A/N: Happy Mother's Day, everyone. Here's a celebratory extra chapter!
1/1/1 Y.O.
A trio of bankers, three of five of the ruling members of the Ygrine family, look at each other as the broadcast of the newest 'Master' of the galaxy comes to an end. They had the opportunity of attending this 'rally' in person, and chose not to. The last time the newly titled Master of the Order invited a collection of bankers to his lair, they didn't make it home.
"He's… younger than I was expecting," Myrton says.
"Much," Bellie replies.
Andromeda stares at the screen, where the image of Kylo is frozen. "He's not unattractive. At least, not so much his power won't cover for it."
"Young men have needs…" Myrton says. "And… an Order… likely needs an heir. He didn't say anything about them voting him out of power."
"He did not." Andromeda replies, still eyeing the frozen image of Kylo.
"Six daughters between us…" Bellie says, tentatively. "Three sons, if he leans that way. Perhaps… With General Organa having taken our money and run… Maybe we could… Assure his goodwill?"
"He's a Jedi… or something like that…" None of them missed the lightsaber on his hip. "And we all know they're…" Andromeda says. They share a look about Jedi being known for bizarre attitudes about sex.
"I can make a few… delicate enquiries… See if… there's a pool to dip a toe into?" Myrton says. That seems a circumspect way of putting it.
1/5/1 Y.O.
A trio of bankers sit in the main conference room of their corporate headquarters.
They'd just finished listening to a communique they weren't really supposed to have access to.
"Do the codes check out?" Myrton asks.
Bellie nods. "They do."
"So much for that investment," Andromeda adds.
"We didn't lose that much," Myrton adds. "Though I'll admit I'd hoped to gain more." Shifting more of their assets into droid manufacturing was doing a fine job of offsetting their losses from slave dependent industries, but… and none of them had expected this, the weapons market is starting to go soft, and with the Resistance just bowing out, it's about to go softer than an overcooked noodle. They've got to find something to cover that.
His sisters nod.
"It's time to readjust our strategy then," Andromeda says.
Myrton nods.
Bellie adds, "Were you able to find out… how best to approach him?"
Myrton wiggles his hand from side to side, indicating he has something, but he's not sure how good it is. "My contact says that he's not celibate. He's been known to have a few discreet encounters over the years. Nothing long term. Nothing open. Probably nothing that lasted more than a night or two. This changed recently. They think he has a friend now, for at least the last four months, but no one has ever seen her."
"Is it a her?" Bellie asks.
"That could explain going from discreet to secret," Andromeda says.
Bellie adds, "It could. Granted, Snoke never cared about that, and even if Ren plays by the Empire's rulebook, now that he's the top of the heap he could… swing in whichever direction most pleased him."
Myrton adds, "My sources think it's a woman. They, obviously, cannot be certain, but… There are signs suggesting it's a woman."
"Signs…" Andromeda's voice trails off.
"What man uses a preventative with another man?"
The ladies nod. "No need for that, true."
"Granted, because no one's seen her, we're also not certain she's human. She'd have to be close enough to need to use a preventative, but…" Myrton adds.
Both of his sisters look at each other, sharing a mild sense of disgust. Mixing between the humanoids happens, but it's also something that's generally looked at with, at best, irked tolerance, and at worst, both people and any offspring they may have are lynched. "That would be a reason to keep an affair secret," Bellie says.
All three nod. But that doesn't get them any closer to what they hope to do.
Andromeda breaks the silence. They have finite resources for this plan, so they may as well fly ahead and put it into play. Worst comes to worst, they fail and have to come up with another plan. "So, which of our girls?"
Myrton sips his chai. "The affairs he's had in the past don't offer any help. He's not particular in regards to looks."
"Did they have anything in common?" Bellie asks.
"They were all officers and eager to rise. He hasn't visited a pleasure specialist since he's had rank enough to attract women without paying them," Myrton says. "So, apparently he likes at least the illusion of them being interested in him."
"Or he's cheap."
"Kitchen staff tells us he eats well, has a standing order for fresh strawberries, and has a cup of coffee every morning…"
Both of the ladies exhale at that. "Not cheap then. He's certainly willing to pay for his pleasures," Andromeda adds.
Myrton nods. They live on a planet where strawberries grow, so getting them fresh isn't too difficult. In space… That ups the price by at least a factor of 100. And coffee… that only grows in a few places on a hundred or so planets, and even on those planets it's expensive because trillions of people want it. There's nowhere in the galaxy that isn't an extremely rare luxury item.
"Good manners, breeding, taste, a bit of naked ambition. Keiligh or Celia, I'd think," Andromeda says.
1/20/1 Y.O.
"We'd like to see about seeking an alliance."
Kylo wonders, idly, how this works for people who can't sense the motives of those around them. He knows that by seek an alliance they mean, shield us and our power. He assumes that anyone they'd hit with this pitch would know what they're seeking and why they're here, but…
The game bores him.
The twist, the two girls who don't actually belong here, is somewhat discomforting. They are both very pretty. Soft hair, one blonde, the other brunette, falling in long delicate waves. Big, expertly made-up eyes, the blonde has blue ones and the brunette green. Bodies of exquisitely maintained curves and hollows, both of them dressed to accent them as much as possible, while still keeping everything he'd most desire to see hidden. He can feel himself respond to them, even though he doesn't much want to.
He can feel the way they're watching him. A challenge to be conquered. They've catalogued his net worth, probably down to the individual credit, and have extrapolated the power he commands as a factor of both money and manpower. The older one is bored, she's been dangled in front of princes who've had more money and men to bring into play, more conventionally attractive ones, too. The younger one is vaguely interested in him, and taking her time to actually look at him. Both of them know that if they can manage to win him, they'll win with their family, as well. The extra status they'll receive from catching him has their interest focused.
That shuts down a lot of his interest. But not all of it.
Part of Jedi training is the banishing of strong emotions. And for a school filled with teenagers and young adults, desire, specifically for sex, is prime among those strong emotions Luke was trying to help them to banish. With… varying results. Though Kylo doesn't think on this often, these days, since he is happily having sex on a regular basis and seeing how it effects his temperament and mood, he's thinking part of why he was even able to raise the Knights of Ren is because he had three somewhat celibate young adults who very much didn't want to be somewhat celibate young adults.
The guilt alone for 'giving in' to their 'emotions' was probably enough to fuel a good third of his strike.
Training with Snoke was similar, but from a different direction. Snoke didn't care if he or the Knights sought out release, he just preferred they got it through killing people. He thought it was valuable to channel those desires into their fight, and how it would make them more effective in combat.
As a result, Kylo learned to shut his desire for sex down, he went more than a decade rarely even seeing the women around him, as women. In his later years with Luke, he'd only really notice they weren't men when he'd get wound up enough to take care of himself, and then fantasize about them, or, with Snoke, seek one out, and then, pretty much whichever one landed under his gaze first took care of whatever it was, and then he could shut his desire down for another year or so.
But, an unexpected consequence of his time with Rey is that the part of his mind/body that notices things like attractive women has woken back up. And having spent most of his adult life hibernating, it's significantly more eager than he'd like.
This works out wonderfully, when he's with Rey. She can shift a little, or brush against him, or just… be her, and his body is more or less leaping to attention and looking to get rubbed against her. And it's rather bothersome when he's not. Unfortunately, he hasn't found a way to shut it down when he's not with her, and then wake it up again when he is. He tried, got it shut back down again, and then it took three days to wake up. Not his greatest plan, ever, because he then had to explain why his body suddenly wasn't leaping to attention when she was happily squirming about in his lap, and why he thought this might have been a good idea in the first place.
He supposes it's a good thing that Rey thought it was funny, as opposed to treasonous, that he'd like looking at other women.
So he's looking, and doesn't want to be.
He can feel that the longer the younger one looks at him, the more interested in him she becomes. She thinks his nose is too big, and oddly shaped, somewhat off-center. She thinks the scar is dangerous and somewhat sinister looking, but compared to the soft, polite princes she's met before, a reminder that he's actually fought appeals to her. She likes the idea of a man with some edges, and she thinks he's a cut diamond of edges. She's aware of his shoulders and hands and is wondering if the rest of him is equally large. She thinks his eyes are pretty, and his lips are enticing. She'd like to suck on his bottom lip, see if she could make him smile by doing it. See if she could make him want her.
Rey did that last night, and this morning and… yes it made him smile and then some, and the idea of it happening again soon is also having some pleasurable effects and… And he does wonder, vaguely, how it would feel if the girl did it. The same? Different? She's softer and rounder and curvier than Rey and she'd fit against him differently, and her light brown hair brushes her low back, so it would drape over him if she was on top, and he can almost imagine the soft brush of it and the honey highlights of it against his pale skin, and her breasts look big enough to really fill his hands, and… He really needs to stop thinking about that.
He smirks at the younger girl, looking to set her off foot, too. "It's always been big. I've broken it three times. Twice in training. The third time I needed to get back to the fight quickly, so I set it myself. I did an… okay job of it. That's why it's slightly off-center."
Her eyes go wide and she tries to vanish behind her older sister. She understands that if he could follow her thoughts that closely, he knew what else she was thinking, too.
He then looks to Myrton. "If you'd like to seek an alliance, seek one. What do you propose?"
Myrton blathers on about the value of consolidated power and how things can be handled more efficiently if they're all done in house and doesn't manage to come up with a single tangible plan. Kylo knows the only reason he's there is to dangle the girls in front of him, hoping for a different sort of alliance.
About twenty paragraphs into the glories of unity and the power of blending military might with money he eventually gets around to the fact that Ygrine is a heredity monarchy ruling a seventeen planet system united through a wide, incorporated financial empire.
And then he lets it dangle.
Kylo adds just a little pressure to Myrton's throat. Not enough to strangle him. Not enough that he's sure something is happening from the outside, but enough that he starts to fidget with his collar.
"You still haven't suggested an alliance."
Myrton tries to loosen his collar, and Kylo tightens the grasp again, just a little.
"When we were still the First Order, when the New Republic was in office, the Ygrine family were firm backers of the Resistance. When Palpatine was in office, the Ygrine family backed both him and the Rebellion. You've always played every side of the game, and as of now, you've made out well doing so." Kylo leans forward, looking Myrton in the eyes. "If you wish to ally yourself to the Order, ally yourself. There are recruiting stations all over the galaxy. Get yourself to one of them, and enlist. At the end of five years, you'll find yourself a citizen, and as such any honestly gained property will be protected from Order levies.
"You're older than ideal, but we turn away no one. I'm sure there's something you can do for us. I have a fleet of accountants, and I always need people who are good with money. In the meantime, your sisters can run your kingdom, and as long as they manage not to irritate me before you gain your citizenship, I won't bother with you."
He releases his grasp on Myrton's neck, and Myrton, shocked to have heard that, says, "But… we can bring close to a hundred billion people into your service."
"You're going to demand that every one of your subjects enlists in the Order?" Kylo's both amused and horrified at that idea. If Myrton actually tried, it'd break him. He's got no way to take care of that many people.
Myrton blinks. Fortunately, he's also horrified by the idea of sharing custody of even one of his subjects with Kylo. "No. We would ally with you and they'd be-"
"Nothing. There are two ways to gain citizenship in the Order, and that's to enlist or be the child of someone who enlisted. You cannot buy citizenship for yourself or your people. They'll join up or not as they see fit."
"You don't care if my kingdom supports you or not?" It's clear that this is not how the game is played, and Myrton's been thrown for a loop.
"I'd certainly appreciate your support, for example, I know you have both money and some level of military power, and I'd find a non-aggression treaty useful, but this is a government of people, not systems, so I do not seek your support in the sense of a formal binding of my power to yours. That would be limiting in a manner that does nothing for my future."
Myrton's stuck on government of people. "If you don't control planets, what are you going to do with citizens?" Kylo can feel that Myrton is genuinely stumped by that idea. In his mindset, you control ground, that's the point of a military, to control and hold ground and whatever happens to live on said ground is yours.
Kylo half-smiles. "I imagine, when enough of them end up in one place, they may decide to call on my might for help turning their planets into representative democracies, too. After all, the point of a republic is to allow people to have a say in their own governance."
Myrton goes white at that. Kylo can feel that he just uttered the most dangerous idea Myrton's ever heard. A "properly managed" republic, one from the top down, doesn't discomfort him. He'll thrive just as well in one of those as he does in his own kingdom. A bottom up one, though… "We'll ban your recruiting stations."
Kylo looks at him, eyes dead calm, and uses his power to make Myrton feel nervous, jittery. Then he says, voice, low and quiet, "You may, of course, try." Then he smiles again, wide and cold. "But as someone who backed both the Resistance and the Rebellion should know, it's difficult to prevent people from joining movements that better their lives."
Myrton's fuming. The girls are just staring at Kylo. The older one is shocked. No one has ever spoken to her father that way. The younger one is, and he gives her a little, genuine smile because of this, intrigued.
"Do you still seek an alliance?" Kylo asks. "You don't bother my recruiting stations, and I promise not to bother your planets?"
Myrton's more than annoyed, but he also knows that this is a useful deal, for now. He nods. "I'll have my people write a contract up."
"Excellent. Set it for a five year timeframe."
Myrton doesn't like that. He thinks for another moment, and really doesn't like it. Five years means the contract evaporates before the elections. Meaning Kylo's citizens will be free to do whatever they wish. "Ten."
Kylo felt Myrton think his way through it, and decides he can deal with ten. He nods slightly. "You may leave me."
As they're leaving, the younger girl, summoning up her courage says, "Is that why you started wearing the mask?"
He hasn't so much forgotten her as shifted his focus to the point where he's got no idea what she's talking about.
"To protect your face." She stares at his scar and nose, and reaches, about to touch, but he stops her dead with the Force, freezing her arm, and then steps back, well past her arm's length.
He shakes his head. "No, my Lady." And then releases her. "Don't try that again."
He can feel the shock coming off of her, and she's looking at the floor, completely unbalanced, no idea what to do next. "I'm sorry, my Lord."
"Master. I'm no one's Lord."
"Master Ren," she says with a nod.
He nods back, and speaking directly to the younger girl says, "If you wish to ally yourself with the Order, ally yourself. Join me." He catches the eyes of Myrton and his older daughter, "But not like that."
When Myrton returns to his sisters, he says… "A different tactic will be needed."
"A boy?"
He shakes his head. "He likes women. He responded favorably to both of the girls, as girls. But not as a possible partner. We need someone… less blatantly interested in his power. He can read minds. I could see him feel the girls sizing him up, and designing their wedding gowns and futures as Mistress of the Order. It left him cold. He wants to be liked, loved for himself."
All three of them sigh at that. Gods save them from hopeless romantics.
The ladies share a glance. Then one more aimed at him. That's the thing they don't think they can find among their offspring.
Myrton inclines his head, nodding. "In the meantime, I've secured a ten year non-aggression pact. Hopefully. Our lawyers will natter with his, and by the time they're done, who knows what this will look like. That said, I think we need to gather with several friends. He has… problematic ideas for what his citizens might do."
Notes:
I don't know if any of you have seen Patterson with Adam Driver. It's a fairly slow movie, not a lot of plot, very pretty, and Adam plays a poet.
One of the poems, my favorite of the bunch goes like this:
My little pumpkin,
I like to think about other girls sometimes,
but the truth is
if you ever left me
I'd tear my heart out
and never put it back.
There'll never be anyone like you.
How embarrassing.
I have a feeling Kylo can relate. ;)