A.N. For those wondering, there has been little Phasma and Trihorn interactions as the two are currently on separate vessels and Phasma is doing some other stuff. There will be more in the future so please be patient, their time will shine soon, in two chapters maybe. :)
"Admiral Vanto, there is an incoming transmission, code 'Blue Alpha'." A Chiss member said in Sy Bisti to a man who was slightly shorter than the Chiss around him, had grey hair and wrinkles on his face to show his aging form.
"Put it through." Eli ordered before seeing a hologram of Trihorn which caused his eyes to widen slightly in surprise. "Grand Admiral Trihorn, what a surprise."
"~Greetings Eli. I hope your time with the Chiss hasn't changed you much.~" Trihorn smiled on the other end.
"Nonsense, Trihorn." Eli dismissed the sentence with a wave while a smile curled on his lips. "I'm surprised you are still looking young. What happened to you?"
"~A lot of things, I'm afraid. My vessel was caught in a black hole and I didn't age while being trapped there. I'm surprised you're not dead yet although it is expected with the Chiss protecting you well, I'm assuming?~" Trihorn said.
"Correct. They are reliable friends to have in battle." Eli smiled at the other Chiss around him before looking back at Trihorn. "Why are you contacting me?"
"~Have you heard of the First Order?~" Trihorn queried, getting more serious.
"Yes, I have."
"~Leave your comments for later, Eli. My sisters and I are now working with them.~" Trihorn interrupted before Eli could go on a rant and the older man was clearly displeased.
"May I ask why?" Eli asked, frowning slightly.
"~They are continuing the work of the Empire in their own way. We are just assisting them seeing as we have nothing else to do. I have discussed with their high command and we need a shipyard to build more vessels for the fleet. I am certain you remember where it is?~" Trihorn replied.
"Yes, I do but what makes you think I am willing to help them?" Eli raised an eyebrow at Trihorn who sighed.
"~I'm going based on luck nowadays but I can assure you with our help, the First Order will succeed and we will crush the New Republic.~" He replied determinedly.
"You shouldn't make empty promises." Eli reprimanded playfully.
"~I'm a smuggler. It's what I do.~" Trihorn smirked which caused Eli to roll his eyes.
"You'd better be prepared to negotiate. The Chiss are unkind towards Outsiders such as yourself."
"~It's on Csilla?!~" Trihorn shouted and Eli gave a grin, knowing how much the electric blue haired man hated the planet.
"Yes."
"~Just kill me. That planet is a frozen wasteland.~"
"How do you think the Chiss build their ships?" Eli pointed out and Trihorn let out a sigh.
"~Alright. Hux! You got more political stuff to do so get prepared. I suspect you'll assist us?~"
"Very much so considering you don't speak Cheunh." Eli gave a knowing look to Trihorn who clicked his tongue.
"~Hah, right.~"
"I'll send you the coordinates and the entry code to pass."
"~I'll see you in two weeks.~"
"Two weeks? Doesn't your X-factor have a Class 1 hyperdrive?" Eli asked incredulously.
"~The X-factor is in a state of disrepair which will delay our journey slightly. We also need to make sure we don't run into any nebulas due to us entering uncharted space.~" Trihorn retorted with a nonchalant shrug.
"Very well, two weeks it is." Eli nodded before Trihorn's holoform fizzled out.
"Who was that, sir?" Eli's captain, Jombri asked in Sy Bisti.
"An old friend of mine whom I had considered to be killed after the destruction of the Empire." Eli said before turning to the bridge, "Set course for Csilla."
##
"Two weeks?! What am I supposed to do in two weeks?!" Lynx yelled at Trihorn who closed his ears at the loud outburst.
"You can go and help Hux. You know how bad he is at politics." Trihorn pointed towards the redhead who frowned.
"Excuse me?" Hux hissed.
"No offense but I need a way to get her off me." Trihorn whispered to Hux before facing Lynx again.
"Fine, I'll go help him." She scowled, agreeing with her brother despite knowing that he was lying.
"That's good." Trihorn nodded curtly before looking at a crewman. "Framann, establish contact with the other vessels."
"Done, sir."
"Let's go, Hux." Lynx motioned to the door and gave one final glare towards Trihorn before entering the turbolift.
Unexpectedly, colors returned to Lynx's vision and she saw Hux holding her hand in a sort of relieved manner. She tilted her head at him but the redhead didn't say anything and Lynx was left to stare at him until she caught herself doing so. She quickly looked forward and that was when the door opened allowing the both of them to walk out. Halfway through the walk, she glanced at him again and that was enough to get him to talk.
"Lynx, will you stop that." Hux narrowed his eyes at her.
"I want an answer." Lynx said with slight smugness in her tone that caused Hux to sigh.
"Apparently, something else has replaced that thread at the back of my mind. Now, I have this impulse to keep holding you as you provide me with more confidence than I've had even before Starkiller base." Hux explained and Lynx tilted her head slightly.
"What thread are you talking about?"
"Ren never did tell me what it was. He just left it as that." Hux shrugged slightly before entering his office.
This was actually the first-time Lynx saw Hux's office in complete colors. Like every other place in the Finalizer, Hux's office was mainly grey colored with some red and black. He had a black carpet which blended with the floor, a coffee table and a couch to the left, the bar to the right and then his desk at the center back of the room. She was curious as to why there was a bar in his office instead of his quarters but she guessed that he needed some beverages while working. Speaking of which, Hux was already on his desk with a holopad, writing in those wonderful cursive letters.
"Have I ever told you how kriffing orderly you are?" Lynx said while looking over his shoulders to read the speech.
"No, you have not." Hux muttered although the corner of his lips lifted slightly into a smile.
"I wouldn't write that… The Chiss are all high and mighty. If we are to gain their trust and assistance, we will have to be humble." Lynx looked at Hux who frowned.
"I'm not bowing down to aliens."
"Thrawn was an alien. See where that got him." Lynx smirked as she knew she hit a mark. "Besides, just for the Chiss."
"Alright." Hux sighed rather reluctantly. "Just for these humanoids."
~~Four hours later~~
The wonderful skies of her dream world caused Mia to smile with contentment. She rarely ever dreamed this way anymore. Most of her dreams would be about violence or just a cold darkness that envelops her. Her weirdest dream had been her smooching with the… Light? She didn't even understand that dream but it was something to do with a ball of light and kissing. She let out a sigh and hoped that this dream never ended.
"Mia."
'SMACK!'
"Ack! Mia! It's Ren!" Said First Knight groaned at the sudden hit that he had not foreseen with the force.
"Huh?" Mia slowly opened both of her eyes tiredly to see him on the floor beside her bed, rubbing his nose where she had hit him with a literal brick. "Sorry, Ren. Innate reflex."
"Right…" Ren drawled out the word in annoyance before fixing his nose. "I'm guessing Lynx and Trihorn also has them?"
"Only Lynx and she has the worst of it all. One time, an Ensign came to wake her and his skull cracked. It was not pleasant." Mia grimaced at the memory before getting up and yawned. "What's up anyways?"
"My master has ordered for our presence." Ren replied.
"Why didn't you say that earlier?" Mia grinned and walked out the door before she stopped to look at Ren again.
"What?" Ren asked while getting up.
"Nothing. Let's go." Mia motioned with her hand for Ren to follow and the First Knight did so rather curiously.
"Is something wrong?" Ren queried while putting on his mask.
"Seriously, it's nothing. Just, thinking." Mia smiled slightly.
The walk to the communications room was quiet. Neither of them spoke and every trooper or officer moved out of their way, mainly Ren though as Mia enjoyed their company. Ren was puzzled by this but he didn't voice it out yet. He would ask once they were done reporting to the Supreme Leader. When they arrived, the communications officer didn't even need to be told twice as he was already establishing a connection. Once he managed to, Mia gulped but kept her face impassive as ever.
"Master, her training is nearly complete. We only need a little bit more time before she can join the other Knights of Ren." Ren started.
"I would like for her to come now. I need to see her progress myself." Snoke said.
"As you wish." Ren nodded before the two of them looked at Mia who seemed distant but what was even weirder was that he could finally enter her mind.
That's odd. Ren thought as Mia must be really distracted if she had dropped her shielding.
"You have a question, Mia?" Snoke broke the silence.
"Y- Yes, sir." Mia said hesitantly. "I don't know if I can be separated from my siblings."
"A force bond should be able to reach my position." Snoke retorted, narrowing his eyes slightly when Mia gulped and she glanced at Ren who frowned beneath the mask.
He could see an image in her mind but she kept pulling it away from him. She was hesitating, choosing between showing or not showing and despite being in her mind, he couldn't hear her thoughts. She was either not saying anything or she was really that good in hiding her thoughts.
After a while, Mia spoke, "We will meet you there soon."
Snoke eyed her warily before he nodded and his holoform disappeared. Ren stared at Mia for a moment as he tried to deduce her current attitude. She was acting weird, that much he knew but he didn't know why. The image in her mind kept getting farther and farther away from him and it was getting annoying. He gave a glance towards the communications officer who immediately started shooing everyone out of the room. Ren gave a nod of thanks towards him before looking back at Mia when the door closed.
"Mia, what are you not telling me?" Ren queried while taking off his mask and setting it on the computer.
"Nothing. I'm going to the bridge." Mia turned to walk out but Ren managed to grab her wrist and stop her.
"It is troubling you. You want to show it to me and yet you don't know if you can trust me. We've been through a battle and you still don't?" Ren questioned and Mia didn't look at him. "Why?"
"I'm afraid, Ren." Mia said softly.
"Afraid of what?" Ren's grip became tighter as if that could force the answers out of her.
"I-… I'm afraid of what you would think of me if I did." Mia turned to look at Ren and beneath those magenta colored eyes, Ren saw fear and pain laced with hesitation.
"My view on you will not change, Mia. If you still do not trust me, I won't force you to tell me." Ren said softly and let go of her but Mia quickly grabbed his hands, squeezing it gently.
"My parents were Rebel sympathizers." She began. "They supported them even while being in Imperial controlled territory. I was nine years old when they helped the rebels escape. The Imperials found out about it and stormed the house, capturing us. I was set free but the Rebels used me to free my parents as they were useful for future operations."
"And?" Ren prompted when she suddenly went quiet.
"While escaping, the Imperials set up a trap. I was naïve and ran forward down the hall. I remember tripping a wire and pain searing my back before darkness… When I woke up, I was in a hospital with a detached part of my mind and heart. I climbed out the window, ignoring the doctors and nurses to survive on my own ever since." She continued, growing softer.
"Then, why are you so afraid to tell me about this?" Ren said gently causing Mia to shake her head and tears started falling.
"When I joined the Imperials where I started to feel connected, my siblings managed to get the records from the hospital I was put into. The detachment of the heart was expected as I felt the loss of losing my parents but the mind…" Mia looked up at Ren and took a step back. "I went insane, Ren. I still am insane which is why my siblings never let me go alone or if I did, it would be to enemy territory. I cannot leave their side or else everyone will suffer."
"The Inquisitorius. It was stated in your records." Ren said and Mia nodded, tears still streaming down her cheeks.
"The Grand Inquisitor noticed that I had the force within me and since I was one of the Empire's trio, he invited me over to practice on my force abilities. The truth is, he wanted to see if I could improve and join the Inquisitorius, to be his apprentice. I decided to join for fun and from what I remembered, I caused more trouble than I was worth. My siblings said that I kept stealing from them and during our trainings, I would be too dangerous for them to control. Dangerous in a sense where I don't have any self-control." Mia sniffed and took another step back but Ren moved forward and pulled her into a hug.
"In short, I cannot leave my siblings ever."
##
"Kriff! Hand me that converter stat!" Trihorn yelled towards Mart who quickly gave it to him.
For the last four hours, Trihorn and the newly promoted Ensign Mart, have been on the X-factor to start fixing the hyperdrive which was damaged when they left the battle. It was the only thing they had to repair before they could head out to Csilla. He was not looking forward the journey as uncharted space was dangerous and he hoped that he didn't run into a nebula or worse. He did plan to repair the weapons systems while in hyperspace. It would save a lot of time.
"Hyperdrive is active, Tri." Mart said and the electric blue haired man closed the panel with a satisfied huff.
"Finally! Stupid outdated wires." Trihorn tossed away said wire before looking at Mart who not only had oil on his hands but also his clothes. "You should clean yourself up."
"You should too." Mart smiled and Trihorn looked at himself to find a part of his uniform singed, his hands were super dirty and his pants slightly torn.
"Well, I still have more work to do. Go get yourself cleaned up then inform the others that we may leave for Csilla." Trihorn told Mart who saluted and left the room.
Trihorn went on to check the systems before opening the panel connecting the power to the weapons systems. He noted that the cables were fried but also outdated which caused him to roll his eyes and grumble. He started replacing the wires and reconnecting them to the system before entering the needed codes to get them online. There was a buzz causing him to look at the computer to see that the weapons were rebooting before it stopped and showed an error, one that caused him to slam his head on the wall.
"Blast! Mart!" He yelled into the communicator while rubbing his forehead to ease the pain.
"~Yes?~" Mart queried.
"Have you ordered us to jump into hyperspace yet?" Trihorn asked calmly despite his heart hammering in his chest.
"~No, sir.~"
"Good, delay that order. If we jump now, our vessel will literally explode." Trihorn replied while scanning for the problem.
"~What?! Why?~" Mart started to panic but Trihorn's calm and assertive tone overrode that feeling.
"I need to replace the power couplings before it decides to set off a chain reaction with the weapons. It won't take long." Trihorn answered while running down the hall to find the broken coupling.
He almost slammed into a female crewman who had been running in the opposite direction of where he was heading.
"Woah! Careful." Trihorn managed to slide past the crewman who was smaller than him.
"Sorry, sir!" She said before her eyes lit up in surprise. "S- Sir! I was just looking for you!"
"Um, what and why? Actually, hold that thought." He grabbed her hand and dragged her towards a small maintenance room. "Go on."
"Uhm." The crewman blushed at being in such a tight space with her superior but Trihorn paid no attention to that and focused on replacing the coupling. "There's a call for you."
"By who?"
"We don't know. The code he gave was 'Smug'." At that, Trihorn jerked his head back, pulling out the power coupling as well which caused the whole ship to power down.
"Kriff!" He quickly replaced it which stopped the chain reaction before turning to the young crewman. "Go to Ensign Mart and tell him that we can jump now. I'll go to answer the call."
"Y- Yes sir!" The young crewman was about to run off but Trihorn caught her attention again.
"Are you new around here?" He raised an eyebrow when she nodded.
"Yes, sir. The name is Crewman Isla, sir. Captain Phasma sent me to your vessel to assist you." Trihorn studied her features which consisted of a blonde hair, brown eyes and a uniform before he gave a nod.
"Welcome aboard, Crewman. Why don't you stay on the bridge? Tell Ensign Mart that I sent you there, if he asks that is."
"Yes, sir." Isla nodded before running off and Trihorn eyed her suspiciously before rolling his eyes.
"So Phasma, wanna play overwatch?" Trihorn smirked before running towards his office while speaking into his communicator, "Hoppins, send the call to my office."
"~Yes, sir.~"
Trihorn entered his workspace which had been slightly cleaned up. He had all the junk he collected in the past taken out but left his pictures and trophies in the room. He still had his favorite picture ever framed on the wall behind his desk. Every time he looked at it, a feeling of nostalgia and longingness entered his heart but he pushed it aside and released a shaky breath. He looked at the beeping light of his communicator before letting out a groan.
"Alright, time to answer him." Trihorn fixed his uniform before pressing the button showing a man in his sixties and despite his graying hair and wrinkles, he still looked charming.
"~Trihorn, my why do you still look young?~"
"Spare me the chat, Lando. Why are you contacting me?" Trihorn retorted, clasping his hands behind his back while Lando chuckled.
"~When I heard from the Resistance that a certain trio has returned, don't you think I would make contact to see if it was true?~" Lando tilted his head slightly with a smile before he continued, "~I never did see your vessel over the battle of Jakku which I thought you would have partaken considering it will be the last battle. What happened?~"
"My vessel was sucked into a black hole where I lived for three decades. While drifting, a large portal opened up and I steered the X-factor through it to park beside the Finalizer, the First Order's battle cruiser. We joined them and are now working with them." Trihorn explained as briefly as he could.
"~I see… Say, how are your sisters doing?~"
"Charming but I ain't telling you anything." Trihorn retorted and was about to end it when Lando caught his attention again.
"~Wait! I have been wondering, if you're up for smuggling again like the old days.~"
"Really? When I'm working for the First Order now you want me to smuggle? What is wrong with you?" Trihorn frowned when Lando chuckled.
"~There is nothing wrong with me, Trihorn. It is you.~" Lando's holoform pointed at Trihorn who smirked.
"If that's the case, then I'll gladly do it! However, I currently have to attend to something of importance. I will contact you in a standard month." Trihorn ended it there before Lando could ask any questions.
Then, he turned around to face the picture again with a small smile and a sad look. In the picture were three young teens, all around the same height with a Wookie behind them. The left teen had hazel eyes and had a black jacket with white inside t-shirt. The right teen had brown eyes and a blue uniform. In the middle was none other than Trihorn himself and this was taken before he ever joined the Imperials. He already knew Han Solo was killed, he read the reports himself but he just couldn't believe it.
"You never should have trusted anyone."