The air was lurid amber beyond the ship's ramp. A cacophony of howling wind whipped by, made visible by the trillions of particles floating on it. As soon as she cleared the shelter created by the ship's walls, the storm hit her full in the face. The force of it was unbelievable. It snatched the breath from her and caused her to lose her footing. Grit filled her mouth, choking her. Sabe yanked the sash from her waist and secured it tightly around her mouth and nose. 100 yards away she saw a blue flare. Drawing her blaster and tucking her blade in her waistband, she sprinted toward it. Her calves ached as her feet sunk in sand.
It was Obi-Wan's lightsaber, and he was fighting a creature straight out of her nightmares. It was impossible to decide whether to call it human or not, because it was bound from head to foot in tattered rags that nearly matched the dust blowing around it, with only eye protectors and a respirator poking through on its face. It wielded a vicious four-bladed club that it swung with deadly earnest. And it wasn't alone. Dimly through the sand she saw Captain Panaka and three crewmembers fighting similar creatures. Ahead of them was a dune, and down the face of it rode four more warriors. Sabe could hear the distant sound of rifle fire from the top of the dune.
Obi-Wan and Captain Panaka appeared to be holding their own. But the crewmembers looked overwhelmed. Sabe aimed carefully as soon as the crewmen ducked a club swing again. She got a clear shot and one of the creatures threw his club in the air as he sprawled on his back. She fired again and missed, cursing the distance, the storm, and her own unimpressive skills with a blaster.
She spotted a large rock embedded in the sand near to where the crewmen were. They seemed to be doing better against two of the raiders, but the gunner was bedeviling them with precise shots. Eyeing the top of the dune where the rifle shots seemed to be coming from, Sabe made a break for it, attempting to remain low to the ground and throwing her arm across her face to shield her eyes. She skidded into the cover of the rock as a rifle shot whizzed over her head, striking the side of the ship with a ping. Steadying her blaster across her forearm, she squinted against the sand. At the very top of the dune she could just make out a dark shape. The gunner was in her sites. She fired, but it was impossible to tell whether she'd hit him or not. Still, the gunshots stopped. She turned her attention back to the creatures the crewman fought, finally hitting one in the arm.
Suddenly a body skidded down into the sand beside her, landing next to her with a thud. Sabe started, swinging her blaster around. Eirtae's belligerent blue eyes glowered at her above a makeshift kerchief mask. She lowered her blaster.
"What are they?" Eirtae shouted above the din.
"I don't know!" Sabe shouted back.
Eirtae raised her blaster and bent to aim down its barrel. Where Sabe's aiming had been haphazard, Eirtae's shots were straight and true. The raiders staggered back from the men, one shot in the mid-thigh, the other smoking from a wound in its upper arm.
Sabe half-laughed, impressed. "Nice shooting."
Eirtae sent her a withering glare and fired more shots at the riders coming down the dune. "Did you have a plan or did you just figure on winging it?"
Sabe winced. "The plan was to shoot until there weren't any more," she admitted, and concentrated her fire on the riders coming down the dune.
But the riders had come to the bottom of the dune and were picking up speed on more level ground. They had spotted Eirtae and Sabe behind the rock and were getting uncomfortably close now – close enough to ride right over them. Sabe and Eirtae fired almost continuously, but the riders' animals seemed to dance right over the beams. They were only twenty feet away now. The raider in front gave an unearthly howl, raising his club high. Sabe and Eirtae shrank back.
Suddenly a cloaked figure somersaulted over them, landing in front of the rock. Neither had noticed Obi-Wan coming up from behind. As the rider let his club fall, he caught it with the blade of his lightsaber, shattering it to splinters. Swinging back, he caught the rider in his upper arm, and the creature fell from his animal with a cry. The other three raiders turned their mounts to avoid him. The fallen rider lunged at Obi-Wan again with a short-bladed knife. Obi-Wan ducked, and then cut its legs from under it. The creature sprawled and howled on its back in the dirt.
"Get back to the ship!" Obi-Wan shouted over his shoulder.
Eirtae was only too happy to oblige, but Sabe scrambled over the top of the rock, seeing the other riders swinging around again. She aimed at them with her back to Obi-Wan's. He turned his head, giving her a thunderous look. "We are doing our duty as you are doing yours," She shouted, unconcerned.
They dove in opposite directions as the riders finally reached them and attempted to trample them. Sabe rolled onto her shoulder, shooting. She managed to catch one of the riders in his posterior shoulder, and Eirtae shot the same one in the side. Obi Wan landed on the flank of a second rider's mount with a catlike leap and threw off the rider. Obi Wan turned the bucking animal's head forcibly, his lightsaber blazing at the side. The two final riders exchanged looks hidden by their eye protectors, and then turned their animals and rode with haste back toward the dune. Obi Wan leaped down from the strange animal, and it took off after them with a fierce bleating.
Sabe's blaster was overheated, uncomfortably hot to the touch. She could imagine Eirtae's was probably overheated as well. They simply hadn't been designed for sustained fire fights. Fortunately, there were signs that the raiders were beginning to retreat. Captain Panaka and the crewman had overwhelmed the other raiders, and most of them ran, dragging a body or a wounded comrade with them.
Suddenly Sabe's instincts screamed a warning. She turned her head. Behind Obi-Wan, a warrior had come seemingly from nowhere, and was raising his lethal four-bladed club high. "Look out!" she screamed, yanking her blade from her waistband and hurling it.
The blade tumbled through the air in a perfect arc, hitting the creature between the eyes with a sickening crunch. Obi Wan ducked out of the way as its heavy club dropped where he had been standing a moment before. Black blood seeped through the rags around the creature's eyes, and the he fell bonelessly to the ground.
There had been several times in Sabe's life when her abilities publicly manifested themselves, usually during times of heightened stress or emotion. But never before had they had such simultaneously fortunate and unfortunate timing. As Obi-Wan raised his narrowed eyes to her, Sabe realized her mistake. She had reacted too quickly, had thrown too accurately, and had so obviously displayed her more unnatural reflexes that even Eirtae had noticed. Eirtae gasped from somewhere behind her.
But no one had time to form a question. At that moment an impact knocked Sabe to the ground, and burning heat shot along her left side. She cried out.
"Sabe!" Eirtae shouted. She was next to Sabe in a moment, yanking her to her feet. Obi-Wan darted in front of them, blocking a new barrage of rifle fire with quick movements of his weapon.
"Damn gunner, I thought I got him," Sabe panted, hanging weakly from Eirtae's shoulder and squeezing her eyes shut against tears as she held her side. Hot blood coated her hand.
"Shut up and run!" Eirtae screamed, dragging her toward the ship's ramp. The rifle fire stopped suddenly behind them.
Sabe rolled her head back weakly, looking over her shoulder. The two riders had reached the top of the dune, riding as if hell itself was behind them. A few stragglers were also climbing up behind them. The crewman punched the air with their fists, and Obi-Wan tucked his weapon back beneath his robe. Their attackers, whatever they were, were retreating.
"What in the Republic…" Rabe gasped as Eirtae pulled Sabe into their quarters, all but throwing her on the bed. The two helped Sabe pull her cloak over her head, and Rabe knelt in front of her, lifting the edge of the camisole she wore beneath.
Sabe screamed against her teeth.
Rabe retrieved an auto-injector from her medical kit and anesthetized the area around the wound. Then she prodded, poked, and frowned at the wound until Sabe thought she might strike the girl. "What made this?"
"A projectile of some kind," Eirtae said. "These foul creatures on animals…they were shooting and attacking with clubs."
Rabe's brow contracted as she pressed a clean cloth against the wound to staunch the flow of blood. "Well, it's not too deep a cut. Lucky it just grazed you."
It certainly didn't feel lucky. But the local anesthetic was beginning to take effect, and Sabe found she could breath again. "Hurry up and clean it off," She said urgently, trying not to show how much pain she was still in. "The others will be coming soon. Throw some bacta on it and bind it tight."
Rabe was an even-tempered girl, but when it came to healing she put her foot down. "Negative," she said sternly. "This needs to be cleaned and sewed up. You can't be running around the desert with something like this."
"Then you do it," Sabe said.
"I can't sew you up, Sabe!" Rabe protested. "I didn't even complete that class in school!"
With the girls' help, Sabe laid back on her bed. "Do you see any licensed healers aboard, Rabe?"
Rabe set her jaw. "I am not doing surgery in a bedroom."
"Fine," Sabe hissed. "But at least help me with the bacta and bandage. The padawan will be here any minute and will want to brief the Queen."
Rabe lifted the pad over the cut. The bleeding had slowed. She commenced cleaning the wound, and cut small pieces of bacta down to size, fitting them carefully. Then she began wrapping gauze tightly around Sabe's waist. Sabe couldn't help the whimpers she made every time the wound was shifted. Rabe shook her head, dropping the gauze.
"Hurry, Rabe." Sabe urged.
"Maybe you shouldn't…" Rabe began, but she trailed off.
"Shouldn't…?" Sabe prompted. "Shouldn't go? That isn't an option at this moment, is it?"
Eirtae leaned forward. "Maybe it's time some one else took over." Her eyes narrowed. "You had no business going out there. Now you're unfit to carry out your duties."
Sabe breathed deeply. She was beginning to get very tired of Eirtae's constant criticism. "Could Rabe mimic Padme's voice? And you – even if you could manage the voice, you are three inches taller. If you think these are discrepancies no one will notice, you're kidding yourself."
Eirtae pressed her mouth into a thin, angry line. Rabe sighed deeply and started over with the gauze. Finally, she tied it off as tightly as she could. "There. It's the best I can do."
Sabe found if she breathed very deeply, she could sit up without passing out. She looked at Rabe and Eirtae's closed faces, and suddenly felt guilty. "If the ship had been damaged, none of us would ever get off this planet," she said defensively.
"That's the padawan's job," Rabe said sharply.
Sabe blinked, unused to that tone from the most easy-going member of the group. Maybe she had been rash after all. "But—"
"No!" Eirtae said. "You aren't here because of your mediocre aim, or your ability to throw a blade, or your tendency to run out into battles without thinking. The only reason you are here is because you have Padme's face. Stop trying to play the heroine and do your damn job."
Sabe was horrified when her lip trembled. Nothing seemed to sting more than when someone claimed she had not done her duty.
"I am trying to do my job," she said softly.
Eirtae huffed and left the room.
"Don't go far," Sabe called after her. "I'll need you when the padawan comes to report."
Eirtae's snort was the only reply she got.
Sabe let her forehead drop into her hand, but even the small movement shifted the bandages around her waist, and she grimaced. She raised her head. "I'm going to need more anesthetic to get through this briefing, Rabe."
She wouldn't have believed that Rabe was capable of the dirty look she gave her if she hadn't seen it for herself.
As expected, Obi-Wan summoned them for a report within half an hour. He paced the floor in front of Sabe, still appearing a bit sandy and disheveled.
"We sustained an attack by a group of nomads known as the Tusken Raiders. They are known locally for their violent natures and will attack any vessel they perceive as a territorial threat," he said.
Sabe shifted miserably on the throne. Despite Rabe's best efforts, one just could not expect a wound to go away within a half hour. "So you believe they know nothing of our identity?"
"Yes, my lady," Obi-Wan replied. "As my master stated, the Federation has no presence here. It is highly unlikely that anyone suspects us."
"Do you believe these raiders will return?" Sabe asked.
"Hopefully not. There were many of them killed or wounded during their onslaught. Hopefully they have been sufficiently weakened to avoid us for a while." Obi Wan answered.
That was a lot of suppositions and wishes. Sabe glanced at Captain Panaka. He shrugged.
Obi Wan continued. "Still, I would advise that everyone should remain close to the ship. The raiders were in position of long range rifles, and it is possible that they may attempt to strike at us from afar."
"How did the ship and crew fare during the attack?" Sabe asked.
"We have suffered no losses or damage to the ship thanks to the quick action of your crew and your handmaidens."
Sabe exhaled. "Very good, Padawan Kenobi. Captain Panaka, what efforts have been made to secure the ship for the night?"
Captain Panaka unfolded his arms and straightened from his position leaning against the wall. "Guards will be posted outside the ship around the clock. I have also set up a rudimentary perimeter alarm that should alert us if anyone comes near."
Sabe nodded. "If there are injuries among your men, my handmaiden can attend to them."
Captain Panaka shook his head. "Just cuts and scrapes, your highness. I think the men have already seen to them."
"Very well," Sabe said, rising. "If you please, I'd like a briefing on security first thing in the morning."
"Of course, my Lady," Captain Panaka said. He and Obi-Wan bowed as she walked toward the door.
She had assumed neither man had anything more to say. But just as she passed Obi-Wan, he spoke, making her jump. "I wonder if I might inquire about your handmaiden? I noticed she was wounded in the fight."
Sabe froze. His tone was not casual. Somehow, despite the covering over her face, he knew that it was she who had been outside. "She is well," she said carefully. "It appears it was only a superficial injury." Even as she spoke her wound gave a particularly painful throb, and she had to school her features into the expressionless mask of the Queen.
"I hope you will relate to her my appreciation," Obi-Wan said quietly.
"We will tell her for you," Sabe said icily, and beat a hasty retreat from the receiving chamber.
"You've blown it," Eirtae hissed as they walked across the hold.
Sabe shushed her sharply as a crewman passed. They entered their quarters. Eirtae shut the door and turned on her heel.
"Obviously he recognized you. Well done," she said coldly.
"He knows it was me," Sabe argued. "But he doesn't know I am not the Queen."
"So you say," Eirtae retorted, jerking her hood from her head.
"All he knows is that the Queen is a risk taker," said Sabe, adding wryly, "And if that isn't like Padme, I don't know what is."
"Ladies, please!" Rabe said listlessly. "Can we all just get some rest now?"
"Whatever," Eirtae said. She tossed her cloak in the corner and lay down on her bed, turning her back to them.
Sabe sighed as she switched her gown for a cloak.
"Where are you going?" Rabe asked.
"To publish the details of the disguise in the Tatooine news, no doubt," Eirtae said snidely over her shoulder.
Sabe whirled around. "I'm going to the 'fresher! Is that acceptable, your grace?"
Eirtae pulled her blankets up to her ears sulkily, turning her face back to the wall. Rabe waved Sabe out with a frown.