I sat up against the bars of the leftmost wall and rested my head back as I took a bite out of the roll they gave me and focused my hand on turning the chair that levitated in front of me. I took another bite out of the roll and set the chair down on top of the table that blocked it from the floor.
I hadn't interacted with anyone. I'd been asleep or meditating every time someone dropped off food or new clothes. These drop off times were probably intentional, however I wasn't too upset that the resistance didn't talk to me. They couldn't have had anything interesting to say anyway.
I hadn't been able to contact Ren since that one night of immense focus. As soon as he'd recognized me, I'd felt a stabbing pain in my skull and heard a boom, and he'd pushed me out.
It had been hard to keep myself occupied while I was in the cell. I wasn't ever sure what time it was or how long I'd been in there. Most of my attention was focused on keeping my physical and Force strength up, however I also meditated and flipped through the thoughts of some of the fighters on the base.
I lifted my hand again and willed the table to leave the ground, taking the chair with it. I ate the last bite of my roll and raised my other hand, levitating the food tray in the corner and placing it on top of the chair.
All three were in the air when the hall door opened and Leia Organa stepped through it.
"Rey" She said, standing by the door though it was closed.
"Leia" I replied.
"How have you been feeling? I understand they've been feeding you" She said. This was the weirdest small talk I'd ever encountered. She knew exactly what was going on, I could not understand why she was attempting to make conversation with me.
"Why are you here?" I asked, ignoring her question. Her lips pursed and she took a step toward me.
"I came to see how you were doing, to see what kind of condition you were in. I see you've been keeping up your skills in the Force" She said, motioning vaguely to the objects floating in my cell.
"How I'm doing doesn't matter. Let me go, you're only antagonizing Kylo Ren by keeping me here." I snapped back.
"Well that's the intention, we'd like to negotiate with Ben and get the First Order to withdraw it's forces on Republic entities, perhaps even encourage the First Order to disband all together." I leaped up and the items I'd been controlling flew against the wall.
"The First Order will never agree to such a ridiculous surrender! Supreme Leader Snoke won't allow such demands!" I shouted, clenching my fists and compressing the table with the Force.
"It probably won't, but you being here alone should at least get Ben here." she replied coolly. I was appalled. How dare they think The First Order would so easily fall to their demands! It would be the galaxy's savior, the force that would keep these demons from destroying everything in their path!
"I know you think the first order is the best thing for the galaxy, but the people who live on these planets think differently. I'll come see you later" She said, and stepped out of the room. I shouted again and thumped to the ground.
….
Losing myself in thought had kept me occupied for quite awhile, but eventually I found myself needing a new distraction, for which I was mentally out of resources. I had engaged in physical training, mental training and Force training, and I'd even "walked" through the entire base to determine the best way to escape if I could get out of this cell.
I rolled out of my bed cubby and landed on my hands and knees on the concrete floor. I decided push ups would be acceptable, so I pushed my legs out from under my knees and glanced up once. I stopped just before I was ready to move down and looked up again. In the corner of the cell, under the pile of table I had left some time ago, was the wretched holo book I'd attempted to read when I'd first gained consciousness. I willed it towards me and when it arrived, I clicked it on. It was still on the page I'd left it, so I clicked on the table of contents and scrolled until I selected a chapter about Pressy's Tumble, the only chapter that had a name I was familiar with.
Part of joining the First Order was learning the history of the galaxy, the First Order's role in liberating oppressed planets from the terrorism of the new republic, the strife in avenging the Sith, the purpose of the Death Star and Starkiller and their differences, among other things. During these lessons, one of the things we learned about was the storm trooper's victory in subduing the overtake on a First Order-owned mining colony.
This book told the tale differently.
This chapter outlined the fleshy, under-discussed states of the miners, the distrust for the First Order that brewed from the lack of sustainability among workers, and the hasty and relentless destruction of the First Order's own hired workers. I was taken aback.
As one of the few in the military ranks that was hired and not bred, this was a surprising and disgruntling discovery. I'd always been happy to comply with whatever the First Order had demanded of me, mentally because it seemed right and physically because I was being taken care of. Food and a bed made it quite easy to agree with what you're told.
I read another chapter, and i felt my heart begin to race. There were stories I'd heard, books I'd read, completely torn to shreds by the overwhelming amount of evidence this book spat out each time I tapped on a page. Videos of villagers being killed in events in which the stormtroopers had been told they were out of line or rebelling. In one video, I almost thought I saw myself.