My first story on FFN! I hope it isn't too awful.

Life wasn't always like this. Constant pain, little or no sleep, and the fear of death looming around the corner. Every day, I'm either beaten, tortured, put in a testing room and made to do impossible tasks, or fitted with even more robotic parts. I guess I should explain.

My name is now Persectus. Don't ask what it was before, as that identity has been shed by me. I am, or was, a Diathim. But the Empire invaded my home on the moons of Iego, and I am now a part of some twisted experiment that is trying to turn us into superbeings that will help the Empire take over what is left of the galaxy.

But I don't plan on letting that happen. They've already turned most of my body into a robot, leaving just my brain and a few vital organs intact. I think I'm the only survivor. There were a few of us taken, but I haven't seen any of the others. I've heard whispers though, and they haven't been good. I'm scared of the future, of what those monsters might do to me.

I should probably explain a bit before you get too involved in my story. I was born on one of the many moons orbiting Iego. I grew up knowing almost nothing of the outside world or the conflict taking place at the time. I only heard occasional reports of whats current and who rose to power.

So when the Empire showed up with their Star Destroyers, we were stunned. None of us had ever seen one before, and we certainly did not know of the evil they contained. A scouting party was sent to greet the visitors. I was among them.

When we arrived at the landing site of the Imperial shuttle, we were greeted warmly. They gave us many gift, and we handed them some as well. We were excited when they offered to give us a tour of their ship and told us we would meet their captain. None of us thought anything of it until we realized we were moving away from Iego. But by that time, they had locked us in the detention wing of the ship.

Back to the present. Those scientist bastards were taking me into yet another testing chamber. This one looked to be like some sort of arena. There was a ring in the center, with an particle shield surrounding it. The field deactivated and a robotic voice spoke in a droll tone.

"Hello, Subject 11. Today is a special test. Please try to perform to our expectations, or you will be terminated."

I sighed as I stepped out into the arena. The particle shield closed up behind me. I tensed up, waiting to see what kind of monster they were going to throw at me. The floor opened up and the quiet hum of the repulsor penetrated the air. I stepped back and prepared to face my foe. A head popped out of the hole in the floor. One quick glance and I could tell it was human.

I quickly ran through a mental checklist. Vital organs: heart, eyes, lungs, brain. Weak points: sternum, neck, arteries, temples, groin, nerve clusters. You learn a lot from being constantly put into life or death fights against different organisms.

I braced myself as the lift raised the human up. But I was stunned as I saw him fully appear. He was wearing tattered and torn rags, with a faint red logo on the shoulder that looked something like a red circle. His body looked beaten and bruised, and he had large cuts across his face. I ran over to him and knelt in front of him.

"What happened?!" I asked him. He lifted his head weakly and tried to look at me.

"Th.. The Empire... I was.. captured... and.. tortured... beaten... You have to help me!" He collapsed after whispering the words to me. I immediately stood up and faced the scientists watching me. The head scientist smirked at me.

"This is you task.. kill him. He is a traitor to the Empire and must be punished accordingly." The scientist sneered at me. I glared back at him.

"You can't just kill people in cold blood!" I exclaimed.

"You will do so, or you will be killed along with the prisoner." I looked back at the poor man hunched down behind me. I thought about what the scientist had said, and if the human's life was really more valuable than mine. A vibrosword dropped from the ceiling and I caught it with ease. Tracing the edge, I contemplated the options. Life for me, death for him. Death for me, death for him. In the end, there was no other option.

I slowly lowered the vibrosword onto the human's neck.

"I'm sorry" I whispered. And with one quick stroke, his head came completely off.