CRUCIFY ME . ー k. ren, p. dameron; tlj [HIATUS]

i: WORDS.

WORDS.

Crucify me. Those words had been echoing in Troia's mind ever since she'd joined the ranks in the First Order, and by a genderless, agonized voice. That voice was exhausted, on its last legs of sanity. In spite of herself, she pitied the voice, though she'd be found dead before she'd admit it.

At first, she had been so alarmed by its presence among her jumbled thoughts that she had shut it out completely. She had resisted. But after that year, she began to wonder what had become of the tortured soul that constantly wished for crucification, and back it came, this time more pained than before. Amidst other things, those words were still woven into the far more complex web of anguish—the experience was as intriguing as it was an intensely burning hellfire of uncertainty.

Through the years, Troia found that she rose surprisingly quickly in rank—she'd gone from a lowly Private to a General in under a year without having done much of anything to deserve it. After the first few promotions, which all took place in the span of six months, she began to suspect that someone other than Hux was deciding when to do so.

"It would serve you well to be more aware of your surroundings, General Ren."

That was the voice of the man Troia hated most—if she were to break her no-murder streak, she would gladly whet her palate with him first. "Many thanks for the heads-up, General Hux."

Her tone was almost venomous and held only the slightest amount of genuine gratitude so as not to come off as disrespectful and risk losing her job. God knows where she'd go if she were fired—Hux would likely make certain that she would never be employed again. "Of course, General Ren. As a colleague of equal rank, I make it my duty to look out for you. Trust is crucial, as you know."

Troia nodded, her lips twitching slightly upwards. "Trust, yes," she said, her eyes boring into his, "a fickle creature is trust, and most scarce is it on this ship. Well-said, Hux."

Hux had to admit that Troia had a way with words. He had always admired that, but soon learned to ignore it for the most part, save for times like these, where it was simply too overwhelming to overlook. Rather than verbally acknowledge her compliment (however much of a lie it was) Hux instead replied with a curt nod and shortly thereafter left the scene.

But Troia didn't need to hear him say anything of her verbal prowess to know he thought it—she'd read his mind instead. Among that thought, she'd found others—devious plans for a complete takeover of the universe, plots to kill important members of the Resistance, etc. Typical evil, conniving things. Hux was ambitious—that she knew well; he wasn't afraid to completely screw someone over in order to get what he wanted. No devilish deed was too great a sacrifice for that rat of a man.

Regardless, Troia continued meandering through the bleached white industrial walls of the base. Rarely did she ever have anything important to do, and being so highly ranked, no one dared to question her idleness. Not even Hux went that far, for occasionally he too was the same way.

As she went on her way, every Stormtrooper she passed either saluted her or greeted her with, "Hello, General Ren." She loved hearing that. It made her feel like less of a shitty person for siding with an organization that had already killed millions, maybe even billions of innocent people. She even had the ever-stoic and all-business Captain Phasma acting humanely towards her. Troia was proud of that. But, perhaps the thing she was proud of most of all was the fact that she was likely the only one to have had a semi-conversation with Kylo Ren, the stubborn, man-child jewel of the First Order. He was a powerful Force-user, and that was probably why Snoke kept him around, otherwise he'd be considered far too angsty and teenager-like to be part of such a developed empire as the First Order.

Just as she was passing the sixth group of Stormtroopers, she was stopped by one of them and told that Supreme Leader Snoke wanted to speak with her. Troia thanked the Trooper quietly after pausing to take note of their number (SY-4319) and hurried off towards the elevators that would take her to Snoke's chambers. Oh, hell, did she hurry. Snoke had no patience for lateness, least of all for her. He loathed her, almost as much as he did Kylo Ren for his weakness.

When the elevator stopped at the floor where Snoke had made his quarters, Troia practically ran out to meet him. "You called for me, Supreme Leader?"

"Yes," Snoke replied, leaning forward in his chair. "It pertains to your recent efforts to quash those Resistance pilots on Crait. Your failed efforts."

"With all due respect, Supreme Leader Snoke, I was not given the sufficient resources I asked for in order to completely destroy them."

"'Not given the sufficient resources'? Is that what you said?"

"Yes, Supreme Leader Snoke."

"You are a General, are you not?"

Troia nodded. "Yes, Supreme Leader Snoke."

"And you, a high ranking official, say that you were not given the resources you asked for?"

She remained silent that time. It was incredibly hard to tell the truth with Snoke picking her apart for it. "Who did you ask? A deaf man?"

Under any other circumstances, Troia would have laughed her head off. But in this situation, her head would indeed be off if she did so. "No, sir, I asked Hux."

"And Hux did not give you what you asked for?"

"He only partially fulfilled my request."

"I never did have any patience for that rat," Snoke muttered, more to himself than to anyone else, leaning back against his throne. "Perhaps demoting him to a Captain will bring his ego down to size, hm?"

"It is not my place to say, Supreme Leader Snoke." Despite her diplomatic answer, Troia was shaking with excitement at this. If Hux was indeed demoted, she'd have total superiority over him at last—and it would be his fault entirely for being such an egotistical maniac.

"Indeed it is not. You may go. And I fully expect to hear good news about those remaining Resistance forces in Crait. In other words, I expect them all dead."

Troia nodded quickly and walked briskly away from him. She'd have to take matters into her own hands and crush those Resistance Pilots herself. No matter what it took.