Nadi stepped onto the sandy street, the roar of bar patrons replaced by the buzz of speeders and chatter of passersby. Though now in the direct light of two suns, she always felt cooler as she left a cantina. The crowd and smoke added a level of humidity she rather detested, so she always relished the dry heat of the desert suns over the company of too many people.

Mos Ila was busy indoors and out. The streets were fairly informal, the paved stones that once separated the pedestrian path and aisle for speeders had long since worn or were mostly covered by sand. Speeders largely went where they chose, slowing only briefly to allow people to move aside.

She quickly made her way along the side of the cantina, hugging the wall to make way for a pair of bored imperial troopers who seemed only half committed to their patrol. Obviously straining from the heat, they sluggishly plodded along the sandy stones, rifles lazily held in one hand. Nadi never understood why the Empire was so fixated on black-plated armor, but whoever made that decision had obviously never been here. With the spaceport under Imperial control, Nadi tried to avoid taking jobs here if others were available.

She rounded the corner of the cantina and made her way down the alley between it and the adjacent building. Tucked into the side of the Cantina was a small cleft, covered from the sun and hidden from view of the street. A sleek landspeeder hovered within, its repulsor lifts lightly humming. Its profile was roughly shaped like an ellipse sliced down the middle; the front and back both sloped, with the front doing so much longer at a more shallow angle. The driver and passenger seated at the peak, about two-thirds of the vehicle's length from the front. The seats were recessed into the body of the speeder, with a rounded windshield further protecting those seated from wind and sand. The body was a light brown on the sides, and down the center a rusted orange; spattered with heat scores from blaster fire. Twin cylindrical rivulets were cut into the body in front of the windshield, allowing a line of fire for a pair of hidden blaster cannons.

Nadi's favorite, and most expensive, pieces were mounted to the sides of the speeder just behind the cockpit. The speeder's twin turbine thrusters were black and armor-plated. They were connected to the body via a short, thick pylon. Perhaps just a little too big for a vehicle that size, they played a large part in Nadi's success. As she approached the speeder, she affectionately patted them before vaulting the side and landing gracefully in the driver seat, the speeder bobbing slightly.

"Just once, I wish you would pick spirits and stay awhile. I quite enjoy the relief from your company." The voice was metallic, and strangely high given the nature of its source.

Sitting, or rather strapped, in the passenger seat was the limbless body of a gray HK series assassin droid. His menacing gaze fixated on the impassive Nadi. She rarely regarded his comments of malcontent; in part because she simply didn't care, but also she found it hard to take him seriously. The slanted yellow eyes and vertical mouthpiece, all looking like a very violent insectoid, were severely disarmed by the fact that he was securely belted to a chair with no arms or legs. If she looked him dead in the eyes during his frequent malicious dialogue, she might just laugh in his face.

"The booze is watered down and the actual water tastes like a bantha pissed upstream. I only come here for business." Nadi stated flatly.

HK harrumphed and removed his gaze.

Nadi settled into her seat, pulling her scarf over her nose and mouth, and her goggles over her eyes. She rested her boots against the familiar pedals that controlled the turbines' thrust, and hands on the grips controlling the air brakes and systems. The deep whine of the turbines kicked in and the speeder smoothly moved forward. With a light touch of the pedals, the speeder launched from the alley into the street, banking heavily as she turned to match the flow of traffic. Angry calls went out from several drivers she cut off, but she only recognized a few of the curses. Spaceports like Mos Ila had numerous species coming and going, she only knew the expletives from about a third of them, and could only understand past those on a few.

The Cantina was situated near the edge of the city, so after navigating only a few turns, she pointed the speeder north and floored the pedals. The speeder lurched onto the open sands, such that Nadi gritted her teeth as her body was, almost painfully, pushed against the cushions of her seat. HK endured the pressure silently, staring forward as he usually did. He wasn't much of a travel companion, but given his normal mode of speech, Nadi preferred it that way.

Mos Ila was nestled into an inlet of a rocky bluff, that slowly receded into the sand as Nadi drove. The flatlands to the north were largely used by spacious moisture farms, small military outposts, and private corporation compounds. It was easy driving, allowing her to leave the throttle floored to lose any potential tails. The compounds and farms were sparse enough that she could travel almost entirely unseen in the open space between. The speeder's windshield offered enough protection such that she could keep her hat on without too much trouble, but she was buffeted enough by the moving air that she remained cool in the heat of day.

After about an hour she let back on the pedals, the now high-pitched whine of the turbines softening. She liked giving them a rest if she could, and brought the speeder to a more comfortable cruising speed. Robust as they were, she did not want them to burn out in the middle of a job. The roar of the wind died down, and she pulled the scarf down from her mouth so as not to muffle her speech.

"That bartender is getting too curious" She said, looking forward.

The tiny servos in HK's neck whirred as he turned to look at her. "Then perhaps you should have Mr. Durman replace him." His tone was chipper, probably because he knew 'replace' meant 'murder' in this business.

"I might just do that" She said. She would rather the poor bartender not meet a gruesome end, but if he could jeopardize her identity to the wrong people, he had to go. "Ya know," She said, eyes still forward. "I really wish you wouldn't call certain people by their names."

"I highly doubt that's his real name." HK sounded slightly annoyed. "And you don't need to worry; if the speeder was bugged I would have reported it to you."

Nadi said nothing. One of the only reasons she kept him around was to watch the speeder while she was away, but she couldn't help but shake the feeling that he would omit certain details if it meant she would come to harm.

As though reading her mind, HK continued "I cannot violate your directives, much as it would please me. If you give me a command then I must follow it to the letter. I fail to see why this is so hard for you to grasp; did you suffer a traumatic head injury as a child?"

"Get up." He stood over her, blood dripping from his knuckles onto the floor, adding to the pool oozing from her nose and mouth. "What did you do wrong?"

Nadi shook herself. "No, but one of my first lessons was not to trust anyone." She replied. "Maybe not, but I'm fairly certain that includes assassin droids that would happily see me dead."

"If only…" He said with a sigh, as if to himself. Whoever had previously owned HK, they must have been an eccentric. Droids only collect their speech patterns either by owner directive, or their own experiences. The kind of person that keeps a melodramatic and sarcastic assassin droid around is an odd one indeed. Nadi smiled, realizing the irony. In an odd way, she enjoyed the company. Something to occasionally converse with that, between the threats and disdainful comments, was fairly interesting.

Pulling back her sleeve, Nadi checked her chronometer. It was still not yet midday; she would be able to cover a lot of ground before nightfall. "So what are the details?" She asked.

"You're not going to like it." HK replied, cheerily.

"And how would you know?"

"Well first off, you're going to need to stop soon. The instructions specifically stated 'alive and well cared for'".

"Ugh…" Nadi hated moving live cargo. It had a nasty tendency of complicating the job. Plus, all too often it talked. "And the rest of it?"

"Oh that's even better!" HK continued. "The drop-off location is in the Western Dune Sea. Some sort of underground compound, I have the exact coordinates."

Nadi's mood darkened considerably. She loved this work because she called the shots. She chose who she worked for, and when she did so. Money was never a big issue for her; so long as her speeder was in good condition and she had plenty of power packs for her blaster, she had what she needed. She loved the freedom of choosing her own path. The only drawback is she never got to choose what she did. The nature of the cargo and its destination were never disclosed until the job was accepted. Once that was done, there was no backing out, and this time it meant traversing Sand People territory and Krayt Dragon canyons. She wasn't terribly fond of either.

"We'll have to head north, then cross the Jundland wastes." She said, more for herself than HK, who already knew the exact route.

"Oh, I just love the Wastes! You'll likely end up eaten, or at least robbed and made a slave." HK said happily. "Either way, I cannot wait!"

Nadi reconsidered wiping his memory, but having a blank assassin droid she had to bring back up to speed sounded worse than dealing with his verbal harassment. She looked at her chronometer again, and decided now was as good a time as any. There was an abandoned homestead nearby; it would be a good place to stop.

She let off her left pedal slightly, allowing the differential in thrust to smoothly pull the speeder with it. She only used the air brakes for hard turns, allowing her to do most of her travels hands free. She has customized the control scheme herself, providing pinpoint precision in managing her craft. Most preferred a throttle-wheel setup, but that made most of the finer points of control automatic, bound to the turning of the wheel. That would never do; it wasn't nearly as fun.

A small domed building loomed in the distance. In normal Tatooine form, it was stout, made of sand-colored stone. Most of the structure's interior was likely below ground to escape the heat, with only minimal exterior exposed to the burning suns. Nadi had driven by the homestead a number of times, and was fairly certain it had been long abandoned. Drawing nearer, the spires of moisture collectors were visible on the wavy horizon. Farming was not terribly lucrative in any part of the galaxy, and farming water had obviously not been enough here.

The structure was the only one visible above ground, with an open pitted area sat behind it, typical of homesteads. It had obviously been in use by travelers and squatters since its original owners departed. The building was heavily vandalized, from heat-scores to deliberate structural damage. Refuse littered the grounds near the arched doorway of the domed building, half-obscured by the windy sand. Nothing looked like it had occurred recently, but Nadi never took any chances.

As the speeder came to a halt a short distance from the door, Nadi vaulted from her seat, blaster drawn. Another of her prized possessions; it was short-barreled with lacquered wood housing. Mounted under the barrel was a powerful light, the bottom lining up the trigger guard, giving the weapon a faux over-under barrel design. The power pack and gas cylinder were combined into a single cartridge, inserted into the base of the grip. She had tooled the blaster to be fully automatic with maximum capacity, so the cartridge was longer than the grip itself, sticking out past the wood paneling. She found the design to be mildly irksome, but the fact that she could get several hundred shots from each one was enough to ignore it.

"Good luck, I hope you find bandits." HK called as she approached the door.

Nadi suppressed a sigh as she stood outside the doorway with her back against the wall. Peering around the corner she could tell it was a stairway leading downward, but the sun only partially illuminated the passage. She flicked on the light mounted under her blaster barrel, and moved into the stairway. The ceiling was low, not scraping her head, but enough that Nadi ducked slightly anyway. Whoever had originally built this must have been a smaller species, as the steps were narrow as well. Sand had blown in from the doorway, causing every step to crunch under her boots as the grains rubbed on stone. She reached out with one hand and touched the stone wall; it was surprisingly cold, like the breeze coming from below that lightly tossed her scarf. Most Tatooine inhabitants adjusted to the heat from their time spent under the suns, but some, like these former residents, held dearly to milder climates far from this place.

The stairs ended into a short, wide room. Nadi swept her blaster, scanning with the light, from side to side as she slowly made her way through the room. No light from the entrance made it this far down, so her light was the only thing between her and absolute darkness. The room was scattered with refuse and destroyed furniture, and much of the stone walls had been damaged. Several rooms broke off from the main chamber, leading off for untold distances. It was always hard to tell how big a homestead was without exploring it fully, and she didn't have time for that. While obviously lived-in by some unsavory individuals, if it were still in use she would have met them by now.

She returned to the staircase and ascended with her blaster still aimed down toward the room below. It would not be the first time something had attempted to ambush her in the cold, dark depths of this world, and she was sure it would not be her last.

"I didn't hear any blaster fire, I'm very disappointed." HK said as Nadi exited the doorway. "Did you at least stab something?"

"No; place was empty." She replied, holstering her blaster and approaching the speeder.

"You're so dull; I don't know why I even ask."

Nadi jumped back into her seat and lightly pressed the pedals. The structure had a large awning that had somehow survived all of the other chaos that had gone on here. She maneuvered the speeder under the welcoming shade and killed the engines. It was in the best interest of her cargo that they not go from dark to the light of two suns so abruptly. Jumping back out, she made her way to the back of the speeder. With a quick flip of the switch, the curved cargo hatch popped open.

She breathed out, holding the bridge of her nose. She liked moving rare stolen collectibles; she was even fine with small animals. But this…this was the worst.

Within, surrounded by cooling packs, lay an adolescent girl. She was blindfolded, bound at the hands and feet, and still very much sedated. Her hair was a dirty blonde, tied back in a tail, though some hung loosely about her face. Fair-skinned with light hair, she would likely find Tatooine harsher than most. She was still dressed in charcoal colored show-room clothes, meaning the client had likely acquisitioned her from an auction. She had on a plain, sleeveless tunic, belted at the waist and ending at her mid-thigh. It was free of any markings or embroidery, just well sewn fabric and not much else. The trousers and flat soled boots were equally plain.

The dull clothing meant that she was no pleasure girl; Nadi's services were never called on for cargo that mundane anyway. Being presented at an auction meant she wasn't being held for ransom, and there was little else reason to kidnap a young girl. Nadi routinely avoided getting so much as curious about her cargo, but this one was interesting. She didn't have time to speculate, enough time had been wasted on this stop.

"Hey, kid." She said snapping her fingers, the gloves muting the effect.

The girl softly groaned and slightly tossed, but gave no other indication of waking up.

"Might I suggest waking her with a blow to the head from a heavy pipe? I saw one on the way in." HK called out, obscured from view by the lifted hatch.

Nadi grabbed the girl's shoulder and shook violently. "Wake up!"

The girl groaned more loudly, and started to groggily lift her head in a vain attempt to look around with the blindfold. She tested her hands and feet against the bonds, trying to stretch in the tight space. She turned her head to Nadi, "Where…Who…?" She asked, her voice gravelly from sleep and a dry mouth.

"The where is Tatooine; the who isn't important." Nadi replied curtly. "Now get up, we need to move." She reached in and grabbed the girl by her upper arm, helping her groggily into a sitting position. Her head bobbed, obviously still trying to rouse her senses.

The girl's hands were bound in front of her, made of a tightly woven, white rope. The blindfold was the dark charcoal matching her clothes, and the bindings on her feet…

The speeder bobbed on its lifts as the girl launched from the cargo hold, her feet bindings coming free in frayed tatters. Nadi cursed loudly as the girl vaulted over her, landing on her feet and taking off at a run.

Reacting quickly, Nadi reached into the open hold and retrieved a rifle. The barrel was long and wide, the opening much too large for blaster fire. She kicked the speeder at an angle, causing it to rotate, bringing HK into view.

"You're gonna want to watch this!" She shouted at the droid. Then, quietly to herself, "This is about to be the best part of my day."

She stepped forward and knelt, bringing the weapon to her shoulder and aiming at the girl. She had made good ground, running into the open desert. A small part of Nadi wished she could just let her go. She would die from exposure in a short time, and Nadi would be happier for it. But she had a job to do. She let out her breath and pulled the trigger.

The rifle kicked heavily, making a deep thunk. A large package propelled forward from the barrel, quickly opening up into a spinning bola. The weighted cord hit its mark, entangling the girl's legs as she ran, causing her to slam face-first into the sand.

Nadi grinned, gratified. She tossed the rifle back into the cargo hold, noting a metal snag on the inside wall with fragments of white rope stuck to it. The girl must have woken before the stop and found that little opportunity to free her legs, then pretended to still be heavily sedated. She was clever, but then running into a Tatooine desert blindfolded said otherwise. Nadi closed the hatch and jumped into the speeder, bringing the nose about and lurching toward the girl's still-fallen figure.

"I believe the contract said 'well cared for'." HK stated. "But…yes, that was quite satisfying."

Nadi allowed herself a small smile. Maybe there was hope for HK yet. Their time together had been relatively quiet. It was nice, but far from the norm. Maybe all he really needed was some more excitement and he would warm up—

"Would've liked it more if it was you." He added.

Nope.