this is the new empire .

gideon hask for galaticshq.

[allegiantson]

RICHARD MADDEN // have you met GIDEON HASK yet? HE/HIM is now a THIRTY-FOUR year old CISGENDER MALE HUMAN, originally from KUAT but typically resides with THE EMPIRE’S FLEET. after everything they’ve gone through, they show loyalty to THE EMPIRE / THE FIRST ORDER. they are best known for being a COMMANDER / MEMBER OF INFERNO SQUAD, and i hear they’re grown pretty TACTICAL yet also ARROGANT at times; i hope they survive the galactic war.

L O A D I N G : // …  8ABY : MONTH TWO … //

hask continues to serve the empire as a commander in the fleet, working with figures like rae sloane and armitage hux.

during the later months of 6 aby, he encounters poe dameron several times, both by intention and by accident, forming a friendship ( and flirtationship ) with the other man, reporting back to the empire on his whereabouts. eventually, this leads to poe's interrogation by hask's hand, wanting to know where fn-2187 had gone.

he attends the hapes gala at rae sloane's side, and encounters lando calrissian and alton kastle there, but uses it as a reason to reunite with iden versio, surprising her with the revelation that he had survived jakku. they exchange words before the yuuzhan vong attack, then, as soldiers do, resort to violence, both to survive and get at the other.

after hapes, he encounters kylo ren for the first time, hoping to earn his favor ( and with it, a promotion ).

he continues to communicate with iden versio, the two unable to cut the other from their lives.

[allegiantson]

“Someday you will have to answer for your actions, and god may not be so merciful.”

“i didn’t take you for a religious one, mando.” hask eyes her with a sense of curiosity, no anger despite his surety that was the reaction she desired. “if you think to threaten me, i would reconsider.” the empire had destroyed her planet once. they would not hesitate to do so again. “i thought you would have learned that by now, wren.”

[allegiantson]

“Do I look like the kind of being who dies?“

“no.” the response is simple, plain - but not an understatement. gideon hask has always been a simple man ( although the figure across him is quite the opposite ), and one for simple words. his most lacking skill, likely, was his inability for small talk, honeyed and false courtesies irregular on his tongue. “you don’t, . . . ?” the question lingers, unspoken. just who exactly was this “friend”? “i don’t seem to recall your name.”

[allegiantson]

versios·:

it’s true. inferno squad had been all iden had for years. hask her best friend since they were teens, del one of the few people alive with the temperament to handle them both in a ship that never quite seemed big enough between the two of them. she’d tried to save her father at the end, but… it hadn’t been about him. she’d wanted him to see that she was right, to prove herself. she had, in a sense, but it hadn’t come to the satisfying conclusion that she had hoped for.

maybe that was why she wasn’t motivated to do the same for him. there was nothing clean about any of this. there never would be.

“not anymore.” iden was certain he’d assume she was referring to his loss and not what she had gained. they both knew making friends did not come naturally to her. she sighed, her head dropping and pinching the bridge of her nose. “what do you think is going to happen here? you’re not stupid enough to think that i would drop everything, leave del, just because you asked.” tracking her, maybe. that was fine. she could handle that. “are you sure you’re not the one wanting to get out before it really kills you?”

he almost laughs at the suggestion, instead shaking his head slowly in response at her words, smile creeping onto his face. “i’m not asking you to leave del, iden. he was a decorated soldier, one of our most talented engineers. if he gets over that little empathy problem, we’d more than welcome the both of you back into our ranks.” he’d had a bigger soft spot for iden, but it had still existed for del, the two men bonding quickly and strongly throughout the course of their first meetings ( pretending to be brothers turning into that true feeling ). 

at her second words, he refuses to rise to the bait, to her words of betrayal. come now, iden. she knew him better than that - both to think it would be true, and to think he’d fall for that rather obvious trick. certainly, he tended to let his emotional guard down around her - a mistake he tried actively to fix and failed, well, nearly every time - but this . . . this was just far too clear an attempt to rile him up. “i thought you knew me better than that.” he responds, leaning back in his chair. “i don’t break oaths, iden. especially not this one.”

[allegiantson]

advestas·:

—”Well my stars, how can it get much more interesting than this?” she gasped, their dramatized expression clearly indicating sarcasm to anyone who wasn’t brainbolted. flipping the page again. “Did you know General Hux is a bottle-ginger? Must have a whole stash of dye in his quarters to keep up the farce.” 

Adni wasn’t fooled by the sensational claims of the tabloid, unlike she claimed. As soon as she finished her performance, she looked back down at the data pad, neutral expression returning. “You don’t seem like a man to spend your hard earned credits on holo-bim publications,” they chastised, before cutting their eyes back up towards him, “Ah, unless you just bought it for the pictures. I heard this edition has a great centerfold of Yarna d’al’ Gargan.”

okay, he’d admit it. she almost made him laugh with that one. as much as rae sloane liked hux, and as much as he respected rae, the ginger had quite the irritating habit of prying far too much into hask’s projects - particularly, project resurrection. to be fair, hask didn’t enjoy the company of brendol hux, either, despite frequent collaboration - maybe it was just the family line in general that irritated him rather than the individual men. 

“and what kind of man do you take me to be?” he questions, raising a brow. yarna d’al gargan . . . she couldn’t be serious. but, to be fair, the empire’s force users he’d met all never seemed to be, most far too emotional or just downright playful with their duties. he really should have expected she’d be the same, especially considering she’d deserted her post for what appeared to be nothing but some mindless fun. 

[galacticmilla]

@galacticsopens​

Milla almost never stepped off the ship because she was allowed to. she almost always got into trouble when she got free reign over whatever planet they docked at, and as such her parents stopped letting her off-board. except that made it worse, because she always wanted to see. so really, she just snuck out a lot. and such was the case when the bright horizon docked on…

wait, where was she?

she hadn’t asked before slipping away, and now she found herself wandering around looking for clues. giving up, because she’d never been much for geography, she stared down at her map, asking for help from a passerby. “which planet is this?” wait, what if they weren’t on a planet? she should’ve just asked before she ran off.

[allegiantson]

“not a planet.” he responds dryly, watching the young woman with exceeding interest. her species was not one he recognized, an odd look to her that wasn’t quite human, but it was her sheer confusion that piqued his interest moreso. the chances of a stowaway making it to this station were slim - nay, near impossible - which must have meant . . . she’d come here on an invited vessel, given the clearance. but how was that possible, with the naive question she’d posed?

he straightens, leans closer, examining the map she carried. “a space station.” his finger taps a region in wild space, far from where they truly were, both a test and covering their tracks. “you won’t find it on any galactic map, but that’s approximate.” a grain of truth, coupled with the lie. he didn’t feel the need to clarify who ran the station - his own sleek pilot’s uniform should have been more than enough, having been about to take a practice flight when he’d encountered her in the hallway leading to the hangars.

hangar. he peers around her discretely, looking for any sign of others like her - in appearance, or that didn’t belong in the mass of uniforms that trooped through this base every day. “you’re pretty lost for someone with a ship.” a baited statement - would she fall for it ?

[advestas]

Open Starter; Location: Anywhere; @galacticsopens​

Adni felt it had been about a hundred years since she had stepped foot off base. Of course that was just an exaggeration, but she was more than enthusiastic to complete the menial task recently assigned to her if it granted them the illusion of freedom for the time being. They had convinced their master she would be more effective without the constant watch of stormtroopers but she knew she was being tracked in one way or the other. The First Order wouldn’t risk her running off from them again.

She decided to take a short break from her errand, finding a datapad, some sort of local publication, and deciding to look through the information it held. Maybe it would be relative to her task, but even if not, it would surely entertain her. There was no rush, especially with no interplanetary communication for the time being, they had been instructed to wait on this planet until a battery of x-wings would escort her ‘home’. She could finish her chore on her own time.

Looking up from the datapad, she saw a figure nearby she hadn’t originally noticed. 

—“Oh, I’m sorry, was this yours?” 

[allegiantson]

gideon hask was a renowned member of one of the empire’s most elite squads. an awarded combat veteran and commander. a survivor of some of the deadliest battles and missions in the empire’s history. he was not a babysitter.

but yet here he was, resoundingly that. he’d thought it a bad joke at first, upon receiving the assignment - “collect a wayward valuable personnel.” more information had been attached, of course, but he’d stopped reading beyond that sentence. he was a fucking commander, for stars’ sake - this was far, far beneath him.

he’d ended up doing it anyways. this knight of ren, as he’d learned, had been late to report in on a mission, and hadn’t been heard from - skipping duties, he’d been told, but he’d worried something far worse: defection. so perhaps that was why he hadn’t fought the task ( much ). regardless of intent or reason on either end, he was here, combing through streets and cams and —

had she just walked into his fucking lap like that? right there, holding his datapad and acting like she hadn’t a care in the world? “it was.” a beat. “is.” smooth, gideon. very commanding officer. “you’re looking on the wrong page if you want something interesting.” the publication had been a cover, a reason for waiting at this counter and sipping a cup of caf long gone cold. as she likely knew - she was a knight of ren, couldn’t they read minds ? - that wasn’t why he was here.

[generally-scheming]

@allegiantson​  //  attn: Gideon Hask

Hux lingered in a shadowed alley of another Outer Rim spaceport, a lit cigarra his alibi. Never the same port twice — he was far too paranoid for that. It had been harder than anticipated to secure informants under Brendol’s nose, which meant that the bastard other General Hux had stayed alive far longer than Armitage would have preferred. Hopefully the spy he courted last time had survived to report back today.

Right on time for their rendezvous, a figure appeared at the alleyway entrance. Relief flooded his veins. It stopped cold, replaced by recognition. The man before him belonged to the First Order, but he was not Hux’s informant. Gideon Hask had been much older the last time Hux saw him. He had not looked like this since Hux’s earliest childhood memories, when Hask and his father had worked side by side. Hux stomped out his cigarra, his hand casually drifting within reach of his blaster.  “Hask,”  he acknowledged, brisk.  “Who sent you?”

[allegiantson]

armitage. hask was far more familiar with his father, brendol - but that was why hask was here, wasn’t it ? a father’s folly coupled in his son. he watches this hux’s hand drift towards the blaster at his side with an edge of a smile on his lips - bold, and perhaps arrogant, for this general to assume he could outdraw a member of inferno squad. particularly someone of hask’s own rather . . . ruthless reputation.

“can i not be here for my own interests?” he poses, quirking a brow and stepping closer, unthreatened. “perhaps i’m curious of the reputation you’ve built yourself in this time.” or perhaps i’m here for your father. he wasn’t, but it would be rather entertaining to leave hux thinking so for the moment, worried of the possibility. hask had loyalty to brendol, certainly, committed to project resurrection, but it lay far more with the work than with the man, who, true to rumors, was rather unpleasant. perhaps why hask had begun service under rae sloane - whose network of intelligence had lead him here, a few favors ( and commands ) leveraged.

[versios]

allegiantson​   //   gideon hask.

frankly, hask was kind of grateful for the world plunging into hell, considering the absolutely murderous look in iden versio’s eyes.

glass shattered and fire blossomed across the ballroom floor, screams ringing out, half-deaf to his already ringing ears, caught too close to a blast. but he was inferno squad - he’d survived far worse than this. whatever this was. instinct reached for his blaster, but hands met air, lips muttering a huttese swear garrick versio would have admonished him completely for even daring to think about. ( hask respected iden’s father, but stars, if he wasn’t strict. something he’d always agreed with iden on. iden. where was iden? )

pushing himself to his feet, he scanned the chaos. gray figures crouched over fallen bodies, and the first familiar hums of sabers began to sound as jedi pulled their weapons to their sides. a helpful skill to have right now, and one he wished he could copy.

well, he’d do his own version; arms wrapped around the neck of a half-dazed hapan guard, struggle ending in instances, snatching the blaster and vibrostaff from the still-warm grip and leaving the body to drop. let the gray figures have it - he was here for one thing, one person only.

iden was born angry. she knew it, her father knew it, her mother knew it. perhaps one of the few traits about her that her father had truly praised ( she doesn’t think about his last moments ). that rage had pushed her through all the shit of the empire, it had made her the best. she’d tried not to use it in the same way with the rebellion and new republic, tried to tone it down to be more like the others that she knew.

but it had never gone away.

it was consuming now. her arm and shoulder screamed with pain from the burns that stuck her clothes to her skin, but it pushed her forward. even after this time, iden still knew him like she knew the back of her hand. it was easy to find him choking out a hapan guard. ten minutes ago, it would have been an offense. now, well, it was appropriate. didn’t matter.

“what, you didn’t want to call?” she sneered at him, venom dripping from her throat. “how’s the leg?” she’d be happy to choke him out, finish the job. iden wasn’t sure that she’d ever sleep again if she didn’t. 

[allegiantson]

"how's del?" he retorts, eyes not straying from iden, chaos and death unfolding so close and yet at such a distance, second to the woman in front of him ( as it had always been ). "i think it's telling you've come after me instead of looking for him." a gesture at the violence, a step backwards, space between them and one second closer to an exit, which, judging by the looks and sounds of things, would be needed very soon. "i don't think he can quite hack himself out of this one."

grip tightens on the staff, weighing it in his hands in anticipation of the violent resolution that comment would surely build to - as had been the intention. he would not let either of them die at the hand of these invaders ( which, what the fuck even were they ? well, he'd let intelligence figure that one out ); if inferno squad were to finally meet their end tonight, it would be at each other's hands.

[drewsburyhq-deactivated20230619]

allegiantson​:

he’d been warned about dameron’s relentless optimism and wit, but stars, this was fucking ridiculous. a frown crosses his features, arms crossed as he observes the commander through a flickering red energy shield, watching with dark interest. “don’t flatter yourself.” to dameron’s credit, hask had enjoyed tricking the other man far more than he should probably admit ( or ever would ). “information is the reason you’re here.” oh, what would he start with? something easy, give dameron a chance to make this as painless as possible. “where’s fn-2187?” hask had had no personal interest in the stormtrooper until he’d heard of his defection - and higher command had ordered an investigation. there was something more to it, and he’d be the one to find it. hell, if he was that important, maybe he’d get a promotion out of it. captain gideon hask. he liked the sound of that. don’t practice saying it in the mirror just yet, iden would have said. well, she wasn’t here, was she?

“  Oh,  that’s  all  you  want,  honey  ?  “  Poe  tilted  his  head,  grinning  despite  the  pain  in  his  wrists.  “  And  here  I  thought  we  had  a  connection.  “  they  needed  to  learn  how  to  better  realize  if  their  current  flirtation  was  or  wasn’t  an  evil  son  of  a  bitch.  “  If  you  know  anything  about  me,  you’d  know  that  I  wouldn’t  tell  you  anything  about  them.  “  they  spit  out.  he,  at  the  very  least,  would  have  read  Poe’s  file  before  this  kidnapping.  “  I’d  kill  me  now  if  I  were  you.  “  

[allegiantson]

"kill you?" he barks a laugh, shaking his head in disapproval. "i have no plans of letting you get out of this quite that easily." no. there were far more methods to be tried before that finality, and far more information to be had. as well versed as dameron likely was in their tactics - tales of his repeated capture prominent in their records - that didn't mean he was immune. far from it - he was just a pilot, albeit a good one. he sinks into a crouch, eye level with dameron. "besides, why would i choose to deprive myself of your endless wit this early?"

[versios]

“come with me. leave everything behind.” ( from hask )

the words hurt.

the words really hurt. it had been three and a half years since iden had shot him in the leg and left behind, a little under three since she had incorrectly thought that she had killed him in the endless desert of jakku. three years of anger. gideon had been her best friend. for many years of her life, she’d genuinely thought that he was the only person who cared about her.

maybe he still cared. he had to, didn’t he? if he was saying that. that hurt worse than hate, that hask could say something like that. that he was still willing to give her a chance.

“i’ve already left it all behind, hask.” the empire, her father, had suffocated her for years. the vivacious spark had always been stifled by superiors, but at least inferno squad, when she had been in charge, there had been room to be a person. it had been okay to be excited about a mission, to find enjoyment in the thrill. they had done terrible, awful things, there was no doubt about that. maybe hask didn’t see it that way now, but she did. underneath all of the awful things though, they had been people. family. it wasn’t the same as what she felt for del, but iden had loved him, in their own way. “you included.” 

[allegiantson]

her words are expected, repeated response once again from her lips, prompting the same scowl from his own. he couldn't see her, not through the comm, but part of him wanted to, to see if it was anger or regret that flashed across her face. frankly, he wasn't sure which would have hurt more, knowing that she still truly hated him, or knowing that she knew she'd made the wrong choice but - as always - remained staunchly stubborn in her conviction, in her decision.

"it all." he laughs low, shaking his head. "iden, we both know the only thing you had left was me and del." seyn hadn't been a part of their team for years, and iden had stopped caring for her father by the time she'd met gideon.

there was a part of him, too, that wanted what he'd said to be true, that iden truly had only had him and del left, as horrible as that sounded. because they were all hask had ever had, the closest thing to family he'd ever known. he'd always thought he shared that with iden - and maybe, if he still did, he could make her see reason. finally see reason. well, he was nothing if not persistent - yet another thing he'd learned from her.

[finitefm]

ALLEGIANTSON   ft   GIDEON   HASK

“too many.” a dark frown shadows his face at her question, at the sight of this revelry. antilles. azadi. dodonna. erso. idele. javes. kallus. klivian. kyrell. leonis. madine. meeko. quell. rath-velus. rook. solo. tamm. tolvan. tua. versio. wren. the list continued, what was once hundreds stretching into the thousands as endor had fallen to the hands of the so-called “alliance”. cowards, all of them.  soldiers, pilots, commanders - futures squandered away by their betrayals, names etched into memory ( his, in particular ) for their treason. 

“i can compile a list, if that would be of assistance to you, ma’am.” he continues, surveying the crowd, standing staff-straight at sloane’s side. already, faces were matching with memory. kallus, solo, wren … and versio. of course iden would be here, hand in hand with del. what had she been promoted to now - commander? captain? ( he pretended not to know, but he did, datapad tagged with files and mentions of his former teammate - a woman he had once even called friend, as scowl-inducing as those memories were now.)

hask   was   an   interesting   man.   rae   liked   to   KNOW   the   people   she   worked   closely   with   –   it   gave   her   a   good   grasp   of   what   to   expect   from   them.   she   did   not   want   to   surround   herself   with   those   she   could   not   rely   on   to   serve   the   order   well.   effective,   intelligent   personal   were   an   important   part   of   building   a   new   empire.   and   there   was   no   denying   hask   WAS   effective.   but   she   knew   the   vague   story   of   the   inferno   squad.   he   had   a   personal   history   with   rebel   traitors.   one   that   rae   –   purposefully   detached   from   close   bonds   with   nearly   EVERYONE   –   lacked.   she   doubted   any   would   consider   it   unreasonable   to   wonder   if   he   could   be   entirely   objective.

❛   i   might   take   you   up   on   that.   i   assume   you’ve   been   keeping   an   eye   on   them   ?   ❜

[allegiantson]

"i have." he responds simply, with a slight nod of his head in acknowledgment, synced with his words. that was the understatement of the century. "admiral versio had instructed me to, before he . . ." he searches for the right words, the polite words, "perished over jakku." garrick had been a mentor to him, and has served hask incredibly well in his career, but he'd be lying to say he wasn't relieved - and perhaps glad - to have heard of his death upon rendezvousing with the empire after being shot down by iden that day. as helpful as garrick had been, hask had never truly been able to forget how he'd treated iden; he'd done his best to cast aside any personal feelings related to, well, anything iden had said or done, but they remained, just as persistent as the woman herself.

[versios]

allegiantson​   //   gideon hask.

hask had known iden would be here. had spotted her earlier in the evening, even, surprised the once-renowned soldier hadn’t felt a pair of blue eyes burning a target into her back. he hated that he’d watched her so intently, almost single-mindedly - hated that iden always found a way to command his attention even after all this time, after everything she’d done.

he commands the element of surprise here, as he’d known he would, shock on her face when their eyes meet. she was more of a fool than he’d believed if she truly thought that she had shot him down. he’d been chosen for inferno for a reason, had always been even with iden in everything they’d done - if she’d survived her crash over yavin, he could certainly survive the sands and skies of jakku. it had left him bloodied and bruised, but time and rage ( and bacta ) had healed those wounds, left him better than ever. the empire had refused to die that day, and so had hask.

“what’s wrong?” he asks off her look, raising a brow. “you look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

the pit of her stomach dropped, her quest to find del completely forgotten as seething rage filled her. anger had always been something that had come a little too naturally to her, and hate still offered some fuel, even when she tried to depend on better, healthier things. none of that seemed to matter now.

truly, iden didn’t see a problem with killing him in cold blood, here and now.

“you son of a–” before the words could get fully out of her mouth, the galaxy changed. the sound of glass shattering filled the room and a beat later, explosions went off. her ears rung, head spun. people were moving too quickly, far too quickly – many were badly hurt, and worse. some tried to fight, most tried to flee. her focus was intense, looking solely for him, among the living and the dead. a part of her didn’t want to find his body, not this time. if someone or something was going to kill hask, it was going to be her. “where are you? your goddamn bastard!”

[allegiantson]

frankly, hask was kind of grateful for the world plunging into hell, considering the absolutely murderous look in iden versio's eyes.

glass shattered and fire blossomed across the ballroom floor, screams ringing out, half-deaf to his already ringing ears, caught too close to a blast. but he was inferno squad - he'd survived far worse than this. whatever this was. instinct reached for his blaster, but hands met air, lips muttering a huttese swear garrick versio would have admonished him completely for even daring to think about. ( hask respected iden's father, but stars, if he wasn't strict. something he'd always agreed with iden on. iden. where was iden? )

pushing himself to his feet, he scanned the chaos. gray figures crouched over fallen bodies, and the first familiar hums of sabers began to sound as jedi pulled their weapons to their sides. a helpful skill to have right now, and one he wished he could copy.

well, he'd do his own version; arms wrapped around the neck of a half-dazed hapan guard, struggle ending in instances, snatching the blaster and vibrostaff from the still-warm grip and leaving the body to drop. let the gray figures have it - he was here for one thing, one person only.

[drewsburyhq-deactivated20230619]

“you’re going to die here, you know. convenient.” ( to poe, from hask )

Poe  frowned  for  just  a  moment,  their  wrists  in  cuffs,  head  leaning  against  the  ferroconcrete  wall.  He  eyes  Hask,  but  then  there  was  a  ridiculous  smirk  on  his  face.  “  I  bet  you  say  that  to  all  your  prisoners.  “  he  leaned  over,  looking  up  through  their  eyelashes.  “  I  guess  you  were  tired  of  hard  to  get,  huh  ?  “ 

@allegiantson 

[allegiantson]

he'd been warned about dameron's relentless optimism and wit, but stars, this was fucking ridiculous. a frown crosses his features, arms crossed as he observes the commander through a flickering red energy shield, watching with dark interest. "don't flatter yourself." to dameron's credit, hask had enjoyed tricking the other man far more than he should probably admit ( or ever would ). "information is the reason you're here." oh, what would he start with? something easy, give dameron a chance to make this as painless as possible. "where's fn-2187?" hask had had no personal interest in the stormtrooper until he'd heard of his defection - and higher command had ordered an investigation. there was something more to it, and he'd be the one to find it. hell, if he was that important, maybe he'd get a promotion out of it. captain gideon hask. he liked the sound of that. don't practice saying it in the mirror just yet, iden would have said. well, she wasn't here, was she?

[swishycapes]

@allegiantson​   //   gideon hask.

“you look like you’ve seen better days, pal.” despite the companionship that lando had with the other members of what he knew as inferno squad, he didn’t recognize the man in front of him. instead, the question came from a place of friendly caution. he was more affected by everything than he was willing to let on just yet.

[allegiantson]

who the fuck did this guy think he was ? ( he knew. general lando calrissian, formerly of the rebel alliance and former administrator of bespin, now retired and working in and out of the less than legal private sector ). he was high enough up in rebel intelligence - or, had been - that the address startled him, certain he would have been recognized. well, perhaps that was the advantage to being presumed dead for almost 3 years. “could say the same about you,” hask commented, running a bloody hand across his forehead. “beats being dead, though.” well, for some - he had his fair share of attendees he wouldn’t have mourned ( perhaps even celebrated ).

[altonkastle]

   Alton was mingling with the other guests when they paused for a moment, seeing a very familiar face, surprised that they would be at this event. Though Alton surmised that with the ban on weapons, relatively anyone could get into this event and not have to worry about a blaster fight break out. Naturally they approached, their curiosity won out.  

“What brings you to a New Republic event? Though you aren’t the first unlikely face I’ve glimpsed in the crowd, it is still rather interesting, is it not?” 

@allegiantson​

[allegiantson]

“work calls.” he responds simply, with a subtle nod towards the crowd, filled with new republic officials and the like, jedi in finery and criminal leaders dancing side by side. “i assume the same in your case?” the reporter was almost certainly here to collect information, or in hopes of witnessing a disaster like onderon had become. “the hapans certainly were fair in their invitations. although how they hoped to not offend the new republic, i’m not sure.”

[versios]

@allegiantson​   //   gideon hask.

this wasn’t the kind of event that iden had ever been comfortable at, having always preferred the practical things in life over anything extravagant, and the fact it reminded her far too much of the kind of person that her father wanted her to be. still, she smiled, did the right thing and acted like she wasn’t irritated. it was just shy of midnight, and she had begun moving through the crowd to find del again. public affection wasn’t her thing, but she didn’t consider herself above a new year’s kiss. dark gaze moved through the sea of faces, but everything inside of her came to a sudden halt. no. she stopped where she stood, eyes boring holes into him. gideon hask was a dead man, she had made sure of that. except… she hadn’t, shot down in the middle of a jakku desert. how?

[allegiantson]

hask had known iden would be here. had spotted her earlier in the evening, even, surprised the once-renowned soldier hadn’t felt a pair of blue eyes burning a target into her back. he hated that he’d watched her so intently, almost single-mindedly - hated that iden always found a way to command his attention even after all this time, after everything she’d done.

he commands the element of surprise here, as he’d known he would, shock on her face when their eyes meet. she was more of a fool than he’d believed if she truly thought that she had shot him down. he’d been chosen for inferno for a reason, had always been even with iden in everything they’d done - if she’d survived her crash over yavin, he could certainly survive the sands and skies of jakku. it had left him bloodied and bruised, but time and rage ( and bacta ) had healed those wounds, left him better than ever. the empire had refused to die that day, and so had hask.

“what’s wrong?” he asks off her look, raising a brow. “you look like you’ve seen a ghost.”