You can always tell when someone realizes they've been betrayed. It starts in the eyes: pupils dilate, lids widen, brows raise. This is quickly followed by slight face paling, jaw going slack or conversely tightening as teeth grind together. What comes next depends on both the person and the situation.
For Major Aneira 'Rory' Horner, her father never had the chance to react, the lightsaber that struck him down came too fast. His crime had been minor, but his rank is what made him become an example. A general preventing a subordinate for following the orders of a Sith was unforgivable, even if the orders in question were to kill unarmed civilians and violate the Treaty of Coruscant.
She didn't live on Dromund Kaas, as much for the fact her mother's health couldn't handle the damp from the constant rain as it was that her father wanted his family as far from the Sith capital as possible. Instead she grew up on Ziost, far enough away from it but still part of the 'proper' society for a man in her father's position to live. That meant she and her mother were held at gunpoint as they were forced to watch the execution at the Citadel on a screen in their home. Aneira was still haunted by his last moments, most prominently the look in his eyes once he realized what was happening. First, they widened in shock, then pain. Before he died he mouthed something, her mother's name, maybe. She tried to look away, but the soldier posted behind her held her face to watch the screen.
Once it was over and the screen gone black, her mother turned to the commanding officer. He was an old friend of hers, and she begged him, "Please, I know what your orders are, just let Annie go."
The stern officer's expression seemed to soften slightly. He walked up to her and lightly stroked her cheek, gave her a small smile and said, "Orders are orders. Wouldn't want to end up like your husband, would I?"
Her teeth ground as her face went red in anger. "You bastard," she snarled before grabbing the blaster pistol on his belt and shooting him in the stomach. As the soldiers quickly turned their attention on her, she shouted, "Run Annie!"
Without hesitating, the 17 year old girl took off and never looked back, even as the sound of blaster fire erupted, and then quickly ended, behind her. There were a lot of soldiers, but she had the advantage of knowing the layout of her family's estate and the surrounding area. She had nearly made her way to freedom when one of the soldiers caught her.
"Thought you could get away that easily," he sneered at her as he grabbed her hair and threw her to the ground.
She had been in martial training since she was old enough to walk, and out of instinct she rolled onto her feet into a defensive position. The trooper just laughed as he took an offensive stance and said, "All right little girl, let's see what you got."
He took a swing, but it was slow and sloppy, betraying his arrogance. She easily dodged it and then grabbed his arm and used his momentum to throw him over her leg sending him head first into a nearby tree.
"Fucking bitch," he exclaimed as he slowly got to his feet. "You'll pay for that…"
She didn't give him the chance. Before he had fully regained his balance, she body slammed him back into the tree, smashing his head against it again, this time knocking him unconsious. Aneira was just about to turn and run when the rest of his squad had caught up. They saw the man on the ground and the closest one immediately nailed her in the side of the head with stock of his rifle, sending her to the ground. Dazed she heard one of them say, "Let's get this over with."
"No," another replied. "You heard First Sergeant, traitors don't deserve quick deaths."
"Come on, she's just a kid…"
"And look what she did to Caleb. No," he repeated as he lifted her off the ground to a standing position by her shirt, "traitors get to suffer."
The uppercut to the left side of her face caught Aneira off guard, sending her back to the ground.
"Get up," the soldier spat.
She thought about just lying there. Her head throbbed from where the gauntleted hand and rifle stock had struck her. 'Maybe if I just gave up they'd end it sooner,' she thought to herself.
"A Horner never surrenders," her father's voice rang in her head, an echo from one of his many lessons over the years. It was as if he was with her, pushing her to stand again. She could almost see him, short black hair contrasting against the white uniform, his blue eyes stern but encouraging. She blamed the hallucination on getting hit too many times in the head. "Our family has never once given in to either the Republic or the Sith. Our stubbornness may be our demise, but we will be remembered for fighting until the end."
With a grunt, she pushed off the ground and rose to her knees. Slowly, never taking her eyes off her attacker, she rose.
She was expecting the hit, to the jaw this time. It had the same result of sending her sprawling, getting a mouthful of dirt and most likely loosening some teeth. Spitting out dirt and blood, Aneira gingerly brought herself to her hands and knees. She wasn't moving fast enough, however, and the soldier kicked her, sending her rolling as she tried to catch her breath.
She landed on her side and could see his pant leg had ridden up over his boot, revealing a knife pommel. Taking a deep breath to steal against the pain, she surged forward and slammed into his legs as she grabbed the knife, causing him to become unbalanced and fall to the ground. Before he could react, she jammed the knife into his throat. If she was going to die, Aneira swore she was taking one of these bastards with her.
She closed her eyes when blaster fire erupted, ready for the end, but no pain ever came. Instead she felt a gentle hand on her shoulder.
"It's all right, they won't hurt you anymore," a soft voice said. She opened her eyes to see a man not much older than herself in a Republic soldier's uniform. Behind him were more Republic troops tying up the soldiers that had surrendered and removing their comm. devices. "I promise, no one is going to hurt you now. I'll keep you safe."
Emotions overwhelming her, she threw herself into his arms and started crying. It would be years later before they saw each other again, the reunion not what either of them would have expected.
Maj. Horner was painfully familiar with betrayal, so it really should have been no surprise to her when instead of meeting up with Captain Jack Pierce for extraction she and her team were instead surrounded by sky troopers and Zakuulan Knights. Their leader in black robes was currently choking her for back talk – and not the good kind of choking that people paid extra for.
The woman leered at the major, apparently sensing her last thought. 'Damn,' she thought, 'looks like I'll have to work on those shields Brooke encouraged me to start using.' On Rishi, she had enjoyed making the Jedi Battlemaster and Lana Beniko blush with some her more… creative… daydreams.
"You've got spirit," the woman said, almost giddy, as she dropped the soldier to the ground. "I'm going to have fun breaking you. Now I see why your Chancellor was so quick to trade you for her own life."
Major Horner glared at the thought of Chancellor Saresh. She knew the twi'lek couldn't be trusted, but she never imagined she'd have gone this far. Horner wrongly assumed the Chiss bounty hunter or Imperial Cipher Agent she was currently with would be the source of betrayal. Even the opportunistic smuggler who was hired on as their transport, and had just been thrown on the ground next to Cipher 9, had reason to betray her. Funny how expecting it to come from them made that potential betrayal sting less than this one did.
'That useless, warmongering, political whore just made the top of my shit list,' Maj. Horner thought angrily. 'As soon as I escape from whatever prison they send me to…'
"Prison? Oh, no sweet thing, you and your friends are coming with me. You're going to have a nice spot in my collection. And unlike my brother, I prefer to keep my toys out of carbonite. Makes it easier to play with them."
'Well fuck…'
A/N: Hope you've enjoyed the story so far! This is the first story in a series following along with the major releases (this story covers chapters 1 - 9, next would the rest of KoFE, etc.). I've finished it, just touching up the last few chapters. Hopefully I'll have it all out quickly. Please let me know what you think in the reviews! I love reading them and even getting ideas from people's thoughts
If you're looking for info on my other story 'Winter's Heart', check my profile.