Fiction Archive...
Acolyte Vairocana
“Humans, chapter one. ‘The most common method is crucifixion, which is painful because it involves nine inch nails piercing the subject’s-‘ that is, your- ‘arms through a highly sensitive nerve that extends to your shoulders.’ In other words, your entire body weight will be pressing on those nerves, sending spasms of pain up your arms. Please note that this is not the torture- this is just how to hold you up.

“For anti-bacterial purposes, use stainless durasteel spikes and frequently wash with saline solution or rubbing alcohol. This will ensure that the subject’ -again, you- ‘does not become infected by anything that would kill him prematurely.

“‘Depending on how long the torturer has, a few prefer to leave the subject crucified for a day before they ask a single question. The subject will be unable to sleep, and sleep deprivation is very helpful in breaking a subject down. It is also noteworthy that many defiant subjects lose their pride when their waste is dripping down their legs.

“‘If the subject remains stubborn, which will happen roughly one time in ten, then please keep in mind that alternating between excessive torture and bacta tanks is very inefficient. The goal is to keep the subject as healthy as possible while increasing his degree of pain over a set amount of time. This is intended to make the subject very aware that his torture could continue indefinitely, with no pause for relief.

“‘It must be kept in mind that the subject will still have hope left. His pride, titles, clothing and even flesh may be stripped away, but he will still hope. There are two options: the torturer may use this hope (usually along the lines of eventual freedom and the safety of his family) against him, or may crush it.’”

Kali glanced up from the book she was reading aloud from to examine the huddled ball on the other side of the room. “So, what’d you think? I wrote it two years ago, when I was Chief Right Arm of Dragon. Not too bad for a novice, eh?”

The only sounds in the room were the clicking of Kali’s nails on wood and the man’s hyperventilating. Tap tap, tap tap, shi-uh shi-uh, shi-uh shi-uh. Kali idly drummed her nails faster, and the tempo of her captive’s breathing increased to match it. Shi-uh, shi-uh, shi-uhshi-uh-shi-uh. The huntress stopped and pulled herself out of her chair, sauntering over and crouching to be eyelevel with the trespasser.

“I don’t know who you work for or how you penetrated my estate’s outer defenses, and I need those answers. Now, you have a choice. You can give me them in the two minutes I have before I have to go to a meeting, or you can wait until I’ve done a very thorough review of these old notes of mine with your help.”

“-Actually, you’re ten minutes late already, Miss Vairocana. Might I suggest taking a Raydod?” The customized droid interjected, blinking its green photoreceptors at Kali, who sprang to her feet.

“Are my robes ready on board?”

“Yes,” the droid immediately moved out of the doorway as Kali sprinted through it and headed for the hangar. It whirred in irritation, then looked over at the handcuffed man on the floor. It programming cycled through possible classifications of the lifeform, came up empty, and resorted to the default ‘guest.’ “May I help you, Sir?”

“Shmershmershmer! Autopilot on, start warmup sequence. And tell me where the hell my robes are!” Kali closed the ramp, shedding an impressive amount of weaponry on her way to her quarters.

“On your bed, Ms. Vairocana.. May I warn you that you are ten-” Yes, I know! Step on it, will ya? Er, maximum speed. Stupid verbal commands,” Kali muttered, hopping into her leggings.

“I do have intelligence, you know,” the computer huffed. “I’m a Godbrain, after all,” it continued, complying with the request.

“Sooo sorry, deified AI. Now what’s the name of the House leader?”

“By leader, I assume you mean Quaestor.”

“Yes, that. His name?”

“Betja Jun.”

“Betja Jun, OK, I can remember tha-” her voice became muffled as she pulled her acolyte robes over her head “-attire, check. What else was I supposed to do/bring?”

“Review the Compendium.” The Godbrain paused smugly, “You didn’t, did you?”

Kali half-growled, alternately flipping through her index cards and putting her boots back on. “You do know that I can have that self-satisfied personality of your re-programmed, right? And don’t bother telling me how many times I’ve uttered that threat.”

“217. Why are you so late, anyway? …We’re approaching Eos now.”

“Pro-consuls are… wha? Already? Some thief made it into my estate. I was about to scare him into being a lacky, but then TG-108 showed up. He’ll probably be stupid enough to let the guy go, since I didn’t tell him otherwise.”

“Eos is in the system-next-door,” the AI helpfully replied to the rhetorical question.

“Right, right. Print out a copy of the complex, would you? I don’t know if I can find the library…” Kali glanced at her cards one last time and snatched up the freshly-printed map, getting some of the ink on her hand. “Thanks! Wish me luck!”

The Godbrain closed the ramp after her and played deep_sigh.mp7, wishing it could actually produce the noise. “And she forgot to give the ‘power down’ command… again.”

Kali tapped her foot anxiously in the turboliftm trying to dispel her nervous energy. She caught the glare a Sith in a green robe was giving her and stopped, giving him a sheepish wave before clasping her hands behind her back. She rocked back and forth, scouring her memory for the rank that wore green robes.

“A higher one than you, Acolyte.” Kali blinked, turning toward  the third Jedi in the lift, who was wearing a black robe with white trim, an Epis robe.

“…you guys read minds?” The Epis and Sith exchanged glances and grinned.

“Not quite. You just look lost,” the second one answered her. he gave her a reassuring smile, then looked up at the light panel. “I believe we’re at your stop.”

Kali hastily moved out of the lift into the library, self-consciously smoothing her robes and smearing them with ink. A few well-chosen, poorly-timed expletives later, all eyes in the library were on her. The acolyte closed her eyes briefly, becoming sith-red. “Why can’t we learn ‘Invisibility’ first?” she muttered, turning to face the person coming up behind her.

It was the Epis from the turbolift. “I think you’ll find ‘Resist Pain’ more useful at this rate.” He murmured sternly. Kali could not quite tell if he was kidding or not.

“Please don’t tell me you’re Quaestor Be…” He nodded. “Yeah… yeah, I figured that.”