Chapter 5 - Dangerous Affairs (1/2)

Rey advanced as fast as she could to the origin of the sounds and after some minutes she saw the scene of a Teedo scavenger who was mounting a mechanic walker with two bodyguards who had captured an astromech droid who looked like an orange ball and who was trying to escape from a net that had been used to capture him.

- ”Release him!”- she said while getting closer and calculating the distance in which would be better to attack if necessary. Broom had not only taught her to fight but to think analytically during battle.

The two bodyguards had machetes but only one of them had a laser gun. She could not see any gun on the Teedo scavenger but she ȧssumed that he had one and started to plan his tactics in case of a fight.

- ”Dont get into this”- said one of the bodyguards getting in front of Rey- ”we are just recovering our droid so get into your own bussiness.”

The small droid beeped furiously saying that it was not true and that they were not their owners. Rey analyzed the bodyguard and she knew that he was good so it was better to solve this without fighting.

- ”He disagrees”- she said slowly circling them around and placing the sun on her back and getting a small high ground using a dune- ”maybe I should say Unkar Plutt that some people are stealing other people's properties.”

The trio shivered to her words. Unkar Plutt was very clear about stealing in his territory and even if they could convince him that the droid was theirs, they would have to pay a huge sum for wasting his time.

-”He's a just droid”- said the Teedo scavenger- ”why do you care?”

- ”I just care”- she said with a confident voice- ”I like that droid and I dislike you. Simple as that”

The three people looked at each other and were at loss of words when they heard Rey's words. She simply disliked them and she was doing trouble only because of that. She was truly shameless.

- ”So”- Rey said looking at the leader of the group- ”how are we going to do this?”

- ”I can also say to Unkar Plutt about this and say that you steal the droid from us”- the Teedo scavenger said. Two can play the same game.

- ”Go ahead, I know the guy”- she said grinning in mockery at his words- ”I work for ”Blobfish” so let's see who he believes more.”

The teedo scavenger was shocked when he heard about this. He was very good at finding people telling lies to him but the way she spoke was of absolute certainity and he could not find any sign of falsehood in her words. How could he be so unlucky. He had come from another post to try luck in this part of the planet and until now it had been a terrible quest with no profit. And then when he had found a practically new droid to sell, this crazy girl had just appeared trying to steal his property. He could not let this droid go so he would have to play hard. He signaled his thugs to get her but before they could even react, Rey had already moved extremely fast catching the first bodyguard by surprise.

- ”This girl...”- said he trying to reach his gun but Rey used her quarterstaff to cover the distance between them and hit him on the forehead. He roared in pain but soon his voice was silenced when Rey gave him another hit on his belly and finished him and immediately followed with a circular swing to his jaw.

The bodyguard fell to the ground unconscious and the other two were so shocked that they could not react for some seconds. Rey did not lose a second and she ran towards the next threat who was the Teedo scavenger.

- ”Block her” - said the scavenger while moving his hand to reach what Rey presumed was a gun so she tried to close the distance as fast as she could.

- ”Wanna continue?”- said Rey recovering her breath- ”Maybe I should just finish this and leave you here to rot and dissapear in the sand. I think I can sell the mechanic walker for a good price!”

Her voice was cold and showed not a tinge of doubt. The teedo scavenger and the bodyguard knew that she was serious and that a careless move would mean their end. The Teedo scavenger looked at this girl who seemed innocent and fragile but in his eyes she was the incarnation of death itself.

- ”Ok! Ok! You win! you win!- shouted the Teedo scavenger in fury and frustration- ”keep the stupid droid.”

Rey let the scavenger rise but she continue pointing at them. She also picked up the gun of the unconscious thug and moved her head to the other party to go. They picked up the other bodyguard and made him react. He was still dizzy and could only follow while swinging roght to left. The Teedo looked at Rey with great fury and wanted to shredded her into pieces but he knew he could only swallow this bitter pill and go before she changed her mind and take more of their possessions.

- ”...”

Rey only lowered her gun when she saw that they were at a safe distance and then she sighed and watched the pistol on her hands. Broom had taught her how to use the quarterstaff but he had always rejected teaching her how to use guns. He hated these dishonorable toys who any idiot could use. She saw the thugs in the distance and she knew that it would have been safer to just kill them to avoid future problems but killing in cold blood was something that Broom had prohibited clearly to her many times.

- ”Every life is precious Rey”- he has told her one night while resting after the traiing- ”Remember that everyone has someone waiting for his return.”

- ”So... I should never kill even when they attack me?”- asked Rey with a confused look

- ”If you must kil to defend yourselfl, then you must do what you have to”- he said with a serious voice- ”if you have no choice, then you must attack fiercely and decisively without giving them a chnge”

- ”Then...?”

- ”What I mean is that sometimes killing is unavoidable”- Broom looked at her eyes as if he wanted to imprint something- ”However, you must never permit that the act of killing becomes natural or worse... something that makes you happy. If you allow that, you could lose yourself into the frenzy and lose your heart and soul. Power without control is just madness. Killing is something that is necessary but it must never be something that you feel proud of.”

She never understood completely since she had grown in Jakku which was a merciless and cruel place where people died every day and where the strong consumed the weak. She only understood when Broom died and she felt that sharp pain in her heart. He had died and he would never return... Rey would never speak to him again and she would never sparred or see that annoying grin that he used when they trained. She could never see those beautiful and kind silver eyes that she loved so much. Only then she understood his words...

- ”Every life is precious”- she repeated feeling depressed once again- when a life is lost, there may be someone who cries and feels sad for that person... just like me...”

Since then, she was careful about taking lives and she would not do it easily. Of course, in Jakku it is impossible to have clean hands and she still had to do so when it was necessary, there are people who simply will not listen nor stop and who she had to put down for good but it was always the last resort and the few times she had to, all of them were evil people who had done terrible things, so her concience was clear.

- ”Beep, beep, wiu wiu”- the small droid moved inside the net and Rey got near to it while putting away the laser gun and taking a dagger that she used to cut the net.

- ”What are you doing her?- asked while working with the dagger.

- ”Briun, beep, quank, beep”

- ”Confidential, eh?”- said Rey smiling sarcastically and thinking that someone should be more grateful in front of their saviours- ”Yeah, me too”

She finally freed the small droid and pointed in direction of the way it should go. Since the droid had confidential things to do, then it was better not to meddle on them since it could be problematic.

- ”Niima post is over there”- she said and then she thought that she could give extra suggestions since it would be a waste that the droid was destroyed after being rescued- ”Avoid Kelvin mountains and stay away from the quicksands or you'll be under the sand forever.”

After these words, Rey just turned around and started to walk back to her house. It had been too much for a day and she just wanted to take a bath and sleep.

- ”Piun, beep, gronk, grok, qik”- Rey saw behind her and she noticed the droid rolling some meters away from her.

- ”Dont follow me”- she said with an annoyed voice- ”The post is over there.”

- ”Beep, beep, pweun, beep, wen”- replied the droid with what could be interpreted as a pleading voice.

- ”No”- said Rey ignoring the pleads of the small droid and waling away. She had enough problems already to be taking care of extra baggage.

- ”Win, beep beep, woe.”- said Rey thinking that at least she would have company and someone to chat with until tomorrow when she will have to return to her monotonous and always waiting existance.

”...”

FN-2187 was extremely worried and he had good reasons. The previous day when he had returned from the mssion in Tuanul he felt very dizzy and felt his stomach would not resist anymore. He wanted to breathe, so he went to the back of an empty transporter and took out his helmet to have some fresh air. His breathing was accelerated and he could not calm down. The screams and the voices of the murdered people was still ringing in his head. His black skin was permeated by sweat and his eyes were injected with red veins that went all around his dark brown eyes which now seemed to be extremely terrified.

- ”I need to get out of here”- he thought in panic- ”but now the question is...”