With haste, Ree woke up. She tried moving her wrists and ankles. Quickly realised that it was of no use since she was strapped down to some sort of vertical table. From the darkness in front of her, a man rose up. He had been sitting down on some sort of stool, he stepped out into the light, revealing that it was Kylo Ren.
"You're awake," he stated. Ree breathed in sharply while trying to figure out her surroundings. All she could conclude was that she was in a dark room, strapped to some sort of torturing device which made her heart beat ten times faster. Was he about to interrogate her? Torture her? Kill her? "Don't be afraid." Ren had noticed her body language that showed clear distress.
"Where's my apprentice?" Tylan was all Ree could care about. At this moment it was easier for her to think about her apprentice than the fact that she was probably in way more danger than him.
"The boy? No clue," Kylo continued, "I couldn't care less about him." She breathed out in relief. Him being of no importance was a good thing. That meant he was in no trouble and probably safe and sound back home in their quarters.
"Are you going to kill me?" She asked. If he was about to do it, she wanted to know.
"Perhaps. Depends on your answers to my questions." Ren responded making her even more nervous.
"Then get on with," she tried to sound collected and confident. Under his mask, he raised an eyebrow at her response, not awaiting that kind of response.
"Are you aware of what you were doing back in that hallway?" Kylo asked and then it dawned on her what she had actually done, or rather what her body had done.
"I was fixing a broken cooling system," Ree answered blandly.
"You know what I mean." She sighed, disappointed that her cheap loophole didn't work.
"Honestly, no. I've never done anything like that before." Ren became puzzled, everything she had done back there took years of training to learn.
"Then how did you know how to lift them up into the air, throw them into the wall and then choke them, just by using your mind?" Kylo argued back.
"I don't know how I did it. It was strange to me but at the same time, It feels as if a part of me has always been waiting to be...awakened." She spoke like this had been something she'd always known, but that certainly wasn't the case. The Master of the Knights of Ren knew exactly what she was talking about.
"What's your operating number?" Ren asked, quickly changing the subject which caught Ree off guard.
"Uhh... SPR-378." He took out some form of tablet and typed in what she had just told him. In seconds, all sorts of information linked to the operating number came up on the screen. In the left corner, a picture of Ree from when she started working for the First Order and next to it, her personal information.
"Head technician Ree Keelor, age 27, home planet Corellia, been working here for almost eight years. How come I've never seen or heard anything about you before?" Kylo Ren questioned. Her brows furrowed together as she tried to understand where his suspicions were coming from.
"I mostly design and improve the technology and tutor new and upcoming technicians. Doesn't include that much interaction with the rest of the Order," Keelor explained.
That was enough for Ren to decide that she wasn't a spy for the Resistance or a Jedi in disguise. She was too much of an opportunity and he was too much of an optimist. There was an appearing silence and Ree looked at him with a confused look, awaiting the next question. He moved towards her and pressed a button on the torture device. All the restraints opened up quickly and she nearly fell forward.
"Come on," was all he said before walking out of the room. Ree looked up from her pained wrists, which she was rubbing to make it stop hurting, to see where Kylo was going. Is he letting me go, she wondered. Hurriedly she walked after him trying to catch up.
"So, are you going to kill me then?" She asked while trying to keep up with Kylo's fast pace.
"That's not up to me to decide." An answer that baffled the Head technician, it certainly didn't sound like that before.
"No? Then who is up to?"
"Him," Ren answered and she immediately knew who he was talking about.
---
As the two awaited clearance to walk through the door Ree adjusted her tank top strap. It had been hanging useless next to her arm from when that disgusting middle-aged creep slid it down. Without warning, the door in front of them opened, revealing a hologram picturing an old deformed face. He was sitting down on a throne and wore a luxurious robe. Ree had only heard myths and whispers about him, only the high-ranking officials had ever seen him, Supreme Leader Snoke.
They stepped into the dark room, walking along a passage that led to an elevated and lit up circle. "Step into the light, dear," Snoke ordered and Ree slowly walked forward onto the elevated circle. Why did he call me dear, am I still a prisoner, or perhaps something else, she thought. She looked back at Kylo who had stopped a bit back, waiting for her to reach the platform.
Once she was up at the platform the blonde woman looked up at the giant hologram, swallowing down a giant lump of nervousness, "am I a prisoner?"
"Of course not. You'd have to be an enemy of us to be a prisoner, which you are not, correct?" Snoke asked holding out his hand waiting for an answer.
"No, I'm just a technician."
"Don't downplay yourself. You're more than that," Snoke replied making Keelor look back at Kylo Ren with a confused look, not being sure if the Supreme Leader was in his right mind.
"I am?"
"Yes! You're a big asset to the First Order. You will help us end those treacherous rebels once and for all!" He boomed with sudden enthusiasm.
"I will?" Ree was now determined that he had lost his mind, how could she, a Head technician, help win the war? Sure, she's stronger than average but she couldn't fight and she certainly didn't know anything about strategics and waging war. All she knew was machines.
"Yes! You will, in time, fight alongside the Master of the Knights of Ren, taking down every single one of those rebel scums!" Ree once again looked back at Ren with an even more confused expression but he didn't move a muscle.
"How?" Her blue eyes were big with novelty.
"By using the Force," Snoke explained and the technician couldn't hold back her laughter. For a third time, she looked back at Kylo. Expecting him to be laughing as much as she did but he was dead serious. Making her go quiet and turning back to Snoke.
"You must be joking, I'm not a Force-user!"
"From what I've gathered from my apprentice, you've successfully incapacitated three people just by using the Force. I can sense how strong the Force is with you. You're Force-sensitive Ree, embrace it and I and my apprentice will teach you the ways of the Dark side of the Force." Snoke's little speech made her think, maybe she really was more than a technician, maybe she was destined for greater things.
"You'd be able to protect yourself. People like them would never even dare to near you." Suddenly Kylo spoke up, grabbing Ree's attention. What he had said had been something very convincing for her. Ree had never felt that scared as she was in the hall. She never wanted to experience anything like that again. She wanted to be able to protect herself from anyone, no matter their size or age.
"So what you're saying is that eventually, I'd be able to use the Force? That I wouldn't be just a technician anymore?" Ree had little to no knowledge about the force, the Jedi, the Sith or anything. It hadn't concerned her before but she figured that she would soon become a part of it. She had some reading up to do.
"Yes, what do you say? Join us and we will show you the Dark side." A silence filled the room as Ree pondered what her next words would be. After a while she looked up from her shoes, staring right into the hologram's eyes and with a clear voice said;
"If it means that I would be able to protect myself from anyone, then yes, I will join you."