The torture room contained a variety of vicious-looking instruments along with a gray metal chair that was tilted sideways. In that chair sat a very distressed Luke Skywalker.

Darth Vader was also in the room. He stood by silently and ominously while a torture droid prepared a needle. It held the needle up and squeezed it so that some of the liquid squirted out.

Luke's eyes widened. "What's that for?"

"To prohibit your use of the Force."

"I thought only ysalamiri could do that."

Vader walked a little closer to Luke. "Ah, but this is from one."

Luke looked confused, "What?"

Vader looked at him for a moment. "Many of my scientists have been studying ysalamiri to see why they can block the Force. They have discovered that there is a chemical in the ysalamiri's skin that produces bacteria which float around it in a two-meter radius. The bacteria are microscopic, but billions surround a single ysalamiri. When a creature comes into this "protection field," the bacteria touch the being's skin and release a substance that disables the midi-chlorians inside the creature for as long as they remain near the ysalamiri. They form a symbiosis with the ysalamiri, and our scientists have studied this phenomenon for years. They have finally found a way to remove the bacteria from the area around the ysalamiri, and they have induced evolution upon the bacteria so that they are capable of reproducing, as the bacteria typically die within a day. The bacteria can now be injected into a Force sensitive to block the Force," Vader said in a low but almost gloating voice.

Great,Luke thought, it doesn't look like my day can get much worse. Luke was forcing himself not to think of Tontay or his other deceased students, but it was hard. "What are midi-chlorians? Is there an antidote?"

"Midi-chlorians are bacteria that live in your cells. They are what allow you to use the Force. We form a symbiosis with them...And as for an antidote, you shall receive one when you deserve one," Vader replied.

Luke swallowed as the droid came nearer with the needle. Maybe I was wrong; maybe it can get worse...

"I suppose it's too late to bargain?"

"You will agree to our terms? You and Jade's full cooperation, and the location of the secret Rebel fleet."

Luke shut his eyes tightly. "I will not give you the location of the Rebel fleet."

"So be it." Vader nodded towards the droid.

The droid floated towards Luke, and before long, the bacteria had been injected into Luke's bloodstream.

Luke's body stiffened; he suddenly felt as if all his senses had just been cut off. It was like being deaf and blind all at once.

The door whooshed open, and four Stormtroopers came in. In between them walked a large, furry, slobbering creature with a touch of madness in its red eyes.

Vader nodded at them, then he looked at Luke, "Here is your interrogator, Blifang, a Blenwolv." He glanced at Blifang, "If you do it well, you will get a large Wookiee steak. You may begin."

Luke turned a sickly color, and Vader strode out of the room, followed by the Stormtroopers. Luke was now left alone with the Blenwolv and droid. Great, now how much worse can it get? Luke wondered to himself.

Blifang's tongue was hanging out, and he laughed hideously. "Dis gonna be fun," he rasped. He flexed his paws, and his claws came unsheathed, glinting. He lightly moved one of his claws down Luke's neck before slashing Luke's arm. Luke flinched with pain, moaning and hating Vader even more than ever.

Blifang's tongue was still out, lolling. "Ready to give in?"

Luke shook his head, "I don't give up that easily." As soon as the words came out of his mouth, Blifang grabbed his other arm, and dug all of his claws into Luke's sensitive human skin. Luke cried out in pain, unable to silence himself. Blifang seemed pleased with his outburst and started clenching harder. Luke hissed air in through his teeth.

Blifang finally let go and went over to the droid who was standing silently in a corner. It held up a needle in its hand-claw, and Blifang took it. The needle was dwarfed by his large paws, and he held it semi-clumsily. He walked over to Luke, his red eyes shining with insanity.

What have I gotten myself into? Luke wondered as the Blenwolv walked over, holding up the needle and grinning wolfishly. He stuck it into Luke's arm, but not carefully and slowly like the droid had done. Luke gritted his teeth as it was yanked out. His head started to spin as the drug did its work. The pain in his arms began more pinpointed, as the drug made him more aware of his senses. The scent of his bleeding arm invaded his nostrils, along with the smell of Blifang, a rotten smell, as if he hadn't washed in months, if not years.

Blifang chuckled and smacked Luke's face with the back of his paw...


Mara was fuming while awaiting Luke's return. She was angry at Vader and the Emperor for being such idiots, mad at Leia for making her pick up Luke, and mad at Luke for being on Dagobah instead of being readily available on Coruscant,...and mad at herself for actually agreeing to pick up Luke. Look what's happened: Tontay was killed...and space knows what they're doing to Luke! Mara thought with a sigh. She stroked the pittin on her lap and glanced over at Artoo, who had shut down to preserve power.

Mara had no sense of the time, as she had forgotten her wrist chrono, and when Luke was thrown in the cell after what seemed like hours later, she was about to say something nasty, but held her tongue when she realized how bloodied and bruised he was. His shirt was ripped to shreds, as if some wild animal had attacked him, and his pants weren't in very good condition either. He had a big bruise on the left part of his face, and his right eye was swollen shut. His lip was bleeding, and he was slumped on the ground, his breathing haggard.

After gently pushing the pittin out of her lap, Mara rushed over to Luke, noticing that she could not sense him through the Force. At first, she began to panic, thinking that it was because his life signs were low, but then she realized that the Force was not able to touch him at all. Strangely, it could touch anything but him...Mara filed that under "Ask Later."

She slowly rolled Luke onto his back, him moaning and her hissing in sympathy as she saw his wounds. The pittin came over and gave a mrow of understanding, licking Luke's face and trying to get him to wake up. Mara hesitated for but a moment before tearing what was left of Luke's shirt off him. She ripped it into smaller sections and started gently dabbing at his scratches, getting most of the crusty blood off. Then she pressed clean pieces against the wounds and applied pressure to stop the bleeding. After that, she wet one of the larger pieces in the small sink that was in their cell and cleansed his chest of the dried blood. She tried hard not to stare at his chest, inwardly wondering about how muscular it was. She'd thought he'd mostly used the Force for the hard physical work.

Then Mara wet another piece of black cloth, the last one left, the rest sitting beside her in a used pile. She wiped the blood from Luke's mouth and rubbed at his swollen eye. He started moaning things, most inaudible. All Mara could hear was: "Unnh oh sh...gone...but it's...tuh...bad...since...love...uh..."

I wonder what he's talkin about...? Oh no! Mara thought with horror. Luke's chest had stopped moving up and down. She leaned her ear against Luke's chest.

His heartbeat was fading fast.

Panicked, she pushed against Luke's chest, avoiding the slowly scabbing marks. Then she closed her eyes, hoping that he wouldn't become conscious while she was doing this, and pressed her lips against his to do CPR. At first, she got no results, but his eyes finally opened for a millisecond. He started coughing, and Mara got her face out of the way.

Luke coughed up a small amount of blood, and mouthed "water." Mara nodded and quickly went to the water faucet and cupped her hands and brought him back water. She used the Force to keep the water from dripping out, and she poured a little bit in his mouth, then a little more, until he finally drank all that was in her hands.

"Thanks," Luke managed, his throat still scratchy. The pittin purred in happiness that he was awake, and she licked his face again. He lightly swatted in the animal's general direction.

Mara advised, "Shh," and placed a finger against his lips. She smiled. "Looks like that animal has found a new owner."

Luke looked like he was going to object to being Deedah's owner, but Mara silenced him, "Don't talk, just rest, you will need your strength to heal."

At that, the aches and pains all over Luke's body reminded him of his situation, so he closed his eyes tightly, nodding slightly.

He finally finished satisfying his thirst and mumbled a thanks.

Mara bit her cheek, "Uh Skywalker, I'm gonna have to...rip what's left of your pants off."

Luke's eyes shot open, "Wha—?"

Mara laughed at the expression on Luke's face. "Well, I'm not anxious about it either, but I have to tend to your leg wounds and...I need more rags," she said pointing at the pile of bloodied rags.

Luke looked uncomfortable at that, but shifting his legs just a little bit and wincing in pain, he nodded in agreement. The pittin seemed to enjoy his discomfort and curled up next to him, falling asleep. At least someone's comfortable, Luke thought. He glanced over at Artoo, thankful that he was okay.

Mara was glad that Luke wasn't wearing a non-tearable jumpsuit; she was having enough trouble ripping it as it was. So she gave in and used the Force to help her tear his pants. The Force still wouldn't touch Luke, though it did allow her to "modify" his pants.

Luke then closed his eyes, waiting for it to come.

"Skywalker!" Mara said, chuckling. "Nice boxers! Who gave them to you? Your girlfriend?"

Mara was referring to Luke's bright red silk boxers, and his face turned the same color. A brief pang about Tontay came up, but he shunned it away. "No." He opened his eyes and grinned sheepishly, "I wouldn't have worn them if I had known that my pants were going to be torn off of me...Han gave them to me, as a sort of prank present, and, well, they were comfortable..."

Mara laughed harder, "Okay, sure." She finally finished tearing his pants into sections, and she started yet again stopping his wounds' bloodflow. She finally got his legs all cleaned up, and she had a few more strips left. "Does it hurt anywhere else?'

Luke shook his head, and Mara finally voiced her question. "What's blocking the Force? I can reach out and sense around you, but I can't sense you."

Luke gave her a brief explanation of what Vader had told him.

"So there isn't anyway that I can use the Force to help with the pain?" Mara asked, concerned.

"Not unless you can find a way to kill the bacteria or get them out of my system," Luke said, semi-hopeful that she might have heard of it before.

"I haven't a clue," Mara answered, shattering Luke's hopes.

"I thought as much. Well, what do we do now, wait?"

"Unless you have a better idea...I would try to break us out, but..." Mara trailed off.

"But you're unable to use your Force powers for something like that, as your potential is mostly concentrated in another area, that of preventing getting caught...Which is why you should have gone to the Academy a long time ago to finish your training," Luke admonished.

"Don't give me a lecture...I realize that I should have, but...I was scared," Mara said, avoiding his eyes. She figured it was time to get this out in the open.

"Scared?" Luke exclaimed, surprised. "Why were you scared? What would us big bad Jedi do? We don't bite..."

"I was...scared of..." this admission was hard for Mara, "—you."

"Me? Why were you afraid of me?" Luke looked puzzled. Threatening to kill someone was an odd way to show that you were frightened of them.

"Because of...Can we talk about this later?" Luke looked like he was about to object, so she said, "You need to get some rest and heal." Forget getting this out in the open.

"But—"

"No but's about it."

Luke was about to argue, but instead he gave in with a sigh. "But we will talk about it later."

"Right," Mara agreed, reluctantly.

With that, Luke closed his eyes and drifted easily into sleep.

Mara brushed some hair out of his face, wishing...wishing...