Force Destiny

Test

"General." Lieutenant Mitaka approached Hux in the last room of Weapons Development. The general was facing away from the anxious lieutenant, but he knew it wasn't urgent. Everything was going according to plan. Hux's last-minute warning to the most influential players in the Hutt cartel had provided them with a chance to escape the annihilation of Nal Hutta, and, in return, a favor. They had informed him of the location of the Millennium Falcon and a chance to crush the Resistance, as long as Kylo Ren reached the surface for an ambush. Hux never intended for the Supreme Leader to reach the surface, because he refused to lose in another contention for the throne. He had planned to destroy Ilum and whatever Resistance members had planned the ambush. But it had turned out even better than he had hoped.

Kylo Ren abdicated the throne to the clone Hux had intended to murder and replace him, committed treason by defecting, and was properly disposed of. The Resistance and all of their anarchist allies were dropped into their laps like gifts of fate, and the remaining Resistance members on Ilum had been captured by his army. It would have been perfect if he could have seen the look on Snoke's and Kylo Ren's faces as they realized just what he had accomplished with intelligence. They may have had the Force, but that didn't make them more qualified to rule. And soon, he wouldn't have the "Force problem" to contend with, either.

Now he stood before the machine that would give him everything. It would be perfect if the man he was strapping into the machine would quit screaming. "For Force sake, you coward, hold yourself together," he hissed, closing the last set of binders.

"General," the lieutenant r repeated. His wavering voice made Hux wish it was the lieutenant strapped into the machine instead.

"Yes," Hux sighed, as he turned to the control panel. The test run was necessary. It was pertinent that it ran as smoothly as the previous part of the plan. With what he planned to do, Hux doubted he would get a second chance. He flipped several switches on the control panel then turned to his subordinate expectantly.

"The Knights of Ren and the Supreme Leader have departed to the surface," the lieutenant informed him. He nodded in affirmation, powering on the machine. The circular arms began to revolve around the vertical platform with increasing speed. The man chained to the platform screamed in horror, trying in vain to escape.

"Sir..."

"Hold on. You'll miss the best part." Hux smiled triumphantly as the machine whirled around the man until lightning arced from the pit below. The man's screams of terror echoed through the room and down the corridor. Until his last breath, he begged for life, but it was in vain. The lieutenant stood in trembling silence as the machine performed exactly as it had been intended. When the officer left that room, the man was hanging lifeless in the binders. The silence that followed Mitaka back down the corridor was more haunting than the man's screams.