This hadn't been part of the plan, thought DJ, watching the cityscape of Coruscant grow closer as they descended. Hux was scheduled to attend a formal dinner this evening, without her. His exasperated sigh as he'd viewed his diary had shown his joy at spending the evening with the Council of Coruscant as they groveled for a chance to prove their loyalty. All in return for concessions and trade deals he'd have to oversee.
All of which didn't explain why PD 34 had requested that she should dress for dinner and board his private shuttle, bound for the planet.
The shuttle slipped into the hectic skyways above the city, landing at 500 Republica, the planet's most exclusive residential building. If you were a somebody, and rich, this was your address. 5,200 levels away from the planet's surface; Almost brushing against the stars. Very very rich, she corrected herself, following a droid through the grand entrance of a penthouse apartment; Decorated to a level of opulence that left Canto Bight looking impoverished. DJ had been to similar residences before, her particular skill sets attracting clients from the very top of society. That didn't stop her intake of breath as she entered a wild jungle, protected from the sky by an enormous glass biodome.
Her footsteps crunched on real soil imported from some far away planet, exotic plant species arching overhead. Precious specimens curated and cultured for the enjoyment of the ultra rich. The air was sweet and clear, lightly fragranced by scent of flowers. Flaming torches and the light of the stars above illuminated a paved clearing guarded by delicately carved stone statues. In the centre a long table set for two, and at the farthest end sat Hux, upright and awkward.
"This is unexpected." Her smile of joy dimming as Hux barely looked up from his wine glass as she approached.
"I am the second most powerful man in the galaxy. I do not need to spend my time listening to the pathetic whinings of a defeated people hoping for clemency." Hux replied, voice laced with scorn, "and the Grand Vizier was kind enough to allow me to borrow his residence for the evening. Or perhaps more permanently, I have yet to decide." His black uniform and pale face looked stark against the green foliage and pale stone that surrounded them. He looked out of place, a vision in monochrome in a technocolour world.
A servant droid pulled her chair out for her as she sat, her eyes wary as he refilled his glass from a carafe of dark liquid.
If she'd been sitting in a outer rim cantina, surrounded by the Guavians, she'd have felt the same tingling down her spine. There was something simmering beneath the surface, something that could explode at anytime. Tucking a strand of loose hair behind her ear, she accepted a drink from a droid and swallowed deeply. Hux had wanted her here, otherwise he wouldn't have sent for her. But everything else felt wrong. She could get up and walk away, or stay and wait for the fire fight to begin. At least the wine was good, she thought, taking another deep swill.
"So, if you are here, who is at dinner with the Council of Coruscant?"
"Sloane. She will enjoy it. Her last time here was… less than pleasant. There are certain scores I am sure she will wish to settle."
"And Lieutenant Seren? Will she be there too?" The question left her lips without conscious thought as a plate of food was placed on the table in front of her.
"Seren?"
"Her new aide. The one from the good family," DJ took a small bite of food, savouring the taste, "You know, the one you fucked." DJ observed his reaction, telling herself that it wasn't the comment of a jealous woman. Merely a curious one, pondering why Sloane would have selected her, out of everyone on board.
"She did look familiar," he drank deeply before catching her gaze and holding it, "is that jealousy D'ara?" he arched an eyebrow, "I would comment on you being remarkably well informed but I'm growing strangely used to you knowing everything."
DJ felt uneasy at the backhanded compliment, there was a coldness in his voice that matched how they had spoken at the grand welcome in the morning. But that had been staged. This felt all too real. This conversation was starting to remind her of defusing a detonite bomb. There was no point stopping halfway through, it would blow up either way.
"How did you meet?"
"Something that you don't already know? Will wonders never cease? Through Opan of course" he replied offhandedly, as DJ choked on her wine.
"Opan?!"
"For a person in my position it would be unseemly for an lower ranking officer to ask me directly, but on occasion, a subordinate may indicate a willingness to engage in a interaction of an intimate nature."
"And you may, on occasion, ask Opan to suggest an intimate interaction to a particular female who you like the look of?" DJ mimicked Hux's precise language.
"On occasion."
"Physical interaction?" she asked, placing her glass back on table to protect against any possible threat of choking from his answer.
"It's understood within the Order that certain needs will develop and have to be meet within the confines of a vessel. These arrangements are common and tolerated, as long as they do not interfere with working relationships."
"And love?" DJ couldn't forget Kennedy's wistful sighs over a female officer as they had sat in the officer's mess. Whatever Hux thought, not all interactions were of the physical, non-emotional kind. Although, seeing him tonight, maybe she was no fit judge of what Hux thought.
"Rare, but not unheard of. It has never been an issue I have had to concern myself with. The officer class, I find, has a less emotional mind set in regards to these matters." He sounded so convinced by his own words, but he didn't understand women at all. Women like Seren; women like her.
And yet he had shown almost no recognition or interest in the Lieutenant when they had met again today, DJ playing Seren's face as she'd realised he hadn't even bothered to remember her. Maybe it was just Hux who could be so completely emotionless? Despite ten years of trying, DJ had never got the hang of not giving a damn.
"It seems a strange way to do it," picking through her dinner, but losing her appetite.
"As opposed to picking up men in cantinas? Do we really have to talk about this now?"
"Fine," a fake smile glued on her face, "But, back to you and Opan. Does he get some sort of finders fee? Am I doing him out of a commission?" Hux looked confused, before his eyes settled into a narrow glare. She suspected he hadn't been teased before and she was losing patience for his mood.
"Your last three 'interactions' were with dark haired, small women. Like Seren. I'm not your type." PD 34 had pulled up the hologram images of them from the access logs on her request. To say DJ didn't fit that mold was an understatement; Blonde, tall, messy hair and an inability to follow orders.
"I didn't want anyone that reminded me of you." The words were so quiet she almost missed them. He didn't even look at her, his gaze on his plate, pushing food around half heartedly.
His honesty, so incongruous with his mood, threw her completely. She couldn't think of a retort to that, no cheeky reply. Busied herself with her cutlery, stabbing a morsel with vigour. Whatever was irritating Hux, the chef was not to blame. The food was divine; Exquisite flavours, perfect execution. Better than Canto Bight's overdone slabs of exotic beasts. And yet, she had no stomach for it. There was still the feeling of imminent danger, like she was flying through an asteroid belt, just waiting for one to hit. A change of subject seemed wise.
"What history does Sloane have here?"
"Coruscant was handed over the New Republic, Sloane always mourned its loss, she'd always had a special relationship with the system. Hated Rax for not supporting her defence of it"
"And now it is back in the fold, losing its Senator and its freedom…" she mused, remembering the anger she'd felt surging over her at the Senate house. Hate and fear. A whole world terrifited at what retribution the First Order would demand.
Hux laughed without humour, the sound bringing a chill.
"Freedom is an illusion. A right that brings suffering to those under its tyranny. Take FN 218. What does he call himself now you said, Finn? Do you know how he came to the Order?" Hux leant forward in his chair, arms resting on the table, animated at last. "He wasn't stolen. We visited his system and his parents and thousands like them begged us to take their children so they wouldn't die from starvation and disease. That is the lie the New Republic peddled, that freedom was a joy. It was a torture." He pushed himself back, eyes shining with conviction.
"It's not a torture to all. I've been free all my life."
"True, but not everyone has your talent for survival." It could almost have been a compliment, but when DJ held his gaze, it was clear it wasn't. The feeling that something was troubling Hux had gone from a niggle to a stabbing pain. Almost instinctively DJ tested weight and balance of the cutlery knife in her hand. There wasn't a big distance between them, one good throw and she'd embed it in his chest. The idea was growing increasingly tempting, she thought with a scowl.
With no warning a fine curtain of water fell from the dome, circled around the paved clearing, past the statute sentinels. Light mist at first and then heavier until they could see nothing through it, the only sound the patter of raindrops on leaves. DJ felt a small pang of sympathy for the troopers stationed amongst the trees, still and silent. Obedient.
"And now it's raining! How can anyone with a weather controlled biodome consider it a useful idea to permit it to rain during the evening?" Hux threw down his fork in disgust.
"It's not raining on us Hux," DJ said, watching the way the rain drops caught the light of the torches as it fell, "and anyway, I love the rain."
"My memories of it are less fond, I remember it raining constantly on Arkanis. And cold, always cold." he looked sourly at the torrent of water surrounding them.
"On Jedha, rain was blessing, they used to say." She swallowed down a sudden awkwardness. They had shared so little about each other, it seemed almost too late to start now. He'd never asked, and there had never been time. She tossed her hair back from her face as she straightened, staring down the long table. One thing, she would share one thing about her past that he couldn't have read in her file.
Whether he liked it or not.
"My father told me about the Renewal festival each year. The whole moon would celebrate its coming. It's how my parents met apparently, not in a cantina," she clarified, "he was a Guardian of the Whills, tasked with doing the ritual festival stuff I suppose. Anyway, my mother was a pilgrim, to the Jedi temple. She was dancing in the rain, soaked to the skin, the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen. Well, that's what he used to say." She gave a soft laugh, looking up to see Hux watching her intently, expression unreadable.
She hadn't thought about the story in years, putting it away with everything else from her past. But it was still there, the memory of her father with a cheeky glint in his eye as he told the tale, her mother rolling hers in return as she overheard from some corner of their hut. Their shared smile that told of a joyful life shared.
"He said she was so beautiful that day in the rain. So free, so happy, that he turned away from the Guardians to be with her. From everything he thought he was." As the words came out, the irony hit her like a blaster bolt. She was following the same footsteps, and stumbling. All because of the man in front of her.
"I'm not going to dance in the rain for you, I'm afraid," he replied softly, a flash of a smile on his face, and then gone. But she felt a spark of hope.
"Tell me something about you, about your childhood." But whatever had lifted slightly returned, twice fold. There was a tension in his face and body that hadn't been there before moments ago. Her question had awakened something inside him, and she cursed her stupidity. Wished she could have taken back the words, kept hold the moment of calm and peace between them.
He didn't look at her as he started to speak. "My mother's name was Shaa'silin. I didn't know that until I was older, my father told me during a drunken rage, telling me she was a kitchen slave, a whore…" His voice faltered, leaving the drumming of the rain.
"I have a memory. I was maybe four. Arms holding me close, and a woman crying and screaming as I was pulled away by Brendol. I don't know why he took me with him. Every day he punished me for not being enough like him, for being weak, for being... " he finally pulled his eyes up, challenging her. "My father was a cruel, vicious thug who poisoned everything and everyone he ever touched. I hated him every day he lived. I still hate him now. Phasma told the truth, she killed him on my orders. Does that shock you?" The words were precise and deliberate, as if he'd practiced them in his head before he'd spoken. Hux wasn't looking for pity, he'd never been that type. But he needed something from her. This was a test, not a conversation. The hurt, the need for love, the longing for comfort - the pain she'd felt the night when she had first gone to him sliced through her.
"No." It didn't shock her, she'd killed for far less.
Sitting in silence, they both watched the rain that still fell in sheets around them, the smell of the forest stronger with a tang of damp earth. They could be anywhere in the galaxy, far away from civilisation or conflict. Instead they were in the heart of it all, waiting for a storm to break.
"Kylo killed his father too. It's the only thing we have in common. His father was Han Solo." Hux spoke matter-of-factly, as if he was discussing the weather. The impact on DJ was less reserved.
"You're kriffing with me? Han Solo? General Organa's husband? Kylo's father? So…"
"Yes, the Resistance's precious princess, Leia, is Ren's mother. Sorry, Ben Solo's mother." Hux let out a bitter laugh, "And now, my dear, you know the dark secret at the heart of the Order. Snoke turned her own son against her, pulled him to the Dark Side, twisting him to his own ends. Luke Skywalker is Ren's uncle. Ren is the son of the great leader of the Rebels."
DJ shook her head, trying to make sense of it all. She'd prided herself on knowing everything, and the biggest secret of the galaxy had eluded her. Pieces of the puzzle that was Ren clicked like lock cogs into place.
"That's why Rey thinks she can turn him back to the Light. The conflict inside him. He's from the Light, she thinks she can bring him back. Remember, in the turbolift, in Snoke's chambers? Who else knows?"
" In the Order? No one living, except for me. But Rey is a fool. There is no conflict. There is no light left in that man," Hux couldn't mask his hate, or his certainty, "Whatever he was before, that person has gone. He has the cruelty of Snoke, without the cunning or the vision. He will use the Force to get whatever he wants or destroy the galaxy trying."
His mask of calm fractured at last. Hux throwing his napkin down and pulling himself out of his chair as he began pacing, as DJ tracked his every move.
"What are we doing here?" she asked quietly.
"Eating. Well, we would have been if the food hadn't been so bad. I should have the chef flogged.."
Hux settled his gaze on her, his eyes flaming with anger; Whole body taut with agitation. Recognition slammed into her and she cursed herself for her stupidity. She'd seen it before, of course, all clients went through it.
It was pre-job jitters.
Every time she had a client, rather than doing a job for herself, she suffered through this. The hologram messages to her the night before, the first demanding for her to call the whole thing off, and then the next messages, begging her to tell them it would all be ok. Seeking reassurance, comfort, that they were doing the right thing. It didn't even matter what the job was; Slicing, theft, murder. Every client second guessed themselves, and her. DJ had learnt over the years to wait it out, ignore the sudden changes of heart, and wait for the morning to break and work to begin.
None of this had been about her - the realisation reassuring and shattering her. It was about his fear for tomorrow, for at last taking on Ren, fighting for what he most wanted in the galaxy. Not her, nothing about her. Hux hated her using the Force to feel his emotions, so she told herself that was why she didn't brush against his mind. Not fear about what she wouldn't find there. And her pain brought anger.
"This was never about dinner. What was the point of this whole thing?" DJ stood up, throwing back a large mouthful of wine from her glass. She matched him stare for stare as a myriad of emotions flashed across his face.
"Isn't this what women want? Romantic dinners, dresses and…"
"I'm not sure you are an expert on what women want Hux. And sitting 10 feet away from you while you glare at me is hardly romantic"
"Are you mocking me?" his anger flared, handed clenching into fists.
"Armitage, what do you want? Why are we here? You sitting there like you would rather be anywhere else, drinking yourself into oblivion. Why? What do you want?"
"I wanted," he swung around to face her, "I wanted you. Happy now? This was for you. Because tomorrow... But. But, I don't know how to do this... " his sentences were broken, face naked with confusion and need.
Throat tight, she moved to him, cupping her hands around his beautiful face. "This is now, this is tonight. There is just us. There is no tomorrow." a small smile curled her lips, "your troopers stationed in the trees around us. They won't turn around no matter what they hear?"
"No. They are highly trained. And loyal to only me." his reply was automatic, only realising the implication of her words as he caught her raised eyebrow.
She slid up onto the edge of the table, breasts pushed up above the taut leather of her corset.
"Show me how much you wanted me"
Standing before her, he began unlacing her corset, each movement of his slim fingers setting bursts of heat through her body as the silk cord slipped through the eyelets in the black leather. Hux's eyes darkened with lust as they locked onto hers until the corset opened wide, releasing her breasts naked before him. The cool night air and desire hardening her nipples.
He grabbed her chin and kissed her hard, teasing with his tongue, forcing himself into her mouth. He nipped her bottom lip, driving a deep heavy ache building inside her.
"Lie back." he ordered, voice cracking with need.
DJ obeyed, smoothing her dress under her, a hot wetness between her legs as Hux pushed the fabric up her thighs, hands warm on her skin.
"Spread your legs," his command became a growl, his body responding as he saw she was naked beneath the dress.
Just watching him take off his jacket and shirt excited her, the anticipation of what was in store bringing heat to her cheeks. He pushed her further up the table, hands pushing her legs further apart. Dipping his head to her core DJ arched her back, aching to be possessed by him. She could feel his tongue, followed by his fingers, slipping deep into her core. The sensation of him licking her slowly from the bottom of her slit to her clit, flicking it slowly with his tongue, as he finger fucked her, completely undid her. She bucked against his mouth, the pleasure building until she was teetering on the edge of release. Any shyness at being overheard had been abandoned the moment he'd touched her, her whimpers echoing across the clearing.
He lifted his head, lips wet from her, "You're so close, beg for me, and I'll let you come."
DJ tried to hold his head, force him back onto her, but his hands grabbed her arms, pinning them down onto the table. As his body pressed against hers, his lips found her nipple, dragging a groan of delicious agony from her.
Releasing her flesh, "I said beg," he repeated.
"I hate you" she hissed, until a moan overtook her, " I need you."
DJ heard a chuckle of victory, as he thrust the fingers that had been inside her into her mouth, tasting the tang of herself as she sucked them with relish. Hux dipped his head back between her thigh and returned to his work - licking, sucking, plunging his long fingers in and out of her, setting a rhythm that drove her on and on until she felt her climax ripping out of her with scream that would have woken the dead.
Catching her breath, she pulled herself up, kissing him as he slid inside her. He felt so perfect inside her, stretching her, hitting her deep. DJ wrapped her legs around his arse, driving him deeper into her, grounding against him as her pleasure built again.
"Come back to me" he growled into her hair, his thrusts harder and more urgent as they found their release together.
They were still then, finding peace at last. DJ peppered his face and neck with light kisses, tracing her fingers over the two pale moles on the side of his cheek. Trying to memorise his face. The smell and feel of him. Just in case. She lay her head on his shoulder, hiding sudden tears
"We should go. There is so much to do. For tomorrow." The words disappeared into nothingness, as neither moved, wishing tomorrow would never come.