~| Day 1, 23:32 GST - 23:39 GST |~
~| Prison block Aurek |~
~| Som Lorso |~
The prison was dark, the captive Jedi all asleep when the subtle gas hissed out from above, slowly submerging them into an even deeper sleep. It would not last long, but it would last long enough. Some five minutes after the gas struck, the turbolift doors on prison bunk room Aurek hissed open. Not one of the prisoners noticed or even stirred in response.
From the turbolift four troopers in fully pressurized suits moved out as stealthily as they could, their padded boots hardly making even a single noise on the floor. Once out, they did not hesitate, moving along the bunks until they located the right one. Again, they did not make any sudden moves, but gently lifted the unconscious prisoner up, carrying him away. It took them no more than two minutes from the moment they entered till the moment the turbolift shut behind them. A perfect surgical strike.
~| 23:51 GST - 00:17 GST |~
~| Somewhere else |~
The moment Som Lorso woke up, he immediately knew something was wrong. For starters, his head was woozy, not the way it should be when waking from a natural sleep. As a follow-up, he could sense that his body rested upon a hard surface and not the bed he had gone to sleep upon. He knew that the Sith had moved him, but he would stick to his beliefs - He would not fall for whatever ploy this was.
He tried to rise, to look about. He got one knee raised, one foot under himself when something hard hit the back of his head. His sight blacked out, but he managed to cling to consciousness as something hard was swung towards his knee. He knew he should have been able to resist, to dodge, but whatever the drug he had been exposed to was, it interfered with his focus. There was a noise unlike any other and a lance of pain in his leg as the object smashed his knee. As could be expected, he screamed in pain.
“Call on the Dark Side, Jedi scum!” a voice shouted out from somewhere behind him. There was something familiar about it, but he could not quite figure out what. Maybe one of the Sith that had shouted during the horrors in the temple? or perhaps a recording in the temple archives? Or was it perhaps just his imagination. He did not have time to think much on it, for at that point, he could feel a squeezing sensation somewhere in his chest. His oppressor was using the force to crush one of his internal organs!
It was not a powerful squeeze, but with his head so muddled, so much pain in his body, he found summoning his natural resistance harder than it should be. He could feel anger at himself, but resolutely resisted the urge to use it to fuel his resistance. He would not bow to the dark side. He would not fall.
After what felt like several minutes, with the squeezing only increasing in strength, he finally managed to bury his feelings, he pushed the pain down. He could still feel it, but it was a background noise, not the roaring flood it had been. Ever so slowly, he raised his telekinetic barriers higher, pushing out against the squeeze upon his liver. As he pushed, he could feel that particular pain fading. With the resolve worthy of a Jedi Knight, he slowly rose to his feet, the uninjured leg first.
It wasn’t easy, but no more attacks hit him. He could still feel the Sith trying to find gaps in his barriers, but his defense remained strong. Then, when he put weight on his other leg, he felt just a moment too late that something was wrong. The pain he had buried returned thousandfold as his leg proved it could no longer support his weight. He felt himself fall back onto the floor.
Som's hand hit the ground hard, blood oozing from his palm as it pressed against the cold, hard surface. He tried to raise his head, but his willpower seemed to be seeping away, how could it end like this? How could he feel so weak?
From within he felt a burning energy just out of his reach. All he'd need do would be to relax and allow the power to rise inside him, enough to win this fight, enough to burn down the galaxy. He pushed back against it, unwilling to succumb to his fear, to his pain, he was no coward and if this was to be his fate then he would face it on his own terms, as the pure hearted man he knew himself to be.
With his convictions restored Som braced himself, drawing on his own inner power, the light of his soul and the souls of those he had touched, and slowly rolled over. "I will not fall," He muttered to himself as he sat up, with barely the energy to sound the words. Even such a simple act helped to focus his mind, helped him to block out the pain as his father had taught him to as a child.
He could at last see the Sith. Or rather, the robes of the Sith, for she wore a deeply hooded robe, her face not even visible with the only lights behind her. All he could see was the faint contours of a body that was clearly female.
"I will not fall." The words were louder now, and Som watched as the Sith turned towards him with an expression of surprise, as if she'd expected the Padawan to have already collapsed in shame.
"I will not fall!" This time the words echoed around the chamber as Som dragged himself a step forwards, and then another. His hand reached out, plucking a broken pipe up from the floor, one end of it stained with blood. His blood, he realized as he held it like a club steady by his side. Som slowly moved closer and closer to his enemy, and each meter he moved forward upon the ground, he felt his power gaining, knowing the Force was with him in his moment of greatest need. "I will not fall!"
With a contemptuous flick of her wrist the Sith brought her lightsaber round, easily passing through the Jedi's neck, letting his head fall down onto the floor, his expression still as steady and determined as it had been a moment before. Turning away from the crumbling body the Sith moved off, ignoring it. Someone else would clean that up.
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