It was late afternoon by the time Rey parked her speeder in front of the four-legged, armored walker she called her home. The half-buried, derelict war machine lay on its side in the sand, a relic from a battle waged many years before.
Rey dismounted from the speeder, doing her best to avoid jostling the injured woman.
As she glanced down at the woman in her arms, she cringed. The cut on Jenny's forehead had reopened and was bleeding profusely. Blood trickled from it and sprinkled the sand in Rey's wake.
Once inside the internal compartment that functioned as both kitchen and bedroom, Rey gently laid the young woman on a makeshift hammock in the corner, then tightened the hammock's knots in case Jenny panicked upon waking.
After taking off her goggles, staff, and pack, Rey spent the next several minutes hunting down a small canister of bacta spray she'd bought years ago. She sprayed its entire contents across the gash on Jenny's head, hoping it would be enough.
Once her work was complete, Rey finally allowed herself to relax.
She turned from the hammock and busied herself with preparing a food portion. Soon the food was inflating into existence inside its bowl. She fished it out and held it in her fingers, licking her lips. Her mouth watered as she stared at the fluffy, bready ration.
Then she glanced over her shoulder at Jenny's limp form and lowered the ration in disappointment. She knew she had to save the ration for her injured guest. Who knew the last time Jenny had eaten?
Her mind boiled with curiosity about this young woman named Jenny. Although Rey couldn't leave Jakku until her long-lost parents came back for her, that didn't stop her from dreaming of the myriad of planets and moons she'd heard spacers describe. Which one of them had Jenny come from? Why had Jenny crashed? Where in the galaxy did Jenny get such a backworld ship?
Rey examined the younger woman again. She still didn't think Jenny was any older than her. Jenny's body was lean and slender, but muscular in a way that mirrored Rey's own form. Rey couldn't keep herself from staring at the young woman's full breasts hidden beneath her form-fitting, green shirt.
Ashamed at her lingering stare, Rey returned her attention to the girl's petite face. Jenny's fair skin glowed softly in the compartment's dim internal lighting, giving her an almost ethereal aura. She appeared so peaceful, Rey worried she might never wake up.
"Where did you come from?" Rey whispered.
Finally, Rey picked up her staff and left the compartment.
Seated on the roof of her home, she stared out over the wastes of Jakku and wondered, as she often did, when her parents would be coming back.
The sun hung low on the horizon when she first heard the bestial growls coming from the shadows in front of the walker.
A sick feeling overtook her when she saw a pack of six hound-lizards stalking toward the entrance to her home. Long snouts sniffing the stained sand, the predators crept closer, rough tongues lapping at every patch of sand laced with Jenny's blood. Already, one of the lizards was shuffling closer as it followed the blood trail, mere paces away from the walker's entrance.
Silently, she cursed herself for her carelessness. She should have known better than to leave a trail of blood leading straight to her front door.
Rey inhaled deeply, her heart beating faster as adrenaline began pumping through her veins. Sometimes the hound-lizards of Jakku could be frightened off.
Taking a running leap from the AT-AT, she landed in a roll, nimbly flowing to her feet and assuming a protective stance in front of her home's entryway. She shouted out a battle cry and waved her staff over her head with both hands.
The hair on the hound-lizards' spines bristled and they bared their dagger-like teeth in feral snarls. But they didn't retreat.
They weren't getting frightened off today.
She shouted wordlessly and swung her staff into the head of the nearest hound-lizard, toppling the beast into the sand.
Whipping the staff back into her hands, she brought it into a defensive position just as another hound-lizard leaped toward her.
Rearing back onto its hind legs, the hound swiped at her face with razor-sharp claws. She blocked the creature's attack with her staff, planted her feet beneath her, and pushed the hound backward through the air.
Now the hounds attacked in quick formation, three more leaping at her in unison. Crying out in rage and distress, she ducked and rolled beneath them.
Before she knew it, two more of the creatures were already in mid-pounce, blurs of dark fur rocketing toward her. She rolled beneath them, scrambled to her feet, and swung the end of her staff into one's hind leg, sending it sprawling into the sand.
The hound-lizards encircled her. Their snarls were louder than ever, slavering as they bared their fangs.
Rey's heart pounded in her chest. She knew her last thought before being torn to pieces would be regret for not meeting her parents when they returned to find her.
Suddenly, one of the hound-lizards yelped as its body convulsed wildly.
Rey was astonished to find Jenny standing upright behind the hound.
Jenny was jabbing the hound with a black baton of some kind. Rey thought she heard the low, vibrating hum of energy current emanating from the weapon.
When Jenny yanked the baton up, the hound bolted a short distance away, whirled around, and whimpered at her.
As Rey watched, Jenny swiftly drew another baton from a compartment in her boot and snapped the weapon to its full length with the press of a button.
She jabbed one hound under the jaw, knocking it aside, then whipped another beast in its side, pushing it through the sand and jolting its body with energy current. Her hands and batons blurred, smacking, thrusting, whipping in a dance that Rey knew she could never duplicate with her staff.
The hound-lizards moaned and whimpered as they slunk farther and farther away.
Jenny retracted one baton, slipped it into her boot, and in the next motion drew her blaster.
Three globes of white-hot energy shot out of the blaster and tore up the sand in front of the nearest hound, spraying its furry snout with grains of sand.
The hound whimpered, shook itself, then turned and ran.
Only a few seconds passed before the other hounds followed.
Jenny lowered her blaster.
Rey eyed the blue and violet pistol in the girl's hand. Blasters weren't exactly a rarity on Jakku, but she'd never seen one as exotic as Jenny's. She gazed at the firearm's thin body and flat edges, marveling at how so small a weapon packed such large a punch.
Then she noticed Jenny's trembling legs and the beads of sweat rolling down the girl's skin.
Trusting her instincts, Rey rushed to Jenny's side just in time to catch her by the shoulder before she collapsed. She placed a hand on the small of Jenny's back to steady her. Jenny hung her arm over Rey's shoulders and leaned on her for support.
"Well this is complete rubbish," huffed Jenny, staring down at her trembling legs. "I'm not making a very impressive entrance am I?"
Chuckling slightly at the other girl's comment, Rey glanced meaningfully at retreating hounds, now only splotches on the distant dunes.
"Yeah," Rey said, summoning some rare sarcasm, "not impressive at all."
Easing her weight off of Rey, Jenny stood on her own feet. She holstered her pistol and replaced the remaining baton in her boot.
"I...I think I can do…," she began, but immediately fell into Rey once again.
"You need to rest some more," Rey explained. "You took quite the hit on the head, and I don't know how long you were in that ship before I found you. Some food and water would do you some good as well, I imagine."
The other girl's eyes widened. "My ship! I need to get back to it!"
"Not tonight," Rey replied firmly. "In the morning, maybe, if you're up to it."
She decided now was not the best time to tell Jenny that, by the morning, the scavengers from Niima Outpost would have picked her ship clean.
"But I have a..." Jenny's voice trailed off.
"Let's get you back inside."
They made their way to the overturned imperial walker, Rey guiding and supporting Jenny every step of the way.
"Can I ask, why didn't you just shoot those things with your blaster?" Rey couldn't resist questioning.
"No need...to use violence straight away...if I don't need to..." Jenny breathed.
Rey stared at the other woman, not sure whether to be impressed by her or pity her. Hesitating to use violence would get you killed out here…
...and yet, Jenny had survived and saved Rey, all without killing the hounds.
She helped Jenny back into the hammock.
Jenny squirmed to make herself comfortable and placed her hands on her stomach, letting out a deep sigh of contentment, gun still clutched in one hand.
"Here." Rey offered her the leftover bread ration. "Eat this. Doesn't taste like much, but it'll fill you up."
Jenny took it from her and began eating.
"Thanks."
Despite her initial hesitation, Rey was unable to stop herself from asking, "What happened to your ship? What are you doing on Jakku?"
But already the other girl's eyelids were closing as exhaustion caught up with her.
"I...I got shot down," Jenny mumbled. "Some bloody...enormous triangular ship did it."
"The First Order," Rey guessed darkly. "They're always out for blood."
"Can't blame...them this time," Jenny murmured, her voice nearly a whisper. "My ship emerged on a collision...course with theirs. Was about to run smack into them."
"Really?" Rey asked, interested.
"Y-yeah," Jenny breathed so quietly that Rey had to lean in to hear.
Then Jenny's eyes closed and she lay motionless in the hammock, aside from the gentle rise and fall of her chest with each breath.
Rey picked up the only blanket she owned and draped it over the sleeping woman.
Then she huddled next to the power cell that functioned as power source and heater and closed her eyes.
From across the compartment, she heard Jenny's quiet, steady breaths, and Rey realized this was the first time someone had slept in the AT-At with her. A small, subtle smile crept across Rey's face as she drifted off to sleep.