Ghost of a Smile

Chapter Sixteen

Nur – Fortress Inquisitorius – Holding Cells

Ezra had not gotten any real sleep that night, instead he had continued to meditate. Continued to balance to the Force as much as possible to protect the other teens from their own maddening terror. No sunlight streamed into the prison room but the dim overhead lights brightened a hair back to what Ezra saw when he was escorted into the prison the day before.

He opened his eyes, still sitting. He looked towards the cell across from his where he had seen the girl. Ezra gave a slight smile when he realized she was no longer rocking back and forth in insanity, but was dozing against the hexagonal wall.

Ezra Bridger rose from his seat and walked forward until he was a breath away from the ray shield. As far as his vantage point showed him, he was the only one who had risen, or was even awake. That was about to change.

Ezra felt a dark presence approaching. It wasn't as strong as Vader, more like the Force signature of an Inquisitor. What worried Ezra was the Force moved around this presence like that of a creature about to hurt someone. He knew the peace he had created was about to abruptly end. The large door they had come through yesterday opened and the Twelfth Brother marched in, accompanied by two purge troopers.

The acolytes heard the door and leaped to their feet in fear. Wordlessly, the Inquisitor turned off the shield of one of the acolyte's cells on the ground floor and dragged him by the throat out onto the torture chair. Ezra recognized him; it was the brown-haired boy that had already shown command of the force when he choked Admiral Valhoun.

The troopers secured the restraints while Twelfth looked up at the others' cells, "I'm feeling nice today. I'm even offering a special deal: torture another, you get one half off." He chuckled to himself. "One of you volunteer to torture him yourself and one acolyte of your choosing, including yourself, if that's who you chose, will only get tortured half as bad as normal."

None of the acolytes moved, they were all too shocked at what they were hearing.

"No takers? Hmm. Oh well, I'll just have to run it again some other time." Twelfth turned toward the purge troopers, "Let's begin, then."

At thirty minutes a person and ten acolytes, screams echoed the prison cells for the next five hours. Ezra was the last to go. Because he was a Jedi, the troopers upped the voltage of the shocks and the volatility of the non-shock treatments on him.

Ezra didn't know what was worse, the pain he felt, or watching and listening to the pain the other's felt and not being able to do anything about it. It was only his first day here and he already had to fight the instinct to use the dark side to save these kids and end the Inquisitor.

Ezra was carried off the chair and dumped down on the platform in front of it. He didn't move for several minutes, nor did he hear anything. He was only brought back into consciousness when he felt a soft and caring hand on his shoulder, trying to turn him gently over from on his stomach to on his back. Way too soft for an Inquisitor or a purge trooper, he thought. He pried his eyes open and found himself looking at the same girl he saw from the cell across his. She was pale and her hair was dark, nearly black. Her eyes were large and blue, like his.

"What? What's happening?" He asked, or really, he tried to. It came out more like, "Vuh? Vuh [unintelligible]?"

The girl sighed and smiled in relief, "You're alright. But you may want to try that sentence again in a minute."

Ezra found he couldn't sit up all the way but he managed to prop up on his elbow next to the sitting girl, "What's happening?" This time it was clear.