AN: The description of the Death Star holding cell is taken almost verbatim from a nifty book I own containing the novelizations of the Original Trilogy. It came in handy for Game of Deception. Sections taken from the novelizations will always be noted. The only changes here are character-names, with Princess Leia being replaced by Siria Keray.
Chapter Two
The holding cell was deathly dim, with only the bare minimum of illumination provided. There was barely enough to see the black metal walls and the high ceiling overhead. The cell was designed to maximize a prisoner's feelings of hopelessness, and this it achieved well. so much so that the single occupant started tensely as a hum came from one end of the chamber. The metal door, which began moving aside, was as thick as her body – as if, Siria Keray mused bitterly, they were afraid she might break through anything less massive with her bare hands.
Straining to see outside, Siria saw several Imperial guards assume positions just outside the doorway. Eyeing them defiantly, Siria backed up against the far wall. Her determined expression collapsed as soon as a monstrous black form entered the room, gliding smoothly as if on treads. His presence crushed her spirit as thoroughly as an elephant would crush an eggshell. That villain was followed by an antiqued whip of a man who was only slightly less terrifying, despite his miniscule appearance alongside the Dark Lord.
Darth Vader made a gesture to someone outside. Something that hummed like a huge bee moved close and slipped inside the doorway. Siria choked on her own breath at the sight of the dark metal globe. It hung suspended on independent repulsors, a farrago of metal arms protruding from its sides. The arms were tipped with a multitude of delicate instruments. Most promininet was a protruding arm to which was attached a hypodermic needle filled with an opaque white substance. Siria studied the contraption fearfully. She had heard rumors of such machines, but had never really believed that Imperial technicians would construct such a monstrosity. Incorporated into its soulless memory was every barbarity, every substantiated outrage known to mankind – and to several alien races as well.
Vader and Tarkin stood there quietly, giving her plenty of time to study the hovering nightmare. The Governor in particular did not delude himself into thinking that the mere presence of the device would shock her into giving up the information he needed. Not, he reflected, that the ensuing session would be especially unpleasant. There was always enlightenment and knowledge to be gained from such encountered, and the Senator promised to be a most interesting subject. After a suitable interval had passed, he motioned to the machine. "Now, your Highness, we will discuss the location of the principle Rebel base."
The machine moved slowly toward her, traveling on a rising hum. Its indifferent spherical form blocked out Vader, the Governor, the rest of the cell…the light...
Muffled sounds penetrated the cell walls and thick door, drifting out into the hallway beyond. they barely intruded on the peace and quiet of the walkway running past the sealed chamber. Even so, the guards stationed immediately outside managed to find excuses to edge a sufficient distance away to where those oddly modulated sounds could no longer be heard at all.*
While Siria withstood torture to the best of her human abilities, Leia was eating breakfast with Luke's family. Luke, of course, was absent since he was out in the desert looking for runaway Artoo. After breakfast, Aunt Beru sent Leia out to collect vaporator mushrooms for lunch and Uncle Owen gave her a blast-rifle to defend herself against the Sand People while she was out. She also took her pistol, just as a precaution. Because of this, she was gone when the stormtroopers attacked and laid waste to the homestead. In the emptiness of the desert, she heard the explosion first. She whipped around, chore forgotten, and watched in horror as a plume of black smoke rose into the air. Forgetting for a moment her own safety, she ran to the speeder and jumped behind the controls, firing the cranky engine and tearing across the desert for home. Home…when had she begun to think of the Lars farmstead as home? Shaking that aside, she concentrated on coaxing every bit of speed she could out of the vehicle. Stopping on a ridge, she dropped to the ground and studied the scene through the binoculars in a case under one of the seats.
"Stormtroopers! Oh, no!" she gasped, watching a troop-transport tear away in the opposite direction. Once they were gone, she hopped back into the speeder and raced across the stretch of desert between her vantage point and the homestead. Fear and anger warred for places in her heart as she threw the speeder into park and all but fell out. The heat and smoke were almost overwhelming, but she fought through them as she circled the burning home, calling for her hosts. She knew Luke hadn't been here, he was out looking for Artoo.
I should have warned them. She thought bitterly as she searched the rubble. Suddenly, she stumbled across Aunt Beru, who was quite obviously dead. Beside her lay Uncle Owen. Leia threw her head back and screamed, not caring if anyone heard it. Two innocent, kind people had died because of her. A groan alerted her to the fact that Uncle Owen wasn't dead yet, and she fell to her knees, taking the kind farmer into her arms as his eyes flickered open.
"Siria…you shouldn't…be here." He rasped, and she shook her head.
"No, don't speak. I'm so sorry, Uncle Owen, this is my fault."
"Didn't…tell them any…anything."
"Shh, I know you didn't tell them anything. Just hold on, I'll get you out of here." She didn't care that she was crying. Uncle Owen drifted off into unconsciousness again, and she was alone. After a while, she heard something. She got up slowly, bringing the rifle to bear and charging the power-cell. If the stormtroopers had come back, they wouldn't be returning to their commanders this time.
"Siria? Uncle Owen?" she heard a voice through the smoke, so distant in her ears as her pulse roared, "Aunt Beru!" She gasped as a figure emerged through the smoke, "Siria!"
"Luke!" she cried, stumbling across the sand in hysterics. Luke caught her and she had a solid anchor. She tried to explain what she'd seen, what had happened. Luke just held her until she exhausted herself.
When Luke returned to the farmstead to find smoke billowing from the residential pits and the garage, he felt a pang of sickness in his gut. The family speeder sat not far from his, and he had a flash of fear that something had happened to Siria and his guardians. Had they tried to escape and been shot down? No, the speeder looked alright. He circled the homestead, calling out for them. Part of him knew Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru were dead, and part of him hoped Siria hadn't died with them.
"Siria!" he cried, coughing as the smoke filled his lungs.
"Luke!" he heard her voice as he emerged from the smoke and saw her stumbling across the sand towards him. He caught her, relieved to find her alive and unharmed.
"Siria, what happened?"
"They…destroyed everything, Luke! I'm sorry!" she wept in his arms, and he understood.
"Uncle Owen?"
"He's…s-still alive. Aunt Beru is dead, I'm s-sorry."
"Oh, Siria." He hugged the girl tightly, "You couldn't have known they would be coming here anymore than I did. Can we move Uncle Owen?"
"We can try. He was hurt pretty bad." Siria didn't move to pull away from him.
"Let's move them. We can bury Aunt Beru." He looked to the two still figures and swallowed the bitter taste in the back of his throat. They wrapped Aunt Beru in two blankets and put her body in the backseat of the family speeder. Uncle Owen rode in the front with Siria, and Luke led the way back to the burned-out sand-crawler. He wondered what Obi-Wan would say when he came back with Siria and his guardians, if he would say anything. They ended up going to Mos Eisley together in search of a transport to get them off of Tatooine after returning to Obi-Wan's hut long enough to bury Aunt Beru. Uncle Owen almost objected to going, but Siria convinced him to leave. He could make a new life for himself somewhere else, wherever he wanted. It was the first time Luke had ever seen his common-sense Uncle say yes to something so uncertain. He admired Uncle Owen for finally doing something out of the ordinary. Leaving Tatooine and becoming involved in the Rebellion he hadn't believed in was as radical as his uncle would ever get.
*passage taken from The Star Wars Trilogy novelization: A New Hope, Chapter V, Page 68-69.