Chapter Text
“Are you actually going to eat that?” Hux watched dubiously as pieces of sticky, puffy sugar slowly caramelized while Techie, Doro, and several other cadets held their skewers near the campfire.
“MMm, yes sir!” Doro grinned as she carefully rotated the treat. “Watch out, Techie! If you get it too close it’ll burn, and carbon makes it taste bitter.” Reaching over she adjusted the position of his lump of candy. “Got these special from the confectioners back on Nar Shaddaa, so try not to make charcoal out of ‘em.”
“Kriff!” Alkar swore as she blew out her own merrily burning treat.
“Oops,” said Efrei with a giggle. “Can’t take your eyes off it for a moment.”
“Give it a try anyway,” said Doro, “lot’sa folks like the taste enough they don’t think it’s done till it’s half-burned.”
Alkar blew on it and then sampled the melted stuff, nibbling it off the end of her cooking-stick. “It’s good, burned or not.” Her voice was muffled as her teeth tried to stick together.
“Mmmm,” Techie had finally retrieved his golden-toasted treat from the twig and popped it into his mouth whole, eyes closed in sugary ecstasy. Opening his blue cybernetic orbs he focused on his older brother and spoke in the same muffled way as Alkar. “Wan’ me to toast one for you?”
Hux sighed, wanting very much to say “Absolutely not!” but knowing his brother would be saddened by his refusal. “All right, just one. Maybe it will take my mind off Lord Ren and the others.” He stood up to pace around their alpine campsite. The domed shelters were laid out to his specifications and the small camp was properly shipshape, except for the absence of Snoke’s disgraced wizard and half of “Ren’s cadets”, who were off tramping the nearby mountains to the north in search of veins of rare Kyber crystals.
The other part of the cadre had gone with Hux for a reconnoiter to the south immediately after concealing their shuttle, mapping likely areas pointed out by Doro, who, according to Ren, had some level of nascent Force-sensitivity. To his vague concern, at those places where the young former thief said she “felt something”, his own nerves had registered a sensation like the slow buildup of static electricity. It attenuated as they left the area, but he could still feel the faint humming in his body. After their patrol, they had returned to the place Hux had picked out as tactically defensible and set up camp.
Taking a calming breath of the crisp air, he rubbed his chest, touching the flat scars over his heart where Ren had healed him over a month ago. The not-a-Jedi had his uses, Hux had decided after that bizarre little episode, but the General found him as difficult to understand as ever. After claiming he’d had some sort of vision, Ren insisted on packing up the cadets and heading to this nameless word in the Outer Rim, stating Snoke would be well pleased with a fresh supply of crystals.
Hux doubted their semi-exile could be bought off by presenting Snoke with some shiny gems for the First Order’s starship weaponry, no matter how prized. He exhaled slowly. The Supreme Leader and his wrath over their failure was a problem for another day, what concerned him right now was Ren had demanded Hux accompany this little expedition and Techie had insisted on going with him the moment he heard about it. His younger brother was normally afraid of the unknown after youthful academy misadventures had left him scarred, and yet he had begged to come along, as if he thought his presence would somehow keep Hux safe from Ren or any other perils. Hux looked at the small group of cadets, three of them around the campfire, and three of them keeping watch on the periphery. Perhaps their presence made Techie feel secure enough to go with us?
“Here, try it,” Techie proffered the toasted morsel impaled on the end of a twig. “Careful, it’s melted and hot in the middle.”
The warning came just in time as Hux had been prepared to chew into it immediately to get the carbohydrate attack over with as soon as possible. Holding it between his fingers, he blew on it till it cooled enough to eat and popped it into his mouth.
“Good?” asked Techie, smiling at him hopefully.
“Mmgh.” His teeth now thoroughly gummed up, he nodded, trying not to contort his face as the piece of caramelized sugar melted over his tongue.
“Having fun?” asked Ren, materializing out of the darkness beyond their campfire like an assassin dropping stealth. Everyone jumped, Hux included, and the two nearest cadets on perimeter guard shouted in surprise. Ren turned and gestured to the space at his back, “Come in,” and the cadets in his patrol moved out of his shadow to join the group, neatly stacking their packs and gear by the shelters.
Hux unstuck his teeth, swallowing down a mouthful of sugar to do so. “I’m not sure if waiting for your return would be considered “fun”, given we agreed to be back to camp before nightfall. Our scans as we performed our orbital insertion showed an impressive amount of nocturnally-active native fauna.” Hux scowled at the dark Jedi, but relaxed a little when a quick count confirmed none of the cadets Ren had borrowed had gone missing.
“We did not encounter any large predators,” said Ren, removing his helmet and parking it atop a crate beside the shelter he was sharing with Hux. Reaching into his tabard, he retrieved something which he held out to Hux. “We did, however, find some crystal remnants at the surface of the mountain where weathering had exposed a seam.”
Hux cupped his hands to receive a number of jagged pebbles with bits of sparkling color embedded in a darker matrix. Even through his gloves he could feel the tingle of energy and shivered a little. Does everyone feel that? he wondered. Gingerly he piled the samples atop another crate and hunted up a sample case to hold them.
“Our scanners showed a subsurface vein of the same matrix in the area where Lord Ren found those fragments, General,” said Cap, holding up his datapad. “We’ve got the location mapped.”
“We mapped four similar places to the south,” said Doro, holding up her own datapad. “I didn’t find any sign of crystals at the surface, though, you guys got the day’s luck.”
“Good, in the morning we can survey the eastern and western quadrants. After that, I assume we will perform a further study of those sites positive for crystal matrix.” Hux looked at Ren, who had acquired a self-heating ration pack and was eating as if he were starving. Ren grunted something like an affirmative noise at Hux’s plan and kept chewing.
Cap and Rupart handed out rations to the latecomers. For a time, the only sounds were of people munching their dinners and the fire snapping. Hux settled near his brother, listening to the breeze whistling through the conifers that clad the slopes of the surrounding mountainside. It was strangely peaceful, although he kept looking upward, seeking the arrow-shape of Finalizer, and then looking away as he remembered for the sake of secrecy his ship was far from this planet. Their sole connection to the First Order consisted of Ren’s shuttle. Hux tried not to worry about what might happen should they be discovered here by the Resistance or pirates.
“Are those… fire mallows?” Ren watched as Doro handed out peeled twigs and pale pieces of the soft candy to the new arrivals.
“Yes sir! Want some?” Doro offered an impaled chunk of candy. “Finestkind from Shuzzah’s Confectionery in the Duros Sector.”
“Finish your real food first,” warned Hux. “The sugar will ruin your ability to taste anything else for hours.”
“That’s all right.” Techie smiled as he toasted his third piece.
Ren plucked the twig from the cadet’s grasp and contemplated the treat. “I haven’t been to that part of Nar Shaddaa in years.” Sticking out his lower lip in a pout he said, “Something like this is probably Light Side.”
“Nuh-uh,” said Doro. “If you don’t like it pale, just let it burn a little. Then it’ll be dark enough. It’ll be bitter though, if you really carbonize it.”
Ren snorted an almost-laugh, his face relaxing. “That is not how the Force works.”
“Oh, dunno about the Force part, but this is just candy.” Doro shrugged.
“Sticky sugar,” said Cap, managing to stuff the entire treat into his mouth to avoid touching it.
“Kriff, it burns good, too,” said Okan, looking sadly at the merrily flaming lump that had managed to sag from his twig into the middle of the fire during a moment’s inattention.
“Yuck, that one’s an offering to the fire-gods, have a fresh one.” Doro passed him another piece.
“Lights out in an hour,” Hux warned the group, checking his chrono. “We’ve a full schedule tomorrow.”
“All we need before bedtime is a ghost story,” said Rupart, looking pointedly at Doro.
“What? Why?” Doro stared blankly at him.
“It’s traditional when you’re out camping,” Rupart replied. “C’mon Doro, you must know some.”
“They are traditional,” Ren spoke up suddenly. “When I was very young, Chew- my uncle used to frighten me witless with tales of the jungles of Kashykk on those few occasions we did something like camping.”
“You want to tell one?” asked Doro.
“No, your General would prefer you get some sleep after. You may proceed as requested.” Ren sat back against a stack of crates and opened a hand toward Doro, who nodded.
“Very good sir.” She looked at Techie and the rest of her fellow cadets. “This is a tale from my time on Nar Shaddaa, where I was raised by Mar’tuk, a shaman of the Nikto. It is from one of her first cases when she was a young “spirit keeper”. I guess you could call it a love story, of sorts.”
Doro adjusted her position to sit up straighter, putting away her fire mallow skewer to free her hands. Briefly she pressed her palms together, then clapped them, once, twice, three times, the sharp sounds echoing beyond the fire to be swallowed by the dark forest around them. Raising her head she aimed her words somewhere over the campfire and spoke clearly.
“Once there was a young Alderaanian lady, born of a noble house. As it would happen, she fell in love with a young man who was serving on their estate. Since he was a commoner, her family didn’t approve at all, but she ignored their protests. Since she was only seventeen and not of legal age, her father, the Baron, sent her away to school on Naboo, thinking that perhaps her love would cool while she was gone. Their House was part of a feud against House Rist – the House of Assassins – and it was getting dangerous enough the Baron thought his daughter and heir would be safer off planet. Months passed and the daughter obediently attended school, but she counted the days until she would be of legal age to make her own decisions about her future.” Doro’s voice had taken on a calm quality, devoid of her usual Lowtown accent.
“One night, when the moons were up and the evening light was lovely, the lady awoke to a tapping at her bedroom window. Moving carefully, she peeked through the curtains and saw her young lover in a fine speeder, hovering in place outside. With a smile, he beckoned her to join him, which she did with great joy. Together they flew above the city, catching up with the news and talking about what they would do once she was free. They would elope, she said, and perhaps settle on Naboo, since there was plenty of work there.”
“As dawn approached, the young man began to complain of a fierce headache and turned his speeder around to take the lady back to her apartment. He seemed to be in so much pain, she did what she could for him, applying a cold compress and analgesic to his head, tying it in place with her scarf. Safely back in her rooms she sadly watched him fly away.”
“The next morning, she holocalled her father, and told him she planned to elope with her lover, since he had come to Naboo to court her. To her surprise the Baron turned pale and demanded she return home to Alderaan at once. When she protested, her father said, “You must come home, the young man you loved is dead.”
“What?” said Rupart. “But…”
“Wait, how…?” Techie was sitting with his elbows on his knees, chin propped in his hands, leaning forward to catch every word.
Doro nodded. “So, not believing her father, but very much concerned, the lady took the next liner to Alderaan and then a fast transport to her family estate. Once there, her father said her lover had joined the household guard while she was away and not a month later had died defending the Baron and Baroness from the Rists, who had tunneled up through a storeroom and attacked late at night. He had died bravely and swiftly, shot through the head by a Rist, and the Baron had buried him with honor on the estate. He had been unable to tell his daughter the sad news.”
“The lady simply could not believe it and demanded to see the body.”
“Ew,” said Alkar.
“Yeah, someone must’ve been trying to pull a scam with a lookalike.” Okan frowned at the thought.
“With reluctance the Baron agreed, accompanied his daughter to the family crypt, and opened the gates of the mausoleum,” said Doro.
“The Baron brought his daughter to the place where the young man had been laid to rest; warning her that with their minimal embalming, his body would have begun to decay and to steel herself for the sight. She was determined seeing her lover’s body however, and so the Baron opened the tomb. The young man lay in repose, already beginning to fall away into bones as such things are intended, but bright and fresh around his damaged skull was the lady’s scarf and the treatments she had placed under it to ease his headache.”
“W-what?!” Hux stared at the cadet, feeling the gooseflesh come up under his sleeves.
“No, how could that be?” Alkar put her hand over her mouth.
Doro stood and clapped three times again. “That is the story as it was given to me by my teacher.”
“That can’t be real!” Cap protested, scrubbing at his arms as if chilled.
“What did your teacher say about it?” asked Hux, his mind turning over the elements of the tale as if it were a puzzle mystery. His skin crawled and he wished he could do the same as Cap and rub his arms, but since he did not want to appear concerned in front of the cadets, he simply tolerated the chill.
“Mar’tuk said the young man’s spirit visited his lady that night on Naboo, but being dead, he couldn’t stay among the living for long. So he paid his lover a last call and then departed before the sun rose.”
“Can ghosts really do that?” asked Efrei.
Doro shook her head. “I don’t know – I’ve never seen one that could manifest solid objects like a speeder, but Mar’tuk said the lady in question was adamant about what she had experienced… and every one of her House had seen the new scarf around the skull of the dead man.”
“I think it’s sweet,” said Techie. “He must have loved her very much.”
“Aya, Mar’tuk always was careful to say such a thing was a sign of love transcendent.”
“It was pointless. Alderaan is dust.” The flat statement brought further conversation to a halt. Ren pointed at the tidy shelters. “Rest now, tomorrow we have work to do.” Rising, he stalked away toward his own and vanished inside.
The cadets watched him go. Doro and Techie breathed out sighs almost in unison.
“Set the watches, and go in standard rotation,” said Hux, likewise standing and stretching stiffly, using the excuse of the chilly night air to finally rub his arms. “Keep the passive ground and orbital scanners running. Wake us if anything large and hostile approaches.”
Cap saluted. “Aye sir.”
“Techie, we’ve plenty of room in our shelter, if you wish?” Hux helped his brother to stand.
Techie contemplated the shelter which Hux was sharing with Ren and shook his head. “I… think I’ll stay with them.” He pointed at the cadets.
“We’ll look after him, sir,” said Cap.
“See that you do. Good night.” Hux entered the shelter and closed the fabric doorflap.
The cadets soon had the fire out and the campsite perimeters secured with passive monitors. Cap assigned the watch rotations and once that was done everyone divided themselves into the three remaining shelters. As Doro helped Techie with his cot and sleeping bag, he looked at her soberly.
“Is it, you think?”
“Is what?” Doro shook out the sleeping bag, which began to expand into something that would soften the very firm cot.
“What Lord Ren said – the love between those two in your story was pointless.”
Placing a finger over her lips, Doro shook her head in an emphatic negative. Techie sat on his cot and watched as Doro set up her own bedding.
“How do you know?” he asked in a near-whisper.
Securing the entrance, Doro sat cross-legged on her cot and spoke quietly. “Let me tell you a fact – everything dies eventually. Plants, animals, people, worlds, stars, even the galaxy. Now I’ll tell you something else. It’s all right. Everything cycles, round and round.” She rotated one finger in the air by her head.
“We’re born, we live, we die, and we are re-born, on and on.” She leaned closer to Techie, her voice very soft. “That ghost story I told? It’s one of the mysteries. Death is strong, we all know it. But Love is stronger.”
“Stronger than death?” Techie blinked.
“Way stronger.” Doro lay down on her cot and closed her eyes. “Love keeps the wheel turning.”
Wriggling his way into the thermal coverings, Techie looked into the gloom of the tented ceiling. As the last cadet climbed into bed, the small embedded lights in the framework dimmed so the only illumination came through the windows around the shelter. The planet on which they camped was located along the edge of a star-forming nebula. Concentrating, Techie could get his cybernetic eyes to sharp focus through the distortion of the flexiplast windows and bring the bright blue-white stars on the horizon into view. It felt as if he could see them rotating around the planet on which he lay.
“Turning,” he murmured.
---
“Ridiculous,” muttered Hux as he unzipped his field boots and placed them precisely at the foot of his cot. Across the space of the shelter, Ren had managed to remove most of his dark layers of armor and flicked out his sleeping bag, which opened up so nicely Hux suspected Ren was using some of his Force-nonsense to do so.
“There are no such things as ghosts, dead is dead.” Hux paced around the cot, tugging his own sleeping bag into order.
“There is no death. There is only the Force.” Ren stretched out on his cot, sounding as if he were quoting some half-forgotten lesson.
“What?!” Hux hovered between being appalled and angry. “You were the one who encouraged her! I know she had rather… backward… beginnings, but her training with the First Order did not allow for such flights of fantasy.” He dropped onto his cot a little harder than he’d intended; it creaked loudly, flexed, and nearly bounced him back upright again. “You actually believe her story?” Carefully he sat on the surface of the sleeping bag and worked at the closure to open it fully.
Ren was silent for so long Hux thought he had ignored the question and gone to sleep. Hux pulled the sleeping bag open, swung his legs inside and settled down. He was starting to drift off, when he heard Ren say,
“There are many strange things in the galaxy. Terrifying. Wonderful. Not everything has a logical explanation.”
Hux snorted. “There must be. The galaxy itself is orderly at a macro scale. Even if we can’t always perceive it, the laws of physics do apply everywhere.”
“That does not automatically cancel out the… other possibilities,” said Ren.
“When someone shows me an equation which permits such things as visitations from ghostly lovers, then I’ll believe it.” Hux rolled himself fully into his sleeping bag and closed his eyes.