Day 1

Hux tried to remember how he ended up sitting on the repulsively dirty floor of a prison cell. The Finalizer had taken a stop above a forest planet and he, for some odd reason, felt compelled to go out on his own. He rarely left his troops, not even for something as quick as the hour long walk he had intended to take. He couldn't remember the last time he went off on some foreign planet on his own. With the destruction of the base and impending war he hadn't slept in two and a half cycles.

In retrospect, that may have impaired his judgment.

He still wasn't entirely sure how they had captured him. The headache that had been hammering away at his skull for a few days was just starting to subside as he found his way through a path of massive trees - he blinked, and when his eyes opened he was in this dark little prison cell, face down on the floor.

His only saving grace, he guessed, was that he had left the base without his uniform on. The fools who had captured him most likely had no idea who he was, or else they would have already turned him over to the New Republic for a massive reward.

All he needed to do is wait for his crew to track his location.

It shouldn't be more than a day or two.

Day 2

A guard brought him two meals a day. He was a meaty looking human, with dark hair and a bad attitude. He generally slung the tray at Hux without as much as a grunt. Not that Hux was really that offended; he didn't have any intentions of speaking with anyone. Best do everything possible to keep his identity secret.

The guard exited through a door down the narrow hallway. There were six cells, three on each side of the hallway. Barred walls (incredibly archaic, clearly these were not sophisticated people) faced the hallway, so he had fairly good view. Good enough to tell that he was the only one in the cells.

A few hours after the guard flung the tray of grayish goop-food at him and left, he returned with a rough looking Duros, hands bound behind his back. He tossed the alien into the cell adjacent to Hux and slammed the door closed, leaving without a word.

The Duros, on the other hand, had many words to say. He was shouting in a language Hux didn't understand. Hux could see his gangly arms waving through the bars, flailing with fists clenched. He seemed to have quite the temper.

After several minutes of yelling, he finally quieted down. He said a few other things and Hux wondered if he was trying to communicate with him. Eventually he stopped trying.

Day 3

Hux was concerned. He knew he shouldn't be. His troops were impeccably trained, there was no doubt in his mind that they were about to locate him. But he was surprised it was taking this long. The fools that kidnapped him must be slightly more adept at hiding people than he had initially assumed.

His new neighbor mumbled to himself throughout the day, but for the most part he was quiet.

Late in the afternoon, the guard returned, pushing a new prisoner into the cell across from Hux. It was a human, a woman who appeared to be in her mid 20's, about half the height of the meaty guard. The guard tried to push her into the cell, but she circumvented the move by walking into the cell at her own will.

The guard shook his head, mumbling something to her as he left. Hux recognized the language he spoke, but didn't understand it. He'd never been particularly good with languages. Not when it was easy enough to use a droid.

When the guard slammed the door on them, she stood by the bars of her cell, glaring down the narrow hall toward the door. Hux sat on the floor toward the back of his cell and watched her quietly. It was difficult to see much in the low light, but she appeared to have short cropped, angular dark hair and rather pretty looking bow shaped lips.

After a few moments, she turned, examining her cell. Hux had already inspected his thoroughly. There was no weak point for escape.

The man in the cell next to his said something, evidently to her, because she made her way to the front corner of the cell, looking out to him. After a few moments, she responded in the same language. The two went back and forth for a moment and Hux found himself wishing he had bothered to pick up a few languages at least. Not that he wanted to join in on the conversation, but he really wished he knew what they were talking about.

The woman glanced to him quickly. Hux had a creeping feeling that they were talking about him.

Their conversation continued and Hux found himself trying to read her expressions. She was tight lipped, and kept giving the man very short answers. If her body language indicated anything, she didn't want to talk to the Duros. A very brief flicker of anger cross her face, which she quickly forced into smile and cut the conversation off, turning away from him.

The cells went quiet for some time, and Hux sat in the corner with his eyes closed, pretending he was asleep to avoid interacting with anyone. She started speaking again, but not the language she was speaking to the Duros earlier. He opened his eyes and saw she was sitting near the bars of her cell, looking at him. She nodded.

He ignored her.

She tried another language.

He wondered how many she knew. That made three so far.

She tried a fourth.

He found it remarkable that she knew four languages and none of them were the one he spoke.

She watched him very closely, with narrow eyes.

"How many languages do I have to try before you understand me?"

Five. She knew five languages. He didn't want to speak with her, so he didn't react, but there was something oddly relieving about hearing somebody else speak a language he understood.

She grinned at him. "That is the one, yes?" Her accent was thick, something from an outer rim territory that he'd only heard a few times before.

She nodded, somehow now assured that he understood her even though he still hadn't acknowledged her. "Your name?"

He didn't respond.

She sighed, "I know you can understand me. It is strange that you do not want to talk."

The other man said something and she shot him an icy glare, then looked back to Hux, "His name is Rami." A sweet smile cracked across her face, "Please don't make him the only conversation I have in here. He is a fucking moron."

Hux was surprised she hadn't recognized him yet. No doubt his speech was broadcast across the galaxy, probably translated into a hundreds of different languages. But then, his facial hair was starting to grow out. Maybe he was unrecognizable.

"How long have you been in here? You cannot tell me you do not want to talk to someone."

"Three days." He regretted talking before he finished the sentence, but it did feel nice to say something.

She leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees, "You must be very… bored."

He shrugged, "It's not so terrible."

"Where are you from?"

He didn't reply.

"Hmm…" She tilted her head to the side, "You have something to hide, hm?"

You have no idea. "Not particularly. I just don't like talking about myself."

She looked at him with narrow eyes, "Right. So how did you end up here?"

He sincerely wished he could answer that, "I'm not entirely sure, to be honest."

"Same as our friend Rami. Interesting. They must be planning to sell you both off to slavers on the outer rim…" She points to her hair, "The red… they will get a good price for you."

"We're on a ship?" He had been operating under the assumption they were still on the planet. No wonder it was taking his troops so long to locate him.

"Yes. You didn't know?"

He shook his head. "What do you know about them?"

"Hm… you have no idea where you are, do you?"

"I've drawn a few conclusions."

"You are on a pirate ship. Primarily used for smuggling people. There is a slaver's market a few days away from here."

"How big is the shi… How would you know about a slaver's market?"

A grin stretched across her lips, "I know many things you would think I do not know. The ship has maybe 30 or 40 crew members. A rough crew from what I have seen, though most pirates are." She paused. "Particularly ones who smuggle people."

Day 4

"You do not sleep much, do you Red?"

He cringed at the nickname. "Don't call me that."

"You have not given me anything else to call you."

He frowned.

"You were awake most of the night."

"You were as well, I take it?"

She shrugged toward the bed, "It is not the most comfortable."

She wasn't wrong.

"So…" She sat on the floor leaning toward him again. "You will not tell me where you are from?"

"I don't see why I should."

She made a tisking noise with her tongue. "So many secrets. Where do you think I am from?"

Her accent was brutally distinct. "You're from Ysook."

"Hm. Yes. It is too easy to guess with me."

"It is a distinct accent. To be fair, I'm a little fond of the old Ysookian whiskey, so I may be more familiar than most."

"Ah… we did make good whiskey."

"It's far too hard to come by since the original ruling family was overthrown."

She nodded slowly. "Do I speak your language well?"

She must not want to talk about whiskey. It was all he could think of, really. "Well enough."

"Good. It has been some time since I spoke Basic."

"How many languages do you speak?"

She thought for a moment, "Seven… eight… You?"

"Just one."

"Really? I am surprised."

"Why?"

"You seem like an intelligent man. I would think you know at least a few. What do you do?"

He didn't reply.

She sniffed, laughing at him. "What danger is that information?"

"I'm an engineer." He wasn't entirely lying… He was an engineer - he just did much more than that.

"An engineer…" She studied him closely, skeptically. "I would have guessed you were a prince, from the way you carry yourself. But you are from the Arkanis sector, yes?"

He looked at her, surprised by the accuracy of her guess.

She grinned, "Yes, you see I can tell by more than just an accent. People from Arkanis always have their nose in the air."

He scratched his chin. His facial hair was completely grown in, and was starting to bug him. "And what do you do?"

She looked around her cell nonchalantly, "Mm… I make people disappear."

"I see… is that a way of saying you're a bounty hunter?"

She wrinkled her nose, "No. No. I do not get my hands dirty. Usually. So, you are an engineer from Arkanis about to be sold into slavery because you have a nice hair color and I am a native of Ysook who they probably want to kill."

"Kill? What did you do to make them that mad?"

She inhaled deeply, "Ah… well… I was just… I attempted to make their Captain disappear. This time I was going to get my hands dirty."

"Didn't work out?"

She shook her head, her lips pursed. "No. Unfortunately not. Sometimes… if you let emotion interfere with your objective, you make poor decisions."

"You had to learn that the hard way?"

She shrugged, "It was worth the attempt."

"I would be surprised if they kill you."

"Hm? Why is that?"

"A young Ysookian woman? You're worth more to them sold as a slave."

A smile twitched on the edge of her lips and he felt slightly awkward. "Yes, I suppose we do have a reputation, hm?"

He looked away from her, not wanting this conversation.

"Did you know you Arkanisians have a reputation with us as well?"

"I'm not sure I'm interested to know."

"I grew up being told your kind were a bunch of uptight, entitled… what is the word in Basic? Cocks?"

He looked at her and she laughed, leaning toward him with a mischievous glitter in her eyes, "Look at you, sitting on the dirty floor of a prison cell for four days and your outfit still looks pressed. At least half of your reputation is correct. I get the impression you are a meticulous man…" Her eyebrows raised and she feigned a sudden idea, "Oh what a fun pair we would make. Men like you always want to be scolded and told what to do."

He was done with this conversation.

Day 5

"Red, I think you were right. They must not want to kill me if they have not done it yet."

He had more or less ignored her since the prior day.

The door at the end of the hallway opened and a new guard walked in with their morning portions. He was human, a tall dark haired man with a healed over gash on his cheekbone. He tossed the trays for Hux and his neighbor into their cells and turned to the woman.

She leaned against the side of her cell, her arms crossed. The guard pushed her food in and said something to her in the same language as the last guard. She looked disgusted and hissed a curt response.

The guard didn't leave; rather he leaned against the bars and kept talking to her. Her expression grew more and more repulsed. The guard laughed and went to the access pad near her cell, placing his hand on the sensor.

She said something, looking concerned when her cell door popped open. She stepped back, glancing to Hux, then back to the guard, hissing something that sounded like a warning.

A sudden wave of nausea came over him when he realized why she was so concerned.

She tried to slap his hands away, shouting at him.

God not here. Not here. He couldn't do anything. He faced the wall - the least he could do was not watch. He sincerely wished he couldn't hear though.

From the corner of his eye, he could see the blue arm of his neighbor hanging out of his cell. The bastard was watching.

Hux wanted to tear his arm off.

He didn't look when the guard left, instead trying to memorize what he'd seen of the man's face earlier. When his men got him out of this cell, he'd see to it that that one was taken care of.

When he finally dared to glance into her cell, she was sitting in the far corner with her knees drawn against her chest. She was dreadfully quiet, her hands gripping around her legs so tightly they were shaking.

He didn't really excel in pity, but there was a pit in his stomach.

Day 6

When the same guard returned the next morning with their portions, she hovered toward the back of her cell, glaring at him fiercely. The guard said something to her, but she didn't respond.

Later in the day, she finally spoke when she caught him glancing at her. She looked exhausted; he assumed she hadn't slept.

"I do not need pity."

He didn't even know how to respond to that.

She huffed, "He said he heard we - Ysookians - that we enjoy that sort of thing. I suppose it comes with the reputation."

She looked at him silently, like she was challenging him to respond.

He saw the blue arms of his neighbor poke through the bars again. The Duros said something to her, but her expression didn't even flinch. She just looked very tired.

Hux stood and moved to the bars of his cell, to the corner near his neighbor. "He can't understand me?"

"No. Unless he is a good liar."

"Is he a good liar?"

"No."

Hux nodded. He reached through the bars quickly and grabbed the closest arm, bending it back against the solid wall between the two cells. The man yelped painfully, shouting.

"Tell him something for me."

She looked slightly surprised. He wrenched the arm back a little further until he was fairly certain the man was pleading.

"Tell him that if I see his fucking arms hanging out these bars again I'll make sure he can't use them anymore."

Her lips hung open a little.

He nodded, "Well. Tell him."

She looked away from him, "I appreciate the sentiment."

"Then tell him."

She pursed her lips.

"It's not for you, damn it. I can't stand to see his fucking arms hanging out of his cell again."

She sniffed and looked at him, her eyes tired and cold, "I would rather you break his arm, to be honest."

He nodded. Fair enough.

Day 7

He woke up and realized this cycle officially marked the longest he'd ever been away from work.

There had been no noise from his neighbor's cell since yesterday, which was something to be grateful for.

She looked slightly less tired than the day before. "You should tell me something about yourself."

He blinked at her.

"I am bored. It does not need to be anything important. Just… talk. Please."

"What would you possibly want me to talk about?"

"You are an engineer. What sort of things do you work on?"

"I specialize in weaponry."

He was caught off guard by a loud snort from her. "Let me guess… you like the power of it?" She smirked, "It is exactly what I was saying the other day."

"Not really. I like the order of it all. The consistency."

When the door at the end of the hallway opened she flinched, muttering something in her language. The guard entered with a second man, a lankier one with blonde hair. They walked to her cell, facing her and talking to one another. She'd backed up to the far wall, watching the two of them like a trapped animal.

The guard opened her cell door again, entering with the blonde. Hux faced away, rubbing his face and trying to think. There had to be something he could do.

He heard her hiss something and dared a quick glance. The two were standing on either side of her, the blonde with her chin pinched between his fingers. She glared at him fiercely, not making a sound.

The blonde nodded to the other and he took his leave. Hux found himself oddly relieved that it wouldn't be as bad as he initially expected.

She was quiet this time, another thing he considered a twisted relief. When the blonde finally left, Hux couldn't help but look. He expected to see her curled up, trying to hide, but rather she was standing, bracing herself against the wall with a look of sheer will on her face. She had a fresh cut on her cheekbone. He tried not to think about it.

The blonde man exchanged words with the guard at the door, then left. When the door closed again, Hux realized, with a deep, painful amount of dread, that the guard had simply swapped places with the blonde.

He looked back at her and saw her legs give a little. She almost collapsed, but managed to stay upright.

Hux shook his head, trying to come up with something, anything he could do to help. He could say something, but from what she told him the guards didn't understand Basic. The hallway was just wide enough that he wouldn't be able to reach them if he tried to grab them.

When her cell clicked open Hux got to his feet and started pacing his own cell. How was his crew not here yet? It'd been seven cycles. This entire ship of brutes should be long dead…

She was quiet again but he kept pacing, trying to keep it out of his mind.

She made a small noise, struggling against the man, and Hux cursed under his breath, pacing faster.

He finally heard the guard leaving, heading down the hallway, and he looked at her. She was leaning against the wall, barely able to stand, with her hand on her neck as she gasped for air.

The door slammed as the guard left - Hux cursed after him. She slid down the wall to her knees, still holding her neck and gasping.

Hux tried to block her gasps from his mind. He wanted to say something to her, to let her know that he would make the two bastards pay as soon as he was out of here. But he didn't feel like it would help. Nothing felt like it would help.

She was quiet for several hours, hiding toward the back of her cell. He still couldn't figure out what to say.

"We arrive at the market in three days."

He almost sighed with relief at the sound of her voice.

She rolled her eyes, "Stop with the looks of guilt. I told you I do not need your pity." She shrugged to the door, "The dark haired one told me. Three more days, that is all." There was a bruise on her neck that she covered quickly when she saw him notice it. "I am fine."

"To be perfectly frank, I'm not going to put up with three more days of that."

"Mm. It must be awful for you." She snorted and mumbled something to herself.

"That's not… no. That's not what I meant."

"You are protective of me, Red."

He frowned, hating the name. "Don't call me…"

"Then give me a name to call you. You make no sense. You want to murder those bastards, I can see it in your eyes every time that guard comes in here. You do not even know me."

"Of course I don't even know you. I'm not…" He cursed, trying to find the right way to explain why he was so infuriated. "It's… my…" My crew would never do this. I would never allow them to do this. "It's a repulsive display of hedonism. It's nothing but a complete lack of self control and complete disregard for anyone other than themselves. And for them to just put it on display here, right in front of others…"

"They rather enjoy that part…" She said in a tone so casual he wanted to punch a wall.

"How do you just act like… like nothing's happened to you?"

She looked very tired. "Is that how I appear?"

He didn't reply. Of course she wasn't acting like nothing happened. A few days earlier she'd been chatty and a little coquettish.

She sighed, "Right now I either let this eat me alive, or I distance myself and try to keep my mind in one piece. I choose the second option. I do not want to talk about this anymore."

He decided he respected that, but still couldn't quite understand how she was so casual about it.

She said she wasn't letting this consume her, but it obviously was, even if she was trying her best to cover it up.

So he had three days. He couldn't imagine his crew wouldn't find him in the next three days. But then, he never could have imagined he'd be stuck in a cell for a whole week waiting for them.

Day 8

When the blonde returned, Hux felt as though he'd been punched in the stomach. He didn't want to hear this again.

She didn't make a sound, but he could hear a small struggle and a clank as he shoved her into the bars. Hux covered his face, trying to block it out, trying to figure out exactly how he was going to deal with this bastard when he wasn't trapped in this damn cell any more.

The struggle from the cell grew louder and he heard the man's voice, followed by a kind of painful sounding whack. He looked to her cell – she'd somehow managed to flip their positions, so the man was on his knees, pinned with his face pressing into the bars. Something was wrapped around his neck - a shredded piece of the blanket from her cot. It was looped through the bars and twisted around his neck. She held tightly onto the other end, just far enough away that he couldn't reach her.

The man gagged, veins starting to bulge in his face.

She looked absolutely terrifying, her eyes completely cold, focused on her prey.

When he started to weaken she leaned in a little closer, keeping the gag tight, and hissed something into his ear. Hux could see the man was just starting to lose consciousness when she leaned back again, raising her foot and bringing it down hard against the back of his head.

Hux turned away quickly, but couldn't avoid the awful noise as the man's skull split against the bars.

When he dared to look back, she was breathing heavily, wiping her face and glaring violently at the mess.

She glanced up at Hux, "I told you… no pity."

He couldn't hide his shock. He certainly didn't blame her for what she'd done, but he never would have imagined she had it in her to do something so… messy.

He shook his head, trying to gather his thoughts.

"Close your mouth. Do not look so surprised." She waved sharply at him.

"You… you should have waited." Fuck. She should have waited. A few more days and surely his crew would be here.

"Why would I do that?" She was mad, snapping at him for the sentiment.

"They're going to kill you for this."

She said something in her language, "You think I give a fuck?"

It didn't take long for the guard to start wondering what was taking his friend so long. He entered the room of cells, stumbling back when he saw the bloody mess. He hurried out.

She was smirking in her cell. "You are wrong, Red."

"About what?"

"They will not kill me. Not so quickly. It is not their style."

"And you… did that knowing they wouldn't just kill you?"

She sniffed, looking down the hallway as the door opened again. He could hear the footsteps of several people.

"Will you tell me your name?"

He couldn't quite understand why she smiled when she asked.

There were three people: one was the guard and two others he'd never seen before.

"Please?" She tilted her head, ignoring them as they observed the scene, talking among each other and looking very angry. "I would really like to say goodbye without calling you Red."

He stepped back from his bars, trying to distance himself from the three men. "Armitage. You can call me Armitage."

They opened her cell door and entered, talking to her. She ignored them, smiling.

One grabbed her face and forced her to look at him, spiting something nasty sounding at her. She still smiled, and responded to him in an almost gleeful tone. He did not appear pleased with her response.

The guard bound her hands behind her and they shoved her out of the cell, one of the other men keeping a hand on the back of her head to force her in the right direction.

She glanced over to Hux, smirking like she'd won, "That is a beautiful name. Goodbye, Armitage."