Chapter 5 –Stress & Tension

Bridge of the Finalizer

Lieutenant Mitaka moves to Ren, who looks out across the star field displayed on the tactical read out in front of him. Mitaka swallows, his facial features and his posture show that he is clearly uneasy with his task.

Kylo Ren stood completely still as he watched the monitor. His back was to Mitaka and his hood was drawn back, showing the rarely seen back of his mask which showed long black hair peaking out from the seam.

Mitaka was dearly wishing he was anywhere else right now. But he was a Lieutenant in the First Order, and he had a duty to perform. Even if it might well be the last duty that he would ever perform. Swallowing to get rid of the massive lump in his throat he began to speak.

"Sir. We were unable to acquire the droid on Jakku." He stated flatly, deciding that direct candour would serve him best.

Kylo Ren seemed not to have heard him at first. Then he slowly turned his head t study Mitaka directly. Mitaka decided that this was his best chance to get all the bad news out at once and as fast as possible.

"It escaped capture aboard a stolen Corellian YT model freighter." He continued in a slightly rushed tone.

Ren let the silence hang for a second, before responding. "The droid... stole a freighter?" He asked, in a tone caught between surprise and sarcasm. Mitaka began to sweat, even in the Finalizer's air-conditioned bridge.

"Not exactly, sir. It had help." At these words Kylo Ren turned to face him fully. Somehow he doubted that was a good sign. But he pressed on. "We have no confirmation, but we believe FN-2187 may have been helped in the escape…."

He got no further

Ren pulled out his lightsaber and ignited the crackling red blade into life. Its cross-guard blades activating a split second later. Ren raised the blade and Mitaka instinctively raised his hands to protect himself, even though he knew the energy blade would shear through it like paper.

However, after he braced himself for death, he felt nothing, and after a second he cracked open his eyes.

Kylo Ren was hacking and slashing his saber across the console he had been studying a moment ago, the blade creating glowing lines of molten metal as the console was sheared apart by the rage fuelled warrior. The onslaught did not stop as Ren continued to swing his red blade wildly and his fury almost seemed to be creating the burning fires that now lit up the room.

As sparks flew by him, Mitaka was just thankful, that (for the moment) he was not the focus of Lord Ren's rage. He closed his eyes again and prayed to the Force that he would not be next.

However suddenly the noise halted and the screaming sound of the slashing lightsaber settled back into a steady hum. Once more, he slowly opened his eyes.

The red lightsaber was held aloft in the black gloved hand of Kylo Ren as if it was prepared to be brought down on the console once again. However, that was not the only hand holding the weapon's hilt.

Clasped firmly around the hilt and the closed fist around it, was the remarkably firm grip of Admiral Kuvira. She was still clad in her fighter pilot jumpsuit her equipment and harnesses still in preparation for the cockpit.

"That is quite enough, Lord Ren." He voice was calm but with an unmistakable note of steel underlining it.

"I merit your disappointment at the escape of the droid. However, I will not have you damaging our ships or equipment." She ordered as she forced the hand holding the lightsaber down from its previous position aloft.

Kylo Ren stood complexly still as he allowed his arm to be brought down to his hip. His masked face was now focused entirely on the Admiral standing next to him.

He made no threatening move against her, or any comment on her potentially dangerous action.

However, he made no move to extinguish his lightsaber, which even now continued to crack and spit red energy.

"If you wish to vent your frustrations, you are welcome to do so in the training rooms. Until then I would ask that you leave our equipment intact." She finished bluntly.

Kuvira also stood still. Her posture seemed to imply that she was not expecting danger. However, a trained eye could have noticed that she was ready to slip into a combat stance. And she was also ready to activate the shock gauntlet device she always maintained in her gloves. A favourite weapon among bounty hunters, as it released intense electric shocks to disable and neutralise a target in physical contact.

The bridge crew up until that point had been ignoring the conversation between Ren and Mitaka, and later when had begun his furious outburst, they had kept their eyes firmly locked on their stations.

However now, no one could help but watch the situation develop with baited breath. All wondered what they would do if the two highest ranking commanders in the First Order came to blows. Who would they be obligated to support?

Then Kylo Ren switched off his lightsaber and placed the hilt back on his belt.

The crew breathed again.

"Your advice is welcome Admiral." Kylo Ren stated. He turned to the stunned Mitaka. "Anything else?"

Mitaka takes a moment to collect himself under Kylo Ren's stare, along with Kuvira who also turns to regard him.

"The two were accompanied by a girl." He reported. He felt a sudden jerk that forced him to take a step in Kylo Ren's direction. It was as if someone had pushed him forward but then stopped.

After a second, and noticing how Ren had quickly raised an arm, before lowering it back down to his side, he realised he must have been almost subjected to a 'force'- ful interrogation before Ren thought better of it.

The Admiral's influence maybe?

"What girl?" Kylo Ren asked with an insistent tone.

Kuvira stepped in. "By all accounts a Jakku local. Our civilian representative at the outpost claimed she was a simple scavenger, living alone. No known previous contacts to the Resistance, the New Republic, or indeed any organisations what so ever."

She turned to Mitaka. "Thank you Lieutenant, you are dismissed"

The Lieutenant (clearly thankful for the dismissal) saluted and marched quickly away to receive new duties.

Kuvira turned back to Kylo Ren

"I have had a communication from the Supreme Leader. He wants us both to return to Starkiller Base and to make contact with him." She said, her tone flat as she relayed the instructions. "I have already ordered the Reclaimer and Finalizer to begin the necessary preparations and to ensure that our military garrison forces on Jakku are stabilized and sufficiently supplied. The efforts are underway; however, it will be at least 2 hours before we can make the jump to lightspeed.

Kylo Ren considers for a moment, then nods his understanding

"I will ensure that the Supreme Leader is not kept waiting. I will be in my quarters". He made to move past her, but the Admiral stepped into his path deliberately, and he paused.

Kuvira eyed the smoking ruined console and wall behind him and the maintenance repair crews that were arriving to begin their long and hard work to fixing the machinery back to working order.

She could also see them giving subtle but very real glares at Kylo Ren's back. No doubt angry at the unnecessary workload, but fearful enough to keep their resentment quiet.

She focused her attention back on Ren. "As there will be a delay in our departure I am heading to the training arena to undergo some combat training and sparing. In the interests of your emotional wellbeing and the welfare of my ship and the entire fleet. I would like you to join me for a sparing session. I am certain it will be a beneficial and salubrious experience."

For a moment Kylo Ren just stood there as he regarded her, and she him

Just when she started to think that he was not going to reply. Finally, he slowly nodded. "The exercise will be a welcome way to consume the time. Lead the way Admiral."

Finalizer Training Room 1

Kuvira POV

The combat training room was located deep within the bowels of the Star destroyer. It was a design requirement to ensure that nothing, but the most serious damage could touch the training facilities and thereby the untrained cadets and non-combatants.

The room was mostly white with red and black First Order banners displayed on each of the four walls. Red symbols and marks also decorated the floor of the sparing arena that was raised five steps off the floor of the room and existed as a raised square occupying most of the floor space.

Weapons were displayed on racks all along the wall. Blaster's, rifles, handguns, vibroblades, electro staffs and shields were hanging across the room. All of them loaded and ready, and all of them in perfect condition. They were mostly intended to be used on the standard training session, but that didn't mean that they could not be set to dangerous levels.

The two figures occupied the room now stood on the combat platform. Having ordered all of the previous training cadets, soldiers and instructors from the room mere moments ago. The combat was being recorded for training and instruction purposes, as most spars were often documented in the training rooms. But they could ignore that for now and delete the date once they were finished. This fight was not one for instruction, it was a simple emotional need for the combatants.

Admrial Kuvira, stood on one of the ends of the plat form. She had changed out of her flight gear and was now wearing her black combat boots, tight black exercise trousers, and a white tank top with black fingerless gloves.

He hair was tied back up in its typical tight style that ensured that it would not get in her face or be available to be easily gripped during combat.

Kylo Ren stood on the other end of the platform. He had not changed out of his typical black robes and his helmet remained firmly on his head. However, he had taken off his clock and it was now folded in the corner of the room. He probably removed the clock as in a stand up fight it was more of a hindrance. But he would not bend on the rest of his gear.

Kuvira thought she understood. She had scene him without his helmet a number of times before. But in his determination to emulate Darth Vader, he was determined to reveal his face as little as possible. Plus she understood that it also served as a terror tactic.

A mask gave a sense of mystery and fear to a person's enemies. It also allowed for the enemy to begin to see their enemy as something more than human, something that they begin to decide that they cannot defeat.

Intimidation and theatricality were powerful weapons. The strength to become more then a man in the mind of your opponent, inspired the exactly the same crippling terror that the Death Star had been built to create in their enemies.

Each of them held an electo-staff in their hands, with the static charge set on the training level. A full charge could produce enough of a shock to stop an individuals heart in the right circumstances. However, the training session would produce nothing but a nasty jolt and some minor pain. Still it was not something that you wanted to endure.

They had sparred a number of times before, in their efforts to improve their skills, pass the time, or (like in this case) as a stress release. Over time they had come up with three sets of combat rules and choices.

They could either fight with just fist and feet. No weapons or Force abilities of any kind, a true test of strength.

They could fight with a selected melee weapon of their choice. In this case the electro-staff.

Or they could fight each other with all of their arsenal. No weapons or abilities would be off limits to them.

This session, they had chosen the second option and chosen to fight with the staffs and now they stood in the ready position with the electrical staffs poised and ready to fight.

They stared at each other for a few more moments as they took in each other's stances. Then, without any indication who had moved first and who had reacted. They lunged forward.

Kylo Ren, aggressive as always swung his staff at Kuvira's head, only to find it blocked by her own staff. Quickly he swung again from the other side of her head, again and again while he forced the Admiral back as she knocked aside his blocks with short sharp counters.

Then she went on the attack

After blocking, she jabbed her staff at his feet and forced him to lift his leg out of the way and take a step back to regain his balance. While he was momentarily offset she brought her other staff end up and down on his head, forcing him to block as he stumbled backwards.

She jabbed at his feet once more, but he merely blocked the blow with a spinning blow that he continued in a 360 degree spin trying to sweep her legs out from under her.

Kuvira jumped into the air and managed to avoid the blow. However, his staff came flying toward her even before she had landed back on the ground and the force of the blow against her hurried guard caused her to stumble back a step.

Kylo did not let up his advantage and once again spun around and lashed out with a spinning kick that once again slammed into Kuvira's guard and forced her back once more. She now came quite close to the edge of the combat platform.

Kuvira lunched forward and rammed her staff against Ren's. Using the power of her motion and the strength borne of a life time of intense training she drives him back into the centre of the platform. After a few moment of pitting their physical strength against each other (although Kylo was intentionally not calling on the Force) they proceed to slam and smack their staffs against each other, trying to find a gap in the defences.

Then Ren fell back to the old tactic and brought his staff slamming down on Kuvira's defence again and again as he tried to smash his way through or knock her to the ground by sheer brute strength.

However, after taking the blows for a few seconds, Kuvira didges to the side and let the blow pass her and slam into the platform, causing a shower of sparks. With his weapon trust forward, he was unable to prevent Kuvira from sweeping his legs out from under him and sending him crashing to the ground on his back.

Kuvira immediately capitalised on her advantage and swung her staff down to bring it to Ren's chest, and end the duel in her favour. But Ren quickly rolled out of the way and climbed back to his feet, slapping away her attack as he did so.

After a few seconds to catch their breath and to revaluate their style of combat he lunched forward again.

Bring both ends of the electro staff down on her, he pressed forward but she moved back and sent one of her staff ends thrusting forward like a spear towards his face which he just managed to jolt his head to the side and avoid an electric bolt to the face.

Kylo Ren snarled beneath his helmet, his supressed rage finding a release as he fought, and the Dark Side flowed into him like a river. He did not harness its power directly to increase his speed or strength, that would violate the point of the duel. Instead he just accepted the power flowing into him and out again, but he felt it burn away his pains and doubts and fill him with resolve.

He lunged again sending vicious attacks Kuvira's way which she blocked. But then he surprised her by suddenly lashing out with a front kick directly into her exposed torso.

Kuvira was sent hurtling to the ground and the breath was knocked out of her as she felt her back slam into the unrelenting surface of the combat platform. However, with a speed and reflexes born of thousands of hours of training she flipped back to her feet from her back and swung her staff at his head with vicious force.

He blocked, and the duel began again with each opponent lunging and ducking and jabbing and weaving, trying to find an advantage.

However, as the duel began to progress longer the outcome became less in doubt.

Kuvira had been duelling for the better part of 10 minutes straight against a skilled combatant and a force user at that. The speed of the duel and the strength needed to generate the force of her attacks and the resolve of her defences was steadily taking a toll on her muscles as fatigue began to set in. Sweat glistened on her forehead and was visible on her arms. It also caused her tank top to become stained and cling tightly to her body.

(Yes, that recording footage would defiantly need to be removed soon after this).

Her breathing was still steady, but it had become deep and laboured as she fought to keep her body sustained with the oxygen needed to keep up this furious pace.

Kylo Ren meanwhile was only breathing slightly deeper then he had been when the duel had started. The agreement was to not use the force in this duel and he had followed that in not increasing his speed and strength or directly attacking the Admiral with telekinesis. But he could not stop the Force from nourishing his body and preventing exhaustion and fatigue from setting into his muscles. It was something that every trained force user could do. To the point where it became as instinctual and automatic as blinking.

Many could probably call that an unfair advantage in this duel, maybe even cheating.

But it could not be helped, and the Admiral could still win if she managed to land a telling blow on him.

The battle was re-joined with both opponents swinging at each other as their defences were tested brutally, but steadily Kuvira's fatigued muscles began to tell as her movement became a fraction slower and her reaction speed became noticeably more stressed.

Finally, she failed to jump back in time to avoid a slash to her left leg and the electrical jolt shot through her suddenly nerveless limb. Before Kylo Ren could finish her off she stabbed forward with her own staff and drove him back. Her leg shuddered and shock as he she tried to regain her balance and defend against the new attacks that came in, but her leg prevented her from retreating and avoiding a new blow to her abdomen and the shock of the contact left herself defences as Kylo Ren knocked the staff from her hand and brought his blow in towards her head.

Kuvira braced for the pain of the physical contact and the electric charge. But only an inch away from her cheek, the staff was halted and Kylo Ren held it there. The sparks of the crackling energy were close enough to cause her skin to prickle and her nose to be filled with the smell of burning ozone.

For a moment, neither of them moved as Kylo Ren maintained his staff's position and Kuvira remained defiantly still.

Finally, Kylo lowered his spear and shut down the power pack. In turn Kuvira stepped back and entered a relaxed militant stance. Impressive despite the pain that must have been coursing through her nervous system. Instead she regained her standard military bearing and gave a subtle nod of acknowledgement, a small admission of defeat.

Kylo Ren knew that Kuvira refused to show any form of weakness. Her eyes never lost their steely strength or focused gaze, and her posture never betrayed anything other then strength. But she was not so arrogant or vain that she could not acknowledge when she had been bested in combat.

In turn he decided to offer a gesture of his own.

"You fought well Admiral, as always." He said simply and plainly, his voice as always distorted by his mask.

Kuvira nodded and began to move off the platform to wear her discarded jacket and flight clothes lay neatly folded on one of the observation benches. After a second Kylo Ren followed her calling both staffs into his hand with the force and then floating them back onto their previous wall hangers.

Kuvira slid her flight jump suit back on and zipped it closed. She would need to remove it and have a proper shower before she could resume her duties. She would not arrive on the bridge in front of her soldiers in such as state. She was not so vain as to need to check her hair and clothes every second during battle. Just thinking about that made her remember the tales of the ancient Jedi General Valenthyne Farfalla, and she supressed a grimace at the thought of his vanity and lack of priorities, dispute his military skill.

She needed to set the necessary examples for her troops and her ship crew. And the discipline of their army and navy was the force that held the First Order together.

As they walked out of the training room they fell into step as they walked along the corridors and past the various sections of the Finalizer as they made their way to the upper decks, where the officers quarters were.

They passed by numerous stormtroopers and petty officers on their route and they received a wide berth as all alike shuffled to the side to allow their two highest ranking superiors past. Kuvira was not pleased to be seen looking so unkempt, but she endeavoured to make up for it with her standard imposing stride and imperceptible posture.

They ended up taking the same turbo lift up to the officer's deck and once out into the open and much more deserted corridor, Kuvira's commlink went off. Pausing she pulled out the com link and flicked it on.

She noticed that Ren had also stopped and was waiting to see the results of the conversation. At least that was why she assumed he was hanging about.

The blue tinged image of her personal aide, Lieutenant Nephtina appeared on the com link. Her personal assistant was a blue skinned Twi'lek woman of 26 years of age. She had been brought into the First Order as a young orphaned child. It was a common enough story in the outer rim.

Kuvira had selected her as her assistant and aide due her exemplary organisation and efficiency and on a personal note, her cheerful and strong-willed nature. She found it to be a nice counter-balance to her own stern and unyielding nature.

At the same time, she had selected her to make a point that the First Order did not follow the same ridiculous notions of human superiority that had crippled the Empire. She found such a concept insanely short-sighted and simply primitive. The idea that a civilisation as advanced technologically and socially as the Empire, fell into such a corrupting and damaging idea was a constant source irritation to her.

She wanted to have Nephtina a clear sign that alien races were welcome in the First Order and that she would ensure they rose according to their merits. Not on whether they had pink skin or hair instead of horns or two eyes, three eyes or five eyes.

Nephtina saluted as was proper and then waited for permission to speak, as was also proper.

"Report Lieutenant." Kuvira said in her typical commander's voice. Gentle but firm and resolute. Nephtina nodded and began her report.

"Admiral the Finalizer and the Reclaimer are ready to make the journey to Starkiller base. Will you be making the transfer to the Reclaimer for the trip or will you be travelling on the Finalizer?" She asked in a strong but deferential tone. If there were any qualities that Admiral Kuvira did not tolerate it was cowardice and sycophantism.

"What is the status of our operation on Jakku and the rest of the system?" She demanded.

"Operations on Jakku are moving well. No trouble from the locals yet. The resources for the outpost construction have been moved down to the surface and a troop rotation has been created to allow the effective reshuffling of troops on the planet.

As for the system we have placed comm buoys at the necessary hyperspace lane access points and we have assigned a flight patrol of fighters and light cruisers. We have already established contact with our forces and bases across the galaxy. The fighter hangers have been temporarily set up on the surface until more permeant ones can be properly constructed. All in all, the system is secure Admiral." She finished with a hint of smug self-satisfaction in her tone.

Kuvira's lip twitched upwards as she noticed the moment of prideful emotion cross Nephtina's face, but she allowed it to pass.

"Excellent, I will be heading back to the Reclaimer for the trip to Starkiller base, alert my crew to prepare for my arrival." She commanded

Nephtina saluted again "Yes Admiral." She nodded. The image flickered and died.

She turned back to Kylo Ren who had still not moved from his position in front of her.

"Thank you for the spar Lord Ren. I hope you found it as useful as I did. I will be returning to the Reclaimer for the journey to Starkiller. I trust you will be present for our report to the Supreme Leader?" She inquired

Kylo Ren nodded after a brief moment. "It was an enjoyable experience, as always Admiral. I will join you in the Supreme Leader's chamber on the planet."

She nodded, and Ren turned and walked down the hall to his own chambers. Kuvira made her way to the temporary accommodations she had been provided on the ship, determined to perform her ablutions before for returned to the Reclaimer.

And to the fight.