004 - Week 2, Day 3: Hidden Threat (Nimm and Lo)

Lo's capture

Darkness swirled and twitched, forming shapes thanks to her fearful state. They took horrible forms of monsters or 'sith' as time drew on. Their red eyes glared at her. Stalking her helpless and weakened form. She licked her lips, her panic spiked within her. Her fingers tightened about her lightsaber as she prepared for attack. Then it was gone. Her eyes blinked and looked at her empty hands. The creatures grinned before rushing at her. Their darkness spun around her, caging her within their darkness and terror.

Her storm battered at her mind trying to toss her from her anchored place and rip her faint calm asunder. A long inky arm raised its claws then shot down into her neck. Her head jerked too late. A phantom pain rippled through her cause Lo's eyes to snap open.

Lo’s senses started to reach for her attention, strengthening with the stretching seconds. Sweat soaked her fur while her body hung limp off the ground. Just enough to cause a rising ache in her arms and shoulders. When her vision began to clarify, she took in her surroundings.

Dark durasteel floor and gray walls indicated her to be in a holding area of some sort. She swallowed her increasing anxiety. With careful intentions, she pulled herself to stand upright. Her eyes glanced up to see her restraints connected to a pair of beams. The blue energy caged her hands, sourced from the thick cuffs on her wrists. She tried to touch them together.

A sudden jolt raced into her body causing her to curse. All her muscles seized up in warning, lifting her up before she settled back onto her feet. She closed her eyes as she tried to steady her breath. The headache subtly inflamed by the sedative's side effects.

"Calm down, calm down. Trust the force. Trust the force. I can do this." Lo's words sounded less encouraging to her than she wanted them to be.

Her master would've done a better job. The thought of him, weakened and hurt, drowned her heart in guilt. She should've stayed with him.

"Stop it, just stop it. Focus on getting out of here. I did it once with the slavers, I can do it again." She tried to brighten her situation.

Sizing up the beams, she let an idea form in her head. Her finger stretched out then...

ZAP!

Another shock, stronger this time, raced through her body. Lo screamed. Her knees crumbled and gave out from underneath her. She let her head hang while she went limp, collecting her senses.

"That... was worse than before. Force use is not an option." Lo mumbled, getting back to her feet.

“Deliver food to the prisoner…” Daro muttered to himself, not too fond of the task, though the idea of not doing as instructed had not even entered his mind. He carried the tray into the cargo bay, his wide frame filling up a significant portion of the doorway as he passed through it. Compared to any of the others on board, he was a giant.

With one hand he grabbed a crate and pulled it along, placing it right in front of the prisoner, putting the tray on top of it. “Eat.” he commanded, even as the restraints slowly unspooled to allow the prisoner to stand properly or even sit. At the same time, the spacing between the manacles extended too.

Lo inhaled. Slow and steady, her chest rose and fell in a pattern. The dark side filled this whole ship making it difficult to rest well. Her eyes flickered back and forth under her lids, indicating a dream. Her head tilted when her ears caught the sounds of approaching footsteps. Slowly her eyes cracked open.

A hole in her calm started to crack when she spotted the massive giant before her. Her eyes widened in surprise and uneasiness when he moved a large crate one handed. When her heels touched the ground, the pain began to flare then ease.

She swallowed, carefully stepping toward the crate. With a timid movement, Lo sat down then began to examine herself. Her fingers began to run and feel her wrists. The tendons were stretched, but nothing serious. Next came the back of her neck. Tenderly Lo ran her fingers across something hard and metal, her mind trying to place the brief image to her touch. Blood crusted near the bottom where it matted her fur. She shifted attention between her acute awareness of eyes on her and understanding the item forced on her.

“I wouldn’t poke that if I were you.” he stated gruffly. “Those things are designed to hurt anyone tampering with them. Eat.”

Lo fought her impulse to jump as her arms dropped immediately. Her head looked back and up, her full body leaning back and observing his intimidating figure. With no experience with the device attached to her, she had no choice but to accept this fact. Lo inhaled then focused on the food. Her appetite didn’t seem to want to cooperate. She still managed to force some down.

Her mind thought back to the conversation. One thing bugged her most, and she noted the Sith hadn’t addressed the answer. How did she know my training was incomplete? It wasn’t clear on what the woman meant or how Lo should have understood it. She knew the Jedi hadn’t done any training outside the caverns or in open areas. The padawan knew she looked young and inexperienced, but she knew Val also did. Even being two years her senior.

Quietly she thought and ate what little she could. Finally, finishing about a quarter of it, she gently pushed whatever had been left aside.  

Though the prisoner would have benefited from eating it all, Daro did not care one way or another. She had eaten some, and that would do for now. He picked up the tray when she pushed the rest aside and carried it out of there, pulling the crate out of reach at the same time.

Lo folded her legs as she lowered herself to the floor. Her eyes silently watching, but her usual questions still locked within. Once more her hand rose to her neck and rubbed above the device. She closed her eyes and took another deep breath, placing her arms on her thighs. She waited for the tightening of the energy cords followed by being hoisted up on the balls of her feet.

From the back of the cockpit Nimm watched the prisoner on the screens, testing her limits. For now, she would not tighten the restraints. Not unless the prisoner did something particularly stupid, that is.

Several minutes later, Lo began to relax. Her posture lost some of its tightness as she turned inward. Mentally, she chanted one she hoped would help her. The Jedi mantra.

  There is no emotion, there is peace.
  There is no ignorance, there is knowledge.
  There is no passion, there is serenity.
  There is no chaos, there is harmony.
  There is no death, there is the Force.

The moment she finished the first round, her ears caught a subtle cracking sound. Her peace shattered when electricity pulsed into her spine. Every muscle reacted in an uncontrolled, instinctive way. The first one set her veins on fire as she toppled sideways. She curled into a ball, feeling more zap and torture her. Their pulses different both in time and intensity. Lo bit back a scream this time, trying to rid out the storm. It reminded her of the seizures from the Blis. Their stingers stinging her soft body and leaving her to wither and suffer. Her teeth found her tongue as they sank in, filling her taste with a metal one.  

When the shocks seemed to die down for the moment, Lo let herself slightly unfurl. She focused on her breathing, slowing it down, and tried to reposition herself. Lo suspected she knew what caused it, but she had to be sure. Once more, she inhaled then exhaled in a crossed legged position. Again she decided to mediate, bracing herself for the pain she assumed would follow soon.

Nimm was rather proud of the programming algorithms that connected the collar to the vital signs sensors monitoring the prisoner. She had commissioned them specifically for uses like this several years before. If the prisoner tried to meditate the way the Jedi are fond of doing, it would sooner or later disrupt it, causing pain at unpredictable moments. Previous uses by her, a few other Sith and some members of Imperial Intelligence had shown it was a very effective conditioning tool.


Nothing happened at first, luring Lo to foolishly let her guard down. Her mind began to sink into the tranquility her master taught her. The peace didn’t last. The device crackled again. Electricity raced along her spine and into her muscles. She screamed, taken by surprise. Her arms slammed onto the floor as it stopped. The Bothan’s body had started to tremble again causing her expression to scrunch up, her canines exposed.

Both times had happened during mediation, but she wasn’t willing to try a third time. Unsure what to do, she moved as close as possible to the nearest wall. Her hand moved through her hair until it touched her padawan braid. The one her master had helped her with as a symbol to teach her, binding them together. She let her hand sit there as she debated on what to do.  

While Nimm could let this go on for more time, she did not see any real benefit to that. No, this young apprentice would need more direct instruction to be set on the right path. “Helia. Continue the excellent work you have done on the conditioning program. I will have to take care of some things directly now. Collect as much data as you can.”

“As you wish, milady.” the intelligence operative answered.

On her way over, Nimm stopped by one of the engine rooms, picking up a small tool she would need for this, then strolled into the cargo bay, taking her time. There was a mixture of feelings the young bothan projected. Fear. Worry. Pain. All as it should be. But there was also a hint of hope. That would not do. At this stage, her new toy did not need hope.

Lo turned her mind inward. Focused on the small bright light in her mind, she didn’t sense the Sith enter the room. However, her body remembered. She began trembling harder even then she gripped her legs tighter. Lo’s lips mumbled under her breath softly and gently, quickly turning into a forceful one.

“Trust in the Force. Trust in the Force. Trust in the Force.” Each syllable made her mouth thick and dry. Almost unclear when spoken out loud.  

She walked forward, looking down at the pitiful ball of bothan, but felt not a shred of pity for her. She would in time come to see that following those foolish ‘Jedi ways’ of hers would only lead to pain and suffering. It might not be as nice as rebuilding someone completely, but it was at least as effective, if not more so.

Slowly she crouched before the prisoner, then reached out, grabbing the padawan braid the girl seemed to take comfort in. Soon it would be severed using the vibroscalpel she had picked up.

Through Lo sensed the woman, her reflexes failed to match the speed. Her hand jerked up as it took hold of the wrist. Fear poured off her, but she tried to push it away. Focus, she told herself. Focus through the fear.

“Stop,” Lo’s voice held a hint of strength to it, though it didn’t seem to last.

Nimm did not stop. She brought the vibroscalpel forward, ignoring the hand holding the wrist of the hand she held the braid with. With a flick of her wrist, she sliced the braid off at the root. Slowly she whispered to the child, “Peace is a lie, there is only passion. Through passion, you gain strength. Through strength, you gain power. Through power, you gain victory. Through victory, your chains will be broken. The Force shall free you.”

Lo’s hand didn’t release. Even as it trembled and shook, her eyes incapable of maintaining contact with the Sith’s. She shut them to focus on pushing past the fear. Lo couldn’t understand how other Jedi could do this, but she had to learn. Not just for her sake, but the others. Fear wouldn’t control her.

“You’re wrong.”

Nimm chuckled. “So you do have some backbone… I was wondering what would get that to come forth…”

“You do not need any symbols of the Jedi Order anymore. You will never go back to it.” after a second’s pause she added, “Not as a member, at least.”

“I still have my hope and you can’t take that away. A Jedi will always trust in the force. A wise master taught me that…” Lo forced herself to let go, her eyes open. Her shakes never stopped even when she wished they would.

“Oh. You think that, do you?” Nimm retorted. “I assume you mean hope that your master will save you? You do not need to worry about that. One of my agents provided him with a sizable dose of a toxin of my own creation. Soon he won’t trouble you anymore.”

In the sea of fear, anger rose up. Small and quick, it clawed at her when she heard about the agent. Lo clenched her knees to keep herself in place. Lashing out wouldn’t do her much good. Least of here of all places, in front of Sith who might’ve been baiting her.

“You’re lying. You have to be.”

“You would like that, wouldn’t you?” she said in reply. “No. As we speak, it has already spread throughout his bloodstream. Soon it will begin tearing his body apart. He might go lame. Or perhaps blind, deaf or mute. Or several of those… Only time will tell. Eventually, with no antidote in existence, he will die.”

Horror and dread washed over Lo, her head pressed into her knees harder. Her hands had moved to her ears and pressed into them, her mind trying to hold back the storm. She held her tongue. Lo didn’t trust it to not spout venomous words or lash out in a way she can’t.

“Do not hold back, my young apprentice. It will do you no good to resist that which should come naturally.” Nimm was pleased. She had provoked many new emotions in her toy. Sure, the emotions were clearly held in check still… But they were there, and she had only just started.

She was confident she could condition this one away from her foolish Jedi ways. All it would take was time and effort. However, she would have to gather more information, find more fuel for the fire she was lighting in this young one. This was turning out much more entertaining than she had expected.

Lo began to regret a lot of things. The unresolved issues from her months on Ryloth to her master, bubbled inside her. Betrayal came from her own mind as she chided it, frustrating tears collecting once more at the corners of her eyes. She didn't look at the Sith. Lo couldn't since it would just strengthen the emotions battering away at her.

Calm down, Lo thought. She tried to ignore the Sith observing her as she slowed her breath. One step at a time. Gradually, she began to find a suitable rhythm and pattern. One...two...three. Lo counted in her head.

The prisoner’s persistence impressed Nimm almost as much as it annoyed her. She seemed to be able to control herself rather well. ‘That will not do at all…’ she thought to herself, pressing a few quick buttons, activating a few new subroutines on the collar. Those should disrupt any sort of control the prisoner had just managed to gain, and cause all sorts of interesting muscle spasms.

“You do realize you not looking does not make me go away, right?” she asked, not really wondering, having seen such behavior before. She pressed a few other buttons, slowly beginning to reel in the restraints.

Once more, those precious and needed moments crashed down around Lo. A tingle, followed by agony traveled through her. It started from her neck then buried into her muscles. They constricted hard as her fingers involuntarily dug into her ragged robes. A gargled scream rose from her throat.

The restraints began to lift her arms. A spike of fear stabbed into her as she resisted. She tried to pull back and reform into a ball, her feet trying to dig in. Lo let out a whimpering cry before it morphed into a fresh bellow of pain. The current in her collar sparked again. Her muscles twitched and coiled, no longer listening to her.

Eventually she had been forced up onto her feet. Her heart pumping in her ears as she dangled there, the heels hovering over the ground. Her fur puffed out while terror nested in her head.

"P-please. Leave me alone!" Her voice cracked as she spoke, her thoughts in a frenzy.

“No.” Nimm stated simply. “You will learn to behave yourself and listen, one way or another. Your pathetic mewling does no one any good, not me, not you, not your dying old master.” She halted the reeling in, then lowered it down just enough so that the bothan could stand properly. How she responded to that would affect the next steps.

Lo hated how she failed to calm. Her methods were interrupted or stopped cold, her wide eyes never moving from the Sith's image. Her feet found the ground as she had been allowed to stand. Fear dropped by a fraction now that she was not fully helpless, but it still rampaged her calm. Another shock cracked from her collar causing her to tense and her jaw clamped shut. As it faded, her legs seemed watery and weak. Slowly, Lo adjusted her posture to keep herself upright.

“I think it is time to get rid of the rest of your connections to the Jedi Order, like this pathetic braid…” Nimm said, holding up the severed braid. She paced around as she said this, coming to a stop a short distance away. With a flick of her wrist she tossed the braid into the air and in the same motion pulled her lightsaber, incinerating the braid in the heat of the contained plasma of its blade.

She pressed the button on her comlink, opening a channel directly to the imperial agent watching from the cockpit. “Specialist Helia. Please bring a set of your spare clothes. I will arrange for replacements when the others get here.”

From an unseen location in the cargo hold ceiling an answer issued forth, “At once, milady.”

Lo sharply exhaled. She watched the braid, her symbol of connection to her master, burn on contact with the light saber. Her eyes tightened when she noticed the color. Green. Stories told of Sith using only red, but the explanation was never clear. Curiosity tried to poke past the fear for a brief second. She pushed it down. Now was not the time to open herself up.

Her glaze looked up as she debated on how to get free.

For comfort, she began to mumble her master's favorite lesson to her. "Trust the force. Trust the force. Tr-"

She choked on her sentence when another pulse of pain distracted her. This time, it didn't bring her to her knees, it just made her stutter.

“The force led you to me, my young apprentice. You will find that I am merciful to those who accept their lessons.”

"I don't want to learn anything from you." Lo nearly shouted, her hysteria building into her own voice.

“What you desire is irrelevant, my young apprentice. You can hate me all you want, but you will learn.” She would have followed that up with a rather painful lesson, but at that moment, Helia walked in with a small stack of clothes.

“There are two ways we can do this, my young apprentice… The first way, I temporarily deactivate the cuffs and you put on your new clothes willingly.” she paused to make it clear that offer was the recommended one. “Or Corporal Typhe comes in and removes your old clothes by force, and you suffer constant agony as he does this. I am sure he would enjoy that alternative.”

Lo swallowed. She glanced at the floor, knowing the preferred one. The best one to keep her emotions in check. All fight had faded from her body as she answered.

"Fine. I will change by myself."

“Wise choice.” stated Nimm, turning to take the clothes from the specialist. “When you get back to the cockpit, activate the collar fence program, and tell the Lieutenant to move the ship one half AU further away from the planet.”

Helia nodded and said “As you command, milady.”

"Nervous about something?" Lo blurted out.

“No, my young apprentice. I simply do not want to bother having to chase you down should you try being stupid again.”

"Where would I go? I cannot pilot an Imperial starship," the young Bothan ignored the use of the word apprentice and reached her arms out for the clothes. She only half lied as her master had taught her how to fly their old one and even let her take the seat from time to time.

“You could go somewhere where I or one of my other minions would be forced to harm you. Or somewhere foolish, like the toilet to drown yourself. I once knew a Jedi with a predisposition towards such insanity.”

"For a Sith… you misunderstand a lot. I couldn't even start the starship… so I think your worry of my escape is exaggerated. It is still reassuring to see I managed something." With the lack of pain or shocks, Lo's fear started to lower. It didn't completely fade.

“Uh huh.” she said, not for a moment believing the bothan didn’t know how to fire up a ship’s engines.

"May I have the clothes?" She got the impression drawing out the anxiety in her was a bad idea and wanted this humiliation over.

“Of course, my young apprentice.” Nimm lowered the clothes to the floor before the prisoner telekinetically, then pressed a single button to disable the cuffs. The metal rings were still around the prisoner’s wrists, but nothing connected them, or them to the tether.

Out of habit, Lo examined her wrists. A slight bit of chapping from low exposure to continual rubbing. She would have to deal with that sooner than later or risk infection or bleeding. Her mind thought of the collar, feeling she had bled enough for today. She stepped forward and bent over to scoop the tunic up first. Pinning it to her side, Lo paused enough to ask.

"You… I don't suppose asking for privacy is going to work, is it?" Lo made her questions flow less and only when needed.  

“You will find that modesty benefits no one in the Empire. It is best for you to get used to that. Besides, your body is nothing to be ashamed of. Many Sith see it as a tool, just like the lightsaber is a tool.”

"I…" Lo stopped herself as she turned to face away, her hands reaching for her tunic. Pulling it off was the hardest part. Her fingers tightened about the fabric as she shook, hesitating in the action. Finally she pushed herself past it and continued to change her clothes.

Once done, her eyes found the floor. Her hand gripping her arm and rubbing her thumb across it. The clothes were weird, slightly bigger, and less rough than her old ones, indicating better fabric. Thankfully her fur provided a small barrier to keep her thoughts off it.

Nimm pulled the old clothes to her, balling them up into a floating ball of sorts. “You did as instructed. For that you will be allowed to move around a bit. I advise you not to attempt any Jedi meditation or such nonsense. You won’t like the effects if you do.”

"I started to notice that when it kept happening. How far am I allowed to roam?" She suspected that ‘not far’ or something vague might be the answer. Likely stuck in the room under supervision.

She smiled. The prisoner had actually thought it through for a moment. “Oh, a few meters out.” She pointed to a recession in the wall. “Don’t walk closer to the door than that, and you should be fine. I will let you figure out for yourself how far to the side you can move, should you so desire.” _{image of movement restrictions}

"I guess I am lucky I got that much from a Sith." Lo stated in her bland tone. She glanced down at her wrists and considered something. Time to test the limits, she thought.

"Unless you want infection to set in at some point, may I request some herbs and supplies to make something for my wrists? And maybe my neck area? Metal, unless heavily sanitized, is not a good thing for wounds."

Lo waited to hear the answer.

“If you acquit yourself appropriately, you will earn rewards. If you do not, you will earn other rewards.” Nimm said, walking out of the room to dispose of the Jedi robes.

"If I am lucky, hopefully I will die from infection." Lo mumbled, not liking what she was told.

Promptly she turned to the side then pressed her heel to toe, balancing as she counted the steps from her position to the indicated marker. Once finished, she repeated it back to her original spot. Then she went from there to another. Every time, counting the same amount. Her mind set to be cautious and aware of the collar on her neck.

The whole time, she let her focus override her fear. Thinking about something else helped pacify her stress. It made her feel less useless than before, and she knew it would benefit her in the end. At least, buy her time until she could escape or be rescued.

A few times, she accidentally triggered the boundaries. The moment she went down, she just laid there until the spasms passed and forced herself back up. Lo knew she could only count on her past training and self now. Once done, she sat down to rest against the wall in thought.

Her master lived so that was enough to give her hope. She shuddered at the absolute last option. Death. The notion of becoming a Sith was not even among her possibilities.

Nimm chose not to disrupt the prisoner’s experiments. It was fascinating to watch. While it was tempting to stretch and tighten the cordons during the testing, she did not do so at that time. Instead, she would give false security and change the borders at another time.

Of course, the moment the prisoner sat down to presumably think things over, she activated the subroutine that would disrupt her focus irregularly again. The programming was of a reasonable level when it came to punishing Jedi ways, but much could still be improved. A test subject like this Bothan was a true gift to improving it, that much was certain.

Lo stretched out her right leg, letting it relax on the floor. Her hand rested on her thigh while she worked on memorizing key points in her conversation with the Sith. Over and over, she recounted it word by word best she could. Even if it wasn’t the truth. It could’ve been useful for all she knew. The idea of her master infected with a toxin frightened her, but she didn’t want to believe it.

The first three shocks happened in rapid succession. She flinched then braced, recalling what Knight Kayda said yesterday about crucitorn. Her fingers gripped her trousers as each zap bit into her. Her breath became heavy and fast as she returned to her thoughts. They were weak enough to not send her into a twitching mess, much to her relief. Again, another three followed with various pauses. With each one, she inhaled then exhaled. Her mind trying to focus on her senses. She willed her force to take the pain away.

Only one she managed to lessen, but it didn’t lessen by much. Her muscles still tensed, and she gripped her pants, unable to stop her body from bending to the electricity’s will. By this point, her body had found her side and tried to instinctively curl into a miserable ball.