Chapter 12 – Settling in

"Are there any questions?" she asked, as a note of finality on the presentation. What had started as an honest, somewhat nervous question at these weekly meetings had since become a quiet reflective moment as command struggled to keep up with the level of information she imparted. She was still in her plain black uniform but had allowed her curly hair loose, a very minor rebellion against First Order dress code. She stood in a cold, black room lit by bars of low white lighting. The strongest light was coming from her holoprojection on the table with intersecting lines of suggested ship courses. Her work had meant clear efficient paths through star systems to the raw or manufactured material that was needed for Project Starkiller. While she did not know explicitly what the Project was, she did her best to provide information on what was being requested. Kylo Ren and General Hux sat still as statues in these meetings, with Hux in a permanent frown. Over the last few months, she had provided them an unparalleled amount of reports, appendixes and raw data from the archives in order to complete this project. They were operating ahead of projections and Project Starkiller was almost ready. Nevertheless, the professional praise she had heard given to others had never been passed to her, no matter what she did. She had never met two men so annoyed by competence in her life.

The irony of finally seeing General Hux every day after wanting this exact thing for years was not lost on her. He looked like someone had taken a shit on the desk in front of him every time she spoke, which had gone from mortifying in the first few weeks to highly enjoyable as she gained confidence in her abilities. She was also fascinated by the clear rivalry Hux and Ren had for the Supreme Leader's attention, made clear by constant bickering at war counsels. They were already back in their most consistent argument, immediately after her presentation.

"We need to find that map."

"We are doing so, Lord Ren. The work of the Base is of utmost importance."

"I am acting under Supreme Leader Snoke's orders."

"As am I." Hux snapped, gripping his work device tightly in gloved hands.

While the other staff found these exchanges frightening, in case they become accidental casualties, Avin, under the protection of Snoke was just bored of it all. Ren snapped his neck to her as she inadvertently rolled her eyes.

"This meeting is over." Ren snapped coldly and stalked out of the room. The rest of the staff soon followed as Hux dismissed them. She walked out behind him, happily pretending he wasn't there.

"Lord Ren, a word please?" She said, louder than she had meant to, to a tense retreating back. His head snapped back to her.

"What." He said venomously, clearly still annoyed at Hux.

"You have mentioned wanting to know more Darth Vader?" She ventured. He stood in silence, and she could feel his glare through the mask.

"I have been working on corrupted data from the Executor as a side project. It contains a recounting of Vader's time on the ship." She paused here as he stepped towards her. "I have managed to retrieve entries from Vader himself. I thought you would like to see them."

She reached out, holding a small data chip in her hand for him to take. He reached out almost tentatively and took it from her, staring at the chip in his hand for some time before looking back up in her direction. She compressed her lips into what could be considered a smile and made to leave.

"Thank you." A soft distorted voice sounded behind her. She kept walking.

The senior officer deck was like a completely different world than the grey neutral she had only glimpsed on her first day. Large panoramic windows of space or huge backdrops to internal systems were placed throughout the various offices and workspaces. The ship itself was like a whole city and Avin was still blown away by the sheer magnitude. This was her father's life work surrounding her at every turn. Her own chambers were very large but incredibly empty. The two canvas bags she had been allowed onboard did not include many personal artefacts. She had eventually persuaded the commissary to allow her charcoal and paper at great personal expense, and she sketched images from memory, having very little objects of beauty around her. Perhaps she could ask some of the senior staff for their boots, she thought, fondly remembering her father's lessons about persuasion on Port Tarkin. As it stands her bare chambers were littered with sketches of Storm Troopers in profile, memories of Naboo and Daxam IV as well as a very small portrait of how Hux's disgruntled face when she presented which she did not leave lying around. Like all days, after war counsels she ate alone in the subdued canteen. The highlight of her day was usually seeing a ginger shadow dart about on the upper deck, black gaberdine tracker collar around the cat's neck, as it ran out of Hux's chambers. She was happy he was treating it well and wondered at how his uniform never had a single cat hair on it in their meetings. They had not spoken outside nods of acknowledgment in meetings for months. It was better that way.

She had had several periods, her last arriving a week ago, which she assumed was not possible on the contraceptive shot she had been given at processing but was unsure. Sometimes contraceptives kept the monthly cycle, right? She had immediately gone to Medical in her first month and a droid had quickly confirmed all was in order. The only woman now in her vicinity was Captain Phasma who she assumed would not entertain private 'girl chats' about menstruation. She had not seen her without her helmet on since Daxam IV and it made the daunting task of trying to befriend her almost impossible. After this particular afternoon's work and an unexpected reaction from Ren, her confidence had been boosted enough to finally try and she took the opportunity as she saw Captain Phasma march past the canteen.

"Captain Phasma?" she asked, struggling to keep up with the extremely tall woman. Captain Phasma turned on her heel and looked directly at her, responding with a curt yes.

"Would you like to go for a drink?" she said, holding her breath for the rejection incoming. Instead, Phasma cocked her head as if regarding her.

"Yes." She said and turned without notice towards the Senior Officer's mess. Avin nearly ran to keep up with her. Once there, she realised just how empty the mess must usually be as one or two colonels chattering quietly was the only noise.

"What's your poison Phasma?" she asked, bravely dropping the title to see what kind of chat this was going to be. Phasma reached up and pulled her helmet off, tucking it neatly under her arm.

"The strongest drink they have." She said, flicking her white, blond hair out of her eyes.

Avin Shuah was drunk. Like really drunk. Phasma was also rather drunk. Her helmet was snuck into the back of the booth they occupied on a slowly growing pile of empty glasses and bottles. Avin had learned that Phasma had an extremely dry sense of humour and a true passion for telling dirty stories.

"- then he asked me if two hours would be enough time to make love."

"And what did you do with the other hour and a half?" Avin quipped back, winning an amused smirk from Phasma. They both watched, amused as a droid removed empty glasses from the table.

"Do you have a first name Phasma?" Avin asked.

"Just Phasma."

"Just Phasma, it is." She said, clinking their glasses together happily and knocking back another drink.

"For a weak untrained liberal, you exhibit excellent battle strategy." Phasma said heavily.

"For a strict Captain of Guard, you are a very beautiful woman." Avin riposted, all sense gone after the 4th drink. Phasma looked at her sharply, eyes unfocussed and threw back her head in a very loud laugh that caused the group of colonels to flinch. Avin smiled back, feeling just a ghost of her friendship with Korellia. She leaned in and asked the question she had been dying to ask all night.

"How did you join the First Order, Phasma?"

"I am Scyre. My planet was dying. General Hux crashed on my planet and in repayment for helping him escape he agreed that I could join his guard."

"This sounds like an excellent story. How long ago did this happen?"

"Ten years ago."

Avin was very confused. Surely Hux would have mentioned crashing on a dying planet to her while he was an officer? Phasma noted the confusion.

"Ah, I am referring to the late Brendol Hux. My association with General Hux is far more recent."

"Brendol Hux is dead?" she exclaimed. Why hadn't she heard of this before?

"Yes, he died on the Absolution a year ago." Phasma said, looking very bored. "From…natural causes."

Against her better judgement, her mouth opened, and the words spilled out:

"Armitage never mentioned this to me."

Phasma pursed her lips, as if she wanted to say something and then shrugged. Acknowledging that Hux and her knew each other before the Finalizer had been completely off-limits to Avin up until now. Avin immediately wanted to change the subject. Fuck it, Avin thought, I'm going to ask her the other question she was dying to ask.

"So do you…" she started again, "Do you have a lover onboard? I mean, Hux has said no fraternisation but we all have urges and-"

Phasma held up a hand to stop her.

"Senior Officers disembark for pleasure parties for just such urges. The next one is coming up shortly on Ryloth. Lord Ren insisted. I enjoy myself immensely." She said, chuckling deeply.

Avin perked right up. She had been feeling so utterly pent up and frustrated. There were no holovids or erotica of any kind allowed onboard, and no one showed a hint of skin. The thing between her and Hux was completely dead, just childhood nonsense, and she was extremely keen to get into bed with someone else.

"I'm totally joining. What kind of things happen-"

A tall figure in a long black coat stalked into the room. It was him, but she was drunk, she didn't care. She hand-signalled to the server droid to bring another round of drinks before he moved to stand before their booth. Phasma immediately stood up from the booth and saluted him, just a little more loosely than usual.

"General."

"At ease, Phasma."

"General Hux."

"Lady Palpatine."

Hux had an extraordinary way of making a title like Lady sound like an offensive word. As he gazed at the two of them the same expression that he normally carried in their meetings reappeared. It mirrored the careful sketch of him she kept in her room, and she had to bite back a giggle.

"Phasma, there has been a request for one of your team to be sent to re-conditioning. I would like a report on this instance by tomorrow."

"Of course, sir."

Avin knew she shouldn't say anything, she knew this would just get her into trouble, but her mouth seemed to have a mind of its own.

"So General Hux, when will we be arriving at Ryloth?" she slurred, leaning back in the booth to look him in the eye.

He glared between her and Phasma, his hands behind his back, posture tight. In the softer light of the mess, she could see just how tired and red-rimmed his eyes were but that wasn't any of her business.

"That pathetic outing Ren insists on is scheduled for two weeks' time."

"Avin will be joining us." Phasma said and raised her eyebrows at Hux in a conspiratorial air. She glanced between the two of them as they glared at each other. "Would you like to join us for a drink, General?"

Every single alarm bell in Avin's head rang out at that. She couldn't be drunk near him. She was a tearful drunk at the best of times and couldn't imagine anything more humiliating than crying in front of these two. Spurned into action she excused herself to the bathroom, every stupid drunken cell in her body telling her to inform them she was draining the weasel, which she resisted nobly. After washing her hands, she looked at the small square of glass over the sink. She looked absolutely shit-faced. She ran her hands through her hair to fluff it and flicked her hair back with a little drunken 'woo!' that she hoped no one heard. When she got back to their table he was gone, and she breathed a sigh of relief. She almost rolled into the booth beside Phasma who now had a stupid grin on her face.

"Oi Phasma?"

"Yes, Avin?"

"When's the last time you got a period on this ship?"