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KyloGlenn · May 23, 2016

“I think you’re a hallucination. And that’s why I’m getting them drunk,” to prove he wasn’t. “But either way, there’s not enough to get them shitfaced.” She could always get more before they left, though… 

“On Korriban, I’ll get them drunk. Someone needs to fly us there, after all.” She wondered how she’d get them drunk. Gnaeus would be easy, he’d probably want something to drink anyway. Paquin was a mystery. She had scolded Ariel for drinking, so maybe she’d be difficult. But Paquin was also a pushover, Ariel could just guilt her into drinking. 

Kylo would be the real test. Ariel didn’t think she’d ever seen Kylo drunk. And if he was worried about Snoke finding out, then he definitely wouldn’t drink. Maybe she’d just have to force the liquid down his throat. 

“I won’t fail you Darth—Anakin,” she caught herself, recalling how he didn’t want to be called Darth Vader. She didn’t know why. She didn’t know why he’d be disappointed in his kids or Kylo, either. Or at least why he’d be disappointed in Kylo. The boy lived and breathed his grandfather, after all. 

“You’re all good.” The man assured, giving Gnaeus back some credits. 

Paquin watched Kylo, glad that he seemed to be reverting back to the asshole he was. “Thank you, Gnaeus.” She snapped back to the two as the transaction seemed to finish. 

“Remember what I said, Paquin. And bring your friend here, too. I like him. Not so much the other one.” His tone was joking, of course, a smile on his face. Paquin once again smiled and nodded. 

— 

Hux simply scowled as Mira snapped his name. He knew he was in the wrong but Hux found the pilot irritating. Not a great way to keep the peace or form any, so he remained quiet as Leia and Poe explained their plans for a triumvirate. 

“Yes, because triumvirates alway work out.” Hux didn’t like it. The again, Hux wouldn’t be a huge fan of anything involving more than one leader. Things got messy after that. He’d realized that in his own experience, as well as from various other instances. And hadn’t he just been apart of a triumvirate? 

Perhaps not. Him and Ren were more so ‘equals’ with Snoke being the leader. A bad one. Hux, Ren, and Phasma were more of a triumvirate than that. But that still proved his point. 

Their plan wasn’t a bad one, in theory. But again, they trusted so heavily in the Republic, in the Senate. A triumvirate wasn’t nearly as bad as the Senate, but when they’re elected by the Senate…Not to mention Hux could never fully back three leaders. And it wasn’t because he wanted power himself, he didn’t speak as though he or Leia would assume power. He hadn’t even planned on that. 

The galaxy knew what they wanted and although it was his idea, they wouldn’t want him. 

He was a military man, hardly a diplomat. 

Leia had a point. Coruscant had a higher population than all of the Outer Rim, probably. But there were always ways to fix that issue. Have the Core elect their pick from two or whatever number of people that would run, the Mid and Outer Rims doing the same. Majority vote, whoever won, won. 

Hux was never worried about the possibility of the Core being neglected. A majority of the population was at the Core. 

He didn’t share his thoughts with Leia and Poe, though. Instead suggested a way to better their plan. “Again, with the Senate,” if anything, Hux would have them leaving here with them wondering if the New Republic and the Senate were all they were cracked up to be. It seemed they were blind to how neglectful it truly was. “Let the people choose who represents their sphere. Let the Core pick who represents them, the Mid Rim pick theirs and so on and so forth.” Again, ambitious. Long and difficult, full of malfunctions. But people would pick who they think could truly fix their issues. That would be better in the long run. 

Hux still wasn’t convinced peace would be made, but one of their sides would win the war. If it couldn’t be him and his single leader, he’d at least try his best to make sure things didn’t continue the way they were. “Then what needs to get done can truly be addressed.” 

- 

This was definitely more exciting than the other missions they’d previously been assigned. 

Maybe it was because now they were no longer bound to secrecy. They’d split from Hux and the Order and were no longer some sort of back up plan. They’d actually be utilized for war and fighting now, rather than gathering, small missions, and training. And they were ready. Most of them, anyway. 

“Send men in civilian dress to bomb the Union, swarm afterwards to confirm their deaths. Capture if we can, kill if we must.” Captain 5177 confirmed. “Understood, Leader Snoke.” 

Before 5177 left, he asked, “Anything else, Supreme Leader? Should we…utilize a Solo clone.” 5177 was wary to question it. He wasn’t sure what the Han Solo clones were even made for. Maybe it had something to do with Kylo Ren, who ended up killing his actual father. Or maybe it had something to do with General Organa. 

The Captain was smart enough to never question the Supreme Leader. Or the actual Han Solo clones. Or anyone. There were only a couple of them, one young one and an old one. One was obviously newer, as he hadn’t aged to the older Solo stage.

Lucyfer · May 23, 2016

“You could get more,” Anakin was not a good influence, it seemed, and he facepalmed as he realized what he said, “No, do not get more alcohol. And no drunk driving.” Good thing he didn’t get to be a dad. He would have royally screwed that up. 

With his hand still over his face, he flinched as he heard her call him Darth again and suggested she wouldn’t fail him. “Good, my apprentice,” he rolled his eyes. “Because if you fail me, you’ll never sleep again.” 

He really should have listened to Qui-Gon Jinn more before his death. He probably could have learned how to interact with the material world more if he had—but then again, Qui-Gon was just a disembodied voice. Maybe not. 

Gnaeus pocketed the credits, “Thanks,” he said as he put them away, then smirked a bit as he saw Kylo shoot the man a glare for suggesting he wasn’t liked. “He’s sensitive. You’ll warm up to him one day, right Kyle Lauren?” 

Kylo opened his mouth, closed it, scowled. “Is that the best you can come up with?” 

“Yes.” 

“You’re worse than Solo at these jokes.” Kylo hated the words as they slipped his lips, a pain he hadn’t expected suddenly erupting as he remembered several of Han’s terrible, terrible jokes. He stalked off to return to Ariel. 

“See, sensitive. I’ll see you next time, old man,” Gnaeus said to Paquin’s friend, and motioned Paquin to come along as they went to get Ariel. 

~***~ 

Mira hid her smirk behind a sip of coffee. “There,” she said before Leia could comment. “The triumvirate.” 

Phasma canted her head. 

“One representative from the Core. One representative from the Mid-Rim. One representative from the Outer Rim. The three of them would serve as equals, elected by their respective spheres, to address their issues. 

Leia’s brows knit together. She spoke, “That could work,” the first words of true agreement. This kind of compromise she could see actually working out. Powerful representatives at each sphere, to address the issues of each sphere, and come together to learn how to better all. Obviously, they would need to figure out term limits and how to stagger it so that no two were ever elected at the same time, but the more she thought about it, the more she could see it working. 

Mira smiled and set her cup down. Leia continued, “If we could keep the Senate in tact to bring up issues, and, if necessary to remove one or the entirety of the triumvirate from power.” Checks and balances. “With how vast this universe is, it is the only way to have each individual planet represented and heard.” 

“Four senates,” Mira said. “One for each sphere, and then a large senate.” So there wasn’t always the clutter and the noise. This way the individual issues of each sphere could be addressed without being overwhelmed by the others—and also so they could be brought together for larger issues. 

“Where do the Jedi fit in?” Phasma had to ask. “I presume if we are meeting in this setting, organized as we are with a Jedi mediator,” there was a certain snap to her tone that Poe couldn’t deny appreciating, just a bit, “then we should know how the Jedi are going to meddle in these affairs.” She looked first to Mira, but her expression was impassive. 

So she turned it to Leia and pointedly asked, “What were Luke’s plans?” For she assumed Luke to be the leader of the Jedi still. 

“Luke’s plans are not—” 

It was Phasma’s turn to interrupt, “The Jedi are a component. Or are we ridding the universe of their political power once and for all?” Phasma did not see that to be the case, just given the current environment—and how Hux had so easily agreed to a meeting when Mira chose to set it up. The word ‘Jedi’ still had power. They couldn’t escape it. 

~***~ 

Snoke let his face soften a bit at the question posed to him, only for his lips to twist into a malevolent smile as he let a, “Yes,” his out from his lips. 

Mira might snap under the sight. 

Leia certainly would. That would limit the effectiveness of the Force users, which would aid his army in overwhelming them. “The older one,” the one that would more closely match how Han had last looked, if only to tear at their heartstrings. “Now, go.”

KyloGlenn · May 24, 2016

"Now, shush. They're coming back." It would look weird to be seen talking to no one. "Kylo! The murderous glint is back in your eyes, what did Gnaeus do?" Or what did Paquin do? Maybe even the guy at the store. Whatever it was, Ariel was glad. Quiet Kylo wasn't good Kylo. 

"What about Crylo Ren?" Paquin suggested as she waved goodbye to the old man, quiet enough for only Gnaeus to hear. Just because she was happy about Kylo slowly going back to normal, she didn't want to get attacked. And it seemed likely that she would if she did say it, based on the whole 'Solo' thing that just happened. 

"Alright, everyone's here. Let's get going, yeah?" Ariel's anxiousness to leave made Paquin raise an eyebrow. She didn't question it, thinking it was probably just the alcohol. 

"Please don't be drunk the entire time, Ariel." Today, Paquin would let it go. The day was stressful, with failing their mission and then whatever the hell had happened to Kylo. 

Paquin would question him about it on Korriban at some point. She could see it going quite a few ways, most of them with her finding out nothing. She'd give it a shot, though. 

"I'll do what I want." 

- 

The members of the Order had a habit of interrupting, Poe noticed. Irritating, but it didn't matter. 

Poe and Leia hadn't really spoken about the Jedi or if they'd have any power. Poe just assumed the Jedi Order would reform. That's what Leia had said Luke had been working towards before Kylo Ren went and ruined it all. Luke was training the Jedi, for the New Order or otherwise, and then they were gone and killed. 

Then Luke ran away. 

Poe hadn't really had much of an opinion on it, and he wasn't sure of Leia's. But Hux had some sort of opinion. 

"I have mixed feelings about the Jedi," he glanced to Mira as he said that. She was the only one he actually knew, but he knew of the Jedi Order. They were decent enough at peacekeeping. Not so much with the Sith, but hopefully the Sith could be eliminated for a while. Luke had really done nothing at all, simply served as a nuisance. The old man had run off somewhere and posed no real threat. 

Not to the Order, at least. Just the Knights and Snoke, who were no longer a part of the Order. 

He didn't really see them being a huge issue, except for stirring up a commotion with the Sith. Hadn't the Sith been responsible for the destruction that they were still living in today? Which would actually be quite the issue. But that's also what the Jedi would likely be used for. 

And thus, Hux had mixed feelings. 

"Mira is an alright diplomat, but I'm not quite sure how great of an idea it would be having any further Jedi interfere with politics." At that moment, the only Jedi were Luke, Mira, and the scavenger. And Leia, but could she really be considered a Jedi? As far as Hux knew anyway. And Luke would likely have some input if he ever came back. Their current numbers were small, but they would certainly grow. 

"The Jedi managed to keep the peace for thousands of years. As long as no one like Palpatine came along, which shouldn't happen with this system, they could do it for thousands of more years." Poe wasn't defending the idea for Mira or Leia, but rather because it had worked for a long time. 

Unbeknownst to them, the dreaded clone army of Snoke's were making their appearance. Landing at the same dock that they all had, moving through the same Union they had.

Lucyfer · May 24, 2016

Kylo did wonder how Ariel stayed alive sometimes. He was certain she was more drunk than she ought to be, especially to comment so freely. “Gnaeus is attempting dad jokes again.” It was the only way Kylo knew how to put it. 

Gnaeus and Paquin weren’t far behind him. He heard Gnaeus snort at something and glanced back to see him covering his lips, smirking at whatever Paquin had said. Ariel wanted them all to leave. Kylo was in no mood to argue with that. He’d much rather be at Korriban than this place. 

“Yes, let’s all go traipsing off to the Sith planet,” Anakin spoke in irritation. He couldn’t just be quiet because it was convenient for Ariel, no. 

Gnaeus cackled at Ariel’s statements, said, “Don’t worry, I’ll help her drink some of it so she doesn’t die of liver failure,” Gnaeus had no intention of remaining sober once they got to Korriban. On the way there, yes. He was not driving drunk. That would just be asking for death. 

“At least there will be two of you,” Anakin muttered as he followed along with the group to the ship, Gnaeus taking the lead and helping carry a few things with Kylo Ren. Obviously, Kylo could carry more than the bread and meats he’d acquired. Curiously, neither used the Force to do this chore of carrying things onto the ship. 

~***~ 

“Thank you, General,” Mira couldn’t help but say, just a touch of amusement at his compliment. He’d said it before, though. The coincidence didn’t escape her, that she’d used the ‘Jedi Order’ there to win Hux his allies. “However, I am not a Jedi.” 

“Mira,” Leia started, a touch of exasperation in her tone. “You certainly have enough experience now.” 

“Enough to know what I am not, even if once I wanted to be. Nor am I Sith. The Jedi Order were wrong, and I will not see them return as they were. If they return, they will be reformed, but that is a matter for Luke to figure out first,” then Mira would know where she stood. She shut her eyes. Inhaled. “The Jedi and the Sith both deal in absolutes, and absolutes have no place in this universe. Nor does kidnapping children to brainwash them.” She’d promised Finn. It was a pointed remark on how she felt on the Stormtroopers. 

It was amusing how that was good for the Jedi but bad for the First Order, though. “Wait, wait, the Jedi kidnapped and brainwashed children?” Poe straightened up, suddenly interested in this. 

Mira waved it off, “Yes.” Her parents spoke of it. Her parents had bemoaned the fact there was no Jedi Order to help her, to take her off their hands. 

Poe’s nose wrinkled in disgust with the idea. He hadn’t known that about that Jedi, in truth, but he hadn’t studied them in depth. 

Leia looked between them all. The Jedi were a matter she did not feel comfortable discussing. Not to mention, that feeling in her gut had returned. 

She felt quite uneasy, but spoke regardless of that gut feeling, “The Jedi Order will rise in some form, of that I am certain. The universe will need peacekeepers. We are creating division in our system already by splitting things up as we are. An ‘Us vs. Them’ is inevitable in this scheme—Mid-Rim against Core, Core against Outer, the sides will shift, but it will exist. The Jedi may find a place again as peacekeepers. However, I cannot speak for their organization yet, Phasma, and it is clear that Mira cannot, either. The matter of the Jedi may have to wait until another discussion.” 

If there was to be another discussion. 

If they weren’t all blown up by the bombs being set.

KyloGlenn · May 25, 2016

“Right, because that’s so much better,” Paquin mumbled as she followed after her fellow Knights. She still wasn’t sure if she actually was a Knight, but Snoke was including her in knightly things. And she had the armor. ‘I better be a fucking Knight,’ were her thoughts. Especially after all the traumatic things she’s been through because of them. If anyone said otherwise, she'd probably do nothing. But the feelings were still there. 

If only there was something to get her drunk that wouldn’t slowly kill her body. 

“If I could, I’d clamp your mouth shut.” Ariel quietly hissed as she let herself trail behind everyone. Ariel was irritated. She had told Anakin to be quiet, even though no one would hear him but her. She hadn’t expected him to be as irritating as his grandson. Maybe Kylo had him beat, but Ariel had only know Anakin for less than an hour. Either way, Ariel wasn’t drunk enough for it. 

As soon as they were aboard the ship, Ariel dug out a bottle of wine, which she had to try since Hestria was known for its wine. She used the Force to pull the cork out, so much easier than using her hands. “Ariel, we’re not even on Korriban yet.” Paquin pointed out, noticing the redhead’s actions. 

“So? There’ll be enough for everyone, don’t worry.” 

Paquin opened her mouth to say something but closed it. Alcoholics would be alcoholics. 

- 

Hux almost laughed knowing that Mira’s comment was also directed towards his Stormtroopers, as well as Poe’s reaction to the Jedi kidnapping children. Hux was indifferent towards the situation. He knew that kidnapping kids and brainwashing—he was fully aware that that was what it was—them wasn’t the most righteous thing. But it had been implemented before he was General, he couldn’t have done anything about it. 

Well, he could have and still could, but didn’t and he probably wouldn’t. They worked and they were in the midst of a war, he couldn’t just disband his army. 

But it would probably have to come into discussion at some point, like the Jedi. 

He found it amusing that the Jedi were praised so much as good for doing the same thing as the Order, yet so many viewed the First Order as evil. Maybe it was simply because they were as clueless as Dameron. 

Either way, Hux was sure that the Jedi Order would reappear at some point. And then they’d return to the discussion. At that point it would ultimately be whoever had assumed power’s decision to reinstate the Jedi Order or not. Hux began to express those thoughts, but was cut off by something loud. 

It was loud for a second before it was replaced by ringing. The whole building shook, things being knocked off balance. The ringing in Hux’s ears slowly faded, being replaced by screams, which weren’t any better to hear. It took him a second to snap back into reality, immediately realizing what had just went off. 

His first instinct was to blame the Resistance, nearly leaping over the table to strangle either one of them. “Bombing an academy?” Hux spit the words, but once he did it seemed like a very un-Resistance thing to do. Especially with them in the building that they just attempted to bomb. 

He shouldn’t have been talking at all, but rather focusing on getting the hell out of there. 

Poe seemed to snap out of whatever funk he was in, himself also knowing what happened. He instantly took offense to Hux’s accusation. “Us?” It seemed more like an Order thing to do, but Poe also realized how stupid it seemed, to bomb a building with their own General in it. 

It became apparent to both of them that it wasn’t logical for either side to do such a thing. Even if it was, Hux didn’t hesitate in notifying the troopers waiting nearby. And just before a second bomb went off, this one much closer and resulting in more drastic damages.

Lucyfer · May 25, 2016

“Yeah, you’re not the only one,” Anakin grumbled to Ariel’s comment. How many times had Obi-Wan wanted to shut him up? More times than he could count, probably. 

He entered the ship with them all and was pleased that Paquin at least seemed to care about Ariel, even as Gnaeus and Kylo just shrugged it off, taking their seats and keeping their mouths shut on the matter of Ariel’s habit. 

Except Gnaeus’s quip about, “So help you if you make me drive back here to get alcohol for myself.” 

As if she could truly drink that much. “We’re not going to Korriban to have wild parties,” Kylo said. 

“Don’t plan to. I just want to sleep.” Gnaeus stated. Alcohol helped. It numbed and downed the mind. Perhaps he’d manage to sleep for a long, long time, and forget where he was when he woke. That was the kind of deep sleep he craved. 

Kylo just shook his head, clearly disgusted with the idea of it all. “Good luck with him,” Anakin sighed. 

At least Gnaeus would drink. Hopefully that would be enough. Would Kylo believe them? He didn’t know. He just had to hope. 

He started this. 

He’d fix it. ‘Finish what I started….’ 

Since Luke was still royally screwing it all up, too. Sometimes he swore Leia was the only good child, but she didn’t even call herself Skywalker. She was so much more Padme than him…and he was thankful she had inherited her beauty, her mind, and so much else. One thing he’d done was good. 

Luke…he loved Luke…but Luke needed help. 

Eventually, Gnaeus found Korriban, the cold and ruined planet. There he landed near a partially rebuilt academy, on the landing platform. There were no hangars, of course. Why would there be? 

The building was huge and cavernous, made all the more creepy by its opened walls and plantlife growing on it. 

~***~ 

Hux did not snap back at Mira as she expected. In fact, for a moment, she was quite certain she sensed humor. ‘Perhaps….’ Mira knew very well his current army couldn’t be disbanded, but changes could be made, for present and future. It could be a topic, then. One that he would not react overly violent towards. 

Progress. 

Something to give Finn hope. 

And for a moment, Mira let her hand idly touch the clothe above the inner pocket, where holocron and note both resided. She wasn’t a Jedi. She wasn’t a Sith. But these small things were building up what she was. 

Then it all came apart and Mira went white as she heard the first explosion. She lost all sensation for a moment as her mind seemed to blank in its want to deny the sound, and then the actions of those around her. 

Leia noticed, but more than that—she noticed the glimmer of the kyber crystals by Mira’s ear. They had turned green. “Mira?” No doubt she was using the Force now, and Leia could feel the shift. Except, it didn’t feel like it was coming from Mira. 

“I saw this,” she said, barely aware she was speaking. 

"What do you mean you saw this?" Poe spoke with agitation. 

It was a feeling more than a voice that caused her to move as the second bomb went off, too near for comfort. ‘Where next?’ She knew, she’d seen it, she could stop this then. Or play into it. 

Leia rose. Staying in the building wasn’t an option, and with the second bomb going off, it seemed like exiting the standard way wasn’t an option, either. She looked to the window, but before she reached it, she felt a strong pull, and then she was taken from the ground. Poe was up soon enough to reach out an arm to catch her as Mira rose. 

“HEY!” He pulled his own blaster then, knowing who the only culprit could be, but the blonde woman was out the window before he could so much as lift and aim, the window breaking before she touched it and the shards all shattering outwards. She’d seen this?! And she didn’t tell them?! Was she still with Snoke then? 

His question was answered by the sight of blaster shots that cut across the air as Mira dropped to the ground outside, each one missing her though Poe could see clearly that each one had been on the path to hit her. ‘Force.’ He saw the hint of her purple lightsaber before she was out of sight of the window, from where he stood. 

“We need to stop this.” Leia said, removing herself from Poe and grabbing her own blaster. She took her own feelings into account then, and without hesitation, rushed ahead to find the right way out, without getting blown to pieces. 

Poe cursed under his breath as he followed, but grabbed his radio up to call to his squad. 

North. Every instinct pulled her north, and it seemed correct as a third bomb went off, and the southside started to collapse. 

“Sir?” Phasma spoke to Hux, for orders and directions. She was fine with running, but she’d prefer to stand and fight as well.

KyloGlenn · May 28, 2016

“There're healthier ways to fall asleep, you know,” Paquin spoke and Ariel took a large gulp of the drink straight from the bottle at Anakin’s words, not that she had anywhere else to drink from. But not enough to intoxicate her too much more. She had to stay on task of getting everyone else drunk. Kylo would be the true challenge, his disgust so clear. 

From what Paquin had seen of Korriban, she’d gathered it wasn’t very pleasant, to put it lightly. “Are we going to stay there?” Paquin questioned but wasn’t complaining. It didn’t look very nice, very creepy, but as long is it kept them sheltered and away from each other’s throats. If they all had to stay in the ship, two of them drunk, someone would get smacked. 

“Mhm,” Ariel mumbled. The academy was only partially constructed, but it was still livable. It had beds and, although barely, working bathrooms and all that they would need as far as shelter went. And apparently a freezer, unless Kylo was planning on cooking a buffet of meats for them all. 

There were probably some explosives laying around as well. Ariel made a note to look for those so no one could get ahold of them while drunk. Ariel herself was a functioning alcoholic, but everyone else? Maybe not so much. 

Paquin just nodded, regathering the bags of stuff they’d bought. Or Gnaeus bought, rather. Ariel bought alcohol and that was it. Ariel had slowly put the alcohol back in place, while Paquin was already heading out of the ship. 

Paquin observed the grand, pyramid shaped building, the cold air nipping at her face as she left the warmth of Gnaeus’s ship. A cold desert seemed to be an accurate description of Korriban, from what Paquin had seen. Which wasn’t all that much, but still. As creepy as the building was, Paquin was eager to get inside it. Mostly to look at the state of it, the cold didn’t bother her much. It reminded her of Starkiller, but warmer, oddly enough. 

Ariel followed after, taking the lead into the structure. The sooner they all got inside, the quicker she could get them drunk. Usually, this would be fun, but now she was doing it to prove she wasn’t insane. 

- 

Hux was already moving, pushing past Poe. He’d forgotten his coat, blaster drawn. He followed after Leia, originally planning on pushing past her as well, but it was a right choice to follow north as the south collapsed. “The troopers are coming,” he spoke to Phasma but didn’t say if they were going to fight or not. “We figure out how to get out of here.” First things first. 

Poe was following after them, trying to catch up with Leia, ‘Speedy little thing.’ And she was a little thing, Poe wasn’t sure how she could think she could run off on her own. Brilliant mind? Yes. Brute strength? No. Shooting skills? Maybe. He just wanted to make sure she remained safe until his squad arrived. Then he and Black Squad can send her off and they could deal with things on the ground. 

Leia came to a stop in front of a set of emergency stairs, a door leading out to them. Hux’s gloved hand shot out in front of her bare one, testing the temperature of the door, in case of a fire. It was a normal temperature, the north wing seeming to be less affected by the bombs. 

Hux allowed the door to open, Leia forcing herself into the lead. Hux followed immediately after. He seemed to have been wrong, the stairs collapsed into each other on the second floor. At that moment, Hux knew for sure that they’d stay and fight. Help whatever survivors there were, and hopefully, there were many. He’d call in the medics if he had to. Maybe having that Paquin as an extra medic would be useful in this situation. 

But whoever this was, Hux had a suspicious feeling that it was Snoke, attacked a school. 

Hux had done a lot of less than good things in his life, but nothing as bad as that. 

Hux could fight, Phasma could fight. The Resistance seemed that they’d stay and do the same, but Hux didn’t know for sure. 

They could slip past the rubble. Light could be seen on the other side. Multiple sorts. Daylight. Something that most definitely had to be fire. And then the dashes of light coming from the shots of blasters. It wasn’t necessarily a small gap, it wouldn’t be hard to slip through. But if they were spotted, it would be pretty hard to jump out of the way of fire, from the bombs or from blasters. 

Hux would take that chance, suggesting he go first. “Right and then you’ll shut us all in here,” Poe grumbled in protest, but Hux ignored him, already climbing up the rubble and slipping through the gap. 

“The fire’s pretty close to the gap,” he warned once his feet were securely placed on the ground, narrowly avoiding some fire. There was a giant hole, presumably where everything had collapsed into itself. X-Wings were spotted, entering the atmosphere. Hux kept a look out while he waited for the others to follow through. 

Poe was already planning on being the last to follow out, help Leia through if he needed to. He didn’t think she was as agile as she’d used to be. 

Hux’s eyes caught a few other dark ships, opening up before they even reached the ground. More troopers piled out, but not his own. No, they wore armor similar to that of the clones in the Clone Wars. Hux had known that the Knights and the Order couldn’t have been Snoke’s only plan. He should have thought of clones, considering how the idea had been brought up numerous times. 

The First Order’s general was spotted, a clone stopping in the middle of the action to shoot at him. Hux barely acknowledged him, taking his already ready blaster and aiming, firing only once. It wasn’t a known fact, but Hux wasn’t too terrible with a blaster. He hadn’t been in many battles, but you didn’t need to be in the midst of warfare to be good with a weapon. 

The clone dropped dead, Hux turning back to the others. The First Order and the Resistance seemed to be ‘working together’ in that moment. But their mediator seemed to be missing. Hux had remembered she’d jumped out of the window for whatever reason instead of figuring a way out with the rest if them. Maybe Mira wasn’t the most important thing to think about right then.

Lucyfer · May 28, 2016

‘Healthier? Not in this case.’ Gnaeus didn’t want to say that, though. Paquin hadn’t been introduced to all the negative aspects of the Force, even if she’d known Mira. Mira knew them well. Gnaeus had seen her lose control a couple of times, and it wasn’t anywhere as good as Kylo Ren. 

Gnaeus and Kylo assisted Paquin with the bags when they landed, of course. “We’ll go to the kitchens first, then we can show Paquin the rooms.” They were old dormitories, of course, made livable. Mira and Kevan’s rooms would now be open. Kylo wasn’t sure there was much there for either—likely more for Kevan than Mira, either way. Mira never kept much around. 

He wasn’t really keen on the thought of seeing what Kevan had left. The memories that remained. 

“We’re here alone, not even droids come here to keep this place up most of the time.” Gnaeus said as they exited into the brisk air and started to walk towards the ruins. 

“We were going to make this an academy again,” Kylo added. “To train others. To bring about a new order of Force Sensitives who wouldn’t be bound by the Jedi dogmas.” 

“No, just the Sith dogma, because that’s so much better,” the sarcasm was heavy from Anakin, as they entered the structure. 

“We still will,” Gnaeus stated. “Once we remove the First Order and the Resistance.” He wanted to cheer Kylo up a bit. Their inevitable victory seemed a good way. “Then the universe will know the strength of our ways.” 

Kylo let out a sigh, but it didn’t seem exasperated. Just…tired. But he wasn’t displeased with Gnaeus’s words as they entered the kitchen. Indeed, there was a large freezer in there, and Kylo dumped the meats into it. In fact, the kitchen was more restored from the last time that Gnaeus had been there. ‘Kevan was working on it.’ Kylo wanted to say, but it was trapped in his throat. 

Kevan had quite liked the idea of the functioning academy again, and he wanted a ‘true’ base of operations. Kamino would have never been that. He gained funds, and for a while, Kevan had funneled them into rebuilding Korriban. 

“When did we get pans?” Gnaeus laughed as he poked a few of the ones hanging. 

Kylo just shrugged, sorting the rest of the food items into refurbished cabinets. It was the large kitchen of a dormitory, too. 

~***~ 

Leia died from a shot to the head at the window. 

Mira had been crushed beneath the rubble, but she’d seen herself dragged out—alive or dead, it hadn’t mattered. 

Poe was taken alive. 

Phasma was taken alive. 

Hux had died fighting to the very end. The X-wings and the Tie Fighters hadn’t been enough. Snoke just sent more. 

Now it was changed. Mira had let Leia live, and she had not stayed in the building. No, she’d gone right down to land in front of the clones she’d trained against hundreds of times, and kicked off from there to cut two right in half with her new lightsaber, blooding it with clones. 

Attention immediately shifted to her, but Mira’s mindset and cold logic was gone. 

Against the ewoks, she, Kylo, and Kevan had shared the thrill of combat in linked minds, covering each other’s backs by being each other’s eyes. Thoughts drowned in that sort of situation, and it drowned now as Mira’s green eyes took in the barely protected minds of the clones and read their actions. 

It set a melody of panic and control; the Knights were killers, or so she, Kylo, and Kevan had been—and she knew how to fight groups better than individuals. She’d killed padawans and ewoks en masse, after all. 

A third fell in half as Mira ran forward. She spun around the corpse as it fell to plunge the saber through a fourth, and she ripped it out through his side. Blasters kept whizzing by, pushed aside through sheer will. She wasn’t focusing on launching them towards other clones, only on keeping them out of her. With Kylo…with Kevan…she could have turned them on others. 

A fifth was flung against a wall as Mira engaged a sixth who actually had a vibroweapon. Its face was covered, but she still knew what sort it was, and she danced her into a blaster shot that someone sent at her and then lobbed off her head before rushing towards the eighth and sliding to their left as they tried to attack, only to then use their hunched back—the failed attempt to strike had bent them over—to launch herself into the air again by running up it coming down on the seventh, before picking up that one’s gun and shooting the eighth. 

The Force ran in her veins, speeding her and strengthening her beyond the norm. The clones tried to keep up with her speed, but more and more kept falling. Rebels landed, and First Order landed, but then more of the Clone ships showed up. 

That was when Mira hesitated, and put a stop to the instinctual fighting. ‘Wreck them.’ It was the only hope they had, wasn’t it? Otherwise they’d be outnumbered and destroyed—even her. 

There were trees aplenty, but uprooting one would take too long. Mira ran to one of the large ones and with a single swing, the saber went through it. As it started to fall, Mira took hold of it, lifted it, and flung it at one of the clone ships. ‘Fuck you.’ “Mira!” 

Mira spun around at the strange voice and managed to block a blaster shot with her saber. ‘We’re not done.’ She didn’t see the results of the tree, but moved back into the fray, even if now the adrenaline was threatening to wear off, and other dark ships were approaching. 

And the kyber crystals clinked together—purple and green. 

Then shot a blue, and Mira all but froze where she was as she felt Leia's pain through the Force. 

A vibroblade finally caught her then, going through Mira's shoulder, missing its target of her heart when she started to turn. 

That was when the final bomb to the building was finally able to go off, the organizer of the ground troopers pressing it as Mira was momentarily paused by the attack. 

~***~ 

Phasma was the second out, disliking the fact she was not in her armor and getting her officer’s uniform dirty in all of this. She wore a light vest of armor underneath, of course, but that was hardly as effective as her silver armor. She came through the gap as Hux fired at one of the soldiers, effectively putting him down, and Phasma longed for her own blaster in this situation. ‘There’s a nice one right there.’ 

She gave a quick nod to Hux and then sprinted ahead, taking the blaster of the fallen soldier only after putting his friend down with the vibrostave—pushing that through his chest and flinging him off effortlessly. With the blaster, the couple that turned at that were taken down as well, before Phasma quickly returned to Hux’s side. 

It was better if they all stuck together. They could cover each other’s backs. 

Leia was coming out next, and Phasma reached down to offer the woman her hand to help her up and out, which Leia accepted. Poe was next, quick and jumping to his feet to see the dark ship get struck by a tree. 

It knocked it out of the air and into the ground nose-first, but the crash clearly didn’t kill them all. More were coming out, as the ship started to take flame from the crash. “Someone has to get Mira….” The words were light, but Poe detected fear in them from Leia. 

Leia could see where corpses had fallen, and she could feel Mira's energy now, clearly, and it frightened her. The corpses she could see did not have the singed ground near them to indicate they'd been shot down by their troops. Leia knew if they ventured closer to that area they'd see the tell-tale markings of a lightsaber...and she didn't want to think much about how many there were. She didn't want to think of the padawans. The ewoks. 

“That’s not important right now. We have to get you and Hux out of here,” he’d determined he and Phasma were not nearly as important, either, which he noticed Phasma seemed to agree with. 

Get the leaders out. Worry about the rest later. “We’ll stay and fight. We’ll try to get Mira out alive as well,” Phasma was making no promises. 

Leia was the stubborn sort, though, "We need to stay and fight! They're outnumbered." 

"Leia, you're better at leading than fighting," Poe said, keeping his voice even, not wanting to argue with her in front of the First Order. 

"You're right. I lead." 

And without another word the little woman moved forward. Most of the fighting was taking place away from this side, where the ships were landing, where the X-Wings and Tie-Fighters were trying to herd the masses on the ground into one controllable area. Leia moved to another building to use it as cover, even as Poe jogged after her, and she shot one in the back. From this vantage point, she could pick off many, and had no qualms playing sniper. Her soldiers would see her from above and know she was fighting with them. 

"Leia!" 

Leia's heart stopped as she heard that voice. She knew she shouldn't, but she turned around, and she saw the face of Han Solo moving around the building. She didn't even notice the blaster in his hand, or the grenades at his belt. 

Poe did. 

When Leia and Poe took off, Phasma just looked at Hux, her question asked in silence without arguing. She wanted him to leave, of course, but she'd be at his side if he wanted to stay and fight a little longer, even though they were grossly outnumbered and their ground troops would be next to nothing. Perhaps they had the advantage with a knight--whoever sent this, clearly wasn't underestimating them, and Phasma too imagined it was Snoke from all the clone armor.

KyloGlenn · May 31, 2016

Ariel could feel herself growing more wobbly as minutes passed, but thankfully they were already at their destination. She could be as wobbly as she wanted to. But she didn’t want to be too wobbly, she still had to get the others drunk. She wanted them to be drunk right then and there, wanted to ignore putting groceries away. 

Maybe then that would shut Anakin up. Ariel would never have imagined him to be so bitchy. It further made her believe that he was actually a Force ghost, her mind wouldn’t have come up with that. 

“I’m guessing Kevan got them a few months ago,” Ariel informed as she placed her items on a counter, not bothering to put them away. Her filter was diminishing with her sobriety. Korriban was a place she frequented, but not so much since she’d been put on Tatooine. In that time, only Kevan and Kylo could have come to the planet. And Kylo’s shrug answered that question. 

Kevan was enthusiastic about the Academy, it made sense. Ariel was never really all that close to Kevan. Or Mira, really. No, Kevan, Kylo, and Mira were the close ones. The original three. It’s not like they all spent that much time together, but Ariel had sometimes felt left out. They were supposed to be a family of sorts, after all. Now it sort of came in handy, as she so easily managed to dismiss the two. 

Ariel had a thought that made her gasp quietly, “Is Kevan a Force ghost?” She whispered into the air, to Anakin, avoiding adding ‘Ren’ after Kevan. She felt he would have told them if they were real, but he had ended up being a traitor. 

Paquin didn’t touch on the subject of Kevan. It made her uncomfortable. “Can you put things on the lower shelves, please?” Paquin asked of the taller people, taking a glance at Ariel. She had noticed that Ariel was nowhere near as grumpy as usual when she was drunk, but she acted like she was on drugs instead. It was worrying but there wasn’t anything she could do about it. “How much of this place is functional?” She questioned, assisting in putting things away. “Is there a bathtub?” Paquin would kill for one. Well, not literally. This had been an academy, likely with shared showers. She didn’t expect a bath. 

She was actually pretty excited to explore the academy, as well as more of Korriban. 

- 

Hux was prepared to protest him and Leia being removed from the scene, but Leia already had. The ginger General found that he seemed to look at her with a new sense of respect. Of course, he respected her brilliance before, but now that he’d witnessed her unwillingness to give up and hide from action, he looked at her in a new light. 

He didn’t dwell much on that, Leia and Poe hurrying off soon after. He turned to Phasma, who was simply looking at him. No words came from her mouth, but he knew what she was asking. He took a moment to look around, just a brief second. There were dead clone troopers, some dead Stormtroopers. Too many for his liking. 

He could tell they were outnumbered, the clones just kept coming and there were so few troopers and Resistance pilots. He’d already taken too many hits, with the loss of Starkiller and Ren’s destructive departure. He didn’t want to risk any more of his army and call in more troopers. 

But he wasn’t just going to retreat, either. Not with Mira off who knows where, not with all the students and faculty still potentially alive. 

He looked to Phasma, observing her attire. She certainly wasn’t dressed to fight. No one was really prepared for a battle. Light defense, sure, but not what this was slowly turning out to be. 

“We fight a little while longer,” he informed, looking to where they’d docked. Not many ships were destroyed, surprisingly. The ones that were seemed to only be collateral. And surely those couldn’t be all if they needed to find other ships. “We help out however many civilians we can,” they wouldn’t be able to do much in the way of digging their way into the building, unfortunately. 

“Find Mira, as well.” He wasn’t going to trust that she’d be able to handle herself, not with so many clones. Even with the Force. “And get General Organa and Dameron out,” he added, hesitantly. They were sort of allied, but they weren’t officially. Not exactly top priority, but important nonetheless. 

Besides, they had their own fighters. Leia especially was likely to be flown out, as she was the Resistance’s top priority. 

“Come,” Hux was already moving. They weren’t exactly covered, it wasn’t smart to loiter. “Let’s head towards Mira.” Or at least where a tree had flung at a ship. Who else could have done that? 

He moved around the building, in the opposite direction of Leia and Poe. He didn’t make it far before he heard a clone trooper coming around the corner. They weren’t exactly sneaky. Hux was prepared for when Snoke’s trooper came around the corner, gun raised. It was easy for Hux to grip the weapon, using the butt of it to slam into the helmeted face of the clone before turning the weapon around and shooting him dead. 

Hux held onto the gun, it was much bigger and much more effective than his blaster pistol. He was unfazed, continuing to move. But again, not for long, another explosion going off. This one wasn’t as deafening, but still loud. Next thing he knew, the building they’d been in moments ago was completely collapsing, screams erupting from every which way. Glass shattering and rubble flying with it, dust being kicked up. 

- 

Leia didn’t notice the blaster. She didn’t notice the grenades on his belt. Why would she? The clone of her dead husband had just called out to her. Poe didn’t expect her to be anything other than blinded by emotions. Luckily, Poe did notice the weapons. He didn’t hesitate to aim his own, not effected by the image of Han Solo. 

He couldn’t imagine the pain Leia must have been in. Her dead husband wasn’t just her dead husband, it had to have brought back thoughts and images of other things. Like the reason for his death, her son. 

He wondered if she knew he wasn’t real. After all, she hadn’t seen him die. Only felt him, apparently. 

“General, look away.” He instructed, imagining she wouldn’t want to see her former lover’s head get blown off, real or not real. It would be easier for Poe. He hadn’t known Han all that well, despite looking up to him and admiring his piloting skills. 

“Wait!” The copy of Han Solo called in protest but was cut off by an explosion inside of the building. 

The building imploded, sending large chunks hurtling to the ground. Both Poe and Han clone looked to the building to see debris plummeting. Poe abandoned the thought of shooting the fake Solo, instead moving to shield Leia from the falling rubble. He hoped a large rock would just land on the clone and he and Leia could just walk away, but that didn’t seem to be the case as things started to settle. 

The three of them were well covered in ash and dust. Poe and Leia were separated from Han by several bits of building, but they could easily be walked around. The fake Han hadn’t yet recovered, so Poe quickly spoke to his General. “He’s not really Han. Come on, we need to go.” The Han clone would get taken care of eventually, he hoped. But it would be easier for Leia if they simply ran. 

Something distracted Poe as he moved to pull the General along. A ship. It wasn’t dark, and he recognized it. It was a Resistance cruiser and not one he’d instructed to join the expedition. Upon close inspection, as the ship flew lower, a figure could be seen. A familiar one that made Poe both proud and frustrated. Finn. 

And a little spherical head could be seen looking out of the viewport. BB-8.

Lucyfer · May 31, 2016

“Really? I didn’t know he was a chef.” 

“He wasn’t,” Kylo was not drunk enough for talk of Kevan or what he was. 

Then came Ariel’s odd outburst, which caused both Kylo and Gnaeus to pause in putting things away—on the lower shelves per Paquin’s request, even if they could have used it as a method to teach her the Force. Neither were in the mood for the argument. 

“Force Ghosts aren’t real,” Kylo stated, though he didn’t believe his own words. He just didn’t want to admit it, since Darth Vader had never visited him, and Luke told him he was a ghost. 

“Kevan’s not here.” Anakin said, “He joined with the Force and was absorbed by it. Or he went to the Void,” Anakin lifted one shoulder in a shrug. He didn’t really know when one didn’t release their ego. 

Gnaeus continued to put things away. “Mira thought they were.” 

“Mira’s also in the wrong, isn’t she?” Kylo asked. “We’ve never seen one. They’re just a myth,” he noted. “You become one with the Force. You can’t separate from that.” 

“Why is my grandson an idiot?” Anakin asked, gesturing towards him in spite of it all. “Why? What did I do to deserve this? …Don’t answer that.” There were probably a lot of good answers to that, and he could hear Obi-Wan starting to list them. 

Good thing Obi-Wan was with Luke. He could not handle that shit right now. 

“Why are you thinking of Force Ghosts?” Gnaeus asked Ariel. 

Kylo moved on to the other topic in the room, dusting his hands off on his pants now that everything was put away, “There are bathtubs. There are showers, too. I’ll show you the way,” he said. They were near the rooms anyway. It was communal, but the showers and tubs had their own stalls. It offered the illusion of privacy. There was only one tub, though. Fortunately, Kylo never cared much. He didn’t really recall any of them caring all that much about the tub. 

Life moved too quick to indulge in baths. 

~***~ 

Pain. Death. Destruction. 

None of these were truly pleasant to feel for Mira, but feel them she did as the vibroblade was ripped out of her. She kept her feet. She slashed out at her opponent but the strike was sloppy now. Adrenaline was fading to anger and it showed in the shaking hands and the lightning that started to dance. 

Around enemies, that wasn’t such a bad trick. Mira didn’t need to worry about reeling it in. 

It wasn’t just enemies, though. 

The clone before her was beheaded rather suddenly and Mira saw a young man in a military outfit there, gun at his waist and vibrosaber in hand. 

There was an earpiece in his left ear, and Mira started to hear more shots coming from the direction of the school. “You’re wounded, you should get off the field, Knight.” The young man addressed her as the clones were startled not only by that, but by a sudden influx of ships in the air that were neither Resistance or First Order models. 

Knight was all the man knew to call her—the coat gave her away as First Order, but the lightsaber suggested Knight of Ren. He knew of them all—but he was unaware of the severance, or anything else. He didn’t know which one was before him, but he saw the smirk come to her lips as the lightning started to fade. “Just keep up, Officer.” 

More of the men and women in those uniforms were joining the field, and one of them clearly had a missile launcher of some sort. Mira and the Officer just joined the dance as combatants again, and Mira heard the young officer calling out orders into his ear piece as he watched the field. Mira made a point to watch his back so he wouldn’t have as much trouble and could scope the field. 

Unfortunately, the pair went in deep, barely realizing it until they were surrounded. Mira stepped back into him and he tilted his head up, arrogantly glaring down Snoke’s troopers. 

“Duck.” Mira said it, sensing what was to come. She reached back for his arm and pulled him down with her, just as a ship with a railgun on either wing swung around. 

“YEE-HAW YOU SONSOFBITCHES!” The shout could be heard even through the ship as a woman cackled in her ship. 

The troopers around them were mowed down and sent scattering as the ship managed to not graze them, before it shot right back up into the air, spiraling before whirling right back around to pursue. 

The Officer stared off after the ship, looking terribly exasperated with antics he knew too well. “Who gave her a ship with railguns? Who thought that was a good idea?” He voiced it aloud, in shock at the fact he was alive, and she’d saved him. 

Resistance scum. 

The Officer and the Knight glanced at each other, then separated. Mira rushed back towards the buildings and the signs of chaos to try and find signs of life of those she brought with her—she didn’t sense death, but they could still be in trouble. 

It didn’t take long to find one; Phasma had been moving towards her. 

~***~ ‘That is the most dangerous direction.’ But Phasma couldn’t argue. She was just going to keep plotting how to distract Hux with something far more controllable, like a cat. But, even so, Phasma did want to see the Jedi in action—and she did want to join the fray. 

They moved along the building, Phasma clutching her gun and vibrostave tightly. Hux had himself well under control, fortunately, and took care of the threat that came towards them effectively. They weren’t showy—not like the Jedi. 

Phasma was briefly distracted by the sight of the purple and a young man in military uniform speaking with Mira in the midst of the chaos. She couldn’t make out what was said, but her eyes then caught others in military garb moving forward, and she smiled. 

It evaporated as the building near them blew up. Phasma reached to grab Hux’s arm to pull him a few steps away. The dust settled around them, but the screams continued. “Excuse me, Sir. Please keep back.” 

Phasma was pissed, and seeing students joining the fray just inspired her. She swung out the stave and moved to join them, jumping in with a group of those in military garb and breaking the shield one of their opponents had in one well-placed swing. She heard a commanding voice in the ears of each, radio static, and she looked ahead to see the man with Mira and immediately knew him to be the leader. ‘I lead.’ Leia’s words echoed. Perhaps she shouldn’t have advised Hux to stay back, but she wouldn’t take the words back either. 

Either way, she needed to get to Mira and bring her back. They should stay together now—and find out what Mira meant by ‘seeing this’. “Troops,” Phasma’s voice cut over the static as she saw their leader and Mira suddenly surrounded. “Get to the Jedi.” 

“Jedi?” One looked very disturbed by that, but the others didn’t question it, and they rushed forward. 

Only to stop short as a ship came far too low, with railguns, and blasted the path clear. 

“Crazy bitch,” one commented. 

“Dameron,” another said, exasperated. 

Phasma just arched one eyebrow, and then moved with them as they pushed through the regrouping troopers who failed to surrounded the Officer and Mira again. Phasma put one’s head into the ground as Mira seemed to pause and look around. Mira turned then, noticing Phasma, and looking relieved. 

~***~ 

Leia didn’t move so easily, eyes still stuck on the clone of Han as the dust settled around them, her heart all but pulling itself out of her chest to join him. 

Was it possible? 

This was the sort of moment he’d show up at, prepared for war, prepared to save the day—her hero smuggler. Yet she knew, rationally she knew, this couldn’t be her husband. She knew he was dead, even if she did not see it with her own eyes. She had felt it. 

Around her, she heard more joining the battle. She heard more ships overhead, and despite her still legs, she was forced to move back with Poe as he reached for her, only to pause again as they were both distracted by a new ship joining them. “Finn?” It seemed to break Leia of her reverie. Her attention shifted from Han. “What is he doing here?” She sounded accusatory towards Poe. 

She didn’t want Finn here. Not with all the First Order here. 

“Hey, Leia,” and she was brought right back to Han. “Catch.” 

And he threw a grenade at both of them, before booking it and running to find cover himself. 

Snoke said capture only if it was an option, after all.

KyloGlenn · Jun 2, 2016

Ariel hadn’t meant for anyone but Anakin to hear her question. ‘Too drunk,’ she decided as Kylo spoke of Force Ghosts not being real. She again wished they were just as drunk as her, so they could all experience the same whiny Force ghost that she was now. At least Anakin gave her an answer. 

She honestly hoped Kevan went to the Void. But knowing her luck, he probably hadn’t. 

She felt the urge to drink more but knew she couldn’t otherwise she’d be completely shitfaced. She drank so she wouldn’t feel bitter or grumpy or anything other than the giggly happy she was when she drank, yet here she was. Drunk and bitter. 

Anakin complained about his grandson being an idiot, which she wasn’t disagreeing with. She did ask herself what she did to deserve this. But she didn’t want that answered either. Then Gnaeus asked her why she was thinking of Force Ghosts. Ariel contemplated just flat out telling them about Anakin, but she knew they wouldn’t believe her. At least not Kylo. Gnaeus might. If only she could ask Anakin’s advice without being noticed. 

“It was just a thought. I mean, there’s no proof there are Force Ghosts, but there’s no proof there isn’t.” And then Ariel shifted her attention to Paquin, who was very excited about the existence of a bathtub. 

Paquin could have squealed in delight, but she held that in. “I haven’t used a bathtub in eighteen years.” Her parents had told her she’d grown out of them, and then the academy she went to only had showers. Same with the First Order. Well, higher ranked did. “They’re very beneficial to your health, actually. They aid with sleeping trouble.” She spoke the last bit to Gnaeus. “But not recommended if you’re pregnant.” 

‘No, don’t separate.’ Ariel needed them all drunk and together. “Hey, Paquin. You know what’s good with baths?” Ariel didn’t give Paquin time to answer. “Wine.” 

“For some people, I’m sure.” Paquin rejected the idea. 

New plan, ‘Gnaeus.’ Ariel could share with Gnaeus. He was going to drink anyway, he’d find out about Anakin sooner or later. He wouldn’t laugh in her face. And he could help get the others drunk. 

- 

Hux saw the kids. Maybe they weren’t kids exactly, considering they’d somehow managed to organize the group that they were with the equipment they had. That took a level of maturity, he would know. ’Did the school fund that?’ He wondered. Either way, funded or not, kids or not, Hux was impressed. 

Maybe inspired wasn’t the word for him, hopeful was better. With the numbers he’d seen and the way they performed, they had a chance. He wasn’t sure if the woman in the ship or any of the others that had begun to fly around were with them, he was pretty sure they weren’t based on their techniques. But even their ways were effective, adding to the hope. 

And surely Snoke didn’t have an unlimited supply of clones. Hux surely would have noticed during all those years if he had. 

Things were looking up. 

Hux saw Mira, as well. Alive and fighting, to which he was further relieved. But now they couldn’t just retreat. They had a chance. A fairly good one. 

Maybe Hux was inspired. 

Hux joined the fight against the regrouping clones, the numbers quickly dwindling as Hux, along with the others, continuously mowed down. But as things seemed to look up, more ships entered the sky. More clones. Maybe Snoke did have an endless supply. As the other ships landed, others seemed to break off to go fight those troops. 

As much as Hux wanted to reunite with Mira and figure out she meant by her seeing this, he also wanted to assist as much as he could and he clearly wasn't needed with this group. So, he branched off, following the groups of young adults fighting alongside the Order and the Resistance. 

Hux didn't want to see such young people drop during this fight, but as their group merged with the clones it appeared like he would have to witness it. But then came a small explosion, at least smaller than what they'd seen today. Clones flew every which way, them scattering in small groups. All it took was a look to his left to discover that the cause had been a young man with a missile launcher of sorts. 

With the clones scattered, the soldiers scattered to off them. Hux did so as well, moving towards the buildings and shooting those troopers down. What Hux didn't see was that he was slowly allowing himself to be cornered. The clone troopers, however, did see that. 

- 

Poe's attention shifted from the ship that was leaving their sight as soon as he heard Han's voice say 'hey'. Poe acted quickly, picking Leia up at the word catch, knowing what would come after it, having experienced the same tactic before and knowing that the clone was in possession of grenades. 

He moved as far to the side as he could from the grenade in the short few seconds before it went off. What more could he do? Luckily Leia was small and easy to carry. But he still didn't make it far, the blast sending them flying a ways. He let Leia go, to prevent himself from landing on her. 

When Poe felt himself slam into the ground, shrapnel cutting through his skin, he felt oddly happy. He wasn't dead, and that was something. The first thing to rise were his eyes, searching for Leia. But what they landed on first was the clone of Han Solo, moving towards them. 

Poe heard the sound of a ship nearing and saw Han's head turning. Seconds later a blast flew through his chest and he dropped into the same laying position Poe and Leia were in. And shortly after, he felt two small hands pull him up. "Poe Dameron! Poe, Poe, are you okay?" The voice of a woman came and when Poe finally looked at her, he saw the woman beaming. 

He didn't answer but instead looked for Leia, who was being helped up by another girl and being asked if she was okay. "Poe, you have no idea how excited I am to meet you! You and Leia! What can I do to help? Anything, name whatever." The girl was practically hopping as she gripped onto Poe's new jacket--which was now well and worn. 

"You've done enough," but then Poe caught another glimpse of Leia. Did he trust these girls enough with the General? He had to, "But I need to ask one more thing of you. Get General Organa out of here, alright?" His hands moved to hold her forearms. 

"Of course!" She agreed, her head nodding furiously. 

"Thank you," He offered her a lopsided grin, moving her arms from his jacket. "I need to go and help out, but I'm sure I'll see you again soon." The action was heard around the building, and that's where he would head towards. 

As he did, he heard the girls behind him speaking. "I think I just made a fool of myself in front of Poe Dameron."

Lucyfer · Jun 2, 2016

Gnaeus snickered at the last bit of Paquin’s explanation, “Well I guess Kylo and I can’t take baths.” 

He saw the slight smile at his joke from Kylo, and was glad the man wasn’t completely lost to his anger yet. “I don’t think you’ll need to worry about that from us, Paquin,” Gnaeus stated. 

“You wouldn’t bring the mother of the Gnaeus children here?” Kylo recalled the naming game earlier. 

“Hell no,” Gnaeus said. “She can be on Naboo, with servants.” 

Kylo just shook his head. He hoped Gnaeus didn’t have some mistress somewhere he was protecting. That wouldn’t end well. But, he was also certain this was just the continuation. “I thought it would be Gnathion.” 

“Too cold.” Not to mention the worms. “Mira can keep it. We’ll take all the volcanic planets.” 

Soon enough, they were in the hallway of dormitory rooms and the bathroom. It wasn’t split; there was only one. Perhaps it had been split up when the academy was in its prime, but if so, those dorms were destroyed as part of the east wing. Kylo simply walked in and Gnaeus followed after. “He got us curtains….” 

There hadn’t been curtains last time Gnaeus was here. Now there were curtains over each bath stall. 

It was starting to hurt now. He hadn’t been close to Kevan, but now he wondered—why? He clearly cared for them. He’d been trying to give them a ‘home’. 

Kylo ignored that and threw aside the curtain to the largest stall, “This one is the tub,” he gestured back to the empty, square tub, marbled rather than ceramic. It was deep and seemed just built into the floor rather than as an extra set-up. 

~***~ 

Finn was listening as BB-8 kept squealing at him, directing him around the battlefield to try and shoot at things, “You know, this is a lot harder than I thought it would be.” Finn complained. Piloting or shooting wasn’t so bad, but both? He didn’t know how the Resistance fighters did it. 

Most of the First Order fighters were built for two, after all. 

BB-8 let out a panicked stream of beeps and Finn looked towards a building. “Oh.” 

General Hux wasn’t exactly a subtle figure with his red hair and dark attire amidst the white of the clone troopers. He seemed wholly oblivious to the fact he was about to enter an alley between buildings that Finn could see ended in a wall. Dead end. 

He could leave him there, see if Hux could fight his way out…but as BB-8 beeped more he knew he couldn’t. He might dislike the General—might even hate him for all he’d done to so many innocents, but he couldn’t leave him to die. Mira wouldn’t forgive him. Hell, she probably wouldn’t forgive herself. 

And he could see her with Phasma, and Phasma at least seemed to be helping her. “All right, all right, BB-8.” He turned the ship roughly towards the direction of the trouble. 

~***~ 

Mira and Phasma didn’t exactly get to reconnect, “Is everyone all right?” 

“Everyone is fighting. Last I saw, all were all right.” 

The words were managed as the pair fought near each other and worked to keep the clones off each other. More ships came, but fortunately, more kept being shot down before they landed. Mira and Phasma branched off to deal with the survivors of one crash before they could get their bearings. 

That had the unfortunate side-effect of them being near when the ship itself exploded from its damages, throwing both women from it. ‘Hate. Explosions.’ Mira thought back to Tatooine as she crawled back up to a sitting position and looked for Phasma. 

Phasma’s white was ruined, and she was bleeding. It was often taken for granted that the Force reacted as much as it acted on command, and Mira got to her feet and sprinted to where Phasma was immediately. 

Fortunately, the woman was still tough, even without her armor. She took a deep breath and sat up, then accepted Mira’s hand up and stumbled a bit on rising. Phasma shook her head to try and clear it of the ringing. 

The little armor between her and her clothing had helped to keep it from being much worse, but her legs were badly scratched and charred. “Get to a ship Phasma,” she heard Mira saying over the ringing. “You can call more soldiers.” 

“Hux.” 

“If you think I’m going to let him die, you don’t know me very well.” But there wasn’t much time for talk. Clones saw them, and they were still high-profile targets. “We can fight there.” Phasma wanted to fight—so be it. 

~***~ 

Leia landed roughly, the sight of Han throwing a grenade at her forever imbedded in her head. ‘It wasn’t him.’ No, but it had his face, and that was just as bad. Her memory would forever have that as the last memory of him. 

Leia rolled with the landing, returning to all fours quickly enough to see Han get shot through. She looked down then, feeling hot tears in her eyes. She knew she shouldn’t feel such sorrow. She should get it together…but the sorrow bit into her. She tried to swallow it down. 

She’d been through so much worse. Alderaan. 

She knew she was cut up from the debris, and she ached from the landing. As she heard girls squealing over Poe, though, she smiled in rising. One of them then ran immediately to her, “Miss Organa?” 

“General!” Snapped another, “We can get you somewhere safe, or off the planet, if you like.” Anxious excitement. Leia could hear the need to impress Dameron. ‘Even in a situation like this.’ It almost restored Leia’s faith in the hopeless situation. If girls could still be girls…maybe… “My ship isn’t far. I need to get to its radio.” Screw it. If this place was going to keep being flooded, then Leia would call for all the back-up in the world and push them out. Then rebuild and save what they could. The Resistance couldn’t forget this sacrifice. 

The Crim Academy wasn’t just handing them over—they were fighting. 

“Okay girls!” One of them said, and made a gesture, “This way!” And she kept a hold of Leia’s arm as she took off, making sure to watch Leia carefully to adjust the pace as needed. They stuck to shadows and tried to sneak this time.

KyloGlenn · Jun 3, 2016

Paquin hadn't meant for her comment to spur anything, but she wasn't upset when Gnaeus joked about it. Especially not when it caused Kylo to crack a smile, tiny or not. It seemed to lighten the mood. Until Gnaeus mentioned 'he', also known as Kevan. And Paquin felt uncomfortable again. 

Like Gnaeus's hurt seemed to finally settle in, Paquin found herself finally feeling the least bit guilty. Kevan was going to die in that situation either way, but she felt as though maybe she shouldn't have been the one to kill him. Kylo had it under control, he should have done it. She didn't feel like it was her place. She hadn't known Kevan. She was just his replacement. 

'I don't like that term,' she scolded herself for using it. 

Luckily Kylo ignored Gnaeus's comment and reveal the bathtub. "I could drown in this," Paquin spoke jokingly, but she probably could. Either way, she was glad that it existed. She was about ready to shoo everyone out and spend a few hours in there. She didn't often like being alone, but there were exceptions for times like these. She needed time outside of sleeping to just be left to her own devices. The others could get drunk and then the next day they could do whatever training they were there for. 

Ariel didn't seem to be paying any attention to the conversation, or she was just choosing to ignore it. Barely a second after noise stopped coming from Paquin, Ariel spoke to Gnaeus. "Gnaeus, can I borrow you for a second?" That was probably the most normal sentence she'd constructed since Hestria. 

- 

Hux knocked the last clone down. Or at least what he thought was the last clone. He barely took a moment to catch his breath before he realized his predicament. In front of him was a wall. On both sides of him were buildings. Behind him was the only way out. And of course, shots were fired at him from behind. 

Hux quickly whipped around, witnessing himself quickly be surrounded. He raised his blaster and fired, but it was very obvious that he was outnumbered. "Fuck," it slipped from his mouth as he backed himself into the wall. 'Well...fuck.' Not the way he wanted to go out. Too soon, as well. There was still so much more for him to do that would not happen now. 

But Hux didn't stop fighting. He wasn't really aiming, more so shooting blindly hoping to do as much damage as he could before they either a, killed him or b, captured him 

But now it didn't look like either of those things were going to happen as a ship flew overhead, effectively taking out a majority of the group that had begun to enclose him in the alley. As the ship circled back around and squeezed itself between the buildings, in between Hux and the remaining clones, Hux found himself shocked. 

It wasn't one of his TIE fighters or even one of the students ships. It was one that belonged to the Resistance. Even more surprising was who was in it. "FN-2187," Hux mumbled as the ship's door opened and the former Stormtrooper's head poked out. 

"C'mon Hux!" He called, not referring to him as 'General' on purpose. BB-8 poked its head out as well and beeped the same thing Finn had said. Hux wasn't going to fight being rescued, even if it was FN-2187--or Finn, now. So, he rather quickly boarder, Finn wasting no time in lifting off once more. 

Hux sat in silence for a moment before the question burning in his mind slipped out. "Why?" 

- 

Poe was rushing into battle completely unprepared. He had no ship and a puny little blaster. Yet, Poe wasn't worried. With those girls taking care of Leia and apparently more of them flying about the skies, he had quite a bit of faith. The next step was getting the other General off the planet, and he was confident they could reclaim Cimarosa. 

But when he spotted the person Hux'd been with last, she was with someone other than Hux. Phasma was with Mira, both of them not looking in the best shape. Was Hux dead? Poe wasn't sure if that would be a good thing or not. Surely more of a scene would be caused if Hux was dead. 

Poe rushed to join them, to figure out what had happened as well as simply assist them. "Mira! Phasma!" He called as he took down a clone in his way. He was there with them after a few more shots to clones blocking him, all either trying to kill him or the women he was trying to get to. "What happened?" He questioned, looking the two over for the briefest seconds. 

But he was distracted by that same ship from earlier. The one with Finn and BB-8. They were flying low, just barely emerging from between some building. There was someone with them, though, the very familiar ginger General. With Finn. "Oh, no." Poe sighed. That really wasn't good. To make it worse, a ship had begun to tail them. "Nevermind. We'll talk later," Poe then took off running again, looking for a ship. 

He ended up digging his radio out of his pocket, calling for one of his squad pilots to lend him an X-Wing. 

- 

The girls remained quiet as they helped Leia sneak back to her ship, but they were both screaming inside. They hurried Leia back to the docks, where they suspected her ship to be. Well, they didn't really suspect. They'd seen the ship land earlier that morning and had spotted Poe Dameron. But whether the ship had remained there during the attacks had been up in the air until they'd actually arrived on the scene. 

The ship was left open, "Wait here." The girl who didn't have Leia's arm in her grip instructed, blaster ready in her hand. She went in to inspect, but luckily there wasn't much ship to explore. She checked some nooks and crannies, but the ship was clear. "We're good!" She called to the General and her fellow club member. 

The girl with Leia saw it fit to finally let her go, entering the ship and remaining by the entrance in case someone needed to be taken out. Her friend came to join her, to give Leia some form of privacy to call for back up. The two spoke in hushed whispers as they kept an eye out. 

"You don't understand, Lena. He touched me, he grabbed my arms. I touched him, too. And he smelled really good. I mean, a little bit like metal and explosions, but he also smelled like how I thought he would." She tried to keep herself calm as she spoke about her idol. The man she'd jokingly called her 'husband' to her friends.

Lucyfer · Jun 3, 2016

The way Paquin lit up at the bathtub and its size made it clear to Gnaeus that she probably wanted to use her newly acquired hygenic supplies. He was going to leave anyway, when Ariel asked to ‘borrow’ him. “I dunno, can you pay back my time?” He joked, but gave a nod, indicating his willingness to go along. 

Though, “Kylo, stop being a damn creeper, the woman wants to bathe. I know she’s attractive, but leave.” 

Kylo went as scarlet as his lightsaber as Gnaeus turned away, and he had to cover his lips with his hand. Ah, Kylo. A man so easily drawn into emotions and manipulated by them. “So what’s up, Ariel?” Gnaeus asked once they were out of the bathroom, arching an eyebrow in question. He took a few steps from the door so Kylo would have room to exit and then go off to do whatever it was he needed to do. 

Training certainly wouldn’t start that day. Not with Ariel that drunk, and Gnaeus hoping to follow suit soon now that Paquin was dealt with. 

“Sorry, I didn’t get the hint,” Kylo stated, not sure what else to say, before he quickly turned on his own heel to exit the baths. Somehow he hadn’t connected the dots that Paquin would want to use the tub immediately despite all her enthusiasm for it. 

~***~ 

Finn had to keep his eyes ahead so that he wouldn’t burst into an angry tirade once he was back in the pilot’s seat. Once he was flying. He might have found a place to drop Hux off, but he noticed a ship starting to tail them. ‘Damn!’ 

And Hux asked his question. A part of him wanted to say he didn’t have to answer to him anymore. He didn’t have to explain himself. However, he needed to. He didn’t want Hux to get the wrong idea. “I didn’t do it for you.” He spat the words, hot glare focused forward as he tried to shake the ship, only to realize it truly was following him when it fired. 

He evaded, and then soared up. It’d fall back to return to the proper fight, right? Rey could have shaken this…. 

BB-8 added in its two cents, noting how sad Mira would be if Hux died. She spoke highly of him, after all. They were friends. “Yeah,” Finn said, “and Mira’s my friend.” It was said almost possessively, as if he and Hux really shouldn’t share friends. Which, in Finn’s mind, they shouldn’t. 

They weren’t on the same side. 

~***~ 

As soon as Mira and Phasma heard Poe call out, they turned his way. They didn’t need to discuss it—the pair moved to close the gap between them, assisting in making space for Poe to get to them as well. “Explosion.” Mira answered Poe as he asked what happened. One look over him indicated he’d probably seen something similar, on a smaller scale. “Where’s Lei…?” Mira didn’t finish the question. 

She was distracted by Poe’s distraction and she looked that way, seeing the low ship. 

Seeing Hux. 

Seeing a ship get close that was not friendly. 

Poe ran off, and Phasma moved to rush after him, but Mira caught her arm, “Please find Leia.” Mira then darted off, rushing after Poe as a ship started to find space to land. Poe was absolutely not going alone—Mira wasn’t leaving Hux with just the Resistance. Force only knew what might happen. She didn’t trust Poe enough. 

Finn, maybe. But he had every reason to hate Hux, and she knew what hatred could do to a person. 

“Mira, I’ve got it handled,” Poe said as soon as he noticed her, pilot landing. “There’s no room—” 

“Make room.” Her voice offered no alternative. She knew how little room there was. She absolutely knew how cramped it would be, but she was not allowing Poe to go on his own and she didn’t have a way to signal for another fighter. “Or call me a ship.” 

Poe’s expression showed all his distaste, but he took the helmet from the former pilot and put it over his head. He wasn’t going to call off anyone else who needed to be in the skies. Instead, he silently gestured Mira to the ship as he climbed into it. He could figure this out. He’d had ideas if it came to it with Leia. “Just make sure I can see, blondie,” Poe grumbled as Mira did take a seat in his lap as she’d threatened to do to get kyber crystals. He was far from comfortable, but still a damn good pilot. 

He was chasing after Finn and their tail soon enough. 

~***~ 

Leia waited patiently, anxiously, and kept glancing back towards the sounds of combat. She hated to be so far from it—so far from where she could do good, but it seemed necessary. She felt the subtle disturbance as Mira left, and found that odd. It was a question for later, though. She did not think Mira captured. She would know that. 

Leia moved forward after the ship was scoped out, and walked right to her radio system. The girls spoke loudly enough for Leia to hear. 

“Oh my god, Lena, you’re so lucky!” The other girl was saying, and Leia rolled her eyes, turning her chair a bit as someone spoke on the other end of the radio. “I bet he’ll stay a while after all this to help out! I bet he’ll be so grateful to you, he’ll want you on Black Squad!” If there was jealousy from the friend, it wasn’t vocalized. 

But of course there was. 

She kept her voice low so she wouldn’t be overheard. “This is General Organa,” she informed, “We need all squads to Cimarosa immediately. Snoke knew.” 

Mira knew. 

Leia took a deep breath. Another matter to deal with. The Force showed many things when one focused. It was a talent that came easier for Leia, but she did not rely on it. The future could be changed. It was unreliable—unpredictable—and as she well knew, her father had manifested his own destiny through his fear of it. 

Leia preferred to avoid that. “Right away, General. Are you well?” 

“I am, yes. But hurry. We are losing ground. And do not attack the First Order ships, they are assisting.”

KyloGlenn · Jun 4, 2016

Paquin nearly blurted out the question of 'I'm attractive?' but didn't, thankfully. It'd been a long while since that had been said and it came from Gnaeus so it very well could have been a joke. She didn't think on it past that, rather feeling secondhand embarrassment from Kylo. "You're fine, Kylo," she assured him as he spun on his heels and left her. 

'Time for a bath,' the secondhand embarrassment was replaced with excitement as she turned around and started the bath. Another thing that she'd gone without for a long while. 

Meanwhile, Ariel didn't stop outside of the showers. Instead, she grabbed onto Gnaeus's arm and quickly led him back into the kitchen. She didn't yet explain until she'd shoved a bottle of something into his hands, "Drink." She instructed. She glanced around and back to where the came from to make sure Kylo wasn't near. Then he definitely wouldn't drink anything. 

"I need your help getting Kylo and Paquin drunk." Paquin would have to wait now, but they could work on Kylo in the meantime. "Remember when I said that there wasn't not proof of Force Ghosts? Well, there is proof. I think." She was realizing how silly she sounded. Gnaeus probably wouldn't believe her now. "I swear, I spoke to Anakin Skywalker. He said I could hear him because I was drunk." Okay, really silly. 

"I don't know where he's gone now," she hadn't heard his bitching in a hot minute. "But I'm one hundred percent serious. So, I need you, Kylo, and Paquin drunk so you can all hear him, too." 

- 

General Hux hadn't expected Finn to do it for him and wasn't thinking it. He was certainly glad he did it, though. Hux nearly cracked a smile as the droid added its two cents. Mira would be sad if he died? That made Hux feel. That was the best way to describe it. The feelings certainly were mutual. 

Hux picked up the possessiveness in Finn's voice. "She's my friend, too." He felt the need to be defensive, a slight bit possessive as well. He almost wanted to say that she was my friend first, but that was entirely too childish. So, he settled on that. Not that he had a chance to say much, as the ship was barely grazed with a blast. 

They weren't giving up, were they? Hux decided to take some control and utilize the guns while Finn piloted. But the clone ship managed to dodge each and every shot, still continuing to fly after them. "Leave the planet," he ordered, thinking that would be the best way to lose the ship. Then circle back around. 

He expected to be met with resistance from Finn, considering their situation, but one way or another he was going to get Finn to follow his orders. They were shot at again, the blast whizzing past them this time. 

Hux noticed another ship tailing the one that was tailing them. An X-Wing. He couldn't see who was in it, but as long as they were there to help, he didn't care who was in it. 

- 

Poe was chasing after Finn and the tail almost immediately, struggling only slightly to maneuver around Mira. "Why did you do this?" Poe grumbled as he put the tail into firing range. Whether the tail knew of Poe and Mira or not before he fired, he didn't know. They seemed to avoid the shots just perfectly, so Poe had his suspicions. 

They definitely knew now. 

The tail abruptly broke from behind Finn, turning so they'd be behind Poe, too. It didn't cause worry within the pilot, just slight annoyance. What did cause worry, was another ship joining the other, both the same make and model. Same side. And they were both shooting at him. 

Poe expertly evaded, but they wouldn't give. "Mira, you're doing a great job sitting there and looking pretty, but please make yourself useful and get a hold of Finn." Some plan needed to be made there. There was no way to shake the tail on Cimarosa, no buildings big enough to move through. Maybe jumping into lightspeed outside of the planet could do the trick. Move through other planets, stars. 

The clones certainly weren't making this easy for them. 

- 

"Oh my gosh, that's the dream, Brit. Wouldn't join Black Squad without you, though." She was on the verge of squealing when a beep on her wrist distracted her. Lena didn't even bother to check who it was, unconsciously answering it. She'd wish she'd checked so she could have lowered the volume. 

"YOU WON'T GUESS WHAT I SAW!" Came the familiar screeching voice, accompanied by sounds of shooting. That railgun, probably. "SOME BLONDE CHICK AND POE JUST LEFT!" 

Lena quickly moved to lower the volume, although if there was anyone around they would have been alerted of their position already. Lena spoke in a hushed hiss. "What chick?" 

It was obvious she was still screaming at the top of her lungs, but with the volume lowered, it sounded normal. "She sat in his lap and took off! Didn't see where they were going, was a little occupied!" 

"I still think I'm going to get on BS," Lena mumbled to Britney. 

Britney was pulled from her jealous silence by the sight of a large blonde woman, "Speaking of blonde women," Brit raised her blaster, just in case, "General! Captain...Plasma...is out here!" She called back to General Organa, waiting for word to shoot or let the Captain go. 

"Phasma," Lena corrected.

Lucyfer · Jun 4, 2016

Kylo did not follow Gnaeus and Ariel, but instead went to the room that had once been Kevan’s, opening it and staring in at the changes. Mira had always been the minimalist, but Kevan had decorations. Kevan had clothing, pictures, and scattered items from his last visit. There was a dying plant. 

Kylo destroyed it, breaking it against the floor without moving a muscle, before just turning away from Kevan’s room and checking into Mira’s. 

Nothing. 

Empty. 

As if she’d never belonged. 

“It’s your fault.” But Kylo couldn’t hear Anakin. 

~***~ 

Gnaeus let himself be dragged off, and he accepted the bottle when it was handed to him. He arched an eyebrow, he was going to drink anyway, but to be ordered to do it in this way… “Ariel…,” he didn’t need to say more. She explained. 

“I think you’ve drunk past the point of sanity,” but he’d humor her, if only because she’d never spoke of Force ghosts while drunk before. He opened the bottle, and drunk the liquor straight, no chaser. 

Four gulps and he had to pause, put a hand to his head, “Void,” he muttered. The alcohol had rushed to his head quick, but he knew that wouldn’t last. He wasn’t that much of a lightweight. So, he took down a few more gulps, one after another, until he counted to ten. 

Then he moved his hand to grip the nearest counter and waited for his head to stop swimming from the sudden rush. It’d wear off after a few seconds, he was pretty sure. “So you don’t know where this…Skywalker went? Can’t ya…see him?” Ghost right, they were visible things, if Ariel knew it was around. 

Right? 

Vision started to clear. 

Head started to swim less, but he felt warm and there was a pleasant buzzing sensation that started to take over the dizziness. 

~***~ 

Finn scowled as Hux spoke of Mira being his friend. He knew that. He still didn’t like to hear it, even though a part of him wanted to do a double-take. Hux and friends. “What would you even know?” Finn asked, before he heard the radio beep. 

He let it through, “Poe?” He had noticed the X-Wing fall behind them. 

“Poe and Mira.” 

Finn wasn’t even going to ask how that worked. 

“We’ve got to make a plan, fast.” 

Finn nodded, even though they couldn’t see, “Hux wants to get out of here,” which Finn could see as a good idea, it was why he was soaring higher and higher up. “I think we could stay and fight, though.” Especially with Poe following behind them. They could figure something out, right? 

Except it looked like Poe was now entirely on the defensive with two ships, and Hux hadn’t been able to hit any of them. 

BB-8 beeped its panic back to Poe, of course. It was all in favor of running. 

~***~ 

Mira was not just sitting pretty, but trying to adjust each shot that Poe sent to get it at the ship. It was a bit difficult to focus, though, with how uncomfortable Poe was. And herself. She didn’t answer his question about why she did it, just leaned back so he’d have more of a view around her. 

When he spoke about contacting Finn, she rolled her eyes, “I was doing something. It wasn’t working.” The clones were better at evading than anticipated and she couldn’t manipulate the blaster shots to truly be homing. 

Even so, she reached forward and sent the call out. 

It was answered, “Poe?” 

“Poe and Mira,” Mira answered, “We’ve got to make a plan, fast.” 

“Hux wants to get out of here.” Finn said, “I think we could stay and fight, though.” 

Mira wouldn’t answer, she’d let Poe speak. He was the master pilot. He knew their odds, knew Finn’s skill in piloting far better than she did. Besides, Finn might just be trying to be contrary. 

~***~ 

Britney beamed as Lena promised not to join without her. “One day!” Britney said, only for all of their conversation to be interrupted by Becki, who complained of some blonde. Britney wrinkled her nose. She spoke in a not-quite whisper, whisper, “There was one blonde chick with Edwin. Lightsaber chick.” Hair hadn’t been as memorable as lightsaber. 

She offered a nod, “You’ll def get on BS,” she said, “We’ll find out about blonde chick.” But then another blonde chick showed up. Phasma. 

“Don’t shoot her,” Leia stated, rising from the cockpit and moving by the two women as Phasma drew near, alone. She heard enough, “Phasma, are Mira and Poe gone?” 

“Affirmative, they went after Hux and FN—Finn,” she corrected herself quickly. 

She noticed the two girls behind Leia exchange looks. “May I use your radio?” 

“Yes,” she knew what Phasma wanted to do, and they could use all the back-up they could get. 

“Thank you,” and Phasma stepped by her to enter the ship and call out to the First Order. 

Leia made a note to find out which X-Wing Poe took, and call out to him once this was all wrapped up.

KyloGlenn · Jun 5, 2016

"You didn't have to do that so fast," Ariel mumbled as Gnaeus finished chugging the alcohol. He asked if she could see Anakin, to which she shook her head. "I can only hear him. He's surprisingly whiny and that's how I know he's real." Well, she didn't know. She at least thought it. "I don't know if he's got the whole ghost part down or not." 

It was clear to Ariel that Anakin was not in the room with them, "There're only a few places he could be. He could be perving on Paquin," Kylo had to get it from somewhere, "or with Kylo, which is the most likely option. Or he could be just...gone." She honestly hoped that wasn't the case. 

There was also the possibility that he wasn't real. 'Or that I'm not drunk enough...' Just to be safe, Ariel took the bottle from Gnaeus and downed what was left of it. She 

Ariel turned and grabbed the crate with the remaining bottles, "The rest is for Kylo and Paquin. At least enough to get them drunk enough to hear Anakin." Or see him. Ariel would probably take the rest from there. Maybe she should have gotten more... 

"C'mon, we've got work to do. Let's find Kylo." How they were going to get him drunk, she didn't know. If both she and Gnaeus heard Anakin, that would have to convince Kylo. 

- 

"We could stay and fight. If you want to die that is," Hux added his own comment, "We can come back once we rid ourselves of the clones." Hux wouldn't allow any other decision to be made. If he had to, he'd knock Finn out and take control. He couldn't exactly knock a droid unconscious, but BB-8 wasn't large enough to do anything. 

Poe could hear BB-8's panicked beeps and took note of Hux's objection to staying. Finn was good with guns and was a decent pilot. But at the same time? If Poe couldn't hit a clone, Finn couldn't either. Though, he did have Hux who could take over the guns while he flew. And there was BB-8, who could do something. Though the droid wasn't confident in that... 

But as a couple of shots blew past the X-Wing, narrowly missing Finn and Hux's ship, Poe decided. Their best chance was to leave and shake them. "We get out of here," Poe didn't say anything along the lines of Hux being right. 

"Finn, you take the lead. Move in and out of planet atmospheres and I'll try and shoot 'em." Poe hoped the tails would simply give up once they left Cimarosa, but he wasn't betting on it. They had to be prepared, so Poe came up with some sort of plan. "If you have to and if you get the chance, split off from Mira and me." If Poe could get them that distracted. That way at least some of them could get out. And the ship with the important one would be spared. 

"No." Hux rejected the idea, only for the fact that Mira was in the same ship as Poe. 

"Not gonna happen," Finn denied it for both Mira and Poe, both of them being his friends. Finn did, however, follow Poe's instructions. As they rose through clouds, Finn wondered if Poe or Mira had told anyone what was going on. 

- 

"Mira must be the blonde chick," Lena whispered to Britney. "That's a start, we can give the name to Becki." Maybe even question Phasma and Leia, who seemed to know this Mira. But both of them knew that now wasn't the time to start their research, not as more X-Wings started to flood the sky. 

"General Organa, Poe wanted us to get you out of here," Britney spoke louder this time. "What do you want us to do?" Both of them wanted to get back into action, especially with all the Resistance pilots joining them. A chance to show off. But they also wanted to please Poe. 

A look was also shot to Phasma and the dirty First Order insignia. Leia seemed to trust the Captain, and the tall woman hadn't done anything yet... 

"Do you see all these X-Wings? Where the hell are y'all?" Becki's voice came over their communication devices, to which they clamped their hands over their wrists simultaneously. As badly as they wanted to join, they'd follow Poe's command. And Leia's, but they'd follow Poe into the depths of Kamino's sea. 

"Holy...TIE fighters...many!" Only a few intelligible words came from the muffled device. 

By the sounds outside, it sounded like they could very possibly be winning.

Lucyfer · Jun 5, 2016

“Like grandfather like son,” Gnaeus muttered. Though, he’d heard rumors that Luke was also a bit whiny. Perhaps it was a male Skywalker trait. Perverts and whiny. Didn’t Vader go against the Jedi Order for a woman, too? Definitely Skywalker traits. 

Perhaps Kylo would be more so under the influence. That could be hilarious. 

Apparently Anakin wasn’t with them, though. That meant he was with the others. “Well we’re not perving on Paquin just for a ghost. Let’s go see if he’s around Kylo.” He let Ariel lead. He hadn’t quite gotten his drunk-legs yet, and so he held a hand out near the wall as they walked back to the dorms. 

Kylo Ren was there in his own room, door open, sorting through the things he’d left behind last time he was on Korriban. “Yoo~.” 

“Well I see you got one drunk.” 

“Holy Force, you were not kidding.” Except Gnaeus could see him. “You’re blonde.” 

“You’re drunk.” 

“What?” Kylo looked visibly confused. “I’m not blonde.” 

“He dyes his hair.” Anakin lied, just to see Gnaeus lose it. 

“What?! How much did you let him drink, Ariel?” Apparently Ariel was supposed to be the responsible one with alcohol. 

~***~ 

Mira let out a frustrated sigh as both denied Poe’s idea of splitting off, but at least they were going to run. Mira wanted to have faith in Poe’s abilities as a pilot, or the clones’ need to stay on Cimarosa, but the clones likely knew who was in Finn’s ship. They’d chase after a chance to off Hux to ends of the universe. 

Finn jumped his ship into lightspeed after calling back coordinates, “Hang on,” Poe muttered, and jumped his as well. He appeared seconds later, now in the outer rim, and he swerved around Finn. 

Then the clone ships appeared. “See this, too, blondie?” Poe asked, irritated. 

“Shouldn’t have announced the coordinates….” Mira said. Perhaps they were listening in—then they’d know who was in Poe’s ship. No wonder they were following close. 

One of those fighters didn’t bother to swerve much, and the left wing of Finn’s ship was completely taken out. That ship whipped back around to finish the job, but Poe moved swiftly to engage it, flying low enough to it to distract it and cause it to turn on them. 

Mira tried to reach out again with the Force, to hold that ship in place so it’d be as much of a sitting duck as Finn’s right now. The vacuum of space made the Force more difficult to use, or she would have also tried hurling the debris of Finn’s wing at the other ship. However, there was just too little life, and too much distance of nothing. 

Then, there was a second where the ship stopped, and seemed to tremble in its place, fighting against Mira’s hold. “I can’t keep it still for long,” Mira acknowledged to Poe, hoping he’d have time to turn back around and shoot it, or deal with the second ship closing in on Finn and Hux. 

~***~ 

Finn had only known the coordinates to one planet off hand—Jakku. Always Jakku. It was ingrained into his head, and so he went there. His computer alerted him when Poe came close, and then again when the clone fighters came. “Shoot!” 

And then his ship was literally shot before he could swerve it out of the way, making space for the ship to fly right by his right side. The alerts went off quickly then, and BB-8 started to all but scream in its beeping language, telling both Finn and Hux what to do in order to keep the ship from destroying itself from the wound it took. The little droid also rolled closer to the console to plug itself in so it could give the ship commands, too—not to interfere with the fighting, but just to help stabilize. 

“Hux, the shield controls are over there!” Finn said as he was moving to the power controls, “BB-8 says we need to route power to the shields over on the right side of the ship to keep it together.” Hux probably understood BB-8, but Finn was panicking and speaking helped him actually act and panic less. 

He knew they were still in immediate danger from the fighters, but he was trusting Poe to keep them distracted enough so they could get free. 

~***~ 

Leia looked back to the two as they reminded her of Poe’s orders. Now that she could clearly hear the reinforcements had arrived, she doubted it was necessary. “You two have done your job. I am away from immediate danger here, and I will return to my ship and power the shields shortly.” 

She would get off the ground and manage her fighters. She’d land again when it was clear. This way she could also try to reach out to Poe and Finn from within the ship and find out if they needed assistance. 

The two exchanged a look, then, “Thank you, General!” and both ran off to get to their ships and join the fighting. Leia walked back into her ship once they had cleared the way and saw Phasma reclining in the pilot’s seat. She was injured. “You can rest here,” Leia said, but gestured towards the co-pilot seat, “I need to get this ship out of the hangar and put the shields on, though.” 

“My apologies,” Phasma moved as quick as she could. The adrenaline was starting to wear off now that she was away from the fighting. It was odd, thinking that any other day, she would have used this as the perfect opportunity to capture Leia. Now, however…she was much more an ally than a threat. 

Leia lifted the ship into the skies and quickly got into radio contact with the many X-Wings, and watched as the clone army was scattered and destroyed by them, as well as some of the landing troops.

KyloGlenn · Jun 5, 2016

"Wait, you can see him?" Ariel was a little jealous. "And he's blonde?" Maybe Ariel just wasn't drunk enough. She was a seasoned alcoholic, it would take a little more for her to get to Gnaeus's level of intoxication. Ah, but Kylo and Paquin still needed some sips. Which drew her back to Kylo's question. 

"What, I'm supposed to monitor everyone's alcohol intake?" Ariel quickly brushed that off, though. "Okay, Kylo, listen," she said as she approached him, placing her hands on his shoulders and shaking him lightly. She took the chance to examine Kylo's roots, to search for any bit of blonde. 

She wouldn't put it past Kylo to dye his hair. Seemed entirely likely that he would be blonde or a lighter shade of brown, looking at his parents. 

"Anyway, okay. Listen. What Gnaeus is talking to right now, is a Force ghost. I swear to..." Ariel paused to lower her voice, "Snoke," she always felt like Snoke knew when they were talking about him. But she used the name to enforce how serious she was. "It's Darth Vader." She used Darth Vader instead of Anakin since it was more likely to entice Kylo. "But you can only hear or see him when you're intoxicated. So drink something." 

She hoped it would be that easy. 

- 

"Hold on to your jacket, blondie," Poe warned as he quickly swung the X-Wing around, needing to take the shot at the clones while he had the chance. Mira was keeping it well enough in place, despite it's wiggling. Poe barely took any time to aim, not knowing how long 'long' really was. 

Even though he was upside down, he still managed to fire the most perfect shot. It took out the ship's wing, just like they had Finn's. "Woo!" Poe cheered as he returned the ship right side up. But Poe didn't leave it at that. That wasn't enough. So, he turned the ship around, staying right side up this time to get a better shot. 

He wasn't sure if Mira still had a hold on it or not, but it still seemed to be struggling to move. It might've had something to do with the missing wing. But Poe didn't wait to find out, instead rapid firing at the ship, not bothering to take aim. It only took a few seconds before the ship simply imploded, debris floating away from the destroyed clone ship. 

Poe let out another cheer but was quickly interrupted by the ship alerting him of the second clone ship, quickly approaching. Of course it would abandon Finn and Hux's injured ship. 

It was coming up from behind, where they'd just been facing. Poe barely had any time to turn around, let alone defend himself before the clone was firing at him. And it wasn't simply a wing or a gun that was taken out. It was an entire engine. Poe and Mira were incredibly lucky they hadn't imploded like the previous clone ship. 

But the chance of imploding was still at large, as they were now plummeting towards the surface of Jakku. Red lights flashing, alarms screaming. Poe hadn't even gotten the chance to tell Mira to hold onto her jacket for a second time, instead wrapping one arm around her waist to keep a grip on her. Their best chance now was to eject before they slammed into the ground. 

- 

"I know what the damn droid said!" Hux barked, doing as instructed by BB-8 and routing the power to the right side of the ship, leaving the left vulnerable. But at least the right wouldn't be completely destroyed while they were in the vacuum that was outer space. 

BB-8 let out and offended beep, to which Hux mumbled a sorry. Everyone was stressed, even the droid. 

But then the danger of them being shot down disappeared, one ship marked by the scanner simply disappearing. Then the ship to their right just pulled away, turning and heading towards what was marked as Poe and Mira's ship. Then seconds later, that ship was rapidly falling off of the scanner. 

Soon enough, the destroyed X-wing zoomed past Hux and Finn, BB-8 letting out a screech in the form of a long beep. Then the threat of the other clone returned. "Follow them," Hux ordered, but Finn wanted to do something else. He wanted to completely and utterly destroy the clone ship that had just taken down his friends. 

But the clones had the upper hand, with a completely functional ship. Theirs was still blinking red lights. Even BB-8 told Finn to follow after the crashing fighter as the clone took to shooting at the already damaged cruiser. 

Besides, being destroyed on Jakku would allow them a higher chance of survival than being stranded in space with no oxygen. 

But Finn wasn't going to let them just be shot down. Not when he was so angry, he wouldn't let them win. 

As the atmosphere of Jakku was entered, Hux attempted at firing at the enemy ship to which they swung side to side, avoiding. Finn had another plan when that was clearly failing. He broke to the left and slowed, allowing the clone ship to pull up to the right of them. 

"What are you--" Hux couldn't finish his question before Finn let out a mighty cry before slamming the damaged side of the ship into the clone ship. Screams came from all beings within the ship. Hux wanted to strangle Finn, but they were all probably going to die in a moment, anyway. 

- 

It didn't take long. With all the X-wings and TIE fighters, the two groups of students, the clones that had outnumbered the First Order and the Resistance were now the ones that were being outnumbered. Of course the clones tried to escape but were crushed by the other forces. 

Of course, a few escaped. Nothing that anyone worried about. They could run back to Snoke and the Knights and tell them about the alliance, the added forces. Snoke could once again feel how it was to lose. 

The last clone ship was destroyed, but it wasn't until the final clone on the ground was killed that cheers erupted from the radio channels. This had started out really bad with little hope, but thanks to the students of Crim Academy, the two militaries managed to win this round. 

"Time to start cleaning up." A pilot's voice came out over the radio, X-wings simultaneously lowering. The destroyed buildings they couldn't do much about, but they could at least get rid of the bodies, help the injured. Get in contact with those that have separated, like Poe, Mira, Finn, and Hux. 

Only no one would be able to contact the four, or their companion droid.

Lucyfer · Jun 5, 2016

Ariel’s breath reeked of alcohol, and Kylo turned his head a bit to escape the scent of it. He noticed the way that Ariel’s eyes looked at his hair first, and he glared, not certain what was going on. 

When she spoke, it was ridiculous. “This is a terrible lie. I’m not going to drink to see a hallucination you’re trying to inspire in my mind.” 

“No…no it’s pretty real. But why couldn’t I see you before?” 

“You’re an idiot.” 

Gnaeus glared at Anakin, who just stared at him, daring him to challenge his authority. “Okay. Snoke trained you all to protect your minds from outside influences. That includes me—Force Ghosts in general. When you drink, your inhibitions and guards lower.” 

“So Vader says,” and he saw the disgusted look on Vader’s face when he called him that, “basically we were trained not to see them.” 

“Why couldn’t I see him when I was with Luke?” 

“I don’t visit Luke much.” 

“He doesn’t visit Luke much. Why?” 

“Just get him to drink.” He didn’t need to be explaining himself to Gnaeus. 

Gnaeus shrugged and looked at Kylo, who looked more confused than angry…thankfully. “This is stupid.” 

“Drink.” 

“Snoke will….” 

“Never know, and if he does, just blame me.” 

He could blame Gnaeus all he wanted, but the fact would be, he listened to his idiocy. Kylo didn’t want to do that, especially not fresh from such an experience with Snoke’s wrath. 

~***~ 

Mira couldn’t stop the shots. She couldn’t slow them in time, and the engine was taken out. ‘I’m going to die in space.’ Better than dying to Snoke, but not exactly on her top five ways of dying. All she could do now after the ship was rocked was try to keep it together. 

Mira knew what she would have done in her ship, if this were the case—eject. Her eyes were even searching rapidly for the button, while still trying to keep the cockpit at least together. She couldn’t see much else through the flashes of red and distracting alarms. Then Poe wrapped an arm around her waist and of all the things to startle her, that did. 

Poe was monitoring the distance from the ground as best he could, and he slammed his hand down on the eject button when he felt it was safe. The cover flew open and they were forced out, of course, and Mira immediately grabbed onto Poe’s arm with one hand, and the other wrapped back to grab whatever she could of Poe, understanding it would be very, very bad to let him go. 

The seat that ejected them had a pack in it that Poe soon released, allowing the parachute to come out to give them an easier landing. It also allowed them to witness Finn ram his ship into the clone one, some distance away. Mira felt the panic of Poe in both his tension and emotional state—it wasn’t like the parachute let them fall to the ground fast. “They’re alive,” though with fire sparking, that might not last. “Hold on.” Mira still had her lightsaber and she drew it into one hand, still clinging tightly to Poe with the other. 

“What do you think you’re doing?” 

“Landing.” Mira lit the saber and swung it at the strings that tied them to the parachute. They’d fallen a good distance by then. 

The rest, the Force softened, though the landing was awkward as neither had released the other in the process. Mira managed not to fall forward, and Poe steadied himself before pushing her into the sand. They parted as they heard their old ship explode and Poe nodded, then took off running towards the wreckage of Finn and Hux’s ship. Mira was on his heels, mentally cursing the planet as the heat swept over her and her black coat. 

~***~ 

Finn had not been thinking straight in his anger, nor was he truly thinking straight when seconds after the impact, he came to. Smoke was all around him. BB-8 was still shrieking, somewhere. At least Hux wasn’t yelling at him, though, so that was something. ‘Hux.’ The reason he was in this damn mess. “HUX?!” Finn shouted, then coughed. He tried to get up, but the ship beneath him was hot and when he pressed his hands to the metal, it burned. It did help him to sit up, but not the way he’d planned. He coughed more, and squinted through the smoke. ‘Damn it.’ He had to find Hux. And there’d be no standing. Crawling was going to hurt, but it was the only option. The ship where he was had the roof caved in too low—Finn was surprised the metal hadn’t twisted into him, but he wasn’t going to think about that right then, or how awkwardly the metal was twisted to avoid him. 

~***~ 

Leia had maintained the radio and listened to as much as she could, directed where needed, and was so relieved when that cheer came up. Phasma even smirked, just a bit, and Leia leaned forward to communicate again. “Do all that you can to assist Crim Academy in its clean-up, too.” 

“Understood.” 

“Some of the First Order Training Corps kids have prisoners. What should we do?” 

Leia glanced to Phasma, “We will share any information that we acquire,” Phasma noted. Leia nodded. 

“Let the First Order handle it.” Leia did not like the idea of torture, but they needed information. Mira might assist, if it was required. She had no delusions about what Mira could do with the Force—not all of it was Jedi techniques. 

“…All right,” the response was hesitant. 

“Has anyone heard from Poe or Finn?” Leia asked then. 

“Negative,” and answers like that swarmed the radio channel. 

“I’ll check all our radio broadcasts. If anyone sees or hears anything about Mira, Poe, Finn, Hux, or BB-8, report it immediately to me.” Leia stated, noticing that Phasma was rising. 

“I’ll do my own investigations, as well,” Phasma said, and exited the ship. She also needed to make sure the prisoners were dealt with accordingly. She wasn’t sure which officers might be here to assist. Mitaka would be fine. Commandant Hux would be a nightmare.

KyloGlenn · Jun 5, 2016

"I'm drunk literally all the time, Kylo," Snoke had to have known about that. But then again, Snoke was pissed at all of them right then. So if he did find out, "Besides, Snoke seriously won't find out. And if he does, well, we all got drunk." They could share the punishment and the shame. 

Neither Ariel nor Gnaeus really understood what Kylo went through with Snoke. Ariel wasn't sure if it was any different than just anyone forcing their way into their head, but it sure did seem like it by Kylo's reaction afterwards. Either way, she didn't fully understand his hesitance. 

"What if this is the only time you ever get to see your idol? You could share Skywalker family secrets, discuss your mutual hate for sand," at the Ariel gasped. "Anakin, is it true that you really hate sand?" She wished she could see his reaction. She was getting off topic, so she waved her hand dismissively. 

"Humor us, Kylo." 

- 

Hux had lost consciousness for a moment after landing, his head had hit something. But now he was awoken. The heat was the first thing Hux felt. From the sun, mostly as he was flung from the burning ship at some point. 'FN-2187,' He remembered, head lifting to search for the wreckage. 'Dameron...Mira. Fuck.' 

Shrieking of some sort was the first thing he heard. 

BB-8 was there to greet him, the source of the shrieking. Hux shushed the droid, coughing some and then inhaling some sand, which threw Hux into a long coughing fit. 

It took a moment for him to get through it, but as soon as he did he pushed himself off of the ground. He barely kept his balance as he stood straight, stumbling backwards and nearly falling down. BB-8 beeped its encouragement before anxiously rolling off before returning again. obviously trying to get Hux to follow. 

Finn shouted his name to which Hux nearly sprinted through the sand and over the wreckage of the flaming ship that he could now see so he could strangle him like he wanted to in the air. They hadn't died, so he could actually strangle him. 

No, he had to help. Hux moved slowly, although he was trying to go as fast as his wobbly legs could carry him. Along the way, Hux ditched the leather gloves he always wore, exposing his hands to the heat. It felt as though the sun immediately started to burn his pasty white skin. 'If only I could destroy all the suns,' suns truly were the ginger's worst enemy. 

BB-8 suddenly screamed again as they neared the downed ship, rushing ahead. Hux's eyes rose from his dusty boots to squint at the running figures of Poe and Mira. A wave of relief rushed through him at the sight of Mira. But Finn's fate was still up in the air. Hux now owed him, Finn saved him and now Hux had to save Finn. 

Though, saving wouldn't be necessary at that moment. "Finn!" Poe called out, dropping to his knees behind the destroyed ship and disappearing from Hux's sight. Hux moved faster against the dizzying heat, rounding the ship to see Finn underneath it. 

This felt all too familiar to Poe. Only the last time he'd been separated from Finn, he hadn't been able to find him. Poe immediately grabbed at Finn's arm, prepared to pull him out, "Let's get you out of here, buddy." Before the whole thing exploded. 

Hux moved to help, attempting to push on the ship, only to burn his hand. Should have left the gloves on. But now they were a couple yards away in the sand. So, instead, he moved to grab Finn's other arm. He'd save the question of 'are you okay?' for everyone later. 

"Mira," Hux nodded at the ship, asking her to utilize the Force to lift it while he and Poe pulled Finn out. 

- 

With battle finally over, a large shuttle belonging to the First Order landed. Out came various officers with various jobs. Some to deal with the prisoner's captured, some to aid with clean up. Medics swarmed out, as well. The last few to exit the ship were Mitaka, followed by the redheaded Commandant, Brendol Hux. 

With orders not to harm the Resistance. 

Brendol was not in a pleasant mood, even if the First Order came out on top. He was beyond furious when he heard that the meeting was even a thought, even more so when he'd been informed that the First Order and the Resistance were working together. This was not how he raised his son. 

He raised his son with stories of the Galactic Empire and their greatness, with plans of his son returning the galaxy to its rightful state. This was not apart of his son's plans. This was a disgrace and he was not going to have it. 

"Find my son," he barked at poor Mitaka. "Now." 

"Y-yes, sir." Mitaka quickly rushed off, but more to find Phasma, who Hux would likely be with.

Lucyfer · Jun 6, 2016

‘You don’t understand!’ No, there were probably only three that really did. One was dead. The other was going to be dead. “You’re different,” he told Ariel flatly, and it was the truth in so many ways. 

Still…it was tempting. 

“Yes, I hate sand. I hate all sand. I want the universe to be rid of sand.” Though Anakin said it as dryly as a desert, there was truth to his words. He despised sand. He despised all it represented. He despised how his mother died on that dry desert world in his arms, screaming for him through the Force only to give up and die. 

Sand could go fuck itself with sandpaper. 

“He really hates sand.” Gnaeus said for Kylo’s sake. “Like seriously, Vader, what did it do to you?” 

“Call me that one more time and I will see if I can still Force Choke you.” 

Gnaeus’s words left him. He just motioned to the bottle that Ariel had. 

“Fine.” Kylo was too curious. He took the bottle from Ariel and sniffed it. Evident disgust showed on his face. He never really missed drinking since, well, he didn’t like alcohol. He held his breath as he took his first shot down, but it did nothing, of course. “How much of this do I have to drink?” He asked, sounding disgusted. 

“Drink until you see a ghost. Obviously. Don’t know your tolerance level.” 

Kylo looked as if he’d been ordered to kill himself, but he brought the bottle back to his lips and sipped at it again. He definitely did not get his father’s tastebuds. 

~***~ 

Mira was relieved to see Finn and Hux, alive, albeit Finn was still in peril. Fortunately, both Hux and Poe got down to assist. Hux didn’t need to ask. Mira nodded and pushed out with the Force, manipulating the steel as best she could, and still irked by the lack of life. 

Again, the kyber crystals took on a sheen of green. Her breathing slowed, and the metal bent, twisted, and soon gave room to make getting Finn out from under the ship easier. Mira had to be careful not to disturb anything that would cause the ship to blow up. 

Finn jumped to his feet as quick as he could and dusted his hands on his clothing to try and rid them of the hot sand, “Ow, ow, ow, ow.” 

“C’mon,” Poe slapped a hand to Finn’s back, “We need to get away from the ship,” before it did explode, “What the hell was that, Finn?” 

“Huh?” 

“Don’t huh me. I saw you ram that ship.” 

“Well, I, uh, I was upset.” 

“You could have gotten yourself and BB-8 killed!” 

BB-8 was the one to chime in about Hux, “Yeah, yeah.” Poe waved it off, walking to rejoin Mira who was slipping off the heavy black coat. Blood was visible on the white fabric. “Just as great as the kyber crystal planet, eh?” Poe asked sarcastically. 

“I prefer the cold,” Mira answered shortly. It was easier to layer on than strip; stripping exposed skin to the sun that was usually causing the issue. Not to mention public indecency involved. Mira couldn’t very well get away with that like Poe or Finn. At least the Jedi tunic was white. “Everyone okay?” 

Finn nodded, “Just thirsty.” 

BB-8 beeped an affirmative, as well. 

~***~ 

Phasma returned to the area of the destroyed union as troops swarmed. She saw the man who had fought alongside Mira seeming to take control of them, as well, offering information and organizing the First Order soldiers to various locations as necessary. His own soldiers seemed to have already organized the layout of the campus. 

The Dameron Girls seemed to just now be getting that information, too, learning how the FOTC had set things up on the ground level. Phasma made a note to mention the leader of the FOTC to Hux—he might be someone worth grooming, after all. 

But more importantly was Mitaka, “Captain!” 

Phasma shifted her gaze to him, relieved to see him until she saw her expression, “Ah, w-where is General Hux?” 

“Away,” Phasma answered, “Why?” Anything Mitaka needed to say, could be told to her. 

“Commandant Hux wants to see him.” 

“Take me to Commandant Hux.” 

Mitaka wasn’t sure if he liked the sound of Phasma’s voice when she said that. He also wasn’t sure he disliked it. He would dislike being involved, he determined, but nonetheless motioned for her to follow and led the way back to where he’d left the Commandant.

KyloGlenn · Jun 6, 2016

A grin crossed Ariel's face, even as Kylo's disgust was apparent. They'd still gotten him to drink, and that was something. She almost turned around to high five Gnaeus. The thought of high-fiving Anakin crossed her mind, but sadly that wasn't possible. 'All this work and no reward.' 

"Two down, one to go." Paquin would be the easy one. Or Ariel would think. She wasn't even sure why she was doing this, getting everyone drunk to see Anakin. At first, it was to prove she wasn't crazy, but she could have stopped at Gnaeus. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that Anakin had been trying to get a hold of them for years. She felt a little bad that that was how he was spending his afterlife. 

"So do you hear him? Or see him? He sounds like a twelve-year-old if that helps." 

"What are you guys doing?" Paquin asked as she appeared in the doorway, hair wet and sans the bulk of the Knight armor. "Is Kylo drinking?" There was a bit of disappointment in her voice. Kylo was the only one she thought she could count on to be responsible. 

"Paquin! Perfect timing! I thought you would've taken longer," Ariel commented. 

"I was falling asleep," Paquin would have been longer if it weren't for that fact. She didn't last all that long. She could actually drown in that bathtub, so she thought it would be best to fall asleep in an actual bed. Which was why she was even bothering with the drunks, to find out where she'd be sleeping during their time on Korriban. 

- 

Before Hux had a chance to chime in, Poe changed the subject. "Anyone have anything we can contact someone with? My comlink is toast." It had been broken back when that Han clone threw a grenade at them, he'd felt the crunch of it. He wondered if he should share the information of the Han clone, considering it could pop up again. It could affect Finn, who had witnessed the real Han's death. 

Poe wondered if it would affect Mira. 

At Poe's question, Hux reached into his pocket to grip his own, only for his bare hand to come in contact with crumbles of it. He pulled it out of his pocket, observing that not all of it was even there. Bits probably scattered where he had landed. "No." Hux glanced back at the ship. There was no way that radio would work either. 

"I didn't come prepared," Finn mumbled. He hadn't spent much time planning at all. He hadn't really even had a plan or spent time preparing. He just had a bad feeling, like his friends needed him. So he stole BB-8 and a ship and flew to Cimarosa. No form of contact other than the ship's radio. 

"We should get moving then," Poe looked around. Sand, sand, and more sand. No distinctive features to tell Poe if he'd been here before. No signs to tell them where they were or where the nearest town was. 'Why did we have to crash on Jakku?' Poe groaned inwardly. Couldn't they have plummeted in the other direction, away from the desert planet? 

"Find a village or something." Shelter, water. As long as they had that, communication could be delayed. Poe took the lead, beginning to walk in some direction. 

Hux's jaw clenched. The First Order wasn't exactly welcome on Jakku, especially not in some places. Mira's jacket and Hux's uniform could cause some trouble. As Hux started to walk with them, he considered taking the overshirt of his uniform off, walk around in the t-shirt underneath not only to hide his status but to cool himself. But he wanted to avoid his skin being exposed to the sun for as long as he could. 

He trekked on, dismissing his clothing issue for a moment when another one came up. He spotted blood on the fabric of Mira's clothes. "Are you alright?" He asked, to be sure. It was likely that it was just blood from the clones, but it could be a wound she hadn't yet acknowledged. 

- 

There the Commandant was, where Mitaka had left him. Lieutenant Mitaka glanced back at Phasma before turning back and greeting Brendol. "Commandant Hux, I--" 

"Do you know what my son looks like?" 

"E-excuse me?" 

"Do you know what my son looks like. Because last time I checked, he was two inches shorter and wasn't blonde." Brendol recognized the woman to be Captain Phasma--who he was surprised to see out of her armor--and not as General Hux. 

"General Hux is away, sir. Phasma can help you with whatever you need." Mitaka assured, gesturing to the woman. 

"Unless she can help me beat the sense into you General, no she can not," Commandant Hux snapped before waving his hand, "Go, leave me with the Captain." 

"Yes, sir." Mitaka spared one more look at Phasma before scurrying off and finding other work to do. He was relieved that he wouldn't have to be as involved as initial thought. 

"Where's General Hux?" He asked when Mitaka was well and gone, "He better not be with that blasted Resistance General."

Lucyfer · Jun 6, 2016

“You’re all lucky I can’t figure out how to use the Force against you,” Anakin grumbled as he was again insulted by Ariel. Drunks, he reminded himself. Perhaps he should have let them call him Darth Vader. That name inspired respect. 

“Kylo is drinking!” Gnaeus sounded happy with that, even if Kylo was nursing the damn bottle, “Kylo, have you ever drunk before in your life? Shoot it!” 

Kylo just glowered at Gnaeus, and kept sipping at the alcohol. “It doesn’t taste any better the slower you drink it.” 

“I am not drinking more than necessary.” 

“Right,” he looked to Paquin, “You have to join us. Anakin Skywalker is a Force Ghost, and long story short, he’s difficult to see sober. That probably doesn’t sound intelligent sober, but, trust me.” He gestured to Ariel, who he hoped would offer Paquin a bottle to start this. 

Kylo knew he was going to be in trouble for this. He didn’t know how, he didn’t know why, but he would be in trouble for losing his senses like this. He could try to pass it off as training. He was meant to follow his emotions and lose his inhibitions with the Force, right? ‘That’s why Mira didn’t drink.’ He remembered Kevan trying to get them both to drink. 

He shut his eyes. 

“Feel anything yet?” 

And Kylo jumped, spine straightening. He looked, but unlike Gnaeus, he couldn’t see. “Why are you the only one that sees me?” 

“Fuck if I know, Ani.” 

“Don’t call me that, either.” 

~***~ 

“I don’t think I could reach Leia from here,” Mira said. Even if she could, she wouldn’t risk it. Not after Snoke attacked them at the Academy. She was going to do as little reaching out with the Force as possible. 

Mira fell in step with the others, and grumbled a complaint, “You had to eat the last donut.” Not only was she going to die of heat, she was going to die of starvation. 

A quirk of Poe’s lips showed he heard, but he offered no comment—no apology, and no retort. Silence seemed at least progressive to Mira. 

“Poe!” Finn had heard apparently, but then was distracted by Hux’s question, pointedly directed at Mira. He didn’t suspect it was blood of clones at all; he knew what lightsabers did, and they did not cause bleeding wounds. “Mira, you’re—” 

“Minor,” she interrupted him, to answer Hux. “I’m fine. One of them got lucky,” which, considering her odds, was pretty good. 

Finn sped up his pace a bit, shrugging off Poe’s jacket and then tearing at the sleeve of his black shirt. “Finn, I’m—” 

“I treated a wookie, I can manage this,” he said with a rather cheesy, bright smile, as BB-8 beeped about how brave he’d been in treating the wookie, “I can at least stop the bleeding, okay?” He wouldn’t touch her if she really didn’t want him to, but he had to offer. He’d figured out a few things being around Rey, the first being to ask, in some way. Rey liked her independence, and it was clear that Mira had a streak of that, too. 

Different levels, but similar. Maybe it was a Jedi thing. 

“Fine. But we’re not stopping,” Mira noted, “When night hits, we’ll freeze to death if we don’t have shelter.” 

“This is a desert!” Finn protested the idea with a laugh, but finished tearing off his sleeves to use as a clothe bandage, then gingerly reached out to pull Mira’s tunic off her shoulder so he could see the wound without revealing much flesh. 

The vibroblade never made a clean cut. It was why the wound was still bleeding—the vibrations made it jagged. Still, Finn acted as if it wasn’t so bad—he wished he could clean it, though. It probably wasn’t so bad, just looked nasty. It was amazing what these women could just shrug off. 

~***~ 

“General Organa is tending to other matters, and you will show our allies the proper respect, Commandant.” 

Phasma was having none of the Commandant’s shit that day, and her posturing made it clear as she kept her chin tilted up, rather than down, and looked down upon the man as if he were actually a lower rank than her. There was little more deference than what was polite in her tone. 

She was one of the few who stood up to Kylo Ren. It was now time to stand up to Brendol, since she knew where Hux stood. She did not know if they were truly allies—but she had a feeling. At least until Snoke was dealt with, there would be a truce. “General Hux is in the care of Vallens,” Knight? Jedi? What did she even call her? “Beyond that, his business is not your concern until he feels like announcing it.” 

Phasma did not know where Hux was. All she was relatively certain of was that Mira made it to him, and that was better than saying he was with Dameron or Finn. “Now, Commandant, is there anything further I can assist you with, or may I deal with the prisoners that the FOTC have acquired for us?” It was meant to imply she had much better things to do than deal with him.

KyloGlenn · Jun 7, 2016

"Alcoholic hallucinosis," was Paquin's explanation for their 'Force ghost'. But that was also an incredibly rare disorder, only being present in heavy drinkers. Like Ariel. But when going through withdrawl. It also didn't explain why they were all having the same hallucination... 

"Halluci-what?" 

"It's a psychotic disor--" 

"Doesn't matter, it's not a hallucination. We're all seeing it," Ariel pushed the bottle into Paquin's hands. 

"I don't want to. I just want to go to bed." And sleep for a few hours straight. Which wasn't likely considering how light of a sleeper she was. And with a handful of drunks in the same building as her, she was sure she'd be waking up every five minutes. The intoxicated weren't known to be quiet. 

"And the alcohol will help. Right, Gnaeus?" Ariel didn't let Gnaeus answer that, "Just a few sips until you can see him. Or hear him." Since apparently Gnaeus was the only one who got to actually see him. 

Paquin stared at Ariel for a moment, eyebrows furrowed. She finally allowed her fingers to wrap around the bottle and take it from Ariel. "You guys are a mess." Paquin shook her head. What even were the Knights? A band of idiots. Why was she even scared of Kylo in the first place? 

'Oh yeah, he was scary.' Temper tantrums and all. He still was scary. Paquin briefly thought back to that time when Kylo threatened her with his lightsaber, before they left for Kamino. She never did get pissed at him for that. Probably because she was too busy being sad. 

"Yeah but we're--hey. Where are you going?" Ariel asked as Paquin walked off. If Paquin was going to drink, she was not going to get a hangover. She returned to the three with a bag of dried fruit and the cheese Ariel had gotten, shoving as much of the dried fruits into her mouth and eating as she could. 

After that was swallowed, she decided to just down it as fast as she could. Her eyes remained closed for a second afterwards, already feeling a little dizzy. When her eyes opened, she gasped. They were telling the truth. "Oh stars, he's cute." 

- 

Hux visibly cringed at the sight of Mira's wound. He'd seen worse but it was still bad. Maybe when it wasn't covered in blood it would look better, but to think she was just so casually walking it off? Not making any complaints or sounds of pain? Unnatural. 'Does the Force help that?' 

Maybe it's just because she's a woman. 

Finn moved to slip the torn sleeve under her shirt and around the wound. "I'm gonna tie it a little tight here," he warned before doing just that. Pressure was what would help stop the bleeding at that point. Finn knew basic first aid during his time with the Order and brushed up a little with the Resistance. It came in handy with Chewie. 

"When we find some clean water I'll clean it," and replace the torn sleeve with the other sleeve, probably. But even though Finn said when, he really meant if. Everyone knew it, too. It was just an if. They could all die of heat stroke or dehydration before that. Who knows where the next bit of water would be. 

Finn remembered the last time he was on Jakku, obviously. He'd gone miles and miles, hours and hours without water. It eventually got so bad that he was eager to share a disgusting watering hole with some giant beast. 'Totally worth it, though.' That sip of water after all those hours in the sun felt like the most refreshing drink he would ever have. Gross and all. 

"All done, tell me if it bothers you any." Or if it bothered her any more than it possibly did right then. Not that he could do anything about it. 

"Alright, you heard Mira. Have to find shelter before we freeze to death." Poe and Finn had both been on the planet at night, but it hadn't gotten that cold. Rey hadn't told Finn anything about Jakku being cold. Then again, they never really had time to discuss home planets or anything. They hadn't spoken since before she left for Luke, either. "If we do need to stop, though..." That's as much as Poe would offer. 

As Poe said that, Hux took the overshirt off, the sun immediately burning his arms. The heat was already causing sweat to bead on his skin. He wasn't going to protest shelter. It probably wouldn't be all that much cooler, but at least his skin would be out of the harmful UV rays. But then again, at that point, his skin would be well and red. 

- 

Vallens, the woman Hux had run off to Coruscant with. "You left General Hux in the care of a traitor?" And then she dared to speak to him in such a tone. Even implied that the FOTC, a bunch of children, and a few prisoners were more important than him or his needs. "I believe I'll have a talk with my son about your behavior, Captain." If only the Commandant knew of Hux's true feelings towards him. 

Brendol Hux brushed past the Captain, continuing on walking. "You've proved your uselessness, I can deal from here. I believe I'll find Leia Organa." He paused then, turning to her. "And I'll treat her with the respect of an ally when Hux feels like announcing it." With that he turned back around, to find someone who would tell him what he wanted. 

Someone who would retrieve his son from the traitorous wench. 

Now he wanted to be taken to the Resistance's General. Try and fix his son's mistakes. There was no alliance until Hux officially announced it, after all. He'd make sure the General knew that. 

Hux was incredibly stupid. For departing from Snoke, even agreeing to meet with the Resistance. The only good that came out of this was that Kylo Ren and his Knights couldn't destroy the Order from the inside out anymore. 'Vallens,' his head reminded him.

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I made something that'll love me even when I won't

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I made something that'll love me even when I won't

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I made something that'll love me even when I won't

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I made something that'll love me even when I won't

either born in hell or heaven sent

I made something that'll love me even when I won't

either born in hell or heaven sent

I made something that'll love me even when I won't

either born in hell or heaven sent

I made something that'll love me even when I won't

either born in hell or heaven sent

I made something that'll love me even when I won't

either born in hell or heaven sent

I made something that'll love me even when I won't

either born in hell or heaven sent

I made something that'll love me even when I won't

either born in hell or heaven sent

I made something that'll love me even when I won't

either born in hell or heaven sent

I made something that'll love me even when I won't

either born in hell or heaven sent

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