AN: Happy Monday y'all. I hope you have fun reading this chapter, because I had fun writing it (messing with Mitaka has become a favorite pass time of mine).

.***.***.***.***.

Life on Anoat had gotten far too routine for Lori's liking.

The Resistance had managed to scrape together enough parts to make two functioning ships in addition the Falcon. Finn and Poe had taken one, their mission being to track down new weapons for the Resistance. Losing two of its most prominent members had put a damper on the rest of the Resistance. Lori had tried to leverage the rift, seeing if there was any way she could convince one of the others to help her slip off the planet.

She had nearly been successful, but then the other ship had come online, and those most eager to leave Anoat had quickly volunteered to go on an extended scouting mission. Lori had searched for some way to join them, but even she couldn't convince the rebels that brining a baby along on a dangerous mission was a good idea.

Instead, she had been left to languish. Half of the rebels were gone, leaving only a dozen people on Anoat besides Lori, Mitaka, and Ardis.

At the moment, Lori was sealed away in a hut. The Falcon was undergoing heavy repairs, and enough living space had been cleared on the planet that no one needed to be crammed onto the ship. One of the few multi-roomed dwellings, the hut was obviously made from scavenged materials. The airtight but thin walls let through the constant droning of generators. If Lori were being charitable, she could have pretended that they were similar to the reassuring drone of an ship's engine. Instead, they were only constant reminders that she was lightyears away from home.

Lori took a heavy breath of the stinking air.

Ardis watched her with an intent expression. The rebels had been thoughtful enough to cobble together enough scraps to make a crib for the infant, though no one had found the miniature repulsorlifts needed for a hovercrib.

The little girl had grown. While Lori wasn't sure of Ardis' exact weight, she was sure that Ardis had put on a few pounds. Three months of cramped living and fruitless escape attempts hadn't put a damper on the little girl, who was now capable of sitting up on her own.

Lori took a step towards the crib. Ardis watched her approach. Moving her head took Ardis off balance, and she nearly toppled to her side. A quick movement from Lori caught the infant and gently guided her into a laying position. Ardis came to a rest on her stomach, but shakily tried to support herself on her elbows and forearms.

"You can't be knocked down, can you?" Lori resisted the urge to pat the baby on her back, acutely aware that she could barely support her own weight.

Ardis tried to look up at her mother's voice, but raising her head past ninety degrees was still a tall task. Instead, she dropped down to roll onto her back, her wide blue eyes locking on Lori when she completed the movement.

"You're a clever one too," Lori tried to chuckle at the little movement, but a lingering sadness stopped her.

Armie should be here. We should be with him. Ardis is growing up without him, and there isn't a damn thing I've been able to do about it. Three months isn't a long time for me, but it's a lifetime for Ardis.

Before self-loathing coated the rest of Lori's thoughts, she searched for a distraction.

Ardis had brought a hand to her mouth, and was a second away from using it as a chew toy.

"No." Lori gently moved the infants hand away, "that's dirty."

Ardis looked as offended as a baby could and took a deep breath that Lori was sure was going to turn into a shriek.

Before Ardis started, a door hissed open in the distance, and an extra burst of putrid air drifted through the hut. Ardis looked for the sound. Lori put her lingering sadness away, hiding it behind an ever-present wall of resentment and rage. Then she covered that up as well, taking care to hold on to the paper thin mask of a thankful woman.

Hurried footsteps and a series of opening and shutting doors echoed through the thin walls and set Lori on guard. She had just put herself between Ardis' crib and the door when it slid open to reveal a huffing Mitaka.

She wasn't surprised to see him, but he was uncharacteristically disheveled. His uniform had been a total loss, and he was left to wear the same worn jackets that the rest of the resistance favored. No one had found a passable eye patch either, and his wound was covered by a thin shred of cloth that had to be taped in place.

Within those limitations, he tried to hold to the same standards that the First Order had kept. While he was still clean shaven, his hair had grown lanky. Brixie had tried to help him trim it, but the result had been a choppy mess.

Injured or not, the rebels had put him to work. While he hadn't made many friends, he had managed to impress some of the others, Lori included.

He wasn't the best actor, but he had held to their cover story well enough to keep the others from growing suspicious.

Mitaka tried to stifle his still rushed breath, "The hut is empty, and no one is outside. Have you got a minute to talk?"

He was trying to appear calm, but Lori wasn't fooled for a second. It hadn't been lost on her that the lieutenant had been eyeing her increasingle wearily over the last months.

"Depends on the topic." She didn't have to play perfectly dumb around the younger man, but she hadn't ever been completely truthful. By the looks of him, he was aware of that fact as well.

Mitaka had thought through this conversation dozens of times, bracing himself for some terrible realization in each one. The past months had only shown that Lori was perfectly comfortable in the company of criminals, and Mitaka had grown progressively more afraid for his own life.

At this point, he wasn't even sure that Lori was trying to return to the First Order. Outside of a single assurance two months ago, she hadn't breathed a word about their escape.

Now was the only time he had found that didn't carry the immediate risk of being followed or otherwise disturbed, and if he were going to learn Lori's true allegiance, it was now or never.

"What are we doing here?" He began, already annoyed at himself for failing to be as articulate as he wanted.

Lori tried to listen past the hum of generators for any hint of someone approaching. When she found none, she was left to focus exclusively on the lieutenant, "We're not doing anything that'll blow our cover." She reminded him.

"Major, please. I haven't-"

"Shh!" Lori nearly jumped at her old title. Dak was already suspicious that she had spent more time working for the First Order than simply showing up to scope out a job. Even if no one was around, she couldn't let go of the perfectly rational fear of being found out. She didn't need anybody else whispering rumors.

Mitaka tried again, flinching at the sudden fire in Lori's eyes, "L-lori, I mean. We've been here for months."

"Do you think I don't know that?" she fought to rein in the spark of adrenaline, "I'm getting us back to the order."

When? How? The lieutenant kept his questions from his tongue, cowed by Lori's anger.

He didn't have to say anything, Lori saw his thoughts clearly painted across his features.

She didn't let go of the anger or pressure, but a month's long fatigue drained her energy. Beyond Armitage there wasn't a single soul who knew the full story, and she preferred to keep it that way. Unfortunately, she wasn't sure that she could make the lieutenant trust her on half-truths alone. She needed an ally, and Mitaka was the closest thing she was going to get.

Lori bit down a bitter realization; that she needed help, that she was slipping. A small part of her mind wouldn't stop telling herself that she was better than this; that a half blind lieutenant in his early twenties shouldn't even be a challenge to talk around.

She picked up Ardis, hoping that it would do something to chase away the darkened thoughts.

"Sit down." She looked at the infant in her arms, but addressed Mitaka.

A gloom clung to Lori's words, and Mitaka nervously watched her back before doing as he was told.

When Lori heard the bed creak beneath the lieutenant's weight, she slowly turned around. Holding Ardis closely, she felt the infant relax against her even as she tensed.

"Armitage already knows everything I'm about to tell you," she began, "so there's no reason for you to get worked up over it."

Her harsh instruction to be calm only set Mitaka on edge, but he said nothing.

Lori leaned against the crib, fighting against her screaming instincts. They told her to hide, to keep secret everything she was about to say. "I know you're confused, and I can see that you don't trust me," Lori tried to soften her expression as she spoke.

Mitaka opened his mouth to deny the accusations before admitting to himself that she was right.

"I'm not a rebel, and I never was," Lori began with the most obvious concern. "Two years ago, I was a bounty hunter. There was a spy problem within the First Order, and I got hired to fix it."

"But…" Mitaka started and then drifted to a stop. Internal investigations was a job for the FOSB. The FOSB, who were well known to be loathed by the general.

Did… He couldn't have hired outside help just to avoid the FOSB. Could he have?

Lori watched the young man bring himself to a stop, more than ready to take the excuse to stop talking.

"S-sorry, go on." Mitaka's thoughts were whirring through his head with such force that he barely heard himself speak.

"It looks like you already figured out that Armitage was the one that hired me. Long story short, one thing led to another, and here we are." Lori still desperately wanted to stay tight on the details, but there were a few other things that would be useful for him to know, "Long story slightly less short, Dak was the one that set me up with the First Order in the first place."

Mitaka was still grappling with the fact that the mild mannered supply officer from the outer rim was actually a loyalty-for-hire bounty hunter. From wild space, no less! Assuming her accent wasn't as fake as the personnel file that Mitaka had read. When Lori mentioned Dak -of all people- being involved, their friendship suddenly made much more sense. Most importantly, Mitaka was left with a terrifying realization.

"The rebel knows about this?!"

"No." Lori stopped him with a word. "Dak only knows that he set me up for a job, but I told him that it fell through in a bad way."

Shocked or not, Mitaka was starting to think through the scenario, "Which is why they believe you were in prison on the Supremacy?"

Lori debated on how simple she should make things for Mitaka, "Well… mostly."

Mitaka said nothing, but he looked increasingly wary.

"You remember that bounty hunter General Hux sent you to meet and pay in exchange for my freedom? Well, that may have been a bit of an act. On my part at least. I let that guy kidnap me to get away from Dak, Brixie and Lex."

Mitaka rubbed a hand against his face, like that would wipe away the confusion, "what were you doing with them in the first place?"

"I was on Bastion to have Ardis. After the planet fell, I fled. A turn of fate had me run into them."

The lieutenant didn't even blink at the fact that she had been on Bastion. He did huff slightly at the realization that the general had been leading a very complicated double life. The general's nights spent sneaking out suddenly made perfect sense, doubly so since his accomplice was a step away from a career criminal.

What other things had happened behind closed doors? What other secret lives were unfolding just out of his sight? A single member of high command shouldn't have been able to so easily and secretly imbed a bounty hunter into the First Order's systems. Never mind that Hux shouldn't have been able to plan an entire diplomatic mission –an alliance between empires- for a hidden personal motive.

While the lieutenant took a long pause, Lori was left with time to think. She could see him drawing lines in roughly the correct places, but she saw him coming to his own inconvenient conclusions.

Before he went too far, Lori spoke again, "The rebels served their purpose then, and I survived long enough to make it back home. Truth be told, I didn't expect to ever see them again."

Was that the truth? Could Mitaka trust anything that Lori said? A bounty hunter's word was only as good as their pay, assuming that part of her story had even been true.

He found a few fragile words, "And so we're not only trying to escape, but the rebels are actively trying to keep you by their side out of a misplaced sense of guilt."

Lori could tell that Mitaka was keeping his most critical questions to himself. That suited her just fine, "Basically. And that's why it's so important that you and I don't look too friendly."

"So that your old friend Dak doesn't grow suspicious?"

There was the accusation that Mitaka had been holding back a moment ago. Lori didn't have the time to deal with the lieutenant's mistrust so she decided to quash it early, "A friend from an old life that I've left behind, and one I'll be damned if I crawl back to."

Mitaka watched a dangerous gleam grow in Lori's eye.

She didn't leave him any time to comment on it, "The first chance I get, I'll transmit a message back to Armitage. He'll come for us. Until then, I'm going to need you to shut up, and play along. Got it?"

Mitaka at once felt ashamed and afraid to meet Lori's gaze. He hadn't known the first thing about the apparently bubbly major, but now he perfectly understood how terrifying of a woman she really was.

Her and the general suddenly made all the sense in the galaxy.

"Yes, ma'am."

Lori narrowed her eyes dangerously at the slip up.

"L-Lori! I meant, y-yes Lori," Mitaka stammered hastily.

He desperately hoped that he wouldn't have to keep up appearances in front of the rebels much longer. Knowing what he did now, he was even more sure that his life depended on it.

.***.***.***.***.

After months away on a fool's errand, Hux had returned to the Finalizer.

Hux still had his office. And there was his suite that he wouldn't dare return to. Captain Peavey was still manning the bridge, Kylo Ren having decided that such a task was beneath the supreme leader. The troopers hurried past Huxhim in the hall, and the officers didn't dare say a word to him unless required.

It seemed that several things had remained the same, but several more had changed.

The most galling difference was the ship's crew. Kylo Ren had called his cultist friends onto Hux's ship. The general could scarcely leave the bridge without coming across a destroyed computer terminal. Deeply ground scratches and scuffs had been carved into the halls that the knights frequented, their weapons carelessly swinging about. Protocol was disregarded more frequently that it was adhered to, and the general almost wished that he would be sent off on some other pointless assignment simply so that he might avoid Kylo Ren's personal dogs.

Rather than saying anything for his annoyance, the general kept to the bridge for shifts at a time, only retiring to his office when he could barely stand.

Even in the relative calm of the bridge, just standing made him see stars. It must have been days since he last ate. As he hid the swaying that no doubt affected his stance, Hux could hear Lori admonishing him.

"Go eat something," she would have told him, "Get some sleep, before I have to give you and Ardis a bedtime."

"… sir? Sir?" another voice interrupted the imagined one.

Hux looked at the source of the unwelcomed sound with tired eyes. His new aid was inattentively standing to his side.

Petty Officer Murrin had cracked under pressure, and had resigned. Her replacement was Lieutenant Sdin. Sdin was an abnormally relaxed officer, with his shiny brown hair worn as a tousled mob that was just short enough to fall within regulation. He spoke with an almost core world accent, and Hux made it his personal mission to teach the man discipline in the most unpleasant way possible.

"You've got a message waiting on you, sir." The lieutenant repeated himself.

Hux cast a dangerous look at the young man, "I'll take it in my office."

Though Sdin's sloppy appearance would have been an easy target for mindless anger, Hux found that he didn't have the presence of mind or the energy to be petty. Instead of finding the time to be annoyed with himself, the general stalked off of the bridge, leaving his useless aid lamely standing where he was left.

The familiar walk seemed to be filled with knowing whispers and sharp glances. Hux wasn't sure if he was letting his paranoia cloud his judgement as he came to his quiet office. Stepping into the room left him to wince against the palpable silence.

As Hux collapsed into the chair behind his desk, he considered the liquor cabinet that sat in the corner of the room. Eventually deciding against it, he turned his focus to the computer terminal.

The report was from Commander Pyre, and Hux wanted a clear head for whatever news the man might have.

The general's eyes widened before narrowing halfway through the document. Pyre was requesting that several millions of credits be put aside for bounties on the heads of the Resistance. Hux had assumed that that was already the case.

Reading further he found concise data readouts and succinct reporting on known Resistance agents. A rogue fueling station, run by resistance sympathizers, had been detected near D'Qar. The spy Vi Moradi had been seen in the outer rim. Resistance pilot Temmin Wexley had been spotted in a hutt-space ship yard. The Millennium Falcon's signature had even been detected in the mid-rim.

The apparently viable lead on the Falcon had come from Tah'Nuhna. Pyre had attached a First Order fact sheet about the planet and its people to the message.

Hux appreciated the rare bit of competent reporting, but his mood was quickly soured by the realization that he was in no position to do anything with it.

He wasn't in a position to do much of anything, not lead an order that was rightfully his, nor to even do something as simple as learn his family's fate.

Hux looked away from his computer, eyes darting to the door. He knew very well that no one was coming in, and he wasn't doing anything nefarious besides. But he still hated appearing weak, letting any of the emotional turmoil bubble to the surface.

Satisfied that he was well and truly alone, he fished a battered holodisk out of this breast pocket. Carefully creaking it open left a grainy hologram to flutter to life. An unrecognizable Lori carried a bundle of blankets, Ardis' tiny face just clear enough to be seen in the nearly ruined image.

They're not gone. I refuse to believe it. I can't.

He watched a white line run through the hologram. A lump began to ache at the back of his throat. Keeping the image steady in one hand, he pulled up the latest status report from the Supremacy with the other.

Dated a week ago, it seemed as if the whole order had moved on from the tragedy. In the three months that had passed since the attack, the entirety of the broken wing had been cleared, and the overwhelming majority of its victims had recovered or been moved into less intensive care units.

Kylo Ren had ordered the wing to be scrapped. The rest of the colossal ship would remain in orbit around Crait, a grim half-capital circling a dead planet.

Predictably, there was no news about Lori or Ardis.

The general looked back to the battered holodisk.

He wasn't in any position to do anything, but it didn't seem like anyone cared when he did do something. The Finalizer was still technically under his command, extra knights notwithstanding. Kylo Ren was off gallivanting around in search of his lost scavenger, and Hux had fulfilled his previous orders.

His shoulders deflated before he gently slid the holodisk back into his pocket.

He typed a short reply to Pyre, approving the bounty funds and stiffly complementing the man on a well written report.

Then he left his office.

It was time for the First Order to pay a visit to Tah'Nuhna.