AN: Hello again. I realize this chapter is a little short, but that's only because I have shenanigans planned for Thursday. Hope y'all enjoy.
.***.***.***.***.
General Hux hadn't heard from Lori in over three days.
With the exception of that one hastily sent and partially coded message, he hadn't heard from her at all. Part of him worried that he had given in to wishful thinking. The rest of him had taken to daily checks on the location of the ship that had sent the message.
A glance to his computer found the ship was a WTK-85A interstellar transport, and that it was still docked on Dantooine.
That model had been widely manufactured during the imperial era, and this particular ship was forty three years old. Last reported stolen from a decommissioning yard in the Atrivis sector, its previous owner had been dead for nearly a decade.
Whoever crewed that vessel now wouldn't know a moment's peace until Lori was back by Hux's side. Even then, he would be more than ready to hunt them to the end of their miserable lives if they had done anything to harm her or their daughter.
A chime from the computer took the general away from his vengeful planning. There was an update on the map. Apparently some scoundrel in the mid-rim had seen the droid. Skimming the report left Hux with bitter news.
Han Solo was now in possession of the map.
Of course he would be involved. Contempt clung to Hux's thoughts, No matter, the man is old and there's no room left for his kind in the galaxy.
Along with scorn, the news also brought a spiteful grin to play at the general lips. Han Solo had the map, and Hux knew that Kylo Ren would drive himself to madness at the news.
Besides, he thought, Starkiller base is hours away from completion. Even an army of Jedi couldn't hope to stand against me now.
Hux tried to hold onto the sliver of confidence as he finished attending to the various work messages that plagued him. There had been some progress on the northern front, and Canady could be expected to hit New Republic territory in the next forty hours. There was even an update on his bounty posting for Lori.
He opened the message to find a grainy hologram and a request that he confirm the target's identity.
Hux paused for a moment, breath caught at Lori's image. She looked to be in a market place, talking to a dark haired man. Armitage's stomach sank as he realized that she wasn't carrying Ardis with her. Determined to believe that she was safe as well, Hux typed out a short reply.
"Target confirmed. Locate the child as well. They are both to be returned unharmed."
As he hit send, he wondered what twist of fate had brought Lori to her current state. Was the other man in the image some sort of captor? Was she be being held against her will? Had they done something to Ardis? Was that why Lori didn't have their daughter? Was she being held ransom, or as collateral against Lori's escape?
Hux knew that Lori wouldn't have breathed a word about her First Order loyalties, but the possibility that she was being held by resistance or New Republic agents clawed at him.
Looking at the hologram of Lori in the market felt like swallowing hot coals. Turning towards the pain, Hux fished around an interior pocket for the holodisk he kept on him at all times. Horribly battered and near broken, the disk's image of Lori and Ardis was faded and distorted.
The electric white lines that ran through the unfocused image mirrored his own thoughts. So many things seemed to be rushing by Hux: disjointed news and hopes and fears about his family; the power to turn entire star systems to dust sat at his fingertips; the years long hunt for Luke Skywalker was moments away from drawing to a terrible end.
Everything had been okay a week ago. But now he was in a ship racing along at light speed towards a project that had consumed his life for the past several years.
He closed the holodisk and the image of Lori on his computer.
Two hours until the Finalizer would reach Starkiller base.
Like it or not, destiny was waiting.
.***.***.***.***.
Lieutenant Mitaka had given General Hux a wide berth for the last three days. He wasn't sure that his senior officer had even noticed.
Mitaka stepped into his suite. His roommates were out on their shifts, leaving him alone as he clicked on the caf machine and leaned against his kitchen counter in a huff.
Three days to let the news sink in, and he still wasn't sure that he believed Lieutenant Grier.
He shook his head at the news, nearly refusing to let it sink in. General Hux couldn't have a wife and child. That was impossible. Mitaka couldn't imagine that anyone would voluntarily spend time around the general, let alone be involved with him romantically.
But, Quin had even been able to name the woman as Major Lori Gallus. A quick check on Mitaka's end had found that she was reported as missing in action scarcely a day after the attack on Bastion. Even more mysterious was that she was retroactively placed on unspecified leave before that, having actually left the Finalizer several months ago.
The caf maker was only half finished with its pot when Mitaka poured himself a mug.
He wondered if there were some way he could confirm what Quin had said. Asking the general directly would be suicide, and he dare not try and drop subtle hints to try to trick the general into saying anything either.
Mitaka's mind raced with questions about the kind of woman that might have fallen in love with someone like the general.
Who was she? How even… Had they been happy? Of course not, how could anyone- He shook his head, They must have been. To have the general risk a high profile mission for even a night's visit…
Mitaka took a deep drink from his hot cup of caf.
General Hux had been distraught from the moment he awoke on that upsilon shuttle. The lieutenant couldn't imagine the reason why, but looking back he now understood perfectly.
For a moment, Mitaka wondered if raising a family would have eventually calmed General Hux's temper or if it might have taught him to be a little more patient.
"What a life that could have been," he spoke to the empty room, wondering what it might be like to lose so much so quickly.
The last of the lieutenant's words faded into the ever-present rumbling of the Finalizer's engines. The suite felt lonely without his roommates buzzing about, but Mitaka knew his temporary isolation was nothing compared to the tomb that the general had built for himself.
Taking another sip of his caf, Mitaka somehow came a little closer to, and drifted much further away from, understanding the man he worked for.
.***.***.***.***.
The short shuttle ride from the Finalizer to the surface of Starkiller base had been silent. Nervous troopers eyed their two commanders from behind the safety of their anonymous helmets, while Hux and Ren conspicuously ignored each other.
The walk from the landing pad and into the twisting corridors of the base seemed to stretch on for forever in comparison. Relieved of their armed guard, General Hux had nothing between him and Kylo Ren besides the reassuring weight of his officer's coat. Similarly, Ren had nothing to distance himself from the constant, low-level disturbance in the force besides the cold metal of his mask.
Wordless, they hurried to the assembly hall. Snoke had ordered them to the snow-laden planet-turned-weapon, and now they were to meet with him via hologram. Dozens of conflicting emotions clashed within the general. This was his chance to put the New Republic in the past where it belonged, then he could focus on a future that deserved his full attention.
Upon entering, the assembly hall was dark. But, the moment Hux and Ren came to a halt just before the center of the room, a harsh blue light rushed into existence. The light settled, quickly taking the form of their supreme leader.
He did not waste time on a greeting.
"The droid will soon be delivered to the Resistance," Snoke spoke with a heavy voice laden with anger but smoothed over by confidence, "Leading them to the last Jedi. If Skywalker returns, the new Jedi will rise."
Ren's shoulders tensed, he had tried to warn the supreme leader of that very fact. Ready with a sharp comment on his tongue, he was further angered when General Hux spoke before he got the chance.
"Supreme Leader, I take full responsibility for th-"
"General!" Snoke shouted, "Our Strategy must now change."
Hux hid his satisfaction from his features. Even though suggesting that losing the map had been his fault wasn't the most elegant solution, it had taken Snoke's attention away from his cult like obsessions.
"The weapon," Hux began, "It is ready. I believe the time has come to use it. We shall destroy the government that supports the Resistance, the Republic. Without their friends to protect them, the Resistance will be vulnerable, and we will stop them before they reach Skywalker."
Snoke considered the general's words. This isn't what he wanted. To begin wholesale war with the New Republic before the death of the final Jedi was not the path to certain victory. But, simply waiting for the Resistance to find Skywalker was a surer path to defeat.
"Go." The supreme leader held a distaste for his words, even as he said them, "Oversee preparations."
Scarcely a second after Snoke gave his permission, Hux turned and hastily made for the door. Whatever other ramblings about sorcery or fate that Ren and Snoke might fall into was none of his concern.
Starkiller was ready to fire. Hux was ready to have this war finished before it started.
He was ready to focus on the future.