On the hot and hostile desert planet of Tatooine lives a species that has
never been understood. They are nomadic and travel across the great dune
seas in search of food, water and supplies. This group of people is called
many things by the other natives of Tatooine but is primarily known as
Tusken Raiders or Sand people.
These Sand people try and keep to themselves but often times they DO raid moisture farms along the deserts edge. The raids usual end in the deaths of the farmers and throughout the centuries on the desert planet the Tusken have earned the respect and fear of their neighbors.
Though events are occurring now that will change the course of the future for one of the younger clansmen in his tribe. It is a dark time and only through his courage and knowledge of the Force will his people survive.
Chapter 1
Kanton stood on the edge of the cliff watching the two suns of Tatooine set. He was different then the other men his age, and the elders knew it. He had that special leadership skill that came to only a few. Today was the peak of his life as a Tusken Raider. He had just entered manhood and his first task to truly become man was to spend one entire night on the summit of Skelpters Mountain, with just a gaffi stick. The elders, of his tribe, told daunting stories about the mountain, that monsters lived there and that they fed on Tusken Raiders. So far, the worst thing he saw was a few wild banthas.
He was watching the sky when it happened. It was quick; before he knew it he was sprawled across the ground unconscious.
He slowly opened his eyes, in a drunken matter. The first thing he noticed was the sky was dark. He looked behind him and saw a fellow Tusken rummaging threw a pile of rocks. It was Tantos, the all-time bully of their tribe, also the sworn rival of Kanton. " What are you doing here Tantos?" Kanton asked. Tantos's day on the mountain was in a week. He was supposed to be training for it. Why would he waste his time coming here, thought Kanton.
"I've had it with you, Kanton." Tantos whispered." I'm tired of you always being in my way. Without you, they will come to me to be the new tribal leader, because there won't be any other qualified nominees."
"What are you going to do?"
"Hehehe, simply get you out of my way. How does this sound? I come up here to check on you, only to find you being eaten by a 'monster'." Said Tantos. He picked up a rock and threw it at Kanton. Kanton jumped to the side, the rock missing him by inches. It rammed into the wall of the mountain and fell to the ground. Instantaneously, the mountainside started to fracture and a group of rocks fell off. In the center of the rocks was a little satchel. Kanton walked over and grabbed the satchel and opened it. He pulled out a metal cylinder handle.
It was covered in buttons of all shapes. He looked at the buttons, trying to figure which button to push first. He came to the conclusion that the largest button was the central one. He pushed it. Abruptly, the blade of a sword came out. But it wasn't like a sword at all. Swords were made of metal; this was made of energy. It was a green energy blade. He waved it around listening to the sizzling sounds it made. He brought it down on a portion of rock. It cut right through!
"Unbelievable." He whispered to himself. He started cutting more rocks. The blade could split rock!
Tantos walked forward and grabbed the satchel and pulled out similar device." Give me one!" He yelled. He turned it on. This one was different to the other one; it had a blue blade rather then a green one.
" Whom needs a gaffi stick when they have this?" he laughed. He turned back to Kanton. "This is just the tool to kill you!" He ran at Kanton with his blade swinging in every direction. Only once did his blade get near to touching Kanton, but Kanton blocked it and kicked Tantos in the stomach, knocking him to the ground.
Tantos got up and looked Kanton straight in the eye. He ran at Kanton again screaming. Both their blades met many times each clash close to frying one of their faces.
Tantos grabbed a rock and threw it at Kanton, "Dodge that." Kanton watched as the rock came flying toward him. Not knowing what to do he cut the rock in half with his blade." Why won't you just die?" howled Tantos.
" It is because I am destined to be our leader. The elders have foreseen it. You will never be leader. I won't let you."
That infuriated Tantos to the point of destruction. He ran at Kanton with his blade pointed at him. Right before the blade would hit Kanton's skin he swiftly moved to the left. Sadly, Tantos was going too fast to stop, and he flew off the cliff.
"Nooooo!" Screamed Kanton. Even though Tantos tried to kill him, he felt he still didn't deserve that death.
Tantos screamed at the top of his lungs: wailing his arms and legs in every direction until he hit the bottom on his back. He died on impact.
Now Kanton had to keep an eye out for Tantos's friends who would no doubt try to get vengeance on Tantos's death, if they found out. But now Kanton had a new weapon; this energy blade. He had to leave without delay for his tribe. To tell everyone Tantos was dead and to show the elders this new weapon he found in the stone. As he descended the mountain he saw the other sword. It was smashed into pieces. Obviously Tantos dropped it when he fell.
He grabbed all of the remains and placed them in his pouch slung on his shoulder. Maybe he could repair it with a little help from his brother, Kakerot, who specialized in fixing the odd and bizarre.
When he finally got to the ground he looked to his left to see Tantos's blood-spattered carcass being eaten away by small bugs and lizards. Kanton scared the little creatures away. He had to do something for Tantos. Then he knew what to do. He pulled his blade from his pouch and cut pieces of rock. He covered the corpse in stones and rocks and just walked away.
He had to walk 6 miles to get out of the mountain range where his bantha waited for him. On his way to the bantha he started to envision what to tell the elders about Tantos. He didn't want to tell them the real story. He didn't want them to think that Tantos was pure evil. Following many hours of thoughts on the subject Kanton decided to tell them that Tantos brought him food and got killed in an avalanche of stones. But would they believe it? They knew Tantos despised Kanton and would never bring him food.
Finally he got to his bantha, but he was getting thirsty. It was only two more miles to his tribe. Hopefully they would have a meal ready for him when he got back.
When he got back everything looked the same as it did when he left just the day before. He walked through town to the last tent. This was the prevalent tent in the tribe. It held the elders in it. As he walked to the opening he was blocked by one of the guards of the elders. He looked at Kanton and said, " Welcome back Kanton, it is good to see you still alive. The elders are busy at the moment with visitors. You cannot go in."
" Visitors? When was the last time we had visitors? I don't remember every seeing any."
The guard did not loosen his grip on Kanton's shoulder. " Never. That is why you cannot disturb them."
"This is more important." As Kanton said that he ran into the tent leaving the guard outside.
Inside he saw the four elders: Tanok, Judak, Ramuk, and Talen. Talking to them seemed to be two humans, a pilot and a jedi. Talen looked at Kanton and nodded.
" Hello Kanton. Good to see you."
There was udder silence for what seemed like hours. But Judak broke the silence by saying, " What is on your mind Kanton?" Right then Kanton knew he had to tell them the truth about Tantos's death.
" While I was on the summit Tantos attacked me and tried to kill me, but he lost his life in the attack. He fell off the mountain trying to kill me with these energy swords we found."
The reaction he got from the elders was unexpected. They remained calm as if nothing happened. "How do we know you didn't kill him?" asked Tanok. Tanok was Tantos's father and would no doubt believe nothing Kanton would say.
This time it was the Jedi who spoke. " He is telling the truth. But tell me Kanton about these energy swords."
Kanton opened his pouch and pulled out the sword. " It looks like just a handle until u push the button and it turns on. Kanton turned on the energy sword. The green blade sizzled in the air.
"It's a lightsaber."
All the Tusken Raiders in the room were confused. " A what?" asked Talen.
"A lightsaber, a Jedi's weapon. Tell me Kanton, where did you find this?"
Kanton was happy he was in the conversation now. " Inside the rocks on the mountain. There were two of them. Tantos grabbed the other one and attacked me with it. We fought and when he fell he dropped it and it landed on the ground smashed. I have it in my pouch."
"I guess we found our temple," said Dash Rendar, the pilot. He walked out the entrance and to his ship.
" What mountain is this?" Asked the Jedi eagerly.
" Skelpters Mountain." Responded Kanton.
" Thank you. If you need us, we will be at Skelpters Mountain." Said the Jedi. He too then left. Leaving Just Kanton and the elders.
" Well Kanton, show us this lightsaber you speak of." Said Ramuk. Kanton pulled out the lightsaber and activated it and waved the green blade in front of the elders." Incredible." Mumbled Ramuk.
" Kanton, if you haven't heard yet, we are leaving the planet." Said Judak.
" We are? How? Why?"
"Yes we are. We have stumbled upon two Dreadnaughts and a few small fighters. We feel it is time for us to progress to other planets."
Kanton started to walk out the door and then turned around, " Why?"
"Each day we lose a tribe member to one of the predators of the desert, including the Imperials. Just recently we got a report from a spy that the Admiral is planning an extermination of our species."
Kanton just stood there imagining storm troopers invading their village blasters blazing, killing innocent souls everywhere, and no one ready to fight." We need to fight back. Surely if all the tribes came together we could beat this Admiral's forces. We could get help from this Jedi and his pilot."
"We are already summoning all the other tribes. We are planning a defense to get us off the planet. I would advise you to go pack up. We are moving to a safer place."
Kanton walked out the door and toward his family's tent. He walked past many tents with parents packing stuff away in sachets and kids talking to friends about moving. Some families were already packed and taking down their tents. He looked at his and saw that it was all ready down and his possessions were packed. He was about to yell something to his brother, who was looking at something in his hand, until two Tusken grabbed him and threw him up against a large rock behind a tent. They were the friends of Tantos's friends. There names where Renton and Dalton. Renton grabbed Kanton's bag and threw it to the side while Dalton punched Kanton across the face. Kanton tried to fight back by kicking Renton straight in the face, but it only inspired Dalton to punch him again across the face.
"We heard what you did to Tantos. You're a murderer! You killed him with your bare hands you beast!" Screamed Renton. He then pulled back his hand to punch Kanton when his fist was grabbed by another hand. Renton turned around to see the large body of Kakerot, Kanton's brother.
" Let's play fair, shall we?" With those words Renton turned around to face Kakerot, only to meet his fist. With Renton downed it left two versus one. Dalton jolted the other way and ran as far as he could back to the village.
"Thanks Kakerot." Said the recovered Kanton. They both hugged and went back to their tent, leaving Renton on the ground holding his swollen cheek.
***
"What makes you assume this?" asked the Admiral.
"All the tribes have united sir."
"Hmm, possibly a spy?"
"That is what I am thinking sir."
Ushner thought to himself, Should it be harder to kill them all together? Probably not, I can kill them all at once. He smiled. His life was finally going the right way for once.
These Sand people try and keep to themselves but often times they DO raid moisture farms along the deserts edge. The raids usual end in the deaths of the farmers and throughout the centuries on the desert planet the Tusken have earned the respect and fear of their neighbors.
Though events are occurring now that will change the course of the future for one of the younger clansmen in his tribe. It is a dark time and only through his courage and knowledge of the Force will his people survive.
Chapter 1
Kanton stood on the edge of the cliff watching the two suns of Tatooine set. He was different then the other men his age, and the elders knew it. He had that special leadership skill that came to only a few. Today was the peak of his life as a Tusken Raider. He had just entered manhood and his first task to truly become man was to spend one entire night on the summit of Skelpters Mountain, with just a gaffi stick. The elders, of his tribe, told daunting stories about the mountain, that monsters lived there and that they fed on Tusken Raiders. So far, the worst thing he saw was a few wild banthas.
He was watching the sky when it happened. It was quick; before he knew it he was sprawled across the ground unconscious.
He slowly opened his eyes, in a drunken matter. The first thing he noticed was the sky was dark. He looked behind him and saw a fellow Tusken rummaging threw a pile of rocks. It was Tantos, the all-time bully of their tribe, also the sworn rival of Kanton. " What are you doing here Tantos?" Kanton asked. Tantos's day on the mountain was in a week. He was supposed to be training for it. Why would he waste his time coming here, thought Kanton.
"I've had it with you, Kanton." Tantos whispered." I'm tired of you always being in my way. Without you, they will come to me to be the new tribal leader, because there won't be any other qualified nominees."
"What are you going to do?"
"Hehehe, simply get you out of my way. How does this sound? I come up here to check on you, only to find you being eaten by a 'monster'." Said Tantos. He picked up a rock and threw it at Kanton. Kanton jumped to the side, the rock missing him by inches. It rammed into the wall of the mountain and fell to the ground. Instantaneously, the mountainside started to fracture and a group of rocks fell off. In the center of the rocks was a little satchel. Kanton walked over and grabbed the satchel and opened it. He pulled out a metal cylinder handle.
It was covered in buttons of all shapes. He looked at the buttons, trying to figure which button to push first. He came to the conclusion that the largest button was the central one. He pushed it. Abruptly, the blade of a sword came out. But it wasn't like a sword at all. Swords were made of metal; this was made of energy. It was a green energy blade. He waved it around listening to the sizzling sounds it made. He brought it down on a portion of rock. It cut right through!
"Unbelievable." He whispered to himself. He started cutting more rocks. The blade could split rock!
Tantos walked forward and grabbed the satchel and pulled out similar device." Give me one!" He yelled. He turned it on. This one was different to the other one; it had a blue blade rather then a green one.
" Whom needs a gaffi stick when they have this?" he laughed. He turned back to Kanton. "This is just the tool to kill you!" He ran at Kanton with his blade swinging in every direction. Only once did his blade get near to touching Kanton, but Kanton blocked it and kicked Tantos in the stomach, knocking him to the ground.
Tantos got up and looked Kanton straight in the eye. He ran at Kanton again screaming. Both their blades met many times each clash close to frying one of their faces.
Tantos grabbed a rock and threw it at Kanton, "Dodge that." Kanton watched as the rock came flying toward him. Not knowing what to do he cut the rock in half with his blade." Why won't you just die?" howled Tantos.
" It is because I am destined to be our leader. The elders have foreseen it. You will never be leader. I won't let you."
That infuriated Tantos to the point of destruction. He ran at Kanton with his blade pointed at him. Right before the blade would hit Kanton's skin he swiftly moved to the left. Sadly, Tantos was going too fast to stop, and he flew off the cliff.
"Nooooo!" Screamed Kanton. Even though Tantos tried to kill him, he felt he still didn't deserve that death.
Tantos screamed at the top of his lungs: wailing his arms and legs in every direction until he hit the bottom on his back. He died on impact.
Now Kanton had to keep an eye out for Tantos's friends who would no doubt try to get vengeance on Tantos's death, if they found out. But now Kanton had a new weapon; this energy blade. He had to leave without delay for his tribe. To tell everyone Tantos was dead and to show the elders this new weapon he found in the stone. As he descended the mountain he saw the other sword. It was smashed into pieces. Obviously Tantos dropped it when he fell.
He grabbed all of the remains and placed them in his pouch slung on his shoulder. Maybe he could repair it with a little help from his brother, Kakerot, who specialized in fixing the odd and bizarre.
When he finally got to the ground he looked to his left to see Tantos's blood-spattered carcass being eaten away by small bugs and lizards. Kanton scared the little creatures away. He had to do something for Tantos. Then he knew what to do. He pulled his blade from his pouch and cut pieces of rock. He covered the corpse in stones and rocks and just walked away.
He had to walk 6 miles to get out of the mountain range where his bantha waited for him. On his way to the bantha he started to envision what to tell the elders about Tantos. He didn't want to tell them the real story. He didn't want them to think that Tantos was pure evil. Following many hours of thoughts on the subject Kanton decided to tell them that Tantos brought him food and got killed in an avalanche of stones. But would they believe it? They knew Tantos despised Kanton and would never bring him food.
Finally he got to his bantha, but he was getting thirsty. It was only two more miles to his tribe. Hopefully they would have a meal ready for him when he got back.
When he got back everything looked the same as it did when he left just the day before. He walked through town to the last tent. This was the prevalent tent in the tribe. It held the elders in it. As he walked to the opening he was blocked by one of the guards of the elders. He looked at Kanton and said, " Welcome back Kanton, it is good to see you still alive. The elders are busy at the moment with visitors. You cannot go in."
" Visitors? When was the last time we had visitors? I don't remember every seeing any."
The guard did not loosen his grip on Kanton's shoulder. " Never. That is why you cannot disturb them."
"This is more important." As Kanton said that he ran into the tent leaving the guard outside.
Inside he saw the four elders: Tanok, Judak, Ramuk, and Talen. Talking to them seemed to be two humans, a pilot and a jedi. Talen looked at Kanton and nodded.
" Hello Kanton. Good to see you."
There was udder silence for what seemed like hours. But Judak broke the silence by saying, " What is on your mind Kanton?" Right then Kanton knew he had to tell them the truth about Tantos's death.
" While I was on the summit Tantos attacked me and tried to kill me, but he lost his life in the attack. He fell off the mountain trying to kill me with these energy swords we found."
The reaction he got from the elders was unexpected. They remained calm as if nothing happened. "How do we know you didn't kill him?" asked Tanok. Tanok was Tantos's father and would no doubt believe nothing Kanton would say.
This time it was the Jedi who spoke. " He is telling the truth. But tell me Kanton about these energy swords."
Kanton opened his pouch and pulled out the sword. " It looks like just a handle until u push the button and it turns on. Kanton turned on the energy sword. The green blade sizzled in the air.
"It's a lightsaber."
All the Tusken Raiders in the room were confused. " A what?" asked Talen.
"A lightsaber, a Jedi's weapon. Tell me Kanton, where did you find this?"
Kanton was happy he was in the conversation now. " Inside the rocks on the mountain. There were two of them. Tantos grabbed the other one and attacked me with it. We fought and when he fell he dropped it and it landed on the ground smashed. I have it in my pouch."
"I guess we found our temple," said Dash Rendar, the pilot. He walked out the entrance and to his ship.
" What mountain is this?" Asked the Jedi eagerly.
" Skelpters Mountain." Responded Kanton.
" Thank you. If you need us, we will be at Skelpters Mountain." Said the Jedi. He too then left. Leaving Just Kanton and the elders.
" Well Kanton, show us this lightsaber you speak of." Said Ramuk. Kanton pulled out the lightsaber and activated it and waved the green blade in front of the elders." Incredible." Mumbled Ramuk.
" Kanton, if you haven't heard yet, we are leaving the planet." Said Judak.
" We are? How? Why?"
"Yes we are. We have stumbled upon two Dreadnaughts and a few small fighters. We feel it is time for us to progress to other planets."
Kanton started to walk out the door and then turned around, " Why?"
"Each day we lose a tribe member to one of the predators of the desert, including the Imperials. Just recently we got a report from a spy that the Admiral is planning an extermination of our species."
Kanton just stood there imagining storm troopers invading their village blasters blazing, killing innocent souls everywhere, and no one ready to fight." We need to fight back. Surely if all the tribes came together we could beat this Admiral's forces. We could get help from this Jedi and his pilot."
"We are already summoning all the other tribes. We are planning a defense to get us off the planet. I would advise you to go pack up. We are moving to a safer place."
Kanton walked out the door and toward his family's tent. He walked past many tents with parents packing stuff away in sachets and kids talking to friends about moving. Some families were already packed and taking down their tents. He looked at his and saw that it was all ready down and his possessions were packed. He was about to yell something to his brother, who was looking at something in his hand, until two Tusken grabbed him and threw him up against a large rock behind a tent. They were the friends of Tantos's friends. There names where Renton and Dalton. Renton grabbed Kanton's bag and threw it to the side while Dalton punched Kanton across the face. Kanton tried to fight back by kicking Renton straight in the face, but it only inspired Dalton to punch him again across the face.
"We heard what you did to Tantos. You're a murderer! You killed him with your bare hands you beast!" Screamed Renton. He then pulled back his hand to punch Kanton when his fist was grabbed by another hand. Renton turned around to see the large body of Kakerot, Kanton's brother.
" Let's play fair, shall we?" With those words Renton turned around to face Kakerot, only to meet his fist. With Renton downed it left two versus one. Dalton jolted the other way and ran as far as he could back to the village.
"Thanks Kakerot." Said the recovered Kanton. They both hugged and went back to their tent, leaving Renton on the ground holding his swollen cheek.
***
"What makes you assume this?" asked the Admiral.
"All the tribes have united sir."
"Hmm, possibly a spy?"
"That is what I am thinking sir."
Ushner thought to himself, Should it be harder to kill them all together? Probably not, I can kill them all at once. He smiled. His life was finally going the right way for once.