There was a full party going on at the second deck and Rac was unfortunately in the of the crowd, but he pushed others out of his way and finally made his way to the bar desk. The bartender stood there giving drinks and when he could clean his glasses, Rac snorted and the bartender turned his head as Rac jumped the other chair. Rac hated those chairs because everyone expected that there weren’t any smaller aliens in the crowd.

"And what might you want?" The bartender asked laying his hands on the desk.

"A yardle..."

Rac said as he threw few credits on the table, which the bartender collected into his pocket quickly and turned away to make the drink. Rac looked around snarling since Jezk had decided to take off and disappear to the crowd, Rac sighed as he realised that his search was in vain. Rac turned around and took the drink; he drank some of the yardle and turned around to examine the crowd. Humans and aliens doing whatever the hell they wanted, danced, drank and had conversations. Rac himself wasn’t the neither friendliest nor social person and should he get drunk, he became a bully, which was quite a natural thing for a dug. After a while a human appeared, an imperial without a doubt and drunk as you would expected from anyone in the room by the end of the night. Rac drank his yardle quietly and looked at the crowd after quickly inspecting the imperial that came to the bartender.

“A corellian ale… ”

“Sure thing…”

The bartender turned away to make the drink and after a while of looking around the imperials eyes turned towards Rac who was sitting there quietly, but the imperial seemed to have a dislike for aliens or he was just picking a fight. Which ever it was at least it was obvious that he had a problem with Rac.

“Hey shorty, how ever did you get aboard that chair? Did you need a ramp?”

Rac snorted as he turned to look at the imperial.

“No, I did not, but you should watch that big mouth of yours imperial scum…”

“Oh! So now you’re insulting me you little alien freak, dugs would be better off frozen as table legs…”

Rac sighed emptying his glass and dropped out of his chair, but the imperial didn’t quit that easily.

“Hey where are you going?”

The imperial mumbled and walked after Rac, Rac soon felt the touch of the imperials hand on his shoulder and turned around to see the imperial slightly kneeled. Rac lost his patience at that moment and smacked the imperial in the nose making the man stumble back, Rac smiled slightly, but remembered that the security would interfere and Rac had no intention of getting caught from a fight so he ran into the crowd quickly before the imperial could retaliate. Rac heard the imperial saying something and made his way trough the crowd, he got trough quicker than he thought he would and saw a nice corner table that had a view at the room. Rac sat in into a chair and looked around relieved for a while.

Strange, Steda thought as he tilted his head forward then moved it backward again. He'd been standing in the same spot for nearly eleven minutes, his gaze affixed to the pattern on the wall before him. When he moved forward the pattern became a series of diamonds but when he moved backward it became a group of squares. Hs mind was a nervous wreck as he waited in hope that the man he had only briefly met before would meet him. Every now and then he would throw a look to the watch around his wrist. Ten o clock had come and gone, then five past ten then ten past ten. It was twenty minutes after the time he had suggested to Markus that they meet when he finally gave up and decided to leave. He had just began to walk away when he heard the voice.

"You're a brave man, mister - guess that comes with the uniform. I'm Mark."


He turned to look at the speaker. The sight that met his eyes was such a luxury to him that he suddenly found his voice was missing.

"Did I say something wrong?" Markus said, a slightly worried look perched on his face.

"Uhm, yes...I..uhm....I. Sorry, my thoughts were somewhere else. So, you made it then? I didn't think you would. You seemed nice and all but.... I mean your nice, I wasn't trying to say your not I... I just thought. Do you mind if we start again?" Steda's brain seemed to have gone into overload. The words that entered his head became jumbled and mixed. Why did Markus have this strange effect on him?

"Go for it." Replied Markus, a knowing smile upon his face.

"You're loving this aren't you?" Questioned Steda as he bared a grin at the gorgeous guy.

"Just a little," Markus teased, "so, this party then, where is it?"

"Just down here. Follow me." Steda turned and walked down the corridor with a new bounce in his step. He couldn't help but keep thinking about the way Markus was acting. Did he know that Steda liked him? Could he tell somehow? What of his Imperial lover? He didn't even notice that he'd walked five doors past the room of the party.

"Are you sure this is the right way?"Markus queried. "It's just the room back there had alot of music coming from it and was fairly crowded."

"Oh...uhm, yeah. That would be the room." Steda turned a face red from embarrassment on Markus. "Shall we?"

Together they returned to the room a few doors back and entered. If noise could be attributed to how fun a party could be then the room they had entered would be in the top ten. With loud music from planets such as Corellia and Coruscant blaring out, with loud people screaming out as they enjoyed themselves and drunken species rambling around the room the noise pressed heavily against their ear drums.

Steda turned to see a small smirk playing on Markus' lips. "Well, it could be fun."

Leading Markus to a table Steda sat down and ordererd them both drinks. They'd been sat there for near on thirty minutes, making casual conversation, when Markus uttered the dreaded words.

"So are you going to ask me o dance then?"

"Uhm,...well...Do you want to?"

"Sure Mr confident."

Pulling on Steda's arm Markus led him to the middle of the room where species from every planet imaginable where dancing. As they weaved their way through the others a fast and powerful tune began to issue from the large speakers on the walls. Unsure as to where his sudden confidence was cming from Steda winked at Markus and immediatley launched into a highly embarrasing and easily laughable dance routine. Though he could barely keep inline with the music and was constantly stepping on Markus' feet, Steda could help but warm greatly at the sight of the smile that played on Markus' lips.

Acting on impulse, the New Republic Commander gently lent forwards and pressed his lips against those of the artist he had already come to adoure. Though the kiss lasted no more than seconds a warm feeling spread from the tips of Steda's fingers to the ends of his toes. It seemed to last forever, when suddenelly he felt Markus go stiff and push him away.

"I'm sorry," Steda quickly said, backing away, "I don't know what came over me"

Bringing his gaze up from the floor which he had hurried to look at, Steda expected to find a look of hurt or anger upon Markus' face. Instead, all he saw was a mix of shock and horror. It was almost as if he had walked in on a pair of mating Hutts. Markus' eyes were fixed intently on a man who had just entered the room of the party. A man who was easily recognisable as an Imperial bodyguard.

The music was certinaly something he enjoyed. A strong walking bass-line underscored rather intense synthesized melodies. Songs to War to he thought as he moved deeper into the mix of people, already thick as thieves on the steps leading from the corridor to the dance floor. He certainly enjoyed the music, but the people there were another matter entirely. Most wore eccentric clothing beckoning more of homeless vagabonds than respected members of society. It was a common enough trend among the adolescents of the galaxy, one that repulsed Lieutenant Malek as he glanced left, then right.


Looking about, it was easy to see he did not fit in. He was almost forty years but still in excellent shape - more than most half his age. He had the barrel chest and strong arms of every Sergeant-Major in every service the universe over, himself only taking a commission at the urging of his charge, an Imperial Rear Admiral. He wore a loose brown jacket over black shirt and trousers, looking almost presentable among so many unfitting of such a description. With every second that passed, he wondered more and more why he come in. I needed a drink.


The Lieutenant spotted an open seat at the bar and made a bee line for it. To do so he had to swerve and miss a fast-moving droid showering the room in strobing illumination. As he came about he looked at a nearby grouping of tables and saw a figure he instantly recognized, one he had seen his charge cry over time and time again, one he knew should been many places save the same as he. Then his eyes moved to the man next to him, a soldier without doubt. He wore a jumpsuit that was unmistakeably un-Imperial. The two locked lips, slipping into bliss for more seconds than a casual hello allowed.


He can't be. Can he? Malek was confused. Emotion whirled over him as he tried in vain to understand why Markus was kissing someone other than Baron Desaria. He was not a bright man, but the answer came soon enough. That Rebel is trying to steal the Admiral's lover! So much for the music.


" Care to dance, Mr. Bigarms?" asked a highly intoxicated female Omwatti. Malek shook his head and took off at a run through the crowd. He had a duty to do and do it he did, pushing dancers couples and server droids from his path. Epithets were screamed in his direction but the crowd closed around the breech like so much goo. Legs trained on countless fields and under some of the brightest but most brutal Drill Instructors the Empire had to offer kicked at the floor, propelling him faster and faster towards his destination - the traitorous Rebel.