Star Wars Redemption #1: Across The Stars

Chapter 5: Droid

    Across the galaxy, Rey waited. She kept herself busy by running all over the island by day and reading the Jedi texts by night, training herself in mind and body to become one with the Force.
    She had had no contact with the Resistance, or anyone else for that matter. After Luke had died, she had requested to stay on the island to train and mourn. Leia agreed.
    "Just don't stay there forever, Rey. Remember, we're here for you," she said. Rey hugged her. They had grown close over the last few months, bonded by their loss of Han and Luke. Leia was like family.

    "I won't," Rey had said. "I'm just not quite ready yet."
    It was raining when Chweie and Poe dropped her off. Finn tagged along to say goodbye.
    "That's where you're staying?" he said, nodding to the gloomy island. "Alone?"
    Rey felt the rain pouring down outside the Falcon but didn't respond.
    "Rey," Finn said, gripping her arm. "Don't do this. Let me stay with you. You shouldn't have to be here all by yourself."

    "I don't have to do anything, Finn," she responded. "I came here to train. Go. The Resistance needs you."
    "The Resistance needs you too."
    Rey looked away stubbornly.
    Finn sighed heavily. "Leia told me to give you this." He took a small transmitter out of his pocket and dropped it in Rey's hand. "It's untraceable. Leia has the other. If you ever need us, press this and we'll pick you up."

    "Thank you, Finn," she said, stowing the transmitter in her pocket for safekeeping.
    "Goodbye, Rey," he said, hugging her. And just like that Rey was alone.
    When she arrived on the island, she didn't know what she would do. Thanks to Luke's small farm and the assistance of the Caretakers, though, she had plenty of food and water. She could have stayed there forever, but Rey had vowed she would never make the same mistake Luke did. She would leave the island soon. When she was ready.

    Now Ben was coming. After all this time, she looked forward to seeing someone other than the judgmental and not-very-talkative Caretakers of the island. As much as she loved Leia, Finn, Cherie, and even Poe, none of them understood her the way Ben did. Maybe he could make sense of her recurring vision.
    It had been a few days since they last spoke, but Rey's faith held out. She knew it wasn't easy to get away unnoticed from something as big as the Resistance or the First Order, especially if they were an important part of it. Rey waited.
    On the second day of waiting, a meteor hit the island. Out of curiosity, and the request of the Caretakers to make sure none of the old Jedi temple was damaged, Rey climbed the mountain to investigate.

    As she approached the impact site, she heard a whirl and the beeping of a droid. Instinctively, she dropped down behind a rock, a blast hitting the spot she'd been standing only instants before. A probe droid.
    Behind the rock, Rey searched for her blaster, finding she'd left it back in her hut. She only had her lightsaber, which meant if she was going to destroy the droid, she was going to have to come out and risk being seen by the droid's sensors.
    Careful to not let it see her, Rey peeked out from behind the safety of the boulder. It was a probe droid all right, turning this way and that clacking to itself while it tried to relocate its previous target. Rey waited until the sensors were turned before running around the side of the rock to it. She ignited her saber and cut it down with a yell, intending to slice it neatly in two.

Instead, the droid exploded as soon as her saber touched it, initiating its own self destruct sequence. Rey pushed it away through the Force with all her might, falling on the ground in the opposite direction. Flaming hunks of metal lay shouldering in the dewy grass next to her, but Rey did not get up.