Warrior ◊ Star Wars

chapter three; bad dreams

Mara had decided that she should refer to BB-8 as a 'he; instead of an 'it'. Frankly, it seemed impolite to refer to something lesser than it was, and BB-8 was quite the character. He deserved to be something more than just an 'it'. And perhaps Mara just found it more comforting she would be talking to a someone instead of a something.

She had also decided the droid had several different ways of communicating; beeping, singing, blurbing, and some sort of small moaning. He would alternate between all of them, making him quite vocal.

By the time they'd shut and sealed the AT-AT's main door shut, night had completely blanketed the sky, stars revealing themselves in the dark's stitching. Rey had been able to make an old lighting system work, so dim light allowed the naked eye to see most things. Rey's night vision goggles still were needed if you wanted to find something specific. For example, Mara tossed one of the blankets she had recently acquired from a trade onto her bed, but it took five minutes and two miscellaneous things falling to find it. BB-8 had settled himself in the corner of the room while the two women arranged their sleeping quarters.

Within the hour, the two were in their beds, lights all off. Weapons were laid within reach if an attack came. Goggles and head wraps were put in their respective containers. All that was left was the darkness and the wind picking up outside, probably forming into a small sandstorm.

As the night progressed on and Mara continued to try to sleep, BB-8 cringed in the corner of the slanted room. He let out quiet purrs of fear, cowering against the wall. The storm had begun to pick up, small bits of Jakku sand seeping through cracks in the hull. As wind shook the walker, the astromech let out another small cry of fear.

Feeling sad for the droid, who was so out of place and unfamiliar with his surrounding, Mara decided to try and comfort the droid," It's okay buddy, just a small storm."

This didn't seem to convince BB-8, who continued to chatter on in a fast manner, but quiet enough not to wake Rey. She was fast asleep, soft rhythmic breaths escaping from her and echoing off the walls. Mara kept her voice low in an effort to both sooth the droid and not face Rey's wrath when woken.

"No, this ones not even close to big." She continued, BB-8 now still and listening," The huge ones last for days. Those are called X'umR'iia, meaning R'iia's wrath. R'iia is the native god to some of the residents here. They say she made Jakku so deserted and hot, cursed with cold at night."

The droid blurbed back, telling Mara that wasn't a comforting thought.

"Personally, I think it's a bunch of Acklay dung. You can actually predict the storms by atmospheric changes and all that complicated stuff. But no need to worry. R'iia isn't plaguing us tonight."

BB-8 cooed, more assertive and confidence behind the sound. Mara turned back, sitting up in the darkness to face the droid. With tired eyes, she could make out the circular shape of the astromech. The many little lights fitted throughout him were blindingly bright in the colorless room.

Mara kept looking straight at the droid, still processing that he was real and directly in front. The little astromech was a good part of why she was alive, but so was his owner.

"Where is Dameron?" She breathed out softly, still very aware of Rey sleeping. She prayed BB-8 wouldn't be too loud in his response, but it was a question that had been plaguing her for years now. Her mind needed to be set to some sort of rest if she wanted to sleep.

The droid's answer was soft, and gratefully so. He was taken.

This sent gears in her head turning, Mara's mind jumping to the obvious conclusion, but still she asked," By who?"

BB-8 confirmed her suspicions, saying the words she dreaded the most. The First Order. The very thing she hated, and they had him. And she could do nothing, because what was she now? A scavenger. Her former title would not save her now.

Mara's blood seemed to quicken with her heart rate, unwanted adrenaline flowing through her. Who took him? Specifically?

"Who took him exactly? The ship, the man, anything-"

Big black ship, with red. Landing craft, the droid blurbed. First came the thought, then the fast realization. This caught her off guard, the image painting itself clearly in her worrying mind. This was a ship she had seen before and wished never to see again.

Now Mara's worst fears were coming true. Her quick anger was suddenly being replaced with fear, an emotion that made her uncomfortable when she felt it. She swallowed, biting her lip as she grabbed part of the blanket in her hand, twisting it in anxiety. A hole in her gut seemed to form, and suddenly she had the urge to vomit.

Kylo Ren was here, on Jakku. And he had Dameron. What if he knew she was here, through his weird force-perception-thingy? And if Ren was here, then one of the main destroyers was orbiting the planet, The Finalizer.

Now the darkness felt cold and a familiar emptiness seemed to consume Mara. Her organs felt twisted, inside-out. Her thoughts were rapid shots of theories bouncing in her head, those of death and the men behind the treacherous acts.

"When was this-"

"Mara?" Rey's obviously annoyed voice pierced through the quiet air, her moving figure rustling against the metal. The blonde shot BB-8 a glare, blaming him for being too loud, but then realized he couldn't see her steely eyes. Or maybe he could with night vision.

She took a breath, trying to answer as sweetly and non-provoking as she could. Last time she'd angered her friend while she slept, she was left with near-fatal wounds, "Yes Rey?"

"Could you shut up?"

"Sure."

Mara snuggled back under her blankets, settling back down to stare at the wall. In the shroud of darkness, she shuddered. She prayed, she wished hard they wouldn't find her, that Dameron would okay, that this would all be explained.

Sleep did find her. It brought pictures of white, shiny stormtroopers streaked in blood across their helmets, of a crimson saber slashing through thick air, and a fire reaching to the sky with burning hands. Mara tossed all night, her bed now scattered all across the base of the walker. Only a few hours before daybreak did her unconscious body finally stop moving. This allowed precious minutes of real, undisturbed sleep.

Miles and miles above the AT-AT and the two women's sleeping forms, a lone TIE fighter streaked across the sky. It held another pair, these two followed by a destroyer trying to kill them. Their fighter screamed as it headed towards the desert planet, one very eager to reach the surface. The other complained in frustration as a cannon boomed from a huge, sleek ship.

"No no we can't go back to Jakku!" The former stormtrooper exclaimed, eyes wide as more missiles were sent out," We need to get out of this system!"

In the seat behind him, the main pilot yelled over to his newfound companion," I need to get my droid before the First Order does."

The trooper continued to irrationally yell back, very certain going back to the planet would bring the death of him," What, a droid?!?"

"It's a BB unit, orange and white, one of a kind." The other told him, able to hold onto to his wits and focus as he maneuvered around they incoming enemy fire, but each shot seemed to close in faster than the last. The missiles were starting to hone in with more energy, or perhaps he was only imagining the increasing accuracy as he grew slightly anxious.

"I don't care what color it is! No droid could be that important!" The trooper was stammering, still aware that continual fire was still coming right towards them with the intent of destroying the rouge TIE.

"This one is, pal." The pilot defended, fingers moving like light up and down the console in front of him so the two men could stay afloat and alive. Meanwhile, the other was almost fuming.

"We need to get away from the First Order as we can. We go back to Jakku, we die!"

Finally, the pilot yelled his objective for his mission to the newcomer, expectantly hoping he'd calm down when he was told," That droid is carrying a map that leads straight to Luke Skywalker."

The pilot's plan backfired horribly. This caused the trooper to become more flustered, turning around in his seat in the cramped fighter. He couldn't believe his own ears," Oh, you gotta be kidding me!"

Suddenly, the fighter was rocked back violently, the pilot losing control and spinning straight towards Jakku. The TIE was hit, it's left wing breaking apart upon impact with the blast. As it descended towards Jakku, both men feared for their lives.

Aboard the destroyer, another two men argued; one a general, one the carrier of the red blade. Both had been tricked, for one of their own had deserted.

"I won't have you question my methods." The general stated firmly, making sure his embarrassment was not shown; not in his voice or face.

"You're obviously skilled at committing high treason then. Perhaps Leader Snoke must reconsider using a clone army."The darker figure commented, anger rising in his veins. His only lead to his old master was now gone, not counting the droid.

The general swallowed fast, but began to get defensive. For him, this was bad. Snoke would punish him for it. He had tried to make sure it wouldn't happen again, but history was repeating itself," My men are exceptionally trained, programmed from birth."

"Then they should have no problem retrieving the droid unharmed, or will a third one prove dysfunctional?" The masked man pushed, hinting at the ever-growing problem in his troops. The other man stepped in front of blade owner.

"Careful Ren," The general now addressed his superior, not liking the constant nitpicking of his army, not liking this whole situation entirely, "that your personal interests do not interfere with orders from Leader Snoke."

''I want that map. For your sake, I suggest you get it." The other threatened. He stood there for a while, knowing well that he was intimidating the general. Once he knew the expected fear had been placed in the general's conscious, the masked figure walked away.

~~~~~

It was a few hours since daybreak when Mara woke up, the door to the outside open. It let in blinding light, forcing her to roll over to the other side. Groaning, she noticed Rey's bed was empty and BB-8 was gone from his spot. Mara rolled back to look at the ceiling, her throat burning for water. Her stomach was aching for food, not having a sufficient amount in days. All she had eaten were scraps sometimes referred to as rations, and not nearly enough of them to even come close to being full.

After a minute of wishing for a place lush with green, filled with mountains a great tasting food, and inhabited by vast amounts of water, she got up to her feet. She reached out her hands in an attempt to rid the mindset of sleep from her body, yawning loudly. As she stretched, she found out her neck was cramping and her back felt small shoots of pain along her spine. The joys of sleeping on metal floors.

Mara picked up her batons, now shining and polished, and fastened them to her belt. Pulling her poncho and goggles over her head, the blonde begrudgingly walked out the door. The heat made itself known to her very quickly as her boots hit warm sand. Grumbling at the sun, she shielded her eyes with her hand, trying to spot the droid and her friend.

It took a few minutes of searching the outstretched dunes to finally see them. Rey and BB-8 were walking towards her, maybe a quarter-mile away due to their small figures. Mara began walking towards the pair, wondering why they left her alone in the first place. Normally Rey would've shaken her awake by now.

As the blonde got closer, she expected to see a grumpy Rey being followed by a chattering BB-8. Soon, when she could see them better, Mara realized her friend was actually having a nice conversation with the droid. Rey was even giving the robot a small smile as he beeped on. She first thought it was her sore eyes tricking her. Soon they were only a few yards away, and the small blooming friendship Mara was watching was indeed real.

"So, I told you I was right. You finally have someone to listen to besides me." The blonde greeted, her scratching morning voice marring her every word. She yawned again as Rey simply passed her by, lugging their makeshift sleigh behind them.

"At least this one's talking is pleasant and actually cares about what I have to say." The girl commented as Mara turned to follow, slightly stumbling in the thick sand in a tired daze.

"Ouch." The blonde uttered sarcastically, practically feeling Rey's smirk even though she couldn't see it," I care about what you say. Unless I just don't."

Point proven, BB-8 beeped to her, boastful due to him being praised before.

"Can it metal ball. You've been here a day. Doesn't give you the right to one-up me right off the bat." Mara grumbled, stifling another oncoming yawn. The droid rattled back it's response, but the blonde was still too tired to give any more effort to translating droid-speak. She was still focused on keeping her cramping body up enough to stop tripping.

"Someone's grumpy this morning." Rey was still walking, Mara catching up enough to walk with her side by side.

"Not much sleep last night." She mumbled back as her companion let go off the sleigh, her hands moving to her small brown pouch on her belt. Rey took out a metal canteen of water, handing it to Mara.

The blonde opened the top of the bottle with haste, her throat practically screaming the canteen's contents. Rey resumed her march, picking back up one end of the sleigh," I noticed. You kicked me multiple times last night. I tried to get you up this morning, but you were out. Figured you wouldn't be much good climbing anything today."

Mara tapped on the end of the bottle as warm water refreshed her parched lips, grateful whatever temperature it was. As the last drops made it into her mouth, she capped the canteen and handed it back to her friend," Did I really sleep that long? How many hours have you been gone?"

"It's mid-day," Reg answered, pointing to the position of the sun," Whatever kept you up last night lasted awhile. Was it a wound? Did you re-injure your leg again?"

The blonde was silent, images of white suits and dark masks becoming quite clear in her mind. Mara shrugged, not wanting to bring much attention to the subject. She just wanted to forget it entirely, hoping the gnawing feeling in her gut would go away soon," Just bad dreams.''

The subject was soon discarded, Rey recognizing the blonde's hints at wanting to move on from the subject. Instead, the native scavenger set the sleigh down by the speeder, leaning against it for a short rest," Well, I'm glad you slept in. You probably wouldn't be able to stand if I'd gotten you up earlier."

Mara gave an incredibly fake/tired smile, hoping for some extra downtime, "You're quite right, maybe I should just go back to bed and regain more strength-"

"Help me load the goods."

"Fine."