Dr. Ruik hoped that the thirteenth time would be the charm before he once again pulled the lever. And once again, the modified midi-chlorians coursed into the body of the thirteenth subject, a destitute human woman who only wanted the best for her family.
At this point, the scream she gave was something that Ruik found himself getting used to. By no means was he completely devoid of sympathy or empathy for the latest subject, but he thought that if his apathy were to become any stronger, he might as well be an emotionless droid.
For a brief moment, he wondered if any of his assistants in the lab felt or wondered the same.
Once the subject received the latest dose of midi-chlorians, she lapsed into unconsciousness; again, just like all the others before her.
But when she woke up without screaming, Ruik actually felt shocked; and he was too mesmerized by the sight of the woman looking around at her surroundings with a sense of wonder and some lingering fear.
"Please tell me that's it," she said with a hopeful tone.
Ruik gave himself a moment before he said, "You... you're still alive."
"Yes, I am," she said with a nod. "Can I go now?"
"Well, before you do," Ruik said as he and Plesar approached her to disconnect her from the midi-chlorian machine, "we still have to run some tests on you."
"What kind of tests?" she asked with a downtrodden tone.
"We'll get to that once we free you of all this," Ruik said just as he and Plesar reached her. He then turned and called to one of his other assistants, "Clear that workbench now."
Once the subject was disconcerted and on her feet, Ruik pointed to the workbench that he ordered to be cleared.
"I want you to reach out to that workbench," he said to the subject, "and, with your mind, lift it up."
The subject looked at him in askance. "What, you mean like a Jedi?"
"Exactly like a Jedi," Ruik said with a nod.
"B-but I don't know how to do that," she replied.
"Don't worry, just give yourself some time," Ruik said. "There's no rush. Just close your eyes, lift up your hand to that workbench, and then imagine it levitating itself into the air. Deep breaths all the while."
"Well... if you say so," the subject replied nervously before she complied.
Ruik didn't blame her for her doubt, considering that he himself had only had the vaguest of ideas regarding how the Jedi trained their pupils; given how little information was known about them to the general public, he really only assumed that this was the beginning of how the Jedi did things.
So he allowed the subject a full minute before he would offer her more encouragement.
But just ten seconds before he would have spoken up, the workbench suddenly bucked.
Everyone in the lab, including Ruik and the subject, looked at the workbench in surprise.
"Do it again!" Ruik exclaimed.
The subject wordlessly closed her eyes again and repeated the motion.
This time, it only took her forty seconds.
And also this time, the workbench didn't just buck; it began to float a few inches in the air before it was promptly dropped back down.
"One more time!" Ruik exclaimed. "You're getting better."
It only took the subject twenty seconds, and the workbench floated even higher in the air and stayed there for a full minute.
Then the subject gently levitated the bench down to the ground with barely a thud.
Nearly everyone in the lab started to cheer; the subject, meanwhile, appeared to be in a state of shock that no one else seemed to notice.
"Plesar, call Daala!" Ruik said to the Devaronian. "Tell her we-"
He was cut off from saying anymore when the subject screamed in pain and inadvertently drew the attention of everyone else to her. And what cheer they had figuratively melted into horror as the woman herself literally melted into a semi-fluid on the floor; it was only after her screaming, which had quickly turned into a pained gurgle, had stopped did everyone realize that she was dead.
"Plesar," Ruik said, "belay that last order; we still have some tests to conduct."
. . .
It didn't take much to convince the captain of the police department to let Jacen take the Force cage that had the Sith in it; given that Jacen was verified as being the father of Queen Mother Allana, the captain probably didn't want to be told by Her Majesty herself to let Jacen take the Sith and the cage he was in.
It took a few hours to get the cage transferred from the station to the Jade Shadow so that it could be properly installed in Luke's sleeping quarters. And during that time, the Sith was kept under close watch by his police captors and Jacen while still being unable to use the Force because of the stuncuffs that bound his wrists together. Then, when all was said and done, Jacen had taken the Shadow off of Kavan and out of the system with his caged Sith prisoner.
By the time the ship was in hyperspace, Jacen decided to pay a visit to that prisoner, who sneered at him from within his cell.
"Got anything to say to me?" Jacen asked with his arms across his chest.
"I was actually waiting for you to tell me what you were intending to do to me," the Sith replied. "But since you asked, Jedi, I have nothing to say to you."
"But you will," Jacen responded darkly. "Even if my uncle can't be cured of whatever your Masters did to him, you are going to tell me where my cousin is."
The Sith raised a mocking eyebrow. "You intend to torture me for that information? I didn't know the Jedi were willing to resort to that; maybe we misjudged your worthiness in wielding the power you have."
"I don't intend on torturing you for information," Jacen said evenly. "Besides, I'd think that, as a Sith, you would've been trained to resist the most brutal forms of torture without letting any information slip from your tongue."
The Sith chuckled lightly. "What other course do you have? Do you intend to turn me to the light side of the Force, Jedi? Make me see the error of my ways?" His smirk dropped into one of contempt. "It'd be a greater waste of time than when you tried to find anything down in that sewer on Kavan."
"I don't intend on convincing you to turn your back on your ways, either," Jacen said.
Now the Sith looked curious. "Then what do you intend to do to even try to get me to talk?"
Jacen grinned. "You just wait and see."
The Sith scowled. "That doesn't scare me, Jedi; you're bluffing."
"I'll let you think that then," Jacen said, "for now."
He then turned around and left the room, leaving the Sith alone to ponder whether or not he was bluffing.
Indeed, he wasn't; because after his next drop out of hyperspace for a course correction, he set the coordinates for the quickest way to the Kathol Rift.