Guiding Sahrsa through connecting with the Force and learning about the Light and Dark side of it went remarkably well. Kylo had feared that resentment over being chipped would have her latch onto the Dark but nothing of the sort happened. When he admitted this to her after, she gave him a sad smile.
"I would become that which chipped me if I let it take over," she said.
Kylo could only acknowledge her words. They held truth in them, after all. He then proceeded to explain to her that, despite now having connected to the Force in full, she would still have to improve her meditation before joining the others in Force training. She easily agreed.
They were all happy to see Sahrsa doing so much better. There were still times when she seemed to struggle to say or do something, but it happened less frequently as time went on. When she first woke up after her reconnection, she knew she had a past and knew that the memories were there, but she had profound difficulties trying to access them. The meditation, however, seemed to help with that.
She surprised them all at the dinner table one evening as she joined a conversation with an anecdote. As everybody gazed at her with surprise, she seemed to realise what had happened, prompting a happy 'Hey, I remembered'. Dinner that evening quickly turned into a small celebration.
Sahrsa's character was an odd mix of sarcasm, bubbliness and arrogance. She could give you the most sarcastic 'sure you can' in a ridiculously chipper tone while looking at you as if you were an idiot for even contemplating being able to outdo her. She fit in perfectly. Kylo sympathised with Rogue though when, one training, he said something that had Ember, Rey, Shadow and Sahrsa all turn on him. It was a fearsome sight. Quicksilver and Daze had remained aloof, Dot uninterested and Burman oblivious.
Ironically, Sahrsa's struggles with her own mind seemed to have made it easier for her to put aside the rigid structures Base Z had instilled in her. The first time Dot cracked one of her dry jokes during mealtime and they all burst out laughing, Sahrsa had stared at them with wide eyes. Then, she just seemed to adopt it as 'something that's okay now' and smiled along the next time it happened. She hadn't fully laughed yet but did snigger whenever she found something particularly funny.
A few days after her introduction to the Light and Dark, Kylo called her to his office together with Reor, Hux and Ember. Rey, Derek and Phasma were already there.
"We need to discuss how to move forward with unchipping the Knights," he said once they'd all arrived.
"I can unchip the next one as soon as you give me permission," Reor said.
"We need a schedule," Kylo answered. "We can't just randomly decide when to unchip a Knight." When nobody reacted, Kylo turned to Sahrsa. "We waited a month before explaining to you about the Force," he said. "Do you think that should be shorter? Longer?"
She tilted her head in thought. "Shorter," she eventually said. A pained look crossed her face before it evened out again. "I wasn't getting any better in those weeks, only becoming more aware of my issues."
"Then when do you think we could tell the others once they've woken up?" Rey asked.
"I'm not sure," she said. "A week, maybe two? I was very disoriented in the beginning so I wouldn't do it in less than a week's time."
"If you treat them one after the other," Derek spoke up, "and calculate a week-and-a-half for them to wake up after surgery, and another week-and-a-half before reconnection, it will take you about a year and two months to treat them all."
"More than a year?" Rey exclaimed.
"That's…a long time," Ember agreed.
"Can you treat more than one at the same time?" Hux asked.
"There's the possibility to have two Knights at the med bay at once, given some extra equipment," Reor commented.
"I'm not sure how having another, equally as confused Knight near me would have affected me," Sahrsa said.
"It would be difficult to guard them both at the same time as well," Ember added. "Apologies, Sahrsa."
"No need."
"So, we could have one unchipped but not reconnected Knight at the same time as an unchipped and unconscious one, but not both conscious," Kylo summarized.
"Will that power outage or whatever it was when you reconnected Sahrsa happen every time?" Reor asked.
"Probably," Rey answered.
"I don't recommend that happening when someone is out cold and being monitored."
"Out cold?" Phasma dryly echoed.
"You prefer I start throwing medical jargon at you?" Reor countered.
Phasma merely shrugged in answer.
"In order to never have two unconnected, unchipped Knights at the same time, we need to reconnect the one already awake right after the second wakes up," Kylo said. "And we can't have a third in treatment because they would either be awake at the same moment or be 'out cold' when we reconnect another." He turned to Derek. "Can you plan it out?" he asked.
"A moment, please, sir," Derek answered, tapping away on his tablet.
"Would that be manageable when it comes to accommodation?" he asked Hux while Derek was working.
"Yes," Hux merely answered after a moment's thought.
"You seem annoyed," Kylo stated.
"I need to change a few things to work it out," Hux answered. "Again."
Ember gently touched his arm and he muttered something to her, causing Ember to smile and lean into him a little more.
"You're thinking that I should unchip the next Knight right after a previous one wakes up again after their reconnection?" Reor asked. "Assuming their reactions will remain the same."
Kylo nodded. "I think that's the fastest we can go."
"Very industrious," Hux commented.
Rey narrowed her eyes at him but Kylo quickly soothed her through their bond. "It is," he agreed. "But that doesn't mean I don't think their lives are valuable. One does not exclude the other."
Hux gazed at him for a long time, before turning away. There was a slight frown between his eyebrows though.
"Sir," Derek spoke up. "Assuming each Knight's timeline remains the same and there are no delays in between, it will take 21 weeks before all the Knights are reconnected."
"That's still almost half a year," Rey said.
"Given that there's 19 more of them, I'm surprised it's only 21 weeks," Phasma said. "Are you sure?" she asked Derek.
He shot her a look that was very close to a glare before confirming and activating the screen in Kylo's office, showing them a rudimentary planning.
"You would end up unchipping one every week," he explained. "The three weeks extra is the treatment time of the last Knight."
"And if there's a delay in between?" Kylo asked.
"The entire planning lengthens with the same time as the delay," Derek answered.
"Ben," Rey asked through their bond. "That would also mean you'd reconnect one once every week for half a year. What if that affects you? What if those headaches get worse?"
"We'll see when the time comes," he answered.
"Ben!" Rey protested. "We don't know what this will do to you!"
Kylo turned to her. Ignoring the knowing stares of all the others, he gently tilted her chin up so he could look her in the eye. "We will see when the time comes," he repeated. "If it gets too bad or affects me in any other way, we'll reconsider how to move forward." He grimaced slightly as Rey still didn't seem convinced. "Can we really postpone their treatment for something we don't even know will happen?"
"I don't want you hurt."
He smiled. "It will be fine," he said, sounding a lot more confident than he felt.
"What if one wakes up before the one week between regaining consciousness and reconnection is past?" Phasma asked.
"That seems unlikely to me," Kylo answered, pulling a still pouting Rey against his side. "There will be more damage to repair the longer the chip has been in their body."
"If it does," Reor said. "That second Knight can stay in the med bay until you figure out how to deal with the situation."
"Does anybody have any objections to this schedule?" Kylo asked.
Rey huffed, making her displeasure known over their bond, but didn't speak up. Neither did anybody else.
Kylo nodded and turned to Reor. "Prepare for another operation tomorrow," he said. "Consult with Hux and Derek for the extra equipment you need."
"Yes, sir," Reor answered.
"Anything else?" Kylo asked.
The others shook their heads and left the office.
"I still don't like it," Rey said once they were all gone. Derek had momentarily stepped out as well to consult with Reor in his own office.
"I know," Kylo answered before throwing a teasing smile her way. "But I'll have you to take care of me every time I get a headache, won't I? Besides, it was quite sexy when you started commanding everybody."
"Ben!" Rey protested, scandalised but also blushing furiously.
He walked up to her and pulled her into a kiss.
"I know you don't like it," he muttered when they pulled apart, "but we owe it to those Knights to try to go as fast as possible."
"I know," she reluctantly agreed. "Is it wrong for me to think you're more important than those Knights?"
"I hope not," Kylo answered. "Because I would think exactly the same if our roles were reversed."
Rey smiled up at him, then poked his chest. "Remember that while you're doing those reconnections. If you think it's something you would want me to tell you, you tell me, okay."
Ben smiled at her, then moved in for another kiss. They stepped apart when the door opened and Derek reemerged.
"Why don't you go check up on your research friends, hmm?" Kylo suggested.
"I don't understand why they won't tell me why the team leader has fallen from grace," she complained, as she'd done many times before by now. "I want to know what's going on. Even Juan changes topic when I try to ask him about it. He even blushed one time. What's up with that?"
It was exactly that blush that made Kylo think his own about what had happened between the team leader and the other researchers. He wouldn't hesitate even a heartbeat to fire the man if he found evidence of the no-doubt very unfavourable words he'd probably spoken about Rey. Currently, however, the entire team was tight-lipped about it.
"Then go ask him again," Kylo said with a fond smile. "Maybe if you pester him enough he'll cave."
"He better," Rey mock-grouched before giving him another quick peck on the lips and walking out of the office.
"Apologies for the delay, sir," Derek said once Kylo moved to sit behind his desk.
"Has the equipment been sorted out?"
"Almost, sir. Base Leader Hux is checking a few things. He will leave a list at my desk once he's finished."
"You left him alone in your office?" Kylo asked, surprised. It had never been a secret that Derek and Hux, much like Rey and Hux, didn't really get along that well.
"He has proven to be trustworthy these past months," Derek said. "I should leave old prejudices behind me."
Kylo merely nodded, not knowing if there was a proper way to answer that statement.
"I need you to do something for me and keep it to yourself," Kylo said.
"Of course, sir."
Kylo looked at him, conveying how important his next words would be. "If," he said, "something were to go wrong during the reconnection of the unchipped Knights. If, for any reason, I am in no capacity to oversee this Base, Rey gets full authority."
Derek's grip on his tablet tensed. It was his only sign of distress at Kylo's words. "She already has that, sir," he answered.
"And over the First Order as a whole," he added.
There was a glimmer of reluctance in the wide-eyed, astonished look Derek was giving him.
"You disagree?" Kylo asked.
"I would never, sir."
"Yet you don't seem pleased."
Derek sighed. "She knows too little of the First Order to be efficient, sir," he truthfully answered. "And her signature holds no weight. It hasn't been recorded anywhere."
"Which is what I need you for," Kylo said with a grin. "Get a document drafted, have me sign it, and find a way to get Rey to sign it as well."
"But- But… Sir, I wouldn't know what to tell her."
Kylo shrugged. "I'll inform Phasma, tell her to inform Ember, who will then inform Hux. You can ask either of those three for advice on how to trick her. I can't do it. She would know something was up."
"I'll try my best, sir," Derek said, sounding unconvinced and slightly apprehensive. There was a pause. "Sir, are things going to go wrong?"
"I don't believe it will," Kylo answered. "But we don't really know what we're dealing with. It is true that the fallout on my part was much, much worse with Sahrsa than it has been with any of the Knights or the few trainees I've reconnected. It might get even worse with each Knight we treat because of how much longer the chip has been in place. Or it might get worse because I'm doing them with little time in between. We simply don't know."
"Forgive me for asking, but, is it wise to do it then, sir?"
"I can't not do it," Kylo answered. "They deserve to be treated as soon as possible."
There was a moment of silence before Derek sighed again. "I understand, sir," he said. "I will get that document ready."