Viral Hemorrhage

[Karlie Lynn Destat]

In lunar-like distant orbit around the system Castage, the remote station RD-IV silently operates in the silence of space and at a safe distance from the planet.
Inside is where the most extensive research on identifying and analyzing the galaxy's most dangerous bio-engineered organic/viral pathogens is conducted. The facility is designed to handle compounds and pathogens too dangerous for any systems to chance housing their research planet side.
Currently leading the facility as head researcher is Science Director Karlie Lynn Destat, an operative in the IBI, an executive investigating branch of the Castan government on system Castagne.

Nine months later, following the Melida/Dan incident....



"Another private message from the Viceroyalty, Liz?" Karlie asked her assigned assistant.

"It wouldn't be private if I should answer that, Karlie." The bio-tech assistant returned to her research station near Karlie.

"My lab, my privileges...supposed to be my assistant."

"My hearing's fine. But so you know, nothing substantial has come out of this exercise. They've gotten impatient. Don't be surprised if they pull the plug on you and reassign this research ...elsewhere."

"It's my research, they can't do that."

"The virus was deployed on a CIS system. It's within their jurisdiction."

Karlie didn't reply, she just tightened her lips. No doubt she was angry that in a matter of time, this research would slip through her fingers.

"Listen...I don't know how much more time the'll give us before the'll pull the plug on this. But I stepped up on your behalf and convinced them that you're not stone walling them."

"WHAT?!..
Me, stonewalling them?..What the frak for?!!"




4 long work cycles later...

"There...you see it?..." Karlie expanded on the 3D projected hologram of the live virus. It had been extracted from the host 'Janis', a former colleague of her's whom had been part of the landing party on Melida/Dan when the outbreak of the same virus took place.

"Uhm...what exactly am I seeing besides the virus injecting it's nucleic acid inside the host cell?
I've studied it's lysogenic cycle over a thousand times, maybe more..." Her lab assistant Liz replied, as in reality both she and Karlie had lost count months ago. Not that they needed to count or personally keep track of every single virus test which they ran through it's lysogenic cycle reproducing. Their lab computer detailed every single replication on the molecular level.
And each virus was the second generation, close to what could be the original. Their samples were fresh, extracted directly from a live zombie..Janis; Karlie's original fellow scientist whom contracted the airborne virus on Melida/Dan.

"It's internal proteins... look there....they've been triggered to scramble then reassemble in a systematic collective cycle once the virus injects it's RNA which then triggers the organelles to start it's replication. Look here..the proteins momentarily twitch within that .007 of that second."

"Yea, I had picked that up too...but what of it? The chain remains intact before and after..it's just a twitch...like you said, Karlie."

"Yes, but why? There's no reason for it to do so.
Unless....
Unless it momentarily flashes it's true base chain...it's default structure, Liz.
It's like it has been trained to disguise it's original protein chain...or at least tries to reassemble it's true chain for that split microsecond...like when a key goes through the tumblers. It insets properly, but the key-ways must go through a tumbler cycle for the key to engage the lock... winding up in the same position before the cycle." Karlie replayed the viral attack on the clean cell. Sure enough it seemed it's protein chain wanted to change, then not..like it twitched. It were for just a millisecond but it was there.
Karlie then randomly accessed the previous file recordings of the countless viral cycles they had been arduously studying the past months and sure enough, the same micro twitch.

"We need to freeze that event.
Lets initialize an absolute zero flash for the next new samples. I don't see why our computer can't fire that flash during that split second twitch. We should get lucky enough to freeze that cycle so we can analyse the chain code."

Two weeks later the two researchers finally were able to freeze that split microsecond in absolute zero.
The protein chain was without a doubt something by which the lab comp brought up as already existing in it's records. The protein in it's original untrained state clearly matched that of a common virus on the outskirts of CIS territory.
"Finally, we've got the key as to where it was engineered!" Karlie was so excited!
Yes, finally after months of arduous study, with molecular disassembly and reassembling they had gotten their first glimpse of the pathogen's possible origin, it's point of creation. Sure, they knew exactly how it went about replicating and as to why it chose only humanoids, but unlocking as to where it came from was the mystery. In doing so, they could then ultimately discover whom had created it, as it was by all standards; bio-engineered.

" Wow..talk about finding a needle in a metal scrap heap! This little devil has certainly been engineered to keep it's original protein chain in its new trained heinous order. We're looking at possibly the first programmable virus. FRAK, this thing can be anything you want it to be, from the common cold to-..to...frak, this and more!" She had to step back a moment from the projected hologram of the live virus frozen in time in the absolute chamber. Her heart was beating a kilometer a minute, she was both excited and frightened.

"It explains now how easily it is transmittable...like that of an influenza." She was able to catch her breath, moving closer to the hologram. She virtually turned the holo-virus over in it's projected state getting a better view of the frozen protein chain that had twitched for a micro second to reveal it's true original protein structure. They had captured that obscure instant flicker and it revealed everything about it which they were missing before.

"And see...it's retained the spectral refraction signature of that very same star system."

It had been a breakthrough and one by which should have completed the research. Karlie at that point had completed her assignment as per IBI doctrines. It was just a simple matter of finalizing the report and send it back to IBI headquarters.
But no.
No, Karlie was a kind of perfectionist. In her scope of thinking, this was only the beginning of the investigation. What should have been turned in to headquarters for them to analyse and determine the next step as to take in bringing the culprits to justice, Karlie made the decision to discover that on her own.

She was determined to find the source, the lab, the men...the scum who had engineered this virus. And too, she was kind of fascinated by this new technology that she could uncover. Imagine that; a programmable virus. It meant that it could be disguised as a harmless common virus then at the proper time...devastation.
But she weren't looking to acquire this knowledge in order to replicate this technology for creating biological weaponry. No.
Such tech could be used for good...to fight other devastating diseases as the virus could be programmed like bots to attack only the diseased cells, stopping the disease in its tracks.
This was one aspect as to her decision not to finalize the research. The other was bagging the culprits herself. Well, at least identifying the culprits. Then of course she would call in the Castan Marines to deal with them and have those butchers be brought to justice.

...or so was Karlie's argument to Liz as to why she were not going to report their findings yet to the Viceroyalty.



[member="Vera Mina"] [member="Darth Metus"] [member="Srina Talon"]

 

[Karlie Lynn Destat]

Two days following the discovery of the virus origin, Karlie and Liz await a remote shuttle sent from Castagne to retrieve them.
With all decontamination checks and procedures completed, the RD-IV on board security computer relayed an all 'GREEN' for them to disembark the remote lab.

"Liz...you are under my lead. I say we must go to the source first. This case isn't ready for me to hand over to some Vicerolalty so that they can do as they please with this new found bio-tech. I'll not have them weaponize it, like...like somebody had already done on Malida/Dan."

"I still can't understand your motive as to not at least calling it in and get some military backup."

"What, and have them find the lab first?
Well, I say it's up to us to find the source and-...and destroy that tech...or any evidence of it.
Yea...
So it won't be used again...you know?"

"And of the culprits, Karlie?..those responsible?"

"Oh yea...well..them too."

"You mean kill them yourself?..you?"

"Who me?...oh hell no. I've learned the hard way that I can't directly engage pretty much anyone in a one to one confrontation, no. I learned to keep distance..use my wits instead of my might...or lack there of... hahaha...
Anyway, I ....I'll want them to be brought to trial. Try them for the crimes they committed.
Yea.
Sure, why wouldn't I?"

"And for the death of the Vicelord's son." Liz more made a statement than asked the question.

"Huh?...who?...
Oh!
Oh yea.. yea, right. Sure...the Vicelord's son...
...what was his name?"

. . . . . . .

The shuttle docked with the remote lab an hour later and the two got inside.
karlie took manual control of the shuttle and headed it back toward Castagne. But instead of returning to the IBI main headquarters, she put the shuttle down at her beach house off the coast. It were where her private ship had been left parked, the Castan LCX-L3
Karlie wasted no time in grabbing her bag and leading the way in boarding her ship.

"Look, Liz....you have to trust me." She said, throwing her bag on one of the beds, before she took a seat in what was a cockpit-quarter. The pilot chair literally was at the foot of her bunk so to speak.
"I said it before and I'll say it again; no forwarding any reports to the Viceroylaty, especially the Viceroy about anything yet.
We're still ahead of them pulling the plug and letting someone else get all the credit of what we found. No one should know anything we've uncovered about this programmable virus"

"But Karlie, how do you know there isn't a chance for us to contract the virus there? You haven't even packed your bio-hazard suit."

A wry smile formed on Karlie's features, as the engines of the craft were heard ramping up.
"No need to." She raised her hand exposing her crono time piece. It served in not only communications and time keeping, but also monitoring and keeping her metabolism safe. Karlie had no midicloreans to speak of anymore. As such only her own immune system and she was found to have a blood sugar disorder. Her crono kept her sugar levels in check.
Only now it also contained an anti-viral reagent.

"I've found a way to prevent the virus from affecting me. I found the key to program the same virus to act as an antivirus against itself..." She proudly chuckled.
The craft took to rising above the beach bungalow.

"You what?
But how?
You didn't tell me you had worked on an anti-virus." Liz was astounded as to the time frame itself in coming up with the so called anti-virus. It had only been a matter of days since they had finally unlocked it's secret. How could it be possible for anyone to come up with an anti-visus that quick?

"Why should I? You don't tell me what your 'secret messaging' is about with the Viceroyalty...so why should I tell you about this until now?
Besides...here." She pulled out a micro injector.
"This is for you. You can inject yourself now or even after you contract the virus..if it's out...which i doubt, since no one's reported any outbreak over on that system. But here, take it as my gift of appreciation to you, Liz.
Now sit yourself down and buckle up. " She handed her reluctant assistant the small device.

Liz hesitated a moment, but took it and put it in her breast pocket, as the craft then shot through the clouds.
"Appreciation?...
I'd appreciate if you tell me as how you managed to develop and anti-virus without me knowing. I mean... I was in the lab there with you most of the time." She nervously replied, as daylight was left below them on Castagne, with the stars now all around them.

"Ah...yes, most of the time. But not all of the time.
Liz, Liz, Liz...you underestimate me." Karlie managed to turn to Liz as the stars around them streaked past.

Karlie had jumped them into hyperspace.





[member="Vera Mina"] [member="Darth Metus"] [member="Srina Talon"]

 

[Karlie Lynn Destat]

Karlie's ship was fast.
At 0.3 hyperdrive speed it was more than fast...it cut down what would take a capital ship 3 days to cross, into less than a third of the time.


18 hours after exeting Castagne's system. . . . . . . . .3........2........1....... Emerge.

The Castan LCX-L3 popped into a known, but uninhabited system just on the outskirt of CIS territory.
It was a lifeless system. The only planet in the system, had no atmosphere to speak of and it were as lifeless as two of the three moons that orbited it. But the 3rd moon...the third moon was an ice covered moon and with an atmosphere.

Karlie headed toward it as soon as they emerged out of hyperspace.

"How...how do you know it's on that moon?" Liz asked, noticing Karlie barely hesitated in heading straight towad the ice moon.

"I don't.
I mean...come on, it's the only habitable-...well, barely habitable satellite on this Godforsaken system." She replied as she guided her ship at sub-light toward establishing an orbit.
"I figured why waste time on the dead rocks first... we don't exactly have time according to you in finishing this off now do we?"

"I don't know Karlie...how much time do you figure you have left?"

"Huh?..
What's that supposed to mean?! You're the one who talked about running out of time, Liz.
I'm just making the most of the limited logical choices in this system s'all." She looked over to her assistant, wondering why she'd been so...so dry and skeptical for the last week or so since they broke the virus' code.

Then..

"Whooho!...talk about luck!" Karlie exclaimed as the very first sensor readings of the surface pinged a man made structure.
Karlie then headed to where the scanners pointed to the structure and entered the moon's atmosphere.

It were a white out, up until they were right over it just about. She kept her eyes on the HUD if there were any signs of life coming from it.
None.

"Looks like modular construction. Was erected rightly quick...like it were military." Karlie commented finding a suitable and as close a landing to the structure's assumed entrance as possible.
It was minus 40 degrees after all. At least that was what her sensors recorded.

Twenty minutes later, both women were clad in what could constitute as arctic wear.
"Well, doesn't look like warm weather's coming any day soon..."
The blast of cold air hit their parkas like they suddenly submerged in ice water...it stung them right away.

"COME ON....NO TIME TO WASTE..." Karlie shouted over the howling winds of ice and snow, taking the lead to get down the ship's ramp.

To their surprise, the facility's door swished open with ease.
Karlie scanned the interior and then nodded, cuing Liz to follow her in.
As soon as the doors closed, the interior lights..what was left working, illuminated the interior.It were an anteroom, much like that of an airlock.

It took a moment for the two to catch their breath and shake off most of the ice on their person. Again, Karlie put her scanner next to the interior door. No life readings..not even viral.
"Ok..lets see what's behind door number two..." The door parted and before them lay what no doubt was a bio-tech lab of some kind.
The display screens were mostly blank or defaulted into a lock configuration.

Karlie kept scanning, while Liz started walking toward what at first seemed like glowing cylindrical chambers.
They were dust covered, obscuring what they held within. Liz curiously wiped the dust off one...

"Oh my God!" She were heard saying, trying to draw Karlie's attention.
"Come look at these...there are human specimens still inside.
I...I think we found the lab..."

Karlie didn't respond. She knew what Liz had discovered, as she somehow easily gained access to the main comp station and was viewing files of humans whom were used as guinea pigs as the virus was developed.
The files had been locked. But upon Karlie drawing closer to the main console, it had scanned her features and opened up the files for her eyes...

"How...how did you unlock it?" Liz asked, as she had made her way back to Karlie after Karlie didn't come over to check out the preserved bodies floating in the chambers.

"I didn't. I mean...they're just opening up..."
At every new file which opened, it was apparent that the comp scanned Karlie's feature...possibly her retina and opened them for her.

"Karlie...can you step back a moment?" She asked.

"Why?...This is what we came here to destroy...all these files...they must be destroyed- HEY!" Karlie was shoved to the side.
"What the frak's up with you?!" She looked at Liz as if the woman had suddenly gone crazy.

But as soon as Liz cleared Karlie out of the comp's scanner, the files went to a blank screen. Liz was certainly scanned, but it denied her access. She then stepped aside, letting a quite irate Karlie come back up to the console.
The files re-opened.

"Heh...seems to like me..." Karlie joked.

Liz didn't find any bit of humor in it and just stood back, taking count as to what Karlie was opening.
The files were indeed of the research and development of the virus. It contained files after files of experiments on not just humans, but many other intelligent species. And this one virus could be programmed for each species...could be made to attack one and not the other..even if they were in the same chamber. It was a perfect weapon, as it attacked only what species it was programmed for.

Karlie was fascinated.
Fascinated enough to go through pretty much all of the files, taking almost three days to do so. This of course meant that they couldn't work in shifts, as the files were privi only for Karlie's eyes... per retina scans it seemed.
Something by which she couldn't explain as to why. But then again, Liz had stopped questioning Karlie and had reverted to just stepping back and letting her do her thing...


Three days later...

"We need to set charges...flash burn this lab to ashes." Karlie came on over to where Liz was checking out some of the equipment hardware for clues as to where or whom had manufactured the reactor and fermentation vessels among many other unique equipment.

"You mean flash burn it all? We can't just destroy all this...this... all this is evidence!"

"I'm afraid that's what we have to do, Liz. I can't explain it to you...but yes, we have to flash everything...ALL OF IT!!" Karlie shouted, seemingly knowing what it all meant now if any of the files got into not just enemy hands, but that of the CIS itself.
Somehow or other, the files were tied to her. The entire research lab was tied to her. At least to recognizing and acknowledging her as it's only primary user.

"I can't allow that, Karlie." Liz then drew a small concealed blaster on her.

"Liz..Liz what's gone over you? Please listen to me. I need to destroy the files..everything in here..I think the entire facility." She pleaded, taking a step closer to her assistant.

Liz fired a round at the chair inches from where Karlie was standing.
"Eek! Liz!...
Liz, you nearly shot me! What's wrong with you?"

It was at that moment that they both felt a slight tremble. The entire lab facility seemed to lightly shake.
"What the-" Karlie didn't have to look outside to know that a large vessel was landing on the ice next to the abandoned research lab.

"You...you sold us out?" Karlie couldn't help but think that Liz, the assistant that had been assigned by the Viceroyalty had betrayed the CIS.

"His name was @Riggs , Karlie." She raised the blaster, leveling it on Karlie's shockingly wide eyes.

It was clear, that Karlie couldn't comprehend what Liz was talking about.

"Riggs, Karlie! That's who this virus took, alongside the thousands of innocent civillians and many of our comrades on Melida/Dan."

"Sorry...but who's Riggs again?" Karlie asked with confusion, as Liz had never answered her as to whom the Vicelord's son's name was who had succumbed to the virus on Melida/Dan.

"Our Vicelord's son, you twisted piece of fodder!" Liz spat out, but didn't fire.
She had no need to. As at that moment the CIS task force broke through the lab doors and surrounded the blond.


4 days later, in prison shackles and in an orange jumpsuit, Karlie was escorted off one of the military shuttles to face trial for the mass murders of civillians on Melida/Dan and of the Vicelord's son, Riggs....





[member="Vera Mina"] [member="Darth Metus"] [member="Srina Talon"]

 

[Vera Mina]

Aboard: Castle Morpheus (http://starwarsrp.net/topic/129671-castle-morpheus-the-leviathan-tantive/#entry1788101)

Wearing: Lawyer Suit (http://starwarsrp.net/topic/139755-lawyer-suit/)

Armed with: Legal Tender (CIS combat pistol)

With: Meier (http://starwarsrp.net/topic/130353-saotome-commando-droid-meier/)

Vera had made haste from her legal practice on Atrisia as soon as she had been contacted by another of her creator's underlings, Bobbi. This wasn't like Nine, who had been leaving her to her own devices, granted the most autonomy of all Nine's artificial daughters.

Nine had laid low in the CIS lately since the takeover of Atrisia by the First Order, constantly scheming, looking for the crack in its shell that would allow her to break her people free of them. But as Vera had come to accept, in Nine's current state...she was ineffective...it was the paranoia of overfeeding. Nine might be happier, more accepting of herself...but she was ineffective, constantly fearing Mimes and constantly demanding tinfoil to shield her thoughts from the First Order, who she also claimed wanted to steal her vital essence...whatever THAT was...

Vera wasn't capable of feeling regret over having manipulated her creator's emotional state at seeing Atrisia conquered...the same processor fitted to her brain that allowed her to control her own "flesh"--in reality an experimental ooglith masquer--was fitted over the part of the brain that dealt with empathy. Vera had been, as a result, a sociopathic sadist from the moment she was first activated. At the time she had suggested to Nine to overfeed, she had been carrying out her programming to look out for her clients best interests...and Nine had been an emotional wreck at the time. Not just because of Atrisia. Something else had been bothering her. Something to do with a man named Riggs. Nine, in Vera's opinion, still had to come to grips with being in the future, and had adapted far poorer to it than her own "children". Nine was a woman out of time, cast from all she knew and left to scrounge a living in the shadows. But it was clear, much to Vera's own strange sense of disappointment, that Nine gorging herself was not the answer.

Vera had planned to bring her out of it, but that had apparently been taken care of as she was picked up by the second of Nine's "daughters", Meier, in reality a heavily modified Saotome Commando Droid, who herself had an ooglith masquer, and who looked like she had been ripped straight from an over-sexy vampire film, made to look as though she was a beautiful woman with pale skin and black hair constantly wearing a black catsuit. (Vera could only speculate as to why Nine seemed to prefer disguising deadly artificial killers as beautiful women; it seemed to be part of the whole 'Semi-Retired-Spy Novel-Supervillain' vibe she'd gotten from meeting her creator the first time. She'd met dictators who were more subtle with their own all female bodyguards.)

Of the two other daughters Nine had made, Vera felt more...'affinity'...if it could be called that...for Meier than Magnus. Meier had been built for stealth, and despite her at times annoyingly goofy persona, somehow managed to annoy Vera less than Magnus did. Though why that was eluded the murderous artificial lawyer as to an answer.

As Vera was ferried up to Atrisia's orbit, Meier was not her usual chatty self. The biot, whose public guise was that of a curvacious middle aged woman with black hair and ivory skin and blue eyes sat quietly in the co-pilot seat, though she could not fly the ship herself...it was a programming limitation...

"Alright droid, spill it. What's going on?"

"Nine shot herself in the stomach with an ion pistol this morning and then immediately requested you." Meier answered.

Vera was well aware of her creator's biological peculiarities: it was the result of her artificially induced Vampirism. Ion would not kill her...but it would drain her reserves...in a 'normal' state this left her desperately weakened and rapidly aging as she fed...but in an 'overfed' state...it might just take the extra chunk off...Vera could only speculate on that as well.

"Should I be worried?"

"Dunno." Meier answered. "She didn't sound angry...but you know mother...she doesn't have to sound angry to be angry."

"Oh dear..." Vera said in a snide, dry manner as Castle Morpheus, the so-called "Leviathan Tantive" came into view, looking like a gigantic, gothic version of the ship used by the now long-dead Princess Leia when she had fled with the plans to the Death Star. It was a coincidence of design...the mobile castle was much, much more ancient than that.

As it docked, Vera found a full compliment of Castle Morpheus Knights, in their yovshin-inspired light power armor standing in the hangar in rows, holding their short swords above their heads as Vera stepped off the vessel with Meir. The hanger was decorated in ancient Atrisian frescoes.

"Huh...guess she's not that upset..." Meier joked.

"Troll..." Vera muttered, not noticing Meier make bunny ears with her fingers behind and over Vera's head as they walked out of the hangar, causing some of the male and female knights to snicker as she passed by them, boarding the small tram.

"So is that all you know?" Vera inquired as the tram sped to the section containing Nine's throne room.

"Afraid so. Except for the fact that Mom's back to being creepy."

"Oh, joy..." Vera remarked as the tram came to a stop. Vera got off the tram. Meier did not. Vera turned. "You're not going with me?"

"Creepy Mom is creepy. Besides, its you she wants to talk to. I have to get my firmware checked. Mandatory..." Meier explained, closing the hatch, the tram speeding away with her afterward.

Vera sighed, going down the elaborately decorated hall leading to the throne room, the box cameras controlled by the Ship's primitive A.I. swiveled to her as she passed by them, no doubt informing Nine she had arrived. The great doors to the throne room swung open and Vera walked through the nearly empty space filled with red banners depicting a blood red Atrisian Tiger. Vera spotted Nine at the end of the room, clad in her green robes with white flower embroidery, hood once more drawn over her features, betraying only the purple glow-dot of her eyes, seated crosslegged on the throne of light yellow marble, carved by her own hand.

"I had to tear off all the tinfoil in my quarters this morning."

"I trust it wasn't too messy." Vera smirked, not sorry in the slightest.

"Funny..." the Arch-Psy-Pire growled in her deep contralto, rising to her full, seven foot height, the movements of her legs disguised by her robes as she silently glided off the throne, fingers and head twitching in a bird like manner as she seemingly floated to Vera in an unnatural way.

"Tell me...daughter...do you know why I have granted you more autonomy than your 'sisters'?"

Vera folded her hands behind her back. "I am the most ruthless and intelligent of your creations. My ability to kill and manipulate is considerable."

"Despite appearances, we are not as different as you might think..." the psychic vampire admitted going to her side. "There was a time where I too killed my way through problems. Sure, I could sweet talk when I felt like it, but outside pressure forced me to overcome my origins as a blunt instrument. You've had some small, petty challenges so far...but now comes a real test of your abilities..."

Vera raised an eyebrow. "I thought you'd be more upset with me, given how my suggestions had you acting like a paranoid wreck of a moron for months."

"Upset at myself. Not at you. Took a supreme act of will to balance myself out...but oh well. The past is the past." the hooded vampire replied darkly, handing Vera a dossier.

Vera flipped it open. She stared at the name [member="Karlie Lynn Destat"] and raised an eyebrow.

"A pathogens specialist. Relevance?"

"She's connected to The Melida Incident."

"You mean when [member="Darth Metus"] torched an entire city of infected, living corpses?"

"Yes. That one. He had a son on the ground. Riggs was his name. I...I was present when he died."

Vera suddenly had insight as to how her...'mother' had broken free of her manic state. Intense trauma, or memory of it had allowed her the strength to push herself back to normal, but through drastic measures.

Vera read further.

"This says she was arrested this morning on suspicion of having caused it. Says there was a lab whose biometrics responded to her and her alone that contained a programmable virus...the same one from The Melida Incident..." Vera trailed, realizing the implication.

"Capital charges. A death sentence if she is found guilty...it wouldn't surprise me if Metus himself put her to the sword."

"I'm sensing a 'but' on the way..."

"You would be right...I've spent a while trying to make sense of her and Melida...something doesn't add up."

"But it says she was caught red handed trying to flash burn the lab with charges. Deliberate destruction of evidence."

"The profile doesn't match that of a person capable of commiting genocide via bio-warfare. People who release bio agents like this are scum and cowards. By all accounts, Karlie went down there same as anybody else who did. The person or persons who caused Melida wouldn't have gone anywhere near that place until all was said and done, and even if it could be argued that she was studying the effects of her own handiwork, it doesn't make sense that she would want her face seen by CIS personnel in the process. It doesn't make sense that she would not take every possible precaution to study it safely, let alone in one of if not the most heavily infected area in the whole city as we were."

"That's a lot of conjecture, Mother. She was caught trying to destroy the labs--valuable evidence. The biometrics are keyed to her...in most scenarios, thats a strong indicator of culpability."

"She panicked. A stupid move. One thats made things much more difficult for her. But it was a panic reaction. Self preservation. Why would she lead an assistant not in on it to such damning evidence to start with? Why was the facility abandoned? Why would she destroy all her own research if she was hoping to study it. You know how much a programmable virus would be worth in the wrong hands? If she's that corrupt, the enemies of the CIS would already have it. No...it isn't her. And I want the ones actually responsible to be punished."

"And if it turns out she is guilty?"

"Then I have a lot of egg on my face and hope Metus has fun making her suffer. Go, Vera...I've arranged for your transport. You are to represent Karlie as her defense attorney. But do not forget that you still serve me..." The psy-pire ordered, before gliding back to her wide, flat throne to meditate.

Vera started to walk out but stopped for a moment.

"Mother? May I ask something?"

"Its a free nation."

"Why did you make me a sociopath?"

Nine looked up at her creation.

"Is that a sense of introspection you are developing?" The Mother of all Psy-Pires asked, purple glow dot eyes locking on to her daughter.

"Curiosity..."

"I had to learn to look past my own concerns once. To rise above what I was. I wish to see if you can do the same when necessary. Besides, I have found being a good leader and a good person are not the same thing." Nine Lives answered.

Vera seemed to be given pause at this, before heading for the exit watching with malicious amusement as the Morpheus Knights dragged in a captured, screaming female general of the First Order.

Vera stopped to watch for a second as Nine peered at her screaming breakfast, who'd had her legs broken.

"Don't worry my sweetling..." Nine chuckled darkly, rising and gliding over to her prey. "I won't eat too many memories...at first..."

Vera snickered as the general started to scream as she was bitten, heading for the tram, from there she prepared to be flown to where Karlie was being held, while telling the A.I through one of the kiosks on the ship to send her weapons to the envoy she'd be taking.

Soon, Meier returned to the hanger and the pair were off to meet Karlie...

[member="Srina Talon"]

 

[Karlie Lynn Destat]

"Where the frak you taking me?!
I demand to contact my father!..." She banged on the dura-glass wall of her containment cell.

"You can't do this to me!...
You can't keep me in here! Let me OUT! "
The task force had been given explicit instructions to take her in alive. Karlie became so distraught and enraged over her arrest that the possibility of her harming herself or committing suicide before she confessed, got her put in shackles.

Karlie was outraged, furious as to the fact that she had been betrayed, set up, and no matter how many times she screamed out her father's name, she was met with indifference. Not one guard, troop or officer acknowledged her rank or class. It didn't matter to anyone in this long string of events who's daughter she was.

So it went, her arrest and transport to an undisclosed location, with every step of the way not privi to her. Karlie had not only denied any wrong doing upon arrest, but had been quite a bundle for the task force to handle, with Karlie getting three of her nails embedded in Liz's face, her so called assistant. Karlie had quickly asserted that she had been the one that had betrayed her, that had tipped off the CIS task force to take to her tail.
The moment of revelation as to it all pointing at her had come too late. Minutes after she had come to realize that most of the evidence had been laid out throughout the lab to implicate her, the troopers landed on the ice and stormed inside.

The marines literally had to pull Karlie off the poor mole (Liz) whom had been assigned and placed by the Vicerolaty to assist Karlie with the research on the virus that had consequently devastated Melid/Dan. This came about months into the research as the Viceroyalty were beginning to think the research had stalled for one reason or another. They had sent Liz, a collective CIS bio-engineer to unearth as to why it were taking so long for the IBI on Castagne to crack the virus' origin. Unbeknownst to the Viceroyalty and to Karlie, the virus had been keyed to configure itself into something which it weren't, obscuring it's true engineered programability, design and base origin.

[flashback]
"...you freakin little queen!..." Her talons had clawed at Liz, ripping at the woman's face when she managed to slip from the task team trying to restrain her. And pulled her off the poor woman they did, but not without Karlie taking away a handful of hair first.
So it had gone down during her arrest, on the remote research base on that icy moon.

She had resisted arrest from the start, kicking and screaming that quickly turned to obscenities toward the CIS task force.
But they were under orders and doing their job, with clear orders to bring her in unscathed. This latter part was what made it difficult for the team. Yet they managed nevertheless as they were trained and experienced in apprehending and handling much more violent capable enemies of the state. Karlie being nothing more than an incarcerated woman having a tantrum for being caught red handed.

Karlie had been whisked away and placed in a transport cell on the capital ship. Her inquiries as to where she was being taken or whom were in charge went unanswered. They kept her in shackles despite her demands and objections that they were uncomfortable. The security personnel handling her kept to their task without answering any of her inquiries, be they questions or pleas to be unshackled in her holding cells.

And cells they were, from the first landing task force vessel to the transport ship to the capital ship to then a dungeon of a cell planet side somewhere unknown. No, Karlie had no idea of where she had been taken to and from. Not even the name of the task force vessel that took her off that moon, it's markings only showed it were anCIS vessel but no other identification. After that, it were one march to another between vessels and then lead through a tunnel once planet side somewhere and into another transport. The change in personnel were done deliberately.

With what appeared to be the final cell by which she were to spend some time in, it was more a dungeon than a proper cell. It didn't appear to ever have had a cleaning, much less that it came with a substandard commode and small wash sink...but with no toiletries or anything else that wasn't permanently affixed to the cell. Not even a plastic cup, nor wipes of any kind, not even a foam mattress for the cold hard floor, or a blanket. Literally the cell was a pig sty.

It was in there that she endured her most horrid sleepless hours, with her hands shackled behind her back.
Of her being allowed to rest or sleep?
It were apparent Karlie wasn't allowed to have any, as at every time she closed her eyes for a few seconds, a siren or loud ALARM, or buzzing sounded, jarring her to staying awake. It were part of breaking her down...dulling her defiant fighting spirit...





Unaccountable forced waking hours later....

The ante cell room door opened, drawing Karlie's bloodshot eyes to the two figures that followed the security guards in. It were a rather difficult feat in getting herself up from the dirty floor, still being shackled from behind, but she managed nonetheless by the time the two figures reached her cell.
She picked up on the fact that they were higher ranking officials...somebody in her class by which she could talk to. For a moment, she felt a tinge of relief.
For a moment...

"Karlie Lynn Destat..." One of then came up to the dura-glass. It was dirty from the inside...from many previous prisoners before her.
Karlie were about to confirm whom she was, but the man continued on.
"You're certainly aware of the heinous crimes you've committed which has brought you here, for us to extract..."

"What's gotten over everyone-" She started to defend herself but again his overbearing ominous voice silenced her.

"Shut your mouth and listen up... we only instruct you once...
We only ask you once.
You speak when not asked to speak, you will be rewarded with pain...you lie to us, you will receive more pain... Continue to lie, experience extreme pain. Don't cooperate...you will bleed.
You pass out, you will be awakened.
Your heart stops, you will be revived." The man coldly stated the rules of the inevitable game of pain and suffering.

Karlie was besides herself. Trembling dropped jaw, wide eyed like a prey caught in the headlights of a speeder.
She realized who they were. Interrogators.
Karlie had heard the tales, the urban legends...there had even been undocumented reports that she had come across in the IBI files...but all were unsubstantial and just that... rumors and in her previous professional opinion; false reports.

"Good, looks like you have a clear understanding of the rules." He then said, before the sound of the magnetic locks disengaging made her heart skip a beat.
Karlie was barely able to take a step back before the dirty dura-glass partition opened and the two guards whom had come with the two men grabbed hold of her forearms. He feeble attempt at resisting trying to use her dead weigh was that of a rag doll beig carted off to play...her feet literally were off the floor.

"W...Wait! My father-" ZZZZZZAP...... "Ahhhhg..." 50,000 volts suddenly surged through her back, shutting her mouth and her down.
It had a very low micro amp discharge. It wouldn't have electrocuted her...not here..not yet at least.
This was just the intro to her interrogation.

Karlie managed to get her breath back, followed by her motor skills, finally feeling her feet dragging the floor. Before she knew it, they had left the holding cell of a dungeon, and were in a turbo-lift seemingly ascending.
The two guards were still propping her up holding her by her forearms...arms, shoulders and back that now ached her, but she knew better than to speak again.
Tears...
Tears were running down her features as she raised her head to look over to one of the guards. The two ominous men were behind her. She could feel their weighted presence. It were perhaps why her entire back seemed to be laboring with weight. And they spoke not a word...

The lift opened as quickly as it came to a stop. She were walked then down a long and wide tunnel for a few hundred meters before the guards stopped and turned her to face one of the many blast-like doors they had passed in the tunnel.
They opened up to reveal a small room, which she hadn't expected, considering the heavy double doors that it lay behind. But it was adequate enough for the purpose it served.

"N..no..." She whimpered as the two guard brought her to the large reclining lab grade chair. It were not so different than the ones commonly used by dentists to coroners and everything in between which was designed to accommodate humans.

"No...NO!... Arrrrg.....N-No!"
Yes, she did her best to keep from being strapped in the chair. Karlie squirmed, twisted, bucked and tried to push herself off the recliner as the two guards effortlessly and without straining secured the little rag doll in.
"Pant..pant...pant....please...please.......please...." Karlie was so frightened and spent in her feeble struggle, she could barely plead out loud.

One of the ominous men then appeared over her, after the guards strapped her head still. Her neck muscles were straining, trying to move her head, her body...anything. She couldn't budge she was so strapped in. Her chest heaved up and down erratically, she were so frightened and lost herself.

Karlie had not gotten zapped, nor disciplined for her little resistance. Most likely it were to be expected of her and she hadn't disappointed them.
With eyes closed shut, she wept quietly; she were so humiliated on top of every other fear which were surfacing from her mind.
Karlie was immobilized and securely reclined in the chair.... drenched up to her back, in her own urine.

The inquisitor leaned over and spoke in a calm tone...
"First question..."

[member="Vera Mina"] [member="Srina Talon"]

 

[Vera Mina]

Vera had been very displeased when it became obvious that they were not cooperating as to where the location of [member="Karlie Lynn Destat"] was concerned, even after three days of investigation, where it became increasingly obvious she'd have to do more than a few dirty tricks on the right people to find the exact place her client was being kept.

All she had gotten for her at-first-polite inquiry's was to mind her own business by a smarmy intelligence official. Apparantly innocent until proven guilty meant nothing.

Her mother's spies in Confederacy Intelligence had tipped her off as to Karlie's location and after showing her credentials, Vera had faked her best outrage at the whole situation as she stared at the official behind the desk of the very building Karlie was being held in.

"Miss Destat has rights Sir. I thought the Confederacy wasn't the Empire..." Vera snapped.

The official, a tall, middle aged man of Alderaanian descent looked at her with a bored yet somehow steely glare in the pleasant, amber colored, corporate like waiting room.

"Ma'am, how did you even find this place?!" he demanded. "And I don't really know what it is you think is going on but we don't have a Karlie...Destat, was it?"

"Dont. Play. Stupid. With me..." Vera spoke just short of snarling. "Its pretty much an open secret this is where the Confederacy keeps a good portion of its undesirables for...'questioning'. Karlie's guilt has been determined before any evidence has even been really put forward. Surely someone accused of a General Grievous-scale War Crime deserves proper representation so her guilt can be proven beyond a doubt in court. Don't her possible victims deserve that sort of closure?" Vera asked with an expertly faked sincerity, though she'd have killed all those surviving families she had just pleaded for with the casualness of kicking a pebble across the floor. This man's stonewalling was aggravating her in the extreme. If he didn't start playing ball, she'd be back here three hours later, in her command form, and she would not take no for an answer at that point: She'd torture and then kill everyone working there if it meant getting both her way and Karlie. This guy didn't know the minefield he was walking through when it came to her patience.

"I'm afraid I can neither confirm nor deny the presence of a Karlie Lynn Destat at this facility." The official declared.

Vera wanted to shoot him. Nine's words made her restrain herself.

She decided to change tactics.

"My boss is a member of the Knights Obsidian, and was present at Melida when [member="Darth Metus"] ordered the torching of the infected city. She was personally present when his son, Riggs, was killed. Now you may not think much of me, but my boss believes that the right people should be punished, not some poor, obviously panicked scientist without a corrupt or genocidal bone in her body. My boss does not make requests. She expresses her expectations. You will let me in to see her and stop trying to extract a false confession like I know you idiots back there are trying to do, sloppily, I bet. Otherwise, I'm going to use my bosses connections to extract your real name, place of residence, and those of your family members, and if Karlie is harmed any further or 'Has a fatal accident' you and you alone will suffer the consequences of my legal wrath. Look me up. I'm a very nasty customer in court, and I will prove you and all these other fething jackals commited sentient rights violations against a Confederacy citizen, and even if you dodge the consequences from the law, you won't dodge the consequences of my Boss, who is a stealth expert." Vera said to him in a very soft, pleasant voice, but there was no mistaking the death glare in her eyes as she said it. "And it won't just be you that is compromised...but the viability of this very site you no doubt have come to enjoy working at."

Vera had then been led through darkened halls, past cramped cells containing countless other political prisoners considered too dangerous to release to the typical legal system.

She entered the room where Karlie was being interrogated and frowned at the stink of urine. Incompetants, going straight to the electrical torture. You break the finger bones first, then waterboard, then electrical torture. Her torture protocols were very specific on this.

"Unhand her! Immediately!" Vera snapped producing the high level legal documentation she had blackmailed a Confederacy judge to obtain in order to remove Karlie from their custody.

"On whose authority?!" one of the interrogators asked.

"On the authority of a Knight Obsidian, you feth." Vera shot back. "Karlie is being transferred to my custody and that of my employer, where she will remain until trial is arranged and proper investigations have been conducted. She's not escaping confederacy custody, no matter what happens, she will answer for what she is accused of if she is guilty. You invalidate every aspect of this investigation if it continues as is, and based on what I've seen here, you could completely destroy the credibility of the state's accusation towards her if it came out, and if she IS guilty, and she gets exonerated by your incompetent interrogation practice alone you will have a far more worrisome problem from YOUR bosses. Release her. Now." Vera ordered.

Vera was actually tempted come back later to kill them all regardless of their cooperation. She hated being inconvenienced, and if these interrogators decided to be obstinate then they had signed their death warrants...

[member="Srina Talon"]

 

[Karlie Lynn Destat]

24 hours hours following her introduction to the interrogators...


One can spend an eternity in Hell's dominion, if even it were for a minute.

It were sometime between 5 and 7 hours into the interrogation that she lost her hold on time. Time no longer mattered when one found themselves in the very pit of hell. It had no relevance any longer.
All which mattered was focused on the questions and answering them over and over and over again. Right answers, wrong answers didn't matter for they were all rewarded with pain. Pain artfully administered in many forms, including physical, chemical, electro nerve induction pulsations and psychological. All with complimentary stimuli that kept her from passing out, never mind depriving her of any rest or sleep.

What were real and not did not deter the agony of man's demented rendition of a hell. If hell had truly existed, it were man whom had forged it of agony. The Creator or whom some believed to be God, would not create what man deemed to be Hell.

Her name Karlie Lyn Destat came about to be asked well over a hundred times... her answers only brought her PAIN.
So it went, over and over with other mundane questions that gauged both truths and lies. Lies that Karlie's agony blurted out when the repeated truth still brought about PAIN.
This the inquisitors used to gauge truth from deception, from a mind unraveling as the interrogations continued.


Her one break, were a test as to how effective they had been in breaking her thus far. It were an observation as to her breakdown and recovery. Karlie were brought back to her cell.
And they observed.
It were nearly four hours that a trembling Karlie were able to drag herself across the pitiful dirty cell floor to the small wash basin. It trickled water. She first drank by the drips of water she could get from her fingers, before she were able to pull herself up enough to cup trembling hands to quench her thirst.
Her clothes laden with dry sweat and worse. If it weren't for the stench of the unclean cell...

Their observation of Karlie ended when she was up on her feet and about to pull off her top to attempt a start at washing herself and clothes. A very loud ear-piercing buzzard reverberated throughout the cell stopping Karlie dead in her tracks.

The ante room doors then opened outside her cell and the two guards once more marched on over to open up her dura-glass cell door.
All Karlie were able to muster were the sounds of a helpless human-like animal cry, retreating up against the wall as the two men came to take a hold of her for another interrogation session.

"...N...nooooo..."
ZZZZAAAaaaap... She convulsed right into their arms. This time she couldn't blank out. Not for more than the voltage was being administered.... she were doped up with stimuli.
Sleep deprivation was number one key in destroying the mind of their guest...any guest whom they had been called upon to service.


48 hours since her arrival at Satan's resort...

She cried for her mother...
Her father had not come. Did her father even know she were being dismantled, piece by piece, one little part at a time?
It were unprecedented that Karlie could still reason as such within her tortured shell. But cry to her mother she now did, willing to give up her mind, her body and soul to the woman who had bared her for one sole purpose in mind...to take over her body.
But Karlie had long severed that connection with her mother's ghost, when Karlie purged herself of midicloreans. From beyond the darkness of the sith's afterlife, her mother's ghost could not connect any longer to haunt her in dreams and in spirit for Karlie were no longer connected to the force.
It had been karlie's doing, to sever that force connection..to loose that ability for her dead mother's ghost to haunt her.
And now Karlie's tormented mind called out for the Devil herself, mommy dearest.

Nope, she had long let that bridge collapse.

Karlie crumbled some more...

To the inquisitors, whom had probes, scanners, and for the most part had her plugged into all of their devices, hadn't picked up on the fact that Karlie's lack of midicloreans were unnatural. After all, there were literally countless trillions who weren't force sensitive, who lacked little more than enough midicloreans to make them compatible to a common squirrel.
The only midi by which existed in Karlie was what she consumed, by what she drank, breathed. And those were short lived as her antibodies systematically exterminated, consumed the midicloreans which they saw as a virus. Karlie's metabolism had reverted back to pre-recorded history of when humans came about in this galaxy...

The inquisitors had little interest in her lack of midis. In fact, it made their efforts much more easier than circumventing around a force sensitive individual. They were much more difficult to break, if some could be broken at all. But whether she were a force user or not, their methods were hyped up for one whom were indeed force sensitive. They didn't discriminate.
Hell, they didn't even give bathroom breaks...

Truth, lies...what were they than just concepts? What differed one from the other?
The inquisitors knew. It were all in how one comes to expect the coming of PAIN, agony and ecstasy...
The line between truth and lies get real defined and can be seen as clearly as a surgical cut from a laser scalpel.
The interrogators were after all surgeons in a sense and were often referred to that by may throughout the galaxy.


Hell's abrupt end....

What had the inquisitors extracted from Karlie when they dissected her?
Much.
Her dislike for sith. Her dislike that a sith were a Vicelord, never mind her discovery months ago that many Viceroys were sith.
Her lack of empathy for the death of Riggs... the son of the Viceroy.
Her animosity for the CIS' lack of support for Alderaan during TSE attacks on those coalition systems.
Her desire for Catagne to one day find the means of breaking away from the CIS...

Motives?
Information, deep rooted truths begotten under the duress of PAIN. Pain unrelenting for three eternal days.
And Karlie would not recollect what she said or not said, it had all been stripped of her.

Karlie were solely attuned to the inquisitor's voices and nothing outside of that immediate envelope were of any significance.
She didn't take to anything around her but the voice of the inquisitor's questions that were repeating over and over in her mind, same questions unrelenting like the PAIN which followed at every answer.
The voice, the PAIN were suddenly abated.

But not it's effects. It remained like a bated breath...waiting for the PAIN to restart.
It didn't.
Karlie trembled, waiting for it........expecting it ...WANTING it, for it were just as painful if not more to know it would come, but now not knowing when.
They had cycled through such scenarios, letting her believe many times it were over. But it always returned. Always.
PAIN had become like a drug. Her body and mind expected it regularly.
To suddenly be without, was like a junkie withdrawal.
She were trembling, whimpering when her bonds were released.
Still, it had not ended in her shattered mind.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ​

​

​

She had cowered in the basin of the shower stall, like a frightened tortured animal.
Her incoherence of the woman's voice who were repeating her ordeal here was over were like voices coming in and out of range, like she were in a speeder tram passing voices that were shouting at her.

Despite Karlie's inability to function whatsoever as anyone remotely having any intelligence, she was stripped of her fould clothes under the running water and initially lathered up. Whom it were, Karlie had yet to come about assembling any of her conscious self to even know she was in the shower.
But the warm soothing water started to feel like something in her long disconnected self as something comforting.

The voice of the woman...yes, it were a woman. Here?
"M...mumm...
...mommy?" Her lips uttered something besides the thousand same words she had screamed for an eternity.

No.
No, it wasn't her mother, a short curt female voice let sink in.
But based on what Karlie had previously experienced, that curt female voice was that of an angel to her ears and consciousness.
It then instructed Karlie that she could stay under the running water a bit on her own now, seeing it was helping in bringing her out of it...and that Karlie was able to stand on her own two feet again.
Then the female voice departed, along with her blurry silhouette

Forgetting the previous moment and the one before it, her eyes came to focus on the dura-tiles then the cascading water and the feeling of the droplets. She were braced herself with both hands on the wall for a time, before her hand found the means of pushing her hair back and wiping her face. Her recollection of the filth..the stench..her filth..her stench made her frantically wash herself over and over and over again...she could not seem to feel clean whatsoever.
Her conscious self slowly returned, driving her to cry under the running water.

It were some time before she emerged from the shower, conscious enough to shut the water off.
The room seemed to be someone else's quarters...male, female..alien? She didn't bother guessing. But the floor, walls indicated she were planet side somewhere. Same place,same planet? She couldn't guess. Karlie couldn't guess how many days..weeks..months had passed, as just now time stated to become relevant again..

The clothes she found in the quarters could pass for female clothes, but they were not hers. They seemed low standards..adequate enough to pass for clothes, she guessed.

"Gasp"... the woman before her was her own reflection. Karlie had not been too conscious of the room, other than it wasn't the dungeon she had been in before. It took her by surprise in coming up to the reflection of herself in the mirror...she had thought it the distant female voice she suddenly remembered that had left her in the shower.
Karlie stood there gazing at her reflection. She had nearly forgotten what she looked like.
Of course she had no makeup or had taken the time to fuss with her hair...if she could remember how she liked it.

The door then swished open and Karlie's first reaction was to withdraw...back herself up as far away from the guards-
No.
No, there were no guards...only a woman.
Even if she knew the woman, she couldn't recall her at this time. The only thing she knew was that she were well dressed. Her eyes looked her up and down, cautiously..... putting what she could together about what she were seeing.
And it took an all too familiar form in her head that the woman was professionally dressed and beautiful by any standards.
She then recounted her own reflection... It were by no means as refined as the woman's.

Karlie's eyes then chanced meet with the woman's dark orbs. At first Karlie couldn't make out if they were predatory or not, but they didn't seem at all aimed at her with contempt.
But who was she?
Karlie didn't think there was any familiarity about the woman...nothing that she could currently remember about her anyway.
Karlie had come to reason she were still somewhere in the same compound on a planet she knew not where. Only that this woman, or this phase of whatever her captors had planned, didn't involve further pain. At least not for the time being...

Naturally, Karlie had been disciplined by the inquisitors not to speak unless spoken to. It had kind of been branded like a hot iron. Sadly, that were something she'd have to unlearn again...

 

[Karlie Lynn Destat]

Err... delete this if possible.

 

[Vera Mina]

Aboard: Castle Morpheus (http://starwarsrp.net/topic/129671-castle-morpheus-the-leviathan-tantive/#entry1788101)

Vera frowned, irritated at the state they had left [member="Karlie Lynn Destat"] in. Not that she felt anything in particular for Karlie...she would kill her just as easily as she would anyone else if Nine Lives ordered it.

If anything, Vera was as close as she got to being overjoyed. Any evidence used against Karlie would be tainted due to the methods it was retrieved with. Even if Karlie did do it, Vera could turn the court of public opinion completely against the CIS, and possibly force a mistrial.

Meier showed the most concern for Karlie during the trip back home. That was an irony Vera was still trying to comprehend. Meier was, past the ooglith that provided her appearance completely mechanical almost. And yet she had more of a conscience and a soul than Vera did, who had only a few electronic parts, yet had less of a heart than most CEO's.

Meier had carried the wounded woman aboard the great mobile castle, feared by some spacers of the Rim as a ghost ship.

"Have quarters been prepared?" Vera asked one of the Castle Knights as they escorted her to the quarters where Karlie would be both guest and prisoner...nothing had technically changed for Karlie, save who, exactly, she was prisoner of...and that someone who was only brutal as necessary. But if Karlie was guilty...then she was in even worse hands than mere torturers. The ancient Li-Ves clan of which this ship's master had once been part of had been masters of over-the-top violence...they'd helped invent the "Silly Gore" genre of torture on Atrisia, as well as the "Silly Abduction" genre of kidnapping, and last but not least, "Silly Unlawful Imprisonment".

If Karlie was indeed guilty, this ship's master would make sure her torment would be...creative.

"Yes, Evil Biot Lady!" a female Morpheus Knight answered, using the derisive nickname they recently invented for her based on her own attempt to correct them as to what she was.

"Good. I don't want the suite too furnished. But it must still be an improvement over her previous conditions...she's had a most...taxing three days..." Vera said with an evil smirk.

"No kidding..." one of the other knights muttered as Karlie was brought into the suite by Meier, which had been stripped of most luxuries save for looking clean and comfortable. Vera found her master, Nine, waiting inside.

"This is her?" the naturally deep voiced vampire asked, a beautiful face obscured by her green hood. Once, her mother had kept the hood up out of shame at what she was. Now it was kept up as a way of projecting menace--a seven foot tall hooded woman with glowing purple eyes was a frightening looking creature, especially in darkness.

"Have her clean herself, if she can. Once she has, have her medically examined, then fed. I want her to be completely coherent...or at least able to answer our most pertinent questions..." Nine instructed as the knights removed Karlie's clothing, placing her in the shower.

As Nine watched, she silently glided next to her self-made sociopath.

"How bad was it?" Nine asked as the shower was turned on.

"Severe, but sloppy. Only the most basic attempts at psychological torture. She would have told them anything to make the pain stop."

"CIS Blacksite?"

"Of course. She wasn't the only guest. I suppose when the government's run by a Dark Lord of The Sith, you're going to have nasty little secrets like that lying around..." the Biot noted.

"Like we, of all people, can talk. Hell, my father had a similar set up at our home...deep underground, but I still remember my thirteenth birthday, when he first demonstrated to me how torture tools were used, in case I ever needed to. All things considered, they went speed-dial on her." Nine remarked clinically. "Come, let us allow Karlie to clean herself..."

"As you wish, Mother..." Vera acknowledged with a nod. She turned to Karlie, mimicking kindness and sympathy expertly, causing nearby Morpheus Knights to snicker, knowing her expressing sympathy to 'always' be a lie.

"Stay under the shower. Let it warm you. Take as long as you have to..." Vera instructed curtly but in a semi-warm tone of voice, while the armored knights left basic clothes.

Vera left the room with her allies and creator, waiting a long time before the Morpheus ship A.I. told her with a smiley face on a nearby Kiosk that Karlie had ceased using water. Vera waited until it told her through motion sensors in the suite (Again with a smiley face.) that Destat had finally dressed. Vera headed back to her client's suite, and introduced herself.

"Greetings, Miss Destat. My name is Mina. Vera Mina."

(Clip of Bond Theme plays)

Vera looked around, an expression of curiosity on her face. She could have sworn she heard the beginning of some catchy theme tune. Perhaps the A.I. was using the Public Announcement speakers to troll her. But it sounded like it had come from far off...

She refocused on Karlie...

"We need to have you medically examined to determine the extent of your injuries Miss Destat. After that, we can get some food in you." Vera explained, taking a few steps closer, ice blue eyes scanning her. "I have been assigned as your defense lawyer by my employer, the Knight Obsidian known as Nine Lives. You know, like a cat..." she explained. "You stand accused of extremely vicious war crimes, Miss Destat...and the evidence is stacked against you. Even with the torture you have been put through the state will likely execute you anyway if found guilty. But we will deal with such problems later. Let us go to your medical check up. Follow me...and welcome to my employer's ship, Castle Morpheus..." Vera finished heading out prim and proper, the boxy cameras and turrets following Vera as she walked at a pace Karlie could keep up.

[member="Darth Metus"]

[member="Srina Talon"]

 

[Karlie Lynn Destat]

Sounds...imagery...voices both current and past were coming in various tones... like flashes.

Mina... She caught a name.
No, Mina Vera... and then her name Karlie came up somewhere in there. For a second Karlie thought she knew that language. She almost knew what it meant-

The chemical drugs and stimuli which were administered to Karlie during the inquisition were still coursing through her veins...namely her neurological network.
Speech, memories and hallucinations as well, were being processed out of order still. But it weren't as intense as before... as far as she could put it together.
Karlie were finding her way out of it... as she were understanding now most of what the woman's lips were communicating to her. Funny she could more read the woman's lips than to try and understand the the flashes of words that were still coming in and out.
Wait, was that a ringing she were hearing now? It had a kind of tune-
....hallucinations....yes, that is what it was..

No wait, that moment then suddenly flashed on to the next and it would soon be lost. She focused harder on the woman's lips and the language. It were basic then. Her name then was Mina...l.awyer...Castle...what, a stronghold? Then they were still planet-side, as she had figured.
Wait..lawyer...her lawyer? She were allowed a counselor?
So it went, her mind trying to make sense of tidbits of words, something unlike that of a bad cell connection.

Karlie nodded, with what she could understand at the moment. The mere thought again that perhaps this were not real at all but another phase in breaking her had not been dismissed. Although what had come upon her as a tingle was now manifesting into a hot flash. But she were keeping herself up...right?
Follow..
Yes, she could follow, as she really were spent, not having much strength to resist much anymore.
The words spoken were still resounding, bouncing around her head as she started to believe she were walking forward. And for a few steps it seemed so. Only it were just forward momentum... motor skills she had learned as a child...once, long distance past.

What?... medical?...more tests, dirty hands probing her?...PAIN...agony, despair...?
"No...no....no more..." She backed up away from the woman, her arms where the drugs were administered started to crawl with spiders and...and... The corridor suddenly went topsy-turvy with her mind finally closing up shop.

The last stimuli the inquisitors had administered had finally run its course. Karlie, whom had been sleep deprived for well over three days suddenly shut down for the night...her night.

Sleep had overtaken her and she had collapsed right there in front of Mina. That and no sustenance other than sink water had added to the collapse. There simply wasn't enough energy left to run on.

Dreams...
Dreams to some are nothing more than one's mind lingering about playing with a random deck of cards relevant or not to anything to which the conscious mind didn't play out.
In Karlie's case whose deck had already been shuffled, it began placing those cards in order...

17 hours later...
Her rapid eye movement triggered the medical droid over to scan over her bio-charts which were being displayed just above her head.
Karlie initially emitted a calm but deep sigh, like one whom had gotten a very good night's sleep. Only as she surfaced, memories ..pertinent memories came up at her like a billboard, followed with her eyes finally opening and this round finding herself looking up at a sterile white droid of some kind.

"Gasp..." Her first reaction was surprise, before her conscious recalled what had so far transpired since she were taken into custody. But the droid didn't advance. rather it backed slowly away as if giving her breathing space. Karlie soon realized she were not strapped down and started to haphazardly vacate the medical bed...like slithering away from the droid and off the bed on her back.
Only finding that there were tubes....intravenous feeding tubes in her arms...and wires.. wires with probes lightly attached to her forehead, torso and whatnot, like she were in some kind of web. Spiders..she remembered the spiders crawling-
Wait..that was before she blacked out, she remembered, as she pulled just about everything off and out of her veins.

The medical droid had protocols and one of them was not to compound the patient's panic. This section of the Capital ship's detention block had been designed to accommodate political prisoners and such. But it didn't have any lesser security than the more darker and sinister detention levels which held the more sinister and dangerous enemies of Nine-Lives. This level just passed for being of a humanitarian kind...
"Miss Karlie Lyn Destat, you are currently in the medical bay of detention block 'C' on Castle Morpheus.
Please do not be alarmed. You are quite safe and the premises are secured. The devices you have removed were merely to help you regain your strength and for my administrators to determine your state of health and mind.

"There..." it then non threateningly pointed to one of her arms.
"...you are bleeding, Miss Destat. Shall I attend to it for you?"

"No..." Karlie shook her head, as her eyes looked about the small confines of the medical bay for a way out.

"It appears non-life threatening...but it does warrant immediate attention..."

"No!...
No, you and everyone else...leave me alone!
I didn't do anything!... Why?...Why am I here?!" she were in an almost frantic state, her hands feeling around the duraglass walls, while keeping distance from the droid. It made no move to approach her and she realized that before she came back around to the other side of the medical bed, keeping it still between her and what appeared to be a medical droid.

"I cannot answer your question as you are meaning it, Miss Destat. Only that your current admission to my care is for this facility to have you at optimal health.
I must inform you that my directors have been summoned, of your awakening and they will answer your inquiries as to why you are confined in this detention block." it calmly stated the facts, without making any advancement toward the frightened woman..

"You still should consider attending to your open wound. It doesn't appear to be cauterizing on its own." the medical droid continued on its effort to do its job.

"There..." it then pointed to the drawers next to the bed.
"...you will find a general cauterizing ointment and bandage in side. I need only to explain it to you in it's use, Miss Destat."

Karlie had her other hand pressed on her forearm where she had torn the needle out, keeping it from bleeding too excessively. Sure enough what the droid had indicated were there.
"No... no I got it.
Just...just stay put.
I know what this is...I can do it myself" She replied, recognizing the first aid items. After all, she had gone through field training which included first response to wounds.

"Agreed."

No sooner did she grab the ointment packet and a few bandages, the primary doors to the med bays opened and to her initial shock two guards came in. Only they weren't the same two or type that she had known. They had insignia on their uniforms...

43 minutes later and still a stalemate behind the duraglass...

The guards were armed, but had not entered. Rather, one took to leaning on the outer threshold of the main blast door entrance way to the detention block with folded arms across his chest waiting it out. the other was just outside her dura-glass med bay by the door.
They had at first motioned that they would not enter to further craze her. But had exchanged words with Karlie as to letting her know that they would not enter and take her by force. Excluding pertinent info, they conveyed in the matter instructed them, that she was indeed on a CIS Capital ship, the Castle Morpheus, and no longer on the system that they had rescued her from. yes, they used the 'rescue' word, as they were instructed to use kit gloves on the crazy woman.

Karlie had calmed down by then. Had even Lom-3 the medical droid attend to her self inflicted wound.
And she had gotten out of her open back medical gown and changed behind the medical bed. The two guards had even looked away, giving her courtesy to do so. Then again, they may have seen instructed to be civil, despite most prisoners never took a breath again outside the ship.

"Sigh.... Fine....coming out." She finally despaired. After all, how long could she really hold out? Till whomever had instructed them to come get her, run out of patience?

"Say again?
Couldn't quite get that..." The guard who was leaning against the outer doors took to play with her. Not that the mic didn't pick up what Karlie muttered.

"I said...I'm tired. I'm coming out!" She repeated and was coming around from behind the med bed, when the guard opened the dura-glass partition.

Karlie stopped mid-step a moment, before swallowing hard and meeting the guard, whom then escorted her out of the bay and through the lower detention block. The second guard took position behind her.
She were lead to what she found to be a cell of sort...her cell apparently.

"Well, here you go." The guard next to her said as her cell door opened.
"You need anything...don't bother looking for a bell. What's in there is all you'll need." he couldn't help but break character and snicker.

Karlie stepped inside and the cell door closed behind her. She could hear their boots fading down the cell block.
Yes..she had been here before. It were she showered the filth off her...got her apparel. She walked back over to the mirror and found herself looking pitifully back.
"So this is how it may all end..." She muttered, before the door opened again.
She had not heard the footsteps, but there they were, high heel shoes and the woman again.

"Vera Mina, I take it..." Yes, she recalled her name.
It was the lawyer assigned to her from what she recalled.
Karlie watched her enter, looking, evaluating her over. The woman's walk...the way she carried herself... yes, she seemed adequate enough, if she were whom she had said she was. Right now Karlie was still uncertain as to anything that was taking place. All she knew was that she was somehow blamed or framed for what had transpired on Melida/Dan. And if that didn't top off the icing on the cake; the very Vicelord she admitted to dislike, his son had been killed as a result of what she was being charged with.

Yes, Karlie remembered what she admitted to...and not.
either way, Karlie's dislike for the current CIS leadership was motive enough to warrant her Enemy of the State.

"So counselor, here to help me beat this rap... or here for the Vicelord to legally pass me to the next life?"



[member="Darth Metus"]

[member="Srina Talon"]

 

[Vera Mina]

Vera really had to work on her people skills.

She sighed, watching as [member="Karlie Lynn Destat"] fainted from exhaustion.

"Chit." she remarked, before going to the system Kiosk nearby, tapping in her code clearance. The Morpheus A.I. greeted her with a yellow smiley face on screen and its system log in line played across the screen: What if I told you I was completely hardcore?

Vera requested guards from the barracks by typing, in her typically snide manner Clean up on aisle six.

One day later...

"I'm glad we got that new med-droid..." Nine Lives remarked to her artificial daughter in the comfort of her bed chamber, watching the feed from the labs on her own system kiosk as Karlie had woken up, again mistrustful of the whole situation. Another First Order Officer she had acquired, lay hogtied on her bed, most of his birthday memories having been eaten, as well the last few days of his lunch memories. A small snack, really...she could consume years worth in a single sitting and had been observing her own self imposed limits. The Arch Psy-Pire was dressed in her flower embroidered ceremonial hooded kimono, her katana, Hundred Handed Giant strapped securely to her belt, along with her gold and black, double edged Progenitor's Sword. Nine had done her best to remain patient with Karlie but the longer they delayed getting answers out of her, the deeper her grave would possibly be, and the colder the trail leading to the evidence would get.

"She seems coherent. Injuries were extensive--"

"Don't really care, save for how useful they'll be in court." Vera remarked. "I trust that med droid has compiled a full list of her injuries?"

Nine wordlessly handed her a datapad as she watched Karlie on the screen. Vera clinically observed it.

"Oh, at least she's talking. These torturers went for brute force. No subtlety at all..." Vera remarked.

"We know how subtle you are..." the vampire muttered in contempt. "You think you can get her to cooperate?"

"She will...if she wants to not be executed as an Enemy of The State..." Vera assured her creator.

"That might happen regardless. But I want this done as properly as possible...go...she's settled down...I will join you shortly..." Nine told her 'daughter'.

"You're taking an awful risk bringing such a hot potato like Karlie aboard on your own initiative."

"Its not like I can refuse my boss if he demands her back...I simply wanted to establish her guilt or innocence properly than through sloppy measures that leave too much doubt. I want justice for all those lost on Melida, same as the CIS does...but not if a potentially innocent woman is dragged through the mud and killed for nothing."

Vera gave a mock yawn..."Yes, yes, that's very meaningful and inspiring...real award speech bait there..." the sociopath replied dryly to her creator. "Now, to business..."

Vera was quietly processing the various legal scenarios her current situation matched, the various litigation and legal jargon. Not one hair could be out of place assembling Karlie's legal defense, or Karlie was a dead woman, she mused as the ship tram sped her to Karlie's room.

Vera had a faint sense of pride when it came to her legitimate resolution of cases. She had kept people out of Jail who absolutely were guilty and absolutely deserved to spend the rest of their lives in Jail, and if any Gods were out there, and if said gods were willing, she would get Karlie away from the hangman.

Vera composed herself, testing that human kindness expression on her face in a reflection. She'd need it. Karlie was emotionally destraught still. A friendly face was essential for trusting a client not in the know as to what Vera was.

Still, from what little the artificial sociopath could process emotionally speaking, she felt some sense of unease...she had never defended anyone accused of such a 'heinous' crime...personally, Vera thought planet torchings like that should happen a little more often. She figured most organics as mere sacks of flesh waiting to be tormented and then killed. But the bond between lawyer and client was still sacred.

She went in and found Karlie acknowledging her, far more coherently than before.

"Miss Destat, I am here to do my best to make certain you never do time at all..." Vera answered her smoothly, making sure her face and voice looked and sounded genuine in its sympathy, based on her emotion reading protocol. She was a master of faking such emotions.

"But for me to help you, I need you to tell me a few things...for example everything that happened from the Melida Incident to now..." Vera explained, her lawyer guise's voice created to sound crisp and accented, to give an impression of refinement and sophistication while tearing someone apart in court. Or upholding them.

"And...I must know for certain whether or not you are actually guilty..." Vera continued to explain. "But for now, you look famished...can I get you some food? Some water or fruit juice perhaps?" she asked.

Just then, the door opened, and the seven foot woman Nine Lives glided in without noise, the movement not looking natural at all due to how well her robes camouflaged the movements of her legs, only her glowing purple-dot eyes visible under the embroidered hood, hands in a hooked gesture.

"This is my employer and captain of this ship, Nine Lives."

"I had Vera retireve you because I have strong doubts as to your guilt in the whole affair..." Nine explained in her deep contralto, her nigh demonic figure made more so by the lack of bright lighting in her cell.

"I will be taking this ship deeper into CIS space...back to where you found that lab you tried to destroy. As for your innocence, I have a relatively quick way of determining it, but I'd need your permission to do so...you probably won't like what I'm about to suggest..." Nine admitted.

Vera's face paused in fake concern. "Are you sure this is wise, Boss?" she asked...

"I don't want egg on my face if it turns out she was guilty all along and if she is there won't be a need for you to really waste time..." Nine surmised.

Vera understood suddenly this was the hidden reason Nine had acquired Karlie. She turned back to the scientist.

"My employer possesses a unique condition that allows her to see into the memories of others."

"I'm a type of vampire." Nine admitted bluntly. "One who eats thoughts, memories, for sustainance. But I see what I consume. I won't consume your memories...I just want to look at them. If you say no, that's fine, Vera will still defend you but it would go a long way to helping me trust I haven't made a mistake in pulling you away from your tormentors. I'll only look at the past few months, nothing beyond that." Nine promised.

Vera looked at Karlie. "Its your call, Miss Destat..."

Vera hoped Karlie took the idea well, it made things so much easier for her when she could operate under certainty, despite her willingness to resort to illegal methods out of court to secure a case. But if Karlie said yes, Vera would have a much easier time choosing her defense strategy where Karlie was concerned.

She could hear the faint distress in Nine's voice. She had only recently stopped being an insane, paranoid feth afraid of lice and mimes, she was clearly uncomfortable confessing her vampiric nature to a non-associate, and still more uncomfortable herself...Vera had known her long enough to detect those things past the image of strength and menace Nine otherwise projected.

Vera herself could project menace, but only in specific circumstances. Sometimes she regretted that aspect of her design...even Karlie as a prisoner had more autonomy than she did, because she was free to act or react as she pleased...Vera was bound by programming dictates.

She wondered how composed she could remain, if someone put her through the same torment they put Karlie through...would she crack, or would her programming prevent even that.

Vera only knew she never wanted to be in Karlie's position, despite the inherent hypocrisy in this stance, given she had done worse to others.

But as she had stated, it would be Karlie's choice...

[member="Srina Talon"]

[member="Darth Metus"]

 

[Karlie Lynn Destat]

She remembered going over the manifest of the coalition forces surrounding Melida/Dan.
Now that she put the figure..or rather the towering figure of the woman to the name-

"I ...I think we may have met." Were all she could acknowledge at this time. The manifest she had gone over did include Nine lives on Melida/Dan.
Ok, so maybe this very tall figure she was 'the' Nine Lives she had knowledge of.
What did matter was the woman believed her..or at least had doubts as to what she were being accused of. This was a relief...but it only lasted for a moment.

It could have been apparent, perhaps a week ago, but not initially the panic triggered by the rush of adrenaline by which suddenly coursed through her veins.. upon the notion of having her mind devoured. The moment were like wildfire spreading within reaching for the surface skin.
Nine Lives had doubts of her guilt, but wished to do what?..enter her freakin head?!
Oh hell no!
Karlie didn't know much about vampires, namely this one towering over her in particular, but knew enough. The very term itself took to identifying this genre as takers, not givers. Hadn't her own mother been a form of one herself?!
And there were literally countless types of vampires, both real, mystical and the yet known, for they were of darkness untold...

She hadn't realized she had taken a step or two back, not until her butt made contact with the berth.
"W...wait a second.." little could her hand stretched out between her and Nine Lives do anything more than express her fear for self preservation. yet, the towering woman and the so-called lawyer made no attempt at closing the gap Karlie had distanced herself...a half meter at most.

"I didn't do anything but, but go down on Melida/Dan to assist!
I lost an entire platoon of marines the first 20 minutes of landing! I was lucky to make that freakin deadline Metus had set to leave the system with just Janis and one good marine! And Janis had gotten infected down there. The only reason Metus didn't torch her is that I had suspected the virus was engineered and had been deployed as a weapon. But making that virus... me? No. No I didn't make it. I didn't..." By now she dropped her hand, feeling that if they were to overtake her, the guards if not the vampire would have already done her in.

"I...I don't know really what all you're telling me, or what is all going on. But yes, I'm a bio engineer.
I'm an IBI operative in the Castan Executive branch...my father's Viceroy Tarssin Destat-" She stopped there, not even uttering, let alone think of her mother's name.
For all Karlie knew, her own mother was no doubt any more different than the vampire looking down on her. She struggled of the notion to reveal what had not been asked or touched upon yet in the inquisitions.

"No doubt you know more about me biologically by now than anyone outside my own family. You know I'm viral free...midi-free. It's been my life's work to eradicate virus which plague both mankind and..." Well, Ok, it were difficult to determine what species Nine Lives was.
"...and everyone else.." Karlie's assumption of the so called lawyer was that she were a voluptuous female. Perfect for a lawyer to use in distractions. Karlie knew all about distractions, being trained in the IBI. Her eyes didn't much wander off from Nine lives, for the towering creature was whom Karlie saw as most threatening.

"Look...if you trust me enough to have revealed yourself to me...then I'm going to trust you concerning what I used to be.
I wasn't always midi-free. It was a choice. I couldn't live with the fact that I were destined to follow my mother's curse. She were of immortal sith. breeding only for the sole purpose of fostering a daughter whom she would take to posses. Literally jumping into her daughter's body generation after generation. I don't know how long or how old her spirit was, but it stopped with me...and my father.
He discovered whom she was and had her disposed.
Me? I was left with her haunting spirit in dreams and in waking consciousness...plying to posses me from where the frak hell she was put in. No way I was going to loose myself to her..a sith." A tone of disgust were apparent when she said the word 'sith'

"I found the means to end her voice, to sever that connection. I found the means to purge myself of micloreans." Sure, why wouldn't they be bored of her story. What did it have to do with the present? She were being accused of not only mass murder, but of the cause of death to the Viceroy's son, Riggs.

"You see... I could not create such a virus that was unleashed on Melida/Dan. I've been in this bio-tech research to eradicate such viruses...even midicloreans.
If...if you trust me enough with your secret..then I have to ask you to trust me further and know that I did not create such a virus. I did however find a way to replicate the base virus and reprogram a retrovirus. This was done after Melida/Dan. Actually..I and that two timing slut queen Liz Fernco were able to develop that retrovirus just a week or so ago.
The proof is back on the RD-IV research vessel in Catagne's orbit. And..and the retrovirus in fact is encapsulated in my crono. I had it on me when they took me. I'm sure they still have it...if you haven't claimed it." trust was a two way avenue.
If this towering female was indeed Nine lives and a vampire of sort as she had revealed, then she now knew more of Karlie than what was possibly extracted in that 3 day confessional liberation.

"So no...
No, I can't have you enter my mind.
It's what my sith mother was trying to do...to erase who I am away like i was just a vessel and means for her to step into my skin."
Karlie would more choose death, than having someone erase her will and mind, then casually slip into her temple like it were nothing more than some evening wear.

And she had come to reason in the short hour since she had awakened in the med bay, that whether she were innocent or not, her confessions of despising siths..even the CIS dark Lord Metus would most likely place her head on the chopping block nevertheless. But in her mind, it were more justifiable to die for something which she were guilty of, than of something which she were innocent of.

"Can't there exist some form of mutual understanding?.. a common trust between us?
I know I've nothing to bargain with but my word. It's all I can give you."




[member="Srina Talon"] | [member="Darth Metus"]

 

[Vera Mina]

So...a 'no' then, from [member="Karlie Lynn Destat"].

The Sociopath was only able to maintain her facade of caring and concern due to her programming...but most origin stories could garner little in the way of feeling from her. Vera listened however, because much of what she said was corroborated by what they had researched. Vera wondered if Nine didn't have ulterior motives to acquiring Karlie...Virus and Midi free would be of immense interest to someone Vera knew deep down was still uneasy in some way about what she had become. If Nine ever wanted an out from being a vampire, studying the genetic samples of such a woman would be a massive advantage.

Plus her talking gave Vera a chance to use her illegal emotional analysis software...Nine didn't look it, and more often than not played every bit the bloodthirsty ex-Jedi Consular turned Vampiric Sorta-Supervillain. But Nine was a prodigy at tech.

Vera, since her creation, to this day didn't feel anything resembling affection for her creator, but as the months passed, the Biot had developed a small sliver of genuine respect, enough to say that she would at least never try to kill Nine, even if all the many, many programming restraints were removed.

So far, her emotion analysis indicated a strong supposition (one that would NEVER stand up in court) that Karlie was telling the truth. That settled it.

"Give us a moment..." Nine said in her heavy contralto...

Vera followed her out of the room, locking it.

"Assessment?" Nine asked quietly.

"She's telling the truth. She just panicked." Vera answered with her typical snide dismissiveness to her creator.

"I figured as much. Tell me you got that Chrono."

Vera retrieved it from her small, silvery clip purse.

"Wouldn't have dreamed of leaving without it. Tell me, mother, did Karlie pierce that hardened badass exterior of yours?" Vera asked quietly with a smirk.

"Feth you." Nine muttered back just as dismissively. "I believe her. Else she'd be getting chewed on right about now."

"So its settled then?"

"Yes. I will go to the station itself. You, after you spend time milking more details out of her, are to head to the space ship in orbit. It will almost certainly be guarded." Nine warned before heading back into Karlie's room.

"We believe you..." Nine remarked crisply. "Vera will represent you against the CIS. Every available means will be attempted to prove your innocence. Are you hungry?" The Vampire asked, pulling away her hood and revealing her beautiful Atrisian features, her dark hair in a stylish weave her obsidian dark eyes, with a small, purple light at the center of them fixed on her. They rarely communicated emotion, and that was what sometimes could make her seem more unsettling with the hood off than on. Vera however, was the perfectly made icy professional...as caring as was necessary. She was advanced enough to pass a sentience test but any psychological screening would have revealed her as a barely controlled brute.

Vera wondered at that moment if that was why she had been made, to be a reflection of everything Nine hated and feared about herself. Certainly something to consider. But then, if that was the case...why so much autonomy as of late?

Vera was not a self reflective person. Being a creature of impulse was far too enjoyable. But it was certainly something to consider, even though she might have hardly any use for the conclusion...

Vera decided to show Karlie the chrono. "After you have eaten, I'd like you to tell me more about this..." she asked, mimicking genuine concern perfectly.

"As for food, we have a wide choice of selection, which is impressive considering most of our staff are psychic vampires..." she joked.

"Vera, bad timing..." Nine mildly chastised

Vera rolled her eyes. "Well its not like she wasn't going to figure it out sooner or later..."

"Still though, its not like she doesn't already have a ton of nightmare fuel..." Nine grumbled.
"Oops..." Vera replied with a faux-awkwardness.

Nine sighed. Vera could push her luck and her creator's patience sometimes. She rubbed the bridge of her nose in irritation as she turned back to Karlie.

"I'd stuff myself silly if I were you. Your body will need it to recover. What would you like to eat?" Nine asked.

 

[Karlie Lynn Destat]

Her eager breath gave it away, aside from the very fact that she had immediately focused on her crono, the second Nine Lives had flashed it before her, playing in her hand, like a tease.

Karlie swallowed, and consciously made herself look away from it, coming upon Mina's subtle and relaxed pose. Her so-called lawyer was certainly that...poised and calm, besides looking sultry. Contrary to Karlie's plain given clothes and no makeup whatsoever. Although she did have to admit, Vera fitted in her wardrobe quite well. Too well compared to what Karlie had been fitted with.
Still, credit had to be given to the woman. She were quite convincingly professional, in every sense of the word.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~​

Food?...Oh good lord, food. Why yes....

Funny... the fact was; that she weren't really hungry at all.
Not in a sense of malnutrition. Karlie physically felt fine, finer than before.Then again, she had been intravenously feed during her long comatose like collapse. But the emptiness of her stomach whom had just been reminded of it's dormancy, suddenly urged her otherwise. Her bowels were in the very sense, empty.
How long had it been since she actually digested anything...4..5 days?
Nine's mentioning of her getting some substance down, triggered Karlie's stomach to suddenly start churning, verifying the fact that the towering woman's suggestion were right on cue. And it weren't at all a force suggestion. Not that such suggestions could be relayed to one midi-free. Still it was in its most primitive form a type of hypnotic suggestion, if one were to point out that Karlie had no hunger pains till Nine suggested she stuff herself. Then physical hunger suddenly surfaced.

"Uhm.... yes.
I can use something to quiet down my stomach..." Karlie replied, eye bouncing from Mina to crono then up the tall figure to nine.
Why was she reluctant in telling them? 4 days though had passed. She did collapse and her guess was due to low blood sugar. But she felt fine at the moment. It only meant she were treated...given insulin to balance her out. They knew why then, she wore that crono besides her means of accessing her media and house the retrovirus she had developed. It had the capacity to inject the virus in her and they had figured it also synthesized insulin on demand.

What did she like to eat? well that was also a tricky question.
"My diet is kinda limited really..." Shoot, did she really think they wouldn't know that?
Of course they knew all about her both inside and out.

Being midi-free had its own downfalls. Seemed that at one time in her bloodline history, her ancestors struggled with diabetes. It had been masked and dormant under the midiclorean symbiotic relationship since the dawn of mankind came into contact with that controlling and collective viral-like body.
Now since the midi no longer had reign within her metabolism, her genetic faults surfaced. Karlie was diabetic. But that's where the crono came in. She had originally designed it to maintain her insulin levels. Just that she found other uses and diversities out of her initial creation.

"If you need me to ask...
Yes.
I'd feel more in control of my life if I had it back..." Her eyes went to the crono still in Nine's possession.
There, she didn't really have to elaborate. they knew it's function and knew what she needed to stay conscious... if not alive.
Apparently Karlie had been given the proper dosage of insulin during her rest, otherwise they wouldn't be talking at this moment.

"It's not like I can go anywhere..." her voice edged on pleading. It were after all her lifeline.
"I mean, as far as the retrovirus it contains...you contain me. You hold me, you hold the virus.
I really don't wish to be probed, pricked or injected by anyone, medical or not, anymore." Her eyes gave away that she would surrender her trust to Nine. Karlie knew she had no other option but to place her trust in the psychic vampress... whatever game she were being played here.

"Please?"

​

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~​

She were surprised they had what she asked for...and crispy fresh too.
It were not synthesized food product reserved for prisoners, but the real thing...vegetables, mushrooms, meat...veal actually and more. All prepared as she had hoped it would be. Seemed the capital ship she were being housed in was well stocked and with real cooks. Then again, weren't most capital ships of this class so equipped?

But no crono.
Not yet anyway, as it still needed to be fully audited...de-engineered for hidden and evasive hidden tech. The crono was after all Karlie's design and creation. But as convincing as she may have been, her host wasn't going to simply entrust her ward with such a versatile device.
Karlie wasn't to push her luck. Her host reminded her as to whom held all the cards, and of the privileges she were already given as a guest on Castle Morpheus. Something about a rarity, even. For now, the crono would remain in Nine's possession.

Karlie reluctantly abated.
Furthermore, despite her discomfort of submitting to more medical exams, Karlie conceded have the medical droid scan and evaluation her condition on a daily basis. Ultimately even yielding to a small dosage of synthesized insulin to enable her to pig out at the prepared meal that was being brought to her. After all it were her very first real solid meal in 4-5 days.

Karlie had not known how famished she really were until she put her taste buds to the test.
God, food could be so awesome!
Her body came to be reminded as to food's awesome plethora of tastes, odors and textures. Karlie couldn't help but fill her plate again for the third time.
Although by then, she had picked about just morsels, being more than plenty full. It were her body's primal instinctive urge to crave for something it no longer needed to sustain itself, but to fatten up following what it perceived as a bout with famine.

Following her exquisite meal and a bit of time to digest it, she once more found herself in conversation with her counselor.
this time it were of her remote orbital lab back on her system of Castagne.
no, the lab wasn't guarded. It didn't need to be guarded. it had many fail safe protocols that would incinerate itself if ever it were compromised. Karlie had the only real safe access to it and the only assurance that whatever it contained were to remain intact.
"There's no other means of gaining safe entrance to the lab and it's data files than by me being physically present.
That moon base... I don't know how or who set it up for me to have full access to it. I don't believe the files there are as encrypted as on on my remote research lab.
But with the RD-IV , There's no other way around the security than for me to be there physically. If it senses any forced entry, it will all flash and burn...like the populace on Melida/Dan..." She had no reason to deceive those whom she knew wanted to find the same answers as she. But the remote orbital lab just was unbreechable. Karlie herself was the only key.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ​

So it went with her counselor collecting info during their sessions. Seemed Karlie were gaining more trust with every interactions, and occasionally even bringing up the question as to when she could acquire her crono back. Karlie most definitely found it difficult to submit her self to the medical droid's scans and probing, not to mention to find herself solely depended on it for life too...for her insulin injections.
"I know I'm more of a guest than a prisoner...just that I -"
Nope, no crono.
Maybe if she stopped asking for it repeatedly and keep her focus on proving her innocence... maybe... maybe...maybe...

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ​

"Vera... can I ask you something?..." Karlie seemed to be experiencing Stockholm syndrome with Vera's regular visits and sessions that followed...

"Barring finding proof of my innocence, what of the fact that I admitted to wanting the Vicelord removed from office?
I wasn't coerced to lie about that.
I mean, what implications would that have, if say we can't produce the guilty parties?" Yes, Karlie had opened up quite a lot to the inquisitors. That particular bell had been rung and it could not be undone. Her dislike of sith was out, and it ran too deep to deny it.

 

[Vera Mina]

When their guest debated on her diet, Nine merely nodded, having dug up quite a bit on Karlie. But then Karlie switched to the topic of the Chrono

Vera actually half considered giving [member="Karlie Lynn Destat"] her chrono before Nine flatly refused.

"I have to have it checked. Not that I don't believe you Karlie, but I didn't get this far by not being paranoid as feth." Nine spoke, taking the chrono from Vera.

"To order your food, there is a kiosk in your room that handles all requests. We'll move slowly, it'll give us time to plan this out. Let's leave for now and leave her to her meal. Miss Destat, you have my every assurance that you will be kept alive and healthy. Any needles you get will be solely in the interest of your wellbeing." Nine assured her, though the stare of her inhuman eyes did not communicate the same reassurance, just a stare that hid the soul behind it.

The pair departed for Nine's private chambers.

"You know she's gonna pester us for the fething chrono every five fething minutes." Vera snorted petulantly as the headed into the ship tram.

"Oh, I know." Nine groaned as the tram sped to her bed chamber. "I'm just bracing for it...it'll be like asking whether you've reached the destination of a road trip. Whatever you do, don't stab her if it gets annoying."

"I don't like stabbing. I prefer slicing." Vera huffed. "And really, Mother, attack a client?!"

"Just saying..." Nine muttered as they reached her vast bedchambers, opulent and more like a loft than a mere bedroom. Vera spotted an imperal storm trooper she had captured hung in chains on a bare wall. Nine put the chrono on her work bench and began to use various scanning devices to peer into its innards. She would go over every part to scrutinize it for anything that might help Karlie escape, spotting the retrovirus location and insulin device.

"Its actually pretty well put together..." Nine admitted as she stared at it. "Matter of fact it gives me a couple of ideas..."

The stormtrooper groaned. Vera took a crumple ball of paper and tossed it at his face out of sheer hateful spite.

A few days later...

As predicted, Karlie asked for that chrono when possible, making Vera fight the urge to take three hours to transition to her command form just to cut Karlie with a razor, though outwardly, she remained every bit the helpful, sympathetic ear Karlie needed, learning about the security system measures, and forcing Nine to adjust her plans. Karlie however was clearly trusting her more. Oh, if she only knew...

Vera slowly went over everything with Karlie in their sessions, building up their defense case. Of course the Karlie asked about how her opinion on [member="Darth Metus"] might affect her trial if they could not find who is actually guilty.

"It does not matter if I can actually find the guilty party, Miss Destat. I merely have to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that you are not. As for your opinion...Sith Lords, Dark Lords especially, tend to attract enemies like dung attracts flies. It would be odd if he didn't have people who wanted him removed from power. But wanting him removed from office and infecting a city to try and kill him are two different things. Though the judge and jury could easily be made to see how and why one could lead to the other. They supposedly tried to kill Darth Sidious the same way, or so the history books claim. But given your own horrible experience with Sith it could be perfectly understandable why you would hate Sith...and I'm afraid it could be used against you. But I'm a good spin doctor. I can play up your life as an aspiring scientist with a traumatic background that, despite that back ground, could never try and destroy a city and pervert the sciences she dedicated herself to." Vera answered. "And if your proven innocent, than your personal opinion is just that, an opinion. Born from bad experiences with your own Sith Mother. And speaking of your mother, there is this theory I've been mulling over...what if that facility you found belonged to her? It could explain why the systems recognized you...it confused you for her...perhaps at one point she was branching out, attempting to find other methods of body hopping..." Vera mused. "Would such a thing be possible?"

The P.A. system blared in Karlie's room.

"We've entered the Devil's Grave System. Vera, I need you to take care of something..." Nine told her over the speakers.

And that was her cue. She rose.

"Pardon me, Karlie..." Vera said warmly. "But I'm afraid I'm going to have to leave you for a while...Other business has just come up. Nine has contracted the services of a mercenary to escort you to your ship, and deal with any unpleasant encounters in the process...but I am hard at work on your case, I promise. I won't let you swing for this if I can help it." Vera promised with perfectly simulated sincerity, though given how many times she'd asked for that chrono she'd have rather strangled her.

Vera left her quarters and took the tram back to Nine's bedchambers.

Stripping off her clothing, Vera got on one knee and triggered the transformation process. Her body became pretty much a pink, translucent mass of flesh with visible electrical currents dancing and flickering in the tissue, the biots muscles and skeleton barely visible beneath. The transformation was unfortunately a slow process.

Just then, one of the Morpheus Knights walked in, whistling, looking to feed on the stormtrooper still chained to the wall as every knight had permission to enter Nine's chambers.

When he saw the disgusting mass of tissue in the middle of the opulent room he grimaced under his yovshin inspired helmet.

"Yuck. I would walk in when the Evil Biot Lady is changing...Welp, there goes my appetite..." the knight grumbled walking back out , shuddering. "I'll just have a big tall glass of Nope instead..."

Three hours later.

Currently in: Command Form (See Bio skill sheet)

Wearing: Mercenary Dress. (http://starwarsrp.net/topic/140151-mercenary-dress/)

Armed with:

Law Abroad (Vibro Katana)

Misdemeanor (Vibro-Stiletto)

Judge and Jury (Twin SE-14 repeating blaster pistols)

Divorce Settlement (Assault Blaster Rifle)

A heavily armed woman that resembled a statuesque Chiss with red hair, wearing a somewhat provacative looking white dress with gloves that went past the elbows and boots that went past her knees, also white, entered the room.

Blood red eyes fixed on Karlie.

"Miss Destat..." Vera addressed her, but with a deep voice that did not have the pre programmed accent Vera did. There was no way Karlie would be able to tell it was Vera, visually or audio wise. Even the facial structure had changed. While it was no less beautiful, it looked more severe in its beauty.

"My name is Rom-Jin. I am here to escort you to your ship. Are you ready?" The now fully murderous Biot asked.

[member="Srina Talon"].

 

[Karlie Lynn Destat]

Perhaps she were trying too hard, Karlie came to reason. She had to ease up on acquiring the crono despite that was the key to any attempt at an escape plan.

Yes, the key for anything that would remotely sever her dependence on that psychic vampire and that med droid for insulin lay in her getting back that crono. That frekin crono was itself a warden. Karlie certainly didn't need Nine as her second.
Karlie figured that sultry brunette lawyer was the least of her worries. Karlie was playing the part of a hostage developing physiological dependency and affection for her captor...this being her assigned lawyer.
Karlie figured Vera was her best chance in fooling. That psychic Nine?... not a chance in Hell.

"Oh...
Vera..." Karlie softly called on Vera's attention as Nine were leading her lawyer out.

"...thank you." her eyes were a shade lower than meeting Vera's orbs on the level. It would signify submission, acceptance that she were speaking to her caretaker, not a captor....one whom Karlie were trying to convey dependency on.
"Thank you for everything..." She lowered her head. She didn't need to see if Vera acknowledged her or not, Karlie were playing her part.

So her seemingly transformation went with each session she had with Vera, her lawyer...her savior.
And she would do so, until she got hold of her key to freedom..her crono.
Without it, she couldn't get too far...what maybe a day..two before her sugar levels dropped to where she'd pass out? then what? Die in a coma?

No, Karlie's game plan was to acquire that ticket..that crono back. Without it, she 'd have to keep playing her meek dependent little part till that sith Vicelord Metus or whatever circus court her lawyer were taking her through would not only end her, but her father and Castagne even. Oh her beloved Castagne. NEVER!.

Karlie though that Vera had exposed their card...bringing up the possibility that it had been her mother's research lab on that foresaken moon. Karlie had figured that out too. But that base hadn't been occupied in over a decade. Karlie knew what she were looking at and the decomposition of the former victims clearly indicated over a decade of deterioration. And besides, her mother was dead..been dead for well over a decade. How could anyone release a virus from the grave?
Did that psychic vampire think she were stupid? Karlie was figuring that Nine could be part of some diabolical plot to have Castagne forfeit it's planetary rights and then take it for herself.

'...here my Viceroy are the murderers, of not only our beloved CIS system Melida/Dan, but of your son! Here by Karlie's own words is her admittance and evidence of a plot to dethrone you my lord.
Castagne under [member="Tarssin Destat"], along with his wife and daughter the hereby accused Karlie Lynn Destat, have been planning your downfall for years. here..here my lord are the evidence I (Nine Lives) have gathered....exhibit A, the virus. exibit B, the manufacturing lab...exibit C, Karlie's confession...exibit D...etc..etc... '
So went Karlie to reason Nine could well be behind it all. And most likely was what Nine was going to give [member="Darth Metus"] for her to acquire Castagne itself..

'Psychic vampire...what an abomination.' thought Karlie, as Nine reminded her of her own decrepit life sucking mother..
No.
No, Karlie knew she stood no chance against Nine. But that lawyer... Vera? She'd eat her for breakfast...and maybe like it too. She was quite attractive...hmm...
"Frak!...what am I thinking?
Easy Karlie...don't get too wrapped up in convincing her, as where you actually fall for that bombshell.' She had to remind herself to keep everything in perspective.

Karlie had to put a plan within a plan as how to escape. This required her to surgically cut into truths to implant her escape plans. One such execution was to see about leading Vera to take her off this floating prison and as far away from that psychic Nine as possible.
Vera, Karlie was convinced she could handle and manipulate.
The first part of the plan was to convince her host, the vampire with the truth; the Castan RD-IV held additional information on the virus and the only person to gain access was Karlie.
2nd part was that she couldn't go without insulin for too long and would require for her to get her crono back.
3rd part...and this Karlie knew she could handle it with no problem, as she was after all trained in combat at the Academy. She'd have to slug Vera ...wait, or not.
Damn, maybe not slug her in the face, no.
She couldn't do that to her.

'Hmm...maybe...uhm...yea, stun her. Or...
Threaten her maybe in releasing the Melida virus in the remote lab...YEA'. Karlie then got a better idea, as she would have the retrovirus in the crono. Vera would certainly believe that Karlie could do it, as Karlie could inject herself through the crono . It would be the same as drawing a blaster on her pretty lawyer's head. Threaten to release the lab virus where they stood and Karlie would remind her that she had the crono to protect herself.
Oh yea..it could be fun to watch beautiful Vera beg for her life. Oh how sweet the table setting then...yea...

Of course, no way she'd really release that virus. Even if she were as evil as they made her out to be, the lab's fail-safe protocol would incinerate them all in a flash.
Karlie would have to convince Vera that she had that bypassed...yea, yea.....which of course not even Karlie in reality had the means to disarm the fail-safe protocol. Still, the bluff would work and she'd have her pretty lawyer in shackles.
Hell, she'd even give her lawyer a good kiss on those sultry lips of hers. Yea, maybe even take her lip-gloss too as Karlie had been going without makeup for a freakin week now..god damn it!
Yes, planting a good kiss would show Vera that she had been played before she'd leave her there and-

'Frak!...come on Karlie...you're only playing the part of falling for her. No kissing or anything... where are you going with this?
Just shackle her and take off....
Ok, Got it.' So Karlie's plan took her to phase 1...she had convinced the psychic vamp in acquiring more evidence from the remote research lab the RD-IV.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~​

"Gasp!...
Who.... who are you?!" Karlie were taken by surprise when another guard...a battle dressed woman came through her cell door, and backed away as far as possible, her butt hitting bed.

'A Chiss escort?...a Chiss?..Really?!.....why in god's name a Chiss?' Karlie's mind raced to compensate for plan 1 going haywire.
Karlie's heart raced a kilometer a minute...had that sith Metus sent an assassin?
No, she weren't Metus's hench-girl...but another of that psychic vampire's pretties. No denying this Chiss overshadowed her coming in her natural blue. Karlie cursed Nine for not allowing her makeup. She had to endure Vera's beauty..now this Rum and Jin blue cocktail Chiss too? Ok, so it was Rom-Jin...close enough. Karlie's stomach sank.
Had Nine somehow read her thoughts? Damn that vampire!
Still...she'd stick to what she could salvage of her plans... maybe Nine didn't read her mind...plans on their end change too...right?

"Ready?...
I...I was expecting Vera... gulp...
Vera Mina, my lawyer. She...she - ....pant..pant...
Where is Vera?!...I...I need Vera....pant...pant..." She remembered to keep in character.
She had to play up her dependency on Vera. Needed to convince this Chiss too that she needed Vera to walk, talk...even breathe..
"...pant...pant...pant..." her best act in mimicking a panic attack.

Karlie's legs began to waver and she made like she needed to sit down, lest she faint.
Shock...she had to mimic shock if she were to pull off a panic attack.
But not to over do it.

She collapsed her butt on the bed, even feeling like that of a blind person with her hand that it was indeed a bed while hyperventilating.... "Vera.... wh...where's Vera?.." her voice trembled, looking like the weak frightened little human that the Chiss knew so well to be... especially the human females in general...

 

[Vera Mina]

"Vera is...indisposed at the moment..." Vera answered, watching the panic play out on Karlie's face in sheer delight. Her emotion reading software was disabled, as well as her intelligence reduced somewhat. But not enough that she was stupid...her lawyer form had the most long scale processing power in terms of strategy, but as a Lawyer Vera was well aware and planned for the possibility [member="Karlie Lynn Destat"] might be attempting to manipulate her.

Still, it appealed to the vanity the biot had developed over itself that who it otherwise viewed as a sack of blond meat might be so dependent on it.

"I'm afraid Vera will be gone for a while..." Vera said stepping forward cautiously, going by the directives laid out by its lawyer form. The idea that someone could not go on without her...that actually needed her was a foreign concept to the Biot. And given the limits Nine had set in her programming...that Vera could never be good at more than she was designed for...Vera was not sure how to react. There was simply nothing in her database that covered such a scenario...she was made to be pleasant rather than personal.

It went without saying that Vera was in new territory when it came to someone having Stockholm syndrome over her. The Biot approached warily as it watched Karlie sit down panting.

Vera was not completely unappreciative of aesthetics: She would be appaled not looking her best no matter what face she wore, and could appreciate Karlie's soft features, though hardened by torment.

Her torture protocols were fully active in this state of being, and while she regarded the torture Karlie experienced as rushed and sloppy, she was...slightly...impressed that Destat had not cracked far earlier, instead confessing only to a dislike for the Sith. And there was something pathetically endearing hearing her name called out.

Vera had not been made to experience fear or terror. She once entertained the idea of modifying the processor over the part of her brain that interfered with her ability to fear or empathize but quickly dismissed it. She only wanted to know enough about fear to manipulate it or create it.

She decided to be patient, even though this was a waste of her time.

"You are in excellent hands with me, Miss Destat. I will not allow you to be...harmed in any way...but I simply cannot allow you to remain there. Please, get up...you will not be able to prove your innocence by having a panic attack..."

Vera wasn't sure if that last bit would work on her due to her emotional database being disabled, so she decided to switch tactics.

"My employer is relatively nice as vampires go...but if we wait you will test her patience."

As if on cue, Nine's voice came on over the P.A. system.

"Rom-Jin!? What gives?! Asses are in need of kicking! And I don't see you in the hangar ready to kick them!" Nine said over the guest room P.A. system.

Vera pulled out her comlink to respond.

"Its Karlie...she seems to be having a panic attack..."

"Well, get her to un-have it!" Nine ordered Vera. "We're on a schedule here that is very time sensitive! Whoever set Karlie up will surely be striving to pick up whatever evidence was left. Besides, if she gets free she can get back at Liz!"

"Really, master, am I to drag her out?"

"Get. Her. To. The. Hangar." Nine growled.

Vera sighed and shut off the comlink.

"You heard her. I'm the reasonable one. She has gotten to be more of a hothead as of late..." Vera warned Karlie...

[member="Darth Metus"]

[member="Srina Talon"]

 

[Karlie Lynn Destat]

"Shiet...they had to send blueberry girl. Damn it..." Karlie's thoughts cussed her luck.
Her plan could only work best with another sympathetic human, Vera.
That woman was indeed her only chance at anything resembling an escape paln. But noooo, that psycho vampire she knew as Nine had changed the game plan. well, at least Karlie's game plan. "Shiet, shiet, shiet..."

No, the Chiss wasn't buying it. Hell, seemed Miss Blue really didn't know what Karlie was trying to sell. It figured, as Karlie was certainly playing a pathetic human female that seemed to have been caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. She knew little of Chiss and what she had run across in the archives told her; no sale.
Still, she just couldn't right up and change character...no.
She had to wind it down...recover...make like she had no choice but to comply.

Karlie's frightened deer eyes came up to meet the Chiss woman. They were right on cue with the woman stating she was in safe hands..or something like that. But that was the cue...
'Easy now...look up into those dark pits cautiously....that's right...slowwly... ease up on the breathing...
blink... blink again...one more time and then lower your eyes.... in despair. nice...'
Karlie gave it a moment as if she were regaining some kind of coherent thought, emerging from what had been a panic attack.
She nodded, getting control of her breathing while still averting looking back up to the Chiss' orbs. Karlie were maintaining her subordinate role.

Nine's voice over the speaker aided Karlie's transition from a near uncontrolled panic attack to sensibility and compliance...
Actually, it almost caused Karlie to give her act up as the mere mention of that two timing slut queen and and a half 'LiZ' had her shoot a glance at the direction of Nine's voice coming over the speaker. If only it were in plain sight of Rom, they would have given Karlie away and of her resolve. If Karlie's eyes could kill. That were the intensity of her deep blues for but a brief moment. It were those of a vengeful predator wanting to scratch- No, rip the whore's eyes out. But again, it were just a momentary lapse of control, before Karlie had to pull herself back into her submissive role. "I'll definitely deal with that slut later...first got to ditch these circus freaks..."

"Ok...
Yes..." She nodded taking in a few deep breaths in a manner most humans did to get a hold of themselves, to self calm.

One step forward led to her butt off the the cell berth...then two steps followed. It were a good act...not too rushed...still clinging to that verge of dread that that Karlie seemed to be working her best through. Her eyes would only timidly meet that of Rom-Jin for but a glance before lowering her gaze in the manner of her playing out the role of prisoner with the Chiss woman now being her keeper/handler. Karlie's ploy was to move only as Rom-Jim expected her to move. It were to establish a pattern. One that would project Karlie as broken.

"I...I believe you.." Karlie meekly spoke as she got into line next to Rom. It were her way of confirming to the Chiss that what was said about not harming her she believed.
As thus, the long walk to the hanger of their craft went along. The open expanse of space outside the rectifying field of the hangar made her heart start to race. This was the closest she had gotten to free space for a week now. She didn't even notice the craft that was waiting for them to board. then again, there were several crafts, fighters, whatnots in this particular hangar.

"Huh?.. .oh..." Karlie nodded being instructed to board the ship to her right. Her attention had been on the star field outside.
No...no she couldn't figure out where she was, or rather, where Castle Morpheus was. As good as she was at star gazing, the very fact that space had no up or down, left or right, exponentially made figuring out where you were without at least having two point references was impossible. And she couldn't reference any star clusters.

Entering the vessel with Rom close to her side, she waited to be instructed as to where to sit. Al the while her peripheral were examining the small craft.
No troops?
So it were just her and Blueberry?
"Ok...." Karlie's thoughts were processing the probables.
Weapons?
No weapon locker that she could make out... "Damn..."
Yea, she could shoot a Chiss, she were telling herself...sure why not? "Gah!...who'm I kidding?..."

"Uhm... the lab is like a half clip distance of Castagne...that's coordinates S-46..." Karlie volunteered her system's coordinates.
Seriously?
That was the kind of look she received when she gave them the location.
Like they didn't know already?

"Sorry... I didn't know Vera informed you.." Yes, Karlie were still in play...stupid human female/frightened little kitty... yes, she were keeping it up.
Karlie wondered if her Bureau shouldn't have a committee who would vote on an annual basis to hand out awards for such good acting.

The engines fired up and they lifted off the deck and through the field which separated the vacuum of space from Castle Morpheus' ship pressure.
The craft made a slight angle adjustment before the star field streaked before them.
Karlie wet her lips, not moving, nor stirring in her seat...she were heading back to home turf...Castagne system.

...and she had formulated another plan.





[member="Darth Metus"] [member="Srina Talon"]

 

[Vera Mina]

Vera felt a smile cross dark red lips as Karlie seemed to break and believe her. She got up and Vera escorted her to the hangar. In the meanwhile she was amused at the idea of Karlie needing Vera so much. The biot wasn't sure why. It didn't really reflect on such things, as it was in it for the blood mostly. Someone being scared of it was just a nice bonus. But someone needing it? What would Vera do with that?

They eventually reached the hangar, and their pilot, this time being Magnus (http://starwarsrp.net/topic/130018-saotome-commando-droid-magnus/) waited, in her pilot form, that of a somewhat red headed woman with blond tips, wearing a black combat suit. The Saotome Light Frieghter they would be traveling in, a dark green vessel with white rose floral print across it, known as The Demeter, was fully fueled and ready as she waited on the ramp with Nine Lives had just departed for the ice planet in the Envoy. Vera's design was not rated for super cold temperatures as these caused malfunctions.

Magnus stuck her tongue out, like she always did when she spotted Vera.

Vera tolerated Meier. She despised Magnus. And the human looking combat droid knew it. This was the assassin droid equivalent of a sibling rivalry. Magnus had been created after Vera, and Vera considered her a lesser work. An inferior. Vera was the masterpiece.

But it was Magnus who had dealt Vera her first hand to hand defeat. It was the first time Vera had truly become aware of her limitations as organic technology. Magnus had machine reflexes and speed, Vera had the strength, speed, and reflexes of a physically fit adult who maintained themselves. Despite her superior database Magnus's speed had been the deciding factor. It was what had led to the creation of this somewhat revealing white ensemble she now wore. Speed, Strength, and Reflexes were now increased by a factor of three, allowing her just barely to keep up with Magnus.

The truth was that Vera was jealous of the onboard armaments Magnus was equipped with. It would make her own job so much easier if she could be armed no matter how unarmed she looked, as Magnus could. Plus Magnus could be a positively insufferable smart-ass.

"Hey Rom-Jin. Gut anyone lately with your slow ass?" Magnus taunted.

Vera ignored the taunt. "Still flying this low class bucket?" Vera sneered.

"The Demeter is a high-class bucket thank you vera much..." Magnus shot back before nodding and winking at [member="Karlie Lynn Destat"] as she was led aboard. Vera directed Karlie to a seat in the main hold. When Karlie told them the coordinates they both could only stare until she muttered an apology. This broken thing of hers delighted the artificial sociopath as the ship lifted off from the hangar. She thought of indulging her vanity and asking why Karlie needed Vera so much but decided against it. It might give away the game...

Vera instead stared at Karlie with those red eyes of hers. "You will have to stick with me once we are aboard your vessel. Don't wander off. I might need you for something...albeit not in the same way you seem to need Vera..." she joked mildly, giving into her vanity slightly.

Eventually they arrived to the ship in orbit.

"Rom-Jin, getting heat signatures on the ship. Engines are powered down. You won't be alone, watch it."

Rom-Jin nodded as Magnus sent out a docking umbilical. Vera gestured for Karlie to follow her as she drew her Katana, which had a white hilt and polished white metal as she headed to the docking hatch...

[member="Darth Metus"]

[member="Srina Talon"]

 

[Karlie Lynn Destat]

A lone and helpless little human creature she were... playing.

The last few days under Vera's care did more than have Karlie recover from that physical ordeal she had endure for 3 days by whom she could only guess were [member="Darth Metus"]' minions. Those interrogators had to have been dispatched by the sith himself. It were Karlie's only conclusion.
And Nine Lives....hat psycho terror? Nine had to be after something which would place her higher in the CIS hierarchy. That vampire wasn't doing anything pro-buono, especially helping Karlie out of the goodness of her wickedness.
Karlie's only chance were to play her part...meekness, until her nails came out. With that thought, she looked over her manicure. Good...they had grown during the week. All the better to scratch deeper....figuratively speaking...

"Damn.." Her thoughts now were to that time where she could actually inflict pain and suffering without so much as the will to command those cursed midis and their influence through that godforsaken force.
But that weren't her at all...just the vessel her decrepit queen mother and a half had created her for. So no...no midis, no force, nothing Karlie could do by sheer will alone.
She had to use and initialize physical means of dispatching those whom meant to do her harm, or keep her on a leach like Miss Blueberry here and god knows who that other little waif was.
Oh, so she were the pilot. It figured.
Karlie couldn't like anyone at this point. Especially since they were her keepers. Karlie was nothing more to them than a pawn, she had come to reason. This of course led her to reason that these two were probably good at rendering other unchaste services on the Morpheus...

But for now.... meek... broken... glassy eyed-
'Oh good, a real tear....' her thoughts lead her hand to wipe those tears aside...at the right moment when Rom glanced over to her.

S-46 were the coordinates to Castagne's system which included its natural and man-made satellites... not precise coordinates of an orbiting satellite out of thousands that were within the system...any given system. But close enough to safely emerge and then locate said research vessel with standard sensors.
The precise location aided by Karlie giving them the security code of the vessel, took them right to it. It were lazily orbiting a half million kilometers from the planet itself...just like it were described and expected. At that orbit, there could have been hundreds if not thousands of similar vessels and still have thousands of kilometrs distant from one another if not more. In short, it looked like the only vessel out there with the nearest other one being at 3/4 million kilometers distant, as sensors on the vessel indicated.

"It's for security reasons...one being it can be flashed to harmless vapor..dust if it is compromised. " She managed to point out as they neared the small looking research vessel.

"Well...how big does a viral lab have to be?" Karlie replied when one of them commented on the size of it.

"A virus is only like..a millionth particle size..." She did a small eye roll....like they didn't know THAT?!

"Seriously?... I mean no offense by it, but like it's going to project it's RD-IV Bio Vessel registry for anyone to pick up out here?" Again, the vessel wasn't exactly identifying through it's key security emitter what exactly it were.
Why couldn't it be a viral research lab? Not exactly the size of an entire research facility, but yes, it could well house a few labs...sure, why not?
Besides, there weren't detecting life readings...just enough thermal load to indicate the interior were still active and in low power stand-by...typical of labs in un-occupied mode.

"Sure..." Karlie nodded, adhering to Rom's instructions of staying close once they entered. "...like where am I gona go?"

"Ahem.." She cleared her throat to speak up.
"Two dirty panties entering the wash cycle..." Karlie shrugged her shoulders, and apologetically looking over to Rom.
"Seriously...I'm sorry, but that's the pass word for allowing the umbilical to lock on to the airlock. really...
Otherwise...." She shook her head with closed eyes, gesturing certain annihilation when the entire vessel before them would vaporize, along with them.

So the vessel then apparently allowed the airlock connection and Karlie once more found herself facing another password entry for the airlock to open.

"Sigh.... You know, I wasn't expecting any company other than those whom I'd invite to the lab.
I...I just chose silly password phrases and prompts-..." Karlie were trying to explain when she were prompted herself to 'just get us in' kind of look from her Blueberry escort.

"Fine.... sigh...
Ok, so don't laugh...
Knock, knock. It's me with laundry that needs to be cleaned in a gentle wash cycle...sigh" Oh she were so, so embarrassed by her childish password and phrases. They were by no means something by which a Bio-Engineer with a Doctorate degree should be judged solely by.


~By your command~... Came the response, before the airlock outer door opened up to the airlock itself. The exterior then door closed and locked like all airlocks do....and then the interior opened.
But not before Karlie uttered an apology to Rom.. "Sorry.." In a peculiar sarcastic way.

And boy did it open.
It opened up to an entire platoon of battle droids (apox 100 per transport ship, as that's what it was) who upon Karlie ducking to the floor and cowered into a ball so as not to get trampled on, went to apprehend the dirty wash that Karlie had brought for them.
Her covert orders had been gentle wash cycle, meaning to apprehend without lethal force.