Let the Light In

Chapter 60: Serendipity

Chapter 60: Serendipity

Even with her reservations about the system in general, Nar Shaddaa was a wonderful place to get lost. There was no greater scum-hole in all the galaxy, and the constant noise of all the souls made it the perfect place for a Force user to hide their presence. Not the most decent place for a refuelling-stop, but Rey had to take what she could get, and she guessed the benefit of anonymity was well worth dealing with the backstabbing shuttas and the Hutt who ran the place...As well as the downright extortionist prices on fuel and parts. Everyone wanted their pound of flesh, it seemed.

"'Fuelin's done girl!" the Toydarian dock-master appeared in front of her, impatiently floating back and forth for the rest of his pay. Rey thumbed out the credits, and the Toydarian moved on to the next dock without so much as a thanks. Rey sighed and walked back into her ship, keeping her thoughts and attention mostly inwards to try ignore the worse waves of pain that would surge from the Force. Petty crime was an Upper City thing. Down deep in the refugee sector, the order of the day was physical blackmail, enslavement, rape, murder...All the wonderful things the Smuggler's Moon had to offer, aside from its mandatory air of disease. Rey had to chant over and over to herself that she had helped, she had helped...She had taken a walk around the sector while looking for parts and helped out as much as she physically could. One gang's reign of terror had ended thanks to one particularly...Aggressive negotiation, and she had even found safe passage for two stranded families to get back home to Telos. Rey had wanted to help everyone she saw, but it seemed like there was just one more person around every corner whose life hung in the balance, and Rey had left then when the realisation hit that she would have to set strict parameters for herself. She would never be able to help everyone, and that was going to be her greatest issue in the future. Oh, but sweet Force it gave her life to be able to help even those few souls, and her saber stayed on her belt most of the time.

At least the busyness of it was adequate in keeping her mind away from other things for the time being...And now she was thinking about those other things, Force damn it. Rey sighed, quickly forcing thoughts of Ben Solo out of her mind before boarding her ship again. She cringed at the way it echoed with only her footfalls. Anonymity and detachment was all good and well for a lone Jedi, but Rey needed company. She had been alone for so long, it had been like a drug to experience kinship, and here she was running solo missions till-

Solo.

She could have smacked herself.

With a huff, Rey stopped in front of the engine bay, wrinkled her nose at the fumes, and sighed again. There was also, of course, the issue of her damaged hyperdrive. Rey was confident she could get it fixed, it would just take slightly longer than she would've liked without Chewie there to help her. It irritated Rey that she couldn't bring at least a droid along with her. But no, no everyone had their own work. Rey understood that, really she did. BB-8 was practically Poe's child, and R2-D2 was working with C-3PO in communications and with Leia. She knew Chewbacca was aiding Luke and last she had heard when she had commed them mid trip, they were working together to getting an outpost going on Yavin again. But good grief...

Could they at least have loaned her one of the R3 units? Even that one homicidal HK in maintenance would have been preferable to being alone. Sure, Rey lived for this kind of work, but not having another presence around...

She had no idea how Ben dealt with existing on his own for so long.

Oh no, Rey caught herself, none of that! She pushed the thought of the wayward Knight of Ren out of her mind before it could go any further. Rey quickly pulled off her boots, and gloved, then draped Ben's cloak over the workbench. Then, she used the Force to call her toolkit and a crate of parts towards her, and started working on the slightly fried 'drive.