Mara stood over the vast desert and watched the second crimson sun set lazily. Every plateau and canyon was painted with the light that came from Tatooine's second setting sun. She was still panting from one of the most exciting experiences she had had in a very long time-hunting Krayat dragons. Alone in the desert, she felt a sense of inner satisfaction and when a thin smile crossed her lips she realized how proud she was of herself that her invigorating hunt had definitely been victorious.
The lone sillhouette standing in the sunset drew out her macrobinoculars and looked hard through them, searching for her skiff. She would have to push her skiff full throttle all the way through the Dune Sea to get back to Luke in time for their departure. They had decided to take random freighters and shuttles that were going where they needed instead of taking their own ship, so as to not arouse any suspicions. Standing at the edge of cliff she found her skiff, closer than she thought, down in the canyon below her. Suddenly, she also felt an ominous presence in the force. Mara increased the magnitude on the macrobinoculars and slowly and meticulously scanned all the crevices and gorges around the skiff.
Then she saw the assassin. His skin was an olive green, it looked a shade darker in the crevice that was engulfed in shadows. The creature's jet black hair, which started very far back on his head, was in a ponytail and went a little bit past his shoulders. One of his most noticeable features were his very long, articulant hands, that were grasped around his CZA-77 blaster rifle, a weapon that wasn't even in production anymore. Yes, she said to herself, this looks like a very deadly Falleen.
To size up her competition and see how hard it would actually be for her to get to her skiff, she increased the macrobinocular's magnification up to their highest power. Mara noticed the Falleen's intense concentration-he didn't even blink. Then she noticed something coming down his forehead at a medium pace. She focused the macrobinoculars onto his forehead to see that there was a very thin, horizontal light line coming down his face. That's odd, she thought, why would there be a line coming down his face? Mara then focused the her view at his feet to see a small projector. A holoprojector, she realized.Then the realization struck her-a hologram!
The force told her, even before she had enough time to turn around, that there was someone behind her. Mara rolled sideways, just in time to see a sleek vibroblade go crashing to the place she was just standing. She hardly had time to draw her lighsaber when the Falleen lunged at her, vibroblade high in the air. Even though she darted sideways, the fierce hunter suddenly grabbed onto her leg pulling her down.
After she quickly came back from the shock of her head hitting the cold, hard ground, she felt the Falleen's intense grip around the bottom of her left leg. But the Falleen was nowhere to be seen. He's hanging over the cliff, she quickly thought to herself. The Falleen's grip onto Mara's leg was the only thing keeping him suspended from careening down into the canyon. Just as Mara was going to look over the cliff, the Falleen's right hand came up and grabbed the cliff. While the Falleen was trying to pull himself back up over the side of the cliff, he was also pulling Mara toward the edge of the cliff.
She kicked him, hard, right at the apex of his broad forehead with her free foot and sent the Falleen down into the cliff. But the Falleen still held steadfast to Mara and she started sliding toward the edge. Mara tried hard to hold on to the edge, but with one hard pull from her attacker, Mara went down into the dark canyon, along with the Falleen. She used the force to the best of her ability to slow their descent, but the pair still landed harshly at the bottom of the canyon. As soon as the Falleen raised his head up, Mara used her elbow to fiercely slam his head back down onto the canyon floor. This time, the attacker went unconscious.
Mara glanced at her chronometer, she would be lucky if she made it on time to the freighter's takeoff. She threw herself up and jumped onto the skiff, revving up its engines with earnest. It would be dark very soon, the most dangerous time in the Dune Sea. She was very aware that the darkness was the tusken raider's sanctuary. There was nothing they loved more than the perfect time to kill prey. She then realized she couldn't leave her attacker here to die. By the time he would have waken up, he would be dead for sure. Grudgingly, Mara hopped off the skiff and carried the Falleen onto the skiff.
I've gone soft, she thought to herself as she rode of at full speed toward the spaceport.

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As Mara somewhat recklessly pulled into the spaceport on her skiff, Luke met her immediately with a somewhat chaotic look in his eyes.
"Did something happen?", he asked, obviouslty distraught. Mara could tell he was worried that she wasn't going to make the flight on time.
"This scum tried to attack me", Mara breathed with a sigh. "I couldn't leave him in the Dune Sea to die."
"He tried to attack you?", Luke asked in disbelief. "Do you think he was sent to kill you or was just one of the Dune Sea wanderers?"
"I think he's an assassin. He seemed pretty persistent."
"In that case we'll have to take him with us. If we left him here, he would only come after you again......or get more help."
When they finally boarded the freighter, not a moment to soon, the boarding officer asked them about their extra passenger they were carrying.
"He's in a traumatic shock", Luke said. "We are his family and the doctors told us he could be much better attended to on Ithor, where they have the top experts in the field on this kind of thing." Mara realized that, after many years, Luke's lies had still not improved that much.
The guard told them they would still have to pay for his passage, and they did. When they finally got to their room, Mara asked intently, "Did you find any leads on the dark Jedi colony?"
Luke answered, "Yes. You will definitely think the information I have found is quite", Luke paused a moment looking for the right word, "Interesting."