The air carried the scent of salt when Hux stepped out of the command shuttle; the sun beam reflected by the thin layer of salt on the ground made him squint. A mild, warm wind made the tails of his greatcoat flutter slightly.
With the back of his gloved hand he wiped over his mouth and pulled the corners of his mouth down. He caught a whiff of oil, hot metal, and molten iron emanating from the Resistance Base in front of him, or rather from the destruction of its blast doors.
Any other day Hux would have allowed himself a satisfied smirk, seeing the power of the KY-cannon first hand, seeing meters of reinforced steel peeled away by the weapon he had designed… but the dull pain in his back spoiled his victory.
He started to walk, the sound of salt being crushed under his black heel accompanying him through his way to the mouth of the gaping hole in front of him. A squadron of Stormtroopers followed him inside, an army of white clad Stormtroopers with him as its black center crossed the threshold in the fortress… or base or whatever the Rebel Scum called this structure.
From the corner of his eye he noticed how dust was falling from the ceiling as he stepped from the blinding light into the dimly lit base. He slowed his step and took in the sight in front of him: hundreds of Rebels kneeling on the floor, their hands folded behind their heads.
Most of them were covered in dirt, blood and a thin crust of salt. The air no longer smelt of salt and oil but of sweat and blood.
Hux tugged at his glove and registered that the Rebels stared defiantly at him; he almost scoffed. Even now they thought they could get away - and perhaps they would have succeeded if Ren had his way.
Thinking of Ren… he turned to the Stormtrooper Captain next to him. "Where is Supreme Leader Ren?"
Having to say these three words almost made him grimace, but as always he remained professional and his tone was even.
"Besh Command reports that he was last seen heading deeper into the Rebel base in pursuit of Luke Skywalker, sir."
"Instruct Besh to go after him," replied Hux. If he had any luck Skywalker would finish him off - Ren was a fool, the Order needed stability, not temper tantrums. A slight rumble could be heard deep under his feet and for a moment Hux felt dizzy, the image of a bright red beam shooting into the sky resurfacing before his inner eye.
He pulled himself together and frowned. "The preliminary reports on Crait didn't mention earthquakes."
"No, sir."
Hux pulled out his portable holo and activated it. With a quiet hum the device started to hover as Lieutenant Mitaka's figure appeared. "Sir."
"I need an analysis of the planets teutonic structure; we are experiencing tremors." He paused. "The Supreme Leader is somewhere in the structure."
Mitaka clicked his heels. "I- I'll compile a report right away, General!" He was off the holo before Hux could dismiss him.
Always so eager to please, he would probably never rise beyond Captain. An useful cog in the well-oiled fierce machine that was the Order. Hux knew that he had to put him down for not waiting to be dismissed, despite being partial to the young officer.
He put the holocom away and clasped his hands behind his back before addressing the Captain again. "Any remaining resistance?"
"We haven't mapped out the whole structure but we have secured most of it. There is one blast door bolted shut; we have already called for magna detonators. It's only a matter of minutes, sir."
"I take it that General Organa is hiding there?"
"Negative, sir. Gamma Squad secured her and her staff in the lower levels, apparently they were trying to find a way through the mines."
What else could they possibly hide behind the last remaining blast door? Hux's curiosity was piqued. "I want to see for myself. Lead the way, Captain."
The Stormtrooper led him away from the entrance deeper in the entails of the base. The tunnels were drilled into the dark sediment; apparently the structure itself was a mining shaft. As they walked down the tunnel Hux thought that he felt again a rumble beneath his feet, but it was so soft that he wasn't sure if he had really felt it.
He could see the mechanically generated sparks from the Stormtrooper trying to cut through the steel door from far away, the biting smell of metal was now heavy in the air.
"Don't waste your time, Sergeant," snarled Hux as he was close enough to inspect the door. It was reinforced durasteel. Only a powerful laser or magna detonators would be able to cut through it. He turned to the Captain. "I assume the detonators are soon here?"
"Yes sir." The Captain proceeded to shoo the soldiers away so that Hux could have a good look at the door.
Hux noticed the ancient intercom panel and opened it, the cables had been ripped out but after plugging them back in he could hear a crackle through the speaker.
He smirked and pulled the button down. "This is General Hux speaking, surrender now and we may spare you."
The speaker was crackling, finally he could hear a female voice responding. "This is Sergeant Tico speaking, we will never surrender. You will kill us anyway. So shut up."
The audacity of a mere Sergeant to talk to him like that. It reminded him of Commander Dameron… he pressed his lips to a thin line. "We need the detonators, Captain," he hissed.
He would show them!
His holocomm started to beep. He activated it and moved out of the way as the demolition squad arrived. He watched them set up the explosives as Mitaka's figure appeared on the floating holo in front of him.
"Sir! We shifted through old Imperial data - Crait is highly unstable. The miners have drilled too deep for the salt, they compromised the mine shafts. A preliminary report suggests that its instability was the reason the Rebels abandoned the base decades ago."
Hux narrowed his eyes. "How unstable?"
"It's difficult to say without proper readings, sir."
He scoffed. "Very well, I'll see to it that we wrap things up quickly. Dismissed, Lieutenant."
Mitaka's figure vanished and Hux noticed that the explosives were all set. The Captain approached him.
"Sir, please step back - this will be over momentarily."
They went about a hundred meters back in the tunnel, and moments later a dull, muted explosion could be heard. Hux followed the Captain back to the door, keeping safe distance in case that the Rebels had a nasty surprise ready when they would finally pull the door open.
With a frown as he noticed another rumble, he stayed back and called the commanding officer. "Colonel, it appears that the base is seismically unstable. Secure the prisoners and retreat," Hux ordered.
"Yes, sir."
Hux ended the call and heard yelling and screams from the room that had been blasted open. A single blast from a rifle could be heard, then more screams. He stepped closer; when he reached the door he saw that two Stormtroopers had subdued a dark-haired human woman, beside her lay a blaster rifle. The bright light from the tunnel and the flashlights of the Stormtroopers illuminated the room. Three human children, a Nautolan man and a Nautolan woman were cowering against a wall.
Hux crooked an eyebrow and addressed the woman who was held down by the Stormtroopers.
"This is what you tried to protect? A few cadets and-" he noticed the Nautolan's round belly "- and pregnant Nautolans?"
"Keep your filthy hands off them, Hux!" hissed the woman, a defiant glare in her eyes.
"My my my, what a temper you have, Sergeant." He crouched down in front of the children, the oldest, a dark-skinned human girl was about ten years old, the younger girl was apparently her sister, the youngest was a toddler who stared at him wide-eyed, sucking on his thumb.
"Do you want a warm meal?" he asked the oldest girl. "You don't have to be afraid, we will take good care of you."
"Don't-" screamed the Sergeant, when her face was pressed into the muddy ground she broke off.
"Please, leave us," said the male Nautolan. "Let us go, we- we promise we just want to get home."
Hux got up. "You made your choice when you raised your hand against the First Order." He turned to the Stormtrooper captain. "Take them with the other prisoners. Separate the cadets and arrange a transport to-"
A loud rumble was followed by an earthquake so powerful that it made Hux almost lose his balance and drowned out his words. Kriff, he had lingered too long! The mining shafts were even more unstable than he had thought.
Small rocks and dust fell from the ceiling on the people in the room, just as Hux was about to say something another earthquake occured, covering him in a cloud of dust. The next thing he realised was that he lost his balance and that he was in free fall. Before he even had time to process what was happening, something hit his head and he lost consciousness.
Hux slowly blinked and heard loud coughing; it took him a few seconds to realise that it was he who was wheezing and coughing. Something heavy was weighing him down; with a groan he moved. What the- yes, he was on Crait. The mines were unstable… it was dark save one light source in front of him. He coughed some more and staggered on his feet, he could feel debris and dust falling off him like a heavy blanket being pulled away.
He bent down and picked up the light - it was a flashlight from the Stormtroopers. Hux turned in the direction where he thought the door was, only to discover that there was only a dark tunnel leading further down. He spun over his own axis and saw a pile of rubble behind him. Kriff! He must have fallen through the floor down on a lower level of the mines.
He coughed again and was trying to gather his bearings as he noticed a half-buried Stormtrooper in the rubble. He quickly knelt down and lifted a few rocks away, there was blood seeping out of the Troopers chest plate and when he pulled the helmet away to feel the pulse of the Stormtrooper he saw that she was dead, her empty eyes were staring up at the ceiling. He still checked her pulse as per regulation and exhaled when the examination confirmed that she was no longer breathing.
The sound of moving debris made him spin on his heel, pulling his blaster out of his holster. He tried to find the source of the noise but he couldn't see anything. Slowly he stepped closer, stopping when he noticed a crevasse between two large metallic pieces, it was half-buried under a few smaller rocks. He could hear silent sobs and frowned. It didn't sound like an adult, perhaps it was one of the children. But of course it could be some sort of ploy to catch him off guard.
"Who is there?" he asked.
Instead of an answer he heard groaning from another direction. Kriff, he couldn't be at two places at once. First things first. He crouched down and lifted his flashlight as well as his blaster to look into the crevasse.
The three cadets… or rather future cadets were sitting together huddled in a corner. They were dust-covered, their cheeks were wet from tears that mixed with the red mud from the ground.
He got up and walked towards the direction where he heard the silent groan coming from. After searching a bit he found the two Nautolans buried under debris, a shiver ran down his spine as he noticed that the female's leg had several open fractures. She didn't move and the male Nautolan was drawing a rattling breath, whispering something. His head tentacles had been smashed by a sharp rock, so had half of his face.
Hux had seen enough battle to know that the Nautolan wouldn't survive, he didn't know if he even registered pain anymore with his caved in skull but there was really only one thing to do. Hux lifted his blaster and shot him in the head with two quick blasts.
The dry, rattling breath stopped and green-blueish blood leaked out of the entry point. He stepped closer to the female's leg and touched it, it was already cooling off. Hux gulped and put his blaster away.
He dusted himself off, and reached inside his greatcoats pocket for the holocomm. The small device floated up in the air, but the red light on its base indicated that it didn't connect into the First Order network. Hux grabbed it and inspected it - at least it wasn't damaged. He went to the nearest wall and used the flashlight to inspect it; the red mud had a silvery texture. Either he was deeper down than he thought or the minerals were blocking his signal.
Just as he was about to make another attempt at contacting his troops a light rumble could be heard from below. Kriff, the mines were still unstable.
The rumble faded into nothing, only a dull knocking could be heard now. It was very quiet but the rhythm suggested that it wasn't a natural phenomenon. He found the pile of rubble it was emanating from and knocked back. Perhaps Stormtroopers captured in another part of the mines?
He started to dig with his hands, carefully taking one stone after another away lest the wall wouldn't collapse on him. After a couple of minutes a ray of light shone out of the small opening he and the other person had dug out. Large rocks and wooden beams made it impossible to make the opening larger.
A cloud of dust rippled down on him and he coughed. "Report, soldier."
"Is that you, Hux?" asked a female voice with an Outer Rim accent.
Hux gritted his teeth. It was the rebel woman. "That's General Hux."
He could hear a scoff. "That is what you're concerned about now? We just fell stars knows how many meters down an abandoned mine shaft and from what I can tell the teutonic stability isn't that great."
"How typical of Rebel scum to hide in a base that is as stable as a nuclear fission," sneered Hux. "Wasn't there some base on top of an active volcano you could get to?"
"As far as I remember it was you that blew open the blast door with explosives. And you-"
The ground shook again, another cloud of dust fell down from the ceiling.
The rebel cleared her throat. "We need to get out of here."
"I concur," said Hux and wiped the dust off his greatcoat. "I take it that there aren't any Stormtroopers with you?"
"No… I'm alone."
"A pity, the pioneers carry ropes and hooks."
"Are you alone?" She paused. "I- there were children..."
"They are here, as far as I could see they are not injured."
He could hear a gasp. "As far as you could see? Didn't you check on them?"
Hux didn't like her tone. Cadets were hardly his concern in this situation. "I was busy with the Nautolans," he said in a cutting voice. "They were both crushed to death… more or less."
"Kriff."
"You don't happen to have a layout of these mines?" asked Hux while he used the flashlight to shine down the only tunnel not blocked by debris. It was going deeper down.
"Of course not. But I worked in the mines of Hays Minor. I assume that the workers used the same logic here."
"Main Tunnels and rescue shafts?"
"Yeah… how do you-"
"We had to drill deep for Starkiller."
"But I bet you didn't use mine workers, right?"
He frowned. "No, but-"
"Mine workers value their safety above anything else - besides rescue shafts they would also make sure that the air circulation works without artificial help." She coughed. "We can basically follow the draught, it should lead up back up to the surface."
"Hm, the only way I see is leading downwards."
"It will eventually intersect with another tunnel that leads up."
"Why should I trust anything you say?" asked Hux with a scoff.
She swore under her breath. "Why? I tell you why! Because there are children! Do you honestly think I would risk their well-being just because you happen to be here? I can't dig through all this debris - the rocks are to heavy to move. You are the only one capable of leading them out of here," she took a deep breath. "Listen, I know that you're barely human but you have to-"
"I don't have to do anything," snapped Hux.
"Yes you do! Because even an evil jerk like you wouldn't leave kids behind. Right? Right?" There was a hint of desperation, even fear in her voice. He was tempted to tell her that he didn't care but she was right; he had no intention to harm the children. After all, they were potential recruits.
"Of course not," he said icily. "But I hope that they don't slow me down while I escape from this deathtrap."
She exhaled. "Okay, I need to talk to them. Can you get them?"
Hux thought about telling her to stop ordering him around but they didn't have the time to argue.
He returned to the crevasse and looked once again inside. The children were still huddled together. He cleared his throat. "Stay still, I'll make room so that you can come out."
He put the flashlight down and used his hand to pull rocks and rubble away until the opening was big enough for the children to squeeze through.
"Come on," Hux said and gestured them to come to him. "We have to get out of here."
The oldest girl sniffled. "You are with the First Order, we are not supposed to trust you."
What now? Well, most children obeyed when confronted with an adult. "Enough, I'm an adult and you come with me now."
"No."
Stars! Even the Rebel's children were unruly. He got up and went back to the Rebel woman. "Surprisingly they don't want to come with me," he stated while pulling at his black leather glove.
"Jeez, I wonder why with your sunny disposition," she pushed something silvery through the tiny hole. Hux took it and recognized the silver pendant he had once seen on board the Supremacy.
"It's you- the Rebel scum who tried to sabotage the hyperspace tracker."
"The name is Tico and yes, we did. Now go back and show this to the kids and tell them Rose said- said to follow you," she sighed. "Kriff."
He went back and dangled the pendant in front of the opening. "Uh, Rose gave me this. You are supposed to come with me."
The oldest girl wiped over her eyes. "Okay." She got up and lead the other two children to the opening; Hux reached inside and pulled the toddler out. The other children left without his help.
He put the toddler down on the ground. "Stay close," he said and showed them the way to the Rebel woman. He made an effort to direct the beam from the flashlight away from the corpses.