AN: Remember, Thursday is the last chapter for White.
.***.***.***.***.
The world was on fire.
Hot plumes of smoke rolled through cramped corridors, swallowing all who weren't fast or lucky enough to avoid the superheated gas. Doors slammed shut, alarms blaring and airlocks engaging. Terrified men and women rushed down twisting halls, unsure if they were running away from or towards danger.
Behind shut doors came shouts and screams of people trapped in burning corridors or pinned beneath rubble and grievously injured. A few doors were silent. Horrifying unknowns that might hold people bleeding out in their offices, knocked into deadly unconsciousness, or a thin barrier between life and the hungry vacuum of space.
Shouts and coughs and cries and hissing flames choked the air.
For a long and horrible moment Lori was back on Lasan. Back in a childhood home turned to cinders and promises of a slow and painful death.
Stumbling through a fiery corridor, the shouts and screams of her fellow crew members hid the echo of her father's voice and the predatory cries of nighttime creatures. She stumbled and tried to ignore the chaos. To ignore the adrenaline pumping through her veins that brought forth every terrible memory she had.
A gust of hot air carried stinging cinders on it. Lori ducked to the side just in time to avoid a plume of flame bursting from a room that she hadn't even noticed she was passing. The heat licked at her skin and scorched her tightly bound hair.
The flames were a familiar fear, their burning yet another dreadful memory to be lost in. Phantom pain, or perhaps something as real as the death that might come for her at any moment, danced across the old scar on Lori's arm.
A fresh bout of embers rained from a melting beam. It's sudden groan sent Lori barreling down the hall. Her lungs ached from the heat and the soot and the breakneck sprint, and it was only after the fire's light had faded and Lori found herself in a silent and darkened corridor that she stopped.
Slumping against a cool durasteel wall, she had nothing but her fears for company. She watched her childhood home collapse in on itself in her mind's eye. As the shack fell, the weak structure was suddenly one of stone and she was back on Bastion watching the palace fall. The terror and the assuredness that she had just watched Armitage die clawed at her.
She clamped her eyes shut, trying to shake away the terror of the moment, but she only saw Starkiller base being blown to dust.
A fragile gust of cool air floated past her blistered face. Letting her eyes flitter open, Lori tried to let the memories be blown away. They were heavy things, and the trickle of air was nothing against them.
Pulling in a shaking breath, Lori crammed the panic and the dread into a corner of her mind that was as dark and forgotten as the hallways she stood in. They didn't go easily, and she was only successful because of a single resounding thought that made all the others seems small.
The world is on fire, and I need to save Ardis.
.***.***.***.***.
General Hux scraped himself off of the floor.
"Status report!" He called out to anyone that was still within earshot.
Met only with groans and coughs, he didn't bother to shout out again as the scene beyond the viewport unfolded.
Debris floated past the transparasteel wall. Following along its path, Hux felt his knees nearly buckle beneath him. The Supremacy's starboard wing keeled over, cut away from the stabilizers housed in the center of the ship. Dim and distant red light shone from the molten durasteel at the edge of the wing. Between the searing scarlet walls crossed the occasional blue-white arch of electricity. Coming in flashes and sparks where cables had been cut away, the deadly blue light cast a ghostly glow over the debris. Mostly machine and vaporized debris, some of it was horrifyingly easy to identify.
A pit opened beneath the general's stomach.
"Damage report." He scarcely found the breath to speak before yelling in desperation, "Now!"
The groans and moans of the crew lessened until one of them managed to stagger to their terminal, "Hull rupture across city block 17. Airlocks engaged, hanger terminals fifty-seven through eighty five, destroyed. Resurgent-class star…"
He had stopped listening after learning where the cut had been made.
Between him and the FOSB offices. Between him and the suite.
His stomach churned while he was somehow able to breathe again. Lori and Ardis were cut off from him. He hoped they were cut off. That some terrible twist of fate hadn't given Lori reason to venture beyond the seventeenth block. That the report was correct.
A distant distraction from the carnage came from a small silver dot speeding away from the main body of the ship.
Snoke's escape craft? The realization seemed dim in the face of all else that had happened.
Letting confusion be his guiding force, Hux began stumbling away from the viewport. He had to leave the broken wing behind, to avoid the fears of what it might mean. His steps and sense of urgency growing as the seconds ticked by, the general went from stumbling to hastily walking. Then he broke into a trot as the wrecked state of his ship became clear.
Trying to outrun all the terrible possibilities that this moment might bring, he found himself rushing to Supreme Leader Snoke's throne room. As he turned the corner he found the door stuck open, jammed in it's frame made warped by the massive collision.
Hux hadn't been expecting to find Supreme Leader Snoke in the room. He'd seen the old man's escape craft zipping across the horizon, by all threads of logic that should have meant that he had fled.
But, Hux found him next to his throne.
Half of him.
A single seared gash had cleaved the old man in two. As jarring as the sight was it didn't stop Hux from taking in the rest of the destruction that the room had to offer.
Over half a dozen praetorian guards, cloaked in scarlet cloths that didn't even begin to hide charred black wounds dotted the ground. Some lay scattered against the wall, others contorted into lifeless piles, it was clear that none of them had died from the collision.
A lump and a sickening realization crawled up the back of the general's throat as his eyes came to rest on a single shock of black that lay as a heap on the ground.
Kylo Ren.
Hux felt a cold realization slide over him.
A traitor?
.***.***.***.***.
The door ground to a halt when it was half way open, the distorted frame making the rest of the movement impossible. Not even pausing to listen for the crackling of flames or some other warning, Lori pushed through the crevice and tumbled into the suite.
The room of fine statues and expensive couches had been torn to pieces. Delicate glasses had flown from the bar and now dusted the ground as glittering shards. The lights in the room flickered, occasionally showering sparks when there was a surge or drop in power.
Hurrying past one room in disarray, Lori rushed to the next.
Her heart leapt as she came to the threshold of the dining room. The panicked fluttering was only stalled by Ardis' muffled cries echoing from the room.
The heavy transparasteel table sat in a crumpled heap, one of its ornate legs collapsed in on itself. Lieutenant Mitaka lay face down in a twisted pile half-on the ruined. Limbs splayed at odd angles, he wasn't moving. Lori tried to ignore the sickly streak of still-wet blood that smeared across the table and ended below the lieutenant's face.
Above him floated the hovercrib.
Lori completely ignored the broken man on the ground. She wasn't sure when she had started moving either, but she found herself standing over the crib. Looking down she found her baby girl curled in the crib. Clutching and blankets and screeching in fear or confusion or both.
The sharp noises tore at Lori, but also came as a rushing relief.
Reaching down with a single hand, Lori tried to rub at the little girl's face. The infant cared nothing for a gentle caress and instead fearfully wrapped her shaking arms around Lori's hand. Knowing that he had to do more, Lori scooped Ardis up, trying to hold her close without taking the one hand out of the infant's grasp.
"You're ok. You're ok." She spoke for the infant's sake, but the words were meant for herself.
Ardis held onto Lori's hand in a bear hug, the closeness of her mother calming her into silence.
Beyond the walls came muffled shouts and the occasional hiss of flame. From below Lori came a low groan that she feared might be a failing engine.
But the groan grew into a wheeze and then a breathy cough.
Settling the girl down but not daring to take her hand away from Ardis, Lori looked down to the lieutenant to find his previously slack body jerking with pained movements. Crouching and bringing the crib with her, Lori reached out her free hand to shake at the man's shoulder.
"Dopheld! Hey, wake up! We got to go."
There came a grumble that might have been words.
Painfully aware that it was now or never, Lori tried turning Mitaka over with a rough yank. His body was slack and almost too heavy to move. She half considered leaving the younger man to his fate, intent on saving her daughter above all else. But then Mitaka shook and just barely managed to roll to his side.
His face was red.
Half swollen beyond recognition, there was a deep gash across one of his cheeks where he had hit the table. The flesh around one eye had gone puffy and nearly purple. All the swelling made it impossible to tell, but there was enough blood on the table that Lori wouldn't be surprised if he were missing an eye.
Mitaka teetered to the side, suddenly moving very quickly and retching from a pain induced nausea. Nothing came up beside reddened spit and a knocked out tooth.
They didn't have time to spare on a first aid session as the ship creaked and there came a far off snapping noise.
Raising to her feet, Lori pulled at the stained collar of Mitaka's tunic, "We got to move. Come on."
Purely due to Lori's adrenaline fueled strength, he was able to stand on unstable feet.
"Ma-major?" Sharp pain cut through his jaw as he tried to move it, and a horrible buzzing noise that only he could hear made his thoughts incoherent.
Lori didn't answer him at first, instead turning to close the cover of Ardis' crib. The infant let out a sharp cry as soon as Lori moved her hand away. Hating it but knowing it was for the best, she resisted the urge to open the contraption again.
When she finally did turn back to face the man, she found him swaying on unsteady legs.
This wasn't a place to die.
She grabbed one of the lieutenant's hands before hurrying from the suite, Ardis' crib clinging closely to her side.
.***.***.***.***.
The possibility of Snoke's apprentice turning traitor didn't shock Hux. If anything, he had been expecting the unhinged beast to finally grow tired of its chains. Ren had been slipping, tearing himself apart since the death of Han Solo. The gibbering wreak had been stalking the ship for days, talking wide-eyed into nothing, and running after so-called visions that only he could see.
Hux drew his hand to his waist, fingers ghosting the edge of the blaster that Lori had urged he begin to carry.
Snoke was dead, apparently by his apprentice's hand. Wasn't it the general's place to avenge him? It was certainly in Hux's best interest to finally be free of the buffoon. To be free of his only possible rival for the mantle of supreme leader.
His fingers trailed along the edge of the blaster just as Ren began to stir.
Damn, the general quickly withdrew his hand, not today.
Seemingly unaware of his near brush with death, Ren rose to his feet and muttered an unbelievable claim, "The girl murdered Snoke."
An acidic and disbelieving thought flushed all the others out of Hux's mind, Oh, really? Is that who did this? Defeated again by a scared scavenger girl, this time with a team of eight other warriors by your side.
The only thing more pathetic than Ren's telling that lie, would be if it were true.
Waiting for his chance to murder the other man and seeing the unhinged glint in Ren's eye, Hux played along, "She took Snoke's escape craft."
"We know where she's going." As Ren spoke, Hux wasn't sure what he meant by we, "get all our forces down to that Resistance base. Let's finish this."
"Finish this?" the tail end of Ren's words cut away all the good sense that Hux had to cling to, "Who do you think you're talking to? You presume to command my army? Our supreme leader is dead! We have no ruler!"
You fool! Your power came from the old man's word, mine was earned. You don't know how to run the Order! You don't even belong here! You -
Hot pressure wrapped around Hux's neck. Out of reflex, he sent his hands up to claw away at the thing he knew wasn't there.
A fiery glint danced across the edge of Kylo Ren's eye, Hux wasn't sure if it was the dwindling fires in the throne room or a symptom of the Force, "the supreme leader is dead."
Ren's meaning was clear. Common sense and bitter fear cowed Hux's words, "Long live the supreme leader."
The crushing weight unwound itself from the general's neck. Spite cutting through his features, he refused to cough or breathe as if the ordeal had rattled him.
Sensing the hideous ball of fear and resentment curling around the general, Ren turned to leave the room. Purely because he knew it would cut at his rival turned subordinate, Ren shouted over his shoulder, "Gather my troops, we're going to Crait."
.***.***.***.***.
"We're almost there." Lori shouted over the crackling flames as they approached the hangar.
She spoke for Mitaka's sake and for her own. For the thin reassurance that they might be okay, and that she hadn't taken them to their doom.
The ground shifted, near molten metal groaning as the gravity generators pulled at uneven strengths and as the void space sucked at the weakened hull. A shower of sparks came down, Lori held an arm up for herself and hunched over the hovercrib. Mitaka yelped at the sudden stinging and the scent of his uniform smoldering.
As it stopped, Lori reached for the lieutenant, grabbing his flailing hand and tugging him along, "We're not dying here today."
The fires grew hotter and for a second Lori was able to see the black void of space through the smoldering hanger. Beyond it was a great gray structure. The rest of the Supremacy drifted past the hangar opening, pushed forward on it's still functional engines while the wing was set adrift.
Lori tried not to break her stride, but found herself stopped. She knew that the ship was horrifically damaged, but cut in two?
A sickening question churned at her innards, He was on the bridge. Right? He wasn't caught in the blast zone. Right?
The shocking sight had stopped her in her tracks, only for the echoes of blaster fire through explosions to spur her back to moving.
"Not today." She muttered through the flames, "not today."
Hurrying as much as the hovercrib and her wounded companion would allow, Lori kept a low profile through the hangar turned inferno. Clattering metal and explosions that let loose waves of superheated air dominated the room.
Burning her hands where she brushed against crates, and singing her hair for how close they came to open flame, Lori searched for a ship. For any chance they might have at survival.
Gasping for clean air, for some breath that wasn't cinder and smoke, she saw one. A small craft, maybe a shuttle. She couldn't tell through the blaze and as long as it flew she didn't care.
The Supremacy shuttered once more, a plume of bright flame erupting to their side. The blaster fire came to a stop, leaving just enough silence for her to hear the edge of Ardis' cries through the closed hovercrib.
She wrapped an arm over the crib, hoping she didn't tilt it too far. With the other hand she gripped Mitaka's wrist. Not having the breath to spare on words, Lori broke into a run. Ground shaking and sparks falling, they made it to the ship. The seconds it took for the ramp to lower could have lasted a lifetime before they were able to stumble into the pocket of clean air that the transport offered.
Still not having let go of the hovercrib, she hurriedly stepped to the cockpit. Not sparing a moment, she propped Mitaka into a corner.
"I-I… I'll help."
"Don't move." Lori wasn't going to waste the time to explain that he would hurt more than help at the moment.
He didn't protest as Lori turned towards the control panel.
Beyond the viewport was the destroyed hangar bay. It's heat was blocked by the double walled transparasteel, and the sounds of explosions dulled by the ship's thick walls. What wasn't quieted was the small click of a blaster being drawn behind her.
A terrible memory roared to life with the engines as Lori whirled around. Moving on instinct, she brushed the now floating crib behind her. As she came to a stop, she knew it was impossible, but she saw her father one again, wreathed in flames and wanting nothing more than to shoot her dead.
Rose Tico looked to the woman before her, but saw the eyes of a wounded animal. Face blistered by flame and hair charred, the woman in blue had burning red eyes and a desperate air. Coiled tightly like a cornered beast, the woman put all of herself between Rose and a floating case behind her.
Almost overcome with wild fear, Rose hesitated at the blaster's trigger as a tiny sound echoed through the cockpit.
Ardis was crying.
The sound of her daughter jolted the memory away. Lori watched as her father disappeared in a heavy plume of smoke, replaced by the rebel she had led Phasma to only hours ago.
Eye's going wide, Rose asked in a gasp, "Is that a bab-"
"We got to go!" A second voice shouted from the passenger compartment.
Finn tumbled into the room as the ramp hissed closed in the compartment behind him.
Pushing through the panic and the paralyzing fear of her memories, Lori searched desperately for an out. Mitaka had slipped into silence, and she wasn't sure if he was still breathing. Ardis screamed, the sounds muffled by the still closed crib.
Hoping against hope, fearing for everything she had come to call hers, and more than a little desperate, Lori made a decision.
"Please don't hurt us!" She blurted, intending to sound panicked but wishing that she was in control of the very real fear.
She would pretend. Lie as she always had. As far as these people would be concerned, she wasn't a First Order officer at all, and her uniform was as fake as theirs. She had the background and the contacts to pass as an escaped prisoner, so she that was the face she would wear for these people.
In the meantime, she would have to play her part. A newly escaped prisoner wouldn't know that these people were Resistance agents in disguise, so Lori spoke with rushed and nervous words that one would expect from an escapee caught red handed. "I-I'll go back to prison! Just don't let my baby die!"
"What in-"
The shuttle lurched to the side as the hanger crumbled in on itself.
"Later!" Rose shouted before regaining her footing and stepping to the control panel.
In an instant, the shuttle rocked upward just as the magnetic shield flickered and gave way. The sudden hungry vacuum of space swallowed the flames and pulled the ship from it's place.
The two rebels clung to the control panel while Lori was flung to the side. Ardis' crib remained in the air, while Mitaka landed with a sickly thud. As he hit the floor a weary groan barely crossed his split lips.
By the time Lori made it back to her feet, they had left the wreckage behind and were cutting through empty space.
