031. WITCH HUNTING

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"I never thought that I would wear this armor again," Finn frowned as he held the trooper helmet in front of his face, "This is a terrible plan."

"At least he came up with a plan this time," Evangeline pointed, "From what I've heard, the two of you usually skip the plan and go in guns blazing."

"Not always," Poe disagreed, "We've pulled off covert operations before."

Evangeline raised an eyebrow, unconvinced.

"Let's just get what we came for and get out of here," Finn placed the helmet over his head, "I want to get out of this uniform as soon as I can."

"I don't know," Poe shrugged, "I kind of like it."

Although she couldn't see his face, Evangeline knew Finn was frowning beneath the mask as Poe placed the TIE fighter mask over his head. To get them back on track, Evangeline pulled her hat down tighter and shoved both of them back into the wall as she walked past. She herself wore the standard gray uniform of a higher ranking officer.

"Yeah, there's no way that I'm dressing like a buckethead," she'd protested when Finn originally handed her the trooper armor.

Finn and Poe had to jog to catch back up with her as she boldly walked through the hangar hoping to blend in.

"I have a bad feeling about this," she heard Finn mutter under his breath.

"Quiet," Evangeline hushed him, "We should split up."

Even though he wore a helmet, Finn's shock was visible, "No, we should not split up!"

"We could find her faster."

"And if one of us gets caught?"

"I agree with Finn," Poe interjected, "Splitting up is a bad idea. We need to stick together."

"Of course, you agree with him," Evangeline rolled her eyes, turned to face him, and crossed her arms, "You're obviously biased."

"No, it's the better decision," Finn protested.

"No," she shook her head, "You think it's the safer decision."

"Does it matter?" Poe asked, but ran headfirst into another stormtrooper.

Evangeline wasted no time. Once Poe and Finn had distracted themselves by trying to clear up the misunderstanding, she slowly backed away and separated herself from the group. She didn't want to be troublesome, but she believed that this would be more efficient. These dreadnoughts were huge... not to mention that she worked better alone. At least she thought she did until a hand grabbed her shoulder. She froze momentarily before quickly turning and slamming the guard into the wall. She'd planned to take him out quickly and quietly until he took the mask off and revealed a familiar face beneath.

"Skywalker," she growled annoyed, "What are you doing here?"

"We thought you could use some help... where are the other two?"

"We?"

"Luke! I told you not to run off like that," Evangeline frowned as another trooper jogged up to them from around the corner.

"I didn't want to lose them, Han."

Evangeline pinched the bridge of her nose and took a deep breath, "Put your mask back on, Skywalker, if anyone sees you—"

"What are they going to do?" Han asked, "It's not like he'll be recognized."

Evangeline frowned, "That doesn't mean he won't look suspicious. How many other bucketheads do you see walking around without their helmets?"

"Fair point," Luke replied as he placed the helmet back over his head.

In all honesty, Evangeline just didn't really want to see his face. Until he had suddenly appeared on Florrum, Evangeline had been unaware of what had happened to her former master. It was weird to see him before, but now that he had gotten younger... well she had enough to process on her plate already.

"If the two of you are going to stick around, you might as well blend in," Evangeline proceeded to walk down the hall.

"Where are the other two?" Han asked, following from behind.

"We decided it would be faster if we split up," Evangeline lied.

She could see the two troopers glance in each other's direction from her peripheral vision.

"So where do we find this witch?" she believed that Han had asked.

She shrugged.

"How comforting," Han muttered.

"Ask one of the guards to take you to her."

Evangeline frowned and rolled her eyes, "Because they'll just take anyone to see her."

Luke huffed, "I didn't mean ask, I meant—follow me."

She raised an eyebrow but followed as Luke located and walked up to a pair of stormtroopers. She may have started to panic a bit since she had no idea what he was doing. From Han's tense posture, she could tell that he had similar thoughts.

"You will take us to see the witch," Luke waved his hand in front of the guard's face.

The guard swatted his hand aside, "What do you think you're doing?"

The guard beside him looked Luke over, "Do you have clearance to be in this area? What is your designation number?"

Evangeline could tell from the way that Luke faltered that he had lost confidence as he more hesitantly said, "You don't need my designation number."

"Yes, I do," the trooper protested.

Evangeline groaned under her breath before straightening and approaching the guards, "What seems to be the problem here?"

"Commander," one of the guards saluted, "We're having a compliance issue with this trooper."

"I see," she noted, "I'll have him sent to reconditioning to have this matter fixed."

She motioned for Han to approach.

"Trooper," she addressed Han vaguely, "Take him to reconditioning."

Han nodded and grabbed Luke by the arm, who just about started to protest.

"We'll be on our way," Evangeline informed the guards, "No need to alert them of our presence ahead of time. I will take care of that. As you were."

"Yes, Commander," the troopers replied in unison.

Evangeline guided Han and Luke down several corridors and made certain to scan the area before deciding that she was clear to speak freely.

"What were you thinking?!" she refrained from hitting him upside the head.

"I was thinking that I would get them to lead us to the witch," Luke explained, "It's not like I was trying something new."

"Well, it certainly didn't look that way," Han muttered underneath his breath, "I thought you were a jedi master?"

"It doesn't matter," Evangeline interrupted before Luke could respond, "You stowed away and decided to hijack my operation. We do this my way. No force and no Jedi magic tricks."

"But—"

She shook her head, "No. I was doing just fine on my own before any jedi got involved."

"Why does that sound like something you would say?" Luke turned to look at Han.

"I wouldn't say she's wrong."

"Tell that to the mounds of debt that you had built up with the Hutt clan."

"I was going to pay it off... eventually."

"By force!" Evangeline exclaimed, "You're as bad as the other two!"

"You should see him and Leia at each other."

"Don't bring my wife into this."

"She's my sister."

"Enough!" Evangeline demanded, "I'm not doing this again. Now shut up and help me find this witch!"

She didn't wait for a response as she immediately turned her back to them and walked away. She didn't act like she cared if they followed, but she was deceived by her own actions when she checked her shoulder. It was a brief glance, but she knew they were behind her. She raised her hand and stopped.

"This way."

"How do you know?" Han asked.

She shrugged, "A gut feeling."

"I thought you said we weren't going to use the force?" Luke asked and she knew he was smug.

"Well, I'm not going to ignore it if it's telling me where to go," she muttered under her breath, "that would be stupid."

Nothing else was said, so she assumed that they would follow her lead. She turned down several corridors and started to grow uneasy the longer they walked. Some of these halls had begun to look familiar. She didn't quite know why since they all practically looked the same. But when they arrived in front of the doors leading to the throne room, she knew for a fact that she'd been there before.

"Is she inside?"

"I don't know..."

"Shall we find out?"

Han moved to open the doors; however, they seemed to do so of their own accord. The guards on the other side revealed such a thought as a misconception, but it wouldn't have surprised Evangeline had they moved of their own volition. It was definitely plausible that it would match the aesthetic of this creepy, dimly lit hallway. Han slowly backed away from the doors when he realized that the guards weren't the only ones near the door. Evangeline's breath hitched and she froze in place as her eyes connected with Seth's. A cruel grin formed on his lips.

"And here I thought that I would have to go halfway across the galaxy to find you," he chuckled.

She tried to remain calm but her voice quivered and the look of fear remained on her face, "I thought I'd mix things up."

He shook his head with a chuckle, "You hit a dead end in your search and where did that bring you? Crawling back to me."

"I think you're jumping to conclusions."

"Not when I know how this plays out," he shook his head, "This is all just one long game."

"Can't say I'm much in the mood to play."

"Unfortunate, but that's not a decision you get to make anymore," he replied, "Apparently the universe decided to add you as a player. I had expected trouble from Rey and maybe even Kylo Ren, but you were completely unforeseen."

"Let me guess," she rolled her eyes annoyed, "You didn't understand at first, but now you know exactly my part in all of this."

He shook his head, "No, but I'm curious to find out."

"That's too bad, I was hoping that this could be simple," she shrugged, "Guess I'll have to find out the hard way."

"I can't see a reason why you would return, but I won't complain," he seemed to change the topic, "But it was foolish of you to bring your resistance friends along. I may find you of importance, but they shall receive no mercy."

Seth flicked his wrist and both Han and Luke's masks rose up off their heads and clattered onto the ground beside them. Seth's face immediately contorted into confusion. Evangeline didn't wait for him to recover from the shock. She ignited her lightsaber and stepped between Seth and the living dead.

"Anyone ever tell you that you talk too much?" she motioned for the two to begin backing away so that they could escape; however, more troopers arrived to block their exit.

The shock quickly registered on Seth's face as he chuckled, "It doesn't matter which resistance spies you brought, they will die quickly either way. We both know that you lack the discipline to wield that weapon, so I'd suggest you put it down like a good little girl before you lose an eye."

"You may be right about my lack of experience," she kept her eyes trained on Seth, "But there's something that you didn't consider."

"And what might that be?"

"I brought a jedi with me this time."

She quickly handed her lightsaber, while still activated, to Luke and exchanged places with him. Luke had just enough time to adjust to block Seth's incoming blade. The surrounding troopers raised their blasters to fire; however, Evangeline used the momentum of her adrenaline to shove them aside using the force. The movement was energy draining, but effective as the stormtroopers were forced backward unto the ground. Han wasted no time shooting a few of the troopers who were less dazed than the others as they rose to their feet. Evangeline decided that it would be wise to grab a blaster for herself so she wasn't completely defenseless.

"Let's go, Skywalker—" Evangeline turned back toward Luke who held Seth off.

It had been years since she'd seen the proper technique of a saber fight, but it seemed as though Luke had forgotten nothing as he managed to keep Seth on the defensive. She had assumed that Seth's skill was far superior to herself and even Ben; however, compared to Luke he was the one that looked inexperienced.

"A little busy," Luke grunted as he deflected a strong bow.

It took a bit more concentration this time, but Evangeline managed to repeat her actions from earlier and shove Seth backward to provide the time and space for Luke to escape. He quickly turned the blade off and joined the other two in their escape. Some of the guards who had been knocked down started to rise to the feet in an effort to chase after them. Evangeline blindly started turning down corridors with the hope that she was heading in the right direction. They hadn't found the witch, but there was a chance that they had given Finn and Poe enough time to do the job since they really needed to leave if they wished to survive.