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

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In the end, it turned out that Phasma hadn't done much more than thoroughly frighten the pilot before throwing her in a storage room and having a Guard keep watch.

"You're going to spare her, aren't you?" she asked as she rejoined Kylo at his office.

Kylo nodded and succinctly explained before returning to his reports. Somehow, they seemed simpler than what awaited him on the other side of his office door.

After Andrea had spoken with the research team—something Rey hadn't been privy to, much to her chagrin—the two of them found their way back to the ship to chat. Rey only emerged for lunch and her daily meditation session with the trainees. She quickly disappeared again after.

Half an hour before the ship's scheduled departure later that day, Kylo went to confront Andrea. He could hear laughter and happy chatter coming from the ship's mess hall and felt bad for interrupting them. It still needed to be done though. Andrea needed to know the consequences of her actions.

Rey immediately sobered as she spotted him. Glancing at Andrea, she sighed, stood, and moved to Kylo's side in a clear sign of support. Andrea cocked an eyebrow.

"Director Andrea," Kylo started. "No matter how happy my Supreme Duchess is to see you, you did force yourself on a ship bound for a base with the highest level of restriction. You are not supposed to be here."

Andrea's face paled as he explained to her the consequences, leaving out that he was going to go easy on Elisa and telling her in detail what had happened and would happen to the pilot.

"I acted unthinkingly," Andrea said once he was finished, bowing low. "Supreme Leader, please, this is entirely my fault. Punish me and not the pilot or your head of communication. Neither deserves to suffer for my lack of common sense."

"This is already the lightest punishment I can give this pilot," Kylo answered. "Had it been anybody else but you, she would have been dead."

Andrea flinched violently at the blunt truth. "I will take whatever punishment you wish," she insisted. "I beg you to-"

"No," Kylo interrupted. "It will do you good, I think, to leave unscathed while others suffer the consequences. You are brazen and straightforward, Andrea, which I consider good qualities, but they must be accompanied by careful consideration and not impulsiveness."

"I understand," she answered, her shoulders sagging. "I apologise."

"It's not us you need to apologise to," Rey said. "As your friend, I'm really happy to see you, but as Kylo's girlfriend, I agree that you shouldn't have confounded the pilot and simply shown up."

"Supreme Duchess."

"Oh, Force, don't," Rey protested.

"In this instance, I will."

"I see sense is already returning," Kylo interjected. "The pilot will transport you back to the Academy before reporting in for reassignment. Do give Natasha our greetings."

He turned and left, allowing Rey a few more minutes to say goodbye. As he walked out of the ship, two Guards were escorting the pilot through the hangar.

"Supreme Leader," she called out as she spotted him. "Thank you. Thank you for your leniency."

Kylo coldly regarded her. "You are lucky that I know Andrea's personality well. There will be no mercy if this ever happens again."

"Supreme Leader," she greeted again with sincerity, lowering her head.

After a nod from Kylo, the Guards nudged the pilot to continue towards the ship. Dragging his hand through his hair, Kylo made his way up to the communications center to demand proof that Elisa had done the required background checks before walking towards his room for a short break before dinner. Rey soon joined him and promptly sat on his lap, hugging him.

"There will come a day where you can't afford to be this lenient, won't there?" she muttered into his neck.

He wrapped his arms around her. "I'm afraid so," he answered.

"Andrea really shouldn't have done that."

"I doubt she'll ever act this wilful again."

"But she did it to make sure Juan was alright," Rey added.

"She could have contacted us and asked," Kylo said with a sigh. "We could have taken precautions beforehand."

"She said she thought we might refuse, then added that that on its own should have alerted her how bad of an idea simply showing up was."

Kylo huffed a laugh. "It should have."

He fell backwards, pulling Rey with him. She giggled and settled in a more comfortable position, still mostly lying on top of him. It was a soothing weight. They stayed like that until it was time for dinner, neither speaking much and lost to their own thoughts.

The next day, Derek offered him Elisa's report with a faint smile playing around his mouth.

"It's complete?" Kylo merely asked, not even going through the report itself. He had no doubt Elisa had done her job well.

"It's complete," Derek confirmed.

Kylo nodded and added paying Elisa a visit in between paperwork and lunch to his mental to-do list. Rey had gone to find Juan and accompany him as he met the research team.

"Now I really want to know what Andrea told them," her voice suddenly rang through his mind some time later.

"Why?" he asked.

"They're…subdued? They haven't sneered even once, not at me nor at Juan. It's weird."

"Meaning that they usually do sneer at you?"

"Ben," Rey said with a sigh.

"I know, leave them be. How's Juan doing?"

"Pretty good. They've given him his own workstation and are now explaining to him what they've been working on. The explanation is utterly boring but at least they're not acting condescending towards him."

"That might change once you're out of there though."

Rey hummed. "I'll make sure that he knows to tell me when they're treating him unfairly."

He returned to Derek and his reports for a good while before a rush of gleeful amusement startled him.

"What's up?" he asked.

"Juan asked them why their helmet is wasting so much energy," Rey answered, clearly struggling to keep her mirth contained. "You should see their faces. And ooh, one of them just challenged Juan to explain his own work 'if he thinks he's so amazing'. This is going to be fun. Juan looks nothing like the shy kid of yesterday."

Kylo chuckled out loud, telling Rey to show him the memory in the evening before turning his attention outwards again.

"Has Miss Rey done something funny, sir?" Derek asked.

"Remember when Rey saw the plans of the helmet and deduced its energy consumption was wasteful?"

"Yes."

"Juan thought the same and had no qualms in telling the research team."

Derek stared at him, wide-eyed. It looked as if he couldn't quite comprehend that Juan had done such a thing but was nonetheless trying to figure out the consequences.

"Oh," Derek finally said.

"Oh, indeed," Kylo replied with a grin.

Later that day, after the meditation session, Kylo went to find Rey and they both made their way to the med bay.

Although they'd initially intended for the research team to be informed about the base's purpose, they'd now decided against it due to their entitled behaviour. A section of building K had been reserved for them and they were not to leave it while others were not to enter it. As Erifred had agreed to a second kitchen crew under his command as long as he got to keep his own kitchen, one of the crew of building K delivered the meals needed to the research team's part of the building.

Reor, on the other hand, did need to be informed.

"Supreme Leader, Miss Rey," Reor greeted them. "What brings you here? Was my latest report unclear?"

"Your reports have been exceptional, Reor," Kylo answered.

Rear inclined his head at the praise. "I believe that, once the final equipment arrives, I have sufficient data to perform the first surgery."

"That quickly already?" Rey said in surprise.

"I have been devoting all my time to it, Miss Rey," Reor primly said. "And I wasn't entirely unknown with this conceptual use of chips. The theory wasn't that hard to break down; the real test will come once I try to extract it."

"When will your equipment arrive?" Kylo asked.

"In a week's time. At least, that's the last update Leader Hux gave me. It will take another day or two to get it properly installed."

"Good," Kylo said. "The reason we're here, however, is not that. I believe we promised you an explanation in due time. That time is now."

"I am honoured by your trust, sir."

"And you've been dying to know," Rey added with a smirk.

Reor threw her a look as if he wanted to deny it but couldn't because it was the truth. Kylo grinned at his dilemma.

"Reor," he said. "Meet Rey, my Supreme Duchess and fellow Force User."

The medic snapped his head to face Kylo so fast, Kylo momentarily feared for the man's neck.

"Supreme Duchess?" Reor echoed, looking back at Rey. "Force User?" A moment's hesitation and realisation. "The other Force User? The Je-"

"Nope, nope," Rey said before turning to Kylo. "If we ever fully go public, make it a rule, please, that nobody is allowed to call me a Jedi."

"I will," Kylo answered in a serious tone. "You heard her," he continued to Reor. "Don't call her a Jedi."

"Why not?" Reor asked.

"I do not abide by the inane rules the Jedi held. Proclaiming love is a weakness… That's ridiculous."

The way Reor was looking between the two clearly showed that he was figuring a thing or two out.

"Everybody on this base, bar the research team, knows of her identity and status," Kylo added. "All have been sworn to secrecy. To outsiders, Rey is a technician I favour."

"I also don't want to be called 'Supreme Duchess' at every turn, please," Rey added. "Keep calling me 'Miss Rey'."

Reor stared at her. "But that's-"

"What my Supreme Duchess wishes of you," Kylo intercepted.

"Of course," Reor agreed.

"We also told you this is a training base for the Knights."

"Indeed, you did."

"While that isn't a lie, it isn't the full truth either," Kylo continued. "The Knights are here to train, yes, but they're here to train more than that which you would expect." He paused to assure he still had Reor's full attention. "The Knights will also be learning how to use the Force."

"Impossible!" was Reor's first reaction. He then caught up with his own words and tried to take back his exclamation. "I mean, if you say so, of course it is possible. But how?"

Kylo then launched into the explanation he'd by now already given several times. Reor was frowning by the end of it.

"This is a factor I didn't factor in when I studied the chip," he muttered.

"I don't think one will affect the other?" Rey said, looking up at Kylo.

"No," he said, shaking his head. "Their disconnection with the Force should have happened long before the chip got implanted. The two shouldn't interfere."

"Unless they didn't break with the Force," Rey mumbled.

"True," Kylo agreed, "but in that case, I don't think any interference of the Force would be detrimental."

"There must be balance," Rey said, pensive. "And the chip interferes with that balance."

"Indeed."

Reor was looking at them. "Meaning?" he asked.

"That the Force either won't interact at all, or will be happy to see the chip go. You do not need to take it into account."

"They're Force Sensitive?" Reor said after several heartbeats of silence.

"Shocking, isn't it?" Rey said.

"It is," Reor agreed. Then, after some hesitation. "You're planning on building a new order?"

"Expand the existing one, actually," Kylo admitted.

"How do you reconnect the Knights to the Force?" Reor asked.

Kylo was starting to believe there was no end to Reor's curiosity. It was probably what made him a good researcher as well as a good medic.

"It's not that easy to explain," he allowed. "I have to find the moment of their disconnection in their memories and fix it."

"How do you fix something like that?"

"It has been different for every Knight so far."

Reor nodded, then frowned again.

"I said before that I can't guarantee this procedure's success," he said.

"I know," Kylo answered. "Why bring that up again?"

"You're thinking their memories might be damaged," Rey said, quicker on the uptake.

"I am," Reor said. "Even if the Knight survives the procedure, I can't guarantee a positive outcome. The combination of the code with the results of my own tests these past days has given me a comprehensive idea of which areas of the brain are being influenced and how. There is no knowing how much of said influence is permanent without removing a chip however."

"You're saying they might not change at all once the chip is removed," Kylo said with a frown of his own.

"There are some things that will definitely change," Reor said. "It simply blocks any reaction to pain so this should return to normal. Their tolerance to it might remain exceptionally high, but at least they'll flinch again when hit."

"How reassuring," Rey dryly commented.

"They will also retain more memories than they do now," Reor continued, completely ignoring Rey. "They should be able to make friends again. In theory, the block to retrieving memories before the implantation of the chip should also be lifted but, with how heavy it impacted on this area, I can't be entirely sure."

"How about their ability to make decisions for themselves? And that droid-like absence of self-awareness?"

"I can't say, Miss Rey."

Rey scrunched up her nose in displeasure and Kylo sighed.

"Will you still operate on Sahrsa first?" Kylo asked.

"It seems the wisest thing to do, yes," Reor confirmed.

"I don't doubt your capabilities," Kylo said, sighing. "And we understand the limitations of this situation. We can only hope for the best possible outcome."