#the stormtrooper program

[tychee123]

does anybody else think about how that as rex aged he became less and less recognisable because clones never lived long enough to get old

[missriyochuchi]

Shifting loyalties and questioning orders aside, I can’t imagine anyone watching the way the clones skillfully disabled, boarded, and escaped the Imperial ship and going, “Yeah, gotta replace those guys with inexperienced volunteers who can’t shoot for shit.”

[watchingtheearthrise]

I want everyone who claims that Kylo Ren is ‘morally grey’ to both read a dictionary and go outside to touch grass.

[perdamian]

no bc kylo ren and hux really had the potential to be one of the most compelling star wars relationships like WHY did they never get to actually fight one another. what is the point in pitting two characters against each other like that and then completely abandoning that dynamic?? their conflict was so lame?? you’re telling me snoke died and all power went unflinchingly to kylo? after his disgrace on crait? and hux didn’t even attempt a coup? even tho he was fully in charge of the first order’s military and ran the stormtrooper program? say what you want about the prequels but at least they put weight into the politics beyond “good guy vs bad guy”!

also hux being a mole just to take kylo down (out of character in the first place but whatever) just to have have a completely new character kill him… especially when they gave kylo a redemption arc?? complete and total wasted opportunity for a genuinely interesting villain vs villain dynamic! a wasted opportunity for meaningful betrayal!

[ivystoryweaver]

The Only One

Episode 7

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Summary: The last time you saw Poe was right before he blew up Starkliller Base - a huge victory for the Resistance. Things go to hell after that and you are separated from Poe, needing to rely on your instincts...and the Force. A huge secret starts to be revealed.

a/n: This Episode glosses over the events in the film The Last Jedi. You don't have to be knowledgeable about the sequel films to continue the story - everything that relates to Elia is summarized here. She is a bit separate from Poe during film events, so this is not a re-telling.

Pairing: Poe Dameron x female original character. Fic is written in second person, but the female "you" has a name (It reads basically the same as any other xreader)

Word Count: 1.6k

Content: violence, action, little angst (no more than in the films), not beta'd

PREVIOUSLY on "The Only One"...

He turned around one more time, granting you another sweet smile. “Wait for me, Ells. I’ll be right back.”

Somehow his humor and good nature gave you hope. Poe always gave you hope.

“May the Force be with you,” you whispered to no one really. Or, to all of them.

The next week was hell.

Which was, perhaps, what a demon like yourself deserved.

At first, the Resistance buzzed with the thrill of victory. Poe and his team destroyed Starkiller Base after Rebel legends Han Solo and Chewbacca worked together with the stormtrooper who defected and a young woman named Rey.

But before you could celebrate or have much of a reunion with Poe, the stormtrooper, who you learned was named Finn, was sent to medical in critical condition, while Rey supposedly flew away to find Luke Skywlaker.

Kylo Ren had murdered Han Solo.

You thought taking out Starkiller Base would give the Resistance a huge advantage in the uphill battle against the First Order, but the New Republic had suffered tremendous losses, crippling, if not obliterating support for the Resistance.

Your assignment kept you apart from Poe for days, so you hadn’t seen him since that fateful moment directly before the Starkiller Base battle.

...where he kissed you and asked you to wait for him.

So many had been lost since then - the chaos, nonstop. After the most recent attack took out most of Resistance command, someone named Holdo took over.

You were dying to see Poe, desperate to see for yourself that he was okay. Every time something else exploded, you felt sure you’d receive a report of his death. The stress piled up as you worked separately from Poe, thinking he might die, or you might die.

To make a desperate situation worse, the attack on the ship's bridge left Leia seriously wounded. And directly before Holdo took command, Poe was demoted, which infuriated you.

And, aside from the fact that you were (thankfully) able to focus, or hyper focus, as it were, on computer programming and other computer tech needs, the news of Commander Dameron's demotion was all you could think about...

...or talk about.

Thankfully, Perrha was with you for the past few days and was a wonderful grounding force for you.

Now, the Resistance was trying to safely land transports on the planet Crait.

Everyone watched in horror as one after the other, the First Order blew them out of the sky. You kept yourself busy working, tears streaming down your face at the thought of Poe being on one of those obliterated ships.

Poe felt the same way.

After maybe the worst week of his life (aside from when his mom died), Poe woke up from the little nap Leia's stun gun gave him. He listened patiently as Leia explained Holdo's plan, then watched in horror as transport after transport was obliterated.

"Where's Elia?" He asked Leia, as if she might somehow know. He had lost too many today, not only on the bridge, but when some of his closest friends died in the hangar explosion.

Leia shook her head, unsure.

Poe stared out into space. "Which one is she on?" He murmured, thankful that his new friend Finn was at least safe for the moment. Hopefully.

The planet's surface was so close. You and Perrha might make it through this. But who could be sure what awaited you on Crait, with the First Order bearing down hard?

As you entered the planet's atmosphere, the transport closest to yours exploded - near enough to your own that the blast and debris wreaked havoc. You were taking serious damage - hit hard enough to crash, just not to explode instantly like the neighboring transport.

Everyone around you was astoundingly calm, focused and professional, but a crash landing would not be avoidable.

Perrha's eyes met yours frantically as fire, debris and smoke filled the transport.

"We're not gonna make it," they gasped, coughing from all the smoke.

Panic gripped your heart. You didn't want to die. For once in your life, you really wanted to live and not just in terms of survival. You wanted to help the Resistance. You wanted them to win. You needed to learn about the Force, and ascertain from Leia if you were truly doomed to be a servant of the darkness.

Perrha was your friend and so was Poe. Your very best friend. Your heart broke as you thought of never seeing him again. It couldn't end this way.

So instead of giving in to despair, you opened yourself up to the flow of energy - no. The Force. A wall of fire swept through the transport.

"No." Your voice could barely be heard over the commotion. It wasn't a plea but a command.

Perrha cried out your name as you stretched out your hands and literally pushed the fire backward.

Your breathing steadied, your countenance - a mask of serenity. Your eyes fluttered closed as the Force surrounded you, flowed through you.

The fire would not touch you. Nor Perrha.

The remaining Resistance fighters watched from their transports, in awe, as a transport-on-fire gently touched down on the planet's surface.

You heard nothing. You only felt.

Calm.

Finally, you heard Perrha screaming your name. "This thing is gonna blow, come on!" They quite literally jerked you away - your boots thumping on the planet's surface as you ran for your life.

The ship exploded, knocking the survivors to the ground with a concussive force - dangerous, but not fatal.

Your ears rang, dusty salt filled your lungs, but Perrha hauled you up. You ran again, as fast as you had ever in your life.

The First Order had entered the planet's atmosphere and took up position at the mine entrance - the old Rebel base. Unfortunately, your transport's crash left you quite far away on foot. But thankfully, the First Order would assume your exploded crash site would leave no survivors - giving you time to run.

A battle raged overhead and in the distance. Blaster and cannon fire, and boot prints turned the ashy, salty surface blood red.

Your group finally made it to the mine, but there was no getting in the front entrance. The huge blaster door was sealed, but under heavy attack.

"Is there another way in?" You wondered aloud.

"Is there another way out?" Perrha countered, panicked. "Are they trapped in there?"

Your ragtag team rallied, determined to find a way to either get in to the safety of the mine, or help the remaining Resistance fighters escape, if they were trapped.

Suddenly you saw an old rust bucket ship zoom overhead and land at the edge of a shallow cliff.

Your team arrived just in time to see a young woman...making dozens of piles of rocks...float. This action served to clear a blocked path, allowing the Resistance fighters to escape the mine.

You saw the stormtrooper, Finn. The young woman must be Rey. You were so distracted by her dazzling display of the Force, that you almost didn't notice that just beside Finn...

was Poe.

Finn raced into Rey's arms for a hug, but it was Poe who noticed your ash-covered, singed, rag-tag crew, confused, for a moment, as to why you would have appeared with Rey.

"Elia," he breathed, pushing his way past anyone and everything in his path, including the huge boulders Rey had lifted moments before.

You were an adorable mess, most of your hair had tumbled out of your twin buns. Soot tarnished your cheeks and clothes. By some miracle your unlaced boots stayed in place while you ran for your life.

As Poe clambered toward you, your hands anxiously grabbed for your backpack straps…only to come up empty.

“M-my backpack,” you gasped, frantically touching your arms and chest.

Okay, people were dead.

Your transport crashed and exploded.

You only survived because you wielded the Force and ran for your life.

The First Order was bearing down.

Poe was alive!

But your brain?

“My backpack,” you repeated, desperately, craving the familiar soothing touchstone of its frayed straps.

“Here, sweetheart,” Poe gently offered, reaching for the fallen strap, to pull it back onto your shoulder. “Looks like the other one got burned.”

Which meant…

You grabbed for the other strap urgently, realizing the little pack might have been destroyed, leaving your wings out in the open.

Poe, so relieved to see you alive, wishing with all his heart that the could throw his arms around you, tried to understand…

“No, no no …” You shook your head, eyes wide with horror.

“Ells?” He asked, confused, holding up his hands in a supplicating manner, trying to show you he wouldn’t touch you if you didn’t want him to. “Baby, are you hurt?”

“I can’t…my backpack,” you gasped, short of breath. “I can’t…” Shaking your head rapidly, you backed away, running into Perrha…who got a look at your exposed back.

“Oh, Elia. A-are you - w-what happened…” they trailed off, glancing at Poe, confused at the sight of your tightly furled, dark wings. Perrha wasn’t sure if you were burned, or what was going on.

“What is it?” He demanded. “Is she hurt?” He reached for your arm to turn you around, but before his hand made contact, you clenched your fists and cried out.

“No!”

…sending tiny bits of rock flying outward from you body in every direction.

This got Rey’s attention.

As far as the young Jedi trainee knew, she and Leia were the only ones capable of this sort of thing.

Poe backed away, stunned, brushing bits of gravel from his face and hair, exchanging worried glances with Perrha, but determined to make sure you were all right.

He thought to approach you, but stopped short at a miraculous sight.

Your hair had tumbled down, beautiful and wild, your eyes closed in concentration.

Hands clenched by your sides, you held yourself still as bits of rock and earth circled you slowly.

And behind you, dark, slick wings unfurled.

next

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[queen-of-mandalore]

The more I think about the clones’ storyline in TBB, the more I see the similarities to Finn’s story in the Sequels and how much of a missed opportunity that was.

Like Cody questioning if the empire was really making the galaxy better, Finn realises that what the First Order was doing was wrong. Like with Crosshair, holding another trooper as they die makes him realise enough is enough and he has to get out.

Finn doesn’t even have a name, he’s just a number. How often in Clone Wars is the fact that the clones are more than just numbers brought up? Plus how the empire only sees them as numbers. The way Finn chooses a name just like the clones all chose their own because they wanted to be more than just their numbers, because despite everything they are still people.

But then in the sequels they just forget that Finn was ever a stormtrooper at all - he just becomes another rebel side character despite him having the most interesting backstory to any of the new characters. I wish we’d gotten Finn’s guilt of leaving the other stormtroopers behind, perhaps coming across troopers he was close with, Finn refusing to kill them because he knows they’ve been brainwashed like he had been - give me Finn using stun bolts because he doesn’t want to hurt them just like the freed clones do in TBB. I want to see Finn grapple with finding who he is, where his thoughts start and his brainwashing ends - I’m thinking about Rex’s conversation with Cut about if he truly believes in what he’s doing or if it’s just want he’s been programmed to believe. Give me complex conversations with Poe - Poe arguing that Finn can’t save the other stormtroopers and he’s being naive to think he can change their minds, Finn refusing to accept that. Finn giving rousing speeches to the stormtroopers that make them think twice - just like Fives’ speech in Umbara. Stormtroopers hearing about Finn’s defection and suddenly realising for the first time they have a choice.

Finn should have taken on the role Rex did in TBB, fighting to get other stormtroopers out of the First Order. We should have seen other stormtroopers questioning their loyalty to the First Order, maybe some still choosing to stay. We should have got moments like the one between Rex and Wolffe in TBB, with Finn trying to talk his former brothers in arms into doing the right thing. Finn should have led a full on mutiny.

But no, all nuance about the stormtroopers was ignored and they became canon fodder like always. Finn was sidelined and got no storyline or character arc of his own. When you see what they did with the clones across TCW and TBB, it really makes you realise just what we could have had if they hadn’t squandered Finn’s potential and had the guts to do something with some nuance - maybe the ‘bad guys’ aren’t all pure evil, maybe these faceless soldiers the resistance murder on mass are actual people who could have been saved? Maybe it didn’t have to be so black and white, good guys vs bad, but no that would be too complex and interesting.

[kaminocasey]

Wherever You End Up

WC: 1.4K

WARNINGS: MINORS DNI; ANGST

Pairing: Echo x GN!Reader

A/N: DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN EPISODE 8, PLEASE!!!

Summary: It's not a goodbye. It's a see you later.

“Palpatine was one step ahead of us during the war, and he’s still several steps ahead of us.” Rex looks between you, the Batch, and Senator Chuchi. “We played right into his hands.”

It’s been a long couple of days. Between trying to help Rex and get the proof of Rampart’s involvement in the downfall of Kamino, you’re running on a lack of sleep. You keep looking at your partner, Echo but he won’t meet your eyes. He’s been quiet since you got back to the Martez’s garage. 

“I don’t understand.” Omega speaks up. “We did the right thing. We told the truth.”

Hunter looks down at her. “And he twisted it to his advantage.”

“The Emperor wanted us to implicate Rampart to get what he was after all along.” Rex fumes. “Senate approval for his stormtrooper program.” “The fate of all clones is now sealed… because of us.” Echo looks at Rex and you can practically feel the regret radiating off of his body. “What’s gonna happen to them?”

Echo’s been done for a while now. You know there’s more that he wants to do. You keep thinking that one day you’re gonna wake up and he’s going to be gone so that he can join this new “rebellion” with Rex. You’re completely torn because… you want him to be happy. But now, you think that maybe he’ll only be happy if he’s out there, still fighting. Or at least helping people. When you helped Gungi, the Jedi Wookiee child, you saw a spark in Echo’s eyes that had been missing for a while. A spark that wasn’t even there when the two of you lay in bed together at night. 

It hurts, but you get it.

“I don’t know.” Senator Chuchi sighs. “But I will keep fighting for the clones. You all deserve the same rights as every citizen.”

She leans down toward Omega, with promise in her eyes. “I won’t give up.”

Omega nods and the senator stands back up, looking at all of you. You admired her. She was standing up for what’s right and not backing down out of fear like the Emperor wants and expects out of this new “Empire”. 

“If you need anything Rex, just say the word.” Hunter looks at the captain and then nods at Senator Chuchi. “Senator.”

Echo steps forward, looking between you and Hunter. You get a weird feeling in your stomach and you furrow your brows in confusion as you look at Echo. What’s going on?

“Wherever you end up, remember what I said.” Hunter pats Echo on the shoulder and starts to head back to the Marauder. 

“Don’t get in trouble without us.” Wrecker

“Without us?” Omega asks, looking up at Echo, confused.

Oh… You understand now. And your heart still breaks into a million pieces. 

“Best of luck, Echo.” Tech nods with a smile and then heads back to the Marauder with Hunter and Echo. 

“Luck with what?” Omega asks.

You don’t know what to say. The lump in your throat is making it difficult to speak anyway. But Echo finally looks at you, into your eyes once before looking down at Omega.

“I’m going with Rex.” Echo tells her. 

You can tell he’s firm in this decision. This decision he’s made without you… 

Omega looks up at Rex and he nods slightly, his eyes full of respect for the young girl. 

“The clones will need our help now more than ever.” Echo tells her. “I can’t turn my back on them.”

Even though he’s kind of turning his back on you… sort of. You know it’s more complicated than that. But still, the ache starting to form in your chest is about to become unavoidable. 

“You… You can’t leave.” Omega starts to look to you for help, but you’re still not able to form words. “We’re- We’re a squad.” 

“Omega… this is something I have to do.” Echo sighs. “I’m going where I’m needed.” “But… we need you, too.” Omega’s eyes start to tear up and your heart shatters even more as you place a hand on her shoulder.

She’s been through so much. And the fact that Echo is blindsiding her with this really upsets you. Hunter apparently knew. Wrecker and Tech seemed to be fine with it. Did they really not think to let Omega know so she’d be better prepared? 

Echo kneels down on the ground, sitting his helmet down and putting a hand on her other shoulder and she closes her eyes for a moment. 

“It’s not forever.” Echo promises her. “I’ll be back.”

“Will you?” You finally speak up. 

“Of course I will.” Echo looks up at you and finally, the tears slip past your lids and down your cheeks. He looks back at Omega. “Keep up with your training while I’m gone, huh? Understood?”

Omega slightly nods, launching herself into his arms, wrapping her own around his neck. He looks up at you with surprise at such an action. Like, maybe he wasn’t expecting her to be so attached to him. Even after all this time. He wraps his arms around her one last time and you look over at Rex and the senator, who now have decided is the time to step away for a moment. 

“Yes, sir.” Omega wipes her tears as she pulls away. 

“Keep an eye on them.” Echo nods in the direction of the Batch and she nods. 

He stands up with his helmet and tosses it to Rex before Rex walks away. Omega runs back to the Marauder but stops one last time to glance at Echo again before climbing aboard where Hunter pats her on the shoulder. You look up at Hunter and he nods to you that they’ll wait. 

When you turn back around, you find Echo staring at you, cautiously.

“A heads up would have been nice…” You murmur. 

“I thought maybe you’d try to talk me out of it.” He looks down. 

You run your hands down your face, exhaustion starting to settle in your bones. 

“We’re partners… we’re supposed to make decisions together… Right?” You clench your fists at your sides, not sure what to do with them. “I’d never try to talk you out of doing the right thing. But I’m glad to know the thought never occurred to you to ask me to come with you.”

You’re so angry at him. You understand. But Maker, you’re so angry… and heartbroken. 

“Of course the thought occurred to me.” He looks back at you. “I just know that your answer would’ve been no.” 

Would it have been? Would you really have told him no? Would you have been able to leave this little family you’ve found? You suppose you may never know now. 

“I know you. You need them as much as they need you.” Echo takes your hand.

The urge to bitterly pull it away is strong but you don’t. How many more times in this lifetime will you get to hold his hand? He said he’ll be back one day… but the future is always uncertain.

“I love you.” He tells you, pulling you into his arms and kissing you on the head.

“I know.” You whisper, tears still falling. “I love you, too.”

“I know.” He rests his forehead against yours one last time. “We can still comm each other whenever, you know.” 

The thought honestly hadn’t occurred to you. You supposed that’s true. 

“Long distance never works out and you know it.” You laugh, softly, wiping your tears.

“We can make it work.” He nods, cupping your face, pulling your eyes in level with his so he can look into your eyes one last time.

You crush your lips to his, pulling yourself against him desperately, as a goodbye and he squeezes you to himself, as if he’s trying to make sure his body remembers yours against his. You know that yours will. 

“I swear to the Maker, Echo… if you get yourself hurt or worse… I won’t forgive you.” You try to make a serious face.

“I fell in the water one time and now I’m never gonna live that down, am I?” He rolls his eyes, amused.

You shake your head. “Never. Fives would be so proud of me.” 

He laughs, nodding his head in agreement.

“Fives would be proud of you.” You sigh, coming to terms with this decision of his.

He needs to do this. For all of his fallen brothers. For the Domino Squad. For the 501st. For Fives. He needs to do this. And you’ll support him, no matter how hard it hurts, no matter where he ends up.

TAGS: @twistedstitcher27 @rebel-finn @grievouus @madameminor @dumfanting @rain-on-kamino @corona-one @tecker @ladykatakuri @brynhildrmimi @the-sith-in-the-sky-with-diamond @zoeykallus @maulslittlemeowmeow @littlemousedroid @arctrooper69 @rexxdjarin @agenteliix @padawancat97 @hated-by-me @sleepingsun501 @quigonswife8 @idlenesses @redheadgirl @dnxgma @themcuwriter @ashotofspotchka @sunshinesdaydream @crosshairsimp73 @ariadnes-red-thread @rosmariner @heyitsaloy @starstofillmydream @high-ct5555 @echos-girlfriend @sleepywych @nekotaetae @justanothersadperson93 @brownstalebread @aconstructofamind @book-of-baba-fett @chopper-base @palliateclaws @501st-rexster @dead-poolz @nahoney22 @where-is-my-mind-tho @jediknightjana @erishimoon @witching3

[avercado5]

Timeline of Armitage Hux's Life

Excuse the formatting... tumblr has no idents and it makes this stuff impossible. Please let me know of any corrections and I will update this. I tried to be as accurate as possible, but some of these dates are guesswork (and thus have a span of years it might be).

1 BBY - Born to Brendol Hux & a kitchen woman on Arkanis

5 ABY -

Evacuates Arkanis with Brendol Hux

Is given protection by Rae Sloane

10-13 ABY - Has lost Sloane's protection/contact and is abused by Brendol again

Sometime before Parnassos - Becomes a General

27-29 ABY - Meets Brendol Hux at the crash sight on Parnassos, witnesses bombardment of the planet.

30 ABY -

Allows Phasma to kill Brendol

(with Phasma) recruits Jinata security to begin capturing infants for the stormtrooper program.

33 ABY - Marooned with Kylo Ren

33 ABY - Kills Admiral Brooks

34 ABY -

Events of TFA

Events of TLJ

Rumors spread about Snoke's successor, many (incorrectly) assume it's Hux.

Travels to Titan for updates on refueling stations and hunt for resistance cells (With Pyre)

Fleet destroys Tag'Nuhna for helping resistance

Skirmish on Mon Cala

Battle of Battuu

35 ABY - Events of TRoS

35 ABY Onward- Hux lives :)

SOURCES:

5 ABY - Aftermath

10-13 ABY - Age of Resistance Comic

27-30 ABY - Phasma

33 ABY - Age of Resistance Comic

34 ABY - TFA, TLJ, Star Wars Resistance

35 ABY - TRoS

[whatcha-reading-today]

Fanfic spotlight: Blood's Perimeter | Gefionne

I think I've been reading Gefionne's work for...a really long time and have followed their work across fandoms that I wasn't even involved. They work is just fantastic and I wanted to single out this older fic because I'm embarrassed to tell you how many times I've read it.

So this is a telling of Hux getting thrown into the stormtrooper program and Ben Solo, smuggler, meeting and being forced to work together. First off, I always love the trope of these two working together because of reasons, and I love watching how their characters develop in time with their changing circumstances, alliances and fears.

Read it here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11508993/chapters/25825308

Author: Gefionne

Fandom: Star Wars

Main characters: Kylo Ren/Ben Solo and Hux

Author's description: As an illegitimate son, Hux was thrown into the First Order’s stormtrooper program as a child, in hopes that he would disappear, but he not only survives, he flourishes. When a mission goes wrong, he finds himself a target and crosses paths with Ben “Kylo” Solo, a smuggler, who is far more than he appears.

Word count: 139,079 words

Rating: E

Complete: Yes

[warsamongthestars]

ON CHIPS AND CROSSES

Crosshair's episodes are always a treat.

But, they're under cut by one of the largest issues with the Bad Batch Show, and that's the Chip.

( Warning, we're about to hit hard on some heavy shit. Reader discretion is advised. )

The Inhibitor Chip already has a very important slot in Star Wars lore. Its the very reason for Order 66 and the massacre of the Jedi, one of the largest backstory elements of the OG Trilogy, and the end result of the Prequels.

It was discovered by the character "Fives", who, introduced in Season 1, was one of the biggest Audience Surrogate Characters for the Clones' side of the War--even outpacing Captain Rex in this case. Both him and Echo.

( So it makes Thematic sense to have Echo as a main character in a Clonecentric Show, because he is an Audience Surrogate Character, and the only surviving one out of the Clone Wars Show--which makes his character neglect all that much more worse in TBB )

As something like the Inhibitor Chip does not exist in real life, there are several elements of imaginative fiction and real life that come into play with its concept.

Brain Tumor (Real Life)

Altered State of Consciousness caused by External Factors (Real Life)

Non-consentual substance-induction which causes Consciousness / Behavior alteration (Also known as "Being Drugged") (Real Life)

Mind Control (Fiction)

Possession by Exterior Force (Fiction)

Possession by Interior Force (Fiction)

Any kind of fucking Possession that involves overriding consciousness (Fiction)

Most of these elements, especially the Real Life ones, already put a character under that situation that clearly states "cannot be responsible for judgement calls" / "is not of sound mind".

The prior show, The Clone Wars, took steps to show and explain the chip and what it does.

It's entire purpose, narrative-wise, was to avoid the situation of "The Clone Troopers were complacent in Genocide". As well as the induced plothole that such a circumstance would cause. Because the Clone Troopers were being developed as individuals, who merely in poor circumstances and making the best of it (as real people tend to do), as opposed to indoctrinated disposable soldiers who were little better than Stormtroopers.

( Even my younger self pointed out to Revenge of the Sith and went "Hang on, I thought they were friends! It must be a Darkside Trick that caused these friends to do that! All the Anime Says So!" )

So.

You have this Brain Tumor that drastically alters the behavior of someone, and in this case, its a specifically-programmed tumor that ensures certain behaviors.

The Bad Batch Show even walks us through the scene. It does so clumsily, because it seems to never want to have any kind of serious discussions ever, but it still takes the steps to do so.

And one of those steps is Enhancing the "programming" of one Crosshair's chip.

It "grew".

I don't know about anyone else, but this scene is kind of an odd Grinch moment, where his "tumor" grew "Three fucking sizes that day". Life Day is gods damn Doomed.

Then, we get to spend the season without Crosshair.

Then the moment we meet Crosshair again, reunited (and it feels so fucked up), he says that the Chip was removed, and refuses to elaborate how, why, and implies that all he did was his own choices.

... even though, as I pointed out above, that is not the case. The very show itself even makes it a point that its not only not the case--but that Crosshair got the Super Tumor instead.

But since then, the show has made it a point to forgive every Clone but Crosshair, and then ignores the fact that it gave Crosshair the super tumor, something that is in recording, something that I have clearly caught a part of in picture--and instead, places all of Crosshair's actions on himself, and even Rides an Arc of "Redemption" for his "judgement".

( Even though, the act of removing a Super Tumor in this case, would still have the Super attached. If you Super Something in a story, that means you have to take the extra steps to handle the Super part in order to keep relevance and impact. )

It has even ignored the one person that is, thematically and narratively, related to a story like this--Echo, who has had the Most Extreme Variant of this theme (from fictional cyborgification to the real life "non-consensual body alteration").

Whatever the hell the Bad Batch Show is doing and has done, it has done it damnedest to utterly destroy any impact, to the cost of the characters, the story, the significance, their legacy, and more.

[captainsophiestark]

Always Be Prepared

Poe Dameron x Reader

Masterlist - Join My Taglist!

Written for Fictober 2023!

Fandom: Star Wars

Day 21 Prompt: "Just in case this doesn't work."

Summary: Poe and his SO are supposed to be completing a simple, subtle reconnaissance mission, but a complication might make the 'subtle' part challenging.

Word Count: 1,073

Category: Fluff

Putting work into an AI program without permission is illegal. You do not have my permission. Do not do it.

"This is... not good."

My boyfriend, Poe Dameron, and I stood shoulder to shoulder, tucked into our hiding spot as we watched First Order troops crawl all over the ship we were supposed to be escaping on. We'd come to this world on an intelligence gathering mission. Unfortunately for us, we apparently hadn't gone completely unnoticed.

Poe shrugged, nudging his shoulder against mine. "I don't know, it could be worse. We could've been in the ship when they swarmed it."

I huffed a laugh. "I guess that's true. So what do we do now?"

"Hmm. Did you see any other ships around here that we could take off with instead?"

"Not unless you count the ships the First Order came in on. And somehow I don't think we're gonna have much luck taking one of those."

"Then we need a distraction. Something big enough to draw them away from our ship, so big that we actually have half a shot at getting past those troopers."

Poe and I hummed in thought, each scanning our surroundings and staring off into space to try to get some inspiration. We'd spent enough time studying maps of this place and actually combing through it in the past few hours that if there was anything to be done, we should've been able to figure it out.

My eyes wandered over the door we'd just come from, leading to the heart of the building, including its power core.

A crazy, stupid, terrible idea hit me like lightning. I turned to Poe and found him staring back, the same spark of insanity I'd fallen in love with glimmering behind his eyes.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" he asked, a manic grin growing slowly on his face. I shook my head.

"I kind of hate to say this, but yeah, I think I am."

"Well then, what are we waiting for?"

A better, less dangerous idea, I thought, but didn't say it out loud. Poe and I had done and survived all kinds of crazy things in our time with the Resistance, both together and apart. If we'd made it this far, then odds were good that we'd keep making it. Right?

As one, we turned and headed in the opposite direction from our ship, back into the heart of the facility we'd stolen information from. With the discovery of our ship, security had surely been tightened, but we still made it to our target.

The building's energy core hummed before us like a giant glowing weak point. If someone were to blow it up, they'd certainly cause a distraction worthy of attention from a bunch of First Order stormtroopers.

"You know, I feel like it's concerning that we're so in sync about stuff like this," I said as Poe and I moved around the room, quickly identifying weak points where we could do the most damage with just a few charges.

"I think we should be more concerned about why you bring explosive charges with you every time we go on a mission."

I shrugged. "It's working out for us so far, isn't it? You never know when a fast and easy sabotage method might come in handy in our line of work."

"I... guess I can't argue with that," said Poe with a chuckle. We worked together to place the charges, then I hooked up a remote detonator while Poe watched the door. Once everything was set, I gave him a thumbs up and went to meet him by the door. We ducked and dodged through the ever-increasing security measures, thankfully, finally making it back to our hiding spot in front of our ship.

It seemed like another group or two of storm troopers had made their way over, and I knew it was only a matter of time until they started expanding their search radius. It wouldn't take them long to find Poe and I if we didn't do something soon.

"Alright, should we go for it?" I asked, holding the detonator up in question to Poe. Suddenly, this plan felt a lot riskier than before we'd actually been ready to implement it.

"Hold on, one more thing first."

With that, he wrapped an arm around my waist and pulled me to him. He kissed me, hard, and after a second's surprise I melted into him, kissing him back just as hard. After a few long, savored moments, Poe pulled away, leaving me a little breathless as I subconsciously trailed after him. He grinned.

"Just in case this doesn't work," he said by way of explanation. I just smiled and shook my head.

"Get ready to run to the ship and go like hell, Flyboy. Once I press this button, it's mostly on you to get us out of here. I'll watch our backs."

Poe winked at me, and I smiled back at him. I took a deep breath, trying to steel myself as best I could, then pushed the button on the detonator.

A moment later, an explosion rocked the building. All the stormtroopers in front of us dropped what they were doing to look up in shock, and as the chain reaction of the explosion continued, they started shouting and rushing towards the building to try to do something. As a result, our ship was left almost completely unguarded.

In perfect sync, Poe and I took off running. I let him get a bit ahead of me, then turned as I ran, ready to shoot at anyone who tried to stop our escape.

Lucky for us, the distraction had worked even better than planned. With a First Order facility literally going up in smoke, even the few people left on the other ships in the yard were too distracted to notice Poe and I taking off until it was basically too late to stop us.

Once we made it to Hyperspace headed back for Resistance HQ, I let myself relax all the way. I put a hand on Poe's shoulder and kissed him on the cheek, then flopped back in my seat to watch the stars streak by.

"Nice work," I sighed. "We should start giving classes on pulling off insane shit like that."

"I hate to break it to you, but we're not out of the woods yet, sweetheart."

I frowned. "What do you mean?"

"One of us still has to explain the mess we left behind us to General Organa."

"Not it!"

****************

Everything Taglist: @rosecentury

[autumnwoodsdreamer]

WiP Wednesday 28/08/24

Little bit of in-progress chapter 11 of Unsinkable. Kind of the calm before the storm… 😉

Sitting on the stone bench under the IG-11 memorial with the afternoon sun warming his face, Din couldn’t help but think that this was one of his favourite parts of the day.

He waited with over a dozen others—mostly parents, a few grandparents, some aunts and uncles—all of them either standing or sitting, a few conversing idly to pass the last bit of time before the bell chime rang out.

He found it hard to believe these people had lived on Nevarro their whole lives. He certainly never saw the likes of them before, when this was a backwater nowhere known for nothing more than its dens of pirates and mercenaries. The only children he recalled seeing on Nevarro back then were the covert’s children—the foundlings and the few tribe-born. He knew not everyone who lived here could be a struggling merchant or a spice-dealer or a bounty hunter, but he found it hard to fathom such normal, temperate folk ever eking out a life in such a place as this once was.

It added weight to the worth of the battles fought. So many of those skirmishes he had just stumbled into and these people weren’t in his thoughts while he was dodging blasterfire from Stormtroopers or getting blown up by an E-Web cannon, but here now, seeing them out in the daylight, in the middle of the city, talking with their neighbours while they waited to collect their children from school, he was glad he had won those battles, he was glad he had had some part in buying back their freedom.

Some thread in that line of thought pulled him to twist around and glance up at the statue standing guard behind him.

“Statue” was not quite an accurate term.

After the first battle on Nevarro with Gideon, Greef and Cara had hired Jawas to scour the lava fields and salvage whatever they could of IG’s remains in the hopes there might have been enough to reconstruct the bounty-droid-turned-nurse. They found a chunk of his torso, most of his head, an arm, and a pile of twisted and charred metal fragments, their original function and form impossible to identify. The droid’s self-destruction hadn’t totally disintegrated his body, but it had accomplished its goal of utterly destroying his memory banks and anything that contributed to his operating system. The flotsam could be used in the making of a new droid but anything that was IG-11 was gone forever.

So they commissioned a replica of his body in bronze and completed the form with the salvaged, lifeless parts, immortalizing him in the centre of the city he gave his life to save.

Din supposed that was true: ultimately, everything they did that day contributed to this world’s liberation. But he knew the droid didn’t sacrifice himself for Nevarro; he sacrificed himself for four people in a boat who had no way out.

He sacrificed himself for a child he had almost killed under orders given by wicked men.

He sacrificed himself for a man who lost no sleep over shooting him in the central processing unit just months earlier.

Din still didn’t profess to understand droids, but he knew IG’s sacrifice was not simply a part of his programming, and he believed it had as much value as that of an organic being.

The bell chimed then.

He dropped his gaze in no hurry.

The doors to the school opened and when the kids began trickling out, Din stood and made his way over, his pace calm.

A cloud of noise erupted on the scene. He couldn’t distinguish anything through it but it didn’t bother him; it was a good kind of noise, all laughter and chatter, farewells between friends and promises to see each other again tomorrow, excited accounts of the day and its lessons to guardians as little hands slipped into bigger hands.

Somewhere in the middle of the crowd of children came his son, sitting in his pod, hovering alongside Chopper.

Grogu’s big eyes searched the square and when they finally latched on Din, his ears flew up like flags, a smile bursting as if he hadn’t seen him in so long. Gripping the edge of his pod with one hand, he waved to his father with the other.

Din closed the distance between them and scooped the boy up, laughing softly as his little one nuzzled his cheek fiercely, babbling away all the while.

[cosleia]

Hux Crisis #2

I remarked yesterday that I was having another Hux crisis. (The first Hux crisis is documented a little bit here.) Basically, my Hux crises are caused by my personal understanding of him coming into apparent conflict with canon depictions. This also happened to me with Carlos the Scientist from Welcome to Night Vale. The situation isn't great; historically it has caused me to stop writing for a long time while I recalibrated my headcanons.

Because I'm hoping that won't happen this time, I originally wasn't going to discuss it too much, but then this morning I saw this post:

When I saw this, I just felt like that it fit Hux so well. The idea that his family line might be cursed in some way, resulting in all his perceived failures, is narratively compelling to me. It made me want to write down my thoughts and feelings about Hux.

I didn't want to clutter up OP's notes with my nonsense, so I made a screenshot for this post. If you want to see/reblog the original, I reblogged it here.

Let's get into it.

We know JJ named Hux after a name he saw on a gravestone. He wanted Hux to be a tragic character from the beginning. And Hux was. We learned that he'd grown up being abused, and that it's likely he was stolen from his mother when he was taken/rescued from his home planet during the New Republic siege. And of course we saw the tragedy continue through the films:

The stormtrooper program wound up producing a Resistance general

Starkiller Base was destroyed

The Fulminatrix was destroyed

The Supremacy was destroyed

Kylo Ren became Supreme Leader

The First Order failed to wipe out the Resistance on Crait

And finally, Hux was found out as the spy and executed

It could be argued that many of these things were failures on Hux's part. The comics give us even more failures: in Journey to TLJ: Captain Phasma, he does not issue an official evacuation order when Starkiller Base begins to collapse, which enables Phasma to keep troopers who saw her from surviving to report it, and probably also resulted in unnecessary losses. He also seems not to question Phasma's version of how the shields were lowered on Starkiller. In Hyperspace Stories #8, which seems to be set pre-TFA, he loses control of a wild creature called a Bramalish that he set upon a non-cooperative colony.

I get chalking all of this up to incompetence, to thinking that Hux kept failing because he was stupid or prideful.

But we have evidence to the contrary.

Hyperspace Stories #8 also shows us Hux is quick to adapt to change. When Ren arrives to fight the Bramalish, Hux orders the stormtroopers to help him immediately. When Ren brings back the city leader whose cooperation will secure the First Order's power, Hux instantly adjusts to "negotiating with" (threatening) him. While I won't deny that setting a Bramalish loose believing the stormtroopers could contain it was a miscalculation, the strategy was to terrorize the populace, and it worked. That plus Ren's contributions scored the First Order a win.

In the comic Star Wars Adventures #30, set between TLJ and TROS, Hux's plan is to send stormtroopers to Vendaxa to follow a lead that the Resistance might be there. It's Supreme Leader Ren who insists on going personally. Hux goes with him because he sees an opportunity to ingratiate himself to Ren, and he actually manages to get Ren to say he has earned his trust, "for now." It turns out there was no need for the leader of the First Order to go to Vendaxa personally. The Resistance isn't even there, and Ren and Hux wind up in mortal danger. I think it can be safely argued that Hux was right, and circumstances (Kylo Ren) worked against him.

In that same comic, Hux tells Ren, "I put my stormtroopers in charge of reconnaissance because leadership is trusting the people you lead to do their jobs." The loss of the Fulminatrix seems ludicrous in light of these words. Canady stood around waiting to be micromanaged; Hux is not a micromanager. (I ranted about this separately here.)

And then, of course, we have Age of Resistance - General Hux, another pre-TFA story. This is not only where we see more of Hux's abusive childhood, but also where we see him at his craftiest. He uses Ren's identity to manipulate Bylsma, and then he uses the shuttle sabotage to justify killing one of his childhood abusers. From this, it's clear he's not an idiot.

Let's go through the other perceived failures with a more critical eye.

First, the stormtrooper program. Yes, it "failed" in that Finn resisted his conditioning, as did Jannah and her company. But what percentage of stormtroopers actually defected or deserted? How does it compare to other militaries' defection/desertion rates? Is it even possible to have 100% loyalty? While I don't think we know the answer to the first two questions, the answer to the third is absolutely no.

The destruction of Starkiller Base would not have been possible without the shield being lowered. Hux knew the oscillator was a weak point and had it protected, not just by shields but by squadrons of fighters. It took an extraordinary series of events for the Resistance to win.

Trusting Phasma is either a blind spot, or he's playing the long game, as fellow kyluxers pointed out on my original Hux crisis post. Phasma conspired with him to kill Brendol; this was in both their self-interests, not the First Order's. If anything, TLJ cemented their relationship as a partnership. It's not a stretch to think Hux knows Phasma's true loyalty is to herself, and that he considers having her as a partner more advantageous than not. It's a gamble, but she's a powerful ally. I've wondered if their conversation when she returns to the Finalizer is coded...if what Hux is really asking is how well she covered her tracks.

(The fact that he doesn't seem to dwell on the loss of Starkiller, either in the Captain Phasma comic or at the beginning of TLJ, and he just looks annoyed when it's brought up in TROS, implies that he is forward-thinking, which is a vital quality in a leader.)

Hux not managing to keep Ren from becoming Supreme Leader is understandable. He's ready to kill Ren, but Ren stirs. Hux knows he can't defeat Ren in a fight. And unfortunately, Hux has rarely been able to talk Ren into anything. This is the rare moment he breaks emotionally: he's lost Starkiller, he's lost the Supremacy, and now he's lost Snoke, the one thing that has been protecting him from Ren. I don't think his action or inaction here is indicative of his intelligence so much as his trauma.

The battle of Crait wasn't actually lost. It simply wasn't a total victory. And the reason wasn't Hux or his commands. It was Kylo Ren. Without Ren there, the First Order would have wiped the Resistance out.

Hux being found out as a spy was, I've always thought, at least partially because Finn shot him in the leg instead of the arm. You'd think an enemy would aim for the head or chest. The arm would have been a more believable miss location. But of course, it also happened because of Hux's choice to report the escape to Pryde himself instead of going to medbay and sending a subordinate. This one I can't find a good explanation for, except maybe that he thought he would seem more loyal if he went personally. (I like to think it was because he knew Pryde would shoot him, and he took advantage of that to fake his own death.)

I'm showing obvious bias here, but even I can admit Hux isn't flawless. He can make mistakes and succumb to emotions like any other human. I just believe, based on my understanding of canon, that not everything he did was a mistake. In fact, I'd argue that the majority of his failures were due to circumstances outside his control. It's tragic, like JJ intended.

Because of that, I think that cursed family line idea fits really well. Maybe Hux finds out about the curse just when he's on the verge of giving up, and it makes him try even harder out of spite. Could he break free of the curse? Or is he doomed, like every other Hux?

[sanjoongie]

Blast him!

A/N: Seonghwa is a sith (aka pretty darn evil) there is usage of force grip (choking) and force lightning (shocking) in this fic, and including !!! force fear (inducing fear or increasing the fear already there), force mind control (self explanatory), (all the red flags of a bad bad mans) anyways, happy may the forth be with you 🥰

☆Pairing: Sith! Park Seonghwa x Storm Trooper! Reader (f)

☆Genre: Smut

☆Au: sci-fi au, Star Wars au, s2l, slight e2l vibes?

☆Warnings: oral (m) receiving, degradation kink, i'm labelling this cnc just to be safe i don't want anyone triggered, power kink, fear kink, strength kink, choking kink, cum swallowing, m orgasm

Word count: 2,470

☆Warnings: 18+ MDNI

☆Dedication: @flurrys-creativity finally paying you back for Mummy!Hwa, @mejuii & @downtoamagicalland if only i didn't have you two to enable me, where would I be 😆

☆Synopsis: in which you're a storm trooper that can't hit a cow's arse with a banjo and Seonghwa is a short-tempered Sith whose Jedi nemesis just got away

“Prepare to die, Jedi scum,” Seonghwa spat, enabling his saber. The long line of red grew behind him from his stance with the saber held at his back, illuminating one side of his face.

“Seonghwa, you don’t have to do this!” Hongjoong protested. But he also enabled his lightsaber, the green light coming from his two handed stance in front of him.

Seonghwa grinned maniacally, “No, I don’t. But I’ll enjoy it.”

The two fought, whirling and jumping, the sharp sizzle of the lightsabers punctuating the night whenever they met. It seemed like Seonghwa had the upper hand until Hongjoong stopped Seonghwa’s downward swing with the Force.

“You won’t be killing your best friend today, Park Seonghwa,” Hongjoong vowed.

With a huge push, Seonghwa was bodily pushed backwards, far enough that even as he completed his swing, there was no Hongjoong within range to strike down. Hongjoong jumped, using the Force to go higher than his body could actually propel him. He began to get away using the architecture.

You, a Stormtrooper out on your rounds, were surprised when Hongjoong climbed up to the bridge that was high in the air. The jedi winked at you while you were caught in surprise and continued to run away.

Seonghwa was only a few milliclicks behind him. “Shoot him!” he bellowed.

You raised your blaster, but your training had been shoddy at best, and you missed all your shots. You sighed heavily. You had never been good at shooting practice. “Sorry, sir, looks like he--” Your speech was cut off as your feet left the ground.

Seonghwa, using the Force, was holding you aloft and was essentially choking you. “You let him get away!” He snarled.

You grasped at your throat with your hands. Your helmet had been lost when the Force slammed you against the wall. Your mouth opened and closed but you couldn't manage to bring in any bit of air into your lungs. Your legs flailed, and luckily for your clumsy antics, you managed to kick Seonghwa in the stomach when he came closer. You were released, collapsing to the floor. You gulped in the precious air that had been denied to you.

“Useless Stormtrooper,” Seonghwa muttered under his breath, eyes still flashing with rage. “What’s your operating number?”

“TZ-711,” You replied instantly, voice hoarse from being choked.

Seonghwa stood up, after being hunched over from the blow to his stomach. When his eyes met yours, slightly calmer, they widened upon seeing you. “A Woman?”

You rolled your eyes. “The voices are programmed to all sound the same. Or is that information below you, as a Sith?” The realization caught up with you that you had just bad-mouthed a man who could kill you by simply tossing you off the bridge you had been patrolling.

“I’ll be reporting you to your captain,” Seonghwa vowed.

You stood up shakily. “Yes, Sir.”

When you didn’t move, Seonghwa raised his eyebrows expectantly. “Now, Trooper.”

You grabbed your helmet and blaster off the ground and followed the Sith, albeit reluctantly. You were most likely going to experience shortened rations and the weekend pass to the local cantina revoked. There went your career most likely as well. If the Sith had anything to do with it, they might even--after a few wrong turns, you came out of your internal thoughts. This wasn’t the way to your captain's office.

"Sir," You squeaked.

"What?" He snarled, not even bothering to stop walking or turn his head to address you.

"This isn't the way."

"Of course it is!" Seonghwa insisted. "There's a turn up here!"

The two of you turned right down the corridor and were met with a dead end and a Mouse Droid. It bumped against Seonghwa’s foot, beeping at him. You didn't dare say a thing to the Sith as his anger began to radiate off of him once again.

"Don't you say a damn thing," Seonghwa said through gritted teeth.

You smiled awkwardly. "Sir? The Droid is excellent with directions."

"I don't need--!" Seonghwa cut off his shouting. "Just take me to my rooms!"

"But I thought--"

"Is it your job to think or to follow orders?" Seonghwa snarled.

You snapped to attention, turned around and began to backtrack. The only reason you knew where the Sith's rooms were was because Seonghwa was a bit of a legend amongst the Stormtroopers. You had heard your own battalion go on and on about him, whether in fear of his famous temper or in awe of his dashing good looks. You found the elevator that went to his rooms and waved your hand.

"There you go, Sir. I'll report myself to my captain's office immediately." You saluted and then moved to put your helmet back on.

Your helmet zoomed out of your grasp and straight into Seonghwa’s outstretched hand. "I don't think so."

Okay, this Sith was confusing the fuck out of you. "...Sir?"

"Follow me," Seonghwa commanded.

You didn't dare protest in fear of being choked again, so you entered the elevator with him. The ride was silent and uncomfortable. Perhaps the Sith wanted to communicate with your captain through comms in his room and he didn't want you to try to squeeze your way out of being reprimanded. Seonghwa did seem quite angry that the Jedi had gotten away.

“Sir, please don’t get me demoted. I will practice more with my aim, whatever it takes!” You pleaded as you left the elevator.

The Sith had a stark room, completely black and lacking any personal effects. You tugged at your ear nervously. “Sir?”

Seonghwa’s back was to you, arms clasped behind him. “You know, as you train to be a Jedi, they teach you not to form any attachments. They teach you feelings make you weak. I have spent most of my time as a Sith catching up on that.”

This was a sudden turn of conversation. Why did he sound so quiet and… suddenly more dangerous?

“Remove your armor, Trooper.”

You froze in fear but somehow found the will to speak. “I know you could crush me in it.”

The Sith smirked. “So you do have a brain in there.”

“Then why…?” You let the question hang in the air.

“You’ve been like a splinter under my thumbnail the minute you’ve appeared in front of me. I think it’s only fitting that I take my anger out on you. So instead of reporting to your captain, I’ll dole out your punishment.”

Suddenly, whatever you were thinking was the result of being punished by your captain seemed like a gentle dream to what the future might hold for you. Your mouth was dry immediately and you began to shake. You fell to your knees and bowed your head.

“Sir, I humbly beg for my life. I am but a lowly Stormtrooper, below your notice, but still, I ask that you spare me.”

It was completely silent until you saw Seonghwa’s feet appear in front of you. “Remove. Your. Armor,” He repeated, somewhat softer this time; in tone, certainly not in firmness.

“Sir,” You confirmed dejectedly.

You stood up and slowly began to remove the white armor. Once you stood in only your black suit, Seonghwa began to slowly walk around you. “That’s an improvement.”

…to??? You kept your ears and eyes open for when he activated his lightsaber but until then, he continued to circle you like you were an animal on display for him.

“He was one shot away, all you had to do was shoot him once to make him stumble and I would have had him,” Seonghwa growled.

“But Sir…” You swallowed nervously, “You’re the Sith. You have all the power at your disposal to stop the Jedi.”

Seonghwa shook his head. “Hongjoong is stronger than me in the Force. I have bettered him time and time again in combat but when it comes to the Force…” Seonghwa sneered, pure hatred painted over his handsome features. “Besides, we’re not talking about me, we’re talking about you.”

“Yes, Sir,” You said miserably.

You smelt sulfur and then felt a sharp sting on your bottom. “I don’t like the tone of your voice, Trooper.”

“I’m sorry, Sir,” You squeaked.

You watched as a tiny bolt of lightning was created on his fingertips and then he sent the bolt to you, stinging you on your thigh this time. “Useless, you Stormtroopers are. I don’t know why the empire keeps you around.”

Because we’re cannon fodder, you thought but you didn’t dare interrupt Seonghwa again.

Seonghwa continued to demean you and sting you. Between the words and the pain, you felt your lower half throb. Seonghwa was right. You were useless. How could you be turned on at a time like this? You took your punishment with your head held low.

The usage of the Force, creating lightning to hurt you, was enough to create scorch marks all over your suit. Holes revealed your skin, which managed to remain unmarred.

Seonghwa looked pleased at his handiwork. “Pointless to keep that on any longer,” He ordered.

And just as you were about to discard the clothing, you heard a distinct rip. You watched as Seonghwa clenched his fist and with a jerk of his hand, your suit was off. You were left only in your underclothing, a simple band around your breasts to keep them flat in your suit and underwear.

“Sir,” You whimpered. Tears were stinging your eyes. You knew it was pointless to cry but you couldn't reign in your emotions any longer.

Seonghwa raised your head with a push of his fingers under your chin. “Do you think this punishment is enough? You let a prisoner get away, one of great importance. If Hongjoong hadn't gotten away, we would be lightyears ahead already. With his knowledge, and perhaps the chance to turn him to the dark side, we would be invincible. Do you think a few paltry words and pain is enough to wash away the wrong you’ve done today?”

You shook your head. “No, Sir.”

“I think you owe me, then.” His eyes became hooded at your half naked form.

“I’ve given my life to the Empire,” You said forlornly, “Your will is my life.”

Seonghwa cocked his head, “My will?” You nodded.

Seonghwa began to walk around you again. “And what if I told you that there were other actions forbidden as a Jedi but I would partake in now that I am a Sith.” His breath hit the back of your neck and it made you shiver.

If you told him that you wanted it…? If you told him that if he took you right here and right now, that you would rub one off to the scene for the rest of your life, would he take it away from you? Would he consider it a reward and not a punishment? You decided, in that moment, that you would do whatever it took to make it happen.

You raised your eyes, dared to anyway, widening them in worry. “I am not worthy. I am but a useless Stormtrooper. You shouldn’t--”

Seonghwa raised his hand and your breath was cut off. “Isn’t that for me to decide?”

You nodded quickly and he released you. Your heart was beating out of your chest in fear and anticipation. You watched him as he pushed off his Sith outer robes. Leaving him in a sleeveless inner robe and tight pants. He removed the inner robe and it dropped to the floor. The pants were all that was left.

“Kneel,” Seonghwa commanded.

You did so without question, feet tucked under your butt, hands remaining on the tops of your thighs.

“Open your mouth.”

You dropped your jaw. Seonghwa pushed his pants down, revealing his cock at half-mast. He rubbed himself for a moment, making himself harder and longer, before pushing his head against your lips and into your wet mouth. He fucked your mouth with a calm pace, pushing your cheek obscenely with his cockhead. He began to bite down on his lips when you raised your gaze to meet yours.

“You’re much prettier with your mouth full of me instead of questioning me every time you open your mouth,” Seonghwa admitted.

You swallowed at his backhanded compliment, making your tongue move underneath his cock thrusting into your mouth. He moaned wantonly and then became a bit more rough. His cock began to fuck your throat. You worked on timing your breathing with his thrusts but soon it became a game with Seonghwa to make you choke and to cut off your air when you least expected it. You’d claw at his hips, prominent and sharp against his skin, looking for release. But the only release found was Seonghwa’s own. Soon, he spent his seed down your throat, making you swallow a million and one times over to take everything he gave you. He didn’t make a sound, he simply wrinkled his nose as his orgasm took him.

When he released your head, you braced yourself against the ground. It was much akin to when he had used Force Grip to choke you in his anger. Air refilled your lungs and you thanked your lucky stars Seonghwa had come, just so that you could breathe again.

“Aren’t you better than that?” Seonghwa provoked you. “Is that all that you can take?”

You shook your head and pushed yourself off the floor, once again. “No. I’m a Stormtrooper. I’ve been through worse.”

Abducted as a child, set through a military regiment, a grim life painted for the good of the Empire. Surely you could take more than Seonghwa using your throat to fuck?

Seonghwa smirked crookedly. “Is that so?”

Your core ached, after being so thoroughly used. All you wanted was to be taken up against the wall and fucked into the last inch of your life. But that was not your future, for a Sith simply takes what he wants and doesn’t think past that.

“That’ll do,” Seonghwa dismissed you.

You stood there in shock for a moment before he sent a jolt of electricity to zap you, with a little bit more zing than previously. “You’ve been dismissed.”

With the finality in his voice, you gathered the tatters of your suit and donned your armor and helmet, throwing your blaster over your shoulder on its sling. Did you really think you could out-sly a Sith, pretending to not want something you wanted to desperately? Of course Seonghwa could sift through your thoughts easily and see this was all you wanted. So he dismissed you, knowing that the ache for him would only grow. Then, when you would be ripe for the picking, he’d summon you to his room again. That is, if you lived long enough. As a Stormtrooper, you really were that expendable.

tagging: @anyamaris @kpop-stories-21 @stardragongalaxy my fellow star wars lovers

[miitgaanar]

@soartfullydone asked: No. 9: “Learning everything ain't what it seems, that's the thing about these days.”

Polaroid | Mistaken Identity | “You're a liar.” - Ayala/Thrawn

Yes! Yet another long overdue Whumptober prompt! So sue me!

This fic is a long time coming. Ayala is one of my most beloved OCs, and yet I've never written for her before this moment. I'm so happy to finally give her life and introduce her to the world.

The Thrawn/Ayala ship is entirely @editoress's fault, though. So any complaints should be sent her way~

***

The cargo hold was always silent, the cavernous space devoid of organic life.  Droids roamed the area with perfectly timed regularity, ensuring that none of the cadets decided to sneak some extra rations from the crates stacked precariously high in perfectly straight rows.

And yet the droids never paid Ayala any mind, their programming adjusted to leave the Twi’lek be.  Courtesy of the Grand Admiral himself, she believed.  He’d never said anything about her excursions into the cargo hold, and she’d never once asked for permission—but Grand Admiral Thrawn was always aware of what went on on his ship, no matter how careful she was in her movements.

There was a time when his apparent omniscience had rattled her, the desperate need to tear her way through the bulkhead to escape his ever present scarlet gaze all-consuming.  Without her armor, she was laid bare before him, vulnerable in a way she’d never been before.  It was humiliating, horrifying, and only made the gray, sterile walls of this enormous cage chafe all the more.

But Ayala had slowly come to respect his diligence, albeit with extreme reluctance.  It was an expression of trust to allow her to wander the ship freely—more than she ever would have granted a tentative ally—and an effort to show commitment to their temporary partnership.  He’d be foolish, however, to allow her to wander his halls and corridors completely unsupervised, her prowling unchecked.

And Grand Admiral Thrawn was anything but foolish.

So Ayala sauntered through the cargo hold unmolested, the security droids hardly sparing her a passing glance.  She walked with purpose, the path she followed long since engrained in her mind.  The endless rows of heavy crates eventually opened up into a large, rectangular area devoid of supplies and machinery alike.  Only a single console stood at its center, likely used to select containers from some far corner of the hold for unloading.

But she wasn’t interested in the console, had never paid it any mind since she’d first wandered down here some weeks ago, desperate for a place in which Imperial eyes were not constantly fixed on her.  A place where she could move and train without aruetiise scrutiny.

Her skin crawled as she fell into an offensive stance, only too aware of the fact that they still watched her even now, in this seemingly forgotten corner of the Star Destroyer.  Had she asked, Thrawn likely would have granted her limited access to their own training facilities, but she’d be damned if she asked the Imperial for anything, much less permission to hone her craft, to sharpen the blade that was her own body.

She had already lived under an Imp’s boot once, she wasn’t about to degrade herself a second time.

The thought sent a surge of rage through Ayala’s veins, white hot and scalding. She kicked out with a yell, the movement smooth as her leg cut through the air.  She then immediately stepped into a swift uppercut, the likes of which would have cracked a Stormtrooper’s helmet had she still been in possession of her beskar’gam.

A strangled cry tore from her throat as she seamlessly moved into a roundhouse kick.  Her body was too light, her limbs moving too easily.  It was only a lifetime of conditioning that kept her movements crisp and precise, that kept her strikes from becoming unwieldy.  But she felt the absence of her armor like she would the absence of an arm or a leg, and she knew that each strike paled in comparison to the damage she was capable of when fully ensconced within her beskar’gam.

A terrible pain bloomed within her chest, nearly making her falter as she stepped into a sharp punch.  A flash of memory—her armor mounted upon a slate gray wall, the midnight blue beskar on display for all to see.  A souvenir, a trophy.  The sacred steel reduced to a spoil of war, a talking point at Imperial galas.

And then his face.  His lips turned upward in a haughty smirk, his dark green eyes alight with malevolent mirth, all as he presented her to his fellow Imperial dogs.

A trophy.  A prize.  A symbol of his military prowess and superiority.

The man who had caught and tamed a Mandalorian warrior.  The man who had subdued a Mandalorian uprising.  The Scourge of Mandalore himself.

“Miss Ger’Mana.”

A voice broke through the dense fog of memories.  It was smooth, calm, controlled—but undercut with an all too familiar air of authority.

Ayala rounded on the voice, blinded by rage and grief and despair.  She didn’t think, acting purely on instinct as she allowed muscle memory to take control.  She dipped low, kicking the interloper’s legs out from under him.  He fell to the floor with a thunderous thud that echoed loudly throughout the hold, and Ayala was upon him before he could even think to push himself to his feet.

A knee to the chest, a hand to his throat.  She had no weapon beyond herself—though it would be enough.  It had to be enough.

She felt a dull pressure at her abdomen, the sensation chasing the murderous haze from her mind.  The first thing she registered was the uniform of the man beneath her: a pristine, near blinding white.  A far cry from her once-captor’s dark gray tunic.

And as she came back to herself, her breathing evening out from its ragged rhythm, it was his eyes that brought her plummeting back into the present.  Not dark, moss green, but a bright glowing red.  Like that of a carefully aimed blaster bolt.

“Miss Ger’Mana,” Grand Admiral Thrawn said again, only the slightest strain discernable in his voice, and that ever present air of authority sharpened to a fine point.  But there was no malice in the unspoken command, only the desire to bring her back under her own power.

Ayala blinked once.  Then again.  She looked down between them, spying the barrel of a small blaster pressed to her gut, right under her ribcage.  A simple squeeze of the trigger would have ended her, and any other soldier just might have done it.  But he remained calm and collected, even in the face of a Mandalorian’s fury.

Without a word, Ayala slowly pushed herself off of him, coming to her feet with her hands raised in peace.  Her jaw flexed painfully at the show of supplication, no matter how minor, but she somehow managed to smother her pride as she met his gaze.

“My apologies, Admiral,” she ground out, the words tasting like ash upon her tongue.  “I’m afraid I was—”  She paused, the admission near agonizing.  “I was elsewhere.”

Thrawn kept the blaster leveled with her as he stood, his crimson gaze steady and unreadable.  He seemed to study her for a brief moment, searching her face for something.  Though what he was looking for, she couldn’t say.

But whatever he found appeared to satisfy him, as he lowered the blaster to his side, nodding stiffly.  “You were not answering the summons in your quarters,” he said.  “Nor your comms.  I nearly sent Pellaeon to fetch you, though it seems I was correct in my decision to come myself.”

Ayala felt her lekku twitch slightly, but she was careful to keep her features blank.  “My apologies, Admiral,” she said again, and offered nothing further.

Thrawn simply nodded again, holstering his blaster.  “Come,” he said.  “There have been some developments you should be made aware of.”

Ayala only offered her own stiff nod in reply, moving to walk ahead of him and out of the cargo hold.  And though the walk to the bridge was silent, she knew that the Grand Admiral was only too aware of where exactly she had been when she had pinned him to the floor.  And who had truly been her target.

[andy-solo1]

Heartache [Cassian Andor x Reader]

Cassian Andor x Reader

Part 1 of a 3 part fic for Cassian Andor x reader. 

Warnings: Angst, Andor spoilers, brief mentions of suicide, cannon typical violence, mentions of death, cannon character death 

Words: 4,554

Notes: This is the longest single chapter I’ve ever written and I poured everything I had into it. I really hope you all enjoy it. 

 * * *

“On program!” Kino yells and you quickly place yourself into position. You lost track of the amount of times you’d done this. The days spent toiling away, each passing by in an endless blur just like the day before. Hope was a nonexistent entity. Your only hope on any day was not being the team in last place. 

You’d heard the whispers of an uprising. You’d seen the others communicating between floors, trying desperately to find a way out. But you knew it was a hopeless endeavour. There were only two ways of getting out of Narkina 5. By finishing your sentence and being freed, or in a body bag. 

The officer on the level above shoved forward the latest poor soul to enter the compound and rode the small elevator down. You studied the new man, his brown eyes blown wide as he took everything in. You knew what he must be feeling, for you’d stood in his place once. And realising that this is what your fate was, was a crushing feeling indeed. 

After the guard was gone and Kino gave his speech, the new guy moved in towards his table, the one next to yours as work started back up once more. You kept your eyes glued to the task before you, unwilling to let your group fall behind, to be the last team. Even as you focused on your task you could hear the murmurings of the group next to yours, curiosity driving you to pay some attention to what they were saying.

“What’s your name?” Melshi asked, probably already guiding the new guy into his work. 

“Keef Girgo.” The man replied curtly, and that was the last you heard from the group as Kino snapped at them to get to work. 

 *                                                        *                                                        *

The flames flicked high into the sky, casting the world around you in a red glow. Your eyes strained to see anything through the flames and smoke. The same smoke that was filling your lungs, making each breath feel like another flame was burning within your lungs. 

You screamed, looking all over to try and find your family. You knew they were here somewhere within the flamed wreckage of what had once been a peaceful village. 

Someone far off screamed in pain and you thought you recognized their scream. You turned to go towards them when a tight, vice-like grip grabbed hold of your arm. You let out your own wailing scream of despair as the stormtrooper gripping your arm began to drag you out and away from your home. 

You struggled against him with all your might, but he wouldn’t let go, rather he tightened his grip upon you. You were strong, working the soil all your life had taught you strength, but he was a trained soldier, he knew how to hold back someone who could be stronger than him. You were left weak and at his will. 

The stormtrooper threw you onto a shuttle, a few others were on it with you, fellow villagers. All of them covered in soot and ash, fear blowing their eyes wide open, as you knew your own were. 

Silence rang in your ears as the ramp to the shuttle raised and lifted up off the ground. Your stomach sank as the shuttle flew off, away from the fire, away from the remains of your home, away from your family. 

You just knew you’d never be back again. 

 *                                                           *                                                          *

Keef Girgo, or rather, Cassian Andor, watched the proceedings of the prison in silence. A dull emotion had settled over him, and he wasn’t sure what it was. Hopelessness perhaps. Or, perhaps it was his resolve to find a way out no matter what, which was something he wasn’t entirely convinced wouldn’t just end with him dead. But he was willing to try. 

So he observed the proceedings around him during his work shift, and even as he stood waiting in the walkways with the others in his group for the changeover of shifts, he observed. That’s how he saw one of his fellow prisoners making gestures out the window, and looking, he could see one of the other walkways, and a prisoner over there making hand signals back to the man on his side of the glass. 

“What are they talking about?” Cassian asked quietly. 

“Plans of escape usually, though I wouldn’t get your hopes up. Nobody escapes from here.” You whispered softly in reply. Cassian turned around to see you standing behind him, he froze for a few moments as he took in your features. 

“On program!” Kino shouted, walking past the two of you and Cassian snapped back around, falling into position like the others. He knew he shouldn’t push boundaries, at least not on the first day. 

“They are organising an escape?” He asked you quietly, keeping his eyes glued before him. 

“They attempt to. It’s also just a way to talk between floors.” You replied quietly. “But like I said, nobody escapes, so don’t get your hopes up.” 

“What other choice is there if not to try to escape?” Cassian asked. He could tell from the tone in your voice that your spirit was crushed. But he believed that escape was possible, and he was going to die trying if it came to it. He owed it to Maarva to try and get word back to her. 

“Keep quiet!” Kino shouted from the front so loud Cassian almost missed your reply. 

“Finish your sentence, or die in here.” 

 *                                                           *                                                         *

Days blended together for Cassian. He worked, trying to help prevent his team from coming in last everyday, and tried to work out escape plans with his fellow inmates who were already working on plans. At nights, before the floor would activate he would gather with the others and work out plans in hushed tones. Even though none of the prison guards would be listening in, they all agreed they didn’t need Kino yelling at them all for making up foolish plans, as he had a few times before. 

Cassian was distracted from the conversation when he saw you walking past. He didn’t know why, but something about you just drew him to you. 

Maybe it was the fact, that even though everyone here had a sense of hopelessness to them, especially so with the increased sentence times, you seemed to be so much more devoid of life than any of the others. 

Leaving the conversation, Cassian stood outside the opening to your sleeping quarters, the one next door to his. You looked at him, quirking your brow in question. 

“Why don’t you want to escape?” Cassian asked you. He’d asked the question of a few others, and mostly he’d gotten to learn that if they could, they’d want out. 

“There is no escaping from here.” You replied flatly. 

“And what if you could. Wouldn’t you want to?” He pressed. He didn’t know why he was so persistent with you. But he wanted to know you, wanted to know everyone around him really, but especially you. 

“Do you have someone at home to go back to?” You asked him instead of answering. 

“I do. I have my mother.” He replied. He looked into your gaze, and for the first time since he’d been there, he saw more than just blank despair. He saw pain, raw and true flicker across your features. As you opened your mouth to say something to him, a voice rang out above them all, warning prisoners to return to their cells before the floor became active.

You turned your back on him and he watched you for a few more moments before quickly moving over into his cell just before the lights went dark and the floor went live. 

 *                                                         *                                                              *

The shuttle landed down on some planet. You didn’t know where you were. You had never before left your home, never even left your village, and now, here you were, being ushered off a shuttle by stormtroopers, scared and practically alone. The other villagers were with you, but like yourself, they were all silent, fear and anguish gripping their tongues tightly. 

The stormtroopers lead you all into a large building and had you all wait in a line before who you quickly came to realise was a judge. The stamping of the sentence tickets rang out in your head, like a guillotine dropping over the necks of everyone she sentenced. 

Finally it was your turn on the chopping block as you stepped up before the judge. You repeated your name out to the judge before she read out your sentence, your stomach dropping out from your gut.

“Guilty of rebellion against the empire. Six years.” She stated, and down came the sentence stamp. The clang of the metal being engraved ringing in your ears as your whole body and mind went numb. 

You awoke with a gasp in a pool of your own sweat. You could feel it across your back and dripping down your forehead. Standing up you stumbled forward to the edge of your cell, trying to get some cooler feeling air as you tried to shake the memory from your mind. 

Your whole body shook as silent tears began to fall and you slid down the wall until you were sitting right on the edge of the floor. You let out a choked sob and you faintly heard the sounds of someone moving on the other side of the wall. 

“Are you alright?” You heard someone whisper quietly and it took you a moment to realise it was Keef. You took a long, shaky breath before answering. 

“Yeah. I’m okay.” You replied quietly, lying to both yourself and him. 

“But, you are crying.” He replied, sympathy in his voice. You were both silent for a few moments after that. You turned your head to gaze blankly at the red lights on the floor as tears still flowed freely down your face.

“Have you ever lost anyone?” You asked, so quietly you weren’t sure he’d even hear you. 

“Yes. I lost my father. And I’ve seen the deaths of others around me.” He answered honestly. “What about you?” 

“I lost my whole family. I don’t know for sure if they died, but deep down. I know they’re gone.” You replied, voice cracking as fresh tears rolled down your face in heavy waves. “They’re all gone.” You sobbed. “My parents, my brother, everyone. They’re all dead. They’re all gone. I’ll never see them again and it’s all because of this blasted empire.” 

You put your head in your hands and cried. You cried until you didn’t think any liquid was left in your body. Keef had been silent so long you’d almost even forgotten about him when he finally spoke up again. 

“The empire is the reason my father died. The reason why I was not able to stay with my mother. They’re why I’m here now. I understand loss, but yours is a greater loss than I could know. I am sorry for that.” He said quietly. You knew he meant well, trying to comfort you, but the words fell hollow and heavy on your heart, so wrung through with pain that it surprised you when you felt a small flicker of warmth and appreciation for the man. 

“Thank you Keef.” You whispered softly, wiping away the remainder of your tears. 

“Cassian.” 

“What?” 

“My name. It’s not Keef. It’s Cassian. Cassian Andor.” 

“Well thank you Cassian. And, your secret is safe with me.” 

 *                                                           *                                                              *

Something was deeply wrong. Everyone could feel it. Taga was frantically trying to communicate with the other floors as panic levels rose within everyone. 

Panic gripped your heart like an icy vice, sinking its talons in deep and making your blood feel cold as it coursed through your veins. 

“What’s going on?” Cassian asked from Taga’s side, looking out at the other floors despite not being able to translate the hand gestures himself. 

“Something’s happening on 2.” Taga replied, panic lacing his tone as he continued trying to communicate with the others. 

“Everyone calm down.” Kino ordered, though even he had a note of panic in his tone. That was something that worried you deeply. The floor manager never once showed panic or fear, but now. Now you knew things were really wrong if even Kino was impacted. 

“What is going on?” Someone yelled. 

“I don’t know. Something’s happening on 2 but nobody can say what.” Taga replied, more panic in his tone than before. You could practically feel the fear in the air now. Everyone was on edge and nobody knew what to do. 

Suddenly the voice of your captors came over the speakers, calling for all prisoners to get on program or face consequences. Everyone was in too much of a panicked state to process the order at first. 

“Get on program, now.” Kino ordered, pulling people away from the windows. Soon they were all complying, standing still with your hands on your heads. 

“What happened?” Cassian hissed. 

“Be quiet.” Kino snapped, not turning around to look at him. 

“They’re all dead. They killed the whole floor.” Taga replied quietly. Shock fell through the group and you felt like you could breathe anymore.  Each breath was an effort for you as you followed the others in the lineup towards your sleeping area. 

Panic held you tightly in its clutches as your mind ran wild. The only reason you could think of for them killing a whole prison floor was that they found out that they, like those on your floor, wanted to find a way to escape. 

Numbly, you barely even registered you were back standing before your cell, taking a few moments to realise where you were. Cassian started to walk past you and you snapped. You were beginning to care for the man, having had other late night talks with him when neither of you could find any comfort in sleep. And now, with these new events, you didn’t want the man to wind up dead, much less bringing all the others to the grave with him. 

“You realise why they killed them!” You snapped, moving to stand before Cassian. He looked at you, slightly bewildered at your sudden change in mood and tone. He’d never heard you speak in more than a hushed tone, and definitely not with so much venom in your voice. 

“Why?” He asked quietly.

“Because they must have found out they were looking for a way to escape. Why else would they kill an entire floor? You need to stop this, you’re going to get yourself and everyone else around you here killed.” 

“We don’t know that that’s why they killed them all. And I’d rather die trying to get free then let them break me in here trying to work for a freedom that may never come.” 

The blood was roaring so loudly in your ears that you didn’t hear the warnings for the floor. You didn’t hear Kino yelling for you to get into your cell, now. 

The next thing you knew, your arm was being grabbed and you were pulled up against someone’s chest, just as the lights in the room went dark and floor went live. 

Your breath came out in ragged gasps, the rage and anguish that gripped you before dissipating as you stared at the spot on the floor where you’d been moments before, the same spot of floor that now ran with an electrical current, set to kill anyone who dared touch it. 

Slowly you turned your head to look up at Cassian. He still held a loose grip of your arm, hand just above the elbow. Your chests were nearly touching, but closest of all was his face, his mouth close enough to you that you could feel his breath fanning across you. Your heart thrummed in your chest, and you were certain that he could hear it. For the first time in a long time, you truly felt alive. 

However, the moment was over before it could even truly begin as Cassian slowly let his hand fall back to his side and took a step back in the already small space. The pounding of your heart slowed back down and the feelings subsided, leaving you back to your bleak world, as though the colour had been leached back out of your life right after being able to see it again for the first time in a very long time. 

“You can take the bed for the night since you’re stuck here.” He offered quietly, and you nodded mutely in response. All the emotions from before and the near death experience as well as the odd swell of emotions from being faced so close to Cassian left you feeling numb. 

You lay down on the bed and find sleep a hard thing to come by. The events of the day left your soul feeling raw, and your heart feeling numb. Eventually your eyes became too heavy to hold open and you drifted off into an uneasy sleep.

 *                                                            *                                                         *

The dreams were different this time. Rather than reliving the events as they happened, you could move around, and you weren’t sure if that was worse. 

You watched as the stranger approached your village, injured and weakened. Your mother, always a kind woman with an open heart for anyone, helped the man into your home. You learned little about him, but it was clear he was hiding from something and despite protests on your part, your mother insisted on keeping the stranger and helping him. 

Then they came. 

You screamed and tried to stop them as they marched towards your home. They carried on walking, despite all your efforts and you watched helpless as they banged on your door. It was odd, seeing yourself opening the door, watching as your eyes widened in fear and called for your mother just as you had that day. 

You disappeared from the doorframe and your mother appeared instead. 

“What can I help you with?” She asked politely, calm even then. 

“You are harbouring a fugitive of the empire. Return him and the punishment will not be as severe as it can be.” The leading stormtrooper replied. 

“I’m sorry. We have nobody here like that.” Your mother replied, lying to the stormtroopers. You closed your eyes, tears falling because you knew what came next. 

The stormtroopers searched your home from top to bottom, but found nothing because your mother had moved the stranger next door when reports came to her of the approaching stormtroopers. 

The same stormtroopers who returned later that day and began to burn everything down. 

You were helpless to do anything but watch as your brother stormed towards the Stormtroopers, begging them to stop and blocking them from getting to a home. The home of his Fiance that he’d so proudly asked to marry him just that morning and you’d all been so happy about. That happiness felt a lifetime away now. 

A scream was ripped from your throat as the lead stormtrooper casually pulled out a blaster and shot your brother down. A single shot to the head and the stormtroopers stepped over the still warm body of your brother, smoke curling up from the wound, and began to set fire to the house. The screams from inside the home echoed in your mind as you stared down at the face of your brother, a look of fear and anguish permanently frozen on his features. 

Once more you woke, drenched deeply in sweat. You were shaking and tears were rolling freely down your face. You exited the bed, stepping carefully over Cassian who was asleep on the floor and walked to the edge of the cell. 

You leaned forward, staring down at the floor. Every nerve and fibre in your being told you to do it. All it would take was just one step. Then you could finally be free from everything. You lifted one foot and started to move forward. 

A tight grip on your arm came suddenly and pulled you back into the cell and flush up against Cassian’s chest once more. His breath came in ragged gasps of panic across your face and you could see the fear in his brown eyes. 

You broke down sobbing, burying your head against his chest as his arms moved to encircle you. He gently rubbed your back as you cried. He knew to just let you get it out of your system and wait for you to be ready to talk. 

“I’m such a hypocrite.” You sobbed against his chest after a while, the tears had resided some, though you were still crying. “I was so mad about a whole floor being killed, but then I-” you broke off into sobs again. 

“You are not a hypocrite. Hearing about the deaths of others is always a hard thing. And I don’t know what drove you to this, but I know you must have had your reasons.” Cassian replied quietly. He slipped a hand under your chin and tilted your head back to look at him “But please, promise me you won’t try this again. I care about you, and if that means nothing, then just hold onto the fact that if you can get one person to care, you could get someone who you care about to care too.” 

It took you a while to process his words, gazing up into his soft brown eyes, you could see the care he’d come to hold for you in the time he’d been here shining in his gaze. You leaned in closer, heart pounding in your chest in a different way that it had been before. Cassian closed the final distance between the two of you. 

His lips were soft and warm against yours as your eyes fluttered shut, leaning into the kiss. You moved your hands up to hold the back of his head while his hands moved to cusp the sides of your face. Everything about the moment was pleasantly warm, and that warmth filled your heart, chasing away the lingering curls of the sadness from before. 

Eventually the two of you parted, though still remained close in each other's arms. You opened your eyes to look up at him, and saw a small smile curling his lips. A smile came to your own lips. 

“Please, promise me you’ll stay for me.” He whispered softly. “Don’t leave me.” 

“I promise.” 

*                                                          *                                                             *

Your heart was racing in your chest as you followed Cassian and Kino through the halls. Adrenaline fueled you and the three of you ran towards the command centre. So far, Cassian’s escape plan was actually working. 

Ulaf’s death had spurred things into action and now, now that freedom was so close you could nearly taste it, you actually felt hopeful. 

Cassian kept you close to him as you went. He carried a blaster and took out any guards you came across for you. He knew you couldn’t handle killing anyone and he wasn’t going to force you to make that choice. 

When you reached the command room you stuck close behind Cassian, listening as Kino made his speech. Everything Kino said set your blood ablaze, giving you a newer will to get free. 

When the three of you left the room, you were all chanting, so was everyone else in the building. 

“One way out!”

“One way out!”

“ONE WAY OUT!” 

The flow of people pushing past you was strong. You got separated from Kino and Cassian as people pushed past you, and pushed you closer to the edge of the prison. You didn’t even get your own chance to jump as the waves of people pushed you over the edge. 

Hitting the water was a shock on your system, and your head slipped under the water for a few moments. The sudden cold stunned you for a few moments before instinct kicked in and you swam your way up to the surface, gasping for air as you got your head above water. People were all around you, swimming as fast as they could to get away from the building. Your heart tightened in your chest as you looked around in a panic. 

“Cassian!” You screamed, trying to find him. You didn’t know if he’d hear you over the sounds of the waves and the people swimming through them but you had to try. “Cassian!” You screamed again, turning around to look the other way. 

You were about to give up when you finally saw him, and he was clearly looking around  for you too. He looked over and spotted you and he quickly went over to you, Melshi with him as well. Together again, the three of you began to swim, just like all the others. 

Away from the prison. Away from the pain. Away from the empire.

*                                                         *                                                             *

Niamos was a quiet planet, especially now as the sun was setting before you. You stood next to Melshi, watching your first sunset in years. Your new stolen clothes feel so much more comfortable against your skin than the prison uniform ever had. Glancing back towards Cassian, you watched him talking on the phone for a moment, trying to contact his mother to let her know he was okay. 

“We might be the only ones who made it.” Melshi said quietly next to you, drawing your attention towards him. 

“I still can’t believe we made it.” You replied softly, and he gave a small smile. 

“One way out. And we found it.” He replied, before looking to Cassian as he came over to join the two of you. “Everything okay?” 

Cassian nodded “Yeah, it’s fine.” You could tell that he was lying, but you weren’t going to press him, not right now. 

“We need to let people know about what happened.” Melshi said and Cassian nodded in agreement. “I think we should split up, get the word out. If they were moving prisoners around on Narkina 5 they’re probably doing it in other prisons too.” 

“I agree. People need to know what happened.” Cassian said, and he pulled Melshi into a hug. The two embraced before parting. Melshi gave you a hug as well before Cassian gave him a blaster and the two of you watched as Melshi took off on his own. 

“My mother died.” Cassian told you, long after you’d stopped seeing Melshi in the distance. 

“Oh Cas, I’m so sorry.” You replied, turning to look at him. 

“I’m going back to see her funeral.” 

“Then I’m coming with you.” 

“No, the empire is there. I can handle myself but please, don’t come. If they get me, I can find my way out again. I don’t want to put you through that again though. Promise me you will wait for me.” He says quietly. 

“I promise.” You whisper, and he pulls you close in his arms, pressing his lips to yours. Heat fills you once more, and this time, there are no others who could see the two of you around. 

Cassian gives you a night of love and passion. And even though your mind is distracted by everything about him, deep down you knew.

You knew in your heart that when you woke in the morning he would already be gone. In his place was a note with just three words. 

‘Wait for me’