[right]Aboard the Serith, en route to Korriban
Kurin Tonaal, Mahree Mis-Ede, Dashara Horizon[/right]
[hr]

"That's better than fi-" Dash stopped in the middle of her sentence.

Her expression hardened. She had spotted a man enter the cargo bay, a familiar mask and black robes betrayed his origins. The Sith. He was carrying two trays with food causing her hunger pains to rattled once more.

Without wasting much time, she moved her legs underneath her and pushed upright. Her figure turned to face him with a defensive posture. Instinctively her hand rested near her blade, ready to draw it if needed.

When he saw her prepare to draw her weapon Kurin smiled underneath his mask. “Go ahead. Draw that blade. Attack the energy field.” he said before pausing for a second. “Or you can attack this food. One will hurt for you, the other will relieve pain.” He put down one of the trays on a crate, then passed the other through to one cell, shutting the hatch afterwards, before proceeding to take up the first tray again and send that into the other cell.

Mahree's attention turned to the entrance to the hold once Dash suddenly stopped speaking. The younger girl felt herself closing up again. Fear setting in just at the sight of the Sith. She pulled her knees back towards her chest and wrapped her arms around them, burying half of her face once more.

“Had I wished you harm then you would not have been standing where you are. In fact, I have a small challenge for you.” He pulled a crate over, then sat down on it, right before both cells. There was no need to make any threats. He was fairly certain that the cell kept the second girl’s pheromones firmly in check, should she be trying to release them. But even if that were the case, he had instructed his crew to wear breathing masks on going into the hold, just in case.

Dash kept her eyes on Kurin. She looked unfazed by his small taunt and facts, but it was easy to tell she wanted to retort. When Kurin moved from the cell and sat, her stiffness fell away. Her blade hand reached for the tray before she walked back to the uncomfortable cot.

She paused to look at Mahree causing her expression to soften into sympathy briefly.

It was pretty basic food fare. Re-hydrated rations with a single utensil and crackers, obviously prepackaged. At least the quality was better than some cases she had suffered through. Deciding not to be picky, she lowered herself onto the mattress.

Her empathy reached out to the younger girl, once more trying to calm and comfort her fear.

"Challenge, uh? And why should we rise to it?" She addressed Kurin, picking through the food and eating a bit. 

“Why not? Is sitting here bemoaning your current circumstances more entertaining? There are several days left on our journey yet, and you’re not getting out of those cells until it is over.” He let them eat a little before he continued. “The challenge is simple, really. All you need to do is stack these crates.” he pointed to the haphazardly scattered crates behind him. “None of the small crates are mag-locked to the deck.”

He pointed first to Mahree, then to Dashara. “You can take the blue crates, and you can take the red ones.”
[hider=Cargo hold layout][img]https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/588591865780109312/616650351755395084/unknown.png[/img][/hider]
Mahree raised her head from her knees, glancing to the fold before looking at Kurin. "And what game is this? she asked, glaring at him before glancing over at Dash, wondering what she thought of his 'challenge'.

Dash's lips pressed tighter, pausing from her second bit. She caught Mahree's look and nodded, a soft gesture to approve the question. Her stomach had already eased its pain to a more tolerable level now.

She set the tray aside for the moment, part of her meal gone. Her interest was sparked and she scrutinized Kurin before she relaxed.

"Fair enough point, but I suspect you'll be disappointed. Those crates are a bit too heavy for me."

“Not if you use the Force.” he retorted succinctly.

With a purposeful and half-hearted attempt, Dash's hand reached out toward the red crates. The top one jiggled but it never lifted far. Instead, it slid off the other crate onto the floor. Much to her disappointment, it never busted open.

"What else would I be lifting it with? You already stated we’re not getting out of these cells." Dash shoved the facts right back at him, even using the same words he did.

He watched her clearly half-hearted attempt. Even a child half her age could do better given basic knowledge of how to do it. “Do it again, only this time you don’t hold back in a paltry attempt to look weak. Such antics will no avail you at the academy.” He frowned at her attempt to be sarcastic. “I suggest thinking your words through before you make statements in the future. Especially when you know they are statements that a child can see the blatant faults in.”

Another spike of hate reared before she pushed it down.

"And you wonder why people think you're monsters," she muttered, loud enough for him to hear. 

She adjusted her posture, working out the tingling sensation. Her hand brushed her long bangs away while she continued. 

"I'm not really sure why you're bothering."

After a moment, she inhaled and exhaled again. She held her hand out again, but she hesitated and just dropped her arm.

"The weight hadn't changed so it's not going to change the result." 

“Weight,” he told the girl “is irrelevant.” He pointed behind him, lifting the largest crate up, then dropped it sharply down to the deck from a few centimeters up. He estimated that it weighed several metric tons, so the sharp thunk as it impacted was not what anyone would call inaudible.

“If hating me pleases you, then feel free to do so. I do not mind.”

“But if you are to hate me, use your hatred. Do not let it use you. That is where the Jedi fail. They are afraid of their emotions, so they run from them, push them down, when they should be in command. Think about those who have hurt you. [i]Truly hurt you[/i]. Imagine what you would do to them if you had them at your mercy. Channel the feelings that gives you and you will have power at your disposal. Power unlike any other.”

Dash held her hand up to stop him speaking farther, "I don't hate you, just the fact you stole my freedom. It's really hard to want to listen to a captor. Especially when it doesn't change anything."

She inhaled, "Jedi aren't weak, they are just liars. Sort of like Sith. And don't lecture me about emotions. One of the phrases grilled into my head was: You should never be ruled by your emotions."

“You claim that Sith are liars, but when have I lied to you, hmm?” He shifted a little on his crate. “Someone told you Sith lie, and condemn all of them as liars, not even having met one.” He continued, “The Jedi are afraid of us Sith. How do I know this? Time and again, they have tried to wipe us out. Last time, they almost succeeded. Yet do you hear stories about that in the republic? No.”

“As for that lesson you have been drilled with? It will serve you well in the academy. It lead you down the path to greatness.”

Dash glared at the red crate. "I don't want power, I want freedom. And say my emotions will set me free, I will counter that they haven't managed to do that here."

He looked straight at her, though the effect was somewhat limited by his mask. “I did not steal your freedom. Your greed did. I merely brought you to justice.” as he said that, he pulled out a lightsaber, one that would be very familiar to her. “I put considerable effort into this one. I could not simply leave it behind.”

"I trust her better than you, though we'll likely never cross paths again." Dash defended her friend, even if she was wrong. Her body was facing him now and slouched over, assertive in her posture. Her legs folded under her while she watched the Sith.

“The fact that this woman you speak of did not turn you over to the Jedi implies that she is no longer part of them herself. A wise choice. As for your paths never crossing again. How can you be sure? Even the Emperor cannot predict the future with utter certainty. Perhaps I will have your past looked into so that this woman can be brought into the fold if she is willing?”

“You leave her out of this,” Dash growled. 

Her skin reddened slightly as she glared at him. 

When she spotted the lightsaber, she cursed. Her head lowered as she spoke, realization was clear in her voice. 

"I knew something was wrong with it. The hilt was Jedi, but it had a red blade. Jedi don’t use red crystals. You put out bait and I fell for it."

“To the contrary young feisty one, Jedi do use red crystals. It is rare, but it happens. Foolish of them, considering the simple fact that red crystals are innately more powerful. But then they are Jedi. Proof enough of them being foolish. We Sith do not use them due to tradition. We use them because they are more powerful. Why use anything less than the best tool for the job?”

Mahree sat in her cell silently while Dash and the Sith shot at each other, back and forth, each one trying to outweigh the other with their words and justifications. The girl’s head buried deeper into the space between her chest and her legs, eyes shut tightly as she tried to tune both of them out. She didn’t want to play their captor’s little game, but in the end, did she have a choice? Would he do anything if they both blatantly refused? 

Mahree was hesitant to play along. What if she could lift the crates as well as he expected? What kind of label would that put on her? 

She couldn’t help but wonder just how well she could move the crates, however. Could she use on as a weapon? If she could throw it fast enough, maybe it would strike their captor before he noticed. There would be no telling how well it would work though, until Mahree could get a feel for the crates. 

One arm moved slowly as she rested that hand next to her, on the floor of the cell. She reached out then, and tried to make it as inconspicuous as possible, as she focused the Force, feeling for one of the crates at the opposite side of the room. 

She was still for now, playing around with what she could feel, barely moving the crate as she tested out her abilities while the other two bickered amongst themselves.

Kurin turned to look at the other detainee. He felt her struggling attempt to use the Force. “Focus on the one who hurt you. Who killed your family. Imagine your revenge. Use that to fuel your telekinesis. It will help.” Some would no doubt imagine him lying about that, but he was completely honest. He did wonder what they would do next. Probably something foolish.

Mahree took a deep breath as she listened to Kurin’s words. It felt ironic to her. Here he was, a Sith, trying to teach her how to focus her telekinesis in order to move an object - telling her to use revenge as a source of power. When in fact it was a Sith who took her and made her a captive. 

“Why do you think I would listen to anything you have to say?” Mahree began, her hands tightening as the girl stood up suddenly, keeping focus on the crate she sensed as she eyed Kurin. “It was a Sith who put me here in the first place, why would I listen to anything you have to say?!” The girl screamed, her arm swinging around hard as her telekinetic grip on the crate sent it flying towards Kurin. 

“You know as well as I do that is a lie. Slavers killed your family, took you captive to sell on the hutt markets. A Sith associate of mine had unfinished business with those slavers. After they died for their sins they set the slavers’ cargo free. You, being a Force-sensitive orphan with nowhere to return to, he decided to send to me so that I could bring you to Korriban for training.” He casually caught the crate moments before impact, holding it in place while feeling her push against his strength. “Good. Use that anger.” He pushed the crate back to test her strength of will.

Dash’s head jerked at the crate’s flight. Her teeth gritted as she watched Mahree lose her temper, the meek and dispirited girl showing she had bite. The only bad thing, Dash didn’t have much time to appreciate it before a wall of hatred slammed into her emotions. Her calm shattered like glass from a thrown rock.

Every muscle in Dash’s body tensed at the alien emotions flooding her own. Her breathing increased, trying to retain some bit of control and failing quickly. In the back of her mind, she regretted forgetting to shut off her empathy. 

Kurin smiled as Mahree fought back against his test of strength. It was clear that she wanted to challenge him, that she would fight back for as long as it took. While this was not the exact test he had originally intended, it was a good test nonetheless of her strength and determination. He was, in many ways, proud of her for using the anger. “Yes! Continue pushing... Draw on that strength! Feel its power!”

From the side he sensed how her anger seemed to be bleeding over into the mind of the empath. Or at least, that was the most probable source, given that he sensed sudden growing anger from her too. Turning to look at the empath, he saw how she struggled to rein herself in. Futilely.

He spoke to her specifically. “Use that anger! Don’t run from it. Do not let it go to waste! Channel it into something [i]useful[/i]!” He thought for a fraction of a second on where she might channel it effectively. “Crush the box I am sitting on!” he said to challenge her.

Dash gritted her teeth harder before she forced herself to speak, ”You might get crushed instead…”

The moment the words slipped out, her own anger shot up another level. She needed to get this under control and fast. 

Hearing the Inquisitor challenge them put Mahree further on edge. She maintained her focus on the crate that was suspended next to Kurin, pushing back as hard as she could while her anger only grew. 

The sweet girl that seemed to have lost her way, ever since she had been in the hands of Sith, seemed to disappear. Instead Mahree felt everything between anger and grief, threatening to overtake her as the Sith in front of her challenged she and Dash. 

The girl pushed harder on the suspended crate while her free hand reached out. She took the man's challenge and began to shatter the crate herself. Slowly it started to crack and twist under her influence. Mahree couldn't help as her anger grew. She had so many emotions built up inside and this was the first time she was able to express them. 

“Mahree… calm down a bit.” Dash nearly pled, but knew her words wouldn’t reach the girl. 

There was too much pain there, piled on from the sense of loss and suffering linked to dead parents. A pain she had felt herself once. She had to get rid of this anger as bottling it up would only lead to more chaos in her heart, something that never ended well. 

Dash held out her hand toward the crate the Sith sat on. Her fingers curled and her mind drifted to memories she wished she didn’t have, fueling the fire already spreading through her. While she had a notion she could’ve controlled and determined what was crushed, she didn’t. For a split second, Kurin’s face wasn’t his own. In her mind, it represented far more and a man at the root of it all. A representation of her entrapment. 

Pressure began to push on the crate. The outside began to crumble against the raw power surrounding it. It started with with dents and grew in strength. Truthfully, she rarely used anger in her force manipulations. Neith had warned how it would corrupt her if she did. 

Dash wondered if it even mattered now. Tears of hot anger pooled at her eyes and trickled down her cheeks, but she didn’t seem to notice.

Slowly Kurin began to feel the crate vibrate as the two detainees pushed on it, trying to crush it. At first, nothing more happened, but eventually it would give in, crumble under their combined efforts. The durable design of it was designed specifically to protect anything within, so it took time. He shifted his weight back onto his legs, know that while it might be amusing to them if he fell over, it would not be be comfortable, let alone beneficial to the lesson he was teaching them.

He felt the momentary efforts from the empathy to also crush him, but while it had a certain amount of raw strength it was unrefined and imprecise due to her incomplete training. Not nearly enough to break through his defenses. It had potential, though. What sort of foolish jedi lesson had that woman she spoke of imprinted upon her?

Mahree didn’t hold back. She both heard and saw the crate starting to deform, so she kept pushing. Mahree didn’t hear Dash’s words at all. All of her rage and fury was focused on Kurin and the crate he sat upon. After a few more moments, the crate suddenly shattered. Mahree released her telekinetic influence on it and instead focused solely on the crate she was attempting to hit Kurin with.

Dash's eyes were burning through the haze of tears and bitterness, anger filled her mind. She continued to focus on the crate even after it cracked, bent and twisted through the girls' efforts. Kurin had moved by now, but she didn't care. An inanimate object was better than a living target right now.

Desperation filled her as she did the last thing she wanted: pled for it to stop. 

"S-s-stop her... please." 

It was a sign of weakness and she knew it. At this point she couldn't stop Mahree on her own or shut off the empathy. Every time she tied, more rage just plowed into her thoughts and distracted her. She didn't know how much more she could stand at this rate.

It was not hard at all for Kurin to see that the rage had begun to consume the non-empath. She had raw power aplenty, but she still lacked control of it. He actually had to put a bit more into holding the crate back out, though he suspect if this went on much longer, that too would crumple. The empath was equally out of control, though for other reasons. For her, the non-empath’s rage was too overwhelming. She didn’t know enough about the technique to block it all out.

They both needed training. Considerable training. All of this proved to him again that their being transported to Korriban was right. He reached out with his other hand, pushing hard on her, forcing her backwards to the energy field behind her. The cells were not configured to cause much pain currently but the shock should jolt her out of her rage. It was either that or something more harmful. Not at all a difficult choice. If necessary, he would do the same to the Empath.

Mahree, still blinded by her rage and grief, fought back against Kurin’s telekinetic push. She was forced back into the field of the cage, a sudden electric shock overtaking her body as his push momentarily held her there.

Her fury pushed on though. 

The young girl pushed back against Kurin’s influence while still being shocked by the cell’s electric field. One hand held out, she pushed hard, trying with all the strength of will she could muster - trying knock Kurin down, to make him pay. Trying to achieve some sort of revenge for the grief the slavers and the Sith had caused.

It was quickly clear that the energy field did not jolt her out of her full-blown rage. “Sit down, Acolyte.” he said firmly, turning his push into full stasis. He then pulled her over and down onto the bed in a seated position. It would no doubt anger her somewhat to be controlled like that, but at this point it was necessary if he wished to avoid harming her significantly. With her body restrained like that, the force on the hovering crate broke and he let it fall down. “You have let your anger consume you. [i]You[/i] need to rule [i]it[/i], not let [i]it[/i] rule [i]you[/i].” His voice at this point was clearly one of authority, of command, rather than the more casual tone from earlier. Once he had her seated, he altered the stasis to allow speech.

When Mahree's rage stopped, Dash's figure drifted to the cot's side and fell off. She hit the cell's floor hard. Her arms wrapped about her head as her legs tucked in, curled up into a pitiful ball. Her lungs were breathing hard while her mind seemed locked up in its own maelstrom.

An unfortunate and familiar one.

Anger still wafted off her, but it was merely empathy flowing and no force direction at all.  She couldn't tell which emotion was hers or Mah, a fact that left her struggling.

He did not have time to deal with calming down the empath at the same time. He quickly pressed a command into his wrist unit, releasing a particularly effective form of knockout gas into her cell. It would leave her with a headache when she eventually woke back up, but otherwise unharmed.

As the gas filled the cell, Dash's body felt heavy. Her muscles slacked and her eyes drooped, feeling sleep replace the confusion.

The sudden stasis caught Mahree off guard as he body was forced into a sitting position on the cot. Her influence on the Force was diminished, as was her blindness by rage and grief. Her mind quickly wound down from the enraged young girl to something more of exhaustion and confusion. Mahree took deep breaths in and out in quick succession as her thoughts became her own again. 

Mahree watched silently as Dash crumpled to the ground suddenly, the girl taking note of the gas that filled the cell, though barely visible.

“You’re the cause of this,” she began, her voice wavering as Mahree addressed Kurin. “If Sith minded their own business, none of this would be happening.” She mumbled. Her focus shifted to her breathing then, listening to her lungs breathe in an in an attempt to calm her mind.

“Blame the Jedi, not the Sith.” He answered, no longer as commanding in his tone. “If they had left us Sith alone instead of fanatically hunting us, then none of this would have happened.”

He gently pulled another crate over, sitting down right outside the force cage. “Now focus. Take deep, regular breaths… in… out… in… out… A rage will always take more out of you than you expect it to. But it is nothing to be afraid of. In time, you will learn to control better than you did this first time.” He spoke softly now.

"What happened to the Sith in the past is not the fault of those in the present." Mahree retorted, head down. She was caught off guard when Kurin's voice changed - it was calm, almost soothing as he sounded like he was honestly trying to help the situation. It frustrated the girl a little, but she said nothing for the time being and reluctantly listened to his instruction. 

While she slowly gained control over her breathing, he pressed a command into his wrist unit, activating the venting system on the other cell, extracting the remaining knockout gas. The prisoner within would remain unconscious for a while more. In just over half a minute the gas was gone and he sent a silent message to temporarily disable the force cage, so that he could tuck Dashara into the bed. He removed the rapier and its sheath, placing it on the floor beside her. Then he left the cell, which was remotely reactivated once he was outside its coverage. He would have to arrange some more food for her later.

Feeling the stasis had been dropped, Mahree watched as the Sith Inquisitor put Dash into the cot, tucking her in like a parent would their child. Of course the bond wasn't as close, but seeing the action still reminded Mahree of such. 

In the other cell he could see that the detainee there had recovered somewhat, no longer looking quite so stressed out. “I suggest you eat something. It will help.”

The actions this Sith varied greatly from the last, which Mahree found odd and very surprising. Her first captor did not supply food for a few days, her cell had been much smaller and the treatment harsher. Yet this Sith seemed to… care? 

The young girl watched Kurin closely after he suggested she eat. At first it seemed that she would refuse again, but after a few long moments of hesitation, Mahree stood slowly from the cot and took a few steps towards where the tray of food sat after the Sith had deposited it before. She did not take the whole tray with her, instead she grabbed a few different food items and returned to the cot, snacking as soon as she sat down.

He let her earlier statement go unanswered. It would do no good to start another heated discussion. Letting her eat, he sat there watching silently. “If there is anything you might want to know, don’t be afraid to ask.” he said when she was mostly done eating.

“I would appreciate in knowing the name of my [i]gracious[/i] host.” Mahree began, eyes glancing up at Kurin for a moment before her gaze returned to the floor. She placed one final cracker in her mouth and decided she was done eating for now. 

“That is something I naturally can answer. My name is Kurin Tonaal, though most simply call me Inquisitor, occasionally followed by one of my names.” He paused for a moment. “I know your first name is Mahree, but I do not know the rest of your name. Is that something you are willing to share?”

The exchanging of names was not something Mahree had foreseen while in this Kurin’s hold. She listened to his question, asking for her last name. The young girl glanced up to the other cage, watching a sleeping Dash for a moment before her gaze returned to the ground. “No, I don’t think I am willing.” she mumbled, wiping some crumbs from her face as her gaze remained down, away from Kurin.

“Very well. I will not force you to reveal it.” He was a bit disappointed, but not overly surprised. Earning their trust, if he ever did it, would take time. Had he had more than one cargo hold available he could have considered having one of them moved, but that was not an option at the present. “I will leave you alone for now, though someone will come by with more food later for you both.”