Vida couldn't decide if coming here was a mistake or the best thing she had ever done. If she hadn't made this decision, Kylo Ren would probably be dead and they would just be drifting aimlessly until they found a safe haven. Maybe it wasn't so bad after all. A droid was waiting outside when she stomped out of Raina's office the night before. It led her along the corridor to a vacant bed chamber, nattering mindlessly as any droid would. A change of clothes and a meal had been left as an afterthought from her cousin. She barely slept that night.
As confident as she had been in her decision to break her family's mould of military service for the Republic to join the First Order; it seemed her cousin had irked her enough to consider what could have been. It was more difficult for women. Raina, in the Republic at least, was rare. A woman of high command was relatively unheard of. Which why she was constantly undermined, belittled. Why would Vida want that? Say what you want about the First Order, they didn't care what gender you were as long as you were dedicated. If she stayed and she and Raina had not been anything special, they would have been sent off as military trophy wives of good breeding. That had been their mothers' fates after all.
The same droid appeared in Vida's room the next morning.
"Commander Von requests that you join her in her quarters for breakfast." The droid told her, somewhat more feminine than a usual droid.
"I don't suppose I have a choice?" Captain Vida Phasma asked the droid somewhat carelessly as she pulled on the clothes that had been left for her.
"I'm afraid not, madam. She's rather insistent." Vida complied with a sigh though another meeting with her cousin was the last thing she needed. Upon arriving in the Commander's chambers, the scene should have surprised her but didn't. General Hux was already there sitting in the same place, still in his uniform. It seemed he was trying to look at anything except Raina who was still in her night wear. Night wear being a black silk nightdress of knee height with thin shoulder straps and a similar night robe with long sleeves draped loosely over her shoulders and a disregard for covering cleavage.
Of course, her Vornskr were present; one parked on either side of her leather chair.
"Nice of you to finally join us." Raina murmured without looking up from the projection on a handheld device in front of her. It looked like a report that she was proofreading, uncrossing and recrossing her legs. The whip was gone from the table.
"Sit. Eat something." Vida glanced sideways at the General as she sat down to help herself to the crammed caf table; it seemed ranks were gone out the window now. He looked somewhat confused. He was used to a certain amount of protocol on Finalizer and Starkiller but it seemed Raina did what she pleased with no consequences.
He couldn't seem to pass a verdict on her yet. She was open but enigmatic. He was sure all he had to do was ask and she would tell him what he wanted to know but where to start? He needed to get over the fact that she was half naked in front of him without much thought first. Raina absentmindedly picked up her cup from the table and closed down the projection before handing it to a droid hovering nearby.
"Send that to the General. We'll have a request for a transmission in record time, no doubt." It was said with a roll of her eyes and an impatient shake of her head. "So….." She turned her attention to her guests as though pleased to see them. "Sleep well?"
Hux had left Raina's office not long after Vida but before he did, he spoke with her briefly. Learned the things he didn't have a chance to during the female's heated conversation. He found out she was Captain Phasma's first maternal cousin and her full name and title came to Commander Raina Von. Von. He knew that name. He had spent most of his night combing through his mental database but couldn't place it. He learned they were on a Republican base on the planet of Andala so there were still remnants of the Republic out there.
Eventually, the flirtations became stronger and the advances from the blonde had become too much. She certainly intrigued him. Strong, beautiful, confident, intelligent, and independent but he didn't know how to deal with all those things in one person. When in such unfamiliar territory, he found it best to flee. Maybe she terrified him a little. He wasn't used to someone so….. Vivacious? But she was in charge here. Not him. If he chose to behave that way on his own vessels, he was sure he'd get away with it as she was. She had offered to have his uniform laundered for him as she had no objection to him wearing it. It suited him. She could appreciate a man in uniform.
This man happened to be a tall redhead in a First Order uniform, strangely attractive for such a vile organization. There were murmurs of "Fine…." And "Well enough…." From the First Order pair as Raina's eyes flickered between them curiously from over the rim of her cup. It seemed her command was fuelled by copious amounts of tea and sex.
"I have an update on Kylo Ren." She announced, mindlessly tucking a blonde strand behind her ear.
"He is still unconscious but stable. He sustained many horrific injuries but my team are working on him." That was something at least. The Commander's cup was set down on the table before she spoke again.
"I don't know how you got off the Starkiller before it exploded." Raina was blunt. She'd been getting transmissions over the past few days from different squads charged looking for any signs of the First Order. "But you did. And your ship was seen leaving the system. Lucky for you it wasn't tracked in time. If you're found, you'll be prosecuted. Maybe even executed."
"Do you have dealings with the Resistance?" Hux asked, unrest niggling at him.
"Of course I do." Raina answered somewhat haughtily, picking up her cup again. "I'm a Republican officer. Comes with the territory. Anyway, a report has been sent out…." She glanced in the direction the droid had left in. "Stating we intercepted a message that was from the Academy on Arkanis. That you were called there. It will buy us some time. As much as I want to protect you, you can't stay here forever."
Hux and Vida looked at each other solemnly. It was the best they could have hoped for. Raina had to protect herself too.
"Until then, you'll probably end up staying in your own quarters or here in mine. Vida, you spent most of your time with that bloody helmet on so no one knows what you look like. General…." She wasn't quite sure what to do with him yet.
"Everyone knows what you look like. You'll have to stay in your quarters or with me at all times." He didn't object but the suggestive wink unnerved him a little.
The droid she had given the report to clicked its way back into the room.
"Commander, we have a live pending transmission from the General."
"Already?!" She complained, obviously unimpressed before looking to her guests. "Not a word, either of you. Fine. Put him on." Raina got up from her seat and paced until she heard the familiar click.
"General." She greeted to someone who wasn't physically present in the room.
"I got your report, Commander. It made no sense." The answering voice was gruff, belonging to an older man. He was definitely impatient. Vida bit her lip. She knew this was going to be vicious. There was nothing quite like seeing Raina in action but especially with someone of lower intelligence. Like this General.
"Tell me something, General." Raina began casually, her annoyance palpable, pacing the floor of her office some more. "Because I'm dying to know. How you made your rank if you can't read?" Hux's jaw dropped. She spoke to a General like that?!
"Watch it, Commander, you're protocols are unorthodox as it is! I hear there's not a male officer on your base that can walk properly!" It was getting heated and Raina kept pacing, the hem of her night dress swinging as she did so.
"Well, General, we play to our strengths, don't we? My strength is that I don't look and smell like the back end of a dead Tauntaun so maybe if you fix that, you mightn't have staff looking to be transferred from your base to mine. Captain Det sends his regards by the way." Vida was smiling, shaking her head and biting back the urge to laugh while Hux looked bewildered.
"I SHOULD HAVE HAD YOU SMOTHERED AT BIRTH, RAINA!" The disembodied voice barked harshly, she simply rolled her eyes.
"You should have, General. Hindsight is a wonderful thing but it is hindsight nonetheless." She answered coolly, slowly drawing him out and antagonizing him to the last.
"DO YOU OR DO YOU NOT HAVE PRISONERS ON BOARD, COMMANDER?!" Vida's smile dropped. Surely they hadn't been found out already? Raina was unperturbed by the accusation.
"We're back to the reading thing, General." She continued savagely. "Where on that report does it say I have prisoners? Read it to me. Or give it to someone who can. Because nowhere on that fucking projection does it say I have prisoners on board! It said that their vessel was recalled to Arkanis so obviously someone is waiting for them there! Dead or alive, that's where they'll be!" There was a brooding silence for a moment.
"Where is that bitch Vida?! Is she alive?!" Raina locked eyes with her cousin from across the room.
"I haven't seen Vida in nearly fifteen years, General. How would I know if she's alive or not?"
"If I find her, I'll kill her with my bare hands, Raina. Make no mistake about it."
"That makes two of us, General."
"I'll send a dispatch to Arkanis." The line went dead.
"Asshole." Raina spat before sitting back down in her chair and rubbing her temples. "Do you have any siblings, General?" She asked after she had distressed somewhat.
"No…. I'm an only child."
"Lucky you." She replied dryly, reaching out to stroke a Vornskr absentmindedly. "I hate my brothers."
"I see Xander hasn't learned any manners." Vida observed crisply, thinking back to the last time she had seen the General. "Still a brute?"
"You have no idea. I swear I turn into a mild alcoholic just dealing with him." Her tea was regarded with something of disdain, wishing it was something stronger. "I don't know how his wife copes."
"He's married?!" Vida hissed, having forgotten the satisfaction of gossip.
"Mmm. I've only met her once. Reasonable woman but if she willingly married Xander, I fear there maybe something going on in her head. Or not. If she's as dim as him, they're well matched." Vida regarded her cousin; she was easily her favourite out of a family she hated.
"And you?"
"I do what I want, when I want. No one is going to tell me otherwise." Raina smirked and stretched out her arms as though displaying herself.
"I can't see your father being happy about that."
"Oh he's not." The Commander replied with a kink of an eyebrow, confirming Vida's suspicions. "He's sending me suitor after fucking suitor, each one worse than the last. But I'm not here because of daddy dearest. Nor am I going to change my life to please him. Fuck that." Raina turned her attention to the General.
"I should explain. Who you just heard was General Xander Von." That was the name he knew. "He's head of a base out on Betal. Republic, obviously. He's my eldest brother and he hates my guts because I'm proof that his parents had sex when he was sixteen so..." Vida loved the explanation but the truth was Xander really did despise his sister. "He's as thick as a Gungun and twice as ugly-"
"I've engaged with him. You're correct, he's not very clever."
"Did you beat him?"
"Easily." Raina looked impressed. This redhead got better and better.
"I'm so glad you brought him here." The shorter blonde leaned across to her cousin but still surveyed Hux. "He's smart, he's hot and he's kicked the shit out of my brother."