Temmin was on edge since the Star Destroyer had entered the system almost three days ago. The Resistance had sent him and a few others to evaluate Cataalda, what remained from the Rebel evacuation and its usefulness as a new base. Now the Star Destroyer had sent a troop carrier their way. “We should have left while we had the chance.” one of the men sighed. “We may get out of this.” Snap said, if they had fled it would have given them cause to capture them or destroy them. They did not have anything to tie them to the Resistance and Temmin felt he could talk his way out of this jam. He rushed out to meet the landing ship.
As soon as the ship touched the ground a mechanical ramp came out and the doors slid open. A dark figure came marching out, quickly followed by white clad troops. He had not been expecting a Knight of Ren, the rumored brutal enforcers of the First Order. Temmin pulled up his mental barrier, something he had learned in his training with the resistance, and pulled his roguish smile. “Well if it isn’t our good friends of the First Order.” The short helmeted figure seemed slightly taken back but quickly rebutted “If you are allies then you’ll have no problem with us searching your outpost for resistance insurgency.” he felt a pressure settle on his neck, like a snake waiting to crush the life out of him. “I don’t see why not.” Temmin did not want to raise suspicion by refusing this person. The dark figure signaled the troops to start their search and she stood in that spot as they went to work. Snap took in every centimeter of the dark figure, the chest under black robes, the small stature, he was now certain it was a woman. Snap could feel her eyes watching him right back, even through the helmet that hid her features. He decided to turn on the smuggler charm that he had learned after years of watching pilots on his home planet, perhaps it would throw her off. “Do you hide your face because its too distracting?” he smirked and winked. “No.” she said and crossed her arms. She tilted her head and asked “Do I know you?” Blast, he swore, has she caught on? “No. But I’d like to get to know you.” he winked again “Are you a pilot?” “Yes I am and I’m hoping to fly straight into your heart.” he said, damn that rouge charm, he smirked.
She suddenly grabbed his face ruffly pulling it down so she could look straight into his eyes. “Snap Wexley.” she pushed him onto his back “It’s a ruse.” she said, presumably into a communicator. The figure ignited a light saber, she throw it and one of the ships on the platform was cut in half. The glowing blade came flying back to her gloved hand, she then turned back to Temmin, who had staggered back to his feet and drawn the blaster from his hip. He squeezed off a shot, she calmly redirected it with her blade, the beam flying over his shoulder. He took another backwards step and fired another shot, which she simply sent it shooting back at him with an outstretched hand, and this time it sliced his arm. Kriffing hell, he thought, turning and running away from the dark figure and the white clad soldiers attacking the few Resistance troops, they were out numbered, there was no chance.
The Knight of Ren was hot on his heels, he could just feel it and he did not dare look behind him. He heard the light saber ignite, and it flew next to him, slicing several trees in two. He was stopped in his tracks by one of the massive toppled trees. “Surrender now!” the modulated voice of the Knight huffed, he turned to be met by the blade, very near to him. “Yes, mam.” he sighed putting up his hands in defeat, “Its sir to you, get on your knees slime.” she ordered, he did as told and she put away the glowing blade. She walked behind, ruffly grabbing his wrists and tying them behind his back. “Stand and walk.” she told him, he stood and started his walk back their space ship.
Amarus found herself in the medical bay, since her dream about the Jedi her head would not stop swimming and as a result she had thrown up several more times. “Sir you do not have a cold.” The medical droid mono-toned, that had been her first thought. “Would you like me to preform a full scan.” “Sure.” the spinning probably could have been stopped by a strong calming agent but she wanted to know the cause. The droid did a full body scan, “It appears you are pregnant.” it beeped. “What!” she was shocked and her head stopped spinning. “Approximately two and a half months. If you wish I can terminate it right now.” she touched her middle and looked down at her knees. “I need time to think.” she finally said. “Sir I will need to report it.” it informed her. Blast it, she thought, I will have to wipe its memory, which she promptly did.
Amarus put her helmet back on and marched to the bridge. “Amarus.” Captain (Admiral) Sloane said upon her arrival, “Our probes have picked up an outpost, I would like you to take a battalion to check it out. It could be nothing but it could be a resistance base.” Amarus nodded and signaled Ain to follow. He had been positioned as bridge security with the new rank of captain with a red chip on his shoulder. They went in silence to the troop carrier. She wanted to tell him the news, but she was not sure what she was going to do with it, let alone how he would take it. They went to the planet Cataalda, a rarely traveled mid rim planet that had onced housed a Rebel base.
Amarus was glad to finally be away from the Temple, the First Order was increasing its presence and Amarus had been sent back to the Malice to run recon. The Malice was currently patrolling a system that had housed Rebel bases in the past, the Cataalda system. She was currently laying in bed dreaming of the place she was born:
Sandstone buildings, tight streets, that occasionally opened up to markets. She dreamed of this place frequently, though the dream had become a nightmare since the New Republic capital had been obliterated. She was always running, trying to escape the unavoidable destruction, the planet was far away from the Alliance but the dream still came. She stumbled into one of the market places and she stopped, instead of the crowds of oblivious inhabitants, there was a single man in tan robes. “What are you doing here?” he seemed so out of place, he simply turned and ran, she quickly started after him. Through the tight streets, around corners, she finally grabbed the back of his robe and he stopped to look at her. “Who are you?” she asked the man dropping her hold on him. “That is not important. What is important is who are you?” his blue eyes twinkled, she tried to say Amarus but instead said “I don’t know.” He touched her arm and said “We have much to talk about, but this is not the place.” His eyes darted up to the sky as it filled with red, the way it had many times. Suddenly their surroundings changed, being replaced by somewhere she had never been. “Where is this?” He turned away from her “The Jedi temple on Coruscant.” he looked far off and said “This place no longer exists.” “So you are a Jedi.” she looked around the wide hallway with its high roof, the bearded man only nodded “So could you.” his statement seemed out of place “No, only one path was set in front of me.” she said, surprised at her own candor. “That is only the path you can see.” he looked back at her “There is still time for you to do the right thing.”
She was jolted out of her dream as her door rang, Ain was at the door. “Come in.” he did the door sliding shut behind him. She was suddenly dizzy and had to run to her bath room to throw up. “Are you okay?” Ain asked, genuinely concerned. “I feel better now.” she said after wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. “Did I wake you?” Ain asked, she nodded “I’m sorry.” He pinched the brig of his nose and slummed against the opposite wall, it had obviously been a ruff day for the stormtrooper. She flushed the toilet and slummed against the man, who was now sitting, he rapped his arms around her and burred his face in her hair. It had been a stressful month and there was not end in sight, at least they were back on the Malice. She remembered the words of the Jedi in her dream, there is still time for you to do the right thing; what did that mean? Was there really other options, different paths that she could take? She had no answers.
Snoke sat on his throne, no less intimidating in person than in augmented holographic form. Both Amarus and Kylo sat bowed in front of him, it was forbidden to wear a helmet but Amarus wished she could hide behind it. “Amarus, you are needed for a demonstration in endurance.” Snoke mono-toned. She knew what he meant, an exercise she called the chamber, where you would be locked in a small dark room with a limited supply of water that you would then ration out for as long as possible. Amarus and her master used to run similar exercises with limited food and water on desert planets, so she did fairly well in the chamber, but she had a feeling that Kylo was doing horribly.
She was sent into one of the small rooms with a container of water she probably could stretch out for two weeks, but she had a problem with regulating how fast her body ate itself. The longest she had managed to stay in the chamber was a week and a half due to this problem, the longest that anyone Knight had gone was Nox who managed to last nearly a month. She immediately laid down on her back and closed her eyes against the crushing darkness. At first she concentrated on her heart beat, getting lost in the rhythm, then slowing it. Was that was done she let her scenes expand using the force. The hum of the engines was first, then the life forces on the ship, she had no concept of time in this state and after what seemed like nothing her thirst snapped her back into her body. Her drank a small amount of water, then went back into deep meditation and seven days easily passed in this fashion. Amarus could have easily gone longer, but she did not feel like pushing herself to the brink again and was let out of the chamber. “How?” Kylo promptly asked, he stared at him blankly, her time in isolation immensely calming her. “Patience.” she smiled and he grimaced, she quickly walked out of the temple, not trying to seem to be in a hurry, even though she was. She walked into the mess hall and proceeded to get something to eat.
Kylo trudged through the ship, he was angry, Snoke had commanded him to retrieve Amarus in the morning so Kylo could receive a lesson from her. What could he learn from her? He realized his late night brooding and stomping would get him no where, he resolved to go to Amarus’s quarters. He used the key card to open her door and the sight he saw behind the door made him even angrier. The lowly storm trooper, with his perfectly marred boyishly handsome face, between her legs. He force pushed him against the wall, choking him. “Kylo stop!” Amarus demanded, but when he did not let up she returned his force choke, constricting around his neck harder then he was strangling the trooper. He swore that she was going to crush his wind pipe, he let his grip on the man go in favor of grasping for air. Her grip loosened, and he gasped, he noted her energy was still near him, threatening but leery of his every move. She moved over to the crouching form of trooper who was trying to catch his breath, “Get out of here.” Amarus growled, “No.” Kylo proceeded to sit down like a petulant child, her presence became more sinister around him and her mismatched eyes went to back to the man, who had recomposed himself. “Ain, are you okay.” Amarus asked putting a hand on his back, he nodded and looked over at Kylo, Amarus followed his gaze. “You can finish what you started.” the large unstable man said. “No.” Ain sighed, “Get out Kylo.” Amarus said increasing her presence around him. “Snoke wants to see you tomorrow.” he said darkly and swept out of the room.
It was hard to call this place a temple, but the highly spiritual air that perpetuated, its deep connection with the dark side, to their Supreme Leader. The structure was once its own space ship, it had since had a larger ship built around it, built to be inconspicuous. The ancient ship was a relic from the Knights of Ren’s past, according to Amarus’s master it had once taken a permanent residence on their planet of origin, thought unmovable for a long time. The ship was oddly built, more like a place of worship then a space ship, thus the name The Temple. Their Supreme Leader rarely left the complex, and stayed mainly in a throne room which was off limits without express permission. Kylo was in the depths of the maze like structure receiving an intense training lesson from Snoke himself. Amarus was in her small quarters in the newer section of the ship, she could have gotten larger quarters but her dislike of open spaces and they would have been in the dusty brown hallways of The Temple. Ain was sitting on her bed watching her pace, Supreme Leader Snoke had not seemed to care one bit about having either of them there. “Ama, come sit down your making me nervous.” Ain chimed, she looked at him and stopped. His cut close blond hair and his ruffly handsome face got her every time. “Fine.” she groaned and plopped herself on his lap, rapping her arms around his neck. He embraced her back and set his chin on her shoulder “Why are you here?” he whispered, “Don’t you mean why we’re here.” Amarus pulled away a little. “I know why I’m here.” Ain smiled placing both hands on her hips. “What I don’t know is why you’re here.” the unspoken truth, this place made her uncomfortable. “I don’t know.” That was true as well, her comrade, her friend had asked it of her and she had not been able to find the strength to tell him no. “Enough talk.” Amarus sighed, she was irritable and disproved of where this conversation was headed. She swallowed any protest the trooper had with a passionate kiss, which he excepted hungrily...
Amarus had since laid back on the medical bed, her feet hung off the side. She was trying to decompress after the events that had preceded. There was a splash as Kylo arose from bacta tub, he dried himself off and she let her eyes slip closed but she instantly regretted it. Rey, the face of the woman from her premonition, flashed behind her closed lids and her heart nearly skipped a beat. She looked over to the large man, who was now watching her. “Spreme Leader Snoke has commanded me to his side for more training. Would you join me?” Training for him made sense, especially in light of what had happened, but why would he want her to come, it was out of character but perhaps he just did not want to be alone, which anyone could understand. “If its okay with the Supreme Leader and I can bring my personal guard.” She had grown quit fond of the stormtrooper and she preferred going into the heavy veil of the dark side that permeated the air around Snoke with someone she could trust implicitly, Ain had become that person. “I will ask the Spreme Leader.” Kylo stated “Though I don’t know why you feel the need to have a guard, its not like your useless in a fight, and if it came to it I would protect you.” What? She thought about the answer, the truth was that she just liked having Ain around, he had proven useful in so many ways, and his presence often calmed her nerves. “He has his uses.” She decided would be the best answer, Kylo gave an audible huff but was silent. “Do you want me to dress your wounds?” Amarus asked, “Yes.” he grumbled.
The Finalizer was fully functional and driving away at light speed to Lord Snoke’s main base, which was kept secret and infrequently moved, Ain had been transported from Malice to the Finalizer and was busing himself with training. Amarus was currently in Kylo’s quarters.
(I am too tired to continue, I will try to continue this tomorrow. Thank you to anyone reading this.)
As Amarus prepared for another day she caught a hint of her reflection in the mirror and was stopped in her tracts. Is that really me? Her own reflection often startled her, when she was little there was nothing like it around, no way to know what your own face looked like.. She checked each article of her face, her left eye, the unnerving blue one, then her left, the normal brown one. her short brown hair, her once tan complexion had turned paler, everything was where it was supposed to be and she took a deep breath trying to shake off these feelings. Amarus had a job to do, it was her duty, to the Supreme Leader, to the Knight, and to the First Order.
AN-3481, a Stormtrooper, nothing more, nothing less. Ain, the name Amarus Ren had given him after he had been brought in to be her personal escort. An Admiral had ordered this change after what he called a close call with a slime bag, Amarus had insisted that the whole thing was ridiculous and that she could handle herself, which he did not doubt, but orders were what they were.
(I don’t know where this tid-bit is going, but I promised myself that if I felt inspired to wright I would and then post it no matter what... Though Ain will be important later on, if I ever get that far with this story.)
