Another shipment of prisoners.
The Knight sighed in annoyance. Having barely glanced at the paperwork Hux had thrust at him earlier that day, he was painfully unaware of all but the most basic statistics of this new load of women. Their arrival had nearly (but not quite) caught him off guard, something which Hux (had he known) would never let him live down.
Kylo Ren shifted uncomfortably in his place at the front of the room, conscious of the hair falling in his eyes underneath his dark helmet, and the sweat pooling beneath his heavy robes. It was customary for the Knights to welcome, as well as indoctrinate, the new slaves in place of Snoke himself, who was considered simply too important and busy to bother with such trivial matters.
Feeling a burst of anger blossom in his breast, Kylo straightened against the wall. Surely he, the leader of the Knights of Ren, was also above such things. Hux was better suited to management, if Kylo was being honest with himself, and as much as he hated to admit it, cleverly skilled at persuading people to follow him. Charisma was a talent he himself had never found much use for. It wasn't necessary when merely a gesture towards his lightsaber had people groveling at his feet.
Why was this taking so long? It was starting to truly aggravate him, to be forced to wait for these nobodies – these slaves from an uncivilized planet in the Outer Rim. It should have been quick and easy, to strip them of their possessions and dirty clothing, to get them through the initial programming because clearly there were certain people whose time could be used for more important things.
The rear door hissed open, and he was ushered out of his brooding by the sharp clacking of boots on the polished metal floor.
"Sir." Kylo straightened and turned to face the blank white mask. "General Hux sends his apologies at the unanticipated delay," the trooper said, "although it was unavoidable due to…" He cleared his throat. "Hysterics."
Kylo, anticipating any manner of excuses Hux may have given for the inexcusable waste of his time, found himself taken aback by the choice of words. Hysterics. There's a new one. He must be finally running out of excuses.
The stormtrooper had taken advantage of his momentary distraction, quickly clicking away to disappear into the anonymous ranks once more. Kylo was left with a brief moment of contemplation on what Hux could have possibly meant, when the main doors hissed opened and all hell broke loose.
The first thing Kylo registered hearing was blaster fire. The second was the unmistakable whine of a lightsaber. Hardly a second after those initial thoughts he found himself dodging out of the way of a rogue laser beam, landing hard on the smooth floor.
Out of the narrow eye-slit in his helmet he surveyed the battle before him from the momentary safety of floor. Through the smoky air he could make out the white figures of stormtroopers, shooting at a single figure in the middle of the room.
His mind raced as he stood up, sidestepping another blast from a laser. Where did a prisoner from Jakku get a lightsaber? She obviously isn't a Jedi. There are no more Jedi. A stormtrooper fell in front of her, lost to the haphazard swings of an unpracticed but deadly hand. I always have to clean up Hux's messes. Kylo sighed, reaching for his saber.
And to think Hux called these hysterics.
His saber held loosely in one hand, he began to walk into the fray, his other hand stretched out toward the skirmish in front of him.
The scene froze.
He continued to walk through the haze of blaster smoke, stepping over the injured and dead on his march toward the center of the room. The figure was no woman, and certainly no Jedi. She couldn't be over 20 years old, and certainly shouldn't be able to injure, much less kill a highly trained stormtrooper.
She grimaced as he approached, visibly trying to break the hold he had over her. The lightsaber blazed like blue fire in her hand, humming slightly. It looked familiar.
Almost unconsciously he ignited his own lightsaber, the sparking red whining where it slid along the motionless blue. Kylo cocked his head at the girl, curiosity getting the better of him.
"Who are you?" His artificial voice rumbled through the mask. She shook slightly as if trying to move. "How did you – a scavenger – find something which clearly belongs to one of your betters?" Kylo couldn't keep the contempt from dripping through his voice. The Jedi were foolish and weak, but still far superior to non Force-users.
Glancing around the silent room, he took another step forward, his saber dangerously close to her neck. Her eyes were closed, brows knit together as if in deep concentration, tears silently streaming down her dirty face and dripping onto her tattered robes.
"I could kill you now if I wanted to," he whispered softly. Intimately. "But you – you're just a prisoner here. You're nothing. You aren't worth the blood which would spill from your body."
The girl's eyes flew open and slowly, painfully, she wrenched her head from his grasp and turned her eyes upon him. "I –" she gasped, "will never be – your prisoner." Although her voice shook, her eyes remained steady, burning holes into the mask he wore.
A quick motion from him and she was lying crumpled in a heap on the floor. He looked down, breathing heavily, shaking from the encounter. The lightsaber lay innocently on the floor between them.
That shouldn't have been possible.
Moments later the doors behind him opened, more soldiers pouring in. His hold on the room cracked, allowing the troopers around him to regain motion and control over themselves. Kylo turned toward the doors to see Hux looking at him in distain.
"I see you can certainly handle a crisis" the man sneered, looking at the carnage in distain.
His next words never came. Kylo strode past him as he lay quivering against the far wall, stunned after being tossed into it.
"Maybe you should learn the definition of hysterics" he muttered under his breath.
Hours later, in the darkness of his own room, even after hours of training and meetings, Kylo Ren couldn't seem to shake the vision of wide hazel eyes staring into his soul.
Sorry about the long wait on this one. This chapter took a long time to start, and I'm still not sure I'm happy with it. Oh well. Also, the semester has started up again, so updating may get a little less frequent. I do want to thank you for all the support! I never expected this to get the reception it did, and I hope you all continue to enjoy the story.