Finn looked out into the blue streaked blackness of hyperspace. As a storm trooper, he had been in hyperspace countless times but the First Order wasn't very big on windows in crew areas.
"So, what happened?" Finn turned to Cardinal, who was sitting in the pilot's seat next to him.
"In the First Order? Why I left, you mean?" Cardinal asked.
"Yeah, you know, if there was anyone who I felt really loved it, really WAS the First Order...it was you." Finn said, flitting his hand in Cardinal's direction.
Cardinal shook his head, "I tried too hard to take Phasma down." He sighed, "But really, I guess it was Vi, she...I don't know, broke me somehow. Or maybe she broke through my brain washed shell of self-imposed armor."
Finn nodded, "I hear that."
"I actually remember you." Cardinal glanced over at him before looking back at the data stream on the panel in front of him.
"You do?" Finn asked, surprised, then cocked his head a bit, he had been quite proud of his younger training days, maybe secretly so, but still.
"FN-2187," Cardinal nodded.
"Yeah, that's right!" Finn answered.
"I didn't think you were cut out to be a storm trooper." Cardinal tapped a new set of coordinates into the data pad in front of him.
Finn pulled his chin up a bit, "Yeah, uh, me neither...Resistance now, you know how it is...wasn't me." He shook his head casually.
"You were in the first class Phasma ever took on." Cardinal continued, unaffected. "Suit up. We're getting close."
Finn felt the ship lurch slightly as they dropped out of hyperspace and the enormous star destroyer came into view. He hopped out of his seat and headed for the storage units in the back.
The storm trooper armor felt comfortable, right, and restrictive all at one time to Finn. Cardinal looked out of place to him in white, instead of his usual red, but if he felt awkward, he never let on.
"Sending docking codes now." Cardinal hit a few buttons on the console, a moment of silence followed. Finn realized he was holding his breath.
"There's the clearance," Cardinal said as he steered the ship in through the docking bay doors.
Finn's training kicked in from the moment the ship's doors opened and he stepped into the vast docking bay. He walked shoulder to shoulder with Cardinal in perfectly synchronized steps.
Cardinal guided them easily through the black and grey corridors. They received no notice from any of the personnel passing in the hall. They were like any storm troopers, nameless, faceless. Their identities were wiped clean and forgotten, their faces hidden behind the mask of the First Order.
Finally, Cardinal turned into an alcove containing a computer station. Finn stood at the ready beside him. This was arguably the most risky part of the mission as they had no good story for being at this station. Cardinal, ever the professional, worked easily, never showing emotion or anxiety of any kind. When the data had been extracted, he simply pulled out the memory chip and slipped it easily in his glove. Wordlessly, silently, he began the march back to the docking bay.
Really, Finn didn't breathe normally until their ship was blasting into hyperspace, heading back to Tatooine. He never would have admitted that to anyone though.
"Did you get anything good?" Finn asked Cardinal, who was already searching through the data on the screens in front of him.
"Not yet..." he answered, his tone hinting at irritation. Then, "This might be what Hux has in mind..." he pointed to one of the smaller screens.
"You found something?" Finn sat forward.
"It seems like they are about to bring all the Star Destroyers into formation around Riosa." Cardinal's eyes never moved from the screen.
"Riosa. Where Rey and Vi just went, Riosa?" Finn asked reaching for the data pad.
Finally, Cardinal turned his head to look at Finn, "Yeah, that Riosa."