—STAR WARS—

CHAPTER FIVE

This was crazy, FN-2187 thought as he trudged on over blistering sands that despite wearing thick and padded boots still managed to let the heat sting him. He did not know for how long he had been walking for. The dusky dune field stretched out in all directions, to every direction. Luckily for him, he entered night in no time, away from the sun. Unluckily for him, with the setting of Jakku's yellow-white sun, came a bone-chilling cold over the planet. That's just great: If I'm not gonna burn alive then I'm gonna freeze to death!

There was nowhere for him to rest in the shifting sands that seemed to want nothing more than to swallow him up like it did his TIE fighter and in extension probably his Zabrak companion as well.

The renegade stormtrooper continued to march, struggling against the desert that was pulling him down even into the darkest night. Something motivating his legs onward though in truth he did not think he had a proper direction and more and more he was beginning to think he was walking around in circles; the darkness certainly did not help either. When he could not walk any further, he chose a spot against a dune and used Poe's leather jacket as comfy a pillow as he could make it.

That night he did not think sleep would come to him, between being lost in a desert planet with no food or water, no suitable direction of which could save him, and having a cult of militant fanatics after him—FN-2187 was beyond stressed. Though he tried not to, he could not help but imagine what Kylo Ren or any one of the First Order superiors would do to him should they catch him. Neither of those dark figures were ever known to be merciful or caring.

Perhaps Captain Phasma might. The den-mother of most of the infantry batches though was never particularly affectionate, at least not overtly, he knew her to intervene on their behalf every now and again. She was responsible for their training and early upbringing after all.

The renegade sighed as he looked up into the stary skies and waited for his eyes to close themselves. He needed the rest…a long rest.

The next morning, the trooper found he was in no rush but he also felt extremely hungry and thirsty. Despair found him fast after that. As he was walking, FN-2187 began to shed away more of his armour, leaving only his boots and bracers. He spread Dameron's jacket over his face as shelter once he felt the planet's trademark temperature begin to charge up. There wasn't a single cloud in sight, nothing else to protect him from the sun's angry gaze.

How did it come to this? he thought. The warships that had largely been his home when he wasn't at Headquarters were sealed, environmentally controlled little worlds. The trooper was really beginning to regret leaving that world, running away from the First Order, running away from the only life he ever actually knew. Anything he needed was readily available, right at hand. Food, water, entertainment, sleeping facilities; all within skipping distance. Then again, perhaps dying out here was a much better fate than eternal servitude to the Supreme Leader?

Glancing skyward, he expected to see a landing craft or two dropping out of the clouds in hot pursuit. But his gaze was rewarded only by the sight of a pair of native avians soaring southward. They looked, he decided, uncomfortably, too big to be herbivorous. He prayed that they would disregard him.

Not wanting to take his chances with them, FN-2187 burst into a frantic sprint. But he did not get long before he was stopped in his tracks, having escalated a small hill, the renegade was confronted by a rather macabre sight that sent chills of both wonder and dread down his spine. Before him was a vast and seemingly infinite field of golden sand, lying dead in it was more than a billion starships, buried and forgotten like skeletons that were very poorly laid to rest.

Once he found his head again, he moved down and cautiously ventured into the graveyard of ships. He saw hundreds of Star Destroyers, probably Imperial era vessels, mixed together with a mismatch of undiscernible crafts that did not match some of the ships he was familiar with. They were left over from an old war. 2187 had read everything about it, watched every holorecording during that time.

It felt dead which was not surprising, yet in the deserted valley he felt more unease. The burning, scratching sense that someone was indeed watching him. And then all of his fears were trumped when he spotted something tall in the distance, a white pillar or obelisk standing on a small dusty mound.

"A vaporator!" 2187 screamed in his raspy water deprived voice and raced toward the dispenser of his salvation with crazed abandon that he was in danger of colliding into the machine. He couldn't turn the machine on fast enough, trying to extract as much water as he could… the machine however began to rumble and shake.

Then it finally died.

Eyes barred open by disbelief, FN-2187 fell to his knees before the broken moisture vaporator. It no longer shook, nor moved with life— it was just silent and still… dead. "No, no, no, no… NO!" he started to shake it himself, aggressively, even trying in vain to pry the machine out from its roots. "Why?!" he roared and then cursed as he started now to smash it in with his bare hands.

Though his beating did no damage to the vaporator, his assault did not go unnoticed. Out from the ruins of a medical frigate, several hooded beings snuck out of the shadows; some walked hunched on two legs, other crawled on hands and feet like animals. Overhead, the vultures had flown away, even they did not look at an encounter with the new arrivals with much fondness.

FN-2187 saw them and swiftly bolted away, shifting sand and dust behind him. They weren't human…they were hungry…

And they were fast. The renegade had to come up with new ways to avoid getting hit by them as the creatures began to leap at him, arms outstretched, wide jaws opened to bare a series of sharp fangs hidden behind their cloaks.

Finally, he found what looked to be the nose head of a battlecruiser in front of him, with a small hole in its hull big enough to allow him to squeeze through. Hopefully it would not be big enough for his pursuers. Taking his chance on this, the renegade ran towards in, the trooper-eaters hot on his tail, he leapt into the hole just before their sharp, razorlike claws got to him. Their snouts tried to burry through the metal, but even they could not stand a chance against metal. They still tried, however. Growling maniacally as they all attempted to rip through the material encasing him.

For the moment, FN-2187 felt like he was somewhat safe. For the moment, he tried to ignore the monstrous beings behind him, lifting himself up from the sand he tried to look about him.

It felt like a tomb of some forgotten king. A source of Imperial control in the universe that heavily inspired the style of his First Order compatriots, submerged in an ocean of dust, dark and dead. Each breath he took echoed off the walls.

The place gave him the creeps.

He wanted to shout out and ask if anyone was around, though he shortly realised how dumb that was and refrained. He climbed down the hill into what he assumed used to be a hanger bay. He saw an opening a few feet away, light from the outside was clearly visible. While trudging towards it, his feet tangled on something in the sand, falling on his face once again.

Just his luck. He sat up and checked what it was that he tripped over and nearly died of fright when he saw what appeared to be a white Imperial stormtrooper helmet, with a large hole on the side of the temple…with the owner's petrified skull still within. Jumping to his feet, screaming in terror, FN-2187 scurried away toward the light.

—=O=—

It was a brand-new day for up in the hammock she had set up in the partly submerged Walker cockpit she allowed herself to linger, legs crossed hands behind her head as she waited for the rest of her sleep to vanish completely.

It didn't take long.

A loud beeping noise sounded through the walker that forced her to her feet. In the hull she went to her desk where a computer screen was flashing. It was old tech, Imperial era, but it worked well enough for Unkar Plutt who regularly sent her order manifests. Those were always her favourites. It meant she had a more focused job, and it also meant that these parts Plutt wanted her to find were highly valuable thus a bigger payday for her. Even an incomplete list yielded her a whole week's worth of rations.

Rey read the list eagerly.

[1x Null Quantum Field Generator]

[1x 6-Axial Stabiliser]

[10x (Minimum) Alluvial Dampers]

[2x Servomotor Plate]

[4x Hyperdrive Regulators]

[5x Twin Ion Fuel Rods (10x if possible)]

[1x Flak Gun Rotor (Call air lift)]

A wide smile formed on the scavenger's face. This was going to be a full day and she couldn't wait. She found the lost spherical droid plugged into an external charger and considered making a pit stop at a spaceport and putting him on the next ship out of here. A salvageable little droid on Jakku?

Then again…

"Hey, rise and shine, buddy." Rey pulled the droid's charger and BB-8 sprang to life. "Sorry to wake you up, BB-8. But if you want to stay with me a little longer, then I could use your help with some work. You up for it?"

The droid cooed as he looked up at her, then in his own version of a nod, obliged.

She had no food and her water canteens were becoming dangerously light. She would have to make some stops at vaporator checkpoints on the way to the Graveyard.

The seasoned scavenger quickly packed her bag and loaded up her speeder, tying BB-8 to the back with her. She made sure everything was in order; her equipment, her staff, a couple of water containers as well as the external power charge for BB-8. Orders normally took a full day to obtain, another day to take back to Niima and then half that just to get back home. She wasn't expecting to see her abode for a while now.

Without another second's delay, they sped across the desert at break neck speed. At this speed, seeing the ever-shifting sands and empty wastes seemed to please BB-8, cooing and whistling as his head spun around. When Rey asked him about it, he simply told her that Jakku made him feel small. That coming from an astrodroid made her chuckle.

There was a giant Star Destroyer, one much bigger than the other, with its entire rear sticking out into the sky. It was one mark that was never actually salvaged for it happened to reside over a deadly Sandstalker tribe. Dangerous, hooded creatures that swam in the dunes as though it were water. They often burrowed deep underground, stalking its prey under the scorching sun. Their favourite past times always took the form of discrete hunts. Their favourite prey? Scavengers…like her.

Luckily for her, she knew a little trick. A few days ago, she had drained the only working moisture vaporator of any water. Stalkers should have already started to disperse across the valley, leaving the nose-dived Star Destroyer unprotected; at least for a while. One could never completely expel Sand Stalkers from their territories.

When the speeder came up on their destination, Rey felt a sudden chill upon seeing the dark ruin—like an old cathedral haunted by silence. As she suspected, the mysterious, and dangerous creatures were nowhere to be seen.

After driving her bike into the vessel, finding a small alcove of structural damage on the left side, she helped BB-8 off and the two began work.

Most of the items on the list could be found around the ship's hyperdrive core, which made retrieving them a lot less tiresome. She found fifty Alluvial Dampers easily, taking only ten as requested. Four hyperdrive regulators that were still functioning, class 6 Axial stabilisers as well as the regulators were as she had suspected, found around the hyperdrive chamber itself, but the parts were locked behind some debris she could not shift. Instead, BB-8 offered to try squeezing himself through as much of the blockage as possible. Once he had made it, the little round droid started to scan his surroundings, locking onto the parts quickly and working to bring them close enough for Rey to get to them.

Servomotor plates were a little bit trickier. Finding some that were still in one piece was difficult as it was, but she also had to find some that still had its grease coating on. Sooner or later though, she did find all of them as well.

After all that was done, there was only one more item on the list. Now, flak gun rotors were not particularly hard to find, especially if you know a thing or two about military vessels. Most of the times, those mechanics that help the turrets on ships move around more smoothly and surely, were no bigger than a fully grown Loth-cat, but the turrets on an Imperial-class Star Destroyer were massive, weighing almost fourteen tons when its unloaded. But that wasn't the whole problem…

Rey and BB-8 walked outside the magnificent structure and the scavenger pointed to a section of the ship halfway to the bridge were a series of four large turbolaser canons protruded off of its surface like fins. Getting up to retrieve any salvageable part would be a task. Alas, Rey was never one to give up so readily.

First, she measured the distance from her as best as she could, then tried to look for any nook she could hook herself onto. After that it was all about the climb. She tightened her bag around her, and from her belt, produced her small grappling gun, running it through her belt buckle for security. Then the master scavenger sent herself flying vertically up the ship. She did not, however, want to start work on detaching the turret until Rozo arrived with his carrier ship. Until then, Rey took her time, hanging up there she looked out onto the vast, eternal dunes.

Perhaps BB-8 was onto something. There was something hauntingly beautiful about this valley, particularly when viewed at a distance.

After a while she spotted a small flying vehicle approaching from the east. She began her work to detach the turbolaser canon. Rozo the Ardennian flew in with what appeared to be an Old Republic Era HMP Gunship droid, modified to allow external piloting as well as a mechanical crane below it. Though all they needed was the rotor mechanism, Rey figured it would be easier and more profitable to just take the whole thing and once the scavenger had freed the giant turret of its bindings, signalled for Rozo to catch it and take it away, which he did so happily.

They had gotten all that they needed from the ship and strapped most of it to the speeder. Feeling the accomplishments of the day, the scavenger thought it fitting to celebrate with a cool, well-deserved drink.

She was about to take a sip from her canister when they heard screaming coming from the distance.

Around twenty paces away, a young, dark-skinned man was running from one side of the ruins to the other, screaming and yelling his throat out as a group of nasty, black-robed Sand Stalkers chased after him. Instantly, Rey took off with BB-8 speeding behind, having spotted the man's familiar jacket, the droid started whirling frantically.

Rey grabbed her bo-staff and tried to intercept the pack. The Sand Stalkers were so close to catching up to their prey, until finally… one of them had leaped forward, tackling the running man to the ground and began beating him senseless. Soon they were all on him. Pounding at him savagely. That was, until the scavenger herself caught up, interrupting their own payday with a quick staff whack to the head of one of them. She spun the stick in her hand, gearing up for another swing that hit another Stalker on the chest, sending it backwards. Once she had them backing up, creating a barrier of empty space between her and the monsters.

As she stood between them and their prey, she spun her bo-staff around her. Her weapon sang as it disturbed the air. The twirling seemed to affect the creatures who started to back away. The creatures hissed at her threateningly and Rey hissed back, challenging them to strike at her. She was ready.

That was the last that the renegade stormtrooper saw before he fell into unconsciousness.

—=O=—