Snoke's command shuttle looked like any other. Hux watched it with disinterest as it shimmered through the containment field of the immense main hangar of Starkiller Base. The schedule was still two days behind. As promised, Snoke was here to address the issue personally.
Two guards in red came down the ramp first. Hux felt a whisper in his mind that he assumed to be Snoke. It either left or became undetectable as soon as he noticed it. Six staff members exited next, which was non-standard. They formed up to the left of the end of the ramp. Then Snoke, finally, who should have been the first down after the guards. Behind him was a Knight of Ren, one of the taller ones.
Hux thought he should have been trembling in fear at this point. Snoke's purpose here was not good for anyone. Just about everyone with a name on the base knew this. People with mere designations – letters and numbers – were probably oblivious, and rightly so. Hux had tried to keep it that way, insulating the common workers from the emotional stress. He should have been feeling stressed himself, but he didn't.
He felt … happy. Content. He'd done his best and if this was the end, then he was frankly looking forward to it. The very faint smile that crossed his face as Snoke stepped off the ramp was real. Snoke had had to come here in person. Hux supposed there was a vindictive little victory in inconveniencing the creature who was going to kill him. He shouldn't find it funny, but he did. He was beginning to think he should have taken Opan's suggestion and downed a sedative, because he felt inclined to laugh challengingly in the monster's face just to get it over with.
Hux strode forward sharply, his boot heels ringing out on the duracrete surface. "Leader Snoke," he said warmly.
Snoke raised a brow at him. There was a pause and that whisper in his mind once more.
I am your instrument as always, Hux thought firmly. Thank you for coming. And he was genuine about it. He really was. Maybe this could be settled. At the very least, the tension was over. He could finally relax.
The Knight of Ren moved forward, subtly edging between them as though Hux posed a threat. Hux met the gaze of the opaque visor, then returned his attention to his leader.
"As you have surmised, General," Snoke told him, "your usefulness here draws to a close. My staff and myself will administer this project until such time as it is returned to schedule. To start, you will provide a tour and orientation to facilitate the handoff."
"Of course, Leader Snoke." Hux didn't bother speculating about what would happen after the tour. He didn't care. Instead, he turned to the six who had come with Snoke. They were introduced, as was the knight – Kylo Ren, Master of the Knights of Ren. Hux gave the tour as instructed, with Snoke and the knight not bothering to accompany him in person. Hux felt Snoke's presence intermittently in his head, but Snoke had little to say.
It took most of the day. Hux's mood stayed high throughout. He was cheery and open about the challenges they'd encountered in the project. They were still looking to complete their trio of kyber crystals for the main firing mechanism. They'd found four, but they needed to find any three that were compatible. Installing compatible crystals would be the last piece of engineering, so they had most of two years to achieve this. Still, it was the riskiest part of the entire operation (risky in that if they couldn't find compatible crystals, the entire project failed), so Hux would not feel 'done' until they had that part locked down. He felt sorry he might not be around for that, but did his best to leave the matter in good hands.
At the conclusion of the day, he had dinner privately with Snoke, aboard the command shuttle.
"Your conduct today has been admirable," Snoke said, beginning his meal with a soup he took in through a straw.
Hux had a standard meal tray that had been brought from the base's cafeteria. It was cold. Not wanting his last meal to be unpleasant (or vomited up should his manner of death be anything other than quick), he toyed with it without eating. "Thank you, Leader Snoke." He had been taking care not to address him as 'sir', although he didn't know if that mattered. Others called Snoke 'sir' and it didn't get a rise out of him.
"However," Snoke continued, "your performance in managing this project has degraded. You have condoned luxuries and indolence. You tolerate frivolous expenditures of time among your subordinates and have begun to engage in the same yourself. You have lost the will to correct these problems. Were I to leave this to your continued mismanagement, the First Order will fail."
Hux stiffened. His lips pressed together. He did not want the Order to suffer. He wanted to argue about how the pace was inhuman and a little free time was not going to destroy the entire Order. But he said nothing.
"Yes, it will," Snoke said, as though he had spoken all his concerns aloud. Snoke's piercing blue eyes were actually patient for once. Hux met them. As much as he was able, he let down his mental defenses in an attempt to convey (if Snoke truly was reading his mind that deeply) that the pressures they'd all been under were deteriorating performance across the board.
It was like Brendol had shown him – one stroke of the lash earned an immediate response from an animal; so did two, but not as much; a third helped again, but decreasingly; somewhere after five or six, additional blows were counterproductive. A tremor-ox would pull no harder and would in fact begin to falter and give up if beaten too hard and too often.
Snoke took a long, slow draw of his soup without ever breaking eye contact. He swallowed. "That is why I am transferring your assignment to the Finalizer, where you will assist Kylo Ren in pursuit of my other project. A shift in leadership here will accomplish more than any increase in punishment from you, or to you."
"I am … to be transferred? Not killed?"
"Not killed." Snoke took another draw of soup, favoring the more intact right side of his face. "You may eat."
"Oh." Hux looked at his food, deciding that yes, he might as well.
Snoke watched for a moment. "As soon as our enemies discover Starkiller Base, they will bend all their powers to destroying or disabling it. If it is incomplete at that time, then it will be lost to us without advancing our cause. To have wasted so many resources without recompense will be a blow the Order will not recover from."
Hux nodded agreeably. He felt unsettled to discover he wasn't going to be executed tonight. He'd … been looking forward to having it all be over. He didn't know what to think about the responsibility involved in his life continuing, so he went along.
"To that end," Snoke said, "it is vital we not be discovered. However, there are other priorities that must be managed, risks we have no choice but to undertake. You will assist with these."
"'Assist'?" It was the second time Snoke had used that word. Not that he was supposed to accomplish something, but just that he would 'assist' with it.
"Do you know the highest priority for the First Order?"
That was an odd question. He assumed it was rhetorical. He gave the standard answer every schoolchild knew. "To restore order in the galaxy."
"No." Snoke frowned at him, put-out. "There are three projects critical to the survival and success of the First Order. One is this planet – the weapon. The second is the Supremacy, which you have seen yourself. One day, that ship will be the unification of the galaxy. But the third, I have been working on myself, personally, because it is the key to all the rest. It cannot be allowed to go astray." Snoke's voice was low and slow, a seductive drawl that made Hux's skin crawl. "Think. Show me the brilliance you believe you possess."
Hux barely suppressed a huff of exasperation that he was supposed to answer a kriffing riddle. But now that the challenge had been made … He had originally thought the third priority project was espionage, or maybe this certainty about the future that Snoke used to set the course for the other projects. Was that really something he was working on? All the time, or a lot of it? Did receiving a Force vision really take all that long when the creation of a hyperspace wormhole had been the work of an evening? What was it Snoke spent most of his time on, if not that?
Learning. Listening. Reading people's minds. Ferreting out dissent. Optimizing the organization. So was it building loyalty? That would be similar to Brendol's goal – sharpening the knife, so to speak. No matter how sharp the blade, there were three things needed additional: opportunity, skill, and intent. The Supremacy and Starkiller gave them the opportunity and ability to destroy their enemies. It must be the intent that Snoke was working on. If he came here to Starkiller and used some mass Force power of persuasion, would the project get back on track? Was that the 'intent' he was working on with the Order as a whole? It didn't feel right.
Snoke finished his soup and tilted his head slightly. "That is a correct answer for the wrong question. My efforts to conceal my work have been successful." He had a smug expression.
Hux took a bite of his protein patty, thinking Snoke's self-congratulatory attitude was inappropriate. Hux was duty-bound (and had been specifically told) not to inquire too closely of his leader's activities. It was like applauding yourself for a blind person not noticing your sleight of hand.
I should harm you for such a thought, but you would choke on your food and die.
Hux paused with his fork most of the way to his mouth, then let it traverse the rest of the way. Snoke wouldn't be warning him if he intended to do it. I am as respectful as I can be. You know this. You have asked me to not pay attention to something and then chide me for having done as directed? I am not capable of both, nor will I pander to your ego in the privacy of my own thoughts!
Now that was disrespectful. The petty officer who had stayed in the shuttle knew nothing of this. Having experienced Snoke's ability to control senses, Hux doubted she could hear even the spoken words between them. She slid Snoke's next course of food in front of him and took away the soup bowl. Snoke ignored her in favor of staring at Hux.
"Your thoughts are not private. They belong to me." Snoke's voice was a hiss, but it was more amused than angry. Hux had a good ear for the difference.
"Then think them for me," he suggested seriously, staring at Snoke right back. Hux had had enough and finding out he wasn't going to be killed today was downright disappointing. "I allow that. You know this, too. I will follow whatever orders you give me. But I am the one making the decision to submit and obey. Not you."
Snoke looked down to pick up his fork as though Hux had not practically thrown down a gauntlet. He began to eat his noodles, calm as could be. These were noodles, in fact, and not worms as Hux had feared when he'd seen something similar on the creature's plate some time back. Hux exhaled slowly and moved on with his own meal. He was amazed he was still alive. But the night was still young.
"Tomorrow," Snoke said, "you will use this shuttle to report to the Finalizer, accompanied by Kylo Ren. He will be your co-commander in all functional capacity. If there is some bureaucratic nonsense that needs attending to for this to be accomplished, you will see to it."
"Co-commander?" The word had no meaning. Hux understood by inference and etymology what Snoke was getting at, but that wasn't a real word, much less a rank. "What is our mission?" Perhaps that would clarify it.
"Overall? Your mission is the answer to the riddle. Kylo will know specifics, but I do not believe he knows any more than you do."
"You set me up for failure if I do not have critical information."
"I set Kylo Ren up for failure if I give you too much." Snoke waved a hand dismissively. "You would threaten him, he would destroy you, the First Order would fail, I would die. This is not a future I will allow. So. Get the information from Kylo Ren. In the morning."