MAROONED! GENERAL HUX and KYLO REN crash-land on a far-off planet. With no hope of rescue, the two are forced to work together to survive. But can they survive each other?
Several years earlier, a young Armitage Hux drops a tray of glasses while serving his father Commandant Brendol Hux and Admiral Brooks. The older Hux derides his son for being pathetic and useless while Brooks mocks the younger Hux for being the illegitimate son of a kitchen servant. Brooks suggests that Armitage lick the spilled drink rather than let it go to waste. Armitage obliges but this angers Brendol, who denounces him as weak and forces him to get up.
Years later, a bleeding General Armitage Hux is woken by Kylo Ren as their Xi-class light shuttle crash-lands onto a planet. The pilot informs them that their hyperdrive and engine have broken down. Hux suggests that they contact the First Order High Command but the pilot informs them that their communications systems are also out. The shuttle crashes and explodes.
Kylo Ren uses his Force powers to save himself and General Hux but the pilot is killed during the explosion. Since their communications is down, Kylo Ren and General Hux have no choice but to talk to each other. Based on the nature of the crash, Ren and Hux deduce that their shuttle was sabotaged. Ren blames Hux for not being able to inspire loyalty within the First Order Army while Hux blames Ren for not being able to detect treason despite his Force powers.
Hux insults Ren by suggesting that he wears his helmet for "play dressing" and to hide the faces of his "rebel scum" parents. Kylo Ren draws lightsaber and tells Hux that it would take the First Order a long time to find them and that he could take the opportunity to kill him. Hux counters that Supreme Leader Snoke can read minds and discover that he killed him. Ren deactivates his lightsaber.
Despite their mutual dislike for each other, the two agree that they have to work together to survive. The two stumble upon a roll of meat which Hux recognizes as bait. They are attacked by two large blue creatures known as Norwoods. Ren fights back with his lightsaber and Force powers but is knocked to the ground. Before the beasts can finish Hux off, an elderly human man orders the Norwoods to stop.
The man attends to the unconscious Ren and orders Hux out of hiding. The man tells Hux that he has trained the Norwoods and been stranded for a long time on the planet. Hux recognizes the old man as an Alderaan Guard who survived the adestruction of Alderaan. The man says that he fled to the planet to escape the Galactic Civil War. The man does not recognize that Hux is from the First Order, a remnant of the Galactic Empire.
After the man introduces himself as Bylsma, Hux tells him that the Galactic Civil War is over and that the Empire fell. When Bylsma asks how he can ascertain that he is telling the truth, Hux tells him that Ren is the son of Leia Organa, the last Princess of Alderaan. He tells Bylsma that Ren's parents won the war and destroyed the Empire's two Death Stars. Without revealing his true allegiance, Hux mentions that the Empire has been reduced to remnants and that he and Ren are working on something that would finally bring peace and order to the galaxy.
Hux claims that he knew Kylo Ren's grandfather and mother, describing Leia as an incredible woman. Hux questions why Bylsma is still hiding on the planet. Bylsma replies that he did not transmit any signals in order to hide from the Empire and did not want to risk losing another world. After reassuring Bylsma that Darth Vader and the Emperor are dead, Hux convinces Bylsma to let him use his communications array to contact the wider galaxy.
When Ben awakes, Hux reassures him that he has contacted his friends who have send a shuttle. Hux tells Ben that his mother must be worried sick but that they will be home soon thanks to Bylsma. Shortly later, Captain Phasma arrived aboard an Atmospheric Assault Lander with several stormtroopers. To Bylsma's horror, the stormtroopers open fire on his pet Norwoods, killing them.
Hux tells Phasma not to kill Bylsma but to take out his communications array and to use his planet as target practice for Starkiller Base. He orders Phasma to prepare a list of every personnel member who had access to the sabotaged shuttle before farewelling Bylsma.
Back at Starkiller Base, General Hux informs Supreme Leader Snoke that he believes that he has identified the one responsible for sabotaging the shuttle. Ren vows to punish the saboteur. Hux convinces Snoke to let him deal with the saboteur personally, claiming that he will be less messy that Ren. Snoke lets Hux deal with the traitor.
In private, Ren tells Snoke that Hux cannot be trusted because he wants to usurp his place and kill him. Snoke replies that Hux wants to kill a lot of people and does not take it personally. Snoke says that men like Hux are useful "when consumed with ambition fueled by spite", "can set pride aside", and "who have shame burning inside them." Snoke describes abused pipes as vicious creatures who never forget where they came from and who never forgive those who wronged them.
Together with Captain Phasma, Hux confronts Admiral Brooks and disarms him. Hux confronts Brooks at gunpoint. Brooks denies sabotaging Hux's shuttle but Hux informs him that they have identified a radar technician as the saboteur. Hux adds that Brooks was the technician's superior and that responsibility ultimately lies with him.
Brooks initially plays innocent but then derides Hux for being "spineless", adding that his father shared his view of Hux. Hux agrees and tells that was one of the reasons why he had his father killed. Hux shoot Brooks in the shoulder, telling him that he, Snoke, and Ren underestimate him. Brooks begs for mercy but Hux counters that he sees him as something that he can control.
Hux tells Brooks that he has the power to destroy worlds while Brooks only has the power to destroy people. He vows to outlive Brooks and to hold more power than him. Before gunning Brooks down, he vows that Brooks will not live to see him succeed.
- UPC 759606092031; August 28, 2019; Marvel Comics
- Star Wars: Age of Resistance — Villains
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