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The Loyalty Test
It had been almost two full weeks since Juno and the remaining Dragoons had gone "AWOL" to Alderaan. Two long weeks filled with crappy jobs set forth as disciplinary action, and although she would never admit it Juno actually had fun with Leia when she was assigned to be her bodyguard on her shopping trips. She knew Mereel had been doing his best to keep the various details that their squad was to be sent on somewhat lame seeing as they didn’t really do anything wrong. Of course they had to act as if it was horrible which was kind of fun.
Juno had just finished up with inventory of the office supplies when a young man in black dress uniform approached her. “Miss Temple?” he asked quizzically even though her uniform clearly stated her last name on the left of her shirt.
“Yes,” she replied, stopping quickly and coming to stand at attention. She saw no rank but felt it best to show respect, after all they were on disciplinary action.
“Where are you going?” the man asked, his hands folded behind his back, something that most of the officers seemed to do.
“I was to report to Lieutenant Jonson once I returned from inventory, Sir,” Juno paused for a moment, wondering if Mereel sent this man or not.
“If you are done with the task you were assigned then I need you to come with me, I assure you that you do not need to report to your commanding officer right now. I will see that things are taken care of,” the officer gestured back down the hallway in the direction that she had just come from, “this way.”
It was clear by his stance he was not going to start walking without her; she had no choice but to accompany this man. “Yes Sir,” she said and then moved to follow him.
The walk down the sterile hallway was quiet, only the militaristic clomp of their boots echoed as they walked in time down the hall. The officer came to a door and stopped to open it. He went in first and she followed. The room was just as bleak as the rest of the offices in Ironsides. Black furniture, white walls, sparse pictures, fluorescent lighting in which everyone appears more pale than usual. The officer gestured to a chair across from the desk, which he was sitting down behind, “Please, have a seat.” Juno sat down and folded her hands in her lap. This had to be one of the oddest officers she had met as of yet, most of them wanted you to stand at attention or parade rest to talk at you, not to or with you.
The officer, who still had not given his name, sat silently for a few moments, sorting through flimsies on his desk. “I understand,” he began after what seemed like forever, his authoritative voice stretching to fill the spanse of the room, “that you had a very different upbringing Miss Temple. I cannot imagine what it was like to have parents with little to no interest in your upbringing.” He looked up at her directly as he set down his flimsies, judging her reaction and facial expressions.
“I do not feel that my parents didn’t care, I know that they did. They just went where the work was,” Juno unconsciously licked her lips, “I asked them if I could stay on Kuat, I liked it there. I was surprised that they said yes.” Juno shrugs a little, staying in the mindset of Miss Temple, “They went to an Officiate on the Ring and had me declared as an adult.”
The officer nods, his expression speaks volumes of what he thinks of that but he does not vocalize it. For a good part of an hour a perverse game of twenty questions is played. He asks the questions and none of them are simple yes or no answers. Instead, the questions are more along the lines of a loyalty test. What would she do if someone in her unit were a traitor? Would she follow orders under any circumstances? Then there were example scenarios; an alien child is hungry and comes up to you after curfew asking for food, what do you do? These were new, she was not exactly prepared for these kind of questions so she answered them the best she could. At the end of the hour, the officer tapped on his keyboard for a moment and then stood up.
“Wait here Miss Temple.” No please, no question, a simple statement from the officer as he rose from his chair and then quickly left the room. She heard the door latch from the outside.
“That’s not a good sign,” Juno thought to herself, “I think I just got locked in…”
She paid a little attention to the office when she was brought in, nothing in here seemed to be unusual but this just did not feel right. The desk was the same as all the others, matte-black metal, closed front. The chairs were the same ergonomic plasteroid that filled the base except for the officers and commander’s chairs, they were soft black leather. This office being on the inside of the base there was a screen that showed a pleasant outside scene with blue skies and grass. A few of the officers who really held some sway had these in their rooms.
A few things were out of place however. There was no name plate on this desk, the coat rack that was inside of all of the offices wasn’t to be seen either, in fact there were no other chairs in this room aside from the one she was in. Juno’s mind went into high gear, “One chair, no hangings on the wall besides the screen, no coat rack, no name plate, no sound.” This room was completely sound proof, which on Triple Zero was a feat.
She dared not stand up to look around, or even move her head to get a better view of the room. The only thing she could look at is the false picture of the peaceful park that likely did not even exist. The only thing she could look at is the very thing she would use as a cover to watch people covertly. She sighed and made herself smile while looking at the picture, “I am so screwed,” she thought in her head.
And screwed she was. Two men entered in black uniforms followed by a man in dark robes. “Stand, Miss Temple,” a chilled voice spoke, “and place your hands behind your back. If you do not resist there will be no marks on your record.”
The two on security detail came up to her, one stood in front of her, in his hands a stun baton, the other went behind her. She heard the clink of binders being unlocked. If she cooperated, she might still get out of this without them knowing anything the wiser. Juno said nothing as she stood up and slowly moved her hands behind her. The man putting her in the binders was less than gentle; he wrenched the binders as tight as he could on her small wrists making her whimper.
“Very good,” the chilled voice spoke again, “this will be recorded that you are cooperative.” The man in front of her motioned for her to step forward. Juno complied and moved away from the chair. “Now,” the body that belonged to the cold voice moved into sight, he was wearing the long dark robes of an inquisitor, “bring her. Carry her if you must.” The inquisitor’s voice sent shivers down her spine, fear spiked and she recognized the tinny taste of adrenaline on her tongue. The two guards must have sensed her tension because they scooped her up before she could think. She heard the sound of a stun baton being warmed up just before her world went black.
When Juno awoke, she had no idea where she was, how she got there or even what was going on. She was down to her underwear and confined to a chair. On a table a few meters away, she saw her clothes and watch, but not her necklace. The robed man was sitting in a comfortable chair eating something that smelled absolutely delicious, her stomach growled.
“Hungry little one?” He asked in mocking tones, “answer me a few questions and we’ll see about feeding you.” He let his voice trail off slightly as he reached into pocket and slowly withdrew an orange colored crystal on a cord. Her necklace, he had her necklace!
“I am very interested in where you found this little trinket,” he let it sway back and forth from his finger before her as he approached. “Did you know that just by having this you are in very, very serious trouble?” He shoved the necklace deep into his pocket and moved right up into her face. “You have a choice now, little girl,” he touched her cheek with his eerily cold fingers, “you can tell me what I want to know the easy way or,” a cruel smile danced across his thin lips, his beady eyes scanning her face as he moved his hand to grasp her throat, “we can do things my way.” She struggled for air. This man was fast, and not all there.
While not a fan of pain or torture she knew, she could withstand a moderate amount. Besides, she had worked up resistances to most kinds of truth serums. Eventually he would realize that she did not know anything, was innocent, and let her go, or Mereel would show up, having found out about this somehow, and stop it.
Hours passed. Juno could not have been more wrong if she had planned it. This man had the force, the dark side was his master, and he was a believer. Things were not going according to her plan at all but she was giving a good fight. “Pain is the mind killer, I am the master of my mind,” she thought to herself, the last real clear thought she had of her own. “No child, you are not.” That cold, dark voice was in her head.
The next thing she knew she felt a sharp pain in her arm. As she looked down, she saw an old archaic needle injecting her with some kind of iridescent orange liquid. Then her vision went a little blurry because of a slap gifted to her by this sadistic man. “Shall we try again?”
The questions kept coming but this time he was not making physical contact with her. She felt like she was burning from the inside. She would answer his questions, sure, but they had nothing to do with the question he asked or they were a blatant lie. All the while, she heard his oily voice in her head while he spoke aloud trying to pry the answers he wanted from her. What was this that he injected her with, she felt like she was on fire and her skin itched badly. It seemed like an eternity, every little second her body was in some kind of pain. Eventually Juno passed out, the pain being too much for her.
The Inquisitor frowned in disappointment and sighed in disgust. As he opened his mouth to speak his life force ended. At that moment Jaycen, Komr’k, Raynor, and Niner came through the door. Jaycen raised the custom Verpine that Juno lovingly cleaned every night and shot the bastard through the back of the head. Her knight had arrived and he had slain the villain with a single shot. Jaycen shot repeatedly at the downed man, ensuring he was dead before freeing Juno from her bonds. Komr’k and Jaycen put her back in her clothes, picked her up and hurried out of the building. Poor Juno had no idea how far the man had taken her from Ironsides, or even what fate would have befallen her if they had not shown up, and they planned to keep it that way.