Entirely Different

Chapter Twenty Nine : Commander

***** Kylo's POV******

There seems to be no end in sight to this headache. Kylo's been cynically suffering in silence for the past fifteen hours, having not slept the night before and spent most of his day watching you from a safe distance. Did that make him a creep? Undoubtedly. But he couldn't find the will to care. Luckily for him, the vast majority of officers didn't actually know what he looked like under his helmet, so going out onto the base in basic clothes and no helmet in sight, he was blissfully unrecognized. Ironic that going undercover meant taking his disguise off.

He watched you walk into the hangar, equally proud and unnerved at how confidently you held her head high and the determined set of your jaw. He liked to think he'd taught you that. However, as you closed in on your target, he could feel the confidence slip away. The siblings regarded you as you approached and he watched the way that the brother; Sevier, he thought bitterly; forwent the salute your rank deserved. He watched as this man smiled smugly at you, and Kylo's fists clenched at his sides.

Kylo had tucked himself away in a dark corner of the hangar, hidden safely by large heaps of discarded equipment and scraps of injured space craft. Once you'd led the new pilot onboard, Kylo watched Sevier pace away from the shuttle and near the engineer station where he stood in front of a short podium and began shuffling through a data pad there. When the shuttle's engines roared to life, Kylo took the opportunity to slip out of hiding and stride over to the podium.

He saddled his way up to the engineer as inconspicuously as he could manage, pretending to scope out the departing shuttle. Sevier didn't miss a thing, it seemed, as he turned to pin Kylo under his scrutinizing glare.

"Who are you?" He asked bluntly, turning his torso toward Kylo, and squaring his shoulders.

Kylo hid a smirk underneath his hand, pretending to wipe at his mouth.

"Uh hi, I'm Matt. I'm a radar technician." Kylo awkwardly stuck out his hand, slouching his shoulders a little though he nearly towered over Sevier, as he did with most people.

Sevier didn't seem phased, though.

"Where's your uniform, tech?" He eyed Kylo's extended hand.

Kylo shuffled, still trying to appear smaller.

"It's my day off.. just scoping out the TIE fighters."

Sevier narrowed his eyes.

"Your haircut isn't regulation."

This fucking prick – just give it a rest.

"Yeah, uh. They don't really give a shit what us techs look like." Kylo mumbled.

Sevier eyed him for another moment until seemingly losing interest.

"Right. Well, today's a good day to 'scope' the TIEs." Sevier turned his attention back to the data pad, shuffling through reports. "They're scheduled for inspection in about twenty minutes."

Kylo nodded, eyeing the data monitor over Sevier's back to watch the reports ping in one by one as you entered comment's on the new pilot's training. He was impressed with how concise and professional you kept them, saying things like "pilot excelled in dictating controls," and "pilot successfully completed take off troubleshooting." Sevier noticed, then, that Kylo remained hovering behind him.

"Is there something I can help you with, Matt?"

Kylo ground his teeth together through a clenched jaw, attempting to think fast on his feet and respond without raising suspicion.