3
The Falcon
Flying the ship wasn't easy. Rey was used to smaller controls, sleeker body, newer models. After a few years trying her hand at racing under Unkar's hand in order to gain more food portions, she had grown used to the more modern design. This particular ship, however, hadn't been flown in ages. This freighter was about as old as the tales about Luke Skywalker.
She glanced over at her co-pilot. He was good. Very good. His hands seemed trained to work at the dashboard, flicking switches that even she didn't know were there. Her suspicions began to creep back in. How did he know how to fly this so well, when he had supposedly lived on Jakku all his life? Rey's eyes narrowed. She was going to get to the bottom of Jastor Namore's story, no doubt about it.
She was brought back to reality by a bang on the right side of the aircraft, jolting her in her seat. Looking down at the monitor, she saw that they'd been hit by a blaster beam from the TIE-Fighters.
"There's three of them tracking us," Jastor said, looking at his own overhead monitor.
"Are you doing your job?" Rey yelled down to Finn.
"You should try sitting in this thing!" he replied.
Rey huffed and sat down into her seat, pulling up the freighter.
"Stay low," came Finn's voice from down below. "It confuses their tracking systems."
Rey traced her steps back and lowered the ship, floating barely over the sand. She bumped the back again into the ground and she cringed. She was a better pilot than this.
"Do you have a clear shot?" Jastor asked Finn over the mic.
"Not really."
"Shoot anyway," the older man said. "There could be a chance you'll hit them."
Listening to what Jastor had said, Finn began shooting, but couldn't hit any of the targets to no avail. Jastor sighed and rolled his eyes.
"He's a terrible shot," he muttered.
Rey shot him a look. "Give him a break it's not like you'd be any better."
I would be much better; would you like me to demonstrate?" Jastor raised his voice, standing up.
"Oh, sit down," Rey scoffed. "Eat your ego, you can't shoot with that arm."
Jastor sat down with a disgruntled expression. She didn't believe him. "He's not even a Resistance fighter." He said under his breath, making sure that Rey didn't hear this last bit.
Looking away from Jastor, Rey looked out the front window, only to have to check back down at the yoke and slam it to the left before they collided with a piece of Star Destroyer junk.
Hearing a small explosion to the right, the pair looked into the rearview and saw a smoking TIE-Fighter with no right-wing crash into the debris.
"Yeah Finn!" Jastor roared with delight.
Rey glanced at him and snorted softly. "And just a minute ago you were making fun of him for his bad shot."
"It's my excellent coaching," Jastor said, grinning at the girl.
She shook her head. Men.
There was another yell down from below and another explosion shook the ground. It was Finn. He had hit another TIE-Fighter and was celebrating.
"I'm getting pretty good at this," Finn muttered, not realizing his mic was still on. Rey and Jastor both heard this and smirked. BB-8 whirred in excitement, flying upside down as Rey did a flip, trying to shake off the last TIE-Fighter. Out of the small droid shot three cables that attached themselves to the inside of the cabin, clamping himself tight so that he wouldn't roll away. R9 placed his wheels on lock, but still rolled to the wall of the Falcon, screeching as he did so.
"You two alright back there?" Jastor asked as he flipped the overhead switches.
Two affirmative blips came in reply and he smiled. "Good, just hang tight."
A small shake rattled the cabin and Jastor quickly checked the damage assessment. "We've been hit." he said, with a grim look on his face.
"What?" Rey asked disbelievingly. She'd been flying so well this entire time.
"Something's jammed on the underside," Jastor replied.
"I've been hit," Finn said. "The turrets jammed, I'm stuck in an upright position. Rey, you're gonna have to shake them off."
Rey swallowed hard. She didn't know if she could do it. Finn had shot down the last two TIE-Fighters without her help. She'd never flown something so large like this before.
"Hey," Jastor's voice broke into her thoughts. "I trust you. It'll be okay."
Rey blinked. "How can you trust me? We hardly know each other, I've...disliked you ever since we met on Jakku."
"I just do," Jastor looked back ahead. "I believe in you."
Rey was visably taken aback. No one had ever said that to her before. Jastor looked at her one more time. There was something in those blue eyes that made her believe that he meant what he was telling her. She turned back to the controls. She could do this. She could do this.
"We need cover!" Finn yelled
"We're about to get some!" she replied. "I hope."
Jastor gave her a look. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea.
"Get ready!" She cried, yanking the yoke down.
"Okay...For what?" Finn yelled.
With no reply, Rey shot the Falcon into the sky, and floated to the left, right into a Super Star Destroyer.
"Rey?" Jastor asked, grabbing her seat and his side of the wall. "What're you doing?"
Rey was silent again, as she made a sharp turn to the left, into the wreckage from the rear rocket boosters. Sweat ran down Jastor's brow. Was she serious? R9's squeal reciprocated his feelings as Rey dove down deep into the junk, the TIE-Fighter following in hot pursuit. The walls of the booster began to become narrower and narrower as they dove into the Star Destroyer, still allowing room for the much smaller TIE-Fighter, but the same could not be said for theFalcon. Rey gritted her teeth as the sides of the ship scraped the walls, evading fallen wreckage.
Down in the gunning station, Finn was starting to feel sick. The freighter was flying up and down and sideways, all maneuvers that didn't agree with his stomach. He jerked on the console, trying to free it lose from its jammed state, but it stayed in its upright position. Shooting at the TIE-Fighter, he only caused more wreckage and explosions, since the turret was stuck.
"What're you doing?" Jastor's voice crackled over the intercom.
"Trying to do my job, what about you?" Finn shot back.
"I'm trying to save myself here," Jastor said. "I'm doing my job."
Back up in the control center, Rey shot him a look. "Thanks for that."
"Rey, watch where you're going!"
Rey whipped around to the front window, eyes widening at the sight in front of her. "Oh no."
There was a large beam in the way of their ship. Jastor licked his lips, moistening them. He didn't know what to do. It was a first for him, and it scared the young rogue. The space underneath was definitely not large enough. But apparently not to Rey. She shoved the yoke down, fitting the Falcon through the tight space the beam had allowed. Jastor let out the breath he hadn't realized he had been holding. Rey was a better pilot than he had thought.
Looking over at the stairs that led down to the gunning station, he sighed. If only Finn had been up here, the "Resistance Fighter" could suffer up here with him. Suddenly he was thrown to the side. A sharp object on the wall pierced his cut arm and he hissed in pain. Maybe she wasn't such a great pilot.
"Sorry," Rey said with a grunt as they shot out of the tight wreckage.
She pushed the Falcon upwards into the sky, flying higher and higher and higher, until she turned off all the controls. Jastor blinked. What was she doing? Finn had said flying low would confuse their tracking systems, yet she flew as high as they feking could, and then shut down the damn controls. Rey was going to kill them all.
As the Falcon dived to the ground, Finn saw was she was trying to do. Being down under, he had been in the dark the entire time, not knowing what was going on in front, only hearing Jastor's shouts and Rey's retorts, but now he saw everything. Rey had been trying to flip the freighter around and show its underside, so that Finn would have a clear shot at the Fighter. Taking the chance that she'd given him, the man pressed his finger to the trigger, and was rewarded with a hit, and then an explosion of red, orange and ash.
He sat back in his seat. He'd done it.
Rey pushed the handle of the controls forward, turning them back on and barely missing the ground. All was peaceful as they finally shot off into space. BB-8 retracted his cables into his body, and rolled towards R9, pushing him back in his upright position. Rey sprang up, jogging to meet up with Finn, who was noisily coming back up into the main deck. Jastor sighed and put his hands together, resting his face on them as he leaned forwards in the seat, leaning on the front panel.
"Good shooting!" Rey said, excitedly.
"Now that was some flying!" Finn smiled. The two looked awkwardly at each other. They had praised the other at the same time.
Finn broke the silence. "Where did you learn how to fly like that?"
"I dunno," Rey replied, her face brightening up. "I've flown some ships before, but I-"
Jastor tuned them out. Walking into what appeared to be the main cabin, he pulled out a transmitter, covering his mouth as he spoke into it. He had important business to conduct.
"426-24399, do you copy," he muttered. The intercom crackled in reply. "426-24399, come in."
There was more static from the intercom. Jastor cringed as it whined and keened. There was a broken-up roar of a Wookie, and then an older man's voice sounded on the transmitter.
"Hey, kid! Haven't heard from you in a while, what's going on? Need a lift?"
"No, no it's nothing like that," Jastor chuckled. "I just thought you'd like to know that I've found her."
There was silence, and then the man spoke again. "What do you mean you found her?"
"I've been flying on the Falcon for the past half hour old man," Jastor replied. "I'll give you my coordinates."
There was scuffling on the other end and then the sound of the transmitter being picked up again. "Talk."
Jastor leaned over the controls and looked through the map. "45 degrees North, 122 degrees West."
"I'll be there." Beep. The transmitter cut off.
Jastor sighed and placed the transmitter back in his pocket. The old man was never an easy guy to work with, but he still loved him all the same. There was a high-pitched whistle, a sudden sounding of the alarm and then a clattering of feet. Jastor got up quickly to see what the matter was. Rey and Finn were hunched over a grating that was smoking on the main floor. Rey was trying to push it open, while Finn was studying the smoke.
"What's going on?" Jastor asked through squinted eyes, trying to see through the smoke.
XXX
Kylo Ren stood, brooding on the bridge of the Star Destroyer resting over the planet Jakku. His dark mask covered his facial features, accomplishing what it was made to do -to hide his emotions. He turned into a different person when he placed the maak over his head; news of the capture of the droid would arrive soon, and Kylo didn't know how to feel about it. He didn't know how to feel anything anymore. The call to the Light was much stronger now.
Hearing the sound of footsteps, his masked head twitched in anticipation. It was a Lieutenant from Hux's army.
"W-We were not able to acquire the droid on Jakku, s-sir," the soldier stammered. "The BB unit escaped capture aboard a Corellian YT model freighter."
"The droid...stole a freighter?" Kylo Ren asked in a dry tone.
"N-not exactly sir," the Lieutenant spoke. "It had help..."
Ren said nothing, which said everything. The Lieutenant began to sweat. "We have no confirmation, but we believe FN-2187 may have helped in the escape-"
With a roar, Kylo Ren took out his lightsaber and stabbed the dark gold button on the side, igniting it. Whipping the red crackling saber around, he bashed at the control panel in front of him. Awaiting the end of masked man's temper tantrum, the Lieutenant cringed, it was only a matter of seconds before Ren would decide what to do with him, and the lightsaber didn't make the situation any better.
'I saw his weakness!' Ren raged in his mind, oblivious to the amount of destruction he was making. He looked back on the night they had captured the Resistance pilot on Jakku. He had felt the stormtrooper's mind, his resistance. He knew all this time that soldier would be the one to ruin the plans of the First Order. Frustrated at his folly, he swung at the wall in a new fury. 'I should've ended him when I saw the chance!'
The Lieutenant shifted uncomfortably and looked away from the horrific sight of Ren's anger. Ren had cut him off before he had the chance to finish his report, and now he was going to be punished for it.
Kylo, sensing the Lieutenant's uncomfortable nature, took one last hack at the wall and lowered his saber. He sheathed the red lightsaber, and took deep breaths, composing himself. "Anything else?"
"The two were accompanied by two more persons," the Lieutenant began. "A man with a red and silver R9 unit, and a girl- augh!"
The Lieutenant found himself floating in the air, being moved by some unknown power closer to Ren. With an outstretched black gloved hand, Ren grasped the Lieutenant by the throat as he was reminded of that traitorous rat by the description of the droid. But the girl...
"What girl?" he asked deliberately, in a dangerously low voice.
XXX
Rey lay below the deck, fixing the damage in the ship, alarm blaring. If she didn't fix the motivator, the ship would fill with poisonous gas, killing them all. Finn was helping her grab parts while Jastor knelt by BB-8 and R9.
"How bad is it?" Finn asked.
"If we want to live, not good!" She replied.
BB-8 watched as Finn grabbed a rather large tool box and opened it, dumping its contents. An assortment of tools fell out and BB-8 wondered if Finn could really find what Rey needed.
"They're hunting for us now," Finn said as he searched for a Harris wrench. "We've gotta get out of the system!"
"Bee Bee Ate said that you'd tell me the location of the Resistance base." There was a clatter of things below as she spoke, and then her head popped out. "If I'm taking you there, I need to know where!"
"This?" Finn asked, throwing her a wrench.
Rey caught the tool, and went back under, leaving Finn, BB-8, Jastor and R9 together alone. Seeing this as his opportunity, Finn crawled over to the other man and the droids.
"You gotta tell us where the base is," he hissed, speaking to BB-8. The droid beeped a reply and Finn rolled his eyes.
"I don't speak that," he rolled his eyes, glancing at Jastor and then BB-8. "Alright. Just between you guys and me, I'm not with the Resistance, okay?"
BB-8 backed up in shock and R9 rolled his silver cylindrical head towards the former stormtrooper, giving him a disapproving look. Jastor only snorted and rolled his eyes.
"I'm only trying to get away from the First Order," Finn said. "But you tell us where your base is, and I'll get you there first-"
Jastor interrupted. "So, you aren't going to tell her the truth?"
Finn gave him an incredulous look. "If I told her, she would throw me off this hunk of junk faster than you can say Jabba the Hut."
Jastor stood up and glanced at the front window, seemingly looking for someone, or something, and then turned back. "True."
Finn gave Jastor a look and turned back to BB-8. "Deal?" The BB unit cocked his head. "Droid, please!"
Rey resurfaced. "Pilex driver, hurry!" As Finn moved for the tool she continued. "So where's your base?"
Finn searched for the tool and looked back at BB-8. "Go on Bee Bee Ate, tell her."
The droid hesitated, and Finn muttered low under his breath. "Please!"
The BB unit looked at Rey, then Finn and then back at Rey, and continued this for three more times, considering the situation. until he looked at the girl and beeped something.
"The Ileenium System?" she asked, surprised.
Finn, for a split second, looked surprised, but thrilled. He handed her the tool, smiling. She went back under. "Yeah, the Ilneenium System, that's the one. Get us there as fast as you can." He glanced at the droid and flashed him a quick thumbs up. BB-8 extended his welding tool and flipped it upwards, mirroring the gesture. Jastor leaned back with folded arms. He couldn't believe BB-8 had told that clumsy kid the base. Finn wasn't a bad kid but dumb all the same.
Rey's head shot back up. "I'll drop you two off at the Ponemah Terminal. I need the bonding tape, hurry!"
Finn crawled towards the parts he had spilled out of the tool box and searched for something that resembled tape. "What about you?"
"I've got to get back to Jakku!" she replied, matter-of-factly.
Finn looked at her like she'd lost her mind. Jastor had to agree with him. Of all the places to go back to, she had to go back to Jakku. He knew why she wanted to go back though, and he understood why. But her destiny was not back to Jakku to scavenge. She was destined for greater things.
"Back to Jak- Why does everyone want to go back to Jakku?!" Finn exclaimed, grabbing a roll of something and showing to Rey.
"No, that one!" Rey shook her head and reached an arm out, pointing to a roll, which was next to several other rolls of tape. Finn picked up one of them.
"No." He picked another.
"No." Her frustration grew.
"The one I'm pointing to!" she shouted.
He scrambled faster, picking up three rolls at once.
"No. No. NO!" she shouted. "If we don't patch it up, the propulsion tank will overflow and flood the ship with poisonous gas!"
BB-8 moved closer to Finn and tipped his head over a piece of yellow tape, showing him what Rey wanted. Jastor kicked the tape over to the boy and he showed it to Rey. "This?"
"Yes!" Rey rolled her eyes, exasperated. Finn tossed her the tape and disappeared back under.
Finn knelt at the opening of the grate. "Hey, Rey, you're a pilot; you can fly anywhere! Why go back? You got a family?" His voice became more suspicious and he started talking faster. "You got a boyfriend? Cute boyfriend?"
Jastor had been nodding off, but at this, his head snapped in attention. What would Rey say? Did Finn fancy her?
Rey resurfaced, annoyed as the alarms and the smoke stopped. "None of your business, that's why!"
Jastor snorted loudly and they both looked at him.
"What're you laughing about?" Rey asked, irritably. Was what happened at Niima Outpost with the whole princess thing going to happen again with him?
Jastor opened his mouth to reply but stopped suddenly as all the power in the ship went out. The droids whirred nervously.
"That can't be good," Finn said, breathlessly.
"No, it can't be." Rey headed off, pushing Jastor aside from the opening.
He followed her, along with Finn into the cockpit, sitting in his previous seat during the TIE-Fighter chase. Panicking, with quick fingers, Rey checked the dead control panel. After pressing a few buttons, testing them out, she sat back, distressed. "Someone's locked onto us; the controls are overridden."
Finn quickly climbed the seats to get a better view out the front window. It was quite an awkward angle that he was going at however. One hand used Rey's head for a handhold, and another foot used Jastor's leg as a boost.
"Get off," Rey grimaced, twisting her neck around, trying to get Finn's hand off her head. "Get off!"
"Ow, ow, ow," Jastor grunted. "See anything?"
Finn peered up into the front window and paled at what he saw. "Oh no."
The Millennium Falcon was dwarfed in size compared to the massive freighter which floated next to them. Its front hangar gaped wide, like the open mouth of a whale, swallowing the Falcon up.
"What?" Jastor asked as Finn lowered himself down, horrified.
"It's the First Order."
Rey blinked, aghast. She wasn't about to let BB-8 go, but she didn't want to face the First Order. She was reminded of the Star Destroyer she salvaged parts from and became frightened. "What can we do? There must be something."
"We need to worry about the First Order you two!" Finn pointed to the ceiling. "What're are we going to do about that?"
The trio sat back, thinking fast. Then Finn straightened up, excited, turning to Rey. "You said poisonous gas, didn't you?
"Yes, but I fixed that," she said, confused.
"Can you unfix it?"
Rey and Jastor both stared at him like he was crazy, and then their faces slowly changed as they caught on. Finn would've liked to take a picture of how comical the scene was, but there was no time for jokes. The girl jumped up and the two men followed her. She grabbed three hanging gas masks in the lounge and tossed two towards Finn and Jastor. Jastor quickly put his on and knelt at the grating, pushing the heavy thing open while Finn helped Rey get hers on.
"Come on R9," Jastor said to his droid as he rolled close to the opening and lowered himself in. "It's okay, I've got you."
Gently setting down R9, Jastor stood back up and moved aside as Rey and Finn slipped in. Motioning towards BB-8, the droid rolled towards Jastor's open arms.
Grunting, Jastor leaned back. BB-8 weighed a ton! Rey was there supporting him as he dropped down with the droid, and then quickly moved over to work on the controls.
"You think this'll work on the stormtroopers?" She asked.
"Yeah," Finn said, struggling with the grating. "Their masks filter out smoke, not toxins."
As Finn struggled to pull the grating over them, Jastor tripped over Rey's outstretched leg and fell over, with BB-8 on top of him.
"BB-8 get off me," he groaned. The little droid rolled off the man and turned around, beeping apologetically.
"It's fine," he laughed.
There was a clatter, and a small, black cylindrical object rolled by Rey's feet. Thinking that it was an important part belonging to BB-8 or R9-M5, she picked it up, rolling it between her fingers. Looking at the way it was built, her heart sunk. It was a transmitter. Looking up for its owner, she found that Jastor was patting his side, looking through the folds of his dark clothing.
Rey swallowed hard. "Looking for this?"
"Ah," Jastor felt a flutter of nervousness in his chest and reached out for the transmitter. "Thank you."
Ret moved it out of his reach. "It was you."
Finn turned around before the grating completely closed, allowing a bit of light to come in. "What's that?"
"You called the First Order," Rey accused, holding up the black device. BB-8 beeped with confusion and rolled away from Jastor. "With this."
The man looked helpless. He couldn't reveal the real reason why he had the device.
"Jastor," Rey said, crushed. And she was quite utterly crushed. His words reverberated in her mind. 'I believe in you.'She had trusted him, he had redeemed himself from the times at Jakku and she almost considered him a friend, even in the short time they had spent together. But this betrayal was beyond her.
"No, I didn't!" Jastor protested. R9 bleated, supporting his arguments.
There was a clang, and the three of them felt the Falconlower onto the ground. The lights came back on, and the ship's front ramp lowered. In the moment of Rey and Finn's hesitation, Jastor sprang up and dragged the grating across the opening, covering them in utter darkness.
Through the ramp walked in an old man, about in his mid-sixties holding a blaster at the ready, and a rather large Wookie holding a bowcaster. They both looked around, and sensing that no one was there, lowered their weapons.
"Chewie," Han Solo grinned as the Wookie grunted in reply. "We're home."