Chapter 13
A Strike Back
Luckily the moonlight seeping in through the cold night air kept itself dim. With what they were going to try to attempt they needed all the cover they could get. Any shadow was a blessing in this hopelessly barren planet with almost no plants or tall buildings.
Only the light of a single solar-powered lamp illuminated the walker's quarters as Rey and Ben prepared for their scavenging trip, though it wasn't scavenging in the conventional sense. The "finding workable parts" aspect was still there, but when the owner of said parts was alive and known, that threw a wrench into the definition.
Rey tightened the leather belt around her waist and tossed a patchy cloak over her shoulders, drawing up the hood. It could get chilly in the desert some nights, but she never thought that its use would go beyond the occasional cover from the cold. She picked for staff up and slung it across her back.
"At least it's cooler outside," breathed Ben, pulling his doublet back on and adjusting the hood of his cloak. He stared outside into the clear, cloudless night. His lips pressed together. "When I'm about to do stuff like this, I have soldiers behind me just in case."
"Not so tough without them, huh?" she joked, tying her hair up into a sloppy bun.
"Guess not. You've seen how I am on my own."
"You know I'm just joking, right? You're amazing." Her cheeks turned hot. Thoughts of his brutal swings and powerful stances crept up on her.
He hesitated, giving her an awed glance. "Of course. Thanks," he said shortly. He turned his head back, his long hair rippling around his jaw.
Standing hunched by the door, he looked like a living breathing shadow, broad and dark. For once he seemed to fit in with the rest of the planet's environment. His princely attire and looks blended in with the near darkness, rather than sticking out amongst the shacks and dirt and grime of Niima Outpost. God, why did "princely" pop up in head?
"Don't take out your lightsaber unless you have to," Rey warned him as she switched the lamp off, black enveloping the room She peered outside before leaping out through the door. She sunk down an inch or two into the sand. "We need to be quiet for as long as we can."
A soft thud signaled Ben's arrival behind her. Both of them jogged ahead, the walker sitting silently behind them. Rey could have sworn that its laser turrets gazed after them sadly like the eyes of an animal.
"So, what's the plan?" Ben asked as their cloaks swept up behind them, leaving swathes in the sand.
"Plutt gets his portions and money from offworld traders and he keeps all of it in a wall of drawers behind his desk in that big building you saw. From what I've seen over the years he never stays in the shop during the night and goes to sleep somewhere else nearby. Pretty risky, I'd say, every scavenger here would just love to break in and take everything. But for some reason that doesn't happen. Everyone's too afraid of him."
She forced down the bile rising in her throat just thinking about the grotesque man and how terribly unfair his trading policies were. One day a good roll of wire would be worth two portions, the next day only one half. Whether or not she or the other scavengers starved to death did not matter to him, only the parts and the money that came from them.
"I'm sorry," Ben muttered, placing a hand on the lightsaber attached to his belt.
"It's okay, it's all behind me now."
He fixed her with sad look but turned back and said nothing. The sand mashed under their boots. There was just enough moonlight to see the crests of the dunes, giving the piles of sand a smooth, sculpted look. Rey never ventured out too long at night, so she never had a chance to take in the nighttime sights like now.
"What do you think the colors of our lightsabers will be?" she asked him as they continued their walk.
He raised his eyebrows in surprise, then clinched them in thought. "I'm not so sure. Years and years ago there were just the Jedi and the Sith, and the colors fell accordingly. Now, I'm not so sure. I don't even know what we are anymore."
"I guess Luke was right. Everything's different now."
"At least he was right about one thing." She could hear the contempt creep into his voice.
"We're going to stick together through this, right? No matter the color our lightsabers turn out to be?" Her voice trembled slightly, and she winced at her own vulnerability. She didn't know what pushed her to say this. They'd been together for days and trusted each other. She didn't want something as silly as blade color to drive them apart at this point in their relationship.
His face slackened with confusion, then softened. A hand rose up to meet the thin scar running down his face and neck.
"No matter the color," he replied in that smoky voice of his. He smiled at her lightly, sending her heart into palpitations. Sometimes he could just be too much. They continued on.
…
Soon the faint glow of Niima Outpost shone just ahead of them. After the bright neon lights and noisy crowds of Urear, Rey forgot how quiet some places could be during the hours between dusk and dawn. Only the whirs and clunks of far-off machinery pierced the warm silence.
She slid down the side of a sandy hill down to the town below. Chunks of sand skittered in front of her and crumbled to dust as she skidded to a halt at the base of the mound. She desperately wished she still had her speeder, so they wouldn't have to risk getting so much sand in their shoes.
The pair of them trotted through the central market. Few lamps were on and Rey's eyes had trouble adjusting to the changing levels of brightness. Ben followed silently behind her like a prowling animal. It was invigorating, coming back to her cesspool of a home planet and tearing it all down with the man that she was supposed to tear down with it.
The towering mounds of ships surrounded them, grouped towards Plutt's main building like small beasts seeking protection from their mother. The two guards from before stood watch by the entrance, the same men that had stolen from the mother and her child.
"Hello?" a rough voice called out.
Rey nearly let out a scream but slapped her hand over her mouth before any sound to escape and give away their position. Ben's gait turned erratic as his body turned round and round in search of the source.
A woman appeared under the orange glow of a stall lantern. Her hair hung in thick dreads and her rags scraped along the sandy ground. Rey recognized her from earlier as the woman who was attacked by the guards and who Ben helped up from the ground.
She raised her hands in a gesture of surrender and then beckoned them forward. "Please, follow me," she whispered in a thick accent, her dark eyes blazing.
Rey looked back at her friend, who wore an apprehensive expression. But he nodded and they both turned towards the woman, who scurried back the way she had come.
Only one of the huts at the far end of the outpost had light still emitting from its windows, and this was the place their strange guide was leading them. Rey hesitated when the scavenger woman passed through the threadbare curtain blocking the entrance but pressed on into the small building. This woman didn't give off any bad signals and she seemed to have passed Ben's test as well.
The little girl that had accompanied the woman earlier that day sat cross-legged on a pile of dirty blankets. The blankets were surrounded by piles of junk: old engine pieces, sensor antennae, rusted power cells, and power converters littered the floor like sweets wrappers around a hungry child. Belts and toolkits hung from handmade hooks bolted into the support beams of the hut.
The sight brought waves of bitterness down on Rey. She may not have had much in her walker in the desert, but in the main town these people had almost nothing.
"What do you want?" Ben asked harshly. He crossed his arms over his chest and pulled his hood down to reveal his anxious face.
"We want to help you," the woman said, matching his assertive tone. "You're Rey and Kylo Ren, aren't you?"
"Ben," they both corrected at the same time. He gave her a tender look and she had to pinch her arm to keep her mind on the situation at hand.
"Yes, we are. Why did you bring us here?" She made sure to keep her voice even and welcoming.
The woman straightened up. "My name is Lia, and this is my daughter, Peerin. We know you're here to steal from Plutt."
"How did you—" Rey began.
"Rey, you are a legend around here!" Lia threw up her hands and she broke out into a large smile. "You stole his freighter leaving a decimated squad of First Order troopers in your wake. We'd knew you'd have to come back sometime, and it wouldn't be to shake hands and reminisce about the good times you've had here."
Rey's cheeks flushed with gracious embarrassment. Not once since she left Jakku did she think that anyone would remember her name. She looked over her shoulder at Ben. He smirked proudly at her and nodded for her to keep talking with Lia.
"And this man, this evil man, is walking with you like a friend. He helped me when no one else did. Something is shifting in this galaxy, and I want to help it along by helping you two take down that monstrous sack of lard." Lia put her hands on her hips and beamed at them.
Rey didn't know what to say, any help was good help. First Exbi, now Lia. The galaxy was, thankfully, keeping them on course to build their new weapons, however windy and messy that course was. She swallowed down the welling of emotion in her throat.
"We could use some of your parts, if you don't mind us looking around," she tried.
The woman nodded eagerly and swept her hand over the jumbles of scrap around the hut.
"Oh, I have something else for you!" Lia exclaimed, and she dove toward a rather large pile of parts and dug around for a few seconds before standing back up and presenting her findings.
Two flat masks, one a pale yellow and the other a bony white, sat in her outstretched hands. Both had eye openings and leather straps tied into the sides as to secure them around the back of the head.
Ben was clearly taken aback, leaning away from them. Rey peered closer, curiosity grabbing ahold of her.
"To conceal your identities," Lia told them. Rey took the yellow mask while Ben cautiously snagged the white one. "If I could recognize Ben's face, chances are others will, too."
Rey thanked their host and set about digging through the heaps of spare parts. Ben was on his hands and knees, carefully inspecting each piece and either setting it back down or tucking it into the interior pockets of his cloak.
Rey managed to snag an old-looking magnetic ring and a cylinder to act as a container for the power core. She stood back up and inspected her haul while Ben met with her about his findings.
"You two found what you could?" Lia asked quickly.
The two of them nodded.
"Good, now get going! There's a mechanism on the door to Plutt's booth that should be easy to open, but if he catches you the First Order will be down here faster than you can draw that fancy lightsaber of yours."
"Thank you for everything you've done for us," Ben said suddenly. Rey glanced at him in surprise. His words now greatly clashed with his tone from before.
"Just make sure these other poor people get a taste of what's back there, yes?" The woman crossed the room to sit down next to her daughter on the shabby blankets.
"You see, baby? These nice people are going to pay that mean old man and his guards back for what they did to us this afternoon."
Rey's breaths turned to condensation on the inside of the mask. If they had attempted this robbery in the heat of the day, it may have been unbearable. But she was thankful for the additional cover. Maybe the masks could help with intimidation, if things came to that.
She looked over at Ben and her heart skipped a couple of beats. The stark white of his mask sticking out against the black of his hair and robes created a ghostly effect that got under her skin. His deep brown eyes looked like dark pits under the mesh-covered eye holes. Combined with his height and width, he made for a terrifying sight.
"You look absolutely horrifying," she whispered to him as they ducked behind a closed stall adjacent to Plutt's shop.
"You don't look so bad yourself," he returned, amusement playing along his words. "Try looking at yourself in a mirror. If I didn't know who was under there, I'd run away screaming."
"That's oddly comforting," she told him. She could practically feel his sardonic smile radiating from behind his mask.
The guards were still at their posts by the entrance of the building. Rey could hear the crackle of their electric staffs from even twenty feet away. She gripped her own staff tightly in her hands and took a deep, calming breath. Something about robbing her only means of survival didn't sit quite right in her bones. But she shrugged the feeling off and glanced back at Ben before dashing forward. She wasn't the scared scavenger anymore.
Using the Force, she flung a lone wrench across a worktable over on the other side of the narrow road. To her satisfaction the two buffoons took the bait and stepped forward to investigate. Before the guards had time to cry out, Rey dealt them blows to the head that sounded with a resounding crack on the backs of their necks. Their limp bodies thumped into the sand hard enough to kick up a comical ring of dust around them.
As soon as the guards were taken care of Ben moved forward with her and they both crept quickly into the dark recesses of the shop.
No ceiling was built above the main stall and the surrounding worktables. The whole thing was open to the sky, the blue dome closing over the premises. Glittering white stars lined the blackness above them and Rey took a few seconds to look and enjoy the view.
"Are you ready?" Ben asked, interrupting her tiny moment of peace. Though she didn't mind too much. They had a job to do. She nodded and approached the side door with him.
His legs were spread in a steadying stance and he ran a hand over the thick metal lock barring the door. Then he stood back and faced his palm towards the door and closed his eyes. "Let's hope this'll work," he said, and clenched his hand into a fist.
The mechanism in the lock clicked and the whole thing fell to the ground. They both let out a little laugh of relief and Rey gripped the edges of the heavy metal door and pulled, trying to keep the creaks and scraping noises to a minimum.
"I can only push and pull objects," Ben explained as Rey opened their way in. "I guess you opened that door on Urear, I shouldn't be that surprised."
They filed into the stuffy dark room. Oil and gas fumes floated through the air and every inch of available space was filled with scrap and junk, ranging from just bits and pieces to whole engines and power cores. Wires hung like party streamers from the rafters in the ceiling. And she thought her walker had been pretty unpresentable.
Then her eyes landed on a large shape in the far corner of the room. Something shrouded in a large canvas cover. She pulled the fabric off and almost whooped with glee at what she found underneath. "Ben!" she called in an excited whisper. "Come look at this, it's my old speeder!"
It looked just the same as it had when she made her last stop to Niima Outpost. Chipped red paint, dusty grill and stabilizers, worn-out net bolted to the left side. Her heart leapt in her chest seeing it still in one piece. At least Plutt hadn't taken away one thing that brought her happiness here.
"I made this myself!" she cooed, stroking one of the handlebars affectionately. "It's been so long, hasn't it?" She patted the seat like she would pet a friendly animal.
Ben slid his mask up and gave her an impressed smirk. "This is amazing. I was never good at this kind of thing."
Rey fought down the heat rising on her cheeks and trotted over to the wall of drawers that Plutt kept behind him. A small keyhole was fixed in the center of each square and Rey sighed, Forcing the tumblers in the locks to click into place and the little drawers all swung out at the same time.
Credits upon credits shone in each compartment, gleaming in the dim lamplight drifting in from outside the booth. It was more money than Rey had ever seen in one place her entire life and she fought the urge to overturn every table and heap of junk she could find.
For years she and other scavengers suffered, risking their lives to find junk in dangerous places just for a meal that day. And here was their reward for all their hard work, sealed away so no one but their boss could reap the spoils.
"Don't worry," he reassured her, almost having to have read her mind. "We'll give him what he deserves." He scraped the contents of one drawer dry into a burlap sack he had grabbed off a corner table.
Rey nodded stiffly and began to help him out. She snatched up another bag and shoveled piles of credits into its woolen maw. Some of the pieces were chipped and dirty, others were shiny and brand new. It made no difference though, both kinds fell into the bag.
One they had filled up on cash, Rey made her way to the numerous piles of parts that waited for her inspection. Her hands positively itched with excitement. Soon she'd have her very own lightsaber and she could use it to protect her friends and herself. Sifting through the junk, she managed to grab ahold of some raggedy pieces of wiring, a few small power cells that seemed to still be in shape, and a bending lense that reflected the lamplight outside.
"I have some circuits that can modulate the blade," Ben told her. He had been searching through some tool drawers at the other end of the room and he waved her over. She lifted her mask up to better inspect the small round pieces in his gloved hand.
"Thanks." She took them and stuffed them into her cloak pockets. She looked at him. They both stared at one another with loaded expressions.
Then Rey started laughing. The tension and shame and stress she had built up inside herself over the last day melted away like snow in the sunshine. Everything about this was absolutely ridiculous. Here she was, lightyears away from the Resistance, committing petty theft with the evil Supreme Leader while they both wore masks and cloaks like children in costumes. She laughed so hard that tears formed in her eyes and her chest ached, but it all felt so wonderful.
Ben stared blankly, but as Rey giggled louder and louder, a euphoric smile broke out on his scarred face and a deep chuckle rose up from his throat. The sound of it was rich and wonderful, and it filled her up like the sweetest cup of nightblossom tea.
"What are we doing?" she gasped, cradling her ribs. "We're supposed to be fighting a war, not digging around in the garbage!"
Their laughter reverberated around the booth and drifted outside. After a few more moments she realized how loud they were being and struggled to contain herself, panting and wiping at her eyes.
"That's the first time I've heard you laugh," she realized aloud, staring at him in wonder.
He shrugged and tied the end of his bag into a knot. "I've never had a reason to before you."
His words, combined with the soft radiance or his deep brown eyes, brought a heat to Rey's cheeks that almost stung. Her heart raced as her gaze flicked to his lips and then away to the window. She wanted nothing more than to move closer and then…
A dreadful shout cut through the tense quiet like a knife. "What the hell is going on back there?!"
It was Plutt, no doubt about it. Rey pulled her mask down again and leapt to the window of the booth. There he was, all swollen and bulbous as usual, this time dressed in shabby nightwear that could barely contain his massive folds. Two guards stood on either side of him, decked out in wrappings and standing with electric spears at the ready. Any goodwill she had immediately evaporated.
"We have to move," she said seriously. Whipping the cover away from her speeder she waved him towards the door. "Get ready, we'll see if this old thing still works." Once she sat back in the driver's seat her old instincts flooded in as she grabbed the handlebars.
Ben threw open the heavy metal door and climbed on behind her. Rey tried not to think too hard about his hands securing himself around her waist and instead ignited the engine. The speeder roared to life, perhaps for the first time in weeks, and took off through the open doorway, stirring up dust in its wake.
Cool wind seeped through the eye holes in her mask, but she braced herself and drove on. The zoomed out of the shop and towards Plutt and his gang of enforcers.
"What the—" the huge blob managed the shout before he and his guards leapt to the side as Rey and Ben sped past, hovering inches off the ground and travelling fast.
"Go by each building." Ben's voice was low and muffled by his mask in her ear "I'll make sure everyone gets some of the spoils.
Rey obeyed his wishes and made a hard right, driving parallel to the long row of misshapen huts and tents. As each home flashed past like a sandy wind, Ben tossed handfuls and handfuls of credits right outside the doors of each place they passed. Rey glanced back in time to see a few heads poke out of doorways, blinking sleepily until their eyes fell upon the piles of money dropped on their doorsteps. She could have sworn that Lia made an appearance, saluting the two masked figures as they drove by.
Whoops of glee and yells of "Thank you!" echoed behind them, bringing a smile to her concealed face. With her robes flying behind her, the stars smiling down from a clear sky, and the thrill of being behind the controls of her old speeder, she could barely keep from yelling from joy herself.
When she was partnered with the Resistance she was protecting a cause much larger than herself. But here everything felt so personal and rewarding and she didn't know how to interpret this information.
They passed row upon row of shabby shelters, yet by the end of their excursion, a few credits still weighed down in the bottom of the bag.
"Let's head back!" Ben yelled over the grumbles of the engine. She nodded and made a U-turn, heading back to the safety of their shuttle.
"Not so fast! You won't get away with this!" Plutt yelled as they made their swift approach. His guards had helped him to his feet and were now braced for impacts, their staffs crackling blue. Rey gritted her teeth and accelerated, feeling Ben grip her waist more tightly.
He then removed one of his hands and hold it out in front of the both of them. Before her eyes the guards were all keeled over backwards as if suffering simultaneous blows to the head. Plutt had no choice but the stand in the center of his fallen comrades and wait for his two assailants to stop in front of him and approach him.
Rey's fury increased with each sand-crunching step. This was the man who had controlled her life since she was just a small child, who kept her working out in the ship graveyard for the promise of not going hungry.
"Who are you?" he spat, taking a cautious step back. "Whoever you are, I'll report you to the First Order and you'll pay for what you just did!"
Rey stopped in her tracks and bit her tongue angrily, staring up into those beady black eyes. She wanted so desperately to whip off her mask and show him the face of his undoing, one of his former servants.
But with a look back at Ben she knew she couldn't fill that desire. If the First Order got wind of their last location, nowhere in the Outer Rim would be safe. She sighed. Then an idea popped into her head.
"Bulani and Selisa, if you must know" she muttered darkly, and with that she whipped her staff around the back of his flabby neck and he collapsed to the ground with a terrific thud.
She stared down at the unconscious body with her teeth bared. The spell of hate was only broken when Ben gently took her hand and pulled.
"Let's leave this godforsaken place once and for all," he told her.
Rey took one last look around Niima Outpost, at her speder and the shop and her old boss. Then she looked into the face of her new beginning, and he smiled back.
They set about at a quick trot, hand in hand, back to their parked shuttle.