NINETEEN
CHAPTER 19
TWISTED
GENERAL Hux's fingers twitched as he punched in the required code to the supreme leader's cold room. A sudden chill ran down his spine, and he wasn't sure if it was from the wind that blew when the doors opened or that his fear was so evident on his face. Raena had just left a few hours ago for her mission on the Resistance headquarters, and the general had a feeling that Snoke wanted to see him at this moment for that reason.
He approached the supreme hologram in long strides, finally standing in front of it with his hands behind his back. The general never thought he would be afraid at just a mere hologram; the damn leader wasn't truly near him to begin with. But his fingers still trembled as he nodded his head and greeted, "Supreme Leader Snoke, what have you called me in for? I was told it was urgent."
"As it is, General," the aged creature scratched his chin before his large black eyes landed on Hux. "I feel like I've been ... lied to."
Hux gulped.
"But you, General Hux – you have never lied to me. I am sure of this." His chunky fingers tapped against each other. "So this is why I must ask you an important question, one that I know you – and only you – will answer me truthfully. I feel as if I have been fed fabrications since the sudden mission to Ahch-To so many moons ago."
The general waited impatiently as Snoke's eyes searched his own. Hux wondered if he could smell his fear.
Snoke sat back in his chair. "What has genuinely been going on with Commander Ren?"
"I am not sure if I understand," Hux spoke quickly.
"He has told me that he feels the Light returning again, and I ordered him to concoct the most recent mission. Although, he hadn't told me why. You are close enough with him, so why do you think his right to care has resurfaced?"
Hux found himself looking away. The supreme leader's keen eyes watched him swallow down the lump in his throat.
"Answer me, Hux."
He looked back at his leader, his mouth quivering as he begged it to stay shut. He couldn't stop them – the words, they were going to come out. It had to stay a secret. What would Snoke do if –
"It's Officer Nhagy," he blurted, a long breath forming into the cold air.
Snoke quirked a nonexistent brow. "What about Officer Nhagy?"
"He cares for her, Supreme Leader." Hux went on, shutting his eyes from his leader's hateful stare. "I fear ... I fear our most-trusted commander has fallen in love."
"I thought with all his training that he had the stamina to suppress his lust, and most importantly, care." Snoke sighed, to Hux's surprise. "I guess I was wrong."
The general finally spoke up, "If I may speak freely, Supreme Leader, I fear more for our assassin's sake then Commander Ren. You see, I have noticed that many who have grown close to him wind up dead. The last thing the First Order needs is their best assassin – the last Nhagy, I presume, in the galaxy – dead. We must –"
"Do not defend Officer Nhagy!" Snoke then yelled, his exclamation echoing off the stone walls. "It was her who started this in the first place, with her luring attraction. She did this to him. It was all her."
Hux grew silent, no longer able to defend.
The supreme leader let out a low growl. "He's not longer the Commander of the Knights of Ren – why, he's ... he's turned himself into a prisoner. A prisoner to his own selfishness!"
Hux kept his mouth in a thin line as he was soon dismissed. The supreme leader's shout repeated in his mind, and it was then that the general knew that he truly screwed their best assassin over. What would Snoke do to her when she returned? The First Order couldn't lose her; surely, their supreme leader would give her that. At least, that's what the general hoped for.
He needed a plan.
•••
Raena landed the pod safety on the mounds of grass encircling the planet of D'Qar. She spotted the Resistance headquarters just a couple miles from where she parked the pod, expecting to make only a twenty-minute walk.
Hopping out of the compacted ship, she stretched out her limbs and secured her utility belt tightly around her waist. She slid her several compressed weapons into her pant pockets before grabbing her blaster and hooking it to her belt. The assassin found herself swallowing down a large lump in her throat as she pulled her red scarf up, making her way to the base.
She counted two small grassy mountains that she crossed before the Resistance headquarters came into her view. As she moved closer, she spotted the armed guards loitering on the outside, but she found this to be no problem. Raena had snuck past guards too many times to be afraid.
Maybe her terror came from what she needed to do, but those were questions she simply didn't have the time to answer at that moment.
She managed to come at the base from the right and sprinted just fast enough for them to not spy her from their other side. From the right edge of the building – more like castle – Raena looked at the guards she had just passed, noticing that her fingers were twitching. Why were they doing that?
At the bottom of the outside wall, a vent was screwed in, allowing the assassin easy access. She pulled out a tool from her belt, unscrewing the several bolts and using her careful digits to yank the vent off. She could just pry it off before her shaking palms stopped her. She smacked them on her knees, growing angry at her nerves. This couldn't be happening at this moment.
When she was finally able to slide into the vent, she covered the end up and started crawling through it. But at the same time she was allowed entrance, she heard the all-too familiar alarms ring in her already-damaged ear drums. Their sensory systems weren't this equipped the last time, but alas, Raena trudged along.
Every time she reached a new vent entrance, she peered through the tiny holes to see which rooms it led to, hoping that one would let her into the general's chambers. She felt herself growing dizzy, and the alarms blaring in her ears didn't help one bit. She sat in the dirty vent, holding her head while rocking slightly. Upon the realization that this wasn't the time to have a mental breakdown, Raena breathed in and continued her search.
Each end she reached showed the crew in the headquarters running to some guarded room as a security animated voice repeated, "INTRUDER ALERT!" She shook her head at their restlessness; they should know that she would only hurt them if they ruined her plan.
Or she should say, the general's son's plan, for that matter.
As she reached the last vent entrance, she heard a familiar voice – the voice. She propped herself near the vent, eyeing General Leia Organa talking frantically with, she guessed, a trusted advisor about their current intrusion. The advisor was a creature unknown to Raena, but she watched them put their hands on the general's shoulders and ordered, "Just get away safely. We don't know what this intruder wants."
Raena's breathing quickened as she realized she was actually panicking. She never acted this way on missions: she was always clear and got to the result she needed. Why was she becoming so ... scared? This wasn't her first kill; she needed to get a grip. Yes, this was the mother of the man she loved that she had to kill, issued by him only. But this was her job; she couldn't let her own judgment get in the way like it had been lately.
Leia nodded at the same time the assassin began prying the vent cover off with her shaking fingers. She didn't have time to unscrew the bolts; she needed it off now. She ground her teeth as sweat coated her brow, yanking the cover off with all the strength she had. Her digits curled as she felt her teeth just breaking from the grinding. At her last breath, she grew angry, kicking out her foot and sending the cover flying down the hall.
It landed right at the general's feet.
Raena jumped out from the vent, unclipping her equipped blaster in a blink and aiming it directly at General Organa in front of her. "Stop right there," she ordered, her voice hiding her nerves so well that she seemed to scare herself.
Leia was about to reach for the cover below her, but halted her actions when she noticed the weapon directed at her head from across the hall. The general's own blaster was located in her chambers, and she cursed herself for doing so. She was sure she knew the intruder from somewhere, but where? It took her second before she realized: the girl was the First Order assassin, a famous Nhagy bounty hunter, and the one who killed their highest-ranking captain.
She also helped her own son kill Han Solo.
Leia found her heart aching then at the horrid thought, and she noticed that after all this time, the pain would never diminish. As she looked back up at the blonde assassin, she could see the large amount of sweat on her forehead, a piece of evidence that she was nervous to be in front of the general. A scarf disguised her true expression, but from the way her brow furrowed, Leia knew she was struggling with an inner battle.
Raena realized she was taking too long by just staring at the mother of Commander Ren. He looked like her, she noticed. They had the same eyes, except his were slightly darker, and the assassin couldn't stop herself from sucking in a sob through her nostrils.
She was tired.
She wanted to give up.
Leia opened her mouth to speak, but Raena interrupted with a struggling mutter: "Don't talk."
"You don't want to do this," the general whispered, ignoring the assassin's crude comment.
She was yelling then, like a force she couldn't stop.
"How the hell do you know what I want?" She shrieked. "You don't know anything about me!"
"But I do," Leia nodded as she took a step forward, but discontinued that motion when she saw the blonde's grip on her weapon tighten. "I know your family. You and your uncle had personally worked with us before. You don't want this."
Raena shook her head. "It's my job."
"Your job is for the twisted."
"You don't think I'm a little twisted?"
Raena's finger readied itself on the trigger, and she found herself smirking. It was the adrenaline; it could make all her worries go away, as if she wasn't just about to kill her lover's mother right before her eyes. But it was her eyes that gave her away, and Leia could read her like any book on a shelf.
Before the general could get out another reply, her army of guards rounded the corner to the hallway her and the assassin were located in, shouting, "PUT THE WEAPON DOWN!"
Raena's head whipped in their direction, her eyebrow quirking upwards at the large army. Shit, she was fucked. This had never happened before; she was completely outnumbered.
She looked back at the general, seeing the pleading stare in her eyes, as if she knew what the assassin was going to do right then.
The guards, along with the continuing alarms, blared in her ears: "SURRENDER NOW!"
This is it, she thought, I am going to give up.
Her breathing grew heavy as the shouts became louder. The alarms rang in her ears each second. Her heart pounded at the speed of light. Her eyes diverted to everyone in the room, waiting for her. Sweat coated her palms. Her weapon was slipping away. She was becoming powerless. She couldn't kill his mother. Give her anyone else in the fucking Resistance, but not General Organa. She couldn't –
Her blaster fell in the ground.
She plugged her fingers in her ears, her shriek memorable to every crew member in the building: "SHUT UP!"
Every sound ceased. Silence filled the room until all she could hear was her racing thoughts telling her she was terrible, that she was weak.
Her knees gave in, allowing her to fall to the streaky floor with her weapon. Tears began to run down her cheeks, the walls echoing her screams throughout the base. She was crying – Raena Nhagy, the First Order assassin, was crying in front of the Resistance general and crew. She couldn't suck in her sobs; they came out in waves that wouldn't stop.
She rubbed at her nose as her red eyes met Leia's. "I give up," she whispered through gritted teeth.
She couldn't hear the general's response, because the electric shock from a stun weapon connected with her side, and like a light switch, she was unconscious in a split second.
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