Kylo Ren

XXXI

Vona shifted in the seat of her stolen X-Wing.

All she had to do was crash it into a cliff on Tatooine, steal a TIE-Fighter, and the pilot's garb, get to the First Order base, find an officer's uniform, and get her vengeance.

Her plan was similar to Jyn Erso's about five decades prior. Except instead of stealing plans, she was stealing a life.

Kylo Ren's.

He would pay for Irving's life, in the worst way possible.

She came up to Tatooine and dropped out of lightspeed.

Vona had no droid.  She'd had to leave it behind with her X-Wing on Cloud City.  But still the Resistance would know when she crashed the ship.

And so would the First Order.

They wouldn't suspect her.

She turned the X-Wing towards the cliff, and pressed a button. The top opened. She stood, strapping a parachute pack to her back.

Now, to time this just right. She checked her blaster, watched the cliff, and jumped.

She drifted down, the ship exploding behind her.

Vona landed and looked around. Good. She'd landed in the right place. There was a remote base for the First Order out here. If she could sneak in and get out as a pilot, she'd be ready to fly to their base.

She pulled out her blaster and snuck towards the base.

There was a surprising lack of stormtroopers outside.

She shot the two by the back door, shot the control panel, and slipped inside through the half-open door.

Vona was mostly unhindered as she walked quickly down the corridors towards the hangar. She only had to shoot twelve stormtroopers.

Unfortunately, the hangar was full of stormtroopers.

The only way she'd be able to get in was if she had a TIE-Fighter pilot's uniform.

Vona hid herself in a nook and waited.

It was twenty minutes before a troop of pilots walked by. She grabbed the last one, knocked off his helmet, and disposed of him quickly.

She changed as fast as she could, and followed the pilots out to where they were preparing to leave.

"Where were you, TI-8106?" one asked her.

She realized quickly that that was her number. She saw the pilot's number on his own jacket. "I had to fix my helmet, TI-8990."

The pilot nodded and gestured towards the TIE-Fighter he was standing by. "You're gunning this time."

Vona nodded. "Think we'll run into any trouble?"

"No, the Resistance are cowards. They won't attack so soon after we destroyed their base on Bespin."  TI-8990 climbed in and closed the hatch.

Vona was thankful for the mask.  Her anger would have given her away.

She ran her fingers over the controls lightly, hoping TI-8990 was right, and the Resistance wouldn't attack.   She didn't want to have to shoot down Poe, or Jess, or anyone else.

They left, over the desert planet, past the binary stars, and out into space.

Almost immediately, the TIE-Fighters jumped into hyperspace.

They rocketed through the cloudy hyperspace, coming out before a planet, surrounded by two Star Destroyers.

The planet was covered in snow and excavated dirt.  A large building was already completed, with a flat concrete platform before it that extended for miles.  She figured that the building was meant to be a stage.  Huge First Order banners draped the towering structure.