She slept long and soundly, waking alone in plenty of time for the rescheduled council meeting. The ensemble she'd be presenting for today's inspection was close-fitting trousers and a long-sleeved tunic, although she found the sleeves so restrictive that she couldn't move her back properly and the high-necked collar was much too tight. She unbuttoned the throat until she could bend forward without throttling herself, pulled on the tall leather boots, and put her hair up before heading for the office next door.

Someone had put a large table in it and around the table sat faces she recognised. Ben was at the far end, chin on fist, glowering, surrounded by various generals. Although, now that she was paying attention, there seemed to be a lot fewer of them than there had been last time. There was an empty seat at the opposite end, closest to the door, and near it sat Captain Ocram, Major Breen, and Lieutenant Vanya, all of whom looked nervous. Captain Matandari didn't seem to be able to remove the substance stick from her mouth.

Everyone in the room stood, and saluted her with a smart 'Supreme Leader.'

In her head Ben said, 'I like that outfit.'

'Is that flattery?'

'No, that's lust.'

She would have raised an eyebrow if she hadn't been trying so hard to look serious.

One of the generals kicked off with some kind of situation report, detailing how the First Order's retreat was going, except that he didn't call it a retreat. Instead, he attempted to use lots of euphemisms which amounted to the same thing. Rey lost interest around half an hour in, somewhere in the middle of the troop manoeuvres in the vicinity of Novena Prime, drifting off into a consideration of the man at the other end of the table.

What might it be like, she wondered, to have sex with him as he was right now – distant, disapproving, dominating – rather than the man on the beach yesterday, whom she had stripped of his clothes and his control, and who had left her embrace looking thoroughly spent. She must be at least slightly attracted to this version of him, the dark and menacing one, and she lost herself in some delicious fantasies about how all that dark and menacing might translate to the bedroom, later tonight.

'Concentrate,' Ben snapped in her head.

She jumped, earning a curious look from Captain Matandari next to her. Rey narrowed her eyes at him across the length of the table. 'Did you throw my clothes away?' she demanded silently.

'Rags. I had someone throw those rags away.'

'Well, you threw away my underwear as well. I'm not wearing anything underneath this.' She gave him a challenging look. 'Concentrate on that.'

His eyes darkened, and he shifted a little in his chair.

Eventually, the military reports appeared to be over and attention switched to her end of the table.

Captain Ocram began. 'We've had a request to join the alliance from the moon of Duuk. They're offering ten percent of their revenues. In return, they are asking for our help to destroy the pleasure planets of Markas Three.'

There was much excitement at this from the other end of the table.

'Permission to blast Markas Three out of the sky, Supreme Leader?' a new and particularly keen general requested.

'You don't, by any chance, happen to have any more of those big, round guns things hanging about, do you? The ones the size of a small moon?' she asked, just checking.

'Sadly not, Supreme Leader.' Hux shook his head.

'Then let's get onto whoever leads Markas Three and tell them we're planning to declare war at the request of the new allies of the First Order – see what they say.' She nodded at Ben. 'You're the scary one. You do it.' She waved at his face. 'Better put the mask on.'

She concentrated on the first time she'd seen that mask close up, when she'd been strapped in the interrogation chair, almost completely at his mercy, and then added to that memory a vision of what might have happened if she had been then as she had been yesterday, completely naked apart from the sun. He said absolutely nothing, but in a very indecent way.

He stalked across to his desk, and, because it was that sort of desk, a large viewscreen slid noiselessly out of the middle of it. He flicked a switch.

'Put me through to Markas Three.' He spent a few seconds composing himself in the chair, yanking the cowl into a rakish slant.

'That's much more terrifying,' she said into his head. She suspected he was giving her a foul look, but since he had the helmet on, she couldn't be sure.

'Attention Markas Three. This is Kylo Ren, Supreme Leader of the First Order. Our allies, the moon of Duuk, in conjunction with the armies of the First Order, intend to declare war upon your planet. You have thirty minutes to respond.' He cut the signal and removed his helmet. 'Now what?'

'Now we blast them out of the sky!' The new, keen general almost bounced in his chair.

She glanced at Captain Ocram. 'Menan, can you follow that up by broadcasting the proclamation where we asked for allies, please?'

'Of course, Supreme Leader. Then we wait?' He followed the direction of her thoughts, as always. For a brief second, she wondered just how sensitive to the Force he was.

There wasn't long to wait.

The sibilant tones of the Markas Three prime minister hissed through the speaker. 'Attention Firsssst Order. Markassss Three wishessss to join your allianccccce. We accccept your termsssss.'

Rey, who'd had about enough of the spitting, indicated for someone to kill the sound.

'Now we blast them out of the sky?' the new general queried, uncertainly.

'No. Now, we tell them that they can join the alliance, as long as they accept our additional terms, which are that they release all the slaves they are currently holding and only staff their business in future with paid employees, who are there of their own free will. And better tell them they'll be subject to regular inspections. Send that message back, and tell the Chief Haggler of Duuk what we've done.'

Captain Ocram tapped away at his screen for a while. The ping of the response came back almost immediately.

'Markas Three will comply with those terms, on condition that we don't blast them out of the sky. And the Chief Haggler is delighted that he's getting all his citizens back.'

She turned to address the other end of the table. 'Gentlemen, what's your priority? Ships, weapons, transport, or staff? What do you need?'

'A big, round gun the size of a small moon?'

She favoured the new general with a withering stare. 'General Hux?'

'Weapons,' he chose.

'Lieutenant Vanya, we've got some money coming in now. Half of it goes on finding somewhere to build a weapons factory and with the other half, let's get General Hux some guns.'

'I can get a really good deal from Sonn-Blas actually,' she answered. 'Since I told them we weren't going to buy from them, they've stopped the union dispute and they're offering us much better prices than they were before.'

Rey shook her head. 'Not them. Place an order somewhere else. We need to teach our suppliers a little respect.'

'Supreme Leader?' Captain Ocram interrupted with a polite cough. 'I'm afraid the Azaxi homeworld has just declared war on us because we've wiped out the slave trade on Markas Three and they've lost their biggest customer. How would you like to respond?'

Rey pointed at the new general. 'You. You're up.'

He thought for a minute. 'Can we blast them outof the sky?'

'Exactly.'

Ben interrupted before anything else could be said. 'And I think that means this meeting is over. The First Order is at war, and everyone's happy. Prepare for an assault, General Hux.' The scarier Supreme Leader stayed seated while everyone else stood to leave, Rey included, until a gloved finger pointed her back to her chair. 'Not you.'

She remained standing. The door closed on the last general, and she was alone with the Supreme Leader, who was staring at her with what she now thought of as his Supreme Leader's face, humourless and hard.

'Why is it,' he asked, pushing back from the table and approaching her position with a heavy, determined tread. 'That every time we're in company I feel like you're in control?' He'd reached her now, and before she thought to stop him, had undone the first fastened button on her tunic. 'Whereas you and I both know…' The buttons flew apart, revealing her bare breasts. 'That you're not.'

The Car Crash Bride and The Postman's Daughter by Sally Anne Palmer are available on Amazon.