Star Wars IX- Balance Of The Force

Chapter 15 - Jakub and the Initiative

Aboard the Supremacy ship within the stormtrooper's barracks, a single trooper sat secretly in a storage cupboard, helmet removed and hands-free of his protective gloves; he held a small device.

"Come in, Black Leader, come in, Black Leader," he whispered.

"This is Black Leader; go ahead".

"Package is aboard the Supremacy; extraction required. I repeat, package is aboard the Supremacy."

"Copy that, Black soldier, extraction planned for fourteen hundred tomorrow; expect to receive Gold soldier."

"Copy that."

The lone trooper replaced the device into his boot. It wasn't comfortable, but as Finn had told them in training, no one ever checked inside your shoes. Jakub went to stroke his hand through his hair in thought, then recalled, not for the first time, that his hair was gone, a requirement of joining Finn's trooper initiative. 'Troopers don't have lovely flowing locks,' Finn had said derisively, taking a strand of Jakub's long, mousey brown hair between his fingers.

Jakub had been one of the first to join the initiative taking the place of FB 1123 and had been reasonably successful; he'd gotten lots of useful intelligence and converted squadrons of troops. He wasn't arrogant or naive enough to think that conversion was a full conversion, more a new way of thinking and a spreading of discontent. He'd conversed with entire squadrons of troops while in their barracks (troopers slept and relaxed in massive halls), and they were ordinary people, often young and, until recently, relatively untested. They didn't enjoy war, and he'd often found a new young trooper or two crying at their bunk or sitting in silence. Given another choice, he believed many would defect. He'd even befriended several troopers outside of his squadron's quarters, troopers he knew would be helpful in achieving the extraction of Rey. Right now, Jakub needed to see PR 2357 from prisoner security.

Jakub stepped out of the cupboard and went over to his designated bunk to put on his helmet and gloves. Just another faceless, nameless stormtrooper; at least it made infiltration easier. Picking his blaster up, Jakub headed out of the quarters towards the detention block. He'd seen Rey on Thyferra when he'd joined the Resistance. While there, Finn had started the initiative, and Jakub had signed up. Rey had tested him in combat, as had Finn, so when he saw her escorted out of the main hangar dressed in black and cuffed, he knew the information he'd got from Altor was right. She hadn't been alone either. A tall, dark man had been with her, a distinctive scar running the length of his face, also cuffed, looking slightly dishevelled, shoulders hung low. Hadn't Altor said Kylo Ren was also a prisoner? Hadn't his own intel here aboard the Supremacy from Kira given similar information? Kira was disguised as an officer, placing her on the bridge; her intelligence had to be right, but this man couldn't be Kylo Ren, could he?

Jakub had never come into contact with the Supreme Leader Kylo Ren while on the Supremacy, but he'd heard stories about him, mostly from other troopers. They described him as a masked warrior nightmare, not just because he was a dark Jedi but because of his violent mood swings. Stormtroopers warned each other if Supreme Leader Kylo Ren was stalking the corridors of the Supremacy in case he lashed out at some unfortunate passerby. Destroying equipment on a whim, dragging people towards him, or throwing them across rooms or corridors using the Force. The Supreme Leader's personal training room's interior was regularly obliterated, and he could be heard in there at all hours, his screaming red saber destroying everything.

Poe had told them all during their initial training that Kylo Ren could stop a blaster shot in its path. He was, by all accounts, terrifying! The man Jakub had seen hadn't looked terrifying. He was big, massive actually, and the scar along his face was significantly menacing, but this man wasn't terrifying to behold. To Jakub, the man had seemed broken and demoralised. Jakub had to trust his intel was right; the objective was to save Rey. Whether that man was Kylo Ren or not didn't matter.