The Patron Saint of Lost Causes

Chapter 11


Rose knew enough about protocol to know she was supposed to walk a pace behind him, since evidently, they were "practicing" and all.

Was her heart still pounding? Or was she just imagining it?

Glancing at Hux, she noticed how his gloved hands were clasped behind his back, the leather pulled tight over his curled knuckles.

Nope, she thought, her heart was definitely still pounding. Especially when she thought of one of those gloved fingers notching under her chin as they leaned in slowly towards each other…

Oh god, had they almost— ?

Rose bit her bottom lip, eyes rolling to the ceiling as they made their way through the engineering hanger. She tried to keep herself from grinning like a complete fool. Part of her cried out in warning; once again, she was playing with fire. She pushed away that impulse for caution. The allure of him felt too good to second guess it now.

A few Resistance members paused in their tasks to watch them pass. They were an obvious pair, after all, especially with how Hux stalked about like he owned the place.

All they had to do was make it through the mission, then she could really talk to him; sort this all out. If he liked working with her, spending time with her, conversing with her; had wanted to… had wanted to kiss her, and she felt all those things too, well…

Her thoughts chased circles around her head; fluttery and giddy as Hux led them to the airfield.

Finn and Poe were already waiting for them at the bottom of the command shuttle's ramp.

"Glad you two could finally join us," Poe groused once they'd come to a stop.

At least, Rose thought, Hux didn't attempt to make the two salute him.

Hux ignored the other man's jab, regarding Finn with an easy superiority. "Lieutenant." He shifted his attention to Poe. "You."

"Hey!" Poe's forehead wrinkled with incredulity. "How come he gets a rank?" His finger jabbed in Finn's direction. "I'm clearly a Captain!"

Hux hummed, spine ramrod straight. "No. I think not." He paused. "I'm demoting you."

"What?!"

"Yes, you're a…" he pretended like he had to think about it for a moment. "A Sergeant now. Come, come, don't look so… grumpy. I could have relegated you to the position of Squad Leader. But I simply loathe the idea of you 'leading' anything, to be quite honest."

Rose was unable to choke back the laugh that came out of her mouth. Poe glared at her betrayal, but Hux, pivoting to glance at her, smirked softly in her direction, mirth dancing in his gaze.

"S-Sorry," she muttered, trying not to look at either of them as she pushed past, climbing up the ramp so as to escape all three men's scrutiny.

Inside, the shuttle's passenger compartment was a room barely larger than Hux's old jail cell, with a bank of bucket seats along both the port and starboard wall, cargo area against the stern. It was all sleek and new-looking, like the ship hadn't even flown off the lot before the Resistance got their hands on it.

Oh, she wanted to tear into the engine of this thing so bad...

Unable to help herself, she flipped open one of the fuse panels along the wall, marveling at the neat rows of wires all cinched together.

In her cataloging, she barely heard the other's footsteps growing louder as the three men clanked up the ramp. Hux walked over to the command panel on the inside wall, bringing the cabin online and lifting the wide door up into place. As the hatch closed, it sealed off all sounds of the outside world, replacing them with the interior hum of the life-support system rumbling to a start

"Fix your hat," Rose heard Finn whisper. Looking over her shoulder, she saw Finn trying to balance Poe's cap more evenly atop the man's head. Finn looked extremely focused on his task, but Poe was obviously entranced by the other man, an expression of pure devotion flickering over his face. He looked moony.

Had she looked at Hux like that? Back in his room?

Back in his room!

Rose turned away, flipping the panel she'd opened back into place, vaguely aware that Hux was watching her from across the cabin. She ducked into the cockpit, which was connected up from passenger area through a wide doorway

What a surprise, she thought blandly, as another overengineered mess of buttons and control panels greeted her, along with both a pilot's and co-pilot's station.

Sliding into the first seat, she cracked her knuckles, surveying the wide, flat screen before her. She was about initiate the craft's engine priming sequence, when—

"I was under the impression that Dameron was our pilot."

She swiveled in the chair to see Hux in the cockpit doorway, datapad in one hand and with a faint smile of amusement.

Rose flushed. "Oh. No. I was just…"

"I'm not complaining," he amended softly, as Poe appeared over his shoulder. Hux seemed to sense the presence immediately, stepping to the side. "Sergeant."

Poe scooted around him, looking like he was trying to sneak by without the possibility of accidentally touching the man as he passed. Rose caught the eye roll Hux could not see.

"You crank'n her up for me, Rose?" Poe sidled up to the control panel, hat already askew once again.

"No, no." Rose stood from her chair. "I was just taking a look."

"You sure?"

Rose smiled. "Yeah. Last time I got behind the controls I crashed, remember? No thank you." As she moved away, Hux passed her the datapad. "Oh… what's this?" She asked, taking it as Poe began the take-off sequence.

"The on-board manual," Hux said. "I thought it might interest you."

"For this ship?"

He nodded. "That's right."

"Ooh!" Rose woke the pad with eager fingers, moving back to one of the passenger bucket seats, beginning to peruse the files eagerly as the craft roared to life around them.

As Finn took the position of co-pilot, Hux clipped in across from Rose.

For most of their journey, while the two other men conversed quietly up by the controls and Rose read her manual, Hux made use of his time cleaning and prepping their weapons. Rose had shown him to the storage closet at the back of the craft, which Dameron had apparently stocked with blasters before their journey. One for each.

Honestly…

Hux threw an annoyed look up at the cockpit.

On the one hand paranoid, on the other too damn trusting.

Hux sighed, trying to push thoughts of the upcoming mission aside and focus on something that would pass the time.

Every so often he would catch Rose glancing at him from over the datapad. She would blush, and busy herself back with her reading. Hux, for the most part, tried to pretend not to notice. He couldn't let himself get distracted before the mission, even as the ache in his chest told him to go to her.

Everything would hinge on how well they could play their parts, and that meant not allowing himself to feel, thus show, how warm she made him.

Hours later, Hux and Finn switched out as co-pilot. The tension radiating off Poe when Hux took his seat was overtly palpable. For a long while, they did not speak.

At one point, Hux turned to peer back through the archway into the passenger hold, arms crossed over his chest. Finn was sitting in one of the seats, head nodding forward. How the man could nap right before a mission was beyond him. Perhaps he was the kind of person who could fall asleep anywhere. Rose was still fully engrossed with the manual.

She had that familiar, intense look on her face, like she was committing the schematics to memory, and had to do so by screwing up her face into various expressions. Delight, confusion; wonder. It made him smile very faintly.

From the pilot's seat, Dameron spoke in a quiet voice; low enough that the noise of the engines prevented anyone in the back from overhearing.

"Whatever interest Rose has in you, you know you don't deserve it."

Hux swiveled back around, glaring at Dameron.

"You're not an idiot," Poe went on as he monitored their core temp, flipping through some of the ship's data files with mild interest. "You're an evil son of a bitch but you're not stupid. You know I'm right."

"Why don't you just focus on not crashing us into the side of a cruiser, Sergeant."

Poe sighed. "Why are you such an insufferable jackass?"

"Perhaps it is because I simply cannot stand you," Hux shot back, tone venomous.

"Yeah, well; feelings mutual, buddy."

Hux sat back in his chair. "And I am aware of my shortcomings, thank you."


Hours later, the dashboard alarm went off, indicating they were close to dropping out of hyperspace. The noise was loud enough that Finn and Rose joined the other two on the bridge, just as the nebulous blue tunnel they traveled stretched out into near-blinding streaks of light. With a faint pull, lessened by the cruiser's stabilizer, they coasted out into the space around the planet Brysis.

As he spotted the three ships before them, something cold dropped into Hux's stomach. Slowly, he stood. "I thought you said one Dreadnought and two battlecruisers," he spoke into the silence of the cockpit.

From over Poe's shoulder, Finn swallowed. "Yeah. We did."

Hux pointed to the ship between the Dreadnought and the Destroyer orbiting closest to the planet. "That is not Resurgent-class," he said in a gritting voice. "That is a Xyston Star Destroyer; the Derriphan. From Palpatine's fucking Sith fleet, you fool."

Poe scoffed. "What does it matter? You're all on the same side anyway."

Once again, the ill-preparedness of the Resistance was going to get them all killed.

Unbelievable.

Actually, no.

It was completely believable.

"I thought you people destroyed the Sith fleet." He said, deadly serious.

"You know what, pal? You're absolutely right." Poe reached up to flip some switches on the command panel over his head. "Sorry we weren't thorough enough for you, your Highness."

"Hail the Dreadnaught," Hux said sharply, indicating the on-board communications controls, gathering all the tension within him and trying to bleed it out into a commanding tone of voice.

Poe curled his lip, but did so, the line crackling open.

"This is Supreme Leader Armitage Hux of the First Order."

Rose's breath caught. As if in mimicry, there was a rippling shock in the line's static, as if the recipient of their message was too stunned to immediately respond.

"G-General Hux! Sir—!?" In the last bit, it was obvious the communications officer was talking to someone on his end of the line. There was a flurry of noise.

A new voice came on. "This is Lieutenant Soryn Duval of the Dreadnought Abysmus to—"

Hux made a face. "Lieutenant? Where is your Captain?"

"He's, ah, dead, Sir." There was a pause. "Our Colonel is currently meeting with the Captain of the Sith Destroyer, Captain Sabrond. Would you like me to patch you through to their—"

"No," Hux said sharply. "I want landing clearance immediately. I'm transmitting my command code now," Hux added, fingers dashing over the control panel in front of the co-pilot's station. "You and your men will meet us when we land."

There was another long moment of silence.

"The bridge has you clear to approach. Hanger bay three."

When the communications line closed, Hux let out a small breath through his nose. There was still a way this could work, even with the last of the Sith fleet breathing down their necks. He relaxed enough to notice how tense Rose felt at his side.

Hux glanced her way and saw how ridged she looked, eyes saucer-wide as she stared through the front window of their shuttle, breathing heavily. Before he could ask what was wrong, Rose turned on her heel, retreating back to one of the passenger seats.

Heart hammering in her chest, all Rose could think of when she saw that massive Dreadnought, with its wide metal expanse and its red indicator lights, was, that's what it looked like when Paige died.

"Are you alright?"

Her head snapped up to see Hux standing in the doorway between the cockpit and passenger's compartment.

She took a shuddering breath. "I'm fine."

"Don't lie," he countered softly, taking a step toward her.

Rose sniffed, looking at the ground as he continued forward. She nearly seized in panic when he bent to one knee in front of her, peering up under her Major's cap and into her face.

That look in his eyes; he knew.

"I… I didn't know it was going to— to affect me like that. Seeing that ship. I'm sorry," she whispered, sorrow and fear coalescing into something terrible.

He closed his eyes briefly, shaking his head.

"You, of all people, apologizing for their feelings? What has the galaxy come to?" Something flickered over his face. Concern? Regret? "You're strong, Rose. Brave," he said, firm. "You shouldn't have had to be so brave…"

"Brave? Me?" Rose snorted.

Hux brought up his right hand, extending the pointer finger she'd been so bold in biting.

"What? Brave for biting you? Don't flatter yourself." She pulled at her bottom lip. "You're not that scary."

He smirked at her, still kneeling on the ground before her. Rose drank up the sights of it. Why did it seem like such a position of devotion?

She smiled a little despite her panic; a little giddy, a little nervous.

"Hey guys," Poe's voice came out from the cockpit. "Look alive. We're about to land."

Standing, Hux stretched his hand out for her to take. Rose took it, and let him pull her to her feet.

"Thanks," she said.

He nodded silently; his grip on her hand was tight and warm.


"Sir!"

A small group of six troopers and a broad-shouldered, young Lieutenant saluted them as they exited down the cruiser's ramp. The lights of the hanger bay were almost assaulting in their brightness.

"Lieutenant Soryn Duval, sir," the officer said.

He was young, Rose could tell; face still filled out with a little layer of baby-fat. Certainly younger than she was.

Hux smiled at the boy, but his expression was pinched and cold.

"You call this a welcome party?"

Out of everything the Supreme Leader could have said, the young man was obviously surprised by Hux's comment, and had to compose himself before answering.

"This—we're… we do not have a full ship's complement, General. Supreme Leader." He fumbled. "Sir."

"And where has the ship's full complement gone to, Lieutenant?" Hux spoke with slow precision, and even Rose felt like she was watching the old General Hux. His tone was unhurried, but intense and expectant. He did not need to scream his questions; his inquiries felt like a deadly-sharp knife laid gently against your throat, compelling cooperation and precision.

Rose glanced at the back of Hux's head.

He was practically radiating calm.

No.

Not calm.

Detachment.

That's what it was.

He wasn't feeling calm, she realized; he just wasn't feeling anything. Is that how he did it? Survived all those years?

"Well, you see sir," Lieutenant Duval explained, "the Abysmus and the Contrador were docked for repairs when Pryde ordered the fleet to Exogol. Many of the Order's more loyal Captains had us transferred here; those of us in the Academy divisions, I mean."

Rose's heart pounded.

The First Order had sent their cadets away before the final battle. Why? To protect them?

So this was…

A ship full of children, she realized. Child soldiers and newly-minted Officers still wet behind the ears.

"How many are we?" Hux asked.

"Twenty thousand between us and the Destroyer Contrador, sir."

That wasn't very many, considering a single Star Destroyer averaged twenty-seven thousand enlisted each.

"The Sith Destroyer, the Derriphan, is the only one with a full-crew," the boy added, as if predicting Hux's next question. "They found us out here... offered us protection."

Yes," Hux said. "I heard about the piracy."

"They've even sent us some specialists after many in the maintenance crew defected, but, the Sith Fleet, they're—" He hedged. "Honestly, General," his decorum broke, the relief on his face making him look even younger. "We're so glad you're here, Sir.

Poe made a wildly bemused expression at Finn. "Huh?"

The Lieutenant gave him an odd look.

"I mean," Poe swallowed. "Uh-huh. Real glad. That he's here, I mean."

"You don't think our General had loyalists in the First Order?" Duval snapped. "To those of us who grew up as he did, in the Empire's shadow, he was always Grand Marshall."

Even Hux looked taken aback at that.

He had always tried to conduct himself as a ruthless, but fair, military commander. They had been his men, after all. When Ren or Snoke or the old guard had tried to belittle the soldiers, he was always their advocate, confident in his cultivation of the First Order army. Even if his methods were harsh, he was still proud of them. He hadn't thought such actions could have such an inspiring effect in the would-be Officers.

"Two ships?" Hux sounded almost pained. "That is all that is left?" A true tragedy. "And you were all just sitting here? Waiting?"

"There were rumors. That you were still alive, sir. We couldn't just leave."

As the boy spoke, Hux turned, beginning to stride towards the interior of the ship. He made a rolling gesture with his hand, indicating they should all follow him.

Like a Mon Calamari to water, Rose thought, sort of impressed.

Being the third highest ranking Officer, she walked behind Hux and the young Lieutenant, Finn and Poe separating them from the small contingent of stormtroopers.

Duval walked briskly at Hux's left shoulder, just a tad shorter, but definitely broader. His sandy brown hair was cut close under his cap. "We're still maintaining First Order command here on the Abysmus. We have been grateful for the Derriphan's help; trying to maintain the ships with so few enlisted is proving near impossible, especially with the lack of training in some areas. But we've been careful to not invite their officers aboard."

Hux gave the man a severe frown, brows drawn together.

"The Sith Destroyer," Duval said. "It has been a… tentative truce. Many of us feel an unease about them."

"Sith fleet zealots," Hux muttered disparagingly.

"The Derriphan's Captain is actually on board today, sir. We are trying to keep her occupied until we can get you to the bridge."

"And these ones?" Hux indicated with his chin over his shoulder back toward the stormtroopers.

"They're loyal," the Lieutenant assured, motioning them down a hallway to the left end of the hanger. "We should hurry, though, I don't know how long Captain Sabrond will tolerate being distracted."

They moved at a hurried pace through the deserted halls toward the main turbolift. Just as it came into sight at the end of the corridor, the lift's doors opened and out stepped a short, smiling woman in a black uniform with red piping.

As Hux slowed to a halt, so did the group at large.

"Ah, if it isn't General Hux!" The woman came forward with an almost cheery jaunt, smile and eyes both pulled wide in a way that sent a shiver down Rose's spine.

"That's Captain Sabrond, of the Derriphan," Lieutenant Duval said quickly under his breath. "This isn't good, General."

"Captain," Hux sneered, but a sudden hush fell over the entire hallway as Sabrond unholstered her weapon.

The young Lieutenant gave a start, quick to draw his blaster, but Sabrond was quicker. She fired, and the Lieutenant crumpled against the wall, sliding to the floor.

Rose gasped in shock, covering her mouth.

It happened so fast.

Rose barely had time to register that the woman had just killed that boy when she whipped around to the sounds of drawing blasters. Three of the six stormtroopers had their weapons raised; revealing themselves as Sith turncoats. Blaster fire echoed in blazing cracks as they made quick work of the real First Order soldiers. The loyal stormtroopers fell, and their attackers eventually turned their attention to Hux, Poe, Rose, and Finn, surrounding them.

Hux snarled in the woman's direction.

Sabrond steadied her blaster on Hux's chest. "Well, well, General. You do appear to be quite alive, considering Pryde executed you." The blaster moved up to aim at his head. "Pity he didn't aim at the right target."

Hux pressed his lips together.

She hummed. "I didn't believe it at first, you escaping what you deserved, but…I suppose sometimes the rumors are true, hm? The cadets have been chattering about it for weeks; disgusting hero worship."

Hux's hands fisted tight.

She nodded to the body of the Lieutenant. "They actually thought they could hold their own against us. Pathetic. We infiltrated their ships in the first seventy-two hours. And to think they're still under the impression that you betrayed Pryde for some noble reason. Too bad they don't know what a petty, selfish man you are. These First Order children might be naïve, but we, in the Sith Eternal—" "

"Yes, yes," Hux said, forcing himself to be nonchalant, almost weary at her words. "You and your secret cult, clearly the better, stronger, more intelligent force, hell-bent on resurrecting the Emperor to whom you are all so thoroughly besotted. It's become an exceedingly tiresome story, I assure you."

"Worthless bastard," the woman spat.

Rose gave a seething start, but any wild notion that had punched through her at that moment, was quickly cut off as a blaster bolt sounded from the floor. It hit Sabrond, caught her in the outer half of her right hip, spinning her around and onto the ground.

The fallen Lieutenant grimaced weakly from his hunched position, his blaster smoking faintly. Having gotten the shot off, his arm dropped limply to the floor.

It was all the opening Hux needed. Spinning round, drawing his own blaster, he fired. The shot went right by Poe's head, into the trooper that had been guarding him.

Poe's wide, startled eyes met his for a moment, as Hux moved his aim to another enemy.

Finn had taken the moment to wrestle one of the Sith troopers to the ground, and was proceeding to choke him. Rose had ducked and rushed the last one, firing her blaster up into the facemask.

Poe whipped around, staring at the neat round blaster hole in the middle of his attacker's helmet.

"You're a pretty good shot, General," he marveled, turning back. "You're practically a rebel with that aim alone. Hey! Watch her!" He gave a start and pointed behind Hux, who whirled on his heel.

Sabrond was trying to half pull, half crawl her way back down the hall to the turbolift, turning on her good side to aim her blaster at them.

Hux got his shot off first, catching her square in the chest. Sabrond was knocked back onto the ground. The commlink clutched in her hand went flying away, clattering down the hallway behind her.

"Did anyone see her get a call off?" Poe rushed over to her body, scrambling for the little cylinder that was rolling away.

Hux lowered his firing arm.

There was a choking cough that drew his attention downward. Slowly, he sunk to a knee next to Duval, who was hunched sideways, gaze glassy.

Gently, Hux moved the kid into a more comfortable, backwards lean against the wall. Rose's stomach seized at the sight of the charred hole in the Lieutenant's chest.

"Easy," Hux muttered, palming one of the shoulder pads as the boy's chest seized with a painful groan, breath rattling. His voice was low; soft. "You did well, Lieutenant."

The boy's hand twitched, and he looked almost confused for a moment. "S-sir?" And then he went still.

Standing behind them, Rose moaned in despair. Eyes brimming with tears, she watched as Hux lay the dead Lieutenant down upon the floor, crossing his arm over his scorched chest.

You don't think our General had loyalists in the First Order?

Hux closed the Lieutenant's vacant gaze with his hand.

To those of us who grew up as he did, in the Empire's shadow, he was always Grand Marshall.

A strange despair squeezed his heart—

"First Order children…"

-but it was followed quickly by rage and resolve.

He had to rescue what remained of the Order; from Palpatine's Sith cult.

He had to rescue his men.

Taking the boy's extra weapon, he holstered it.

Rose's hand was halfway to Hux's back, but she stilled it as he rose to his feet. She had wanted to reach out and comfort him, but he had looked at her then with such a tempest of emotion, that it stilled her hand.

He looked so furious. Rose was half-convinced it might actually bring him to tears. If he were any more frustrated, it might have. She resisted moving into his personal space. This was not the time nor place to cuddle him. No, not with that expression. It didn't look like he despaired so much as it looked like he'd decided he was going to war.

"We need to move." He said. "Now."

Finished in dispatching the last Sith trooper, Finn panted where he crouched on the ground. "This hallway won't be clear for long." He looked over his shoulder and down the hall. "We should split up."

Poe returned to them with the Captain's commlink.

Finn nodded over. "Did she get a message out?"

"I don't know," Poe said, shaking his head.

"The other Sith troopers. They might not know we're Resistance," Finn huffed, "What if they think it's infighting? First Order against Final Order," he said to Hux, who was glaring at the ground.

"Can you still make the main reactor room?" Hux said with a deep, trembling breath, even as his voice remained even.

Poe's eyebrows jumped, chin nodding down. "Can you still make the bridge? There might be a few Sith cultists to deal with up there."

Hux looked at Rose. She clenched her jaw, determination dissipating all her fear.

"We can do it," she said.

Poe tossed Rose the small cylindrical communicator. "If anything goes sideways, use the commlink. We meet back at the ship once the Dreadnought's self-destruct sequence starts counting down. The plan can still work. We can tear down this machine once and for all. Good luck."

"You guys, too," she said as the four of them split, each pair sprinting down opposite hallways.

Hux and Rose dashed down the hall. Inwardly, Rose cursed her short stature. Hux's legs were so long she had to take a extra half stride just to keep up with him.

Skidding to a stop after a few turns, before taking another left, they flattened themselves against the wall. A door had slid open in the corridor beyond, and a pair of troopers soon emerged. Thankfully, they turned and strode away from them.

"Isn't that the way we need to go?" Rose whispered at Hux's elbow.

"Perhaps the service turbolift would be better, but it's the longer route."

"We can stop by a comms panel on the way; upload the virus."

Hux frowned at her over his shoulder. "Is the bridge terminal not preferable?"

"We don't exactly have the luxury of time here. We should get the bug on the network as soon as possible. Come on," Rose pushed out from the wall, walking quickly and quietly in the opposite direction of the stormtroopers. Hux followed after.

It was lucky, Hux thought, how easily he could read her. Their intuitions were aligned to some degree, perhaps from so much time together. He found he knew, for instance, when she was about to pause, her head tilting up, perhaps trying to gain a more thorough look-see before she took cover.

"Over here," he whispered, motioning to a small alcove with a network terminal.

Rose stepped around him, lodging herself as far back into the little space as possible. Hux kept guard as she crouched down, pulling out her medallion and sticking the pointy end between her lips.

"What are you doing?" Hux whispered, frowning down his nose at her.

"Don't distract me," she hissed back, extracting the now highly-conductive smelt and jamming it into one of the ports. The terminal's side panel sizzled, sparking, and popping open. Rose let out a quiet, "Yes!"

"I have been thinking," Hux whispered as Rose wiggled the datastick into its appropriate slot. "When the Resistance jumps in I will have my fleet stand down. The Derriphan will no doubt still deploy their Sith light fighters. You can concentrate your attacks on them."

Rose watched the datastick's indicator light pop on, blinked rapidly as the upload sequence began; the virus slowly spreading.

Similarly, a twisting uncertainty was consuming Rose's stomach.

My fleet.

Perhaps it was just a slip of the tongue…

"Sounds good…" she said carefully. "Well, looks like this uploaded alright. We should go—"

Rose almost slipped back around him and into the hall, when there came the sound of approaching footfalls. Instinctually, Hux's arm slung around her middle, hauling her against him and back into the shadows.

A startled whimper slipped out of Rose at the last second, stomach dropping as he yanked. His other hand, not the one holding the blaster and pressed up under her breasts, clamped over her mouth. The sound she made hit the leather of his glove, blasting warmth back against her own face.

They held their collective breath as two chatty technicians ambled by their hiding spot, rambling pleasantries.

The warm hand over her mouth was stifling Rose's breathing. Not excruciatingly heavy, but just enough to make her a little lightheaded.

Beneath her spike of adrenaline, Rose was keenly aware of the solid heat of Hux behind her. He was pressed against her from the back of her head to her heels. She could feel his thundering heartbeat in her own body, as it reverberated through them both.

Eventually, the technician's voices faded.

Her lower lip caught on leather as Hux slowly drew his hand away, gloved fingers sliding from her mouth.

She felt his breath on her neck, fluttering her hair as he sighed in relief. The sound moved through her, quieting her own panic. She leaned back into him as the tension in her body drained; an adrenaline afterglow now that they were moderately safe again.

"That was close," she whispered, leaning her head to the side. With how they were standing, it made her hat tip forward as the side of her face pressed against his chest.

Oh, she just wanted to stand there for a moment longer; forget all about how they were about to go risking their lives again.

His arm around her tightened before he let her go; slow and reluctant.

As she stepped out into the hallway, Rose looked back at him.

Hux ducked out of the shadows; his free hand clenched. The leather was still warm from her mouth.

"I'm sorry," she said. "About the cadets."

Something tightened his features, and he struggled to control it. "Even more reason to evacuate both First Order ships," he offered quietly. He meant it.

"So which way?" Rose asked, trying to be serious when she met his pale green eyes, but it was hard to speak with her heart up in her throat.

After this was over, they would be alive and they would be safe, and then she could pin him down with her words and her gaze and her fingertips in just the ways she wanted.

Focus, she told herself, even as her body canted toward him. You can do this later.

He must have thought the same, because he cleared his throat, motioning to the turbolift at the end of the maintenance tunnel.

"This way," he said.


A/n- Again, big thanks to my beta/editor Brit for all her help! Thanks also to the gingerose discord for keeping me sane!