One Day Later

Anika is laying in her bunk, delaying getting up for the day a little while longer, when the knock on the door startles her. She stands, opening it to reveal a droid. "Technician 646?" it asks.

"Erm…yes," she confirms, eyeing the package it holds. It hands it to her. "What is this?"

"Delivery for Technician 646," the droid says robotically. She watches it turn and retreat up the hallway before shuffling back through her doorway, letting it shut behind her.

Anika sits the package on the tiny table in her cramped quarters, looking at it skeptically. She never gets packages. She tears it open, impatient and befuddled at what it could be.

The contents of the package are the most glorious sight she can imagine.

Oh my…am I dreaming!?

It contains chocolate. So much chocolate. So many kinds of chocolate. She immediately pulls a chocolate muffin free of its wrapper, biting into it and moaning in delight. Oh you filthy little muffin, you taste so marvelous on my tongue…

Anika is halfway through the treat before pausing, mid-chew, as she realizes she has no idea who sent her the gift. She shuffles through the contents once more, before she spots a card. Sitting down the muffin long enough to open it, she reads the message inside before dropping the card in horror.

"Sorry about LM-2059 taking a blaster bolt to the face

- Kylo"

The half-eaten muffin remains sitting on the table as she sits down on the chair, eyes widened but unfocused as she stares. Kylo…Ren…sent me…chocolate? Commander Ren sent me chocolate. What…why… HOW? How did he know about Liam and I?

Of course, there is the disturbing fact that it was a blaster bolt to the face that killed Liam. She probably could have done without knowing that, but realizes Commander Ren must have been there when LM-2059 was killed to share that particular detail. More disturbing, however, is the fact that her Commander apparently knows she was connected to Liam… and also knows she likes chocolate?

What is happening in my life…

Anika feels white hot rage when she realizes there are only two people who could possibly spread the news of her and Liam: Darial and Matt. And seeing as how Darial has been her friend for much longer and never snitched on her, that leaves Matt.

Ooh I'm gonna kill him. I'm gonna shove those glasses right where the sun doesn't shine. I'm gonna rip his pretty dyed hair off his head, I am going to KILL MATT!

She rants mentally as she searches her messy room for her datapad, finally locating it and bringing up technician assignments for the day. She finds Matt's work location on the engineering floor, and dresses quickly.

I'll take a wrench to this man's balls, I swear on the Force, I will choke him with his geeky little vest!

She continues her internal fuming the entire way down to engineering, and when her eyes lock onto Matt, busy trying to repair a malfunctioning door, they narrow. She picks up her pace, practically slamming into him as she attempts to shove him into the wall. The effort fails, as he is apparently much more sturdily built than she realizes. He barely budges, but turns to give her a confused look all the same.

"What are you-" Matt attempts to ask, but she cuts him off.

"What did you do!?" Anika demands, grabbing a handful of his orange vest and attempting to haul him down closer to her own face. Again, he doesn't budge. "Who did you tell, Matt!?"

"What are you talking about?"

"You told someone! About LM-2059 and me!"

"No, I didn't," he denies, brow furrowing.

"You must have! That's the only explanation," she insists, her grip faltering on his vest. He looks down at her hand before looking back at her face.

"The only explanation for what?" Matt questions. She releases her hold of him, faltering and stepping back from his chest a bit.

"Kylo Ren sent me chocolate! And a…a card. He knows!" Anika hisses, voice panicky. "So, you must have told someone, and that someone told someone else, and eventually it got back to him! That's the only way he could know!"

Matt raises his eyebrows, gaze cool. "I don't think that's the only way Kylo Ren could know."

Anika's heart feels like it's shot up to pound somewhere in her throat. "What…" she mumbles, dropping her eyes from his. But her mind is already jumping ahead, realizing what Matt is likely implying. He can read minds… Did Commander Ren read my thoughts? Why would he? When did he? Why does he even care about me?

She feels like she's hyperventilating, her breath coming rapidly but too shallow to be effective. "You swear-swear that you didn't tell anyone?" she asks weakly, stumbling back from Matt.

"I didn't tell anyone…Are you okay? You look like you're going to pass out," Matt points out, following her forward a step. His hand raises, as if worried he'll have to catch her.

"I don't….feel so good," she admits.

"Why don't you-"

His suggestion is cut off when she lets herself sit heavily onto the floor of the engineering level. Matt kneels beside her, face concerned. "Why are you so upset?" he asks, confused.

Anika stares at him incredulously, her eyes feeling like they are popping out of their sockets. "Matt, KYLO REN knows about me and Liam! He knows about me, period! I'm dead!"

Matt's face crumples in thought. "But, you said he sent you chocolate and a card…That doesn't sound very threatening…"

Her panic abates slightly at the sound of his reason. "Oh… I mean…I guess that's true…" she admits slowly. Her heart stops thumping quite as jarringly in her chest, making it possible to try to catch her breath. "Kriff, what am I going to do!?" she asks.

"What do you mean?"

"What do I do? Do I just act like it didn't happen? I can't just waltz up to Commander Ren on the bridge and say thank you for the lovely box of chocolate," Anika whines. "But then if I don't thank him, will that offend him? Matt, what do I do?"

Matt blinks before shrugging one shoulder slightly. "I really think you're over analyzing this."

Her eyes narrow with her temper. "I'm not over analyzing, you nerf herder. I'm panicking. There's a difference."

Her fellow technician frowns. "It sounds like he was just trying to be nice. Maybe just try talking to him?"

She gives him a glare at his lack of appreciation for the bizarre situation she's finding herself in, before burying her face in her hands. "When would I have a chance? It's not like we're alone together a lot," she grumbles in denial.

That Night

Anika is almost asleep when her commlink goes off. She tries to ignore it and continue drifting into a slumber, but her mind clings onto the noise with curiosity. She rolls over, forcing her eyes to close. It only lasts about two minutes before her brain is stubbornly stuck on thoughts of the commlink, wondering what the notification was.

She groans, pulling herself from her blankets to shuffle over to the table she'd dropped the device on earlier. It's a work schedule notification, and she groans again, even louder. She clicks the icon, waiting for her schedule to be brought up on screen.

When she sees her assignment for the next day, her brow furrows. She doesn't recognize the code for the assigned location, but her assignment title is "flight technician". That catches her attention. She's worked on plenty of tech for the First Order, but never on an active ship. Anika has only ever been stationed on base.

She brings up the code list, searching for reference to the job reporting site. When her eyes land on the answer, they widen. Anika lets the datapad drop onto the table, searching the bland walls of her little room in horror.

She's scheduled to be working on Commander Ren's personal shuttle tomorrow. The anxiety she feels is off the charts, her body tensing up just at the thought of being confined to a small ship with the Commander. And if it's for a mission, who knows how long she'll be stuck with him?

Anika grabs the datapad back up, messaging Darial immediately.

Where are you? Are you available right now?

She sends the message, gnawing on a thumb nail while she waits for a reply. This is terrible. I've never been that close to Commander Ren. What if he reads my mind? What if he somehow finds out what I've said about him?

Her face heats up at the idea of the masked intimidation knowing the filthy things she'd thought about him. She'd never meant any harm thinking them, she was bored. She had a crazy imagination. Surely he wouldn't kill her for them?

When several minutes go by, and Darial still hasn't replied, Anika lets out a miserable moan of defeat. She hadn't been thinking. Darial works early morning shifts, she's likely already asleep. That woman could sleep through a bombardment, likely the message alert hadn't even made her snore.

Anika still feels panicky, and throws caution to the wind. She messages Matt instead, typing it up quickly and hitting send before she can second guess herself.

Matt, are you available? I'm freaking out.

She regrets it the moment the sent icon appears. She shouldn't have done that, up until now she'd managed to keep Matt in the friendly acquaintance zone. Even after their awkward conversations, there was still some boundary of pseudo-professionalism between them. Sending a message about her impending anxiety attack was bound to break that last boundary to pieces.

What's wrong? The response from Matt comes quickly, and Anika sighs with relief.

I'm so sorry to bother you so late, but I think I'm going to die. She rethinks that, hitting the delete key repeatedly. She rephrases the last part before sending. I'm so sorry to bother you so late, but I was assigned a new job tomorrow and I don't think I can do it.

She paces, fidgeting. Perhaps she could see about getting a replacement to take her job instead? Surely there were plenty of qualified technicians, probably some with way more flight experience than her?

Why wouldn't you be able to do it?

Matt's reply makes her ponder how to explain her situation, and she finally gives up trying with annoyance. Are you available? Can you talk right now? She sends. She'd much rather try to explain in person.

I'll come to your room. Be there in a few.

Anika frowns. Matt doesn't even know where she lives. Surely he'd realize that in a moment? In an effort to help him along, she sends another message including her room and floor number. Then she waits, fidgeting about and trying to not over think the situation.

Why would I be assigned as a flight tech now? She considers that maybe the regular flight technicians were all busy, or perhaps one of them had fallen ill. Or maybe Kylo Ren snapped his neck like a breadstick.

The accompanying mental image does little to settle her nerves. Luckily Matt arrives soon, a soft knock at her door alerting her to his presence.