Poe had already situated himself beneath one of a pair of speeders by the time the girls caught up with the group.
"You got that other one?" he asked Nova, pulling at the wires to try and bring the engine to life.
"On it."
It had been a while since she had had to hot-wire something, but the skill still seemed second nature as her fingers worked. Her father, much to the disapproval of her mother, had taught her such things at a young age. For what purpose she had never been sure, but she was none the less thankful for it.
Finn frowned, looking between the pilots sceptically. "How do you know how to do that?"
The question went ignored.
It was not long before the locals noticed their theft, and they began shouting in their native tongue. From their tone, profanities were undoubtedly among the things being thrown their way.
Nova slammed the panel shut as her speeder sparked to life. "Let's move."
The group divided themselves between the vehicles, and soon enough they were away, speeding across the sand with tails of golden dirt spraying out behind them. The stray grains whipped and stung their faces, forcing them to squint through that and the sunlight.
The First Order were on them in an instant, heavy treadspeeders rolling out in pursuit and opening fire. Most shots went wide and hit nothing but sand, but one or two were able to set the speeders shaking.
Nova gripped the steering mechanism of her craft tighter, willing for it to go faster. Her teeth gnawed at the inside of her cheek as she tried to keep her balance within the chaos.
Rey and Chewie did their best to offer a counterattack, but were easily outmatched in firepower. Finn and Poe were fairing no better to their left. They were going to need a strategy, and fast.
"Switch!" Nova yelled to the Jedi, relinquishing control of the speeder and freeing her blaster as Rey took control of driving.
The bodies of the enemy speeders lurched suddenly upwards, launching a pair of troopers forward. Jetpack engaged, they began to close the gap, their shots erupting great geysers of sand around their targets.
"Oh, they fly now!" C-3PO wailed.
"They fly now?" Finn was in disbelief.
Poe seemed almost resigned as he groaned a final "They fly now."
Nova's jaw clenched as her mind raced for a manoeuvre. Searching their surroundings, she found a divide in the landscape. "Split up! Take the canyon, you can out-manoeuvre in there!"
Poe pulled away wordlessly, becoming lost behind the sandstone wall, taking one of the treadspeeders with him.
Nova's gloved hand held the speeder for support her other gripped her blaster. Her finger squeezed the trigger rhythmically, each shot quickly calculated by instinct and reflex, but the jerky movements of the speeder and surprising nimbleness of the airborne troopers made it hard to land a shot where intended.
A shriek caught in Rey's throat as she drove them forward. Her free hand shot out to brace herself on Nova's shoulder – as she often found herself drawn to the older woman for support, though she knew it would always come in a complicated form. What Rey often needed was also often taxing for Nova to supply.
BB-8 beeped frantically from beside their ankles, demanding their attention.
"Not now, Beebee-Ate!" the Jedi snapped.
The droid was undeterred by her tone and set about his own plan. With an appendage, he tapped into on the canisters they were carrying, causing it to release a spurt of air and yellow smoke. The pressure grew until it was launched backwards into the air, exploding seconds later in a cloud of colour.
The pursuing speeder was left blinded, driving over a section of rock in the confusion, leaving its weaker parts exposed – a fact the rebels were quick to capitalise on.
Rey swerved the speeder around, and together with Nova and Chewie landed enough shots to turn it to smoking debris.
"Good job, buddy!" Nova praised.
"Never underestimate a droid!"
Chewie managed to land a killing blow to their persistent jet trooper, sending him bulleting to the ground. They sailed on smoothly, reaching further into the endless desert of the Forbidden Valley.
Before long, they came upon another outcrop of stone, atop which was a freighter. An old one, most likely dating back to a time between wars, maybe older. Regardless, it looked to have been abandoned for some time. No doubt it was their target.
"Ochi's ship!" Rey exclaimed, though the delight on her face was short lived, replaced by something akin to dread. "I've seen that ship before..."
Nova frowned, but before she could pass any comment, a blast upended the speeder, sending its occupants flying forward weightlessly. A second blast followed, rendering the second speeder to the same state as the first.
Nova groaned as she landed on her back amidst her companions on a patch of black sand. She pushed herself to her knees, muscles aching from the shock. With gritted teeth she retrieved her blaster, leading the others to do that same.
The final jet trooper circled around them as they opened fire, remaining relentless until a hit was finally landed. The jetpack sparked into malfunction, sending its wearer careening through the air to collide with the side of a cliff, exploding on impact.
The relief it brought was short lived.
Below them, the ground began to shift, sucking them down under the surface. It felt claustrophobic as their bodies were overwhelmed by the black substance, with no way of telling what lay beneath.
"The hell is this?" Poe snapped.
"Sinking field!" Rey supplied. "Try to grab something!"
"Bit late for that!" Nova grumbled loudly, fighting against the pull of the ground in vain. Before long, she was engulfed over her head, completely buried.
And still sinking.
---
Poe was among the first to fall through the bottom, surprised to find himself in an open space of winding passages. The softness of his landing was also a surprise. Until he heard a groan from beneath him.
"Poe, I'm not a mattress."
Through the darkness he managed to make out Nova's face. Shifting to remove his weight from her upper body, he could not help but smirk at their position and her slightly murderous expression. "I don't get this view often."
"Keep this up and you never will again," she grumbled, pushing against his shoulder. "Get off."
Poe complied, helping her up along with him. "Thanks for breaking my fall, sweetheart."
"You alright?"
"Yeah, you?"
"I'll live," she shrugged, grimacing as she felt the sand fall from her ponytail and down her shirt. "Where are the others?"
"Uh –" Poe looked around them, only spotting BB-8. "Rey? Finn?"
"You didn't say my name, sir, but I'm all right," C-3PO said dryly from behind them.
Somewhere above them, they heard what they deduced to be Rey's muffled voice being pulled closer to them.
"You get Rey, I'll find Finn," Nova said, setting off to check the surrounding tunnels for their friend. She did not have to look far to find him, finishing the unceremonious descent to the right of where she had initially landed. "You good?"
"Yeah, I'm good." He took the hand she offered him and dusted himself off. "Where's Rey?"
A heavy thud and guttural grumble indicated Chewie had joined them.
"Come on."
"What is this place?"
"This isn't the afterlife, is it?" C-3PO wondered to no one but himself. "Are droids even allowed here?"
"Thought we were goners." Poe said, looking between his companions in relief.
"We might still be."
Nova squinted through the shadows at the maze of tunnels. "There a way out?"
"Let's hope." Poe dug through his bag to retrieve a torch, flicking it on.
Unfortunately for his pride, Rey had already unclipped and ignited her lightsaber; the blue blade shining like a sun compared to the moon that was his torch – being much larger and brighter.
Nova sucked her bottom lip between her teeth to stifle a laugh as the confidence drained from his face.
Poe raised his eyebrows, unimpressed.
"Two can play at this game, Dameron," she smirked.
He flipped the torch, shining it just shy of her face. "Real mature."
She smiled, satisfied with her payback, and moved to follow the others. Catching up to them quickly, she could just about pick up on the hushed conversation they were exchanging.
"What were you going to tell me?" Rey murmured.
"What?" Finn asked.
"When you were sinking in the sand, you said 'I never told you'."
"I'll tell you later."
"You mean when Poe's not here?" the pilot cut in, giving Finn a pointed look as he pushed past.
"Yeah," he said.
"We're gonna die in sand burrows and we're all keeping secrets?"
"I'll tell you when you tell us about all that shifty stuff you do."
"Boys..." Nova warned.
"I'm looking at you too, Nova," Finn said.
"If this is about hot-wiring the speeders," she grumbled, "we're pilots. You think we don't know our way around an engine well enough to hotwire one?"
Finn relented with a quietly frustrated sigh.
Poe also sighed, relieved the subject had been dropped and an explanation provided, even if it was not entirely truthful. But they did not need to know that.
"I do not want to know what made these tunnels," he commented, shining his torch around the structures.
"Judging by the circumference of the walls–" C-3PO started enthusiastically.
"I said I do not want to know. Not."
Before long, they came across something. Wreckage of some kind – metal covered in a layer of dust and sand. A blanket of the years of abandonment.
"A speeder?" Finn deduced aloud.
"An old one," Rey agreed.
"Perhaps we will find the driver," C-3PO said.
BB-8 disagreed with a series of low beeps.
"Yeah, Beebee-Ate, I think that too," Poe said.
It had been abandoned too long for the driver to still be around.
Nova examined every inch she could in the poor light, noting the smaller size and older model – nothing like the ones they had liberated from the festival. Not local, and hardly remarkable. Until she reached the front; eyes narrowing to examine the intricately engraved badge adorning it. "Anyone recognise this?"
It was swiftly drowned in torch light.
"Oh my," C-3PO mechanically gasped. "A hex charm."
"A what?"
"A common emblem of Sith loyalists."
The claustrophobic air turned cold.
"The Sith..." Rey murmured.
"This was Ochi's?" Finn asked.
"Luke sensed it. Ochi never left this place."
"And he ended up down here."
"He was headed for his ship. Same thing that happened to us happened to him," Poe said.
"Right," Nova pressed, "so how'd he get out?"
"He didn't," Rey answered quickly.
A step or two away lay the skeletal remains of Ochi of Bestoon, as dry and dusty as the desert he had died in.
"No, he didn't," Finn agreed.
"Bones," Poe grimaced. "I don't like bones."
"Bones, never a good sign," the protocol droid mused.
BB-8 had noticed something buried beside the remains, puffing away the sand to reveal a handle.
Rey crouched to see what he had found, carefully retrieving the item – a dagger. She examined it under the light of her lightsaber, turning it in her hand. Her voice came out in a hollow whisper. "Horrible things... have happened with this..."
"There's writing on it," Poe observed over her shoulder.
"Perhaps I can translate?" C-3PO offered, taking the dagger when Rey freely offered it to him. He held it up to the light and read it. "Oh! The location of the wayfinder has been inscribed upon this dagger. It's the clue that Master Luke was looking for."
"And?" Nova said expectantly.
"Where's the wayfinder?" Finn finished in an identical tone.
"I am afraid I cannot tell you," the droid admitted.
"Twenty-point-three-fizillion languages and you can't read that?" Poe demanded, indignant and short on patience.
"Oh, I have read it, sir," C-3PO corrected. "I know exactly where the wayfinder is. Unfortunately, it is written in the runic language of the Sith."
"So what?" Rey said, joining Poe's annoyance.
"My programming forbids me from translating it."
"So, you're telling us the one time we need you to talk, you can't?" Poe said.
"Irony, sir," the droid noted. "I am mechanically incapable of speaking translations from Sith. I believe the rule was passed by the Senate in–"
His voice was swiftly drowned out by the growls of a large creature, rising behind him and staring down at the party with beady eyes, hissing through sharp teeth.
And suddenly the location of the wayfinder was the least of their problems.