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Second Officer Hinnman had never been a fan of kids. He'd never liked them, and tried his best to stay clear of them.
He believed it to be one of the reasons why he'd flourished so well in the First Order; apart from the order and control-aspect, one he really supported in all and everything, there was a strikt control of the populations under First Order control. Namely, the kids where put into the Stormtrooper program, or sent to an Academy for training to become officers or specialists.
You could go your whole career in the First Order without meeting a single child first hand, and Hinnman appreciated that a lot. He hadn't met a child since he himself was one, he was quite sure, and there was no reason for that to ever change, if he had anything to say about it.
Except this moment.
As Hinnman was a Second officer, he was only allowed on the bridge if the First officers where either on scheduled leave or couldn't attend because of unscheduled sickness, which only happened in the most rare occasions. He'd been on the bridge a few times since raising to his current rank, and he was all too familiar with the controls before him, but it was a special type of feeling sitting here.
He could look up, and more often then not, he'd see Grand Marshal Hux walking past on the walkway above his station, or see him talking to other officers, or in the rare occasion of a firefight, standing at the front of the bridge, keeping a close eye on everything around him, occasionally barking out orders that where carried out flawlessly and fast.
Hinnman had been on the bridge at one such occasion, and it had been glorious; seeing Grand Marshal Hux in such control and power was a sight to see, but he did not envy the regular First officers. He'd also seen the Grand Marshal tear some disobedient newbie a new one for not being focused enough, and therefore managing to fail to report a minor asteroid field in their path.
That sight had stayed with Hinnman for longer then he cared to admit, and he'd already had more then a healthy amount of fearful respect for the Grand Marshal.
Right now though, that feeling was far from present, because of one little change; there was a little human-like kid playing among the stationed officers.
Hinnman had been observing it for some time now, seen how it crawled around under the chairs and sneaking from console to console. He was quite sure other officers noticed it, but none seemed to react, and that was freaking him out. Was he the only one seeing this? There must be some alarm going of somewhere, with such a little kid running around among the major officers on the freaking bridge, but none seemed to care. They must have noticed it. Right?
Hinnman watched it closely, seeing it come closer, sneaking among the controls and being all out bad at it. There was no finesse to it, so he'd already ruled out that it was a seasoned spy, sent to infiltrate the First Order, maybe assassinate Grand Marshal Hux. It had been his first thought, but the kid was way too obvious, so he hadn't raised any alarm. He wasn't even entirely sure the kid was real.
Then a college of him had interacted with it; the kid, who couldn't have been more then just a few years or age, if it even was a human, had turned to look at it, as the kid bumped into the officer. The officer had smiled courtly, and immediately turned back to their console. It had confused Hinnman more then a little, but then he knew he wasn't the only one seeing it, and he let it be.
As long as it didn't come any closer, he would be able to handle it. Probably.
Stars, he really hated kids. He turned to look at it again, seeing it 'sneak' over completely open space, and he turned back to his console scowling. Such a stupid little thing. How could it be allowed to be in here? Should he get the attention of one of his commanders, just to verify that they knew it was here?
He didn't have knowledge of any set of regulations concerning 'kid on the bridge', so he just ignored it. Tried to, at least.
Not far later, he heard movements just behind him, and he froze. He closed his eyes and wished for it not to be the kid; he didn't have any kind of patience left to deal with whatever kid this was; if it was the offspring of someone present, or just a random runaway, didn't really matter, because he was not gonna interact with it.
Then the kid got up from the floor, and somehow managed to lean in on Hinnmans' console. It was smiling, just a little bit, and Hinnman closed his eyes, waited a few seconds, and then opened them again.
The kid was still there. Looking at him.
"Get away" he whispered, staring down at the little kid.
It didn't move.
He scowled, already out of patience. The kid only stared at him. He had never liked being stared at.
Hinnman threw out his hand, slapping the kid on the face with the back of his hand, seeing it loosing balance, take quite a few steps back while doing so. He hadn't even hit it that hard; his parents used to hit him all the time, for even the smallest reasons, and he knew an open hand was barely enough to count as a real slap.
But this kid held its cheek, gave him a tearful look which he responded to with another angry scowl, and then it went away.
Apparently this little kid didn't get hit very often. If it hung around the bridge more times, Hinnman would have to trouble changing that.
Something in the corner of his eye caught his attention, and he looked up to see the little kid running over the walkway before him. Hinnman was a bit confused, and looked around, and saw that the officer right next to him was openly staring - at him. Not the kid, which was openly running right for...
Hinnman drew a deep breath when the little kid ran straight up to the Grand Marshal, past the commanders he was talking to, and hugged his leg. He'd never even heard of anything like this, and was sure that the kid was doomed.
~*~
Grand Marshal Hux was discussing the recent hit on a rumoured Resistance base, which had been a trap. A quite fruitless trap, as the Order had lost no ships or Stromtroopers going in, and even though they hadn't found anything of value, it hadn't been a complete failure.
The commanders had ideas on how to effectively identify misleading intelligence, and Hux was listening intently on the conversation, when he felt something bump into his leg. He looked down, and saw Rae hugging his leg tightly, tears on her cheeks.
Inside him, something shifted, and the conversation was completely forgotten. Stroking one hand through her hair, he looked up and around, trying to find the source of whatever had hurt Rae.
~*~
Hinnman tried to stare back at the officer by his side, who had dropped their mouth open in chock, and almost missed how the Grand Marshal reacted as the little kid fell into him.
Suddenly, the Grand Marshal was torn from his conversation, and Hinnman was sure it was to berate whoever brought a little kid into the bridge, but then he reached a hand down, to stroke the kids hair.
Hinnman stared. The Grand Marshal was acting like he knew the kid, and even though it was crying into his perfectly pressed pants in the middle of the bridge, he didn't do anything to tear it away from him. To Hinnman's complete surprise, the kid actually looked up towards Hux, and their eyes met.
Then the kid was pointing towards him. Towards Hinnman.
The Grand Marshal's eyes turned, and bore into him. Hinnman met them, and his whole body went cold. Whatever he'd seen before, during his shifts on the bridge; whatever he'd seen the Grand Marshal do and however he'd acted, he'd never seen this look.
There was rage, but deep down. Nothing would ever bring down the cool of this esteemed and calculating Grand Marshal, the youngest in the history of the First Order, and that made it so much worse. Hinnman saw it, going through Hux's eyes, the complete and encompassing anger, but held down by powers he himself did not in any way possess.
This was the look that killed generals, that made Resistance spies tell their secrets, and Hinnman was the sole subject of the full force of that look.
There was no way to survive this, was all he was able to think, before his whole world turned around - for a brief moment, he actually thought that the look itself had killed him, but then he felt the pressure over his neck and throat, and the bridge came back into focus as it was rushing past.
Then another pair of eyes was right in front of him; dark, raging, and completely merciless.
Kylo Ren, the Supreme Leader himself, had entered the bridge, and he was holding Hinnman in a Force-hold, so close to his face that he could feel the heat from his exhale, and Hinnman was no longer able to breathe.
Then he felt the invisible grip around his throat tighten. Black spots appeared, he clawed at his throat, feeling nothing, but completely unable to breathe.
There was a quiet over the whole bridge. He couldn't hear anything else then his own attempts at surviving, his bodys futile attempts to claw his way out of an inescapable grip.
"Ren!"
The voice of the Grand Marshal was clear and sharp, but it did nothing to the Knight before him; he didn't even blink as Hux called out after him, and Hinnman was beginning to feel his body going pliant and soft, his vision fading away. There was nothing to save him now. Nothing.
He didn't know the Grand Marshal was the custodian of a little kid. He didn't know. He had no idea. How could he have known? How could he have known the little kid was under the protection of the Leader of the Knight of Ren himself?
Hinnman heard someone call out again, but his vision was failing, and he felt his mind go blank. All he could think was that he was dying. He was not going to wake up from this.
He'd made a grave misstake, and now he was paying for it.
~*~
"Ren! Not in front of Rae! Let him down!"
The body of the second degree officer Hinnman fell to the floor, and Hux feared for the worst. He put his hand over Rae's head and turned her away, facing his leg, as he stared at Kylo and the body before him.
"Ren! Is he dead?"
Kylo looked down at the body before him, poked it with his foot, before he spoke. "No. The trash is still alive."
Hux let out the breath he'd been holding, and straightened his back. Kylo turned his face up, and looked at him; Hux knew what he wanted to say, even without the mind-tricks he had, but they'd already discussed this; they wouldn't kill anyone in front of Rae until she'd finish her years at the Academy. If Kylo was to break that deal so early his her life...
"What are you even doing here? You have a meeting with the Knights of Ren, you shouldn't be here." Hux walked closer to the knight, and let his hold on Rae go; she turned, saw Kylo, and beamed at him. She didn't even give the lifeless form of the officer in front of him a glance, before she left Hux's side and ran over to her other dad.
Kylo bent down, and opened up his arms for her to fall into; he hugged her tight, and lifted her up before he answered Hux.
"I felt her distress, and I came as fast as I could. You can't fault me for that."
Hux sighed, because Kylo was right. He himself hadn't even noticed anything was off before Rae was hugging his leg, and even if he could handle a single second degree officer, it spoke about his ability to protect her.
Looking around, Hux saw the faces of everyone around him; officers who where terrified, but also those that held their chest, smiling at Kylo, or at Rae, and the confused commanders he'd talked to just a moment earlier. He nodded towards them, trying to tell them he was gonna be just a second, and then shared a stern look around the room.
The officers where quick to return to duty, with a few of them giving him a smile before they turned away. One even gave a thumbs up, which Hux felt was completely unnecessary and most definitely against regulations. He put the name of the officer in question in his memory, but wasn't going to dismiss them. Probably.
Now standing so much closer to Kylo, Hux gave the Troopers by the side of the entrance a glance and a small wave, and they where quick to carry the unconscious officer away to the medbay. With a last look at them, he turned his focus fully towards Kylo, who held Rae against his chest, smiling at her as she pulled softly at his hair.
Kylo was talking softly to Rae, and completely ignored Hux.
"Are you ok, little fighter? Did the stupid officer hurt you?"
Rae looked over at Hux, then nodded at Kylo, and Hux watched his gaze turn dark, still with a smile on his face. "Did he now? What did he do? Did he hit you? Or yell at you?"
Rae turned her head down, and when Kylo bumped her little body up with his hip, she shook her head and mumbled something Hux couldn't hear.
"He hit you?" Kylo said, and the smile on his face disappeared. Hux felt himself go rigid, at the pure thought of anyone laying hand on Rae, at anyone especially under his command daring to lay a single hand on this darling little thing. But whatever he was feeling was nothing to what he saw portrayed in the look Kylo gave him, as he turned around, met Hux's gaze, and then turned towards where the Troopers had taken the offending party.
Rae, who still sat at Kylo's hip, held up by his arm, smiled as he turned his whole body, even laughed. Hux saw that, and smiled. She was going to grow up a relentless force of nature, he was sure.
But they'd made a deal, and so Hux reached out towards Kylo, stifling his own rage, and grabbed hold of the knights arm. The look he got was pure poison, but he knew it wasn't directed at him.
"Take her with you, back to your meeting. I'll handle this."
"But..."
"Ren." Hux met Kylo's gaze with his own, knowing that the steel in his own eyes was one of the few things that could manage to at least to try contain the rage that was the Supreme Leader.
A moment passed, and then Rae was pulling softly at Kylo's hair.
"Please? I hungry." The little one spoke softly, meeting Kylo's eyes without hesitation, and Hux saw him melt at the spot. Rae had that effect on Kylo. On both of them, really, he thought, as he caught himself actually smiling at the little thing. Just a quick little turn at the corner of his lips, and nothing in his posture betrayed it; he was still standing with his hands behind his back, chin lifted just enough to be able to look down his nose at the remaining Troopers in front of him.
"Oh yeah? What are you hungry for?" Kylo asked, every trace of darkness evaporated, as he looked at the little kid in his arms.
"Uhm... food!"
Kylo laughed, before turning to give Hux a nod, and then he walked away.
They shared a last look, Kylo looking over his shoulder back at Hux, before the doors closed and Hux was left on the bridge. He felt a little sting, as he always did when Rae disappeared from view, but the affection at the thought of Kylo's eyes as he looked at her was enough to soothe it over.
He took a breath, and then turned. Every single one of the commanders and officers turned their head just before he could see them, but not fast enough. He steeled his eyes, and glanced over them all, seeing them process their orders and focusing on their work.
"Sir? We have a incoming transmission from a First Order ship, with potential sensitive information."
The officer that had approached him had obviously waited until Kylo and Rae had disappeared; Hux took the pad handed to him and noticed that the time-stamp was almost more then a minute ago. Sloppy. He looked up at the officer in question, and saw how his disapproving stare made their cheeks blush, knowing that they'd been stalling. But he would let it pass, just this one time.
As long as his crew didn't make a habit out of it.
~*~
Hinnman woke up to glaring lights and a dull kind of pain. He opened his eyes, but his head hurt too much, and he closed them again quickly.
"Oh, good, you're awake."
The voice was crisp and clear, but he didn't recognise it at all.
"What..."
"Still now. You are in the medbay. You suffered a pretty serious concussion, and you've been unconscious for a few hours. I advice that you lay still and try not to use your eyes too much right now."
Hinnman opened one eye, and saw a medic in First Order uniform by his side.
Wait. He'd been on the bridge. He'd...
Realisation and memory flooded over him. That little kid... and then the Grand Marshal, staring him down, and then...
"Did... the Supreme... Oh stars..."
He heard a chuckle from his side. "Oh yeah, you managed to get som serious enemies earlier. I'm completely amazed at the fact you're still alive, seriously. The Supreme Leader doesn't go easy on anything that threatens his kid, and I completely understand it. Seriously, I don't understand how you could even think of laying a hand on the kid... you must be really stupid."
"What... he... has a kid?"
For a moment, there was silence.
"Oh that would explain it. You didn't know? Rae is the kid of Grand Marshal Hux and the Supreme Leader."
Hinnman felt his whole world shift. That kid was...? Hux and Ren's? Where they...?
"Oh stars, you're really out of the loop, are you? Like, I get that it's a bit hush hush, but it's totally an open secret. They've been... well, together, I guess, since the the Supreme Leader promoted Hux to Grand Marshal. I've heard rumours it started even earlier that that, actually... that they've been at each other since the time of the former Supreme Leader."
"But... the kid?"
"Oh Rae? The rumours say she's an orphan they picked up at some backwater planet. I'm not sure about that, I think it's some sort of spawn from the Supreme Leader's powers, maybe some kind of union between him and the Grand Marshal... Look, there's a lot of rumours and speculation, but the bottom line is that she's under the protection of the most powerful individuals in the universe."
Hinnman stared at the medic.
"And you, my friend, managed to piss both of them off."
The smile that met him was... unsymmetrical. It didn't fit the eyes. A very bad feeling started to raise inside Hinnman's body. Something was off, something was going very wrong.
"I don't have much for kids, myself. Never had any, don't plan on it, you know how it is, but I still know enough to at least give them some space. Just because I don't like them doesn't mean I don't respect them. So, well, I guess I'm trying to say that I understand that you'd hit her, but myself? I'd never do such a thing. It's just never worth it, I think."
Hinnman's eyes where completely open now, staring at the medic. They where fiddling with something, and even though his head hurt so incredibly much, he tried to understand and see what where happening.
"So. I'd say you'd need to rethink you life-choices. But I won't, since I know that you won't be making any more."
The edge of his vision began to darken, to blur, and the pain in his head was a dull pounding that seemed way too distant.
His head fell back, and as his vision darkened even more, he saw the medic lean over him. In a last, futile attempt he tried to reach out, but his body wouldn't respond.
His vision darkened completely, but he could still hear, just enough to realise what the medic, it that was what they really where, said to him:
"Armitage Hux sends his regards."