The True Way

Rose Tico hides her Dreadnought schematic in the belly of a broken refueling droid as Laszlo passes by her table. Last time, he made her give ALL the droids on the base a cleaning for not doing her duties. She solders wires that needed it and watches from the corner of her eye for Laszlo. The head mechanic is checking the chronometer with a scowl. Rose remembers that a supply ship for new X-wing parts was due today, over an hour ago to be exact. Laszlo hates being kept waiting, and she feels sorry for the poor smuggler that's about to be berated for tardiness.

The ship finally arrives twenty minutes later.

"Finally," She hears him cluck his tongue and prays that the yelling will be at a minimum. "I've been—"

THUD!

She looks back and expects to see the shipment of parts all over the floor. Instead, it's Laszlo with a dart sticking out of his neck. She quickly goes under the table and watches the chaos unfold.

Four women come out of the ship with their blasters out and firing stun bolts and, hopefully, tranq darts. One is a Mandalorian in turquoise and silver armor firing the darts from her right gauntlet. Two are blue-skinned humanoids with red eyes and indigo hair; the only way to distinguish them from each other is that one of them has a clover tattoo under her right eye. The leader of the little band is the ghost of Padmé Amidala, or a woman who looks exactly like the dead Naboo Senator. She wears the color of the Rebellion: orange.

The technicians on duty fight back since all technicians are issued an electro-shock prod for self-defense. Unfortunately, the prods require the user to be close to the target, and the women aren't allowing such closeness.

Everyone is fighting back, and I'm just stuck under table! Wait, how come the alarms haven't gone off? Has no one thought about pulling the lever? It's flight or fight, so everyone's chosen fight. If these women succeed in taking everyone down, then they can just infiltrate the rest of the base with no problem! I can't beat them, but I won't let them take the base!

So, Rose does the wisest course of action: she runs and pulls down the lever. The alarms blare through the base and warns everyone else of the intrusion. She did the right thing and then gets darted for her good deed. She slumps to her knees and then falls like a bag of lead onto the hard floor. She fights the sluggish poison with all her might, but it's a losing battle. Much like the defense of the hangar. And ultimately, the Resistance will lose its most valuable prisoner.

General Organa was in the conference room with Poe Dameron when the alarms go off. An officer bursts in and promptly stuns Poe; she catches him in time to prevent him from dashing his head against the hard holo-table. She puts him down onto the floor gently and then pulls Poe's blaster from his utility belt and trains it on the intruder.

Then, the door slides open again. A young woman in an orange suit strides forward with her blaster holstered. She has brown, curly hair that bounces against her back as she moves. Her green eyes are flecked with bits of gold. She wears a delighted smile on her round face.

"Morph, you can leave now, but remember to keep the blaster on stun." The imposter nods and then heads out to stun more people. The young woman gives her a bored look when Leia trains the blaster on her next.

"You really are taking your General role seriously, aren't you, auntie?"

"Jaina Jade, you're presuming too much."

"I guess daddy dearest mentioned me to you, or, well, my name."

"Luke was looking for you."

"And I found him. I would've found it sweet when I was nine, but I lost faith in him long ago."

"You're holding him hostage."

"I won't after this day. He'll be free to go along with Artoo and those poor guards that Polly and Morph were impersonating."

"You're here for Hux."

"Of course, I am! He's my dearest friend and really the only good person in the FO." She slips her hand into a pocket of her utility belt and pulls out a holodisk. "Here's the proof."

"What's on the disk?"

"All the top-secret plans of High Command, particularly on the Allegiant Admiral. Lots of nasty stuff on him like coercing the non-human population into forced labor, making illegal arms deals, and funding super weapons!" She tosses the disc onto the holo-table. "There's a very rough schematic for a Starkiller Base. Looks like he wants another Death Star but with more firing power and stationary."

"How did you get this?"

"Stole it from the FO system. Since I've known Armie for so long, it wasn't terribly hard for me to figure out all his passwords. Then, I had Morph pose as a crew member on the Finalizer, access Armie's office, and use his terminal to get into the system. They had to get the data in small chunks so not to arouse suspicion."

"Can you verify that anything on the disk is real and not some false information that the FO planted?"

"It looked pretty real to me, but you can have your people verify it. Even if some of it doesn't turn out to be true, there should be enough incriminating evidence to get the New Republic interested. But I'd imagine they'll leave the dirty work to you and your people."

"And you're just giving this in exchange for Hux? If I bring this before the New Republic, the FO will consider his sudden disappearance in a more treasonous light."

"Good. They don't deserve him, and neither do you." Her green eyes darken with disdain.

"This will destroy him."

"In order to save him, I must destroy him." She turns around. "You still intend on blasting me?"

"Stun."

"If I don't make it out of here, Luke will be given to the Handmaiden Sisters; they'll avenge their ancestors' wrongful expulsion by the Jedi."

"And here I believed you give him up to the FO."

"I'm not a complete monster." She walks away, and Leia expects that this won't be the last time she'll see her wayward niece.

Belief is power. The Jedi's belief in the Light and the Sith's belief in the Dark have put the galaxy at war for thousands of years. The Imperials' belief in order at all costs and the Rebellion's belief in freedom is another battle in that war. Same can be said of their respective successors: the First Order and the Resistance. Armitage Hux has experienced firsthand the power of belief in the Yuuzhan Vong War.

He once played Yun-Shuno, the Goddess of Forgiveness, to empower the Shamed Ones and slaves. He can recall the looks of ecstasy and love when he held them and assured them that they deserve freedom. He can still smell the iron in the air when Quoreal would pay homage to him with his own blood.

He no longer plays Her, but he worships Her in his own way.

The alarms go off as he does his morning stretches. The guards burst in and tell him to get his boots on. He does so and gathers Shelley into his arms. His dark little pittin tenses in his arms as they are hurried down the halls. They turn right.

"What are they? Living mercury?" There's a tremble in the guard's voice.

"Hux, duck!" He hears the familiar bass order. Shelley claws onto his left arm, and then he ducks down. The guard on his right is stunned, but the one on the left ducks with him. Hux uses his free hand to slip the knife out of his boot and then jams it into the guard's blaster hand. The guard screams for a moment before being stunned like his partner.

"I hope this small offering appeases you, Pardoner." He whispers his prayer.

"Hux, are you hurt?"

"No, and are you Polly or Morph?"

"Both." They said.

"I'm guessing Jaina got fed up with waiting and decided to launch the rescue mission herself?"

"Your Order wasn't doing anything useful."

"This is just a rescue mission, right?"

"She gave strict orders not to kill or permanently scar any of the Resistance members."

"Good. At least, Organa won't have any reason to avenge the fallen."

"We should head back to the ship."

"We need to head to the holding cells. Tritt's there!"

"I know I've seen him there."

"Is he in such a bad condition that he can't be moved?"

"He's been trying to starve himself, so he has to be force fed."

"Just take me to him."

Shelley mewls.

Nines has been in this secret Resistance base for three days now. He knows that Finn is being held in the medbay after heroic stunt, but he hasn't heard if his fellow trooper regained consciousness. He's been treated well enough. He gets meals three times a day and is taken out once day to receive a shower with water; he jumped when the water hit his skin. He has yet to be interrogated or tortured. He hasn't even been questioned.

The blaring of the alarms gives him hope. The guards abandon their post, most likely to take down the intruders, leaving the holding cells unattended. He tries opening the door, but it stays firmly shut. He curses and wishes for the power to go out next.

Instead, another wish of his gets granted.

"Are there anymore prisoners?" Hearing his General's voice causes him to rise from his bench and pound on the door like a madman.

"GENERAL, I'M HERE!" He screams until the door opens. He steps back when he's met with a figure made of liquid metal.

Sithspit, that's not the General! He raises his fists to defend himself.

"Morph, would you move aside, please?" The figure moves and his General comes into view. He's dressed all in white like some divine wanderer with a cat stuck to his arm. His red hair has grown to reach his shoulder blades. His face is freckled like he's spent his days in the sun. His eyes are an incredibly light shade of blue.

"General!" Nines feels like he could cry with joy, but then he remembers protocol. "Sir! I'm FN-2199! I and FN-2187 were looking for you on Asylum Station with the rest of the FN-corps and Captain Cardinal. WeweretrickedbyaResistancemembertorescueanotherResistancemember. I apologize for making such a foolish mistake!"

"Maker, he talks fast. I didn't catch that middle part." The liquid being comments off-screen.

"I caught it." The General turns his back to him. "It's not your fault. You were both tricked. Also, is your squad mate with you?"

"No, sir, he's in the medbay."

"That's all the way on the other side of the base, far from the hangar." The liquid being points out.

"Can't one of you…" The General sighs. "There's no time."

"Exactly. There was a limited window to rescue you without getting into a firefight with the entire base. The Resistance pilots are on their way back by now!"

"We'll come back for him, FN-2199, I swear!" The General lays his hand on his shoulder to give a reassuring squeeze. Nines feels his own heart stutter, but he manages not to make a fool out of himself. He finally leaves the room and winces at the bright light. And the light reveals all. Captain Opan is held up by another silver person; his eyes are a bit sunken in and his cheeks are sharper like he hasn't eaten well in weeks. In the light, he finally notices it.

General Hux is blind.

Author's Comments- Here are the links:

Here is an image of Mirta Gev. In Legends/EU, she's Boba Fett's granddaughter and was Jaina Solo's best friend: a href=" . "Link/a

Jaina Jade's outfit is just an orange version of Jaina Solo's black suit: a href=" . /starwars/images/7/79/Jaina_vs_ "Link/a

Here is an image of Morph the Polydroxol. Some of you may recognize them from "A Crown of Green" story along with their mate, Polly. Polydroxol look like the Silver Surfer and are shapeshifters: a href=" . "Link/a

Here is an image of Nines, probably the only other redhead in Hux's fleet and possibly in the FO: a href=" . /starwars/images/6/68/Nines_no_ "Link/a

Laszlo is from an Adventures comic with Rose Tico. I wasn't sure how to write Rose until I read the comic section of her Wookie entry. I don't know if I'm going to give her a character arc, but I will have her interact with Finn and Rey when I get back to them. For now, the next few one-shots will be about family drama.

Next one-shot: Luke has some father-daughter time against his will.