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“Yes,” Kylo answered simply when Paquin asked if he planned to teach her. Or at least, show her and the others why they needed it. “I’m sure you learned a bit about how to defend yourself in the First Order. We’ll have to see how those skills translate to the lightsaber.” He’d seen some of what she could do, against Kevan. She had, after all, been the one to kill him. She had to be able to do something, and they could build from that.


He wasn’t letting Mira kill her.


And he wasn’t letting a damn Stormtrooper execute Ariel, either.


He noted her entrance as Paquin asked about Takodana. Recalled he hadn’t told her about Snoke’s decision – he had gone right to bed. “Yes, he did. We can leave tomorrow to catch up with this professor of yours,” he stabbed some of the meats on his plate, “and everything went well,” he didn’t look at her as he said it, stuffed his face with the meats as Ariel came to join them.


He glanced to her. She needed to be filled in, too. “Lightsaber training. Today.” He told the clearly exhausted woman. Not that she was ever a morning person. He wondered if she had managed to get enough to drink to be hungover. Somehow, he doubted she had an actual stash here of all places.


Still no Gnaeus.


~***~


It was foolish to tense and immediately blame the Admiral for putting his son’s life at risk, but it was the first instinct to run through August as Hux spoke. He fought it off – Mira wouldn’t have wanted Snoke to have that information. That much was clear. It explained why she kept drinking coffee, as well. He had picked up on that desire to avoid sleep easily. Now it was clear that it wasn’t just because there was a lot of work to do.


She was trying to avoid revealing anything to Snoke.


It wasn’t working, though. Hux suggested as much, about the interrogation with Ariel Ren. “You knew this?” He glanced to Leia, who gave a solemn nod.


“Wait, rewind, who is Mira?” Lando asked. Chewbacca echoed the sentiment. From Leia’s reaction, it felt like he should know this one.


And he did, when Leia said, “Ceres Mandon.” August committed it to memory.


“Aw…ah, no, not her, too.” He had thought she was dead, like the rest of them. Hoped, now, he realized when he knew she was with the First Order. Their Admiral. Somehow. Even Chewbacca sounded disappointed, before August cleared his throat.


“You need to call her back, General,” the suggestion was made softly. August knew he would have shot her in Hux’s position. From the way Julia was clenching his upper arm, he also knew he should not say that. “Unless you feel like telling us what you hope to gain from having her away, besides her inevitable capture.”


~***~


Mira didn’t even bother to grab her chips back. Terex wasn’t going to lose, after all, and why not let others start to understand? Bet as Mira did, and win – she could bankrupt the casino by too many people playing well, after all. It didn’t have to be just herself. That realization struck her as a fun one, too.


The next shooter came as Mira stepped aside, her winnings increased. The droid bumped against her leg and she looked down, before looking back up, “Careful, Agent. I like this droid – if you want the job you’re going to have to impress me.” Insulting the droid wasn’t impressive.


BB-8 seemed to shriek at the possibility of Mira working with Terex, “Haven’t you ever heard that old saying?” Keeping enemies close?


BB-8 knew what she meant, as Mira glanced and put up another bet on the pass line. Another win. The one monitoring the table was starting to look a bit anxious as Finn came over with a literal trash can of winnings. Mira added some of hers to it, while keeping a good portion up to play with. “Nicely done, Finn. Finn, this is—”


“Terex. Yeah. BB told me,” he glared at him. “What are you doing here?” He asked Terex pointedly as Mira let herself be distracted again by the dice, another pass line bet. Others were beginning to catch on.


‘Make them catch on.’ Their minds buzzed at a level Mira knew from Ariel. A bit trickier to deal with a drunk mind than a sober one, if only from lack of practice and unfamiliarity with it in her own mind.


Well, when in Coruscant…


Mira tipped the second glass back to bring herself closer to the mindset of the others, and couldn’t help the giggle as it did become that much easier, almost instantly, to get onto the wavelength of those around her. Quickly reached out to inspire trust.


Almost everyone bet on the seven-out who was around the table.


And it, of course, was the right move. An unprecedented victory that caused the monitor to claim he had to go get more chips to pay out everyone. He scurried off very quickly.


Another glass was brought to the celebrating table.
 
Paquin had learned some about defending herself with the Order, but even then her performance had barely been satisfactory. At least she had tips on what to do. Physical activities weren’t really her strong suit. Short legs grew tired easily, arms like spaghetti noodles. She was okay at yoga.


Kylo relayed Snoke’s decision and said everything went well. Though, he didn’t look at her as he said it, which made it difficult for Paquin to believe it. She said nothing, just kept her eyes on him as she chewed on some muffin and washed it down with her bitter coffee. As Ariel was filled in.


Ariel was just about to shove some pancake-sausage concoction into her mouth, but stopped short to groan, nearly letting her face drop into her piles of food. “Fuck me.” No, she was not hungover. That was part of the problem. She wanted more alcohol. Needed it. And she was tired. Never a morning person. And then she remembered that she didn’t have her lightsaber. She hadn’t received it from Brendol Hux, if he even had it. And Gnaeus…


“Gnaeus and I don’t even have lightsabers.” Her voice was like a whine. It wasn’t anything that would get in the way of training. They had substitutes. Vibroweapons, staffs. Even training lightsabers, which would make her feel like a child. Not even Paquin started out with a training saber. But in the long run, without a lightsaber… “That bitch must have taken mine.” Mira was the bitch and Ariel was bitter. Very bitter.


-


“I wouldn’t call her that,” it wasn’t much of a suggestion. Mira was not Ceres Mandon anymore. That was two entire names ago. Not to mention Mira wasn’t a fan of her old name. 


He didn’t comment on the ‘not her too’ or the disappointed noise from Chewbacca.


August cleared his throat and Hux’s attention turned to him. He suggested calling her to Eriadu, implied she’d be captured. Which Hux could see, unfortunately.  And he hadn’t told Mira to stay on Cimarosa. That was a mistake. Now he wasn’t even sure where she was. “The reason she’s away was to keep any plans against Snoke, this alliance between the Order and Eriadu a secret until we could act against him. With this new information I don’t see any reason to keep her away.” She’d be safer with him. 'More useful here, anyway.'


Hux pushed off from the table, then. “I don’t want to hear of anyone shaming her for this.” That was mostly directed towards Augus, though he looked around to everyone. He’d seen the shift in posture. He could understand. Son in danger and all. Couldn’t empathize, but could sympathize. “And like I said, I don’t want this leaving the room.” Not until he spoke with Mira and it was agreed that it could be spread.


But if it did leave the room...what would he do? Or else what? He couldn’t really kill any of them now--or, at the very least, threaten to--with this alliance.


He could always find ways to make things difficult for all of them.


“If there’s nothing else you’d like to suggest, I’ll leave you to Senate business. I’ll have Admiral Vallens return.” He’d send her a message from his datapad. In all honesty, he’d be relieved to have her around. Not to mention it was difficult to keep these things from her.


-


“Apologies, Admiral.” Play nice with the droid. Terex was already wondering if this was worth it. It could be. He stuck his tongue out at the shrieking droid, to which the droid let out a string of low, angry beeps.


Then came Finn, who Terex offered a smirk. “You! You’re the rogue one, right? FN-2187?” Terex wasn’t avoiding the question, just looking to get on the man’s nerves. A hobby of his.


And Finn already didn’t like the guy. Could see where Poe didn't. Where a lot of people didn't. “It’s Finn now. Can you answer the question?” BB-8 beeped then, saying that Terex was here for a job interview of sorts. “With Mira?”


“Yep. I know her as Admiral Vallens, though. Looking to be her right hand. Partner in crime. The like, you know.” A wink.


Finn’s eyebrows furrowed. “But she already has me.” Mira clearly wasn’t paying attention to them at that point. And Finn had to do a double take to look at her when she giggled. Was she drinking? Something other than coffee? Finn had his concerns. He hadn’t ever been drunk before, but he was pretty sure it had some adverse effects. Probably wouldn’t do well for keeping her mind guarded, awake.


“Then we should get used to each other then, yeah?” BB-8 let out a noise of protest. “Oh, c’mon, ball. What do ya say? Friends?” BB-8 beeped out a no before turning to Mira, as did Finn as another round of drinks were placed around the table. In front of Mira. Terex grabbed the one set in front of Finn, sipped at it.


Things already felt chaotic. Finn blamed Terex and his sudden appearance. “Hey, Mira. Do you think drinking is really a good idea right now?” Finn asked, concerned as the monitor came back, dealing out the chips that were owed. All the while, looking over his shoulder, as if he was waiting for something. Oh, they were definitely drawing attention. But they needed to do more to draw it to themselves alone, if they wanted to deal with Grakkus directly.


“Well, let her have some fun! That’s what casinos are for. A good test ride for me, I guess.”


“We’re not here for fun,” if it was fun at first, it wasn’t anymore. “We have business to take care of here.”


“Oh, is that right?”
 
Didn’t even have lightsabers? Kylo should have expected that answer, somehow. Still, he couldn’t help but glare at Ariel for the response. ‘Why would Mira have it, she has a new one.’ Or at least according to rumor. Unless she just missed the red saber that much, but she would have found ways to get a new red one if she wanted it. “Then you’ll just have to use vibro-weapons,” Kylo stated, “and then get new crystals to create new sabers.”


It absolutely was not going to get them out of training. There was the Force if they didn’t even have weapons. They should be able to defend themselves against all-comers, regardless of the situation. He was at least pleased to feel how…upset Ariel felt about the situation. At least she wasn’t daft.


And then came Gnaeus, bed head, clothing not hanging off of him right. He didn’t greet them as he passed. He went on to check out his options for breakfast as Kylo continued eating, planning to tell Gnaeus the situation for his hand and plans for training once he got here. He could use a vibroweapon as well. ‘Might be better for him to use a training one.’ It was better for all of them to use training weapons.


Would they? No. And Gnaeus needed to learn to play with dangerous weapons again.


He looked up from his food as he heard a clatter and a plate break. He saw Gnaeus staring dismally down at scrambled egg and white ceramic. A pang went through Kylo that was almost immediately replaced as he remembered how stupidly Gnaeus had died. In space. Because he tried to do all the steering and manipulation of the ship’s tools without - , “You have the Force, Gnaeus!” Ren snapped, causing Gnaeus to look up from the ruined food. “Use it!” Only anger showed through. Not his sympathy. Not his pain.


~***~


“Trust me, I understood the reason,” August stated. It was a stupid reason. They could just keep her out of the meetings. Once the attack on Snoke’s forces happened, she’d be like any other soldier. She was clearly aware of her state. Telling her flat-out she was a liability and couldn’t know anything seemed sufficient to August.


But she would sleep regardless. If she slept now, it didn’t matter that she knew of the alliance. ‘But she knows more.’ And would sleep, no matter what. He still smirked when he was told not to shame her, “I know what happens to people who cross Sith Lords.”


“August.” Leia snapped at him then, and he looked up to meet her gaze. Nothing was spoken – it was that ‘mom’ look that anyone would know.


He didn’t apologize. He had said he wouldn’t shame her – in his own way.


“There’s nothing else,” he said to Hux’s question, “Let’s move on to the work of government and get Admiral Vallens back where she can be monitored and protected.” Because they couldn’t shoot her. That’d be too easy. “Lando, with Pandion gone, the task of what the Senate has to say to me falls to you.”


“Great,” he was not enthused, at all.


“So long as it has nothing to do with Chandrila.”


“Well…funny story about that,” it wasn’t funny, at all.


"Are they trying to blame me?"


"...no, but they are trying to blame the First Order."


"Well, at least we don't have to deal with Sindian, then."


Lando was silent on that. Ransolm barked a laugh at the silence, understanding she had done something. "What?"


He cleared his throat, "She's called for your removal from the Senate after your unauthorized warmongering against a peaceful blockade." And Ransolm could only laugh. It made sense with the centrist view. That need to have everything 'central' came at the risk of answering to a central authority in matters of violence. Planets doing their own thing was a risk to that authority; they needed someone to answer to, in this case, the senate. The Naboo Crisis should have been enough to make August's choice legitimate, except for Palpatine, who used that as his platform to more and more power. "But hey, she's saying the First Order did not try to assassinate the senator from Chandrila, so you don't have to deal with her there." Lando didn't know she was a First Agent plant.


August could say it was stupid. It would be like saying Leia's parentage was stupid to focus on, though. The Senate didn't care enough about important things. They didn't see what happened here. Sindian was apparently painting a pretty picture of what happened to get him removed. Which meant he had to leave for Coruscant, tomorrow.


~***~


BB-8 really hated this idea. Mira was having to endure all the droid’s shrieks while more alcohol was brought out, and Mira glanced down at the concoction. She really shouldn’t. She was able to feel out the minds of others, and like with the ewoks, press ideas into them. Screw with the intuition. It was akin to when a nexu stalked prey. The prey immediately knew to be afraid, the nexu’s presence alone did that.


So Mira’s presence was now a beacon as well, but rather than inspire fear, it brought trust. “Nope,” Mira answered Finn as she picked up her drink, “But I don’t think he recognizes me at the moment,” Snoke. If he did, she’d be screwed. She was scattered, mind and Force. If he felt her trying to invade Ariel and Gnaeus’s minds, he should have felt her now.



But he wasn’t. “I think the alcohol is helping that.” Unfamiliar with the intoxicated mind, and from afar…that might be working to her advantage. However, she didn’t tip back the third. Chips were being dealt, and she had to focus very hard not to take her winnings with the Force.


Finn pursed his lips, but before he could say anymore, Mira was moving the chips into the trash can and speaking again, “And Finn, I have you for the Gray thing we’re doing. I need someone for the Order. Phasma said him, and some other Trooper I’ll look into later,” her attention shifted to the agent himself then, “And Terex – no surname? – anyway, we are here for business. And we’ll see how well you do playing by ear. If you can’t keep up, no job for you.”


BB-8 sounded relieved. Didn’t think Terex would be able to keep up. “And if you can, we’ll talk when I’m sober and finished looking over your files. Ah, is this all?” She looked to the chip dealer then.


“The gold ones are for—”


Mira waved him off without explanation, “More, got it, it’s just more fun to see lots of chips. Shall we try roulette?” It wasn’t a question.


She was talking. A lot. She realized that, but realizing it didn’t seem to hinder her tongue, at all.


She heard the sound of metallic legs, rather heavy steps. She wouldn’t have guessed that was Grakkus, was thinking she might have a few droid bouncers to deal with. After all, the hutts weren’t known for having legs.


So she made her way towards the roulette table, as Finn hefted up the trash can to bring along to bet with. BB-8 beeped something about shoving Terex in the trash. It would not be friends. Ever.
 
Ariel couldn’t help but think negatively about getting new crystals for new lightsabers. She didn’t want just a new lightsaber, she wanted her lightsaber. ‘And I will rip it out of that blonde bitch’s cold, dead hands.’ She thought bitterly.


She was too bitter for so early in the morning.


Gnaeus came in and Ariel didn’t greet him yet, just watched, heart aching. Gnaeus didn’t even look like himself. Paquin and Ariel were both startled by Kylo’s sudden anger, rather than plate breaking. “Kylo!” Even though it was Paquin’s voice scolding him, it was Ariel’s foot that darted out to kick him in the shin, not even caring about whatever retaliation would come from Kylo. If he could hurt them, slam cabinets into their heads, why couldn’t they do the same to him? Well there was that whole Commander thing, but…


“Take it easy, dude.” Ariel glared at him as a little droid rolled out, sweeping away the plate and eggs.


Paquin sighed. She should have known Kylo’s patience wouldn’t have lasted. And he was doing so well! “Don’t listen to him, Gnaeus. Well, listen to him,” Kylo had a point. “But he’s just coming from a good place. Right?” Even if it didn’t sound like it. At all. Anyway, “Get another plate of food, we have some good news for you.” Maybe that would cheer him up a bit.


Maybe if Gnaeus showed some sign of being himself, they could all settle.


-


Hux felt a mighty urge to wrap his hands around August’s neck and throttle the life out of him. Apparently his thirst for strangulation hadn’t been quenched by that Clonetrooper. 


The General didn’t appreciate any of August’s comments, especially not the Sith lord one. Hux couldn’t be sure if Mira had finally, surely decided on what she was, on what she and Finn would be. He was pretty certain it wasn’t a Sith. Not completely anyway. Nor did the comment ease his paranoia about August’s intentions for the absent woman. And if August thought he or his people would have anything to do with ‘monitoring’ or ‘protecting’ Mira, he was wrong.


Trust was definitely something they’d need to work on…


Hux’s irritation manifested itself only in the form of a tight jaw and a clenched fist. 


Hux was ready to leave them to it, not intending to stay past the Pandion business. Joint business. But it seemed to Hux that the Senate business would also be shared, once Hux heard the First Order was being blamed, followed shortly by the name Sindian. And then she turned out to be stirring up trouble, trying to get rid of August. Hux took in a deep breath. 'For fuck's sake.' Carise was turning out to be more trouble than she was worth. 


The ginger had learned his lesson at this point. Maybe he’d think a bit more on the suggestions his father makes. If he even listened to a suggestion from the awful man ever again.


Either way, it was finally time for Carise Sindian to be dealt with, in some way,


Hux wasn’t sure if he was even welcome into the conversation, but he didn’t much care. It involved him, at this point. “I will talk to Carise. Set up a meet with her. We’ll work on getting Casterfo’s situation resolved, as well as try to dissolve your issue with the Senate. I doubt she’s aware of the alliance we’ve formed, we’ll have her claims dropped. Though, I do fear the damage might be done already, and Sindian’s sudden drop of the issue might be suspicious.”


And Hux wanted to clear the Order’s name. The New Republic weren’t the enemies at the moment and if he ever wanted to make changes in the New Republic, with the Senate peacefully, he’d have to weasel his way into some hearts, somehow. 


And if that all failed, it was never too late to revert back to old plans.


-


“Maybe one day,” Finn offered the bitter droid. Finn had a bad feeling about this, about Terex. And the bad feelings he’d had before hadn’t led him astray. The feeling about Cimarosa, for example. If he hadn’t showed up, Hux would probably be dead. Finn took some pride in that, at lease.


But he wasn’t as relieved as BB-8 when Mira spoke of Terex keeping up. He knew that Terex would have no problem keeping up. Not only because of what Poe spoke about the man, but because Finn was apart of the Order once. He knew Terex still had his job for a reason. He had skills. And Finn knew that Phasma was absolutely irritated by that. He was good at his job, so there was no reason for him to be fired.


Finn heard the heavy, metal steps, too, but thought nothing of it. Literally nothing. The people here were diverse enough for Finn not to care. Until Terex spoke up, that is.


They’d moved on to the roulette table at that point, the wheel spinning in one direction, the ball in the other as those around the table awaited the results of their bets. Terex heard those familiar steps and knew exactly who it was, yet did not turn to look, remained calm. “Hey, little miss liquor, you said play it by ear right?” He was sure this wasn’t what Admiral Vallens meant by it, but, “Well, you hear that obnoxious clickity-clack of metal hitting the ground?”


Finn and BB-8 actually tuned into the conversation then. “Don’t look now, but that’s Grakkus the Hutt, owner of the place.”


Finn and the droid looked to each other, then behind them, ignoring Terex. Finn’s eyes widened. He’d never seen a Hutt in person before. Never heard of them having metal legs, either. BB-8 let out a sour beep. “That’s just who we’re looking for.” Finn turned back around. “We want to win all of the casino’s money," he explained to Terex, "and more."


“Oh, he’ll like that.” Not. But Terex would play along. If anything, it didn’t seem these three knew quite what they were getting into. If worse came to worst, Terex figured he could swoop in and get them all the hell out of dodge. That would make him look good.
 
Snoke was right, it seemed. They were losing respect for him. Even when he was right, as Paquin admitted, they still challenged him on the matter. Yet it was Ariel he was angry with for lashing out violently, rather than Paquin. Not that he wasn’t angry at her – but it was quelled by her small deference to him. He looked to Gnaeus after that deference, and saw he did seem shaken from his momentary stupor that had followed the plate drop. “If you don’t remember to use the Force, you’re going to die.” Kylo stated bluntly.


Good place, yes. They didn’t need softness or coddling. That was going to get them killed. Like Ariel. He looked right at her. He wanted to say ‘next time’, but wouldn’t he just say that again? Instead, he swept Ariel’s plate of food off the table and let it crash down like Gnaeus’s. The droid let out an agitated sound. It had just finished cleaning up Gnaeus’s food. “If we keep coddling him, he’s not going to get strong enough to challenge our enemies. I’m reminding him of the strength he has, and needs to use. But perhaps you need a lesson in weakness, Ariel. A handicap for today’s training.” Hunger was a bitch when one wasn’t used to dealing with.


Ariel and Gnaeus had been coddled. Where Mira, Kevan, and Kylo had starved, had dealt with difficult environments, these two hadn’t been forced to endure such things. They’d come in late, when the Knights were more well established, and those things didn’t seem important. How foolish they had been. Pain allowed one to grow stronger. Paquin clearly knew that. She dealt with it her entire life, and she’d been able to handle Kevan. Alongside him, sure, but still a powerful combatant.


Gnaeus did rejoin them with a plate of food. “Good news?” He asked. Nothing about this morning seemed good.


“Paquin found a doctor who can get you the removable hand you requested,” Kylo stated. Gnaeus looked to Paquin for confirmation.


~***~


‘Gingers and their tempers.’ Julia could see it in Hux, familiar with some of the signs. The clenched fist, in particular, let her know just how many nerves August had touched on. Which, knowing her husband, he was doing on purpose. To what end, though? That was the question – perhaps he was testing Hux’s patience just to see if he had patience? Boredom? Or perhaps he was dealing with his own spite towards the entire situation.


If Julia was a betting woman…which she was…it’d be the last option. Her husband did start fights, not always by throwing the first punch.


Leia and Ransolm exchanged a hopeful look when Hux said he would deal with Carise, though Lando looked briefly more confused, before it dawned on him after the wookie’s roar. “That definitely explains a lot,” Lando grumbled. Like how she survived the Hosnian destruction.


“Hux, thank you,” Leia spoke with sincerity as she looked across the table to him. It meant quite a bit to think that the Ransolm issue might be dealt with, and Ransolm returned to the senate. A voice of reason, back in those chairs. And blond again.


“We’ll deal with the backlash. I’m sure Senator Sindian can come up with a good reason to drop it.” Lando added. Senate maneuverings weren’t as difficult to deal with as troops or pilots.


“Perhaps how it wasn’t peaceful,” August rolled his eyes. “Or perhaps, Naboo Crisis.”


“But you are the Separatist here, love.”


“Beside the point.” Why hadn’t he just made the Separatist party yet?  


~***~


Little Miss Liquor arched an eyebrow at Terex’s words, but didn’t look back like Finn and BB-8 did. The kybers in her braid took on a faint glow of red, pulsing with the hundreds of negative thoughts that entered her mind, and dispersing almost just as quickly, unable to cling to any one of them. Any ally of Snoke deserved the worst right now, especially one as prominent as Grakkus. “More’s the key,” she told Terex.


She wasn’t here to just bankrupt Grakkus. A Hutt who built himself up while still being a wanted criminal for what he tried to do to Luke had enough connections to build himself right back up. Mira wanted more. She hadn’t completely decided how to play it, quite a bit depended on the Hutt himself. She could make it easy and just kill him, and indeed, that one weighed heavy on her mind with each sway of the chandelier above. Crash it. Shred him with the glass.


“Everything on two!” She spoke above her running thoughts, “I don’t really know how much is in here.”


BB-8 beeped out a number. It had been paying attention, knew how much Finn won, and knew how much Mira added to the pot. “Wow, really?” Mira glanced down to the droid. “I don’t think I’ve ever even seen that many…never mind, what are the odds here, what is that going up to?”


The calculation was instant. “So. Multi-billionaires. Sounds fun.” The odds of a single number hitting were 35:1. On the chips laid out, that was apparently netting them a cool 18,000,000,000. They hadn’t even broken a billion with the chips, but those odds? Yeah, that worked out nicely. Hux ought to be happy if she just came back with that. Be quite a good fortune to fund the military excursions. She could build a damn good ship with that.


And of course, two hit, to immediate celebrations from those around except the one who had spun the wheel. No, that one looked right to Grakkus, who’s eyes had found the table and the celebration.


“That’s quite enough,” Grakkus actually spoke in basic. Mira turned then to see him, placing one hand back on the table. The other still held the cup of liquor.


Finn and BB-8 turned as well.


“Congratulations are in order, you’ve done exceedingly well in my casino,” Grakkus was not happy, that much was clear, even if his enunciation of the fury was not as obvious in basic. “Perhaps you’d like to return some of that money you’ve won by staying some time here?”


“No,” Mira shook her head, “I believe you owe me…BB-8?”


BB-8 beeped the answer, and Grakkus focused on it, then. Recalled it.


Then, looked to the others with her. He didn’t know Finn, but he damn well knew the other one. Terex. He tried to kill him. But Poe’s droid with Terex? It made no sense. And why would they be with this woman?  Yet, before Grakkus was able to question it aloud or give an order to have Terex executed himself, Mira spoke up again. “That much,” Mira said, calling his attention back. “Or you can keep…17,500,000,000 of that, and trade me every Jedi artifact you have.”


Grakkus began to chuckle at that, a deep and reverberating sound that seemed to signal some of those ‘innocent looking’ ones in his casino to take out weapons. “Um, Mira…I don’t think that’s going to work.” Finn said lowly, eying the weapons on them. Maybe this wasn’t a good idea.


BB-8 just cursed at Grakkus, and at Mira, and at Terex, and at the whole situation. It wanted to flee with their ill-gotten gains.


“Don’t worry, Finn,” Mira told him, “Just breathe deep, and focus. The odds are in our favor.” Because she was twisting them to their favor.


Mira sipped the last of her liquor as some of those around the roulette table started to shout at Grakkus. The zabrak, in particular, and Mira was focusing quite hard to keep that fury up in them. “Hey, you lost, Grakkus! We’ve all seen it, she’s offering you a way to keep your casino!”


“You can buy them back another day!”


“Are you going to massacre a lucky woman in your casino?”


"Just pay up and let them leave - no high roller is obligated to stay!"


'Credit in the air.' Grakkus would likely accuse her of cheating next, he knew enough about the Jedi to guess at the Force when it was in play. Or perhaps Snoke had warned him about her - she doubted that. Snoke was selfish. Something Grakkus would learn soon enough, if he lived long enough.
 
‘Oh voids, Kylo.’ Paquin rubbed at her face at Ariel and Kylo’s interaction,


If looks could kill, Kylo would be dead. Five times over. Ariel glared daggers at Kylo after her food was knocked off the table. Her beautiful pile of food that she’d only had a few bites of. Though it wasn’t only the food she was pissed about, all though she was very angry about that. Ariel was very protective of her food.


She had been ‘coddled’ by the Knights, as Kylo thought. And she’d taken advantage of that. But there was a time, not that long ago, where she wasn’t a Knight. Not that she thought about that much.


But what she was pissed about was saying that they shouldn’t coddle Gnaeus. He just lost his hand a day ago! ‘And this asshole wants to throw everything at him. He hasn’t even had any chance to recover!’ But Ariel did not act on her anger again, other than glaring and muttering about Kylo being an asshole. No, that would come during training. No way was she going to be able to beat Kylo at fighting, but she could still get a few hits in. She already had a target area in mind.


Paquin ushered them to move on as Gnaeus looked to her for confirmation. “I reached out to an old professor of mine, he said he could do it. I gave him your measurements and we arranged a meeting. Kylo and I are going to meet him on Takodana tomorrow to retrieve it. I’m sure I’ll be able to make whatever adjustments you may need or want afterwards.” They just needed the mechanics. 


-


Hux only nodded to Leia’s thanks. He hadn’t done anything yet.


But it needed to be done. And Hux held no ill will toward Ransolm. “Perhaps once Ransolm’s sentence is revoked,” because Hux would make sure it was, one way or another, “and Carise is revealed to be a liar, her claims against August will be questioned.” If Hux was honest, he didn’t care much about how Carise would be dealt with. Though, if she was removed from the Senate, he wasn’t looking forward to inevitably listening to her whining.


He’d heard enough of it when she was stripped of her Lady title.


Though, at the same time, she’d be useless to him then. He wouldn’t have to endure it for the sake of having an ear in the New Republic.


And then there was the point of the blockade not being peaceful. There was plenty of proof in the form of Eriadu that Snoke was the enemy here. 


“If you’ll excuse me, I’ll go make a few calls.” He’d actually leave this time “I imagine a meeting with Sindian will be wanted sooner rather than later,” He left that open, for input from Leia, Ransolm, or August as to when or where they wanted this to occur. Otherwise, he’d call her to Coruscant as soon as possible, an inconspicuous place for them to all be, albeit they wouldn’t be able to hide. 


The longer this went on, the more the situation would escalate.


-


Terex was pleasantly surprised. He hadn’t been immediately murdered upon being recognized.


Grakkus grumbled. “She won, yes. But she didn’t do it honestly.” If it wasn’t the impeccable luck that gave it away, it was the glowing kyber crystals that were intermingled in Mira’s blonde hair. “You will hand over your winnings and I will allow you to leave my casino with your lives in tact.” Grakkus’ offer did nothing to please the Force influenced crowd as they began to spew curses at the Hutt.


Those to be revealed to have weapons tensed and shifted their weapons, waiting for Grakkus’s cue. But Grakkus didn’t exactly want to have a massacre in his casino, that would not be good for business. But he also didn’t want to give up his money or his artifacts. 


“We all saw her win fair and square!” The protests continued, to which Grakkus ignored.


“Grab them.” Grakkus instructed the hidden guards. No killing would take place on the casino floor. Maybe behind the scenes.


“The odds are in our favor, huh?” Terex suppressed an eye roll, instead reaching for his blaster. What kind of holofilm bull was that?


The people around the casino’s shout at Grakkus turned into a loud, incomprehensible mess as Grakkus’s men moved. BB-8 let out an alarmed boop, an arm darting out to threaten those coming near it with a zap of electricity to the floor. The droid swiveled to threaten, to keep its eye on all of them.


“Wait, wait!” Finn did cause Grakkus to raise his hand, to halt the guards for a moment. And then Finn froze. He had nothing. He bought them a second, though. “Um, Mira?” What was the plan now? He was waiting for her to Force their way out of this or something. 
 
Kylo didn’t let himself appear bothered at all by Ariel’s glares, even if there was a part of him that wanted to apologize, or to explain better. He focused on the seething anger instead as it boiled within him, angry that she would still have the audacity to feel such antagonism towards him. As she imagined teaching him a lesson, so, too, did Kylo.


The Commander heard her mutters, but this time he did nothing. He let himself focus on how to make an example of her instead.


Better her than Gnaeus. Or Paquin.


Gnaeus who was getting his answer about the hand, and looked almost…happy. Relieved. In spite of the situation with Ariel. The smile did touch his lips, “Thank you,” he said, and glanced to Kylo, “I’m sorry. I…should remember to use the Force.” He wasn’t in a mood to fight with Kylo right then.


Well. Almost not. He did take a piece of toast from his plate to offer to Ariel. “No,” Kylo said just as he started to offer it. Gnaeus looked confused. “Ariel’s not eating breakfast today.”


Gnaeus hesitated. Natural protectiveness rose up, “Why the hell not?”


“She is going to need to learn how to deal with hunger. You all are, but today, she gets to learn.” Hunger. Exhaustion. All the things that he had learned to deal with – the things Mira learned to deal with, they would learn. “We’re going to have a training exercise today, as well. Even you.” Gnaeus paled, drastically. “You can still fight with the Force, Gnaeus. And you need to improve that skill, considering your handicap. All of you need to improve your skills. The fact Mira bested both of you proved that.”


“I’m…I’m not ready.”


“All the more reason,” Kylo snapped at him, “Battles don’t happen when you’re ready, Gnaeus. Were either of you ready on Cimarosa?” He looked between Ariel and Gnaeus, as if that should prove his point. The battles they fought weren’t typically military engagements, where one could see the other side starting to prepare and line up. Their battles came with little warning and little time to prepare. They had to make sure to be able to fight in any condition.


Again, he cursed the fact that these two hadn’t been given that sort of preparation or conditioning through all these years. He wouldn’t have let a lost hand slow him down any – not that he had prepared for that or anything.


Not that his family lost hands regularly or anything of that sort.


~***~


Carise revealed as a liar? “Careful, General,” August advised. Carise Sindian was a nuisance – but a nuisance because she was competent in many, many ways. Revealing her as a liar would be a dangerous card to play. August wouldn’t have used it. He’d shift the blame, or eradicate it based on ignorance.


Better to be stupid than a liar in the Senate. Leia learned that the hard way.


“A meeting sooner is better,” August did consent, before Hux would leave. His attention would shift then to the others. “Calrissian, is Senator Keil in Coruscant last you knew?” Adelaide’s husband was senator for their world, while she was the military leader. Seig wasn’t exactly a military strategist, but he was a calming force on the Senate floor.


“Yeah,” Lando said, “Last I knew, anyway. Some of your allies are there backing you up.”


“The General will see that this matter is dealt with…but we still need to uncover who tried to kill the Chandrila senator.” Leia stated, “We know it wasn’t the First Order, and it wasn’t you,” she looked at August, “Snoke’s behind this. We need to figure out through who.”


“I’m sure your protocol droid and a few others can get access to any holovids recorded near the incident,” August said. Then it was a matter of tracking down the likely assailant. “Although I suspect Pandion may know something about it as well. If you want to interrogate him first, General Organa, you may.” He trusted her methods. They wouldn’t be too brutal.


Leia nodded. “I’ll take it into consideration,” he wouldn’t need much to break. If he knew anything, he’d spill it soon enough. She could probably see to it herself.


August took in a breath, “I will need to leave for Coruscant tomorrow, regardless.” If he was away too long it would only stir up more trouble. “Calrissian, would you accompany me?” He needed more voices on his side.


“I think I can work some propaganda magic in Coruscant on your behalf,” he quirked a smile, “Always time for firsts, eh?”


~***~


Mira let the chaos spiral around her, utterly calm amidst it, smiling as Grakkus again refused. Not that she expected anything different. He hardly knew what he was dealing with, and with her head buzzed, she was feeling quite cocky. This room was full of weapons. The people were on her side, for the time being. Some of that might change soon…maybe.


People liked the Jedi. People liked the Jedi that helped see an end to Jabba. Everyone knew Grakkus was a criminal. She clicked her tongue on the roof of her mouth hearing Terex complain, as if it were a strike against him. She’d told him – he hadn’t seen anything, yet.


Finn gave her a cue, though, as a guard tried to kick at BB-8 and the droid rolled away, then tried to shock it.


“Mira?” Grakkus repeated, before he realized why that name was familiar, “Mira Ren?” How unusual. He was unaware of the change, though. Snoke had not told him.


Mira chuckled at that, “Once,” she told Grakkus, “You know, I think I have a new favorite trick, Finn.”


“What do you mean…?” It was answered when she lifted her hand and the chandelier shifted violently on its chain. “Oh.” He knew immediately what she meant. The shards. He remembered Hot Tamale. This would not end well – there were a lot of glass things here that could be used as weapons.


Grakkus also looked up, snorted without amusement, “That would kill many.”


Mira lowered her hand, but the chandelier continued to swing, “No, I’d just shove them out of the way, drop the chandelier, and send all the thousands of shards through you, Grakkus. I'm pretty sure you Hutts aren't immune to that Force trick,” Mira gave him such a sweet smile, and she stepped away from the roulette table, letting the glass she was holding drop, shatter, and the pieces to follow behind her like glitter – but clear evidence she had no issue manipulating such things. Cockiness translated to revealing cards - but at least her emotions weren't conflicted. The alcohol offered that much relief. No doubt. No anxiety. No backlashing Force.


BB-8 shrieked at her for leaving the safety of the group of them, was tempted to roll after her, but rocked on its own body, staying near Finn instead. “So, I cheated,” she confessed, “to bring you out into the open.”


“For what? The Jedi artifacts? You won’t have them.”


“That’s fine,” Mira didn’t seem to mind, “My other goal is to eliminate all of Snoke’s allies, and I'm on very limited time," she was going to die if she couldn't figure this sleep out. Might as take as may of Snoke's allies out with her. "Like you. If you’re not willing to pay, and you’re not willing to give me the artifacts, then your only use to me is dead – and go ahead and order your guards to fire.” Fury shifted to fear. People would otherwise turn their anger on her for cheating, and she didn’t need to deal with that. She’d rather they start fleeing the scene. “By the time you finish that order, you’ll be dead. Maybe I will be, too,” heavily doubted it. A small casino with a few armed guards was nothing compared to the hells she’d been through, “but does that really matter if you’re gone?” If he knew her as Ren, perhaps he knew enough to know she wasn't bluffing. Hopefully his lust for life would outweigh his other vices.


If not, what was one more dead, criminal Hutt?
 
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Paquin was happy at the sight of the smile, at an expression that conveyed something other than depression. But Paquin wasn’t nearly as happy as Ariel was, who actually dropped the sour looks she was giving Kylo the instant he smiled. Smiling herself at the offer of toast.


‘There’s my Gnaeus,’ she couldn’t help but think at that protectiveness. At that glimpse of ‘normal’. Though she didn’t take the toast, knowing Kylo would just rip it out go her hands.  And the evil looks returned as soon as Gnaeus lightened a few shades. He was saying he wasn’t ready, but of course Kylo wasn’t listening. Even if there was some truth to the whole battles not happening when they were ready.


Ariel simply wanted to back Gnaeus up. Or maybe she just wanted to fight with Kylo.


“It’ll be fine, Gnaeus. It’s just training,” Paquin knew she shouldn’t really be talking, she herself was fearful of training. But it was to ease Gnaeus since they weren’t getting out of this. “It’s better to adjust and work safely—“ Ariel snorted at ‘safely.’ How adorable of Paquin. “—here, than to have to figure it out when you’re surrounded by people wanting to hurt you.” 


-


Hux nearly rolled his eyes at the warning. Yes, he knew Carise wasn’t a complete idiot. But what was she going to do, take out the entire First Order on her own? With the help of who? Maybe take out him, maybe a handful of others. But was he particularly worried about that? No. 


He figured Carise wouldn’t be difficult to squash, if need be. Crafty as she was.


Sooner rather than later it was and Hux left the Senate room. Now onto the war room…but where was that?


No one was in the hallway, except for a droid. “You, where is the…” And just as Hux was about to ask for the war room, he had a thought. Of Pandion. What did he know of Snoke? He couldn’t be that hard to get information out of and Hux was curious. Maybe it was his worry for Mira and her chances against Snoke, but he wanted to see what he could get out of the man, away from the others. Before the others. Though he did need to get in contact with Carise and Mira…


This wouldn’t take long. 


He didn’t think too much if anyone would be happy with that, he hadn’t really been given permission. But Pandion was somewhat of a joint prisoner now, wasn’t he? That’s how Hux was thinking.


And it wasn’t like whatever he learned wouldn’t be relayed back to the others.


Contacting Carise and Mira could wait a few more minutes. “Where is the prisoner?”


-


Finn was tense, as was Terex, who’s hand was still on his blaster, waiting for the moment in which he’d need to whip it out. BB-8 was more angry than anything, although it was very worried for everyone’s safety.


Except for Terex’s.


Grakkus’s eyes moved between the glass shards and Knight of Ren—no. Former Knight of Ren. Which was all news to him. Calculated his options. Yes, Grakkus did enjoy living. But he enjoyed living with all of his things. His artifacts, his casino, his money. No, she would not get those. And no, he would not be killed. But she didn’t have to know that. Grakkus grumbled, as if he were giving up. “Fine. I’ll take you to the artifacts. Once you lower your glass.”


Finn’s eyebrows furrowed. That easily?


“Lower your weapons. Everyone else, as you were.” He acted as if he really cared about where their attention was. “You four, follow me.” ‘To the Jedi artifacts’. A glance to one of his men told them to follow behind.


“I don’t think this is a good idea.” Terex mumbled, his hand just barely leaving the blaster.


“Well, that’s one thing we can agree on.” Finn shook his head as they began to move, not believing he actually said those words. BB-8 beeped an aggressive noise, indicating it was unhappy that it too agreed with Terex.
 
Even Kylo thought that Paquin’s optimism about training was a bit…odd. Then again, she didn’t actually know how it worked. Gnaeus wouldn’t have shown her that. They had bacta tanks for a reason here – and Kylo wasn’t planning to go easy. He’d stop short of permanently damaging them, of course, but he was going to make his point clear that they all needed to improve, and improve quickly.


Gnaeus managed something of a smile, for Paquin’s sake, before he stuffed the toast into his  mouth. Ate it. Asked, “So, is this all against you, then?”


“Yes,” Kylo stated.


Gnaeus gave a nod, glanced to Ariel. They might stand a chance. Probably not, though. Not handicapped as he was, not as forgetful as his mind felt, but…maybe. He wanted to warn Paquin to stay out of Kylo’s lightsaber range, to focus on the Force, but she wasn’t good with the Force yet, was she? He wondered if she’d find it odd that Kylo thought he could take them all on, or if she believed he could. Wondered how much of Kylo’s fighting prowess she was familiar with. Of them all, Kylo had always been the best at it.


It didn’t sound like it from the way she suggested that this would be in an area where no one wanted to hurt them. Maybe not kill him. ‘But his….’ Gnaeus glanced up, wondering where teary-eyed Kylo had gone. Had he dreamt it?


“Let me know when you’re done,” Kylo said, speaking to both Gnaeus and Paquin. Ariel was done, of course.


Gnaeus didn’t have much an appetite now. Especially not with Ariel denied. However, he didn’t let that stop him. He wanted to bide some time, and so he did pick at his food as Kylo finished up his own rather quickly.  Although, he was feeling guilty for eating with Ariel right by him…not eating.


He felt sick.


~***~


There were some days, the droid would have asked Hux ‘which prisoner’, and if he meant legal prisoner or illegal prisoner. This was not one of those days. T4-4I only knew of one prisoner in the Tarkin household, and that was the once-ally, Jarrod Pandion. The droid still wasn’t sure what had gone on, but now Hux was an ally.


Well, August could be capricious.


Humans and their emotions.


“This way,” T4-4I stated, and began to walk down the hall, assuming that the General would follow, but he didn’t really look back to check until they had descended into the basement. And then into the sub-basement, which was littered with tech from various ages, ideas discarded. There was a confinement field there, but Pandion wasn’t there. Why waste the confinement field on him?


No, Pandion was in a room that was now a cell, hands cuffed behind his back, sitting on the cot. “He is here, Hux.” He wasn’t a protocol droid. He didn’t need to call him General. It gestured with one silver arm, then input the code to open the door. No keys. “I will wait here for you to finish with him.” Otherwise Hux wasn’t getting out of the room.



He wasn’t sure how explaining that to August would go.


Pandion had looked up on hearing the door click open. The window in the cell didn’t allow him to look out, though anyone could look in.


~***~


Jedi artifacts wasn’t what Mira suspected from him. Death or money seemed more likely. He could build up his funds again. After all, he had a powerful backer – somewhere. He built himself up from being a prisoner to this.


Still, she discarded the glass with a wave. It dropped to the ground, and she glanced back to the others. She heard what they had to say, and absolutely believed them. This was too easy. This wasn’t probable. However, this was to her advantage even if it was a trap. She wouldn’t know where to find the artifacts – not that she wouldn’t, eventually, but if he led her right to them…all the better.


“I see you can be reasonable, Grakkus,” Mira complimented, hands clasping behind her back as she followed after him, taking in the path as they walked.


“This is a very, very bad idea.” Even Master Jinn was echoing the others now.


Grakkus had just grunted at her words. “I can be a reasonable individual under the right circumstances.” Tempted to say Terex ought to know that. He was the unreasonable one.


They came to the room, the door itself looked like any other, but the locks upon it soon proved to be quite a bit more complicated, and Mira could see how heavily trapped it was as Grakkus began to undo the locks upon the door. They were deeper into the casino. Higher. Mira didn’t think they had climbed any stairs, but there must have been inclines.


Though, those thoughts soon vanished when the door opened wide enough for the hutt to pass easily through. “I’m surprised,” Mira couldn’t help but say as she saw the artifacts, arrayed like they were in a museum gallery, in the room. “You didn’t lie.”


That didn’t mean this was safe, but…voids, here was a chance!


And Mira walked right in. Finn followed, hesitantly, but he did take a look at the many items. The collection. He glanced to Mira, “Do you think anything here might…help?” He asked, not sure what the majority of these things were. He saw kyber crystals, lightsabers, holocrons – those things he recognized, but he wasn’t sure about all the rest.


Mira shook her head, not in denial, "I don't know," that wasn't the entire purpose. "I don't think anything will." Wasn't supposed to say that. Said it anyway. "But that's not the point." The point was to sort of mess up and ruin things here. Make Snoke aware she wasn't going to just hide. Try and draw his forces to his allies...split them apart, give him too much to protect and weaken him. If only it could be so easy. That was one reason to keep Grakkus alive, though. To make him someone Snoke had to protect.


Grakkus simply waited for Terex and the damned droid to join them inside, though he couldn’t hide the disgusted look on his face that he shot towards Terex.
 
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Admittedly, the ‘all against you’ did make Paquin pause for a moment. Not so much because she didn’t think he could take on all of them, she had seen him against Kevan’s men, Kevan himself, Mira, Stormtroopers. There was no doubt that Kylo was very strong and skilled in fighting and the Force.


No, she was more worried for the three of them fighting him. At this point it was obvious that Kylo wasn’t the most gentle in his teaching methods. And with her being her, Gnaeus being handicapped and a little foggy…Ariel was the most capable to take Kylo on and that was saying something. Again, Paquin was hoping for training dummies. She wouldn’t get those training dummies. 


‘Sorry, Gnaeus.’ Maybe she shouldn’t have tried to ease him.


“I’m ready when you guys are.” Ariel said with false enthusiasm. But she didn’t want anyone to feel guilty that she wasn’t eating. Except Kylo, that is. 


Paquin didn’t eat much to begin with, and now her appetite was lost as well, replaced with nerves. With a final bite of muffin and fruit, leaving behind half a muffin still, she was done. She felt bad for not eating all of it, especially with Ariel. She wished she could simply slip it over. Maybe if Ariel moved fast…Paquin shook her head. “I’ll go get my lightsaber.” She didn’t bring it to eat breakfast. 


It didn’t take as long as she wanted it to. Even when she stalled by trying to rake through her curls and threw them into a very messy ponytail with her single hair tie. She returned to the cantina not even ten minutes later. Ariel caught one glance at Paquin’s lightsaber and glared. Not because she was mad at Paquin, but because she wanted her own lightsaber.


-


General Hux followed after the droid, taking in the Tarkin’s home. The hallways he hadn’t seen, the basement. And then the second basement, littered with various things that Hux was  now curious about. Though, he wouldn’t look into any of the things. But he’d never know when he’d need to know the layout. Of course, what he’d seen of the home wasn’t all of it.


He was taken to Pandion, who sat upon a cot with his hands cuffed behind his back. Hux knew exactly what one could do, how much a threat someone in handcuffs could be. He had been that threat. But still, he did not see the man as one.


“Thank you,” Hux nodded to the droid. Even if the droid didn’t refer to him as General, Hux would still show the droid respect since Hux was about to walk into a cell which could only be opened by code on the outside. Droids could be testy, that was for sure.


The door was pushed to the side and Hux stepped in. He didn’t blink as the door shut behind him, his eyes only on the traitor. Could Hux even call people traitors anymore? He was going to. Hux moved to stand in front of the man, towering over him. An intimidation tactic. Not that he expected many of those to be needed. As it had been established, Pandion was a coward.


“You should know what I’m here for. I want to know everything you know about Snoke. Where he is, how you contact him, why you’re his slave. What you think he’s capable of,” the usual stuff, Jarrod should know about that. “And I want to know about Liberation Day.” Hux hadn’t been there, knew the fewest of details. And he wanted to hear exactly how Pandion figured it to be Snoke, how he’d been involved. Not that he doubted it wasn’t Snoke.


But it would reveal exactly what the man knew. And Hux could gauge from there what Snoke was hiding during their alignment.


-


Terex had to roll his eyes at the look from Grakkus. Didn’t bother disguising his own, at this point. He was still hesitant to walk in. Tempted to turn around and fly away nice and safe. But Grakkus probably would do his damnedest to prevent that. And it wouldn’t look good for him. ‘The things I do to get ahead.’ He clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth, shaking his head as he stepped inside.


BB-8, however, was not so willing to roll into the room. It wobbled on it’s body just outside, saying they should just leave. “C’mon, BB-8. We’ll need your help.” A shake of it’s head said it would rather wait outside.


But the droid wouldn’t be granted that, as one of the guards that had followed after them kicked the droid into the ‘trophy room’. BB-8 whipped around to start giving the alien a piece of it’s mind in the form of aggressive beeps. It was a fed up little droid. 


“There’s no way this isn’t a trap.” Terex mumbled to Finn and Mira. Not with the stupid droid being forced into the room with them. Terex had seen how Grakkus lived in that prison. He was clearly smart. There was no way that he’d allow them to waltz in and take his precious artifacts. The place had to be loaded with things to set off, or it was all fake, or something. 


“You can carry it out yourself.” Grakkus informed them, as if they’d actually carry it out. No, it would be silly of Grakkus to not have any added security measures passed the door. Although it was a heavy door with many locks, it wasn’t enough to protect his precious artifacts he’d spent so long collecting. Worked so hard to collect. Terex was right in thinking there had to be more.


Grakkus could simply back out of the room, lock them in. And any normal person would have one hell of a time getting out. The walls were enforced, the door even more so. No windows. But there was at least one Force-sensitive in the mix. And in a chamber full of Force feeding things. And after not being able to keep his hands on Skywalker, Grakkus looked into ways he’d be able to keep a Force-sensitive around. As a treasure. Looked into the technology of confinement fields.
 
Kylo nodded to Paquin as she spoke of getting her lightsaber, apparently done with her meal. Gnaeus continued to pick at his as she left, wondering how well he’d do with a virbosaber against Kylo’s lightsaber. He didn’t think his odds were very high, even if he had two hands. Though, at least then he’d be more enthused to try fighting him. ‘If I can just let Ariel lead….’ He could perhaps try to hinder Kylo with the Force.


It was better than moving right in the way of Kylo’s assaults when he wouldn’t have nearly enough strength to protect himself.


Paquin came back too soon. He hadn’t eaten nearly enough, but he couldn’t feign his interest in the food, either. He saw Ariel’s glare and reached out awkwardly with his one hand to touch her arm lightly. They’d get new ones. Gnaeus knew he wasn’t getting his back. It had literally exploded. Perhaps Ariel would get her old one back, if Mira didn’t destroy it. “All right, I guess I’m ready,” he rose from his seat.


Kylo followed suit. Of course his lightsaber was already with him. “We’ll pick up some vibrosabers for you two on the way to the training room,” Kylo stated. With that, he turned to lead them out, and Gnaeus fell in step behind him. He did at least take them by one of the armories, and motioned them to pick out a weapon. A vibroblade. Gnaeus did consider taking something else, but why? A stave required two hands to effectively use.


So, he grabbed a vibrosaber with his off-hand, and sighed at the thought of having to fight like this. Kylo may have had a point, but it was a stupid point and Gnaeus didn’t want to fight, at all. He would, of course.


Kylo would wait for Ariel to equip herself, and then move deeper into the Kamino base, to one of their training rooms…this one set up just for the Force Sensitives. There was a field around the circular training grounds. It that would keep their abilities confined to that space, rather than allow it out. The field was translucent. They could walk through it easily enough, and walk out of it, but it stopped the Force from passing through it. This helped make sure they didn’t sink the base to the bottom of the ocean with a misdirected lightning bolt.


~***~


Jarrod stared at Hux, knowing exactly why the General of the First Order was here. He remembered the day Kevan Ren showed up on his doorstep, that laughing smile on his face, and how he had dismissed him, saying he had no interest in the First Order.


“I’m not here to get you to join the First Order, Senator Pandion.”


Did the General know how long that had been going on? How long Snoke had been building allies out of people who denied the First Order? At first, Pandion had joined up – it looked like the Empire he and August had once loved, though a conversation with August later revealed that he had not, in fact, loved that empire. Not the Sith. Not the lies. That was the source of the chaos. But Jarrod didn’t leave. Though now, he wanted to, desperately. He had made a mistake and he knew it.


Still, he bristled as Hux came to stand in front of him, a cornered animal…but far from the sort willing to fight. He just wanted the General to go away and leave him be. Answers would get him gone sooner. He might not like that he was called a slave, but he couldn’t deny it, either. He was. He would have shot a man who helped him through the head, to convince Snoke not to harm his world.


“You think I have any idea where Snoke is?” He shook his head. He didn’t. “He only reached out to me through holograms and Kevan Ren.” He knew Kevan’s fate. It had been mentioned in Snoke’s last correspondence – that he would not be seeing Kevan again. “And I don’t contact him.”


It went one way, after Pandion became an uncertain resource. “Snoke can control minds. Not just the Jedi Mind trick bullshit, he doesn’t give a command and it’s followed. He takes them over and he forces them to his will,” Pandion’s eyes burned, “He did it to my world. My people. My family.” He emphasized that. He wasn’t looking for Hux to forgive, but he did want Hux to understand.


He wanted Snoke gone, as well, but he wouldn’t lift a hand against Snoke. Not when his family could be enthralled. He didn’t know why he wasn’t, quite honestly. He didn’t believe he was immune. He wasn’t a Hutt. “Not just one at a time, General. En masse.”



Snoke only needed to remind him to send Pandion to go to Eriadu. To…“help”. His only real command had been to kill August, and to see the Senator of Chandrila dead. He tried. He failed – though the failure to kill the Chandrila senator was because he did hire a piss-poor bounty hunter. Gave them a chance to “redeem” themselves.


At least he tried…that should be enough. He’d shown his loyalty. He was a prisoner for it. “Liberation day was that. August, Adelaide, Seig, myself, we were all there in the midst of it. The prisoners from the Lock had complained of nightmares, which most of us just shrugged off as to be expected. They were locked up and in a chemical-induced coma, who wouldn’t have nightmares?” But Pandion shook his head, realizing what a fool they’d been, “August thought it might be inhibitor chips, but none were ever found.” Not on the people he killed. “It was Snoke. It had to be the Force,” it wasn’t confirmed.


Pandion just knew what he saw. That glazed look. The loss of will. “It looked exactly the same….” And the surprise when his daughter snapped out of it. How many had he killed then? How many innocents, alongside everyone else? That could be his world. His people. His family. “Don’t let August kill them.” Because he would. “They can’t control themselves. He knows that – but he doesn’t care.” The price of war.


~***~


Colonel Mitaka could not help but feel that something was wrong when he walked to his ship, cat in a carrier he had bought after speaking with the lovely twi’lek vet again and getting her recommendations. ‘Not leaving Hux’s cat here.’ That bad feeling didn’t leave the pit of his stomach. It was the sort of feeling he got whenever he had to go deliver a message to Commander Ren, but he couldn’t discern the source of it. ‘Maybe I should have listened to what that Stormtrooper had to say….’ But he hadn’t.


Phasma told him to bring Hux’s datapad, so he found it, grabbed the cat, and went to his ship to personally deliver it. He wasn’t going to let anyone else deliver it. ‘It was probably just Terex.’ Terex was a good worker, a true soldier of the First Order, but his presence had a way of upsetting things.


Even when he didn’t set foot outside of the Carrion Spike.


‘I wonder if that’s going to be a topic with August….’ Even Mitaka was aware of how much of a sticking point that was.


Like Millicent’s claws. Which found his black tunic as he stepped up into the ramp of his ship, her paw managed to press through the bars of her cage to grasp at his tunic. He chuckled a bit, folded the datapad under an arm, and lightly pressed on the pad of her paw to unhook the claw. “There, there, Commodore,” he joked, “You’re going to see Hux again soon.” He said, and placed her cage on the passenger’s seat.


Then, after a moment, he opened it to let her free, and started his ship up.


~***~


“Is kicking BB-8 really necessary?” Mira couldn’t help but ask, but didn’t get an answer to that. The droid began to beep profanities Mira was certain it did not pick up from Poe. In another situation, that would have been hilarious. Mostly a situation where the droid blew a fuse and defended Dameron with those harsh words. Not the current one.


She glanced to Terex, “Obviously it’s a trap.”


“Then why are we in it?” Finn hissed, as quietly as he could.


“We’d never see this room otherwise.” Mira touched the glass over a selection of kyber crystals, “Besides, don’t you need a lightsaber?” His own. If any of those crystals called to him, he could take one.


Mira glanced back when Grakkus said she could carry it out herself. “That won’t be a problem,” breaking the glass was going to cause a reaction, she just didn’t know what. Bad, obviously. How did she get out of here with what she wanted? What even did she want? Her fingers grazed over a display of holocrons, as she tried to get in touch with that pulse of the Force that seemed so much easier to get lost in on worlds of nature.


Try to understand the right direction.


A flicker of gold caught her eye and she approached it. “One of the Healing Crystals of Fire. Coruscant’s temple protected them.” Qui-Gon sounded sad to see one, here. As Mira put her hand over the glass, the crystal’s energy seemed to rise up, the flame seeming to want to escape from the confines of the crystal itself. “By my time, no one quite knew what to do with them. It was said that they had the power to channel life’s flame back into a person, but of course, it was never used for that. We acknowledged their power, though, and like the kyber, we tried to protect them.”


“What’s he saying?” Finn saw the green glow, which lasted a prolonged amount of time.


“What’s who saying?” Grakkus was, admittedly, curious. He could set the trap at any time, but it was a long time since he had gotten to see a Force-sensitive like this, and he didn’t know what half of what he had was.


“Master Jinn,” Mira told him, not at all caring if he knew, “Force Ghost. He was just telling me about this lovely crystal you have.” But she did not take it. She needed something she could use, not something she could theoretically use. “You do have quite the collection, Grakkus. I’m impressed.”


Grakkus’s lips pulled in a smile. “Yes. You should stay a while to truly examine them.” Especially if she could converse with old Jedi ghosts. The amount of knowledge there...he'd know more than Snoke about what was here.


Mira shook her head, “No, I have someone who’s good at that. I’m going to let her see them. Who knows, perhaps you can even buy back some of them once they start being displayed publicly.”


Her fingers finally stopped grazing over glass, pulled not by something with a powerful Force energy, but rather…the exact opposite. ‘This.’ It seemed to pull at her. Mira glanced down briefly at the black meteorite, before looking to Grakkus. “I don’t suppose you’re going to tell us how to open these containers, are you?”


Finn, who had decided to take Mira seriously on the matter of lightsabers, was already considering just that. He had called BB-8 over to him and had the droid examine the pedestal holding the display case, before beeping out how it didn’t have a place to plug in.


“Darn…”


“No,” Grakkus answered. “If you want the items, I’m afraid you’ll just have to figure that out yourself, as well.” Breaking the glass would flood the room with a sleeping gas. Grakkus did want to know what idiots would try to steal from him, after all. He was almost positive that was the route that the woman would go, considering her penchant for it earlier.


He wouldn’t shut the door, though. He’d just erect a gravity field like the one on that damnable prison. Crush them to the ground, and vent the room once they were most certainly asleep. Drop the confinement net on the Force-sensitive one, at least. Perhaps on the dark-skinned man as well. He didn’t need to worry about Terex for the Force, but he had his doubts about the other man.


If only they’d move under a net. Perhaps he should have had the nets wide enough to cover the room…but then he risked harming his objects in the fall of it.


Mira let out a sigh. “Fine.” Just breaking literally all the glass was tempting. “BB-8?”


“He can’t,” Finn stated before BB-8 could answer.


“Terex, are you useful here?”
 
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Ariel didn’t take long in grabbing a weapon. She did mull over her options but settled with a regular old vibrosword. She wouldn’t stray too far from something similar to a lightsaber. And while Paquin wasn’t looking for a weapon to use, she did have her lightsaber, she did find herself eyeing a staff. It wasn’t vibro or special. It was taller than her and the wood wouldn’t withstand a hit from a lightsaber, so it wasn’t like she could use it. But she wondered what could be done with it.


‘Could hide behind it, probably.’


They continued on, into a training room. Despite the field being translucent, there was still a wavering to it. Once walking in, Paquin made sure she could go back out by sticking her hand through the field. Upon finding that she could in fact leave, she wandered to rejoin the others. Ariel now stood in the center of the room, where it was wide open. The training room was large, had various equipment lining the perimeter. Like Paquin’s desired dummies. 


The ground was lined by mats, not that they’d matter at all. 


“So, do we stretch first, or?”


“We wouldn’t be able to stretch on the battlefield, why would we here?” Ariel mocked Kylo, unfortunately at the expense of Paquin. Ariel turned the weapon on and twirled it in her hand, testing it. It’d been a while since she even used her lightsaber to fight, not having the chance to pull it out on Cimarosa. Too long, she decided.


Paquin shifted and turned her own weapon on, igniting the greenish-blue blade. She hadn’t used it to fight before. But at the same time she didn’t want to go near Kylo and his lightsaber. She’d already had her skin melted together by it, she knew it hurt.


-


Hux wasn’t all that surprised about Pandion not knowing where Snoke was. Hux couldn’t recall ever knowing Snoke’s exact location, and their relationship was a much closer one. Though, not that close, apparently.


The contact bit was a little iffy, but Hux didn’t think that Jarrod was lying. Especially not as he continued on, blabbing rather honestly. The look in his eyes was one of a broken man, defeated, rather than one trying to keep secrets. And no, Hux would not forgive. Wasn’t his place to. But he would understand. 


Pandion’s theories did nothing to ease Hux’s worries. Mind control. A horde at a time. 


But that wasn’t the end of it, as the Senator continued on with Liberation Day. “Nightmares…?” It came out as a mumble. Hux’s ginger eyebrows knitting together, as an expression of his concern. Wasn’t that how things began with Mira? Snoke weaseling his way into her dreams? ‘Well, that’s not good.’ Did these mean Snoke was working his way up to taking control over Mira? And what about the rest of them? Himself, August, others? 


They’d have to keep an eye out for ‘symptoms’ then. 


Yes, Mira definitely needed to be brought in.


And that made Hux anxious as he shook himself out of his own thoughts. ‘Don’t let August kill them.’ The words rang in his head, and he felt…sympathetic. But most of all, he understood. “I won’t let August kill your people.” He wasn’t sure how yet, but he wouldn’t. They were unwilling participants. Like Mira, he supposed that’s what made him relate.They had no control over their own mind or actions. “I can’t say the same about you, however.” Pandion was willing. He’d still betrayed August. He hadn’t claimed that Snoke was controlling his mind or any of the like.


And then there was the question of Chandrila. Hux’s question was rushed as he felt further hurried to reel everyone in, “And the assassination attempt. Did you and Snoke have something to do with that?” And what was the point of the Chandrila senator being dead? Simply another member of the New Republic being offed?


And, if he was involved, that could very well be the end of Jarrod’s senatorship. All things depending on how August would want to handle the situation. There were a handful of moves to be played here. Keep Pandion alive, kill him. 


-


Mitaka’s ride to Eriadu was silent and quick, apart from Millicent’s occasional slipping and sliding. The rockiest part was when they were actually in the planet’s atmosphere, and they were asked to stop near Eriadu City and do the expected business of stating his name and business. The name Colonel Mitaka—still getting used to that after being Lieutenant for so long—got him right on in.


Phasma had said they’d be in the Tarkin’s home and so that’s where Mitaka landed. Near, anyway.


Mitaka contemplated what to do with Millicent for a moment. He didn’t want to leave her alone, in her cage, for who knows how long, but he also didn’t want to leave her loose in his ship. She could get into a lot of dangerous stuff, and she was proven to be a darter whenever the ships doors were open. It probably, no, most definitely wasn’t professional to bring a cat along to a war meeting, but that’s what he was going to do.


He grabbed a bag of cat treats that Alema’fenn had left Millicent with. Some sort of fish flavor, he believed. The scent alone had Millicent running. He’d already given her a few, but he didn’t feel too bad about giving her a few more. The wonderful vet had said that a cat her age should weigh quite a bit more. So he lured her in with one, scooped her up and put her in her cage. He closed it up and put the treat in through the bars. Grabbing Hux’s datapad and the cat carrier, he was on his way.


He was allowed into the Tarkin home after a brief conversation, yet was not given any directions on where to go. And the halls were empty as Mitaka continued inside. No droids or butlers that he’d figured they’d have.


Until he ran into a man, holding coffee in one hand and a bag of something in the other. Didn’t matter. “Excuse me,” Mitaka approached from behind. “Do you per chance know where General Hux or Lieutenant-General Phasma is?” Phasma’s new title sure was a mouthful.


-


“Well, we’ll find out here, won’t we?” Terex said as he was called upon to possibly crack the case open. He examined the case using a feather light touch, in the off chance there was a way to ‘open it’ on the display case. But nothing. Nothing to pick. Terex looked around the large chamber of treasure, looking for perhaps a panel or something of the like that could have control over the cases.


But what he did notice, was that Grakkus seemed to be moving closer to the door they’d came in.


“Nada.” And the last thing he wanted to do was break it. That had to be the trap, surely. There wasn’t anything else obvious, and it’s what Grakkus wouldn’t assist them with. But of course, he figured the glass would be shattered in the next five minutes. “Sorry, Admiral. Looks like your gonna have to break it.” Terex’s voice then lowered as he leaned against the glass case, now sure that it wouldn’t break, and rested his temple against his fist.


He leaned in closer towards Mira as he spoke, “But before you do, really think. Because that glass is going to set something off as soon as you break it, and you’re gonna have to be prepared for that.” The glass was meant to protect the artifacts, after all. It’s intention wasn’t to be broken to pull the artifacts out. “Chubby is already makin’ a break for it back there. This stuff worth it to you?”


BB-8 beeped out something along the lines of ‘not really’. But of course, that was just it’s opinion. It’s existence was in the hands of them now, and whatever trap lay behind the glass. If would drop them into the ground or something, it’d go with them.


But gas, that wouldn’t affect the droid. It beeped out a small apology to Mira.


“Let’s do this, Mira.” Finn encouraged, not because he liked the idea, “Grab our artifacts,” kyber crystal and whatever Mira wanted out of the case, it seemed she was hovering over the black stone that Finn got an…odd feeling from. Or rather, lack of feeling. ‘Force?’ “and hightail it out of here.” If only it would be that easy. They still didn’t know the trap. Maybe it wasn’t even the cases.


“I’ll follow your lead, boss lady.” Terex shrugged as he pushed off the case, gloved hands raising out in front of him in defense.
 
There would be no time to stretch and Kylo did not plan to give them any time for if, either. He did roll his neck, cracked it on the left tilt, before he spun around to face them, lightsaber humming on. He looked between the three of them. It was tempting to rush Ariel. She was the most prepared.


However, Gnaeus and Paquin both looked a bit out of it. Paquin, very new to the saber, and Gnaeus, unbalanced with only a hand. His vibroblade came to life, of course, but he hardly looked prepared to engage anyone. 'To take out the stronger or the weakest first?' Decisions, decisions. 


He didn't debate long. Gnaeus needed to remember the Force and Paquin needed to find her place. Gnaeus wouldn't remember the Force under a direct assault but he might if Ariel were attacked. So, with another twirl of the deadly blade, he pushed the Force through his body and sprinted across the field to the center, where the red-head stood. 


Training was an art of control. It had to remain real, but without killing anyone. The Force itself helped. Kylo could use it to stop a slash that connected long before it would cause any permanent damage and he had. So, his attack was hardly held back as he got close enough, though it was not a straight thrust. He pivoted on his forward foot right as he moved the blade, turned himself around to be left of Ariel, and used the momentum of the turn in a swing to cut Ariel as if in half. 


He did feel it slowed just a bit. Gnaeus was pulling desperately on his arm to try and stop it, freeze him, but it wasn't enough to overpower the Force behind the swing itself. Not that Gnaeus dreamed it would be - he was trying to help Ariel shield herself. Trying to give her and Paquin time. He wasn't sure how Paquin would help or even what direction to offer to her - but he was sure she wouldn't just stay back and wait her turn.


That wasn't how real combat worked. They were reminded when Mira played dirty and outnumbered them with Troopers and low tactics.


~***~


It might be better if he was dead, but no part of Pandion was willing to offer up his life. He kept the thought to himself. He wanted to live. He might have to live defeated, but he wanted to live. He just had to...hope that Snoke never figured out how easily he talked. He had to trust in these people that Lothal could be saved.


Or at the very least that Snoke would kill him and spare Lothal.


Hux at least offered reassurances. He did seem to understand. Pandion didn't need to know how or why. It was probably best if he didn't, truth told. He gave a mute nod. It was all the gratitude he could muster.


Then, he went rigid. A lie was on his tongue about Chandrila but why? August would come to ask soon enough and he had reason to suspect. Perhaps Hux was even there in his place. "Yes." Hux didn't ask for details and on this, Pandion offered none freely. The strange triumvirate of Palpatine's secrets was one that would be held through generations but he was now, most definitely, the lowest ranking triumvir. 


Mon Mothma used to be their head, taking their secrets for their safety. So, it fell to her replacement. So...the replacement had to die. It might have even liberated some Imperials trapped by those secrets, brought to the New Republic mostly unwillingly, because the blackmail - the threat of truth - was gone. Sure, they were all technically forgiven, their crimes erased by law...but vigilante justice existed.


"They lived...right?" Hesitantly asked. He had passed it off as if he were a First Order officer. He didn't give his real name, just one pulled at random. This way the Hunter couldn't identify him.


Hux was probably not happy about that if the Hunter was caught alive.


~***~


The coffee was too damn heavy. Seig Keil, senator of Tepasi in the Core and married to the ‘Grand General’ of the Seswenna sector of the Outer Rim, couldn’t help but be annoyed as he stepped into August’s home and noticed the absolute lack of attendants and droids. At least he knew this house well enough to know where to go from here. August used a few rooms for meeting, but a meeting about war would only be in the War Room.


Or the Projection room on good days.


Seig sighed and hated the fact he couldn’t adjust the glasses that had started to slip. His hands were occupied by a large bag of donuts, and then a large thermos of coffee. August had to provide the cups.


He turned a corner and was called at by someone. He paused at the corner and looked back to see someone dressed like the First Order. They asked for First Order people, as well, but Seig didn’t recognize him immediately. He would have recognized General Hux, and Phasma, in her chrome. Lieutenant-General now? He hadn’t heard of that promotion.


He eyed the cat briefly. Well, he’d seen stranger things here. “I don’t,” he answered, “Though I can find you people who will know,” he offered to the stranger. August could sort this out. “Why don’t you come along with me. I’m heading to the war room.”


Mitaka beamed, “Thank you, I will.” They were probably there anyway. He hoped.


~***~


The meeting in the senate room dissolved, with Lando insisting August return to Coruscant before he do anything rash. Like attack, anywhere. Like Lothal. Mostly Lothal. It was at least agreed that he did need to leave for Coruscant as soon as things were tidied up here.


“One final matter…we have Pandion’s soldiers right outside,” General Organa pointed out, “Perhaps this is more a matter for the War Council, but this seems like a situation ready to blow-up.”


“Could we get Pandion to tell them to go home?” Lando asked, glancing between the Senators in the room.


None of them considered that Pandion might instead give the order to attack, but August still shook his head. “No,” he said, calculating the odds. They could withstand the forces that Pandion brought, but he didn’t want a fight. He also did not want to out Pandion to Snoke as a traitor. The man played his card. He shot at August, and August threw him in prison. He took him out of the fight, and he’d keep him out of the fight for as long as he could. Safe.


He pushed a hand up into his thinning hair. He suddenly felt as old as he was. “This is a matter for the war council.” He decided, “As for the senate, we tell them the truth. Senator Pandion tried to kill me on orders of Snoke.”


“Are we going to tell them about Liberation Day and the Snoke connection?”


“That, I need to discuss with Adelaide, and Chandrila’s senator.” Adelaide had been there. Chandrila’s senator just…knew. August made a point to keep Mon Mothma’s successor afloat. “Well, if there’s nothing else….” He gestured towards the door.


Leia nodded, stepped forward, “Let me go speak to Pandion about this…issue of his troops. Maybe he’ll have some ideas.” August bit the inside of his cheek, but nodded his consent to the idea.


“One of my droids should be around,” 4Is, probably. Julia’s favorite. August preferred his protocol droid. Or the droidekas. They didn’t talk.


With that, the Senate Room began to dissolve out to head to the War Room, and there was a droid there. Not 4Is, but one of the droidekas. August motioned it over and gave it a quick order, noting how Leia seemed tense around that droid. It walked off, metal legs clicking on ground, and Leia followed it, keeping a good distance.


Just as she rounded the corner, Seig and Mitaka moved by it, and August’s eyes lit up as he saw the bag and the emblem. “Seig! You didn’t.”


“I’ve known you for over twenty years now, of course I did. What the hell happened to you?”


“Carrion.” Ransolm answered for August, and Seig paused. Stared.


“Ransolm Casterfo…?” Ransolm didn’t waste a time in Seig’s surprise. He went up to the man and took the huge thermos of coffee, guessing it was around 3 gallons worth.


August smirked. “I’m a lich,” he said, walked forward to take his donuts from Seig.


“Isn’t that what that character is in that game you play?” One of his daughters played it in August’s guild. How and why the man got into such a game, he’d never understand. How he had the time for it, he’d also never understand.


“Summoner,” August dismissed it, “Colonel Mitaka,” he nodded to him, “Commodore,” to the cat. “What do I owe the pleasure of your return?”


“I am looking for General Hux, Governor Tarkin.”


“He should be in the war room,” August stated, “We’re heading that way now. You and the Commodore can come, although…there is going to be a nexu there.”


He was pretty sure that was where Johann ran off with his beast. August was already missing it.


Mitaka held the carrier closer to himself. “I won’t let her out.” He said. “I just couldn’t leave her on the Finalizer.”


August understood. The group walked on towards the war room, and Seig finally adjusted the glasses properly on the bridge of his nose.  


~***~


Terex was insane enough to join the group. He went right on into the depth of insanity with her, testing the case, before determining that there was only one route: to break it. And that would cause a reaction, one way or another. He casually leaned upon it, and warned her of the trap that was so obvious, it’d take a true idiot to miss it. She wasn’t that drunk.


She had leaned in to listen, though. Finn gave his encouragement. BB-8 was fatalistic. Terex was on board. “Don’t worry, BB-8,” she told it, “We’re all getting back home,” glanced to Grakkus, who was indeed much closer to the door. “Well, Grakkus, you’re going to have quite the expense on your hands,” she told him, laid her hand flat on the container, “Take what you can,” she told Terex and Finn.


Then, the glass shattered above every single container, and Mira meant to throw it all right at Grakkus, but the power was sucked right from her. ‘What?’ Panic entered her gaze, even as her hands fell right on the stone that she instinctively knew was responsible.


Grakkus was out of the room. The door slammed shut, and the gas activated, hissing through vents.


“Uh, Mira….”


Normally this wouldn’t be an issue. She’d shown that to Hux before. Small particles were her forte. She could get rid of it, disperse it, but not now. The stone was sucking the Force into it like a black hole. Mira dug the lightsaber out of her purse, tossed Ariel’s to Finn as she took out Kevan’s – there was no way she was activating her own right now. “Don’t breathe. Give me about…ten seconds. If I can’t get us an escape besides the door, put the blade through the door.” Mira said, walking to the center of the room and glancing up. She wasn’t getting out of here through the path up.


‘Deep breath.’ She was still certain there had been an incline. The walls would be thick. The door would be thick, and also, guarded. Not that the other ways wouldn’t be. They would lead to rooms right next to this one. Not worth it, if it could be avoided. Kevan’s blade hummed to life, red, and with another shift of her thumb, the blade elongated to be taller than herself, not including the hilt. She slammed it into the ground, burning a hole straight through it, and feeling the relief of its exit before the full blade was through. ‘All right then.’ She’d cut a path down, and did so quickly – less than the 10 seconds she had given Finn.


She didn’t bother to remove herself from the circle she quickly drew with the lightsaber, though, and dropped with the floor, dropping quickly to her knees to try and brace for the fall. Still, instinctively, trying to grasp at the Force to soften it, even though it was fruitless. There was no way this wasn’t going to hurt.
 
Ariel turned in Kylo’s direction and hopped backwards clear out of the way, but she still swung the vibroblade upwards to block Kylo’s swing. It took the strength of both her hands with the added backing of the Force to effectively parry the swing. Ariel moved her hand to the vibroblade, where it wasn’t sharp, and shoved with a grunt. Once again utilizing the Force to push Kylo’s own weapon at him and force him away, to buy her some time to back away and distance herself.


But she wasn’t far for long. If Ariel knew anything is that she shouldn’t let Kylo recover from any action, big or small. If she had an opportunity she needed to take it. She took two strides forward, planting her left foot firmly on the ground before making a half turn. And instead of slashing with the weapon, she instead lifted her leg and went in for a kick. She aimed low, stomach or groin would be sufficient. It was a risky move, he could grab her leg with or without the Force or slash at it. But a kick anywhere backed by the Force would be unpleasant. She wanted to get a few hits in. Stopping short of permanent or fatal damage, of course.


If only she could see past the red of her hair. She should have tied it up, like Paquin. Speaking of Paquin…


She was lost. Her eyes, wider than usual, glanced between the fighting Knights and Gnaeus, looking for any sign that this wasn’t typical. They weren’t just play fighting. They were really going at it! She could compare it to Kylo fighting actual enemies. And she wasn’t sure how to help. She didn’t want Ariel or Kylo to get hurt, especially not because of her. They didn’t seem to care much about that, though. 


Paquin took a few steps towards the two fighting, not quite committing to joining in combat yet. She tried to think of things she had been okay at. Freezing things was one. Throwing small items another. Levitating things. The only reason Kevan was dead was because he’d been distracted and she literally stabbed him in the back. She didn’t want to stab Kylo in the back. ‘You won’t learn anything new if you don’t try anything new.’  She told herself. She took a deep breath before taking more steps, as quick as her legs could carry her, towards the two. 


‘This is stupid.’ she told herself just before she lifted her lightsaber and swung it at Kylo, even as Ariel kicked him. It was half-assed and aimed at his lightsaber. Again, didn’t want anyone hurt. But now he’d have to divide his attention. Then Ariel could take over the fighting. Paquin was helping. Sort of.


-


Hux was a little irritated by the simple answer of yes, wanting more details. But maybe it was best if he didn’t get into it, based on the time crunch he’d made up in his head. He’d leave that to someone else, who would undoubtedly come to question Pandion as well. Hux had an answer at least, confirmation that Pandion was involved. They could discuss and deal with that accordingly.


Hux wondered if August would be bothered by him visiting Pandion without permission. He wondered but didn’t care. It had been done, and it wasn’t like Hux had killed him, or set him free, or slipped him something. What would August do?


Jarrod asked if the senator had lived, and Hux felt tempted to say no. That the Chandrila senator had died. Maybe it would make him feel guilty. But at the same time, Hux saw no point in it. Pandion was already broken, it would be unnecessarily cruel. Not that Hux was beyond being unnecessarily cruel. And Pandion would probably be told otherwise later. So, no lies came from his mouth.


“As far as I know, yes.” The General was honest in his statement. Hux didn’t know the details, if the senator had actually been injured, what their condition was. All he knew was that as of that moment, it had only been an attempted assassination. 


“I appreciate your cooperation. I’m sure someone else will be along shortly to ask similar questions.” Hux had to move along now, to make connections and join the war council. So, he dismissed himself from Pandion and turned to the door, knocking on it to alert the droid. “We’re finished here,” he called through the door. The door clicked and then slid open to allow Hux an exit. Even the droid didn’t bother to worry about Pandion attempting an escape as the door closed behind the ginger.


“I will lead you out, Hux.” The droid stated before beginning to do just that, up through the basements.


-


The war room so far consisted of Adelaide, the Motti twins, Phasma, and Johann. And the Nexu cub. Still unnamed. Johann had made up a leash and collar for it. The collar was made of some thin chain, with a dog tag he’d found. The leash was a rope, but that rope sat on top of the long table in front of him. Everyone seemed calm enough with the nexu around. Though the nexu wasn’t exactly kind to them, alternating between who’s shoe to bite.


Except for Adelaide’s.


The nexu was scared of Adelaide.


Meanwhile, the Motti’s talked badly of the Order and Hux. In front of Phasma. Well, Alexander did. Caius told him to can it. 


And then enter August and his entourage. Enter Adelaide’s husband, who she had to admit she was ecstatic to see. He was a breath of fresh air in the stuffy room. “Sieg,” she allowed a hint of a smile on her lips as she rose to greet her husband.


The nexu, smelling and seeing August, trotted over to the man, rubbing against his legs. And then it caught a whiff of Millicent and became distracted.


Mitaka then lifted Millicent’s carrier higher, as her meow and the shifting of her weight drew his attention to the nexu and her. He kept her up as he easily spotted Phasma, but no Hux. Making his way around to the chrome-clad woman, he sat the carrier and Hux’s datapad down on the table, sitting next to the Lieutenant-General. “Has Hux been through here yet?” He asked her softly.


All the while, Johann stood as well. “I heard Jarrod shot at you,” he spoke to his father. “What happened?” He’d heard that bit from passing droids as he’d entered the war room after fetching some attire for the nexu. He knew Pandion and his father weren’t the best of friends but didn’t think they’d try to kill each other. Not as adults, anyway.


-


‘I told you to be prepared,’ Terex thought to himself, before shaking his head as she disappeared through the ground. Her ten seconds weren’t up yet, and she’d instructed them to grab what they could, so that’s what Terex did. Holding his breath, he grabbed handfuls of whatever, stuffing what he could into some unoccupied pockets. ‘Kiss my ass, Grakkus.’ He wished he could say that, but the gas.


Once he was stuffed, he made a move for the hole Mira had created. Unlike Mira, he had a nice, safe way of getting down. Pulling a grappling hook in the form of a gun that was strapped to his side, he aimed it at a sturdy pillar. It swung around the pillar, just as Terex wanted, and rooted itself. He tugged on it to make sure it was steady, and with that, he looked to the dark skinned man and the droid.


Finn hadn’t grabbed much. A handful of kyber crystals was all. They could make use of those, one for Finn’s lightsaber. Rey and Luke could use them. Maybe Leia. If nothing else, he could make Mira some more beads for her hair.


Terex was looking at him, holding his arm out for the man. Finn pieced two and two together and realized Terex wanted him to hold on. He didn’t open his mouth or breath, but his face said ‘really?’ Terex nodded frantically, his own eyes rolling in irritation. He beckoned with his hand and Finn complied, wrapping his arms around Terex. The First Order agent then leaped through the hole but was lowered slowly and safely, thanks to the hook.


BB-8 was just fine staying a little longer in the room, as gas didn’t affect it. It grabbed some cup of some sort. A mug. BB-8 didn’t examine it, as the others were leaving it. BB-8 filled it with some bits and bobs, coins of some sort. Old things, it wasn’t sure if they’d be useful or not. Either way, BB-8 stored it away into a compartment and rolled frantically to the man-made hole. BB-8 rooted its own form of grappling hook, only it’s was solid, unlike the rope. It lowered itself down, releasing the extended arm, and landed on the ground with a thump.


The room was dark but was illuminated by the light above and the red lightsaber. “Mira?” Finn hissed, shoving away from Terex, who let out a mock offended noise. The hole would allow the gas to flow into the room, but for the moment, they were okay. 


Then came something resembling a growl and Finn and Terex whipped around, to find themselves face to face with two large blue eyes, framed by something red and scaly. The two of them backed up from the creature, but that only prompted it forward, into the light.


And that’s when the creature fully revealed itself. An akk dog, but of course Finn didn’t know that. Just knew this, “Uh…Mira…you’re the animal person!” Making friends with Force-sensitive worms.


BB-8 let out an alarmed beep, before swiftly rolling past the guard dog, in an attempt to find an exit. But the akk dog flicked its tail, and shoved BB-8 back, baring it’s sharp teeth at the little droid. 
 
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Kylo was always aware of his surroundings. It was the only way to stay alive on a battle field. He knew that Gnaeus had hindered him, and he did intend to get back at the man for it, sooner than later. Ariel was able to survive the first assault with a parry, and a push back. Kylo wasn’t pushed away for long, though. He was moving almost as soon as Ariel was, and noticed Paquin rushing as Ariel stopped.


The plant was enough to signal her intent. Kylo turned his own body a bit and thrust out his hand in her direction, catching her foot with the Force to stop it from connecting. With his other hand, he lifted his saber to block Paquin’s slash.



He would discard Ariel’s kick, try to just push her back, and move strength into his arms as the other rejoined the first on the hilt of his lightsaber to shove Paquin before she could break from the locked blades, and knock her onto her back, or at least, onto her butt.


Except, he felt the Force suddenly pulling at his leg. His boots.


Well, Gnaeus was doing exactly what he wanted him to.


Kylo would be able to try one forceful push with the lightsaber, before his balance slipped and he had to bend a bit from the pull. However, his attention had definitely shifted to Gnaeus now, whom he determined was actually going to be the greatest nuisance so long as he remained back and away from the main combat.


Well, Gnaeus and Ariel.


He was still severely underestimating Paquin’s capabilities.


~***~


Leia and her strange droideka were on the stairs just as T4-4I was starting to lead Hux up. “Oh.” It commented, noticing the guest. It stepped back down and aside, letting the droideka’s legs click its way down to the bottom floor. “You can lead him back then. I will stay with Leia.” It could open the door. Why did August send her with a droideka? Droidekas couldn’t open the door.


He must be frazzled.


Or he was trying to kill her.


Whichever.


“General Hux?” Leia spoke his name quizzically as she reached the sub basement. She didn’t need to ask what he was doing here, that was obvious, so instead she asked, “What did you find out from Pandion?” She wasn’t sure how much of it he would actually be sharing with the war council.


The droideka clearly didn’t understand it was supposed to wait. It started clicking its way back up the stairs.


~***~


The overlarge coffee thermos was set upon the table, but August did not share the donuts. He went to where his son was, reaching down and idly picking up the nexu when it started to brush against him. He felt it squirm as it saw the carrier on the table, but he didn’t let it go to get it. Just gripped the back of the creature’s neck until it settled down.


Phasma shook her head to answer Mitaka's query.


Sieg smiled in greeting, "Grand General," a touch of play.


Apparently Hux wasn’t there, which meant he went to Pandion. At least, that was August’s reasoning.


“Pandion shot at you?” Sieg asked, his attention shifting from Adelaide, who he moved to be near, to August.


August sighed, “Yes, so we have something of an issue with his army being outside.”


Adelaide frowned at that, “Why, exactly, did he shoot at you?”


“Why does anyone shoot at me?” It wasn’t really a matter to be taken lightly. Julia slipped in with mugs for coffee then and set them on the table, pouring herself a cup. She glared at the beast and went to stand nearer to Adelaide than August, still annoyed with the nexu. “Admiral Vallens is out playing agent, and discovered Pandion was working with Snoke. When confronted, he tried to kill me,” simple.


“General Hux—” Phasma started.


“—is fine,” August answered the concern. “He was supposed to come here.”


~***~


Finn, BB-8, and Terex all managed to get down as Mira was trying to recover. The fall hurt. Sure, she was on the falling platform, but the force of it radiated up. No amount of being low to the ground seemed to help. She was jarred and disoriented when Finn joined her, but the lightsaber kept its illumination.


‘Nothing. I can’t feel anything….’ Mira wasn’t sure if she ought to be elated or terrified. She had wanted this, hadn’t she?


Only during an impromptu robbery and escape, she would really like the Force. “Here,” she said, and looked to Finn, as soon as he seemed to spot something behind her, “Voids,” she cursed, tried to stand, but found her balance suddenly compromised. No more Force. She was able to stand, and to look, and see a familiar creature. “Yeah, no, not right now Finn. All of that is gone.”


“Because you’re drunk?” Pretty sure she detected bitterness in his tone. He did not approve.


“Sure.” She knew the lightsaber didn’t do much to these. She had seen them respond in the way nexus sometimes did – walk with enough confidence and they would take it as a sign. So she snapped the fingers on her free hand and the dog looked to her. “That’s enough.” She told it, holding that gaze.


The aak dog shifted, but held her gaze without lowering its own. No easy submission, then, but it wasn’t rushing to attack. “BB-8…try again,” Mira said. If it tried to harm the droid again, she’d just have to distract it to let the others get out, and then follow. At least trying to attack the dog with a lightsaber ought to work.


Or throwing a heel at it. Maybe it would play fetch. Mira was going to need to get out of them, though….  
 
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Ariel stumbled backwards when Kylo shoved her away, finding her balance by planting the leg she’d used to kick behind her. Paquin did not have as easy a time finding her balance as Ariel did, Kylo’s push on her lightsaber forceful enough to make her stumble a couple feet before falling backwards, onto her butt. She landed with an audible ‘oof’ and thought for a moment that the wind had been knocked out of her, but it was just her panicking and holding her breath.


She and Ariel weren’t the only ones having issues with balance. Kylo bent to keep from falling over. And Paquin acted quickly to lock her legs around one of his and utilizing the Force to help by circling around his leg, she pulled towards her in an attempt to completely throw him off balance. She wasn’t sure how it would work out. Kylo was heavy, sturdy, with tree trunks for legs.


Stumbling would be an accomplishment


Ariel more so noticed the shift in who he was paying attention to. Gnaeus. And Ariel didn’t want Kylo going near Gnaeus. A growl came from Ariel’s stomach and she rolled her eyes before taking note of what Paquin was doing. With an easy spin of the vibroblade, Ariel went in for a straight thrust at Kylo, hoping it would be awkward enough to block with the added pull of Paquin on his leg.


Getting him on the ground would be quite amazing, Ariel couldn’t help but think. Especially so soon into training. But Kylo had proven time and time again that he wasn’t that easy to take down. 


-


“General Organa,” Hux greeted her, a bit surprised to see her down there himself. She wasn’t the first person he’d expect to come see Pandion. And he wondered what was going on with the senate and war council if she was down here. Definitely should get back, then.


General Hux glanced to the droideka clicking away back up the stairs, not pausing for Hux. Oh well. He’d find his way to where he needed to be eventually. But first, inform Leia.


“Not much. He claims to not know anything about where Snoke is or how to contact him. Apparently it was all one sided. He expanded on why he’s affiliated with Snoke, however. Expanded on Liberation Day, his lack of faith in all of us defeating Snoke. Says Snoke can control minds, en masse. That’s what Liberation Day was,” nothing new. “And apparently the prisoners all reported nightmares beforehand. Sound like anyone we know?” Hux tried not to sound defeated or worried at that. “Pandion says Snoke has control over his people, his family.” Hux didn’t say anything about not letting August kill them. That would be discussed soon, likely in front of the war council.


And then the new piece of information. The big piece. “He confessed to him and Snoke being involved in the assassination attempt. He wasn’t very open about that. He said nothing else, and I didn’t ask for anymore details. I figured I’d leave that to whoever came after me, which seems to be you, General.”


-


“Hm.” Phasma hummed under her breath. If he was supposed to be here, then where was he? At least there was a number of things he could’ve been doing around Tarkin’s home. Speaking with Pandion, perhaps. Snooping, maybe. Or lost.


And was Leia supposed to be here, too? Phasma figured the woman would want to be.


“He’ll show up soon here, I’m sure,” Mitaka mumbled to Phasma. A response came from Millicent, in which he imagined to be an impatient meow. Or maybe a distressed one, with the nexu…


Adelaide pulled herself two mugs, filling one up for herself and one for her husband. Handing one mug to Seig, she kept the other one and passed on the thermos of coffee. “What exactly are your plans for Pandion, August?” She questioned, having a clear idea of the relationship August and Jarrod had.


Caius was the next one to get himself a cup of coffee, skipping over his brother. Alexander was hyperactive enough, coffee made the man much too jittery. It was pushed along to August as Alexander offered a solution. “Kill him, he’s a traitor.”


“Things go deeper than that, brother, you know that.” Caius only received an eye roll.


Johann took the coffee from in front of his father and poured himself a cup. Adult things. Then let it sit in front of his father again. “What do we even know of the alliance so far?” Caius continued, despite the negative feedback from his twin.


-


BB-8 let out a low beep before moving slowly this time, carefully maneuvering around the beast. Around the tail. The dog seemed to keep its eyes on Mira, almost challenging her. Until BB-8 ran over a bump. Not a bump. A bone.


The akk dog’s attention snapped away from the blonde and to the orange-and white droid. A growl turned into a snarl as the akk dog turned away from Mira completely, and snapped it’s teeth at the droid, it’s mouth salivating so much that strings of it’s drool flew all over as it snapped. BB-8 rolled out of the way just in time and turned to roll away frantically, letting out a long beep equivalent to a scream.


And the chase began. “BB-8!” Finn called.


BB-8 began to circle around the akk’s chambers, beeping out instructions to find the exit. Fast.


‘Poe’s gonna kill me if anything happens to BB-8.’ Finn thought. Well, then he better find the exit quickly. It had to be on one of the walls, just had to find it. Finn then gripped onto Ariel’s lightsaber, turning it on for a light source, rather than to fight with it. And so the search began, BB-8 rolling around trying to avoid the akk dog, but also avoid them while they searched.


If the situation were different, Finn might have laughed at the dog chasing the ball.


As Finn searched, he tripped over something. Stumbling, but not falling. At first, he was worried it might be a bone, but it wasn’t. The door wasn’t on any wall. It was in the corner, on the ground. A hatch. Maybe so the akk couldn’t get out and run amuck the casino. But how did it get in? Maybe it was brought in as a baby. Either way, Finn didn’t care. “I found it!”


“Good, let’s get out of here.” 


“One problem, we need something to open it. A password.” BB-8 beeped from across the room, asking if there was something it could possibly plug into. “Um…yes!” But there was the problem of BB-8 still being chased by the fixated dog. It even attempted to slam its paw down on the astromech. A distraction was needed. 


And so Terex offered one by whistling at the dog, and it did briefly pause to look in the direction of the noise. It was dark and Terex had a rough time seeing, but he aimed as best he could and fired, hoping for a direct hit to the dog’s eyeball. Otherwise, he knew the blaster shot would just ricochet right of that hard, shiny skin of the akk.
 
‘Damn it.’ Kylo’s focus was being pulled in too many directions. He knew he needed to pick just one, and stick to it. He’d done this before. Even with Mira and Kevan, it was a matter of picking one target, and hammering them down. Switching as he kept mentally doing was not going to work out for him.


Gnaeus was his chosen one, once he got there.


Just as he turned, though, Paquin caught his leg and pulled. Ariel launched a thrust at him. He picked his poison and dropped with the pull, but caught himself, lightsaber turning off in the position just to make sure he didn’t burn himself. The vibroblade went over him this way, and he rolled from the two women, kicked back up to his feet, and sprinted for Gnaeus.


Gnaeus definitely looked panic, and though he blocked the first slash that came from him, he saw that was exactly what Kylo wanted. He hadn’t read the man’s damnable spin well enough, and moved right into a handful of Force lightning. It struck his chest and he was flung back. He hit the floor, hard, but held onto the vibrosaber as Kylo only followed after him.


Yes, in the melee combat, Gnaeus forgot the Force.


~***~


Hux did sound a bit…hopeless, Leia thought, when he spoke of Snoke and asked his derisive question. Yes, it did sound quite like Mira. They both knew it was Snoke who was messing with her, pulling information from dreams. If he could control minds…it logically followed he would want his Knight back. Much as Leia wanted to believe in her, she suspected that Snoke had to be very powerful to pull off Liberation Day and much else.


Leia’s jaw clenched when he mentioned the assassination. He knew which one he was referring to – Chandrila. Lando had passed on the information when he arrived. It was big news in Coruscant, alongside the ‘return of the Jedi’ with those guides.


“Thank you,” Leia said. “I’ll see what I can get from him. August is concerned about his army right outside,” she said, to help explain what she was there for. She’d let Hux go then, to continue on her way to speaking with Pandion.


“He’s only concerned about what the Senate would do if he let the Mottis eviscerate the army from orbit.” 4I said.


Leia smirked a bit, “Still concerned.” That sounded more like a Tarkin.


~***~


The nexu behaved, half-draped over August’s shoulder, and let him drink his coffee as it was passed around and everyone offered their insight, or questioned the situation. ‘Long day.’ He thought, and popped another donut hole in his mouth. “Killing him is a matter of intergalactic politics. I can hold him here, for now, but if I think to execute him the Senate will throw a tizzy fit.”


Not to mention the situation itself. “He aligned with Snoke out of fear. Snoke can control minds, many of them,” his gaze moved to Adelaide and Seig, “Liberation Day was Snoke, per Pandion.”


Seig’s hand gripped his cup a bit harder. “You’re kidding.”


“I don’t think he was.” Pandion was there, after all.


“Liberation Day,” Phasma spoke up for clarification, “Chandrila’s celebration of supposed peace talks with the Empire and the liberation of the prisoners from the Lock, that ended in a massacre?”


“Correct,” August stated, “Not a good reason to side with Snoke,” he wasn’t letting Pandion’s cowardice slide. He sipped the coffee, “So we may or may not have an army of Snoke-controlled soldiers, but even if they were not, we still have their leader in a cell, and we need to do something about Lothal itself since Snoke has a firm grip there.”


“Besides destroying it.” Casterfo added. August had hinted at that in the Senate room. He knew August wouldn’t…but sometimes, he did wonder.


“Blockades are apparently acceptable to the senate,” and August sipped the coffee.


~***~


‘Shit.’ Mira was about to try and rush at the dog, but BB-8 told them to find the exit. Probably a smart idea. Finn moved first. Mira knelt to get the heels off of her feet, and by the time that had finished without her falling over, Finn had apparently found a hatch. ‘We can just melt it. Or cut through it.’


They probably didn’t like that idea.


Mira moved over to where Finn was either way, finding that she had definitely injured at least her right leg in the fall. Walking hurt. Not broken, at least. She let Terex try to handle the beast. The whistle caught its attention, and then there was a blaster shot in the dark. ‘Please….’


Luck was still with them, even if the Force wasn’t. Mira heard it yowl out and could see its darkened form pawing up at its head. Mira nodded her approval and took a bit of a defensive posture, in case the beast pulled itself together to lunge at them.


BB-8 came rolling to them and plugged into the hatch, quickly running through things to get the hatch to open. “Come on, come on,” Finn muttered.


Then, a click, and the hatch lifted up a bit on its own to signal it was open. “Good, let’s get out of here!” Finn pulled the hatch open, “Mira, you first.” Mira was about to protest it, but Finn grabbed her arm and pulled her towards the ladder.


The aak dog’s growls returned, and Mira didn’t argue. Best to move quick. She did throw her heels – she needed her hand for the ladder. The aak’s head turned as it heard them clatter, and she climbed.


Finn was about to offer to help BB-8, but the droid again used its own variant of the grappling hook to get down. Finn would follow – he didn’t trust Terex to let the man go before him.
 
Kylo seemed to be back on his feet even before Paquin was, and sprinting towards Gnaeus. Paquin didn’t like that, and so she hurried to her feet. More so, Ariel didn’t like that. She felt very protective of Gnaeus now, after the fiasco on Cimarosa. Maybe it was because her failure to assist resulted in Gnaeus losing his hand. Well, maybe not directly. But still.


Gnaeus being flung back by lighting angered her. Did Kylo have no limits? She already knew the answer to that. With a clench of her jaw, her hand shot out and with a flick of her wrist, she sent a wall of those training dummies to circle around Gnaeus. It wouldn’t do much, but she hoped it would be enough of an obstacle to give him a moment to stand up. Of course, that wasn’t all she did. She flung one of the dummies at Kylo, as well. The things were heavy, built to withstand blows from a lightsaber.


And Paquin wasn’t a fan of this training. The Force lightning seemed to have gone a bit too far for Paquin. She knew the reason she didn’t like it was because these were people she cared about, people she didn’t want getting hurt. Not people trying to actually kill her or any of them. Well, now she wasn’t sure what Kylo’s goal was here.


Both she and Ariel moved to join the men on their side of the training grounds. Though, Paquin moved to run passed Kylo, to Gnaeus to see if he was even okay enough to continue. Ariel instead moved to Kylo again. Temporarily ditching the idea of using her vibroblade, but kept it in one hand as she gripped Kylo’s wrist with the Force, to pull him to face her. Instead of trying to slash at him, she just raised her fist to deck him across the face. He could take a punch, He certainly deserved one.


-


Hux was sure Pandion would want the restraining from killing to extend to his army, and so Hux would work towards that as well unless something came up. They didn’t know Pandion was a prisoner inside yet, surely. No reason to kill them until they did something. 


Hux couldn’t help but think if this situation was somehow different, if it weren’t for that mind control bit, Hux wouldn’t mind obliterating all of them. Probably would, too, if he saw it fit.


“Good luck, General. Not that you’ll need it.” Hux doubted it would take much to get anything out of Pandion now, especially after he’d already shared so much. “I’ll leave you to it.” With a nod, he brushed passed the General and back through the basement. He felt he could catch up with the droideka, still.


And he did, as it had only made it down the hall, and apparently hadn’t noticed no one was following it. It didn’t stop until it reached a room, and Hux figured it would be the war room. And it was.


Hux entered, catching something about blockades being acceptable. “Apologies,” it seemed he was late to the party. 


He caught sight of Colonel Mitaka and Millicent. He couldn’t ignore the warmth he felt when the cat perked up, sticking her paw out of the carrier towards him. The former stood from his seat, “General Hux,” he greeted, holding up the man’s datapad before setting it down on the table. “I’ll take my leave now.”


“No, stay.” Hux wanted more of a First Order presence here. He moved around the table, wordlessly opening the cat carrier and scooping Millicent out. She seemed content in his arms as he sat down where Mitaka had been, pulling the datapad towards him. Mitaka sat next to him as Hux began typing away on his datapad, writing up a message for Mira. ‘Please make your way to Eriadu City immediately. - Hux.’ was all it said, along with an attachment of coordinates. But that meant something in itself, as it wasn’t nearly as harsh as the one he’d then send to Carise. 


The message to Carise consisted of him giving her a time and place on Coruscant with the sign off of General Brendol Hux. While he hated his first name, it certainly made a statement. The brief message left no room for negotiation. Even stated that, by saying it was not optional, stressing she had to be there. And why would be discussed upon her arrival.


After he finished, he looked up, the hand he’d used to type now resting on Millicent. “I spoke with Pandion," no sense in keeping it a secret. "He claims Snoke took control of the minds of the Lock prisoners on Liberation Day, and that he has done the same to his family and his people on Lothal. I believe him. He also confessed he and Snoke are responsible for the assassination attempt. General Organa is gathering more information as we speak.” 


-


Terex smirked as he heard the cry of the akk dog before turning back to the now opened hatch, everyone filing through it. ‘Have fun getting the vet to fix that, Grakkus.’ That would be one hell of a bill.


As soon as Finn’s feet hit the ground, his hand found Mira’s arm and pulled her away from the hatch, in case the akk dog would manage to slip a paw through or something. But it didn’t.


Terex was irritated by the ex-Stormtrooper pushing in front of him but didn’t dwell on it. Instead, he gripped onto the handle on the bottom of the hatch before he hopped down after them, pulling the hatch shut with him. The hatch had barely shut before the akk dog snapping at the exit was heard, felt as Terex hadn’t yet let go of it. He allowed himself to release the handle, and land on the floor beneath him.


The akk dog whined and scratched at the hatch above them.


Both Terex and Finn eased, trying to catch their breath. BB-8 beeped out how it knew all of this wasn’t a good idea. “Well, we’re out now, buddy.” Finn used Poe’s nickname for the droid. Well, Poe’s nickname for everyone. The droid let out a sigh. “Almost, anyway.” They still had to get out of the casino. “You alright, Mira?” He hadn’t really had a chance to look her over until now. He knew she had to have hit the ground pretty hard. 


Meanwhile, Terex looked around the hallway they had landed in. It looked just like a hotel floor, but Terex knew better than that. He doubted Grakkus would let anyone stay up here, underneath his artifact and akk dog rooms. It was just a facade in case anyone managed to wander up here. “We need to get moving, we’ll be spotted on the cameras here soon, and Grakkus’s minions will start flooding. The elevator would be quickest, but we could get ambushed at the bottom.” They could get ambushed on the stairs, too. 


Well, if worst came to worse, they could hop out a window. Clearly, none of them had any qualms about leaping out of high places.
 
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The lightning had been a quick jolt, but it certainly stung. Gnaeus was starting to sit up as he found himself suddenly surrounded by training dummies. He stared, bemused at them, and then noted one whipped right by him after Kylo Ren, who stepped out of its path before it would connect with him. The dummies themselves would force Kylo to maneuver more carefully, considering there wasn’t really a human-spaced passage for him between them.


That, and Ariel’s rush, gave Gnaeus enough time to stand by the time Paquin got between. “Fine, fine,” he could see the worry in her eyes even before she spoke a word.


And then he heard a connection and quickly looked up, to see that Ariel’s fist had, in fact, connected with Kylo’s face. Only Kylo had moved with the pull of Ariel’s force, and though he was punched, his lightsaber was still in motion to slice across her abdomen. He’d have to pull back if it connected, of course – they were very close together. If the slash pulled all the way through, it’d cut Ariel neatly in half.


Gnaeus grasped at the dummies with the Force and hefted them in the direction of the duo to split them up, if nothing else, and perhaps knock Kylo the fuck out with one of them striking his head.


Gnaeus could dream.


~***~


4I allowed Leia into the room with Pandion, who looked annoyed to be disturbed again. “Did Hux not get everything that was needed?” He asked. He had less respect for Leia, if only because she had been a part of the Rebel Alliance. He didn’t know how Tarkin could stand to have the woman in his own home.



“Not quite,” Leia stated, “Your army is out there, Pandion.”



“I know.”


“We need to send them home, without compromising you.” The way she said it caused him to cant his head. He wanted to ask what she meant. “August won’t let you go out and tell them to leave,” she noted to his confused look. “I have an idea.”


“And what would that be?”


Her smile came, quick, and then it was gone. Apologetic. “I would like to lie to your army, and tell them you have had to be taken to Coruscant to receive medical treatment. Would that work?”


He leaned back, his back touching the wall, as he considered it. “They know I wasn’t injured. I wasn’t involved in the fighting.” He stayed back to command.


“A rogue agent could have hit you, theoretically.” August wasn’t the only sniper in the universe. “You should be grateful I’m doing this – Hux told me you had a hand in the assassination of the Chandrila senator.”


He bit the inside of his cheek. Of course that would bother Leia. “Why?”


“Three pillars,” Pandion murmured. “Three failsafes to know what Emperor Palpatine was looking for in Wild Space, to recognize it, if it became a problem again…to be able to warn others.” He sighed, “It was Tarkin’s idea. He knew from Wilhuff. I knew from him. Mon Mothma knew from us.” The lie was that he knew all along, but August had. It had been information he hadn’t share with Mon Mothma at that time. He had to wonder if August had done similar things – fed information he had from Wilhuff, to others, so they could use it as a bartering chip.


~***~


August nodded when Hux entered, let the other General get settled. The nexu squirmed as she heard the carrier open and turned her head to see the strange, smaller feline. She desperately wanted to go see it, but August didn’t let her down. She’d probably eat the Commodore, and that wouldn’t go over well with Hux.


“Regardless of the minority opinion in the senate,” Seig spoke, “Blockading Lothal doesn’t fix the immediate problem.” Pandion’s army. Hux finished typing away at his pad then, and Seig silenced himself before saying more, listening to what Hux had to say. He elaborated on Liberation Day. What was going on with Lothal. And, of course, the mystery of the Chandrila assassin.


August stared at Hux for several long seconds after the last. “You cannot murder him, the Senate would execute you,” Julia reminded him. Not referring to Hux, but Pandion.


“It’s just the Chandrila Senator,” Seig commented, but when Adelaide shot him a look, he remembered – August had special ties there. “Oh.” Remembered Liberation Day and how August had looked so admiringly up at Mon Mothma. His ties were still strong to her replacement. “But why would he go after the senator?”


“Reasons,” reasons that August had shared with Johann and Julia. He considered it a family secret, as he knew Pandion did. Mon had simply passed it to her successor. Hers wasn’t a dynasty.


“August….” Adelaide’s voice was not impressed.


“I will share, later,” this was the one thing Admiral Vallens needed to be there for. “Regardless, let’s leave it as I now have a better idea of everything Pandion has shared with Snoke,” which was, in this case, literally everything. “And a blockade may have to wait. I believe an expedition to Wild Space will be necessary instead. I believe the First Order has some maps.” He looked pointedly at Hux. “The Mottis will make use of them.”


~***~


Mira had dropped to her knees on the floor. The stone was now in the purse, and her empty hand splayed itself over the floor. Adrenaline faded. Everything hurt. Everything was exhausted. She felt nauseous. Most of all, she felt horribly disconnected, almost as if she was suddenly blind. Senseless. She had not realized how much she used the Force until the adrenaline started to wear away. The lightsaber’s blade died in her grip.


Her eyelids flickered shut, before she felt Finn take her arm, and she was forced to stand again and move away from the hatch, but she swayed on her feet.


She was tired. The crash of caffeine was hitting her, along with the exhausting effects of alcohol. “No,” her voice trembled as she answered Finn. The wounded leg was imbalanced, knee bent so only her toes touched the ground.


She tried to focus on what Terex said, but had to repeat it a few times in her head. “Ah.” Yes, they needed to get out. “Elevator. I think.” No longer so certain or cocky. She couldn’t take another fall, of that she was pretty certain. She’d just slip into a nice coma. ‘No. No you can’t do that.’ Just because she didn’t have the Force, didn’t mean she couldn’t be destroyed from afar. She could breach Ariel’s mind through a field, after all.


Finn’s panic was rising as Mira seemed to be slipping away. He glanced to Terex. Well, now they definitely needed to work together, he supposed, “Elevator,” he confirmed for Mira. “Let’s get the hell out of here.” He tugged at her arm to get her to come along with him, but she stumbled, so he quickly wrapped his arm around her waist. He didn’t know what had happened, but he knew they had to get to safety before he could figure it out.


BB-8 let out its own sentiments, worried, some of the anger fading in that as it rolled along near Mira’s feet.


The elevator wasn’t far, thankfully, and Finn pressed the button to call it as he felt Mira’s weight increase against him. “You didn’t breathe the gas, did you?” He half-hoped she did. That’d be a good explanation.


Mira heard. But Mira didn’t answer. Didn’t think to answer.
 
Paquin was screaming. On the inside, of course. Gnaeus said he was fine but he was just electrocuted, essentially. And then next thing she knew Kylo was punched in the face. And she recently learned how unpleasant that was, thanks to that one twi’lek woman. And then came Ariel crying out as Kylo’s lightsaber did, in fact, connect with her.


Lightsaber training wasn’t fun. Not for Paquin, anyway.


Despite the lightsaber wound, that Ariel’s hands and the Force moved to push away, Ariel felt good. Punching Kylo Ren in the face was incredibly satisfying. At that point, it was more personal than training. Ariel loved Kylo, but he was quite possibly the biggest asshole she knew. He deserved a punch in the face every once in a while.


And then Ariel found herself tackled to the ground by a training dummy. But she wasn’t complaining, it knocked her away from Kylo’s lightsaber. The Force gripped the dummy and pulled it off of her, Ariel pushed herself off the ground with a groan. She saw Paquin moving towards her and she waved her hand dismissively. Yes, Kylo’s lightsaber had cut through her armor and cut into her abdomen, but it barely cut into her. It was bleeding, but Ariel didn’t think it was anything serious.


Paquin would need to learn what was just a scratch and what was really serious. And if this were a real fight, she couldn’t be running around to check on everyone.


-


Leia’s eyebrows scrunched together, her arms crossing over her chest. “So, you told Snoke about something Palpatine was looking for in Wild Space? And he wanted to kill the Chandrila senator because of it?” Mon Mothma must have passed the information along to her replacement. Snoke must have wanted to eliminate those who knew about it, then. The three pillars. And the Chandrila senator was probably the easiest to get at.


And Pandion must have given the information up in exchange. For his family or for his own life, as he wasn’t dead either.


And then there was August. Maybe Snoke was hoping to eliminate him in the battle, but that didn’t happen. He was still at risk.


Leia shook her head. “What’s in Wild Space?” Something big enough for Palpatine to be interested in. For Snoke to kill for. Something people had to be warned about. Leia had some idea what could exist in Wild Space. Lost planets, cultures. She imagined Jedi and Sith artifacts. Things that had fallen off the map.


-


Hux was glad for Millicent and her calming purrs as Tarkin responded with ‘reasons’. He nearly rolled his eyes at the answer. Or rather lack of one. He almost regretted not pressing Pandion for more information on the assassination. Maybe Leia would get something out of him and he could ask her. Hux wasn’t sure how long August figured later was.


Hux was relieved when a blockade on Lothal was to wait. He knew that blockades weren’t always peaceful. If ever. A fine example being the one on Eriadu.


And then August looked directly to Hux as he spoke of maps to Wild Space, the Mottis making use of them. 


“We will?” Alexander seemed to light up at the aspect of exploring Wild Space.


Hux rose an eyebrow as he stroked the cat in his lap. “The Mottis may make use of the maps to Wild Space when I know what they’re being used for.” August obviously had some clue of what he wanted to find in Wild Space, and after that ‘reasons’ answer, Hux wasn’t inclined to simply hand them over. He almost wanted to go ahead and ask Mira what might lie in Wild Space, as she was the one who’d worked so hard to provide the maps. 


He obviously knew what Wild Space could consist of, as Snoke had wanted it mapped out. As there was an entire planet full of kyber crystals and Force-sensitive worms.


“I’m sure you understand how I wouldn’t want to hand over maps that took years to develop without having some clue of what this expedition is about.” 


-


“Mira?” Finn questioned when she didn’t answer.


“Doesn’t matter right now, we need to get out of here,” Terex said as the lift arrived, doors sliding open for them. Terex walked in first, pressing the button for the bottom floor, the casino. “You might as well lift her up, we’re probably going to have to move quickly. She’ll just slow us down.” But obviously they couldn’t leave her behind. As easy as that would be.


“Oh, okay.” Finn then hooked his other arm underneath Mira’s legs, carefully, and lifted her up. “Is this alright, Mira?” She wasn’t in any pain or anything? Though, he didn’t expect a response, in all honesty.Even Finn knew this was probably better for both her and getting away.


BB-8 beeped then, asking what they would do if she did breath in the gas. Its anger had disappeared at this point, replaced with concern for the blonde woman. “Like I said, doesn’t matter. Besides, it’s probably just sleeping gas.”


“You really think so?” Finn questioned.


“No. It’s probably a sixty-forty. Sixty being that it’s poisonous. We’ll deal with it when we get to my ship.”


“We have a ship.”


“You don’t have my ship.” Terex winked at the chocolate skinned man before the lift doors opened before them, once again being welcomed by the smoke and alcohol scent. So far, everyone seemed to be distracted by gambling once again. “Alright, follow me. Gotta move fast.” Terex led the way, through the casino floor so they’d be difficult to spot. Even so, Terex could spot some of Grakkus’s men beginning to arrive and move onto the floor. 


But the door was in sight and once they got to the Carrion Spike, they’d be home free. 
 
The Force propelled dummy came as quite the surprise to Kylo, who was also flung away from Ariel by the force of it connecting with him. He hit the ground and pushed the dummy off of him immediately. Rolled, got back to his feet, and saw he was quite a bit away from his target of Gnaeus, and Ariel was also pulling herself together.


Gnaeus was a nuisance that needed dealt with. Paquin wasn’t doing much. Ariel was actually managing to hit him. Still, he felt he should deal with Gnaeus first, as it was usually due to him that Ariel managed to harm him at all. His nose was also throbbing from the hit. He wasn’t sure if it was broken or just hurt – but it was definitely causing him to want to shift gears.


‘No.’ He had to stay focused. That was the issue. And with Paquin running right to Ariel, he decided to try and make it easier for himself to get to Gnaeus, who was no longer surrounded by his dummy barricade.


He reached out and tried to pull on Paquin herself, to throw her at Ariel. She already had the momentum. Just a bit of a pull should be enough to send the two together, and potentially knock them both to the ground. He caught what Gnaeus was doing out of the corner of his eye, seeing all the dummy's being pulled back. The man was pulling the dummy’s back. Apparently he realized dummy barricade was a good idea.


~***~


Pandion shook his head, “I don’t know what’s in Wild Space,” that was part of the problem, “It’s all theory. Wilhuff’s theory.” He added, so she knew where it came from. A good source, considering how close Wilhuff had been to both Palpatine and Vader. How he had figured out they were actually Siths, and put together so much more that would end up being true. “August understood it better, all I understood was that Palpatine was looking for something in Wild Space, and it had to do with the Force.”


Of course, he knew a bit more of August’s theory, but that was what he tried to pass off to Snoke. That he only knew it had to do with the Force, and that August and the Senator of Chandrila knew more. Well, and it may or may not relate to manipulating reality itself, since that was Palpatine’s obsession.


He supposed he could add that, “Palpatine…August liked to call him an orchestrator. Or Wilhuff, I honestly get confused when it comes to Palpatine,” who believed what, or perhaps they believed the same…though that didn’t seem right since Wilhuff supported Palpatine and August did not. “But he thought that Palpatine wanted to literally control the universe. If Snoke can already control masses…if he had access to something that would allow him to further his control, that wouldn’t be good. But that’s what we think is out there. Something that would allow someone like Snoke, or Palpatine, to further their manipulative abilities with the Force.”


~***~


“Yes,” August told Alexander, even as Hux denied him. He wanted to know the reasons, and though August did fully intend to tell Hux, he would have preferred to do so with the Admiral around. He wanted to speak to her on the matter, as well. “Fine. We’ll shelve this idea until Admiral Vallens returns,” he told Hux.


“Why?” Adelaide had to ask, irked with the decision. “She might not come back.” If she was out playing agent, that implied she was out in some sort of danger apart from their own. She didn’t know the details, didn’t need them. She’d gotten Pandion in trouble, that was enough. “Do we know where she is?”


Her eyes went to Phasma, Hux, and Mitaka. Phasma answered, “It is none of your concern, however, General Keil makes a point. We cannot guarantee the lives of anyone not here,” and she wanted the information, as well.


August took the nexu down from his shoulder then, and set her lightly on the floor. He seemed to hesitate, and Julia chuckled, “Still self-conscious about sounding like an idiot on this, love?” It was enough to lighten August’s mood, allowing a bitter smile to trace his lips. Julia elaborated, “It involves the Force, and as I’m sure you’ve noticed, none of us are Force sensitive, so it’s a bit beyond us.”


“It also involves theories my uncle,” technically cousin, he still didn’t care about technicalities, “never got to finish. But,” he sighed, as the nexu immediately started walking around to meet Hux’s friend. “In Wild Space, there is a planet,” on this, August never changed his mind. It was a planet. “with a…sentient Force, is the best way to put it.”


“A sentient planet?” Adelaide sounded doubtful.


“Yes. Or that’s what Palpatine thought. He never found it, so we don’t know if that is what it was, or if it will turn out to be something else. But a planet, nonetheless, that may as well be called Force sensitive and sentient, and I know how it sounds.” Insane. It sounded insane to him, until Wilhuff had jotted notes about the Carrion Plain, and how it seemed…different. “There are places in this universe where the Force is strong, like it is in people. The Jedi knew that, and built their temple on Coruscant because of it, and Emperor Palpatine set himself up there to tap into that Force, to use it to orchestrate the universe to his will.”


~***~


Grasping consciousness was all Mira could do. It reminded her of times she’d been poisoned, but she wasn’t poisoned. She was certain she wasn’t, though she supposed, it was possible. ’60-40.’ She tilted her head towards Finn and lifted one hand to grasp his shirt. Okay, she could do that as well, but otherwise, her head was swimming, rattled with each step, as she refused to just go down into unconsciousness.


If she slept….


It was the pressure that remained with enough pull. Death was better than sleep. She was just...so exhausted. Damn the stone, she did need the Force, didn't she? It had bee keeping her awake.


Finn tried not to let panic override his senses as he carried Mira to the doors, following after Terex who wove a path to try and keep them hidden on their way. He tried not to look suspicious, but how could he not? He was carrying the woman who had stood up to Grakkus with the Force, and some eyes did linger as they passed.


“Thank you for coming! We hope you enjoyed…,” the greeter started, then paused as she recognized who they all were, “Hey, wait a moment!”


“Sorry!” Finn bolted then, right out the doors, and right towards the docks. Sure, Terex had a ship, but so did he – and his ship had Jedi artifacts on it that he was pretty sure they did not want Grakkus to get his hands on. Or else Mira would have them come right back here,


‘And Poe’s jacket. Hux’s coat.’ Yeah, he had to make sure they got the ship out of here or they were coming back, and Finn did not want to come back. “Just a little longer, Mira. We’ll go to Takodana.” Maz might be able to help. Maybe.


Still no response. But he knew she was at least still alive.  
 
Paquin felt the pull of the Force on her, and the natural resistance that came from her. It caused her to slow, physically, but she was still shoved towards the redheaded woman. She would have fallen over, had she not used the Force to balance herself once she did collide with Ariel. Unfortunately, Ariel didn’t manage to stay on her feet.


“Sorry!” Paquin quickly grabbed onto Ariel’s wrist and helped her to her feet again. 


Ariel grumbled as she looked beyond Paquin, to Gnaeus. She was pretty happy with herself for throwing up those dummies that first time. Paquin looked to Gnaeus, then to Kylo as Ariel picked up the vibroweapon she’d dropped in her second fall. The brunette wondered what it would take for this to be finished. What was the deciding factor of the end? Paquin was more vexed by the training than she was frightened at this point. 


Kylo could try to keep his focus on Gnaeus but Ariel, and now Paquin, weren’t going to make it easy for him. Paquin didn’t really have much of an attack planned as she turned, her little legs striding over to Kylo. “I-uh-what’re you doing?” Ariel asked as the small one walked away from her, determination in her step. 


Paquin’s idea of an attack was that of a slash at him, with a thought back to some lessons she took upon joining the First Order. She could hit pressure points with the Force, right? She knew pressure points.


-


“You’re right, that wouldn’t be good,” Leia mumbled as she thought. This was definitely something that needed to be shared with others. The more people who knew, the better. Or maybe it was worse, more targets. And it obviously seemed like Snoke had no issue targeting masses of people. But he seemed to have trouble killing just one person, luckily for them…


So whether it was good or not would have yet to be decided.


Another thought popped into her head. If something in Wild Space had to do with with the Force and Snoke, something Palpatine had taken an interest in, maybe it would be wise to inform Luke and Rey. Maybe Luke would have some idea, she hoped. He’d been gone for years, off the map himself, who knew what he had stumbled across? She’d call him, she decided. 


Suck him back into socialization. 


For now, she needed to rejoin the war council. “Your openness is appreciated,” Leia was fairly certain Pandion was being honest, yet didn’t call it that. Not yet. “I don’t know what the future holds for you, but for now we’re telling your army you were shot.” 


-


Alexander leaned over to his brother as Adelaide and Phasma spoke of the chance Mira might not return. “The First Order would be better off without her, I’d say.” He mumbled to his brother, who only kicked his shin in response.


“No one asked you,” Caius responded, his eyes and attention remaining on everyone else. Again, even if he did agree. Not appropriate.


Millicent really did seem to be a magical creature, as she seemed to sense when Hux grew even the slightest bit irritated. She kneaded at his leg as Adelaide spoke of Mira perhaps not coming back, Phasma too. As much as Hux was aware that was a possibility, he didn’t want to think of it. And then there was the comment from the Motti twin, that wasn’t at all hushed.


But the idea of Admiral Vallens not retiring did seem to get them answers, so he spoke nothing of it.


That nexu came around to him and Millicent, even using Hux’s leg as a means to get closer to the cat. Hux glared at the creature, silently threatening it to try something, his hand ready to swat the thing away from the Commodore. But so far, the nexu had only sniffed at Millicent and the ginger cat sniffed back. The smaller feline let out a squeak, seeming to startle the nexu back. 


Hux turned his attention back to August, still keeping an eye on his cat and the beast. “Sounds reasonable to me.” He spoke.


“It does?” Adelaide questioned the other General, her face scrunching.


“Yes. There’s a planet made up of kyber crystals in Wild Space, with blind Force-sensitive worms protecting them. Maybe it’s not a sentient planet, but if it is, it doesn’t seem all that far-fetched.” It could be a planet full of Force-sensitives, or another kyber planet. Or maybe it was just that, a Force planet. “I will have the maps transferred, but I do advise holding off until Admiral Vallens returns,” because Hux was sure she would.


He wasn’t Force-sensitive, but he felt that for some reason, he’d know if she was dead. Maybe not if she was captured, but if she was for sure not returning. Maybe it was just hope. But either way, he knew she would return. She had to. “She knows more about the maps and Wild Space than any of us. She made them.” 


-


“Are you fucking serious!?” Terex called to the retreating man with the woman in his arms, the droid following behind frantically. Terex sighed. “That man’s not very bright.” He spoke to the greeter, who had pulled out a comm link, likely to try and call for back up. “You know, I’m not afraid to hit a woman,” Terex informed as he took the comm link and chucked it out of the open doors, into the fountain out front.


Did Finn not know what the Carrion Spike was? It would have a better chance of getting them out of there safely than the ship they had would. ‘Whatever.’ Now Terex had to escape himself, and he supposed he had to follow them now, as well.


“Have a nice day!” He said to the wide-eyed greeter as he ran off, to get off the forsaken desert planet himself.


And Finn came to the docks, and to the familiar ship. “BB-8, can you get the keys out, please?” His hands were full. The droid beeped its compliance and dug into Mira’s purse for them. Next thing they knew, the ramp was lowered and they were on the ship.


Finn set Mira down onto the copilot’s seat, carefully. “Keep an eye on her, BB-8.” He instructed as he took the keys from the droid, sitting in the pilot’s seat and starting the ship up. Looking out the front viewport, he just knew Grakkus’s men were out there looking for them.


BB-8 beeped its agreement and stuck to Mira’s side. An arm darted out and held onto Mira’s hand. Almost as if it was offering support, but it was actually monitoring Mira’s heart rate. Eye on her, her vitals popped up in its vision. A perk that came with being Poe’s astromech, it had to keep an eye on those things in the air. An eye on Poe’s health and the X-Wings. But for the moment, it was just Mira.


Finn quickly plugged in the coordinates to Takodana, to Maz’s castle. He was nervous to return, the last time being with Han and then the battle. But if Maz could help Mira, then he didn’t think twice about returning. 


Without hesitance, he lifted the ship up, the ramp closing as some heads turned towards the lifting ship. Finn wasted no time in leaving the atmosphere and jumping into hyperspace.


With the small window between departure and arrival, Finn slipped in the back to change out of his suit, as cool as it was. Maybe one day he’d wear it again, but for now, he wanted his jacket. Poe’s, but his. And he unconsciously snatched up Hux’s jacket, laying it over Mira like a blanket. “We’re almost there, Mira. No more alcohol for you after this.” He tried to joke, but he was much too worried. And he was still unaware of that the effects came from the stone, and not the alcohol.


Though the alcohol probably wasn’t helping right about now.
 
Kylo was not planning to lash out with Gnaeus with the blade again. He was going to overpower him with the Force. The barrier he built would be his downfall. Kylo would crush him under it. At least, that was his plan as he approached, and as the Force trembled in the air between them. Gnaeus’s threat poised with each step Kylo took.


He heard Ariel’s query. Paquin’s steps. He paid them no attention. Perhaps if Paquin had run, he would have, but he figured he had enough time with her just walking. He threw his hand out and grasped the dummies, just as Gnaeus did. There was resistance, but it wasn’t enough as Kylo put more focus into it, and Gnaeus seemed to panic under the stress.


All of the dummies flew at Gnaeus, and Gnaeus dropped his focus, dropped to his knees and covered his head with one hand, tried to create a small field around himself as the dummies fell upon him.


Kylo turned then, and shifted left quick enough to just see the some of his clothing get ripped by Paquin’s slash. Determining that Gnaeus was down, he retaliated immediately and slashed right back, an upwards cut to slash from hip to shoulder. He wasn’t sure if that would be enough to take her out.


The rules were usually until one shouted yield, or they were unconscious. That was usually his rule – he would never yield.


~***~


Pandion bowed his head. No, it wouldn’t be good. He knew it wouldn’t be good. He felt so foolish to have gone along with Snoke in the first place, wondering if his mind had been all there to start with. He listened to the silence for a while, as Leia seemed to measure his words.


He managed a nod.


“I understand,” he swallowed. He knew his fate was truly in August Tarkin’s hands, and he did not expect him to be merciful. He expected to die, but he was damned regardless, since Snoke ordered him here, to try and assassinate August. He never would have gotten out alive, even if he was successful. Snoke was trying to kill him, wasn’t he?



“Get them home.” His army. He hoped it would work. “And good luck…princess.”


~***~


‘Oh, I cannot wait until you meet Mira Vallens’ August thought, but didn’t say it aloud. He was looking forward to the meeting of the Admirals, particularly Alexander and Mira. They were going to hate each other. And Alexander had probably learned nothing about not pissing off a Sith from his father’s adventures in asphyxiation with Vader.


But more than that, August was taken by surprise when Hux said it made sense. The relief must have shown on his face, because Julia laughed, and Seig just shook his head, baffled.


August nodded, “I would have preferred to wait until she returned to even discuss it, but times as they are,” he sighed. There was no waiting, “I know her mission was out there, mapping it. I don’t think she found what Snoke was looking for, but her maps will let us know what has been looked at, what may need further investigation, and where to jump off from.”


Phasma arched a brow under her helmet, but decided it would be imprudent to ask how August knew of Mira’s missions. Spies worked on both sides. August apparently had a good one.


“With that cleared, then, we need to begin securing planets that are likely to be utilized by Snoke. His army is clones, so Kamino is a planet we’ll need to lockdown.”


That stirred a memory from Phasma. Mira, after she spoke with Ariel, “Snoke himself may be on Kamino.”


August jolted, “What?”


“Admiral Vallens got some information out of Knight Ariel Ren. Snoke’s location, at that time, was Kamino.”


Meanwhile, the nexu sat back on its haunches. It was having no luck with women, of any species, it seemed.


~***~


Mira felt herself lowered, and knew the seat, though she hadn’t been in it long. This was the skiff. ‘Safe.’ Her ship. She felt a metallic claw take hold of her hand, and she breathed deep. Shivered, the adrenaline flushing itself from her veins, dropping her lower and lower from consciousness.


The ship rattled around her, and then, she slipped to sleep.


BB-8 didn’t say as much. It sensed the drop of her heartbeat, and the slowing of her breath, but decided that so long as those beads didn’t change colors, and she didn’t start sparking lightning, it could let her have a few moments of peace.


Especially after Finn returned and covered her in Hux’s blanket, which her hand idly grabbed at as she curled herself into the chair, bringing her knees up and dropping her head. 'Safe....'


That’s when BB-8 let Finn know she was asleep, or at least, the droid was pretty sure she was. It didn’t sense anything else going wrong with her, though it didn’t exactly know what was ‘normal’ for her as an individual. Or as a Force sensitive. But it knew normal human, and she was still well within the good range.


“Good,” Finn sighed, “Maybe we should let her sleep a bit…,” he knew it wasn’t safe, but she couldn’t go on without sleep forever. “Maybe Snoke won’t notice too soon….”


Vain hope, but a hope nonetheless. "Are you sure she's okay?" Finn was having immense doubts. His senses felt off, and he couldn't place why. He assumed it to be a bad thing - a bad feeling, but it didn't quite feel like what he'd felt before he went to Cimarosa. It was more that he wasn't sure, at all.
 
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Ariel’s attention was drawn from Paquin when she felt Gnaeus’s panic, even as she knew she should warn Paquin that she’d only get her ass kicked. Reaching out, she pulled the dummies to stand around him again. He wasn’t standing, and that concerned her. “Gnaeus?” She didn’t want to coddle him, but at the same time, she did. 


Paquin hadn’t anticipated Kylo’s retaliation to come so quickly. Her reaction didn’t come quick enough. She stepped backward, but not soon enough. Kylo’s lightsaber came in contact with her hip. It sliced easily through the clothes she’d borrowed from Ariel and followed well past her hip and onto her stomach. Though Paquin did manage to step back far enough for the rest of her to go unharmed.


Maybe it would have been wise to retrieve her armor before this, maybe then she wouldn’t have been wounded. 


Paquin took in a sharp breath and held it in response to the pain. ‘That doesn’t feel good.’ Apparently, no one was leaving the room unscathed. Paquin hadn’t really recovered before she sliced at him. Though it was just a cover for her to use the Force to jab at a pressure point, one between the throat and the chest, like she was pushing with the Force, but isolated. There was a potential risk of impacting too hard and causing a potential collapse of Kylo’s trachea, but she was just banking on it being very unpleasant. Hopefully.


-


“Thank you, Jarrod.” Leia offered a nod, turning to leave before she paused, turned back. “And don’t call me princess.” She wasn’t a princess anymore. She was a General, a rebel leader. And a Senator. And many other things.


Leia turned finally and knocked on the cell door to alert the droid. The door opened, Leia exited, and Pandion was alone again. 4I welcomed Leia outside of the door, “Follow me, Leia.” It instructed as it turned and clicked all the way up the two basements and back into the halls of Tarkin’s home, leading the Resistance General to the war council room.


It even opened the door for her, Leia jumping right into the middle of a conversation.


There was no secret about how Tarkin knew of Mira’s missions in Wild Space. Still, Hux wasn’t thrilled with it. August had said he’d remove his spies, but the damage was already done. If only there was a sure way to weed out spies. Hard to do in such a large military organization.


Then came news of Snoke possibly being on Kamino, which was news to Hux. He’d only walked in on Mira on the ground. Kamino made sense with the clones. It was then, as Hux spoke, that Leia walked in. “I’m sure Snoke is well aware that his Knights have been captured at this point, there’s a chance he might not be there anymore. But he still might be. Kamino should be approached with caution, especially with what Pandion has been saying about mind control.” A small group they could spare, a few units. It’s not like Kamino was a broad space of land. 


It was then that Leia spoke up as she pulled up a chair for herself. “What did I miss?”


Meanwhile, Millicent swatted at the unnamed nexu. More in a playful, teasing manner than an aggressive one. And the cat seemed smug as she settled her head on Hux’s hand as if she knew the nexu couldn’t touch her.


-


BB-8 beeped out a no, to which Finn slumped, but quickly added that for now, she was okay. Things could change quickly whether it be Snoke or deteriorating health. But that’s what BB-8’s hold on Mira was for. So it could monitor her. And zap her awake, if need be,


The silence of hyperdrive ended as they slowed just outside the atmosphere of the familiar green planet. He recalled Rey’s words as the planet greeted the skiff. How she didn’t know there was this much green in the whole galaxy. Finn found that sad as even as a Stormtrooper, he recalled seeing so much green.


Maz’s castle was obvious from miles away, and Finn landed the ship closer to it than Han had last time they’d been here. He didn’t want the distance of the ship to be far, for Mira.


Finn didn’t bother to wake her up. “Stay with her, okay? I’m going to go find Maz, get Mira some food and water.” It’d been too long since she’d last consumed something other than coffee or alcohol. Maybe some more nutrients would help her feel better. “If anything happens, get her up and come find me. You can do that right?” The droid beeped out an ‘of course.’


Finn nodded, and with that exited the ship, walking the familiar path to the castle. ‘Don’t stare.’ He told himself.


Not far behind was Terex, surprised that the planet of Takodana had been chosen, but nonetheless, he followed them. He landed further than them, not caring about the walk. He didn’t want any of the smugglers and criminals around to find his ship. He knew it was exactly the kind of beauty they’d go for.


And not far in front of Finn, as he entered the all too familiar structure with the seemingly inescapable scent of alcohol, was Maz. She was standing, arms crossed. She was next to another dark-skinned man, who was sitting at a table, facing away from him. 


And Finn noticed then, that that unsure feeling was gone. Things felt…clearer now. ‘Hm.’ He shrugged it off. Instead, calling out to the small alien woman. “Maz!” He garnered no looks as he maneuvered his way to her. Calling out for Maz wasn’t unusual in this place.
 
Gnaeus shifted to the ground as the dummies were removed from around him, laying out. The blackness of unconsciousness had stolen over him, crushed by the dummies. His breathing was a bit rushed, shallow. Ribs were injured in the crush. He wouldn’t be getting up – for now, he was out. He did not answer Ariel.


Kylo’s next target became Paquin, considering she was standing right in front of him and he was able to deliver a devastating blow to her abdomen. It pained him to see the wound, to recall vividly that she had no armor on. He hesitated a moment after the slash had pulled through, and it was enough for him not to notice the pressure of the Force.


He saw the slice, and he blocked it, intending to use his strength to throw her arm open and away from her chest so he could strike again, but he stepped back instead.


A hand lifted to the point of pain as he coughed, cleared his throat, and tried to refocus. He knew Paquin had just used the Force, but with his limited knowledge of pressure points, he didn’t quite understand what she’d done. Force-choking, he would have understood. That, however, was absolutely not Force-choking. It was…painful.


~***~


‘Even if Snoke isn’t there, that is how he is going to get more troops.’ August would have lashed out at Kamino regardless if they had anything to do with Snoke acquiring soldiers. He raised his eyebrows. He was about to make a comment on Hux’s ‘bravery’, but he did have a point. They knew next to nothing about Kamino.


The one who did, of course, wasn’t here.


Again, August was irked that Hux sent the Admiral away.



He turned his head to Leia as she spoke. “In a nutshell,” he offered, “we’ve discussed Snoke and Palpatine, Wild Space, and now we’re focusing on what to do next. It seems that Snoke has a presence in Kamino, and it was his last known residence by Admiral Vallens. It is certainly where he is getting his troops.”


Leia nodded, smiled a bit, “Good, I don’t have to catch you up on what Pandion had to say about Wild Space, then.”


“He is just running his mouth now, isn’t he?” August sighed. Perhaps it would be better to put him out of his misery. “And about his army…?”


“The best idea seems to be, to state that he was injured and had to be lifted to Coruscant.”


August raised his eyebrows. Considered it. Then, nodded his agreement. “That could work.” For now, it would have to.



Leia came to the table then. “So we’re looking at Kamino?”


The nexu inched back towards Millicent, and raised its paw to try and bat at her, the way she had. A quick sweep towards her head, which was so darn tiny! How could that even be a head? It had to feel it.


“Yes.”


“Mustafar would also be a place to investigate. Gunnar’s been trying to get ships on it for years, but to no avail. Haven’t tried hard, but…something’s up on Mustafar. It might be related.” Considering Sith history and Darth Vader.


August nodded. “We need probe droids going out to Kamino. Fly-bys. Agents. Whatever we can manage,” he then flippantly added, “perhaps Terex can go spy on it.”


No he couldn’t. Snoke would sense him through the Force, stealth or no. Darth Vader had tracked the Carrion Spike through the Force before. But, he wouldn’t mind Terex getting shot down.


~***~


Maz was glaring at the man she had gotten too familiar with over the years, as he came here to sulk while the dark side grew in power, unwilling to lift a hand to stop it. The years showed on his face in wrinkles, but he did not look as old as he ought. The Force was strong in him, and he had certainly learned secrets the Jedi never taught – like how to prolong his own life.


He would come around as they were preparing to celebrate Life Day. Maz was hoping Chewie would drop by. She had not seen him since his last visit with Han, and knew he was in deep suffering over it. Perhaps this would help him. Remind him.


“I—”


Her words were interrupted by a shout, and when she looked up, a surprised smile came to her lips. How hadn’t she sensed him, until just now? “Finn!” She patted the shoulder of the sitting man and left his side to greet him. “You came back.”


As he always did.


As his father always did.


They wanted to run, they always wanted to run, but running was what had set them on the path to righteousness in the first place. When Mace ran from the Jedi, when he lifted his saber against Darth Sidious, that act was the act that began it all – the first act against the Order.


As Finn released the pilot, and escaped his own Order.


“Yeah, sorry for the drop-in,” Finn said.


“You’re alone?” She sounded surprised, confused, even worried by it.


“No, actually, that’s kind of why I’m here.”


“Let’s sit, you can tell me—”


But Finn shook his head, “I kind of need to get back to her.”


“Her?” Maz smiled. “Who’s the girl, Finn?” Though she asked it in a suggestive way, she knew it was not so. No, Finn’s energy didn’t move in that way. This was someone dear to him, but that sort of anxiety was not involved. “You can bring her here. All are welcome.”


And all the while, she felt the other one hesitating. Sensing it, as she knew he would. She knew when he finally turned back around to look and see who Maz decided was more important than him, knew he would eventually look and see those eyes. Those same eyes, after all those years. "Even reject Jedi." Maz raised her voice then, to let the man know she was aware of his interest, a not-so subtle invitation. Because Finn was here. And Finn had a lightsaber.


Perhaps, Finn knew, at last. Luke might have recognized it in him, but she didn't believe that. He wouldn't be here if it was Luke. The situation was getting...interesting.
 
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