"MOVE-!", Lara shouted as she grabbed Finn's arm, pulling him in the direction of the door. "We need to get out of here NOW."

She wasn't sure that he had fully realized the severity of the situation yet, but he didn't resist. They both sprinted forward to exit the shop as an explosion of blaster fire began raining down on them. Laser bolts were whizzing by them, tearing the doorway arch to pieces in front of them, but they ran through it into the heat of Jarlin's streets, turning sharply to the right to gain a bit of cover behind the building's exterior wall. BB-8 saw them emerge and immediately rolled over to them, beeping maniacally.

"They are going to keep coming, no matter what.", Finn said to Lara in a shell-shocked tone as they paused for a second to ponder what to do.

"Yeah, I figured that…and I can't take them by surprise anymore.", she replied. "We need a speeder to get out of this town. You got one we can use?"

"We all came together in one, but I don't know the code to get it started.", he said. "They don't let me drive."

"Blast-!" , Lara swore. "Mine is still in the warehouse and I don't want to go back there. They could easily corner us inside."

"I'm going to assume that you have maybe stolen a vehicle before?", she continued.

He said nothing and just stared at her with a glassy look in his eyes.

"Don't flake out on me now.", she scolded while slightly shaking his arm, "I owe you for helping me in there, but if I feel you are going to endanger me, then I'm going to leave you behind…understand?"

"Ok.", Finn replied sheepishly, nodding an affirmative.

"We're going to have to do something I really don't want to do. Are you on board with me?", Lara asked

"Yeah.", he responded, "But we need to hurry. They are going to be out here soon."

"Agreed.", Lara concluded. "We need to get to the speeder lot in the center of town…quickly."

Before they started out for it, she knelt down to talk to BB-8.

"Listen, buddy. Those goons are gonna be coming out of there any second.", Lara explained. "Stay behind us as we make our way to the parking lot and see if you can use some tricks to slow them down a bit."

Her spherical companion buzzed an approving tone just as Lorn Tekk burst out of the shop, saw them crouching next to the wall and opened fire on them. Lara instinctively did a tight forward roll and Finn fell hard to the ground on his belly, flattening out in the dirt as the shots tore into the wall of Daye's shop right where their heads had been.

Lara stopped rolling about two meters from the wall, immediately rising up to one knee. She noticed that Janqe was also outside now aiming his weapon at her but before he got a chance to shoot, BB-8 unleashed his trick. Two small shiny metal balls launched through the air from an opened panel on the front of his body. They came to rest directly at the feet of the two shooters and immediately spewed blue electrical lightning all around them. Both of them were engulfed in the shock, dropped their weapons and both fell with a dull thud on the dirty street. Their bodies wracked with spasms even after the electricity was gone.

"Let's GO-!", Lara shouted to Finn. "They won't be down for long."

Lara and Finn each rose to their feet and starting sprinting away from the shop into the alleyways of Jarlin with BB-8 following closely behind. She hoped that the little droid had bought them enough time to get out ahead of their pursuers and make it to the town's center without getting shot at again.

They certainly aren't going to miss forever, she thought.


The two humans and the little rolling droid burst from the shadows of a tightly packed alley into the bright light and heat of the B'wynn sun that persisted even this late in the afternoon. Fifty meters ahead of them was the parking area. It was full of speeders arranged in about a dozen neat rows with a few of them moving around the lot, some entering and others exiting.

Lara did a quick scan of the entire scene and settled her vision on an adequate looking vehicle that was right at the exit of the lot, slowly moving out.

"C'mon", she shouted to Finn and BB-8, pointing to the craft. "We need to get that speeder"

"What-?!", Finn snapped as BB-8 simultaneously squeaked out a questioning tone.

"I JUST asked you if you were on board with me.", Lara snapped. "Either do what I am asking, or stay here…your choice."

"Sure.", he replied. "Let's go."

Lara sprinted towards the vehicle so as to catch the driver before he accelerated away from the lot. Her two companions followed, trying vainly to keep up in spite of the incredible speed with which she took off. When she reached the speeder, she threw herself in front of it and slapped both her hands down on the hood, comically looking like she was trying to physically hold the speeder in place.

"STOP-!", she shouted to the driver.

The Togruta behind the control stick jumped slightly in his seat showing surprise at this crazed human who appeared out of nowhere in front of his speeder. The surprise quickly turned to annoyance, however, as he cursed loudly at her in his alien tongue and motioned violently for her to move out of his way. Lara noticed that he was also revving his engine at her, showing that he wasn't messing around. She had to do something very soon or she might end up run over.

"You will get out of the vehicle and leave it running.", she said calmly to the Togruta while waving her hand slightly in front of her own face.

The driver stared at Lara with his head slightly cocked and a dazed look as she walked slowly to the driver's side, never once averting her gaze. He rose out of his seat slowly then lifted his leg over the side of the still running craft and hopped out to the ground, standing perfectly still as if in a trance.

"Good.", Lara said, her voice still calm and low. "Thank you for your generosity."

She quickly bounded into the speeder and adjusted the seat. No sooner did she get somewhat comfortable and grab the control stick, than she heard the panicked electronic whines of BB-8 as he and Finn arrived at the passenger side. The droid was warning her that they needed to get out of here immediately and as she looked towards the alley where they had emerged moments ago, she saw why. Xirane's entire group had just become visible and were running towards them with the now one-armed Falleen leading the charge. Laser fire again erupted all around them from across the plaza with most of it dangerously close.

"Get in NOW.", she said to Finn and the droid as she ducked her head to keep from getting blasted.

Finn hopped into the passenger seat and immediately returned fire at the gang of criminals of which he had recently been a member. Lara was relieved to see that he seemed to be over his shock. She was sure that they would need all hands on deck if they were to get out of here alive and in one piece. BB-8 sprung off the ground like a rocket, his trajectory perfectly calculated to bring him down with a large thump in the back seat. They were all in now. It was time to blast out of here.

"GO….GO…..punch it-!", Finn bellowed as if he was reading Lara's mind and she dropped her foot down hard on the accelerator pedal.

The speeder lurched forward and out of the lot, kicking dust into the air as if a tornado had just blown through. Blaster shots continued to zing by the vehicle as she piloted along the road that led out of Jarlin and into the hills of decaying junk beyond, but none of the bolts were close anymore. Lara recalled her thought from yesterday that soon she would be leaving this planet and realized that soon had definitely arrived. It had arrived much more quickly than she had thought.


"I can see them behind us now.", Finn said from the front seat of the howling speeder.

He was turned in the seat facing the back, looking beyond the rear of the vehicle watching the town of Jarlin fade into the distance as their stolen speeder was blasting down a path strewn with piles of broken, twisted and rusting metal on each side. He also saw BB-8 bouncing around in the back seat whistling and beeping furiously in agreement. If they weren't running for their life he would have laughed at the little droid's excited movements and sounds, but laughing at anything would have to wait.

"You really need to pick up the speed.", he quipped with urgency. "They are gaining on us I think."

Again the ball droid spit out an electronic agreement causing Lara to speak her first words since they jumped in the craft and rocketed out of town.

"BOTH of you shut up.", she barked angrily. "This junker isn't a racing speeder. I'm pushing it as hard as I can. This is the top speed we are going to get."

"Well then we aren't going to-", Finn started to reply, but Lara snapped her head to the right, looked directly in his eyes and shot him such an angry look that he immediately closed his mouth and looked forward like a scolded child.

"And you back there….." she remarked to the droid. "I don't need to hear any disagreement from your circuits. Uplink to the Falcon and get her started. We are going to get off this junk ball as soon as we make it back home."

"IF we make it back to your home.", Finn muttered while keeping his gaze straight ahead, focusing on the landscape that currently wasn't whipping by as fast as he would have liked.

"And what the hell is a FALCON?", he continued, this time turning to look at Lara.

"It's my SHIP.", she retorted with the anger in her eyes seeming to glow hotter. "And if you don't drop the attitude, it's a ship you are not going to see the interior of."

"Fair enough.", Finn answered with resignation, not wanting to press her any further.

"I know these roads better than they do.", Lara added, "And I know a few maneuvers that will lose them. Hang on-!"

She jammed the controls hard to the right to turn the speeder onto a narrower side road and hoped that she was right about her ability to lose the marauders that were rapidly catching up to them.


The hijacked speeder slowed around a final turn and continued decelerating down a long straight path. As the craft was coming to a rest, Finn noticed two small buildings emerging into view in front of a massive wall of metal and plastic junk that he guessed stood at least twenty meters high. BB-8 hopped out of craft before it had stopped completely, immediately rolling at incredible speed directly towards the giant wall.

"They're right behind us…where is your ship-?!", Finn cried out with a bit of panic in his voice as he glanced around the entire area. "You said you had a ship."

"It's here, trust me.", Lara said assuredly. "Get out and follow me. We're boarding it right now"

Finn continued to scan the area all around what he assumed was the girl and the droid's dwelling. The building to the right was a small one-level hut made of what looked like scavenged parts from a larger structure somewhere. This was most likely where she lived. The other framework which was directly ahead of them with a large closed metal door looked to him like it was some kind of garage. This building was larger than the one he surmised was their home, but there was no way that it could possibly have a starship inside of it.

Lara was out of the speeder by now turning back to see if Finn had followed suit, but he hadn't yet moved.

He was still scanning the domestic clearing with wide eyes, looking for this mystery transportation. As he swung his gaze around he noticed that the little droid was further off in the distance now, but he was still barreling at top speed towards the rusty junk wall.

Just as it looked like the rolling orange and white blur was going to crash right into it, the little droid simply disappeared from sight. Finn squinted his eyes, trying to get a sharper look at where the robot had just been, but there was no mistaking it. BB-8 had simply vanished.

"Your droid…where did it go?", he asked Lara who was impatiently waiting for him to get out of the speeder.

"To my ship.", she insisted. "Now GET OUT-! We need to follow him."

Lara turned and began to sprint towards the spot in the metal where Finn had last seen the droid. Finn finally jumped out of the vehicle and started running after her. He caught up to her a moment later only because she had stopped at the wall and turned back to face him. As he reached her position, he suddenly saw why BB-8 seemed to disappear from sight. The wall was not solid junk. In fact, they were standing in front of an entranceway into it that from a distance would be completely invisible. The little guy must have gone through here and was already navigating his way to the still unseen ship.

"Listen to me.", said Lara as she grabbed Finn's arm. "We need to get through some obstacles in there to get to the Falcon. I'm going to guide you but you need to keep up. Can you do that?"

"Yeah.", he nodded. "Lead the way"

"Duck down and stay low. I don't have time to nurse a head injury.", Lara insisted as she pulled him inside the metal catacomb with a quick tug on his sleeve.

Finn felt a little worried at the thought of banging his head on some sharp piece of metal inside the maze they were entering, but he didn't have time to reconsider. He crouched down slightly and they were off, hustling down a very narrow corridor of rusting machinery parts. After about ten meters she pulled him sharply to the left but didn't slow her pace at all. His body jerked to the left with her, straining to keep up and hold his head down at the same time. It was readily apparent that she knew every dimension, twist and turn of this passageway when they turned hard to the right unannounced after about another fifteen meters, still keeping the ridiculous pace she had set.

A few meters after this latest sharp turn, Lara came to a hard stop and released her tight grip on Finn's jacket sleeve. He skidded to rest right behind her, breathing heavily and wiping sweat off his brow. He was puzzled as to why they had stopped here, still surrounded by the metal maze on all sides with no visible end to it.

"We need to get down to the ground and crawl for a little bit.", she suddenly informed him.

"Why?", Finn asked.

"Look right there." Lara answered quickly, pointing straight ahead to a spot in mid-air a meter in front of them, close to waist high.

He took a closer look at where she seemed to be pointing then saw what she was pointing at. There was an impossibly thin, nearly invisible tripwire in front of their path.

"If either of us touches that", she continued "A mound of debris will fall in front of us and block this path. Get under it quickly but CAREFULLY. I'll wait for you on the other side of it, ok?"

Finn nodded and watched as Lara scrambled with lightning speed under the wire. Her confident quickness made him wonder how many times she had done this before. He took a deep steadying breath, exhaled and got down on his hands and knees knowing that he wasn't going to be as speedy as her. He couldn't , however, afford to dawdle either. Xirane and his gang would be here soon, if they hadn't already arrived, and if the Falleen realized he and Lara were in here he wouldn't hesitate to bring the whole mound of metal down on top of them like an avalanche.

After an agonizing minute of meticulously shuffling forward on his belly through dirt and grain like metal debris, Finn cleared the tripwire successfully without snagging it. Lara gave a relieved sigh that he echoed as he stood up to face her and brush himself off. He had forgotten, however, about the low ceiling, banging the crown of his head squarely on a thick pipe as he rose. She shook her head and her lips twisted into a smirk that said I told you. He was about to berate her when a low rumbling hum erupted all around them, making the entire passageway seem to vibrate.

"What is that-?!", Finn shrieked, his eyes growing with fear.

"BB-8 just fired up the Falcon's engines.", Lara responded calmly. "Let's get moving. We're almost there."

She grabbed his arm again and pulled him forward, accelerating again through the junk.


After about a fifty more meters of crouching twists through an ever narrowing, claustrophobic path, they came to a lighted ramp that rose at a slow angle up into Lara's ship.

"Duck your head one more time and we can get off this rock.", she called back to Finn

"Yup.", he replied, following her up into the vehicle, careful not to whack his already throbbing head again on the low clearance at the bottom of the incline.

When they reached the top of the ramp, Finn heard servo-motors whine from behind him as the ramp raised, followed by a whooshing sound indicating that it had closed and sealed tight. Lights that were triggered by internal motion sensors winked on, illuminating the curved cylindrical hallway at the top of the entranceway. He could feel the vibration of a powerful engine resonating up through his feet into his whole body and the hum he heard back in the junk maze was now closer to a roar. The craft's walls were lined with dull white rectangular pads indicating to Finn that he might be a passenger on an upcoming bumpy flight, although any ride away from his former mates would be preferable to meeting them again.

Lara was no longer dragging him by the arm, but she also hadn't slowed down. Finn watched her jog ahead and disappear from sight around the curve of the hallway. He figured she was heading to the cockpit to get them airborne, so he followed….hoping it would be big enough to accommodate him.

The cockpit was small but had seating for four, although Finn noticed that one of the chairs in the rear had been removed and replaced by a meter-high hollow cylinder that BB-8 currently sat atop, beeping and spinning about wildly. He surmised that the droid was interfaced into and presumably communicating with the craft. Lara was sitting in one of the pilot's seats, her hands moving all over the large control panel in front of her in a blur.

"Sit down and buckle up.", she nonchalantly instructed to him without even turning around. "There is a little bit of loose junk on the top of the Falcon, so this takeoff may be a bit rough"

Finn took his seat next to the droid and strapped in as she had requested. He watched as she finished her frantic work on the controls then took a deep breath and placed her right hand on a set of control sticks.

"Ready, little guy?" Lara asked the droid.

BB-8 beeped out what seemed like an excited affirmative.

The engine roared louder as she pressed a series of buttons and pulled the control sticks together. They lurched upwards but stopped abruptly, seeming to be caught on something. The droid let out a series of modulated whistles causing Lara to reply to him.

"Yup.", she replied to him. "Here we go."

Lara turned a dial and they rose up further, breaking through whatever was holding them back. Finn noticed sunlight now shine through the cockpit's semicircular glass panes, felt the nose of the ship rise and within seconds saw the clear B'wynn sky.


The pain in his arm was now beyond comprehension, but Xirane was somehow focusing all his discomfort and anger on the girl and the traitor. If the Great Gods of his home world were listening this day, it would not be long before those two humans would be receiving a hundredfold the amount of pain he currently felt. He would torture them and flay them open like the vile creatures they were before finally sending them to their abominable makers…..oh yes, he surely would.

From the front seat of his speeder he had seen them turn down the narrow path he and his crew were currently zipping along. As they approached a clearing where two small structures stood, he noticed an abandoned speeder that was still running parked in front of a giant wall of junk. The driver, Janqe, slowed the vehicle to a crawl while Xirane and Lorn Tekk drew their weapons and the Battledroid muttered something in his electronic language.

"They have to be in one of these buildings.", Xirane remarked.

"You go to THAT one….and tear down that metal door.", he shouted to the droid while turning to the back of the speeder to face the behemoth. "Take Janqe with you in case they are waiting inside for you."

The droid made no response, but it immediately jumped out of the speeder and ran towards Lara's garage. Seeing this, Janqe stopped the craft, drew his own weapon and hurried to keep up with it.

"Come with me.", the Falleen said to Lorn as he pointed to the smaller dwelling "We're going in there."

They both hopped out of the vehicle, but as soon as their boots hit the dirt a huge roar came from the pile of junk in the distance, blowing out a shockwave that knocked them all violently to the ground.

Xirane quickly sat up to see an antiquated Corellian YT-1300 model freighter trying to lift off from within the junk. It seemed to be caught under a huge camouflage net with dozens of pieces of metal refuse scattered across its topside.

"BLAST THEM OUT OF THE SKY-!", he shouted to his underlings.

Before they could fire their weapons, however, the saucer shaped ship jerked up hard, ripping the net to shreds. Metal flew in all directions right before the ion engine at the rear of the craft fired a brilliant blue-white trail of plasma. The ship rocketed up into the atmosphere seconds later producing a sound so loud that the inside of Xirane's head went numb. A second stronger shockwave flattened the entire area, including both of the ramshackle buildings. The last thought Xirane had before he lost consciousness was a vision of one of his Great Gods looking at him with disdain on Its face.