Fandom the balance within the galaxy ☆ star wars

[fcllenstars]

Lucyfer

P. Dameron
​

A general. Poe Dameron couldn't remember a day where he didn't wish to be the General of the Resistance, to lead it, to give orders and see that all was going right. Leia had done her job very well, but he was kinda relieved when he was chosen as the new General. They had defeated Palpatine, it was all a big success and he shouldn't complain, but there was so much more work left to do. The First Order still had remaining fleets, somewhere in the galaxy. The Resistance did know of some, but not of all, so they ended up trying to find them. Rey was a big help, she was their best fighter after all, but a new kind of stress kept plaguing Poe. He couldn't jsut hop into an X-Wing and fly onto a mission. He had to stay, he had to give orders and with that, he did a lot of stuff he wasn't used to. One of it was sitting around and looking at hologram maps, trying to figure out which route the fleet would take and where the Resistance could stop them. Rey was out again, on another mission and he was left here. With Ben Solo, too. Kylo Ren. If he could have decided, Ben wouldn't have been allowed back after he killed his own father and stood with the First Order untilt the fight on the destroyed Death Star. Rey had told him everything, but it was still hard for Poe to include Ben again. He had grown up with him more or less, seen him every now and then, but never was friends with him. His prejudices remained, this guy was not supposed to be here. But even worse than having Ben Solo back, was that someone had told him they might have First Order spy in their ranks. This made him nervous, confronted him with something he never had to deal with. Slowly, he turned the hologram map off and got up, rubbing his hands over his face and stepping outside of the base, looking around. He had started to look closer at the other members of the Resistance, ever since they suspected to have a spy, but he hasn't got much more information and that started to frustrate him.

T. Narson​

Tess had never done anything else than fight for the Resistance. It had been her dream that they would one day win the war and while the celebration was big, they still got a lot of work to do. She wasn't a pilot, but she was decent with a blaster, but even better in combining things and hacking stuff. Still, she didn't have anything to do at the moment and used to time to reflect on all she had experienced in the last few years of the First Order ruling the Galaxy and letting it slowly descent into madness, into horror. Now, they were out of it, a free galaxy it seemed, but not for everyone yet. So many planets still suffered until the remnants of the First Order, of the Sith, of all that used the dark side of the force. The force. It made her nervous to even think about it. It had been a few months since she had found out about it, but maybe she had known all her life. It was a wonder that she had managed to get her blaster in a fight from seemingly nowhere. It just flew into her hand. But ever since then, it never worked again, just when she started to get afraid of something. Every time she tried it on purpose, she ended up getting her face covered in blood from her nose and breathed heavily from all the exhaustion. Now, she leaned against a tree, putting her hair in a ponytail, so it wouldn't be too hot for her. Slowly, she looked around, spotting Ben Solo not far from her. With Rey always on missions, he was the only one she could ask for help with her force sensitivity, but she was rather curious how he'd even act around here, with all the people that didn't seem to accept him right now. To her, and what she had seen from him, he seemed like a rather unsure guy, but still confident enough to not let anyone tell him what to do. But there was still this certain respect she had for him, from his years as Kylo Ren, that she couldn't make herself hold a conversation with him. Maybe one day she'd ask him about the force, and about all she could maybe learn then.

 

[Lucyfer]

Ben Solo had no place to go but the Resistance, and he stood out here like a sore thumb. He stuck to his black attire, though it was now much more relaxed. He had taken some time to create a new lightsaber, rather than inherit Leia’s. It had been an option that Rey gave him, but like herself refusing Luke’s, he refused Leia, and they had briefly left to go about new lightsabers.

Now, he held a purple one, that seemed to bring more suspicion than it did welcome.

He heard the mutterings – of the mix, of blue and red – red notable to everyone, for red was the color of the Sith, the color of the dark side, and people still looked at him suspiciously for that. As well as for his temper; he may now be on the ‘right’ side of things, but his temper had hardly faded.

He hated walking on eggshells.

And he hated people walking on eggshells around him.

But Poe had not released him to a mission, unlike Rey, as there was a more pressing matter: a First Order spy. Given Ben’s former position within the First Order, as well as his own unique skillset, it was thought he might be able to figure out who it was, or at least get some ideas. ‘If only it were that easy.’ Everyone was anxious around him. Hard to tell one anxious person from another.

And there was more than one First Order defector in their ranks now, as well – his attention touched briefly on FN-2187 and TZ-1719. ‘Finn and Jannah.’ He reminded himself harshly, before his attention was drawn by a sensation not of unease or fear from those he was watching, but one of interest. There was a woman tying her hair back besides a tree. He didn’t know her, not that he knew most, but he couldn’t help but wonder where her lack of fear was.

Perhaps she was the spy?

No, the spy wouldn’t be that stupidly intrigued with him. “Hey!” It was Finn who called out to him, and he turned his attention towards the former Stormtrooper, dark eyes narrowed. He still didn’t like most of the people, either. “What? Don’t give me that look, Ben.”

He scowled. Ben. He knew it shouldn’t upset him, but he’d been in a system of rank and hierarchy for years now. Being addressed as that, alone, was still hard to accept. “We were gonna invite you to lunch, but if you’re going to act like that….” Jannah began.

The defectors of the Order, he’d noticed, had at least done more outreach than the others in the Resistance. He usually brushed them off, but as Finn noticed the woman leaning against a tree, observing, he called out to her as well, “Hey, Tess! You can come join us, too! If you’re not on duty.” Finn then looked pointedly back at him, “Well?”

Ben let out a breath, “Fine,” he moved away from the ship he’d finished up repairing some time ago, but as he did, his eyes caught a woman moving through the crowd. The flash of white hair stood out, not as familiar, but something in the way her eyes briefly caught his. Gray. ‘Her face…’ And the emotions coming from her. Both reminded him of Hux – not the eye color, but the look in them. It was something he learned to tell apart First Order cadets from the rest of the lot.

He reached out in the Force, and found an immediate block.

Her eyes came to him again. ‘She knows.’ She had training in resisting it. He could break it given time, but that remained notable.

He didn’t know her name, though, but he took his datapad off the wing of the ship, and snapped a quick image of her, before forwarding it to Poe, the caption of ‘white hair’ accompanying it so he could consider how to proceed, before tucking his datapad into the back pocket of his pants and joining with Finn and Jannah.

~***~

Liraz Collerand was not a fan of having to work on a base so close to Kylo Ren – or as he called himself now, Ben Solo. She usually kept her distance. It wasn’t that difficult, she was usually in the command center or communications room, decoding transmissions and working through encryptions of other sorts. Breaking into droids, or reprogramming them, was another part of the process.

All of it led to a wealth of information, which always led itself back to the First Order.

Before the fall of General Hux, she only had report weekly unless there was a matter of grave importance, and she reported through her handler, Ysalamir.

Ysalamir was dead.

Now she reported to Vroc Raynshi directly, who had taken over the First Order Security Bureau, and he expected daily updates, as if he didn’t understand the fact that this was causing her to be recognized in the Resistance.

She already heard the rumors. The Resistance knew there was a spy among them, but how could they not? She reported their movements every day, so every day the Order was on their tail.

‘And Kylo Ren….’

She felt the touch of the Force and her gaze snapped back to him, a cold glare that she regretted a moment later, before she refocused her attention. She hadn’t spent months being tortured by IT-O droids in order to prepare for Force invasions for nothing, damn it, and yet there she was, glaring at the former Supreme Leader of the First Order. ‘Putting a blaster to your head would be less painful. They’d probably think you were just shot and not harm your mother.’

Unlikely.

She continued on to her own quarters, finished with her own shift for the day and prepared to encrypt her own files to send ahead to the First Order about the mission that Rey was on now, and where Poe Dameron was going to send the fleet – what movements he was anticipating from the First Order.

 

[fcllenstars]

Poe’s eyes kept wandering over the mass of people in front of him. Some were working on their X-Wings, repairing them, some were still walking around with bandages from the final fight they had on Exegol, and others had gotten back into their daily routine perfectly, training and talking to each other. Still, they shouldn’t relax, not yet. His datapad made a sound in the inside pocket of his jacket and he slowly took it out.

Ben Solo. Not the first person he would have asked for him, but maybe he should have directly started to work with him. White hair. His eyes wandered over the crowd again. White hair. He had barely seen any people with white hair in the Resistance base. And he couldn’t remember meeting anyone new on Ajan Kloss. All people that lived her weren’t known for her white hair either. Maybe he should really follow Solo’s hint and try to find the girl.

When one of his co-pilots approached him to probably ask about a new mission, he raised his hand, signalling them to stop for now while he walked back into the base and went to the nearest device he could look through Resistance members. Not everyone was noted, they had collected too many on random occasions, but if this woman with white hair had a good position in their ranks...

Unfortunately, he couldn’t find her. There were around 20 people with white hair, so he probably had to visit them all to actually make himself an opinion on who was the spy then. Or maybe he was on the wrong path anyway and the spy had black hair. Again, he rubbed over his face, before making his way to the first person’s quarters. Lyra Velte. On his way through the hallways, he tried to remember any occasions that he even talked with that woman. Slowly, he stopped in front of the door, clearing his throat and correcting his jacket, before knocking on the door.

***

The blonde haired woman looked away from the former Supreme Leader, raising her eyebrows when Finn talked to her. If she would join them for lunch? Some part in her was very relieved that she might got to talk to Kylo without being weird when she just approached him randomly, in front of so many other people. Kylo. Ben. Ben Solo was his actual name, she had heard enough about him to know that, but she wasn't sure if he actually preferred being called that. In that moment, she realised how nervous she actually was about asking that man something.

She approached them anyway then, biting her lip and soon reaching Finn, Jannah and Kylo. No, Ben Solo. It was Ben Solo now and she really had to remember that when she was about to talk to him. Maybe he was the only one being able to help her when she needed it now. War was over, practically over, but as Poe liked to remind them, there was still something left from the First Order and they had all seen what the remnants of the Empire evolved into. Her heart beat a little faster, more nervous when she stood next to her friends and the one stranger.

Tess nodded at Finn, then looked to Ben. Something was radiating him that she couldn’t identify. Was it the force? Was it something else? It was probably the force, but she often couldn’t tell the difference between just a feeling she imagined or a proper feeling of the force. Slowly, she extended her hand to Ben. "I am Tess Narson," she introduced herself with a slight smile, before looking back to Finn. "What do we have for lunch?" She asked Finn then, but still wondered if it was the right moment to ask Ben about the force and everything else. Instead, she just sometimes glanced to him, curious.

 

[Lucyfer]

Liraz’s room was much like anyone else’s – small. She was lucky to have her own space, so she wouldn’t complain that there was barely enough room to walk around the bed.

She took a seat on her bed after dressing down for the day. She had little plans of going back out for a bit – she was on the nightshift more often than not. ‘Just get these out to the Order, then take a shower.’ She had time enough for that, she figured, as she ran through the nearly auto-pilot process of encrypting the files in her datapad, before sending them on.

Of course, that took time, and she scowled at the circling buffer on her datapad as the files encrypted. ‘Three minutes.’

There were steps in the hall. Not unusual, given these were barracks. What was unusual was that one stopped at her door, and then knocked. Liraz set the datapad, face down, on her end table before she walked to the door, pushing some stray strands of white hair back over her shoulder as she went to the door.

“General Dameron,” she greeted, a bit surprised to see him there. She folded her arms over her chest, more an act of modesty and discomfort than any intentionally angry posture. There was nothing inappropriate about the white button-down or the black slacks, but they weren’t what she tended to wear out of her room, all the same.

Then again, to her, much of the rebel attire felt strange. Not as stiff or thick as her First Order uniform. “Is something wrong?”

~***~

“Ben Solo,” the introduction was likely entirely unnecessary. Ben could feel the discomfort and anxiety radiating off of Tess as she joined them. He was tempted to leave, to let Finn and Jannah go with Tess and enjoy lunch comfortably.

Finn just shook his head at the question Tess asked, “No idea – we haven’t checked the mess hall yet,” he stated.

“It’s probably the same as every day,” Jannah noted. There wasn’t much variety from day to day. Bantha was a staple meat, used in some fashion, be it burgers or goulash. There was usually some sort of steamed vegetable, and water. Despite the First Order being mostly down and out, it wasn’t over with yet.

So, fresh food was still hard to come by, and often treats. The fresh fruits and vegetables were usually found at breakfast time – quick energy to start the day with. “Maybe we’ll be lucky.” Finn suggested.

“Still better than the Order,” Jannah said, and though Ben rolled his eyes, he wouldn’t deny even he had gotten sick of nutritional bars and shakes. The same thing, every day. He could have eaten actual food, but the thought of giving into weakness and luxury had always kept him from such behavior.

Finn would take the lead in bringing them towards the mess hall, as Ben folded his arms over his chest. It wouldn’t be too busy – they were on the later end, with most people clearing out, but there was still food available. Thankfully.

And it was some sort of bantha casserole.

 

[fcllenstars]

Poe stood a little straighter when the door opened. He had always been rather confident, but as a General, he tried to show it a little more even. People should respect him, but at the same time know, that they could always come to him if they had a problem. His eyes immediately tried to wander behind the woman to see if anything suspicious caught his eyes, but he couldn't see anything at first.

"I am sorry to disturb you at this rather late hour, but I'd like to talk with you in private, if that is possible," he nodded and tried to not be too strict or too kind. She was still suspected to be a spy. He didn't wait for an answer, maybe he was on the right track and now he would lose it again if he didn't allow her in. Quickly, he stepped into the room, closing the door.

His eyebrows lifted up and he cleared his throat. "We have been looking for a spy in our ranks for quite a while now. An anonymous source led me here," he said immediately and looked her up and down. Until now, she didn't seem too suspicious, but he could never be sure enough. "I don't want to call you a spy right away, but I'd like to look around your room once and maybe bring your datapad to the inspection," he suggested then.

His blaster made him feel a little more sure while he stood there. Maybe he should have went slower and not burst into the room, basically. Slowly, he made a step towards the datapad, but didn’t reach out for it. No, this was the wrong way to act as a General. He usually made very spontaneous decisions and now, he might do one that was actually more than disrespectful for the person who had to endure it.

”Could you hand over your datapad, please? And just let me look around?” He asked a little slower then, more politer, but one hand resting on his blaster anyway. He didn’t want to risk too much.

——————————————

Ben Solo. She would call him that. In a distant way, she knew that he might be the only chance for her to actually learn about the Force. But was it even worth it? Would that man even want to still be associated with it? Slowly, she pushed the thought away and tried to make herself treat him like she’d treat every other person of the Resistance. While they walked, she took every step with a slight thought in the back of her head anyway. Should she ask Ben?

He was a tall man, she had to look up to even look into his eyes and the mere thought of her just asking him about the force, about the thing he used to hurt so many people, made her shiver a little. But she had to start a conversation. She had to make a step forward. She had known about her powers for a while and she couldn’t use them to help anyone in this fight that meant so much to her. Tess cleared her throat then. “Do you get along with everyone?”

A dumb question to ask, yet she had asked it anyway. She could have slapped herself for that. But a smile, even though it was rather unstable and nervous, spread over her lips and she looked to the man again. The way he walked now was a little different than when she had once seen him in all black and with a red lightsaber. It reminded her of the two times she had met Han Solo. He was indeed Solo’s son. “I mean, some people try to stay private,” she tried to save herself with that sentence.

A nervous laughter left her lips. Could he notice that she was force-sensitive? Because she seemed to be able to notice it around him. It moved, it lived and she felt like she could finally reach out for it, but whenever she did it before, she burned herself with how naive she was. Mostly, it ended in nose bleeding. Again, she cleared her throat, something she did rather often when she was nervous or felt stressed in certain situations.

 

[Lucyfer]

‘I didn’t know lunchtime was late.’ Liraz wondered what shift Dameron was on as a smile teased across her lips at his apology, before it faded completely at his reason. A spy. She was suspected of being a spy.

She knew her face must have gone white, even as her brows lifted. Perhaps he would take it as merely shocked surprise, and not fear? For she was definitely surprised. “Of course,” already, Liraz was stepping back, and working through possibilities. Could she run? Was it even possible to run at this point? If she knocked Poe out – ‘Shouldn’t you think to kill him?’ – then she might get away before anyone noticed.

“I’ll cooperate, don’t worry, General,” she said, “You can search my entire room,” she gestured over it.

Besides the datapad, there wasn’t anything to condemn her. The datapad, however, would condemn her. And all he needed was that. She couldn’t clear its history in a timely, and convincing, fashion. She couldn’t break it. No, the only way out of this, it seemed, was going to be escape.

Her job was over.

But she still had to figure out the best way for that. ‘You’re not done encrypting.’ She knew that, even as she reached for the pad. The screen had at least gone dark, but it wouldn’t be locked. She knew that one touch, and it’d light up for him to see she was encrypting something. That was suspicious in and of itself.

But perhaps he wouldn’t look at it first. Perhaps he’d take it and look at the room first. So, Liraz offered it to him, and considered where her own blaster was as she noted how his hand lingered on it. ‘Drawer.’ She’d have to pull the drawer open, pull the blaster out, and aim it.

Too much time.

Better to try and run, so she made a move to go back around him. The space where her datapad was, besides the bed, near a wall, was small. Certainly it wasn’t suspicious to want to move out of the small space, right?

~***~

Finn and Jannah initially thought the question was posed to them as the smells from the mess hall reached them. They looked back, and saw Tess staring up at Ben Solo, instead. They exchanged a confused look, considered offering Ben the mercy of answering, before Tess added on a bit to her question.

Plus, the look on Ben’s face was priceless, the confusion that seemed almost indignant at the question thrown his way. So, they scattered to get food, leaving Ben to stand awkwardly in the middle of the mess hall. He’d stopped walking when he heard the question, and now felt the weight of several stares from others in the building on him, as well as Tess’s imploring look.

Not once in his life had he ever gotten along with people. Perhaps as a child, but that was more due to his relationship with his mother, not him as a person.

Her nervous laugh seemed to at least remove several stares for them. Second-hand embarrassment was written across plenty of faces. And some jeering looks. Ben ignored them.

“If you haven’t noticed, most people here aren’t interested in getting along with me,” they barely tolerated him, but they did. Love of his deceased mother made them, as well as Rey’s vouching for him.

He felt isolated, as he had in the Order, but he at least understood it here. He had killed many that those around him loved – and he couldn’t do much to make amends for it, except help with destroying what remained of the First Order. “I prefer to remain private.” He’d had enough issues with opening up, as well.

Snoke had abused his trust. So many others had, too.

He moved forward to get his own food then, realizing he’d been standing in the midst of the mess hall.