The Force Awakens (Star Wars) Read Online Free

any further effort at concealment and disregarding his own safety, he broke from cover and started toward the pair.
    “You may try,” Tekka responded with quiet defiance, “but you cannot deny the truth that is your family.”
    Kylo Ren seemed to grow before him. Rage flared behindthe mask as reason gave way to fury. A lightsaber appeared in one hand, flaring to life, a barely stable crimson shaft notable for two smaller projections at the hilt: a killer’s weapon, an executioner’s fetish of choice. “So true.”
    Light, refulgent and cutting, ripped across and through the figure of Lor San Tekka.

II
    P OE SAW THE saber come to life. Saw it start to describe its lethal arc. Time seemed to slow as he watched it descend. Thoughts raced through his mind, half crazed, wholly powerless. He heard himself yelling, sensed himself raising his blaster and firing. Too late, too slow, he told himself despondently even as he continued to fire.
    Perceiving the threat, Kylo Ren reacted immediately.A hand rose sharply, palm facing toward the unknown assailant. The gesture was merely the physical manifestation of something infinitely more powerful and entirely unseen. It intercepted the discharge from the pilot’s weapon, freezing it in midair as effectively as any solid barrier. From behind the mask, eyes of preternatural intensity tracked the attack to its source.
    Initially driven bypure rage, Poe now found that he could notmove. His heart pounded, his lungs heaved, but his voluntary muscles refused to respond. He was paralyzed as effectively as the blast from his blaster.
    A pair of stormtroopers took hold of him and dragged him forward until he stood helpless before the impassive Ren. Had they not held on to him, Poe would simply have fallen over. He attempted bravadoeven so. “Who talks first?” Poe asked, making his voice light. “Do you talk first? Do I talk first?”
    Having deactivated his lightsaber and returned it to his belt, Lor San Tekka’s murderer casually scrutinized the prisoner. Poe’s nerves twanged as feeling slowly began to return to his arms and legs. Ren’s gaze settled on the details of the pilot’s clothing.
    “A Resistance pilot, by thelooks of him.” He nodded curtly. “Search him. Thoroughly.”
    One of the troopers who had dragged Poe forward commenced a detailed and none too gentle pat down. Pulling a small device from his service belt, the other trooper slowly passed it the length of the prisoner’s body, beginning at the pilot’s head and ending at his feet. The examination did not take long.
    “Nothing,” declared the firststormtrooper, standing at attention.
    Poe winked up at the trooper who had used his hands. “Good job.”
    Forgetting himself for a moment, the goaded trooper kicked the prisoner’s legs out from under him. Poe went down hard on his knees, still defiant.
    The other trooper gestured with the handheld instrument. “Same here, sir. Internally, this one is clean. Nothing but the expected foodresidue.” He didn’t hesitate. “Terminate him?”
    Kylo Ren did not let his disappointment show. At such times momentary delays were not unexpected. All would be satisfactorily resolved, in good time.
    “No. Keep him.” A brief pause, then, “Intact and functioning.”
    Plainly disappointed, the two troopers dragged Poe away. Ren watched them for a moment, contemplating possibilities.
Later
,he told himself. For now, there were other details to attend to. Heallowed his thoughts to be briefly diverted, regretting the time that had been wasting in dealing with necessary inconsequentialities.
    Awaiting his pleasure, the senior officer in overall charge of the special squadrons drew herself up at his approach, her black cape of rank hanging loose around her. It stood in startlingcontrast to her armor, which even in the poor light shone like polished silver.
    “Your orders, sir?” she murmured.
    Kylo Ren surveyed his blazing surroundings. He had already spent too much time