Halo
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A/N-thank you for the kind reviews on the last chapter.
Chapter Thirty-Nine-The New Supreme Leader
Fuelled by ambition and spite, General Hux had murdered his father with the help of Captain Phasma. He thought about his hated father now as he stood with his accomplice, Phasma, and surveyed the slain bodies of the Praetorian guards as well as that of the former Supreme Leader. He had loathed Snoke as much as he had Brendol. He was glad he was dead.
"Ren did his job well." Armitage murmured as he looked indifferently at his fallen leader.
"Not alone. The scavenger had a hand in it, too. From the footage I've managed to retrieve, it was a joint venture." Phasma sneered.
She noticed the flicker of emotion in Hux's green eyes when she mentioned Rey. It seemed the General still hadn't gotten over his humiliation at the scavenger's hands on Starkiller base, when she had inadvertently turned the interrogation back on him when she probed his mind, revealing his secret fears and ambition. There had been a camera inside the cell, and Phasma had covertly viewed the footage several times, and had enjoyed watching Armitage cowed by the feral little sand rat. She had made a copy of the footage and secreted it away for future use-just in case.
"Ren's actions should secure your position as the new Supreme Leader." Phasma continued dryly. "Once you have revealed his treachery and denounced him as a traitor to the general populace for assassinating Snoke, the others will have no choice but to fall into line."
"It will not be as smooth a transition as you seem to think." Armitage pointed out irritably. "There will be some who will be very vocal about my sudden grab for power-Pryde for one and I can name a few others."
"But they don't have battalions of battle-hardened stormtroopers trained by me to back them up, do they." Captain Phasma reminded him sharply. "As soon as they see the might of our army, they will quickly bow down and declare their allegiance to you. We are in this together, Hux. Just like we were the day I helped administer the poison to your father."
Armitage's green eyes turned icy as he glared at Phasma. "I've warned you before never to bring that up again. Remember your place, Phasma!"
Phasma's loathing expression was hidden beneath her chromium mask as she bowed down in deference to the new Supreme Leader. She would acquiescence for now because it suited her interests, but one day she would see to it that Hux knew who was the real power behind the throne. She had enough dirt on him to bring him down whenever she chose. Knowledge was power and she had plenty of that. "Yes, Supreme Leader." She murmured.
Armitage's chest puffed up with pride as he revelled in his new title. "Say it again." He demanded. "Louder this time."
"Yes, Supreme Leader." Phasma repeated again through gritted teeth.
"That's better." Armitage said smugly as he smoothed a stray strand of red hair back into place. He was obsessed with his appearance; believing it was a vital part for maintaining discipline, he would always wear a parade uniform designed to broadcast his authority as general. Even his posture was affected by this belief, as he would often pose in a formal parade stance. He directed his gaze back to Snoke's bloated corpse. Armitage had respected Snoke for building the First Order out of a group of Imperial refugees exiled to the Unknown Regions, but in private he did not consider anyone other than himself as being capable of directing the galaxy's industries and nurturing their innovations, while commanding the citizens' respect. His ambition had come to fruition and he found it ironic that it was his former rival, Ren, who had played such a vital part in allowing it to come about.
"Phasma, see to it that these bodies are cleared away." Armitage ordered the Captain as he walked at a slow pace toward Snoke's empty throne.
"At once, Supreme Leader." Once again Phasma was glad her face was hidden beneath her intimidating helmet. Her mouth twisted into an ugly scowl as she turned sharply on her heel and stalked out of the throne room to carry out Hux's commands.
Armitage had reached Snoke's throne. How often had he stood here beside Ren, being berated by their former master for their failures and inadequacies? Snoke was very selfish with his praise, only dishing it out to stoke the rivalry between him and the darkside apprentice. Despite their mutual contempt for each other, a part of Hux respected Ren and his Force abilities, although Ren had little if anything to say about Hux's fighting skills. Ren regarded Hux as a craven coward, a view reinforced when Hux, on one occasion, turned and fled from a hostile animal, leaving his rival to defend himself while he hid under the cover of tall grass. In loathing Ren, Hux took pleasure in his adversary's failures and Snoke's anger with his apprentice.
"And now I am the Supreme Leader." Armitage murmured as his mind drifted to the scavenger. His lips thinned as he recalled his one and only encounter with the feral little gremlin. She had invaded his mind and taunted him about his own fears and secret ambition. He remembered the derogatory way she had spoken to him, the look of revulsion in her eyes as she denounced him as nothing but a craven coward and how he would never realise his ambition of being Supreme Leader. Well, he had certainly proved her wrong!
His gloved hands curled into fists at his sides as the memory of her defiance stoked the inner fires of his resentment toward her. How he wished she were here now, just so he could lord it over her, show her that he was no coward-he was stronger, cleverer, more powerful than the failed darkside apprentice she had attached herself to. He imagined himself sitting on Snoke's throne, the Scavenger, dressed all in black, standing proudly at the base of the throne, acting as his personal bodyguard. She would be a powerful weapon against anyone who dared threaten his rule.
Armitage wasn't a fool. He knew Phasma was plotting to double-cross him, for now, he needed the Stormtrooper captain, but when the time came that she was no longer useful to him, he planned on replacing her with someone much more powerful. Armitage was sure that the feral scavenger could be shown the error of her ways and be convinced to join him. Others would claim it as an impossible dream, but he knew better, hadn't he already achieved his most prominent dream already-he was the Supreme Leader. Armitage smiled to himself as he began to plot his next move.
"That was almost too easy." Han confided to Chewie as they steered the Millennium Falcon out of The Supremacy's docking bay with little resistance from the enemy. In fact, their whole escape felt like it had been engineered to the First Order's advantage. Rey and BB-8 were already checking to see if a tracking beacon had placed on the Falcon, but so far, they had found no evidence that anything had been tampered with.
"I know what you mean." Chewie whined in Shyriiwook, he re-checked their co-ordinates, knowing without precise calculations they could fly right through a star or bounce too close to a supernova, and that'd end their trip really quick.
"You ready?" Han checked as he got ready to jump to lightspeed.
Chewie roared his agreement. Han pushed the ship's engines into overdrive and thrust them into hyperspace. Quick jumps into hyperspace could be unsettling to even experienced pilots, but those with the proper stamina and training could overcome this. Han and Chewie both visibly relaxed as the hyperdrive engine held up under the pressure.
"I'll go and check on the kid." Han said as he climbed out of the pilot's seat. "You okay here without me for a while?" Chewie let out an irritated whine as he glared at Han. "Sheesh, alright!" Han held up his hands in surrender. "Temperamental Wookie." He muttered under his breath when he was out of earshot of his co-pilot.
Han found Rey in the bowels of the ship replacing some burnt out wiring in the hyperdrive engine. It seemed they'd only managed to jump into hyperspace at all because of her quick thinking. Once again Han was impressed with her engineering skills. "Good work." He praised her.
"Thanks." Rey absently wiped a smudge of grease off her cheek before resuming her task.
"Where's Ben?" Han asked as he began to help her replace the wiring.
"He was still out of it when I last checked on him." Rey revealed with a worried frown as she snapped the circuit board back in place.
"He'll recover in a few days. He's got his old man's stamina." Han assured her with a small smile. As soon as they had left the throne room, Ben had collapsed again. Chewie had been forced to carry him over his shoulder while they made their escape. It would have been a funny sight if their circumstances hadn't been so dire. "How about you? You okay?"
Rey had been trying to quell her anxiety by concentrating on her task, but even this wasn't enough to push the worries from her mind. Like Han, she thought their escape had been too easy. No one had really challenged them and they had managed to leave the docking bay without much retaliation. She had BB-8 help her check for any signs that the Falcon had been tampered with. She expected to find some kind of tracking beacon, or that the Comm's system had been interfered with, but there was nothing. Nothing that she could see anyway. She was also worrying about Ben. Rey wished she shared Han's faith that his son would quickly recover from his ordeal, but none of them really knew just what he had endured under Snoke's machinations while they had been imprisoned on The Supremacy. The physical signs of his beating where bad enough, but she shuddered at the thought of the mental torture he had probably suffered as well. She knew the effects of that would come to the fore in the next few days as he processed what had happened. She was also concerned about something else.
"The Resistance were never trapped in the base on Crait, were they?" Rey finally decided it was time to confront the controversial topic. She glanced over at Han's stony expression. "Han?" She pushed him. "They were never there."
"Damn!" Han exploded as his hand slipped and he sliced open his palm with the tool he had been using. Rey passed him a clean rag and he took it from her, winding the cloth around his hand to stem the blood flow. Red-faced, he turned toward her. "I haven't got an answer for you, kid. I have to believe they were there at some point. To think otherwise would mean that- "He couldn't continue as words failed him.
"I'm sorry." Rey apologised, feeling guilty for upsetting him. "You're right…. they were probably there at some point and escaped by some other means."
"No, I'm the one who should be saying sorry, kid. It's not your fault that my family is so fucked up." Han replied roughly. "You want the truth? I don't know what to think. Maybe we intercepted an old message and they had already been rescued before we got there. I have to believe that, because I can't handle the fact, that the woman I love could be so callous."
"I'm sure you're right." Rey agreed. "BB-8 has been working on salvaging the comm's system. Once it's working, we can hopefully get a message to them and find out what happened."
"Yeah." Han muttered, dread building in his stomach at the prospect of facing his estranged wife again. He wasn't even sure he wanted to, because he worried the truth might kill him.
A/N-thanks for reading! Please review. (Runs away and hides).