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