Rey's fight with her new adversary replayed in her mind over and over again. So many things could have gone better. So much could've changed. I could've died. It was true and she knew it. He easily could've slaughtered her without a second thought. If he would have killed her, she would've been just another body on his growing stack. She decided she wanted to give him a good fight.

Before she knew it, she was headed for the melee training room. The crewmembers often held martial arts tournaments there, fenced, practiced gymnastics, or whatever they felt like doing. Rey hadn't really used it before, but she'd used ones like it in her academy days and assumed this one wasn't much different. She was too lost in her thoughts as she planned her training session to notice sounds emanating from the room. Upon her entrance, she noticed Hikaru Sulu training with a wooden sword. She watched as he skillfully swung it between training dummies, knocking them down one by one. He noticed her and stopped.

"Oh, hello lieutenant. Didn't see you there! Are you-"

She cut him off at his hesitation. "I was going to train here, but I'll just come back. I don't want to hinder you," she said with a smile.

"Nah, I was just finishing up. Room's all yours!"

She waited for a second as he stood the dummies back up. A little unsure of herself, she spoke again.

"W-wait, Commander." He looked back up at her with a smile.

"Would you mind giving me some pointers? I came here to train with my lightsaber, but I don't know how far I can get by myself."

He visibly perked up. "I'd love to. Do you have it with you?"

"I do," she said as she went over to help him with the dummies.

"Great. Let's see what you got!"

She ignited her lightsaber and stepped away from the dummies. Taking a deep breath, she thrust into a flurry of dance-like moves. Though she was fairly adept at it, she still had that scrappy awkwardness that she fought with on Jakku. She used her lightsaber like her staff. It worked fine with the staff, but swords require a bit more precision and skill to wield well. He was about to stop her, having seen enough, but before he could her lightsaber tip hit the wall three times. He visibly winced as she stopped and gasped at her misfortune.

"I'm sorry. I just got too into it and forgot. I-" Her words sped together and tripped over one another.

"Rey," Sulu said firmly, cutting her off. "Calm down. It's alright. I'm glad you let me train you though instead of doing it on your own; you would've messed the whole room up," he joked.

"…sorry," Rey winced a little herself.

"Maybe it's best if we start with these boring sticks."

"Maybe so."

For the next hour or two, he showed her stances and basic moves, making sure she got them down well. Though she had an excellent background in hand-to-hand combat from the academy, she needed to learn how to modify those for sword fighting. He knew who she was up against, so he made sure her potential for steadfast sword stances was realized. Once she got to a point where he could push her pretty hard and she not fall, he moved on.

"You ready for something a bit more difficult?"

"Like what?"

"A sparring match," he said with a grin.

She smiled back and nodded.

In a moment the two were in stances facing each other.

"We'll start slow so I can guide you a little."

They did so, and she did very well; in fact, beating him. He had let her win and she knew it, though they had increased in speed until they were fighting at full speed with minimal instructions on Sulu's part. They started over.

The two swordsmen stood opposite each other again in preparation. Sulu lunged first, and his stick was met by Rey's block. She was able to push him back and they exchanged blows for several moments until their blades locked. They held the lock for a moment before he took the offensive, overwhelming her and finally knocking her to the ground.

"Good job!" He gave her a hand and helped her up.

"Maybe don't use that stab move so often. You're a little predictable," he said amusedly.

She sighed dramatically. "Aw, man!"

He chuckled a little and got in another ready stance while Rey got a quick drink and wiped the sweaty strands of hair from her face. It wasn't long before she rejoined him and they started over. This fight started much like the last, with the two eventually locking again. She broke the lock and swung at his head. He blocked it but as soon as he did so, her blade was at his ankles. He jumped to avoid it, but she spun around and once he had landed, her foot swung at his, knocking him to the ground. Her stick was pointed at his face.

"How'd I do?" She helped him up as well.

"Pretty well! You took my stabbing advice to heart, I see."

"I guess I did."

The two fought several more times, the outcomes varying. She had begun to get in a winning streak before they stopped for another break. He was thoroughly impressed.

So was someone else, apparently. They looked toward the door to see Pavel, clapping heartily.

"Great job you two!"

"How long were you watching?" Rey asked with a laugh.

"Eh, since you absolutely destroyed Hikaru. Zat vas a wery entertaining fight!"

"So, the last match?"

"Nyet. The last seweral!"

"Huh," Rey burst out laughing.

"And were the others good too?"

"Da! I guess I could hef said all of zose vere good. May I try?"

"Sure, if you wanna get absolutely whooped too," Sulu said rather tiredly.

He froze. "Wait, do you even have any experience with swords?"

"Nope, but I'm Russian!"

Sulu laughed. "I guess that counts?"

Rey giggled as well. "That doesn't even make any sense!"

He laughed as well as he grabbed a stick. They both readied up and began. He took the first swing, which she quickly blocked. His fighting style wasn't as polished as Sulu's, but he actually wasn't that bad. He held his own with Rey for a minute or two until she flipped the stick clean out of his hand and put hers to his head. He threw his hands up in mock surrender, giggling like a kid.

"That was actually pretty good, Pavel. I'm impressed!" Sulu said.

"Spasibo! I mean, thanks!"

"You two wanna try something a little different?"

Rey immediately agreed and so did Pavel.

"Alright. Pavel and me against you."

She nodded and readied up. The two men did the same. Sulu launched the first strike at her while Pavel unashamedly ran behind her and attacked. She simply ducked, letting Pavel's blow meet Sulu's block. Rey rolled to the side and took out Pavel, bringing all her attention to Sulu. It wasn't long before she had disarmed him as well and beaten him.

He was even more impressed now. She'd managed to beat not one but two fairly skilled Starfleet officers, though he was much better at swordplay than Pavel. He wasn't sure what to think of all this. She didn't even seem to be all that tired, especially in the later fights. Granted, she was quite a bit younger than him, but it was still pretty impressive. He wondered if that power he'd heard she displayed on the latest mission had anything to do with it.

"Well, I think we're done here. Honestly, I don't know how many more lessons you need. I think, with practice, you can learn everything else you need to know. I am seriously impressed."

Her eyebrows shot up in amazement. "Are you serious?"

"Yeah. I don't really know why, but you're good."

"Th-thanks," she said, a little embarrassed and still amazed.

"You wanna get something quick to eat? I'm pretty hungry," Pavel asked her.

"Me too."

Sulu chuckled to himself as the two exited the room.

Pavel walked her home instead of to the dining hall.

"I hef to go home real quick and change my clothes. You want me to come back and get you?"

"Your quarters are closer to the dining hall. You just want me to come with you?"

He shrugged. "Sure."

When they reached his quarters, he quickly excused himself to his bathroom after grabbing a change of clothes. She looked around the room. A sizeable Russian flag adorned the space above his bed and a picture of what she assumed was baby Viktoria stood on the nightstand beside it, as well as a bit of clutter. She wandered around a little more, finding herself the living room area of the open-plan apartment. A large bookshelf bursting with traditional books took up a large portion of the wall beside his couch. Lining a bookless shelf were pictures of what she assumed was his family.

While she examined his shelf, he appeared in the bedroom and walked toward her.

"Sorry about ze mess," he said absentmindedly. When he noticed where she was, he went into explanation mode.

"Zat's my family. The baby in zere vas Viktoria." He pointed to one of the shelved pictures that featured six people. "Zat's my mom, my dad, my oldest seester Nadya, my brother Isaak, my brother Demir, and, tiny me."

Rey's face lit up when she realized it was him. "You're so small! Aww!"

His face reddened a little and he diverted her gaze to the shelf of models below.

"Did you see zese?"

"No, I hadn't gotten to those yet."

She diverted her gaze to the neatly lined models of various spacecraft, few of which she recognized.

"Zees is Sputnik, ze first craft in space. Zees is Luna 1, ze first to make it to ze moon." His finger skipped over a few between Sputnik, Luna, and the next one. "Zees is Apollo 11, ze first one to put people on ze moon." His collection included several obviously Starfleet ships and he stopped on the last one. "You probably recognize zees one," he said with a smile as he pointed to the Enterprise.

She smiled back.

He accidentally held her gaze for a bit longer than he meant.

"Oy! Nadya gave me zees for my birthday once ven I came home. You vant to try it?" He produced an instant film camera from beside the shelf and showed her.

"What does it….do?"

"Zees!" He pulled her in close and giggled a little as he took a picture. She giggled a bit as well and her face reddened slightly.

Meanwhile, his heart was beating so fast he could swear she could hear it.

The picture was printed out and came out very well. The camera made a copy and he popped both in a frame. He handed one to her and kept the other, putting it on his picture shelf.

"Thanks! My quarters aren't nearly as decorated as yours, so this will be nice!"

"Konechna! Ya—I-I mean of course!"

She just laughed.

He took a second to compose himself before speaking. "Now, shall we get a bite to eat, my lady?" he asked in a mock-nobility voice, which came through rather odd in his accent.

Rey just kept laughing, responding in a similar tone. "Of course, dear sir!"

He rode the wave they'd been on and took her arm, marching dramatically out of his quarters. She couldn't copy his mannerisms for laughter.

The two spent the rest of the day together, and when it came to a close he walked her home.

"I'm glad I got to spend today with you. I had fun!"

"I did too. Maybe we can do it again sometime!"

His eyes widened. "Y- yeah, maybe so!"

"Vell, see you!"

"Bye, Pavel."

She turned into her quarters, trying to decide what to do with the remaining free time she had before she went to bed. Playing with several options, like drawing or watching a movie, her mind landed on her experience with the First Order man. She knew from her experience with Maz that there was something inside her called the Force. Her mind made the connection that that must have been what happened in the snow. Well, I practiced with one new thing. I guess maybe I should experiment with the other.

Kicking her shoes off, she sat on the floor in her bedroom, legs crossed. She tried to remember what it had felt like when she had used her powers a few days prior as her eyes unconsciously closed.

She concentrated on the feeling. Suddenly, another feeling coursed through her body as she gently flinched. She kept her concentration to the best of her ability. Her mind replayed the conversation she'd had with the villain.

I can train you.

Maybe she did need some help.

No, I don't. Not from him.

To crash her train of thought, she opened her eyes.

The pair of shoes she'd kicked off were floating. As she turned, everything save what was bolted to the ground was off it. Even the covers on her bed had extricated themselves from where she'd tucked them in. Her picture of Pavel that had been taken mere hours ago.

A sense of fear surrounded her, nearly choking her.

Thud.