Doomed To Repeat
Chapter One
Rey started the landing cycle on the non descript shuttle that she borrowed from the Resistance. She didn't dare bring back the Millennium Falcon to this planet, nor would she allow Chewbacca to join her. He argued but she was determined. The Wookie had seen that determination in another pilot of the Falcon several times before. This was something she needed to do alone and without calling attention to herself.
The craft landed softly in the hot sand. Once everything was settled, she initiated the locking sequence on the ignition. She couldn't risk anyone trying to steal the shuttle as a means of escape. And there were certainly plenty of human and aliens here who wanted to escape this planet.
Including herself for roughly two decades.
She took an extra moment to look out of the view screen at the blistering desert. She uttered in disbelief, "Jakku. Here I am again."
She thought of the last time she was here. How much had she changed since then? She experienced more excitement in the short time after she left Jakku than the entire time of living here. She finally got out of the pilot seat and prepared to leave the shuttle. She straightened out her black tunic. She already removed her braids allowing her hair to flow down fully on her shoulders. The more she didn't look like she used to on Jakku, the less she would be recognized. She even made a point not to carry her quarterstaff. She had another weapon now.
She eased down the ramp and set foot on the scalding sand. Even through her thick boots she could feel the heat. She tried to align her arrival at sundown, but she forget that even at this time of day on Jakku the sand was still fried from a day's worth of sun.
She used the Force on the controls to close the ramp. She continued walking in the sand. It wasn't long until she reached Nima Outpost. She stopped to look around at the hustle of scavengers and merchants, each trying to survive in their own ways. She saw pretty much the same layout as when she left. She muttered to herself, "This place never changes."
Which was not quite true. She looked near the main blockhouse where scavengers traded their machinery for food portions. At one time there was an ancient structure that acted as a gate to Nima Outpost. That was no longer standing. Rey grinned at the memory of her crashing into the gate with a certain junked up Corellian YT-1300 Freighter. She continued towards the main blockhouse, otherwise known as the Concession Stand.
She admitted that her change in fashion worked in her favor for not looking like Rey, the Scavenger. Beings still gazed in her direction as she walked by. She could feel their curiosity upon seeing this mystery woman. She came upon the Concession Stand and there were still a few in line to trade. She stood aside and waited until the line was down to zero. She slowly approached the counter. She addressed the one she expected.
"Hello, Unkar."
Unkar Plutt, the Crolute alien looked up at the person who called him by name. At first, he didn't recognize the girl. Then, he did. "Oh. You! Why are you back here looking all fancy?"
"I need to speak to you."
"I have nothing to say to you. Unless it has to do with a stolen freighter or my missing arm."
"That ship was never yours to keep. And your missing arm taken by a Wookie was your price for attempted assault on me."
"Now I really don't have anything to say to you."
Rey watched him closely but also felt him in the Force. He was nervous. But he also was trying to hide something.
He added, "Now, go off and steal another ship and leave me alone."
"No. I came here to ask you about my parents."
"Whatever for?"
"It's important to me."
"Isn't that sweet? Not much to say. They didn't want you. They sold you to me and they left you."
"I'm going to need a bit more detail. If you're not willing to tell me more, I can Force it out of you."
Unkar gave a deep laugh. "You think you have power over me, girl? I can break you in two."
Rey grinned. "Much has changed since we last met, Unkar. Let's just say you don't want to test me now."
"Is that so?"
There was an instant motion of both a nod of his head and some type of signal that flickered in his mind. Then she felt them. They were sneaking up from behind her with intent to kill. She kept calm in the Force. She waited until their blasters were inches away from her back. Then she acted.
In one quick motion, she grabbed her new lightsaber hidden under her tunic and ignited it. She performed an instant about face quicker than the two thugs could realize. She moved her amber-colored blade into an upward arc that cut both blasters in half. Before they knew what was happening, she brought her hand up to them and used the Force to push them back hard into the air and then land on the ground. She turned around and pointed the blade at Unkar.
"Now, we will talk about my parents."
Unkar entered his blockhouse with Rey behind him. His henchmen did awake and he dismissed him with promises of punishment later. Unkar went over to a nearby cushion and flopped down. Rey remained standing before him.
He let out a breath and repeated her words back to her. " 'I can Force it out of you.' Of course you meant that literally." He gave a pause and said in an almost curse, "A Jedi. That makes so much more sense now."
"Why is that?"
"Because it explains why your parents were terrified of you. You must have shown some Force powers and they had no idea how to handle you."
"Why would they be afraid of the Jedi? Weren't they the protectors of the galaxy?"
Unkar scoffed loudly. "You're so naive, girl. You were born...when...about a decade or so after the Battle of Endor? After the truth came out about the Emperor and his Sith on a leash, Lord Vader, the galaxy had a hard time trusting anyone who used the Force. Including Jedi."
Rey turned defiant. "Luke Skywalker gave the galaxy hope."
"No, he gave the Rebellion hope. The rest of the galaxy didn't care. Skywalker and his new Jedi could say whatever they wanted. People only saw the Jedi as possible Palpatines or Vaders. Your parents were no different."
Rey remembered what Luke had told her on Ahch-To. The Jedi failures practically invited the Sith to return and take over. She had read most of the Jedi journals taken from the sacred tree on Ahch-To. There seemed to be an overemphasis on keeping balance to the Force. Luke's father, Anakin, was prophesized to do just that. But he became Darth Vader. It had been Luke's theory that the Force was already balanced. It was the Sith and the Jedi who kept tipping its scales.
It was all confusing to Rey now. Even after Luke had become one with the Force, she still needed guidance. She couldn't go through this alone. But there was no one else. Luke was gone and Leia succumbed to another coma triggered from her time in open space. It was up to her to find new guidance for the Jedi future.
No pressure, she thought.
She read what would have happened to her if she had been born during the Old Republic before the Clone Wars. She would have been sent to the Jedi at an early age for training. There were instances where children taken by the Jedi never saw their original families again. How cruel was that? And selfish. She thought that maybe her only connection was to find out about her parents. Which made her think of something.
"Did you know their names?" she asked Unkar.
Unkar hesitated. "No. They never gave me their names. I suspect it was so that you can't do what you're trying to do right now."
She whispered, "Researching them. They didn't want me to know."
"Brings them into a new light now, doesn't it?"
"You know nothing about them," she snapped at him.
"Neither do you. And I know more about them than you do."
"What else do you know about them?"
"I think you know all that is needed. You may not want to know more."
"I will decide that." She concentrated in the Force and focused on Unkar's thoughts. He immediately felt her pry into his mind.
"Stop! You can't. Get out...of my head!" He tried to speak through his grunts of resistance.
"Just relax." She sifted through his memories, bypassing the many cons he was a part of over the years. Those were of no concern to her. She went deeper into his memories. The ones that had to do with her parents. Unkar continued to struggle and cry in pain.
She found a memory that she was familiar with. An image of herself as a young girl screaming, "Come back!" while she was being held by Unkar himself. She watched again the craft that took off into the Jakku sky, leaving the young Rey alone on the planet. Rey concentrated and went back further into the memory. Unkar's point of view on the scene. She now saw a young woman. No face could be seen from the hood over her head. Her hair was the same length and color as Rey's. The woman struggled to hold onto the small arm of a wriggling child.
Rey uttered aloud with a small tear in her eye, "Mother?" She was frail. Even through Unkar's memory she could see that the woman was nervous. She held on to the memory long enough to see Unkar hand the woman a small case. She in turn handed Unkar the screaming child. Rey watched the memory as the woman turned and entered the small shuttle with the case in hand. And the craft took off.
She finally let go of Unkar's mind and he breathed out in relief. She kept replaying the last memory in her mind. The woman left the child behind with almost no emotion. What was in that case? She could reach further into Unkar's mind but she thought it may damage him. Another piece of information she gathered from the memory concerned her more than anything.
The woman was alone.
Unkar spat out, "Did you get what you wanted, Jedi?"
"I saw her, Unkar. I couldn't see her face. But I know it was my mother." She paused before adding, "I didn't see my father."
"And you wouldn't. He left her way before she left."
"Why?"
"Oh, you are just itching to go back into my mind, aren't you?"
"Actually, I don't think your mind can take anymore. Just tell me."
"Those two and you weren't around here that long. Nobody knew who you were. They couldn't keep up with you."
Rey sighed. "That's actually not hard to believe."
He continued. "The two argued constantly. Mostly about what to do with you. He left her and months later she came to me for a proposal. A trade for you."
"Drinking money," she repeated Kylo Ren's phrase.
"Oh, more than just money. A way out."
Rey followed his thought. "A new identity."
Unkar scoffed. "You know it's something to ask for a new identity when you nobody knows you anyway. She really did not want to be known."
"So, neither of them are buried here on Jakku?"
"Oh, I'm not sure. Lost track of them after that. Anything is possible."
No names. Her mother changed her name. She was alone without her father. All of it added up in her head spelled one thing. Kylo Ren lied about her parents. Or he interpreted something incorrectly. A safe bet would be the former notion. A conversation for another time. She said to him sincerely, "Thank you, Unkar."
"Like I had a choice." He looked at her as if he suddenly remembered and said, "There's something else. Something I forgot until now. Must have been your trip through my mind that triggered it. Everyone used to see the two of them argue all over Nima but no one really paid attention what it was about. I overheard one of their arguments not long before he left her. I still don't know what it means. He yelled at her saying that you weren't his child. And she said something strange. She said, 'She isn't mine either. She's nobody's child.'". Any idea what she meant?"
Rey looked as dumbfounded as he did and she replied, "No idea."
"Hmm. Thought it might be a Jedi thing."
"Maybe."
"So you're leaving now, right?"
She smiled. "Yes. You've given me enough." She turned to leave but he called out to her.
"Girl...just so you know what you did here. Taking memories from people against their will is not a Jedi power. That is a dark Force power."
She looked back at him and said, "I never claimed to be a Jedi. That was your word. The Jedi ended with Skywalker's passing. Besides, there is no light and dark side. There is only the Force. That's what I intend to teach the galaxy." She turned and disappeared out of the blockhouse.
Unkar Plutt uttered, "Good luck with that."
To be continued...
