glory and gore | a Star Wars story

1

Around the long table sat the administration of the Order in the conference room aboard the Finalizer. Gathered were the generals, which included Hux himself, who quietly remained in his seat with the leather gloved hands locked before him in his lap. Calculative eyes ran along the soldiers within the large room, the captains in their grey uniforms, similar to the ones the lieutenants wore, still there were merely a few lieutenants present at this occasion. The admiral's uniforms were similar to Hux's, the charcoal tone was identical, but for a keen and briefed eye there were significant details which separated them. Details others might not pay much notice to, but which in the ranks of the Order was the difference between authority and inferiority. On the sleeve of both a General's and a Admiral's uniform were two black stripes, what divided them, however, was the colour of the piping, that for Hux was in silver, and for someone below him in position was red. Born and raised into the institution which first had been the shatters of a crippled Empire after the battle of Endor, to later become the First Order, one learned to see these differences. It was a system that was highly respected and prized within the Order, each and everyone inside the room had a rank, a title, a uniform, which gave them a place and a purpose. Well, everyone except one specific man, who intentionally chose to ignore those instructions, no stripes upon his sleeve told the others of his rank, he bore no title or uniform in order to reveal his position. All he wore was a mask. Still, that appeared to work, for he lacked no respect from any of the other soldiers  in the conference room, no matter if it was fear or loyalty which maintained his influence. Hux doubted that it had escaped anyone's notice what were to happen if someone made the man displeased, no one could have missed the red glow which danced over the polished halls of the ship from his weapon when he ignited his saber. None could have missed the shouts of rage and wrath, the threats and the blood that would drip from him when he had his men return to the Destroyers. Many of the individuals who were present were trained soldiers, still Ren was taller and largely built and it resulted in that few dared to stand up against him. If that notion had struck anyone, and the person in question would be unwise enough to try it, they could count on that they wouldn't last long with Ren as their opponent.

Upon the dark surface of the table, the void outside the large window was reflected, which in its cold and airless greatness was filled with stars and planets, and here and there single-person starfighters. Ships originally designed for the Clone Wars. Yet, nowadays the Starhoppers, often owned by smugglers, could be spotted against the blackness of space quite often within the beginning of the Outer Rim, where known space ended. A territory filled with planets unofficially claimed by the Order, during the imperial days planets such as Akiva, were crowded with uniformed men. Their purposes on those obscure worlds, however, was not to occupy, but to hide. Here members of the Empire travelled to drink and gamble. It was also here the shattered forces of the Empire gathered after the Battle of Endor, for an emergency summit.

"After the Resistance former base at D'Qar was eliminated by our fleet, they have now relocated the base to the jungle moon of Ajara" the flat voice of General Pryde echoed against the dark walls, he remained at the end of the table. His posture was straight and disciplined, the thin greyed hair combed back over his head. Cold blue eyes ran over the men to his sides, as he announced the latest news of the war against the rebels. "Several of their capital ships were destroyed, along with their X-wings. Although we have reasons to believe that their Tantive IV is still intact-"

"Is the scavenger girl there?" Ren's deformed voice drowned the older General's voice and all heads turned towards the black dressed man. A pause came from Pryde, who blinked at the faceless head for a brief moment before he came back to his senses, clearly it was not in his nature to be interrupted. Especially not by someone half his age who both lacked experience and background in the military.