They swiftly strode down several corridors, Luke beside Vader as usual, and Jade trailed along behind them, trying in vain to burn a hole in Luke's back with her eyes.
Vader wished that the Emperor hadn't sent his Hand along, since he had a nagging feeling that she was there primarily to keep an eye on him and Luke, but there was nothing he could do about it. If he had protested, then Palpatine would have gotten suspicious, and his anger would have been aroused...And that would not have been a good thing.
The silence as they walked along was almost unbearable to them all, and relief was felt by the three of them when they finally arrived at their destination. They were walking through the door single-file, but Luke suddenly halted mid-step in the doorframe.
There was a metal adjustable chair at the back of the small room, and a miniature, round black droid to the left next to a table with several questionable bottles, as well as sharp tools and other curious objects, scattered on it.
It was obvious what this room was used for: interrogations.
On a good day, when the memories weren't too strong and painful, Leia had once given Luke vivid details of her own interrogation on the Death Star.
Remembering caused the hair on the back of Luke's neck to raise.
Mara Jade scowled and roughly shoved Luke forward. "Move it, Skywalker, you're blocking the door."
Luke almost fell to the floor, but he caught his balance just in time. He threw a glare at her over his shoulder.
"Get in the chair," Vader instructed Luke.
Luke looked at Vader dubiously. The cuffs slid off his hands and floated through the air to the table where the droid was. He didn't move, and he soon felt an invisible force push him towards the chair. Luke gave in and sat down on it, glaring malevolently.
Binders on the chair snaked out from hidden compartments and fastened Luke's legs, hands, middle, and head into place so that he wouldn't be able to struggle. The chair slowly straightened out so that it was flat, then it tilted so he was in a diagonal position.
The droid put its built-in needle inside a bottle and sucked up some sort of green liquid. It inspected the liquid before squirting a little of it out. The droid came towards Luke, who tried to shy away from it, but he was firmly bolted into place. The droid injected it none-too-gently in Luke's arm.
The effects weren't immediate, but when the drug finally started working, Luke let out a low moan. His whole body felt like it was fuel for a raging fire. He tried to focus on using the Force to suppress the pain, but, in response, Vader used the Force to put a sort of Force-shield over him, like a cold, suffocating blanket. Luke attempted to use the Force again, but his body was in too much pain to repel the anti-Force cloak.
The droid prepared the needle again with a different type of drug, and it had to use one of its pincer-claws to hold Luke's arm still, because, despite the restraints, he was twitching wildly. It injected the liquid into Luke, who let out a half-yell. This particular drug made the pain even more concentrated. Luke could now practically count the nerves in his body.
Vader observed coldly. It would not kill his son, but perhaps it would break him.
Mara Jade stood on the other side of Luke, watching with a semi-triumphant smile. He would crack within a day.
The droid began to experiment, and Luke groaned, his hurt emanating through the Force so strongly that even Mara Jade had to put a block up.
"The pain will quit, Son, if you turn to the Dark Side," Vader informed Luke. Give in now, Son.
Luke gritted his teeth, "Never!" A fresh wave of pain came over him, causing him to grimace. He tried to will himself to black out, but Vader would not permit him.
The droid quit and backed away to let Darth Vader experiment.
Vader tried to enter his mind, but Luke's walls were too high. The Sith Lord rammed against those barriers, but Luke would have to be worn down more before they would crumble.
Vader switched tactics. He used the Force on the area on Luke's arm just before where the mechanical part of his hand began, making him relive the pain losing his limb had caused him, as well as making him relive the situation mentally.
Since Vader had also experienced the loss of limbs, he knew how it felt, and he coupled his previous pain with the pain Luke had also felt at losing his.
Luke did his best to move his fingers to remind himself he still had his hand, but it was as if it had been chopped off by his father's lightsaber once again. He attempted to block the scene from his mind, and he tried to grasp his hand to reassure himself, but he was held back. He gasped as the painful memories resurfaced.
When Vader began experimenting with his lightsaber, Luke hissed in pain. He wanted to surrender, but he squeezed his eyes shut and tried to picture his friends' faces. He would take the pain for them.
Eventually, Luke let out an inhuman howl, and Vader stopped. He looked at Luke, who had his eyes tightly closed, his face wrenched in pain. "Do you surrender, Son?"
Luke murmured the negative, and his head started to spin.
Vader looked at Mara. "That shall be enough for today. Take him to his quarters, and ensure that the ysalamiri is healthy." He gave Jade a warning glare. "My son had better still be alive, or it shall be your head." With a whisk of his black cape, Vader strolled out of the room to report to his Master.
Mara Jade looked at Luke Skywalker, who was only semi-conscious, and she walked over to him. After having the chair return to its original position, she released him from his restraints and nearly peeled him off the seat. He moaned and slid to the floor. Mara snarled in frustration, grabbed his arm, pulled him into a semi-upright position, and half-dragged, half-carried him out of the room.
It was a slow process.
Luke wasn't exactly heavy, but he was bigger then Mara was, and she had to stop several times to readjust her grip on the moaning farmboy. They finally arrived at their destination, and she entered in the code to open the door, dragging him inside. She dropped him to the floor in the middle of the cell and went and sat down against the wall, trying to catch her breath.
Luke moaned, then he rolled over to face her, coming to his senses.
Oh, sure. He wakes up now Mara thought exasperatedly.
She then placed a sneer on her face, as she had an image to uphold. "You certainly are made of tougher stuff than one would think at first glance."
"At least I'm capable of thinking for myself," Luke snapped back. He had no idea who she was on the Emperor's social ladder. All he knew was that Palpatine claimed she was a Dark Sider and that she appeared to be a personal agent of his.
"Oh, that was below the belt." Mara pursed her lips and glared venomously. Skywalker had better watch it. She had no qualms about killing Vader's son. Well, as long as she didn't count the Emperor's wrath upon her doing so.
"I have no intention of being one of the Empire's slaves," Luke growled. He didn't feel like messing with a sarcastic—and (though he hated to admit it) a more than slightly good-looking—female.
His head hurt...His back hurt...His feet hurt...Space, his whole body ached with pain, stress, and fatigue. He felt like he had been swallowed by a wampa, thoroughly chewed, and then spat back out.
"Better to be a Dark Side servant than a weak-minded Light Side fool," Mara retorted, kicking him in the side.
Luke grunted and rolled away.
"Skywalker, you are impossible," Mara informed him in an annoyed voice before she left, the door closing with a hiss of air behind her.
Luke closed his eyes, trying in vain to will the pain away right before he slipped into unconsciousness.