Taking Command Book 1 (Kylux) (#Wattys2016)

Chapter Forty Six: Rescue

Kylo PoV

It was sort of frustrating being the one who ended up being captured all the time. Well, not all the time, but it had happened to me more often than Hux.

At the moment, I was strapped into a chair and blindfolded. I had been blindfolded since I had regained consciousness in who knows where, under the supervision of none other than the pilot Hux had met. Well, I assumed it was him. He said his name was Poe Dameron, so I took that as an affirmation of that hunch.

They had not tried to torture me at all, something nice. They had confiscated my lightsaber and helmet, much to my distaste. I was still in pain, however. The crash landing had been fairly rough, and the bottom half of my body had been trapped under some of the burning ship. I had sustained fairly severe burns on my legs, and milder ones on my shoulders and arms and face.

It could be worse. I know that they had laid a ransom demand at the ruins of my ship. Dameron had told me that. They had left a survivor on purpose so he could find the crash site and thus find the demand.

I hoped that whoever they sent would be careful, and I really hoped they had not sent Hux. That was who they wanted, and not only that, Dameron had seen Hux's face before when he had done the bounty hunter mission. If Dameron realized he had been tricked, neither of us would get out alive.

I heard footsteps near me. I turned my head to face the source of the noise. "Who is it?" I asked.

There was no answer. Typical. I cried out with sudden pain as something was jabbed roughly into my arm. "What was that?!" I snapped.

"A drug, to suppress your Force abilities. We didn't want to risk anything," replied an unrecognized voice.

I felt lightheaded and unable to focus. It was obviously a fast moving drug, and I needed to be faster. I tried to focus on my restraints, but I could not. The Force was still there, just nebulous and impossible for me to grab.

I leaned my head back in frustration, helpless and unable to do a thing about it. I was at their mercies. For all I knew, the First Order would not pay my ransom. Snoke could find a new apprentice, and I would die here.

They wanted Hux in exchange for me. They wanted to take out the First Order's star general. It made sense. We had gone after Poe Dameron, their ace pilot. It was unsurprising that they had targeted the main general of our order.

I prayed he would have the sense not to come. He probably would though. I hoped not. This was a blatant trap and I did not want to be responsible for being the thing that lured General Hux to his death.

I tried to reposition myself but was unable to, due to my restraints. I strained against them, trying to just get some blood flowing; my hands and feet were going numb.

"Stop it." Someone hit me on the back of the head, noticing my exertions. Apparently, there had been guards placed around me. I wished I could used the Force. It would be really handy right about now.

I stopped nonetheless. I needed to hide my time, and if I got lucky, maybe I could escape- Who was I kidding? I was trapped. I hated to admit it, but it was true. I could not use the Force, I had no weapons, and I was injured. I had to rely on the possibility of help coming.

Help came. About five hours after my injection, I heard a rumble, and the entire building shook. I heard footsteps all around me, and I presumed that my guards were running to neutralize whatever had caused the seismic event. I heard the footsteps of running stormtroopers. Rescue had come. I was cut free and helped to my feet. I staggered as I got my footing, but I was determined to make it out alive, and on my own steam.

"Your saber and helmet were found, sir." My helmet and lightsaber were handed to me and I gladly reclaimed both. I could feel the drug wearing off as well as we moved down a hall. I could hear fighting as we moved closer to the exit.

The source of the shaking became obvious. There were two rocket launchers aimed at the virtual bastion where I was imprisoned. It appeared that the Resistance had holed a part of its members up in an abandoned Hutt fortress. In the forefront of the fight, fighting hand to hand with Dameron was my lover, General Hux.

My first instinct was to call to him, but I knew he could not be distracted. The trooper who had rescued me, however, openly signaled to Hux.

"We've got him!" He yelled. Hux looked over, and I saw him smile slightly before entering back into combat.

They took me to one of the TIEs that sat two fighters. "The General says to stay there. You do not need to fight. You're injured and it would only cause problems."

I sighed with annoyance as I sat down. I was grateful I could quit moving. My legs were throbbing. My wounds were still untreated.

Within a few minutes, Hux ran into the ship and lifted off. "You're my copilot, Ren. You better know how to shoot, because I'll need the backup."

We shot into the air with X Wings hot on our trail. I did not care. We could make it. We had made it this far, all we needed now was to beat these guys or hold them off long enough to enter light speed. Beating them would be nice. But I would settle for just getting back alive at this point. At least I was no longer captive. Hux had led his men to save me, ignoring the danger to himself.

"Thank you for saving me," I said awkwrdly.

"I did it for love. Now focus. We need to blow these guys into oblivion." Hux was right. We needed to shoot these guys down, then we could talk. Whatever. I could wait.