Star Wars- In another Life.

Chapter 12- Jakku

Rey clung to the dark metal interior of a long-dead old-model Imperial Star Destroyer. Her satchel was nearly full, enough to ensure she would eat tonight. She headed towards a distant slit of sunlight that led to the world outside the metal caverns. Outside, she removed her goggles and squinted at the blasted terrain; it was not yet midday, and much work still needed to be done. She pulled a canteen from her belt, draining the contents and banging out the last few drops. She fastened her salvage to a large sheet of metal and sitting upon it as a sledge, she slid down the dune to where her speeder lay waiting. Like everything she owned, it wasn't lovely but practical. She hauled her load onto her trusted transport and sped across the sand. The speeder never faltered in the challenging terrain. She made sure of that through a daily routine of checking and cleaning the parts. Her staff and reputation ensured some Teedo would not steal it; she would never be stranded in the Jakku desert. 

On arrival at Nima Outpost, she dragged her stash of components under the communal tent and began scrubbing. Despite the morning being far more difficult, cleaning her cache of components was the part of her day Rey liked least, well, except for when she placed those cleaned parts in front of Plutt. If there was ever a being that represented a sack of slime, he was it. Vile to look at with a similarly repulsive personality. A lumpy, fleshy, hairless shape. Barely humanoid, Unkarr was bipedal, but that was where human similarities ended. He seemed full and flat, like a taller creature had squashed him into his current blubbery form. She suppressed a giggle as she imagined him being trodden on. Sadly, nothing about Plutt was actually comical; he was detestable, and the worst part of her day was yet to come when she waited for him to examine her offering in exchange for food. He would make her wait while he also examined her; she shuddered to herself and tried to think of something else. There must be a better way of living than this, she thought and not for the first time.

A young man stumbling around with a brown leather jacket over his dusty head caught her eye. She absently wondered, could that be Ben? He'd asked her where she was, told him he would come for her, but he never had, and every dark stranger she saw at Nima, she wondered if it was him. It had been so long since she'd seen him, but she already knew the man flailing about was not the young man she'd known. The manner in which he held himself, he wasn't tall enough and the eyes, his eyes weren't right; it wasn't Ben. Rey didn't know what had happened to Ben. She'd felt things that night after their argument, and since she'd often felt cold or she'd felt him, his feelings. Whenever their connection sparked, she'd see him bruised, bloody, shaking in pain or anger, but if he'd seen or felt her, he hadn't acknowledged it, ignoring her presence until the connection ended. Then, the masked monster had come to her instead. A dark-cloaked creature all in black with a shiny chrome mask and a blazing red laser sword. The moments she'd seen of this menace had never been the long conversations she'd had with Ben, just fleeting images of freezing terror before they thankfully disappeared. Her friend was gone, where she wasn't sure.

The man staggering about begging for water was a stranger here, completely unprepared for any amount of time spent on Jakku. Ben would have known better. She pulled a face of revulsion as she watched the desperate man plunge his upper body into the filthy water trough next to a drinking Happabore. He pulled his head out, the stagnant brown water dripping down his shirt from his dark hair, then proceeded to cup his hands and drink the tepid, filthy water as though it were clean and cool. One of Unkar's thugs tapped her with his rod on her shoulder, and she returned to her scrubbing, having become completely lost in her thoughts while watching the stranger. Her scrubbing complete, she took a cleansing breath to compose herself for the inevitable encounter with Plutt. The young, now less dusty but damp man was standing next to Plutt's little business cabin, imploring him for help with promises of Republic credits.

"Credits are no good here, especially promises of ones," Plutt was answering as Rey approached his hut and laid her scrubbed components out for him to see.