Star Wars: The Death of the Last Jedi
Art by BadgerSFM
Story by Sinbad
https://discord.gg/WdqgcmW

After her overwhelming victory on the lost Sith Home world of Xiegal, Rey felt compelled to honor her master Luke Skywalker. As the Galaxy-wide celebration was finishing up, the only currently living Jedi respectfully parted ways with General Poe and embraced Finn, telling him that she would return shortly. Hopping in Luke’s own vintage X-wing starfighter, the hope of the Jedi waited for Artoo to be loaded and waved goodbye to her friends. Firing up the quad engines, Rey rotated the legendary vessel into the correct path for a fast Jump into Hyperspace. Seeing the vast map of stars stretch around her, Rey sucked in a deep breath and let the excitement of flying wash over her. Seeing the jungle floor vanish, she waited for the desert world of Tattooine to appear.

The whitewashed sands of the planet-wide desert appeared in Rey’s cockpit. Scanning the planet’s surface on her scanner, she saw the old Lars Homestead on Tatooine’s eastern side. Making her approach, Rey’s projector lit up and none other than Lando Calrissian’s handsome face appeared.

“Rey, since you’re entering Tatooine, there is a certain matter I would like you to attend to. Zorba the Hutt has returned from obscurity and has been gaining power ever since the Empire’s fall.”

Rey respectfully let the good general continue.

“I must warn you; he is by far one of the most dangerous Hutt gangsters to operate continuously since the Clone Wars. Proceed with caution, as we can’t chance losing you to his machinations. Just find out where he is and we will send in a strike team to bring him to justice once and for all. Oh, a final word, his son Jabba was slain by Leia herself.”

Rey’s breath was caught in her throat. “The general killed a Hutt? How?” The idea itself took her by surprise. Even on a backwater world like Jaaku, the famed durability of the Hutt species was well known.

“Now that was an inspired moment.” Lando said. “Jabba the Hutt had her chained to his dais. It was a poor choice for him however, since she wrapped that same chain around his throat and strangled him.”

A look of concern covered his face.

“Zorba won’t go down that easily I’m afraid. He took the lesson of his son’s death and avoided that mistake. He even had Leia dead to rights at one point, tormenting her with the ways he was going to torture her and then kill her for what she had done to his son. It will not be easy bringing him to justice.”

Rey shuddered again at the idea of Leia being in a Huttese torture chamber, let alone what would have been in store for her had she not escaped. Nodding at Lando, she shut down the projector and quickly looked up Zorba’s large file. A native of Nal Hutta, hed had left as a larva and built up his own criminal enterprise before his skin had even changed to green! The first photo provided showed a flowing mess of white braids in his youth but a more recent picture showed that he had gone clean shaven, as if to honor his son. Reading further along, her research was cut short as the split in her flight plan approached.

Rey bit her lip, anxious to lay both Luke and Leia’s treasured lightsabers to rest in the shadow of his home. Lando’s request was not unreasonable however and she thought simply locating an old Hutt wouldn’t be too difficult. Letting out a deep sigh, Rey diverted her flight plan and flew towards the rising suns, eager to get back to her personal mission. Finding the old Imperial base proved simple enough, as its sharp, mass-produced angles had yet to be enveloped by the sweeping sands. Landing and exiting her craft, Rey left Leia’s and her newest blade in the cockpit, taking Luke’s blade for one final mission. A force of habit made her take her staff as well, as she was still far more proficient with the modified pipe. Breathing in the scalding air of the evaporated world, she waved her hand and let the force open the doors to the Imperial structure.

The light from outside filled the cold hallway with blinding light from the 2 suns, showing Rey that the walls were not bare metal but stacked stone.

“Where did they find all these?” Thought Rey.

Entering the base, she gasped as the durasteel doors slammed shut and robbed her of the majority of natural light. What she could see was provided by large holes in the ceiling that showed where the ceiling stones had once been. Shuddering slightly, Rey’s hand went to Luke’s blade and snatched it from her belt. Igniting the blade, Rey crept forwards slowly, left hand on her staff while she held the bright blade up with her right. A brunt of Imperial flags were hanging from a wall, the white gears of the past shining brightly in the blue light of her weapon. Sensing a presence with her in the supposedly abandoned base, Rey reached out with the force and felt a heavy breath, heard the whirling of a gear and most disturbingly, a deep guttural laugh. Waving the Lightsaber around, she saw nothing but more flag and a monitor.

Approaching the terminal, Rey let her fingers glade over the keyboard. Getting a rough outline of the base, she memorized the twists and turns and stood, the feeling of dread she had just felt growing stronger and stronger. Snapping her head from side to side, the Jedi still saw nothing but the next corner and reached out once again. The heavy breathing was growing louder and getting closer but that was all she felt in her vicinity. Confident she was not alone, she turned and sped towards the next turn, eager to get away from the presence until she knew what exactly was following her. Stopping as the corner cut once again, she stopped and let a smirk cover her face.

“Why am I running? She thought to herself “I’m a Jedi after all, nothing is impossible for me!”

With that sudden boost of self-confidence, Rey spun on her heel and went back to the corridor, standing before the brunt of flags with her back to the dimly lit hallway.

Unlike her predecessors, Rey’s own confidence was yet to be fully earned. Even with her titanic victory on Xeigol, she still had yet to win all on her own. Dropping her staff onto the sandy floor, Rey raised the weapon up in her practiced style. The presence she had just left was growing closer, she knew it. From its smell, it was not a pleasant beast either. When a blast of hot breath graced her loose hair, Rey kept her smirk and twisted. Ready to strike, her attack was cut short when a pair of massive green hands wrapped around her bare shoulders and squeezed! Rey let out a rare cry of pain, feeling as if her bones were about to break! Flipping the Lightsaber to an icepick grip, Rey stabbed backwards past her hip and heard the unique sound of pure plasma penetrating flesh. When the pressure from her arms released, she turned to see none other than a Gamorrean lying dead before her. Before she could inspect the fallen creature, a sharp sense of exhaustion overcame her. Looking at her arm, she gasped and prodded the needle of a thick syringe that had been jammed into her shoulder. Feeling her legs give out from under her, Rey collapsed atop the reeking alien.