The transportation pod was less than impressive, considering it was an enemy ship. Some of the metal covering the lighting structures had rusted, and Malarus's small crew sat on chairs with cotton busting out of the seams. It was easy to note Mara's enthusiasm at this shameful display of aircraft, but the Commander only smiled.
"You are unimpressed with our vessel," she said smoothly. Mara thought her eye must be twinkling under its patch.
Mara glanced down at her handcuffs, unfit for the somewhat friendly atmosphere. "Well, I wouldn't say it is the shining fleet of the First Order."
"No, that is true. We could not spare a single ship during a time of war." Mara's stomach flipped when she remembered where she was heading. A war zone. "Not even a mesely pod, apparently."
Mara's eyes scanned over the small room once again. Why did she feel calm? The pilots were silent, their solid black uniforms blending in with the passing space before them. The ship must have sat somewhere wet for a long time, or somewhere with humidity so high that even the metal began to sweat. It was not an easy fix. Looking at the control board, Mara suspected it had less than a year of life left.
"You worked with ships until you became a pilot." Malarus's words were not a question.
Mara inhaled sharply. "That's right. How did you-"
A cold sensation on her palm awoke something in Mara. Malarus was picking up the girl's hand, flipping it over in her own, gently tracing the rough edges. Mara wanted to pull away, but was instead fixated on the scene. Who was this woman? Soft and gentle like a mother, but her eye and status implied otherwise.
"I have seen many hands like this before in the hangar. Most belonging to men. They have worked for thirty, sometimes forty years to repair First Order fleets." Her fingers dropped suddenly. "And Kylo Ren already knows all about you, Mara Crescent."
"Is that who I'm going to?" Mara bore a quake in her voice. She suddenly wondered where Terex was. He hated the First Order as much as she did. Although he was an unlikely ally, he might be her way out. "I can't imagine what the First Order would want with a poor girl from Coco Town."
For the first time, Malarus's face twisted into something unpleasant. "Never heard of it."
Mara waited for more of an explanation, but none came. The rest of the trip was followed by silence, leading Mara into the darkest and more insecure corners of her brain. Kylo Ren had found out about her. She already knew that when they kidnapped her parents. And he somehow cared still? The First Order surely, but the Knight himself? Would she have an advantage over him because of her connection to Leia, or would that be her downfall? The stars that passed their dusty windows held no answers, and so Mara was forced to wait.
"Commander," one of the officers said. "We're pulling into their coordinates but aren't picking up a signal."
The Commander sat up straighter. "That's impossible."
The two pilots exchanged wearly looks. Mara had a chance to glimpse at their control boards, and saw that they were telling the truth. The area was deserted. Wherever the First Order had gone, they had abandoned the small little group. And so the Resistance had left Mara. Mara's eyes briefly glanced to her wrist, where her commlink rested. If only she could call for Poe.
"They must have figured out the tracking system. We should look for somewhere on our nearby coordinates that has traces of hyperspace fuel. It may still be sensitive to pick up a reading."
Mara could hardly believe what she was hearing. Malarus was uninterested in the girl's reaction, however, as she began to fiddle with an unfamiliar pad in her hands. It was a map of the nearby constallations, and she seemed to be looking for something specific. Something impossible.
"Did you just say hyperspace tracking?"
The two pilots glanced at Mara with a smirk, but Mara didn't mind their smugness. It was impossible. The technology for tracking a ship after a jump to hyperspace had not been developed yet. It had to be a lie.
Didn't it?
If it wasn't, the Resistance was doomed before they even sent out the first fleet. Maybe there was no Resistance left to doom.
"I picked up a signal. It seems the Resistance couldn't jump to another planet and now they are in limbo."
Malarus's expression was hard to read. Mara tried not to make direct eye contact, as she feared the tears might break loose from her face.
After a moment's pause, the Commander spoke. "Well, what are you waiting for? Follow the signal."
~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~
Kylo Ren was thinking. It was something he had very little time to do these days. Staring back at him from the ship's main window stood the Resistance's last ship. It was hardly a war anymore. If experience was anything to go off of, which Kylo knew it often was not, the First Order had won.
So why did he feel so miserable?
The First Order continued to blast at the ship's defense shields. Peices of it were already lost in space from the battle. Perhaps his mother was among those peices. He saw men and women get sucked into the void of space. He thought he had seen her.
And yet, he could feel her. The Force was stronger with her than ever before, and it was burning so brightly - almost as bright as Rey had been. Goodness. Kindness. Warmth.
Temptation.
"Ren." An irritating voice rang out beside him. It was Hux, his pale face somehow more white than ever. "An escape pod is requesting entrance."
Uninterested, Kylo followed the General to the hangar. It wasn't like there were going to be updates on the Resistance ship any time soon. When he made his way to the large storage room, he was undoutedly surprised to see who was staring back at him.
"Kylo Ren," Commandar Malarus bowed. He had always liked her suave nature. "Congratulations on your hyperspeed tracking." He did not grace her with a response. "I have brought Terex, as per Phasma's request. Where shall my men take him?"
Kylo, however, seemed to pay little interest to her words. His dark eyes, not so dark as one might have thought, danced past her to the figure in handcuffs.
"Who is this?"
He knew exactly who it was.
"Mara Crescent was left behind by her friends." For the first time, the Commander's voice was laced with sarcasm. "Two birds with one stone, I suppose."
"A lucky stone indeed," Hux cooed. Mara wanted to spit in his slimy face.
The pause that followed felt longer than it should have. Kylo's eyes peirced into the engineer without breaking their focus. In that split moment before he spoke, she had the strangest sensation. It was a tug, slightly, like when a ship starts again after a period of disinterest. The strangest part was that the tug was not away from the man, but towards him.
"I have no use for her anymore."
Without another word, he turned his back on the small crowd gathered there. Struck, somehow, by his lack of care, Mara found the words spilling out of her mouth before her brain could stop them.
"She misses you. It's all she thinks about."
Hux looked at Mara as if she had set fire to General Snoke with so much as a flick of her wrist. The immenent horror of what was to follow lingered in the air around the First Order staff, but Kylo only blinked.
"How interesting," he mumbled softly. "That a rogue engineer turned amateur pilot thinks she can change my ambition with a set of false words."
Mara took a step forward, but Malarus's firm grip kept her back.
"If you don't need me, then send me back."
Kylo's features were sharp yet soft. Mara kept having that tugging sensation, her senses blurring into something incomprehensible. Why did she feel something wrong about him? Was it darkness or lightness that she was sensing? The contrast was so strong, she had to look away from his gaze.
"No, no." He sighed. "That won't do either."
He turned on his heels and left, the silence more uncomfortable without him than with him. Mara looked to Malarus, who led her gently by the handcuffs. Where she was headed, the engineer had no idea. All she knew was what she heard.
"Sorry to do this, but I really have no other choice."