Tatooine

[Sakuda Iron demon]

Unfathomable energies twist time and space, ripping a temporary hole into the very fabric of reality. After much wrenching and pulling, planets and stars that were destroyed are returned, in their prior state before their destruction.

[Starfire]

The twisting sands hold secrets none were meant to find...

 

A single figure was silhouetted through the sand rising slowly from the dunes as it leaned against a small building on the outskirts of Mos Eisley. The building it was leaning on was of bare sandstone and no decorations were visible. The silhouette, which appeared to be a man in a long brown duster, had been positioned there for about two hours staring out towards the sand”¦

 

It took him a few moments of staring through the hazy atmosphere that had lingered for several days, but Kale couldn't see anything worth hunting even a few decent clicks from the city. Kale had scouted the perimeter of the city about 3 times and was just about to give up as he sighed, slightly rubbing the brown stubble lining his chin. He waited for a few seconds in silence just taking in the slightly sandy air with his blue eyes fixed upon the horizon. He could feel the grit of the sand flowing into his mouth and by now was used to it given the time he had spent on this planet. It had been years since he actually regretted the feeling of sand being a permanent fixture in his mouth. Kale turned slightly to the left taking another cursory glance toward the horizon when, thinking he saw something, Kale moved his arms slightly and began watching the sand again as a fair breeze moved across the subtly changing sands of Tatooine. He considered cussing loudly at his own incompetence as he slammed his hand against the top of a nearby crate, but what would be the point? His eyes had played tricks on him before. It's not the first illusion he had seen while wandering the sand sea.

 

Why when I fall back into the city limits the sand just calls me back?

 

A stray but relevant thought in his mind that he always asked himself as he meandered into any given city with no particular motive. Kalphehn had been and was still a drifter that would roam the sands of this forsaken rock for anything he saw worthy of his attention. He was a seldom used arrow that would strike at the most opportune times at the unsuspecting folks wandering the dunes. His attention would typically be heightened at the sights or mentions of anything large making its way from one city to another, a grouping of large animals in any particular spot, or a wealthy business man making his trail this way or that without any experience maneuvering through Tatooine. These small ”œjobs”

Edited November 7, 2008 by Guest

[Tobias Vos]

Tobias left his boss's base of operations. He had just been givin two data pads that had to be delivered to Ilum and Nar Shadaa. Tobias just rolled his eyes as he stuck the pads into a pocket in his jacket. Tobias then started to walk towards his speeder that he borrowed from his boss. As he was his noticed his bangs started to sway. He looked to see where the breeze was coming from. The sky had turned an odd red. A sand storm was coming.

 

"Bantha Breath." Tobias said aloud. Hurridly ran to the speeder and grabbed some goggles and a scarf out from one of the the holding parts. He then hopped onto the bike and sped off.

 

Tobias sighed as the speeder reached top speed and that really annoying whine in the engine started. Grumbling from beneath the scarf he looked back to see that the storm was approaching faster and faster. He was almost at the space port. Tobias glanced down to see the time: 17.33.86

 

He had seven minutes before the ship he was going to hide on departed. Which was more than enough time because he was almost into town. Once in town, he quickly sped to the port and blended in with the shadows. The townsfolk were all too busy getting everything inside because of the coming storm they didnt even see Tobias.

 

Tobias walked along a section of the hanger that has long since been abandoned. Nobody knew you could access the main hanger through here, nobody but Tobias. Toibas moved the aluminum door that was proped up inside the hallway. Inside he saw that more sand has acumuliated since his last visit. Tobias quickly jumped up and started to walk across it. Shortly enough he was in the old hanger, and there was his ladder. Tobias ran over to it and quickly scaled it. HE rolled over to the other hanger and hid behind some crates, waiting for his chance.

 

There weren't many guards as he intended, that was always a good thing. Tobias quickly scrambled onto the shuttle, undetected. Tobias chuckled a little as he pryed open a crate and hopped inside. He was on his way to Ilum within five minutes.

[Xae-Lin Ardel]

Oops wrong toon

[Sasori]

It did not take long for the Hutt Palace to disappear past Sasori's field of view in the sandy desert of Tatooine. Trekking through the sand, Sasori moved slowly, making sure to observe every hilltop in hopes he would find one landmark, eventually he found a base of where the statue of Dordjooba's predecessor would be, it seemed chipped away and defaced by vandals, more than likely the Tuskens Dordjooba mentioned. There were some marks on it, from the shape it seemed like blaster bolts caused the damage, however, in other places there was holes, and cracks. Sasori took out his dagger from inside his his boot and placed the tip inside one and the rim crumbled around it. The fissure there was not created by a blaster bolt, as such a thing would melt the damaged area and keep the rim structually strong, it was a blunt object. Sasori remembered reading on Gaffi Sticks before, and now he knew what kind of weapons his targets used.

 

In the distance, the assassin saw a mesa, it was to the northwest but seemed to stretched far in the horizon. As there were no tracks to follow, Sasori could only guess on a hunch that the camp would be built near the mesa to protect it from sandstorms. He had to find a way up the mesa, so he could observe the vagrants from afar. He moved through the sand slowly, taking about an hour to reach the mesa, the two suns of the planet now approaching the horizon, he had to get to the top before dusk, or he might be in serious trouble.

 

Sasori began to scale the mesa, only to find nearly every other place for him to hold on to crumble beneath his hands. The mesa was not a good fit for climbing, and night fall reached before Sasori could make it to the top. In a short while thereafter, the assassin wannabe finally scaled the mesa successfully, and was able to move forward. But for now he took a small break, opening up his rations container on his belt, and eating a small snack to keep him energized.

 

He moved forward, making his way north until he could find some sign of civilization, or life in general. After hours of searching, a small gray smoke could be seen. Sasori narrowed his eyes and marched off int he direction. Upon finding a cliffside, he saw a small poplous of children running about a bonfire, with men and women tuskens sitting all about the area. Sasori was pleased and continued to watch the camp, waiting until the Tusken band made a move outside of the village. The way to Dordjooba's grounds would be easy to follow them on, and Sasori could make his kills very easily.

[Leialla Clia Madornja]

:: The sand men of tatooine were a notorious bunch for meddling in places they shouldn't. This man in particular was no different; he had raided a town near here, harassed an incoming new Hutt to join the Hutt dynasties, and he was fairly ruthless when it came to anyone he met out on the dunes. He was a different man when it came to family though; he would protect his family to the end and would not care to drop dead as long as it were for their safety. Their camp was laid out in a rectangular pattern at about 300sq meters; each family had their own set of tents so there were a good 50 tents in the camp.

 

Teschnok the sand warlord and his band of ruffians were just settling in when Sasori had noticed the camp, and they were celebrating a successful day's hunt. Meat was roasting on the fire, its sensual pleasures beckoning the scent of every man, woman and child around the fire and Teschnok was setting there with his small daughter of 9 and his wife who was leaning on his shoulder. Life was good he thought as he munched on gnrat and durni.

 

The food was not the only part of the celebration however as there then ensued much dancing around fire of no descript pattern. Gyrations as wild as the lamest dancer in all the galaxy, but no one cared as they sat there enjoying themselves. Their hearts beat in rhythm even if their bodies didn't movie in sync with them and they all cheered with a great Tusken howl to the sky.

 

As the howl echoed into the night, many of the sand men retreated to their respective tents along with their wives and children. A few didn't have either, but they still scampered off happily to their tents.

 

The only sandmen that remained were Teschnok and his retinue. They each took turns looking at each other spying each others facial markings as the fire danced across their faces. They knew they were going to sleep, but it was a pattern they did every night. Then, as a group, the entire retinue moved in a fluid like motion to each their own patrols.

 

10 of the retinue move toward the north side of the camp facing away from Sasori, and the other 10 moved to the south of the camp. The other ten that moved south entered their tents, taking care to leave something outside each tent to alert them to any trouble like: broken glass or something like that. They all set the traps roughly outside their doors so any would be attacker would step across it and hurt themselves screaming and waking them up. It was a rudimentary security measure, but one all of the retinue did to make sure. Then, the ten that had moved to the north started their north to south patrol, avoiding the noise traps.

 

The warlord moved to a tent among 50 and started to sleep...::

[Count_Orsino]

The message Vict had received caused him to chang coordinates at the last second. The message he had received required him to to arrive at Tatooine. His own plans would have to wait. For now, there were more practical uses for his power.

 

As he docked The Agony, he sent out a message for a crew to care for his ship. He also put in an order to have the word Orsino replaced with Agony. This would be right below the cockpit on either side. Next, he asked for a swoop bike. He wasn't too experienced at handling one, but he felt that time was of the essence.

 

He was greeted with a cleaning crew, and the swoop bike. This had cost him quite a few credits, however that was nothing to him anymore. He was met with new wealth everyday due to the success of the businesses he had inherited.

 

He got on the swoop bike, and dashed for Dordjooba the Hutt's palace.

 

(continued in Dordjobba's Palace)

[Sasori]

The warriors, damned as they may be, seemed to be enjoying what would soon be their last supper. The men and women danced by the fire, somehow not suffocating in those enormous headwraps they wear. The dances were out of excitement it seemed more than of skill, or perhaps Sasori did not understand their culture of their dance. He was not eager to learn, as their art had little to do with how they would die today. They had their feast, to which they probably stole from a rancher out here in the dunes, and Sasori watched them, lurking behind them to see how they move, how they look, how they perceive. Sasori seemed to notice they were not too unique of beings. Each of them had black gaffi sticks it appeared, except one man who had a much more luxurious looking gaffi. He must be their Chieftain, the one who surely must die.

 

Sasori took this time to eat some of his rations to give him some more energy to last the night and into tomorrow. His attack would not come today, today was meant to observe the enemy, to know the enemy, to fight against them with the mind now. His eyes remained open as he looked over the large camp of Tuskens, who were not living as he read. In his resource book he read the Tuskens usually live under one roof, a large tent that houses all the Tuskens. The way the were now was strange and inordinate to what the assassin had taught himself. Each one having their own residence would certainly make things more difficult.

 

Sasori watched the men split up and take patrols each of them making their way around the camps circling around and being very steady with their walk patterns. Their moving seemed deliberate. But from the distance it was hard for Sasori to tell why or what, it seemed as if it was always near a tent, possibly to be polite to those who slept the night away. Sasori left it be. And ignored it for now. He would continue to observe them until the next day.

 

While camping up on the mesa Sasori began to ponder on Dordjooba's offer. He knew the Hutt was intelligent, but he could not help but question his commands. He was offering Sasori a massive amount of pay to only kill the warriors of the camp. Would that not instill a sense of vengeance in the children? Would they not want to act on their hatred and try to destroy Dordjooba later in life? Sasori wondered why Dordjooba would allow himself to be so easily thwarted in the long run by allowing honor-bound Tuskens come to try and destroy him in the next ten years. Sasori figured he had his reasons. Perhaps a reputation to uphold, or ties with other Tuskens, whatever it may be, if these ruffians attacked later in life, Sasori would kill them too.

 

The assassin kept his eye on the camp, and awaited for the next day to begin”¦

[Leialla Clia Madornja]

::The blanket of darkness moved across the starry sky as dawn began to break. There was barely any movement from the Tusken camp aside from the persistent patrols and an occasional creature outside the village's range of vision, but something was wrong.

 

There was a loud cry throughout the village as the wife of Teschnok fled throughout the tents to her husband's in a panicked blur, her arms flailing about like a mad woman. Her screams were met with grunts and groans as the rest of the village awoke, but once she had reached her Husband's tent there was a large horn noise that echoed throughout the region. All at once the village assembled outside their tents one by one and lined up in front of this tent to hear what the Warlord had to say.

 

Teschnok slowly crept from his tent jostling himself from side to side, but in a miserable sob let out a long cry, for at his feet was the body of his daughter Lirania of 9, and she was not breathing. She had contracted a disease days before as she wandered the dunes playing with friends and no one had knowledge of s cure, but they didn't know it would eventually lead to death. In his ignorance, Teschnok pleaded that she get well, but as he saw for his own eyes the plague had snatched his daughter away from him. What was he to do? He reached a cross roads in his mind. He knew his family was important and he would surely grieve for her later as it was now imprinted upon his heart like an ever persisting scar, but should he remain here or continue the hunt?

 

Teschnok went into his tent for an hour or two allowing the suns to more formally poke over the horizon, but in the end he resolved that there were too many things resting on the success of this hunt and that he should go instead of stay and grieve. He would do so later when the time had passed...

 

The retinue of Teschnok tried to comfort him as they got their supplies together and they even tried to help him as he packed, but it was not their duty and they were surely pushed otherwise. Teschnok was sobbing as he crept out of the arrangement of tents with his retinue, but slowly decreased his wails as they arranged group mounted their bikes and moved out heading east.::

 

Unknown to Sasori, or even the Tuskens themselves. Dordjooba had sent a spy ((NPC - he is meant to be my informant on this mission)) for one specific purpose. The creature lurked amongst the dunes not to be seen by human eyes, but to serve merely as the mouth and eyes of his master. He would not influence anything in any way, but he would itell his master of what took place.

 

The creature wasn't a paid hand and couldn't be used off planet, but he was an expert in the sands and sought for himself a nice spot to view the entire thing. He had already seen Sasori and figured his attack plan so the creature sat stock still in his spot with binoculars watching the event from afar...

[Sasori]

Sasori watched as the Tusken's awoke the next morning and they seemed normal enough for the monsters that they are. However, the what seemed peaceful few hours of morning had come to a halt as a scream filled the plain below him and a woman shrieked carrying the body of a smaller child Tusken towards the tent that the Chieftain had moved to for the night. The child seemed limp and more than likely dead. Was this a meal? Or were they more sentient and civilized than any anthropologist had uncovered? Before Sasori could weigh long on this question the Chieftain himself emerged from his tent and he seemed disheveled. The confident, proud, and monster that Sasori had seen the night before had disappeared, replaced by a now sorrowful being, one who was deeply marked by whatever had gone on down there. Sasori began to write down his findings, perhaps he can document something very important on Tusken culture, and help future assassins reach a better understanding of these beings so they can exploit them easier.

 

For the next two hours it seemed as if the village was on a standstill, all the people were outside the Chieftain's hut awaiting him, to see what it was he would do with the dead child, Sasori guessed. Simultaneously, a few Tuskens, these one's being male by their masks, moved out of their tents with blaster rifles and gaffi's on hand moving toward the Chieftain's hut. Not too long after each of them assembled there, they moved towards the eastern edge of the village and mounted what seemed to be speeder bikes, Imperial in look, more than likely stolen or salvaged.

 

Sasori now knew he had no hope of catching them before they got to the hunting grounds. This would not play in his favor, as trying to kill them at the hunting grounds they go to would lead to his death. Tusken's are known for their hunting prowess, and if they are snuck up on they may believe Sasori to be an animal that needed to be killed anyhow. It was a complete death assurance to the assassin to kill them there. However not all was lost. The assassin moved towards the east, following the trail the speeders left until he was at the end of this plateau, far enough away from the village so it was out of range of short range radio, and any way of assistance. Sasori began to do his work here.

 

Taking some cabling out of his utility belt, he laid a few trip wires across the canyon's opening covering them in sand afterwards to mask their presence so that at the speed the Tusken's would be going, they would not be able to notice them. Sasori did not think too much more would be required after this, but overkill was necessary to keep the village from being alarmed. The assassin used some of his small motion sensitive mines, placing them in a zig zag pattern slightly before the cabling along the chasm to make sure not a single Tusken was able to remain on their bike's so that his prey would be easy, and simple, to kill.

 

Sasori scaled the wall of the canyon and sat atop a small cliff about halfway up, his blaster in hand, waiting for the target's to return.

[Leialla Clia Madornja]

"That foolish asssasssin doesn't know hisss folly" The creature slid amongst the dunes following the assassin as he remained out of sight and out of sense. The creature blocked himself from being noticed and merely watched as the assassin set tripwires to catch the rampaging tuskens.

 

"The fool hasss forgot that the Chieff can alert the village at any time... Sure he will kill them, but the village will know." said the creature with a deep hiss.

 

The creature slunked over a ledge opposite Sasori's position and kept a steady eye on the situation. The creature withdrew his precision binoculars with his scaly hand and looked far into the distance where the tripwires were inevitably set... "At least I get to watch those oafs fall on their faccesss."

 

:: Teschnok and his retinue were out hunting for approximately 3 hours. They had steadily moved into Sasori's field of view with several pounds of crazed durni, and many other meats, but of which animals could not be determined.

 

The 21 one of them moved in a box like fashion across the canyon with mild disturbances. The sand was calm and serene; it's heat rays pushing the Tusken's speeders onwards toward their village. They knew the sand, the sand was their life, but they did not expect the sudden jolt of both bombs and tripwires.

 

Tuskens went flying as their speeders were either caught in well placed wire, or blown to pieces from mines. A few of the more unintelligent of the retinue were even stuck within the mines and blew themselves up; pieces of their bodies rained from the sky. Now there were 18 Tuskens thrown into disarray among the sandy areas...

 

Comfort with an area was a double edged blade. Once you fall into a comfort for a place that you know, you may let your guard down for unexpected changes.

 

Dishevelment and disarray described the Tuskens as they scattered to find order once more. The retinue gathered in what shape they could as they hoped to reach a decision on what to do next.

 

The few that were left communicated through sounds of panic and desperation because they had no speeders and they were too far from home. They also noted that their meat was spread all over the place. Others spoke with blood in their eyes, they wished to fight whatever set these obstacles here. A few of the smarter Tuskens though, recommended grabbing what they could and running for the village, but no one outside of this conversation aside for Tuskens would understand their chatter. The chief was missing however.

 

Teschnok was reaching for something on his belt that looked like a horn, one that Sasori might recognize. Teschnok took the horn to his mouth and was prepared to blow ::

[Sasori]

Beautiful explosions. Pieces of flesh and metal were thrown into reckless abandon before being cast into oblivion. The carnage was almost too much for an assassin, it seemed of almost Sith or Imperial nature of how cruel the setup had been. But Sasori watched, unfeeling, not being excited by the images that danced in their ballet of doom before him, but examining, waiting for Murphy's Law to try and destroy everything he had setup. It seemed that the dust began to clear, and some of the Tuskens appeared alive, bellowing in their animalistic tones.

 

Sasori had no time to wait, he had to make sure if any of them had any way of alerting the village he would have to handicap them so that they may not be used. Sasori watched over the scene from the for another moment to count the Tuskens, place them, and strategize a proper approach to kill them all easily. Looking at the canyon he saw one Tusken separate from the others. He was reaching for something and Sasori had no time to lose; the assassin's hand flew to his holster taking the blaster in his hand without a second to lose. He raised it and fired straight at the horn as it approached the mouth, hoping to not only destroy the horn, but to fry the Tusken's ability to speak and cause further problems.

 

In the assassins haste to disable the one Tusken, the blast would have certainly called attention to himself. Sasori felt irresponsible for not having any throwing knives at this point. The carnage of a knife, and its silence would have been a more practical tool for this assignment. But the man had no choice but to result now to melee combat to take out the rest of the retinue. Leaping from his perch, the Assassin drew his blade to thrust it into the first Tusken he came across. The Assassin knew that the Tuskens would have a low morale and a binding rage to kill him. He knew from previous combat experience that this meant either that the opponent will become better skilled, or arrogant and lose focus allowing Sasori to pierce his organs causing fatal blows one after another.

 

The Assassin stood their, blade ready to parry the onslaught of the Tuskens. However, his other hand reached into his back pocket, where there laid a small spherical weapon, one which Sasori primed to be ready for use in case of an emergency. It was his ace in the hole. Though he would rather not have to use it, they are rather expensive.

[Leialla Clia Madornja]

The creature lingered with baited breath as the deciding moment came. Vlahjik's yellow eyes focused upon Chief Teschnok as he raised the horn to his mouth, "and here is where the asssssasssin f-"

 

Bang!

 

A loud red bang whizzes off on the other end of the canyon as a red laser bolt accurately shoots the horn from the chief's hand, destroying the ornate relic with ease. It was a precision shot and as such deserved much credit, but now his presence was truly known. It was a bad thing to do as an assassin, but a very reasonable choice and a logical sacrifice for him to make. Vlahjik looked upon the scene with his mouth wide open... "Yessss!! Thats the ticket" he said as a cold grind spread across his face, "now all he has to do is kill thesse mindless huntersss and we can go homesss..."

 

:: The first Tusken fell with very little notice, due to the disorder and chaos, but as Sasori made himself known, the chief let out a huge wail that let everyone know there was a knew threat...

 

The 6 Tuskens in front rushed at sasori with the intention of pummeling him. about 4 of them actually had their gadaraffi batons with them, but the others came at him regardless. They figured it was the blasts that had rendered them unarmed...

 

The remaining Tuskens stayed behind and withdrew their rifles pointing them at the assassin. Two groups of 5 spread out in two different directions hoping to get multiple angles on him and not shoot their own comrades, but as they split a couple more Tuskens fell victim to the hidden mines...

 

There were now four on each side instead of two and 3 of those 8 were wounded to the point of not using their weapons. Meanwhile the chief climbed into the mountains and hoped to get an eagle eye point of view as he reined fire down upon the unknown assassin...

 

The Tuskens knew he wouldn't leave them so their morale remained untouched and their anger remained consistent::

Edited January 19, 2009 by Guest

[Sasori]

The Tuskens wasted no time, and their barbaric nature became true as they ran toward Sasori like he was the prey of some pack of Kath Hounds. The Assassin held his sword ready, and let his right foot slide back slightly. He bent his knee, and stared at his enemies. As they charged it seemed as if time stood still, as if he had all the time in the world to prepare for their death. His mind was ready, his body like a coiled spring. His palms had a firm grip on his Cutlass, and he was ready to give these beings the death he was ordered to give. He stepped forward and rushed into the Tuskens, swiping his blade in a diagonal fashion in order to rid himself of at least the front two assailants for the time.

 

Once in the center of the small contingent Sasori decided it was his time to play offensively. Taking his blaster in one hand, and his cutlass in the other, the assassin was lunging his blade toward his enemies, and firing shots at others. But it was not so easy, the assassin had to dance with his enemies in order to keep alive. Once past the first two Tuskens Sasori saw 15 armed men begin to point their hunting rifles at him. The assassin quickly grabbed the nearest Tusken and lunged his blade into him before he hid behind his back using his blade to parry and attack the 5 other Tuskens who were trying to kill him.

 

Two of the men were unarmed, and the Assassin made general lethal strokes toward them, though in the flurry of battle their actual deaths were unclear. In this time, it appeared that the Riflemen were not shooting at him as their comrade was in the way. though being surrounded by their hand to hand soldiers, he was unsure of the riflemens positions, but he had no choice but to try a drastic measure pointing his blaster into the back of the Tusken behind him and firing enough to make a good sized hole for Sasori to be able to fire through at the remaining Tuskens.

 

However, Sasori was saved by a mine that had yet to go off. The blast filled the air with Sand, and Sasori dropped the Thermal Detonator he had pending in his pocket and used the cover to slip away from the small melee fighters. He was able to maneuver through the dust and lunge his blade toward the hearts and necks of each of the remaining riflemen. Sasori ran out of the cloud of dust, toward the direction of the man with the horn last was. He looked around but saw nothing, a few pieces of horn on the ground, but the man was gone. Sasori had a gut feeling this man was their leader. No one else had a horn, none were even amongst the shattered pieces.

 

Yet he was gone, he was not there. Immediately, he heard blaster fire and darted to the cliff to which the blaster bolts had fired from. In that moment, the Thermal Detonator had reached the end of its timer, and a large blast erupted from the almost dissipated dust cloud. Sasori didn't look back to make sure everything was going according to plan. He had no time. He climbed to the top of the cliff and arrived at the Mesa.

 

There he saw the last Tusken. And Sasori was ready for him. His blade in his hand and his blaster now in his other he was ready to kill this beast.

[Leialla Clia Madornja]

::Teschnok was familiar with many ways of fighting, but it was his searing pain coupled with rage due to his earlier encounter that would cause his inevitable but foolish charge toward Sasori with only his gadaraffi baton for defense...

 

At first his feet stumbled upon the mesa, but he wound his charge and picked up speed toward the assassin with fire in his masked eyes. He had blood in his thoughts and would surely destroy Sasori if the assassin remained still::

 

Vlahjik Tehiktlass looked upon the scene with keen eyes. His head swiveled to one side as he realized that this was the last of them. It seemed the young one's hunt was nearing an end and that his exit should be made shortly...

 

"it isss time to view thissss land walker facsse to facsse..."

 

He would come after the Assassin had landed his final blow and not a moment sooner...

((so stay where you are after you defeat Teschnok please))

[Sasori]

Sasori could not allow such a simple bloodlusted maneuver to destroy him. Instead the assassin allowed the fool to think he could win. To think Sasori would be dumb enough to stay still would be foolish indeed. He waited on the mesa, watching the rhinoceros like beast charging at him. The Assassin waited until he was a few feet away before he put is hand behind him and slunked. The tusken was close, and the assassin moved in closer guiding his hand to the beasts shoulder and circling around him so soon he was piggy backing him. A dagger in hand he plunged it into the man's neck and cut across allowing the blood to be spilled and him to be destroyed.

 

The man fell, and bled out there on the top of the mesa. A scenic event, theatrical to say the least. Sasori climbed off the carcass of the Tusken, and sat down, taking out his cloth and cleaning his blades just taking it easy.

[Leialla Clia Madornja]

As Sasori's blade rendered the "poor" Tuskan helpless upon the mesa floor, bleeding to death. A rumbling sound could be heard behind him.

 

The rumble was more a faint whisper, but the sound got persistently louder as time went by; causing sand particles to spread about and the twitching body of Teschnok to twitch only a little more...

 

with the chaos and sounds of several worms burrowing from the sand a large sand formation began to form right in front of Sasori in the form of a 10 foot Lizard man...

 

The figure shook and millions of sand particles fell to the ground. What remained standing was a 10 foot tan hued Transdoshan with amber eyes...

 

"Hello Hunter..." It spoke in a deep cool voice, "it apearsss we meet for the firsst time. Don't worry, I am not here to harm you"

 

The Large lizard could see Sasori's eyes as he stared, but wanted to destroy any negative thoughts before anything became of it.

 

"It sseemss your tassk iss completed... If you would like a ride back to the palacse I can help," The Transdoshan smiled widely as he looked into Sasori's eyes...

[Sasori]

"That would be much appreciated Transdoshan," said Sasori calmly. After a long days of killing, having a fellow knowledgeable killer was good company to say the least. Sasori stood an redressed himself, placing his knives in their proper place and awaiting for direction from the Transdoshan.

[Leialla Clia Madornja]

"Very well hunter... You might want to brace for thissss. Traveling by ssssand issss different for each individual" Vlahjik Tehiktlass said as his large eyes focused upon the ground. He stretched his arms out wide and as he did so the sand reacted to his movement...

 

The sand flowed with the rhythm of his hands as he raised the sand above Sasori and himself, "Brace!" The sand came pounding down in an intense bombardment forcing them into the ground. The sand pushed and pulled, tugging at every part of the body... propelling them forward through leagues and leagues of sun bleached sand. They moved without halting, and ignoring the natural boundaries of human movement, but at the cost of severe fatigue...

 

Vlahjik Tehiktlass was able to do this in small travel areas, but in waves like this it took at least a day to recover his energy enough to use it again. In what had taken a few hours before now only took 1 as they were hurled to their destination. They had seemingly been going on for a bit when the sand stopped and shot them upward.

 

The Transdoshan's body still there and well, stood right next to Sasori's, gazing up at the large door to the palace...

 

"Here you go boy... I don't go in for that issss not where I live. I live amongssst the sssandsss of thiss planet and ssuch iss my purposse."

 

With that last note. Vlahjik started walking... His figure fading away in the mists of the arid, sandy winds...

[Sasori]

Sasori saluted toward the Transdoshan and walked toward's Dordjooba's Palace.

[Moon Knight]

Somewhere deep in the sands of Tatooine, in a place that could not be found except by those who already knew where it was, a place that not even the Jawas and Tusken Raiders had found, there lay a submerged fortress. Deep in the citadel, in a place he had been few times, a human man took a deep breath in.

 

And with this breath flooded his identity. His strong, disciplined body ceased to become a lifeless corpse and became a living, breathing organism with an intelligent mind--one that was trained in the combat arts and mindset of the galaxy's most elite fighting force. This man was a Mandalorian.

 

Moon Knight was a Fett. The name was derived from the Mando'a word Vhett, which meant "farmer", but the one known only as ShadowFett was no farmer. He was a warrior that had fallen in battle against the galaxy's most dangerous man, Vladimir Faust. There was no shame in this defeat, for he had been defeated by the strongest opponent the known galaxy had to offer. During the battle, he had gained insights that would serve to make him stronger than ever until one day, even the challenge of Vladimir Faust would fall before him.

 

It was only a matter of time before Fett became unstoppable. But in order to get there, he would have to get smarter, tougher, and faster. The first was probably the most important right now--the circumstances of his defeat were what had brought him down. Had he been more careful and planned his attack and sought a better location, he may have been able to triumph. But he had been single-minded to a point decidedly past being atin and had entered a situation out of which he knew he could not get.

 

So next time it would be different. He had always known that the only way to learn was to experience, and in that fashion he did not regret his actions. But he would never again willingly enter a situation such as that. I will be smarter, he thought as he stood, working life into his stiff muscles.

 

He then began the task of suiting up again into one of his spare beskar'gams. He was unbelievably rich and had spares of all his equipment, but death was not without a few inconveniences. He sent out a signal for the Redawn of Vengeance to home in on his location--2277 would know the way to the Citadel.

 

EDIT 10:53 pm, EST:

 

Ideally, he would attempt to learn in the future without its presence. Most beings in the galaxy did. Of course, most beings in the galaxy had an extreme fear of death due to the threat of lasting mortality. It made them cautious beings who wouldn't put their lives on the line for such an abstract cause as self-improvement. To Fett, though, there was no question--even if he had only one chance to live and die, he would do it in the Mando ideal.

 

What he had pulled off against Faust had been along the correct lines, but it had been foolhardy. He'd had almost no chance of success going in, and the moment he had picked had been an attempt to salvage an impossible situation instead of choosing his best chance at bringing the mass murderer down. The ideal of Moon Knight had perhaps been served, but not in the fashion that Fett would like to repeat. He was not ori'kovid, as perhaps Faust was, but neither was he ori'buyce.

 

As one who attempted to make an impression on the galaxy, he realized that his actions may have cast him in a poor light to those who looked poorly on a fatalistic attack on the galaxy's most dangerous man. Ultimately, it didn't matter--he had been forced to lay low before and would do it again as necessary. But the galaxy and the evil lurking therein would not be rid of him. No, from this day, as it had always been, he would be ShadowFett, the one who stood for his morals and those of Moon Knight no matter what the cost. This was mandokarla.

 

EDIT February 1, 5:23 pm, EST:

 

If ShadowFett was going to train himsef to take down Sith and, if necessary, jetiise more efficiently, he would first need to optimize his equipment. He had killed Jedi Master Kirlocca with his disruptor rifle and had found that the weapon was exceptionally useful since it delivered its bolt at the speed of light and had the power to knock aside a lightsaber.

 

In truth, though, he figured he could do better. There had been tales of Mandalorians using Verpine Shatterguns from the Roche system, which was near Manda'yaim. Moon Knight had never used such a weapon, but he had come across tales of its power and finesse. It was totally silent and totally deadly, capable of delivering any sort of suitably sized object at high velocities with perfect accuracy. It was the height of the Hive's weapons techology, which was saying quite a bit.

 

As for shells to deliver, Fett had an idea. He could specifically order two different kinds of bullets. While he had never cared for projectiles before, they had certain properties that could make their usefulness outlive that of conventional blaster bolts. First, they were invisible. Second, and more importantly, they could carry payloads to a target. Since jetiise seemed so fond of their lightsabers, ShadowFett could use a bullet which, although sheathed in a typical manner, could contain a core of cortosis. If and when a lightsaber met the bullet, the projectile would disintegrate, but the lightsaber would shut off and the following rounds would penetrate.

 

A second type of bullet the Mandalorian now envisioned was explosive. Except he wouldn't use any conventional explosive, but a core of baradium. Sith like Faust couldn't use their shab'la palms to block projectiles like these, and they'd be extremely effective even against a lightsaber. If he exercised his credit account a little, he could probably work out a system that would keep them from being redirected with the Force, too.

 

The next problem with those gifted with the Force was that they tended to know an attack was coming before it occured. Whether it was danger itself or a sense of malice from an attacker Fett couldn't tell, but he knew he could gain a substantial amount of ground in this conquest by employing Ysalamiri. He had been to Myrkr several times now but never for personal business. He figured he could hire some mercenaries to aid the process--although he could handle any vornskrs himself, it wasn't practical to attempt to harvest the creatures on his own. Fett was a practical man.

 

With a full load of goals and probably some training with a shattergun ahead of him, he commanded the Citadel of the Moon to raise to the surface. As it did so, he got a signal from the Vengeance concerning its arrival. Wayii, beskar'ad, he thought, a mental congratulation of his droid, 2277. It probably hadn't been too easy to slip away from Coruscant as he had no doubt done.

 

Fett left the Citadel and it sunk into the sand once again, leaving no trace of its location. Moments later, the Mandalorian was pulling back the hyperspace levers to catapult his vessel into FTL travel.

[Silas]

As the lone starcraft glided out of hyperspace Vesper put the finishing touches on his new appearance. His once shaggy golden brown hair had been neatly trimmed and dyed a striking jet black. His deep blue eyes had been surgically transformed to resemble that of one of Endor's forests. The old clothes that he had worm for nearly fourteen years had been traded in for the nicest business suit that money could buy and his vast array of weaponry had been replaced by a single very well concealed gun made of pure gold, given to him by Smash Daisaku himself. The gun was the only part of his persona that could be traced back to his past life but he never expected for anyone to ever see that particular item.

 

The twin suns glared through the viewport in Vesper's small, comfortable room yet he could feel none of their warmth. Returning to the planet of his birth for the last time in what could possibly be the entirety of his life was not an enticing prospect, but he would deal with it. It was nice to know that if he were to ever have to disappear completely it could happen easily and quickly.

 

The ship set down in Mos Eisley Spaceport and not long after three men exited the ship. Vesper, whose wardrobe now included an extremely expensive pair of sunglasses, exited first followed by two former Black Sun operatives who now acted as his bodyguards. The trio stood out like a sore thumb in the crowd of miscreants that flowed through Mos Eisley day in and day out, but there was something in the way that the first man walked that suggested that he wasn't one to be messed with.

 

Their destination was a speeder rental hut that Vesper knew to be trustworthy. The trio quickly found it and soon they were on their way to the only place on the barren planet that Vesper still cared about. The place that they arrived at didn't look like anything that a normal man would even give a second glance but to Vesper it was beautiful; A dream that had been realized that had given him enough reassurance that he would never have to fear being burned by anyone around him that he was able to do what he did.

 

After giving the correct identification and undergoing numerous tests he entered the small building without fear of being murdered as anyone else who had tried to enter the abode would have been. Once inside he went to a secret vault stored behind one of the seven water evaporators in the facility. He retrieved the identification for his current name, as well as a few of the bank account numbers that stored money for his current alias.

 

Satisfied that he had everything that he needed he locked the vault then left the flat, reactivating the defenses that protected his only true home. The three men left as quickly as they had arrived and drove back towards some semblance of civilization. As the reached the outskirts of the town the speeder smoothly eased to a halt. The trio exited the speeder and confidently walked towards the inner city. Not long after an explosion occurred in two places simultaneously. The speeder behind them lit up in a ball of flames and the shop where the speeder had come from exploded brilliantly, extinguishing every small piece of life in the vicinity.

 

Their tracks covered the small group made their way to the spaceport, only there was one small difference. As they proceeded to their docking bay no one greeted them or paid them any attention, seeing as they were all dead. Every person who could possibly identify them on the entire planet had been dealt with and the tapes of their arrival had been destroyed, along with the cameras that had filmed them, ensuring that there would be no record of their departure.

 

With everything dealt with Vesper's newly formed organization lifted off from the desert world and headed towards the twin suns that it orbited. Their radiation no longer burning his skin, Vesper stripped off a majority of his clothing as he made his way back to the solitude of his room. He relaxed on the bed and smiled contently as he felt the slight lurch that alerted him that the ship had once again made the transition into hyperspace.

[Master Prophet]

(OOC: Previous Post)

 

”œWe're here, bounty hunter.”

[Rahalin Toral II]

Rahalin Toral found the small farmstead exactly as Lir had promised him. The farm was located far enough outside of Anchorhead that there was little chance of him being disturbed by well meaning neighbors. Well meaning, of course, meant nothing to whatever disrupted the farm's perimeter warning system and startled him from a sound sleep.

 

Two years of living at a constant level of heightened alert had gotten him into the habit of rolling out of bed and into whatever uniform or equipment was available at that moment. Whatever had violated the rudimentary perimeter systems was taking its time approaching the inner perimeter, and Rahalin used the time to find a small sand dune near that perimeter to hide behind and observe whom or what was coming.

 

What was coming surprised Rahalin. A small and decrepit looking speeder was loaded with a half dozen people wearing the robes of sandpeople. At least, Rahalin assumed the garments they were wearing were supposed to represent. The six sentients all piled out of the speeder several yards from where he was sitting. A quick scan using his AV-1s' targeting system revealed that his opponents weapons were completely outmoded by his armor and weapons.

 

A plan formed in his mind. While his military training would have had him formulate a straightforward attack immediately, something made him hold his fire. He wandered what it was but did not have time to consider what it might be as the people in the small group were beginning to speak. The audio pickups in his helmet caught the conversation as it carried to his position.

 

The first speaker was a medium size human with blonde, ill cut hair. ”œLet's make this quick. There's at least a couple more farms in range that we can hit before dawn comes.”

[Rahalin Toral II]

LEGAL DOUBLE POST

 

Deep into the very short Tatooine night, Rahalin Toral roared towards a bandit base deep in the wastes of Tatooine along an ingress route he had found when transporting the saleable items back to his homestead. Along the way he had decided to run the vehicle into the camp at a high speed to avoid his armor being spotted and ambush the bandits from inside whatever defense ring they had active.

 

A more experience soldier would have scouted the situation first for several days, collecting enough information to make a raid on the base more successful without danger to himself.

 

Rahalin was not an experienced soldier and the fact was rammed home when the first bolts flew past him. The need for better tactics became even more readily apparent when a crew served weapon opened on his position. Had he had not had his armor on, his would have been heading towards a bacta tank providing his troop searched for him after the battle.

As it was, his training had taught him that anyone with more than a moderate wound was to be left where they fell. The training instructors had never specified what was to happen afterward It was not something he had ever questioned.

 

The bandits serving the weapon were obviously untrained on the weapon they were serving. The rounds bypassing him were proof of that, but a lucky few hit something vital in the speeder's engine compartment and smoke started pouring from it. Sparks flew from its undercarriage as the repulsor units lost power and momentum carried the vehicle forward across exposed bedrock.

 

Rahalin activated his suit's jump pack and leaped from the speeder's seat and nearly one hundred meters into the air. The sudden move allowed him to get his DC-15 off his shoulder and into firing position. It also made him a very visible to every bandit in the camp. An alarm immediately went off and he could see several additional raiders racing to defensive positions within the camp.

 

He dropped several grenade rounds into the crew served weapon and had the satisfaction of knowing that at the very least the weapon would be out of service long enough for him to finish off any remaining combatants.

 

As he descended rapidly towards the ground, a quick scan revealed several irregularities in the service that could be used for lateral ground cover. After dropping into position behind the first one, he fired off a few rounds into the nearest group of attacker. Judging from the screams a few rounds must have connected, but Rahalin's focus was moving onto the next position and staying ahead of whatever tactics the bandits might use against him.

 

Imperial training had never taught him about how to withdraw and the though never even formed in the heat of the combat he found himself in.

Bolts flew between the numerous bandits and the positions Rahalin dashed between. The suits jet pack gave him enough lateral speed to make it seem to the confused bandits think that there were several attackers. Eventually, enough fell that the remainder began to panic.

It was in the middle of that panic that they did something Rahalin was not expecting. Soldiers fencing overwhelming odds have a habit of become vicious and tenacious enemies. Such now was the case. The remaining bandits chose then to conduct a frontal rush on Rahalin's current position. He emptied one power pack into the crowd, another, and yet another.

 

Sentients fell screaming to the ground, many of them with fatal wounds.

His cover rapidly gave way under the onslaught of the weapon's fire coming from his opponents. The power packs for his DC-15 were quickly exhausted. He shoulder slung the weapon and drew the pair of the Westar 34's he carried as side arms and used his jet pack to constantly shift position.

 

Scorch marks soon testified to rounds not powerful to penetrate his armor and the burning he felt indicated something had penetrated. The pain was something he had to live through. Besides he was too busy dealing with the bandits whom were attempting to kill him.

After what seemed like long hours of combat, he watched the last bandit fall. The being had taken a last bolt from one of Rahalin's Westar's through the back of his head fleeing from the Twi'lek. Rahalin paused a moment after dropping the last target, then began inspecting each of the bodies and kicking the weapons out of the way.

 

H e was surprised to find that there had been no more than a dozen bandits total remaining in the camp. What he was not expecting was the crowd rushing towards from inside the camp. He drew his blasters and aimed them at the crowd, wondering if had enough ammunition to survive further and what to do if his remaining ammunition ran out.

[Rahalin Toral II]

When the crowd heading towards him showed no signs of hostility but instead was surrounding him, thumping his armor, trying to shake his hand or just thank him for rescuing him he relaxed marginally.

 

Eventually, the band parted to allow a young woman through. She was brown-eyed, black haired and by his estimation somewhere in her late 20's. She had fair skin tanned by exposure to Tatooine's dual sons. He decided she was attractive, but one look in her eyes quashed that idea.

 

As it was, she was introduced as Sister Margaret by quite a few of the people there. She was garbed in simple grey desert clothes that were made out of fairly sturdy cloth. She moved with a purpose straight towards him.

 

After introducing herself, she asked him on behalf of the group, to dinner with them.

 

Rahalin accepted, glad for dinner instead of the ration packs that were stored in his suit.

 

The feast was a modest one. Sister Margaret invited him to join a group seven strong whom were interviewing many refugees about their experience with the bandits. It felt odd that they were doing so, but Rahalin sat quietly and observed the proceedings.

 

Of the experience he overheard that day, one set by a teenage boy and his teenage sister perked an interest among the small group. They had overheard the bandits talk about selling the refugees to some slavers.

 

These teens had had the foresight to write down the planetary coordinates where the meeting would take place.

 

Looks were exchanged between the members of the group. Rahalin was unable to decipher what the body language of the seven was communicating, but after the teens' dismissal had other things on his mind.

 

A messenger came to where the group was sharing some caf among themselves and spoke quietly to Sister Margaret. After listening for a few moments, she turned to Rahalin and spoke.

 

”œMr. Rahalin, would you escort me into town? There are some things there I need to do. Besides, you will want to sell off some of the weapons and equipment the bandits came with.”

[Rahalin Toral II]

From the moment he found a seat in the incredibly tight confines of the Trak'ad lander, Rahalin began studying the Mandolorians. He wandered how even a near legendary group could make the very basic mistake of attacking during daylight. A quick look outside through a weapons slit confirmed at least two other landers joining them and several fighter escorts. All of the ships were of Mandolorian origin and recently produced models.

 

He stopped worrying about their tactics and began wondering why the Mandolorians were commited to this operation in such numbers. He definitely did not want to be on the receiving end of a raid like this one, even if he had been in a stormtrooper regiment in fully prepared positions.

 

Even moving as far as the nearest weapon's slit had been a challenge for Rahalin. Once he sat down, he watched the Mandolorians effortlessly moving around the interior despite their heavy arms and armor. Even more impressively, it was done in a near absence of conversation. A few commands were issued during the flight, but appeared to be mostly redundant actions than useful.

 

Partway through the flight, Rahalin was tapped on his should by one of the commandoes. The commando pointed soundlessly the length of the lander to a group of Mandolorians lightly armed with carbines, sidearms, and jetpacks. It took a moment to realize that they had found a place for him in the raid to come. He rose and moved through the crowded compartment. When he got among the group, one of the Mandolorian scouts indicated he should leave his heavy weapon on the floor and take up a carbine similar to the ones they were carrying. He complied, not knowing what they were planning.

 

He knew they were approaching the coordinates when the lander began taking shots from long range weapons. The shots thundered against the hull, but failed to penetrate the tough hide of the Trak'ad class lander. A dark humorous moment of introspection flashed through his mind, and he wondered if the paint was scorched, even as he realized that somehow a briefing was flashing across his visor, outlining what his role in the upcoming combat would be.

 

As he read the instructions, he realized that the Mandolorians were expecting him to act and do what needed to be done. There was no question of whether or not he would or could.

 

The closer the landing craft go to the coordinates, the more fire it began taking. Soon enough, the small caliber blasters began opening up and soon the craft began taking hits. The hits were simply shrugged off along with additional hits from the larger guns that had been firing earlier.

Rahalin decided to concentrate on his part in the upcoming landing. It would be less disturbing that way.

 

When the landing craft thumped down, there was a horrible screeching sound rapidly followed by a resounding metal crunch. Rahalin found a very grim grin forming on his face beneath his facemask.

 

Soon enough, the doors to the lander opened and the various squards deployed from the doorway. Rahalin had a moment as the rest went first to watch a few moments of the gun duels between the heavy weapons on the lander and weapons on some of the slaver's transports. Dust was clouding everything, making it necessary for Rahalin to both trust the men ahead of them and the instruments in his suit.

 

Flying over the battlefield, Rahalin took a moment to watch the Mandolorian ground troops deploy in standard diamond formations and began assaulting the positions of the slavers. He had a moment than everything was happening at once. They were in the slaver's Curich class shuttle and in combat with a few slavers still manning its weapons and what appeared to be a skeleton crew attempting to get ready for spaceflight.

 

The shorter carbine was perfect for the close confines of the spacecraft. The combat was quick, vicious and nasty, but soon the shuttle was secured and the leader squad's leader was checking in. Rahalin marveled at the brutal efficiency of the Mandalorian assault.

 

Further commands were issued rapidly, and then the group simply split.

 

Two of the Mandalorians stayed behind to guard the newly captured shuttle, while the remaining Mando motioned Rahalin to follow him out of the shuttle. They linked up with another quad of jetpack equipped commandoes and rocketed into an old Imperial assault shuttle to repeat the process. Again, the group split with two of their number while Rahalin and his partner joined yet another squad. This one was significantly larger and soon Rahalin could see why.

 

Several groups of raiders had retreated to an old Space Master medium transport and were resisting Mandalorian attempts to board it. Worse, its repulsors were beginning to lift the vessel from the ground. Rahalin's squadmates angled for an open hatch that several crewman were firing from at the ground troopers. Despite having seen the tactic throughout the assault, the crewmen were unprepared for the scouting detachments aerial assault. The crewman were quickly dispatched and soon a couple of Mandalorian squads were pouring inside the cargo vessel.

 

At the first intersection, the two squads broke up. One went down a corridor whose purpose was evident in the few seconds Rahalin had to glance around between battles with crew people. They were going to open the main board hatch which would allow more than a few more Mandolorians into the ship. Rahalin's squad went forward in the direction of the bridge.

 

It was there that the combat for the ship began to really heat up. Someone on the bridge had decided to set up a pair of flame projectors behind a set of infantry flak shields. The small arms of the Mandalorians were unable to penetrate the shields, nor could the skilled troops close fast enough to disable the projectors.

 

Rahalin soon found out what happened to people who successfully resisted Mandalorian troops on a mission. Minutes after the firefight began, Rahalin saw someone coming down the corridor. He had brought his carbine around to fire when he realized there were Mandalorian troops coming up the corridor. These were slightly heavier armed than Rahalin and his squadmates.

 

The battle for the bridge ended rapidly after that. Between the ion cannons a pair of the troopers had and some plasma weapons to demolish the infantry shields, they were on the bridge and in command of the freighter moments later.

 

A non-verbal command had him to stay put on the bridge. He had time to watch out the bridge windows of the captured freighter while the commandoes ended any effective resistance of the remaining and now stranded enemy. Captured shuttles with the appropriate firepower were firing on the enemy as well as the fighters and landers of the Mandolorian troops. He felt relief when the last resistance folded and silence reigned.

After everything was over, report came back in and quickly summarized the battle. The results were impressive. A pair of Mandalorians were dead, a few more seriously injured and that was the extent of the friendly casualties. On the opposing side the results were far worse. The final summation was that the bandits group had lost nearly 75% of their strength. Rahalin stopped looking after that figure came up and kept watch over the bridge

 

Eventually, they were verbally ordered to lock down the bridge and join the rest of the commandoes on the ground to finish up the operation. Rahalin was handed his heavy weapon when he exited the freighter and given a bunch of prisoners to oversee as they heaped the bodies of their deceased comrades onto a funeral pyre. While he was helping to direct the burial operations, the holds of the cargo vessel he had been a part of taking were opened. Out streamed hundreds of former captives, all of them glad at being rescued. Several of them ran up to various individual Mandalorians and hugged them ferociously.

 

When several of them began speaking Mandolorian, Rahalin understood. He had been part of a rescue mission.

 

As he watched various reunions going on, he received a command from Sister Margaret to board what had obviously been the command shuttle for the entire enemy force. The Curich class shuttle was a standard configuration, with maybe a few extra communication features.

 

They were soon airborne and headed towards Coruscant. That was all he knew, and that he got from reading the Navicomputer display over the Sister's shoulder.

[Jedi X]

Tatooine.... the land of twin suns, desert planet, Hell- if there ever was one. It was said to the birth place of Anakin Skywalker, greatest Jedi to ever defend this galaxy, or shape it as Darth Vader. But it is more than that, a hive for the scum of the universe, a place of solitude for anyone wishing to not be found, a planet of life where none should exist. And in recent years, a place of countless battles, most notable the Arach'tar Invasion.

 

As Night Owl exited hyperspace, Kari looked upon it's surface in awe, amazed by it as she peered it's golden form and found herself captured by it's natural beauty. It was as if staring at the swirling vortex one leaves in hot coco once they remove the spoon after stirring up the mixture.

 

It reminded Kari of home, of her mother before the drunken stupidity, before the hate, before she caused her death.

 

"Oh, how i hate her." Kari mumbled under her breath as they descended toward Tatooine, hoping Lusef would not catch it.

 

Slowly on the descent, Kari headed toward Mos Eisley, the closest city to the Jundland Wastes that she knew of. Night Owl settled in Dock 11, the port side of the Class 720 gaining a few scratches as it etches down the side of the durasteel spaceport, though a tad bit better than take off. Kari looks at Master Lusef in embarrassment as she backs off, finally settling the ship and releases the boarding ramp as it lands.

 

"Now that it's over, we'll likely need to rent a land-speeder to get to the Jundland Waste." Kari speak as she powers down the Night Owl, and has Ghost begin repairs and refueling. Immediately he goes to work, communicating with the spaceports numerous droids. "Just let me gather my things and I'll meet you at the boarding ramp."

 

Leaving Master Lusef to himself, Kari heads to her quarters to gather her things. Reaching into her satchel, Kari places the light brown tunic and cloak she brought over her clothing, typical wear for most visitors to Tatooine, and gathers her weapons from the bedside. Double checking her supplies, she grabs her satchel and exits. Within moments, she arrives at the boarding ramp just as Ghost exits, the ancient astromech ranting at some repair droid.

[Lusef Aryan]

Lusef reminds quiet through the whole trip lost in his own meditations. For some reason, he found himself thinking of Naboo and one of his contacts there... Alastor was it not?

 

Upon landing, one of his blue eyes pops open and Lusef focuses on the matters at hand.

 

"Good landing, padawan," he observes dryly. "Just remember. Any landing you can walk away from is a good one, though easier on the paint next time." Delivered with a straight edged humor, a small smile draws on his face. "I will gather my things. If you'll excuse me, I need to adjurn to the bathroom."

 

Besides offering proof that, yes, dear readers, RP characters do shit even if we do not take the time (thankfully) to post such minute actions, Lusef takes the time to apply a small spray to his face, sealing the chemicals in the prosthetics against Tatooine's blistering heat.

 

Meeting Kari at the base of the boarding ramp, he thinks carefully, also observing with a wry note the increased presence of Black Sun in this area, especially when it was traditionally a Hutt stronghold. Interesting. "I'm thinking perhaps we should buy a speeder instead of merely renting one," he states, dropping a large amount of credits to a spaceport droid to cover the costs from the slight collision. "We're using it to get out to the Wastes. After that, my dear child, we'll likely be abandoning the speeder since our training will involve walking back to civilization in one piece."

[Jedi X]

"My mistake, Master..." Kari started off by saying, quickly jerking her gaze straight to politely overlook the trail of paper used to wipe one's self that found it's self hanging from Lusef's robes. Though truthfully, the young Togruta was unmistakably chuckling to herself beneath the confines of her breath, a slight smirk creeping across her orange-ish face as she canvased the local area. "I did not think of such a possibility."

 

The bright suns above them sat beating down heavily upon the sands below them, stray beams finding their paths through gaps in the tunic's knitting, giving her youthful face the appearance of a Mirialan hybrid. Kari silently studied her surroundings as they ventured forth from the spaceport into the settlement of Mos Eisley it's self, taking in deep breaths of his close knit community, it's busy markets and businesses, and all it's fill of life. She had long been confined to life at the Temples, so such a sight was rare to behold for her.

 

Kari stopped as the came into view of a local speeder shop, gazing upon a few speeders left in the front up for sale. The heat glaring from the metal as she motion from one to the other made her face red and irritated, sweat beginning to form beads upon her lit face. One could certainly tell she was not used to such conditions, and Kari's mind worried slightly. Finally she came upon an old V-35 Courier, the Togruta shifting her hands across it's surface as she inspected it's condition.

 

"Seventeen Hundred Creds.... Not bad for it's condition." Kari spoke, realizing she only held two thousand credits to her name. It would take most of it, that was true. But Kari knew it was a bargain, especially considering the higher prices on most of the others, and half of those weren't worth a third of the asking price. Turning to the approaching sales-droid, Kari reached into her Satchel. "We'll take this V-35 as is."

 

Just as she handed over the pouch of credits, save for the three hundred she had left, Kari's gaze shifted off toward the east. Not far from a local droid shop, sat off toward the side near a vacant lot, her eyes beheld a rather old shop. Intrigued, she walked off toward it, waving her hand to Master Lusef as if saying she would only be a minute. With a rather rusted hiss, she soon disappeared inside.

 

The building was rather dim with lighting, dust collected over most of it's entirety. Near the front register sat an oddly human for Tatooine, his face pale and sickly despite the years of age that wrinkled his face, and a long peppered beard matching the balding hair that sat upon his head. As Kari approached, noticing the datacards that filled it's selves, she noticed a display housing a few mediocre datapads. She had seen such shops at the Temples she had visited, but never had she actually owned one.

 

"How much for the Companion Two-Thousand?" Kari inquired, meeting the gaze of the older man as gaze upon her alien face from beneath the rims of his spectacles.

 

"A Hundred creds..." He replied in a gruffed voice, his words rolling forth with a dry hissing escape of air as the smell of garbage and aged food escaped his mouth. "May i interest you in some datacards as well?"

 

"Have anything on the Jedi?" Kari questioned briefly, stepping back out of the way of his rank breath without seeming impolite.

 

"All i have on the Jedi is stored on that shelf to the left..." He stared questionably at her for a moment before speaking and pointing toward a shelf near the back where a index label stood out from it's frame. Feeling a bit embarrassed, Kari thanked him and moved toward it.

 

She scrolled briefly through the top row, most of the datacards possessing tales of certain Jedi or fictional legends. But one caught her eye, though it was not as one would think. Labeled Paths of a Jedi: The Jedi Curriculum, Kari found it's contents intriguing. Described upon the back of it's casing, it gave brief details of the the Jedi Ranks, Classes, and some of it's Arts. Grabbing it, along with a datacard possessing all known knowledge of Tatooine, as well as a map, Kari returned to the front.

 

"Will that be all, Miss?" The man questioned briefly as he rang up the purchase, including a blank datacard Kari had idly thrown in as well for her own uses. Shaking her head, Kari pulled forth the credits. "That'll be one hundred and sixty-five creds."

 

Paying him and quickly exiting the shop, Kari returned to Master Lusef and the now purchased landspeeder. Placing the datapad and cards into her satchel, which she placed in the rear compartment before she turned and climbed into a passenger seat. After her problems with flying, she dared not attempt her luck with the speeder. And Master Lusef would likely be more experienced with the area than she, and her knowledge of the Wastes were non-existent. It would be best if he took control of their transport to the Wastes.

 

"Ready when you are Master." Kari spoke as she buckled herself in.