Abrae, VENI Tower
Two days after the attack

The door before him had an ominous feel to it - that's what Seth Qorbin thought as he remained still in front of the thick metal door barring his way forward. He was in one of the lowest levels of the Tower, an area normally restricted to most agents and instead used for the darker VENI agendas. In other words this was one of the places where Captain Grey or others with enough authority could safely pursue goals that did not necessarily coincide with the Empire's views or the galaxy's morals. It was a great place to hide things. It was a great place to create things too - poisons, viruses, bombs and all manner of other secret technologies. It was also a great place to get rid of those that interfered with the greater good. There were rumors of captives being kept in the bowels of the Tower even before VENI took over - way back from Abrae's role as a penal colony for the Empire. Nobody was brave enough to repeat such rumors, though most VENI operatives believed them to be true...

May the gods forgive me for what I am about to do, Seth prayed as he pushed hard against the metal door which screeched its resistance in return. Once inside, the man turned to close the door, once more bearing with the annoying screeching sounds as he did so. Then he turned to face the only other person in the room. Right in the center of said room stood a metallic frame upon which Darya Eosser laid strapped to, in a spread eagle position. There was a single uncomfortable looking metal chair placed right in front of her as well as loads of surgical devices and obvious torture instruments scattered all over the place, on the small shelves that circled the entire room. The two agents stared each other down, the woman with a hint of arrogance and contempt whereas Seth instead looked at the captured woman with pity and apprehension.

"Evening", Qorbin finally broke the silence and greeted his former colleague in a casual sounding tone. It was fake however and both of them knew as much. Furthermore, both knew that the other knew as much too. "People upstairs are getting antsy about finding out exactly what secrets were compromised, as well as what Tyrell's plans are... Whom is he working for? For how long has this been going on? How did he manage to plant so many double agents right under everyone's noses... There are loads of questions they want to ask you and yet you're resisting interrogation. I warned them you would by the way... You could've been spared the needless drugs and torture droids had they just listened...

Well I got good news and I got bad news. Mostly it's bad news I suppose... Good news is that Jigsaw finally listened and agreed that regular methods would get him nowhere. Especially not any time soon anyway. The bad news is that he agreed to try some... unconventional methods to get the information out of you. And that's where I come in I guess - I'm here to extract that information through any means necessary."

Seth took a break and stared at the woman, wanting to see whether she'd have questions or whether her facial expression would betray anything useful that he could later use. He had no such luck however. The woman had been trained well enough and for the most part knew all the tricks in the book. Unfortunately for her Seth knew of some that weren't listed in any books though...

"You don't look concerned... Admirable to some extent I suppose, but it's not really impressing me you know. I won't hold it against you if you drop the facade and just be honest with both me and yourself. There are no holocams here so everything that transpires in this room will stay here - you have my word on that."

Once more silence spread throughout the small room as the two Humans just stopped and stared at one another. "Not very talkative huh? Still I have to ask all the same - where is Tyrell? Who is he working for? Also, as a personal curiosity of mine, was he already serving two masters when we first met above Lasoris Minor?"

Not a single peep came out of the woman's mouth however. Her expression did somewhat change though, her look now betraying a warped sense of superiority, as if knowing something the Onderonian did not brought her some comfort and perhaps even a small measure of satisfaction too. "A shame... Hardly unexpected but disappointing all the same... Seeing how you're not willing to partake in a civilized conversation you force my hand to act and do that which I was sent here to do in the first place. Know that I'll take no pleasure in it and genuinely apologize in advance for what's about to come..."

Having said that, Seth got up from the cold metal chair and made his way to one of the shelves from where he picked up a couple of syringes. One contained a greenish substance whilst the other one appeared to lack any color whatsoever. "DSL-039m, a cognitive enhancer dealing in attentional control that will make sure you can neither block out the pain nor diminish its sensation either", the man spoke as he showed the captive the greenish looking syringe. "And ßGX8, a beta blocker that will keep you awake and conscious for hours after hitting your system..."

The implications were obvious - the captive would be unable to either block the pain or allow it to knock her unconscious. Whatever Seth Qorbin had in mind, the former VENI agent would be wide awake and fully alert.

Slowly approaching the captured agent Seth raised first the transparent syringe and brought it near the woman's neck, carefully piercing the skin and injecting the contents inside. Then he repeated the same procedure with the green syringe, its contents moving a little slower as it was more viscous in nature. After finishing Seth returned the two empty syringes and placed them back from where he initially picked them up. There was yet a third syringe neatly placed in the same place, one containing a pinkish looking substance, but the blond Onderonian decided not to use that one as well. At least not yet anyway. The third and final drug he had available was specifically designed to both lower one's pain threshold whilst at the same time increasing any and all sensations - pain included.

"I highly urge you to reconsider your position here", Qorbin spoke once more as he casually sat back on the metal chair he abandoned only minutes before. "Your training may have provided you with a resistance to torture and interrogation techniques, but trust me when I say it has not provided you with an immunity in this regard. You will break", Seth spoke and leaning forward added an ominous sounding "I guarantee it..."

Abrae, VENI Tower
Five and a half hours since Darya Eosser's interrogation concluded

"Proceed doctor", Ensign Grey instructed her Human companion - a bulky male that although looked more like a soldier, wore white overalls, thus showing he was in fact part of VENI's medical or research divisions.

"Right, so beginning the autopsy of Darya Eosser - former VENI agent. Subject is Human, female, 29 years of age. Medical record shows no genetic anomalies or signs of diseases though there is a long list of medical interventions present: stab wounds, broken limbs, broken ribs, punctured lungs, a crushed liver as well as dozens of fire treatments - the result of countless gunfights."

"Skip the formalities doctor, there will be no official record of this autopsy", Ensign Grey spoke out, making the doctor jump a bit at the sound of her voice. "Yes, very well then... In that case let us begin", the man replied and reaching for the white sheet covering the former agent, the VENI doctor swiftly pulled it away.

"Dear gods!" the man uttered upon seeing firsthand the battered corpse of his subject. "Where, where to even begin from?" he muttered softly, obviously not meant to be heard by his one person audience. "Doctor?" Ensign Grey asked after a minute, seeing no sign of progress from her companion. "Yes, yes... I'm just trying to figure out exactly what happened to her..."

After spending a couple more minutes in a still silence, the doctor finally moved forward, approaching the corpse set before him.

"There appears to be some inflammation around her eyes", the doctor spoke as he moved in closer to investigate. "Surrounding tissue feels sticky and clammy... She must've cried quite a bit before she passed." Reaching out with two fingers, the man opened first the woman's right eye and then left eye. "Both pupils are dilated and there are a few tiny capillaries here that burst. I can't tell whether from physical or psychological trauma yet..." Reaching inside his lab coat the man grabbed a pair of fancy looking goggles which he proceeded to put on. "There are signs of microscopic blisters right on the cornea. If I'm to guess a heat source was used in close proximity to her eyes..."

Looking around the room Ensign Grey took note of a simple welding torch. She couldn't tell for certain if that had been the cause of said micro blisters or not, but using it definitely could've accounted for the symptoms presented to her.

"Her nose is a tad more colored than the rest of her complexion. Let me see here... Yes, there are signs of tearing inside. I cannot tell for certain until I open her up but if I had to make a guess then I suspect she was forced to ingest large quantities of fluid through both her facial orifices. The feeling of drowning followed by the equally agonizing symptoms brought on by hypoxia - a useful method of acquiring information in some of the more uncivilized parts of the galaxy..."

"Oh my!" the doctor suddenly backed away the moment after opening the former agent's mouth. "The... the subject's jaw appears to be dislocated and there are clear signs of muscle tearing. There are no outer bruises indicating this is the result of external trauma so I am left to deduce that this is instead the result of some sort of other contraption. Hmm... something that could pry open her mouth in order for an even greater torture to be applied...

Ensign, this woman's left side maxillary premolars have been forcefully removed. The surrounding tissue is inflamed and engorged now but given these cuts here and here I can tell that the wound was further aggravated after the teeth were removed. It's almost as if..." The doctor paused a bit and leaned in closer to the corpse's head to poke around. "Whoever did this knew exactly what they were doing. The gums were sliced through and the nerve underneath was pulled closer to the surface. Ensign, as far as pain inflicting methods go, this one would've caused an immeasurable amount in a very short amount of time."

Ensign Grey narrowed her eyes as she imagined Qorbin reaching inside the rogue agent's mouth, pulling, twisting and pinching the exposed nerve - with each touch sending waves of pain straight into the form agent's brain.

"There is a small puncture wound at the base of the subject's neck... Let's see here, there's actually two - no, wait... make that three distinct puncture wounds here. Two of them were made cleanly, and the upper left one was almost concealed by the presence of this large one. Unlike the other two this one presents some jagged edges - either because the subject moved around or because the one doing this could no longer properly hold the instruments he used. In regards to whatever was injected in her I'll have to draw some blood and make some tests however...

Moving on with the examination - there appears to be extensive bruising along the chest and abdominal area. The bruises seem to be focused on only certain regions however, and not covering the entire torso. These wounds on the sides for instance were clearly targeting the ribs and possibly the lungs underneath provided any of them cracked. I can't say for sure until I open her up but given the coloring of the bruising as well as the swollen surrounding tissue I'm willing to bet she has at leas a few cracked or broken ribs.

I'm curious whether this was done before... or after the water torture. With her ribs injured like this, coughing up the water stuck in her airways would've been all the more agonizing - it would've created a strong mix of physical as well as psychological torture: on one hand the involuntary need to expel the water as hard as she could and on the other hand the pain of doing so with each breath she struggled to take...

And if you note here Ensign, the area above her liver also shows the same signs of bruising. Given the tissue discoloration I'm willing to state that these were made at roughly the same time. Ensign, a liver shot in her condition would've not only been painful in and by itself, but would've also forced her to first release the air she was holding in - either by screaming or coughing it out - following which she would've had to breathe deeply again, at which point her ribs would've become the next painful obstacle to deal with.

Also on the torso lies what appears to be the cause of death - a single blaster shot that appears to have hit her heart squarely. Death would've been nearly instantaneous... Hmm, her right shoulder feels... yes, it actually is dislocated. I can't tell whether this is the result of her being pulled or pushed around or whether she unintentionally did it to herself when trying to escape the pain...

Following on with the initial investigation... The right elbow appears to have been crushed and this is clearly an intentional wound, one definitely not self-inflicted. Further down it seems we reach yet a new area of interest for the interrogator. Most of her knuckles appear to have been likewise crushed and the index and middle fingers show signs of having been twisted around until the point of breaking. The real torture in this area however appears to have been done lower still though, on the fingertips of each finger.

The... the nails appear to have been removed and I cannot say at this point in time whether they were pulled out with pliers or whether they were forced to come off by shoving rough instruments underneath them whilst still attached... Whichever the case may have been, after the initial shock a strong burning source was applied to each digit, burning and at the same time cauterizing the wounds thus both inflicting further damage as well as preventing the victim from bleeding out. In time these wounds would've surely become infected and it's doubtful plastic surgery could've helped rebuild her fingers the way they once were..."

The doctor took a short pause as he looked closer to the subject's right hand. After finally having seen enough the man moved on the other side of the frame and inspected her left hand as well. "The same modus operandi can also be found on the former agent's left hand. Whoever did this clearly wished to be thorough..."

Ensign Grey refrained from replying, in truth even she not really knowing what to say. On one hand she wanted to accuse Darya Eosser of being a traitor and defend Seth Qorbin by thinking that the man was merely doing what he had to in order to right a very wrong situation... On the other hand though, even the cold and experienced agent could not hold back a hint of revulsion looking at the corpse sprawled before her. She knew that there were times when the goal excused the means but she couldn't help but wonder whether these means were not perhaps too extreme after all...

"The lower limbs appear to have suffered similar treatment overall. There is evidence of patella fractures on both limbs", the doctor spoke as he stared at the woman's broken kneecaps. "Given the savagery associated with the other injuries I've discovered thus far I'm actually surprised anyone would've taken the time to merely stop and break her legs as well. The subject would've been in so much pain already that these new injuries would've hardly even registered anymore. Unless... Unless of course they were made previously. It's impossible to tell from just looking but I'll be able to get a better chronological timeline after I investigate the tissue underneath and check for degrees of damage and amount of scaring and bruising.

Like with the upper limbs, the toes also appear to have suffered a gruesome denailing, and just like with the fingers a fire source once more appears to have been used to further damage and afterward cauterize the injury. There appear to be no other signs of foul play - at least none that I can see yet anyway."

Moving away from the corpse the man next approached the Grey agent standing a few paces away from him. "As pointed out Ensign, I'll be able to get a more elaborate report once I crack her open and determine the exact amount of damage caused by each injury as well as perhaps determine the chronology in which they were all made. I'll be able to produce a full report in four... maybe three hours time."

Ensign Grey merely nodded at this and instructed the doctor to get to it. For now she had no reason to assist to the whole thing, the preliminary findings being enough to sate her curiosity as far as this whole mess was concerned. As the woman turned to leave the medical specialist to his job, the latter's voice echoed from behind her: "Ensign! I know that this is the work of one of our own agents but had I not known as much then based on the injuries discovered here I would've easily concluded that the perpetrator had some deep sociopathic tendencies. The individual in question used some of the most painful and grotesque methods of torture I have ever come across and yet he kept on going and going and going. Ensign... it is not my place to judge here but perhaps the individual in question should undergo an immediate psych evaluation to determine whether he is still fit for duty."

Ensign Grey stopped just as she was about to leave the small room. "Thank you doctor", the VENI agent calmly replied as she stepped out into the Tower's lower levels. Her expression was as calm and calculated as it usually was but underneath the surface her mind was working overtime trying to put together the information she just uncovered and also trying to think what she should do with that information...

You've displayed the knowledge known for a pass in the first tier of Naval Doctor.

I'm very impressed with the story, although it goes against normal medical standards and practices with intentional harm involved. Feel free to add (=NDr=) to your ID line.