Above the trees you could see the wings of the Command Shuttle starting to break through, meaning you were close to the next town. The officers had moved around a bend in the road, an outcropping of rock hiding them from view as the two of you continued to walk. You felt a hand on your shoulder and you stopped, turning to look up at Hux.
"You have worked hard for your position within the Order," He began, and your blood ran cold Shit, this is it. you whined to yourself, bracing for the worst. " You have great passion for what you believe in, and you have shown me today that your talents are wasted as a low ranking officer." Your eyes bulged at his implications. "When we return to the Finalizer I am putting you in for a promotion."
"General Hux sir, I... I don't know what to say." You stuttered, shock paralyzing you. Here you were, thinking you were about to be fired, and instead you were getting a promotion. "I haven't done much, just what is required of me." You supplemented, not really understanding why you were declining the honour of a General's promotion.
"I have seen officers with years more experience than yourself, freeze when faced with a combat scenario. I've also seen many more fail when faced with a situation in which they had to choose between their loyalty to family, or to the Order. You faced both of these challenges simultaneously and despite it all, still have the fire within you to fight be resilient. I expect a great deal from my officers. Lieutenant (L/n), you have exceeded even my expectations."
You stared at him in complete shock. You had heard of officers being executed along with family when they were found to be unsympathetic to the Order, but you had never known that they had to choose. You had also heard of officers freezing when faced with combat, resulting in entire units being killed. You considered if you had been faced with another enemy at another time, if you weren't defending your home... would General Hux still say those things about you? Hux's hand leaving your shoulder brought you back into the present and you shuffled to catch up with him.
Rounding the corner, and entering the town had you once again stopping as you took in the site before you. The officers that had been walking with you were strewn about the square, each one staring at a body of the crew that had been left on the ship. Blaster burns scorched the hull of the shuttle and the surrounding buildings, and you nearly vomited at the red tinged snow under a civilian. "What. Happened." Hux growled, snatching a civilian that passed him by the front of his collar, pulling him up to face him.
The man yelped in fear, his hands coming up to show he had no weapons. "Resistance! They attacked the ship, your men returned fire but they had been surprised! Most of them were dead before they knew what happened! We pulled them out of the ship, we were gonna bury them." The man stammered, to which Hux dropped him and the man fell to the ground, his knees not supporting him.
"Rob them you mean. Thinking that you could find something on them worth selling." Hux spat, to which the man scrambled away, slipping in the snow. His suspicions were confirmed when a search of the bodies and the ship came up with a disturbing lack of datapads and medical supplies. It also came up with the discovery of Major Hollinger his communicator clutched in his hands, a blaster bolt burn on his chest. His body tucked into a corner next to the engine room hatch.
"There must have been a third. Came back around to finish off any survivors before they could send out a distress signal." You mused as you stared at the carnage, heart breaking at the sight of this much death on a holy day. The general agreed, his face a set of hard features. The only remaining officers consisted of Two engineers, a backup communicator a weapons specialist, Mitika and his training officer, yourself, and the General. You were going to be severely outnumbered if a squadron of Resistance arrived, and at this point, it was crucial to get out of atmosphere and return to the Finalizer to regroup before figuring out the next steps. The Officers that were currently planetside, that had not been identified would be safe, it was the current company that was in any real danger.
Chapter 3
Start from the beginning
