Engineering—in one word—was a disaster. Crew members ate buckets of field rations behind glass barriers cheering on the women. Many whooped, pumping their fists. A few "I love you"s erupted from their ranks.

The oldest Hapes sister Roan had come by twice, but seeing her younger siblings were still beating the living tar out of each other, she left promptly left each time.

Drenched in sweat and tear gas, the sisters panted exhausted. Clothing torn, hair dissolved, and still flashing hateful eyes, the wild women glared at each other taking a moment to catch their breaths.

"You finished?" Ru asked them.

"No!" They both spat at him in unison.

Blaze wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, hardly removing her fiery eyes off her sister. She growled through haggard breaths, "I want my belt."

"Over my dead body," River retorted through pants.

"For the love of the stars!" Ru burst. "It's just a belt!"

"It's not just a belt!" The women shouted in unison. "Stay out of this!"

They weren't the only ones that wanted hm to 'stay out of it'. Several crew members pelted him with snacks, yelling for him to 'shut up' and to 'let them fight.' Enraged, he spun on them. The crew whistled, staring anywhere but at his rage.
"Who threw the chicken wings?" He sounded shrill and strained even to his own ears. "Who threw the chicken?!"

How they even got the Mandalorian chicken wings on the ship in the first place was beyond him, but the lieutenant commander was not in the mood to investigate the smuggling of alien chicken aboard a Star Destroyer. He was too tired and too angry.

A loud gravelly sigh erupted from Lord Ren's mask. It was rare to hear the Knight of Ren to sigh, so every crew member froze.

His shoulders started shaking. A gurgling sound tumbled out of him until it rolled into a loud garbled laughter.

Stormtroopers slowly backed away. Ru inched behind cover. An impending doom filled them to the core as they assumed the terror that was going to follow—and none of them wanted to be in the Knight of Ren's sights when it did. The dark laughter stopped in a disquieting second.

The black and silver mask slowly turned back to the women. "Ladies…" The baleful voice began, wafting a haunting sensation, "you're finished in your exploits…" Lord Ren reached his gloved hand inside his tunic. "…if you want…"

All the men flinched, cowering. Eyes wide they swiftly hid themselves, even the crew behind the protective barriers dove for cover.

"…this." Kylo whipped out his fist.

Peeking from behind his cover, Ru saw to his surprise an expensive jeweled necklace dangled from the sith's fingers.

River took an intake of breath, eyes widening. She waved her arm animatedly, jumping up and down to some of the crew's delight. "Me! Me! It's mine!"

"Give up the belt." Lord Ren coldly held out his other hand, crunching his fingers back at himself.

"No…" She recoiled an inch, but her eyes never left the necklace.

"You want this?" He moved the piece of jewelry back and forth.

Her head tracked after it like a rancor a piece of meat. He moved it to the left. River's head turned to the left. He held it up. She looked up. He lowered it. Her attention followed.

"Hmmm," he mused to himself, not sounding particularly happy, "Apple was right." He moved the necklace in a circle, testing the red-headed zombie.

She moved her head in a circle.

"Fetch." Kylo Ren tossed it to the far corner of engineering.

River scampered after it. He force snatched the belt from her hips as she ran after the necklace. The belt flew into his palm.

"All this over a belt?" He grumbled to himself, dark side wafting off him in disgust. "Wasted anger."

He tossed the leather strap at Blaze, barking, "Now go to bed!"

She caught it, nuzzling it against her cheek. "Thank you! Thank you!" She cooed to the belt, "My baby is back. Yes, you are my Kilson baby. That's right."

River squealed, dancing with her brand new necklace. "It's so pretty! So pretty!"

"Girls are weird," an officer said beside the dark knight.

Kylo swiveled his upper body to look at the Ensign. "Only crazy-afterburner witches. And these," he held open his hand at them, "Are Crazy-A witches."

Strapping the belt to her hips, Blaze swayed them back and forth as if testing it out. With a coy smile, she curled a tear gas soaked, green lock around her finger at Lord Ren.

"What is she doing now?" The dark knight asked, sounding not particularly favorable to her change of attentions.

"I think she's flirting with you, your lordship." Ru came out of hiding, straightening his uniform jacket.

"Good hell," Kylo threw up his hand, "I'm going to bed." He spun on his heel to stalk off.

"I'll go with you!" Both women piped up then glared at each other.

"Oh no." Ru felt the color drain from his face.

Blaze howled at River with the fury of a Bantha. "You always go after every thing that I want."

She kicked a small canister at her sister.

River ducked. The canister sailed over her head to slam into a walkway above three engineers. They scrambled out of the way.

"Is someone going to stop her?" A random officer asked.

Lord Ren yawned behind his mask. "I see nothing wrong with her now."

The troopers all looked at him. Yeah, he wouldn't.

"It's a pity that she doesn't have the force," Kylo commented further, unfettered by their horrified expressions, "she'd make supernal Knight of Ren."
"She's like a female version of you," a nameless crew member murmured under his breath.

Kylo flicked his wrist and the technician went flying, tumbling over a railing with a scream.

Unconcerned that the man he tossed was dangling for his life as two soldier's attempted to rescue him, Kylo watched as Blaze tore apart a metal crate with her bare hands. Then threw the metal carcass into a line of troopers, knocking them down. Kylo nearly smiled, impressed.

"Hmm…" He noted with admiration. "So maybe the technician's observation was accurate." With a shrug, he waved his hand disengaging the security barriers and strode off.

"So," River sauntered up next to him, "You doing anything later?" Her smile turned sensuous, "Say for breakfast?"

The dark lord continue walking away.

"Ever consider taking off that mask," she flirtatiously nibbled on a tear-gas covered curl. "I could take it off for you."

He stopped to eye her disheveled form up and down. "Have you ever considered taking a bath?"

"If you'll join me…"

"Do you have the force?" He asked, audio-filtered voice dripping with sarcasm.

"No."

"Of course you don't," Lord Ren stalked off, black cape billowing behind himself, "you're inferior."

"I could bear you a force baby," she called after him.

"Only with subpar powers?" He flipped an obscene gesture back at her. "Not interested. Hail me when you have the force yourself."

"You're so hot!" She shouted to the dismay of more than half the men in engineering.

"I know." With that the dark form disappeared.

She curled a long scarlet lock around her finger to chew on it. "So surly. I like it."

Hux returned to the lounge to find the princess curled up on the couch, sound asleep. "I shouldn't have left her here," he frowned to Commander Rokens.

"But she insisted on waiting for him."

"Yes," the general ground his teeth, "for him. And where is the blasted sith?"

"Apparently the women gave engineering more trouble than anticipated." He glanced at his data pad. "Lieutenant Commander Ru assigned Ensigns We'lin and Li'u to escort the ladies separately back through security. There was quite the ruckus."

"And the eldest?" Hux inquired, more interested in watching the princess sleep then he was hearing about some Hapan banshee.

"No problems, except she seems to find the lavatories to be subpar," Rokens read.

The general watched as the princess curled herself more into a ball as she slept. "Simply angelic." He removed his outer jacket to cover her with it.

Tucking it under her chin, he carefully brushed the blonde curls away from her porcelain face. His fingers entangled in one platinum curl. Even in the lesser light he could see the darker shades of honey intermingle with the fairest blonde strands. He let the curl slip over his fingers. The length of her hair fell to her knees, and he took advantage of it, smoothing the curled tip of the lock against his lips. His nostrils breathed in her honey scent. He reached in his pocket. Slice.

"General?" Rokens lifted a skeptical eyebrow. "Did you just cut the princess's hair?"

"No," Hux spun to him, hiding the cut lock behind his back. Discreetly he folded the pocketknife into his palm. "What makes you say that?"

Rokens chuckled, shaking his head. "Nothing. Nothing at all."

A mousy-looking ensign stumbled into the room, tripping over droid innards. He glanced curiously at what he almost tripped over then handed Rokens another data pad. "The route draft, commander."

Rokens flicked his hand over the touchpad. A hologram erupted off it into the air, demonstrating the new and improved trade routes. "Its most certainly a start."

"We need you to input the command sequence, sir." The young ensign said happily, "And then we'll be able to insert it into the agreement."

Rokens nodded. "Very well." He flicked his eyes to his superior for a moment then followed the pointed-nosed officer out.

Hux watched him leave then hurriedly scanned the area around the couch for more glass. He went to his good knee before the sleeping princess, placing his hands on the couch back and arm over her. "I love you," he breathed close to her hair.

Closing his eyes, he absorbed her scent. "Marry me, my darling princess." He brushed his lips against her curls, careful not to wake her. "Marry me. I will give you strong children, and," he snuck a lock of her hair to caress it against his cheek and open mouth, "we will rule the universe together."

She stirred, only enough to nestle under his jacket. The red insignia of the First Order fell perfectly under her chin. Her lips parted in gentle breaths. He moistened his own lips. Just one kiss. He leaned closer, eyes on her mouth.

His hand slipped from the couch's back to intertwine in her long hair. "I love you," he whispered close to her mouth, "my sweet… perfect… princess."

Apple woke with a start, smacking her forehead into his nose. "Kylo!"

The general fell backwards, crashing into the coffee table. His hands went to his bloody nose, half in pain and half in astonishment.

"Oww!" She rubbed her forehead. "What did I hit?"

Hand on her reddening forehead, she blinked down at Hux sprawled before her grasping his face. Horror flashed across her features.

"Armitage!" She gasped, going to him. "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean too—" She babbled, almost on the verge of tears.

"Oh, here," she stuffed a handkerchief with her royal symbol on it into his hand. "Hold this against it, while I put pressure." She slipped her fingers onto the bridge of his nose. "I am so sorry."

The outside door hissed open.

Kylo Ren swept in, stopping stock still upon seeing Apple kneeling over the fallen general. "Please tell me you were trying to kill him."

Apple burst into tears. "I fell asleep waiting for you and Armitage apparently was just trying to cover me up with his jacket," she held up Hux's spun fiber coat, words spilling out rapidly, "But I felt your presence and suddenly woke up." She bawled, "I hit him in the head with my head, Kylo!" She blustered in-between sobs and sniffles, "And I think I broke his nose!" The last word came out as an unprecedented sob.

"Good," Kylo moved to snatch her arm, uprooting her to her feet. "He probably deserved it."

The dark mask slowly faced Hux, a cold menacing air wafted of the sith. "And you called him Armitage?" He encircled his aunt in his arm, pulling her close. He glared at Hux over her head. "At what point, did you two enter such familiarity? Especially being here in the dark alone."

"Oh we're not alone," she sniffled. "There are two stormtroopers right there." She pointed at the other door. "See."

"Apple, they're outside the door."

"Oh." She blinked then realization hit her in a wave of blushing, "Oh!"

Kylo steered her away. "You're going to your quarters."

"But what about his bloody nose?"

""Let him call the doctor," Lord Ren said steely then turned the helmet balefully at Hux a final time, "he'll most certainly need him."

And the unspoken threat was duly felt.

****So I will level with you, this one is not edited at all. So if there are typos, grammar errors, etc. I am sorry, but I'm just trying to get these chapters out. Please send in reviews and comments. I'd love to hear them.*****