Star Wars: Division

Demelza1999: Oh wow - that's fantastic! I'm glad my story was able to engage you enough to keep you glued to your tablet, as you said. And of course, thank you so much for the compliments. I never feel like 'thank you' is enough when people compliment my writing, but I just never know what else to say.

The release this week is a little wanky schedule wise - sorry. I haven't been feeling too well. I have some sinus/head cold type stuff going on, and a mildly sore throat, so it definitely messed up my plans on getting this chapter out. And it's a little short, but I felt it needed to get slowed down a little before the coming chapters, which as long as everything goes accordingly will be packed with stuff.

Chapter Thirteen

There was an eerie quiet about med-bay that unsettled her, which was strange considering she'd grown up in the desolation of the desert. She supposed she'd gotten used to the sounds of a ship - beeps, whirrs, the steady hum of machines at work, and the bangs of booted feet up and down hallways. Especially after the excitement on Vrogas Vas, sitting alone in med-bay, with its shiny steel walls and well-mannered, delicate med droid, was certainly too quiet for her to feel at ease. What did it say about her that calm and quiet didn't relax her, but rather stressed her out? There was nothing to be stressed out about; the Resistance had escaped in the best fashion it could. Some supplies had been lost, some people, some X-Wings, but all in all it was probably the most they could've hoped for. And they'd wasted no time broadcasting their signal across the Galaxy to discourage other Republic forces from arriving at Vrogas Vas, so hopefully no other forces would be arriving to a doomed fate. It set them back, but it was certainly a setback they could work with and accept.

With careful fingertips, she touched the newly formed scar on her left shoulder; it was in the fleshy spot next to her collarbone, and it wasn't that large of a wound. A round, pinkish thing of gently puckered flesh. It didn't even hurt anymore, she marveled, unfamiliar with the capabilities of the modern medicines and treatments of the civilized world. She fisted her left hand tightly, and then released and gave her fingers a wiggle. No pain or soreness at all.

"How does it feel, Miss Rey," asked the even-toned, passive robotic voice of the med droid.

She looked up and gave it a small smile. "Just fine. Thank you."

"Wonderful," said the droid. "And was your rest refreshing?"

"Yes, it was a good nap. Thank you," she continued politely.

"Good. I'm to tell you that General Organa is requesting your presence on the bridge. Apparently, the Resistance has received a message that is of great importance."

Nervousness struck her as she remembered that dreadful moment when the bridge of the Redeemer had contacted their communication board in the hangar of Vrogas Vas, and they'd come face to face with Kylo Ren and destruction. Had something happened while she'd been sleeping? Leia had told her to rest - all but forced her to nap even though she'd protested - and maybe in that time something had gone wrong without her. She quickly stood and thanked the droid one last time, then hurried from the med-bay toward the bridge.

When she arrived, heart pounding, blood rushing in her ears, she came up Shurt; the bridge door slid open to reveal a very calm, collected scene. The crew that were assembled swiveled in their chairs to regard her, some with quizzical looks on their faces as she softly panted in the doorway, and then returned to their work on the navigation computers and other equipment. Leia looked up from the circular table placed in the middle of the room, which was showing a 3-D model of what Rey suspected was a planet or moon, and gave her smile. "Feeling better," the General asked, still leaning over the data display.

"Yes," Rey said softly, awkwardly. She slowly entered the room and looked sideways at the rest of the crew, who were not turning back to gawk at her, and yet she felt silly and self-conscious all the same.

"Good, because I've got a mission for you." She waited until Rey drew level with the circular display, then pointed at the diagram of the planet. "This is Shu-Torun. It's a mining planet in the Mid-Rim rich in volcanic activity. The Royal Family that controls the planet and all of its mining business were forced into a deal with the Empire that was broken when the New Republic formed. However, the First Order reinstated the Empire's old contract with the planet for its ore, and the Queen doesn't want things to return to the old ways. Before we were forced to leave Vrogas Vas, we were able to receive a message from her requesting Resistance aide. Her miners having been banding together in strike, and have rebelled against the First Order forces on-world, but they were granted reinforcements, and she wants our help in securing her planet once and for all. After the events on the Redeemer and Vrogas Vas, securing a partnership with Queen Trios will help bolster our cause tremendously."

Rey paid close attention as Leia spoke, nodding and absorbing everything. It could make for a truly revolutionary relationship for the Resistance, who were in desperate need of raw materials in order to build new ships; they couldn't keep using old cruiser and X-Wings and transports to increase their numbers, and certainly traipsing across the massive sweep of the Galaxy scavenging for parts - scraping up whatever they could find - was too time consuming, and would make for poorly built, old rundown ships besides. Having access to a planet bursting with ore and other building materials was the second most important piece needed in their plans to regrow, with the first being funds. And as far as Rey knew, their cause was overflowing with credits.

"Poe is already getting his X-Wing fueled up."

Rey leaned against the table as she continued to survey the display, but gave a short exhale through her nose in a half-chuckle. "Of course he is."

"He seems to think you'll be eager to join him."

Rey looked up, then, and saw the large, knowing smile on the General's face. "He is really getting to know me," she said with a smile of her own.

"I think we all are," the older woman said with a small laugh. "The task force has assembled in the hangar bay. We're on our way now to drop you off."

"Drop us off?"

Leia sighed. "Yes, unfortunately we can't dedicate all of our forces to the rebellion. I still need to find a new headquarters and use the Radiance to help broadcast to our remaining Republic allies."

"Right, of course," Rey said with a nod. "Then I'll go meet up with Poe and the others now."

Leia nodded.

When Rey turned to go, she stopped her with a hand on her shoulder. "And Rey?"

She turned back towards the older woman looking expectant.

"May the Force be with you."

Rey smiled. "And with you."

In the hangar bay aboard the Radiance, just about everyone was excited to learn Rey would be joining them on their mission; who didn't want a Jedi to accompany them? The more superstitious pilots and fighters saw it as a sign of good fortune. There were two people that weren't particularly happy about it, one of them being -

"Finn," Rey said stubbornly, hands on her hips while she eyed her friend. "I'm going on this mission one way or another. You can't stop me." She smiled to try and reassure him. "I can't let some superficial blaster wound deter me from helping people in need."

Finn's strong jaw was set stubbornly as he returned her hard stare. "Rey, you're lucky to have escaped Vrogas Vas at all. And now you want to go on this mission, too? You're injured. You need to stay here and rest."

"Don't be ridiculous. I'm healed and well-rested. You guys need me on this mission," she said sternly.

From the front of his ship, where he was polishing off some smudges, Poe was nodding vigorously in time with his hand. "It's true, Finn. Rey will be a big help. You saw her kicking ass on Vrogas Vas."

Rey turned towards the pilot with a broad smile. "Thank you, Poe." She turned back to Finn with a look that said - 'see?'

"Poe's an idiot," Finn said dismissively.

"Hey!" Poe yelled, looking up from his work.

Finn continued, ignoring his friend. "You gotta' stop playing the hero. You're going to get yourself killed. You're not invincible, Rey, I'm serious."

Rey took him by the shoulders. "So am I. I have to do this, and you can't stop me."

The two stood like that, gazes locked in annoyance as they faced off, until finally Finn broke off with a loud, irritated huff and pushed her hands off him. Disgruntled, he stormed his way from the hangar.

"Eh, let him go," Poe said, watching the ex-stormtrooper's retreating back while he wiped off his hands. "He'll come to his senses."

"I hope so," Rey said with sagging shoulders. Why was he giving her such a hard time over everything? She shrugged. When she turned around, Rose was standing by with her arms folded, her face oddly blank. "R-Rose?" Rey questioned with uncertainty.

"He's awfully protective of you," she said lowly.

Rey opened her mouth to say something, but floundered for the right thing to say. Was she being accused of something, or was she just being paranoid? "Well, I guess," she said awkwardly. "But he's like that. You know, loyal and stuff. He worries."

"But he doesn't seem to worry that much about anyone else."

She was really beginning to dislike the way Rose was looking at her, from underneath her eyelids, shadowed and heavy. Everyone knew the two of them had developed a relationship, so Rey could see why Rose would be feeling a bit jealous, but to take it so seriously? And to accuse her, as if she had anything to do with it? "Maybe you should talk to him about it, then," she said a little coldly, and moved past her to join Poe at his ship.

Aboard the Finalizer:

With a slow, careful hand, Armitage smoothed the right side of his hair in the mirror. He remembered the words of his father that had instructed him on the proper etiquette of appearance. A clean, well-kept person set a good example for subordinates and reflected one's pride in their image and work. He gave each of his black leather gloves a small pull at the hem, just to make sure they were perfectly in place, small little tugs of reassurance and habit. With an inhale of satisfaction, he turned from the mirror and answered the call that had been patched through to his personal holo-display.

In the blue hue of the display, the figure of Carise Sindian, dressed with the same pristine cleanliness Armitage had been taught to pride in his own appearance, came in to view. She was smiling; the corners were curled up and gave her a distinctly le femme fatale sort of look. Hers was a much more treacherous trait, though, fueled less by courage and strength and more by venom and greed. Personally, he felt she lacked true vision, prizing the same kind of materialistic wealth and success he attributed to the weak-minded. Not like his father, who had taught him the ins-and-outs of leadership, hierarchy, and reaching new heights within the realms of politics and military. But she could be a useful ally, and he couldn't turn his nose up at that, not when he was suffering under the fist of Kylo Ren.

"How are you, Armitage," came the smooth, velveteen coo of her voice. It was a marvel how a woman with such a poisonous character could make such a sweet, delicate sound. Well, he supposed that was how she got what she wanted; it was easy luring men to their love-sick doom when one's wretched intentions were coated in sugar.

"I'm well, Carise," he replied a bit stiffly, but with a touch of warmness that was rarely ever present in his speech. "I trust you have good news?"

"Well, it seems the mining planet that has been giving our dear Supreme Leader a headache, contacted the Resistance and requested aide." The smile on her face stretched even further, if that were at all possible. "Of course, the Resistance responded and sent some of their forces to the planet in an attempt to help with the insurrection and to build a relationship between Queen Trios and themselves."

Hux did not find this news to be particularly good; if Queen Trios and her people were successful in fighting off First Order forces, that would be bad enough. But if she did so with the Resistance and a friendship were born? Her ore would supply the Resistance with the kind of resources necessary to rebuild their military forces, and being in debt to Organa would probably make it so that the resources were, for a time at least, either donations or extremely cheap. "Enlighten me, Carise, on how this benefits us?"

"Stop being so stern, Armitage," she said with a small wave of her hand. "You're not making my big reveal any fun."

There was another aspect to Carise Sindian's personality that did not endear itself to the austere upbringing of Armitage Hux: her flamboyance. It was the sort of flighty, un-bothered attitude of the extremely wealthy and of royalty, of which she was both. Well, she used to be, he corrected mentally. But having grown up as Lady Carise, having the title stripped from her later in life did not equate to having that cultivated outlook on life stripped away as well. She still carried herself as royalty, and regarded the situation more as a royal who had been wrongfully exiled than as her being the culprit who had wronged her family name and the Senate alike. They certainly came from different spheres: Hux with his military background and father, her from a castle and fairy tales. But they were partners, now. He needed her.

He dipped his head a bit in apology. "I'm sorry, Carise, but I'm just not seeing the importance of this information. How does it help us?"

Her chest swelled with excitement. "I was able to hire a very skilled, very experienced assassin, and this is the perfect opportunity. See," she said with a growing smugness, "the Resistance sent reinforcements to the planet to help with the rebellion. One of those reinforcements was our dear dear Jedi."

At this, Hux stood up straighter. This was news to him. Of course, First Order forces on Shu-Torun had reported the arrival of Resistance forces and X-Wings, but none of their reports had detailed the arrival of the Jedi girl. Perhaps because they didn't think she was anything special, he thought. Their units had been stationed on the mining planet for quite some time, long before the appearance of Rey onto the grand stage that was the war. It was completely possible their soldiers weren't aware of who she was, and as she dressed so un-spectacularly, and was part of a rag-tag group of misfits like the Resistance, they would assume she was nothing more than some urchin that had joined the rebel cause for the same misguided sense of honor and heroism as the rest of them.

"I see your wheels turning," Carise chirped with the same kind of exuberance of an early bird catching the worm.

"Your assassin, you plan to send them to Shu-Torun?"

"They're already on the way."

Armitage did not often allow himself the luxury of showing his emotions, but in that moment nothing could keep the half-grin from pulling up the right side of his mouth in quite the twisted interpretation of a smile. "If they succeed in killing the Jedi, not only will that weaken the Resistance, it will weaken - "

"Kylo Ren," she finished for him with a flourish. "That's right. And with the larger part of the Resistance forces still in orbit somewhere, off hiding," she said with a wave of her hand, "the Jedi won't be fully protected from attack. Organa sent her to her death."

"Let's hope," he said with a quick quirk of his brow in satisfaction.

"Let's hope indeed. She's to check in with me when she arrives on planet. I'll give you more updates as I receive them."

"Excellent." He was truly beginning to appreciate the partnership he'd formed with the duplicitous Senator. It was really starting to show the bearing of fruit.

"One last thing before I go," she said. "I'm holding a banquet to celebrate the new partnership between the First Order and the Senate. It'll be a chance to announce things to the Galaxy, the fall of the New Republic and all that. I'd be pleased if you could join us."

Showmanship had its uses, his father had always told him. The public needed to see things so that they had a concrete form, so that they had to face reality. "I'll be there. Send the details to my datapad."

She nodded her head with a small, tidy little grin of self-satisfaction. "Pleasure speaking with you, Armitage."

"And you, Carise."