Taking Command Book 1 (Kylux) (#Wattys2016)

Chapter Five: Insolence

General Hux PoV

I knew Ren would ruin everything. His temper, lack of control, and shortsighted impetuousness would bring this operation to shreds. Now that he was armed once more, however, I stood no chance against him.

I followed him, sprinting after him, coat flying behind me. Maybe I would get lucky and Ren would not fly off of the handle and we would be able to get our information.

When I caught up to him, we had reached the domicile where Calrissian dwelled. I keyed in the passcode that had been transmitted to me and entered, Kylo behind me.

A shocking sight greeted both of us. Calrissian was indeed there, but he was unconscious and trapped in an energy field and bound to a chair. There were multiple guards: a burly Trandoshan, a Mandalorian in blue armor, and a piglike Gamorrean.

"Are you the representatives from the First Order?" The Mandalorian asked me. She was unmistakably female. I was not surprised. Female Mandalorians were just as common as male Mandalorians, as both sexes learned the fighting arts.

"Yes. I am General Hux and this is my... Colleague, Kylo Ren." I introduced Ren who appeared to be interested in the energy prison. "We are here to speak to-"

"Calrissian? Alright. I'm going to need to scan you both first, however, to prove that you are both you." She grabbed my hand and jabbed a sensor into my hand. "You are indeed General Hux. Hey, you, masked guy! Ren!" She yelled at Kylo and I resisted the urge to smirk.

"What?!" Kylo glared at her, or at least, I assumed he did from the tone of his voice.

"Take off your glove. I need to make sure that you are truly Kylo Ren." She waved the sensor thing in his face.

"I do not bow to the needs of some common mercenary!" Kylo snapped. "I am Kylo Ren, master of the Knights of Ren, and you will not treat me like a common criminal!" He Force lifted the woman and flung her into the wall. "Open the prison now!" He yelled.

The Trandoshan growled at Ren and charged him as he drew his lightsaber. I knew this would happen. But there was nothing I could do about it now. The Gamorrean was advancing upon me and fingering the blade of its axe. I drew my blaster and fired a clean shot at its eyes and it fell dead on the floor.

A bloodcurdling scream of pain alerted me to the fact that the Trandoshan had also left the mortal plane.

"You got us into this mess," I muttered to Ren. "You better know how to open that prison, or you have wasted this whole mission."

"Not on your life," a cold voice said from behind me, "if you touch those controls I will kill all four of us with my rockets." The Mandalorian was on her feet again, pointing her wrist rocket launchers at us both. "100 meter blast radius. They take under one second to detonate. Not even you could escape that, Jedi." Her voice was void of emotion, there was only a cold edge of someone awaiting death but determined for it to happen on their terms.

"We need to get information out of Calrissian." I said, endeavoring to restore at least a modicum of order to this fiasco.

"That's great, but your stupid buddy blew it- DON'T YOU DARE MOVE!" She whirled to face Ren who was inching towards the controls for the prison.

"But I am not Ren," I replied,"I am also willing to monetarily compensate you for the loss of your mercenaries." I pulled out credit chips. "How much do I owe you? Hundred thousand?" I offered her a high amount. Her mercenaries were worth fifty thousand at best, but this was important.

"Fine." She snatched the credits out of my hand. She walked over to the control panel and shoved Kylo to the side. Before Ren could respond with another outburst of rage, I grabbed him by the shoulder.

"Stand Down." I snarled through gritted teeth.

"You are not my commander, General." He responded angrily.

"No, but if not for me, you would not be about to find another hint to locate Skywalker." I let go of him and joined the Mandalorian.

"Here you go, boys. You get twenty minutes, then, you leave."

"Move." Ren pushed past me and put his hand on Calrissian's head. He said nothing for about ten minutes.

"Apparently, he hid at least part of the map in the Outer Rim. I know where, but we should discuss it on the ship."

I was pleased that some progress had been made, but morbidly curious on how Ren had found out where Calrissian had hidden the map. "Alright. Thank you, ma'am." I casually saluted the mercenary and started the walk back to the ship with Ren in my wake.

"You insolent fool!" I yelled at him once out of earshot of the Mandalorian. "You could have ruined the whole mission!" I wanted to slap him.

"But I didn't." Ren replied shortly.

"No, you didn't, but you did cost me one hundred thousand credits!" I retorted angrily. "How about next time, you actually keep a civil tongue in your head and use something other than Force pushing people into walls to get results!" I stormed off. I would not leave without him, but I wished I could.

I did not care how attractive this new dark warrior was. He was an idiot, and he was liable to destroy the work of the First Order. Compared to his predecessor Darth Vader, or even Count Dooku of the Clone Wars, or Darth Maul of the Naboo Blockade war? He was a failure.