Chapter 1:

With a pained groan, Ben leaned against the metal hull of some forgotten war machine. He had traveled through most of the night and just now as the sun was breaking he had finally needed to stop to rest. His muscles ached fiercely and he took a deep breath trying to center himself. Taking off his pack he placed it on the ground and rested his head against the relatively cool metal of the machine. Reaching into his pack he searched around until he grabbed a canteen and sipped a small amount of water. An electronic trill by his feet caught his attention.

"We'll keep moving in a bit, I just need to rest."

With a sigh, Ben took another look into his pack to see what else Tekka had packed. There was another canteen, a DH-17 blaster and holster which he removed, a small leather bag with an odd assortment of parts that he didn't recognize yet felt oddly familiar, a couple packs of rations, and a small pouch with a handful of credit chits. Closing the pack, he attached the blaster to his utility belt and proceed to fumble with one of the pouches on his belt. He opened it and pulled out his crystal enclosing it in his palm to enjoy the warmth that traveled through it into his body.

The crystal had been the very first present Tekka had given him. It had been a clear crystal unremarkable except for a strange feeling in the force, that is until he had reached out to pick it up and the crystal had responded. Shining ice blue the crystal had given off a gentle warmth causing an indescribable tune to play in his head.

It was the last thing he had of Tekka besides the pack beside him.

Brushing hurriedly at his eyes Ben went to put the crystal back in his pouch then paused. Reaching into another pouch he pulled out a cord which he wrapped around the crystal carefully securing it, before tying the cord carefully around his wrist. Ben rose to his feet surveying the area, dunes of sand stretched out in every direction. The only landmark of note in the vast desolate landscape was the metal juggernaut behind him.

"Come on BB-8, let's go."

Hearing an affirmative sound from the droid, Ben once again shouldered his pack.

He felt their presences before he heard them. One was a massive creature in a great deal of pain, a luggabeast probably, the other was a much more intelligent presence and given that it was riding the beast it was most likely a Teedo, a small reptilian species that made its home on Jakku scavenging. Keeping up his pace he felt the pair slowly gaining on his tired footsteps as he slowly made his way through the sand. It was only a short while later that he heard the thumping of the beast's legs as it made its way towards him and BB-8. Turning around he gazed directly at the creature as it made its way towards him with its occupant. As the other pair came into speaking range the creature gestured sharply at Ben and jabbered a question at him.

"No, the droids not mine, it belongs to a friend."

This caused the Teedo to pause for a moment and look at him in an assessing manner, likely wondering if it could take him down with its ion spear and collect the droid for itself. A gentle brush with the force proved it and Ben sighed.

"Don't try it," he stated as if it were a simple suggestion.

The Teedo sat there considering for a long moment but something in Ben's stance caused him to reconsider and with a slew of curses the Teedo spurred his luggabeat onward away from Ben and BB-8. A whistle from BB-8 caught his attention drawing his attention to another approaching presence. Turning around he faced a sand dune as a figure came up over it. The figure who appeared to be a young woman with dark brown hair and hazel eyes garbed in a tan tunic with light grey pants. Another scavenger, but while the Teedo had been filled with greed, this scavenger had a faint melancholy about her. As she came closer the intensity of her emotions increased, loneliness, longing, bitterness.

"Teedo give you any trouble?" her voice knocked Ben out of his thoughts.

He responded, "Nothing too bad, Teedo wanted BB-8 here for some scrap."

An irritated sound came from BB-8 showing exactly what he thought of that idea.

The scavenger nodded, turned to leave, then paused, "Know where you're going."

"Niima outpost."

She looked up in the sky, "It's getting late, no way you're going to make it before the sun sets."

Ben nodded, "I know." What other choice did he have? Tuanul was gone. Tekka was gone. What did he have left?

The scavenger looked at him hard, before finally speaking, "If you need a place for the night…" she trailed off.

Ben looked back at the scavenger and felt a gentle nudge at the back of his mind. He reached out trying to get a read on her intentions, reluctance, truth. Ben nodded.

"Thank you, I…" an idea occurred to him and he slung his pack over his shoulder and reached in pulling out a pair of ration packs and held it up to the scavenger. Her eyes lit up and she moved forward a couple steps to reach to take the packets looking at Ben in surprise.

Getting over her shock she spoke, "Come follow me." With that, she grabbed the packets and gestured for them to come with her as she walked back in the direction she came. Shifting his pack back onto his shoulders Ben followed catching up to the scavenger as they crested the dune with BB-8 close behind him.

"I'm Ben by the way."

"I'm Rey."

Ben watched as Rey tore into one of the ration packs he had given her. Opening one of his remaining ration packs he began to eat mechanically every bite tasting like dust. They sat across from each other in what used to be a machine of war that was slowly being claimed by the desert. Rey's home, if it could be called a home, unsettled him on an instinctual level. The blast marks on the exterior of the walker had triggered another one of his headaches.

Devastated areas with bodies strewn about everywhere smoking metal hulks everywhere. The aftermath of war.

Ben shook his head slightly trying to shake the images that had seared themselves into his mind and glared down at his ration bar.

"So where are you from?" Rey's voice dragged him from his thoughts and into another quandary. What did he tell her?

"Tuanul." His response was short.

"That old spiritual village?"

"Yeah." He said ending with a harsh note finality causing Rey to start back a bit. Trying for a weak smile he spoke again, "So how long have you lived here?" he gestured vaguely at their surroundings.

"About 9 years." She responded a note of pride in her voice.

Ben nodded and the silence stretched out until he spoke in a quiet voice, "This place is nothing like Dantooine."

At his words, Rey seemed to perk up, "You've been to other planets?"

A soft smile graced Ben's face, "Yeah, Tekka, the man who adopted me took me almost everywhere in the galaxy before we came here…"

At his words, she sat up straighter looking at him critically, "What are they like?" she said in a soft voice, "Other planets."

Hearing Rey's words caused his stomach to drop. In Tuanul he had often received the same question from the younglings of the village. Unable to help himself he would sit back and start to talk, inevitably gathering a crowd of them until he stopped his story. Seeing the longing look on Rey's face he couldn't help himself.

He sat back letting the memories flow through him and when he opened his mouth he let it all flow out. Worlds of oceans, worlds of greenery and soaring trees, worlds dominated by mountains, he spoke of it all. Hours passed like this, Ben describing the wonder of the universe in vivid detail while Rey attentively listened a look of awe on her face. It was just as Ben began to describe the rain of Kamino he stopped. He had never been to Kamino. He had never been to even a quarter of the planets he had described yet he could remember them all with vivid detail.

"I guess we had better get some sleep," a soft voice caught his attention and he looked at Rey who was getting to her feet heading to a cot in the corner of the room. Finding a corner of the room he used his pack as a makeshift pillow and sprawled across the floor. He slowed his breathing and as darkness reached to claim him he heard a quiet, "Thank you," from across the room.

Ben gradually gained consciousness to the sound of quiet feet heading towards him. With a light brush, he confirmed the presence headed towards him as Rey. Rising to his feet he stretched his limbs out feeling his sore leg muscles protesting. He glanced quizzically at Rey who had halted her approach on seeing him wake up.

"It's daybreak," she offered as an explanation, "I'll give you a ride to the Niima outpost, I have some salvage to trade."

Ben nodded, shouldering his pack and following Rey outside to her speeder, a large red machine that looked to be cobbled together from whatever was on hand. He watched as Rey first picked up BB-8 setting the droid in the netting before mounting the speeder and then gestured with her head for him to get on behind her. Placing his foot on the bottom engine he swung himself behind her finding that he now had no idea what to do with his hands. As he pondered what to do his thoughts were interrupted as Rey gunned the engines and he had to grab onto her waist to avoid being unseated from the speeder.

The ride passed in silence and it was only when they got to Niima outpost that Rey spoke, "So what're you planning to do here?"

Ben paused. Niima outpost had seemed to be the logical choice as it was the only settlement that received any traffic from the passing starships and Tekka had said to leave the planet. Poe though had said to get as far away as possible and that he would come back. Poe was a resistance pilot but even if Poe managed to escape he had no idea how they would even be able to find each other. He reached a hand up to stroke his beard only to encounter smooth skin. Putting the thought of him never having a beard aside he refocused his attention on the problem at hand. He would leave the planet, Ben decided, take BB-8 with him. The farther away they got from here the less likely the First Order would be able to find him and BB-8.

He looked at Rey, "I'm leaving Jakku, my adopted father gave me some credits to barter my way off planet." He paused remembering the look on her face last night when he had been describing other worlds. "If you want, I should have enough to pay your way off planet too."

She looked surprised and then a small bitter smile emerged on her lips.

It was a long pause before Rey spoke again, "I'm sorry but I can't accept, I'm waiting for my family, they'll be back, one day." She said this with the air of someone repeating a phrase they often told themselves with a slight melancholic smile. Ben didn't need the Force to tell him that she didn't believe it.

"All right," he said, "Thanks for getting me here."

"You're welcome," she said and with a nod walked away heading towards the main bazaar of the outpost.

It was as Ben walked through the market looking for an offworld trader who would be willing to offer up a berth on their ship that he felt the two presences behind him. Taking a quick glance around he spotted two figures cloaked in dark brown rags heading towards him.

Slowly they surrounded him until suddenly one threw a sack over the BB-8 causing Ben to spring into action, his body moving without conscious thought as one of the figures tried to grab his arms. Grabbing one of the encircling arms he flipped his attacker's body over his shoulder causing the figure to hit the ground, hard. The other figure rushed him only to receive a wheel kick to the head causing the figure to drop like a stone. Seeing the other figure try to rise he slammed the heel of his boot into the being's head causing them to collapse to the ground clearly unconscious.

Ben took a couple steps back shocked as Rey rushed up to him.

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah," realizing that BB-8 was still trapped be pulled off the sack receiving a series of beeps in thanks. As BB-8 swiveled about it suddenly stopped, it's photoreceptor staring straight behind Ben, turning around he saw what BB-8 was staring at. A man with short dark hair was staring at them with a very familiar tan jacket on his shoulders.