The Force Awakens

Chapter 11

I lay restrained on the interrogation bench. But I didn't feel like a prisoner. Something had happened when I had pushed back against my captor's mind. I had felt a release, as if a pair of shackles had shattered.

Shackles that held not my wrists but my... self?

I didn't fully understand. There would be time for further introspection if I got out of here. As of then, it didn't look like it was going to happen. The restraints clamping me to the bench were not going to snap, no matter how hard I pushed. And even if I did break out, I'd still have to deal with the stormtrooper inside my cell, guarding my door.

But maybe there was another way out. I had pushed back at my brother through sheer will, the force of my mind. Maybe with a little luck, I could call on that strength again.

"You," I said to the trooper.

The trooper looked at me, his expression unreadable behind his helmet. That made what I was about to try easier. I was not distracted by his individuality. I saw only a faceless drone of the First Order. And one thing drones did was obey commands.

"You will remove these restraints," I told the guard. "And you will leave the cell, with the door open, and retire to your living quarters."

The trooper continued to stare at me. He must've thought I was crazy to believe that he'd listen to me.

Maybe I was.

I tried again. Directing the will of my mind past his helmet, into his mind, as I had with my interrogator.
I repeated my command, enunciating each word in my speech and in my mind so it would echo in his.

The trooper walked toward me, his blaster rifle at the ready. "I will remove these restraints. And leave this cell, with the door open, and retire to my living quarters. I will speak of this encounter to no one."

He did as commanded, liberating me from the shackles. I continued to recline on the bench, stunned that my prompt had actually worked.

The trooper turned and went for the door, still carrying his rifle.

"And you will drop your weapon," I said.

There was no hesitation. "I will drop my weapon," he said. He set it on the floor, opened the cell door, and headed out, presumably to his living quarters.

I remained on the bench. The cell door was open. The rifle was on the ground. The stormtrooper was gone.

When he didn't come back, I knew I wasn't crazy. I also knew that what I had just done had nothing to do with luck.

It was true, the force was strong in my family. On my mothers side. With Luke, my grandfather, and even my mother. She wasn't a Jedi, but she still had much of the force flowing through her.

I hurried down passageway after passageway, carrying my former guard's blaster rifle. Metal plated some walls while others showed jagged rock, offering nooks and crannies to duck into when I sensed anyone approaching.

I arrived at a narrow walkway that had been built along a wall. On its open side, the walkway lacked a railing to prevent plunges down a deep chasm. But beyond the walkway, I saw a means of flight out of here. TIE fighters were docked in a hangar.

Stormtroopers guarded the doorway. Chatting among themselves, they hadn't noticed me. Neither had the stormtroopers I heard approaching. But if I didn't do something soon, one or both patrols would discover me.

I strapped the rifle over my shoulder and dropped over the side of the walkway.

I didn't fall into the chasm. I hung.

Gripping the edge of the walkway with my fingers and bracing my feet against the wall. I had practice doing this sort of thing. All of my missions for the Resistance had necessitated many similar precarious climbs. The important thing was never to look down.

Surveying the area under the walkway, I glimpsed a hatch on the far wall.

I lifted one hand off the edge and moved it a half meter before setting it down, testing the grip. I did the same with a foot, finding shelves in the stone that held.

Continuing this process, I crept along the walkway. Balance was vital. I never looked down.

Within reach of my destination, I elbowed the access panel. The hatch opened. I crawled through, into a maintenance bay.

A repair droid trundled toward me, then continued past to perform some preprogrammed function. I hastened across the bay, not trusting that another droid would be so ignorant.

All the lifts heading up to the hangar required security passcodes. I didn't want to risk entering a false code and alerting the base to my location. I waited to see if I  might be able to catch a ride with any of the droids, but none of them seemed to have duties above.

I was stuck.

The ceiling rumbled. Through a ventilation grate I saw TIE fighters launch out of the hangar. Maybe they were doing a flight exercise, or maybe there was an attack on the base. Whatever the cause, my means of escape had rocketed away. I had to look for another way out.

I pried open a floor grate and crawled down a ventilation shaft. I heard voices in the corridor above. The shaft was not fully covered on its path up the corridor's wall. I had to shimmy up quickly not to be noticed.

But I was noticed.

By Han Solo, my father, of all people. He stood in the corridor and grinned at me. Chewbacca was there, too, as was a few others I never thought I'd see again.

Rey and Finn each gave me the biggest of hugs. "Are you all right? What happened?" Finn asked.

"Did he hurt you?" Rey questioned.

"Never mind me, what are you doing here?" I ask.

Finn tried to play it cool. "We came back for you."
Chewbacca ruffed, which told I what I had thought and hoped.

Finn glanced at the Wookiee. "What did he say?"

"That it was both of your idea," I said, glancing at my two friends.

Han stepped in before the reunion turned too emotional. "We'll have a party later. I'll bring the cake. Right now, let's get outta here."

I couldn't agree with him more. But I would hold Han to his promise when all was said and done. In my twenty one years, I had never wanted cake more.