24 HOURS earlier...

Jordan Venn was the captain of the starship Gibraltar until Lady Necralia and her forces came aboard. He was the only one left. The Necralia Empire's soldiers had boarded the ship and killed all the crew members who had survived the space battle against the Empire's Deathwing Fighters. Now, Venn kneeled on the floor of his bridge, surrounded by Death Troopers with their laser rifles pointed at his head while the airlock swung open.

A tall man in black armor and a cloak walked through the clouds of smoke. The man's pale white skin and glowing white eyes gleamed with a smile showing rows of pointed white teeth.

"Well, well, well," the tall man said. "Here we are together again. You've been a very bad boy, Venn."

Venn spat out a mouthful of blood before he could talk again. "General Deth, I swear, we weren't trying to run away. We just had to make a detour around a gravity well--"

Deth swept his long cloak to one side to reach his belt. "Oh, wait. I don't want you to waste this pathetic excuse on me. I'm sure Lady Necralia will want to hear this."

Venn felt a cold chill run through him. "N-Necralia? She's here?"

Deth sneered as he tapped buttons on a device in his hand. "Please. Do you really think her majesty would waste an ounce of fuel to set eyes on you?"

He pushed one last button and a beam of light flashed out of the device, one that formed a holographic image of Lady Necralia.

Venn cowered as the tall woman materialized in front of him. Her spiked armor barely covered her long legs and firm breasts as she loomed over him.

Necralia's blood-red lips and pale face tightened into a snarl. "Venn, what have you done?"

Venn swallowed and it tasted of blood. "My lady, I must give you my most humble apologies. W-We were on our way to make delivery wh-when we hit a gravity well and were forced to--"

Necralia raised a hand with a finger tipped with a long nail.

Deth took two steps forward while pulling a knife out of his belt. He jammed the knife into Venn's hand with a single sweep, pinning the man's hand to the deck.

Venn shrieked in agony as Necralia shook her head with a loud sigh.

"Captain Venn, spare me your lies. Our sensors detected when the freighter docked with your ship in the Quleda sector. We know your hold is empty and the cargo is gone."

Venn grit his teeth. In that moment, he knew he was dead. It didn't matter anymore what he said so he decided to say what he really wanted to. "Cargo? Is that what you call slaves?"

She smirked. "Of course. What else would I call them?"

"Living beings who deserve their free--"

Deth twisted the knife in Venn's hand until his voice collapsed into a scream.

Necralia waved her hand. "Thank you, General Deth. I get so tired of these little speeches people try to give me. Now then, my cargo is missing but we have already tracked it to Caurus Prime. I have a squadron headed there to recover it. All you've done is forced me to give a ten percent discount to the Republic of Uado for the delay in shipping."

Venn clenched his teeth harder until they ached. "No, what I've done is give them hope. And they will fight your squadron to the death which is better than the life you had planned for them. And it's only the beginning. The rebellion is growing every day, and I'm happy to die knowing I've caused you even a fraction of the misery you've imposed on the Galaxy."

"Very noble." Necralia pointed a long nail at him. "Speaking of misery, that's what you'll be going through in a few minutes and I'm afraid it will last for much, much longer than a fraction. Goodbye, Captain Venn."

As Necralia's hologram vanished, two Death Troopers entered the bridge, hauling a tall metal booth on wheels. The booth had slender arms attached to it with spikes and blades running along their length.

General Deth smiled. "Congratulations, captain. You'll be the first to try my new and improved Torment Tower."

As the booth was opened and Venn was hauled to his feet and shoved inside, the captain couldn't hold back the screams of terror that turned into howls of agony as the Torment Tower began its work.