This is a follow-up/prequel/side story to Creatures behind Masks and runs simultaniously with Beneath the Facade. But this story focuses on the relationship between General Huz and Captain Phasma.
Hux couldn't even look at her. He knew she was angry with him; that she was probably boiling over with rage at his actions and what they had cost the empire. But he knew she would still obey his orders as she'd always done despite his loss of her respect.
For now.
He'd earn it back, he was sure. He'd get them out of this and they would both move on. He'd have to make sure she couldn't transfer to another ship; that she couldn't leave. That would make her even angrier but Hux found that he didn't care.
She would never disobey him, even if he asked her to kill her entire squad. She'd proven long ago that she served for him alone. He'd earned her loyalty in the years they they'd worked together.
When he'd met her, she'd been a nothing trooper. A low level scout that stood out for her almost freakish height and nothing else. But then she'd saved his life; had stepped in front of him to shield him from the blaster fire of a resistance assassin.
Normally, that would have meant nothing to him. Storm troopers were fodder; raised to fight and die for the empire. Violence and blood didn't bother him either but his eyes had been glued to the red liquid pouring from the gut of his savior and she'd never even fallen. She'd raised her blaster and fired multiple times, killing the would-be assassin.
When it was clear that the danger had passed, her body had slumped in on itself and she'd turned to him, asking if he was alright. Her voice had been weak and at the time all he could think was that he'd never have thought her to be female. She towered over most of the other troopers and was broader across than many of his men.
He had nodded as other storm troopers swarmed around them and she all but collapsed when she realized that he was safe again. Hux remembered barking orders to save her. He hadn't known her designation, hadn't known who she was at the time, and he'd looked on as she was carried away to a med ship.
It was the first and only time he'd gotten even an inkling of what she was like under that helmet. He never saw her face but he'd been able to catch a glimpse of short white blonde hair as the doors closed behind her.
It was a paltry thing to find out her designation. PF-9064. He'd grimaced while looking over the report that she'd only been in the bacta tank a day before she'd been put back to work. The wound would not have been fully healed after such a short period of time. He'd used his rank to have her at least assigned a lighter duty schedule for few weeks and then considered his debt to her paid. After all, what did he really owe to cannon fodder for doing her job?
He'd put her from his mind for the most part but every now and again, she would draw his attention, her height making her stand out amongst the rest. It was like some kind of automatic response. If they were in the same room, his eyes immediately found her.
Almost a year after the assassination attempt, he'd finally gotten the promotion to Colonel and had been assigned to oversee the completion of Star Killer Base. He would be gone from Korriban for the foreseeable future except for the occasional visits to report personally to the supreme leader.
Everything had gone according to the plan he'd set out for himself. His smug grin had felt more than justified as he walked towards the shuttle that would carry he and his things to the jewel of the empire. It would only be a matter of time before he was running the place.
He had almost missed her but as usual, where she was, his gaze followed. She was standing at the head of a squad and he noticed that she now wore a white pauldron, denoting her rank as sergeant. She hadn't been wearing it the last time he'd spotted her, so it was a recent promotion.
The squad suddenly stood to attention before beginning their march as their unit commander directed them away. He couldn't help but notice that despite her stern demeanor, her hips swayed as she walked in a way that was almost magnetic.
He would never really figure out why he did what he did next.
"PF-9064!"
She stopped and turned towards him. Her squad continued without her as she stepped away and saluted him. "Yes, sir?"
"You will accompany me in my shuttle."
He could tell he had surprised her when her helmet had tilted just slightly but her response was prompt. "Yes, sir."
She'd said nothing about her things or her squad so he'd nodded shortly and turned to continue making his way to the shuttle. He didn't hear her for a few seconds and was about to stop and turn around but then there it was… Her quiet steps as she shadowed behind him, no doubt towering over him.
And she'd never left his shadow since then. He'd moved up in the ranks and had taken her with him. He remembered every little thing about her, few things though there were. It had been fascinating to find out that she did like pretty things. He'd have thought such fanciful notions to have been beaten out of any trooper, but when she'd accompanied him on a trade planet as he looked for a suitable gift to present to his father—an admiral of the highest rank—he'd not really noticed what the sales clerk in the jewelry store was trying to sell him. He'd noticed that her helmet ever so slightly turned to admire the beautiful jewels that had shown in an array of color and light behind the glass.
After he'd made general, one of his first acts was to promote her to captain. This in and of itself was not unusual - many officers found troopers that they used as a right hand to direct the others - but Hux had done something that many of his peers had speculated on for months after.
He'd had special armor made for her. It gleamed in the light like the jewelry that she admired. And while he'd never see her in a dress like the girls who danced at his mother's galas, he'd gifted her with cape trimmed in the deepest of red. He thought with her pale blonde hair that she would look lovely in red.
And as if that hadn't been enough to set tongues wagging, he'd done what many deemed unthinkable. He'd named her. Phasma for the Phasma Nebula which no ship dared to enter because none returned.
He'd gone against everything that had been instilled in him regarding storm troopers. They were many and faceless. Expendable and ordinary. The most any could hope to do to stand out was to gain an orange pauldron when they made unit leader.
But she was now unique. She stood out from all others not just with her height but with her very presence in her chrome armor and fluttering cape that swayed as she walked.
And when he'd been standing on the bridge, powering up the weapon, a voice came over the comm that he hadn't recognized. According to the communications tech, it was Phasma's ID code. And then he'd heard her voice.
It was steady and resolute. "I will not shut down the shields. You may kill me but I will not assist you."
Hux remembered his eyes widening. He remembered yelling at the communications tech to get him a direct line to her and to shut off the bridge speakers as he put the earwig in that let him hear her.
He picked up the microphone and lowered his voice. "Phasma. Drop the shields."
He heard threatening voice return, louder and angrier. "I'm serious! I will blow a hole through that chrome skull of yours if you don't drop the shields!"
Her voice was even as though she hadn't heard him. "I will not help you, traitor. You turned from us and now you seek to destroy everything. I will not—"
Hux clenched his teeth. "Phasma, I am ordering you to lower the shield!"
"S—" She stopped, not wanting to reveal he was listening, no doubt. "You will pay for this, traitor."
Whether she was talking to him or to FN-2187, he wasn't sure he wanted to know, but he called out to the bridge staff to begin rerouting controls in preparation for raising the shields again on his command.
He listened in as she entered in the necessary codes to drop the shield. A normal trooper, even a captain, would not usually have this kind of access. But she was his closest ally and he allowed her free reign in assisting him by giving her access to classified materials. It simply had made his job easier in the past.
But as his eyes slid shut for a few seconds and his fist clenched, he realized… It had apparently also made her a target.
The shields dropped and he waited as the traitor and his companions squabbled over what to do with her. He ignored the bridge staff as they called that two dozen X-wing fighters had dropped out of hyperspace. They meant nothing. They could do nothing in those ships and he'd almost absent-mindedly ordered the base's full air support to go out to meet the resistance fighters.
Hux's eye had twitched slightly when he realized that the resistance had gotten in and he still hadn't raised the shield again. He listened to the traitor question Phasma on the whereabouts of Kylo Ren's prized prisoner. She only made them angrier when she confirmed that Kylo Ren had already sent the girl off world. He'd then bitten the inside of his lip when they made light of dumping her into a trash compactor but said nothing.
His attention was drawn away from her as the oscillator exploded in the background across the monitors. He needed to think but first he needed to act. The traitor and his comrades didn't put her in a compactor, but they did force her down a garbage shoot. He grimaced but Phasma had master codes so she would be able to free herself quickly.
His words we quiet amidst the panic rocking the bridge. "Phasma, get to a ship in the hanger. I will meet you there."
She didn't immediately answer him and his eyes narrowed. "Phasma!"
He heard a soft intake of breath. "Yes, sir."
She was angry. Angry enough that the slightest hint of defiance threaded through her tone. He ignored it. Her anger at him meant nothing if she wasn't even alive to act on it.
He needed to report to Snoke first, though, and ran full speed towards the holo room.