Private New Horizons

[Del]

New Horizons​

Location: Morellia
Notable Equipment: N/A
Tags: Darth Insatious

---​

And again. Wet feet walked across the tile floor from the ladders by the side of the pool to their respective positions. The team members were talking to each other, filling the large chamber with a cheerful buzz. They had only just completed the first first lap and was going to go for a second one. Their trainer, a human woman from the core worlds took a few steps towards the pool. A whistle and a stopwatch hung by her neck. "Alright" she hollered, clapping her hands "We'll all have fun later. Pick up the pace." The chatter continued, albeit with more hushed voices as the swimmers finished their conversations. The footsteps sped up.

Delphine walked together with a teammate. She let out a happy laugh at a joke. It would not be allowed to ring clear for long as she soon worked to temper it. If the coach told them to pick up the pace, they would. Once arrived, she would climb up onto the stool from which they would later jump into the pool. The trainer started speaking as they did "Remember that we are not trying to beat our PBs. Work on your form. Audrey, you need to breathe properly. Yves, you are relying too much on your legs, remember to use..." Delphine stopped listening as the human's stern voice went on to tell each of them what to improve. Not because she didn't care, but rather because it was not relevant to her. The feedback was personal. Instead, she focused on what was next. Her form, her breathing, her surface contact, the start and the flip. It was good to be able to phase the noise out and just focus.

"Delphine!" It was her turn. A pause ensued, however. It was uncommon for the trainer to stop speaking at this part. Eventually, she spoke "Good job. Keep it up." A few of the team members, including Delphine, looked to the woman in surprise. It was uncommon for her to not have any comments on what to adjust. There was always something to improve. But not this time, it seemed. A few of her friends looked to the young Morellian, offering her encouraging smiles. She was the best one in the team and had even done well in planetary competitions. It was awkward to acknowledge at times but it did create more understanding for the trainer's lack of feedback. "Just lucky" she thought as the trainer continued to the next one in line.

Eventually, they were all set. All of them ready to perform at the top level of what could be expected from anyone of their age and species. All at a moment's notice. The whistle went off and so did the swimmers. All of them propelling off of the stool to get as good of a start as possible.

 

[Darth Insatious]

New ~ Horizons
Tag: Del | Location: Morellia

A sudden dark shadow began to loom over the expansive and wide window glass spanning from the wall, going all the way up to the roof in a soft arc. Noticing the shadow almost immediately, the trainer raised an eyebrow at the sudden shadow, only to have her eyes widen upon looking out the multiple aligned windows behind her.

A large ship clad in black were landing right outside of the indoor swimming pool building. She blew her whistle to get the girl's attention as she snapped her attention back to her students. "Something strange has happened, get out of the water right now and get changed" ordered the trainer, rushing the girls to get up.

While the trainer kept a composed and calm facial expression, her mind was racing, given the fact that no ship was allowed to land in the middle of the city, especially not in a civilian location, which this area of the city was. Not feeling the girl's moving fast enough and many looked confused at the sudden break from their training, "come on girls, chop-chop!".

"Something strange is happening. I'm going to check it out, so don't leave the swimming hall while I'm gone" explained the trainer with authority in her voice as the girls were used to. As such, Delphine and the rest of her teammates and friends would see their trainer disappear through the tunnel out of the swimming pool.

However, before the girls could get to the changing room, the two emergency doors busted open as four soldiers clad in red, burst through along with cloaked figures. However, the soldiers looked nothing like any soldiers Delphine or her friends had ever seen. Red-veined armour with an almost skin-like texture to it as well as a helmet with its skull visible. The soldiers had no eyes, only black coloured skin-armour along with what looked like remains of a once present nose. lastly, the jaw was locked into place, with no skin over the teeth, showing them completely black.

The two robed individuals carried robes of grey and brown with gold embroidered at the bottom of the sleeves and robe itself, along with white embroidered patterns running along the edges and bottom in the back of the robe. With their hood over their head, a skull-like mask was hiding their faces, but the bright orange coloured eyes were blazing like fire.

While the soldiers carried DC-15A blaster carbines, it was pretty clear they also had Electrobatons hanging by their belts, the two robed individuals held a singular hilt of some kind in their hand, though it was had to see because of its dark colours. To make things worse, 3 more identical soldiers and one similar cloaked figure like the two by the emergency doors.

held in an arm lock by one of the soldiers, the trainer was thrown to the ground, to which she immediately rushed to her feet to shield her students. The two soldiers and cloaked individual by the main exit and entrance to the swimming pool stepped aside to reveal a new... person.

Everything grew incredibly cold, unnaturally cold even as this new person, clad in black robes and a singular mask of white bone texture with red lines going up the mask's forehead from the centre of the eye socket. However, where the eye sockets of the mask, no and mouth were nothing but darkness as staring into an empty void of negative emotions.

The robe was even long enough to hide the eerie thing's feet, giving the robed individual a sort of floating across the floor, but maybe the man was floating above the floor? To make matters worse, the very presence and proximity of the robed man made everyone around the robe Individual feel weak as if a portion of their stamina had been passively drained.

The soldiers and robed men by the emergency exit approached the trainer and group of girls Delphine was part of until they were completely surrounded. With a single raise of his hand, Delphine felt her entire body frozen in place as she got lifted into the air and slowly floated over to the robed cold being with the shape of a man.

Without a single word, Delphine would watch as the man raised his hand, causing the trainer to scream in agony, dropping down on her knees. Right before Delphine's eyes and everyone's else's, the trainer's entire body rapidly started to decay as an incorporeal ghost-like being was dragged against its will, pulled towards the dark-robed man who held Delphine in the air.

What was left, was an empty husk of the former trainer, as it was just a skeleton with dried up leathery skin laying on the wet tiled floor. Tilting his head, the man looked at Delphine's face, before turning around and leaving the swimming pool. The last thing Delphine heard was the deafening cries of her friends over the brutal and indescribable arc of killing the trainer.

Delphine wouldn't even get to know whether or not her friends would survive as she found herself, kept in stasis in the air by the black-robed man, still in her bathing suit and on her way to board the black transport ship with the man who killed her trainer.

In the distance, she can hear blaster fire getting exchanged between the cities security force and Imperial troopers, however, no blaster fire hit her or the man that is in the middle of abducting her from her life.

Before long, she would find herself in an energy type cell in the transport ship, blasting away from Morellia towards the unknown.

 

[Del]

New Horizons​

Location: Unknown transport
Notable Equipment: N/A
Tags: Darth Insatious

---​

They were off. Delphine felt the familiar feel of diving into the smooth surface of the water before she shot forth at a tremendous speed. While the difference between her and her teammates wasn't massive, it was clear to see that she was swimming at another level. As if entering a trance-like state, the girl performed at a peak level, managing to ignore even the growing shadow that fell over the pool. It was getting darker but she - and the others - still kept swimming. The whistle from their trainer was initially ignored. Some didn't hear it and kept swimming. The others that heard saw that the rest of the group was still continuing and followed suit. It was only at the third blow that they all stopped.

Delphine, already having begun returning, would arrive by the ladder the fastest. When the group was finally gathered, Delphine would stand by the front of the cluster together with a couple of the other faster swimmers in the team. Unlike before, there would not be a bunch of idle chatter now. The team knew when their trainer was serious and this was one of those instances. Standing quietly, Delphine nodded along with her friends. The order to stay by the pool until the trainer returned was clearly received. Not a single one of them showed any signs of wanting to break off.

Then the doors swung open. A few low gasps could be heard as the disgusting figures entered. Morellia, being close to what used to be Sith space, had felt the Imperial's presence. They had all seen Imperial troopers before - but none of them were like these ones. Although she tried to keep a straight face, it was hard not to shudder upon looking at their skin-like helmets. The swimmers huddled closer together as the soldiers entered. Of course, something was off - but running anywhere across a wet floor was a silly idea - especially against soldiers that carried blasters and wouldn't have to run to stop them.

The swimmer standing at the middle, being a whole head taller than Delphine was about to speak up. To ask what was going on. Delphine looked up to her friend - always brave and unafraid to speak their mind. This was not the time. She took a very loose hold of the other's wrist, just to catch her attention. Delphine shook her head. It was a clear enough signal to keep the tall swimmer from doing something stupid.

Soon, events started to unravel quickly. The team huddled even closer up against each other and the trainer would soon join them, standing bravely at the very front. They were a close-knit group. When faced with danger - whether it be from an opposing team, the press or troopers, it seemed - they would naturally want to stick together. With each other, they found safety.

As the final figure entered, the room seemed to grow colder. Delphine's jaw shivered and she - like her friends - crossed her arms under her chest to give herself some warmth. But for some reason, it didn't seem to work. The cold that hit them now was not something that could be fought by conventional means.

It began slowly. It felt like the process of being completely frozen, for she noticed how her mobility seemed to reduce radically. With a shivering gasp, the young Morellian felt how her body was completely put in a stasis. She was unable to move. The internal processes worked fine - her heart was pounding and her breaths were shallow. It was only when she started floating towards the robed figure that her friends noticed that something was off. Some of them tried to call out for her but the group as a whole managed to keep them quiet. Fear was prevalent and right now, the survival instinct was to stay quiet.

What followed was the worst thing that Delphine had ever seen. Her trainer, brought in from the core worlds, drained right in front of her eyes. If she could have screamed, she would. But the stasis ensured that she would only be able to watch. The cold, now that she had gotten closer to him was overwhelming. Water slowly dripped off of her as the robed man turned to leave. Was this it? Why did he come just to kill her trainer? Whatever it was, it couldn't be good. Hopefully, she could still be saved but it sure didn't look like it was possible.

But then she started levitating in his direction. Another level of fear entered her being as she realised that she was being taken with him. Panic entered her mind. Clear thoughts of 'why' or 'how' were completely absent. All she knew was that she did not want this. She wanted to go home. She wanted to cry.

It was not long before she had been put in an energy cell aboard his ship. No longer in stasis, Delphine looked around. Tears were running down her eyes rapidly. She was a solution oriented person but even for her, it was impossible to ignore what had just happened. Undoing her bun, Delphine shook her head. It was in order to see what would happen when the water hit the energy field. Just like expected, it quickly turned to smoke. It was not something which she would want to touch.

Looking up, Delphine wondered if she could somehow destroy the field by accessing the panel at the top. But then came the bane of being short. She was unable to reach it. Of course, she could if she jumped, but trying to do any kind of work on it by hopping was not realistic. Seeing not way out and not being particularly keen on meeting the robed figure again, she decided to stay quiet. Whatever would happen was not something she could prevent regardless. Standing in the middle of the cell, she crossed her arms once more. Feeling smaller than ever, her gaze fell to her feet as solemn tears started to roll down her cheeks.

 

[Darth Insatious]

New ~ Horizons
Tag: Del | Location: Morellia

Delphine would find herself more alone than ever as she was completely ignored by everyone, not even the robed figure who magically abducted her without issue. Actually, he wasn't even back in the passenger area where the soldiers and clocked men sat in similar chairs. In fact, it wasn't hard to determine, that she was in some sort of military type troop transport ship. The clocked figure sat among themself, opposite of the monstrous troopers who only breathe shallow and haggard breaths as if something was wrong with their lungs.

"I swear, I can't wait to get back home and take a nap" spoke the first, slumped a bit in his chair.

"You are so bloody lazy" commented a second cloaked figure, criticizing the first one.

"Shut up, both of you, Father told us to keep quiet for now" snapped a third annoyed, causing the two others to first look at each other and then smirk under their mask. "Father Father, Please notice my hard work!" taunted both in a childish voice, causing the third to give them a middle finger, ignoring the two others.

If Delphine had paid attention to the conversation, she would, strangely enough, hear the same exact voice, but from all three clocked men. It was so similar, that if she had closed her eyes, one would think it was one person talking with himself.

It didn't take long before Delphine would hear the ship she was in, land as the ship's ramp lowered on to... somewhere new and dangerous probably. The robed figure who abducted Delphine would show himself as he entered the passenger area and stopped by her cell, looking down at Delphine with the same empty void in the eyesockets in the mask, instead of eyes.

The girl would still feel the unnatural and shuddering cold emanate from the robed man. Again, without a word to her, he continued to walk towards the exit ramp and disappear completely. The cloaked men quickly fell in behind the black-robed man and also disappeared down the ramp. The monstrous and nightmarish troopers also left, until only two were left who went over where Delphine was.

With a press of a button, the energy keeping her a captive flickered a bit, before powering down as both troopers completely overpowered her slender build. Depending on how much she tried to struggle, they would completely block a path to escape, because of how the cell was built. Grabbing an upper arm each, Delphine was pulled along and out of the transport ship by the two soldiers who didn't even look alive or some horrible flesh monster experiment gone wrong. Delphine would also quickly find out that both troopers held an iron grip around her arms to the extent that it almost hurt.

The moment Delphine was forced to leave the transport ship, was the moment she would find herself inside a hanger onboard a massive Star Destroyer. The hanger itself was bustling with life and a single sharply dressed officer stood waiting with a book-sized holopad in hand. A friendly, but a professional smile spread when he saw Delphine, despite the state she was in.

"Excellent. You two, follow me" ordered the officer the two troopers and started to lead the way through the enormous hanger.

 

[Del]

New Horizons​

Location: Unknown transport
Notable Equipment: N/A
Tags: Darth Insatious

---​

There was a sense of dignity to how she stood. She was not trying to provoke anyone but still, she pushed her shoulders back and straightened her back. Of course, her arms were still crossed under her chest and solemn tears still rolled down along her cheeks. What had just happened had a severe impact on her. It was likely that the memories of her trainer's death would haunt her for some time to come. But she was not defeated. Not yet.

Listening to the men speak in the distance, her gaze remained low. If she made it too obvious that she was trying to hear what they said, they might not be as open as they were now. It sounded like a petty squabble. Similar to how she would squabble with her teammates at times. Of course they were all friends and it was all done tongue-in-cheek. What surprised her here, was that they all sounded extremely similarly. She pushed the thought to the back of her mind. What mattered now what the sentences they said, not their voices. She wondered who this father might be and why their breathing seemed so odd. Having assumed that they were Sith, she could only assume that it was some feudalistic power-system. It was not much information to go off of, but it did give her a piece to the puzzle.

When the ship landed, the robed figure returned. She knew that he was on his way before he had even entered the room. She could feel it. Perhaps it was the cold that he exuded. Perhaps it was something else. Regardless, when the door swooshed open and he entered, she was not surprised. At first, Delphine looked up to meet his eyes. Hoping to find someone to plead to. But all she was met with was a black void. She started to feel cold, small and weaker than ever. Her small shoulders fell as she diverted her eyes from his mask. Her legs felt weak and she wanted to fall down onto her knees but she didn't. Not now.

Soon after he and his entourage left, two of the brutish troopers came towards her cell. She looked up at their forms which seemed to grow larger as they got nearer. Delphine was dwarfed in their presence. She was no fighter and had limited space. There was truly no point in trying to escape whatever it was that they were supposed to do. And given their appearances, talking to them didn't seem like much of an idea either. With that, she did not resist as they took hold of her upper arms, slightly raising her off of the ground. If she dipped her toes down, she could still reach it, but walking on her own became impossible. It was as if they didn't even feel her weight as they carried her off.

Although she was initially quiet, the swimmer started making small squirming noises as they went. Their iron grip around her arms was extremely tight. She threw a concerned glance to her left and then right. It felt as if her arms were going to break. A quiet and pleading "Please" escaped her "It hurts". If she was released, Delphine would continue walking along with them, hoping not to give them any reason to regret their choice.

When they finally arrived by the officer, Delphine saw her chance. A human, prim and proper. Maybe she could be reasoned with, Maybe she could tell her what was going on. Hope lit up her eyes "Where am I? What's happening? Please, I have not done anything wrong. Please just let me go"

 

[Darth Insatious]

New ~ Horizons
Tag: Del | Location: Morellia

Despite the pleading of Delphine, the Death Troopers didn't loosen the grip as they almost carried her behind the officer who led the way. The only thing she heard from them, was the motion of their feet and the haggard breathing. The officer didn't really pay much attention to Delphine as she was busy tapping away on the holopad in her hand. However, upon Delphine's attempt to reason with the Officer, she turned an ear without looking away from the holopad's work.

"Everything will be explained by my Lord" responded the officer professionally, leading them towards a wide blast door. Stopping by the blast door, so did the Death Troopers, causing Delphine to stop with them. Upon entering a combination of buttons along with a hand scanning, the door slid up with a low 'woosh' sound. Upon entering, the turbolift quickly ascended the levels within the Star Destroyer.

Standing in the left corner by the lift's door, Delphine was placed in the back with her two "caretakers". "You can set her down" commanded the officer, looking up from her datapad, giving Delphine a once over with her eyes as if the woman was examining Delphine. As ordered, Delphine was placed on her feet by the two troopers, releasing their grip on her upper arms.

"While we wait, I have some questions, I need to fill out" explained the female officer, looking finally directly into Delphine's eyes with her own piercing blue.

"Full name?" Started the officer off, and would continue, if Delphine gave honest as well as a satisfactory answer.
"Height and Weight??"
"Date of birth?"
"Place of home?"
"Educational studies and where do you rank on your E.E.F?"
"How many living relatives do you have? In other words, how big are your family?"
"Have you ever had any medical troubles or otherwise grave sickness in your life?"
"Have you ever had any combat training or been tested for Force Sensitivity?"

The officer did not skip a beat as she kept asking all manners of questions as if Delphine had been headhunted by some kind of agent. The officer would stop by each question, waiting for Delphine's answer and would press on with the specific question if the girl didn't answer truthfully.

Depending on how long each answer was, the group would soon find themselves at their stop as the turbolift's doors opened for them. The Death Troopers wouldn't grab hold of Delphine's arms again upon not receiving any new orders or that Delphine hasn't run away yet. Leading the little group through a corridor, they passed many different crew members all heading for either their work station or probably a break or a whole third thing.

One thing Delphine would notice was that it was rather chilled being in nothing but a bathing suit walking around in a ship built of metal. However, she would soon find her final destination as the officer stopped by a blast door wide enough for a two-person entering shoulder to shoulder with room for maybe half a person.

As the door opened, and an almost dried desert warmth exited, hitting the group. As they entered, Delphine would see an interior completely different from the rest of the sterile metal interior. First of all, the floor was of stone with a light brown texture to them. The walls had integrated runes and runic-like patterns spanning the entire room. The ceiling had a similar texture as the floor as it's also built with stone, in fact, the entire room was built with this particular stone type. Each corner of the 60 by 60 sized room was large statues cut in stone to look as if they were forced to hold up heavy pillars for the room. Strangely enough, the only furniture in the large room was 4 stone benches, one at each wall a few feet from the walls themselves. And finally, on the opposite side of the door, the group entered was a door like the one they entered.

Turning to Delphine, the officer looked at her, "you are free to move about this room and this room only. Your guards will be stationed outside the door" explained the officer and without further notice, left with the Death Trooper, leaving Delphine alone in the new strange room. Maybe one of the only plus signs of her whole situation was the fact that it was comfortably warm.

 

[Del]

New Horizons​

Location: Unknown transport
Notable Equipment: N/A
Tags: Darth Insatious

---​

Fear kept building up within her as they kept their iron grip around her arms. Would this cause permanent damage to her? Would she still be able to dance and swim? Or even eat on her own? But then the officer spoke, offering her a glimmer of hope. It wouldn't last for long however, as it was just a bureaucrat's answer. There was not much to be learned from it and she was not easing the pressure on Delphine's arms.

A sight of relief escaped her as the guards set her down. She wanted to feel her arms but it was hard for, for the time being it felt like they couldn't be moved. Still, she let out a grateful "Thank you" with a terrified undertone as she wondered whether her arms still worked or not. As time went on, however, it would become more and more evident that the arms weren't permanently damaged or even seriously impaired. When the officer mentioned asking questions, Delphine straightened her back and offered a disciplined nod. It was something she was familiar with as trainers and various safety boards would ask more interrogative questions as times.

"Delphine Parvall" she replied, having decided to be honest. Lying now could only get her in trouble. A series of questions followed, all of which the young athlete could answer. Height, weight, date of birth - it was all numbers. Numbers which she had to use often when registering to competitions. The same went for where she lived. She had to think a little longer on her education, revealing that it was not quite as high of a priority as her sports. Still, she did tell the officer the truth - she was in the top half of her class and did decently well in various tests and then she mentioned the size of her immediate family.

A humble smile appeared on her lips as the officer asked whether she had any medical troubles or not "No. I rarely ever get sick or even a cold. The doctors never really have anything to remark on during routine check-ups."

"No. No combat training" she spoke kindly and hoped that they would trust her a little more after she revealed that she had no combat training. "A few years ago, we had this Jedi in town. He did, uh, well, something. Maybe he took a simple or something?. But he disappeared shortly after. Haven't had much contact with either Jedi or Sith after that." she said, sharing as much as she knew about the matter.

She thanked the officer again as they left the elevator. She moved her arms to embrace herself, shielding against the cold whilst simultaneously showing what it was that she was grateful about. The troopers still hovered above her with their large forms dwarfing hers. But by this point, she had started to get used to their presence. While they were far from pleasant and could probably rip her in half if they put their mind to it, they were not as bad as when she first saw them. Now, it appeared as if the officer could control them well enough.

As the last set of doors opened, her small shoulders fell. The young Morellian revelled in the warmth that stemmed from the room. Of course, it was hard to understand why they'd have such a warm room - the ship sure was cold for someone in a swimsuit, but it wasn't cold for the average person wearing an uniform or armour. Or at least that's what she thought.

Regardless, it was where she was supposed to stay for the time being. Entering the room, Delphine allowed her arms to fall from their crossed position to a neutral position by her sides. She turned around to ask the officer something, but as she did, the doors closed. And then, she was all alone. Delphine looked around curiously. In a way, she was familiarising herself with her surroundings. But her predominant feeling was not curiosity. It was fear. Fear of how long she would have to wait before something would happen and of what it was that would happen. Wandering around the room for a bit, she eventually drew close to the walls. She brushed her hand along the runes-like patterns until she arrived to the wall closest by the door. Once there, Delphine stayed, deciding to try to decipher what it was that they said.

 

[Darth Insatious]

New ~ Horizons
Tag: Del | Location: Morellia

Upon brushing her hand along the runes-like patterns, a strange sense of familiarity caressed the girl's skin, even though this was the first time she had ever seen these particularly runic shapes. The strange familiarity suddenly flashed the girl's mind, blinding her eyes for a hot second, before the girl's fingertips were shocked with a small burst of electricity as if the back of her hand got slapped.
Right as Delphine felt the small shock to her fingers, the runic shapes lit up with a low reddish glow. Soon more and more of the runes lit up on the entire wall until all sides were lit in the same reddish glow. In a flash of speed, the glow disappeared again, leaving a single square no bigger than the palm of a hand.

A small mechanism by the glowing square could be heard in the wall where Delphine stood. All of a sudden, the small square in the wall slid open like a drawer, though at the size of a hand's palm in height and width. The length, however, was as long as Delphine's both hands, placed beside each other.

If she actually went over to look down into the small drawer, she would see a small dark grey metallic hilt, looking very similar to the choice of weapon for Force Sensitive beings. A lightsaber.

Whether she investigated the stone drawer or not, a sudden voice filled the otherwise silent room right behind Delphine. "Oh ho, now that is interesting" spoke a slight elderly voice with a mix of curiosity and excitement. Even weirder, or maybe even creepily, no time while Delphine had been in the room, did the opposite blast door open. The suddenly arrived man seemed to have appeared out of nowhere.

Standing no more than maybe a few meters from Delphine was an elderly man in a grey worn robe that looked to have seen better days. Reaching just the shoulders, the man's hair was of dark grey colour with a slightly lighter shade of grey for his pointy full beard. Strangely enough, despite looking old, his face wasn't filled with wrinkles, yet the man's eyes and grey hair definitely revealed a man who had lived for a very long time.

The robe itself was of matted grey, worn with torn pieces at the edges. The length of the robe reached him by the angles, whereas the sleeves managed to just hide half of the man's hands. Despite having a hood, it was down as he stood with his arms folded behind his back, eyeing Delphine with a glint of curious but old eyes.

"Imagine my surprise, when I was told they found you hiding on my home planet, Morellia" spoke the old man again, with an eerily excitement as he slowly walked in a crescent flanking around Delphine, examining her. As he stopped again, a wolfish smile had spread into a smirk, looking directly into Delphine's eyes.

"But I guess I should have expected that from those who share my blood".

 

[Del]

New Horizons​

Location: Unknown transport
Notable Equipment: N/A
Tags: Darth Insatious

---​

Her eyes knit together as she felt the minor shock by her right hand. It felt as if someone had slapped it and she reacted accordingly - bringing her left hand up to it to caress it. Delphine knew pain - professional athletes were bound to get hurt now and then. But she still didn't enjoy it. Not at all. Hey provoked eyes shot towards the rune where her hand had touched when it got 'slapped'. Whatever anger and annoyance she felt, however, soon turned into fascination as a red glow seemed to spread across the wall. When it suddenly shrunk to only a single square, she slowly raised her right hand again, wanting to touch it. But then, she looked to the side as if to glance behind her. Perhaps it was some kind of security system? Maybe she was supposed to stay away from the walls? Not for a moment forgetting the circumstances she was in, Delphine retracted her hand.

When it suddenly opened, however, her mind went back to its more curious state. If her touch had opened it, then maybe she was allowed to look what was inside? Carefully, she stepped forth and stood up on the tip of her toes to peer into it. Letting her curiosity get the better of her, Delphine reached over and grabbed the hilt before taking a couple steps back. Studying it, she noticed how uncomfortably heavy it felt. While her right hand held the item, her left hand moved from its top to bottom, feeling its texture until her thumb eventually came across a button. There, she stopped moving to wonder if a laser beam would shoot out if she pressed it.

The sudden voice behind her startled her. Delphine produced a high pitched noise before stumbling into the rune-filled wall. Having associated it with getting shocked, she quickly bounced off of it and turned around to see where the voice came from. When realising that it was an old man, her posture went from defensive and concerned to compassionate and caring. It was evident from the way she looked at him to the way that she leaned forth and took a step towards him that she wanted to see if he was alright. Maybe he wanted a little bit of help as he sat down or maybe someone to help him with the door as he got out. But before she had the time to offer any help, he continued.

The atmosphere in the room switched in an instant. He was not some poor old man. He was there with her captors. Was he the "Lord" that the officer had talked about or just some kind of prison guard? The specifics didn't matter. All that did was that he was one of them. What he said gave her hope, however, for she had not been hiding. "There must be some kind of misunderstanding. I haven't been hiding at all. I've been to large events at the embassy and won planetary swimming competitions." she said, throwing out a couple of examples of how open she had been. Her being on Morellia had not been any sort of secret. At least not that she knew of.

Her eyes narrowed as he mentioned being of his blood. It could really only mean one thing. Confusion spread across her features. It was not uncommon for Morellians to have lost touch with the older generations. There were simply so many that keeping track could become hard. And for someone like her - someone adopted, it was even less surprising. But she had no memories of her parents ever talking about older generations for the few years that they were together before the disappearance. "What are you talking about? Are we...?" she paused in the middle of the second question as her mind processed what the man had said and what it meant. Of course they were related. He had said as much. This was not at all what she had expected from getting to meet a long lost relative. Her demeanour then changed as she realised that, maybe he was someone sympathetic towards her. Her hands clasped together with the hilt in between them. "Please, can you help me get out of here? Do you know what this place is? I was at training and then..." her voice fell silent as memories of what had happened when she was captured started flooding back. Delphine continued pleading "I need to get out of here. Please, help me get out."

 

[Darth Insatious]

New ~ Horizons
Tag: Del | Location: Morellia

"Oh, that's where you're wrong, child" commented the older man in a tone that more sounded like a correction. Walking back in a crescent flanking again, but stopped when she started to plead to him. It was amusing to this elderly man, watching the teenage girl plead and beg to him, pleading to his empathy. The truth of the matter, he had no intention of letting the girl leave, maybe never, depending on how well she handled the plans he had for her.

"I could" replied the elder man, stroking his long grey beard as if he was thinking about it.

"Can't, I have plans for you, my dear"

"Oh, but don't you worry, you and I will have plenty of time for family bonding" smirked the elderly man with an eerily glint in his eye.

As such, a blackened cloud of smoke and sod filled with black and dark red colours appeared and disappeared just as quickly, revealing the same monstrous Sith who had her captured. Delphine would feel every single alarm clock go off in her mind as she felt the same unnatural cold and the same dooming void filled the room.

The massive room suddenly felt a lot smaller, the otherwise warm room, had completely evaporated or overruled by the Sith Lord's presence alone. Insatious didn't even give Delphine much chance to run or say as her vision grew dark before her body slumped to the ground motionless. Delphine would immediately wake up again, only she didn't wake up in the real world, but a dream of her family, friends and everyone she held dare, twisted into horrific and nightmarish mutations.

The nightmare was of the place she felt safest and each time she tried to cross shadows, shadowy spiders materialized finding hold onto her body. Each time she batted the small spiders off of her, two more appeared, biting into her flesh, pumping venom into her bloodstream until she was covered in whole.

Then the nightmare changed, as she fell and fell, seeing pleasant memories flash before her as if she was watching a holo movie. However, in each memory, Delphine saw the people criticise her like she hadn't been there. At first, it was minor things, but it gradually got worse as the criticising started to turn into jealousy, which then turned into anger. Finally, Delphine would see everyone she held dear from her memories, hold such a seeding hatred for the girl that they were glad Delphine was gone.

~~~~~~
​

Delphine would finally awake from her nightmare, as she felt ice cold water get splashed against her whole. When she got her senses back for her surroundings, she would find herself in a very large prison cell. A single mattress in the back corner with a toilet in the other back corner. The cell had no windows and only a single ceiling lamp shining a bright light. The only place where she could see out of her cell was the front wall as it was completely covered in some sort of energy field with metal pillars forming a door, in order to get in and out of the cell. Upon looking out of the cell she would only see another wall from a large corridor which she couldn't see for how long it went either side.

 

[Del]

New Horizons​

Location: Morellia
Notable Equipment: N/A
Tags: Darth Insatious

---​

The elder was toying with her. Sparing her small glimpses of hope before taking it away with some ominous threat again. Her pleading eyes subtly changed. But they did not grow cold. Instead, they became filled with hopeless despair. Spite was not the first thing that came to her - it was sadness over what was happening and concern about what was about to happen. She would remain quiet whilst trying to keep her composure. Still, her eyes were on the verge of erupting into tears and her lower lip was trembling - fear was oozing from her.

Suddenly, the eerie cold that she had felt by the pool before returned. It all but confirmed what she had feared. The masked figure and her apparent relative were the same person. Too many things suggested that it was the case. But even then, her legs weakly carried her towards him as it felt like the room was getting smaller. Before she could get far, however, her being would collapse onto the floor and she would fall into a deep nightmarish slumber.

Friends and teachers started filling her vision. Her favourite dance partner. Team mates from the swimming team and their coach - like she was before the day had begun. Whole and intact. But then, the core world woman turned. Again, Delphine saw her getting drained of all life and energy. Instead of falling onto the floor as a dead husk, however, the woman remained standing and started walking towards the girl at an increasing pace. Afraid and unsure of what was happening, she turned to run. As she kept sprinting, she could see how the friends she ran past transformed and deformed too. And then she saw her adoptive parents - standing by the doorway to what appeared to be her room. At least they had not transformed into monstrosities. It would not last, for when Delphine arrived by them and hollered for them to save her, they too turned into hideous abominations of their former selves.

Before they managed to do anything however, she slipped into her room and closed the door shut. It was a safe place. With her back pushed against the door, Delphine panted heavily as her mind rushed over what had just happened. But there would be no peace for before she could truly regain her composure, a spider seemed to land on her arm. Quickly swatting it away, the would soon have to deal with two more. Continuing this for a few seconds, the swimmer would soon be dealing with a whole host of spiders and more kept coming as she brushed them away. Instinctively, her thumb pressed down the ignition button on the item she had picked up before. A violent hum erupted and the room was immediately drenched in its red colour. Not having the mind to reflect on it, Delphine immediately started swatting the spiders away with the weapon. For a few moments, it seemed effective. But then, the swarm grew larger and she was finally overwhelmed. Pain and fear followed as the bites were felt all over her being.

Then, she was thrown back into an old memory of her seventh birthday. She remembered it fondly until she suddenly overheard her parents. They were back in their old normal form which made her happy at first. But then they told her best friend an embarrassing story of her. And the friend paid them back by revealing one of their secrets. Delphine felt betrayed and hurt. But that was not all, for just as she was starting to rationalise, she was pulled into another memory. This one more recent. The story repeated itself as she kept hearing people going behind her back and betraying her trust. They did not like her. Their love for her was just a facade. A ruse. They did not love her. They hated her. This was when her mask broke and tears started rolling down her cheeks as silent sobs escaped her. When the memories were eventually replaced by a freefall, she didn't feel fear or regret. She deserved what was coming to her. Delphine entered a dive as she embraced what was about to happen. This would be her end.

But when she crashed down onto the floor, it seemed as if she would keep her consciousness. Slowly opening her eyes, the girl couldn't help but to feel an overwhelming sense of disappointment. For she was still alive.

The cell was larger than the one on the shuttle. She looked around to find a rather spartan decoration to her 'room'. It was nothing more than the bare necessities. The spider bites were gone and most of the bruises she got when running from the abominations were no longer there either. But she was exhausted and tears could still be found on her cheeks. Delphine swallowed hard as she prepared herself mentally for a last attempt, either at escape or death. With a subtle movement, her thumb reached for the lightsabre's ignition button. But this time, there would be no red blade - there never was outside of her dream. Instead, all she got was a few sad sparks. With nothing else to do, she fell to her knees. Her small shoulders fell and she finally allowed her tears to flow freely as she started to cry.

 

[Darth Insatious]

New ~ Horizons
Tag: Del | Location: Morellia

The prison cell Delphine was in, had a blinding effect from its light as it burned bright, giving a low humming sound if one would stand below it and listen. Despite Delphine's crying, she only heard her echo carrying her crying away before dissolving somewhere. The young girl would also start to realise, when no one arrived or came for her, or even just to question her, that time disappeared and became hard to pinpoint a time of day.

Without the time, when people actually came by her cell, it could have been minutes or even hours. Standing in front of the energy wall, separating Delphine from everything else, was two Death Troopers, though unlike the ones clad in red, these were completely black with what looked like burnt eye-sockets. They had no lips, barring their chalk-white teeth behind flesh-like metal bars in front of them.

As the door was unlocked and opened, entered the two Death Troopers with a third person. The third member was a normal human officer, though this one was male. He too had a holopad in his hand, with a pen for writing.

Looking over Delphine, he started to note down something, before looking back over at the scared girl. "Greetings Young Delphine, I am lieutenant Morr and I've been tasked by Lord Insatious, to warden your training, which will begin in a moment. Please follow me, so I don't have to order them to drag you" explained the officer, pointing to the two silent, but haggard breathing monstrosities flanking the officer.

Whether Delphine fought against or followed the officer willingly, she would one way or another get out of her cell and follow the officer to wherever she was supposed to be. When Delphine actually exited her cell, she could see a massive corridor reach 20 or so cells like hers both ways. Passing a couple of other cells, before they would turn left and into another corridor, looking exactly like the other one but without cells, she would see all manners of different prisoners in different stages of consciousness.

Strangely enough, apart from two regular Imperial guards by the exit of the prison, no other personnel were sighted as she was escorted through the long corridor. "I'm to understand you have no prior force-sensitive training, correct?" Asked the Officer without even looking back at Delphine. "According to my files, however, you participated in tournaments, impressive" expressed the officer, impressed by Delphine's level of skills.

Soon they would arrive at a door at the end of the corridor. As it opened, Delphine would enter a massively open and round chamber with an energy beam in the middle with a shield generator's shield protecting the beam. The chamber's floor was completely made of thick glass of some kind and if Delphine looked through the glass, she would see a neverending depth.

On the other side of the chamber, stood five of the same cloaked individuals two appeared in the swimming hall with the bone masks. The two Death Troopers stationed themselves by the door, flanking it. The Officer turned to face Delphine, "by order of my Lord, you are to begin your force-sensitive training until Lord Insatious himself is satisfied by your progress" explained the officer, "any questions before you begin?" Asked the Lieutenant, showing a slightly worried look for the girl as he very well knew the type of training Insatious pulled his students through.

 

[Del]

New Horizons​

Location: Morellia
Notable Equipment: N/A
Tags: Darth Insatious

---​

Crying did not help. It was something Delphine learned over what felt like an eternity. Her bright cell remained bright and the activity outside was still close to zero. Nobody would see her. But then, she was still plagued by the memories of her loved ones turning into horrific monstrosities and betraying her. Perhaps she did not want them to see her either. Especially since the dreams kept returning. For whenever she fell into something resembling sleep, the dreams would return. Falling never scared her to begin with and the spiders had stopped frightening her too. But when it got to the parts where the ones she held dear showed their true nature - those were still hard. Of course, she kept telling herself that it was all a dream - but as time passed, even that became a hard task.

When the guards eventually came, she had no idea for how long it was that she had been in the cell. It was just nice to see something living again. Her eyes went to their hands as she remembered their iron grip around her arms before. It was an unpleasant experience - but she had managed to overcome it. In a weird way, she kind of liked the guards - they were predictable and obedient. Much better than the bickering masked figures that had also been at the swimming hall.

And then the energy shields lowered. An officer - different from the one before - stepped into her cell. Delphine nodded to him as a response to the greeting. But she did not treat this one as she treated the previous one. Before, she put her faith in the female officer, hoping for her to help. This time, she had no such hope. If her family had betrayed her and gone behind her back, why would this man be any better? If the last officer didn't tell her anything of value, then why would this officer do so? She would obey and work with him - because it was her best shot of getting out. But she would not trust him. At least not for now. With a nod, she started to follow him. She kept just as much distance to him as she did to the guards. Walking in between the trio, Delphine was dwarfed in comparison to their size. Not only in terms of height but also in terms of sheer mass.

"Yes. That's correct. I haven't." she said, keeping her voice low as they walked through long corridors of cells. Her eyes ventured to the other prisoners and her mind wondered if seeing her walk by would give them some sense of hope. From time to time, she would make a subtle extra tap with her foot as she walked - to change the pace a little bit and to create an oddity in the pattern. It was a curious idea - she knew how desperate she was for simulation when she was in the cell herself. Would this little 'move' have an effect on the other prisoners? Would it give them any hope? A sense of time? Make them feel a little more sane? Or would it perhaps make them repeat her move? Make them follow in her footsteps? Many questions wandered through her mind as she continued walking. Perhaps as a result of the long isolatory confinement. Her thoughts also resulted a longer period of silence after the officer complimented her. The intention was not to be rude but that interpretation was certainly possible. Not being able to change the past, she simply let out a late "Your files are right. Thank you."

As she entered the chamber, Delphine would look around curiously. She stared down the endless pit that was covered in glass. After all of her dreams of falling, this was not something to make her nervous. What did bother her, however, was when the two troopers stopped walking with them. Delphine stopped walking too as she turned around to look at them. Almost as if she was sad to part ways with them, she would eventually turn back around and jog to catch up with the officer.

What came next surprised her. "What?" They were insane. Absolutely insane. "But I am not a force sensitive. This doesn't even make any sense." she looked at him with an incredulous gaze but eventually gave up. There was nothing left to do but to prove him wrong. She allowed her arms to shoot out before falling back down to her side as she made a resigned expression "Alright, fine. Whatever you say. Let's do this 'force sensitive training' of yours" she said, doing her best not to sound too rude. She was a professional athlete and excelled in both swimming and dancing. Whatever training he would throw at her, she would do her best. And then he could see for himself. That she was no force sensitive at all.

 

[Darth Insatious]

New ~ Horizons
Tag: Del | Location: Morellia

"The blood sample says otherwise" corrected the officer and took a step back by the wall and the Death Trooper who stood to the left of the door. "First training session has begun, my Lord" commed the officer and started to record through his cybernetic eye.

The five robed individuals finally removed their masks and robes and revealed five almost carbon copies of each other. it was honestly on the tipping scale of eerily close if not perfect look-a-like of each other. The similarities were uncanny to look at as two of the five stepped forward, their personalities were still different.

"I don't know what Father sees in you. I doubt a rich girl like you would survive your first day" taunted the one carrying three electro-training sabres over his shoulder. "But do try and survive, so we can teach you a lesson and show Father that you're not worthy of his attention" spoke the second one scowling towards Delphine, clearly not holding his own jealousy hidden.

Both clones looked at Delphine and then at each other as they actually started to do rock-paper-scissors in who didn't have to train Delphine. After three quick rounds, the one who didn't hold two sabres lost and was shoved the three sabres into his stomach, causing him to release a 'grunt' sound from the impact.

Sighing over his loss, he finally turned to Delphine, actually paying attention to his task given to him and his siblings by their Father, Insatious. Dropping two of the three training sabres, the clone or Delphine's training master, held his own training sabres in one hand, holding his posture rather lose for quicker reaction.

The training sabres were made to resemble real lightsabers without the actual capabilities of cutting. However, they could still activate an energy shield of a sort, which would react like a real lightsaber upon the impact of a blaster bolt hitting it or locking blades with another training sabre.

"You might be safe from getting cut in half, but I can still beat you to death if I so choose" threatened Delphine's trainer not caring if he scared the girl as he impatiently waited for her to pick up one of the other training sabres.

Ready or not, the clone went at her with a strong horizontal strike at her head, "first lesson. Block!" ordered the clone whether she held a training sabre or not.

 

[Del]

New Horizons​

Location: Morellia
Notable Equipment: N/A
Tags: Darth Insatious

---​

She took in what the strangers said in silence. Listening and understanding was hard enough. Trying to mouth off against them would probably only make things worse. Besides, she was already annoyed from having heard only a few exchanges from the strangers - so starting to care about their opinions was the last thing she wanted to do. No, their bickering was beneath her. It was hard to hide, however, that she grew increasingly nervous as she started to realise what the 'force sensitive training' was going to consist on. But it was hard not to see that she was supposed to fight someone. The idea of it was alien to her. She had a few friends who did martial arts - they had talked about how they needed to train their minds to attack someone in order to truly be efficient. Very few had the natural instinct to just lunge at someone without holding back - and this was true for Delphine as well.

The stranger almost seemed to brag about what he could do to her. Delphine's mouth shot open as she was about to fire off a counter Of course he could beat her up if he was trained for combat and she wasn't - but she stayed her tongue. Once more, she had to remind herself that she was above his quips and that provoking him would probably only make things worse. "You could... I am at your mercy" she said, surprising even herself by how sincere she managed to sound. She did not want to provoke anyone and if she could gain their sympathies, then that would be even better.

Swiftly, she grabbed one of the blades. Once more, it felt uncomfortably heavy. Delphine tried to get a feel for its weight when she saw the opponent's blade come swinging for her. Immediately, she steeled her defence as both hands clasped the practice sword firmly in a vertical block. As the strike landed, however, she felt how her arms were completely overwhelmed and gave way to the powerful attack. The attacker's blade pushed back her blade to the point where both blades pushed against Del who quickly fell back onto the ground from the sheer force and surprise of it. It was an attack that would set the tone for the next part of the training session. The stranger had the audacity to tell her to block while it was precisely what she had done. "Sorry" she exclaimed, her voice small as she still tried to recover

Recovery was a luxury which was not offered to all, however. Just as she got back up on her feet, another swing was thrown at her. Delphine managed to take a step back just in time to avoid the blade. The attacker was not intent on conserving his stamina, it seemed. For as his attack missed, he quickly offered a follow-up attack. Continuing to back away, Delphine still tried to catch his blade with her own. Her nervous two-handed grip once more folded against his strike easily, bringing her blade and both arms with his sabre. Instead of falling or getting caught, however, she managed to keep a stable footing whilst backing away.

A similar sequence would continue for some time. The attacker utterly overpowered her - but through timid but fast and balanced footwork, Delphine avoided getting knocked out for a little bit. She started to realise how hopeless it was to fight against him - or anyone else for that matter - he simply had a multitudes better strength to his upper body than she did. The only reason she could even stay in the fight was the agility and balance that her years as a professional dancer could offer. Even then, the stranger landed a few hits from time to time, causing her to fall down onto the ground in tremendous pain. If he had wanted to, he could probably have ended the fight at any of those moments - but he did not. Whether he was just toying with her or following instructions was unknown to her. But it didn't really matter. She was going to do her best regardless.

As the fight sequences continued, she got an increasingly good idea of how their dynamic worked. She kept backing away and he kept pushing forth. Blocking was useless to her as it would only result in her blade and upper body being pulled along with his blade. It was draining on both her and him - but importantly, her being would be jerked along in the direction of his attack whilst he would be able to keep a stable footing. Suddenly, an idea sparked in her mind. Continuing her defence partiently, Delphine would eventually put her blade forth to block another attack while having taken a step back to make her safe from getting hit when the block would eventually fail. As the force of his attack pushed her down to the side once more, she would follow in the direction of his push with her upper body - willingly. Instead of allowing it to become a disadvantage, she used the force and momentum he gave her to spin around and produce a high kick against his head. The attack was fueled by his own strength and had a dancer's elegance to it. It would be enough to knock a normal person out - the question was if it was enough to knock her current attacker out too.

 

[Darth Insatious]

New ~ Horizons
Tag: Del | Location: Morellia

Strikes after strikes the clone advanced, always going for the offensive and who could blame him, seeing how Delphine had no chance of landing a blow on him. His siblings cheered every time Delphine was hit or knocked down on the glass floor and even began to bet among each other for how long Delphine could handle herself before getting knocked out.

While the siblings standing on the sideline found great joy in seeing the training unfold, the one who was 'training' Delphine, started to get annoyed by the fact that the girl kept getting up. To make it worse, his siblings also started to notice as they started to taunt her brother.

"What. Is the girl too much for you?!" Called one of the other clones tauntingly at the one 'training' Delphine. Now frustrated and embarrassed that Delphine has managed to keep getting up. In frustration, he went at the girl with a powerful swing, only for her to use his unfocused attack against him, knocking him into the ground, hard.

It got quiet really fast, with only the hagged breathing from the two Death Troopers in the distance. The silence was quickly disrupted as the clone knocked into the floor, did an impressive spin with his legs and body, spinning back up on his feed. Blinking and shaking his head while rubbing the back of his head, the clone clearly looked to have felt the kick.


His siblings, however, only found this hilarious, which only fueled the now pissed off clone. Activating his training blade again, he pointed the tip at Delphine. "You're dead meat" threatened the clone and in an unnatural flash of speed, Delphine would feel not only the air knocked out of her but her bottom ribs cracking as she was sent flying back.

The poor girl didn't even get to react as she felt the tip of a boot connect with her face, splitting her eyebrow and breaking her nose. Her entire body was suddenly filled with arcing bolts of electricity. "Not so agile now you little Bantha shit" cursed the clone with a wicked grin on his face, completely losing his rude, but joking nature.

"THAT'S ENOUGH"

Whether Delphine was unconscious or not to hear what happened next, but the stern voice of Lieutenant Morr broke the booming cracks of electricity, stopping the clone from electrocuting Delphine. The clone's eyes, engulfed in rage, stared the Lieutenant down clutching his grip even harder around the hilt of the training sabre. Walking up to the clone and Delphine, Lieutenant Morr challenged the clone's look with one of stubborn professionalism.

"Piss off of weakling, or meet the same fate" threatened the clone, as the staring didn't cause the Lieutenant to back off.

"May I remind you Subject-TC14, that this is Lord Insatious' granddaughter and killing her, will bring an end worse than death to all of us here?" Explained Lieutenant sternly, standing in between Delphine's broken body and Subject-TC14. The clone was clearly fueled by rage and probably didn't understand completely what Delphine's death would cause of ripple effects to everyone.

"I said, piss off. This girl doesn't deserve Father's attention" threatened Subject-TC14 again, as electricity began to crack at his fingertips, which caused the two Death Troopers to grab their own weapons, positioning themself in combat stance if the clone attacked Delphine or the Lieutenant.

Narrowing his eyes, "that wasn't a request" threatened the Lieutenant, taking another step towards the clone to show who held the power. The other clones had remained quiet in the exchange but placed a hand on Subject-TC14's shoulder to get him to follow them. "Don't Brother... Father will punish us if you kill her" warned the other clones.

In an intense staring contest between the Lieutenant and out-of-line clone, Subject-TC14, finally gave in, reluctantly, throwing his training sabre onto the ground and stormed away and out of the room with his siblings behind him.

With the danger avoided, the Death Troopers went back to their stationary position as if they were status. Turning around, Lieutenant's eyes went wide, seeing the complete bloody mess that was Delphine. He felt awful that the girl had to go through such harsh training, though it wasn't his job to question.

Looking at the Death Troopers. "Take her to a medbay and when she's healed, put her back in her cell" ordered the Lieutenant as he led the way to the medbay.

Luckily, Delphine would survive with minimal permanent scars, which caused the Lieutenant to sigh a breath of relief.

~~~~~​

As time went on, Delphine's routine would consist of nothing but gruelling and unfair training, getting beaten half to death, getting carried to a medbay and then placed back in her cell. The only times the routine would break, was when she was given breakfast and dinner, which surprisingly were decent meals.

While the training was always her against one of the clones, the type of training variated, depending on what type of clone it was. But one thing was the same with all the clones, they all hated her guts and punished her harshly if she failed to do what they asked and/or ordered her to do.

"Use your hatred to fuel your power!"

"That isn't anger, search deeper!"

"Strike harder, HARDER!"

"Are you naturally this stupid, I said USE YOUR RAGE, not this meek rich-girl shit you're trying to pull"

As the routine continued, Lieutenant Morr was always there with her, standing with the two Death Troopers to the side, watching and noting down Delphine's progress. Lieutenant Morr was also the only one, to not be rude or straight out hateful, towards Delphine. While he hadn't acted or shown any kind of hate or rudeness towards Delphine, he was just doing a job and didn't really spend too much time thinking about the girl.

However, he did feel sorry for Delphine, which cause him to act more friendly to the girl without breaking his professionalism or job.

 

[Del]

New Horizons​

Location: Morellia
Notable Equipment: N/A
Tags: Darth Insatious

---​

He actually went down. Delphine looked at the guy who had been attacking her viscously just a moment ago. Now he laid on the floor, obviously in pain and probably also dazed. His brothers' attitude changed in an instant. They had been cheering him on, being as annoying as ever. But now, they weren't as cocky. Her gaze slowly shifted to them - she looked at them with just as much surprise as they looked at her. She was not a fighter, yet it was clear that, somehow, she had managed to do something which nobody had expected. The girl pushed back thoughts of whether or not she was force sensitive. For if anything was a sign that she was indeed force sensitive, then this had to be it.

Moments of contemplation were nice. But they did not always last as long as they should. This was an instance where it was cut short. Before she could return her attention to the bad-mouth, he came at her with incredible speed. Suddenly, pain erupted from seemingly everywhere. A particularly strong almost electric pain shot through her from her lower chest as he managed to crack her bottom ribs. Normally - if there was a 'normally to this kind of pain - she would have let out a loud whine but with the air knocked out of her, all that revealed the pain were her watering eyes.

Suddenly, she felt an impossibly hard wall smash against her back. Of course, the attacker had not thrown a wall at her but rather thrown her at a wall. Still, it hurt all the same. Her eyes went down to see a stream of blood coming from here his sword had hit her. But she wouldn't be able to study it for long before he shoved a boot to her face, making it feel as if her delicate features were being crushed underneath. When she thought that it couldn't get any worse, he fired lightning at her, causing her to twist and whimper as she desperately wished for it all to end.

And then it did.

Morr's voice boomed through the chamber. She could hear the emotion in his voice and his hard heeled boots click as he approach at a high pace. Her eyelids rose weakly as she looked at the scene that was playing out. There was little that she could do but to look, really. For at this point, her body felt like little more than a bloody pulp. Even then, it was abundantly clear how much she admired Lieutenant Morr for standing up for her. Not only did he try to protect her, but he also succeeded. She would have liked to thank him - she even raised a weak finger to reach for his hand but ultimately, nothing would come out of it. For before anything could happen, the girl lost consciousness.

She woke up in a cell, sweaty and cold. The nightmares had not gone away. They never did. Her body was still filled with pain but she still sat up on her bed and looked out through the energy barrier. She was looking for Morr. She wanted to thank him. And to see if he was alright. But instead, noone was there. Only after a few cycles of nightmarish sleep did she see him again - when her body had recovered and it was time for her to train again. Her face lit up brightly as she first saw him appear. She felt light as she took a few steps towards him "Hello, Lieutenant Morr" her voice was happy and so were her eyes. While the officer was far from rude, his professionalism still overshadowed any personal connection. He was all that she had been able to think of since waking up from the visit by the medbay. And now, it felt as if didn't see her as more than a distant work relation. It made her sad. Her small shoulders fell and while she tried to keep up appearances, it was clear that she was unhappy. It was only a matter of time until she started to feel a little bit shy around him - she wanted his approval but she didn't want him to know that,

As the practice sessions began, the girl would often throw a few subtle looks to the Lieutenant. To see if he showed any expressions or approval or disapproval. Out of the persons that she was allowed to meet, he was the one who mattered. At times, she would offer him a soft smile before quickly looking away and letting her blue gaze shyly fall to the ground.

Her skills with the practice sabre improved rapidly. The trainers she had were supremely skilled and they weren't holding back. At least from what she could tell. Her natural agility helped her stay in fights for longer and thus constantly allowing her to learn their patterns and try to figure out how to deal with it. She took many many more beatings than she dealt - for whenever she was close to winning, the clones always seemed to have another trick up their sleeves. The times when Del did beat them were primarily when she caught them by surprise and usually, a brutal beating would follow. Still, taking on one brutal beating was better than getting beat a dozen times and falling unconscious from that.

As time went on, her skills became more honed and her body developed. Her muscles became more defined and her constitution hardened. But even then, her primary attribute remained. Agility was what she relied on. Then there was speed, discipline and grace. The clones kept pushing her to put more emotion into it. But most of the time, she didn't care for their commands. To beat them, she needed to stay sharp and think through her actions, not let emotions take over and cloud her judgement.

***​

Her eyes shot up at the clone. A natural pause had erupted in the fight and he kept goading her. Pushing for her to give in to anger and hate. Instead of obeying, she tried to keep level-headed. He kept pushing the attack and she kept moving back, weaving in and out of the range of his sword. She had now learned to try to guide his blade away with hers instead of blocking the strike completely. For this purpose, her strength would be enough whereas blocking was still out of the question. It was fortunate that the chamber was large - otherwise, she was bound to face issues. As the fight continued, her mind went to how best to counter him, not at all paying attention to the fact that the battle was moving closer to Lieutenant Morr and the two Death Troopers.

Soon, one of the troopers fell into her peripheral view and before long, she could see Morr too. He was just a few metres away from the fight. Staunch and unmoving. As the clone pressed harder, Delphine was forced to back even closer to where Morr stood. She wanted to avoid it but the alternative was loosing the fight. The intensity of the battle didn't give either combatant much room for manoeuvre in the grand scheme of things.

The attacks kept coming for her and she kept dodging and redirecting the opponent's blade. It came to both of their surprises when they noticed that they had gone so close to Morr that he would be hit unless the clone's blade did not connect with Delphine. She would have taken the blow for the Lieutenant but in the heat of battle she had already taken the step back to avoid the blade's range. Immediately, the girl raised her own blade to block the attack, but everyone knew that it was a rather useless measure. Fear started to grip her entire being. The one person she liked was in danger and who knew if he'd ever come back if he was to be replaced by someone after the injury? And what's more, what would happen to her if he was replaced? Would the replacement still protect her like he did? Would she still be drawn to them the same way?

For a moment, her emotions took control and that was enough.

The clone's sabre arm would suddenly snap as she snapped the bone of his upper arm in three places through the use of force crush. In the same swift move, she pulled the lower end of the broken arm back, making it twist unnaturally as the blade was brought away from the officer. The annoying attacker had been completely unprepared for the force attack but she wasn't about to stop there. Fear still drove her and she did not want to give the clone another chance to hurt Lieutenant Morr. Moving in close, she put a leg between those of the foe and pushed, causing him to loose his balance and fall down onto his back. Using the weight of her body, she then shoved her practice blade deep into his chest.

 

[Darth Insatious]

New ~ Horizons
Tag: Del | Location: Morellia

Lieutenant Morr was respectable, always greeting her back, though her encouraging emotions for him was never returned the way she hoped. He always held the holopad in his hand and placed the other hand behind his back, giving her a small nod, followed by "Greetings miss Parvall". Their small walk to the training chamber often consisted of Lieutenant Morr giving Del status update of her progress and the training she would undergo the current day.

Despite Delphine trying to hide her interest and admiring of the Lieutenant, he kept it to himself as it was highly unprofessionally of him, not to mention dangerous given who Delphine was related to. No, it was for the best to just focus on his assignment for Lord Insatious. Although, it was hard to admire the girl's tenacity and willpower, not to mention how well she was able to adjust herself to the training.

The clones were still as ruthless as the day Delphine started her training and did not hesitate to beat her unconscious if she stepped out of line or didn't follow orders. With that said, after the confrontation with Lieutenant Morr, the clones were able to contain themselves from actually killing the girl.

~~~~~~​

It all happened so fast when Delphine redirected the clone's strike. Being the only person in the chamber who wasn't Force-Sensitive, he would have reacted too slow for how fast it all happened. The Death Trooper that was closest in a flash grabbed onto the training sabre's blade, despite the damage, it would cause. But, by the time that the Death Trooper had stopped the blade from hitting Lieutenant Morr, the clone had screamed from the sheer magnitude of pain from his arm.

The clone had dropped, not even holding on to the sabre, "MY ARM! MY KRIFFING ARM!" screamed the clone at the top of his lunges.

With his arms up to protect his face, Lieutenant Morr quickly gathered his senses as he called for a medical team to arrive. "I need a medical crew in chamber TR107" commed the Lieutenant without wavering his professionalism in his tone, despite seconds earlier was in danger of getting mortally wounded.

The other clone that was in the chamber as well for this training session looked down at his brother with a raised eyebrow. "Not gonna lie, this is pretty funny brother and rather embarrassing for you. Can't believe you let her get to you" taunted the clone to his brother with his broken arm.

"Kriff you!" was the only thing the wounded clone could muster as the arrived medical team prepared to place the clone on the carrier bed. However, snapped at them, "don't kriffing touch me!" Cursed the clone as he attempted to get up himself. It was clear that accepting help, was a sign of weakness. The clone with the broken arm stared at Delphine with rage-filled eyes and clearly wanted to say something not to mention beat her for breaking his arm. But he didn't. Instead, he turned to leave, but 'cause of the immeasurable amount of pain pulsating through him, he fell to his knees.

Right before the blast door closed, the clone that wasn't wounded, raised his hand and gave Delphine the middle finger. The people that were left, was Delphine, who probably had a lot of questions, Lieutenant Morr and the two Death Troopers, standing like statues, flanking the door.

Facing Delphine, Lieutenant entered the last bit for his report and actually gave Delphine a genuine smile of approval. "Well done, Miss Parvall" praised Lieutenant Morr. "Training's done for today, follow me" explained as his heeled boots clicked against the cold floor. The lieutenant expected Delphine to follow, or the two Death Troopers would simply just grab her and carry her after Lieutenant Morr.

As they walked back to Delphine's cell, Officer Morr spoke again after a bit, "Lord Insatious has been very pleased with your progress Miss Parvell".

 

[Del]

New Horizons​

Location: Morellia
Notable Equipment: N/A
Tags: Darth Insatious

---​

Fear had her adrenaline running high. Perhaps there was even a smudge of rage involved in it all. She stood close to the defeated foe as she had just shoved the practice weapon onto his chest. Her eyes snapped from his furious and surprised face to his arm and then back to his face again. Once more, her gaze hopped to the broken arm. That was her doing. A cocktail of emotions hit her as the fact that she was indeed force sensitive started to sink in for real. She was concerned and even a bit fearful of what she had done without even touching him. She felt sorry for him and sad that she had hurt him so gravely - at least when the Death Trooper would have stopped the blow from hitting Morr anyways. And somewhere deep inside she felt pleased. Happy that she too possessed the force. She may not have valued it before but now, after having been thrown into an environment where weakness meant that she would get a more severe beating and strength could lead to not getting one at all, possessing the force was nothing but a boon.

"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!" There was some sincerity to the apology. For it was what came to the front of her mind when she realised - rationally - what she had done. But under the surface, a sense of survival was also involved. Delphine did not know why the clones hated her so much but figured that she didn't want it to get any worse. And thus, she showed a softer side that highlighted her young age and small figure whilst apologising profusely. There was no room for pride or honesty when survival was at stake. Of course, the defeated foe was not very receptive to her apologies as he tried to fight off the emergency personnel. But at least it would plant a seed in his mind and hopefully that of his brother too.

When the room emptied, she looked to Morr. Whatever sense of dismay filled her until then quickly faded as he offered her a sincere smile along with the praise. "Thank you, Lieutenant Morr" she said before following in his footsteps, well aware of how suicidal it would most likely be to disobey.

It was never nice to be back at her cell. Most of the time she spent in there either consisted of miserable waiting or of horrendous nightmares. Neither of which she liked. But even then, a meek smile appeared on her lips as she let out a low "Nice" whilst showing a tempered satisfaction. Regardless of the horrors that Insatious had inflicted on her it was clear that he was the one in charge and the person that everyone else in the facility seemed to care about. If he was happy with her, it couldn't be too bad. Or at least so she hoped.

Delphine looked up to Morr before her gaze quickly fell down to her feet. She was feeling a bit shy but quickly worked to overcome it. Looking back up again, she asked "Do you know if, uhm, Lord Insatious will let me leave here anytime soon? Or if maybe I could get something to do in here?" her voice was small as she hoped for a positive answer.

 

[Darth Insatious]

New ~ Horizons
Tag: Del | Location: Morellia

Standing by the door to Delphine's cell looking her over as she asked a very reasonable question and request, given her situation. However, the Lieutenant was in no position to presume anything his Lord would do and since he hadn't been given any instructions to otherwise, he simply did not know. "Miss Parvall, I don't know. You will simply have to wait for what Lord Insatious has in store for you, moving forward" explained Lieutenant before powering up the cell's door, locking Delphine in her cell again.

Before he left, he stood with a straight back, heels locked in position. "But I will put in a word for you when presenting your latest progress to my Lord" explained Lieutenant Morr as he turned to the side and left the front of her cell with the Death Troopers in toe. Delphine could hear the heels of his boots tap against the metal floor getting further and further away from her.

Alone again, but unhurt for a change. Delphine would actually be able to hear her neighbours, while not through the walls, but from the front, as the energy wall and door wouldn't stop sounds. To her left; "hey, you. New meat" whispered a female's voice by the edge of her own cell.

"What's your name?" Asked the female in the cell left of Delphine's.

Other voices could be hurt further down to the right of other prisoners conversing, only to be shut down by one of the prison guards who heard the noise. When the prison guard went back to his post by the door of the prison, the female voice spoke again in a whisper. "I'm Tyrialla".

The female's voice had a certain roughness to it, as if the woman had used her voice a lot of shouted much throughout her life.