STAR WARS EPISODE VII: Forces of Retrograde

CHAPTER IV

Tatooine, in the Jundland Wastes.

Master Kuret hadn't lied. (This time, at least). He did, in fact, know how to sneak into Tusken territory while still escaping notice. The past few hours of uneventful flying were all the proof of that Rey could ask for.

She only wished they didn't have to travel across the open desert at the hottest part of the day to do it. Or at least that Master Kuret wasn't pushing the speeder's engines so hard they had to take the awning down, lest it fly away.

All the shaded passes through the slot canyons and centuries-dry gorges would be under Tusken guard, but Rey almost preferred to take her chances. Yellow Ta and red Tuin were staring down at her and Kuret with all the fury they could muster, and the dusty wind kicked up with the speeder's passing offered only the barest scrap of relief.

"Are we getting close to the wreck yet, Master?" she ventured, tucking her shawl tighter around her face. Twi'lek skin was tougher than a Human's, even a Human with a protective tan from years under the sun. The loosely woven linen couldn't shelter her for long. Much more of this, and Rey would start to burn.

"That's the third time you've asked me that, girl. What did I tell you the first two?"

He waggled a small remote with a short antenna in Rey's face without taking his eyes off the horizon. She sighed quietly. "That you only have a tracking fob to go by, and you can't get a more precise read on it than that."

Beside her at the controls, Kuret snorted. "Of course, the one time she actually does listen is when it barely matters. Useless girl."

"Forgive me, Master," Rey said automatically, casting another wary glance at the suns dominating the sky above them. Wincing, she slouched deeper under her shawl.

"Besides, this is just good business sense." Kuret curled his lip, and Rey decided he wasn't pleased this 'good business sense' was being used against him. "If Seenah gave every team she sent out the coordinates as they are, what would stop everyone from sharing it with all of their friends? Do you know how many scavengers there are on Tatooine? There'd be no more valuable scrap for Lew Kuret, none at all."

A light in the center of the tracking fob began to flash, drawing both their attention. The soft beeps the device had been emitting at intervals increased in volume and tempo to a shrill staccato that had Rey covering her ears.

"This is it, Rey! We are going to be rich!" Master Kuret practically yelled, grinning, and slammed the accelerator up as high as it would go.

The speeder leapt forward, the parts and tools packed into baskets for transport on the flatbed jangling in an unholy cacophony with every spot of air turbulence they crossed. Rey gripped the underside of her seat with white knuckles, as much in fear of the series of low cliffs rising so suddenly out of the dunes before them as of her master's crazy laugh; when the speeder's slipstream tore her shawl away, she barely registered more than a tug at her neck and shoulders before it was gone.

Realization hit when she felt the sun beating down on her scalp again. What a waste, Rey thought, and turned to look for it. Maybe it got caught on the flatbed? Can I still grab it?

If it was even within her line of sight, the bit of grey fabric was invisible against the dunes. Rey bit her lip to hold in an anxious keen. She was going to freeze tonight – if the Tuskens didn't find them first, that was. And what if they did? She never should've come out here. Anyone could be convincing if they tried hard enough, and as bad as she was at reading expressions, at least she knew how to read Kuret. She should've tried harder to persuade him to let her stay in Anchorhead with the flatbed, and–