Episode IX: Legacy of the Chosen

Chapter Thirteen: The Easy Path

A sharp howl jolted Rey awake.

She found herself leaning against a cool durasteel console, pilex driver still in hand.

What happened? Where am I?

After a moment of panic, her mind cleared.

Jakku. She was on Jakku.

She stood with a grimace, rolling the soreness out of her neck and shoulders. She'd have to be more careful about where she fell asleep next time. Even the cot in her old home was better than steel.

With some of the mental fog lifting, she remembered her plan for the terminal she'd been trying to salvage. She leaned over the device with a frown, trying to find the right leverage to pry it from its shell. After a moment, she set her feet and tugged on it.

It didn't budge.

Deciding to try something different, Rey shimmied behind the terminal, now pressing her back to the wall and her feet to the device. She pushed.

It still didn't budge.

Rey groaned in exasperation and returned to the front of the device. She double-checked that her hands were in the right place, and then heaved everything her tired shoulders could give. On her fourth attempt, her fingers slipped and she tumbled backwards.

"What am I doing...?" she muttered. "There's a much easier way to do this."

She stood, stretching out her arm, and ripped the console from its place with a flick of the wrist. With a tired smile, she knelt to examine the now-loose wires on the device's back.

Such conveniences to being a Jedi.

The instant the thought passed through her mind, a soft voice prodded at her conscience. "Beware the easy path, Rey."

She glanced up, wondering if she'd heard it or it was just her own thoughts. She decided her mind was just playing tricks on her and returned to her work.

"The easy path," she snorted to herself. "Like a terminal's going to send me to the dark."

She didn't expect an answer.

"Our small tests prove how we will handle the large ones."

She scanned the room with drawn eyebrows, her hand hovering over the saber in her bag. The voice sounded vaguely familiar, but she couldn't quite place it. Which was strange, since she normally had quite the sharp memory.

After several moments, she reassured herself that it was all just her imagination and she resumed her work. But as she rewired cables, connecting the terminal to her own datapad, her stomach churned. Something about those words weighed on her.

The easy path? she wondered. What could that be?

The datapad chimed as it synced with the terminal, snapping Rey from her thoughts. She watched it download Imperial location data and fill her map with dozens of new coordinates. Surely one of these locations would be the fabled Kiloni Observatory.

Suddenly, another brisk howl split the air, much closer this time. Rey shot an alarmed glance out the viewscreen and scrambled to finish her work.

"Gnaw-jaws," she muttered. "Blasted parasites..."

The datapad pinged, refreshing with its updated map. Rey ripped the cords from the terminal and crammed the datapad in her bag, hoping its electromagnetic waves would ward off any gnaw-jaw ambushes on the way out. She stood, looking at the unseated terminal for a moment, then decided to leave it for a lucky scavenger to find.