Secrets
The torture of Mara Jade
A Star Wars story for DarkJedi
By Marauder
It was a place like none other. Coruscant, former capitol planet of the empire, was regarded by most sane people as an abominable place. Layers upon layers of architectural nightmares covered its surface, each one set upon the dwellings below it, factories interlacing with offices, built upon residential blocks... The uppermost layers of the planet were incredibly posh, luxurious dwellings and accommodations, tastefully set apart by artificially sustained parks and establishments catering to all conceivable pleasures of the mind as well as the flesh. The deeper one got, however, the less one was inclined to believe that this hive of rooms and superstructures had been built, but rather grown, a maze of plasticrete and pseudoglass, creaking under the tension generated by gravity, a jumble of rooms, some distorted by the incredible weight put upon them. Only insane or driven beings would venture into its bowels, and even they would hesitate to enter the lowest levels, filled with unspeakable horrors, derelict mutants thriving upon the toxic waste drizzling down from broken sewage, and themselves the prey of monstrosities from the most inhospitable regions of space... Yet the search party that was now creeping through a corridor was by no means insane. They followed a hint discovered in an ancient data store, looking for a specific room located deep below the former palace of an imperial inquisitor. When they discovered the door, a massive metal slab labeled "Special Interrogation room 1", cast in sharp relief by their helmet lights, their tension gave way to impulses of joy.
Cerces Specter was the leader of the party. She pressed the touch sensitive panel besides the doorframe, and hissed with surprise as the massive block of reinforced titanium lifted effortlessly into the ceiling without so much as a creak. The room inside was starkly lit. "So it is true," she whispered into her headphone in awe. "This room has its own power source." The old file had indicated that the interrogation room had been hooked up to a micro-fusion reactor set into the massive foundations of the palace, but it was still awe-inspiring to actually find it working. The reactor had kept the room in perfect condition, not by itself, of course, but by providing power for the multitude of service droids that now scampered into their wall ports, eager to get out of the way of the entering party. The discoverers removed their helmets, showing all five of them to be female, all human, all young and beautiful. Cerces was the tallest of them, and the most striking. Her long black hair fell down her black body armor, now that the insectoid-looking helmet had been removed, and her narrow, serious, ageless face was framed by it. She turned around to the other members, addressing one with short blonde hair and an edgy face. "Rayne, check the equipment." She the turned to identical twins with red hair down to their shoulders and almost triangular faces, the shortest of the party. "K'Laer, P'Tran - secure the perimeter." The two clones nodded and went out the door again, closing it behind them. Cerces faced the last woman, who's shaved head was decorated with unsettling tattoos of circuitry, and who had a small scar running down her left cheek. "Kryss, contact basecamp. We found it. Tell them to set the trap." Kryss grinned and nodded, displaying teeth filed into points. She put her helmet back on, replacing the strange, savage beauty of her head once more with the inhuman design of her armor, to use the integrated communications array. Cerces looked around at the equipment Rayne was busy checking. Rayne gave her a comforting wink. Everything was in order. This would work. Karrde would pay up. No-one crossed Cerces' employer and got away with it.
Mara Jade, former personal assassin of the emperor himself, now freelancing mercenary and full time Jedi Knight, engaged to Luke Skywalker himself, glided through the dark corridors of the planet effortlessly, utilizing every shadow, making no discernible sound. Her lithe 5'4'' body in its gray catsuit flowed like quicksilver around corners, her long, red hair shifted with the athletic movements, and the handle of the lightsaber in her hand was a reassuring weight, promising swift death to those who should dare to cross her. Her large, green eyes were now narrow slits, as she scanned the hallways for any sign of an ambush, slowly closing in on her target. The informer had hinted at an ancient Jedi artifact hidden somewhere beneath the old palace of the inquisition, something hidden within Coruscant's bowels, kept in a storage hold now forgotten. She was going to recover it. It would make a perfect wedding gift. She smiled when she visualized Luke's face once she presented him with it... whatever it turned out to be. Mara rounded another corner. Almost there now... Slowly, she approached the rusted orifice of the storage area's door, dropping into a crouch, and entered the dank darkness carefully. Suddenly she felt the flow of the Force through her shifting. A disturbance lay ahead. Alarmed, Mara gripped the saber tightly, and its fluorescent blade shot out, casting a ghostly shimmer on her surroundings, illuminating five humanoid shapes and various piles of decrepit machinery. She had just enough time to be startled, seeing the five armored shapes surrounding her, when suddenly the heaps of junk began to move and stood up, revealing themselves as ancient sentry droids. Loud clamor ensued as pieces of corroded armor fell away from the bulky chassis', and their optical sensors came to a glowing red life with an audible hum. Mara whipped around to leave the room, saw that a forcefield had sealed the door, and continued her turning motion, adding a fast sidestep and extending her weapon hand. Her saber went cleanly through one of the droids, cutting it neatly in half. She exploded into a flurry of motions, cutting and slashing with the buzzing blade, but she didn't stand a chance against the odds stacked against her. She felt something strike her back, and as her vision blurred she recognized it as a stun ray. Mara Jade collapsed to the floor, wrecking one last droid with a final swipe of her arm and the blade, and lay still. The five armored assailants nodded, pleased. Cerces removed her helmet, shaking her hair. She turned to the droids. "Take her to the interrogation chamber." As the droids picked up the unconscious Jedi Knight, the women preceded them, eager to begin their task.
Mara awakened to the sound of humming machines, and to a murderous headache, telltale sign of a point blank hit with a stun weapon. She opened her eyes, and the first thing she saw was the multi armed medidroid hanging from a mechanical scaffolding on the ceiling above her. She tensed, ready to jump up, but she figured she'd be immobilized, and minute movements proved this to be true. Her head was free, however, and she assessed her surroundings quickly. She was in a large chamber, all surfaces completely white, consisting of some sort of industrial strength ceraplast, from the solid looks of them. Various strange machines were aligned along the walls. She herself was securely strapped into a framework of straps and mechanical arms, surrounding her from all sides, preventing any movement but the turning of her head. She had been stripped to her underwear, short, black stretch garments. Ad she noticed the people in the room with her. Five women, clad in gray jumpsuits and combat boots, having discarded their strange armor in one of the corners. And the sentry droids were also there, standing silently at a wall, all six of them powered down. Mara took a deep breath. These women obviously had no idea whom they'd just captured. She closed her eyes again, concentrating, extending her mind to send a psychic call for help through her talents with the Force... And recoiled as if she'd hit an electrical fence. Something was disturbing the Force in this room, completely disrupting her abilities ! She opened her eyes again, just in time to see one of her captors approach her with a placid face. "Greetings, Mara Jade," the woman said plainly. "Let me explain to you why we have brought you here." Mara stared at her defiantly. "You should pray that someone finds you here and frees me," she growled. "Because you'll be very sorry if I have to escape by myself." The woman smiled a little at this. "I figure that we are perfectly safe from detection. However, all we want is one simple answer. Give it to us, and we will release you." Mara diverted her gaze to the ceiling, trying not to notice the mechanical entity above her with its massive array of arms. "You won't get anything from me." The interrogator nodded. "That's what we expected to hear. However, I still don't see why you shouldn't simply tell us what we want to know. Where is Talon Karrde's main base of operations located ?" Mara whipped her head around to face the woman once more. "I told you you won't hear a thing from me, especially not that !" she spat defiantly. The woman raised an eyebrow. "Why risk your wellbeing for a smuggler ?" Mara just continued glaring. The woman shrugged. "Well, we anticipated you to be less than forthcoming, and that's why we brought you here. You see, this is an old interrogation room, created be the Empire specifically to question Jedi Knights." She pointed at the machines on the wall. "These devices disturb the Force in such a manner that no Jedi Powers can be used while their wielder is confined here. And this droid," she pointed to the mechanical spider hanging from the ceiling, "is equipped with sensors and scanners to discover the specific weaknesses of anyone brought here for interrogation, which would be you. And above and beyond that, "she continued, "it is perfectly capable of performing... inquisitive surgery... on any subject, and keep it alive for years on end. So you see, it's no use trying to oppose us. Give us what we want, and you'll save yourself a lot of discomfort." Mara Jade had turned slightly paler than before, but she had been taught to withstand any amount of pain in her imperial training. She could bear any torture her captors could device... or so she thought. "Curses upon you and your entire diseased breed," was all she said with intense loathing. The woman retreated. "As you wish. Rayne ?" One of the other women did something with one of the machines on the walls, and the cybernetic arms above Mara lowered down and began running glowing scanners all over her body, while at the same time the framework that held her lifted her up, turning her on her back, and spreading her out until she was hanging spread eagle in midair. One of the arms pointed something looking like a laser gun at her forehead, and its beam began scanning her mind. She moved her head as much as she could, but the brain probe was not so easily deflected. The woman called Rayne was muttering something, reading the results of the machine... Then the arms retracted. Mara could hear some incredulous whisperings, and then the leader of her captors approached her once more. She looked... amused ? "It seems you are capable of withstanding almost infinite amounts of pain," she remarked, "but we have also found a weakness. Are you sure you don't want to cooperate, rather than forcing us to exploit it ?" Mara lifted her head to look at the woman. "Do your worst. You're all about to die anyway." The woman grinned at this. "But maybe I should inform you of what we found. You see, the scans show your feet to be extremely sensitive..." Mara just let her hang down once more, frowning. Of course her feet were sensitive, but so what ? Pain was pain, after all... "...to tickling." The captive Jedi's head flew up, her eyes went wide with disbelief. "So it would appear that we have to tickle your bare feet for as long as it takes to extract the information we seek," the woman continued, unfazed. Mara Jade could not believe it. They actually expected her to break from something like this playful mockery of torture ? That simply had to be a joke... The woman extended her index finger and brought it close to Mara's left sole, looking at its flawless beauty while preparing for the assault... It was a size six, slender, with delicate toes, a medium, smooth arch, slightly pink on the padded areas, a creamy white under the toes and in the arch... It looked very soft and highly sensitive to the torturer. Mara let her head hang once more. She started to say something, but then the finger touched down, and she closed her mouth. It felt like... like nothing she had ever felt before ! She had never been tickled in her entire life ! Least of all while tied up helplessly ! With a deep breath, the helpless Jedi prepared her resistance, strengthening her willpower, biting back the laughter building inside her as the woman slowly dragged her finger up the soft sole...
Mara shook her head, closed her eyes and summoned every bit of inner strength to be able to bear the horrible feeling the single finger roaming around her sole caused her. She began breathing rapidly, and just as her resistance was about to break, just as the first wave of laughter was forcing its way up through her larynx, the slow, tickling strokes stopped. "It seems you are aware of what we have in store for you now, Mara. Care to reconsider your denial ?" Cerces was walking around the table now, standing right beside her captive. Mara took one last deep breath, opening her eyes again, and looked at the woman again with fury blazing in her eyes. "I'd rather die than give you any information about Karrde !" Cerces shrugged. "That means more tickling. You know that." "Do your worst. You're not going to break me with a bit of foot play !" hissed the Jedi, causing Cerces to grin maliciously. "No, not a bit of foot play, but tickle torture for days on end... how does that sound to you ?" Mara suppressed a shudder. Still, she was sure she could take it. After all, it was just a question of adjusting to a new feeling of discomfort... Cerces waved at two of the other women. "P'Tran and K'Laer, take your places !" she called to them. The twins strolled over to the motionless feet of the bound Jedi, their faces split by mischievous smiles. Cerces motioned them to start, turning to face Mara once more - "Now, tell me the location of Talon Karrde's base of operations." While the two women at her feet got ready for their task, threateningly extending their fingers towards her helpless peds, Mara tried to concentrate on her hatred and fury, skirting dangerously close to the temptations of the Dark Side. She was not going to give in to it, but the inner conflict took her mind off the impending torments. Her resolution crumbled, however, when the women started to wriggle their fingers bare microns away from her sensitive skin, making rapid tickling motions without really touching her feet yet. Mara could almost feel the tickling already, and the anticipation was driving her nuts. She faced Cerces to get her mind away from the sight and to prevent them from tormenting her with her imagination. "I'm not telling you where he is, I told you already !" she said, willing her voice to sound confident. "You're wasting your time heeEEEEEHEHEHEHEHEHE !!!" This time it wasn't just gentle teasing, the two women had begun tickling their helpless targets with full force and no mercy. They fluttered the fingers of one hand up and down the soles, scratching and grazing the skin with lightning swift motions, while stroking around the top of the foot, under the toes, and over the silky skin on top again with the other hand. Mara lost it completely, she had expected anything like this, it was the single most horrible feeling she had ever experienced, nothing had prepared her for this ! "AHAHAHAHAHA !!! YAAAHAHAHAHA !!! AAAAAH ! AHHH !!! AAHAHAHAHAHAHAH !!! AHAAHAHEHEHEHEHEHE !!! EEEHEHEHEHE !!! YAAAARGH !" she screamed with wild laughter, thrashing her head from side to side, her eyes squeezed shut, her hair whipping around her like a fiery blaze flickering in a massive storm... and the two women had just started ! They kept up the tickling of the wildly flailing feet, sometimes scribbling their fingernails up the sides of the feet, starting behind the heel and slowly working their way to the top of the feet, tickling mercilessly down from the ankle to the top of the toes, then retracing the motion with one hand while letting the other one scratch down over the toes and then down the sole, making little sideways notion to ensure that every square inch of the squirming, helpless, soft foot got its fair share of ticklish stimulation... "Oh, oh, OHOHOHOHOHAHAHAHA (gasp)" Mara bit back the laughter again, trying to subdue it, taking short, sharp breaths through clenched teeth... "Nnng... GnnNNNN... (gasp) Annng... HnnnnGGGG... (gasp) Argh... NNNNG !!! (grunt) Ack ARGH ! (pant pant pant) YAAAHAHAHARGH !!! ARGH !!! (snort) NGG... ack !!! ARGH !!! (pant pant) NNNNN... GRRMMMPF..." They tickled and tickled, increasing their speed, and they didn't let up for almost half an hour. Mara lost it again and was once more in stitches, helplessly screaming with forced laughter, horrified at the sheer intensity of the torture... "GAAHAHAHAHAA !!! YAHAHAHARGH !!! AHAAHAHAHAHAHA !!! NYEEEHEHEHEHAHAHAHAHARGH !!! HAHAHAHAHAHA !!!! AAAHAHAHAHA !!! (pant pant) Ngh Ngh NgGGGGGG ARGH AAAAAACK AAAHAHAHAHAHA !!! GnnNNNNEEEHEHEHEHEHEHE !!!" She still denied the torturers the pleasure of hearing her beg for mercy, of breaking her... She would not be broken ! Instead, she gave in to the feelings of ticklish agony, trying to increase them, hoping to black out... The tickling increased as the last of her mental shields collapsed, and became truly, utterly unbearable. She felt the dark mists of unconsciousness approaching, but was suddenly, horribly aware of a prick in her left arm, and then her senses sharpened to incredible awareness, including, lamentably, her sense of touch... She ripped her eyes open, feeling the tickling increase to unconceivable levels, and let out a long, shrill scream, seeing the arm of the medidroid extracting its syringe from her arm, feeling the women tickling all over her feet, seeing their faces alight with sadistic glee, aware of the laughter of the other women who enjoyed watching the strong Jedi Knight dissolve into a bundle of laughing, screaming, squirming ticklish flesh, their eyes dancing from her flexing, tortured feet with the scribbling, dancing fingers all over them to her distorted, laughing face... "It seems you notice now how bad it will be, Jedi," said Cerces with a low chuckle. "We will simply keep up tickling your feet for as long as it takes. There are five of us, as you noticed, and we can keep this up around the clock, maybe, just maybe, granting you a rest period once in a while... And, as you noticed, the automatic medic above you will take care that you neither faint nor die on us. This could go on for months, even years, you know... We wouldn't mind. Now, once more, I implore you to save yourself from this torture ! Will you tell us where Talon Karrde is hiding ?" Mara Jade shook her head even more rapidly, screaming a defiant "NOOOHOHOHOHO !!! AAHAHAHAHAHA !!! NEHEHEHEEHVER !!! YAAAHAHAAHAHRG !!!" But inside she wondered how long she would be able to take this... she felt her resistance melting, being stripped away by the ticklish torture of her feet, and she knew she could not last forever...
The torture of Mara Jade
A Star Wars story for DarkJedi
By Marauder
It was a place like none other. Coruscant, former capitol planet of the empire, was regarded by most sane people as an abominable place. Layers upon layers of architectural nightmares covered its surface, each one set upon the dwellings below it, factories interlacing with offices, built upon residential blocks... The uppermost layers of the planet were incredibly posh, luxurious dwellings and accommodations, tastefully set apart by artificially sustained parks and establishments catering to all conceivable pleasures of the mind as well as the flesh. The deeper one got, however, the less one was inclined to believe that this hive of rooms and superstructures had been built, but rather grown, a maze of plasticrete and pseudoglass, creaking under the tension generated by gravity, a jumble of rooms, some distorted by the incredible weight put upon them. Only insane or driven beings would venture into its bowels, and even they would hesitate to enter the lowest levels, filled with unspeakable horrors, derelict mutants thriving upon the toxic waste drizzling down from broken sewage, and themselves the prey of monstrosities from the most inhospitable regions of space... Yet the search party that was now creeping through a corridor was by no means insane. They followed a hint discovered in an ancient data store, looking for a specific room located deep below the former palace of an imperial inquisitor. When they discovered the door, a massive metal slab labeled "Special Interrogation room 1", cast in sharp relief by their helmet lights, their tension gave way to impulses of joy.
Cerces Specter was the leader of the party. She pressed the touch sensitive panel besides the doorframe, and hissed with surprise as the massive block of reinforced titanium lifted effortlessly into the ceiling without so much as a creak. The room inside was starkly lit. "So it is true," she whispered into her headphone in awe. "This room has its own power source." The old file had indicated that the interrogation room had been hooked up to a micro-fusion reactor set into the massive foundations of the palace, but it was still awe-inspiring to actually find it working. The reactor had kept the room in perfect condition, not by itself, of course, but by providing power for the multitude of service droids that now scampered into their wall ports, eager to get out of the way of the entering party. The discoverers removed their helmets, showing all five of them to be female, all human, all young and beautiful. Cerces was the tallest of them, and the most striking. Her long black hair fell down her black body armor, now that the insectoid-looking helmet had been removed, and her narrow, serious, ageless face was framed by it. She turned around to the other members, addressing one with short blonde hair and an edgy face. "Rayne, check the equipment." She the turned to identical twins with red hair down to their shoulders and almost triangular faces, the shortest of the party. "K'Laer, P'Tran - secure the perimeter." The two clones nodded and went out the door again, closing it behind them. Cerces faced the last woman, who's shaved head was decorated with unsettling tattoos of circuitry, and who had a small scar running down her left cheek. "Kryss, contact basecamp. We found it. Tell them to set the trap." Kryss grinned and nodded, displaying teeth filed into points. She put her helmet back on, replacing the strange, savage beauty of her head once more with the inhuman design of her armor, to use the integrated communications array. Cerces looked around at the equipment Rayne was busy checking. Rayne gave her a comforting wink. Everything was in order. This would work. Karrde would pay up. No-one crossed Cerces' employer and got away with it.
Mara Jade, former personal assassin of the emperor himself, now freelancing mercenary and full time Jedi Knight, engaged to Luke Skywalker himself, glided through the dark corridors of the planet effortlessly, utilizing every shadow, making no discernible sound. Her lithe 5'4'' body in its gray catsuit flowed like quicksilver around corners, her long, red hair shifted with the athletic movements, and the handle of the lightsaber in her hand was a reassuring weight, promising swift death to those who should dare to cross her. Her large, green eyes were now narrow slits, as she scanned the hallways for any sign of an ambush, slowly closing in on her target. The informer had hinted at an ancient Jedi artifact hidden somewhere beneath the old palace of the inquisition, something hidden within Coruscant's bowels, kept in a storage hold now forgotten. She was going to recover it. It would make a perfect wedding gift. She smiled when she visualized Luke's face once she presented him with it... whatever it turned out to be. Mara rounded another corner. Almost there now... Slowly, she approached the rusted orifice of the storage area's door, dropping into a crouch, and entered the dank darkness carefully. Suddenly she felt the flow of the Force through her shifting. A disturbance lay ahead. Alarmed, Mara gripped the saber tightly, and its fluorescent blade shot out, casting a ghostly shimmer on her surroundings, illuminating five humanoid shapes and various piles of decrepit machinery. She had just enough time to be startled, seeing the five armored shapes surrounding her, when suddenly the heaps of junk began to move and stood up, revealing themselves as ancient sentry droids. Loud clamor ensued as pieces of corroded armor fell away from the bulky chassis', and their optical sensors came to a glowing red life with an audible hum. Mara whipped around to leave the room, saw that a forcefield had sealed the door, and continued her turning motion, adding a fast sidestep and extending her weapon hand. Her saber went cleanly through one of the droids, cutting it neatly in half. She exploded into a flurry of motions, cutting and slashing with the buzzing blade, but she didn't stand a chance against the odds stacked against her. She felt something strike her back, and as her vision blurred she recognized it as a stun ray. Mara Jade collapsed to the floor, wrecking one last droid with a final swipe of her arm and the blade, and lay still. The five armored assailants nodded, pleased. Cerces removed her helmet, shaking her hair. She turned to the droids. "Take her to the interrogation chamber." As the droids picked up the unconscious Jedi Knight, the women preceded them, eager to begin their task.
Mara awakened to the sound of humming machines, and to a murderous headache, telltale sign of a point blank hit with a stun weapon. She opened her eyes, and the first thing she saw was the multi armed medidroid hanging from a mechanical scaffolding on the ceiling above her. She tensed, ready to jump up, but she figured she'd be immobilized, and minute movements proved this to be true. Her head was free, however, and she assessed her surroundings quickly. She was in a large chamber, all surfaces completely white, consisting of some sort of industrial strength ceraplast, from the solid looks of them. Various strange machines were aligned along the walls. She herself was securely strapped into a framework of straps and mechanical arms, surrounding her from all sides, preventing any movement but the turning of her head. She had been stripped to her underwear, short, black stretch garments. Ad she noticed the people in the room with her. Five women, clad in gray jumpsuits and combat boots, having discarded their strange armor in one of the corners. And the sentry droids were also there, standing silently at a wall, all six of them powered down. Mara took a deep breath. These women obviously had no idea whom they'd just captured. She closed her eyes again, concentrating, extending her mind to send a psychic call for help through her talents with the Force... And recoiled as if she'd hit an electrical fence. Something was disturbing the Force in this room, completely disrupting her abilities ! She opened her eyes again, just in time to see one of her captors approach her with a placid face. "Greetings, Mara Jade," the woman said plainly. "Let me explain to you why we have brought you here." Mara stared at her defiantly. "You should pray that someone finds you here and frees me," she growled. "Because you'll be very sorry if I have to escape by myself." The woman smiled a little at this. "I figure that we are perfectly safe from detection. However, all we want is one simple answer. Give it to us, and we will release you." Mara diverted her gaze to the ceiling, trying not to notice the mechanical entity above her with its massive array of arms. "You won't get anything from me." The interrogator nodded. "That's what we expected to hear. However, I still don't see why you shouldn't simply tell us what we want to know. Where is Talon Karrde's main base of operations located ?" Mara whipped her head around to face the woman once more. "I told you you won't hear a thing from me, especially not that !" she spat defiantly. The woman raised an eyebrow. "Why risk your wellbeing for a smuggler ?" Mara just continued glaring. The woman shrugged. "Well, we anticipated you to be less than forthcoming, and that's why we brought you here. You see, this is an old interrogation room, created be the Empire specifically to question Jedi Knights." She pointed at the machines on the wall. "These devices disturb the Force in such a manner that no Jedi Powers can be used while their wielder is confined here. And this droid," she pointed to the mechanical spider hanging from the ceiling, "is equipped with sensors and scanners to discover the specific weaknesses of anyone brought here for interrogation, which would be you. And above and beyond that, "she continued, "it is perfectly capable of performing... inquisitive surgery... on any subject, and keep it alive for years on end. So you see, it's no use trying to oppose us. Give us what we want, and you'll save yourself a lot of discomfort." Mara Jade had turned slightly paler than before, but she had been taught to withstand any amount of pain in her imperial training. She could bear any torture her captors could device... or so she thought. "Curses upon you and your entire diseased breed," was all she said with intense loathing. The woman retreated. "As you wish. Rayne ?" One of the other women did something with one of the machines on the walls, and the cybernetic arms above Mara lowered down and began running glowing scanners all over her body, while at the same time the framework that held her lifted her up, turning her on her back, and spreading her out until she was hanging spread eagle in midair. One of the arms pointed something looking like a laser gun at her forehead, and its beam began scanning her mind. She moved her head as much as she could, but the brain probe was not so easily deflected. The woman called Rayne was muttering something, reading the results of the machine... Then the arms retracted. Mara could hear some incredulous whisperings, and then the leader of her captors approached her once more. She looked... amused ? "It seems you are capable of withstanding almost infinite amounts of pain," she remarked, "but we have also found a weakness. Are you sure you don't want to cooperate, rather than forcing us to exploit it ?" Mara lifted her head to look at the woman. "Do your worst. You're all about to die anyway." The woman grinned at this. "But maybe I should inform you of what we found. You see, the scans show your feet to be extremely sensitive..." Mara just let her hang down once more, frowning. Of course her feet were sensitive, but so what ? Pain was pain, after all... "...to tickling." The captive Jedi's head flew up, her eyes went wide with disbelief. "So it would appear that we have to tickle your bare feet for as long as it takes to extract the information we seek," the woman continued, unfazed. Mara Jade could not believe it. They actually expected her to break from something like this playful mockery of torture ? That simply had to be a joke... The woman extended her index finger and brought it close to Mara's left sole, looking at its flawless beauty while preparing for the assault... It was a size six, slender, with delicate toes, a medium, smooth arch, slightly pink on the padded areas, a creamy white under the toes and in the arch... It looked very soft and highly sensitive to the torturer. Mara let her head hang once more. She started to say something, but then the finger touched down, and she closed her mouth. It felt like... like nothing she had ever felt before ! She had never been tickled in her entire life ! Least of all while tied up helplessly ! With a deep breath, the helpless Jedi prepared her resistance, strengthening her willpower, biting back the laughter building inside her as the woman slowly dragged her finger up the soft sole...
Mara shook her head, closed her eyes and summoned every bit of inner strength to be able to bear the horrible feeling the single finger roaming around her sole caused her. She began breathing rapidly, and just as her resistance was about to break, just as the first wave of laughter was forcing its way up through her larynx, the slow, tickling strokes stopped. "It seems you are aware of what we have in store for you now, Mara. Care to reconsider your denial ?" Cerces was walking around the table now, standing right beside her captive. Mara took one last deep breath, opening her eyes again, and looked at the woman again with fury blazing in her eyes. "I'd rather die than give you any information about Karrde !" Cerces shrugged. "That means more tickling. You know that." "Do your worst. You're not going to break me with a bit of foot play !" hissed the Jedi, causing Cerces to grin maliciously. "No, not a bit of foot play, but tickle torture for days on end... how does that sound to you ?" Mara suppressed a shudder. Still, she was sure she could take it. After all, it was just a question of adjusting to a new feeling of discomfort... Cerces waved at two of the other women. "P'Tran and K'Laer, take your places !" she called to them. The twins strolled over to the motionless feet of the bound Jedi, their faces split by mischievous smiles. Cerces motioned them to start, turning to face Mara once more - "Now, tell me the location of Talon Karrde's base of operations." While the two women at her feet got ready for their task, threateningly extending their fingers towards her helpless peds, Mara tried to concentrate on her hatred and fury, skirting dangerously close to the temptations of the Dark Side. She was not going to give in to it, but the inner conflict took her mind off the impending torments. Her resolution crumbled, however, when the women started to wriggle their fingers bare microns away from her sensitive skin, making rapid tickling motions without really touching her feet yet. Mara could almost feel the tickling already, and the anticipation was driving her nuts. She faced Cerces to get her mind away from the sight and to prevent them from tormenting her with her imagination. "I'm not telling you where he is, I told you already !" she said, willing her voice to sound confident. "You're wasting your time heeEEEEEHEHEHEHEHEHE !!!" This time it wasn't just gentle teasing, the two women had begun tickling their helpless targets with full force and no mercy. They fluttered the fingers of one hand up and down the soles, scratching and grazing the skin with lightning swift motions, while stroking around the top of the foot, under the toes, and over the silky skin on top again with the other hand. Mara lost it completely, she had expected anything like this, it was the single most horrible feeling she had ever experienced, nothing had prepared her for this ! "AHAHAHAHAHA !!! YAAAHAHAHAHA !!! AAAAAH ! AHHH !!! AAHAHAHAHAHAHAH !!! AHAAHAHEHEHEHEHEHE !!! EEEHEHEHEHE !!! YAAAARGH !" she screamed with wild laughter, thrashing her head from side to side, her eyes squeezed shut, her hair whipping around her like a fiery blaze flickering in a massive storm... and the two women had just started ! They kept up the tickling of the wildly flailing feet, sometimes scribbling their fingernails up the sides of the feet, starting behind the heel and slowly working their way to the top of the feet, tickling mercilessly down from the ankle to the top of the toes, then retracing the motion with one hand while letting the other one scratch down over the toes and then down the sole, making little sideways notion to ensure that every square inch of the squirming, helpless, soft foot got its fair share of ticklish stimulation... "Oh, oh, OHOHOHOHOHAHAHAHA (gasp)" Mara bit back the laughter again, trying to subdue it, taking short, sharp breaths through clenched teeth... "Nnng... GnnNNNN... (gasp) Annng... HnnnnGGGG... (gasp) Argh... NNNNG !!! (grunt) Ack ARGH ! (pant pant pant) YAAAHAHAHARGH !!! ARGH !!! (snort) NGG... ack !!! ARGH !!! (pant pant) NNNNN... GRRMMMPF..." They tickled and tickled, increasing their speed, and they didn't let up for almost half an hour. Mara lost it again and was once more in stitches, helplessly screaming with forced laughter, horrified at the sheer intensity of the torture... "GAAHAHAHAHAA !!! YAHAHAHARGH !!! AHAAHAHAHAHAHA !!! NYEEEHEHEHEHAHAHAHAHARGH !!! HAHAHAHAHAHA !!!! AAAHAHAHAHA !!! (pant pant) Ngh Ngh NgGGGGGG ARGH AAAAAACK AAAHAHAHAHAHA !!! GnnNNNNEEEHEHEHEHEHEHE !!!" She still denied the torturers the pleasure of hearing her beg for mercy, of breaking her... She would not be broken ! Instead, she gave in to the feelings of ticklish agony, trying to increase them, hoping to black out... The tickling increased as the last of her mental shields collapsed, and became truly, utterly unbearable. She felt the dark mists of unconsciousness approaching, but was suddenly, horribly aware of a prick in her left arm, and then her senses sharpened to incredible awareness, including, lamentably, her sense of touch... She ripped her eyes open, feeling the tickling increase to unconceivable levels, and let out a long, shrill scream, seeing the arm of the medidroid extracting its syringe from her arm, feeling the women tickling all over her feet, seeing their faces alight with sadistic glee, aware of the laughter of the other women who enjoyed watching the strong Jedi Knight dissolve into a bundle of laughing, screaming, squirming ticklish flesh, their eyes dancing from her flexing, tortured feet with the scribbling, dancing fingers all over them to her distorted, laughing face... "It seems you notice now how bad it will be, Jedi," said Cerces with a low chuckle. "We will simply keep up tickling your feet for as long as it takes. There are five of us, as you noticed, and we can keep this up around the clock, maybe, just maybe, granting you a rest period once in a while... And, as you noticed, the automatic medic above you will take care that you neither faint nor die on us. This could go on for months, even years, you know... We wouldn't mind. Now, once more, I implore you to save yourself from this torture ! Will you tell us where Talon Karrde is hiding ?" Mara Jade shook her head even more rapidly, screaming a defiant "NOOOHOHOHOHO !!! AAHAHAHAHAHA !!! NEHEHEHEEHVER !!! YAAAHAHAAHAHRG !!!" But inside she wondered how long she would be able to take this... she felt her resistance melting, being stripped away by the ticklish torture of her feet, and she knew she could not last forever...