Note: thank you all for reviewing and following the story!
To those of you who wonder why the First Order is behaving itself, let me remind you that in my story there is no Palpatine or his followers the Sith Eternal lurking in the shadows. Thus, the First Order is not so much driven as in the original story to restore the Empire. With Snoke gone and Kylo taking over his position, he becomes the true and de facto leader of the First Order. Add to this the fact that the former Imperial personnel has been replaced by a new generation of ambitious officers, like Armitage Hux and Phasma, who have their own agenda (and this is valid for both my story and the original one). They are not dedicated to the Empires ideology, all they care about is power and wealth for themselves and they follow the First Order and Kylo as long as it can offer them that. Kylo knows this of course and manipulates them to reach his own goals, as you will see in the chapter below.
CHAPTER 8 – MANIPULATION
Kylo Ren walked towards the conference room, his steps resonating along the corridor. He felt light as a feather and wondered if he was unwillingly levitating. Just to be sure he checked his feet, but they were as usual clad in his soft black leather boots and firmly in contact with the black, shiny floor of his Command Ship.
"She loves me" his heart sang. "Rey loves me."
Was that all that it took to be happy? He had thought that for him to be happy he needed to destroy the old world of Jedi, Sith and the Resistance, build an empire of his own and surpass his grandfather Lord Vader. Instead he just needed three little words from a scavenger girl from the desert planet Jakku. Life was indeed filled with wonderful discoveries.
As he entered the conference room where all the generals of the First Order were gathered, he felt a wave of disquiet, confusion, fear but also…respect from them. He knew they were unsettled by his proposition to form a New Galactic Senate. He needed to put their minds at rest about that as soon as possible. A rebellion would completely thwart his and Rey's plans.
"General Hux, let me congratulate you on your complete success in your campaign. "
Hux suddenly grew by two inches and Ben could feel the glow of his pride even through his mask.
"Captain Phasma, as usual, you have accomplished your mission to perfection. Thank you. "
Phasma inclined her head in response.
"Thank you, Supreme Leader." she replied. "I took pride in the campaign. The First Order should be above such primitive, ignoble traditions as slavery. "
"I totally agree with you, Captain. I hope the other generals have the same view."
He felt that most of them really did, that they agreed with his actions. Even more, that they respected him for that. Snoke would have never ordered such campaigns, his views on near human species being that they were inferior to human species and thus were predestined as slaves. But after all, for Snoke anyone had been inferior. It had been his downfall.
"I'd better learn from what happened to Snoke…and keep an eye on Hux and Phasma" thought Ben.
"Please convey my thanks to your legions as well.
Speaking of the legions, now that we have a bit of a respite and the start systems falsely think that we're becoming weak, I think that it is time to discuss our Storm Troopers. I know exactly just how many are deserting our ranks. I am not reproaching any of you, still we should ask ourselves why they do it. "
Terrified silence filled the room.
Under his mask, Ben could not suppress a malicious smile.
"First of all, because they feel insignificant. It's hard to feel appreciated as a valuable member of the First Order if you don't even have a proper name.
Second, because they need to feel that they fight for a higher purpose. A tangible higher purpose, not propaganda.
Any propositions?"
Let's see what they come up with…Ben thought
"We..we could let the present Storm Troopers choose their own name. As well as future recruits. That would make them feel more...appreciated." Hux advanced.
Ben felt that Phasma hated the idea. She feared loss of authority.
"What is your opinion on this suggestion, Captain Phasma? Would we lose authority by allowing such a freedom to our soldiers? Would it be interpreted as a sign of weakness or as one of respect towards them? You as their trainer must decide." said the Supreme Leader.
Phasma was no fool.
"We do not loose authority just by allowing them a name. It will boost the morale of the troops. I salute the idea."
"Good. All Storm Troopers have until the end of next week to choose a name for themselves. Those who cannot decide will be named by their superiors. Captain Phasma, you will supervise the reorganization. "
Now, do we have all details on the slave trading organizations? "
"Yes, Supreme Leader" Hux responded quickly.
"Good! Get as many troops and ships as you need and wipe them all out. And I mean ALL. Liberate as many slaves as possible. Make all of this public. Especially to all our Storm Troopers. They need to understand that their work makes a difference.
And of course, confiscate all credits of these organizations."
He noticed the satisfaction of many of his generals, especially Phasma. Greed was a common trait for the First Order superiors.
"In the meantime, prepare a list of the top ten murderers and rapists – Captain Phasma, you will see to it that once we have the list you bring them to justice. Quick trial and punishment. Also, wide publicity on all possible levels. The First Order needs to show all it does to protect the population. And some live combat training will do the Strom Troopers a lot of good.
Understood?"
"Yes, Supreme Leader" - she was pleased.
He checked the atmosphere in the room. The generals were already dreaming of the fat credits they would add to their private fortunes, Phasma was conflicted between the satisfaction to punish some real scum bags and her frustration about the new names, Hux was imagining himself in all the propaganda material.
"Now, let us inspect those divisions." said the very satisfied Supreme Leader Kylo Ren.