Bonded

Chapter 24: Just You

The lower ranks of the First Order are filled with rubes, people with no concept of the galaxy beyond their own corner of it, their backwater home planets and their menial roles in this organization. They aren't fit to represent the First Order and its mission in any capacity, much less oversee complex negotiations with lawless, guerilla groups in the Outer Rim.

No. This was a mistake, a waste of time. He doesn't need some fool who spends most of his life doing routine maintenance on supply transports.

He needs Rey.

Suddenly, a comm crackles, interrupting his thoughts. "The next one has arrived, sir," a voice announces. "Shall I send him in?"

Kylo grabs the device, bringing it to his mask. "No. Send him away. Send all of them away. The interviews are done."

"Yes, sir."

He hears the response just as he returns the comm to his belt. He clasps his hands behind his back, resuming his observance of the port. He watches the black-clad figures scurry along, each one focused intently on his task, oblivious to the bigger picture, how he's part of a larger whole.

No.

These people... None of them are the kind of negotiator he needs. They're no more fit than any of the superior officers.

These Outer Rim groups are a rough lot, violent, aggressive, rebellious. He needs someone who understands this, who understands how people can become this way. He needs someone who knows what it means to scrape by to survive, someone fearless, someone who could stare down the barrel of a blaster without blinking. He needs someone who won't be easily intimidated but is also personable, a good listener.

And as far as he's concerned, there's only one person who fits this description, who is exactly what he needs.

He sighs as he pictures her, sees her on the Falcon criticizing his indiscriminate destruction of the Outer Rim rabble, challenging his use of holos to cast them as violent gangs when the truth is more complex. What was it she said?

"You may be able to fool the galaxy but you can't fool the people living in these systems."

He sighs.

She was right. It gives him no joy to admit it, but she was right.

They're already having problems in Salient and Felucia, especially Felucia. The majority of population was downright revolutionary after they took out the Brotherhood. They've had to flood the system with troops and set up a blockade just to keep the planets from descending into chaos.

Salient's not much better. There haven't been as many riots, but it seems a Zidon-like network is already forming. Local minors are pilfering a portion of the Varium to illegal traders. He just gave the order to discharge them from their mining teams, a very unpopular move with the locals and an inconvenience to the First Order. The mines on Salient are particularly difficult to navigate. The locals know it by instinct, but outsiders? It could take them years to learn...

Without thinking, Kylo lifts his hands and unclicks his mask, bringing it overhead. He turns from the window, walking to a long, rectangular table in the center of the room and placing his mask on the surface. He pulls out a chair, sinking onto it.

He sees it now. He sees his mistake. He was so eager to consolidate power, gain control of the galaxy's resources, that he neglected to think through the consequences of destroying groups worshipped as heroes. He thought it would be more efficient to destroy them and manage any large-scale blow back with holos, but now he sees it's the opposite.