True to his word, Kylo begins her training early the next morning. They stand together in the giant training room holding the practice sabers they sparred with once before. Only this isn't fun and games. Kylo is very subdued. It sets the mood as somber. Rey listens in silence as Kylo speaks.

"Neither the Jedi nor the Sith began training with a sword, but I think it's where we should start. Combat training will be an outlet for your emotions and these are useful skills for whenever that guy in the Unknown Regions shows up." Kylo frowns now as he laments, "The Force is so much more than laser swords, Rey. I want you to know that. Just because we are starting with this doesn't mean it's the most important part. Far from it, actually." He gives her a serious look. "I'm hoping for the day when the Force is less about duels and more about knowledge."

"Luke began with meditation," Rey recalls.

Kylo nods. "Sharpening your connection to the Force is how you grow in power. Meditation matters whether you are on the Dark or the Light Side. The strongest Force-users have an effortless connection to the Force. They wield it without even trying. It becomes an extension of their consciousness. They don't have to find the Force because they exist in it on some level all the time. Snoke could be like that at times," Kylo remembers.

"How did Snoke start your training?"

"With strategy. He was a shady businessman who loved the game of power. He focused less on the Force than he did on other skills. His success wasn't from supreme Dark power so much as it was from his total mix of attributes. He had plenty of Force, but nothing remarkable. What he had was keen intelligence and amazing insight. That guy could plot like Sidious." Kylo looks away and frowns. "I never understood why Luke didn't come for him. Luke Skywalker far outpaced Snoke in the Force. He could easily have taken him down one-on-one."

"And then Luke would have had to kill you," Rey points out. "I don't think Luke wanted to kill you."

"He tried once."

"He was very ashamed of that."

"Good," Kylo glowers at what is clearly a painful memory. Then, he gets back to the task as hand. "A lightsaber is not an ordinary weapon," he counsels as he walks apart to test his weapon's heft in his hand with a few swings. "To use a sword has long been a mark of distinction. It requires finesse and training. A sword intimidates. Just carrying one conjures up imagery from bygone days and long dead warriors. They are elegant weapons. Any fool can point a blaster and shoot it. But only a select few can swing a sword." He turns back to Rey. "This is a proud tradition. But it is not easily learned. Do not get discouraged. You are naturally athletic and you are full of Force, but swordplay is harder than it looks."

Rey smirks. "It wasn't too hard on Starkiller Base."

Kylo ignores the comment. He resumes his pacing and lecture. "A training blade stings and bruises, nothing more. Feel it so you will understand." Kylo swats at her ass, bouncing his training sword off her backside.

"Oww!" Rey jumps. She rubs at the tender spot. "That hurts!"

"Get used to it. You're going to feel that a lot." Kylo now calls her over to a large mirror on the opposite side of the room. Standing before the mirror side by side, he begins to demonstrate a short series of sword stances he calls forms. "You learn the forms until they become second nature and are committed to muscle memory. So that they flow with your body during combat. Swordplay is a bit like a choreographed dance. There are seven classic forms, each with traditional attack patterns and defenses, and signature moves and passes. I will teach you to master them all. You will learn both the Light and Dark traditions."

"Lightsaber combat is Light and Dark?" Rey asks in surprise as she attempts to mimic the posture he calls Jedi ready position.

"Yes. Each tradition had their unique approach. The Jedi used the Force for defense. They styled themselves as peacekeepers. That meant their strategies and moves tend to be less aggressive. They usually sought to disable an opponent rather than to slay them. The Jedi were masters as disarming passes and deflecting blaster fire. They were good in a free-for-all melee or a crowded battlefield."

"And the Sith?"

"The Sith fought to win and winning meant killing. They fought with overwhelming Force or confusing speed. They liked to throw in Force tricks when they fought and they were masters of the feint and the block. Their tradition focused mostly on duels. Their moves presumed a capable sword wielding opponent, not a bunch of battle droids and troopers."

"Okay." That's all nice, but Rey is a pragmatist when it comes to things like this. Frankly, she could care less about the ancient sword lore of the Jedi and the Sith. "What I really need to know is how to defend myself. There's no one left to duel, Kylo."

"There's your friend in the Unknown Regions."

"Right."

Kylo gives her a pointed look. "Rey, it is my obligation as Master to pass on what I know. This knowledge is lost if it is not shared." Kylo says this with such utter seriousness that she takes note. "You need to learn what I know so that you can pass it on as well."

"Okay," she nods. "Show me that last bit again."

Kylo complies and Rey awkwardly imitates. "Is this right? This doesn't feel right . . . " It's awkward to balance like this. And the sword hilt is heavy even if the blade is weightless. That makes the sword itself difficult to balance. Unlike her old staff on Jakku, a lightsaber has heft only on one end.

"Lean into it more," Kylo suggests as he surveys her critically. "You will need to practice each pose before you string them together. Go deeper into that lunge," he suggests. "It will give you the maximum reach for when you stab at your opponent."

"Okay." She glances over at Kylo's graceful balance at her side. He makes this look easy. Very easy. He's so tall and lithe, yet with plenty of lean brawn. Probably honed from years of these strength poses.

"That's better. Keep at it." Kylo walks her through the series of poses again, holding each stance to critique and perfect hers. "Good. Now, practice."

"Wait—that's it?" Rey breaks her stance and stares after his retreating form as he moves to replace his practice saber in its spot on the wall of weapons. "Where are you going?"

"To take a shower. Keep practicing," he instructs. "We will move on when you have mastered these skills. You cannot rush the fundamentals."

"Oh. All day?"

"Until you are satisfied with your own progress. Then go to work. You will serve me in the Senate, Apprentice."

"Oh."

He smirks at her obvious consternation. "I like your enthusiasm, but the Force is the work of a lifetime. You don't learn it in one morning. Patience, Apprentice. We can go over these forms again tonight," he promises. "Impress me and we will move onto the basic attack and defense patterns."

Diligent Rey does as she is told. And that night, she manages to sufficiently impress her Master. As promised, Kylo starts demonstrating basic swings. Over and over again, they repeat the same three thrusts and parries. Once she has the moves down, Kylo varies his speed during the exercises. Sometimes he swings so lightning fast that she can't keep pace and their swords fail to connect altogether. He lands blow after blow on her before she can begin to react. Other times, he slows things down and she is the one rushing her answering move. Again, he lands blow after blow. Timing is everything, it seems, in life and in lightsabers.

Rey gets progressively frustrated with herself and with Kylo. Finally, she unleashes a vicious attack after yet again Kylo tags her on the arm. He must see her aggression building because he easily anticipates her, batting her down. Annoyed and determined to leave a mark on him because he has left so many on her, Rey throws up her hand for a Force push. This too Kylo reflexively blocks. Only this time, he does it with a quick shot of lightning.

It knocks her off her feet, throwing her skidding back towards the wall behind her. And, damn, that hurts. That really hurts. It's her first taste of Dark Side discipline. Rey is panting as she opens her eyes to see Kylo looming over her. He's got his lit training sword in one hand and the other hand reaching down to her. "That's enough for today," he decides.

Rey relents, accepting his help up but stalking away in a huff to head for a shower.

She is rinsing her hair out one last time, her eyes closed and head back as she luxuriates in the plentiful water, when the shower door opens. Rey startles and half turns to see Kylo. He's as bare as she is. His hands reach around her waist as he steps up from behind and starts to nuzzle at her neck.

"Get off—" she rejects him. She's not really in the mood for more Kylo. She wants to take a shower and fall into bed. Today has been far more physical activity than Rey is used to lately, and she's tired.

But he grabs for the soap and starts dragging it across her breasts, lathering them up. "Shhhh," he soothes. "Let me help you." Gently, his hands wash her breasts and she is mollified somewhat. Then his hands roam lower and they are skimming her torso down to her hips. Kylo presses into her from behind and Rey feels the unmistakable evidence of his enthusiasm. Now his hands wander lower still and Rey gasps at the boldness. His lips suckle her neck and his fingers stroke and tease as water rains down on them both. There is pleasure from the water and pleasure from his touch. It's a very effective seduction.

But then Rey remembers that she's angry when his hand brushes too hard against her very bruised arm. She's been in enough falls and fights on Jakku to know that tomorrow morning she'll be black and blue all over. "Owww! Get off!" she elbows Kylo hard. "That's enough," she snaps testily. She's not in the mood for this.

But, as usual, Kylo doesn't take no for an answer easily. He doesn't reply. He just turns the water off and physically picks her up.

"Hey!" surprised Rey protests hotly as they leave a dripping trail from the shower to the bed. He lays her back and instead of putting more moves on her, Kylo starts an inspection. Methodically, he summons the Light and begins to heal the day's injuries. He is so clinical about it that Rey loses some of her self-consciousness for her wet nakedness and his.

"I never want to hurt you," he promises as he goes about his task. This, Rey doesn't resist. It feels good. She flexes her left arm that he has just healed. Yes, that's much better.

"Thank you," she breathes out sincerely. "That helps."

"I was the Apprentice once," he murmurs softly. "I remember what this felt like." He looks very troubled as he gazes down on her. "Rey, I want this training to bring us together, not tear us apart."

The words are said with so much honest trepidation that she feels compelled to admit, "I wanted this, remember?"

"There will be more lightning," he warns as he reaches down to cup her cheek.

She smirks up at him cheekily. "Is this the part where you tell me that it hurts you more than it hurts me?"

"No," he replies with his characteristic bluntness. "I will be hurting you worse. Over and over again." He shifts his position from sitting on the edge of the bed to loom over her. And now, Rey is very aware of their relative positions of power and their wet, slippery skin on skin. His nearness and his nakedness suddenly have her trembling. With the same quickness Kylo displayed in the training room, he now shifts to straddle her. His face hovers mere inches above hers. She can feel his breath on her cheek. Any second now, Rey is certain she will be thoroughly kissed.

"I will hurt you," Kylo rasps as he stares into her eyes. It's a threat, a confession, a promise, and an apology all at once. "I will hurt you and then I will heal you." He closes the gap between them as he plants a soft kiss on her lips and pulls back. "I will break you down and build you up. Over and over again until you tell me to stop."

"Kylo—" She makes to sit up, but he intercepts her hands and laces them with his. And suddenly, somehow, she's loosely pinned. But it's not scary. Because Kylo is looking at her with haunted eyes that reveal he's the scared one.

"Promise me you won't wait until it's too late to decide to quit."

"I won't quit," she whispers back. "I need this training."

"Fair enough. But I need us. And I need this," he responds as he starts kissing her senseless. And now that she no longer fears being intimate with Kylo, Rey responds. For their strange chemistry that makes them attract so strongly and repel so sharply has once again drawn her in. This enigmatic man, equal parts Dark prowess and Light gallantry, is hard to resist.

That first day begins their new routine. Kylo spends a few minutes with her each morning before work demonstrating skills and lecturing on the Force. Then she practices, spends a few hours at the Senate, and waits for him to come home. At night, they train in earnest. It's only the first week and they are just doing basic saber passes, but each day leaves Rey sore and bruised. She can only imagine how much she is going to hurt when they move on to freezing blaster bolts and mastering Force pushes. And if she mouths off or her focus drifts, Kylo doesn't spare her lightning. In the training room, they are Master and Apprentice. Kylo doesn't pull his punches. But afterwards, he soothes her hurts and holds her tight.

First comes the training, then comes the sex. First the instruction in Darkness and the pain, then the healing Light and the pleasure. It's like every day they fight and every night they make up. Kylo strikes her as almost guilty in the way he commits himself to pleasing her after first playing the role of harsh Dark taskmaster. It provokes a baffling mix of intense emotions that repeats again and again. Rey doesn't know what to make of it, honestly. All the physical and emotional intimacy befuddles her even as Kylo seems to thrive off of it.

Rey thought that she had faced the worst thing that could possibly happen when she acknowledged the truth of her family's betrayal. And then, she thought she faced her new ultimate fear when she ended the war completely alone, her friends dead and her cause lost. But that was before her current predicament when she finds herself unexpectedly and inexplicably Dark and completely at the mercy of her former enemy. Some days she feels grateful for Kylo's help. Other days she feels exploited. But most days she feels overwhelmed. This is too much change, too fast.

This new marriage is as complicated as it is treacherous Kylo is so loving one minute, so unforgiving the next. It's confusing. Are there boundaries for what she should accept from him? Rey has never been in a relationship and she never saw a relationship growing up. Her only reference point is the holonet and their marriage is nothing like what she sees portrayed there. Rey isn't really sure how to act as Kylo's secret Apprentice wife.

But despite all her anxiety, some part of Rey thrills to his attention. For when Kylo whispers 'I want you, I need you, never leave me, you belong to me,' it is everything this abandoned girl craves to hear. It's the attention Rey never received and the approval she so desperately wants. All women want to be desired. And women like Rey who have endured men's indifference and scorn perhaps need it more than the rest. It doesn't hurt that the man desiring her is the current master of the universe, a man with all the power, wealth, and influence that Rey has long lacked. And so, on some level Kylo's nightly seduction is empowering.

Plus, all this touch is so addicting. When you grow up near feral and there is never anyone to hug you tight and kiss away your tears, the comfort of physical touch is an unfamiliar sensation. At first, it was almost threatening. Her post-Jakku self has always been a bit standoffish. But now that Rey has Kylo's hands all over her, she can't get enough. Having strong arms hold her tight awakens a need in her long denied.

But this crash course in togetherness scares her, too. So Rey finds herself pulling back now and then, worried that Kylo will be the next to abandon her. Because for all his talk of commitment, this has come on very fast. And Rey worries that it might go sour just as quickly. That all this Dark passion will flame out without warning. Nothing good ever lasted for long back on Jakku or at the Resistance. And so, Rey can't shake the feeling that this existence is temporary.

Still, sex has a way of accelerating a relationship. Because once you are comfortable naked around each other, you tend to drop your guard in other ways too. It turns out that physical intimacy is far easier for each of them than emotional intimacy. But their time together at the apartment has laid the predicate and, little by little, it begins to creep in. They move beyond talking about the Force and bickering about politics to talking about themselves. These are quiet late-night conversations that explain how they came to be who they are.

With a little prodding, Rey talks about Jakku. It's hard at first, but it gets easier each time. Rey tells Kylo of the ships graveyard. Of the glory of the Imperial Navy slowly rotting over decades in the desert sun. How she had explored the giant wrecks one at a time for months, wandering darkened halls that once had housed thousands. She tells him about the mummified downed X-wing pilots entombed in their cockpits. About the still-live but unstable munitions that would explode from time to time without warning. About the rival scavengers who would stalk her daily, hoping to seize her find and claim it for their own. Survival is a ruthless game and you play to win, Rey tells him proudly. But it has downsides. Jakku gave her mechanical skills and street smarts, but it also made her a loner with serious trust issues.

Kylo marvels at her ingenuity as she describes how she built a speeder bike entirely out of scavenged parts. How she reengineered an old flight simulator used for training that she found in a star destroyer wreck. How she made a home out of a downed AT-AT. Hers was a make-shift, repurposed world where necessity was the mother of invention. The desert taught her to improvise and to mimic. It's why all this disciplined formal training regimen is new for her. Rey has never applied herself to schooling of any kind. She's self-taught in every way possible.

The only thing they don't discuss about Jakku is her parents. Rey won't go there. She also won't talk about her time in the Resistance. It feels like a betrayal of her friends to talk about them to their enemy responsible for their deaths.

Kylo too shares his past. Growing up, young Ben Solo had every material advantage he could ever want, but little actual attention. He tells Rey how estranged he had felt from his busy mother slavishly committed to her many pet causes. How needy he had been for the absent father whose wanderlust and penchant for get-rich-quick schemes and quasi-criminal activities kept him mostly away. With the vantage point of an adult, Kylo now blames it all on his parent's bad marriage. Whatever spark had ignited on the first Death Star had long since burnt out in the humdrum routine of domestic reality. When the Rebellion won, it revealed that his parents had little in common beyond their war. So his mother buried herself in New Republic committees and cloaked herself in sharp tongued smugness. His father disappeared for long stretches, worming his way back into the family every now and then with a practiced charm that had grown stale by middle age. The pattern repeated itself again and again: his unreliable father would be gone for many months, show up to fight with his de facto single mother and borrow credits, then disappear again. Little Ben Solo tended to get lost in the shuffle. He was one more task for his ambitious mother to schedule in and one more responsibility for his father to run away from. Ultimately, he got shipped off to his uncle. They told him it was for his own good and that he would become the next great Jedi hero of the New Republic. But it's clear that in his own way, long before Luke Skywalker lit a sword over his head, young Ben Solo felt abandoned.

I retreated into my own world, Kylo tells Rey, as he describes his years long boyhood obsession with Clone Wars history. He had made heroes of the historical figures he studied as he immersed himself in the minutiae of the political maneuvering that had led to the great conflict. At first, his family had encouraged his interest. No doubt his Rebellion veteran parents had assumed that he would side with the Old Republic. Only he didn't. Ultimately, his youthful knowledge of the Clone Wars formed the basis for all his current political views, Kylo reveals. From a tender age, he had a jaded view of the Old Republic and a dismissive attitude towards democracy in general. The Separatists were right, he tells Rey on more than one occasion.

His favorite Clone Wars hero was his Jedi grandfather Anakin Skywalker. I used to talk about him all the time, Kylo reveals. How Anakin Skywalker was a slave who was bought and freed as a boy by the Jedi. How he was also the youngest ever member of the Jedi High Council. I was too young to notice how uncomfortable everyone became. And I believed the lie they told me again and again that Darth Vader had betrayed and murdered my grandfather. It was many years before I learned that the Jedi Anakin Skywalker was the Sith Lord Darth Vader. Kylo is bitter as he explains to Rey how his boyish hero worship had just compounded the significance of the lie. Because in the end, once the truth came out, he found even more to admire about Darth Vader than he had ever thought possible. My mother and my uncle were both raised on the same lie, Kylo reveals. And so, they themselves didn't realize the significance of their deceit. They were fine with it, and so they assumed that I would be fine with it too. In so many ways, his family had assumed young Ben would see things the same way they did. They were wrong.

Kylo is obsessed with his family legacy, Rey quickly realizes. And his version of events is quite different from the tale she knows. He sees his mother and uncle as victims mostly. Kylo explains how they were stolen as children by the Jedi die-hards Kenobi and Yoda and manipulated to be instruments of their revenge. His uncle was a trusting dupe who believed the lies of the Jedi and then spent his life trying to perpetuate them. His mother was a misguided reformer who too quickly resorted to terrorism to achieve her aims. Whether she was aiding the Alliance during the Rebellion years or breaking away from the New Republic to form the Resistance, Leia Organa was quick to violence. And Kylo thinks that made her a hypocrite in the end. Their ends justified their means just like for Lord Vader, Kylo complains. For how else can he explain his uncle trying to murder him in his sleep? One person's freedom fighter is another person's terrorist, he grumbles, it just depends on your point of view.

Rey listens passively to him and, in turn, Kylo lets her speak. What they share is honest and sometimes embarrassing. Kylo admits to a lot of mistakes and she owns up to a few regrets, too. Rey knows she has issues and she's learning that Kylo has quite a few of his own. Mostly, he is concerned with trust and family loyalty, two things that are very hard for her. But it helps to explain why Kylo had kept insisting that she join him. In turn, Kylo knows how much she fears loneliness and craves stability. After their Jakku talks, he stops teasing her about her survival stash and no longer nags at her to eat.

Other people might be broken by their travails. But being who they are, she and Kylo have each emerged merely damaged. But determined. The grit that helped her survive the desert is the same determination that he brings to his vision of the future. The loneliness that dogged her on Jakku is the same fear that fuels his insistence on her commitment to marriage. The conflict that made them enemies now brings them together as they fumble towards a detente in the Force.

But is it possible to transcend the hurts of yesterday? She and Kylo are both so trapped by their past even as they say their want a different future. Kylo tells her over and over again to let the past die even in the same breath that he speaks of Darth Vader. And Rey can't talk about Jakku without inwardly thinking of her parents and wondering if those whispers in the Force from the man claiming to be her father are true. It makes Rey worry that they are both fools who will fall victim to their own hubris. That there is no balancing the Force and uniting the galaxy. It's all just a hoax of their own making because nothing ever changes. That's why people say history repeats itself. When she voices those fears aloud, Kylo nods his agreement. All we can do is try, he admits.

About four weeks in, Kylo leaves early for a day trip to Chandrila. That means for the first time in a long time, Rey presents herself at the Chancellor's office to sit in on Army's early morning meeting. She used to do this daily but that was before Empire Day.

Army raises an eyebrow even as he smiles at her entrance. "Well, hello there. Stranger, you're late," he censures as he waves her into an adjacent chair. "But at least you're here. I figured you quit the Senate since you're never here."

Rey flushes and grumbles as she sits down. "I've been busy. But I'm here now."

Army turns back to his Chief of Staff to finish the conversation she has interrupted. "Ren has called another meeting on the project for later this week. Make sure it's on my calendar. I don't want him building that thing without my involvement."

"Yes, Sir," the staffer responds. Army might no longer be a general but he runs his office and the Senate with the military protocol he was raised on.

"Dismissed."

"Yes, Sir."

The staffer rises to leave and so does Rey, but Army shoos her back down. "Sit, Senator. We're not done yet." Hux crosses the room now to start tinkering with his pride and joy, the coffeemaker she accidentally tried to steal. It makes a series of unappealing loud slurping noises and gurgles as Rey sits waiting. They've done this routine before. In due time, Army delivers her a steaming cup with courtly flourish. "Behold my latest specialty. An extra hot, double shot caf with low foam and a pinch of cardamom."

"What does that mean in Basic?" Rey deadpans as she takes a sip and ruins the perfectly symmetrical emoji smiley face Army has drawn in the milky froth on the surface. Unlike his boss Kylo Ren, Army Hux loves little details.

"It means good caf," Army informs her a bit indignantly. "Better than anything they pour in your office. Er . . . I hope. I'm still breaking in that machine. It takes months to master the subtleties of a good coffeemaker. Like all good mechanics, it is temperamental and must be finessed to achieve consistency." Army sits back down and cocks his head thoughtfully as he picks up his own cup. "It puts me in mind of the Starkiller, actually."

"Does that mean it's going to blow up?" Whenever Army brings up Starkiller Base to needle her, Rey needles back. It's become their inside joke.

"The planet collapsed," he reminds her frostily. "It imploded rather than exploded. There was no blowing up."

"You loved that weapon way too much."

"It's true. Such a marvelous machine," he muses. "She went out with a bang. Like the New Republic."

Rey doesn't take the bait to play the role of righteous rebel. She's sort of over that posture now. Instead, she stifles a yawn. "I really need this caf today. Thanks." Rey takes another big slurp.

"Up all night with Ren?" Army inquires sourly. When she doesn't immediately respond, Hux exhales loudly and scowls at her. Then he pokes at his datapad and passes it across the table. "Drink that and look at this."

Rey casts her eyes over the holonet page open on the datapad. "A tabloid? Really, Army, I would have thought this beneath you."

"Do not underestimate my worldliness. I have high standards but every now and then even I indulge in a little bad taste. Are you reading?" he prompts impatiently.

"How can I not? This headline is screaming at me. 'Leader steals Hux girlfriend,'" she groans aloud. Yikes.

"Keep reading and keep swiping." Army sits back now looking very smug. "Our Supreme Leader is not only an ineffectual administrator of questionable sanity but now he's a petty asshole too. And you are the damsel in distress caught in the middle." Army nods over at the picture she's squinting at that shows her and Army chatting off to the side in the crowded arena on Empire Day. "Great shot by the way. You photograph beautifully. We do look good together, even if that's not my best angle."

"Ugh." Rey groans again. "This is bad. This is very bad."

"Don't say that. All press is good press when it makes Ren look bad."

Rey keeps skimming the salacious article full of rampant speculation. Even if the gist of the facts is sort of true, the details are most certainly manufactured. 'Unnamed Palace sources confirm,'" she reads aloud, raising an eyebrow at Army. "Does that mean you?" she accuses.

He feigns innocence. "Whatever can you mean? I don't work at the Palace."

"No, but your buddies do."

"Yes," Hux confirms with a tight and satisfied smile. "Yes, they do."

"I'm not your girlfriend." Rey takes objection to that characterization.

"I know that. You know that. But the public doesn't know that. They think we are the star-crossed lovers of the Senate. Torn apart by the cruel, jealous villain Kylo Ren," Army expounds theatrically like he's giving one of his speeches.

Rey keeps reading. "'A newcomer distinguished mostly by her youth and extremist pro-Republic politics, the Senator is an odd match for Coruscant's most eligible bachelor, the playboy widower and distinguished general Armitage Hux.' Wait—you were married?" Rey looks up.

Hux nods slowly. "Yes. Don't go there. Never go there."

"Okay." Rey squints down at the datapad as she continues the article in an incredulous tone. "'Political opposites attract in this case. Sources say sparks flew when the new Senator scored an office right next door to the Chancellor. The pair were instantly an item but they only went public on Empire Day. That's when the lovely Senator made an ill-advised scene in front of Leader Ren concerning the now disgraced Kuat Senator Cade Biggs who has since been indicted on corruption charges. In a political stunt worthy of the late Leia Organa, the Senator demanded that Biggs be given a trial. In his only show of mercy on Empire Day, Leader Ren relented but then retaliated by arresting her. The arrest turned out to be house arrest when the Leader stole the Senator for his very own.'"

Rey has read enough. She tosses the datapad back to Army. She needs practical advice now. "Does my office need to issue a denial for this? Or is this publication too scurrilous to acknowledge?"

Army chuckles. "Oh, by all means deny it. I'm denying it. It will give the story legs."

Rey groans again. How is Kylo going to react to this? She doesn't know. "I think I'll just ignore it," she decides. She'll ignore it and hope that Kylo never learns of it.

"Suit yourself. That will add some ambiguity to the mix," Army smiles happily.

His smugness grates. Rey is half tempted to choke him with the Force, but this is Army and he's her friend so she swallows her anger. "I didn't need to start my workday with this," she complains sullenly.

"Then how about some real news?" Army offers as he takes back his datapad. "Ren is sending a third of the fleet into the Unknown Regions. It's a five-year mission to explore strange new worlds. To seek out new life. To boldly go where no man has gone before." The Chancellor's tone is as grandiose as it is sarcastic.

None of that is news to Rey. She gives an apathetic shrug. "He's expanding the Empire."

"He's taking some of the best ships with the best commanders and exiling them. How very convenient," Army observes.

Rey rolls her eyes. "They are off to conquer in the name of the Empire."

"Only ostensibly. Have you read the rules of engagement? We only get to conquer if we encounter unprovoked aggression. We come in peace, apparently." Army clearly finds that sentiment to be preposterous. "Who does that?" he wonders aloud. "Ren is getting soft and he's making the First Order soft, too."

"Who cares?" Rey doesn't. She doesn't care much about galactic affairs these days. She's consumed with her own problems.

The Chancellor ignores her remark. "I'm supposed to announce it later this week in a speech. Ren's office gave me an outline of themes. It's long on scientific discovery, outreach to new cultures and species, and hopes for opening new trade routes and hyperspace lanes. It's rather short on conquest. This isn't about expanding the Empire and bringing law and order to wild space. This is mostly about diplomacy and commerce. But its real benefit is that Ren gets to ditch a third of the fleet."

"That's a lot," Rey nods. But she, unlike Hux, knows the full reason why. There's a lot of the Unknown Regions still to be mapped and Kylo is determined to find the mystery Sith he believes hides there.

"It's a lot especially on top of all those peacetime budget cuts. There was even talk of scaling back the stormtrooper program but thankfully Ren declined to go that far," Hux complains. "But still . . . at this rate of demilitarization, in five years we're going to end up like the Old Republic without a standing army."

"Who cares?" Rey sighs again.

Army is miffed at her attitude. "Who cares?" he echoes. "That makes us vulnerable! The best and the brightest of the military will be off mapping wild space."

She slants Hux a knowing look. "Those are your supporters, aren't they?"

"Naturally."

"Guess your coup will have to wait five years," Rey concludes with a smirk.

Army bristles. "Not necessarily."

She smirks again. "Going to fire up the cloners and do it Old Republic style then?"

Hux's expression sours. He leans forward in his chair and asks plainly. "What's gotten into you, Rey? Where's all that wide-eyed idealism and zeal for reform? Why are you too bored to bother to show up for anything? And this snark isn't you. It's me," he points out. "You're not yourself lately," Army sniffs, "and I don't like it."

Yes, she isn't herself. But Rey doesn't answer. This is not a conversation she wants to have.

"Is it those eyes? I hate those yellow eyes. Can you do something about those eyes? They really creep me out."

Rey looks down. She hates her creepy eyes too. She is still very self-conscious about them.

"This is Ren's doing, isn't it?" When Rey hesitates, angry Army surmises, "This is how unhappy he has made you. That's why you have such a bad attitude—"

"He's helping me," Rey objects.

"Really? How?"

"He's teaching me the Force. He thinks that will help."

"So, you're the Apprentice now?"

"Yes." Rey might as well admit it, shameful though it is.

But Army's devious mind clearly sees possibilities in her role. "Good," he decides after a moment. "I can work with that."

"Oh, don't start," Rey cuts him off. "Enough with the treasonous overtures. You're a fool to set yourself up against a Skywalker," she warns.

"Snoke did it."

"Snoke had a Skywalker on his side," she points out. "And Snoke died before he could see it through. Ren won. Don't you see? A Skywalker always wins. They only lose if it's to another Skywalker. Don't do this, Army," Rey hisses. "You'll end up dead."

The Chancellor lifts his chin and looks down his perfectly straight patrician nose at her. "So I should tolerate the Empire being run by an insane tyrant?"

"Don't pretend you wouldn't be a tyrant yourself," she scoffs. "This isn't about saving the galaxy from Kylo, this is about advancing your own ambitions."

"Yes," Army plainly admits. "It's a win-win for me and the galaxy."

Rey just shakes her head. "You'll never do it."

He is offended at her assessment. "So you're saying only some Force freak can rule the galaxy?"

"Probably. Unless it's a democracy. Look, if it's not Ren, then it will be the next guy who comes along," Rey warns, thinking of the mystery Sith who kept both Palpatine and Snoke up at night and who now worries Kylo greatly.

"How about the next gal who comes along?" Hux says coyly. "Why don't you be my Skywalker? Learn all you can from Ren and then use it against him. You've beaten him once already."

"Stop asking me for treason," she growls. "I mean it. Enough!"

"One day the answer will be yes," Army says softly. "When you are done with him, come to me. I will help you escape him."

"I won't be deposing Kylo Ren," Rey answers flatly. She doesn't want to, and moreover, she needs Kylo's help. She might not agree with his methods and politics, but she does agree with his goal of balance. He's right that they are strongest together as allies.

Hux's eyes narrow as he peers at her with suspicion. "You're not falling in love with him, are you?"

"No!"

"He's got power and wealth going for him, I suppose. And maybe some women would be into that sad prince thing he's got happening. But that hair . . . " Army shakes his head in disapproval. "It's a good thing he wears a helmet to cover that mullet." The Chancellor shoots her a peevish, annoyed look now. He becomes predictably petty. "You know, Ren would be nothing without the Force. He has violent reclusive loser written all over him. If he wasn't a Skywalker, he's be spending hours in a basement somewhere working on his grand manifesto to publish on the holonet before he goes to shoot up a school in some pathetic murder-suicide rampage."

"Army!" Rey can feel her temper rising fast. It's time to end this conversation.

"It's true. Whatever you do, don't get pregnant."

"Army!" This time, Rey shoots to her feet. She's heard enough.

But Hux keeps spewing venom. "Mark my words, if you start mothering his baby Darth Vaders, your life is over. He's the controlling megalomaniac type that would love a dynasty."

"Shut up, Army!" Rey's tone is less offended and more warning now.

But the Chancellor is just warming to his theme. He runs with his scenario. "He'll dump you at his ancestral lava castle and stop by for conjugal visits every so often. Then it'll be twin Force babies every year 'til you're forty. Everywhere you look, some caped and masked kid will be melting down and breaking things just like dear old dad still does at age forty."

"SHUT UP!" Rey hollers. Taking Kylo's advice not to bottle up her feelings, she vents her anger with words and with the Force. The coffee cup and saucer Army holds now implode just like Kylo taught her with the kitchen glasses. It sends extra hot, double shot caf with low foam and a pinch of cardamom all over Army's handsome Chancellor robes. As fastidious Army leaps up to survey the damage, Rey screams out, "He's helping me! I need his help! So leave him alone! Don't fuck with Ren or you're fucking with me!" she screeches at the top of her lungs.

It's a totally unexpected, profane, and hysterical declaration of loyalty that appears to shock them both.

"Oh, no. You are in love with him." Armitage Hux is truly aghast as he says the words.

Feeling herself teetering on the edge of control, Rey needs to break something else before she melts down. So, with a grunt, she clenches her fists and focuses her mind and now her own coffee cup and saucer sitting on the table implode in a mess.

"I'll be in my office," she snarls as she stalks off fast, brushing past the curious staffers who have some to investigate the fuss.

"I hope you know what you're doing," Army calls after her.