Star Wars: Lightforce

Chapter 30

Leia closed her eyes against Han's distress. If she couldn't prevent him from witnessing what was about to happen, she could at least block him out and pretend he was somewhere else. Fairly soon she wouldn't be able to see anyway, maybe wouldn't remember he existed. The liquid hallucinogens and nerve toxins were circulating, freezing cold in her veins and soon the pain would begin. The despair in his eyes told her he didn't understand why she had done this, why she couldn't let him continue his gallant self-sacrifice, but her training in resistance techniques had helped her the last time and, perhaps, even her Force abilities, both of which he lacked. He would certainly die, but she held a small glimmer of hope that she could endure the pain long enough for Luke to save them both.

She could hear Han yelling, somewhere in the distance, as the mind altering drugs took away the control of her limbs and she struggled to remain standing. Luke, she thought her brother's name into nowhere. He would come for her whether it was a trap or not so, before she lost her mind as well, there was something she wanted to do. Her memory traced the route they had taken through the underground cave, picturing where guards had been placed, the number of doors in each corridor, the number of corridors, until it reached the door behind which they were trapped; visualising the position of everyone inside. Leia. I'm coming. Hold on. Luke answered. She snapped her eyes open just as the second needle entered her arm, injecting her with the all too familiar pain serum, a chemical burn appearing at the entry site.

Her muscles spasmed involuntarily, making her body rigid, her face contorting with pain. She could hear herself screaming now. Every nerve in her body felt like it had been dipped in acid and set alight, an inferno searing up her arm and burning every synapse in her brain. Either the pain or the hallucinogens, one or the other, brought on the vision.

Temporarily free of the manacles, she fought her way through the smoke of Alderaan's past, stepping over the burning bodies of both Jedi and Sith alike. She moaned with deep-seated, unbearable pain and checked herself. No, it was her other self, back in the cell. Bile filled her mouth either from the pain or the smell of burning bodies. She could no longer tell the difference. The figure of the duke drifted into focus through the smoke and she headed towards him with purpose, grabbing her arm as the introduction of more toxins back in the cell caused the intense pain she had foreseen. Alderaan's destruction would soon be upon her and, when it happened, she was going to take the duke and the House of Thul with her as her ancestors had done. Stumbling and fighting to stand in the expected earthquake, she clutched the duke's uniform in a tight grip.

"You should join me Vader's daughter. We could rule the galaxy together," his voice echoed.

"I will die first and I'm taking you with me," she heard herself savage.

As the ground opened up in her envisioned environment to swallow her in it's molten lava core, she pulled the duke with her, watching as their flesh began to burn. In her cell, her skin appeared to blister and she fought the hallucination in her mind as her body gave up. Luke, hurry.

When Han had heard brief mention of Leia's torture in the past, he had never imagined something as horrible as he was witnessing. He was finding it hard to believe this had been done to her by her own father. It was no wonder she couldn't forgive him as readily as Luke had. Watching her suffer like this was worse than having to go through it himself and he was filled with anger, at the duke for hurting her, at himself for not protecting her and at Leia for throwing herself on her sword.

"Are you ready to tell me where the Jedi has taken the Star?" the duke asked her, not really sounding like he expected an answer. Leia managed to raise her head and look at him. Was she laughing? Han was flabbergasted. It was just discernible as a laugh.