The New Adventures of Nomi Darklighter

Chapter 40 - A failed Mission

Ten standard days later Poe Dameron came back to the base. After reporting to General Organa about the outcome of his mission, he went to Nomi and Dash's barrack.

As Nomi opened the door when he had knocked, she was startled. Dameron had a wound under his right eye, a bloody lower lip, dark circles under his eyes, and clotted blood on his left temple. He really didn't look good and Nomi felt that he was not doing well either.
"Can I speak with you, Nomi?"
The Jedi stepped aside. "Of course. Come in, Poe."
The Commander went slowly to the table and sat on one of the folding chairs in front of the table, groaning of pain. When Nomi had also sat down, he began to speak: "I've already reported General Organa, but I would also like to talk to you about my mission to Jakku."
He paused to collect himself. "The mission failed, Nomi. When I received the data store from Lor San Tekka which you had given him on behalf of Master Skywalker, First Order troop carriers suddenly landed near the village. The stormtroopers attacked immediately and destroyed the engine of my X-wing. The data store I've given BB-8 for safe-keeping and sent it far away, so that it doesn't fall into the hands of the First Order. Then I grabbed my blaster rifle and went for cover nearby. I shot at the stormtroopers and killed some, but it was no use.
The villagers were round-up at the evaporator cistern.
Finally, a shuttle landed from which a black-clad, masked man stepped out. The troopers hauled Lor San Tekka before him. The old man said something to the masked man, which I could not understand because of the distance.
Suddenly the man activated a lightsaber and killed Lor San Tekka. And then I did a great stupidity, Nomi. I broke cover and fired at the killer. You won't believe it, the shot stopped in mid-air and I couldn't move.
Then came two troopers, who dragged me to their leader. They dashed me before him to the ground and he knelt down in front of me. He knew about the map and let them search me. When they found nothing, they took me to a troop transport. I was just on the access ramp when the order was given to kill all villagers. Why did they do this, Nomi?"

The Jedi looked at Poe in horror. The First Order was apparently just as cruel as once the Empire.
Dameron continued with his report: " They brought me to the detention block aboard a star destroyer. With my hands still shackled, they threw me into a cell. I regretted to not being able to swallow the poison capsule, Nomi.
A little later the cell door opened and two stormtroopers came in. One of them brutally yanked me up at my tied hands. They drove me through a long passage. When I slowed down, I got a blow in the knee pit with the blaster rifle, which caused me to stumble. Again they brutally yanked me up at my tied hands. I guessed that what was laying ahead of me would be much worse." Poe interrupted his narrative again. "Do you have anything to drink, Nomi? My throat is quite dry."

The Jedi took a Corellian brandy and poured a glass for Dameron. "That will do you good, I think."
Dameron looked grateful at her and took a sip before he continued talking. "When we finally arrived at the destination, the stormtroopers pushed me into a room that was dominated by a strange looking apparatus. One of the stormtroopers untied my handcuffs and together they dragged me, despite my desperate resistance, onto the apparatus and strapped me in. Then they left me alone and closed the door behind them.
When the door opened again, a man dressed in an officer's uniform, entered the room. Behind him floated an Imperial interrogation droid. I'll spare you the details of the torture, Nomi. The officer asked again and again for the map. And with every time the pain he inflicted on me grew stronger. Finally, I must have lost consciousness because I woke up in the arrest cell. My head ached terribly and I tasted blood in my mouth. When I raised my bound hands and swept my face, I felt a wound under my right eye. Soon I had lost track of time, and I no longer knew how often they had brought me out of my cell and tortured me."

Again he interrupted his narrative to drink a sip of brandy. "Then they had not even bothered to take me back to the cell. They had simply left me in the torture chair, in a half-lying position. I felt blood running down the left side of my face.
When the door of the room opened, I expected to see one of my well-known tormentors. But there was another who entered the room. It was the black-clad and masked man who had been in command of the attack on the village at the Kelvin Ridge.
He approached and asked as if to mock me whether I was comfortable. It seemed that he knew exactly who I am. Then he said: 'I'm impressed. No one has been able to get out of you, what you did with the map.'
I didn't want to show any weakness despite my pain, Nomi, and replied: 'Maybe you rethink the technique.'
Suddenly the black-clad man raised his hand and I felt an eerie pressure when my head was pushed back. 'Where is it?'
I could hardly swallow through the overstretched neck and struggled painfully for breath. Desperately I struggled against it. Then the pressure in my throat finally ceased. But suddenly I felt something and almost throw up. Something, no someone, had penetrated my mind. This tentative search with invisible fingers in my brain made me almost mad, Nomi and I screamed in my agony. Before I fully lost consciousness, I heard my tormentor say to a red-haired officer that he now knew where the map is. They now had no reason to leave me alive."