Hello everyone! This is another one of my stories I wrote some time ago but now decided to publish it. Hope you enjoy!
Summary: Luke Skywalker was only supposed to save the rebels that were used for imperial experimentations. Getting caught and forcefully injected with the Juvenile serum was not one of them. What was he supposed to do knowing the serum would turn him into a child with Darth Vader on his way to collect him?
Juvenile experiment
Chapter 1 - Serum
"I'm not going to lie, Wedge. This place is creepy." And even that was not how Luke Skywalker would describe the imperial science facility. After all, hiding here with their small rescue-force of rebels where everyone wearing lab coats used their rebel prisoners for illegal experiments was not only creepy but down-right disgusting too.
But they just could not ignore the warnings from their suffering rebel friends. The planet of Montross was mostly unexplored for the Rebel Alliance, but most of the rebels escaping the facility suffered from disorders varying from loss of eyesight, memory wipe to simply disappearing and never being heard of again. Leia decided to adjourn her meeting in the war room and focused on the facility when a brainwashed rebel suddenly turned his gun on her and nearly shot.
"...Kriffing hell, are those rebels?" Col Takbright, another rebel on the team flashed him a frightful look. "They look like zombies. No wonder they're letting most of their prisoners go after experimenting with them."
As Luke sat leaning against a pile of crates filled with wires, he dared a glance over his shoulder and noticed the two rebel pilots hunched over in their chair with trembling hands. The male looked worse than the female and was mumbling pretty much nonsense. Behind them stood two imperial scientists keeping tabs on their subjects.
"We have to do something; these experiments are too dangerous," said Wedge as his eyes fell on another herd of rebels being led to another room.
"Stick to the plan," Luke exclaimed with seriousness, "go rescue the others while I search for whoever is behind this."
There was a brief nod. "Stay safe Luke."
"Don't worry, I'll be fine."
After waiting until the group left him, Luke unhooked his lightsaber, ignited it and pointed it at the two scientists, who winced at the intruder but remained calm nonetheless.
"What have you done to them?" Luke asked as he eyed the alerted rebels before turning his gaze back to the scientists.
One imperial scientist straightened and welcomed him with a gentle smile, "They are our newest experiment."
Luke arched an eyebrow. "What does this new experiment consist of? Who's behind this all?"
"My, my... so many questions. It appears to me you desire the same experiment." Luke's blood turned to ice as the man in lab coat ambles his way to him, in his hand a syringe holding a rich bumblebee-golden substance.
"No thanks, I don't like being tampered with." Luke took a step back before reaching out his left hand and ripping the syringe out of the imperial's hand, watching as it dropped to the ground and shattered.
Next, he forcefully pushed the two approaching imperial scientists against the wall, knocking them out. His head snapped back in the direction of the two rebels and he saw them jump out of their chair and rush their way to Luke. Their eyes were desperate and... well... whatever the scientists had done had them shocked to the core.
"I'm Commander Luke Skywalker of the Rebel Alliance. What's your name?" Luke asked calmly.
The male rebel stared at him, looking slightly taken aback before lowering his head, "Eden Tran, sir."
"Commander Luke Skywalker," The female rebel repeated, "I am Commander Charlotte Wishwinter."
Luke nodded, strapping his gun back to his belt. "Mind me asking what happened? You guys look really pale."
Eden winced and exchanged a miserable look with his female comrade, "T-they infected us with a perfected serum of the juvenile-experiment," he rushed off.
"Juvenile-experiment?" That didn't sound too comforting.
Charlotte nodded grimly. "Yes, it is a new experiment they are testing on rebels. They infected us with a substance that would eventually turn us into a juvenile, or so they said."
"When were you infected with that?" Luke asked hesitantly, giving the rebels a once-over before deciding they looked perfectly normal.
"Seven days ago. Afternoon," Charlotte confirmed, "That's why they're keeping tabs on us. They want to see whether the experiment truly worked."
"I'm glad it hasn't yet!" Eden was clammy and there was the glisten of a cold sweat. His eyes were as wide as if someone was coming to deliver the fatal blow. "A child, can you even believe it? I-It sounds ridiculous doesn't it?"
Luke nodded thoughtfully, "Is there something else I should know?"
Charlotte nodded, "There is a room in this facility filled with juveniles. Varying from teenagers to young adults - at least that's what we thought before the imperial scientists told us they were actually our captured rebel comrades. We have to save them; they have no idea who they are."
Eden nodded with fright. "They said it was a combination of the juvenile-experiment and the memory-experiment."
"Memory-experiment?" Luke covered a hand over his mouth. "They forgot who they were?"
She nodded grimly, "Yes, but they are pretty smart for whatever age they are meaning their brain still functions like they used to. They're just youngsters with amnesia now."
Luke had to give it to the commander though. Even though she was infected with that same serum she managed being able to maintain such a calm expression. Charlotte Wishwinter deserved a medal for that.
"There's still hope for you guys then, you'll remember."
A loud scream from behind caught Luke's attention and he turned on his feet to deflect whatever tried to hit him. He saw an imperial scientist move closer and he easily cut through the dart that aimed for his chest, leaving two broken pieces falling to the floor. Through the Force he felt another tremor and Luke looked behind him but was unable to dodge another dart hitting his body in full fashion, leaving his body collapsed and paralyzed to the ground.
[✩]
"Can't move!" Luke cried out in vain as the stun-dart quickly did his job, rendering him unable to help the injected rebels. Eden took a hesitant step back unlike Commander Charlotte who searched for an object to hit the scientist with. When her eyes fell on Luke's now deactivated lightsaber she made a futile attempt to reach it before being knocked out by the imperial scientist.
"A wise decision staying out of this, Eden. You wouldn't want a combination of the serum, right?"
Eden winced, but said nothing.
"...And who do we have here?"
He could hear the rubber-soled boots on the polished stone surface come closer. Luke went white, knowing he was being hauled over someone's back, "Let... me... go!" his lips had trouble moving.
"I don't think so, you have already done enough damage."
No, no, no, no! This could not be happening. He could not let this crazy imperial scientist take him. Luke felt his stomach churn, and he thought of how to warn the others. Scrunching his eyes, he used the Force to reach out - hoping someone could help him.
Realizing there was nothing else he could do in his paralyzed state, he resignedly let himself get dragged onto a science lab table where the man kept him restrained.
"What... what are you... going to... do to... me?" Luke's jaw went slack, but his fierce blue glare remained.
"No more talking child, everything will be all right." The imperial scientist comforted, only further fueling Luke's growing discomfort and he groaned painfully as the man latched onto his arm and injected the unknown content of the syringe into his body.
Luke winced, feeling the foreign substance flow into his blood stream then distribute itself among his organs. He could feel his heart beat faster, the lungs compress and decompress rapidly, with a sudden burst of newfound strength he tries to break from his bonds. Much to his dismay this new strength was not enough to fight his disability.
Adding to his dismay, he felt another syringe inject some substance into his other arm. Again, he felt the foreign substance enter his system, flowing through his body like a dead disease.
Luke gasped. "Did you just combine two experiments?"
"No, actually I used the same experiment, but merely doubled the dosage." There was a sly smirk on the imperial's face as he placed the syringe on the counter, "it's been seven days since the other test subjects' injection and still no results. Perhaps a double dosage would suffice."
Terror overtook Luke's face, "Seven days ago? Are you talking about the Juvenile-experiment–"
There was a dark and muffled laugh, "So smart! Yes, the perfected serum of the Juvenile-experiment."
Oh Force, this couldn't be true!
Luke blanched, "What do you mean by 'perfected'? Didn't you guys already succeed?!"
The sound of boots making a 'tok tok' noise echoed throughout the laboratory and Luke felt his forehead start sweating as he faced the imperial scientist. Towering over him with confident and severe, "Our first results showed the test subject becoming younger in size. But that is all. What would be the point of dealing with rebel scum like you? Making you become a juvenile with all the memories as a rebel? No that won't suffice! The Empire would gain nothing from it."
Luke felt his head shake in denial. His bright blue eyes went wide with dread realization, "Does this mean–"
"Correct! Once in operation, the perfected serum will slowly break the neurons, also called brain cells, until it reaches the test subjects newly assigned age." The imperial scientist cut in with a smirk, holding a finger to his lips as he pressed a button beneath Luke's table and opened the door.
Luke's widened eyes trailed after the imperial scientist as he stepped towards the doorway.
"Wait! How old will I be? And how old are the others?"
The imperial scientist came to a halt, pausing before glancing over his shoulder, "Hmm, good question. Most of the test subjects became teenagers actually, with very few exceptions. We assume the quantity of dosage might be involved," his mouth quirked up, "but you wouldn't need to worry about that."
With that, the imperial scientist stalked through the door. Leaving him alone and restrained by shackles.
"This cannot be happening!" Luke was not sure which of the other experiments would have been his personal choice, but the juvenile-experiment was amongst the worst out there. He could only hope the effects of the perfected serum did not work. Having his body grow younger was one thing, having his mindset turn into that of a child was the worst.
Luke suddenly felt the effects of the paralysis wear off thanks to his attuned Force senses.
Gritting his teeth together, he came to the bitter conclusion he needed a plan before he could start looking for the others. The antidote was his most important goal now. He would not only be able to help himself, but the other victims as well.
Once he deemed himself completely free from the paralysis of the stun-dart, Luke unbounded his shackles with the Force and hopped from the lab table, mimicking the imperial scientist into opening the door.
With a heavy sigh, he heard the alarm bells chime in his head as he took note of the imperial guards running through the hallways. Luke cunningly moved behind the many crates that filled the hallway, and successfully managed to reach the next room where he ran up towards a holo-tank in hope of a visual projection of the area.
"Where's the antidote–" Luke muttered to himself, his eyes observing the projected map of the area.
"Luke, there you are!" The voice of Wedge cut through his thoughts.
Luke blinked, "Wedge, what happened?"
"We got everyone out! The princess is waiting outside with another team of rebels. We're gonna blow the facility up so they can't use it again!" Wedge tucked him by his black robes in a silent plea to get out of here as quickly as possible.
"Did you find an antidote for the infected ones?"
Wedge nodded, "We did find some antidotes."
"Okay, we better leave then," said Luke as he used the Force to find a path outside. His rebel friend tagged along, shooting down imperials assaulting them from all corners.
When he leap-jumped out of the imperial science facility and joined up with the rest of his crew Luke was given the order by Leia to get away from the place as soon as possible. Apparently, the bomb planted inside could go off any second now.
With quick steps, Luke commanded everyone to get into the large cargo ship bearing the crest of the Rebel Alliance. Looking around as he urged everyone to get inside, he noticed the many victims of the experiments.
Some rebels had lost the ability to walk and needed to be carried while others took hesitant steps inside, clearly confused about everything - and probably about themselves too. There were also those struggling too hard, those who thought they were imperials and felt they were being abducted. But he also saw Commander Charlotte and the other rebel Eden, they casted him a grateful smile before heading inside. Following them were mostly confused teenagers, young adults and very few children. Luke stiffened as he saw them. Not being able to shake off the dread realization he could become one of them too.
Gosh, he needed that antidote quick.
Luke walked up the boarding ramp back onto the cargo ship, turning on the switch that closes the ramp. He could immediately feel the ship lift off into space, moving away from the facility and hoping he would never have to see it again.
Turning around he could see Han and Chewbacca walk up to him, "Hey Luke, did you find the lunatic behind all off this?"
Luke forced a smile but shook his head, "Sadly not, I was talking to some captured rebels and before I know it some stun dart hit me in the neck," he explained leaning against the wall, bowing his head in slight frustration.
"The Empire must have one hell of a scientist on their hands."
Luke agreed, "Yeah, but he probably wouldn't have survived the explosion."
"At least knowing that makes me feel better." Han scratched his nose playfully.
"Can't blame you my friend." Luke laughed gently, giving him a dismissive wave of the hand before reuniting with Charlotte and Eden who by now had given several reports on their unnatural conditioning.
"Hey, sorry about that slight miscalculation earlier," said Luke as he sat down in one of the chairs, staring at his rebel comrades with sympathy and intent, "but I'm glad you're all okay."
Eden lowered his head, "For how long though?"
Charlotte shook her head dismissively, "What's done is done. At least there won't be any more victims. We can only hope for an antidote or for the effects of the serum to fail."
Luke tapped his fingers on the arm of the chair, "Aren't you guys feeling any different than... let's say the moment you got injected seven days ago?"
Charlotte shook her head, "Not yet. But I must admit there are times when I feel... strange."
"Well, I feel terrible–" Eden raised a hand, his cheeks tuning pink in embarrassment.
Frowning, Luke cocked his head at Charlotte, "Did you get injected earlier or later than Eden?"
"At the same time, but perhaps the serum works differently depending on the person." She suggested with a shake of the head.
Luke could only look at the group of scared children and teenagers huddled together while the rebels made them drink the antidote that would hopefully help them restore their original size and memories. He truly hoped Eden was just overreacting and that all he said was just his own... personal miscalculation instead of it truly being the effects of the serum.
Because if it worked on Eden, it would definitely work on him.
Sighing, Luke moved over to a bed and lay down on it. Deciding he needed a little rest.