Chapter 10: Nala Se
At a barn just out of town, Luke and Mara were tied up as Gunray chuckled when Haako arrived.
"The professor's here, Nute." Rom said in a less than enthused tone.
"Well show her in." Gunray said enthusiastically as he appeared to already think he'd won.
"Luke, I'm not a bit worried." Mara told Luke in a whisper. "I know that between the two of us, we'll think of some way out of this."
"Well, I got us this far, didn't I?" Luke said, so nervous he wasn't exactly sure what he was saying.
Mara just turned to Luke incredulously.
Just then, a Kaminoan with a medical uniform came in and shook Gunray's hand.
"So good to see you again, Viceroy Gunray." The Kaminoan said.
"Nala Se." Gunray said. "Great to see you again, too. How's Kamino?"
"It's doing fine." Nala Se said simply. "So where's my patient."
"Right over here, Professor." Gunray said as he led Nala Se to Mara and Luke. "Let me introduce you to your patient. Luke Skywalker."
Nala Se began examining Luke.
"Nala Se's the galaxy's leading expert on mind control." Gunray said smugly.
"It's a very rapidly growing field." Nala Se agreed in the same calm voice as always. "And I always enjoy a challenge."
"Tell us what you're going to do to Skywalker." Gunray remarked.
"Well, we're going to perform an electronic cerebractomy." Nala Se said plainly.
"Huh?" Everyone asked.
"A little procedure I made up myself." Nala Se explained.
"So what's that?" Gunray asked.
"Let me show you." Nala Se continued. "Droids, bring in the machine."
The droids wheeled in a machine with what looked like an electric chair attached to a computer device.
"This device utilizes both electro-shock therapy and electronic hypnosis to turn the occupant's brains into little more than Jawa juice."
Gunray then chuckled darkly.
"Maybe we can try pulling out of this." Luke told Mara.
"Good idea." Mara remarked as Luke tried to break free, but the ropes were so tight, he couldn't get the proper momentum to break out of them. Mara, however, was used to situations like this. "Don't worry. We just have to keep trying."
"Now, we take your friend, Mr. Skywalker, clamp on the terminals, drop the electric hat onto him, and throw the switch." Nala Se went on.
Nala Se turned the switch on for show as a blue light showed on the device and the metal hat connected to it.
"Once that's done, Mr. Skywalker will then be reprogrammed to do your bidding."
"Perfect." Gunray said with a smirk as he and Nala Se shook hands again. "We'll leave you to it. Rune?"
The two walked off as Gunray turned back.
"I'll be back later to pick up what's left of Mr. Skywalker." Gunray said with a sneer as Haako looked more and more uncomfortable.
"Alright, bring over Mr. Skywalker." Nala Se said after Gunray and Haako had left, and Luke was untied and forced over to the chair.
"Luke, whatever happens next, I'll never give up tonight for anything in the world!" Mara called out dramatically as she was already loosening the bonds around her wrists.
"Make me an offer." Luke said half-jokingly as he was strapped into the machine while Nala Se chuckled.
"You can struggle all you want, Mr. Skywalker." Nala Se remarked, still not even slightly raising her voice. "It'll do you very little good."
Nala Se then pushed a button as the electric hat was lowered onto his head.
"Soon, there'll be enough voltage coursing through your brain to light up Coruscant." Nala Se remarked without so much of a twitch of movement on her face.
"Let him go!" Mara called out.
"Say good-bye to the boy, madam." Nala Se remarked.
"Why should I?" Mara asked.
"Because in a few moments, he won't know you from Mary Jane Watson." Nala Se said plainly as Mara smiled.
"Oh yeah?" Mara asked as she stood up and tossed the ropes away.
She then kicked Nala Se away from the switch and began tossing the droids around the room, rendering all of them destroyed. However, while Mara was fighting, Nala Se had recovered and was reaching for the switch.
"Oh no!" Luke called out. Mara turned around and knocked Nala Se back into the machine as a short circuit freed Luke.
"Run, Luke!" Mara called out.
"Oh thank you!" Luke sighed in relief as they rushed out as Nala Se tried to get up, accidentally throwing the switch as she tried to lift herself up, frying her own brains in the process.
"So, where'd you learn to fight like that?" Luke asked.
"My dad had me enroll in a self-defense class as a kid." Mara explained. She then looked around.
"Well, shall we go now, Luke?" Mara asked. "I'm sure the others are worried about us."
Just then, a phone rang.
"The heck?!" Both of them asked as Luke answered it.
"Hello?" Luke answered as he held the phone to Mara.
"It's for you, Mara." Luke said. "It's your agent."
"Oh." Mara said. "Thank you."
Mara then took the receiver.
"So Marty, what've you got?" Mara asked. "A commercial? How much? Okay."
Mara hung up and went to Luke.
"Um…" Mara said. "You'll probably wanna go ahead without me. There's a job that's going to pay me well, but it'll keep me in town a few more days than the whole group can afford, and I'll catch up to you, okay?"
Luke just stared blankly at her.
"Well…" Mara said, aware that Luke didn't really think she was coming back. "Bye."
Mara walked off, upset with herself that she was leaving Luke heartbroken, but going on anyway.
At the screening, the film suddenly deteriorated and stopped showing as everyone at the theater complained.
"Hey, what happened?" Luke asked.
"The film ripped!" Leia up in the projector room called out.
"What do you mean it ripped?!" Canderous called out insanely as Bastila and Revan had to hold him down.
"Don't worry Canderous." Luke assured him. "Your big scene is coming up."
"Yeah, yeah." Revan said. "Just calm down and eat something."
"Okay." Canderous said as he began eating his popcorn bucket.
"Well, that was easy." Bastila sighed.
Intermission time! Take a break. Read a book. Take a walk. Or watch the latest Atop the Fourth Wall. With how often this fic's been updated, you've got time.