Chapter Text
Major Armitage Hux woke up, to his head absolutely throbbing.
Pain hit him first, not only in his head, but his shoulder and hand. His entire chest hurt, and he realized, it was due to the straps digging into his skin. He was sitting down...but things felt odd. Slowly opening his eyes, Hux let his vision focus, before realizing why things felt off kilter.
He was upside down.
How did the ship get upside down?
With a pained groan, Hux sat up and as he undid the straps holding him into the chair, he tried to recall how things happened. The klaxons were still running, but were warped and soft sounding. Something destroyed them. What had…?
Hux paused. The explosion near the back of the ship. He remembered an explosion happening, and things got chaotic quick. Troopers were scattered, the commanding officer was shouting orders to troopers and officers alike, droids were bustling around. Hux remembered being thrown off his feet, as another explosion rocked the ship. Someone spoke of sabotage. He landed on his shoulder funny, and as he was pulled to his feet, a sharp pain rang through him, but he bit his tongue against any sort of pained noise.
The ship took a sharp dive down, throwing everyone off their feet. The klaxons blared, the lights flickered, someone shouted from the cockpit, then there was the landing. The whole ship rocked viciously, and Hux was rattled around in his seat. They were airborne for what seemed like minutes, but it had only been a few seconds before the ship crashed down again, the whole thing turning sharply on its side, as it hit something.
The impact made Hux hit his head--hard--and then...nothing.
Until now.
Hux undid one strap, before moving to the next one, ready to catch himself. His shoulders ached from how hard he had been pressed against the straps, but he knew he had only a short window to hold onto something to control his fall, lest he really mess up his shoulder. Once free, he finally lowered himself onto the ground, his head spinning as the blood rushed to the rest of his body. How long had he been hanging there? He held onto the wall (rather, the floor), waiting for his head to stop spinning. The lights were out. The only source of light was near the back of the ship. But as he staggered that way, he tripped over something under his feet, nearly making him crash to the ground.
He almost swore, until the thing he tripped over moved and groaned.
It was a person.
Knowing survival was better with two people, Hux went to their side, gently flipping them over, revealing who he tripped over. Lieutenant Dolpheld Mitaka. A meek younger man, but a loyal one. During the academy, he had attached himself to Hux, which he found annoying at first, but Mitaka was rather handy, so he allowed him close.
“Dopheld.” said Hux, wincing at how scratchy his voice sounded. Water would be good now. He gently patted Mitaka’s cheek, “Come on, wake up.”
Mitaka groaned, as he finally opened his eyes, brown ones unfocused as they stared into steel-blue. When he finally got his vision back, Mitaka looked surprised, “S...Sir…? How…? What…?”
Hux moved back, as Mitaka sat up. He stopped, letting out a hiss of pain, as he clutched at his leg. Hux looked down, and while he didn’t see anything wrong, with the way things were being thrown around when the ship crashed, he probably twisted his ankle or knee. But at least he’d be able to move.
“We were sabotaged.” explained Hux, “Do you remember the explosions?” Mitaka nodded, “I’m going to go see if anyone else is alive. Stay here.”
Standing back up, Hux first headed towards the back of the ship, a hand hovering over the blaster on his hip (how it managed to stay on him, was anyone’s guess). As he got closer, he heard...rustling? Like wind moving through trees; a sound Hux hadn’t heard in years. Once there, he realized why he heard the sound.
A huge hole had been ripped into the back part of the ship. Peering out of it, Hux could see the damage left by the crashing ship; fallen trees, a huge trench dug out where the ship had skidded to a halt. And, along that damage, was spots of white. Stormtroopers. Bodies heavily mangled, being thrown from the ship. And if they did have weapons on them, they probably wouldn’t be usable.
Turning away from the carnage, Hux headed back inside, only to nearly trip over something in his path. This time, the thing was inorganic, but that didn’t stop it from letting out a string of beeps and whistles at him.
A BB unit. One of their own. Its black finish was scuffed up, no doubt having been thrown around when the ship crashed. And it didn’t seem too happy with that, nor Hux nearly tripping over it. Hux sighed; these BB units were finicky. Some were even downright temperamental. And, of course, he had to have one that was temperamental.
“Listen..” Hux trailed off, not knowing this units number. Sensing that, the BB unit let out a string of binary, “Right, I’m going to call you B-E for short.” Hux continued, despite the droid’s dissatisfied beep, “Search for any survivors. So far, there’s myself, and Lieutenant Dopheld Mitaka. See if Commanding Officer Troyler is still alive, and the pilot.”
B-E grumbled, as it shoved past Hux, going back into the ship. Hux shook his head, before looking around for supplies, already in survival mode. He recalled survival training, back during the sims, and knew he had to look for certain things to make sure he, and any other survivors, would make it out of here alive. While some supplies were long gone, Hux did find a few canteens of water, some ration bars, and a first aid kit. It would do.
Returning to Mitaka, he saw that he was chatting with B-E. The droid didn’t seem upset and moody with Mitaka.That irked Hux just a bit…
“What did the droid find?” asked Hux, taking the first aid kit, and kneeling down by Mitaka again. He’d steady his leg, so he could walk.
“He went to find Commanding Office Troyler...but there’s no cockpit to search.” said Mitaka, frowning.
Hux paused at that, “What do you mean, no cockpit?”
He stood back up, going to check for himself. He heard the droid grumble behind him, obviously not liking that Hux was double checking its work. But before Hux could even get to the cockpit, a mess of twisted metal and wood met him.
The droid had been right. The cockpit was gone. Smashed into a large tree, and crunched in. Hux couldn’t see any signs of the pilot, or Troyler, but he smelled something...off, and had a feeling the two were in the mangled mess.
“We’re the only two alive, then…” he breathed under his breath, before turning around to go back to Mitaka, who was attempting to wrap his leg up himself. Hux knelt back down next to him, shooing his hands away, as he wrapped up his knee (which was the main thing hurting him, “We’re on our own. We’ll just have to believe a distress signal was sent out before we crashed, so we shouldn’t wander too far.”
“Wander?” asked Mitaka, wincing as Hux tightened the bandage, “We have to leave?”
“With how beat up this shuttle is, it doesn’t do very well for a shelter. Anything--or anyone--could come in.” explained Hux, finishing the bandaging. But, before Hux could put the kit away, Mitaka took it.
“You’re bleeding, sir…” said Mitaka, gesturing to Hux’s head. He reached up, wincing as he felt something wet along his forehead. He obviously hit his head quite hard, enough to break open the skin. And, as he felt down his face, he felt dried blood. He knew his shoulders had been hurting, but he had been so focused on getting the situation under control, that he hadn’t realized he’d been hurt, too.
“It’ll be easier if you do it.” said Hux, relenting. Mitaka spread some bacta on the cut, before placing a plaster over it, making Hux wince. The bacta was stinging, and the extra pressure of the plaster was making it throb. He knew the bacta would do its job soon. He just had to wait.
But just as Mitaka put the kit away, Hux smelled something burning. The ship was smoldering. They had to get out of there, before the smoke overwhelmed them, “I’m going to grab some bags, and get the supplies in there. Can you stand, Dopheld?”
“I-I think so.” said Mitaka, nodding, “I might...need a little support.”
Hux nodded, gesturing for him to wait, before going to the back, grabbing two sling bags, and filling them with supplies, before shouldering them. He hissed, the bags digging into the bruises left by the straps of the safety seats. Returning to Mitaka, he helped him up off of the ground, before moving carefully towards the hole in the back, to exit through there.
The clouds were getting thicker in the sky, as they ventured out. The BB unit followed them through the grass, looking around curiously. Hux couldn’t help but look around as well, unable to help but feel a little curious, himself. If this had been anything different, he would’ve loved to explore a bit. Catalogue the scenery. Research. But now wasn’t the time.
“We shouldn’t go too far from the ship, in case they decide to search there, first.” said Hux, adjusting his hold on Mitaka. Despite the twisted knee, he was doing pretty well on his feet, only grinding his teeth, when he had to put pressure on it. And no complaints, either.
Good man.
Hux started to move further into the woods, when a loud hissing sound escaped the ship. He turned around with Mitaka, seeing that the smoke had increased. There was no way it was going to do as a shelter. They’d be overcome with smoke within minutes. Which meant they had to find something out in this wilderness. If there was anything in this wilderness.
Hux shelved the negative thought. They didn’t need that now. But they made it two more steps, before the rain hit. It was just a few drops. Then a few more. Then, they were caught in an absolute downpour, making Mitaka squeak, and B-E squeal in disappointment. Hux hoped that BB units were waterproof, at least to a point. The droid would be handy to have around.
“Do you see anything yet, sir?” asked Mitaka, his voice almost getting lost in the downpour. The sound of the raindrops hitting the leaves and foliage around them was almost deafening.
“Not yet…” said Hux, raising his voice slightly over the rain, as he looked around. They couldn’t go back to the ship, the trees were doing fuck-all as shelter… But as he turned his head, he saw something dark in the distance, that didn’t look like it was a tree. It actually looked...like a building of sorts? His spirits rose a little, as he adjusted his hold on Mitaka, “Actually, I see something. Be careful, it’s getting slick.”
The two stumbled and slipped on the wet ground, as Hux steered them towards what he saw, the BB unit not far behind. By now, Hux’s uniform was entirely soaked, and extremely uncomfortable. The wind was picking up too, making it chilly. And the last thing they needed was to get sick on this Space-forsaken planet. Hux hurried the pace, doing his best to not let his teeth chatter.
Finally, the woods cleared out. And Hux had been right. It was a building. ...Of sorts, anyway. What stood in front of them was dilapidated ruins. Solid black, and cracked in several spots, no doubt due to the roots from the trees on top of them. The roots were going into the cracks, and seemed to be the main source of its destruction. Or perhaps, the cracks were there to begin with, and nature was just taking its due course. Either way, it didn’t look like much of a shelter… But what choice did they have?
“W-We’re going in there?” asked Mitaka, digging his heels in slightly, as Hux started to move, “Maybe...we should find another place.”
“I don’t like it either, but it’s either that, or we get sick from this rain, on some backwater planet.” said Hux, firmly but gently tugging Mitaka forward, “I’m sure it won’t collapse on us, while we wait for the rain to pass.” I hope… he thought, but he kept that to himself.
B-E came behind Mitaka and gave him a shove forward, making him stumble. He whimpered under his breath, but finally started moving with Hux, looking at the ruins with unease and...dare Hux say it, fear.
What was so scary about some ruins?
But as Hux climbed up the stairs to the entrance, a chill went through his body that had nothing to do with the chill of the air and rain. It made him pause for a moment, trying to figure out what that had been about, before shaking it off. No doubt, it was just his body trying to adjust, after such a violent crash. Nothing to worry about…
For now, they headed on inside. It was time to figure out their next move.