Quickly throwing her Inquisitor armor back on, Pates follows him down the narrow stone staircase. Glowing green stones nestled in sconces dimly light their path. Even without his mask on, Kylo Ren still walks with the confidence of a commander, but his stride is a little less wide, and a little less assured. As Pates follows him down into the dark depths, the green light reflecting against his face, and he looks back at that light with a twinge of fear.
As the pair reach the bottom of the stairs, the darkness breaks away to reveal an altar lit with the same green glow, and the walls are covered in glowing green writing. An altar sits in the center, a large circular stone statue raised several feet off of the ground, the source of the green glow a large orb of energy swirling within the circle. Kylo Ren's eyes widen.
"This is it. This is what I saw, what the Force wanted me to see."
In awe, he descends the rest of the stairs, his cloak trailing behind him. He stares up at the altar in wonderment, "I feel it…the darkness, there is great darkness here…"
"These writings appear to be from an organization called the Frangawl Cult," Pates explains, as she reads along a section of the writing on the wall, "they ruled Bardotta before the Dagoyan Order, and they aligned with the Dark side of the Force-"
"Well of course they did!" Kylo Ren declares, his voice pitching up, sounding more similar to Matt, "Can't you feel it, Pates? The anger and passion of the Dark side…it flows through this place!"
She shakes her head, "No…commander…you know I can't-"
"I don't care if you can't use the Force!" he declares with a snarl, "The Force energies of this place are so powerful, even a non-Force user should be able to feel its effects. The Force affects all of us, it flows through us, guides us…" Kylo Ren starts to trail off as another thought comes to his mind, "…reach out. Feel it."
Pates closes her eyes. She can't deny there's a denseness to the room, the air is thick and musty, and she gets the sense that she's being watched from all around. As if every stone brick were leering at her. With her eyes now closed, she could swear that someone's trying to whisper into her ear. It's not Kylo Ren, these voices are unfamiliar to her, but they surrounded her.
"Commander…I'm…I'm hearing something…a voice?"
He draws closer to her, "What is it saying? What is it telling you to do?"
Pates shakes her head, "It's too faint…I can't…I can't understand…" and with that she opens her eyes, "…it's gone."
"That can't be!" Kylo Ren barks as he begins encircling her, "Where's your anger? Your drive for power? I should be able to feel it emanating from you but I can't."
He stops in front of Pates, and she looks up at him. There's a burning red look in his eyes, and even though this is her first time looking upon his face, Pates can already tell something is off.
"Commander…I can't reach out to the Force energies of this place…but you…this place is affecting you, it's manipulating your emotions. We need to get out of here, so you can clear your head-"
With the power of the Force, Kylo Ren freezes his Inquisitor in place. With one hand still out to maintain his power, he walks up to her, as close as he can get, "Show me. Your allegiance to the Dark side."
He places his outstretched hand on her head, reaching into her mind. His method is much more invasive than Queen Phoebe's meditation, causing Pates to scream out in pain-
The bright lights and white walls of a Resistance ship are almost blinding in comparison to their First Order counterparts, and Pates sticks out like a sore thumb as she races through their halls in her black First Order captain's uniform. The ship's alarm blares as the running and shouting of Resistance troopers are heard coming in close behind her. One leaps out from a nearby side hallway, firing his blaster. She dodges by mere inches, rolling up against the wall. She then charges at him, revealing her gauntlet and sucker punching him with it, the heavy metal cracking his helmet. She then takes out her lightfoil, activating it and stabbing him through his chest, the weaker laser still able to penetrate through his light armor.
He collapses to the ground, but Pates can hear the approaching mob of troopers close behind. She spots a grate above her leading to the air ducts. With her lightfoil, she slashes the grate open, leaping up into the duct and closing the grate behind her as the soldiers run past. She deactivates her lightfoil, keeping quiet as she makes her way through the vents. She eventually finds her way to the prison cells of the Resistance ship. Using her lightfoil to tear a hole in the vent, she drops down into one particular cell.
The younger Officer Hux turns over in his prison bed, "Pates…my father sent you, didn't he? The Resistance has stolen the intel on my datachip…I've failed him…and now he's sent you here to kill me."
Pates smirks as she deactivates her lightfoil, "You're always so dramatic," she reaches into her pocket to reveal Hux's datachip, "I'm here to rescue you."
Pates climbs back up into the air shaft, Hux following behind. They find another loose grate and Pates removes it, checking the surrounding area before dropping down with Hux.
"But father…he did order you to kill me, didn't he?" Hux asks.
"We'll tell him you got the upper hand. That during the mission you threatened me with…" Pates digs into the utility belt around her captain's uniform, "…this blaster," she tosses the blaster to Hux, who catches it with ease, "and demanded I bring you back to the First Order."
Officer Hux looks down at the blaster, a mischievous grin crossing his face. He wraps his arm around her, pressing her back against his chest, "I could bring you in like this, blaster pointed at your head."
Pates chuckles, as Hux tilts his head to kiss her cheek, messing up her otherwise perfectly in-place bun, "Of course, we won't have to keep up this charade when I'm Supreme Leader. I'll savor the look on father's face, his greatest disappointment, come to conquer him."
Pates pauses for a moment, her hand idly stroking Hux's arm, "Armitage, you're his son. Why do you think he sent me here of all people? He knows I'd never kill you. As twisted as he is…he doesn't want you dead, he knows you have potential."
"You are far too trusting. Mmm…but that's what I love about you."
But just then, the sound of more Resistance troopers running down the halls can be heard. Pates and Hux scramble out of their embrace, keeping close to one another as they make their escape, racing down the hallway of the ship.
Pates squints away the pain as she grits her teeth, "I would've preferred if that stayed private."
"Keeping secrets from your superiors? I thought you were a child of the First Order," Kylo Ren's expression is somewhere between mocking and frustrated.
She can't help but snicker, "Trust me, there are more secrets within the First Order than you'd think."
Kylo Ren releases her from his grip, as he turns away from her, "You're quite conflicted, aren't you? Passion…well, there's plenty of that. But no anger. Not towards the Resistance, or the general. Not even after what he did to you."
Pates's eyes narrow, "What he did…?"
"Do you really think the destruction of Asice was really necessary?"
She stops. For a good minute, the room is silent, the pulse of the Frangawl altar glowing all around them.
"What…commander, what are you talking-"
"What are you really, to the general? To him you're nothing but a pawn, all he cares about is his own power-lust, you were never important to him."
Her fists tighten, as her eyes begin to glow in the same red, "How dare you. You may be my superior, Commander Ren, but to speak about my personal life like that is completely out of line."
A small smile creeps across Kylo Ren's lips, "Yes, that's it. Feel your anger. It is your source of strength."
"What do you presume to know about my relationship with the general?" she hisses, "Just because you've seen a minuscule snippet of my memories, you think you know everything? You may have seen my experiences, but you don't have the slightest clue about how I feel. About anything!"
Kylo Ren's eyes widen in genuine shock for a brief moment, but his eyes harden back into focus, as he ignites his lightsaber. Pates activates her lightfoil in kind.
"Go on, fight me. I wield a true lightsaber, the powers of the Force flow through me. You're an impostor only attempting to imitate its power. You are nothing compared to me."
She stands up straight, holding her laser sword parallel to her body, but the red glow in her eyes fades away, and she doesn't charge him. Noticing this, Kylo Ren begins marching towards her, his lightsaber dragging close to the ground, "Only your anger can save you now."
His weapon shaking in his hand, Kylo Ren hacks at Pates from the side, but she blocks him with only the gentlest flip of her wrist. He growls, raising his lightsaber over her head. Pates leaps back just in time, as the laser of Kylo Ren's sword bounces against the stone floor, sending bright red sparks flying.
"You may be more powerful, but your form is sloppy," she mocks him, giving a twirl of her lightfoil, "you lack discipline."
The necklace the woman in the village gave her starts to glow from behind her armor, but it's too dull for either Pates or Kylo Ren to notice.
Angrier than ever, Kylo Ren's voice strains as he shouts, "Face me!"
"No," she's quick to respond, "Commander, snap out of this. You're my superior, we're on the same side!"
The pendant starts to glow brighter, and Pates notices it, grabbing onto it and pulling it out. Seeming to not notice, the enraged Kylo Ren charges at her, lightsaber flailing in one hand. The pendant now glowing at its full power, Pates tears it from her neck, and just as Kylo Ren's about to make contact, she holds out the pendant, and Kylo Ren's forehead hits it. The bright light burns where it made contact, throwing him back.
"Commander!" Pates runs to him, securing the necklace back around her neck.
She gets down on her knees, propping up his head with her hand. Kylo Ren opens his eyes, the red anger now gone. He looks at Pates for several seconds, his mouth open but unable to form words. Despite the scar along his face, his features are otherwise quite youthful, even boyish. Round cheekbones, smooth skin, and large eyes that pop despite their piercing dark color.
"Pates…"
She reaches out towards him, and Kylo Ren begins to lift his head, but then his eyes close, and his head goes limp to the side.