Stronger Together (Kylo Ren x Reader | Maia)

Trust

Part I

Maia, Conference Room One on the RSD Finalizer

"I am a commander in the First Order," my cracked voice cut through the chaos of the battle around me, through the sound of raging fires and distant blaster fire.

I know my orders. I know my orders.

We aren't taking prisoners. Ghetph sealed its fate when it attacked the Order.

The blaster in my hand shook, and I tried to ground myself as a nearby explosion rocked the permacrete beneath my feet. I was in my element.

So why could I not fire my weapon? Because these people were not a threat. All the training in the galaxy could not convince me otherwise. A child, perhaps six, and her two parents, standing together and looking at me with terror in their eyes. I have sworn to protect the First Order and all of its subjects. These are civilians. The threats were lying dead before them.

My mind flashed to the sewer tunnels I knew to be beneath the city. The noise of the battle seemed to quiet for a moment as I realized what I was about to do.

Treason.

A tornado tore through my stomach, a level of fear I hadn't experienced for many years. "Go. Use the tunnels."

When they hesitated, I wanted to shout at them. Did they not understand? They should be running!

"Please," I said in a voice barely over a whisper. The father was the first to react, hoisting his child into his arms and slipping down the adjacent alley. The mother turned just before she would have left my line of sight. Our eyes met, and even from my distance, I could see the fear swirling with gratitude.

The woman should not be feeling grateful yet.

I took in the scene still before me. Two dead stormtroopers, three dead traitors.

Or at least, that's what they've been calling the people of Ghetph for the last month the fighting has gone on. The harder we pushed, the more aggressively they pushed back.

I tried my comm again, but the systems were still down. It would be the last night of battle, I thought. It felt like the end.

Screams hit my ears, the result of another bombing run, this time closer to the district I still stood motionless in.

The admiral was a fool, risking friendly lives as much as the enemy ones. More, presumably.

It was time to end this. Slowly and silently, I followed the family, slipping into the tunnels after them. A few minutes into the walk, I stopped at a four-way intersection. The family had continued past it, but there had been the unmistakable patter of feet on concrete to my left.

I hesitated for another moment, analyzing my options. The family was simply trying to escape the city; they were not hoping to find anyone. Coming to a conclusion, I turned.

It was only another minute of walking carefully along a wall of the tunnel before the exit appeared ahead, the latch closing as it did. After analyzing my surroundings once more, I gripped the cold ring of the ladder and worked my way up.

Halfway, shouting started above. I hurried up the ladder, pulling myself into the burning night—right into an altercation between two stormtroopers and two traitors.

Only, as one of the men recoiled from a shot to the chest, I recognized the other.

The Governor. The one we were to capture or kill. The charismatic woman who's convinced an entire city to follow her.