The sound of heavy footfalls resounded in the halls of the Finalizer; the marching cadence echoing off steel and droning out to the massive receiving hanger of the battleship.
Armitage Hux stood at the edge of a wide, elevated platform. His arm was raised high as his amplified voice belted out across the thousands of stormtroopers, officers, and high-ranking officials from allied First Order planets.
"FIRST ORDER! Swift victories have been triumphed in the unified front of our purpose. Our enemies fall! Our alliances grow day by day! The Rebellion is on its knees!"
A masked Kylo Ren observed from the direct left as the General spit out the last statement, noting the man was on the verge of losing control with impassioned excitement of how close the First Order was to wiping out the Resistance once and for all.
The General kept on with his speech, a long-winded one that detailed recent battles hard won, and specifying the importance of what alliances aided each victory. Politics of course.
Ren was all too acutely aware of how bloodthirsty Armitage Hux was. The man kept an impeccable outer appearance, political professionalism, and perfect posture, but beneath the sterile and severe red-haired exterior was a power-hungry fiend.
He recalled the moment he awoke on the floor of the throne room, and felt the murderous intentions emanating from Hux as Kylo's vision came into focus.
"What...happened?"
Hux's question grew louder as he pulled himself from the floor in the memory that encompasses his view of the stormtroopers.
"The girl murdered Snoke."
He lied. Even in his growing rage at the realization that Rey had abandoned him just as everyone else did, he played the lie. He had to in that moment, and he considered just killing Hux, but to dispose of Snoke and Armitage would invoke a mutiny. The General was well-versed in playing the political game, something that was of use to Ren.
Hux was still rambling on in his formal speech in the present world. Ren's memory backed up to the moment he held out his hand to Rey.
Her trembling face wet with tears was burned into his vision, and he couldn't distinguish a definite answer in her feelings that rained down on him through their bond. There was so much going on inside her at that moment that Ren almost regretted giving her such a propulsive decision.
His jaw tightened beneath the mask. He couldn't explain more to her because there wasn't much time. She could be here with him, right now, being sworn in along side him as equals in power over the largest governing force in the galaxy.
Instead, he would be single-handedly running this mammoth army all alone.
"It isn't too late."
Silent pain and rage enveloped his insides all at once at the sparked memory of their soft words spoken to each other in the night.
Sweat was pooling under his chin behind the mask, and he swallowed hard, willing the memory to vanish.
"Due to the actions of one treacherous individual...our Supreme Leader is dead."
Ren felt Armitage Hux's gaze upon him for a fleeting moment
The allies and the stormtroopers raised their right arms ramrod straight above their heads and bellowed "LONG LIVE THE SUPREME LEADER!"
Hux lowered his arm to their response.
"Long live...the Supreme Leader. It is with great honor and duty, that I present his successor. The chosen apprentice of Supreme Leader Snoke, Kylo Ren."
Ren turned toward Hux and postured himself. In four measures strides he stood before the thousands of men and next to the red-haired man, who removed from a small box an ebony ring with a raised embossment.
"I present to Kylo Ren, the seal ring of Snoke. All orders bearing this seal are considered law, and treason will fall on anyone who does not follow it."
Ren took the ring from him, and slipped it over his glove on his ring finger. He turned his hand over to gaze at it for a moment, and memories of lightning discharging from its former wearer suddenly haunted him. The mask thankfully hid the grimace on his face.
"Kylo Ren. By my command as General of The First Order, the most righteous and victorious force the galaxy has ever known...I name you the Supreme Leader of the First Order."
Armitage took one short step back, and turned on his heel to face the troops.
"All hail the Supreme Leader!" He shouted with fervour as he raised his right arm above his head.
The troops and allies returned his statement with equal fervour, echoing in response with booming voices.
Kylo Ren turned to face the masses, not as the masked apprentice anymore, but as their Supreme Leader. His chest burned with nervous tension as they all finally took a knee in the act of submission and service.
He was the lowly servant no more.