CHAPTER 44
A LITTLE HELP

RAENA didn't realize how bad she must've looked that morning until she entered the mess hall, where all eyes seemed to be on her. Blue, green, black – even masks – turned in her direction once she appeared in the cafeteria line. Raena narrowed her eyes, grabbing a tray and ordering the slices of horned melon she had been craving earlier. She happily accepted her tray back, along with a few boiled Feelo eggs, and smiled towards one of the many droids that fulfilled her order. When she looked back to head over to where her friends sat, she noticed everyone turn around and continue their conversations.

She rolled her eyes, grinding her teeth together as she made her way towards Pacey and Gerardo's table in the back. It looked like they hadn't moved for hours, judging from the emptiness of their trays. Raena guessed they were keen on ignoring their duties for the day, until one of the generals set them straight.

Slamming her tray against the steel surface, Raena placed her hands on her hips. "Do I look bad today or something?" She took one last glance around the hall, sending a glare towards the pilot that just wouldn't stop looking at her. Swinging one leg around the bench, she plopped herself right next to Gerardo. "Everyone's staring at me. It's fucking annoying."

Gerardo shrugged, as if he didn't know, but his awkward expression said otherwise. He suddenly went stiff when he realized she was studying him.

"What?" She smirked, slicing through one of the Feelo eggs on her plate. "Are my dark circles that noticeable, Gerardo?"

"You are Grand Admiral, Raena," Pacey answered for his partner. "Shouldn't you be eating somewhere more ... high class? Like with the other higher-ups?"

Raena chuckled. "If you couldn't tell, I'm not a very high-class person."

Drumming his fingers across his jaw, Gerardo muttered, "It might also have something to do with the Supreme Leader practically treating you like royalty."

Raena brought her fork up to place a piece of egg in her mouth, but stopped midway once she thought over Gerardo's words. Hesitantly, she placed her fork back on her tray. "Excuse me?"

"Here we go ..." Pacey huffed.

"Do you two know something I don't?" She asked, swinging her head in both directions. "What aren't you telling me? Speak up!"

Pacey shook his head. "Ger, why did you have to –"

"I was going to have to tell her anyways!" Gerardo defended.

"Were you really –"

Raena waved her hands in front of them. "Will someone please tell me what is going on?"

Gerardo sighed heavily and turned towards his friend. Raena's brow shot up, waiting impatiently for a response. "So – um –" Gerardo looked away for a moment. "Ren might've told all the military behind your back to treat you the same way as him, like with Supreme Leader authority."

"WHAT?!" Raena stood up, debating on throwing her fork into the wall, but stopped herself when she realized how loud her voice had become. Everyone was surely staring at her now. With a flip of her hair, Raena looked around and sent her colleagues a charming smile, before sitting back down.

"Listen," Gerardo explained, "I didn't want to tell you because I knew you'd react like that."

Pacey added, "And we kind of guessed from his threatening tone that anyone who told you would probably be punished. The last thing I need is that psycho shoving a lightsaber through my chest."

Raena shot him a look.

"No offense."

She rolled her eyes, "Some taken." Picking up her fork once again, Raena stuck the slice of Feelo egg in her mouth and chewed violently. "I'm not angry at you for telling me –"

"Really? Because you seem pretty angry," Gerardo said, staring her down.

"I'm mad –" She stabbed the horned melon with her knife. "Because –" She panted, tearing through the rough skin. "Ren is telling you to regard me in a way that's not true."

Pacey arched a brow. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means," she breathed out as the melon fell into two halves on her tray, "that I find it just so funny that Ren is telling you that, while he's hardly treating me like his Grand Admiral. It makes no sense." Raena scooped some of the melon with a spoon and placed it in her mouth. "He's completely taken away some of my privileges. I'm not allowed to train new recruits anymore. He won't even let me go with him on the mission he's leaving for tonight."

Gerardo furrowed his brow. "Why do you even care? Once you fulfill ... whatever it is you want, you're out of here. It's only a matter of time."

Raena viewed up at her friends. She had given them an inkling when she accepted Kylo's hand back into the First Order that she hoped to not be there for long, that she had a purpose within these walls to stop the war. But she didn't feel the need to tell them the exact purpose just yet, maybe she would never.

She grabbed Gerardo's hand and squeezed it. "I'm not leaving you two behind," she promised. "When my time here is done, I'll get you two out. We're a team now, whether you both like it or not."

Gerardo smiled along with Pacey, who finally allowed both corners of his mouth to twist upward. Raena gave his hand a tight squeeze as well, before releasing her grip and settling back into her seat. With a perky smile, she said, "And now, we just have to figure out why Ren's lying to me."

•••

Raena watched Kylo board his ship from the hangar deck, wrapping her fists around the guardrail so tightly to hold herself there. She was afraid she might jump down and knock his teeth out if she didn't. As he walked up the shuttle's ramp, he turned around, searching around the area for her face. When he saw her all the way up on the second level, staring down at him furiously, he swallowed his guilt and waved in her direction. She only wiggled her fingers back in response.

Now that he was gone, she had endless possibilities. If she didn't have the chance to help Leia this time around, maybe she could try something new, seeing as she was now the top person in charge. She could damn well throw a party, if she wanted to. She wouldn't, but the idea was exciting. A realm of opportunities ... right at her fingertips.

She wondered if the general was disappointed in her, if she thought about her promise, if she questioned the likelihood. Raena was trying her best, but her best could only do so much. Her mind wandered to Indira, and even Rey, if they knew she was trying. Did they know she was trying her damnedest to be the good person she hoped to become someday? They all probably hated her now, reminding each other that she was always a traitor. Raena didn't blame them. Her intentions were now good, but she may be going about them the wrong way.

Her new plan landed her in the comms room late that night, desperately trying to figure out the computer system. There was only one person manning the room that night – a new recruit, actually, who hardly knew what he was doing – which made it easy for Raena to swoop in, hit him with a needle of sleeping serum, and knock him out before he could suspect anything. It probably would've been nice to have his help with this unfamiliar system, but she could learn. How hard could it be to find the identities of everyone living on a small planet?

If she could find a radio source of a wanted Resistance fighter on Takodana within this system, she would be golden. Raena decided Takodana was her best choice. She had more allies on her home planet than enemies, even if they did know her affiliation with the First Order. There had to be someone – a spy, a fugitive, anyone – that she could secretly pass along the information about Emperor Palpatine possibly returning from the grave.

However, after spending more than twenty minutes fumbling with the system, and having to knock out that new recruit one more time, Raena became incredibly impatient. She couldn't stay in here forever, and she certainly didn't have the time to search this whole database, wherever that was. Perhaps, her best choice was Maz Kanata, an adoptive mother and trusted ally. She was the safest option, and although she didn't let a soul know, Raena remembered that she fought for the rebels' cause. Pressing her finger on the power button, Raena shut down the several computer systems and spun around in her chair to leave.

"What do we have here?" General Hux whispered, standing within the doorframe of the comms room.

Raena froze in place, clutching the arms of the leather chair with white knuckles. Her eyes went wide with shock. She had no idea how to explain this.

The door slammed shut behind him and Hux strode forward like a predator stalking it's prey. Raena was surprised, but not afraid of him. Lest we forget, she was a lot more muscular than Hux.

"You must know your way around a comms system very well since you ... well, you know what you did." He sighed dramatically, looking to the left, where the unconscious recruit laid carelessly on the floor. "What did you even do the poor boy?"

Raena scratched the top of her head. "I gave him a sleeping serum. Should wake up in the next ten minutes."

"We allowed you back within these ranks for a reason, despite your notorious label of being a traitor. Your actions have made me question my own decisions, Grand Admiral."

"What are you gonna do, Hux?" She asked, getting to her feet. "I am in charge of this fleet while Ren is away. Not you."

Hux's stare flickered for a moment. "At least, answer one question for me." He paused, narrowed eyes landing on her once more. "Are you using our comms to contact rebel spies?"

Raena crossed her arms over her chest. "Why does it matter?"

A devilish grin spread across Hux's lips. Raena lifted a brow, waiting with anticipation for his response. What was the worst that could happen? He could tell someone. No one would believe him, though. Hux was already on thin ice. But what if someone did? Despite her new Grand Admiral status, many of Raena's colleagues seemed indifferent towards her.

Finally, Hux replied, "Let me join you."

A beat of silence echoed between them. Raena blinked rapidly.

"What?" She shook her head with astonishment. "What gripe do you suddenly have with the First Order?"

Hux scoffed, "I don't care about winning the war. I just want to destroy Kylo Ren."

Raena couldn't help but release a humorless chuckle. "Get in line, General." She pushed past him with her shoulder. "You're not helping me with anything, and you're definitely not telling anyone about this conversation. Got it?"

The general caught up to her, blocking her way to the exit. "Why? What's your plan? Are you going somewhere?"

"You're not coming with me, Hux!"

"But what if I can help you pass along a message?"

Raena was ready to shove her way past him once again, but found herself arching a brow in his direction. "What do you know that I don't already?"

"We've been tracking Ren's ship," Hux explained. "He's headed to the Unknown Regions, as you know. A planet called Exegol, said to contain the hidden world of the Sith. He found the Wayfinder on Mustafar and it led him there."

She glanced away, wrinkling her nose. "So the emperor must be on Exegol, if he's really alive."

"Precisely."

Turning back to face the general, Raena plastered on her best fake smile and approached him. She leaned towards the door's console. "Hux, you've done a lot of things for me. Some things I'm still shocked about –"

"I will do anything for our military to succeed."

"– However," she said, slapping a hand on his shoulder while the other pressed itself against the console, "you're still not coming with me."

The door slid open, welcoming the bright light. A few grunts resonated behind the two, and Raena looked over her shoulder to see the new recruit waking up again. She shot General Hux another smile. "Take care of that for me, would you?"

•••

A/N: as soon as they made hux the spy in TROS, I was like hmmmmm 🤔 see that's what we're NOT gonna do!!! and it just makes more sense for raena to be the spy

also OMG!!!!!!!!!! thank you guys SO MUCH for getting this story to 500k 💓 never in my life did I think this story would get that far, nor would I be writing more of it 4 years after I first published it lol. again, thank you so much for following and reading raena's story! I'm so grateful 🥺

anyways............more PRISONER memes bc matt the radar technician is still funny