The next day passes in a rush, as Aleck attempts to teach Jeyna the basics of using weapons and self-defense. While he is a generously patient teacher, she finds herself lacking in the reflexes and coordination to be truly good at what he is imparting. Still, she manages to grasp a few pointers and improve her aim with the blaster.

She is exhausted by the evening, and collapses gratefully into bed after a hot shower. It's been almost two days since she's heard from Kylo, and she is anxious to hear about the state of their trip to Nar Shaddaa. From what she's read, the moon is entirely covered in urban sprawl. And it serves as a trading post for things illegal just about anywhere else in the galaxy.

Jeyna drifts into a restless sleep, and the nightmares start up soon after. They start the same, the generic memory playing out as it has for years in her unconscious mind. The bombs, the smoke, the fire.

But then, something changes.

There is a flash of green, and a feeling of betrayal saturates the dream, though the source isn't clear. The structure she is in collapses, but somehow it is not her childhood home. It feels different, even as the images are too vague to see for sure. She knows, somehow, that her mother is not there. The memory is different, there is someone else buried beneath the rubble.

She awakens, tears saturating her hair and the pillow beneath her face. Her chest physically hurts at the emotions the dream stirred up, even as she doesn't understand where they came from.

Her breathing slows, tears stopping as suddenly as they'd started, and she recognizes the presence in her mind.

"Kylo?" she asks.

The room is silent and dark with the lack of response. But she feels it as he shrinks away from her thoughts, withdrawing.

The Hangar Bay

The following morning, Jeyna is told they will be leaving for Nar Shaddaa. She is escorted down to their ship by Aleck, wearing a getup that presumably is supposed to make her look like a smuggler. The clothes fit tighter than she'd like, but she must admit they present a nice break from the First Order standard issue apparel.

The ship is a very small freighter, a bit beat up looking. She boards, and while they wait Aleck secures another tracker bracelet to her wrist, tucking it up under the sleeve of her jacket.

"I don't plan on running off," Jeyna says, skeptically surveying the device.

"The Commander is insisting," Aleck replies, unwavering. "If you become separated, his powers won't be as useful for finding you on Nar Shaddaa. The moon's energy is said to interfere with force sensitivity."

"You mean it will block him?" She finds herself intrigued at the thought from an academic standpoint. What about the place would contribute to such an effect?

Aleck shakes his head slightly. "Truthfully, I do not know. I believe it muddles the waters, so to speak. You would have to ask him to explain more."

Jeyna accepts his answer, taking a seat to wait for Ren to arrive. She fidgets, attempting to work through her nerves. Aleck seems to be watching her from his own seat, though he appears much more calm than she.

"It will be alright, Miss Torre," he tries at soothing her. She nods halfheartedly.

She hears the loading ramp receding a moment before the mechanical noise of the door closing, the only sign that Ren's boarded the ship. She turns in time to catch sight of him come around the corner, headed towards the cockpit.

Her mouth falls open at his appearance.

Of course, she'd known they were supposed to be undercover. On some level she'd been expecting him to abandon the all black combat suit and cloak. But she wasn't expecting the brown leather pilot's jacket, or how he wore a blaster slung low on his hip. The way his shirt clings to his body draws her attention and she immediately averts her gaze, a blush burning its way towards her ears. His face has almost completely healed, a faint mark the only trace of the burn that so recently crossed it.

If he's noticed her gawking, he doesn't acknowledge it, ignoring her to stride towards the ship's controls. He disappears into the cockpit, and she pulls her datapad out as a poor attempt to distract herself.

Her mind is tempted to think about what Ren would have been like had he not joined the First Order. Would he have been a Jedi? Were there even any Jedi left, to train him? She pushes away the thought, remembering his disdain towards Jedi. Perhaps he'd always been inclined towards the dark side of the force.

Nar Shaddaa

The ship has barely set down in a docking bay near the Industrial Sector of Nar Shaddaa when the dockmaster begins pounding on the door. Ren stomps towards the noise, looking irritated. He slams his hand on the control panel, allowing the Duros entry.

"What is your purpose on Nar Shaddaa?" The alien asks immediately. Jeyna has trouble understanding him, his accent hindering his fluency in Basic.

Ren leans against the wall of the ship, cocking his head to look down at him skeptically. "Does it matter?"

The Duros brushes it off. "You pay up front."

"How much?"

"200 credits." His red eyes look flat in the light of the ship's interior, unblinking as he states his price.

Kylo scoffs. "That's outrageous."

"But a small part of the credits you will make here, yes?"

"You will be happy to take a hundred," Ren says, voice loaded. Jeyna doesn't miss the small pulse of energy behind the words, even as her understanding of it is weak.

The Duros is still for a moment, before he repeats, slowly, "I will be happy to take a hundred." Ren waves for Aleck to pay him, and the alien departs the ship.

Jeyna watches him go as she pats the inside pocket of her jacket, making sure she can feel the commlink. It's the only means she'll have of reaching Aleck in case of emergency. Part of her wishes she could stay behind with him, in the safety the ship offers. The excessive reading she'd done on various gangs and organized crime syndicates of the moon had only served to inspire trepidation.

Ren gives her a glance, face unreadable. "Stay close to me, and you'll be fine. Are you ready?"

She nods. They start down the ramp, but Jeyna is confused to see him falter the second his feet touch the gray ferrocrete platform. A flash of something like pain crosses his features, before he clenches his jaw.

"Are you okay?" she asks, concerned.

"I'm fine," he says dismissively, but she notices when his hand rises, as if to reach for his head, before he stops himself. His brow is furrowed as he surveys the docks around them, half empty. The ships that are dispersed among the walkways are fairly dilapidated, a few looking like flying scrap heaps.

"It's loud here," he admits, and she frowns at the obvious tension in his voice. She knows he doesn't mean literal noise, as on some very small level she can feel what he refers to. There is a chaotic web of energy, just outside of her grasp.

"Can you try to block it out?" she asks quietly.

"Let's just make this fast," he suggests, setting off at a quick pace. Jeyna keeps up with him, nervous as they leave the ship behind.

Nar Shaddaa itself is dreary, and Jeyna finds herself disliking it. The streets they emerge onto are dirty, cast in shadows from the buildings and walkways towering above them. There's very little natural light, and there is a thick, permanent haze that hangs in the air. The artificial lights scatter off of it, and reflect from the puddles she dodges underfoot.

The area they are in is particularly worn down, and she hopes that Ren knows where he is going. The people they pass give a distinct feeling of being down on their luck, or otherwise appear to be the seedy criminal variety.

Jeyna shrinks behind Ren as they pass a group of men that look to be mercenaries, avoiding the leers they turn to throw back at her.

He's leading her into the lower section of the Industrial Sector, to the remains of what used to be a refugee area. That's what it had been when the Jedi Exile Meetra Surik had visited it thousands of years ago. Jeyna doesn't know what they're looking for exactly, but she's hoping that there will be some clue left behind from the Exile as to where Revan hid the map.

Jeyna wonders if she should offer to look up the coordinates again, since the refugee sector has long since been converted into warehouses. But Ren doesn't seem to need directions, navigating without hesitation.

"How do you know where we are going? Do you feel something?" she asks.

"I know my way around Nar Shaddaa," he answers, and the clipped tone of his voice suggests she shouldn't ask any further questions.

She can't help but find his answer intriguing. Why would he have experience on the smuggler's moon? The First Order never did establish rule there, nor was it a location that produced anything they needed in trade. In fact, she was quite certain the First Order avoided all of Hutt space entirely. So why would Kylo Ren be familiar with it?

Later

They search through the dark streets outside warehouses, Ren pausing occasionally as if deep in thought. Jeyna doesn't ask what he is doing, even as he grits his teeth and seems painfully on edge. She wonders if he is trying to use the force, like how he had sensed the holocron on Kashyyyk.

If he is, it doesn't seem to be working. Their time is spent unproductively, the dark streets and large, featureless storage buildings blending together into a gray blur. Until he jerks her to a stop outside a warehouse that looks much the same as all the others, the sign above the door so grime covered as to be unreadable. She searches his face questioningly at how tightly his hand grips her arm.

"There's…an echo here," he says uncertainly, eyes dark with frustration.

"In the Force?" Jeyna asks, confused. She tries to pick up on what he's referring to, but all she can feel is a buzzing static. "Do you think it's important?"

Kylo doesn't answer, his face a taught mask that seems to be barely containing his discomfort. She flinches as he pulls his blaster suddenly, shooting the lock off the door from where they stand. He stalks forward, ripping open the large door and disappearing inside.

Jeyna, without much left in the way of options, follows him. Inside is a front room with a desk and computer system. There's a second door behind the desk, which seems to open up to the massive interior. The warehouse is coated in dust, and dimly lit.

She can hear the clinking feet of a droid as it comes around the corner to pause behind the desk. It's a basic protocol model, rusted and looking to be in bad disrepair.

"Greetings!" The droid says, before informing them, "You are trespassing on the property of Gleo Branic. Please leave, immediately."

"We want access to the warehouse," Ren demands, eyes revealing a simmering anger.

Jeyna knows she needs to intercede, that his anger is making him unreasonable. The droid is only programmed to understand certain queries and commands. His demand will not register properly with it. "Can we speak with Gleo Branic regarding access to his property?" she tries.

The droid's frail head swivels to hers. "Permission from Master Branic is required for access to this property."

"Can we meet with Master Branic to get permission?" she continues, ignoring the huff of impatience that exits Kylo.

"Master Branic is currently visiting the Lucky Runner." The droid falters, a clanging noise coming from somewhere inside its chassis. Its head jerks before it fixates on them again. "Greetings! You are trespassing on the property of Gleo Br-"

Jeyna registers the snarling sound come from Ren before the arc of energy blasts the droid, flinging it backwards into the wall. It collapses in a heap of parts, smoke rising. Ren makes as if to round the desk and enter the warehouse, but the destruction of the droid must have triggered a security protocol.

She watches in shock as the heavy blast door slams shut, the mechanical noise of locks engaging audible even across the room. An alarm begins sounding, blaring into the empty space of the front room. Jeyna turns to survey Kylo, her mouth still hanging open at his sporadic outburst. He looks like he's about to start smoking as much as the ruined droid, hands clenching into pale fists at his side.

"I don't suppose you can blast through that door, too?" she asks hopefully.

He glares at her.

"Will your lightsaber cut through it?" she presses.

"I didn't bring my lightsaber," Ren snarls. "It's back on the ship."

She sighs. "Then I guess we'll have to find Gleo Branic at the Lucky Runner."