A/N: A big thanks to SirenBanshee. You are one amazing beta!
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Kylo went to sit behind his desk, feeling exhausted.
"Your Force conversations remain decidedly odd to see," Phasma commented, surprising Kylo into a laugh.
"I can only imagine," he answered.
He quickly explained to Phasma what had been said.
"What now, sir?" she asked.
"I don't know," he admitted. He stood from his chair and settled on the ground next to his desk. "I need to think this through," he said before sinking into meditation.
His mind was whirling. There were questions, ideas, hopes, fears, options, and dead ends, all swirling around like a storm. He felt like he was losing control. He didn't like it one bit. And so he focused on calming it all down first, before trying to sort through it. A befitting solution must be among the mess somewhere.
When he finally opened his eyes again, he had decided on a course of action. There was risk involved, but he didn't want to disregard Maz's advice. They might not always see eye to eye, but he couldn't deny the experience that came with her age.
"How much time has passed?" he asked Phasma while rising from his position.
"A little more than an hour, sir."
Kylo was surprised. He had expected more time to have passed.
"Get me the ship's crew," he said.
He wanted to talk to them first, make sure they weren't involved, before he meted out his final judgement. Phasma walked to the door and gave the order to one of the Guard still standing outside before turning back to him.
"Have you come to a solution, sir?" she asked.
He hummed in answer. "I believe so."
It took about ten minutes for the crew to arrive. They were all trembling as they entered the office. Kylo watched them, trying to keep his face neutral but unable to prevent himself from scowling. The crew members were all of different ages and he noticed they were all sheltering the youngest among them. Kylo guessed the boy was about 17. They all bowed deeply, even as huddled together as they were.
"Explain," Kylo merely stated.
One of the men stepped forward and, even though he wasn't the oldest of the crew, his insignia declared him the captain of the ship. The worried looks the crew shot his way told Kylo he was both loved and respected.
"Supreme Leader," the man said with another bow. "I know it is no excuse, but we were just as surprised as everybody else to see this Rogue walk out of our ship. We had no idea he was on board, sir.
"We used the time between now and the arrest to conduct a thorough research into how this happened. It would seem Rogue inserted himself into the workers loading the ship and at one point simply didn't exit the ship anymore. We believe he hid himself among the cargo. The ship is being unloaded as we speak, but I've requested they keep an eye out for any possible hiding space and to document it once they come across one."
The man took a breath. "May any punishment befall me and not my crew, sir."
"Captain!" the youngest said, shocked.
He was jostled by a companion and quickly shut up.
Kylo ignored it. "How did Rogue know where the ship was headed?" he asked.
"Supreme Leader!" the boy exclaimed.
His companion elbowed him in the ribs, hard, causing the boy's breath to leave him with an 'oof'.
"Ah," Kylo said.
"He is young, sir," the captain said. "Forgive him a slip of the tongue."
"But, Captain," the boy started again, still sounding wheezed.
Kylo held up his hand to stop him. "You would be wise to listen to your colleagues, boy," he said.
The crew gave him surprised looks but at least the boy shut up.
Kylo turned to the captain again. "Relay all footage and other relevant information to my Head Administrator, Derek," he commanded. "You will stay on base until your fate has been decided upon."
"Yes, sir," the captain accepted with a greeting.
He eyed the boy. "Not a word of this incident is to be spoken outside of this base," he continued. "If this spreads, death will follow."
"Yes, sir," the entire crew now stated.
"I will take into account that the stowaway was a former Knight," he added.
There were a couple of surprised gasps at this revelation, but he ignored them.
"Get back to work."
The group filed out and Kylo sighed. He needed to ask Derek what the standard punishment was for situations like this, but he feared it would be met with the usual First Order harshness and end up being something like death or lifelong imprisonment. He shook his head. That was something to figure out with Derek later.
He sighed and steeled himself. "Daze, Quicksilver and Rogue," he simply said.
Again, Phasma gave her orders and again they waited. Daze and Quicksilver arrived first, Ember and the three Guard that had been assigned to her filing into the office with them. Rogue arrived not long after, with his own assortment of Guards.
"Four of the Guard remain, the rest of you, out," Kylo ordered.
Phasma quickly fired off four names, and those took defensive positions around the room while the others disappeared out the door. At the same time, Daze and Quicksilver kneeled on the floor like they had before, while Rogue remained standing. His body language was as nonchalant as ever, but Kylo spotted tension around the man's eyes.
"If I had any sense, I would execute you now and be done with it," he said, pacing. The trio stiffened but they didn't react any further. "Yet, that is not my preferred course of action."
He stopped his pacing in front of Rogue. "You have two choices," he said. "Either you renew your vows as a Knight and once more bind yourself to the First Order, or you die. Choose now."
Rogue stared at him, then looked away, clenching his jaw. The nonchalance was long gone, replaced by such tenseness it seemed like he would snap in two at any moment. Eventually, slowly and very reluctantly, Rogue went down on one knee.
"I am a Knight of Ren," he said. It visibly hurt him to do so. "I am elite. I will follow the Supreme Leader's every command. I will not hesitate. I will not question. My life is in his hands to do with as he pleases. I will fight until my last breath. I will show no mercy. To this, I swear."
Rogue slammed his chest thrice, as was requested of the vow, anger and disgust radiating off of him. Kylo merely huffed in response. He took two steps to face the other two.
"Daze of Ren, Quicksilver of Ren."
"Yes, sir?" they chorused.
"He's your responsibility now."
Daze dared to look up. "Uhm, sir?"
Kylo stared him down. "The small training hall will be turned into a room for the three of you," he started. "Until I decide otherwise, you will be confined there except for mealtimes and meditation sessions. No one will be allowed to visit. Whenever Rogue goes out, one or both of you will accompany him. If he's spotted alone in the hallway, you die. The same rule applies if, at one point, I decide to return to you your freedom of movement. He. Will. Not. Be. Left. Alone. Understood?"
"Yes, sir."
"Neither of you will be allowed any weapons. You are not allowed any time in the training hall, be it the one inside or outside. If either of you is spotted with a weapon, you die. If either is spotted in a training hall, you die.
"When outside your room, it is your responsibility to make sure Rogue behaves. If he misbehaves, you die. If he harasses any crew members, you die. If he as much as breathes wrong, you die. Obviously," Kylo turned towards Rogue, his tone somewhere between cold and gleeful, "every time they die, you die too.
"If you lot decide to make a run for it, I will hunt you down," he continued. "And no matter how good your skills at hiding are, I will find you. When I do, death will become something you plead for every single day, but I can promise you, it will never come." He eyed the three of them. "Have I made myself clear?"
"Yes, sir," they stated.
"You," he said to Quicksilver, "will allow me to search your mind."
Both Daze's and Quicksilver's heads snapped up. Daze turned concerned eyes to Quicksilver, who frowned lightly but accepted.
"Sir," Daze ventured carefully. "I am willing to offer my mind if it spares Quicksilver's."
Kylo eyed him. "Your mind holds no interest to me," he answered.
The answer clearly confused Daze, but he bowed his head in acquiescence.
"You are under probation," Kylo added to the three of them. "If I feel I made the wrong choice, I will not hesitate to change it."
"Yes, sir," they all answered again.
"Daze, Rogue, get out. Quicksilver, you stay. Guards, you are no longer needed; wait outside. Ember, you stay as well."
They stood and left, Daze with another worried glance at Quicksilver, who was still kneeling.
"Stand, Quicksilver of Ren," Kylo said when everybody had left.
Quicksilver did as he was told, his head held high even though his eyes were still downcast.
"This is not meant to hurt you," Kylo stated simply. "There is something I need to check. Something I will probably explain to you at a later stage. Now, however, you only have to do as I tell you."
"Yes, sir."
"I will enter your mind. You will not resist me. If you do, it will hurt. You will think of memories when you used your skills to disappear in a crowd or otherwise remain unseen. I don't care about the time or date of the memories; they just need to be about this topic. Do you understand?"
"Yes, sir."
"Good," Kylo stated, before touching Quicksilver's temple and diving into his mind.
Quicksilver winced once, then proceeded to feed him memories as he'd requested. Kylo watched and saw his suspicions being confirmed. He was unsure of how many memories he had watched when he left Quicksilver's mind, but he had seen enough.
"If you use this ability to sneak past my Guard or anybody else, you die. And this time, it will only be you, understood?"
"Yes, sir."
"You may leave. Ember, escort him."
"What was that about?" Phasma asked once the door closed again.
"A suspicion I've had about him from the very beginning," he answered, turning towards her and dragging a hand through his hair. "He's not disconnected from the Force."
"What?" Phasma exclaimed, her hands twitching towards her weapons.
"He doesn't realise it, so don't worry," he said with a grim smile. "He uses the Force to influence the minds of the people around him so they forget his presence. It's very low-key but effective. In any case, we need to warn the Guard that they need to pay attention to small discrepancies when he's around—a door that they were sure was closed just a moment before, them looking in a different direction without remembering to turn their heads, movement in the corners of their vision, stuff like that. If this happens, they need to double-check that Quicksilver is still where they left him."
"I will dispatch the information immediately, sir," Phasma said, moving to the door. She halted. "Is that why you have Ember guarding him for now?" she asked.
"Yes. Even though she doesn't know what to look for yet. I will explain it to her later and teach her how to recognise it. In the meantime, it is enough that she keeps in contact with the Force. It will alert her that something changed even though she won't know what. I hope it is sufficient to arouse her suspicion."
Kylo dragged a hand across his face. "I better explain it to her today. Have an informed Guard relieve her and send her this way."
"I understand, sir," Phasma replied with a nod. "I will leave two Guard at your door. I don't trust this situation just yet."
Kylo didn't argue and allowed her her protectiveness. "Get me Derek along the way as well, if you please?" he said.
Phasma nodded again and left. Kylo slumped in his chair, wishing the day was over already. Although he had taken action, doubt and suspicion, as well as worry about his facility's safety, lingered in his mind. He had to figure out a punishment for the ship's crew with Derek, as well as train Ember as quickly as possible for Quicksilver's mind tricks, while, in reality, all he wanted was to curl up with Rey in his arms and take a nap.
He sighed and rubbed a hand across his face, trying to rub away his tiredness. It was all he could do not to reach out for Rey in search of a moment of peace. He could do this on his own.