A Star Wars TFA Prequel: "Why Aren't You Scared of Me?"

Jealous Part 2

"My name's Caleb," the blonde boy says, looking up at Hux in a way that makes me want to punch him.

"How did you survive, Caleb?" Hux asks him.

"By being smart." The boy is still on his knees, which is unnecessary. I almost Force grab him and stand him up, but decide against it. "And by being invisible," he continues. "I've been pretending to be on different teams all at once. I'm the intel person on Aiden's team."

"Isn't that the largest team?" Phasma asks.

"Used to be."

"Is this a trick?" I say. "You just said you survived by pretending to be on different teams. So you could be pretending to be on our side, too."

"No, I'm not. I want to win," he says.

"You could win by betraying us," I say. Hux holds up a hand, as though to shush me.

"Why would we consider letting you join the winning side?" He asks Caleb.

"Because, Sir, I have lots of inside information about the other teams, which would help us win faster. And I have access to the ship's main computer."

Hux looks at me. "Let's not waste our time. I need to know if he's telling us the truth before we believe him."

I nod to Hux then look at Caleb. "If this is not a trick then you wouldn't resist having your mind read."

He frowns. Hux nods to me and I step forward.

I stand beside Caleb and set my hand on top of his head, then close my eyes and concentrate. His surface emotions are pretty straight forward, excitement and fear, and something else that feels like hero worship, for Hux. He doesn't resist my mind reading so I move in on his thoughts quickly. I see the face of Aiden, he's the big guy that was best in physical combat training. Then I see the faces of his team members. They don't sleep in their individual quarters but have set up a base where they stay together. They've made explosives which they plan to use on the others.

I focus harder, wanting to get to Caleb's motivations for helping us, something which can be difficult to see, if they're buried deep. Sometimes even the person whose mind I'm reading may not know what their true motivations are. As I search find something Caleb holds onto, not willing to let me see. He does believe he will win, with our help, but that's not the only reason he wants to join us. He's been fond of Hux for a long time and gathered intel for him at the Academy, in the week before the Games, so he could impress him. He's also scared of Hux. He saw him drag Jared's body out of our room last night when he was out spying for Aiden. But he's not scared of me.

One of his passing memories of me catches my attention. I see myself holding a little girl in my arms, a girl I don't know. He was spying on me too, back at the Academy. I search his memories of me this summer. They're all filled with images of the girl. I see myself smiling, walking hand in hand with her. She looks at me as though I'm her hero, but I have no memory of her. Then I'm kneeling before her in front of the chapel doors and hugging her. I looks so happy, and then... so sad.

Caleb cries out in pain and I know I'm taking too long, searching his mind too much and it's hurting him, but I have to know. Another memory, the hushed voices of a conversation, something about the little girl being sick, and her name was...

"Ren!" Hux pulls my hand off of Caleb's head, breaking my concentration. Caleb collapses to the floor and Hux gets down on his knees beside him. "Did you at least get information out of him before you killed him?"

"He's not dead, he's just weak," I say, stepping away from them.

"Is he telling the truth? Does he really want to help us?" Phasma asks.

"Yes."

"Why?"

I don't respond.

"Are you okay?" Phasma asks, looking at me more closely.

I frown. "Tell me about the girl."

"What girl?"

I grab Phasma by the jacket collar. "The girl. The one everyone saw me with all summer but I know nothing about."

Phasma shoves me away from her. "It's not for me to tell. Snoke erased your memories of her."

Caleb groans on the ground and Hux helps him sit up, putting his arm around his shoulders in a protective sort of way. I clench my fists. Hux lifts Caleb up by the arm and helps him over to the bench, sitting down beside him, so close that their shoulders touch. Caleb holds his gaze and Hux looks both confused and intrigued at the same time, as though he can't decide weather to smile or frown.

"Caleb," I say, interrupting them. He looks at me. "What's Aiden's next plan of attack?"

Caleb rubs his forehead. "Um... killing you guys. That's why I came, to warn you. But they don't tell me everything and I..." he cringes. "Ow... my head hurts."

Hux sets his hand on Caleb's back, leaning forward a bit to look at his face. I Force push them apart so fast that I don't even remember deciding to do it. Hux seems surprised. I pull Caleb forward and he flies to me. A second later my hand is around his throat. "I've read your mind," I whisper to him, coming in close so Hux and Phasma won't hear me over the hum of the ship. "Keep away from Hux or I'll show you exactly why you should be scared of me."

I pull back and see that his face is turning red. I quickly let go of his throat and he coughs, falling to his knees and clutching his neck.

"Ren!" Hux says. "Can we keep him alive for a little while at least?" His eyes search mine, as though he's trying to figure me out. "What is it?"

"Nothing."

"Is he lying to us? Does he want to kill me or something?"

"No. That's not what he wants to do with you."

Hux's confused expression changes to a lopsided grin. "Oh..." He looks down at Caleb, then shrugs. "I guess he's got good taste."

Phasma groans and rolls her eyes. My cheeks flush with anger and I turn my back to them.

"Well, we need him," Phasma says. "I want to get into the ship's system and turn off this damn heat!"

"Good idea," Hux replies. "Let's keep this one alive."