Masquerade [ Ft. Banks & November ]

He'd been in the middle of a meditation session. One Plasma had interrupted with a hard stare and a pull on the ears and a "stop sitting around here" that left Kylo wondering if she was getting too familiar with him.

He made his way out to the hall, his eyes still stinging in the fresh, harsh light of the corridor. He was still blinking the light out of his eyes when he noticed Hux, looking as tired and haunted as the first time he'd met him. “Where are we going, Major General?”

“Adjunction room.” Hux barked. “You're a special guest at a very large conference. And it's just plain General now.”

Kylo didn't stop in his tracks, but his eyes widened, and his heart rumbled in his chest. “Something terrible must have happened.”

“You have absolutely no idea what an understatement that is.”

The pit in his stomach just grew as he entered the adjunction room - the last couple of times he'd been here they were relatively intimate meetings, but now there were a dozen Order officers packed into the room via hologram, with Snoke’s placid, menacing form at the head of the carnage. And every person in the room turned to him and Phasma as they entered the room.

He found he didn't need the mask as much as he thought. He didn't feel as if he was in control, but he did need to act like it. “It's wonderful that you were all so patient. Who's going to bring me up to speed?”

That was something he'd learned a long time ago. When in doubt, just… sound confident.

But the confidence faded when Fedorre turned on a screen above them. Now he see what he presumed they were all so upset about. It was security footage of the break-in to the Chandrila digital archive. There was Kylo and Phasma, killing the guards and making their way towards the computer room.

“This,” Fedorre says sternly, “is incontrovertible proof that the First Order played a role in the turnover of Chandrila.”

Kylo shrugged. “We blockaded the planet for a year. And then you practically glassed the capital city. Of course we played a role. As long as there isn’t any footage of me and Arquardt, we should be fine.’

“You’re being rather flippant, Kylo Ren.” This was Snoke speaking, which sent a chill through the room. “It was of utmost impotance that you weren’t discovered- “

“I wasn’t.” Kylo looked around the room for the red jacket of the intelligence division. “I’m not a spy. You sent me down there with Commander Phasma against overwhelming odds. Which we accomplished, we couldn’t have predicted-”

“Worse than the video, is who published it.”

“How could that possibly matter?” Kylo whired around the room looking for reassurance. And all of these people - all decorated, all geniuses, some of them heroes dating back to the old Empire… all of them looked nervous about this.

“Kylo, the tape was in the hands of… General Bel Iblis.”

“The dead one?”

“That’s the thing,” Hux said, putting a hand on his shoulder. “He’s very much not dead.”
 
How many times had she been in an adjunction room full of people she didn't particularly care to be involved with. Sure, being recognized for your efforts was one thing, but this shit was getting out of hand. Her eyes had followed the video as though it were Ren playing them back to her, a similar wince coming across her face as this clearly would not lead into anything good. It never was in these rooms. Holding onto her wrists behind her back, nails tapping into the bottom of her palms when Fedorre spoke, shaking her head faintly as though it were the wildest thing that the Order was behind what had happened to Chandrila.

Of course they were.

" Not to be disrespectful Admiral, but you sent us onto that planet with no security clearance to even get near the senate. We did what made sense with the option we were given. " What were they supposed to do? Let themselves get captured by a set of guards? Please, the scenario would have turned out exactly the same with potentially more bodies, eyes meeting the flushed Admiral Fedorre, who clearly needed the reminder that that was exactly what he had done. Of course, the subject was so rapidly changed she had to resist rolling her eyes in front of the higher chain of command.

Gritting her teeth softly when the announcement had been so abruptly leaked by a presumed dead man, Phasma wanted desperately to ask how they'd fucked that up, again curious if it was just that easy to disappear. " Are you sure it's not another HRD? " Was her next question, having had one too many run ins with them already, she wanted to at least get some idea of this apparently walking corpse. She wished it was that easy now, to just disappear into the universe and never be seen again, her eyes moving back up to the screen as a snippet of what else came with the video surveillance recording.


" . . I tried to be kind about it, I really did. Gave you the ultimatum, sixty seconds and all that fun bit. Then you had to go and screw it all up, huh. " The tone of the General's voice was clear annoyance in the situation, his eyes staring toward them as though he was speaking to them directly and not pre-recorded. " The good news here is, that kid you've got playing Vader dress up, is just that. A kid playing dress up, so I thought to myself, maybe I could let this whole situation go. . But now, now I can't do that. And that's where your bad news comes in. . "


 
The camera slowly panned back from the stern face of General Bel Iblis, revealing a plush, rounded seat that seemed to clash with his taciturn features. Rolling back even further, it revealed a tall, sun-drenched set of windows and a wide marble table.

"I'm sending this message from the Theed Royal Palace in Naboo. A few hours ago, this planet was under the predictably brutal occupation of the First Order. And, I get that, you know? Emperor Palpatine's home planet. Owning this place must have been a big boost for morale. But tonight, I'm sending a message loud and clear - there are still people in this galaxy who don't roll over and die in the face of naked aggression. Had to kill a few thousand gullible young kids to send that message, but..."

Bel Iblis shrugged, the faintest hint of a smile emerging on his lips. "So it goes. And that's not my only message. To the New Republic and freedom loving people throughout the galaxy: I liberated Naboo with ten ships. Ten. We don't have time to be intimidated by these assholes. This fella Snoke isn't Palpatine, and all the Knights of Ren put together sure as hell aren't Darth Vader."

Kylo felt his jaw shaking. He scanned the reactions of the room, Hux had his usual mix of terror and resoluteness that he almost admired. The younger officers were mostly keeping it together, but the older hands, the ones that had actually fought this man in his prime... calling them "wary" would be a generous way to put it.

"Not yet, anyway. The First Order is cooking up some nasty stuff. This business in Chandrila is just the tip of the iceberg. Don't wait for them to bring the war to you. Stand up and fight. I'm ready to lead the way. This is General Garm Bel Iblis - "

Snoke waved his hand, and the screen was gone, replaced by wrecked, burning ships that littered the landscape of Naboo. Hux cleared his throat. "Obviously, this was not an HRD. There aren't any androids with this level of tactical talent, that much is certain."

"He's not just making us look like fools, he's inciting chaos throughout our territory. I want to lead a team into Theed. Obviously, this general needs -"

"The Knights of Ren," Snoke said calmly, "are indisposed. Even for this."

Kylo narrowed his eyes. He really needed a conversation with that man. About this, and a lot of things.

"Just explain to me how we fix this."
 
It was admirable, even from the side of the First Order, to watch this man so carefully pick apart things the Order stood for, pick apart Snoke and his knights. The way he plucked at the true lack of resistance in his fight to prove to those in occupied cities that the Order was nothing more than a shadow, her eyes peeling away from the screen to look at Kylo, almost surprised he hadn't began lashing out at anything within the room. Here was a man, who was assumed as dead, speaking out toward the people of the Republic and the Resistance, and it made her skin crawl.

It, though only for a second, made her consider the possibilities of an uprising.

They couldn't allow that to happen. Her eyes dancing over the dark clouds of smoke from burning ships that would have looked so out of place among the lush greens had Naboo not been a place for several conflicts, there was a knot forming in the bottom of her stomach. Everything about the planet looked the same, the panning shot of pieces of rubble on fire, jutting out from the ground, Commander Phasma's eyes lingered on the images, more so in the background. Gorgeous buildings with rounded roofs enveloped by black smoke, her eyes dropped to the floor for a moment, the slack on her wrists giving her room to cough into a closed fist softly.

Was nice to see that home still looked. . Familiar.

God how she wished he had been an HRD.

" Extraction. " Because make no mistake, she was certainly not willing to hear about this General slipping out of their grasp and into the shadows to hide and bulk himself up until it was time. Her word was mostly to herself, although the Admiral had heard her clear enough to nod his head. " Yes, that's correct. We're going to have to make an example out of General Bel Ilbis. "

With, limited resources, apparently.
 
"And," Kylo said, finally picking up on all this, "General Hux is going to be leading the way on this for some reason."

He crossed his eyes and gave the redhead a skeptical look. "There are a handful of people in this room that actually fought General Bel Iblis during the civil war. None of you want revenge against him? Why would Hux, of all people -"

"Because," he said, a little irritation entering his voice. "I scored the highest on the simulation we produced based on data from previous -"

"SIMULATION?" Kylo had wanted to scream for the last minute and this finally tipped him over the edge. It was IMPOSSIBLE that they'd been going down that route again. "I'm looking at a holo-montage of thousands of dead men and you have zero field experience co-ordinating anything besides one disaster! Did you even BEAT him in the simulation?"

Hux flushed and Kylo groaned out loud. He'd meant for it to just be a pejorative question that didn't require an actual answer. "I scored the highest, Ren."

"That's not the actual man. You understand that. Even in the best case scenario, it's not going to play out like a computer simulation of his tactics."

"Unpredictability is ... that's built into the model."

He was hearing a lot of the same noises he'd heard before the disaster with the Resolute. They couldn't possibly be making these same mistakes again. Kylo grabbed his head and marched around, gathering his thoughts and trying not to have a screaming tantrum in front of the entire brass.

Snoke simply turned to the red suited officer. "I would like a full review and crackdown of the intelligence department. Any little suspicions need to be brought to light. Project Orsanna cannot be revealed to the Republic or their proxies."

The woman stood and marched off. Then he turned to someone else.

"I want diplomacy to be used as a redirection. Pressure the Republic to denounce Bel Iblis as a terrorist who broke our treaty based on a paranoid delusion."

The diplomat's jaw fell to the floor. "Supreme Leader, there's video evidence."

"Chandrila was a neutral territory. The Republic might not like our actions there, but they do not technically break the terms of the treaty. Remember that we do have certain... hard-earned leverage in the Senate."

"They still aren't going to denounce -" He stopped himself at a look from Snoke and stood up. "I can at least keep them from giving him aid."

Snoke nodded, and he was gone too, mumbling under his breath. Kylo tried to take a breath, tried to sound measured, but his own rage and anxiety was eating him up. "This isn't good enough! You want us to capture the Rebellion's best general with... one tac team?"

"Lord Vader," he said dismissively, "did more with less."

"If I were Lord Vader, this would be a much smaller room!" Kylo wanted to scream at the top of his lungs. This was supposed to be the most powerful military machine in the history of civilization, and Snoke seemed to always be forcing him to fight with a hand tied behind his back and a blindfold around his eyes!

"Kylo, if you are yet again dissatisfied with my leadership -" Kylo reached out and grabbed Hux by the neck before he could say anything else - with his bare hands instead of the Force, flinging him to the table and leaning over his panting body.

"Dissatisfied?" Apparently he had a choice between Hux and the men who stepped aside and let him lead a mission to restore the Order's honor. Neither of those options were going to make him happy.

"Kylo," Snoke said softly, "I will not countenance this kind of behavior in my presence."

"And I will not be treated like a CHILD!" Kylo slung Hux to the floor, trembling with rage as he approached the hologram. "If the Knights of Ren are involved in something more important than recovering the Emperor's home planet from the Resistance, then I want to know about it immediately so that I can be involved with that instead of wasting my life on Naboo of all places."

Snoke's face was unmoving and unreadable for an agonizing length of time. He looked directly at Kylo, ignoring the rest of the room. "Hux's leadership of this mission is that objectionable to you?"

"It's the lack of resources that I object to." Kylo spun around a couple times, honing in on Phasma as some kind of anchor in this spinning world. He opened his mouth as if he wanted to yell something at her too, before finally wiping his hand through Snoke and slamming a hand on the table. "Everyone in this room looks ashamed of themselves but none of them are speaking up! I want... I want to personally lead the strike team."

"Of course."

"I want the Knights of Ren."

"The moment any of them are available and fit for duty, they'll be sent to you. But for the moment, they are indisposed." Indisposed. Indisposed? He turned around and stormed out of the room, slamming his hand against the wall and sending a painting tumbling to the ground.
 
  By all means, Phasma was absolutely amazed by Hux. He was downright fascinating.

Never in her life had she seen a man so brave that it was almost stupid, almost terrifying. It was admirable, the way he held onto his pedestal of simulations and data, buried to his pretty little eyeballs in research, Phasma was outright amazed. And it showed in the expression on her face, brows raised and eyes slightly wider than usual. Sure, he had absolutely tanked his first mission out in the field, and no simulation could have gone any worse than that had, but it was in part, also Ren's fault. But unlike General Hux, she knew when to keep her words to herself, the situation's cards laying out in front of each of them. It was as though they were asking them for a repeat of what had happened before.

A suicide mission, with successful results.

It was when Hux spoke again, that the faintest shake of her head resulted in her closed eyes. Unbelievable. Hux was a rare, rare treasure, the sound of his back slamming into the table did nothing to cause her to open her eyes. Breathing out softly to catch the ginger land on the floor in the shuffle, she noted how Fedorre had taken a practical step out of Kylo's physical reach, just in case. Her eyes had been drifting back to the silently playing holofeed projection when the fuming knight caught her gaze.

Arms folding over her chest now, for a split second she expected to brace herself, but apparently Hux had taken the brute force of his aggression, and inwardly, it did surprise her. Finally getting another glimpse at the mangled ships, another inaudible breath pushed out of her lips when Hux finally shuffled up just as Ren escaped the room.

" Supreme Leader, " The words echoed between both herself and Hux, turning her head to look at the redhead for a moment before speaking again. " If we are to capture General Bel Iblis, I have to hope we are doing this based on more than a simulation only done by one very inexperienced tactition. "

The conversation had gone on in a smoother fashion, or at least as well as it could, the politics discussed far more than she cared for them to be. General Hux would be leading the team until Bel Iblis was secured, and it was known that he was. From there, Phasma would orchestrate the troopers from planetside to confirm taking the planet back. It was all a lot of risk with one monumental pay off, if it worked.

It was almost as though Snoke had expected her to go and find Ren, the way he had worded things seemed as though he were pointing without actually saying a word. Again, it reminded her of the cringe worthy phrase he had used, escaping the tension of the adjunction room, boots guiding her across a bridge that overlooked the bay, watching the fluster of men from above. The woman moved through the steady flurry of others preparing for the inevitable, Phasma's closed fist knocking against his door now.

" Kylo. "
 
Kylo touched the door from across the room. Of course, there was only one person this could have been. He watched her enter with his legs folded beneath his body, looking at some recordings of the battle. It had just gone... miserably, in every conceivable way. The planet's defense forces were taken by complete surprise, took an agonizing amount of time to deploy, underestimated the Dreadnoughts, used formulaic tactics, and broke to pieces as soon as the odds shifted against them.

"Is this your upset face?" Kylo waved a hand around his face and kept a very stoic expression. "I saw an entire room of men in carefully ironed suits gleefully sending us on another poorly thought out suicide mission. Which I wouldn't even mind except that we got blamed for everything that went wrong last time. We get blamed for everything that goes wrong in the field."

In a sense, it was their fault - but it wasn't much of a sense. How were they supposed to think about electronic surveillance? An actual spy would have made that determination, but Fedorre in his infinite wisdom hadn't sent one. Both of them were closer to... blunt instruments. And they'd been fabulous at blunting.

"The good news is that we won't have to do much sneaking around. Through all this... wreckage."
 
" I feel like I very specifically told you the last time, when you talk about my face, I don't appreciate it. It hurts my feelings. "

To be fair, General Hux had very silently expressed that he wanted to come, but Phasma had expressed to him numerous times that she could not protect him from something she couldn't see. Merely sit, and watch, as he was strangled without Ren ever having to put a hand on him. And well, that with the unpleasant reminder of what had happened when Kylo simply mentioned a false power of the force, Hux decided to sit this conversation out. Good for him. Her eyes roamed the information he had quickly gathered on the floor, noticing her own handwriting among one of them and the faint ticks of red where Fedorre had noted certain things about the Chandrila affair.

The job had been done, completed to the best of their abilities. And up until now, nothing had been seen as wrong.

And with that said, Phasma didn't consider that something to leave them at fault for. Video surveillance of them tampering with machines didn't completely seal that they were an active hand in this, and even if it did. So? Troopers had stormed the planet within a few hours after, it wasn't as though they couldn't have done that in time. Or rather, at any time. Once it became the First Order to make the move into a neutral space, it was apparently a problem, as if that wasn't what the Republic knew would happen. And for a moment, Phasma decided, that if that was the case, then they had been set up by Fedorre being careless. . Even worse, Snoke.

" Yes, but we can't go around killing everyone either. " Going to the planet and peeling through the layers of the Resistance until they reached the core of it all, just didn't make any real sense. He could get away before they ever even got to him. However, and this was where she knew he was going to react badly, her arms folded over her chest again lightly, " They want us heading to Naboo in two hours, " There was a pause, her eyes pulling from him and looking over the ceiling, " So you should at least apologize to Hux and hear what he has planned. "

She had said it fast and the look on his face when she glanced down at him was still registering, good. However, when he clearly began to go against, Phasma shook her head and spoke again, adding, " You can't choke everyone and expect the results to be the same! "
 
Her statement had deflated him from his carefully crafted meditative pose. Kylo fell backwards with a huff, narrowing his eyes and starting to talk before she cut him off.

"If anything, he should be thanking me." He'd only used his hands to throttle him, and so Hux was still walking around doing... whatever it was he was supposed to be doing right now. Of course, Phasma wasn't going to see the wisdom and truth in that kind of statement. She had her arms folded and was giving him a very level sort of look.

Two hours. This really was just like the Resolute. Kylo pulled himself up and reached for his mask, tucking it underneath his arm. He didn't feel like a shivering nervous wreck anymore without it, and yet... he had a feeling it might be useful. He enjoyed the thing, it let him feel a little more in control of the situation. And he needed that more than anything, right now.

"I will apologize to Hux," he said through gritted teeth. Of course, that was the only thing he could do. He had to work with him, and he couldn't exactly throttle Snoke, could he? "I will hear what he has planned. I don't promise any politeness beyond that."

***​

But Hux had taken it as an admission of undying friendship, somehow.

"It's quite all right, Ren." He put a hand on his shoulder, kept it there for what felt like ages until Kylo looked at the hand... and then slowly looked back at him. "I've learned not to take anything personally in this line of work. Your outburst was in a genuine concern for the success of our mission. I wish everyone in the room had that sort of passion."

"Huh." Hux turned around and started messing with some tactical maps on the wall. Kylo didn't at all think he meant this. A room full of Kylo Ren's would have been a destructive shit-show. Of course, maybe that was Hux's subtle way of making the point.

"In addition to that," he said cheerily, the subtlety starting to leave his voice, "your opposition to my leadership was based almost completely on ignorance. The simulations we run are much more emotionally taxing than the image you might have in your imagination. Commander Phasma can attest to that."

He looked at Phasma out of the corner of his eye. He was still thinking about her comment earlier, replaying it in his head. Was she being... serious? If she didn't say everything with that tone, he'd be able to figure it out without all this recrimination. It was a weird thought either way. Her face wasn't any worse than his. Or Hux's, for that matter. He turned back to Hux. "Huh," he said again.

"You should actually try it. I bet the support staff could conjure up something that would challenge you. And it would give you an idea of the rigors your comrades go through to develop personal discipline."

Kylo narrowed his eyes. The First Order could forget the Star Destroyers and send Hux to the Republic. He'd be the Grand Fucking Chancellor within five years. "Let's get in and out of this alive. Then we'll talk about playing... computer games together, all right?"
 
Whatever wisdom and truth he thought was there, Phasma wasn't going to let it go unresolved, silently thanking him for at least agreeing to be civil, whether it was genuine or not.

What was surprising however, and she really shouldn't have been so shocked, was Hux. He was a damn treasure, she was sure of it. " Like a fucking rare gem. " Or an alien. . Or an HRD, which made her eyes dance to the side for a moment as it could be plausible. Unable to watch the awkward interaction for much longer as Hux held onto his shoulder as though he were giving him lessons in life, the blonde moved toward one of the maps now, using her fingertips to zoom into the aerial image of present day Theed.

Having settled her hand against her cheek as though holding her head, the blonde looked to General Hux again, still faintly amazed as she watched him so easily dodge any sense of bother he had from the situation. Amazing. However when he even went as far as to say that Ren should try his luck in one of the simulated environments, the hand shifted into a fist, biting softly against her knuckle to keep from laughing. Alright, now it seemed fair to iron out the slowly forming wrinkles, shaking her head faintly, " It's still not the same, " Of course it wasn't, and she was sure General Hux knew that. He was now able to see that, with his prior and only mission literally blowing up in his face and partially resurrecting a dead man.

" Of course not. . But that is why, this time, we have a back up plan, hm? "

Phasma almost wanted to smile at how proud of himself he looked, as though a Plan B was a reason to be as happy as he was, at least he knew how fond Kylo Ren was of his options. . When they were given anyway.
 
"A backup plan!" Kylo gave his hands one sarcastic clap together, and a wonderous expression came across his face. "That's just delightful."

"Well, we're going to -" Hux spun around and tried to do one gesture or another to zoom in on the palace, but he staggered and realized that Phasma had already done it. He recovered, running a hand through his hair and tapping the palace itself. "We're planning to attack the palace on three different fronts at once. Each more subtle than the next. First, we're going to disable the palace with ion cannons from the Gauntlet. With that cover, we're going to deploy a stormtrooper battalion to attack the palace directly."

"That's easier said than done," Kylo said with a grunt. "They're going to have their own preparations to defend the palace. And they're likely to have their own cannons that they'll be firing upwards."

"They're not going to disable a Star Destroyer with ground based cannons. Matter of time, and we have plenty." He tapped the screen, and it smoothly rotated the show the back of the palace.

"That's where you come in. The odds are low that we'll capture the General with a frontal assault. We're going to send a second team to breach the palace from behind. These won't be stormtroopers. They're Order Intelligence, a special unit of eight fitted with stealth armor."

"Eight isn't much."

"These are the best of the best, and they're trained especially for insertion and extraction. They will get in and you will cut through whatever's in front of you."

"What if -"

"What if the General escapes?" Hux nodded and twisted the map around again. "There's a third unit. There are secret tunnels underneath the palace especially for these kinds of emergencies. We've put together a team of marines especially for preventing this kind of escape. Heavy arms - it's my hope that they'll be able to trap him between the two teams if it comes to it."

Kylo looked at the map and the glowing red arrows that indicated an ideal scenario. "What if Bel Iblis keeps your Star Destroyers from getting within range?"

"That wouldn't be possible -"

"Let's say he does something unexpected. It wouldn't be the first time."

"We turn the palace to slag from orbit."

"What if our team runs into Luke Skywalker?"

"What?"

"Luke Skywalker." He was pushing the argument to the absurd, maybe, but he wanted to emphasize a point that hadn't really stuck to him -

"That seems like a problem you and the Supreme Leader are suited to solving," he said crisply. "In the worst case scenario, you can retreat and we'll extract you. Are there any other questions?"

Kylo folded his hands, and gestured towards Phasma. "I'm questioned out."
 
There it was again, a plan that sounded perfect out loud and had the potential to be even better if the outcome gave them Iblis. Hux even managed to g through each and every hole Ren threw at him, watching the arrows of each strike swell on the map as though again, nothing could go wrong in this. Shaking her head faintly, Phasma knew there was no avoiding the push in her mind, letting her eyes move between the two as they went back and forth, raising a brow similar to General Hux when the mention of Luke Skywalker came into conversation.

What.

How long had it been, she didn't care enough to think about, but out of all the times for him to appear why- Well. . That would be the way things would work, wouldn't it. " And you'll be on the ship, out of the way? " The ever present flush on Hux's face was as telling as always, Phasma finding the most comfort in that, Hux in her ear was a lot easier to deal with than Hux in the way, in person. There was a shining light in this after all, the man coughing into his hand as though that would assist his blush. " Someone has to make sure the strike from the Gauntlet goes without disarray. Just the same as you both are on the ground with your roles, hm? " His hand motion causing another depiction of the perfect attack he had planned, turning back to Phasma with a flicker of joy in his eyes as though he was to tell her the best of news.

" But! Right on time for your battalion strike, your new armor is ready! "

" Oh General, you're trying to be in my heart, aren't you? "

With the good news delivered and the plan out in the air, several decisions agreed upon that if things went sour, extraction and destruction would be the objectives of the remaining troopers and the Gauntlet. After returning to her bedroom, it hadn't taken Phasma long at all to dive into her favorite shell, sighing comfortably at the clean shine as she tucked her helmet beneath her arm and moved to the bay, the line up of troopers and First Order alike almost welcoming. It had been a while since anything Gauntlet involved was at least this organized, breathing out softly as she slipped the helmet over her head and boarded the assigned ship.
 
Kylo marched towards the stern, towering shuttle, and without any undercover missions or side wagers, he was finally able to wear his face. There wasn't anymore time for thinking and reflecting on himself. Now it was time for his enemies to think, to ponder their last regrets, and he relished that clarity. And it seemed like most of the men in the docking bay did too, giving him a very wide berth as he entered the ramp and climbed onto the craft.

He hadn't expected this. The place was cramped and crowded. Phasma was there in the back, standing out as usual. The newcomers blended together, but in a delightful and terrifying way. The members of Section CT-1 wore black armor, so polished it was almost reflective, with glowing red lines placed on the knees... forearms... ankles. All eight of them looked as though they bathed in ashes and blood before getting here.

He gave a small nod before one of them marched a step and a half to greet him.

"Good afternoon, sir." A hard, female voice with a weird accent - this was Sargent Platini. "General Hux told us to expect you."

"I heard that you were the people Snoke called on when the odds were impossible. Well, the other people."

"CT-1 will do our best to leave behind a few stragglers, but we can't make any promises."

"It's funny, I was going to say the same thing."

"Remember," Phasma chimed in calmly, "that our main objective is capturing General Bel Iblis and bringing him back to the Gauntlet."

Kylo clicked his teeth and stood up near the back of the ship as it rumbled underneath him. He looked the Section over, and all of them were rigid, patient, stock still. And he liked the lack of nervous fidgeting.

"Gentlemen!" Platini turned her shoulders and addressed them now - and from directly across the ship, it was like she was looking right into Kylo's eyes. "Since CT-1 was founded, we have killed men and women in every corner of the galaxy. You have spread like crimson ink poured across the stars, turning everything that opposes you an ugly shade of red. In word and deed, you have honored the Supreme Leader and defended the honor of the First Order."

The men let out one unified, savage bark.

"And now he's seen fit to honor you in return. Snoke has decided that killing men was just... too easy for the likes of us. So this afternoon, we are killing a GHOST. Garm Bel Iblis disappeared from the Rebellion 20 years ago because not even the people that fraternize with walking sushi could stand the smell of his horseshit."

"Now he's back. With a fleet that was ancient twenty years ago, a mind that's clearly addled, and no friends worth speaking of. Someone told him a pack of apple-cheeked children had conquered the galaxy, and now he's come to take advantage. But listen - you are the strongest warriors in all of recorded history. He had war thrust upon him - you have chosen it from birth. He fights to defend the weak - you stand united with the strong. He's got an appointment with destiny waiting for him on the Gauntlet... and that's the one thing you've got in common."

There were a few loud barks, and a cheer that felt deafening even inside his helmet. The ship rumbled even more intensely with the men pounding their rifles against the floor.

The Sargent looked him up and down as they entered the atmosphere. "You're going to need to hold on to one of the rails, sir. It can get bumpy."

What concern. How wonderful. Kylo smirked behind the mask and spread his legs out, letting out one light chuckle as the ship began to take off. "I can promise you, I'll be fine."

He couldn't see the rippling fire from the ground, but he could feel it, blazing by them and splashing against the shields. He tapped his ear and whispered to Hux. "You should tell me how things are going up there."

"I am a bit preoccupied, Ren." There was a pause and a few more blasts before he spoke up again. "The Gauntlet's within range, firing ion cannons. You're going to land half a mile from the palace and insert yourselves."

He looked around the ship. Everyone looked so... patient. Damnit. He should have brought a pad or... they should have installed a viewport or something. He really, really didn't like the idea of being on a ship as it got hit with a turbolaser or something.

"We're encountering quite a bit of resistance from these Dreadnoughts. They're executing a pincer on the Gauntlet and blocking us from supporting our other ships for the moment. I really did not expect -"

"HUX."

"It's actually fine. Let me concentrate. You're on vector to land. And -"

There was a loud, static hiss. The lights went out on the shuttle for a moment before switching to the emergency. The ship hung in the air for a moment and then pitched downwards. Kylo's stomach sank and he tried not to scream. "Hux. HUX what is going -"

"Everything's fine!"

"My ship is crashing."

"No, no. I meant fine for the rest -" There was an abrupt jolt as the shuttle crashed and threw him shoulder first into the ceiling and then back to the ground. Then another crash, just as hard and just as loud. Then nothing. Kylo groaned and grabbed his arm, looking frantically around the compartment.

"Is everyone all right?"

CT-1 looked banged up, but all of them seemed to have full motion in their limbs at least. Kylo felt horrible - and maybe he should have grabbed that railing after all - but it wasn't enough to slow him down. He reached out to himself, calming his aching shoulder and marching towards the front of the shuttle as the door hissed open. The automatic power was out, so they'd need to push the door open.

He took a breath and held his hand out, pushing the heavy thing open before the rest of the unit could force it open - and he already saw red and green lasers flying in his direction. Had they... had they crash landed in the fucking palace?

So much for subtlety. They'd already be pinned down.
 
Closing her eyes to enjoy the familiar sounds of feet marching as one, the soft noise their blasters made as they were handled with care within the ship, it was almost welcoming to hear it all from beneath her helmet. Breathing in, much like anyone else, it was a genuine comfort for this to be what they were trained for, moments like these where it was necessary to show the strength behind Snoke's grasp, rather than just leave it as some simple myth. General Bel Iblis had tested the line, stomped on it, and smiled about it, and there was nothing else left for discussion. They were going to find him, and make an example of him. Make an example of men who were proclaimed to be dead, and tell them to remain in hiding, if they were cowards enough to run in the first place. And for a moment, Phasma felt a twinge of guilt for the man.

How difficult it must be when you needed that sort of attention, and how even worse it must be when you realized the true consequences of your reckless actions.

The only mercy to be shown to Iblis was to simply keep him alive long enough to get him back to the Gauntlet. Simple, as most men could take plenty before needing to cry out for true help, subconsciously feeling her gloved hand slide across her blaster. The engine humming as it tore away from the Gauntlet and into space, her eyes remained closed for the remainder of the journey, as quickly as it was, her hand raising and gently slipping through the grasp of the band, fingers wrapping around the bar. Phasma wasn't going to remind Ren of the last instance he had seen things happening to ships when people weren't holding on, and the vocally stimulating Platini wasn't going to press him on the matter. Good. Of course, this was around the time when things seemed to go very, very left, the green view through her helmet wavering for a moment, her feet spreading out of habit.

They were breaking the atmosphere, the ships descent seemed to be going well to start, however she would have been more surprised if they hadn't been attacked, fired at. Though what was surprising was the amount of resistance the ship seemed to be taking for them to just land. Not gun fire, not cannons, but simply, force. Hux's voice was less than comforting, if she could even recall a time when it ever was, it escaped her, adjusting her fingers almost as a silent request to Ren that he still had the opportunity to hold something. Of course, that didn't happen. Well, for now Hux had done his job, even if their landing was less than graceful and clearly not where it should have been, her body shifting up only to have her back pressed into the wall beside her, another body pressed against hers.

The familiar sound of beams firing and shooting just as the scrape of the door echoed around them, their recovery was quickly, despite the ship sitting at a tilt in the capital palace, momentarily deciding that she hadn't quite expected her to ever be here by these means. No matter. Adjusting her comlink as she switched out of Hux's momentary fluster, and Commander Phasma wanted to congratulate him on handling that so smoothly for what it was, but she would do it later, speaking now to the men in white when he confirmed they were on the ground.

" File out, and clear the hallways. Find him. "

Again the march of boots was heard like a warm rumble, only to pause in firing back at the Resistance men, the situation was almost similar from within as they used the odd position to keep themselves momentarily guarded before doing just that. Nothing about this seemed unusual, at first any way, until they reached another open space in the palace, probably once a room set aside for the Emperor to be lavish, now littered in bodies of troopers and Resistance alike.

" Clear. "

" Something isn't right about this. They should have picked- "

Tapping back into the comlink to the Gauntlet, she could hear the sound of a slightly proud male who wasn't seeing what she was, who was instead going on the numbers he could see from radar. " What? Nonsense Commander, it's going swimmingly well from up here. Now, the Emperor's office where Bel Iblis made his announcement should be coming up. " They could have funneled us off the ship and killed all of us. Sighing softly, the woman moved now, ignoring the faint touches of red that lined the feet and sides of her boots, taking out the men at the front doors before watching the smear of black armor move to cover the space. The first bursting into the room, followed by the next few with their blasters prepared for any ensuing firefight, Phasma listening carefully and shaking her head; Empty. Of course.

It would be too simply for him to still be waiting in the room.

The order to spread out granted by Sargent Platini, it would take the troopers outside far too long to get inside and be of much more assistance, the group breaking off as she spoke to Hux again. " Any idea where he might be at this point? "

" The Emperor's bedroom is about twenty f- "

The comlink made that unfortunately familiar hiss, and went out, her viewpoint going black for a moment before readjusting. Narrowing her eyes, again she re-gripped her blaster and followed the two black armored men into the next room, guns aimed and readied as they spread across the still lavish room. Amazing, he had been dead all this time and they still kept the room looking pristine, as if he could actually do much in here in his final days, subconsciously noting the ornate ceiling.

" Shit. "

The word almost sounded louder than it really was, turning her head to notice one had stepped into a thin line of light, as it appeared as though it had simply been shining through the window, the ripple of the ground happened faster than any of them anticipated. The ground collapsed from the set of explosions, smoke and rubble bursting out around them as the floor crumbled beneath them.

" Commander? Commander, what happened in there? Phasma? Ren. . Ren! Commander Phasma isn't on the radar anymore. "
 
The scenery needed to change. They'd fought their way out of the wrecked ship (partially because of the element of surprise) and pushed towards the throne room, barely escaping the wreckage of the ship as the Resistance detonated it. But now they were in a big open room that was almost built like a funnel - a perfect opportunity for a large group to fire at a smaller one.

"Need cover!" Platini shouted tersely. Kylo wasn't a master tactician, but he could tell that much. He shoved a CT-1 rifleman aside and peeked around the corner. Republic defense forces still wore those green jackets and the half-baked helmet. Looked friendlier, he supposed. But there was a problem.

"Move when I signal you," Kylo growled. He reached out to the high glass walls that lined the palace. It was funny how inefficient these things were - they were clearly designed for a place that only knew... peace and art and beauty and shit like that. Well. The time for that was about over. Kylo smashed the glass, using the force to create a whirlwind of intelligent shrapnel and swirled down the hallway. He heard a few horrible screams as the glass flew like daggers towards the troopers, then a nasty retreat. Kylo patted Platini on the shoulder.

"MOVE."

CT-1 filed out with a vengeance, taking advantage of the cover and firing at the regrouping troops, hitting them on the ground floor and the balcony above. Kylo flipped over a massive, bolted down table as the Republic troops regrouped, firing big, shoulder mounted beams.

Someone tapped him on the shoulder. "Sir, you can go forward and we'll cover you."

Kylo poked his head over the table - there was smoke and fire from every direction towards him, and it felt like too many attacks for him to deflect or stagger or even cope with. He leaned back down. "I have a better idea."

He stayed there undercover, grabbing the Republic troopers from behind the walls and dragging them into the hallway - the black trooper pulled himself out of his cover and popped each of them twice. Suddenly a half dozen defenders were down, and they were advancing faster.

It was funny, Kylo thought, that the pirates had managed to get their hands on the ysalamiri and carefully cultivated them. They'd expected him. And yet Bel Iblis had expected them and...

Before he could finish, he'd heard the explosion roaring across the palace.

"Commander? Commander, what happened in there? Phasma? Ren. . Ren! Commander Phasma isn't on the radar anymore."

"You're JOKING." He'd been so proud of his patience and deliberation, the methodical way he'd advanced with the team. And all that had been ruined - they'd been a trap in the throne room, and now...

Kylo vaulted up from the table and broke into a sprint, trying to recall the map in his head and closing in on the throne room.

"REN!" He was almost out of the room when a voice screamed at him from across the blasted, messy room. Platini.

And yet the situation was terrifyingly familiar, wasn't it? Kylo paused for a second - just long enough to see a blaster bolt out of the corner of his eye, careenning towards the Sargent.

Kylo held his hand out, acting more on instinct and training than conscious desire - and the blaster bolt stopped, inches from Platini's head. She turned her head and fell onto her ass in shock as the beam entered her vision, inches from splitting her head open.

He exhaled, losing his grip on the bolt as he fell past her, scorching the marble on the floor. There were already red bolts flying upwards from her team, trying to nail the sniper.

Kylo fell to his knees in shock, and one of the black troopers was already on top of him, pulling him towards the rest of them. Kylo held his hand up for distance and filed in with the rest of the men.

"Tell... the Commander tell her to hang tight if you can pull her up. We're proceeding towards her position."
 
" I can't hear anything from any of them over there, let me. . "

When she opened her eyes, she expected to only see the detailing of the ceiling, etched in paints as she stared up at the scene through her helmet, the cracked pieces of ceiling displaying the over told story of Darth Vader's reconstruction. Each image so detailed, clearly this had been done after the take over of Naboo, the pictures swirling in her head. For what it was worth, it was beautiful. Feeling footsteps from within the rubble, turning her head just slightly to the sign of movement from one of the men she had fallen with. Good, there was one. However, looking to her left she noted the man who had initiated the bombs, the way his body lay slung backwards over a slab of rock as though someone had hung him there to dry, shaking her head carefully.

He definitely wasn't alive.

It was then, when she attempted to move, she felt the pressure against her side, the heavy wait of another piece of rubble pressing down on her side. Perhaps in the shock she hadn't noticed it, and again her body tried to put it off behind the searing headache and the fact that her hearing wasn't entirely up to par, her ears were ringing loudly, and her vision was blurring out again. The explosion made the floor appear as though it had opened up to swallow them, shattering through to the tunnel system below that had been used many times as an escape route. Clearly this had been well thought out. Breathing in sharply, Phasma's vision caught the sight of a shadow, looking up as it loomed over her and the man shoved the slab off her side, only to move into her line of sight, grinning.

The bomb hadn't necessarily targeted who he had wanted it to, but it provided him with enough leverage to speak through their comlinks now. The signal that he required was given from one of his men, Bel Iblis spoke up for the first time since their messy arrival as his team moved through the tunneling system, dragging the bodies of their hostages along with them.

" Well looks like we've gotten into a bit of a mix up. See, since you brought in Lord Jaw-less' extra special troops, someone thought that one of `em just might have been the Order's prized favorite. No matter though, we can work with what we've got, huh. "

Though the pain caused her to wince sharply, she could finally hear well enough to listen to a slightly frantic Hux. This, was not in the simulation.

" She's back on! Commander Phasma, are you sta- "

" We've got one of those extra special troops and a- hm. . Commander? Well, I'll be damned. "

It was then she felt her helmet shift as it was brought up over her head, amazed at the pleased look on Ilbis' face.

" You're the other one on that recording. And you're the one who helped blow up my cannon. What a day. Well, I think it's time we started making some negotiations then, shall we? Cause time's a ticking and little miss Commander here doesn't look so good. "
 
“You really need to get there faster.”

It was an exasperated voice that poured into his ears - and that told him a lot, even before Hux finished his sentence. The worst hadn’t happened yet - but the situation had gotten worse. Gotten more complicated. Kylo was marching towards the blown up room - his own unit was only down one man, and that was an injury instead of…

“Exactly how bad is it?”

“Exactly how bad? I don’t think you want to know.” He cleared his throat and clacked a couple of buttons. “But I’ll patch you through.”

There was a little static and then he heard the familiar drone of the Resistance General. “Did you really just put me on hold? I don’t think you’re really appreciating the gravity of your situation.”

“I think you’re the one lacking appreciation,” Hux said with a clipped voice. “For all of your little maneuvers, you’re completely surrounded.”

“Am I?” He said calmly. “That’s an interesting assertion.”

“You remind me of… I read a story about an ancient leader who was outnumbered and surrounded. He cleared all of his men out of the castle and stood on the barricade completely naked.”

“If this is a metaphor, I’m worried about how you imagine me, kid.”

“His opponent was so baffled by this,” Hux continued, “that he ordered a retreat. He was sure that this was some kind of elaborate trick, so he overfought himself.”

“And you think you’ve caught me with my pants down.”

“I’m not going to overthink it.”

“It’s funny you say that.” Kylo narrowed his eyes, making his way through the smoke, the dust, the bodies. Why all this talking. Why so much of it? “A little bird told me that you ran a computer simulation of me back on the ship.”

“Don’t act so surprised, kid. It’s a funny mental image, you and dozen other people playing a video game version of me. Did you get my haircut right at least?”

Well, enough of this. Kylo broke away from CT-1, sprinting towards the big, crumbled hole in the palace and jumping in the air, landing across the room from Bel Iblis and a dozen or so of his men in the distance and… shit. What an awkward looking hostage she made.

“My patience for games has run out, General.”

“You know… Darth Vader wore a mask because of a deformity. What about you. Something wrong with your voice box, or are you just a pussy?”

“Bold words.” Kylo stretched his hand out and -

“Be careful.” He took his free hand and produced a delay charge. Kylo rolled his eyes behind the mask. “This isn’t the only set of charges I wired up, kid. You people were so slow, and gave me so much time.”

“Did your men know…” Kylo said menacingly, taking a couple steps forward, “that you sent them on a suicide mission?”

“They wanted to use those old robots? You know, the dumb ones? Roger roger?” He shrugged. “Wouldn’t have worked. Too obvious. Did they get a few of yours?”

He hated this collegial style he was using. Like they were all playing a game. Not with the plan he was using, the hostage he was taking. “Fewer than you’d hope for. Now I have a question. Do you think one officer is enough to get you passage off this planet?”

He tightened his fist. Ideally, she'd find some way to get herself out of this for - just a second anyway.
 
With the ringing beginning to subside enough for faint traces of the conversation to catch in her head, the airy feeling starting to grow annoying for her as though it only amplified the sharp sear in her side. Breathing out softly, at least that didn't seem too ragged, assuming her armor had prevented any broken ribs, though in that same moment, her hand carefully shifted to her side, beneath the plate that began at her chest and immediately felt the warm, wet sensation. Sighing when the helmet was so smoothly placed back over her head as though he was saving her as a treat for later, this clearly was all in good fun for Iblis. Good fun and whatever reasons he held.

" You say that but see, here we both are in this tunnel as a result of one officer. "

The emphasis on the one came at a time after he had stood properly, his hand on the charge while his booted foot raised and pressed into the bloodied side of her armor, the sharp sound of pain she released clamped by gritted teeth and formed a hissing sound. Even if the initial set of bombs hadn't dropped the proper Order lackey into his hands, he was going to keep his advantage in this situation, no matter how much the odds seemed against him.

" So now that I've made things a bit clearer, it's about that time to make some things happen, huh? "

His men moved carefully, knowing that at any awkward misstep there could be a moment of the force erupting around them, blasters pointed just long enough for the General to give a sturdy looking Resistance fighter the charge and place Phasma on his shoulder. A shield if all things went south, really. Just in case he gets reckless with that force shit. " There's something I want in this palace, good for the Resistance and everything. And I want you to do me the honors of getting it. "

Thankfully in laying across his shoulder, Phasma hadn't been set on her bloodied side, carefully taking the risk that these men were focusing on Ren and not her head turned toward the General's pistol as though she were counting the risk.
 
"Do you know how many Imperials went over this palace with a fine tooth comb looking for some secret cache that belonged to the Emperor?" Kylo folded one hand in front of the other and tried to project an aura of calm. But he could feel his own eyes, blazing with hatred, giving everything away. "And the Order in the years after that? Every place on the map has been scraped clean."

Bel Iblis just smirked. "See, there's your problem. Every place down here isn't on the map. I've got an inside source with a great deal of authority on the matter."

The mission was to "extract". He'd already decided that Bel Iblis wasn't getting back to the ship. The insults had just staked on top of each other too much. Not just printing that tape, not JUST shooting him down over the palace, not just trying to kill him. Although, honestly, all that was enough. It was his calmness. His lack of fear. That attitude that he understood him and had accounted for him.

His mind was already racing with a dozen ways to crush him and his friends like bugs, some way he could feel the horror and futility of dying half a galaxy away from home. He hadn't felt that since... well, the Bothan wasn't so long ago. But he was feeling it again. He could kill him and figure out how to apologize for everything later.

"This must be very important indeed, General. Imagine if it were to fall into the wrong hands."

There was a long pause here. "Don't outsmart yourself, kid. Your lame ass barely knows what it is and wouldn't know how to use it."

"But the Emperor did?"

"Oh no. The Emperor didn't use this. He wanted to prevent anyone else from using it." Bel Iblis smirked and turned around, Phasma still gingerly hanging around his back. "You follow me, I'm gonna show you some shit that doesn't fit on your map."

"I'd be delighted," Kylo growled. He extended his senses, trying to reach Phasma and get her level of awareness, slipping an invisible touch to her hand.
 
Even from within the fuzz of her helmet's tech, she could hear the commotion of Hux working diligently from within the Gauntlet. Directing his comlink calls between both Phasma and Ren, the man from above spoke cautiously.

" Keep him busy. I can have the team in the tunnels follow you at a safe distance to make sure nothing gets any worse. "

Clearly, Hux hadn't necessarily expected for it to go that far, for them to even be necessary, but there was significantly less panic in his voice than missions prior. As it seemed, he was learning on the fly of things and Phasma couldn't be more grateful.

" Really, all of this could have been avoided if you hadn't been meddling in shit that wasn't your concern. " Iblis spoke again, raising his arm and hooking it around Phasma's waist as the walk began through the dimly lit tunnel. Breathing softly, the blonde noticed the touch in her palm, almost as though it were tracing the lines there, the familiar sensation causing her fingers to wiggle just slightly.

The walk had been countless little comments made, a few sets of stairs, and a clear knowledge that they were descending further through the tunneling system, the intricate shifts all being quietly mapped by Hux, the ginger murmuring his apparent fascination. It only took another ten minutes of snide commenting before the stairs dropped again, opening up into a massive room that had clearly been used for something other than storing Palpatine's play things.

The largest item in the space appeared to be the gleaming recreational craft toward the back of the room, a clear sign that there was a way out and above hidden within the walls, another shift of Phasma on his shoulder. " Didn't see this shit on your map, did you. " The room seemed to shine with things that Palpatine had been keeping for himself in his time prior to being a mangled mess of a man, and probably even further out in his reign over the Empire.

" And just so we're clear before things get started. If you try anything stupid, and by God, I half think you might. I'll blow this fucking place to the ground. "
 
"Let me ask you a question. Do you believe in... alternate universes?"

Kylo just ignored him. He wasn't completely sure what was happening here, but he was certain that Bel Iblis was running his mouth as some kind of... strategy or distraction. He narrowed his eyes and took in as much of this hidden room as he could. The decaying marble of the palace had given way to glazed bricks that went in a wide circle around this room. He looked down, there was a layer of clean water that rippled through the room and came up to his ankles. Was there some kind of filtration system keeping the water circulated, or was there some kind of fresh water source nearby...

He was shocked at how neat everything looked, this huge open room that was like a cross between a cave and a vault, a meld between nature and careful construction.

"You know. That every important choice creates a fracture in everything that's possible. Maybe there's some universe where you and this girl have a completely platonic relationship. Or none at all. One where you're not wearing that stupid mask."

"Or one where you're smart enough to stay dead -"

"Instead of coming our of retirement and ripping this planet a new asshole?" He shrugged. "Sure. Lots of happy possibilities. Let's imagine that the Force was connected to these alternate universes too. That you could draw... energy from a thousand sources instead of just one."

"The Jedi and the Sith feuded for thousands of years before their extinction. Filled with scholars who spent their entire lives studying the secrets of -"

"They were two cults," Bel Iblis interrupted smoothly, "that had a strict and defined ideology, that clamped down on people who went against those precepts. But there were offshoots that delved into the Force and studied it on their own terms. The Witches of Dathomir, The Disciples of Ragnoth, the Krath, the Voss... the Knights of Ren?"

Kylo moved up the shining brick staircase, raising through the open air and approaching a big circular gate with arcane markings on it. He recognized a couple characters, so he thought it might be... a message in a bunch of different language. "You think a Sith Lord would discover a way to channel alternate dimensions through the Force, but would try to hide that power instead of using it?"

"Oh yes. Absolutely." Bel Iblis put on a thoughtful expression that gave way to a smile. "I'll let you think about the philosophical implications of that. But now we're reaching the point where your services are needed."

He craned his neck up at the gate. "My source tells me there's something very special behind this gate. Something that would channel these alternate universes... if they exist. And my friend has good reason to think they do. But we'd need someone to open the seal. A master of the Dark Side. But we don't have any of those, so you'll have to do."

Kylo felt his cheeks burning. He'd done so much reading, so much preparation, and the idea of this was something that he hadn't even imagined. He squeezed his eyes shut, tried to block out the anger he felt at being manipulated, tried to channel his master's experience and calm. "You don't know what's behind this gate, but you want it open so badly that you're willing to blow this whole room down."

"That's right." He tossed Phasma over his shoulder and reached for his pistol, pointing it down at her. And in the background, a couple other men pointed their rifles at her. How brainwashed were these people? The Resistance was supposed to be... noble and individualistic. Self sacrificing. But these men were insane, zealots willing to die for the cause without blinking. And why was he bothered by that so much?

Maybe because he'd always thought that total devotion belonged to his own allies. He closed his eyes and made a decision.

"You want to die so badly?" Kylo whipped around and did something stupid, reaching for the General's throat. "Let's all die together. The Order has a grip on the galaxy, Hux has a grip on this building, and now I have one on you. You thought you could use Phasma to manipulate me?"

There it was, that was the look. He was a big talker, but he hadn't expected to die here, not really. Kylo tightened his grip on Bel Iblis' neck and grabbed the hand of the trooper, stopping him before he could even think about detonating.

"Phasma," he hissed. "Up, get up, hurry THE FUCK UP."

Hux was practically screaming in his ear, but he blocked it out, straining to hold the situation in check. But one of the troopers started marching forward - it looked like a woman, but he wasn't sure - in a baggy white outfit and a mask. "Phasma!"

Too late. The mask stepped forward, turned on a white lightsaber and slashed downwards at him. Kylo drew quickly, switching on his lightsaber and catching her on the crossguard. Everything was moving now. No no no.
 
For the smallest moment, she was thankful for her head to be throbbing the way it was, blocking out most of Iblis' deep monologue about what he'd been doing while in 'retirement'. Reading books and gathering a cult following of his own within his so called retirement, for a moment she considered how many other things a person would have been better off spending their time doing. Instead, here they were in some expensive pit of Palpatine's hoarding problem, silently cursing to herself. Politicians.

Tongue moving over the back of her teeth, the blonde closed her eyes as a way of focusing, ignoring the ever-present burn of whatever damage her body had taken. By no means was Phasma willing to just die here, slung over some man's back like a doll. If in fact the building did come crashing down on them from above, then so be it. However, Phasma wanted to have the pleasant reminder later on in life, whether he admitted to it or not, that he had come to save her. It was just that Bel Iblis happened to be trying to use her as a means to keep himself safe. No matter how you viewed it, it made her smile beneath her helmet anyway.

Palms flat against the ground as she listened to the familiar sound of blasters raising, much like Ren, she was watching Iblis. So confident and unprepared for things to go in the wrong direction so close to what he needed. Her head turned, ignoring the shift of a gun as it raised further in a silent threat. With half of his men focused on Ren and the other on her th-

Oh.

The opportunity presented itself beautifully, the fighter with the detonator distracted by the sound of his General gasping for air because it had taken him by surprise. Unfortunately, he'd momentarily forgotten that with her no longer in his grasp, there really was nothing protecting him. It was then the woman brought her foot into the back of a fighter's knee, whatever had been holding into him, Phasma only assuming the obvious, slack when he was attacked by the saber. How the fuck does everyone have one of these.

The fighter dropping down to his knees, Phasma immediately grabbed the detonator away from him, gritting her teeth at the flush of pain in her side. Free hand snatching his blaster immediately, Phasma raised the hand clenching the detonator first, watching the tense fighters silently keep from firing on her. One push. Clearly whatever this charge was connected to was enough to keep them away from her, long enough of a distraction until the sound of heavy foot fall was heard. The sound was another that made her smile, the squadron of white appearing where they had entered and firing immediately, Hux's command ringing out in her ears and watching the men surrounding her drop like flies.

Now, there were four.

Ren was much too close to the saber weilder for them to take a shot, and they were on orders to keep Iblis alive. And Phasma understood that, entirely. However, using the wall behone her to stand, the beam of light that shot through the side of Iblis' knee, well, that was just an accident, the woman's soft murmur clear.

" Don't kill him. . Yet. "

 
Now who the fuck was THIS?

The woman (he wasn’t sure this was a woman, but he needed to think of her in some way or another) was not a droid, that was for sure. There was a force and power in her technique that he hadn’t seen from… maybe not anyone. The force seemed to pulse off of her, and her attacks were a solid wall, knocking him backwards with one attack and immediately transitioning to another one. He held his blade close to him, far beyond his ability to attack yet, every bit of energy he had was towards protecting himself from her barrage.

“I knew that someone was feeding the General his insane philosophy.”

Mercifully, she slowed down a bit, circling and feinting with the lightsaber, backing him through the stone gate. Kylo looked back - there was a drop down of about thirty feet. Wouldn’t kill him, or even hurt much… but still. Rough landing.

“You don’t really believe that.” Okay. This was a woman’s voice. She stabbed her white lightsaber towards him, and Kylo frantically slapped it away. “You risked your life to avoid indulging an insane person. You risked her life.”

The woman turned back to look at Phasma - and Kylo took the chance to attack. She turned around in time, stopping him easily and pushing forward with the blade, shoving him closer to the edge. She hacked downwards at him, and he blocked it, just in time to duck a wild swipe that nearly look off his head.

Before he could regroup - there was a firefight on the far side of the vault. Hux’s men were firing at the General’s guard, and Kylo was surprised to see them quickly getting the best of it. The woman sensed his emotions and took advantage, pushing him off the platform and down to the cave below. Kylo gritted his teeth as he flew through the air, writing himself just in time to hit the ground evenly, wincing at the shock to his ankles.

The lightsaber hit the water, soaking his boots and sending a wave of steam upwards as the woman leapt down, landing with incredible grace and running towards him as if she’d been on flat land the whole time.

“Were you afraid to open the gate yourself?”

“Darth Sidious was a warrior for darkness. I’m looking to end the wars.”

“You’re doing an excellent job.”

She swung her saber through the water, whipping steam into his eyes. “Sacrifices have to be made for peace. I’ve learned that the hard way.” She spun around, smashing her lightsaber into his side and knocking him backwards. He’d seen this fighting style on holocrons - but he’d never seen it in person. He was back to defending, getting increasingly desperate, still not keeping up. Finally, he tried to push forward in desperation, but she parried him perfectly, sending his lightsaber flying.

Kylo held his hands up, backtracking. Damnit!

“And now you’re going to open this. And remember that you don’t need to be in one piece to -”

There was a loud sound that sounded like three thunderclaps going off at once - and the woman went flying. Kylo turned his head to the side - to see an Imperial Shuttle, crudely painted black with shades of grey striped down the angular sides.

Which meant -

The door to the shuttle opened, to show another woman in a mask built like a cage, and a walking armory of explosives, two blasters, and a heavy set of gauntlets. “I bet you’ve never been this happy to see me, Kylo.”

He ignored her talking, scrambled towards his lightsaber. “Who else did you bring with you?” he barked.

“Just my gorgeous self,” Ashara said brightly, throwing her shawl to the side. “Who’s the bitch?”

“You know what?” The woman marched forward with a renewed fury, lighting a second blade. Kylo sighed miserably through the mask and set his feet in the cool water. “You two really need to improve your language.”

And with that, she was on top of both of them, slashing wildly and setting them backwards. They could control the pace now, stepping away when they were overwhelmed and flanking her on the flat ground. She whirled wildly, but the two of them synced up, reading each other and attacking as one unit. The woman tripped Ashara and closed in on Kylo, both sabers bearing down - and then she stopped, screaming as a blaster bolt slammed into her back. Her concentration was shattered, and Kylo took advantage, rolling his saber against hers and forcing it into the air, disarming her.

“Well,” she said casually, holding her hands up. “I suppose I should -”

Ashara’s red lightsaber ran through her chest before she could finish the sentence, ripping through her baggy clothes and pushing out through the other end. The woman let out a surprisingly frail scream before toppling over, landing face down in the cave floor.

“The time to surrender,” she said smugly, “was a minute before I arrived.”

Breathing heavily, Kylo switched off his own device, returning it to his belt. “Snoke won’t be pleased with you. That woman might have been able to explain what happened today.”

Ashara shrugged. “Don’t tell me you care so much for this woman’s life. If she dies, then she dies.”

“Put her on your shuttle and take her back to the Gauntlet,” he said, turning on one soaked heel and walking back towards the front (back?) of the cave.

“Ben!” He froze in mid-step, awkwardly turning around. Ashara had removed her heavy cage of a mask, looking surprisingly frail despite her bulky wear. “The last time we spoke, there was… we should talk about -”

“You and I,” he said coldly, “have nothing to discuss. Merely follow my orders and wait for word from the Supreme Leader.”

He moved forward without looking back, his own thoughts occupying him as he stiffly walked around the long cave and back towards Phasma’s position. He felt the familiar mix of sickness and exhilaration and relief he felt after every battle. But deeper, more intense this time. Who the hell was that woman? She was the fastest he’d ever seen.

And yet, he’d still managed to survive… with a bit of help, anyway. He sat on the ground in front of her and sighed.

“General Hux, I think… I think we’re all right here.” He pulled his mask off now, snatched the piece out of his ear and tossed it into the water.
 
It was as though for a moment everything around her grew still and silent, no ringing, no Hux, no screaming. For a moment she almost couldn't tell that the screaming was from Iblis, maybe it was her own, she was bleeding after all. No, she wasn't screaming, the vision around her swirling as she braced herself again, dropping the blaster and peeling her glove away from her hand. Reaching beneath her armor, the blonde grimaced softly, the red smear on her hand reminding her that yes, she was still in pain. But where had all the sound and feeling gone? It was when her eyes raised toward Iblis, left alone on the ground, that everything came roaring back, the sound of a shuttle echoing in, the sound of Iblis grunting loudly as he dragged himself out of potential line of fire, the march of boots spreading out to find any more men.

Pulling her helmet away from her head, it was set down with a hitched breath before the blonde steadied herself, moving toward the currently one legged Iblis. If he had expected to be given the mercy of dying, and it was apparent that's what he expected when she kicked him over onto his back, there was none of that in Phasma's eyes.

" Well. . You're lookinnnnngh great Miss Commander. "

Amazing.

The standing over the cringing man, her stance was clearly unstable, but for a man with one leg, he wasn't about to test just how much she had left in her. " You gonna kill me up close, I get it. " Or maybe he was. Reaching out to grasp his pistol that had been dropped in the instant pain that sliced through his body, Phasma's finger laid gently on the trigger, just as her opposite hand gripped the charge.

" Well? Get it over with Miss- "

" I'm not going to kill you, "

No, this was an extraction mission. He was to be brought in for questioning because he was supposed to be dead, long gone, and suddenly he had reappeared with so much to say about Snoke. About Ren. But about the Order, it had teetered on a nerve, her livelihood, and sealed it completely when he had taken advantage of her wounded body. So, that only meant one thing. The sound of the General screaming again could be heard, several of the troopers turning as the pistol fired a shot into his wrist, the staggered trooper breathing out softly. " Bet you wish you were dead though. "

The General was carried away after passing out, missing both hands and a limb would do that to someone, hand pressing back against a wall as she watched the limp body of the man disappear out the opposite end of the tunnel. Her head turned now, having lost her focus on what was happening beyond the gate, there being no real sound of a man screaming out, just the typical grunts of someone struggling. Thankfully, she was answered before she completely made her way to the edge to peek, amber eyes wavering and the faintest sign of a smile appearing as she slid to a seat against the wall.

" I think this, " Pausing as her eyes danced over the cruiser before back to Ren, " Counts as this. "
 
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