Star Wars: The Force Awakens: Rey’s Story Page 2

  BB-8 replied with a sheepish-sounding beep.

  Rey had been teasing the little droid, but his response caught her completely off guard.

  “You’re waiting for someone….” Rey glanced over at the spaceport. Every day, whether she admitted it to herself or not, she watched the ships come and go. She waited for someone—her parents, a friend, anyone—to arrive and tell her it was over. That she didn’t have to wait anymore. That someone had finally returned for her.

  BB-8’s beeping interrupted her thoughts.

  “What? No, I’m not crying!” Rey was furious at herself for her moment of weakness.

  BB-8 made a noise that sounded too much like a chuckle.

  “I was not!” Rey insisted.

  BB-8 teased her all the way to Unkar’s trading stall. By the time they reached his shady window, Rey was laughing at herself, too. She was still a little suspicious of the odd droid, but she was starting to like him.

  Rey cleaned the inverterlifts and placed them proudly in front of Unkar.

  “Two inverterlifts,” Unkar mused. “A quarter portion for both.”

  Rey couldn’t believe the nerve of the old alien. “Last week they were a half portion each! You said you were looking for—”

  “Conditions have changed,” Unkar interrupted.

  Rey felt the anger rising. For too long she had allowed Unkar to cheat her out of the portions she deserved. She was about to say as much when Unkar surprised her with a question.

  “But what about the droid?” he asked.

  “What about him?”

  Unkar stroked his fleshy chin with a smirk. “I’ll pay for him.”

  BB-8 beeped furiously in protest. But Rey couldn’t stop herself from asking: “How much?”

  “Sixty portions.”

  Rey was stunned. That was more food than she had ever seen in her life. With all that food, she could stop living in uncertainty, worrying about scavenging enough parts for a decent meal. With that food saved up, she could start planning for a future.

  She reached down and gently flipped a switch behind BB-8’s head. The droid immediately powered down, his beeping silenced for the moment.

  “One hundred portions,” Rey said with more confidence than she felt.

  That wiped the smirk off Unkar’s face. He stared intently at Rey, but she defiantly held his gaze.

  “One hundred portions it is.”

  Rey couldn’t believe Unkar had agreed. It had been too easy.

  As Unkar gathered the ration packets together, he couldn’t resist adding, “Certain parties have been asking about a droid like that. I’d like to think this exchange’ll be good for both of us.”

  He offered the packets to her. All she had to do was reach out and take them and she wouldn’t have to worry about food for a very, very long time.

  Rey made the mistake of looking down at BB-8’s still form. She could just imagine his indignant beeping, asking how she could even consider selling him to that disgusting trader. And the parties Unkar was hoping to trade BB-8 to were surely no good; they were friends with Unkar, after all.

  Rey made the decision that would change her life forever. “Actually…the droid’s not for sale.”

  She reached down and reactivated BB-8. As Rey had expected, the droid beeped out a series of angry accusations. Rey silenced him with a look and turned back to Unkar.

  “Sweetheart, we already had a deal!” he raged.

  She shrugged. “Conditions have changed.”

  “You can’t afford to say no! Without me, you have nothing—you are nothing!”

  “The droid,” Rey repeated, “is not for sale.” She glared fiercely at Unkar until he flinched and looked away. It felt good to finally stand up to the swindling trader.

  She motioned to BB-8 and, together, the pair walked into the crowded streets of the market.

  Unkar watched them go, his hooded eyes bulging in disbelief. Then he picked up a communicator and spoke into the rusted speaker.

  “I have a job for you,” he said, and slammed down the comm. Nobody spoke to Unkar Plutt like that without facing the consequences.

  REY’S STOMACH GROWLED quietly as she and BB-8 passed a food cart. The greasy steelpecker meat sizzled in the sunlight. She leaned down to the droid. “You’re welcome for not selling you,” she said pointedly.

  But Unkar’s words about “certain parties” interested in BB-8 were still running around her mind.

  “I can’t help you if you don’t tell me who you’re waiting for,” she said.

  BB-8 beeped at her questioningly.

  “Can you trust me? What do you think?”

  BB-8 couldn’t argue with that. Rey had shown him loyalty when he needed it most. Slowly, BB-8 told her about his master, Poe Dameron, and confided that they were on a mission for the Resistance.

  Rey had heard rumors about the Resistance, but she had never dared to hope they were true. Standing up to the First Order seemed like a fool’s errand. The shadowy military group had been created after the fall of the evil Empire. The leaders of the Order claimed to want peace and cooperation, but their brutal actions showed otherwise. World after world had fallen under their control, and yet the New Republic government had done nothing to stop them. Their quest for power was even starting to affect remote planets like Jakku. Just a few days before, First Order stormtroopers had destroyed a sacred village nearby.

  Rey wanted to learn everything she could about the Resistance. She told BB-8 about the recent attack on Jakku.

  BB-8 beeped sadly.

  “You were there?” Rey asked in surprise. Clearly there was more to the little droid than she had thought.

  Before she could ask him more about his mission, a stranger tapped her on the shoulder.

  Rey turned to see a figure covered from head to toe in thick black fabric. Even his face was concealed by a pair of goggles and a rebreather.

  “Plutt wants droid. We take droid. Female don’t interfere.”

  “The droid is mine,” Rey shot back. “I didn’t sell him. Plutt knows that.”

  “You right,” agreed the other thug. “Plutt knows that. You didn’t sell. So he take.”

  His companion was already pulling a sack over BB-8.

  Quickly, Rey pulled her staff from her satchel and prepared for a fight. The man in black held the bag with BB-8. He was her first priority. Rey swept her staff into his legs, forcing him flat on his back. As she lifted her staff to strike another blow, the second thug grabbed her from behind.

  Around her, the Niima marketplace carried on as usual. Brawls were not uncommon there, and no one was going to risk making enemies to help a stranger. Rey was on her own.

  Rey kicked the second thug in the shin. He cried out in pain, reflexively releasing Rey and grabbing his injured leg. The man in black swore and scrambled to his feet. Clearly, neither thug had expected her to fight back so well. When the man in black reached for the dagger hidden in his shoe, Rey yelled and ran her staff into his chest as forcefully as she could. The man hit the ground. Hard. One more thwack on the head and he was out cold.

  Rey turned all her attention to the second thug. He was still cradling his leg, but he seemed to suddenly remember that he was holding a blaster. He started to lift the weapon, but Rey knocked it out of his hand before he could even blink. With one more blow, the second thug joined his friend, unconscious in the sand.

  Rey leaned on her staff, catching her breath. Apparently, Unkar really wanted BB-8.

  BB-8!

  Rey ran to the bag where the droid was still trapped. “Hang on, hang on. I’ve got you.”

  A very disgruntled BB-8 emerged, swiveling his head back and forth. He was getting quite fed up with being captured. He spun his head to look around the market one more time and saw something that scared him much more than the Teedo or Unkar’s thugs ever could.

  “What’s wrong?” Rey asked. BB-8 wasn’t making any sense. He kept looking back toward the happabore watering troughs and beeping a
bout a jacket. “What’s so important about a jacket?”

  BB-8 finally slowed down enough to explain. There was a man behind them, watching them intently. And somehow he was wearing Poe Dameron’s flight jacket. The man must have stolen the jacket from BB-8’s master. Or perhaps even worse…

  Rey was still keyed up from her fight with the thugs. Without thinking twice, she sprinted right toward the man wearing the brown leather jacket. She had time to watch his expression move from surprise to confusion to panic as he turned to run away.

  But the man didn’t get very far. He was clearly unfamiliar with the Niima marketplace, and Rey quickly overtook him. She slammed him to the ground with her staff, knocking the wind out of him.

  She held her staff close to his face. “What’s your hurry, thief?”

  “What?” the man looked confused again. Rey wondered how he could have stolen something from a trained Resistance fighter; the man was certainly no criminal mastermind.

  BB-8 rolled up beside them and extended a live electrical circuit. He pressed it against the man’s body, shocking him from head to toe.

  “Ow! Hey! What?” the man spluttered.

  “The jacket!” Rey said, as if the man didn’t know. “The droid says you stole it.”

  “Listen, I’ve had a pretty messed-up day, okay? So I’d appreciate it if you didn’t accuse me of being a—OW!”

  BB-8 zapped the man again.

  “Stop it!”

  Rey was running out of patience. “Where’d you get it? It belongs to his master.”

  Recognition slowly dawned on the man’s face. He sighed heavily. “His master’s dead.”

  Rey kept her staff pointed directly at the man’s head. But any fight seemed to have gone out of him.

  “His name was Poe Dameron, right?” he asked BB-8. “He was captured by the First Order. I helped him escape, but our ship crashed. Poe didn’t make it.” He sighed again. “I’m sorry.”

  BB-8 beeped sadly and rolled away to be on his own. Rey almost wished the man were lying, but she could tell he meant every word. “So, you’re with the Resistance?”

  The man paused for a moment before answering. “Obviously. I’m with the Resistance, yes. I am.” He glanced at her staff and repeated himself. “I’m with the Resistance.”

  Rey lowered her weapon and helped the man to his feet. She was still wary of him. Rey had paid dearly for trusting others in the past. But something about the stranger felt different. “I’ve never met a Resistance fighter before.”

  “Well, this is what we look like,” he said. “Some of us. Others look different.”

  The man was clearly uncomfortable. Rey hoped she hadn’t scared him too badly by chasing him through the market. Or slamming his head on the ground…

  “Beebee-Ate says he’s on a secret mission,” Rey explained. “He needs to get back to your base.”

  “Yeah, apparently he’s carrying a map that leads to Luke Skywalker, and everyone’s insane about it.”

  Rey was stunned. “Luke Skywalker? I thought he was just a myth.”

  But any further explanations would have to wait. BB-8 raced back toward them, repeating one word over and over again: stormtroopers. The First Order was there.

  REY, BB-8, AND THE RESISTANCE soldier peered around one of the marketplace tents and spotted two stormtroopers talking to some of Unkar’s men. One of the thugs nodded obligingly and pointed right to where Rey and her friends were standing.

  The man grabbed Rey’s hand and started to run.

  “What are you doing?” she asked.

  “Beebee-Ate, come on!” was his only reply. But the laser bolts that ripped past them spoke eloquently on his behalf. They had to get out of there, and fast!

  They zigzagged through a maze of tents as blast after blast followed them through the market. Finn was quick, but he had no idea where he was going.

  “Let go of me!” Rey tried to pull her hand away.

  “We gotta move!”

  Rey wasn’t trying to argue that point. “I know how to run without you holding my hand.” The man tried to pull her toward Unkar’s trading stall. “No, this way!” Rey took the lead, dragging the man behind her, with BB-8 close at their heels.

  She pulled them inside an empty tent to hide. “They’re shooting at both of us,” she said, still trying to process how drastically her life had changed since that morning.

  “Yeah, they saw you with me. You’re marked,” he said apologetically.

  “Well, thanks for that!”

  “Hey, I’m not the one who chased you down with a stick,” he replied. “Anyone sell blasters around here?”

  Suddenly, they heard something outside the tent. The man grabbed Rey’s hand and started running again.

  “Stop taking my hand!” Rey grumbled. She could run from terrifying enemy soldiers on her own, thank you very much.

  They made it only a few steps before a mechanical scream filled the air. A First Order TIE fighter whipped over them. The ship fired right into the crowded outpost, sending Rey flying. Flames engulfed the dry canvas, spreading quickly through the marketplace. Niima was in ruins.

  Rey knew there was only one place left to go: the spaceport. She took the Resistance soldier’s hand and ran faster than she had in her entire life.

  “We can’t outrun them,” he said between gasps.

  “We might in that quadjumper!” Rey replied. The beautiful ship looked like it had just rolled out of space dock. With the ship’s powerful engine, they could easily leave the First Order in their dust.

  “We need a pilot,” the man said.

  Rey smiled confidently. “We’ve got one!” All those hours practicing with her flight simulator were about to pay off.

  “How about that ship?” the man pointed to an old YT series cargo ship. A giant tarp covered most of the spacecraft, but the parts that were showing weren’t much to look at. Some of its paneling was loose, and the hull hadn’t been cleaned in years. But it seemed like it could make orbit. Probably. “It’s closer.”

  “That one’s garbage,” Rey scoffed. But no sooner had she spoken than a TIE fighter blew the beautiful quadjumper into dust.

  Rey quickly reconsidered. “The garbage will do!” The trio ran aboard the old cargo ship.

  There was one consolation in stealing that piece of junk: Rey knew it belonged to Unkar Plutt. She would enjoy imagining the fury on his blubbery face when this was all over.

  Rey made her way to the cockpit and showed the man where the gunner’s seat was.

  “You ever fly this thing?” he asked.

  Rey dodged the question. “Nobody’s flown this ship in years.”

  She sat down in the pilot’s chair and took a deep breath. “I can do this. I can do this,” she said over and over to herself. It was just like the flight simulator at home. No need to be completely terrified.

  Rey ran through the prelaunch sequence in record time and smiled as the engines roared to life. She eased forward on the throttle while pulling back on the control yoke. The ship blasted ahead in one smooth movement and took to the sky. Rey felt her smile grow even wider.

  But her joy didn’t last long. Two First Order TIE fighters were swooping down on them.

  “Stay low and put up the shields—if they work,” the Resistance soldier shouted up to her.

  Rey strained to reach the shield modulator across the wide control panel. “Not easy without a copilot,” Rey said through gritted teeth. No matter how much she stretched, the control was too far away. There was no way she could keep steering and turn on the shields.

  For three insane seconds, Rey let go of the yoke and reached out to hit the shield modulator. The ship veered wildly to the right, throwing BB-8 momentarily into the ceiling of the ship.

  Rey leaped back to the yoke and stabilized the wild weaving. “I’m going now!”

  In Rey’s hands, the ship banked upward and swooped down over the sands of Jakku. The TIE fighters were close behind, firing bolt after bolt at
the cargo ship.

  “You ever gonna fire back?” Rey shouted.

  “Working on it!” the man shouted back.

  After a few tense moments, Rey saw red bolts firing at the TIE fighters. Her new friend had done it!

  “We need cover, quick!” The man called between blasts.

  Rey scanned the horizon and saw the starship graveyard ahead. “We’re about to get some!” Giant Star Destroyers and crashed starfighters were scattered everywhere. It was the perfect place to hide…as long as they didn’t join the fleet of crashed ships themselves!

  THE OLD CARGO SHIP sped between a rusting Mon Calamari frigate and a rebel A-wing fighter. No matter how close to the debris Rey flew, the two TIE fighters stuck right behind them.

  Rey flew dangerously close to the surface of the desert, then banked hard to the left. The edge of the cargo ship cut deep into the sand and spun the ship forward. The Resistance soldier now had a perfect shot at one of the TIE fighters. He did not waste the opportunity.

  BOOM! Pieces of the TIE flew everywhere as blaster bolts ripped through its hull.

  Rey watched the remains of the ship fall to the graveyard below. All the TIE’s primary systems would probably survive the crash. Some lucky scavenger would be eating well that night.

  The remaining TIE stayed close on their tail. One of its blasts connected with the gunner’s turret, jamming the controls.

  “The cannon’s stuck in forward position. I can’t move it!” the man cried. “You’ve gotta lose him!”

  Rey tried to shake the TIE by zigzagging close to jagged piles of debris, but it was no use. She needed a new plan.

  In the distance, Rey spotted the hollowed-out hull of a crashed Star Destroyer. It gave her a crazy idea: if she could fly inside the ship, maybe she could lose the TIE for good. There was no way it could follow her into such a tight space. Right?

  As Rey changed course to head toward the Star Destroyer, she heard the Resistance soldier’s panicked voice over the comm. “Are we really doing this?” he shouted.

  But Rey had made up her mind. She flew inside the Star Destroyer, then checked the ship’s sensors. To her dismay, the TIE had followed them. Debris pelted both ships, but Rey focused on the opening at the other end of the Star Destroyer. If she could just make it through…