You jolt awake as your ship shudders to a halt. You thought you were only out for a second… and your ship ought to be on autopilot anyway, so what's the deal? You sigh and look at the monitor, ready to reset your course, but what you see makes you freeze in fear. AUTOPILOT OVERRIDE- TRACTOR BEAM ENGAGED, in bright red letters. Oh, come on. This can't be right- you paid off that bounty in the Geonosis system, and last time you checked you weren't carrying illegal cargo… Grumbling, you shove your blaster into your hip holster and start tapping buttons to show you the specs of the ship that was drawing you in, and feel your heart stop as the specs load. A First Order ship… never good news.

Right on time, you hear the thudding boots of stormtroopers making their way to the cockpit. You stand up and put your hands over your head as they burst in, blasters trained on you. "Look, guys, I'm sure whatever it is, I didn't do it," you start, but before you can continue, one of the troopers is grabbing your hands and cuffing them behind your back. "Wait, what? No, come on…" you groan as they shove you towards your ship's exit.

You stumble out of your ship and almost trip on the slick flooring of the First Order ship's docking bay, narrowing your eyes against the bright, unnatural lighting. The stormtroopers march you forward and then roughly push you to your knees. You hear the shuffling of feet as your captors snap to attention. "Sir. We've brought you the girl."

You look up into the mask of Kylo Ren, and nearly fall over in surprise. "Good," he rasps. "You will bring her to the interrogation room."

"Yes, sir," barks the stormtrooper. You open your mouth to protest, but before you can make a sound, the tall, black-robed Kylo places his gloved fingertips on your forehead. He makes a pulling motion, and you crumple as you feel your consciousness slip out of your body, drawn out by his power. The last thing you see as you hit the cold floor is his black boots walking away from you.

You gasp as you feel your consciousness forced back into your body. You involuntarily try to jerk forward, but realize there's something stopping your motion.

"Good of you to join us."

Slowly, you turn your head towards the low, mechanical voice. You register Kylo Ren standing across the room, flanked by stormtroopers.

You look down and take in as much information about your predicament as you can. You're standing, reclined back against a padded contraption. You try to rattle the metal cuffs encircling your forearms and ankles, but no luck.

"I regret to inform you that you are my prisoner now," intones the tall Sith. "You will remain here until you give me what I want."

"What is it that you want?"

Kylo turns to the stormtroopers. "Leave us." They salute and turn in unison, the hydraulic door hissing closed behind them.

"Where am I? What do you want from me?" you ask frantically.

"You are on Starkiller Base. You are surrounded by thousands of loyal members of the First Order. Any attempted escape will be met with lethal force. As for what I want from you…" He steps closer and you shiver. "You know what I want from you."

You shake your head. "Money? I… I have cargo, valuable cargo. You can have it."

"Indeed you do have valuable cargo. But I have no use for the garbage in your main hold, smuggler."

"Then what is it you want?"

He leans closer. You can feel his power radiating towards you, electrifying the air. "The lightsaber. I want the lightsaber."

You rack your brain. What lightsaber? Nobody could get their hands on a lightsaber in this day and age. If you had the ability to get a lightsaber, you'd be living the rest of your life like royalty on some distant planet, not still smuggling illegal machine parts and barely scraping by. "I don't have any lightsabers."

Kylo Ren snarls, making you jolt. "Liar."

"I swear I don't know what you're talking about!"

"The saber. I want it. It belongs to me!" His intensity makes you shiver. You shake your head frantically.

He takes a deep breath through the mask and steps back. You sigh in relief. "No matter," he says. "I have other means of finding out what I want to know."

"I don't have your saber!" you shout at him. "Please, I just want to go back to my ship…"

He stiffens. "You're lying." He steps forward again. "I hate liars," Kylo growls at you. You try to calm your breathing and fail miserably.

"You know I can take whatever I want." He's so close you can feel his filtered breath against your ear. You press your head back, straining away from him, squeezing your eyes shut, bracing against the invasion of your mind that you know is inevitably coming. Kylo lets out a sinister chuckle, almost inaudible. You hear the swish of his robes as he moves, and suddenly you feel his gloved hand holding your chin steady. You can't turn away. "I can do whatever I want to you," he growls. "You won't be able to stop me." You involuntarily whimper, and he makes a noise of disgust, whirling away. You open your eyes to see him standing a distance away. "You… you're a monster," you gasp. He laughs again. "No, not a monster." He turns as if to leave, but catches himself. "Would you like to see?"

Your curiosity is almost overwhelming your fear. Maybe if you see his true self, you can find something to exploit- to manipulate- into gaining your freedom. You allow yourself a curt nod.

"Very well," rumbles Kylo, He reaches up to his mask, and with a hissing noise, lifts it off his head, discarding it on the floor.

You're stunned by what you see. No, not a monster at all… barely more than a boy. He shakes his long dark hair out of his face and you notice his soft, vulnerable lips and dark, intelligent eyes. Your heart skips a beat when you catch the intensity with which he's looking at you, his stare drilling holes into your soul. Kylo registers your shocked expression and sneers. "Not what you expected from a Sith." You don't need to agree visibly, you can feel his presence in your mind and know he senses your assent.

The tall man steps closer. "Not so afraid now, are you? Do you think you can challenge me now that you know I'm only human?"

Damn. You'd forgotten that plotting against a mind reader is almost impossible.

Kylo laughs again, but this time it sounds a lot less sinister not being filtered through the mask. "You know, even without the mask, I am still more powerful than you will ever know." He draws close enough to rest one hand next to your head, partially encircling you in his armor-clad arms. "Give me what I want, and this can all be over."

You may be afraid, but you'll never surrender. As soon as the thought crosses your mind, Kylo grins. "Good," he says, moving to place his other hand on the other side of your head, making you stiffen involuntarily. "I like it when they resist."