Rey nods and closes her eyes again. She can't focus, can't enter that space of clarity. Her head aches and is twisted, all messed up. She opens herself to Anakin, like she would have when they were training.

Anakin is a pillar, a rock in the storm -

(She's anxious and scared and if she had a heart it'd be beating out of her chest. But she's been terrified before, she can center herself, be a rock in the midst of her own turbulent emotions - Rey needs her, after all.)

She's there.

It's harder than usual, but it helps. All of Anakin's calm and force of will settles her into a deep meditative trance. She can't completely heal like this, but for now it's enough.

"Are you okay on your own? I - should probably scout us a way out of here. I'll keep myself open to you, though."

She doesn't really respond, but there's a feeling of acceptance.

Anakin brushes a hand over her head, love burning in her chest.

And then she turns to find their way out.

Meanwhile...

SN-2187 knows she screwed up. She didn't fire her blaster - she couldn't, not even as her friends died before her, not even as the villagers fought back - battle, even a slaughter like that, is nothing like the training sims -

Those people were not soldiers.

She should've fired her blaster to miss. She's vaguely aware some - maybe even many - troopers do that. A bit of a shameful piece of gossip, mostly overheard because not a lot of people like talking to SN-2187, especially not since she's been getting attention from higher up for her scores...

She's aware troopers who disobey so blatantly are reconditioned. She's aware Mar Ren would probably protect her at least somewhat - the Knight of Ren is mercurial, but seems to have an odd fondness for some of the troopers, and at the very least gets annoyed when Kylo Ren steals away her toys for his little pursuits -

She's aware what Mar Ren does with decommissioned troopers.

I won't kill for them, SN-2187 thinks. It's stupid. They say the Knights can pull the very thoughts out of your head. From how Mar Ren seems to be able to wriggle through any bluff, from how Kylo Ren always knows exactly when someone's politeness covers distaste or disrespect - well, it seems likely.

But SN-2187 is done.

Which means - if she's defecting, she might as well defect.

If she won't kill for them... Maybe she can stop them.

First - she needs the prisoner. The important one, who Kylo Ren personally dueled and took captive - surely high ranking in the New Republic or else the scattered Resistance bands that keep popping up in the territory controlled by the First Order -

The prisoner will be an asset, and possibly SN-2187's ticket into higher confidences. At least enough to get people to listen.

For getting the prisoner...

SN-2187 isn't a very good liar, but she's good at being believed, so long as she focuses well enough.

It's easy enough, to tell the guard outside the prisoner's room that Kylo Ren has demanded the prisoner's presence. It's easy, to go into the room and look at the prisoner and say, "You will be coming with me," as she manipulates the control's so the prisoner's shackles shift, binding her hands behind her back and detaching her from the chair.

(Other stormtroopers won't notice SN-2187's panic, at least not as unusual past the nerves of anyone interacting with Kylo Ren. Still, her heart's in her throat, her nervous anger the only shield she has wrapped around her mind.)

Rey follows the stormtrooper. Her mind is still - beyond fucked - but she can still walk and follow. And at least this way, she might be able to get one over on them. Probably. Her thoughts are scattered and it's hard to focus.

The stormtrooper pulls her over into a side corridor, keeping her weapon trained on Rey the entire walk -

Then she lowers her blaster. Carefully, low and fast: "Listen - do as I say, and I can get you out of here."

... "What. Are you with the Resistance?"

Highly unlikely. They didn't even know she existed and the pilot couldn't have gotten clear enough to send someone for her.

 - She removes her helmet.

"I will be. This is a rescue."

For them both, except SN-2187 is trying not to think about that too hard.

"I suppose it is. What's your plan? We can't exactly walk out of here. Do you have a uniform for me?"

That would've been a really good idea, wouldn't it.

"We have two options - I pretend you're my prisoner and bluff us as far as that'll take us, get in a TIE fighter, and we run. That's faster, and the risks are more known."

"Second - I hand my uniform to you, pretend mine was damaged and I'm on my way to get a safe replacement. Then we bluff like hell that we have a mission that requires us getting in a TIE fighter. That'll either go worse or better than making a run, depending on who we run into - "

And then Anakin appears in the corridor, off to Rey's side -

The stormtrooper flinches and points her blaster right at Anakin.

"Who are you?" she demands.

" - You can see me?"

Rey echoes Anakin's question but then shakes her head.

"... we can deal with introductions later. Give me your uniform. If we get questioned she can mind trick them into looking us over."

" - Yeah plans that support mind tricks are for the best, though if Kylo gets involved I'll have trouble."

"People are going to really question a - see-through blue person - "

"For the past twenty-plus years, I've been the only one that could see her. I think you seeing her is a fluke -" she turns to Anakin. "Nobody could see you before just now, right?"

"No, not Kylo Ren, not any of the other stormtroopers."

Rey nods. "Uniform? The longer we stand here and talk, the higher the chance someone," Kylo Ren, "notices something is wrong."

"...Right."

Efficiently, quickly, she strips down to her regulation blacks. "It'll be uncomfortable without the underlayer, but no one should notice..."

"I think I'll live. Probably."

Her head is starting to get clearer. Having a plan, an objective, it's apparently enough to give it a kick start.

She starts putting on the uniform as quickly as possible.

Her rescuer seems to be mostly just trying to take deep breaths and not have a panic attack.

She makes a few adjustments to Rey's armor when it's on, then - "Okay, let's go."

And through the less traveled hallways they go, the trooper muttering a few times about 'Bucket got banged up' whenever someone eyes them for too long, and getting sympathetic or teasing comments back about the architect that stuck the armor techs where they are.