There was chaos from inside. Roiling emotions, panicked yelling, scuffling, the sound of bottles falling. He waited for a few seconds before the house settled into dead silence. Only at this point did he knock again, with more insistence.

There was a pause, and then, "We're busy. Come back later."

It could never work and they all knew it. "I want only to talk."

"Yeah, y'know, I kinda highly doubt that, buddy."

He could taste impatience on the back of his tongue. He lurched forward, but Hux grabbed his shoulder within a millisecond, and shushed him. "Have a civil conversation with us and we promise not to slaughter your entire settlement."

"I doubt that, too," came the voice.

Pleasantly, Hux asked, "Would you like me to sign this promise in blood?"

"You go too far."

Hux waved him off. "Relax, only a very little blood. A minimal amount will make no difference."

"You would let the Resistance have a sample of your own-"

Hux huffed. "Diplomacy was your idea."

More shuffling from inside. Mumbling voices, hushed. Harsh tones, a desperate sense of hope. Kylo could read them like books. "'Diplomacy?' Did I just hear something about diplomacy?"

"We are offering." Kylo shifted his stance. There might be a chance. He hadn't the experience to know when to give up, besides. He would stand outside this door all night if he had to.

You will not, Hux snapped, sour. Or at least, I don't plan to.

We are getting somewhere. Look. They're considering us.

I was the one to offer up my own lifeblood.

Kylo scoffed, but was interrupted by the sad, hacking cough of the ancient Jedi inside. His companion reeked of concern. "Offering what?"

We've already won, Kylo thought, simply. Hux smiled.

We'll see to that yet.

He didn't synchronise with patience. Generally, he avoided it. Waiting got him nowhere. Standing around would only give the enemy precious time to prepare. But negotiations, on their knees and begging for a copy of the map data, that required an ungainly amount of calm. How could he be collected? He was so close, and yet he was so far.

The Resistance fighter in front of them, Dameron, he possessed the droid that was the key to everything. He guarded it as if it were family. In a way, it was. Every move Kylo made, every impatient huff, Dameron twitched, fingers gently brushing over the barrel of his blaster. In turn, Hux would bristle, another bead of sweat would drip down his forehead in sheer concentration. Grandfather had tried to show him how to slow blasterbolts. Not stop them, that was not yet within his skill level, but to slow them. Hux clearly wanted to ignore that boundary completely.

Neither of them were helping. The restlessness of one fed into the frustration of the other, like a snake eating its own tail, a horrible emotional feedback loop within their Link.

Their little entourage were beginning to broadcast little seeds of aggravation, blooming here and there, as every diplomatic step was met by another misstep. They were silent, but Kylo could've reached out and grasped their urge to speak in his own two hands.

The droid chittered nervously. "So, let me get this straight," Dameron began, for the third time. He reached to scratch the BB-8 unit fondly on the head. "You want a copy of the data Beebee has here? Just a copy?"

Kylo ground his teeth. "Why would I need the original?"

"Don't you suspect I might somehow falsify the copy?" Dameron was met only by Kylo's impatient stare. "Not even a little bit?"

"I would know."

"I'm sure we all have places to be," said Hux. "Is it a deal? You only need to give a yes or no answer. No paperwork."

Dameron hesitated. "Yeah. Come back in a day and I'll have a copy for you."

"A day!" Hux's knuckles went white. "Do you know how exposed we are staying on this planet, Poe Dameron?"

"I have to make sure the transfer is secure," Dameron said, slowly, as if Hux were a particularly stupid bantha and not one of the First Order's highest ranked.

Kylo growled. "Speak to him like that again-"

The Jedi beside them scrabbled at his neck. Hux blinked. "Just what do you think you're-"

"-and you'll soon regret testing our patience any further."

Dameron shot forward. "Quit that or you won't get the data at all, you second-rate, walking Imp scare tactic."

Hux sighed, pinched the bridge of his nose. "I think we need a moment. We'll reconvene in the morning, and you will have the data for us, correct?"

"Yeah, that's right."

There was one 'Trooper in their entourage, staring with such focus at the choking, blue-faced Jedi. Kylo abruptly felt something was wrong, but he couldn't place it. "Then we're leaving." Before things went against Grandfather's wishes. He beckoned their guard. "With me, now."

"Nice chat. No, really, it was honestly a pleasure doing business with you," Hux said, around a passably false smile, and strolled fluidly out the door.

"What were you thinking?"

"I don't have the time for this," Kylo said. Hux huffed.

"What difference will a few hours make?"

"The difference between life and death."

Hux's eyes narrowed. "Don't be ridiculous."

Kylo sat in the sand outside his temporary camp and felt it seep over his robes. His face pinched in disgust. It wasn't ridiculous to be wary of this planet. There was something wrong with it, deeply wrong. He couldn't place it, the cause of this strange foreboding, but he had learnt long ago to trust his instincts. He wouldn't falter now.

"You sense something?" Hux echoed. He sat comfortably in the sand, looking strangely serene. The torchlight lit the floor beneath him to match the burnt, fiery tones of his hair. He looked like he belonged. "'Belong?' I'm merely adaptable," Hux corrected. "Now, what in the stars did you sense? I get nothing but fear from these people."

"Protectiveness."

Hux looked up blankly. "There are mothers and fathers desperately huddled with their children in every corner of every house in this village, Ren, honestly."

"No, protectiveness from one of ours."

Now Hux looked offended, and a bit concerned. "One of my 'Troopers is displaying an- an- unnecessary emotional response?" No, not just concern. Anger, disappointment. "I trained them better than that," he spat. "Far better."

"Pupils often disobey their masters," said Kylo.

"Not me!" Hux sighed. "Alright, apparently I fall prey to this... issue, as well. One of the 'Troopers is feeling sorry for the villagers, is that it?"

"He feels a connection with them. I can see it. He reaches out for them. He doesn't know them, but he cares for them. He's scared for them. He'd go against the Order if it meant saving them, actually." Kylo paused. "It is odd, how he acts. He aspires to be like the Resistance fighter we just negotiated with." He grabbed more tightly at the 'Trooper's mind, a mess of shapes and colours and vivid memories. This one had passion. His head was less hollow than the others, his thoughts less forcibly structured. It intrigued him. "He wants to 'be there' for his friends. Oh. He wants tohave friends. Not just... birthmates."

Hux wrinkled his nose. "He's breaking through his conditioning. And you're fascinated?" He shook his head abruptly. "Nevermind. Of course you're fascinated by him. I suppose I should be too, but aren't you the least bit concerned? This could happen to all our officers."

"We're restructuring the Order regardless. Perhaps this is fortuitous."

Hux pursed his lips. "I highly doubt it."

"Consider it," Kylo said. "An army with a mind."

"This is not mindfulness!" Hux threw a hand down on the sand. "These are the sad notions of some desperate man whose goal in life is to scavenge any possible self-congratulatory mission he can find."

Kylo blinked. "Should we kill him?"

Hux faltered, then, picked up his hand and shook off the grains spotting his gloves. "Normally, I would have traitors publicly executed. But this is not a public venue, is it? And this is no ordinary traitor."

"If we let him escape, track his movements, will he not lead us to a Resistance base? Won't he go to my mother, my father, my uncle for backup with that fighterpilot of his?"

"That's positively crafty for your blunt methods, Ren."

Kylo bowed his head. "It would please him."

A small wisp of ice, a small shard lodged itself into his mind, and he felt a pressure on his chest, a gentle crushing. "Indeed it would."

He whipped around. "Grandfather. Do you find our actions sufficiently... satisfactory?"

"You surprise me."

Kylo did not know what this meant. Were they erratic, unpredictable? Or were they gifted with the appropriate ingenuity?

Grandfather hummed to himself. "It was uncharacteristic of me to underestimate my own blood. We commit with all or with nothing."

Hux narrowed his eyes, face curling into curiosity. "Now, is that your blessing or your curse?"

"Both. Skywalkers know nothing better than duality, Brendol Hux. It would be best if you remembered that."

"For my interest or for your own? Should I be wary of this knowledge or use it to my advantage?"

Vader's laugh was a short, booming bark. His eyes lit with a strange sort of fervour, and his mouth twitched with the beginnings of something that Kylo knew, from the mirror he looked into every day, would soon transform into a greedy, contemplative smirk. "Both," he said, and began to fade and whirl like the sand that blew around them. "Continue as you were. This is the correct course of action, and I am interested to see where this path will lead you in time."

Then he was gone.

"Well," said Hux. "Your egos match, that I can ascertain with ease."

Kylo shot him a sour look. It was returned with something sickly sweet.

He'd shot a tracker on their little droid that night, and he'd had his suspicions, and sure enough, the morning was a barren wasteland. Yet somehow he was still surprised they'd mustered up the courage to attempt such a thing.

"Well I never," Hux said, exceedingly dry. "What a complete shock to the system."

The X-Wing was gone from its dock, the droid charting a course as far away from their current location as physically possible, and the villagers nowhere to be found. They were also short one particular Stormtrooper. Kylo could not summon disappointment within himself. Truthfully, he was excited. His blood was pounding. Like a nexu giving chase to its prey, he would hunt them down and retrieve the necessary intel.

Hux stretched, the cords in his neck flexing against the thick, dripping beams of sunlight that shone down from the stars above. Kylo was suffocating in the heat. Hux's calm was befitting for a Jedi. "It's true," he said. "We don't have much time to lose. But 'giving chase' so soon will surely spook them, and we can't have that. So I'm giving them a small headstart. Call it good form."

"You want to stay here?"

"Not very much, no. I'd like to travel to the neighbouring town and restock our supplies, and then and only then, follow the droid's trail."

"Fine. But we can't leave it too late."

"It would be all too easy to lose their signal, I know."

"We should pack immediately," Kylo began, but Hux waved him off.

"Already done." At Kylo's confused glance, he elaborated, "I don't sleep much." And left it at that.

"Then what do you suggest?"

Hux gave a sly smile. "We plan."

There was an extensive holomap already shining onward inside the camp. It lit the darkness around them in beautiful webs of light. It reminded him of his time as a child in Uncle Luke's Temple, looking up at the stars. He hadn't looked at them since the massacre.

"It's outdated," Hux said, distracted. His hands shuffled through their bag of rations, until he picked out a protein bar with a faded wrapper, so industrially processed it looked beyond unappetising. Hux ate it as if it were the very essence of life, and continued to absently point at the small pinpricks that marked towns and villages. "But not much changes here, does it? So it isn't of any particular consequence, as long as we get a general idea."

"And if we end up lost?"

"It isn't hard to find our way again. We've come prepared."

"For how long?" It was true they had the First Order's backup on this expedition, but Kylo was wondering just how long that would last. Once their intent to change the very base structure of the organisation was announced, they'd be down a few thousand men. More than a few thousand men.

"You're correct, but that's an issue to address later. Currently? Long enough."

Kylo had trained to withstand physical exertion, of course, but the thick, smothering heat of his robes was unhelpful on their journey to the next town. Hux had folded his coat over his shoulder, but Kylo had no such removable object to speak of. His hood freed his hair, but he was still sweating, he was still damp. Hux could remove his hat, his coat, his inner jacket, and leave himself in only basic training clothes. He had luck on his side, as ever.

He had reached the peak of the highest dune, overlooking the small outpost below. Hardly any lights shone, leaving only the sound of scrap metal jangling in the wind. A scavenger's blessing and their curse. It reeked of empty despair, sickly and clinging like droplets of water. The feeling was overwhelming, as if he, too, would become infused with the hopelessness of poverty, of living in the remnants of downed Imperial Star Destroyers.

The ships were too good for them. Such an incredible waste.

Hux skated down the sand gracefully, shielded from the sand by a small Force barrier. It was impressive for someone with so little expertise in the field.

"You should expect that I take to it quickly, Ren."

"Don't push yourself too far beyond your limits. You'll wear yourself out before the enemy, and I won't drag your carcass from this place."

"The enemy, in this case, being a sad little droid and his two rogue would-be rebels. I feel entirely too threatened."

"They've settled a few kilometres from the town. They could attempt an ambush."

"The map says they're quite near some sort of structure, not naturally forming. I imagine some entirely too sympathetic stranger has offered to house them for the night. At least on their grounds. They're certainly close enough to be noticed."

"It's possible they were shot."

"The droid strays off every so often. In a place like this? It would've been sold or dismantled for credits long ago. They're still alive."

"Should we kill the person giving them refuge?"

Hux hummed. "No, why don't we keep them alive, hmm? They could be another useful Resistance member."

"I sense the host will not welcome us."

"They do seem immovable. It's only very faint for me, of course, but to think such a superficial impression would leave this sort of impact... we'll be careful or we'll die, do you understand? No running in to show off your blasterbolt-deflecting dramatics."

"...As you wish."

"This is not only in my interest, you realise. Unless you do in fact want to die, and in that case, yes, this is entirely selfish. I do have need for your dramatics. On occasion. And stringing your corpse up and attempting to animate life will not fool the opponent."

What a comforting thought. An impersonal reason to require a person remain under your protection, General. I'm... moved.

You ought to be. I have done this for no-one else. They haven't shown any signs of deserving it.

And I have?

You chose to tell me about this path through the Force. You chose to enlighten me. For that, I owe you a debt.

I only demand recompense from my adversaries. You have no need to owe me.

How singularly limiting, Ren. You should think bigger.

He could hear a remnant of his father echoing in his head. A small voice that said, "Yeah? Well, then you should think smaller."

Hux began to laugh. I knew there was a reason your father riled up half of this galaxy. I'd had yet to experience it until now. The Solo brand of backtalk. How incredibly entertaining.

Kylo snarled at him. Do not pry where you are not wanted, General.

Hux only chuckled. "Do you bite?" he asked, and walked off, towards the great downed ship that lay without peace in the distance.

Kylo sometimes felt he hated him.

Author's Note: I am stupidly late and this is because I've been playing video games. I have no excuses, as usual, and I won't make any up. I'm still flithy gamer trash, don't you worry. Hopefully me actually moving the plot along to the events of the movie will make up for it?

Enjoy. And thank you, as ever, for putting up with the wait xox.