Hellhound Two

Rey awoke, shivering. She had half expected to wake in another random pocket of the galaxy, but the smell of cold sand and hyperspace-grade alloy told her she was still inside the downed ship.

She uncoiled her body from the tight ball she had pulled herself into. Every joint and muscle ached beyond sanity. She brushed clumps of dried sand off her arms and legs and breasts. Tried and failed to get it out of her pubic hair.

Her skin was pink, but not as burnt as she had expected. She glanced at the thick pile of sand at her feet. Lucky, she thought.

From where she slept, it took her two minutes to step into the cold darkness of Jakku at night.

A trembling exhalation showed her breath on the air. This is going to be a long night, she thought.

Hellhound Two, the old AT-AT she once lived in, was miles away. It was possible her traps and modifications had prevented anyone else from getting inside, but she didn't hold out much hope of that.

She walked hunched over, arms crossed, fingers tucked into her armpits to keep them warm. When needed, she made sand tunnels in the dunes. She found the temperature marginally better inside the sand.

The dunes flattened out as she got closer to her home. She crouched low when she saw the fallen AT-AT in the distance. Circled it once, cautiously, watching for movement, noting the complete absence of her many traps. A breeze picked up, and she could bear the cold no longer.

Rey approached from the bottom, where the emergency hatch was located—she had welded the main years ago. She was almost to the feet of the AT-AT when the hatch popped open. She quickly dove behind one of the enormous feet.

Plutt, the trading boss she once exchanged old tech for rations with, was speaking to someone in his rough, gargled voice. He sounded angry.

Rey looked down at her naked body. It was one thing to walk naked for hours alone in the dark. It would be another thing entirely to approach Plutt without clothes. He was not known for his kind treatment of **** female humanoids.

But Rey wasn't ****. Or, at least, she wasn't without the ability to defend herself.

A Twi'lek female, gripping a small strip of cloth that barely covered her from chest to thigh, ran past Rey and into the cold night.

Rey listened for a few minutes. Plutt was banging on the metal and cursing. Rey leaned out of cover to see what he was doing. Plutt turned her way. She didn't hide in time.

"Who's out there?" Plutt called. "I told you to go home, you'll get your rations tomorrow."

You've defeated Kylo Ren in a duel, Rey thought. You survived an encounter with Supreme Leader Snoke and defeated his personal guard. You can face Plutt.

Funny, how facing your childhood nightmares could be so scary, even after you've outgrown them.

Rey stepped around the AT-AT's foot and into Plutt's sight. He was naked from the waist up. Saggy pink flesh rippling into four oozing nipples on his torso. No, not nipples, Rey thought. Sores. Rey wanted to gag.

"I am Rey, soldier of the Resistance," she said, voice shaking. "I demand food, water, and shelter. And transportation off this planet."

"Rey, you say?" Plutt laughed. "Little, Rey? The scavenger girl that conveniently disappeared the day the First Order attacked?"

Plutt spat in the sand. "You'll get nothing from me."

"I don't want to have to take it from you." Rey stepped closer, into the orange glow of the AT-AT's internal lights.

Plutt eyed Rey's nudity and licked his lips with a fat purple tongue. Like putting on a mask, his expression changed. Is that... guilt, on Plutt's face? "There's nothing to take here, girl. There's nothing left."

"You just said--"

"I know what I said," he barked. "I wanted to squish a warm body one more time before I drop this hatch on my head."

This is my fault. Rey thought. I did this to them when I left with BB-8. "What do you mean, 'there's nothing left'?"

"The First Order killed anyone that wouldn't tell them where you were," he said. "Which meant everyone. A handful of us escaped their notice because we were wise enough to dig hidey-holes with a little extra food. Didn't matter, not many of us survived the first attack anyway. First Order burned the rations and scuttled every last ship to make sure the rest of us would join them. Eventually."

Rey didn't know how to respond, maybe Plutt was lying. But if so, what did he get out of it? He didn't know about Rey's **** sensitivity, so he would have no reason to fear her. Especially turning up naked and **** in the middle of the night.

Plutt leered at her body with hungry eyes, seemed to have read her mind. "A few decades ago, maybe I could have managed back-to-back rounds."

Plutt retreated a half-step into the AT-AT. "But now? I'm just too tired."

Rey saw movement from his off hand."Wait!"

The hatch dropped. His head rolled into the sand.

She turned away and covered her mouth, not sure why there were tears in her eyes. Plutt was a bastard, but over time, she had earned his grudging respect. He'd even shown her kindness on occasion.

Rey straightened up. The bigger problem now was finding food and water. Then getting off this dead planet.