Nightmares of Corruption Pt. 3

[Y'roth Helghast]

De'Ville's comatose body was strapped down by two men in black hazard suits. The black orb, its multiple red receptors dimming and glowing as it analyzed her vital signs. As soon as the two men finished they slid two IVs into her left arm, pressed a button on the table she was laid upon, and promptly left. They never enjoyed being present when the Inquisitor arrived. They were numb to their jobs for the most part but the Inquisitor was something they were never going to get used to. As long as they could get in and out before and after the monster had left, they'd clean up all the intestines and excrement they had to. The table hummed for several moments before the surface that De'Ville was set against began to glow a soft blue. The air over time seemed charged and carried the scent of burnt ozone.

Sir, the adept is in place. The female has a hour before the DMD is flushed out of her system, Sir. You are cleared to begin your diagnosis and preparation, Sir.

The door opened several minutes later, the Inquisitor Y'roth Helghast entered, devoid of his CMC-Nightmare gear. He wore his black uniform, no rank, merely the insignia of the Inquisitoriate on his left breast and his right shoulder. His eye ominously glowed red as IMP fed him a constant stream of data on the paralyzed adept. Her body was very, nearly dead but her mind was very much awake. Helghast had seen it use, and had all sorts of tests done, providing him with a clearer perspective on exactly what DMD, Dead Man's Dream, did to the mind. It set a wonderful ground for an interrogation, the primary reason for its use. The chemical took the absolute most dreadful thing one being could conjure for itself and manifested them to such a real degree. Most nonadepts would just simply die, their mind giving up, if they did not just become a vegetable. But adepts, and their stronger organics, proved to be more resilient. With an ample dose of adrenaline, after their system had been flushed, an adept would wake up as if being resuscitated from a drowning.

Another droid followed in behind Helghast and set itself up beside him. It opened, an automatic cabinet, providing Helghast with everything he might need to conduct anything from surgery to mechanics. Helghast touched the pad on the utility droid and certain shelves closed while others raised to a more comfortable level where Helghast worked. He silently set a few of the utensils into a sterilizing vat before Y'roth looked back to the body of Lilaena De'Ville. Her body would begin to twitch soon as the DMD was flushed out. The IV went two ways, one providing the cleansing agent and the other sifted out the DMD. Not much was coming now but the outgoing tube was occasionaly seeing small streams of a black liquid.

Helghast saw De'Ville on several layers now as IMP provided the necessary scans. He could see her bone structure, her nervous system, her circulatory system. He could see the sinews of her muscles and the nervous activity and reactions. The normal human eye would never be able to process all of this at once for the brain to make sense of, but Helghast wasn't using any human eye to accomplish this.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

The darkness sucked at her mind, a cyclone of something that sought to drag her down even further. Laughter echoed up from below her as her body began to twitch in the real world.

The dream began to fade, but Lilaena still felt powerless. Her body refused to respond to her, as though she were still a disembodied spirit in a dark abyss. Slowly she became aware of lights as her eyes opened, but the world around her was just a blurry mess of light and dark.

Unable to move or speak, Lilaena lay on the glowing table with no memory of how she'd gotten there or where she was. Her legs and arms trembled slightly as the only thing she could remember was the terror of the dream.

[Y'roth Helghast]

"Do not attempt to use your adept abilities. The table you're lying on is very similar to the cages used during the purge, dampening your powers as well as sending a shock through your body that will have long term effects on you."

Helghast's black gloved hand slid up De'Ville's slender neck and turned her face towards him. IMP hovered closeby, a red light scanning her eyes that Helghast pryed open wider with his fingers.

"Flush her system completely, I want her awake now."

"Sir, yes Sir"

The small IV clicked and Helghast was sure that very suddenly, the adept would be in a severe amount of pain, weakened, but very aware of her existence.

"Speak when you can."

Like a master commanding some dog, Helghast loomed over the table. His pale face, wiring that slid up beneath his skin like black veins, gazed down at her with no recognition that this was a human being.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Her eyes watered as someone pried them open, and then other words were being spoken. Something about not using her powers... flushing her system. The language was familiar, and she was sure she understood, but at the same time felt like she was being spoken to in gibberish.

"Speak when you can."

Can't speak... can't move... "Nnnngh!" A soft cry slipped out between gritted teeth as pain washed over her body, her back arching as muscles spasmed uncontrollably. After a moment her back muscles relented, but the pain remained. Lilaena felt as weak as a newborn whisperkit.

She opened her eyes again, and stared into the face of a devil. Luminous like a moon, the face was striated with black, as though the blood running through it was oil. "Who...?" She winced as the word forced its way past a parched and painful throat. "...Are you?"

[A'na Eldhil]

"He is your judge, child."

A'na watched from the shadows - unseen but heard by her padawan.

[Y'roth Helghast]

"That will suffice. Facilitate this process, adept, and answer my questions promptly. Every choice you make right now has consequences. What is your name?"

Helghast would answer none of her questions until he saw necessary. De'Ville had no control, absolutely none, in this given environment. Even given a time line, the information that De'Ville had would be surrendered and was essentially forfeit.

IMP moved to the other side, hovering nearby, it took the recording of her voice, pieced it together and replayed it.

"Who... Are you? Who - are you? Who are you? Whoare you? Whoareyou? Whoareyouwhoareyouwhoareyou?"

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Her body wracked with pain, pain she could not use the Force to dampen, and unable to even turn her head away from the monster in front of her, Lilaena felt her eyes dampen with tears. She could hear Master A'na Eldhil laughing underneath the incessant "who are you" playback. Laughing.

But... she was strong. Wasn't she? Give him an alias. Aylee. My name is Aylee Maldora'an...

"Ay..." Her voice cracked, and she struggled to wet her lips with a dry tongue.

"Tell him the truth, girl. It'll be worse for you if you don't." A'na mocked her from the shadows. "He already knows who you are. Give him a little, but nothing important."

De'Ville exhaled sharply, and tried again. "Lilaena." The room spun around her, and she closed her eyes again.

[Y'roth Helghast]

Helghast withdrew a long, lithe needle that he tapped on the table to draw a short spurt of electric response. He then, with his other black gloved hand spread the index and middle finger of De'Ville's right hand.

"The skin on the palm of your hand is considerably sensitive in order to allow for complex mechanical skills and dexterity, hand-eye coordination. When the epidermis is circumvented, your brain cannot quite comprehend the impulses it is feeling, for example..."

"Ay... Who are you? Lilaena... Ay... Who are you? Who are you, Lilaena? Ay... Who are you, Lilaena?"

IMP also repeated the sound of the adept breathing, exhaling sharply and the crack of her voice where it seemed most effective, exercising an ample amount of emphasis as Helghast drove the slender needle between the two fingers, through the webbing of the skin, beyond the joints and purposely striking the nerve there.

"What is your name?"

[Lilaena De'Ville]

The noises in the room... her voice played back for her over and over... Lilaena couldn't get a grasp on reality as the pale face above her touched one of her hands. Fingers spread apart, all she could do was scream as red hot pain lanced into her hand and spread up her forearm.

"What is your name?" He sounded calm, but the voice was not soothing in the least.

She closed her eyes, tears streaking down her face. "Lil-lilaena." She'd already told him! Unable to move, the Jedi gritted her teeth, trying to resist the urge to sob out loud as her hand throbbed.

[Y'roth Helghast]

"This is a lesson in true awareness. Awareness consists of fluid details that make up the general picture..."

Helghast turned the needle slowly as he spoke. He could feel the tinge of electricity even through his gloves.

"... which you would refer to as the present moment. As you well know, these fluid details are constantly changing however their permenant actions that affect these details and the consequences of those actions and those affections are..."

IMP zoomed in on the disected image of De'Ville's hand in order that with the utmost care, Y'roth fully inserted the needle into her hand, isolating it through the wrist, rendering it nearly immobile, as the foreign object slid up against the nerve in her hand and forearm.

"... what you would know as the past. You tell me your name but take my question for granted. I want details, De'Ville. So, we will speak about those irreversible and permenant details."

Helghast drew out another needle and held it between his thumb and index finger like a pencil while his other gloved hand spread open one of Lilaena's eyelids.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Her arm felt like it was on fire. She tried to listen to what the animal was saying, what he wanted, but it was all nonsense. Gritting her teeth she found some semblance of control, but once she had clenched her jaw over her screams she found herself quite unable to release the muscles.

The pain in her arm was relentless as the electrical current continued to aggravate the nerve the needle had slid up against. And then he was prying open her eye, another needle in hand.

Lilaena managed to gasp, frozen in place by fear and pain. "What... details?!"

[Y'roth Helghast]

Ah, that sounded genuine. He lifted the needle slowly, his cold ivory profile taking up her vision, his red glowing eye causing searing pain to her dilated pupils.

"We shall start with the basics then. Who was responsible for Thyferra?"

Yes or no questions were too easy. Narrative questions under duress were the method in which to derive the most accurate answers. The stress fulfilled the void in motivation also known as resistance and the narrative questions drew from a pre-existing story known as memory. Some memories were in perspective though and the pain and stress helped clarify that too, breaking down mental barriers because the will power to overcome within even the weakest, most pathetic organism is inherently awe inspiring.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Thyferra. Who..? "The.... the Empire... nnnngh!" Lilaena ground her teeth together as the pain in her hand and wrist shot up her arm and almost up her neck as well. She gasped, tears pricking her eyelids again.

"Palpatine bears... the... respons...sibilty!" She clenched her teeth, snapping her mouth shut to cut of any further cries of pain.

[Y'roth Helghast]

This would be good. Quite a driven organism, Helghast could already tell. But she was not quite there yet. All too often did he find the individuals who had convinced themselves through and through that the Empire or its Emperor were responsible for their own actions. They had done it ultimately because of the Empire or Emperor, so therefore it was inherently the Empire's fault. The Empire started it, so they reacted. The terrorist organization known as the Rebel Alliance was all too frequent in the use of this excuse. Rarely though did the occasion occur in which a detainee was stating such nonsense at this point though. Helghast gave it up to her cursed force adept abilities and the ingrained hatred they rightfully should have for the Empire which strove to drive adepts to the point of extinction. No matter, willpower was trivial in light of the will of the Empire.

"Incorrect."

IMP floated into De'Ville's vision, replacing Helghast's face. The orb's small arm also took the needle and another smaller, more finer appendage appeared from the orb. The smaller arm reached down as IMP neared, barely touching her nose. The fine, almost thread-like fingers had amazing strength as they held Lilaena's eyelids open. The needle rested against the soft moist, pink skin at the corner of her eye ball closest to her nose.

Helghast took a step back, watching her muscles tense in her jaw, her stress levels starting to rise. A mental command issued to IMP and his counterpart droid present clicked in a counteragent to the shock she would start to slip into. It'd merely smooth out the stress levels from spiking, not much else benefit from there. This was an art and a science to Helghast that left very little room for anything other than sheer pain. De'Ville would not be the first adept to suffer a prolonged session with Helghast.

"Before this needle is inserted, you can cease your nonsense and tell me, who was responsible for Thyferra?"

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Jaw clenched tightly, Lilaena breathed in and out noisily through her flared nostrils, the small spherical droid a dark blur in one eye as it hovered above her. Her eye watered in defense as her eyelid was kept open, the tiniest prick of the needle already pressing against the soft pink tissue that surrounded it.

It took effort to release the muscles that held her jaw tight, but once she did she was sure she wouldn't stop babbling. Being out of control of her own body was frightening. It hadn't happened since...

Against her wishes her eyes tracked away from her torturer and his droid and toward the dark corner where she'd seen her dead master lingering. Her nostrils flared, and her mouth sagged open a bit as she finally forced her jaw to relax.

"I... assume..." Lilaena struggled to put words together, trying to find dialogue for the situation and not simply bleats of terrified fear. "..you are... talking..." She hiccuped, her body spasming, and she froze as she anticipated the needle by her eye plunging into its squishy depths. Either the droid had anticipated her hiccups or the needle was already in her eye and she just hadn't noticed.

Her eyes streamed tears as she tried to blink. "About... Xucphra..." Lilaena shuddered with effort. "I. Did. It."

[Y'roth Helghast]

IMP had in fact anticipated the spasm and had moved in sync with De'Ville. And with her words, IMP's smaller arm retracted its fiber-like digits from her eye lid. Another small utensil appendage came out and a light spray of water hit her eye to help keep it from immediately becoming further irritated. The needle was withdrawn and IMP floated a foot or so above Lilaena.

"What was your objective this evening?"

Helghast already knew the damage she had done at the test facility with adept children. As to why De'Ville had coordinated her attack could probably be proposed in a number of hypotheses, however what better way to narrow it down then ask the source.

IMP had stepped back with its needle and the electrical current had even been toned down in De'Ville's arm, however that needle had yet to be removed. Helghast was conveying that by answering questions, there was in fact a possibility that the pain, the punishment for existing in her current fashion, could actually lessen. It was a temporary reprieve and an ounce of leniency that begged to be taken advantage of.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Her eyes blinked furiously, bleary with tears as the droid withdrew.

"The objective... was to... find the Empire's research on ...locating potential adepts." Her hand and arm still tingled with pain, but it was less than before, making it a little easier to form words. "And destroy it."

[Y'roth Helghast]

Search and destroy. Simple enough and accomplished to boot. And they killed all of them, the children, as well. It was not often that the force adepts that fought against the Empire took the path less traveled. Most tried to be heroes, as they would put it, and died trying more often than not.

"Objective complete then. What is your relation to Executor Khendon Sevon?"

[Lilaena De'Ville]

She began trembling at that, and it took a moment for the Inquisitor to realize that she was not going into shock from the pain but was brimming over with a sudden and cleansing rage. Despite her lack of ability to touch the Force, the anger served to clear her mind a little, if only for a moment.

"A tool," she spat, clenching her free hand into a fist.

[Y'roth Helghast]

"Agreed."

Interesting reaction. Most interesting. Time to hit an abstract target then.

"What else are you then, have you been but a tool? What have you accomplished for yourself that was not a function for someone else? Your terrorist attacks conducted against the Empire furthered either Khendon Sevon's treason or it helped the terrorist group known as the Rebel Alliance. Everyone else has stood to gain from your actions. What is your significant gain in all of this that defines you as anything else other than an instrument?"

Helghast had not moved from his place. He was not pacing like many interrogators and he had not changed his stance either, keeping his eyes locked on De'Ville, aware of every change her body made, waiting for her to slip off any one of the numerous of the precarious edges she now stood upon.

This was an opportunity that outweighed the possible risk, the clarity she was being provided was ample enough to rebuild mental barriers which he would just have to tear down all over again in order to progress. This risk was acceptable as there was still time before she would be transported elsewhere for an extensive duration of imprisonment and interrogation by the Inquisitoriate.