Tuscias seems... not dis-satisfied with that.

Not happy.  It's uncertain whether he feels that emotion.  But not actively displeased.

"You have surely seen the Code of the Sith," he says, as their plates empty.  "Recite it."

Ah, fuck.

"Peace is a lie, there is only, uh, power? Through power I gain... uh... I'm sorry, my Lord." This is going to hurt.

"You do yourself quite a disservice," he hisses, "turning your mind away from what precious knowledge you have been given.  Perhaps I shall give you an object lesson.

"Peace is a lie, there is only passion," he declaims, as lightning made of pain sears Rafiik's skin.

"Through passion, I gain strength." Another painful strike.

"Through strength, I gain power."  And a third.

"Through power I gain victory."  Another.

"The Force shall free me."

"Repeat it."

He's honestly not sure he can talk at all, right now - he's not in the chair anymore, but slumped at the base of the wall behind it, panting heavily. "Peace is," gasp, "a lie," gasp, "there's only," gasp, "passion," gasp.

Being zapped with electricity is not actually conducive to learning, though. He barely makes it through the next line before he makes a mistake.

Lord Tuscias does not, in fact, care about the quality of his pedagogy.

He gets zapped again.  And again, when he fails a second time.

"...Enough of this.  You'll learn."  Or else, he doesn't need to say.  "Guards.  Escort him.

"I expect better performance, next time."

The tangle of Dark energies churns unsettlingly in his gut.

He would kind of like to die now, maybe.

He doesn't bother trying to meditate; he's in no state for it. He just lays where they've dumped him and tries not to cry in a way that jostles anything too much.

...The Force curls around him reassuringly.  Help is coming, it whispers, in a voice Tuscias can't hear.  Rafiik just has to hold on til then.

(Darth Kalbetis is busy trying to calculate whether she can actually amplify a hyperdrive's magnitude with the Force, as a form of last-minute fretting as they and the Cloak dock.  Lord Pradnakt's reports are not pleasant, and...  The sheer lack of care people have for eachother in the Empire has always, always hit her hard, no matter how good she's gotten at hiding it.  Which is very good indeed, and equally horrible for the necessity.)

Pradnakt knows some things about applying the Force to hyperdrives! She was up on the state of the art, fifteen years ago. Unfortunately, the state of the art fifteen years ago was 'it's maybe hypothetically possible by one of these three routes, all of which have a chance of breaking the drive'. On the other hand, they do have a precog...

...If she doesn't have to hold up the whole technique by herself, she just might be able to precog it.  Would Lord Pradnakt like to try?

Please, she cannot ask, for it is not her place.

Pradnakt isn't liking the state of her reports either. Let's do this thing.

The joint meditation is useful practice, for that matter.

Let it be so.

They jump.

Elcie hails the ground and Lord Tuscias, who has just barely finished transporting his ...subjects, off his ship.

"This droid has been given the honor of conveying the words of Darth Kalbetis to your ears, Lord Tuscias, for her mistress is busy with important matters."  Like launching an insertion aboard a Dagger-class assault ship while Lord Tuscias is distracted by this very message.

"As the woman responsible for dealing with problems that saboteurs have caused the Empire's internal affairs, it disappoints her that you have chosen to become a mess for her to clean up with your sloppy external operations.  If you surrender, you will die quickly.  If you fight, you will die tired.  Make your choice, Lord Tuscias.  Make it quickly and make it well.  You will not get another.

"To the forces of Lord Tuscias: You have been given the option to surrender or die.  Darth Kalbetis advises the former, but if you wish for the latter so dearly, she will oblige you.

"This message now repeats."

How dare she.  He'll fight her to the last monster.

Hmm, no, they're still vulnerable to certain chemicals, and to exploiting certain facets of biological realities.  Impressive oversight, really.  Or perhaps he thought he's the only one who could deliver those formulae, or divine the correct places to strike their twisted anatomies - but Darth Kalbetis equips her people very well.

"Lord Tuscias.  You have chosen...  Poorly."

A dramatic confrontation will keep him distracted from attempting to perform asset denial, and Lord Pradnakt, supporting, or supported by, one of her handpicked strike teams (and Nine, of course, if he wants to), will surely be sufficient to handle anyone else who tries.

Pradnakt shouldn't get into a serious fight when they're about to need her to go Light, but that doesn't mean she can't lightsaber any mooks who're under the mistaken impression that a Sith might deserve their loyalty. She gets to the kids, gives them a moment under calming and pain relieving and anti-poison effects to pull themselves together, and signals for the group to make its way back to Kalbetis' ship - and the sooner they get back the sooner she can meet up with the Darth to go get their Jedi.

...Right.  Let's do this.

She ignites her own lightsaber - which is, strangely, a slightly different color than it was last time Pradnakt saw it, with more of a violet edge than a magenta - as well as Rafiik's, and calmly slices the heavy durasteel door - normally operated via winch - wide open.  (Possibly with Pradnakt's 'saber lending a hand as well, but she didn't plan that.)

...It's not that she needs them as breaching tools.  It's the look of it.  She's here for a rescue, not a theft.  (She's taken a moment to swap her mask for one that's much less ominous-looking than the Sith-black one she normally wears, speaking of.  A simple silver piece, that goes well with her change of almost-white tan robes, and her Force presence doing the utterly absurd thing it does.)

"Padawan Rafiik Vidarra.  This is a rescue.  Please don't mind my shadow.  She's here to help, too."

(Implying that Lord Pradnakt is an undercover agent...

...Is something she can spin all kinds of ways, really.  It'll be fine.)

Rafiik has hauled himself to the mat by this point, but overall he's not actually sure things have improved at all; he still hurts all over, especially in his gut, where something seems to be very, very wrong.

The pain disappears as Kalbetis finishes speaking, though, along with the sense of wrongness. "Got the poison. Keep him close to me," Pradnakt hisses, and then his lightsaber presses itself into his hand followed quickly by firm but careful telekinesis pulling him to his feet.

Even with the pain gone, he's staggered, obviously not thinking clearly. His lightsaber is steadying, though, and he knows what Kalbetis' robes mean, and totters toward them.

"...Damn Tuscias to his own hell," she hisses back.  "Copy that."  She'll keep him close.  She physically supports him, even - if it would work better, she can maybe get him onto a hoverstretcher.  ...If he'll let go of her.  He might...well...not.  He doesn't... seem to be doing that.  And...she's inclined to humor him.  The boy's been through more than enough.

(This is what Nine is here for, actually, not that Kalbetis has been read in on the fact. Rafiik is limpetting onto her pretty good, though. He'll just stay close in case she needs to pass him off in a hurry.)

In Pradnakt's professional opinion he shouldn't really be walking unsupported, but between his hold on Kalbetis and her own telekinesis he'll be fine. She signals for them to head out, taking up a position behind the Kalbetis, Raafik, and Nine as they go - Rafiik hasn't registered her presence yet and hopefully they can make it back to the ship before he does.

...She seems to have started humming the poor kid a half-remembered lullaby.  She'll be just fine carrying him outright.

...Even if some idiot thinks he has a chance of trying to ambush them in 'revenge'.  Rafiik doesn't even jostle as the man turns a corner into her blaster-bolt.