First Order Scientist

          “ hugs, hux. same difference. he doesn’t seem to mind. ” the pilot is infuriating, cason has to admit. but since when has dameron not been a right pain in the ass? even now, smirking as he is, relaxed in his chair like this is a simple conversation between friends. he wonders what the hell the man is thinking, and wishes he had more strength. maybe to punt him out of the door, if he could. “ because every time i correct you, you just say it anyway. ” he grits his teeth as he answers, only to look up toward marcella as she approaches him. 

          he stands with her aid, finding himself weak still, and loathing every second of it as they walk. it’s as if his limbs don’t belong to him, pathetic and trembling as they are. he has more strength than this, he has to. it doesn’t matter if he took a blaster bolt to the chest. they reached the tank with no issues, though he’s aware of how the other had wheeled down with them and was now settled near the entrance to the medbay, watching them. so he’s smart in some way, choosing to watch over them to make sure they don’t do anything. 

          not that there’s anything he himself can do, but he’s certain marcella could do some damage if she so wished.

          as she strayed to the console, he rests a hand on the thick cylinder in front of him, tilting his head as he looks it over himself. a smirk curls over his features as he hears her, and he’s far too happy to have her on his side, at his side. he looks up and over when she’s finished, already having shed the first layer – his shirt – and now working on the bandages. it’d do no good to have the bandages on while he was in there.

          he unwinds the bandaging from himself, looking up as marcella joins him and helps him remove the rest of the clothing and items. this is simple procedure, he sees nothing wrong with it as he strips down and steps inside the chamber once she’s done helping him. “ well, i doubt any of them have experience in anything medical other than stims and bandages. ” even then, the bandages had been sloppy. 

         he takes the breathing apparatus, eyeing it in distaste before putting it on. as well as allowing himself to be wired up. there’s even a glance up at the tank as it comes down around him, sighing and looking back down toward his chest as the bacta begins to fill slowly at his feet. hux’s chest is marred by the blaster, and even after being in the tank in the first place, the flesh is gnarled and knotted, burned in the middle of his chest. there’s a trickle of blood from the edges of the wound, and he resists the urge to touch it. it will scar permanently, he’s certain, much like the ones along his side and spine where force lightning had crawled over his body. 

          hux glances up, watching as dameron wheels himself over and starts to talk, but it’s muffled behind the pane of transparisteel, yet he’s talking to marcella, gesturing with his hands, and looking at the readout screen. at least there, the redhead can see his own vitals for a moment, how his heart has an odd rhythm, how labored his breathing is from the walk to the medbay. by the time the bacta encompasses him entirely and he’s floating in the thick liquid, he’s already beginning to fall asleep.

        Having her General suspended in the bacta, Marcella insisted on staying in the medbay to be certain that they didn’t do anything to him. A few off color remarks from the pilot had been enough to make her want to do something drastic, but she sat in a chair near the tank and listened to the sounds while keeping notes on a clipboard.

While she didn’t mind Dameron being there, he grated on her with some of the things he said. Was he always like this? No, she wasn’t in a romantic relationship with the General. No, she wasn’t interested in hearing about BB-8. No, she certainly didn’t want to hear about his relationship with Kylo Ren or... Ben as they called him now. That didn’t mean she didn’t thank him when he brought her a half portion for lunch.

Marcella didn’t eat much to begin with but for once, she finished the entire thing without so much as a complaint. As the hours rolled by, she spent her time taking notes and speaking to Dameron whenever he was actually in the room. A part of her wondered if he were babysitting her or if he were genuinely interested in talking. She suspected it could be one or both. But she didn’t know for sure.

Once the General’s time was up, it was well into the early hours of the morning but Marcie had so much caf in that time, she couldn’t tell the difference. 

           It wasn’t as though he hadn’t thought about it,  but the thought had been so fleeting,  not thinking that he was deserving of anything good after all he had done.  But clearly being part of the First Order or being a Knight of Ren didn’t mean he had to ( for lack of a better phrase ) keep it in his pants.

“No, I suppose you’re right about that…”  Despite being nervous,  he’s more curious now and kriffing hell and he’s excited.  Though the bulge in his pants probably proved that.  He doesn’t think of Icarus,  just lets her push him into the chair and quiet breath leaves Kylo’s lips.

Kylo would  definitely  be enjoying his stay.

He couldn’t keep his eyes off her,  so he does what any good force user would go,  and uses it to undo his pants and push them down,  lifting his his hips before they fell to the floor.  “I’m not nervous,”  He was.  “The force is finally good for something.”  Kylo wasn’t sure if he was saying it to Marcie or himself.

        “Is it?” Marcie uncapped the lubricant and found herself a bit shocked at what she was seeing. Truthfully, she didn’t think that her hand would fit around him but she was willing to try. “It’s a good thing you’re not nervous. Many people who come in here can’t claim such.” 

A smirk came over her face as she spread a bit of the lubricant on her hands. Letting it sit there, she let it warm a bit before she reached for him. As predicted, her hand was too small to wrap around him entirely so she carefully employed the use of two. 

              “Well,  if anyone can then it’s you.”  This time Kylo actually does snort,  shaking his head.  Though in that moment he was more Ben than anything else and it was something he needed to shake off instead.  Perhaps that was the whole point of this train of thought…now he was just getting ahead of himself.

The way that Marcie was looking at him made Kylo a little nervous,  the last time someone looked at him like that he was on one of his visits home and Poe Dameron had just arrived on his doorstep.  Maybe Kylo  was  fucked.

“I…”  Stars,  he can’t even finish a proper sentence and while he felt like destroying something else,  he doesn’t take his eyes off her.  He wanted to see how the moment would end for the first time in his life.  “Maybe – yes.  I wouldn’t even know where to…wait,  are you serious?”   Kylo was a mess around people in general,  but now was even worse.

        Marcie waved off the previous conversation. She’d have those kneecaps if it killed her. But that wasn’t what she was on right now. Now, there was another question. One that she thought should have been answered ages ago given his penchant for destroying things. So much made sense now...

“Of course I’m serious. This isn’t something to joke about,” she answered. “Why would I? Sit.” She put her hands on his abdomen and tried to push him into a chair for the moment. “Icarus! Lock the doors, no one is to come in without my permission.” 

A robotic voice above them spoke seconds after the door locks clicked shut. “Yes, miss. The doors have been locked. Please enjoy your stay.” 

           “I would say that I would like to see you try,  but I have a feeling that you actually would.”  Kylo didn’t care for the First Order like most people around him seemed to,  he thought it was pointless,  as Snoke’s existence was.  But her words almost make him smirk.

Almost.  He’s learned to lock his feelings away tight for the most part,  aside from those few moments when he sasses someone like his father might have.  Though that was far too painful a thought right now,  especially when he couldn’t go home.  No one would accept him back now,  Snoke had made sure that he would believe that.

He comment on that first sentence,  unwilling to admit that Hux was actually a smart man,  Kylo refused to risk giving the General something to hold over him.  “I do believe that is  none  of your business.”  Kylo grumbled.  He didn’t know what that was like,  he had nothing to base it on,  though perhaps there was something to be said about his frustration.

       “Oh I assure you that I’d find a way. There’s always a way, my dear.” It wasn’t said without a smile but her mind was already conjuring up ways with which she could gas him and get him alone. Ah yes, she’d have to take several things into consideration but the thoughts dissipated as soon as she started to notice his discomfort.

Looking the man over, she tilted her head. Was... He didn’t seem eager as many others to go and find said partner and that confused her. Why not? What was the reason? Could it be that... No.

Marcie squinted at him and put her datapad down to regard the man for a moment. “It’s my business when your frustration is a danger to my work.” Walking around the table to face him, craning her neck to look up at him, Marcie paused in front of the Force user. “Are you a virgin, Ren? Is that why you’ve come here? There’s nothing with which to take pleasure in here, though I do suppose I could do it for you myself.”

          she has a good point. dameron is ridiculously fast in that chair, more so than should be allowed. how he hasn’t run anyone over is a damned mystery. perhaps he has. cason wouldn’t know, he hasn’t really kept tabs of anything, since this is the first time he’s been out of his bacta-tank since arriving. everything still feels muddled to him and he knows he’ll eventually have to go back inside. maybe this is their way of torture, taking him out between bouts of healing to ensure he ends up in pain and doesn’t heal properly. 

          “ i highly doubt it’s a mercy. i know they have a tank here, yet here i am. i feel as if they enjoy me being in pain outside of it. ” he tuts a little, and his hands rest on his chest, more so out of habit for the dull throbbing instead of the sharp piercing pain. “ perhaps both. though i have yet to wholly heal, i know pain is a constant right now. ” it’s more than likely his organs are damaged to some extent. he’s easily winded, as it may be.

          “ yes but you are also one of my most trusted, and to keep you out of the circle of information was … a risk. ” but who knows what the sith may have seen if they had checked into her mind with their mysterious force.

          “ then i will keep you up to date, perhaps in small meetings like this, if we’re capable of them. ” a flash of color at the door alerts him, and he frowns as he straightens a little, hissing. despite everything, he has his pride. “ our time may be up, for the moment. ” the door hisses open, revealing —- “ dameron. ” annoyance paints his features as he sees the pilot turned general, the boyish smile on that face as he wheels in, hair windswept and eyes bright. 

          “ so has everyone met everyone? good. time to leave, hugs. you need to get back in the tank. they fixed the console so maybe it’ll be a little safer to put you in it again. ” even his voice grates on cason’s nerves, and he grits his teeth. “ am i to assume you won’t drown me? ” he arches a brow, and refuses to move, which only drags a sigh out of the other man. “ look, this isn’t ideal. none of it is. but either you want the help or you don’t. ” there’s a moment of hesitation, and cason resists the urge to drag a hand down his face. “ — fine. ” a mumble, and he turns his gaze toward the lieutenant, his eyes lingering on her hair, her face. “ make sure they don’t drown me, yes? ”

        Small meetings, constant pain. What else would these Resistance scum have in store for them? Marcie wondered when she would suffer the same fate her mother had. Blue eyes cut to the door and she stared the pilot down. “So it would seem,” she breathed. They were being given play dates now? Disgusting. 

“Hux,” she growled. “His name is General Hux.” But she couldn’t be sure if she’d be allowed to ascertain that they wouldn’t drown him. Standing, she reached down to help the General stand with more strength than she’d had in the past few days. “I’ll be certain to do so, sir.” Blue eyes glared Poe Dameron down and she walked around and past him while doing her best to hold the other man up.

Given that she was so small, the scientist had to be sure that the Resistance wouldn’t put her down quickly. So instead, she kept her guard up until they reached the bacta tank. It was set up much in the way it should be but she insisted, despite the medbay’s constant complaining, to take a look at it herself. Wires were checked and the glass was looked over for various cracks or imperfections, then she continued to the console and shoved the man there out of her way. 

So far, from what she could see, they only had few errors that were quickly corrected. “I swear, you Resistance lot have to be absolutely thick if you thought I’d allow you to put my General in this heap after seeing this. Completely unacceptable. Such simple errors. And you call yourselves scientists? Doctors? Nurses, even? Disgusting.” 

          “ you shouldn’t. if you do not want to work with them, you don’t have to. i still don’t know what they’re aiming for by letting some of the members of the order survive. ” the order. the word feels foul on his tongue, bitter and twisted by the knowledge he’s been nothing but used and his precious little structured empire had been nothing but puppeted. that he had been a puppet, dancing on the strings of a sith.

          his brows furrow just a little, watching as she maneuvers herself from her position on the ground. for someone that believed him dead … she’s awfully believing in his life now. at least with that statement. she’s loyal, she always has been. “ too bad there aren’t anymore hooks around. i’d love to see how you use it to take on the one in the chair. ” his tone is amusing, and truly he would like to see how dameron would be able to fight from his chair. probably not very well, really.

          there’s a hiss that parts his lips, the shirt dragging over the bandages and the stim hitting a nerve. but it’s little pain compared to what he’s been in, and after a few moments, his breathing is less labored. 

          blue eyes dart upward at her features when she realizes he’s indeed alive, and he wonders if maybe the touch to his skin had done that. had shown he’s a solid, living thing. “ fortunately, yes. not without scars, but it’s worth it. ” hux gives the slightest semblance of a smile, a brief pull of his lips.

          he’s startled to see her simply fall back against the wall again, and the redhead leans forward, brows pinching. “ forgive you? my dear, there is nothing to be forgiven for. ” the order is dissolved, and formalities are nothing but phantoms and ghosts lingering in the room. “ yes. the fair few that i had, helped me survive. how i got here though is a mystery. ” he reaches up, brushing a hand over forming stubble and then back through his hair, making it fall unkempt.

          “ i apologize for not letting you know i was still alive. it was the utmost importance that as few people as possible knew. ” his lips twitch though, and he leans back in the chair, an unfamiliar position of slouching taking over his frame. “ oh yes, they will. the sith – though they’re dead aren’t they? – and the people that dared to oppose me. ” he wants order, wants a way for the galaxy to thrive. not peace but something that everyone can get along with. order would allow life to continue, rather than the hectic scrambling for survival. 

          “ sadly it means i need to stay here and recuperate, until i can build my own once more. with no one to command it or pull strings except me. ” he watches her a moment, tilting his head. “ i can count on you, can’t i lieutenant? ”

        She snorted at the thought of the Resistance keeping them alive much longer. Marcella didn't voice her opinion on that matter, but she was fairly certain she'd made it abundantly clear. They were being kept alive to be made an example of. That was all and she couldn't fathom the idea of anything else. None of them cared beyond getting what they wanted and she supposed, that was how she was as well.

Projecting her own behavior? Maybe, but they had allowed Finn to stay. ...Even then, she doubted that the General and herself would be allowed to live much longer. Given what she'd contributed to and what he'd done - there was little reason to allow them to live.

A snort left her at the idea. "As if I could catch him in that damn chair. ...It would be funny."

Even then, knowing she'd been speaking so candidly to an officer that she didn't know personally was... Unforgivable. Her mother had warned her about getting too familiar and General Hux was one of those she couldn't afford to lose favor with. But his choice of words mirrored her own and Marcie turned her head toward him slightly.

"A mystery, is it? Could we go so far as to say a mercy? ...That blaster shot must have damaged your lungs, perhaps your heart." If she had a bacta tank to put him in, she could easily fix that, or to a better degree than the health stim would. Blue eyes followed the way his hair fell and Marcie had to force herself to look away.

But the apology... Marcie grit her teeth. "You've nothing to apologize to me about. Whether I like it or not, orders are orders and I'm to take them without a second thought." Her eyes met his again blazing and furious. "Of course you can. You'll find that any and all orders will be obeyed." She was careful not to inject her own thoughts into the conversation again.

          he isn’t sure if he should be unnerved or not that she so firmly believes him dead, but it tells him he did a good job of covering his tracks until he had somehow wound up on the base. part of him wonders if anyone else had ended up here as well, and it would explain how he himself got here. all the same, his blue eyes shift subtly along her face, seeing the tiredness that’s etched into the very lines of her lips, her eyes. everywhere. “ i suppose the mind can be rather … annoying in that aspect. ”

          what he would have given to see the look on pryde’s face when that hook came at him. cason firmly believes in a variation of karma, but oh, hearing it firsthand is something that delights him down to his very core. he only wishes that he could have done it himself, but pryde being killed violently is one of the few things he’s willing to share. 

          “ they should have but they spent far too much time outrunning the order to even remotely begin to have a stable area. this, however, is surprising. it seems they’ve been here on ajan kloss a while. ” but who would have thought to check the outer rim, along jungle moons of all things? wily, these resistance members. they should have been able to figure out their alternative fuel here then. there’s plenty of biological matter around to toy with.

          “ yes but here we’re under the safety of their ‘generals’ and — – ” he pauses, blinks, and his brows furrow a little out of confusion as the words sink in. my dear. well, he’s certainly never heard her speak of him in that manner before, but if she does believe him dead … he supposes she could just be acting rather open around him. “ the targets here are less lethal than the ones that would be painted on us if we were to leave this little moon. ” he sighs softly, and he tilts his head. “ i know they’re watching me on the fact that i was already showing the ability to swap sides with them, but i had my own reasons. ” he scowls slightly, and feels the tightening of his chest that signals an incoming ripple of pain.

          gritting his teeth through it, he tries to move himself, breathing a little more shallowly. “ who knows what else they’re coming up with in their minds to justify looking over us and allowing us to survive. i know i certainly don’t warrant it. i know what i’ve done. most people would have executed me for it, spy or not. ”

        "It can be." The idea that so many of the people she'd worked alongside were gone because of all this hadn't sunken in until she had to stop. Sitting in silence and allowing her thoughts to pile up felt like drowning and she almost believed that she would crumbling under the pressure of her own mind. But so far, it seemed the worst of it was seeing a specter of her own creation. Unfortunate.

Glancing at the place around them and thinking on the jungles outside, she found her was right about that. "Then they should have been able to find something that would work by now. How long, a year? Yes. That's more than long enough to figure out how to use the vegetation around them. I could pick out five plants right now that would help but I simply don't feel like doing so. Why should I?"

Why help them when they were responsible for taking away so much! Marcie saw no logic in it, nothing that would benefit her or anyone she knew.

Even then, one of their generals turned out to be a traitor. Marcie only vaguely remembered the trooper he'd once been. She'd had his help to move projects from time to time and he'd been quite resourceful. In fact, she didn't recall ever having an issue out of him. Perhaps it helped to say please and thank you once in a while, it was a habit programmed into her from a young age.

...Why was he still talking as if he were truly alive? Marcie couldn't figure it out. She turned her head to look at him a bit more thoroughly. His breathing was labored and he looked as if he'd overexerted himself. Shifting, she tucked her legs under her to face him - this ghost seemed to need her help. Perhaps this would give her the answers she needed.

"They would have to go through me first to execute you now." With that, she stood and rummaged in a crate nearby. There were healing stims here and she knew only because one of the pilots had grabbed one a few hours earlier. Once she had it, she took a moment before lifting his shirt away to stab it into his skin and allow the medicine to work.

For several moments, Marcie had to regain the ability to speak. "...So you do live."

The knowledge felt like a kick in the teeth. She’d been speaking to him the entire time believing him to be a figment of her imagination and yet, here he was. Living. Breathing. Alive. Marcie hung her head and flopped back to sit against the wall once more. 

          there’s a quirk to his brow as he hears her, as she flatly states that he isn’t alive. that alone nearly makes him bark laughter, but he manages to hold it back at the moment. “ perhaps it flatlined because i allowed it to. it’s rather easy to trick machinery when your heart is beating only one beat per minute. ” a certain herb had helped with that, from a faraway planet that he doesn’t care to know the name of anymore. “ it pays to have many loyalists that are close, and would prefer to see me alive. however, i don’t think any of us suspected to land here. ” among the enemy. or whatever they are now.

          amusement glimmers in those blue eyes though, a brow rising upward. ah so she had been the one to take him out then? “ i only wish i could have seen the look on his face when that hook pierced his skull, but i’d imagine time was limited when it came to punishment. ” he doesn’t recall much of what had happened, only a blur and heat from explosions.

          “ ah so he’s come wheeling in to you as well. a bit of a pain, that one. he’ll be lucky if he even makes it out of the chair. ” there’s a ‘tsk’ sound as he sucks his teeth, and a hand comes up, pressing over his chest where the healing wound is. he’s been out of his tank for too long, he knows. they’re going to want him back inside of it to heal further.

          his fingers relax, dragging downward before his hands are in his lap again. “ … fuel alternatives? that’s all they’ve asked about? no bioweapons, no … anything that could be utilized for war? ” that startles him, more than anything. had the resistance already backed off of the warfront? well. whatever was left of it? he furrows his brows a little in concern, casting a glance past her to see the pilot in question, wheeling through the corridor and out of sight at a speed that would likely concuss someone if he collided with them.

          he tears his gaze away, back toward the lieutenant. “ right now they are our only chance for survival. if we leave here, there are targets on our backs. ”

        One beat per minute. Her mind sluggishly raced to find out which herb that was. She was certain she’d heard of it but, for a moment, it escaped her. Perhaps this was yet another trick that her tired mind was trying to placate her with. “You’ll understand if I have trouble believing you. Given the position that I’m in within enemy territory, I’m well aware that the mind can play dirty tricks on someone.”

That was easier to deal with and she chose to believe it for the time being. “Oh I hope it was of surprise because I truly don’t believe that he ever thought me capable of taking matters into my own hands. Ironic, given I’ve been certified in the First Order’s combat training.” A certification that she’d not had to make use of until then. 

A snort left her. That goddamn pilot. He was irritating and she hated speaking to him. A part of her hoped that she’d die in her sleep so she could inconvenience him. But that would give them the satisfaction of her absence and she held far too much spite for that. “I’ll put him right back in it if he comes out. And no. Nothing for war efforts, just fuel alternatives. Many of which their own scientists should have been able to figure out.” 

It felt like a ploy to her. That they were only doing it to see how capable she was and a part of her didn’t like the idea. Marcie sat back against the wall and watched the pilot zip by as she rolled her eyes. She tilted her head toward Hux and regarded him silently. For a moment, she was impressed by her mind’s ability to create the dancing brass and gold in his hair. 

          “ in the beginning something did, but it was rapidly overtaken and manipulated into something else. ” and he kriffing hates admitting that aloud. hates that the order was never his in the first place, never a place for him to settle. he had gone years thinking it was his … and how foolish he had been. he never should have believed it in the first place.

          while she wore tattered clothes, his own were some sort of hasty thrown together outfit that barely covered him. it was ill-fitting and in some places there were bandages that peered underneath the fabrics. but he says nothing to her state, or his own. this is what they have to deal with in order to survive.

          “ yet here you are, alive, and here i am, alive. what other reasons would they keep us alive when the clamoring of the galaxy is a unified shout for us to all be purged? ” a brow arches, and he settles himself a little more, his posture sinking, loosening. things he’s never done in front of anyone.

          “ the pilot in the chair is a rather positive beam of light. sort of hard to ignore him, and he’s annoying to a fault. i’ve seen him on base with ren around him, of all people. so something is happening to make them believe we’re worth keeping alive for reasons other than information. ” his nose wrinkles just slightly. “ have they tried to coerce you into working for them already? ” it’s a genuine question, his mind milling over the thoughts for a moment. he honestly doesn’t understand these people, or why they’re so keen on giving ‘second chances’. it isn’t as if he would have any good to do with his own.

        Whatever proud part of her still remained wanted to fight that notion. Manipulation for the sake of it was not something she enjoyed but if it were a means to an end... She supposed that made more sense than she was willing to say. Even so, to have been used so thoroughly for the stupidity of the Force users...

She turned her gaze again. Her torn clothing were just remnants of her First Order uniform. Everything had been to regulation standard when she’d first put them on, even her hair had been quickly but expertly braided by hand - her own. To be in her General’s ghostly presence in such a way embarrassed her. Shamed her. 

“Alive?” Blue eyes cut to him once more. “I may be alive but you, sir, are not. Your heart flat lined in the medbay. I saw you die because of what Allegiant General Pryde did to you.” A sneer came over her face. “Oh but I do wish I could have had more time with him at the end. Putting a hook through his head was not near the amount of pain I wished to put him through - he deserved far more.” 

But there’d been no time to do more. 

          every breath hurts and yet he stands in front of his ever loyal lieutenant. they may have demoted her, demoted him, but he had never allowed the title to leave his head, much less so as they stand on a rebel base now. the last of the order has scattered among the stars, loyalists to ghosts and vagabonds that would know no bounds. 

          “ the first order as we knew it never existed. it was nothing but a stepping stone, a hurdle. something that was used and twisted at the fingers of sith. ” he hates to admit it. hates how it brings the curl to his gut and the tightening of his jaw. how it makes his chest ache with more than just a healing injury of a blaster bolt.

          hux doesn’t know why the resistance is keeping him alive: being a spy was one thing, but it didn’t erase the war crimes he committed. even if it had been snoke that had demanded the hosnian system’s destruction, he had squeezed the trigger on it. ( it would have been so much easier to just overrun them, not destroy them. ) he understands very little of their strange ways, if he’s honest.

          “ — – because you’re a person, i should assume. you’re alive, have a heartbeat. they aren’t monsters. ” hells, he’s even seen kylo wandering the base here and there, in the company of that wretched pilot in a chair and that damnable droid. “ so they’re taking a moral high ground by keeping us alive. ” his brows furrow a little and he breathes out slightly, feeling the curl of his gut and the ache that pulls tight in his chest. it’s enough to make him sit down, falter, winded even if briefly. he doubts he’ll ever fully recover from this, too.

          “ you are a scientist as well. they’ll see it as valuable as i did. i’ve yet to determine what they get out of being so  … positive, but surely it’s something. ” 

        “Never existed? Something existed. I don’t know what it was but it was still something.” Of course, Marcie didn’t want to say it but he might have been right about that. Admitting such a thing was not on her list of things to do. But the Sith, such... illogical issues as the Force and its users had never sat well with her 

She slunk back against the wall and curled into the small ball of tattered, torn, dirty clothing she’d been brought onto the base in. Marcie was well aware that she looked a sight. She wanted to hiss at this spectre wearing her General’s face. 

“Being a living being isn’t enough to keep someone alive when they’ve fought against them and their people for decades. That’s blatant stupidity! Unless they’re hoping for some kind of Stockholm Syndrome to sink in, otherwise, there’s no reason I’ll ever enjoy this.” Moral high ground. The mention of a such a thing was enough to make her put her head down on her forearms, a sign of irritation that she’d never shown in front of the man while he was alive. 

A soft huff left her but then... he was sitting too. Maybe her mind only wished that the General could be so human. After seeing him laying dead on a slab of metal, perhaps her mind was much further gone than she thought possible. Blue eyes peeked out from behind tangled white-blonde hair.