Warrior ◊ Star Wars

chapter thirteen; awaited answers

Two years prior

Aboard the Finalizer

"Commander Marana Hux-"

"Armitage, please. I don't have time for this." The young, blonde pilot was pacing around the room, snapping at her older brother.

The newly promoted general sighed, taking a seat at his desk while his sister fumed, fighting off the urge to smack her superior. Or kill Phasma.

"You're overreacting." He chided, looking down at the numerous reports that laid before him on his desk, not really caring of Mara's ailment, "Go back to your post."

Mara let out a forced laugh, stopping her continuous pacing. She was trembling with fury, swallowing quickly before spitting out her words, "You know, I would. I would gladly follow that order if half my squadron wasn't dead! And guess who's responsible for that?"

"You're blaming me for the failure of your pilots?" Armitage didn't look up, not giving his sister the satisfaction of knowing he saw her glare, "AT-3475 and AT-3338's deaths were only due to their lack of ability to follow orders."

"Lack of ability?," Mara took a step closer to his desk, ripping away the report he was reading, "You gave the order to leave AT-3475! You told Phasma to execute AT-3338!"

"Because AT-3475 was dead-"

"He wasn't dead! The only reason AT-3338 didn't immediately follow your commands, may I add extremely stupid commands, was because he was trying to save Speeder!" She finally met her brother's gaze, shaking her head with absolute distaste.

The general scowled, yanking back his reading material from Mara, "They have designated numbers for a reason. Stop calling them by those stupid nicknames. Now stop yelling, you're overreacting."

"Overreacting!" Her arms flew in the air, coming back down to grip the report again, "One of my best pilots was left to die in space. The other was executed by his own troop. Now my two remaining pilots will have to deal with the fact that they just killed their friend!"

Armitage's attention was now entirely on his sister, finding her words almost treacherous. He stood up from his desk, "I don't care about their feelings, Marana. They shouldn't focus on personal attachments, they should fight no matter the cost. You giving them little names doesn't help enforce that."

"You're asking them to be carbon copies of each other! I think you are forgetting they're human!" Mara hissed, slamming the report back on the table. Glass shattered against the metal, the screen being obliterated on contact. Neither sibling looked down at the damage, still verbally gnashing at each other.

The general's face resembled stone, angled in a forever frown of disapproval, "I don't care if they're human or not. They could have no soul for all I care, as long as they do what the First Order commands."

Mara face flamed red, clenching her fists as she held back from punching her brother, "Those soldiers are the only thing that's keeping this pathetic knockoff of the Empire a legitimate threat. Don't you dare rob the troops of what little humanity they have left after you and Snoke ripped them from their families and brainwashed them!"

"Are you questioning my methods?" His volume grew higher as his sister pressed the issue. All hope of keeping this little debate from a full-on screaming fight was long dead.

"You're killing valuable pilots, who do more than you ever will, for no reason at all. So yes." The young commander clenched her teeth, pressing her lips together as she waited for her brother's response.

Armitage was offended at Mara's challenging of his authority, his formality losing almost all bearings, "And what do you do? Fly around in your precious ship and have the audacity to question me? I'm the only reason you have a fighter, much less a spot of importance in the galaxy. When I found you, you were attempting to smuggle yourself into cargo vessels just to go anywhere after that death gang betrayed you. You were nothing! Nothing!"

The words cut fresh gashes in Mara's mind, remembering her sad existence before the First Order. No ship, no money, no power to her name. Just a straggler out in an uncertain universe.

Mara swallowed, her anger the only thing keeping her from wanting to cry. Two of her friends had just been killed, and here her brother was defending his actions.

Crossing her arms right to her chest, her temper spoke for her, "Says the lap dog in high heels. At least I use my brain to formulate attack patterns. All you do is tattletale on Darth Junior whenever he has a tantrum."

The general huffed at her insolence, "They are not high heels, they're boots!"

"They're heels."

"No, they aren't!" Armitage watched as Mara's eyebrow went up, realizing how petty their fight had become. He clenched his jaw, taking a breath before regaining a stoic posture, "Squabbling like a child won't help your case, Marana."

She was losing, she knew it. Her outburst did nothing but show how much she cared for her pilots. This would only hurt what was left of her squadron.

Her brother's voice now returned to a lower tone, his raw anger now a threatening warning, "Commander, you have shown yourself to be problematic. You never shut up, you challenge direct orders, you disrespect the chain of command and you break regulations without fearing the consequences. Do not think you will go unpunished. Your fit in here will not go lightly. AT-3338's termination only happened due to his defective nature and failure to respond to his reconditioning. It is no reason to accuse me of being wasteful."

Mara bit her lip, shaking her head slowly, "Termination? Wasteful? Might as well think they were droids instead of men."

The general continued to keep a straight face. He was done fighting a problem that could be easily fixed, "I think you don't understand what I'm saying. I can take away your ship and your rank. I can put you right back where you were a year and a half ago, a useless girl with nothing. Now, return to your post and prepare for your next raid with what's left of your squadron. We'll be approaching Ratakka space in the hour, I want you ready for a full assault by then."

Mara returned his threat with a stretched smile, nodding. She was still incredibly mad, the venom snaking its way into her speech, "Yes sir, General. I'll go do my job, mind you a job that only succeeds because I'm the only exceptional pilot this silly Order has. Fine, threaten me. Say goodbye to every aerial attack plan I've ever laid out for you. I'm too valuable to throw right back out into nothing. Besides, you wouldn't betray the only family you have left, you sick bastard."

Present Day

Takodana

Mara's hand clamped over Finn's mouth with such force it caused him to take a few steps back. Her voice lowered to a whisper, "Don't you dare say that name."

A few glances were tossed their way, but the rest of the people on the docking platform ignored them. She assumed that Finn didn't say the name loud enough to for anyone to hear. The words he'd said made her shiver, and it wasn't just her body not being accustom to Takodana's temperature. The last time she'd heard that title, she'd been fighting with her brother over two of her pilot's death.

Finn's face remained quite surprised at how Mara reacted to what he had said. His theory had been proven right, but the actual confirmation of the long-dead commander living was shocking. He smiled wide when the blonde retracted her hand from his face.

"So you are the Commander!" He whispered-yelled in excitement, "How'd you survive the crash on Ratakka? How'd you end up on Jakku? Did you really know Poe Dameron?"

Mara pinched the bridge of her nose, shaking her head. She'd thought she'd been careful concealing her identity, but then again she didn't expect a stormtrooper to find her. Taking in a large breath, she sighed.

At the same time, she was tired. Tired of hiding, tired of renouncing her own name in fear the First Order would find her. Sometimes she just wanted revenge, other times she wanted to forget that it ever happened. Now, this was her chance to hurt the Order, make her brother pay for what he had done to her. Let Dameron's sacrifice mean something.

Mara finally looked back at an expecting Finn, eager to have his questions answered. The blonde crossed her arms, "You really wanna know?"

Finn nodded his head as fast as humanly possible, "Well, it's not every day you see a dead pilot, especially one that's working to help the Resistance. I'm just a little curious."

"More than a little." She mumbled, taking another quick breath before recounting the events that happened so long ago, yet she felt as if they had happened last week.

"After the rest of my squadron was wiped out in the battle over Ratakka, my fighter was hit and was supposed to crash." Mara explained while keeping her voice low if anyone tried to listen, "I pulled the parachute cord after I entered the atmosphere. I damaged my leg in the fall, but was able to crawl into a small cave before blacking out."

Finn took her pausing in her story as a moment to ask another question, "So how'd you make it to Jakku?"

She held up her hand, shaking her head, "You wanna hear the story, don't jump the gun."

Finn closed his mouth, now stopping to listen.

"Well, I wasn't alone. While I was still in my TIE, may I add it was hit and crashing down at that point, I was able to accurately shoot and bring down a Resistance X-wing who I assumed had hit me, because I'm just that good. So when I woke up in that goddamn cave, guess which Resistance i***t I brought with me?"

He raised an expectant eyebrow, "Poe?"

Mara face a manufactured smile, "Who else would've been lucky enough to not only crash right next to the cave I was unconscious in, but seek refuge in it, and accidentally trigger an avalanche in the rock above to trap us both in there?"

"That sounds like a lot of coincidences." Finn commented while Mara's face seemed to get a bit pissed at the memory.

"Long story short; there was a lot of sarcasm, hitting each other with random things, fighting the native beasts, saving each other's lives accidentally, deciding killing each other wouldn't help, plenty of blood, and deciding who was the better pilot. I, of course, won the whole pilot argument, because I'm the obvious choice."

Finn gave a slightly judgmental look, acting as if he didn't believe her claim, "That all sounds delightful. How long were you there?"

"The longest five days of my life." Mara divulged, "After Dameron was able to fix his radio, he contacted the Resistance and they were on their way. Then, not only did I find out it was the First Order cruiser the Finalizer that shot me down, but Poe was actually given explicit orders from General Organa to kill the First Order's aerial tactician and ace pilot, which happened to be me."

"So he tried to kill you?" He questioned, raising an eyebrow.

Mara shook her head slightly, "I doubt he could've if he tried. No, he made a different call when it came to the girl who made sure he didn't die. I was able to get off the planet in a First Order shuttle that had been abandoned once the Order was pushed out of the base. The Resistance showed up before I could jump to hyperspace, saw the enemy shuttle, and fired. I was thrown off course, and it's a miracle I didn't crash into a star in hyperspace before I came out in Jakku space. Then I crashed there, met Rey, and ended up in this mess."

Finn was quiet for a moment while Mara kicked at the ground, watching as the grass was ripped from the dirt. She was uncomfortable telling the story, but also remembering what grass actually looked like.

"Enough about me, what squadron were you in?" She glanced up, now curious about the alleged stormtrooper's claim.

Finn seemed to straighten up at the word 'squadron', his focused eyes holding a hidden fear behind them, "FN-2187, standard ground infiltration. Captain Phasma was my supervisor."

Mara chuckled at his response. He couldn't tell if her reaction was sarcastic or the actual sound of her name was funny, "Phasma? I'd like to get my hands around her neck. Hell, I kill all of the Order senior staff if I could. Finn...Finn what's wrong?"

He pointed to the sky, the woman following. Beams of red painted the blue, like fiery fingers stretching out. They could've been mistaken for an exploding sun, but the path the beams followed was too precise. Mara's heart sank, her blood feeling cold as the streaks met their destination.

Takodana was a mere hop away from the New Republic system, the center being Hosnian Prime. From Finn and Mara's vantage point, it was the best place to watch the destruction unharmed. Red impounded the planets, suddenly blown away on contact. Seconds passed, and all that was left were shattered pieces of a once inhabited solar system.

In a few seconds, billions died.

Mara's stomach churned with uneasiness. Her brother's greatest wish had been granted; the annihilation of the Republic. This was undoubtedly his doing.

A mass had gathered outside of Maz's castle, Han Solo in the front. Both Mara and Finn ran towards him. As her pace quickened, the blonde's head felt light.

I need to find Rey and BB-8 and get out of here. This was just a show of power, alerting us that the First Order's coming. This is just the beginning of the death count.

"It was the Republic!" Finn breathlessly informs Han, who keeps his eyes trained on the sky, "The First Order, they've done it."

The older man nods absentmindedly, still astonished by the destruction before him. Mara swallows anxiously. They were coming. She needed to find Rey and her droid and hightail it to the Resistance base.

She searched the crowd for her friend before Finn asked, "Where's Rey?"

"Great question." She grabbed his jacket, pulling him through the mix of alien races that blocked the entrance, "We find her and BB and we move. C'mon."

The made it into the abandoned bar and scoured the room for their friend. Maz was the only one inside. She spotted the younger pair, Han following them from behind. She took off towards a stairway, "Hurry!"

Screams pierced the air while Mara descended down the flight of steps, hearing the signature battle cry of TIE fighters. She followed Maz and the boys in front of her, praying Rey was down the stairs. Instead, she was met with a musty corridor built of brick. The walls around her shook while the first wave of bombings came down. The ground assault would come soon.

Goddammit, where is Rey?!?

Maz scurried over to one of the rooms, unlatching an old wooden box as the brick quavered above them, "I've had this for ages...."

In all of her relatively short life, Mara had only seen one lightsaber. Kylo Ren's saber was cross-like, the structure makeshift and rough. The one Maz presented had a silver finish, cylinder-like shape, and a faint blue light coming from inside it. Her mind went straight to the folklore she had been told.

Maz held the weapon out towards Finn, "I've kept it safe."

"Where's you get that?" Han questioned, eyeing the old lightsaber. He seemed to immediately know who's it was.

Was that Skywalker's?

Mara became somewhat confused. Why hand the saber to Finn? He looked just as surprised.

The castle shook again, a crash of tumbling stone coming from outside. Maz shoved towards weapon to Finn, "Take it! Find your friend!"

The young man grabbed it. The ground above them shook again, the uniform stamping of feet overhead alerting them the ground troops had arrived. Maz almost snarled as her fortress crumbled, "Those beasts. They're here!"

Mara grabbed both Han's and Finn's jacket, "Thanks for the lightsaber, Maz. Now we need to find Rey and BB-8 before this thing falls on us!"

The blonde had started to rush up the stairs, the two men in tow. Finn kept fumbling with the lightsaber, dazed by the very existence of it in his hands. The three began to peek through the debris, half the wall had been destroyed. Right before Mara could step outside, small, leathery hands clasped around hers.

She turned to see Maz, who had let her go, "Your anger is not your strength. You use it as such. You have so much potential, if only you don't fight because those you hate are in front of you, but for those you love behind you. Only then will you return to the skies."

Mara kept eye contact with the elder alien for a few moments. An explosion alerted her to the battle outside the walls. She took steps back, furrowing her eyebrows as she began to make sense of the mumbled words.

"Well, that's informational. Now, I'm gonna go fight those I hate to find the only person I care about in this galaxy, and both which are in front of me-er something like that...."

Another bomb went off beside them, a TIE screaming from overhead. Mara ran out of the mess of debris, ready to kill whoever got in her way.