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The Hux family and a crew of troopers set off onto a planet called Elaburus. A planet owned by the resistance. Brendol Hux was fully aware that there might be danger waiting ahead but the man’s idea was constantly refused and he was stubborn enough to do it himself. He suggested right away taking at least part Elaburus under their control and create a smaller base but the idea was rejected by other superiors, saying they shouldn’t rush it.
Armitage was in his shared bedroom, on the bed, staring outside of the viewport in the room and only seeing stars and distant planets. His brother was somewhere else in the ship, god knows where. He didn’t know much about his father’s plans but he knew they traveled toa certain planet. The young boy picked up the small datapad and looked through the holonet to pass the time. He had some informative documents on there but he needed to rest from that even if those were interesting. Some of those documents contained history of the Galactic empire, information he needed for his academy and so on. Eventually he saw something else other than the stars outside, the planet. He placed the datapad beside himself and went closer to the view. (Description of planet). Armitage stared for a bit till they eventually got in the atmosphere. He strided towards his bed and smoothed out the white sheets. He wasn’t all that excited but he was sure he’ll later go outside to have a look of the planet.
Brendol asked if there were any live forms around them from the pilot. He raised a brow when the pilot answered yes. “They are coming closer, sir.” Brendol scratched the side of his face and his beard before sending a command. “Let’s be aware then.. Tell the troopers to be ready for any ambush.”
The living life forms were a family and a few others. Most of them were jedi and humans. They made a camp on this planet to rest, the Solo family calling it a vacation, at least Han does. Leia didn’t quite agree with that. This place was in some case a desert with the amount of sand and not much of a place you’d travel for a vacation but thankfully it had some greenery and water sources. Either way Ben was overly joyed by this. His parents finally getting the time to spend their time together as a family so it didn’t matter where they were to him. As long as everything was fine. But too bad that Chewie wasn’t here, that’s what Ben definitely thought of.
With the Solo family was his uncle Luke Skywalker and a jedi nautolan named Rogen Corr. His skin was grey, dark brown robes covered with sand dust and was a little old to still be a padawan (But quite an independent one). Rogen was the one who escorted them to probably one the best place to camp in this planet. The male nautolan has been living here for a couple of years, getting his mind off of everything, meditating and training himself. Sometimes he gets advice and informs his master of his progress though commlink and asks if his master is well. When he heard he can be a help of the Solo family and Luke Skywalker he gladly obliged.
Han and Leia were in their own tent, Luke keeping an eye on Ben and Rogen went to gather water from the nearest river. Ben’s face was close to his knees, curled up in front of his tent and twirling rocks around by force, above his fingers. He eventually got up, still doing the motions with his hands, moving the rocks around. His attention was lost while staring in the distance and one of the rocks accidentally flinged at Luke’s head. Ben blinked and turned his head, dropping the other rocks and realizing he hit his uncle. “Ah sorry there uncle!” He gave a sheepish grin and placed a hand on his neck, rubbing it gently. Luke took down his hood and looked towards young Ben. He wasn’t surprised of such easy accidents for a teenager like him. “It’s alright.. At Least you weren’t juggling boulders.”
Ben raised a brow but let out a laugh. Luke smiled and chuckled. The young jedi looked up towards the sky after hearing something. “A ship...” He said out loud, making Luke glance up in the sky as well and Han peeking out of the tent. “What in the name of..” He slowly got out of the tent. “That surely doesn’t look friendly. Where’s Rogen?” Ben looked towards the river in the distance and answered. “Well we were running out of water here so he went to fetch some.” His father sighed and placed a hand on Ben’s shoulder. “Either one of us calls him back here or we have to defend ourselves.”
‘’Or try our best to hide and not jump right in front of them.’’ A voice came from behind. The voice belonged to Leia. Leia got out of the tent and stood up. Han furrowed his brows. “Oh yeah? They’ll easily find this place and what if they can track us?“ Leia sighed. “You want to get the boy in danger?” Ben stared at his parents tiny argument and got rid of Han’s hand off his shoulder. “How about we go catch Rogen and try to defend ourselves? The ship doesn’t seem all that big.” He smiled. Han chuckled. “See? Gotta listen to Ben here.” Leia frowned a bit but eventually gave in. “Alright… Ben you go call Rogen, we’ll be on guard.” She kissed his son’s cheek before he nodded and ran off, his lightsaber tangling from his waist.
The ship finally landed and all the others left in the small camp went to hide behind the nearest rocks. Leia and Hand ready to draw out their blasters while Luke had his hand on his lightsaber. “Maybe let’s sneak up to them.” Han whispered and shrugged when Leia had a concerned look. Luke was about to speak up but they all went silent when they saw a couple of troopers coming out of the ship, looking around the area with their blasters ready to shoot. Han stood up from crouching and shot both of them with a couple of shots, thankfully being close to them for more impact on the troopers. Han smirked. “That should give them a good message.” More troopers came swarming out, making the three jump out from both sides and onto an attack. “I hope this turns out well.” Leia raised her voice while shooting. “I hope so too.” Luke answered, making Han roll his eyes. “Don’t worry you two.” He said before kicking back a stormtrooper from behind and shooting them.
Ben ran back to the area where the ship landed and fighting happened. Rogen looked at the situation and placed down the buckets of water, which both are half empty because of the running, what left a trail of water behind them in the sand and dirt. “I knew this planet was too peaceful for too long..” He drawed out his lightsaber and ran in the group of stormtroopers, soon most of them were on the ground either laying dead or groaning. The now group of four got into the ship, wanting to either find peace or end this before causing any bigger trouble.
Ben was eager to run after them after activating his lightsaber but before he got in he saw someone stumbling out of it. The young jedi tilted his head a bit and was curious who it was. It was a boy in all black and fiery ginger hair, his face bloody from his own blood. Armitage Hux was taught not to show any fear but it was hard not to while your family ship was ambushed and being covered in your own blood and a bit of other’s. Ben could sense he was scared of him and the situation. The boy walked backwards out of the ship and ran to hide somewhere behind it, out of his sight. Ben felt bad for the kid, he seemed about the same age as him at least how much of him he saw. He followed him. The ginger boy was leaning against the ship, his hands covered in blood and looking down at them. He got started when seeing the jedi.
Ben lowered his lightsaber and deactivated it, dropping it on the ground and raising his hands. “I’m not going to hurt you.” Hux peered up at him. “Then why is your company of people ambushing us?” Ben chuckled nervously. “Uh.. To protect ourselves you know.. We had a bad record with um.. Such.. People..” Hux slid down and sat in the sand. “Then why don’t you kill me already. I’m no use to you or anyone.” Ben pouted and kneeled down beside him. “I simply don’t feel like hurting you end of story.” He looked down at his bloody hands. “You need some bacta patches?” Hux wiped the blood off on his pants which he really didn’t want to do but it’s better than feeling the fresh blood on his skin. “No need. I’ll be dead or abandoned after this ambush is done. ” Ben grabbed his arm before he got up. “Please.. I want to help you..” Hux shook off his hand. “Then first help me by stopping them!” He yelled out, distressed of these turn of events.
Ben nodded and quickly ran inside the ship. They were currently looking around the ship for anymore people. Brendol Hux was held back by this, he rubbed his face and stayed in the small control room with his other son latched onto him. “Where’s Armitage?..” He asked his son and he simply shrug as an answer. Brendol let out a frustrated grunt. He turned his head to the screens showing the view of the holocameras around the ship. He saw a younger jedi talking to the group of people. Eventually they head out of the ship but before that a man with a blaster shot one of the holocameras, making the screen dark.
“Kriff..”
Leia looked at Ben confused. “What boy are you talking about?” She asked before seeing the bloodied ginger against the ship. Hux stayed frozen in place when seeing more people coming.
“Get away from he..” He said quietly, something in his throat stopping him from saying it louder. Ben offered a hand towards him. “Let’s fix you up and you can go back to the ship.” All the headed back to camp, not wanting to stare at the boy or scare him. Hux was relieved by them leaving and accepted the helping hand. “Fine.. But you better not hurt any more people on this ship.” Ben smiled. “I promise. Really.” Armitage was surprised that he actually felt like the jedi was not gotta break the promise. Was it something in how he said it?
Ben lead the boy to camp and right away rummaged around to find the medpack. Rogen walked with the buckets of water and placed them down. “Here you go.” He smiled and began to make a fire in the middle of the camp. Ben took out the medpack and a rag, dipping it into the now warm water and cleaning the boy’s face and hands. “So what’s your name?” Hux sighed. “... Armitage..” Ben chuckled. “Mine’s Ben.” Armitage tried not to snort at that. “Benjamin?” Ben frowned. “Hey i said Ben not Benjamin.” Armitage laughed a bit. “Ben is short for Benjamin mostly.” The young jedi ended up staring at him, feeling something in his chest when seeing him laugh and smile.
“Anyways, i’m still bleeding you know.”
Ben snapped out of it and blinked. “Right right..” He opened up the medpack and placed some bacta patches on the palm of his hands and his cheek. Armitage gently touched the placed patch. Ben sat down next to him. There was a silence between them until Ben spoke up. “Tell me about yourself.” He smiled to him. Hux sighed. “I’m going to leave this place soon with a furious father soon anyways, there’s no need to know more about me other than my name.”
Ben frowned. “Oh pleease? I want to know more. Despite that.”
Armitage raised his brow. “Why even?” Ben shrugged. “I’m a curious person.” The red haired boy nodded. “Uhuh.. Nice explanation but fine, guess it won’t kill me unless we talk more in private cause don’t know any of you and especially the others.” Ben rolled his eyes and grinned. “I can introduce you to them.” He started pointing them out one by one. “Those two are my mother and father, Han and Leia. That’s a fellow jedi named Rogen and that’s my uncle Luke.” Armitage tried to remember where he had heard those names before. “You don’t have any siblings?” Armitage asked. Ben shook his head and gave a lazy. “No. Do you?”
“One brother… And the man commanding the ship is my father, Brendol Hux.” Ben looked over a the ship. “Armitage Hux.” He smirked. The boy in black sighed. “Yes that’s my full name. What a genius for figuring that out.” Ben laughed. “You’re such a downer!” He said in a playful manner.
“You know when you’ll have to go back?” Armitage thought and got closer to the fire Rogen had made. “I don’t know what my father even wanted to come here. He’s probably trying to figure out where i am without even trying to search for me himself.”
Ben nodded. “Hm.. Well you can go right now. You’re all patched up.” Armitage admitted to himself that that was true but to be honest this is the most fun he had for ages, even if they aren’t doing anything entertaining exactly. “I’ve been sitting in the ship for too long. I can stay here for a bit.”
“You can go into my tent to rest for a short time if you want.” Ben said, gesturing towards it. Armitage nodded and went into the empty tent without a vocal answer. He laid down and stared at the fabric the tent was made of. Eventually he closed his eyes and slightly curled up, his hands close to his face and resting on the flat pillow.
Ben stretched and went to explore around the place, away from the tent or the ship. The planet’s three moons appeared in the sky, not fully dark yet but the moons still shined light onto the ground. One shined brighter than the others. Ben slid down a patch of sand and tripped on something hard. He let out a yelp and fell down onto the ground, patch grass in his face.
“Sithpit what was that?” He looked back and saw something buried in the sand. He went up on his knees near the object and wiped off the sand, digging the rest of it out. He laughed seeing what he found. A top of a droid, he was curious how it got here but he put the bowl shaped top on his head. He looked around for anything else. Ben found more scrap metal and a droid arm sticking out of the sand. He picked it up. “Nice!” He chuckled to himself and carried the robotic arm around using the force. He continued his walk looking around. He didn’t find anything else other than a flower he hasn’t seen on this planet before and picked it up. The young jedi made the robotic arm hold onto the flower. He had absolutely no use of these but why not. He can leave them on the planet once they’ll leave.
When Ben thought it wasn’t worth looking around anymore he started heading back to the camp. Luke raised a brow and chuckled seeing Ben coming back with droid parts and a flower. “Guessing you went scavenging around.” Ben nodded. “Heh.. What else i could do.” He sat down and pulled the droid top over his eyes. He tried not to laugh at himself and turned his head towards his tent, looking inside at Hux. Ben gulped, his heart started fluttering. So that was the feeling in his chest, he thought. He had to admit, the ginger boy was handsome… “No handsome isn’t the word.. Pretty.” He thought to himself. Yes pretty, with his hair, his face, he thinks he even saw freckles on his face.
He used the force to levitate the droid arm into the tent, the blue flower still in it’s hand. He poked Hux with the hand and tickled his nose with the flower till he woke up. Hux got slightly started by the robotic arm and a flower close to his face. He slowly noticed that it was levitating, his gaze ending up going outside of the tent to Ben. Ben smiled and waved. “Had a nice nap?” Armitage nodded and looked at the flower, picking it up from the hand. He ended up staring at it and all the details on the little thing. “What in stars are you wearing on your head?” Ben grinned. “You like it? I had a walk and i found these left over of droids.”
Ben made the arm mess up Hux’s hair, making him glare at Ben. “Stop messing around with that damned arm.” Ben stuck his tongue out and smirked. “Make me.” Hux grabbed the arm but only was flicked on the nose by it. Armitage sighed and let go of it. Ben looked both sides for anyone and got inside the tent along side him. “Guess this is my queue to leave?...” Ben quickly shook his head and threw the droid parts away by force out of the tent. “I want you to stay a little longer still.” Armitage frowned. “But it’s pretty cramped here now you dragged yourself here.”
Ben picked up the blue flower gently and placed it behind Armitage’s ear. “Suits you surprisingly..” Hux looked at him, feeling like that was an odd action for him to do. Ben gently stroked his cheek where the patch was. “You think it had healed by now?” Armitage stayed quiet, saying no in his head but not speaking out. Mindlessly Ben’s hand started to wander onto his waist. “You’re quite small..” He whispered gently. Armitage sighed. “I know. Weak and small. Should get more meat and muscle on my bones. I’ve heard it all.” Ben shook his head. “It makes you seem more precious. Even if your looks and fear made me want to protect you, you probably aren’t weak. Everyone has their strong sides you know.”
Armitage was baffled by what he just said. His cheeks turning warmer, his freckles showing more. Ben smiled. “Aww.. You do have freckles..” The ginger boy blinked and covered the lower half of his face. “Shh don’t cover them up now.. They’re so cute.. I thought i saw a few when i first saw you. Guess i was right you do have them.” He took away his hand and ended up staring into his eyes. It was hard to tell which colour they were. Blue? Green? A mix?
Ben leaned closer to him, the tips of their noses touching. “Ah.. Pretty ginger lashes..” He whispered, wanting to just gently stroke them. Armitage flinched and closed his eyes tight shut when he reached his thumb to gently stroke his eyelashes. Eventually he relaxed and let him do it. Ben’s heart felt like pumping faster and fluttering more. “Precious..”
Armitage slowly got rid of Ben’s hand. He looked over at him with half lid eyes, feeling even more flustered than before. He didn’t know what to say, he didn’t want to stop this either.
Ben kissed his forehead. “What are you good at?” He asked him suddenly, thinking back at when he said that everyone has their strong sides. Armitage looked down and thought. “I do well in academy… I can strategize and sometimes try to help my father with it the best i can. I’ve already disappointed him enough, i want that to change. No. I have to chance that. He still has some hope in me, i can’t lose it.” Ben sensed the desperation for approval in his voice but he wasn’t gotta ask more, thinking it’s a sensitive topic to him. But he did say this. “I’m sure you’ll do something great in the future, Armitage.” He smiled. “Whatever it may be.”
Armitage smiled slightly. “Thank you..” The smile quickly faded. Ben cupped his face and raised his head. “I can’t hold it in much longer. I’m sorry.” He said before coming closer for a kiss. Armitage’s eyes widened. He had never really kissed anyone. Maybe pecked someone on the lips as a kid but nothing else. Armitage gulped, thinking what to do, what to do with his hands, where they should be, should he push him away? He had all this thoughts screaming in his head, enough for Ben to hear. “If you don’t like this then just say so.” Armitage shook his head and pulled himself back into the kiss, kissing back slowly and softly. The ginger boy melted into the kiss, seems like the young jedi was slightly experienced. Maybe kissed someone before or practised it on a pillow who knows.
Ben held him closer by his waist while Armitage digged his fingers into his dark wavy hair of a mess. The kiss was so slow, soft and tender which easily could be lasting forever. Eventually they pulled away from each other. Ben smiled. “Your lips feel nice..” He placed a hand on Armitage’s which was tangled in his hair. Armitage was simply quiet and stared. “I..”
Ben heard an unfamiliar voice from outside the tent. He quickly sat up and pushed the fabric aside. It was a trooper with a blaster. “Where’s Armitage Hux?” The stormtrooper asked aiming the blaster towards them all just in case they were planning to do anything rational. Ben looked back at Hux. “Think it’s time for you to leave..” Armitage sat up. Both of his cheeks kissed by the playful young jedi. “Sadly..“ Armitage answered and got out. The trooper gestured with his head to leave when he saw the boy. Ben got himself to sit outside the tent, seeing the pretty ginger boy leave. Armitage looked back for a moment before getting into the ship and after a while set off with his family.
Ben kinda did regret getting to know him, yet it was worth it. He truely hoped faith will make them meet again in the future, no matter how old. He kinda had a feeling that it might happen someday.