"I can get you credits, however much my bounty is worth, I'll get you the money, you don't have to do this!" Branic hasn't stopped pleading, his voice wavering between panicked coherence and slurred disbelief, the entire walk back to his warehouse.
Ren has largely ignored him, allowing the man to continue on with his begging, until they near their destination. When they stop in front of the warehouse, he gives the man a shove forward, marching him with one hand on his shoulder until he is forced through the open door to his building.
"I need into your warehouse. You make that happen, you live. You refuse me, you die," he orders, stopping Branic in front of the large security door.
"That's all you want? You're not a bounty hunter?" Branic asks, sounding relieved.
"Open the door," Kylo growls, pulling his blaster. He directs it at Branic's head.
"Alright, alright!" the man panics, entering something into the security system.
The impossibly thick durasteel door slides open.
Late in the Night
Jeyna comes to a stop when Ren does, trailed by a quickly sobering Branic. They've found their way to the back of the warehouse, following whatever echo he had sensed in the force. At first Jeyna doesn't see anything that catches her eyes, just more crates and junk piled high. But then she spots the droid.
It's an HK model, and it looks ancient. It's no wonder the thing is sitting, hunched over and nonfunctional. It appears to be severely outdated. But she also recognizes it from her studies of Revan. He'd owned a similar droid. Could it be a coincidence?
"That droid. What model is it?" she asks Branic. He squints in the low light, before shrugging.
"Some kind of creepy looking protocol, beats me."
"We want it," she decides, trusting her intuition. Ren raises an eyebrow, but doesn't question her.
"It'll cost you," the warehouse owner insists.
Ren gives a noise of irritation. "It's broken, and you already owe me a thousand credits."
Branic winces, rubbing the back of his neck. "Well…yeah, I suppose I do owe you. It'll cost you if you want it fixed up though."
"Repair it. I want it working by morning," Ren demands. Branic gives an uneasy grin.
"There's the matter of compensation-"
"The compensation is I don't kill you." The angry glint has more than returned to Kylo's eyes, and Jeyna swallows nervously.
"That threat won't work for long-"
Branic barely has time to get his retort out before he's grasping at his throat, eyes bulging as his air supply is suddenly cut off. Jeyna sends a pleading glance at Ren, mentally begging him to not blow his cover or hurt the man. He ignores it for a moment before his hand unclenches. Branic collapses to his knees, breathing loudly.
"When I return, I expect a working droid. And don't even think about trying to run. I would hunt you down, no matter where you try to hide," Ren threatens. Branic gives him a trembling nod from the floor.
Residential Sector
Jeyna isn't expecting it when Ren takes her to the residential sector for the remainder of the night, instead of back to the ship. It is a closer location to wait for Branic to repair the droid, and she's relieved to not have to walk all the way back to the docks. But she assumes they'll need to break into a vacant apartment to lay low until morning.
She is surprised, then, when he uses his jacket sleeve to wipe the dust off a security scanner at the door to a unit in an older building, before holding his palm up to it. It scans his print, before opening.
"Is this your apartment?" she asks curiously, following him in.
Kylo shakes his head, but doesn't give an explanation. She looks around as the lights brighten, taking in the small layout. It looks like a bachelor pad, and though it is furnished, it's clear no one has been there in years.
Ren nudges the remains of a broken cleaning droid, crumpled a few feet inside the door, with one of his boots. It looks to be scorched by blaster fire, probably intentionally destroyed.
"You can rest if you need to. I'll wake you when it's time," he offers, stepping over the droid. "I take it Branic's droid has a connection to Revan?"
"I think it's the same model he had, an HK-47," Jeyna replies, following him uncertainly a few steps farther into the dwelling. She feels awkward being in this person's home, having no idea who it belongs to.
"HK? Hunter-Killer?" he clarifies.
"Yes," she confirms, before giving in to the urge to press him further. "Whose apartment is this?"
Ren turns, finally meeting her curious gaze. His face is a mask, revealing no emotions, eyes guarded. "Someone I used to know."
"Who? Why haven't they been here in so long?" Jeyna can't stop herself from voicing the questions, even as he clearly doesn't want to answer. She knows almost nothing about him, or his past, and desperately wants to learn more. She can tell she is frustrating him, however, when she sees the muscles of his jaw tense, his lips pressing into a taut line.
"Does it matter? It's in the past," he replies.
"The past matters," she argues uncertainly. His eyes turn antagonistic, drilling into hers as he takes a step back towards the door, closer to where she lingers.
"The past only matters to you, because you use it as a shield. You wrap yourself in it, insulating from the need to go forward," Kylo says, tone acidic. "You've avoided connections and meaning by clinging onto the past, trapping yourself in it."
His words take her breath away with how cruelly he intends them. She blinks, refusing to allow the stinging of her eyes to develop into tears. She has clearly hit a nerve, to make him strike out at her in such a personal way.
"Maybe you're right. But how is that any worse than what you did earlier?" she shoots back, feeling her own temper flare.
"Earlier?" he repeats, eyes narrowing dangerously. "I was attempting to focus on you, to center myself. The moon's energy is overwhelming."
"You used the connection with me to block something out. I felt it, before you pushed me back," Jeyna insists.
His eyes show his surprise, anger faltering. "You shouldn't have felt that."
"You forced your way into my head. I'm pretty sure the connection goes both ways," she says uncertainly, her own anger dying faster than she'd like. She's left feeling exposed, vulnerable after his judgmental observations.
"Perhaps I should sever it then," he says softly.
"Perhaps you should," she agrees, even as the thought terrifies her. To be suddenly cut off from him, after a lifetime of never feeling anything so intense, would break her. "I am a weakness, after all," she adds, meaning her words to sound spiteful. But instead they come out doubtful.
His eyes search hers as he approaches her, and though the anger has diminished she can't read what emotion has taken over him. She retreats a step, nearly back at the front door, and he immediately stops. "Kylo…"
He visibly flinches at the sound of his name, before speaking, tone gentler. "What has the past given you? Has learning of your connection to Revan, finding these clues he's left…has it changed anything? Are you any less an orphan? Do you feel any less lost?"
The tears threaten again, even as she tries to fight against them. A genuine expression appears on his face, his mouth curving downward into a frown, eyes remorseful. She looks away.
"It doesn't matter who you were. It doesn't matter who I was," Kylo insists, taking a small step forward. When she doesn't recoil from him, he reaches out to hold her chin, tilting her face back up to his.
She wants to be petulant. To look away, refuse to acknowledge what he's said. But his eyes hold her as they always seem to, unbreakable magnetism.
"Isn't this enough?" he asks, and she feels his presence brush at her mind. She reaches out, tentative in her lack of understanding of the force. She feels the turbulence that's rocking him, his desire to hold onto her as a steady point.
Jeyna can't help the defiance as she whispers back, "No." She wants more, all of him, his past included. She's expecting his anger to surge again, but it doesn't. He sighs, drifting closer to her. His eyes look warm, surrendering, before he drops his head to nuzzle into her hair.
Her heart beats faster automatically, shivers racing up her spine in response to his breath stirring her strands. His hand moves, fingertips slowly tracing from her clavicle up her neck and back down.
"What am I going to do with you…?" he asks, tone rough enough to send goosebumps erupting across her flesh.
She eases her hands underneath his jacket, daring to run her palms slowly up his shirt from his stomach to his chest. His muscles tense under her before he relaxes, pressing forward against her until she's trapped between his tall body and the door. She feels emboldened, standing on her toes to reach his ear, kissing and nibbling on his earlobe. He hisses in air, letting it out in a rush as she kisses her way down along his angular jawline.
She's stopped when he pulls back, his hand wrapping gently around her throat as if to restrain her, though his grip is far too light to be truly effective. He leans down, pressing his mouth to hers in a soft, lingering kiss.
Her eyes open when Kylo's lips drift away to tell her, "I saw everything you imagined, you know."
Jeyna feels the flush rise in her cheeks, burning, as she licks the taste of him off her lips. "I felt how your body responded," he continues, honey eyes searching hers. Excitement surges in her, lingering in the frantic pace of her blood rushing through her veins. "You're already mine."
A pulse of pleasure makes her gasp lightly at his declaration, and she feels like she's vibrating, on edge, waiting for more. But he steps back, dropping his hold of her. She feels a twinge of disappointment at the sudden distance.
He smirks, and she is stunned by the expression, as close to a true smile as she's seen from him. For a moment, he's transformed. From the teasing, cocky look on his face, to his mussed up hair, to his smuggler's clothes, he looks like someone else. Nothing about him resembles the masked intimidation she'd first known as Kylo Ren.
But then his head cocks slightly to the side, as if he's heard a noise beyond her ability to detect. The look falls from his face as quickly as it had appeared. It's chased by shock, which quickly transforms into anger.
"They're here," Kylo says.
"Who?" Jeyna asks, alarmed.
"The Rebels." His voice is hard with contempt. "She's going after the droid."
Approaching the Docks
Ren had called for Aleck on the commlink, having the older man intercept them on route to the warehouse. Jeyna was sent with the former operative, to return to the safety of the ship and depart the planet. Ren had snatched his lightsaber from Aleck, barely bothering to conceal it within his jacket before taking off in the direction of Branic's storage facility.
She hopes the Resistance will get out of his way, knowing the confrontation will end badly. Her head is spinning with questions as she follows Aleck on a fast trip back to the docks. How had the Resistance known about the droid? How had they known to come to Nar Shaddaa?
Her mind jumps to Hux, suspecting he might be responsible. It wouldn't be the first time he'd leaked information to try to interfere with Ren's mission.
They're nearly back to the ship when Jeyna hears the sound. She startles at the angry scream of the engines overhead, jerking to look up at the sky above. The infamous silhouettes of TIE fighters fill what little open sky she can make out, and interspersed she can see a few ships she's less familiar with. She thinks they might be old Republic X-wings.
They appear to be in battle above Nar Shaddaa, both forces ignoring the implied sovereignty of the Hutt moon.
"Come, Jeyna!" Aleck calls, urging her to join him in breaking into a sprint. They run the rest of the way to the docks, darting along the platforms until they arrive back at the ship. Its engines are already running, primed to take off.
Jeyna follows him up the ramp, but freezes before she can enter the main hold. Something holds her feet in place, refusing to let her take the last few steps to board. She looks back out at the docks, searching as if she can find the source of whatever roots her to the spot. The chaotic noise of aerial warfare roars and booms above.
Aleck grabs her, dragging her into the ship. His grip on her arm pulls the tracking bracelet off, and she watches it clatter onto the metal scaffolding of the dock before he closes the hatch to the outside. She staggers when the ship immediately lifts off. Aleck tries to steady her, but she pulls away from him as her suspicion flares harshly.
"Who's piloting the ship?" she demands, grabbing hold of a seat to both pull her body farther from him, and hang on during their rapid ascent.
His face is calm, pacifying as he surveys her, gripping onto a handrail as they are jarred about. "It will be alright, Miss Torre."
The truth hits her at the same time she feels the wall of rage slam into her. It's not her anger, but it's suffocating, and she struggles to breathe under the weight of Kylo's fury. She's left shaking, dropping down onto the seat to stare in shock at Aleck. "You're Resistance."
