The Shell Chapter Two
Suggested Theme:
Main Theme- Rotation (LOTUS-2) by Susumu Hirasawa
"Matt."
Armitage Hux learned a long time ago to enjoy the small victories in life. And learning Matt's name is one of his most recent. After his thrown together supper, Matt returned to the guest room. He doesn't quite know what Matt's doing in there, but he can imagine he's on the bed, staring up at the ceiling like Hux is partially doing. Or, perhaps, he's sleeping after his eventful day. Or, Matt could be watching some propaganda holos or one of the few Old Republic movies that the censorship board deemed acceptable.
What if he doesn't even know how to use a viewscreen? Maybe Ren was afraid that his clone would access the HoloNet and beg for help? But does he need help? It appears that Ren has kept him fed and cleaned, but not clothed. Does Ren not mind having ass-prints on his chairs? No, that can't be it since Matt was clothed at the table. Did Matt just choose to wander nude on the Finalizer? Was he having a mental breakdown with Ren not there? What kind of relationship do they have?
Hux frowns as he recalls the treatment of the clone troopers after the Clone Wars. Most of them continued to serve until their rapid aging caught up to them and chose to retire. A few stayed on until their deaths like Commander Cody. Others had to be forcibly retired. But all of the clones were guaranteed a pension, albeit a small one.
During the wars, they were same-faced fodder to the general public, while the enemy treated them as just targets to be executed. Even the non-clone doctors didn't view them as people, just interchangeable parts. Only the Jedi, barring some exceptions, treated them like the people that they were. Until they were killed by them during Order 66.
Hux looks at his viewscreen, wondering if he should spend the night researching on clones and their sad history, but he knows it won't do Matt any good.
What can I do for him? Kylo's not coming back for another two days, so Matt's my responsibility until then. I could give him a tour of the ship. JB-007 did find him wandering; I doubt Kylo gave him a tour of the ship. Matt could use some socialization. But I can't afford to take a day off on such short notice, thought I could give everyone shore leave. But we're still about a day away from Bastion. Who can I have do the tour? Mitaka! He's patient, kind, and he's given tours before. Although, most of those were for Zeltrons, and they never made it pass the hangar…
Hux pulls out his comm and nearly hails his lieutenant, but stops himself when he remembers that Mitaka doesn't handle surprises well. He would spend the night, agonizing about the next day and all the things that could go wrong. Hux decides it would be best to just wait until the morning.
Besides, it'll give me plenty of time to draft up a perfect schedule for them!
Lieutenant Dopheld Mitaka received his schedule change right in the middle of shaving his face; his upper lip now sports a fuchsia-colored spray-bandage. He's also been hit with the additional surprise that he'll be giving a full tour of the Finalizer today for a special guest:
"Mitaka,
I have attached a revised schedule for you. Today, you will be giving a tour for Matt. He is a clone of Kylo Ren, but he lacks his personality and powers. Knowing Lord Ren, I believe he's kept Matt's life free of choices. The ultimate goal of this tour will be to introduce the concept of choices to Matt. Lord Ren will return soon, and I don't know what he'll do when he finds out about this. Rest assured, I will handle him when the time comes."
Mitaka sighs deeply because he vividly recalls the last time that Hux handled Ren. Hux was being smashed into the wall like a hammer, and it took Captain Cardinal and a contingent of Stormtroopers to rescue the general. Thankfully, Hux avoided a broken back and neck.
Ren will kill him this time. If he'll Force-choke someone for something as minor as spilling caf on him, then he'll kill Hux for taking his property. But Hux may find a way.
After another bout of sighing at such finite hope, he gets dressed and takes the lift to Hux's quarters. He presses the ringer button to let Hux knows that he's here, and the door immediately opens.
"In the kitchen, Mitaka!" Hux hollers, and Mitaka is torn between smirking and sighing.
Generals shouldn't be so casual with their inferiors, but Hux doesn't care about decorum during his off-time. Even his quarters reflect that, it's a good thing he never takes private meetings here. Mitaka keeps his thoughts to himself, even when he sees his superior office spooning granola-laden yogurt into his mouth like a toddler. He knows that Hux has far better table manners than that, but he has a feeling Hux is putting on this childish display to get a laugh from the tawny-haired clone. The young man is nearly identical to Kylo Ren, but the lack of emotion on his asymmetrical face reminds Mitaka of a droid.
"Matt, this is Lieutenant Mitaka, he'll be giving you a tour of the ship." Hux springs on the clone.
"Good morning, sir." Mitaka holds out his hand, but Matt just stares blankly at it.
Odds are Ren didn't bother to socialize his clone. But why would he? Matt's most likely a repository of fresh blood and organs to him. Poor thing, he probably doesn't know how awful Ren is because that's all he's ever known.
"Matt, do you know what a handshake is for?"
"Handshake is a noun; it means the act of shaking hands." The clone recites as though he's spent his short life reading dictionaries.
"Yes, and a handshake is also used as a greeting. Do you want to shake Mitaka's hand?" The clone continues to stare blankly for another thirty seconds.
"No." The clone makes his first choice, which turns the rejection into a small victory in Mitaka's mind. Mitaka lowers his hand and maintains his parade rest.
"You two better leave before all the muffins are gone!" Hux teases, and Matt's lips twitch for a second like he's about to express something. The clone chooses to stop trying and get out of his seat. Mitaka departs with a professional nod, while Matt tags along without a change of expression.
Mitaka would rather go to Mess Hall III than Mess Hall I, but the latter is only ten minutes away. Mess Hall I, like II through IX, is a buffet; however, it's the only one with human chefs and only commissioned officers and high-level technicians are allowed entry. Unfortunately, there's about 19,000 officers on the ship, so it's typically packed. In Mitaka's humble opinion, he never could tell the difference between the droid-prepared meals versus the human ones.
Mitaka and Matt wait in the line for more than ten minutes before they finally get their gray plasticine trays and complimentary utensils and plates. The line then stalls for nearly a minute, and Mitaka decides that it would be prudent to explain how the buffet works.
"Matt, if there's a food that interests you, use the tongs to get it. And since you're the general's special guest, you can have as much food as you want." Mitaka adds a small smile and feels like he's patronizing the poor clone, but the clone makes no comment and nods. The first food they come across is a large tub of scrambled powdered eggs; Mitaka ladles some on his plate, while Matt doesn't. Next, they are greeted with rubbery pancakes and space waffles; Mitaka takes a space waffle, but Matt grabs neither. Next, rows of porridge, runny to the point of being nearly indistinguishable from gruel, meet them, and both refuse. Next, puffer pig sausages and bacon strips offer protein; Mitaka takes his allotted two sausage links, while Matt takes three strips of bacon. Finally, pastries, made with wonderful sugar and real flour, present themselves in their sweet glory. Mitaka immediately grabs a blueberry scone, nearly beaming when he feels its heat. He looks back at Matt; Matt has snatched the last chocolate chip muffin from the head of the Radar Technicians. She scowls and opens her mouth like she was going to quietly scream a few choice words to him, but her eyes widen in fear. She thinks that Matt is Kylo and quickly looks down at her own tray.
Matt pays her no mind.
They make their way to the beverage station with its plasticine mugs and cups; both grab mugs designed for hot tea or caf and half a dozen pink packets of synthetic sugar. Mitaka feels Matt's eyes on him as he presses the buttons necessary for medium caf.
"Matt, what kind of caf would you like?"
"Dark roast." He replies quickly and watches intensely, almost like Ren when he's waiting for his TIE to be fueled so he can go on some secret mission, as the nearly black liquid pours from the miniscule hose and into his mug. Once it's filled to the brim, Mitaka quickly cuts off the caf before it could overflow. Last thing he wants this morning is to be yelled at by an APA-5 droid.
Mitaka looks around for an empty table, but those are rarer than blossom wine in the First Order, so he's not surprised he couldn't find one. He then looks for a table with two empty spots and finds several; he picks the closest one, which is filled with officers that Mitaka doesn't recognize, but he hopes they won't bother them.
"May we sit here?" Mitaka asks one of them, a brunette with a thick mustache, who just waves a hand to convey their approval so not to break up his conversation with seatmate. They take their seats, which is a bit of tight squeeze given Matt's larger frame, but they have enough space between each other to eat without hassle. Matt takes a bird bite out of the muffin, keeping his face utterly blank.
"How is it?"
"Mostly bland." The clone replies and then starts tearing the top of a packet off and pours the sugar into his caf. He swirls it around with his gruel spoon, tastes the caf, and tears into another packet. This repeats thrice more before the clone is satisfied with the taste. Matt says nothing else for the remainder of breakfast, and Mitaka doesn't press him to, enjoying his equally bland breakfast.
"Do you know what blasters are?" Mitaka asks Matt twenty minutes after leaving the mess hall, wanting to prepare the clone for the next part of the tour as best as possible.
"Yes. I can even list they different types–"
"That won't be necessary. Would you like to use a blaster?" Mitaka sees a glimmer in Matt's eyes that he's like to believe is excitement.
"Yes."
"Then, welcome to Blaster Range 28X!" Mitaka tries to imitate Hux's over-the-top confidence, but Matt ignores him and looks around at the blaster range. The décor of the range is Imperial standard with blacks, grays, and intimidating metal walls. The range is one of the few places that officers, Stormtroopers, and even some technicians co-mingle. Mitaka sees a couple of Stormtrooper cadets from Absolution being tutored by their elders on the Finalizer. Nearby, a pair of officers are trying to outdo each other in accuracy. Mitaka smiles as he heads over to the counter to requisition their weapons from the officer on duty.
Why did Hux list this as part of the tour? The blaster range is usually skipped over because who hasn't seen one before? Maybe, he wants to train Matt to kill Ren? No, Hux isn't malicious like Darth Tantrum. Maybe, to give the clone some options in self-defense? But we have only two days at best with him, which isn't enough time to teach him all the ins and outs of blasters. Perhaps, this was to see if the clone has an interest in weaponry?
Mitaka does notice a glimmer in Matt's eyes as the weapons are brought out by the droid. He has selected a DC-15A rifle for himself and an EC-17 hold-out blaster for Matt. He feels the blaster is an ideal starter for Matt since it's far more compact than the rifle and has a decent range for a beginner. After collecting their weapons and power packs, Mitaka leads them to the stall that Hux had specially reserved for them. He picks up the control pad about as big as a ration bar.
"We'll be using the flimsi targets today." Mitaka announces and pulls Matt's attention away from the target droid being shot by the officer couple. He sets the target at twelve meters, and then turns to Matt who squints at the target.
"Matt, is the target blurry to you?"
"Yes."
Mitaka brings the target closer by two meters.
"Still?"
"Yes."
The target pulls forward another two meters.
"Now?"
"It's a little clearer."
The target is now set at six meters.
"I can see it now." Matt finally stops squinting.
"Matt, have you ever had an eye exam?"
"No."
Why am I surprised? It's not like Ren cares about anyone else. Hells, even when his other knights are aboard, he orders them about like droids. I've never seen him even bother with a "hello" to them. So why would he treat his Force-null clone any differently? Mitaka swallows down his anger and focuses on being helpful.
"Matt, would you like to go to the medbay and get an eye exam?"
"…"
"We'll come back here after the exam."
"Yes."
IT-S00.2 are programmed to treat injuries, but they are also quite capable administering minor medical exams such as eye exams. It only takes about ten minutes before the IT-S00.2 makes its diagnosis in its usual droidspeak.
"You're nearsighted, Matt."
"I can understand binary."
Probably picked up from the cleaning droids assigned to Ren's floor. Maybe, the droids taught him not to be an aggressive arse like Ren. That makes way too much sense! Mitaka keeps his biting commentary to himself and smiles as the droid brings back a selection of frames.
"Normally, you would have no choice in the frame, but you are the general's special guest." I wonder if he's getting tired of hearing that. But at least he's focused on the frames. Granted, there's only three frames to choose from.
The one on the left are known as pilot glasses for looking like the same ancient eyewear that pilots used to wear millennia ago and was only fashionable back then. The one in the middle has very circular frames that Mitaka feels like Matt would only be able to pull off if he had a facial scar. The one on the right is black horned rim that would look appropriate on an archivist. Matt reaches his hand out towards the pilot glasses, but fortunately he ultimately points at the black horned rim frame. The droid floats away to retrieve the glasses for the frame, and Mitaka breathes a mental sign of relief.
Nearly five hours later, they resume their tour. Mitaka knows that they are horribly off-schedule, but he couldn't stop himself drilling the basics into Matt since the clone was quite eager to learn about blasters. And of course, they had to get a quick bite from the mess hall before resuming the tour.
Depending on how the library goes, there may be enough time for me not to rush through the rest of the tour. But that's only if Matt absolutely hates the library. But who could hate this place?
The library takes up seven floors and all of the shelves are occupied by holobooks, datapads, data-tapes, and other knowledge-laden materials along with a few computers to help search for books. There's even a floor reserved for paper books and scrolls. The décor of the library contrasts the militaristic gloom that defines most of the ship. Light blue wallpaper cover up the steel walls with its rose patterns, while rose quartz carpets the floors. The shelves were hewed from wroshyr trees of Alaris Prime, a moon in the Kashyyyk system, and lacquered so that the lights from the holobooks shine on the woods' whorls.
"Ah, Lieutenant Mitaka, I was wondering when you would show up." He turns around and sees the chief librarian and his personal droid P-RC3, or Persee. The droid looks like most protocol droids, but the droid is metallic blue with a larger head for its increased memory capacity. It also possesses a High Coruscanti accent when it spoke, but Persee prefers not to. The droid moves past them, most likely to make tea.
"Got carried away at the blaster range, sir." Mitaka lightly jokes before turning back to Matt. "Matt, this is the chief librarian of the fleet, Atour Riten."
"….."
"I'm pleased to meet you, young sir. I'm known as Atour to everyone." Atour smiles good naturedly in the face of Matt's silence.
I don't think Atour has ever met Kylo Ren since I haven't received a damage report on this place. Although, if Ren ever did decide to do that, then we might be out a co-commander.
"Hello." Matt finally says with his eyes focused on the golden band around Atour's head.
"The band is part of the uniform of the Janissariad." Mitaka says.
"But this is the First Order."
"And I would comply with the dress code like I did with the Empire when I was part of the military. But I chose to be a private citizen in the First Order." Atour explains succinctly.
"The technicians have to wear uniforms and they aren't part of the military." Matt points out.
"No, they aren't. However, there are thousands upon thousands of technicians in the First Order and there needed to be something that distinguished them from the military without disturbing the visual cohesion, hence the colorful jumpsuits. But I'm not a technician, I trained to be an Imperial archivist. I'm also the only human librarian in the fleet."
"You are special."
"Oh, I might be." Atour guffaws, and Mitaka remembers how he nearly jumped out of his uniform when he first heard the deep laugh coming from a man barely thicker than Hux.
His shapeless robes imply some hidden girth, but it's really because he can't stand being confined by his clothes, while his beard and long hair are just to show off that he can still grow hair at his age. I'm pretty certain that's why he and General Borrum don't get along.
"You're special too, Matt." Atour says softly like he's humming. Matt doesn't speak, but his pale cheeks flush into a rosy pink.
He's not used to receiving compliments. Maybe, he's used to Ren demoralizing that he's practically given up on talking in fear of disappointing that tyrant! Mitaka feels righteous anger bubbling up at someone else suffering under Ren's hands, but he swallows it back down and reminds himself that killing a superior is not the solution.
"And because you're special, I'm going to personally help you find books that peak your interest! Now, what interests you, Matt?"
"…I like blasters." Matt nods as to reassure himself that it's true. He then pauses for a few moments to rack through his mind for more of his likes. Atour waits patiently like a doting grandfather.
"I like paintings….And I like fairytales. Is that enough?" The last two surprise Mitaka, but Atour takes it all in with a thoughtful smile.
"That's more than enough for this visit!" Atour gestures for Matt to follow him and Matt follows. Mitaka smiles as he's left behind and decides to do a little reading himself.
The Commandant taught his son how to subsist on even the blandest of foodstuffs, which serves him well whenever he's stranded in the wilderness or eating food from the mess hall. However, his uncle also taught him that if you have access to a well-stocked spice cabinet, then use it.
Hux's homegrown spices bubble and toil in the soft tofu soup. He's tempted to swirl his wooden spoon above it like a wand, but he knows that any minute now Matt will be here.
I don't want him to think I'm some cartoon witch! It probably doesn't help that I'm wearing a red robe with a hood; I almost look like a Nightsister if not for my sweat pants and slippers. Tenel did say that pants shouldn't be worn with this, but I don't want to scar Matt with my legs–
He hears the door open and hurries to greet him. He sees Persee tugging a repulsor cart of holobooks, datapads, and an illuminated book to Matt's room. Then, Matt follows after the droid like a puppy.
"Matt, you got glasses!" He looks really cute in them. And does that mean he's nearsighted or farsighted?
"I'm nearsighted, so I need them to see at a distance." Matt stops to explain for a second and then goes into his room.
"Dinner will be ready in fifteen minutes!" Hux shouts through the door and returns to the kitchen.
Fifteen minutes later, Hux lays the last spoon on the folded napkins when Matt shows up. He takes his seat at one end of the round table and Hux does the same.
"Tonight, I've made soft tofu soup. It's usually spicy, but I toned it down because I didn't know if you liked spicy food." Hux explains, and Matt picks up his spoon and scoops up some of the rice and tofu with the red broth. He takes a sip before draining the rest of the spoon.
"I like spicy food too." Matt declares and then resumes consuming the soup like a dehydrated man finding water. Hux smiles and eats his food, feeling warm from making Matt's night with such a simple meal.
Author's Comments: Here are the links-
Adam Driver once again inspires a change in a character he's played, specifically his eyewear in Dead Don't Die. I haven't seen the movie, but I love the hell out of his glasses in the trailers. As much as I love his Matt disguise in the SNL skit, these glasses are so much better! First, I'm attracted to him without a hand, now I'm attracted to him in glasses. I am very curious to the next accessory or physical change he'll pull off in another movie or show: a href=" imgs/daily/vulture/2019/05/15/15-the-dead-dont-die-adam-driver.w700. "Link/a
Atour Riten can only be found in the Legends/EU novel Death Star, which I only know about through the Wookie. It doesn't give a physical description to him, but he was the chief librarian aboard the Death Star and would die on the ship when Luke blew it up. He was also a Janissariad, which was a military organization during the Balduran Civil War, and that war took place many years before the Battle of Yavin; I get this feeling that maybe they were going to follow up on this, but no one ever did. Anyways, he decided to help the Rebellion after Alderaan's destruction by unwittingly sending them plans of the Death Star and purposefully helping out the Millennium Falcon crew rescue Leia; he was supposed to live but the plan went south and he was reluctantly left behind. He was completely at peace with his death because he saved his new friends, and he was never mentioned again! I decided that he got to live because he wasn't aboard the Death Star at the time and it wasn't like the Rebellion needed him because Rogue One happened. Given the quirk of his first name, I decided to pick a King Arthur actor and chosen Nigel Terry's from Excalibur, which I still have yet to watch,because he looks like the King Arthur I'd imagine while reading The Once and Future King: a href=" sites/syfy/files/styles/1200x680/public/wire/legacy/Nigel-Terry-Excalibur_ "Link/a
Hux's red robe is inspired by the Nightsisters' fashion: a href=" wp-content/uploads/2014/09/illo_03_ "Link/a
Next chapter: Hux and Matt go shopping. Cue hokey 80s montage.