Rey, Chewbacca, Finn, Hob and the droids got in their ship and took off towards Zygerria.
"Where are we going?" said Hob.
Finn spoke first, "Hob, I know what you are thinking, you are going to be OK, we just need you to follow us for a while, then we will help you get settled into your new, free life."
"Are we going to the Resistance base?" said Hob.
"Let's worry about that later Finn", said Rey. "For now let's focus on the auction."
Finn put his hand on Hob's shoulder, "Hob will be a great Resistance fighter! Right now we are low in numbers, and if the First Order finds us we'll run again or die, but we have freedom! You can get a job, maybe help with fighter repairs. And you can date, yes...um, we have cute Resistance girls, I'll introduce you to a girl named Rose."
"Finn, I thought you and Rose...um, R2, can you do some research on this auction? How does it work? How do we bid?" said Rey.
Finn interrupted, "I heard about them, from trooper friends who patrolled the auctions. It is not great. If you do not provide the funds after winning, they chop your hand off."
"Do we have anything of value?" said Rey.
"We have 3 droids, that's about it", said Finn.
C-3PO spoke. "I haven't been with you very long, but I much prefer being with you than becoming a slave protocol droid, thank you very much. Perhaps you can sell this one." C-3PO motioned towards R2-D2.
"3PO, you can't sell your best friend because you don't remember them", said Finn.
R2-D2 bumped C-3PO, then he turned and played a video message against the ship wall.
In the message, a figure in white spoke, "General Kenobi, years ago you served my father in the Clone Wars. Now, he begs you to help him in his struggle against the Empire. I regret I am unable to present my father's request to you in person, but my ship has fallen under attack, and fear my mission to return with you to Alderaan has failed. I have fed information vital to the survival of all free planets into the memory of systems of this R-2 unit...my father will know how to retrieve it. You must see this droid safely delivered to him on Alderaan. This is our most desperate hour ... You must help me Obi-Wan Kenobi, you are my only hope."
R2-D2 turned his dome slowly to C-3PO.
"Who is this girl? We should help her!" said C-3PO.
Finn said "Was that Leia when she was young? She was beautiful."
"She still is", said Rey.
"3PO, I think R2 is trying to jog your memory, I think you've probably seen this before" said Finn.
"There is something familiar about it, but I do not recall".
R2-D2 whirred sadly, again.
****************************
The auction was in progress when Rey, Chewbacca, Finn, and Hob arrived. BB-8 waited in the ship. There were hundreds of people of all races around, about half seemed to be paying close attention to the auction, and others seemed to be enjoying the spectacle, or vendors hawking goods. You could tell who the slave masters were, angry, with the aura of superiority. Some were well dressed, some were disheveled. Sad and helpless looking slaves were being paraded on stage. Rey yearned to help them, but resisted the urge.
"Oh my, what a spectacle!" said C-3PO.
Chewbacca growled and Rey replied. "Yes Chewbacca, I know you were captive like them, and I'd like to send a Star Destroyer crashing into this whole event too. But we have a mission."
"Chewy is right", said Finn with a lowered voice, "think you can you wipe out the stage with just the Force?" Finn pushed his hands out in front of him, twice, and raised his eyebrows.
Rey ignored Finn and turned to a scummy looking blue skinned humanoid near her. "Excuse me, have you seen a slave trader with a wide green hat? He is selling someone who has special abilities".
The alien replied, "Why should I tell you? Competition? Ne'er, well, the only special abilities I care about is strength, if they have that, don't outbid me or we will have a problem, yes?" The alien put their hand on their blaster and looked right at Rey.
Rey backed away and told the others, "let's split up and look for Lat Poor, he has to be here. Finn, you and Hob look together, and 3PO and R2 you are together also. Chewie you can protect me." Rey and Chewie started filtering through the crowds, there were many, many people around, with all kinds of odd smells Rey had never sensed.
After looking for a few minutes, Chewie let out two quick barks and pointed his head towards the stage. There, at the base of the stage was a man with olive green skin and a wide green domed, metal hat. He had a blaster by his side, and a device in his hand. Rey and Chewie started pushing their way through the crowd towards the stage.
When they reached the man, Rey shouted "Are you Lat Poor?" The man did not hear her, he was focused on the stage. Onto the stage came two children of about the same height, a young human boy with short brown hair and a young Twi'lek girl with light purple skin and two purple headtails protruding from her head. Their wrists were each tied together with solid, thick metal cuffs. They were both squinting from the spotlights upon them.
The auctioneer began to speak, "We have something special for you tonight! Two children, who can move things with their mind!" The crowd let out a faint "oooohhh" in several different languages. The man shouted at the two, "show them!" The boy scowled at the man. The man then pushed a button on the device in his hand and the boy fell to the floor in pain. The boy stood up and glared again. The young girl, looked at the boy, then back at the man. Concern filled her eyes.
She paused, then closed her eyes. The hat on the man's head began to slowly rise off of his head, until it reached about 1 meter above, then suddenly it shot across the stage and smacked the auctioneer in the face. The auctioneer recoiled and fell onto his hands and knees. The two children looked at each other and burst out laughing, then moved close together and continued whispering, pointing and giggling.
The auctioneer rose and recovered. "Well, as you can see they should fetch quite a price. Place your bids now."
There were three stations in the audience where bidders placed their bids. A rounded metal box was attached to a tall pole. The metal box had a keypad and an opening to place a hand or other appendage. A short man of the Duros species, with large eyes, turquoise skin and a wide brimmed hat approached one of the stations. He placed his right hand in the metal box as it appeared to scan it. He then typed with the other hand. The bid appeared on a screen above the stage, "10,000 credits".
Rey looked at Chewie, "Chewie, we need to find the others!". They started scrambling through the crowd looking for Finn and Hob.
"12,000 credits"
"17,000 credits"
"20,000 credits"
"23,000 credits"
Chewie spotted Finn from across the auction. He tried to roar but Rey could not hear him. So he picked up Rey, bear hugged her, and physically turned her around so she could see Finn in the distance, then set her down.
Rey turned around and softly said "Thanks."
They ran off to reach Finn.
"27,000 credits"
"We have to bid on the kids! What can we bid?" said Rey loudly in the crowd.
"I don't know! We don't have anything!" said Finn.
"32,000 credits"
Rey pulled out the communicator in her pocket and shouted, "3PO! How much is the Falcon worth?" C-3PO replied "Our ship? Why would we want to sell our ship? We can't stay here!" R2-D2 started beeping and rocking back and forth. C-3PO looked at R2 and said "90,000 credits? According to my records a ship like this sells for 60,000 credits. Inflation you say? What is the..."
"36,000 credits"
"43,000 credits"
"Thanks 3PO" Rey said quickly and turned off her communicator. They ran off to the nearest bidding station.
"Where is Hob?!!" said Rey.
"I don't know, I lost him in the crowd!" said Finn. "You bid, I'm going to keep looking for him!"
Rey arrived at a bidding station, and paused to catch her breath. She looked out at the next closest station, as a female figure in all black with a black helmet approached and placed a bid.
"80,000 credits"
The crowd gasped at the large jump in price. Lat Poor cracked a smile from a distance.
The figure in black turned to look at the new competition and planted her staff-like weapon in the ground. Rey looked around, looked confused at the bidding station and stuck her hand in the box.
"90,000 credits"
The figure in black turned to face Rey again. She had a helmet on, but the crowd could sense the glare under the mask. Another figure in black standing next to her with a dark cloak started shouting to her, mostly drowned out by the crowd, waiving his hands up and down in what appeared to be angry motions.
Sosh Ren turned away from Garmoth Ren and approached the station again.
"100,000 credits"
Finn ran back to see what was going on, Hob was not with him. "What's going on, are you selling the ship? What is it worth?"
Rey didn't respond.
"Rey, we can't get stuck in this horrible place", said Finn.
"I'm busy!" said Rey.
Rey, this time ignoring Sosh, looked at the bidding board and bid 110,000.
"Rey! We don't have that money! What are you doing!" said Finn. Chewie let out a roar.
Sosh Ren looked at Rey. She paused, and turned around. Garmoth appeared to be shouting at her. Baldaar Ren was behind them, and just stood there. Sosh turned around and looked at Rey.
"120,000 credits"
"Rey...we have to stop" whispered Finn, "we have to stop".
Rey paused, and backed away from the station.
"120,000 credits wins!" said the auctioneer.
Sosh Ren punched some keys on her terminal and walked towards the stage to collect the kids. Rey's eyes followed her the entire way.
"Finn, it's important to obey local laws and customs right?"
"I think it's time to break them."