Rose barely made it to the Falcon, as soon as Chewie saw her boarding, he closed the ramp and took off.

"Wait!" she screamed. "Wait! Poe and Armitage, they're-"

'They already have them! We need to get away while we still can!' replied Chewie and jumped to hyper-space before she could reply.

She stormed into the cockpit. "We- we need to go back!"

Chewie made a few double jumps to lose any TIE-fighters that may have followed them before he turned around. 'Rose, you know we can't. We need a plan first.'

She collapsed on the co-pilot chair and buried her face in her hands. Kriff! She knew of course, she knew that they couldn't just rescue them. If only- if only she planned better, thought of a scenario like this! If only!

She could feel tears sting her eyes! She failed! She failed again! First Paige and now Poe and Armitage… she could feel hot tears run down her cheeks. They were in the clutches of the Order now. Ren would surely kill them!

She- she… she wiped the tears away. It wasn't too late. She could still save them. Chewie was right, they needed to escape and then come up with a plan.

She gritted her teeth, and may the Force have mercy on Ren if he dared to lay a finger on Armitage. She clenched her hands to fists. She wouldn't give up, she would come up with a plan!

The next couple of hours were the longest Rose had ever experienced, when they finally touched down in their home base she literally ran out of the ship, right into the command center.

Leia and all the senior advisers had already gathered and were apparently discussing the situation. Finn, Rey and Leia were talking with each other when she arrived.

Rose panted when she reached the round table. Her stomach hurt a bit and she was feeling ill from the running. She pressed her hand on her belly. She would check in with the doc later. "General Org- Leia! I- we-"

"Rose, we know. We are currently tracking them down."

Her eyes went wide. "What? How? Did you use the tracker on Ren's ship?"

Leia shook her head. "No, we implanted a tracking chip in General Hux's leg when he arrived here."

Of course! She remembered now, they even talked about it in their very first meeting with Hux! "Where are they?"

Rey pointed at a quadrant in the galaxy map displayed on the table. "The signal is coming from the Dromund System. According to our spies that's where the new flagship of the Order is stationed."

Rose could feel her mouth turning dry. "They're taking them to Ren."

"I think so too," said Leia with a sad nod. "But that also means that we still have time to mount a rescue. Ren wouldn't have them delivered to him only to- to kill them right away."

"General, if I may," said Rey.

"Of course."

Rey licked her lips and took a deep breath. "In the past few weeks I tried to figure out Ren, why he's doing what he does. I talked to Hux about it and something came up…" She exhaled. "I think he has deep resentment against people's happiness. It was almost as if he enjoyed showing his victims that their dreams and hopes meant nothing."

Finn frowned. "What makes you say that?"

"I have this connection with him I told you about... and he keeps showing me what he's doing, he must feel that I'm watching him and he still acts like he wouldn't register. And the things he does… it's like a performance and I kind of expect him to turn around and smirk at me after each session. Ren made me lose my focus. He was doing the same with Hux, back when he was still in the Oder: showing him things that he knew would discourage him."

Finn crossed his arms. "So Ren basically turned Hux into a spy because he kept frustrating him? Is that what you're saying?"

Rose had caught her breath. "No, no I don't believe that. Hux didn't turn into a spy because Ren was provoking him!"

"Perhaps he helped him to make his decision with his behavior," replied Rey. "And now he wants to show Hux and Poe that their resistance is for naught. So whatever he's planning, I don't think that he'll rush it."

"So you agree that we have time?" asked Leia with a hard line around her mouth.

"I can't be sure but if we look at the trouble he went through to get his hands on them I think that he- that he'll take his time."

Rose could feel herself blanching. "We can't leave them there, please. We need to get them out of there as fast as possible."

"Of course we will, but we need a plan first," replied Leia. "We can't just storm the flagship, free two heavily guarded prisoners and escape just like that."

"We did it before," said Finn with a crooked eyebrow.

"That's true, but we can't keep relying on our luck. They must have increased the security after our last escape," said Rey.

Kaydel Ko Connix appeared at Leia's side. "General, we're ready to evacuate."

Leia smiled at her. "Thank you." She turned to face the others. "First things first. We need to find a new place of operations. If Ren uses his powers on Hux or Poe there is a high possibility that he will find out where we are right now."

Rose could feel an idea tugging at the edge of her mind. It was something Leia had said… yes, of course! "I think I have an idea," she said slowly.

The other turned their attention at her. "I knew it, Rose!" said Finn. "You have come up with an idea to rescue them, haven't you?"

"Yes, so - back on Crait we got away because Ren wanted to duel Master Skywalker, didn't he?"

The others just nodded.

"So we know that he wants to get his hands dirty, that he likes crushing people's hopes. Show them that everything's futile - he's a nihilist pure and simple. And he couldn't resist an opportunity to show us and the galaxy that our idealism is meaningless." She looked from Leia to Rey and Finn and back to Leia. "Ren will come here and we can use it to our advantage - we can set a trap of our own."

"I see," said Leia, "so you suggest that we pretend not to evacuate the base. But we still need to take on the firepower of the Order for the trap to function, even if we can distract Ren."

Rose took her backpack and put it on the table. "I think we have everything we need."

Rose entered the tech lab and leaned against the wall as soon as the door slid shut, for a moment it felt like all her strength had left her body. She slowly slid down until she sat on the floor.

She stared at the backpack and the glittering crystals in it. She had to keep calm and proceed with the plan. It was all she could do.

Moments later the door slid open and Finn appeared. He froze when he saw her sitting on the floor. "Rose, are you alright?" Then he sighed. "Sorry, stupid question."

She leaned her head against the cool metal of the wall. "It's alright. I just need to collect my thoughts for a moment."

"It's not alright! This- this asshole has Poe and-" Finn interrupted himself. "I know I'm not helping. I just came here to tell you that you can talk to me… you know… about Hux."

Rose wiped over her face. "Thank you. But I don't want to talk about it. Not now." She sighed. "I know that you talked to Rey by the way."

He sat down on Hux's chair, looking crestfallen. "Sorry, but I just couldn't keep it to myself. It was… no, I don't have an excuse. Sorry."

She looked down on her belly and ran her hand through her hair. "Did Rey tell you that I'm pregnant?"

His eyes went wide. "Uh… no. I guess she's better at keeping secrets than I am."

It felt like a cold, heavy layer of snow was taking hold of her heart. "Truth to be told we decided to keep it and I- I just kept postponing telling the truth about us. I thought we had time and I- I was scared what other people would think of me. What they think of him. And now he is gone - held captive by Ren, doing to him stars knows what."

"Rose…"

She gulped. "And I was too much of a coward to admit that I love him." She blinked tears away. "Instead I got obsessed with the boarding droids, I wasted my energy and my time convincing people that Armitage was useful but I- I really only wanted them to-" She sniffled.

Finn got up and sat down beside her, hugging her. "We'll save them, alright? You will have all the time in the world to tell us about it."

She sniffled and hugged him back.

.

-o-

.

Hux resurfaced from his unconsciousness, the first thing he registered was the harsh light shining in his face, then he heard slow buzzing in his face. He tried to swat it away only to discover that his hands were restrained.

A dull pain was lingering in his head when he finally came to his senses, registering that the light was from a lamp high above him and that he was bound to an interrogation rack. The humming next to his head stopped and the unseen droid flew away, from the corner of his eye he saw a dark metallic sphere but he didn't recognize the model.

Starkiller… and now he was here. Dameron had been with him… but what about Rose? His heart began to beat faster. Had they all been captured?

She'd been in front of them, then the fir had fallen- she had gotten away, yes, she must have! The thought of her being taken captive, being strapped to an interrogation rack like himself was unbearable.

Suddenly he could hear a door slid open. It was the design of the room that the captive could never see the interrogator coming. His mouth felt dry. He witnessed enough interrogations to know that he wouldn't last - he was as good as dead once they were finished with him.

A shiver ran down his spine when he heard Ren's metallic breathing behind him. He set his lips to a thin line. So Ren would finish him off personally? The least he could do is not giving him the satisfaction to show fear.

"I guess I should feel honoured that you showed up yourself, Ren," he said in the coldest voice he could muster. "But then again you were always prone to waste time with menial tasks, weren't you?"

Ren appeared in Hux's line of sight; he was wearing his mask and his usual tatty robe. "I'm disappointed, Hux. You looked like Rebel scum when we picked you up at Starkiller."

Hux registered the use of the past tense but he wasn't sure how to react to that and before he could muster an answer Ren spoke on.

"Did you think they wouldn't know who you really are if you disguised yourself?"

Hux scoffed. "Is a masked man really lecturing me about disguises? You really have no sense of irony, do you?"

Ren tilted his head. "Irony is the weapon of the powerless. But you're right of course, this mask is only a symbol. It shows what I have become, so it's more of a statement than a disguise. You on the other hand… you pretend to be something you're not."

Hux opened his mouth to offer a biting retort but with a gesture of his hand his throat laced up and all he could do was croak.

"I'm not finished yet, General." A large mirror was lowered from the ceiling, Hux's eyes went wide when he saw his own reflection: he was clean-shaved with crisp sideburns and he was wearing his old uniform.

Ren leaned closer. "That's what you are, what you will always be. You won't ever change, you can't ever change, Hux. You're nothing but the mad son of a mad father - the rabid cur of the First Order."

Hux could feel the pressure lifting from his throat. "Parlor tricks are all you're capable of, Ren. I can change clothes, I can let my beard grow again." Ren was planning something, just like when he showed him that ginger-haired boy. Probably wanting to humiliate him before he killed him off. "But knowing you, you probably think that only you are capable of change, that only you could change from Ben Solo to Kylo Ren. You think that only you exist and the others are supporting characters in your story." He managed to sneer. "But you're not special. The galaxy is full of sad little men who-"

His throat laced up again.

"You're annoying, Hux. You were annoying when you were my co-commander, you were annoying when you were on my War Council. And you're even more annoying since you joined the Rebel scum. It was your idea to disable the navigational shields, wasn't it?" He sighed. "I know already it was you, you and that dark-haired engineer you're so fond of."

Hux tried his best to keep calm, but the way Ren casually mentioned Rose made it hard to keep his pulse from accelerating.

"Oh, you really like her, do you? Her and that bastard child you put in her belly."

Hux struggled to say something but Ren's hold was too strong.

"You really are your father's son, aren't you? Knocking up some lowly broad." He let go of Hux once again.

"I'm not like him!" Hux panted. He knew that he was playing Ren's game but he couldn't help himself. "I'm nothing like him!"

Ren reached up and unlocked his helmet and with a deliberately slow movement he took it off, revealing his youthful face with the dark scar across his face. "This is something I need to see with my own eyes." There was no anger, no gloating visible on Ren's face. He looked almost blasé.

He grabbed Hux's jaw and forced him to look in the mirror hovering above him. "Don't you see, Hux. You're just like him." There was something in Ren's voice that echoed through his mind, it was as if tiny voices were repeating Ren's words, causing a cacophony of angry hisses.

"Shut up and kill me, Ren!" hissed Hux.

Ren stepped back and lifted his hands and pointed his fingertips towards Hux. "I need to make you understand, Hux. I need you to understand that you can only ever be General Hux."

Hux could feel pressure building up in the back of his head, a dull throbbing pain started to take hold of him. The voices whispered incessantly, he could barely understand them. Imagines were pulled out of his mind and displayed, Hux kneeling in front of his father, picking up pieces of shattered glass, Hux in front of his father's desk, looking down on the tip of his boots, Hux feeling a heavy hand on his neck. The swirl of memories slowed down and he saw his father in front of him, holding his black leather belt in his hand, the silver belt-buckle glistening in the cold light of his father's office.

'Stupid boy.'

'I'm sorry, fath- commander.'

'Stop crying, boy. I swear if I hadn't tested you I would seriously doubt that I could spawn something this pathetic.'

'Please-'

The black leather belt hissed through the air and Hux flinched before he could realise that it was only a memory.

An odd feeling was taking hold of him, as if someone was touching him on the inside with clammy, cold hands. "You know the truth, don't you? You're just like him. That's what you will ever be," whispered Ren in his ear.

The images in Hux's mind began to change. Hux wasn't standing in front of his father anymore, instead there was a small ginger boy standing in front of him. Hux looked down at his hands and saw that he was holding a black leather belt in his gloved hands.

'I'm sorry, daddy,' the boy sobbed in a Core World accent.

'Don't you know that you are supposed to obey, silly boy?' Hux hissed in his own voice.

'Please-'

Hux could feel the weight of the belt in his hand as he lifted it up in the air.

"Stop! Stop it!" he screamed on the top of his lungs. The image faded before his eyes.

Ren grabbed him again by his jaw. "Don't you see, Hux? That's your past and your future. You can struggle all you want but that's who you are."

"That's not true! I would never-"

"But you already did, didn't you? Don't you remember?"

Ren was lying! He was starting to feel dizzy. Rose- Rose knew that he-

"-she knew what?" asked Ren with a furrowed brow. "Hmm? That you're something to be ashamed of? Is that why she didn't tell anybody about you?"

Hux blinked, it was hard to focus on Ren's words. They sounded like they were coming from far away. At the same time it felt like they were coming from inside him, like memories of thoughts… The voices repeated Ren's words like a soft murmur. He blinked and tried to focus but the words were somehow elusive, slipping away as soon as he was about to hear them clearly.

"Come on, cur. You know who you are - you're General Hux of the First Order."

Hux tried to keep his eyes open, but he was so, so tired; his limbs felt heavy. "I'm… Hux."

"Yes, yes, you are. Don't you remember? You want to kill the Rebel scum. Because they are in your way - the way to power. You don't want to feel weak again, do you?" Ren's voice sounded soft, alluring. "You know the truth. You're a disgusting bastard - nobody will ever accept you. It's either eat or be eaten."

"That's not true," mumbled Hux. "Rose- Rose likes me." His own words sounded like they came from far away.

Ren sighed. "You're stubborn... The bitch is a nuisance. No matter - we have time."