AN:Aw heck, after just over a year, here we are at the end of the trilogy. It's been fun, rewarding, and emotionally draining at times, but I'm glad you've made it to the end. There's not too much I can put here, other than I hope you enjoyed the story and thank you for reading.
I'll post the Epilogue on April 1st (2 weeks time). Mostly because I need some time to recoup after a year+ over constant writing and posting. It'll go up as its own story in the series, like how the Prologue was posted.
.***.***.***.***.
Brixie slid to a stop. Immediately putting a hand over her mouth, she didn't quite manage to stifle a horrified shout at the scene unfolding just above the ground.
She and Mitaka had been running to the shipyards for the past hour and were nearly there. It didn't matter now, as the single massive freighter that had taken to the sky shook in place and rained down massive piles of debris.
Hungry orange flames jutted out from somewhere in its back, the blue glow of the engine next to them flickering before spitting out smoldering ash. Being so massive and so far away, everything seemed to happen in slow motion; the engine groaned and a fearsome crack boomed across Bracca as it fell from its place. While the flaming hunk of durasteel fell from the sky, the rest of the ship keeled over and followed it to the ground.
Mitaka looked up at the falling ship, mind immediately taken back to the burning refuse of the Supremacy.
The freighter hadn't even hit the ground yet, but he was sure that no one would survive the crash.
.***.***.***.***.
The light-escort was in free fall.
One piece of debris among a massive cloud of broken parts, it tumbled bottom over top in a wild spin to the ground. Left clinging to the dashboard by a quickly loosening grasp, Armitage had been lifted into the air as the ship fell faster than him. Strapped firmly into a seat, Ardis was kept safe but left shrieking while the world fell upwards around her.
Desperate and half guessing at the controls, Armitage spared a hand to push a lever.
Left with only one hand holding him in place, his weight became too much for his grip. In a split second he lost hold of the dash and slammed flat-backed into the ceiling. As the breath was thrown out of him a sharp and warbling alarm drowned out Ardis' persistent cries.
Activated, the ship immediately went into emergency mode when its sensors found it in a free fall. The escort twisted to correct itself, sending Armitage at first into one wall, and then slamming into another. Though she was turned upside down for a split second, Ardis remained firmly strapped into her chair.
Nose pointed at the ground, and quickly approaching the same, the escort's forward thrusters engaged with a roar and the ailerons along its short fins spread wide. Slowing the ship and forcing it level with the ground, the maneuver left Armitage to land on the cockpit floor with a heavy thud.
The ship shot off at cruising speed in some direction that Armitage couldn't even begin to imagine. Dazed and stunned, he looked blankly at the ceiling as Ardis' persistent cries competed with the still warbling alarm.
He had no idea how long he was laying there, slowly regaining his breath. The alarm cut off after some impossible amount of time, leaving silence in its wake.
Closing his eyes for a moment, Armitage was thankful for the perfect calm.
Then he was stricken by the realization that Ardis had gone silent as well.
Wrenching his head to the side, Armitage winced against sharp pains on his chest, some new and some that he had been ignoring all night. Choking back a yelp and heavy with fatigue, his sudden movement was slowed to a sluggish roll to the side.
A slowly growing light streamed through the viewport. A figure slouched in the pilot's seat, silhouetted by the morning sun. Armitage blinked a few times, unsure because of the golden light.
Lori had stumbled into the cockpit nearly half an hour ago.
She had been half way up the ramp when the light-escort had been thrown out of the freighter by the explosion. Slamming into an interior wall of the escort, she had clung to a cargo net for dear life. Somehow managing to get her leg caught in the netting, she avoided being thrown out of the still open loading ramp.
When the ship finally flattened out, she had untangled herself from the rope before limping into the cockpit. Upon entering, she had just enough of her wits left about her to close the loading ramp before scooping Ardis up and collapsing into the pilot's seat.
She hadn't tried speaking to Armitage, short on breath herself and content enough from seeing a slight rise and fall in his chest.
"I knew you would make it back in time," he huffed out between ragged breaths.
Lori slouched in the chair, her grip on Ardis loos and her back to the morning sun, "You said you would go on without me."
A heavy breath shook Armitage as he spoke, "I lied."
Already aware of the fact, Lori couldn't help but laugh with relief that they were all alive. Between breathy chuckles she managed a single word, "Jerk."
Overtaken by a similar relief, Armitage couldn't quite muster the breath for a laugh. Instead, he let the warm light and Lori's soft sounds wash over him.
"Let's never do this again." He finally managed to croak out.
A moment passed for Lori to regain her composure. Exhausted, but delighted, she answered, "Deal."
Not one to be left out of the moment, Ardis began to twist and wiggle out of Lori's grasp. Having kept a firm hold on the infant all through the night, Lori decided to let the little girl explore on her own. For what felt like the very first time, Lori was sure that there was no danger in letting Ardis out of her sight.
Bold, but not yet wanting to go far, Ardis slid off Lori's lap and onto the ground.
The escort's cockpit was very empty. A brand-new ship, it hadn't built up any clutter or convenient boxes to use as walking aids. Left with no other choice, Ardis unsteadily pushed herself up from the ground to stand on unstable legs.
With a goal firmly set in mind, the infant took a step. And then another. And then another. Walking without aid for the first time, she made it just far enough to plop down beside her exhausted father.
.***.***.***.***.
Four of the ten crew members had escaped the explosion.
A lengthy investigation of the wreckage found nothing but twisted and mostly melted metal, the ship's black box being one of the only things left intact from the earth-shaking explosion. In the weeks that followed, no bodies were found. The assumption being that the explosion had turned those caught in it into nothing more than vaporized dust.
Corroborating the survivor's story, the records showed that the reactor had suffered an overload, quickly going supercritical and splitting the ship in two. Only one of the escape pods had time to launch before the front half of the ship crashed to the ground. All four of the survivors had been crammed into it.
The news of Hux's discovery and subsequent death spread over the holonet like wildfire. His long list of war crimes echoed across every news outlet in the galaxy, with a few of the more delusional ones calling his death a deliberate assassination by the New Republic.
With General Hux's name being so recognizable, hardly anyone spoke a word about Major Gallus. The fact that their young daughter had also died in the blast was deemed too humanizing by most outlets, and summarily left out of the pieces they wrote about the ordeal. The few that considered including the detail didn't after deciding that her existence was so narrowly known that adding it would be more confusing than informative.
The other loose ends of the sensational story quickly fell out of the limelight, overtaken by the endless stream of wild events that perpetually unfolded across the galaxy. Because of that fall from the public eye, no one was there to watch or record the trial of Lieutenant Dopheld Mitaka.
Mitaka had been offered some leniency in exchange for information. His cooperation over the last year helped his case, though at least a few notable figures of the New Republic were sure that that had also been an act.
In all, he was offered relative freedom in the form of several years public service. While it wasn't a clean slate, it wasn't years of imprisonment either, and Mitaka was content enough to have something to focus on now that his entire way of life had been wiped clean from the galaxy.
While Mitaka was prosecuted, Brixie had been treated like she was a victim in all of this. While the New Republic courts had been happy with the explanation that she only helped Lori and Hux out of coercion, she was left with a burdensome lingering guilt.
That same guilt threatened to consume her as she dejectedly settled onto a bench next to Mitaka.
"Are you going to be alright?" He asked, having already made peace with his fate.
Brixie blankly watched the slow commotion of the Coruscanti courthouse. Days had passed, and she wasn't sure if she would ever really process what had happened. Even now, sitting on Coruscant post trail, after all the truth that was going to come out had been said, she wasn't sure what she thought.
"I don't know." She answered truthfully, looking down and over at Mitaka's cuffed hands, rather than his face, "What about you? They're not dragging you off to some prison, are they?"
Mitaka followed Brixie's gaze downward, "Oh, no. I've been given five years probation. A bailiff should be by shortly to undo these shackles."
"That's good." Brixie offered, though she still sounded hollow.
"Brixie," Mitaka considered what to say, he had never been one for emotional support, "I, er… I know an apology from me doesn't mean anything, but I'm sorry for everything that's happened."
Brixie looked up, her voice rising but not quite to the point of a shout, "I don't want an apology. I… I know they did it to themselves, but I just wish it hadn't ended like this. They didn't need to die. Or… Ok, maybe Hux did, but… I don't know."
Lifting one hand, and then bringing the other along with it because of the chains, Mitaka stopped himself from making a quick comment.
Brixie saw something in his sudden movement, "What? What are you thinking?"
"I… perhaps I'm projecting, but I don't think that Lori and Ardis were caught in that blast." He suspected that Hux had survived too, but he purposefully left that detail out.
Scared to hope and confused by the desire to, Brixie asked, "Why not?"
Speaking in a hush, Mitaka replied, "When we fled the Supremacy, over Crait, Lori had been taken completely off guard from the attack, but she still had a plan for escaping. I'd wager that this explosion was cover, she had to have had a plan. I won't believe otherwise."
"But we saw the explosion."
"But we didn't have line of sight on the freighter all the way down." Mitaka quietly rebutted, "Half of its fall was obscured by clouds, leaving plenty of time for them to have slipped away without being seen."
The more Brixie thought about it, the more possible that seemed. But, try as she might, she couldn't shake the sense that hoping Lori and Ardis had survived was wishful thinking.
Still, she wanted to believe.
"Maybe." She admitted.
Knowing that that was the closest thing to closure he could give Brixie, Mitaka remained silent. The bailiff had arrived, besides, and Mitaka had looked up to face the man.
"Your hands," the gruff officer of the court demanded, their tone at odds with the keys they held.
Mitaka held up his wrists, saying nothing as the handcuffs fell away.
Taking some personal offence to Mitaka's past, but still keeping a thin veneer of professionalism, the bailiff took a step back, nodding for Mitaka to come with him. "Follow me, you're being transported to Chandrila."
Doing as he was told, Mitaka stood.
Giving a small look over his shoulder he decided to end his talk to Brixie with a simple farewell, "Goodbye, Brixie."
Not wanting to be so final in a goodbye with one of her only remaining friends, Brixie replied, "I'll see you around, Dopheld."
.***.***.***.***.
Lori, Ardis, and Armitage's first days in space had been a strange mixture of shock, relaxation, desperation, and comfort. Not because they were being chased, but because they were balancing a recovery from their damaging escape while also trying to survive in a perfectly empty ship.
Lori went nearly two days without sleep, only deciding she could rest after refueling the ship and buying a few days of rations at a station orbiting Hapes. When she did finally lay down, she didn't wake up for nearly a day.
After her long and desperately needed rest, Lori woke up to find a calm ship.
Ardis lay on the bed, apparently having climbed onto the low surface on her own. Quietly unfolding herself from the sheets, Lori gently maneuvered around the sleeping infant as she left the bed. Managing not to wake Ardis, Lori silently left the room.
The escort was a long and thin ship, with it's single bedroom connecting to a long room that served as a kitchen, rest area, and navigation center. At the other end of the room was the door to the cockpit. Having been left open, Lori could see the flashing lights of hyperspace from a distance. As she came closer, she could see Armitage sitting in the pilot's seat, wearing and attentively listening to a headset.
So engrossed by the news unfolding over the comm, Armitage didn't notice Lori's approach until she stepped even with his chair.
Startling slightly, Armitage twitched, only to be stopped by a sharp pain across his chest.
"Sorry," Lori told him with a soft kiss to the cheek, "I tried knocking."
Recovering from the sharp twist of pain, Armitage took off the headset but didn't try to turn his head. "It's alright. I was just distracted."
He was also pretty sure that he had bruised a rib during the last leg of their escape. Keeping perfectly still and intently listening to the news had been his attempt at recovering while still making himself useful.
Lori thought she heard something on the edge of Armitage's words, and made a comment as she slouched down into the co-pilot's seat, "Hopefully not by anything too bad."
"Quite the opposite, actually." Armitage mustered just enough strength to look to the side, "You're plan worked. It looks like we're officially deceased."
Settling in for a long conversation, and because she was still sore from being tossed around the ship during their escape, Lori took a seat in the co-pilot's chair, "Never thought I'd be happy to hear that you were dead."
"Likewise," Armitage replied, carefully rotating the chair so that he faced Lori, "I'm sure you've already got a plan, but if not, I've got a suggestion."
Lori was sure that she knew what he was thinking, and she wholeheartedly agreed, "You're thinking that we find a nice, quiet, planet? Put all this action and adventuring behind us."
"Well, yes." Armitage acknowledged, before adding with a scoff, "But calling that chaos an adventure is generous."
"You know what I meant," Lori leaned back in the co-pilot's seat, "Any ideas for a planet to retire to? The ship's nice and all, but I think we've both had our fill of running around."
Armitage had never considered retiring. He'd always assumed he would work until he dropped dead at his desk or on the bridge. Now that one of those had nearly happened, he realized that he might have been a little too flippant about his future.
"Nowhere will feel quite as secure as the halls of a star destroyer," he thought out loud.
"And none of them will be as big a target either," Lori finished for him, "or quite as cold."
Though he knew it wasn't the point Lori was making, Armitage couldn't help but smile slightly as he thought back to cold mornings on the Finalizer where Lori had curled against him for warmth, "I'll put climate on the list of criteria."
"Didn't realize there was a list."
"There's always a list."
Left to relax in the quiet moment, Lori closed her eyes while she leaned back in her chair. She wasn't sure they'd had a moment this free of looming dangers since before Ardis was born.
"You just woke up," Armitage noticed her dosing.
She didn't open her eyes to reply "I just had my first good night's sleep in over a year, it wasn't long enough."
"And I haven't had any good nights' rests at all."
Hearing a familiar chiding, but not irritated, tone on Armitage's voice left a small smile to creep across Lori's lips, "You're welcome to take your turn. But be warned that Ardis is a bit of a bed hog."
"She can keep it all to herself, for a while at least."
"I'm here if you need help walking back there."
As much as Armitage's pride said that he didn't need any help at all, his aching body said otherwise. Comfortable with Lori, he knew he didn't need to pretend that he was okay.
Though admitting that he needed help still felt foreign to him, "Maybe. Though, before I do, we do need to make a decision."
Lori creaked her eyes open, though she didn't sit up, "No rest for the weary, I guess."
"Yes, sleep can wait," Armitage stifled a yawn, "At least until we decide on a destination."
"Being officially dead makes things much easier," Lori leaned forward, realizing that the fastest way to get Armitage to lie down was to hurry through the conversation, "we won't have to shake a tail, at least. And no one's looking for us."
"Perhaps not, but I'd rather keep a low profile." Presumed dead or not, Armitage was very aware that he had been the public face of the Starkiller project.
"Point taken. Nowhere in the mid or inner rim was on my list anyways."
Seeing an opportunity for dry humor, Armitage quipped "I didn't know you also had a list."
Without missing a beat, Lori replied, "I'm just piggybacking off of yours."
"Good, the unknown regions are also off limits. I wouldn't chance them without a fleet of Star Destroyers."
"Hmm, why does it sound like we're talking ourselves into the outer-rim?"
"Unless you want to go back to wild space." Armitage offered.
"And chance a run in with a cousin, or old neighbor?" Lori pointed out, before sarcastically adding on, "I'd rather turn myself into the New Republic."
"I wouldn't go that far, but the outer-rim it is. It might take some time before we find an industrialized planet, with low crime, a low population density, preferably with a very private culture…"
"Armie." Lori gently said his name
"… And, of course, the climate has to be acceptable…"
"Armie." Lori spoke a little more forcefully, though not to the point of anger, "wherever we go, we'll make it work. I'll be happy with anything as long as I've got you and Ardis by my side."
Armitage was thankful for Lori's calm and adaptability. Though, he still needed to feel like was in charge of planning something. "And as long as it's not too cold?"
Knowing how his mind worked, Lori accepted his addition, "And as long as it's not too cold."
"Once we do find a planet," he immediately moved on to planning even further in the future, "we should sell the ship. It's unlikely, but it might be recognized. Using the profit from this ship and the last one, we should purchase a house. Something modest. Either far from a large town, or immediately besides a landing pad, depending on the exact nature of the planet. Then…"
Armitage talked on for a while, Lori was happy to listen as he did. It almost felt like one of their quiet nights back on the Finalizer, where he would talk endlessly about his plans for the galaxy after it had been conquered by the First Order. This wasn't the same by any stretch, but Lori took some comfort in the knowledge that Armitage's spirit hadn't been dampened by his world falling apart.
After what could have been minutes or hours of talking about plans and ideas for the future, Armitage slowly came to lull as his fatigue caught up to him.
Taking that as her chance, Lori offered her own desire for the future, "I trust your judgment. It'll be weird to live like a couple of normal folk. Make an honest living, and all that. But settling down sounds nice. Ardis gets to grow up with kids her age. And who knows, if life gets too nice, she might even end up with a sibling."
Armitage took a long moment to think of the life he once had, and the life he now had. Looking at Lori, he replied quietly, "Isn't that a grand idea."
Knowing that this conversation was drifting to a stop, Lori stood from the co-pilots seat. She wouldn't tell Armitage that he needed to go to bed, but she did offer him an arm to hold onto.
Understanding her unsaid meaning as he had so many times before, Armitage didn't admit that he was exhausted, but he did slowly pry himself out of the chair with Lori's help.
Not quite on the run with the only person in the galaxy that he trusted, Armitage accepted Lori's arm, and didn't try to hide the fact that he needed her support, "Thank you, for everything."
Content in the knowledge that she had a life that she truly wanted to live, Lori answered, "You're welcome."