Leverage. Always a fundamental thing in times of war. That is why Kylo Ren had immediately sent the soldiers looking for her in that lonely rock of a planet which Jakku was.
A reasonable tip to one of the black market's merchants had brought the army straight to her shelter, and this time there had been no escape nor fighting.
The target had been found asleep, awaken with a dozen guns pointed at her head and brought to the star ship fast and secured. For what they knew, no person in Jakku was even aware of the kidnapping, which made the hostage even more important.
It would have made a nasty surprise to her cousin Rey, no doubt about that.
Kylo had understood who she was since first laying eyes on her: memories of Luke Skywalker's mind finally making sense after realising that he too, like Solo and Leila, have had a daughter. A precious child that he had tried to hide from Kylo's madness and revenge, by hiding her into an anonymous planet of the western reaches.
But Skywalker didn't had the guts to leave the little girl alone, oh no. She had left her with a family, hoping that she could at least known the warm and love of adoptive parents as he had. And nevertheless he had chosen a family with a child the same age of Rey, which was now chained to the darkest rooms of the First Order's new military base.
After the star killer explosion, progresses had been slow for the First Order. Many tedious meetings had taken place to decide their next steps: where to move their strategic base and, more important, how to increase their military power to finally pulverize the resistance once and for all. The basic logistic being solved, General Hux had been mostly put in charge of the redevelopment and new weaponry, which had left Kylo Ren angry and bored. His only task, according to Supreme Leader Snooke, was to focus on the dark side of the force and become ready for the completion of his training. Apparently killing his father had not grant him that immediately, or it was just a pretence from Snooke to keep him waiting into an urgently increasing rage.
It was during these weeks of boredom that he has had the idea of digging into Rey Skywalker past, discovering that she had left on Jakku something more important than a shelter made of junk. Snooke had agreed with him on the importance of the discovery and he had blessed the small mission, probably secretly grateful of having his Knight engaged in a sort of private little war.
Kylo had spent his days of travel from Jakku to the Base camp by meditating, to keep the anger at bay. His trained body was quickly recovering from the last fight, which had left him scarred and in need of a partial leg reconstruction. Every time he felt the cold steel biting the surrounding skin, he wondered if this reinforced the bond he felt to have with Darth Vader.
Meditation was soothing for his mind as much as the body. Regardless the parallel with his grandfather, he had found difficult to accept his new mechanical implant. A side of him, the one still weakened by the light, was not much impressed of being crippled at the tender age of 30.
He was angry with himself for these impure thoughts and he was using this anger to keep his heart in the dark: a vicious circle which he had no intention to break.
Taken by deepest worries, he had almost completely forgot about the prisoner until a guard came asking about his instruction prior to landing.
"Bring her to the interrogation chamber close to my quarters. See that she is not fed or given any water" he commanded with a laconic tone. He preferred his hostages to be as much weak as possible. This made them more vulnerable to the force.
The Ren knight took his time to bring himself to the interrogation room, so much that by then the Jakku girl had not been drinking for almost two entire days.
The first thing which hit Kylo was the stink: even through the mask, he could smell an unpleasant mix of gas oil, sweat and things going rotten. Apparently, she had been captured, she was having a worse time than her step sister Rey.
Second thing he noticed, was how different the two girls looked like. He was expecting somehow a sort of resemble, which was a silly thought as there was no blood relation at all.
Even so, she was a thing of beauty, which Rey never stroked him to be. Not in a sensual way at least.
Her fiery violet eyes looked as she was ready to murder him: she definitely would have shouted courses at him if only her pretty mouth hadn't been gagged with a metal ball.
After her first reaction of anger and seeing him better, the girl had got quieter, getting away from him and closer to the wall as a feline in danger.
He wasn't the first time he had seen this behaviour and Kylo was ready to play the game.
To begin with, he let her feel the force. With a calculated gesture of his hand, he dragged her close to his body, almost getting hers to arch, her foot uselessly hanging just above the floor.
Her eyes widened with shock, her body completely lost into his powers while her mind free to analyse the danger she was fallen into.
"I am Kylo Ren, heir of Darth Vader and general of the First Order. If you are smart enough, you will tell me what I need to know and you will not try to resist me. If you choose to do so, I will take it by force and it would not be painless. Do you understand?" he asked with his deep voice altered by the black mask.
By then the girl was staring at him completely paralyzed. She gave him a little nod.
"I will now remove that gag" he said, getting closer and freeing her from the constriction with a single expert gesture. As expected, she did not say a word.
"Tell me your name" he commanded, by then a graceless sound came from the hostage's throat. Moved by logic more than pity, Kylo grabbed a glass of water and poured it into her dry mouth. It was both fascinating and disgusting how the dribbling water was cleaning her neck from the dust wherever it touched her skin.
Like a caged animal she pushed herself closer to him, to get as much water as she could, and in that moment he had the impression that she was not so much scared of him as he had first thought. He felt as that little woman was not afraid of much at all.
"Mircei" she said, with a proud voice "That's my name. And I'd like to know what do you want from me. I did nothing to put myself in trouble".
"I'm the one asking question" he replied, a faint of a smile under the helmet. "Are you the sister of Rey Skywalker?".
The name provoked a wave of renewed agitation into the scavanger's soul.
"Rey? Is she here?".
When no reply came from the general, she obediently gave him the right answer "Yes, she is my step sister. But I never heard of her as a Skywalker. That would make her related to the famous Jedi�".
Ignoring her guesses once again, he kept asking the routine questions: when was Rey adopted by your parents? Did she ever show any sign of being force sensitive?
The answers were so much of public domain that Mircei did not find any reason to lie or refusing to talk. That made possibly the easiest interrogation that Kylo has ever conducted. She confirmed what he already knew from the black market in Jakku: the two girls were close as if they were blood, and yes Rey had always show signs of psychic powers as much as been highly gifted in shuttle driving and navigation. Her parents, she said with a deep darkness in her eyes, had died of sickness after having lost all the family wealth in a bad investment. The two girls had been left alone to survive of trading and they used to share all they got from the market.
There was only one question that the girl couldn't answer. How come Luke Skywalker had choosen just her family to take care of his precious little daughter.
"I don't know, I am telling the truth. I was only 5, do you think that the all mighty Skywalker discussed the matter with me?" her rage was growing again, which to Kylo twisted eyes made her even more beautiful and desirable.
A thing of beauty and a thing of rage. Just like his powers.
He felt however that there was something in the story that was missing and he had to find out whatever she was lying or not.
Kylo Ren ignored her screams and extended his gloved hand toward her, ready to envelope the girl with the dark force.
