Hiding In Plain Sight | Kylo Ren & Knights of Ren X OC

Chapter 17

Author's Note: Get a drink and a Snack - this one is a long one! Almost 10k. It's got a lot in it, in regards to people's thoughts and feelings, and setting up for what is to come. There's my beloved Knights interactions and I just got way too sucked in writing this one, so I hope you enjoy it. Thank you if you have reached this far with me, all your comments and votes really make me giddy. 

---Kylo POV----

The next few weeks were fraught with holo meetings with Dameron and the Traitor who were seemingly running things with the rebellion nowadays and just communicated to insult and demand Nova be 'released' to honor Rey's wishes for balance in the Force, and then with Pryde; the man was abhorrent and how Nova had left his care with any semblance of decency was beyond Kylo. He had tried to keep his anger under control, the memory of what he had done to Nova playing on his mind when he got a little too angry. Nova and he had been training with their lightsabers, and Force training to try and keep Nova in control of her own mind. He had been using the Knights and Troopers to push Nova to that point of her mind where she went into defensive mode and went full Sith War Child. It was getting better slowly. She was quicker to come around, and a couple of times had even been able to keep it at bay. It was slow going, and Kylo knew that the information Nova had gotten played on her mind regularly, as did the memories that seemed to be trickling through, Nova remembering more and more as time went on. He had been sneaking to her quarters and sleeping beside her a lot, he sensed her discomfort, her nightmares, the night terrors. Their Force bond was strong, and she had learned to trust in him and open herself up to him entirely. She hadn't told Kylo that she was having nightmares though much to his annoyance, but they had both just gotten on with things. Her accepting him comforting her in her sleep, and him just turning up in the night after randomly seeking her mind out and checking on her. He had actually been honest as to why he would be going, and why the Knights shouldn't. He told them about how powerful her tapping into the Dark side was when she was feeling defensive.

Pryde was steadfastly holding onto the Final Order planets he had hostage, and still demanding Nova, who was taking her role as his right hand very seriously, and worked tirelessly with Hux to prepare battle plans. Hux was seemingly back on board with the Final Order and had learned his lesson where helping the Resistance was concerned. It seemed Hux and Nova had forged some kind of friendship in their battle planning, and that had helped sway Hux back to more loyal than not. They planned, they ate together, they watched holodramas. Hux kept his hands to himself, his thoughts for that matter, so Kylo didn't mind.

Kylo hadn't even allowed Pryde to see or to speak with Nova. And he wouldn't be allowing it ever if he could help it. He didn't even refer to her as Nova, simply 'Apprentice Ren', which Kylo took great pleasure in seeing Pryde's disgusted face at the fact she was now a Ren like the Knights, like Kylo. Kylo needed an in, some way to shake Pryde, but to beat the man, he needed to know what resources Pryde had, other than what he was stealing from the planets. He needed to know what ships and troops his army had acquired, other than what Pryde had stolen at Exogol. And then there was Dameron and the Traitor. The New Rebellion, the Resistance. They were fighting both he and Pryde, and that was what had kept Pryde occupied the few months after Exogol.

He had sent out his Rebellion spy, Powell, to check the map that Nova had found in the Rebel base from those months ago, to fact check their positions of the bases, so that they could attack them and take out this new Rebellion, or at least a good portion of it. And now, after he had finally managed to get a spy into Pryde's circle, he was getting results. He had to go to New Naboo, a planet found just on the cusp of the unknown region that had similar makings of the original Naboo planet, and what survivors had gotten off of Naboo had been rehomed upon New Naboo, and there he had to meet with the spy to get a datapad that had all the information regarding ships, weaponry, and troop numbers. This would help Kylo, Nova and Hux when it came to battle planning. He planned on taking the Knights and Nova to New Naboo to retrieve the datapad. It was a risk, but if they all went and met the spy in a cantina, it could be covered as a night to blow off steam. Nova was, afterall, known for her partying on New Naboo when she had lived with Pryde.