Rose arrived at the tech lab feeling uneasy. She turned around and looked down the hallway, Hux was nowhere to be seen. She rubbed her hands on her overalls. It had felt good in the moment, leaving Hux to scramble behind her, but now she felt silly.

She thought he would swear and be right behind her but it seemed that she lost him. Should she go back to look for him? No, that was embarrassing. But what else was there?

She felt heat crawl up her cheeks as she walked back.

Rose turned around the corner and saw Hux leaning against a wall, talking to Captain Eniola. Why- why was he talking to her?

She crossed the hallway and stopped next to them.

Eniola noticed her. "Ah, Rose. I- uh just- I should get going." She left quickly.

"What was that about?" asked Rose.

Hux pushed himself away from the wall and wiped over his uniform. "I fell and she helped me up," he pressed out.

She felt a pang of guilt. "Oh, I didn't mean to-"

"Of course you did. You wanted to humiliate me and you succeeded. Congratulations," he said evenly. "Can we go to the tech lab now?"

She didn't know what to say and just led him into the tech lab. She took care not to walk too quickly this time and noticed he was getting tired rather fast.

When they arrived she pulled a chair next to the holo table and waited for him to sit down. He looked exhausted and pale… well, paler than usual.

"Are- are you in pain? Do you want me to get Dr. Kalonia?" she asked.

"Let's just get to work," he said in a low voice. "Do you have a spare pad?"

"Of course, here you go." She gave him one of hers. "It's got the INDD program on it. It's not the latest version but it works."

"Thank you, it will suffice." He activated it and moments later he was typing into the pad.

Rose decided that she would work on her own projects - stars knew that there was enough work without trying to reverse engineer a complex program from scratch.

She went to her work bench and grabbed her hydrospanner. She sat down in front of a BB-77 unit and started to recalibrate its astro charts.

After a couple of hours she started to feel thirsty and she stretched until her joints cracked. Only when her sights fell on Hux did she realise that they'd been working without a break. Damn it, Dr. Kalonia would scold her if she knew.

"Uh, you want to take a break or something?" she asked.

He jerked his head up, revealing that he was looking even more tired than before. He rubbed over his eyes. Then he pressed his lips together. "No."

Why was he so pig-headed? He was obviously in need of a break. "Well, I'm getting a cup of caf from the Cantina."

He frowned, visibly confused. "Alright." Then he turned his attention back to the pad and continued to work.

She exhaled and rubbed her oily hands clean on a rag before she got up and headed to the Cantina. When it was her turn to pour herself a mug, she hesitated shortly before taking a second cup.

She grimaced a little. Hux would certainly like it, that she was bringing him a beverage like she was his servant. Perhaps she should just leave him be? No, that felt silly too.

She also took a bottle with iced tea, crammed it into one of the pockets of her overalls and went back to the tech lab.

She put the mug and the bottle on the table near him. "Brought you something."

He looked up for a moment and his scowl faded. "Ah, thank you, Sergeant."

They went back to work, this time Rose kept track of the time. She had no idea how long Hux was supposed to work but she got the feeling that it wouldn't help anybody if he wore himself out on the first day. After all he had to write a rough draft and then add the details. It was bound to take a few days at least.

At 18:00 sharp she cleared her throat. He only looked up after the second attempt to get his attention.

"I'll show you your quarters now - I got a message from our quartermaster." Truth be told she received that message hours ago but he didn't need to know that.

"I can still work," he said while barely suppressing a yawn.

"Then take the pad with you, you don't need to work here." Now that she thought about it, it made more sense when he worked on his own. It was not like he needed her anyway.

He nodded. "That sounds reasonable, Sergeant Tico."

"I'll forward the message to you, just in case." Rose chose the other pad as recipient and sent him the mail. "Okay, let's go. Dinner starts at 18:30, after 20:00 it's only cold plates."

She led him to the part of the base where officers had their rooms, perhaps the upper brass thought he would be safer here than with the grunts. She punched in the code and entered the small room. It was basically a grey cube with a bed in it. The walls bore signs of tape - perhaps the previous owner had posters. She herself decorated her quarters with holoflowers to lift the depressing mood radiating from the concrete walls.

"The bed and a wash basin are in here, showers are at the end of the hallway." He would no doubt complain. She huffed. "It's a step down from your old quarters I imagine but-"

"It's enough," he interjected and let himself fall on the bed. He looked exhausted.

"Uh, well, okay." Rose blinked. "I'm off then. I usually start to work at 7:00 in case you need anything."

He nodded and she left.

Back in the hallway she wondered if he would find the Cantina for dinner; the base itself wasn't large but the layout wasn't easy since it had been a hideout for spice smugglers. Well, it wasn't her problem, was it? She hesitated shortly before she returned to the lab to work some more.

"How was it?" Finn asked when she sat down with her dinner.

Rose shrugged. "We didn't talk much, he just started to work until he almost fell from his chair." She took the fork and pointed at Finn. "And you know what? When I asked him if he needed a break he just said no, despite looking all pale and tired. Weird."

"The First Order is a snake pit, from what I heard the officers are all like that - eat or be eaten," he said while wiping his mouth with a napkin. "He'll work himself to death before he takes a break."

"Well, at least he's working for us now." She started to eat the pasta.

"I don't know about that. Guys like him only work for themselves - that's what I told General Organa when we brought him in. We can't trust him."

She chewed and thought about what Finn had said. It was true of course. Hux may look pale and fragile but he was still dangerous, there was a reason why someone this young had become General. "I know. You think it's a mistake to let him roam free on the base?"

"No, there is no point in locking him up. He was helping us, stars - he saved us. We need to utilize what we can… we just shouldn't forget who he really is."

Hux appeared in the doorway of the Cantina, he looked tired and stressed. "Speaking of the devil…"

.

-o-

.

Hux regretted his decision to get dinner the moment he entered the Cantina. Like the last time people stared at him, probably silently laughing at his appearance. If only he had access to his hair products - or at least a clean uniform.

He pulled the corners of his mouth down. Well, it was nothing new. It had been a few years since the academy but he still knew how to play this - he straightened his back and hobbled towards an empty table in the back, near the counter where the food was handed out.

He sat down to catch his breath, while pretending to read something on the pad Sergeant Tico had given him. From the corner of his eye he saw that there were noodles on the menu, at least the cook was handing something out that looked like that. It should be possible to get a plate even with the crutch - of course he couldn't take a glass of water. He would just spill it. He could drink later in his quarters.

He waited a few moments before he got up and queued in line. He braced himself when it was his turn. The cook - a skinny, bearded Zabrak - frowned a little. Ah, now he would insult him, probably calling him a waste of space, not worthy-

"How are you supposed to carry your food with that crutch?"

"I can manage," Hux said slowly, insecure of what would follow next. What now? He hadn't expected that he would refuse him the food. Well, if that was the case he just would-

"Go sit down, I'll bring it to you," the cook said with a sigh.

Hux gaped at the man as he ladled noodles on a plate. Puzzled he hobbled back to his table, followed by the cook. He sat down, grimacing as he felt a sharp pain in his leg - it seemed that the painkillers were wearing off.

"Here you go," said the cook and put the plate on his table. Then he went back and brought him a fork and glass of water.

"Thank you," said Hux quietly. He watched the man go back to the counter. He lowered his gaze to the food in front of him. Huh, that was easier than expected. Or had he put something in his food while he wasn't watching?

He poked around in the noodles, but didn't see anything suspicious. Slowly he began to eat. The taste wasn't bad, in fact it was quite good. He activated the pad and scrolled through his notes as he continued to eat.

"There you are," said a female voice.

Hux looked up and saw a middle-aged, olive-skinned human woman with dark hair standing in front of him. She was tiny but he radiated calm authority. She put her hands on her hips. "I was looking for you, Hux."

Hux gulped the food down. "Why?"

"I'm the quartermaster. I'm supposed to issue you some clothes, so I wanted to ask you about your measurements. But seeing you up close I already know that nothing regular is going to fit."

He felt heat crawl up his cheeks.

"I'll drop off some clothes later, can't have you running around in this torn uniform of yours." She leaned down to him. "Black isn't your colour anyway. Not with your complexion."

"The colour is hardly of any importance," he said in an attempt to appear calm.

She just shrugged and continued to the next table where she patted a pilot on her back, saying something unintelligible.

He observed her and noticed that she was stopping at almost every table, smiling and talking to people. Perhaps she was trying to gauge the mood of the troops? It made sense for her since she was in charge of food and housing.

In the Order quartermasters almost always knew who was about to be sent for reconditioning - at least according to the Internal Security reports he used to receive. There was no reconditioning in the Resistance was there? Hux wondered what they were doing with those who didn't follow orders.

Suddenly he heard laughter, the sound made him turn around - of course Dameron, Tico and FN-2187. Dameron put his hand on FN-2187's shoulder as he laughed. Hux pressed his lips together and turned away. Unnecessary colloquialisms.

He read some more on his pad and finished his dinner before he returned the plate to the food station and went back to his quarters.

About an hour later someone knocked on his door. He sat up on the bed and limped to the door to answer it. As expected it was the quartermaster.

She handed him a bundle of clothes and a small box. "Found something that should fit you. In the box you'll find underwear, socks and so on."

He inspected the bundle, it contained dark blue and green shirts, sweaters, a few black T-shirts, and two pairs of dark grey trousers.

"And here-" to his surprise she handed him a holocom device. "- so you can communicate with- well, whoever."

"Thank you," said Hux while he took it. "I'm frankly surprised that you would give me a communication device." It was strange; they weren't trusting him, were they?

"I said the same to be honest, but General Organa said that you could rig a communication device at any time - so there is that."

Organa was right of course. If they were allowing him free access to tech he could just build a communication device if he really wanted. He just hadn't expected them to be so straightforward about it.

"Well, I'm off then," she said and left.

He closed the door and turned the holocom in his hand. It was an older model, again he was surprised at the ancient tech the Rebels were using. Well, he could replace some chips and update it, it should be easy enough… but what was the point?

He frowned. Silly. There was nobody he would call anyway and nobody would call him, they had implanted a chip in his leg. They could always find him if they wanted.

What kind of chip was it anyway? Judging by the tech he had seen it was possibly an older tracking chip - a LM-345 perhaps. Depending on how deep it was buried in his leg it should theoretically be possible to neutralize it with a concentrated EMP-signal.

Well, it didn't matter. He had no place to go.

He sat down on the bed and leaned against the wall. He stared at the bare wall across from him.

It was odd how little he missed the Order. He thought he might miss the structure or even his power but he didn't. Perhaps it was because of his demotion under Ren. He lost true power a long time ago.

He chose to suppress the anger he felt at the very thought of that moron. He took the pad and continued to work.