Into the Fray

Chapter Ten

This entire thing was stupid. Ben had panicked, he knew he had. But he couldn't let Hux go.

It would have been easier to just wipe the man's mind and flee, but that wouldn't have solved much. His absence would be noticed by everyone. Kylo wasn't about to go through the entire ship, erasing everyone's mind and removing any and all logs Hux had written or that mentioned him. That would have taken weeks--possibly months.

Then there was the fact a lot of those logs were intermingled with other logs on other ships. What was he going to do, go to every ship and outpost the First Order had in the entire universe and erase General Armitage Hux completely? It just wasn't feasible.

There had, of course, been another option...

I can't outright kill him.

Guiltily, Ben glanced over his shoulder. Hux still sat where he had been left, elbows on his knees, chin in his hands, glaring at an invisible spot on the wall. When Ben had released him from his hold (he had been keeping him more or less catatonic until they were far, far away from the Finalizer) Hux had immediately tried to kill him. Ben easily stopped him.

"I don't want to hurt you Armitage," Ben had told him seriously, holding the man back with the Force. "I will if you leave me no choice though."

Hux had screamed at him, a loud, wordless, drawn out bellow filled with betrayal and pain. It hurt Kylo's heart as much as it did his ears.

They were going to Prakith, a planet Rey felt wouldn't bring risk for either of them. Unfortunately, it was a long way from where the Finalizer had been positioned. Ben had agreed to the location before he understood what a critical error that had been.

As Ben piloted into his second day without sleep because he didn't trust that Hux wouldn't try to kill him, a loud beeping sliced through his fog-filled head. He looked down, panic immediately gripping him. He technically didn't have to look; he knew what that specific alarm meant.

"Shit!"

Hux, momentarily forgetting the situation, got up and went by his side. "What? What was that? What--"

Ben pointed at one of the many readouts the transport had. "We're about to run out of fuel."

Hux paled. "What!?"

Ben quickly flipped on the scanners, both regular and long-range. "We have to find a planet or a moon to land on, otherwise we're going to be floating in the middle of nowhere very soon."

"Where are we?"

"Mid-rim."

"Well, at least there are a lot of planets here--"

"That would love to shoot a First Order transport out of the sky!"

"Don't yell at me! This all was your stupid idea--"

"Just go sit down and shut up! I have to concentrate and figure out where the nearest planet is!"

"Don't tell me to shut up!"

Even so, Hux crossed his arms and sat down.

After a few minutes, Ben spoke. "The closest planet is Velmor--it's going to be a close call, but I think we'll be able to get there in time."

Hux glared at the man's back. "And then what?"

"I don't know, okay!? I don't know."

They did make it to the planet, barely. They had run out of fuel just as they were entering the planet's atmosphere. The planet's gravity grabbed ahold and didn't let go. They were going to crash-land.