As Zanna walked down the halls of the ship, idly checking to make sure she didn't have any blood on her clothes from those stupid, insignificant, insects that had dared to challenge her. Her mind flitted between the various threats, plans, and experiences that she had had recently, that demanded her attention. The Sith woman, Thallia who tried to have her killed. Sish, the brutish Trandoshan(how he became a Sith Lord she'll never know). Nyiss and the...pleasurable experience attributed to the Darth. Lea with her innocence and naivety. Jewel, though Zanna hadn't had the...delight of meeting the woman, she had heard of Jewel and she knew the human was on the ship. Doubtful the woman would just allow Zanna to take Nyiss's apprenticeship, even though it was hers by right of blood and superiority. She would have to be dealt with, sooner or later.
As she drew ever closer to the prisoners, she idly skimmed the minds of the crew, searching to see if she missed anything truly important. The first few were the usual. Mundane worries, base desires, and other things Zanna had absolutely no interest in. What one of the medical staff(as the man all but ran towards his next goal) was thinking about, however, drew the Pureblood up short(mentally, of course). Apparently, there had been an explosion...an escape attempt by a Jedi...the Jedi was back in prison, but the Trandoshan had been injured, along with his apprentice. The former had recovered nicely, while the latter was still recovering.
Leaving the man's mind, Zanna muttered a small curse. Sish had survived, which was disappointing and slightly irritating. If the lizard had just had the courtesy to die she would have had more time to deal with other, more important, nuisances. Still...he was injured. So that made things easier for her. As for his apprentice...Zanna struggled to remember what she knew about the Sith Lord's apprentice. Nothing much. Just a name, and a race.
As she approached a Sith Trooper, she made a mental note to learn more about the Zabrack. One could never be too careful after all. "You there, soldier. I want you to gather five non-jedi prisoners. A mother, a criminal, a republic soldier, a young man, and a young woman. The mother with her children alive and on this ship, preferably, the young woman with loved ones on this ship and alive as well. Send me all we know of these prisoners as well." After telling the trooper where to meet her with the prisoners, and how to send the information to her datapad, she gathered two more Sith troopers and went to Viera's cell, opening it. "You can either make this easy on yourself, or make this hard on yourself, I, nor they I suspect, don't care." She smiled at the Epicthanix, in an almost friendly manner.
Viera looked up sullenly at the Sith. There was no question that whatever the twisted woman had planned would be horrible. Her nervousness welled and she replied "I don't think I have a choice. Its not like you to provide realistic choices. Your hearts are blacker than your skin is red. Why don't you just kill us? It would be faster." Nonetheless, she stood and followed the Sith. If for no other reason than to ensure the other Jedi wouldn't have to watch whatever this Sith was going to do to her.
Zanna's smile never wavered. "You always have a choice. It's a matter of how intelligent you belive that choice would be. As for my black heart," She shrugged. "It seems to me that we appear to winning, black hearts and all. Coruscant razed to the ground, most of it's adult male population dead. The children are all slaves, the women, those that aren't whores or dead, along with them. You don't win a war through purity Jedi. And killing you would serve no purpose." With the Jedi following, closely watched by the two Sith Troopers, she lead them to a preselected torture chamber. Ushering Viera in, she turned on the two troopers, keeping an eye on the Jedi. "You, give me your sword." The Trooper, in a slightly surly manner, did as requested. "Now, both of you wait outside. Let the one coming with more in, with the amount I request at the time, and don't let the rest escape." With that, she stepped into the chamber, door closing behind her, giving a brief disgusted glance at the torture tools. Barbaric.
"It'll take a little bit for what I've requested to arrive. Might as well make yourself comfortable. Oh, and you'll want this." She slid the sword across the floor to the Jedi. A few moments passed before Zanna let curiosity get the better of her. "Viera, is it? How did you come to be captured on the Hask?"
Viera just looked at the sword as it was slid across the room to her. "Why would I tell you anything? Why do I need a sword? You aren't going to let me out. And don't you already know how I was captured? I'm sure you have reports. You know you don't have to do this. You could be the one to make a difference in the Sith order. You could let us all go." Viera was babbling, and it would probably annoy the Sith. But at least she was trying to save the poor woman.
Zanna raised an eyebrow as the girl began to babble. Then, deciding that it would be best to answer the questions first, one at a time, she began. "You don't have to tell me anything. Seeing as there will be no harm in the information I ask for, you don't need to be tight lipped either." She smirked slightly. "A problem you obviously don't have. You'll need the sword later, trust me. And no, I don't know how you were captured. I haven't read your report yet." That was a lie. She had read most if not all of the Jedi's files and repots from front to back almost as soon as they
became available. But, Viera didn't need to know that.
She gave a soft laugh at Viera's last words. "I don't have to do this. As I said before, there's always choices. I could let you all go, escape with you. I could make those choices. But, you see, the thing is, I've already made my choice. I want to do this. Morality, ethics, conscience, those are all meaningless and signs of weakness. Weakness that can be exploited. But let's imagine that I do want to betray the side I was born too, the side I'm utterly loyal to, the side I'd die for." Not really, but sounds nice doesn't it? Death wasn't appealing. Life on the other hand, was. "Assuming you've somehow convinced me to do with this, and I free you all, arm you, and then try to help you escape, what do you think will happen Jedi?"
As she waited for the Jedi to respond, she glanced down at her datapad, information about the coming prisoners. The young woman didn't have any siblings, sadly, and the mother didn't have any live children. The criminal was only a small time thief, and the soldier was a coward who had broken within the first day. Not exactly the cream of the crop for what she had planned, but nothing a few lies couldn't fix.
Despite the Sith womans assurances that she would need it, Viera left the sword where it was on the ground. She had a bad feeling that co-operating with the Sith would mean the deaths of innocents. "I think, if you did leave the Sith, you would eventually see the truth of the Light side of the Force and become Jedi. No-one is beyond redemption."
Zanna's eyebrows slowly rose as Viera spoke, staying high on her forehead for a few moments. "I think you're skipping a step. First we have to escape the ship with enough defenses to make it a ship version of Korriban. Then we have to escape any pursuit the very angry people will send after us. But we won't get to that step because I will have died a horrible death by then, and you would be back in the prison." She fell silent, tilting her head. "Redemption...I don't want or need redemption."
Viera maintained little hope of converting this Sith. Here in the midst of darkness, it was unlikely anyone would see the light. She kept trying at least. "If we were caught and killed, it would at least be better than the both of us being prisoners. I to the other Sith here, and you to the darkness that gave you no choice but to serve."
Zanna snorted. "You would live Jedi. Trust me. I, however, would die. Slowly. Painfully. As for slavery...I don't think I'm a slave to anything. I use the darkness. To rise in this universe I have to."And to survive in the world of the Sith. Before she could continue the, interesting, conversation, the Trooper she had sent to find the prisoners entered. "I've brought what you requested, my lord." Zanna peeked her head out, and gestured at the young man. "Bring him, leave the others." The young man shaking in sheer terror, but at least managing to retain his dignity, the Trooper did so. Zanna smiled at him, laying a hand on his shoulder.
Then she ruthlessly took control of his mind. It wasn't that hard, and she was even able to prevent the scream that naturally leapt to his lips. The shaking stopped, and Zanna's smile and poster never changed. The blast doors were still opened, and Zanna forced the man to lie down between them(in a distinctly puppet like manner), head towards the Jedi. Still keeping a firm control over the man, Zanna turned to Viera. "What's going to happen is going to be very simple. I'm going to close the blast doors. I want you to stop it with the force. I won't try and stop you, nor will any of the troopers. This young man's life is in your hands." She could feel his panic and terror growing, raging inside of him, unable to do anything a she forced him to remain perfectly still.
"If you fail, he'll be cut in half in a very painful fashion."
Viera looked on as the poor man the Sith had brought in was Force Dominated. It was a horrible thing to see, his body moving awkwardly, placing himself between the toothed edges of the bulkhead doors. Her stomach turned at the knowledge of what those doors could do to him, and that the Sith would allow it. "H- How can you do this?" She stammered. "You can still stop this Sith... come back to the light..."
"I can't stop this. The choice is already in your hands. Let this young man, who used his sister as a shield after leaving his father to die, live, or let him die. I know what I would choose. But that's me. I'm far more interested in what you will choose." She smiled at Viera, sadly, before shaking her head. "You don't seem to get it. I don't want to go to the light. It is weak, and foul, and infested with hypocrasy. I'm not suggesting the dark is perfect, as perfection is an unobtainable goal at best, but it's better and more honest than the light.
"As for how I can do this....very easily. I'll give you to the count of three. Then I'm pressing the button. 3...2..." Zanna smiled again at Viera, only this one was far more predatory. "1."
Viera was aparalyzed by indecision. on one hand, the Sith said this man was a monster, but she was probably lying. No-one deserved to die, by the tennets of the Jedi code, even the most horrifying of Sith Lords did not deserve death. But what could Viera do? Attacking the Sith would be giving in to her anger. She wasn't strong enough to stop the doors. And time was ticking far too quickly. Turning to the man on the ground she spoke "I'm sorry..." was all she managed in the short time remaining.
Zanna pushed the button, allowing the man one scream of terror before the doors closed on him. It was bloody. The snapping and crunching of the pelvis and hip bones could be heard, and blood splattered the blast doors. The man's scream turned from terror to unimaginable pain. He was still alive, if bleeding an obscene amount of blood from where his waist used to be, and having his entrails exposed and hanging. He was scrabbling and clawing at the floor, screaming and gibbering and calling for his mother.
Zanna opened the blast doors again, allowing the man to crawl away in his insanity, his face twisted with pain, entrails dragging behind him, leaving a trail of blood,and closed them again. Her eyes had never left Viera once. "Interesting. I would have thought that you would have made even the most paltry of efforts, rather than letting him die. Perhaps you're not as close to your light as you'd have me believe. Regardless, I did give you a sword for a reason. Put him out of his misery, if you want to. Or, let him suffer an agonizing death. Once again, your choice."
Viera fought back tears at the sight. Never in her life had she witnessed such brutality, and to think that it could be committed by a sentient being... It was more than she could witness. She squeezed shut her eyes and started to speak the Jedi code. "There is no emotion, there is peace." She began, softly. "There is no ignorance, there is knowledge." Louder now. "There is no passion, there is serenity." She focused on the peaceful feeling of being amongst the shelves of the archives. "There is no Chaos, there is harmony." Her anger and horror began to wash away. She opened her eyes and looked at the Sith then. "There is no death... There is the Force."
Zanna had to strain to hear over the screaming of the man who still wasn't dead. But she caught the words the Jedi was reciting, and chuckled again. Amusing. Interesting. Hypocrisy. She let Viera finish the Jedi code, and then walked over to her meeting the Epicthanix's eyes. "There is no emotion? That's a lie, jedi. There is always emotion. You killed this man. You caused his death, and you are the reason he is still suffering. You could have stopped me. An attack, a plea, the use of the force. But no. You stood there and watched, secure in your Jedi ideals. You watched, as I pressed a button you could have stopped. I gave you plenty of time to prepare. You could have even pulled him out of the way. But you didn't."
She pointed at the man, still screaming and howling and crawling. "This is your fault. I pressed the button, but you allowed it to happen."
Viera met the Siths eyes and stared defiantly as she spoke. What she said only proved her monstrous addiction to the dark side. Viera then replied, her voice cold. "Don't try to twist your actions on to me Sith. You said yourself that you do not have to do this. The only responsibility for this man is yours. You want me to show you the light, and I have tried to tell you it is within you already. But you don't want to hear me." She then knelt next to the screaming man and reached into his mind with the Force, using all her skill to calm his mind and block off the pain, letting him die in peace. "I'll not do anything you demand of me that brings injust death Sith." Even as she projected calm and strength towards the sith, her heart was slowly breaking to know such cruelty existed.
Zanna laughed, a cruel tone to it. "I'm twisting nothing Jedi. I don't have to do this. But I want to. And, the responsibility of mine ended when I gave you the opportunity to save him. I have no illusions about myself. I'm cruel, ambitious, ruthless. I'm what you would classify as evil. I killed this man. And I'll kill again. But, don't the Jedi preach to the masses that they are protectors. Heros. People who would do the best they could to prevent an innocent from dying an agonizing death?" She watched as the Jedi walked over to the man, calming him and blocking off his pain.
"Oh no Jedi. You're not getting off that easily." With that, she fought against the workings of the Jedi, turing the man's mind into a battle ground.
Viera felt the Siths influence spreading into the mans mind, reigniting the pain he felt and heightening it. She was a hypocrit. "Get away Sith! You asked me to save this man from his pain, and thats what I'm doing! You asked me to act, I'm acting! Is that not good enough for you?" The mans mind was fragile as it was, and with the battle of wills taking place there, it snapped with ease. His body began to shake, his mouth froth and his ears bleed. Seconds passed as Viera realised that this was probably the Siths goal all along. She cut off her attempt to calm him then immediately, and with the lgihtside energy stopping, his mind was destroyed instantly under the Sith's assault. His body stopped moving. He'd finally expired.
"See what you did Sith. You killed him. You don't want me to act as a Jedi. All you want is to witness the pain of innocent people."
Zanna snorted, ignoring the corpse. "I didn't say you could save him Jedi. I gave you two choices. Kill him, or let him die. What you did was only useless. It served no purpose than to make yourself feel better." She walked away to the blast doors, opening them to speak to the troopers. They seemed, for the most part, numb to the whole experience. Just another day in the service of the Sith. The prisoners, on the other hand, were terrified and in various stages of weeping. "Bring in her, and him." She ordered, pointing at the criminal and the young woman.
The two were thrust into the torture cell, and Zanna turned back to the Jedi. "Why don't you explain how you came to be upon this ship." She said to the criminal, force persuasion being used heavily of course. "I was looting an abandoned home, when the Sith attacked. I got scared, and ran for cover. One other joined me in the mad panic. A young kid, he couldn't have been more than fifteen or sixteen. The Sith troopers caught up with us and I threw the kid at them to buy me time to run. Obviously, they still caught me." The man fell silent, tear streaks still evident on his cheeks.
"And what about you?" Zanna asked the young woman. "I-I was with my husband. We were at one of the sites of the initial attack, and they caught us within moments. I tried to run when my husband screamed at me to..but there were so many people. So much panic.." Quite suddenly she did more than Zanna asked for. "Please, don't kill me! I don't want to di-" "Silence." Zanna spoke quite calmly, but the wave of force persuasion shut the woman's jaw faster than the blast doors.
"Now, Jedi, I have a simple question for you. Who shall live? One of them must die, and it'll be your choice. And, before you get any notions of refusing to choose either, let me give you a tidbit of information. For every four hours you don't choose one, I'll take three more innocents, who won't have to die if you choose one of these innocents to die, and kill them slowly and painfully in front of you. I have a very large group of prisoners to select from, and even if you last that long, I'll move on to your friends." Zanna's eyes were unwavering. "Choose. The criminal, or the wife."
Viera was confused. She just couldn't figure out what this Sith wanted of her. To choose a prisoner to kill, yes, but why? "Why would you do this Sith? Whats the purpose of it all? For all I know, you'll keep asking me to choose until there is no-one left on this ship. What will you do If I do choose?"
"Knowledge Jedi. I know how a fellow Sith would react to this, and I have an inkling of how a Grey Force sensitive would react. But I have no clue as to how a Jedi would react when faced with two evils. Or if the information presented to them would affect their decision at all. See, if I hadn't made them tell you anything about how they were captured, you would have randomly killed one. Simple enough. But now, you must decide who is more worthy of living. Who is more worthy of death. As for keep asking you to choose, no. That would be a waste." Zanna gestured at the two, silent but shaking, prisoners. "I'd suggest you hurry. My patience is wearing thin, and three more can be easily summoned."
"You're wrong Sith..." Viera started. She knew that what she was about to say could get her and these poor people into even more trouble. But She would not compromise the Jedi ways. Especially not for a Sith's cruel whims. "No-one deserves to die. Not the criminal. Not the Wife. Even you can be saved... I wont choose which to kill. If I must deliver Judgement, I say lock the criminal up for... um, a decade or two. But no one is to die. If you really have to kill someone Sith... let it be me."
"Your choice Jedi. I'll even do you a favor this time, and only bring in two." She opened the blast doors and called to the guards. "Bring them both in, if you please." The mother and the republic soldier were ushered in, and the troopers stepped out once more. Zanna opened the blast doors and turned to the mother, using Force Persuade on the broken woman's mind. "Lie down with your leg where the door will close." The mother complied, and Zanna turned to Viera. "I gave you the choice, and warned you of the consequences. You chose this."
Viera knew the Sith would do this. Unlike last time, she'd had enough time to make up her mind. She rushed into the gap between the doors, standing protectively over the woman whose legs were extended. If the doors shut now, it would be a swift and painful end for Viera. "I told you Sith." She said, her voice cold. "Not to hurt them."
Zanna sighed, and held up a hand palm towards Viera. "I had hoped that you would last longer than this, but there are more Jedi, after all." Taking a deep breath,as if preparing for something, she pressed the button. The doors sprang towards the Jedi, prepared to end the life of the Epicthanix and take the leg off of the woman. Focus...Focus... Zanna thought, using the force to slow the doors. Close, too close. The doors were still moving forward, and the there wasn't much room left for the Jedi before she became two halves of a Jedi.
Zanna lifted her other hand and used the Force to pull the Jedi out of the way. The damn fool of a girl was just standing there with her eyes tightly shut, waiting for the end. Well, that wasn't coming anytime soon. As the Jedi was yanked away, out of harms way, Zanna released her hold on the doors gasping slightly in relief. The doors slammed shut and the woman screamed and Zanna briefly crossed over and sliced off another slim section of the woman's leg with her lightsaber. Couldn't have her bleeding out.
Zanna turned back to Viera. "Choose. Or I slowly cut off her leg to the hip, then start on her other leg. Then her arms. Then her torso. Then I move to the soldier." She gestured towards the republic soldier, standing and shaking off to the side.
Viera shrieked as she was pulled from between the doors, though her own voice was drowned out by that of the innocent woman. Tears streamed down her face. This Sith was a monster. How could she stand in the light amidst such all encompassing darkness? But no. She would not choose. Could not choose. This had to end.
She gathered her will and with a sudden gesture she Force pushed at Zanna's Lightsaber with all her might, hoping to throw it against the wall
hard enough to damage it.
Zanna, already holding tightly onto her lightsaber, stumbled as the lightsaber was nearly torn from her grasp. While she managed to keep her grasp on the lightsaber, her knuckles took the blow meant for her lightsaber. She let out a small curse in her native language reflexively. It wasn't the pain, she had felt much worse in her years as an apprentice to her previous master, it was the surprise of the whole thing. Her eyes narrowed and she glared at the Epicthanix. Oh, how she wanted to make the bitch pay for that little stunt...but it was clear she was close to
becoming a wreck, and that wouldn't do at all.
She pushed the other prisoners out and told the guards, in a flat tone, "Take them back to containment. I'll deal with the jedi and the one legged woman. Send someone to clean up this mess though." Audible sighs of relief could be heard from the spared souls, while the woman Zanna had sliced a leg off of with blast doors continued moaning. The troopers and their prisoners soon left. Casually, Zanna force pulled the sword to her that she had intended for Viera to use and shoved it through the stomach of the woman Viera had tried to save, dragging it up and down a few times, as the woman screamed. It wouldn't be a quick death, and Zanna wanted the Jedi to know it.
"Let's get you back to your cell, Jedi. Can't have you staring at this woman who you doomed to die slowly for hours, can we?" Zanna gave a sweet, mocking, smile. "And no trying to ease her pain. Or I'll make it worse and I'll make sure you have to watch." She added sharply. Gesturing to the blast doors, "Lets go.."
Viera watched in horror as her attempt to disarm the Sith failed. When the Sith cursed, she felt the wash of rage emanate from the woman, and she expected the worst. She was, however, surprised to see that the Sith then chose to let them all go. Until, of course, the red-skinned monster pulled the jagged sword into her hand and plunged it into the injured womans stomach. Viera's eyes snapped shut as the woman screamed. It was all she could do to hold back tears. She was about to reach out to the woman, but then the Sith threatened to worsen the manner of ths poor inncoents death even more. Viera felt weak, she'd witnessed such horrific cruelty, and it was getting to be more than she ever imagined she could handle. She followed lamely as she was half dragged back to her cell, refusing to give the Sith the final satisfaction of her breaking down into tears.
The moment the cell doors slammed shut though, her body was wracked with sobbing and her face was wet with tears. How could such evil exist in the galaxy? How could such horrific acts occur?
