038. DON'T MOVE! QUICKSAND!

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Koria was certain that the Supreme Leader had gone insane when he'd told her the coordinates they were flying to. From what she could recall from the maps and star systems that she'd studied in flight school, there was nothing at the specified coordinates; however, she kept quiet and didn't object.

Although she was already on edge, what set her off further was the fact that they weren't taking an army with them to capture to resistance spies. Seth had insisted that only those who had seen his face, and he let live, go with them to the planet's surface. So, there were five of them: The Supreme Leader, herself, General Hux, FN-2552, and FN-3852.

She wasn't sure what to expect when they landed on the surface of the planet. She wasn't even sure that it was safe to breath, yet the Supreme Leader strut down the ramp and into the jungle without a second thought. The other four were forced to jog after him to catch back up.

Hux muttered complaints under his breath as they avoided the low hanging greenery, but Seth took a less cautious approach. He ignited his red blade and slashed anything that got in his way. 2552 flinched every time the blade was swung and Koria noticed that even 3852, the more stoic of the pair, tensed up at the use of the glowing blade.

Hux leaned close to Koria. He hesitated, but eventually whispered, "His obsession has grown unhealthy."

"You're the one that recruited him," Koria retorted quietly.

"I didn't think it possible—"

"That's your problem," Koria interrupted him and picked up the pace of her walk, "you don't think before you act. A stupid quality for a leader."

Hux was quiet for a while after that, but 2552 had no trouble filling the void of silence. He hummed under his breath and bobbed his head to the rhythm of his own voice.

3852 groaned and he finally became annoyed with the incessant noise. "Would you shut up?"

2552 raised his hands and blaster defensively into the air. "Sorry, I just can't get the tune out of my head. It's a really catchy song."

"The pilot sang it enough during his interrogation," 3852 accusingly pointed a finger, "I don't need you getting it stuck back in my head after it took hours to get out."

"Silence," Seth growled in a low tone and held up a hand. His eyes shifted manically back and forth before he gestured to the left. "This way."

"I think we might be lost," 2552 whispered.

"The Supreme Leader knows where he's going," 3852 contradicted as if begging for 2552 to shut up.

"No." 2552 shook his head. "I think we really might be lost."

"I said, silence." Seth warned as he glanced back over his shoulder. "Admiral, keep your soldiers in line."

"Yes, Seth." She nodded her head and referred to him as he requested. "Approximately how much further?"

"We're getting close," Seth closed his eyes and inhaled. "I can feel their presence. It disturbs the darkness around them."

The four looked at one another skeptically but did not dare object. They continued to follow the Supreme Leader understanding that death was their only other option. The jungle grew denser, and it became harder to see anything else beside the glowing red light. Koria found that she had tripped over a root more than once. However, she concealed it better than the others. 2552's once white armor was now coated in mud from head to toe.

Hux released a panicked shout.

The others quickly turned to see what the commotion was about; however, their eyes widened at the sight of Hux half-buried in the earth.

Koria leapt up onto the rocks scattered off to the side of the road and instructed the others to do the same. "Quicksand!"

As Seth's boots slowly sank, he held out a hand and a vine from overhead obeyed his command. Seconds later he had pulled himself free and stood once more on solid ground. 3852 scrambled after him without hesitation. 2552 grew frantic. Due to his clumsy nature, the First Order trooper tripped over air and fell, sinking faster than Hux. Reacting on instinct, 3852 thrust out his arm and hauled 2552 out of the sand.

2552 stared at 3852 silently. 3852 took a step backward. "What?"

"You—you saved me!" 2552 leapt into 3852's arms and pulled him into a tight hug. "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank-"

"Okay, that's enough!" 3852 exclaimed and tried the pry 2552's arms off of himself.

"A little help?!" Hux's eyes flashed back and forth as he sought some means of escape as the sand had risen up to his chest.

Koria lifted her foot to take a step forward, but Seth held out an arm to stop her. "Leave him."

"What?" She turned to look at him, incredulous.

"Leave him," Seth repeated, "The rebels are more important. A general can be replaced."

Koria turned her head to look back at Hux. She could see that he had begun to panic at the Supreme Leader's words. Unfortunately, he only started to sink faster. Koria faced the Supreme Leader and slowly shook her head. "Then find yourself a new Admiral too."

Seth raised an eyebrow. "What was that?"

"I said find yourself a new Admiral!" Koria shouted without thinking of the consequences.

Anger flashed in Seth's eyes as he lowered himself to look her in the eyes. "I gave you everything. Power and respect and you're going to throw it all away?"

Koria looked back over her shoulder and nodded her head. "Yeah. I am. Because if power and respect molds me to be like you then I don't want it."

"A mistake." Seth narrowed his eyes, but Koria remained firm. She didn't budge and he saw that same attitude of resilience in her as the day she had first introduced herself. He stood, looking mildly impressed, and walked away. 2552 and 3852 looked at each other in confusion before deciding that their best chance of survival was to follow after the Supreme Leader.

The minute he was gone from her view, Koria sighed with relief and her posture relaxed. She turned around and quickly realized that in all the time she had spent defending her decision, Hux had sank further beneath the sand. His face was all that remained above the surface. He gasped as it became harder to breathe with the building pressure of the ground threatening to crush his lungs.

She had to act quickly. Her eyes scanned the area, but she threw whatever plan was forming in her mind out the window as his head disappeared under the sand. She sprinted toward the closest tree, tied one of its vines around her waist, and dove into the quicksand. She was pulled under the surface, and she could already feel the vine holding her back. She wouldn't have much time to search before she ran out of vine. It was even more difficult with her eyes squeezed shut.

Her hands frantically searched around before smacking something other than sand. She scrambled to pull him close as her lungs started to burn from the lack of oxygen. Suffocation was now at the forefront of her mind as she began to use the vine to climb back up toward the surface.

Training for the First Order Academy Flight Program had been difficult, but it never prepared her to climb a vine out of quicksand one-handed while carrying a whole other person with her. There was nothing that could have trained her for the moment really, but the panicked fight for her life was the only thing that kept her moving forward. If her eyes were open, she was sure that she would have started to see stars.

Her face suddenly grew cold. She coughed and sputtered and breathed. She inhaled as if she was never going to have the chance to take a breath again as she hauled herself and Hux onto firm land. She laid still for a moment, reveling in the victory of breathing. That was until she realized she only heard her own breaths.

She opened her eyes, panicked, and looked over at the ginger beside her. His chest was still. Without hesitation, she tore open the front of his uniform and pressed her ear against her chest. Nothing. He was one of the most annoying individuals that she had ever met, but there was no way she was letting him die after she just risked her life twice to save him. She pinched the bridge of his nose and pressed her lips against his. It took three sets of compressions before his eyes flashed open. He shot straight up with wide eyes and coughed up a mouthful of sand.

He refused to look at her right away. "Were you—"

"I was saving your life." She immediately put the thought out of his head.

That only seemed to confuse him more. "Why?"

"Because—" She frowned. She didn't know why exactly. "Because I guess I realized that I liked my odds of survival better with you than with the Supreme Leader."

Hux looked unconvinced. "I believe I remember you saying that I don't think."

"Yeah, well," she shrugged, "I suppose no brains is better than no heart."

She extended a hand and he hesitantly accepted it. Although it was pointless, once they were both on their feet, they made an attempt to dust themselves off. Awkward eye contact was achieved once before Koria cleared her throat and gestured for Hux to follow her carefully around the edge of the path.

Koria had faced death at least a dozen times prior to this point, but none of them had scared her more than the moment that she realized she might die on land rather than among the stars in a blaze of glory. She was a fighter by nature, but maybe, just maybe, she'd finally grown tired of the fight.