Something icy cold shocked his system awake, Luke gasping as he came too dripping wet. It was like all his systems came back online at once, Luke unable to keep in the pained shout as he roughly jerked his arm. Apparently, it was bruised or broken, and wherever he was, he was tied to a chair.
"Hello, your Highness."
Luke's blurry gaze finally focused on the wavering figure before him. Normally he could push away the effects of drugs, but the Force was remaining sickeningly out of reach, like he was bobbing up and down on a ship while trying to eat a meal. Moaning, he tried to still his unsettled stomach, clenching his eyes shut. Once he was a little more awake, he'd figure it out.
"Now, now, we don't have time for another nap. Keep those pretty blues open, would you?"
Taking a deep breath, Luke found his resolve, eyes flashing open. "Who are you?"
"There he is! Very demanding, I like it. I am Tyrunga," Luke could now see there was a Twi'lek before him with pale green skin. "I am a member of the Rebel Alliance."
Rolling his eyes (and regretting it when it sent a pang of uncertainty through his stomach and head) Luke snorted. "Okay. And what do you want?"
Tyrunga smiled devilishly. "You have caused the Alliance a great amount of trouble, Prince. We want you out of the way."
"Okay. So...are you going to kill me then? Why not kill me before I woke up?" Luke was tired of this game already.
But Tyrunga shook his head. "We want you out of the way, but we also want the blueprints for the battle station you are building. We know you are part of this new plan of the Emperor's."
Luke frowned. Very few knew of the Death Star. While his father and himself weren't exactly thrilled with the Emperor's new toy and had plans of their own on how to deal with it, if it were to be revealed now it's destruction could only be linked back to him.
The thought of just giving the schematics over to the Rebels without a fight almost made him chuckle at the surprised expressions he was sure he would receive. Then the thought of the punishment from his grandfather made the chuckle die immediately, and a shiver ran down his spine. No, there was nothing these rebels could do it him that would be worse then a punishment from grandfather.
Staring ahead in stony silence, Luke clenched his jaw.
Tyrunga laughed.
And then kept laughing.
The Twi'lek laughed so hard and for so long finally Luke looked over, half concerned for Tyrunga's sanity and half concerned for what they meant for himself.
Finally, the laughing died down. "You think I am insane, don't you? What you don't understand is I have something that will make you talk." A syringe was held up in the air, Luke supposing the glint of light off the needle was intended to be intimidating. Luke raised an eyebrow.
"Truth serums don't work-"
"On Force users, yes, yes. But what if you can render a Force user Force-less?"
For once, Luke paled. In the past he had been denied connection to the Force. It had been part of his training with his grandfather, torturous hours having to fight off droid after droid after droid without connection or guidance.
"You can't-"
"We did. Try it, Prince. Try and use the Force."
Luke tried.
Luke swallowed, suppressing his panic. Earlier, he figured he just needed a moment to wake up, but if they were the cause of it, he was screwed.
"Ah, I see you are accepting the truth. That's alright, though, because this isn't a truth serum."
Tyrunga, step by step, came inch by inch into Luke's space, leaning in so his nose was inches away from Luke's. "It's a slow poison. Without the antidote, you'll be dead in a week. Do you really want to die?"
Luke spat in Tyrunga's face, growling. "No, I don't want to die. But I don't think you'll kill me – you need me alive."
Luke hissed as the needle was stabbed roughly into his arm.
"Don't be so sure. Eventually, your Empire will fall, child, and if you are on the wrong side, death will be your only choice."
Tyrunga left the room.
Luke froze. If he shouted or screamed or yelled, it would just show them how broken down his emotions were. No, the only way to make it through this was to remain calm (or at least appear so) and wait for his chance.
It must have been about midday – or at least, a few hours from the last he saw someone – when a group of men flooded the room, roughly untying him and hauling him out of the chair.
The affects of the poison were starting to set in, Luke feeling beads of sweat along his forehead as he was dragged along a hallway, just able to stumble after the pace set by the guards.
Without a word, the guards tossed him into a room, Luke clutching his broken arm to his chest as he fell to his knees to protect it. The door swished shut, Luke left alone in the darkness.
Or so he thought, the sound of fabric shuffling behind him sending him scurrying to his feet. A single light turned on, revealing the brown haired lady sitting behind a table.
"Luke...can I still call you that?"
"Adelaide...should I still call you that?"
"It's as good a name as any. Sit down, are you hungry?"
Luke realized the table between them contained two trays of food. Without the Force, he had no way of knowing if the food was poisoned or not.
The rational part of his brain told him if he didn't eat, he would die. The skeptical part didn't want to ingest any more drugs.
Adelaide sighed as she looked at the stalemate he was in. Reaching over, she traded the trays out and started eating his, pushing him the one she had been eating off of.
Sitting slowly, Luke looked at the food carefully. "What do you want?"
"What do I want, or what does the Alliance want? The Alliance doesn't want you to die...yet, so the Alliance wants you to eat. The Alliance also wants the blueprints for that battle station."
Luke frowned. "Then what do you want? Why are you here?"
Adelaide frowned. "You are a strange one. Tyrunga said you would be difficult. I want what the Alliance wants."
"I need to talk to my father."
"Yeah, well, we don't always get what we want, do we? You have two choices: die, or get us the blueprint."
Growling, Luke slammed his fist on the table, making her jump. "This has nothing to do with want, it's about need. Do you all think I carry blueprints that important around with me like a letter or a charm bracelet? I can't get you the blueprints without talking to my father; I don't have the authority to get someone to release them to me."
Adelaide's mouth formed a shocked "oh" as his words processed.
Ignoring her for a moment, Luke eyed the tray carefully. It was some sort of meat, and a cup of water. Taking a tentative bite, Luke frowned.
"What, not to your liking?" Adelaide snorted.
Ignoring her, Luke let the taste linger on his tongue. Without the Force, it was more difficult to decipher why the taste was so familiar, but he knew without a doubt he'd had it before.
"What is this?" Luke asked. The meat was so tender it tore off like a roast, the only utensil provided a fork.
Adelaide gave him a once over before shrugging. "Bantha. It's very popular on...the planet we are orbiting."
Setting aside his fork, Luke crossed his arms. "Look, we both want something here. You want battle station plans, I want to go home. The only thing stopping us is I need to contact my father and get him to release the blueprints. What's the big deal?"
"What's the big deal? The big deal is you guys could have some sort of code and pass along messages or something! No, we will contact your father and tell him what's going on, and tell him you will die if he doesn't send over the blueprints."
"He won't release them if doesn't get to know I'm alive."
Raising an eyebrow, Adelaide seemed to be acknowledging that Luke was correct. Standing, her chair slid back with a shriek along the floors, Adelaide leaving without another word. Only a minute later, the guards returned and gestured for him to come back into the hall. Slowly, Luke followed them, finding Adelaide waiting outside for him.
"Come. We are going to contact Vader."
"Lord Vader." Luke muttered under his breath, earning a glare from both Adelaide and all the guards.
Wherever they were, they were definitely in space, but without the Force Luke could not tell more than that. It only took a few short minutes to make it to their communications room, which apparently was also acting as the command room. Amused, Luke found it pitifully small compared to Imperial resources.
Two guards grabbed him and held him still, cuffing his hands before him so that it pulled on his arm painfully. Adelaide was the only one who didn't look nervous, although Luke was quiet sure that she couldn't be anything but.
The leader of the rebels was none other then Mon Mothma, Luke looking at her curiously but without any other outward emotion.
"I am sorry, but in order to ensure nothing goes amiss, we must gag you for the call," Mothma waved the guards forward, Luke grunting in surprise as a cloth was forced into his mouth and tied behind his head.
Huffing, Luke pleaded his father was in a relatively pleasant mood, or at least a mood where he felt like rescuing his wayward son – again.
"This is Admiral Firmus Piett of the Imperial Starship Executor. My communications officer tells me you have information about the Prince."
Luke internally growled. Where was his father? Normally Vader only sent Piett to clean up a mess when Vader didn't feel like dealing with it personally.
For a moment, the room was still, the tension on the other end of the call almost tangible. Then Mon Mothma stepped into view.
"Admiral. I am Chancellor Mothma. I do indeed have information on the Prince, but I want something in return."
Ah. The entire room grew cold, as though a vengeful winter breeze had made it's way through and was now trying to freeze everything into place. Luke let the gag hide his grin as the cold seemed to linger over him, warming slightly before falling ominously icy.
Before the Admiral could ask what the rebels wanted, he was moving aside, a tall, black figure filling the screen.
"You have my son. I want him returned, unharmed."
No greetings, no threats or warning. Very to the point.
Mothma cleared her throat. "Very well, you have stated your wants, I'll states ours. We want the plans for the battle station."
"And you have misunderstood. The Imperial Navy does not negotiate with terrorists. Either return my son to me, or die. You have an hour to decide."
"I find that hard to believe, considering you do not know which ship your son is on. If you fire on the wrong ship, he too will die."
Luke blinked. Brave words.
Luke couldn't tell, however, in the next moment if the poison was affecting his brain or if he'd simply lost it: Lord Vader was laughing. His father was laughing.
"And you have yet to prove my son is alive."
Mothma waved the guards forward without a word, the two of them pushing Luke forward in front of the camera. Luke hissed as the movement jostled his arm, stars appearing in his vision for a moment before his vision refocused.
"I see you discovered his tongue," Vader noted, as if the people he was talking to weren't rebels who had taken his son hostage.
Mothma remained silent.
"Very well...I see he is still in one piece. I will send the schematics over."
Blinking, Luke wasn't sure who was more surprised – himself, or the people in the room. And he wasn't sure if it was just him or not, but was the room getting warmer?
"Uh...good. We will arrange for a trade then-"
"That won't be necessary."
The whole room whirled towards the doors as the Admiral previously on the screen appeared from behind two Imperial guards, the room flooding with troopers.
Mothma turned to Luke, rage in her eyes. "How?! How did you do this? We checked you for a tracker!"
Luke's eyes filled with defiance, stretching his jaw as one of the guards released him. Walking slowly up to the Chancellor, he smiled. "Simple. You may have blocked me from the Force, but you cannot block the Force from me. My Father can always find me through the Force; we have yet to discover a method that has completely cut us off from each other."
The Admiral came up beside him, worry barely evident in his eyes. Luke made the mistake of turning too quickly towards him, his knees giving out from underneath him.
"Luke!" Piett was barking orders, but Luke, held up only by the Admiral, could not make sense of anything else he was saying.
But he knew he was safe, even if he couldn't reach out to his father to confirm it.