Chapter One-Hundred-and-Nine

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Author's Note: Kylo Ren's pov, recap - Nira at the Resistance's base. Leia says she has to return.

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Life has been increasingly stressful and irritating ever since Nira willingly departed from the base to go collaborate with the enemy.

Obviously upon my own return to the base after allowing Nira to escape, I conjured a lie that I told all of the officials. I told them that Nira confided in me that she couldn't remember what had happened during her stay with the Resistance so the only reasonable solution to her rowdy actions was that she had been brainwashed. Luckily, they all believed me – or, at least, said that they believed me. Some gave me skeptical looks as I uttered my story tiredly in the midst of the night during an emergency conference.

Yes, an emergency conference had to be called after Nira took off. A vehicle had been stolen, which is a federal crime against The First Order. An emergency conference must be held as soon as a federal crime is committed and follow-up crimes or damage could ensue.

President Edroth sucked my story right up. She was perfectly calm when she learned that one of our top warriors and most skilled intellects had gone rogue and fled to the complete enemy. She gently spoke with all of the tense officials about a resolution.

Most of the officials had attempted to pressure me into sending emergency attack forces to the Resistance's base. I was the only one who had the power to call that kind of attack since I was the leader of all military forces. I was hesitant to send such strong forces to the area where Nira was located in fear that she would be accidentally killed, so I did not agree to push for that kind of violence . . . Yet.

I could tell that General Hux did not believe a single word of my lie. He looked me up and down with scrutinizing eyes and disgusted, pursed lips.

The conference ended.

The next day, I woke up much later due to lack of sleep the previous night. I woke up mid-afternoon and got out of bed. An entire day passed of incriminating questions being fired my way. I was not worried about my lie failing because I knew how mentally strong I was. I knew that I would not release the contents of the truth. I needed my lie to last until Nira got back and I was confident that it would, but I was consistently pestered for solutions, resolutions, and answers.

I went to sleep the next night, annoyed with all of my employees who had been constantly bugging me with questions.

*****

The next day, while in the Dining Hall, Hux had just opened his mouth to begin insulting me when my holoprojector began to ring.

(Author's Note: I've been reading the Star Wars books and they say 'holoprojector' or something instead of 'hologram projector' so welcome to your new vocab.)

Hux was extremely lucky that those insults had not fallen from his abhorred lips because I was not in the mood to deal with his idiocy. I would've used the Force to crumple him into dust.

I answered the hologram to find that it was President Edroth

"Ma'am." I greeted, and I could feel the first drips of excitement and adrenaline begin to cruise through my veins. I felt a small ruffle in the Force surrounding the base and I could tell that something big was about to happen.

"An uncharted vehicle has been caught in the tractor beam and is being pulled into the main hangar. The vehicle has markings of the Resistance. We are receiving radio transmissions. You need to be here."

I hung up the hologram without a dismissal, stood up abruptly, and made my way out of the Dining Hall.

Minutes later I burst into the main hangar and strode to the control room. Upon entering, Edroth looked back at me from the communications table. I walked over to her briskly.

"Play back the transmissions." I ordered the low-level employee working the table. "Yes, sir." The man replied with a hint of fear. He tapped on his controls, and then a static-filled transmission began playing before me.

"Hello. This is Nira Leven. I am returning to speak with Kylo Ren. I have a Resistance pilot with me who will be released immediately following my exit of the ship. If that is not clear and not obliged, there will be consequences."

Yes. It was Nira. My heart jumped with anticipation. She was safe and returning.

But she had threatened us. If we did not follow her orders then Nira stated there would be consequences.

She was travelling with a pilot who could be very useful to us, knowledge-wise. I wanted that pilot, but I did not want the rogue Nira to dish out her consequences. At that moment, Nira was unruly and unpredictable. In the interest of my employee's safety, I knew that I had to go along with her conditions.

The President gazed at me expectantly. I realized she was waiting for an answer and I said, "We need to comply with her demands. She is brainwashed, so there is no telling if she will follow through with her consequences. With Nira's amount of power, we can take no risks. We'll release the pilot the moment both of Nira's feet are on the floor of our base."

Edroth nodded in agreement. "Smart. But do we even want Nira here, Kylo Ren? Why would we want a victim of brainwash here, in our base, willing to hurt us if we don't listen to her?"

I didn't know how to reply. My mind whirred quickly, struggling to come up with a solution to the President's worries. Nira wasn't actually brainwashed, so there was no reason she was a danger to the base – that's not true, actually. Nira was demented, so that's a reason why she's dangerous right there, but I wanted her on the base so I could communicate with her and end whatever havoc she had planned.

"Working with her is working with the Resistance," I began my lie, "and seeing as they are in mental possession of one of our most dangerous warriors, we must keep Nira here to communicate with them. The enemy is in control until we have Nira back. But do not worry, President – using the Force, I can rid Nira of her brainwashing."

I glanced out into the hangar to see that the ship containing Nira and the pilot was floating through the metal threshold.

I then walked out of the control room, down the stairs, and onto the main floor of the hangar.

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