A General Idea

6: The Traitor

⋆✴︎˚⋆˙⟡⋆. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁. Brief torture & emotional turmoil warning~~~

The medbay droid made me stay the rest of the day when I woke up. It was easy to fight back against higher powers because rarely did they do things right. It was easy to fight Pryde, challenge Phasma, and even yell at General Hux.

What wasn't easy was saying no to helper droids. They genuinely wanted to help, and when Zeno offered to help me find Reno in the Finalizer and Starkiller employee records, as a last resort to stop me from stomping out the door, wires still in my arms.

I wanted to see if he'd gotten transferred, but there was no record of him even in the system.

"Sometimes mistakes are made, Captain," Zeno said, noticing my heart rate going up almost instantly.

"Maybe he was deployed for a covert operation?" I questioned, but deep down, I would have known. All of high leadership would have known. I had access to hundreds of other covert operation files. "Or maybe... someone removed him?" I said, starting to flip through the records on my datapad faster.

"I doubt that, Captain," Zeno said. "Removing one's records is not permitted."

Zeno rolled away, his white oval-like exterior sparkling white under fluorescent lights.

Had something happened to him?

My datapad dinged, alerting me of an upcoming conference. The very same one Hux had slapped me at last time. My face burned red at the thought.

My legs wobbled as I made my way to the closet. Zeno had cleared me for tasks on-ship until monitoring was complete.

I couldn't wait to see what Hux had to say about my every move. He'd probably find a way to blame the ambush on me.

My formal captain's suits weren't going to work. My shoulder needed flexibility. The bacta had stopped the pain, so I could still fight if I had to. I pulled out the training uniform, running my fingers over the soft luxurious fabric, black as the night. The best legging and zip-up shirt set I'd ever owned. The material was perfect for training and flexible enough for my arm. Lightsaber gashes hurt much more than blaster wounds.

I examined myself in the medbay mirror, leaving everything but my datapad. Zeno had said they would bring it to my quarters. I sighed, imagining my new bed, large and comfortable, but at the same time, a change I'd have to get used to. What I liked the most was how dark the room got when I went to bed. Back on Kuat, lights from naval vessels and factories provided a constant smoky light in the air.

I put my hair in a low ponytail and left the medbay, relieved to find out what had happened. It was odd, how I had missed the cool interior of the ship, and how easily I accepted my new role. I had been so set on going back home until I felt myself free in the field.

I couldn't help but wonder: why had Hux visited me in the medbay? Maybe he hoped I'd died in the field. I remembered him saying something right before Zeno put me in a coma. But not something mean. I wished I could remember what it was.

The conference room was half full, and I took my seat by Phasma. Pryde sat across from me, giving me a curt nod.

"Where's Hux?" I asked Phasma nonchalantly.

"General Hux?" she replied. She had her helmet on, but I had a feeling she had an eyebrow raised under the hard metal exterior. "He's walking in."

My palms went cold as the General walked in. His black suit was perfectly pressed, his face hardened more than usual. Like last time, his sharp green eyes didn't even look my way.