Chapter 19
The end of the two weeks came much faster than Rey had expected. She found herself sitting in the pilot's chair of a small cargo ship with her team bustling around her, organising weaponry and in particular, the crates of explosives.
Rey was confident. She knew the skills of the people around her and knew they were capable of the task at hand. The crew were very mixed in personality so much so that she was surprised they got on so well. Jorr was always impatient about going on his next mission, but he was always the voice of reason, making important decisions that the others could not decide over. Nadiya was like his partner in that respect. Though she wasn't more than ten years older than Rey, she mothered everyone, she made everyone better fighters, better thinkers. The two of them were good leaders that Rey questioned why Leia had made her the leader. Boril was the quietest of them all. He had extreme patience when dealing with Takada – the practical joker, the ex-bounty hunter who ignored social cues completely. Delina was probably the one who disliked Rey the most. Rey supposed that she didn't want her stealing Nadiya's attention away from her. It was clear the young girl was possessive of the older woman, almost idolising her in how she followed every word she said. Despite Leia telling her she could train them however she saw fit, their training sessions were much more like ice-breakers, where they could get to know Rey and ask her questions.
As the days had progressed, the questions had grown more specific until they were asking to view her abilities and hear about her childhood. Rey didn't have many answers to the latter as her memories were filled with the monotony of junk-collecting and being always on the edge of hunger and thirst. A part of her, and Rey knew it, but a part of her heart twisted when she realised that her life had meant nothing. It had meant so little that whoever had abandoned her, had not even considered coming back for her or looking out for her. The thoughts had stayed with her over the last two weeks and she pushed all her unanswered questions to the side and found comfort in her friends.
Rey closed her eyes as she gripped the pilot controls on the cargo ship and took several deep breaths. She had become accustomed to meditating in the midst of doing things and she felt it helped her forget that Ben was there with her in every moment. It had taken some time for her to get used to sleeping without dreams in general, but now she was at ease with it. Being without dreams altogether was a peculiar experience. To sleep and wake up knowing there was only darkness, that her mind could not conjure any images to ease her fears or increase them, was strange. Sometimes Rey woke up finding herself standing in her room or walking around the facility in her sleep wear. She didn't feel justified to tell her master because before Ben, when she was still on Jakku, there had been times when she'd woken up shivering on the dunes. Rey always wondered if she had always been this way, back before she had been left on Jakku, had she sleepwalked? She could only sigh and go back to her cot, wishing it could be okay to just dream of Ben. Her friends had made sure to keep her preoccupied, however and their company was welcome. Even though she was busy and always somewhat zapped after training sessions with Luke and then with her team, she enjoyed being around them. It wasn't something she was used to; having friends, being able to laugh and smile with them. It filled her heart, erasing the emptiness that Ben had left her with. She found strength in them.
'I think we're almost there Rey,' Nadiya said as her eyes were trained at the cockpit window.
Rey read the co-ordinates and gave a quick nod before adjusting herself in her seat so that she could bring them out of hyperspace within the atmosphere to avoid detection. They were entering from across the planet where the planet's sun had yet to hit and flew low over the barren earth until they reached a zone they could trek from. As they landed, Rey activated the reflective shielding, as without it, a worker with binoculars would easily be able to see the out of place cargo vessel from the facility. Despite the emptiness of the planet, the flat dry plains did not help when camouflaging.
They landed approximately a mile from the facility and they all noted what direction they were from it, otherwise they could get lost in the planets seemingly endless desert.
Leia had sourced them uniforms of the generic planet workers for everyone to wear but Rey, who would need to be the lookout. The team soon changed and once the gear had been gathered, they readied themselves to set off.
It had been a while since Rey'd felt this kind of heat, not in her dreams or illusions, but actually feeling the heat through her shoes. However, something felt wrong to Rey when her feet touched the scorched earth and her heart twisted in her chest as she looked around. It was something she hadn't felt before, but a bad feeling all the same, one that tugged at her connection to the Force. All she wanted was this mission to pass without a hitch, and she suddenly felt fearful that that wouldn't happen.
The group began to walk towards the facility carrying the explosives disguised as cargo. Rey separated when they were a few hundred metres from the facility, stealthily heading towards it using what shielding she had learnt from Luke. She was to mind-trick the workers into asking no questions regarding her own team's entrance and she would set a clear path for them until they reached the cargo hold. The First Order wasn't due to pick up the Rhydonium until the late afternoon, so by noon the fuel had already been transported all into one place.
Rey did her part without any problems, though she still felt as if something were wrong. She could hear her team over her communication device and they weren't having issues getting through with their crates but she worried. Though she had spent the last week practicing camouflaging herself with Luke, it had its limits and she could only hold it for short periods of time. This meant Rey was constantly moving.
When her team had made it to the cargo hold, they placed the crates in strategic areas of it. They were to each take several devices and place them directly on the oil drums and then leave one by one. Rey watched from one of the large ceiling lightning fixtures as they did so and once they were all out she felt relieved, taking a moment to breathe steadily again. She heard them speaking over her headset and urged that they leave immediately.
Rey jumped down from her place on one of the light fixtures and looked about her for trouble. Rey slipped out of a side door and carefully made her way towards one of the exits. They would blow the cargo once they were some distance from the facility and Rey listened carefully as her team confirmed they had left the location.
'Once you reach the ship, blow it,' Rey whispered.
Rey paused then and it was as if the hairs on her arms were standing on end. Something didn't feel right and she knew to reach for her staff, her hand squeexing the hilt tightly.
'Rey, there's a tonne of First Order vessels dropping Stormtroopers at the base.' Jorr said through the ear piece.
Her brow furrowed but Rey maintained her composure. 'Keep to the plan. Blow the cargo when you reach the ship. They shouldn't be able to see the charges unless they are looking for them. You'll need to hurry, though.'
'Meet you back at the ship?' Jorr questioned.
'Yes, but if I'm held up and you sense danger, leave immediately. Do you understand?' Rey murmured.
There were murmurs of worried understanding and Rey removed her staff, her hands tight around it and ready to fight if necessary. She guessed that the First Order had dropped the troops to aid in the transport of the Rhydonium. Rey shielded herself and ran as fast as she could through the facility, aiming towards the general direction she wanted. It was frustratingly slow going and she knew that with every minute that passed with her still in the facility, the more dangerous it would be for her. There was a reason Rhydonium wasn't used as fuel any longer, it was far too volatile.
She slipped past several workers and then as she went to open a door to the outside, the sound of breathing through a helmet could be heard from behind her.
'You! What are you doing? Who are you?'
Rey realised she held her staff in her hands and was thankful that to the Stormtroopers it probably looked like a long piece of metal or a club rather than a Lightsaber. She turned around, attaching it to her hip and she smiled. There were two of them, their weapons cocked.
'I'm on break,' she responded casually.
'You aren't dressed like a worker, where are your credentials?'
'I'm a warden,' she responded.
'A female warden?'
Rey nodded and she channelled the Force into carefully opening the door, her smile widening when she heard it click. 'We are incredibly progressive here.'
One of the Stormtroopers didn't seem to believe a word and he adjusted his weapon. 'Put your hands up.'
'Must you really do this?' Rey questioned with a frown.
She sensed that the trooper wouldn't stop so she considered what she could say to distract the two of them.
'Hands up!'
Just as Rey went to put her hands up, the earth shook and with it came the crack of a hefty number of explosives. The noise and shaking was enough to distract the Stormtroopers and Rey slipped through the door, running as quickly as possible and wishing that the Jedi had found the ability to fly. The fire and explosions would only grow in size as the charges continued to go off in the cargo hold, so Rey wanted to make distance between herself and the facility.
She didn't manage to get more than a hundred metres away before she was being shot at and she turned to glance at her attackers, seeing the flames and smoke coming from the edge of the facility where the cargo hold was. There were sirens ringing and the two Stormtroopers she had left behind were already calling in reinforcements. She lifted a hand, slamming them into each other and she took off running again. A blaster bolt grazed her arm and she focused her attention onto shielding herself, but knew it was probably doing very little. The sweat dripped from her forehead and she felt her skin sizzling under the sun as she ran. If there were at least variations in the terrain like on Jakku, she'd know where to hide, but it was just flat wasteland here.
Rey glanced back, still running and saw that there were already two TIE fighters in the air and the Stormtroopers gathered by the door she had exited, had fallen back. Foolishly she had left her blaster on the ship and it wasn't long before the TIE fighter pilots would see her running. A blast narrowly missed her but threw her several feet across the cracked earth and her ears rang as the fighters came back around to shoot at her again.
Looking down at her staff, Rey considered whether it was a good idea to use her Lightsaber. Her cover would ultimately be blown; they would know who she was and therefore the chances of reinforcements increased.
As the first TIE fighter came speeding towards her she concentrated on the Force and subtly misdirected the bolts and they slammed into the ground around her. Closing her eyes, she began running again, slightly deflecting the bolts with the Force and despite it slowing her down, the pilots seemed to grow frustrated. When they raced past her for a third time to double back, she noticed a small crater in the cracked ground and she jumped into it, holding tightly onto the edge with her fingers and ignoring that the appendages had begun to burn at the contact with the sun-scorched ground. Rey watched from that position as the TIE fighters dropped lower and lower, until they weren't more than 50 metres above her. They spotted her, most likely thanks to their heat sensing and when they looked to shoot at her, she deflected both their bolts, sending them into each other and sending the fighters crashing to the ground. The debris narrowly missed her and without a second thought, Rey pulled herself from the hole and went running back to the rendezvous. Just as she reached the halfway point, her head light with constant running, she was halted by the heat of the cargo ships thrusters. It hovered just off the ground and a hand reached out to grab Rey, which she took.
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