Revival- A Star Wars Story

Chapter 26- Home

The X-wing and Osprey land near a rugged city full of sand. There are dust clouds everywhere, and the buildings are in shambles. Rey, Luke, R2 and BB-8 are greeted by a hunched over, old Dug with a long, white beard.

"Luke Skywalker! My old friend!" the Dug laughs.

Luke walks out and welcomes the old Dug. "Thanks for responding to the signal. Rey, this is Viq."

"Pleasure to meet ya," Viq chuckles, "Say, has she been given the mist?"

Luke shakes his head, "You said the herd immunity would be enough."

"Right, right."

Luke says to Rey, "Viq's a merchant with many connections and knows the place well. He'll help us find Litha."

"Ah... the young girl," Viq says with sadness, "I have a good idea where she's been taken."

"Where?" Rey asks with worry.

"We'll have to head into the city. But Luke, you okay with stepping foot in there?"

Luke replies, "I have to know how Tatoonie's doing now."

As they're walking into the city, Rey whispers to Viq, "What happened on Tatoonie?"

Viq whispers back, "Something very bad. Living here is a death sentence."

When they get to the entrance, a group of civilians, armed with chained weapons and blasters, is waiting around. They spot Luke and snarl.

"What are you doing here?" one of them hisses, and points his blaster towards Luke. Rey is ready to retaliate, but Luke tells her to stand down. She looks back at the civilians, who glare at Luke with the hellbent intent on murdering him.

"He's just here to buy some power converters," Viq says to assuage the hostiles, "Leave him be."

An ugly looking alien without a nose spits at the ground. "Power converters are in another town. We're outta them."

Luke says, "Then I'll be heading there." The aliens continue to snarl at him. R2 follows Luke, and BB-8 whirls in sadness, not wanting to leave his droid friend. Rey tries to stop him, but Viq whispers to her, "He knows this is the right thing to do. He doesn't wany any trouble. We have to focus on finding that girl."

Luke turns around to leave, and Rey shoots a glance at him, hoping to ask him for answers. But he does not appear to want to give any. Dozens of questions race through Rey's mind. How could anyone hate Luke this much? Not even Inimoni was this hostile, and they had blamed Luke for not being able to stop their centuries long war.

When Rey steps into the city, she sees a disjointed, misshapen landscape filled with broken buildings, bandits stalking them in the alleyway corners, and puddles of muddy water lying around. Broken glass litters the streets. Beggars lie in despondence and agony on the sand, warmed by only small flames. Orphans walk around, bleeding all over, asking for help. Rey tries to go help one, but when she does, she is overwhelmed by all the other orphans staring at her, waiting for help, too. Viq tells her that it's hopeless and to let it go.

But it would only get more enigmatic. Rey starts to notice patches of bright green grass blending into the ground. How could there be any vegetation? As they step through, the grass becomes more and more prominent, and curled up flowers with faint colors even beginning appearing. Now Rey peers into the distance, and sees a titanic cloud of opaque smoke, obscuring a menacing, mountainous figure. She realizes what the grass is: a blight produced that is encroaching onto the desert land.

"So," Viq coughs, "Wondering how I know Luke?"

"Y-yes," Rey stutters, as she was just zoning out. "I have a lot of questions."