A/N: This is set a few days before chapter 19, Marriage, of Poe/Hux Afterstory Tales.

The port security official looked between his screen, which was shielded from Hux's view, and Armitage Hux himself. He did so for nearly a minute, looking back and forth. Hux waited patiently where he'd been told to stand, having been singled out of incoming customs for an additional security screening by an actual person. The mechanics of civilian travel were not something Eddiva's group had prepared him for in any detail, so he wasn't sure how normal this was. But as much in his life, it boiled down to: nod, volunteer nothing, and follow directions.

"Okay. Mr. … Hux, is it?" Armitage nodded. "I had thought this was an obvious forgery until I saw you, but you're clearly the guy from the news. This … you're traveling under your own name? Why?"

Hux raised his brows at the implication he was supposed to be doing otherwise than following the law. "Yes." He left the second question unanswered.

"You're … Armitage Hux." The official's tone indicated he was still struggling to believe someone like Hux was standing in front of him, encountered in the routine performance of his duties.

"Yes." As the man clearly knew. If the documents had been switched, then he wouldn't be asking, so Hux was certain everything was in order.

"The Starkiller?" Hux didn't respond to that one. The security official went back to staring at the documents and sighed. "I don't know how you're a citizen. You can't be." He waved over one of the uniformed guards stationed at the entrance.

"I am a citizen," Hux insisted.

The official shook his head. "These documents are less than a month old. We don't even have grand marshals in the military for you to be a retired one. Should have done your research." In a bored voice, he added, "That makes your weapons license invalid as well. Smuggling is a felony, etc." He didn't even bother with the rest of the standard spiel. To the guard, he said, "Escort him to confinement. I have to escalate this. It's too weird."

Hux had no apprehension about 'confinement' – not here in the Republic where they were unlikely to lay a hand on him, but he wouldn't have had he been a prisoner of the First Order, either. Torture, interrogation, whatever they intended to do with him, he'd broken under worse so it hardly mattered. But he was fuming inside about this changing his schedule. He had people he was going to meet. Tritt was already at the hotel. He had appointments the next day to get their suits tailored and scout the location of the wedding so he had some familiarity with it before it happened, just a couple days hence. He hadn't allotted extra time to be mired in bureaucracy.

But no one here cared about his schedule. He volunteered nothing and followed directions, taking a wry, self-deprecating amusement in the memory of Ren thinking he could just waltz down to Naboo and off again when they were literally at war depending on who you asked. And maybe he could, given the Force. A single wave of his hand and a 'This is not the Hux you are looking for' would have prevented all of this. But those less fortunate had to deal with things otherwise.

Many hours and several layers of supervisors later, Kes Dameron's voice sounded on the other side of the door. "In here?" Then it opened, with Poe's father grinning broadly when he caught sight of Hux sitting in an uncomfortable chair at a small interviewing table in the middle of the otherwise bare room. "Son!" He laughed and approached Hux, arms spread wide in an obvious prelude to a hug. Hux remained sitting and leaned away with a grimace. Kes put his arms down and said loudly, "Come on! Get up. I'm bailing you out! Not even married to the lout and I'm already having to bounce you out of the pokey."

Hux stood gingerly, being accosted anyway by an unwanted embrace as soon as he did. He tolerated it stiffly as a cost of getting out of here. He decided not to comment on the several indecipherable portions of Kes' speech. Regional slang was something he'd have to pick up organically. Quietly, he said, "Thank you for coming." He wasn't technically in Kes' debt – not if they were family members, which Kes was claiming with enough volume for everyone nearby to hear. But he still appreciated it.

"No problem. I lose my deposit on the community center if you don't show up. This is exactly how I wanted to spend my night, anyway. Get woke up in the dead dark and have to get to the port half the orbit away? I live for that stuff. Brings back memories. They have a box of your things, I guess, up front. You'll need to sign off on them and then we can get out of here. How long were you in?"

"Some time," he said vaguely. It was more like half a day, but he didn't volunteer that. The only two options Hux knew for Kes' words were sarcasm or honesty, either of which meant Kes was underscoring the inconvenience of this. That Kes merely thought it was funny didn't occur to Hux.

"Yeah? Hungry?"

"I'm fine." Actually he was starving, having been allowed only water while he was held, but it was bad enough they'd asked Kes to vouch for him. (Hux had not made that request – security or some other administrative portion had in the course of verifying his purpose on the fourth moon of Yavin.) He wasn't going to beg for food as well (or the time to eat it) – not if the man was already objecting to having spent the time to come get him. The faster Hux could get on his way, the faster Kes didn't have to deal with him. Of course, he said none of this.

The official at the front station was one Hux had seen once before during the ordeal, when he'd been escorted to the refresher. His single crate of cargo – the sum of his material possessions outside of digital currency – stood to the side, opened and obviously sorted through. His previously neatly folded clothing – the main portion of the contents – was in disarray. He looked at it sadly, but there were no uniforms within to have been rendered a code violation and his wedding outfit was yet to be purchased. A portage droid waited next to the crate. The official showed him a datapad. "Put your thumb here."

"What does this authorize?" The text on the screen looked deliberately tiny and difficult to read.

"The return of your goods," she told him.

"May I see them first?"

In a tired voice, she said, "They're right there. Just put your thumb here."

With no idea when he should follow orders or object, Hux raised his hand to comply. He was interrupted when Kes took his forearm and hauled him aside with a jovial laugh. "Hey! You gotta show me what you brought me! Did you bring that brandy you mentioned?" He pulled a disconcerted, off-balance Hux over to the crate and pushed him at it. Kes looked over his shoulder at the official. "You guys didn't find that brandy, did you?"

Hux glanced at Kes and had enough presence of mind to understand the game he was playing. He hadn't promised to bring brandy or a gift of any kind. Obviously, it was a ruse to allow him to take stock of his possessions. Not sure of how long he would have at it, Hux started hurriedly going through his things, cataloguing what was there and what was not.

Kes went back over to the desk and animatedly held a mostly one-sided conversation with the official about alcoholic drinks. A few minutes later, Hux came to his side. "I had a box of data crystals. They're missing."

She looked between the two of them, made up her mind about something and then picked up the datapad. She scrolled through, looking bored as she read some entries. Then she opened a comm channel. "Bordif? I have an entry here we sent your department data crystals last shift. Did you receive them?"

An accented, non-human voice answered, "Got them, sir. Last shift, yes. They are encrypted extra. Still running breaker-breaker slicer. No data yet."

Hux bared his teeth briefly and stiffened. "I was cleared of all charges. You have no right to my information or to even attempt to access it until I am convicted."

The official frowned at Hux.

Kes smiled sweetly at her. "Can we go pick them up? Then we'll be out of your hair. I know you've got so many other things to do."

She sighed. "Bordif, can you cancel the slicer and bring them to holding?"

Whoever Bordif was answered, "Oh, by the way, they are not done. I said so, sir. Very extra encrypted."

"I know," she told him. "Bring them up here anyway. Client is discharging with goods."

"Ah, got it. Be there in a bit."

Hux sighed and settled into a parade rest to wait. Kes leaned on the counter and started exchanging pleasant small-talk with the official, who initially tried to ignore him. But by the time Bordif arrived with Hux's data cubes, she was happily sharing a story about her daughter's recent graduation from somewhere Hux hadn't listened about, and she was sorry to see Kes go. Hux counted the crystals and checked ID numbers as best he could recall them. It wasn't the sort of minutia he'd bothered to memorize. They were of First Order design, which meant they would be difficult for a security station on Yavin to duplicate on short notice.

Kes asked, "Got everything?"

"I think so." Hux gestured at his crate as he stowed the data cubes in them. "Even the blasters and my knives, amazingly enough."

"Oh, now it comes out," Kes chuckled. "They pulled you out of line for the weapons. Had nothing to do with anything else."

"I have the proper paperwork for everything," Hux said snippily. Even requiring that much was a ridiculous farce given that he could buy it all on-planet anyway, and he well knew that a variety of chartered private craft skirted the standard process all the time – sometimes because they were rich, sometimes because they were smugglers. He didn't want to lower himself to employ such a person or to pay the exorbitant rates of the wealthy-tier Republic citizens whom he despised.

But regardless of travel method, his things were his things. They were the weapons he'd practiced with and used personally for most of his life. He wanted these and not duplicates. It chafed him that he hadn't been allowed to wear his knife during transit, but at least it was safely stowed.

Kes grunted. "What's on the data cubes?" he asked in a more serious and low voice. "Important stuff?"

Hux matched his tone, "Very." He turned to leave.

Kes grabbed him by the arm again. Hux bristled, but Kes didn't seem to care anymore than he had any other time. He tugged him over to the official's desk and said, "I think he owes you a thumb print, right?"

"Yes," she told him, pointing out where Hux was to leave his mark. "And yours, too. Or do we already have that?" Her voice was more relaxed in speaking to Kes. She took the datapad back after Hux was done and scrolled through it to check.

"I should hope so," Kes told her. "I pretty much promised my firstborn son in ransom if Mr. Hux here disturbs the peace." Hux looked at Kes sharply, not happy about the implication that Poe, in addition to Kes, would pay one way or another if there was further trouble on Hux's behalf. Also, it was still strange to be called 'Mr. Hux'. Kes went on, still smiling, "Of course, if there's trouble, my son's probably going to be involved anyway so I'm not risking much."

The official set the datapad down. "Yes, you've already signed." With bored politeness, she added, "Have a nice morning."

"Is it morning already?" Kes said, glancing at the time where it showed on the datapad. "Sure is. Well, enjoy the rest of your shift, and congratulations to your daughter!"

Her impassive face broke into a brief warm smile at the mention of her daughter. Hux made a sharp signal to the portage droid and they were finally on their way.

Once they were well clear of the security station, Hux asked, "Have you heard from Poe?"

"Yep. Well, actually, a few days ago. He should be in tomorrow. Or today, I guess. If they'd held onto you a little longer, I could have picked both of you up."

"How much longer do you have to escort me?" Hux was barely restraining himself from lashing out at Poe's father over repeatedly manhandling him. Added to that, there was the humiliation of having to accept the man's help (whether he'd asked for it or not) and knowing that help entailed not only inconvenience, but also significant risk to Kes. Yet he'd done it anyway. As a result, Hux wanted to get away from him as soon as possible.

"Just to the surface. After that, you're not to leave atmosphere until they've finalized the decision about residency."

"Yes, they made sure I knew that part. They said there was a statement phase and testimony. Have you already done that?"

"Nope. But I will."

"It shouldn't be a problem!" Hux said, finally breaking enough to vent a little. "I'm marrying a citizen in good standing, a certified war hero. I know the planetary representative. We discussed my application for citizenship weeks ago. I had my legal department review this. I had everything in order!"

"And that's why you're walking out of here right now," Kes said. His voice changed a bit with Hux showing some genuine emotion. Kes' tone was more relaxed from that. "Considering, you know, who you are – walking out of here with me is like a best-case situation. This is just a formality. You'd probably run into this on any Republic world." He patted Hux on the back, smirking when Hux shied away from the third and fourth pats. "We'll get it taken care of. You sure you don't want to stay at my place?"

"Is it legally required?"

Kes gave him a sigh, rolled eyes, and a long, put-out look that Hux didn't see because he was suspiciously eyeing a group of soldiers in Alliance outfits they were passing. "No, it's not 'legally required'."

Hux heard the insulted tone, but didn't know what to do about it. "I don't want to inconvenience you further than I already have."

Kes laughed at how pricklish Hux was. "Nah. I love this. You owe me one."

Hux snarled at him. "You either help me or not. Family members do not 'owe' one another! It's the only perk of the arrangement."

"Oh? You think that's how it is?" Kes looked amused and unimpressed.

"Yes! That's-" Hux stopped where they were walking and turned to face Kes. Apprehensively, he asked, "How is it, then? How should I pay this back to you?"

Kes looked at him like he was dumb. "You don't owe me anything, Armitage."

Hux's lips pressed together tightly at the realization he no longer had any reasonable control over what people called him. "I have reservations at the hotel."

"Fine," Kes said brusquely. "I'll take you there, then." The rest of their trip to the surface was quiet.