The Monster Behind the Mask

Chapter Two - Interrogation - Part 1

Nova

The bright white light returns. It sits, shimmering behind my eyelids. It burns my face. Its almost like the sun, hot and intense. This sun isnt comforting. This sun is sterile.

I jerk open my eyes. The sun is replaced by a white light in the ceiling. I push myself up from my laying position. A wave of dizziness punches me in the head. I must have fallen and hit it on something. As my vision adjusts, I see that I am not home on Kashic; Im confined in a small white square. Then the realization hits me. Im at the First Orders base.

I fly off the bench I had been laying on and rocket toward the door. There is no handle, just a tiny rectangular mirror too high for me to see into. I stand on my toes, struggling to peer into the mirror. It must be a window on the other side. I examine the crevice between the door and the wall. There are no hinges. The door either swings out, or it slides open. I place my palms against the door and push with the weight of my body. It doesnt budge. I turn to put my back against the door and push with my legs. Again, it doesnt move.

I push off the door toward the bench. Standing in the middle of the cell, I think about my situation. This all could have been avoided if I had only listened to Koda. I shouldnt have gone to Balyn. I didnt need to prove that I could do anything. The risk wasnt worth the cost. And although I did it for the right reasons, this is where it got me – trapped in a cell in the First Orders base.

I slump to the ground, feeling defeated. Even if I did find a way to escape this cell, where would I go? There are surely stormtroopers crawling all over this place, and not to mention, I'd have to steal a ship, get past the hanger doors, and get to hyper speed before the guns on the outside of the base shoot me down. I hate admitting defeat, but I feel helpless. Unless the Jedi council were tracking my ship, they would have no idea of where I am. They probably dont even know that Im gone.

I think back to the last conversation I had with the council. They warned me that my curiosity would get me into trouble. That I would some day go too far and have to pay the price of the consequences. It pains me how right they were. I totally ignored their warning. I ignored Koda.

He tried so hard to stop me from going in search of the temple. He even hijacked my cruiser. His persistence annoyed me then, but now, I miss his consistency, and how much he cared.

The temple had been just a rumor for hundreds of years. The Jedi had mentioned the original temple - where the first Jedi had gotten his power- before, but they never said anything more. I refused to accept anything at face-value. I studied the temple and what the books said about it. Very few things were known. I needed to understand more. I needed to find it. Then, I had a dream about the temple. I dreamt that what I had always missed, could be found in that temple. It showed me the jungle that surrounded it, and I knew that I had to go in search of it.

I managed to escape Kashic without the Jedi council knowing, and without Kodas interference. I tracked down the planet that the temple was located on through space – Balyn – but when I arrived, I found that the planet was overrun by the First Orders forces. The Order had taken control of the planet years ago when they pushed the rebels out of that sector of the galaxy. Nobody cared to record it in the books that I had read. Either that, or people didnt know.

Now, I sit on the white, sterile floor of a First Order cell, while just yesterday I had been reclining in the black-velvet chair in my Kashic penthouse. I feel like an idiot. If only I had just ignored my temptation. I grumble under my breath. I was trained better than this.

A click behind the cell door jerks my attention toward it. I can hear the sound of skidding metal, and the door begins to slide open. Two storm troopers rush inside. They clasp their hands around my forearms, yanking me off the ground. I struggle against their grips, trying to break free. In response to my resistance, they tighten their holds on me.