"I'd like to request a leave of absence."
The small blue hologram before General Hux remained silent. The image refreshed, flickering. General Hux stood, hands clasped behind his back, keeping his face intentionally blank.
"This is... " the hologram said, "highly irregular. As I'm sure you know, General Hux, we only give leaves of absence for deaths in the family."
Hux rose his chin slightly. "I am aware of the protocol, General Griffbul."
General Griffbul was General of the First Order, the only rank above Hux and the only man Hux ever reported to.
"However, if you pull up my records you'll find I've never taken so much as a sick day in all my years of service."
Briefly the memory of Kylo lying unconscious in the infirmary nearly seven months ago skittered across the general's mind. Hux immediately pushed the thought aside.
Paranoia had set in shortly after Kylo switched sides. Hux had re-assigned all the medical droids to different ships, and he had wiped his signature from the medical database from that day. No one aboard knew he had spent a day in the infirmary now.
"I am aware, Armitage. You're one of the best officers I've ever encountered."
Briefly Hux swelled with pride. This man was much older than Hux, had been an officer back when the Imperial Army was still active. Rumor had it he had even been in Darth Vader's presence on more than one occasion.
"May I ask why you want this leave?"
A momentary wave of panic hit Hux. He hadn't really thought of a reason. "It is... Of a personal matter."
The hologram General humphed. Looking down briefly, he looked back at Hux. "I will take this request under advisement and will let you know in a few days once I make my decision."
Hux bowed slightly at the waist. "Thank you, General."
"Oh, and Armitage?"
"Yes Sir?"
"Get some sleep. You look like shit."
As soon as the hologram flickered off, Hux frowned deeply. Growling, he spun on his heel and stalked out of the room.
~
"Alright, let's begin the startup sequence."
Rey sat in the X-Wing, her back to Ben. She nodded, flipping switches and pushing various buttons. Behind her in the co-pilot position, Ben adjusted his flight gloves.
This was the trade off. Rey would help Ben as best she could to become grounded in the Light Side of the Force. Ben, in turn, would teach her everything he knew about flying. He was surprised at what a natural she was, especially since she had no formal training aside from studying whatever schematics she could get her hands on when she lived on Jakku.
"Ready for take off?" Ben asked over his shoulder.
"Uhhhh... " Rey double-checked the panel before her. "Ready."
Ben twisted more in his seat. "Are you sure?"
A knot formed in Rey's stomach. She double checked everything--it looked to be in order. "Yes?"
"You forgot the g-force stabilizer," Ben said, the slightest hint of amusement in his voice. "Personally I don't really want g-force sickness today..."
"Blasted... Stupid... Ugh."
"Hey. It's okay. Relax. Not a big deal. You remembered all the vital systems."
"I swear I do better when I'm in a panic," Rey muttered in annoyance.
"That actually makes sense. Life or death situations make you perform better--hey!"
The X-Wing lurched abruptly into the air. It lurched left, then right as Rey over-corrected.
"How many times have I told you to ease into it? You can't just yank up on the throttle."
Rey gritted her teeth. "Sorry."
Ben sighed. "Put her down."
"What?"
"I said land the ship."
A lot more gently, Rey landed. As she shut down, Ben opened the glass hatch, unbuckled himself and slipped his gloves off. He climbed out, sitting on the edge of the ship. In frustration Rey took off her helmet and climbed out too. Wordlessly she sat next to him.
Ben slipped off his helmet and looked at her. "What's going on, Rey?"
"Nothing."
Ben simply looked at her.
"What? Nothing, Ben."
"Frankly I didn't feel comfortable flying with you today."
"Hey!"
"I'm serious."
"There's this thing called tact, Ben."
"And there's this thing called constructive criticism, Rey."
Rey glared off into the distance. To lighten the mood, Ben nudged her shoulder with his own. Surprised, Rey looked at him.
"Come on, Rey," he said flatly. "I can feel the unease in you."
Rey adjusted her body so she was facing him. "Don't you think it's odd that we haven't heard or seen anything from the First Order?"
Ben smirked. "Maybe they gave up?"
Rey narrowed her eyes slightly. "I'm being serious, Ben."
Ben's smirk went away. Rubbing his hands together and putting his flight gloves back on, he thought a moment.
"And it's not just us. It's like their reign of terror just abruptly stopped. There have been no attacks. There have been no planets taken over. It's like they just dropped into a black hole."
"Maybe they're afraid."
"Ben--"
He lifted his hand, signaling her to remain quiet. She closed her mouth.
"I'm serious. I'm sure the second General Hux got back on his ship he told everyone I had abandoned the First Order."
Ben hoped Rey hadn't noticed how his breath hitched when he said Hux's name. To cover, he cleared his throat briefly. "They know how powerful I am. They're some of only living people who know my true power."
"Maybe. But..."
"What?"
"What if it's the opposite? What if they're planning something big? Huge? Something we never could possibly imagine?"
"Well, then..."
"I just wish you were working as a double agent again."
As soon as the words had left her mouth, Rey looked at Ben in panic. Ben had--finally, after a few months--confided in her how regretful he was that things unraveled like they had. He was beating himself up at least once a day over his actions, kicking himself that he couldn't bring himself to just kill Hux.
At the very least he could have wiped his mind. Ben could have even implanted a false memory into him, make the General forget anything out of the ordinary had even happened. Instead he had panicked and blown his cover.
There was also a subtext that Rey didn't have to even ask about. Ben had lost his lover, and as much as he never talked about it, he clearly wasn't over it. She couldn't even begin to fathom that, especially given his history of feeling betrayed and detached from people close to him.
"I meant from a strictly pragmatic outlook."
Ben said nothing. Rey covered her face.
"Ben, I am so sorry. That was really stupid of me to say."
"It's okay. I do too," he said. "Sometimes."
"I just wish there was a way to get you close to the First Order."
Ben snorted. "I'm sure one of the first things that Hux did was revoke my clearance from everything." He shrugged. "I mean, that's not to say that I probably couldn't figure out how to get into the databases somehow."
"Yeah. If only there was a way--"
"To get me onto a ship."
"Or a base."
"See what they're up to."
"If anything..."
"Even if they're not, it would put our minds at ease."
Ben and Rey looked at each other. Speaking at the same time, they said one name together.
"Poe!"