THE ARC OF SKYWALKER | a star wars story✔️

12 | visitor in the force

—I DIDN'T KNOW WHERE I WAS HELD WHEN I WOKE UP.

I was strapped to a chair with some sort of contraption on my head. I tried to shake it off, but stopped when I felt needles poking into my scalp and blood trickling down my forehead. I hated the way this felt.

I closed my eyes and summoned the Force, concentrating on getting the contraption off. It rattled dangerously, the needles twisting or scraping against my skin. Then it happened: one of the needles shot itself into the back of my head. Every muscle in my body froze as pain shot down my neck and stung like a bitch. Tears threatened to run down my face from the pain I experienced, but I wasn't giving the Empire satisfaction in thinking they beat me.

The door opened and Dr. Pershing came in, three stormstroopers flanking behind. I tried to use the Force again, but another needle went into my temple. A groan rumbled in my throat as I clutched the arms of the chair I was strapped to.

"I would suggest not doing that." Pershing said as he grabbed a tablet to document me. "The contraption is meant to torture a Force user."

"Where's the kid?"

I didn't care what I would endure soon. I needed to know that the Child was okay and unharmed.

"He's safe." The man replied unsurely, his gaze not meeting mine. My grip on the chair tightened.

"Liar. Where is he?"

My face hardened into a glare as the doctor tapped the screen of his tablet. I felt the pins of the contraption rattle and one of them dug into my skin. They began to vibrate a little as I tried to use the Force but three of the pins went into my head. A cry of pain tore away from me as the pins buried themselves deeper into my scalp and blood trickled down my neck.

"He's safe, Asa. If it weren't for me—" he grabbed a syringe full of black liquid— "he would be dead. Unfortunately, I can't give you the same treatment."

Grabbing a fistful of my hair, the man tugged my head to the left and shoved the needle into the soft part of my neck. I started to struggle as the effects of the black liquid made my eyes heavy and the darkness of the Force become more prominent. Voices whispering overwhelmed my senses as I leaned forward, breathing heavily and trying to get the voices out.

"Where are the archives, Asa?" He asked and beckoned the stormtroopers forward. One grabbed my hair and pulled my head back to look up at the doctor. For some reason, I had an overwhelming feeling to tell the truth.

Truth serum...and it's the formula I helped make...

"I...I lost them."

"Liar. Tell me where the archives are."

"Go to hell."

He nodded his head to a stormtrooper and a pin was shoved into the top of my head. I resisted the cry of agony which choked me and made my chest shudder. Pershing knelt down in front of me and examined my face. I stared back defiantly.

"Prep her for reconditioning. I want her torn apart so the boss can do what he wants."

Without another word, I felt electricity envelope my body and I was knocked out cold.

~*~

"Dad! Daddy!"

I recognized this place—the towering marble pillars, the shouts of sparring padawans echoing the corridors, the beeping of droids as they rolled down the halls. It was the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. The place where I was raised for the time being and where I trained for a short time.