No one should be nice on his enemies. It creates unpleasant misunderstandings.
Tanya
:_:
This was so, so abasing.
"I need to use a refresher."
Here. I said it.
"That's comprehensible," Gev said. "You drank a lot of water."
"Will you allow me to use a refresher?"
"Depends on," Gev answered, crossing her arms.
This reminded Vestara of her illusory visit.
Jacen Solo. Colonel Jacen Solo.
If Solo was like the man she spoke to, she was glad he was already dead.
He was exceptionally irritating.
Like Ben.
Well, he was his master, after all.
She shook her head and shifted her attention back to Gev. "Depends on what?"
"If you have any information we might want."
"I have plenty of information. I am already a Sith Lady. I know lot of things."
"Like Kesh's coordinates?"
"Like Kesh's coordinates."
"Are you going to tell them to me?"
"No."
"So say goodbye to your dignity, Lady Khai."
Vestara sighed. "Is there anything else you want to know? Anything?"
"How many worlds do you have already taken control of?"
Vestara considered it. This can help them to get a clearer picture of the size of their armada. Or she can bluff.
"About twenty. I don't count Kesh."
Another very long silence. "You're lying."
How can she possibly know? "I'm not."
"You are. I am sure of it."
"Okay. Twenty five."
Pause. "Lie."
She frowned. "That's not a lie."
"It's as much lie as much as my name's Mirta."
"So you lied to me about your name."
"Number or no refresher."
"Twenty five's true."
Gev stretched her hand. "I can beat the truth out of you, Khai."
"Twenty five."
She received a crushing hit into her stomach. She thought she may wet her pants.
In the middle of gasping, she managed to grind out a weak eighteen.
Another smashing stroke, this time into her knee.
Something popped and her leg exploded in pain.
"Lie."
Vestara gasped. "Fifteen."
Mirta paused. Then she nodded. "Good girl."
She swallowed and drew on the Force to reduce the pain.
How could she know when she lied and when not? She was good in hiding lies.
"Can I visit the refresher now?"
Gev shrugged. "I'll consult it with my bosses."
Vestara grimaced. "Thank you."
And Gev left.
Vestara enjoyed a while of silent self-pity, but prevented tears of pain from escaping her eyes.
She knew they saw her on security cams.
This imprisonment weakened her.
She would certainly be able of enduring this better if they treated her better.
But that was the point.
Her cell door opened.
And Ben's alien Jedi comrade marched in.
"Hello, Sith schutta," he said friendly. "Jedi Skywalker decided to let you use a refresher – under Jedi supervision."
She raised her brows. "Viva," she said surly.
"Sometimes I think he's too soft-hearted."
That didn't need an answer. Everyone knew it.
Wandaq went to her. "Don't look," he said.
What?
He grinned and reached over to a panel on the wall. He shielded it with his own body and tapped a sequence of buttons.
She felt the buttons moving in the Force, obtaining an approximate idea of the code.
7-2-5-Besh-Aurek-Dorn-6-9-8
Simple.
Lights overhead changed their color from icy white to warm golden, transforming the cell into something all but cozy.
Wandaq muttered something to himself, dragging an injection from his belt pouch.
Vestara, almost automatically, used the Force to jerk it out of his hand.
He held it.
Something in his chest rumbled deeply. "What do you think you're doing, smooka?"
"I thought about anesthetizing you and stealing your lightsaber," she replied calmly.
He gave her a compassionate look. He indicated his robes and the empty clip on his belt. "Do you see any lightsaber?"
"No."
"That's because no one can enter one of the special cells with a weapon."
"Oh. That's clever." She watched him with perfectly hidden panic as he raised the injection and started to apply it to her neck, tiptoeing. "Who's idea?"
"Skywalker's. Has some personal experiences with imprisonment of Force-users."
The pin touched her skin. "When he was imprisoning Force-users?"
"He wasn't," Wandaq answered, stabbing the injection into her vein and depressing the pump. "He was imprisoned."
A flash of pain – which was nothing against the ache and throbbing she kept feeling now – shot through her neck.
She bit down on her lip, shaking her head to ease the pain.
"That's right," Wandaq said, obviously enjoying it. "Move and help the toxin spread through your body."
"Toxin?" she spat. "You are killing me?"
"As much as I loved to, no."
She saw her sight grow black on edges. "So what's happening?"
"It's just a precaution. Even with a Jedi escort, you could still try something unwise."
"What's this going to cause?" Her sight was darker and darker every while.
"Temporary blindness, maybe a slight queasiness and dizziness. Balance problems. Maybe I'd have to carry you on the way back. It may cause your muscles to relax."
"That means I will not be able to control them."
"Yes. I'm not sure I have the right dose."
"Great." She sighed as her sight vanished completely. She could have panicked, but the Force gave her a fair overview of her surroundings. "I think we should go as soon as we can."
"Agreed, Sith smooka."
He tapped in another sequence but Vestara, feeling light-headed and beginning to sense slackness coming to her limbs, didn't try to find it out.
Shackles loosened and she dropped the few centimeters onto the floor, almost stumbling to it when her legs didn't do her bidding, letting Wandaq to catch her with the Force.
He caught her arm from behind – she had no idea when he got there – and started to lead her out of the cell.
The toxin had a specific effect they most probably didn't think of.
Her aching and spasming muscles were starting to slacken, pain giving way to doughy laxation.
Oof.
I love drugs.
Wandaq kept retaining her, under-propping and shoving her forward at the same time.
They crossed a doorway.
Wandaq led her into a refresher cabin and closed the door.
He was in the cabin with her.
"What do you think you're doing?" she asked, her outrage working its way through the veil of anesthetics.
"Keeping an eye on you," Wandaq said. "Orders."
"I'm going to…" she bit of the end.
"Yeah, do your human necessities. Go on."
"I have to get off my pants," she said.
"Yeah. I'm not going to help, if you mean that."
"I meant you should go away."
"No way. Skywalker insisted I have to stay with you all the time. Even if it meant staying in the cabin with you."
"He thinks I'm so dangerous or he simply wants me embarrassed?"
"He was actually very caring, given you're a Sith." Vestara didn't miss the way he almost spat out the word.
"Caring?"
"Yeah. He insisted on Jedi escort and while there are only male Jedi onboard, he chose the one that isn't interested in… anatomy of human women."
"Sure," Vestara said, giving it up. "How nice of him."