No Love Lost (Reylo, Star Wars)

Chapter 24

Kylo Ren's POV

"You and you", I pointed. "Bring your troops with you to secure the perimeter of the village."

They nodded before leaping off the shuttle to the few meters between ground and ship. I heard several of them grunt in pain before running off to surround the small desert village with timers. I gestured to Phasma beside me, who proceeded to start the countdown.

04:59

The timer beeped as the seconds slowly started getting lower. Five minutes was plenty of time.

As the shuttle landed in the darkness next to a crowd of trees beside the village, a platoon of stormtroopers appeared beside me. Three of them wielded flamethrowers and seemed excited to start causing havoc.

"Cover and fire before you get in there", I ordered before gesturing for them to go.

The flametroopers left immediately and in a few moments, the wisps of smoke from started fires could be seen in the distance. Fortunately for us, most of the village had been built from wood, which caused the flames to spread more quickly. I placed my hand on the hilt of my lightsaber. Suddenly, shouts erupted from the other side of the village and blasts rang across the village.

"Arms ready", Phasma commanded.

Her boots clacked on the floor behind me and she used her blaster to prod me in the back.

"Kylo."

"Find me when you have it", I replied.

I stepped down the platform and started following in the wake of the destruction being unleashed. The crunch of gravel behind me told me that a group of stormtroopers had joined me. Phasma probably told them to. Despite my surroundings, my mind wandered to things other than the matter at hand.

'Does she trust me? Or is she just trying to protect me? It seems highly unlikely that  she's trying to keep me safe. Although I did train under her...' I thought.

"Sir?"

I turned. An out-of-breath stormtrooper stumbled up to me. Then I realized that I had walked through the din surprisingly quickly. I looked past him to see the rest of the group running to catch up. The two of us were standing in what seemed to be the village square.

"Sir?" the trooper repeated. "Orders given, sir?"

A shriek immediately follow his question.

"We stay. And wait." I said slowly.

I turned and glanced around at the chaos erupting around me. A line of soldiers marched past and two villagers were being dragged over to a small lineup of villagers forming before me. I stiffened.

"Did you feel that?" I asked.

"Sir?" a bewildered voice asked.

I didn't realize I had said that aloud. I decided not to answer. I tried to sift through the layers of energy around me. Flashes of yellow and red blurred past me. A wave of white overcame me and the slight ringing in my ears stopped. I blinked my eyes a few times and realized that I wasn't in the same place as I started. I heard the same breathing that came from wearing a mask. The same visor. But then, pain. Not physical pain, no. It was, an emotional pain. Something that scared me. I was scared, and that meant that something was wrong.

I looked down and saw the crumpled figure of a stormtrooper lying on the ground next to me. Blood was pooling around him. A hand, mine, reached out and grazed the uniform of the trooper before pulling back. I got up shakily and a word invaded my mind.

'Slip.'

Numbers.

2003.

Was it an identification number? I made a mental note to check the registrar with Phasma later. As a slur of other garble flooded into my head, another pain, physical now, hit me. A blinding white light stabbed me. Then, I was standing in the village square. A larger group of civilians were kneeled in front of me. I scrunched my face in confusion. I hadn't properly honed the skill of teleportation yet. Even with my novice teleportation abilities, I could've only moved four feet away from my current position. Wherever I had been, it was nowhere near here. A voice pulled me away from my thoughts.

"Ren."

I looked up to see the Captain approaching me with a ragged and aged figure. The two stormtroopers holding the man pushed him to the ground. I straightened up to seem more intimidating in my full height.

"Where. Is. The. Map?"