Breeder ~ A Kylo Ren Fanfiction

21

Kylo Ren's POV

The banquet left me feeling odd. There was a strange warmth near my solar plexus, and thoughts that normally stuck in my mind for days on end simply floated away. Was this the pull to the light? No, I didn't think so. The light felt uncomfortable, oppressive, familiar. It brought me back to training with Luke and my mother's lies about the Republic and the Resistance. On top of that, the techniques the Supreme Leader taught me to reject the light did nothing to remove this feeling from me, meaning it was something separate from the force altogether.

I couldn't sleep, needed to dispell some energy, so I went to the training room. The handful of people sparring there scurried away when I entered, a phenomenon that usually made me feel powerful and in control, but now it passed by without relish. 

Igniting my saber, I hacked away at the dummies set up, dicing them to pieces. The room, being sentient, adjusted for my skill level, sending metal contraptions swinging toward my head, which I dealt with effortlessly. It wasn't until the lights cut out and I had to fight invisible attackers that I started to experience difficulties. Normally, I could see the obstacles in my mind, but, for whatever reason, I couldn't connect to the force as easily as usual. When one of the metal balls hit me in the back of the head, I fell to the floor, the lights in the training room coming on, the silver hilt of my lightsaber rolling away from me. This hadn't happened since- well, it had never happened, not on Starkiller. I came to the First Order skilled enough to handle every level of this program.

So brute strength wasn't doing it for me. I'd been meaning to talk to Hux about the mobile units on Colinine, the ones that had been sent to find the map to Skywalker.

I found him in one of the more lavish meeting rooms, the Zamo-Lanians with him. Their conversation stopped when they saw me, though Gavor-ya's smile remained, quite unsettlingly.

"Ren, what a pleasant surprise," Hux said with a stiff upper lip.

"I need to speak with you about some fairly urgent matters." When he didn't dismiss the diplomats immediately, I added, "Now, General."

He rolled his eyes and exchanged bows with the Zamo-Lanians, folding his arms over his chest. "I hope you have a very good reason for interrupting my negotiations, Ren. This alliance is of the utmost importance."

"How important can it be? They're Republic sympathizers-"

"They were Republic sympathizers who we've won over to our cause, a very impressive feat," Hux said proudly, nose in the air. "What do you want? I doubt you came here to argue over the quality of our newest allies."

I hated that smug bastard. One day I'd slice his head clean off his body, display it where everyone can see and know what happens to those who cross me. But until then, "Mobile units left for Colinine weeks ago. The Supreme Leader said we have good reason to believe what we find there could lead to Skywalker. I'm here to discuss the findings."

"Do I detect a hint of personal investment?" Hux asked with a smirk. 

"I have a 'personal investment' in the success of the First Order, and that requires we find and contain the last Jedi, wouldn't you agree?" The feelings of warmth and peace were dissipating, replaced by slow boiling rage.

"We did find a map, but only a piece of it, not large enough to be of any real use." 

"Well, where is the rest of it?"

The General shrugged, indifferent. "Perhaps further in the eastern sector? We'll keep looking, but with the Resistance attempting to thwart us at every turn, we have more pressing matters than finding your... finding Luke Skywalker. I'm sure you understand." 

I turned and stormed towards the door without another word, not trusting myself leave the General alive if I stayed any longer.

"Oh, and Ren!" I paused to listen to Hux, against my better judgment. "Your Breeder looked especially... ravishing last night. Gavor-ya and I were discussing it before you came in."

I waited till the doors to the meeting room clicked shut before punching a crack in the wall beside it. That insolent little shit- I should skin him alive, cutting off his fingers and toes one by one. How dare he talk about my Astrid like that? I stormed off to the Breeder Baraks, despite the fact it was before wake-up time. My Astrid, my Astrid, my Astrid.