Hux eyed the girl sitting on the other side of his desk.
She was young, although not as young as her small frame made her seem. Her skin was pallid from spending the entirety of her childhood aboard First Order vessels. Furthermore, her record was completely unremarkable, and not in the reassuring way that meant she hadn't received any official reprimands for disorderly behavior or uniform violations, but it was disturbingly empty of anything of significance. She was a nobody within the ranks.
Even so, Hux was confident that he had made the right choice now that she was sitting across from him. Despite her un-intimidating size, her posture was strong and unyielding and she met his scrutiny steadily, her eyes burning with ambition.
He could mold that ambition.
"Lieutenant Stynnix," he began. "I will be frank with you. I have an assignment that I believe would suit you well. It's not glamorous, and it would require a level of discretion, but if you were to succeed in your task, it would benefit the First Order greatly."
He paused, but she merely waited for him to continue, her gaze sharp.
"However," he grimaced, "you may be aware my standing is not what it was just a few short weeks ago. By accepting this position within my staff, you would be aligning yourself with my position."
Her brow wrinkled slightly. Hux stretched his lips in a smile. Let her think she had a choice in the matter. "I say this not to discourage you, but to present you with the options."
Stynnix shifted to the edge of her seat, her face brimming with a carefully tempered eagerness. "What of my current duties?"
"You will maintain any current assignments."
She nodded. "And when do I have to give you my decision?"
"I'll need it immediately."
Her eyebrows jumped at that, but she didn't seem surprised, more like excited. "I accept the assignment, General."
"Excellent." Hux smiled as genuinely as he was able. "I'll be sending you an encrypted dossier to begin with. Dismissed, Lieutenant."
Stynnix rose quickly to her feet and saluted. "Sir."
Hux stood and followed her out of the office. The girl only flinched slightly when the door slid open to reveal Phasma's hulking figure just outside.
"Captain." Stynnix snapped another sharp salute before turning and stepping smartly away down the corridor. Phasma's helmet turned to keep her in sight until she turned the corner. Phasma turned back to look at Hux and he felt the question in her glance. He gave a quick shake of his head and she relaxed infinitesimally.
"What is it?" Hux prodded.
"There's been a potential breach."
Hux gave her a flat stare. "A breach?"
"Yes."
"Of what nature?"
"Internal. Unauthorized data access."
"Is that all." Hux scowled, already turning back to his office. He may have been demoted but was hardly at the level of investigating minor infractions, which, although concerning, were common enough.
Phasma tilted her head. "No, that's not all."
Hux paused at the hint of eagerness in her tone. He spun slowly on his heel to face her. "Tell me."
It hadn't even been a month since Finn escaped this place, but coming back has left his mind a burning wreck of emotions. He could hear the blood rushing in his ears as he kept his gaze fixed straight ahead, praying no one would notice the drop of sweat slipping from under his stolen officer's cap and down his temple.
Even though living with the Resistance was a huge culture shock for someone who had been accustomed to having his life run for him, walking through the rigid sterile halls of the Supremacy felt wildly uncomfortable even though part of him was satisfied by the familiarity and predictability of the ship's layout. But every time they came across someone, he just knew they would see him in the petty officer's uniform, a stolen uniform that he shouldn't be wearing, a uniform that now had growing sweat stains because he was this close to freaking out again – they'd see him and turn him in for insubordination.
Finn knew Rose was picking up on his anxiety again because she kept giving him glances that he staunchly avoided. He knew she would try to help him, but he didn't want to use her like a crutch. If anything, he'd like her to see him as capable of doing this simple thing on his own.
Because yeah, it was simple. Just walk his friends to the nearest data port, figure out where this hyperspace tracker thing was, then take them there and knock it out. Simple, really.
His steps quickened, Rose kept pace at his side. Paige and Poe followed on their heels, their faces hidden under their TIE pilot helmets.
"This way," he muttered, finally catching sight of a central data port in an out-of-the-way corner. "Here. This will work."
"Alright, Beebee," Poe said, sounding obnoxious through his helmet's vocoder. "Find the hyperspace computer... tracker... thingy."
BB-8 shrilled something extremely rude and upset from under his laundry hamper.
"Sorry, buddy," Poe said, hastily lifting the container that hid the astromech from view. "Your paint job doesn't fit in with the First Order's aesthetic."
BB-8 twittered angrily, but rolled forward to plug his dataprobe into the port.
Rose knelt down next to the droid as the others stood to make a shield around them, attempting nonchalance. Finn watched, fidgeting with the cuffs of his jacket – well, not his jacket, the jacket he was wearing, that he stole. Rose shot him a look as if she knew what he was thinking again. He gave her a tight nod, and she smiled briefly before returning her attention to BB-8.
"Did you find it yet?" she whispered to the droid.
BB-8 whistled blithely, his probe spinning the port's interface around as he downloaded the Supremacy's internal schematics. A few tense, long minutes later, he pulled out and spun around to face the group, spewing a rapid series of excited beeps.
"He says it's not far from here," Rose said. "He can lead us straight there."
"Not like that." Poe held up the hamper again. "Sorry, Beebee."
Two officers and a pair of pilots followed a laundry hamper through the corridors of the Supremacy. Thankfully, because BB-8 had the schematics in his databank – as well as the patrol schedule for the sectors they had to pass through – he was able to take them on a route that minimized their chances of encountering any unfriendlies who might question why they were following the lead of a dirty clothing receptacle.
BB-8 guided them to a discrete doorway, one that hardly seemed significant enough for what lay beyond it. They all wedged themselves into the alcove while Rose fiddled with the door's locking mechanism.
"How much longer?" Finn whispered.
Rose pressed her lips together. "It does take some amount of time to do these things," she muttered. "It's not a spontaneous kind of deal. I have to bypass the security protocol so the alarm doesn't go off and then override the lock."
"So..."
Rose gave him a harassed look. "Two minutes. Okay?"
"Okay, sure."
Finn felt a hand clamp on his shoulder and turned to see Paige with a raised eyebrow. "Take a breath, fighter. We're almost there."
Finn took a step back and tried to believe her. They were close – according to BB-8, the main power core for the hyperspace tracker's supercomputer was right on the other side of the door. But the voice that had been steadily getting louder in his head – and now was at about a scream – was telling him that they still had to get out. Or rather, it was telling him to get out right now.
Suddenly there was a snap and a pop that caused everyone to jump, and the door shot open.
"I got in!" Rose announced.
"We can see that," Poe said, giving an encouraging nod of his head to urge her forward.
"Move," Paige said, shoving Poe through the door. "Everyone, let's go."
Their group funneled through the door, which Rose promptly triggered so that it slammed shut and locked behind them.
"There it is," Finn said, jogging forward towards the sparking power core behind a ray shield.
"Beebee-Ate, find a dataport," Rose said, lifting the hamper from over the astromech so he could roll free. "We've got to access that supercomputer."
BB-8 squealed and darted to a little niche where the dataport was hidden. Poe and Paige lifted off their helmets, the former ruffling his hair and sighing in relief. Paige, on the other hand, looked more than a little on edge as she glanced around the room uneasily before settling on the power core and the rows of data processing banks flanking the frizzling power core.
"That was easy," Poe commented. Finn turned back and gave him a look of disbelief.
Paige slowly faced Poe, her expression stony. "Your definition of easy is inaccurate," Paige scoffed.
Throwing his arms in the air, Finn exclaimed, "Yeah, we nearly got caught."
"But we didn't," Poe pointed out, waving his hand dismissively.
Ignoring their debate, Rose went towards the console embedded in the wall near the shimmering ray shield keeping the power core contained.
"For Force sake, this is serious," Paige snapped, pointing an accusing finger in Poe's face. "I know you think you're invincible, but the rest of us aren't. And as leader, you need to act like you realize that. This is not a kriffing game."
Finn edged away, his tense nerves jangling, taken aback by the vehemence in Paige's words even though he completely agreed.
"It's not my fault that Kylo ditched us." Poe put his hand up in defense.
"He got us here, like he said. And he wasn't kriffing flippant about it."
"I'm sorry?"
Finn shifted his feet and glanced back at Rose, who was studiously at work on the console, ignoring Paige's scolding.
"Never again, Dameron." Paige clenched her teeth, turning away and seething.
Poe met Finn's eyes and gave a one-shouldered shrug, just as they heard the pneumatic hiss of a door sliding open. Poe's eyes darted towards the noise as Finn turned to see for himself.
"Look out!" Poe cried, but it was too little too late as the squads of troopers poured into the room.
"You there, hands up!"
"Drop your weapons!"
"On your knees, rebel scum!"
Finn was stuck, several instincts battling it out in his mind. One voice was screaming at him to run, another to yield. The strongest instinct had him grasping at the air where his standard First Order issue blaster rifle would be as he took a step forward, obeying the squad leader's barked command to subdue the rebels before he remembered who he was now.
He knew this would happen. He had been an idiot to think otherwise. His mind was having trouble with the reality, so familiar yet so wrong. He wished he had his helmet, the comforting weight filtering the noise and light to something tolerable.
Someone grabbed his shoulders and shoved Finn down until his knees buckled and he slowly raised his hands behind his head. Vaguely, he was aware of Poe shouting, of Rose crying out, of Paige reaching for her sister. Poe was struggling, cursing and snarling. He somehow managed to knock out one trooper before two more wrestled his arms to his side.
"Poe! Poe! Stop!" Paige was shouting, kneeling beside Rose whose eyes were stretched wide in fear.
It was only a moment, but the moment seemed endless to Finn.
Poe was unhinged, his eyes brimming with hatred and anger – no doubt remembering what it had been like the last time he'd been taken alive, refusing to face that hell again, and Finn couldn't blame him even while he watched in horror as Poe lunged away from the stormtroopers.
Poe was pulling the blaster from the fallen trooper, ignoring the shouts of both his friends and assailants. Finn was only aware of the blaster rifle being raised beside his face when it whined with a charge and fired, muzzle pointed towards Poe just as he was tackled to the ground.
Finn jerked away, his head ringing, right ear deadened by the shriek of the plasma bolt, and landed hard on his side.
Staring at the heel of a trooper's boot, he blinked for a long moment.
Then he was yanked upright, his head spinning. Someone else was still on the ground, no, two someones in black flight uniforms, lying in a spreading patch of carmine liquid that was slowly eclipsing the gleam of the polished floors.
An officer in dark navy – wait, no, it was Rose – was at the edge of the puddle, blood – because it was blood, Finn realized – soaking into the knees of her stolen uniform. She grasped at one of the figures, her face contorted and her lips moving, but Finn couldn't hear over the fizzing silence in his ear.
Two stormtroopers stepped forward and lifted the other someone. It was Poe, his body slack and his head sagging forward. Finn's eyes drifted, and he saw they were pulling Rose back, too, leaving only one person behind. Rose was thrashing, screaming, but Finn was still too dazed to do anything but watch.
His view was cut off by two gleaming pairs of boots coated in chromium. Finn startled, raising his eyes to meet the dead-eyed stare of Captain Phasma.
"FN-2187."
The sound of his previous identifier spoken in her modulated voice cut through his confusion like a gundark's claws.
"So good to have you back."
Finn felt her amusement run cold fingers down his spine.
"Sir, what do you want with the prisoners?"
Phasma turned to the squad leader standing at stiff attention beside her. "Take them to temporary holding. There's no need to process them fully because we'll be rid of them soon enough."
"Yes, sir."
Finn could only stare at her, his jaw clenched tight and his legs trembling as they wrenched him to his feet, binding his ankles and wrists before they dragged him out of the room after the unconscious Poe. Rose wasn't screaming anymore, just sobbing, so he could hear the squad leader's next query.
"And the body, sir?"
"Dispose of it."
It was only once they'd tossed him into the tiny cell with a few vicious kicks to the ribs and the door had sealed shut behind them that the shaking in his legs took over his entire body. Finn felt his heartbeat pounding against his ribs, an unrelenting staccato that stole his breath as an overwhelming sense of despair crushed his few collected thoughts.
He curled in on himself, struggling to deny the horror that had just happened.
Kira Ren disembarked from her shuttle and found Ben waiting for her in the hangar.
He was accompanied by a pair of stormtroopers, as well as the units in formation. Oddly enough, there were no officers to greet the Ren when they arrived, but Kira preferred it that way. Ben's wrists were locked in restraints, but his eyes were unconcerned as he fixed his yearning gaze on her. She had forgone the helmet, knowing the kindling excitement she saw in his face was reflected on hers. The Knights of Ren followed behind her, forming a semicircle at the end of the shuttle's ramp.
The trooper on Ben's left spoke up when she stopped in front of them. "We've delivered the prisoner directly to you, without stopping or talking to anyone, and I've handed you the prisoner's weapon," he said dazedly as he passed over a silver lightsaber hilt.
Kira cut her eyes towards Ben, who gave an almost imperceptible shrug as she accepted the weapon and attached it next to her own.
"I'll take the prisoner from here," she commanded.
The soldier seemed to shake himself, maybe starting to question his actions. "But, sir, we haven't informed-"
"The prisoner is my responsibility," Kira snapped. "You're dismissed."
The Ren seemed to know they were also not wanted and they dissipated along with the stormtroopers, even though she knew her knights would be lurking nearby. She'd only told them the bare minimum of what to expect on their arrival; namely, that Kylo was once again in First Order custody. They hadn't said anything, but she knew they were dissatisfied with her failure to explain further.
Ever since Starkiller, she'd been holding back from them, even Silyana, but Kira was relying on their implicit trust, built over their years together. But, honestly, right now as she stared into Ben's burning eyes, she couldn't care less if they trusted her, and that recklessness made her heart beat faster.
Kira took Ben's elbow and he allowed her to guide him out of the hangar. It was only when he realized that she was taking him deeper into the Supremacy that he slowed.
"Where are we going?" he asked.
She tightened her grip. "To Snoke."
Ben tensed, but he didn't try to pull away. "But Rey, I thought -"
"Quiet," she murmured, and he followed. Her heart clenched, knowing that she held his trust, even more so than her knights. He would follow her to the edges of the galaxy and back. That knowledge left her trembling. She could feel the torrent of emotions rushing through him and it only heightened the jittery feelings dancing along her nerves. Their last exchange through the Force connection had been playing in her mind on a loop in the intervening hours, and rather than getting old or worn out, the memory served to build up her anticipation of seeing him again.
Even without the power of Kira Ren's fearsome mask, First Order personnel scattered in front of her, although their usual fear that diverted their terrified eyes was counteracted by a curiosity towards the stranger at her side. Kira turned them towards the turbolift that would take them to Snoke. The elite stormtroopers on guard at the lift did not stop them, apparently anticipating their coming. Only once the door slid shut behind them did she release the grip on his elbow that would likely leave bruises. They stood silently side by side, facing the sealed door.
The lift began to rise, the smooth mechanism humming as they ascended through the Supremacy towards Snoke's throne room. Otherwise it was quiet, almost unbearable pressure in the air like when a starship dropped into atmo too quickly, popping her eardrums. She was almost afraid to move, expecting something to break or shatter if she moved too suddenly.
"Rey."
Her eyes darted towards him, her breath catching.
"We don't have to do this." He stepped nearer, that burning look melting his brown irises to black as he stood close. "We can leave without confronting Snoke. We'll go away and never look back. Rey, when we kissed, I saw it. Our future, just the shape of it, but solid and clear."
Kira didn't let his confusion dim the bright conviction she held. "I saw something, too," she said, looking up at his hungry expression. "Because of what I saw, I know that when the time comes, you'll be the one to turn. You'll stand with me."
The turbolift's door slid open, exposing them to the malevolent stares of the Supreme Leader and his Praetorian Guard and the seeping chill of the Dark Side. Kira felt as though she'd been yanked from a daydream by being doused with cold water. Ben evidently felt the same from the way he whipped around to face the room, his shoulders curling in.
Suddenly Kira felt the smallest trickle of doubt, but she knew what she had seen. She straightened and tempered her almost giddy excitement, schooling her features into a blank, hard mask. She didn't allow herself to hesitate, firmly taking Ben's elbow and leading him forward.
Snoke lounged on his throne, his head tilted to one side, his spidery hands grasping the armrests eagerly. "Welcome, my good and faithful apprentice," he chuckled, his voice rising to fill the grandiosity of the room.
She felt Ben press back against her hold even as he kept up their march towards the throne, as though his body was attempting to distance itself from Snoke as much as possible. Disgust and fear swirled around Ben as they approached the throne. She sympathized, knowing the feeling all too well. Kira halted and knelt, fixing her eyes on the ground, Ben stopping a few steps in front of her.
There was a brief tug on her belt as the silver lightsaber hilt flew to Snoke's hand. He rolled it in his hand, observing it idly. "What of Skywalker?" he inquired, his tone too warm, like when a match has burned down almost to your fingertips.
"He is destroyed, Master," she answered, her words sounding stiff and small in reply.
"Well done, apprentice," he crooned, setting the hilt on the throne's armrest as he stared at her. "My faith in you is restored."
She felt his attention shift to her companion and exhaled through her nose.
"Young Ben."
Kira saw the heavy manacles unlock and clatter to the floor beside Ben's boots in her periphery.
"Come closer, child," Snoke ordered, but Ben didn't move. Kira could feel the fury and loathing pouring off Ben and clenched her jaw, knowing better than to speak up now.
"So much strength," Snoke purred. "So much conflict. Light rises, and darkness to meet it. I have taught my apprentice to be wary of the tenacious nature of the Light, its insidious hold on the heart. I see you could have benefitted from my teaching as well. If only you had answered me sooner."
The Force constricted violently and Kira's eyes flickered up to see Snoke's thin smile as he drew Ben towards himself, dangling him in the air only centimeters from his throne. Kira could see the tension in Ben's body but knew that he was locked in place. She forgot to breathe.
"You underestimate me," Ben spat, twisting his head away from Snoke's leering, skull-like visage in his attempt to control his own limbs. "And you underestimate Rey. It will be your downfall."
Snoke's smile stretched. "Oh, do you think you've seen some weakness in my apprentice? Is that why you came? Young fool. I know her mind. She is mine. I stoked her conflicted soul."
Kira's gaze dropped down to the floor and she bit down on the inside of her cheek until blood flooded her mouth.
"I knew she was not strong enough to hide it from you. And you were not wise enough to resist the bait."
"No," Ben hissed.
"Yes," Snoke replied gleefully, his pale blue eyes hard as shards of kyber. "And now, you will give me everything. In return, I will destroy the last remnants of the Light in your heart so you can be free to submit yourself to me."
Kira couldn't look at him. Not now, when she could sense Ben's hatred and fear and helplessness like jagged fissures in the Force. She hadn't thought it would be like this when she shared the vision with him in their kiss, but like Ben had said, it had been nebulous but solid, like a memory of something that she knew to be true beyond doubt but the details slipped through her fingers. This was how they could come together, standing in front of the galaxy side by side.
But when Ben started screaming, letting loose an unrelenting, agonized shriek that scraped against her bones, she knew that it wasn't right. She looked up at her master with burning eyes.
This had to end.
