Fandom Star Wars: Rising Tide [closed]

[cleopat]

“You’re small,” Kylo stated rather plainly. “On someone of my size, you can use speed to trip them up, or focus on the pressure points of the lower body.” At the right angle and force, any hit on one of those points could temporarily stun Kylo for her to gain an advantage.

And he wondered if he would come to regret teaching her about that.

“A sharp step on the foot, if possible,” but Kylo’s boots were thick, and he doubted Myka could make much of an impact. “The shin, the kneecap, and the solar plexus are areas I would recommend to try and strike.” He wouldn’t mention the groin.

Myka already knew about that, and he didn’t want to put it into her head to actively try and aim for that area.

“So, consider speed and those pressure points.”

~~

Azra didn’t mean fiance, she hadn’t wanted to use that relation for the two of them, but she had blanked in her fake sob story for the Trooper, and it was the first word that came into her head.

But it worked, and the Trooper finally relented and let them in the hangar.

“Thank you for your kindness,” Azra said with a nod. “I will make sure the House of Malvern hears of your generosity towards our family in our time of sorrow.”

She really wished she could see the expression on the Trooper’s face as they walked past him, but the helmet hid what he was thinking, while his posture just emulated First Order training.

Inside the hangar, there were only a few other Stormtroopers. Much to her surprise, they didn’t seem to be stealing from the ships, but filling up some canisters instead. Still, she had her vidcam on, and she hoped BB-8 could record as well.

“Let’s just get to the ship and get out of here before there’s any more trouble,” Azra whispered.

 

[Lucyfer]

Myka did listen, at least.

Kylo pointed out options for someone of her size that wouldn’t take great strength to hit. There may be the issue that without the Force, she hardly felt fast enough, or strong enough, or even skilled enough to do much combat, despite her training, but that was a hurdle for her to get over eventually.

She wished she’d worn spikier heels right then. That would get through his boots. These would not.

“Okay, I’ll try that,” though she knew there were still multiple problems with any attempt to strike him. He knew it was coming. He now knew what she’d try. She remained at an obvious disadvantage.

Still, she knew she wasn’t getting off the hook because it was difficult, so she would have to go through the motions. It might even make beating him with a saber sweeter. So, of course, she would try again – rushing forward, but rather than kicking, ducking at the last second to throw an elbow into his knee.

~***~

There didn’t appear to be anything terribly drastic or strange going on in the hangar, once they had moved by the single guard. Just a bunch of Troopers moving around, filling up fuel canisters. No reason to shut it down, in Poe’s opinion, though he did hope their ship still had fuel in it.

They’d find out soon.

“Yeah, good idea,” he agreed, as he made his way towards the ship. Thankfully, the rest of the Troopers seemed to think this wasn’t their problem, so they weren’t stopped as they opened up the ship and got into it.

There’d be no hanging around – not after that sob story, so Poe was quick to get the ship started up to get them out of there. “Off to see mommy dearest,” Poe couldn’t help but comment once he was in the pilot’s seat.

 

[cleopat]

Kylo got into position as Myka prepared herself to strike out at him again. As he told her where she could strike, he kept an eye on where she would attack first, and prepared to move swiftly out of the way before she did get the idea to knee him in the groin.

As she rushed forward, Kylo expected a kick, so when she ducked at the last second, he had barely a moment to evade the attack.

And that last second maneuver by Myka caused Kylo to not completely evade the attack. While her elbow didn’t jam into his knee like she had intended, she still managed to force Kylo to stumble a few steps forward before he regained his footing.

“That was better,” he commended, turning to face her. “You nearly managed to knock me down.”

~~

Despite the one Stormtrooper insistently standing guard and didn’t want to let them in, the Troopers in the hangar didn’t seem bothered by the presence of Azra and Poe. Maybe they simply thought that there had to be a reason they were let in? Or it wasn’t in their job description to care about them? The Trooper standing guard let them in. It would be his fault.

They simply paid no attention as Azra and Poe got into her ship, and Azra wouldn’t risk getting into trouble by asking them what they were doing, with her camera recording their answers.

She didn’t need the guard to come in and see that she wasn’t in her beginning stages of mourning.

Standing next to Poe instead of immediately taking the co-pilot’s seat, Azra snorted. “And she will be so thrilled to see us.” Especially since she knew nothing about the matriarch of this Serenno Marlvern family.

Or that they weren’t actually going there, but just away from Castilon.

 

[Lucyfer]

Though the hit connected, it still sent a jarring reaction up her own arm. She had to shake it out a moment, irritated with that sensation, as she stood back up, accepting that she didn’t need to be on the defensive. Kylo wasn’t lashing back out, so much as testing what she could do, and how she could think, when given information.

And this time, she’d done much better. She hit him, and if her own arm hadn’t suffered in the process, she might have been able to attempt to press some sort of initiative.

“I’m going to assume that eventually one gets used to the jarring nature of this,” it likely wouldn’t have been so jarring with a kick, of course. The elbow had a sensitive part to it, rather like the knee, apparently.

Either way, she’d take position to go over this, again, and again, until one of them got sick of this sort of fighting and elected to move on towards lightsabers.

~***~

Poe chuckled at that, though he knew at least House Malvern on Serenno was more in favor of the Resistance than some of the others. Then again, most of them weren’t too keen on empires after the last one, but they weren’t exactly fans of the New Republic. There was history that Poe only knew of – he couldn’t begin to understand the lived experiences on Serenno.

“We’re gonna go fly by a planet called Oru,” Poe said, “and then go take rest near another,” there were some worlds they simply couldn’t land on.

Azra needed to see that, too.

She needed to see how the First Order truly ruined planets beyond even living on, let alone stepping on, and he had two in mind, destroyed in different ways.

 

[cleopat]

Kylo didn’t even try to suppress his smirk at Myka’s question. He wasn’t the least bit surprised that she found the attack a bit jarring. The difference in their physical size was great, and she admitted her strength could use some work.

He would’ve been surprised if Myka didn’t suffer any sort of pain radiating in her arm.

“Yes, one does get used to the jarring nature,” he answered, and then added, “It does not surprise me that someone of your stature would be shocked at first by the physical contact.”

Her strengths lied in the use of the Force for combat, not just pure physical strengths.

Kylo moved back to his beginning position, a few feet away from Myka. He would continue this until one of them demanded to move on, and he was determined to see it was her that gave up first.

~~

Azra raised a brow at the plans Poe laid out. She wasn’t familiar with Oru at all. Did that speak of what the First Order did to the planet? Or was it just some unassuming, backwater planet?

“Why are we only flying by it?” she asked. Maybe it was too dangerous, or what she needed to see could be seen from space. But what could that be? I guess I'll see soon enough.

“And whichever planet we’re resting on, try not to throw any food at a Stormtrooper,” she lightly teased. Such a waste of good fries…But they had managed to get video proof of what they were doing, and trick a Stormtrooper to let them into the hangar.

Azra then decided to move to sit in the co-pilot’s seat, since they were only flying by the next planet.

 

[Lucyfer]

Myka had started with that same determination as Kylo to not be the one to call it. Kylo would certainly get bored of this, right? It seemed not, though of course, Myka was in the position that failed more often than not. She had a long ways to go before she had skill enough to fight without the Force.

Perhaps it might even be better to try it with someone who wasn’t Kylo, who didn’t have the Force at all. ‘Or doesn’t know they have it.’ That nagging thought of the Stormtrooper in training.

Somehow she just had to get around Phasma.

“Okay! Okay!” Myka finally drew away in frustration, the anger wanting to spike in use of the Force, but she had enough control over that. It was visible, though – tinting her eyes that brighter yellow again, drawing flames of orange in them. “I think I’ve seen enough with this for one day,” she’d come back to this, of course.

She wasn’t going to abandon this practice, but she knew when she wasn’t going to learn anything anymore.

She pulled her saber from the floor to her hand, “Let’s see how you are with the lightsaber, instead.” Both sides lit in that magenta hue, so counter to the dark side. The sabers didn’t bleed, or scream. They were balanced. Attuned to her, and balanced.

~***~

“We’re not resting on any planet,” Poe shook his head, “We’re flying by one, and the other we’re going to rest over. Don’t worry…there’s no risk of being spotted by anything below, on either planet,” and she’d soon see why.

He heard her question, of course.

He chose to ignore it.

Some things were best seen in person, after all. “Though I could use more food,” he grumbled, and BB-8 noted he was always hungry, “You say that like it’s a bad thing.” BB-8 noted it was an expensive thing, and Poe laughed. “True.”

When they reached Oru, the planet almost appeared to be a gaseous planet, rather than a solid one, and Poe dipped the ship down a little, “Is there a way for this ship to read the atmosphere? You know, to make sure it’s safe.”

He wanted Azra to see that it wasn’t a gas planet.

And that it was toxic, made that way by the Order.

 

[cleopat]

They continued, and as expected, Myka continued to lose, although Kylo did note a gradual improvement of the course of their sparring. Even if he won these rounds, he felt more victorious when Myka folded in first, and a light smirk tugged at his lips.

He loved how he could see that anger flash in her eyes.

“Alright then.” He pulled forth his saber as well, left on the floor, near the wall, out of the way for their earlier sparring. Her saber lit before him, revealing the double-ended weapon with a magenta hue, a color he had not seen in a lightsaber before. Interesting.

His lit up, the main blade appearing unstable and serrated, nearly as volatile as its owner, and the crossguards matching the main blade in its fiery red hue. Kylo twirled the saber once in his hand, and without warning, he swung at Myka.

Kylo didn’t know what to expect from her with her lightsaber, but he prepared for a true battle. She killed his Knight, which took great skill.

~~

Azra looked at Poe curiously as he said they weren’t resting on any planet. Just flying over. Resting over one. Two uninhabited planets, apparently. So why go there at all, if they couldn’t see anything except the planet’s surface?

What happened to the planet?

She chuckled, half silently agreeing with BB-8. Large appetites were expensive, but at least Poe hadn’t eaten everything in her ship. Yet. “There’s still some food in the kitchenette.” Nothing fancy, as she didn’t cook. Didn’t really know how to cook. It wasn’t exactly something they taught in the First Order.

“Uhh, yeah, I have an atmosphere sensor around here.” She leaned forward to reach underneath the control panel of the cockpit, right in the middle, and pulled out a small screen. It extended out and up for the two to better see the readout on the screen.

Azra pressed a button on the side of the screen, and immediately the device turned on and began to initiate a scan of the atmosphere. “It may take a minute.” Like everything else in her ship, the scanner was old, a bit slow, but did its job.

 

[Lucyfer]

Myka had opportunity to examine Kylo’s blade earlier. It did not frighten her then, and it did not frighten her now, although she could imagine the impact it had on others only too easily. Her own saber would likely never unnerve the way that his did, but then again, it didn’t need to.

Myka met his clash easily, what skill she had in combat returning when she had the saber in hand, and the bit of Force necessary to wield them so she didn’t simply kill him. These weren’t exactly training sabers. Stopping short was necessary.

She didn’t break the lock in the traditional fashion, but rather loosed her blade so that Kylo’s pressure would spin it down – and ideally, his own blade would plummet to the ground with it, allowing Myka to step around him and position the second blade at the back of his neck, now that it had spun to the top and the fall of the first blade released it from the lock that never was.

~***~

Poe waited until the atmosphere was up and running, before he dug out his datapad and brought up information on the planet Oru, including coordinates so she could cross reference.

He just had a feeling this was going to be hard to accept.

“No worries,” he said about the slow process, but when it eventually showed up, it showed high levels of toxicity, notably carbon dioxide, among others. The atmosphere had barely any oxygen to it, indicating how it had been stripped of life entirely and made into a lifeless husk.

“Here,” he offered his datapad to her, “This is what Oru was,” he said, “I’m sure if you want proof it was the Order, we could fly down and find some of their abandoned hangouts, but…,” well, he was hoping they wouldn’t have to do that. He’d rather not test the hull’s integrity to keep poison out.

Either way, Oru information would be on the datapad, about the life it had before, and how it had been beforehand.

 

[cleopat]

Myka immediately showed better skill in lightsaber combat than she did in physical sparring, and she also held a trick Kylo didn’t quite expect. Her saber moved, rather it spun, and the force Kylo exerted on the saber caused him to swing his blade towards the ground, his balance wavering with it.

He stumbled, and before he could straighten back up, there was a saber at the back of his neck, the unmistakable hiss of the blade near his hair. To fall so easily and so quickly...he didn’t even know what to think at the moment. Impressed? Anger?

“I see that your skills are indeed more attuned in the lightsaber.” Once allowed, he straightened himself back up, and looked at Myka, then at her blade. A curious one it was, but he had heard of sabers that spun. Seen pictures of them. Inquisitors loved to use them, and, it seemed, so did this young Sith.

This time, he waited for her to move, curious to see how she would attack on the offensive.

~~

Azra furrowed her brows at the read out on the screen. Nothing about the planet suggests that it was liveable, and yet, apparently it once held a significant population before the planet was stripped of its resources. What the fuck happened here?

She took the datapad Poe offered to her, her frown deepening as she perused through the information. The planet once indeed had life, held a population like any other in the galaxy, but now it was nothing but toxic gas that supported nothing.

No, she didn’t quite believe. She didn’t want to believe him, that the First Order, although already holding a list of questionable and illegal acts, could kill a planet like that.

“The ship can’t filter toxic gas. We would die,” Azra whispered, still scanning the information both on the atmosphere sensor screen and the datapad. “How am I supposed to believe that the First Order did this?” She turned her gaze on Poe as she voiced her disbelief.

To completely destroy a planet like that. Why? What was the point?

 

[Lucyfer]

Myka allowed Kylo to straighten up after a moment and add distance once more, a smirk on her lips as he realized his grave mistake. No doubt, he’d underestimated her in the engagement, thinking her skill would be just as poor as it was in sparring – or at least, not as good.

The lightsaber acted like something of a crutch, really. She had the physical skills, to some degree, but without the lightsaber, she tended to forget how to implement them in combat. Without the Force, too.

Kylo didn’t rush again, but that was no issue to Myka.

The Inquisitor blade was made for the offense – playing defense too long had gotten more than one blade cut in half. They simply weren’t made for that, in an attempt to wean their original wielders out of defensive, Jedi habits.

Myka never had that hang-up.

She immediately lunged forward to push the saber through his abdomen (though of course, she’d stop short if she had to – but not without charring clothing to prove her point). She didn’t anticipate success from a telegraphed move, though.

If Kylo blocked it, the blade would simply spin so the second could attempt an overhead strike.

If he stepped aside, Myka would press forward with rapid slashes and turns of her blade to keep him from getting out of defense, himself.

~***~

“Yeah, I didn’t think it could,” Poe didn’t sound terribly disappointed about it. Going down there to see what was below the gas wasn’t exactly cheery, either. It only made things worse, really. The disbelief was evident in Azra as he pulled the ship up a bit.

He wouldn’t leave just yet.

He’d keep this in view while she considered the fate of Oru.

“The planet, Oru, had a lot of a zersium. I’m sure you’re familiar with how the Empire used to strip-mine worlds like Nag Ubdur for even just a little of that,” it made durasteel, after all, which groups like the Order desperately needed. “This is going to be the fate of Hays Minor, too. You can already start to see it. They strip the worlds, and then they start testing their weapons. Small tests, and then….”

Then something large. “This isn’t the only planet they’ve destroyed. This one is lucky to have survivors get off-world, but they’re not exactly friendly.” Going to see them was out of the question. They’d refused to join the Resistance.

 

[cleopat]

Kylo anticipated her lunge forward, a simple and basic enough maneuver that he could think of several different ways he could block her saber

He stayed where he was and blocked the saber with his own. As he had been previously surprised by the spin of her blades, Kylo anticipated the other blade to spin towards him and he was able to block before it threatened his head.

If he wanted any chance at actually winning the fight, he couldn’t stay on the defense for too long. Not when he’s seen a glimpse at the agility she was capable of, and not when he knew what she was potentially capable of.

After his overhead block, Kylo would swiftly swipe at Myka’s torso, keeping mindful of the spinning blades that may come back at him. Regardless of whether or not he struck her, he would then step out of the way in one long stride to further evaluate how he could bring Myka down. If she had any weak spots he could exploit.

~~

Azra’s frown only deepened as Poe continued to talk. She didn’t want to believe that the First Order was capable of transforming a previously inhabited planet into a toxic environment because of their need for resources, but she couldn’t refute his claim.

They did need a lot of zersium for their countless projects and ships. She did go to Hays Minor to see what they were doing there, which was stripping the world of its resources and testing the weapons on its citizens. Many areas were destroyed, rendered barren and uninhabitable because of them.

She knew all of this, and yet she still didn’t want to believe him, only because she had been a part of the First Order for so long, and for all those years, thought they were the ones doing good in the galaxy. That the New Republic was destroying the galaxy.

How many lies had she been told?

The only evidence of Oru Azra could take were the current atmospheric readings, compared to the information Poe had. “And there are other worlds like Oru?” Her voice was no more than a whisper, as she shifted her eyes from the datapad onto the planet below them.

“Do you know how many more there are?”

 

[Lucyfer]

The swipe at her torso caused Myka to also jump a step back, easily gaining the distance she needed, but she wasn’t inclined to let up. Kylo had also stepped further out of range, and she intended to remedy that.

She again sprinted forward, only this time, she flung her lightsaber ahead, a seemingly haphazard gesture. It wasn’t a straight throw, and the saber didn’t move at an even-keel, but that instability was, in this case, intentional. Given neither of them were terribly far, she didn’t plan for Kylo to have much time to react – and with that, she hoped his reaction was a dodge, and not a block.

Kylo would likely move again.

In either case, Myka intended to continue in his direction, and slide by him to catch the lightsaber on its way back to her hand to follow with a slash at his back, if all went according to plan.

~***~

Poe wouldn’t speak to fill the silence that followed his words. He knew that what he said wasn’t easy to digest, even for someone with more rebel leanings than First Order ones. To think anyone was capable of something like this was hard. Then again, they knew what the Empire was willing to do.

They’d destroyed Alderaan.

Enslaved the wookiees.

Was it so surprising that the scions of the Empire would be just as bad?

“Yeah, there are others,” Poe said, “I doubt I knew them all, but that’s not where we’re heading up. We’re going to…see another form of their destruction. Another planet we can’t land on,” he said, and he began to plug in new coordinates to warp towards.

 

[cleopat]

As they both stepped away from one another, Kylo anticipated for Myka to be the first one to move, the first one to attempt an attack, and as predicted, she was, but not in the way he had expected. She threw her saber, but it wasn’t even a clean throw.

It was sloppy, with no particular target in mind except to just aim in Kylo’s general direction.

And so he reaction would be a dodge as natural instinct took over to avoid any flinging weapons directed at him. There was no time to rest as Myka grabbed a hold of her saber again and aimed a slash in his direction. This time, he was ready for her.

Kylo quickly spun to face her and moved his saber to block her strike. “I’m pleased you fight better with your lightsaber than you do with your fists.” Without waiting for a response, he swiped at her in a barrage of strikes with a series of attacks, the intention to either knock the saber loose from her grasp, or to simply put her on the defensive for a time.

Allow himself to show her what he could do.

~~

I think I might throw up.

Azra wasn’t really going to vomit. Maybe. But she did feel sick at the thought of other planets facing the same fate as Oru, like Hays Minor was. No matter what the populations may have done, no one deserved their entire home and existence to simply be destroyed in such a manner.

“What’s the name of this planet?” Her voice was still soft as she attempted to process everything. “What happened to it?” She had never heard of Oru before. Would this planet be the same? A hidden, dark secret that the First Order kept from their own officers, while Azra blindly assumed they would never lie to her?

Azra leaned forward and placed her face in her hands as she willed away a forming headache from her recent revelations. And this is why you left to become a reporter. To uncover the absolute truths of this war.

But the truths were getting harder and harder to accept.

 

[Lucyfer]

Kylo Ren’s compliment brought a smirk forward, but it was hardly enough to make Myka lose focus. His shift to a more offensive style was also no surprise, although it was not wanted, either. There was an inherent risk in blocking with this blade. She could, but she didn’t need more time for Kylo to consider actually breaking her blade, or doing so by mistake.

So, she preferred dodging, and trying to steal the offense back from Kylo even amidst his flurry. She still made attempts to upset his balance with a well-placed counter strike, but he wasn’t losing his step. His strength was still his advantage, as her speed was becoming her own.

Well, she had another way to make him lose focus.

She played on agility a bit longer, stepping it up so Kylo would continue to try and move faster to meet her. She wasn’t near tiring yet, but his quicker strikes likely meant more difficulty in halting one soon enough. That would make it easier for her to take a seemingly inconsequential strike across her torso that would burn more fabric than it did skin, and show Kylo just enough to distract him.

So, of course, that was how Myka played her next steps – an attempt to take a grazing strike that would tear at her bodysuit and cause an unfortunate mishap.

~***~

“Najra-Va,” Poe gave the name of the planet, “and it’s…not the only one like it in its system,” he added. Many other planets there had holes drilled through them, but Najra-Va was the only one where it was drilled all the way through.

Whatever minerals they wanted, whatever ores, they really didn’t care how much damage they did to a planet at all, and in places like this, there was no help for the planets that suffered. The Unknown Regions were just that – not part of the New Republic, and not given any aid.

They had nowhere to go.

“Najra-Va wasn’t inhabited, as far as we can tell, but it’s moon was…it’s not any longer. Although, I don’t really know how anyone lived there,” they entered lightspeed, “the sun in that area seems to have gone out a long time ago. It’s all icy and frozen over, but the settlements weren’t that old.”

 

[cleopat]

Kylo managed to keep his offense going for a bit, enough for him to dare to think he may win this round. Myka wasn’t one to use defensive too much, and so he aimed to keep her there until she slipped up and he could strike.

And there it was, the opening he had hoped, but it didn’t play out exactly how he had hoped. Yes, Kylo landed a strike on Myka across her torso, burning her clothes. Just enough to slash through the fabric of that bodysuit, revealing her torso to him.

Revealing her….oh. Oh. Kylo was certain he was blushing, as he could feel the heat in his ears, but he couldn’t look away from the sight in front of him. It was so unexpected, and he already held certain thoughts about the woman in front of him.

This was only going to make it worse, he was certain.

~~

Najra-Va, yet another planet that didn’t ring any bells in Azra’s head. She wasn’t completely sure if that meant she trusted Poe in what he was saying, or if it meant the First Order was indeed lying, or hiding, a lot to its officers.

Somehow, with the other evidence Poe had been able to deliver, Azra was leaning toward the latter.

She lifted her head back up and looked over at Poe. “What happened to Najra-Va and its moon?” Maybe she didn’t want the answer, but she had to know the truth.

With every passing planet Poe showed her, Azra grew closer to just handing over all the information she had on the First Order. Sure, she still had her issues with the Resistance, but Poe seemed genuinely interested in helping the people, even on a personal and individual level.

What the fuck is even right or wrong anymore.

 

[Lucyfer]

Kylo went as scarlet as his lightsaber, a now inert weapon as his distraction became apparent in his face and body language. He stopped slashing at her, after all. Not that Myka would just walk forward, no, she wasn’t that foolish.

Unlike Kylo, she hadn’t forgotten that this was still a fight, and she used his open posture to lunge forward, and put her lightsaber right under his chin.

“Eyes up, pretty boy,” she teased, a half-threat with the lightsaber to raise it higher and force his chin up. Force his eyes up, even as she stepped in closer. She did intend to let her leg graze along his in that step forward, but nothing else. This was likely far too close for his comfort anyways – and not close enough.

“A wardrobe malfunction doesn’t end a fight, last I knew.”

But it certainly won this one. Perhaps he’d start to realize the genius of the designs.

~***~

Poe shook his head, “I’ll tell you when we get there, once you see it. I don’t think you’ll believe me, otherwise,” he said. “I barely believed it….”

And he’d seen a lot, during his tenure with the Resistance. More than most.

Eventually, they would reach Najra-Va, and Azra would be able to see that the center had been cored. It was like a donut, and sometimes Poe called it that to help ease the horror of what he was seeing.

“They drilled straight through it, best we can tell,” he said, gesturing out, and starting to move the ship so she could see the moon, which also had a notable dent – not a hole, not a coring, but all the same…it was strange.

“We’re not even sure what for,” Poe said, “Najra-Va doesn’t seem to have anything useful.”

The sun was dead in the midst of all this, its gravitational pull maintained somewhat by its mass. It hadn’t gone supernova yet; Poe couldn’t say he understood why, or what happened to it, either. He assumed a natural death.

 

[cleopat]

Kylo’s gaze only lifted back up to Myka with the silent threat of her saber, followed by her teasing words. She was close, but of course she had to step even closer, and he became hyper aware of how he could almost touch her if he chose, and of how her leg grazed along his.

His lightsaber cut off, and in that moment, Kylo held back every desire to reach out and touch her. He could so easily do it, and he wanted to.

“You had planned for it, didn’t you?” She knew exactly what would distract him, and she planned her moves accordingly. It was smart...but also aggravating. A dirty trick that she exploited.

But he couldn’t argue with her choices. Not when she stood right before him, top half exposed and his mind drifting off to recall how she looked reclining on his bed.

~~

Azra prepared herself for the worst, from what Poe told her. What could be so bad that couldn’t even be offered in a brief explanation? She didn’t enjoy the way her stomach twisted into knots at the anticipation of the sight they would see upon coming out of lightspeed.

But Poe had been right. She wouldn’t have believed that there was a giant hole through the entire planet, and its moon also suffered damage. She stood up, as if that helped her better see the horror before them.

“They don’t have anything useful,” Azra muttered, repeating what Poe said. “Maybe they were testing something.” But what? As far as she knew, not even the First Order had weapons capable of drilling a large hole straight through a planet, core and all.

But...there was a secret project going underway in the Order, that she knew. But she doubted this had anything to do with it. She hoped.

Azra let out a shuddering breath and sat back down in her seat. “This means so much, and yet so little.”

 

[Lucyfer]

Kylo’s lightsaber cut off, and Myka didn’t chuckle, though she wanted to. She cut hers, accepting the silent surrender, and stepped back. For his sake, she did at least cross her arms over her chest once the lightsaber wasn’t humming with its energy any longer.

“Of course I did,” Myka answered, “You should have learned by now I do not fight fair,” she had played with him a bit without weapons, she was still more than willing to play when they had weapons.

There’d only be more of that with the Force involved, too.

He didn’t need to know that. Yet.

“You should be prepared to deal with such things, after all…I can’t be the only person in the galaxy who will try things like this….” Though she might be one of the few to be successful.

~***~

Poe let himself fall silent as Azra stood up. No amount of examination would change the fact, but Poe did fly them in a bit closer so she could see, while looking to get a glimpse of the moon. He let this, too, sink in for Azra, and wondered what she had expected when she was looking into the First Order.

He was always surprised by their defenders. Or even those more neutral. He forgot that people didn’t just know this.

“What it means, is the First Order doesn’t care about life,” which was all Poe needed to know about them, really. “If you serve the people, I think they’d want to know that.” She had claimed that was why she wasn’t just putting her information out.

Why she wasn’t siding with the Resistance, in theory, too.

He wondered how much this might show to her, now that she’d seen multiple planets destroyed, one in the process of it, and children being kidnapped.

 

[cleopat]

Kylo huffed at her statement. “I haven’t heard of very many using this tactic before.” He wondered if it was one she came up with, or if her Master had done anything similar in combat. If it was something other Sith women of the past used. Taking advantage of their opponents in such a way.

“But I will take your word for it.” He wouldn’t, but he would anticipate her trying that tactic again in the future. Or something else just as cheap during their sparring session. He was beginning to see what Myka would do to win a match.

As she took a step back, Kylo stepped back as well, creating more distance between them. Not that it helped him any, as his gaze flickered down to where she crossed her arms over her bare chest. “Do you want to get changed?” Somehow, he half-expected her to say no, that she would stay uncovered like that.

Or rather, he fully expected her to say that.

~~

That’s not true, Azra had wanted to scream at him. She had once been of the First Order. She cares about life, as did everyone who worked around her. But there was so much she was lied to about. So much kept hidden. No, she didn’t expect to be told everything going on in the Order, but this? The dying planets? The children?

She wanted to vomit. Oh, why did she have to agree to let Poe show her these atrocities? Because it was exactly what you wanted.

Azra stood up again, but this time she headed out of the cockpit, every limb shaking from her grief, her frustration, and her rage. “This is just…” she couldn’t finish her sentence. The people would hear about everything, and Azra vowed to write and publish her article soon. These depravations couldn’t go unheard any longer.

Her hands laid flat a table, steading her body as she attempted to control every thought and emotion that ran through her. You should tell him. No, she couldn’t. Not after everything she had seen. Shame flooded through her at her blind naivete at trusting their every single word as an officer.

 

[Lucyfer]

‘No, no you haven’t.’ It wasn’t how the Empire did things. It was not how the Order was likely to do things. They won and they made it look efficient and honest, even though it wasn’t. Myka had no time for such things as that – at least not from herself. Perhaps from minions that was fine, to uphold an organizational standard.

Not herself.

Kylo’s statement of her attire caused her lips to flicker in a smirk. “Oh, of course,” she said, lowering her arms, “I’ll just head to my room to go get something to change in to,” she said agreeably enough.

She had nothing to change into here.

And she was pretty sure Kylo would realize what he was asking her to do before she reached the door, but she’d still go towards it. After all, it really didn’t bother her in the least if the entirety of the Order saw her that way, but she was pretty sure it was about to send off about eight alarms in Kylo’s head.

~***~

Azra’s reaction was more intense than Poe expected. He wasn’t sure if he should feel guilty, but he did. ‘At least I planned for us to stay here.’ He set the ship into its anchor mode, so they wouldn’t move much, as he got up from the pilot’s seat and went to follow after Azra.

BB-8 stayed behind, silent as he’d been before, letting Poe find where Azra had wandered off to.

It wasn’t far, even by the ship’s standards.

He hesitated a moment, before reaching out to set a hand gently on her upper back. “I’m sorry. I know it’s a lot to take in,” he said, “I probably could have done better with warning you, but…well, I didn’t. I’m sorry.”

How was one even warned for this kind of stuff?

Poe didn’t know.

He’d seen it. He’d felt his own disgust – but he had his training to help him get through it. He had Leia to help him get through it. If she could handle it…well, he could, too.

 

[cleopat]

Kylo’s gaze flickered once more to her bare chest, and it took him a few minutes for Myka’s words to process in his mind. I’ll just head to my room. As she crossed the training room to the door. As she prepared to walk the corridors in her current state.

And he knew she was brazen enough to do that. This woman will be the death of me.

He shot one hand out, reaching the Force out to Myka to stop her in her tracks. “No, you won’t.” Kylo didn’t wish to think about the reactions she would garner from her indecent state. The complaints and fury sent his way, in the form of a screaming General Hux. Of other officers staring at the woman.

Stars forbid if Hux told Snoke about it.

“I’ll grab you something.” Perhaps one of his tunics, as he didn’t wish to go into her quarters and browse through her things. She needed something more covering, dammit. Kylo headed for the door, and rose one brow at Myka. “Will that suffice?”

~~

Azra tensed for a second under Poe’s gentle touch, but she soon relaxed as her mind processed that he was attempting to comfort her. It was an unfamiliar gesture. “It’s not just that,” she blurted out, and then took a deep, shaky breath.

“It is, but it isn’t.” Might as well. Maybe there was something she could do to stop the shame she felt, and before she could change her mind, Azra said, “I’ll be right back.”

She headed for her quarters and made her way over to the dresser, opening the bottom drawer. There she shifted through her clothes until she found the flash drive on the very bottom. The flash drive that held all the information she was able to obtain of the First Order before she left, including her own file.

But if there was some hope to fix what she had a hand in for so many years, a sliver of a chance to find missing children or stop more from disappearing, then she would do it.

A moment later, Azra walked back to Poe, placing the flash drive on the table. “I know I said I didn’t want to give the information directly to you out of journalism ethics...but I won’t stop you if you just so happened to find this flash drive on the table.”

 

[Lucyfer]

Myka froze.

There was a flicker of anger, but she tamped it down before Kylo drew near. The thought of throwing off his momentary grasp of her was there, but she didn’t. She just put on a smile when he came close, taunting him with that look as he knew she was willing to do so very much, by now, to get her way.

If she truly wanted to make a point and walk out there like this, she could – and he knew it. Or, Myka assumed he knew it by the way he asked if getting her something to wear would suffice.

“I suppose so,” she said, “I’ll wait here, then. Just don’t take too long or I may get bored,” and stars knew what she was prone to do if she got bored.

~***~

Poe lifted his hand as Azra moved away from him, and he started after her quizzically, wondering why she had to run off. Still, he didn’t continue to follow her, but waited for her to return. ‘I hope she’s okay….’ Though it was obvious something was amiss. Terribly so.

When she came back, there was some small answer in the flashdrive.

Poe wouldn’t ask if she was sure, or if she wanted to reconsider. He just moved his hand over it, and drew it back towards himself, before he pocketed it. BB-8 would get it soon enough, in case she had regrets and thought to search his clothes.

“Then you never gave it to me,” he allowed, “I just found it, and stole it, like the terrible, lawless person I am,” he cocked a slight smile, “C’mon. We should head back. You probably need to rest, and we can talk about what we’ll do tomorrow.”

 

[cleopat]

“Stars forbid you get bored.” Sarcasm dripped from his words, but he knew that Myka would not hesitate to do something...stupid. Like casually stroll about the corridors in her current state.

He released Myka from his Force grip and left the room, making sure the door slid close behind him before making his way back to his quarters. No, he wouldn’t take any time at all, and anyone who tried to stop him for any reason would simply be met with a glare.

Once in his room, Kylo wouldn’t take long to grab something that would suffice. He pulled a black tunic from his closet, one that should nearly function as a dress on Myka, given the difference in their sizes.

He wouldn’t waste any more time before walking back to the training room, hoping that Myka behaved and stayed there. She already frustrated him in ways he didn’t wish to think about.

And yet he did want to think about them. To pursue those frustrations.

“Here,” he gruffed, throwing the tunic at Myka, keeping his gaze averted from her.

~~

Azra felt the flash of regret as she watched Poe pocketed the flashdrive. It’s for the best. Even if he was a resistance fighter, even if she still thought they only advocated for anarchy, it had to be better than the direction the First Order was sending them in.

Poe’s teasing words and light smile brought one to her own face. “Can’t trust a rebel, can I?” With his next words, Azra shook her head. “I don’t think I can rest,” she muttered. Pacing her quarters all night? Tossing in turning in bed as she recounted all the lies she had been told? That seemed more likely.

“I need a drink. Do you want a drink?” She didn’t wait for Poe’s answer before she set off for the kitchenette and immediately searched through the higher cabinets. Azra pulled out a half-empty bottle of Tevraki whiskey and two short tumblers.

If Poe didn’t want a drink, then she would drink for him. “Tevraki whiskey,” she told him. “I bought this bottle soon after I got this ship.” After she poured the whiskey into their glasses, Azra immediately grabbed hers and took a giant swig, savoring the burn in her throat.

 

[Lucyfer]

Myka would wait, pacing the room to get a feel for it without Kylo Ren there. Taking in how little this room held, given its purpose, and wondering at how well any of Kylo’s knights could actually stand up to him. Wondering if he’d ever really had a challenge in a while. Myka knew she couldn’t challenge him in strength, but he did seem a better loser than she thought he would be.

Then again, that could be the manner of his losing.

When Kylo returned, she was able to grab the tunic before it hit the floor as he turned away. Rolling her eyes, she donned the tunic, “It’s heavy,” perhaps the obvious complaint, given what she tended to dress in.

Nothing about her attire could be called ‘heavy’, it could even be called existent.

She fluffed her hair up above the collar of the tunic and brushed her hands down it, but there was no redeeming this piece of fabric. It was just a terrible rectangle that fell far too long on her. “Does this suffice?” she threw his words back at him a bit, to let him know she was ‘decent’.

Far more decent than she liked to be.

~***~

In other circumstances, Poe would have drunk the whiskey without much thought, but as the designated pilot, he thought that might be a bad idea. There was always the potential of something happening. Still, he did follow Azra this time since it wouldn’t be good to leave her to drink alone in her misery, and as she poured two glasses, he pushed his back towards her.

“We need one sober pilot,” he said, regrettably. “I’ll have to give it a try when we’re on land for a bit.”

Which was something he knew they could address, bringing her to the Resistance, letting her see that side of things, now that she had, more or less, given over the information. Not that he’d say it that way. In this case, he absolutely stole it, to relieve her of any guilt her profession would otherwise inflict upon her.

But he knew.

“How long have you had the ship, anyways?” That would let him know how much opportunity she’d found for drinking, given it was half-empty now.

 

[cleopat]

Kylo rolled his eyes at her complaint, expecting something of the sort coming from her. “It’s because you’re actually wearing fabric,” he said, turning back around to face her. No, there was no redeeming the look. It completely dwarfed her figure, and most likely hid more skin than she was ever used to.

Good.

Now she wouldn’t be a distraction, he hoped. Kylo briefly wondered how she would move in the tunic, if the long, heavy fabric would hinder her in any way. He doubted it. “Yes, it will suffice.”

He stepped back out onto the floor, lightsaber in his grasp but not activated yet. “Do you think you’ll be able to fight in it?” he asked, almost teasing. A near taunt.

~~

Azra shrugged and poured the contents of Poe’s glass into her own. Might as well. She wouldn’t drink more than that though, and placed the whiskey back in the cabinet to help resist the urge to go back for more and wake up with pounding regret.

She took another large sip before heading over to a sofa near the kitchenette. “For about six months.” Not long after she had left the Order and decided to take up her new journalism career. About one-fourth of the bottle had been consumed the night she obtained the ship, as she stewed over her regrets for leaving.

Those regrets were now long gone, though she still missed her father despite everything.

“I usually save it for particularly rough days.” Like this one. “Although once or twice I’ve had a glass just because I wanted one.” Sometimes the silence in her ship became too much, and she needed a distraction. Having Poe around had been...nice. Minus the unpleasant sights he’d shown her.