AN: Hello and thanks for reading! Whether you're been reading since I posted the prologue, or if you've binge read and caught up to this point: Thank you, I'm very glad that my writing is entertaining. And, of course, I hope that you continue to enjoy the story.
.***.***.***.***.
General Hux sat at a long table. Around it were the other members of high command, all of them having appeared in person at the behest of Kylo Ren.
In the middle of the table was a holoprojector that no one had bothered to turn on. Their meeting wasn't strategic, nor did anyone have the opportunity to speak. Instead, each member of high command sat in silence as Kylo Ren ranted and raved at the head of the table.
"First Order High Command will be reorganized into the Supreme Council," Too excited to sit in the tall backed chair, Kylo Ren instead loomed over the table, one gloved hand firmly planted on its surface, "It will answer directly to me. Nothing happens in the order without my permission."
Hux thought that there was a worrisome lack of concern from the others, though he was careful not to dwell on his potentially treasonous observation. Instead, he watched General Pyre sit slightly higher in his seat. Hux couldn't shake the idea that he was alone in having a sense of disenchantment with the changes Kylo Ren had made to the very core of the First Order
You've been awfully eager since hearing from Palpatine. Hux found himself with a fresh resentment towards the older man before looking to the rest around the table. All of the old imperials have been waiting for this, haven't they? They haven't got any real ambition. Always just waiting for the next sorcerous overlord to arrive and dethrone the last.
"Hux!"
Armitage looked up at his name, having missed whatever conversation must have been happening around him.
"Do you have something to say?" Kylo Ren spoke in a snarl.
"No, sir." Hux's answer was made sheepish by the still fresh memory of his throat being crushed. The reflexive submission only fed Hux's festering anger.
Kylo Ren sensed the deep resentment, but it was nothing new. And it was almost completely eclipsed by a primal fear. He would have preferred respect, but either would do.
The meeting continued on without him. Hux would have needed to by willfully blind not to see the self-righteous glances from the rest of high command.
Ah, Hux sarcastically corrected himself, the rest of the supreme council. We're not actually fit to make decisions anymore. Just to advise a child that won't take our advice anyway.
"I want a task force," Ren's words barely attracted Hux's attention, "led by my knights. We're hunting the emperor."
Hux thought that there was a notable lack of comment from the others as Admiral Griss spoke, "I volunteer my fleet to house the task force. Our ships shouldn't grow soft in conquered ports."
Kylo Ren acknowledged Griss's words with a barely there nod. As a fresh silence settled, a creak came from General Domeric Quinn's chair. The focus of the room immediately went to the squirming man.
"Sir," he spoke before anyone demanded an answer from him, "What is our ultimate goal? In capturing the emperor, I mean."
At that, Hux was invested in the conversation once more.
"We kill him." Kylo Ren's answer came plainly, though his expression said that it should have been obvious.
Hux kept his thought to himself, but he did find himself pleasantly surprised, So you're looking for a fight rather than a new master? Well, you had to be right about something eventually.
"This is my galaxy." Ren went on, "and I'll destroy anyone who tries to take it from me."
There's the unsubstantiated arrogance I've come to expect, though disappointed Hux wasn't at all surprised. A few more bitter thoughts came to him, 'My galaxy' please. You sat back and watched while I did all the work. Trouncing around, looking for a lost scavenger while I was managing fleets and crushing rebellions. And now, you're undoubtedly going to run off after a literal ghost. Except this time, we're supposed to just go along with whatever crazed strategy you come up with. And when we do see the obvious flaws in your plan, we're supposed to dawdle while we eagerly await your approval to do anything..
"Thank you, Supreme Leader Kylo Ren." Pyre's worn voice interrupted Hux's thoughts, suddenly making him aware that the meeting was drawing to a close.
Hux didn't bother to listen to the closing comments from the rest of the supreme council, sure that they would only irritate him more. The council members remained seated as Ren left the room, apparently done with his troubling announcements. It was only after the door slid shut behind their petulant leader that a few whispered conversations began around the table.
General Quinn muttered to General Engell, "Surely, we're not meant to get approval for every little thing we do."
"You heard the supreme leader. If you feel that it's your place to go around him, you can explain that to him directly," The older woman adjusted her glasses as she answered.
"I wasn't suggesting-"
Admiral Griss interrupted as Quinn's voice rose, "Be calm, generals. Just do as the supreme leader says, and all will be well."
General Quinn gave Griss a poisonous look before speaking once again, "I wasn't suggesting that we disobey orders. It just seems inefficient to worry Supreme Leader Kylo Ren with every trivial matter."
"There is nothing trivial in running the order." Pryde interjected.
Hux sat back and watched the squabbling unfold. As the conversation grew more heated, the deep fractures that ran through the First Order became impossible to ignore; An incompetent leader; A looming threat; A high command -a council- that couldn't even begin to understand its official purpose.
This wasn't the deeply disciplined and well-focused war machine that he had built. It wasn't even a poor facsimile of that. It was a confused collection of shouting people, controlled by the loudest and most incompetent among them.
It was an insult.
.***.***.***.***.
The exuberance brought on by the return of the Falcon and its crew had quickly given way to shock and terror as Palpatine's voice rang through the galaxy. The terror had faded over time into a tense unease. After weeks of not addressing the supernatural broadcast, the unease threatened to boil over into a small revolt. It had only just been addressed earlier that day, with a short, unsatisfying announcement from Leia and Poe.
The Resistance was going to continue on as it was. They needed to defeat the First Order, and any of their allies before focusing on new threats.
Though there had been some grumbling, the rebels had all gone back to their usual duties. Lori hadn't egged anyone on, per say, but she hadn't tried to be a calm voice of reason either.
Not to the rebels, at least. Mitaka had already been shaken by the First Order's actions towards them on the dropship, and Palpatine's message had hit him particularly hard.
"You…" Mitaka checked over his shoulder for what must have been the fifth time since their conversation started, "you don't think that Palpatine will just replace Snoke, do you?"
Lori held Ardis, who had been climbing on the box wall of her playpen just a moment ago. The little girl had grown bigger and heavier, being just over two and a half feet tall and nearly twenty pounds. She was more than capable of getting herself into trouble, but still not able to find her way out of it.
"No, of course not." Lori spoke confidently on a wild guess, "we don't even know if that was the emperor. He's been dead for thirty years."
Mitaka waivered, "well, yes. But…"
The lieutenant almost didn't want to voice his fears. Not only because the others in the camp might hear him, but also because he feared Lori's reaction.
"But…" Lori egged him on.
"Well… I-it's Palpatine. Or someone who sounds very much like him. If he says that he's come back to reform the empire, then I believe him."
Loti tried not to jump to a quick conclusion, but she didn't like where this was going, "Is the Empire something you're interested in?"
"No!" he answered too quickly for Lori to think it was genuine. Wincing at the volume of his own voice, Mitaka checked over his shoulder again before going on more quietly, "No. It's just, I don't know what's going to happen to the First Order. We've always had an… Odd relationship with our precursor state. Many of the old imperials longed for a new empire, while the younger leadership thought that the empire fell because it was weak."
This wasn't news to Lori, she had heard Armitage complaining about the old leadership a hundred times before.
Mitaka's expression became troubled, nervous even, "We're not there so I can't know for sure. But, aren't you worried that there might be some in fighting?"
Ardis squirmed as she reached for one of the small winged lizards that lived in the trees above camp.
Lori adjusted her hold on the little girl before speaking, "News flash for you, there's always infighting. Especially within high command."
"And that doesn't worry you?" he mistook her matter-of-factness for disregard.
Realizing that holding Ardis was a losing battle, Lori put the child down before she started to cry out of annoyance. Once set on the ground, Ardis clung to Lori's leg for something to support her while she stood. Being so much lower and away from the lizards wasn't ideal, but it was less offensive than being held.
"Of course it does," Lori all but hissed as she returned to standing, "but it's nothing new."
That wasn't a lie, but Mitaka's and Lori's interpretation of the words were very different.
Mitaka took them as a harsh reassurance that nothing would change. Living on the outside, he had only just begun to learn how flawed the First Order was. He'd been raised to believe that the First Order was a bastion of reason in a chaotic galaxy, but it turned out that the whole thing had been a tumultuous mess at the top all along. He still wasn't sure how to handle the information, so he had tried to ignore it. Unfortunately, reality had a harsh habit of being difficult to deny.
Lori took her comment as an admission that nothing was meant to last. Years ago she had thought that Armitage was painfully optimistic, in his own twisted way of course. He'd been convinced that the First Order was going to finally bring the galaxy under control. Not that they would be the new empire, but that they would be better than the Empire had ever been. She never believed that, but it had been a nice idea. Dreaming of a stable life had become addicting, and the short time that she had one had felt like a fantasy.
Of course, all good things came to an end. She could only imagine what was happening in the halls of the Finalizer at a time like this.
Armie must be frothing at the mouth. High command is probably split down the middle, assuming they're even meeting anymore. She knew very well that Kylo Ren had taken on the mantle of supreme leader. The news had quickly spread through the rebel camp before everyone politely stopped mentioning it when Leia was in earshot.
"Just keep acting like nothing's wrong," Lori spoke again, with Mitaka not having thought of a rebuttal despite the heavy pause in conversation, "I'll figure out how to get us out of this mess."
Mitaka wasn't sure if he was relieved or even more deeply troubled by the defeated slump to Lori's stance. She had been insisting that she would get them home for the last several months, but nothing had happened. No one had let either of them anywhere near a communications terminal. Mitaka knew why he wasn't trusted, and he had seen the overly helpful medic constantly foiling Lori's attempts. Nothing happened when Lori had tried to talk their way off Anoat. And they had only been attacked during their latest attempt at rescue. After all that he'd seen, Mitaka wasn't even sure if he wanted to go back to the First Order.
Instead of voicing any of that, he simply nodded before backing away and hurrying off on one of the many chores he was meant to do around camp.
Lori watched him go. Despite the relative privacy of her corner of the camp, Lori didn't let herself deflate completely. It was enough to have confused and defeated thoughts running through her head, she couldn't let herself show them or she might never be able to reign them back in.
How is Armitage? I'm sure the rebels would be celebrating if they heard he was dead, so he must still be out there somewhere. But it's been so long since there's been any news. Is he okay? He's probably working himself into a coma, assuming Kylo Ren hasn't beat him into one first.
A sharp tug at the leg of her pants took Lori away from her troubled thoughts.
"Mli!" Ardis pointed at the brightly colored lizards that darted from tree to tree.
Lori gently moved Ardis' hand back down before scooping her up once again, "No. They bite." She felt silly for doing it, but Lori made an exaggerated biting motion to drive her point home.
Ardis thought the gesture was part of a game, and clicked her tiny teeth together in response.
A deep but amused sigh escaped Lori, "I know you can bite too. How about we get you some food?"
Food was one of the few words Ardis recognized, and she perked up at the sound of it. Now wiggling with a new excitement, Ardis clung to Lori's shirt with one hand while waving towards the camp's food stores with the other.
At once proud and devastatingly saddened by how much the infant had learned in such a short time, Lori picked her way through the bustling camp.
.***.***.***.***.
General Hux's office was silent. A welcome change of pace from the tumultuous meeting room, it was a place where he didn't need to pretend to be calm, didn't need to hide his own storming emotions from his features.
Slumping into his chair, he didn't activate the computer at ihs desk, instead opting to lean back and stare at the bare ceiling for a moment.
"What an idiot." He spoke about Kylo Ren to the room, even though he himself was already tired of the obvious observation, "He's going to get us all killed."
As the day dragged on and people had pried details out of the supreme leader, it became clear that Kylo Ren had all but forgotten the Resistance and that finding and killing the emperor had become the sole object of his obsessive thoughts.
Hux tried to hold on to his own need for revenge on the Resistance, but he felt the motivation slipping.
He'd been alone for the better part of eight months now and as much as he hated to admit it, being so angry for so long had been a drain. He wasn't over anything. Hadn't forgiven, nor forgotten, but he was impossibly tired.
Everything he had ever worked for was going down in flames. The First Order had fallen into the hands of Kylo Ren. His precious fleets and advanced technologies had been handed over to incompetent leaders. He had no real authority, even Commander Pyre had stopped sending in reports.
And worse of all, he had lost Lori and Ardis.
Even thinking their names caused a lump to sit at the top of his throat, as if he weren't worthy of even that.
They're… he couldn't bring himself to acknowledge their deaths, as if even thinking it would make the words too real to deny. For now, at least, he could cling to the vanishing hope that they were out there somewhere. That Lori had somehow saved them from the fires.
Another bead of anger dropped onto the massive pile of rage that seemed to be the only thing keeping him alive anymore.
Anger, and fear that was. Fear of being killed, fear of what came next. Some deep seated thing that had never truly grown out of. Some primal fear that might break him if he slide back into the powerless place he had come from.
Hux didn't want to feel any of it, not now.
He was going through the motions when he stood from his desk. He hardly thought of what he was doing when he retrieved a bottle from the small liquor cabinet in the corner of the room.
The clear liquid stung, but its effect was dulled from months of overuse.
The general sat at his desk, utterly alone besides the bottle in his hand.