Kylo Ren (terriblewrong) wrote in thegalaxy, @ 2016-05-10 13:13:00 |
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Entry tags: | !locale: the finalizer, general hux, kylo ren |
knowing not your own is unwise
Who: Kylo Ren and General Hux
What: updates and friendly (?) banter
When: after this
Where: The Finalizer
Rating: G.
The room was dark and nearly silent. A holovid played in the center of the room, casting a bluish glow on the already pallid faces surrounding it. The officers squirmed uncomfortably in their seats as a montage of death played before them. The setting for their macabre movie night was a distant planet at the fringes of the unknown regions. The cast was a host of stormtroopers. The script was a series of screams and choked cries. The audience dared not look away. General Hux was watching.
Before him sat a datapad, its screen a blur of scrolling data. He did not look down to it. He had already committed its contents to memory. The designation of every stormtrooper who had died was on that screen, and beside each, the names of every officer who had ever instructed them.
"There is to be an inquiry," Hux said, when at last the carnage had ended. The room's lights went up. Several officers visibly flinched. "Loyalty officers and interrogators will be speaking with each of you very soon. After watching this numerous times -- as you all will do beginning tonight and continuing until I deem otherwise -- I have determined that this outpost was manned entirely by inadequate and unprepared soldiers. An amateur ambush like this one should never have caught an entire squad unawares. These troopers passed their simulations to a man, so my only assumption is that your field assessments were not as harsh or as forthcoming as they were said to be. Your failings are on full view here. You will admit to them and address them or you will suffer the consequences.
"Dismissed."
The room cleared quickly. The officers bowed their heads as they fled, making no eye contact whatsoever, even with one another. Hux watched them leave, his jaw clenched as the last of them scurried away. He turned to the man at his left.
"Kylo Ren. A word?"
A chrome and black visor glanced in Hux's direction; Kylo's hands were folded neatly behind his back, his posture straight and firm. He had been weighing the room's emotions, finding them uninteresting at most, but there was nothing alarming about anyone's reaction in the room. If anything, only disappointing.
"Yes, General?"
"What do you make of this?" Hux's chin tipped toward the holovid. It was dim beneath the room's lights, but its final frames could still be made out: a field of scattered bodies, piles of white armor branded with blaster fire. "Of them." His eyes flicked back to the door, now sealed firmly shut. "Do you have any sense these inadequacies were intentional?"
The mask did not move, so it was unclear if Kylo had heard or was even considering responding to Hux's question; a moment later, his metallic-laden voice dispelled any doubt.
"Intentional? Unlikely. But as I've said before, your troops are inherently flawed. Clone soldiers would benefit the Order to a far larger degree." His tone was dispassionate; theirs was an argument that was unending, and likely never to be solved as long as Snoke was in charge. "That said, there is an element of chaos here that may have been impossible to account for. The Resistance may finally be showing their teeth."
"If so, there are more incidents like this to come." Hux frowned at the holovid. "That someone ventured to the unknown regions at all is disconcerting." He slid one gloved fingertip over the datapad before him, darkening its display. He looked pointedly at Kylo, one brow subtly lifting. "If your knights have need of something to occupy their time, we could use their assistance with the interrogation of the officers in question. It's been some time since they've been a noticeable presence on the Finalizer."
Though not visibly, Kylo bristled at the insinuation.
"My knights have their tasks; they were not selected for their ability to augment your soldiers, General. The rift has presented new challenges for us all." His voice edged on irritation, the tone bleeding over into the distorted noise that slightly obscured his natural sound.
Kylo reined himself in, though it would have been indecipherable to any who did not already know him as well as the man standing next to him.
"I can possibly spare one or two; there have been some new recruits, and this would be an acceptable test of their abilities. It would benefit you, though, to select soldiers who you might not mind losing. There is a certain amount of error that must be accepted when cultivating Force abilities." One did not learn barriers, rules, boundaries without first breaking them. Hux hummed quietly, but after a moment's thought, nodded his agreement.
He looked back to the holovid. "Do you have any idea who was responsible, outside the broader notion of the Resistance?"
"We suspect a small band of junk dealers-turned-mercenaries calling themselves the Bossuks," Hux said. "At one time they were purely neutral scavengers, coming in after battles to loot whatever they could carry. It seems they have been coaxed into a more decisive stance." He gestured to the holovid, pointing at one heavy blaster bolt frozen in midair. "These weapons are far above and beyond their past ordnance. We will of course find and execute the Bossuks themselves, but the greater problem is who is outfitting them."
"Your soldiers were unable to capture or kill any of their attackers?" Kylo's voice betrayed nothing, despite a slight undercurrent of mockery.
Hux's mouth drew tight. When he spoke, it was through nearly clenched teeth. "The ambush was an unusually successful one. The Bossuks' rifles were extremely long range, with a high rate of fire. Our simulations are currently being updated to include these modifications. The issue is being addressed. If you have some useful input as to who might be capable of producing such things, by all means. Enlighten me."
"The inner core," he replied, his confident voice giving weight to his reply. "A prudent investigation would begin there, if only to discover threads of inquiry. If it helps, I can offer a knight to assist there, as well. Discoveries would be made faster, through the assistance of the Force.
"Coruscant seems to be the best place to begin." He didn't know why, but he was certain about the planet. He had drawn unattached answers from the ether before; he had no room for doubt that it was not the solution he sought.
It was enough for Hux. Coruscant was a difficult place to reach by diplomatic standards. He would have to work to sway the less hawkish elements of their leadership to this plan. But the support of the Knights of Ren would go far; a unified front was sometimes a trying thing for their two factions to present, and doing so now would lend credence to their actions.
"A knight's assistance would be valuable," he said. "I'll send a small contingent with them as an infiltration and interrogation team. This should be as quiet as we can keep it, at least until we find evidence that Coruscant is harboring these terrorists. Can you coach your chosen knight to exhibit a bit of... restraint? I realize that has been something of a problem in the very recent past."
"They work with what they are given; at least their results are more tangible than your soldiers'." He refused to rise to Hux's bait, instead mentally sorting through which he could lend to the task at hand. A name rose to his mind, but he withheld it for the moment.
"How are new recruitments progressing? At this rate, the Resistance won't have to put up much of a fight."
"They're going quite well." Hux sucked his teeth. By some miracle he refrained from any other outward sign of his irritation. "The younglings remain our best and primary option, but bolstering our numbers has already proven beneficial. There is a distinct creativity in the new recruits' work which will benefit the troopers.
"Which reminds me. Captain Phasma has located another potential candidate, which we would like you to personally assess."
"Gemini." The name appeared to him as though whispered. "But not a sensitive. The opposite, actually. What are you hoping to learn?" Even his seemingly extraordinary abilities were limited.
A flicker of something passed over Hux's face, disappointment and frustration commingled. He schooled the feeling away. "It seems useful, but its abilities cause me concern. What do you know of this creature? Can it be controlled?" He arched a brow. "It claims to have worked twice with your Glasya Ren."
The fact that this knowledge wasn't readily available to Kylo showed in the fact that the straight line of his shoulders dropped a bare millimeter. His mask turned back to Hux.
"And has Phasma contacted Glasya? You don't need my permission every time you need to ask a question."
"I'm not asking your permission, Kylo. Let me make that abundantly clear. I am attempting to observe your authority over your people in the same way I expect you to observe mine. But if you'd like my captains to begin working directly with your knights outside of your purview, I can certainly accommodate that." He sneered. "Who knows? They might get more done."
"In this scenario, I would say you're dragging your feet," Kylo replied coolly. "My knights are perfectly capable of working autonomously, more so than your soldiers.
"But I will examine this Gemini," he continued, changing the subject from their cycle of mutual harassment. "I assume it's being brought onboard?"
"I would rather this be handled elsewhere," Hux said. "It is currently on Naboo. I believe you have some experience there. But if that location does not suit you, I can have Phasma escort it to a place of your choosing."
"No," Kylo nearly interjected before Hux was finished. His modulated voice seemed to hold a note of excitement. "Naboo is acceptable. Have Phasma send me their coordinates and I will make preparations."
He paused, obviously lost in his own thoughts. Finally he glanced back to Hux. "You were less harsh than expected with this group, General. I hope there isn't anything on your mind that's pulling your attention away from the matter at hand."
Hux's face went immediately, carefully blank. He tried quite hard to make his mind equally so, but that proved a more difficult task. "There is not," he said. "There will be time for a firmer hand later, once I see the results of the interrogations." He quirked a brow. "Now, if there's nothing else, I'm sure we both have other business to attend."
Kylo regarded Hux for a longer moment, as though measuring the man's response. His mask finally bobbed in assent. "I will let you know what comes of my analysis."
With that, the black cloaked figure turned and exited the room. Hux waited until he was sure his counterpart -- and the obnoxiously wide net his Force abilities allowed to cast -- was gone. Then his shoulders softened and he allowed himself an audible sigh of relief. The moment passed quickly: By the time he strode from the room he was again the picture of hard-edged poise. He returned to the bridge in silence, his mind now firmly on the work before them.