JP: Isiam Brocha & Dar Elandra - A Seed Long Buried

[Wes Greaves]

Really great work @ElandraDAR and @Geoffrey Teller. This JP turned out AWESOME. Love the back and forth, and the slow build up.

 

I'm so interested to what's coming next!!!

 

 

Quote

((Unknown Location – The Room, Before the Liberation of Bajor))

She blinked her eyes a few times as she tried to regain her focus. Her head felt as though it was swimming in a turbulent ocean and she was trying to regain it, find some sense of calm or at least a point of focus. She tried to look around but her head felt heavier than her neck and merely rolled against the hard backrest of whatever it was she felt herself. She tried to raise her hands as she became aware of a very bright light shining directly into her face. She couldn’t move them…they were stuck. Her head flopped forward and she blinked a few more times, the blurriness disappearing for a moment to allow her to see her wrists were secured to the chair with restraints.

From somewhere in the room, someone pleasantly humming to themselves could be heard.  

Her heart began to race and panic began to set in.

Dar: oO What no…wait. Oo Wha…let me go (she slurred the words slightly) LE…LET…LET ME GO!

From his position at the equipment tray nearby, Isiam Brocha’s face pressed into a tight, unsettling smile before turning to face his subject, a loathsome & ragged Bajoran girl who had apparently been giving the overseer on Terok Nor fits and starts for months.  His pleasant humming continued until he was hovering behind the thrashing terrorist.  His smile was fixed, and perfect, and psychotic.  

Brocha:  Shel na tal vo bo tal shek, child.  You’re completely safe here.  No one in this room wishes to hurt you...in fact, quite the opposite.  We’ve got very important work for you to do.  So please, Shel na tal vo bo tal shek.

Brocha repeated the Bajoran phrase rhythmically, watching a nearby display as the second of three powerful psychotropic agents was carefully administered.  The Order had gone to no small trouble locating and extracting his subject, and it was a small badge of honor that he’d been chosen to break her and reprogram her.  It wasn’t the first time and almost certainly wouldn’t be the last time he was called on for this type of work.  He’d demonstrated a particular affinity for it over the past ten years and his successes would have been legendary, had they been known to more than a tiny handful of powerful people.  

She heard the voice and once more tried to look around to see who it was. They stood behind her she knew it. Out of her site. She clenched her hands and tried once more to move her arms.

Dar: ARGGGH! LET ME GO!

Brocha smiled as the third compound began mixing with the other two.  His real work, and his subject's real torment, would begin soon.  He relished these moments as some appreciated a fine appetizer before a rich meal or as a predator might toy with wounded prey before delivering the killing blow.  His service to the Order was full of such deep personal satisfaction and it made him proud to serve Cardassia each and every day.  

Brocha:  Shel na tal vo bo tal shek, Dar Elandra.  Shel na tal vo bo tal shek.  

How, how did he know her name. What was going on here? She was supposed to be on the Thor…no that was wrong, she had been on Patrol outside their small encampment, yes…they had been ambushed.

Dar: Why did you bring me here?

She could feel tears of frustration begin to roll down her cheeks.

The question was among the three most common uttered in this room, although uttered was a misnomer.  Howled?  Begged?  Screamed ragged until the walls rang?  Any would do, although Brocha’s surprisingly sensitive hearing appreciated his subject's restraint and felt a measure of politeness was due in return.  

Brocha:  Shel na tal vo bo tal shek, child.  I didn’t bring you here.  Quite the contrary...you brought yourself here.  You’ve been quite a nuisance lately...very disruptive to our orderly resource extraction operations on Bajor.  So have your confederates in the Kohn-Ma.  Your actions have resulted in countless deaths, both Cardassian and Bajoran...and you ask why I brought you here?  

Brocha tutted, like a teacher talking down to a child who was having difficulty grasping a simple concept.  

Brocha:  That’s one of the problems with your people - a lack of perspective.  But don’t worry, child...I’ll open your eyes. Shel na tal vo bo tal shek. 

Although the room was nearly forty five degrees C and entirely pleasant for a Cardassian, a chill cut through the air at Brocha’s last words. 

Now that the drugs had time to disperse in her system, Brocha could begin apace.  He rounded the gantry to which the young terrorist was strapped and angled a bright light to project directly into her face.  It would be imperceptible to her conscious mind but through subtle flashes and pulses, paired with his words and the combination of powerful psychotropic agents, her reprogramming had begun.  Thrash as she may, there was nothing she could do to resist it.  Brocha began humming again as he pushed a button on his control panel, sending a brief but extremely painful electrical charge through his subject's nervous system.    

Brocha:  Do you recognize the tune?  It’s a lullabye one of my...former subjects liked to sing to herself.  Sadly, in the end, it was all she could do, but never mind that - Perhaps you’d like to sing along as we work?  I’ll get us started...there were once three..::another shock::...kava farmers who found a giant root. :another shock.::  The praised the Prophets..:another shock:...and left for Jo’Kala along the fastest route…

Dar’s body tensed with each shock that was administered. Her jaw clenched and her neck arched painfully. As she relaxed the next shock went through her body, once more causing her to tense and then relax, tense as a third spread through every muscle. She heard his voice but she couldn’t focus on his face, the light was so bright.

Dar:  No..no...ummm...I...I won’t sing...why, why do you, I can’t move my arms.

Brocha:  Ah yes...I am truly sorry about that ::Brocha lied:: but it’s a necessary part of the process.  You see, before I entered the Order I was studying to be a physician.  A neurologist, in point of fact.  I could tell you things about your own nervous system that even the best ‘doctors; on your fetid little mudball have no idea about.  ::another shock::  For example, did you know that your neural bandwidth is substantially higher when you’re under physical duress?  ::Another, longer shock.::  Well, now you do.  Pain and fear also have a tendency to make the mind a bit more...pliable, don’t you find?  

She let out a scream as another painful shock went through her. Her breathing was heavy, her heart raced in her chest, almost feeling like it would burst through. This couldn’t be happening.

Dar:  Why...sto...stop. Kava farmer…(she closed her eyes trying to focus) no...no I won’t sing.

Brocha activated the controls and left them on for nearly fifteen seconds, one eye carefully crosschecking the nearby biomonitors.  His colleagues had a tendency to get overzealous in moments like these and that lead to useless, shattered subjects or simple corpses.  The Order had something far more important in mind for this young woman.  When her pulmonary rates had reached dangerous levels Brocha deactivated the tormenting current and resumed humming.  

Brocha: ..but the brothers they did argue...all along the way....the money they had so happily earned...was leading to dismay….

Brocha shook his head at the story of the three brothers who had squabbled after coming into a windfall.  They couldn’t decide what to do with the money and had descended into infighting.  To Brocha, the solution to the problem was painfully obvious but his curiosity got the better of him.  

Brocha:  You know this tale, yes?  What do you think of the brothers' solution - to give away their hard-earned money and return to their farms, no better off than they were?  

Breathing, grateful for the reprieve it would seem from the shocks. She could almost feel his breath on her cheek. Her body was drenched in sweat now and every muscle ached. She tried to glance in the direction of the voice out of the corner of her eye.

Dar:  It…(she breathed) it was mean….mean’t to teach…(she paused her mouth dry) children...to be more humble..that mo...money was not everything.

Brocha:  Oh, is that the moral of the story?  To live a charitable and pious life of humility?  No wonder we defeated your people so easily…::Brocha returned to the console and depressed the controls, delivering another savage shock.::...see, to me, the solution is rather a bit more simple.  Would you like to know how I would’ve resolved this conflict?  

She cried out louder than before, the shock this time causing her back to arch pushing her up from the chair as far as her secured arms would allow her. Straining against the restraints as she collapsed back. She said nothing...

His hand hovered above the control, inviting a response.  

Dar: They...THEY SHOULD HAVE SHARED THE MONEY.

He depressed the control and let his finger linger for a long moment.  

Brocha:  No, child.  The eldest brother should’ve simply killed the other two, kept the money for himself and taken over their farms.  His family would’ve lived in luxury, his children wanting for nothing, but no.  Your pathetic devotion to the ‘Will of the Prophets’ has made your people weak and soft...unable to make the kind of hard choices that true leaders must.  

Dar:  STOP!

She screamed, her anger now getting the better of her as she tried to pull her arms free from the restraints. 

Dar: We...yes...no you can’t just kill. 

She collapsed back once more, she was tired and confused, her mind was a blur of thoughts, his voice the words Shel na tal vo bo tal shek kept resonating in her head.

Brocha increased the voltage and minutely adjusted the flow of psychotropic chemicals now saturating his subject.  His hands-on the controls were deft and flowing, the movements of a skilled surgeon or a virtuoso musician.  His smile remained fixed as he resumed singing, the trigger implantation nearly complete.

Brocha: let's begin again, Child.  I’m sure you know the song by now.  Shel na tal vo bo tal shek.....there were once three..::The shocks resumed and would continue until she took up the tune::...kava farmers who found a giant root. :another shock.::  The praised the Prophets..:another shock:...and left for Jo’Kala along the fastest route

She felt another shock run through her body. She let out a cry, feeling the tears stream down her cheeks.

Dar: STOP!! (crying) please….

She turned her head to the side, the song he had sung also began to play in her mind. She found herself suddenly signing it.

Brocha clapped as his subject began to mouth along with him.  His hand came away from the controls and he repeated the last line of the song.

Brocha:  ...and left for Jo’Kala along the fastest route….

Dar: .but the brothers they did argue...all along the way....the money they had so happily earned...was leading to dismay….

The young girls manic, shaky voice was as musical to him as any chorus and Brocha took a long moment to simply luxuriate in the moment.  His most recent success for the Order.  

She turned to face the bright light as she continued to sing, her crying replaced by laughter as even though the moment was not humorous she found herself laughing.

The giddiness was a good sign that the drugs were taking hold, subtly altering the subjects memory and perceptions.  They’d leave this room with no conscious awareness of ever having been here and would be dropped off somewhere with a few random but non-life-threatening injuries, a partially charged weapon and a hazy memory of narrowly avoiding a Cardassian patrol.  But the programming had been installed and when the time was right Dar Elandra would become the weapon for Cardassia he had made her into.  

Brocha sang as the girl sang with him, giddily unaware of her new role in the eventual destruction of her people.  

Brocha: The eldest was the wisest and not easy to dissuade...so when it was, at last, he spoke the other two obeyed.....was the Prophets who did bless us...and now we’ve gone astray….  

[End Scene]

 

 

 

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Isiam Brocha

Obsidian Order Psychological Realignment Unit Nine

 V239509GT0

&

Dar Elandra

Bajoran Resistance/Kohn-Ma Fighter

C237904DE0