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Supreme Leader Kylo Ren was on a mission to secure an extremely important artefact that was crucial for his survival and continuous rule.
He and his Knights were hunting for a Songrian Transceiver, a unique key made of myriads of tiny shells of a force-resonant mollusc that had the ability to nullify Sith sorcery. This particular key could destroy the Blood Net leading to Exegol, sealing that damnable planet forever in the negative zone it was in. For Kylo didn’t intend to rule as a puppet, nor did he care to have his First Order hijacked by a bunch of Imperial cowards who had locked themselves in there instead of fighting the Rebels and the nascent New Republic thirty years ago.
It went without saying that this mission required utmost concentration from everyone who took part.
Which meant he gave hardly a thought to the increasingly odd messages coming from Coruscant and Armitage Hux who, being the chancellor, was its governor.
At least initially.
ABY 35, Month 7, day 7. There is a rebellion brewing. – Well, this was Coruscant, the home of countless senators and lawmakers and also the den of criminals and a hive of dubious cultists. And not even Kylo could reliably tell one apart from the other.
ABY 35, Month 7, day 19. Several minor incidents, but so far no one has claimed any responsibility. The mastermind remains hidden. – Well, of course they were! Or more like, the Chancellor’s security forces were too inept to weed them out.
ABY 35, Month 7, day 26. I believe their aim is to destabilise the society before they attack. – Actually, Kylo didn’t think that those Coruscanti troublemakers had that sophisticated a plan. They probably just wanted to mess with Hux. He did have the ability to incite great dislike towards his person in other people.
ABY 35, Month 7, day 28. Reports from spies and holo-network reconnaissance have so far been inconclusive. I’ve decided to get involved. – ...What?
ABY 35, Month 8, day 1. I’m switching off the weather control and raising a planetary shield. We’ll see who’ll be the first to lose their nerve. – WHAT?
ABY 35, Month 8, day 14. It’s been thirty-six degrees for seven days in a row. Skirmishes are starting to erupt. Reported use of grenade launchers. – WHAT?
ABY 35, Month 8, day 15. They are storming the Citadel; I am taking matters into my own hands.– WHAT!?!
Though Kylo would never admit it out loud, he was worried.
Hux was a good pick for a Chancellor. He knew when to charge and when to wait, and never overplayed his hand. Unlike Kylo and his knights, he was an underhanded snake whose attacks were as discreet as they were devastating... unless he wanted to prove a point, that is.
But for him to make his own hands dirty... Kylo had a bad feeling about that.
Fortunately, after much hardship, he and his Knights managed to seize the Transceiver and following a vicious, blood-soaked battle, they sealed Exegol and made sure no one in the foreseeable future would ever find their way to that accursed place.
As soon as Kylo cleaned the singed flesh and accumulated grime from his armour, he told Kuruk to set course for Coruscant immediately.
Ever since that last message from forty hours ago, there was no other word from the Chancellor.
Kuruk most likely felt his anxiety impatience, for he pushed the Night Buzzard to its limits.
Kylo spent most of the time meditating, or at the very least trying to.
Hux was an arrogant little bitch, and Kylo was ever the first to admit this, just like Hux loved to paint Kylo as an incompetent, thick-headed dullard whose only talents lay in his propensity for violence. Because of this, most people thought of their alliance to be one of necessity and reason. Only their closest knew it was all just posturing. (Well, most of it, anyway.)
To everyone’s surprise, the shield was still up.
Kylo used his codes to ensure smooth passage and sent Kuruk a force missive, telling him to descend but to do so inconspicuously.
The Knight cloaked the ship and flew it towards a high-level but otherwise unremarkabledocking platform.
No one raised any alarms.
In fact, it was oddly quiet.
One of Hux’s lackeys was already waiting there, standing next to a reinforced speeder. It was that cute-looking one, to whom his Knights have taken a liking.
“What happened here,” Kylo growled at him.
“The Black Sun combined forces with a couple of local cartels. They smuggled some Resistance fighters into the lower levels, and then they attacked,” Mitaka explained, his voice blank.
“And Hux?”
“He was injured.”
“And you?” Vicrul asked and touched Mitaka’s shoulder.
The vision this brought forth was strong enough that the surprised Knight conveyed it to his comrades and master alike.
It showed Mitaka, his pale grey uniform of the Chancellor’s aidesmeared with blood, running through the hallways of Hux’s citadel, swift as a womp-rat, towards the Hall of Victory, from where he could hear the sounds of blasters, angry yells, and screams of pain. Stopping behind the door-frame, he threw a flash-bang inside, waited a moment, and then rushed in, mercilessly executing any and all blinded enemies he happened upon.
Kylo blinked.
He knew that this mousy man wasn’t as useless as he looked – otherwise Hux would’ve hardly kept him around and the Knights wouldn’t swoon around him so – but this was still unexpected. And it also did little to alleviate his concern. The destruction he had seen in the vision didn’t seem like a rebellion, but rather like a full-blown war.
Mitaka didn’t say anything else, and no one had any questions.
The aide directed the speeder above the Judicial Plaza, where a mass execution seemed to be taking place. There were no civilians around, but plenty of camera droids to broadcast the punishment to the entire galaxy. The First Order executioners have put their laser axes aside in favour of rifles, and dead bodies, carefully piled up by droids, were being incinerated by flametroopers. Captured by the shield, the smoke stank up the entire plaza.
Mitaka meant this small detouras an answer to any unasked question, for the speeder then made a wide arc towards the Citadel.
Even from the distance, Kylo could see damage to the newly built building (as Hux didn’t want to stay anywhere connected to any of the regimes he disagreed with, be it the Jedi, the Sith, or the Republic).
There was an entire chunk missing – a circular hole piercing the eastern side – which was already being fixed by builder droids. Judging by its angle, Kylo could tell that whatever had made it was fired from the ground.
Before too soon, he jumped out of the speeder and marched towards the Citadel.
People and droids alike made themselves scarce when they saw him approach.
The emergency lift to Hux’s personal quarters soon came into his view. Somewhere far above, most likely on the observation deck, the Chancellor’s spark shone brightly. Kylo’s instincts told him not to probe it, for though Hux allowed it most of the time, there were some exceptions where impertinent prying could lead to a dagger in one’s gut (which had happened before – and so fast, there was no way to avoid the blow. This is one of the reasons he lovedtolerated that man).
That said, the echoes of the violence that had taken part here still reverberated loudly through the elegant hallways, and Kylo had to exercise great restraint in order not to speed the lift up and damage its repulsor unit.
It took twenty-seven seconds for the platform to reach the appropriate floor, and when Kylo strode out towards the private observation deck, the first thing he noticed was music.
It was the calm, serene melody of Appongarvin’s Adagio of Sunshowers, a piece that was... let’s say significant to Kylo in regard to Hux.
The second thing he noticed was the state of the place.
The polished panels of dark serpentinite were damaged by blaster fire. The perfectly sculptured miniature landscapes made of chinar trees, giant moss, and lichen mounds from Hux’s own homeworld of Arkanis were singed, with many branches broken, and some of these creations were covered by what appeared to be splatters of blood and viscera – red, bluish, magenta.And in the angular bed of a shallow stream that Hux liked to bathe his feet in, there was a human head.
The Chancellor himself was reclining on his chaiselongue.
His stillnessalarmed Kylo at first, but then he realised he can distinctly sense his force signature.
Hux’s appearance reflected the state of the observation deck, with all the blood splatters on his clothes, the cut splitting his lip and a large gash from a close encounter with a blaster shot.
And there was also the dishevelled hair.
And there were also the bruised and bloodied knuckles of his right hand.
All of this posed a jarring contrast to the peaceful, languid tones of the Adagio as well as the expression Hux wore on his face, which was a picture of peace.
Though Hux often looked like a high-strung Kowakian monkey-lizard, right now he had the appearance of a warrior-prince from old legends Ben Solo used to be told as a small boy to fall asleep faster.
All of a sudden, Kylo felt strangely nervous. For the first time he realised how hot the air really was.
“Supreme Leader. Welcome back,” Hux greeted him without opening his eyes.
“Chancellor. It appears you’ve dealt with the problem.”
“That I have. If you’ll look towards the fountain, you’ll find the piece of rathtar excrement that orchestrated this little stunt. Unfortunately, not even threats to his mate’s life untied his tongue, but I’m sure you’ll find him easy enough to deal with.”
Kylo made a couple of steps past Hux and towards a small fountain on a raised stone dais, and next to it, he saw a twi’lek man in the jumpsuit of a mechanic. The damage to his lekku almost made one wince, but curiously, the man just sat there, slumped against the polished stone, his eyes staring at a cut up body that was slowly being munched on by Millicent, Hux’s fierce orange nexu. There were no restrains anywhere on him, yet he didn’t move. Kylo imagined this was most likely the work of Hux’s neurotoxin needles. Devious indeed. Such display of cruelty made his heart beat faster.
“I see you’ve lowered yourself to getting your hands dirty. Well done, Chancellor,” he said mockingly.
“That’s because you just had to traipse around the galaxy instead of being here. As usual, I had to handle everything by myself. With little effort, you could crush the minds of the populace of a small moon. You could pluck an X-wing out of the vacuum of space and hurl it through the bridge of Organa’s command ship. You could wipe the floor with the Scavenger; and the walls, and the ceiling. But you didn’t and won’t. You’d be pathetic beyond belief, if it wasn’t for your cooking, your skills with the zither, and your good looks.”
Kylo smiled to himself.
This was the first time Hux commented on his cooking out loud.
“That’s why I made you the Chancellor. Because you’re the capable one.”
“Hmpf,” Hux snorted.
“Are you well? Should I summon a medic?”
“No. But my right foot feels swollen. If you want to feel useful, do check it out.Supreme Leader.”
Kylo just chuckled and returned to the chaiselongue, where he sank down, took Hux’s foot into his hands, carefully removed the boot, and peeled the sock away.
The instep was swollen rather badly.
He took off his gloves and gently massaged its arc, drawing pleasure from the lingering memory of an enraged Hux repeatedly kicking the head of a brute who had almost strangled him until it resembled a bowl of porridge at best.
He used as little force as he could, just enough to heal the strained tendons without Hux realising what was going on and getting upset.
Hux started to relax again, and so did Kylo.
That silky-soft skin against his fingers, that fragile structure of the ankle... he let himself get carried away and placed a butterfly kiss on the hurting instep.
“...it is good to be back.” A whisper escaped his lips as he placed another kiss on the foot, closer to the toes.
Hux always hated to hear this, but they were cute as heck.
“Welcome back, Kylo,” Hux sighed, and the ghost of a smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.
No matter how much blood had been spilled, Kylo knew that everything was okay.
Hux could truly relax now.
Kylo would take care of the rest.
Or at least he’d try.
The End