Missing Piece

20. Saved, again

  I woke up in a bright white room, surrounded by curtains. The hospital wing.
  Someone was holding my hand and intertwined their gloved fingers with mine.
  I peeked, without fully opening my eyes.
  It was Hux, his face was as stoic as always, his eyes, however, told something different.
  "This won't happen again, I will keep you save. Even if I have to order you to do so..." he promised to himself.
I moved my body to warn him that I was about to "wake up".
His hand let go of mine.
I pretended to be surprised to see him, "Hux?"
He caressed my temple with the soft flutter of his thumb. "Don't act surprised, you know that I care about you." Hux paused, staring into the unknown. "Even if I'm not sure in what way, caring about someone is something new to me. Frankly, it can be frightening. Every time you get hurt and..."
So he shares the same experiences...
"Don't worry Hux, everything is going to be alright. Hey, I'm still alive right?"
"You're right, clever one." Hux chuckled softly. "And please feel free to call me by my first name, Armitage."
A flush spread through my cheeks.
Armitage's expression worried. "You might not have died, but you did gain a sunstroke and exhaustion." He blamed my red face on the sunstroke.
"You will experience a headache when the medicines wear off. And since I'm still your General, I will transfer command to the nursing droid. You are allowed to leave the infirmary as soon as the droid releases you, no minute earlier."
I nodded. "Yes of course." Not.
The moment was interrupted by a lower officer.
"Sir, Ren commanded you to come." The officer slightly cringed.
I noticed how Armitage's eyes hardened.
"Don't kill the messenger," I whispered, a small smirk plastered on my face.
He sighed. "I won't, I'll leave that to Ren. But he, however, isn't going to get off so easily." Armitage gave me a quick peck on my forehead before turning to the officer, demanding and intimidating as always.
The officer had watched our little moment, which had been a mistake.
"And who allowed you to take a break? Back to work!" Armitage ordered.
Even I shivered due to his tone and ice-cold eyes.

As a technician who usually always had work, I got bored quite quickly. I called for the nursing droid. A human-like droid appeared next to my bed.
"Is there anything wrong Miss (Y/n)?"
I sat up. "When do I get to go?"
The droid sounded kind, but I wasn't very pleased with its answer. "Very soon, just another two days."
Two days?! What are they thinking? That I have a concussion or something?!
Within seconds my brain produced a plan.
"I think there's something wrong with that machine, it's been beeping the whole time." I pointed at the direction of a good working machine next to my bed.
The droid turned towards it, with its back turned to me. "I don't see what's wrong Miss-."
I pulled the exact right wire out of the robot. "The droid courses weren't for nothing after all."
I'm not totally innocent.
I smirked in myself, proud of my work. I sneaked out of the hospital wing, to the canteen, hoping to find Matt since he wasn't in the infirmary.

The canteen was empty.
I mentally slapped my forehead, something I seemed to do a lot.
Of course, it's still work hours.
My belly rumbled as I took a plate of soup.
Better eat something light and healthy.
After finishing my soup, I realised that this was just as boring since there was no one to talk to.

I decided to go to my room, to just work on some technician stuff, when someone called after me.
Despite the helmet I could hear it was a woman.
"You're (Y/n) right? That girl that managed to have something with the General, Kylo Ren and even that dumb radar technician."
I turned around and stood face to face with a tall stormtrooper.
Sigh.
"No, dear trooper. I merely befriended them, I think. Nothing more."
The stormtrooper stepped even closer, inserting dominance with her towering height. "Really? I think it's more than that. I heard that the General carried you in his arms, back on Pasaana after you blacked out."
That's new information.
But I had to keep up their reputations, and mine.
"I'm sorry that I have to bring it to you, buddy, but your informer lies. The General would never touch someone inferior to him, let alone carry. Plus, I have nothing with the earlier mentioned men."
I felt uncomfortable as the stormtrooper bridged the tiny amount of space between us.
"Did you call my friend a liar?"
Why does it always have to be me, don't these stormtroopers work or something?
"Not necessarily, but he did inform you wrongly."
"That sounds like an insult if you ask me."
That's why I didn't ask you, dummy.
"My apologies, but I'm really not in the mood for this." A wave of dizziness struck me and my head began to sting. "The one thing your informer was right about is that I blacked out on Pasaana. So please just leave it alone and keep your stupid thoughts to yourself, thank you very much."
And of course that didn't work, why would it?
"You can't just shove me aside because I'm right! That's incredibly rude!"
So obviously gossiping isn't rude.
"If you think I'm rude, I have to inform you that gossiping isn't very nice either. And that's what I call good, believable information. Not the junk your friend gave you."
Aaaand I crossed a line.
"You pathetic, nerdy technician, let's see how smart you are against my blaster."
The trooper stepped back and pointed her weapon at me.
Of all days, why today?
The 'fight' had caused a lot of stress, which made my headache play up.
"Any last words, genius?"
The pain made it hard for me to think, so I couldn't come up with a plan or a witty comeback.
Luckily the black figure could. A certain someone with a dangerous sounding, robotic voice, standing right behind the trooper.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you."
The stormtrooper didn't recognise the voice and made the mistake to insult him before turning around. "And which cigarette addict dares to interfere?" As soon as the woman turned around, she bumped into Kylo's chest. She was quite tall, but Kylo was more so, broader, and far more intimidating.
"Oh."
"Exactly."
The trooper turned around and ran as fast as her tall legs could take her.
Against my predictions, Kylo didn't go after her.
"I think our dear General Hux would like to handle this one."
I was very surprised by Kylo's actions.
Did he get the order to calm down?
No, he would never listen. Perhaps there are personal reasons in play?
Thank you brain for being so useful for something unimportant and being so useless when saving my own damn life.

"Thank you for saving me, again. You really should stop doing that."
Kylo circled around me, checking if I hadn't got hurt. "Perhaps I should, but I promised Matt. Besides, you're worth saving..." he strayed. "The First Order can't loose their best technician," Kylo added.
My heart made a little jump, I knew it wasn't really a compliment compliment, but in my ears it sounded like one.
"Maybe this isn't the moment to ask, but have you seen Matt? I would like to see how he's doing after the mission. I haven't seen him in the infirmary, while I'm pretty sure he didn't leave the desert without any complaints."
Kylo shook his head. "No, I haven't seen him. Yet, I can tell him where you are, through the Force."
My eyes widened, I knew I could never understand the Force, but that doesn't mean it can't be fascinating. "Is that really possible?"
Kylo nodded. "Yes" (No).
"Could you tell him that I'm at the docks, I'd like to clear my mind."
I waited awkwardly in silence, playing with the hem of my jacket. "Sooo, did you tell him?"
"Yes," responded Kylo.
"Well that was fast and seemed to be rather easy," I stated.
"Well, yes," reacted Kylo, not sure how one pretends to send a 'Forcemail.'
"See you around, Commander. Call me whenever you need me."
Ren nodded, "Head Technician." He turned around and walked away with fast strides, his cape flowing like ink.

He seems to be in a hurry.