"Are you alright?" asked Tico.

"Rose!" exclaimed the oldest girl. "Rose, come get us - it's scary!"

"I want to go home," whined the second oldest girl.

"I know, I know," said Tico with a tremble in her voice. "You all will get home, I- I promise. But we are stuck here and we need to get out."

"Can't you come to us?"

"Listen, Chenia… I can't dig through all this debris. You need to go with Hux and we will meet up later."

"But-" chimed the second girl in, "he is one of them."

Tico hesitated for a moment. "Yes, yes he is. But he will help you - so you need to go with him, alright?"

"Okay."

"Hux, are you there?"

He frowned. "Of course I am."

Something was pushed through the small opening and fell down on his side, it was a ration bar, three more were stuffed through along with a bottle of water. He crammed everything in the pockets of his greatcoat.

"That's all I got to spare," Tico said. "We should head out now."

"I have no intention to linger in this grave," he replied sourly.

"Rose," whined the younger girl. "I'm scared. I don't wanna go with him."

Hux grimaced; this was going to be a difficult undertaking. Would the children get on his nerves all the way? "And I don't want you to drag along, but here we are," he said with a huff. The fearful look on the children's face made him regret his harsh words. Weak, even after all these years.

"Lil… just- just stay with Chenia, alright? Stay together and I will find you."

A deep rumble rang through the tunnel, it was louder than before.

"We need to go," said Hux, his sights fell on the toddler who was inspecting a stone on the floor as if was the most interesting object in the galaxy. Kriff, there was no way he could walk on his own and the other children were too scrawny and small to help him. With a sigh, Hux bent down and picked him up. Of all the indignity… reduced to carry some Rebel offspring.

The toddler stared at him wide-eyed, drooling a little. Hux pulled the corners of his mouth down, disgusting little creature. "Up," the toddler mumbled.

"A very astute observation," retorted Hux. He glanced over his shoulder and saw that the girls were holding each others hands. "Come now."

They walked for about ten minutes down the tunnel; Hux could feel his left arm getting tired from holding the child. He changed sides and took the flashlight in his left hand. They continued down the dark path. Shouldn't an intersection appear soon? The way Tico had talked he had believed that there was one every few hundred meters.

Hm, perhaps the mines were so vast that they had intersections only every few kilometers? A far away rumble could be heard and the ground shook slightly; it was enough to make the girls gasp.

He could feel his stomach drop, if the tunnel before them collapsed they would never make it out. He gritted his teeth, they had to move faster - stars knew when the ceiling would cave. He quickened his step, only to notice a slight tugging at his greatcoat. Surprised, he looked down and saw that Chenia was holding onto it, literally dragging Lil behind her.

Since when was she holding on to him? He hadn't noticed. When she saw his glare she let go of him and tried to match his fast pace.

They wouldn't be able to keep up this speed, not in the long term. As if to prove his point, Lil tripped and fell down on the ground. Chenia tried to pull her back on her feet but the girl just started to sob and wiped over her face. "I'm tired."

Stars, he didn't have time for this! "Not tired enough-" he broke off. Seeing her like this stirred an old memory in Hux.

'I'm tired, sir.'

His father had bent down until his reddish face was but centimetres away. 'Not tired enough if you can still complain, cadet!'

Hux was holding his side, his midriff hurting from the running, his scraped knees burning from the sweat that was running down in the merciless sun beating down on him.

The next thing he knew was that his blood was dripping down from his nose, his father tugging at his black leather glove. 'Two more rounds, I won't tolerate weaklings in my unit.'

He pressed his lips together, a shiver running down his back. This wouldn't work, either he slowed down, risked to get caught up in another earthquake or he needed to leave the cadets behind and move at a quicker pace. He couldn't have it both ways.

His eyes darted from Lil and Chenia and to the toddler in his arm, who was holding onto his greatcoat lapels with his tiny hands, dark-brown eyes wide open. It- it was logical what he had to do - they were cadets, cadets under his command… after all they were meant for the Stormtrooper programme. Yes, it was his duty as their commanding officer to lead them; just as he led his Stormtroopers.

He licked his lips, he knew about commanding soldiers. No need to overthink this. He just had to motivate the cadets to keep going.

He walked a few steps back and put the toddler down. He crouched down next to Chenia and Lil. "Your parents are reb- soldiers, aren't they?"

The girls stared at him, silent tears running down Lil's cheeks.

"I'm a General and as such I need soldiers. I'm promoting you to… Captain," he said and pulled two code cylinders from his pocket and clipped them on Chenia's yellow jumper which had a minimised nexu imprinted on it.

Then he took another code cylinder and clipped it on Lil's green dress. "You are a Lieutenant now."

She looked fascinated at the silver code cylinder, seemingly having forgotten about being tired. "What about him?" she asked and pointed at the toddler trying to touch Chenia's code cylinders.

"He- uh, he is a Private." Hux cleared his throat. "As Captain it's your job to help me and oversee your subordinates."

She frowned. "What's a subor-"

"The Lieutenant and the Private," Hux quickly said, "they are your squad."

Lil felt the code cylinder up with her fingertips. "Okay."

Apparently he had the cadets under control, at least they were much calmer now. Structure and hierarchy establish security - as always. All he had to do now was to lead them out of the tunnels. He lifted the toddler up and shone the flashlight into the tunnel they had to go.

"Sergeant Tico said that we will find an exit eventually," he said. Hux started walking again, but slower than before. He was glancing from time to time at Chenia and Lil; they were staying close to him.

When they reached a crossroad about half an hour later Hux decided that it was time for a break. So far the cadets had been compliant, but nothing made soldiers more restless than if they were hungry and thirsty.

"Captain Chenia, I need you to watch over the Private," he said and put the boy down. She grabbed him by his hood that had - oddly enough - animal ears sewn to it and looked at Hux with big eyes.

He reached inside his pockets and pulled a ration bar out. He broke it in half and then again in three pieces. When confronted with an unknown territory it was wise to conserve the squad's resources.

He gave the three pieces to Chenia and wrapped up the rest of the ration bar and put it back in his pocket. "I put you in charge of distributing the food. Lieutenant," he turned his attention to Lil, "make sure that the Private eats his ration." There, that should keep them occupied while he tried to figure out which way to take.

He went to the crossroads and pulled his glove from his right hand, he licked his trigger finger and held it up; it seemed that there was a draught coming from the tunnel to his left. He put his glove back on. Hm, it was a very imprecise way to navigate but then again there were no other means.

He took out his portable holo and activated it. It hovered right before him, illuminating the crossroad with pale blue light, but it still couldn't connect. Hux crooked an eyebrow, well, that wasn't exactly a surprise. Hm, were they looking for him? Or had the Order evacuated the planet?

He put the device back in his pocket and frowned a bit when he brushed against the ration bars and the rebels pendant in it - it was all too messy for him, he wasn't used to having his pockets stuffed like that. It irked him.

"General," rang a voice out.

Hux lost his train of thought and lifted his gaze. "Yes, Captain?"

"I'm thirsty."

He went over to them and pulled the bottle Sergeant Tico had given him out of his other greatcoat pocket. "Just one gulp per soldier. We still have to walk for a bit."

Chenia took the big bottle and took a tiny gulp, then she passed it to Lil. The girl handled the bottle clumsily and before Hux could utter a warning it slipped out of her hands and fell on the ground. Hux quickly grabbed it before more than a tiny amount could spill.

"Careful!" he snapped.

Lil looked startled. "I'm sorry."

'You are pathetic,' snarled his father.

He looked down on the broken glass and the dark-brown liquid in front of his feet. 'I didn't mean to…'

Admiral Brooks laughed, it was a dry, humourless laugh that reminded Hux of a bark. 'Given you found his mother in a kitchen you'd think your illegitimate son could at least serve a drink, Commandant Hux.'

'Unfortunately I have yet to find anything Armitage isn't utterly useless at, Admiral Brooks.'

'Be a shame to waste all of that. He should lick it up,' sneered Brooks, barking again.

He had looked at his father, insecure what to do. Was he expected to- the last time his father had disciplined him because he had questioned his order. 'Father?'

His father had stared at him with his cold eyes, disgust was apparent on his face.

When no answer came he went down on his knees, just to be jerked up by his arm so hard that his shoulder hurt.

'You weak snivelling-' snarled his father and raised his hand.

Hux gulped, cold anger taking hold of him. He had shown them, first his father and then the Admiral. A memory of Brooks grovelling before him before he shot him resurfaced before his inner eye. His hand clenched to a fist.

His sight fell again on the girl in front of him. He unclenched his hand. "It's alright, Lieutenant Lil," he said in a calm voice. "The bottle was heavy. Just make sure that you hold it tighter the next time."

He crouched down and held the bottle as the toddler drank, most of the water ran down his chin. Hux grimaced as he realised that he should have taken a gulp first. Stars knew what diseases these rebel children had. He wiped over the opening of the bottle before he screwed it shut - he wasn't thirsty. Or at least not enough to drink from the same bottle as them.

His arm hurt from exertion when he picked the boy up again. He had known that he wasn't exactly athletic but he couldn't have imagined that carrying around a four-year-old would be so tiring.

They walked for what felt like at least two hours until they reached another crossroads. The boy was getting restless and began fussing. Hux frowned. What was it now?

The girls sat down on the ground as soon as he stopped and hugged their knees. He let go of the wriggling toddler and checked the draught. It appeared that they needed to keep on walking on the way they were on.

He checked again his holo but it couldn't connect to the First Order network. Hm, come to think about it - what about other signals? He searched for other signal and watched as the blueish light of the holo fizzled.

He took in a sharp breath when a fuzzy figure appeared. Someone had received his signal! The figure flickered in and out and disappeared again. The signal was too weak for a transmission.

He peeled the holo open, perhaps if he boosted the short-range signal? All he had to do is increase the hertz-freq-

"We need to pee."

He blinked and slowly turned to face the children. "What?"

"We need to pee," repeated Lil.

"Well, just go over there and relieve yourself," replied Hux with a frown. "Take the Private with you."

"But it's scary in the dark."

With a sigh he handed them his flashlight; the pale light of the holo should be enough to work on the device.

Chenia took the flashlight in both hands and they went into one of the tunnels in the crossroad while he started to calibrate the signal output. Just as he had finished a much smaller figure than usual materialized on the holo. Hux squinted - it was Sergeant Tico.

"Can you hear me?" he asked.

"-es. -boosted the signal. -compressed the data stream."

Compressing the data! He was impressed, he hadn't thought of that. But it made sense of course. He quickly did the same on his holo.

"Is the signal now stronger?"

She nodded. "Loud and clear. Where are the children?"

"They are nearby - don't worry, I'm aware of my duty."

It was difficult to see on this small scale but she seemed to frown. "Duty?"

He wasn't interested in this conversation. He didn't owe Rebel scum any explanation. "Did you find the exit?"

"I want to see the children first. I need to know that they are safe."

"Safe is a relative term, is it not?" he said with a crooked eyebrow. "Are you even aware of the irony that you consider them being with me 'safe'? A few hours ago we-"

"Shut your trap! I don't need to hear your condescending tone, Hux. I know exactly who you are and what you're capable of. And I swear by the Twin Suns of Tatooine that I'll kill you if you lay a hand on those kids. Now put them on!"

Tsk! An unrefined lout like all Rebels - no sense of etiquette and propriety. At the same time she was right of course, why should she tell him anything if she didn't know if the Rebel offspring were still alive.

As if on cue, he heard footsteps behind him and he beckoned them to come closer. He crouched down a bit to let them see the holo.

"Rose!" They cried out and jumped up and down in excitement. "Rose! Where are you?"

"Hi guys!" A smile was audible in Tico's voice. "How are you?"

They both talked at the same time. "I want to go home!" "I'm a Captain now!"

"Wait, what?"

Chenia pointed at the code cylinders on her jumper. "Look, I'm Captain!"

"Uh, ahh - so I see. Congratulations, sir," replied Rose.

"And and and I'm Left- Lieutenant, see?" exclaimed Lil and beamed at Rose while pulling at her dress.

"That's great! And I see that all three of you are fine. Let me talk to Hux again."

He straightened his back and walked a few steps. "Did you find the exit?" he asked in a low voice.

"Not yet, the mines run deeper than I thought. But the draught is there, so there is an exit."

"Provided that it's not collapsed."

"You really are a ray of sunshine, Hux."

"Would you prefer me to be an idiotic optimist?" he snarled. "I'm a survivor and I did survive by looking the reality in the eye."

"Whatever. Just keep going until- well, until you get out." She paused. "It's already late. Perhaps you should let them sleep for a while."

So she already knew that getting out wasn't a matter of a few hours. It made sense, they had been quite deep in the structure when the floor collapsed. So far they had walked on level ground, they still had to climb up. Coming to think about it… was there a lift? How else were they supposed to get up to the surface?

"The ration bars won't last long," he finally said. "And neither will the water."

She wiped over her face. "I know. I will try to walk through the night to find an exit. Just make sure that they are s-" she broke off. "Kriff."

Tico exhaled. "Okay, real talk. I have no leverage to force you to look after the kids - you know it, I know it. And all my threats won't faze you in the slightest… I'm sure that you have seen it all in the Order. So I'm asking you to be a human being just once in your life."

"Just because I don't subscribe to your idealistic beliefs it doesn't mean that I'm not a human being, Sergeant," he replied coldly. It bothered him that she really thought he would leave the cadets behind. It was his duty to look after then… in a way. Of course his father wouldn't have agreed.

'Weak, snivelling… soft and dull-witted.'

"Could have fooled me," she snapped. Then she wiped again across her face. "Okay, this is not helping. Sorry, okay. I don't know what to say."

"I think this conversation has run its course, Sergeant." With that, they ended the call.

He checked the time on the chronometer and realised that it was almost midnight in Standard Galactic Time. He returned to the cadets, they were yawing and looked indeed tired - he himself was exhausted too from the events of the day. Perhaps it was wise to pitch a camp here and continue in seven to eight hours?

"We will stay here for the night," he said, sat down on the muddy ground and leaned against the wall. Usually he needed only five hours of sleep to function - at least with stims. Either way it would help if he got a few hours of sleep.

He reached inside his pocket and pulled the half-eaten ration bar out. Hux pulled his gloves off and broke off three small pieces. Before he could say anything the children had gathered around him. They each took one piece, he couldn't help but notice that their hands were slightly cool. "Are you cold?" he asked with a frown.

"No," replied Lil, chewing on her morsel of food.

Hesitantly he reached out and took her hand, the first thing he noticed was that it was sticky, the next thing was that her fingers were cold. Come to think about it, it wasn't surprising. While Crait was a warm planet, the temperatures in the tunnels were at best 20° Celsius. The children wore only jumpers and camisoles.

"Are you certain that you are not cold, Lieutenant?"

"Yes."

How odd, he thought that they were cold. Well, a mere soldier was relying on their superiors to tell them what to do, so it was logical to assume it was the same with the cadets. Yes, that made sense.

He quickly checked Chenia and the Private, they both had cold hands too. He shed his greatcoat and put it on the ground. "You will sleep on this, soldiers. Captain, Lieutenant, take the Private between the two of you."

He suppressed a frown when he watched them crawl with their dirty shoes on his precious tailored, shimmersilk-lined coat; as soon as they had settled in he folded the coat so that they were covered. That should keep their core-temperature up.

He sat down across from them and tried to shift in a comfortable position. Finally he had settled in. How long was he supposed to endure this? Shouldn't they have found him by now? Or had Ren called off the search parties?

What if Ren himself was caught up in the earthquakes? The thought made him less content that he had anticipated - if both Ren and he were trapped on Crait then one of the other Generals could proclaim themselves Supreme Leader. Kriff!

Who could be bold enough to do it first? That old relic Pryde? Or perhaps General Io? Io… she was a feisty one, smart, ruthless and smart… His eyes became heavy and, as he continued to think about his rivals, he fell asleep.