The metal floor of the hanger clanged against my heels as Malavai Quinn lead us through an eerily red lit hallway. Imperial security forces had recently been slain as we made our way into the elevator. Our mission was to capture a special signal emitter that would bypass my enemies defenses on Corelia so I could continue my mission in bringing him down. The doors closed behind us and I felt an uneasiness wash over Quinn. He was nervous about something. I reached out to touch his shoulder for reassurance but he continued on down into the open room.

"My lord," his soothing accent filled my ears as it ricocheted off the metal walls, "I regret that our paths must diverge. Out of respect, I wanted to be here to witness your fate." I could feel my heart falling into my stomach. Was he breaking up with me? We had been through so much together, I almost couldn't imagine a life without him. I attempted to run through the last several months, had it been something I'd done or said?

"I don't understand... what's wrong?" I didn't want to assume anything in case I was wrong. I was praying that I was wrong.

"It pains me. But this entire scenario is a ruse. There's no martial law and no special signal emitter. Baras is my true master." I closed my eyes. I couldn't believe this was happening. Was I having a bad dream? Was this really happening? My heart was thrashing in my ears as I tried to think of something to say. But I had nothing. Just pain. Quinn was my everything, the one thing that I thought through all of this that I could count on. The one who put a ring on my finger, the one who promised to be beside me through anything that came our way. "He had me lure you here to have you killed." The universe just seemed to halt. There was nothing. Quinn was planning to kill me. My eyes opened and the first thing I saw was the diamond ring her had placed on my finger just months before and everything came rushing back.

Elaena walked between the armored Imperial guards standing on either side of the door. There were just so many things that she could have been thinking of that she just wasn't sure where to start. In less than a month she had gone from a nobody to an apprentice of a Darth that everyone in the galaxy seemed to know. She looked down at her hands as the guards bowed her through the door. She was incredibly shy and always got a little flustered when people bowed to her. She didn't understand why they did it. She was no one special, she was a girl with a pair of shiny sticks and was just really good at hitting people with them. Maybe she was hanging around Vette too much. The golden ring on her ring finger caught her attention. She had never been one to wear a lot of jewelry. Now a thick, twisting golden ring was sitting on her finger.

It once belonged to Overseer Tremel, the man who had brought her to Korriban to complete the trials to become Sith. Tremel had risked almost everything to bring her in early so a man named Vemrin, who was a half blood and there-for "not worthy"of becoming a true Sith, didn't become Darth Baras' new apprentice. Sith politics never made much sense to her as all it was was people trying to stab each other in the back for power or wealth. Darth Baras was not happy with Tremel trying to essentially choose his apprentice for him so he had ordered Elaena to kill Tremel and bring back his hand as proof of his demise. Maybe she was soft but she believed it made no sense to kill everyone in all situations. Tremel hadn't done anything against her so when it came time to strike the killing blow she took his left hand and he left the planet in secret.

Now she had the ring he was wearing. Baras had given it to her when she turned in his hand. Told her "items can hold emotions that can be called on later". Little did he know the emotion she called back on was pity. Pity that Baras was so closed minded that all he saw in solutions was murder. Now he had sent her to a planet called Balmorra. She had never been off of her home world and was excited to see the galaxy. She was promised to see at least two new planets this being the first. She was told to meet a Lieutenant Malavai Quinn who she was to learn her mission objectives from.

Elaena was happy that her first contact was an Imperial military man instead of another Sith. People in the military generally had much friendlier dispositions towards her. It might only be because they were absolutely terrified of her but they were still friendly none the less. Siths seemed to have two types: arrogant and malicious. Dealing with another Sith was never fun because they were always trying to one up you or trying to murder you anytime you had you back turned. She began to wonder what Quinn would be like. Being a Lieutenant, he was sure to be young but that was really the only thing she could say for sure. You were a Lieutenant for three reasons: You were either new to the military, you didn't take the military seriously enough or you were being held back by someone. Baras seemed to be extremely serious and seemed to have been entrenched in the pecking order for a long time. So she was almost sure that Quinn was being held back by someone. The question was... why?

"Now focus Jilins. Dismissed." A shaking blond nearly collided with Elaena as she turned the corner.

"Hello." Elaena smiled at the man gently, he was obviously extremely nervous about something.

"Oh, hello, My Lord." He bowed deeply, eying the lightsabers wearily. "Is there something I can do for you?" Elaena blinked.

"No? Just saying hello."

"Oh, well hello. Hope you're having a good day."

"I am, and you?" The man named Jilins stared at her as if she had suddenly grown Nerf horns.

"I'm doing fine, I really should be going, my lord." He bowed uncomfortably and rushed off. Elaena let out a dejected sigh as the doors automatically closed behind him. She would never get used to the fact that nearly everyone she met was terrified of her. Was she really so frightening? She knew the answer of course, she herself wasn't scary, her title however was.

"I'm sorry for the delay, my lord." Elaena looked up from her ring and blinked. An extremely attractive officer bowed before her. His dark hair was naturally pushed back with a small cow lick in the front. His clean shaven face was flawless aside from a cute little mole on his left cheekbone. His blue eyes kept constant eye contact with her. His military uniform fit his body and was pressed and creased properly. Everything about him screamed sharp and intentional perfection. "Lieutenant Malavai Quinn, I am to be your liaison here during your time on Balmorra." She hoped that her mission here would be a particularly long one. There was a long pause as if he was expecting her to say something.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Lieutenant." Oh, that was original. She didn't know what exactly to call him. Could she call him Quinn or should she keep it formal and call him by rank? He had a very nice last name, Quinn, a last name you could easily refer to someone as.

"And to you, my lord." He had the same look that Jilins had. Like he was surprised by her pleasant response, except he masked it better. "Darth Baras will brief you personally. But I am to acquaint you with the climate here on Balmorra first." He crossed his hands and waited for permission to continue speaking. All of his words were chosen carefully.

"Please do." Elaena didn't understand why she needed to give him permission to do his job.

"Even though the Empire wrestled control of Balmorra away from the Republic during the war, we never able to completely eradicate them. There is a rather sizable resistance movement, no one wants to admit it, but it is clear that the Republic is backing it."

"Hopefully I will be able to help with that while I'm here." Aiding the Empire to win the war had always been one of her prime objectives when becoming Sith. Even though she was Baras' lapdog now, she was hoping to soon be able to join battles throughout the galaxy and change the tides of the war.

"Something tells me your impression here will leave an indelible impression on the state of things. And I look forward to it." She smiled at him as he looked at her with an extremely serious gaze. It was obvious he was a patriotic soldier. Fire like his made her wonder even further why he was still a Lieutenant. "I have a secure line to Darth Baras. I will patch him through immediately." As Quinn turned his back he couldn't see the young Sith sigh sadly. She was hoping Quinn had had more to say. Not only because his voice was pleasant to listen to but also because the end meant Baras would become her new conversation partner.

Darth Baras was a masked man with a soft side for torture and spying on every inch of the galaxy he could get his chubby little fingers on. The two of them could not have been any more different if they tried. While he preferred torture, manipulation and slaughter she preferred a more civilized, tactical, peaceful solution to end conflict. Something he ridiculed her about whenever he had the chance.

"Ah, I see you've convened with my apprentice." Quinn turned to face her once again and she quickly looked at the floating hologram. She didn't want him to think she was staring at him when she was lost in thought, even though she was. "Very good Lieutenant. Leave us." Her shoulders slumped just a little lower. She hoping he would at least be in the room so she could have something nice to look at while Baras droned on about whatever it was he needed her to do. Quinn bowed his head and walked out of the room, not even turning an eye to her. Baras and her were alone. "Quinn owes his career to me but we should keep the details of your mission between the two of us." So another piece of the "Why Quinn Is Still A Lieutenant" Puzzle falls into place. A rather large piece but a piece all the same. "Apprentice! Pay attention, now is not the time to be day dreaming. We must act swiftly, Nomen Karr's padawan has directed the Jedi's attention to my spy on Balmorra, do you recall this?"

"Yes." How could she not, he had explained all of this nonsense while torturing a Republic spy just hours ago. She knew she could be spacy at times but certainly he had more faith in her than that.

"I'll get to the point then. My spy is Commander Rylon of the Republic Resistance. He is my central contacts for all of my operatives in the sector. Unfortunately, Quinn is tracking an investigator the Jedi have sent. That means we have to cover our tracks before you kill Rylon. Your first objective is to destroy the evidence that links to Commander Rylon destroying the Balmorran Defense Systems during the war. To do this you must break into the satellite control tower. Quinn reports that it is a death trap of mechanical security." Oh boy, as if she believed for a moment a single step of this would be easy, Droids, Turrets and Lasers... oh my.

"Not a problem."

"This task is priority one. The Jedi investigator could be zeroing in on the evidence as we speak."

"Wouldn't that be just awful." She sighed, she had not meant to say that out loud. Even though she couldn't see, Baras was obviously attempting to set her on fire with his eyes. "Sorry."

"Quinn has everything you'll need. Remember, he is not to know the reason for you mission. I will be in touch." The comlink went dead.

"Oh boy. Can't wait."

"My lord?" Quinn appeared behind her with a rather large pack of square bombs wrapped tightly in tape. "I have everything you'll need for your assault on the satellite control tower. You'll have to attach this charge to base of the mainframe. Then contact me and I will detonate it for you once you are at a safe distance."

"How exciting. My life in your hands." She really needed to learn to curb the sarcasm.

"I would never cause harm to you, my lord. The charges are completely safe until you remove them from their casing."

"I know, just trying to lighten the mood." He looked at her as if she had just spoken to him in some alien language. Somehow she wasn't surprised that the term "joke" might be a foreign concept.

"Good luck, my lord." She took the charges and returned the bow he had given her.