Star Wars: Vergence II, Chapter Three

 CHAPTER THREE

Jakku

“See that Mon Cal Star Cruiser over there? Pretty sure that’s the Freedom’s Dawn. I saw it go down right after I made a crash-landing.”

“Thank you, Snap. I forgot you were an old man,” said Jessika Pava, sitting in the pilot’s seat of the landspeeder as it drove along the edge of the Kelvin Ravine. The crashed wreckage of starships, ranging from Mon Cal cruisers to Imperial Star Destroyers, marked the desert’s landscape, serving as a permanent reminder to the disastrous battle that took place here before she was even born.

Sitting next to her in the passenger seat, Snap Wexley gave her a look. “’Old man,’ huh? Bet you call Wedge that too.”

“Not to his face,” Jessika said. “I have too much respect for him than to do that.”

“Oh, but not for me?” Despite the mock indignation in his tone, there was a gleam of amusement in Snap’s eyes. “Thanks, Testor. Glad to know where I stand with you.”

The pair continued to ride their landspeeder across the mesa on which the village of Tuanul was said to be located. Ahead of them were two other speeders carrying their teammates; in one sat Commander Poe Dameron, the ex-stormtrooper known as Finn, and Jedi Master Nira Maren, while the other carried the Jedi Toah Jarsan and Rey, the latter who had apparently lived on Jakku for all her live. Jessika couldn’t imagine what that could have been like, living on such a harsh desert world. Then again, she herself had spent most of her childhood as a slave to the Hutts. When it came to harsh upbringings, Jessika was no stranger to it.

Before long, the village of Tuanul came into view. Comprised of huts made out of wattle and daub, it looked very much like a ghost town. There was no indication that anyone lived here, yet the huts looked as if they were being regularly maintained. Upon parking the landspeeder close to the edge of the village, Jessika was able to make out burn marks on some of the huts, showing that there had been a struggle here at some point.

“Is this the right place, Finn?” Poe Dameron asked as he climbed out of his landspeeder.

“Yes,” Finn replied, stepping out along with Nira Maren. “Yeah, this is the place. This is right where the villagers were rounded up and… yeah.”

Toah Jarsan stepped towards one of the burnt huts and carefully ran his hand over it. Jessika had no idea what he was doing, though she figured it was some Jedi-related skill that he was performing. She glanced over at Rey and saw that the other woman shared her look of confusion.

After a moment, Toah finally spoke. “Someone’s here. I can sense them.”

“So do I,” said Nira Maren. The green-skinned Mirialan Jedi carefully stepped towards one of the huts, which was the only one that had a large metal plate — likely taken from one of the crashed starships — serving as a door. She stood in front of the hut for a few seconds before giving the door a light knock. Jessika’s hand drifted towards her holstered blaster, bracing herself for the worst. Snap and the others did the same, ready to draw a blaster or lightsaber at any moment.

The door finally creaked open and the long, tan-skinned face of a sapient with tiny black eyes and dangling mouth tendrils poked out. Upon seeing Nira, the Abednedo pulled the door further open and stepped out, arms outstretched wide.

“Nira! By the stars!” He pulled the Mirialan woman into a strong embrace, which she promptly returned. “It has been so long.”

“That it has, Father Chek,” Nira replied. She pulled away from the hug and nodded to the others, who all relaxed. “I am glad to see you are still doing well, especially after what happened to the others.”

A shadow fell over Chek’s face. “Ah. So you know about that.”

“Only just recently.” Nira frowned at the priest. “Why didn’t you tell me? You contacted me just a week ago and didn’t say anything.”

“Because I didn’t know about it myself,” said Chek. “I was on a sabbatical when the massacre happened, traveling to other worlds that once had ties to the Church of the Force. I had just left Christophsis when I contacted you and returned to Jakku only to find everyone I knew dead. Some of the bodies had already been picked at by scavengers. I buried what… whatever was left.”

Tears started to well up in Chek’s eyes. Nira placed a hand on his arm.

“I am so sorry,” she said quietly. “No one should ever have to live through that.”

As the Jedi comforted the Abednedo, Jessika glanced over at Finn. The ex-stormtrooper was shifting uncomfortably, looking down at his feet as he drew lines in the sand with the toe of his boot.

After a moment of mournful silence, Chek cleared his throat and spoke up again. “Where are my manners? I don’t believe I’ve properly introduced myself to your friends. My name is Chek Urhed, priest of the Church of the Force… or what’s left of it, in any case.”

Nira gestured to her companions. “This is my fellow Jedi Toah Jarsan and his apprentice Rey. The others are Poe Dameron, Snap Wexley, Jessika Pava, and Finn.”

“Well met,” Chek said. “Please, why don’t you come in. I have already made some tea.”

“You made tea?” asked Poe. “On a desert planet?”

“It’s not as hard as you might think,” said Rey. “Trust me, I’ve lived here all my life.”

Chek’s eyes drifted over to her. “You are from Jakku?”

She nodded. “Yes. I used to work as a scavenger for Unkar Plutt from Niima Outpost.”

“Unkar Plutt, you say.” Chek stroked the tendrils dangling from his face. “Interesting. Best you all come inside, then. I’m sure we have much to discuss.”

Niima Outpost

“For the last time, I don’t have it yet! My scavengers are still—”

“Tell your scavengers to work faster then, Plutt. My patience is wearing thin.”

Unkar Plutt slammed a large fist down onto his desk, causing everything on it to shake or fall over. “You don’t understand,” he hissed into his comlink. “You are asking for the impossible. Jakku is a desert world. Every square inch of the planet is nothing but sand. This old man could have buried his map anywhere on the damn planet! It could take months, years, even decades to scour it!”

“Then you had better stop wasting my time and get back to work, or else you’ll be doing this forever.”

Unkar Plutt uttered a low growl from his throat. “Perhaps if you would get off your own blasted end and actually do something yourself, then maybe—”

“If this job is too stressful for you, then I will gladly find someone else to do it for me. In the meantime, you can enjoy the Hutts paying you a visit for that six-digit debt you owe them.”

“No!” Unkar Plutt groaned as he slumped down into his seat, pinching his wide nose between his pudgy fingers. “Please, don’t…. I’ll have my people step up their game, okay? I’ll get that map for you. Just… just relax.”

“I’ll relax when that map is in my hands. Do not disappoint me, Crolute. This is your last warning.”

The call was cut off on the other end before Unkar Plutt had a chance to speak. The large Crolute let out a harsh curse as he pounded his desk again. With each call he received from his employer, the more he started to regret making a deal with them in the first place. He didn’t know how they knew him or how they knew about the huge debt he owed to the Hutts; they didn’t seem to be directly affiliated with the Hutts as they often spoke of some superior power that had nothing to do with the crime lords. In any case, they had offered to help Unkar pay off that debt in exchange for some map, which Unkar had thought would have been simple enough.

Instead, it had been anything but.

After taking a few minutes to calm himself, Unkar reached again for his comlink and hailed the leader of his thugs, whom he had put in charge of all the scavengers to make sure they found this map. If screaming insults and threatening bodily harm was going to be what it took to get his people moving, then he was going to gladly do just that. 

Otherwise, heads were going to roll before the Hutts got his.

Tuanul

Chek Urhed’s abode was not much more than a small room, with a table in the center, a few chairs, and a cot just off to the side. With only four chairs to spare, Toah Jarsan, Nira Maren, and Poe Dameron sat at the table with Chek while everyone else stood, holding their small cups of tea.

After taking a sip from his own cup, Chek set it down and looked over to Nira. “So, how do you know about the map?”

“We have our sources,” Poe said vaguely. No one had brought up Finn and how he had been present for the attack on Tuanul, lest it cause Chek to distrust them. “We know that the ones responsible for Lor San Tekka’s death are looking for it, though he told them that it had been destroyed.”

Chek shook his head. “Not destroyed. He could never bring himself to do something so extreme, even if the fate of the galaxy depended on it. He most likely buried either it somewhere on the planet or entrusted it with someone who could take it offworld.”

“Do you know of anyone who could have taken it for him?” asked Toah.

Chek thought for a moment. “The few I can think of were already among the dead when I returned here,” he murmured. “Besides, I’m still not sure there was anyone in the Church that Lor could have trusted enough to place something like that in their care.”

“So he buried it then,” said Poe. “Here on Jakku.”

“Most likely,” the Abednedo said with a nod.

“Great,” muttered Snap. “I’m sure that’ll be a fun little search.”

“He must have buried it in a spot that would be easy for him to get too,” said Rey. “You can rule out the Sinking Fields, because then the map surely would have been destroyed or, at least, there would have been no way of getting it back on the off chance that he needed it.”

Chek tilted his head to look at her. “What about the rest of the Goazon Badlands? An endless field of sand would be a perfect place to bury something you don’t want anyone to find.”

Rey looked doubtful. “Still, the Teedo scavengers roam those parts and they have eyes like vultures. Even the slightest gleam in the sand will catch their attention. Failing that, then their luggabeasts will sniff something out.”

“So where does that leave us?” asked Poe. “I mean, it would be awfully convenient if Lor San Tekka buried the map right here in the village. Seriously, if that turns out to be the case then I’m going to be really mad.”

A smile twitched onto Chek’s face. “Knowing Lor as well as I do, I can see him doing exactly that.”

“Well, it’s a good place to start as any, since we’re right here,” said Finn. “Shall we get started?”

Before anyone could respond, the shrieking sound of metal banging against metal blared from outside. Everyone at the table quickly stood up while Rey quickly made it for the door, pushing it open to look outside.

“Oh no,” she muttered. “No, no, no.”

“What is it?” asked Toah.

“It’s Bar'derro’s gang. They’re coming here.”

“Someone you know?” questioned Jessika.

“Someone I wish I didn’t know,” Rey replied. “He works for Unkar Plutt, practically commands his group of thugs. They constantly harass scavengers for their wares and bully them into giving more to Unkar than what they owe.”

“Were you one of these scavengers?” asked Chek.

“Yes, I was.”

The Abednedo stroked his beard. “Interesting.”

Snap clamped his hands over his ears. “What I don’t find interesting is that noise they’re making. Are they driving crappy speeders or something?”

“No,” Rey said. “That would be their ‘music.’ Wreckpunk, I believe it’s called.”

“They must want us to know they’re coming,” said Finn. “What should we do?”

“Let’s hide and take cover in the other huts,” said Poe. “We’ll wait to see what they’re here for before doing anything rash.”

“That’s surprising, coming from you,” said Jessika.

“After that business on Corellia and Ord Mantell, I’m not really in the mood to deal with crazy pirates and thugs at the moment.”

“I’ll stay out here to greet them,” said Chek.

Everyone gave him an incredulous look.

“Um, why?” Snap asked.

“In case they start searching the huts, I need to make sure they don’t find you,” said the Abednedo priest. “Besides, I’ve dealt with riffraff like them before. They shouldn’t pose too much of a problem.”

Rey shook her head. “Bar’derro and his cronies aren’t ordinary ‘riffraff.’ They’re savages, just like the rest of Unkar’s thugs.”

“Then it is fortunate that you and your friends have come.” Chek then motioned her and the others to the huts. “Quickly. They’ll be here any moment.”

Without much hesitation, the Jedi and their Resistance allies split up and retreated into the abandoned huts of the Tuanul village. Chek Urhed stepped down from the steps leading into his abode just as an entourage of swoop bikes and landspeeders appeared on the horizon, coming from the direction of the Goazon Badlands. Their wreckpunk music became louder and louder as they drew closer, drowning out the roars of their vehicles’ engines. Chek calmly sipped from his cup of tea as the landspeeder in the lead made a sharp turn and drifted to a stop. Sitting in the passenger seat was a humanoid male wearing a mismatch of scavenger garbs and plates of metal serving as armor. The pair of antennapalps protruding from his scalp identified the man as a member of the Balosar species. Sitting in the driver’s seat next to him was a Kalleran, distinguished by their finned head and green skin.

Swinging his legs out over the edge of the speeder as he jumped out, the Balosar made swift, sure steps towards Chek, a nasty scowl plastered on his gaunt face.

“I suggest you get lost, old man. This is our territory now.”

Chek Urhed inclined his head to him. “Bar’derro, I presume?”

“What’s it to you?” the Balosar snapped. “Ya’ gotta problem with me, pal?”

“Not at all,” Chek said calmly, sipping his tea. “I’ve only just met you. We could end up becoming very good friends.”

Bar’derro sneered as he jabbed a finger into Chek’s chest. “You’re no friend of mine, old man. You’re on our turf and need to get outta here before we throw you into the Sinking Fields.”

“I was not aware this was your ‘turf.’ I’ve been living here for several days now and have never seen you before.”

“That’s ‘cos our turf is any place we set foot in. If we’re here, it means its ours now. Simple as that.”

“’Simple.’” Chek took another sip of tea. “If only life was truly like that.”

“Alright, I’m already sick of you.” Bar’derro turned to his Kalleran companion. “Slatero! Help me move…. Slatero? SLATERO! TURN OFF YOUR BLASTED MUSIC AND GET YOUR ASS OUT HERE!”

The Kalleran glared at him as he turned down the blaring wreckpunk music before climbing out of the speeder. At the same time, a pair of Kessurians — one male, one female — dismounted their swoop bikes and walked over to join Bar’derro and Slatero, blasters already drawn.

“You heard the boss,” snapped the female Kessurian, jabbing Chek with the barrel of her pistol. “Get lost!”

“Actually, I know my way on this planet quite well,” the priest replied. “I could probably find my way to Niima Outpost with my eyes closed.”

“Do that then,” said Slatero. “And the sooner, the better.”

“Ah, let’s just kill him, Bar’derro,” said the male Kessurian. “No one’s gonna miss him or anythin’.”

“Oh, I very much beg to differ,” Chek said. “I know a few people who would very much notice my absence.”

Bar’derro drew his own blaster, pressing it against the Abednedo’s chin. “Wanna test that theory?”

From all around them, the sound of lightsabers activating and blasters being drawn filled the air. Bar’derro and his cronies tore their attention away from Chek as Toah, Nira, and the others emerged from their hiding spots.

“You may try,” Chek said to Bar’derro. “But I don’t think it will end well for you.”