Chapter Nine: Shift

Disclaimer: I own nothing here but remember, your focus determines your reality.

"Where to first, ma'am?" Zeroes asked Rey after she had stepped out of the elevator and into the bustling hallway. Her mind was still reeling from her... heated exchange with Kylo earlier and she wasn't even sure she was in the right frame of mind to be venturing out at all, much less knowing what her destination should be.

"Apologies, ma'am," Zeroes said when he didn't receive an answer from her, mistaking her silence for annoyance. "But Supreme Leader Ren has ordered for you to be accompanied at all times."

"That's alright, Zeroes," Rey told him with a slight smile, finding the trooper's stiff manners somewhat refreshing. "I welcome the company. And I think I'd like to visit the library again."

"Very good, ma'am." Zeroes didn't ask if she remembered how to get there, instead he stepped right out into the flow of traffic to lead her there, as if he was once again bored out of his mind and eager to get moving.

The trooper wasn't exactly much for conversation, giving Rey's mind an opportunity to wander as she followed behind him robotically. She began to wonder what she was even doing anymore. Yes, she had succeeded in saving her friends from certain death, but that didn't change the fact that she was quite nearly free to roam an enemy ship. The enemy she had sworn to fight, resist and hate with every living breath in her body.

She had been telling herself that she didn't have a choice. If she stepped out of line, her friends died. But she still felt like maybe she should have been trying to work a way out, for both herself and her friends. After all, she just convinced Kylo to give them more freedom. If she could somehow coordinate with them and attempt an escape, then maybe... No. She would need Kylo's permission to visit her friends without him and without an escort, for that to work.

Then there was Kylo himself. Rey could now be honest with herself that she did indeed have feelings for him. Although she still resented his brief flashes of darkness and arrogance, she was still able to overlook his flaws and focus on his hidden tenderness and vulnerabilities.

He could have had her executed as soon as she surrendered. Could have had her tortured for Resistance locations and intel. Could have locked her up in a dark cell to rot. Could have... used her in all the ways she feared.

Instead, he treated her as a guest. Protected her from his subordinates, helped her build her lightsaber, complied with most of her requests, and respected her enough to resist his obvious impulses.

She couldn't just him... again.

For some reason, she had this nagging feeling that she should wait, that she should stay, that she should be patient.

" Luke's words echoed in her mind, a memory from her time on Ahch-To. He lectured on but Rey could only remember the words that struck her nerves.

Rey had to wonder, was she somehow keeping balance by waiting? Was she not supposed to be proactive at all? Despite the guilty feelings it gave her, she thought maybe she should be trying to spy and dig up First Order secrets behind his back; she certainly had enough freedom to get away with it.

Somehow, a subtle sense through the Force told her not to pursue that last thought. It didn't feel right. , the non-voice said in her mind.

Rey didn't feel startled or frightened by the blossomed thoughts in her mind, they felt familiar, warm, safe. It was a sense that had always been there, a whisper, a helper. If that was the light side of the Force, then she knew she could trust it. She trust it.

In the meantime, she was going to enjoy educating herself about the galaxy. She smiled with anticipation as Zeroes led her through the library's doors, idly wondering what else she could learn about Rancors.

Rey sat inside one of the library's study chambers, watching the various screens while Zeroes stood guard just outside the closed door.

Not surprisingly, she soon learned that Rancors had no known natural predator on their native homeworld of Dathomir, which was another tangent of study all its own. Although she knew her dreams shouldn't be taken too seriously, as there were always some forms of nonsensical attributes to every dream, she got the odd sense that it actually meant something important.

The fact that the bull Rancor had charged off to meet some great threat, which caused him substantial suffering, meant that it had been something abnormal to its native habitat. An unnatural predator.

Rey suddenly felt a strange pull in her gut as the Force shifted around her. . She had grown accustom to the warning and reacted instantly by unhinging her saber and charging for the doorway

"You have no jurisdiction here!" she heard Zeroes proclaim to someone before the door whooshed open. "Stand down!"

His shout of an order was quickly drowned out by the discharge of his blaster and the crackling of a lightsaber, soon followed by a screeching deflection and his howl of agony. By the time Rey exited the chamber, Zeroes was being impaled into his right shoulder by a red saber, Vallis looming over him as he slumped to the floor.

"Stop! What are you doing?" Rey roared at the knight and attempted a Force push, succeeding only in knocking her off kilter but enough to make her discontinue her assault on the trooper and graciously extract the blade from his torso.

Vallis repositioned her saber and took up an aggressive form as she began to circle Rey much like she had when they first met, only Kylo was not standing between them now... Kylo! Berating herself for not thinking of it sooner, Rey quickly tapped the panic button on her tracker, deciding this certainly qualified as an emergency.

She moved to place herself between Zeroes and the knight, not taking her eyes of her and noting that she wore her helmet, making it impossible to decipher her intentions, though her imprint in the Force was apparent enough. The fierce, raw, killing intent was unmistakable. Vallis fully intended to kill someone here and Rey got the distinct sense of being locked on to like a starfighter on its quarry.

"No one to protect you now," Vallis taunted, her helmet warping her voice menacingly, her steps precise as she hunted for the perfect opening. There were officers and cadets in the library, but most were either cowering in fear or simply watching, unsure of what course of action to take or even which side to align with.

Rey resisted the urge to snap back with a quip and risked a quick glance down at an unconscious Zeroes, his wound mostly cauterized. "You're going to pay for that." She grit her teeth in a snarl and ignited her shocksaber.

"Oh?" Vallis nearly cooed, sounding playfully curious despite her obvious viciousness. "The pet have fangs."

Rey felt the anger building in her chest, but she let it settle there and closed her eyes briefly. The Jedi texts admonished the use of defense, not attack, a strategy she was truly struggling to adopt after so many years of implementing preemptive strikes on her opponents, a technique that had kept her alive on a harsh world.