Freya was becoming convinced that she was in Hell. It had been two weeks since she had set foot on the ISD Accuser, and she felt like she was not only losing her will to remain in the Imperial Navy, but losing her sanity as well. She was starting to get occasional panic attacks just before entering Captain Rallis' office each morning. The captain would habitually force her to stand at attention until she thought her legs were going to give out. Then Rallis would give her messages to run to all points on the ship for two hours. Some days, the young ensign would then have to finish prisoner reports until lunch. And if they weren't done by lunch…well, Freya became accustomed to not eating lunch on those days. Then she would have to thoroughly clean the office and refreshers, even though there were droids on board the ship for that purpose. This is how it all started. Then things got worse.

Freya was sure that she could remember if she were given an order or not. So, when Captain Rallis would give her an order to go count the stun cuffs in a detention cell or to see if the turbolift down the hall was still out of service, only to demand where she had been when she got back, and deny that she had given such a 'silly order', it was enough to make her question herself. Adversely, Ensign Thorne would be busy with a task when Captain Rallis would demand to know if she had done something else. When Thorne replied that she hadn't been told to do so, Rallis would explode on her, calling her stupid and inattentive, and punishing her for disobeying direct orders.

The punishments ranged from mild to overly severe to humiliating. Rallis constantly making statements about the ignorance of people from the Outer Rim, and calling Freya incompetent were the usual. Once, Thorne was accused of sneaking out to lollygag. She swore that Captain Rallis had told her to compile a list of all of the blaster pistols in the detention area. Rallis denied she had done so. She made Thorne stay early into the morning, completing reports. Another time, Thorne talked back, stating that she 'Would have known if she had gotten such an order'. Captain Rallis slapped her hard across the face, and made her stand at attention while forcing her to say 'I am an idiot' over and over again. The worst was today. Captain Rallis had ordered her to wear 'the whole of that absurd costume of yours' to work.

"Why are you wearing that?" Rallis asked tamely when Freya had entered the office. The young officer knew what was coming.

"Y…you ordered me to, ma'am." Thorne answered.

"Why would I order you to wear that?" Rallis demanded. "Why would I want you looking like a whore in my office?"

"I…I don't know. You did." Thorne maintained. "I swear ye did, ma'am."

"You aren't sure of anything, are you, ensign?" The older woman pressed. "Your mind can't even keep up with what your orders are, and what insane garbage you dream up." The captain was silent a moment. Lieutenant Drier did as he always did. He sat at his terminal in silence, occasionally giving Thorne looks that she didn't like. Then her superior spoke. "I want you to clean these floors. By hand." Freya repressed the tears and the anger she was feeling.

"Yes ma'am." She said humbly. And she did. She spent the morning scrubbing the floors with a rag, trying to ignore the looks she knew she was getting from Drier. At one point, she could even swear that Captain Rallis had muttered something to the man along the lines of "Enjoy the show, Drier." But she couldn't be sure. Was her mind playing tricks on her? Was she really so incompetent that she couldn't remember orders? By the time she had gotten back to her quarters, Freya was ready to break down. She lay face-down on her cot and started sobbing away the day. She tried to forget everything that had happened. She had a two-day on-board leave coming up in a couple days. Unless Captain Rallis revoked it for some reason.

The next day, Thorne tried to go into work and keep a low profile. It was, in theory going to be an easy endeavor. There were reports that needed written, and orders to convey to different prison cell blocks, enough to hopefully keep her out of the office and away from the captain for much of the day. She got to work immediately, and tried to work quickly and diligently. It worked up until lunch was over and she reentered the office.

"Ensign Thorne, where have you been?" Rallis asked angrily.

"Lunch, ma'am." Thorne answered, saluting the captain. Rallis began to circle her in her predatory way again. Freya hated when she did this. It felt so unnatural.

"And did I give you permission to leave work undone so you could go stuff your mouth?"

"Yes ma'am, you did." Freya answered matter-of-factly.

"I cannot stand it when a bratty little child lies." Rallis sneered. "Is that what you want to be, ensign? A little brat?"

"No ma'am." Thorne answered, her hands starting to shake.

"Well, what do you want to be, then?"

"An officer in the Imperial Navy, Ma'am.

"Yes, like that will ever happen." Rallis stated. "You are too dimwitted and lazy to be an officer in this navy. You should slither back to that worthless backwater planet you came from and stop polluting this ship with your presence." Freya was shaking so hard now that Rallis began to notice. "What, are you cold now, ensign?"

"N…no ma'am." Thorne replied.

"Hm. I'm going to finish my paperwork now. Since you have proven that you are so useless, you can just…stand at attention until I'm done. Understand?"

"Yes ma'am."

"Good." The next hour was excruciating. Every time Freya felt her arm start to drop or her legs sag, Captain Rallis would bark an order to stand up straight. Finally, her body could take no more. She felt darkness close in. When she woke up, Thorne was in her room, laying in her narrow bed with her tunic, hat and boots off. It took her a while to realize what was going on, and she still wasn't sure if it was real or not. The next day, she asked Captain Rallis if she had passed out, if she had been carried to her room. Rallis indignantly answered that she had no idea what the ensign was talking about. She denied making her stand at attention for over an hour, and claimed that Thorne had worked all day then returned to her room.

"Now…" The captain said. "I want you to test these three sets of stun cuffs. They are supposedly malfunctioning, and I must know if they are working properly."

"Of course, ma'am. How do we test them?" Thorne asked curiously. Rallis grinned.

"I'm glad you asked, ensign. Put on this pair first."

"Ma'am…I…I don't…" Thorne stammered.

"Stop being silly and put them on." Rallis said in a cold, menacing tone. Freya shakily held her hands out, and the captain placed the cuffs over her wrists, and activated them with a push of a button. "Now, we'll see if they are functional or not. First, level one." Rallis hit a button on a fob, and Freya yelped as electricity surged up her arms painfully. The captain let the cuffs work for a few seconds, then grinned.

"Perfect. Now up to level two." Before Freya could say anything, she felt a powerful jolt encompass her arms and shoulders, spreading to her upper chest. Her arms automatically drew back to her chest and she fell to her knees in pain, screaming through clenched teeth. It seemed to go on forever until Rallis shut it off. Freya looked up at her commanding officer, who stood over her ominously, a gratified smile on the woman's face.

"Please…neu moor…please…"

"And…level 3." Rallis stated methodically. Freya realized that she had never known pain until this moment. She had no control of her body as it drew up into a fetal position on the floor of the office. She couldn't scream. She couldn't move. All she could do was hurt. Then, it was over. She slowly forced her limbs straight and discovered she could breathe again. She opened her eyes and the room became clearer as her vision readjusted. Rallis was still standing over her, and it seemed that the captain was breathing hard, a content expression on her face.

"Now, we have two more pair to test." Rallis said in a detached voice.

"Why…are ye dooin' this t' me…" Freya whispered.

"Nonsense. Who else will test them?" Captain Rallis answered. "Now, pick which set you test next, ensign."

By the time she had returned to her room that evening, Freya was in shambles. She was shaking almost too hard to open her own door. Once she had made it inside, she collapsed onto the floor. Tears poured from her eyes, and Thorne felt like her lungs didn't want to work. The walls of her small quarters seemed to close in around her. She forced herself to breathe in anxious gasps, and crawled into her bed. There she lay for an hour, trying to will her body into functioning as it should. It wasn't the stun cuffs, the effects of that torment had long since worn out. She was suffering from an even more excruciating feeling; helplessness. She felt trapped in a world of horror she no longer wanted, and knew she couldn't escape.

Freya fumbled on the nightstand for the bundle of flowers and herbs she had brought from home. She grasped the satchel tightly, and held it to her nose, inhaling the aroma that reminded her of green fields, deep woods and her mother's kitchen. It helped a little. She regained the ability to breathe normally, and lay on her bed, thinking. She had the next day off, and Freya felt things she had never dreamed of feeling in her worst nightmares. She had to go blow of some steam, and she immediately thought of a way to do so.

She pulled off her leather gloves, allowing herself the small pleasure of doing so slowly, to feel the caress of the soft leather against her skin. For some reason, she had fallen in love with leather gloves in academy, and had spent over a hundred credits on several pairs before she had been assigned to The Accuser. She gently folded the pair and sat them on her nightstand before curling up with the bundle of fragrant herbs held against her chest. Freya was exhausted; mentally, physically and emotionally. She felt spent, and she had fallen asleep in no time.

...

Oh that's not good, is it? Thorne is being gaslighted by her superior. We can only hope things get better for her in future chapters, eh? Now you're beginning to see why I rated this fic "M". Content like this can be triggering to some people. It was actually hard for me to write the stuff Raliss is doing. I hate people like that, and if you're going through that kind of mental abuse, get some help.

Comments and PMs:

Bluecat; I love trying to write from others' POV in stories, especially the "bad guys'. My beta readers for this commented that they kept forgetting that they weren't supposed to be rooting for the main characters, but the fact that the mains aren't really bad guys, just on the side of the Empire made it easy to love them. Also...didn't know you were into Star Wars! Good to see you again.

Anonymous; No, I didn't fall off the edge of the Earth. Writing MLP fics for over a year was taxing, and I just had to take a hiatus. Plus, I've been busy with work and family stuff.

Anonymous#2; I wanted to write a Star Wars fic since 2008, but I'm such a dedicated fan that I wanted to write the best one I could, one that doesn't break canon, had original characters, and fit believably into the universe. Coming up with OC's was incredibly difficult, and the main here, Commander Tharcourt, is my SW cosplay character. I don't think I've ever put this much research into a fanfiction before. See why I put it off half a lifetime?

I will try to get another chapter posted soon, probably right before I leave for my trip. My kid and I are going to some highland games. No, I'm not gonna throw telephone poles around. I may or may not play my bagpipes a little though, and I'm probably going to drink mead. I'll be posting more when I return, so keep it locked in right here, ladies, gents and wookies! Until next time, Cheerio! -Drake