Technical Error

Chapter Fifteen

Distance: It's Only so Long

There was nothing that could ease the hurt you felt at discovering that your superiors spoke so poorly of you as a person. They constantly had you piled down with work, offered smiles—which you now knew to be false—and praise—which you now questioned—as you completed these tasks. The triumvirate assured you that it was not your work ethic that was questioned, that your abilities as a technician were never mocked. That only made the blow hit harder. You put so much into your work that, apparently, you had been blinded into believing others respected you. Instead, you discovered, they had been walking all over you. Giving you jobs they did not wish to complete themselves only to mock you behind your back. Not just your coworkers—your superiors.

Furthermore, Kylo Ren's interference with your career path had you reevaluating your usefulness. Following your insistence that you be transferred, you returned to your quarters in order to compose a message to Andel. You could not wait for her to return from her mission. Yes, you wanted to see her again. She was one person whom you still trusted. You would miss her, however she would understand. More than anyone else, Andel would understand why it was you had to leave.

Squeakers would not be permitted to leave the Finalizer with you. You felt as though the triumvirate were attempting to blackmail or bribe you into remaining onboard. They suggested you transfer to a different part of the ship. You had flinched, recoiling from them and excusing yourself from the room. This had led them to fall under the misconception that your desire to leave had faded. Thus, when you returned with the official paperwork filled out, General Hux had stared blankly at you. As for the expressions of Kylo Ren and Captain Phasma, those were concealed by the helmets they wore.

The redhead tilted back his head when at last he recovered his wits, and the man who had claimed to be your friend, in a way, declined your request with the utterance that the post you had applied for was not accepting new technicians at the time. It stung worse than anything that had happened thus far. You had always known that General Hux was, at the core of it, merciless. Perhaps it had much to do with his childhood, or it could have been attributed to his rank. In either case, the result was the same. He did not pity you enough—or at all—to allow you to transfer.

This was further proven when you received a message from your superiors, informing you of the request to have you work on Uyden's TIE, that a new one had been placed and that it was being considered in full. What normally would have left you feeling elated now made you wonder if they were treating you like a child needing to be consoled. Giving you what you wanted—General Hux had praised your skill multiple times. You stared at the message with your lip curling upwards into an expression of disgust.

How dare they! Every one of the triumvirate members had used the derogatory nicknames given to you by your supervisors as well as others. Titty-five, your mind shot. You thrust away your datapad, your eyes darting to the helmet of your uniform.

Your file had been marked with a sexual harassment notation when you had done nothing wrong; all because your supervisors wanted to...what? Further mock you? The triumvirate had not dissuaded them. The fact that it was now removed from your file meant nothing.

And Kylo Ren had flirted with you the entire time, knowing what was being said behind your back. He implied that his actions in preventing you from working on the Command Shuttle and the TIE were protecting you—but you were an adult!

General Hux had claimed to be your friend, had made an arrangement with you for sex.

"Stars, I'm such an idiot," you hissed. The one thing you could say for Kylo Ren was that he had never pretended to care for your job as a technician. It had stung, certainly. And yet... To know that you had blindly trusted others and believed they respected you...to learn that it had all been a lie...