It took General Sade two months to locate the Resistance base in the Mid Rim. Kylo ordered the Supremacy to arrive at the planet within twelve hours, and so it did.

I had become perhaps too comfortable entering and exiting the command suite as Captain Phasma. After placing a blaster rifle on my back, I adjusted my shoulder cape with practiced ease. Leaving through the rear hallway was the fastest route to the main speed lift, but it was a location irrelevant to Phasma. When I heard Hux's door slide open in front of me, I braced myself for a lecture. Instead of a red head of hair, a blonde one appeared.

The disheveled Lieutenant cautiously stepped out of the General's quarters. When she glanced down the hallway and spotted me, her eyes widened.

"C—Captain," she said, throwing up a salute. "What brings you here?"

Feeling my mouth go dry, I watched her brush cropped hair out of her eyes. She's that pilot from the bridge. I couldn't help but notice her wrinkled uniform and absent cap.

"That's no concern of yours, Lieutenant," I said icily. "And you?"

"Just...my patrol, ma'am."

I tilted my head forward. "Then don't let me keep you."

I wore an amused smile as I made my way to the hangar bay. Stormtroopers and crew alike saluted me when I boarded the command shuttle. Having briefed the mission mere hours ago, there was no need for pleasantries.

"Is everyone aboard?" I asked the Stormtrooper commander.

He snapped a salute. "Yes, Captain. Three units of Troopers are ready for duty along with their unit leaders. The additional transports are staged and will follow behind us. The Supreme Leader is already on board so we will be underway at your command."

"Make it so, Master Sergeant."

"Then make it so," I instructed, hitting the button to retract the ramp behind us.

Our attack on the remote Resistance base would not come as a surprise to them. Our flagship had been in orbit over the planet's populated hemisphere for several hours, monitoring for any spacecraft exiting the atmosphere. There had been none. It was likely that the base was cut off from the Resistance's meager fleet for good.

I joined Kylo in the common area as the command shuttle tore through the planet's atmosphere. His black visor reflected the firey light from the viewport as he stared at the planet's surface below.

"I sent some spies into the local city near the base," he told me. "I suspect that some Resistance fighters have hidden among the locals."

"I wouldn't doubt it," I murmured. "We'll root them out."

Though the system had already fallen under the First Order's control, the planet itself had not been occupied. After some brief research on the peace-loving society, I knew we would face little resistance from the locals.

The system's brightest star had just broken over the planet's curved surface. Emerald fields stretch out as far as the eye could see, shining with morning dew, and a cityscape peaked over the western horizon. The command shuttle's thrusters parted the sea of grass as we set down outside a gray, nondescript building.

According to our intel from Lieutenant-General Sade, it was a fortified bunker that served as a communication hub for the Resistance fleet. A perimeter of troops had been set up around the building; their barrage of blue blaster bolts hummed against the underside of the ship. A rotary laser fired blasts in rapid succession, which caused a similar effect.

Kylo opened a com to the bridge. "Pilot, fire at will."

"Yes, sir!"

Giant, red bolts zoomed across the field and impacted near the Resistance troops, causing an explosion of heat. So hot, in fact, that it set fire to the wet grass, spreading to their clothes and anything else that could burn. The ones who survived the initial blast suffered a slow, painful death.

"If they didn't know we were here before, they know now," I muttered to myself.

I heard Kylo's grunt of acknowledgment beneath his helmet, too quiet for the voice filter to pick up. "It doesn't matter," he stated. "There's nowhere to run."

The blackened grass crunched beneath our boots as we approached the bunker with a unit of Stormtroopers in tow. The charred remains of the Resistance guards at the entrance were hardly even recognizable. As we entered the ground level of the bunker, it appeared to be a small control area with a hatch in the center of the room.

The unit leaders barked orders to their Troopers about setting up a perimeter. Watching two tall, burly soldiers working to pry the hatch open, I realized just how trapped the Resistance fighters actually were. Unless there is an alternate exit.

"Stand back," Kylo said to the Troopers, igniting his lightsaber. Several slashes easily melted the thick metal, which crumbled under the impact of Kylo's booted heel.

"Oh," said a deadpan voice.

As an entire unit filed down the dimly lit ladder, I watched the two additional transports land near the command shuttle. With three units of Stormtroopers, the Supreme Leader, and myself, I expected the mission to end in a decisive victory. I ordered one of the units to stay with the transports and the other to follow us down the hatch.

If the roughly cut durasteel walls had been any narrower, my bulky armor wouldn't have fit through. About halfway down the ladder, the sounds of blaster fire began to echo up the tiny shaft. I looked over my shoulder to try to catch a glimpse of the chaos below, but Kylo's broad frame blocked my view. At that precise moment, he released the ladder and fell at least twenty meters through thin air. I froze.

"Ky—"

His masked face looked up at me from below, and I could easily picture his cocky smirk. With an audible sigh, I resumed my downward climb.

The room at the bottom was circular with two wide corridors diverting outward. Stormtroopers crouched behind large crates of supplies and exchanged fire with Resistance fighters behind similar cover. Kylo had already drawn his lightsaber while I crouched with the Troopers. I touched the metal box that I hid behind—it was one, solid piece.

That can't be right...that hatch was tiny.

I pressed the button on my communicator to open a signal to the unit leader above. He answered, but I couldn't hear his voice over the pandemonium of blaster fire. I shouted my reply anyway: "Sergeant, make a wide sweep for an alternate exit!"

Refocusing on the battle at hand, I leaned out of cover to assess the situation. Kylo rampaged down the corridor ahead, making short work of clearing it. I sent two Troopers after him just in case he needed backup. Clearing the other hallway was left to me.

"Three Troopers, on me!" I called, eyeing some perfect cover ahead. "The rest of you, covering fire, now!"

Troopers stood to rain fire down on the enemy, allowing us to sprint ahead during the clear they created. Before crouching behind the crates, I lifted my blaster to take out the man hiding on the other side. He flew limply across the ground. I ducked and pressed my shoulder into the metal, listening to the impact of energy bolts on the other side.

We exchanged fire for several minutes, steadily gaining the upper hand. Two of the Troopers beside me went down, and I growled in frustration. Needless deaths. Instead of peaking out of cover the next time, I vaulted over the barrier in front of me. I advanced in broad steps, taking aim and executing the fighters as I went. Blaster bolts bounced off of my armor as I worked to clear the room. Soon, the remaining troops began to flee. About five of them vanished around a corner ahead.

When I looked back at my Troopers, I realized that five of them had gone down. Damn those Resistance bastards. I motioned for them to follow as I sprinted down the lengthy remainder of the corridor. The bunker had gone quiet.

I turned the corner into another circular room. Kylo then rounded the opposite corner with his two guards. Is this the entire bunker? At second glance, the rear wall seemed to be a blast door of some kind. Kylo approached it with his lightsaber crackling at his side.

"Troopers, do another sweep of the area," I ordered, waving them away. I joined Kylo as he surveyed the giant, metal door. There were no visible control panels; it seemed impervious. It reminds me of the mission reports on

"The Battle of Crait. They've used this tactic before," Kylo said as if reading my mind. "They're holding out for reinforcements."

At that moment, both of the communicators on our wrists chirped with incoming coms. We glanced at each other before turning away to answer.

"Captain Phasma."

"This is Ren."

I strained to focus on the sergeant's voice while Hux spoke to Kylo in the background. "Captain, we have completed our sweep of the surrounding area. All we found was a standard landing platform at the foot of a hill."

I paced the room as I listened, glancing down the corridor at my Troopers. "Is there any kind of underground access?"

"None visible. We would need a portable scanner to investigate further."

"Noted, Sergeant. Return to the command shuttle and retrieve one."

"On it, ma'am."

Making my way back to Kylo, I listened in on his conversation about the spies he had sent to the nearby settlement. It sounded like they were about to make contact with a Resistance mole. "No," Kylo said into his communicator. "Tell them to remain undetected until backup arrives."

"Yes, Supreme Leader. I will send their coordinates to the command shuttle immediately."

"Also, Hux..." Kylo turned around, looking at the blast door before us. "We need a siege cannon. A small but powerful one."

"A—A what?"

As Kylo barked out instructions to Hux, I placed my hand on the barrier. It felt incredibly solid; it easily could have been meters thick. I wondered how many people were behind it, waiting to die or be rescued. Finally, Hux confirmed that he would be sending down a portable plasma cannon.

Kylo appeared by my side, and I sensed his gaze on me behind his helmet. "One of us is needed here, one in the settlement," he said. The gentleness of his tone contrasted with the harsh filter of his helmet.

"I agree," I said, glancing around the empty room. "I'll stay here."

When he didn't reply, I looked over at him. He continued to stare at me wordlessly, with only my masked face reflecting back at me in his visor. "What's wrong?" I pressed. I placed a hand on his arm to convey my concern.

"The Force has moved strangely today," he finally said. "Do you sense it?"

I shook my head slowly. "All I can sense is you, remember?"

A staticky chuckle came through the helmet, causing me to smile. Suddenly, Kylo lifted his hands to the back of my helmet and quickly found the release valve there. I grabbed his wrists in a panic as my respirator decompressed.

"It's alright," Kylo whispered. "No one's here."

Despite my resistance, he pulled my helmet off smoothly. My eyes darted around the room as my heart raced out of control. A gloved finger settled underneath my chin and lifted my gaze back to him. He cupped my cheek while I let out a tense sigh, watching my own reflection in the polished visor of his mask. The things I let him put me through...

Kylo reached behind his head to remove his own helmet. Instead of taking it off completely, he lifted it halfway to reveal smirking lips. I murmured his name uncertainly as he leaned down and suddenly kissed me. It was short, sweet, and wildly risky.

By the time I opened my eyes, his helmet was already back in place.

"You'll go to the settlement," he decided, pressing my helmet into my hand.