"There is no way out." Rygel said. "No ventilation shaft. Nothing. The only way out, is through that door."
"And even if we did get through that door," Jothee justly added. "We still wouldn't have any clue how to escape this frelling ship!"
D'Argo rubbed his eyes, thinking about their horrible situation.
Imprisoned by the Scarrans, on a Dreadnought, flying through space.
They awaited interrogation in their cell.
And with interrogation, the Scarrans meant torture and death.
Things were looking very grim.
"Crichton would've had a plan." D'Argo thought to himself. "He would've had an idea. Something. Anything to escape."
But Crichton was dead.
"Frell Crichton!" D'Argo went on in his mind. "It's his frelling fault that we're in here! And we don't need him! We can do this ourselves!"
"There's got to be a way." D'Argo said to the rest.
"But Crichton would have never wanted us to be here." D'Argo said to himself in his mind.
"And he would've done everything to get us out of here."
"I still think Stark can get us out of here!" Chiana said.
"Stark can't and never will get us out of here!" Rygel said. "He's a frelling lunatic! A one-eyed madman! Nothing will ever change that!"
"Stop fighting!" D'Argo hollered. "We have to work together to escape! Fighting will get us nowhere!"
Grunschlk sat in the corner, next to the Diagnosian, smiling.
"I can't believe that you lot managed to evade the Peacekeepers for so long." he said.
"Shut the frell up!" D'Argo said. "You want to get out of here too, right?"
"Well, yeah..."
"Then SHUT the frell UP!"
Rygel moved closer to D'Argo in the dark and warm cell.
"Are we really taking them with us?" Rygel asked D'Argo.
"We have to." D'Argo said. "If we don't let them join our escape, they'll probably inform the Scarrans of our plan."
"What plan?" Grunchlk said, overhearing their conversation with his excellent hearing.
"It is probably impossible to escape this Dreadnought."
"But that doesn't mean we aren't going to try." D'Argo replied.
"...is getting more and more anxious. I don't know how much longer..."
"I don't care." Ahkna interrupted.
The sub-officer was clearly not happy with her decision.
"We will simply continue interrogation until I decide otherwise, is that clear?"
"Perfectly." the sub-officer.
Ahkna turned her face towards the view-screen, which showed a beautiful view of outer space.
A blue nebula was visible in the distance.
"If I may ask..." the sub-officer said. "Why do you keep Artokh at your side?"
Ahkna did not blink, neither did she look away from the view-screen.
"He clearly still serves Staleek and he will never let you take the throne. There was a unknown transmission last night, and everything points into his direction. Why do you not take action?"
"If I take matters into my hands now, I would be provoking a Scarran civil-war without end." Ahkna said. "There are still some whose loyalty lies with Staleek. Even I still respect him. His wisdom and strength is a valuable asset to the Scarran Empire."
"But Minister..."
"I do not wish for Staleek's death." Ahkna went on. "Neither that of his servants. I merely want to reclaim the Scarran throne to my family."
The sub-officer sighed in understanding.
"Yes, War-Minister." he said.
He turned to leave, but Ahkna stopped him.
She grabbed his arm and pulled him back.
As the sub-officer looked confused and afraid into her eyes, Ahkna put her fingers around his neck.
"Never question my authority again." Ahkna said, before snapping his neck.
The officer fell lifeless to the ground.
Ahkna walked away without even looking back.
The cell-door opened, and a tall Scarran accompanied by two Charrids walked in.
D'Argo and Jothee attacked the Scarran in an attempt to escape, but they were easily subdued by the Scarran's strength and heat.
"The Nebari." the Scarran said and the Charrids took Chiana.
"No!" D'Argo said. "Take me!"
The Scarran growled and pushed the Luxan away.
"Why would they interrogate her again?" Jothee asked. "They already did her!"
"It's not about the interrogation." Rygel said. "It's about breaking her mind."
"That won't take long." Grunchlk said. "They'll break that little girl easily."
"I sincerely doubt that." Rygel said.
"Where is John Crichton?" Ahkna said over and over again, but Chiana kept laughing in her face.
"You don't get laid very often do you?" Chiana asked her.
She was in pain, but still managed to crack some jokes.
Ahkna intensified the torture with 50, and as the light shined on Chiana from above, every cell in her body began to scream out of pain.
"Why do you keep on resisting me?" Ahkna said to Chiana.
"John john john john john..." Chiana muttered.
"Why give your life for someone who will not do the same for you?" Ahkna said.
"He would!" Chiana shouted. "John would!"
"I doubt that." Ahkna said, " otherwise he would've already be here. Trying to save you. His friend. But I don't see him..."
"He would've tried to save me," Chiana said. "But he's dead! So he can't!"
"You are a liar." Ahkna said, before turning on the machine again.
The light blinded Chiana.
As the torture ended, Chiana moaned as if she was having sex.
"Go on." Chiana said painfully. "Hit me again. And again!"
"Where's John Crichton!" Ahkna said.
"I told you already...he's dead!"
"You lie! I can read it in your eyes! My spies tell me that Crichton destroyed a Peacekeeper prison facility not far from here! He escaped Scorpius's grasp again and disappeared somewhere in the Uncharted Territories!"
Chiana honestly did not know what to say.
Was this true?
"So tell me..." Ahkna said. "Where is he?"
Artokh watched from a distance.
Ahkna was desperate to find Crichton.
This was obvious in her attempts to extract the knowledge from the prisoner's minds.
No subtleties. No patience.
All she used was brute force to make the prisoners talk.
Artokh observed her from the shadows.
It would be so easy to sabotage her plans for conquest.
The only thing Artokh had to do was kill the prisoners. And then she would never know Crichton's whereabouts.
She would have to look for an entire year before she would ever find the human.
But this would be too obvious.
Killing the prisoners would not bring either answers or endings.
It would only provoke a civil-war within the Scarran Empire.
Artokh as a servant of Staleek and Ahkna as his enemy, both fighting for supreme control over the Scarran race.
No. Artokh did not want that.
Millions of Scarran lives would be lost in this war.
Millions of Scarrans who would've rather died fighting the Peacekeepers in the war they've been preparing for, for years.
Artokh decided not to kill the prisoners.
Because those were not the orders Emperor Staleek had given him.
He said 'sabotage', not 'destroy'.
Artokh only needed to slow her down. Staleek would bring the final blow.
The crippling blow.
Artokh left the torture-chamber to begin preparations of his plan.
"I told you she would not break." the prison warden said to War Minister Ahkna.
"Nebari are known to be very resilient to torture. They are a tough species."
"But still an inferior one." Ahkna interrupted. "Use the experimental machine on her, to make her talk."
"But that thing is not operational." The warden growled. "Shouldn't we bring in the Luxans? Torture them to find out what they know?"
"Use the device." Ahkna went on.
Her cold eyes were immune to sympathy.
"We don't know what it will do to her." the warden continued. "There is a chance she will be killed!"
"Then she will talk, or die..." Ahkna said.
As the large machine was placed around Chiana and was attached to the original torture device, Chiana could not help but fear what was to come next.
As Ahkna switched on the device, the light which shined from above shined a bright, blue light, which was brighter then the last one, and almost seemed to burn out Chiana's eyebolls.
Her mind burned as well.
"Tell me where Crichton is...NOW!"
Chiana screamed in pain.
How was she supposed to tell her something she did not know?