A/N: A big thanks to SirenBanshee. You are one amazing beta!

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It felt like an unnatural way of fighting. He was trying his best not to be bothered by his Guard getting through his defences every now and then, because his mind was too focussed on finding moments of unclarity in the information the Force was giving him. At the same time, he tried not to let his diverted attention influence his fighting style too much, while also attempting to not accidentally kill one of his Guard because he was using his saber.

It was enough to give him a headache. Something he couldn't afford at that moment either.

"Ten minutes." Phasma's voice rang through the hall and they stopped their sparring. "Anything, sir?" she asked.

Kylo shook his head. The Guards rotated and they began again.

Every ten minutes, the Guard swapped places. They were at it for almost an hour and they were all getting tired when it finally happened.

"Halt!" Kylo barked.

The Guard froze and Kylo swirled around. "What changed?" he demanded.

"Arima disregarded her training," Xian—who was the one with observation duty that round—said. It didn't sound accusatory, more like he couldn't believe that Arima had the audacity to do such a thing.

"Arima?" Kylo asked.

She planted her fist on her chest. "I crossed behind Mysta," she stated simply. "It indeed goes against our training. You fight next to each other when facing a single opponent. Crossing each other is bound to be problematic and is highly unnecessary, but nothing was causing you discomfort so I decided to do the wildest thing I could imagine."

"It worked," Kylo answered her.

He worried his lips, thinking about how to proceed. Given that the only thing that had changed was Arima's behaviour, it was more than likely that was the cause for the sudden confusion in the signals of the Force. Yet, he needed to be sure.

"We're done sparring for now," he said. "This theory needs to be tested. I need three of you- No."

Kylo closed his eyes for a second, reaching out to test if he could focus on all of them together. If they weren't fighting, then his attention wouldn't be divided and three might not be enough to create the same effect.

"I want all of you to stand behind me," he corrected himself. "At random moments, you will pass each other. Every time my perception of the Force changes, I will state it. Phasma, if you could keep track of how correct my assessments are?"

Phasma nodded and they assumed their positions. Kylo frowned. Even with six Guards behind him, this would be too easy if they just stood there.

"Move around," he said. "Do some forms, walk around, mock fight. It doesn't matter what, just as long as you aren't standing still. And make sure you only cross when you mean to."

A chorus of 'Sir' echoed behind him and Kylo closed his eyes, focussing solely on the Force. It was straining to keep track of six of them. Then, for a split second, there were only five of them in his mind, and it took another split second to make sense of how one person suddenly became two again.

"Now," Kylo stated, not losing concentration.

It happened again and again. When he counted about 25 of them, he put an end to it.

"Did I miss any?" he asked Phasma.

"None, sir."

"It seems we have the beginning of a battle plan, then," he stated, unsure whether to be happy or bothered about it. He turned towards the Guard. "Are you all up to repeating this a couple more times?" he asked them.

Four of them reacted an affirmative; only Matt and Natasha hesitated.

"I think I speak for the both of us when I say we would love to be of service here," Matt said, "but I believe we both have a shift coming up."

They turned to Phasma, who checked the time.

"In ten minutes, yes," she confirmed.

Kylo gave them a greeting, which they promptly returned. "I thank you for your hard work," he said. "You are free to leave."

Once they were gone, he addressed the remaining Guard. "I wish to test if there is a minimum amount of people needed for the," he hesitated, "glitch," he finally settled on, "to happen. Phasma, if you would join then we can test with five, then four, and so on."

It was dinnertime when Kylo finally decided to call it a day. He concluded the glitch happened no matter how many people were milling about behind him, but the fewer there were, the quicker he recovered from it. He thanked his Guard and watched them leave before turning towards Phasma.

"I'm afraid this means a new form of combat will need to be developed," he stated. "It really does go against everything they learned, and everything we teach our Troopers. Do you feel up for that? Or would you prefer we called someone in?"

Phasma hesitated. "I need to think it through, sir," she finally said.

"Fair enough." He dragged a hand through his hair. "I'm famished and I need a shower. Let's head back."

While showering, he sighed at the prospect of yet another, lonely dinner. Even back on the Supremacy where he essentially ate alone as well, there was always chatter present from others around him. Here, while eating in either his office or his chambers, he often ended up feeling isolated.

Kylo frowned. Now that Burman had said yes and the first step had been taken, maybe he could risk joining the Knights for dinner? He wondered what effect it would have. Would they tense up again, or would they accept his presence as an offer of companionship?

He worried his lips as he stepped out of the freshner. Once dressed, he called out to Phasma, who promptly entered.

"Do you know with which group Ember eats?" he asked. "With the crew or with the Knights?"

"Most often with the Knights," Phasma answered, her tone lightly questioning. "She tends to dump Hux on one of the Guard around dinner."

Kylo snorted at the statement. "Can you get her here before dinner starts?"

"I'll have her summoned now."

Before long, Ember arrived.

"Did you know Burman was going to accept?" he asked her upon entry, suddenly wondering.

"He agreed?" she asked, sounding slightly incredulous. "He said he wanted to ask a few questions."

"He wanted to know what he would gain from the Force, then accepted," Kylo explained.

"You'll have your work cut out for you, teaching him."

Kylo rolled his eyes. "We'll see," he said, neutral. "But that's not why I requested you here," he continued. "I was wondering how the Knights would take it if I joined them for dinner. In all honesty, I'm tired of eating alone."

Ember gazed at him for a while. He could see she was thinking it over, so he didn't pressure her.

"You fear they'll interpret it as you monitoring them or as a way to pressure them?" she eventually asked.

Kylo nodded.

She shrugged. "I think you've shown them often enough in the past days that you have no intention of doing that," she said.

"So you believe it to be acceptable?"

"I don't see why not. Their dinner shift starts in ten minutes, by the way."

Again, Kylo nodded.

"I have been neglecting your training," he stated after a moment. "Have you been able to stop the blaster bolts yet?"

Ember grinned, looking quite pleased with herself. "I have."

"Who have you been training with? Is the Guard helping you?"

"No. Lane has been shooting at me."

"What?" Kylo exclaimed.

"Oh, don't get worked up," Ember said, careless. "She's not a bad shot."

Kylo stared at her, trying to comprehend. "How did this come about?" he managed to ask.

"There was a malfunction with the lighting in the training hall while I was training there with one of your Guard. This was before you arrived. Lane walked in to fix it. We immediately switched to target practice, of course, pretending that I was teaching the Guard some tricks. I believe it was Natasha I was training with. That girl does not need extra shooting tricks. She's quite proficient with a blaster.

"Anyway, I kept noticing how Lane's gaze repeatedly turned our way so I asked her if she wanted to try. Her enthusiasm was almost as bad as Shadow's." Ember shivered a little. "It turned out she had always wanted to learn how to shoot with a blaster, but never had the opportunity. It's not like we have shooting ranges for fun. And she never wanted to become a Trooper, so she had no other option but to watch from the sidelines. Which is too bad, really, because she got the hang of it rather quickly. Before long, she actually managed to hit the target.

"So, after you got here and explained to the crew about the Force, I explained to her what she had walked in on that day and asked her if she wanted to help out. She's been very eager to shoot in my general direction ever since."

He didn't know how to form a response to that. He just stood there, gazing at Ember in disbelief. She'd let a novice, someone without any shooting experience at all, shoot at her with a blaster without knowing for sure it wouldn't hit her.

"The blaster was put to stun, of course," Ember added, as if reading his mind.

"Did she ever hit you?"

"There's been a few close calls, but no actual hits so far."

"So far…"

"Well, now that I can stop the blaster bolts, I have her actively aiming at me. Before, it was just my general direction."

"Do you really not see the danger of this?" Kylo barked.

He wasn't angry, he noted to his own surprise. He was, however, completely flabbergasted at Ember's behaviour.

"It adds some excitement to an otherwise boring training," she answered with a shrug.

Kylo dragged a hand through his hair and sighed. "Just don't get hit," he allowed.

"Trying my best to prevent that," Ember answered dryly.

She sounded way too amused for his liking.

"Either way," he said with a minute shake of his head, "if you're comfortable with stopping the blasts, you can try throwing them away from you. Tell your training buddy to lie down first so you don't accidentally hit her either."

"Throw them away?" Ember asked.

"Yes. Very much like summoning a cushion, but then in the other direction. Start with simply sending it back where it came from. Once you've accomplished that, you can try to turn the bolt in the air and send it some other way." He gave her a stern look. "It's not as easy as it sounds. Be careful. Let me or Phasma know when you're training. I'll come check up on you when I have the time."

"Yes, sir."

He shook his head again. "Let's go down to eat," he sighed, leaving his quarters.