Tess could hardly breathe with Darth Vader's cold, gloved fingers grasping her forehead. The durasteel bounds around her wrists and ankles sent chills up her limbs.
"Astonishing," Darth Vader mused. "As if someone has replicated her signature and placed it inside."
"I find it sickening," Chid disagreed. "The creation of unnatural life just to trick you, Lord Vader. If I may say so, my Lord, remember that this child is not her child but an inhuman use of her against her will. An abuse of the deceased. An abomination."
"Of course," Lord Vader agreed. "But still, scientifically astounding." Vader finally removed his hand from Tess' forehead. "When we depart, she will be taken to the Emperor himself by his own request. I have provided you with the IT-O Interrogator if you wish to make use of it, but as long as we bring Skywalker here and the child can stand in front of the Emperor, your job will be heavily rewarded, Admiral Deltrod."
"Yes, my Lord," Chid said with a bow.
As soon as Vader left the room, Chid stood over her with a malevolent grin. Tess felt frozen solid. Leia had told her she was a victim of the IT-O Interrogator on the Death Star. She wouldn't talk about it much, but Tess could tell it was a traumatizing experience, even for someone as strong as Leia.
Chid grabbed Tess under the chin, forcing her to look at him.
"Let's see how much pain the science experiment can take."
Leia practically threw herself into the door of her holding cell. Her shoulders heaved with anger and hatred for the people who thought it was okay to torture her friends and leave her here to listen to their screams as her own form of torture. The princess propelled herself into the door again.
By now, Leia's shoulder was severely bruised, but she didn't even feel it. Deep down she knew there was no way she could get through that door, but she needed to do something—anything.
A kind Wookie growl and a friendly paw on her shoulder turned her around. Still fuming, Leia looked up at Chewbacca. He was sedated, so after having a reaction similar to Leia's he was so worn out that he could only manage fiddling with a broken Threepio.
"Who in their right mind tortures a fourteen-year-old child?" Leia said softly. Chewie growled a sympathetic response just as Han was shoved into the room.
Han's eyes were wide and bloodshot and his skin seemed several shades paler. He was so weak that Chewbacca and Leia had to keep him from falling over.
"I feel terrible…" he muttered. His eyes didn't seem to connect with anything properly—they swung all over the place as if he was trying to figure out which direction to look. Chewbacca and Leia helped him over to the hard durasteel bed.
Once Han was on the bed, Chewbacca returned to the pieces of Threepio and Leia stroked Han's hair. She winced at the sound of another one of Tess' screams.
"They never even asked me any questions," Han breathed. He reached a hand towards Leia's. He looked into her eyes for a moment. "I'll die before they take Tess with them. I promise." Holding back tears, Leia leaned forward to give Han a kiss on the head.
Just then, the door to their cell opened. Leia's temper fumed when she saw Lando enter the room.
"Lando," she sneered. The princess helped Han sit up. Chewie growled menacingly.
"Get out of here, Lando," Han spat. "You sick bastard. What are you getting at, torturing a kid?"
"Just shut up and listen," Lando snapped. "Vader has agreed to turn Leia and Chewie over to me." Leia's heart sunk.
"With you?" Han questioned.
"What about Tess and Han?" Leia asked, afraid of the answer.
"Vader is giving Han to the bounty hunter," Lando explained. "He wouldn't tell me what he wanted with the kid."
"Vader wants us all dead," Leia pointed out, frustrated and confused as to why all of this was happening.
"He doesn't want you at all," said Lando, his anger rising. "He wants the kid and he's after somebody called...uh…Skywalker. Lord Vader set a trap for him."
Suddenly it all made sense. This was all to lure Luke to Vader.
"And we're the bait," Leia put together. "But I still don't get why Vader would want Tess—she's fourteen years old!"
"I don't know," Lando admitted. "To be honest, the way he talked about her, I was expecting some sort of clone, maybe even a human-like droid. They kept calling her a creation. Like a science experiment."
With a burst of effort and a bit of help from Leia, Han pushed himself to a stand.
"Well, she's not," Han spat. "She's a human kid who you're responsible for torturing. You fixed this up so good, didn't you? My friend…"
At that, Han threw a punch right at Lando's jaw. The officers who came in with Lando started hitting Han with blunt sticks and Leia took the chance to grab one of their blasters and point it right at Lando's head. Unfortunately, she was grabbed from behind and one of the officers forcefully bent her arm behind her, taking the gun and shoving it hard into her back.
"Stop!" Lando ordered, composing himself and fixing his blue cape. "I've done all I can. Sorry I couldn't do more, but I've got my own problems."
"Yeah," Han muttered, letting Chewbacca help him up. "You're a real hero." The officer holding Leia still had not let go.
"I meant what I said earlier," Leia called after Lando. "I said that if you hurt her, I'd kill you. I will!" Leia fought hard against the officer's grasp—so hard that, despite Han, Chewie, and even Lando's protests, he was forced to knock her unconscious with the back of the gun.