Warrior ◊ Star Wars

chapter fifteen; stranded

Two years prior

Ratakka, four miles outside abandoned First Order base

Her eyes burned as she opened them. Light flooded through her cracked lens. Her helmet bored into her face and made it incredibly uncomfortable to move her head. She groaned and everything in her body ached.

The blonde didn't know how long she'd been like this, but the cramps in her back and neck meant she'd been asleep a while. She sat up while she winced at the pangs of pain running up her spine. She went to move her hands, only to find them bonded behind her.

"Goddamnit," Mara complained loudly, coming to the conclusion she was being kept prisoner.

"You're awake, great. You snore really loud."

The cracked lens wouldn't allow her to see the face of the person talking. Still, she decided she hated that man already. Who just ties up a poor, innocent stranded pilot?

"And who the hell are you?" She choked out, her voice incredibly scratching and distorted by the broken helmet. Her restraints were incredibly tight, probably made from some type of metal. They were created to cut into her wrists. Asshole.

"Someone who's not going to tell you their name," He answered in a lively tone, "Until you tell me yours."

Mara remained quiet. She struggled against her restraints while she recollected what had happened. Her squadron's death. The crash. The quick shot she pulled off that found its mark. Crawling towards a small cave carved into the mountain.

Wonderful, one of the natives has me. Just my luck.

Lucky, she was a gifted girl. Mara twisted her thumb just the right way and her hand slid out. The wounds on her wrist stung from the air, but she ignored it to take off her helmet. Finally, sight was restored to her.

The cave was dark, a frail light trying to fight the shadows in the middle of the room. The ceiling was only a few feet above her head, the walls jagged and coarse. She immediately hated the cramped place.

"Damn, that was fast. How'd you get out?"

The voice came from her left side. The man was mostly covered in shadow. He wore a loose brown coat and banged up boots that'd seen better days. The orange jumpsuit around his waist caught her attention, and she realized how deep in she really was.

Great. Wonderful. My whole squadron's gone and a Resistance member just tied me up.

She blinked somewhat at the man's question, then held up her left hand, "Double-jointed thumbs."

She couldn't see really his expression in the dark, only heard, "Huh."

Mara, now deciding she was done with useless small talk, felt her side for her blaster. There was none. He'd taken all her weapons. Dammit. Not only was she in a cave, but with a smart Resistance member who seemed to want her as a hostage.

So without further warning, Mara attacked. Lunging forward the few feet between them, she punched him square in the gut. She reached for her blaster and knife right beside him, but a grip on her wrist stopped her.

She finally saw her captor's face, which was covered in dirt and dried blood. Dark brown eyes glared at her blue, and most of his facial features were littered with bruises and cuts. His crash must've been far worse than her's by the shape he was in.

He continued to grip her wrist while he slowly said, "I wouldn't do that again if I were you-"

Mara cut him off with a right uppercut to the jaw, wrenching out of his grasp and getting her vibro-knife, "Good thing I'm not you."

She then intended to plunge the knife into his chest, but he had gotten hold of a blaster. The hit went into her arm, her blade only scraping his leg as she fell back. The knife was taken from her and she was pushed back into her previous spot.

Mara suppressed a scream, pressing her lips together before yelling at the stranger, "What the hell was that for?"

"What do you mean 'What was that for'? You punched me then tried to stab me. And stop whining, it's only a flesh wound." The man defended himself, putting the rest of the weapons closer to him.

Mara examined her arm carefully. Pulling the burnt fabric back, she cringed at the sight of her wounded skin. No bones had been hit, just her skin singed off. But oh, it hurt.

She clenched her teeth in pain while examining the area for some kind of emergency kit. The man kept his blaster trained on her as Mara shifted forward, grabbing the small light from the middle of the enclose and shining it around.

Red rock encased them like a tomb. The ceiling was barely four feet tall, like a painting above them. The wall to the left was the same as the ceiling. On the right side was the problem.

A jumble of ruble and debris sealed off the entrance. Glass made the rock glisten when the light illuminated it, showing the cracked screen of an X-wing cockpit. The chair and console were almost unrecognizable. Wires were strung every which way, the upholstery torn and shredded pieces strewn everywhere.

Mara placed the light back in the middle of the cave, sighing rather loudly before facing the man in front of her once more, "So let me guess, you crashed into the very mouth of the cave I crawled into and trapped us both in here?"

He shrugged while continuing to aim the blaster at her, "Something like that. You shot me down at the precise angle so that my fighter would crash here."

"Believe me, it was not my intent to get stuck with a Resistance scum and no resources." She let malice flood her tone as she said last words, the man immediately offended. A light smirk played at the ends of his lips.

"I wouldn't call the person who decided not to kill you 'scum'."

"Stupid move by the way." Mara commented frankly. She continued to look around her for anything useful and was met with little success.

"Do you really think I want to stay in a warm cave with a rotting body?" He watched the blonde while she shifted around, making it very evident he didn't trust her whatsoever, "Besides, you are more valuable alive. That is until you try to kill me again."

"Maiming is not killing," She muttered and laid back down against the rock. Her arm felt as if it was on fire. Sure, the nerves where the actual blast had impacted were dead, but the skin around it was ablaze with pain. Then there was the sore back, and a host of other inconvenient injures.

"Oh, I forgot, stormtroopers couldn't kill someone if a dying baby was placed in front of them." He mocked, and Mara's jaw dropped at the insult.

She was beyond irritating with the enemy in front of her and exclaimed, "You actually think I'm a stormtrooper? Me? You must have the IQ of a bantha!"

"You're wearing a stormtrooper's flight suit," He pointed to her torn outfit before gesturing to his crash, "Flying a TIE fighter, which typically a stormtrooper pilots, and are a solider for the First Order. Correct me if my deduction skills are wrong, but that kinda implies that you're a stormtrooper!"

The blonde was offended. Yes, the First Order troopers weren't the most effective troops, even though she served among them. The Order had produced great pilots (thanks to her improved training program), but their ground troops? Not so much. Perhaps she was just biased, favoring her aerial team over standard soldiers.

"I'm not a stormtrooper." She bit back, not furthering the conversation anymore.

This seemed to baffle the man. He c****d his head to the side, narrowing his eyes, "So you joined that fascist reboot voluntarily?"

Mara's gut twisted, knowing she had said something along the lines of his statement to her brother hours ago. Still, she snapped back quickly, "And you joined that little rebel cell voluntarily?"

"I joined the Resistance because of people like you who wanted to revive the Empire," He responded, his grasp on the weapon in his hand tightened, "And establish evil galactic domination all over again."

Mara folded her arms over her chest, then realized that was a bad idea due to the ever-growing pain in her arm, "Everyone has a pastime."

"Killing innocent people is a very sick excuse for a hobby."

"So is wearing a tacky orange jumpsuit and pretending you're a good pilot."

"I don't need to pretend, I am. You on the other hand...."

She raised an eyebrow. This guy was seriously ready to bash on her flying skills? Desperate move on his part, "I'd like to remind you that I was able to maneuver my fighter at the precise angle to where only one shot would take you down, all while crashing."

"Yeah, and only one shot from one of my pilots took you down. And not to brag at all, but we clearly won. Your entire squadron was destroyed before you went down." He boasted as Mara's lips tightened in frustration.

In her brief moments after waking up, her memory finally returned to the battle. Yes, her whole squadron was gone. They were all dead within twenty-four hours, either by her own side or the opposing.

Suddenly, the anger towards her brother returned. Him ordering her to leave one of her men behind, executing another because a second reconditioning wasn't an option, threatening her because she was angry about their deaths.

Mara went into battle without a clear head. She was smart when it came to aerial warfare; her status as one of the best tacticians in the Order proved that. Instead, she was still mad. That cost her the rest of her pilots' lives. Their blood was on her hands, not Armitage's.

Now, she intended to go back and make it right. Once her brother came for her, which he would, they'd imprison or kill this Resistance fighter and she'd make amends for her squadron's deaths. Somehow.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Why the hell are you beating the wall with a rock?"

The man watched as Mara hit the wall opposite of the crash with a piece of the debris from the wreckage. The two had been quiet for a few hours and only exchanged glares from each side of the cave. Since then, Mara had begun hitting the cave with the ruble.

She grimaced in pain as her other arm continued to hurt, but continued to pound, "Because I will die without water. If you did research on Ratakka previously, then you would know there are natural water canals flowing through the cave rock. Other crevices in this mountain of such, lead to the inside, which has pools. The water leaks through sometimes into a hollow rock, which can be broken."

"So you're going beat against it until you get a stream of water?"

She looked over at him and sighed, annoyed, "Yes."

He shifted slightly to the right, and pointed beside him, "Like this drip that I forgot to mention?"

Sure enough, a crevice held a small stream of water. Only when she illuminated it with the light could it be seen. It was a sorry excuse for a water source, languid drips that only fell into a small tray every few seconds.

Mara shined the light directly into the man's face and sneered while he winced, "You could've told me earlier. I've been hitting this stupid wall for nothing!"

"Yes."

"You do realize that I'm still in considerable pain because you shot me?"

"Yes."

"When did you even discover the drip?"

"While you were busy growling at a wall."

"You could've told me to stop!"

"But you looked so content growling at the wall."

Mara scowled as the man shrugged, then glanced at the tray while he continued to speak, "I honestly don't care what state you're in, as long as you can tell me as much information about the First Order as you can. Then I'll give you water."

Mara threw the rock back onto the pile while she sighed, probably for the millionth time since she'd ended up in this situation. Her throat had gotten increasingly drier as the minutes ticked by. A human could go two or three days without water, and the lightheadedness she experienced told her that she'd need some soon. The slow drips enticed her throat while her mind played with the idea of revealing anything to this man.

"Tell you what, I'll throw in a little extra if you answer at least two questions." The man's right hand moved, which alarmed Mara at first. He didn't reach for a blaster, instead his hand went to the left pocket of his jacket. He unzipped it and pulled out two small, white capsules.

"Pills for the pain in your arm. I'll give you some wrapping I salvaged from the medical kit so it won't get infected."

"Generous," she mumbled as she eyed the capsules, "Unless those are poison or some type of drug that'll make me talk more-"

"And why would I have those in my jacket? What kind of things do you think we just keep around?" He closed his palm and drew back the suspected painkillers. Mara swallowed as she thought, the hurt in her throat became more prominent as she thought about the water. The wrappings would keep her wound from getting infected, and the pills would help immensely. But the information? No, she wouldn't commit treason against Brendol.

But in the end it wouldn't really matter, would it? Whatever she told him would never make it to the Resistance before her brother's men came for her and imprisoned the man before her.

"What do you want to know?" The question slipped out of her mouth, and the man was immediately surprised at her compliance.

"Giving up so easily?" He prodded while Mara's face showed extreme discontent.

"Just give me the pills and water."

"Answer my questions first."

"Fine." She huffed and clenched her jaw.

The man shifted once again, then pointed towards her uniform, "You're a commander, at least that's what your rank badge says. I'd like a name."

Mara almost replied with her own title but bit her tongue. Revealing she was Hux's sister and main aerial tactician? Probably not the smartest idea.

"Captain Phasma," She blurted, which confused the Resistance member, "Overseer of the FN corps training."

The man, who had just claimed she was a pilot commander, was extremely puzzled, "That sounds fake, but okay-"

"It's not my name." She replied simply. Her anger against Phasma had gotten the best of her. She had been the one who suggested killing one of her pilots to her brother, and the one who ordered the rest of the AT squadron to execute one of their own. If worse came to worse, she'd be the one ratted out.

"Her true rank is higher than her title suggests. She helps with stormtrooper training and where to attack at the right time. She's second only to a handful of First Order members. She deems which soldiers are fit to bear the name 'stormtrooper'." Mara watched as he listened and nodded slightly before he asked another question.

"Base of operations?"

"Really?" She questioned, almost caught off guard by such an outrageous question, "You're expecting me to just tell you that huge confidential information? You've got to be kidding me."

He didn't even seem to be fazed at her objection, "Do I look like I'm joking? Tell me."

She raised an eyebrow, her ignorant nature wanting to test him, "What if I don't? What if I lie?"

"Then you don't get water, or painkillers, or bandages."

"I need at least some of those things to live. If you really want me to stay alive, you'll give it to me eventually."

"Or I'll just shoot you again."

"Sure you will."

"Try me."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mara's obstinance prevailed overall, and she sure wasn't happy about it.

The constant pain in her arm grew each minute it seemed. Her throat became drier with each passing drip she heard hit the plastic tray. Still, she couldn't possibly give in to the stupid Resistance member's question.

But oh, she hated it. Whenever she even flinched in discomfort over her arm or stared too long at the water, he'd crack a smile and tell her all she had to do was answer the question. At this point, her chances of dying grew higher and higher. All she had to do was answer the damn question. It wouldn't matter in the end anyway.

But she couldn't. She just couldn't. Her pride forced her not to. She couldn't let this stupid, smug, Resistance scumbag just win. No, that wasn't an option.

But on the bright side of things, he hadn't shot her yet.

The light that had spilled out through the cracks between the damaged X-wing heavy rocks had faded, replaced by the dark. The heat in the cave had gone down with the sun, which was refreshing. Now you could barely see anything at all besides the small lantern expelling weak light in between the two.

The wind blew softly outside and carried far off sounds her way. At first, she thought nothing of the faint moans in the air. Then the sounds grew clearer, into shrill beeps. Mara glanced over at the fallen rock with curiosity. What would be making that noise on a mostly deserted planet?

The man's face burst into a grin before inching closer to the rubble, "Buddy? BB-8?"

Mara's eyebrow shot up as the beeps continued. He nodded fiercely as he continued to converse with what the blonde assumed was a droid, "Yeah, I'm okay, but I need so help. Can you try your best to get rid of these rocks?"

A beep in response. Mara's binary was rusty, but she thought it replied 'yes'.

"Why are you talking to a droid? How is it even here?" She asked blatantly.

He turned her way, "I ejected him before I crashed-"

She almost laughed out loud at his stupidity. Was this man really insane? Making sure a replaceable droid would survive before his own was incredibly stupid, "You're more screwed up in the head then I first thought."

"And what exactly do you mean by that?"

"You took the time, while crashing, to eject your droid before ensuring your own safety- ouch!" Mara gestured towards the mound of debris the droid was behind and winced when the pain in her arm told her that wasn't a good idea.

He sat back down against the wall and used her show of weakness against her, "You know, all you have to do is say the name of one of your major bases and that pain can disappear for awhile-"

"You know, I've denied that offer multiple times," Mara spit back, "Which might hint that I'm not going to answer that question, no matter how many times you ask it."

"Fair enough," The man lifted his hands in the air as a sign of surrender, "Have it your way and suffer. Now help me move this side of the wing."

Mara sighed once again, "We both tried that at different times. It doesn't work, it's too heavy."

"We could work together, which astonishingly might work. If we do, we'll get out of this lousy cave and work on getting off this stupid planet." He presented the idea while Mara formulated her own.

Yeah, she thought to herself, the faster we get out of this cramped place, the faster I can kill you and the easier it will be for the First Order to locate me.

The sound of a tiny drill started on the other side of the crash while Mara finally complied, "Fine. But you know what would make it go faster? If my arm didn't sting so badly-"

"Only if you give the name of the system will you get those painkillers."

"Then I'm afraid I won't be that much of a help."

~~~~~~~~~~

More minutes flew by as the two adversaries worked through the night. They pulled away debris while the droid drilled into the fallen rock. Within the first hour of working, a small hole had been carved out.

Mara peered through the opening and was met with the eye of a droid. She took the light from the middle of the room and shined it towards the astromech to get a better look at him.

All she could see was a round head and a bent antenna. It beeped back at her and said something along the lines of asking who she was. Mara didn't answer, instead she reached her hand through the hole. She pushed it through the mess of cut rock and sharp metal.

She felt the droid's metal 'hand' poke at her. It prodded her fingers with childlike interest as she felt the smooth rock outside the cave.

"See anything?" The Resistance member questioned while she felt the surrounding area.

"Besides your droid, nothing." The blonde responded, "And the endless rock- gah!"

BB-8 screeched while Mara struggled to retract her hand. All she felt was multiple of the droid's prongs stick into her flesh.

"What's happening? What's wrong with my droid!" The man came closer to the opening while she tried to free her hand.

"Your stupid pet just stabbed me-" She was cut off by the sound of an animalistic yell, and whatever sank into her skin before bit her again. Mara repressed a scream as she continued to try to wrench her hand back into the cave.

Arms wrapped around her waist and she was roughly pulled back. Her wrist was finally freed from the small hole. She glanced down at her hand, blood running down to her elbow as she held it up. Bite marks on her fingers buzzed with pain while more hissing sounded from outside.

The two stayed quiet and watched the clawed paw reached through the opening. It outstretched towards them as the clawed tried to paw through the wreckage. Mara cradled her injured hand and looked at the man beside her. He nodded.

Whatever that was, it definitely wasn't a droid.

The paw was retracted as the hissing faded. The animal seemed displeased with its findings, because it went away. It was a few minutes before either of them even spoke.

"What the hell was that?" The man breathed quietly, then faced her. The blonde seethed through her teeth at the sight of her bloody hand.

She managed to suppress a yell and furiously nodded, "I don't know but it bites, it bites hard."

"You know, painkillers will help that."

Mara took in a large breath and glared as hard as her eyes possibly could, "I said no and I mean......yeah that stings."

"All I need is the system." He then shifted over to the tray of water.

The woman, in a great amount of pain and thirst, finally broke down, "Fine, just give me the damn pills you Resistance ass-"

He reached his jacket pocket, a huge, smug smirk of victory displayed on his face, "I need the name of the system first."

"The Pressylla system!" She begrudgingly admitted and kept a constant glare, "Okay, now just give me the damn pills!"