Death of the Sith

Chapter 11: Sam Tells All

Sam waited for all that would stay with her to join in the living room. "What I'm about to tell you all has not been told by anyone else, except JN-620."

"I assure you I have told no one else. I knew it had to be you to tell others what you have told me." The droid stated.

She breathed in and out. "They took me to what I know now was Palpatine's stronghold. I felt a deep and sinister foreboding I have never felt before. Seconds after I got there, I could feel I was being observed. It wasn't from without, but from within my soul. The feeling grew and grew as they took me closer to him. It felt like someone stripped all my clothes from my body. I felt I was watching myself from another person. It was like I was Emperor Palpatine." Sam looked at Jack for a few moments and continued, "It felt like I first did with Jolinar."

He remembered that day as if it was yesterday. It would damn him if he would let another take over her. True, Jolinar was on the good side. He knew that the Dark-side would not stop for anything to get Sam to be his new host.

"At first I didn't realize how long I was there and still don't know how long I was with him before several grabbed me, dragged me through a maze of corridors, and threw me into a prison cell like a dog. That wasn't the end. The presence I felt intensified. It was so horrible I could hear myself scream." She broke down crying over the memories of what she went through. In a crying voice, "I cried for you, Jack. I kept screaming, JACK, HELP ME PLEASE!! She ended up screaming as loud as she did then and the same number of times."

He held her ever so close. The two were crying over it. He thought he would damn himself if he would let anyone take her again. Everyone did their best to comfort her. She composed herself and continued, "I was in that cell for days before they sent me to the slave auctions. I have told you all about that part, but I haven't told you he continued to attack me as I have never felt in my whole life."

"If only the worst I'd faced was slavery," she choked out, tears streaming down her face. "he took everything I'd been through and twisted it into a nightmare. He was dismantling me, piece by piece." A sob wracked her body as she leaned into Jack, burying her head in his chest. Her voice hitched as she spoke, "in those moments, I truly thought he'd won. The only thing that kept me going," she confessed, clinging to him tighter, "was the desperate hope that you were somehow alive, even after I saw you get shot down."

He put his arms around her and whispered to her, "I'm here. You're here with me, safe and sound. Let it out." She did just that.

After allowing her to cry it out, Barbara asked, "You can wait to tell us the rest."

She pulled away from him, her gaze fixed on the floor. "I need to share all of this," she whispered. "it might sound strange, but it's helping me more than it appears." Her trembling hands wiped at her tear-streaked face. "after I was sold, I thought it was the end. The physical attacks ceased, but the emotional torment continued. Telk — the man who had tortured me relentlessly — didn't stop." Her voice cracked, and she relived the pain. "my sister's hope sustained me until they sent me to the auction block. But Telk... he kept on." She paused, tears welling up. "it was Hothok who revealed the truth. A chip embedded in my neck allowed me to feel excruciating pain without any visible harm. During those dark days, I had no idea how they were breaking me." She sought solace in Jack's arms, her sobs echoing through the room.

Everyone there wanted to cry with her. Through the Force, they knew what she was thinking. They also knew that she was releasing all those feelings from her soul. After composing herself once more, she continued, "After months of torturing me, he got bored and sent me back. When they grabbed me out of my cell, I thought I would go through all that again. I didn't. Terrell wasn't by far a better slave master. I thought he was worse. Palpatine knew that I was using Jack as my shield. The shield held until the other slaves around me were still dying despite all I was doing. The sense of total hopelessness was once upon me, and I couldn't use my memories of you, this time. What I didn't realize then, Palpatine was using my thoughts against me. I was blaming myself for those deaths."