Kelton Andor fingered the scar on his left cheek, dark eyes sliding around the dimly lit and smoky bar. If this weapons dealer was going to keep him waiting any longer...
"I have something that might interest you." A weasel-like voice said at his elbow. He glanced down with barely a shift in his gaze. This wasn't exactly what he had in mind.
"What do you want." He said in a low voice.
"There's a ship around back I thought you might be interested in." This made Kelton frown.
"I told you I was here for weapons only. I don't need another ship."
"There are weapons on this ship."
"No."
He took a swig of his drink, finishing it. The presence next to him waited.
"There are rumors that this is the Millennium Falcon." The voice said. A bell dinged in his head. THE Millennium Falcon? Now that was an interesting ploy. He'd let the dealer simmer then investigate for himself.
"What do you mean he's yours?" Rey found herself asking frantically as Finn used her as a human body shield, dodging stares from others. She took his arm and threw him down a low alleyway, BB-8 making excited chirps around her heels. She'd only just decided that the little robot was essential to protect, even if it meant losing some rations. The little droid had grown on her since they'd met. Now this obsequious ingrate was trying to steal him?
"I told you, he belongs to my friend. We have to-"
"We don't have to do anything." Rey said obstinately. There was then an absurd moment of Finn (The stranger) trying to grab her hand in order to continue stressing his point, while she avoided skin contact. At last he was forced to give up and resolved to just talk to her like any other person on Jakku.
"You don't understand. This is important. I think it's about -" He looked around - "The Resistance."
"Are you joking? The Resistance?" Rey replied. This day couldn't get any more bizarre.
A shape suddenly flew out of the back doorway in their alleyway, hitting the far wall after being violently ejected from where he came. A small, weasel-like critter was clawing at his face and eyes. Finn grabbed Rey in an effort to get away, but they both tripped on BB-8 and went sprawling into the sand. The man in dark clothes bowled them all over and went into the dirt still locked together.
For one single surprised minute, Rey dove for the creature writhing in the sand, and Finn went for the guy. They ended up with each locked up and gasping for breath, glaring murder at each other, with just the droid beeping frantically between them.
And then someone started shooting.
Cassian sat up in bed, his back and leg twinging hard. But that hadn't been what had woken him... He'd felt... Well, he'd felt something.
He struggled out of his bunk and out into the hall, his feet treading the familiar path to Leia's quarters. He rarely came to her this urgently, this late at night. But he had a feeling he couldn't quite manage.
Leia was still dressed, her hair still bound up in its elegant style. She'd allowed him into her quarters as she always did, silently, waiting for him to talk.
"I felt something." He said. He expression shifted.
"What...?" She asked.
Cassian moved forward and encircled Leia in his arms, needing the comfort of her warmth and strength. She anchored him physically as well as in The Force without even moving.
"It felt like my... my son. I haven't felt him in so long. Dios Mio, Leia, I-..." And then he was crying softly into her hair, startling them both.
"Let me feel." Leia said softly. She'd never asked him before. In all the years they'd known each other, she'd never entered the space The Force took up in his being. Slowly, reluctantly, he let her in.
Rey delivered a solid whack with her staff to the weazel-like critter spitting at them from the sand. It lay still.
"Thanks for that." The man in black replied, shaking his head to clear it. "That was a deal gone south."
"Stop right there!" Two storm troopers rounded the corner.
"Time to go." Kelton and Rey said at the same time. BB-8 beeped in alarm.
"I have a ship." Kelton panted as they ran. "It's at the junkyard. I was in the process of dealing for it when that thing tried to take my credits and my eyes. The sound of approaching aircraft screamed overhead, TIE fighters dropping in from over the horizon.
"What's the First Order doing here?" Rey screamed.
"They're after the droid!" Finn yelled in reply. "We gotta get out of here!"
"First Order? Who are you guys?" Kelton yelled.
"Don't worry about it!" Rey and Finn yelled back. They ran under the gate of the junkyard, the ground exploding around them as the TIE fighters shot. A ship to their right was engulfed in flames.
"Over there!" Kelton said, angling towards a large metal frame half-covered in sand.
"That old thing? It's a piece of junk!" Rey yelled. "No way it flies!"
"It flies all right." Kelton panted, leaping aboard. Him and Rey ran for the cockpit.
"Get the guns!" Kelton said over his shoulder to Finn, who skidded to a stop and began to climb down the ladder to the gunner's pit.
"I've been on this hunk of junk before." Kelton said, frantically flipping switches on the dashboard. Rey helped, the engines grinding to life under their hands. The ship gave a lurch, and then started to revolve and gain altitude.
"Here we go!" Kelton yelled. The ship rocked again, gained a bit more height, then tilted to the side, grinding into the sand.
"Up!" Rey panted, holding onto her chair's armrest. BB-8 went wailing across the hall way.
The ship rocked again, tilted the other way, and slowly began to gain ground. Shots from the TIE fighters overhead pounded the sand around them. The ship lifted more, swung into the gateway of the junkyard, and then properly took off, accelerating with a jolt.
"I'm going higher!" Rey called.
"Wait wait wait!" Finn yelled, pulling on his headset. "Stay low, it confuses their tracking systems." He swung his seat around, catching a TIE fighter as it screamed by.
"Hold on, BB-8!" Rey yelled as the orange robot whizzed by again. "We're going low!" The Falcon dipped towards the ground.
"I've got this." Kelton said. He pulled up on the throttle, sending them into a loop. The TIE fighters whizzed by the front windows, making them both flinch. BB-8 yowled as he rolled up across the ceiling and back to the floor again.
They screamed across the sand, dodging fire from the TIE fighters. One bolt hit the top of the ship, bouncing Rey out of her seat.
"What are you doing back there?" Rey yelled at Finn. "Fire back!"
"Working on it!" Finn yelled back, swiveling his seat again. He took another shot as the ship bucked wildly, hitting one of the remaining enemy fighters.
"Nice shot!" Kelton whooped. The Falcon lurched again as they took return fire.
"We need cover!" Finn yelled.
"Over there!" Rey pointed to Kelton, who yanked on the controls in response. "We're about the get some!"
They sped into the ruins of the Imperial fleet Rey had visited only a day before. The massive hulls provided some cover and some close calls with Kelton's navigation.
"Watch where you're going!" Rey swore as they scraped an engine shell.
Finn caught another TIE fighter in his computer scope just as they cruised by the flank of one of the ships, sending the TIE careening into the wreckage. Kelton swerved around an upthrust engine core, the last two fighters streaking behind him. The ship rocked as they took another hit.
"The cannon's stuck in forward position, I can't get it to move. You're going to have to think of something..." Finn said.
"Give me the controls." Rey said, shoving Kelton aside. "I know what to do."
They looped again, soaring up and over into an engine, the last fighter hot on their heels.
"Are we really doing this?!" Finn yelled as they streaked through the burned out insides of the ship. It was a hellishly tight fit.
"Hold on!" Rey jerked them to the side, flipping out of the ship's hull and back out into the desert. She cut the engines and dropped, turning the ship over.
"Holy shit!" Finn yelled, hitting the trigger. The last TIE fighter exploded into flaming shrapnel and plunged down towards the sand.
"Holy shit is right." Kelton panted, picking himself up. "That was some flying."
Rey maneuvered the Falcon up into the atmosphere, finally leaving Jakku. She breathed a sigh of relief and slid back into the copilot's chair.
"You know, you had a set of controls over there." Kelton chuckled.
"Didn't think of it." Rey panted in relief. There was a clunk behind them as BB-8 dropped his anchors and groaned in relief.
"That was incredible!" Finn whooped, charging into the cockpit. "I don't believe it."
"Your shooting was incredible!" Rey cheered back.
"How did you do that?" Finn asked.
"I don't know!" Rey glowed. "I've never flown before!"
"What? Really?" Kelton asked. "I've flown this piece of shit before and I couldn't have pulled that out of my ass."
"That reminds me, who are you?" Finn asked. "How do we know we can trust you?"
"Kelton Andor. And you can't, but I'm not interested in anything but the ship. I've been looking for it for a while."
"Are you Resistance?" Finn asked.
"I'm not against the Resistance, but I don't work for them. The private sector's still profitable enough for now." Kelton replied.
"You're a smuggler." Rey said accusingly.
"Technically, yes. But I bought the ship fair and square. My credits are sitting on the table of that seedy bar."
"Oh." Rey said, face falling.
BB-8 beeped, bonking against Rey's leg.
"Oh, BB-8, are you okay?" Rey asked, kneeling down and looking the little droid over. "Don't worry, now that we have a ship, I'm sure you'll be able to find you way back to the Resistance with Finn."
"Wait, the droid belongs to the Resistance?" Kelton asked. "He got stolen intel or something?"
"Something like that. Touch him, and I end you though." Finn said.
"All right, all right." Kelton stepped back. "I don't know that I want to get involved, but I won't get in your way so long as there's something in it for me."
"I don't know your name either." Rey said, her brow wrinkling as she looked at Finn. "It all happened so quickly."
"Finn." He said, holding out a hand.
"I'm Rey." Rey shook his, then held her hand out to Kelton, not missing his darkened gaze.
"What's wrong?" She asked.
"Nothing. The name, it belonged to someone I loved." Kelton said.
"I'm sorry?" Rey offered, unsure what else to say.
"Not your fault, she died a long time ago." Kelton said, turning back to the cockpit.
A sudden explosion followed by a jet of steam erupted from one of the floor panels.
"Shit!" Finn said as Rey raced over to try and fix it.
"You've got to help me!" Rey cried, yanking up the floor panels and diving into the mechanical mess.
"It's the motivator!" Rey yelled, the frantic beeping of the core systems filling her ears. "Grab me a Harris wrench there." She pointed at a nearby pile of tools.
"How bad is it?" Kelton asked, hovering nearby.
"If we want to live, not good!" Rey yelled from the hole in the floor. "Pilex driver!"
Finn gave up searching and shoved the crate of tools towards Rey, who grabbed the exact piece from the box and disappeared again.
"So, where are we going?" Finn asked, watching Rey pop out of the hole like a womp rat to grab various tools and disappear again. BB-8 beeped in reply.
"To your base? Where is that?" Kelton asked. BB-8 ignored him and looked intently at Finn.
"He said the base was need to know, Rey needs to know, you do not." Finn said to Kelton.
"It's my ship, I need to know where to drop you." Kelton said. Finn swore.
"How do we know that you're not going to just turn around and sell the Resistance out to the highest bidder?"
"I'm not like that. You can trust me on that one. I know people in the Resistance that I'd like to see live another few years." Kelton replied. Finn looked expectantly at BB-8.
"Well?" Rey said, poking her head out. "Is it nearby?"
BB-8 rocked on his bulbous body nervously, then beeped quietly.
"The Ilenium system?" The three humans asked at the same time.
"I'll drop you two at Paneema terminal." Rey said.
"Wait what?" Kelton asked. "I'll drop you two at Paneema terminal. What are you going to do?" He asked Rey.
"Got to go back to Jakku." She said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"Jakku?!" Kelton and Finn asked incredulously.
"You got a family?" Finn asked.
"You got a boyfriend?" Kelton smirked.
"Shut up." Rey glared out of the pit. "None of your business."
Suddenly the ship went dark, emergency lights flicking on.
"Not good." Kelton said, racing for the cockpit with Rey and Finn on his heels. He hit a couple buttons and received no response from the ship.
"Someone's locked on to us." Rey said. The ship lurched and began to move backwards.
"They're pulling us in." Kelton said. "That's definitely not good."
"It's the First Order." Finn said, sweat breaking out on his brow.
"What do we do?" Rey asked.
"We should... Um..." Kelton fumbled.
"Hide!" Finn yelped, yanking Rey by the hand to the hole she'd made in the floor. Kelton shoved BB-8 down to them, jumping alongside. Him and Rey pulled the floor panel over them just as the lights flickered back on.