—STAR WARS—
CHAPTER SEVEN
"Luke Skywalker?" Rey gaped at the boy with nothing short of amazement. "You're talking about the Luke Skywalker? He's actually real?"
Finn could only shrug his shoulders at her. He too was a little iffy about the whole deal anyhow. Though one thing was clear, and that was that the First Order definitely believed Skywalker to be real, and real enough to massacre millions just to find and ultimately destroy. He might have added more if not for the sudden interruption from a stream of excited beeps.
Rey turned to BB-8 whose head was spinning erratically. "What is it, my friend?" She looked up, past the now concerned Finn. "Over there?"
She was able to make out in the distance the hulking forms of the thugs who had attacked her and tried to steal the droid. They were not alone. Instead, she saw a pair of white armoured soldiers in tow with them, their uniforms gleaming in the bright desert sun. Kenn was pointing in their directions and it almost looked as though it was far too late to hide amongst the tents.
The stormtroopers cocked their blasters, nozzles aimed directly at them. On instinct, Finn grabbed Rey by the hand and led her into a sprint into the maze of tents and temporary structures, ultimately choosing one of the storage pavilions in the outskirts.
"Hey!" she protested, but allowed herself to be pulled along. "What do you think you're doing?!"
"BB-8, come on!" Finn yelled. Unlike Rey, the droid needed no further incentive.
A moment later, a pair of blaster explosions obliterated the spot where they had been standing. A third struck a cleaning unit, which immediately began spewing smoke and corrosive fumes. Still holding, Finn darted in and out among the flimsy structures, dodging outraged owners, other scavengers making their rounds and piles of goods alike. By now, Rey was struggling with his grip.
"Let go of me!"
"We gotta run!" the renegade cried.
"I know how to run without you holding my hand!" skidding to a stop, she gestured sharply to her left. "No! This way!"
Another blast from behind just missed them. By now, a general panic had seized the denizens of Niima scrapyard. Those who weren't scattering in every direction were doing their best to shield their stock. The stormtroopers were slowed, but not stopped.
Barely able to avoid blaster fire, Rey and her companions hunkered down inside a larger tent crammed with fabulous if not a tad rusty pile of machine parts and crates of salvage. Peeping cautiously through a gap in the scrap behind which they'd taken cover, she muttered urgently at Finn.
"They're shooting at the both of us?! What had I done?"
Finn knew exactly why they were shooting at her—but there was nothing he could do about it now. "They saw you with me. You're marked."
"Well thanks for that!"
He did not respond at first. Finn began scanning and rummaging through the scraps for something useful. "Doesn't anyone have blasters around here?" A trained stormtrooper without a gun, he felt so naked without it.
Behind them, BB-8 was quivering slightly. Both antennae were fully extended and inclined eastward. Rey frowned at the droid. "Are you okay?"
The renegade's eyes widened as he looked back at BB-8. Finn came over to them, crouching down low as tough to stabilise himself and to better hear whatever the droid was hearing. They were distinct sounds, familiar sounds.
"What is it? What's going on?"
Fin shushed her with a gesture, listening intently. Metallic screeching cut through the hustle and bustle of the Jakku hub. BB-8 was growing increasingly agitated. Without a word, the droid spun and raced toward the rear of the storage area. Finn responded almost as quickly, grabbing Rey's hand and pulling her after him.
As before, she tried to pull away. "Stop taking my hand!"
An explosion ripped up the storage area, its contents, and the ground just behind the trio as a pack of five TIE fighters dove in, unleashing its weaponry in a low pass over the town. The concussion threw them hard off their feet. Rey came up fearful and spitting grit. The desert was full of dangers and scavenging had its own risks. Between thieves, tribal gangsters and the hostile, hungry creatures of the wastelands, she was used to those. The realisation that Imperial TIE fighters might be sent to locate and eradicate a single Resistance fighter suggested that she was well and truly out of her depth. This Finn must be more important than he seemed, she decided.
Struggling to her feet, she scanned her surroundings for her companions. Finn was a few strides away from her, looking disoriented as he tried to pry himself off of the sand. Rey jumped to him, helping him up as the orange and white spherical droid rolled over to them.
"Are you alright?" Finn managed to gasp out with sincere worry in his eyes.
It struck her that in her short life on that rock, it was the first time anyone had ever asked her that question. "Yeah," she replied with a raised brow. Rey appreciated his concerns, worth only a few seconds anyway, as the TIE fighters were beginning to turn around. Rey stood and extended her own hand for him to take. "Come on, we gotta go."
Once again, they started running. Around them, Niima Outpost was in complete disarray. Explosions had torn tents and other buildings apart, scattering traders, merchants, engineers and mechanics in a panicky search for cover. Some had returned to their ships leading to a mass exodus of ships of varying sizes and colours taking off which only served to blow dust, sand and smoke off the ground. With her staff strapped snuggly behind her, Rey led her companions onto the sand-scoured clearing that served as the town's port.
Looking back, Finn saw the squad of TIE fighters bank and turn, and he had no doubt what they were looking for. "Isn't there any shelter around here?!"
"Nothing strong enough to withstand that type of firepower!" Rey yelled back as she continued to lead them on. She noticed many of her scavenger colleagues jump onto their own speeders, taking to the sandy plains. She had lost sight of her own vehicle in the chaos, seeing no structure left standing her old town no longer looked familiar anymore.
"We can't outrun them!"
That was when a ship came circling around them, effectively blocking their path. "You two get on board!" It was the Corellian freighter from earlier, hovering, floating slowly onwards with its landing gear just slightly off the ground and a large metal container still grasped in its tynes. The ramp entrance was still down and the pirate from before standing atop it urging them aboard. "Don't forget the droid!"
Not seeing any other option than to put some trust in this scoundrel, Rey, Finn and BB-8 zoomed into the floating ship, Finn having to give the spherical droid a little boost onto the ramp.
There was no time for a conversation but the man asked them without turning to face his new passengers if any of them knew how to operate a blaster canon. Rey certainly did not know but Finn reluctantly bobbed his head. "I know the basics," he confessed, recalling what Poe had taught him.
"That'll have to do, kid." The pirate then instructed the girl to hop into the cockpit and act as co-pilot to the Wookie while Finn and he ran to the access tube of the ship's quad-laser canons. Once they were all connected through the communications headset, the pirate roared for them to take off full speed.
"No, no," cried Finn. "Fly low, it'll confuse their targeting system. We need to lose them before we break atmosphere."
In the cockpit, Rey was greeted by the furry pilot's vexed, animalistic roars. The Wookie pulled the girl into the seat beside him and set her to work, keeping the vessel in optimal condition. The scavenger girl had always wanted to pilot a real ship and fly, but the controls in this one looked far different to the Y-wing bomber she had at home. Instead, Rey was left to the micro-management of the Wookie, pressing and fiddling with whatever the obviously more experienced pilot told her to.
As per instructed, the ship flew low over the dunes, making slight manoeuvres to avoid the TIE fighter's manic and thankfully less than accurate shots. It would seem that the boy was right. The freighter swayed from side to side, quickly dodging blaster bolts that hit the sand dunes, sending eruptions of fire, smoke and dust into the air like pillars.
Meanwhile, on the guns, Finn was having some trouble with his firing, though the pirate who had chosen the lower gun, not expecting them to keep low had almost no shot. At one point they had turned a little too late to avoid a laser shot to the rear. The pirate grunted in annoyance. Kid!
"Are you ever going to shoot at anything?!" Rey bellowed into her mic at Finn.
"I'm trying. I'm trying!" he called back. "We need cover!"
Suddenly the ship flew over a hill and revealed to them the vast graveyard of ships that held the basis of her workload and career as a scavenger. "We're about to get some…I hope." She then asked the Wookie if she could take over, being more familiar with the layout and terrain.
The furry pilot gave a last how before forfeiting the reigns to the scavenger.
Through deep ravines and plateaus littered with dead machines, Rey steered the ship around the towering obstacles at increasing speed. Flying such a larger vessel was definitely more challenging than driving her bike around, but having watched the Wookie for that brief moment something clicked with her. All she needed was the basics and now, Rey just had to pretend she really was traversing the graveyard in her smaller, podracer engine speeder bike. With another deep breath in, Rey sped up, using the megastructures to her advantage and tried to force the pursuing TIEs against the debris and ruins.
They soon came by a series of ruined Star Destroyers, smashed together into an awkward train. Another deep breath in, and the ship was flown into the structure, entering through titanic engine boosters. The TIE fighters followed suite.
The Wookie growled something at her and stood up, stretching over her as he pressed a large red beeping button overhead, telling her that she had forgotten to engage the ship's stabilisers in order to keep the freighter flying straight within the tight passageway of the Star Destroyer.
Soon enough, Finn had gotten the guns ready and began firing shot after shot at the enemy fighters. His erratic assault managed to nick one on the wing, causing it to wobble and smash into the old walls.
"Great shot, kid!" the pirate yelled with a grumbling chuckle.
Finn, with a proud smile on his face continued to fire, and even the freighter pirate was taking his shots at the oncoming fighters, laying waste to another ship that tried to overtake them. Then another one came in from an opening in the downed battle cruiser's hull and they found themselves being chased once again.
The passageway was getting increasingly tighter as they passed through many more Star Destroyers and with another predator tailing them, they were getting anxious.
Within the cockpit, alarms were screaming as Rey tried her best to plaster and seal every leak and bruise on the derelict vessel. Frankly she was surprised that the ship was still running at all, in the state she was in.
"Tougher than she looks," the Wookie commented in his native tongue, a tongue Rey was rather familiar with due to the many Wookie mercenaries that pitstop at Niima Outpost. Suddenly, a jolt rocked the airborne ship and another red light was added to the systems.
"Dank farrik! We're losing our rear shields." Rey announced on the comms.
To resolve this, the Wookie pilot had the ship perform a drastically sharp turn out through another gap in the wall. The TIE pilot tried to follow suite but it had been just a tad bit late. Seemingly by little, yet fatal nonetheless. It hit the side of the hole and exploded into a dizzy spin in mid-air before crashing into the sand dunes below. As the pirate's freighter passed, Rey could see scavengers already honing in on the wreckage like mice. She could even see her friend Mashra among them. The younger ones including her had started pumping their fists into the air in triumphant solute to one of their own, gaining access to their own ship.
Gleefully, Rey saluted them in kind before the Wookie roared for her to see to the compressor which was now beeping aggressively.
But it wasn't over. Another fighter had crept up the side of the ship and started releasing a hail storm of laser fire upon the rear and overhead. One had gotten just shy of Finn and though the shield held, the ship was greatly damaged and they all felt it.
"Damn!" the pirate cried. "The guns are disabled!"
"We got one more bogey on our tail!"
"I know, kid!" The pirate shouted, exasperated. Finn and he then got out of their turrets, and both made their way to the cockpit.
That was when an idea struck Rey. She made a hard turn upwards, heading to space but at just the right height, Rey disengaged the thrusters and the vessel floated for a mere second before falling back down. Likely thinking the ship was neutralised, the TIE fighter made to run up directly in front of it, intending to fire a barrage of lasers at it. But unknown to that stormtrooper pilot, Rey disengaged the magnetic tynes at the front. The fifty-foot metal cargo container was jettisoned and sent hurtling down at the enemy craft.
The heavy containment unit did its job, effectively obliterating the last remaining TIE fighter, with only the slightest scream coming from the other end.
Clearing the ship and fire the fighter left in its wake, the ship was just about a few feet off the ground when the scavenger reignited the thrusters and the freight carrier was off once again. She could finally let out a sigh of relief. A sentiment that was only half shared by the Wookie pilot.
Finn, along with the old pirate and BB-8 had met the rest in the cockpit. "Good flying there, Chewie," said the old man, and was about to compliment the scavenger when suddenly he remembered himself and urged their new passengers out of the cockpit. "You two better strap yourselves in. There might be some battle-cruisers up there and we have minimal defensive capabilities now."
The two teenagers awkwardly bobbed their heads and shuffled away, the droid following swiftly behind.
—=O=—