Star Wars- In another Life.

Chapter 14- Escape

Kylo's feet pounded the floor angrily as he hastened back through the corridors of StarKiller Base back to the interrogation room. Snoke was wrong; he was nothing like his father. Always Snoke underestimated him, his resolve, his ability. He had proved himself in the cave on Dagobah, but Snoke still accused him of weakness, feeling, and compassion. On arrival at the room in which he'd left Rey, Kylo could see that the stormtrooper standing guard at the door was missing, and Kylo knew before the entrance to the cell opened that she would not be inside. Within the dark panelled room, the restraint table beneath the dim glow of the red light was empty; the restraints lay open- Rey was gone. Kylo took his lightsaber from his belt, ignited it and unleashed his barely caged fury on the contents of the room. Nothing escaped his wrath; the monitors, table, and walls were all slashed and ripped; burning slashes marked his destructive rampage. When Kylo's furious madness was spent, he stood panting within his helmet amongst the room's glowing embers and melted metal. His master would be gravely disappointed in him again; he must find her and quickly.

Rey had struggled in the interrogation room alone, confused and afraid, questions flooding her mind as she fought with the bindings that held her tightly. Her friend was the masked creature from her nightmares, the dark, terrifying monster. He'd kidnapped her and brought her to this place, whatever this place was. She had no idea who the boy she'd known had become, this terrifying man with sad eyes, but she didn't want to wait around to find out. She didn't want anything to do with him, with any of this. She needed to escape, to get away from him and back home to Jakku. At the door to her cell stood a lone stormtrooper with a blaster.

She closed her eyes, calmed herself, and stilled her breathing just like Ben had shown her all those years ago when everything had changed. That day, when he'd handed her food, she'd never been the same again; she could sense things, feel things; she needed to embrace that sensation. Breathe in, she told herself, breathe out. She reached out with her feelings, felt the room about her, the life beyond the cell walls, the countless corridors and rooms and the hundreds and thousands of life forms congregated within them. She felt beyond the base to the powerful energy beneath the planet's surface. Her senses heightened; she focused on the guard at the door, his anxiety at the dark figure who'd given him his orders, and the blaster in his hands. She focused and could hear them breathing within his helmet; she opened her eyes.
"You will remove these restraints and leave this cell with the door open."

The trooper strolled inside and angrily placed his blaster to her face.
"What did you say?"

Breathe, Rey, just breathe.  Rey took another deep breath and tried again. When her voice left her lips, it sounded deep and calm, unlike her usual voice.

"You will remove these restraints and leave this cell with the door open."

The trooper's body changed, shoulders relaxing, and he lowered his blaster as she'd asked.

"I will remove those restraints and leave this cell with the door open."

The stormtrooper undid the restraints about her feet and hands, and Rey rubbed her wrists as she watched, somewhat surprised but impressed with herself, as the stormtrooper turned to exit the room.

"And you'll drop your weapon," she suddenly cried at his retreating back as she considered a weapon on her escape would be most helpful.

The blaster clattered to the ground, "And I'll drop my weapon," the trooper replied robotically.

Rey scooped up the blaster by the door and watched as her guard turned down the corridor and strolled away. She looked down the corridors and, choosing a direction without much idea where it led, fled the room. The corridors seemed endless; this place was vast, yet something about the structure of the corridors and the layout seemed familiar to Rey, similar to that of an Imperial Star Cruiser, just far less rusty and full of sand than she was generally used to. Occasional pairs of troopers walked the corridors, and Rey would have to duck into a darkened corner or behind a door. Her progress was slow, and she could feel the anxiety of attempting to flee taking too much time rising in her throat. After much stealthy navigation of a multitude of corridors and through countless doors, she found a hangar. The ships were all locked to the walls, and a large viewing window overlooked the hangar itself, full of pilots, maintenance crew and techs and the entire hangar. She wouldn't be able to steal a ship, not from here, not like this; she needed another plan. Outside the hangar, it was dark, but white whisps fell from the sky in a torrent. What was that?