Mace absentmindedly caressed the hair of Ayillh as his eyes opened. Looking down slowly he saw the small smile of content on her face as she started to wake up. It was a rare occurrence to see such a happy expression on her face. Something he enjoyed looking at whenever he had the chance. After a few quiet moments she was fully awake as she raised herself up and gave him a slow kiss.
A few minutes later Ayillh slowly put on clothes, wiggling her behind every now and then when she knew Mace was looking. Mace gave a small chuckle as he himself also got up and put his clothes back on, though he didn't put on his armour.
Instead he settled for some of the lightweight robes that he had. They were easier to move in compared to his bulky war gear. Sometimes he alternated depending on the situation, but he did like to be less cumbered by his gear, it unlocked quicker movements and attack patterns and lightsaber forms.
"How's your training been going?" Mace's voice spoke up as they both had their back turned. Ayillh stopped for a second at the question and had to think about the answer before she replied. "It has been interesting. It is like nothing I have ever dealt with before. It'll give me a whole new set of skills to utilize."
Mace looked over as she finished her words, She still hadn't put on her jacket showing of the curves of her body. Seeing how serious she was with the reply, he let out a chuckle as he stood up.
"You and Vette are being trained by some of the best in the galaxy. In no time you'll have mastered what we will teach you." Ayillh gave a small snort at the words. "Yes, Vette has been loving her new skill set. Helps her pull off her pranks she told me."
Mace barked out a laugh as he thought of the unruly Twi'lek; that would be just the sort of thing she would focus on. Finally done putting their clothes on Ayillh moved closer to him once again, strapping her knives back in place she gave one final kiss."Time to get back to it."
Mace gave a nod. "Yes, yes it is." Saying that he pulled back and his face turned serious when he spoke, it was in a business manner. "How's Blizz been going with the engines? Has he been helpful with ship upgrades?" Ayillh moved back and also went into operative mode.
"Yes, he has done wonders for the systems on board..." A fake frown marred her face as she continued. "…Even though I hate to admit it, he's been doing a good job keeping my ship up to specs. We've still got the best ship in the fleet." "Good."
Patting her shoulders before turning to the door, he stopped just before he opened it. "How has everyone been reacting towards Vaylin?" Ayillh couldn't help but let a frown come to her face as she heard the question, but it was gone in a second, she was a professional.
She let out a small sigh before she reported. "As can be expected, nearly everyone else on board doesn't interact with her much, it hasn't been that long since she was trying to kill us. Vette can't stand being in the same room with her for more than a few minutes right now. As Vaylin almost killed her, I can't blame her."
She stopped for a second as she let out a sigh. "Haa. Honestly she still unnerves most people. The amount of power she wields…. Sorry I was getting off track. She does seem to be more relaxed in your company though." She shrugged her shoulders. "I guess that would be why she tagged along on our mission."
Mace gave a nod still turned away from Ayillh. "Yes, I didn't think it would be a good idea to leave her behind at the base with Senya and Arcann. Actually if the group we were hunting wasn't such a threat I might not have taken so many force users with us."
Tilting his head as he thought, he raised his hand as he counted off the amount of people he would have needed. "Just me, Vaylin, Vette and Jaesa could have probably taken them out if it was a smaller group. And Vette would have just stayed in the ship." Then he shook his head.
"Instead we took all of them plus Xalek, you, Nadia, Blizz and Ashara. Honestly it was a bit overkill, I didn't get to do much in the end, there wasn't a proper challenge." The disappointment in his voice was clear as day as he thought over the operations events.
They had to stop on the way back to base so that Ayillh could finish up a personal mission, so for the last few hours Mace had been attuning himself with the force, something he had been doing more often these days. It was a form of training for him, something to strengthen his powers in the force.
He was always training these days, he could never stop improving himself, the only place that he might find sometime for privacy and relaxation was in his quarters back at the base on Odessen. Even in the ship right now he couldn't relax, he had to worry about a possible ambush or attack. Maybe even a message about new threats and insurgents.
Ayillh moved next to him now fully gear up, sniper rifle strapped to her back, gear shinning in the artificial light. They shared one last look before he pressed the button to release the door. *Hiss* The door slid open and Mace stepped into the small corridor.
His quarters where at the top end of the ship, right next to the cockpit and navicomputer. It was a type of small corridor neck between it and the rest of the ship. Right across from his door was the escape pod, of course he wasn't such a coward to use it at the first sign of a threat.
Looking to the left he looked into the central hub of the ship. As the heart of the ship, it connected to the med center, Corridor leading to the cockpit and conference room, before at the back it led to the exit ramp, engine room, armory/storage room and another 2 bedrooms.
With 8 people on board the ship it was a bit crowded, but Mace couldn't see anyone in sight, thinking to himself for a short few seconds, he decided that he would do a short round of the ship, talk with everyone as it were. After spending so many years at war with the republic and becoming used to working with a team of individuals, he knew the importance of getting to know each other.
Of course he had been fighting with the people aboard the ship for many years now, well all except Vaylin, Nadia and Blizz. He hadn't interacted with them much until recently. So the lap of the ship was more for the courtesy and small talk.
He liked to know the thoughts and current mind set of the crew when possible, sometimes they would give unique ideas and suggestions.
But that would be for latter, for now, he turned to his right which lead to the cockpit, he would talk with their pilot and see how their course was fairing. Saying a short farewell as Ayillh walked to the left he moved into the cockpit.
*********************************
Before he even walked in he heard the small beeps of the console that determined the course of the vessel, along with the small noises he heard the animated voices of two women. They were both easy to identify as he had heard their voices constantly for many years.
Both were a bit overly chipper, with one being a bit higher pitched than the other. Rounding the corner he laid eyes on the two women. One was Vette, a Twi'lek, but not just any ordinary twi'lek, she was a Lethan Twi'lek. A subspecies of twi'lek that was as rare as they come.
Unlike the rest of her race that had colors that ranged from, blue to yellow, to purple, her skin color was red. This was considered one of the rarest skin colors for her people and even to Mace's recollection he had only ever seen two other Lethan Twi'leks.
One was Taunt, a friend of Vette's past, a treasure hunter that used to hang out with her. And the other was Darth Atroxa, someone that Mace hadn't met many times. But she had been the one to lead the sith defense of Korriban when the Eternal Empire had attacked. Too bad she had died in the fight.
Having been all over the galaxy, having only met two other Lethan Twi'leks really showed how rare they were. Actually Darth Atroxa and Vette shared quite a few similarities, of course the Darth had higher cheekbones and a longer face, but the tattoos they had were very similar.
Mace had to convince Vette to get them, but they truly did fit her well, for Twi'leks anything to do with their lekku was considered very personal and it had taken quite a bit of convincing before she let them be worked on. The black markings went all over her face and then traveled down her lekku. Their patens personally designed by Vette herself. She currently had her feet up on the control panel and was leaning back in her seat, a content expression on her face.
She would have almost looked asleep had she not been turned and talking to the person across from her.
Across from her sat Ashara Zavros, a Togruta. With a well-proportioned figure, she had orange skin with a pattern of white on her face. Leading up to her montrals and lekku, they were a different color combination, being white and blue. Her lekku were long enough just to reach her waist.
She wore some specialized sith armour, covered by a Jedi like robe which trailed near her feet, while her twin lightsabers stayed clipped to her sides. Her metal boots were slightly perched up as she talked. Vette herself was wearing her usual light weight gear with her pistols clasped to her belt.
"So at the time, Baras's face turns completely red, well he didn't take that stupid mask off, but his arms were raised in the air and I swear he was hyperventilating. I barely kept the giggles in" Ashara laughed as she clutched her stomach. "I wish Zash was that easy, she was always so serious."
She was about to continue talking, probably to tell one of her own stories before she stopped herself and turned towards Mace who was leaning on the door frame leading in. A smile lit up her face as she turned around and bowed her head.
"Greetings, Master." Vette noticing that Mace entered the room also turned around quickly, pulling her legs down as fast as she could. She at least had the decency of looking embarrassed for a second at being caught with her legs up, before her face relaxed and a teasing glint came to her eyes.
"Oh hey Wrath." As she greeted him she also put her feet back up! Mace just rolled his eyes seeing the challenging look in hers. She had been the first person to accompany him since he left the sith academy on Korriban, they had now know each other for so many years it wasn't funny. They had grown close over that time.
'And she still looks as beautiful as the first time I met her.' Mace thought that quietly to himself as he stared at her. Seeing the intense stare Vette raised an eyebrow, before a smirk came to her lips as she seductively licked her lips in a provocative manner. 'And she's still childish.'
Mace shook his head as he walked into the room and sat at the captain's chair. It was situated between the two controls just in front of the navicomputer. "How long till we reach Odessen?" Vette sent a small look at the console in front of her before she replied. "Should be about 2 hours Mace. Enough time for you to go have another romp."
Vette smirked as Mace let out a sigh. "How much did you hear?" *Clank Clank* Vette reached over to knock the back wall. "Quite a bit, your rooms right next to here. Pretty thin walls." He just shook his head again as he changed the topic.
"How's your training going?" Vette visibly slumped in her chair as Ashara let out a laugh at her expression. "Don't worry I'm teaching her everything she needs to know." Turning to send a glance at the Togruta he saw a sadistic smile stretch across her lips.
Seeing the look she sent the groaning Twi'lek, he gave a small chuckle. Turning towards her and giving his full attention they started to talk, leaving Vette to wallow in her misery. It took a few minutes before Vette finally brought herself out of whatever nightmare she was seeing.
"So they're finally making you a Darth. Have you thought of your title?" Ashara shook her head as she stared out the window into hyperspace. Her thoughts drifted back to the days she had been a naïve Jedi padawan, it had been a long time since her first master took her off Taris.
And now she was about to reach the same level she once had, a Darth, the pinnacle of the sith empire, their power only under that of the emperor. "I think I will just keep it as my last name, Darth Zavros has a nice ring to it don't you think?" An amused voice replied as his hand went out to grip her.
"Yes it does leave an impression…" Ashara looked down at the hand holding hers. "She's proud of you, the power you've reached in the last few years, it's beyond anything she expected." She gave him a small smile as she nodded. Starring into her eyes for a few more seconds, Mace took back his hand and stood back up.
"I'll go see how everyone else is doing. And Vette…" The Twi'lek looked up from her console, head cocked to the side. "If your jealous of Ayillh just say so, I will set some time aside for you as well." It was hard to tell with her red skin but he could just see the faint blush on her cheeks. 'She still blushes after all this time?'
"Same goes for you Ashara." He looked her way for a second and spotted the seductive smile that appeared for a few second before he walked out of the room. There was still a while before they reached their destination.