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Once inside the shuttle, general Hux ordered the stormtroopers to lay Ren down on the passenger compartment's narrow bed. The troopers obeyed his command hurriedly. Ren could feel their silent gratitude as the general commanded them to leave the cabin. He half expected Hux to leave him too but he stayed at Ren's side, or rather stood over him. Ren was still adamant not to show Hux any gratitude but the general's cold stare didn't seem to seek it. Ren stared back at him in deference of an unnamed emotion. "It seems that the scavenger is a most skilled warrior," the general said at last. The unexpected compliment to the disgusting garbage picker infuriated Ren! Had he had any strength left in him, and no fear of his master's ire, Ren would have shown the general.... He did not know exactly what but his hurt dignity urged him to act, to cover the shame of his unexpected defeat with different feelings and more satisfying acts.
Sudden smack on his face woke Ren from his brief, vehement reverie. An emergency pack of bacta had landed next to him on his bed. Hux was still standing on the same spot next to Ren, looking down on him. He was inspecting Ren's wounds with what seemed like a clinical disinterest of a professional medic. And yet Ren knew it was nothing but a civilized wrappings on Hux's ever rising, sinister desire to use his co-commander's weakened state against him. Like a lone predator evaluating his chances on a wounded prey. For a moment Kylo felt a strong impulse to provoke Hux to act on his temptation. To be defiled in privacy might make him forget about his public dishonor. A further assault on his weakened body, to be sure, but a welcome one.
"Apply the bacta before your scars become permanent reminders of our temporary defeat," the general said, breaking the spell. Ren felt more violated by his words than his own agonizing wounds or even his delirious thoughts. Unable to look Hux in the eye he fixed his gaze on the bacta package. Hux left the cabin with no further words, and if he did spare Ren a one final sneer before his exit, he did not notice. His eyes shut, Ren felt faint wetness on his face. His attempts to hold back sobs failed miserably. He missed his mask. He hated Hux. But the most he hated traitors and other worthless garbage lifeforms that contributed to the unforeseeable success of the Resistance. Soon when he will have them all destroyed, Ren assuaged himself, it will all be better. Victories are coming. The Order will celebrate him. Hux will regard him with respect and admiration. And his master will be the one feeling gratitude for him!
Drawing strength from his fantasies Ren slowly reached to the bacta, tore the package open, and started applying it on his wounds. And as bacta took its healing effect on his skin, Ren's mind formed a startling thought, one he hasn't dared to think consciously before. Because if he, Kylo Ren, The Master of the Knights of Ren, were to accomplish all that... then... wouldn't he be the one deserving all the glory and credit of their victory? Then would he not be the most fit to be the Supreme Leader of The Order? And if he could do away with his current master as he had with the former master of his knights... Would it not prove he could face off his first master and not be defeated or denied like he had been up until the night the new jedi order had been justifiably eradicated. That this time nothing could stand in their way and he could finish what Darth Vader had started.
A dull silence reigned in Ren's cabin for the rest of the journey to the Supremacy as Kylo contemplated on the extent of his newfound ambition to relieve himself of his feelings of disgrace, debasement and loneliness.