"Run!" Mara shouted, already getting a head start in front of the other two.

Really, after all this time, they find me now? And it just happens to be on an already crappy day. Wonderful.

Rey and the stranger had caught up to her as the troopers started to open fire. Ducking mid-sprint to avoid her head being shot clean off, she yelled back to the droid," C'mon BB-8!"

The astromech was rolling as fast as his spherical little body could take him. Mara looked back at the path in front of her, watching as their pursuers' shots hit the trading tents around them. Sand was kicked up in their way as the ground was pelted by blaster fire and Mara remembered something that brought her a small piece of comfort.

Stormtroopers can't aim. This gives us at least a portion of a chance.

Then a shot whizzed past her ear, the sound echoing in her conscious. Okay, perhaps The First Order was starting to refine it's training methods. She continued to sprint, ducking under a down tent pole while Rey and the stranger stayed relatively close to her.

"Let go of me!" Rey yelled over the sound of pounding feet and blaster fire. They kept going, turning a sharp corner in hope to lose the troopers. More sand flew into their faces, but the shots had gotten less accurate the more ground they covered.

The man looked back to see where the pursuers were, ignoring Rey's prior comment, "C'mon we gotta move!"

"I can run without you holding my hand!" Rey swung her arm, trying to rid herself of the Resistance member's hold. Another few shots came down.

Mara barely dodged two, which defused in the ground as she kept running. She looked over at the others, ducking under a tent for cover as she shouted back, "Just let her be!"

Finally, Rey broke free of the man's handhold, yelling back to the persistent droid following them, "BB-8 stay close!"

The ball was a few yards behind, struggling to keep up with the fast ongoing chase. He was doing his best though, keeping away from shots and fleeing close to the tents, which provided him cover.

Mara, whose lungs were now telling her to catch a quick breath, started looking for a definite way to lose them. Thinking about the layout of the Niima post, she realized they were actually quite close to their regular washing station. That was located in a series of other tents and pathways that should give them a quick moment to catch their breaths and form a better plan then just sprinting everywhere.

Grabbing onto Rey's clothing, Mara tugged her east, the way to their regular station. Rey knew immediately the route, calling back to the man, "This way!"

The four turned a corner with the two women leading the way. Weaving through the intricate placings of quick corners and other trading tents, Mara realized the shots weren't pelting them like before. Though they didn't stop sprinting when they knew that they lost them, the small delight of relief washed over her.

They all reached the station, slowing down to hunker beside a nearby seller's tent. Trying not to hyperventilate, Mara attempted to control her breathing from growing erratic. The stranger was quick to busy himself by searching through the different variations of junk that littered the surrounding tables.

"They're chasing all of us." Rey huffed, dumbfounded by the events that just took place. The man continued to pry through the rusted goods laid in heaps across the workspace.

"You guys have been seen with me. You're marked." He hurriedly told them, almost knocking Mara down moving to the next station to keep looking.

Rey kept coughing up grit and sand, turning to him with a menacing look, "Well thanks for that."

He turned to momentarily fire back at the both of them, "Hey, I'm not the one who chased you guys down with a few sticks."

Mara, who could now form a full sentence, quickly corrected him, "Not sticks, they're batons!"

"Oh! I am so sorry I didn't use correct terminology when it comes to you're 'batons'!" The stranger mocked, still frantically searching through all the junk.

Mara huffed once more, "You should be."

As Rey bent down to make sure BB-8 was okay while the man kept tearing through random stashes," Does anyone have blasters around here?!?"

He suddenly turned, staring right at Mara. His eyes went down to her right leg, right to her holster. The blonde looked back at her empty gun, then up again at the man.

"No."

Now the stranger was fumbling in disbelief, throwing his hands in the air as he asked, "Why didn't you use that earlier when they were shooting at us?! Give it to me!"

"No!"

"Why?!"

Mara held up one finger as the stranger made a grab for her holster,"One; I don't trust you with it. Two; it's been depleted for years."

Now she was certain his eyes would pop out of socket if they grew any larger. He was stammering over his words, somewhere between furious, anxious, and a debilitating case of exasperation, " Why the hell do you carry an empty blaster with you if it's no good?!"

She shrugged, taking it out and tossing it between her hands with ease," It's great for getting information or threatening. Point it at them and viola! They think their life is in immediate danger. I mean, you should understand that. The technique worked on you yourself pretty well."

The man just stared at her before scowling and turning back to rummage again. Mara put her empty gun back in it's holster before going to Rey's side, ready to start talking over a plan. Before one could form in her head, the man shushed them.

Such a familiar sound filled Mara's ears, the sound of twin ion engines strapped to one of the fast one-man fighters in the galaxy. It screamed above them in all it's glory, racing in the air over their heads. Oh, if only she had one now, envious of the pilot's freedom in the sky.

But then she remembered the TIE fighter was looking to kill them and they'd better start running once more.

Mara sprinted again, listening to BB-8 beep out hysterics while staying right on her heels. The man and Rey followed, Mara hearing an angered protest of, "Stop taking my hand!"

As they exited the tent, she looked up to blue sky as the TIE zoomed above her, followed quickly by it's partner. Mara would have taken time to admire the ship before it fired on the tent they'd just escaped from.

The blonde was thrown from her feet. For a split moment in time, she was in mid-air for long, tedious seconds. Her back hit the sand as the ground erupted around her. Her ears ringed from the loud sound she just experienced and her insides seemed to be moved back from the force of the explosion, like the blow had passed right through her.

All Mara could fathom was ringing until the sharp shriek of the fighters brought her back into reality. The dust started to dissipate as she watched the TIEs circle around for another attack. Scrambling to her feet, she squinted through the clouds of sand for Rey and her hand-holding stranger. They were fighting to get their balance, trying to stay down in an effort not to get shot again. BB-8 rolled behind Mara's legs, telling her to again start running.

More explosions followed them as the four started to make it out of the small town of tents and findings of the outposts. This made them easier targets, but Rey was leading them right towards the shipyard. Mara looked over her shoulder to make sure their droid was safe behind her as the stranger yelled to the group, "We can't outrun them!"

"Way to state the obvious!" The woman pointedly screamed back to the Resistance man who landed them in the current mess. 

Rey was still ahead, sprinting around an explosion as she pointed to the nearest transport, "We might, in that quad-jumper!"

The stranger still remained frantic, practically screaming," What, we need a pilot!"

Easy enough.

Mara eyed the four-engined craft they sped right towards. It would do, "Not a problem-"

"We've got one!" Rey answered back in sync with her companion. The blonde was sprinting right along the man now, wondering how Rey even remotely knew how to fly a full blow ship.

The TIEs kept gaining and the shots kept coming. The man shouted out to the pair of them, "Well, which one of you is it going to be!??"

She decided they'd sort that out once they were actually inside the ship, since all of them were a little busy dodging incoming fire from the First Order. As they kept heading for the jumper, the man pointed to a freighter covered by a large tarp," What about that ship?"

"That one's garbage!" Rey's voice was droned out by the scream of the fighter over head. They were now a few yards away from the ship. Just a few more long strides and they'd be nearly free.

That was of course before the TIE blew the quad-jumper up.

Mara couldn't really fault the pilot's tactics, but still cursed aloud. All of them skidded to a stop, the man almost tripping over Mara due to his momentum. As they watched what they believed was their only escape route become engulfed by blackened flame, the woman started for the freighter, yelling back, "C'mon!"

Rey followed in the suit, nodding hastily as she and the stranger headed towards the alternate choice, "The garbage will do!"

The loading ramp was down and offered a quick way in so as they wouldn't have to waste time opening it. Mara was the first to run inside, steps echoing off the metal flooring. Only for a moment did she rest on the wasting tan pads of the Correllian freighter before she shoved her hand into her pouch, grasping the coin before heading to the pilot's seat.

Rey had caught up to her as they sprinted down the halls of the ship. Mara flashed the coin in front of her, rolling the currency between her fingers, "Toss for pilot's seat?"

"Race for pilot's seat!" Rey called as she had nearly beaten the other woman to the cockpit already. 

Mara scowled as the man's voice carried from the lower gunner's seat, "You guys ever fly this thing?"

Mara pocketed the coin and followed her friend to the front of their newly commandeered ship. She wasted little time in throwing herself in the co-pilot's chair and analyzing the instrumentation on the control panel before her. I'm no helm captain anyway. As she sat down, she noticed it was quite comfortable and plushy. Someone had replaced the standard upholstery on the freighter to make it much more pleasurable.

"Oh no," The blonde called back to their new gunner," This piece of junk hasn't flown in years."

As the TIEs figured out where they had gone and started to fire, Mara heard the clank of rusted metal against metal coming from below. The turret beneath them went back and forth as Rey switched on different settings to prep the ship for take-off. The other woman handled finishing the rest of a pre-lift sequence before the old thing whirred to life. The engines were operational. 

"I can do this, I can do this." Rey whispered to herself as the freighter began to rise. As Mara flipped her switches and pressed her buttons, in the back of her mind she was rejoicing.

I'm in the air. I'm home.

The ship then dipped back into the sand, most likely scratching whatever chipping paint job it had. Fighters rained down shots onto its hull as Rey struggled to pick the ship back up. Mara bit her lip, triple-checking the operating systems over again. It wasn't a fault on the control panel's side.

Never mind, not in the air anymore.

"Are you sure you know how to work this!?" Her head whipped to the scavenger girl, who wore an even more uncertain expression than before she'd taken control of some con-man's bucket of bolts.

"Yes!" Rey grunted in response while trying to level the craft out, "Maybe!"

The ship swung up, sending the crew back in their seats. It toppled down to the left, skimming the tops of the Niima outpost's tents and pretty much obliterating the entryway. One more skid of the hull against the sand and they were up again.

"Yes! Yes, I do know" Rey hastily affirmed once they rose a few more yards skyward.

Mara let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding, body tense from the eventful take off. As Jakku began to disappear behind them, the stranger's words came through the halls, "Stay low, stay low!"

"What!?" Rey exclaimed, eyes on the control panel in front of her. Mara's thoughts followed the man's as she angled her arm down to illustrate the idea.

"It messes with their tracking," She clarified, a burst of enemy fire impacting against the hull, "The lower, the better. We can't outmaneuver these guys, we gotta confuse 'em. Now, where are those damn shields?'

BB-8 peeked past the corner that led into the helm, voicing his concerns as Mara addressed him, "Work on finding something to hold onto."

"I'm going low!" Rey alerted the crew just as she pulled up. An old excitement came when the ship dramatically canted sideways. Barrel rolling, Rey evened them out so they wouldn't land the top of the craft into the sand. TIEs screamed past them, their successive bursts just missing their target's hull.

Mara was happily taken aback by Rey's flying but was starting to wonder what the man was even doing with the turret guns.

The fighters came back for another pass, directly behind them. The bow was hit, jostling the entire freighter as the blonde lost her patience, " You have guns, ya know! They are commonly used to fire back at incoming enemies! Play some offense!'

"I'm working on it!" More clanking between metal was heard and the ship was rocked by yet another explosion. She was certain the stranger was just moving the gun back and forth, not even attempting to fire it. At this rate, they'd crash in the next minute.

Maybe it was old instincts, perhaps it was the absolute she felt from being back in the sky again. Still, Mara ran right from her chair, heading down the halls. As the ship moved, the floor beneath her never stayed in one place. It slanted back and forth, making it a task for her to keep her balance.

"Mara!" Rey yelled from the helm, her surprise palpable when the other abandoned her post.

She barely dodged BB-8 rolling the opposite way down the hall, calling out over his incessant beeps of dread, "Focus on keeping us afloat!"

"What are you even doing?" Rey's tone was tight and condemning, her attention split between manning the controls and trying to figure out her friend's motive for leaving.

The blonde fell back against the wall, the second white ladder that would lead to another gunnery position in sight. In one quick leap, she grabbed onto it before the ground shifted again.

"I'm putting myself to use! This is a Correllian vessel, it has at least two canons."She climbed up the ladder, wrestling herself into a seat that was considerably less comfortable than the one she was just in. Grabbing the headset off the panel in front of her, she took one second to think.

1

Dameron was dead.

2

She wasn't. She was in the air for the first time in years. 

3 

The sky was her place, space itself was her home. This was her territory, her battleground. This was what she excelled at. She was one of the best aerial shots in the galaxy.

No way The First Order was going to out shoot her.

"What is she doing, what's happening?!" She heard the stranger yell to Rey before launching out another, likely more important question, "Do we have shields up?"

Rey's voice was still audible through the halls and the blonde made notice of how annoyed she was, "No we don't, it's a little of a reach without a copilot!"

Mara put on the headset, studying the weaponry in front of her, "You can harp on me about it later. Just keep us in one piece."

The targeting system was ancient, just like the freighter. Red and yellow? Really? So Imperial era.

TIEs screamed behind them as Mara swung the chair, eyes locked on the screen. The box moved, the small fighters on the screen whizzing so fast it seemed like light. Praying to herself the system wouldn't glitch, she swung the turret around with the seat. The system was highly responsive and trained to her every movement. The fighter's icon appeared in the oval and target locked. Mara's lips curved into a victorious smile.

Two tracer shots in succession, then a direct hit. The TIE blew to fractured pieces and crashed into a nearby dune.

Yells and hollers filled the halls as Mara whooped in delight. It had been years, but she still had it.

As the four rejoiced, the ship was hit multiple times. Focusing back on the objective at hand, she realized the fighters were shying away from her side, going left and lower towards the other turret. Another hit went right for her guns, another towards the Resistance member's.

"We need cover!" He shouted to Rey, who was doing her best to angle the ship away from enemy fire. At the same time, she was making it harder for both Mara and him to aim.

"We're about to get some!" Rey told them, dodging around the junkyard that she'd had grown familiar with after over a decade. Their main asset was their pilot's knowledge of the terrain around them, but the enemy made up for that in agility. The TIEs glided effortlessly through the wreckage of the forgotten destroyer, speed and size their ally.

While Rey was busy evading them, Mara was working on finding her next target. The leftover fighters were doing a wonderful job not staying on a set course and diverting away every time she rapidly shifted her seat to get a target lock. Turning her turret right fast, she predicted one's move just as the freighter made a tight turn.

Again, it was just a matter of putting the fighter in the oval and shooting tracer fighter. One shot to the left wing brought the TIE down while Mara's adrenaline rocketed up.

Two left. Mara set up her next shot as friendly red fire followed and hit her assigned target, obliterating it. The stranger had finally aimed and the result was masterful.

"Great shot! Delayed but great!" She hollered to her newfound ally, who had already begun lining up on the last fighter.

This TIE had been evading both of the turrets' attacks with a surprising ease. Whoever the pilot was, they were a seasoned veteran. Mara was having a hard time lining up when the fighter sent shots to her turret, blowing it clean off. A few profanities flew from her mouth, turning back to call to Rey, "Gun's gone, somewhere in the sand!"

"Why'd he only aim for you?" The man yelled whilst Mara rolled her eyes, checking to see if the system was savagable. 

As if on cue, the enemy pilot fired on the last turret, knocking it down.

"Feel included now?" Mara bit back at his previous whining, which she was answered with a dramatic huff.

"It's only stuck in forward position! It's still attached to the ship. I think it's functional, and quiet Blondie!"

Oh, he would regret that comment later.

Mara scoffed under her breath, yelling back up to Rey, "Sorry, but it's on you now. You have to lose him."

There was a few quick seconds of just the ruckus of the ship humming around them and the screaming TIE outside, and if Mara knew Rey, this was a bad sign. Only one moment passed until the pilot shouted, "Get ready!"

While Mara had a vague idea of what was to come next, the stranger was curiously nervous, "For what?"

The blonde looked out the window to spot the TIE in pursuit, then looked to the graveyard of aged detroyers below them that she had spent every day of the last two years climbing and salvaging. Hours upon hours of sorting junk from crap and wondering about what the cruiser would've looked like in its prime. Now, she'd be ripping right through it in an ancient freighter.

"Hey Rey!" Mara yelled frantically, swallowing the lump in her throat. A more controlling, now anxious part of her wished to be at the helm if only to rely on her expertise and not the fault of another. But it was past time for her to do anything; she just had to trust her friend and the stranger.

"Yes!?" Another blast to the craft's bow rocked the vessel. It wouldn't be long before their shields were overwhlemed.

"Did you learn how to pilot from flight sims?" It was the only thing that could explain the ability the scavenger was currently showing was a simulator.

Rey's voice was loud and tight, "Yes! Does that- does it matter?"

A devasted warship loomed large before them and Mara took an educated guess at the maneuver she would try, "It matters that you should bank off earlier in real life."

Without another word, the ship disappeared into a gaping hole at the heart of a Star Destroyer's ruptured engine thruster. Mara's view of the sky was obstructed by the dark shadows of the cruiser before a burst of light exploded at the corner of her window. Sparks flared when the ship dipped to far to one side while avoiding other down mechanisms. Metal scraped against metal as the hull met the broken interior. The grating sound made Mara cringe, accompanied by the shriek of the persevering TIE fighter.

"Are we really doing this?!" The stranger called from the other gunner's seat. No immediate response came. 

It was a nerve-racking, harrowing experience. Debris in front of them was blown up as they rushed through flame, Rey desperate to keep the fighter off them. It's piecing shrieks continued as more green blasts hit the exterior.

Now, Mara knew TIEs, and they would've locked on by now. Then of course, there was the incoming dead-end of twisted beams and ruble in front of them. She was about to tell Rey that this was a horrifyingly bad idea when she was thrown by sheer momentum. Rey had banked a moment early, just as she had advised. 

The freighter had turned right at the last second, but the fighter was still behind them. As Mara tried to form a plan, Rey already had. The engine shut off and the ship turned over itself. While Mara faced the ground, the trajectory set up the other turret for an easy shot.

The sound of the canon was followed by that of an explosion and the fighter dived towards the ground.

Rey flipped the engine back on, turning them upwards. Soaring back into the blue towards the stars, Mara slumped back in her chair. Closing her eyes, she felt what seemed like huge weight lift off her chest. While Jakku became smaller and smaller behind them, she was finally leaving. She was alive. She was back in space for the first time in what felt like eons.

Now, Mara hoped the Order wouldn't find them anytime soon.

*makes a five minute scene 3472 words long*

Well then........

Hope you guys had a great new year!

Xoxo,
The writer