Confronting Fear

Bracca

I'm frightened by what I see
But somehow I know
That there's much more to come
Immobilized by my fear
And soon to be
Blinded by tears
I can stop the pain
If I will it all away
If I will it all away

Whisper- Evanescence

Rey wiggled against Poe in the tiny space behind the circuit panel, trying to find a way to stand that would allow them both to breathe.

"Oooh, keep that up!" Poe teased.

Rey blushed. "Sorry." She stopped moving, listening as something clanked along the entry ramp to the ship. "Shhhh. Something is outside."

They both held their breath as the security droid rolled casually through the ship. It beeped out an "all clear" to whomever was listening before rolling away. Rey cast out her Force, feeling for life forms. There only appeared to be three, Rose, Finn, and whomever the manager was. She could sense the heat from electrical circuits, but none close by, meaning the droid was gone.

"Quick, time to go." Rey whispered as she removed the panel that was hiding them.

Rose gathered her resolve as Finn negotiated with the Rodian manager in the Scrappers Guild office. They had smeared their hands and faces with grease and dirt and were wearing the very worst rags they could find yet she still felt overdressed. The negotiations didn't seem to be going anywhere and she'd gotten the signal from Rey that they were off.

"Oh give it a rest, Mingin. This grease ball ain't never gonna give us what it's worth. We can scrap it ourselves and do better. C'mon, I wanna get ta cantina."

The Rodian laughed as "Mingin" followed her out. "She keeps you in line doesn't she?."

Once outside, she leaned in close to Finn's ear her unprotected eyes already watering from the stinging air. "They're off. Time to get back up. Let me check the slave circuit and we can go."

Finn nodded. "By the way, good job back there."

Rose grinned suggestively. "I'll show you something even better later." causing Finn to turn bright red.

Poe watched the exchange through nightvision quadnocs from atop the scrap heap they had chosen as a vantage point. Bracca's atmosphere was already dark with smoke and pollution during the day, at night he could barely see his hand in front of his face. He set the nocs down to adjust the itchy black ventilation mask covering his face. They were both dressed head to toe in black including the mesh covered cloaks with matching ventilation masks and nightvision goggles.

The masks had been a true stroke of genius on the part of Rose and Finn. During a raid on a small First Order depot, they had accidentally stolen a crate of stormtrooper helmets. They originally planned to discard them as useless, as no self-respecting freedom fighter would be caught dead wearing one. Rose and Finn had intervened, claiming they'd find a use for them. They stripped the helmets down to their bare components and rebuilt them as two- part masks to be used in polluted or sandy environments such this one. The bottom piece had been configured to fit snug to the nose and mouth fitted with the filtration systems used in the helmets. They'd even upgraded them to filter out more than just dust. They had then harvested the nightvision sensors and lenses, converting them to goggles that fit flush with the bottom half of the mask, allowing the pieces to be used independently of each other.The results were uncomfortable, but damn effective. As a joke, they had left the vocoders in, but they had also turned out to be surprisingly useful if you didn't want to be recognized.

He watched as Finn and Rose took off with both ships before turning to Rey, his voice mechanical from the mask. "All clear. Now we need to figure out these rails."