Star Wars: I Am a Slave ✓

Chapter 26 - Bargain Rather Than Fight

It had been another year, another 368 marks on the walker wall. This was the year she had run out of water. The cistern that was in the walker, that took up much of the walker's upper compartment, was dry. The more she would think about it, the more her head hurt. Rey could not remember building the cistern herself nor filling it. It was obviously not part of the original walker.

There was so much about her life she could not explain. The parts she could remember brought no peace, only questions. She remembered being dragged off a ship by a green alien and shoved into Unkar's fat, slimy hands. She remembered she was 5. She remembered the way her mother screamed for her as they both were dragged apart. But she did not remember how she moved to this walker and became a scavenger.

She knew her speeder inside and out. She had a vague memory of putting it together, but maybe it was a memory of a repair. She could not remember ever learning how to fly, but she could fly like the wind in her X-Wing with two engines and not enough boost to break the atmosphere. She loved flying. It was the one thing on this blasted rock that was exhilarating, and it was the one thing she was going to have to give up today.

She could live a few days or even a week without food—had done it many times in the last year—but she could not live without water. She could not even scavenge today without water. She had hoped that she would gain enough salvage yesterday for a few portions and a few liters of water, but all she was able to pull was some scrap to be melted.

Rey climbed to her X-Wing and removed the camouflage netting. She checked out the ship, noting which things Unkar would discount for, and then fired her up. She may have to give up the craft today, but she was determined to get one more flight out of her first. Rey sped her across the desert, plying the wind as it buffeted against the foils. She raced straight, she pulled up, she dived down. She pulled into a loop, feeling the exhilaration as the gravity shifted in her body.

As the sun peeked out from behind the dunes, Rey pulled the craft back into position and headed toward Niima Outpost. Below her she could see the scavengers making their way to the graveyard. She hoped that after selling her X-Wing, that she could hop a ride with a scavenger on a repulsor sled—for a price, of course.

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Rey brought the X-Wing down at the landing area. She settled it next to the beat-up freighter, its camouflage netting blowing in the wind. The old freighter had not been touched in years. The last time she had sneaked on board, the sublight engine lay in pieces all over the cargo hold. She could never figure out what Unkar wanted to do with the ship. At the rate he was going, it would end up being scrapped before long.

Unkar came out from his trading booth to meet the new arrival. He was shocked when he saw it was Rey and not a trader. "Where did you get that?" asked Unkar, pointing at the craft.

"I found it years ago and fixed it up. It has no hyperdrive and two of the engines are dead, but it handles atmospheric maneuvers perfectly. Not even a crack in the canopy," spoke Rey.

Unkar moved to the ship, moving his hands across the hull. He opened the access hatch and examined the features. He was actually pleased when he asked, "How much?"

Rey had no idea how much to ask for it. She was hoping he would say something, and she would ask for more, knowing he would low-ball her. Rey decided to ask for a year's worth of supplies, "1,000 portions and unlimited water for the next standard year."

Unkar smiled way too quickly. Rey bit her tongue. She must have come in too low; he was practically jumping at her bid. Unkar opened his mouth to speak, but then his head dipped forward as if it had been hit from the back. He shook his head and opened his mouth to accept the offer, when his head tipped backward, his eye impacted. He raised his hand to his eye and mentioned, "No, that's too low, Rey. This ship, I could get at least two—" His head went forward again. Unkar raised his hand to the back of his head where a lump was forming. "I mean at least three year's worth of portions and water for this." Unkar looked around, nervously, suspecting that Vader's ghost was at it again. "But I don't have that much available right now. If there are other things you need, we can create a trade for them: clothing, supplies, some of the salvage that they've brought in."

Rey was staggered by that, food and water for three years. Or supplies. She needed some supplies. And if there was a generator . . . Rey took a month's worth of supplies and a week's worth of water and basic supplies for the month. She flagged down one of the scavengers as they headed out in the early morning to the graveyard. For a week's worth of portions, they allowed her to climb aboard the repulsor lift with her goods. The water would have been impossible to drag through the desert otherwise.

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After storing her goods in her walker, Rey fired up her speeder and headed out to the Star Destroyer Inflictor. Over the last year, scavengers had blasted a hole into the hull and started the excavation. It was a free-for-all. The sand had shifted a bit during the last storm, and now it's aft keel stuck up in the air. She grabbed her tools and started back on the power room. Unlike the Ravager, this power room did not survive the impact. However, there were some prime pieces just waiting to be removed if you knew how to do it. Her scanner read very little radiation in the room, but the rest of the scavengers avoided it out of due caution. Within a week, Rey should be able to start a stockpile of parts and then portions. Maybe she could one day get her own permanent dwelling or save enough to buy passage off this planet.