Luna stood in front of the crew quarter passage, unmoving, staring at nothing, just letting her mind think. She had a plan. She could do this.
She stepped up to BT-7549's - Anayah's - room. Prison, she corrected herself. Just be honest with herself and call it what it was. They were not guests, no matter what their mission was, no matter that they intended to de-condition them, no matter that they wanted to help. It was a prison. Luna unlocked the door and stepped in.
Anayah paused mid push up. glanced over to the door, completed the set, then stood and reached for her jacket. She was sweating and must have been hot, but Luna figured she put it on for protection. It didn't have any blast protection, being a simple leather jacket, but the extra layer must have felt comforting. Luna filed away the thought. 'Can we talk?'
'Like I have much choice,' Anayah snorted derisively. She settled onto the bed, resting, tense, on the edge.
Luna frowned. 'I'd like to talk,' she said carefully. 'If you don't want to, that's okay.'
Anayah stared at her, then untensed, just a little. She waved a hand. Luna took it to be acquiescence. She grabbed a chair, pulled it to the bed, and sat down, facing her. She pulled out a datapad from her jacket pocket and thumbed it on, scrolling through the pre-loaded page - her carefully prepared script. Her options, notes on how to control the conversation. She looked up, over the screen and at Anayah, who was watching her carefully. She put the datapad down. One less barrier.
'I need your help.'
The corner of Anayah's lips lifted, just a little. 'In trouble? Things not going well?'
Luna's mind raced, thinking through all the possible responses, and she struggled with herself, trying to pick the right response. There were so many, none really sticking out. But there was a small voice in the back of her head.
Be honest.
'I need your help to infiltrate a First Order facility.'
'Oh yes,' Anayah replied, wide eyed. 'Of course I'll help. What do you need?'
Luna stared bemusedly at her. 'I need to gain access to a facility,' she said again, picking up the datapad and thumbing through the pages to bring up their intel on Hastaati base. She handed the datapad to Anayah. 'What do you know about the First Order's counter intelligence sections?'
Anayah made a face at the datapad, began typing on it. 'Spies,' she said, disgusted.
As a pseudo spy, Luna felt somewhat affronted, but let the comment slide. 'These are not particularly ethical ones. They have civilian prisoners.'
Anayah shrugged like that was no big deal. 'I'm sure they had their reasons,' she muttered, then handed the datapad back to Luna.
Luna frowned at the datapad. The stormtrooper sergeant had scrawled notes all over the page - nothing useful, just snide comments about the Nexus' lack of knowledge. It was only when Luna scrolled to the bottom-most comment that she realised she had made a mistake. It said: 'made you look.'
Before Luna could react, Anayah rushed her, dragging her to the floor. Luna instinctively lashed out with the datapad but the stormtrooper blocked the wild swipe. She clambered on top of her and grabbed her arms, pinning them above her head. Luna tried to force her off of her, but Anayah was stronger and had the advantage. Luna expected another blow any second, and tried to move her head protectively - but nothing came. She looked up at her attacker, saw her eyes were on the door, and Luna couldn't understand why. Then she realised: she was waiting. She wasn't so much sitting on top of her but rather waiting to pounce. She was waiting for Hoshi to come in to rescue her.
Luna smiled. She knew Hoshi wasn't coming. Luna watched and waited, waited until she felt the stormtrooper tense on top of her, felt her grasp slip, ready to pounce - and that's when Luna attacked.
