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Fandom 𝐈𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐎𝐑𝐃𝐄𝐑 ! — a star wars roleplay.


Sixteen thousand three hundred and eighty-four. She had counted the tiles beside the balcony. Had it been a better day, she might have stopped at 400. There was a storm brewing, she could see a swath of dark clouds looming against the dull blue horizon. The only ones on land were the castle staff, King Aquilis, and herself. But under the deep blue waves lay the planet's population riddled with fear.

Yes, the weather was very fitting. For just three hours ago, Trenton, the advisor, had notified the king of a short-notice visit from the Supreme Leader himself. Drav had been rushing around to collect the pieces of his subjects' fractured hope. Inside their very own bubble, a collective group of benighted people believed for eons that they were the superior race when in reality, they were anything but.

A girl fashioned in very odd clothes popped their bubble in an instant as she raised her hand to demonstrate her talent. She was a Jedi. A strange word for what the Deltean's remarked as 'gifted' or 'pure'. She said it was the force, and the people of this big blue planet looked at her as if she were speaking another language. The rebellion wanted their navy, but Drav was unsure. She left just as fast as she came, and they were left alone once more.

"Nedinae." The gruff voice of the monarch snapped her out of her thoughts, addressing her via surname. Dinorah got up from her perch by the open window and faced the stout man, pale as marble. "I can feel them draw near. It's just us now, us and the guards. The household staff is gone." He continued.

The slip native to the upper class draped around her shoulders and fell to the cold floor of the palace like a steep waterfall. "What of the councilmen?"

'"They're here, unfortunately." Dinorah tilted her head like a lost animal. Drav didn't like anyone, it wasn't his snark that caught her off guard, but it was the reasoning behind it.

"Unfortunately?"

"They treat me like a child, especially that Tarrok, I have to have my wits about me whenever he opens his mouth." Drav snapped at her quite cynically, she could see why he was regarded as a child.

Dinah sighed, lying through her teeth once more. "You're clever, that's all." And Drav smiled an off-putting smile, just what he wanted to hear. As if she weren't already good at her job, she stroked his ego nicely too. His face fell instantaneously. They were here. A guard shouted at them in their mother tongue just as the large drawbridge fell across the great ocean they were on.

━━━━━━━━━━━━
Glittering off the dark steel walls of the ship, a fiery shadow flickered like a flame. As the sharp thuds of footsteps fell, stormtroopers stepped back to give him room. The formidable Armitage, but no one dared call him that. He was General Hux, or Sir, the right hand man of the almighty Supreme Leader.

They were both a force to be reckoned with. He had climbed up to the top of the ranks through sheer willpower. Inside his head, a master list of battle tactics and sharp observations.

Just five more steps until he reached the medical wing, he needed to change his bandages. Many ignorant troops thought that Hux had the life of glory. And yet he slept on a cold, hard bed on a cold, hard ship fighting a battle that had tired him out long since.

He would never hint at his doubts about the leader, but he felt them deep in the corners of his soot-covered soul. An aching, an unexplainable feeling he disregards upon waking up everyday on that same cold bed.

A medical droid clicked next to him once he entered the ward, but Hux dismissed it with a callous wave of his gloved hand. He slipped the long coat he wore off his broad shoulders and set it aside on a vacant cot. Underneath the monochromatic uniform he wore was a big cut channeling across his chest. He didn’t need help tending to it.

Just as he pulled off his gloves and reached a cold hand out to the basket of medical tape, a quiet shuffling reached his ears. For a brief moment, Hux froze, alarms going off in his mind. But as he turned, he spotted one of his peers, a snowy haired girl around his height. “Pryde.” He greeted her, though it wasn’t really a warm kind of greeting. Hux turned back to his rummaging without waiting for a response.

Hidden behind a thin curtain trailing beside the cot, he unbuttoned his uniform just enough to see the bandage that shielded the nasty wound on his pale chest. It was easy enough to remove and replace, and afterwards he straightened his clothing out and slipped his coat back on. She was still there, but he had no idea what she was doing thanks to the darkness of the medical wing.

 
Hera Syndulla and the new crew that ran with her, including her green-haired son, had escaped the First Order on Chandrila, in spite of their best efforts. It soured the mood of the Supreme Leader, on top of the fact the Scavenger and the Resistance as led by Leia Organa also continued to evade him. No matter where they placed their agents, the Resistance got a step ahead of them.

Corellia, Mon Cala, Chandrila….’

And now it was Delta which threatened to be lost, a planet little known, but apparently known well enough all the same. Kylo Ren had already alerted Admiral Pryde to take the Dauntless to the space above Delta, before his own command shuttle broke out of lightspeed. He wouldn’t pause to break in the hangar of the Dauntless, though he was quietly pleased to see it there.

Some of his officers knew how to listen, a reason for the new rank of Allegiant General that had been bestowed just that day onto Enric Pryde.

He wouldn’t waste his breath hailing the Dauntless as he went down to the planet. He sent his clearance codes and continued on, half-daring them to even consider stopping him on recognizing his vessel.

The sky above Delta was moody, and the waves below imitated that, dark and foreboding as they crashed against what bits of land there was available. While Kylo Ren did not like the thought of dealing with societies underwater, their recent losses on Mon Cala had reminded him that there was, indeed, more to the galaxy than just what was on the land. He would be a fool to boil every ocean and not take advantage of the resources.

He needed a navy.

The Order was sorely lacking in that resource.

The lights of the landing pad were obvious enough, near to the Starfighters, which caused Kylo to scoff to himself as he began to bring his command shuttle down onto the open space. He heard a hailing signal at that point, but he ignored it. ‘You knew I was coming.’ It was more warning than most people got. More warning than he’d bother with.

No one fired a shot at his ship, at least, and he was able to land it neatly enough before he swept out of his chair and out of his ship. He moved the hood of his attire up, resenting again the fact that he hadn’t finished repairing his mask. Everything else seemed to come before it, every trifling thing left for him to deal with or clean up.

The hood would at least help, though he realized it wasn’t entirely necessary as he walked out. The rain hadn’t begun. Not so much as a mist, beyond what the ocean threw against the pad, bothered him.

He tilted his head towards the palace residence that he thought of as Nautia, even if he had a suspicion the true Nautia was beneath the crashing waves, as the drawbridge started to lower. The troopers who had accompanied him filed out, the last one closing the ramp after themselves. He still hardly trusted them, but he had to make do.

Kylo Ren would not wait to be greeted on the landing pad.

With a gesture to the Stormtroopers, he stalked forward to the drawbridge that was closer to the Starfighters. If nothing else, the wind that whipped around with the threat of the oncoming storm did help with making his cloak look intimidating.

It also knocked back his hood, but that was just another aggravation to a list that was constantly growing.

The Stormtroopers followed several steps behind him.

One at the head had taken note of Kylo’s clenched fist, and silently advised the slower walk.

~***~

The circulated air of the Supremacy was too dry. It hurt to breathe, although to be fair, it hurt to think at that point so Alexandria Pryde could not be called a good judge of what was, or wasn’t, painful. Her meeting with the Supreme Leader to explain the loss of Hera Syndulla had gone about as well as expected, which meant, she lived. She wasn’t sure how much of that she owed to the fact her father had just been promoted, and how much she owed to the distraction of Rey.

In either case, she wasn’t soon to question why she was allowed to breathe.

Alexandria had taken her dismissal and was told to report to the Steadfast once it returned to the area. That left her with time to spare on the Supremacy, and old clothes to dress in, clothes that were at once too stiff, and terribly inappropriate to wear with a bleeding shoulder thanks to some lucky rebel on Chandrila.

However, she grabbed the attire, and took it with her to the medbay, where she tossed it aside as a droid beeped at her to sit down. “No, thank you, I just need a bacta patch and pain pills,” it had been since she was fourteen that she actually let a droid of the First Order check her out. She rarely was any better with the sentient medical staff – too many lessons had been learned. Too many “accidents”.

‘How many of us are left?’

Likely, not many.

There was one Cadet that Alexandria knew was still alive, and he was among the last she expected to hear any acknowledgment from. She was startled by the sound of his voice, but managed not to drop the bacta she’d found as she cast her gaze in his direction. The curtain shielded him, but she knew his voice, “Hux.”

She was likely on his hit list now. Just like her father, given his promotion, and perhaps even her brother and his spawn.

She took a seat on the cot and heard the rustling from the place Armitage was. She never turned away from it as she slipped the strap off to place the first bacta pad at the entry, and wrapped the bandage around it once, making sure not to cover the exit point, where she applied another pad, before wrapping that around it just as well. The strap of the simple tank top would move back up, and she had a moment’s regret for just tossing her tunic atop the nearest flat surface near the entrance to the medbay.

Oh well. She wouldn’t look out of place for much longer; she hadn’t been given time to change from what she had on Chandrila. She’d miss the comforts of it soon enough.

She could hear Hux straightening up, the shadow of his figure behind the curtain suggesting he was finished. And alone.

Old habits died hard. “I thought you would have grown out of picking fights by now, Hux.” She had no idea why he was in there. She knew, whatever wound he had, couldn’t have been gotten on the battlefield. He was more of a tactician than a field leader.

He’d had Phasma for that.

Once.

She considered it might have been better to stay quiet, but the Order was too quiet, especially with slipping thoughts that wouldn’t stay in place or come to her mind as easily as she desired. An after-effect, apparently, of having her mind violated by Kylo.

So long as the pain pills lessened that pain, she’d manage. And that was where she went, stowing the excess clothe bandages and finding a bottle with pills, a single shake of it confirmation that it ought to have enough.
 

The ship didn’t make as much of a racket as the Jedi's had. Drav tightened up visibly, but his ambassador made no effort to seem nervous. Unlike him, she had never seen the supreme leader and the stories told only piqued her curiosity more. Was he really as terrifying as everyone says he is? “You aren’t going to dismiss me like last time?” She mused coldly, backing away from the window sill and closer to the main entrance.

“Don’t be stupid, you’re going to be the gateway to the Order.” Drav said as if everyone knew what he was planning in that small mind of his.

Dinorah was silent for a brief moment, just as the sound of faint footsteps flooded her sensitive ears. “I hope you’ll let me do all the talking.” She spoke carefully, making sure he didn’t sense an insulting tone.

Drav gave her a look she couldn’t quite decipher. Out of all the years she had seen him speak out to the public, she had never seen him this scared.

“Are you afraid?” She questioned him out of spite when he refused to answer. They were growing closer and closer to the doors, the two Oceanids could feel it.

“Of course I’m afraid!” He hissed, hoping the guards wouldn’t hear. “You act all unbothered now but just wait until you see what he can do to us. We are but insects beneath his feet, this entire universe is—“

Dinorah cut off Drav’s rant by stepping forward to the doors. Both the king and his messenger were dressed traditionally, all white. A stark contrast to the dark figure that had just walked into the castle. “Welcome, Supreme Leader!” Drav faked a smile that didn’t reach his worried eyes. “We’ve been waiting for your arrival.”

As if on cue, the councilmen filtered into the throne room through an archway to greet the leader. "You know the councilors, they have been the ones keeping in touch with you. Tarrok, Ervin, Aeos, and Kaesis." As they greeted him one by one, Dinah spotted beads of sweat on their foreheads and clenched hands in their pockets. "And our ambassador, Dinorah." She didn't address him like her colleagues, just observed from behind with a stoic face.

"Now," Tarrok quickly gained dominance and butted into the King's salutations. "As much as we encourage you to come visit Delta any time without reason, there seems to be a motive behind this visit. The Jedi, correct?"

Drav soured quickly but the steely look Dinah gave him shut him up. Tarrok briefly turned to Dinah and the King, looking a bit smug, but gave all of his attention to the cloaked figure in the castle. His assemblage of armored soldiers flanked him like statues, unmoving and unnerving to the Oceanids that stood in front of them.

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In the dim, gritty lighting aboard the Supremacy, it was hard to see anything unless you were down in the main corridors. And yet, Hux's eyes adjusted to the bright white of Pryde's hair as he stepped away from his 'designated' cot. She looked a mess, quite frankly.

Battle-worn, the result of Chandrila. And yet, she still had that mouth. "Pryde." The general returned the sentiment with a cold voice. She wasn't to be trusted, neither was her father. The entire Pryde family just made him feel uneasy.

In retrospect, he should've seen it coming. He was a tactition, a leader, the brains. And even though he knew Alexandria, he was more familar with Pryde, the smug bastard.

He always came across when talking to Kylo. He hated both of them equally, the Supreme Leader and kiss-ass Enric who always monologued about the 'Old Wars'.

If Hux was in the mood, he would've chuckled at her statement. Armitage was not in that mood. Really, he never was.

The stormtroopers practically grew up with him and never saw him smile except for that strange crooked tug of his lips whenever he wins a battle or bests Kylo. "I thought you would've grown out of following in your father's footsteps. Guess we're both wrong." Maybe he was a little harsh.

As he stepped back out to the main entrance of the medwing, he could see her fully now. She didn't really look like her father, not that he payed much attention to her features up close. Alexandria was much different than Enric.

A lot less of a nuisance, but he'd never admit that out loud. Of course, Armitage was too tired to feel guilty about his snappiness so he decided to inquire. "How was Chandrila, you didn't catch Syndulla, did you?" He hadn't heard the outcome of the mission after he had gotten into that fight, so he was quite curious to say the least.

He suspected the turnout was poor for the Order because of the look on Alexandria's face and the tense atmosphere on the ship once the few remaining squadrons returned


 
Kylo Ren was not surprised to find such a gathering waiting for him, even given the short notice. He eyed the white-garbed king as he spoke, offering introductions that he hardly needed, or cared for. It gave Kylo Ren time to skim the familiar, and unfamiliar, faces. Fear radiated off of most of them, and particularly, Drav.

He wouldn’t have lasted a day in his mother’s presence.

An hour.

All fake smiles and fake cheer. Kylo Ren could hardly stand it himself. Yet, there was one in the group who didn’t radiate the fear of the others, and no surprise, she was not a familiar face. Her blue eyes stood out in her expressionless face, a stoic mask compared to the others around her, but her skin was as unusually pale as the others, marking her as one of them, in spite of her otherwise human features.

Hux had more color to him.

‘Dinorah.’ He made a mental note of her name, as Tarrok stepped forward to interject.

At least he could get to the point, though Kylo’s lips pulled into a thin smile at the man’s comment that he was welcome to arrive without warning, or without reason, anytime he liked. ‘Of course I am.’ They were lucky he hadn’t simply taken the planet from them, but he forced himself not to consider that casual reminder.

Tarrok was right about why he was there, after all. “Rey,” Kylo said, “The Jedi. I understand she was here not long ago. She isn’t here any longer,” he could sense that. “I need to know what she was doing here, and why she wasn’t contained until my arrival.”

Kylo addressed it to the group without calling anyone out, though he suspected either Drav or Tarrok would attempt to answer.

Did they not know she was with the Resistance? Did they even attempt to contain her?

None of his Stormtroopers would speak or interject. They remained behind him, filing into two lines behind him once they were in the throne room. Their weapons remained in their hands. Their posture was straight, rigid, and all heads were pointed forward.

~***~

‘Oh, are we still talking about fathers?’ Alexandria didn’t say that, but the thought occurred to her to return the remark. It was an easy target, and she’d learned long ago not to let that one show. Weakness was abhorred. Any evidence of weakness was to be mercilessly picked at until it no longer mattered, or…well, until death.

Not every Cadet lost had been murdered. Some simply couldn’t hack it.

She still gave no answer to his statement. She assumed it was rather rhetorical, though his follow-up question wasn’t, as four pills spilled into her hand. She replaced two, and answered.

She didn’t have much of a choice. In spite of changes, her rank hadn’t changed – Armitage Hux was still her superior officer. “No, Syndulla escaped, she figured out what I was too soon.” And so she had gotten ahead of the forces called in, with her entire crew.

Alexandria didn’t have many failures on her record, but this one was definitely a glaring mark. She had been doing so well, she wasn’t even sure what tipped Hera off. She knew she was lucky to have gotten out alive, and lucky to remain alive, but she didn’t feel that way. They had all gotten away, and she couldn’t figure out where she erred.

That was the hard part to accept – that they had all gotten away. She knew that was also the part that had upset Kylo Ren the most.

She dry swallowed one pill. “Other than that, Chandrila’s beautiful. You ought to visit someday.” Down went the second.

As if Armitage would ever leave the comfort of his ships if he didn’t need to. Alexandria knew she was going to loathe being returned to these ships for a long stay, but from the implications, her new mission was going to involve that.
 

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