Technical Error

Chapter Twenty-Five

Preparation: Are You Ready?

"Do you know how to fire a blaster?" If this had been a different setting, you would have believed his words to be a flirtatious euphemism. As it was, Kylo Ren did not glance your way while shoving said weapon into your hands. You knew that it was set to stun—Ren wouldn't be so careless as to give you something that would kill you since he was not sure how competent with it you were. Regardless, he did not wait for an answer before continuing on, exiting the room once two of his Knights followed him. You knit your eyebrows towards one another, and gave a panicked look in Andel's direction. Everyone had been handed blasters. This was what a coup d'etat entailed. Being prepared for anything .

Technically? The answer to Kylo Ren's question was yes . That did not mean you were a good shot though. You could pull a trigger, or at least had been able to those handful of times that you had been taken to a firing range. Shooting at a living target? You hoped that you would not find out.

Drejuhl stood next to you; he, along with the other Knights, sported their personal weapons instead of blasters. It was not known precisely when Skywalker would make his appearance. You hoped that there would be enough time in which you, along with the other technicians and mechanics, could finish the modifications and upgrades to every piece of equipment that was necessary for this plan to work.

Earlier, and by that you estimated roughly eight minutes had elapsed, you had been given a private comm whereupon General Hux could call you if he had any questions pertaining to the modifications. The ginger-haired man had rejected the offer of working in closer proximity, which honestly would have been a lot easier on you. People could be selfish when they wanted to entertain their personal grudges. Although, according to Kylo, it was just as well. Having the arsenal to be used against Snoke in multiple locations might allow for easier crowd control. It remained unclear where Captain Phasma stood on all of this. The stormtroopers might follow her, or they might take orders from General Hux.

Just a technician.

You smirked to yourself. Well, this mere technician was making quick work of ensuring progress was made to dethrone — probably kill too, can't forget that — the present Supreme Leader of the First Order. You had no warm feelings for the Force user. Unless vomit rising in your throat constituted as a warm feeling. Squeakers nudged your leg. You jerked out of your inner debate to listen to the beeps that emerged from your droid. If you could increase the strength of the shield housed within him, you would be protected as well, which would allow you time to focus on shooting your blaster, if things came down to that. This information was good in terms of other personal force fields that you and Andel had been toying with under Mage Yor's watch.

"Do you think that would be too much time, or too many resources devoted to a single project, sir?" you asked, addressing Mage as he walked past you. The man paused in his steps long enough to consider the question, told you to do one for yourself, and then resumed heading towards one of the other projects.

It was a little frustrating to you that many of your fellow technicians ensured you were protected while sacrificing their time to protect others. They were in just as much danger as you were. Kylo Ren's interest in you, your relationship with him, shouldn't have been making a difference like this. Except it was, and Drejuhl's continued presence ensured that it wouldn't change. You scowled, dropped down onto one knee, and hooked Squeakers up to the programing unit to see if the droid would be able to handle something like what had been discussed.

Your group was not in the main docking bay, but instead one of the smaller sections that had been quartered off for a previous training exercise as a new batch of pilots familiarized themselves with the Finalizer's protocols. A former stormtrooper successfully commandeering a TIE with a prisoner he helped escape had definitely been a good motivator for this. That way pilots and stormtroopers could see how things were supposed to look if all was going well. Any suspicious activity was to be reported. Mock exercises. You had not been present for those, but you had heard of them.