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Just a couple seconds. Easy.


Kylo knew he didn’t have much of a choice – easy or not, it had to be done.


He tried to be reassured by Paquin’s touch, her faith in him, but she didn’t have much of a choice in the matter, either, did she? ‘This isn’t my job.’ Saving lives was not what he did. He took them.


He took the water then, and with the Force, pulled the stalagmite out of her leg, quick rather than slow. With the Force, he also tore at the clothe, rather than roll up the pants or pull them down, to reveal the wound a bit better so he could use the water to wash away debris of rock and blood, getting a good luck at the gash.


‘Here goes nothing.’ He tried not to focus on Paquin’s pain as he lit the lightsaber, keeping her leg aloft with the Force. Tried not to focus on the rushing blood. He moved it first over the top, tip pointed a bit down to make sure to close the wound, and then as it seemed to cover over, he shifted the lightsaber to be underneath her leg, at the other end of the wound.


Teeth grit.


Jaw set.


Trying to ignore the erratic Force around him to focus on this one thing.


~***~


August had to be patient. He had to move the ship beneath the Destroyer, carefully so as not to disturb Johann’s work, but to make sure they kept a difficult position for the incoming TIEs.


There were shouts and cheers on the radio, though.


And among the TIEs that were outlined in red, August saw his own squadron coming around behind them – the Nexu Pride, the elite class of Eriadu’s own fighters, intending to protect their leader – Nexu Alpha.


“Light them up from inside,” August said as the hole became large enough for August to reposition, nose to the belly. He adjusted the flow of power, sending it right into the shields as he pulled a lever down to turn on the turbo-thrusters, dialing in the lightspeed as well.


Regardless of whether or not Johann was able to release a few explosives within the ship, the Revenant shot forward just as the TIEs started to fire at it. Up it went, right through the ship, the shields flashing over the ship as it barreled through the core of it, illuminated I purple once it came out on the other side, rising above the sinking Destroyer.


And then, August dove it back down, back among the TIEs that were near the bottom of the Destroyer, the spin he gave to the Revenant giving it force enough to pierce right through the cockpit of one as the Nexu Pride joined the fray to cover him.


Only the insane used the ship itself as a weapon – and pirates. ‘Those who fight with pirates….’


“AUGUST TARKIN!” Julia’s voice shouted through the radio, irate, “OUR SON BETTER NOT BE IN YOUR SHIP!”


August laughed, not responding yet, but making a beeline towards the Imperatrix as the Nexu pride cleared the area of TIEs that had come for him.


“Good to have you home, Nexu Alpha,” came a laughing voice who had clearly heard Julia’s message, too.


~***~


Hux never revealed much, not with his expressions or body language. He was a difficult man to read, but Leia could sense the thoughtfulness in the silence and raised eyebrow. Then his words. That it mattered. Dare she allow herself to hope that Ransolm could be restored? Saved? Redeemed?


She did.


“I’ll see you on the battlefield, General,” Leia dismissed, for she knew that would be the next time they interacted. Eriadu. Whether from ships or from the ground, that was their next stop.


Once Hux left the ship, Leia called up Poe’s X-Wing. She wasn’t sure if he would be there already, but if not, she’d leave a message for him about the radio and what Hux had reported, so that Poe would know how to get in touch with his ‘allies’ at Eriadu.


~***~


Mira smiled when it dawned on Finn how she meant to carry the books, and took the chip back once it had all the information on it, “Thank you, Edwin,” she said, and watched as he went to get the stacks.


Somehow, she knew it would be that easy.


They were would-be members of the Order. Organization would be a top priority. They would keep the stacks numbered so they would know with a glance what they had. She did appreciate that aspect of things, and lifted the stacks once they were presented, letting Finn have his one book. “We’re taking them to Coruscant, Finn. Most of them. That’s where the leaders of the worlds are, that’s where the Jedi were, that’s where we spread the news that the Jedi aren’t gone.”


Hope. A shining light to fight the darkness. Propaganda. “And if we’re very lucky, we are going to make some money off a copy or two – before they realize it isn’t so priceless anymore.” A wicked grin, “There’s a Hutt on Tatooine we should see. Collects Jedi things.”


Then, she let her attention return to Edwin. ‘Thank you’ was truly not enough, but it was all she had, on top of her promise to make sure he got a position in the Order. “Thank you, again, and stay safe. After two days, please cease production,” because they’d be in danger otherwise from Snoke and his ilk, when Snoke caught on to what was going on.


By then, Coruscant would be making copies. “Let’s get moving, Finn – and you can keep that copy,” the one he was holding. With that, Mira moved to the doors with her stacks hovering along before her. The doors also opened with the Force, letting BB-8 roll out first, then the stacks, then Mira.  


Finn followed quickly behind, still trying to read the book while walking, keeping Mira in sight as he walked after her, careful not to bump into her or the stacks as they made their way to the hangar with Gnaeus’s ship. Mira needed to deposit all the books, then spread out the ones meant for people here. Then find Leia, give her the communicator to call her son. Then find Hux. ‘And ask Leia about Kevan’s things….’
 
Paquin cried out when the lightsaber initially came into contact with her skin, but her arm moved over her mouth and she bit into it, muffling the noise. The padded sleeve kept her from biting into her flesh. She knew that that lightsaber would touch her at some point. She supposed this was better than being murdered by it.


It was still painful, though. And she desperately wanted to pass out, but that never came. She was at least happy that it didn’t last too long. It really was quick ‘procedure’.


Paquin took a minute to keep still, to catch her breath. The aching in her leg would be going nowhere and she was aware of previously unharmed skin now burned. And while she hadn’t done any physical activity, she was exhausted. She rubbed at her eyes and pushed her hair back before sitting up, slowly, to view Kylo’s work.


It was an ugly wound, obviously. It would take a while to heal completely, and it would turn into a just as ugly scar, but she was alive. “Not bad,” her voice cracked a little bit. “We’ll have to get medical supplies sooner than expected, though.” She needed to properly take care of this, otherwise it could get infected and there wouldn’t be a leg for a scar to live on.


She looked to Kylo then. She wasn’t sure if she should say thank you or sorry. “I appreciate you doing that.” Somewhere in the middle of those two. 


-


Johann couldn’t help but smile at his mother’s shout over the radio. It was heartwarming. He was excited to reunite with Julia. “Rest in peace, father.” He chuckled.


The Imperatrix’s hangar opened for the Revenant as it grew near, a few TIE fighters flying out as they flew in. As soon as the ship was docked, the hangar closed up and while the Imperative wasn’t all that much safer—as proven by him and his father destroying a Star Destroyer—Johann did feel a tad safer. And his family was all in one place, accounted for.


If the Destroyer went down, which it wouldn’t, they’d all go down together.


Johann did want to go back out there and help, but for now he’d just connect with his mother who was probably marching to greet them that second. But she’d see that he was alright and they’d continue on their plan to take Eriadu back.


-


Hux returned to his ship after leaving Leia’s, Millicent greeting him by trotting over to him, letting out happy chirps along the way. Hux let her rub herself against his leg in greeting before picking her tiny self up. She purred as Hux gathered up her things, which included her bowl and the food the vet had provided them with. “You’re going someplace new, Milli.” Hux had to pause to question himself.


Was he really talking to the cat? And did he just give her a nickname? Yes and yes. And he continued to do so. “There’ll be more space to explore.” She could safely wander the Finalizer.


Hux left his ship and went in search for Mitaka. 


Meanwhile, Commandant Hux waited for his son to leave the hangar to move to take the ship he’d arrived on back to the Finalizer. He’d made his decision about his son and the insufferable blonde. The two Knights were being moved there and Brendol could use them.


Mitaka was easy enough to find, and before offering an explanation, Millicent and her things were shoved into Mitaka’s arms. “Take her to the Finalizer and keep an eye on her. I’ll be leaving for Eriadu shortly and I want her safe.”


“O-of course, sir.” Mitaka fumbled with the cat in his arms as Hux nodded.


“Good.” Now off to Phasma.


-


Finn didn’t get right into the book then, as they walked, but he did get a good look at some of the notes in there, and who they were signed by. “Mira this is so cool. So many past Jedi have written in this,” or at least, he assumed most of them were Jedi. He didn’t know that she of them were not Jedi, but it was cool none the less. “Anakin Skywalker, Luke.” 


“I’ve written in there as well,” Qui-Gon commented, his words not reaching the ears of Finn.


The two humans and the droid reached the hangar in town, where the Knights had landed. The glass around the Knight’s ship had been cleaned up as best it could, as it was a safety hazard. Still, Finn could feel some glass crunch beneath his boots.


There was a ship that they were loading one of the Knights into and a Stormtrooper seemed to perk up, seemed to as one couldn’t tell with the helmet, once they caught sight of Mira and the floating books. That trooper retreated into the ship before returning, holding a datapad in one hand and the other holding a blaster.


“Admiral Vallens!” The trooper called, though there was hesitance in the voice. He had to get used to calling her Admiral Vallens instead of Knight, as would everyone. “Lieutenant-General Phasma,” another thing to get used to saying, a mouthful, “instructed that we bring you your datapad? Is this correct?” The device was held up instead of offered, unsure with the floating stack of books in the way


He didn’t get paid enough for this.


He didn't get paid at all.
 
The cry echoed in Kylo’s ear, and as soon as he was certain the wound was closed as well as it could be, he turned off the lightsaber and took several steps back, leaving Paquin with the glowrod to examine things herself. At least she was still conscious.



He sat down, knees to chest. They wouldn’t be moving soon. He had to let her recover, and so he would. “We’ll find a way out,” Kylo said. He wasn’t interested in continuing through the temple. He could find a way up, probably. Stack enough rocks to make the jump easier, and then just destroy the cave-in that locked them in.


He wasn’t sure of another way.


The traps usually got worse the more one proceeded through these things. ‘But the floor….’ He remembered then, it had all collapsed.


He couldn’t smile to her words of gratitude, her appreciation. He wasn’t thrilled with his stupid idea and what he’d let happen to her. He should have been paying more attention, should have kept her safe, but he’d failed that. Now she was lying there.


And on top of it all, his communicator started to flash.


~***~


“Never,” August joked at the thought of resting in ‘peace’. Never. He liked the idea, the belief, that dead Tarkins went to the Carrion. Spirits. Presences. Whatever the case, he liked it, wasn’t sure if he believed in it.


It was one of the few places that August felt ‘at peace’, though. Perhaps it was true.


If so, they definitely weren’t resting in peace.


The Revenant docked, and August quickly got out of the pilot’s seat and swung his legs to step out quickly and move to the ramp that was already starting to lower. He didn’t see Ransolm’s ship as he stepped into the sterile, silver room – assumed he was still having his fun. His revenge.


Click.


Click.


Click.


August turned to see Julia indeed marching towards them, hair down, TIE fighter suit on, boots without heels and black gloves. Quite the sight, and he admired it, a little smirk coming to his lips as she walked to him, looked into the ship and walked right by him to Johann, whom she immediately pulled into an embrace.


“Why do you let him do these things?”


“I don’t get a hug? I brought him here,” August mock-complained.


Julia just said, “Hug him,” and after a brief moment of confusion, one of the soldiers with her stepped forward and hugged August.


~***~


Mira was pleased with Finn’s interest in the book, reading off some of the names. Qui-Gon interjected, and Mira found herself speaking before she could stop herself, “I hope your advice in the book is useful.”


“Huh?”


Mira managed not to clench her jaw too tightly as Qui-Gon laughed. Finn made her comfortable, it was easy to slip and speak to Qui-Gon. “You were going to have to tell him at some point, anyway. Mention the kyber crystals. They’re green now.”


“Oh, is that what it means?” Finn just looked more confused as she seemed to ignore him, talking to…something.



“Mira, are you okay?” Now he was worried.


“Apparently. Luke heard him to,” she sighed, “There’s,” but before she could explain, someone shouted her name, and she glanced towards the Trooper as he rushed forward.


The door to the ship was unlocked, and Mira let the books float in as the man brought her the datapad. Her precious datapad, with information of Wild Space and much besides. She took it, pleased it was still intact, “Yes,” she’d recognize it anywhere, “Thank you, ah?” Cant of the head.


“HR-2222.”


“4-2’s,” Mira grinned, “Thank you.” She could see the Knights being loaded. Saw Phasma overseeing it.


Saw Hux entering.


Well, that was one of her stops, wasn’t it, “You can go now, if you have nothing else.”


“No, ma’am.” And quickly, he left.


Mira slid the chip in, “You gonna explain now?” Finn asked.


“In a bit,” she said, immediately opened the data file on FN-2187, “First, here,” she tossed Finn the datapad and then sprinted off.


It was his information. He deserved privacy with it.


“Mira! You can’t jus…,” and he stopped himself, realizing what was in his hand. What she had gotten.


~***~


Phasma had been delayed by Mira, but now she was back to overseeing the movement of the knights. She had already called ahead to their base to mobilize troops. Now she had to make sure the Knights got safe passage back to the Finalizer. “See to it that the HK squad watches over them in rotating shifts,” Phasma was speaking to HK-2220.


She heard and noticed HK-2222 run off with the datapad.


At least that was easy. No long search for the Admiral.


“Understood, ma’am,” HK-2220 answered. “Anything else?”


“No.” Added, “No torturing them. No feeding them, unless I or a superior officer tell you. No moving them. Nothing.” They were Force sensitives, and Phasma wasn’t going to take any risks that were unnecessary. Not until she was on the ship herself, or General Hux or Admiral Vallens were.


Which, she heard the clip of familiar boots and turned as she saw HK-2220 go rigid. “Sir!” HK-2220 greeted immediately.  
 
Paquin was still lightheaded. She didn’t know how it would feel yet to walk on her leg, other than it wouldn’t be pleasant. It was clear she wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon. She wasn’t sure how they’d get out either. She’d have a hard time getting back up through the hole that’d been created, and across the collapsed floor after that. Then there were traps every other way on their current floor.


She’d cross that bridge when they came to it. She moved slowly, pulling some food out of her pack. It would help her replace lost blood cells. It was as she began to munch that Kylo’s communicator started flashing. “Is it Snoke?” Who else could it be?  Paquin had hope that Snoke had found Gnaeus and Ariel, accompanied by guilt that she was injured and it could possibly hinder the rescue of the two Knights.


None of that came from Snoke, though. “The two of you are needed on Eriadu, now,” were the first words out of the Supreme Leader’s mouth. 


And Paquin was still not out of the woods. Her eyebrows furrowed. How were they going to explain this to Snoke? He was already displeased with her because of earlier. And she didn’t want Kylo to be faulted for her own injury, as she obviously did not see it as Kylo’s fault. 


-


Johann happily embraced his mother accompanied by a mumble of ‘hi, mom’, before he pulled away to witness his father be hugged by a soldier. “That’s cold.” He commented, chuckling.


“Welcome back, Governor Tarkin.” The soldier welcomed August as he embraced the man. There was an awkward back rub before the soldier stepped away. Johann bit his lip to keep from laughing as he turned back to his mother.


“Father gave me a choice to come along or not and I chose to help. And everything turned out just fine. He doesn’t deserve such cruel treatment, mother.” There was a break then that he had to laugh. 


As refreshing as it was to laugh, they had to re-immerse themselves in the fight happening outside of the ship.


-


General Hux easily found Phasma, as she was supervising the Knight’s departure. He was greeted by a trooper as he ascended up the ramp, into the ship. Hux offered the trooper a nod and waved him off. Surely the trooper could find something to do. And so he hurried off.


“I was right, it was only a matter of time. Eriadu’s situation has escalated.  We need to leave soon, hurry the troopers along to Eriadu.” Hux got straight to the point. “Once you’ve settled things here and wherever else you have business, we should leave.” Hux knew battles and war could turn in a matter of minutes, seconds even. For the worse or for the better.


It was then that Hux heard a trooper, whether it was the same one from before or not he didn’t know, “Admiral Vallens.” And that made Hux turn on his heels.


He hoped she wasn’t here to question about Tarkin or anything of the like, as he couldn’t tell her anything. Not yet, anyway. There was a possibility that she picked up on that, given Hux’s obvious attempts to keep Tarkin far away from her. It wasn’t like she didn’t know about her own dilemma. 


Of course, there was also other reasons for Hux’s attempts.


Either way, he dropped the subject of Eriadu when he heard the trooper’s greeting. “Admiral,” he offered his own to the blonde.


-


Finn disappeared into the ship, staring at the file in his hands, BB-8 following. He sat in the co-pilot’s seat, getting into it. There was a picture of him, his statistics. His squad, his Stormtrooper name. There was a section labeled “Pre-First Order”.


That intrigued Finn, his eyes quickly moving over the words. He couldn’t find anything on what may have been his real name, though he wasn’t too disappointed since he had a name that he liked now, but it did provide a lot more information than Finn thought it ever would.


It provided information on where he’d been taken from. What age. He was nearly two years old at the time, having been picked up on an Outer Rim planet, but apparently, that wasn’t where he was from. They hadn’t simply grabbed random children, Finn then realized. They watched him beforehand. Had information from his old hospital, apparently. The one his parents must have taken him to. 


‘Parents.’


Finn continued reading, searching for anything on his parents. And he found something, though the name did seem to be blurred in the picture of a hospital file. A name. Only one. “Ada Zain.” He tested the name on his tongue. Did that mean his name was ‘something Zain’? 
 
Of course Snoke would call now. Kylo had to answer it, and what Snoke said was exactly what Kylo expected him to say. “We can’t.”


Kylo never refused Snoke, and were he not in this position, he wouldn’t. He saw the flare of anger on Snoke’s face, “We’re in—”


“I don’t care where you are,” Snoke interrupted him, eyes piercing through Kylo, “There is no excuse. August Tarkin has returned,” that had been obvious when the Revenant came out of stealth. Snoke knew his ship, “You are needed there, immediately.”


“We can’t!” Kylo said again, “We’re in a tomb, Paquin’s hurt, and we—”


“Leave her.” The statement was cold. Kylo couldn’t help but fall silent. “You have moved your way through these tombs countless times. Get out, and go to Eriadu.”


Kylo couldn’t find his voice, not immediately. He might have left others—Ariel, Gnaeus, Mira, Kevan, but in that moment he couldn’t imagine leaving Paquin like this. Perhaps it was a sense of responsibility, or a fear of being alone. Perhaps, more than that, he’d actually started to like the spunky medic who didn’t want to be here.


Likely, it was a mix of all. Yet, he couldn’t find his voice to refuse. Only silence and inaction.


~***~


Even August was slightly amused by the action, though he was just as irked. Still, it wasn’t the soldier’s fault, and so he did return the embrace with a sigh, “Thank you,” well, he was nicely welcomed back, wasn’t he?


The soldier stepped back and August crossed his arms over his chest, looking to his family as Johann defended him from Julia’s cold behavior. Johann laughed, though. Julia laughed. “You’re not getting a hug now,” August stated, and started to walk immediately towards the bridge.


Julia just laughed, gestured for Johann to follow, before she jogged quickly to catch up with August, throwing an arm around his waist, under his arms, “Did it go that poorly with Hux?” She asked, thinking of his foul mood.


He let out a sigh, “There’s just much to do after this,” he wasn’t looking forward to much of it. “You’ll have fun, I’m sure.”


“Oh?”


“Mm. Leia will be joining us. Hux’s Admiral has an interesting sense of fashion, as well,” Alexander was going to hate her. As Adelaide disliked Hux. “And there’s a very handsome man named Poe who should be along soon. I’m tempted to go fly with him.”


“As handsome as Ransolm?”


“Yes,” August chuckled. Then, he became a bit more serious. “What happened?”


“Snoke tried to force the matter of surrendering Eriadu,” Julia said as they stepped into a lift platform, August’s arms finally unfolding to let one move over her shoulders. “I wasn’t going to be allowed to say no, or have any more freedoms, so I escaped to the Imperatrix. Called on a few of the droids. I didn’t get to activate as many as I would have liked.”


“I can fix that,” August had a feeling he’d be needed more on the ground than the air. But, he’d check in with the Mottis and Keil first.


The lift stopped at the bridge, and August stepped out into it, arms dropping away from Julia as he stepped in. Orders were given immediately, “Get me Keil and the Mottis, now.” The order came out harsher than August wanted, but he didn’t correct his tone.


Outside, the situation was tense, and he could feel that tension in the room. His eyes roamed over the screens that told him of the power the Imperatrix had, the shield strength, and damage taken.


~***~


Phasma had enough time to give Hux a nod of affirmation, understanding the need to hasten things to Eriadu. She didn't speak to affirm it, though. Wouldn't be good to let anything slip to Mira.


“General,” Mira greeted, glanced to Phasma, who gave a single shake of her head, answering the unasked ‘have you said anything’ question. So, Mira didn’t waste any time. “I am going to be commandeering Knight Gnaeus’s ship and traveling to Coruscant. I may be making a few other stops, Tatooine, Hoth, and a few others.” The Finalizer, probably, or Leia’s base.


Wherever she could work on a new ship in peace.


It might depend on how the meeting with Leia went, if she’d need to go to a base to pick up Kevan’s effects, or if they had anything of his.


“Oh, and,” Mira had almost forgotten, but remembered. Though the ship was a bit aways, the door hadn’t been shut.


With a wave of her hand, she was able to reach out into the interior, knowing it well enough, and knowing where she stacked the Guides to pull two of them. Though, she didn’t know it, a stack collapsed. It wasn’t a precise pull.


They came quickly, and she held one out for Hux and Phasma, each. “Luke Skywalker has the original, and you two may not be Jedi, but the knowledge can’t hurt.”


Hux and Phasma would know a little bit more about what the Force was capable of. How it was viewed. More than what Snoke or Kylo ever told them, no doubt.


Phasma took the guide with some curiosity, but didn’t speak.


~***~


“Finn Zain,” Finn tested that, too, frowned. He didn’t have a surname, hadn’t taken one. It hadn’t become necessary. He was just Finn. He wasn’t sure what he thought of ‘Zain’, only that it didn’t seem quite right.


He stared again at the name. At the facts of how he was found off of his home, Coruscant. ‘Where we’re going….’ Where they found Mira. Everything was linking back to Coruscant.


Where the Jedi temple was.


Where the Empire rose.


‘Who were you?’


Had she been in the Outer Rim to avoid having him taken? Was she alive? Had she given him willingly?


As the thoughts swirled, he heard a stack fall and that startled him. BB-8 beeped out a comment, asking him what was wrong. Apparently, his expression had started to look forlorn. “Nothing, nothing,” he lied, moving to go clean up the stack.


BB-8 just moved to get a look at the datapad.
 
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‘Ow.’ Paquin actually wasn’t all that surprised by Snoke’s cold order to leave her, with his response to rescuing Gnaeus and Ariel was one of apathy. And she knew she wasn’t all that important to Snoke if it all. Still, it wasn’t nice to be dismissed just as she was.


Kylo wasn’t saying anything nor was he making any move to leave and that clearly angered Snoke. “Kylo Ren,” it was never good when the full name was used, “leave. Now. I won’t tell you again.”


“Go,” Paquin quietly urged Kylo. Snoke was clearly displeased and she wasn’t sure what was going through Kylo’s head, but she knew that Snoke was quickly losing his patience after the consistent ‘failures’. What happened last time with Kylo was still clear in her head and Kylo said that Snoke could dish out punishment from his location. She didn’t want that to happen again.


“It’s not like I’ll be going anywhere. You can come back for me. I’ve got food and water.” Did Paquin want to be left alone in a cold creepy tomb with a bum leg and no idea how to get out? No. But it was better than anything Snoke would do to either of them if Kylo didn’t go.


-


The feeling in the air shifted drastically once Johann and his parents entered the control center. Even as his parents discussed what happened it wasn’t as tense as it was now.


August ordered that Keil and the Mottis be contacted and some officers flinched before one followed those exact orders. Soon enough the three popped up on screen, a split dividing the Mottis, who were together in the same location, and Keil.


Alexander was the first to speak upon answering the call, “That was beautiful, August! Nicely done.” It was obvious how much Alexander got off on the fighting. Of course, he understood the importance of it all, but why not have fun with it just as well? “You too, Johann.” The twins had picked up on Julia’s shouts over the radio wave.


“Yes, it was impressive,” Caius spoke, but much less enthusiastically. “The ground’s struggling, Tarkin. Even with Keil and your troops, there’s too much area and too much of Snoke.” Caius was straight to the point. “Space is covered.” While it wasn’t pretty out there, it was nothing to worry about. “Reinforcements are on their way, correct?”  It was time to see how useful of an ally the First Order would be, if at all.


-


Hux took the copy of the Jedi Guide, flipping it around in his hands, examining it. “You really took my words of keep busy to heart.” He mumbled, looking up from the book. He wouldn’t have time to look through it now, nor did he know when he would, but he was curious. With Phasma’s earlier mention of his training, it made him wonder how similar it was to that of a Jedi’s.


And Mira was leaving. Hux knew it was for the best, it would be easier to plot and move about without her around, but it still raised some concerns.


What if she fell asleep? She wouldn’t be as protected. But with the focus on Eriadu, who knew if Snoke had men to spare. Then she was going to Hoth. Where they hadn’t exactly had the greatest experience. Hux choked a man. Hadn’t killed him, but did choke him. Would news of an alliance have even reached Hoth? Would it even matter to that one guy? Vinnie or Vince or something like that.


“You’re not going alone are you?” He questioned.


“She’s being accompanied by Finn and the droid,” Phasma answered for her.


Hux was oddly relieved by that. Finn, though a traitor, had training as a Stormtrooper and showed loyalty to Mira, at least. He’d even saved Hux once before. “Fine. Be careful, Mira.” The words sounded strange to Hux himself as they came out of his mouth. Sounded too…caring. “Keep in contact with the Order.” He fixed his tone with the next sentence.
 
Kylo Ren felt an odd deadening as he heard Snoke’s orders. It wasn’t the first time he felt it. It seemed that whenever he needed to follow Snoke’s orders, when they involved a personal betrayal of sorts, he had to deaden himself to it. Prepare. His emotions did him little good, they interfered, tempted him towards the light.


Funny, how Luke had taught the opposite, but it was always that deadening that let Kylo commit atrocities.


The deadening that let Mira.


Paquin was telling him to go. ‘You’ll be dead.’ When he came back. If he came back. “You’re right, Supreme Leader. You won’t tell me again.” It was a quick decision, not thought out, as Kylo crushed the device around his arm. It remained there, broken, but Snoke’s image was gone.


Kylo shut his eyes.


He breathed in deep.



He was going to regret that.



He spoke aloud, more for himself than for Paquin, “I am Commander of the Knights of Ren, Paquin,” despite addressing her, “the safety of you, the safety of Ariel and Gnaeus, are my concern. I am no commander if I have no knights.” He wasn’t leaving her.


Even as he felt the spike of anger through the Force.


Even as he feared a retaliation that, curiously, did not come. “Snoke will understand….” He was probably lying to himself.


But he’d lost too much. Lost the First Order. Lost Ariel. Gnaeus. Mira. Kevan. He wasn’t losing Paquin.


~***~


August smiled under Alexander’s praise, even as Julia shot him a dirty look for it. “Thank you, Alexander,” he’d taught Alexander the Tarkin Rush, of course. It required certain features for a ship to be able to pull it off and not be a suicide rush.


It was Caius that he truly listened to, smile not diminishing as he looked to Keil for confirmation. “Yeah, we’re not doing as well as I’d like,” the General admitted. August could hear fire in the background. Explosions. And….


“Please tell me I am not hearing AT-ATs.”


“You are hearing AT-ATs.”


The grin became vicious. “Is my home still guarded?”


“Yes.”


“Good. I’ll be there shortly.” Speeders and wire. He was going to murder those beasts the way the Resistance did. “We’ll deal with the AT-ATs. You’re near Eriadu City, correct?”


“Yes. I am getting reports from Gunnar further south of similar, but we’re outnumbered without enough cover.” Cover that wasn’t civilian homes. They were trying to keep it outside the cities, but that was obviously not Snoke’s plan.


“Give me a half hour to an hour to join you with some of the Nexu’s Pride and my personal guard,” those at his home, no doubt. Those that weren’t on the ship. “The reinforcements are coming. General Hux intends to assist on the ground quite heavily. I do not know what the Resistance plans,” a glance to the Mottis, “So do not start blowing X-Wings out of the sky.”


~***~


“Orders are orders, General,” Mira answered his comment about getting busy, “But the copies are thanks to the local FOTC and Edwin’s leadership,” name drop. Help the lad out.


When he asked about going alone, she shook her head. Phasma filled in the blanks. It seemed Hux was all right with it being Finn. If nothing else, Finn had made an impact—saving Hux, defending her. His loyalty to the First Order was clearly transferred to individuals instead.


A moment of care. A moment of practicality. “I have my datapad now. You should have the information to contact me if need be,” and she was sure she had his, somewhere. Never used as a Knight – not necessary.


A step back, a moment’s hesitation, then, “Stay safe, as well, Hux.” She didn’t know what was going on, but she wasn’t daft. She saw the movement. She felt the tension in the air. Knew what August was here for, and could guess it went well – so far as alliances were concerned.


Which meant Hux would be going into battle. “I’ll see you soon, but ‘till then,” a salute, and then a spin on her heel to go back towards Gnaeus’s ship. Didn't want to think she wouldn't see him. Refused to think she wouldn't see him.


Finn was there, picking up a spilled stack. Mira took a few more Guides from it, “Come on, Finn. Gotta go see Leia now.”


Finn groaned, but moved down the ramp. He was eager to get to Coruscant now. BB-8 came rolling after him, hearing Mira. “How’d you get my file?” Finn asked as the ramp was lifted and they started moving.


“Admiral,” Mira said. “I can probably get anyone’s file except General Hux and Phasma.” Such power. “The medic says she isn’t judging, either.”
 
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Paquin’s already big eyes widened even further in horror as Kylo crushed the device. 


He continued on speaking, citing he was the Commander of the Knights and their collective safety was his concern. And while Paquin was touched by the words, she couldn’t believe how stupid he was. 


“You won’t be Commander if your head is turned to mush, either!” Paquin meant to exclaim, but  her voice was still scratchy from earlier and so it didn’t comply with the volume she intended her words to be. “Snoke won’t understand! Snoke doesn’t care about any of us! He wanted you to leave me here, he didn’t care about finding Ariel and Gnaeus!” She was waiting for Snoke’s retaliation to come, to witness Kylo’s punishment and not be able to do anything about it.


But it didn’t come, and Paquin took in a breath. “I appreciate you not leaving me here. I really do, it makes me feel nice. But that was the stupidest thing I’ve seen you do. Now, come here,” Paquin gestured with her hands, “Help me up so we can find a way out of here.” She could rest and recover back at the Academy. “Maybe you’ll still be able to make it to Eriadu.” 


-


Caius looked to Alexander at August’s words not to blow any X-Wings out of the sky. Alexander rolled his eyes, “I won’t! Not unless they shoot at us.” He defended. He wouldn’t be surprised if they did. While they could differentiate their troops from Snoke’s, he couldn’t say the same for the Resistance. Or the First Order. It would be fun trying to figure out who to shoot at and who not to.


“We won’t shoot.” Caius corrected his brother. “We’ll try to keep Snoke at bay until you’re down here and reinforcements arrive.”


“Let’s see if Hux can live up to his rank.” Adelaide’s comment was sour. She knew that Leia could and she knew that she herself could. Hux still could do to prove himself. “I need to get back to the AT-ATs,” her tone was apathetic as if the giant transport vehicle was a simple inconvenience. “We’re trying to lure them away from homes. If Snoke wants to take Eriadu, then they should follow. Keep in touch, I’ll be listening.”


“We’ll be moving downward soon, as well,” Caius informed. “Once the numbers lighten up outside.” Alexander would be going down for that. ‘


“I’ll go with you, father,” Johann stated. As nice as it was on the Imperatrix, Johann had to help out. 


-


Hux caught the name drop. He was no stranger to hearing them. Most went ignored, but he’d look into it. To amuse Mira. Though, the local FOTC had impressed him. Maybe this Edwin would end up being valuable to the Order once he graduated. Maybe the FOTC had spawned many useful officers.


That would be checked out at a later date.


He watched Mira leave until she was out of sight, the little salute she gave earned a little smirk. He hoped that wouldn’t be the last time he saw her, and that he would remain safe. But that was unpredictable. He knew very well that each time he went into the midst of active battle, there was a chance that he wouldn’t return to any base alive.


The smirk slowly faded from his features as he turned back to Phasma. “If you’re finished, follow me back to the ship. We can radio ahead from there.” He said before turning on his own heels, Guide tucked under his arm, and heading back to the opposite hangar.


-


“The medic that thinks we’re dating?” Finn questioned, a grin pulling at the corner of his lips. “She’s funny, I like her.” And he was strangely comforted by the fact that she didn’t judge. Even if he and Mira were not together.


Finn shook his head slightly then, returning to the topic of files. “Mira, I found some things in my file. Obviously. But some big stuff! I know where I’m from now. I’m from Coruscant!  I thought I hadn’t been there before that time we picked you up!” BB-8 beeped than, suggesting Finn share the name he found. “And I found a name. I don’t know who’s name, my mother’s or something.” Maybe Ada was his father, he didn’t know. “Ada Zain.”


It was then that they drew closer to the other hangar in which Leia’s ship was in. Finn silently hoped meeting with Leia wouldn’t take too long. 


“You should take some time to look into that name.” Qui-Gon made himself present again.


“And I was wondering—“ Finn then noticed the crystals were green again. Like they were when Mira started talking to nothing. “Hey, you never told me what that whole talking to yourself thing was about.” And maybe it would have to wait again, as they were almost upon Leia’s ship. 
 
Kylo wouldn’t be commander if he was dead.


Han’s words came back to him, that Snoke was only using him – and he did believe it, to some degree. But he also believed his use wasn’t up, and he would never let it be up. He also wasn’t going to keep letting the Knights become smaller in number, until there was only him. He couldn’t do it anymore.


If it hadn’t been for Kevan….


When told to move and help, he did, smiling a bit as Paquin spoke of them maybe making it to Eriadu. “If we don’t die in here,” which was possible. He pushed himself up, “You’re sure?” He asked, already taking her hands to help her up. He’d carry her if need be, if she was sure, “We can rest longer.”


Clearly they had all eternity now, unless Snoke was going to come here himself to get them out.



Which, he wouldn’t do. Kylo knew that.


~***~


‘We are going to need to work on this.’ Himself, Snoke, and Hux all used Imperial technology. New paint jobs on vehicles were going to be needed, or something. Given, his own men could differentiate their weapons from Snoke’s, there were modifications, but they were small. ‘Better.’ August always thought.


Like making sure the TIEs weren’t suicide traps. Not completely, anyway. Shields were good things.


“I’ll help bring the AT-ATs to the Carrion, Adelaide.” He would try to steer the battle there in general, because he knew he had the advantage there. He’d hate it – he’d have to clean it up, and that wouldn’t be fun with nexus hunting him, on top of the rest of the Carrion creatures, but he would. “I’ll see you soon.” His dismissal to them all. The holograms faded. “Call Ransolm, I want the psychopath on the ground with me, and call Nexu Omega – he’s switching out for the Revenant.”


His love of the Carrion ran deep, he wouldn’t let mechanical waste overrun it. It was that bit of wild that would always exist. ‘Because we allow it.’


And of course Johann volunteered, even under Julia’s scrutinizing gaze. “Oh yes, leave me all alone here to manage things.”


“You’re good at managing things, dear,” August reminded, not at all a lie.  


Two more holograms, though Ransolm didn’t glance over, clearly distracted. “Ransolm, pull back to the Imperatrix. Same with you, Omega. You’re switching ships. Ransolm, you’re going to the ground.”


“Why?”


“You’re one of the very few men I know who will ride a speeder bike to an AT-AT.”


Ransolm barked a laugh, but agreed, and quickly turned to return, as did Omega. Again, the holograms faded.


And then the sky was full of ships coming out of hyperspace. Freighters, and an escort of TIEs.


August crossed his arms over his chest, grinning as he saw the FO reinforcements starting to paint the sky. ‘How do you feel now, Snoke?’


He wished he could ask. Wished he could speak to the so-called Supreme Leader, but he knew Snoke was not here.


Coward.


~***~


Phasma gave a simple nod, tucked her own Guide under an arm, and walked alongside General Hux, casting a quick look back at the ship with the Knight loaded up, before letting her attention return forward, “Some reinforcements should arrive before us,” she’d told them to start to mobilize and to deploy in squads, so it wouldn’t be all at once.


Staggered, to help confuse Snoke as to how many would be arriving. Waves were staggered as well. It wouldn’t be every ten minutes. One might show after ten, the next after thirty, another after five – she allowed discretion there.



She did not want Snoke to be able to predict their arrivals to start setting traps when they came out of hyperdrive. A tractor beam would be ruinous if timed appropriately. “What is your plan for us?” As in, would they managing it from the air, the ship, or were they going to break the blockade and rush to ground to manage from below.


~***~


“Yes, that medic,” Mira chuckled, glad Finn seemed amused with it, too.


The smile faded a bit when he mentioned he was from Coruscant. Offered a name. ‘Should I know that name?’ Probably not. She didn’t know many of her parent’s friends. Didn’t recall that name as someone who tried to adopt her or foster her.


‘Of course you’d be from Coruscant, too.’ Just her luck. “Ada is usually a woman’s name,” Mira said.


The Qui-Gon spoke.


Then Finn remembered. Mira sighed. They were far enough away. Mira slowed her pace just a bit, “Long story short, there’s a…Force Ghost that I can’t see, but I can hear.”


“Don’t have a body.”


“Great, so he can’t be seen. Qui-Gon Jinn. Thanks to my wonderfully weak mind right now, he’s been able to make himself known and start talking to me. As if I didn’t have enough questions about my sanity.” The last said in a slightly joking fashion. "He also wants to investigate your mother. Maybe she was a Jedi." Because of course she would be.


“Qui-Gon Jinn,” Finn repeated. “I saw his name in the Guide, too!” Finn tried to remember the comment, remembered, laughed.


“What is it?”


“He was questioning the Jedi code of attachment!” Something relevant. Mira couldn’t help but smile, just a little, at that. “And there was some comment by an Anakin, right under that, about why he was never on the Council….”


She reached out, touched Finn’s shoulder, “Before I forget, I’m using the term ‘Gray Jedi’ for what we are. He was called one, too.”


And then her hand moved to knock on the door to Leia’s ship.
 
‘If we don’t die in here…’ Paquin very well could have. If it weren’t for lightsabers.


“I’m sure.” She confirmed as Kylo grabbed her hands. “I just want to get out of here.” She said, even as she used Kylo to pull herself up, more pain shooting up her leg as she put weight on it. She hissed, gripping onto Kylo to keep from falling back down.


Even if she rested any longer, she knew it wouldn’t help the pain. That was going to stick around for a while.


She readjusted her grip on Kylo, her left hand moving to his shoulder. “I’m going to use you so I don’t have to put too much pressure on my leg if you don’t mind.” She was going to have some real problems with jumping. And running. She couldn’t even walk on one leg. She hoped Kylo wouldn’t end up wishing that he had left her like Snoke told him to.


“And I’m not going to speak anymore, either.” That was sort of a joke, considering she said the last word before they fell. But also not. She was also seriously worried about speaking again and having something along those lines happen. Again.


-


The First Order came out of lightspeed, slowing when coming upon the action unfolding.


There were a few moments of added tension, where the officers were unsure if they were more of Snoke’s forces or if they were apart of the Order. But once the new fleets seemed to recognize who was who, they started firing at Snoke’s men. Maybe there was a difference. Maybe Snoke’s ships were marked as foreign or unknown and that’s how they differentiated.


But once they fired, there was an immediate relief amongst the crew in the Imperatrix. The numbers in the air were there. But there was still the ground to worry about. And as Snoke’s forces were beginning to feel overwhelmed, the FO managed to squeeze through and head downward.


AT-ATs. Johann remembered building models of the vehicles out of building blocks as a child, even if that wasn’t the intended use of the toys. He had to see one up close.


“Casterfo and Nexu Omega are in the hangar,” one of the officers alerted August and that’s when Johann turned to his mother.


“Managing things is like a second language to you. You’ll be fine.” He offered, kissing his mother’s cheek in goodbye. For the time being.


-


“Good.” Hux commented on the subject of some arriving before them. It could aid in getting the two of them through, as well. Which led him to his answer for Phasma.


“August needs bodies on the ground, so that’s where we’re going.” That’s where things would really need to be managed and how he’d get a better idea of how to. Even if it was in the middle of fighting, that they’d have to get a little dirty.


Which neither he nor Phasma were dressed for. Phasma out of her usual armor and Hux in his usual uniform. They had no large weapons, melee or otherwise, but those could easily be picked up from Stormtroopers.


Hux’s ship was open and ready to go when they entered it. Millicent was safe. Hux took up the pilot’s seat, though he and Phasma were both capable pilots. The good thing about First Order ships is that they were all suitable for war, luxurious interiors or not.


-


“Gray Jedi, huh?” Finn tested it, much like ‘Finn Zain’. Though, unlike Finn Zain, Gray Jedi sounded right. The title meant exactly what it sounded like. Ambiguous Force users. Though, with Jedi at the end, Finn did feel like it leaned toward exactly that. And while he could definitely identify with that, new to the whole Force thing or not, he wondered how Mira felt.


That could possibly be an in-depth conversation at another time. After Coruscant. After reading the Guide. After talking to Leia.


“I like that.” He concluded.


Mira knocked and it didn’t take long for Leia to answer. “Mira, Finn.” Their droid companion beeped, “BB-8. I don’t mean to be rude, but I need to be on my way soon.” She wasn’t sure what Mira knew or if Hux had explained, but she simply offered that much. She stepped aside despite her words, to let them into the ship. She'd make time for them. She looked over the two as she did so.


They were carrying books and Leia knew exactly what that meant. They were the guides. “Did you talk to Luke?” She questioned anyway, mostly hoping to get more details. She didn’t imagine they’d sort their issues out in one conversation, but they couldn’t have only spoken about whether the books were being kept alive or not, which it seemed they were.
 
“Try to use the Force to help, as well,” Kylo suggested as Paquin adjusted her grip on him. He moved their bags to hover now, along with the glowrods, moving them to light up a little behind, and a little in front.


They had to maneuver through the under level and find a way up, which Kylo was not at all enthused about.


“You can talk here,” he added. It was safe, at least here, to talk.


He moved his left hand around Paquin’s back to touch her waist, a light touch now, but it was there in case she slipped while they walked, or in case of other, worse traps. He’d have a hold on her to help her move quickly, which he didn’t imagine she’d do very well on her own.


There were tapestries down here along the wall, too, which Kylo found a bit odd.


The ceiling continued to get lower with each step, until they came to a one-way turn and Kylo hit his head on it, “Real cute,” he grumbled to the past Sith as he ducked, as best he could, with Paquin still at his side. At least he saw stairs.


Except they were leading down, not up.


He paused, looked back, tried to figure out the proper way from the tapestry in the stone.


~***~


No doubt, Hux’s forces were familiar with August’s own. They’d dealt with them, years ago. Perhaps they were also familiar with Snoke’s – August knew there was a brief scuffle on Cimarosa. It was possible that they’d gained enough details from that to know how to tell them apart.


Either way, it worked.


Then, Casterfo and Omega arrived. “Thank you,” August spoke to the officer, and after Johann gave his farewell to Julia, he walked to her and pulled her into a tight embrace before she could speak, launch off a sarcastic comment, or say something else she might regret in her moment of worry.


He knew she was worried. He was worried. The Imperatrix could be blasted out of the sky. He could be crushed by an AT-AT. Johann could be shot.


Her own grip was tight in return. He could feel the nails through the fabric of his attire. “I love you,” he whispered.



“I love you,” she returned, and he felt her lips on his cheek, near his own lips, but not quite, before they parted.


And then, he walked to the lift, knowing Johann would follow to the hangar, where Casterfo and pilot Bertrand were waiting for them.


August tossed the keys of the Revenant to Bertrand. “She’s yours.”


“Sweet!” Bertrand was still comparatively young, older than Johann, but a pilot worth his position as 2nd in command of the Nexus.


“You need to bring us three down to the barracks near my home, first.” Adelaide said his home was still guarded, which meant he had men to bring to Adelaide for the push against the AT-ATs.


~***~


Phasma did note that Millicent was gone when she stepped in, didn’t comment on it, just said, “Next time we have a formal meeting, I’m wearing my armor,” as she moved to take the co-pilot’s seat.


This lack of armor thing was ridiculous, but she had told her PH group to bring it. She’d reunite with them on the ground and obtain her armor again, her weapons. She’d also asked them to grab armor for Hux. “We should land near some of our own. Some of PH squadron should be there. They will have extra armor and weapons.”


She and Hux needed to equip before getting their hands dirty. “JT will as well,” but they were a part of a few later waves.


As soon as Hux was ready, Phasma would begin to assist with getting their ship up and off the ground.


~***~


‘Good. We’re in agreement.’ Gray Jedi it would be. Even if Mira knew it wouldn’t always seem to fit. Might end up just shortening it to Gray, but the Gray felt like it needed a modifier. One couldn’t just be gray.


Leia opened, and for all her calm, she also looked quite concerned. Urgent. “I won’t be here long.” Mira stated, offered the books then as she stepped in. She wouldn’t be going to Poe, she determined. “Yourself, Poe, Jess, Luke, Rey – just in case anything happens to the original.” Leia accepted them, “And this,” she held out the communicator, “It should be able to reach Snoke and Kylo Ren,” she saw that light in Leia’s eyes, “I wouldn’t try it now, but once things have settled.”


“Thank you….” Leia wasn’t sure what else to say, and it didn’t quite match the gratitude she felt for an opportunity to reach out to her son. To his corruptor. “Luke?”


“I spoke with him. He can’t help,” Mira sighed, “Finn and I are going to Coruscant, Luke wants me to find Obi-Wan.”


“Isn’t he dead?” Finn asked


“Force Ghost.”


“Force Ghost,” Mira said, “But I wanted to ask a favor. My…Kevan’s effects. I would like to have them.” Whatever was found. Lightsaber, ship, datapad – strange shirt he had made on Force knew what planet. “I know they’re not here…I could swing by a base, or meet Rollo on Coruscant if you don’t wish to compromise the location of another base,” she was First Order now, she accepted that Leia might not want to give everything away.
 
‘The Force, right.’ Force healing would be very convenient in that moment. If it was even real, which Kylo and the others actually seemed pretty confident about.


It was clear when Paquin used Kylo as a cane, most of her weight shifting to him to keep as much weight off her leg as she could. It still hurt, but at least she was moving.


Paquin hadn't even noticed the ceiling getting lower and lower until Kylo hit his head. Not only because she was more focused on the rhythm of her walking, but also as it was a perk of being five foot nothing. "Aw," She did feel bad for him, though. Thankfully, she didn't have to duck as Kylo did, that wouldn't have been fun with her leg. Though, she did make an effort to lean less on Kylo, to make it easier for him.


They came to stairs leading down, which couldn't have been the exit. First of all, they were down. And Kylo said they were usually traps. Paquin didn't comment on it, instead using the Force to call upon a loose rock as Kylo looked around. And when lifting it did nothing, she tossed it down the stairs to see if it would trigger anything.


-


Johann did follow August, as he expected. There was a humorous comment of 'gross' in reference to his parents PDA before they returned to the hangar.


It wasn't the last bit of lightheartedness that they'd witness. There was Bertrand's youthfulness. Johann had forgotten that Bertrand wasn't all that much older than him.


"No problem!" The young pilot nodded. "I'm ready when you three are." Not one of them really looked prepared for battle, not like the soldiers were anyway. Johann was still wearing his debate team uniform, though it had been cleaned after the fight on Cimarosa. Ransolm was wearing a fancy robe. 


But Johann could slip into his home and gear up if need be. So, "I'm ready." With a glance to his father and Ransolm, he followed Bertrand into the Revenant.


-


Hux did chuckle as Phasma spoke about wearing her armor next time. Maybe he'd take up wearing something extra to political gatherings. A vest or something. Clearly, they had no idea what could happen anymore.


"Good, I'll land near them, then." Phasma thought ahead when organizing the squadrons. 


Hux pulled off the ground then, taking them out of the atmosphere of Cimarosa. Coordinates were entered right before he went into of hyperdrive.


It took them quite literally no time at all to reach Eriadu, slowing down right outside of the planet. He could see on his ship's scanner that there was a majority of his own ships, along with Tarkins. It was hard to tell the difference, but it was there. The fight was dwindling and he could see bits of blasted ships floating around. Hux connected to the given radio wave then, announcing his presence and his destination. Down.


-


Leia was disappointed that Luke didn't have anything that could help her. He must have been doing literally nothing during the time he was MIA. And she was surprised that Obi-Wan wasn't with Luke. He used to be all the time, Leia recalled. Maybe it was because of Rey.


Either way, Leia moved on.


Mira asked about Kevan's personal items. It was then that it seemed to click with Leia about how much Kevan must have meant to Mira. The blonde had gone and saved Rollo, traded him in for Kevan. Which obviously was a 'traitorous' action, as she was here now. To the Knights of Ren and Snoke, anyway. Clearly things with Hux had been patched up.


She wouldn't keep Kevan's stuff from Mira, recognizing what they must have meant.


The base on Naboo had been abandoned after Mira showed up, even though Mira didn't remain a threat. Things had been moved all about. She had to think where Kevan's things were. "They're likely on the base on D'Qar. I can call ahead and have Rollo gather them for you." She offered. Even if they had been on a different base, Leia wouldn't have minded sharing the location with Mira. 
 
The oddity of the tapestry was that it had symbols Kylo understood to usually mean he was going the right way. It didn’t make sense, though. How could this be right?


Then he felt the subtle movement of the Force and looked to see a stone hovering. Then it was tossed.


Nothing.


Kylo moved the glow rods ahead, trying to make the light show the way to the bottom, and also testing for traps, looking for them.


Nothing.


Not that it was the best overview. “We’ll go slow,” he said, more paranoid by the utter lack of traps than he’d ever been in a tomb before. None of this seemed right. Something had to go wrong.


Still, he stepped down first, easing along with Paquin, and letting the glow rods zip around them, going the length of the stairs and trying to find any hint of an issue.


The only real issue seemed to be the double doors, stone, that came before them. It demanded something be inserted into it, but Kylo just held out his hand.


Applied pressure with the Force appropriately, in the places of the indention, as if he’d put an object into it.


The double-doors swung open, stale air sweeping out and into Kylo’s face. He coughed, almost choked, on it. Wrinkled his nose in disgust at the smell.


~***~


“Ready,” August confirmed, a nod following from Ransolm.


“You still have plenty of vibro-weapons, don’t you?” Ransolm asked as they walked into the ship.


“Yes,” he answered, “Johann, Ransolm, you two should be prepared to take the guns in case it is necessary,” hopefully they’d escape through stealth down to the ground, but couldn’t take chances right now. “Bertrand, I’ll be co-piloting.” Hurt, but necessary.


“Got it!”


They moved to their positions. The ship was technically meant to be piloted by six. It never was. August made enough modifications so he could pilot it and fire with it all on his own.


As the ship started and the hangar opened for them, August heard the voice over the radio, announcing himself. He reached forward, pressed down to speak, “This is Governor Tarkin. I’ll see you down there.” Just to let him know he would likely be joining up with Hux at some point.


And then they were out, invisible, zipping through the chaos and the debris.


They didn’t get as far as August would have liked before the invisibility was shattered. Debris blowing apart nearby, and striking the ship.


The stealth began to flicker. August moved to try and get it back up, letting Bertrand handle the steering as TIEs immediately began to descend on them.  


~***~


Almost as soon as they announced themselves, August’s voice reached them. He spoke of meeting them, which meant, he was going to the ground. Phasma could see the Imperatrix – heard enough to know it – opening, but she never saw a ship come out before it closed.


‘Stealth.’ That’s what the Carrion Spike was known for.


No doubt, Tarkin sought to have that. So why did he want the Carrion so desperately?


The answer came soon enough, when that stealth flickered, the ship hit by something.


It took quite a bit more for the Carrion Spike to lose its position, but it seemed to be handling recovery well, so Phasma didn’t concern herself with its issues long.


Speaking of position: “This is PH-433, we’re located outside Eriadu City,” coordinates were offered quickly, and Phasma took a breath. She wasn’t as comfortable flying, admittedly. Much preferred ground combat.


‘Just have to get there.’


~***~


Mira was relieved there was no argument for keeping the items. It wrote itself over her face, causing Finn to quirk a sentimental smile. “He really meant a lot to you, huh?”


Mira just offered a nod. Kevan meant more than she'd ever be allowed to display without wrecking everything around her.


Leia, meanwhile, went to the radio and called ahead to D’Qar. “This is General Organa. Is Captain Henderson there?”


“Yes, would you like me to get him?”


“Yes, please.”


There was some silence. Then, “Captain Henderson. How can I help you, General?”


“I have a request, not relating to the others,” she couldn’t elaborate. “I would like you to gather Kevan Ren’s effects. They are going to be picked up by Mira Vallens and Finn.”


“Immediately?”


“Soon,” Leia offered, “Do you need much time?”
 
Paquin struggled to move down the stairs, even with Kylo helping her along. If there were any traps on the stairs, then she surely would have set them off.


But nothing came from the stairs.


And nothing came from Kylo opening the door, except a horrid smell. It was stale, but there also was a hint of something rotting in it, which Paquin was familiar with. “Smells like something is dead in there,” Paquin said between coughs, waving her hand in front of her face. And it died a long time ago.


It took a moment for her to recover, but Paquin’s eyes finally managed to observe the room. “Wait, Kylo! Something is dead in there!” Straight ahead, Paquin could see a sarcophagus. Quite a grand one, too. It was much too large for whatever body was in there. Engravings ran along the sides of it, Paquin recognized the characters as the language that had littered the rest of the tomb. The language Kylo couldn’t understand. What looked to be kyber crystals were set into the stone, as well. 


Then there was a large statue behind it. Perhaps of the Sith who laid dead there, but most details of the face seemed to have chipped off. She wondered if Kylo would still know who it was. 


But usually, the sarcophagus would contain the smell of the dead until opened, like the doors to the room had. So something else must have died in there, though Paquin couldn’t immediately tell what. Maybe someone else who tried to steal from the tomb. Maybe rats. Big rats.


-


It was a good thing Johann and Ransolm were both prepped at their posts because stealth didn’t last all that long. Johann could bet there were wishes for the Carrion Spike. But the Revenant was still a good ship and they would pull this out.


TIEs began to swarm around the ship already, likely because they knew who it contained. Ransolm and Johann got to work on aiming and shooting down the enemy ships.


Bertrand, meanwhile, remained calm and collected. He was confident he’d be able to slip past the circle of TIE fighters around them, given the other three aided in taking them out. The Revenant wasn’t as small or as zippy as TIE fighters, but he could work it. He didn’t have his position for nothing. There wasn’t much of a warning offered before he maneuvered, suddenly increasing the speed and nearly ramming into two TIEs that blocked the front, but they avoided the ship.


A few quick twists and turns to shake the clones and avoid fire, mixed with flickering in and out of stealth managed to keep them unharmed and moving towards Eriadu until Tarkin could get stealth back up.


And when it did, Bertrand switched directions. No doubt the TIEs would try to blind fire to find the ship. “Nothing to worry about.” And it would be smooth sailing until they reached Tarkin’s home.


-


August’s voice came, implying they’d meet on the ground at some point. Followed by the sight of August’s ship flickering out of stealth confirmed that he was heading to the ground.


Coordinates were given by PH-433, which were then entered into the ship, shields turned on, and Hux continued flying. They hadn’t made it very far before they were noticed by TIE fighters, but it wasn’t a horde of them like Tarkin received. Two to be exact. Likely because they didn’t know that two very important figures of the First Order were on it. Hux didn’t have his old ship, not that it was typically his usual one.


It wasn’t worthy of much more than an eye roll to Hux. The shields could take enough. He increased the speed towards Eriadu, firing off a few missiles to the TIEs. Aiming wasn’t the best, considering he was flying, but that was what auto-lock was for. One was hit enough times to blow a wing off and send it spiraling out of control, off into the depths of space. And then there was one.


The TIE chased them into the atmosphere of Eriadu. The planet was just as industrial as Hux remembered. 


‘To outside of Eriadu City.’ Troops on the ground could take care of the following TIE.


-


“No, I can have them ready for pickup in half an hour.” Rollo estimated. “We don’t have his ship, though, if she’s wanting that.” They searched the ship and emptied it. Everything they could was put into boxes, whether it had leaked information on both sides of the war or not. They left the ship, however. In case of tracking. 


“That’s fine, Rollo. Whatever you’ve got, I’m sure Mira will appreciate.”


Finn placed a supportive hand on Mira’s back then. Even if she didn't outwardly express any extreme emotion.


“Sure thing, General. Tell Blondie I’ll meet her in Hangar B.” They had carts he could wheel around. “Stay safe, General, you hear?”


“Of course, Rollo.” And with that, they let each other go. Leia turned to Mira then. “That’s all taken care of.” Leia offered a small, sad smile to Mira. She did feel bad for the woman losing someone so close to her. And it was the least she could do for Mira, after talking to Luke, the books, and the communicator. Especially the communicator.


“Thank you again, Mira.” She expressed once again. “Is there anything else you need? Otherwise, I’m afraid I must get moving.”  Especially now, as she saw an X-wing beginning to lift up out of the corner of her eye.


And it went unsaid, but Leia thought Mira should get moving, too. To find Obi-Wan. Before her situation got any worse. If that was possible.
 
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‘How.’


The singular thought, as Kylo realized where they were.


He was actually angry, as he realized this was not a trap tomb. This was the real deal, he could sense it in the flux of the Force in the room, the emotions that still lingered, that always seemed to linger. Snoke had said once that the powerful Sith lingered, always trying to come back, fighting for life.


‘Funny how I believed that and not ghosts.’


Their impression remained. Their unbreakable will.


The statue held in its hands exactly what Kylo Ren wanted, though. The holocron. Triangular, compared to the usually square ones of the Jedi. Yet, he could see the way the kyber crystals were angled in the wall.


Not only that, there was a body. It looked quite old, but it was a body nonetheless, of someone else who had made it this far, only to be killed. By the kyber crystals, no doubt. He didn’t acknowledge that the sarcophagus was slightly open, figured the thief had done that.


Kylo maneuvered one of the glow rods forward, towards the holocron.


The crystals started to glow, proving their synthetic nature by turning red. Before Kylo could pull the rod back, though, it was blasted to pieces by several beams of red light that expanded out from the crystal, and retreated back, like a lightsaber beam.


That left them with one glowrod.


Kylo attempted to pull the holocron from its place with the Force.


It didn’t budge an inch.


~***~


The flickering stealth did help to baffle their enemies, as the Revenant would appear, vanish for a few seconds, and then appear again to blast their foes. August did enjoy that aspect of his ship, even if he’d be able to do the same thing with the Carrion Spike.


And yes, he was internally cursing that this was not the Carrion Spike. Again, thought of all the ways he’d murder Terex if he ever got his hand on him.


Then remembered the alliance. Hated himself.


But they finally got clear enough, and were able to pull up the stealth.


The blind shots missed, and descend they did, making it back to the ground, to the barracks. Eriadu City was not overrun. In fact, it looked full of his own militia, which pleased August to no end, as the Revenant landed.


August rose, placing a hand on Bertrand’s shoulder, “Get back up there, and take them out. Use this.” He wanted the Revenant in battle, even if he wasn’t in it. His own brand of ‘fuck you’, like the Imperatrix. Things of his design. Things he loved.


“Got it,” with that, August met Ransolm and Johann at the ramp, and exited it. The Revenant didn’t delay after they were off, quickly rising to go back and join the fray as guards began to open the doors.


August sprinted, and Ransolm followed, right to the armory. Ransolm went on ahead, though August paused to speak with a familiar face, one of the leaders of the militia. “How many are here protecting the barracks and my home?”


“Around fifty,” he answered. “The rest are protecting the city boundaries and various entrances.”


“Good. Prep 50 speeders. We’re joining Adelaide.” So long as the guards at the border held, this would be protected.


If it didn’t…well, his house didn’t matter in the scheme of things. “Any success on hacking Snoke’s radio?”


“Negative.”


Tarkin’s nose wrinkled in disgust, but he didn’t say anything. Asked, “And I suppose the droids are still here, aren’t they?”


“Yes, sir.”


Sometimes…sometimes people failed him. He’d deal with the droids himself, get them out and fighting, too. “Thank you for the report.” He moved then to join Ransolm, finding the man had quickly dispensed with his finery to don armor, and had a vibrostave on his back. He was now looking at the selection of guns.


~***~


Phasma was more concerned with flying the ship while the General dealt with taking the TIEs out of the air, making sure this ship didn’t suffer much in the way of damage.


Fortunately, after the first TIE was taken down, they were able to push through the atmosphere and break into the sky above Eriadu.


The second TIE didn’t stand much of a chance as AT-ATs entered their sight. A ground-to-air turret took it down with little trouble, as the fighter was clearly too focused on Hux’s ship to notice the danger.


Which made it easier for Phasma to get them to the coordinates to see a few of the freighters had made it to the ground. Phasma landed their ship quickly, outside Eriadu City. Close to it, things seemed calm, but the sight of the AT-ATs and the sounds of distant explosions and fighting signified that all was not well.


Phasma moved quick, wanting in her armor immediately, and walked out of the ship to find PH-433 waiting respectfully at the end of the ramp when it lowered. “Lieutenant-General, General,” the Trooper greeted. “This way.”


They had the armor prepared. They had the information on which troops were here, and a bit on the location of General Adelaide and the troops already present when they arrived. Nothing more than a cursory overview, but PH-433 had announced their arrival to Adelaide as well.


~***~


Mira was wanting the ship, but didn’t say anything, startled by Finn’s touch. She tried to relax. Bottle it all up again.


Exhausting work, really. ‘Can I actually retrieve his things?’ Or was that going to break her? She told herself it wouldn’t, even if it might be a lie. A smirk, as she heard ‘blondie’. No, with Rollo there, she might just make it.


“Thank you,” Mira inclined her head slightly. Leia’s words followed. Her own gratitude. Mira lifted her eyes back, shook her head, “Nothing else. I’ll see you soon,” another vain hope.


“May the Force be with you – both of you,” Leia said to them, taking Finn in.


Finn smiled, returned, “May the Force be with you.”


“And with you,” Mira said, hearing Qui-Gon echo it in unison with her, as if Leia could hear.


Perhaps she’d at least feel the well-wishes.


Then it was out of the ship. “All right. You’re driving to Coruscant,” she told Finn, passing him the keys as they started to walk to the other hangar. “Luke told me I needed to meditate…it’s the only way I can rest.” At least a little bit. “He at least has a point there.”
 
Kylo had said that down was usually a trap. But this wasn’t. Not apart from the kyber crystals, anyway. Paquin said nothing about Kylo being wrong. He wasn’t good at being wrong, as proven by his reaction to happy emotions having an effect on the Force. And now. She could tell he was angry, whether it was through the Force or if she could just recognize it at this point.


The glowrod was obliterated and the tomb darkened. Kylo tried to pull at the triangle with the Force, but that wasn’t working.


As they stood stationary, Paquin lifted her injured leg and observed the scene. She didn’t even know if the triangle had anything useful on it, but she wanted it. It would make this whole fiasco worth it. Her leg, Kylo defying Snoke.


“Should we try...breaking the kyber crystals?” She suggested. Gnaeus had said that was possible. She wasn’t sure how hard it would be. ‘Kylo should.’ She didn’t say that out loud, but he had cracked the kyber crystal in his lightsaber, after all. “Then we could just…walk up and grab it?”


Maybe breaking them would be a little much. Maybe too destructive, but Paquin still suggested it.


-


Johann had accompanied Ransolm to the armory. He’d suited himself up with a vest. Not much else, for the sake of mobility. He’d chosen his weapons, two blaster pistols and a vibroblade, and sat as Ransolm did some gearing up of his own.


August entered as Ransolm observed the wide array of guns. However, the man opted for simplicity. A blaster pistol and a standard rifle. Lightweight, he could strap either weapon to some place out of the way, yet accessible. Ransolm was exceptional with melee, hence the vibrostave, but he doubted clones with guns would allow him close enough for such fighting. But that was fine, he was just as good with guns.


“Ready when you are,” Ransolm was more than happy to get back out there, weave through AT-ATs.


Much like young Johann.


-


Hux was given an overview of what was happening on the ground. “There are troops assisting with the AT-ATs, correct?” 


“Yes, sir.”


Hux looked around then. The outskirts of Eriadu City were essentially calm, most of the fighting happening elsewhere. “Spread a couple squads out, to other cities. Protect homes. Keep some protecting the borders here. A few TIE fighters will be down when things clear up there.” Just until more squads come to assist, which wasn’t yet predicted.


It was then that Hux saw the first X-wing enter the atmosphere, shortly followed by more and more. More than had been on Cimarosa. And they began to branch out, to cover the planet as best as possible.


“I’ll be joining those dealing with the AT-ATs.” He said. Those were fairly easy to take out if you weren’t crushed or shot. Take out the legs and they’re done. Worked just as well with humans and other species, too. 


With that, Hux brushed past the trooper to switch to armor and gear up with weapons more effective than the single blaster he had.


-


“Fine with me!” Finn agreed, happily taking the keys from Mira. He was excited to finally get to Coruscant. Though, he was admittedly worried about traffic when they entered the planet's atmosphere. People were crazy there. “You get some rest. I’ll make sure you don’t actually fall asleep! Or BB-8 will. Right?”


BB-8 beeped its agreement.


They reached the Knight’s ship—though he supposed it didn’t belong to the Knight anymore—and the ramp was lowered. Finn took up the pilot’s seat for once, prepping the ship to take off. But first, he had to know where he was going. 


He looked around for Mira’s datapad, finding it where it had been set down before he cleaned up those stacks. He wasn’t sure how successful his search would be, but he tried anyway. Opening up the HoloNet, Finn searched the name Ada Zain, followed by the planet Coruscant. Hoping to find an address of some sort.


There were a lot of Ada Zains. But not as many as he thought. A couple hundred. He narrowed it down by adding the hospital he was apparently born at. There were many hospitals on Coruscant, and that narrowed it down to ten. So, he picked one and set the coordinates. 


-


Ariel came to once again, after passing out after her encounter with Mira. She wasn’t sure what happened with Mira that caused her to stop. Snoke, maybe. But Ariel hoped Mira hadn’t been able to piece anything together, but she doubted that.


The redhead found herself in a cell, still in the containment field. ‘Lame.’ She wasn’t sure where she was, Finalizer or elsewhere, but she knew she wasn’t on Cimarosa anymore.


It was then that a door slid open, a redheaded man walking in. “Dad? Is that you? I haven’t seen you since you threw me in rehab.” Her voice was hoarser than usual. As she said those words, she knew very well that this was not her father. She knew it was someone’s father, however. Hux’s. The likeness was uncanny, too much to be a coincidence.


“No,” he spoke, “Commandant Hux.” He stood in front of her then, and she could recognize a bottle of alcohol in his hands. ‘Is he going to bribe me with that?’ Probably. Mira likely shared that Ariel was a raging alcoholic, if he couldn’t have told by the scene on Cimarosa. Or the fact that she was definitely going through withdrawals. 


Ariel was silent for a moment. “Where’s Gnaeus Ren?” She questioned. She hadn’t seen him or felt him. Was he even alive?


“He’s stable.”


“What does that mean?” It seemed he was alive, but ‘stable’ sounded like he was injured.


“No more questions. Not from you, anyway. Those can come after I get my answers.”


“And you think for some reason that I’ll tell you anything, after attempting to resist a special snowflake named Mira?”
 
Breaking things was usually Kylo’s go-to.


Yet, he felt apprehensive about doing it here. Imagined the dire consequences. ‘But not many can do it so well.’ It wasn’t exactly a talent that Force-sensitives tried to have. It wasn’t a thing desired.


Yet, perhaps it was finally time for that skill to come in handy, “Maybe,” he murmured, more to himself than Paquin.


Once he broke one, he had a feeling there was no going back.


He stretched out his hand, and followed the flow of energy, the flux of the Force that was still tied to the emotions of the room. The Sith. He took hold of it, and redirected it. The synthetic crystal did begin to take it in, began to fill with it, and Kylo continued to add the pressure.


The crystal started to crack.


Then, it shattered, the energy leaving it as an explosion.


Kylo pulled back the energy he could quickly forming a sort of barrier between them and the explosion. It wavered, flecks of energy did push through – it wasn’t perfect. Kylo couldn’t form a barrier, so much as he could push at the Force to keep things from pushing forward. It worked easier in contained areas like this, fortunately.


When the red glow cleared, all of the crystals were gone, leaving just the glowing holocron, apparently unharmed.


~***~


August already had his sniper rifle, and he wasn’t letting go of that. He did, however, grab a pair of blasters for himself, and then what he lovingly referred to as a ‘hand cannon’. Shotgun was probably more accurate, since it delivered a spread of blaster fire with a single pull of a trigger. It wasn’t August’s favorite weapon, but it had its uses.


He took no melee weapons.


He’d brain someone with a blaster.


The sound of speeders could be heard gathering outside, along with more footsteps.


He added armor, of course. Vest, pads to the elbows and knees, gloves that were thicker than the norm, heavier boots. He put on a helmet, styled more like an X-Wing pilot’s than a Stormtrooper’s – he wasn’t losing his vision, and then put one right over Johann’s head. “Don’t even think of arguing,” he stated.


He wouldn’t force Ransolm to do it, but Johann was his son. He was wearing a helmet.


Ransolm did offer a teasing smile to the youth, didn’t grab one. He didn’t feel it was necessary. It wouldn’t do much against an AT-AT’s foot.


“We’re ready,” he told Ransolm then, and walked out to the sight of his guards, and plenty of speeders gathered, as well as guns that would fire the necessary, lassoing wires.


August walked forward to take one, spoke, “There will be no time for refills, so make your shots count. They work like a net. You need some distance between yourself and the AT-AT to allow it to spread, and you need to aim centrally, between the legs, for that same reason.”


It wasn’t often they had to use it, so he felt an overview would be good. “Clear?”


A chorus answered. August nodded. “I have Adelaide’s coordinates. We’re going that way; we may stay, or if we’re able to catch enough attention, we’re taking them into the Carrion.”


Let Eriadu fight. Defend itself.


He walked to his own speeder then, sat astride it and listened to the pleasant hum. Ah, how long had it been? Too long, no doubt. He took a breath.


Well, if this was the end…at least he was going out fighting. He listened as the other vehicles came to life around him, and then, he took the lead, zipping them out of Eriadu City.


~***~


Phasma was delighted to be back into her armor, feeling at peace again. Perhaps it was how Kylo Ren felt in his own, but there was nothing better in the world than the armor.


Covered head to toe, Phasma then found her weapons; her vibroblade, modified to her tastes, of course. Her hand blaster. And then, of course, her laser gun – power enough to punch a hole through many different metals, and easily break an unshielded ship. It would work on the AT-ATs, of that she had no doubt.


She heard Hux’s comment about joining that fight, too, and walked to him as he was suiting up, “Sir,” she addressed, “I would like to find some high ground. I believe I will be more effective from a range, considering my preferences,” just blow through the heads’ of the AT-ATs. “However, if you would like me to join you, I will.” It just did not seem necessary unless he wanted someone to have his back, besides the regular rank and file soldiers.


~***~


Mira did trust BB-8 a bit more than Finn in regards to that, if only because Finn was going to be busy driving, and Mira didn’t plan to be in the co-pilot’s seat, lest anything happen during meditation.


She let Finn go on ahead, and she went back to the bedroom, ignoring that it had been Gnaeus’s. The Troopers hadn’t cleaned it out of the stupid, personal things. Not the sheets, the colors, the various small decorations. Mira tried not to take it in, sitting on the floor with her back to the bed to help her stay sitting up as BB-8 rolled after her.


Of course, it asked a question. “No…I can’t focus on a holocron if I’m meditating,” she told the droid, “You heard about the green, right?”


BB-8 agreed. Reminded her of the other odd color it turned. “If you see that, wake me up immediately. I don’t care how.”


Agreement.


Then Mira shut her eyes, focused her thoughts, and gradually began to drift into a meditative trance, not at all concerned about where Finn was going to take them on Coruscant. She trusted him – his instincts were good. He had saved her and Hux.


He’d find where they needed to be, too. Or where he needed to be.


~***~


Everything felt heavy.


It was the first conscious thought that Gnaeus Ren could make out. Everything was abnormally heavy, and his hand was throbbing with pain. ‘Open.’ His eyelids were heavy. He heard a monitor, a slowing beep, that he recognized.



Heart monitor.


‘So I’m okay.’


Alive.


Again, he tried to will his eyes open. ‘Sedated….’ That would explain the heaviness. The dryness of his mouth. He tried to move his toes. Thought he felt it. He wasn’t laying on anything, but felt like he was floating.


But no water.


Waves, though. Definitely waves.


“Mmrrnn,” the sound escaped him as he fought for more movements, desperate. He couldn’t feel anything, was the next thought.


He felt himself, but nothing outside of himself.


Bend the knees.


Flex the fingers.


Why could he only feel one hand’s fingers moving? He continued trying to will the other, but pain just kept returning, frying his nerve endings. ‘What happened?’


A fight. Pain, blinding pain. ‘Blinding—Ariel?’ He couldn’t feel her. Was she dead?


Felt his head shaking, then, trying to bring himself up and out of the heaviness, the weight that was pressing on him.


Eyes opened.


He was floating.


His eyes, though glazed, followed the path of pain down his arm. Down to…


Gnaeus screamed.
 
The two of them still stood, both of them in one piece. The holocron was just fine as well, sitting on the ground. Everything else was completely destroyed, leaving nothing but black dust. But the holocron sat happily on the ground, glowing. 


“Well, that was efficient. Good job.” Kylo was exceptional at breaking things. 


Even with the room seemingly open, with no visible traps and the crystals gone, Paquin was still cautious. She lifted her hand the slightest bit and with the Force, she pulled a bag of vegetables from her bag, throwing it at the holocron. She was getting good at levitating things and throwing them with the Force. And that was all she was confident in doing. At least it was something.


Nothing happened to the frozen food. Nothing happened to the holocron. In fact, it didn’t even move from the ground when the food came in contact it. 


“Go touch it,” Paquin said, for some reason it came out in a whisper. This holocron seemed indestructible, immovable. Someone must have gone to great lengths to keep this thing protected.


-


Johann didn’t argue when the helmet was placed on his head. He did complain, however, “I don’t look as cool.” He grumbled but kept it on.


His father explained the guns and how to use them and then they were off. Ransolm and Johann took up their own speeders and followed closely behind the lead, August.


It was obvious when they neared the battle site, not far outside of Eriadu City. The sounds of yelling, explosions, of the AT-ATs walking. 


And then they were upon it.


There was one fallen AT-AT, on fire at that moment. There were several crushed vehicles, troopers. Some on fire, some smoking, some just dead. The AT-ATs were towering, much bigger than Johann could have pictured. From afar they were cool, from up close they were scary. The foot, it was huge. Easy to get crushed under.


Along with AT-ATs—which there were four of but Johann could bet there were more somewhere—were some of Snoke’s clones, firing at troops trying to take the giant vehicles down.


Take them down or lead them to the Carrion. 


The fifty speeders stuck together, despite there being two AT-ATs. Rush one and then deal with the other. Whoever remained.


-


It oddly eased Hux to see Phasma in her armor again. It was refreshing, albeit strange, to see her out of it. But a sense of normal, a sense of confidence washed over Hux as he saw her. He supposed her chrome getup was a symbol of power in his eyes, strength. 


He waited until he was fully suited up to answer her. It wasn’t anything like Stormtrooper armor, more like a padded suit protecting him. It was a foreign feeling, but he embraced it. 


“I’ll be fine with the Stormtroopers. Find high ground, then, and we’ll reunite at some point,” he permitted. At least he hoped they’d reunite. Phasma knew the ground and her skills and what she could do with them. If she believed she’d be best somewhere else, then he’d trust her. He wasn’t too worried about anyone not having his back. There were enough of his own. And of August and Adelaide’s troops.


As long as they didn’t backstab him.


Not to mention he could take care of himself out there. 


With a heavy blaster being chosen, as well as his usual blaster at his side, he decided to pay Adelaide and the AT-ATs a visit.


-


As anxious as Finn was to get to Cimarosa and visit this first Ada, he lifted from the ground carefully, slowly, as not to disturb Mira. He left the atmosphere but didn’t go straight into hyper drive.


He flew in big slow circles for a little while, to allow Mira a chance to get as much ‘rest’ as possible. She needed it. She’d been up for how long now? Two days, he thought. Too long to go without sleep. He’d heard something about four days being the time when things started getting weird.


He wasn’t sure if anything could get weirder than a bodiless ghost following Mira around. 


Scarier, he was sure of. 


Finally, he went into hyperdrive and made it to Coruscant in little to no time at all, slowing outside of the planet's atmosphere. It got crazy as soon as he entered, ships of all kinds flying every which way.


He followed the coordinates, scouting the building they’d be checking out. Once he was sure of that, he found a hangar. Parking took forever, but Finn never once had air rage, keeping quiet and the ship smooth for Mira.


With the ship docked, they could walk to the building. Finn rose, lowering the ramp before turning the ship off. He headed to the back to ‘wake’ Mira.


-


“I don’t like Vallens.” The Commandant stated.


“Join the club. That’s not going to get me to share anything with you.” Ariel was stubborn. She’d made it this far, she wasn’t going to give up that easily. It was then that a scream was heard, and Ariel’s heartbeat sped up. “What was that?” It had to have been Gnaeus. Were they torturing him? He was probably as confused as she was. A bit of guilt settled itself into Ariel’s gut. If she hadn’t wanted alcohol…


But she hadn’t flown them to Cimarosa. 'Not Gnaeus’s fault, either.’


“What did I say about the questions?” The older Hux frowned, setting the bottle of alcohol down. “I’m not here as the Order. I need to speak with Supreme Leader Snoke. Your communicators are no longer, so I need you to get me in touch with him.” He could use them as peace offerings, prove he wasn’t on his son’s side. “If you give me what I need, both you and Gnaeus Ren will be returned to Snoke, alive.” 


“And I get the alcohol?”


“Yes.”


Ariel squinted at the ginger. “New rules, you give me answers and if I like them, I'll consider helping." It was bold, making such a statement while she was trapped. But she wasn't going to give anything away without knowing the details. "Why do you want to speak with Snoke? To get rid of Mira?"
 
Kylo rolled his eyes, unable to prevent it, “This is what I’m good at.”


Breaking things.


Like his own Order.


He didn’t think about that. Once Paquin assessed the scene, he walked forward, still with her, “We’re going to sit,” he warned her once they were close enough to the holocron. He couldn’t really smell the staleness any longer, and he wanted to see what was in this holocron that had been in such a bizarre tomb.


He would help Paquin down to sit if she needed it, and then he’d levitate it over to Paquin.


“It opens with the Force. Like the kyber crystal,” meaning, same idea. Run the Force into it, and it should start to speak.


~***~


Metal, blood, and fire.


August knew these scents well. Never truly wanted to smell them here. It had a metallic tang that would have been pleasant, if it wasn’t for the fire. The death.


He’d seen AT-ATs before. Kept his world prepared, even if they didn’t have the numbers. It seemed Adelaide hadn’t been as prepared for them, despite her monotonous annoyance. ‘No doubt more prepared to deal with the Resistance.’ He couldn’t fault her, there.


The radio crackled, speakers in the helmet, “August, the AT-ATs are modified.”


He immediately flipped a switch so the news would spread to the rest, “—electrical field. Get too close and you’ll get electrocuted.”


Well.


That explained why Adelaide didn’t have them all down. “Thank you for that detail, Adelaide.”


Now he needed to figure out the field, and if it was going to need to be deactivated before the ropes were used. “Everyone, keep your distance. Test the field. I’ll try the ropes first to see if they get through it.”


August twisted his hands over the handle, and let the speed increase, swerving around soldiers and fallen bits of ripped metal without any indication of slowing down. He had one AT-AT eyed down.


He didn’t go through it as, perhaps, it had hoped.


He banked left, hard, pulling his bike into a sudden stuff, but also ramming its side into an armored trooper with enough force to send the trooper flying back.


It was electrocuted before it got to the field. In a spot that was more between the legs, than near one or the other. ‘So no swerving through them.’ That took a lot of fun out. “Do not go under the AT-ATs.” He warned his team.


And then there was an explosion overhead, and he had to quickly move to avoid the pieces of debris as the AT-AT was damaged. What was that?


~***~


“We will,” Phasma allowed no room for doubt in her voice, before she left Hux, to meet with Adelaide more personally. She was recognizable in her armor, and when she requested information on the locations of higher ground, she was given it. There were some hastily built barriers on higher ground, and Phasma went to one of them, then knelt.


The scope of her gun was enough to see by, and she took in the AT-AT’s, using the scope to zoom in.


Noted one of the speeders suddenly come to a halt, transferring its speed to a trooper’s body. The trooper may have survived the impact, but it likely didn’t survive the electrocution. ‘Interesting.’ Was that going to act as a field of protection or not?


Time to find out.


As the scope turned green, Phasma fired. A spiraling energy exited the gun, twisting even in the air but keeping its path, zipping over the heads of many to strike the AT-AT’s head dead-center. She saw the electrical field come up. Saw it pick apart the energy and weaken it, disseminate it.


But some still got through and struck it, hard. Pieces of the head began to fall to the ground, but it wasn’t down. Not yet out. ‘Well.’ This was going to be annoying. Time to find a way to deactivate the fields, then.


There was a downed AT-AT. She decided to leave her post to examine it.


~***~


Mira knew she needed a focus to stay awake this time. As she had with the lightsaber, she chose a word: Admiral.


Something apart from the Knights. Apart from the Force. Something that grounded her to the present and responsibilities she had to take over. Something that, more and more, she did want. Not just as a joke, as a stab at Commandant Hux.


Kevan had told her before she could lead, and she wanted to. The desire was growing; she didn’t need to be a Skywalker. A Hux. A Tarkin. A Kenobi. She just needed to…prove it. Act and listen. Carve out a new name, a new place, like the Grey Jedi. Like the Admiral spot, that hadn’t had a leader.


Cut a new path and others would follow. She’d been doing that in Wild Space anyway. Snoke would be furious if he knew how many lessons she was taking from that.


BB-8 remained silent as it watched the meditation, running its scans to make sure it never slipped into sleep. Heart monitor. Breathing. All of these were watched far more than the woman herself – until she suddenly lifted from the ground. A squeal left BB-8, but the droid quickly silenced itself, as the ship rattled out of lightspeed.


Then it docked, and Finn came back. He wasn’t sure what to expect so far as waking Mira went.


Was not expecting to find her levitating off the ground. “Er.” Looked to BB-8, who let his head move to the side in a gesture akin to a cant. “Right.” At least his talking wasn’t disturbing, but how then to reach her? “Mira,” he put on a different tone, one he might use to try and call an animal to him.


Seemed to work.


Except she dropped from the levitation roughly and looked quite startled when her eyes opened. Finn laughed, but still approached, offered his hand, “You all right?” He asked.


“Yeah…,” Mira took the hand, shaking her head a bit, dazed, and Finn pulled her up.


“Good. Come on then, we have a few places to go check out.”


Mira was about to ask ‘where’, but as Finn hurriedly turned, still pulling her along by the hand, she remembered. He was from Coruscant, too. ‘Ah.’ Of course. His mission, before her mission, then.


~***~


The Commandant felt a vein throbbing in his head as the rules were once again broken. He considered leaving to go see the other Knight, now that it was apparent he had woken. Yet, he did not. These were questions that he would have shared the answer to with Snoke, and that would likely mean with Ariel or Gnaeus present.


He just had to deal with the order being broken, since the Knight was considering working with him now. “My son made a grave mistake in choosing to betray the Supreme Leader in favor of Vallens,” he was laying the blame on her, “He is weak and malleable. The First Order needs stronger leadership – I need to get rid of my son, and her, to save the Order.”


There was no hint of paternal love. No hint of doubt or hesitation.


~***~


It settled in, not immediately. After the scream. After the heavy breaths and the wide-eyed look at the stump. His mind frantically replayed what had happened, and he remembered his lightsaber exploding in his hand. He didn’t know how. Mira? His only thought was Mira, breaking the crystal, taking his hand with it.


Hot fury rose, but it was pointless.


He was kept apart from the Force.


A medic came in, having heard his scream, and he recognized the First Order uniform. “Come anywhere near me and I’ll break your neck,” Gnaeus said.


Even if he couldn’t, the medic seemed to believe it, wary of the Force it didn’t understand. “Where’s Ariel?” And where the hell was Mira? He would return this favor in kind.


“Ne-next door,” the medic stumbled under the word. “She is well. No-ah-no limbs missing.”


If Gnaeus could have called upon the Force, he would have probably killed the messenger, just for the pitying look it gave his stump.
 
Kylo assisted Paquin in seating, which she was more than happy to sit.  The holocron was levitated towards her and she took it in her hands. It didn’t feel special. Just about how she expected the pyramid to feel.


‘Like the kyber crystal.’ She could do that. 


She adjusted, keeping her injured leg extended and pulling her right leg towards her. Her hands rested in the middle. She didn’t close her eyes, knowing Kylo found it ridiculous even if he hadn’t said anything to her. That and she knew she couldn’t always close her eyes to use the Force.


She recalled what Gnaeus taught her, apply pressure from all sides. Shove the Force into it, essentially. 


“And a Knight shall come, a battle will be fought, and the prisoners go free.” Paquin jumped when the voice started, an older gentleman appearing as a hologram. His hair was graying, a scar running across his cheek. It looked a bit like Kylo’s, Paquin figured it to be a lightsaber wound. “The prophecy references the Valley of the Jedi. The valley was lost, but I believe I’ve found it.”


“Who is he?” Paquin questioned softly, figuring Kylo would have some clue. 


-


Johann was disappointed that there would be no weaving through the legs of the beast. Why did Snoke have to be smart? Not only wasn’t a disappointment, but it made this all harder.


They couldn’t go through the legs, but they could go around it. And they could shoot it, apparently.  “How did you get the other one down?” Johann questioned through his helmet. It might not look cool, but it was useful.


“You see the ship rammed through the body?” Adelaide’s voice came through. “A TIE fighter crashed into it on the way down.” Electricity couldn’t stop that force.


“Oh.” Well, that would be a little hard to recreate. But at least, as evidence of the downed TIE fighter and the mystery shot to the AT-ATs head, a certain amount of Force could break through it. Still, that would take a while. 


It was then that a small freighter lowered to the ground, the ramp lowering and Stormtroopers filed out. Belonging to the First Order, as the shoulders of some indicated. They got busy with eliminating Snoke’s clones.


Hux exited the ship, accompanied by two Stormtroopers. He stopped, however, and observed the AT-ATs. There’d been a plan to instate AT-ATs, after Starkiller was finished. Blueprints had been shared, but none of that came to be created. Between the destruction of Hux’s beloved base and then his departure from the not-so-beloved Snoke, there’d been no chance. If these were the ones with the electrical field, he knew there was at least a vulnerable space underneath the ‘foot’ of it. 


-


BB-8 rolled along behind the two, keeping close as they exited the ship and began to push their way through the crowds. Finn wasn’t moving fast, as now he could finally take in all that was Coruscant. Before they had a mission. And then there was the Hux sighting and then…and then Finn met Mira.


And Finn smiled at the memory. The circumstances weren’t good. But he was glad he’d met her. Glad they’d took her with. Even if Poe wasn’t thrilled with it all.


He was then conscious he was still holding her hand, and once they were free from the docks and on the streets, he let go. Only after giving a reassuring squeeze. 


“We’re looking for the…big…building.” All buildings were big here. But they weren’t far from it, he knew that when they parked. “Here!” Finn was excited, even if there was a chance it wasn’t the Ada Zain.


Finn led the way into the building, straight to the front desk. “Hi! I’m looking for a woman named Ada Zain,”


The woman, her skin a light green color, looked up at Finn with an annoyed look. “Okay.” She grumbled, shifting to face her computer, typing away. “Floor 21, apartment 87.” 


“Thank you!” Finn didn’t let her sour mood get to him as he once again took Mira’s hand and led her to the elevator.


-


“And I thought Kylo Ren had some serious daddy issues.” Ariel knew both Kylo and Han still had some love for each other, but Ariel could not pick up on anything in the Commandant that gave away some feeling for his son. Either he was a really good actor or a really bad father.


She was banking on the latter. If she could use the Force, she’d be able to tell.


Ariel observed the Commandant for a second more. If he was serious, he could be useful in taking the Order back. Snoke could be pleased. If not…he’d be easy to kill. She wouldn’t give anything away until she and Gnaeus were back together, out of the stupid containment fields. She wasn’t that stupid.


“You get me and Gnaeus on a ship and out of these things, and we’ll take you to Snoke. As a gesture of good faith, I’ll tell you that he’s in the Outer Rim.” On Kamino, last she knew. It wasn’t much or really useful, but that was all she’d give him until she and Gnaeus were somewhere else.
 
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Sometimes, the Sith holocrons had protections on them, but Kylo hadn’t gotten that sense when he sent it to Paquin. Fortunately, it seemed he was right.


It also seemed that this holocron was significant. Most of them weren’t, in Kylo’s not-so humble opinion. When Paquin jumped, he prepared to feed the Force back into the holocron, but her attention wasn’t taken away. So, the man with the scar continued to speak.


Kylo shook his head. “I don’t know,” he said, “But this is part of a prophecy I know,” he remembered Snoke had told him to keep that secret – the Prophecy of Five, part of the reason the Knights were kept to such a small number, despite there being enough Force sensitives to lure into the fold.


“The Valley is with the Three Sisters. I’m going there, to undo what that foolish Bane did to our Sith order. If I do not return, go there, my apprentice.”


“Three sisters?” Kylo puzzled over the term. He couldn’t think of anything it could mean, no constellation, no galaxy or sector – nothing.


It was likely an old term. Old reference.


‘So perhaps Snoke….’


Oh right.


Snoke was not going to be happy with him.


~***~


Phasma saw the freighter lower, and then shifted the frequency of her own radio a bit to make sure to address her Troopers, knowing one of them would speak to Hux if he wasn’t listening with an earpiece, “The AT-ATs have an electrical field,” she informed.


Her standard blaster was in her hand as she moved to the field, the downed AT-AT.


It seemed she wasn’t the only one with that idea. A few of Tarkin’s soldiers came riding up. A waif of a girl was one of the first to hop off her bike and start picking her way across the beast, heedless of the possibility that the field might still turn on at any second. ‘A TIE fighter.’


Then she heard the other girl chirp some words into the radio, “There’s a button on the foot. That’s not standard for AT-ATs, right?”


Phasma heard it, and the memory came rushing back – old schematics. The foot, because who was going to get under a foot of an AT-AT? “No,” she told the girl, turning around to look at her, though she knew the girl had been talking to her team. “I’m familiar with these. That will deactivate the AT-AT. Back, left foot.”


“Captain Phasma just confirmed, too! Back, left foot. Let’s get’em!”


Phasma crouched down where she was, closer now to the AT-ATs, and brought the scope back up, watching as they lifted their legs.


Watching as the speeders figured out the safe distance.


A breath.


A shot.


The field flickered and faded, followed shortly by a second.


She wasn’t allowed to admire the work.


The guard was foolish enough to do that, throwing a fist into the air only to be shot through the neck and shoulder by a blaster from…well, somewhere in the chaos. No time to bother with the fallen now, either. Phasma had to move, get to another place to get a clean shot of the other AT-ATs.


~***~


August had been listening as the exchange between Phasma and one of his guards took place. Something on the foot. He watched the one that had been shot and squinted a bit when the foot indicated was lifted. ‘There it is.’


“Ransolm, and some of you lot, on me. Johann – AT-AT at 17:00 from that freighter that just landed. I’ve got the field.”


Well he was a sniper, he was going to snipe it.


He just needed to make sure not to get himself killed since he was definitely going to have to dive deeper into an area more heavily occupied by the enemy in order to get to the spot he needed. A small ditch. It would give him enough low-ground to shoot the spot he wanted.


Ransolm was behind him shortly, and a few others of the guards fell in line as well, cutting a path with guns blazing, until August made another quick stop, right at the tip of the ditch. He jumped off his own speeder then and crouched down, watching the AT-AT he’d set out to dismantle the field of, hearing the shots of Troopers and guards, Ransolm.


Heard something slide into the ditch with him, just as his shot was ready. Fired, spun around, and locked his rifle with a vibrosaber.


Ransolm then struck the bold trooper with his own vibrostave as they heard the crackle of electricity above and looked to see the field falling apart.


~***~


A squeeze, and then the hand was released. Mira folded her hands behind her back as she followed after Finn, but allowing some distance. BB-8 told her it was okay to go ahead – the droid could keep up.


“Mm. That’s not why.”


She was watching the environment. The crowd. Last time she’d come here with Hux and they’d nearly been mobbed by the press.



Right now, that wasn’t happening, but it would only take one person to start it. If it happened, she didn’t want Finn involved. Didn’t need his face plastered everywhere.


They followed Finn into the ‘big building’, which Mira tried not to laugh at his description. Everything in Coruscant was large. ‘And security remains terrible.’ Mira thought as the woman’s address was given without even the need to use a Jedi trick. Mira said nothing, though, let her hand be grabbed again as they went into the elevator.


She could feel Finn’s nervousness as he told the elevator to go to the 21st floor. A long ride. So, she didn’t shake him off.


She wanted to tell him it was going to be fine, but couldn’t find the words, in case it was a lie. What if his mother didn’t want to see him? Willingly gave him up? What was she supposed to do if this woman broke Finn’s heart by telling him he was unwanted?


BB-8 was the one to ask if he was excited.


“Yeah. Nervous, too,” he admitted, chuckled, “It probably won’t be the right one.”


“He should trust his instincts more.” Qui-Gon said.


“It will be,” was how Mira chose to say it, even though Finn hadn’t seemed to notice the green. He was watching the lights of the elevator.


“Huh?”


“You have good instincts. You found us on Cimarosa when we were in trouble. This is going to be the right place.”


He smiled, “Thanks, Mira. Do you…do you think she’ll….”


It was on his words, Mira realized his anxiety was also fear. He had to be wondering why he was taken away, too.


She wouldn’t predict the future, so instead she let go of his hand and placed her own on his shoulder, “Don’t focus on that now.”


And then the door opened, announcing they were on the proper floor. “Okay,” Finn said, and then out the door he went, looking at the numbers and finding the one labeled ‘87’. Mira still hung back, though BB-8 rolled right up to Finn’s side as the man knocked.


~***~


The Commandant found no amusement in Ariel’s comment on Kylo Ren and his daddy issues. If anything, Kylo Ren did the proper thing in shaking off his smuggler of a father and his naively idealistic mother. There were still many flaws to Kylo, but right then he was doing better than his own son.


Probably the damn kitchen woman’s nature. She had been submissive enough, malleable enough, should have known he’d not get a decent child. But he’d tried to teach Hux to be worth more than a slip of paper.


“Alternative,” the Commandant proposed, “I take you on a ship with wine, and if all goes well with Snoke, I will have Gnaeus brought.” Insurance. He still had to get Snoke to trust him, after all. If that went to hell, he needed some sort of guarantee, something to fall back on. Gnaeus would have to be it.


He couldn’t take Gnaeus and use Ariel. Once they saw Gnaeus was missing a limb, there would be questions about Ariel’s state.
 
Paquin had never heard of the Three Sisters, either. She couldn’t think of any planet or system. Maybe it was three actual sisters? She didn’t understand much of what the man was speaking about. She remembered Gnaeus wanting to be called Darth Bane and Kylo saying that there already was one.


And it wouldn’t be explained in this holocron, as it ended after that. She pulled her focus from the Force. “Seriously? That’s it? All this for a few sentences?” So much effort put into a tomb and protecting this holocron for a couple sentences. Paquin wasn’t even sure if this information was even useful to them. The Valley of the Jedi, this prophecy, the Three Sisters. She didn’t know what any of it was.


Maybe it would be important to Snoke. Maybe he wouldn’t be so pissed with Kylo if they presented him with the holocron.


So, she looked to Kylo for information “What’s the prophecy it’s referencing?” She heard the Knight bit. Was it the Knights of Ren knights or others. She wasn’t sure of the history of the Knight or the Sith. Or the Jedi really. She really should study it. Surely there was something at the Academy she could look into later.


-


It looked as though Hux wasn’t needed to remind anyone of the weak point, as Phasma seemed to remember the schematics of the modified of AT-ATs.


Hux moved then. There was an AT-AT near them that needed to be taken out. The troopers followed as he stepped down the ramp, looking to join the chaos. Hux’s eyes kept a watch on his surroundings, though, even with the troopers accompanying him.


They weren’t working too hard to remain hidden. It wouldn’t matter when they reached the AT-ATs. 


It was then that a speeder pulled right up to them, stopping right in front of them. The troopers were prepared to shoot until it became apparent that it was not one of Snoke’s. but rather August Tarkin’s son, Johann.


“Good to see you, General Hux.” The younger man greeted.


“Johann.”


“You need a ride?”  Johann offered a boyish grin. He had a plan. It didn’t matter who participated, but the General was there.


“…Sure.” Hux wasn’t thrilled riding behind the boy in the ‘bitch’ seat, but the kid had a plan. With a dismissive wave to the troopers, Hux climbed on behind Johann.


“Here’s the deal, we’re going to rush it. You shoot, I drive. I’ll keep us far enough away from the field.”


Hux briefly questioned Johann’s sanity but remembered he was a Tarkin. Not to mention the thrill of your first battles. Especially on such a scale. Hux would go along with this, but if it came to the point of endangering their lives too much…


Johann revved the speeder, increasing the speed. Hux would shoot down clones before they became obstacles until they were upon the AT-AT. They moved along with it as it followed after other speeders. Hux had no sniper rifle, though he wasn’t bad at using one, but he could pull it off with the standard blaster rifle. Johann just needed to keep them steady and…’Shoot.’


-


Finn knocked, but almost immediately he turned back around. “Maybe we shouldn’t do this.” His thoughts were instantly filled with worry, with questions. What if she didn’t want to see him? What if she forgot about him? What if it wasn’t the right person? Finn wasn’t sure he could handle that heartbreak.


But BB-8 wasn’t having it and blocked Finn’s path, offering some strong beeps.


“Okay, okay…” He turned back right as the door opened. 


Both Finn and the woman froze as they made eye contact.


Ada knew immediately, without question, who this was. There was no mistaking it. They shared similar features. The lips, the brows, the skin color. Of course, Ada’s features were a bit more feminine. And those eyes. She knew those eyes anywhere, the eyes he shared with his father.


And Finn knew as well. There was a sense of familiarity as he spotted her. She was on the short side, but her big, dark curls added a few inches up top. And there was no denying the physical similarities. But aside from that, he just knew. ‘The Force.’


“Adley!” The woman cried as she threw her arms around her son, now fully grown. And she missed all of it. Because of them.


‘Adley.’ Finn thought on the name as his arms wrapped around Ada. 


-


‘Why can’t I get what I want?’ Ariel whined to herself. Of course, both she and Gnaeus couldn’t leave together.


If anything, she wanted Gnaeus to leave instead of her. He was much more useful to Snoke than she was, and she wouldn’t be able to live with herself in things went south and something happened to Gnaeus. But there was no telling if he’d comply with what was being set up between herself and the Commandant.


And knowing Snoke, she doubted he’d send anyone for Gnaeus if he rejected the Commandant.


He wouldn’t send anyone, but if Ariel paid attention to where they were, she might be able to come back for him.


She sighed. It was all hopeful, but…”I’m more of a vodka girl, but I’ll settle for wine if I see Gnaeus before we leave.”
 
“It refers to the Prophecy of the Five,” Kylo answered Paquin, annoyed that there was nothing more in the holocron. Then again, they had some details of it already. They hadn’t any clues about where the Jedi Valley was. They just had to figure out what the ‘Three Sisters’ meant. “Snoke believes in it,” he said, “We – the Knights of Ren – are going to fulfill it.”


A change. A drastic change.


“It’s not like the Sith’ari prophecy,” he waved it off dismissively, as if that one were common knowledge, “or the Chosen One of the Jedi.”


He had a feeling those two were the same, somehow. If only because he wanted to believe that Darth Vader had brought order, at least for a while, and balance to the Force. And so was the Sith’ari as well, by basically destroying the Sith Order set in place.


“This holocron could be important,” he hoped. It might be a way out of trouble with Snoke, he realized then. Even if Snoke might not reveal much at the outset, it could still be useful to him.


Though, it was by sheer luck. He wasn’t sure ‘luck’ was really rewarded.


~***~


A third AT-AT lost its field before either August or Phasma could do anything about it, which left one. Phasma decided not to waste time with the other field – it seemed it would be taken care of by those on the speeders. ‘Like Hux.’


She saw it through her scope. He almost looked like he belonged there, two gingers. Phasma tried not to think of it, though the thought of Hux as a Tarkin amused her a bit.


They were probably too insane for Hux’s tastes. ‘But he’s on the speeder.’


Phasma set herself up again, aimed, and fired at the head of the AT-AT that she had fired at the first time around. This time, the effect was far more devastating to the metal beast, and it keeled forward, likely causing some damage to friend and foe alike in its collapse, but that was a necessary evil.


‘Three left.’


And then the fourth field went down.


~***~


Up and out of the ditch, Ransolm and August moved back to the speeders. “Still got some AT-AT fields to break, let’s get a move on,” August said, looking to the next one.


He could pick out his son’s speeder, who decided to apparently not target an AT-AT with a field down. He sighed, but shook his head with a bit of a smile.


Well, he’d leave him to it. There was still another.


He quickly moved astride his speeder and shot off, getting to another location to deal with it, not trying as his son did to get near enough and shoot – for one, he didn’t have a ‘bitch’. He wasn’t going to try that one handed.


There wasn’t a ditch to be found where August finally stopped, but the angle would work, a bit behind the AT-AT. The area was cleared before dismounting, and August crouched besides his bike, aimed.


“AUGUST!”


The sheer panic drew his eyes out from the scope, and then he saw it – someone had fired an energy missile at their grouping of stopped speeders.


August didn’t panic, took out his ‘handcannon’, and fired.


It got caught in the spread, but the energy still radiated out from the explosion. Speeders and people were thrown back, including August. He was quite certain he would have cracked his head open were it not for the helmet. He rolled once he stopped moving, onto his stomach. Aimed through the smoke, fired.


Seeing the field sputter, he bowed his head against the rifle, tried to catch his breath, shake off the pain.


He figured the smoke cover might give him a few moments to try and regroup, figure out if he was seriously injured. ‘Ransolm…?’


~***~


‘Thank you, BB-8.’ Mira offered a quick thumb’s up to the droid when the door opened, even as her heart felt as if it were caught in her throat.


Hoping, for his sake.


BB-8 offered a flaming ‘thumbs up’ in return.


The connection when the woman opened the door was instant, and Mira felt relief wash over her as they embraced. ‘Adley.’ Mira smirked a bit. So, that was the name given to him? It didn’t fit him.


“Mom,” she heard Finn say as he held his mother tight. “I never thought I’d see you.” A truth, and one that Ada shared as she squeezed her boy tighter, then pushed away, taking his face in both of her hands and looking him over, taking it in.


This was really her chubby-cheeked boy. Not dressed like a Stormtrooper at all, not an Officer, either. In fact, something about his dress and attire reminded her of the Resistance. Something about the jacket, couldn’t place why, though.


“How are you here? How did you know?” She felt such joy, wanted to drag him inside, make him hot chocolate, and figure out just who her son had become – what kind of man he was.


Finn wasn’t allowed to speak, not at first, for she thought to do just that, pulling his head down to kiss his forehead, “Never mind, never mind! We can talk inside.”


“Wait – ah, my friend, she helped, you should meet her.”


And Finn gestured back to Mira, who tried to make herself small against the wall.


Ada’s eyes immediately narrowed, as Finn continued, apparently so used to her coat that he didn’t consider what it could mean, “Mira Vallens. She got the information so I could find you, and she had the ship, and….” Realized, then. He saw, and he felt, the sudden hate in his mother.


~***~


 The Commandant considered, and then, gave a nod of consent. “You will see him before we leave, but very briefly.” He acknowledged.


Now all he had to do was reach out to Terex. Besides Carise, Terex was one of the few he felt he could trust anymore, a man who truly admired the Empire – as it should be. With the Supreme Leader.


The only problem was reaching Terex. He was notorious for his lack of discipline and respect for authority, a difficulty well-known in the Order because his son couldn’t manage to keep any of his soldiers in line. “I will return once I have secured our ship.”


He wanted Terex for the Carrion Spike. In case things went south, it was the best ship to escape in. It showed up on no radars, and could flee in most situations invisible. A true genius of Wilhuff Tarkin – at least August seemed to be coming around a little. Might be able to work some actual business with him once his son was out of the way.


And if not, perhaps Johann.


The Commandant left the alcohol there as a reminder, before he exited Ariel’s room and made his way to the radio room, immediately demanding information on contacting Terex.


“Er, Commandant,” someone looked to him, “Agent Terex has already been contacted by Phasma.”


“I need to speak with him myself,” the Commandant stated, “What is the call sign for the Carrion Spike now?”


It was given to him, and the Commandant left. He didn’t go to his room, sure that was monitored, but went back to the ship now docked in the Finalizer hangar.  
 
Paquin stared blankly at Kylo. Nothing of what he said really enlightened her. She had no clue what the Sith’ari prophecy was, but he waved it off as if it was something completely normal. Perhaps it was for him, amongst the Knights. And she only knew vaguely of the ‘Chosen One’ because of Anakin. And no details were offered of the Prophecy of the Five, other than supposedly the Knights were supposed to fulfill it.


‘There aren’t even five Knights.’ Not anymore anyway. She wasn’t even sure if there was four, at this point.


“I don’t know what the Sith’ari prophecy is.” But he said the holocron could be important, and that’s what mattered.


Paquin took the holocron in hand and made an effort to stand up. “Let’s find an actual way out of here, then. We can give it to Snoke. Maybe he won’t be as angry at you, if it is actually useful.” She hoped. She managed to use the Force to keep her balanced as she stood up, and she held her arm out for Kylo to help her walk. “We have other ways to reach him, right? That wristband wasn’t it?”


-


The electrical field flickered and then went down, and Johann began to circle around as troops started to attack the AT-AT.


It was then, that both of the gingers heard the shout for August through the helmet on the younger boy’s head, and that averted their attention just as the energy missile exploded and expanded, clearly blowing people and vehicles back. Young Johann then abandoned the AT-AT, even with Hux on his back, and redirected towards the explosion.


Hux took care of those shooting at them as Johann made this decision, as they recklessly weaved through troops of all sorts.


Johann barely allowed for the speeder to stop before he hopped off of it, almost knocking Hux off with him. “DAD!” Johann rarely called August ‘dad’, but he was entirely too concerned to care what came out of his mouth. ‘Mom’s gonna be pissed.’


The smoke was beginning to settle and Johann caught sight of his father.  


Hux followed after the boy, only to deviate when he joined his father.. The smoke was much thinner now, offering more vision of the ground, but also exposing them. And that’s when Hux spotted the artificially dark-haired man, passed out but not dead. That became clear when Hux checked for a pulse. “Casterfo is over here,” Hux called in case August was wondering. 


It was then that a freighter, protected by TIE fighters, began to descend from space. But it was not one of the First Order’s. That was obvious when X-wings entered the sky as well, following the enemy TIEs and attempting to shoot them down before they could land.


-


Ada had stopped listening to whatever nice her son had to say about the woman at that point, instead brushing past her boy to march straight to the blonde. “Um, Mom?”


BB-8 rolled out of the way as she almost kicked it, its camera eye watching Ada. Neither Finn nor BB-8 expected what happened next.


Ada stopped right in front of Mira and in the blink of an eye her hand was raised and being dragged across Mira’s face in a slap. A hard one at that. Over twenty years of pent up anger was in that slap, and it made Finn gasp, BB-8 letting out its own sort of gasp.


“Mom! No!” Finn quickly moved to pull the smaller woman away from Mira. “She helped! Mira’s the whole reason even finding you was possible! She had nothing to do with me being taken away, she wasn’t even with the Order then!” 


“That doesn’t matter, she’s still apart of the cruel organization that took my baby away.” Ada hissed, glaring at Mira over Finn’s shoulder. She turned back to her son, her face softening. “You’re more than welcome inside, Adley, but I don’t want her coming anywhere near my home. Or her coming near you, for that matter.” For all Ada knew, Mira could be playing some sick game.


“No, mom,” it was so natural to call her that already. “Listen. Things are changing, okay? Mira’s a good person,” that was debatable, really, “and she helped me find you. And there’s some things that I want to explain that she’s very involved in. And above all, she’s my friend. And I want you two to get along, because I don’t intend to lose either of you.” Finn glanced back at Mira as he said the last sentence. Then he added, “Oh, and I kind of go by Finn nowadays.” 


-


Terex was conveniently at the pilot’s seat of the Carrion Spike, feet resting on the dash as he let the ship pilot itself through space. Mostly to waste Phasma’s time, since he knew she wanted to see him for whatever reason. 


The radio went off then and Terex let his legs fall off the dash, sitting forward to press ignore on the call, figuring it was just Captain Phasma, or someone calling for her. He was surprised when none of those were the callers, but instead Commandant Hux. Now that was a call he’d answer. 


He knew quite a bit about the eldest Hux. Very familiar with the Cadet situation, the tumultuous relationship with his son, the General. And he was familiar with Brendol Hux’s love for the ways of the Galactic Empire, which was at the very least one thing that Terex respected. 


So, he answered the call.


“Commandant! Long time no talk. How’ve you been?” As if he really cared. He had a feeling Brendol would ignore the question and get straight to the point anyway.
 
The blank look reminded Kylo that she did not, in fact, know all of these things. He rose shortly after she did, pocketing the holocron, “The Sith’ari…basically, the Sith chosen one,” he told Paquin as he wrapped an arm around her waist to help keep her up, help her walk.


“The Sith’ari would destroy the sith, but make them better. They would be able to raise the dead,” Darth Vader hadn’t done that, but he had destroyed the Sith.


Of course, as the ‘Chosen One’ he hadn’t brought balance as expected, either. He killed the Jedi, restoring them to be similar in number to the Sith.


It balanced.


“As for Snoke…yeah. We can reach him through the ships communication facilities,” he was starting to follow the path back. There wasn’t a nice and convenient exit from the tomb. He’d have to figure out how to find the exit from another route.


It usually wasn’t as trapped. The Sith didn’t care about people giving up.


~***~


‘Dad.’


August forced himself to look up and look around for the voice, his vision threatening to leave him, but he found him. He coughed from the smoke, then forced himself to start to get up, reaching for Johann and accepting the help, “I’m all right,” he said, before turning his head as Hux mentioned Ransolm.


‘Not good.’ He looked like he was out cold. Needed to get him seen by medics.


There wasn’t time for that, though. A freighter was coming down, and it was not friendly based on the X-Wings. He squeezed his son’s shoulder, “Move.” No time to waste, had to get out of there before those doors opened.


August moved to Ransolm, hefting him up with a grunt and throwing him over a speeder that he quickly got on himself, just as those doors opened and the clone troopers almost immediately recognized both him and Hux.


What was a better prize than the two ginger leaders?


August revved the speeder and shot off, the bike climbing the bit of the hill. Over it, and some distance, was the dive into the Carrion – and if Johann followed, if Hux followed, August knew a good portion of Snoke’s army would, too – anything to catch and kill the leaders.


But the Carrion would tear them apart.


‘Sorry, Ransolm.’ He thought, mostly for the bumpy ride.  


~***~


Mira’s head was forced to turn with the gesture, and one foot moved back, rebalancing her. The woman, Ada, had more strength to her than Mira expected – but her attack was not unexpected.


Mira wouldn’t have stopped her.


It hurt, though, more than just a sting. Mira refused to lift her hand to her cheek to show it, though, tried to act as if it didn’t bother her, though the eye on the slapped side did water. She shut both, tried to shake it off while Finn talked.


BB-8 beeped up at her, and she just said, “I’m fine,” lowly.


Opened her eyes and caught Finn’s look, before she could volunteer to leave. “You have the keys to my ship, you’re not going to lose me,” Mira tried, anyway, stepped back, “You two should catch up. You missed a lot of time together.” Before she could step around the corner, Finn caught her wrist and pulled her back.


His mother was clearly still trying to accept that he was going by a different name. “Finn,” she repeated it.


“Uh huh. It was the name Poe gave me. He’s another friend, with the Resistance. He helped break me out from the First Order. I’m not one of them anymore. I never will be.”


“Then—”


“She,” Finn said quickly, “got the First Order talking with the Resistance. Things are changing, mom. She’s helping to change it.” He put on his best pleading look, “So, please? Give her a chance?” Gripped Mira’s wrist a bit tighter when he felt her try to twist her arm out of his grip.


~***~


The Commandant did, in fact, ignore Terex’s opening. He didn’t have time for idle small talk. They weren’t at a nice cantina with cool beers, catching up. No, they were in a sinking ship, watching what could have been great go down.


Only Terex wasn’t here to see it.


He still probably knew what was going on.


“Terex,” Brendol greeted, “I have a proposition for you,” he stated. “As I’m sure you heard, my son decided to turn against the Supreme Leader, Snoke, and oust the Knights.”


Annoying as they were, it was still a foolish move. “I have two knights captive now. If you help me move them, we should be able to speak with Snoke and start the First Order back on the right path.” The path of the Empire. The Emperor. He didn't yet reveal the depths of his treacherous thoughts, but the act had an obvious consequence. The leader who denied Snoke had to be dealt with, to get the First Order on the right path.
 
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