AN: Hello once again, sorry if I spooked some of y'all last chapter. Hope y'all enjoy this one in the mean time.
.***.***.***.***.
Lieutenant Mitaka sat with his back against the wall.
Batuu had been firmly brought under the control of the First Order, but he was still uneasy on the unfamiliar planet's surface. Not even being accompanied by an armed guard soothed his nerves. More than anything, being flanked by four well-armed and well-trained soldiers set him on edge even more.
As per General Hux's instructions, Mitaka had reserved a private room at a non-descript cantina. His presence hadn't raised any particular attention, with many of the other patrons in the bar belonging to the First Order as well.
What truly rattled the lieutenant was the face staring up at him from his datapad.
He was here to pay a bounty hunter and to take custody of his query, Major Lori Gallus.
Just a week ago, her name and the job would have seemed completely unremarkable to the lieutenant. He might have wondered why she warranted a personal pick up, but he wouldn't have been struggling to contain a nervous shake like he was now. But, knowing what he did now, he wondered why the general had elected to send a lowly lieutenant to do something so important.
You know why, Mitaka admonished himself, because nobody knows who she is, especially not you. He wants this to be low profile.
Mitaka stifled a cough while he checked the time. They should arrive any minute now. He clicked over to an abridged personnel file that had been loaded onto his datapad.
A supply officer of six years from the mid-rim, Major Gallus had spent an unremarkable four years aboard the Absolution before being transferred to the Finalizer. The only mildly abnormal mark on her record was a brief encounter with the FOSB two years ago. A sergeant under her command had been tried and executed for treason, though she had been cleared of any suspicion.
Largely non-descript, the photo on file showed her to be tanned, with brown hair, and dark blue eyes. Coupling that with an unremarkable height and an average weight, Mitaka wasn't sure he would even notice passing her in the hall.
Consumed with his thoughts, Mitaka jumped slightly at the whoosh of an opening door. The four troopers in the room immediately went on edge, their expressionless visors reflecting the newcomers as they stepped into the room.
Mitaka thought he heard his pulse as he tried to act nonchalant about the situation, "Welcome. Please, sit."
He gestured to the far end of the table. Lori took the empty seat, gently cradling a bundle of blankets in her arms. A commotion came from them as she did, and the lieutenant caught a glimpse of a pudgy arm reaching up.
Clearing his throat Mitaka put on the most authoritative voice he was capable of, "Very well, can I get your names, ma'am?"
The woman seemed perfectly at ease despite the tension that Mitaka felt crackling over his skin, and she replied, "I'm Lori Gallus, and this is Ardis."
The lieutenant nodded, his voice caught in his throat. Casting a glance to one of the troopers, Mitaka gestured for them to come forward.
Understanding, the trooper picked up a briefcase that had sat at his side, only to unceremoniously slide it across the table.
"There's your payment," Mitaka looked to the bounty hunter, "You may leave now."
While slightly annoyed by the younger man's tone, the bounty hunter was content enough to take the credits and leave. As the door slid shut behind him, Mitaka let out a breath he hadn't even realized he'd been holding.
The tension in the room hadn't even began to faded before Lori made a comment from across the table, "This isn't how you thought you would be spending your day. Is it, lieutenant?"
"N-no, ma'am." He hadn't planned for what he would actually say to Lori. The idea of being the go between for a bounty hunter had been unnerving enough, he hadn't even allowed himself to worry what might come from talking to Hux's lover.
She smiled at him warmly, looking every inch the kindly mother one would expect to see clutching an infant and a bundle of cloth, "Well, thank you very much for the rescue. Now, if you don't mind, I think it's time we went back home."
Mitaka hastily stood from his seat, thumping his knee on the table in the process, "O-of course, ma'am. Right this way."
She watched the lieutenant stumble to the door. A few of the stormtroopers cast confused glances at each other.
Lori didn't know a thing about the dark haired lieutenant, and she doubted that her simply being a few ranks above him would be cause for his obviously nervous behavior. It wasn't unheard of to raise a family within the First Order, so he shouldn't be too rattled by the sight of Ardis either. Given the man's age it was more than likely that he had grown up within the order himself.
Hiding her suspicion, Lori followed the lieutenant and made polite conversation as they went.
"So, you know my name, but I haven't heard yours."
Her every word seemed to get a rise from the young man, she watched him avoid her gaze as he answered, "My name is Dopheld Mitaka, ma'am. I'm glad to be at your service."
"Good to meet you, Dopheld," she kept up the face of a relieved major, not unlike the persona she had worn back when she was working as a supply officer.
Mitaka wove his way out of the cantina and back through sparsely populated streets on his route back to the landing pad. Lori walked even with him, taking care not to peer at him too harshly. Behind and around them was their stormtrooper guard.
More than once another First Order member on the street would give them a curious glance before going back to their business. By the time the group made it back to their waiting upsilon shuttle, Mitaka was fighting a losing battle with his paranoia.
How many people on the street knew who he was walking with? What did she know of him? Had the stormtroopers figured it out as well? What would happen when they returned to base? The general had never explicitly told him who Lori was, what would the punishment be for knowing more than he should?
A sudden hiss came from the loading ramp as it shut. The noise barely managed to take Mitaka away from vivid fears about that his punishment might be. A quick glance to the side Found Lori standing med inches away. Mitaka wished that he had never pressed Lieutenant Grier. Some things were better left unknown, and this was definitely one of them.
"Hey, Dopheld?"
Mitaka jumped at his rarely said first name, "Yes, ma'am?"
Lori gave him a sympathetic look to mask her growing suspicion, "You can calm down a bit. Come one, let's sit for a minute."
She took a step towards one of the long benches that took up the side of the shuttle. The stormtroopers had gathered on the far side of the passenger compartment, sitting at a small table and talking quietly amongst themselves. On a normal day, Mitaka would have paid them no mind. But now, he was painfully aware of his every word, and even his thoughts felt loud enough to overhear.
While Lori was no mind reader, the lieutenant had a poorly guarded expression, "Is there something on your mind?" she began with an earnest tone.
"Oh. N-no, ma'am."
"You sure?"
She knows that I know! "Yes, ma'am."
He would have been much more convincing if he were able to actually look at her while he spoke.
"Ok, whatever you say, Dopheld." She eased off of him. Acutely aware that it would be very easy to press the man too hard, she searched for something non-threatening but still useful to talk about, "How did you end up with this job, by the way? Last time I checked, bounty pick-ups would be the FOSB's problem."
"Special orders." Mitaka meekly muttered.
"Who from?"
Mitaka hesitated, driving himself wild with second guesses.
You know who! There's no way you don't! His mind raced on, trying to decide what to say, The general never told me this was an undercover mission, so he doesn't expect me to tell a lie. Or does he? What if this is a test?
He looked to Lori, sitting there with kind eyes and a gentle demeanor. He had tried in vain to imagine what kind of person would be involved with Hux, and nothing like this had crossed his mind.
What if Quin had been wrong all along? What if Lori is just some major that had a run of bad luck?
But then why would the general care so much? Why send me off? Why even-
"Dopheld?" Lori's voice brought Mitaka away from his thoughts but made his worries seem even worse.
Seeing no good option, Mitaka defaulted to the truth.
"General Hux! Ma'am. They were special orders from General Hux."
Lori had watched the poor man debate himself. After taking so long, she was almost surprised he had answered truthfully.
Keeping to her character, she let her surprise show as mildly concerned shock, "O-oh. That's… that's certainly something, isn't it?"
If Mitaka weren't surrounded by other people, he would have screamed in frustration. Everything about Lori's demeanor told him that she was just as uncomfortable at the news as he or anyone else would have been.
"Yes, ma'am," he numbly found himself saying.
The confusion, and now disappointment, was clear on the lieutenant. Lori had been suspicious, and while she didn't have any proof it seemed like her hunch might be correct.
Mitaka knew that there was some link between her and Armitage. She couldn't imagine that Armitage would have told Dopheld about them. If he were a Resistance agent, then he wasn't very good at his job, the poor thing had been almost painfully on edge since the second she'd laid eyes on him.
Lori shifted her hold on Ardis, who was beginning to stir. She didn't know exactly how long they would be traveling with the lieutenant and his guard, but she was sure that it would be long enough for her to learn exactly what he thought he knew.
.***.***.***.***.
Scarcely a day had passed since Hux blasted Hosnian Prime out of the galaxy. He would have liked to be celebrating, but a heavy weight sat in his gut. Mitaka hadn't yet arrived with Lori and Ardis, and when he did Hux was going to have to make a decision on what to do with the man.
He would have to make a decision on what to do with his family too. He'd sworn to Lori and to himself that it would be safe for them once the New Republic fell, but it seemed like Snoke and Ren were both intent on madness. Worse yet, the resistance had a lock on Luke Skywalker's location.
Ren had completed his mission to Takodana. Rather than securing the droid and the map, he had nabbed the random scavenger girl that had fled from Jakku. Hux would have wondered what Ren was thinking, but he knew better than to pretend that the other man thought at all.
Instead of securing the coordinates to Luke Skywalker, Ren had brought a resistance agent and yet another obstacle into Starkiller base. In anticipation of learning Luke's location, Hux had even given the order to relocate to the nearest star system so that Starkiller base would be ready to fire once more. Since Ren had ruined that option, the general was quick to come up with a second.
Lori had mentioned to him that the Resistance was hidden away on D'Qar, in the Ileenium system. If he couldn't turn Luke Skywalker into a smattering of space dust, then he could at least destroy everyone who was searching for him.
While he considered how to propose and explain his new course of action, Hux heard the echoes of Ren and Snoke's conversation drift down the hallway.
"… Untrained, but stronger than she knows!" Ren's shouts were even more indignant than usual.
Snoke seemed not to heed them as he asked, "and the droid?"
There came a second of silence that Hux assumed to be Kylo Ren hesitating to reveal his blunder.
Relishing in his timing, the general strode into the room with an accusation at the ready, "Ren believed it was no longer valuable to us."
At the general's sudden appearance, Ren twisted to peer over his shoulder.
Hux was momentarily surprised to see the other man without his childish helmet, but he didn't let the realization slow him for long, "That the girl was all we needed. As a result, the droid has most likely been returned to the hands of the enemy. They may have the map already."
Snoke fumed at the news, it was clear to Hux that the supreme leader's cherished apprentice hadn't told him the full story.
"Then the Resistance must be destroyed," the old man began, "Before they get to Skywalker."
Hux seized his chance to share his plan before Ren butted in, "We have their location. We tracked their reconnaissance ship to the Ileenium system."
Snoke considered the general's words. Ren did as well, but rather than thinking up some way to counter Hux, he wondered what reconnaissance ship he could be talking about. He had heard of no such report, and –since Starkiller base had just moved- he wasn't sure when a Resistance ship would have gotten the chance to come near enough to be tracked.
A heavy moment passed before Snoke finally spoke again, "Good. Then we will crush them once and for all. Prepare the weapon."
Nodding in acknowledgement, Hux was a moment away from turning to leave before Ren finally found his voice again, "Supreme Leader. I can get the map from the girl. I just need your guidance."
Hux barely stifled a dismissive huff as Snoke turned his gaze to focus on the knight.
"If what you say about this girl is true, bring her to me."