Kylo, one of the most sought-after bounty hunters in the galaxy – both for his services and his head - was pretty sure that his well-insulated behind had frozen to the ice that made up the ground of his hideout.
Kylo was on Hays Minor, a frigid, ice-covered planet on the edge of known space that was only good for its primary export, a smelt with super-conductive properties. That's why the First Order had taken over the mining operations of the planet, enslaving the populace in all but name as they scoured the natural resources to build their own starships and weapons for their burgeoning military force.
But Kylo didn't care about any of that. In fact, he would rather be almost anywhere else, but he had a job to do, a near-impossible job, one that had caused him to laugh when he'd first been contacted by his employer because it was so ludicrous. The pay was what had made him reconsider his original assessment and eventually accept the proposal.
He tried thinking of warm planets – Tatooine, Dagobah, Geonosis – as his body shivered involuntarily and his nose slowly turned into an icicle. He was sorely tempted to turn on a heat lamp to warm up the cramped space where he was squatted on the edge of the Planum Sebris, but his own heat signature was risk enough with the First Order perimeter sensors so close. He let out a breath slowly, watching it fog in front of his face. Something needed to happen or he'd develop hypothermia. He was already in danger because of how the cold had dulled his reflexes. If he was found, he would be hard pressed to defend himself.
The sound of a ship breaking atmosphere wakened his sluggish senses. He shuffled closer to the slit in the wall, pulling his quadnocs out and pointing them towards the gray sky where a First Order shuttle descended towards Orwan Port. Kylo focused the quadnocs, sharpening the image of the ship coming to rest on a dock so that he could pick out every weapon and antenna on its exterior. It was just as his contact said it would be, right down to the classification and designation imprinted on its hull. Once it had settled and let down the ramp, Kylo sucked in a breath. This was the moment where he would find out if the information he'd been given was correct or if this trip was a bust – or if he'd been played.
Even though Kylo didn't like most people, he'd never experienced such instant disgust upon seeing another person. The intuitive dislike that made his skin crawl certainly wasn't from the Force – that wasn't a factor anymore. No, this feeling was all Kylo. He zoomed in the quadnocs to get a better look.
The red-haired man – Hux – who had just disembarked was wearing a black long coat with a general's rank on the front, a hungry sneer permanently twisting his pale face. He was followed by a pair of petty officers in sharp First Order uniforms and a squad of stormtroopers. Kylo was sure he could see the gleam of their armor even though he was several clicks away and the sky was overcast. Hux stalked forward and spoke with a lieutenant who saluted smartly as he approached. Although it would've been helpful, Kylo was grateful he couldn't hear the man's voice. He was sure it would have made him want to strangle the man, general or no.
The company moved into the base, disappearing from Kylo's view, but it didn't matter. He had the confirmation he needed to move forward, and now it was time to get into position for the next phase of his plan. Kylo stood up, almost bumping his head on the top of the small space. It was really an abandoned bunker when the First Order had been using this area for weapons testing, but then a blast had uncovered more ore. The First Order had hastily moved their testing elsewhere and set up another mining operation, setting up barracks to fill with unlucky Haysians and erecting drills to strip the newly discovered vein.
Bracing himself for the cold and pulling down the protective goggles over his face, Kylo stepped outside into the wind. He casually stepped around the body of the snowtrooper he'd killed earlier – the fool had been on patrol alone; what kind of protocol standards did the First Order have to maintain such shoddy security?
Kylo was pulling the hood of his triple-insulated parka, a white and gray camouflage that he loathed with all of his black, dark-loving aesthetic, which is why his guard was down when the assailant tackled him, attempting to pin him to the ice.
Even though his muscles were stiff with cold, Kylo was still larger and stronger than his attacker, and he had the benefit of over a decade of combat training on his side. Kylo soon had the smaller man subdued, staring emotionlessly into the reflective goggles covering the man's eyes as he squirmed beneath him. Kylo pushed the vibroblade into the man's jacket over his heart, creating wisps of smoke as it burned into the thick material. Kylo forced it down, not in the mood to discover the man's identity aside from the fact that he was obviously not First Order. Apparently, the man had come to the same conclusion about Kylo.
"Please! I'm with the Resistance!"
"And why should I care?" Kylo growled through the fabric covering his lower face. He didn't ease up on the blade, but he didn't increase the pressure either.
"We could help each other!"
Kylo almost ended the man right then. He didn't need help, especially from an incompetent Resistance fighter, but then he kept talking.
"We know you're here to take out General Hux."
"We?"
The man squirmed. "Let me up and we can talk."
"Not likely," Kylo said, sliding his free hand up to apply pressure to the man's windpipe.
"Actually, it's very likely."
Kylo looked up when another voice spoke from above them and found the end of a blaster pistol pointing at his head. He stiffened, then slowly relaxed his grip on the man before standing, hands raised in placation.
"Drop the knife," the second Resistance fighter ordered. Kylo frowned but obeyed. He had several other weapons tucked away that they didn't know about yet. But still, something about this man seemed vaguely familiar. The first man, too, if he took a moment to think about it.
"You alright, Seastriker?" the man with the blaster asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks for the save, Poe." The first man got to his feet, dusting off the flakes of ice crystal that had gotten on his protective insulation gear in their scuffle.
Kriff. "Poe Dameron?"
The Resistance fighter tightened his grip on the blaster. "Yes. How'd you know?"
"Is this a set-up? Did Leia Organa send you?"
"How do you know that name?"
"He said you're with Resistance."
Dameron turned on the other man, Seastriker. "Why'd you tell him that? He could be First Order for all we know."
"He's not. He's marking the general just like we are."
Dameron threw his hands up in the air in exasperation. "Ok, we're all taking a trip back to camp to sort this out."
Kylo thought about creating a distraction and pulling a vanishing act, but he decided it would be better to get to the bottom of this, and anyway, he had some flexibility in his plan. He could push back the timeline just a bit and it would still work.
"Fine, let's go get this over with," Kylo sighed, relaxing his posture. "Lead the way, Dameron."
Kylo decided their camp was not much better than the hole he'd been inhabiting for much of the morning. They'd taken over a natural bore in the ice that opened into a semi-habitable cave. It was actually several degrees warmer than outside, probably because it was so cramped. It appeared that it was just the two of them, given the amount of supplies and the two sleeping bags huddled in the corner. Kylo stiffly settled his large frame in the best position he could, ready to fight or flee if the situation called for it. But he knew once Dameron recognized him, he'd be a lot less likely to send a plasma bolt through his gut. For the time being the Resistance fighter kept his blaster trained on the unknown entity they'd brought back to their tiny base of operations.
"Take off the head gear," Dameron demanded as his companion did the same. Kylo blinked as the man peeled away the scarf covering his head, revealing familiar blonde hair and blue eyes of that kid – what was his name? - who had been with her when she'd come back to the Academy. What had Dameron said – Seastriker? Joph Seastriker. That sounded right.
"I said, off with the head gear, or I'll just take off the whole head if you'd rather."
Kylo resisted the temptation to roll his eyes but decided to keep playing prisoner. He pushed the kerchief from his mouth and took off the goggles.
Dameron and Seastriker stared in shock, but Dameron was the first to speak.
"Ben? Ben Solo?"
"Ben Solo is dead," Kylo said impassively. "And I swear if you tell Leia Organa differently, you'll be dead too. My name is Kylo."
Dameron seemed to be struggling with the revelation so Seastriker took over the interrogation.
"Wait, so you're Kylo? The bounty hunter?"
Kylo raised a sardonic eyebrow. Joph caught the unspoken answer.
"So, Be- uh, Kylo, let's start with what you're doing trying to assassinate a First Order general on Hays Minor."
"Shouldn't I be asking you that?"
Seastriker frowned. "What do you mean?"
"You mean to tell me Leia didn't have anything to do with both of us being here?" It made Kylo physically sick to consider that Leia Organa may be his mysterious employer.
"No." Dameron shook his head, recovering. "Like you said, she thinks you're dead."
"Then why do you assume you know what my business is here?"
"Lucky guess. Your arrival coincides with the general's, who is rarely seen outside of First Order star destroyers, you're armed with a sniper rifle, and we come across you staring at him through quadnocs. Sound about right?"
Kylo grunted and relaxed upon hearing that. It made things easier. "Alright, then what are you doing here?"
"It's classified."
"Classified? Really? Me, too. Big secret."
Dameron scowled at him.
Kylo blithely continued. "That's why you revealed your identities to me and allowed me into your camp, because you didn't intend on telling me what you're doing. Sound about right?"
Dameron and Seastriker shared a glance. "He's got a point," Seastriker admitted.
Dameron clenched a fist before finally letting his weapon drop. "I'm going to trust you, despite whatever the kriff you're calling yourself now."
"A bad decision, really."
"I'm also trusting you because I know you're Leia's son," Dameron said, ignoring how Kylo's body tensed. "I also remember how you were with Rey. I don't think you're not that person anymore even if you claim to be someone else."
Kylo's eyes narrowed and he fought down the urge to end Dameron right then, repressing the memory of how the pilot had made her smile so many years ago. "Don't. Ever. Say her name," he gritted out, his voice full of cold fury.
"Alright, cool it," Seastriker entreated, half-rising. "We have a mission here. Let's get on with it."
"Right," Dameron said, snapping to attention. "We're here because we received a distress call from Sebris Beta."
Kylo worked himself down to a state of semi-relaxation enough to coherently reply. "And? I'm sure there's a lot of distress here, given the First Order presence."
"Yes, but there's not any distress calls because of it – they have the whole system on communications lockdown. Nothing unauthorized can get in or out."
Kylo knew that, he'd had to calculate that into his plan. Not that he ever used backup on his jobs. He did his work on his own, or not at all.
"So who contacted you?"
"We don't know," Seastriker admitted. "All we know is that whoever it is must be really good at slicing through the First Order's encryption. Like really good, because not only did they get through, but they got through undetected.
Kylo considered. "And you want to help this person? Just the two of you?"
"Yes and no," Seastriker said. "We need someone who can break their codes, so we're here to pull them out."
"So this isn't altruistic at all," Kylo observed, leaning back against the wall of the cave. "You just want this person's skills."
"We're saving them from the First Order," Dameron replied.
"How do you know that's what they want? They may refuse to come with you."
Dameron shrugged. "We'll deal with it when it comes to it."
Kylo sat up, beginning to stand. "Ok. Well, you have fun kidnapping your master codebreaker. I have my own job to get back to, so I'll be heading out now."
"Not so fast," Dameron said, stepping in front of the exit, his hand on the holster of his blaster.
Kylo frowned, only slightly regretful that he'd have to gut the Resistance fighters before he left. "The reunion was nice but I'm done reminiscing, so I'd appreciate it if you moved out of the way."
"I think our missions could be compatible," Dameron said, a fiendish glint in his eyes. "Our contact is going to meet us during the general's inspection of the mines."
Kylo let out a resigned sigh.
As much as he was loath to admit it, Kylo had to agree it had been a good idea to join with this little Resistance mission.
Their codebreaker had sent an impossibly encrypted message detailing an abandoned mine shaft that through a series of service tunnels and ice bores led into the First Order's main processing facility where they took the raw ore and smelted it before packaging the product to travel to their shipyards.
Again, Kylo couldn't care less. He was here because of a job, and the sooner he was out the better for everyone involved.
The Resistance fighters surrounded him as they moved forward silently, Seastriker ahead and Dameron behind. They didn't trust him and with good reason. Kylo had had several opportunities since they left the camp to kill them and leave their bodies to freeze to the ice, but he didn't, and he wasn't sure why. Anyway, it seemed that their codebreaker was as skilled a slicer as Dameron had made him out to be: every sensor and lock in their path had been deactivated.
"Have you ever considered that your contact is just bait?" Kylo mused aloud, treading carefully so that the shards of ice on the ground did not shriek against each other under his boots.
"Yes, it could be a trap." Dameron grinned, his annoyingly bright smile gleaming in the dim lighting. "But that's what makes it exciting. Besides, you're our wild card. They won't be expecting you."
Kylo gritted his teeth. Dameron's reckless attitude grated on his nerves and he was reconsidering this temporary alliance.
"The barracks are just this way," Seastriker said suddenly, checking their position on his tracking device. "The coordinates show the rendezvous is in one of these rooms here, right above us."
Dameron, predictably, looked up as if he could see their target. There was an access panel in the ceiling, and Dameron began to scale the ladder.
"Hey," Kylo hissed. "I thought we were going to the assembly where the general is, not some slum on the opposite side of the base."
Dameron aborted his ascent, dropping back down to the bottom of the service tunnel with a crunch of ice crystals. "That's where you're gonna be, providing us a distraction while we extract our codebreaker, so you better head out."
"It looks like the assembly hall is back down this tunnel, then through this gate and down the passageway by the officers' quarters," Seastriker said, studying the map of the base projected from his holobracelet, casting the faces of the trio in a ghostly blue glow.
Kylo stared at him, unimpressed. He didn't mind that they were using his objective as a distraction from their own mission, he'd known as much. But he wasn't about to wander around the base practically blind, especially when the intel they had was more detailed than what he had been able to scrounge up to memorize before he made planetfall.
"Give me the map."
Seastriker balked, his breath blowing out in a cloud in front of his face. "What? No. We need it to make our rendezvous."
"Which is right there," Kylo said, pointing to the blinking dot on the map that was less than a hundred meters from their current location, then moved his index finger to a spot far distant from them. "My target is over here."
"Fine, just give him the map," Dameron said. "We need to move."
Kylo's face remained impassive as Seastriker handed over the holodevice with a glare.
"We'll meet at camp in two standard hours," Dameron continued. "Good luck."
Kylo resisted the urge to snort, wondering why the man thought he planned to rejoin them after this.
"Good luck, Be- Kylo," Seastriker caught himself. Kylo just turned on the heel of his boot.
And promptly tripped a sensor that had reengaged since they'd passed through not five minutes ago.
"Kriff!"
The alarm was silent, but a pulsing red light filled the space with an urgency prodding them to move, to flee.
"Come on," Dameron ordered. "To the surface. We can move quicker up there."
There was no argument as they clambered out of the service tunnel and pushed through the access panel. Outside, they found themselves next to a mess of vents in an alleyway that had reeked with the eye-watering stench of rotten refuse. Kylo's nose wrinkled at the pungent odor and Seastriker outright gagged.
"We have to move," Kylo said, stripping off his white and gray outer gear that would do nothing to disguise him against the muddy gray-brown that seemed to predominate in the workers' district. "They'll already have dispatched the closest patrol to this location."
"What are you doing?" Seastriker asked, eyes wide as he watched Kylo stuff his jacket behind a tangle of pipes.
"I'd rather not make myself an easy target when the stormtroopers get here," Kylo stated, already shoving past them to get a look around the end of alley.
"They can't hit me," Dameron scoffed.
"Well, I sure as hell am not going to find Leia and tell her that your gut got fried by a stormtrooper's lucky shot when I get out of here alive," Kylo said, turning his head to skewer the cocky pilot with a loathing stare.
"Fine." The two Resistance fighters began to shuck of their snow camouflage as well before coming up behind Kylo, pressing into the wall beside him.
"What do you see?" Seastriker asked, his anxiety leaking into his voice.
"Not much. A few Haysians going back to their barracks. No First Order yet," Kylo answered, but even as he said it, he heard the sound of several pairs of boots marching up the street around the corner, just out of sight. "Where's the rendezvous?"
"Right there," Dameron said, leaning over his shoulder to point to a door across the way.
"That's just a worker's barracks," Kylo hissed in an undertone, fighting the urge to shove Dameron off.
"Does it matter?"
Kylo ignored him. "Let's go. Keep your heads down."
They shuffled out into the street, keeping close to the wall. Their drab clothes were enough for them to not attract immediate attention. Kylo saw that the unit of four stormtroopers had turned the corner led by a pinched looking officer in black uniform, and they were making their way towards them. In a split-second decision, he swerved to cross the street towards the building they needed to reach, almost right in front of the officer. Dameron and Seastriker followed instinctively on his heels, although Kylo thought he heard Seastriker squeak in fear.
"Get out of the way," the officer barked, and the stormtrooper flanking him shoved Seastriker so that he slipped in the slick mud and slush covering the street. He would've fallen if Dameron hadn't caught him as the two Resistance fighters scurried out of the way. Meanwhile, Kylo calmly turned back on his heel and shot all five First Order soldiers in the back.
"What the hell?" Seastriker cried. "Are you insane?"
Most definitely, Kylo thought. What he said was: "That just bought us some more time."
"You could have used a little more subtlety," Seastriker mourned. "There's no covering that up."
"Subtlety's not my thing," Kylo said, walking closer to ensure that he had actually killed the stormtroopers and the officer lying in the mud, nudging them with his boot.
"That was gutsy. I liked it." Dameron grinned, a wild twinkle in his dark eyes, which Kylo was beginning to remember as his default expression. Still, Kylo didn't want to encourage him, so he didn't respond as he approached the door that Dameron had pointed to a few minutes ago. It wasn't even a normal sliding door with a passcode. It was a door with real hinges, which just emphasized the poverty of the workers on Hays Minor. Conditions here were worse than he had seen even in the lowest levels of Coruscant, more comparable to the abandoned prison camps on Wobani. He didn't bother knocking, instead ramming it with his shoulder so that it smashed against the wall and rebounded. Kylo stopped it with his hand as he stepped in, followed by Dameron and Seastriker.
Inside, the room was pathetically small, only slightly wider than the door and not even deep enough for two bodies to lie down lengthwise. It was also lacking any kind of light source so that it took Kylo's eyes a few seconds to adjust – which is why the girl had a shiv poised to gut him as a clumsy threat before he knew what was happening.
"Who are you?" she demanded with a ferocity that was disproportionate to her size. Kylo had to look down to meet her eyes as he gripped her wrist, easily twisting it into a lock and gently pushing backward until she was forced to let it go or let him break her wrist. Kylo caught it before it could hit the floor and make any noise.
"Rose!" A dark-haired woman pulled the girl to the back of the room, shielding her with her body as the girl cradled her wrist to her chest. Kylo stepped to the side, allowing Dameron to take over the situation as Seastriker shut the door behind them and turned on a small glowlamp to illuminate the crowded space.
"We're not going to hurt you. We're with the Resistance," Dameron said, holding up a blank signet ring. He brushed a trigger on the edge, revealing the Resistance's sigil.
"What? How? Why are you here?" the woman questioned, pressing further away from them so that the girl behind her was forced to shove back so that she wasn't crushed.
"We're here to meet a contact, but, um, it seems like we may have the wrong location," Dameron said. "I'm sorry we just broke into your room."
"You need to leave," the woman said, fear edging her voice. "We can't be a part of this."
"Paige!" the girl tried to speak up, but the woman cut her off.
"Not now, Rose," she hushed her before speaking to Dameron again. "I need you to leave right now."
"Of course. It's just, um, they may be looking for us? And we also really need to find our codebreaker."
The woman stiffened as Kylo watched her with narrowed eyes.
Dameron continued. "Is there any way you can help us?"
The woman shook her head vigorously. "I'm sorry, no. Please, you have to go."
"Paige!"
"Alright," Dameron said reluctantly. "I'm sorry for scaring you."
The trio turned to leave, and Seastriker put his hand on the door apprehensively, half-expecting a stormtrooper standing there with cuffs ready to snap around their wrists. Kylo felt for his blaster, ready if that was indeed the case.
"Wait! I'm the codebreaker!"
The men turned back. The girl, Rose, stepped around the woman. Actually, now that she was standing directly in the dull light, Kylo realized she wasn't a girl either, just small and probably malnourished. In fact, she was probably the same age as -
No! Kylo cut off the thought savagely before it could be fully formed.
"What did you say?" Seastriker asked, his eyes shifting between the two who, at this point, were obviously related.
"Rose, don't!" the older woman pleaded.
"I'm the codebreaker," Rose said, crossing her arms and sticking out her chin.
"You?" Dameron chuckled. "I'm sure you could maybe slice a mouse droid's programming, kid, but we're looking for someone who broke the First Order's planetary communication blockade to get a message to the Resistance."
"Rose, you contacted the Resistance?" the older one – Paige – hissed. "What were you thinking?"
"I was trying to save our home!" Rose retorted "What was I supposed to do?"
"Not slice into the First Order's computers! They'll find out!"
"No, they won't. I inserted a virus to erase my code so they wouldn't find out."
"That's not enough! What if someone had seen you when you were tapping into the system?"
"They never see us," Rose muttered. "We're just repair girls."
"That's not good enough!"
"Sorry to interrupt," Dameron broke in, "but you're the codebreaker that contacted us?"
"I already said that," Rose said in exasperation. "What, do you have trouble believing it because I'm a girl? Or because I'm young?"
Kylo, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, couldn't stop the flicker of a smile that touched his lips as he watched Dameron struggle to respond, because, yes, Rose was right on both counts.
"It doesn't matter," Paige said furiously. "You still need to leave."
"No!" Rose said. "You have to stay and take down the First Order. That's why you answered my signal, right?"
"Uh, no," Seastriker said. "We're actually here to extract you. Your... sister? She can come too."
"What? No!" Rose said. "You need to take down the First Order. Have you seen what they've done to our home?"
The argument that looked to escalate was cut off by a blaring announcement over some kind of ancient broadcasting system outside the barracks.
ALL RESIDENTS WILL RETURN TO QUARTERS AND PREPARE FOR INSPECTION IMMEDIATELY. NO EXCEPTIONS. ALL RESIDENTS -
"They know you're here," Paige accused. "What did you do?"
Dameron was immediately sheepish. "We may have tripped a sensor."
"Did you follow my directions?" Rose demanded. Dameron seemed to shrivel before the pair of sisters.
"Yes, and everything was disabled, but when Kylo here started to backtrack, he tripped something."
Rose's eyes widened. "They must have found my virus."
Paige groaned. "I told you."
"What do we do?" Seastriker asked, nervous gaze flicking between everyone's faces, looking for an answer.
"Out the back," Paige said.
"The ba-" Dameron started, but was saved from finishing his question when the sisters yanked a piece of wood scrap out of the floor, revealing a tiny hole that lead into darkness.
"Our way into the tunnel system," Paige explained. "Now get moving."
"Um, are we going to fit?" Dameron asked, glancing at Kylo's large frame.
"Worry about yourself, Dameron, and get in the kriffing hole," Kylo growled. Dameron didn't hesitate again before wriggling through the opening. Seastriker followed soon after, and Kylo gestured for the sisters to go next. "I'll cover our backs," he said.
As Kylo squeezed into the space, he twisted his torso to grasp the plank covering their escape and dragged it back over the opening, not before he heard the clump of regulation First Order boots and the dissonance of stormtrooper helmet vocoders outside the front door.
The wood slipped into place, and Kylo dropped into a service tunnel that looked as unremarkable as the one they had popped up from not a half hour ago. Rose had plugged a small handheld device into a port in the wall and was rapidly typing code, her tongue caught between her teeth.
Dameron was practically vibrating with a need to do something. "Are you done?"
"No," Rose answered sharply. "They're trying to block me out, but I've almost cleared our route out of here. I assume your ship is on the east side of the Planum Sebris where I told you to land?"
"Yes," Dameron replied, fidgeting. Seastriker's face was devoid of emotion, repressing his nerves, much like Kylo's.
"Alright," Rose said, detaching from the port. "Let's go."
Kylo didn't pay attention to details from the next few hours, the tunnels and bores melding together in his memory. He did remember Dameron's offer once they made it back to the Resistance fighters' X-wings.
"Come back with us. You could really help our cause," he said. Then Dameron seemed to fortify himself. "And - and your mother would like to know you're alive."
"No," Kylo said. "Ben Solo doesn't exist anymore."
Dameron sighed. "I don't know if I can keep this from her. Rose and Paige have seen you too."
"They don't know enough. Just keep Seastriker quiet. I meant what I said about killing you if you force me to."
Dameron's eyes burned into Kylo's before he finally nodded. "Fine. It's not my business."
"It's not," Kylo agreed mildly.
"Sorry we spoiled your hit. Taking out Hux would've been a win for all of us."
"It's just a job. I'll get another one."
"Right." Dameron hesitated before holding out a hand. "Until next time, Kylo."
Kylo smirked but took his hand. "Sure, Dameron."
Author's Note:
Welcome back!
This is part two of my little story, so if you haven't read My Favorite Color Is You, you might want to go back and read it; although you'll probably be fine. Sort of.
Follow and leave a review to let me know what you think! Updates every two weeks, and you can find me on tumblr a-nerd-obsessed
Thanks for reading!
