The Force Retaken Chapter 3: A Tale of Jakku Part 1 (Patreon)

“The blobfish?” Belto said, before Rauda could stop him. “We're working with the blobfish?” 

Unkarr glared at him, his robotic arm's fingers twitching as his frown deepened into a scowl. 

“I have been called by that name,” the massive crolute rumbled, “but rarely to my face.” 

The unspoken words and even more rarely by anyone that wants to continue living were heard by everyone in the small room, the speaker seeming to fill even more of the scant space available. The only person that didn't move slightly away from him was Sarja, who was nestling against the daimyo. 

Thankfully, Rauda noted, Belto seemed to take the hint and fell silent. 

“You're familiar with the girl?” Rauda said, hoping to pull attention to himself. 

“I am familiar with every portion of her, inside and out,” Unkarr said. The chair he was on creaked as he moved forward, moved slower, his large black eyes piercing into Rauda's secrets. “She was left in my care as a child. I reared her, raised her, tamed her, trained her. She knew and knows better than to cross me. Perhaps she has forgotten, so we will show her where she belongs.” 

“And where does she belong?” 

“In the dust or at my feet,” Unkarr rumbled, leaning back in his chair. “Let me tell you of Rey, who claims to be Skywalker.” 

***

I watched my girl as she struggled to keep calm in the line outside my caged stand. There were many things she was good at – finding lost bits of technology and fixing them – but keeping her composure was not one of her skills. I had watched as she cleaned her meager findings in the space provided and kept tally of what they were worth and what I would give her. 

The GRX interpositive transponders she had found might have been worth more if so many of them hadn't been turned into me already. I had my fill of them. She had to know this, should have perhaps sought a bournelli convergenator, but here she was with scavenged technology I had too much of already. 

I was not the only one to notice this. Other eyes were watching – I knew the rumors whispered that I had a soft spot for my girl, rumors that did not understand that I viewed her merely as a soft spot. 

So when she got to the front and handed me her haul I made a show of studying it. 

“One-quarter portion.” 

I handed her the goods.

“This was worth one-and-a-half portions yesterday,” she said, defiant, holding up the line and slowing my operation with her pathetic wants. I had made certain every person on Jakku knew that I did not negotiate, and I had killed any other buyer on the planet and every farmer besides. I imported food and water and traded them for scavenged technology. This was the truth: the people here could sell to me or they could starve.   

“One-quarter portion.” 

I do not like to repeat myself. Perhaps there was some truth to the rumor, but this would be her one and only chance to back down and accept what was being offered. 

“It's worth more,” she said, standing her ground. 

She was young, proud, defiant. She stood alone among the other scavengers, had carved out a small space for herself in the wastes. She had no allies, relying on her own strength and the rumor that I favored her among all others. Her hands were on her hips, her eyes narrow, her composure cocksure. 

It is dangerous to believe in the rumors one hears about oneself.   

On Jakku, many assumed that I stayed in the cage for my own safety. There were rumors that should I leave the cage the scavengers would fall upon me and take my life; I should have liked to see them try. I towered over the tallest of them – I was well-fed and rested while they were worked to near death and only just past starving. My people are perhaps not as strong as wookies, but we are close. Back then, I thought I would enjoy fighting a wookie. 

So when I removed my apron and left my caged stand the scavengers backed away in fear. The guards that I had at my beck and call knew better than to interfere – sometimes, a leader is entitled to enjoy theater to keep their victims in line. The girl grabbed her staff but knew better than to direct it at me as I towered over her, the whole of her consumed by my shadow. 

“One-half portion, my girl.” 

I told her this, placing the emphasis on my ownership of her. She was sweating, her eyes wide as she stared up at me. She was looking around like she might try to run but my guards and the other scavengers surrounded us both. There was nowhere for her to go.  

She looked to the other scavengers for help but she had held them in line and held herself apart from them – none of them would help her. She looked to my guards for help and saw only smirking loyalty – none of them would endanger themselves to help someone who could offer them nothing. 

I reached out, hooking one of the scarves draped around her chest and belted to her hip. She shuddered, even if she did not yet know what was to come. 

“O-one-quarter portion,” she said, teeth chattering, unable to meet my eyes. I understood that she was trying to apologize but I did not care. It was far too late for that. 

“One-half portion.” 

“Unkarr, please-” She said, and I let my lips twist into a smile. I liked to hear her beg. 

“Strip.” 

“Unkarr-” Tears were beginning to form in her eyes. 

“Strip.” 

She looked around and every eye was on the two of us, waiting to see what would happen. When I took her staff from her hand she did not resist, and I was gentle when I lay it against the caged stand. No one would touch it and we both knew this. She looked at the staff, looked at me, holding herself as her shoulders hunched.  

“Here?” she asked. 

“Strip.” 

I could see her thinking about it. Her eyes went to her staff and she stared at it while I loomed over her and waited. She bowed her head, took a deep breath and let it out and all I did was stand still and stare, dust and sand circling around us. 

Her fingers moved to her belt and undid the clasp, leather pulled across her hips and dropped from shaking hands. The scarves came next, pulled so that they brushed her neck and pulled across her firm chest, revealing the thin fabric that protected her torso from the elements and, for a few heartbeats longer, from me. 

In normal circumstances her fingers were deft and sure, but now they were clumsy as they undid the knots that held her pants in place, slipping down her long taut legs. The hours spent exploring cavernous mechanical ruins had left her toned and tight, and her legs were strong and thin. Her pants could slide over her boots when the knots were undone. 

And then her hands found the bottom of her shirt and she started pulling the thin fabric across her belly, her firm breasts, up over her head and off. 

She stood in front of all the scavengers, even those that had left for the day coming back to see what must happen now. A tight wrap was used to bind her breasts, another wrap covering the holes between her legs. She had wraps around her arms and boots on her feet and it was still too much clothing, even if her cheeks were red and she was trying to cover herself.  

“Strip.” 

“W-what?” she fumbled the word, eyes wild and looking where they should not have been looking. “Unkarr, please, I-” 

The back of my hand against her cheek silenced her. Her eyes unfocused, and she stumbled around and fell to her knees, wavering uncertain. When her eyes regained their clarity she had some idiot defiance left, glaring up at me, so I put my foot between her breasts and pressed down, putting her on her back. She clawed at my calf until I pressed down more, until her ribs creaked under my might and she went limp. 

No power she possessed could help her in this and she knew it. She was pleading with her eyes, her breathing shallow and labored. I and everyone around us knew her ribs were bruising, that breathing would be hard for her now, that she would be weakened from this for days, if not weeks. 

Looking on her eyes, I saw her understanding that I could make her life so much worse with no effort at all. 

“Strip.” 

“I will, I will, please get off!” Rey gasped, shaking under my foot in the dust and sand. “Please!” I relented, taking my foot from her chest, letting her try to find oxygen for her lungs.  

“Stand.” 

She flopped, muscles useless without the air to power them. It took minutes for her to roll over, to push herself up on her knees, to glare at the other scavengers and not to glare at me. She was shivering as she tried to stand, failed once but was successful on her second attempt. Her hands went to cover the parts of her still covered in clothing and she was crying now, soft, weak.   

“Strip.” 

The leather band on her wrist fell to the sand, followed by the wrappings on her arms, and then her boots. She stood barefoot in the sand, protected by next to nothing, and I could see the moment where she understood that no amount of pleading would help her next. 

She sobbed as she started unwrapping the band from around her breasts, letting the wrap pool at her feet, revealing her chest. Firm young flesh topped with stiff dark tips. She tried to cover herself and gave up, reaching down for the wrap around and between her hips, needing both hands to undo the soft wrapping there, it pooling between her feet and revealing the last inch of her to myself and our audience. 

Rey should have accepted what was given to her. 

This was all her fault and, on some level, she knew that. 

Her hands no longer occupied with menial tasks, she went to cover herself from the hungry eyes of my dozens of loyal scavengers, all of them assessing her, wondering if they could beat her into their number. Her awareness of them left her vulnerable to me, and I wrapped my thick fingers in her hair and her gasps turned to screams as I dragged her naked and screaming to the cleaning benches. 

“What're you...” her struggles were instinct. For now, I could forgive them.  

“You believe I favor you, my sweetheart. Many believe this rumor. And I do, I admit. I favor you as I would favor a bournelli convergenator – precious property. You are my property. You are all my property. My pretty baubles to play with.” 

“I'm sorry-” she pleaded, words losing sense as I pulled her down by her hair, folding her over my knee, playing with her tight backside as she kicked and struggled without purpose. The long hours I had forced her to work had made her strong and lean and still left her powerless before me.  

“There are no apologies between us, my girl. Apologies happen between equals. You are not equal. There is only-” 

My hand on her ass echoed on the dunes, the sound eclipsed only by her pleading screams. 

“-correction.”