VENDETTA [ kylo ren ]

thirty-six

36. justice

IN THE DAYS AFTER their kiss Vada hadn't seen Kylo at all. He was avoiding her, she was sure of it. But, he couldn't continue avoiding her forever.

Vada was already seated in the conference room when Hux walked in, followed by Captain Phasma. The Princess frowned when Sei also followed them. Hux didn't usually bring an assistent to these meetings. Nonetheless, Vada was happy to see her and she smiled kindly at her friend. Sei returned the gesture and took a seat behind Hux, against the wall, pad in hand and waiting for the meeting to begin.

Kylo came in last, of course, acknowledging no one as he sat at the head of the table. Hux, after giving him an annoyed side-eye, stood up to address them. "Merely hours ago one of our ships was attacked by the Rebel scum in Tatooine airspace," he explained. He then pulled up the exact location of the attack for everyone to see. "Captain Phasma, do you have a casualty report?"

"So far, we can assume all troopers on board were lost, sir," she answered statically. Vada nearly chuckled at the absence of emotion, but was able to stop herself. "Approximately two thousand troopers, about fifty officials and one hundred others on board of the craft."

"What have we done to retaliate?" Kylo then asked, interrupting whatever Hux was going to say. The General sat down with an exasperated sigh.

Phasma began explaining, and the rest of the meeting was a combination of banter between Hux and Kylo, and Phasma's emotionless retelling of our fallen troops.

Vada didn't hesitate standing up after the meeting was over. She liked being a leader, but these meetings were too dull for her. She preferred the action.

She wanted to speak to Kylo, but he was out of the room before she could even say his name. She contemplated following him, but was interrupted when Sei was suddenly in front of her. "Officer Craene, could I speak with you for a moment?"

Hux, who was still in the room, glared at his assistant. But before he could speak Vada eyed him back, warning him not to say anything. He got it, and walked out after Phasma.

"Of course, Sei," Vada said, a slight smile on her lips.

The two slowly made their way from the conference room toward the cantina. "So, what is it you wanted to talk to me about?"

Sei shrugged and laughed, "nothing in particular, honestly. I just figured we haven't spoken in a while."

"I am sorry for not coming to see you more often," Vada apologized sincerely, "there's a lot going on right now."

Sei turned to her with a genuine smile, "don't worry about it, I understand."

The two grabbed something to drink and sat down in the empty cantina. After a while of chitchatting, Vada spotted Dom walking in. "Trooper, Do...DM-2467," Vada was quick to correct herself, "how have you been?"

Dom turned around quite surprised, it was visible even though he was wearing his armor. "I...I'm fine m'am, thank you." He then went to grab some food.

"Do you know that stormtrooper?" Sei asked with raised brows, it wasn't exactly common for officials to be acquainted with troopers, especially not high-ranking ones. Though, Sei would never be one to judge, Vada knew that.

The Princess nodded, "I do." Then she turned back to Dom. "DM-2467, you should join us for lunch."

Dom stood still by the counter. "I uh...I'm not sure if it's appropriate m'am."

Vada grinned, "well as a superior officer I command you to join me and my friend Sei for lunch at our table."

He nodded, "very well, m'am." He sat down next to Sei, leaving quite a bit of space between them. He moved to do nothing, staring at his plate.

"Well...you can take of your helmet, DM-2467," Vada urged him. They were allowed to in the cantina, how else would they be able to eat?

Reluctantly, he did, placing it beside him. "Thank you, m'am," he turned to Sei, "m'am."

Sei immediately shook her head, "oh no, no need for such formalities for me, I'm just an assistant, nothing special."

"I believe you are quite remarkable Sei, do not let your position...or you boss, make you believe anything else," Vada said, placing her hand over Sei's and smiling. "I'm glad to have made a friend in you." She then turned to Dom, "and you, Dom."

Dom, who had just taken a bite of food, nearly choked when she spoke his given name in front of someone else. Even though it was only Sei, he didn't know her. "Uh I..."

Sei caught on pretty quickly that this was something Vada had orchestrated for the stormtrooper, and as someone who had always felt the numbers they were given were very impersonal, she didn't mind at all. "It's quite alright. Dom...that's a nice name."

The trooper slowly gained his composure, "thank you."

As everything settled, Sei spoke up again. "So, that meeting was quite dull, and odd."

"What do you mean, odd?" Vada asked, frowning. She agreed with it being dull, but perhaps she was too bored to properly pay attention.

Sei shrugged, "well, I don't come to those meetings often but I don't think it's right to just write off all those people that were killed. Two thousand stormtroopers? That's a lot of people. And they just treat them like numbers, nothing else."

Vada fell quiet, she didn't even think of that. If she was being honest, she had also just thought of them as numbers, not actual people. It ate at her insides, knowing that a couple of months ago she would have been outraged in that meeting for treating people that way. Now...it was like she didn't care at all.

Dom looked down at the table sadly, "a lot of my friends were on that craft, we trained together since we were kids." He hesitated, "m...most of them didn't want to be here, but we have no choice. And now they're dead and no one seems to care."

"I'm sorry about your friends, Dom," Sei told him, kindly putting a comforting hand on his shoulder. "I wish we could have helped them. It was wrong of the Rebels to attack a craft that wasn't engaging anything."

Dom nodded in agreement, "I just wish something would be done for them...to at least get some justice. But I guess we never will."

Vada didn't join in on the conversation, but she listened thoroughly. She found herself staring at the wall as she thought about what she had been planning, perhaps it would mean bringing those fallen troopers justice as well.

・。・。☆・゜・。・゜。★・。・

Later that day Vada was back in her quarters, reading through her mother's diary, when the communication device buzzed to life.

She immediately shot up and reached for it, "yes."

"This is Connix," the device buzzed, "I wanted to inform you we have made contact with your family on Ilia, we will be sending a check-up crew in three days."

"Alright," Vada affirmed, "thank you."

She put the device away again, and stared out to the stars. Three days. In three days she would be able to get some answers, to get justice. All she had to do was get there on time.