Chapter 4 – The Plot Thickens.
Finn POV
Water... water... water..
Finn staggered though the village, outpost?. He ran towards everyone with a desperation that was bordering on madness. He grabbed at their clothes and in some cases even shook them with what little strength he still possessed in his desperate frenzy.
The locals, probably use to this kind of behaviour from stupid off-worlders or locals who wandered into the desert without proper preparation, ignored and brushed him off.
In a heatstroke daze, he moved past enormous old ship parts, merchants, scavengers and tented stalls that made up the outpost. His eyes (which also somehow felt dried out) scanned the area for any source of salvation.
Water... water... water..
Finally, he sees a water trough where a filthy, slobbering hippo-like creature (a Happabore) drinks. Elated, Finn moves to it, uses his hands to desperately drink the filthy water. After a couple swallows he spits it out, disgusted.
"Awgh, GAH!"
The water was possibly the most disgusting thing he had ever tasted. It was like what he imagined a decaying Hutt tasted like. The First Order food he had when he was young had been bland and simple. Then when the new policy's Admiral Kuvira introduced, they had gotten much better, and more varied.
But nothing came close the disgusting water in front of him.
But even as he contemplates its foulness, he finds himself leaning back for more. Between a mortally wounded sense of taste, or death…he would take the rancid water.
After a few more disgusting mouthfuls he felt the creature beside him push him aside with its bulk. It was clearly not willing to share its precious water with him. Thankfully he had got enough to take the edge of his dehydration away.
Moving away from the water trough he made his way aimlessly back towards the interior of the village. He had no clue what he was even looking for, or what he should be doing.
A second ago, his highest and only concern was staying alive. Before that in the TIE fighter, his main concern had been to get out of this system, away from the First Order and to vanish into the galaxy.
Now, what now?
He had no money, no friends, no prospects and no hope.
He was on a planet controlled by the First Order, it would not be long until troopers would be deployed to this outpost and all the others. He would be recognised, arrested and executed for treason. The best he could hope for was death by blasters, instead of laser axes.
In fact, he could very well imagine that his old squad, his friends, Zeroes and Nines would be the ones to wield them. He doubted that his betrayal would go down well with them. He should have realised that before he left, but the realisation still hurt.
As he came out of his whirlwind of thoughts and back to himself, he noticed a scuffle for the first time right in front of him.
A young woman, roughly his age and judging by her clothes, a local, was being accosted by two thugs. Feeling a small sense of chivalry, (which overrode the sense of self preservation telling him to remain discrete) he made his way to help her.
Suddenly he stopped as he saw that the girl, he previously thought as a victim, began to fight back with her metal staff. She was clearly scrappy and with a slightly feral attitude, she kicked, bite and hit her assailants. Finn is taken aback as she defeats the attackers, who hit the sand, hard, and did not get up again.
As he watched, he saw her kneel down and remove a ratty tarp from the ground to reveal…..An orange and white BB-8 droid.
Poe's Droid!
There was absolutely no doubt in his mind. BB-8 units were new and thereby expensive. And Jakku, was the last place in the galaxy where that criteria were met. Even if that was not the case the droid was exactly as Poe had described.
Orange and white paint job, and a large dark optical orb that was looking directly at …. HIM!
Yes, the droid was looking directly at him, and as he watched it began to look back and forth between him and the girl, clearly explaining something to her. And whatever the explanation was, it did not appear to be making either droid or girl calm or please with him
As he watched, the girl snatched up her staff and began to sprint towards him!
Realizing he's the target, Finn begins to run away from her, back through the tent marketplace. Pushing people out of the way as he flees. He is not entirely sure, why he was running from her, but he figured he was just used to running away by now.
However, as he turned a corner he felt a blinding pain in his face and stars fly across his vision along with the sensation of his feet leaving the ground. And before he knew it, he was lying on his back with the metal staff aimed at his chest. And the girls furious face staring down at him.
Out of breath and very freaked out, all he could do was lie there and wait.
"What's your hurry, thief?!" She snarled.
Finn blinked in confusion, and the sound of his head still ringing.
"What-?! Thief?"
BB-8 rolled up fast and moved towards Finn, a welding arm telescopes from his body and shocks Finn, causing him to yelp.
"OW! HEY! What?!"
The girl stepped forward and the droid mercifully backed off and stopped shocking him!
"The jacket! This droid says you stole it!" The girl snarled, her staff never leaving its position over his prone body.
Realisation finally hit Finn. The Jacket and the droid, of course the droid would recognise it. And on a word like Jakku (not known for its friendly locals) and the line of work that Poe was in. It was not hard to come to the conclusion, that the droid clearly had.
He could even understand it. But, given all that he had endured today and the many near death experiences he had today, he was really not in the mood for this crap!
"I've had a pretty messed up day, alright?! So, I'd appreciate it you stop accusing me - OW!"
BB-8 zapped him again. "STOP IT!" he yelled.
Instead of making the droid leave him alone the desert girl instead pressed her apparent interrogation. "Where'd you get it? It belongs to his master." She demanded. Her staff never leaving its position to strike.
Finn looks at her - then the agitated droid, Finn's mind was racing, trying desperately to take in and process all the events of this messed up day. Finally, he thinks he has put it all together, and he only finds himself more frustrated.
But seeing as there is nowhere to go, aside from along with this new situation he sighs heavily and looks back at the girl and droid. He knew he needed to respond somehow.
So, he makes a hard decision: to tell the truth, or at least as much of the truth as he thought he should tell, given the situation. "It belonged to Poe Dameron. That was his name, right?" He asked turning to the droid (which still kept its electro prod extended and ready).
BB-8 seems taken aback by the sound of the name and the girl looked to him for confirmation. The droid turns to face her, then turns back to Finn, clearly confused. In the stunned silence, Finn decides that now was probably the time to keep talking.
If he wanted to avoid more shocks or smacks with the staff.
"He was captured... by the First Order. I helped him escape but our ship crashed."
He took a pause as he unwillingly relived the moment when the ship was hit and began plummeting to the ground. In that moment he had been 100% certain he was going to die. Then the almost equally painful moment when he had been unable to save Poe emerged from his memory.
He had not known Poe well. Barely at all even. Even he and Poe had known right away that it was an alliance of convenience. A way for him to leave the First Order alive, and a way for Poe to get back to BB-8 and the Resistance.
Even if all had gone well and they had left the system with all they needed, Finn had no intention of deserting one army only to join up with another.
But still, even in the brief time that he and Poe had worked together, he had come to respect him. Maybe he had even begun to like him.
"Poe didn't make it." He said sadly, as he looked towards BB-8. The droid lowered its 'head' had let out a mournful sound.
"Look, I tried to help him. I'm sorry..." He whispers.
They girl watches BB-8, then considers Finn again.
She says, with a tone of voice that sounded bit impressed. "So, you're with the Resistance?" She asks, in a way that seems to appear…hopeful?
Finn's mind races again. This time he makes an easy decision when it comes to what truth to tell….. LIE, LIE, LIE!
"Obviously. Yes. I am. I'm with the Resistance, yeah. I'm with the Resistance". He whispered. He silently curses himself. His lie was so obvious a Gamorreon would have been able to see through it. He braced himself for more shocks or blows, (which ever came first).
Instead, the girl lowers her staff and looks at him with an appraising look as he stands up and brushes the sand from his clothes.
"I've never met a Resistance fighter before." She says.
Finn feels himself growing even more desperate for her to believe his story, as he starts rambling. "Well, this is what we look like. Some of us. Others look different." He babbled, silently telling himself to shut up!
Thankfully the girl doesn't seem to notice. She turns to regard the droid at their feet. "BB-8 says he's on a secret mission, he has to get back to your base." She insisted. Behind her Finn rolls his eyes as he remembers the context of the situation he has somehow landed himself in.
"Apparently he's carrying a map that leads to Luke Skywalker, and everyone's after it." He mutters as he once again curses the universe for his luck.
She turns to him, concerned, curious. And asks "Luke Skywalker? I thought he was a myth?" She said with a mix of disbelief and wonder.
Before he could answer her, just then BB-8 beeps madly at something he sees.
"What is it?" The girl asks as she moves over to him.
Looking out from the flap of the ram shackle shelter that made up most of the outpost. And what she saw somehow amazed and concerned her both at once. She can't really make sense of what she is seeing, but Finn comes up behind her, and he understands perfectly.
A First Order AAL-1971/9.1 Troop Transport had landed on the outskirts of the outpost and opened its exit ramp. Stormtroopers began to disembark. But unlike at Tekka's village, they were not rushing out of the transport to attack. Instead they were marching out of the transport in parade formation and speed, with a black clad junior officer at their head.
The troopers began to file out across the outpost while the officer made his way to the small salvage centre, run by a disgusting blubber filled (mostly) humanoid creature that made Finn's skin crawl.
The troopers took up position by the salvage cleaning station, the water dispenser, the shipyard, and at the various main entrance points. The officer was still talking to the creature, that was identified as Unkar Plutt, by a whispered snarl from the girl as they hid behind the fabric.
Whatever they were talking about it seemed that the conversation was amicable and expected as the officer moved back to the transport and began talking to a holo com, and Plutt went back to his stand as the troopers continued to adjust to their new garrison duties.
The girl clearly was at a loss as to what was happening. But Finn understood.
He remembered that Admiral Kuvira mentioned that the New Republic had sold Jakku to the First Order for a paltry sum of credits.
Standard First Order military doctrine stated that newly annex (occupied) worlds were to receive garrisons at all major settlements and for officers of the Ministry of Logistics, to be placed alongside the civilian government to ensure that the world continued to function (and provide) under the new administration.
He supposed on a world like Jakku, this was as close as you got to a 'major settlement'.
And once again, the universe loved to show him how awful his fortune was. Even as he watches, the creature called Plutt, was talking to two Stormtroopers and pointing at them.
Finn urgently grabs the girls hand and heads for the tents, in rising panic.
"What are you doing?" She asks indignantly.
Finn had no time to explain to her the level of danger they were in. "Come on!" He said, as he continued running.
Suddenly laser blasts rip past them and hit the cleaning unit. The intense heat of the blaster bolt causes spewing steam to rise up the scavengers working at the table to duck and cover. The girl screamed as more blasts came their way and they continue to run, with the droid rolling behind them.
"Come on, BB-8!" Finn yelled to the following droid
"Let go of me!" The girl said
Finn shook his head as he ran. "No, we gotta move!"
She ripped her hand free from his grasp. "I know how to run without you holding my hand! BB-8 stay close! This way!"
Now following her lead, Finn and BB-8 run after her as another blast just missed them! They disappeared through a tent, and then another, trying to break their pursuers line of sight.
Meanwhile the Stormtroopers emerge from a tent, having momentarily lost their target. They take a moment to search the fleeing civilians and the area's they can see.
Seeing nothing, the raised their comlink. "Call in the air strike!"
Bridge of the Reclaimer
The call for the Airstrike was immediately relayed to the comms officer on the Reclaimer and he turned to issue order to the hanger bay.
"TIE squadron 3, prepare to embark and head for co-ordinates 41°24'12.2"N 2°10'26.5"E. Settlement by the name of 'Nima Outpost, two fugitives in possession of the droid, the traitor and a local female. Detain if possible, destroy if necessary."
The reply from the hanger temporary control room, (because Finn blasted the main one) comes immediately. "Acknowledged and Understood."
"Tell them to prepare to launch, but do not depart until my arrival." A cool and measured voice says from above the comm officer. Looking up he sees Admiral Kuvira standing in her personal flight suit, with her pilot helmet tucked under her arm.
"Admiral?" He asks in confusion
"I will be leading this mission personally. Tell the hanger to prepare my TIE fighter and to prepare the fighter squadron to form up on me when we depart." She stated, her orders clear and concise.
The comms officer blinks for a second while he finds his tongue. "Admiral, the fighter commander will be able to handle the situation. And with all respect we cannot risk your safety on such a mission." He argues as firmly, yet respectfully as he knew how.
Kuvira raised a delicately plucked eyebrow. "The mission is just that important lieutenant. The droid, is of vital importance, and I refuse to luxuriate on the Reclaimer while our pilots struggle to win us victory. Now every second we stand her the droid gets further away, so relay my orders lieutenant. She commanded, her voice remaining calm, but taking on an unmistakable air of warning.
The comms officer visibly gulped. "At once Admiral." He said, turning back to his station to do just that.
Kuvira nodded and minutes later, a Black Special Forces TIE fighter shot out of the Reclaimer's hanger with three escort TIE's.
Together they formed up and dived down towards the planet surface.
Finn's POV
"Stop taking my hand!" The girl snapped as he dragged her through the outpost towards the entrance to the 'spaceport?' Or at least the small parking zone that seemed to act as this place's space port.
He briefly wondered why he was bothering to drag her along behind him. She was just a local who happened to stumble across a droid that wasn't his, containing information that was not relevant to him.
She was not his problem, and he was not her problem! So why was he throwing himself deeper into this, instead of running as far away from that damn droid as he could?!
In the end he decided to focus all of his concentration to running for his life. At least for the moment.
The iconic scream of TIE fighters could be hear overhead. But for some reason they were not opening fire.
He figured that was due to Admiral Kuvira's orders regarding this planet new annexation status. She did not want to fire blindly into an inhabited outpost and cause the locals to turn against the First Order. Personally, considering that a single Star destroyer probably held more people then all of Jakku did, he was surprised she would bother to show such restraint.
But that was Kuvira. Always considering the long-term situation, the big picture.
However, he had no doubt that once they and the droid were cleared of the tents and in the open the fighters would open fire.
Unfortunately, he was proven right about that.
As they race from the tent area, a TIE fighter screams into view from behind the tents! A second follows close behind. It fires at them, and a massive blast sends the girl and Finn flying into the air to land with an ungracious thud on the sands. BB-8 is also sent rolling along with them.
Finn rolls over and sees the girl looking at him while shaking him to get to his feet. He sat up and looked into her face.
"Are you ok?" He asked.
The girl looked stunned, as though she had never heard those words before. Given the kind of place Jakku is, maybe she hadn't.
The girl nodded her answer. "Yeah."
She extended her hand and hauled him to his feet. "Follow me!"
They set off at a run for the spaceport with the TIE's circling back around for another strafing run. Even through he is keeping his eyes firmly ahead of him and trying with all his might to not look back, he knows one thing for a fact.
"We can't outrun them!" He yells to the girl as she runs ahead of him and BB-8.
However, the girl pointed to a parked, four-engine ship ahead. "We might in that quad-jumper!" She proclaimed as he ran towards it. However, Finn felt the need to point out the obvious flaw.
"We need a pilot!" He yelled with frustration at their situation.
"We've got one!" She said gesturing to herself as they ran.
"YOU?!" Finn tried desperately to not think about the fact that he was trusting her on this. But he could not help but consider that he was about to get in a ship that would be piloted by a girl who had not only never flown before. But had in fact, very probably never even been off world before.
He really wished that Poe was still alive right now.
As he kept running he noticed another ship parked in the spaceport. It looked like trash, but it was a lot nearer to them.
"What about that ship?" He asked
She quickly looked where he was gesturing and scoffed. "That one's garbage!"
They run for the jumper, but the passing tie fighters clearly understand what they are planning. They fire at it, blowing it apart in a huge flame ball! Finn and the girl come to a skidding stop as they observe the ruined wreak of what a few seconds ago was their salvation.
"The garbage will do!" she proclaimed and ran to the dilapidated YT-1300 Corellian light freighter. Meanwhile the TIE fighters bank around again, coming in for a third strafing run. Or maybe they were intending to destroy the ship with them aboard and be done with it. Finn, the girl and BB-8 run up the ramp of the semi-tarped ship and scrambled to find the cockpit entrance.
The girl flung herself down into the cockpit and started the start-up sequence. "Gunner position's down there!" She yelled to Finn
He nodded and scrambled down the ladder to the gunnery battery. Finn buckled into the gunner seat and too his shock, the seat whips to the left, startling him and he grabbed the controls to steady himself.
"Whoa! I can do this, I can do this…." He hoped. He was unaware that his impromptu pilot was repeating the exact same words to herself.
The ship rose of the ground, albeit wildly and its protective tarps fly off. The ship suddenly spins and tilts, slamming into and destroying the town's archway. Then the ship blasts away, with three TIE fighters chase it, fast!
Kuvira POV (SF TIE Fighter)
Kuvira sat in the cockpit of her personal starfighter and watched as the beat-up YT-1300 managed to haul itself into the sky (without breaking apart somehow) and shot off across the endless Jakku desert.
She knew that ship.
She had never seen it personally before now, but she had seen it in pictures, holomaps and diagnostic readouts for years. She had studied diligently, trying to understand how such a beat-up piece of junk could have caused the galaxy changing events that it had.
The Millennium Falcon was a great mystery to the Admiral.
And now, here it was again. Once again, somehow this flying scrap heap had appeared to aid the rebels and their infuriating cause yet again. It was almost as if she could hear the ship itself laughing at her and the entire First Order. Like it had gained its own sentience and was a passionate believer in the rebel cause in its own right.
It would certainly explain some of its insane good fortune.
But now she was determined to do what even the likes of Darth Vader had not achieved. The complete destruction of the kriffing Millennium Falcon. Once and for all!
She engaged her drive and shot off in pursuit, she also commed her escort pilots and opened the communication channel. "Form up on, me and stay in attack formation. Make every effort to destroy that ship." She commanded. She would have preferred to capture the ship. Both to recover the droid data for their own purpose, and the fact that the Falcon would make a fantastic trophy in the First Order's possession.
But the stakes were too high, and this ship had a well-earned reputation for slipping the net too many times. She would not risk this mission and the entire First Order for something like personal vanity.
She banked her fighter to the right and she streaked around a large sand dune and brought the Falcon back into her viewpoint. She fired her cannons and watched as the bolts slammed into the ships shields.
She frowned. She had hoped that the falcon's shields were inoperable, or perhaps the pilot had not had time to active them in the mad scramble to take off. However, it seemed the ships unnatural luck was still holding.
She fired again and saw more bolts smash into the ship before the falcon banked downwards and started to streak away just a few metres above the sands. The cannon on the belly of the ship opened up and filled the space between them with red lines of energy.
She pulled back on her controls and brought her fighter out of sight of the belly cannon and placed herself almost on top of the ship and she fired down on to the roof of the ship. The cannon on the top of the Falcon appeared to be inactive. Possibly due to the power cores or another mechanical issue. But the more likely reason was simply a lack of an available gunner.
Her green blasts slammed down on to the ship and the force of the impact drove the vessel down further to the ground. The ship nearly smashed directly into the sand. But the pilot managed to veer off at the last second and gain some more altitude.
The falcon swung round and bolted towards a wreckage field that rose up from the sands to the south west. She immediately chased after them, with her two pilots on her flanks.
As she followed her target, she flew by the remains of an Imperial class Star destroyer. The front of the once mighty warship was buckled in and at an angle to the main body of the vessel. Clearly the ship and ran into the surface of Jakku with so much force that it broke into two pieces.
The sight made her gripped her flight controls tighter and steeled her resolve to destroy that damn ship.
But instead of shooting into the sky and outer space like she expected. The Falcon instead headed for the starship wreckage. She frowns, before she realises that the pilot is looking for cover and hoping to lose them in the maze of debris.
She drives her fighter forward, firing as he goes, but the Falcon manages to avoid the green blasts and heads directly for the remains of another Stardestroyer, weaving and ducking around the dunes and the oncoming laser blasts.
The Falcon was leading them to a massive spear of metal debris that covered a number of kilometres of the space. Kuvira watched as the Falcon reduced speed and shot straight down the centre of the mountain of metal. Surmising what the pilots plan of action was she also reduced her speed and gripped the controls of her fighter tightly. Her muscles and nerve ending tensed as she prepared to reacts within a moments notice.
Her preparation soon proved to be warranted.
Just as the Falcon's collision with the Star Destroyer carcass appeared to be inevitable, the ship pulled off an almost 95-degree angle turn to the left and darted along the left side of the debris field!
Kuvira quickly made the same turn and brought her fighter to bear on the falcon again, hammering it with blaster bolts. She noticed via her instruments that on of her co pilots had managed to follow her. However, the other appeared to have been forced to fly on the other side of the star ship wreckage.
She signed. She supposed that some of their training programs had sacrificed tactical awareness for single-minded focus on the mission objective. She might need to look in to that potential flaw.
The under cannon of the Falcon continued to fire back at them and she was forced to spin her fighter out of the way as the red beams went flying past.
A sudden explosion and the loss of the fighter on her display monitor, showed that the Falcon had scored a direct hit on her comrade's wing panel. As she watched the fighter spun out of control and plummeted to the desert surface near the base of the wreckage.
She quickly cut the com connection with the downed pilot. Hearing his dying screams was not something she wanted to subject herself to. Plus, it would only serve to further distract her.
Already she could see scavengers moving to the crash site of the newer and much more valuable ship. Her lip curled in disgust. Their attitude reminded her of Kath Hounds, running to a freshly downed Boma beast to feed on its corpse.
Keeping her anger in check she re focused on the Falcon and unleashed a hail of blaster bolts at the ship, aiming specifically at the belly cannon. The pilot was good and kept the falcon in evasive manoeuvres. But she eventually landed a direct hit on the cannon and she watched as it turned to face directly to the ground and not move at all.
Clearly it had been disabled.
She considered for a second. Disabled was good but destroyed was better.
She aimed and fired again, once more she hit the cannon and this time the entire artillery piece was blown off the apparatus!
Perfect, now the ship had no means of fighting back. All it could do was evade, and that would not last forever.
The Falcon continued to dodge and weave as she poured green blasts into the sky, when suddenly the ship performed an almost 360-degree manoeuvre and shot down into the remains of the engine funnel of the wreck of a Super Star Destroyer.
Kuvira was momentarily surprised at the pilots clearly desperate gamble. But considering their situation, it was a reasonable smart move. If they could navigate the wreck and not crash into a burning ruin, they just might be able to lose their pursuit and escape.
Kuvira absently concluded that the wreck was the remains of the Ravager. The flagship of her idol and role model, Grand Admiral Rae Sloane. But now was not the time for trivia or sightseeing.
And she was not stupid enough to chase after them like a charging Reek.
She commed her fellow remaining pilot and relayed her orders. "Form up on me and gain altitude above the remains of the Star Destroyer. I want all of the area visible and monitored. From that height we will be able to see them wherever they come out of the ruin. Once they emerge from the wreck, perform strafing manoeuvres from above.
"Understood Admiral."
Rey's POV
Rey wondered if she was crazy to fly a ship that was a few years past its prime into the crumbling wreck of a Super Star Destroyer, in the vague hope that it would help them lose their pursuers.
Certainly Finn (as he had introduced himself) thought so. He had come up to the cockpit once the gunning battery had been destroyed and decided to offer his opinion on her choice of route.
"Are you crazy?!" He almost screamed. To be honest she was starting to think that she was.
"Do you have a better idea?!" She yelled back as she fought to move their ship down the randomly changing 'path' of the star destroyer's rusting insides. It required her total focus to keep the ship from smashing into the metal structure and turning them both to flaming organic paste.
She could only thank the Force that the TIE fighters had not been brave enough to follow them and had hopefully broken off their pursuit.
Seeing an opening in the right side of the destroyer she banked a tight right and brought them outside into the desert sky once again. The sand stretched out before them, the sky cloudless (as always) and a sandstorm on the horizon. Even if she had cursed the harshness of Jakku many times in her life, she had it admit, it had a fierce beauty to it.
Especially from a spaceship.
She turned the ship away from the sight and quickly scanned their surroundings. There was no sign of the TIE fighters or any other ship for that matter, so she decided now was the time to get into space and leave the planet before they came back.
"We should leave now, while we have the chance. You ok back there little guy?" She called to BB-8 who was currently suspended above the floor by cables he had dug into the walls for purchase during the chase.
The droid beeped an affirmative but did not release its cable restraints just yet.
Rey began to raise the ship up into the sky, intending to break out of the atmosphere and head for hyperspace as fast as possible. While she was confident that they had lost the TIE's she had been told by Finn that two star destroyers were in orbit.
For a moment she was excited by the news. She had spent most of her life crawling through the wrecks of star destroyers left on Jakku. The idea of seeing intact working ones up close was an alluring idea. Especially as the Resurgent class model was meant to be even bigger and much more advanced.
But when she remembered that those same massive advanced ships would probably be shooting at her, she decided that maybe it was not worth it.
She turned to face Finn as she continued to bring the ship higher. "Where is your base? We will need the hyperspace coordinates as soon as we leave the planet." She asked, as she turned back to face him. Finn must have been reluctant to give up such important secret information to a non-resistance member. He seemed to struggle with the question intensely.
"Well we should probably, umm, you see I can't just…. maybe we caAAAARRRRGGGHHH!
The explosion that threw Finn from his feet, flung her out of the pilot's chair and rocked the entire cockpit, also sent the Falcon plummeting out of the sky. The ship spun out of control and flipped end over end towards the unrelenting ground.
In the few moments that it took Rey to climb back into the pilot chair she saw the two remaining TIE's bearing down on them through the duroplast viewing screen. They filled the sky with green energy that continued to slam into the ship.
A second later a new alarm joined the chorus to announce that the shields had failed in the face of the onslaught.
Fighting back the flood of dizziness and nausea that was building up inside her Rey fought with all her might to bring the ship level again and re-engage the shields, even as energy bolts slammed into the ships armoured hull.
She managed to right the ship and bring it out of the free fall with only moments to spare as they went streaking away from the Ravager so low that the sand was kicked up from the path of the ship.
"What's the plan?" Finn asked in his tense voice as they continued to dodge and weave as best that they could in the low altitude and with the green energy blasts firing all around them.
Rey considered desperately but the Ravager fly through had been her only play.
Until she once again noticed the sandstorm on the horizon.
With nothing left to try, she thrust the ignition stick forward as far as it would go and drove the ship directly into the swirling mass of sand.
The visibility granted by the cockpit vanished immediately behind a massive of dirt fragments that made it impossible to see beyond two feet in front of the ship even with the forward lights ignited.
Rey knew that there was no way for the TIE's to track them in this mass of swirling sand. Their instruments would be flooded by the mass of airborne sand matter. And they would be completely unable to track them by line of sight.
Still she saw a few green flashes in the dust clouds as the TIE fighters fired randomly into the brown oblivion, clearly hoping that they might be luck and hit them.
But she also knew that they could not stay in the depths of the storm for ever. They had been flying low when they had entered the storm. And right now, with them not being able to see any better then the First Order pilots. There was a very good change of crashing into the side of a dune or into another space ship wreck.
After a few more seconds past and the flashes of green light in the sandstorm faded away, she took the chance.
She pulled back as hard on the flight controls as she could and the damaged, smoking, dust clogged, partially on fire, ship shot up almost vertically out of the sandstorm into the bright blue sky of Jakku.
There was no sign of the TIE's and no green blasts pursued her as she drove the ship through the atmosphere and watched as the blue of the sky gave way to the black star-studded canvas of space.
She had no time to even ask Finn for the hyperspace details. Instead she simply accesses the navi-computer and instructs it to go to the last known hyperspace coordinates from its memory.
Where ever it is, it had to be less dangerous then staying here.
As the stars turn to streaks of blue light before the cockpit viewing screen, she turned her head to stare back at Jakku one more time.
She would be back once Finn and the droid were dropped off at their base. Then she would return and…. what?
Continue to wait she supposed. For her parents to come back for her, like she knew they would. She just hoped that by some cruel twist of fate they did not return while she was off world.
Strangely as the black of space gave way to the swirling blue of hyperspace. The main thought she had was how she was going to deal with Plutt, when she got back, after stealing his ship?
Kuvira - POV
Kuvira directed her fighter out of the sandstorm and increased her altitude, hoping to see the Falcon dart out of the dust bowl any second.
But nothing happened. And after a moment of observation she was forced to accept what had clearly happened.
The droid and the pilots were probably long gone out of the system by now.
She frowned in disappointment before she opened her personal comm to the Reclaimer.
"Tell Kylo Ren that I am returning to the Finalizer immediately. We are to report the situation to the Supreme Leader."