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“Supreme Leader,” Hux said, entering his chambers and coming to attention just inside the door.
“Yes?” Ren asked without looking up. Right in the middle of the most delicate part of his lightsaber maintenance, of course. The General made a good show of fealty but it was hard to imagine Hux would ever have entered Snoke’s chambers without knocking.
“There’s been an attack, sir,” he reported.
“Who?”
“The Rebels.”
Ren sighed impatiently, putting his tools aside. “Which ones?”
“Main group, sir. She was there.”
Ren was on his feet almost before he’d realized, pushing the table out of his way. “As a combatant?” he asked, striding out of the room with Hux falling in next to him.
“Yes sir.”
“Lightsaber?”
“No sir.”
“Then what did she use?” Ren asked, stopping mid-step to stare at him.
“Blasters, sir, when she used a physical weapon at all. As far as we can tell from what we have she mainly used brute strength.”
“Poe’s demented,” Ren decided, continuing on his way. “Putting her in battle as what, a battering ram? He’s going to get his best asset killed.”
“We should be so lucky,” Hux said strongly. “General Dameron’s reckless misuse of his resources will be their eventual downfall one way or another.”
“How ‘eventual’?” Ren asked pointedly. They’d reached the command center and on the screens he could clearly see reels of the Rebel attack playing, both from stationary security cameras and shakier stormtrooper helmet cam footage. There were explosions, plenty of blaster fire, then something very large flew across the screen and several of the cameras went dark at once. “Play that part again,” he ordered. The techs jumped when they realized he was there but hastily did as ordered.
“It can’t be much longer, Supreme Leader,” Hux assured him confidently as together they watched the battle rewound and replayed. “If we weren’t constantly interrupted by their sympathizers it would be easier, but at the end of the day we simply overpower them in every way. All it takes is one mistake on their part, a mistake we can easily assume will come even without any direct action on our part.”
“Direct action may be long overdue, however,” Ren pointed out, watching closely. There was no footage of Rey but one moment a small knot of rebels was hard-pressed and the next a very large piece of metal sheeting detached itself from the wall and swept across the battleground at a horizontal angle, cutting through the attackers with deadly accuracy.
So that’s what she was doing these days? Using the Force to bash her enemies over the head?
“Direct action will be their eventual fate,” Hux said, unconcerned.
“I am really starting to dislike the term ‘eventual’.”
“Yes sir,” Hux said, and even without his sensitivity in the Force Ren would have felt the clear effort it took him to bite his tongue. At least he was learning, somewhat.
“How long ago was this taken?” Ren asked, straightening up.
“I’m not sure this site would benefit by your physical presence, Supreme Leader,” Hux said with an exaggerated sneer on Ren’s title. So, not learning that much after all.
“How long?”
“No more than thirty minutes, sir, and they will be long gone by now.”
“I don’t care to be questioned, General,” Ren said bitingly. “So unless you’d like your blood on that wall behind you maybe it would be better if you answered questions directly.”
“Sir,” Hux said, his even more pronounced sneer saying it all.
“Send this footage to my quarters, I want to study it,” Ren said, turning away to spare himself whatever face or comment Hux would no doubt make in response, whatever he thought the consequences would be. It was getting harder and harder to resist the temptation to fling him across the room whenever he was being annoying, and even going so far as to kill him was starting to look a little more attractive than it had before.
He returned to his quarters rather than going to the fighter bays. It was true that Rey was probably long gone from whatever site they’d hit, but it was also true that Hux didn’t know that wasn’t the only way he could see her now. It had been nearly a week since the last time the Force bond had activated; surely they were due? He wondered briefly if she’d found a way to block him out in preparation for this reckless escapade, but almost immediately discarded the idea. Even if there was a way he would have felt it.
The footage was grainy, hard to follow, and didn’t give him half the information he needed. Every image of Rey was a mess; somehow she’d managed to stay out of sight almost the entire time while wreaking havoc among his troops. Ren supposed he should be glad she hadn’t found a lightsaber to replace her old one yet but something about this- this- almost indelicate type of Force use he found a little insulting. The Force was supposed to be a finely-tuned instrument, not a cartoon hammer. He automatically glanced toward his own partially dissected lightsaber, looking a little forlorn as it lay open in the light, tools discarded around it. It’d be hard for her to get a new one but he had naturally assumed that was her eventual objective. Surely she didn’t intend to go on like this forever?
“Ben,” he heard her say, making him jump in his chair, twisting around to survey the room. He hadn’t felt the Force bond activate, and still didn’t as he looked around and failed to find her. In the next moment a couple stutters of technical interference drew his attention back to his screens. One of the videos was moving and then Rey’s face almost filled the view, grinning right at him, and he realized she’d picked up one of the discarded stormtrooper helmets so she could use the camera.
“Ben,” she said again, and the sound of her voice sent something sweet and terrible right through him. No matter how many times she said his name- his real name- it still effected him exactly the same. “We have to go,” she told him, glancing behind her as Rebels in the background gathered up blasters and other supplies. “You’ll be here soon, or someone will. But I just wanted to say ‘hi’.” She turned back to the camera, her grin huge and gleeful. “It’s been a while. I’ve gotten stronger, though, huh? I can almost lift trees and things. I wanted to fight with my staff but Poe wouldn’t let me.”
“You’re not talking to him, are you?” a male voice said off-screen, its tone exasperated. “He’s not your friend, Rey.”
“Shush,” she said, distracted, frowning in that direction.
“Don’t tell him anything.”
“I’m not!”
“We’re moving out in three, don’t make me leave you,” the voice said, getting more distant.
“I’ll be there,” she told him, and the scenery behind her shifted a little as she walked farther in the direction opposite the one he had gone in. “Sorry,” she said to the camera, her gaze boring straight into Ren as her expression went soft, a little worry in her eyes. “Ignore him. But not me, okay? I miss you, Ben. You’re coming, right?”
Ren sighed, leaning back in his chair, shaking his head at her. So she thought he was the one avoiding their bond. Didn’t she know anything about him at all?
“I have to go practice squashing people some more,” she said, her smile coming back. How he loved it, how he hated that even right now at this moment he was sharing it with so many others on this ship. “It’s not ideal but it’s actually really effective. Poe said at this rate they can just sneak me in places, have me rip a hole in the side, then do the rest.” She giggled but Ren felt the hair on the back of his neck rise. Poe wouldn’t dare. “I’ll be seeing you,” she told him, pretty and happy and achingly out of reach. “Soon.” Then her expression changed just slightly and the camera went dark.
It wasn’t enough. It wasn’t nearly enough. Ren played it back a few more times, knowing Hux would know, not caring at all. He wanted her here with him, if not in life then at least in the Force, but the bond wasn’t activating and even she had noticed it. He consoled himself that she was concerned enough to risk sending him what basically amounted to an open letter to the First Order calling him out on it, even though it wasn’t a criticism he deserved.
He played the footage back to what was already his favorite part, 'I’ve gotten stronger though, huh?’, followed closely by 'I have to go practice squashing people some more’, feeling a smile tug at his lips as he watched Rey smiling over and over. For him, and only for him, no matter how many others were seeing it.
Eventually he switched the screens off, schooling himself back to his lightsaber and his immediate concerns. Hux had the Rebel’s coordinates now, and maybe he would even see fit to do his job and find them. When the time came- and Ren had a growing feeling that, despite his General’s overall ineptitude, it was coming- he would have to be ready if he didn’t want to be squashed. Just thinking about it made him smile again and again until he eventually gave up trying to suppress it and sat grinning like a half-wit as he prepared his lightsaber for battle with the woman he loved.