There were times that he almost ached for Devaron, with its cool rivers interspersing the landscape to create a misty backdrop to the mountains that circled its valleys. This moment – the one which had him stumbling against the hard and burning sand, so hot he felt the skin of his hands scorching even through the gloves he wore – this was the moment that took the cake. And the everlasting pie, too.

Tyresius grumbled as he jerked himself back to his feet, slapping the sand off of his gloves, "Maybe I should've married that banker's daughter when mother insisted on it. But nooooo … I had to go off and prove myself, show them all how damn independent I am. And look what it's won me. A busted up ship buried in a sand bowl under the hottest suns in the galaxy."

Not that his life hadn't been chock full of adventure, he reminded himself. There was something to be said for fooling so many of the craftiest Hutts. Oh, and walking away with so much of the wealth the Corellian Exchange called its own had proven a very satisfying, and lucrative, bit of business. It was riding on the wings of a smuggler's ship as she rained destruction on a Mandalorian blockade, though, that still worked to tantalize Tyresius' fondest dreams.

Other memories, though. Well, those Tyresius tried to forget. The people he'd left behind, the ones he'd loved and betrayed, the friends who now called him an enemy – well, all of that wasn't so sweet to think about. There was that holo message from Zale after he'd walked out on Hylo, the one where he promised, "You ever show your damn face anywhere I can see it, and I'm peeling the red skin off your ass, Tyresius, I swear it." Nothing like watching someone you'd cared about threaten to kill you. Especially when you knew they meant it, he thought.

Hylo never contacted him again, though. There was no message, no angry, bitter threats against his ass or horns or anything else. Just … nothing. And somehow that ended up being so much worse. Even if he did think at first it was better he'd never had to look in her eyes after that. The truth was, though, that he was left understanding the hurt had been that bad, that she refused to let him see it.

He was left to agonize, as the years slid by, with him running and skipping sometimes one step ahead of the hunters, everyone looking for a fabulous piece of the wealth it was said he possessed, wondering endlessly where she was, if she was okay, had they caught her already, were they looking for her. All that, and the worst, too, wondering did she hate him, still.

Well, he decided, snorting as he looked up at the huge expanse of cloudless sky with its two blistering suns skirting the horizon, she should hate him. What else was there for him to expect, anyway?

No. He was all alone, nothing but a stupid engineering droid to keep him company. That and a … was that a monkey-lizard? Tyresius startled, his jaw dropping as he looked at the small dark-red beast hanging from the wing of his ship, a huge clump of wires dangling from its little prehensile paw as it cheerfully chomped on … something … important-looking … that had come from inside the ship's engines. "What the …? Hey, you, monkey-lizard! Knock it off!"

The creature jerked its attention to Tyresius. It spat out a piece of wire-mesh, giggling maniacally. Then it waved at him, before reaching back inside the ship's innards to yank at something else important-looking. Tyresius shouted at the thing, "Get out of there, damn you! MK! Get it!"

The engineering droid he'd commissioned years earlier rushed towards the edge of the starship's left wing, where the monkey-lizard was hanging half-in, half-out of the hatch leading to various engine parts. But it wasn't fast enough. Tyresius watched, horrified, as the small rodent-like creature began laughing as it climbed all the way into the ship's engine to get away from the droid, proceeding to yank, twist, and snarl its way all along the length of the wing.

Tyresius began running along the outside of the ship, banging on the sides to try and frighten the monkey-lizard into jumping out. But all he earned was still more chattering monkey-lizard calls and loud bursts of monkey-lizard laughter. Oh, and ripping sounds as the thing continued demolishing his ship's engine. The only satisfying part of the entire episode came when he heard a sizzle and then a muffled cry of pain coming from the little monster, as something electric in there popped and burned against its little body.

"Hah! Burn, you little scum sucker!" Tyresius cried out, gleefully. The monkey-lizard responded with a wild angry shriek. Then the bangs started. He realized the little beast was beating against the interior of the ship lining. For a moment, he was confused. Then he heard a sheering sound, as the monkey-lizard apparently managed to tear a hole into the actual living quarters of the ship. It shouted out some sort of victorious cry, then.

Tyresius gasped, running for the ramp that lead up into the ship. He activated the door, heard more loud sounds, complete with crashing, some glass breaking, and even fabric ripping. He yelped, running inside the small ship. But something hit him smack in the face just as he was rushing through the airlock into the ship's cargo hold, something wet and mushy. He gagged as it covered his mouth, muffling his choking cry of distress and anger. He felt scalding anger when the sound of yet more monkey-lizard laughter peeled through the air while dripping coolness ran down his face.

He pulled … whatever it was … off his face, dropping it onto the floor at his feet. Then his eyes bugged out. How the hell had the little beast known that was his favorite shirt? The purple one, with the fringed cuffs. The one Zale laughed his butt off to see him wearing during some crazy party back on Nar Shaddaa in much better days past. That little cretin had thrown his favorite shirt at him, after dunking it in what smelled like waster dispenser water down in the refresher!

"I'm going to kill you." Tyresius growled as he reached blindly for a blaster pistol, eyeing the bouncing monkey-lizard balefully. He could feel his skin burning hot with bitter rage, figured if smoke could pour from his ears it would right now. Even his horns felt like they were shaking, he was so enraged.

The monkey-lizard giggled, then, as it rushed towards him. Tyresius shouted, shooting his blaster madly as the little rodent approached. The bolts impacted against the floor of the ship, opening up even more holes across the way. The monkey-lizard laughed as it ran between Tyresius' feet, making its way through the door of the airlock and out of the ship. Tyresius screamed, "Come back here, you fiend! I'm going to shoot you! Like hell, you're getting away!"

He turned and rushed after the creature, emerging from the ship into the heat of the Tatooine day once again. He blinked as he looked around for the monkey-lizard, frantically searching for the thing, only to stop short when he finally spied her standing there.

Her boot was resting smoothly atop the metallic face of his engineering droid, with its body spitting out sparks and smoke from the now numerous blaster bolt holes dotting its surface, as she leaned back against the crate holding the various tools and implements he'd been using to install the stolen engine parts he'd taken from the Lady's compound. For just a moment, he stopped, wondering if he was only imagining the bounty hunter, there.

Then he saw the beast – that little monster of a monkey-lizard! – clambering over the sand to perch happily next to the hunter. She chirped some small sound at the thing, tossing it a piece of rancid meat, which it grabbed quickly and stuffed into its nasty little mouth. Tyresius growled at them both, especially when the hunter smirked over at him.

"All done in by a mere monkey-lizard. Watching you go at it so makes this hunt worth the chapped lips and sunburn." The bounty hunter clucked her tongue, smiling. That little cyborg companion of hers actually laughed outloud. Tyresius felt his cheeks turned even more red, the anger pouring through him. He began to raise his blaster once again. But the hunter stopped smiling all of a sudden, raising one gloved finger that she waved back and forth in his direction.

"Don't. You've been amusing me. Do something stupid, and that'll stop real quick. Piss me off, and I'll make this far more unpleasant than it needs to be." She spoke firmly, her pouty lips pressed firmly closed. Her little friend moved closer, her own blaster already yanked free and held loosely against her side.

"You sent a crazy little rat to wreck my ship!"

"Yep. Figured I'd make it perfectly clear you weren't running any further. So, has the message sunk in yet?"

"I hate you."

She leaned her head to the side, considering him with a somewhat bemused expression. "Why? No personal animosity in me, not for you. I'm just the tool they sent to make you pay for the stupidity you've spread all through the galaxy. Time to pay up, is all."

Tyresius suddenly felt old. And tired. More tired than he'd ever felt in the whole of his life. He felt an intense longing for the misty valleys of his youth. Or at least somewhere far away from where he was right then. Preferably somewhere more cool. He'd have liked to retire somewhere no one had ever heard the name Tyresius Lokei, in fact. Somewhere with mountains and lakes galore. He'd have enjoyed settling in some small cabin next to a lake. He'd go fishing maybe.

Instead, he was going to die, alone and miserable, at the mercy of a smart, audacious hunter. And her fucking monkey-lizard, too. He glared over at the thing, which was still happily munching on a piece of meat he could smell stinking all the way from where he stood.

"We could negotiate, hunter. Everything is negotiable. Come on!"

"You don't have anything I want."

"I have …"

"Tyresius. You're one more step towards victory in the Great Hunt. That's all. Without your head, I can't win. And that's all that I want right now. Do you understand?"

And that's when he finally broke. She told him years later it was a good thing he didn't start crying, because she hated when the targets cried, said, "They always think I'm going to feel sorry for them, or something. Instead, I just feel disgusted. By the time there's a hunter standing over you, you've already screwed up, screwed others - conned, cheated, lied, stolen, killed. I simply hate to see you crying and begging when you've already stupidly taken from so many others already, is all."

But Tyresius Lokei didn't cry. Not with tearful words of mercy. No more offers of credits and jewels he no longer held. He just looked at her, broken, and he begged her.

For a job.

"You didn't have to shoot me!"

Kastiel snorted at her newest crew member. "I told the Mandalorians I'd shoot you. You were shot. That pretty scar, there, will remind you I can shoot you again if need be."

He scowled, pointing at the crate resting on the trolley he was hauling behind his speeder. "You only needed to shoot him!" The dead body of his duplicate was inside the crate. He found it particularly morbid the hunter had made him manhandle it all the way back to Mos Illa.

"I shot him, too."

"Did the word 'only' escape your notice?"

Mako laughed. "Not much escapes her notice, actually. You may want to keep that in mind."

"Hey, I fixed you, didn't I?" Kas pointed towards his hip, where his belt had been pieced back together using twine salvaged from his now-abandoned starship. At least the thing still held his pants up. That way, no one could see the red mark of the wound where Kastiel had easily shot him right across the ass. There was something humiliating about knowing both of the blasted women he was trailing now had actually seen him with his ass pointed to the air, while the one who shot him worked at repairing the damage.

"I thought you were going to kill me!"

"Nope. I killed Tyresius Lokei." Kastiel leaned forward, suddenly intent as she looked at him. "I gave you a scar so you'd always remember he should stay dead, Gault Rennow."

The Devaronian idly scratched his ass, feeling the skin pulling against the edges of the healing wound. "All right, all right. That's my cue to stay out of trouble, huh? I hear ya." Gault shook his head, glancing around at the various characters making their way through the sand-strewn streets of Mos Illa. He yanked on the trolley again, trying to ignore the thing he was pulling along. He wondered if she was trying to teach him something by making him do the work of transporting his own sort of dead self. She didn't seem to be overly upset as she went along, though, even if passerby looked away as she walked by with such a grisly burden.

Then again, she was a bounty hunter. Hauling a dead body into the spaceport seemed pretty much par for the course when it came to bounty hunting, he supposed. Not that he imagined her to be overly typical a bounty hunter, either. Kastiel Blade was sharp as a whip, quick to use whatever resource she had at her disposal, obviously. "Damn monkey-lizard," he muttered. Although such motions displayed a pretty amazing level of tactical appreciation, an ability to size up an opponent, a potential battlefield, and then manuever them best towards their ultimate defeat. And her work on his ass earlier proved she was pretty deft when it came to battlefield medicine, too.

She wasn't bad on the eyes, either. Which is how he explained his willing and utterly satisfying appraisal of the curves of her backside as she moved along in front of him. Her armor circled her thighs, with a single plate that descended from her breastplate to cover her groin area. But that left her ass clearly outlined by the snug fit of her pants. Actually, Gault thought, she had quite a few truly impressive curves. Her breasts, for instance. Her armor covered her chest in hard mandalorian iron, with tones of green and brown etching across it. But even that much iron wasn't able to hide the generous size and shape of her breasts.

If he were any other fellow, he might be tempted to see what she looked like with all that armor stripped off and tossed aside. Actually, he admitted, he wouldn't really mind seeing what she looked like buck-naked, even being the newly-named Gault Rennow. He was never a man anyone would call a prude, after all. Nor one of those religious zealots who disdained a good, healthy bout of sex every now and then, either.

But Gault sensed the truth of things in regards his pretty bounty hunter killer-turned-employer. Mostly because she didn't look back at him, he mentally shrugged. Maybe she was married, he pondered. But it was more than that, too. It was a feeling he had, that, for him, Kastiel would always be more of a Zale Barrows than a Hylo Vysz. And let's face it, Gault thought. There was never going to be a replacement for Hylo, not for him. Zale? Maybe. Kastiel was someone he'd rather have as a friend than a lover, is all.

Still, he enjoyed watching her ass as she walked along in front of him. He caught sight of the little cyborg female, then. She was called Mako, he remembered. Oh, and she was shaking her head at him. He shrugged at her, "What? Can't I just look?"

Kas didn't even look back around at the two of them. Three, if you counted the genetically-engineered duplicate made very much dead that Gault was pulling behind him. "Look at what?" She asked.

Mako smiled at Gault. "You can look all you want. It's the closest you're going to get."

"Hey, don't think I can't get it, if I really wanted it. Most people end up liking me, trust me. I have a very natural charm. You may have seen some of it in action, in fact." Gault's voice was like syrup, and Mako actually chuckled.

"I'm just saying you're not her type."

"Oh? Is it a he's-an-ugly-red-alien-with-horns sort of thing?"

Mako frowned, but Kastiel stopped and looked back then. "You've got to admit, Gault. Your nose is really really pointed. So's your chin. And you've got no hair. The horns hardly make up for it."

"You're breaking my heart, dear lady, believe me."

Kastiel laughed at him, then. He watched the way her humor enlivened her dark eyes, made them glimmer, even. Almost like looking at gems that're pulled free from rich brown soil, he thought. "I think your heart was long since broken. And not by me. Ply your charms on some other female, okay? I'll sick Quinnie on you if you keep looking at my ass."

Gault shuddered, looking over at the monkey-lizard currently engaged in stealing what appeared to be a piece of jerked dewback meat from one of the vendors who's table was set up just outside the spaceport. "Shoot me again, first, please. Not sure I'm ever going to forgive that beast."

Mako chuckled. "Quinnie does seem to enjoy tormenting those of the male persuasion, huh, Kas?"

Kastiel considered, lowering her chin as she watched her monkey-lizard running back towards her with a piece of meat clutched in its paws with a burly vendor chasing after it. She waved her hand towards the harassed fellow yelling at her pet, chuckling when he stopped at the sight of her armored appearance, complete with her blasters tucked against her side. He stood there, though, glaring at the monkey-lizard, who sat down and began to eat the meat it had stolen. "I bet he's just twisted enough a creature, to enjoy how easily upset so many men really are."

Gault's lips twitched as he tried not to laugh, which proved difficult, since Mako was laughing herself silly. He sighed, instead, "You call what that animal does to men easy? Although it does seem a bit funnier when it's someone else on the receiving end, now that I think on it." He watched as Kas stepped forward to offer the agitated vendor a bit of payment for the trouble he'd endured.

Gault and Mako continued moving through the doors of the spaceport, listening to Kas as she reprimanded the monkey-lizard even as she walked along behind them. Mako turned to say something to Kas, so that her back was to the doorway. She was short enough the Sith probably never really saw her before he plowed right into her back, sending her stumbling forward. Mako only just saved herself from tumbling into the sand on her hands and knees, spinning around to glare at whoever had pushed her, instead and huffing out, "Hey!"

The dark red skin of the Pureblood's face pulled taut as he leaned forward, glaring right back at her. "You were in my way," he intoned, his voice laden with that damn power so many Sith seemed inclined to display openly. Gault gulped, certain he was going to see the little cyborg burned to a crisp by some sort of flaming attack. Electricity, maybe. Something bad, anyway.

Gault tried saving the situation. "Well, no harm done. Was good to bump into you. Huh, Mako? Right, Mako? Mako?"

Mako crossed her arms across her small chest. "Maybe you should've been watching where you were going."

The Sith Lord was actually surprised. He reared back only a bit, his narrow, deepset red eyes flaring as he regarded the tiny female. "You're a rather bold creature, I see. You do realize I could destroy you as easily as step on a bug, do you not?"

Mako shrugged. "There are a great many bugs that can provide even a Sith a nasty sting. Try it."

The Sith smiled, then, his thin lips quirking into a twisted shape. "Indeed. I apologize, little bug, for not considering your small form in my path before I stepped on you."

Mako grinned. "I'll actually take that apology in the spirit it was offered. And welcome to the sandpit of the galaxy - Tatooine."

"Thank you. Is this place your home, then?"

"Hell, no! Can't get off this planet fast enough. Right, Kas?"

The Sith looked over, watching as the bounty hunter stepped closer to her people. That explained the corpse, he thought, glancing at the box the Devaronian was pulling only briefly before regarding the hunter who'd apparently taken her target. She was … familiar. He ghosted his gaze across her features, considering, reaching out through the Force. He saw her lips press tight, knew she only vaguely sensed his force abilities at work and that she didn't like it, that she was hiding something from him. A strong will, he thought. A warrior. And a dangerous one. He was impressed.

"Bounty hunter. And a successful one at that. It's an honor to meet a worthy warrior here on this rather remote world." He inclined his head, respectfully, in a gesture that surprised them all. "I am Lord Praven."

She grunted. "Kastiel Blade. You're stepping on my crew in a hurry to get onto this dustbowl of a world. What's the rush?" She subtly gestured, and Mako fell behind her smoothly. Gault grunted, leaning his hip against the cart so that his hands were free to grab at his weapon, a rifle, that he'd slung across his back. Praven watched the smooth motion of the process with an assessing gaze, before making a small sound that sounded approving.

"I come seeking revenge. Your business on this world is concluded, I take it," Praven waved a beefy red hand towards the crate containing the not-so-lamented Tyresius Lokei. Kastiel shrugged.

"Would that be a good thing, do you think?"

"It would."

"Then it would be best if you stopped knocking my people on their backsides so we could move ourselves along."

Lord Praven inclined his head, his lips twitching once again. "Apologies, of course. The best of luck in your future endeavors."

"Same."

Kastiel watched as the Sith Pureblood almost flowed around her little party, moving out of the doorway into the heated light of the Tatooine day. She noticed that her monkey-lizard made no motion or sound that might antagonize the Sith, just staying quiet next to the cart as the Sith walked away. He didn't even throw something at the man, a real record where the monkey-lizard was concerned. Ah, self-preservation at work, she thought, biting her lip to keep from laughing. Then she glanced at Mako, one of her dark eyebrows arched high.

"You have a real habit of knocking yourself into Sith, Mako. I may have to start listing that as one of your innate talents. Sith beacon! I'll toss you out there and they come walking into you!"

Gault followed them as they continued moving into the spaceport, grumbling, "That's a damn curse, is what that is. Damn Sith could've sliced my horns off. Or worse. Doomed is what I am. Following after crazies on a doomed, cursed course, is all. She was right. I am stupid."