The Legio Twins Saga: New Day Dawning/Chapter 7

Stephanie

I suppose that both I and the Rebel Alliance had good cause to be thanking our lucky stars that I had survived a round of Imperial-style torture without revealing the location of their hidden base. Under normal circumstances, I might have even been impressed with myself, having been able to find the inner strength to keep the powerful Sith Darth Vader from knowing the location of a Rebellion that I really shouldn't have had much of a emotional connection with. But of course, these were not normal circumstances, and, having been the one to undergo said torture, I felt that at the time, I had no lucky stars to thank.

Nevertheless, I was still alive and completely sane, for which I was grateful, despite the fact that at the back of my mind I was secretly contemplating that being dead might have been a lot more comfortable and merciful. Vader, his minions, and the interrogation droid had not been gentle. Even all this time later, this is still a very touchy subject for me, but what I can tell you is that the pain I experienced was more than physical, but mental and emotional. While the droid preformed it's hellish work of causing me bodily pain each time I repeatedly refused to answer a question, Vader apparently though it would be more effective to bore into my mind as he questioned and torture me from within.

"I know you think you are helping your rebel friends by your silence, princess," he said, each word pushed like a sharpened needle into my brain, "but each moment you refuse to speak only costs them more dearly. We will find the Rebellion and crush them whether or not you decide to tell us where they are hidden!"

Then why don't you try to find them without me telling you? I wanted to retort, but with all my strength going into keeping Vader's mental probing at bay, I had little left for speaking. That, and I was also afraid that if I did speak, it would be all I needed to loose my composure completely; if I tried to say anything at all, then how was I to keep myself from screaming out in agony like I wanted to, begging for mercy as I let slip that which I had been desperately trying to keep secret? So I held my tongue, barely repressing a scream as I was once again immobilized by pain surging through my body. The pain inflicted by the droid increased to unbearable proportions, far greater than I had experienced up to that point; I felt like I was somehow not connected to my body anymore, despite the sensation of pain, and could no longer gauge my body's physical reaction to the pain itself. My muscles my have spasmed or frozen in a completely frozen state, but I no longer felt it or cared. Wave after wave of fresh agony made my concentration waver; the Sith lord pressed harder into my mind, and my resolve nearly crumbled. With one last surge of strength, I closed my eyes and, in an effort to prevent Vader from grasping onto any of my scattered thoughts, I concentrated on one thing: the memory of my father.

It was as if he had suddenly appeared with me there in the cell, standing in the corner with an intensity and sympathy that filled me with both hope and heartbreak. Don't give up, he said, ''I'm here, Stephanie. Do you hear me? Don't you dare give up!''

And then suddenly, it was all over. Everything. The pain had stopped, and my father was no longer standing in the corner. But I could still feel him with me. Opening my eyes, I saw the droid's spindly arms retract back into the dark sphere, leaving me completely numb and weaker than I had ever felt. Vader and his troopers stood back, and the Dark Lord himself contemplated me for a long moment, his breathing the only sound in the silent cell.

"Perhaps you will be more compliant later, your highness," he said. "I will have to resort to a few slightly different tactics to break your mind. If you have any shred of fear of the consequences of your actions, I doubt you will be so defiant when I return."

And then he left. Once he had, my thoughts slowly began to return to normal, but instead of the Rebel base, my brother, or my father, a new image floated to the front of my mind; one of a blue marble of a planet, a sight that send chills down my spine.

Alderaan.

Mark

Despite the nearly-insurmountable obstacles I knew I'd have to face, I was actually feeling pretty confident about my mission to rescue my sister from the Death Star for a few minutes after having received Anakin Skywalker's lightsaber from Obi-Wan. As strange and stupid as it sounds, I felt empowered. With the Force, a Jedi Master, and two trusty droids on my side, what could possibly go wrong? (And no, I did not really think that to myself; I'd seen this movie too many times to know that yes, plenty of things do, in fact, go wrong.)

That was, of course, until we stood outside Ben Kenobi's hut, and I discovered my first obstacle: the landspeeder.

Now, I'll have you know that I am NOT a bad driver. In fact, I'm a very good driver, having passed my test on the first try, and I can manage just about any weather condition and tricky parking situation there is. I can drive stick-shift perfectly well, too, which is somehow a skill that no one else in my family possess. So considering my kick-ass driving skills, I figured that handling a speeder, which is basically just a car without wheels, would be a piece of cake. However, I had forgotten one tiny detail: Luke's landspeeder had its steering wheel on the right side, like a British car. And, seeing as I was born, raised, and learned to drive in America, I was used to it being on the left. Crap.

Unfortunately, Obi-Wan must have noticed my expression, and gave me a skeptical look. "Are you sure you can handle the speeder?" he asked. How embarrassing; I could feel my face getting red. "Because If you need me to..."

"Oh no, no, I can handle it! I mean, well... I'm a good driver..." What an idiot I must've sounded like. It was bad enough that Obi-Wan didn't think I could pilot a freaking landspeeder, but I just had to get all defensive about my driving skills, too! With my face still red with embarrassment, I climbed into the speeder (why couldn't it just have doors?) and got myself acquainted with the controls.

Okay, so the landspeeder wasn’t that bad. It did take me awhile to figure out that all I needed to do to start it was press a simple button, but besides that, all I had to do was adjust myself to doing things the opposite way I normally would while driving, and before I knew it, we were skimming across the desert sand towards Mos Eisley. Obi-Wan did help, though, by suggesting that we switch piloting on and off every few hours, since it ended up taking all night and a good part of the next day to reach the outskirts of the spaceport. Before entering the city, we took a break from flying near the edge of a cliff overlooking it.

"Mos Eisley Spaceport. You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. We must be cautious," the Jedi Master commented. As I headed back to the speeder, he held me back a moment.

"I believe it would be best, Mark, that while we are working together, I will call you 'Luke' and you should refer to me as 'Ben'. Is that understood? I don't want you to feel awkward, but I feel that it would be for the best if use of our real identities is avoided."

I nodded. "It's alright; I understand... Ben." He smiled.

"Alright then, Luke. Let's be off then."

The ride into the spaceport was uneventful (as if I'd expected any different), but the number of stormtroopers on patrol put me on edge. At last we reached a checkpoint just inside the town limits, and found ourselves surrounded by troopers as I slowed the speeder to a stop. It soon dawned on me what was about to happen as one trooper approached me, and I was hard-pressed to repress a smirk. Time to shine, Ben, I thought.

"How long have you had these droids?" the trooper said, referring to C-3PO and R2-D2 in the back.

"About three or four seasons," I replied, the corners of my mouth twitching as Obi-Wan added, "They're up for sale if you want them."

"Let me see your identification."

"You don't need to see his identification," the Jedi said with a subtle wave of his hand. It was really tempting to mouth those famous lines as the man next to me said them, but I figured it would break his concentration.

"We don't need to see his identification."

"These aren't the droids you're looking for." Man, was it difficult!

"These aren't the droids we're looking for."

"He can go about his business." I was itching to do just that, and fly away before I did something stupid.

"You can go about your business."

"Move along."

"Move along, move along!" the trooper said at last, motioning us forward. I eased the speeder past the gathering of troops and down the dusty street, grinning widely the whole way, until Obi-Wan motioned for me to park outside the local cantina. No sooner had I stopped than a Jawa appeared out of nowhere and began caressing the side of the landspeeder with its feely little Jawa hands.

"Ugh, Jawas, disgusting creatures," 3PO said. I couldn't blame him, either; the creepy little creature was getting on my nerves.

"Go on, shoo! Shoo!" I had to physically push the thing away to get it to stop fondling the speeder. Obi-Wan shook his head, trying to hide his bemused smile. I followed him as he started towards the cantina entrance, but not before telling 3PO and R2 to wait outside. Once inside the cantina, Obi-Wan nodded his head to where a suited-up pilot and a very familiar-looking Wookie stood at the bar before heading in there direction. This meant I wan left to my own devices, to do whatever I wanted-and what I wanted was to get a drink. Now don't get me wrong, I wasn't a perfect, goody-goody teenager, but I was also generally a law-abiding citizen, and had never actually had a beer up until that point. But, seeing as how I was alone in a bar and there was apparently no age limit (after all, Luke was 19 in this movie, I wan only two years younger), I was more than eager to grab a bar stool and get myself a drink. My only obstacle seemed to be avoiding that grouchy Ponda Baba and his friend Dr. Whatshisface (What was his name? Ebenezer? Evandiar? Evan? Let's just go with Evan, because I really can't remember). Unfortunately, there weren't any other available seats at the bar, and since I was thirsty and didn't want to look like a moron standing in the entrance while I waited for Obi-Wan, I took the seat next to Ponda, and ordered whatever was on tap. It tasted terrible. To make matters worse, the inevitable occurred, and Ponda Baba shoved my shoulder, growling at me.

I though for a moment about what it might be that he was saying to me. It sounded aggressive because of the growling, but what if it was something as simple as, oh, let's say, a compliment on my hair? Probably not, but I decided to risk it anyway.

"Um... thank you?" I told him, before going back to my drink. I felt a tap on my shoulder, and turned to face Dr. Evan-or-whatever-his-name-is.

"He doesn't like you," said Evan.

I had to come up with something, fast. "Oh, well that's too bad."

"I don't like you, either."

"Well, I'm starting to not like you very much, either, so why don't you just leave me alone?"

Evan started to get angry; I stood up as he grabbed the front of my shirt and glared at me. "You better watch yourself; we're wanted men! Do you know I have the death sentence on twelve systems?"

"Hey, look, buddy, I'm not looking for a fight here, but I do have to warn you, I'm trained in martial arts..."

"You'd better listen to the boy," Obi-Wan chimed in; I could see his hand on his lightsaber. "He said he didn't want a fight, now let me buy you something..."

"Aaaarrraaaggh!" Dr. Evan took a swing at me, but I moved away just in time and was able to block his punch with my hand, twisting his arm and bringing it behind his back. In the same instant, Ponda drew his blaster, but Obi-Wan deflected Ponda's shot with his saber and severed his arm. Before his friend could reach his own blaster with his free hand, I pushed his head down on the bar counter and trapped his arm there with my elbow. Around me, the silent cantina came back to life again, and with a signal from Obi-Wan, I freed Dr. Evan and left him and a whimpering Ponda Baba alone. I followed the Jedi over to a corner table, looking behind me to notice that none other than Chewbacca himself was following us. "He's first mate on a ship that might suit us," Ben explained, though I needed no explanation.

"Han Solo, I'm captain of the Millennium Falcon. Chewie here tells me you're looking for passage to the Alderaan system," And it was, in fact, Han Solo himself who greeted us at the table. Strange as it sounds, I was almost giddy with nervous excitement as we sat down. Han Solo was awesome, obviously, and I felt a strange need for him to like me. If I didn't want to be on bad terms with the smuggler, I would have to play it cool. "If it's a fast ship," Obi-Wan replied.

"Fast ship? You never heard of the Millennium Falcon?"

"Should I have?"

"It's the ship that made the Kessel Run in twelve parsecs!"

I took the opportunity to speak up. "Oh wait, I think I might've heard about this ship before; you ever outrun any Imperial starships?"

Han ignored me, speaking only to Ben. "I've outrun Imperial starships before, and I'm talking about those big Corellian ships, too. She's fast enough for you, old man. What's the cargo?"

"Only passengers. Myself, the boy, two droids... and no questions asked."

Han smiled, laughing a bit. "What is it, some kind of local trouble?"

"You could say that," I said, trying to sound a bit dangerous. Ben glanced at me briefly, but gave the smuggler a more definite answer.

"Let's just say we'd like to avoid any Imperial entanglements."

"Well, that's the real trick, isn't it?" said Han, "And it's gonna cost you something extra. Ten thousand, all in advance."

"Ten thousand? Kinda pricy for a trip to Alderaan," I said, attempting to put on a show of pretending to bargain with him by muttering things to Obi-Wan, but he only turned back to Han with a mysterious look. Han, however, now paid attention to me.

"Oh really? Think you can do better for your money, kid? 'Cause I can tell you right now you won't find any ship around these parts faster than the Falcon." He looked at me with the same smirk on his face that I'd seen on my sister's face a thousand times.

"We can pay you two thousand now, plus fifteen when we reach Alderaan," Ben offered. Han raised his eyebrows, clearly impressed.

"Seventeen, huh? Alright, you've got yourselves a ship. We'll meet you there when you're ready. Docking Bay ninety-four."

"Ninety-four," Ben repeated. Han looked over our shoulders, his eyes narrowed.

"Looks like someone's beginning to take an interest in your handy work," he muttered, nodding towards a pair of stormtroopers conversing with the bartender, who was pointing at us. Wordlessly, Ben and I got up, and silently made our way through the crowd to the cantina's back door. I was a bit disappointed that I would never get the chance to see Han shoot first, but once we were outside, I felt a whole lot better than I had before we had gone in. We were one step closer to saving my sister. I could only hope we wouldn't be too late...

Stephanie

I lay there for what seemed like-or may have really been-hours once my tormentors had left, praying desperately to forget what had happened, but finding no relief from my dark thoughts. Though I was still weak from the torture, my left hand clutched to the front of my costume dress so tightly that my knuckles blanched white and my fingers were red. I clung to the flimsy fabric over my chest the way a small child clung to a favorite blanket for comfort, or the way a survivor of the Titanic held on to a floating door to save themselves from drowning. Another food tray lay on the floor near my metal cot, but I didn't dare to touch it, suspecting that the food was laced with the same undetectable drug that my first meal probably had been.

I knew I needed to eat, but by that point I really didn't care, so convinced was I that the rations had been drugged. Instead, I used what little physical strength I had left to press the button that revealed the toilet that slid out from under the cot like a drawer, and flushed the food down. Darth Vader would probably somehow still be able to tell that I had not eaten, but at least I would have a clear mind when he came for me again. I would need all my strength of mind to do what it was I was planning on doing: I was going to give Vader a false location for the base.

You may wonder why go through the pain and trouble of attempting to convince my interrogator that I was finally broken and ready to talk, and then be able to further convince him that the false location was the real one. As I have stated before, after Vader left the first time, the first and foremost thought in my mind was that of Alderaan. Princess Leia's home planet. The one destroyed by the Death Star. A planet that bore an eerily striking resemblance to my own planet of Earth. And I knew I couldn't just let it be destroyed. For years, ever since I had first watched Star Wars as a little girl, the destruction of Alderaan had literally given me chills every time I had watched it. The first time, I had actually believed that the planet was Earth at first, and cried uncontrollably when it had blown up. Not only that, but somehow I felt that I owed it to the real Leia-if there was one-to save her planet when she could not. I in no way believed that I was better than her; I was simply a girl who by knowing what was going to happen, had the potential to prevent it. And when presented with that one chance, the chance to save billions of lives, how could I not act upon it?

As Vader and his entourage of Death Star troopers entered my cell again, my resolve wavered, but I steeled my nerves and glared defiantly into the blank lenses of the Sith lord's mask. The interrogation droid approached me again, but I lay firmly planted on the metal cot and did not try to fight. I was ready. Or so I thought.

No sooner had the syringe's drug began to take its toll on my system than the Sith plunged forcefully into my mind, causing agonizing mental pain without even speaking this time. I shut my eyes, but images, horrible repressed memories, still flashed before them, taunting and tormenting me for a brief second before being flung mercilessly at the back of my skull as Vader continued to rip through my thoughts in search of what he wanted to know. It was as if my mind was being raped. I still fought back against him, grasping at thought after thought, trying desperately to convince my rational brain that the Rebel base was on Dantooine, it was on Dantooine... but I couldn't reveal that to Vader, not yet.

At last he brought forth his ultimate weapon; using my own fear against me. Where the first stage of the mind probe had failed, the image he implanted in my mind would surely cause me to crack. I saw my brother, Mark, begging for mercy as a hand wielding a lightsaber slashed through his chest; and instant later, the same scene, but this time a gun to his head, firing once, twice, three times even as he lay on the ground dead and bleeding; and yet another, this time with a knife plunging down into his chest, again, again, again... I screamed, partially on my own accord by really mostly because I could no longer hold it back. I begged for mercy like my brother, for my brother, the images seemed so real... I had to keep up my act... but I just wanted the agony to end...

"Alright! I'll talk!" I cried. Instantly the images left my mind as if they had never been there, leaving me feeling drained and even weaker than before. I tumbled off the cot and collapsed on the floor. The two troopers heaved me up by my arms, and Vader held my face in his powerful hand. Tears rolled down my face, I could not look him in the eyes. "D-Dantooine," I muttered, sounding defeated and feeling just the same. "They're on Dantooine." I stiffened as I felt Vader enter my mind again, forcing myself to concentrate on the thought of Dantooine, even going so far as to remind myself of the images of my brother being killed to keep my mind from wondering into dangerous territory. Apparently satisfied by still somewhat suspicious, the Sith released me. I slumped backwards, leaning heavily on the two troopers as they moved me back onto the cot.

"You are not as strong I though you were, princess. Expect your termination in due time," said Darth Vader, and then I was alone again. The only thing I could do now was wait.