A little over a week went by and yet another Knight woke up from being unchipped, prompting a new rush of reconnection and unchipping. Phasma seemed content with the blackout protocols this time and made arrangements to leave for the Supremacy.
As she departed, the research team's former leader in tow, she left Guard Steven in charge of the Guard. Kylo found it oddly confusing to suddenly have another at his shoulder instead of Phasma and it dawned on him just how much he'd come to rely on Phasma's steady presence.
Not that Steven wasn't ready for the job. He clearly knew what he was doing and was confident while doing it. The other Guard also seemed to accept his orders without complaint, although it wouldn't surprise Kylo if Phasma had prepped every little detail for while she was away and Steven had a neatly written script to follow, so to speak.
Phasma had been gone for about a week when she called in from the Supremacy. Kylo made his way to the communications center to be met with Phasma's hologram. She wasn't wearing her helmet.
"Commander Phasma," Kylo greeted with a smile, happy to see her. He walked up to the right spot so his own image would be projected back.
"Supreme Leader," Phasma greeted back.
"Phasma," Rey exclaimed, not minding protocol one bit. She plastered herself against Kylo's side. "How big is the projection area here?" she asked him. "Can she see me?"
"I can see you, Miss Rey," Phasma answered, mirth evident in her tone. "You should be able to take a step to the side."
"Good to know," Rey answered, not moving at all.
Kylo wrapped an arm around her shoulders, shaking his head lightly at her antics.
"You wished to speak to me?" he asked Phasma.
"How have you been?" Rey added.
"I have been well, thank you," Phasma said. "The team leader has been dealt with. I've spent my time interviewing and testing several of the Troopers Efren had selected as candidates to become Guard. I have selected five. Sir, I would like to ask for your permission to bring them back to the Base and start their Guard training. I have data collections with their background and skills prepared for you to review."
"No need," Kylo answered. "I trust you."
"Sir," Phasma protested.
"Yes?"
"You can't allow unknown people around you based on one person's belief in their character."
"Are you honestly warning Ben against yourself?" Rey asked, sounding slightly dumbfounded.
"If I can't trust you," Kylo said. "Who else is there for me to trust?"
"Miss Rey," Phasma very seriously stated.
Not having expected an actual answer, it took Kylo a moment to process. A glance at Rey told him she was blushing.
"Yes, true," he eventually agreed, "but that wasn't the point I was trying to make. Did I not trust you when you first suggested a group of elites as my personal guard? Do I, in a sense, not trust you with my life every single day? If you say they are suitable and trustworthy, I am not afraid to take your word for it. I will get to know them once they're here."
It was Phasma's turn to look slightly shocked. She eventually inclined her head in acceptance. "Thank you for your trust in me, Supreme Leader."
Kylo shook his head with fond exasperation. "When will you be returning?" he asked.
"He's been missing you," Rey said with mischief in her eyes. "Steven is great, but he's not you."
"Rey," Kylo protested, feeling embarrassed and keenly aware of the rest of the communications crew around them. At least Steven was waiting outside the door.
"It's true," Rey said, glancing up at him. "Don't you try to deny it."
"Yes, it's true, but must you say it so publicly?"
"Oh, the others didn't hear, I'm sure."
"Not a thing, Miss Rey," Lewis, who was manning the communication controls, answered.
"See?"
Kylo sighed with resignation and turned his attention back to Phasma. "So? When will you be back?" he asked.
"The day after tomorrow, sir," she answered.
"Good," he said. "Their housing and equipment has been organised?"
"Now that I have your approval, I will get on with that right away, sir."
Kylo nodded. "I will see you in two days then," he said as a goodbye.
"Bye, Phasma," Rey added before following Kylo out of the room.
Two days later, Kylo greeted Phasma and the five new Guard as they arrived in the hangar. Rey was with the research group, helping with the assembly of more helmets. As only a few of them were needed, they had calculated that admitting their schematics to an assembly line and waiting for them to be produced would actually take longer than if they adjusted the existing helmets to fit the new design. It was less cost-effective, but that barely bothered Kylo.
Either way, they had decided to ease the new Guard into all the secrets that surrounded the Base instead of dead-on presenting them with Rey upon arrival. Hence, Kylo was alone to greet them.
"Supreme Leader," Phasma said in greeting. "These are the five new Guard."
They lined up to greet him. "We are honoured to be in your service, Supreme Leader," they called out, fisting their hand against their chest.
They all took off their helmets so Kylo could see their faces. Their armour already bore the Guard's emblem and their new, chosen names.
"Welcome to the Base and the Guard," Kylo said. "In the coming hours, you will be explained the workings of this Base and its purpose. I don't doubt Commander Phasma has already ingrained in you the importance of secrecy."
"Yes, sir. Thank you, sir," they all agreed.
"Off you go," he said, watching them follow Phasma through the door like ducklings. He turned to Steven. "You don't have a briefing planned?" he asked.
"Tomorrow morning first hour, sir."
Kylo hummed and walked towards the researcher's section, wanting an update on their progress.
The following weeks, the base ran at an easy rhythm. The Knights took longer and longer to wake up from their unchipping and, subsequently, the headache Kylo experienced after each reconnection became worse and worse, up to the point where it became a lingering discomfort that never fully went away between reconnections.
He tried to hide it but from the way Rey fussed over him, he wasn't entirely sure he was succeeding. At minimum, she knew the headaches were worse each time, at worst, she knew the full extent of it. She kept asking him to postpone reconnections, to spread them out over a longer period of time, but he refused. Even though she understood him, she wasn't happy about it.
At least Derek had managed to get her to sign the papers giving her full control in case he blacked out for a longer period of time. He'd done it under the pretense of getting her properly registered within the First Order so that she could have access levels assigned to her name.
The reconnected Knights all settled in rather nicely. Some were dealing with issues that Reor called 'body dysphoria'. He said it wasn't of the kind where it was a clinical issue but a side effect of waking up in a body older than the one they last remembered. He said it should resolve itself over time once they became used to their body again, but that it was definitely something to look out for the longer the Knight had been chipped and in case there were scars or other injuries they hadn't had before the chip had been implanted. They found support in the other Knights though, and it became clear that all of them benefited greatly from meditating.
It also meant that the group of Knights was steadily growing and Kylo and Rey had decided to stop eating their meals in their company. Rey was definitely sad about it. They both missed the casual banter they'd enjoyed while eating with the Knights. They couldn't deny though that Kylo was the Supreme Leader and Rey, although she still kept up a token protest, their Supreme Duchess, and in order to maintain their position of respect, they needed to maintain a certain distance between them and the Knights.
Luckily, there was still Force training where that distance was kept solely based on the fact that Kylo was their teacher with Rey often his assistant while they still had the chance to casually interact with one-another. As the first few months passed, Sahrsa tentatively joined them and the others trickled in one after another as Kylo deemed their meditation solid enough.
Rey mostly worked with the new Knights at beginner level while Kylo instructed the advanced ones. The training room, despite how large it was, was becoming crowded though. The many Force-guided and droid-thrown objects weren't making things easier. As more of the unchipped Knights started joining in, there was talk about splitting them up in two groups and having guided Force training every other day. They also had to coordinate with the Force training of the trainees, which was mostly given by either Rey or one of the advanced Knights.
Because Rey had become so involved in the training itself, they carved out a timeslot in their mornings for just Kylo and her. They either trained their separate things, sparred, or Kylo taught her more about the Force and how to use it. The latter happened less as Rey kept insisting he used the Force as little as possible in case it would somehow interact with whatever was causing the headaches after the reconnections.
To add to their workload, or, more specifically, to Rey's workload, they had started mapping out something resembling a curriculum for Force training. They met regularly with Thomas, who had been forced to change his design and adapt it after getting the results back from the stability team. The envisioned construction site had a fraction line run through it that could cause issues in the case of an earthquake.
Also, the building would have to house a large array of ages as the children would come in at age eleven but would graduate in their early twenties, depending on skill and knowledge. The needs of the age groups varied vastly, causing the building to become much larger than Kylo had envisioned. Thomas was going so far as to look into splitting it into multiple buildings according to training levels. Those levels were currently, sadly enough, based on Trooper training as they had no decent precedent for what training of Force Knights would look like.
Natasha and Andrea proved to be invaluable resources along the way. They offered clear insights in the needs of the different age groups and which courses they would have to follow. Phasma and Efren gave input on the combat and protocol training. Rey had learned how to teach the Force to young children and both Kylo and she now had an idea on how to teach older students.
Kylo was adamant not to repeat the mistakes that had been made during his own training and tried to take everything that was said into account. It was a staggering amount of information. They soon realised that they would need experts to help them with the actual curriculum but, as it stood, all of them were doubtful about including more people in the project.
They decided to map out the needs and workings of the new building or buildings as best as they could and involve a specialist once construction had started. Part of the upside of Thomas' option to split it into different buildings was that it would allow children to arrive while the next-level building was still under construction.
Four months after the new helmet had been deemed a success, the research team finally managed to assemble enough helmets for all the Guard. The researchers hadn't protested once about being confined to their small section of the building for such a long time, nor had they enquired about why there was such a specific number of helmets needed, all with a certain size.
"I think they're trustworthy," Rey told Kylo the evening they learned all the helmets were finished.
"You'd let them know what's been going on," Kylo guessed.
"Why not?" she answered. "They already know who I am and we're going to have to go public sooner or later. Wouldn't it be better if they knew than if they were left to speculate? Because, despite them not saying anything about it, they must be speculating. Everybody does."
"Like with the trainees being more diligent in keeping the Force to training areas only after knowing what's going on, you think the researchers will gossip less once reassigned to other projects if they know what it is they've been working for."
Rey hummed. "Like Phasma learned from Efren, there are already rumours starting on why you've been on this base without leaving once for so long. We can't hold this up that much longer."
"And if the research team is completely split up, they could confirm what we tell the public in different locations." He looked at Rey. "That's actually quite smart."
"Why do you sound surprised?" she exclaimed, mock-insulted.
"Your cuteness is misleading," Kylo deadpanned.
Rey gaped at him like a fish, attempting to say something several times and failing. She eventually just smacked his chest.
"I don't even know how to respond to that, you fiend."
Kylo laughed and caught her hand, entwining their fingers. "We'll talk to Phasma tomorrow to see what she thinks," he said. "If she agrees, we reward the researchers by letting them in on it all."