Planet Jakku

"Dammit," I huffed, shoving the piece I was working on out of the way now in annoyance as I was looking down at my cockpit again, seeing the damage that was already set in stone there. I knew it was bad enough, someone messed with m X-Wing enough to make it impossible for me to fly it again.

The whole cockpit was shredded, top to bottom now.

I sighed, placing my hands on the metal there and closing my eyes, trying to clear my head now as to what I was supposed to do next. Since I couldn't fly the damn thing for anything now, I was stuck there, on the desert planet, until I could get my hands on something that could take me back to the Resistance. The heat was getting bad now since the sun there was rising higher and higher now with a vengeance, wanting me to feel it down to my bones and make me experience how it felt being a pathetic life form compared to the power of the sun.

I've never felt this stuck before, not really since I learned how to be a mechanic. But this didn't seem right, not to me. For some reason, it felt like someone was trying to find something in my X-Wing, not wanting to destroy it. If they wanted to destroy it, it would be on fire and a pile of metal and ashes by now, like Poe's X-Wing. Goddamnit, Poe. He got me dragged into this, and I wanted to smack him so bad the next time I saw him. But this situation was still weighing heavily on my mind, who would only destroy the cockpit and nothing else? Were they leaving it this way for a reason? Was there even a reason?

Someone was heard nearby, a small voice but enough for me to grab my attention. I perked up, looking over to the right back out in the blazing sun of the desert, the voice was being carried over by something in the direction of the village and I grabbed my backpack, the one thing that was not touched nor destroyed, and threw it on over my shoulder blades. I was having to think fast, and if they were lifeforms, then there had to be some other town nearby for me to get to and find a way off this planet. If I had to resort into squabbling for a ride on a transporter, to at least getting my hands on one.

So be it.

I left my X-Wing there, walking out into the sun again and over towards where the sound was coming from. I was getting back to the village again, my bummed leg was still aching but I was slowly getting used to it and my movements with it now as I was getting closer and hearing more of the conversation. There were two voices, talking to each other as I got to the edge of one of the remaining huts and peered around the corner, not wanting to be seen. They were on their own kind of transportation vehicle, enough to fit the both of them yet they were small enough and scrawny enough for me to take them both out if I wanted to.

They were scavengers, I could tell in how they both were outside the vehicle and moving through the ashes and debris for something to grab. They were talking in their own language now, having me think to myself on how I could do this and, at least, get my hands on the vehicle. It wasn't going to be easy, but it wasn't going to be impossible either. But something caught my eyes, laying out on the floor there between myself and them and hiding under a few pieces of destroyed hut parts. It was a blaster, a stormtrooper blaster that was ready for the taking. I grinned.

I had a plan.

I reached into my backpack then, trying not to make a sound as I did this and I grabbed a small little tool that I knew I could use in order to distract them enough. It was one of the wrenches holding it in my hand and looking for the right time to throw it, at least, chuck it really. They were still talking to each other, more like an argument and bickering at one another. Once it looked like the best time to do it, I got a good enough momentum to throw the wrench, overshooting them both and hearing it clunk over at a chunk of debris. They both looked, running over there to see what made the noise and I bolted, running over to grab the blaster within seconds. I had to be quick about it since I had no idea if they had weapons on themselves then. Once I got my own hands around the blaster, I pulled it out in time to hear the both of them about to run back over to me.

"Thief!" One of them said to me now as I then aimed the blaster at the both of them. They froze, the lifeforms were now looking at me with their wide beaming eyes in fear as I was standing there at a standstill and watching them both to see if they were going to do something. Not one person moved as I took in a deep breath and found a new sense of strength there.

"Where is the nearest town from here?"

Niima Outpost

I hopped out of the transporter, making it to the outpost there in the middle of nowhere now and I look around to see if I could find the right place to talk to someone. It still sunk in that I had to leave my X-Wing behind, but it was nowhere near close enough for me to fix it and fly back to base. If I wanted to fix it, then I would have the find the parts here in this place, but I doubted they had the parts I really needed. This was a scrap kind of place, and their parts would be mediocre. I could work with it, but I didn't really want to fly out of the sky after a few thrusts of the engine.

No, I had to think back to square one.

I walked over to the center area of the place, seeing most of the action being there and some of the test already set up with vendors there. Maybe one of them knew how to get out of here or knew where to get a transporter or some kind of vehicle. There was a larger structure, almost in the middle of the whole place now and some lifeforms were going in and out with their junk, so it made me wander over there a bit more. This time, I had the blaster were on my hip and under the jacket, not wanting to raise a few eyebrows from what I was carrying and get in more trouble than what was worth. I was only thinking of getting out there and finding out where the hell Poe went.

Once I got into the structure, the eyes of all the lifeforms were on me now as I looked around to see whom I should take to. They were all frozen, not moving as they were thinking I was some kind of troublemaker, I could see it in their faces and how they were staying so still around me. I just looked ahead then, seeing the smaller booth of a thing there in the middle and the larger being behind the bars. He was watching me, a scowl on his large and grotesque look on his face as I finally walked over, thinking that he had to be the one that I had to talk to.

"I need a transporter that can take me to a planet in the mid-rim system," I explained to him calmly, keeping my hands at my side now as he was watching me up and down now, thinking to himself now if he could trust me. I was a bit lower than him, seeing him tower over me from his spot behind the counter top.

"I don't make deals with foreigners," He replied in a low tone of a snarl, having me keep my eyes on him now and see that he was getting a bit shifty with me there within his own safe area.

"I'm just looking for a transporter that can take me to my home planet, how much as are you selling?" I asked him now with a different question.

"You wouldn't have enough if I told you," He answered.

"You don't know that unless you tell me your price," I reasoned with him, trying to be polite about it now as he stood there for a moment or two of thinking to himself. I eyed him, seeing him then have a look about him as he answered me.

"I don't have any," I cocked my head at him. If there was one blessing in my curse of a disability, it was how I could read a person's face. Whether they were talking or just staring at me, I could read them better than other. I had to learn to not rely on my hearing since it wasn't an option. I was more observant of the reading of lips, hearing the sentences within my brain without actually hearing it. It was the same with body language, I could pick up when someone was telling the truth or lying in how they were standing, shifting their eyes, or just anything else that they would do in order to hide their falsehood. This guy was lying, and I couldn't help but bring it up with him.

"You're lying," I said to him in more of a statement, seeing him look at me like I offended him.

"What did you say?" He asked me, already having me see that he was about to get a bit heated with me from how I was presented myself with him.

"You're lying to me, I can tell," I explained to him calmly now, folding my hands in front of him now as he almost snarled at me, "You're shifting your eyes at me, not keeping them set of me, and your shifting you body weight from one leg to another, plus your answer with me was short and almost too blunt." He was analyzing me like I was exposing him in front of everyone, and it was killing him. I could see it, and he was really considering killing me then and there.

"I don't know where you get off…" He said to me, pointing his finger at me now as I was about to just be done with him. He was not going to tell me what I wanted, and I had to resort to the good ol' fashion method that I knew that would work in order to have other listen to me and what I had to say:

Violence.

I grabbed his finger within a second, twisting it and bending it up within a second and hearing him scream as the bone broke within a moment. The others in the room were still silent, more stunned now as I saw him howl in pain and I released my hold on him now. Within a second, I threw up my blaster, aiming at him right between the eyes. He was frozen, his eyes wide and in fear now as I had the blaster so close to his face. I didn't want to shoot him, but I was going to use it more as a scare tactic than anything.

"You're with the Resistance," He stated to me almost in a bit of shock there as he was cradling his broken finger there within his other hand.

"I don't want trouble, I just want a vehicle and the faster you do that, the faster I'll be out of there." I said to him calmly, but keeping the blaster up to his face now as he then eyed something on the side of my head, I could see his eyes shifting as he then gingerly pointed to my implant with his nonwounded hand,

"Your device," he said to me, having me pause a bit and look at him in confusion now as he said it as if he was interested in it.

"What of it?"

"I'll give you a transporter, in exchange for that device," He explained to me now as I was looking at him with a bit of shock there on my face, "Those run for a hefty price around here….very hefty."

"Why do you need it?" I asked him, sounding a bit more on the defensive side about it than anything since it was my own device that was given to me, that was made for me.

"You wanted a transporter, I'm giving you one for that device." I stayed still when he said this. It was odd for him to want such a simple thing. For parts? For more money to be placed in his back pocket? What could be the real reason, but it felt like he was now jabbing me in the heart then. This was the only thing that I have every key, ever wanted in my life that was grounded and sure: my implant. It was my link to the rest of the galaxy, to be able to communicate and talk to people. And he wanted to take it away from me now. I lowered my baster then, placing it back on my hip and eyeing him with a hint of a glare there. I turned on him, before looking over my shoulder at him and saying something to him.

"It's not for sale."

Planet D'Qar

5 years earlier

I was fixing up my X-Wing, another routine for me to do with my own backpack at my feet and my fingers thumping against the metal there on my vessel. My own droid was doing some of the matienance work there along the side, getting some of the broken pieces fixed with his extended hand. It was my own BB Unit, assigned to me the day after I got my X-Wing and the day after I officially met Poe Dameron.

I knew a little bit about him before we met, seeing him walk to and fro from the hanger over to his vessel with his BB unit, BB-8 right behind him. I never talked to him, though, and why should I? At the time, he was a pilot, and I was a mechanic. The only time I would never need to talk to him was to see if he needed an upgrade on his own X-Wing, which was never. He did that himself, a proud thing for him to so as some of the other pilots did that too. So there was never really a reason for us to talk, not to mention look at each other since I barely recognized him from that day when he defended me to the others.

Since then, he's been talking to me.

I don't mind it, but I'm still shocked by it really. He finds me interesting to talk to, genuinely interesting. I would think the novelty would have worn off by the time we were doing missions and such, but no such luck. I wasn't annoyed with him, nor was I thinking of him more out of my league in friendship.

It was just a simple question as to why me?

That day I had my implant out, liking to work in the since there end not having to listen to the chatter and the banging of the other mechanics at work around me on other vessels. I preferred to work in the silence, it was calming and enduring for me to have my own thoughts in my head. My implant was perched on top of the wing near my face as I was getting another part on the side working out properly, feeling it through with my fingers and trying to find the part where I knew it was broken. I was too transfixed within my own thought bubble when I felt a touch on my arm. Without even thinking about it I jumped, almost hitting the side of my X-Wing and looking over to see who did that. With a spooked look on his face and both hands raised in defense, it was Poe.

Crap, I scared him.

He was talking to me, but all I could get was that he was saying, "I'm sorry,". I saw his lips moving to say that sentence, but nothing came out of his mouth. I asked him, "What?" but I the heard my own muffled and off tone. I didn't have the implant in, having me point at him to wait as I looked back at where I placed the device, reaching up to place it back in my ear. Everything was loud again, for a moment now as I could hear the roaring of my BB Unit tapping and working on my X-Wing and the other sounds of working being done, along with the chatter of the pilots.

"I'm sorry for scaring you," he said to me now in a calm tone, having me smile at him and wave him off in almost a jumpy manner.

"it's fine. That was my fault, I didn't have my implant in," I explained, tapping it with my finger and seeing him watch it now in intrigue as I said that to him, "What did you need?"

"Wanted to see if you wanted to grab some food before we go into more training," He recommended to me with a shrug of his shoulders. I gave him an interesting look, almost like it was some kind of a joke for him to ask me since he was so popular on the base. But then again, we have been training and talking together on a constant rotation, so I shouldn't be that surprised. I nodded my head as my BB unit stopped his worked and looked over at me.

"I'll be fine, you get to work and we can look over it when I get back," I reassured the droid, hearing him beep at back at before looking at Poe in a weary kind of way. It made me roll my eyes as both Poe and I were walking together shoulder to shoulder now away from my vessel and into the middle of the strip, over to the hanger.

"Your droid doesn't like me," he said in a casual manner, having me chuckle a bit.

"He's not a big fan of anyone these days," I said to him, not wanting to bring up the fact that my BB Unit and I were growing close. He would scare off the other pilots when I wasn't looking, thinking that they were going to make fun of me yet again. Such a protective droid, and yet I didn't mind it at all.

I could see it again, even after walking for a moment or two with the golden boy, the eyes that were on the pair of us as we were walking together like it was just another day at the base. But I could see them, and it made me really want to question Poe if he wanted to walk with someone like me,

"You know they're looking right at us," I wanted him under my breath.

"Who?" Poe asked as if he had no idea what was going on.

"Everyone. You really want to walk with someone like me?" I asked him carefully now, wanting to hear what he was thinking about in his head and how he was feeling about this. He had a reputation, I knew that for sure and for him to do this would really stain it, at least in my head. But he smiled and looked over at me.

"I'm walking with my friend," he replied as if it was really nothing. I couldn't help but smile back. It was in that moment when I knew I landed a good friend on my hands, a friend that didn't see my implant or hear it in my voice.

He saw me, and he like it.