Masquerade [ Ft. Banks & November ]

How many times had she told them not to do this. She couldn't even be bothered to count, really.

" They're not going to hesitate to shoot and kill you, so why are you hesitating? " While it was a frustrating truth, that didn't stop it from being imparitive, important to be reminded. Unfortunately, when you were told to both resist from hesitating and leave one behind if the situation came down to it, there were areas of gray that made things like this difficult. Watching the screen with a steady gaze, her arms folded around her chest as her eyes danced over the rapid movements of cadets, counting the missteps of each. It was like watching a terrible joke, to say the least, watching the punchline fall through because the person telling the joke didn't remember the words correctly and had to go back and repeat it three times to get the pieces together.

But, there were no complaints yet. If there were going to be better stormtroopers, one would have to create them from this pile of mess. " Again. " It seemed that even in her return to the Gauntlet, she was back to babysitting men, left with the promise of cadets before she had even gotten a chance to let the remaining alcohol sneak out of her system. It was no matter, a welcome distraction on the ship from anything underlying she felt creep up while being here. On the ship she had responsibilities, things to peel her mind away from any distraction she had fallen into while on Chandrila, brandy induced or on her own. There was no time to sit and think about it, to dwell on anything extra because she was busy.

She welcomed the distraction with open arms.

Only every so often was she reminded, tender spots on her skin that she felt or touched in her sleep or while getting dressed. The print of a spread fingers dancing in pink over her neck when she glanced in the mirror, thankfully these were all from within the privacy of her own confines. Once or twice brought back into the reality of what had happened when glances came in passing, reminding her that his face held no protection from the outside world. While their one interaction had been in a circumstance of getting stuck in a pause of avoiding the other, Phasma was reminded of the amusement in watching his face contort in reactions to others and whatever traces of simplified conversation shared. Thankfully, it hadn't been much, and the pause was pushed for them to resume with their lives.

" I'm not taking them to Carida. "

It was one of the silliest things she had heard for the day, beyond the explanation of why the cadet hadn't taken the shot within the simulation. That alone was reason enough why taking them out into the field was a useless idea. Babysitting one person was one thing, but multiple, and actually having to make sure she didn't return with no cadets at all? Please. This conversation was already getting on her nerves, breathing out audibly as she looked down at Admiral Fedorre, the man backtracking instantly as it was an absolute terrible idea. But they couldn't, wouldn't send them in alone. No, this task was too big, and there were too many things that could go wrong. That was fine but, she was not taking her cadets.

This wasn't some field trip, as Fedorre had made sure to announce again the severity of the situation. Turning her head away from the projected map as the third party of the conversation arrived, the look given caused her arms to fold over her plated chest, what was said next made her portion of the bet instantly worth it. Oh he was just a beam of sunshine, smiling beneath her helmet and resisting the urge to laugh at the quietly made agreement. Turning her head back to the map as Fedorre explained the situation, her eyes danced over the slowly moving system, gloved hands raising as she zoomed in to where they suspected the ship had been taken. It was the mention of her name that caused her to turn now, directing her gaze to Fedorre as he stammered slightly on the answer. Not exactly. Rolling her eyes, the shift of her body almost announcing that she had done just that, speaking now, " Who? "

 
"Given the severity of the situation, we're putting you together with someone who has a background on the traits and habits of these pirates."

"You really have to stop having people walk in these meetings at the last minute."

Fedorre ignored him, of course. The Adjunction Room had been designed for this purpose - facilitating smooth co-ordination between the Order's many departments. He hit a button and a babyfaced redhead strolled through the door. The man looked like the opposite of Phasma's meticulate appearance - his eyes were red and cracked, his uniform wasn't ironed, there was crust on his eyes and lips.

Perhaps a man with more gravitas would have looked like a hardened solider, but this man looked like he'd stayed up all night to study for an exam.

"This is Major General Doriel Hux. He's going to be assuming leadership of... something like a bait ship that we'll be using to... is there a problem, Ren?"

If only he'd been wearing the helmet. Maybe he would have gotten away with it. But the shock and the absurdity of this man possessing this rank just made him smile, and then the smile made him laugh, and then he was guffawing uncontrollably. To his credit, the Major General stuck his nose in the air and acted as if Kylo wasn't in the room. But Fedorre was looking at him aghast, and Phasma was looking at him with... one expression or another.

So now, it felt like he had to explain himself. "I'm just curious. Who was your father?"

Hux turned on his scabby heel as if he'd been challenged to a fistfight. "Excuse me?"

Kylo leaned back in the chair and shrugged his shoulders. "You're, I mean... have you ever so much as used a razorblade before?"

"Have you?"

"I'm not..." Kylo waved a hand dismissively, "poncing about calling myself a Major General, either."

"Let's discuss what else you won't be doing." He swallowed. "I've been made aware that you have your... unique relationship with the Supreme Leader. And I am at peace with that. But I simply will not be spoken to like this, here or anywhere else. If you actually listen you'll find that I'm more than qualified for this task. Do you have any other questions?"

The Major General had pointedly ignored the two questions he'd asked already. "By all means."

He shot Kylo one more nasty look and leaned over, tapping a panel and triggering another complex series of holograms. "I've been assigned to lead a task force on stopping the piracy problem in the Inner Rim -"

"Insofar as it concerns the Order."

"I would like you to stop interrupting me," he snapped. But after a second, he nodded. "Yes. Insofar as it concerns the Order. We've made a probability map based on when they strike, the amenities, the vulnerabilities, the locations of the attacks. Our model also includes ah... "

Hux stopped for a moment and rubbed his eyes. "Includes forensic data. Marks from certain blasters we think the pirates are using. Eyewitness accounts. Things like that. But we're predicting that they'll strike further into the Carida system, attack another Corvette. I simply refuse to believe you could hijack anything larger without starting an all-out war."

"It seems that your limited ability to conceive has brought the problem this far already."

"Kylo Ren," Admiral Fedorre started -

"No, it's fine." Hux sighed. "We came here asking for your help, not the other way around. I've predicted the last two attacks, almost to the exact time. I think the model works. So I'd like you and Commander Phasma to help secure the ship - alongside a contingent of my own men. We'll be flying an unescorted Corvette on a supply run from one of the local mining colonies. So... something flush and inviting."

Kylo squirmed, tapping his fingers together and giving the room a queasy, uneven smile. He wasn't an expert in military tactics, but he did know an obvious trap when he saw one.

He idly wondered why Phasma was coming again. He certainly didn't mind, but... what an odd set of coincidences.
 
It was true. These appearances were starting to become almost like a game, guessing who was behind each sliding door. The next to enter made her tense, not necessarily because of who he was, but rather his appearance, head falling just slightly as she took him in like a book, reading every wrinkle and crease, the look of a tired man. Hands flat against the table, the woman's fingers noticably curled as she resisted the urge to shake her head. It was a. . A thing, to say the least. For the most part, she had never taken great notice in it, not until the occasional question as to why slipped out of someone's mouth. Perhaps it was because it was something she so easily had control over, being spotless and taking care of her things, that it ran along with her every day life.

Long hours spent patrolling simply because she enjoyed making distance from others and the views each system offered, it was merely a simple task that kept her alert, and her long legs strong. Even her own outfit, given the get up when she moved so gracefully up the ranks, that sat deep in her closet, was kept neat and carefully taken care of, despite never caring to wear it. Why? She had never preferred to sit behind a desk and plan out strategies, and not be there to help see them through. It just didn't feel right. But this- Hux, god. His appearance made her skin crawl. He looked like a piece of used paper, crumpled up and tossed into a chute somewhere. Thankful that this helmet did obscure certain portions of her vision, the woman stood properly now, silent relief in only being able to see him from the neck up. The distraction that pulled her eyes away from him was laughter, all aside from the ginger himself, heads turning to the laughing Kylo Ren. . If one would call it laughing.

Sighing softly as a means of relieving stress, despite how it sounded like she was sighing about the children gentlemen around her having a discussion that was irrelevant, though she was far beyond used to boys having semi-pissing contests. " I don't have time for this. " Turning her head to Fedorre, the woman spoke now, " This is still your fault, you know. " Another point she blamed him for, the elder man huffing slightly only for the two to turn back to the verbal debate between the two men, lightly raising a hidden brow as Hux had at least won for now. Well that was new, almost amusing in itself. Eyes following the flickers of the hologram, each of his presented statements acting as bullet points for how he had followed this so thoroughly through both attacks, easily agreeing that letting a third happen just seemed sloppy on their part. However, why she had to be a part of the sitting in a ship with them in such close confines, she wasn't getting. Clearly she was just being stuck into shit as one huge test. It had to be.

Next time she was called into a little meeting she was standing as close to the door as possible.

" Well Major General, " Turning her head to Hux, again focusing her line of sight away from his clothing, " Anything else? " Will you be putting on something actually presentable before we take this trip to sit like live bait?
 
"A LOT else. A great deal... else." Kylo pinched his nose and shook his head. "I want to know about the military capabilities of these pirates. There must be eyewitness accounts of what they did, how they got on board a fucking Corvette of all things and took over."

Hux ran a hand through his very generous hair and sighed, a long, long sigh that seemed like it would never end. Maybe this was what was giving him so little sleep. "We know that somehow they're tampering with the gravity and shields of these ships using some experimental weapon. We also know that the pirates are designated NhM."

Kylo frowned. The First Order adapted so much Imperial terminology (even now, the Star Destroyers used the ISD designation, although that was as much for convinience as anything else) that it could get irritating at times. "So... aliens. Bothans and Twi'lek and Quarren and all those other cuddly creatures."

"It's only now that the Supreme Leader has devoted what I would deem significant attention to it."

"The significant attention being... me."

"There are also reports of the one or two humans attached to the group being armed with lightsabers."


Now it was Kylo's turn to look like he was losing sleep. Was there any way that... no. Impossible. "You're joking. Look, there are plenty of bounty hunters and smugglers who killed Jedi back in the day. There are actually a few factories in the galaxy that make artificial lightsabers."

"I can't say I know all the details of that. But if this is some kind of Jedi business."

He narrowed his eyes. "I'm not a Jedi, Major General."

"Don't be pedantic. It should still be something left for you to handle."

Kylo scoffed. Without the mask, this would have been steely and intimidating, but now it came off as... well. "You make it sound like owning a lightsaber makes you impossible to kill. Has this special contingent of your men had any kind of training in Jedi countermeasures?"

Hux swallowed and looked around the room, as if hoping for support. "We've run simulations."

Before he could think, Kylo pounded the table and bent over, groaning into his hand for a few seconds. By the time he cleared his throat and recovered, everyone was looking at him.

This seemed like a bit of a trainwreck. Not from lack of preparation exactly, just from general... well, it was lack of preparedness in a macro sense.

"All right. I'll take your assignment." Kylo stood up, and Fedorre followed him in standing. "When are we supposed to leave?"

Hux put his hands behind his back and looked up at the ceiling. "I can give you two hours at most."

"Won't need that long. Commander Phasma, I'd like to check in with you before we shipped out. Just a few loose ends from the Chandrila affair."

Hux gave a half smile and extended his hand. "You're the guests of honor. Take your time."

Kylo frowned around the room miserably, as if the process of touching Hux was physically repulsive. And yet, he didn't want him to go around thinking he was the better man... so he gave the Major General a very terse handshake before getting out.
 
Of course, there was even more mess to be piled ontop.

It was then she eyed her options of exits, though again she knew that these pieces of information were important, hands settling themselves at her hips as Hux seemed to tip toe around the answers that were becoming apparent between all of them. Clearly these weren't simple pirates, especially if they were targeting First Order ships with clear intentions of hunting after them. A neutral party that had to be stopped, simply, and quickly before the Resistance caught any word of this. If a set of pirates could do it multiple times, and so easily, well, that wasn't good for anyone. The terms were familiar, head at a light tilt when it was confirmed that these weren't simply humans testing the waters of their ships, though the woman's eyebrows shot up, almost feeling her helmet shift when the second announcement.

Oh, now this was all too amusing. Lightsabers, hm? And Jedi business? The pure distress on Kylo's face, added to this little mental pile, coughing softly to cover the faint sound of a laugh, the tension between these men seeming to bubble up to the top again. With more and more bits of information, again this plan sounded like it was missing something, as though there were a gaping hole that needed plugging. Anti-gravity, aliens, and lightsabers. Well. While none of that truly sounded unusual, none of it was something they should have been simply briefed on today, probably right before the mission itself. Like I don't have things to make sure of. But alas. This was for the First Order.

Ship retrieval and all, it was for the First Order.

The woman was thankful this conversation as a whole had come to an end, though none of them wanted to sit and dwell on the fact that this was quite potentially a terrible idea, no matter how many statistics Hux had run. No matter how many maps and ideas he had, turning her head when Kylo mentioned speaking to her in regards to Chandrila, a lie that only she was aware of. The faintest of nods given to Hux as she moved around him, not before glancing down and silently cursing about that damned wrinkled shirt. Entering the hallway with a sigh, the woman's distinctive steps began, moving among the chatter of a few other men in uniform on patrol, she wasn't at all surprised that the Supreme Leader's protege had ran off to his room to brood silently before she spoke with him. Probably had to rebuild that pouty wall of his.

Standing in front of the doorway now, the woman sighed softly as she tilted her head upward, speaking now through the closed sliding door, " Sir, " Momentarily professional until she noticed the troopers who had been in the hall with her moved on, the woman continued, " Open the fucking door. " And like clockwork, the metal slid open, moving inside now as she immediately explained, " I was told to call you sir. " But the tilt of her head provided that it was going to happen rarely, if ever at all, fingers hooking under her helmet now as she slid it up and over her head. Choppy bangs brushing over her eyelids, the woman let her eyes narrow at the faintest sign of amusement she saw on his face, knowing immediately that telling him that would prove to be a pain.

 
The smile still hadn't faded from Kylo's lips.

"I looked it up the day after I was stationed on the Gauntlet, and technically I outrank both you AND Hux, which is wonderful... at least on a technical level." The smile faded and turned into a bitter sigh. Imagine where he would have been if the Chandrila mission had failed. He certainly didn't know where to start extracting himself from a situation like that. "Of course, there's the technical level and the practical one. On that level, it mostly allows me to mouth off, walk out of conversations and leave when I want."

He decided this made a good amount of sense. The Order's military arm and the Knights of Ren had their own roles to play in Smoke's service, and it didn't make any sense for him to be answerable to layer after layer of bureaucracy. Although...

Kylo took a big step forward and finally lifted his arm, touching her right under the chin and tilting her in his direction. "You should still make a habit of calling me Sir. I think I could get used to it."

The playfulness left his voice, although the distance didn't change. "Why do you think you keep getting all these to do these things lately? Is this something Commanders get sent to do? Do you... have you given the impression that you get me to behave somehow?"

As he said it, he realized that this theory could have cut a different way from Phasma's perspective. This woman barely walked around without something over her face. And now she had to worry about the perception of... being too good a handler. He wondered how much of him cared. God. If he was regularly getting fucked like that, he'd be on time much more often.

Much more likely she was just doing a great job, anyway.

"Do you know Hux? Do you recognize that name? Is there some kind of reputation in him?" He hadn't looked it up, but he was certain that Hux really had a father that was... someone of influence. It was hard for him to imagine anyone climbing the ranks that quickly. "I don't want to die for some snotty rich child. And speaking of not dying."

He grabbed his lightsaber from the counter. He still hadn't perfected the crafting on it, but it was stable enough that he felt like he could still use it in the field, if it came to that.
 
  It was right at technically that she rolled her eyes, knowing nothing good could come from him after that very word. And she was right, her free hand settling on her hip now when he felt the need to say she was only slightly useful. Useful like she was some kitchen appliance tossed in a drawer. Useful like she was good for his inability to fly a ship, despite him outranking her. Useful because he had to be watched out of fear that he would go completely off task. Oh how useful. The shift in her mouth that of someone who was biting their tongue, even as he lifted her head slightly and so easily approved of being called sir, the thought alone making her head shake lightly from his grasp. " Now I really don't ever want to say it. " Clearly he already found way too much joy in it.

The rapid fire of his questions left her with an amused expression, most notably for the final question as she tapped her nails across her helmet. " Have I given the impression? Don't you think that's more or less something you'd be the one to determine? " After all, he was the one walking around with his sunny disposition, hm? " So? Am I the reason you're apparently behaving? " If him hiding himself away in the dark corners for a few days was counted as behaving anyway. Though the previous questions still remained, brown eyes raising to the ceiling lightly, " Usually no, not this often anyway, unless he just needed me to fly the ship, " Doubtful, when he had men of his own accompanying them. It wasn't given as busy work, because there were plenty of other things she had to do here on the Gauntlet, easily adding, " But if you'd rather sit on an even smaller ship with Hux alone, I'm sure something could be arranged. "

Watching the thought process wash over his face when he mentioned Hux again, the blonde was momentarily surprised he was unaware of the last name, though easily it was more trooper matters, recent history. " His father is Commandant Hux? " Raising a brow when the name still didn't register across Kylo's face, Phasma shook her head and continued, " He used to be the commandant over Arkanis Academy until the civil war ended, and he fled. He used to study how Jedi would train since birth, and once the war ended, they started new training methods for troopers. " Phasma didn't feel that she needed to put the connection of Jedi training and trooper training together, breaking eye contact for a moment as she glanced down. " So, by default of being his son, he's important. "
 
Kylo slowly broke into a smile, leaning back against his bed and shaking a finger at Phasma. Her demeanor had surprised him, but he couldn't be sure why that was. "I couldn't have imagined you'd make those kinds of faces, or take things that seriously. You're supposed to be a True Solider that Loves The Thrill Of Battle. And now you're giving me all those kinds of looks because you're not sitting behind a desk? Hux seems to be very eager for that kind of thing, but you... well, I thought you would be a little more even keeled."

Imagine. Asking that from her of all people. Of course, what she was really concerned about, if he put himself in her shoes, was... something less simple to grasp onto. She didn't want to be seen as a tool (or to be more accurate, she wanted to be seen as a tool, but in a limited sense that she could take pride in) and this situation already had troubling implications for the way the Order thought of her. Who wanted to be known as someone else's handler? Especially a handler for someone like him?

The fact that she was allowing herself into his room, and was being so cordial to him, was actually a testament to his personal charm.

If that was what you wanted to call it.

"We made an agreement and I'm following it. I wouldn't say I was doing anything out of personal affection for you. I wouldn't say you're... handling me or anything of that nature." He trailed off with something about how absurd it was, before she brought up an obvious thing he hadn't thought of - if he didn't like her around, she could always find a way to sneak out of the job. Perhaps one of her children would come down with the flu. "Ah. Listen. No. I wouldn't like that. I'm sure this is going to be a clusterfuck, it'd be good to have someone... competent and... trustworthy, to..."

He curled up on the bed (a glorified cot, really) and looked up at the harsh lights. This was what he'd asked for, but really, the place was more like a cell, wasn't it? "No. I do want you to be there. I'd like it very much, do you... how much of a production does it have to be for me to say that?"

He chucked a screw at the opposite wall, and it rattled around on the floor. "And I didn't know his father was that sort've important. I suppose it makes sense. Have you ever seen a Major General that young before?"

Of course, the Order had plenty of obscenely young officers. He was speaking to one of them. Maybe the entire line of conversation was hypocritical. But Hux was everything obnoxious about the officer class rolled up into one person. He hadn't decided he hated him or anything as dramatic as that... but he had a lot to prove.
 
The audible sigh that slipped through her naturally placed pout was one of faint annoyance, immediately aware that he plainly didn't get it. Outright he didn't get it. Of course she would be clawing her eyes out if she were sitting behind a desk, watching planets from inside some ridiculous communication room. It would drive her absolutely insane to be chatty with any of the other comm room associates about what they were doing with their droning lives. Shit, it was already near painful enough to be chatty in the first place. " Oh I am just so thrilled to be on another mission where my underlying objective is to keep you from dying. Absolutely. " Or to keep him from freaking out, or losing his mind, or whatever everyone was so genuinely concerned about him doing. Whatever Snoke was just so sure she needed to be around him for.

The only true pay off she had noticed from Chandrila was, other than the fact that they had both admitted to enjoying the other's company in one way or another, the sex. The mind blowing, forget what time it was and what you're supposed to be doing sex. And Phasma doubted on every inch of her body that Snoke had just prepared for that to happen. Arms folding over her chest again as he slightly stammered through the fact that he clearly didn't want her to simply not be there, whether it was because he would be alone with Hux and several other men or because he again, enjoyed her company, Phasma wouldn't ask. " You're the one with the flair for dramatics. " She responded, watching him as he laid on his bed with half of his mind clearly in his thoughts, grinning softly when he asked if she'd seen a Major General that young.

Absolutely not, but. .

" I've never seen anyone your age outrank one either. " Clearly he was just finding excuses to not exactly be fond of Hux, other than the general hauty attitude the man carried. Though plainly, the woman had no intention of getting between their bitter attitudes. " Are you going to lay there for the two hours you said you wouldn't need? "
 
"That's my underlying objective in every mission, Phasma. I think a lot of people would be saddened if I were to be killed by some pissant space pirate with a squid neck in the middle of nowhere." Kylo rolled himself off the cot and padded over towards her, wrapping his arm around... well, it was a little bit silly, wrapping his arm around the waist of her armor, but he did manage it. He tilted his head to close the distance, kissing her. "Me, most of all. I suppose there's nothing I could do to convince you... I mean, I could think of so many things we could do in two hours."

Of course, deep down, he knew the idea was absurd. Even if they were in here for half an hour, that was a long time to... have a conversation about something they'd both experienced together already. Ah, and speaking of which. There was one more loose end from Chandrila that he hadn't brought up from their earlier discussion. "Okay, I've got a theory. How... intensive were you about that debriefing when you got back?"

He rolled his neck around and glowered at the door. "I'm not saying you told them everything we did, but... did Fedorre ask any kind of strange questions? Did he ask about my... mental state or anything like that?"
 
Unfortunately, there was something amusing in that, Phasma resisted the laugh that settled in her chest. She wouldn't argue it with him, as she knew herself that the shit would hit the fan and destroy so many of Snoke's plans, disrupting the First Order, and everything around it. And in reminding herself that she didn't want to be the one responsible for that, Phasma simply got over it. Not to say the kiss hadn't helped. " If I've got to get out of this armor, it's going to be for more than an hour or two of sex. " Her tone was soft, though honest as Phasma spoke again, mentally reminding herself that there were still a few things that could be worked around in this uniform.

Raising a brow softly when he mentioned their debriefing, the question was odd and she hadn't entirely thought back on it since the day they'd returned. Intensive? " I told him what happened, " Obviously other than the clearly obvious points that needed to be left out, mentally deciding that watching Fedorre squirm through filthy details would have been amusing if it wasn't her own. Though him asking immediately triggered her thoughts, being reminded immediately of Fedorre's tipping around what he truly cared to know. Had the man choked in the mission, had anything gone south, had he thrown a tantrum that resulted in extremely negative results. " He asked how you. . Handled the pressure when not under such close observation. "
 
"An hour or two of sex isn't enough for you? Either you're really underestimating how much sex you can have in that amount of time. Or I'm underestimating how hard it is to get out of that thing. Half an hour would be more than enough to..." Kylo stopped midsentence as he read her face. Wait.

Wait, that hadn't been what she'd meant at all. Well, Kylo certainly wasn't going to ask for... that was a little bit eccentric, even for his tastes. He shook his head, his face turning all kinds of red as he moved on to the other pressing issue.

"What did you tell him?" And then his mind went back to the actual mission. Almost giving away the thing as he entered the Governor's office. The whole affair with the air traffic controller. The sheer amount of effort and false starts that it had taken for him to pull off the probe. "You lied to him about everything, right?" She'd indirectly answered his question, at least he thought she did. It seemed unlikely that she was there for the sole purpose of informing on him. Of course, his vision of her mind hadn't exactly gone that far back...

"Let's... deal with the pirate situation, try to survive, and pick apart the evidence later, I suppose." He slapped her on the back and headed for the door. "And thanks. Most of those were things I really needed to know."
 
The crash course of expressions that crossed his face when he realized what she had so silently said within her words, laughing softly when the red shot over his skin like a rash. The embarrassment was his alone for once, the woman's own focus on what he was so carefully trying to keep from making sure she hadn't outright blabbed on him. Trying to make sure she hadn't told him that he had screwed up numerous times in practice, thumbed through her thoughts, and stolen liquor from the previous Governor of Chandrila. " You think from something I said it unofficially made a part of my job watching you? " That would be very Fedorre, to say the least. " You don't think something you said might have made that happen? " Then again, Phasma didn't put it past the knight to glorify himself like he had truly been almighty.

Her eyes narrowing when his hand collided with the smooth back of her armor, she shook her head softly and slid the white helmet over her head, shifting it slightly as the image of her surroundings adjusted. " It's not like they aren't common knowledge. "

" We'll keep their training regime the same, of course, just. . Keep them under another's eye. " Fedorre explained, his voice almost sounding hopeful of something the woman couldn't exactly put her finger on. But it made her uncomfortable. It had felt odd for her to essentially pass her training of her cadets off to someone else until she returned, finding that it just felt wrong. Felt like it was too soon and way too early to just be giving the burden to someone else for the moment. Wait. . Why was she making them sound like they were her children. . Am I being maternal. . The sharp inhale and shake of her head caused her to reevaluate the situation entirely, though it was almost as though she wasn't given the opportunity to dwell on it, one of Hux's men addressing her now.

Something about a blaster, " Mmhm. "

Phasma momentarily felt uncomfortable in this environment with that thought so deeply lingering in her, turning her head just in time to hear another say the coordinates of where the last ship had been taken under siege. Watching the hologram come up from the table, the woman turned to Hux now, arms folding over her chest, " Are you expecting for any of the other crew members to be alive? "
 
This ship was called the Resolute or something like that - it was a lot more camped, a little dirtier than the Gauntlet. There simply was less attention paid to those kinds of details out here, even if it technically was Order space. They were huddled around the hologram, and Kylo stared at it from the shadows in the corner, as if he'd expected to unlock some sort of profound truth from the damned thing.

"I don't know," Hux said grimly. "I almost don't want to think about it. There are at least 40 ships that have been taken, most of them extremely small vessels, but generally the ones that don't put up a fight live and the ones that do... well."

"You're right, that does not bode well. I don't think our boys are the surrendering type. Have you given a stand-down order to captains in this sector?"

Hux swallowed, shaking with fury at even the notion of such a thing. "Of course not. These are the men and women of the First Order. It would be degrading to tell them to surrender at the first sign of trouble. And word would spread, oh it would."

"I just mean they should stand down if they see some of these traits you've identified... you know what, never mind." This was absolutely not an argument he was going to win, of course.

"That's why we're here. We are the countermeasures."

It seemed more like he was the countermeasure. But there was speaking your mind, and there was being a cunt. Kylo usually stayed on one side of that line, until circumstances irritated him to the point that...

"Are we going to disembark and..."

"I'm expecting that we'll be attacked as we go by."

Kylo folded his arms. "I find that... do they really think so little of us? That we'd be so totally incompetent? We really should just drop a Star Destroyer on their heads and get it over with."

Hux shook his head, his hair waving back and forth in synchronized motion with his forehead. "We've already discussed that. We're down here in the bay. Based on our knowledge of previous attacks, they mess with the gravity using... some method I don't know about yet. Then they board the ship and disable the hyperdrive. Then they storm the ship and take it by force."

He showed a little hologram showing this stuff off. "We're going to buckle down and counter this initial gravity attack." Then he pointed to a bunch of little platforms he'd... stuck to the walls somehow. "Then we're going to push ourselves between here and the hyperdrive room. I don't much care whether they actually disable the hyperdrive, but I want to spring the trap there. We need to hold this room at all costs, that way we can leave if things get bad."

"What if your men aren't the crack shots you think they are. What if you run into a few things they haven't seen in the almighty simulation."

"That will not happen."

"Even I know you need a contingency for -"

"It will not happen, Ren. Just stick with the plan that I've provided you. We've been blessed with a predictable enemy and I intend to take advantage."

"Have you ever been in the field before, Major General? I mean, really in the field."

"We will discuss my experience in private, after this mission is complete. Are there any more questions?" That was a no. And just then, he felt the ship rumbling. "Now. Buckle up. Please."

He could say this for Major General Hux - he had a way of making the word "Please" sound like the word "Cunt", which was impressive, considering the lack of similarity.
 
The more he spoke, the more this sounded like a very elaborate suicide mission. One that had been carefully thought through with enough care to figure out which able bodies were important enough to get on the ship and play pretend that they could destroy pirates using technology none of them knew about, instead going based on guessing. And it was true, with no word back from these missing ships and the ever awareness that these men and women of the First Order weren't the sort to sit tight and wait for a rescue. Maybe a few, but that would be a slim few. In that, she could just about see Hux's blood pressure rise through him as his heart damn near stopped at being asked such a simple, but apparently preposterous question. On one hand, Phasma could understand where Hux was coming from, the idea of anyone being a weak link within the First Order could be absolutely damning for the image they firmly held. However, forty ships down. . You would think. . And with the knowledge of what was happening to these other ships that weren't standing down, it apparently meant that an act of bait was to be placed. Forty ships in.

" You can't just drop a Star Destroyer on everything, especially if there is anyone who survived. " What a grand solution that would be though, to simply blow them up and carry on through as though it was simply a bug on a window. Instead of having to hold the guard of a room that wouldn't have any gravity. And it was the trooper way, that if your comrade went down, then you were to keep going until the job was done. " Where do they boar- " Sighing softly as the beautiful couple continued their squabble, she moved toward one of platforms, " I refuse to die like this. " As if she had a choice in the matter, though knowing Phasma, she would fight until she got at least some similarities of how she wanted to die. The rumble of the ship caused her head to turn upward, the soft click emerging beside her just in time for Hux to so sweetly tell Kylo to buckle himself in. Grasping at the blaster, only for a moment could she picture the fumbled image of one of Hux's men scrambling to grab his weapon because he wasn't holding it or it wasn't strapped down, closing her eyes because again she was finding numerous things that could go wrong.



 
There was a loud wobbling sound and then an insanely loud crash and boom from outside the ship. Now Kylo was thinking about other things. Were these gravity weapons shipboard or handheld? "At LEAST tell me that we've got a map. Cameras. Some kind of tracker that we can use to coordinate our own attacks in case of -"

"I'm hooked up to the bridge," Hux said hurriedly, as another loud noise was in the background. "The bridge is hooked up to surveillance. We're going to be fine."

"We need to -"

But Hux was already talking over him. "The ship's taking fire! Start moving to the hyperdrive engine!"

There was another loud wobble and then - static. The ship rocked back and forth, and the dim overhead lights began to flash on and off. The men had started out in a smooth, synchronized motion in the light, but the next time Kylo could see, they were disorganized, sprawling in different directions. Oh, this was already a total fucking horror show. This was the great General Hux, already getting them close fucking killed.

"Use the platforms!" Yes, yes, we got that much. To his faint credit, Hux had slung a rifle over his shoulder and was moving admirably, even taking a minute to boost one of his black-suited henchman up. Hm... everyone was wearing some variety of black except Phasma... that would make her stand out at least.

There was another loud rumble, and the now the gravity on the ship was down, and the electricity too. The backup power was engaging, and there were little suits flickering in the darkness. Well, at least they were good for something. Kylo stretched out with the Force, keeping track of Hux's squadron. This was a really poorly thought out plan, but he was Kylo Ren. He should be enough to turn the tide of the battle by himself, unless...

Well, what else did these pirates bring into play? They cleared the way into the hyperdrive room - Kylo scowled. He'd been smart enough to think of their way in, and lighting for speeding the path, but the site of their ambush wasn't as good as he'd hoped. There was some rudimentary cover placed on the ground (wouldn't last long in a firefight) and on the ceiling (here was a man in love with his own cleverness) and then men got behind it faithfully and waited. He saw Phasma in a far corner of the room, looking comically out of place behind some durasteel bumper, and resisted the urge to position himself directly behind her yet... it was just as likely he'd go careening into someone else.

And he needed Hux to relay him information. "Total darkness, everyone." And they'd clearly all neatly practiced synchronized light cutting. Hooray. There were a couple of loud BOOM noises before these pirates entered. It was a smaller crew than he'd expected. Only a dozen in the massive engine room. Had they really taken a corvette with a crew that small?

The alien spoke some kind of gibberish and the group flanked out. They wore red, all of them, and they all wore variations of the same boots, but it was all different sorts of clothing, vests, jackets, bandanas, armor, they looked more like a jumped up street gang than a military force. And one of them wore a heavy gun around his shoulder that almost looked like a trumpet. Shit. They needed a translator. Another detail the Major General had forgotten.

Of course, maybe Hux didn't care so much, since he was going to have these people captured or killed soon anyway. Kylo squinted in the dark at the humans, looking for one that had a lightsaber. That one would have to be measured first... if he found -

"NOW!" Another mistake - even in the darkness, the barricades weren't impossible to see. The pirates had spotted the trap early, leading the firefight to break out a little soon. That wasn't impossible to recover from, through. A little war had broken out in the engine room - and the good news was that Hux's squadron weren't incompetent shots. Phasma nailed a man in the shoulder, and another couple of pirates died in the initial volley. One of the pirates shot the trombone gun - and a wave of pressure flew out, smashing three troopers into a wall.

He still didn't know what that was - some sort of grav manipulation device. He needed to focus on the - he heard the trademark spark of a lightsaber on the far end of the room. He was - a Jedi? He had incredible reflexes - inhuman ones, and he blocked a few blaster bolts, and pushed two of the troopers back. Nice trick. But Kylo didn't feel anything from this man... he was like a void in the Force, and that sent shivers down his spine.

This man wasn't like any Jedi he'd ever met. Was this... one of Skywalker's new students? Had he gone to taking them? Was this some new sect of the Sith? But that was impossible, because...

Kylo disengaged from the wall and chased after him, sparking his own lightsaber into being and hurling some Bothan across the room. The Jedi noticed his presence, and whether he knew better or not... he was running back the way he'd come from rather than fight.

"WAIT! YOU NEED TO COVER US HERE! WE HAVE TO DEFEND THE -" There was a pure panic in Hux's voice now, almost enough to freeze Kylo where he was. No, no. If he got this man, he'd have something far more valuable than a Corvette. He needed to make choices, and real ones, right now.

Kylo sprinted at full bore, giving chase through the firefight and down the hall.
 
It was like watching something fall from a high place, as though you could count the seconds until things got far beyond their reach to be pulled back to making this plan work.

The rumble sounded like something heavy rolling on the ground, only for the crash to send each of them shifting sideways, answering her interrupted question from earlier, she should have already known that as pirates they simply made their way in where ever they felt the weakest point was, and having done this before, they knew what they were doing. Unlike any of them on this Corvette. Wonderful. Phasma already felt like she should have attempted to slide out of this trip, but there came the faintest sign of guilt. If word had gotten back to the Gauntlet about this mess and she had stayed, Phasma couldn't deny feeling like shit, again that weight held that if he died with her having done nothing to prevent it. . Well, it just didn't sit well.

And so began the hurried phrases, flashing lights, and the sudden lift of her body off the ground. It caught her off guard, gripping a bar on the wall for a moment as she regained composure and began to move, despite immediately deciding she was much too, well. . Much too big to just be off the floor like this. The journey to the hyperdrive room had taken her mind off of that however, the darkvision in her helmet beginning to etch out slightly, though much to each of their surprise, the next crashing noise offered a visual. Inwardly, she was surprised and impressed at the small numbers, though that made the situation a bit more imparitive, eyes moving upward as she watched the slight shuffle of men, before the shout rang out.

Shit. Shit shit- The static rippled through her helmet again, but momentarily she ignored it long enough to take a shot, watching the beam crash into the shoulder of a Quarren, only to wince immediately when the largest gun was fired. The static rippling up through her helmet now, forcing it off her head as she felt the electricity snake over her cheeks, the pressure that had sent the three men near her flying back, leaving a sharp crack in the helmet. Shit.

Whatever it was falling from the high place, Phasma hadn't had time to decide, it was definitely hitting the ground and falling into a million pieces. Another set of shots were taken before Phasma actually noticed Kylo Ren. Kylo 'I'm fucking reckless' Ren. It happened all too quickly, faster than she had time to think about it, light eyes turning to Hux, " We have to go, NOW. " This plan had gone to hell right in front of them, and while taking out the pirates that they could, the ones that were still here were doing all too well of a job of making sure their largest gun remained intact. The soft click completely drowned out as she disengaged herself from the wall, with only a few steps taken forward, the trooper had already been targeted. Her blaster flew into the wall beside her immediately, that lifted feeling rippling over her again as she shot backwards, the air carrying her only for a second before she was slammed to the ground.
 
Of course, Kylo Ren was completely right. He'd never seen combat before. Not out in the real world. And nothing had prepared him for how quickly his meticulous plan had fallen apart. He'd lost so much sleep creating that model, gotten it to perfect accuracy, all for everything to fall apart like this. Commander Phasma was screaming at him, her helmet smashed and halfway off her face (even in the madness, he noted how surprisingly pretty she was), most of his crew was incapacitated or something worse.

"NO! WE JUST NEED..." Hux jumped from behind his cover. Mardeck was the best shot, but where was she? The damn bitch was twitching on the ground. A concussion and broken bones at best. It had to be him.

He noted this with a rising panic as he tilted his rifle towards the trombone. All this work, all this manipulation, all the climbing, and he was going to fucking die in his first exchange. A blaster bolt slid right past his face. Perhaps. But he couldn't run from this. This was his plan. His people. He squeezed the trigger - and yelped! Deadeye! The creature with the trumpet fell to the ground. He was excited until he realized the damage had been done. His men were still on the ground, all blood and broken bones. His Jedi had abandoned him at the first flash of a lightsaber. And now a grenade was... oh no. The Hyperdrive.

"TAKE COVER!"

***​

Kylo Ren sprinted down the hall, struggling to catch the Void Jedi before he got back to his ship and disappeared. The Hall opened up to the Hangar Bay, and the Jedi rounded a corner. Kylo rushed behind him... and leapt out of the way as the Jedi took the offensive. As soon as he rounded the corner. Kylo cursed, backpedaling as the Jedi took obvious advantage. He sparked his lightsaber, the red crossguard blade surging to life as he stepped forward and attacked, feeling the rage of the dark side roaring around him.

The Jedi had another surprise. He was flexible, smoothly popping joints out of place to stack him from strange angles. He threw wrists, shoulders, and elbows. Kylo couldn't read him through the force and couldn't possibly keep balance.

But then, something amazing happened.

The Jedi stretched his hands out, and Kylo went flying, the lightsaber dying as he flew. And that... was not the Force. Kylo slammed into the wall, coughing as the so called Jedi threw a smoke bomb and ran.

"YOU'RE A FUCKING DROID!"

But he couldn't... chase. Could barely move. Tired.
 
The ground felt safe, even safer when the yell of 'Take Cover' actually sounded like something soft to follow in with the ringing in her ears, the vibration of the ground rumbling and the roar of metal giving way bringing her focus back into the destruction. Arms over her head slid down beside her once the ringing had succeeded enough for her to begin to move, wincing harshly at the headache that crashed down to act as another weight. The woman shifted forward into a slight crawl, hand moving over the woman that was once one of Hux's finest, a jagged piece of the propulsion system jetted out of her side. Pushing up to a standing point, though clearly light headed, the red of fire seemed to draw her in, to wake her mind up enough to begin to walk, blurred vision clearing well enough to see that though there were casualties all around, none were that idiot sack of Force.

Good. She could strangle him herself then.

Whatever remained of the pirates had fled the hyperdrive room, the sound of her boots hitting the floor in once cautious steps mixing in with the crackling of fire, the yell was what caught her attention, told her where he was. He had run off to find another Jedi. But they all knew. There couldn't have been, right? " -DROID! " Right. Sighing softly, the woman pushed forward, the smoke clearing well enough for her gloved, and only now noticing there were more pieces of her armor missing, hands to grab him, pulling him carefully into her grasp before adjusting his arm around his shoulder. Phasma would remember this as the time she saved a slew of illicit words for someone of a higher rank for later, instead opting for, telling him to try and walk. It honestly didn't matter, slightly dragging him back toward the bay with her teeth clenched together, almost feeling guilty that she hadn't immediately looked for a sign of Hux. Well. She couldn't babysit everyone.
 
He swayed in two or three different directions as Phasma pulled him up - and he heard a loud roar from the other side of the wall. Something was leaving the hangar bay - maybe multiple somethings. The force of that little device had slammed the back of his head into the durasteel - he was dizzy, his legs were shaking, his back was on fire. And she was... what... moving him for some reason?

"No, just..." He wanted to tell her to just leave him where he was, but his words were coming out slurred and he barely had the energy to put his lips together. "Where are you..."

He'd expected her to take her back towards Hux and the hyperdrive engine, but they were going in the exact opposite direction. Kylo just coughed and limped in whatever direction he was being taken. It was a few seconds later that he heard the sound of footsteps behind him. "What was that, Ren? I told you to help protect the engine! Now we're stranded here!"

Kylo took a deep, ragged breath and ignored him. He was in too much pain to even bother responding to the man who'd made an instant, incredible hash of the day. There was always the hope that Hux would stop in his tracks and consider what an idiot he was, or at least focus his anger on someone else.

But those hopes were dashed when Hux caught up with Phasma and rounded into his face. "Were you so interested in having a duel that you ignored the entire plan?"

Fine. Fine, that was exactly what he needed. Kylo shoved Phasma away, let his own rage and misery spur him onward. "Interested in having a duel? If that had been a real Jedi, you'd have a lot more dead soldiers than you have right now! You should be on your knees, thanking me for being the only person here that could actually adjust to a changing situation."

"But it wasn't a Jedi, was it? It was some sort of droid with synthetic skin -"

The audacity of this man, to blame him for not being able to predict that. Kylo grabbed him by the shoulder and pushed him to the nearest wall. "How was I supposed to know it was a Human Replica Droid? Do you know how rare those are? We're looking at a set of pirates who somehow have experimental weapons we haven't seen from the Order OR the Republic."

"And despite all of that, we were still winning the fight! We'd have most of them captured or dead if you had been patient and obeyed my -"

Kylo reached for his lightsaber, turning it on and firing the blade right over Hux's shoulder and embedding it in the wall. "You have no way of knowing that!"

Kylo turned the blade off and walked back towards the hyperdrive, partially to survey the damage, and partially to get away from Hux. Was that a plan? Because it seemed a lot like standing around waiting to get shot to him. Hux was so caught up his strategy of preparation that he'd barely considered the tactics of the actual firefight.

He took another couple of steps... and then his legs gave out, with a sharp pain shooting up his back. He almost collapsed, but caught himself in time to make it appear like... a very sudden decision to take a seat.
 
It would have all been fine if - No, she couldn't even say that it would have been fine. There was no next step in this process, they were stranded, and Hux hadn't thought of anything other than his straight and narrow plan. While it would have been wonderful if it had gone off without a wrinkle, it hadn't and now here they were, with no real plan. Being sent to create a trap with someone who had to be babysat, and another someone who just barely knew how to fire a blaster, considering he had potentially just gotten very lucky. In some sense, it was her fault, that she had given any faith that he wouldn't just outright chase after someone, ripping the plan like it was a sheet of thin paper in an old book, only to be lit even further by failure. Failure that was pressed further into the light when Hux began his condescending words.

Mentally commending the dark haired man for keeping himself from outright losing his calm, Phasma stumbled slightly when she felt the push against her chest, watching the scene unfold before her. Or at least, the initial contact, the pain thrumming through her head again as she turned her head, wincing and turning from their argument. " The only person that could actually. . " Ignore him. None of them had time for this, but Phasma was not about to sit here and watch them argue about why any of this had happened. " . . Winning the fight. . " Liar. They were both at fault, but she would remind them of that later, eyes illuminated by the steady flashes of caution red lights, she wasn't going to drag either one of them to safety.

Fuck it, she had tried. Gloved hands reaching into one of the pockets of her belt, sighing softly at what she knew was very likely, her comlink partially smashed from her fall. Moving past the slumped man where he sat, her hand reaching back and grazing over another crack in her armor, the heat from the room attempting to grip at her through her bodysuit beneath. The thud of the chest piece hitting the ground, the woman dropped to her knees where a half of her helmet lay, hands tearing out pieces until the comlink alerted her by beeping to life. A thankful sigh when she heard the static fade out to the announcement of another First Order ship within the system, Phasma speaking now into the receiver.

" First Order Corvette number 0626, in the Carida system. Hyperdrive is destroyed. "
 
"We're lucky it's just the hyperdrive," Kylo said with a long gasp. He was long past trying to look tough, given the stress of his situation. He rolled onto his side, ignoring the sneering look that Major General Hux was giving him. "Has anyone looked over the bridge?"

"I'll see to it myself, it might be a better use of my talents." Hux spun on his heels and left, and Kylo didn't see fit to make the obvious rejoinder for the situation. They'd been lucky in a very small sense. The ship hadn't been taken, and everyone hadn't died. But they'd forfeited all element of surprise, hadn't they? And he didn't think they'd taken anyone alive. Not exactly the resounding victory that he'd hoped for. There was hardly anything they could use, except...

"I want to see that gun." The big trombone they'd used to manipulate the room's gravity and throw people around like leaves? That wasn't just a potentially useful tool, that was a way to track down the people who'd done this. "Do we have the..."

He decided to leave Phasma behind and look for it. If she shared his interest, there was nothing stopping her from keeping up. He arrived, making his way through the wounded, the dead, and the directionless to pick up the weapon, still lying placid next to the smoking corpse. What a weird gun. There was a lot of weird going on here. Who had made these tools, and who was gaining from attacking the Order in their own space?

A bunch of weird factions scrolled through his head. He started adjusting the weapon in his hand, looking for identifying markers for a minute before giving up and strapping the cumbersome thing onto his own back. It wasn't exactly his specialty, but there had to be some kind of useful information from the thing.

He just started to walk... away, unsure of what direction he was going. This entire ordeal had been a quick and utter failure. And this was the most careful plan they could construct?
 
To attack a ship and just leave it alone, didn't make any sense to her. In her own mind, her first thought would have been that sure, they had to retreat back to their own ship with several casualties, but that couldn't have been all of them? And with weapons like that, one even being left on the First Order ship. If it had been her, plans to destroy the First Order ship before it could get away were next in order. . And perhaps this same situation had happened before, not necessarily in the same means of trying to trap the pirates, but in the fight back. For this to have been a pile of shit, it had been too simple. Pirates couldn't be that simple. Compliance was rewarded with life, usually not actions of fighting back.

Nodding softly to herself as she finished the call, there was the inkling inside of Phasma that was unsettled about this, about these casualties. It was First Order space, but it was beyond clear that to these pirates it didn't matter. Bold, but for very good reasons. From a different perspective, Phasma found this fascinating. Unfortunately, her headache wasn't exactly letting her sit and focus on it for too long, standing carefully with the half of her helmet in her hands. Ten minutes. It would take roughly ten minutes for the Terigen to arrive and take their ship in. Ignoring the sound of bickering men, at least they weren't shouting at one another, not to say she wouldn't continue getting further away from the both of them.

Phasma had easily decided that watching after a grown man for this trip was not acceptable, not when her own life was being so closely threatened by his decisions. Not his decisions for the Order, anyone else on this fucking ship, but his decisions for himself. While Kylo was hunting pretend Jedi, Hux was trying to be his father. More than ever had she wished she had simply kept her ass back at base. Turning her head now, Phasma catching Kylo as he strapped the gun onto his back, arms folding over her chest now as it felt like it was just a touch too late for him to care about anything other than the droid who had slightly embarrassed him. But that was a conversation for later, if it was a conversation at all.

Five minutes. It was a welcome sign for her, moving now toward the bay as it seemed as though it were the best place for a pick up. There was only the faintest sounds of conversation that she tuned into before the ship rumbled again, bracing herself against one of the walls before the sound of metal peeling starting to become familiar to her in the worst of ways. " 0626, we're seeing another corvette on radar, " Of course. Of course. The familiar sound of multiple shots being fired into multiple spots were growing louder, riding up the bait corvette, the sirens erupting around them as she listened to the comlink again. The discussion was whether or not to pursue, ignoring the shouting around her that the ship was taking fire, immobilizing them and taking out the weapons that the attacking corvette so easily found. With the mission having gone to shit, it seemed necessary to bring the corvette under fire in, Phasma gripping the wall again, another set of shots riding up the opposite side of the ship, an explosion erupting in one of the distant wings, breaking it off.

Just as quickly as it began, it seemed as though the blasting stopped, the destruction done but the pirates not given enough time to completely annihilate the ship before the Terigen loomed near, preparing to take in the bait ship.

- - -

" Fuck you. " Had been the first and last thing Phasma had said to Ren since boarding Terigen, the blonde woman peeling herself out of the remains of her torn apart armor with pure annoyance. She didn't want to look at him or that ginger mess until they had to be back on the Gauntlet, following behind a set of Troopers as they lead her to one of their empty rooms. Not only did she need a new helmet, but at this point she needed the majority of her armor fixed, which meant when she got back to base, she'd have to wear that loathsome outfit. Retreating into her designated room for the remainder of the night with an ever present look of ' Do not speak to me at all. ', the woman was clearly not in the mood to be the one to explain what happened. They'd be sent back to the Gauntlet in a little under twenty four hours, and Phasma was already annoyed by the circumstances they were returning on. He thought her debriefing would give him away.

Please. She could only imagine how Hux viewed things from his end.

Standing in the dark of her room, Phasma had meticulously laid the black glove-like suit against a chair before slipping beneath the comfort of blankets, sighing softly as she attempted to sleep like none of this had actually happened.
 
He'd planned on a very... reasonable five minutes with the Commander. He'd been playing it up in his head and everything - he was going to apologize for his outburst(s), accept a bit of responsibility for chasing the HRD through the ship, he was going to tug his hair a little and really let her know what an idiot he'd felt like.

And she'd told him to go fuck himself or something like that before he could even get a word in, and he'd had to adopt other priorities. He'd really wanted to go into a corner somewhere on the Terigen and scream, but he forced himself to sit and talk to the survivors. Squint his eyes into that grunting, seen-it-all expression military types loved. He needed to get a sense of the event. Not just from his own tense, blurred vision, but an accurate version of what happened from everyone who'd lived it. How often did the thing fire? How hard did it hit? Any internal bleeding?

And there were more practical questions that he wouldn't have known. These aliens - good shots or bad shots? Did they fire in some sort of formation? Did they use cover wisely? Did it look like somebody had trained them? This was the sort of thing he would have asked Phasma, but she was determined to be short with him.

Which was fine. It had taken a few hours of course - drinking and interviewing and commiserating and apologizing. He did get some satisfactory answers, but by that time, it was later at night and he had no idea what Phasma would be doing. Probably sleeping or something. But the information had given him a wild idea.

Wild and time sensitive.

He knocked on the door twice, then hammered on it, then gripped the corner of the door, forcing the sliding mechanism open with a grunt before shimmying in, the door slamming shut with a smooth pop. "Hey, uh. It's me."

There was no smooth way to break into someone's room, and he worried that trying would only make it worse, so he slid the dimmer light and pulled up a chair on the far side of the room. "I'm aware I might not be the ideal person you'd like to talk to... especially after I... just broke into your room. But listen, do you want to go back to the Gauntlet with a mopey expression on your face and one of three competing stories about what failures we are?"

He pulled the trombone over his shoulder and began to disassemble it there, on the floor in front of her. "If not, I've got something you should at least look at before you start slapping me around."
 
" This motherfucker. . " Each sound at her door she had heard, choosing to ignore each as she stared up at the dark ceiling of her room, her eyes narrowing softly as the sound of clicking began, the stuttered whoosh of the door being forced open causing her to close her eyes. He was not serious. He couldn't be. He was, even going as far to announce that it was him as though anyone else would be bothering her. Sighing softly only to open her eyes just as he raised the lights, shifting up and onto her elbows when he set himself so cautiously across the room. At least he was thinking clearly enough to know not to get too close. Sitting up now, Phasma carefully tucked the sheet beneath her arms, her bare shoulders proving the obvious as she watched him drop the gun onto the floor behind a not so grand apology.

Charming.

Then again, Phasma, remember the size of the ego in the room. While he had called each of them failures, the woman herself knew she was the least at fault. But then perhaps she wasn't, because she was Snoke's number one choice of babysitter apparently. Clenching her jaw at the thought, momentarily making herself mad, the woman shook her head lightly and let her vision drop to the weapon on the floor, watching him separate the pieces. " Well? " Inwardly, Phasma was giving him five minutes to make a point, a good one, though she had some tiny inkling he was about to say something ridiculous.
 
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