Chapter 2
Grall sat in the darkened hut, he knew any light could be see for many, many kilometers in this barren wasteland of a planet. One could never know if a flight of TIE fighters or a imperial cargo shuttle would fly near by. He sat silently looking out over the dark, desolate sand dunes trying to remember where his fathers ship settled into the ground. Nine cycles had passed since he was here last, he knew the desert had swallowed it. But how much, was it only a few centimeters deep? Or was it many meters deep?
He was ready before dawn, the first sun had only begun to shed it's light when he began to search for the remains of his fathers freighter. With scanning equipment in hand he began the daunting task. Tatoonie with it's shifting sands could bury anything within hours. After nine cycles, this would not be easy for Grall. Both suns were at their highest point before he found the ship, his search was over.
It would take him until nightfall before he would find the hatch to get into the vessel. The foreboding darkness greeted him as he entered, he closed the hatch behind him before turning on any light. The ship looked as if it were dead. The hull breaches were obvious, sand had flooded in, even through the smallest crack. Grall had seen where he and his father had slept, ate and entertained themselves on the long freighter journeys they had done before the empire had come into it's full power.
He walked back into the cargo hold, everything had stayed intact during the last few moments of flight. Grall reached and pressed the one of the hatches, with a dull "swoosh" the hatch opened. Imperial credits spilled out onto the deck. Grall was in awe. Never before had he seen so many credits, thousands upon millions. He continued to look through each of the six meter long, one meter high, one meter deep cargo holds. Blasters, armor, credits, and rations.
Now for the more challenging task of doing a systems check. First was the engines, the room opened up to damaged shattered pieces of debris. There would be no salvaging of engines from this ship. He made his way forward to the cockpit. He climbed in the seat from where his father commanded this once mighty vessel. The seat molded around his body, a comfort he had long forgotten. The ship breathed in a sick, almost dying gasp as the systems came on-line. Very few systems had come up to levels needed to perform even the smallest task. Grall wondered how his father actually managed to save himself and the ship from total destruction. While doing a more through check of the systems, he noticed the landing engines had come up to thirty-seven percent power. Grall tried to push the ship forward from it's sandy grave, but to no avail.
Grall jumped from the command seat, running for the hatch to try to hurry before daybreak to move the sand burying the ship. When he opened the door he was surprised to see the daylight already striking the top of the mountain five thousand meters away. Grall was shocked had he actually spent that much time in here, a full night? Deciding it would be better to stay with the ship so not to loose it he stayed. He grabbed a ration from the cargo area, and quickly ate it be fore he made it to the crew quarters. Grall laid down in his old bunk thought of the good times he once had here, and quickly fell asleep.