Disclaimer: I don't own Star Wars, obviously.
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Chapter 3: Sabotage
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Sergeant Willa Tarkin hurriedly walked down the vast corridor, nearly breaking into a crazy sprint. Nervously, she bit at her shortly-cut nails; it was a bad habit she developed in the academy. She couldn't believe she just blatantly lied to her superior. What if Commander Hux finds out? Taking a deep breath, she calmed herself down. If he accuses her of misdirecting him, she'd just tell him that Lor San Tekka escaped again, like he's been doing for the past years.
"Sergeant," one of the stormtroopers greeted her.
"Trooper," she replied, wondering who the heck that was. FN-something, most likely; it was hard to tell them apart with all of them wearing the same, white armor and having numeral designations instead of names.
When there was no one around, Willa stopped and leaned against the wall. A terrible headache pulsed in her head, while a queasy sensation developed in her stomach. She felt so jittery and sick ever since she stepped aboard Deterioration. It was her first off-planet assignment, and she started it off with failure already. What a shame for her family name…
Willa took out a medal she had been hiding underneath her uniform. It was a memento her father had given to her before she left her home planet. The trophy was a titanium disc, one of very few, awarded for the extraordinary sacrifice for the Galactic Empire, posthumously awarded to her grandfather. She flipped the metal disc and stared at Grand Moff Tarkin's face engraved on the reverse. Her distinguished grandfather stared back at her sternly, reminding Willa of how big the shoes were that she had to fill. The truth was, she wasn't sure if she had what it took to do it.
"You can do this," Willa whispered to herself. "You won't be a disappointment." She was so engulfed in convincing herself of her own worth that she didn't hear the not-so-subtle sound of footsteps.
"Were you talking to yourself?" someone asked.
Willa yelped, starting so abruptly that her grandfather's medal almost fell out of her fingers. "What? No!" She hid the titanium disc under her clothes and turned around. When she saw who caught her red-handed, she relaxed. "Oh, it's just you, Phasma," Willa recognized one of the few females aboard.
Phasma removed her chrome helmet and rested it on her hip. With her armored gauntlet, she slicked her short, blonde hair back. The expression of utter disgruntlement was apparent on her angular face and contempt reflected in her blue eyes.
"It's been a tough day, eh?" Willa guessed.
"That's an understatement," Phasma muttered and leaned against the wall next to Tarkin. She said nothing else, but she didn't have to. The unsatisfied grimace on her face told her story for her – like Willa, she wasn't fitting well with the Deterioration's staff.
"Well, it could have been worse," Tarkin said philosophically.
The words barely rolled off her tongue when the floor swayed under her feet, followed by another, stronger tremor. Startled, she clawed at the smooth wall to hold onto something, but the First Order's engineers didn't believe in handrails, obviously. When she was halfway to falling flat onto her face, she got thrown back onto the wall as the Star Destroyer's artificial gravity had a brief malfunction. Willa turned her head, hearing a disturbing noise coming from somewhere near. It sounded like wheezing and it was getting louder.
"Tarkin!" Phasma grabbed Willa by her uniform and unceremoniously shoved her to the side right before a chunk of wall panel shot from the place she was standing a moment ago. The metal piece flew across the corridor like a plasma blast and dented the wall at the other side. Hot coolant spurted from the hole like a geyser. Phasma shook Tarkin, getting her attention. "Are you unharmed?"
Willa barely heard a thing over her insanely fast heartbeat. Realizing that she barely avoided death, she nodded. "I think so," she uttered and looked up at Phasma. "What's going on? A malfunction?"
She got her answer immediately, when a voice sounded both in her com and the ship's communication system. "Commander Hux speaking. To all hands, assume your battle stations. The ship is under attack. I repeat, the ship is under attack."
"Under attack?" Willa repeated. An icy cold shiver went down her spine, instantly making her palms sweat and knees buckle uncontrollably.
Phasma put her bucket-like helmet back on. "Tarkin, you better stick close to the escape, just in case," she said, her voice lowered by her headgear's filter.
"Right." Willa nodded, pulling herself together. She memorized the layout of the Star Destroyer, picturing the shortest escape route. "Phasma?" Smiling faintly, she put her hand on the chrome trooper's shoulder. "Be careful."
Phasma nodded. "You, too." She turned around and jogged away.
It was the highest time for Willa to get moving as well. She covered her mouth and nose with her hands, struggling not to hyperventilate. If she passed out from stress right now… This wasn't the right circumstance for over thinking things! All she needed was to focus on securing her poor ass, which was in danger. She picked up speed and ran for the hangar bay, where the shuttle was. Wisely, she avoided the elevator and took the longer, but also safer, route. Almost no stormtroopers were in that corridor, save for the one ahead.
A lone soldier patrolled the area and after him, rolled a droid. It was a small, white and orange BB unit. Willa slowed down, feeling that something was off. She furrowed her brows, staring at the droid. Since when has the First Order used BB units? "Stormtrooper!" she called sharply.
The soldier stopped before her. The white and orange droid emitted a high-pitched beep, which sounded like a terrified shriek, and rolled behind the stormtrooper. He peeked from his hideout at Willa once, beeped again, and went for cover again.
Tarkin arched her eyebrow and rested her hands on her hips. Suspiciously, she eyed the stormtrooper. "Where did you get that ridiculous droid?"
The BB unit made a fuss, cocking his head and beeping repeatedly. It sounded a bit, as though he just gave Willa a piece of his mind.
Tarkin gritted her teeth, glaring at the silly machine. Come to think of it, the droid did look familiar in a way. When she was shuffling through the intelligence reports earlier today, she came across an image of a BB unit, which looked identical… Distrustfully, she stared at the stormtrooper.
"What's your designation?" she demanded. Her hand slowly wandered toward her hand-blaster.
The stormtrooper looked down, focusing on the movement of her palm. Suddenly, he pointed his blaster right at Tarkin's chest. "I suggest you drop that weapon."
Willa froze, gripping her blaster's handle and cleared her throat. "Stand down, trooper!" she ordered sharply.
However, the soldier didn't listen to her at all. With a finger still on the trigger, he took his bucket off revealing… actually a quite handsome face.
Willa was not one for swooning, but she appreciated his dusky complexion, dark eyes and that roguish air he had around him. Come to think of it, she'd seen his face before. "Pie Dameron!" she recognized an infamous member of the resistance, a skilled pilot and a dangerous terrorist.
"It's Poe," he corrected her and moved his blaster threateningly. "Now take me to a secondary control station."
Willa narrowed her eyes at him. "Like I'd do that!" she hissed through the clenched teeth and swiftly pointed her blaster at him. Her index finger was already on the trigger, ready to pull it, when Dameron shot. The plasma blast hit Willa's weapon, evaporating it from her hand. She shrieked from surprise and threw away the smoking remains of her blaster. Glaring at the resistance scum with contempt, she muttered, "It's that way."
With Poe Dameron holding her at the blaster point, she showed him to the nearest control station, where the technicians would usually supervise the secondary operations of the Star Destroyer. Now it was empty, though, with the crew probably manning the battle stations and struggling to keep the spaceship in one piece. "What are you doing?" Willa demanded as the BB unit rolled to a panel and plugged himself in. She watched the little droid bypass the security measures without any trouble.
Dameron leant over the BB unit. "Have you gone through the ship's logs?"
The droid beeped somewhat affirmatively, then it hung his dome-like head and let out a prolonged, quiet sound, which made Dameron clearly distraught.
"What do you mean she's not here? She has to be!" He ran his hand through his dark hair and turned to glare at Willa, waving his blaster. "Where is General Leia?" he asked sharply, impatient tones ringing in his voice.
"I don't know!" Tarkin lifted her hands in a surrendering gesture. If she knew the answer, she'd tell him, she really would.
Dameron stalked toward her, eying her ferociously. Suddenly, his attractiveness level took a nosedive to match Kylo Ren's – creepy and better to avoid. The rifle of his blaster dug into Willa's side as he inquired, "I won't ask it again. What have you done with General Leia Organa?"
Tarkin panicked. "I have no clue what you're blabbering about!" she exclaimed with tears gathering in her eyes. Her arms trembled in the air, as though she was undergoing a seizure. "Honestly, I have no idea about her whereabouts!"
Dameron squinted his brown eyes, staring into Tarkin's for what seemed like an eternity. "You're not lying," finally, he stated the obvious, before turning to his droid. "Alright, BB-8, let's blow up that reactor."
Willa blinked, comprehending what he had just said. "What?" she breathed out. In horror, she gawked at the BB unit, who tweaked in the panel cheerfully. "You don't mean the Star Destroyer's reactor core, do you?" she questioned Dameron.
In response, he just shrugged his shoulder and flashed her a cheeky smile. "You guessed it," he said without a hint of remorse.
Willa clenched her fists, feeling as though the blood in veins just reached the boiling point. Her eyes narrowed into twin slits, as she glared daggers at him. "I hate you, rebel scum," she hissed like an infuriated rylothian serpent.
"I know," he answered with a smile and took several steps toward the exit. He glanced at his droid, who chirped happily, disconnected from the panel, and rolled away. Before following his mechanical accomplice out of the control station, he winked at Willa. "You might want to find yourself an escape pod, quickly, Miss Evil," he said and locked the door from the outside.
Tarkin growled from irritation and dashed for the portal. She slapped the panel, opening the door, and looked around. Poe Dameron and his droid, however, were nowhere in sight, probably already half-way off the ship. "Damn it!" she cursed, turning her com on. "General Hux, you might need to know one thing," she said, massaging her aching temples.
A series of tremors shook the ship, causing Willa to sway on her feet. For support, she gripped a control console, which gleamed red; red wasn't good. She drew a breath, before informing her superior. "The ship has been sabotaged. I'm afraid it will blow up."
When the Star Destroyer shook more violently than before, Willa squeezed her eyes shut and whispered to herself, "I'm so sorry, grandpa Tarkin, I'm such a disappointment."
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Author's note: Thanks for reading, guys, and sorry for making you wait for this chapter so long. I was on vacation, hence the delay. However, now I'm back and ready to update. It would be lovely if you reviewed.