Chapter 8 - An Expensive Droid (1/2)

Jakku Planet. Goazon Badlands.

Rey woke up after a nice night of sleep at the same time that she accostumed. She stretched and put on her training clothes and forced herself to go out. She noticed the dark sky and started with her daily morning training. It was a habit that she had gotten from Broom since she was a child. She smiled remembering the first times she had to wake up and Broom had to literraly dragged her out of bed hours before the sun went up.

- ”It's the best moment to train!”- he had told her with his usual grin- ”the air is fresh, there aren't many annoying eyes and you can always see a beautiful sunrise no matter how terrible a planet is.”

Rey warmed up and stretch her muscles in preparation and then she took her quarterstaff and took a basic stance. After a moment of concentration, she started to move her body in fluid and rhythmic movements. Sometimes they were slow and refined and then they changed to sharp and violent and then to a very strange set that seemed to have no pattern. However, Rey always kept her focus and repeated the movements again and again.

- Beep bop!- BB8 activated as soon as he heard Rey moving and he went out to see what Rey was doing.

The little droid felt confused when he saw her making repetitions and moves with her quarterstaff in a manner that looked like a dance. It was strange for BB8 since in this era of blaster and laser guns, it was very weird to see someone train so hard in this archaic way. It was true that most recruits were given a basic hand to hand combat as a way to defend in case you had no guns, but they prefered to spend much more time improving their abilities in shooting since a blaster would end the fight before these melee fighters could get even a little closer. To be honest BB8 considered this training a waste of time, but he did not say anything and just kept a respectful silence since BB8 knew that it would be extremely rude to say some of his ideas to his savior.

After almost two hours, Rey finished her daily training and then washed and put on her scavenging clothes.

- ”We'll go to Niima post now”- Rey said with a very amicable voice which was totally different from the previous day.

They had chatted for a long time the previous night about many things. Even if BB8 did not say anything related to his mission, he still had a lot of information in his data bank about many things like the state of the galaxy and the many stories that Rey had never heard about. After some hours of chatting, the previous annoyance of Rey dissapeared and laughed with BB8.

- ”Brrp beep bouing!”- said BB8 a little worried.

- ”It's ok”- said Rey answering to BB8 comments with a smile- ”I always keep parts as backup in case that I don't find anything that day, so I'll sell those today. As long as I use the cleaning facility, Blobfish will not care. I also got these from those guys that tried to catch you”

She showed him the laser guns she had picked from those thugs and she expected Blobfish to be interested in them.

- ”Ben piu!”- beeped BB8 very grateful.

- ”You're welcome”- said Rey leading the way to her Speeder- ”I hope you find whoever you're looking for there.”

Rey prepared her speeder and accomodated BB8 on it using one the nets she used to transport parts, BB8 felt a little offended by this but then he saw that there was no other way so he just accepted the situation and they departed in Niima Post direction traversing the dunes at full speed.

When she finally arrived she saw many ships in the docking area of the post. Rey had seen many types of starship in all her years in Jakku but she was always surprised by the new and old models that always landed in this desertic place. When she was a child somedays she would just sit down and see those spaceship come and go. Today she recognized one that had been here before many times. It was a modified YT-1300fp light freighter whose pilot was someone that Rey knew. The pilot had even offered her a job in his company but she had rejected since she had to wait his parents.

- ”I suppose Blobfish will be in a good mood”- she said knowing that the pilot of that ship had a way with people like Blobfish and he was one of the few who could make the old Crolute laugh with such intensity that all his body ended up jiggling and boobing around.

They looked around to see if they could find BB8's partner whose name was Poe, but after an hour looking there was no result and the little droid started to get desperate.

-”Don't give up hope”- said Rey with a kind tone and feeling sorry for the abandoned droid since he was kind of the same situation as her- ”he might still show up... whoever it is you're waiting for. I know all about waiting.”

- ”Beep beep bop beep bop”- said BB8 with a curious tone.

- ”My family”- answered Rey with a normal attitude- ”They'll be back... one day. Come on.”

After cleaning the parts she had she went to the counter where Blobfish would normally be but it was empty and many other scavengers were waiting already. After a while, Unkar Plutt got out from his private chambers with the pilot of the Freighter and as she imagined he was laughing extremely hard. The person was a black human male with a mechnical leg and a patch in his eye and he was always accompanied by an android who seemed to be his bodyguard.

- ”I will immediately tell you if I have news!”- said Blobfish rubbing his scaly hands in delight- ”just prepare the payment...”

- ”Of course”- said the man with a relaxed and soothing voice that seemed to be able to calm a rancor- ”but I must remind you that speed is of the essence and I hope you keep this private.”

- ”Heh! You doubted me?”- said Blobfish changing his tone to a dangerous level but the other man just faced him with no fear and smiled while patting Unkar in the shoulder.

- ”My friend...”- he said in the same hypnotic voice- ”I doubt even myself... you and me have been in this bussiness long enough to be offended by facts. And the fact is that you are a despicable and greedy bastard!”

Rey gulped when she heard this. She could be considered ċȯċky and direct but she had seen Unkar Plutt deal brutally with peple for saying things even less offensive than that. All the scavengers around gasped and waited with a strange mix of horror and delight to see what Blobfish would do to this man who still held a smile while insulting the merchant.

- ”Hahahahahaha!”- to the surprise of all the present people, Blobfish laughed again and patted the man's back- ”and you are a ugly and creepy piece of scum!”

- ”Not the best insult I've heard, Blobfish. You're losing your touch”- said the man with the same suae attitude- ”but don't worry, that will not change the high apreciation I have for you.”

- ”As long as you bring my payment I don't care how you call me!”- said Unkar Plutt walking to the area Rey was side to side with the pilot of the freighter.

- ”My dear blobfish”-said the man dragging the typical cape he always carried while walking with a relaxed attitde which contrasted completely with the dumb walking of Blobfish- ”if you find what I want, I may include that beautiful licchi jacuzzi you always asked me.”

Blobfish' eyes showed a glint of emotion and Rey could only admire the man that could deal and manipulate the tyrant of the place. Rey new that if he wanted this man could easily depose Blobfish and ȧssume control of the entire planet, but again she understood that this inhospitable and dry planet had no value in the eyes of the man except for a place to make illegal transaction and as a place to move all kinds of goods. In that moment the man saw her and then he saw the droid next to him and he approached her using his most shining smile.

- ”Well... what do we have here?”- said he with that soft and deep voice that was sure to have been used to move the hearts of many women- ”It's good to see you, Rey. Everytime I see you, you become even prettier than the last time.”

- ”Same here, Lance”- said Rey smiling but presenting an annoyed face- ”still escaping from the two Togrutas that wanted a piece of you?”

- ”Haha! It's my honor to be chased by beautiful woman”- said Lance who showed an even shinier smile for this comment but then he put up a serious face- ”But I'm sorry Rey, you're too young for me. Of course... you can look for me in some ten years if you are really interested.”

- ”Hah!”- said Rey in mockery- ”you wish!”

- ”But I'm certainly interested in you”- said Lando with a warm voice- ”are you ready to depart from this planet and work with me?”

- ”Thanks for the offer...”- said Rey recognizing the sincerity of the man- ”but I still...”

- ”It's ok, I undertsand”- said Lando looking a little dejected- ”but if you ever change your mind... you know the offer is there.”

- ”Of course!”- Rey said and then Lando winked his remaining eye and went away with his bodyguard.

- ”Where did you get these?”- asked Blobfish who was always careful to deal with guns in his territory.

- ”Some thugs attacked me and I took their guns.”- explained Rey

- ”Did you kill them?”

- ”No, they escaped after I took the laser guns.”- replied Rey again.