Trigger warning, mentions of torture.

Laying there damp and cold, Luke brought himself up, shivering and shaking and moving the crumbled and tearing emergency blanket off himself. Leia stirred. He worried that he would wake them up. He saw her curled up into a ball, laying against Han's stomach, his arms laying straight across as if she was a little doll, he snoring loudly. She didn't seem to be awake, and Han seemed to be deep asleep, so he tucked them back into the blanket, while he made his way to the cut out room where all the junk that had seemed to be collected was laying about. It would give him some quiet privacy and a chance to get himself together. This Ventress was obviously someone that knew Ben, or was associated with him, or maybe he was just dreaming. This place seemed to conjure up the strangest dreams, if they were dreams. They seemed so real, and Leia was having similar experiences. He removed his outer clothes and tried to dry himself off somewhat as most of those that had been close to his body were drenched in sweat. He shook them a bit, then shook the outer things that had gotten dusty from laying on the ground. The room, though it had that dark feeling, suddenly felt very warm as if it was just concentrated only on this room, which was odd as he was not wearing that many clothes by this point. He lit one of the lamps in the room and started to look around. It was a manic collection of odd things, and when he touched them he got a sense of darkness and revenge. He wondered who the woman in the glass was, and where it came from, and what it meant. He then heard a voice. "You shouldn't be in here." He stepped out, and was very cold, so he put back on the clothes that were dry and went back to cuddle back up in the huddle under the crumbled blanket with his friends, carefully as to not wake them.

Leia woke up, she carefully moved the arms of her friends as to be able to move, and stood up in the cave. She heard a lot of noise, and saw flashes of light, not just the dull red sky she was used to seeing here, but green, and then brighter multicolored flashes, of blue and bright green and red. As she walked closer to the edge of the cave a voice, the voice of that woman said "Stay in the cave, you will be safe."

She looked out and saw blaster fire,and lightsabers flickering, and women falling and battle droids, large and small in a massive battle. Then this weird thing, a droid, insect like creature carrying four lightsabers ran towards her and she fell. She screamed, and as she screamed she found herself laying alone, clutching the crumbled blanket on the floor of the cave. Luke and Han, who seemed to have been eating something, probably those awful lizards they had been subsisting on while here, ran towards her to see if she was ok. Leia stood up shaken. Luke asked her. "Did you have a weird dream again, too?"

Leia shook. "It was a battle, right out there, I could see it. It was so real. Then this thing was running towards me in the cave."

Luke put his arm around her and walked her over to a rock to sit down, just outside the cave. "The woman said to stay in the cave and I would be safe. It was all very odd."

"I wonder if there is something in the water or just the air on this planet, but you two and all these visions and dreams. Maybe it's these fool lizards. They haven't been doing anything to me though. I really can't wait to get out of this place. It gives me the creeps anyway." Han said as he brought Leia some water.

Off in the distance, they heard some noise. "Probably some rancors or something out there." Han said.

He got his scope out and had a peek. "Hey Luke, take a look at this." Han said with concern.

"That's not rancors, it's something smaller." Luke replied.

"Let me have a look." Leia took the monocular and peeked through it. "That looks like people, and I think they are coming this way."

A voice called, it sounded like Ventress. "Stay in the cave and you will be safe."

"Did you hear that?" Leia said.

"I did. What's going on?" Han replied a bit unnerved.

Captain Honas had been making frequent visits on Cocie Maddax when he could in the medical bay, but this time it was on business. She had been given treatment, and even a couple of counseling sessions, and members of command were anxious to hear what she had to say both about her time working for the Moff and her time in the prison on Dathomir. Honas volunteered to bring her himself, as he had become a bit of a friend, and had felt a bit responsible for her, having treated her during her time on the shuttle. It may be hard for her to give her debriefing, but it was necessary, and they really didn't want to put it off having left some of their people, one of whom was a member of High Command herself, on planet. Anything she could tell them about the prison itself may be of some value, as well as her mission with the Moff. They arrived in Mon Mothma's office,where she and General Dodonna were waiting, and Honas was a bit relieved to see her counselor there as well. She reminded him of his kid sister a bit, and maybe he was making it a bit too personal. He was assigned to the mission, and his input was important, but in this instance, he may have been too protective. Cracken had warned him that visiting her too much may not be for the best, and he was beginning to realize that advice was not so much for her benefit, but for his own. He was relieved though that Cracken was not here.

General Dodonna started "Thank you for coming here, Agent Maddax. I realize you have gone though a great ordeal, and you have already told a lot to your counselor about it. We have gone through the notes and I will try to be as delicate as I can, but we need to discuss what you know about the prison."

Captain Honas spoke up "I thought this was about her work at the Moff's?"

Mon Mothma spoke "Oh, we intend to get to the information on the Moff and what she was able to retrieve while there, Captain, but right now, we have a current situation where anything she can tell us about the prison is of greater importance. Agent Maddax, again, I realize the hardship it may have to discuss this matter, but anything you can tell us may help us with our retrieval of those that who came to rescue you, but had to be left behind. Perhaps this will help, they were left behind so that you could be rushed to treatment. I appreciate what you have already told us, via Captain Honas and the counselor, but we have a few questions ourselves. I'm sorry if this will trigger anything painful about your time there, but you have to understand that right now, you are our best source. We have a rough idea, just from the time that we lost contact with you, but do you have any idea at all how long you were kept there?"

Maddax sat there a moment. "I'm not sure, ma'am. I'm really am not sure at all."

"Do you have a rough estimate how many people were there? How big of an operation it was? Did it seem to be a lot of prisoners, or just a few?" General Dodonna asked as he took notes.

Cocie Maddax sat there and her tears started to well up in her face. "I don't know. It didn't seem very big. I know they had at least one other prisoner. I think he was an officer, on the Imperial side, it seems he did something wrong. I heard him scream all the time..." She buried her hands in her face.

Captain Honas handed her a tissue and gave her a pat. He really wanted to drag her out of there. He had worked for intelligence many times, and he was good at his job. Cracken was right about not letting things get personal. He began to care too much for this girl and he wanted to protect her.

"I saw a few officers. Some stormtroopers. Not large armies of them, more of a small operation, I suppose." Maddax said though the tears.

"We know from what we got from the crew that it didn't seem that they had many ships around, nor much in the airspace. That's what we expected, I'm sorry if this is too hard for you, young lady, but realize we need to know everything we can." General Dodonna said with a tender voice.

Captain Honas stood up. "With all due respect, Sir, I know you need this information, but do you realize what this poor girl has been through! She has had to relive it again and again, not only through questioning, but her own nightmares!"

As he was saying it, Cracken arrived to the meeting, he spoke "Captain Honas, sit down, or I will escort you out! We understand everything that she has been through and we are getting her the help she needs, however, you are not helping the investigation by speaking out of turn to General Dodonna and Mon Mothma. Control yourself, or I will be forced to have you leave the meeting. Your input has been valuable, but we need to get information from Agent Maddax, now. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Sir." Captain Honas sat down.

"Agent Maddax, I want you to know that if it gets too much, your counselor will gladly escort you out, and we will continue later, but please know that we need as much information as we can get before our team departs again for Dathomir." Cracken said.

"I understand, Sir. I'm trying." Maddax replied with a whimper.

"I'm going to question Counselor Rahble now, Counselor, was there anything in your notes that you have discussed already with Agent Maddax you think might be of interest? I saw something about her having some hallucinations of some type. Images of women standing about her. I know sometimes those in pain 'see' things, but can you describe what she saw?" Cracken asked.

"She said the women were standing about, she only saw them for a moment, they were trying to comfort her." The counselor said.

"Did they inject you with any drugs, Agent Maddox?" Cracken asked.

"I don't believe I was ever injected with anything. Mostly I was whipped, and I was stripped, and they .." Maddax stopped and buried her face into her hands.

"You don't have to go on, I only wanted to know if you had been injected with anything to cause your hallucinations. Many times they inject things as torture, or to get information, that was my only reason for asking that." Cracken patted her hand. "It's possible even the pain the body's own defenses can make you see weird things as well. I only had to know if they injected anything into you. What did they feed you? Did they give you any water or anything to drink?"

"They gave me some protein pouch of some kind, shoved it into my mouth and made me chew it open with my hands tied above my head. One of the men, not a stormtrooper, some kind of under officer of some type who was with the stormtroopers, he..." Maddax stopped a bit.

"It's OK, did they give you water or anything to drink, or was it just the protein pouch." Cracken asked.

Maddax started blubbering a bit. The counselor spoke up. "I don't think they gave her any water, Sir."

Maddax curled up into a ball with her knees to her chest, feet on the seat. Captain Honas got up and said "I think she has had enough! Please!"

"Captain Honas. I know I told you that you could be here, but maybe you should step outside!" Cracken asked.

Captain Honas left the room angrily and stood outside the door. He leaned up against the wall and slipped down to sit.

"I just wanted to know if you might have been drugged in anything they fed you, Agent Maddax. Please understand." Cracken said to her.

Maddax shook her head up and down, face scrunched up. The counselor spoke. "She told me they threw her on the ground and the officer urinated in her face. Eventually she got so dehydrated, she began to well, get hydrated as best she could.."

"Those monsters." Mon Mothma replied.

"It wasn't in the briefing, but I felt it better that I said it, than she had to say it again. This young woman has been through a lot. As you can see, and that wasn't the worst of it." The counselor said.

"I understand, but it tells me how dehydrated you were. I'm honestly surprised you have been able to survive. You were in really bad shape by the time you arrived here." Cracken replied. "The fact that you are even sitting in this room tells me a lot about you. I think you are stronger than you think you are. Right now, you may not think so, but you are a survivor. Many would not have the will to live that long. I can't tell you about all my agents, about what they went through. Let's just say, I have seen a lot. I'm sorry this interrogation is difficult." Cracken told her.

"How long do you think I was there, Sir?" Maddax asked.

"I guess about three weeks. We went through a few channels to even find where you were, I'm sorry we didn't find you sooner." Cracken replied.

"I don't think it would have made much of a difference, from the time I got there to the time I left, I was treated pretty much the same. They kept thinking I was dead. I couldn't give them the satisfaction. I swear, Sir, they never got anything out of me." Maddax said with a little more confidence taking a bit of pride in what Cracken had said to her and remembering why she wanted to stay alive in the first place. She began to get some of her confidence back, she wasn't a pile of mush, she was stronger than that. She would not let them win.

"Only 16 years old. That's the kind of gumption that can defeat the Empire." Cracken said as he went to the door opened it looked out, then down. "Honas, get back in here, somehow I knew you would still be out here. Look at this young woman, look at her. Don't ever think she needs your protection. This one is a fighter. Trust me. Take her back to Medical. I think I got what I need for now."

Mon Mothma and General Dodonna stood there, feeling a little guilty about putting that poor girl through all that, but it's what they have to do, and the strength to do that sometimes is a burden as well. Cracken felt Captain Honas needed to learn that as well, but he himself had to remember that from time to time. They all did.

"Did General Rieekan get his team together yet for the shuttle?" Mon Mothma asked.

"He is organizing the departure right now, I am going over everything with him and the team before they leave. General Dodonna, if you don't mind, you can brief them on this meeting, any information about the site and the planet itself." Cracken replied.

"I will do that. You gave me something to think about, Cracken with your speech there to Agent Maddax, I think we have to remember that sometimes. I think we get too protective with some of our more important assets here in the Alliance. We have to have faith in their abilities and let them do what they do best." General Dodonna said.

"We all have to remember that sometimes, I'm guilty of it myself. I got a little hard on Honas, but he's not going to be a good asset to me if he let's it get too personal like he was with Agent Maddax." Cracken replied. "Don't get me wrong though, loyalty has it's place. Why, well, look at Chewbacca. I was talking with Rieekan and I guess him through that droid, and I know it's the thing with wookiees, but he's so loyal to Captain Solo. Force knows why, and of course, loyal to Skywalker and the Princess as well, and he is frantic that he hasn't left yet to go back to Dathomir. What it took for him to leave and bring our agent back though, that's the kind of thing that puts it in perspective. He still did what was important, but I believe he had faith in their abilities to survive until he comes back for them."

Mon Mothma spoke up. "He went after Commander Skywalker on what we thought was a suicide mission, volunteered when I spoke and said it was too risky and we couldn't afford to send anyone out. Just because it was Commander Skywalker. They all pulled it off though."

"I know I am probably jinxing myself, but this mission isn't nearly as dangerous. Let's hope it all turns out that I'm right. As for Agent Maddax, give her time to recover. We will see how it goes with her, it could go either way, but if she gets through this, I think she will be a fine agent, if not, well, I know she has even more reason to hate the Empire, she will be valuable in anything we throw at her." Cracken said.

"I do hope Princess Leia is all right." Mon Mothma said with worry.

In Dathomir Prison, Lieutenant Walle was scoping the scanners of the property for heat signatures. He knew hunters frequently visited the planet, hunting or capturing rancors, usually, and that was probably all it was, but the heat signatures near that weird temple place some miles away was occasionally getting some human/humanoid sized readings. He hadn't been too concerned the first time he saw it, but since it had been happening over two cycles, he thought it worth mentioning to Captain Bufor.

Captain Bufor studied the scan that Walle had saved for him and said. "It's probably nothing, like you said hunters taking shelter. I don't see a ship, but it's possible it got in one of those pockets that don't scan well here. We can spare a few stormtroopers to go out and have a look. I don't imagine it's anything, but it will give them something to do. We've been lucky, it seems that little incident that happened with the girl didn't get back to Moff Suller. He seemed satisfied with my telling her that she died. I want you to know that I appreciate your loyalty to me in that manner, Lieutenant."

"We have a sweet deal here, Captain. It gets dull, this planet is not the most scenic place, but it's an easy job, and it has it's perks." Lieutenant Walle said with a sneer. "How did you explain the loss of the stormtroopers."

"I told them they got taken by the fever, took the girl as well. We didn't have enough antidote to cure the whole crew. I thought they would send reinforcements, but they didn't. I guess we don't have enough prisoners right now. I am sure they will send more with whatever prisoner they bring in next." Bufor said. "I just hope they don't send one of those Imperial Security Bureau officers. I really don't think we need one, your techniques seem to do the job quite nicely."

"Thank you, Sir, I do enjoy my work." Walle replied.

Back at base, General Dodonna made his way to the hanger, where General Rieekan and Chewbacca, with Threepio were standing. General Cracken soon followed along with Captain Honas, and a data pad that with the itinerary and locations of the distress signal.

"The shuttle you used before, we of course, will not be using it, as I am sure they would be well aware of it being the same shuttle, instead I have gotten Nien Nunb as your pilot, and a ship that will be used as a shuttle for the freighter. He doesn't speak basic, and neither does our agent on the freighter, Gip, but they understand it, and you will have Threepio with you. Captain Honas can call in the codes and itinerary, it might not be a good idea to have your droid do it. Nien Nunb has worked with the Princess before and jumped on this. I know you all don't know each other Chewbacca, but he's a smuggler as well. He's a good man." he said as they directed them to the ship.

The short Sullustan was standing by the ship they would use to shuttle to and from the freighter from the base and to the planet. The freighter they were using was very large, large enough to dock the ship and would stay off planet while they went to search for their three stranded comrades. Rieekan shook Chewie's hand and gave him a pat on his back and said. "May the Force be with you." With that, they all boarded the shuttle and departed.

On Dathomir, Luke, Han and Leia ducked into and peered out from the edge of the cave.

Han got out the monocular and said. "Yep, stormtroopers, I would say about four of them."

"Does it look like there's a ship of any type? Anything else out there?" Luke asked.

"Oh give me that thing." Leia said quietly. "Just the four, I'm guessing they saw or heard something, they may not even know we are here. Just stay put."

As the stormtroopers get in range, Han runs out blaster in hand and starts firing.

"What is he doing!" As Leia runs out and pulls her blaster out of her boots and fires as well.

Luke, lightsaber in hand starts running out. Already four stormtroopers are laying dead on the ground. He cuts it off, and stands there.

"Why did you do that? They didn't know we were here? You know what? Now they will! If we just stayed hidden, they may have just passed us by! There were only four, it was probably just a random patrol."

Luke walks around, lightsaber turned off, but still in hand and patrols the outer edges of the old village. "I really don't see anything else out here."

Han said. "Heat signatures. I bet that's how they monitor this planet. There were four of them, there are three of us. We can probably avoid suspicion if we stay outside the cave. They can think we are them. We have to move though, if that's how they spotted us, we would be sitting ducks if we stayed there anyway."

"We've been sending the distress signal from here though, I just hope they can find us." Leia said.

"If Chewie's on board, they'll find us." Han replied.

As they were packing up the camp, and removing any evidence they had been there, Luke found himself collapsing down to the floor.