Rey and Freohr sat next to each other, eating and watched a starship fly into the sky, before blasting off at Lightspeed- away from the setting sun. Freohr had his helmet off and was already done with his ration, and Rey had just finished hers before she heard a nearby sound. Raising her head to look at the direction it came from, she took off the old Rebellion helmet and grabbed her staff and rushed onto the AT-AT to get a higher vantage point to see what it was.

Freohr blinked and looked at her, then grabbed his helmet and jumped up to her, shoving the helmet on, and landed next to her, looking in the same direction of her gaze. He noticed a strange creature of metal and something on it that was struggling with a net. Glancing at Rey, he followed her as she ran down towards them.

When he arrived, Rey was already talking to the being astride the metal creature and cutting the net open. The being said something back and Rey freed the thing trapped in the net and said something to the being, pointing to her right. The being said something, but started to move away anyways.

The thing that Rey freed started beeping, but she shushed it saying something in Basic. When the being and creature of metal were out of sight, Rey stooped down and said something in Basic to the spherical droid. She took off its antenna and started unbending it. After a pause, she asked something and the droid responded with beeps. She put the antenna back on the droid and said something sarcastically- Freohr could tell by the tone of voice used. The droid chirped, and Rey responded with something containing "Big," in it.

"Big!" Freohr chimed in.

Rey and the droid looked at him, then the droid started chirping excitedly, moving back and forth. Rey's head snapped towards it, said something and "No!" then something else, then "Stormtrooper!"

"Yes! No Stormtrooper!" Freohr said.

Rey said something similar to 'no', probably correcting him. The droid beeped again. Rey said something back to it, then paused looking at Freohr. Pointing at her head she said, "No," and something else.

Freohr tilted his head. Rey made a motion of taking something of her head. Freohr nodded in realization, then took off his helmet and held it under one arm while he smiled at the droid. Rey motioned at him, saying something, "Not Stormtrooper!"

The droid made a whistling sound, its head tilting on its spherical body. Freohr thought of how to say it in Basic- "Eh, Not-Stole armor."

Rey corrected him, and he repeated the word, "Salvaged armor. No steal. No Stormtrooper."

The droid beeped understandingly. Rey said "Good," then a few more words. She pointed towards the outpost, "Niima Outpost," a few words, another direction, some more words. She picked up her staff and stood up, saying something else to the droid.

Rey started walking away- Freohr following her, after putting on his helmet- but turned around as the droid beeped. She said something and pointed towards the outpost. The droid, somehow, sighed and beeped questioningly- "No!" Rey said in reply, still walking away. The droid beeped sadly, and Rey stopped and turned around to look at it.

Sighing, she nodded her head to follow them. It chirped happily and started rolling forward. Rey turned back around and started walking, Freohr and the droid walking (or rolling) after her. She said something else to the droid. It beeped back, and she said another thing in reply.


If Rey was being honest, the droid, a BB series, was actually cute. Well, more endearing than cute, but it grew on you. That said, when she turned around and saw a nightwatcher worm right behind them, its eyes poking out of the sand. "Wait- don't move!" She called out to both the BB unit and Freohr. "That's a nightwatcher worm; it feeds on junk," She explained, watching it carefully.

Its eyes dropped into the sand- "Now we run!" she yelled, turning around. She ran, the BB unit right behind her and Freohr- just standing there?! "Freohr! Run!" she yelled at him. He yelled something back in his own language, but still stood there. "Ugh- it probably hasn't eaten anything today," She explained to the BB unit, "We need to find something else to feed it."

The BB unit stopped, beeping. Rey turned to the BB unit to say something, but it had stopped- and the worm burst out of the ground and roared. Rey readied her staff to shove it in its mouth, but Freohr was suddenly in front of her. He pushed her out of the way and pulled out a pistol from the holster on his thigh- how had she not noticed that before?!- and shot the creature. The worm cried out in pain, and Freohr holstered the pistol- probably wanting to conserve ammo- and raised his arms in an 'x' formation.

The Nightwatcher Worm was mad now, it bucked and slammed into Freohr, but he didn't budge. If Rey looked closely, she could see a faint barrier where the Worm was touching air. Rey started to ask "What," but Freohr yelled, "Run!" in Basic. Scrambling up from her position on the ground, she grabbed her staff and ran. Looking behind her, she yelled at Freohr, "Home, go to AT-AT!"

"Good!" He yelled back, then released the shield and kicked it, knocking its body to the side. Rey turned around to watch were she was going, trying to make her way to her home. Behind her, she could hear roars and crashes, but she didn't dare turn to look. "We're almost there, BB, just a little bit more," She yelled to the droid, who beeped in response.

She crested a sand dune and saw her AT-AT just across the sand. Sliding down, she started running as she reached the bottom. Stopping by the leg, she grabbed the BB unit and ran up the leg and onto the side of the AT-AT. Turning around she saw Freohr running with the nightwacher worm right behind him. "Freohr!" She yelled, getting his attention, "Up here!"

He looked up and yelled something in his own language, then jumped. He flew through the air, arms and legs waving, and landed in a roll on the side of the AT-AT. Getting up from his crouched position, he started stretching, muttering things in his own language. Looking away from him, Rey picked up a piece of scrap on the top of the AT-AT and looked at the dejected nightwatcher worm, "Hey, I know you're hungry, so here," She said, then threw the scrap at it.

The worm caught it in its mouth, let out a whine, then turned around diving into the sand. Turning around, she saw Freohr still stretching and the BB unit watching him- apparently they were talking. Somehow. Looking up as she approached, Freohr looked at her, then at the BB unit, then back at her, "Translator, uh, Binary, uh, BB-8 help," he said.

Her eyebrows raised, "You have a translator in there?"

"Eh, no. BB-8 Binary, translate words," he said.

She frowned, "So, binary translates to Aurebesh in your helmet?"

"Eh, yes!"

"That certainly makes it easier, doesn't it?"

"Yes!"

"C'mon then, let's get started," Rey said, then hopped off the side of the AT-AT and climbed into the main body, heading to her room. When he didn't immediately enter in after her, she began to worry, but he soon entered, two bowls in hand and a helmet in the other- "Food! Eh, Bowls! Helmet!" he said.

She sighed in relief, "Thanks, Freohr."

"Welcome!"

Taking the bowls from him, she set them aside as he put the helmet down on a table nearby. "C'mon, let's get your Galactic Basic to where you don't have to rely on BB-8 for everything."

"Yes! Good!" he exclaimed, then navigated his way to where he had scratched in the letter of his Aurebesh, or 'Alphabet.'


He woke up stiffly. This was normal, so he knew what to do to get the stiffness out: Stretch, run, fight. Things like that. He usually ran. He'd been doing it for a while now. The stiffness in the mornings usually came after days that included strenuous activity. And, oh boy, was yesterday strenuous.

First, waking up in the morning, stiff as usual, donning his armor, then heading out to explore the full expanse of the star destroyer he found himself in. Then finding Rey, then the entire debacle of finding out they couldn't understand each other. Thirdly, the entire ride to Niima Outpost- he thought that was the name at least- and the subsequent meeting with the weird fish-like thing. Fourth, the arrival at Rey's home then writing down the alphabet on the wall in a different room that wasn't covered in marks.

Finally, meeting BB-8- the sassy droid- and then trying to fight off a nightwatcher worm, as he learned their name was. That was fun. Note the sarcasm. Of course, he'd fought off several of them before- they were trying to eat him, okay!- but he usually just killed them so they'd never bother him again. Easier that way. (Plus, their meat, after being cooked, was pretty good.)

That said, it really was no surprise that he was stiff that morning, even though he had stretched. He would go on more, but an incessant beeping intruded into his thoughts. His hand lashed out to the right- where he knew the sound was coming from- and just barely missed the droid that was annoying him. A few words in Basic appeared above on his screen, "Wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake- ahhhh!"

The droid beeped some more, "What was that for?! I was waking you up!"

Freohr gave BB-8 a flat look, "You were bothering me."

"Was not!"

"You were," he stated flatly, then sat up. "Anyway, I'm up now. Tell Rey that I'm up?"

"She already knows," BB-8 beeped, "She sent me to wake you up."

"Ugh, early risers. Always ready to start the day at an early time."

"Well, what time do you usually wake up?"

Freohr raised his arm at a 110-degree angle, "Eh, the sun's about here when I wake up."

"Around ten, then."

"Yeah, used to wake up earlier, but that's only when I have a nice bed." Getting off the floor, he had finished the floor stretches, he started his standing stretches. "Okay, tell Rey that I'm up- I won't be long."

"You got it!" BB-8 beeped, then rolled out of the room from the hole that he'd made last night.

That was another thing- BB-8 could understand him. It was strange, he pondered, most other being couldn't speak English that he had encountered, but granted, those creatures didn't have the same sentience as some of the other beings across the universe. He'd have to do more research.

Finishing up his stretches, he vaulted over the door and landed in Rey's room. Walking over to where she was making a few preparations, he said, "I ready," in Galactic Basic.

"Good," she replied, "I'll finished up here, then we'll head out." Some words were translated by BB-8 for him, as he hadn't grasped the nuances of the language yet.

It didn't take long for her to finish, but soon, Rey was strapping BB-8 to the side of her speeder- How did that get here!?- and him stringing a wire of energy to the left fin on the booster things. "Ready," he spoke, taking a few steps back and to the side.

"Ready," Rey said, BB-8 beeped out an affirmative. Starting up the bike, Rey paused. Looking up, she brought up a pair of binoculars to her face looking to her right, "Teedo," She said, answering BB-8's question, "he's come back, but I won't let him get you."

Freohr looked to his left, hearing footsteps. "Rey!" He shouted, then pushed the would-be attacker away. There was a second attacker behind the first and they pulled out their blaster and started firing, "Go!" Freohr shouted, "I'll hold them off!"

BB-8 translated his message and Rey started moving, Freohr being pulled along for the ride. Behind them, the two attackers and Teedo boarded their speeders and raced after them. It was now a speeder chase, Rey with a droid on the side of the speeder and Freohr versus Teedo and his two goons.

They were in the lead for now, but not for long- Teedo sent his goons forwards as they crossed a piece of scrap embedded in the ground. Freohr relayed an idea to BB-8, who relayed it to Rey, who agreed it was a good idea. Loosening the energy wire, he fell behind Rey's speeder and was soon even with the goon that had the blaster.

They pointed the pistol at him, but Freohr quickly pulled out his own and shot the goon in the arm, making them twitch in alarm. Moving quickly, he grabbed the handle and started shoving the goon off the bike. They resisted, but fell off as Freohr shot them in key areas- namely the chest and head. Now in full control of the bike, he increased its speed and came even with Rey.

Cutting the connection of the energy wire, he looked at Rey and nodded; she nodded back and as soon as they crossed the end of the scrap, the other goon appeared, thinking that Freohr's bike was still in control of its comrade. Rey quickly bucked her speeder and Freohr took a potshot at the other's speeder, and hit the engine. Their speeder quickly spiraled out of control and crashed into the sand.

They were now speeding over open sand towards a fallen Star Destroyer, when BB-8 proposed its idea, "Yes, Yes! That could work! We could use the nightwatcher worm! Freohr, follow me!" Rey said, and said man followed her.

They entered into an engine port and Freohr finally realized that this was a bad idea. Rey gasped and tilted her speeder to the side, sending fragments of metal everywhere; Freohr shielded himself, but Teedo wasn't so lucky as he got hit by several shards. Rey finally straightened up and stopped up on a ruined fragment of the ship that was protruding out of the ground. Freohr slowed his down, spinning it around so he could see the incoming events easier.

Rey jumped off hers and landed on the sand, staff held in her hands. Teedo came out of the corridor and stopped his bike and stood on top of it, pulling out a blaster. He laughed, saying some things in his language. Rey replied, "If you want the droid, you'll have to go through us."

He laughed and pointed his blaster at her. Just then, the Nightwatcher Worm burst out of the ground and landed, taking the majority of the speeder out and throwing a now-terrified Teedo out. He screamed a few things in his own language, then started running off. The worm sat there munching on its food as Rey hopped back onto her speeder, answering BB-8's question, "Teedo will be fine. He'll just need a new bike."

She turned her speeder and sped off, with Freohr following her, shouting out a "Thank you, Enjoy your dinner!" to the worm.

They made good time getting to Niima Outpost, only taking about an hour getting there. Rey and BB-8 had talked as they drove, Freohr scouting the area for enemies. When they arrived, Freohr heard BB-8 beeping worryingly. They stopped and Rey let BB-8 down before answering, "Don't, up hope, he might up," in Basic- BB-8 wasn't translating it for him, right now, so he had to work of the known words. "it is you're waiting for. I know all waiting."

BB-8 beeped out a question. Rey replied, "For my," he didn't recognize the last word, "They'll be back. One day."

Freohr approached, making his presence known, "Ready. Ehh, Portion Trade?"

"Yes. Come on. BB-8, could you translate for him?" She asked, then looked back at Freohr, "If he knows your language, then there must be someone out there who knows it."

He nodded, "Yes. Go now, trade metals."

"Scraps, Freohr."

"Scraps, metals. No difference."

BB-8 piped up, "There's a lot of difference, when you're ta-"

"No difference," Freohr interrupted.

BB-8 let out a beeping huff, "Fine, be that way."

"I will." And that was the end of that.

They made their way in silence to Unkar Plutt's, as Freohr learned his name was, concession stand. They waited in line for a while underneath the shaded area. When they finally got to the front of the line, Rey set the five salvaged pieces on the table. Unkar picked them up and studied them, when he got to the last one, he said, translated by BB-8, "These five pieces are, let me see here. . . hmm. . . One half portion."

"Last week they were a half a portion each," Rey said.

"What about the droid?" Unkar asked, ignoring her.

Caught off-guard, Rey asked, "What about him?"

"I'll pay for him," Unkar rumbled and started setting down portions on the counter.

"That's a lot," BB-8 commented, "I'm flattered."

Freohr snorted inside his helmet, trying to remain silent.

"Sixty portions," Unkar said, looking back at Rey. Huh, that's a lot more than he offered for my armor, Freohr thought.

Rey moved forward without thinking, grabbing the portions, then came to her senses. Looking down at BB-8 and Freohr beside him, she let her arms fall to her sides, "Actually, he's not for sale," She said.

"Of course, I'm too amazing to be sold," BB-8 boasted.

"I highly doubt that, I could sell you for a good credit," Freohr murmured, making sure that BB-8 could hear him.

BB-8's head swiveled up to look at him, "You wouldn't do that, would you?!"

"I might, you never know."

"Man, you're mean," BB-8 moaned sadly.

Rey took the half portion and started moving away, uttering a curt, "Come on," to the two of them.

Following her, they made their way to the merchant district where they were started looking around at the different items, Rey telling him their names. As they browsed, Freohr commented, "We're being followed." BB-8 translated it for him.

Rey asked, "We're being followed?"

"Yes, act natural," Freohr said, using the newly learned words.

"What do you mean by that?"

"By this."

"By what?" Rey asked again.

The thugs approached them and threw a cover over BB-8, who started beeping wildly. "Like this," Freohr replied and rammed his palm into the thug's covered face, stunning him.

Sweeping the thug's legs from underneath them, he slammed his foot on their chest- knocking out their air, if not near-killing them. He looked over to Rey, who was still dealing with her thug, "Help?" Freohr offered, then heard a shout. Looking over he saw a dark-skinned man in a brown jacket running over to them, who had skidded to a stop next to a pole under the shade.

"No, got him!" Rey grunted, finally knocking out the thug.

"Okay." Freohr shrugged, then kicked the thug under his foot unconscious.

"What? What's going on? Can you give me a play-by-play?" BB-8 was asking.

"It's solved," Freohr answered, "They are out cold."

"Oh, already? Who were they?"

"Thugs," Rey answered this time, "sent by Unkar. The guy that wanted you."

"Ah, the fishy guy," BB-8 responded.

Freohr let out a snorting laugh, "That was bad."

"He must've really wanted you," Rey commented, more to herself than anyone else.

Looking over to his right, BB-8 let out an unintelligible shriek of alarm. Looking up, Freohr saw the same man who shouted earlier. He waved at him, as BB-8 answered Rey's question. The man glanced back uncertainly as Rey got up and started charging him. Freohr tilted his head to look at BB-8, "That was really uncalled for, you know."

BB-8 beeped back a reply.

Freohr shrugged, "Fair enough. Now come on, we gotta find Rey again."

BB-8 rolled angrily, a contrast to Freohr's casual stroll to their destination. When they arrived, Rey was standing above the man, staff pointed at him, saying something. If Freohr was a lesser man, he would've said something that was really crude, but he was a man of culture, and as such, he didn't say anything, only thought it. The man replied something back, confused, and BB-8 shocked him. He let out a cry of pain, falling back onto Freohr's boots, and looked up at his helmet. Freohr waved at him, the man twitched then looked at BB-8, asking a pained question.

"This droid says you stole it," Rey said to the man.

"Steal," Freohr supplied unhelpfully.

The man twitched again, then answered Rey's question, and then got shocked by BB-8's tazer again. He yelped at BB-8, pained. Rey asked him again, saying something else with it. The man sighed and dropped a name, "Poe Dameron," with some other words. Freohr didn't catch them all. At the end of it, BB-8 lowered his head, sad. BB-8 started to roll off, telling them to stay there.

Freohr walked around to the front, holding hand out, "Sorry for, uh, no conversation?" he looked at Rey.

"Misunderstanding."

"Ah, Sorry for misunderstanding."

"You can talk?" the man asked.

Freohr nodded, "Not much."

"I thought Death Troopers couldn't."

Freohr blinked. What? He took of his helmet, "I not Death Troopers."

"Wha-? You have their armor."

"Armor scavenged in, eh, gaveyard?"

"Graveyard," Rey corrected.

"Graveyard. Armor scavenged in graveyard. Star Destroyers bad landing here."

"Anyway," Rey steered the conversation back away from that debacle, "you're with the Resistance?"

Freohr stopped listening after that, putting on his helmet, content to stand there. Until a name was dropped, "Luke Skywalker." He blinked, adding his two cents, "Luke good man." Then went back to ignoring them and keeping an eye out for Imperials, or First Order Stormtroopers as they were known here.

BB-8 burst in, on word on his visor, "Stormtroopers!"

Rey, Freohr, and the man followed the droid out into the open, where they could see two troopers talking to a native. The native pointed in their direction, and the troopers started running at them, guns raised. Rey exclaimed something, and was pulled away by the man, who was shouting something. Freohr stood there, and the Stormtroopers let out several shots, only to be reflected by Freohr's shield. The troopers stalled for a second, then started up again, this time away from Freohr and after the two humans and BB-8.

Freohr smiled casually and started strolling towards the fighting. As he was approaching where the three hunted were sequestered in, he heard the faint roaring of fighters. Looking up, he saw several TIE-class Starfighters gunning down on the now-evacuated tent. He casually arrived there, as Rey shook the man awake. He shot up and asked something, Rey replied, then they started moving away, Freohr and BB-8 following them.

They ran under the red arch that held several ships in a giant fence perimeter. Rey shouted something, pointing at a red ship with four engines. The man said something about the ship Freohr was standing by, Rey replied and then a blaster shot the ship. Rey uttered something then started running towards the ship. They ran past him and up the ramp, Freohr and BB-8 following. The two of them ran to different positions in the ship. BB-8 waited in the hallways while Freohr followed Rey into the cockpit. He sat in the co-pilot's chair, which was made for something way bigger than him, and watched as Rey hit random switches around the area.

They lifted off and crashed into several structures, destroying them in the process. Finally, Rey was able to get it stabilized and the blasted off into the sky. The man shouted something, but they couldn't make it out the first time, then he said it again over the comms. She banked the ship and the shot towards the ground, then pulled up, the TIEs on their tail.

They started firing on the ship and one got a lucky shot in, hitting the ship, making it rock. Rey yelled at the man, who yelled back, asking something. She yelled back, reaching over Freohr to reach a button. Freohr traced her hand angle and found the switch, flicked it, and the shields came online. Rey blinked confusedly for a few moments, looking at the switch. Freohr appeared, waving. She twitched, "Freohr! When'd you get here!"

Freohr shrugged, then took control of the co-pilot's controls. She yelled back at the man, who yelled back something, a question, she answered it and that was it. They sped above the sands, the man shooting at the TIEs. They quickly arrived at where the crashed Star Destroyer was, and the man got a good shot in, knocking the TIE out of the air, making it crash. The chase went on a bit more, Freohr and Rey trying to avoid the bits of metal and the man trying to shoot the TIE.

Soon, the TIE got a lucky shot in and hit the blaster, jamming it. The man yelled up at Rey, she yelled back, then murmured softly, "I hope." Freohr let go of the controls, letting Rey have full control. She banked the ship, and shot into an engine part of a crashed Star Destroyer, trying to dodge all of the still-intact bridges in there. Freohr took over a bit, making them dodge a certain piece of ship, then let go as Rey took a sharp turn out of there. They shot into the air and tilted forward. Rey shut off the engines, giving the man a clear shot at the TIE, which he took. The TIE exploded into a shower of metal, and Rey restarted the engine.

They lifted right off, missing the ground by feet, and shot into orbit. Rey relaxed and got out of the chair, at which point the man got out of his and was in the hallways. They let out a hail of compliments, and when they finished, BB-8 let out a, "What."

Freohr got out of the seat and entered the hallways, shrugging, "I dunno, BB, but hey, at least they get along."

"I never got your name," Rey said, BB-8 now translating for Freohr.

The man licked his lips, "Finn. What's yours?"

"Rey," Said woman answered.

"Freohr," said man gave his name without prompting. As if a trance was broken, they looked away from each other and at him. He waved, "Hi."

They stared at him, then flinched when a pipe burst.


*Laughs in Binary*