Pates's eyes slowly begin to open to the sight of Matt, the voice that'd been calling her name, ending her nightmare.
"Let me get you out of here," he assures her, picking her body up as he carried her up the stairs and out of the temple.
"Matt…what are you doing here?" she mumbles, still in a haze.
"I was doing radar technician stuff," he blurts out without thinking.
Too fatigued to question Matt's logic, Pates rests her head against his chest instead, closing her eyes until she hears another voice from the other side of the palace corridor.
"What happened to her? You buffoon, what did you do to her?!" General Hux's distinct sour hiss oozes with venom.
Matt stops, Pates's eyes start to open, but only wide enough to make out the Bardottan moonlight streaming through the skylights of the palace.
"I found her investigating the Frangawl Temple. She was passed out. I did nothing," Matt responds, his tone much more firm and cold than what Pates's was accustomed to hearing from him.
"Put her down this instant!" Hux commands.
"And you will take her to her quarters?" Matt questions in a mocking monotone.
After a moment of uncertain hesitation, Hux nods, "I will."
With care, Matt sets the nearly unconscious Pates on the lush, carpeted floors of the Bardottan palace, "Be my guest, general."
Hux leans down, securing his gloved hands underneath Pates. Being nearly a foot shorter than him, it's almost infantilizing when Hux struggles to barely get Pates off of the ground. The unforgiving fabric of his First Order officer uniform only serves to make his lanky frame more apparent, and he's only able to lift Pates about a foot off of the ground before losing balance and nearly dropping her back down.
Matt's lips twist into a cruel smile, "Having some trouble, General Hux?"
With the Force, Matt punts Hux away from Pates, pushing him only far enough away so that he can watch as Matt gets down on one knee to lift Pates back up with ease.
"Good day, general," his smug smile still persists as he walks away.
Matt sets Pates down on a bed in one of the guest rooms of the palace. As he lays her head on the pillow, Pates begins to open her eyes. She smiles.
"Matt…"
Matt's hardened expression fades, and although he doesn't smile back, there's a softer quality in his features, "Are you okay? What happened to you?"
"Matt, there are powerful forces at work in Bardotta. More than just the Frangawl Cult…I'm not sure if what I saw was real, but if it is…the queen is the least of our problems."
"Ah, yes, the queen," Matt suddenly remembers, "I…I mean, Kylo Ren has been meaning to tell you, he will be holding Queen Phoebe's execution tomorrow at dawn."
"Tomorrow?!" she gasps, nearly leaping out of bed. Matt stops her, his hulking arms and broad chest making it easy to stop her from moving forward.
"Matt, do you even know if there's been an investigation? Do we have any intel at all on Kylo Ren's assassin?"
"We know that the beast was wearing the armor of the queen's royal guard. That's all the intel Kylo Ren needs," Matt explains with a harsh firmness.
"I understand Ren's reasoning, but there's still so much we don't know yet," Pates worries, resting her elbows on her knees, "and who will take over the planet once the queen's been executed? She has no apparent heir-"
"Remember Pates, this planet belongs to us!" Matt assures her, placing his hands on her shoulders, "one of our generals will preside over the planet-"
"I have a feeling the people of Bardotta won't stand for that," she grumbles.
"Well, the people are wrong!"
Pates flinches away from Matt, caught off-guard by his sudden outburst. Matt immediately recognizes what he's done, and shirks just a little, "I…I'm sorry."
"It's okay, Matt," she looks at him with a gentle smile, and he glances back to her with wide, almost bewildered eyes.
Pates gets out of bed, but Matt reaches out to stop her, "What are you doing? You need to rest."
"I only have hours before the queen is executed. I need to find out what's really going on."
Turning away from Matt, Pates begins to leave the room, but he speaks up once more, angrier this time.
"Why don't you trust Kylo Ren's judgment? He thinks the queen is guilty, that means you should too."
Pates turns back around, her tone firm, "I'm not saying Kylo Ren isn't right. But, even if he's right, I still want there to be solid evidence to prove it."
"And what if you don't like what you find?"
She thinks on this for a moment, then looks him straight in the eye, "It wouldn't be the first time."
Queen Phoebe meditates alone in her prison cell, the dark and cold stone floors contrasting against the bright greens and golds of her regal dress. As she meditates, she mumbles to herself, but as Pates enters the palace dungeons, the queen's words are too indistinct for Pates to make out.
Sensing her, Queen Phoebe opens her eyes, "Ah, Pates, I knew you would come."
"Another premonition from the Force?" she asks, grabbing an empty prison guard stool, setting it in front of the queen's cell and sitting down.
"Indeed. And don't think I didn't also foresee my own arrest. I knew that I could never survive as queen for long under the rule of the First Order."
"Really?" Pates wonders aloud, "Then perhaps you could have predicted the assassination attempt on Kylo Ren's life? It certainly would have been helpful, and spared you the accusation of treason."
"A dark cloud shrouds him, I can not see his future, for his fate lies with the Force."
"If you insist," Pates's tone is skeptical, but it shifts to something more sincere, "but no amount of mysticism is going to prevent your execution…unless you can help me find the true perpetrators."
"Many on Bardotta are against the First Order, any number of organizations could be responsible," the queen explains.
Pates pauses for a moment, "You majesty…is there anyone else who could've pulled off the assassination attempt? Perhaps someone on your council? Maybe someone from the Resistance?"
"No, never. Bardotta is a pacifist planet, the people believe in peace…" the queen trails off, her eyes filled with worry and doubt, "…there have been murmurings though. Rumors only-"
"We don't have much time. If we don't find another lead soon, you will remain the only suspect in the eyes of Kylo Ren."
Queen Phoebe sighs, "The Bahk-tov Council has heard rumors that the Resistance have a base on Bardotta, somewhere near the Capital City."
Pates's eyes widen, "We have to find them. This could be the key to proving your innocence-"
"No one but the two of us must know!" Queen Phoebe bursts, rushing up to the prison bars, getting as close as she can to Pates, "Please, if Kylo Ren were to discover even the rumors…he would decimate the city. My people. Please…I will show you everything I know."
Queen Phoebe reaches her hands out, and with great hesitation, Pates gets up from the prison guard's stool. She clasps her hands with the queen's, and as she closes her eyes she's brought to a scene in the Capital City-
Just outside the palace. The bustling marketplace Matt and Pates had explored the day before. But the focus isn't on the brightly-colored stalls or the children playing in the open space. Instead, the queen watches as several members of the Bardottan royal guard crowd around the stand selling small meat snacks. In plain dress and a hooded cloak, she is indistinguishable from the other Bardottans crowding the marketplace.
"We're ready, and the people of Bardotta are behind us. They're sick of the war, famine, and now the medicine shortage. The First Order will continue to take and take until there's not a single shred left for the peasants and farmers. We have to do something before our people starve."
"It's been tough finding recruits willing to take up the cause," another guard explains, "the Dagoyan Order is a religion of peace, only the most extreme are willing to consider an outright attack. We barely have enough staff at the Resistance base-"
Queen Phoebe takes off her hood, revealing the royal headpiece hidden underneath, "Gentlemen, what exactly are you discussing?"
The vision fades, returning Pates the palace prison.
"That is all I know, I swear," the queen promises, "you must go quickly, find the Resistance base!"
Pates nods, "I will."
Now late at night, a hooded figure skulks through the darkened alleyways of Bardotta's Capital City. As the figure skirts through the narrow passageways, a lone Stormtrooper notices the movement through the shadows. The Stormtrooper follows the figure. Keeping a close trail behind, the Stormtrooper makes his way around the hooded figure so that he can turn the corner and catch her right in her tracks.
"Stop there! Civilian, what are you doing out past curfew?"
She removes her hood, "DV-283, it's me."
The Stormtrooper flinches, "Pates! What are you doing out here? I thought you were in the palace."
"I've been following up on a tracker I placed on the ship that attacked Commander Ren's transport. I tracked the ship down to a local port here in the Capital City. Apparently it's owned by a known Resistance terrorist named Ishaa Patrak, but he hasn't been seen in weeks."
Pates shares the data with Devil, who takes a look at the Bardottan's profile, "Hmm…I haven't heard word about Ishaa, but I have heard that his two daughters, Jan and Penny Patrak are known to cause trouble at the local cantina. Maybe they can lead us to their father."
She chuckles, "Huh, criminals? In a cantina? How original."