Force Destiny

Mission Specifics

As Hux stepped out of the Supreme Leader's quarters, he came face to face with a squad of stormtroopers.

"Are you lost?" he barked in irritation.

"No, sir," the commanding trooper said, clearing his throat. "We were ordered to debrief directly with the Supreme Leader."

Hux's brows pinched in suspicion. "By whom?"

"The Supreme Leader, sir."

A myriad of expressions crossed Hux's face before he regained his composure, each more formidable than the last. There was something the Supreme Leader was concealing from him, and this was the key to it all, he was certain. "What was your mission?"

"Outer rim reconnaissance, sir," the trooper obediently supplied.

A calculating smile twitched on Hux's lips. He knew what Ren was hiding. "What sector?"

"Seitia sector, sir."

"Data report?" One of the other troopers stepped forward and silently handed him the datapad. He swiftly scanned the report, searching for what he expected to be there. Oddly, there was no mention of the squad encountering anyone. There was only a single anomaly. "The mission suffered casualties?"

"Yes, sir," the trooper said hesitantly. "Three personnel."

Despite the normality of the report, there was something he couldn't place that further drew Hux's suspicion. For the loss of three troopers, the detail was sparse. "Proceed... mission specifics."

"We landed on-world. It was routine. We encountered no sentients, no sign of the Resistance, and the base was destroyed. Three of our men were killed when we were attacked by a pack of wild beasts," the trooper said mechanically.

"Right..." Hux drawled. The general had faced enough beasts in his day. Ten qualified troopers should have been capable of neutralizing a terrestrial threat with the weaponry they were allotted.

"Were your thermal scanners or weaponry faulty?" he continued probing, following his intuition. "What species were the wild beasts? What were the fatal injuries to the three troopers? Why did the Supreme Leader ask to be debriefed on the particulars of this mission?"

"We landed on-world. It was routine. We encountered no sentients, no sign of the Resistance, and the base was destroyed. Three of our men were killed when we were attacked by a pack of wild beasts," the trooper repeated.

Hux's eyes were alight with realization. "Excuse me?"

"We landed on-world. It was routine. We encountered no sen–"

"No! That's quite enough," he smiled, a wicked, cruel thing. "Which planet?"

"Barkhesh, sir."

"Dismissed," he said to the troopers, marching back toward the bridge. They had confirmed two things – where the Resistance was hiding and who was protecting them.

"You thought you could fool me with a mind trick? Well, I found you, Jedi," Hux scoffed to himself. "And your Supreme Leader boyfriend can't save you this time."

As he felt the pieces falling exactly where he wanted them, he raised the bridge on his comlink. "Captain Peavey, plot a course to Barkhesh – grid coordinates K nineteen in the Seitia Sector of the Outer Rim."

"We are already on course to Barkhesh, sir," came the reply.

It was absurd. When Hux had left the bridge, they had not been on course to Barkhesh. He had left to find the Supreme Leader, who was crumpled on the training room floor like the weak man-child that he was, and he promptly returned him to his chambers. What had happened since he left? "On whose orders," the general snapped. "I just left the Command Bridge minutes ago."

"Supreme Leader Ren, sir."

Impossible. There was something else at work, something the general didn't understand, because Kylo Ren couldn't have contacted the bridge after he left, Hux had turned the Master Comms off himself. Even if he had, Kylo hadn't spoken to troopers yet. How did he know to change course?

It cemented the fact in his mind – Kylo Ren was a traitor and had outlived his limited usefulness to the First Order.