A General Idea

4: I Do Not Like General Hux

The muffled alarm sound woke me up at the same time this morning. Today, I had two goals: pick my team, and not embarrass myself in front of the General. Hopefully, I wouldn't even catch a glimpse of the man.

My face burned red every time I thought about how he'd treated me with absolute malice and zero empathy.

My training session with Leah had gone amazingly- we'd only been here a few days, but she had picked up so much from her new training as a Senior LT. My early morning was wide open, and I'd spent all of last night looking through Field Ops team member applications until my eyes got all blurry.

I got my breakfast delivered as I continued throwing applications in the 'yes' and 'no' pile. Most of the applicants were JLs who had never stepped foot off of the Finalizer. They would one day lead their own trooper units, but I couldn't risk having anyone with no field experience on my special ops team.

Ugh. I didn't know anything about any of these applicants. But, I know who would. My stomach turned when I though about meeting with Hux again. But what were the other options?

A knock on my door made me jump out of my dazed stupor. I was tired already and it was only morning.

I slid off my bed and answered the door, trying to hold in a yawn.

"Ready?" Phasma asked. She was in full uniform- I remembered her saying that she didn't like anyone below her in rank seeing her face.

"Shit- is it ten already?" I checked my watch and quickly gathered the application papers in one big and messy pile.

Phasma peeked over my shoulder. "No luck?"

"No one," I sighed defeatedly.

"Chin up, Captain- I'm sure you'll find someone at the upper supervisory meeting taht we're about to be late to," Phasma said. Her mask remained ever-stoic, but I could tell she was smiling under the modulator.

"Ugh..." I replied, following her out the door.

"I've gotta prepare you for this, Ela. Your first time at one of these is going to be intimidating. Everyone's going to be there," Phasma explained. "Kylo Ren, General Hux, probably Pryde since he's actually here. Everyone except Snoke."

My heart stopped dead in my chest, and it took everything for me to not just turn around and make a break for my quarters.

"General Hux?" I asked, trying to keep my voice down.

"At ease, Captain. He is your boss. You are going to have to see him and meet with him," Phasma said. "Also- it's just Hux. He can't force choke you or anything."

I thought back to fighting along Ren at Mon Calamari. Ren didn't scare me, because he didn't have an enemy in me and I knew it. He saw that I would do anything for the First Order. And that was when I'd only been a Senior Lieutenant. That battle was what got me promoted to Captain.

"He said-"

"He was in a mood. You'll be fine," Phasma urged, gently pushing me in the direction of the door.

This conference room was like the big one from before, but somehow, even bigger. Phasma took her seat next to three other troopers wearing red-striped helmets. They must be her command troopers.

I really didn't want to let my eyes drift toward the front, but they did anyway.

And there he was.

He hadn't seen me yet, and I tried to remain invisible between Phasma and the other command center officials.

I internally rolled my eyes. Phasma was right- Pryde was here.

"Attention," his dry voice cut through the quiet chatter like a rusty blade. "We are not here to make conversation." His nasty eyes scanned the room, landing on me. He gave me a less-than-friendly smirk.