Chapter 3 of our saga.
This chapter does contain more graphic description of torture and mental abuse, so please skip if that would be in any way disturbing to you.
Thank you for reading.
Luke awoke to the unpleasant sensation that someone was touching his face. A hand was covering his eyes as he tried to flutter them open and another hand suddenly grabbed the bottom of his jaw.
"Wake up little Jedi," a voice called mockingly, "Time to wake up."
Luke twisted his head sharply to try and dislodge the hands-on him but he could not summon enough strength to move them. His arms, as well as his legs, were still bond securely to the table he was laying on and he struggled for only a moment before conceding their strength.
"Awake and active," the voice said, "that's good. It's been so dull coming to see you when you were too drugged up to move. I like it better when you at least are aware of your surroundings. Aware of me."
The hand that was covering Luke's eyes moved away quickly and he was blinded by the brightness of the room. Someone had apparently turned up the lights to their maximum capacity. Normally it would have been mildly annoying but after having been left in the dark for three days, the light was like daggers to Luke's eyes. He blinked furiously to try and adjust his vision and it only somewhat helped. The first thing he became aware of was the face of Captain Nisca bending over his a sadistic smile ever on his lips.
"Good morning, little Jedi," he said as he moved away from the table, "I haven't seen your face in over three days. Did you miss me? I wonder if you are aware you were crying last night. I wonder what about, hmmm? Care to share?"
Luke replied only with a glare of hatred, trying his best to remain focused on the blurred image of the Imperial captain and he moved about the room.
"Oh my," Nisca mocked, "angry already and we haven't even begun the day. Well, don't worry I have just what the doctor ordered. Time to take your medicine."
Luke's eyes widened as he saw the captain pull out a hypospray that was filled with the accursed chains that had kept Luke bond and distant from the force for almost two weeks. Of course, he struggled and tried to defend himself, he even resorted to pleading but all to no avail. The captain easily injected Luke with the serum and the feeble grasps at clarity that Luke had been holding onto were ripped away. Once again his body was no longer his own and he observed all that happened from a far off place, as though his spirit were watching from a corner of the room.
"There, now we are feeling much more relaxed, aren't we." the captain put the hypospray away and looked down at his victim, "I've wondered for so long why Lord Vader was interested in a simple rebel boy like you," Nisca grasped Luke chin and forced him to face him, "Now that I've had the pleasure of your stay for a while and could witness first hand the power you possess in the force I am beginning to see he may want you more than for your pretty face." He slapped Luke's face with a resounding crack that whipped Luke's head to one side and added to the plethora of bruises that lined his jaw and colored the skin around his eyes.
"It was a stroke of luck that I was able to capture you at all and now that I know that the little experiment that I have been working on is a success," he motioned towards the hypospray, "I will be able to get rid of that annoying hunk of machinery and begin to rule this galaxy as it ought to be. No more of your stupid rebellion. No more Sith Lords and crazed old men, a new order shall be interposed and I shall be at its head. Order and peace at last shall reign, not thisscamble for power that I have watched too long. Does that not sound like a bright future? And have no worry, my little Jedi, you will be there to witness the whole thing. Though my hatred for Darth Vader runs deep, I see the wisdom that emperor displayed in keeping him around. I need a tool to enforce my will at first, once people see the beauty of my new empire you will not be so much an enforcer rather a symbol of the new order. There is more for you than simple parlor tricks and fighting for a dying cause. Will you not be apart of the new order that will rise?"
Luke's chin was still grasped tightly in Nisca's hand and he was forced to look into the insane eyes of the captain, seeing no hope of escape in death or life. When he didn't answer the captain, his face was shook roughly.
"Answer me, little Jedi," Nisca growled, "Do you concede to being my right arm or do we have to play this weary game longer?"
Luke looked at the captain, hatred and disgust radiating from him in overpowering waves, he was almost glad for his separation from the force for he was sure that in this moment he would have succumb to the dark side simply to push that smug face out of his own.
"You're insane and I will never join you," Luke ground out at last. How many times would he have to refuse to join power hungry mad men?
Nisca frowned deeply and transferred the hand on Luke's chin to around the Jedi's throat.
"You really do tire me with you stubbornness," he said as he squeezed down on Luke's windpipe, "There is no escape for you, you little fool. Either join me or remain trapped in this room for the rest of your life, however short that may be. You can rest assured that I will not cause you permanent damage but there are so many ways to cause pain without damage."
He released Luke's throat at his last words and Luke gasped for breathe.
"Though you do not seem over unaccustomed to pain," the captain added and slid his hand down Luke's right arm to the stump where his right hand once used to be. Not long after his capture the captain had found out able his prosthetic hand and some time after had had it removed in an another attempt to coerced Luke into siding with him. It had been humiliatingly and had decreased his chances of escape. Now the captain pushed painfully into the end of his wrist, causing pain to flare through Luke's arm and up into his shoulder. He clenched his teeth together so tightly he thought he might shatter them but refused to groan out his pain. The captain, however, seemed to relish in the agony written on Luke's face and twisted the skin around Luke's wrist, causing the puckered skin to tear open and begin to bleed once more over the table. Luke could not hold back the gasp of pain that escaped his lips as the fire intensified and it seemed as though he were loosing his hand all over again.
"Now," Nisca said releasing Luke's arm and once more grabbing his chin, "I am going to leave and come back in three hours. While I'm away some of my men are going to have a little chat with you. At any time during the chat you may tell them that you have decided to see reason and join me. They will then come to get me and we will find you some more comfortable housing. If you have not conceded within the three hours I will return give you another chance to side with me. If you still refuse the three hours will restart and I will get new men to chat with you. Do you understand, my little jedi?"
Luke did not respond and was hit across the face until he nodded his head that he understood.
"Good. Remember I am your only salvation and I suggest you take my offer before you cause any real damage to yourself. I am only a promise of allegiance away, my little jedi."
With that Nisca left and three men, whose faces were impassible as the walls imprisoning Luke stepped in to start their 'chat'.