By this time, Rey was thoroughly tired of waking up to cruel overhead lights and a throbbing skull. She groaned and felt her head. Above her temple, her brunette hair was caked with dried blood, testament to the stormtrooper's brutal hit. Still, the look on that revolting First Order General's face when he realized that she was awake...Rey allowed herself to smile. She would do it again in a heartbeat.
She eased herself up, pleased to see that she was not handcuffed. She wrapped her arms around herself and tried to rub feeling back into her chilled limbs. Space was cold, and colder still for prisoners. The prison cell was barren steel panels bolted together, austere and functional. Little had changed, in fact, since the design of the previous prison cells used by the Empire, she realized. There was no electronic pad to be seen, so she supposed all the controls for the door were located on the outside.
A ration cube had been dumped in front of her, several feet away. Rey was too hungry to be prideful about it. She pulled herself over to it. Reaching out and grabbing the cube, she took a huge bite. It was tasteless and stale, but she hardly noticed, closing her eyes at the simple luxury of it. Despite her present circumstances, it was nice not to have to earn her meal.
When she swallowed the last of her rations, she looked down at her stricken lower limbs. Every muscle and bone in her torso and arms ached in a way she had never known possible, and yet she didn't feel the loss of movement in her legs as keenly as she thought she would. It was an odd phenomenon, to feel whole after so debilitating an injury, but there was a tangible peace that surrounded her. She lay back on the cold floor and closed her eyes, awash in the sensation. She quieted her mind, letting it move beyond the confines of her broken body—
"Are you certain?" came the distant voice. She knew the voice belonged to General Hux.
And the response, "yes, it's them. They've only just arrived. It would be a devastating blow." That shallow, mechanized breathing. Kylo Ren.
Their forms were far less clear than the voices, which had a wave-like quality of a mirage, and even this flickered in and out of her vision, but she knew with every fiber of her being that what she was seeing was real.
"Excellent," Hux told Kylo. "Now we can be done with the Resistance scum once and for all."
Rey's eyes snapped open, and once again, her mind—along with her body—was trapped with her in the prison cell. Her hands dug into the floor. What had she just seen? It was like she was there...but wasn't. Did the conversation happen just now? In the past? Was it a vision of the future?
The flickering images were hauntingly similar to her unbidden reaction upon touching Luke Skywalker's lightsaber the first time. She felt something that she didn't want to acknowledge. Ignorance was the easy, attractive path. And yet the content of the conversation regarded the fate of her friends. It felt good to say the word. Friends. And she had to try to help them, whatever the cost.
It was much harder the second time to quiet her racing heartbeat and frantic thoughts. Rey squeezed her eyes closed and hissed in frustration after an hour of nothing but the cold of her cell. This "force" was impossible! She slapped the floor, her teeth clenched. Whatever Kylo Ren tapped into seemed far more tangible and powerful than the flimsy control she possessed.
"Slow your breathing. Yes, that's it. Allow the force to flow through you."
It was not her instruction; she had only overheard it once...long ago. Another nameless, faceless memory. Rey sank deeper into the void. Suddenly, she realized she was beyond the ship, beyond the thousands of crew moving about their duties. She didn't need them. Who did she need?
She called out into the darkness. "Fin, please hear me. You are all in danger."
Glimpses of her friend appeared, like a washed out image ahead of her. The image clarified; she saw him leaning over a battle projection, his face lined with worry. Where was the man who had such a beautiful smile, the one she was proud to call her friend? Blurred figures entered and exited her small view all around him.
"Fin, please!"
It didn't matter. He couldn't hear her. But someone else looked up. Staring directly at her, General Organa stiffened.
Rey repeated her disembodied message. "Please, the First Order knows where you are. Leave now!" Rey wanted to linger, wanted to know that the General understood her, but she felt her consciousness being hauled back, and a coldness seep into her.
Clever girl, came the taunting whisper.
Get out of my head! Rey seethed, eyes open, and the connection severed.
Alone in his quarters, Kylo Ren jarred himself from his meditation. He had felt Rey's presence in the force the instant she reached out. She was like a lightning bolt, true and bright, and like a voyeur, he watched from afar until the end. Once again, he was left astounded at her achievements based only on innate feeling rather than training. A Jedi Master would struggle to reach across the galaxy in the way she had just attempted. Even more disturbing, he knew that Rey had witnessed a conversation between himself and General Hux that had not occurred yet.
She didn't know that, of course. Kylo opened his eyes and breathed deeply. No matter. The predicted future was tricky business, but the events she witnessed were inevitable. Scrambled coordinates to the Resistance base had been retrieved from a damaged x-wing droid and should be ready within the hour. In addition, the First Order destroyer could not arrive any faster to the Resistance base even with Rey's warning, had it have been understood at all.
The pursuit of the Resistance was only a minor delay before he would take a separate ship and complete his training with the Supreme Leader, but a vital one. He needed a victory, and the demise of the Resistance would reaffirm his place at the Snoke's side.
Unless he replaces you with...her, Kylo thought, fear creeping through him. Rey was powerful in the force, and she had gone undiscovered for so long already. Kylo was not convinced that the Supreme Leader's training methods would suffice on her; torture had its limitations, as he well knew. She needed to be guided, to be given the reassurance she so desperately sought. Snoke would not guide her; he would break her, then kill her.
Kylo had kept her alive thus far, and he would not have that be her fate. If Rey were to die, it would be at his will, not for the cold amusement of Snoke.
Kylo winced as he stood. He was covered in sweat, and still very weak from his exertions over the last few days, but he had kept it well hidden. Physical weakness would be preyed upon. He glanced down at his bare stomach. The scar that had been healing so well from the blaster wound was now angry red and split open at the edges.
He walked stiffly into the showering unit in his quarters and relaxed into the hot steam as it hit his body. Diluted maroon blood drained out around his feet. He did not luxuriate long; once the sweat washed away, he stepped out and began dressing in fresh clothing. At once, Kylo was thankful for the thick black tunic and heavy belt. It would help hide his wounds from prying eyes. And to cover the grotesque scar on his face, he settled his mask into place. Instantly, he felt power flood though him.
{}{}{}{}{}
General Leia Organa reached for the edge of the table, her eyes wide. Fin saw her haunted expression and rushed to her side. With a familiarity she wasn't accustomed with, he gripped her shoulders and helped steady her.
"What is it?" he asked quietly, searching her face. The activity bustling around them slowed down, and within moments, all gazes focused in on them.
"I can't be sure," she murmured, trying to understand the images, the emotions. Leia drew in a breath, the authoritative guise settling on her once again.
"No, I do know. I felt...a warning." She raised her chin and met the frightened gazes of the Resistance members. "The First Order knows we're here," she said firmly. "We need to go."
There was no argument. What the General demanded, the General received. The room and its occupants burst into action once more.
In the midst of all of it, Fin raised an eyebrow. "How to you know?" he questioned. Anyone else, and Leia would have been riled at the impertinence, but there was genuine confusion in his eyes.
"I felt something, Fin. Something...someone powerful, was trying to warn us."
He frowned. "It could be a trap."
She shook her head. "No, it didn't feel like that. I can't explain it...but the intentions were pure."
His firm expression softened. "Could it be Skywalker?"
Leia offered a sad smile upon hearing the name. Her brother had abandoned them, a painful reaction to his own failures. Hurt pricked at her. Did he know the direness of their situation? Or had he resigned himself to a life of solitude, like Ben Kenobi and Yoda before him?
"I don't know. But I hope so." Leia touched Fin's hand reassuringly. "Don't worry. Just help the others with the evacuation."
"I will. And I have a few ideas for when the First Order arrives."
"I'm glad you're on our side, Fin."