Across the Stars

Chapter 4

Two days.

Finn said that he would be gone for two days tops before he left for Chandrila. It was now going on four days since the day he left and still not a word. Not a day after he left, Rey received an anonymous dispatch from the buyer Finn was to meet in Hanna City that Finn had never shown. The voice had been garbled, warped even, intent to shield the owner's identity. It was then she realized she had no way of finding out who the buyer was. A knot welled up in her throat, trying desperately to push all thoughts of worse-case scenarios aside but she couldn't escape the sinking feeling in her gut that he was either dead or suffering a far worse fate. All she could do was wait for the possibility that Finn would show up, alive and unharmed.

Waiting, always waiting, she thought for it was what she did best after all.

Every time she heard the sonic boom of a ship breaking Jakku's atmosphere her head jolted towards the sky, hoping that she could catch a glimpse of the quadjumper he had left in and yet every time she was left disappointed. Now, she was pacing inside their home, her left-hand massaging temples and around her eyes to minimize the ache from lack of asleep for the past few nights, while the other remained fisted across her chest. For once her anxiety had nothing to do with a nightmare from the previous night; it had actually been since the morning of Finn's leave of absence that she had her last dream. Now, it was more of her worrying about the fate of her friend.

Hearing the sound of a ship breaking the planet's atmosphere, once again, had snapped her out of the incessant back and forth strides dashing quickly out of the belly of her home; hoping that this would be when she'd see him return. With aspiration in her eyes she searched the sky only to see it had been just another ship approaching Niima Outpost. A huff of frustration rolled through her as she sat down in the sand, knees bent upwards with her elbows resting on them as she leaned her head back against the foot of their home.

Negative thoughts flashed through her mind. She had known Finn long enough to trust that he wouldn't have abandoned her here. He promised he would come back, unlike her parents.

If it wouldn't have been for me you would still be in that hell hole with Plutt, he had told her.

Scoffing, she mentally cursed herself for even thinking that Finn would be guilty of doing such a thing. Pressing her palms into her shut eyes, she eased the pressure that had been building up behind them. She had to start weighing other options: she could either stay here and wait like she always did, or she could go look for him. Her hand went to her wrist, remembering that she was wearing the cloaked binary beacon there. After what shouldn't have been considered a debate she finally decided on the latter. Retrieving her staff from the inside of their home she tucked a small blaster into the front of her sash that hugged her small waist, along with tossing some ration packets into her satchel before making the trek toward Niima Outpost's ship yard.

The dusty ship yard itself held a variety of adequate ships but hardly with any range for traveling long distances which had been rather disappointing. She wasn't going to make a full day's excursion in an outdated Imperial TIE Fighter or in a Republic Class A-Wing. Each of which felt too cramped and she wanted to be able to freely stretch her legs rather than being cramped in a cockpit for an entire day or more. Looking around the nearly deserted yard of ships her attention was set on an all-too familiar Corellian YT-1300F freighter that she and Finn had stolen from Unkar Plutt all those years ago. Groaning, she cocked her head considering the vessel; it was a fast ship and had the range needed to make it to the Core of the galaxy from way out here in the Western reaches.