Smoke | Kylo Ren

ix.

The work wasn't letting out, there was so much to do and not even slightly enough hands. The technicians beside her, working hard on the Tie Fighter had barely finished half of the necessary work it needed before it could fly again and Adara still had to chase up a multitude of different wire replacements.

It had been hours, her hands were aching and stiff and her hair was sticking to her cheeks and forehead as she worked. There was steam pillowing out of machinery around the hanger, the noise of it becoming almost painfully loud after hours and hours of work. The clanging of metal against metal was beginning to send shooting pain through her skull each time it rang out in the room. 

Her only semblance of breaks were looking around to spot her own officers in the crowd. Each time she turned around they became wearier and wearier. It was at the least the early hours of the morning, they had worked straight through the evening no doubt. 

As much as she tried to push away the longing for sleep it was seeping it's way into her every movement , she noticed it when looking to the technicians behind who's arms drooped heavy at their sides and whose eyes were threatening to close each time they stepped away to test something. She was half expecting one of them to fall onto the metal grates. If they did she could guarantee she would join them without hesitation. 

But it seemed it wasn't just herself who had noticed everyone's exhaustion. As she was fishing something out of the panel's interior she felt a hand come down steady on her shoulder, it was such an unnatural feeling that she jumped out of the grip, turning around with horror shocked eyes. 

What greeted her was the surprised, and amused, face of General Hux, "Just me, I came to check on the progress." 

Adara blinked the sleep out of her eyes as best she could before responding, "Slow, General." 

"I can see that," Hux bent down so his words would only be heard by her, "We didn't think about how tiring this be in the rush to start repairs, I can send someone to round up your officers and get you to spare dorms. There's likely to be work for you on the coming days, it won't just be this." 

"For us specifically," Adara pointed haphazardly at herself, what he had meant during his transmission was finally sinking in. 

"Yes I should think so," General Hux stood up again, he gestured for her to do the same. If it wouldn't seem an affectionate gesture in such a large group of staff members he would have put out his hand, "This doesn't bode well for the Commander's temper." 

"No I suppose not," Adara grunted, using much of her spare energy to get off the ground, "So we'll be here for awhile." 

The man shook his head, "No, a few days at the most, until Ren goes back to Star Killer."  

"What happens to the work we left behind," Her bag was slung on her shoulder, she found herself still glancing down at the panel in all its melting glory, "There's a few significant assignment that we had to abandon." 

"They're of little importance in comparison to this," Hux smiled at her gently, "Where the rest of your section?" 

"Dotted around," Adara pointed to the deck above them, "Some are in there, others are working on the hanger with me and there are four stationed at the turbo laser systems." 

"Alright," General nodded his head in the direction of the door, "Let me walk you to the spare dorms." 

Although guilty leaving behind her officers to work, even if it would be at most a few minutes after she herself was tucked into bed that they would be as such, she followed him with as much excitement as she could muster with half closing eyes. The noise of the hanger was beginning, just slightly, to settle. Much of the hard work had been done, as was the way of First Order technicians, to leave room for the tiny fast tasks that would make the remaining hours of their shift bareable. 

It was that thought, of the Star Destroyers technicians, that made her jolt with with a sinking heart, "What about everyone else?" 

Hux looked to her, his eyes were gentle and welcoming, "Everyone else?" 

"Everyone working," Adara glanced behind her, she had perked in her worry for them, "They're all just exhausted, probably even more than us." 

General Hux couldn't help the warm smile that graced his often stiff expression, he was in awe of her care, having felt very little of it himself, "There's a shift change soon, they'll all be sleeping at the same time as you." 

There was a light tug on her uniform when the General realised she wasn't moving, her concern for the technicians had flooded her mind with worried that brought out everything she had been repressing with work. It was clear on her face, a painting of exactly what he had feared most that morning and exactly the look he had seen on so many faces. 

"It is unlikely to happen again," His composure came back in a tidal wave of etiquette classes. 

"It's weighing on me," Adara slipped back into step with him, "He rescued the rebel in his escape, doesn't that make you think?" 

"Think what exactly?" There was something in her words that tugged him in.

"Maybe he was working with them somehow?" The girl said, it was conspiratorial but genuine, "I don't know how he would have done it but the whole thing is strange." 

"Or he just needed a way out," Hux guided her to her room, he knew it was unlikely but the thought of a storm trooper being a spy would sent him into a spiral if he wasn't to adamantly deny it, "The rebel was a pilot, he was not. He likely just saw him as a way out of the ship." 

Adara let out a breathy chuckle, realising with a jolt what she was saying and how improbable it was, "Yeah, I don't think there would be a way to act as spy from inside the order anyway. Not when Commander Ren can sense your every deep dark desire." 

"I do wish he wouldn't back up that rumour so much," The General spoke with as much venom in his voice as he could. 

"It is just a rumour, isn't it?" Adara glanced up at him, something in his voice caught her attention.

General Hux stiffened before speaking again, "he knew who the storm trooper was. I hadn't told him the number, I didn't know it myself, but of course, he did." 

"Well I really hope that's the only rumour thats true about him," Adara walked through the door, her entire body longing to fall straight onto the bed and sleep.

He looked around the room, he hadn't seen one like it since he was first thrown into the First Order, small and quant and horribly suffocating, "What else is said about him?" 

She let out a breathy sigh, tilting her head, "That he knows what you're thinking, that he can read your thoughts." 

Hux chuckled, shaking his head, "I doubt that very much, Sergeant." 

Adara nodded gently, dropping her bag onto the floor and sitting down on her bed, "I'm glad, I like being safe to think what I want to think." 

General Hux dipped down to squeeze her shoulder, if he could have hugged her he would have, but if he got too close to her he doubted he would have walls left to put up. 

He was gone without a second glance, he muttered his goodbyes and a promise to get the rest of her officers to bed when panic overtook her features, leaving her to sleep away her worried and her aching joints. The door closed with a clunk and a thud and a horrible metal screeching that Adara had been trying to understand since she was sixteen. 

She didn't change, no that was far too much effort, she slept on top of the blankets with her bag still wrapped aroun the slight of her wrist. A blissful reward for all her troubles.