Chapter 3

Leia quickly tried to regain her confidence. Two stormtroopers roughly grabbed her upper arms. She glared at Vader defiantly. He bent over so he could be at eye level with the Alderaanian princess. He grabbed her chin and wiped the blood off her lower lip with his thumb.

"You may have been able to defy me on the Death Star young princess," He whispered, "but I assure you, we have found new ways of persuasion since then."

She glared at him.

"What more could you possibly do to me?" She spat at him and jerked her head away for emphasis.

"Oh, you will see soon enough." He stood up and addressed his troopers. "Take them away."

The three rebels were hauled out of the room and Vader, Boba Fett and Lando soon followed.

The six of them, several stormtroopers, and two imperial officers stepped into an elevator. A trooper entered in a pass-code and a few very long seconds of going down later, they stopped. Chewbacca and Leia were escorted out with four of the stormtroopers and an officer.

"Leia no!" Han struggled against his guards. "Where are you taking her? What are you going to do to her and Chewie?"

There was no reply.

"LEIA!"

"HAN!" Leia turned around but was pushed forward by the officer.

The elevator closed and Han continued his downward journey. It seemed to take longer this time. Han felt as if something was missing. But why was he suddenly so protective of her? She'd been nothing but a thorn in his side since Yavin. Was it because Lando seemed to like her? No, he had betrayed them and if they ever got out of this she'd defiantly give him a piece of her mind. He laughed slightly when he thought of all the ways Leia would get back at Lando. But why did he try to protect her? She was pretty good in a fight; she could take care of herself (well, for the most part).

But he'd witnessed the aftermath of her nightmares first hand. He had never seen her so broken up then that time on the Falcon as they headed here. First, he thought he heard noises coming from her cabin but he brushed them off. Then he heard a high pitched scream that tore at his ear drums like no other. He grabbed his blaster from underneath his pillow and ran to her cabin. The sight before him practically broke his heart: she laid there in a cold sweat, shivering, crying, and murmuring, what he supposed was the word 'no', in her sleep. He shook her gently and then, when she didn't respond, more violently. She screamed ad sat up; eyes wide and breathing heavily. It was only then that she had allowed herself to break down in tears and hold him tight as if she let go she'd die. He smoothed down her long brown tangled hair and whispered comforting words in her ear. After she calmed down he asked her if she wanted to go back to sleep. She shook her head.

'Do you want some warm bantha milk?' he asked.

She nodded.

He didn't ask what her dream was about; he had a good enough idea. They played holo-chess for a while before Chewie got up and played with her so Han could g back to bed. He figured she didn't go back to sleep that night.

Having remembered that night gave him some comfort but at the same time made him even more worried about her.

The elevator stopped and its remaining occupants filed into a medium sized room with a strange looking contraption in the center. Han recognized some electrical circuitry parts and figured that this was his torture.

Chewbacca and Leia were stopped in front of what looked like the entrance to prison cell. Leia inwardly sighed with relief and she had a small hope that they wouldn't torture her. That relief faded however, when only Chewbacca was shoved inside. They officer grabbed Leia's arm and pulled her along. She almost cried when she heard the sounds of pained Wookie howls and a faint high pitched siren.

'What information could they possibly gain by torturing a Wookie?' Leia thought as she held back the instinct to elbow her guard in the ribs and make a run for it. 'Even if they could understand him, how much did Chewie know?'

They stopped at another prison like door which opened to a dimly lit room. The first two things she saw were a steel bunk with arm restraints attached to the wall about two and a half to three feet above it and a… no, not again.

She froze as she saw the menacing black orb floating a few feet from the bunk and the two medics, one imperial and another who probably worked here. She felt like she would pass out at any moment.

The imperial officer holding her saw her face dramatically pale and he smiled. It pleased him to know that this rebel scum, who dared to call herself a former member of the senate and a princess, get what she deserved. And it pleased him more that he got to watch.

"Why your Highness you look…"he paused half for effect and half contemplating a good word to use, "rather frightened." He shoved her in the rest of the way and two stormtroopers begun dragging her to the bunk.

The realization of what was happening set in and Leia begun to kick and try to fight her way out of this situation…

Han was strapped into the mechanical torture device and outside Lando heard his pained screams.

Darth Vader exited the room and Lando tried to approach him, "Lord Vader-"

"You may take Captain Solo to Jabba the Hutt after I have Skywalker." Vader addressed the bounty hunter.

"Lord Vader," Lando tried again, "What about Leia and the Wookie?"

"They must never again leave this city."

"That was never a condition of our agreement, nor was giving Han to this bounty hunter!"

"Perhaps you think you are being treated unfairly?" The Sith's tone was almost threatening.

"No" Lando sighed

"Good. It would be a pity if I had to leave a garrison here." Vader said as he stepped into the elevator and the door closed.

"This deal is getting worse all the time." Lando mumbled.

Leia continued her struggle against the guards as they tried to force her into the restraints. Suddenly she felt her body constrict and she couldn't move. All eyes turned to the Sith Lord and bounty hunter entering the room.

"Restrain her general." He motioned to the officer holding her left arm.

The officer nodded and despite Leia's inability to move, it was as if she was complying perfectly. He locked her wrists in and Vader released his Force grip.

Vader motioned towards the imperial medic who then approached Leia with a hypodermic needle. Leia felt slightly relieved that the IT-OT was only there to frighten her… for now. She winced as he injected the drug into her right bicep and she quickly felt herself growing dizzy. She assumed it was a pain enhancer because her arms began to burn even more as the blood left her hands, and the bruises she had acquired felt as if she had just received them. She bit her lower lip, turned her head to the side, and closed her eyes tight in a futile attempt to block out some of the pain.

Vader grabbed another hypodermic needle and approached the girl. He yanked her head back by her hair and she yelped in the sudden fresh pain. He tore off the sleeve of her dress, exposing her left arm, and injected the needle into her shoulder. Leia screamed, the drugs only enhancing her pain, she felt tears come to her eyes but she willed herself not to let her captors have the satisfaction of seeing her cry. She felt even dizzier and black, yellow and red spots clouded her vision. She recognized these as effects of one of the drugs Vader had used during her previous interrogation in order to probe her mind and make her more susceptible to suggestion.

However, he never asked her any questions. He simply ordered his stormtroopers to beat her, but not so much that they would leave lasting scars, and for that, Leia was thankful.

After a while Vader silently began probing her mind during her beatings. At first, all he saw was darkness and then some very blurry images of Hoth. Leia shielded her mind and Vader again, only saw darkness. He was curious as to how she had this natural ability to shield. She was only, what, twenty-one, twenty-two? Surely Bail Organa could not have taught her. He wondered if she possibly was force sensitive. She was adopted, everyone knew that. But who were her real parents? He sensed a slight capability with the Force; she would have to be tested to be sure. Vader ordered more drugs into her system and probed her mind again. He found a section of her memory that was very well guarded and he tried there. He broke her defences briefly as the imperial officer slapped her across the face while a trooper punched her gut. She was winded and as she regained her breath her shields locked again. But Vader had seen the memory; however, it was not what he expected.

It was her memory of Luke recovering in the med center on Hoth. He saw the Princess and Captain Solo arguing. It was quite amusing to watch. And then Leia leaned over and kissed Luke, passionately on the lips, to prove some point about women to Solo. His son, she had kissed his son. At this point Vader stopped his probing and as soon as he saw an opening in the guards he smacked her across the face.

All stopped, went silent, and stared at the Sith Lord. Leia's head was whipped to the side and she was winded for about the tenth time, but the drugs kept her from passing out. Leia knew the memory he saw but she didn't know why he'd smack her for it.

"Medic, unbind the princess and return her to the cell with the Wookie. Apply bacta to all her wounds and check her vital signs for any internal damage."

"Yes sir." The imperial medic unbound Leia and laid her on the steel bunk. As the Bespin medic opened the case of bacta gel to dress her obvious wounds.

"General, fetch the princess some new clothes. Bring them here and move quickly."

The imperial officer nodded and left.

Vader approached the princess. Her eyes were unfocused and she was obviously cold. Her face was covered in faint bruises and hand prints from where she'd been smacked. The most apparent was his. Her arms were just as bad. The sleeves of her once beautiful dress were torn and tattered, and her skin was covered in bruises. He then notices several scares which were undoubtedly from their previous meeting. Although it had been almost three years, her scars were still there. Most people, who survived one of his imperial interrogations, normally had their scars fade within a year or so, but not only would she probably carry these scars to the end of her days, and he figured that she'd have mental scars to carry too.

The officer returned with the princess's Hoth suit, which he acquired from Lando, and Vader ordered the princess to change and then he left.

A/N: Ok I think I'll end the story here because I figured that it would just continue with the movie where Leia and Han and Chewie are re-united. I hope you like it and PLEASE review. "May the Force be with you, always."