Chapter Three
Naboo felt as if it had been arrested in time. The planet's residents had seen the destruction of the capital, and feared that the First Order would turn their eye on them. So, when Poe Dameron and Rey showed up looking for replacement X-wing parts and food rations, they were noticeably less than welcoming.
Grimm, the smuggler who had agreed to deal with the Resistance, had a shifty look about him the whole time Rey was helping to load the crates. She watched as Poe and the well-manicured smuggler got into a quiet argument.
For a smuggler, Rey thought, Grimm sure did take a lot of care in his personal appearance, with his hair perfectly parted and waved, and his trimmed beard. Then again, she had lived on Jakku her whole life, and had no frame of reference. In the days following meeting BB-8, Finn and being thrown into the most chaotic moments of her life, she'd been on more planets than she ever thought she would. She felt very out of place on Naboo, even in her new clothes.
The women were very fashionably dressed, draped in flowing silks and beads. Still, behind their gilded exteriors, Rey could sense their fear.
Just as the last crate was loaded onto the freighter called the Iron Mountain, Rey approached the two men who were arguing.
"You're going to back out now?" Rey heard Poe's voice.
"I can't be implicated. Not with the First Order in complete control now. Soon they'll descend on Naboo, and I can't get caught assisting the Resistance."
"Can't… or won't?"
"Does it matter, Dameron?"
"That's the last of it, captain," Rey said, interrupting the flow of their argument.
"Thank you, Rey," Poe said, thrusting a small box, containing what Rey assumed what some kind of payment, into Grimm's hands. "Prep the Mountain."
With the ship fully prepped, Poe came on board moments later, noticeably flustered.
"The criminal element of Naboo is getting scared," he explained, before Rey had a chance to ask.
"Is this bad for the Resistance?" Rey asked, hopeful he would say no.
"It's not good, but Grimm always was a bit of a yellow belly," Poe steered the Iron Mountain and they took off, but did not leave the planet's orbit as Rey had expected. "He's not our only supplier. Just the closest to D'Qar, until we move bases again. We can't stay longer than the week, now that the First Order knows where we are. They won't be incapacitated for long."
"Where is the next base?"
"Admiral Akbar will reveal that only the moment we start to leave. Those who need to know, already do, but most of us pilots just go where we're told."
"Is that what we're doing right now?"
"Yes. We've got a little more cargo to pick up."
"I thought we looked a little light…" Rey added. "Well, are you going to tell me what else we are doing?"
"In the lake country there's an estate. We've got a few people who need safe passage to the Resistance base."
"And why couldn't you have told me this back on D'Qar?" Rey asked.
"We try to keep missions like these fairly low-key. The passengers in question are very valuable. I am sure that when you leave to find Luke, only a small number will know your coordinates."
All of the people in the war room had seen the map, but without application to existing star maps, the star system was completely foreign. The higher command within the Resistance only wanted a handful of people knowing their intimate movements and plans, to safeguard against traitors. They had their own insiders in the First Order, but it would be foolish if they assumed no one in the Resistance could turn on them.
This answer satisfied Rey, and she dutifully tended the ship's controls as Poe piloted the ship into the lake country.
"It's so beautiful," Rey said, astonished. "I'd never been off Jakku until a few days ago…" She admonished herself for saying that. She had no idea why she'd just shared that with Poe.
Poe looked at Rey sadly, the same way Han Solo had looked at Rey when she commented on how green Takodana was. "Well," he said, "keep an open mind, because there's still a lot out there for you to see, kid."
"You keep calling me that," Rey said, revealing a small bit of annoyance. However, not wishing to be subordinate, she left it at that.
"I do. You're very observant," Poe said with a wry smile. "How old are you, anyway?"
"By my count, nineteen."
"'By your count'?" Poe asked. "What does that mean?"
Rey hesitated. "I'm not exactly sure how old I am."
"How can you not be sure?"
"I don't have to explain that to you, Commander," Rey said. She wasn't sure if they court-marshaled in the Resistance, but her feelings told her that Poe could take it just as well as he gave. For a moment, Rey considered leaving it at that, but after looking at Poe's facial expression, she softened.
"I don't know because I wasn't raised by my family."
"I'm sorry, I didn't know." With that, Poe knew the subject was closed, and he focused his energy on landing in an open field next to what Rey assumed was the estate.
It looked as if it had fallen into disrepair in the last several years. Vined plants grew up its many high stoned walls. Chunks of stone were missing, or scattered on the ground. It looked as if it had once been a grand, palatial estate, inhabited by only the top echelon of Naboo society.
Just as the freighter landed, three people came out of the estate, dressed in deep crimson hued robes. Two men, and one older female stood waiting for Poe to land the ship. When Rey and Poe had descended the ramp, BB-8 trailing behind them, Rey watched as Poe embraced each one of them. After a moment, Poe turned to introduce them to Rey.
"Rey, may I introduce the last remaining members of the Senate." Rey's eyes widened.
"Vee Burell, Travers Beeler, and Mahan Jin."
Rey inclined her head in respect.
"Rey, would you run inside and assist the others?"
"Others?" Rey asked. Poe nodded, and said no more. Curious, Rey walked the ten paces toward the entrance of the estate and found about fifteen people scattered in the estate only a bundle or a bag to each of them. Some looked as if they hadn't slept for days. Rey assumed that somehow, through some miracle, these people had escaped the Hosnian system before it was destroyed by the Starkiller weapon.
Without having to ask what to do, Rey helped the very old to their feet, and grabbed as many packs as she could carry. Quickly she made her way back onto the freighter and secured their belongings.
"Settle in to the passenger hold, I'll go in for the rest," Rey turned to leave, when an old man called out to her.
"There's a box in the dining hall," he called.
"I'll get it," Rey rushed off, not waiting for the old man to respond.
Rey ran up the stone steps of the estate again, and made her way into the main entrance. It had high, vaulted ceilings that would have had grand chandeliers at one point. Rey saw one of them dismantled and discarded in a far off corner. The room had a double stairwell, both leading to a landing on the second floor. Without thinking, Rey ascended one side of the stairwell, and walked down a length of hallway before turning to her left. She found herself immediately in a great room with a long table, on which there were was one mid-sized box.
The box appeared as if it had just been placed there, but everything else in the dining hall looked as if it had been that way for years. Toppled chairs, torn tapestries, and an empty place above the mantle where a portrait would have hung. The breeze that flowed through the broken stained glass windows scattered the handful of dry leaves that had fallen through the openings.
Rey paused once she reached the box, and considered the room. A cold chill ran up her arms as she felt temporarily transported. Distantly, Rey was aware of a crow's grating caw from outside. She rubbed at her eyes momentarily, hoping it was just fatigue that was getting to her, but when she pulled her hand away, there was a hearty fire roaring in in the fireplace at the head of the table. Her stomach dropped as she saw the little girl again.
This time she knelt down on the floor, dwarfed in the middle of a burgundy rug, playing with two dolls, her back to her older self. Rey exhaled in disbelief and fear, and turned on her heels, poised to run. She didn't get but three paces before she turned a corner and ran right into Poe, nearly knocking him over.
"Woah, woah," Poe said, steadying Rey by holding onto both of her arms. "Hey there, you ok?"
Rey took a single rattling breath. "Yes," she cleared her throat. "Yes, I just thought I heard…" She couldn't think of a single excuse.
Poe picked up the silence. "Well, the old man sent me after you. He didn't get a chance to tell you where the dining hall was; he was convinced you'd be lost in here. Looks like you found it, huh?"
"Yeah," Rey said, forcing a smile. She turned, grabbing the box that she'd been sent there for in the first place. "Almost forgot." She hoisted it up almost effortlessly. She was scrawny, Poe thought, but strong for her size. As he followed a few paces behind her, Poe thought to himself that there was definitely more to this girl than he knew. She seemed so guarded. But he could already see the cracks in her foundation, and hoped that in time, he would get to know the real Rey.