CHAPTER 30
INCOMPETENCE

KYLO found General Hux talking to a new batch of recruits on the upper level of the Supremacy. He was standing in front of at least twenty trainees, instructing them on their duties for the day and what was to be expected of them in the future. Kylo knew this was an important meeting, but he didn't care in this moment. Even as the group of recruits stared at his scarred face in horror, Kylo still approached the general with anger in his eyes. Before he could ask why the commander was bothering him, Hux was being dragged away by his arm.

"Unhand me, you fool!" Hux demanded as Kylo quickly removed his grip. The general tore his arm away, holding it close to his chest with his other hand. He looked to the commander with a furrowed brow, realizing that Kylo had brought them into an abandoned corridor. "What is the meaning of this?! I was in the middle of –"

Lights flickered above Kylo's head as he took a step closer to Hux, his eyes never leaving the general's. "What did you do?" Hux sent him a blank stare. Kylo found his vision narrowing. His mouth flattened to a frown as he shoved the general's shoulders back. "Answer me!"

Hux now realized what the commander was speaking of. Kylo must have somehow seen or interacted with Raena Nhagy, and as much as the general just wanted to shake his head in defeat right now, he lifted his chin at Kylo's comment.

The commander tsked under his breath. "I knew it was odd for us not to burn her body," he muttered. "You knew the whole time! You did something! What – did you wait for her to come back this entire time?"

"You listen to me, Ren," Hux spat, stepping close to the commander with a finger pointed at his chest. "I would give my life to this military. I've prepared for it my whole life, and I will not let you take away our best forces just for the sake of saving yourself. I knew what was going to happen, so I prevented it. We need Officer Nhagy. I will not let her skills and name fall into the Resistance's hands. Keep yourself together and there won't be a repeat of what happened."

Kylo blinked rapidly. "I didn't kill her for myself," he argued. "I did it for the Supreme Leader, who is going to be very interested in knowing how Raena Nhagy suddenly awoke from the dead."

Hux rolled his eyes.

"How ..." The commander's voice trailed off, confusion taking over. "How did you do it?"

"That's none of your business."

Kylo sighed angrily. "Yes, it is."

Hux tsked loudly before beginning to walk out of the abandoned hall. But Kylo's firm grip was pulling his arm back, yanking on his sleeve forcefully. "Leave me alone!" Hux exclaimed, ripping his arm away again.

"What are we going to say to the Supreme Leader?" Kylo asked, arms spread out. "He's going to find out. He probably already knows."

Hux shook his head. "Do I really have to explain everything to you?" He replied in an annoyed tone. "The Supreme Leader can't do much to her now. Officer Nhagy does not have the ability to die anymore. This military is all she has left for her long life, so we convince the Supreme Leader why he still needs her. I'll be damned if Snoke decides to let her go and the Resistance gets to her." His eyes went narrow at Kylo's softened expression. "Don't fuck this up, Ren."

•••

Hours later, Gerardo was at her door. His expression was solemn, even when he was happy to see his friend alive again. In his hands were a set of clothes for Raena, and he thrust his hands out when she reached the door. "You look like shit," he commented, plopping the clothes in her arms. "I came to help with that."

Raena frowned at the insult, rifling through the clothes as she set them on the patient cot. In the pile was a pair of gray cargo pants, a black tank, and a dusty jacket. Raena turned the jacket around in her hands, recognizing the familiar material. Gerardo shut the door before appearing at her side. Raena realized where this jacket came from then, because on the front right pocket was where her last name had been embroidered. She smiled slightly.

"They tried to hide away every piece left of you," Gerardo said as Raena's eyes met his. "Luckily, I saved your jacket before they looted your quarters and threw it all away. The commander wanted to make it seem like you never existed." He looked at his hands then. "I knew the truth, though. It wasn't hard to guess."

It was moments like these that reminded Raena there were still good people within the First Order. There was still people like herself, who tried to do everything to save their lives; who would kill to keep on living themselves. Whether they were on the stereotypical "bad side" or not, good people lingered. People like Gerardo didn't deserve to die.

"Thank you," Raena whispered, laying a hand on his shoulder. "I forgot how much I missed you, Gerardo."

The new sergeant placed a hand on his chest, mocking offence. "How could you?"

Raena chuckled lightly. Gerardo stepped out of the room to change, muttering that he never "saw a woman naked and never wanted to." Raena shook her head as she giggled under her breath. She inhaled deeply, thinking about her next movements. She would have to confront Kylo sometime soon, and even worse, Snoke. She began to wring her hands out from sweat. Gods, maybe this was a bad idea. No – this was great. This was a good idea. She could do this. She could do this.

She slid the cargo pants on easily, and then the tank. Raena hooked her dirty belt around the new pants before slipping on her former officer jacket. It felt snug against her shoulders, but of course, it still fit like a glove. It wasn't like she'd been gone for years – but she did return after dying. That had to count for something.

Raena set her damaged clothes on the cot, checked the comlink in her ear again, and then opened the door. Smiling Gerardo's way, she asked, "Do you have anything planned?"

"Actually, yes. I didn't come here to just give you some better clothes." Gerardo swallowed hard. "I was ordered to escort you to Snoke's throne."

Raena's face fell. Her cheeks sunk in as a scoff emerged from her throat. "Well," she muttered, "I can't ignore the old bastard forever, right?"

Gerardo cocked his head to the side. "That's one way of looking at it."

Raena nodded before stepping in line with her friend, and they both walked down the halls together to Snoke's private office on the Supremacy. Raena found multiple eyes wandering to her, even a few droids spun to see her striding down the corridors of a First Order ship once again. The last Nhagy was back within their walls, but how? None of them would ever know the truth.

"New uniform?" Raena asked with a quirked brow. "Are you a sergeant now?"

Gerardo bobbed his head with a grin. "I've been recently promoted."

"I see," Raena replied, noticing the sparkle of mischief in her friend's eyes. "And you and Pacey ...? I may have been tazed, but I still saw everything." She lifted her chin a bit. "Is he your boyfriend?"

Gerardo almost choked on his own spit in his mouth. "I thought you were unconscious!"

Raena laughed softly, hooking her arm around Gerardo's as they walked at the same pace. "I'll always know more than you think, sergeant," she whispered. "And sometime soon, I'll explain to you why."

•••

Raena felt a cool blast of air shake her bones when the elevator doors opened in front of her. Almost immediately, her eyes are locked with Supreme Leader Snoke's. His head was leaning downward, casting a dark shadow over his vision, but their stares didn't waver from each other. Raena swallowed hard, looking over her shoulder at Gerardo. He gestured with his hands for her to go. After much hesitation, Raena turned back around and began to walk forward. The elevator doors closed once again.

As Raena stepped inside of the throne room, she felt Kylo's eyes on her. His stare punctured her skin like daggers, and she did whatever she could to just not look at him. Raena strode to the front of the room beside General Hux as Snoke greeted, "Ah, the last Nhagy."

Raena's feet stopped then, and she held her hands behind her back. They were sweaty. "Supreme Leader Snoke," she smiled falsely, teeth gritted. "A pleasure."

"It certainly is," he replied, letting his large forehead fall into his hand. He leaned back in his chair with ease. "I could've sworn I saw your corpse lying here months ago."

"You did, sir."

Kylo looked to his feet, hanging his head low. Despite his expression, he was nothing but glad to see her alive, and also interested. But at the realization that Ben Solo's thoughts were diving in his brain, he took back his feelings, replacing his expression with a hard stare. When he looked up, he saw the Supreme Leader glaring at him. Even though General Hux admitted to being the one behind Raena Nhagy's saving, Kylo knew he'd get the blame for simply being unable to kill her.

Snoke turned back to the assassin. "So why are you here?"

Raena slowly glanced at Hux, leaving Snoke to then say, "Yes, I've been informed of the general's incompetence."

"I would hardly call it ... incompetence, Supreme Leader." Hux defended in a soft voice, and Raena was surprised at the way he spoke. "I did it to save our military."

"You did it to defy my orders, after you had revealed what was going on between these two!"

Kylo's brow furrowed, and he angrily spun around to face Hux, who stood to Raena's left. "You what?" Hux refused to meet his eyes. "How did you even –"

Raena allowed the back of her right hand to brush against Kylo's chest, pushing him back slightly. "Stop it," she whispered. Raena continued her stare on Snoke as she did it, but her touch still burned his skin slightly. Kylo swallowed down his pride and viewed at his shoes with wide eyes.

"I'm here because I have nowhere else to go," she finally answered. "I woke up on Takodana only a week ago. The serum took very long to go through my system, apparently. I tried readjusting to life there again, but it was hard. Maz Kanata was a parent to me, but even she could see I changed." Raena was lying through her teeth, and she wondered if they were all falling for it. All eyes were on her. "I gambled in a card game with a few smugglers on the island. I ended up winning the game, and my prize was their rusted evac ship, so I used that to find the Supremacy." She sighed heavily. "And now I'm here."

"And now you're here," Snoke repeated. With a short wave of his hand, one of his many guards placed around the room stepped forward. Raena knitted her brow together as the guard walked to stand in front of Snoke, and he muttered, "Fire."

Almost instantly, an eruption of fire from the guard's blaster barreled towards Raena. She only had time to gasp as the blast ripped through her gut, causing her to double over. She held her stomach, trying to grit her teeth as the pain tore through her whole body. "I should kill you again for what you have done to this military!" Snoke bellowed as Raena winced in pain. General Hux and Commander Ren stared on with expressions that were a mix of confusion and horror. "I should have my guards shoot you until your heart stops beating! What you have done to the First Order ... is unforgivable."

The pain dulled then, and as a tremor rode down the length of her spine, Raena stood back up. Her whole body shook, but she still met the Supreme Leader's piercing gaze with a glare. Snoke looked down, watching the blood that had once stained the middle of her shirt seep back into the wound. Even Kylo was watching with his mouth slightly opened.

Everyone in the room twitched when Raena released a laugh. "Hate to break it to you, but you can't kill me." She began to walk forward, despite the guard threatening to shoot her again. Raena strode up the steps to Snoke's throne, meeting him halfway as he walked forward to her. She was surprised she wasn't trembling at the sight of him, seeing as she only spoke to him as a holographic figure before. He stood over a foot above her, his gold cloak shaking as he walked. She tilted her chin up to look at him. "You need me."

"I need you?" Snoke chuckled mockingly.

"Did you see what just happened?" Raena pointed to her stomach. "That was a wound healing within minutes by itself. I can't die anymore. I'm was one of your best fighters, and now I'm immortal. If you don't return me to my former officer status, then you're turning down a brilliant offer." She then looked away, frowning lazily. "Or ... I could always offer my assistance to the Resistance ..."

Snoke narrowed his gaze. "You couldn't get out of here to do that."

"Try me."

The Supreme Leader sighed heavily, staring at the assassin with malice. After a long moment, he looked at Kylo and Hux standing below then. "Commander Ren," he called, which made Kylo step forward, "escort Officer Nhagy to receive a new set of uniforms. I must have a talk with the general about inserting himself in situations that don't concern him."