Snoke's altar had grown steadily dustier after each visit he and Hux made. No longer did it stand in pristine condition, crystalline rock shining like stars. Instead, it looked like an abandoned Jedi hovel from the Purge. Kylo could tell he was not the only one to get a strange, sick sort of satisfaction from this.
Hux knelt to Snoke now, under his scrutinising eyes, but soon, soon they would have this room to themselves, to be repurposed for strictly their use.
"The map," Snoke said. Kylo was aware the rumble of his voice came from some built-in modulator, to make him appear more threatening. But everything in this galaxy could die. He knew that intimately. "I trust you have news on its location."
Hux looked up, eyes brimming with a carefully masked hatred only Kylo could sense. "Signs point to a village in Jakku, My Lord."
All of Hux's anger, his indignance, his ambition, it fueled the Dark in them both. It was the wood on which their fire burnt. It was how they would take from Snoke's very hands the hardest thing he fought for.
"A village in Jakku?" Snoke hummed. "Go there. Tell me what you find. Take no prisoners, only the information we need."
Hux dipped his head. "As you request."
Snoke had no reason to suspect them. Rather, he ought to be pleased with their performance. They had gotten him the map's location in less time than estimated, thanks to Grandfather's unsubtle hints. They had raised no concerns, no snappy questions, only a sense of frustrating normalcy.
They both itched to find action.
And yet there was none.
Jakku was a boring planet, and its villages would match, filled to the brim with boring people. People who ignored antique relics like their map, who focused on scavenging useless scrap from long-downed ships. He did not look forward to breathing its air.
As Snoke's image winked out, Hux let his face curl back into its usual insubordinate sneer. From the Link, he could sense a sort of strange amusement settle in, perhaps as Hux realised just who he'd pledged himself to all these years. Snoke was not incompetent, to his credit, but the more he looked, the more Kylo could find fault. Snoke was vague, he punished with no explanation, he held himself with a kind of superiority that made Kylo reconsider his own. The effect was nauseating.
"At least yours has some merit," Hux chimed in, sprawling back casually on one of the shrine's flatter and more welcoming crystals. It glittered beneath him, as if recognising a fellow being in the Force.
"What of mine has merit?" Kylo blinked. Then, he remembered the Bond. He remembered he hadn't much subconscious shielding, and that Hux was privy to every thought he didn't actively block. "Oh, my... grandstanding."
"I see my accusations didn't fly over your head."
"I don't simply hear," Kylo snapped. "I listen."
"Really?" Hux asked. "I've yet to see any evidence of that. My consoles are still replaced weekly."
"I'll work to control my anger."
"I don't mind," Hux said, "if you use that kind of brutality on our enemies. But the consoles are on our side, Ren, if you haven't noticed. No matter how unresponsive. Though, I'm beginning to consider that might be a side effect of your constant roughhousing."
"I'm frustrated by our useless crewmembers. This is surely a feeling you would relate to?"
"You don't see me throwing them about like ragdolls." Hux waved a gloved hand. "It doesn't matter. We won't be on the Finalizer these next few days regardless. We have a map to find, yes?"
"It will be guarded, by Jedi. By the Resistance."
"Is that not a given?" Hux stretched, cracked the joints in his neck. "I'm really rather looking forward to it, actually. Seeing the same hallways over and over, each and every cycle, it doesn't help one's sanity."
"You're looking forward to the fresh air," Kylo said, blankly.
"I'm looking forward to exercising my new power. As often as possible."
Sometimes Hux's lust for murder disturbed even him. As admirable the general's spirit was, it was also terrifying.
Hux titled his head. "Yours matches mine. I haven't demonstrated anything you aren't similarly capable of, so you needn't be jealous."
"It's not jealousy." It's begrudging respect.
Hux laughed lightly. It sounded entirely devoid of humour. The feeling is mutual.
The ride to Jakku was surprisingly pleasant, given the circumstances. Hux brought with him a bottle of Corellian brandy and actually bothered to strike up some form of conversation. Kylo wondered if he'd been replaced with a new man, but the incredulous arch of Hux's brow in response told him quickly otherwise.
"I'm only trying to make this go faster for us," Hux said. "Nobody likes waiting."
Especially not Skywalkers, or Solos, and definitely not Skywalker-Solos. Kylo often felt like scratching out his own mind when he was left to do nothing. It was unproductive, it was useless, it was always underusing his talents, which could easily be put to use elsewhere, to further their goals. But starflight wasn't a choice. Snoke hadn't ordered him to wait, and yet waiting had come along with the ride as if it belonged.
"It is appreciated."
"Yes, well, we wouldn't want you going mad, now, would we?" Hux laughed, took another sip of his brandy. He looked so at home like this, poised like a diplomat with eyes like a predator. Kylo only ever looked at others like prey, never like they were of any great importance. They were all pawns in the game. "Not than you can sink much farther."
Kylo wrinkled his nose. "So you've said."
He wasn't insane, he was simply ahead. Ambitious. Willing to cross boundaries barely any being would dare get anywhere near. He was ruthless, but he was of perfectly sound mind, as much as Hux liked to insist otherwise. He calculated his every movement, planned down his every strategy, as Grandfather would've at the height of the Empire's reign. He was to emulate the best and so he had to be the best.
It was clear Hux thought the same of his own duties to the First Order. The man was driven like no other, and was, of course, never shy in admitting it. It could be irksome, but it was also a reassurance. Their reconnaissance mission had a higher chance of success with Hux at their side, and they all knew it.
"I'm flattered," said Hux.
Kylo stared. "It's the truth."
He was never fond of concealing the truth. Navigating life with success had always called for blunt, uncaring realism. Anyone too weak to face that would never succeed. Not without a miracle.
But Hux didn't press. He knew how to pick his battles. He knew strategy, and timing, and patience, and this would win them their knowledge, their training. They were as his lightsaber: Kylo was the blade and Hux was the hilt.
This was something important to all of them, their cohesion, their successful Bond. It meant winning or losing, but more than that, it meant Kylo was not always the single puzzle piece that refused to fit together with the rest of the board, if he chose not to be. He could find synchronicity, and demonstrate it.
And Hux had it, too, by carefully-formulated consequence.
This was why they would win.
Their entourage ship flew onwards. Jakku would soon be in the horizon, like a burning sun. The last time Kylo had visited, the upper atmosphere had been smoky, and its orbiting space filled with debris. He wondered what little lifespans the planet's native inhabitants had. How could they eat, drink, breathe, survive? Did the caves that sheltered them from duststorms ever collapse in on their own heads? The entire framework was built on shaky foundations. So easily could it topple that Kylo, for a split second, debated ignoring the map completely.
"You hate Jakku that much?" Hux asked.
"Skywalkers never did like sand," came Grandfather's voice. Kylo didn't startle, but he winced slightly at the sudden imposing presence in the Force.
"No, we don't," Kylo agreed. "Hello, Grandfather."
"I'm here to supervise your descent, and make sure you infiltrate the village with subtlety. You will not be mindlessly slaughtering every innocent that comes your way, do you understand?"
"Yes, Grandfather."
"The Resistance fighters stationed here are some of my daughter's best. I will not have her work ruined for such easily avoidable reasons."
Kylo dipped his head. "Of course. Mother never did like having her efforts undone."
Grandfather settled in the seat next to him, and floated a glass up to his outstretched hand. To Kylo's surprise, he drank from it with ease. "It takes many years of Force training to be so synchronised upon one's death," he commented, lightly. "I have faith both of you, too, will achieve it one day."
Kylo hoped he could rise to that level of skill. It had been his dream since his beginning, and yet there were days where he grew increasingly unsure of his ability. Could he surpass his ancestry? Could he even hope to equal them? He would admit it to no-one, but he wondered, often.
"You honour us," said Kylo, instead.
"It is the truth." Grandfather hummed. "You have potential. I would not have come to you if you did not. I would not care if you were wasting your future if it were not so bright. I would not have brought you and Hux together if I did not see great power in your unity."
Hux blinked, pleased and flattered, broadcasting clear for all to see, and replied, "I appreciate the opportunity."
Jakku's atmosphere hadn't changed at all. Still, the debris in orbit made it hard to navigate, and still, the clouds were full of dust and dirt and sand. The sun had set, leaving darkness in its wake, and yet the heat had only began its hungry path through their hull and into their engines. The entire planet was a solid, singular colour, save for the small spots of civilisation sprinkled here and there.
It was absolutely deplorable. He hadn't the mind to stay here any longer than was absolutely necessary. The sooner he left, the sooner he followed the map's true quest, the closer he'd find himself to proper enlightenment. Staying on this junkheap was a waste of every breath he took.
They flew until they hit the eye of the hurricane of shadows, until the harsh glare reflected on the ship's paint faded into nothing. There, they landed, gentle and quiet, behind a dune about ten kilometres from the village - an easy trek, compared to the usual regimen. Even so close, Kylo could've easily mistaken the entire region for some uninhabited, inhospitable mess. He could sense barely any life within a radius of a few kilometres. Only a small spot of sentience here and there, dotted between the grains like little saplings.
They said nothing to each other, only walked slowly northward. A scattering of Stormtroopers surrounded them, which their superiors had demanded, for "extra protection." Of course, they were only a burden on his and Hux's journey. A hinderance. They were perfectly capable of fending for themselves. He could rip them all to pieces at any given moment if he so chose.
He simply did not.
The 'Troopers shook like the wind. He could practically taste their fear, the stench of terror sticking to the back of his throat and under his tongue.
He ignored it and kept walking. Silent.
They reached the edge of the village, and only there did Kylo tell the 'Troopers to stop. He didn't need their cowardice interfering with his operation. Fear made people clumsy, and a twitchy finger on a blaster trigger would ruin any and every chance of finding the map. If he harmed this hovel in any way, he knew Grandfather would refuse to train him. And Mother... would only be driven more fiercely to protect those few, precious bits of data.
He and Hux continued on alone, blending into the darkness as they'd been taught. Soft light bled from each house on the settlement, but Kylo knew the one without the raucous laughter, or the smell of dinner, or the crying of children, that house would contain the map. Only the most unassuming.
"To your left," Kylo said, barely above a whisper. Hux leant in to hear. "The house to your left. It's too quiet."
Hux nodded, set careful pace towards the window, and ever-so-gently, looked in. Immediately, he ducked down beneath the windowsill, and gave a nod. "There are two men inside. One wears the Resistance insignia."
"One of Mother's," Kylo said.
"How do you plan to do this?"
Kylo reached for the clasps at his neck, and undid the bindings of his helmet. There, he set it flat in the sand. "How my uncle would've liked. We talk."
"You, trying diplomacy? Have I gone mad?"
Kylo stared at the flickering, warm glow seeping from the tiny little windows peppered across the Resistance hut. He heard voices, hushed, and felt the presence of a trained Force-sensitive. A Jedi. How they had not yet perished was beyond him. "Perhaps I am the one who has gone mad, General."
Hux narrowed his eyes. "That happened long ago." A sigh. "Do you really want to do this peacefully? It would be so much easier to take the information from them forcefully, you know."
"That method would anger Grandfather. We cannot take that risk."
Hux snorted. "I haven't done 'peace' in years."
"Nor have I. At least this serves as good practice."
And with that, he rose, and knocked slowly on the door.
Author's Note: I WASN'T REALLY ANY FASTER, WAS I? I'm trash. I'm sorry, I'm such trash. Blame all the gaming. It's not that I'm lazy af or anything. No, it's just that I'm totally distracted by... lore analysis! And raids with low (agonising) droprates!
(And, as always, thanks to my darling Shaky for her consistent work as Beta! xx)