Anyone can deal with victory. Only the mighty can bear defeat. The statement is pithy, but true. Kylo Ren glances around the shuttle full of stunned faces speaking in hushed voices. No, he thinks, there are not any mighty among the First Order today.

Not now that the Starkiller is no more.

Normally, most men give Kylo Ren a wide berth even if they pretend not to keep their distance. Such are his rank and reputation. But this shuttle is overloaded and Kylo doesn't get his normal privacy. Making matters worse, Hux is seated at his side. The young general keeps wringing his hands and pulling at his collar. He shoots Kylo another disgusted look and mutters, "I still can't believe it. The oscillator had our highest level of shielding. X-wing ordinance can't penetrate that. How did this happen?"

Han Solo, Kylo thinks to himself. Han Solo is how this happened. The man helped take out two Death Stars and now the Starkiller. Blowing shit up turned out to be his father's best talent.

Beside him, the nervous Hux shakes his head and mutters again as he makes a fist, "How did this happen?"

Kylo ignores him. There will be plenty of opportunities for post mortem discussions about the Starkiller. He's not in the mood for one now.

The First Knight of the First Order sits stripped bare to the waist. The remains of three first aid kits lay strewn at his feet atop his discarded mask, surcoat and shirt. He has several saber burns, most notably to his face and shoulder. But it's the wookiee's crossbow blaster shot that is his real injury. Kylo knows that he has lost quite a bit of blood and he will surely have a date with a bacta tank in the near future. But the patchwork of bacta patches he now wears seems to have stopped the bleeding. Too bad they don't help with the pain.

The pain is as much mental as it is physical. For it is humbling to have been bloodied and beaten. And by an untrained young girl, no less.

But Hux doesn't know that. Hux only knows that he had located Kylo Ren as instructed by the Leader. The general had found him struggling to his feet nearby the unconscious Resistance scavenger girl Kylo had knocked out with the Force. If Hux had arrived a minute earlier, he would have seen the girl looming over Kylo's fallen form brandishing her sword for the kill. But at the last second with his last bit of concentration, Kylo had grabbed victory from the jaws of defeat.

Hux had protested that there wasn't time to get the girl onboard the shuttle and why bother to save the enemy anyway. But Kylo had held firm. The Supreme Leader had ordered Kylo to bring him the girl, and bring him the girl he would. Plus, the girl has seen the map to Skywalker. If nothing else, Kylo will preserve this link to discovering his uncle's hiding spot. And perhaps when his Master sees the prize his Apprentice has brought him, he will be more merciful about this defeat. For the capture of the girl is the one bright spot in this otherwise very grim day.

Kylo looks around again. He is the only injured man onboard. Most of the other occupants are Hux's senior officers who, like the general, have never seen real combat. They are Academy-type textbook soldiers. The children of the Imperial Exiles who a generation ago had coalesced in the Unknown Regions and the Outer Rim to form the First Order. These men grew up on stories of the glory days of Darth Vader's Imperial Navy and the order and pomp of Palpatine's Empire.

Not so with him. Kylo had grown up with stories of commando raids and Death Star trench runs. He's not surprised that the Resistance had tried to scuttle the Starkiller, nor is he surprised that they succeeded. He's Han Solo's son and he knows that shielding is only a mild deterrent to fanatics with bombs. Really, Hux ought to know that too. Didn't the nerdy general ever study the Battle of Endor?

Hux is muttering again. Kylo just turns away.

Kylo has long thought these sorts of super weapons to be a waste of resources and therefore too concentrated a risk. For no matter how expert your engineering, there is always some version of a small thermal exhaust port right below the main port that is a weak spot. History has proved this twice already. But the First Order in its arrogance and insistence on recreating the past, had doggedly built its own version. And cynically, Kylo had wondered whether his Master had to have his own bigger, better Death Star since Darth Sidious had owned two before him. The Sith are competitive like that.

Kylo glances over at Hux. His would-be rival is probably a goner. The Starkiller was his command, after all. One thing is for certain, Kylo isn't going to die over this. The Leader wouldn't have bothered to order Hux to retrieve him if he had wanted his Apprentice dead. But Kylo knows from long experience that just because he's going to live does not mean that the next few days will be fun. For Leader Snoke is an expert at inflicting non-lethal pain.

And so Kylo is hoping that the discovery of this untrained, newly awakened girl will blunt some of his Master's fury. That and the news of the death of Han Solo. After all, the Apprentice has done what was asked of him: he has killed his father and brought the girl to his Master. So perhaps between killing Hux and killing this girl, Snoke's bloodlust over the loss of the Starkiller will be mostly satisfied.

Where is the girl? Kylo looks around. He has no idea where she is. But she's here onboard. He can sense her presence in the Force. For it's hard to miss all that blinding Light shining out at his mind. It's like squinting into the sun on a bright summer's day. Dazzling him.

For a moment, Kylo closes his eyes and opens his mind and wallows in the Light. Giving in to the temptation here where it is safe to do so. Soon enough they will be at his Master's hidden stronghold and Kylo will have to resolutely reject the call to the Light. And since his Master knows of Kylo's weakness, he will probably make Kylo kill the girl himself. To teach his Apprentice to overcome temptation and to reaffirm his commitment to the Dark. Kylo will, of course, comply. He always complies. And it's no big deal. Killing has become second nature to him after years of practice. For he is immune to the Light.

He shakes his head now as if to clear it. To thrust away the girl's creeping Force imprint. He is immune to the Light, he reminds himself. He is a Sith Apprentice and he is immune to the Light.

Four hours later, the shuttle is landing and Kylo Ren is back in his blood encrusted, tattered uniform. He has left off the mask, for Kylo will face this meeting head on and look the Leader in the eye. Standing ready to disembark, he projects a calm he does not feel. For through the viewport, he sees his Master waiting on the landing platform. That is not typical. And it's not an encouraging sign.

Kylo is not the only one who recognizes the old Muun Sith waiting below. A murmur ripples through the crowd of men and with it a strong jolt of fear. Most of the officers onboard have never been in the Leader's presence. But to a man, they have heard the stories.

Kylo exchanges a look with Hux. It is a rare moment of solidarity between them. For neither man relishes having to report to the Supreme Leader today. Normally, the aggressive Hux would be elbowing Kylo out of the way to take the lead. But not today. The general hangs back so Kylo Ren is the first man off the shuttle. The Apprentice knows better than to appear reluctant to accept a just punishment for failure. He stalks forward purposefully, ignoring the searing pain in his side that seems to reverberate up his back with each footfall. Then he takes a knee in the traditional obeisance that is his Sith Master's due.

Hux appears at his side to stand at rigid military attention. It's probably not possible, but the general looks even paler than usual. Behind them Kylo hears the clattering of feet as the remaining officers, troopers and crew assemble in their wake.

In all, they are not quite thirty men. And they represent the bulk of the survivors of the Starkiller. For today has been a defeat of enormous proportions, costly in terms of men, supplies and ships. The loss of the Finalizer would have been less of a setback than the implosion of Starkiller Base, he thinks.

Snoke steps up to Kylo first. He regards his Apprentice steadily. Then abruptly he reaches to tear the bacta bandage from Kylo's face. The slashing saber burn is revealed.

"She landed a blow," his Master observes flatly for all to hear. "Good. Now you look like a man."

Kylo reaches into his surcoat and produces the girl's stolen saber. Silently he offers it. His Master accepts the sword, turning it over in his spindly Muun hands. How covetous he appears as he strokes the hilt. "This is a Jedi's sword," he concludes softly.

"It is Anakin Skywalker's Jedi sword, my Master."

The Muun raises an eyebrow. The expression makes his ruined gargoyle face even more bizarre. "What an extraordinary coincidence," he says dryly. And Kylo Ren knows full well that his Master does not believe in coincidences. He believes in the Force. Leader Snoke looks up now to scan the crowd behind them. "You have brought her to me. Where is she?"

Of course, his Master would sense the girl in the Force. The girl with all that bewitching Light. It is like a siren's call to a Sith. The Resistance girl is just begging to be corrupted by Darkness. Or maybe to corrupt the Darkness. Kylo's not sure. The Light can be dangerous like that. It is not to be underestimated. That's why it's best to be immune.

Kylo throws a head over his shoulder and orders, "Bring the prisoner." The ragtag assembly looks around. Where is the prisoner? Evidently she has been forgotten and left onboard.

Snoke is in no mood to be kept waiting. He lunges forward a few paces as two troopers scurry up the ramp. A few moments later they reappear, each holding one of the girl's arms as they drag her forward. They drop her unconscious form in a heap at the top of the ramp. Then one trooper gives her a savage kick that tumbles her over and over. She rolls to land face down at the Supreme Leader's feet.

All thirty pairs of eyes watch as the tall Muun lumbers down beside the girl. Then reaches to turn her over gently. The old Sith looks for a long moment down at her face. Asleep in the Force and now bloodied from a split lip, the girl is less appealing than ever, Kylo thinks as he looks on. She's still dressed in smelly rags and sporting filthy scraped back hair that's probably crawling with lice. After having carried the girl to his shuttle on Takodana, Kylo had known to keep his distance in the interrogation room. He had come as close as possible to touching her without actually doing so. For even with his gloves on, he didn't want to risk it again.

But apparently the Muun has no qualms about touching her. For he busies himself untying the girl's hair from its trio of knots. Taking his time as he unwinds it and spreads it about her shoulders. It's an odd gesture, and Kylo does not know what to make of it. But surely it has meaning. Everything his Master does has meaning.

The decrepit Muun struggles stiffly to his feet now. Then he beckons to the troopers still standing at the top of the ramp. He must want them to carry the prisoner inside. But no, the Supreme Leader has other plans. As the two men snap to attention before him awaiting orders, the Muun ignites the Skywalker sword. With one lightning fast spinning swing, his Master fells both men. Cleaving their bodies neatly. Then the Supreme Leader turns his attention back to the confused assembly.

"No one harms her," the Sith decrees as he scans the crowd.

The Muun returns to Kylo now and begins issuing more instructions. "Have her carried inside. Clean her up and see to her injuries. Have her monitored but do not treat her like a prisoner. Then get yourself in a bacta tank. It is time to complete your training."

His Master now glances over at the rigid Hux for the first time. Eyeing him with cold disdain. "Today the general here has lost the battle. Lost it badly. But you, my Apprentice, may have won the war." The Leader stares long and hard at the redheaded general, as if deciding. Then he orders, "General Hux, you will await me in my audience chamber."

Kylo knows that tone. It does not bode well for Hux.