"I didn't save your life."

The staff had cleared for fear of the man, not the beast. They sloped away, back to their duties in whatever part of the base and left the pair to themselves.

Side by side, they walked as friends; comrades, colleagues. Ren was almost accustomed to giving the snow that extra push when one foot sank into the denseness to propel himself forward; Tyg knew no other way to walk. The entirety of his physicality and biology had been designed for it.

"Mmmm….."

"I can hardly be blamed for the unreliability of such complex and ill-maintained weapons, now can I?" Ren told himself (after a brief, sidelong glance at his companion) that he did not see playful scepticism in Tyg's canine/ursine features. Surely that kind of contortion was reserved for humans and semi-humans? Then again, Tyg had amazed him before.

"Besides….." The Knight continued, starting to feel the pinch of the cold now; mostly in his nose, the only unprotected extremity. "Consider it a debt paid. You were far more blatant in attacking Tal than I was, jamming those weapons." Ren felt the rare pull of a smile on the (numbing) corner of his lip at Tyg's huff of satisfaction, and the brief blast of heat it gifted him.

"I'll leave you here." A glance back at the base cemented it: this was far enough. Enough to walk but not enough to be heard. "She-"

"Bew?"

"No, I can walk from here." Ren hesitated, looking into the face of white fluff and no ill-intentions. A more loyal beast than Tyg did not exist, not even in the most domesticated of dogs. "Layna told me to tell you to go home. And tell…"

"Buff."

"Dad?" That was a word he hadn't heard or said in quite a while, but he couldn't dwell on the crushing sentimentality of it just now.

"Muw."

"Sentai, yes…." The name struck the chord of recognition and Ren could be assured the right party would be informed of the unfortunate turn of events for the pack's alpha. Despite implying his departure and the cold that was beginning to bite at more than just his nose, Ren didn't move. And Tyg didn't need to tune into the natural flow between them to understand why.

"That ship…. It was how you got here?" The Quohr had feared this. On the way to the crevice where Layna lay, Tyg had expected questions and had (wrongfully) huffed a puff of relief when none came. Now though….. With Layna safely being cared for and the hysteria quelled, of course, inquiries were going to be made. Tyg shifted; eyes averting and non-committal to the conversation or hoping not to be. But Layna would want him to cooperate, wouldn't she? Ren was her friend, she might still be where she was and in a far worse state (if not the worst) it if wasn't for him.

"Mowow."

"Not you?"

"Buff."

"Your parents."

"Wuwu. Mamawu."

"You were born here…. Your parents…. Came with Layna?"

"Mmmm."

Ren wouldn't know that the General had already squirrelled away that information and more, and in all his closeness and openness with Layna, clearly, they hadn't quite gotten around to it yet.

Perhaps, when she was well enough, he would press her for it himself and maybe it wasn't fair to quiz Tyg when his information seemed to be second-hand.

"Bowow. Muwuwu." The (human) male blinked at the random change of subject and the monster's unprompted concern. She does not like him. Do not let him near her.

"I've already considered that." Ren confessed, unsurprised that Layna had confided her distrust and discomfort of the General to Tyg; being in such a vulnerable condition now would only exacerbate the problem. Once again, the Quohr's characteristics betrayed emotions like worry and fret that, as Ren might have believed before, should have been impossible. Now, it did not surprise him. "The door, like the weapons, will jam until I return to her side. He will not have access to her room."

Tyg's snuffle was appreciative, as was the subtle bow of his head and flicker of his tail: Ren read it loud and clear. Was it any great shock to him that he could communicate better with this beast than he could with other humans? No. Then again, he didn't want to communicate with other humans. Most of them, at least.

Kylo Ren's galled snarl fogged out before his face as his personal communication device began to buzz; the sound was just as disdainful to Tyg but for a different reason.

"What?!" The Knight spat to whoever waited on the other end, the initiator of the communication. Naturally, manners and decorum were not his priority. But that was fine when the caller was General Hux.

"Ren." Came a similar and mutual sneer of contempt, as if he would gladly com anyone else. "I need you back here. Now."

"Is it the pilot?!" Ren demanded, gentility overhauled in favour of potentially causing more damage.

"No." The General's nasally retort stoked the fire of annoyance that the mere buzzing of the com had ignited. "It's something else."

The human ended the communication without a parting word and while the General hinted at urgency, it seemed Ren was in no rush.

"Bowuw?"

"No." Declining a ride back to the base for a second time, the darker being wished to mull over the (scarce) new information while he walked. "Return to the pack. Tell them what's happened and relay Layna's instructions. I'll come to you if there are any changes."


"At last." The General tutted, much to Ren's irritation, upon his arrival. "We've been waiting."

"If it's not the pilot, what is it?" The Knight's disinterested swipe was aimed at the redhead, in all his stuck-up, humourless propriety; hand clasped behind his back and spine straightened to the extreme.

"You reek." Diverging from the subject and irking the Knight further, Hux couldn't help himself; not when the darker of the two invaded his vicinity and, by consequence, his nostrils. "What were you doing with that brute?"

"That brute…." Ren purposefully neared, homing in on the redhead's facial contortion of deepening disgust. "Has more courage, intelligence and loyalty in the tip of his tail, than you do in your entire body. Shoulder pads included. General."

Their rivalry crept into every avenue of their relationship, professional and personal, and poisoned it. On this occasion, it centred on an animal that bound them both professionally and personally.

"I'll ask again." Ren managed to keep his nerve, having quelled himself with the cutting swipe at the General's physique. But the Knight's patience was never in plentiful supply, no matter what his mood. "What. Is. It."

Instead of an answer, General Hux turned on the heel of an impeccably polished boot and resumed his perfectly timed step. The projection table became a point of fascination and for a moment, Ren couldn't be sure what he was looking at; the grainy blue hue did not resemble anything. Yet.

The pixels unjumbled themselves and negotiated coordination to form a picture. Ren's eyes narrowed; confusion and concentration prevailed. There was little sound, only the wind whistling somewhere in the background, suggesting that the camera droid (or whatever was providing the imagery) was sheltered.

Constantly rotating (if agonizingly slowly), the eerie surroundings began to reveal themselves whenever the droid's built-in floodlight drenched them mid-turn.

Cages. More than half a dozen. Small, clustered together and all open.

Two adult-sized snowsuits mounted on hooks on the wall and ready for an excursion.

Scattered nearby and littering the floor, empty packet after empty packet of ration portions.

The droid kept revolving, casting its light onto a ratty nest of blankets in the corner.

The backs of the seats of the pilot and co-pilot's console…..

Ren leaned closer, scrutinizing the headrests of the two seats. Slumped, still. It couldn't be….

"Is that….?"

"One male. One female." Hux drawled coldly, detached from the implication by simply not caring. The Knight stared, the droid continuing its rotation, unaffected. "Perfectly preserved."