“How bad is it?” Rey asked the towering figure over her, who carried a case full of medical supplies. “Do I need to soak it in bacta?” She was asking about her arm and whether or not she was going to lose it. She refused to look at it as the woman started working. They were in a small hut that served as a rest stop for anyone traveling through the deserts of Jakku. The woman’s Luggabeast waited for the two outside, chewing on a metal pile.
The woman, who had long, purple hair, blue eyes, and wore a pink rubber space suit, examined Rey’s wound and chuckled. “Well, it is not a pretty sight. You got smacked here.”
“Am I going to lose it?” Rey hated to ask that, but she had to know.
Chuckling again, the woman used a unique tool to pull the dust out of the wound—the dust was what caused the infection—and answered, “I don’t think so, but you’ll definitely have a scar. You should soak it in bacta to speed up the healing process. You see”—she tied a new cloth around Rey’s arm and stood—“a village not far from here specializes in medical technologies. It’s near the Sinking Sands in the East. Go there, and you shall have your arm properly taken care of.”
“Okay.” Rey nodded to show she understood. She dragged herself to a tray of food and water the woman whipped up while she was unconscious and ate like she had not eaten in a whole month. At least she was eating again.
When she rescued her, the woman soaked her with water to cool her down, so Rey’s clothes were damp. She concluded that her work there was done and nodded to herself as she started to leave.
“Wait!” Rey stopped eating when she saw her and held her hand out.
Hearing her, the older woman peered over her shoulder at the younger one.
Rey pushed herself to her feet but swayed slightly, for she was not completely healed from dehydration. However, she managed to ask, “Who are you?”
The woman smiled at her question and nodded. “I am Aerolin. " And just like that, she stepped out of the building, leaving Rey perplexed behind.
***
Ben Solo yelled as he and P4-3 caught the gravitational field of the tunnel the Beacerika dropped them in. He could not see for his life.
Even P4-3 had trouble navigating The Robin Hood. She beeped at Ben, and he nodded.
“I know, P4-3, I know. We don’t know what’s waiting for us in here.” He felt the Dark side of the Force. He felt the Beacerika’s test, and for a moment, he felt like he was home. Conflicting thoughts bubbled through his brain like lava in a volcano, and he rapidly shook his head to clear the voices within it.
P4-3 suddenly let out a round of warning beeps, for she sensed something approaching The Robin Hood.
Ben did, too, and quickly pulled the trigger for The Robin Hood’s guns. He heard a loud break and dodged as pieces of a meteoroid suddenly flew by the ship.
P4-3 tucked her head in her body like a turtle to protect herself.
Ben spun The Robin Hood through the mass of meteoroids that the Phonolukamy Wormhole swallowed.
The Beacerika was proud of him. Ben was doing well.
Thoughts about Rey influenced him to keep moving forward. If not for Rey, he did not think he would be there now.
His eyes landed on a bright light as the end of the tunnel drew near, and he quickly spun out of the way of another meteoroid. He now saw lights from stars that the wormhole stripped from them. He yelled as a gravitational pull smashed into his ship and knocked him back. This was the main part of the Beacerika’s test. The starlight blocked the wormhole’s exit, a white hole, and Ben had to prove himself to them.
He tried to push his way through the blockade again, but the stars pushed him back. Ben spun out of control in the space tunnel, with P4-3 screeching, but he did not give up. Rey needed him, and he needed her. Therefore, he kept blowing up the annoying meteoroids and trying to get past the stars. When he saw that he once again was not going to succeed, he steered The Robin Hood upward and toward the wormhole’s ceiling.
P4-3’s head spun as he kept trying to get past the blockade.
“Let me through!” Ben yelled at the stars. “I have a friend who needs me!” Another push back. “Please, I need her!”
When Ben said that, the stars stopped playing Robin Hood Baseball with him. Now Ben floated in the Phonolukamy Wormhole.
“Please,” he begged the stars in a calm voice. “I feel the light in me, but she’s losing hers. If she loses too much, she’s going to die. I know who she is, and I know she’s struggling. She needs help, and I’m the only one who can save her. I’m the only one who can save the Descendant of Evil.”
***
Poe, Finn, Rose, Lando, Temiri, and the droids had not left Phonolukamy because Lando was worried the Falcon could not make it back through the Wormhole. Therefore, they continued their journey through the dystopian planet and eventually stumbled upon a small town, Arcean. It had to be one of the ugliest towns ever. Then again, it was on Phonolukamy.
Lando landed the Falcon in an open area between mud-built houses and shut off the engine. “Here we are,” he told his partners.
“Here?” Rose asked. “What’s ‘here’?”
“My friend,” was Lando’s answer. “He’ll check the Falcon for us.”
“What ‘friend’?” Rose looked very confused.
“Just bear with me. I know what I’m doing.” With that, Lando hopped out of his seat and led the way out of the Falcon. When he reached the cold, outside atmosphere of Phonolukamy, his cape waved behind him.
The others followed and cautiously examined their surroundings. Everyone was curious about this “friend” Lando mentioned.
Lukaemian children stopped playing and watched the unusual-looking humans. They were unusual because they did not have blue skin and eyes.
However, a few of the adult Lukaemians recognized Lando, and they called him. “Hey! If it isn’t Lando Calrissian!”
“My friends!” Lando announced. He hurried away from Finn, Rose, Poe, Temiri, and the droids and shuffled over to the group of men who greeted him.
They were an interesting bunch. They were all Lukaemians who wore ragged clothes and had buff bodies. They sat around a fire behind the town’s casino.
One man in particular in the bunch highly intrigued Lando. He was the most muscular and stood about seven feet tall.
Finn, Rose, Temiri, and Poe felt tiny compared to him, but Lando couldn't care less.
He held his arms out to the man and shouted, “Buddy!”
The man mimicked him. He snatched Lando off the ground and hugged him tightly. “How ya doing, dude? I haven’t seen you in what feels like forever!”
Lando’s eyes popped. He felt like his spine was about to crack—the man hugged him so tightly. When he finally put him down, Lando turned to his confused partners. “Dudes, this is my friend. The great Yamo.”
“Yamo?” Finn cringed when he remembered Lando mentioning Yamo in the Falcon. Why had the legendary Lando Calrissian led him and his friends to a gangster? What was he hiding? Whatever it was, Finn felt like something was off with the veteran pilot.
***
What the heck just happened to Rey? Did she really hear that? What in the world was going on? Was her rescuer Aerolin? If so, how did she get there from Phonolukamy?
As Rey finished her meal, she tried to make sense of what she just heard. If that was indeed Aerolin, why did she leave her alone? Yet, there was another question. How did she change her form from a Lukaemian to another alien? Rey had to know.
“Aero!” she shouted as she finished her meal. However, she didn't see the woman anywhere when she stepped outside to the desert planet. Something waited for her, though—the Luggabeast. Why did the woman abandon it? What was going on?
Gulping, Rey fixed her eyes on the creature, and it returned her stare. With one hand, she picked up a staff that appeared from nowhere beside her and reached out with her other.
Rey and the Luggabeast approached one another, and Rey set her palm down on the nose of its helmet. The second she touched the beast, a great blast of wind blew through the desert. It blasted Rey’s buns as well as her cape.
From out of nowhere, the Luggabeast tossed her into its back.
Yelping, Rey wrapped her arms around its neck to keep balance. She had no idea what was happening and wondered if she ever would.
Once it made sure she was nice and snug on top of it, the Luggabeast started forward and headed into the arid environment of Jakku.
***
To Ben’s amazement, the stars moved aside and opened the remaining path of the Phonolukamy Wormhole. What the—? He did it! But how? Did that mean he was now part of the Light side? He had no idea. All he knew was that he had passed the Beacerika’s test, and his next stop was Jakku.
With that thought in mind, he told P4-3 to punch it, and whoosh! Gravity whisked them away.
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