Chapter 6: Grey on grey

When they were fifteen years old Avin and Armitage stole from her father's stash of off-world beer, a particularly potent ale. She had taken them from the larder and hid them up her dress, waddling to the backdoor to see his anxious face appear in the darkness. "Did you get it?" he had asked, voice full of concern. If they were caught, they would be punished severely. Smiling, she had pulled up her dress to show the large bottles held between her knees and thighs. His lips had jumped into a smirk which signalled he was particularly amused. They took one each and ran down to the entrance of the compound. Armitage had already planned how they were going to sneak out down to every detail. Exactly as planned the small device he had planted in the bushes along the east wall began to emit animal sounds and the two guards went to investigate. Knowing they had very little time they had run through the gates holding the bottles at their sides, running straight down onto the pitch-black beach. The normally white sand of the coast was an eerie grey as they made their way down a sand dune covered in saw grass. The three moons of Phelarion shone done on them, hitting the black stone monument to Tarkin in the distance. The only sound was the sea waves and their breathing. They sat down on a low-lying dune and opened the bottles to drink. Avin gagged on the first sip, it felt like bitter fire on her tongue, but after a few sips she started to relax. After a few gulps he had pulled her up to skip stones on the sea, the soft white foam soaking their bare feet. His feet had been so very white next to her dark toes and the pale hair on his shins made her giggle. He had reached down to pick up another pebble in the water and splashed her legs. She had splashed him back and they had chased each other through the spray breathlessly laughing. Eventually, they had lain down lounging by each other's side on the sand and stared up at the still sky. "Armitage," she had whispered, and he had looked at her, "what do you want more than anything in the world?"

"I want power. I want to make the decisions. I want order." he had whispered back, lying back onto her curly hair as a cushion for the sand. He asked her the same question and she had turned her face to his. His long anxious hands were rubbing the sand between them. "I want power too." she whispered. " I want people to look at me and know my name." He had nodded still staring up at the cold stars in the distance. "I want people to know my name as well." He had smiled at her then, softly, drunkenly. They had drunken the ale far too fast. Suddenly, Avin had heard a noise then, a low moan further back in the dunes. Curious, they had stood up somewhat woozy and made their way to the sound. As they came over a hill they could see in a deep compression in the ground two bodies in the moonlight, their skin a darker grey on the grey sand. He had frozen beside her but the ale kept them from turning away. The moons shone through the clouds and lit up the two naked lovers. The man's body was crouched in the sand his ribs showing through as he lapped at the woman's folds. She lay back in the sand and moaned long and low. Avin had seen things like this before on Naboo, holovids and quickly glimpsed sketches by older artists in class. He hadn't. He stood frowning heavily while watching as the woman arched her back in release and the man climbed swiftly on top of her, almost savage in his movements as he thrust. Through the drunken haze she could feel herself growing wet and a dark hot yearning pulsed through her stomach. Armitage had gripped her hand and looked at her with a strange expression moving across his face. Goosebumps had covered her skin and the light breeze from the sea stirred her dress around her legs. He leaned in, his mouth open and soft not the usual hard line he set during the day. She remembered thinking something was about to happen and then he had leaned forward and been violently ill all over their feet. She had screamed and ran down to the sea to wash it off. When she came back he was recovering and the couple were long gone.

Eighteen year old Armitage stood in front of her now, holding her hand tightly and lecturing her with party rhetoric as a marriage proposal. He was still the same dumbass who threw up on her years ago.

"Do you actually think that's possible?" she asked.

"What?" he snapped, immediately on the defensive.

"Everything you've just said. What you're talking about is utopia. Do you think that's even possible?"

"Never doubt the First Order. Never doubt my capabilities. Now answer my question."

She took her hand back and folded her arms. The feelings she had had on Naboo, the fights her parents had about her father's involvement in the shipbuilding, all her worries about the direction this politics were taking had been immediately stirred by his speech.

"My parents do not want me to marry you." She said flatly.

"That does not answer my question." He said, mirroring her with his arms tightly folded over his chest.

The falling feeling in her stomach warred against the spark of warm feeling towards him, the boy she had grown up with.

"Don't you think imposing your will on the galaxy is… evil?" He looked taken aback and stepped away from her.

"I am doing this for us. For a better galaxy. You know this. You've seen the New Republic at work. They war amongst each other and decide nothing. Worlds run using slaves, piracy, plagues, ruined economies. That feckless Senate has ruined people's lives. Don't tell me that is preferable?" She shook her head. "We shape the worlds with our will Avin. The senate shapes the worlds with its weakness. We must act. We must have order. We must be merciless."

"Yes, but there has to be a limit. We can't control the galaxy simply because we want to and we can't get married just because you want to either. We're eighteen years old. We both have other goals to focus on." She made a decision that she knew her parents would hate. "So we're going to wait."

"I don't want to wait. I have too much work to do to waste time on this now. You will do what I say." He seethed beside her his fists clenched. She looked at him and put her hands on her hips amused at his behaviour. She had seen this bull-headed stubbornness before. She supposed his obsessive stubbornness had gotten him to his current military rank so there had to be good points to it.

"If this is about sex, we can have sex now." She countered, knowing exactly what button to push. Colour blossomed on his face, and he suddenly looked like a gangly teenager in a big uniform again rather than a Colonel of the First Order.

"Right now, I hardly think that's-" he gasped out. She stepped closer and reached out to him, shrugging the heavy jacket off his shoulders. He had gone very quiet and very still. He watched her as she placed his coat on her bedroom chair. He was watching her again as she came nearer, so expectant. That feeling of power was back again and it surged through her. She began to undo the buttons of his shirt and then leaned over and kissed the skin above his collar. His eyes closed and he inhaled deeply. She reached in and touched the skin of his chest where light tufts of hair peaked through while she kissed down the side of his neck. The smell of sandalwood was strongest here and it made her feel so warm and dizzy. His hands reached up to grasp at the small of her back. She tugged his shirt out of his black trousers, dipping down below his belt to trace the skin around his hips. She could feel him stiffening against her and then he grabbed her and kissed her heavily, his tongue deep in her mouth, his hands bunched in her hair. She had never felt so attracted to someone before even though she knew that he was a dangerous man. She spread her hands underneath his opened shirt and he moved to kiss her from a different angle. She started to push them over to her bed and he pulled back.

"Let me see you. I must see you." He rasped. He was fiddling with her dress, tugging at the completely wrong area to open it. She laughed and pushed him to sit, hitching up her dress quickly so she could straddle him. He glared up at her as she laughed, and she stopped abruptly, not wanting to push him too far. The little voice in the back of her mind told her that once again, what she was doing was an incredibly stupid move but she felt like a magnet being pulled. His face was completely flushed. She sank down placing herself on top of his hard-on. Frantically, he reached underneath her dress and into her lacy underwear. When he felt her wetness, he moaned loudly and began kissing at her neck, his fingers sloppy, not really knowing what they were doing. One finger succeeded in sliding up inside her.

"So wet." He gasped and then violently pushed up his hips to meet her. "You're so wet. I'm going to fu-"

There was a knock on the door. She jumped up immediately, untangling his hand still trapped in her underwear.

"Mistress Shuah, your parents would like you to join them on the veranda to celebrate the good news."

It was a servant. Well that's terribly awkward, she thought, as she glanced back at Armitage who was already buttoning up his shirt. She knew her face was as flushed as his, they could never see her parents like this. She still felt terribly aroused. He looked up at her and they both stared at each other sheepishly. There was an atmosphere between them that hadn't been there before. He held out his hand.

"Come, take a walk with me." They cautiously left the bedroom and padded down the hall. As they stepped out of the villa he took her forearm in his with his hand on the top of her arm just like their first walk together. They walked out into the sunshine. The perfectly manicured lawns had been trampled down by the huge hosts of Stormtroopers who guarded points of the compound. A chorus of 'sir!' rang out as they walked past. Around them the sounds of children and adults walking in the sunshine filled the air. It was mid-morning and everyone was out making their way to the recreation centre and some to the beach outside. Former officers of the Arkansas Academy were running drills in black kit down the wide footpaths. The smell of breakfast drifted by them on the wind. It had been a strange dramatic morning, oddly reflected by the pleasant calm around them.

"What will your parents do about this engagement now?"

"Let me be clear Avin. The New Republic and their Resistance is fighting us at every turn. The Hosnian system is awash with the Republic's poison. Whole worlds need reforming and our need for new ships cannot be maintained without massive investment and new materials. The Stormtrooper programme has been an incredibly difficult task to see to completion. Even now our current troops have been conditioned as full grown adults and it is possible that the process won't take. In short, my marriage arrangements are the very least of my worries. I only took enough time to negotiate the contract and attend the tying ceremony. My presence is needed on a new ship."

"A new ship?"

"Yes, I have been given a new commission as part of my rise in ranks. The Mordant. It is a large vessel and a fine worthy ship. We have very few civilians on board." He looked at her out of the corner of his eye "You would make a valuable asset on board for non-military operations. We are still building up our force and need diplomatic relations to secure materials. Leader Snoke wants new blood."

As they walked and talked people respectfully nodded at the pair. Sometimes she could see frightened glances at Armitage from young officers they had grown up with. They rushed to be outside his line of sight. It was oddly thrilling. Every so often someone paused to congratulate them on his new position and their engagement. Eventually, they had walked to the sand-dunes of the beach and she turned to face him.

"We both still have a lot of work to do." She stated, business –like. He nodded. She continued on, her heart in her throat. "Shall we wait until the time is right?"

He cleared his throat and gazed over the compound, taking in the verdant forests on the mountain slopes and the dark blue of the sea in the distance. As inconspicuously as possible she felt fingers wrap around her own. "It would be the logical thing to do." He agreed and then leaned in to her ear and whispered: "But when I ask you next time you will not say no."

She nodded and looked him in the eye. "And when you ask next time you will be a general with your own ship." They clasped hands as a patrol ship shot out of the docking port and flew over their heads.

Korellia stood at the waiting terminal of the central docking port in Naboo's capital city Theed as Avin and her parents alighted from the transport ship. Her father saw her friend first.

"Well, I'm glad to tell you it seems your friend won't be going away any time soon Korellia!" he exclaimed clapping Avin on the shoulder as her mother beamed between them. Things weren't perfect between the two but the cancelled tying ceremony had lifted their spirits higher than Avin had seen in a long time. "Come along, Korellia, I'm bringing everyone out to celebrate. Let's have a meal."

"No." her mother interrupted, and Mayfant turned to look at her "No, let's have a party. Tonight, all of Theed is going to celebrate with us."

Back on Naboo amongst family and friends her parents had quickly arranged a huge celebration. All her parent's most intimate circle of friends were there and most of Avin's friends from college had popped in at some point too. Currently, her friend Ta Ba Stoo the Gungan was drunkenly spreading body paint on her tall human friend from life drawing and her father and his gang of businessmen were playing songs on Jinda strings with five Ewoks who had appeared out of nowhere. Under the lantern lights she could see Korellia's white hair clashing with the grey hair of an Anomid male as they cosied up to each other. Her family and friends were all delighted she wasn't marrying the fanatical military colonel. Not many knew the plans she held in her mind, the kind of things she wanted to accomplish in the constantly changing landscape of the galaxy. One day, she knew Colonel Armitage Hux would rule the galaxy and she knew no matter what happened she would end up beside him. Perhaps it would be her ruin.

But just for tonight, Avin was optimistic for the future.