Mustafar is a planet steeped in a dark history, acting as a point of interest as far back as the Clone Wars themselves. At one point, the Black Sun constructed their headquarters upon its surface and later on even Darth Vader took up residence within his dark castle. The traces of this history are still found in the form of the remains left behind. Mining facilities are scattered across the lava-surface of the scorching planet, help up with gravity supports that keep them safe from the superheated material below.

Perhaps its most notable history came via a single uttered phrase: Mustafar is where Jedi go to die. The hidden interrogation facility built into the scorched stone is steeped in the dark side, providing a clue to its wicked purpose in a time not so long past. A large, single landing pad acts as the focal point of the structure from the outside. It is connected by a causeway that leads to a security door that has fallen into disuse. The facility itself is still functional, drawing power from the thermal energy of the planet itself.

Once within, one is confronted by the labyrinthine maze of corridors and offices that were clearly designed for a singular purpose. The holding cells are as spartan as any other Imperial construct, providing only a slab protruding from the wall as a bed and nothing more. Barracks can be found near the main control rooms with its shelving in various states of disarray. It is clear with only a glance that scavengers have already picked the inanimate corpse clean of its contents.

However, it is deeper still where the miasma of the dark side truly reaches its zenith. There one will find the interrogation chambers. Wickedly cruel in their singular purpose, stains can still be found caked into the durasteel panels themselves alongside various tools and instruments of the trade plied within.

To walk within Mustafar's Interrogation Facility is to tread through the ghosts of the planet's darkest past. It is a symphony for the wicked and a requiem for the pious.

Karran’s ship touched down on a landing pad high above the glowing lava flows of Mustafar. He stepped onto the durasteel platform and glanced over the edge before continuing toward the facility.

“Stay with the ship, Challadan. I will summon you if I need help.” The IG-100 Magnaguard stood at attention with its electrostaff drawn.

Lady Vasano had said that there was some Empire-Era artifact hidden here and she wanted him to personally retrieve it. There was a dark energy in the air, or maybe that was sulfur. Either way, the Zabrak’s eyes were watering and he needed to get inside.

As he approached the front door, he could see that it was already open and the lights were on. The Sith hesitated for a moment. He drew his lightsaber before slowly stepping through the door. The facility was certainly run down, but not quite derelict. What could Vasano want from this place so badly?

As the Sith continued through the halls of the Imperial facility, he spotted movement out of the corner of his eye. He turned to look at it, but only saw a glimpse of a hooded humanoid shape sprinting down the hall. Karran gave chase, but no matter how fast he ran, he could not catch up to the figure. The mysterious stranger led the Zabrak deeper and deeper into the facility. As he did, Karran noticed that the halls seemed less run down than near the entrance. He assumed looters had not had the chance to get this deep into the building yet.

Karran watched as the man - or woman, he supposed - rounded a corner. He followed quickly, but found a dead end hallway with a single door. Slowly, the Zabrak approached the door. It opened on its own as soon as he was within an arm’s length of it. The Sith gave a hesitant look around the hallway, just to be sure that there were no hidden exits his quarry could have slipped through. He stepped through the door to find what looked like a simple cell with a chair in the center of the room. There seemed to be a fine layer of dust on everything. Slowly, Karran walked around the room until he saw the hooded figure.

It appeared to be a child. A little girl. She was huddled in the corner, her cheeks sunken and hungry. Her face was smeared with dirt and filth. Under the dirt that matted her hair, Karran could just make out streaks of copper. Her eyes were a bright emerald green. Karran put away his saber, knelt down and extended a hand to the child. In an instant, the girl’s look of fear turned into a smile as she vanished.

Alarms rang through the Force in Karran’s mind. The door to the cell slammed shut, and gas began pouring into the room. Karran’s mind began racing, trying to think of a way out. He drew his saber once again and raced over to the door. After he ignited the blade, he plunged it into the metal and began cutting a circle.

As hard as the Zabrak tried to resist the effects of the gas, he eventually had to breathe. He had been exposed to many different toxins in his time in Arcona, and had proven to be able to withstand a great many of them, but within minutes of breathing in this high concentration of fumes, he succumbed to its effects. Karran’s vision went dark as he lost his grip on his saber and slumped to the ground.

---

When Karran awoke, he was still in the cell. He felt himself strapped down to...something. The chair! His sense of hearing slowly returned as he heard a familiar voice.

“I’m so glad to see you awake, darling. I was worried that dear Rhylance had gotten the dosage wrong.”

Vasano. Bit by bit, Karran felt his vision clearing. Leaning above him was a beautiful, fair-skinned face framed by bright copper hair. She was wearing form-fitting black armor.

“There’s a good boy. Wake up. We have business to discuss, you and I.”

Karran blinked. He tried to flex against the restraints. But his body was weak and groggy. He could feel his limbs, but it was almost as if they were made of metal, unable to move. Karran looked down to see that his armor had been stripped off and was spread out on the table to the side. The rest of his gear was there as well.

As he sat there, shirtless, strapped to the chair, Karran looked up to the woman that was keeping him prisoner, “Business? I cannot imagine what kind of business we would have to discuss that involves disrobing me and strapping me down.”

A wry smirk came to Lucine’s face as she considered the Zabrak’s words and the potential conclusions one could draw from them. “The business of your...disobedience. I’ve decided that it just won’t do to have someone so...rebellious serving under me. However, you do have your uses, so I won’t eliminate you. I’ll just make some minor adjustments.”

For the first time, Vasano laid her hands on him. She traced the tattoos around his face as the Zabrak felt tendrils of the Force trying to creep into his mind. He tried his best to steel his mind against the dark needles that poked and prodded into his brain. He forced his eyes closed to resist the intrusion, but her mastery over her the Force could not be resisted for long.

As the Arconan Consul probed the Zabrak’s mind, she leaned in to whisper in his ear, “Just give in, darling. You’ll find that I am quite the merciful mistress.”

Karran felt her warm breath on his ear. The knight had one opportunity to break free from his imprisonment. With all the strength he could muster, the Zabrak pulled his head away from the redheaded woman and drove it toward her face.

His thick Zabraki skull collided with her delicate features. With the female Sith’s concentration broken, Karran stretched his hand toward the table where his lightsaber rested and summoned it to his hand. With a flick of his wrist, the red blade of plasma cut through his restraints freeing his arm.

Lucine recoiled from the brutish attack, blood dripping from her nose. She sneered at her rebellious subordinate and extended a hand toward him. An invisible hand gripped his throat and forced him down into the chair.

“I gave you the chance, Val’teo. Now you will suffer before you kneel.”

Karran felt his vision going dark as he felt the grip of Vasano tightening on his throat. If he was to die here on Mustafar, his last action would be to take a piece of the Shadow Lady with him. The Zabrak flicked his wrist and released his lightsaber at the woman. The crimson blade spun like a disk at his torturer.

The pressure on Karran’s throat abruptly let up as Lucine’s eyes flicked from his face to the weapon that whirled toward her. She threw up one arm to protect herself, and the blade slammed against the silver bracer that encircled her wrist. However, instead of searing right through her arm, the lightsaber halted. Unable to complete its arc, it fell to the ground, the crimson blade retracting as it clattered on the floor.

Lucine slammed her foot down upon the hilt of the weapon and leveled an icy glare upon the Zabrak. Even as he gasped for breath, Karran glared back and steeled himself for whatever the redhead planned for retaliation.

But no attack came. Instead, the Shadow Lady stood still. She lifted her hand to pinch the bridge of her nose to stem the flow of blood, studying him intently all the while. “Well, that was most enlightening. You think I meant to kill you? I will admit that my acting was good, but not that good. Tell me, what exactly has she been saying that makes you think I would do such a thing?”

There was no need for Lucine to elaborate on who she meant. Satsi Tameike made no effort to hide the bad blood between them. But she was not the only one who had confided their suspicions about the Shadow Lady to him. Unbidden, his thoughts went to a conversation he had recently had with the former Consul.

“Not just Satsi then, but Kordath too? How very unsurprising,” Lucine said out loud. “Some people simply do not know when to keep their mouths shut.”

Karran’s eyes widened in confusion, before narrowing in understanding. “You are reading my thoughts.”

The Shadow Lady gave him a sweet smile, her eyes sparkling with mischief. “Oh good, you are finally catching on. Yes, darling, I was reading your thoughts. Of course, you thought I was trying to brainwash you or some other foolishness.” Her smile abruptly vanished, replaced with a look of irritation. “What did I do to make you believe such awful things about me?”

Karran tensed his jaw as he felt his temper start to rise, provoked by her mocking laughter and condescending attitude. He drew upon his growing anger and the Force, using it to channel strength into his limbs. He gave a sudden jerk of his still-shackled arm, tearing the restraint from the chair. “Drugging me and tying me to a chair wasn’t enough?”

“Your little insubordinate acts have been going on long before today, darling. Or did you think I would not notice? You have been defying me almost from the start, and all because you listened to people who do not have your best interests at heart.”

If Lucine was concerned about the fact that he was working on freeing himself she did not show it. Instead, she waited patiently as he kicked out against the restraints with all of his Force-augmented strength. The metal shackles tore free from the chair, freeing him completely. Karran slowly rose to his feet and glared at the redhead. “You have not done anything to prove them wrong,” he said quietly in a voice full of menace.

Lucine tsked quietly. “Nor do I intend to. I will not waste my breath trying to proclaim my innocence to a gullible fool.” Lashing out with her foot, she kicked his lightsaber toward him before falling into a graceful stance, her inactivated weapon at the ready. “How disappointing! I had hoped that you would be able to think for yourself, to make your own decisions instead of simply parroting opinions of lesser people. But fine, if you insist on believing that I am such a villainess, then I shall play the role. If you will not give me your loyalty out of respect, then you shall do so out of fear.” Her last sentence was delivered with a wicked smile.

Karran felt his saber bounce against his boot but did not immediately reach down and pick it up. His eyes darted down to his weapon and then back to Lucine as he considered the situation. He could still feel the warm energy of the Force strengthening his muscles, and he fully intended to use that.

He made a beckoning gesture, reaching out with the Force to call his weapon to his hand. His fingers closed around the lightsaber hilt and he darted forward in a sudden burst of Force-augmented speed. His crimson blade flared to life as he moved, and he saw Lucine ignite her own blade in response. Karran swept his lightsaber upward in a diagonal slash which was neatly deflected by Lucine’s weapon.

But the Zabrak was not deterred. He shifted to his left, toward Lucine’s non-dominant side even as he drew the Force into the muscles of his arms. He then lashed out with his weapon in a single devastating strike, trying to power through her defense. Crimson plasma crashed against emerald, but Lucine did not falter. Karran growled quietly as he swung his weapon again and again, trying to batter the redhead into submission. She held her ground, but the look of concentration on her face made him wonder if she was using the Force to augment her own strength.

The Zabrak scowled as he considered his position. The tight confines of the prison cell made it difficult for him to fight effectively. His best bet would be to get out of the cell, but Lucine blocked his path to the door.

“Such hesitation, darling! Where is your usual bravado?” Lucine asked mockingly.

Karran glared at her, as his eyes fell upon the metal table where his gear rested. “Not hesitation,” he growled, “planning!” He reached out with his hand and jerked it toward her. Abruptly, the table skidded toward Lucine, sending his belongings flying in all directions.

The redhead’s eyes widened and her smirk disappeared. She risked taking her eyes off of him long enough to slash at the table, cutting it in two before it could reach her. It was just the opening Karran was looking for. He attacked, aiming for Lucine’s unprotected arm. He had no interest in killing the Shadow Lady, but losing a limb would be enough to teach her a lesson.

Lucine twisted out of the way before the blow could land, bringing one arm up to defend herself. Sparks flew from her bracer as the crimson plasma impacted against it. Hastily, Karran leaped forward to where Lucine had previously stood, even as he drew upon the Force to telekinetically batter down the door.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Lucine make a shoving motion with her hand and a wall of force slammed into him from behind, driving him forward. Stars exploded in front of his eyes as he was shoved into the door, causing it to fly open beneath his weight. He fell to the floor with a heavy thud.

Karran’s vision cleared to find Lucine’s green plasma blade inches from his face. “Going somewhere, darling? We are not done here. We still have so much more to talk about, you and I.”