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There was so much farther he could go.
The knowledge hovered in the back of his mind, a knot of dark and brooding thoughts twisting together as he stared down at her. She'd passed out for what seemed like the hundredth time, the pain of their interrogation overloading her system. The black-clad officer was readying another syringe as the shiny robotic probe stood idly by. There were other ways, Vader knew, that the information they needed could be forced from her. Her mind was exceptionally strong, and it pleased him for some odd reason that she could resist the mind probe so well. Perhaps it was only that her strength of will matched her fiery words and her status as a princess and a senator, or perhaps… his gaze rested upon her long dark hair, intricately coiled into buns on either side of her head. Her skin was naturally pale, he'd noticed that before, but now it was nearly translucent. Her lips held barely a trace of color. She seemed faded, brittle even, as though her body could shatter into pieces at any moment.
The officer had finished with the syringe and now stood, offering it to Vader. The look in the man's eyes was not a pleasant one. He stared hungrily at the unconscious Princess and Vader remembered the man's smile as the young woman screamed in pain when the probe's chemicals first began to invade her body. Vader felt a wave of disgust at the man's obvious perversion, and a spark of desire to protect the rebel Princess appeared in the midst of his swirling thoughts. He stood and motioned towards the door. "Out. She is of no more use to us until she has recovered. If anyone disturbs her I will be most displeased."
He felt rather than saw the officer and stormtroopers shiver. He could always intimidate the underlings, and it usually gave him a measure of satisfaction. Now, though, his mind was too caught up in thoughts of the Princess. She had to give up the base's location, that much was obvious, but another line of questioning would have to be found. It was clear to him that the woman was not the sort to be manipulated, even by the Force itself. The curve of her long neck and sloping shoulders appeared in his mind's eye, and along with it the ghostly memory of another woman, a woman so beautiful the universe itself paled in comparison. He shivered; it had been so long since he'd let himself remember her. Gritting his teeth, he forced his mind back to reality. The Princess was a problem, and one that had to be dealt with. Torture was a necessary evil, a means to an end. Until she was no longer his responsibility, though, no unneeded harm would come to her. The officers, with their small and sordid minds, would be kept at bay. He cleared his head of emotion; his duty to his Master came before all else - even the woman that still haunted his memories.