Star Wars: The Force Awakens: Rey’s Story Page 4

  “Move it!” Han shouted to them. As they reached the Falcon’s entry ramp, Han pointed at Rey. “You shut the hatch behind us.” He turned to Finn. “You take care of Chewie.”

  Rey waited as Finn helped Chewie on board and to the lounge for treatment. Then, as soon as Han and BB-8 were inside, she slammed the control to raise the ramp.

  Rey followed Han to the cockpit and sat next to him in the copilot’s chair.

  “Hey, what are you doing?” Han asked.

  “Unkar installed a fuel pump, too,” Rey said. “If you don’t prime it, we’re not going anywhere.”

  “I hate that guy,” Han muttered. He flipped a few switches, and the Falcon’s engines hummed with power.

  “Watch the thrust,” Han instructed Rey. “We’re gonna jump to lightspeed—”

  “From inside the hangar?” Rey asked. “Is that even possible?”

  Han shrugged. “I never ask that question until after I’ve done it.”

  BAM! A rathtar leaped onto the Falcon’s cockpit canopy, causing Rey to jump in her seat. Its rows of jagged teeth clinked against the glass as the creature tried to eat its way inside.

  “This is not how I thought this day would go!” Han said. Rey couldn’t agree more. “Angle the shields—”

  “Got it!” Rey replied.

  Han turned to the lightspeed controls and spoke softly to the ship. “Come on, baby, don’t let me down.”

  He flipped the switch—

  —and nothing happened.

  “What?” Han cried, completely dumbfounded.

  Rey calmly pressed one button. “Compressor,” she explained.

  Han flipped the switch for lightspeed again, and instantly the Falcon shot into hyperspace. The cargo ship disappeared behind them. They were safe at last.

  In all the excitement, Rey had almost forgotten their mission for the Resistance. She still had to convince Han to take them to the Resistance base.

  She decided to show him BB-8’s map. Surely that would be the most compelling argument she could make.

  They all gathered in the Falcon’s lounge and watched as BB-8 projected a vast star map above them.

  Han studied the map quietly. Finally, he spoke. “Ever since Luke disappeared, people have been looking for him.”

  “Why did he leave?” Rey asked.

  Han took a deep breath and explained as best he could. After the fall of the Empire, Luke was the last of the Jedi. He took it upon himself to teach the next generation the ways of the Force.

  “One boy, an apprentice, turned against him. Destroyed it all.”

  Han was staring determinedly at the ground. He went on to say that Luke was overcome with guilt. So the last Jedi had walked away from everything and everyone. The Resistance might have been counting on Luke to save the galaxy from the First Order, but Han had his doubts. Either way, Han refused to return to the Resistance base.

  But he did know someone else who might be able to help them….

  After a quick course correction, the Falcon zoomed out of hyperspace above a lush planet covered in lakes and trees. Rey stared out the window in disbelief.

  “It’s so…green,” she breathed.

  Rey felt very, very far from home. She had never seen a single tree before, and now she was hovering over forests that stretched to the horizon.

  Suddenly, there was a break in the tree line and a beautiful stone castle came into view. Han set down the Falcon in a clearing nearby.

  Rey walked down the exit ramp and took a deep breath. The air smelled…Rey didn’t even have the words to describe it. But there was something clean and invigorating about the breeze that blew gently through the trees. It felt cool on her skin, completely free of sand motes and dry heat. The planet was both inviting and terrifying.

  As they walked toward the castle, Rey tried to drink in every detail. That world would be a treasured memory after she returned to Jakku.

  Finn gestured to the castle wall above them. “So, who lives here?”

  “This is Maz’s place,” Han replied, checking to see that both she and Finn had blasters. “Maz is…a bit of an acquired taste. So let me do the talking.” Han looked pointedly at Rey. “And whatever you do, don’t stare.”

  “At what?”

  “At anything,” Han said.

  Han threw open the big wooden door that marked the entrance to the castle.

  As Rey stepped inside, she gasped in amazement. They had entered a grand hall packed to bursting with aliens and humans from every corner of the galaxy. Some were eating and drinking. Some were playing games of chance. All of them seemed to be having a good time. A band played enthusiastically in a corner with instruments Rey had never seen before. She didn’t know if the musicians were any good, but they certainly seemed to enjoy playing.

  “Haaaaaaan Solo!” a joyful cry cut through the noise of the grand hall. Immediately, everyone went silent and turned toward a short alien with golden skin. She was wearing simple clothes and a giant pair of goggles that magnified her eyes into big blue spheres. Lines marked every corner of her face; Rey could already tell the alien had earned them through centuries of hearty laughter and kind smiles.

  Han raised a hand in greeting. “Hiya, Maz.”

  Maz waddled across the room to greet her new guests. “Can’t be! My eyes must be malfunctioning,” she said, shaking a finger at Han. “Last thing you said to me was ‘Be right back.’ That was, what, twenty-five years ago?”

  “I’ve been busy,” Han mumbled.

  “Oh, trust me. I know.” Maz shook her head. “I’ve lost count of the bounties out for you.”

  Suddenly, she turned to Rey. “Boy, are you hungry!”

  Rey was stunned. “How did you know that?”

  “Because your stomach’s loud, and I’m short,” she said, laughing. “Come—eat!”

  REY TRIED TO MAINTAIN some of her dignity as a giant plate of baked cushnips with fral was placed before her. She waited for everyone else to be served and then dove into the food like she hadn’t eaten all day. Which, to be fair, she hadn’t.

  Han leaned in close to Maz. “I need you to get this droid to Leia. It’s about Luke.”

  “Then why don’t you deliver it yourself?” Maz asked.

  “I can’t risk leading the First Order to the Resistance,” Han replied.

  Maz laughed. “Oh, yeah. That’s what’s stopping you.”

  “Leia doesn’t want to see me,” Han admitted.

  Rey took a sip of the drink beside her and immediately gagged.

  “Oh, yeah, don’t drink that stuff,” Han said, too late.

  Maz smiled, then looked around the table at her guests. “I know why you all think you’re here. But I feel there’s something more….”

  She turned to Finn. “You. You say you’re with the Resistance?”

  “Yeah,” Finn replied, a little too quickly.

  “Hmmmmm,” was all Maz said to that.

  Then she turned to Rey. “And you? Who are you?”

  Rey wasn’t quite sure how to answer the question. She was seated at the same table with heroes from two wars. What was she doing there?

  “I’m no one,” she said finally. “Just a scavenger.”

  “Then you know machines!” Maz said.

  Rey nodded. “Uh-huh.”

  Maz leaned forward. “Each component has a reason for being. A purpose. What is your purpose? Have you ever asked that question?”

  Rey felt herself being drawn in by those big blue eyes.

  “We all have a greater purpose,” Maz continued. “Do you feel it?”

  Rey felt something glowing inside of her. She had felt that but never understood why. How could a scavenger on a junkyard planet be a part of the story of the galaxy? And yet, in that moment, Rey felt certain that her destiny had finally found her. She opened her mouth to say “Yes!” when Finn interrupted.

  “No.”

  Rey turned to him in surprise. “What?”

  “I just want to get out of here,” he said.

  Maz pointed obligingly at a different table. “Big head, red helmet. They’re bound for the Outer Rim and will trade work for transportation. Go.”

  Finn stood awkwardly and nodded to everyone. “It’s been nice knowing you. Really was.”

  Then he left.

  Rey felt dazed. None of it made sense. Why would a Resistance soldier suddenly abandon his mission? They were so close to their goal.

  Rey decided she wasn’t going to let Finn leave without a better explanation. He owed her that much. BB-8 seemed to agree. The droid rolled close behind her.

  Rey marched angrily up to Finn. “What are you doing?” Finn tried to turn away, but Rey refused to let him. “You heard what she said. You’re part of this fight. We both are.” She looked into his eyes. “You must feel something….”

  “I’m not who you think I am,” Finn said finally. “I’m not special.”

  “Finn, what are you talking about? You’re—”

  “I’m a stormtrooper,” Finn said.

  That stopped Rey cold. It couldn’t be true.

  “That’s all I’ve ever been,” Finn continued. “A stormtrooper has one purpose: to kill. But my first battle, I couldn’t do it. So I ran. Right into you.”

  Rey’s mind was racing to keep up.

  “You asked me if I was Resistance and looked at me like no one ever had,” Finn said. “But I’m not a hero. I’ve got nothing to fight for.”

  Rey quieted the voices fighting in her mind. If Finn really wanted to leave, there was nothing she could do to stop him. Maybe he was a coward after all.

  “So you’re running away?” she asked.

  Finn sighed. “I think we both are.”

  Rey watched Finn make a deal with the aliens bound for the Outer Rim. Then he walked with them through the front door of the castle, without even looking back.

  The merry buzz of the grand hall suddenly seemed distant. What were any of them doing there? What was she doing there?

  Maybe she should just go home to Jakku and leave saving the galaxy to someone else.

  REY TRIED TO THINK of anything other than Finn, but his last words to her replayed over and over in her mind. To clear her head, Rey began wandering through the castle. The long corridors of stone seemed to stretch on forever. Rey made sure to keep track of each twist and turn so she wouldn’t get lost.

  Rey had thought escaping from the grand hall would help settle her thoughts. But being alone just intensified her fear. How had she gotten into that mess? What would happen if the First Order found her and BB-8? Were they still safe in the castle?

  She found herself analyzing the hallways, marking good escape paths, noting areas that were especially exposed. From the moment she had left Jakku, Rey had been on the run from one enemy or another. She was tired of running.

  Rey sat down and held her head in her hands. She closed her eyes and tried to focus on the happy sounds still echoing from the grand hall.

  That was when she felt it—a tug, deep within her very core. Rey looked behind her and saw a stone staircase leading down into the castle. She had the overwhelming feeling that she was supposed to follow its lead.

  She heard the soft whir of BB-8 rolling behind her. That good old droid must have been following her from the start. She didn’t ask him to leave as she walked down the long stairway and into a cluttered basement room. Artifacts that must have been collected over centuries covered every open space around her. But in the center of the room was a plain wooden box.

  Rey slowly walked toward it. It seemed to call to her, with a message she didn’t quite understand. She gently touched the edge of the box.

  Nothing happened. So Rey lifted the lid and reached for the strange silver object inside.

  Instantly, a powerful mechanical breathing sound filled the room. Darkness pushed in around her until all she could see was inky blackness. Then a light flickered above her. She was in a dimly lit hallway covered with metal plating. It looked nothing like the stone passages of Maz’s castle.

  As she peered into the distance, she saw a man in black wielding a red lightsaber. His face was covered with a mask, molded to approximate a human face. But the mask’s eyes were dead and empty.

  The man’s red lightsaber clashed against a brilliant beam of blue. A young man with blond hair raised his own lightsaber and fought furiously against the monster in black.

  Rey didn’t understand what was happening. She turned from the battle and ran down the metal corridor. But as she ran, the floor twisted beneath her feet. She fell against the wall, which had somehow suddenly become the floor.

  Rey wished that the visions would end. She was so confused. Where were they coming from? Why could she not escape from them? They felt so real.

  Before she knew it, more images flashed through her mind: a hero stabbed by a fiery blade, a battlefield filled with soldiers, a blue-and-white droid beside a lost Jedi. She saw a man in a silver mask and dark hood, with six shadowy figures behind him. Without knowing how, Rey realized that he was Kylo Ren—warrior of the First Order. His red-gold lightsaber glowed in a frightful cross as he glided toward her.

  Then Rey’s vision shifted a final time.

  She was back on Jakku.

  Rey knew the landscape of that desert all too well.

  But Rey was only a little girl in this vision.

  She was struggling to free herself from a foreign hand that was holding her down like an anchor.

  There was a ship.

  Rey knew she had to get to the ship.

  But the hand.

  The hand held her back.

  The ship flew away.

  Rey’s heart pounded louder and louder in her chest.

  A figure emerged from the darkness.

  Kylo Ren lifted his lightsaber and charged.

  Rey felt a hand on her back. But this was not the same hand as before.

  “There you are.”

  Rey spun around to see Maz smiling up at her. Rey was in the cluttered basement room once again. The wooden box sat innocently on the table beside them.

  “What was that?” Rey demanded. She took a few shaky breaths and started to calm down. “I—I shouldn’t have gone in here. I’m sorry.”

  “If you weren’t meant to see what you did, the room would never have let you in,” Maz said calmly.

  Rey rubbed her head. “It must be the drink.”

  “It’s not the drink. It’s the Force,” Maz said. “Frightening thing, the first time you let it in. But it’s always present, at work in different forms—good and evil.”

  Rey didn’t know what to say. It was too much. She was just a scavenger from Jakku, not a conduit for some mystical life force. She wasn’t ready to be more. Not yet.

  Tears threatened to fall from Rey’s eyes. “Can you get me home?”

  “Only you can do that,” Maz said, taking her hand. “But ask yourself where that is. Return to Jakku to continue waiting?”

  Rey nodded. “I have to go back.”

  “For someone who left you when you were smaller than I?”

  “If they come and I’m not there—” Rey choked back a sob.

  “They’ll never find you?” Maz finished.

  “Yes. Please…”

  “They’re not coming back,” Maz said, not unkindly. “This I know.”

  Rey didn’t know what to say. How could the little alien possibly know anything about her family?

  “Child, the belonging you seek is not behind you. It is ahead.”

  Rey shook her head. “I’ve been away too long.”

  She turned to go, but Maz spoke softly behind her. “Quite the opposite.”

  REY RAN THROUGH THE FOREST outside of Maz’s castle. It was too much. She was tired of people she barely knew telling her how she should feel. She just wanted to go home to her simple life on Jakku. It was safe there.

  Rey’s thoughts were interrupted by a soft beeping behind her. BB-8 was rolling along a few meters away, carefully avoiding the twigs and branches that littered the forest floor.

  “What are you doing here?” Rey asked the little droid.

  BB-8 beeped comfortingly.

  “No, you have to go back.” Rey pointed at the castle in the distance. “I’m leaving. I can’t stay. I can’t…do this.”

  She added softly, “Finn was right.”

  A beam of light crackled across the sky. Rey looked up, above the treetops, and stared in disbelief at the pulsing red beam. She could sense the power and destruction that emanated from the glowing light. Fear welled inside her. What was going on?

  She turned to BB-8. “You have to go back. You’re important. They’ll help you more than I ever could.”

  The beam had disappeared from the sky. But in its place, a fleet of First Order ships descended through the clouds. Rey looked at the ships, then back at Maz’s castle. Laser fire streaked through the air, blowing a gaping hole in the side of the stone building. Flames began spreading everywhere. Humans and aliens streamed from the castle, looking for safety.

  Rey’s friends were in danger. Even if she doubted herself, she didn’t doubt them. She had to go back and help.

  Rey raced through the forest, scanning the fleeing crowd for signs of her friends. BB-8 was keeping up as best he could. Rey glanced back to make sure he wasn’t falling behind.

  That was when the shuttle caught her eye. Its enormous black wings folded skyward as the ship landed softly on the planet’s grassy soil. An exit ramp extended, and a feeling of dread washed over Rey.

  A man in a long black cloak walked out of the shuttle. Rey immediately recognized the silver mask that covered his face. It was Kylo Ren, the First Order’s darkest warrior.

  A platoon of stormtroopers accompanied him. Rey pulled out her blaster and ran for cover. “Follow me!” she called to BB-8.

  But Kylo Ren had already spotted her. He was heading right for her hiding spot with his lightsaber at the ready.

  Rey leaned down to BB-8. “Keep going. I’ll fight them off.”

  BB-8 beeped encouragingly at Rey. He didn’t want to leave her, but he had a mission to complete. He wheeled away beneath the trees and out of sight.