A/N:
Hello readers! I apologize for the length of my absence, but I have at last returned to finish this story with the final chapter! A BIG thank you to those of you who are returning after all this time, and to my new readers, I hope you've been enjoying this random theory that entered my head after the second time watching The Force Awakens!
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The Captain's Surrender
Chapter 3: The Traitor
...
General Hux's speech was exactly three minutes and twenty-seven seconds long. Three minutes and twenty-seven seconds too long. Starkiller base was not just a super weapon the size of a small planet that would bring order to the galaxy. It was a freezing ice ball of glacial misery. The day Captain Phasma finally stepped foot onto the most secret base in the universe, she was sadly underwhelmed. She had known every detail of the base itself. Every control room, bunker, corridor and janitorial closet. She knew the capacity of the weapon, the number of officers it took to operate it, the names and faces of the soldiers under her command. She even knew the native species that lived in the indigenous forests there. She knew everything. Except its temperature. One look at the snow covered mass from the window in General Hux's shuttle as they drifted towards the planet's surface and she was disgusted. Not that Hux would ever know this about her, but she had always hated the cold.
"First impression?" General Hux had asked as they toured the base together, his arms folded primly behind his back with obvious pride pasted on his white face. Captain Phasma had chosen her next word carefully.
"Promising."
General Hux turned to smile at her.
"Sufficiantly put."
Three hours later, they stood on the main platform of the outdoor courtyard, with hundreds of First Order soldiers filed in ranks with their fists raised in celebration. But Captain Phasma could not celebrate. Warmth was finally creeping back into her gloved fingertips, and her toes were still numb. She had already turned up the temperature regulator system within her suit three times, to no avail. There was no fighting this miserable chill. And it wasn't just the weather that had her frozen to the core. The super weapon was about to be fired.
General Hux, red in the face from his impassioned speech, took a moment to catch his breath. White puffs exited his lungs into the air, filling it with a pregnant pause. Slowly, he lifted a hand, and with that fist, the world hung in the balance. He dropped his hand.
The weapon fired.
A precise laser of unspeakably raw power, exploded out from the base's bunker and into the black space beyond. Just like that, the Republic was finished. Phasma swallowed. It was impossible to hear the screams of panic from here. Impossible. Yet she still heard them in the canals of her ears, leaking out from her imagination. Her conscience, or what was left of it, would not let her avoid the tremendous guilt she felt from having stood by and allowed this havoc to be wrought upon the galaxy.
Phasma had not been able to get a message out to the Resistance in time. She had been in too remote a sector whilst traveling towards Starkiller Base to get any encripted code out. Additionally, the weapon was virtually indestructable for someone of her limited means to destroy all on her own. She had studied hard over its skematics. The very mechanics of the weapon were so deeply imbedded into the planet's surface, nothing short of a fleet of starfighters would be able to penetrate the ground well enough to disable it. Not for the first time in Captain Phasma's career did she feel completely hopeless.
When the laser beam finally powered down after what felt like an eternity, the roar of the soldiers replaced it's dull thrum with a wild tidal wave of excitement. How could the mass genecide of several planets bring people so much joy? Phasma noticed General Hux wipie a tear out from under his eye, just before slapping his boot heels together and about facing. He nodded to her, and marched back indoors. Captain Phasma and her second in command, the lieutenant of the station, followed suit.
"It's done. The republic has been dealt with. Perminantly," Hux glowed, his countenance beaming with pride as they walked to the main bridge. Phasma dared not utter a word. Her lieutenant on the other hand, was happy to congratulate the general.
"The Supreme Leader will be pleased."
"I go to report to him now," Hux informed, "Continue with your regular duties."
Captain Phasma dismissed the lieutenant and turned to find her private quarters. She needed to be alone. The minute she arrived, Phasma ripped off her helmet and tossed it across the room. She had failed. FAILED. The most powerful superweapon in the galaxy had just obliterated the galactic republic and any chance of the First Order being brought down was essentially over. Tears came to her eyes, and for the first time in a very long time, Phasma wept bitterly. The one job she had been tasked with was ultimately useless to the cause. Had she been a spy all this time for nothing? Had all these years of deception and sacrifice amounted to this moment? The final, crushing strike of the First Order? She dared not consider... The thought alone nearly broke her.
A moment later, her helmet began to signal a call. Taking a fortifying breath, she crossed the room to seal herself back into her world of chrome.
"Phasma," she answered.
"Hux. The Supreme Leader has ordered the weapon to be fired upon the Resistance base. We strike as soon as the weapon is charged."
"0800?" Phasma calculated.
"Correct. In addition, Ren has returned with the girl as his prisoner, and will be initiating interrogations for the map. Be on call should he need your assistance," Hux ordered.
"I'm at his disposal," she answered, terminating the call.
Phasma approached her desk, activating it and entering her password. She could still get word to the Resistence. At the very least she could warn them the weapon was being charged and aimed at their location. She didn't know what good they could do against it, but it was something. Sweating, anxious and desperate, Phasma wrote out a quick update. It wasn't much in light of the damage already done, but it was all she could do. She had been very lucky her encrypted messages hadn't been detected thus far... But the tides could turn at a moment's notice.
After the code was sent, Phasma went on a patrol. She needed something to keep her preoccupied and walking the premesis might just keep her from dwelling on how depressed she was. Passing the mess hall, she overheard two troopers talking. She paused.
"Is it true about FN-2187?" One asked.
"Is what true?" said the other.
"Did he really turn traitor?" The first clarified.
"Saw it with my own eyes. He fought and killed FN-2191 with a lightsaber!"
"Where'd he get a lightsaber?"
"No clue. Kylo Ren was pretty pissed about it when we told him though."
Phasma frowned beneath her helmet, and kept walking. FN-2187 was making a rather big name for himself as a Resistance fighter. Usually, hearing troops talk about FN-2187 was the equivalent of hearing slander of her good name. Seeing as her division was always the most advanced, most diciplined, and skilled of any trained in the Order, the traitor left a rather black mark on her previously clean record. Nobody defected from the First Order and got away with it. FN-2187 was the first.
Today however, considering where her true allegiances did lie, Phasma merely considered how much more good the traitor was doing against the First Order than she was. It left a bitter taste in her mouth. Her mask lit with a sudden call from General Hux moments later.
"The girl has escaped right from under Ren's nose. She's loose somewhere and must be found immediately," he said. Phasma wanted to laugh. That was just rich.
"Affirmative, I'm patrolling as we speak," she replied.
"Bring her to me alive!" Ren shouted from the background. He sounded enraged beyond his senses.
"She will be found," Phasma assured flatly, and Hux cut off the transmission.
Shaking her head, Phasma marched down the next isle. If she was lucky, maybe this scavenger girl would kill her. End her misery. It was a morbid thought, but Phasma could not help it. She saw no further meaning in her existence. Her mission to prevent the First Order from taking over the galaxy was over. The First Order won. What use was her life any longer? Unless she truly did join them. Assume the identity she had worn as a mask for so long. What was to stop her from embracing it as her reality? Nothing. She was a heartles monster anyway. She had no justification now for all the lives she had taken, all the cities she had burned to the ground. The troops she had hand trained to maurade and murder innocents. She really was the monster. Wasn't she? Before, she had always viewed her actions as a means to an end. But the end was here. She had no excuses now.
Lost in thought, Phasma had no expecataion of being attacked by a Wookie. The giant creature tackled her from her right hand side, slamming her into the ground with extreme force. Mind dazzed from the impact to her head, she had no power to stop the Wookie from wrenching away her blaster. Before she knew it, she was apprehended and dragged into a secluded corner.
The Wookie held its bowcaster to the back of her neck and a young man with a dark skinned face approached her, accompanied by an older man with white hair.
"Remember me?" The young man asked. Phasma's surprise at seeing his face again was substantial.
"FN-2187," she replied.
"Not anymore. The name is Finn, and I'm in charge," the traitor taunted, his face rife with boyish excitement as he pointed a hand blaster at her chest, "I'm in charge now Phasma! I'm in charge!"
The older man interceded.
"Bring it down, bring it down," he whispered. Finn's enthusiasm quieted and a serious look entered his eyes.
"Follow me," he ordered. Phasma had no choice as the Wookie pushed her to follow them, still digging his bowcaster into her armor plated back. She hadn't expected FN-2187 to be so resourceful and stealthy. She had trained him of course, but since his independence from the Order, his skill sets had really become apparent. Phasma was impressed.
They approached the base's control center and Phasma noticed the guards already shot, their bodies lumped on top of eachother at the entrance. Her three captors shuffled her into the room quickly and shoved her into the console chair.
"Deactivate the shield," Finn commanded. Phasma snorted.
"You just expect me to-" Ah. So that was his plan. Smart soldier. And just like that, hope flooded back into Phasma's being. She could still help the Reisistance. She wasn't meaningless in all this. She had a purpose. Putting down the shields to Starkiller Base would effectively make the station vulnerable to attack. But could the Resistance actually pull through and destroy this place? She wasn't certain. However, having the sheild deactivated was a major advantage for the Resistance and their fight to save the galaxy. She alone, below Hux and Kylo Ren even had the clearance to access the sheild controls. Had she really gotten so lucky as to be an instrument in not only the saving of the Resistance base, but possibly the rest of the galaxy? Never before had Phasma felt such a thrill of relief and joy! There was hope!
Finn cluncked the muzzle of his gun to her helmet.
"Want me to blast that bucket off your head?" he snapped, "Lower the shields!"
Phasma inputted her clearance code.
"You're making a big mistake," she warned, as Phasma would have.
Because, no matter how today ended, she wasn't any kind of hero. If the Resistance fighters failed, her role as Captain would have to continue on. She had done more evil than good in her life. And no one trusted spies. She would never be welcomed back amidst the Resistance anyway. That she was sure of. She would have to remain with the First Order. She would have to lie and say someone else lowered the shields before she got there. And maybe one day, if she lived long enough, she would finally bring The First Order down. When aanother opportunity presented itself.
But if she died today...?
"Do it," Finn insisted, loudly.
At least she would die doing what was right.
Her gloved fingers moved over the control panel, and she tapped the sheild controls. She realized in that moment, anyone else would have easily raised the alarms instead, and given their life for the safety of this base. Captain Phasma would have done that. She lowered the shields.
"You can't be so stupid as to think this will be easy," But she wasn't Phasma. Not really.
"My troops will storm this block and kill you all," she warned them. The old man, the wookie, and Finn.
She realized in that moment, she was just like FN-2187.
A traitor.
...
THE END
A/N:
Thank you so much for reading this chapter! I so appreciate your interest and I hope you enjoyed what I had to offer :) As stated above, please check out my Instagram at tamingtheriver and follow me there for more Star Wars story updates!
Thanks again!
-2Tame a River