Warning: if you get a little queasy about stuff just by reading, then skip this post. 

Pain. Everything was dark. The only thing real was pain. Floating in an abyss, Hunter felt almost peaceful, but then another moment of pain erupted through his consciousness. Making a last bid to stay asleep, Hunter was wrenched out of it screaming. Pain.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Did we wake you?" An oily voice said. Even with his eyes now open and his mind cognizant, Hunter could barely see anything. He was in a dimly lit room. Its only furnishing was a steel bed in the middle of the room on which Hunter laid. Trying to sit up, he found himself strapped down. When he tried to move his legs, he couldn't tell if they moved or not. The next thing he noticed was his bareness. The only piece of clothing he had were a white pair of boxers. Pain. Hunter couldn't help but let another agonizing scream tear from his throat. The middle of his body arching to the sky, Hunter couldn't even think. He only wanted it to end.

Body collapsing onto the bed again, Hunter gasped for air. "Well, now that we have your attention, we can start asking questions. I always find it easier to get answers after torturing. That way, the subject already knows what will happen if he doesn't answer. Oh, but don't think that is the worst we can do." Head lolling to the side, Hunter only understood part of what the man had said. "Now, tell me, who are you and why were you found with a man who is wanted by the Space Hounds.?"

  Hunter's mind had woken enough to think again, even if it did hurt. Space Hounds. Is that the name of the pirate group we're after or did Raigen piss another group off as well? Well, if it is the same group we're looking for, then this guy has already told me something we didn't know before. Too bad I had to be tortured to. All thought was cut short as another shock was sent into his back. Heat, shock, and pain raced through his muscles, causing them to spasm again and forcing his body to arch into the air.

As his body flopped to the ice cold metal, the man who was interrogating him spoke again, "That was for not answering. We don't like waiting, so know from now on to respond." The man paused a second for Hunter to recover again. He had his art perfected; knowing exactly how long any species mind took to recover from whatever he did to the body. "Now, why are you with that man?"

Hunter could only cough out his words. "Because he told me about you and I had to see it for myself. You are a piece of rotting hutt sliAAAAAAAAAAAAA." It seemed an eternity before Hunter was allowed to collapse again, breathless and covered in sweat.

Hunter couldn't hear what the technician said next. Turning his eyes to look in the direction the interrogator had been, Hunter saw he was talking to another man. Closing his eyes, Hunter waited, trying to escape his body. It seemed only like a second before his eyelids were pulled back, forcing him to open his eyes. "Ah, ah, ah, no drifting off again. Since you seem to be a bit harder to crack than we assumed, we decided to do something nice for you. Do you know what water can do when going at high speeds in a stream the size of a thread?" Hunter wanted to spit in the man's face, but couldn't even open his mouth to respond to the question. "No? Ah well. You will in a minute. But before you do, are you going to answer my question? How about this: just tell me who you are?"

Hunter cracked a grin, "I'm the Emperor reborn." A blow to the head caused stars to erupt in Hunter's vision. When thought returned, a large machine had been placed beside the bed, one end of which had a tube positioned right above Hunter's left pinky finger.

"Well then. I don't normally do this, but I'll give you one last chance. Just tell me your name!" the man was now hovering right above Hunter's head, positioned directly in Hunter's vision.

"My name?" Hunter croaked. "Not unless you say please." The interrogator's face contorted with anger. Raising an arm, he signaled another man in the room to start the machine. Pain worse than anything Hunter had ever felt or imaged attacked his consciousness. Whether his finger was attached to his hand or not, Hunter would have begged anyone to just cut it off and get rid of the pain.

___________________________ Thirty Minutes Later ___________________________

Blood and water swirled on the floor of the room, flowing toward a well positioned drain. The screams that had echoed off the walls had died awhile ago, their creator unable to vocalize anything but low moans. Even if Hunter wanted to tell them anything, he couldn't. His mind's barriers had been broken and shattered, their splinters plaguing him. Something entered his mouth. A moment later he was forced to swallow. A few minutes passed. Then a voice asked, "Can you hear me yet?" A groan was its answer. "Ah, good. We just gave you something, so you wouldn't leave us. Don't worry. You're throat should feel better in a few seconds and your mind should thaw from its numbness. Of course, you already are feeling pain, but that is what your brain can't block out. You'll feel the real deal in a minute, but then the drug will get rid of it." As if his words were magic, Hunter began to feel his body, his mind awakening. With the new feeling, more pain became apparent. Moaning like an infant, Hunter could only wait until the drug the man had given him took effect.

"Well, it's been a few minutes. Let's just hope the drugs taken effect, or we might torture you for no good reason." The man laughed at his own sadistic joke. "Now, it has always been apparent to me, that the human body can only take so much pain and agony before giving up and destroying your mind completely. So, I tend to let my patience get a break for a few hours once they are about to reach that point. Isn't that great news?" Hunter knew something was wrong with the picture. "Too bad you aren't there yet. You have one more chance to answer my question, and then if you don't, you'll force me to do something against my better intentions. So, who are you?"

  Hunter didn't waste a second. "My names Ridley Vandate."

  "Ah so the nut cracks. Who is the woman with you?" The interrogator continued.

  Hunter paused. "That, is something a rotting filthy frakked fungus like you will never know from me." This time, with the help of anger, Hunter was able to spit in the man's face.

Standing up completely straight, the man wiped the goggles protecting his eyes from the excess blood and water which had sprayed earlier. "Well then. Is that eye of yours removable?"

Hunter was about to respond when he saw the man signal for another man to bring a machine around to the left side of his face. NO! Not both eyes. He was screaming even before they began.

_________________________ Fifteen minutes later _____________________________

Gemini moved to Hunter as fast as she could with her own injuries when they threw him into their shared cell. Looking over his body for the injuries he had sustained, she saw that his left hand's three outer fingers had each been removed and reattached. Looking farther up his body, she put her hands over her face in horror. His only real eye had been removed along with his mechanical right eye. All that was left were two crude supplements which had been placed into the eye to stop infection. Whoever was interrogating them knew how to keep their patients alive for a very long time. The only real harm Hunter now had was his lack of vision and the memory of the pain he had endured, which still echoed in his mind. Gemini didn't know what she would do when he woke up. Laying him in her lap again, she began to stroke his hair, hoping the gesture would calm the nightmares his mind could be forcing on him in his sleep.


(OOC He was going to lose that eye eventually anyways. This just gave me an opportunity to do it sooner. If I totally grossed anyone out, I apologize.
 
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=Aegis-Squadron=
Senior Crewman Hunter

FL/SCRW Hunter/Aegis 9/Pheonix Wing/mSSD Atrus/DEF/VEN/VE (=*A*=)

Know your enemy and know yourself, and you will be victorious in ten thousand battles.
You may forget the past, but it always has a way of haunting your future.
Men can die, but a symbol is eternal.

(OOC: Raigen, make sure you look at my rank before you place me under anyone's lead...I think if anything I'd be leading my group, considering that I lead the flight that both Malo and Templar are members of.)

I really hope my late arrival doesn't draw any suspicion that we don't need. Rusty contemplated to himself. He stepped out of his modified gunboat (they had to switch a few things around and make the cockpit a bit larger for his size). He wasn't wearing anything but two straps which hugged to his muscular chest which slung two Ryyk blades across his back. He walked in a determined fashion across the hangar, his feet felt the cold touch of the ground. Once he saw which ship was the Rough Ride he walked silently towards it and tried his best not to attract any attention, however a few heads turned when they saw the large shadow of a figure slip past them. He tried to get into the Rough Ride on his own, but to no avail. He quickly lost patience and started slamming his fists upon it's entrance. After a few seconds, a mechanical hiss entered his ears. Templar poked his face out. "Oh, it's you...why don't you come in."
/About bloody time you let me in!/ Rusty growled as he stepped in.
"Well, sorry to say it, but we have to be a bit more careful around here than we usually are...we're trying not to get anyone else captured." Templar replied.
/Captured? Who the bloody hell is captured?/
Chip responded for Templar, "Gemini and Hunter."
/What? How did you guys manage that? Can't you guys keep it low-key for even a day without getting yourselves into a heap of trouble?/
"Well, everything was going just fine until Raigen refused my orders and..."Chip continued until he was cut short by Rusty.
/What?/ Rusty growled angrily. His quick temper soon got the best of him. /Where the frakk is he? I should teach these new hotshots a lesson. Good for nothing if they are going to ignore orders and mess around...especially on this mission, he couldn't have picked a worse opportunity.../ He trailed off before growling a number of cusses in Shyriiwook.
"I know, Rusty, I know...but don't you do anything hastily, we're still gonna need Raigen to get the others back, we need all the help we can get in these circumstances." Chip replied while giving Raigen a repremanding look.
/So, what are we doing? Rescue mission? Those are always oh so bloody fun.../ Rusty's response was dripping with sarcasm.
"We're going to need to break into groups. Malo and Templar, you go with Rusty as he is your newly appointed flight leader. Space and Raigen, you'll come with me, as will your droid, Raigen. Rusty, your group will need to take out anyone at the entrance, what sorta weapons did you bring with you?"
/Well, considering that I didn't think that we would need to do a whole lot of combat, I just brought my Ryyk blades for protection. I'm not a very good shot with rifles or pistols, though.../
"Well, that is fine...just make sure you don't get yourselves hurt."
/Alright...ready Templar, Malo? Let's go kick some butt and get our buddies back!/ Rusty roared with confidence.

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FL/PO2 Rustichituk/Aegis 2-5/Wing 1 (Phoenix)/mSSD Atrus/DEF/VEN/VE/(=A=)

(OOC: This isn't just you, Templar, but when yous are all referring to me, remember that the proper spelling of my species is "wookiee" with two e's, and not just one. This is a pretty common incorrect spelling, but it would still be nice to see you all be correct. Remember, these writings do reflect you in a way, and we want you all to look as good as possible.)

"I'm ready, I guess." Templar said with a bit of nervousness in his voice.
/You better lose those nerves. I'm not trying to rag on you, but nerves cause hesitation, if you hesitate you get fried...we don't want you getting fried, we want you doing the fying./
"I'll try, but this is my first real mission, Sir..."
/All the more reason. Just think, if you have confidence this mission it will set a precident with all your missions...you will always be confident. Your first mission is one of those that really defines who you are. Just have a little faith in yourself and trust your instincts and you will do fine./
"Thanks, Sir."
I really hope that set him straight. I don't want him getting himself messed up on his first mission...that'd be detrimental to his future missions. Plus, we can't mess this one up, we need to get Hunter and Gemini back. Rusty contemplated to himself as he started making his way out of the Rough Ride and into the hangar. Rusty kept his voice low as to not draw any attention while he discussed the plan.
/Not to put any pressure on you guys, Malo... Temp, but we really can't mess this up. We don't want to lose either Hunter or, your fellow flight member, Gemini. Not only would we be losing irreplaceable personnel, but we would be losing our comrades in Aegis, and, I can only imagine, your friends. I guess now is the time to discuss some tactics by our group. We're meant to be attacking the entrance of this sucker, now let us look at what we have in the way of weaponry...I have my Ryyk blades, which, although I'm pretty good with them, I can only use at close range...so, this is what we're gonna do: I'm gonna head straight to the entrance of this place on my own...of course this is gonna be at night, my black fur should help camouflage me, and hopefully obfuscate things for whoever is at the entrance. We're gonna set up Templar somewhere where he can snipe some of these guys down. I know that NightStinger only has a few shots per cartrige, so...you better make these count, Templar. I'm going to go ahead and try to take them out with these (Rusty pulls the Ryyk blades out with a certain ease and nonchalance, moving them around with competence), but if they notice me I'll just try to distract whoever is at the entrance, I want you to blast them to pieces, Templar...unless I'm either myself or Malo could be in danger of getting hit by your shot. Malo, you're gonna follow me, about 15 metres or so behind me so you can pull blasters on them also...basically, Malo, you and I are gonna try to take them out if we can, but we're gonna rely on Temp to blast a few down from long distance. Now, when you run out of shots from that, Temp...don't try to reload or anything...if you need to, just drop the rifle, I know it's valuable and all that, but not as valuable as our lives. I want you to get down here as fast as you can with your blaster pistols to help us out at the entrance once you run outta shots, okay? Well, there's the plan, guys..../ They ducked into the shadows as they made their way to rescue their comrades.
 
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FL/PO2 Rustichituk/Aegis 2-5/Wing 1 (Phoenix)/mSSD Atrus/DEF/VEN/VE/(=A=)

Using Hunts word: Its queasy, and not very positive, just something to do while we wait be rescued. Note: I'm tired, and I don't know what im writing,

"Blue hair?"
Gemini smirked before retuning to squirm in the chair she was placed in.  Her guard was taking break in some kind of lounge room with his fellow mates before escorting her to where she was originally intended. And now she was unfortunately the centre of slightly. and tied, blindfolded and untouched for now. She tried for a last time attention. She tasted the bloods that ran from her head. But when remembering Hunter's broken form, she became numbed and icy in fear for both of their lives. Her respect for him deepened a lot since she met him. He did not tell on them. Through all the pain inflicted on him, he didn't tell. She knew he didn't. Somehow. When he spoke, his tone still spoke of a small hope and truth. His broken body didn't seem to break him.
Torture chamber...how cliché her thoughts however were interrupted by a sudden yank as weight grasped her hair firmly and tugged it.
"Brown dye, blue hair? ye laddies, we got sum intrestin here, what ye recon?" asked the shadowed man in a heavy slang accent. Gemini clenched her fists knowing fighting them would only tire her self out.

She felt more hands groping at her hair and her...
Their body stench seemed to be a gas of it self while their voice slurred with alcohols. She felt a hand lifting the back of her hair exposing her neck.
"Haha, we have a lab rat in our midst people" hollered one of the men while he pushed her away as if she was contaminated.

"Lets have some fun boys," yelled another. Cold fear swept through Gemini, the words formed an immediate impression and the hands, which till hasn't halted searching her. Ghosts of a remembrance passed over her. She started shivering; her cool expression fell like mask from her face leaving the remnants of a scared young girl behind unlike the stone cold Imperial.

Hands, formless grubby hands lines her face...

With a moan Gemini pushed her thoughts clear. Her breathing was increasing rapidly.
The men in the room ignored Gemini, their rowdy laughter took up to another level, but far off another fear sounded. The sound of a belt buckle being loosened. Gemini's rapid breathing quickly turned to the level of hyperventilation. Her breaths rasped sharply through her lungs, killing oxygen and sapping her of energy.

"Dammit, won't come lose...."
"Don...DONAVON!!! We need your sig on this form here...Don?!?"
"Consider yourself lucky this time Lassie"
Door closed...and the relief, but brief...   

She shook heavily, and jerked her head to the side to get rid of the blindfold. The sight made her wish she was dead, she regretted pulling of the stunt of removing her fold.
From the dimly room's occupants a large man crawled over to Gemini. Gemini tried to back away, but to no avail. She was trapped against a wall. As he closed in her, his sweaty face formed an identity. Sweating glistening baldhead accompanied with piggy eyes, bulging cheeks and a thin mouth that stank of the cheap beer. The human sneered, before his toothless grin scowled. And then chaos.
Suddenly he is on top of her trying to capture her face and lips with his own. Desperately Gemini tried to fought it off and push the man away.
Her hyperventilation was fired by the stench emanating from the bastard. Gemini banged her bond hands against his chest in defence, and pushing away. The more she pushed, the more persistent he became. His open mouth dripped salvia on her cheek, urging him to take it more and more to his liking and less to her own. The stench of cheap beer the men had drinking now blasted through her lungs, mixed with a small tint of inexpensive deodorant, and unwashed body, sweat, soil and dirt.
NO... exploded the thought.
With a final push and set mind Gemini felt the familiar holster of a blaster pistol filling hand. It felt cool yet secure and comfortable. Barely able to register her surrounding, Gemini pulled and fired.



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Aegis Squadron

FM/SCRW Gemini/Aegis 9/Pheonix Wing/mSSD Atrus/DEF/VEN/VE (=A=)

"Crack her ill she loses her mind and spalls"
Gemini's nails dug into her palms as she clenched her face, dripping blood slowly but surely to the ground, as she stood frozen, unable to turn her head away from the man's torture he put through. His body was literally moulted in a mass of bloody life, one would have thought they had just slaughtered an animal and skinned in. Only strips of skin remained across his body. The man has long last lost consciousnesses, but physiologically Gemini was being traumatised as they continued killing him alive. She knew if she spills beans Hunter would never forgive her.

His screams were deafening her into a lesser shadow of her former self. His pleads trapped her capability to act and take action, even make her turn her head to free her self from visual trauma. As his body convulsed so did the nerves in her body, her gritted teeth ending up gnashing her teeth, biting the inside of her mouth into blood.

In all the attempt to make her reveal her squad's plans, which included bribery, light degrees of sexual harassments and other various methods they at last concluded to grab the nearest servant and skin him alive literally, and then continue killing him on order to make her give in. They seemed to love the idea removing his eyes much as they had done to Hunter.

The socket of his eyes were revealed, each sporting a mass of dried pulpy blood, the skinners as Gemini referred to them laughed as their knifes continued to scalp the man. The ringleader stepped next to Gemini; he grabbed her chin with his bloody hand.
"What are you doing here? We know you are part of organization, and they want that ship. So we wanna know why and who? The rebels?" Gemini's expression seemed unfazed. The pirate leaned in; his dry alcohol intoxicated lips wavered at her ear.
"Black suns, bounty guilds, The Empire, the&" he smirked as he felt Gemini tense up when he whispered about the Empire. He smirked as he drew his knife to her cheek.
"Such a pretty face" he lashed the blade across her cheek, she felt the cold tip of the blade tearing its way into her mouth. She didn't even feel the blood flowing, much less the pain. Her eyes lost their focus. She could vaguely hear the men shutting the door leaving her with the dying man; the last halted his trudge at her, and pushed a blaster in her hand.
"Tell us, or you kill the man, if not we kill him our way."

The door clanked shot. Numbly she stared about. But a hoarse whisper and gasping plunged jerked her back into the room.
"P-p-p-ple?ease, j-j-ju?sut go?fo ut"
Trying to ignore the pain Gemini stepped closer hesitant and reluctantly. Forcing the bile down she stepped closer again. The stench of the blood, and his opened stomach, which were stitched closed, again brought the most horrible smell to her nose. And the fact that it was human made it worse. Not able to contain her self she gagged.

"O-NO, P-plu-ea-s-se,"
Gemini wiped her mouth but wrenched her hand away as it brushed against her shredded cheek. Now she could feel the pain. Staggering she managed to get her self next to the&body, it could impossibly not be alive still. Yet it was as it kept stuttering at Gemini. And she knew what he was stuttering. Anyone in his position would have asked for it. She couldn't betray the Empire, but she could leave this man to the pirates. She lifted the blaster and pulled the trigger ceasing the stuttering immediately.

For a moment she was frozen, and then her knees gave way. She couldn't betray the Empire. But she couldn't allow them to kill another innocent once they see that their tortured victim is dead. And they wouldn't torture wanting her to be in top condition to give their answers. She smirked to her self even though it increased the searing pain burning through her face. She lifted the blaster, vaguely she managed to hear shouts and blaster shots and someone slamming and banging against the doors.
I'm delusional
She lifted the blaster to her head, the sound of a door breaking sounded, and someone shouting her name and something else.

Ignoring everything she closed her eyes in resignation, her finger tightened around the trigger before she felt it being pushed out of her hands. Everything was now a numb daze to her. She vaguely felt someone scooping her in his or her arms, and nothing more.


 
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Aegis Squadron

FM/SCRW Gemini/Aegis 9/Pheonix Wing/mSSD Atrus/DEF/VEN/VE (=A=)

Spacespeed9 managed to fire off a few shots before the door closed. Soon, he turned to Raigen. "Are you and OneBee alright?"

"I got hit in the shoulder, but otherwise fine. I'm not so sure about OneBee, though."

"Well, use this." he said, handing a medpack to Raigen. "It should help. I could be able to repair your droid when we get back, but I don't have the tools here."

Spacespeed9 turned away, and was shocked by what he saw next. There was Gemini, with a hole through her chest. After a while, he said,"Well, we can't stay here forever. We'll be safe for now, but they'll find us eventually. We have to get back to the ship."
 
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FM/LCRW spacespeed9/Aegis 1-3/Phoenix Wing/mSSD Atrus/DEF/VEN/VE (=A=)

Templar stared at Gemini's now lifeless body, completely dazed at what had happened. Templar heard in the back round someone speaking, he didn't know who it was.

"Well, we can't stay here forever. We'll be safe for now, but they'll find us eventually. We have to get back to the ship."
Their was a loud clanging sound from the other side of the door, brining Templar back to. The events of the past ten minutes came back to him in rapid flashes, the fire fight, and Gemini's death. Templar felt anger and a lust for revenge swell up inside for him. He would make whoever had killed Gemini pay. But how? He had only one more shot left in his Night-Stinger, and that gun would be next to useless in a narrow hallway, he knew a variety of Martial Arts, but that won't help against all the guns...Than it hit him. The Xerrol night-stinger ammo case might be useless, but what he Had forgotten was how combustible the Night-Stinger's ammo cartitriges were. Templar formulated the plan in his mind. "I can use the explosion from the cartridges as a distraction and disarm the guards before they can fire. It's risky, but ti might work."

Templar layed Gemini's body a away from the door, than took out his his ammo cartridges.
"Templar, what are you?-"
"Stay back." Templar said, cutting Spacespeed off. As he turned around to glance at him he noticed that Reigan was missing.
"Damn it! See if you can find Reigan, please?" Templar turned around, going back to his work. The bangs and noises were from the other side of the door were getting louder, and if he wasn't mistaken, the door seemed to have risen about an inch. He was running out of time. Templar layed his "charges" against the wall next to the door and stepped back. He checked to make sure he had his one shot left in his Night-Stinger than took aim. he looked back to see that Spacespeed was gone. Good.

After about five minutes the rest of the door finally slid open with a faint "hiss". Templar shot the left cartridge just as the door opened, creating a small explosion that triggered the explosion of the second charge, creating an even bigger explosion. Templar used took this chance to attack. He sprinted into the quickly dissipating cloud of smoke, grabbing the first thing he could feel. He grabbed what felt like a humanoid's arm and kicked it in the groin. The humanoid slumped to his knees with a soft "uff". Templar picked up the dropped weapon the Humanoid had and turned it around, so that he holding it by the end,(barrel?Don't remember) than slapped the downed Humanoid in the face, resulting in a satisfying "snap". The whole thing took ten seconds.

Templar continued into the thinning cloud a few More feet when he saw a second gaurd, Rodian, perhaps, standing with his back to him, looking from left to right rapidly. Templar snuck up behind the Rodian, than grabbed it's head and jerked it roughly to the left. The Rodian collapsed life-lessly. Templar picked up it's weapon than brought it up and fired at the second Humanoid that could now see, due to the smoke clouds complete evaporation. The guard fell to the ground, clutching it's face, while another scorungy looking humanoid took it's place. Templar gasped as it fired a laser which barely missed his cheek. Templar shot the Humanoid in the chest, than continued down the hallway, looking for any more guards. Not finding any, he went back down the way he came from. taking care not to step on any of the bodies that riddled the floor.

Templar hefted his severely lightened equipment pack onto his shoulders, than picked up Gemini.Despite his small size she was a surprisingly light. Templar had seen death many times before in the past. He had met many a swoop bike pilot before a race, who did not survive the rough terrain, and he had always manged to hold back any tears or emotions. Yet as templar walked down the hallway with Gemini's lifeless body in his hands, he failed to hold back the hot tears that streamed down his cheeks...


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FM/LCR Templar/Aegis2/Phoenix/mSSD Atrus/DEF/VEN/VE/(=A=)