Taking Command Book 1 (Kylux) (#Wattys2016)

Chapter Eighteen: Assimilation

Kylo PoV

I sat anxiously in the copilot seat as Hux made way into Coruscant's atmosphere. I knew we had planned this well, but there was always a chance  for failure. If the Republic realized who we were, we would most likely be blasted out of the sky without a a second thought. My Force powers would not save us at that point.

"This is Jacen Crise, captain of the Firestorm requesting permission to land." Hux leaned into the microphone to request permission to land, of course, using his new alias.

"Permission granted, Firestorm. What is your final destination?" The artificial voice of the teller came through over the ship's audio as crackly.

"Apartment block A-25 in the Upper Levels." Hux seemed nervous as well, but he kept his voice steady. I noticed his hands clenching the rim of the center control.

"You may land on the block's communal landing pad. There is also a hangar there for you to keep your ship. Please proceed carefully and remember to obey all laws of Coruscant, even if those are not the laws of your planet. Good day to you." The voice clicked off and Hux leaned back with a sigh of relief.

"We made it," he said, as we descended. "Now all we have to do is find that chip. Do you know where in the Temple it's hidden in, aside from the archives?"

"I don't, actually," I replied,"my source only knew a rough location. We will be searching for awhile. I do have an idea, however."  I held up the other chip we had recovered from Tipoca City.

"What's your idea?" Hux looked at me curiously.

"I scanned the makeup and data structure of this chip. I had a technician make me a scanner that would look for a chip of similar makeup. You would think that they would be similar, right?" I was personally proud of this idea. Hux seemed to like it too.

"Good plan." He said. "Let's get settled in now. We can start searching tomorrow. We need to keep up a ruse of being tourists or rich, eccentric people from the Outer Rim. We can not just sneak around the whole time."

I sighed. That sounded dreadfully boring. But I nodded in agreement. Hux was right. "You have a point. What will that entail?" I asked, not sure I wanted to know how to pretend to just be a rich eccentric person. Also, are we related, cousins?? Why are we traveling together?" Suddenly the answer hit me and I wanted to beat Hux to a pulp.

"Okay. Yes, I did think we could masquerade as a couple. Why not? Heterosexuality is not a norm. In a planet of a trillion beings, millions of species, and hundreds of thousands of customs, we won't be noticed at all!" Hux was bright red. The only thing was, he was right. It made sense, and I hated him for it.

"You manipulative, scheming... Ugh." I threw my hands in the air. "You just wanted to have another excuse to kiss me!" I was inwardly flattered that he would act like that towards me, but at the same time, his advances were far from welcome for me. Although, I hated to admit it, the General was starting to really grow on me.

"Will you do it? For the mission? I promise, I will not physically invoke you without explicit permission." He raised his hands in mock surrender.

"Fine." I sighed. I felt the ship touch the ground and shudder as we landed in the hangar. Hux and I grabbed our bags and walked out of the hangar, into the connected apartment.

I felt awkward and very vulnerable without my mask and typical outfit. As my clothing was already at our apartment, Hux had lent me some of his. It was a little tight, but it would do, I hoped. It was for, as he had said 'purposes of assimilation and blending'.

He had better not assimilate the idea of a romance between us, I though while simultaneously wondering how something like that would go. My own indecisiveness drove me crazy. Most of me wanted nothing to do with it but a small part craved the idea. I was so torn, and this mission would probably only make it worse.