Shared Vision

Chapter 4 "Learning Curve"

BEN:

Ben stepped off of the transmission pad, feeling some of his disquiet mitigated. He had prepared a transmission delegating the capture of the Millenium Falcon and the last of the rebels to the league of bounty hunters. The terms were very specific. All persons involved with the Resistance were to be captured and brought directly to his ship to be tried by the First Order as war criminals. No disintergrations were permitted, the insurgents must be delivered alive and relatively sound in order for payment to be received. It was an elegant solution. No First Order resources would be squandered, his attention could remain on the business of establishing himself as Supreme Leader, and no one could question the wisdom of disposing of that particular thorn in the First Order's side in a public spectacle.

Leaving the holo chamber, Ben began pacing the corridors of the ship much as he had done his first restless night back on board. His next task was to address the Knights of Ren. They were his closest companions, bound in training and duty. But Snoke had wrenched their minds unnaturally for a decade, and early on he had isolated Ben, choosing him as an apprentice and making him master over the other knights. There was no way for him to anticipate how they would receive him now, even though they had all been released from Snoke's domination at the moment of his death. There were residual affects from such corruption. He could feel an incurable obscurity, like an oily contusion moldering within. The evidence was there, in the way his hands would shake; the way minor irritations would nearly provoke him to butchery. Was there any chance the knights had fared better? He would soon find out.
Ben reached the council room where the Knights had been called. Traditionally, the Knights would have been summoned to the Supreme Leader in the throne room, but Snoke's ship had been destroyed and Ben had made no attempt to outfit his own ship with such regalia. Besides being an opulence that went at cross-purpose to the bent of his new regime, Ben couldn't stomach the idea of addressing them in such a room. His mind still swam with contesting emotions over the memory of what recently transpired in Snoke's throne room. He would not have been able to achieve the stability needed to guide the Knights of Ren in such a place.

Ben entered the chamber from a door that opened onto a subtly raised platform. The six Knights acknowledged him, dropping to one knee and placing fists to their chests. The gesture eased Ben, and finding his breath, he inhaled deeply and reached out. Anxiety. That was most substantial emotion coming from the group. Ben reached farther, brushing the individual feelings of each Knight. Some were confused, fervently awaiting an explanation, one or two were actually grieving; feeling incomplete without a presence in their mind. Eminating from all of them was a feeling of consolation at his presence. Whatever murky side effects persisted, they were still his
Knights. Bolstered by this realization, he began to speak. Concluding his session with the Knights, Ben had found himself drawn to the deck of the auxiliary ship. It hadn't been his intention to secret himself away, but he recognized it was what he needed. Here, he found an absurd measure of peace just peering out at the stars and distant systems. This place was a reprieve, a connection to force that he wouldn't have thought possible in a man made structure, especially one designed for war. They were drawing close to Silbatta now, the shuttles were being prepared for transport to the surface. Ben closed his eyes and perceived the planet below. At first, it was just a maelstrom of commotion. But then the system seemed to clear, as if areas on a map were being colored in. He could sense the predominant concerns, reactions and sentiments of the creatures in each area. As his consciousness flowed along the path of the force, he could even magnify vicinities more specifically. There were localities of poverty, and expanses of sicken affluence. There were spaces between, with varying degrees of satisfaction. He became aware that if he focused a little more, he could plausibly decifer singular beings in the mob. Just as he considered trying, a resonance, as clear as a spoken word, brought him back to the ship. Still joined with the force, he cast about the vessel, until pinpointing the source. It was Hux. He was moments from giving the order to start boarding the shuttles and he was perturbed at the Supreme Leader's absence. Hux's agitation amused Ben, so he luxuriated awhile longer, then headed to the docking bay.