Face looked down at the dead stormtrooper and saw his own son.
The helmet he stole from the corpse of the stormtrooper he'd just killed told him this person's designation was MS-4398, but it told Face nothing about who they were, what life they had lived. Who their family was. He had long ago made his peace with killing enemy combatants during battle, but with this new war, it had become harder and harder, and he found himself aiming high or wide, just enough to keep their heads down, only taking a body shot when he absolutely had to. In this case, he absolutely needed to, but it didn't make him feel any better. For one, they needed the helmets. Needed to be able to pass as two random troopers in a sea of white armour, and they needed access to their comms, to know where the enemy was, in order to avoid them. For another, it was a split second decision forced upon them. He and Ka'iulani had made their way down the stairwell and ducked out onto the third floor when they saw a squad blocking the ground floor exit, and had practically stumbled upon them, and it was a combination of both luck and their own troopers getting in the way of each other that gave the Nexus the upper hand.
'Hey, snap out of it,' Ka'iulani waved a hand in front of his eyes.
Face looked up at her. She already had her helmet on, so he couldn't read her. 'Is it easy for you?'
She didn't need to ask what he meant. 'No. Not any more.'
Face nodded, put his helmet on, and together they headed deeper into the station.
They were vaguely aware of where they were, thanks to Tarrik's and Face's combined plans, but that knowledge amounted only to a general idea of where they needed to go. Unfortunately, they were in the stormtrooper dormitories, where several dozen squads were currently posted. Face could see them barricaded in one of the cafeterias. Those manning the entrance had definitely spotted them when they entered the adjoining corridor, but their suspicions hadn't been raised. Not outwardly, at least
'You there!' Ka'iulani called out to the squad as they approached, easily slipping into her royal command voice. 'Status report.'
The group of four moved out of their hiding positions and stood at attention. 'We lost track of them after the medical wing, sarge. Captain Skirata is still making a sweep up there,' responded the squad leader.
'And you think it's a good idea to just stay here, doing nothing? Go join him,' she snarled. Face had to restrain himself from chuckling. She was literally born for ordering people about, and she did it well.
'But, sarge, we've got our orders to stay-'
'They're not coming down here, not with all these troopers here. Go up and make yourself useful. We'll take over here,' she and Face clambered clumsily over the barricade.
The troopers stood even more stiffly to attention. Face didn't know how that was possible, but they did it. 'Yes, sarge! You heard the sergeant, move out!' and jumped easily over the barricade and ran down from where the Nexus had come. Face wasn't sure how they would make their way up to the medical wing, but that wasn't his concern.
'What exactly do you think you're doing, ordering my soldiers about?' someone growled behind them, and they both turned to see a tall, gangly man with a colonel's insignia, who appeared to be roughly Face's age staring daggers at them.
'Uh,' said Ka'iulani.
'Orders from the captain, sir,' Face interjected.
'Orders from the captain,' the colonel mimicked snidely. 'This is my garrison and I give the commands here.'
'The captain,' Ka'iulani broke in, 'is the ranking officer in the combat zone, therefore he has direct command of the troops.'
The New Republic, Face knew, had such a protocol, where officers on the ground had situational control, since they knew more about what was happening in their area. He had no idea if the First Order had a similar command structure but he trusted Ka'iulani, who had a very good understanding of such things, to be able to make that educated guess.
Not that this officer seemed to care all that much. 'Oh yes, because if that upstart recruit says so, it must be true. Well, he's not having any more of mine. Who are you, anyway? I don't recognise you.'
Face was beginning to not like this man. There was something about how he spoke of Skirata that rankled him, and he couldn't figure out why, but then he realised: he was old enough to not have been abducted, like Skirata, but was likely one of the abductors. An original Imperial, most likely. And then he had the temerity to speak of Skirata like being a recruit was a bad thing. It was stupid, he realised, but he found himself empathising with the erstwhile Mandalorian. Face brought a hand up to his helmet and tilted his head, like he was receiving a communication. 'Sir,' he said urgently. 'Incoming message from the captain.'
'Good for you, trooper.'
'Sir, he says they're spotted coming down the stairwell.'
That seemed to grab his attention. 'Oh?'
'Yes, sir. We need to go, quick, cut them off.'
'I'll be the judge of that, trooper, thank you very much,' he said dismissively. And then he addressed the room at large, 'Squads three through eight, on me. Time to bag ourselves some intruders.'
Face and Ka'iulani stepped out of the way to let the others through, but the Colonel was having none of that. 'You two,' he snarled at them. 'With me.'
They had no choice but to stay with the officer, who followed the others at the back. They were halfway to the stairwell when a message came through over the comms. 'Troopers down! Right at the entrance of stairwell level three!' Face recognised her voice as that of that of the squad leader. He knew he should have hidden the bodies.
'Copy that, squad leader,' the colonel replied, then frowned, then turned to Ka'iulani. 'How did you get down here?'
It was Face who decided to answer. 'Ah, well, funny story, that,' and then shot him in the heart. The colonel looked at him in surprise, then slumped to the floor. It was a cold blooded shooting, but Face didn't care. It felt right.
And as the smoke cleared, Face had just a moment to see the nearly two dozen other stormtroopers turn to look at him, to think that, maybe, that wasn't the right thing to do after all, before all hell broke loose.
