Thanks for all the favourites/follows and reviews! For some reason the site is not letting me reply to or even view them, so apologies for the radio silence. In answer to questions, yes, I will be continuing this story as long as I can, but no, I will not tell you what is going to happen to Kylo - because where would be the fun in that? Rest assured, all sorts of interesting things are going to happen to him, that's fo sho.
Chapter 2 - Retrieval
General Hux strode briskly away from the communications chamber. He took good care not to appear to hurried and cause undue panic among the storm troopers he passed, however he estimated their chances of surviving this attack on the base as slim to none. He gave them withering glances anyway. Frightened, they hastened to get out of his way. Let them die blissfully believing everything was under control.
The general entered his private hangar, where his personal escape vehicle was waiting for him. A sleek modified shuttle, smaller and more discreet than Kylo Ren's imposing - and somewhat exhibitionist, he thought - Upsilon-class command shuttle. Its access hatch slid smoothly open and Hux climbed in.
"Sir!"
The pilot snapped smartly to attention.
"Where are we going, sir?"
Hux reached into the breast pocket of his severe grey overcoat and drew out a small hexagonal screen. He lazily tapped it a few times with a long gloved finger and then handed it to his pilot.
"Follow this signal. Get there as quickly as possible." The pilot duly hurried back to his controls and busied himself flicking switches.
The ginger man arranged his gangling limbs over an expensive chaise longue while the pilot ably took care of the shuttle's smooth lift off out of the hangar. Flying here and there around the galaxy after Kylo Ren was made just about bearable with the addition of small luxuries like this rare Ewok-fur sofa.
He stared out of the small porthole with a disinterested gaze as small fires and explosions erupted on the pockmarked surface of his life's work like pimples on a teenager. To anyone observing, the General was the perfect picture of calm - save for a slight clenching of the jaw and twitching vein at his pale temple. Ren had better have his damn show-off lightsaber with him; otherwise the whole placing a tracking device covertly inside the handle would really backfire. He would not be lead on another wild goose chase.
Luck however, having dealt a bitter blow earlier on, now appeared to be on his side.
"Sir, we are directly above the signal. My systems are detecting weak vital signs at sea level. However, I would advise that we do not land here as there are too many trees in this part of the base, and the ground looks highly unstable. Orders, sir?"
Hux hissed through his teeth. How he loathed being Kylo Ren's personal search and rescue team.
"Open the hatch then. Wait for my return as long as you can, but if we are in imminent danger, you will prioritise our escape from this system."
"Acknowledged, sir."
The general peered over the edge of the open hatch, a bitter wind whipping his red hair out of it's perfectly coiffed shape. He could see a dark figure outlined against the pure white snow down below, but worryingly face down and unmoving. Wasting no time, Hux clipped a line to his belt and leapt gracefully from the shuttle, his lithe form trailing black cord as he rappelled down the thick rope.
"Ren!" he called as he slowed and landed, boots crunching down in the snow. He hurried over to the prostrate form and gave him a quick kick in the ribs with one stylish black boot. Hux was rewarded with a groan, but the other man made no attempt to get up, so he looped his arms underneath the limp body and pulled him into a sitting position. This enabled him to attach the second line to Kylo's body by looping it around his waist belt.
Hux stood and pulled the sagging Kylo upright, and got a chance to look at him for the first time. He did not like what he saw. The bloody red slash across his face was new, and his brown eyes were unfocused and barely open at all. Ren was trying to push Hux away to stand by himself, and was mumbling something aggressively.
It sounded like "Oh no. Not you." It also sounded like it contained a considerable amount of slurred expletives.
Oh, sithspit. Just what I need - a dying Commander. I am having the worst day.
"Hold on, sir." He pressed a small button on his belt where the rope attached to a mechanical pulley, and with a whirr the line retracted back up into the shuttle. The two were yanked into the air. Hux rolled his eyes as a strangled cry left Kylo Ren's bluish lips, and the young man went completely boneless. Pathetic.
They reached the ship's hold just in time as the ground beneath them started to crumble and shake, and as the door closed, the general gingerly lowered Kylo Ren onto the sumptuous carpeted floor of the shuttle. With some revulsion, he noted that there was warm blood on his fingers and his coat from where they had been pressed together on the way up.
He wiped his hands disgustedly on Kylo's jerkin.
"This had better not stain my kriffing carpet, Ren."
Meanwhile, the shuttle had picked up speed and was swiftly heading into the outer atmosphere. The general fetched a small silver memory drive from a concealed compartment under the wooden panelling of the control desk and handed it to his pilot.
"Follow these co-ordinates. Don't ask any questions, and I won't be tempted to kill you for knowing too much."
The pilot nodded wordlessly. He knew the drill well from countless covert missions for the Dark Side. Honestly, it was almost insulting - this was First Order 101 stuff!
Hux returned to the body of the young apprentice, who still had not moved. His face was as pale as new fallen Hothian snow, vividly bisected by a ragged laceration. It cut across his long nose and down along one cheek almost to the chin, and had the tell-tale blistered edges of a lightsaber wound.
There was a full medpac on board, which Hux hadn't yet had the opportunity to experiment with. While his extensive training with the First Order told him he should probably treat the man's injuries before waking him up, Hux was feeling impatient and rather ticked off by the day's events. Plus, this was a chance to get one up on his supposedly powerful superior, and report back to Snoke as negatively as he could.
He retrieved the red box and set it on the floor. Somewhat gleefully, he took from it a basic stimpac containing a large percentage of epinephrine, and jammed the short needle into the side of Ren's bare neck. A soft hiss escaped the device as the pressure forced the bright green dosage out of the glass vial, and there was a brief moment of silence, save the quiet whine of the shuttle's engines. Hux tapped his fingers on his leg impatiently.
Then Kylo spasmed into consciousness, gasping air into his screaming lungs, eyes rolling in his skull. Muscles weak from cold and inactivity were shocked into life by the flood of hormones, causing his limbs to shake violently. Almost immediately, his left hand went to clutch his injured side and he arched his back, moaning through gritted teeth.
"Kylo Ren!" said Hux in a commanding voice, his forceful tone cutting through. "Listen to me - I need your report as a matter of urgency. Pay attention. What has occurred since we last met at the control hub on Starkiller Base? What can I tell Supreme Leader Snoke of our mission? How did the Resistance manage to sabotage the Base?"
The young man's eyes stopped rolling and it seemed with some effort that he focused on Hux kneeling beside him. His brows knit in a mix of confusion and pain, but mostly anger. The latter seemed to be regarding Hux having the audacity to have rescued and woken him up from his comatose state.
"You…I - I - I was - I was at - I… Couldn't… I - I … Girl… Jedi… " Despite the necessity of his report, Kylo could barely get the words out due to his traitorous shuddering wreck of a body. His shallow gasps coupled with the effort of trying to form coherent sentences were slowly turning his face blue with oxygen deprivation. The commander smirked, but decided to take pity on him. Snoke would not appreciate being deprived of vital information, but then again, Snoke would not be best pleased if his star pupil kicked the bucket either.
"Oh, stop your silly stuttering. It's suddenly occurred to me that I'm going to have to treat your injuries before anything else. Here, help me take off your ridiculous armour. This is precisely why we wear regulation uniforms, moron."
Kylo nodded tersely, and began to fumble with the hidden fastenings that kept his close-fitting outfit together, stiff and trembling fingers barely staying still long enough to undo a single clasp. Together, the two of them managed to remove his thick armoured belt, and the black jerkin and undershirt he wore underneath.
With Kylo bare-chested and bloody, Hux finally comprehended the state of his superior's injuries. Holy sith.
Without another word or sarcastic comment, he rifled through the medpac until he found what he was looking for: Bacta patches. A drukload of Bacta patches.
Hurriedly, he unsealed them from their gelatinous protective coatings and plastered them over every wound that he could see. He saved the largest ones for last, horrified by the deep and mutilated injury that was clearly causing Kylo agony. Was that a rib he could see? He'd tied the rope around his waist on the way off the planet, which when bearing both of their entire suspended weights could not have helped matters. Hux's hands wavered in uncertainty.
"Get… on with it… G…Gen… - Hux." Kylo growled through gritted teeth. He was twitching less, but with an open untreated injury - from some kind of primitive blaster? - he was going to bleed out on Hux's fancy deep pile carpet.
Without further hesitation, the bacta patches were smoothed on, their adhesive gel sucking and bubbling as they shrank to become healing surface clots. Hux wasn't sure how much they would do for the more grievous wounds, but it was better than nothing.
"There we are. All finished. Can you stand?"
After several moments, the leader of the Knights of Ren flushed slightly. Against the whiteness of his skin, the colour was startling. It made him look much younger.
"No." He whispered, humiliated beyond words.
Hux sighed. "Come on then." With a strength that his slight frame belied, the General lifted his commander and gently carried him to the simple wooden pallet at the back of the shuttle. By the time Hux lay Kylo Ren down onto the soft mattress, he had already passed out again. Even a large dose of adrenaline couldn't hold back the stubborn tide of exhaustion forever.
Though Hux resented Ren for the attention lavished upon him by Snoke, and by his own private admission was secretly incredibly jealous of his Force powers, he did not actively wish him harm. Most of the time. In fact, in the cut-throat world of the First Order, the young leader of the Knights of Ren was the closest person he had to a friend, albeit a friend who occasionally tried to kill him with magical space powers when his temper boiled over.
To lose your life's work to your most hated enemy was one thing. To lose your friend in the same day, was a further catastrophe that Hux would really rather didn't happen. Besides, if Kylo Ren died on his watch, there would be hell to pay.
As the shuttle moved on along its secret path through the stars, Hux paced his gilded ship.