Encounter on Lothal (Kylo/OC)

Chapter 5

"Is this 'somewhere I can't talk to you like that?'" Ren asked with a smirk on his face as he descended the steps into Tana's tiny cell in the forward detention unit, referencing their earlier argument.

Startled from her semi-slumber, she leaned up from her position on the hard metal bunk to rest on her elbow. "I was hoping it was," she shot back, a look of derision on her tired face.

"That's too bad," Ren admonished her. "And here I am to rescue you."

"I don't need rescuing," she bluffed as she lay down again, turning her back on him.

"Really?" he questioned her. "Because two weeks in the brig doesn't seem to have agreed with you. I don't see the next two weeks going any better. Would you care to see?" Ren asked as he pulled a datapad from his tunic and knelt next to the bunk.

Reaching over her shoulder to show her how she looked in the pad's camera, Tana was shocked to discover she had become pale and drawn, the fat pads in her cheeks withering away. She was actually gaunt.

"I know why you're in here," he said softly.

"You think you do, but you don't!" she hollered at him, shoving the datapad away.

"So, your loyalty to me has nothing to do with it."

She couldn't lie. It was. It was all she'd thought about, ruminated over for the last couple of weeks. How the commitment she'd made to keep his confidentiality had cost her so much.

"Let me tell you what it does have to do with," he responded to her silence, "it shows me that you're worthy of taking out of here and with me on my next mission."

With that she sat up ram-rod straight, a look of shock on her face. She stared at him. "Are you mad?" she demanded.

"Not at the moment, but I am getting rather annoyed with you."

"I'm being reprimanded because of your LAST mission. I think once is enough."

"That punishment has come," he said with finality, "to an end, along with your position as a ship's medic."

She looked at him in confusion. "I'm being decommissioned?" she demanded in disbelief.

"No," he responded, "you're being promoted. To my division. I'm taking your commission with me on The Finalizer."

She tried to consider all the implications that came with a lateral transfer such as this. It would undo all the work she'd put into her career, all the time spent working towards promotion. She was disappointed, unable to reconcile her release with true freedom.

"You'll have more freedom," he advised, searching her feelings, "but more responsibility as well. You'll need to be a field medic in addition to serving as my personal physician, and as you can see, I get into more than my fair share of scrapes." He tucked the datapad back into his tunic, awaiting her answer expectantly as he crossed his arms in front of him.

"I've never been a field medic," she replied. "I've never dealt in battlefield medicine!"

"Then you'll learn. Your lessons begin today. Unless," he cocked an eye at her, "you'd rather stay here and waste away?"

She considered his offer, mulling it over in her mind as he grew impatient.

Becoming short-tempered, Ren stalked over to her where he stared down from his great height. "I'm not accustomed to waiting for answers," he warned her. "Either join me, or enjoy your days in ignominy, because there's precious little left for you back in that medbay."