Decipher.910.-.Star... - Fan Modules - Free
Decipher.910.-.Star... - Fan Modules - Free
Decipher.910.-.Star... - Fan Modules - Free
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Agonizers<br />
Agonizers are the simplest way to handle routine<br />
discipline and punish minor infractions. Before the<br />
development of agonizer technology, such punishments<br />
had to be carried out manually, usually with<br />
beatings or whippings, crude techniques that threatened<br />
to impair the subject’s ability to function. The<br />
agonizer, on the other hand, is simple, elegant, and<br />
highly effective.<br />
Each crewmember in <strong>Star</strong>fleet carries a standard<br />
issue agonizer on his or her person. It is a small<br />
device, fitting easily into the palm of the hand. The<br />
crewmember is expected to surrender his or her agonizer<br />
to a superior officer upon request. It is considered<br />
traditional to use the individual’s own agonizer<br />
to administer punishment. In this way, the agonizer<br />
becomes associated with discipline, and carrying it<br />
serves as a constant reminder of the penalty for disobedience<br />
and failure.<br />
The agonizer is usually placed above one of the<br />
major nerve clusters in the chest, although it can be<br />
used anywhere on the body, and works through normal<br />
clothing. It uses neural induction to stimulate<br />
the body’s pain receptors, causing intense, burning<br />
pain radiating out from the point of contact. The pain<br />
becomes more intense over a longer period of contact,<br />
but even the initial touch of an agonizer is enough to<br />
render most Humanoids virtually helpless with pain.<br />
Once the agonizer is deactivated, the pain vanishes<br />
instantly, leaving few lingering side effects (although<br />
the physiological effects of the pain, such as heightened<br />
adrenaline levels and so forth, remain).<br />
The length of exposure depends entirely on the violation<br />
and the whims of the officer applying discipline.<br />
Generally speaking, a few seconds (perhaps as many<br />
as thirty or forty) is standard for most types of minor<br />
infractions, with times upward of a minute for a true<br />
“object lesson.” As Academy cadets quickly learn, a<br />
minute of agonizer treatment feels like an eternity of<br />
pain. But it is still nothing compared to the more serious<br />
punishments available.<br />
Agony Booths<br />
More serious matters call for more severe punishments.<br />
While the agonizer serves well for minor infractions,<br />
serious discipline is carried out using an agony<br />
booth, several of which are installed in any <strong>Star</strong>fleet<br />
facility’s brig. The agony booth functions on the same<br />
principle as the agonizer, but its neural induction fields<br />
affect the entire nervous system at once, producing<br />
intense pain in every nerve in the subject’s body. The<br />
booth’s controls finely control the intensity and type of<br />
pain inflicted, and Imperial “pain technicians” specialize<br />
in understanding the breadth and depth of pain it<br />
is possible to inflict on Humanoid life forms. Booths<br />
have transparent aluminum doors, to permit others to<br />
observe the subject’s pain, often before being placed in<br />
the booth themselves.<br />
An agony booth monitors the subject’s pain threshold,<br />
ensuring no permanent damage is done, unless<br />
that is what the operator desires. A subject can be<br />
tortured in an agony booth for hours without suffering<br />
any permanent physical damage. Of course, it is also<br />
possible to inflict enough pain that the subject’s nervous<br />
system overloads, causing cerebral hemorrhages or cardiac<br />
arrest. Although it’s possible to kill a person almost<br />
instantly using an agony booth, booths are designed to<br />
make death as slow and painful as possible.<br />
THE IMPERIAL STARFLEET 4