Author's Notes - Thanks to all of you who favorited and/or followed this story! Please review too though. It would mean so much to me!
- MedievalWarriorPrincess - I can always count on you to give me feedback on my fics, sweetie! Even the ones where you have no idea what's going on in them. ;) Can't wait for you to see the new Star Wars movie!
- littlenerd - Here you go! I hope you enjoy it. And thanks so much for reviewing!
- TheRealTayler13 - Wow! You have a great username for this fic! ;) Thanks so much for reviewing! Hope you enjoy this next chapter.
"I still can't believe you got me all of this food," Rey said in wonder, as she gazed down at her bag full of portions.
Taylor thanked the man for the fruit she'd just bought from him, then joined Rey, who was standing with BB-8. "Well, don't flaunt it," She said, reaching out with a slender hand to close the girl's bag. "Do you wish to get robbed?"
Rey scoffed. "Please. I can handle myself."
"I have no doubt," said Taylor, after taking a bite of the fruit, then tossing it to Rey for one. "But all it takes it one to distract you and the other to grab your bag for you to lose it."
"I'd hunt them down," Rey responded, before biting off a piece of the fruit.
Taylor smiled softly, watching Rey enjoy the delicious item of rare naturally grown food, before speaking. "I'll need to go tonight. Does Unkar Plutt have any type of security?"
Rey scoffed once more, while tossing the fruit back to Taylor for her turn. "This isn't the Resistance, Taylor. He has a couple of thugs who stand guard during the night, but that's it." Smiling, she quirked a dark brow at the other girl. "Should be easy enough with your mind trick."
Taylor laughed, before sighing softly, as she absently fiddled with the fruit in her slender hands. "I shouldn't have used it the two times I did. It's too dangerous." Lifting the item to her lips, she took another bite.
"How?" Rey inquired.
Taylor sighed once more, before responding. "The one I told you about, the one I loved, he can sense me, especially when I use my. . . powers. He could even potentially locate me. And he's dangerous, so I can't have that."
"You can do more than the mind trick?" Rey asked, her brow quirking, and her voice laced with surprise and excitement.
"Yes," Taylor responded. "Much more."
"And the old boyfriend of yours can do things too?" inquired Rey.
Taylor nodded, a fresh soft sigh slipping past her lush pink lips, as she thought about Kylo Ren. "Yes, he can."
But, before either girl who said anything further on the subject, two of the aforementioned thugs of Unkar Plutt's came up to them, and one threw a bag over BB-8, while the other announced they wanted the droid.
"What? Oi!" Rey exclaimed. "Get away from him!"
Taylor dropped what was left of the fruit, and swiftly kicked the first thug in the face, as he tried to collect BB-8. "Get away from him!"
The second thug wrapped its arms around Rey and lifted her up off of her feet, but she swiftly bit down on his hand, causing him to release her with a cry of pain, though he soon recovered, and punched the girl in her face.
Taylor vaguely registered the sound of what appeared to be a man's voice calling, 'Hey!', but she had a lifetime of experience in not waiting for men to rescue her, so she continued her battle with the first thug, keeping him away from BB-8.
Swiftly spinning around, she kicked him square in the chest, knocking him back into a nearby display stand, while Rey began beating the second one with her staff, and, soon, the two thugs were out cold.
"Are you all right?" asked Taylor, as she and Rey rushed forward to free BB-8 from the bag the first thug had thrown over him.
"Yeah," replied Rey, before quirking a brow at Taylor. "You?"
"Yes," said Taylor, as the two of them threw off the sack, and BB-8 beeped in question. "It's all right, little one. You're safe."
"Who were those men?" asked BB-8.
"They work for Unkar," Rey responded, as she picked up her staff from where she'd dropped it to help with the bag, while Taylor hadn't needed to unholster her blaster.
Suddenly, BB-8 let out a droid's version of a scream and the two girls turned their gazes back onto him, both wide eyed.
"What is it?" asked Taylor, before he continued beeping, and she and Rey followed the droid's gaze to a man standing a ways off, looking at them, while he leaned against one of the tent poles.
"Him?" Rey inquired.
Taylor didn't need BB-8's explanation as Rey did, to see why her droid was reacting to the man as he was. "He's wearing Poe's jacket!"
"Your Pilot friend?" Rey said, and, when Taylor nodded, the two girls got to their feet, and began to chase after him, the man looking around in confusion for a few seconds, before wisely beginning to take off himself.
Rey knew this place like the back of her hand, so she led BB-8 and Taylor through the market on a shorter path to cut the man off, soon stepping in to cut him off, where Rey swiftly hit him across the face with her staff, knocking him to the ground.
Taylor unholstered her blaster and aimed it down at the man, while Rey continued to threaten him with her staff, and BB-8 rolled up by the man's legs.
"What's your hurry, thief?" Rey spat down at him.
"What? Thief?" the man exclaimed in disbelief, still trying to get over the blow she'd delivered to him, when BB-8 opened one of his compartments, stuck out one of his mechanical arms, and shocked his right leg. "Ow! Hey! What?"
"The jacket! You stole it!" Taylor said, stepping closer to him, her blaster aimed directly at his head. How she wished she could lash out on him with her abilities, rather than this gun.
The man pushed himself up onto one elbow. "I've had a pretty messed up day, all right? So, I'd appreciate it if you two would stop accusing me. . ." But anything further he was going to say was cut off by BB-8 shocking him in the leg again. "Ow! Stop it!"
"Where did you get it?" Taylor demanded to know. "It belongs to my friend!"
"It belonged to Poe Dameron," the man sighed, as realization kicked in, and he knew what he'd thought earlier about the droid looking like the one the Pilot had described to him was true. He gazed questioningly up at Taylor. "That was his name, right?"
Taylor could feel her heart sink, as the man came out with her friend's name, and she tightened her hold on the blaster, which was nearly shaking in her grasp at this point. "What happened to him?"
"He was captured by the First Order," the man explained. "I helped him escape, our ship crashed." He paused before going on, flicking a glance at BB-8, before lifting his apologetic, saddened gaze to Taylor, wondering if this could possibly be the girl the Pilot had also talked about. "Poe didn't make it. I tried to help him, I'm sorry."
BB-8's head lowered, as he let out a sad sound, and put away his mechanic arm. Rey looked down at him, then over at Taylor, who's beautiful face had fallen into a look of despair.
"Taylor," she said, freeing a hand from her staff, which she lowered slightly, to reach over and touch the girl's back. "I'm so sorry."
Taylor's hold on her blaster loosened, and she lowered the weapon, as her eyes filled to the brim with tears, some of which soon slipped free, to glide down her cheeks. BB-8 rolled over to her and moved his head on his body so that it leaned against her leg.
She lifted her hand to his lips and closed her eyes, which squeezed more tears free. "I shouldn't have let him go. I knew it'd be too dangerous."
Rey gently rubbed Taylor's slender back, before turning a questioning gaze down onto the man still lying on the ground. "So, you're with the Resistance?"
The man remained silent for a moment, before climbing to his feet. "Obviously. Yes, I am." He straightened his jacket, once he was standing. "I'm with the resistance, yeah." He leaned forward a bit to whisper to the two girls. "I am with the Resistance."
Taylor looked up at the man, her dark brow furrowing. She didn't recognize the handsome young man, but that didn't necessarily mean anything. She didn't know every single Resistance fighter, only her Aunt did, but, still, she had a feeling he was lying.
"Taylor's a Resistance fighter too," Rey said, giving the girl's back a last rub, before moving her hand back to her staff.
The man looked over at Taylor, an expression of fear and surprise on his face, and it confirmed her suspicion that he was lying.
"BB-8 has what Poe came here for," Taylor said, deciding to play along with the man's story, for now. "We have to get back to our base as soon as possible."
The man looked like he couldn't believe what she was saying, but he sighed softly at her words about the droid. "Apparently he has a map to Luke Skywalker. And everyone is after it."
Taylor's heart skipped a beat at the man's words and her blue-green, gold flecked orbs widened. How would he know that? Did Poe tell him? And why would he trust this man, who's now impersonating a Resistance fighter?
Rey's eyes widened too, but for a different reason. "Luke Skywalker? I thought he was a Myth." Her brow furrowed, as she realized something, and turned her full attention onto Taylor. "Wait. You told me last night that your friend and BB-8 were here to get a map to your Father's location." Her eyes widened once more. "Is Luke Skywalker your Father?"
"Wait," the man said, holding up a hand, as he moved closer to the two girls, and looked at Taylor. "You're Luke Skywalker's daughter?"
But, before Taylor could respond, BB-8 came rolling back into the tent, having left a few seconds ago upon hearing something, and the three turned their attention onto him.
"What is it?" asked Taylor, before she, Rey, and the man followed the droid outside, and, to their horror, there were two Stormtroopers talking to a local, who immediately pointed at the four, and Taylor's heart sank again. "Oh, no. He found us."
"Who? Your boyfriend?" Rey inquired, but, once more, before Taylor could respond, the two girls found one of their hands grasped by the man, and Rey looked angrily over at him. "What are you doing?"
"Come on!" he said, pulling on the girls' hands, and beginning to run. "Come on, BB-8!"
As soon as they took off running, the Stormtroopers beginning firing their blasters at them.
"Let go of me!" Rey demanded, trying to tug her hand free of the man's.
Taylor ran alongside the man, doing her best to run, while looking behind herself, both to make sure her droid was with her, and to see where the Stormtroopers were.
"Come on! We got to move!" the man yelled, refusing to let go of the girls' hands.
"I know how to run without you holding my hand!" Rey snapped, finally pulling her hand free of his.
Taylor honestly didn't care, she was too busy worrying about the survival of BB-8 and the two people with her. She knew Kylo Ren would never let his Stormstroopers hurt her, but he didn't think anything about anybody else, not even his own parents really anymore, so she knew they were firing at Rey and the man.
"BB-8, stay close!" Taylor called, then directed her next words to Rey. "Lead the way!"
"This way!" Rey responded, guiding them through the marketplace.
Taylor could hear one of the Stormtroopers order an air strike, just before she, Rey, BB-8, and the man ducked into an empty tent, and her heart sank once more.
"They're shooting at all of us," Rey panted, while the man began digging through the junk in the tent.
"No, they're shooting at you and him," Taylor said, nodding at the man, before reaching out to grasp Rey's nearest arm. "Rey, I'm so sorry. I've put you in terrible danger."
"What are you talking about?" asked Rey. "Taylor, it's not your fault!"
"Yes, it is," responded Taylor. "I'm so sorry, Rey, but you can't stay here any longer. It's not safe."
"Doesn't anyone have blasters around here?" the man cried out in frustration.
"I have one," Taylor looked over at him, before falling to her knees in front of BB-8. "Are you all right, little one?"
While he beeped that he was, the man suddenly shushed them, then came over to crouch by the droid and the two girls, where they could hear the eerie sounds of approaching TIE fighters.
"Stop taking my hand!" Rey angrily protested, as the man grabbed her and Taylor's once more, and led them out of the tent.
The three and BB-8 didn't get far once they were outside, as the roaring TIE fighters swooped down overhead, and one blasted the tent they'd been hiding in seconds ago, causing a small explosion that knocked them all to the ground.
Taylor recovered first, and was glad to find herself close to Rey, who's back she placed a hand on, as she gazed questioningly at the girl.
"Are you all right?" she asked.
Rey nodded, then quirked a dark brow over at her. "Yeah. You?"
"Yes," Taylor responded, spotting BB-8 rolling upright a few feet away. "Where's the man?"
The two girls looked around and spotted him not far from them, laying on his back, looking unconscious.
"Oh, no," Taylor muttered, as they crawled over to him, each taking a side, and reaching out to shake him awake. "Hey!"
The man awoke and pushed himself up as he had before when they first met, and looked in concern from one girl to the other.
"Are you two okay?" he asked.
Rey and Taylor exchanged a somewhat amused look, before shifting their gazes back to him, and nodding.
"Yeah," Rey said.
"Come on," Taylor said, and the two girls offered him their hands this time, which he took, using the holds to get to his feet.
"Follow me," said Rey, and the four took off running once more, the Jakku native leading the way.
The TIE fighters followed them, roaring their eerie cry what sounded like directly above their heads, blasting mounds of sand up around them, while Rey led the way into Unkar Plutt's lot.
"We can't outrun them!" the man shouted.
"We might!" Rey responded, pointing at the ship they were heading toward. "In that Quad-Jumper!"
Taylor was grateful she'd brought one of her bags with her today, and it was the bag that held her lightsaber, as they had to leave now.
"Hey! We need a Pilot!" the man pointed out.
"We've got two!" Rey responded, pointing at Taylor, as she spoke.
"You two?" the man asked in disbelief.
"I'll ignore that for now!" Taylor shouted at him.
"What about that ship?" asked the man, gesturing at the large vessel Taylor had felt a pull toward earlier.
"That one's garbage!" said Rey, after flicking a glance over at the ship he was talking about.
The four were not far from the Quad-Jumper, when one of the TIE fighters, seeing them head toward it, swiftly blasted it, resulting in the ship exploding, and Rey, Taylor, the man, and BB-8 came to a screeching halt.
"Garbage will do," Rey announced, and they all turned, then began running toward the large ship, narrowly avoiding a few final TIE fighter blasts, before they were up the ramp, and into the vessel.
"Gunner position is down there," Rey said, as she directed the man to the ship's weapon, before she led Taylor through to the cockpit.
"You ever fly this thing?" the man asked, as he began down the ladder she'd indicated.
"No! This ship hasn't flown in years," responded Rey, as she took the main Pilot seat, and Taylor took the co-Pilot one.
"Can you do this?" Taylor asked Rey, as they started firing up the ship. "Because I need your guidance here, Rey."
"I can do this," Rey said with a nod, before continuing to mutter the four words to herself. "I can do this."
They began lifting off, but to say it was a rocky one would be a serious understatement, and, at one point, the ship went sideways, taking out Unkar Plutt's lot sign, flying straight over the man afterward, as he yelled at them.
"Stay low!" the man called.
"What?" Rey shouted back in confusion.
"He's right, stay low," Taylor said. "It confuses the TIE fighters tracking."
"If you say so," Rey responded.
"BB-8, hang on!" Taylor shouted back to her droid, continuing when he beeped in confusion at her. "We're going low!"
She could hear her beloved droid being thrown around, as Rey took the main controls, and flipped the ship several times, the TIE fighters right behind them, and it wasn't long before they were hit with a blast.
"What are you doing back there?" asked Rey. "Are you ever going to fire back?"
"I'm working on it!" the man responded. "Are the shields up?"
Taylor looked around for that particular button and reached up to press it, pulling up the ship's shields. "Okay, we're good!"
Rey continued to fly the ship low, moving around as much as possible to dodge the TIE fighters' blasts.
"We need some cover!" the man shouted, after failing to shoot down the two familiar aircrafts.
"We're about to get some!" Rey replied, as she recognized the area they were now in, and knew it was full of fallen ships and such from the last war, speaking to Taylor when she went on. "I hope."
Taylor's eyes widened at the sight of the battleship graveyard, now understanding how Rey has kept herself alive all these years. There's plenty to scavenge.
Rey punched it and guided the ship through the forgotten aircrafts, Taylor keeping the power stable while she did so, and soon the man had shot down one of the TIE fighters.
"Nice shot!" Rey called to the man.
"Great shot!" Taylor congratulated him. "Keep it up!"
But not even a moment later, the remaining TIE fighter had blasted the underside of the ship, damaging the gun.
"All right. The canon's stuck in forward position. I can't move it. You two have got to loose them," the man announced after the hit.
Rey and Taylor shared a look at this, before the former spotted the engines she'd just been scavenging in yesterday.
"I can try and loose them in there," Rey said, as she turned the ship toward them.
"If you can't, you're going to have to flip this ship around, so he can get a shot on them," Taylor responded, as she began converting power.
"What?" Rey exclaimed. "I've never done that!"
"First time for everything," Taylor replied.
Rey sucked in a deep breath, then guided the ship into the engine.
"Are we really doing this?" the man asked in disbelief, as he saw where the girls had taken their ride.
"I don't know if I can do this, Taylor," Rey said, as she flew the ship through the narrow passages.
"You can! I know you can, Rey!" replied Taylor, sucking in a deep breath herself, before she nodded her long dark silky head. "And I'm going to help you."
Rey punched it and took the ship out through a hole in the side of the battle aircraft. At that moment, Taylor reached over, and clapped her hand over Rey's nearest one on the lever, pushing it forward. Suddenly, the ship went down, then flipped around, causing the underside to be upward, and giving the man a clear shot at the TIE fighter, which he took, blasting it out of the sky, before Taylor tugged her and Rey's hands down, righting the ship, allowing them to fly off.
"Whoo!" the man cheered.
Rey looked over at Taylor, as the girl released her hold on her hand, and return to her co-Pilot duties, merely sending the female Scavenger a look and a hint of a smile, which Rey returned, before they focused on getting off the Planet.
Once they were safely off planet, Rey set the ship to auto Pilot, before she and Taylor got up from their seats, and Rey immediately pulled Taylor into a hug, a bright smile on her face.
"Oh, my gosh! That was amazing! I can't believe we did that!" she exclaimed.
Taylor smiled softly and hugged Rey back. It had been so long since she had been around a girl her own age, and she'd never felt the kind of connection with any of them that she did with this girl.
"You were incredible, Rey! I knew you could do it," Taylor responded.
"Come on!" Rey said, pulling back, where she took Taylor's hand, and led her out to where they soon were reunited with the man, and the three launched into compliments for one another, BB-8 gazing confusingly up at them, as they circled around him, praising each other for their jobs well done.
The three fell silent though, when BB-8 beeped up in concern, and Taylor fell to her knees in front of her droid. "It's all right. We're safe now. And we're going home."
"I'll help you get there," Rey said, and Taylor lifted a soft smile of gratitude to the girl, an action she returned, before Taylor rose to her feet, and the two girls shifted their attention onto the man.
"We don't know your name," spoke Rey.
"Finn," the man replied, then gazed questioningly between the two girls. "What are yours?"
"I'm Rey," the female Scavenger said.
"I'm Taylor," Luke's daughter said next, offering Finn a soft smile.
Finn seemed to be lost in thought for a moment, before he took a step closer to the two girls, and began to speak up. "Listen. . ."
Whatever he was going to say was cut off by a pipe exploding below a removable floor grate behind them, the sudden minor explosion startling all of them, and they immediately rushed over to it.
"Help me with this! Quick!" Taylor exclaimed. "BB-8, stay back!"
"What's going on?" Finn demanded to know, as he and the two girls lifted the floor grate, Rey the first to jump in.
A moment later, Rey popped her head up from the floor compartment where she and Taylor were inspecting the problem, her eyes wide with panic.
"It's the motivator!" she told Finn. "Grab us a Harris wrench! Check in there." She pointed to a box of fallen tools.
"How bad is it?" Finn asked, crawling over to it.
"If we want to live, not good," Rey responded, ducking back down into the compartment.
Taylor suddenly leaned back against the wall down below, a slender hand clutched to her chest, which Rey soon noticed, and gazed questioningly at her.
"Are you okay?" she asked.
Taylor nodded, taking a moment to recover from the wave of anger she'd just felt Kylo Ren experience, before pushing herself off of the wall.
"Yes, I'm fine," she said. "Just got a little lightheaded."
Rey growled in frustration, popping her head up out of the floor compartment again. "We need to get this fixed."
"They're hunting us now," Finn called to the girls. "We've got to get out of this system." He found what he hoped was the right tool.
"Taylor, I'll take you home, but I need to know where your base it," Rey spoke up to her friend.
"This?" Finn asked, tossing the tool to Rey, who caught it, then ducked down below to use it.
Taylor locked eyes with Finn and quirked her dark brow at him. She knew he was lying about being with the Resistance. "Go ahead, Finn. Tell her."
Finn gave her a look of disbelief, before gesturing her to him with one of her hands, so Taylor climbed out of the floor compartment, and crawled over to him.
"Okay, you obviously know I'm not with the Resistance," Finn said to Taylor at a whisper once she was close enough. "I'm just trying to get away from the First Order."
Taylor reached out and grabbed a fistful of Finn's black shirt, using the hold to tug him closer to her. "I swear, if you hurt Poe in any way, Stormtrooper. . ."
"No!" Finn whispered urgently. "I told you, I helped him escape. I don't want that life. I want to escape."
Taylor wished she could get into his mind at this moment, but after sensing Kylo Ren a moment ago, she was hesitant to use her power again, at least right now, when they just barely escaped Jakku.
"You make one wrong move, being found by the First Order will be the least of your problems," Taylor warned, before she released her hold on his shirt, then whispered to him. "Our base is in the Ileenium Systen." She then moved back a bit, Finn sending her a grateful look, just as Rey popped her head up again, needing another tool.
"Pilex driver, hurry," she said, turning a questioning gaze onto Taylor once more, as Finn hunted for the item. "So, where's your base?"
"Tell her, Finn," said Taylor, spotting the tool on the top of the pile in the fallen box, taking it, and walking over to give it to Rey, quirking her brow encouragingly at him as she did so.
"It's in the Ileenium System," Finn said to Rey, after meeting Taylor's gaze, while Rey took the tool she handed her. "Get us there as fast as you can."
He gave Taylor a Thumbs Up, when Rey disappeared back into the floor compartment, and Taylor returned the action with a soft smile, while BB-8 stuck out one of his arms, and ignited his little lighter, giving his own version of the gesture, and Taylor giggled at her droid's actions.
Rey said something about dropping the two of them and BB-8 off somewhere, before she needed tape.
"What about you?" Finn asked, while Taylor as well gazed in confusion down at the girl.
"I've got to get back to Jakku," Rey said, with a furrowed brow, as if that was obvious.
"Back to Jak- Why does everyone want to go back to Jakku?" said Finn, holding up a roll of tape.
"It's not that one," Rey responded, and she pointed at the one she needed, while responding to all of the different rolls of tape Finn held up. "No. No. The one I'm pointing to. No. No. No! If we don't patch this up, the propulsion tank will overflow, and flood this ship with poisonous gas!"
BB-8 rolled forward and bowed his head down at the yellow tape, so Finn crawled forward, and grabbed it, holding it up to Rey with a questioning gaze. "This?"
"Yes," Rey said, catching it he tossed it at her.
"Rey, I told you, it's not safe for you on Jakku anymore," Taylor said, as she fell into a crouch, well aware of Finn's eyes on her legs and short skirt as she did so. "Please, come with me."
"I can't, Taylor," said Rey, popping up from finishing taping the pipe. "I'm sorry."
Taylor parted her lush pink lips to say something, but, before she could, the ship suddenly went dark with a loud clunking sound.
"That can't be good," Finn uttered.
"You don't say," Taylor snapped back, offering Rey her hand, and helping her out of the floor compartment. "To the cockpit."
The three ran down the hall, Rey and Taylor sitting in front, while Finn stood in between them, his hands on the back of their chairs, as the former girl checked the controls.
"Someone's locked onto us," she said, her voice laced with fear. "All controls are overridden."
The three shared a frightened look, as another clunking sound was heard, and Finn began to climb up onto the side of Taylor's chair, placing another leg on the front of the controls, and using the two girls' heads to push himself up.
"Ow!" Taylor said, while Rey shoved his hand off of her head, saying, "Get off!"
"What do you see?" asked Taylor, just as the cockpit was flooded with red lights, and she felt her heart sink.
"It's the First Order," Finn said, as he jumped back down between their two chairs.
"What do we do?" Rey inquired, before gently shaking her head. "There must be something."
"You said poisonous gas," said Finn, looking at Rey.
"We fixed that," Rey responded, after sharing a look with Taylor.
"Can you two unfix it?" Finn asked, and the girls shared a look again, before getting up, and piling out of the cockpit.
Finn grabbed three oxygen masks off the wall, as they headed for the still open floor compartment, the man getting it first, while Taylor gestured her droid in next.
"Come on, BB-8," she said, she and Rey going to one knee to help lower him down to Finn.
"I got him," Finn said, just before tripping and falling onto his back, BB-8 on top.
"Get in," Taylor urged by placing a hand on Rey's back.
"What? You're coming too," Rey objected with a furrowed brow.
"I've got to get my weapon," Taylor said, and Rey flicked a glance down at the blaster holstered to her thigh, to which Taylor shook her head. "Not that one."
"The odd looking one you wouldn't tell me about?" inquired Rey, and Taylor nodded.
"Finn, give her a mask," said Rey, she hadn't known the girl long, but, as insane as it sounded, she already trusted her.
"What?" Finn responded. "Get in here! Both of you!"
BB-8 shot out one of his arms and grabbed a mask from the pile by Finn, then held it up to Rey, who took it, and gave it to Taylor.
"I'll be back," Taylor said, taking the mark from Rey.
"You'd better be," replied Rey, and Taylor sent her a soft smile, an action the female Scavenger returned, before she took off running, and Rey climbed in with BB-8 and Finn, the droid beeping his own concerns to his Master, as she left.
