Legends of Darkover

Chapter 7

-oOo-

“My lord?” said Darth Xiphos.  “The boy is a Force sensitive.  Darth Tyranus failed to test him properly.  He wears a matrix around his neck.”

One of the cell walls lightened with the watching figure of Lord Plagueis.  Xiphos used a foot to shift Danilo towards the wall, letting the Sith lord see the velvet bag through the boy's torn collar.  “He was able to dodge fire from the torture droid while blindfolded, but not when I covered my eyes.  He was seeing the droid through my vision.” 

Plagueis' hood lifted slightly.  “Were you aware of this?”

“No.  Nor do I sense the Force around him, though there is a very slight feeling of it emanating from his matrix.  It cannot be detected until you are almost touching the stone.  Darth Inculcare could not detect the Force around him, either.  Darth Tyranus left the Interrogation Center convinced he was not a Force sensitive.”

Plagueis was silent. 

“It seems that Darkovan telepaths are more peculiar than we thought,” said Xiphos. 

“They certainly require further study.  If the boy can read the minds of Sith lords without their knowledge, he could do the same to the Jedi.  Such an ability would make him an excellent spy.  Darth Inculcare will be reassigned to the boy.” 

Plagueis' image vanished from the wall.

-oOo-

The Dark Lord of the Sith reappeared inside the main hall of the Interrogation Center, interrupting the thick animal grunts and feminine moans of drugged pain.  “Cease your work.  You have another task.”

Inculcare stopped his thrusts, looking up from the daisy-chain of wet, bloody punctures and bruises he'd looped across Catriona's breasts and torso.  Lord Plagueis certainly chose the most inconvenient times to interrupt, Inculcare reflected.  He'd wanted Catriona completely tattooed with his marks before he finished, a visual masterpiece of the torturer's art.  He had intended to start with instruments, but his sexual hunger had been so great he'd  fallen on her succulent body with his teeth and hands instead. 

He pulled himself out of the girl, wiping her blood off his cock with the edge of her crimson robe before doing up his trousers.  “I can only hope my next duty is as delightful as this one,” said the torturer.

“You may find it so.  Darth Tyranus failed to test the boy properly.  Xiphos corrected his error and discovered that the boy is a Force sensitive.  I must know why his abilities are so difficult for us to detect.”

“Interesting,” Inculcare mused.  “Catriona?  What is the nature of Danilo's talent?”

“His Ardais gift mimics the laran of others and feels exactly like one's own laran.”

Inculcare's eyebrows came up in surprise.  “Does his gift do anything else?” 

“He can open blocked telepaths and clear channels, and the dona is very useful in a circle.”

“Why?” asked the torturer with some impatience.  He was yearning to be off to his next appointment, which promised as much satisfaction as Catriona had given him. 

“The Ardais gift can create the strength of a full circle even if the other talents are weak or few in number.”

Inculcare paused.  “Could he make one of the large, old trap matrices work at full capacity?”

“Yes.”

“With you as keeper?  Just the two of you?”

“Yes.”

“Then why haven't you tried to revive the use of the old matrices, then?”

“He is the first Ardais with the full talent to appear in many generations, and we did not know about his gift until a year ago.”

“My lord?” said Inculcare to the wall.  “I see that Darth Tyranus' mistake could have cost us dearly.”

“I agree.  You must go straight to his chambers.” 

Inculcare's smile was rapacious.

-oOo-

Darth Tyranus was enjoying a glass of Serenno wine when his viewscreen lit up without warning with the cowl of Lord Plagueis.  He came to his feet without hurry, bowing. 

“The boy is a Force sensitive.  You missed this.”

Tyranus was about to protest when the door to his chamber opened, and he realized someone had overridden his security codes.  He tried to suppress any visible surprise.

“I am here at your command, my lord,” said Inculcare. 

Plagueis inclined his hooded head in acknowledgment.  “Darth Tyranus, answer a question for me.  An adult human has a total of eight molars, barring the wisdom teeth.  Is this correct?”

“Yes, my Lord--” 

A dart flew from Inculcare's wrist shooter and hit Tyranus with a paralyzing solution.  Tyranus’  muscles locked in a tight spasm.  He couldn't move, his mouth hanging open in mid-word.  The glass of wine spilled on the carpet, staining it red. 

Inculcare removed a case of torture tools from his belt pouch.

“Pull them out,” said Plagueis.  “Slowly.”

It took nearly ten minutes to extract the first molar, Inculcare prying and rocking the tooth from side to side in its socket, before the ligament that held the tooth in place snapped.  Sweat slid down Tyranus’ face as bloody saliva drooled from his gaping mouth and mingled with the wine on the carpet.  It was going to be a long, long, hour.

-oOo-

Danilo woke lying on his back, experiencing deja vu when he felt the bunk beneath him and the too-bright light.  He tingled painfully all over, and the tight cinch of the stun cuffs reminded him of what happened.  A stranger was standing over him, smiling affably when Danilo sat up. 

One wall was lit with the huge image of a silent person wearing a cowl.  Danilo could see no face except for a narrow greyish mouth and chin. 

“I am Darth Inculcare,” said the blonde newcomer pleasantly, “High Inquisitor of Lord Plagueis, who is your captor on this spaceship.”  Inculcare bowed towards the wall.  “I will be turning you into our eager ally.  My lord has decided you have a valuable talent.  It is, as you no doubt realize, in your interest to become helpful and agreeable to us as soon as possible.  Regrettably, I have been ordered--and will certainly use--any means necessary.  You're rather young.  What is your age?”

Danilo did not reply.  Numbly, he thought, /I'm in outer space?  How can I escape, then?/  

Inculcare made a disapproving noise.  “The young are always the easiest to turn, you know.  They have so few mental resources to withstand the punishment,” he added gently.

He began to prepare an injection, letting Danilo have a good view as he loaded the chamber and moistened the tip of the needle via the plunger.  “This is Fear,” he said, holding out the syringe.  “Lord Plagueis wishes you to make its acquaintance.”  The torturer lifted the boy's chin with the hand holding the syringe.  “Don't move, or the needle will tear your artery.”

Danilo clenched his teeth as Inculcare slid the needle right into his jugular.  The plunger lowered slowly, and as it did Danilo could feel the numbing coldness of the drug flood into him, reaching right into his brain.  His heart, already beating fast, sped up even more.  Pure terror rushed into him.  He wanted to run wildly, fleeing this sick man and these monstrous surroundings.

Inculcare withdrew the needle and placed his thumb over the tiny wound, pressing down firmly on the artery.  With laran, Danilo read that the Sith was doing it to clot the wound, the blood pressure in the vessel being high enough to send blood bursting straight from the puncture. But he also knew Inculcare was pressing on the artery from the love of it, relishing the wildly beating pulse, the nearness of death as his thumb strangled the flow of blood inside its vessel.

Half a minute was all Danilo could stand of the man's pleasure, of the hand on his neck, of this clawing thing inside his veins.  He fled his body, throwing his mind straight into the Overworld.

-oOo-

He drifted for some unspecified time, feeling the pounding heartbeat of his body fade.  This was not the grey formlessness he was used to.  Here in outer space the Overworld was truly dark.  He became aware that droplets of colored light were slowly drifting around him, and understood these to be nearby crew members. 

He began to search for Catriona.  The Ardais gift had a knack for sorting very quickly through large quantities of minds.  Danilo often wondered how he could stand on top of Comyn Castle looking down on a crowd and spot the dangerous or crazy man almost immediately, though it was a helpful trait for a paxman to have.  He was never certain if he was unconsciously looking for preexisting patterns, or if the dona really did rummage through everyone's minds that quickly.  His scanning was always done in a blur.

Nonetheless, he was having trouble now.  /She must be here.  I know her mind-touch.  I ought to be able to locate her./ 

Alien ramblings flew through his mind.  -Bored with monitoring this Federation starship--thick wadding, pain like biting down on a hot iron--unknown to our mineralogy--his next arrival, then what--kill her now, complete my unattachment training--would rather lightsaber one of my own fingers off than--sick of this voyage.-

/Damn it. I'm a catalyst telepath and she's an Aillard.  I ought to be able to recognize her dona, at least.  She should be the only Aillard on this ship, bright and obvious to my eye./

Then he saw a droplet with a series of muddied strands inside it.  He probed the droplet and found the Aillard dona warped and polluted, her channels a mess.  No wonder he hadn't recognized her laran.  She had been raped.  A keeper's channels had to be absolutely pristine to handle the vast loads of power used in matrix circle work. If Catriona tried to use her talent in full she'd kill herself from mis-flow of laran, burning up inside like charcoal.  Even a lesser exertion might injure her badly.  He could clear her channels, but until all signs of the rape had been eradicated from her body her channels would start to backflow and become muddy again.  Nonetheless, even a temporary mending might help.  The Aillard dona would be very useful in attempting to escape. 

He tried to start the clearing.  -Strange lethargy, confused, sore, sleepy, unaware.-  It wrapped all around him, clinging and dragging him down.  Danilo started to lose consciousness as he merged with her.  With a violent effort he jerked himself away.  /I can't do it.  She has to be free of the drugs before I can clear her channels.  What else?  Can I bring her into the Overworld?/ 

They'd trained him at Corandolis to fetch persons lost in the Overworld.  A child ill with threshold sickness sometimes went wandering there, but transporting someone else into the Overworld was a very different task.  He had no idea how to achieve it.  Your own will was required to leave your body.

He touched the edges of her laran and pulled hard.  A terrific strain built up in her channels as he dragged at her.  /I must stop.  This will kill her.  A soul was not meant to be torn from a body./ 

Desperately, he cast about.  Even if he could find Darkover, the planet must be so far away it would be impossible for his laran to bridge the gap.  /Could I contact a passing spaceship?  Are any close enough?  Would a Terranan believe me if I spoke to him or only think himself insane?/

Finding a spaceship out here would be like looking for a single speck of dust.

/Wait.  What was that mind I found earlier, thinking about 'monitoring this Federation starship?'/

He felt through the crewmen again.  Finding the man, he tried to sight along through the viewscreen with his laran discovered a faint smudge the size of a fingertip held at a distance, filled with light-colored dust-motes.  Four of the motes seemed brighter than the others, and one of them was familiar. 

Danilo threw his mind towards the mote.  A warning came from his distant, laboring body as he strained for the other ship.  If he became too exhausted he'd crash right back into his skin.  There was a dangerous humming in his head as his body burned through its stores of energy like a forest fire.  The mote brightened to a tiny pinpoint of light, and he let out a wild mental scream. 

-REGIS!-

-oOo-

Danilo's call was faint yet unmistakable.  This was no ordinary telepathic communication, Regis knew.  Danilo sounded like he was in the Overworld.  But how had he managed to reach all the way into outer space?

“Excuse me,” Regis said to the others.  “I must answer my friend.  I will appear to be in a coma, but do not worry.  I will be fine.  Please do not interrupt the contact.”  It was highly embarrassing for the heir to Hastur to just plop himself down on the floor, but that is what it looked like the heir to Hastur must do.  Regis chose a spot in front of the helmsmen's console and lay down, clasping his matrix in his hands.  A curious circle of faces gathered around him.  Both of the Jedi had strolled over, as had the Captain and Mr. Spock.  Sulu and Chekov were peering around the console.  “Could you not do that?” said Regis tersely.  “It is distracting.” 

The little cluster shifted aside. Obi-wan raised a hand to cover a smile.  As Regis sank into the Overworld, he thought he heard a few coughs that sounded like suppressed laughter.

-Dani?-

Danilo's cries were not coming from Darkover, Regis realized with amazement.  They were coming from space itself.  How could this be?  Neither he nor Danilo had particularly strong laran.  Their donas, fortunately, were another matter. 

-Merge donas!- Regis shouted in reply.  This was the only way they would be able to maintain contact.

The Ardais gift boosted the telepathy of others, and the Hastur gift, that mysterious thing, had a special affinity for matrices.  When Regis saw the tiny, starlike glitter of Danilo's matrix, his dona lunged for it in a way that made no sense at all to its owner, cutting through space by its own shortcut to seize the jewel.  The next instant Regis felt the mind of his friend.

-Exhaustion/relief/longing/afraid.-

-Rest, now.  Let me maintain the link.- 

Danilo was too weary to reply.  Regis lent him strength, and gradually Danilo stirred.  A touch sank into Regis, communicating all in a blur.

-Hali/Catriona/Kidnapping/Sith/Spaceship/Drugs/Tests/Coercion/Questions.-

The shock of knowing was great.  A boiling rush of fury swept Regis, and he fought to control himself.  He could do nothing if he lost contact with Danilo.

Their position shifted as Regis leapt them across the gap.  -Is this where you are?-  Regis asked, gazing down at the Raptor.

-Yes.-

Regis saw the ship differently than Danilo.  The triangular battlecruiser had a distinct outline, and he could see thousands of faint forms of men and droids stacked in layers on top of each other, with a tower rising from the rear of the ship.  Across the top of the hull was a long raised section lined by protective batteries, and in this part he saw two bright star-pointed matrices.

-That's where Catriona is.-

In an instant they were above her, and Danilo showed Regis the mental picture of her ruined channels.  -I tried to wake her and failed.  If I could bring her to the Overworld it would give protection to her mind, if not her body.-

-I can do it.-

-What?  How?-

Regis wrapped his ghostly hand around Catriona's matrix, and pulled.

An instant later Catriona's essence stood before them.  Her form was almost solid to the mind's eye, for a keeper's laran was a very strong presence in the Overworld. 

-Danilo?  Who is this?-

Danilo explained in a blur of thought.  It must have been her keeper's training, because she did not react to the news of her kidnapping the way Danilo expected her to.  She grew angry, but her mind remained calculating.  -I thank you both.  Keepers at Hali are not chosen solely for their laran.  We must face danger every day in the energon rings, and courage is of equal importance to Domna Ysabet.  No keeper is easily daunted.  Dom Regis, we must join strength together.-

For an instant Catriona took the weight of the link as a keeper did, and Danilo felt the red flash inside her channels and shouted. 

-NO!-

The link shifted, Regis seizing the pole of it. 

-You cannot do this,- Danilo warned Catriona.  -It will mean your death.-

Catriona looked down at her body.  A bitter feeling surged across the link as she understood. 

-I am sorry,- said Danilo.

-As am I,- Regis added.  -We will rescue you, I swear.  I am on a nearby Federation starship called the Enterprise, and they are outfitted for war.- 

-I see I am impaired.-  There was a mental tightening in the thought from Catriona, a cold blaze of anger.  -I can still use some of my talent, if only to a lesser degree.-

She knelt down beside her body, doing something so minute with the Aillard gift that neither Danilo nor Regis could see what it was. 

-I am tearing apart the molecules of the drugs they have injected into me to make them harmless.  This is one component of the training our healers receive.  Nor will I suffer from the effects of his disgusting seed.  As for my body, I can keep that unconscious as long as I have to.  Regis, what do you need for the rescue?-

-A location the others can find.-

-Will this help?-

They saw a clear picture inside the Interrogation Center, which shifted to the outside hallway.

Catriona saw the ship more solidly than either of them, an aspect of her Aillard gift.  The symbols A1-AS15 entered Regis' mind.

-I think so.  Dani, you must be in a room just off where Catriona is.-

The reply was a muffled whisper. -Yes.-

-What is wrong?-  Regis asked.  -Are you hurt?-

-They are trying to wake me.-

Regis, holding the pole of the link, shifted them all to the location he sensed.  He was homing in on Danilo's matrix.  It was a peculiarity of the Hastur gift that he saw matrices more clearly than people.

Danilo was lying in a cell.  A man was bent over him, probing at the velvet bag around his neck.

-NO!-  Regis shouted.  He lashed out through Danilo's matrix at the man, the very instant Danilo screamed.

-oOo-

“My lord?  He's in a coma.”  Inculcare could not suppress faint surprise.  “The serum should not produce such a reaction.”

“He's using a Force trick to escape you.  I have summoned Darth Tyranus.  He has often revived prisoners from such.”

“My lord, I am fully capable--”

“But Darth Tyranus is far more experienced.”

Inculcare fell silent.  Lord Plagueis was very good at playing one Sith off another, bestowing favor one moment then yanking it away without warning. 

At the summons, Tyranus made his artificially brisk way out of the Medical bay.  With a full dose of painkillers he thought he could face entering Inculcare's lair, even though his swollen jaw had reached its puffiest apex.  The wadding installed to stop the bleeding made his cheeks bulge comically, but neither Inculcare nor Plagueis were going to be allowed the chance to gloat over any sign of emotional weakness.  His self-control was too great for that.  When he entered the cell, he found Danilo lying sprawled on a bunk with Inculcare standing over the boy. 

“Darth Tyranus,” said Plagueis from the wall.  “The boy has managed to escape us. You have had much experience in breaking Force blocks.  Wake him.”

Tyranus grinned, though it was still a little painful.  “My lord, I have just the technique in mind.  My colleague needs to stand aside.”  With a strong sense of satisfaction, the Sith lord drew out the matrix bag by its neckcords.  He eased the strings open, pulled aside a corner of the insulating silk, and touched the glowing blue jewel with a greedy finger.  He'd been longing to do this. 

Danilo screamed horribly.  The boy's body convulsed and a moment later he was opening his eyes and sobbing, streaming tears of pain.   

As for Tyranus, he flew spinning across the room and crashed right into Plagueis' face.  For a long moment Tyranus was plastered against the image of Plagueis as if embracing his overlord with fawning and obscene ardor, winded and befuddled by the force of the blow, the object of Inculcare's obnoxious scrutiny.  His injured mouth rang from the impact and his finger burned like he'd used it to stir hot coals. 

“Move,” barked Plagueis, “you are blocking my view.” 

Tyranus stumbled aside.  Everyone in this room needed to die, especially the Dark Lord of the Sith.

Danilo lay nauseous from the shock of having his matrix touched.  It felt like he'd taken a punch in every square inch of his body.  Just when the initial pain began to die and the flashing lights clear from his vision, the fear came surging back.  The drug was still working, but this time he was a slave to it, trembling all over. 

A hand came down on his shoulder as Inculcare sat beside him and pulled Danilo into his arms.  “You poor, poor boy,” said Inculcare.  His fingertips ran through Danilo's hair.  Mindlessly, Danilo turned towards the man who had done this to him, desperate for any semblance of comfort, anything to make the fear stop.  He felt Inculcare's finger caressing his face, and knew he'd lost every scrap of sanity.  An animal terror gripped him, with an animal's reasoning.  He could not force himself away.  He knew he was on the verge of breaking and sobbed a little.  

“How cruel of you!” the torturer scolded Danilo with mock humor.  Inculcare glanced at Tyranus with a delighted smile.  “Do you understand now, my colleague, why I must be allowed to gain all knowledge necessary to perfect my methods?  Who would have guessed he could fling you across the room?  You certainly didn't.”  Inculcare stroked Danilo's tear-dampened face with gentle hands.  “My lord,” Inculcare said to the screens, “I do not think it will be long before he becomes our servant.”

Then Danilo felt it.  There was a pressure against his mind akin to the laran forcing Dyan had used against him, but this time he felt his will weakening from terror, and was appalled.   

“How long is your estimate?” said Plagueis.

“A day or so, maybe,” Inculcare replied softly.  “Danilo, did you know your little friend Catriona was raped by me less than an hour ago?  Does this bother you?”

Danilo could not speak.  He had lost all ability to concentrate and was staring mindlessly at Inculcare's face. 

-I can see that it does.-

Inculcare's mind was forcing into his own, the other's will pushing hard against his. 

-What a striking discovery.  A learned vulnerability, well-worn and well-trodden, caused by repeated, violent mental invasion.-

An image of Dyan Ardais flashed through the minds of both.  Inculcare found the old horror,  the shatterpoint in the boy's mental defenses.   

-This is the key that opens the lock.  I know the method, now.-

“And does this sort of violation bother you?”  Inculcare said aloud.  He leaned closer, and kissed Danilo on the boy's taut lips.  Force command caused the boy to relax away from the shock of physical rigidity and accept the intrusion, even respond a little, and Inculcare was pleased.  All of Danilo's mental barriers crumpled into fragments as the torturer's grip tightened over his will.  Breaking the kiss, Inculcare caressed Danilo's hair again.

“I have positive results sooner than expected, my lord.  All his resistance has vanished, and Force corruption can now be used against him.  Does his personality need alteration as well?  Brainwashing will take longer, I warn.” 

“Unnecessary, as long as you can control him,” said Plagueis without emotion.  His image winked off the wall screen.

Tyranus let out a strangled gurgle of disgust.  “Honestly, Inculcare, couldn't you wait until you were alone with him?” he asked in pained tones. 

“You're just annoyed because I broke him faster than you,” replied Inculcare with good humor.  “You never would have thought of kissing him to break him.  You're not that inventive.”

“From whence comes this interest in boys?” asked Tyranus mockingly.

“I don't have one.  I'm interested in attaining power over others--by any means necessary.”  He rested his hand on the velvet bag containing the matrix, and to Danilo it felt like the hand was gripping his own pounding heart.  He shut his eyes a moment, trying to force Inculcare's mind away from his. 

“Impossible.”

Inculcare spoke the word against Danilo's lips the same moment Danilo thought it, and the boy's eyes shot open.  He turned away in humiliation.

“Up.  We're going to see Catriona.” 

As Danilo was led trembling out of the cell, he felt the dual thought, half desperate, half amused and ironic.

-Muster a second wind of resistance?-

He struggled to pull his merged thoughts away from his captor's.

-It won't work,- came the single thought, both despairing and jeering.

-oOo-

Regis was beside himself with fury as he watched from the Overworld. 

-You must hurry, Dom Regis.  I will protect Danilo as much as I can,- Catriona told him.

-I SWEAR ON MY LIFE I will rescue you both.-

Without Danilo to boost their donas, the link to Catriona was fraying.  He was pulling away from her, being dragged back into his body.  When he woke on board the Enterprise every one of his muscles was knotted tight, and his face and hands were sweat-soaked.

“I was about to ask Mr. Spock to contact you anyway,” Kirk said as he leaned over Regis.  “You looked like you were having a heart attack.  Doctor McCoy says your blood pressure, heart, and adrenals were all going like--”

Regis gave a wordless cry and the Captain broke off.  Regis put his matrix away with shaking hands and sat up, signaling for Qui-gon to approach.  When the Jedi was in range, the Darkovan clamped down on his arm and seized Kirk with his other hand, flooding their minds with the knowledge of what he'd seen.

-oOo-