Chapter 29: Tatooine
Republic High Command
Senator Alexei Craglift settled into his immaculately upholstered chair at the massive complex of towers which constituted Republic Military Headquarters with a grunt. "And now, General Dodonna, why don't you tell me the reason you pulled me from the Coruscanti Opera House in the middle of a performance?" His voice was light, almost whimsical, but it took every ounce of discipline the general had to keep from swallowing at the veiled threat in those words.
"I'm aware it was . . . unusual, sir, but I felt the situation called for it."
The head of the military oversight committee cocked a single eyebrow. "And just what situation might that be?"
Dodonna took a deep breath, wondering where this particular can of mynocks would end, and started to speak. "We've just received word from one of our . . . less savory, but highly effective agents, Senator. Her final report is . . . fascinating."
Alexei felt quite confident he was prepared for whatever he was going to hear, yet his eyes, which had seen far, far too many things that would never be released to the public, widened in shock. Shock, and fear.
Events moved quickly after that. Orders were drafted, under conditions of highest security and behind an astronomical clearance veil, and sent out across the stars themselves. The thorough corruption that guaranteed that secrets got out on Coruscant, that was so expected they were part and parcel of doing business here, could not be allowed to interfere this time.
And when Senator Craglift took personal attention in a matter, secrets stayed secret.
Selven stalked into the cantina with barely restrained rage. The anger wouldn't hurt her cover, and it was right in line with her own feelings. The risk was insane. Did they want her to be discovered?
Her contact came into view at a secluded booth in the far corner, and Selven hesitated. The man looked . . . shaken. Her hand itched to draw her blaster pistol, but she couldn't here, not yet. She had to be sure they'd betrayed her before she burned her last bridge. There didn't seem to be any immediate threats, at least, so she continued walking cautiously, and slid into the booth across from the spook. She drew her blaster pistol beneath the table.
The contact's former hard-line bravado was gone. There were bags under his eyes, and he had the haunted look of a man who's world had just come apart. This did not bode well. She considered. On the other hand, it looked like maybe they believed her after all.
He took a long pull from his drink and shook himself. "Let's make this quick. You have a new assignment, priority Alpha One."
Selven blinked. That was more of a response than she'd expected. Much more.
"You are to capture the . . . the target." His voice hitched as he swallowed hard, then visibly got himself under control. "Take her, then return her to Republic Command with all speed."
"Why not just recall her?"
The man shook her head. "It's clear we can't trust the Jedi any longer. If they've kept this from us, what else could they be hiding? No, if we recall her, the Jedi watchdogs will know the game is up."
She considered that for a moment. It made sense, in a crazy sort of way. "If I have to go hard for her, there may be some . . . breakage." She dangled the thought out there, as much to see what kind of reaction it got as anything else.
Her contact nodded. "We understand. Try to avoid it if you can, but if you can't, then we'll live with the consequences."
Selven quirked an eyebrow, though the man before her couldn't see it behind her helmet. "Even if it's her . . . current guardian? You're prepared to risk her as collateral damage?"
The man's face turned ashen as he considered that possibility, but there was no hesitation in his voice. "Yes, even her. And that's straight from the top. You do what you have to, Calo, but you get the job done. I've just sent you all the data we have on the target, their current location, and her companions through the usual channels." The man grimaced. "It took quite a few favors, and burned a few bridges, to get it on the Jedi but it's all there. Whatever you need, say the word, and you'll have it. I don't need to say it, but we're putting a lot of faith in you on this one. Now get the job done. No matter the cost, get the job done."
Selven nodded. That sealed it. They were prepared to risk the entire war to make this happen. It wasn't business as usual. No, for someone very high up the chain, this was personal.
Kyrena tossed and turned in her sleep. The planet's heat seeped into the ship, raising the ambient temperature uncomfortably high. She'd managed to lose the light blanket altogether, and her legs were tangled in a mess mess of sweaty sheets. Then it turned cold with the sudden harshness that only happens in a true desert, and she shivered in the cold. Maybe it had something to do with that, maybe it was the Force, or maybe it was something else. No matter what caused it, it didn't change the fact that she had a very strange dream.
She was very hot. The sky was so bright she could barely make out a yellowish blur around her. There was nothing to do but walk, so she did, her feet sinking into the ground at every step. It was exhausting, and the further she went the worse her headache became. Just when she was about to give up and sit down, it all changed with the abruptness of dreams. It was as dark as it had been bright, and the relief from the heat turned chilly, then cold. She moved forward and down, down into the dark. And there, at the very heart of the darkness, was something that's deep black stood out even against that background. A light emerged from it, then dozens, then hundreds of them, spinning around her in an entire galaxy at her fingertips. All of it within her reach, within her . . . control.
Kyrena snapped away and sat up with a start, breathing heavily. She was drenched in sweat but freezing cold. She shivered and snatched up her blanket, wrapping it around herself. As her shivering started to come under control she noticed that she wasn't the only one awake and breathing hard—she and Bastila looked at each other, both still in shock, and both wondering where the Force was leading them next.
They all met up in the living quarters an hour later. Kyrena and Bastila may have looked a little ragged, but they had nothing on Mission, who'd stayed up a good chunk of the night to finish the season of Twi'leks at Twilight. Her eyes were half closed as she sat flopped on the couch with huge bags under her eyes.
Bastila gave her a disapproving glance. Mission cracked an eye open, shot her a cheeky grin and a "Totally worth it," then closed her eyes again. Bastila shook her head in exasperation, but let it go.
"There has been a development." The room seemed to sharpen into focus at Bastila's words. She had their attention. "Kyrena and I have shared another vision, this on of, we believe, the star map here on Tatooine. The vision seemed to take us out into the desert, and then down into some sort of cave."
"That may not give us much," Kyrena picked up smoothly, "but it does give us somewhere to start. Between that, and the sheer amount of distance we need to cover, I propose that we split up. Group one will be Bastila and myself. We read to find some non-Jedi clothes for ourselves and Juhani as quickly as possible. Group two will be Canderous and Mission. Wherever we're going, it will be pretty deep out in the desert. I need you two to make sure the swoop is up to all that heat and sand. The Council gave us a little bit of money, but not much, so do what you can. Carth and Juhani, you two are on reconnaissance. Get a feel for the city, see if you can a find out who knows the desert. Finally, Zaalbar and T3." She smiled at the astromech, which whistled up at her cheerfully. "No, I didn't forget you. I'm afraid I'm going to need you two to watch the ship for us."
Zaalbar rumbled an affirmative. "Thank you, Kyrena. This heat and sand—I do not like them."
"Alright. Everybody stay in touch, let me or Bastila know if anything comes up, and keep your heads down. Any questions?"
Nobody spoke up, and Kyrena nodded firmly. "Alright, let's go."
Canderous leaned back on the couch and smiled as the meeting broke up. This was the first time Kyrena had taken direct control of the group, and her authority had gone completely unchallenged. It was neatly done.
Earn their respect by convincing them you were right, then once that respect and trust were firmly established, make it official, then ask them to follow you. Then, then, start to exercise that authority. The approach to leadership was far different from how Mandalorians did it, where strength gave the right to lead. Or was it?
He frowned and crossed his legs, boots up on the table as he thought. Certainly that was far different from how Mandalorian leadership acted, but that wasn't everything. In fact, the more he thought about it, that did sound like how Mandalorians raised their children. Your parents were your leaders, teaching you how to hunt, how to fight, how to grow. And then, once you reached the age of eight you were formally adopted into the clan, and your parents became your superior officers, as well. And it was the individual quality of their people that really set the Mandalorians apart. And Kyrena did that so naturally he didn't think she even considered it—she just did it.
That was . . . impressive.
"Hey Candy, what's with the long face?"
Canderous looked up at Mission and quirked an eyebrow. Candy? He brushed away his moment of irritation quickly. Nicknames might not show quite the level of respect a Mandalorian deserved, but it also showed she wasn't intimidated by him. And besides, that was where most Mandalorian callsigns came from, anyways—not that he'd be caught dead with that particular callsign. So instead he grinned at her. "Just thinking about how we can mount a rocket launcher on the swoop, Blue."
"Blue?" She paused for a moment, hand on her hip as she considered. Then she smiled. "I like it. So, where are we gonna find a rocket launcher?"
Carth and Juhani walked slowly down the boarding ramp, watching each other as closely as their surroundings. They stopped at the bottom of the ramp and took in the scene before them. The Ebon Hawk was parked in an enclosed hangar, though the twin suns beat down on them through the open ceiling.
The air was warm on his skin and Carth could feel his cheeks start to burn almost immediately; his lips started to chap, and the first trickles of sweat dribbled down his back. It was so hot that the heat felt thick, like a stifling, heavy cloud.
He supposed most people in his position would be more focused on the honest-to-goodness Jedi standing beside him instead of the weather, and he probably would have too up to a couple of weeks ago, but he'd seen a lot of Jedi between then and now. So instead, he pulled out his datapad and glanced through the rough map that had come with the standard Czerka docking download. Anchorhead really wasn't all that big. In fact, the place was downright tiny.
The whole town was build around the Czerka organizational HQ, which itself existed only to coordinate the efforts of the minors across the planet and the ships coming in to pick up the ore. Other than that, there was just the usual odds and ends that cropped up wherever there was business to be had; a couple of second-hand junk shops, a cantina, a couple of "massage parlors," a rough swoop course, a probably shady droid-and-parts shop, the usual. The only real surprise was something marked Hunting Lodge. Carth pointed it out to Juhani.
"I think we should start here. If anyone knows the desert, it's going to be the hunters."
The cathar nodded. "This is true. I will lead the way." She turned and started walking, her boots sinking a good five centimeters into the layer of sand that coated the streets with every step. Carth rolled his eyes as she turned her back on him. Jedi. It's like they had a course in taking charge because obviously nobody else could possibly have any idea what they were doing. He fell in step behind her with a sigh.
Bastila and Kyrena wound their way through the painfully seedy clothing shops. Well, at least we can be sure that our new clothes will be 'authentic' enough to blend in Kyrena told herself. Fortunately for the two of them, local fashion was a very practical affair, consisting of robes that weren't all that far off from the Jedi versions they were, and covering as much skin as possible. They each got ponchos to go over their robes, packs with built-in water containers with sipping tubes, and heavy scarves that could be pulled up over their faces and heads the locals called shemaghs. They topped it off with sunglasses to block some of the reflected sun glare.
Bastila had been a little hesitant to buy anything for Juhani simply because she didn't know her size, but her fears were allayed as she saw just how loosely fitting it all was intended to be. And best of all, once they were properly attired they looked nothing like a pair of Jedi out adventuring. They paid the somewhat wide-eyed local dealer who was clearly impressed with their purchasing power and headed towards the local cantina.
Neither of them saw him whispering quickly into his com as they left the open-air market.
Canderous and Mission wandered through yet another shop boasting beat-up second-hand parts, broken down droids, and questionable jerky meat. Canderous tossed aside a bent stabilizer with a snort of disgust. "This is a waste of time. We need access to real equipment if we're ever going to make this work."
Mission sighed, shading her eyes against the sun. This place wasn't just hot, it was suffocating. It just sucked the water right out of you, and she was tired and thirsty, had a headache, and was more than a little annoyed that her companion didn't seem to be effected by the heat at all. "Yeah, well, where else can we go? It feels like we've been through every shop in this dump."
The store owner, a portly twi'lek, shot her a dirty look, which she ignored.
Canderous paused in thought for a moment, then snapped his fingers. "They said Czerka had some sort of setup on this rock, right? Well, if I know anything about Czerka, it's that they'll have some extra equipment that's, ah, 'not on the official inventory' lying around that we can convince them to part with." He grinned at her. "So how 'bout it, kid? You ready for your first foray into the black market?"
Rather to their disappointment, the Czerka office did not actually have anything to sell. Most of their equipment was scattered out at the local resupply points. There should have been a central hub, but apparently it was cheaper to just drop it from orbit to wherever it needed than to move it across the desert. That, or the central manager was in hot water and local branch managers were putting the squeeze on him to get the shipments first, to take their cut before the central branch could skim the best bits.
"Stop," Canderous said, cutting off the manager as she droned on. "Are you telling me," he said slowly, "that you are refusing to sell me a hunting license?"
The woman looked him up and down again, swallowing hard, and Mission took careful not of his posture and tone. After all, who could pass up the opportunity to learn from the best?
The moment of tension passed as Canderous smiled winningly. "I'm sure, Under Officer Lashiik, that we can come to some sort of . . . arrangement."
The woman thought hard for a moment, the nodded. "Well, normally we charge 200 credits . . ." Canderous' eyes hardened. "But but but," she hurried on, "I can make an exception if you agree to perform a task for us. It's . . . similar to hunting. You see, it's like this . . ."
Carth kept an eye on the five-meter-tall ronto as he stepped carefully past a pile of its droppings. Keeping his focus on the skittish creature and the ground meant he nearly bumped into Juhani, who had stopped to converse with a dirt-smudged woman just outside the hunting lodge entrance. He kept a snarky comment to himself when saw the tear-streaks in that dirt and heard the comforting tone of the Jedi's words to her. Instead, he waited patiently. It was . . . good to see a Jedi acting like that. He was so focused on the traitor Jedi, and the often questionable leadership in battle of the Jedi on their own side, that it was easy to forget what the Jedi were truly meant to do. They were supposed to be diplomats and healers first, warriors second.
The cathar bought something from the woman, which she slipped quickly into a pocket, before giving the woman a final embrace and turning away. She gazed at Carth's smile questioningly, but he shook his head and opened the door for her. "After you, Juhani." She stared at him for another moment, then shrugged, content to take his gesture of approval at face value and stepped into the cooler dark of the hunting lodge.
An ithorian stepped over to them quickly, arms wide in welcome. "Welcome, new faces! Come to test your skill on the endless dunes of Tatooine? Fazza's lodge is the place to arrange it. This world may not have much, but it does have the meanest predators this side of the Galactic Rim. A hunter's paradise."
Juhani nodded. "Yes, I am considering an expedition into the desert. However, as you have seen, I am new to this world. Do you know who I may take to guide me?"
Fazza grinned. "Oh, of course! Any of the hunters here could guide you through the closer wastes. If you wish to go into the deep desert, I'm afraid you'll have to wait until Komad returns from his current expedition, which could be quite some time."
The Jedi nodded. "I see. And may I sell my prizes here?"
"Certainly. I'll need to see your hunting license first, of course, but there should be no problems."
Juhani quirked an eyebrow at him. "Hunting license?"
Fazza's enthusiasm seeped out of him, despite an effort to hide it. "Uh, yes, I'm afraid you do. You need a license from Czerka just to leave the city, and I'm sorry, but I'm not allowed to even look at what you catch until I see that license. Czerka Corp. rules. The other hunters all have theirs, and I can't make exceptions or I'll get shut down."
"I see. Well, it appears I must speak with those at the Czerka office."
"Of course. I keep hunter's hours, which means that we're always open. Good luck to you, hunter." The ithorian bowed as Carth and Juhani walked back out into the desert heat.
"Well," said Carth, "let's hope the others have had better luck than we have."
Bastila and Kyrena were the last to arrive at the meet-up in the local cantina. The place was by far the most crowded in Anchorhead, with off-duty miners escaping their miserable mingling with down-on-their-luck Czerka corporate shills who'd managed to make enough problems, or enough enemies, to get assigned to this miserable little outpost.
"Alright," said Bastila in a low voice as their server left, "let's hear it. Carth and Juhani, you want to go first?"
Carth opened his mouth to speak, but Juhani started first. He rolled his eyes and sat back.
"The local hunters will be willing to guide us, though to there are few that know the deep desert. To leave the city, however, we will need a hunting license from Czerka."
"Unfortunately," added Carth, from the conversations we've overheard here in the cantina, it doesn't sound like getting one will be easy. The settlement is struggling, something about inferior quality of the metal Czerka's busy mining out there, and they're not selling them anymore." He shrugged. "By the sound of it, this place is on the way out."
"That does sound unfortunate, doesn't it Blue?"
Kyrena turned a suspicious eye on the mandalorian, who was doing his best to look concerned. It . . . wasn't a look he was accustomed to. Mission, on the other hand, was the picture of innocence. "You're right, Candy, that could be a real problem. Gosh, I hope it doesn't slow down our mission, don't you?"
Kyrena looked back and forth between them, arms crossed. "Alright Blue and Candy, one of you had better trot it out. What have you two miscreants been up to this time?"
"Wellllll," said Mission slowly, clearly enjoying herself enormously, "we may have heard something about these hunting licenses while in the course of our own duties."
"That's right," nodded Canderous earnestly. "We were doing our own job, of course, and we were confident that the rest of you wouldn't need any help. But then we thought, why not be helpful souls? After all, it was possible our resident Jedi wouldn't be able to solve this trivial little difficulty, right?"
"Oh of course," continued Mission, who was struggling to hold back a grin, "so we thought to ourselves, maybe we can help. And, by pure luck, us poor non-Jedi found one of these just fall into our laps."
She whipped out a thick and official-looking piece of paper with several seals stamped into it.
Bastila crossed her own arms, looking non-plussed. "And exactly how did you two get ahold of that?"
"Well, princess, we may have come to an arrangement with the local Czerka boss."
Bastila's eye twitched, but she kept hold of her composure. "What kind of arrangement, mandalorian?"
He shrugged. "Something about killing some Sand People for them. No biggie."
Bastila's jaw clenched, a reaction mirrored precisely by Juhani. "You promised we would kill people for it?"
Canderous dropped the act and looked her directly in the eye. "No, Jedi, I arranged so that when we have to kill the Sand People who are already planning on attacking us as soon as we set foot in the desert, we get paid for it."
"Everyone, calm down." Neither Canderous nor Bastila looked at Kyrena as she intervened, but they did stop growling at each other. For the moment, at least. Kyrena hurried on before they could really get into it. "Canderous, did you promise we would go looking for Sand People?"
He shook his head. "No. Just that we would kill them if we saw them attacking anyone in the desert."
Kyrena nodded. "Alright, that sounds like we can get around actually hunting anyone, and just defend ourselves. And we're okay with that, right Bastila?" She could feel the hot anger fade inside her bond-partner as she pulled herself back under control. Still, she didn't seem quite prepared to trust herself to speak, so the Jedi Knight simply nodded in acknowledgment.
"Good." Kyrena pushed onward, keeping her tone as businesslike as possible. "Now, what about the swoop?"
Mission spoke up, casting a concerned glance at the mandalorian's anger. "We didn't have much luck there. Even though they have a swoop track here, there are no parts really worth getting for it. Canderous thinks it will probably work to get us out and back, but we wouldn't trust it to go wandering around in it aimlessly. The less we have to use it, the better. "And" she added with frustrated huff, "they didn't have a rocket launcher."
Carth choked on his drink.
"Well for our part," continued Kyrena, shooting Carth a withering look as he was about to speak up, "Bastila and I found some good desert gear for us. But I'm concerned about these Sand People you mentioned. Tells us more about these attacks you heard about . . ."
…
The meeting continued from there more or less peacefully until they broke up to return to the ship. Bastila was walking back with Kyrena, who seemed quieter than usual. She put a hand on her shoulder as they neared the hangar, stopping her. "Kyrena, you seem distracted. What's bothering you?"
Kyrena leaned against the tough duraplast wall, her eyes narrowed in thought. "I'm . . . not sure. Those attacks . . . something about them is bothering me."
Uh oh. Bastila had worked with Kyrena long enough to have a healthy respect for her instincts, especially after getting a more detailed account from Carth of exactly how they'd managed to rescu—to find her on Taris. When something was bothering her about a mission, that mission usually went . . . poorly.
"Perhaps I can help. Talk me through it."
"Well . . ." she paused, considering. "These sand people are, from the sound of it, fairly primitive tribal groups that are mostly just defending their territory. The fact that they haven't come to some sort of arrangement with Czerka, who could probably pay them off with off-world goods worth almost nothing, suggests that there's some sort of religious component to it. Heavens knows that's happened often enough in galactic history. But Canderous mentioned that this Czerka rep said that a single tribe was targeting them, that they had practically declared war on them. That suggests a couple of possibilities."
"They could be agreeing with the other tribes to take point on the resistance in return for something. But that suggests a level of cooperation and agreement between highly territorial, and clearly violent, peoples that seems . . . unlikely. And if it were true, they could probably swamp whatever defenders Czerka put on their sandcrawlers and destroy the whole thing, not satisfy themselves by inflicting a few casualties and then slinking away again."
Kyrena fell silent, tapping her chin thoughtfully for a moment. "Hmm. And another thing. Apparently, almost all of their crawlers have been hit. The desert may seem pretty flat from orbit, but it's actually a mess of ravines, canyons, and good old-fashioned hills. In order to catch all those sandcrawlers that are presumably varying their routes they'd have to have a lot of very good scouts. Either that or . . ." She frowned and glanced up and down the street quickly.
"What?"
Kyrena shook her head. "It's nothing. I think I have an idea, but I'll need to do some checking tomorrow. Come on, let's get back to the ship."
Kyrena walked quietly through the pre-dawn streets. It didn't take her long to reach the cantina, but instead of going in, she moved around to the back. It didn't take long for the door to open and one of the Jawa workers she'd seen yesterday to emerge, dragging a basket of waste behind its tiny form.
"Can I help you, Jawa?"
The creature looked up at her from deep within its deep brown heavy robe. After a long moment of hesitation, it spoke in its barely comprehensible language. "Why would you bother we of Jawa under Iziz? Yours do not care for ours. Do you miss we that are taken? No."
"I wish to know more of your people, uh, Jawa under Iziz."
The Jawa cocked it's head curiously at her. "Is this interest? Not from your kind, though Iziz thinks otherwise. Speak to him if you are acting and pretending."
"Alright. Where is this Iziz?"
"Iziz stands at the walls that hold out the sand. They listen poorly there, too. Your kind hide behind bad ears. Jawas are tired of giant-speak. Might as well slave to the gaffi. So you trade, but what is that if no help is given? Your kind are like that, and Iziz is foolish to think that you are not. We know this. Leave us to the trouble." With that, it grabbed hold of its basket and dragged it past her and around the corner.
Kyrena shrugged, and made her way towards the main gate leading out of Anchorhead. It didn't take long to get there. What she didn't expect, however, was the huge sandcrawler not far form the gate itself. Jawas flowed in and out of it, evidently taking advantage of the cooler early morning air to finish their preparations. There, at the gate, was a Jawa that seemed to be doing a lot more directing that carrying.
She had a theory, or to be honest it was probably closer to a hunch. If the hunters weren't going to be very helpful, that left two real possibilities that might know of this star map. The first was the Sand People, and they were against them. Perhaps had been turned against them. The other was the Jawas. If they were willing to help, then maybe she was just imagining shadows where there were none. If something had happened that prevented them from helping as well, then it started to look a lot less like a coincidence and a lot more like a pattern.
Surprisingly, she didn't have to get the Jawa's attention; it noticed her attention and walked confidently right up to her. "You there, of your kind, can you help Iziz of Jawa? There are troubles from the ghosts among the sands."
"Perhaps, Iziz. Are you the leader here?"
"Iziz, I am. Leader of the tribe that is mine. You are the same in kind, a leader that stands before your tribe?"
She was just as glad none of the others could hear her described in quite that fashion. "Of a sort, Iziz. My . . . tribe is small, but has many skills. Perhaps we can help you, but I need something in return."
"Trade, yes Iziz know trade. Fair trade from Iziz."
"Alright then, Iziz. Tell me of the troubles you face."
The Jawa nodded quickly, its voice eager. "There are troubles that we have. The giants made of sand, they are horned ghosts that take us away."
"The giants of sand . . . are these what my kind call the Sand People?"
The Jawa nodded again. "Yes, yes, that is how you know them. Giants are different for us, we being smaller. People of Sand are who I mean. There has been no help given by asking the great group that digs with machines. Now Iziz asks you. I ask that you find us."
"We'll see, Iziz. In return, I need information. I seek a map of the stars, buried in a cave in the desert."
The Jawa practically bounced from foot to foot. "These are things I know! Yes! From those that came before, the guide to lights far and away!"
"Where is it, Iziz?" Kyrena asked urgently. "Tell me where it is, and I will help find your people."
"Iziz cannot tell, no. Iziz told of guide to lights far and away, told by those that horned ghosts take."
Kyrena frowned thoughtfully. That was not a good sign. The two groups that could have lead them to the map, and both unable to help? Hmm. On the other hand, it made it pretty clear what they needed to do. It seemed that all roads lead to the Sand People.
"Alright, Iziz. I will try to find those of your people taken away by the giants made of sand."
A/N Hey everyone. So I was reading through the last chapter after I uploaded it and realized that I'd actually left a chunk of the chapter out... oops. I'd left something like a quadruple elipsis in the hopes that I would remember to go back and fill it in, but I forgot about it and uploaded it. I've since gone back put that section in, so if you were wondering why the conversation with Carth seems to jump, well, take another look and it should be better now.
As for this chapter, I'm laying the groundwork for a bit of a different approach to this planet. While many bits and pieces of plot are left out altogether (e.g. most of the sideplots on Dantooine) because they're either boring, irrelevant, or both, there are some things on Tatooine that are left out because I'm going to make use of them in a different way later on on this planet. And the Sand People are going to play out a little differently this time around, too. Let me know your predictions and what you liked/didn't like about it! Thanks!
