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Disclaimer: I wish I owned Star Wars, then I could quit my 9-5 job and deal with Star Wars stuff all day. But sadly... I don't.

At first, there was heat. A burning and raging heat that Ashlyn could feel on her face. Then came the smell; burning of oil and rubber. A metallic smell joining soon after; rust. All followed by the smell of a burning carcass.

The visual came soon after, first blurry then clear as day. She was looking out at the launch bay, a rather large fire burning wildly as panic erupted inside the bay. Maintenance and flight crews working hard to put out the fire on one of the TIE fighters. Inside the fighter, she could only make out the silhouette of a body. Whose body was never determined but, it was someone and it hurt. It gripped at her heart, her chest tightening. Someone was burning alive and Ashlyn could only stand and watch.

Ashlyn snapped awake, her eyes opening with force as her mind attempted to process where she was. A well-lit apartment, not her apartment but his. The sun was shining and soon Ash found safety where she was. Well, that was until she realized she was lying on Kylo Ren's bed. Immediately, Ash sat up straight, looking around the bed. "Son of a—" she said.

"You're awake." Ashlyn turned her attention to the man in black, the mischievous grin on his lips as he adjusted his glove on his left hand. "How did you sleep?"

Ashlyn narrowed her eyes. "What happened to letting me sleep by the fire?"

"You would have had a horrible headache." He reminded her dryly. "We can't have you be useless to maintenance."

Ash pouted slightly, he was right and still she hated it. "I suppose I should get back to it then."

"When you're ready." Kylo said, mindlessly attaching his saber to his belt before looking back at Ashlyn. "It's curious that we didn't share a dream last night." It was more of an observation than anything. He knew what Ashlyn had dreamt, he sensed her distress. It woke him up in fact. It was hard not to take a peek inside her mind. What concerned him the most was what she had dreamt, what exactly had she seen? "Everything okay?" He asked, stepping around full out asking her. Kylo Ren knew she wasn't stupid, she knew he could have seen what she dreamt.

She nodded slowly, trying to avoid that conversation all together. "Yeah, everything's fine." Ash then frowned. "Except the whole waking up in your bed thing, that's still weird."

He snorted. "Well, you can be among the few who can say that they have." The look on Ashlyn's face was a look of pure horror and shock and utter disgust. It was enough to send Kylo Ren into a fit of laughter. Laughter that could only express is pure joy in causing Ashlyn such torment as she quickly jumped out of his bed, nearly falling onto the floor as she did.

"You're awful!" She exclaimed.

He was still smiling. "I couldn't resist. The temptation to make you squirm is so hard to ignore."

Her face scrunched up in disapproval. "That was an image I never wanted in my head."

The mischievous grin never left his face as he quirked an eyebrow. "But you did think of it."

Ashlyn groaned loudly. "Alright, enough of you!" She said, zipping up her coats and storming for the door. "I have work to do." With that, she stormed out of Kylo Ren's apartment, leaving him behind shaking his head and still chuckling.

Ashlyn turned on her commlink and headed back to the 100's generator. The base was still cold, however, with the sun up at least that took away from some of the bitter chill. "Sid, what's the status?" She spoke into the commlink, aggravation still in her voice from earlier. At least her anger was keeping her somewhat warm.

"Hey, she's alive!" Grim said over the commlink.

"Ash, you had us worried." Taka added.

"I told you she would be fine." Sid interjected, Ashlyn could almost hear the eye roll in his tone. "Ash, do you have your data pad?"

Ashlyn walked into the generator power room, looking down at the blinking data pad she had left on the floor. "Got it." She said, picking up the very cold pad and looking down at the schematics Sid had sent her. "What's this now?" She asked.

"I think I figured out what we need to do." Sid said. "We need a big jumpstart to sectors A through F. That should help power up all the generators and get the base running. We just need something big enough to power it."

"We don't have that kind of power right now, Sid." Taka reminded him dutifully.

Ash thought for a moment before being struck with an idea. "What ships do we have in dock right now?"

"Multiple freighters, the Upsilon and tons of fighters, why?" Grim answered.

The puzzle was slowly coming together in her mind. "We can hook up to their engines."

"Are you crazy? No ship is strong enough for that. We don't need broken ships too." Taka exclaimed.

"What if we hook up multiples then? Keep a steady current of energy going and kick start the system." Ash explained. "One ship isn't enough but multiple might be?"

Sid thought for a moment, he began to calculate how many ships they'd need for the kick start as well as how many components to hook up the ships. It could work, it was a crazy idea but it would work. "No, we can do this. Ash has a point." Sid explained. "If we can jumpstart the two sectors with multiple ships, we can get them running. It'll be a long and slow process but we can do it. I'll go prep the wires, I expect you all down here to setup your sections pronto. Let's get this base up and running, folks."

Everyone acknowledged in understanding, Ashlyn feeling a new sense of purpose as she grabbed her data pad and rushed out of the generator room. This was Ashlyn Novafall, the girl who worked hard to fix anything and everything.

Kylo Ren wasn't stupid, in fact, he was very intuitive and knew when he was right he was indubitably and disgustingly right. It didn't take even the strongest of Force users to understand what Ashlyn Novafall was, in fact, he had known all along. He could sense it that day in the conference room; the moment Ashlyn saw her young brother and was able to disconnect the mental connection they had.

Now what bothered Kylo Ren was not the fact that Ashlyn Novafall was in fact sensitive (even though she'd argue that fact until she was blue in the face). No, that wasn't an issue. The issue here was that he did nothing about it. Even with the information he had, Ren knew he could find a way to prove what Ashlyn was capable of. However, he didn't want to. Deep down somewhere in the empty chasm called his 'conscience' he had argued with himself over and over again that giving Ash up was the wrong thing to do.

But, what was the right thing to do? Could he train her; help enhance her Force sensitivity? He had never had an apprentice before, it would be interesting and also the most infuriating thing too training Ashlyn. Yet, with another Force user he could ultimately be one of the most powerful users with the help of his apprentice. In turn, they could answer to no one and quite possibly take down Snoke. They could run the First Order how they saw fit and finally Kylo Ren could finish what his Grandfather had started so long ago.

That still left the problem with Supreme Leader Snoke. Could he secretly train Ash on his own or would he need the blessing of his Master? If he told Snoke about Ashlyn, would he expect her execution by morning? An original concept he was almost too willing to be a part of once. Now, he wasn't too sure.

Ashlyn would ultimately be the pawn in Kylo Ren's game, either way, her death wasn't too much of consequence. However, the temptation of using her for his own personal gain was a little too strong for his liking. If he could just find a way to convince Snoke and not have to hide Ashlyn, that would be so much easier. He just needed to think of a way to do so. Kylo also knew he needed to convince Ashlyn as well, which suddenly felt like the harder task. Damn that stubborn girl.

He couldn't waste his time thinking about the 'what if's' right now, he had a much bigger problem lying in front of him. The map to Luke Skywalker. They had managed to hack into the archives only to find an incomplete map to Luke Skywalker. As far as he knew, the Resistance didn't have that little piece of information either. Skywalker didn't want to be found so easily. It was only a matter of time before the Resistance caught on to his plan; he needed to hurry. He also needed Captain Phasma, as much as it pained him to ask either Phasma or Hux for assistance. Ren needed the artillery. He also hated the annoyances that came with doing things on his own and dealing with the repercussions of an angry General Hux for keeping him in the dark. Somethings just weren't worth the headache.

Speaking of headaches, there was a knock on Kylo Ren's apartment door. Begrudgingly, he stormed over to the door and opened it to see a very bundled up Hux. "The base is freezing and you still want to have a meeting?" Ren asked incredulously.

Hux scoffed. "Yes and no. May I come in?" Kylo Ren rolled his eyes and moved away from the door to allow General Hux inside. The door closed behind him and Hux immediately made himself at home, to Kylo Ren's dismay. Hux sat on the couch and unbuttoned his long coat. That was when Kylo Ren knew Hux planned on staying longer than he would have liked. "I've come to talk about the future of StarKiller."

Kylo folded his arms over his chest stubbornly. "Again, this couldn't have waited until maintenance fixed the power?"

"That's what I want to talk about." Hux said, taking out his data pad and showing the projection of StarKiller. "It's safe to admit this plan has taken longer than anticipated. However, I think we are on the right path to bring StarKiller to its full potential." Hux zoomed in on the middle of StarKiller where the reactor lied.

Ren looked at him curiously. "You think the weapon is still possible?"

Hux grinned. "I know it is." Kylo Ren said nothing as he continued to stare at the blueprint Hux had on display. "This is where I need your assistance." Kylo Ren frowned. "I believe this is possible because of our new star mechanic. However, you know as well as I do that she is not here as a permanent member of StarKiller. Her contract is up within five months, assuming you don't scare her off first."

"And you think I can help because…?"

"You've gotten Ms. Novafall to stay before, I have faith you can do it again." Hux explained.

Kylo Ren had nearly forgotten about Ash's contract. Even if he was able to want to be trained, she was only here temporarily. That cause a few problems in itself but then, Kylo Ren had another idea. Another way to turn this situation to his advantage. "On one condition—" He began, slightly throwing Hux off guard. "I've come to the conclusion that she is Force sensitive."

Hux lost all faith in that moment as he exhaled deeply. "You know what that means, right?"

"There is another way." Ren explained. "I need to convince Supreme Leader to allow me to train her the ways of the Force. It's the only way to keep Ashlyn alive and have her stay to work on your weapon."

Hux frowned. "But then there would be two of you."

Kylo shrugged. "Fine, then have her killed, it's no difference to me if she lives or dies. However, who will work on your base then?" He was manipulative, clever and ultimately going to win this small argument.

Hux's lips formed into a straight line as he thought his options through. It took them that long to find Ashlyn in the first place, no doubt it would take much longer if they had her killed. He sighed in defeat. "You will have my assistance. However, this does not mean you get to teach Ashlyn anything to hurt me if you gain Snoke's approval."

Kylo grinned mischievously. "I never make promises I don't intend to keep." Hux groaned knowing this was going to be the worst idea having two Force users around base. At least his weapon would finally become a reality.

Ashlyn ran back up to the 100's generator; jumper cables tangled up in her arms and trailing behind her as she ran as quickly as possible. The first generator on the bottom floor was their test subject, the plan worked! Now they had to use that energy plus the energy from the newly running generator to boost the others. She had a feeling (a good feeling) that this was going to work. She didn't know why or how but, she just knew.

Running into the generator room on the 100's, she nearly tripped and fell over the long cords she was carrying in her arms. She carefully placed them on the ground and began to work. Opening compartment after compartment, she found the two main power grids that she would have to power in order to get things running smoothly. Bingo! She thought as she ran back to the cables and dragged them over to the compartments. "Alright, guys." She said into her commlink. "I'm about to attach, what's your status?"

"Ready." Taka said.

"Ready!" Grim said excitedly.

The twins responded in unison. "All set."

"Okay, everyone." Sid said over the commlink. "Attach the cables, I'm boosting the engines now."

The maintenance team did just that, attaching their cables just as power began to surge into the power compartments of each reactor. Slowly, the generators began to hum. A quick spark came from Ashlyn's right as she turned to look at the generator before her. "Come on…" She muttered, as if staring at it would will the piece of machinery back to life. "One more spark…" She pleaded.

Ashlyn got her wish, another spark and the hum grew louder and louder. The generator powered on along with the lights of StarKiller. "Yes!" She heard someone cheer through the commlink.

"Sectors A through F are up and running!" Sid exclaimed as he watched on his data pad the spikes in response from the reaction. "Nice work, team!"

Ashlyn laughed, pure joy expressed on her face as she watched the generator buzz and hum. It was overwhelming for her, the feeling of fixing something under her control. Her joy slowly dissipating as she remembered then her dream. The ship that had exploded, she was still unsure why or how it had happened and now she was worried. "Sid are you still on the ships?" She asked into her commlink.

"Just exited the freighter—" He said, Ash sighed with slight relief. "I'll be unplugging everything shortly, just keep your generator on."

"Be careful." Ash warned him.

"Always am." He said cheekily before returning back to his task.

Ashlyn looked back at the generator, a small smile returning. A sense of purpose returning to her as she collected the jumper cables and began to walk back to maintenance. She had to collect a ton of cables along with the rest of her crew, hoping no one would trip on her way back. This called for a celebration and maintenance was ready to party.

Ashlyn was the last to return to the maintenance bay, the crew was already cheering and drinking their Gamorrean beer. The moment Ash walked into the room, the cheering grew louder as Sid walked over to Ash. He patted her on the back. "Everyone, I want to toast to our whiz kid. Without her, we would probably still be stumbling around in the dark tonight!" Sid exclaimed as he handed her a beer.

The room raised their glasses, cheering along as Ash shook her head. "Please, Sid figured it out. I just made a suggestion. We all did the work." She said.

"Take the compliment, Ash." Taka said with a grin. "You don't get to be praised this much a lot around here." The group laughed as they continued to celebrate the accomplishment of the day; play Sabacc and drinking their beer.

Sid however, stayed quietly back as he observed his team. He smiled a few times at their rowdy behavior. Ash didn't let that go as she stood with him. "You're supposed to be partying." She explained.

He grinned. "I know. Sometimes I just like to take a step back and take it all in, you know?" He said. "They're a great group of guys, a little slow. They're not fast thinkers like you or me but, they get the job done."

Ashlyn looked at the group and smiled. "Yeah, they're great."

"Hopefully the rest will be smooth sailing for your last five months here." Sid said, a slight hint of sadness in his voice. Ash said nothing as she sipped her beer. "You know you can stay, right?"

"I know." She admitted. "I just don't know if this is where I belong."

"Well, you fit in just fine with us." Sid said. "Just know you have a place if you want it."

Ash nodded. "Thanks, Sid." She put her beer down. "Hey, I'm going to get some air. I'll be back." Sid hummed in reply as Ashlyn snuck out of the celebration on maintenance and headed back up to the 100's.

She sat on the floor of the generator up on the 100's, watching the soft glow from the power surging. Her mind was racing a mile a minute as she debated the concept of staying longer or just leaving. She had owed this base nothing, in fact, they owed her at the end of the day. Yet, she felt a little bad leaving. Was it Sid and the gang or something else? Then again, it didn't matter now. That was five months away, she still had work to do on the base. She also had an annoying Commander to avoid for five months.

Then again, did she want to ignore him? The previous night was the first time she had seen some form of compassion from him. Not that she wanted any sort of compassion from him. She'd rather be left alone and not run into him every again.

Kylo Ren annoyed her, he gave her this awful feeling in the back of her mind. Yet, lately she found herself tolerating that annoyance just enough to get something out of their banter. Whatever the heck that something was. What did either one have to gain from their constant feuding? How long would that sort-of thing last anyway? He was the Commander, surely he'd eventually get tired of being challenged and launch her into space. Oh if only, she thought.

Inhaling deeply, Ash decided it as best to let things sit for now, she didn't need to make any rash decisions or think about consequences just yet. She stood up and brushed off her pants before taking one last look at the working reactor before heading out of the generator room. As she did, she noticed down the hallway the two official's coming towards her. General Hux and Commander Ren (surprisingly without his helmet) had just come from somewhere Ashlyn had not ventured to just yet. To be frank, most of the 100's she still hadn't seen past Kylo Ren's room. Then again, that couldn't be counted either. She was carried to his room.

Ashlyn stood there as the two men came closer, Hux giving her a dazzling smile as he nodded. "Ms. Novafall." He said in passing.

"General." Ash nodded, looking to Kylo. "Commander." What made her uneasy was the look on Kylo Ren's face. A sly smirk and an expression that made it seem like he knew something he shouldn't have. The way he looked at her made her very uncomfortable and honestly frightened. He had a secret; a secret that Ashlyn didn't realize in that moment she'd give anything to never hear.

Final Thoughts: Oh snap, what's that Kylo Ren up to now?! Guess we'll find out... Thanks for reading! Remember to review!