Chapter 2 – Rivalries

Armitage Hux had had it with the kid. His restless pacing. The tempers that had grown even worse after that incident on Crait. The obnoxious way he carried himself even after he had made an utter fool of himself and suffered humiliation in front of several dozen high ranked officials of the First Order among which he counted himself. After he had fired a good portion of their ammunition at thin air. Hux had little understanding of the Force, but what he had understood was that it had all been a trap set by that likewise impertinent old man Ren somehow seemed to have a connection to. No stranger to fits of anger himself Hux knew that in that moment the other man had dangerously exposed his lack of leadership, allowing the seeds of rebellion in his own ranks to grow and fester. Had given everyone who had watched the bizarre scene more than one reason why Kylo Ren, self fashioned leader of the Knights of Ren, unworthy replacement of Supreme Leader Snoke, was not cut out for leadership, but would eventually fall, relenting the place he had inherited by sheer luck to much worthier men.

He kept those thoughts hidden behind a mask of barely veiled disdain. He was aware his thoughts and emotions were on display for the other man to be picked through at will, but years under greater leaders had taught him how to guard his feelings and disrespects and own agenda well even in front of someone who was capable of wielding the Force. It had been a learning curve rife with trial and error. Attempts at seeming uninteresting and uninvolved, blending against the background of all that noise mentally and not be noticed.

"Supreme Leader?" He barely managed to keep the sarcasm from his voice when using the required adress. Soon, he thought, soon he would be the one with that title.

Ren was wearing his typical black garb but without the mask. Hux had not seen it on him in a while, wondering what had happened to the silly thing. Deeming it his own genius thought but really mostly mimicking the late Snoke´s disdain for the dark haired man´s childish dress up games he found he didn´t even care. At least with the mask there had been some menacing theatric authority to Ren. Without it, everyone could see he was barely more than a child. It made it even funnier to adress him the way he just did.

Ren turned, his face feigning impassiveness but betraying restlessness. They were in a large room, far from the ordered, towering grandeur of the throne room on the ship that was flittering through space in bits and pieces now, but it had had to make do. The star destroyer was a little smaller and less impressive than the previous one but it was their best armed, fastest cruiser. And they were currently headed for Chandrila, one of the Core worlds, one of the former capitols of the destroyed New Republic.

"I want the coordinates of the ship those rebels escaped on. I want to know where they escaped to." It was Ren´s impertinent way of requesting and answer to an order he had given as soon as they had left Crait. At least, for better or worse, the other one´s voice sounded a little more dignified even though Hux believed to still be able to hear a trace of anger in it. He hated how that made him tense up inwardly, his mind wary for possible danger.

"It is proving particularly difficult to do this, Supreme Leader." he repled tersely, staying where he was, chin up almost defiantly, gloved hands clasped behind his back. "But we are sending out search warrants to all regions of the galaxy, there is no way the Falcon will escape our attention in the long run."

"I don´t want the long run.I want that ship and those aboard. Now."

Hux felt his eyebrows raise. "As much as this may me an inconvenience, sir," and that last word did sound sharper than he had intended, "it will take the time it takes. They have a head start and it´s a vast galaxy. One that is not under our control the way we wish it just yet."

There was a flash of anger in Ren´s eyes at the not too subtle provocation.

"We should stick to our plan and keep the search going while making use of the fact that we have the upper hand. We need to proceed strengthening the First Order´s grip on the galaxy or it will slide from our grasp."

"Slide from our grasp?" Ren´s voice was a barely softened snap. "We wiped out the Republic months ago. The galaxy is in disorder and ready to be reordered. This gang of criminals is not going to stand in my way."

"A gang of criminals indeed. To be dealt with when caught." Perhaps, Hux thought, he should just fuel Ren´s stupidity. Talk it into him until the manchild hopped into a ship and set off in pursuit leaving this cruiser to him…

He gasped sharply when an invisible push slammed against his lower ribcage, making him double over and fall to his knees, convinced for a moment that the violence of the attack had cracked a rib or two. "This is not going to happen." Ren said, his voice dangerously low, stepping closer towards him, all shimmering anger under a surface of stubbornness. He had read his thoughts. "Once we located them, we´ll get the fleet out. You will be on that fleet. I will annihilate them once and for all."

Hux was still recovering from the push, looking up. How could this man this…boy, be so stunningly incompetent? When he spoke, it was against better judgement but defending his pride. He had served all his life, he had been a bootlicker, but it had always had purpose. It had always had order. Ren was a raging, unpredictable chaos threatening to destabilise and destroy everything he had built his life on and in that way no better or worse than the Rebels. "The First Order cannot allow for personal vendettas. And if it´s about the girl…"

This time, the push almost knocked the air out of his lungs and only when he raised his trembling fingers to his throat did he notice that … he couldn´t breathe, his windpipe in a deadly grip. He could feel his eyes start to bulge, the veins at the side of his forhead start to pulse. He heard himself gagging in the attempt to draw breath.

Ren just stood there, hand outstretched, fingers curled in a cramp. „Do not… test me."

He started to twitch, legs giving way even more and he had to use a hand to keep himself propped up. Then the pain was gone. The terrible choking sensation was gone. He drew in air like a man drowing, panting and coughing hoarsely on the polished ground, head bent on his hands and knees, too weak to even rise. Hatred boiling inside him. Hatred and terror. He had felt this before. When he had found Ren after the girl had escaped, after Snoke had been killed. A choke so violent it hammered every other thought out of his mind. And what shocked him when he was kneeling there right now was that this time it had been much more intense. It had felt as if the other man was barely able to keep himself from crushing him. That maybe soon he would. He would have to make sure that he could tilt the balance of power his own way before that moment came.

"Y….yes, Supreme Leader." His voice was a mere croak.

"Keep searching. And keep me informed." Ren just said before striding from the room

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Author´s note: Thank you everyone for reading and reviewing or for just enjoying the story. I like to give a short shoult out to reviewers before or after a new chapter just as asign of appreciation. Also, I hope you enjoyed this chapter.

Hilary Parker: Thank you so much. No, this story is indeed not tagged Reylo. My main idea for it lays elsewhere and the concept behind the driving plot will be a number of things but this pairing is not really what I have in the back of my mind there, mostly because I am not one to write the kind of hurt/comfort angsty stories that often go with it. Plus, for those looking for Rylo fics there are plenty out there. Kylo Ren is of course going to be a part of the story though and his connection to Rey is an issue that will be addressed but this is not a Reylo fic as such. I hope you stick with it. :)

2010: Well, I do have a few ideas there but as I said the main operative behind this story is not romance. While I find Reylo have very little common ground to build a romantic relationship (mostly because the abusive undertone) I will see where I go with Fynn. I am not primarily a romance writer, but there will be elements. Thank you for reviewing. Enjoy.