Kay sat alone in the small, windowless office, trying to gather her courage. The only furnishings were a simple desk and the chair she currently occupied. The unadorned walls were a depressing shade of brown, their stone surface rough and unfinished. A small safe which she had used to store Valeska's lightsaber had been built into the rock wall, and a single door led out into the hall beyond.
Kay wasn't naïve. She understood that the room reflected the opinion most offworlders had of the Dead Moon of Antar; they saw it as exactly that, an ugly, lifeless, barren world. She knew that those who had once lived in what was the penal colony of Cermau's House of Eclipse on the planet's surface felt the same.
Except for herself, the office was clearly empty. The door was closed, and with the sparse furnishing there was no place for someone to hide.
Valeska had arrived three days ago, yet Kay still had not gone to speak with her. As per her instructions, the Sith warrioress had been kept drugged and helpless the entire time. Now she knew she couldn't put it off any longer; it was time to go face her demons. Her face set in grim determination, she left the office and marched through the twisting halls of the infamous Antar Dungeon, heading for the interrogation cells.
The administrative buildings of the penal colony were built on a plateaus atop rock columns towering high above the moon's choking clouds of dust, and were blessed with clearer skies nearly every day of the year. However the vast dungeon complex was built into the rock several kilometres below the administrative section of the penal colony, and when Kay had first learnt about this, she had been horrified. Historically, the nobility from Cermau had used the Antar Dungeon on the moon's colony to make political opponents vanish. Trapped at the heart of a rock column several kilometres high and hundreds of metres in diameter, any prisoners inside would be shielded from detection by scanners. A person could disappear forever in the underground labyrinth, spending the rest of their years in shackles, tortured for information or simple sadistic pleasure without any hope of salvation.
The Antar Dungeon hadn't been used in over seventy years; it was a relic of a more brutal and repressive era. In response to public pressure brought to bear by Cermau's Senate, it, along with the colony had been closed down. However the entire prison still reeked of evil. The stale air had an underlying stench of death. Too many dark and unspeakable things had happened here over the centuries. Abandoned and no longer staffed, Kay's hired mercenaries had captured her enemy, with the intent of torturing and burying her forever inside the Antar Dungeon's cold, dark cells. She couldn't help but wonder what her father would think of what she had done. What would he say if he were here right now?
Kay pushed the thought from her mind. He wasn't here. Her father was gone, forever taken from her. And she was left to deal with her traitorous Sith turned aunt alone.
It took her nearly ten minutes to make her way from the office through the maze of passages and rooms to where the prisoner was being held. Although the corridors she travelled were illuminated by pale lights in the ceiling, many of the halls led off into darkness— her mercenaries had only reopened one small section of the complex. The rest of it was still deserted.
Valeska was being held in one of the maximum security cells, accessible only by a single staircase guarded by locked durasteel doors at the top and bottom. The mercenaries standing guard on the other side of the door at the top unlocked it at her approach, and she quickly made her way down the steep stairs.
The door at the bottom similarly opened for her, revealing a small ten metre by ten metre guard station. Another locked durasteel door on the far wall led into the prisoner's cell; a small viewing window had been built into the door. There were two tables in the room. The larger stood off to the side of the door Kay had just entered. The smaller was on wheels; measuring only a metre by half a metre, it had been pushed against the wall beside the cell door.
Six of the soldiers she had sent to apprehend the prisoner were here, along with Korra and Raven. The guards were seated in chairs around the larger table, playing cards. The two women were on opposite ends of the room, distancing themselves from those at the table and each other. Korra was leaning against the wall for support, while Raven sat on the stone floor, her legs crossed, hands in her lap and her eyes closed. It looked as if she might have been meditating.
As Kay entered, the guards jumped up to stand at attention, as did Korra. Raven opened her eyes and looked up at Kay, but otherwise made no move. Kay wasn't even sure what the assassin was still doing here; she had already been paid for her services. But for some reason she had chosen to stay, as if she had some vested interest in the outcome of events.
Kay shook her head. She had more important things she needed to worry about than the assassin.
"The prisoner is still sedated?" she asked.
"Yes, ma'am," one of the guards replied. "She was given another dose an hour ago."
She nodded and made her way over to the wheeled table in the corner. Atop the table were nearly three dozen hypodermic needles, colour coded by label according to their contents. Kay had prepared each of the needles herself. The ones marked with a green sticker contained senflax; they needed to keep the prisoner drugged at all times to prevent her from escaping. The others— red, black, and yellow— were filled with various compounds she would need during her interrogation.
From the corner of her eye she saw Korra making her way from the wall toward her. Once at her side, her friend spoke in a whisper soft enough that only she would be able to hear.
"You should at least admit it. You've gone back to the dark side. Without any exceptions, a Jedi wouldn't be doing this?"
"Why do you even care?" she replied just as quietly. "Do you think I've forgotten about your past, and the many people you killed— sometimes for no reason? Most of them deserved pity. Valeska, for what she did to our family, and our people, she deserves pity from nobody."
"Open the door," Kay called out to the guards as Korra simply turned away. "I want to speak with the prisoner. Alone."
At her words Raven sprang to her feet, prompting Korra to also step forward.
"I want to come with you," Raven explained.
"Why?" Kay demanded, suddenly suspicious.
"Who else could have captured her for you?" she replied, avoiding the question. "Have I not earned the right?"
"If she goes, I go, too," Korra insisted, crossing her arms.
"The three of us, then," she conceded somewhat reluctantly, grabbing the little table and wheeling it into position to bring it inside with them. "Lock the door behind us," she instructed the guards.
As the three women entered the cell, Korra was surprised at how much smaller it was than the room on the other side of the door: just three metres square. The cell was dimly lit, the only illumination coming from a single sputtering light overhead. The prisoner was restrained against the far wall. Her arms were extended out to either side above, her hands shackled by chains dangling from iron rings set into the ceiling. Her legs were similarly splayed, her ankles cuffed to the wall behind her.
Because of the drug she was unable to stand erect; her weight sagged forward, pulling the chains supporting her tight and putting incredible strain on her wrists and shoulders. The pain in her joints would have been excruciating, were it not for the numbing effects of the senflax coursing through her system. Her head was slumped down, her paralysed muscles making it impossible for her to look up as they entered.
Kay selected a needle with a red label from the table and injected it directly into the carotid artery running up the side of her neck. An instant later her head snapped up and back in reaction to the powerful stimulant.
A spitting image of herself, Kay instantly recognised the face of her nightmares. Only a decade older, her features were unmistakable: elegant; fair; striking, light-coloured eyes; mousy hair; full well-shaped eyebrows.
"Do you know who I am?" Kay demanded.
Valeska's answer came slowly. The stimulant Kay had given her only countered the physical effect of the senflax; the toxin still clouded her mind, dulling her focus and concentration.
"An enemy from my past."
The words were slightly slurred, and it was impossible to read anything into the flat, emotionless tone. Kay couldn't tell if she actually recognised her, or if she was just making a generalisation based on the fact that she had taken her prisoner.
"I was only a little girl when you last saw me. I am Kay Eclipse, daughter of Karras Eclipse, my father— your brother," she told her. She wanted her to remember, and to know. She wanted her to understand why she was doing this to her.
"A sole survivor— is this revenge for Karras," she asked after a long moment, the senflax making her mind lethargic, "or for what I did to the people of Cermau?"
"Both," Kay replied, picking up a needle marked with a black sticker. Again, she injected it into her neck. This time, however, the effects were markedly different.
Valeska's eyes rolled back in her head and her teeth slammed shut, narrowly missing her tongue. Then her body began to convulse, causing her chains to rattle madly.
Korra turned away in disgust, unable to watch. Raven leaned in closer, enthralled by her chemical induced torment. Kay let the seizure continue for a full ten seconds before injecting Valeska with one of the yellow needles to counter the effects.
"Do you see the kind of punishment I can inflict on you?" Kay asked. "Now do you understand what it is like to be at the helpless mercy of another?"
Valeska didn't answer right away. Her breathing was ragged, her face and hair covered in sweat from the pain she had just endured. A spastic tremble had seized her left hand, causing it to twitch and flex madly in its iron cuff.
"You have no lessons to teach me," she gasped. "I understand suffering in ways you will never comprehend."
"Why did you betray us?" Kay asked, picking up another black needle and holding it up for her to see.
"Because your father was a weak minded fool. More would have eventually perished if Cermau had resisted the iron rule of Emperor Palpatine."
Kay stabbed the needle into Valeska's neck, inducing another seizure. She let this one continue nearly twice as long before administering the antidote. She expected her to pass out from the pain, but somehow she managed to stay conscious.
"Withholding the complete truth will be punished," Kay warned her.
"You and I bear some resemblance. You somewhat look like a slightly younger version of me. Perhaps you and I are not all that different," she taunted, though her voice was so weak Kay could barely hear her.
"She does have a point there," Raven pointed out to her. "You are unlike any other Jedi I've met. You have much in common with the Sith."
Kay glared at the cloaked assassin before turning her attention back to the woman in chains.
"We are nothing alike. I might be resorting to unorthodox methods, but I'm no mass murderer."
Valeska remained silent, though a cunning smile played at the corner of her lips.
"You betrayed us, but you didn't have to murder us. Why did you do it!" Kay shouted, slapping her across the face. Her nails raked her aunt's cheek, slicing the flesh with four long, deep furrows. Blood welled up quickly into the wounds and began to run down toward her chin.
Valeska didn't answer, however. Jaw clenched, Kay reached down to grab another of the black needles, but Korra seized her wrist.
"Kay!" Korra shouted. "She won't be able to give you any answers if you torture her to death."
Kay yanked her wrist free angrily. "It doesn't matter, she's the reason my father is dead," she insisted. She turned back to the prisoner. "I'm only torturing you so you can suffer just like I have. I will kill you once I'm satisfied."
"Karras was weak," the woman muttered. "To ensure a prosperous future for Cermau, he needed to be destroyed. This is the way of the dark side."
Kay picked the needle up from the table.
"Mass murder is not the way of the dark side! Valeska, I want you to see what it's like to be helpless and afraid," Kay hissed. "I want you to know what it's like to be a victim. I want you to understand that what you did to my father— to our family— was wrong! What I'm doing isn't murder, it's revenge!"
"The weak will always be victims," Valeska said, her voice growing stronger. "That is the way of the universe. The strong take what they want, and the weak suffer at their hands. That is their fate; it is inevitable. Only the strong survive, because only the strong deserve to."
"You only believe that because you don't know what it's like to suffer!" Kay shot back at her.
"Those who are victims have no one to blame but themselves. They do not deserve pity; they are victims because of their own failures and weaknesses." As she spoke, drops of blood from the gashes on her cheek fell from her chin and splashed to the floor.
"But it didn't matter how strong you were!" Korra said, suddenly jumping into the discussion. "Don't you see that? You still ended up as a prisoner!"
"Had I been stronger I would not have been captured," she countered, a fierce light burning in her eyes. "If I am not strong enough to escape, I will continue to suffer until I die. But if I am strong enough to escape..."
Kay slammed the black needle down and grabbed one of the green, injecting her with another dose of senflax.
"You will never leave this dungeon alive," Kay promised as her victim slipped back under the influence of the drug, her eyes glazing over as her head lolled forward again.
Caught up in arguing with her, Kay had almost missed the signs of the senflax wearing off. She had thought it would be hours before Valeska needed another shot, but she had underestimated the effects of the other drugs she had been pumping into the prisoner's system. She'd have to be more careful in the future.
"Right now I am weak," Valeska mumbled with her head staring down at the floor, refusing to give up. "Powerless. You inflict suffering on me because you are strong enough to do so. Your actions prove the truth of what I believe."
Kay shook her head angrily. "No. My father, as did my Jedi Master after him, taught me to help those in need. The strong should raise the weak up, not trample them down. He, along with the Jedi believed in that, and so do I!"
Somehow Valeska managed to lift her head, fixing Kay with her bleary eyed stare.
"Karras and his beliefs would have completely doomed Cermau to the Empire. It's his insistence of those beliefs that got him killed."
Kay raised her hand to slap her again, then froze, struggling to control the flood of grief and rage that threatened to overwhelm her.
"You're not thinking straight," Korra said softly, placing a hand on Kay's shoulder. "You need to calm down."
Korra was right. Valeska was inside her head. She needed to get out of the room and regroup. The last shot she'd given Valeska would keep her helpless for at least another hour. Time enough for her to collect her thoughts before facing her again.
Lowering her hand, Kay turned her back on Valeska without saying a word, leaving Raven and Korra alone with her in the cell.