Sabine awoke with a grunt, her body feeling as if it were made of lead. She rubbed her head, her mind swimming as she coughed up the last bit of grogginess, groaning loudly. Karabast, what did I drink last night... Sabine thought, sniffing her breath and smelling...iron? The girl wiped her mouth, dried blood crumbling onto her hand, her jaw and face smarting almost unbearably. Trying to shake off what she thought was a hangover, the recollection suddenly hit her like a Star Destroyer.
"Where was I..." Sabine groaned. Then she remembered: the raid on the supply base, the suicide attack by the Imperial penal battalion...their frantic retreat to the Ghost.
Sabine looked down at her clothes: an orange jumpsuit zipped uncomfortably tight, yet she noticed a small bulge around her abdomen. Pressing lightly, Sabine winced as she felt sticky dressings dig into her still-fresh wound. The girl immediately yanked down the zipper, revealing a gauze soaked with blood, hurriedly taped over her stomach, right where the blaster had hit her.
With shaking hands Sabine gingerly peeled one corner of the gauze, revealing a sewn-up wound, still oozing with blood. Karabast... she muttered through clenched teeth, taping the gauze back onto her body, trying to get the surgical tape to adhere despite the blood and scar tissue. Sucking in sharply, Sabine began to zip her jumpsuit back up...just as the hatch to her cell swished open.
"Hey!" She barked, immediately shielding her chest, glaring at the stormtrooper. "Can't you at least knock you creepy nerf-herder!"
"Silence!" Sabine felt an armored hand crack against her already-bruised cheek, stunning her.
Before Sabine could recover she felt two troopers yank her arms behind her, chicken-winging them before clamping down a pair of restraining cuffs.
"Up, girl." The leader barked as the guards yanked the weakened girl onto her feet, slipping a black bag over her head.
"Let go of me you brainwashed idiots!" Sabine snarled, kicking and writhing, hooking her bare toes into the deck grating as the troopers continued dragging her down the passageway.
"Shut up or we'll sedate you!" The butt of a blaster clonked against Sabine's temple, stunning her once more, causing her to mewl out in shock.
The troopers threw the groaning girl into an interrogation cell, strapping her limp body onto an inclined metal board, the black bag yanked off her dangling head. As Sabine regained her senses, she looked about, struggling to get her bearings as the troopers left.
There...was not much to be seen. The cell was a simple room, gunmetal bulkheads flanking her on all sides, the flat grey only interrupted by what she could only imagine were hatches and the odd interface. Two light strips cast a muted, clinical grey light across the room, and Sabine could barely make out the far corners of her new surroundings.
"Hey! You guys actually gonna do something or are you just gonna leave me here while you've got your cocks in your hands!" Sabine shouted at the door, not sure (or even caring) if her words actually exited the room.
Sabine began playing with her restraints; despite her physical prowess, she had no delusions over her stature, and she knew that her chances of escaping the rack was close to nil. If anything, she reasoned, playing with the restraints would help pass the time.
"Hey! Hey! Heeeeyyyyyyy..." Sabine called to the guards undoubtedly posted outside. "You guys just get screwed with your watch bill or is this some extra duty you got for fucking up?" she sneered. "How much longer ya got? Three hours? Four? Your watch just start?"
"Oh for the love of...SHUT UP!" a muffled voice echoed through the door, and Sabine smirked at her small victory.
Sabine let out a loud laugh, mockingly jangling her restraints. Aside from a few annoyed grunts, Sabine received no response from her captors. Sighing, Sabine was just about to lay down and rest when suddenly a hatch in the bulkhead hissed open, a spherical droid warbling out of the niche.
Sabine's heart dropped when she saw it. She'd read about them in her classes at the Academy; the IT-O Interrogator droid. Produced by the Office of Imperial Research, the droid was an ideal choice for officers who required an efficient means of interrogation. Used for either autonomous questioning or as a personal assistant during more...intensive interrogations. A syringe equipped with a serum to inhibit her pain tolerance, and all manner of small torture devices tucked away in its tool bays. Suffice to say Sabine aced that test in her 'Basic Security' class, and at the time, she even became fascinated with the machines for a while; their inherent design appealed to that latent sadist within her.
But now...the droid was anything but fascinating. She knew what it could do. Sabine writhed and squirmed within her bonds, glaring at the lifeless black orb; she knew by now it would have scanned her body, its mind hard at work formulating the perfect torture program, either for itself or for its human handlers to enact.
For all her struggling, the droid nevertheless plunged its syringe into her jugular. Sabine winced, shaking her head, hoping to at least break the syringe inside her, but almost immediately the droid extended an arm, forcing her head in place as she felt the poison seep inside her.
For the first time since the ambush she screamed. She'd read about the serum's capabilities, knew that it was a depressant, that it somehow would increase sensitivity and keep her awake despite any pain, but she didn't know that the serum itself was a part of the torture. It felt as if pure acid were being poured into her veins, tearing her up from the inside. Sabine howled in agony as she watched the plunger's agonizingly slow descent to the bottom, expending the full contents of the vial into her body. She barely realized when the droid pulled away. Sabine wheezed, grunting and groaning as the pain slowly wore off, her body heaving and covered in a cold sweat as she tried and failed to recover. She knew the drug was already taking effect.
After that, there was nothing but silence. The droid merely hovered there, humming, watching Sabine. She dared not move, for even the slightest movement caused some form of pain, from the shackles digging into her wrists and ankles, even to the jumpsuit catching on the tiny hairs on her body and even...down there. She could feel everything, everything from the blood pulsing through her body, her labored breaths, her fractured bones, and most definitely the poorly-stitched hole in her stomach. Sabine could not even muster the strength to taunt her tormentors. All she did now was whimper in silent pain.
The sudden hiss of the door jerked Sabine from her introspection, her jolt of shock only causing her to wince further. Through bleary eyes she saw Agent Kallus strut in, his signature Bo-Rifle strapped to his back.
"Well well, the prodigal child finally awakens" Kallus sneered.
Sabine glared in response, gritting her teeth and trying her best to hide her pain. "What do you want, creep?"
"Why, we're here to bring you back home, cadet..."
"I'm not a cadet any more..." Sabine muttered. "I haven't been a part of your machine for a long time."
"Oh, but I beg to differ..." Kallus snorted, bringing up a holopad and bringing up her enrollment file. "Cadet 1138, civilian name Sabine Wren, assumed Absent Without Leave...until now." The agent's eyes crinkled into a smug grin.
"So what now? You gonna write me enough pinks I'll be doing messman for the rest of my life?" Sabine rolled her eyes.
"Oh no, we're fast-tracking you..." Kallus cupped Sabine's chin, the contact agonizing as Sabine tried not to visibly wince, all the while willing herself to struggle against his grip. "You'll finally get that field assignment you were so anxious for, 1138."
"Stop calling me that!" The girl growled, spitting into Kallus' face.
Kallus simply smiled in response, wiping the pinkish loogie off his cheek, only to deliver a firm slap to the girl's beat-up face, causing Sabine to yelp.
"You were never discharged, 1138. You are still property of the Empire, or have you forgotten your oath?" Kallus cupped her bruised chin once more, Sabine barely stifling a whimper.
"Now...how about we make a deal..." Kallus sneered. "You give us the information we need – just a few questions – and not only will your record be cleared, but you'll be given a commission, and your own detachment of troops. And not just any troops, mind you...you'll be a Lieutenant JG in the Imperial Security Bureau, in charge of a field detachment. Espionage, direct action, sabotage...everything you always wanted as a cadet."
Sabine couldn't help but laugh. "Okay, okay..." Sabine tried to chuckle, but her broken body warped it into a wheeze. "assuming I would even consider your offer, what if I don't accept?"
"Then we'll break you. Put you into one of the penal battalions, just like the one you faced. If you thought the rank-and-file enlisted troopers were expendable, just wait until you see the missions we send these guys on."
"I doubt I'll break that easily." Sabine snarled, weakly trying to twist out of his grasp.
"Oh I hope not...Guards!" Kallus barked into his commlink. "Prepare a 612. Our prisoner seems to have an 818..."
Sabine wracked her brain, digging back into old memories, trying to remember the various codes which had been drilled into her younger self. Unfortunately, her mental queries were answered as a pair of troopers marched in carrying a bucket of water, with two riot-control troopers trailing behind. The riot troopers held their force-pikes at the ready as the other two troopers gripped her wrists, undoing her bindings and quickly shoving and tying them behind her back before Sabine could even attempt to resist.
"If I recall correctly, there was an...incident during your time at the Academy regarding water. Your psych profile states that you've developed a bit of hydrophobia as a result...I wonder if you've kept that with you, or if you somehow managed to cast that aside, just like you believe you've done with your training..."
Sabine's knees bloomed in pain as they loudly banged onto the durasteel deck, the cold, black water sloshing within the simple bucket. Sabine's heart raced as she gazed into the liquid, trying not to remember the incident...how hopeless she felt, how the water closed in all around her, denying her air, movement, her friend...
"Last chance..." Kallus' baritone voice broke her ruminations.
Sabine glared up at the sneering agent. "Go to hell."
Without a word, Kallus nodded at the troopers, who immediately dunked Sabine's head into the freezing pail of water. Sabine writhed and struggled as she held her breath, the droid's serum wracking her body with agony as her lungs burned. The water closed in around her, dousing her face, her hair, muffling her screams as bubbles boiled about her, water sloshing out of the bucket, muffled echoes reverberating through her ears. Sabine closed her eyes, tried to think of anything but the incident, but it was no use. She remembered her oxygen tank, how it malfunctioned, how helpless she was to escape the all-permeating water, how she was utterly defenseless against the stifling cold.
Just before she could scream out the last of her oxygen, she was yanked back out, her hair splashed all over her face, water dripping down her nose, her mouth, soaking her body. Sabine coughed and wheezed, not caring how it must have looked as her tortured lungs tried to gulp in precious air despite her fractured ribs.
Sabine yelped as Kallus yanked her damp hair, forcing her to look him straight in the eyes through tears and muddied water.
"Where does the Rebel fleet make port." Kallus coldly asked. Sabine merely glared at her tormentor, her lips tightly pursed as her nostrils flared in time with her heaving body, her still-bloodied nose wheezing in damp, cold air.
"Again." Kallus ordered, and without hesitation, Sabine was plunged back into the filthy bucket, now muddied with the dirt and blood.
Again, Sabine writhed and convulsed, screaming in terror, trying to buck up against the hand wrapped around the back of her head, forcing her down. It felt even longer this time, a thick veil of black closing in around her vision as she howled into the frothy water, inadvertently inhaling the filthy mixture, bubbles whipping and swirling all around her. She almost welcomed the sweet serenity of unconsciousness before she was yanked up once more.
"Y-you fucking bastard..." Sabine whimpered, her body shaking as she coughed up water, wheezing for air.
"Simply answer the question and this can all be over." Kallus almost tenderly wiped the water, tears, and mud off her face, cupping her chin once again.
"But Men and Officers must obey, for obedience to orders, instant and unhesitating, is not only the lifeblood of legions, but the security of the Empire..." Sabine began to recite the mantra hammered into her during her indoctrination, still refusing to falter.
"I see your training hasn't left you completely..." Kallus chuckled. "4814, do a 3487." Kallus calmly commanded, as if he were merely suggesting a change in parade stance.
The trooper yanked a black bag over Sabine's head, pulling the drawstrings, and Sabine cried out, knowing full well what came next.
"W-what? No no please no!" she shrieked as her head was forced into the drink once more.
Water spilled into the cloth, pressing it to her face, constricting around her nostrils, her mouth, undulating and pulsating with each panicked exhale from the girl. Her muscles screamed out in pain as she writhed and struggled, but she didn't care. She wanted it to end. The darkness, the suffocation, the helplessness, all of it coming back in force as the cruel black canvas hugged her face and smothered her burning lungs.
Through the bubbling water Kallus could hear the girl sob helplessly, like some sort of pitiful vermin animal dying within a trap. The agent smiled, watching the traitorous wretch writhe and struggle, her strength slowly being sapped from her body with each panicked breath expelled from her lungs. Excited to see her reaction, Kallus nodded with a cheeky grin at the Trooper 4814, who immediately and obediently yanked the girl back from the filthy water.
Sabine was shaking, practically vibrating as she shakily sucked in air, her chest and back heaving, shaking in fear and desperation.
"P-please please please pleeeaaaseeee..." the girl sobbed pitifully, all but cowering from the bucket of water.
"It's just water, my dear...don't tell me the dreaded Sabine Wren is undone by something as silly as water!" Kallus smirked, dumping the brown contents of the bucket onto the girl's head, Sabine letting out a frightened yelp as the water stole her breath and what little heat she'd regained.
"I...I don't know where exactly the fleet is..." Sabine whimpered, choking back her sobs. "Th-they constantly ch-change locations...and even if I knew...I wouldn't tell a FILTHY FUCKING SKUG LIKE YOU!" Sabine roared, all her frustration, her fear, her despair suddenly channeled into a surge of adrenaline as she jumped up and tried to leap towards her tormentor, only to be struck square in her ruined stomach by a force-pike. Sabine was thrown back, her wound reopening as she screamed in agony, blood soaking through her damp jumpsuit as she clattered back to the deck.
"Put her back on the rack. 5241, stand guard in here. The rest of you, back to your posts."
The troopers heaved up Sabine's damp, wheezing body before clamping the limp girl back into the cold metal construction. As the troopers left, Sabine glared at Kallus once more, well aware her involuntary coughs of blood and bile essentially ruined her steely facade.
"I'm impressed, 1138. I was half expecting you to have broken by now...no matter, let's see if your conditioning at the academy has held up these past few years..."
Sabine winced as Kallus extended his bo-rifle, the blackened imitation of its former self crackling with raw electricity emanating from two sharp spikes protruding from either end.
"I ask you again...where are your friends?"
"They're safe. And that's all you and I need to know." Sabine smirked weakly, her teeth and lips smeared red.
"Fair warning, I can tell you this hurts. A lot." Kallus sneered as he slammed one end of the pike into the girl, the spearhead plunging into her flesh, but the impalement was nothing compared to the shock coursing through her body. Sabine convulsed involuntarily, her hands, legs, arms, and back clenching and writhing as volt after volt of electricity coursed through her ruined body. With her nerves already heightened by the serum, Sabine couldn't help but scream till her throat tore, the agony all but unbearable as here eyes rolled into the back of her head, her cries for clemency merely melting into jumbled babbling sobs.
Finally, Kallus pulled away, leaving Sabine's body slack against the rack, smoke and steam rising from her skin, the faint smell of seared flesh and hair emanating through the air.
"Okay...a different question. What is the current size of the fleet? What are the specifications of that 'B-Wing' fighter?"
Sabine coughed up more blood, her lungs rattling with fluid as she tried to speak.
"It...it's a pretty big fleet. And the B-Wing is a...a nice ruddy red color a-and is not shaped like a 'B'..." Sabine weakly smirked.
Kallus only smirked back, slamming the staff back into Sabine's body, this time, impacting her side, letting the electricity tear through the girl's body once more. Sabine gritted her teeth, hoarsely screaming out as her body shook and convulsed, her muscles starting to tear the longer they were subjected to the current.
When the agony finally stopped, Sabine continued to twitch slightly, her breath hitching in little involuntary moans. She looked down to find a rivulet of blood streaming from her nose, and, more embarrassingly...a stream of liquid emanating from her crotch. To her disappointment, Kallus noticed it too.
"Did...did you just piss yourself?" the Agent laughed aloud, the trooper behind him chuckling softly as well. "I've seen you take blaster bolts to the head, I saw that wound you took to your guts...but a little spark and you piss yourself? You really are nothing more than a little child!" Kallus all but roared with mocking laughter.
Sabine turned away, blinking back tears, and she could only hope they would mix in with her sweat. She tried not to think about it, the humiliation, the torment, how helpless she was. Just like at the academy. All those torments visited upon her and her squadmates by the upperclassmen – ostensibly as part of their freshman year indoctrination – leaving her in states not so different from the one she was in now.
"Last time, trooper." Kallus said coldly, his Bo-Rifle crackling to life once more. "What is the strength of your fleet, and what do you know of your latest fighters?"
"G-go to hell..." Sabine muttered.
Sabine screamed for the last time that day.
"Captain Syndulla, I know how hard this loss must be on you and your crew, but this offensive is vital to the rebellion. We've all lost those close to us in this conflict...and believe me, we will do what we can to get her back. To get back all of those we have lost."
Hera sighed, her lip quivering ever so slightly. "Okay, Commander, what do you want us to do?"
Sato pulled up a holo-chart displaying a small star system. "We have some Separatist holdouts dug in on an old gas mine. They're...not politically motivated, but as far as we can tell their only loyalties now lie within the black market. They refuse to trade with the Rebellion, and all our attempts at diplomacy have failed. We need Phoenix Squadron to seize the mine at all costs."
"Alright..." Hera sighed, rubbing her temples. "What are we going up against?"
"Intelligence reports indicate that these holdouts still possess a small picket squadron of destroyers. Mostly Munificent-class frigates and smaller auxiliary vessels. Your main problem will be the droid star-fighters patrolling the area...and the battle droids themselves."
"Never thought I'd be fighting the same baddies my father did..." Hera chuckled wearily, transferring the tactical files to a datacard.
"Oh, and one more thing, Captain..." Hera stopped in her tracks, turning around. "We've been decrypting some Imperial messages sent out. There is some ISB chatter regarding a newly-required 'asset' from the planet you ambushed. We're still working out the details, but it could be Sabine. Hopefully they can tell us where this 'asset' is headed..."