Wind nipped at her cheeks, coloring her skin scarlet as she pulled her parka closer to her body. Mara's shoes sunk a few inches into the snow with each step, the cold beginning to numb her feet despite the boots she wore. Flurries of white danced in her vision, carrying over to billow her hair and dust blond strands with flecks of pale ivory. Her throat and lungs stung from inhaling frigid air, chilling her even more. She was genuinely afraid the temperature would freeze her very blood.

The worst was her fingers, completely exposed to the environment. They tapped against the metal of the gun slung over her shoulder, which wasn't a source of warmth at all. They had gone completely numb, all feeling leaving the tips. Shivers also ran down her spine, icy air twirling down her backbone and making her shudder. There was also the fact she couldn't stop her teeth from chattering.

The desert hadn't suited Mara, and she was now paying that price after living in it for two years. For someone who had been accustomed to constant heat for so long, the wintry climate didn't welcome her.

Poor Rey, she thought, she'd love snow, but this would just be torture.

Then there was the added fact that besides Finn, Han, Rey and Chewbacca, everyone on this planet wanted to kill her. Being so close to the enemy, her brother, to the creature that leached into her mind so freely had begun to make her more anxious then before. A nauseous feeling trapped itself under her skin, letting fear creep in. She did her best to ignore it, knowing her unwell state would begin to subside once she hit something. It was the waiting that sucked.

Large black structures prominently rose from the opaque ground, sheltered by the towering mountains beside them. They headed towards large tunnels, not daring to walk up to the front door and punch the guard in front (that was Mara's idea, which predictably was shot down. They promised her a few heads to bash later.)

The four made their way up the rocky slope, Finn leading the way, "The flooding tunnels are just over that ridge. We'll get in that way."

Mara was the farthest back, staying close to Chewie in hopes the large Wookie would help shield her from the wind, and called up to Finn, "How long until we reach it? Rough estimate?"

She saw him shrug, stopping momentarily, "Less than an hour maybe?"

She was certain she'd freeze before then.

Han held his jacket closer to him, forehead creasing as he came up with a question, "What was your job when you were based here?"

Finn's nervous jittering had mostly stilled since his talk with Mara on the Falcon, but his delayed response and tense form gave him away. He swallowed, then meekly answered, "Sanitation."

The blonde visibly face palmed, then quickly pulled back the freezing hand from her face.

"Sanitation!" Han exclaimed, grabbing a hold of the younger's jacket in exasperation. Finn's expression reverted to surprise as the captain grew visibly irritated, "Then how do you know how to disable the shields?"

"I don't-"

Mara was already pissed, pulling up her feet from the weight of the snow and stocking up towards the front. She wasn't going to hit him, no, but her already sour mood and tendency to fire up easily left her with a few choice words for him, "I am literally freezing on enemy ground-"

"I'm just here to get Rey."

With that her small spark of irritation diffused, her wide mouth clamping back shut as her intimidating stance relaxed back. Finn voiced her own reasons for being here, and that alone shut her down.

Han, not so much.

"People are counting on us! The galaxy is counting on us!"

"Solo, we'll figure it out!" He interjected, eyes glowing with the notion of an idea, "We'll use the Force-"

The man practically lost it at that idea, antagonizingly exclaiming, "That's not how the Force works!"

Mara just watched the interaction, wanting to interject, "Can we just keep moving, I can't feel my feet-"

Chewie loudly moaned to her side, seeming quite sorrowful as an already provoked Han turns, "Oh, you're cold?"

Finn shook his head, making direct eye contact with Mara as they both shiver. She didn't know what he tried to wordlessly convey, but he finally turned to continue their snowy hike, "C'mon."

So they resumed the march, the level of snow dwindling slightly the closer they came to the base. To their left, none of the group noted the horizon. There seemed to be a burning red laser siphon shooting into the sun, sucking away it's luminous power to feed the super weapon.

If this were under different circumstances, Mara may have found someone draining the sun amusing. Now it just reminded her how little of time they had left.

The moment they entered the base, warmth began to breathe the her numbness back to life. It was still considerable chillier to Jakku, but the woman was taking all she could get at the moment. She brushed her blonde hair from out of her jacket, coming up behind the Wookie to check the halls for storm troopers. They seemed to have a clean enough get away at that time, and they all crept towards a transport compartment.

"You know where we're headed? Like level wise?" Mara questioned as they boarded the contraption (the likeness it had to the inside of a star destroyer was impeccable and it only made her skin crawl even more.)

Finn was about to reply, last to accompany them when a foreign voice called, "Hey!"

Two barrels were up in moments. Mara fired first, a quick jerk of the trigger accompanied by another only a second later. Yet only one burst of black painted white armor as the trooper. The other blast missed by a few inches, impounding the wall behind the target.

Mara holstered her pistol as Finn lowered his rifle, each looking at the other. The woman glanced between him and the enemy on the ground, "Me or you?"

"Pretty sure it was me."

She shook her head, jutting out a hip as she reprimanded his answer, "No. I totally got him. I'm a better shot."

She could see his efforts to hide a smirk, but a cocky tone in his voice gave him away, "Then why did the blast to left miss, and you're on the left?"

"He got him." Han ended the trivial debate, urging them onto the transport, "Now c'mon."

Mara got back on, Finn typing in the correct level for workstation the panel for taking the shields down should be. The ride was short, the woman humming a tune anxiously to make up for the lack of elevator music. Neither of the three shushed her.

~~~~~~~

Now she was standing guard of a narrow hall, keeping herself concealed behind the door to the workstation. Mara had placed her rifle beside her, the hunk of metal useful but bulky. Her blaster was out in hand, and she drummed it against her thigh as she waited.

Finn had an idea for the shields, saying he'd jump one of the senior officers and bring them back here. She would've pitched that particular method might fail pretty easily, but she hadn't come up with anything better. So it was the best bad idea.

The part that really sucked was leaving her to make sure no one came to this particular station. That meant waiting alone in the heart of what she once worked for. This allowed her chest to grow tight and burdensome. Her gut was pulling at her, instinct telling her to kriffing turn back now.

Everything was too familiar. It all resembled the star destroyer she spent the majority of a year being accustomed to, colorless and uninviting. All crafted from sleek metal, efficient and mostly certainly not gaudy. Everything looked too alike, so easy to become lost in because the last hall was identical to the next.

Mara was here; the place she had hid from all her adolescence only to join it, then flee once more to sand. It scared her, oh R'iia it did. She was so close to her brother, to the thing that played with her thoughts. Too close to what shaped her pilots' and Finn's childhood into what the First Order pleased; machines to do their bidding.

She swore she'd never come back here, ever.

For kriffing sake, it even smells like the Finalizer. Stale and overly sanitary.

She fluttered her eyes closed, realizing she held her breath too long. She inhaled, her chest pained by it as sweat beads formed on her forehead.

1

You're back here. Hell, it's bad. The planet's a weapon and your brother is here and so is everything you hate.

2

You're closer to Rey. You have the galaxy's heroes on your side. You have a semi-workable plan.

3

Calm down. Calm down. Fight.

Mara opened her eyes, exhaling. She kept tapping the barrel of her blaster on her knee, too wound up to not move. Heavy footsteps alerted her, two troopers passing by the opening. Neither noticed the intruder out of view.

A few more minutes passed, an the unmistakable gate of a Wookie welcomed her, and Mara spun back to greet the three and their new prisoner. Upon seeing the metallic armor that showed her own distorted reflection, Mara quickly abandoned the hope of calming down and preceded to lose all chill.

The fear she had earlier spurred on her current rage, acid burning in her throat as she whipped the helmet with her pistol's handle. She clenched her teeth, wrenching the soldier out of Chewie grasp to push her back against the wall, arm locked in the cinch between the chest plate and helmet as she hissed, "You sleemo."

Captain Phasma was struck with surprise to see an aged Commander Hux attempting to cut off her windpipe, "So the rumors of your survival are-"

Mara was burning, her fury clouding her vision as Finn grabbed her waist. She violently pulled out of his grip, sending a kick at the captain's knee cap only to be met with a bruised foot, "You, you half-witted son of a bitch-"

"Mara, Mara-" Han called out, and suddenly Finn had a hold on her again. Her break in focus from assaulting Phasma gave the soldier that opportunity to land a punch on her former colleague.

Chewie took Phasma by the shoulders, putting more space between the two as Mara felt her cheek erupt in pain, which only fueled her growing malice as she was held back by her wrists, "You're the reason my pilot is dead! You ordered them to kill Speeder, bantha fodder!"

Finn's grip loosened once he heard her accusations, and she blessed him for it. She lunged her forward, ripping off that shiny helmet and throwing it to the ground. Mara's knuckles met the bridge of Phasma's nose, a sickening crack being heard as the bone shattered under the force. Blood drizzled from the wound, and the raging woman followed it up with a slug to the eye.

"I respected you, ya'know? Fellow woman in all of this, but then you disgusting shiny piece of scrap metal murdered a good man!" She was shaking, adrenaline mixing with her absolute contempt from the person in front of her. She killed her friend, a man she trained with for months.

Now she was pried off her, Han and Finn together dragging her off the now bruised Phasma. The air was still tense, heaving chests from everyone involved in the frenzy. All Mara could process was her mess of impulses and fear, with unquenched anger and an eruption in her chest. The cut on her cheek stung, pain buzzing from that area.

"We need her!" Han hadn't let her go yet, the look in her eyes telling him she'd charge back at the enemy in a moment's notice, "You need to control yourself."

Mara pressed her lips together firmly, smoldering stare making cerulean blue resemble an oncoming storm. Still, all she did was clench her fists and her side, knuckles an irritated red, "She murdered my friend."

The knot in her ribs didn't release tension, indignation not fading anytime soon. She could feel her muscles pull taut underneath her clothes, every cell in her body wanting to go on the attack once more. Han released her, perhaps understanding now her need to avenge her men, but flicked his gaze up to Finn to make sure to keep her in check.

"Breathe." Finn whispered, though she still gave a infuriated glare Phasma's way, "You need to breathe right now."

So Mara reluctantly inhaled, lungs taking in then pushing out. They need that snot-nosed twat to disable the shields. They needed her alive to save the galaxy.

He kept a good grip on her forearm, continued to try and soothe her warmongering mentality at the moment, "I understand okay? She deserves all of what you just gave her and then some, but right now we need to focus on getting the fleet in and finding Rey."

The Resistance. Poe and his crew. Rey.

"Okay?" Finn softly questioned again when she didn't comply.

Mara let down her defiant tirade, muttering, "Okay."

He let her go free, taking a breather himself as she stood back to watch. Phasma had gotten her helmet back on, covering the blood streaky down pale skin. Now she appeared just as threatening as before, a mirage of the Order's might. It sickened Mara just to see it.

"Remember me?" The defector addressed his former commanding officer, the situation quite reversed from only days earlier.

The blank face of metal responded back after a stretch of quiet, "FN-2187."

"Not anymore." Finn's streak of calmness grew into a little excitement, grinning at his new found dominance, "The name's Finn, now I'm in charge. I'm in charge now Phasma, I'm in charge-"

"Bring it down, bring it down." Han quelled, to which the younger nodded and became a touch more serious.

"And now you're going to help us."

"As long as you keep your angry pet in line." The metallic voice dragged thick in the air, referencing to the infuriated blonde near the back of the room.

Mara practically snarled at her, lips forming a tight line before retorting, "For once in your accursed life, you're in no position to make demands. Now you're going to lower the shields."

Chewie growled, pushing the captain forward and putting her roughly in the chair. Finn and Han had both their blasters out, and the Wookie stepped back to aim his crossbow right at her helmet. Mara raised her pistol as well, not caring if it was overkill. If slime tried to run or do anything that'd endanger their safety, she'd die.

At first Phasma was reluctant, not typing on the key board that allowed you to control the defense system. Finn edged closer to her, using a threat to entice her to do as they said, "Do you want me to blast that bucket off your head? Lower the shields."

At the command, the soldier finally bent. As her armor clicked against the keys, a hologram of Starkiller appeared on the screen, "You're making a big mistake."

"Do it." Finn warned, his blaster's barrel only inches away from the metal hiding Phasma's bloody face.

Chewie moaned in what Mara believed was a threat. The captain hit a few more buttons, the screen changing and flickering on the status of the planet. Large words reading 'SHIELD DISABLE INITIATE' finally played in large letters over the hologram, all of the room sighing in relief.

Now get Rey and then we can leave.

Phasma stood up, everyone keeping their aim trained on her as she proceeded to try and intimidate them, "You can't be so stupid as to think this will be easy. My troopers will storm this block and kill you all. Your fleet will never break through-"

"That's where you just happen to be wrong." Mara sputtered, stepping forward as Solo placed an hand on her shoulder, trying to stop her from anymore violent outbursts, "Too bad our fleet knows your little aerial trap now."

The tall, metallic soldier let out a gravelly laugh, which made the blonde's face twist in absolute disgust as the prisoner chuckled at her claim, "You're so silly as to think we didn't improve your love of traps. It's been two years since they shot a useless tactician out of the sky, updates have been made."

And her fear was validated. Mara became frozen, her stomach somersaulting once the words were uttered. The inevitability of her sending the Resistance in on false account made her throat close. She was spiraling, oxygen abandoning her as Callisto vividly came back to her mind.

Those are good women and men out there who chose to put their faith in a girl they don't know because that think it's the last chance to save the Resistance.

She sent them out on inaccurate information.

Finn stepped up, coming between the two women to press his gun closer to Phasma, "What updates?"

She remained silent.

"What updates?" He pressed, tone lowering as the whole room grew more stagnant. Quiet persisted as no reply came. Mara grew considerably more uneasy, head growing fuzzy as her own knees threatened to buckle. Her gut became queasy, feeling as though she might puke.

"Tell us now." Finn ordered, the last clip before she finally broke.

"More laser canons." Phasma elaborated, venom inking into her speech, "Hidden. You don't see them on initial contact, but they pop up once engagement starts."

Mara still stayed back, her mind fighting between falling into dismay and working through this new information. How could she stop it? How? She didn't even know where the canons were, much less how to shut them down.

Except she did know how to shut them down.

She walked forward, not telegraphing an attack with her movements this time. Han warned her, "Not now....."

"Wait." Mara brought a hand up, her brain trying to run through everything she may remember. Her urge to strike the person responsible for her pilot's death was still prominent, but the doubt and need for correct data forced her to listen to logic at this time. Still, she wished she could land another punch on her, "The guns. Where are they on the oscillator?"

No response. Her aggravation grew, evident in her next statement which made her volume raise, "Where are they?"

Still nothing.

Mara scowled, gritting her teeth while impulse told her to charge forward, but Finn grabbed her wrist, "We don't need to know, as long as she has the key card."

He let go of the woman, instead reaching out to Phasma's belt. Within a moment, he held a small silver card in his hand. It took a second for anyone else to realize what was happening, but once Finn inserted the key into the work station's computer, they started to catch on.

Han began to nod, an old smirk finding its way to his face, "Her card should give us access to pretty much anything. While we can't shut down systems, we can find the schematics to them."

Finn grinned, bringing up the logs of defensive plans for Starkiller. Mara warily kept her gaze on the captain, but found a small glimmer of hope as her friend accessed the basic layout for the oscillator's canons. He looked over his shoulder back to the blonde, "Recognize this?"

She came closer to the control panel, sitting down in the nearest chair. She pressed of few of the keys, zooming in on the hologram. A wave of nostalgia broke over her, everything unnerving natural. She remembered programming this very idea into a computer so much like this one. Mara's eyes swept over the basic schematic, seeing the array of dots that represented the guns.

"There." She pointed to a mass of yellow-colored lights lining one of the trenches, which happened to be the fastest way to the oscillator, "Those weren't in the original plan, and our pilots know nothing about them."

Those would sabotage the entire mission.

"How do we stop them?" Finn spoke, mostly to Phasma. The prisoner went back to her soundless rebellion, leaving the question unanswered.

Mara did. She knew how, and by hell it wasn't a good idea, perhaps the worst she had in the last few years. Yet it was the only way, and she couldn't fathom being responsible for even more deaths. Not after she convinced Poe to take in his squadron on her revised plan. She created the problem, and now she had to fix it.

Her gut churned with uncertainty, leaving her shoulders heavy and her tongue weighed with lead. She forced the sentence out, pushing past the untimely fear that paralyzed her, "I do. I revised the guns years ago, looked over the new design. I'll have to be at the station that controls the canons."

"That's a whole other building." Finn informed, worry following his speech, "We might not even have enough time to get to it before the fleet starts their run."

She really didn't want to do this, but Mara kept talking while her mind screamed at her how terrible of a plan this was, "Which means I have to go now. Take care of Shiny Scum here and find Rey."

He shook his head in uncertainty, but even he understood what had to happen, "You can't go alone-"

"And if I don't, there's a bigger risk of us getting captured and Rey never making it out." She got out of the chair, inhaling to still her pulse that currently was running wild at the thought of this undertaking, "I'd never forgive myself if any of the Resistance pilots or she died."

"So let me guess," Han piped up, still keeping his pistol trained on Phasma, "You're going to insist if you don't come back, we leave you to finish the job?"

Mara's pained chuckle broke her stoic face, "Hell no. The building I'm going to is on the way back to Falcon. Once you get Rey, you can come for me, unless something tragic happens and you can't. Then I'll come to you. Either way, I'm not planning on any of us dying during this."

The atmosphere had dropped in temperature once she explained the gist of her idea. Despite her last comment, the very real possibility of her not returning seemed close. She'd been in tight places all her life, but this scenario seemed to be in her top five of situations she realistically couldn't escape with her life. So easy for one blast to go to her heart, or for the Resistance - ironically even Poe, the man who had saved her life so many years ago - to fire a blast at the wrong moment. Too many ways this could go wrong.

Don't think like that. Just go.

She had to leave soon or risk being late enough that the trap had already sprung on the fleet before she got there. Mara wearily grinned at the people in front of her, reaching out to gently squeeze Finn's hand that lingered close to her, "Don't worry about me, they don't even know I'm coming. Just get my girl or I swear I'll never let any of you hear the end of it."

She conjured a faint smile from him, the expression easing the apprehension devouring her, "I promise."

The woman dipped her head in acknowledgement. She began to move on, exhaling as she started for the hall.

Han raised a point before she exited the room, "Not to put a hitch in the plan, but how do you know about the defense system?"

Mara's face fell, sending a very poignant distress call to Finn through her quick aversion of her gaze to him. He opened his mouth, trying to find an excuse for her without explaining that she was also a defector.

"She-" Phasma's mechanical voice was heard before his, but she was quickly cut off from a warning roar from Chewie. The blonde was more than thankful for it.

Mara faltered slightly, but managed an answer, "Its a very long story, but we don't have time right now."

Solo shrugged it off, letting his curiosity subside in favor of saving the galaxy, "Good enough. Hurry back."

She offered a grin, lips curving while she raised a hand to her brow, "Ay ay, Captain."

With that she disappeared out the door, heading back the way she came.

Silence commenced once more, Finn seeing the last glimpses of golden hair run down the empty hall. He sent a small prayer up to whoever would listen that she'd return safely and intact and they find Rey easily enough. His gaze went to the side of the door, noticing the forgotten gun and duffel bag full of explosives.

"She forgot her rifle." He blurted out, going to retrieve it until Han shook his head.

"I think she's got it covered. Now, to get rid of the prisoner."

"Got any ideas?"

"Is there a garbage chute? Trash compactor?"

The man smirked, "Yeah, there is."

~~~~~~~~

The more steps Mara put between her and the station she'd last seen her friends in, the more she dread piled atop her shoulders. She found herself back in the snow, which came up just past the tops of her boots. The breeze worsened, toying with her hair as it whisked strands into her face. She combed them behind her ears and kept going, cursing the chilly environment as the brief warmth she possessed faded away. Numbness spread over her fingertips while her teeth chattered and skin grew increasingly colder.

She trusted them to get Rey. How stupid could she be to let her best friend be rescued by people she met only days ago?

The woman had walked nearly a mile now, approaching the looming black structure. Flecks of snow peppered her face, making the gash on her cheek sting even more while she squinted to look for tunnels to enter. Within minutes she found one, taking shelter from the growing storm. She shivered, rubbing her hands together as the wind howled beside her.

Mara meant to move on, but a glimmer of sky showed in her peripheral vision. A small spec glided through the grey clouds, soon accompanied with dozens of others. As they flew closer, their silhouettes became more apparent. She made out the wings of fighters, swooping low to prepare for the first attack run.

While this meant so far everything was going according to plan, she was also running out of time.

Mara went much faster now, shaking off the snow that had accumulated on her parka as she picked up her pace to a jog. She entered the fortress, heaters lining the corridor and warming her frigid form. She gulped, poking her head out into the hall to find it oddly empty. No guards?

While perhaps the lack of enemies should've comforted her, it only made the blonde more uneasy. It meant something somewhere wasn't quite right. A strained feeling added to her troubled demeanor whilst loneliness set in. Restlessness found its way between into her gut as her heartbeat sped up. No one was aiding her. She truly was alone and the fate of the Resistance rested with her.

To think she was merely a scavenger just days ago.

Mara fled down one of the halls, trying to keep as quiet as she could while her pulse pounded in her ears. She attempted to bypass a corner, glancing behind the wall before moving on.

She stopped short once she spotted the pair of storm troopers walking her way. They took notice the unknown stranger as well, raising their weapons, "Intruder!"

Mara took cover behind the corner, shying away from the blasts they fired. A mess of nerves buzzed under her skin, alighting at the oncoming fight. She reached for the sling around her shoulder, finding her gun not there.

"Ah shit!" She muttered, remembering leaving the rifle at the work station. She instead pullrf out her other blaster from the leather holster, taking a deep breath before turning to take aim.

Mara pulled the trigger twice, taking one down as the other tragically missed her several times. The last trooper grew angry at his odds, calling out, "Rebel sc-"

"Scum?" She yelled back, scoffing at the petty excuse for an insult, "Yeah, real original."

The blonde fired again, watching the enemy drop yards away from her. Adrenaline kicked back in, spiking her all too familiar adoration of fighting itself. It didn't ease her troubled mind barred with doubt, but it certainly distracted her from it. She set out again for the first station, hoping it was close now.

The halls stayed the same uninviting design, bland and void of any alluring  color. The abandoned corridor soon rocked with a quake, catching Mara off guard as bombs landed overhead. The sound shuddered through her core while the foundation of the building trembled from the blast. The aerial attack had begun, but they had yet to reach the new trap set by the First Order.

"Is that a bomb?" An unseen voice asked while she edged to the end of the hall, listening for potential opponents.

"What else would it be?" The structure quivered again and she took her chance.

The woman detached one baton from her belt while keeping her pistol in hand. She revealed herself, finding two troopers standing guard before the passage to the station she was searching for. Her staff went to the first's gun, sending a boot straight to his chestplate to knock him down. Once he was on the ground, she shot at the second.

Within a minute, she had dealt with the pair of then. Mara pulled out the key from Phasma, inserting it into the slot to give her access to the room. The doors parted for her, no alarms triggered thanks to the valid card. She stepped into the dark room, observing the sight before her. A panel sat before a screen much like the one in the other part of the base, though this one held much different controls. Her memories of their workings resurfaced as another blast reverberated throughout the foundation, spurring her on to hurry her work.

This one should control four of the eight canons, she thought to herself, licking dry lips while she focused, flipping the first few switches to lower the defenses, just need to disable these, then move on to find Rey.

She was already almost done with her job as the process wasn't to hard. Just a few basic commands and it would be all done.

"The prisoner isn't here. Accompany me to the command center."

Mara froze. Terror danced down her spine as her freezing fingers stayed still. Her mind went into shock, throat tightening as she struggled to breathe. An apparent threat made itself apparent, one known only by the ever familiar voice that evoked too many frightening memories. Suddenly she was sucked away from it all, two years younger as she was called a useless girl.

Her brother.

whoops shit just hit the fan

so i wasn't going to update this until tomorrow and then the tlj trailer dropped and inspo kinda poured out. all my children look good. luke spoke. bad things are happening in aesthetically pleasing ways. all and all iT LOOKS GREAT. now enjoy this semi-edited mess.