Rebel

Chapter 13

A soft tickling on her nose woke Rey, she scrunched up her nose, she was so warm, and comfy. A soft laugh was heard, followed by a beeping, someone poked her nose. Rey realized it was BB-8, and Alex. Her eyes opened as she sat up suddenly, and her head slammed into something hard, she fell back and grabbed her head, then realized it was Alex's head she had slammed into, her nose now bleeding quite heavily. She quickly grabbed a cloth off of the bedside table, holding it to her nose. "I'm so sorry!" Rey said. Alex was laughing, "Why are you laughing?" Rey said, "I hurt you!" Alex just shook her head and continued to laugh. Rey waited impatiently for Alex to calm herself, finally she did, and she took the cloth away from her nose as it had stopped bleeding.
"I should have expected that." Alex said, "It's my fault." Then the door opened and Alex turned, two men came in, one was in a wheelchair. Rey recognized one as Erik. "Erik! Kai!" Alex exclaimed, her face lighting up, Erik and Kai rushed forward, engulfing Alex in a hug. Alex drew back and looked at the two men, mainly Kai. "What happened?!" She said, her face falling.
"When we escaped, the TIE crashed, I got hit by a piece, the metal lodged in my spine, the doctors were able to get it out, but they don't have the supplies to fully fix it right now." Alex looked sad, her eyes filling with tears. Rey wrapped her arms around Alex, trying to give her some comfort, Alex leaned back slightly, and Rey gave a soft smile, only Kai saw it.
"Hey. We followed your orders though." Kai said with a sheepish smile, "We came back."
"You did." Alex said, giving a slight smile. "What else could I have expected with you two." The group looked back up at the door when a soft knock was heard. The doctor stood by the door, with a holopad in hand. Alex sat up straighter and motioned for the doctor to come in.
"I'm here to check your vitals, and if everything is good, I can give you the go ahead to leave with Rey." Alex nodded, staying still as the doctor looked at her wounds. She took a small blood sample to look for any infections, and put it in a small device she had in her pocket, it gave a beep a moment later. "You are all clear, I would suggest taking it easy, you will get tired easily for the first few weeks, your leg might give you some pain but it should heal quickly."
"Thank you." Alex said, the doctor nodded and left. Alex looked towards Rey, "We're leaving?" Rey looked a little guilty.
"You don't have to, we are going to find Luke Skywalker, we got the missing part of the map, I was going to tell you, but-" Alex held up a hand, and Rey fell quiet.
"It's okay." Alex said, a wave of relief went through Rey, "I go where you go, scavenger." She finished with a smirk, Rey let out a small laugh. Alex looked back to Erik and Kai, seeing the look in their eyes, "You knew?" She questioned. Erik and Kai nodded.
"Yeah. We were there when the map was found. An old R2 unit had it." Kai said.
"We knew you'd go with her, and abandon us." Erik added, Alex frowned, and Erik nudged her, "I'm teasing. We have work to do here, and I'm not sure how you would last without Rey, you seem to have grown pretty close. What do you think Kai? I'd say she'd make it a week."
"What?!" Alex gave a cry of embarrassment.
"Nah. I'd give it two." Kai said. Alex whacked both of them with a pillow.
"Noo!" Erik cried, covering his head as Alex rained fire down upon him.
"We surrender!" Kai said, also getting hit with the pillow.
"White flag! White flag!" Erik said, and Alex stopped, hugging the pillow and gave Erik and Kai a glare. Rey tried to stifle her laughs, and failed.
"You guys are mean." Alex said, her voice muffled.
"Aw. You love us though." Erik said.
"Sadly." Alex said, putting her pillow aside she stood up, using Erik for balance. Rey got up after her, shaking her head. She couldn't believe they were stormtroopers.
"I should introduce you to General Leia before we go." Rey said.
"Lead the way." Alex said, guestering to the door, "I've been dying to see outside this room."
——
A few minutes later the group walked into the control room, Rebels were moving around, Rey led them over to a table, where General Leia looked at a hologram, she looked up when Rey tapped her shoulder, she looked up and smiled when she saw Rey. "This is Alex." Rey said as she stepped to the side so I was face to face with the General, I stepped forward, holding my hand out.
"Ma'am." She pushed past my hand and wrapped me in a hug.
"Leia, is fine. Chewie told me more about you." Leia said, pulling back as I stood frozen.
"Huh?"
"We talked briefly during the battle, do you not remember?" Leia questioned. I vaguely recalled talking to her as she spoke.
"Oh!" I exclaimed, then my face went red, "I thought you couldn't fly!" Leia nodded, a small smile on her face, "Sorry, the battle is a bit fuzzy. I'm still trying to sort some things out."
"It's fine." Leia said, "Chewie has taken quite a liking to you. Speaking of, has Rey informed you of your departure?"
"I did!" Rey piped up, I turned to look at her, "That's why we came here." Rey said, quieter, I smiled. She is such a dork. Then again, so am I.
"Good, are you ready to leave? Chewie is just fixing the ship." I looked at Rey.
"Yeah," she said, Leia nodded.
"I'll meet up with you." I said to Rey, she nodded and she and Leia started walking towards the door that opened into the hangar. I turned to Erik and Kai, hugging them. I looked at them sternly, "No crazy shenanigans while I'm gone." I said, Erik smiled.
"No promises." He said, then proceeded to ruffle my hair.
"Hey!" I said, slapping his hand away. I then hugged him again, I turned away, and started to walk towards the door.
"Alex!" Kai called, I turned back, looking at the two men that I had known as friends, brothers, for what felt like my entire life, "May the Force be with you." I smiled, and walked away. Meeting up with Rey we walked into the Millennium Falcon, and into the cockpit, Chewie sat in the co-pilot's seat as Rey sat in the pilots, I sat behind Chewie, Rey looked back at me and smiled,
"Eyes on the sky scavenger." I said with a laugh, as she turned back while Chewie raised the ship into the air, he and Rey flew it into the atmosphere of D'Qar, she turned to me her hand on the Hyperspace controls.
"You ready?" She asked.
"Are you?" I said with a smirk.
"Always." With that we jumped into Hyperspace ready to find Luke Skywalker.
——
It had been a long day of flying, and we needed to refuel the Falcon, Chewie told Rey and I about a small planet, growled something about Han and him using it as a place when they needed to lay low. I looked up as Rey entered the main room, turning off the holopad I was studying, "What are you looking at?" She questioned, I shrugged.
"Nothing." I said, I had been looking at old First Order ship schematics, seeing what I might have missed the other times I looked at them. Rey looked at me for a long second before speaking.
"We've landed, Chewie says we can go look around, it will take a few hours until the Falcon is fueled." I nodded, standing up I walked out the door with her, and down the ramp, saying a quick goodbye to Chewie, he roared after us, something about not getting into trouble.
"No promises!" I hollered back, before looking around, trees towered above us, greens popped with other colorful explosions, animals moved around the dense leaves, I saw a blue and pink lizard pause, looking at us before running up the branch. Rey tapped my arm and I looked at her, she pointed up into a tree, a small monkey-like creature sat looking at us, hanging of a tree branch, it chittered at us then swung away. We walked through an archway that led into the walkway in between the landing pads, and into the marketplace bustling with life. "Where did Chewie say we were again?" I asked Rey from where I was looking at a carved crystal sculpture, it was of a Vulpatex, a fox-like animal that resided on Crait, a mineral planet.
"Bakura," Rey responded, I nodded.
"It's amazing." I say smiling, looking around at the vibrant life that surrounds us.
"Yeah." We strolled around the marker for a few hours, I bought a new set of clothes, I needed to stop stealing Rey's. It was a grey vest with a red tank top underneath, paired with a pair of grey pants and a belt, I also put my blaster holster on my right leg. We were back in the Falcon, I came out of the bathroom that I had changed in, walking into the main hold where Rey was reading, she looked up when I entered, a light blush dusted her cheeks. "You look nice." She complimented, I looked down, a blush also rising on my face.
"Thanks." I said, Chewie roared from the cockpit and Rey got up.
"Ready to go?" She asked, I smiled and followed her, she sat in the pilot's seat and I sat behind her, she and Chewie flipped controls and took us up, we entered Hyperspace once where we were out of the planet's gravitational pull. The last leg of our journey to find Skywalker.
——-
Someone is shaking me, I turn over and my eyes open, Rey is standing above me with a small smile on her face. "We're here. Come on." I stand up, stretching my arms over my head and rubbing the sleep out of my eyes. I follow Rey to the ramp leading outside. We walk down it and I give a small gasp, we are on an island, surrounded by the ocean, "Amazing isn't it?" Rey comments softly, I give a small nod, then turn to look up the island, its rocky, and tall, with steps leading up to its top, rocks form walls. I give a small wave to Chewie, as Rey and I start to walk up the steps. Rey turns around to look at Chewie once more and he roars faintly, R2-D2 beeps faintly beside him, then Rey and I start the climb again.
——
I sat down on a rock, looking out at the sea, Rey sitting beside me, we were over half way up the island steps and stopped to take a break, I gratefully accepted the canteen Rey handed me, taking a gulp of water, I handed it back, "Thanks." I say, Rey nods, looking out at the water. We sit in silence for a few minutes and then continue our hike. We arrive at a small stone village, little stone houses sit, Rey and I look at them shortly then continue on, hiking over a grassy valley, we walk up the other side, I almost run into Rey as she stops, I look around her, someone stands on the edge of the cliff, they are wearing a hooded cloak, its worn. They turn slowly, Rey and I walk forward. The man lifts up his hands, and I see one is prosthetic, as he takes off his hood, a face, worn by the wind, is revealed, he has grey hair that moves slightly in the wind, a grey beard, and robes, Jedi robes. Rey looks at him silently and slings her staff on her shoulder, she takes out the lightsaber holding it out to him. A silent plea for him to take it. Would he?