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Chapter 4: A Fateful Meeting

An explosion rocked the earth beneath Rey and woke her.

"What?!" Rey mumbled, confused.

Startled but groggy from having just woken up, Rey fumbled for her old blaster rifle and hopped out of her AT-AT home. She scanned her surroundings with her rangefinder. In the distance just over a sand dune was smoke, clearly from something burning.

Rey shouldered her blaster rifle and rushed to the scene. As she came over the sand dune she slowed down, lowering her rifle into a ready stance.

It was a First Order TIE fighter. She had seen them fly overhead a couple of times in the past but never up close on on the ground. A man in stromtrooper gear was struggling to pull a man in tattered clothing out of the banged up cockpit. Rey's instincts told her to help yet also to be cautious towards stormtroopers. What she found off was the fact that neither man was wearing flight gear.

"Hey help me!" the stormtrooper called to her.

Rey decided that it was better to get on the First Order's good side rather than bad so she slid down and quickly picked up the downed man's legs. Together they carried him to Rey's home.

"You live in this thing?" the trooper exclaimed. "Relic from the Battle of Jakku I reckon. Gotta be thirty years old."

With moderate difficulty they managed to bring the wounded man into the walker. Rey set to checking his injuries.

"Piece of debris went in through his side," said Rey. "Not deep though doesn't seem to have punctured his lungs."

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"Thank goodness," said the trooper, taking a seat. He didn't look very composed for a trained soldier.

"Were you two in battle or something?" said Rey, preparing to remove the twisted metal from her patient.

The trooper hesitated before explaining himself. "I'm Finn. Many friend is a republic ace pilot. I defected and rescued him from the star destroyer patrolling Jakku space."

Rey struggled to contain her excitement and sudden sense of dread. If she was caught harboring defectors and resistance fighters the First Order would have her hide out to tan.

"Does he have a name?" Rey asked. With a gentle tug the sharp object was out. She washed the wound with antiseptic before cauterizing it and preparing it for bandaging.

"Ben Solo," said Finn.

Rey nearly dropped her tools. Ace pilot for the republic and family name Solo? She put two and two together.

"Your telling me that the man I am treating right now is Ben Solo, son of the legendary Han Solo and Leia Organa Solo."

"General Organa is also a Skywalker," said Finn. "Look we need to get to a ship with hyperdrive capabilities. Do you have a ship?"

Rey snorted and wiped sweat from her forehead after he had finished patching Ben up. "If I could afford a ship like that do you think I'd still be here living in this piece of junk?"

"Point taken," said Finn, clearly embarrassed. "Oh man Kylo Ren is going to flay me alive. Ben was his prize prisoner."

Rey sat cross-legged across from Finn. "Whose that? Your commanding officer?"

Finn shook his head. "He's more than that. They didn't tell us much but I think he's a Jedi or something, no a Sith warrior. He can do things that shouldn't be possible."

"The force," Rey breathed. She felt light headed. It was a lot to take in.

"Look your safe here," Rey assured Finn, seeing ho nervous he was rocking back and forth in place like he was. "First Order's got a lot of desert to comb. Wind will blow sand right over your TIE fighter, covering your tracks. I'll help nature conceal it's wreckage, you and your friend just get some rest. You've both been through a lot."

"We owe you one big," said Finn, resting his back against the hull of the walker.

Rey smiled and opened the walker's hatch.

"Hey wait I didn't get your name," said Finn.

"It's Rey," she answered.

"Thank you Rey," said Finn, closing his eyes.