Kylo's POV
"Supreme Leader! We just received a message from the Resistance. It's about their prisoners."
Kylo turned around towards the small woman that had just delivered the message.
"Go on."
"They agreed. They sent us the coordinates, it's a neutral city in the outer rims. They want the meeting to be in roughly 12 hours. It's doable, we are preparing a crew right now, but we need to leave within an hour."
Kylo raised his hand, "I want Cardo, Ap'lek and General Hux. The General can decide which officers." he stopped briefly and watched the woman alert them. He turned back around, his arms behind his back and looked outside into the black nothingness, "I want MD-2442 as the commanding doctor."
He could hear her fingers tapping on the datapad.
"Sir, MD-2442 is just a combat medic. We would usually send a chief resident doctor."
"I trust her. Bring me one of the new stormtrooper armour. In her size. In the meanwhile brief Hux."
"Yes, Supreme Leader." The woman said and left the room, and so did the continuous tapping of her fingers on the datapad.
The dark endless depths of space were showing so much and so little at the same time. From this far away there was no way to see the planets orbiting the small glowing dots. So many of those planets had life on them, species were dying out and emerging to the top of the food chain. It was easy to get lost. It was even easier to feel small and insignificant.
How small and insignificant MD-2442 had been in the beginning. Just a combat medic that had been randomly assigned to follow him into the cave systems of Eks. She didn't stand out much at first. Somehow she had made it out of the caverns with him and the other stormtroopers. Her nervousness was almost unbearable as she got on the back of his speeder and what had been even more unbearable was how long she took to shoot.
Then he had gotten hit and she saved him. Not really anything unusual. What was unusual was her removing her own shrapnel shard by herself. At the time Kylo hadn't even noticed it, he had been too busy concentrating on the pain not getting any worse. Ap'lek had asked him whether or not he knew about it. Normally Kylo could easily tell the emotions of others, especially pain, with her he couldn't. He had not realized it until Ap'lek had pointed it out.
Her worry for him was what he had sensed mostly during the night. It had almost been protective, especially towards General Hux. Her work had been exceptional, one of the reasons he had kept her as his attending physician.
She genuinely cared about him, and not because she was afraid of getting killed. Apart from worry, admiration and the occasional fear, the only other thing he had ever felt from her was trust. Blind trust. Foolish. But he still appreciated it.
He would be lying if he said that he didn't like being admired. It was genuine from her though. Most people were just intimidated or wanted to get on his good side. Outwardly they were the same but their thoughts and feelings showed otherwise.
That's why he had allowed her to join the interrogation with 'Mr. Stares'. Stares was one of the more adept force sensitives Kylo had captured and while he was mostly useless he displayed a highly developed force sense. Somehow the Doc disrupted him. It was what had gotten Mr. Stares so scared. Why exactly he didn't understand back then but now...
Then there was her ability to sneak up on him. He usually sensed every other being around him. Every single one. Every man. Every woman. Every fly. It did not matter. But he could not sense her. There were a few exceptions to the rule, but she was the only one capable of sneaking up on Kylo Ren.
It was even worse if she was concentrating on something, it almost seemed as if she just disappeared from existence. It made it extremely challenging for him to read her thoughts and as he finally got through it was like listening to a bad transmission. Only few words could actually be heard and those were hard to understand.
Her thoughts were interesting. If he managed to get to them. He eventually figured out a more reliable way but it took him quite a long time. It was rewarding, given that they were usually quite entertaining and made him enjoy the Doc's visits.
Kylo shook his head ever so slightly. He didn't even want to think about it for too long. Staring into literal space had the effect of getting completely and utterly lost in thoughts.
Remembering the funny conversations she had in her mind was fine but he really did not want to dwell on the bandage topic or her reaction after he had taken her to 'Mr. Stares' the second time.
A lower ranking officer entered, carrying the new armour wrapped in cloth.
"The new armour type. In the size you asked for, Supreme Leader."
The man stepped back and Kylo grabbed the package on his way out.
Some part of Kylo was disappointed that the Doc had moved back down into her original apartment. Rationally he agreed that this was the better option, but it did not mean he liked it.
He rang the doorbell and waited a few seconds.
"Sir! Good evening." she sounded confused and immediately asked whether or not she had forgotten their appointment.
"No. You didn't.", Kylo replied and stepped into the tiny apartment. Theoretically he knew what the nurses' and doctors' quarters looked like but he had never been to one. They were far smaller than he had imagined. Why did she move back down here again?
Kylo placed the package on the bed and nodded towards it.
"Thank you, Sir. I completely forgot about that." she said her voice getting slightly higher.
"No need to thank me. Put it on."
"Now, Sir?" she sounded about as confused as she looked.
"Yes.", was all Kylo replied before turning his back towards her. He felt a slight unease from her for having to change behind his back but he didn't care much. He needed her on the mission. "We'll be leaving as soon as you are done. You remember those officers?", Kylo continued, hoping to explain the situation a bit better.
"Yes, Sir....Sorry, could you step aside?", he could feel her touch his coat slightly and turned around. Was she already done? Well...almost. She was just in the skin tight bodysuit worn under armour. It suited her so much better than the medical tunics she usually wore.
"Those officers, Sir?" she asked. Kylo hadn't even noticed that he had stopped talking.
"Right.", he continued what he had wanted to tell her and they left for the hangar shortly after. The whole way towards the shuttle she was excited but the moment they entered it, it quickly faded. In fact, she seemed to fade just as quickly and he wasn't really able to feel her at all anymore.
Shortly after they landed on the Maxima-A, Kylo left. He had sent someone to a meeting with a smuggler on a planet nearby. Kylo hoped he had gotten what he was searching for.
The respective officer was already waiting in a conference room.
"Did you get it?", Kylo immediately asked and the officer handed him a small box, "You are dismissed."
The officer nodded and left. Kylo inserted the box into one of the computers to the side. A bunch of holographic texts appeared. They were written in Sith. He took his helmet off, he had gotten what he wanted. He started to read.
A while later an officer stormed in, completely out of breath.
"Supreme Leader! It-it-", he was breathing heavily, "There is a fight. We have already evacuated our prisoners and sent reinforcements but General Hux an-"
"Ready my ship."
Kylo hadn't even properly secured his helmet before he already stormed out of the room.
"The stormtroopers might have video feeds, I want to know where each of our men went so we can evacuate them all."
There was no option to leave any behind. The reason they had wanted to exchange prisoners was because they did not want to let their men down. They trusted them, gave their life for them, there was no way he would leave officers in the enemy's hands.
Stormtroopers were a different discussion usually. Mainly because they were Hux's pride and Kylo despised Hux. By extension he didn't really care much for them. It had happened more than once that he had 'accidentally' cut someone in half if they were incompetent.
By the time Kylo arrived they had already evacuated a great deal of their own men. Cardo was already waiting impatiently.
"That took you long enough."
Kylo scoffed, "How many have we lost?", both of them marched inside the city.
"Very few officers. Stormtroopers though..."
Cardo used his laser blaster to shoot at a few Resistance fighters in the distance before they had even realized the threat.
"I don't care about the Stormtroopers. Where is Hux?"
"Alive. We don't know where. He didn't say in case they were intercepting the transmission.", it was hard to understand him properly right now. His Laser blaster was not exactly quiet.
"Where is the medic?"
Cardo stopped shooting, "Didn't you say you don't care about Stormtroopers?"
"I don't. She is a medic."
"Almost the same. Why do you care?", his questioning pissed Kylo off.
"You don't understand yet. I'll tell you later. We need her alive."
Cardo nodded and switched his arm cannon to a flamethrower. A few Resistance fighters were shooting at them, but Kylo deflected their shots easily.
A severed hand landed in front of the Supreme Leader's feet and Ap'lek joined the other two Knights of Ren.
"Have you seen Hux? Or that combat medic?", Cardo asked him.
"I sensed him earlier. She might be with him, I think we left the room together but got separated.", Ap'lek replied.
"Let's head back to the building then."
There weren't many Resistance fighters that got in the way of the three Knights of Ren. And if they did their life expectancy was cut unusually short within seconds.
There was a fight going on on the roof, from what Kylo's force sense told him it probably was where Hux was.
"Clear the building. I'll go to the roof.", Kylo shouted towards his allies and ran through the corridors towards where he suspected the staircase.
Any Resistance fighter in his way was turned to minced meat. The ones on the roof were no exception. And neither of them were a challenge.
"Supreme Leader!", Hux shouted from a separate rooftop, elevated a bit above the one Kylo was currently standing on.
"Where is the medic?", Kylo just asked, closing his lightsaber. Hux's facial expression was perplexed.
"With me. She is absolutely useless at shooting close range. It's obvious she did not receive stormtrooper training."
Of course, he was already complaining again and praising his stormtroopers. What else was that man doing all day apart from that? Kylo could feel the anger rise up in him again. Then suddenly the medic he had been searching for jumped out from behind an air duct and threw herself onto the General.
Hux let out a scream and started hitting her.
"Let me go! Let me go! Can't you see we are not fighting anymore! For fuck's sake just get off me!"
Kylo was too perplexed at the absurdity of the situation to do anything else other than stare at Hux trying to get her off. He eventually managed and quickly stood up, dusting himself off.
"Go get yourself killed, you bloody idiot.", she cursed loudly. Hux's facial expressions were amazing. He first looked as if he had misheard her. He tried to process her words and then he got mad and kicked her.
Kylo just started laughing. Completely ignoring the pissed of Hux jumping off and leaving the rooftop.
A typical stormtrooper helmet appeared over the edge. An aura of excitement surrounded her.
"Good day to you, Sir. You are late.", she noted, talking in a VERY loud voice.
"I don't think so.", Kylo said and looked at the bits and pieces of Resistance fighters neatly distributed around the crates.
"Yes, you are correct. You were right on time, Sir.", she picked her blaster up and sat on the edge. Her right side had been shot by blasters multiple times. Kylo was glad he had gotten her the new prototype and not the one she would have usually received. It had most certainly saved her life.
Kylo raised his arms up, "Come on, Doc."
She didn't hesitate and he caught her easily, carefully placing her back on the ground. Kylo knew how much she hated getting help and didn't even need to read her thoughts to know about it.
He patted her shoulder, "We are not done with them...but please. Don't talk. You are practically screaming.", Kylo said and she immediately covered her mouth.
He got into her head on the way back. She was definitely not hearing properly and thoughts were foggy. As they reached the shuttles, she wanted to go with the stormtroopers but Kylo called her back.
She didn't hesitate to take care of the on-board officers. She didn't talk to them either, staying within the protocol.
General Hux stood up and called her over after she was done. First he insulted her skill on shooting close range. Something Kylo had to agree with sadly. She was everything but good at it. What surprised him was that Hux actually praised her shooting when it came to long range.
"So that was her...", Ap'lek whispered and moved his elbow slightly to tap Kylo's side, "I've seen it. Of course, it's not on Kuruk's level...she couldn't get there either, it's not like she's force sensitive. But she is incredibly good and I couldn't actually make out where she was shooting from."
"I see.", Kylo said quietly and raised his voice, "You are dismissed."
Kylo didn't ignore Hux's angry stare, instead he cherished it. The Doc was obviously uncomfortable, understandable if she was the only one of her rank around. Apart from that he had to discuss some things with his other Knights.
Cardo leaned over, "You are saying she is good with a rifle, Ap'lek."
"Very. She took care of a bunch of Resistance fighters that were shooting at me."
Cardo laughed quietly, "That's what you get for just fighting melee. It's useless.", he tapped his arm cannon, "This. This beauty is what it's all about."
"Can you shut up talking about your weapons for once?", Hux threw in, he had been listening to the conversation, "But yes, Supreme Leader, I was surprised myself but she killed many of our ex-prisoners", he spat the word out. Hux had not been okay with trading and he made sure to let Kylo know every chance he got, "Even number 7."
"Number 7! You don't say! I can't believe you are-", Cardo lowered his voice from the fake surprised one to an annoyed one, "I can't believe you assume that everyone knows the prisoners by numbers."
Hux scoffed, "The Supreme Leader knows. It does not concern you."
"Oh?", Cardo tilted his head, "It does not? Tell me again...General", he was sarcastic, "Why are you-"
"Enough.", Kylo said, fed up with their constant fighting and completely oblivious that it was the same for him, "General, alert the rest of the Knights. I want them all on the Finalizer."
"Yes, Supreme Leader.", Hux replied in between clenched teeth. He was not his personal secretary and yet that's the way the Supreme Leader treated him.
The rest of the flight went by smoothly and the moment the doors opened the Doc was outside with the on-board nurses and doctors.
"Trudgen and Ushar are on the Maxima-A, Kuruk and Vicrul are already on board the Finalizer.", Hux said and left the Upsilon-class.
Kylo could hear the Doc making fun of one of the officers without directly saying so. She was pissed off by one in particular and did not make any attempts to hide it.
"Doc?", Kylo asked, standing behind her. The nurse she had just talked was now perfectly camouflaged for a snowy terrain.
"Yes, Sir?", 2442 was not a small woman compared to most people, still to Kylo Ren though.
"I expect you back here in three hours. We are going back on the Finalizer."
She replied with her usual, "Yes, Sir." and Kylo quickly left with his two knights.
They parted ways shortly after as Kylo still wanted to read through the rest of the texts he had purchased from the smuggler. They were incredibly old and reported on Vitiate, detailing mostly his immortality and the rituals he performed in order to maintain it.
There were some more files he had gotten from various archives around the galaxy. None of them were especially long or detailed and Kylo quickly skimmed through them.
Then there was the second text purchased from the smuggler, also written in Sith. None of these texts were much on their own, interesting but merely speculation...but together. Together it finally made sense.
He called an officer into the room, "Bring me every file we have on MD-2442. If you can, find out more about her background as well."
"Yes, Supreme Leader.", the young woman tapped around on her datapad. It was the same one from before, she had incredibly fast fingers. A projection of the Doc's most basic files opened.
Identification number: MD-2442
Born: 13ABY on Chirna
Status: Alive
The rest just detailed her current job as a combat medic, missions she had been part of and her security clearance. It was surprisingly high for someone of such low status, but was because Kylo had assigned her to take care of the prisoners.
The officer opened another projection, files about medical school. Boring.
"The planet. Chirna.", Kylo said and within seconds the officer had pulled up information on it. A mountainous planet somewhere in the outer rims. The First Order had protected it from Raids a few years back and shortly after eliminated Resistance forces that had taken refuge on it.
"See if you can find MD-2442 appearing anywhere."
"Yes, Supreme Leader.", the woman opened and closed mission reports, read through them and sorted them, "There is not much but it appears that her father was killed by Resistance forces. He shows up in the casualty lists."
Kylo nodded, "Anything else?"
"Yes, the stormtroopers reported that some locals helped them with eliminating the Resistance. They didn't get any names, but the description matches her."
Kylo did not reply. Instead he enlarged the picture they had of her.
"Take a look. Do you notice anything?"
The officer looked a bit surprised but still did as he said, "She has bright blue eyes, it's remarkable."
Kylo exhaled triumphantly. His suspicions had been confirmed.