Star Wars VII - Revised and Redacted

Chapter 01: Surviving

The old wreck was unpowered and dark. A scavenger, concealed behind a visor and facemask, pulled open a panel and examined the interior components with the small flashlight mounted on the side of the visor. The scavenger reached into a leg mounted tool belt and removed a long handled implement. Inserting the tool into the wall panel, the scavenger twisted it around to release one of the numerous installed components. Repeating the process several times, half a dozen parts were recovered from the wall panel and placed in a satchel hanging from a diagonal shoulder strap.

With the satchel nearly filled, the scavenger finished for the day, closing the flap and putting away any used tools. Hooking a descender to a nearby bulkhead, the scavenger pressed a switch on the palm sized device to release a thin line of extremely strong cable. The end of the cable had a magnetic catch and a pair of buttons, but the color of the buttons had faded from years of use.

The scavenger used the magnetic catch to attach her harness securely to the cable before pressing the lower of the two buttons. When the scavenger stepped off the platform and dropped down a shaft, sensors registered the increased drag on the line and began to release the cable from an internal spool at a measured rate. When the scavenger reached the bottom and landed roughly on a piece of battered hull plating, the descender halted the output of cable. Unhooking from the line, the scavenger pushed the other button on the cable.

The descender retracted the cable at a rapid pace until it had been fully withdrawn. With the recall of the cable completed, the descender automatically detached from where it had been secured, falling down the shaft and landing nearby. Rather than risk broken fingers trying to catch the descender, the scavenger wisely stepped back and allowed it to impact with a resounding crash before scooping it up and adding it to the satchel.

Ducking into a side passage, the scavenger saw daylight where the cavernous tunnel opened up into the outside world. Exiting the engine port of the wrecked ship, the scavenger noticed movement in the distance and ducked into an alleyway of the abandoned city where the ship had crashed. Reaching up, the scavenger turned off the flashlight on the visor in order to better hide from the newcomers.

Five people in tattered and patchwork armor approached from the south of the crashed ship. One of them had green scales and reptilian eye slits, but the rest wore helmets that concealed their species from identification. They carried flashlights, beams of white light cutting through the shadows between the towering structures.

"I told you, I heard something," one of them growled.

"There's nothing here," the reptilian answered in a hissing accent.

The intruders came close to where the scavenger was hiding, but a clank of metal drew their attention elsewhere. A man in a long and dusty jacket emerged from one of the buildings and was instantly spotted by the intruders. Blaster fire erupted between them as the man ran away through the city with the five intruders in close pursuit.

The scavenger continued to wait in the alley until certain the surrounding area was clear. Slipping out of the shadows, the scavenger entered a collapsed office and pulled back a sheet of metal to uncover a red painted speeder that was mostly a large engine with a seat bolted on in the back almost as an afterthought. The speeder sputtered when the scavenger tried to start it up, but it eventually roared to life. The craft lifted up to hover a foot off the ground before the main thrusters engaged and propelled the vehicle away from the ruined city at high velocity.

The old and broken roadway curved back around to a point on a high hill overlooking the city from several miles away, and the scavenger paused to look back. The towering buildings of gray stone and metal looked like the grim tombstones of a graveyard, and the approaching storm clouds did nothing to dispel the dark impression. The triangular form of the crashed ship lay wedged among the buildings where it had impacted. The scavenger had never seen a Star Destroyer before and was unaware of its name or origin, only that it provided valuable salvage to those willing to risk the predators prowling the city.

Revving the engine of the speeder, the scavenger continued along the broken and decaying roadway toward a distant starport. The sun was setting as the speeder cruised through the stone arches outside the perimeter of the settlement surrounding the starport. The majority of buildings consisted of merchants, part supply shops, and repair facilities. Ignoring them all, the scavenger drove the speeder to a sizable junkyard located beside the circular depressions of the starport landing pits.

Powering down the motor, the scavenger took the satchel of recovered parts and walked swiftly to a small shack near the gate leading into the junkyard. A rotund alien with bulbous eyes and body stood behind the counter.

"Rey!" the alien bellowed to the scavenger. "Good to have you back. You always bring me the best salvage."

"Hello, Unkar," Rey answered, taking out the parts from the satchel. "How much for the lot?"

While waiting for Unkar to evaluate the offered items, Rey removed the goggles and mask from her face.

"I'll give you thirty," Unkar offered, spilling out a pile of thumbnail sized cubes onto the counter. Three were copper colored, but the rest were silver gray metal.

"How about thirty-five?" Rey suggested.

"Twenty," Unkar countered.

"Thirty's good," Rey accepted.

"Glad we could agree," Unkar replied, collecting the parts and putting them on the back shelves of his shack. "Come back when you've got more to sell."

Rey swept a hand across the counter, gathering the offered credits. She left the junkyard and walked down the main street, looking over the shops and the items they offered for sale. Her final stop was a starship part supplier. It took the last of her acquired credits, but she bought a new power regulator.

Rey returned to her speeder. It was already late afternoon, and two of the three moons had already risen. She powered up the engine and pushed the throttle to full in an attempt to reach home before dark, shooting away from the settlement and across the open countryside.