Seeing the Crimson Dawn Leader

Moff Arnim had never looked more excited, Captain Peer observed, as he led the diminutive leader of Crimson Dawn through the Senate building, showing her around like a trophy to all of his allies. The battle with the senators would come tomorrow. For now, this was the warmup, and she was handling it well.

Her two-person personnel, the cyborg bodyguard who always seemed a hairsbreadth away from punching someone in the face and the handsome counterpart who kept giving Peer menacing glances, were taking in the festivities with muted interest.

Captain Peer knew the world of the moffs and senators. It was a cutthroat game to play as they smiled in one another’s faces and then stabbed each other in the back. Captain Peer had learned to stay in his lane a long time ago but Qi’ra, she seemed like a senator herself, conversing with the cutthroat politicians with practiced tact.

He found her mesmerizing and suddenly he understood the power she held with simply her grin. When she acknowledged you, you felt like the most special person in the world, while people like Grand Moff Tarkin and Emperor Palpatine simply regarded their followers with mild interest, expecting to be loved or obeyed in turn. Her charm was her greatest weapon and suddenly Peer was beginning to realize that was, in fact, a weapon. He could hear Moff Arnim’s words in his ears.

“With the leader of Crimson Dawn at my side, it makes me look almost more powerful than the Emperor.”

No. Moff Arnim wouldn’t look more powerful than the emperor. She would. The thought was almost frightening. Especially knowing that if the emperor discovered that he was one of the people to give her the gall to rise to power…

Captain Peer backed away from her as she stayed preoccupied with talking to the senators and the moff before leaving the room and hurrying through the Senate Building. He was starting to panic and needed air.

When he finally found the exit of the Senate Building and burst outdoors he looked toward the sky which twinkled with millions of stars and shook his head.

“What have I done?” he whispered.