Ensign Arloe walked down the corridor leading to the Supreme Leader's chamber, his nerves on edge, his emotions an absolute mess.
Kylo Ren stalked along the corridor beside him. The enigma of a man stared straight ahead through the metal mask he wore. Ensign Arloe had never seen Ren's face. In fact, he never spoke directly to him until this day. Now Ren was escorting him personally to an audience with the Supreme Leader of the First Order. Ensign Arloe could scarcely believe his luck.
The events had all happened so quickly, starting less than three hours ago. The bizarre, unidentified rocket emerged into existence on a collision course with the Star Destroyer's bridge. Ensign Arloe acted with lightning-quick reflexes. He knew his station controls like the back of his hand. He aimed the pulse from the ion cannon directly at the rocket ship. He scored a direct hit and watched in satisfaction as energy flares danced across the rocket's hull.
Moments later, the unnamed craft drifted slowly down toward the surface of Jakku, the pulse from the ion cannon and the loss of momentum from its thrusters changing its trajectory and most likely saving the lives of the entire bridge crew.
Arloe received many hearty slaps on the back from fellow crew members after the incident. He didn't expect to receive much more recognition beyond that. He was content to have done his duty and proved himself in the eyes of his immediate superiors.
Imagine his surprise when, hours later, Kylo Ren requested his presence, and asked him to accompany Ren to the surface of Starkiller base, to the proxy throne room of Supreme Leader Snoke himself.
Now Ensign Arloe stepped into that vast, shadowy chamber, ghostly light filtering down from above. He believed he was about to receive a personal commendation from the ultimate leader of the First Order. No experience could compare to this one, at least not for a long time.
Suddenly jittery and frightful, Ensign Arloe's nerves got the better of him. His pace slackened.
He lagged behind Kylo Ren and let the masked man stalk farther ahead. He stared at the man's dark clothing and pondered on the powers he possessed, the ability to use the mystical energy source known as the Force to manipulate objects and even peer into other people's minds. Arloe shuddered in awe and terror. Everyone knew Kylo Ren was the Supreme Leader's enforcer, existing above and yet outside the chain of command within the First Order's military organization.
The Supreme Leader, on the other hand, rarely visited in person. Ensign Arloe certainly never expected a personal audience with him.
They had already reached the huge throne.
Kylo Ren stood silently for a moment, then knelt on one knee.
Arloe quickly followed suit, dropping to his knees and lowering his head until his forehead almost touched the ground.
He heard the hum of the holographic projector switching on, and suddenly he panicked. He almost jumped to his feet and bolted from the chamber. He knew he wasn't worthy. He shouldn't be here. Not in the presence of the great Supreme Leader or his enforcer. But he concentrated on his heroic actions from earlier and managed to slow his breathing. His heart still thundered in his chest, but he managed to remain in position and wait.
"Arise," Supreme Leader Snoke's voice rumbled through the chamber.
Ensign Arloe stood on unsteady legs and looked up. He gasped and whimpered in surprise.
The holo of the Supreme Leader loomed over him. Arloe was certain the holo was three or four times bigger than the Supreme Leader's actual height: a literal giant projected into the room. Snoke's humanoid form was tall and gaunt, wearing a dark robe and an aged, worn, and grotesquely scarred face. Long, spindly fingers splayed over the arms of the huge throne on which his holo sat. His eyes bored into Ensign Arloe with an intensity greater than a super laser.
"This is the one?" Supreme Leader Snoke asked.
"He is," Kylo Ren responded, his voice converted into synthetic bass tones by his mask.
Arloe's shoulders jumped when Ren spoke. Snoke's presence managed to make him momentarily forget Ren was even there.
"Your name and rank," the Supreme Leader requested, motioning to Arloe with those long fingers.
Arloe gulped and moved his hands behind his back to hide their trembling.
"Tieran Arloe, Ensign."
"Ensign, do you know why you have been summoned before me?" Snoke asked.
Hidden behind his back, Arloe's hands wrung each other in terrified anxiety.
"I do not, My Lord."
Leader Snoke gestured graciously with his hand.
"Please, tell me your best guess."
Arloe glanced uncertainly at Kylo Ren, but the man's mask offered no hints.
"I, I," Arloe swallowed again, forcing himself to calm down and only succeeding a fraction. "I believe it was because I saved the Finalizer's bridge crew by using an ion cannon to disable an unidentified rocket that emerged from hyperspace on a collision course."
Snoke smirked in unmistakable condescension, and Arloe felt any excitement and pride that remained to control his terror begin to drain away.
Something was wrong. Arloe didn't know what, but he knew he'd miscalculated, assumed too much.
"That is exactly why you have been summoned," Snoke said. "Now tell me, Ensign, what happened to the rocket after you disabled it?"
"It fell to the surface of Jakku, My Lord."
Snoke's fingers wrapped rhythmically on the arms of his throne.
"And…"
Arloe's stomach seemed to be tying itself in knots.
"I know nothing more about it, My Lord."
"Nothing?" Snoke said. "Nothing at all? You didn't bother to follow up?"
"But I'm only an Ensign," Arloe protested, unable to keep an air of defensiveness out of his voice. "It wasn't my duty to press the issue."
"On the contrary, I've been told you took such an action on your initiative, without a direct order. That makes following through on the consequences of your actions the most important duty of all," said Snoke.
The Supreme Leader looked at Ren.
"Tell the ensign what happened after he acted," Snoke said.
"The unidentified ship collided with my personal shuttle as it was preparing to land on the surface of Jakku," Kylo Ren stated. "My shuttle veered off course and crashed over five hundred kilometers north of the target site. I survived, but my mission to recover the map we sought from the Resistance failed. I was not present to ensure our success."
Arloe's legs nearly gave out. His stomach roiled painfully in horrified recognition.
"But I wasn't told Ren's shuttle was hit!" Arloe cried. "I had no idea!"
"As I said, failure to learn all the facts rests on you," Snoke said. "As does the failure of the First Order's mission to recover the map...to Luke Skywalker."
"No, no, but I saved the bridge!" Arloe protested, any semblance of calm gone, all his thoughts focused on survival.
"A soldier worthy of the First Order would know how to calculate expendable losses," Kylo Ren said from behind his mask. "The mission to secure the map to Luke Skywalker takes precedence over all other concerns."
"But I am worthy!" Arloe wailed. He could feel his eyes nearly popping out. "I did what I thought was right! I didn't know the rocket would crash into Ren's shuttle. I just made a mistake!"
Snoke brought his spindly fingers together and steepled them in front of his misshapen face.
"Mistakes are a sign of weakness, and weakness has no place in the First Order," he said. "Take up your weapon and prove you are not weak."
A thrumming snap-hiss met Ensign Arloe's ears, a sound he knew all too well despite his low rank.
He turned to see the glow from Kylo Ren's lightsaber, a long beam of crackling, red energy that illuminated Ren's robes. Kylo Ren held the weapon in a ready stance in front of him, his whole body poised for action.
Arloe felt tears of panic seeping behind his eyes as he pleaded up at the Supreme Leader. "But this isn't fair. He's too powerful for me to fight!"
"Power is never fair," Snoke intoned. "It only rewards the strong and punishes the weak and helpless. Which is why it's so valuable."
Kylo Ren strode forward, weapon shifting.
Instinctively, Arloe's right hand flew to his hip and drew the simple pistol holstered there. Panicking, terrified, he leveled the blaster at Ren and fired five successive shots.
Ren's red lightsaber deflected them all.
Arloe screamed and managed to fire three more shots, all of them deflected by the darting energy blade before the sword swung in front of his throat, a hair's breadth away. He could feel the heat from the weapon radiating painfully onto his skin.
"Drop your weapon," Ren ordered.
Arloe dropped the blaster and listened to it clatter loudly onto the floor.
"Your suffering and death will be broadcast by holo to all those aboard the Finalizer," Supreme Leader Snoke announced in solemn disgust, "so that they may learn from your error."
"Wait! No! Please!" Arloe sobbed, every muscle quaking.
"Begin," Snoke ordered his enforcer.
The lightsaber shifted and began burning. Arloe started shrieking.
An hour later, the young ensign's lifeless body lay in a marred, scorched heap on the floor.
Kylo Ren accessed the Force, the invisible energy source that flowed through all living things, and pushed the ensign's body into the shadows along the edge of the audience chamber.
He'd have to contact someone soon to come clean up the mess.
Pleasure flowed through his sweat-slicked muscles at the punishment he'd just spent the last hour administering. It was a temporary balm for the sense of loss and enraged frustration he felt at losing his chance to retrieve the map that led to his old master.
He turned and regarded his new leader, his true teacher, Supreme Leader Snoke.
"General Hux will be displeased when he learns we punished a member of the military without his consent," Kylo said.
He did his best to mask the smug satisfaction he felt at the thought of petulant, imp-faced Hux's ire, but he could feel the tendrils of the dark side of the Force invade his mind, signaling Snoke had easily slipped beneath his mental barriers to find the truth.
Kylo promised himself he would work harder at improving his mental defenses.
"I will deal with Hux," Snoke said dismissively. "He also bears responsibility for this failure. But his skills are too important to risk, for now. At any rate, we have much more urgent matters to discuss.
"There has been an awakening," Snoke continued. "Have you felt it?"
Kylo nodded. "Yes."
"There is more," Snoke added. "The Resistance pilot and the map we sought have certainly reached the Resistance by now, but we have been provided a chance to defeat our enemies before they can find your former master."
"Starkiller Base," Kylo stated, knowing the answer was obvious.
He frowned at the thought of Hux's pet project, grudgingly acknowledging the might of the planetoid war base.
"No," Snoke said, surprising Kylo. "I speak of a power even greater than the ability to destroy entire planetary systems."
The Supreme Leader's holo leaned forward on his throne and peered intently at Kylo.
"There is an old legend, found in both the records of the Sith and the libraries of the Jedi. It is called the Tragedy of Gallifrey. Have you come across this tale in your studies?"
"I have not," Kylo answered, prickling with both curiosity and annoyance.
"We don't have time to discuss it in detail," said Snoke. "But the essence of the tale is this: Long ago, in a galaxy far from here, there lived a race of beings who learned to bend time itself to their will."
"That is supposed to be impossible," Kylo said.
"The legend is very clear on this point, and as we know, there is always some truth in legends," Snoke assured him. "According to the story, this race of beings lived on a planet called Gallifrey and named themselves Lords of Time. But instead of using their power to shape the destinies of lesser beings, they sat idly by and squandered their might.
"In the end," Snoke continued, "other races grew envious of the Time Lords' power and saw their indolence for what it truly was: weakness. One of those races achieved similar control over time and waged a great war upon Gallifrey, a war fought in the very heart of time itself. Both races were decimated, and the Time Lords are said to be extinct."
"A very interesting fairytale," Kylo said dryly.
He immediately regretted his tone and words.
Snoke narrowed his piercing gaze at Kylo and frowned acidly.
"Your disrespect and impertinence will be your downfall if you are not careful."
"Forgive me," Kylo said, lowering his head.
Still, his annoyance continued to bubble in his emotions.
"The Legend of Gallifrey is not just a fairytale. I have encountered one of these Time Lords myself, years upon years ago. He said he was the last of his kind. Unlike the others, he was not indolent. He was a warrior, cunning and unpredictable. More importantly, he could enter and leave the flow of time at his will. He called himself 'The Doctor'"
Kylo clenched his fists, suddenly daring to believe such technology existed. If it did...
"When this Doctor emerged from the time stream, a ripple cascaded through the Force, a sensation unlike any I've ever known," Snoke said. "Similarly, when this rocket reportedly emerged from hyperspace above Jakku, I sensed these same cascading ripples."
Kylo had sensed absolutely nothing like that, but he kept that fact to himself.
"You believe the unidentified craft belongs to this being called the Doctor?" Kylo asked instead.
"I do," Snoke said. "And if we can capture him, we can use his power to serve the First Order. With the very fabric of time at our command, no one can stand against us, not even your old teacher, Skywalker."
Kylo shifted on the balls of his booted feet, anxious to leave this chamber and verify the truth of Snoke's theories.
"Yes, you may depart at once," Snoke said, leaning back on his throne. "I have already ordered Hux to dispatch search parties to the surface of Jakku. We must find the Doctor before he can jump through time again." Snoke's eyes stared fiercely at Kylo. "Return to Jakku and oversee the search personally. Find the rocket's pilot and bring him before me."
"As you wish," Kylo said, bowing. "I will not fail you."
"We shall see," Snoke replied. "We shall see."
The holo flickered and then vanished, leaving Kylo alone with his racing thoughts.