Kylo decided to take a stroll to the hangar where he had taken Jamis's ship in custody. It was parked to the side as to not cause an obstruction for outgoing transports and starships. The entryway of the ship had been left open, he dared himself to enter as he was hesitant to step in at first. When he got inside, to his right was immediately the lounge—internally, he hypothesized that every freighter in the galaxy always have a dejarik table, a game that he recalled describing as "stiff" and "boring" as a child.
There was something about the ship that made him remember a fragment of his very being. The Millennium Falcon. The ship that his late father deems near and dear to him, despite the consistent nickname of "piece of junk" by many of Han's peers, which Kylo—or Ben—himself had secretly adopted and Leia jokingly and fondly calls.
While Jamis's freighter was not exactly the same model as the Falcon, its layout was similar which threw off Kylo in unexpectedly recalling a piece of his life—one that he tries so hard to throw away and forget to please Snoke—with shaky fingers, he glides the tips on the wall until he got into the lounge, he continued gliding his fingertips on the rim of the couch and then to the dejarik table.
Ben?
Again, the voice is there for him to hear. Strangely, it did not have the intruding feeling to him, it is not like he welcome the entity into his mind but rather the voice itself was calm in nature. And this time, it was familiar.
Han's voice.
The voice haunted and startled Kylo so much it caused him to a full 180-degree turn to look for an invisible voice. He could point that voice anywhere as he never forgot his own father… even after what happened.
Alright, Ben, now relax your grips on those and lean back. Makes the driving easier.
The voice of a middle-aged Han Solo teaching his little son the proper—and comfortable—posture when piloting the Falcon rings in Kylo's mind, although Jamis's Stellar Wind cockpit is not the same layout as the Falcon, memories still materialize before Kylo's eyes, and he could see his father and himself as a boy in the front seats of the cockpit.
I… I'm stretching my arms too much when I lean, I won't be able to hold the grips well. Complained young Ben, whose lean arms are not long enough yet for him to lean back in the seat and hold the steering bars at the same time without much effort.
When you're a bit older and bigger, maybe I could convince your uncle and steal you for a bit from him. The memory of Han jokes and tussles his son's hair, father and son share a giggle in the volume of soft whispers.
From that moment, Kylo jolted as if he was warped back into the reality that the ship is as empty as a cave. He was fighting the fact against himself that he did not like the ship—simply because of that fleeting memory. He did not prefer moments like those, especially when they're sudden. But then, he wondered the individual scenarios if he would have the ship torn down to the last bolt—thus completely eradicating Jamis's way of escape—or just keep it tied down to the wall of the Star Destroyer; he kept thinking of the latter and then reminded himself of the offer that he had tried using as bait to Jamis—the bounty hunter wanting more out of the skill and the full prowess of being a fighter.
He looked around, searching for any signs with no reason at all—except for the sudden anxiety drawn from the memory—and realized that he is alone. He decided to look around again, searching every part of the ship—without the intent of taking anything—he skipped the tight areas like the engine hatch, power core, and turret access, and the seemingly empty spots like the cargo hold and engineering.
"No bounties lately, I see." Commented Kylo to himself, addressing Jamis's current state in her occupation.
The young man wandered every other part of the freighter, trying to get a good look of it, and then interestingly, he managed to find the captain's quarters. He let himself in, watching him enter was a woven doll sitting on a mounted shelf in the bedroom, and it had the likeness of a human donning a dark brown jacket, black pants, and a brown boots. It portrayed a common hunter. On its left was another doll in the same likeness but it was evidently a female doll—with a rectangular piece of cloth for its hair, its clothes were fashioned to make the doll look like a housewife wearing sand-brown robes, a thin strip of black fabric for its belt, and then short leather boots. One would think that it is preposterously laughable for such a fierce bounty hunter to harbor a child's plaything.
Beside the doll rested a milky-white crystal pendant whose shape was jagged and indefinite, its edges glimmered in prismatic colors of red, blue, and yellow when angled, and while it was not exactly smooth it was surprisingly soft and the edges to do not easily scratch the skin—perhaps a small yet invaluable treasure to the bounty hunter.
Kylo noticed them but touched neither the dolls nor the pendant, he simply stared at it—trying to make meaning out of it, understanding the reason as to why they are there, and asking questions to himself stemming from those three little things—and then left the freighter, returning to his chambers.
"What is this I'm sensing?" he muttered under his breath as he was exiting the ship.
For two days, Jamis did not leave her room but she was provided with something to eat and drink every day, but she remained inside with no interest of interaction. She was too preoccupied with the deal that she had struck with the young master, and like a broken record she recalled their entire conversation while it was still fresh in her head; she would space out and recall every single thing in their exchange and then she will elaborate—to herself—that a part of the deal goes like this and that.
Episodes like those helped her focus and clarify things out for herself when needed. But this was the most unusual deal that she has ever signed up for in her history of hunting.
In the comfort of her bed, she visualized how he would train her in the ways he has learned for who-knows-when, she imagined how she would fare in hunting again after he has trained her, what will she learn from him, and just how formidable she would be when the time comes.
"I need to take a walk," she muttered to herself and sprung out of her bed.
Jamis pushed the button and then the door whirred open, she headed to the right and began walking. At first, she did not like to idea of walking around—despite her new privilege of being able to roam the halls freely but being unable to escape—because of the eyes of the officers and the stare of Stormtroopers whose helmets lack the visual of the eyes from the outside, but she ignored it as she tried to retrace her steps from her first cell and then to the hangar.
"Okay, just don't… just don't look 'em in the eye, Jamis," she muttered under her breath as she continued walking. "They won't shoot you, anyway."
She came across a corridor that she wasn't familiar with until one of the walls offered a view of the hangar—but not the exact one where she landed in—and so she thought she was going in the right direction. She walked up to the large window and looked, she found countless maintenance droids rectifying ships and walkers but no freighter to be found.
This must be the other side of the hangar. She thought.
At the end of the hallway was a fork, then Jamis pulled away from the window and followed her instincts as to which way should she go. She went left. Along that part, the tunnel-like hall seemed and felt longer than the other ones she has passed through then in the far end, she saw someone walking to her direction—it was Armitage.
She ignored him as she walked but she kept her eyes in front, not that he has ever exhibited anything of his behavior towards her that would imprint himself as a threat to her.
As their distance closed, the tension grew—Jamis did her best in paying no mind to him until they were already side-to-side with each other and Hux immediately took hold of her arm, stopping her on the spot.
"Don't overstay your welcome." He said huskily as his grip loosened and adjusted the crease on her sleeve.
"Oh, I'll make sure I won't," she does a side-eyed glance at him, "General."
She shook off his fingers still clinging on to her sleeve and continued walking.
Walking in the corridor felt like forever, but Jamis followed her instincts and eventually ended up in the correct wing of the hangar where they have kept her ship. Eagerly, she ran up to her freighter with its entrance ramp open and a foreign cable—five times as thick as her arm—attached to one of the legs of its landing gear. She traced it with her hand, gave it a slight shake and followed where the other end of the cord was—it was attached to one of the steel walls acting as an anchor to keep it restrained in case she tries to escape in it.
"Of course, he'd tie my ship up," she muttered.
Jamis examined the exterior of her ship, checking if there were more modifications and locks that could be holding down her freighter, specifically a YT-1450 unit which she fondly named the Stellar Wind; barely three years old, the hull of the ship bore scorch marks probably accumulated from the episodes of other bounty hunters pursuing her, nevertheless, she has maintained its shape and function—since it is the closest she has to calling a home.
She entered the freighter and checked for any signs of ransacking: open compartments, scattered supplies, seats in a disarray, and circuit hatches left ajar. To her relief, the engine did not appear to be tampered and all her supplies and consumables seem to be in place. She rushed to her cabin and see if Kylo ordered to have her collection of weapons to be confiscated as well.
She released a sigh of relief as she opened her strongbox with a sniper rifle, twin blaster pistols, an ion cannon, a spare one-handed blaster, and five pouches of different kinds of grenades—from stun to dioxis and to stasis. She rearranged them in a different order and locked the box afterwards. Then, her eyes wandered to the mounted shelf of her cabin where the pair of dolls and the crystal pendant sat. Jamis walked up to it and readjusted the female doll so that it sits closer to the hunter, she took the pendant and wore it around her neck—in a few seconds, she felt relaxed and at peace but somehow lonely.
She went to different areas to check if any of her things were missing. None so far after scanning the vehicle's interior.
"You old girl," she lovingly muttered after settling down on a seat in the lounge.
Looking around again, she sensed that something was off.
"Ren…" she suspected.
Then there were voices heard from the outside and immediately she ran to the entrance to find Kylo himself speaking to one of the technicians present in the hangar. He dismissed the technicians and they faced each other again, but the young lord boldly set foot on the entrance ramp—somehow taunting Jamis in her own property—and got closer and closer to her.
"I believe I owe you an explanation regarding your ship," Kylo said casually.
"You think?" said Jamis in a sarcastic tone with her arms folded together whilst leaning against the frame of the entryway.
"The restraining cable is self-explanatory," he added.
"You don't say," again, she responded with sarcasm.
But she became impatient with the young man and decided to cut the chase, "You've been in this ship, haven't you?"
Kylo did nothing but shoot her a look that says everything and she was smart enough to read his expression. Then he looked over her shoulder and eyed the interior of the ship, with enough audacity he stepped into the bounty hunter's ship and got another good look at it, only this time Jamis is there behind his back to watch over him.
Her eyes followed wherever he went, he went to the left side—heading to the lounge—then she followed just a few steps away; she found him standing in the middle of the area, he found a trinket that drew his interest and attention: a device that ought to be a compass.
He picked it up, examined it with his arm suspended in mid-air for Jamis to see her own compass in Kylo's hands, and angled it as he looked at it.
"Not yet used to the world around you, I see," Kylo remarked, tauntingly, as he always did.
"And I suppose you have?"
Kylo turned around to face her, he put down the compass back on the table, and strode towards her in a slow yet menacing gait.
"I have… in one way or another," he huskily purred.
A glint caught his eye—the crystal pendant hanging around Jamis's neck and resting on her bosom—his gloved fingers made her slightly jolt as he fiddled with the necklace. His eyes showed recognition towards the prismatic gem but he did not speak. He let go of the charm. Next, his eyes trailed to the bounty hunter's eyes: a pair of soft, puzzled, hazel-brown irises staring back at him whose gaze is so distant and a tinge of kindness shining out of it.
Nervously, he gulped and brushed past her, leaving the premises of the freighter as he said, "Your ship will remain tied up until I say so!"
When silence remained in the freighter, Jamis stood still and relived that moment briefly, as if trying to figure out in her head what everything that transpired meant. Indeed, he asserted his authority over the Stellar Wind's state in the hangar but within the metal walls of the starship, an air of vulnerability lingered. Even if Kylo denied it—to protect his ego—his being vulnerability showed the moment their eyes met.