Chapter 2: Space Pirates
Having just quashed a small gang of bounty hunters, Jedi Master Rey Skywalker and her Padawan Fama prepare to settle down and wait for the trials ahead of them. Unexpectedly, as soon as they exited the criminal’s den, the entire transport ship shook violently. Screams filled the air, and chaos engulfed the halls. This was, without a doubt, an attack and an attack on a ship such as this one could only mean one thing. Pirates.
Fama, being young and inexperienced, looked up to her mentor and shouted to be heard over the crowd, “What’s going on!?”
Rey looked back and answered with urgency, “Pirates are attacking the ship.”
The girl’s face went pale. Coming from a family of cargo runners, she knew just how terrifying pirates could be. With a hesitant voice, she shouted again, “What do we do?”
Rey let out a weary sigh and responded in a loud but clear voice, “Just stay with me.” She then drew in a breath and, in a voice that was amplified by the Force, shouted, “Everyone! Calm down!” A typical call like this would have done little to impact the mania, but through the Force, the Jedi managed to reach not only the ears of these people but their hearts. Not skipping a beat as dozens of sets of eyes turned on her, she continued, “Everyone takes shelter in the dining wing. The pirates will prioritize raiding the engine room, cargo bay, and droid center.”
Having been a scraper for many years, she was well aware of the location of the most valuable parts of a ship. Pirates struck fast and would disappear almost as soon as they arrived, seeing how the New Republic, Remnant General Faction, and Grand Corporate Alliance all did their best to suppress pirates in this age of chaos. Then again, this depended on the clan of pirates. Most only valued cargo and sometimes ship parts, though some had a taste for the slave trade or just found pleasure in killing. Regardless, most ships would be left dead in space, which was a death sentence for unsanctioned transports such as this one, which had to keep to the back routes.
The passengers began to obey while the Jedi Master added, “If you have and can wield a weapon, follow me.”
Fama looked up at her teacher with admiration in her eyes. She had only been following Rey for a few months, but every day, she learned something new. With a cheery voice, the girl called, “So we fight the pirates.”
Rey shook her head, looking displeased, “First, we try and negotiate; if that fails, we defend ourselves.” The girl kept looking with knowing eyes until her Master admitted the truth, “Yes, we fight the pirates.”
A small group of five had come forward to fight with them, including two Humans, two Jawas, and a rather chubby Wookie. The pink-haired female human in her early twenties looked at Rey skeptically and inquired with a distrustful tone, “So you’re the Jedi terrorist Rey.”
Antagonized, Fama lurched forward and shouted, “My master isn’t a terrorist. She’s a hero!”
The pointy-faced woman rolled her eyes and snapped, “Butt out, kid, you reek of Resistance brainwashing.”
At this point, the Padawan was ready to fight, but the Master maintained her cool, “There’s no time for politics; if we fight amongst ourselves, the pirates have already won.”
The blue-haired male partner of the pink-haired woman spoke in a similar tone of distaste, “What are you going to do, use the Force and make their ship blow up? Jedi are sure good at that.”
In response to the growing pettiness, the Wookie let out a series of growls and groans. The pink-haired girl was confused by this until her partner whispered a translation in her ear. The Jawas concurred with this eloquent speech and valiantly shook their weapons with a cheer. Rey nodded, “Thank you, your point is fair.”
Fama, whose Wookie was very underdeveloped, spoke up without reservation, “So what are we doing?”
Rey knelt down and placed a hand on the floor, “They attacked while we were out of hyperspace, which means they have a tracking device on the ship. The only reason the ship would drop from hyperspace would be so the hyperdrive can dispel built-up static, so we’re stuck here for at least another 10 minutes. We need to force them to retreat or hold them off till their hyperdrive is back online.”
The pink-haired woman with a thin frame that didn’t match her attitude added with sarcasm, “Great analysis, but if we don’t know where they’re entering the ship from, we might as well just give them our cargo and fuel. The first thing they will do is jam the security system so we can’t even track their movements.”
Rey stood up swiftly and spoke, “They’ve entered through cargo-bay 2 and 6. The ship’s guards have secured the cockpit and are trenched in cargo bay 6. The pirates from cargo bay two are heading towards the engine room. There are 20 of them and only three guards down there. We need to reinforce them.”
At first, the humans seemed to want to object, but after a nudge from the Wookie, they settled down. The Jawas pointed in one direction and spewed out a few sentences in their native language. Rey nodded in response, “Good, you two go and dislodge their boarding vessel.” She turned and added, “Everyone else, follow me to the engines.”
An awkward team of five began to race down eerily empty halls. A few stragglers could be seen here or there, resigned to their fates, but no one interfered in their travels. In less than a minute, they arrived in the bowels of the ship. The sound of firing blasters could be heard, as well as periodic shouts and a blowtorch. With a quick glance around a corner, the Wookie, who addressed itself as Chichy, verified the pirates were trying to cut their way through the blast doors and were almost through.
The blue-haired man, who was rather fit, appeared very calculating and whispered seriously, “We should attack from two angles, force the pirates to split up to pursue us.”
Fama liked it better when Rey did the ordering and blurted, “And what do you know?”
The man looked back with cold, grey eyes and responded, “Four years of Battle Analytics training at the First Order’s Officer’s Institute.”
Rey glanced at the male and female pair with a brief, calculating gaze before conceding, “It’s a good plan. How confident are the two of you at holding your own?”
After glancing at each other, the female responded coarsely, “We can manage.” She then glanced at Fama and added, “Can the kid keep up?”
Rey glanced at the child as well and added, “If I thought she would obediently shelter with everyone else, I would have ordered her to do so. I’m confident Fama won’t be a hindrance.”
Chichy growled, quietly brandishing dual blasters. The blue-haired man nodded at this, “OK, we’ll attack from three angles if you’re sure. Didi and I will stay here. You guys circle around them as soon as you can.”
Rey nodded and grabbed her Padawan’s shoulder, “There’s no time to waste. Let’s go.”
Chichy flashed past the corridor deeper into the ship to attack from the opposite side while Rey guided Fama back the way they came. While the Wookie and human pair attacked from the sides, they would come from the rear. Once they made a turn, the Padawan finally blurted out, “Master, how can those people say such terrible things?”
Rey sighed and answered, “I was also shocked when I first traveled to the Core Worlds. I thought when Sidious died, and the First Order fell, peace would just happen. But to some people, the Empire was everything. Their hatred for the New Republic and Jedi is virtually the same as how someone from the outer rim feels about the Empire and Sith.”
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The girl looked shocked and blurted, “But!” She winced and continued more quietly, “But the Sith were evil, the Empire was evil.”
Rey peeked around the edge of the corridor ahead of them and then quickly retreated before looking at the girl with melancholy eyes, “It’s hard to explain, Fama. The Empire would take everything from you and then give a little back. The people didn’t realize what was happening. They just knew it was thanks to the Empire they were able to survive.” She looked down and shook her head, “That’s all anyone’s trying to do these days, survive one day to the next. All we can do is strive to do what’s right even if people distrust us or even hate us because that’s the only way we’ll prove them wrong.”
Fama blinked, perplexed, and whispered, “I don’t get it.”
Rey smiled and rubbed the child’s head, “You will one day. For now…” She took out her lightsaber and winked, “Stay right here.” In a quick moment, she turned the corner and shouted, “My name is Rey Skywalker, Jedi Master. Surrender now and lay down your arms!”
In the next moment, an earthy and hoarse voice shouted, “Shoot her!”
And a hail of crimson blaster bolts poured down through the hallway.
As the pirates opened fire, many shots missed on their own, and a few more missed due to Rey turning and positioning her body. Two more were redirected via the Force and only tore her cloak. While the last two were intercepted by her orange lightsaber blade, of which one was rebounded. After this, the shots became more accurate and less frequent, causing even the Jedi Master great difficulty keeping up. Rey grimaced as a bolt grazed her calf, though, at this point, the pirates began receiving fire from two sides and broke down into chaos.
After a few seconds and six casualties, the leader of the group roared, “You dogs, use your heads! Split up and kill them!”
Four pirates each charged Chichy and the two Imperials, while six charged the Jedi. The Pirates seemed to be of the Weequay species, which luckily meant the Slave Trade was likely off the table. Though this kind of scum had a reputation like rohygin-nats, once angered, they would hound you forever. The decreased intensity of the blaster fire made it easier to defend, but these were hardened killers with more than a little experience in a fight. Rey managed to hold her own for twenty seconds before having to retreat and bring out a baster of her own and start shooting. Even with Battle Meditation, one Jedi with one lightsaber could not defend against an avalanche of blaster bolts.
Fama peaked around the wall curiously and asked, “Where’s my blaster?”
Rey pushed the Pawdawan back and growled, “You stay back. That’s an order.” Dejected, the child obeyed and sat against the wall. Rey cursed in an exotic language she knew Fama didn’t know and prepared for a hard battle. If this had been two years earlier, the fight would’ve been easy, but ever since her duel with Sidious, her connection to the Force had been weakened.
She didn’t know why this was; there were just too many possible reasons. One was, without any Sith left in the galaxy to achieve balance, her powers became suppressed. The second was, after her Dyad in the Force, Ben Solo, died, her own connection with the Force had been weakened. Another possible reason was when Sidious revived himself, he had stolen some of her strength and died with it. Then again, another possibility was that since she had technically died and was only brought back due to Ben’s sacrifice, she was being punished for going against the natural order. It was impossible to be sure, and she had no mentor to guide her or offer insight as the Voices of the Past Jedi had grown almost completely silent since the battle on Exogal.
Rather than fixating on her lost power, she had turned to the future, perfecting her skills and sowing seeds. First, she had trained her best friend Finn and dubbed him a Jedi Knight. They both had a long way to go compared to the Jedi of old, but they had little choice. Once basic training was complete and he built his own lightsaber, she left him a copy of some Jedi texts and began to search for a place to build her Jedi Temple. While on this journey, she failed to find an ideal location but found Fama and, after discussing things with her family, accepted her as the first true Padwan in the New Jedi Order.
Seeing how things had turned out, Rey found herself regretting her over-eagerness to accept an apprentice. In situations like this, she could hardly keep herself safe, let alone a child. With a grunt, Rey leaped out and used her lightsaber to slash through two of the pirates’ weapons while using her blaster to stun them. She barely made it back into the corridor before another volley of blaster bolts rained forward.
Fama looked like she was enjoying the battle and chimed, “So, are we winning?”
Rey gave the girl a livid glare and snapped, “I’ll have you meditate for a week if you keep this up.’
The threat sent a shiver of fear through the child, who barely managed to squeak out, “Sorry.”
Rey glanced down the hall and gulped before pulling back and whispering, “OK, tactical retreat time.”
Fama sighed and stood up, “OK.”
As had happened before, Rey picked the girl up and flopped her over her shoulder like a sack of maskin fruit. The pair of Master and apprentice bounded away as Rey pondered deeply about whether other Jedi Masters had to resort to such tactics. After a few turns, Rey put Fama down while gasping and put a hand on the deck. A moment passed, and she pointed left, “The Imperials are that way and need help.”
The girl, looking indignant, retorted, “We need help.”
Rey nodded, “All the more reason for us to meet up with them.”
This was not the first time the Padawan had been concerned about the mental state of her Master. From first learning about the Force to her uncanny flying skills, it all seemed unbelievable. Still, every time there was a profound truth to be discovered, maybe today she would learn the grand mystery behind running from pirates.
They hurried down two more corridors before arriving in a battle zone amidst a maintenance deck. Rey let out an intense burst of blaster fire as she and Fama dove behind a large clump of pipes. They arrived next to the blue-haired man and the woman called Didi, who appeared injured. Looking disorientated, the woman groaned, “Look, Jay, the Jedi came to save us.’
Rey looked at the young man and said seriously, “Expect more company.”
Didi turned her head away and muttered, “Damn it.”
Jay nodded and asked, “How many did you take out?”
Fama excitedly blurted, “Two!”
The man nodded and responded, “Same here.”
Right on queue, the pursuing pirates emerged from the hall but were forced to take cover behind some pipes as they shot at them. The two Jedi and two Imperials were now cornered but in a relatively defensible position. Didi whistled in an impressive manner and got out deliriously, “Wow, I’d almost believe you did kill the Emperor.”
Fama retorted angrily, “Master did.”
Didi rolled her eyes, “Everyone knows Lord Palpatine died on the second Death Star. Snoke invented the False Emperor to gain political support.”
Fama glared and snapped, “That’s a lie.”
At the same time as this, Jay managed to shoot a pirate but received heavy fire and hid. He glared at Fama, then grasped Didi’s hand tenderly and said, “Don’t fight with this little girl; you have to reserve your strength.”
The woman looked back at him just as tenderly and nodded, “Right, reserve my strength.”
She closed her eyes, and the man went white. Rey managed to take down another pirate and then hide. She put a hand on the woman and looked at Jay confidently, “Just unconscious, nothing fatal.”
Jay glanced at the Jedi and asked, “You really can use the Force?”
Fama was again ready to fight but got nudged by her Master, who answered, “Yes.”
The man looked perplexed and said, “I thought only the Sith or Inquisitors could properly use the Force. Jedi are only good at controlling people’s minds and trickery.”
Rey sighed and, after taking a few more shots, answered, “I’m sure the First Order would say that, but Jedi are a lot different than what you think.”
Jay looked conflicted and made a sudden confession as though he were desperate to hear the truth, “Didi and I never had a problem with the Empire. It raised us and gave us purpose. Peace and order were what they promised us. But the First Order was nothing like what we had been taught...” He didn’t continue, appearing unable to come to terms with his own thoughts.
Rey nodded sympathetically and, despite the blaster bolts wheezing through the air, pried a little bit, “If you were so confident in the Empire, how did the two of you end up on a transport from New Republic space?”
The man took a few more shots and smiled as he heard a pain-filled shout. He looked back to Rey and answered solemnly, “When the Final Order fell, we decided to start over. The New Republic promised amnesty for those who voluntarily surrendered and didn’t have criminal records. Things went well for a while till the Marshalls appeared.” His gaze grew bitter, and he shot, bending over their defensive pipes before continuing, “Our local official wanted our land. We were forced from our homes, and when we fought back, they put a bounty on our heads. No one would help us.” A hateful fire filled his eyes as he finished, “Didi had a little sister… She didn’t make it out alive.”
Fama looked shocked by this, though her Master didn’t seem surprised, “These are hard times. I’m sorry for your loss.”
Jay nodded and added, “The Remnant Generals Faction says they’re open to ex-imperial.” He looked at Didi endearingly and finished, “We’re going to try and start over again.” With a sad chuckle, he checked his blaster for its charge, “If we can get out of here alive, that is.” His original burst of curiosity had faded away as his mind was consumed with unhappy memories.
Rey sighed, “That’s the tricky part.” She put a hand on Fama’s head with a worried look.
The hour looked grim as their ambition began to grow low. Just as the Jedi and ex-imperial prepared to make one last stand, a startled shout could be heard from the opposite side of the room. Many more shouts rang out as a smug voice called, “Catch these pirates alive, lads. The New Republic bounty for pirates has tripled this month alone!”
Bounty hunters clashed with pirates, and a vicious conflict broke out; the latter was unprepared for a sneak attack and quickly collapsed. Gavin Mandunin appeared from around the defensive block of pipes, smiling like a rogue, and chimed, “I think it’s time to re-reconsider our relationship, my dear Jedi.”