AN: Hello once again, while I treat the movies as a hard cannon, I look at the rest of the extended universe as more inspiration than anything. That said, some of you might recognize Season 2, Episode 11 of Star Wars Resistance. I don't watch the show myself, but I thought it would be kind of fun to incorporate a modified version of it here.
.***.***.***.***.
The Titan was a derelict mess, and its crew was wildly incompetent. Hux had spent no longer than five minutes on the station, and it was already clear that the troopers that had greeted him hadn't the slightest understanding of their own station. They were so ill informed that they couldn't even escort him on a tour of the station.
Hux furiously typed away into a datapad, more than ready to find a blueprint of the station and guide himself.
The gall. These people are worthless and this station isn't worth the durasteel it's built from.
As he searched his records of the vessel, he did find that a trooper commander of some repute was also scheduled for a visit. Distantly wondering if the lower ranking commander had gotten the competent escorts, Hux had a new demand.
"Trooper," he called out to the stormtrooper captain, marked as such by a red pauldron.
The soldier stiffened to attention.
"I'm sure you don't know it, but Commander Pyre is also aboard the station. Contact his guard and have them meet me in an appropriate conference room."
"Yes, sir." The captain wasn't at all sure who that commander was, nor did he care why the general might want to speak with them.
Hux glared at the captain as he went about his task. Commander Pyre wasn't particularly remarkable, but he had recently been tasked with locating and destroying any remaining Resistance cells.
Hux very well knew that his day couldn't get any worse on the Titan. If Pyre were failing miserably, it wouldn't dampen his mood. But if the trooper had somehow succeeded in locating the last dregs of the Resistance, then Hux would have some shred of joy to distract himself from his unrelenting misery.
"Sir," the trooper captain approached him once again, "Commander Pyre will meet you in the tower briefing room."
"Very well, take me there."
A long pause came from the troopers.
Hux had long ago decided that the two troopers before him were going to be punished for their incompetence. He was even on the verge of telling them as much, but a wayward technician had walked past the end of the hall, and was be called over the captain.
The technician seemed very young, and Hux was sure that he couldn't possibly be fully trained. If the troopers were under the impression that he was going to take pity on the teenage technician, they were sorely mistaken.
"I haven't got all day," Hux said just as the captain told the technician where they were going.
"O-of course," the soldiers let the child answer, "right this way. Sir."
The four of them went down a defunct hall, dim and cluttered with debris that nearly blocked their way to a turbolift. As Hux turned his disapproving eyes away from the corridor, he sent a series of orders back to Petty Officer Murrin. He had his doubts about the station, and wanted a full report.
The whirring of the lift came near. Hux tried to tell himself that this job was important, that he was still worthwhile.
While he was still in his own head, the lift arrived. Hux and the small gaggle of personnel he had acquired stepped onto it, the doors quickly clamping shut behind them. After a heavy moment had passed Hux lowered the datapad, looking for something to pick at.
"This refueling station is in shambles, it's disgraceful." He hoped that is words were causing a panic in the other men, "The Titan falls below every standard I could possibly set for it. A truly staggering waste of resources."
So much seemed like a waste. Even his time had turned into something of so little value that it seemed well spent on tormenting troopers and technicians.
Hux knew he was being a petty bully, but he desperately needed some shred of control, "Perhaps I'll have it destroyed."
The troopers tried to hide a nervous shuffle, unsure if Hux meant that they should be destroyed along with the station. The technician didn't hide his emotion quite as well, and shook as he turned to face the general.
It had been a long time since anyone tried to challenge him directly. "Do you have something to say, technician?"
The young man had an angry spark in his eye, Hux was ready to stamp it out.
Before the moment escalated, the door whooshed open to reveal a bronze clad trooper.
The tech shirked back. Hux's focus went to the newcomer.
"General Hux," Commander Pyre greeted the more senior officer as he entered the turbolift, his own trooper escort joining the already crowded compartment.
"Pyre," Hux nodded at the helmeted man, "I expected to meet you at the board room."
"Likewise, sir." The commander wasn't sure what the general wanted with him, but he knew to be wary of any high command member appearing unannounced and demanding a meeting.
The turbolift opened once more. This time the technician stepped into a dimmed hall, his head lowered as he directed them, "This way. Your meeting room is the second door on the left."
The young technician wasn't willful anymore, but he was still failing at his job. Even a sloppy guide would show him to his final destination. Just as the general was about to say as much, the turbolift was clamping shut and speeding away from the floor.
Hux silenced his harsh comment. The Titan was irredeemable, but he had more important things to discuss with the commander besides the busy work that Kylo Ren had given him.
"After you, sir." The commander offered.
Hux took the lead, hoping to hear something of the Resistance's destruction and resenting the fast that he wasn't the one to deliver it.
.***.***.***.***.
Lori had left with Dak only a second ago, and Mitaka hadn't yet dropped his guard.
He cursed inwardly. He had wanted a private word with the major. She rarely seemed to be alone, and the few times that it had just been them in the room he had either been delirious with fever or half asleep.
Whatever planet they had landed on obviously wasn't safe, never mind that the rebels might prove murderous if they found out the truth.
Assuming I even know the truth.
The lieutenant might be grievously wounded, but he was no fool. Lori clearly had a relationship with the rebels. The medic and that one twiggish man in particular spoke like they were old friends. And never mind that Lori spoke with a thick wild space accent that was a far cry from what one would expect from a mid-rim native.
She seemed concerned enough that both of them survive, but a few sharp suspicions pricked at Mitaka. That one sergeant under her command had been executed for treason, had she been part of the Resistance then? Had she let a scapegoat die to save her own life?
Does General Hux know? The lieutenant wondered in the empty room, he must.
But then again, how could he? Of all the people, he would never tolerate a Resistance sympathizer.
Having a child with a man she meant to betray all along was cold and cruel, though Mitaka didn't put a thing past the Resistance.
But, he had seen her break down completely at the destruction of the Starkiller base.
Was that an act?
He couldn't believe that anyone could pretend to have emotions so visceral.
Mitaka's thoughts swirled, and he was no closer to coming to a decision regarding Lori or her actions when a familiar face peeked around the door frame.
FN-2187.
Mitaka stiffened in his seat and then immediately tried to relax in a way that hid the fact that he had ever tensed at all. He had seen the traitor's face as a hologram on the bridge. Only months ago, it could have been a lifetime since Mitaka had been Hux's aid. The wayward stormtrooper had seemed like such an inconsequential thing at the time. Just a series of letters and numbers that Mitaka had blasted out of space with the Finalizer's ventral cannons.
Mitaka tried to assure himself that the defunct trooper had no way of knowing that he had been the one to pull the trigger on him over Jakku.
Finn had been woken up from a nap by a commotion of shouts and hisses from the rest of the ship. As he began to look for the cause of the sounds, he saw Lori and Dak wonder down the hall, leaving the sick bay open behind them.
He hadn't expected to find the First Order officer awake, and he hoped that the distain on his features was obvious. "Oh. You're awake."
"…H-hello." Mitaka hadn't the slightest clue of how to approach the conversation.
Worried about her true motives or not, he wished that Lori was back to take charge of the conversation.
Finn took a quick glance down the hall. When he didn't see any signs of Lori or Dak returning, he stepped into the room, "I just want you to know, I don't trust you. Got it?"
"Uh, p-pardon?" Mitaka wasn't sure if he should be speaking loudly to attract attention, or softly to try to calm the situation.
"The rest of the crew might have bought your good guy act, but I don't." Finn kept his distance from Mitaka, as if the very idea of standing next to him was repulsive.
"What?"
"An officer rescuing a baby?" Finn raised his eyebrows and spoke in an accusation, "I don't buy it. I know what you people do with children."
The lieutenant hesitated for a second.
Bringing children aboard to be trained as troopers was unfortunate, but their parents were usually dead from an attack, and Mitaka thought that anything was better being an orphan in lawless space.
Mitaka bit his tongue to stop a harsh comment. He had read FN-2187's file. Brought in at infancy, the First Order had been the only home the trooper had ever known. They had cared for him, clothed him, fed him, and given him a unit that may as well have been a family
The lieutenant's mind raced for a rebuttal, but he hadn't settled on one before the former trooper spoke again.
"Huh." Finn made his own meaning from Mitaka's hesitating, "Guess you don't have anything to say to that. I'm not surprised."
"Hold on!" Mitaka might have been nervous, he might have been a tiny bit confused and more than a little afraid, but he wasn't going to be talked down to by a traitor.
Finn expected the same angry officer rant he had witnessed a thousand times before, and he was ready to talk back this time. Mitaka was about to give it to him, and only just remembered to stick to the cover story that Lori had created for them.
"I never had a hand in the stormtrooper program." Mitaka began weakly, knocked off balance by trying to stick to the lie, "Never mind that I risked my life to rescue Lori and her daughter. Does that mean nothing to you people?"
Two voices echoed down the hall, and the footsteps that carried them grew closer as well. Upon noticing them, Finn took a hasty step out of the room. Before Mitaka was able to say anything, Finn looked over his shoulder for a final comment.
"Just know that I'm keeping my eye on you."
Mitaka wasn't sure if he was supposed to be offended as the former trooper disappeared around the corner.
.***.***.***.***.
The meeting room was barely functional. A holoprojector was inlaid to a central table, and the image it cast of the galaxy was blurred. Despite the disgraceful setting, Commander Pyre had delivered a competent overview of his activities across the Outer Rim.
Unsurprisingly, the Resistance leaders that fled Crait hadn't been located. A few wayward rebels had met their fate at the end of a trooper's blaster, but there hadn't been any meaningful progress in destroying any of the remaining Resistance cells.
Hux didn't have to suppress any sighs or sharp comments through the briefing, he hadn't had his hopes up in the first place. As the slowly rotating map of the galaxy blinked away and Pyre officially ended his update, a sharp thought did pick at Hux.
Lori would have found the Resistance leaders. She could have gotten information out of the rebels.
"Do you have any questions, general?" Pyre prompted the man.
"No, commander," Hux squared his shoulders and tried to tell himself that this and everything else wasn't a gargantuan waste of time, "That will b-"
A deep thud rumbled through the walls of the station.
Hux cast a narrow eyed look to the door. Pyre shifted his stance, his expression hidden by a helmet and his armor clinking slightly.
Another heavy sound reverberated through the walls. In its wake, a hint of garbled static came from the commander. Pyre's hand flew upward, coming to a rest at the side of his helmet.
Pyre spoke before Hux demanded an explanation, "Resistance agents. Hanger bay four."
One curse after another sped through Hux's mind. None of them made it out as the general shouted an order, "Don't just stand here! Go after them!"
He hadn't even finished speaking before Pyre was sprinting out of the meeting room and into the dim hall. Left alone, Hux felt himself deflate as he stood from his seat.
The station rumbled once again. Louder than the last two, Hux was able to identify it as an explosion. Taking tired steps, he carried himself across the room and down the same path that Pyre had set off on.
Hux's own journey to through the station was slow and confused, nut following then sounds of destruction lead him to one of the upper hangars.
To his utter lack of surprise, General Hux found the hanger bay in shambles.
Beyond the magnetic field protecting them from the vacuum of space, there was a distant speck of a ship. Scarcely a second after he noticed it, the speck stretched into a distorted line before disappearing into hyperspace.
Hux stepped past a crate. Its surface was dotted with black pock marks from a blaster, a few of them so fresh that thin wisps of smoke still wafted up from them.
Commander Pyre stood near the edge of the hanger bay, hand to the side of his head as he listened to a hastily communicated report.
"Sir," Pyre stiffened only so much as to come to attention as he watched Hux approach, "the rebels have fled. A video feed from reactor room five suggests that they have an accomplice."
The general didn't let his hand curl into a fist. He did find himself trapped in a sharp little memory that cut through his mind.
It had been long ago, before Lori or him had confessed their affection for each other. Lori sat at the table of his Finalizer suite, playing her delicate game and collecting information, "If you plan on starting a war, you can expect your spy problem to quadruple."
He had been so confident, so sure that there was nothing that the galaxy could do to him. Years ago, he thought he'd had it all. That there was nothing he could possibly lose that wouldn't be his once again. He had meant it when he replied, "I don't plan on starting a war. I plan on finishing one."
Now where was he? What was he doing? Refusing to grieve a loss that he dare not accept?
He had started a war and he had ended it. But his enemies had grown regardless, and Lori wasn't here to help him anymore.
When Hux finally managed to pull himself away from the loathsome thoughts, he spoke with a quiet bitterness, "Find the traitor. Execute them."
"Yes, Sir. They won't allude us much longer. And we will find the thief, even coming here shows that they must be desperate." Pyre reassured.
Hux looked at the distant stars. A TIE, deployed too late to do anything, zipped by. The Resistance was desperate, possibly even more so that they had been at Crait.
When the general spoke, the words were meant as a critique of Pyre's apparent confidence, but they felt like admission of his own state of mind, "Desperation can be a dangerous thing."