001. ASHES OF A BLOODBATH

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TUANUL WAS PEACEFUL THIS TIME OF YEAR. The sun had set, allowing the cool evening breeze to invite the village occupants out into the open to socialize with their neighbors. The culture of the inner rim was vast as each individual living on the planet's surface had once called some other place home. It's what made them unique: the fact that the First Order hadn't eradicated the individuality of the residents. Koria Dangir almost admired it. And if she weren't on an extremely important mission for the Resistance, she would have considered sticking around long enough to explore the diversity of the culture within that small village on the surface of Jakku.

The chittering of native animals could be heard in the distance, but it was the sound of the wind chime hanging outside the tent that Koria loved. It reminded her of home and the family she'd lost during the rise of the First Order. It reminded her of everything she was fighting for and why she refused to give up the fruitless search she'd been tasked with.

The elderly man sitting across from her eyed her with suspicions. She didn't blame him. She was hardly who he'd been expecting as the meeting was originally meant to be held between himself and the General. Some complications had arisen and the pilot had been entrusted with completing the mission on his behalf.

Slowly, the elderly man extended a closed hand, placing a small leather sack into Koria's hand. She accepted the gift, but paused as the old man placed his other hand overtop hers as if ensuring the safety of the delivery. Uncertain about how to proceed, Koria gingerly patted the top of his hand as if poorly consoling a child in mourning.

"Thank you, Lor San Tekka."

The elderly man sighed with content, leaning back as he finally released her hand. "This will begin to make things right. I've traveled too far, and seen too much, to ignore the despair in the galaxy. Without the Jedi, there can be no balance in the Force."

"Well, because of you now we have a chance," Koria agreed. She tucked the pouch away, attaching it to her belt. "The General's been after this for a long time."

"The General." Lor San Tekka chuckled as he pronounced the title. His smile was fond but his eyes were distant, as if recalling some far off memory. "To me, he's descended from royalty."

"He's certainly something," Koria replied, a hidden dig in her tone while her lips curled into a smirk. The general's mother may have been the princess of Alderaan, but he didn't quite fit the picture of royalty himself. Perhaps it was the roguish nature of his father that he'd inherited.

Before any other words could be uttered between the two, a small round droid with a flat head rolled into the hut, frantically beeping to get their attention. The black and purple panels were dizzying to look at as the droid spun in circles to emphasize the approaching danger.

Koria's eyes narrowed into a steely look. Her lips twisted with distaste. "We've got company."

The pair exited the hut quickly, the rolling droid on their heels as Koria lifted a pair of quadnoculars up to her eyes. The lights along the horizon were bright but her sight adjusted as the shapes grew more refined to reveal the approaching enemy ships.

The was a glimpse of fear concealed in her eyes as she turned back toward the old man. She didn't often let her emotions show, but her walls flickered for but a moment as brief memories of her destroyed youth flashed in her mind. She shook her head to clear her thoughts. "You have to hide."

Lor San Tekka was more concerned with her well-being though as he gestured for her to flee. "You have to leave. Go!"

She hesitated for a moment, conflicted by the knowledge of what she expected to occur should she leave him there. The First Order was not known for their mercy. Yet the leather pouch tied to her belt grew heavier, and she understood it was the information concealed within that was most important. She nodded, turning on her heels to sprint through the village back toward the dunes on the outskirts where she'd left her x-wing.

There was a wild roar of wind and dust that tore at her hair and jacket. She had to lift a hand over her eyes just to protect herself from going blind. The Order transport landed in the center of the village, and it wasn't long before those trying to defend their home were overrun. Koria tensed her jaw and grit her teeth, fighting back the urge to turn around. She understood there wasn't much that she could do to help, but that didn't mean she wanted to abandon the people helping the Resistance's cause.

"Come on, DB-17!" She called back over her shoulder to the black and purple BB unit. "Hurry!"

She climbed into the cockpit, flicking on a number of switches to close the canopy. DB was lifted up into the droid socket co-pilot's seat and the ship whirred with life as the lights flashed on and the engine whined. The moment the ship stirred it was shot at, having acquired the Order's attention.

DB released a series of nervous chirps while Koria nodded her head in agreement. "Yeah, I see 'em!"

She frantically flicked a few more switches before grabbing the controls to fire back with the x-wing's drop-down antipersonnel blaster. The pair of troopers flew back at the impact as the blast hit, yet as Koria tried to start the ship once more the engine stuttered.

"No, no, no!" she exclaimed, trying everything in her own power to fix what had been fried. The engine continued to sputter. Resignedly, she exited the x-wing, quickly taking a look to see the damage that the rear engine panel had taken. She pulled at her hair, kicking up some of the sand at her feet in frustration. "Kark!"

They were going nowhere soon.

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THE WORLD HAD DEVOLVED INTO CHAOS AS VILLAGERS WERE CORRALLED LIKE PENNED ANIMALS INTO THE CENTER OF HUTS AND TENTS. The dark apprentice exited the sleek shuttle first, her cape draping behind her while she unclasped the silver hilts at her side. Trailing close behind, the general and the captain followed equally uncomfortable in the other's presence yet silent about the inconvenience.

General Armitage Hux adjusted the collar of his suit while eyeing the soldier beside him whose armor was decked out in silver from head to toe. Captain Faust was known as a man of few words, and a single helmeted look was almost as intimidating as one from the dark apprentice herself.

Her helmet distorted her voice, making it sound deeper and colder than the General recalled. "Is this what's become of the Resistance? A fleeting attempt to recreate the misguided passion of Skywalker's rebellion?"

"At least there's a flicker of light remaining," the old man replied even though the question hadn't been explicitly directed toward him. "Something far worse has damaged you."

It was apparent that the dark apprentice bristled as her posture stiffened while her fists clenched the silver hilts tighter than before. "You know what I've come for."

"It will not provide answers as to where you come from," Lor San Tekka corrected the implied assumption. "The mystery of the girl you were before adopting the name Kiya Reo will not be unveiled."

"The map to Fulcrum," Kiya Reo interjected, stopping the stalling tactics of a man who cared little about his own life. She understood that obtaining the sought information would take time, but she was a patient one and would not be deterred from her mission. "We know you've found it, and now you're going to give it to the First Order."

"The First Order rose from the dark side..." Lor San Tekka ignored her questions, guiding the conversation where he pleased, "but you were not born in the shadows with it."

"Would you like me to show you the dark side?" Kiya Reo asked, stuck between a threat and a jab. "For one does not need to be born in the darkness, only embraced by it."

"You cannot deny the light—" Lor San Tekka insisted.

"But you will cower in the face of darkness," Kiya Reo spat from behind her mask. She ignited the pair of sabers at her side, swiftly connecting them into a single, double-sided saber. With a rotation of her wrist, the saber spun in a circle and scorched the ground before the old man.

Hux flinched, yet the old man remained stoic. He refused to bow down before the First Order, so he had to be punished. That didn't mean the general preferred to watch. He turned his face away, but he understood the strangled breath of the old man implied his passing. The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end as he looked back up to see the dark apprentice staring at him, as if intrigued by his decision or his moment of cowardice.

Hux gulped. His eyes drifted toward the ground and he visibly paled at the sight of the old man's headless form slumped on the ground beside a small child gripping the robes of his mother. There was fear in the lad's green eyes that was mostly concealed by the mop of ruddy brown hair atop his head.

A frustrated cry echoed from their right, followed by the red glow of a blaster bolt that was frozen in midair. Hux's teeth buzzed with the electricity that stilled the air. To see so much power effortlessly displayed by the dark apprentice was enough to stop anyone in their tracks. And anyone who dared oppose that intimidation were forcibly stopped: like this rebellious woman with russet hair who dared fire her blaster at the dark apprentice.

She strained against the dark apprentice's control. With a snap of Kiya Reo's fingers, a pair of stormtroopers jumped into action, restraining the woman before dragging her closer. The dark apprentice drew closer, the rebel simply glared.

After a brusque pat down, her legs were kicked out from beneath her to fall before the dark apprentice. The woman grunted, but it did little to deter her fighting spirit. With a cocky grin she hid her fear well, looking up to meet the eye of the dark apprentice through her helmet without a moment of hesitation.

"So who talks first?" she asked, breaking whatever vow of silence was between them. "You talk first?"

Kiya Reo's head tilted as if intrigued. "The old man gave it to you."

"Y'know it'd be a lot easier to understand you without the additional apparatus," the rebel retorted. "They say the most important aspect of a conversation is—"

"Search her," Kiya Reo commanded.

"—eye contact."

The pair of troopers on either side of the rebel roughly pulled her away. And so she endured a second pat down while Kiya Reo drew even closer.

"'Ey!" she exclaimed as the troopers reached to remove the leather pouch from her belt. "Watch the hands!"

The stormtrooper on the left ignored her, snatching the pouch from her waist. The bag was empty. The trooper shook his head. "Nothing, sir."

"Put her on board." With a swish of her cape, Kiya Reo turned, passing by both the general and the silver-chromed captain on her way back to the transport ship.

Hux was hesitant to speak up, stammering as he sought out the next order. "Sir, the villagers?"

Kiya Reo did not share his hesitance. Her voice was cruel and quick to deliver a swift sentence for the residents of Tuanul. "Kill them all."

The rebel pilot was dragged aboard the transport ship behind the dark apprentice, struggling against every step they took. However, each stormtrooper turned toward the general, awaiting the final order.

Hux cleared his throat. "On my command!"

The troopers lifted their blasters. Hux opened his mouth, yet no words emerged. He froze as his eyes locked with the small boy. Fear met fear and recognized itself. The general's hands trembled and his lip quivered.

Captain Faust took over where the general failed. "Fire!"

Blasterfire erupted into the center of the small village. The echoes of their screams could be heard for miles. The electric light was like a fire that scorched the general's retinas—biting back at his own clenched heart and frozen shock.

"No!" The rebel's screams indicated that she hadn't been brought aboard the transport before witnessing the massacre.

"Search the area," Faust ordered. "Find that map!"

The stormtroopers immediately spread out around the village to begin searching for the map. Captain Faust scoffed under his breath—and even with a helmet covering his face, it was apparent that he'd rolled his eyes with the most judgmental sneer.

Hux slowly turned his head, noticing that Kiya Reo had stopped at the top of the transport ship's ramp. He didn't need to see her eyes to feel the chill of her gaze or the shivers that rattled his spine.

The blasterbolt that had been frozen midair was finally released and careened into the nearest structure—shooting off sparks that only added to the flames of the ravaged village. Hux nearly jumped out of his own skin. Then his eyes drifted to the blood pooling on the ground, and the lifeless form of the open-armed child too far to be embraced by his mother but near enough to beckon the general closer.

Dread crushed the breath from his lungs as the general realized that he could no longer hide behind titles or bloodlines. He'd only risen through the ranks because somebody thought his father was worth enough of a damn. It was clear they'd finally seen through the cracks in his walls to recognize the bastard son couldn't even amount to half of Brendol Hux's accomplishments. Either way, his hesitance to follow orders would be taken as defiance. Hux understood the captain was itching to climb the social ladder of power, and the weak didn't stand a chance in the First Order. They were snuffed out before they could become a liability... and Hux had just proven himself to be a liability much too close for comfort.

These anxious thoughts only grew once the General stepped foot aboard the transport shuttle. Perhaps there was only one individual whose anxieties were greater: the rebel pilot. She continued to squirm and fight against her restraints even once they landed in the hangar of the Star Destroyer. Either for effect or to instill a greater fear to calm her defiance, the troopers ushering her toward the interrogation chambers were far rougher than necessary. She tripped more than once on the path through the hangar.

"Alright. All right!" she snapped, whipping her head around to bite at the troopers behind her as her arms remained held fast.

"General."

Hux blinked, focusing on Faust who'd stepped into his line of vision. He cleared his throat and straightened a bit taller as if that would change anything. "Captain."

"I've been informed that you are to report to my division at once," Faust explained. His haughty tone was insufferable and the jeering lilt in his voice was only emphasized by the chrome helmet he donned. "You are to debrief not only myself, but also the dark apprentice. She is quite curious to understand your perspective on the evening."

Hux nodded his head. "I'll be right there."

Captain Faust nodded a moment later, his confidence level rising with each swaggered step he took. It was only once the captain was gone that Hux released the breath he'd been holding.

Attending that meeting would be the equivalent of swinging the blade at his own beheading. And only a madman would sign their own death warrant. His eyes frantically searched the hangar for some fraction of an escape. It was when his panicked gaze landed on the anchored TIE fighters that his mind either created the most brilliant and ambitious plan, or one that would destroy whatever refined image he'd created for himself in a ball of flaming stupidity.

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