Princess Leia Organa, Imperial Senator, felt her heart beat in her ears, echoing through her like a drum. Her cheek cooled slowly, pressed against the metallic slab underneath her. The skin at the back of her neck spasmed, sending a tremor down her back and into her legs. Every minute sound, from the slick rub of her white boots to the soft hiss of the air ducts in the floorboards scraped along frayed nerves til she resented her own breath. Lit by an unforgiving bank of lights in the ceiling, the cell was carefully constructed so that the occupant felt as closed in and helpess as possible, the featureless walls broken only by the cell door.

That door had hissed open just three times.

First when the impassive stormtrooper set as her guard placed a hand in the middle of her back and shoved, sending the petite senator stumbling, bruising her knee on the edge of the shelf that protruded from the back wall.

Then it opened on darkness- the massive figure of Darth Vader, the Dark Lord of the Sith who served as the Emperor's right hand, lowering his head to pass through.

It hissed upwards onto the glowing red lights of the hallway as Vader left, the soft hum of the IT-O interrogation droid fading as it floated behind him.

The knowledge that she had not broken - not betrayed the lives of her allies, not succumbed under the twin assault of the powerful Bavo Six hallucinogen and the mind probe of a Dark Lord of the Sith - gave her little comfort as she slowly recovered her equilibrium.

She had given in only once- when the door slid shut and the cold voice of Vader pierced her soul as the hypodermic needle pierced her skin, sinking into her forearm while cool metal pincers protruding from the casing held her shoulder in place. Her eyes widened then, and she flinched as he continued to question her with the certainty of a grave. Her chin lifted, determined, despite the tremor in her cheek as the drug slowly took effect. Her voice carried the crisp accents of the Imperial Senate floor as she calmly deflected each question with the easy diplomacy that was her Alderaanian heritage.

The Emperor's most formidable servant towered over the youngest senator since Mon Mothma as a bead of sweat ran down the curve of her neck just above her tightly woven hair, anger, frustration and impatience etched into his every syllable. A choked growlling command seeped from the grill over his mouth, and pain danced through her, teasing at her self-control. Like a gundark tense for flight, Leia Organa sprang inward, retreating into herself before he could finish the phrase that would send her senses reeling.

Safe for the moment in memory, she felt the warmth of the sun on her back on a spring day, felt her father's hand on her cheek as he said good-bye before she left for her first term in the Senate, heard the soft chimes of Winter's laughter as her pale haired friend gently mocked Leia's suspicion of Courasant etiquette- and then he was there, his mind breaking through her barriers with ferocious fury.

Pain, all consuming, eternal pain racked her as she screamed-

Pain-

Pain-

Only pain- and she opened her mouth to speak- to say anything- everything- to make the agony end. Then, from deep inside her, like from the depths of a well, she felt strength inch back into her soul, and she grasped the nascent calm like a drowning victim to the debris of a storm. Her mind reeled as she retreated into the depths of her mind, scattering memories like glittering jewels in her path-

Back-

Lessons on politics during a summer picnic with Father-

Back-

A harsh metallic voice in her ear pressing her to tell him, Rebel Base, plans, white hot pain-

Back-

A gentle hug as Mother prepared for a state dinner, her neck draped with shining metal discs-

The pain dogging at her heels-

Back-

Running down marble floors in soft slippers-

Scraping her knee while chasing Winter in a garden-

Back-

Toddling on uncertain feet towards Father-

Back-

Pain like a blaster shot burning her from the inside-

Back- Must tell, must reveal, must-

Pain-

A black glove closing-

Her parents faces, indistinct, framed by the mountains as they smiled in the sunrise-

Her heart slowing-

Air forced out of her lungs-

Tiny lights like stained glass above a white platform-

Her heart shuddering in her chest-

Her name, spoken in anguish, a face swimming out of the haze before memory, beyond time -

A woman's pale face, curls of dark brown hair framing deep brown eyes.

Unimaginable loss and yet a love so total and complete that Leia felt her own struggling heart would break. That face, so regal, so composed, even in despair, those eyes that Leia had seen out of every mirror - awareness stabbed through her self:

They were her mother's eyes.

Her real mother.

A single tear ran down her mother's face.

The image began to fade as suffocating darkness crept over Leia's mind, and she dimly felt a tear roll down her own cheek.

Without warning, the pressure eased and Leia felt herself falling to the cold slab, her lungs burning. She retched weakly. She dimly heard Vader's voice, almost unsteady, saying that her defenses had proved formidable, and that they would continue later.

Leia felt exhaustion cover her like a blanket. One arm curled beneath her head, she could still feel her birth mother's gaze supporting her, preparing her for whatever came next. Princess Leia Organa, Imperial Senator, and member of the Alliance to Restore the Republic, fell into sleep like a child cradled in her mother's arms.

Author Notes:

This vignette, the third in my Star Wars series, attempts to fill the plot hole left by recent Episode III spoilers which seem to contradict information in Return of the Jedi. In ROTJ, Leia tells Luke that she has vague memories of her birth mother, "images, feelings really..she died when I was very young. She was beautiful but... sad." So, how does Leia remember her mother? Answer, in my opinion: Leia, being Force-sensitive, had a memory of being held by her mother shortly after her birth. I'm also pulling from Yoda again.. "through the Force, things you will see, the future, the past, old friends long gone." I used the Star Wars Radio Play script for "Death Star Transit" as inspiration for the torture sequence which is implied in "New Hope." I had the session end, however, with a subconscious reference to Anakin's violent treatment of Padme in Episode III.

Update May 20, 2005: After viewing Episode III, my spoiler sources proved correct. Anakin does strangle Padme, and sadly, I can find no evidence that Padme even held Leia before her death..so I've tweaked the memory a bit to add elements of the film. I admit, I got the stained glass reference from a description of the Polis Medical Center on the official site. So here's my updated version.