OOM: Extraction
Mar. 8th, 2015 03:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
last_kallig(OOC: Some lines taken from canon.)
The past few days have been busy ones for Ibani and bad ones for the Balmorran Resistance. Ambushes ambushed, data stolen, explosives dismantled, Imperial troops rescued. She can feel through the Force that morale has improved considerably over the last few days. On the one hand, she's happy to have saved Imperial lives. On the other, she's so angry that no one else has done this. That no Sith could be BOTHERED to either deal with this personally or to ensure that the Imperial Army on Balmorra has the resources that they need.
Major Bessiker's holocall is a welcome distraction from her thoughts. "Sith, we've found Iannos Tyrek!" Bessiker begins, his tone even more full of good cheer than normal. "He's out at a Republic research base out near the toxic lakes."
"A Republic research base?" Ibanni asks. Officially, there are NO Republic forces on Balmorra.
"Oh, they've scraped all the identifying marks off the armor and the so called 'Resistance' claims their equipment is all military surplus, but I've done a bit of tinkering with the numbers and they don't add up," Major Bessiker replies. "If you can get through the defenses and capture our wayward scientist, Captain Rollo and his men will gladly take him into custody and put him to work on the mutagen."
Ibani nods. "Good work, Major."
"Thank you, Sith," the Major replies. "I do hope this retrieval won't take you too long. I just got word that my son has passed his trials on Korriban and is on his way to Balmorra. I don't want you to miss him." By the end, the Major is nearly bursting with pride and Ibani's gut twists itself into knots. There is no way that the Major's reunion with his son won't break his heart, one way or another. Is she a coward not to tell him the truth? Could she even explain in a way that he would believe? She shakes those thoughts aside.
"That is indeed news that calls for congratulations, Major," Ibani replies. That's as close to actual congratulations as she can force herself to get, right now. "I do not foresee this extraction being a lengthy endeavor."
"Capital! I shall have Captain Rollo and his men meet you at the gates of Sobrik as soon as possible so you can be on your way."
***********************************************************************************
The research base really doesn't deserve the name, in Ibani's opinion. Surely a base requires more walls than tents? She and Khem pad silently through the wilderness, Captain Rollo and his troops hanging back. Wrapped in a force cloak and proceeding with careful regard to troop movements and attention, they take the troops guarding the base one by one. Most never see their death coming and none get the chance to raise an alarm. She snaps the neck of one of the pair of guards guarding Iannos Tyrek directly while Khem Val snags the other fatally with his claws in the throat.
Neither of them are trying to hide when they step into Iannos Tyrek's lab. He hears them come in, glances up from his work, and pales.
"Well, well," Tyrek begins, then swallows. Ibani can taste his fear, a thick, heavy sourness on her tongue. "I should have known Bessiker wouldn't let me go without a fight. But sending a Sith seems like a bit of overkill. Are you here to kill me, or are you going to torture me first?" She can hear the bravado in his voice, a thin shell over the terror underneath.
She looks in his eyes, her own hidden behind her helm, and knows with terrible, awful, certainty that she can MAKE him do what she wants. Pain is only one tool in an Inquisitor's arsenal, she can manipulate the levers of fear to have him dancing to whatever tune she wants. But she doesn't WANT to do that, doesn't HAVE to do that. Not anymore. "You know what I'm capable of," she says calmly. "If you come quietly, there won't be any need for such unpleasantness."
He bristles at that. "I risked my life to defect to the Republic. You think you can scare me into returning? There are fates worse than death - and being an Imperial scientist is one of them."
Ibani is very much inclined to doubt that last. "Don't you think you're being a bit over-dramatic?" she drawls.
"I won't go back to that place! You don't know what it's like! We're not expected to be men! We're machines, slaving day in and day out. No intellectual freedom, no creativity..."
It's his description of himself as 'slaving' that does it, that hits a raw nerve. By working for the Republic, Tyrek is helping the Resistance kill Imperial citizens on this planet, but that's an impersonal kind of anger. The experience of slavery is, will always be, very personal to someone who bears the scars from it on her mind and body. She can feel the anger crawling through her veins. 'How DARE you call a lack of intellectual freedom and creativity slavery,' she wants to snarl at him. 'You were one of the Empire's privileged children, gifted, important! You were never a thing to be bought and sold, used up and thrown away!'
"....I'm tired of building killing machines," she hears him say, the words breaking through her anger. "I want to do some good for humanity. I can't go back there."
That's enough to let her leash the anger, put it aside for a time when it will be useful. He's a fool if he thinks the Republic won't want to use him to build killing machines once they're convinced he's not an Imperial spy, but she can understand why he needs to believe that they won't. Come to that, is her belief that she can reform the Sith from within any less foolish, from an outside point of view? "I only require your services for one project," she states, tone intentionally bland, empty of emotion. "What you choose to do after that is your own affair, as it will no longer be my problem."
Tyrek blinks, she can feel his fear and bravado waver under the assault of surprise. "I know better than to believe the promises of a Sith. You'll have to kill me! I'll never return to the Empire willingly!" He takes a breath to say something else, then pauses, staring at her in disbelief as he realizes she was telling the truth. "You're serious, aren't you? What kind of Sith are you, anyway?"
"Were you looking forward to being tortured?" she asks acidly. Her being different from other Sith is a line of speculation she doesn't want him exploring too deeply.
"Er, no," he replies, swallowing. "Okay, I'll go. But I'm holding you to your promise. I can't be away from my research here for long."
And it appears that Captain Rollo and his men have excellent timing, because that's when they decide to enter the lab. "Be careful with him, Captain. I need him to make it to Sobrik unharmed."
"Of course, my Lord. We'll see you back at Sobrik."
The past few days have been busy ones for Ibani and bad ones for the Balmorran Resistance. Ambushes ambushed, data stolen, explosives dismantled, Imperial troops rescued. She can feel through the Force that morale has improved considerably over the last few days. On the one hand, she's happy to have saved Imperial lives. On the other, she's so angry that no one else has done this. That no Sith could be BOTHERED to either deal with this personally or to ensure that the Imperial Army on Balmorra has the resources that they need.
Major Bessiker's holocall is a welcome distraction from her thoughts. "Sith, we've found Iannos Tyrek!" Bessiker begins, his tone even more full of good cheer than normal. "He's out at a Republic research base out near the toxic lakes."
"A Republic research base?" Ibanni asks. Officially, there are NO Republic forces on Balmorra.
"Oh, they've scraped all the identifying marks off the armor and the so called 'Resistance' claims their equipment is all military surplus, but I've done a bit of tinkering with the numbers and they don't add up," Major Bessiker replies. "If you can get through the defenses and capture our wayward scientist, Captain Rollo and his men will gladly take him into custody and put him to work on the mutagen."
Ibani nods. "Good work, Major."
"Thank you, Sith," the Major replies. "I do hope this retrieval won't take you too long. I just got word that my son has passed his trials on Korriban and is on his way to Balmorra. I don't want you to miss him." By the end, the Major is nearly bursting with pride and Ibani's gut twists itself into knots. There is no way that the Major's reunion with his son won't break his heart, one way or another. Is she a coward not to tell him the truth? Could she even explain in a way that he would believe? She shakes those thoughts aside.
"That is indeed news that calls for congratulations, Major," Ibani replies. That's as close to actual congratulations as she can force herself to get, right now. "I do not foresee this extraction being a lengthy endeavor."
"Capital! I shall have Captain Rollo and his men meet you at the gates of Sobrik as soon as possible so you can be on your way."
***********************************************************************************
The research base really doesn't deserve the name, in Ibani's opinion. Surely a base requires more walls than tents? She and Khem pad silently through the wilderness, Captain Rollo and his troops hanging back. Wrapped in a force cloak and proceeding with careful regard to troop movements and attention, they take the troops guarding the base one by one. Most never see their death coming and none get the chance to raise an alarm. She snaps the neck of one of the pair of guards guarding Iannos Tyrek directly while Khem Val snags the other fatally with his claws in the throat.
Neither of them are trying to hide when they step into Iannos Tyrek's lab. He hears them come in, glances up from his work, and pales.
"Well, well," Tyrek begins, then swallows. Ibani can taste his fear, a thick, heavy sourness on her tongue. "I should have known Bessiker wouldn't let me go without a fight. But sending a Sith seems like a bit of overkill. Are you here to kill me, or are you going to torture me first?" She can hear the bravado in his voice, a thin shell over the terror underneath.
She looks in his eyes, her own hidden behind her helm, and knows with terrible, awful, certainty that she can MAKE him do what she wants. Pain is only one tool in an Inquisitor's arsenal, she can manipulate the levers of fear to have him dancing to whatever tune she wants. But she doesn't WANT to do that, doesn't HAVE to do that. Not anymore. "You know what I'm capable of," she says calmly. "If you come quietly, there won't be any need for such unpleasantness."
He bristles at that. "I risked my life to defect to the Republic. You think you can scare me into returning? There are fates worse than death - and being an Imperial scientist is one of them."
Ibani is very much inclined to doubt that last. "Don't you think you're being a bit over-dramatic?" she drawls.
"I won't go back to that place! You don't know what it's like! We're not expected to be men! We're machines, slaving day in and day out. No intellectual freedom, no creativity..."
It's his description of himself as 'slaving' that does it, that hits a raw nerve. By working for the Republic, Tyrek is helping the Resistance kill Imperial citizens on this planet, but that's an impersonal kind of anger. The experience of slavery is, will always be, very personal to someone who bears the scars from it on her mind and body. She can feel the anger crawling through her veins. 'How DARE you call a lack of intellectual freedom and creativity slavery,' she wants to snarl at him. 'You were one of the Empire's privileged children, gifted, important! You were never a thing to be bought and sold, used up and thrown away!'
"....I'm tired of building killing machines," she hears him say, the words breaking through her anger. "I want to do some good for humanity. I can't go back there."
That's enough to let her leash the anger, put it aside for a time when it will be useful. He's a fool if he thinks the Republic won't want to use him to build killing machines once they're convinced he's not an Imperial spy, but she can understand why he needs to believe that they won't. Come to that, is her belief that she can reform the Sith from within any less foolish, from an outside point of view? "I only require your services for one project," she states, tone intentionally bland, empty of emotion. "What you choose to do after that is your own affair, as it will no longer be my problem."
Tyrek blinks, she can feel his fear and bravado waver under the assault of surprise. "I know better than to believe the promises of a Sith. You'll have to kill me! I'll never return to the Empire willingly!" He takes a breath to say something else, then pauses, staring at her in disbelief as he realizes she was telling the truth. "You're serious, aren't you? What kind of Sith are you, anyway?"
"Were you looking forward to being tortured?" she asks acidly. Her being different from other Sith is a line of speculation she doesn't want him exploring too deeply.
"Er, no," he replies, swallowing. "Okay, I'll go. But I'm holding you to your promise. I can't be away from my research here for long."
And it appears that Captain Rollo and his men have excellent timing, because that's when they decide to enter the lab. "Be careful with him, Captain. I need him to make it to Sobrik unharmed."
"Of course, my Lord. We'll see you back at Sobrik."
