stab wound from Belsavis had reopened, making her lose even more blood. Considering that she hadn't waited for the wound to seal and had engaged a superior fighter in combat, the pressure built up and she collapsed from sheer exhaustion.' Vette walked up to Jaesa, unable to take her eyes off her friend as she slipped her hand from Artagesh's grasp.

'She should be fine,' Artagesh promised, resting his hand on Vette's shoulder, 'but I doubt she'll wake up for a while.'

Vette nodded slightly before turning back to Artagesh, 'How're you holding up?' she asked, desperately trying to change the subject.

Artagesh smiled, 'I'm fine,' he reassured her, gripping her forearms, but refusing to make eye-contact with her. 'Don't worry about me.'

Vette looked at the zabrak, having learnt to recognise when her husband wasn't being honest, 'Artagesh,' she began, scowling at him, 'tell me what's wrong.'

Artagesh rolled his eyes, 'Nothing physical, Vette, Draahg is nowhere near as good as me.'

Vette set her hand on Artagesh's face and turned him towards her, 'What's wrong? You can tell me.'

The zabrak sighed, looking away, 'I can't stand to look at you, Vette,' he explained, 'Jaesa told me what happened after Quesh… what I said to you…'

'Look, Artagesh,' the twi'lek quickly interjected, desperate, 'I'm sure you're upset… but you saved my life, and I've forgiven you. So please, can we just move on?'

Artagesh stared at his wife, dumbstruck, before smiling with relief, 'Alright then,' he sighed, wrapping his wife in his arms and hugging her close, 'moving on it is.'

Vette smiled, hugging him back, 'Good.'

A light on Artagesh's gauntlet beeped, prompting the Wrath to growl, 'I wonder who that is?' Artagesh sighed, releasing his wife, 'we'll have to finish this later.'

Vette smiled, 'Hey, I'm not going anywhere.' Artagesh smiled before walking out the ward and back down the hallway, leaving Vette to pace outside the wards of her friends.

Artagesh p.o.v.

'Where have you been, Wrath?' Servant One demanded the second he and Servant Two came up on the Fury's holoterminal.

'Calm down Servant One,' Artagesh calmly replied, staring the Emperor's servants down, 'it's been two days.'

'Two days that could have been used serving our Emperor,' the pureblood spat, 'instead you've been loitering on the fleet's station for no apparent reason.'

'I've been on the fleet because Baras's lapdog found us on Hoth and nearly killed my crew,' Artagesh groaned, rubbing his forehead, 'do you not understand that?'

'A hindered wrath is no wrath at all,' Servant Two droned, in his usual cryptic tone.

'You have wasted enough time on the Fleet,' Servant One yelled. 'We think we have located our emperor,' he announced, 'we believe Baras has imprisoned our master on the planet Voss. It was only discovered recently, and the Republic and Empire have been engaged in a political struggle to convince the planet's neutral natives to ally with them. The emperor invaded the world before… now he has returned, and we believe Baras had something to do with it.'

'So,' Artagesh interrupted, 'you want me to go to a backwater planet, which I've never heard of, leave my crew unattended and go looking for the Emperor because of a hunch?'

Servant One chuckled, 'It's not a hunch,' he insisted, 'our emperor is on Voss, and you will free him from Baras's prison.'

Artagesh sighed, 'What about my crew?'

'They're stabilised, are they not?' he asked. Artagesh nodded, 'Then they will be fine. You do not need them to free our lord, for you are his Wrath.'

Artagesh looked at the floor in frustration, when a call came up on his gauntlet, 'Yes?'

'Hey, it's me,' came Vette's voice.

'Is there a reason you're calling on our personal frequency?' he asked mischievously.

'Because I just got out of bed and I can't be bothered walking to the ship,' she explained, prompting Artagesh to roll his eyes.

'What is it?'

'Look, I can't guarantee this frequency is secure,' Vette replied, 'meet me back in my ward, and I'll tell you everything.'

Artagesh raised his eyebrow, despite the fact he knew his wife couldn't see him, 'Alright, I'll be there soon,' he promised before shutting off his comlink. He turned back to the Emperor's Hand, 'Sorry guys, lady's calling, gotta go.'

'Do not waste time, Wrath,' Servant One demanded, 'get to Voss as soon as possible.'

'Unleash our master from the mortal plane,' Servant Two exclaimed, prompting Artagesh to shut off the console.

'Those two are freaking weird,' he sighed before walking off the ship and towards Vette's ward.

Vette p.o.v.

'What is it, Vette?' Artagesh inquired the second he walked back into his wife's ward, prompting the twi'lek to look up from the astromech she had positioned in the corner.

'White noise for five minutes, then leave,' she ordered it, turning to her husband.

'White noise?' Artagesh asked with a raised eyebrow, 'what's going on?'

Vette looked around to make sure no one was listening before turning back to her husband, 'Listen, 2V mentioned it the other day, but I thought he was just being paranoid,' she explained.

'What?' Artagesh interjected, much to his wife's annoyance, 'what did he mention?'

'I was getting to that,' Vette groaned, rolling her eyes. 'Okay, while you were on Belsavis, 2V said to me that he believed he had started detecting messages on an unrecognised frequency, seemingly originating from Baras.'

'Right?' Artagesh nodded, not sure he was liking where this was going.

'Now, because we were on Belsavis, and Baras was looking for his sister there, I'd brushed it off as 2V detecting Baras messaging one of his followers. But I did a little digging just then, since I quickly got bored, and I found something odd…'

Vette held up her holocom and pressed a button, bringing up an image of Baras. 'Keep an eye on the child, he is delusional, believing himself to be the Emperor's Wrath,' the recording ordered, followed by a pause.

'What happened?' Artagesh asked, confused by his former master's pause.

'The recording didn't pick up the other end of the call,' she explained, turning her attention back to the hologram.

'We will need to move up our timetable,' Baras explained, folding his arms, 'if we don't act fast, my former apprentice will fool the Dark Council into believing his will is the emperor's. And we both know that mine is the true will of the emperor.'

'Lying prick,' Artagesh growled through gritted teeth.

'Quiet,' Vette insisted.

'Delay the Wrath as much as you possible,' he ordered, 'kill him if you must, but just remember that you cannot underestimate him.' The hologram flickered and vanished, leaving Vette and Artagesh staring at an empty holocom.

'We need to find out who Baras's mole is,' Artagesh insisted, turning to the door 'but at the same time, I need to get to Voss.'

'Why?' Vette asked, turning her husband back around to look at her.

'The Hand seems to think that I'll find the emperor there,' the zabrak explained, 'and I have no reason to not go.'

'I'll come with,' Vette announced.

'No,' Artagesh demanded, 'you're the only person on this station I can trust, anyone here could be working for Baras. I need you to stay here and try to find them.'

Vette sighed, 'I'll do my best then,' she replied, wrapping her arms around Artagesh and kissing him passionately. Artagesh separated him from her, knowing he was wasting time.

'I'll be back as soon as possible,' he promised, turning and walking out of the room, leaving Vette alone. Not long after, Vette saw the flash of the Fury's engines reach flash into her ward's windows, letting her watch as her husband flew into the depths of space.

2 days later…

Vette lay on her bed, tossing and turning.

Two days of intently watching her monitor for any sign of unauthorised communication, only to be met with an immense feeling of frustration and disappointment.

Whoever Baras's spy was, they had been keeping awfully quiet recently, as if they knew she was looking for them.

Artagesh had been gone for a grand total of sixty hours by that point, without even so much of a holo to tell her he was okay. The twi'lek had considered calling him on multiple occasions, but the last thing she wanted was to call him when he was in the midst of some sort of epic battle in some ancient temple, or something, so she always talked herself out of doing it at the last moment.

Vette lay on the uncomfortable medcenter bed, trying to think of any way she could possibly track a traitor's communications, considering any of her underworld contacts who might actually know how to track untraceable communications.

While taking her thoughts through every potential candidate from Nok Drayen's crew, Vette remembered Risha, and her underworld contacts.

Smiling from the revelation, Vette rolled off the bed and activated her holocom, trying to remember Risha's holofrequency, wondering if she had ever changed it.

'Please have the same frequency,' she breathed as she dialled it in, 'please have the same frequency.'

Hitting the call button, Vette stood up straight, waiting for her friend to come up on the communicator, only to be met with disappointment when she was met with static.

Groaning, Vette put away her holocom before flopping back onto her bed, letting out a sigh before falling asleep.

Another 2 days later…

Artagesh p.o.v.

The Voss Mystic was released from Sel-Makor's grasp, as the dark entity roared before retreating deeper within the Dark Heart. Artagesh went to help the Mystic to his feet, knowing the emperor might need his help. 'No,' the mystic said defiantly, 'this body is expiring anyway, you have no reason to aid it.'

Reluctantly, Artagesh stepped back as the mystic struggled to his feet, 'Listen to me, my Wrath,' the emperor rasped, 'you cannot let Baras's claim as my Voice be accepted by the Dark Council. Go to Corellia, disrupt his power, save the one on the Council who defies him. My Hand will be able to explain the rest.'

'I have a couple things to take care of first,' Artagesh explained, crossing his arms, 'I have reason to believe that Baras has someone on Vaiken Spacedock looking for me. I need to find them before they can threaten my crew.'

The emperor chuckled, 'Your feelings for your slave are wasted,' he laughed, 'there are so many in the galaxy, who are much more powerful than her, who would willingly take her place.'

'Look, do you have any idea who Baras's mole on Vaiken Spacedock is, or shall I just kill the mystic now?' the zabrak demanded.

The mystic shook his head, 'I don't know who threatens you on the Spacedock, my Wrath,' he explained, 'but I fear they're closer to you than you think… now… strike me down, so that I may be reunited with my Hand.'

Artagesh wasn't normally one to kill an unarmed man, but he had grown tired of listening to the emperor ramble on, 'It's not every day you get to kill an emperor,' he noted, as the orange blade of his lightsaber unveiled itself, before he brought it down on his emperor.

1 hour later…

Before Artagesh could board the Fury, he was annoyed to be met by the vision of a mystic that he had met earlier, named Madaga-Ru.

'You have done surprisingly well, Sith,' the Voss noted, walking up to the zabrak. 'I have come to tell you… I have recently experienced a vision, one about you.'

Artagesh rolled his eyes, having quickly grown tired of Voss visions, 'And?'

'In my vision, I saw you on some sort of station, you stood strong, weapons drawn, as mechanical monstrosities approached you, aiming to end your life,' he explained, 'and while I cannot see their face, I can, without a doubt, confirm that someone close to you plans your demise.'

'One of my crew?' Artagesh asked, his curiosity piqued, 'who?'

'The vision ends,' the mystic explained, much to the zabrak's frustration, 'you must be the interpreter.'

'This is not news to me Madaga-Ru,' Artagesh sighed, 'is that it?'

'I'm afraid so,' the Voss replied, 'if I knew more, I would tell you, but unfortunately, that is all.

'Now, leave this world, and remember that I consider you an ally. But do not call upon me again.' Without another word, the vision of the mystic disappeared, and Artagesh was left alone in his ship's docking bay.

Rolling his eyes at the cryptic nature of the Voss, Artagesh turned on his heel and walked onto the ship, instantly dialling his wife's holofrequency, without even considering the Hand.

'Vette, come in,' he called as his twi'lek wife appeared before him, 'how's the crew?'

Vette smiled, 'Everyone's up and moving Artagesh,' she announced, 'we're all ready to get back on the Fury.

'Good,' Artagesh replied, letting his smile show, 'make sure they're ready to board on my arrival, we're heading straight to Corellia.'

'You got it,' Vette replied, shutting off the call. Artagesh had refused to bring up the topic of the traitor, as he didn't want to risk them figuring out that they were on to them. Wasting no more time, the zabrak set the ship's coordinates for the spacedock.

Later…

Artagesh had only just docked at the space station when he heard Broonmark charge aboard the ship and let out a roar that probably translated to "If I never have to go on that stupid spacestation again, it'll be too soon!" Artagesh rolled his eyes as he walked out into the ship's central room, to be met with Quinn marching aboard, a bandaged Lieutenant Pierce in tow.

'How're you holding up Pierce?' the Wrath asked, ensuring his façade was up to hide his suspicions to his soldiers.

'I'll live,' the lieutenant grunted, walking over to the couch and flopping onto it, 'ready to get to Corellia and smash some Republic grunts.'

Quinn appearing at Artagesh's side, 'This is the most exercise he's done since our fight with Draahg,' he explained, 'how was your mission to Voss?'

'Productive,' the zabrak replied, turning to see Vette ensuring Jaesa was able to walk without her. 'Captain,' he called, without looking away from his wife and apprentice, 'bring the Hand up on the holo.'

'Right away, my lord,' Quinn replied, hurrying over to the holoterminal, leaving Artagesh to wander over to the ladies.

'You feeling better Jaesa?' Artagesh asked, looking to his apprentice with concern, 'you were more than a little out of it before.'

'Vette told me, master,' she replied, weakly smiling, 'I'm fine now.'

'Good,' he replied, turning to Vette, 'leave us Jaesa.'

Jaesa smirked, 'Of course, I'll leave you alone.' Jaesa wandered over to the holoterminal, leaving Artagesh to wrap his wife in a hug.

'Do we have any idea who the spy is?' she whispered.

Artagesh looked around to ensure no one was looking at them before speaking, 'A mystic on Voss told me it was one of us,' he explained, causing Vette to pull out of the hug and stare at him.

'Are you sure?' she whispered, looking over to the crew standing at the holoterminal, 'that can't be right, no one here would never betray you!'

'How do we know?' Artagesh demanded, 'in reality Vette, how much do we really know about them? Quinn mentioned on Balmorra that Baras had saved his career, Pierce is a loyal soldier who hasn't really been on the best of terms with us recently. Broonmark might give any excuse to tear me apart, after all, I've been denying him his desire to cause mass bloodshed, and Jaesa… who's to say Baras hasn't been playing mind games with her?'

Vette looked back at her husband, 'I just can't believe that one of our own is plotting against you,' she hissed, 'it just doesn't make sense!'

Artagesh pulled his wife into a kiss, 'I know,' he admitted after parting his lips from hers, 'but for now…' Artagesh released Vette from the embrace and walked over to the holoterminal, 'Bring up the Hand, Quinn, now!'

'Of course, my lord,' the captain quickly replied, dialling the Hand's holofrequency.

'Well done, Wrath,' said Servant One, 'the Emperor is back with the Hand, recovering from his imprisonment. Now, onto more important business: Darth Vowrawn, a member of the Dark Council, is leading Imperial forces on Corellia, and is the only member of the Council who denies Baras's claim of being the Emperor's Voice. Baras wants him eliminated. You are going to protect him.'

'Very well,' Artagesh replied, 'anything else?'

'We'll brief you fully once you arrive on Corellia,' Servant One explained, 'be swift, however, as Baras's forces are already on the move.' Servant One didn't even wait for Artagesh's response, as the communication was closed before he could even comment.

'My lord, I'm afraid we cannot reach Corellia at this time,' Quinn explained before Artagesh could give any orders.

'Why not?' the Wrath demanded, turning to the captain.

'Baras has established a martial law over Corellia, any ship that isn't transmitting the correct signal will be fired upon in seconds.'

'I've never heard of a procedure like that before,' Pierce commented, stroking his chin.

'It's a new procedure,' the captain explained, 'Baras only implemented it recently.'

'So how do we transmit the correct signal?' Artagesh asked, crossing his arms.

'I've located one of Baras's cruisers, patrolling the outskirts of the Core Worlds. It has the signal emitter that we'll need if we're going to get past Baras's martial law.'

'Chances are they won't be willing to give it up,' Pierce noted, 'they won't go down easy, a lot of our fellow soldiers are going to die.'

Artagesh turned to the lieutenant, nodding slightly in approval, 'I tend to agree with the lieutenant,' the zabrak agreed, 'is there no way we can avoid conflict with the crew on the ship?'

Quinn pulled out his datapad and pressed some keys before a hologram came up onto the terminal, 'The ship is using one of the standard designs of the fleet,' he explained, 'however, they've blocked off certain areas, and made adjustments to them. However, I believe I have managed to get my hands of the ship's blueprints, and I think I've found a way for us to get aboard, with as few casualties as possible.'

'Convenient,' Artagesh commented, examining the hologram.

'Quite,' Quinn replied, putting away his datapad. 'It seems that the emergency airlock has almost never been used, and is never guarded,' he explained, pointing out the airlock at the back of the ship, causing the point of interest to turn red. 'If we were to pilot the ship to the emergency airlock, I could guide you through the ship to reach the signal emitter,' he planned, 'just a suggestion… but it would help to expedite things.'

'Of course,' Artagesh decided, 'gather your gear and set a course for this cruiser.'

'Right away, my lord,' Quinn replied, marching off to the bridge as the hologram disappeared off the holoterminal, leaving the rest of the crew to go off on their own.

Vette walked up to Artagesh, watching Quinn walk onto the bridge, 'Be careful,' she whispered into her husband's ear, 'something doesn't feel right about this whole thing.'

'I know,' Artagesh replied, 'why hadn't the Hand mentioned this martial law? It doesn't make sense.'

Vette wandered off to her post, 'Oh well,' she sighed, 'just be careful.' Artagesh was left to watch his wife walk away as he heard the sound of the ship going into hyperspace.

Later…

The Fury docked at the emergency airlock, allowing Artagesh and Quinn to board the ship, glad to see that they hadn't been detected.

'Vette's outdone herself,' Quinn noted, 'I forgot to mention the ship has very good scanners… not quite sure how didn't notice us.'

'Doesn't matter,' Artagesh replied, walking down the hallway, 'lead the way to the signal emitter.'

'Of course,' the captain replied, pulling out his datapad and examining the map of the cruiser. 'This way,' he instructed, running down the hallway, leaving Artagesh to run after him.

As they made their way through the ship, Artagesh started to feel increasingly uneasy. The duo were almost at the emitter, and they hadn't encountered a single crew member. He quickly pushed those thoughts aside, however, as he accepted that Quinn's navigations skills were simply better than he gave him credit for.

Quinn led the zabrak through the ship, leading the mission into a large, circular, room, where he simply stopped, hands behind his back.

Artagesh looked at him with concern, 'Captain?' he cautiously asked, 'why have we stopped?'

Quinn sighed. 'My lord,' he started in his usual monotonous tone, 'I'm afraid that our paths must diverge.'

Artagesh looked back to see a set of blast doors close behind him, sealing shut. 'I knew the bad feeling I had earlier was justified,' he noted, looking back to Quinn.

'Your intuition has always been on point, my lord,' he sighed, turning around. 'It pains me to say that this entire scenario is a ruse,' he explained, 'there's no martial law, and no special signal emitter… Baras is my true master… he had me lure you here to have you killed.' Artagesh pinched the bridge of his nose, hating himself for not seeing the signs.

'I'm going to give you one chance to stop this and come back to the ship, Quinn,' he explained, 'you know who I work for now. You side with Baras, you side against the emperor himself.'

Quinn dryly chuckled, 'The emperor is an absentee landlord,' he retorted, 'Baras has seen to that.'

Artagesh stared at the traitor in disbelief, 'Why?' he demanded. 'After everything we've been through, why side with him?'

Quinn sighed, a hint of sadness in his tone, 'I didn't want to have to choose between the two of you… but he forced my hand and he saved my career by posting me on Balmorra, so I must side with him,' the captain turned back to the Wrath. 'Once you're gone,' he continued, 'your crew will either join Baras, or be killed.'

Artagesh scoffed at the statement, 'Unlike you, Quinn,' he sighed, 'none of them would even think of siding with Baras.'

'Then they will have to die,' the captain replied, 'it's a shame… I liked most of them.' Artagesh examined the captain's face, recognising the look of regret on his face, and decided to make a move.

'I know you don't want to do this, Quinn,' Artagesh insisted, 'come back to the ship and I can protect you from him.'

As if he realised what the Wrath was trying to do, Quinn hardened his expression, 'No more time to waste,' he claimed, pressing a button on his datapad, opening a set of doors behind him to unveil a pair of six foot war droids, each on four legs

'These war droids have been programmed to combat you,' Quinn explained, 'I've been rigorously examining you in battle and I have made note of your strengths and weaknesses. I predict a zero percent chance of their failure.'

Artagesh shook his head, sighing, 'You always did rely too heavily on the numbers, captain,' he noted, igniting his lightsabers.

'You know me well, Artagesh,' Quinn replied, 'goodbye, my lord.'

Wasting no time, Artagesh raised his hand and sent Quinn flying into a wall before hurling his red lightsaber into the head of the war droid on the left before leaping onto the head of the droid on the right and stabbing his orange lightsaber into its chasis. Pulling his other lightsaber out of the other droid's head, the zabrak stabbed the red blade into the droid's chasis as well, before ripping the blades upwards, cleaving the droid in two.

Quickly darting over to the other droid, not bothering to watch the remains of the first droid crumple to the floor, Artagesh swung his orange lightsaber at the droid's front two legs, sending the top of the droid falling to the ground, before spinning and swinging his red lightsaber upwards, ripping through the body of the droid, before swinging both blades at the droid, leaving Quinn to watch a blur of orange and red as the zabrak ripped the droid into a pile of sparking wreckage.

Quinn grunted as he picked himself upwards, horrified by how easily the Sith had torn his droids apart. Artagesh turned to face the captain before gripping him by the throat and pulling him through the air towards him. Releasing Quinn from his grasp, Artagesh watched the captain drop to the ground and gasp for air. He could feel the rage emanating from him this time, and he didn't care.

'I should have known,' Quinn grunted, 'I thought I had programmed the perfect killing machines for you… I was perfectly precise.'

'Something I thought you knew about me Quinn,' Artagesh growled as he watched Quinn get to his feet, 'I can't be defeated by numbers.'

'I see that now,' the human replied, picking himself to his feet while holding his side. 'I am aware there's no reason to express my deep regret… you were right my lord, I didn't want to do this.'

Artagesh glared at the Fury's captain with pure anger, barely noticing that Quinn had braced himself for the coming beating, 'You had your chance,' he spat before focusing on the captain's neck and sending him flying backwards into a wall again, this time gripping his throat with increased pressure, with the captain levitating halfway up the wall. His eyes glowing in anger, Artagesh dropped Quinn to the floor before dashing over to the captain and punching him in the face, sending him tumbling to the ground as he yelped in pain. There was nothing outside of the room for Artagesh, as he repeatedly punching the traitor in the face, venting every ounce of rage and anger that had built up inside him onto the friend who had betrayed him.

Quinn p.o.v.

The second he had seen Artagesh's eyes glow red, Quinn had resigned himself to his fate. The force the zabrak was applying to his neck would have been enough to kill him, had he held him in the air for a second longer. Quinn partially wished that he had died then, as he was then faced with the sight of an incredibly powerful Sith Lord storming up to him before relentlessly punching him into submission. Despite his cries of pain, however, Quinn never begged for his life. His actions had gotten him here, and now he'd have to pay for it.

After blacking out, the first thing Quinn felt was a sharp pain, like a needle, in his thigh. Taking a chance, Quinn squinted through his eyes, which felt like they'd been sealed shut, to see the zabrak standing over him, arms crossed, but a look of slight regret in his eyes.

The human was the first to speak, 'Wh- why am I still alive?' the captain gasped, rolling onto his side.

'Because I spared you,' the Sith explained, not bothering to reach out his hand to help the captain up, 'I will keep you alive, and we will see if you earn my trust again.'

Quinn was flabbergasted. He lifted himself into a kneeling position before finding the right words, 'My lord, I…' he stumbled on his words, 'I'm surprised! Darth Baras would never have forgiven me for such a failure.'

'Understand this Quinn,' the Wrath quickly added on, 'I am not Baras. But until you prove to me that I can trust you, I am under no obligation to protect you from him.'

'Of course, my lord,' the captain replied, finally getting to his feet, 'if you permit me to stay in your charge, I promise that my dedication to you will be absolute.'

'Naturally,' Artagesh replied, turning to walk back to the ship, 'but betray me again, and I won't hesitate to kill you next time.'

'There won't be a next time, my lord,' he swore, 'I promise.'

Artagesh started walking towards the blast doors, forcing them open, 'We'll see.'

As the pair got back to the airlock, Quinn quickly stopped the zabrak, 'My lord,' he called, pulling him to a halt, 'do you intend to tell the others about this?'

Artagesh paused, as if suddenly going into deep thought, 'I'll have to tell Vette,' he explained, 'she was the one who first found out about Baras's mole, so she'll want to know that the situation's been taken care of,' Quinn rolled his eyes, but understood his lord's reasoning. 'But the others… if they knew it would undermine your ability to lead… no, they can't know.'

'Very good, my lord,' not wanting to push his luck any further, Quinn hurried aboard the ship, ready to depart and head for Corellia.

Vette p.o.v.

Lying on the couch in the central room, Vette looked up from her datapad to see Quinn racing onto the bridge, followed by Artagesh, who was notably angry, prompting Vette to swing her legs over the side. 'Did you get the signal emitter?' she asked, causing her husband to stop in his tracks.

'There wasn't one,' he explained, much to the twi'lek's shock, 'the captain was misled.' The zabrak wandered over to Vette and leaned in to whisper to her, 'I need to tell you something,' he whispered, 'meet me in the bedroom.'

At a request like that, Vette would normally smirk, but she could tell that something was wrong, so she played along with her husband by getting up and walking into the bedroom with him. 'What is it?' she asked as Artagesh shut the door behind him.

'I found out who the traitor was,' he explained, looking down at his feet, 'it was Quinn.'

'What?!'

'Turns out Baras saving his career was enough for Quinn to be forced to manufacture a pair of war droids to try and kill me.'

Vette could only stare at her husband in horror, 'What happened?' she demanded, more than a little worried and tense.

Artagesh smirked, though his wife knew he was putting up a façade, 'I convinced him that he should be more scared of me than Baras… I doubt he'll try to betray me again.'

Vette relaxed ever so slightly as Artagesh wandered over to the bed and lay down, leading the twi'lek to realise he wanted time to think, 'Just… promise me you won't tell the others,' he asked, 'they don't need to know. Vette nodded before leaving their quarters. Shutting the door behind her, Vette wandered up to the bridge, where she saw the captain looking out the ship and staring into hyperspace, probably trying to escape from the realization that he had tried to kill a man who considered him a friend.

Before the captain had even noticed her, Vette had grabbed her by the collar and yanked him out of his chair, throwing him into one of the walls.

'Vette-!' he yelped as the twi'lek drew one of her blasters and pressed it into his abdomen.

'Listen to me very carefully,' she hissed into his ear, 'I promised Artagesh that I would stay quiet about the incident back on the cruiser.' She dug the blaster deeper into the captain's gut, 'But if you so much as think about betraying him again, I won't even hesitate before shooting you between the eyes,' she threatened, 'are we clear?'

The captain nodded, 'Of course, Vette,' he whispered, 'I'll never try to betray your husband again.'

Without saying another word, Vette pulled her blaster from the captain's abdomen and stormed off the bridge. She needed to be alone for a while, and there were very few places on the ship where she could achieve that status.

Rate and Review! There's only one more chapter to go on this story, but I already have some ideas about how I can continue to build this universe. I have some ideas for stories about my other seven characters, so keep an eye out for them!