Chapter Text
A scavenger walked through the debris and scrap metal laying spread across the surface. The scavenger was a small child with horns adorning her head. She walked easily under hanging bits of scrap and stepped through the familiar fuselage of a crashed freight ship. The child entered one of the more intact chambers of the ship and placed down a sack on the floor. She pulled out a rusty toolbox from a cupboard and placed it next to the sack. Then slumped down and proceeded to open the sack and go through its contents, all sorts of old tech had been salvaged from old ships and droids, and the child checked it all properly, only having one arm the girl often struggled to open up and check the inside of components but she had gotten used to the hardships and got the job done. After throwing away the trash and taking the usable salvage and putting it back in the sack, except a few pieces she kept for personal use, the child got up, once again ready to wander.
“Going somewhere?” a familiar voice cut through the silence. Leaning against the doorway of her wrecked ship stood a tall Rodian, intently staring at the child. “Teeku..." She tensed up the moment she saw him, dropping her gaze to the floor and freezing in place. "I was just about to leave for the Jawa camp.” Her response was meek and shaky, her pronunciation was rough as she responded in the same language. Teeku smiled smugly as he approached the small girl. She trembled as he came closer and he enjoyed seeing her fear him. “You need to work on your Rodese, Junkrat. Just be sure to get enough credits for the daily tribute if you want to eat. Being allowed to live in my sector is a privilege.” he spoke with a snarky tone as he slowly put a hand the girls shoulder. The child stiffened, her small hand clenching tightly as she stood completely still, afraid to even breath. "And you will have to pay for that privilege, one way or another." He finished. His hand was still placed over her shoulder and she didn't dare speak, simply nodding slowly in response. Satisfied with his display of dominance and Junkrat's submission he let go of her shoulder and left, returning back towards the camps of the salvage leaders. Junkrat walked out from the ship with her head held low as talking back would be foolish. Teeku was scum, but he was also powerful. He lead the entire salvage operation in this sector, and while she didn't have have a slave chip, he practically owned her. This was just another day on Raxus Prime, yet the small scavenger shook her head and pushed on, not yet knowing today was the start of something new.
Junkrat started to feel more at ease as the Jawa camp came into sight. The Jawas were friendly and always treated her fairly. Among the brown robes Junkrat saw who she was looking for. “Jit'kak!” She called out gleefully and a Jawa sitting behind a small stall looked up immediately and started waving towards the approaching scavenger. Junkrat sat down across the Jawa and immediately started showing the salvage she had carried over. Before she could start discussing a price a glint of light caught her eyes, it was a pair of pale crystals lying in the corner of the stall. “Jit’kak, how much for those there gems?” Junkrat spoke without taking her eyes of the stones, she felt enthralled by them. The Jawa seemed a bit confused by this, Junkrat had never concerned herself with decor or vanity items before but selling some useless rocks seemed like good business. “I'd say fifty credits.” Jit’kak looked determined but Junkrat knew it was foolish to accept the first bid when trading. “Fifty credits? That is a lot on a junk-pile like this, besides what are you gonna use those rocks for anyways?” The Jawa didn’t have a response so Junkrat took the initiative. “How about instead of paying the sixty I would charge for this salvage, you give me those crystals and thirty credits. No one else wants those rocks and now you get all this salvage for half the price. Sounds fair, right?” Jit’kak looked at her, he couldn’t say she was wrong, and she had some good salvage. The Jawa finally nodded and pushed the crystals and thirty credits forward on the table, Junkrat was Jit’kak’s best customer so making her happy was good for business, besides this was the first time the girl had wanted something out of pure interest. Junkrat handed over her bag salvage and pocketed her earnings smiling widely. “Thank you so much Jit!” The Jawa also looked satisfied with the deal and waved as the girl left to return towards her home, these crystals were something special, she could feel it.
It became a pet project over the coming days to try and figure out why they felt so appealing, why they called out to her. For a while she just sat with them, holding them in open hands and breathing deeply. Sometimes she encountered some part or component that had a special feeling around it, she would she would do this, because she felt it helped her understand its inner workings, like she could see into the insides of what she held. Sometimes the parts would even spark to life! Like they somehow got reignited after staying dormant for ages. After sitting with the crystals like this for what felt like an eternity something changed, she felt as if she could hear the world move around her, she could feel every speck of dust and piece of scrap metal in the room. She opened her eyes and saw the crystals were floating just above her hands, and their pure white light had changed to a faintly violet shine. The light then faded and they fell back in into her hand. This was during the first week after obtaining them, since then Junkrat had made no progress with the crystals. She however realized if she focused real hard she could cause small objects to float over her hand like the crystals had. And if she focused really, really, hard she could create a spark of electricity between her fingers. Her newfound powers made her proud but they didn’t change much. Teeku still threatened a daily tribute of credits out of her and she had to salvage parts every day to make enough money. But now, about two galactic standard months had passed since Junkrat got her hands on the crystals and today something different happened.
Walking home with a box containing her daily food ration, Junkrat noticed something was obviously amiss. Next to her rusty old freight ship she called home stood a sleek starship with an astromech waiting in its slot of the ship. Junkrat rushed over to the ship, it was a fine ship and she had never seen it’s like before. It was a rather small blue interceptor with white stripes reaching out from the cockpit. Junkrat looked at the ship quite amazed, looking over every detail, figuring out the specs and model. “Delta 7B Aethersprite.” Junkrat whispered to herself, absolutely stunned by the starship. Suddenly the droid started chirping out binary, too fast for Junkrat to decipher. A low, deep voice suddenly made itself heard behind Junkrat. “Calm yourself R7, I doubt the young one means any harm.” Junkrat turned immediately to see whoever had spoken, it was a tall man unlike anyone she had seen, he had orange skin and a metal mask covering his mouth. He wore long brown robes much like the Jawas, but his was of finer material and less worn. In one of his hands Junkrat could see a violet shimmer between three fingers and a thumb.
“M-My crystals!” Junkrat cried out sounding a lot more scared than she had hoped, but the man looked unfazed by her fear. He looked down to the crystals in his hand, he then knelt and reached out with his hand. “These are your crystals? Quite interesting, tell me child, were they always this color?” The man didn’t seem as scary as she had first thought, his demeanor was very calm and gentle and he had a very kind voice. Junkrat walked up and reached out for the crystals, the man grabbed her hand and placed the crystals in her palm. His hand was gentle and he looked like he was deep in his thought. “It is as you say, these crystals are yours and I feel them resonating with you. It seems I have found a young force-sensitive.” Junkrat was puzzled by this word 'force-sensitive' but before she could ask another voice made itself heard. “And who do we have here Junkrat? I don’t remember allowing you to invite guests to my sector!.” Teeku was approaching with intimidating steps and an angry look on his face. The man calmly got up and gestured towards Junkrat. “I would like to request to take this child with me to Coruscant.” Teeku didn’t slow down and seemed to get angrier by the second, Junkrat retreated behind the starship horrified. She had seen Teeku like this before, it was not unusual for him to get drunk and the beat the salvagers under his command for no reason, including Junkrat. Teeku continued rambling, his words slurring and his volume rising “You are in no position to request anything! This is my sector, and my planet!” In drunken rage the Rodian pulled a short vibroblade from his jacket, a faint hum could be heard as the blade activated. He made a quick jab forward with the blade but the robed man sidestepped easily and pulled an object from his belt. With a bright blue flash, a blade of light had extended from the handle the man had pulled and severed Teeku’s hand in a single stroke. As Teeku fell to his knees crying out in agony and holding the singed stump where his hand used to be, the blade and his now severed appendage fell to the ground. Junkrat could only stare at the man with the blue blade. “Jedi.” She whispered to herself, Jit’kak had told her of them. Diplomats and warriors who traveled the galaxy to bring balance. The blade retracted to its hilt and the man turned towards the girl. “Do you wish to come with me child? And become a Jedi?” Junkrat swallowed, voice was shaky but she spoke "Yes! Please!"