Star Wars: I Am a Slave ✓

Chapter 31 - Visions of a Creature

Rey woke from her sleep screaming. Instead of the usual young man she dreamt of, last night she had been haunted by a creature in a mask—no, not haunted by, but hunted by the creature. She climbed out of her bed, a real bed now made with a mattress she had rescued from a freighter spread over a round personnel access tube. She drank some water to clear her head of the terrifying image. She was not sure what was more disconcerting—the mask, being hunted, or a connection she felt with the creature. She could not only feel a connection but the conflict within him—something was tearing him apart on the inside, something she wanted nothing to do with.

Rey shoved the thought from her mind and thought about her scavenging for the day. After breakfast, Rey headed out to the remains of the Star Destroyer Inflictor. Donning her goggles that she had found on a corpse a few months before, she set out across the dunes. Over the last couple of years the wind storms had uncovered over half of the superstructure. Unkar's heavy crews had taken out the decking and even the large engines this time. Small salvage was all that remained, but sometimes she could find working pieces. And she would need some working pieces this time—she was out of food, again.

When she arrived at the ship, she left her speeder at the base of the dune. Entering through an empty engine port, she climbed the inner wall of the destroyer, pulling devices off as she climbed. The light on her goggles shined on the repulsor lift she stood on. She grabbed some cabling, pulling it loose. Then she grabbed a fuse and removed it from the equipment. After shoving it in her satchel, she jumped to the rope that hung from the ceiling and slid down, jumping the last few meters to the sandy floor below.

She dragged her salvage pieces on a spare sheet of metal. When she reached the glaring heat of Jakku, she shoved her staff in the sand beside her, removed her goggles, and drank the last few drops of water from her canteen. The image of the creature from her nightmare appeared in front of her face. She shook her head, thinking it must be the heat causing hallucinations. She jumped onto her improvised sled and headed down the dune to her speeder.

At the base of the hill, she grabbed a tow line and dragged the sled to her speeder. After stowing her salvage in her cargo net, Rey sped off toward Niima Outpost, hoping to get enough food to last through the next day.

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When she reached the outpost, she dragged her finds on the cargo net to the cleaning table. Rey spoke to no one, but she could not help but look at the aged woman across from her cleaning her own salvage pieces. Rey stopped cleaning and wondered, Is that my future if my family never comes? Is this all my life will be? Scavenge, clean, trade, survive? Will I be here forever? While she pondered those thoughts, one of Unkar's sentries, a small alien with a brown hood, encouraged her with a sharp hit with his staff to continue cleaning or move away from the table for others to use it. Rey looked at him sternly, upset that her thoughts had been disturbed. She scrubbed harder and faster to avoid another hit.

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When her items were as clean as possible, Rey brought them to Unkar's booth. She knew she should get at least a full portion for the four pieces she brought him, but Unkar was being unusually obstinate today. He made her wait in silence for ages before he even acknowledged her and examined the pieces. He rumbled, "What you have brought me today . . . is worth . . . hmm . . ." He let it hang, observing how desperate Rey was. Her mouth tensed. He smiled wickedly as he swindled her again, "One-quarter portion." Rey looked back at him, schooling her expression to one devoid of emotion, but inside she was angry and disappointed at the result. Recently, she had learned that arguing with Unkar only caused him to reduce the trade.

Unkar slapped down the sealed packet that constituted one-quarter portion. It would serve for one meal tonight. Tomorrow morning, she would wake-up hungry, her lean stomach growling. Glaring at Unkar, she dragged the portion off the ledge.

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