A/N: A big thanks to SirenBanshee. You are one amazing beta!
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When he walked out of his chambers the next day, there was still no sign of Phasma. He frowned and turned to the Trooper present.
"The commander has relayed that she will join you in an hour or two," the man promptly stated.
"What is she up to?"
"I have no idea, sir. We were not involved."
That caused Kylo to frown even more. Something was definitely wrong for Phasma to be behaving as such. There would be questions once she reappeared.
After training and breakfast, he found himself back in his office. As predicted—and wholly ignored while he was away—the amount of reports had piled up, even in his short absence. He half expected Derek to show up and harass him, despite how he had scared the man only days ago.
Kylo was working his way through his second report of the day when the door to his office hissed open. Phasma walked in, her helmet under her arm and a grave look on her face.
"Sir," she said.
"Finally," he answered, taking in her subdued body language. "What's going on?"
Much to his surprise and dismay, Phasma kneeled and bowed her head. "I have failed you, sir."
"You what?" he questioned, confused. "Commander, get up and explain."
"Sir. It appears there is a spy among your Troopers. I have failed in their screening and compromised your safety. Please meet out your punishment."
Kylo clenched his fists. "A spy?" he growled, trying to reign in the anger he could feel rising. He wasn't angry at Phasma, but at the fact that someone had betrayed him. His anger was aimed at the spy. "Explain fully," he commanded after a couple of deep breaths.
"I found it suspicious that Maz Kanata would know of your meeting with the girl," Phasma started, her head still bowed even though she was standing again. "Your Troopers and I handled the entire process. We were very meticulous. I doubted the information somehow got past us and the ship crew.
"While you visited the base yesterday, I took it upon myself to conduct a thorough research. The Troopers I sent with you to the base had already been cleared of suspicion. I was still conducting the screening when you arrived back, sir; my apologies for not greeting you.
"This morning, I confronted the Trooper responsible and transferred her to a secluded section of the prison. I did not involve any of your other Troopers as to not lower morale. I will leave it up to you how to further deal with this situation."
Kylo focussed intently on subduing his rage. He did not want Rey to notice through the bond and come ask questions, neither did he want to throw a fit. He liked to believe he had matured enough to prevent those from happening.
"Take me to this spy," he finally ordered through clenched teeth.
"Certainly, sir."
The Trooper that had escorted him that morning was still standing guard at the door. He looked from Phasma, to Kylo, and back, obviously unsure of what to do.
"Is my presence required, sir?" he finally asked.
"It is not," Kylo answered, trying his best to sound normal.
He realised he had no idea what his Troopers did all day when the man gave a greeting and strode off. Storing the information—or rather the lack of it—in the back of his mind, he followed Phasma towards the prison cells.
"Who is guarding her?"
"A couple of droids, sir. I've locked her in a secure cell. She's been stripped of her armour and weapons. The droids have been ordered to stun her if she gets too close to them or if she shows any signs of aggressive behaviour."
"She?"
"Yes, sir. Her chosen name is Jessy, her number TL-6703."
He didn't respond and followed Phasma in silence. By the time they arrived, he felt like he had a safe enough grip on his anger to confront the woman. Phasma unlocked the door and walked in first, her hand on the blaster strapped to her side. Kylo stepped in after her, assessing the woman standing in wait.
"Supreme Leader," Jessy greeted with a bow.
He wanted to comment on her audacity to greet him as if she was still one of his Troopers, when he felt Rey nudge him over the bond. Instead of voicing his opinion, he morphed his face into something menacingly contemplative and answered Rey in silence.
"I'm sorry, Rey, but now is not a good time. I'll explain later."
He tried to close their bond but she violently tugged at it. "What did you do?" she asked him, sounding stressed.
"Excuse me?"
"Ben, what did you do? Maz is in a right fit. She's glaring at me in that fierce way of hers and commanding that I contact you."
"What?" he shouted, forgetting about staying silent. He ignored the surprised looks from Phasma and Jessy.
"I've never seen her like this, Ben. What's going on?"
He snarled, turning furious eyes on the spy. "How does Maz already know you've been discovered?" he ground out as his rage turned into ice in his veins.
"Ben?" Rey questioned. He ignored her.
"How can you possibly know that she does?" Jessy answered, squaring her shoulders and facing him head on.
"Ben!" Rey cried out. "Explain to me what's going on! Maz keeps urging me to tell you her spies are neutral. What happened?"
"We caught one," he thought towards Rey, keeping his eyes fixed on Jessy's.
"What?" Rey exclaimed. "You had a spy on his ship?"
Kylo blinked in a moment's confusion until he realised Rey was getting equally as confused in their four-way conversation as he was.
"Maz wants to talk to you."
"Isn't she already?"
Rey snorted. "This is confusing. Can I show you my surroundings? I'll have her talk to thin air," she said, sounding irked.
"I need to relocate first. I'll contact you."
She hummed and closed the bond. Kylo could almost see her glaring at Maz and wondered what she would be telling the small woman between now and when they connected again.
"You will stay here until further notice," he snapped at Jessy, before turning and stalking out of the cell.
Phasma quickly followed. "Sir?" she questioned.
"Maz got to Rey and harassed her to contact me. It seems this woman knows more than we thought if she knows we can communicate."
The idea that someone knew about the bond filled him with dread. The entire situation filled him with dread and rage. He marched further down the hall and into another cell.
"Guard the door," he barked at Phasma before walking in and nudging Rey.
Rey immediately responded, shimmering into view with an annoyed expression on her face. She tilted her head at him and he nodded. Not long after, he found himself in an unknown meeting room. He narrowed his eyes at Maz and growled.
"He's standing over there," Rey said with a wave in his direction. "He wanted to see you, and now he can. I'll convey his words."
"Good," Maz said, turning towards Kylo with scary accuracy.
"You!" Kylo bellowed. "You dare plant a spy on the Supremacy, let alone in my personal guard? What is your goal, puny woman? How many secrets are you selling, and to whom? I do not take kindly to this invasion of my privacy. There will be consequences." He took a step forward. "There will be hell to pay."
"Ben," Rey interrupted.
He gave her a sideways look, having all but forgotten about her in his anger. He ground his teeth but nodded.
Rey sighed and turned to Maz. "He's mad, understandably. You did put a spy in his honour guard. He's anything but happy with it and wonders about what you've done with the information you've gathered." She glanced at him before continuing. "He's promising retribution."
Kylo turned and stared at her. "Really, Rey?" he questioned.
She shrugged in response.
"Don't be so bloody kind to her!"
"I'm not going to yell at her like you did."
"He yelled at me?" Maz interceded.
"Of course he yelled at you, Maz. He's pissed off. So am I."
"What will he do with my spy?"
Rey looked at him for an answer. Kylo growled again and dragged a hand through his hair.
"Do you think you can uphold a two-way bond? Or are you too tired?" he asked Rey. "I'll help, of course."
"Like when… Like that one time?" she asked in response.
"Yes."
She tilted her head. "We can try," she said before walking up to Maz. "We're going to try something," Rey told the tiny woman. "I don't know how long I can keep it up, so make it a short conversation."
Maz made a noncommittal noise and nodded. As Rey put her hand on Maz's shoulder, Kylo poured his energy into the bond, helping her to widen it.
"Kylo Ren," Maz said, signaling their success. "Long time, no see."
"Don't act so cordial with me, woman!" Kylo snapped. "You really think you can put a spy within my guard and get away with it?"
He approached her, staring down at the woman that only barely reached halfway up his thighs. She seemed unperturbed with him looming over her.
"You will tell me what you know and what you did with the information," he hissed at Maz. "And you will pay for this; I can guarantee you that!"
Kylo only barely managed to suppress a flinch as the tiny woman poked him in the leg.
"Oh, get off your high horse, Kylo Ren! It's not like you don't have any spies in our camps."
"Not in your main base, I don't," he admitted.
Maz chuckled. "And we both know the reason for that," she responded with a glance at Rey. "Besides, you do know where it is, don't you?"
Kylo only glared at her in response and Maz gave him a smug smile.
"I only wish to ask you not to kill Jessy. My spies are all neutral," Maz continued.
"Yet, you now live with—and I guess even run—the Resistance," he sneered at her.
"Well, you did blow up my watering hole."
He curled his lip, knowing she was right but also remembering the hologram she had secretly delivered to him after.
Maz gave him another one of her infuriating, knowing looks. "I collect knowledge for the sake of knowledge," she said. "When I figured out the bond between you two, I tried to call Jessy back. She refused, stating she wanted to stay because 'things were getting interesting'. I'm telling you she is neutral."
"I'm having a hard time believing that."
"Boy! I'm more than a thousand years old. If you live that long, a home becomes tiny and a planet becomes a boring place. Seeing the big players in the Galaxy one-up each other is the only entertainment I have."
"You are no longer neutral in this, so neither are your spies."
"I'm keeping a bunch of hot-heads from committing suicide missions. That's hardly picking a side. If any, it would seem I'm choosing yours."
Kylo narrowed his eyes at her. "What do you expect me to do? Keep her on my team? Have her continue to relay information to you? Or send her back to you and making it easier for her to communicate everything she knows? So you can ask her to draw up plans and schematics of the Supremacy?"
"Oh, don't fret, boy. I already have all of those. There won't be anything new she could tell me."
Kylo exploded. He barely managed to restrain himself from hitting Maz, but he could distantly hear items crashing. It gave him a bit of vertigo to know he had destroyed a room but having the one he was seeing remain undamaged.
"You truly expect me to allow her to live if she revealed so much classified information? Has your age addled your brain?"
"Don't insult me, Kylo Ren! I can see the man you are, the one you were, and the one you're becoming."
He snorted, covering up the insecurity he felt. That woman saw too much. "And what would I gain from letting her go?" he questioned.
"She's the only one left on your ship. The others were recalled some time ago. Your ship will be free of my spies."
"You think I'm gullible?" he snarled.
"I think you don't want to kill her."
"Then you don't know me at all."
"Ben…"
Both Maz and Kylo glanced at Rey. She was sweating, her eyes pinched closed, and her mouth set in a thin line.
Maz turned towards him and raised a non-existent eyebrow.
"I will take your words into consideration," he snapped at Maz before turning towards Rey. "Let go, Rey," he said, ignoring yet another one of Maz's smiles.
"You're not finished yet," Rey muttered.
"We've said what needed to be said, girl," Maz intervened. "There is no use in exhausting yourself further."
Hating himself for it, Kylo found himself agreeing with her. "You better take good care of her," he threatened Maz before gently disengaging the bond.
He blinked and found himself back on the Supremacy, in the middle of a wrecked room. Even though everything in the cell had been bolted against either the floor or the wall, the furniture was still bent beyond recognition. Somehow, slashes had appeared on the wall even though he hadn't as much as touched his saber.
"Phasma!" he yelled.
The door immediately hissed open. "Yes, sir?" Phasma asked, covertly glancing around the room before returning her attention to him.
"We need to talk," Kylo stated.
