San Tekka left Leia, Breha, and the droids in the alleyway while he entered the cantina to arrange transport to the Outer Rim. He first spoke with a pair of light freighter owners, but they were in need of laborers, not useless passengers.

He then found a blue Rodian named Heeldu. The frog-like creature asked, "You need transport? I have transport."

"Where are you going?"

"Wherever you are—how many?"

"Three humans and two droids. Tatooine. How much?"

"Hmm, twenty thousand."

"My friend, I will take my business elsewhere, to someone with more reasonable rates," San Tekka said as he pushed his way past the Rodian.

Heeldu grabbed his arm and said, "Eighteen."

"Fifteen . . . half in advance and the other half on arrival," San Tekka said. "When do we leave?"

"The ship is ready to depart. Bay 88." The Rodian rubbed his suction-cup fingers together. "Be there in the next hour with your money or don't bother coming at all."

"We'll be there.

"One hour, human. Don't be late."

When San Tekka joined Leia and told her what he had arranged, Leia shouted, "You can't be serious?"

"Keep your voice down. This Rodian is shady enough to keep his mouth shut when he's paid enough."

"If you can trust him."

"We have no other choice."

"I have a bad feeling about this."

"We are approaching Tatooine. Prepare for landing. When we land, follow my lead. I have made some arrangements with the locals for you," the Rodian said over the comm system.

As soon as they had landed, the ramp lowered and the hatch opened. The air was like an oven and took their breaths away. San Tekka said, "Good old Tatooine."

"I thought Tatooine had two suns," Leia murmured.

"Must not have risen yet."

The Rodian came back with a blaster pointed at Breha. "Move it." He pushed Leia, Lor San Tekka and Breha down the ramp, with Breha in the lead.

As soon as Breha reached the base of the ramp, a large ugly Crolute with chunky fingers and multiple chins grabbed her by the hand and dragged her away. Lor San Tekka staggered after them, but a guard hit him in the stomach with a blaster butt.

Unkar Plutt said, "Heeldu, this girl will more than settle your debt."

Leia ran down the ramp and held her hand out to Breha. Breha yelled, "No! No! Come back! Come back!"

Leia struggled against the Rodian's grip. Her shoulders ached as she pulled against his grip. "Rey!" Leia bit the Rodian's rubbery skin, spitting out the vile taste as the poison on his skin raced through her body. She staggered, the poison affecting her motor skills.

The Rodian grabbed the woman, gouging the muzzle of his blaster into her side. He dragged her up the ramp as she struggled. Before they reached the hold, he stunned her.

She dropped to the ramp like a sack of tubers.

After pulling her inert body inside the ship, he launched from Jakku.

Unkar Plutt dragged the little girl over to his shop. Two thugs intercepted Lor San Tekka, beating him to insensibility and rifling through his pockets for anything valuable. Fortunately, he had hidden his small bag of gold druggats and the memory stick well beneath his clothes. He passed out in the blazing heat in the middle of the street, unconscious for hours.

Unkar Plutt grabbed the little girl's hand and demanded, "You there, what's your name, girl?" Breha looked at him stubbornly and refused to speak. Unkar knew how to subdue a slave. "Fine, have it your way." He backhanded her across the face. "Now, what's your name, girl?"

With blood streaming down her face, she mumbled, "Rey."

Unkar was outraged. "Rey? Rey what?"

"Just Rey. That's the only name they ever gave me. Just Rey," she said, afraid she was going to be hit again.

"Well, Rey, you are now mine. Dengalloo, come take her and show her the ropes," ordered Unkar.

Breha was relieved when the bad man left the clay building and returned to his trading post. Dengalloo, a Twi'lek female, came up to her. "It's really not that bad, Rey. Well, not until you're older. At least Unkar feeds his slaves regularly. And if you work hard, he can even be pleasant sometimes."

Lor San Tekka revived to find two people dragging him away from the town square. When he awoke, he introduced himself, "I am Lor San Tekka, a Cleric of the Force." The two bowed down in front him when he said "Cleric. Rise, please. Don't worship me."

They hurried him off to the Sacred Village of Tuanul, before the Crolute's gangsters could catch them. Unfortunately, the only thing Lor San Tekka could remember was his name and office.

Leia woke up with a splitting headache and a knot on the back of her head. She looked around and discovered she was in the hold of the freighter they had chartered to Tatooine.

She thought immediately about Breha in the hands of that beast and wanted to give up and cry. I am not going to give into despair. Luke said you will see Breha again, so get on with getting yourself out of this jam, Leia. There is not time for sorrows.

She expanded her wall around her heart, the one that kept the grief from Alderaan at bay, the one that had served her so well in the past, blocking out all her feelings with the Force.

She was not sure what was going to happen to her in the next few moments, let alone where this Rodian was going to stop next. She had to stop him before he made the next move.

Leia did find an old power cable—the only item loose in the hold that could serve as a weapon. With both the droids deactivated, Leia did not want to risk the noise of reactivating them. Her plan called for stealth.

Tiptoeing to the cockpit, she looped the cable over the Rodian's neck. Putting her knee against the pilot's seat, she strangled him. She called on the Force to strengthen her arms, just as she had on Jabba's sail barge so many years ago. She pulled and pulled until the pilot slumped in his seat.

"Great," she said to herself as she manhandled the Rodian out of the pilot's seat into the cargo area. "We're in hyperspace. Time to wake up Artoo." She scuttled to the back, kicking the body of the Rodian to one side, and turned on R2-D2, but nothing happened.

Thinking he was low on charge, she found a power outlet and plugged him in, trying the start-up process again—still nothing. Leia started up C-3PO, who shouted, "Princess Leia, watch out—Oh, I must have been deactivated by that filthy Rodian."

"It's okay, Threepio. No one on board but us now, but I've got a little problem."

"A little problem, Princess Leia? I think I can count more than a few problems . . ."

"Well, maybe you can help me with this one," she said in gentleness.

"Anything at all, Princess."

"I can't reactivate Artoo, and I need him to reprogram the hyperdrive system," she said. "I was hoping you can do something with him."

"This Artoo unit can be quite feisty at times. I don't know why I stay with him at all." 3PO moved to the silver droid. He flipped a few switches on the droid. "Artoo, now you wake up right now. Artoo." Nothing happened. "I'm sorry, Princess, but he seems to have been placed into long-term hibernation. Faulty programming or something. There's nothing that I can do."

Leia grimaced. "That's okay, Threepio. I'll figure something out before the autopilot brings us out of hyperspace."

She sat down and thought it out. She had no idea which system the craft was headed to. Since she knew they were not going to dock at lightspeed, she would have a little time to react. She expected hostiles on the other end—the Underworld—or worse—the First Order. If that Rodian had figured out who she really was, she could be walking into a trap.

Leia must have fallen asleep in the cockpit, because the sublight warning device woke her up. "Well, let's find out where we are headed."

She cut the thrusters and pulled up the charts on the heads-up display. "Hmm, Makeb. I wonder what business this guy had at Tigon mining colony. Well, sorry, boys, we'll have to visit you some other time," she said with a grim smile as she punched in the coordinates for Tatooine. "No more of this jumping around. Threepio, prepare for lightspeed to Tatooine."

"Oh, dear! Not again!"