Red Opus

Chapter 10: Retreat

The trip to Abregado-rae was short, thanks in part to Ren's insistence that the pilots took a shortcut. You wondered where in passing Ren had learned about the smugglers route through the Abregado system.

Shifting your weight from one foot to the other, you leaned forwards as the planet surface came into view. Deep greys contrasted the sea blue and mottled greens that made up the surface layer. Checking the holoprojector in front of you, the descriptions of the planet itself were very sparse. You tutted and closed the projection, catching Ren's eye as you leaned back.

"Something wrong?"

"Serious lack of analytics", you grumbled, peering forwards as coastlines and dense forest came into view. The command shuttle burned through the outer atmosphere, sparks flying from the heated metal, and began to skim the face of the main body of land.

"We're only here to oversee collection of the latest electrum haul, you don't need to know anything else."

You snapped your head around.

"The what?"

Ren pivoted his head to face you and spoke the name of the metal again.

You clenched your jaw and turned forwards, unconsciously touched the saber hanging by your leg. Electrum was a very rare metal which in the past had been used to craft lightsabers with unique qualities. Your own had a small amount buried amongst the dark metals lining the hilt. Ren leaned towards you the smallest amount, and spoke so low his voice dipped in and out of the modifier.

"The first order has found other uses for it," he gently explained. "Here." He said, extending his hand.

You reached out your own and he dropped a comm link into your palm. You nodded, attaching the communication device into the plate of armour which protected your forearm. You knew Ren could sense your sudden unease, and you still weren't sure whether that was a source of comfort for you, or an unwelcome invasion of your privacy.

Casting your gaze over the planet's surface, you quietly observed a shimmering city come into view in the distance. The pilot murmured to himself before guiding the shuttle to the left, turning the viewport away from the urban landscape and towards dense forest cover.

A large dark shape jutted out from the horizon, casting a jagged shadow on the quarry surrounding it. You opened your mouth as the gargantuan factory came closer, churning smoke from gaping twin ports in the roof. The quarry surrounding it was filled with various troopers and large reptilian fauna which were being used as sources of transport, both for troopers and pulling heavy loads of metal. Geysers spurted sporadically, spraying hot steam far into the sky before brilliant white cascades of water came crashing down into the machines below. The machines rattled and shook before several large deposits of raw Electrum were dropped into crates.

It was the ugliest thing you had ever seen.

Ren made a sharp exhale which you were almost certain was in amusement.

The command shuttle came to a stop on the outskirts of the quarry, about a half mile from the nearest building, in a clearing which connected to the factory doors by a long open stretch of dirt road. One side rose up high, giant mined cliff face stripped bare of its resources, and the other side fell down deep into the sides of the quarry. The trooper shuttles which had been entourage to the Command Shuttle settled loudly in the dirt nearby, squads of troopers marching uniformly down the ramps and beginning the trek across to their new workstation. You watched, lost in admiring the scale of what was around you. You knew the First Order had grown, but this was so much more than you had imagined. Snoke really had been busy since you'd been gone.