Rose realised about 20 minutes later that Hux was hunched over his pad, ignoring the sandwiches next to him. He looked smaller than before, she wasn't sure how this was possible for a man this tall, but he did. "I'm sorry that you had to see that, it's embarrassing to be honest. She just doesn't get boundaries."
He only glanced briefly at her. "I don't mind."
"Anyway, the sandwiches are here. So just take them, alright?"
"They are for you," he said without looking up. "I'm not hungry after breakfast anyway."
"Okay, then I'll eat them. I admit that I skipped breakfast this morning to get an early start." She stood up and took the tray from his table. It irked her that her mother's plan worked but it was silly to let the food go to waste. She ate the sandwiches quickly in order to return to assemble the prototype as fast as possible.
Around lunchtime she had put it together, all she needed to do was to test it. The easiest way would be to mount it on a fighter and fly targeting practice here on the planet. She was itching to try it out but at the same time she realised that she had again forgotten to ask Hux if he wanted tea or a break of any kind.
She stared at the engine. Damn, she wanted to install it so badly! She looked back up to Hux who was typing away on the pad. Her mother had been right about one thing: he did look way too skinny for a man of his height.
"It's time for lunch, Hux," she finally said and put the hydrospanner down.
"Already?"
"Yeah, I know. If you want we can hurry - I've got the prototype ready and I'm dying to run a few tests," she added hastily. Perhaps he was motivated to take a short lunch break? So that she could get going as fast as possible?
His eyes went wide. "You're finished already?" He hesitated for a moment, then he took his holo out of his bag and made a picture of the protype. He noticed her baffled stare and said in a low voice. "I wanted to commemorate the occasion… Can't we skip lunch and go right to the tests?"
Damn, he didn't make it easy. "Uh, yeah… but listen. What if we grab a quick bite before that? So that we don't go hungry in the afternoon?"
As soon as she said that she realised that he couldn't eat fast - he said it himself, he was checking his food for sharp objects. He couldn't hurry.
He shifted in his seat. "Right, I- you can hurry if you want. You don't have to wait for me." He stumbled on his feet and took his crutch.
She watched him poking around in his food, he was apparently trying to hurry up but he was still a slow eater. They sat alone at a table in a corner. He looked stressed as he chewed his food. Against her will she felt bad. She shouldn't have rushed him like that. He clearly wasn't comfortable.
"Hey, listen. Slow down, okay?" she finally said. "We don't need to rush."
"It's fine," he just said, continuing to shove food in his mouth.
"Sometimes I get overexcited," she sighed. "It really doesn't matter if I'm installing the thing now or half an hour later."
He gulped. "Just go ahead, I can't help you anyway with the crutch."
This was the last straw, she offered to wait, didn't she? She almost jumped up from her chair. "Okay, if you say so! See you!"
She hurried back in the lab, grabbed the cannon and jogged to the hangar with Poe's fighter. With the help of one of the mechanics she had installed it about a half an hour later. Then she called Poe on his holo.
"Poe!"
"Rose - what happened?" there was a worried look on Poe's face.
"Poe! Come quick! I installed the prototype on your fighter!"
"Stars! Two minutes!"
Rose had barely put the holo away when Poe stormed into the hangar with BB-8 in tow.
"Rose!"
"Poe!"
"Rose!" He hugged her and beamed. "The Iron Butterfly will take flight right away!" He climbed into the cockpit and put on his helmet while BB-8 hoisted itself up in its proper place.
"Go easy, alright?" said Rose. "The scans look good but there is a reason why we need to do a couple of tests."
"I know. I may not look like it but I'm not a reckless moron," he said with a smile and ignited the engines.
Rose stepped back, rubbing her hands over her overalls. She watched him take off, only now she realised that she hadn't waited for Hux. She was surprised to discover that she was feeling guilty. She pulled her holo out and called him.
Hux's small blueish figure appeared on the holo, it seemed that he was sitting. "Where are you Hux? Are you back in the lab?"
"I am."
"I thought you would come in the hangar, didn't you want to see it installed?"
"I did, but you didn't tell me which hagar it was, so I returned to the lab."
"Stars! I'm sorry, I'm such a dork! Why didn't you call me?"
"I felt it was inappropriate." He held his pad up. "And I have another assignment I need to finish."
"I'm in hangar 21, are you sure you don't want to come by?"
Hux shook his head. "It's too far for me just to have a look. If you could just send me the data from the tests…"
"Okay, will do."
They ended the call and Rose cursed under her breath. She hadn't meant for Hux to stay behind. Well, it's not like she could change the past. And it was only Hux, right? But then why did she feel bad about it?
Before she had time to think about it further Poe returned. He landed his fighter as smoothly as always and grinned at her.
"It works like a charm!"
Rose smiled back. "Can you send me the flight data? We need to make sure that everything is working as intended." Before she finished the sentence she saw that the data had already arrived on her pad. She forwarded it to Hux.
"What's the secondary weapon? I saw it but wasn't sure if I should use it," asked Poe as he climbed out of the cockpit.
"That one needs some work, but maybe we can implement it soon. It's a shield scrambler."
"Ugh, boring. I was hoping for something more exciting."
Rose laughed, "Not everything is about blasting things."
He came over and hugged her while BB-8 was beeping cheerfully. "Hear that? BB-8 liked it too!"
Rose let go of Poe and knelt down to BB-8. The droid beeped loudly and spun its body around its own axis.
"Really? You know what? I'll add that to my data. I didn't know that interfaces could feel smooth."
Rose stood up and typed an addendum on her pad.
"I knew you could do it, Rose. You're a genius!"
"And you are a flatterer! It wasn't my prototype by the way - I just built it and tweaked it a little. Hux drew up the blueprints."
The grin faded from Poe's face. "What?"
"Don't look so shocked. He's a weapon designer, of course I would task him to draw up plans."
He rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah, I know. It's just… it's a little uncanny to think that he's on our side now."
She frowned. "Okay, you lost me. You're the one to drag him to every social gathering - why would you do that if you think he's not on our side?"
"Because he's alone and scared," he said with a sad smile.
"What?"
"Finn told me that in the Order it's eat or be eaten. Hux probably never experienced anybody being nice to him. All this is new to him, and confusing. If we leave him alone he will stay in his own world, where everybody is out to get him. He will never really join us unless we drag him in kicking and screaming."
Rose inhaled. "I'm such an idiot. And I kept wondering why you spend so much time with him."
Poe patted her back. "That is the genius of my leadership."
Rose chuckled, "You are a dork."
.
-o-
.
Hux perked up when his pad chimed. He scrolled through the data and allowed himself a small smile. The tests looked good, the output of the new cannon was stable too. The handling appeared to be in order too.
His pad chimed a second time and an addendum appeared: "BB-8 reports that the interface to the cannon is 'very smooth'."
What a weird woman, had she really questioned an astro-droid? But then again it was an interesting input. He had never thought that droids registered what kind of interfaces there were.
When he looked through the data he noticed that she had apparently made some modifications to his plans. The output of the cannon was slightly higher than calculated. He frowned. How had she- She had fine-tuned the frequency of the phaser-emitters! How in the galaxy had she done that?
The door slid open and Tico appeared, followed by Dameron and an orange-white BB unit.
"Hugs!"
Hux rolled his eyes. He should have known that Dameron would be the test pilot. "Commander Dameron."
The BB unit beeped in binary and rolled towards Hux.
"Yes, I'm the one to design it," he replied with a frown. He hadn't been aware that BB units had so much personality.
Beep-bop.
"I don't know. I just tried to align it so that it would fit."
"Good job, Hugs! I can't wait to test it in combat!"
What was he supposed to say? "I just completed the assignment I was given." He caught Tico's eye. "I saw that you modified the PZ-emitters."
She shrugged. "Yeah, I played around with them. It's better now."
"It is- but how did you find the right frequency?"
"PZ-emitters have an optimal latitude at 0.234 megaherz. If you pump them up to 0.236 they burn hotter, it's a problem on hot planets - that's why it isn't recommended. But honestly, they can take a lot more heat than the producer thinks."
Hux stared at her. "You took into account that they're liquid-cooled by the subsystems."
"Yep."
He had clearly underestimated her. What a brilliant idea to boost the cannons! Perhaps she could help with the scrambler? A woman of her wit could clearly help with the design! "Have you looked at the draft of the scrambler?"
"The IN-port is a problem."
"I thought about using a bypass."
"Yeah, but why not just use a tweaked H8-interface to punch the code through?"
An H8! Why hadn't he thought of that himself? Stupid! He gritted his teeth and pulled up the schematics. An H8!
"Uh, I'm going then," said Dameron.
Hux lifted his head. He had forgotten that Dameron was still here.
"Thanks Poe," said Tico and stepped next to Hux to look at the blueprint. She glanced over his shoulder. "Maybe we should put it on the large holo."
"Good idea," said Hux and activated it remotely. He got up and limped over. He was curious how she would solve the transmission problem. It would probably take them some time to-
Tico pointed at the programming of the command to interrupt the navigational shields. "Wouldn't it be easier if you just used a brute force attack on the computer core? I mean… the system is going to overload the moment it gets stuck by the message anyway. It's not elegant but it should get the job done."
He gaped at her. How could she just come up with all these solutions in a matter of seconds? She really was brilliant!
"You- you're right. I didn't think of that."
She put her hands on her hips and smiled at him. "I think we make quite a team! I mean - you came up with the plans in, like, a day and here we are! Let's celebrate with a mug of tea in the Cantina! Or better yet! Let's take the tea outside and enjoy the sun for a moment or two before we head back in here!"
Hux hesitated. Perhaps he should just stay here and keep working. On the other hand it was tempting… taking a break, seeing the sun again. It had been quite some time. "Why not?"
"Great so you just head down the hallway and turn right two times, then you're at the south exit. I'll go get the tea. Black?"
He nodded and grabbed his crutch.
He almost reached the exit when he heard a voice behind him. "You missed the Cantina in case that's where you're heading."
He turned around, his arm was hurting from exertion and so was his leg. It was the quartermaster. He gritted his teeth. "I'm on my way to the exit… what is your rank and name?"
"Company Sergeant Major Thanya Tico if you must know."
"Well, Sergeant Major Tico - I'm not lost in case that's what you're insinuating."
She lifted her chin and stepped in front of him. She barely reached his chest. "Did she eat the sandwiches?"
He blinked. "Yes, she did."
She smiled. "I knew it. A mother always knows. She forgets to eat and to drink enough water when she's working." Hux looked at her, wondering if that was how all mothers were. Had his been like this? According to his father she had been a dim-witted lowly servant, only interested in the money he paid her-
"Mom!"
The smile vanished from Sergeant Major Tico's face and an expression of surprise took hold of her features. "Ro-Ro? You're taking a break?"
"Duh! I told you that I don't need you breathing down my neck to take care of myself." She lifted the two mugs of tea in the air.
"I just-"
"What are you doing out here anyway? I told you to stop micromanaging me!"
For a moment an expression of hurt crossed over the quartermasters' face. She frowned and left.
"Sorry - again. It's complicated," said Sergeant Tico.
"I- uh, I don't mind."
She sighed. "Come on, there is a nice spot over there."
She led the way to a small patch of grass near the entrance. Somebody had put a few tree trunks there. They sat down and she handed him his tea.
He inhaled the scent of the nearby forest and squinted. The sun was warm, in the distance he could hear birds chirping. It was nice.
"I shouldn't be so hard on her," Tico began, "I mean- I'm all that's left of our family. But she's suffocating me. And the way she looks at me sometimes-" she broke off. "Sorry, I'm still talking about family stuff."
"I don't mind," he said again in a low voice. What else was he supposed to say? Did it mean that she didn't like her mother? Or was it always like this in… normal families?
"What about your family?"
Hux considered his answer, in the end he decided to go with the truth. "You probably know that I'm a bastard - I don't remember my birth mother but I'm told she was a daft, lowly servant. My father and my step-mother raised me."
"I didn't know you were an illegitimate child."
He scoffed, "Really? Then why did Dameron make fun of my mother if he didn't know? No matter. They're all dead anyway."
"I really don't think that Poe knew…. I guess they were in the Order - did they fall in battle?"
He took a sip of tea. "My step-mother died about a decade ago in her bed. Some mysterious illness. Perhaps my father got sick of her. As for my father - I poisoned him."
Tico almost spit out her tea. "What?!"
"He deserved it, believe me. The galaxy is better off without him."
"Kriff."
He gulped his tea down. "Let's go back inside. We have quite a bit of work ahead of us."
Hux realised that he was actually looking forward to work with her.