A small shuttle craft streaked through the dry dock, headed to the Imperial Star Destroyer. Inside, Grutex and his friends craned their necks and rotated their heads in an attempt to view the entire vessel. Nature's rhetoric had been overruled by technology at the very thought something as large as this ship could lift off. Karl made good observation of this before the shuttle passed beneath the behemoth's belly, "Doesn't make sense. It just defies logic that anything this big can take off."

Joel nodded, "Yeah. Looks like we are about to be schooled in it."

The shuttle docked in the landing bay from beneath the star destroyer, wherein several fighters and shuttles of different makes and classes were in set in a complex array. The small crew stepped out of the shuttle and made note of the many entrances and exits leading to the many locations of the Destroyer. Grutex asked, "Which one do we choose?"

Karl said, "True. Look at all of those corridors."

RP stepped into the lead, "I downloaded the architectural schematic of course. It's really not as difficult as it appears. A central travel conduit is almost directly above us. As we pass through it, we will make our way back…"

Joel grabbed the droid by the shoulders and turned it about face, "Just lead the way."

Sheila suffered a brief assault on her emotions. The emptiness of the star craft gave her the most pretentious sensation that they were on an abandoned ghost ship, and the eyes of the spirits were on them. The feeling went as quickly as it had come, like a chill on a wind.

But soon they were on the bridge of the vessel: the titanic, vastly complicated bridge. Consumed by it all, Karl said in an ever so humdrum manner, "Look at all of the lights and switches."

Joel confirmed in a similar, vacant and hopeless tone, "We are going to need more people."

RP chimed back in a most chipper tone though, "Not at all. Once I have accessed the prime directives of the ships mother unit, along with still being networked in to the Death Star, launching and navigation will be no problem."

RP plugged himself into the main console and bridge became vibrant with chirps of electronic noise and flickers of digital read out. Grutex fixed his attention on a star chart. "Where are we now?"

RP said, "We are a few parsecs beyond the black hole of Quintos, and Bespin only a few more parsecs beyond that."

Joel said, "Bespin, good. We'll go there."

Grutex asked, "What about Tatooine?"

Joel barked, "What about it? Look, we did you a favor. You would be nothing but a wrapped pop sickle back on Hoth if it weren't for us. We are going to Bespin, and from there, good luck to you."

The silence was awkward. Joel wore an expression which dared any of his crew to argue back, and they did not. Grutex was less confident in the friendships he had acquired. Perhaps he was, just as back home, a means to an end. When this end came, there would probably be no use for him, and a true light would shine on the integrity of any bonds between him and the crew. The light seemed to be exposing some of this now.

RP interjected, "I am scanning systems now."

Red lights began flashing all through the dry dock and grabbed the crew's attention. Sheila asked, "What are the lights for? Did you tell light them up RP?"

RP calmly replied, "No ma'am. The Imperials are now aware this Star Destroyer is preparing to make an unscheduled departure with an unknown crew."

Karl muttered, "Well that's not good."

Joel tensely said, "So, why aren't we moving?"

Storm troopers began to pour into the dry dock. Grutex could see them running along far below like an army of white ants. "We have a lot of company."

"RP," asked Joel with a definite strain of urgency in his voice.

RP said, "I am isolating our gravity parameters."

Sheila asked, "What does that mean?"

"This vessel is too large to thrust from the dock floor in this tight dock. The immense amount of thrust required will smash us into the ceiling, making our voyage quite short. I must switch off the gravity in this dock; we will float upwards, and then we can move out of the Death Star."

Grutex noticed some of the troopers heading towards the shuttle bay while others continued to run towards the Destroyer. "How long will that take?"

The sound of metal pulling against metal, the tension of rivets, and the moaning of joints filled the bridge. The view of the bay began to shift in a floating manner. "Now," RP said.

A trooper who had been making a paced trot towards the Star Destroyer suddenly noticed he was lifted, and he peddled his arms and legs as though he were trying to stabilize himself after swimming. All around him, other troopers and gear drifted by like feathers on a gentle breeze. His ears rang as the engines of the Star Destroyer gave burst to life, and the energy from the engines scattered the floating troops as though they were bits in a centrifuge, pasting them to the walls and blinding them with waves of heat.

RP opened the invisible, magnetic energy shield of the dry dock and the Star Destroyer moved out. Dozens of panic stricken troopers were sucked in to space behind them, as though they had been spat from a giant mouth. The Destroyer began to pick up speed and made distance from the Death Star.

A voice filled the ambience of the Star Destroyer's speakers; it was an official from the Death Star. "Star Destroyer Devastator, we are aware of your unauthorized departure from dry dock 480C. We are also aware of your status: two male humans, one female human, one male Tusken Raider, and one protocol droid. Stand down now and return or be vaporized."

Karl asked, "Can they do that?"

Sheila said, "They destroyed a planet."

Grutex said, "We need to move. Movement is life."

Joel said, "I agree with the Sand Head. Sling this thing out into space RP. How soon before we can make a jump to light speed."

"It appears the Hyperspace engine has faulty coils; this is the reason the vessel was dry docked. There will be no jump."

"That's not what I needed to hear," said Joel.

The voice came over the intercom system again, "Stand down and return now."

Joel found himself wanting to dramatically shake his fist in the air and scream never, but he resisted and simply said to his crew, "They are going to have to vaporize us. I am not going back."

A sound like very small pebbles striking a hard flat surface could be heard. Two tie fighters flew over the bridge view firing upon them. Joel asked, "RP, are the shields up?"

"Affirmative."

Karl laughed, "It will take more than the likes of those gnats to bother us."

Grutex pointed out the bridge view at two oncoming specks, distinguishing themselves from the stars. It was two other Star Destroyers advancing on them head on, "Like those?" he asked.

Karl's smile faded, "Yeah; that would do it."

The pitter patter of the tie fighter fire was replaced by loud drumming as flashes of energy from the two oncoming Destroyers struck the shields of the Devastator. Joel commanded RP to give eighty percent on the front shields. The green flashes of power continued to strike their ship, and vibrations could be felt from the blows in the bridge now.

"RP, how can you maneuver this thing?" Joel asked.

"I can only navigate it. It cannot be flown, so to speak." RP said.

Grutex said, "This is a weapon."

Joel said, "Right. How do we fire back?"

"No," Grutex said, "One ship firing on two will never win. But one bantha who falls on two will also hurt the other two."

Joel looked puzzled, "I don't understand what banthas…"

Sheila asked, "You're talking about ramming them, aren't you Grutex?"

Grutex said, "Yes, this ship will be destroyed if they don't move out of the way. They will go to evasive actions."

Joel thought for a moment, "It might work, but this vessel will be destroyed even if they go evasive, killing us with it."

Karl said, "Not if we're not on board." The others looked at him strangely, and he finished, "We practically have an entire fleet of shuttles at our disposal."

Joel said, "RP, prep a shuttle through the main board. Find one with hyperspace capabilities that work. Set this destroyer's path to ram those two in front of us." He looked squarely at Grutex, "If I die doing this, I want it known this is the craziest plan I have ever heard."

Darth Vader had just left Governor Tarkin's side and was back in his private quarters. He pondered if letting the Princess escape was as brilliant a plan as he had made out to the Governor. It was too late now, anyhow. His mind was turning to the execution of his former master Kenobi. He felt that finally, his task had been completed. The Jedi were no more.

A buzzer issued from his door. Vader beckoned them in. It was a single storm trooper with a thin flat crate in his hands. "You requested these Lord Vader?"

Vader peered into the crate and saw a severed brown robe, still dusty from the winds of Tatooine. It was a dust Vader knew too well. He shifted the robe around and noticed something missing. "Where is Kenobi's light saber?"

"There was no weapons sir. Only the robe."

Vader straightened and asked, "What of the Tusken Raider I terminated just outside of the corridor where Kenobi and I battled?"

"Lord Vader, there was no Tusken Raider found."

The dark fingers of the force stretched forward, through the fibers of the robe, and Vader sensed traces of the Tusken Raider. It had mingled through the clothing. Something else, the connection was much stronger than it should have been; the force had been awakened in the Tusken Raider. Vader's thoughts spun into a rage he was attempting his best to keep subdued; first the Tusken Raiders, those vile beasts, had robbed him of his mother, and now his final prize for vanquishing the Jedi.

"Locate this Tusken Raider and retrieve Kenobi's light saber. Bring it to me. Spare no lives," growled Vader.

"Understood Lord Vader," the trooper set the crate down and left the room.

It was indeed a highly personal matter of which the Governor would not understand. Vader would have to delegate the issue as he had, and hope for the best. The crushing of Rebellion was at hand, and what a grand hour it would be to see both the end of the Jedi and the Rebellion.

Back on the planet Tatooine, a plan of vengeance was revealed by Huff Darklighter to a crowd of angry farmers; angry because the Lars were dead, angry because the Tusken Raiders had gotten out of line, but mostly at the chore angry because they were trapped on a hot miserable planet. The two suns were preparing to set, they felt it was better to attack at night. Cheers from the farmers, standing in front of a small fleet of speeders, filled the dusty air.

Huff stood in his speeder and called out to the crowd, "The Tuskens have always been a nuisance, but now they may well be a threat. We can drive them back or kill them all; I don't care which. But make no mistake, they cannot win. We are better than those filthy animals. We are more brave than them," and Huff would make dramatic waves with his arms and lean a bit forward at the end of each proclamation, causing a ruckus from the crowd. "We are smarter than them. We have justice on our side. We will not fail. We will not only take those nasty animals down, we drag them straight to hell!"

The men gave there loudest roar yet. Huff continued, "Follow me! We cannot fail!" Huff turned and plopped down into the seat of his speeder, Nade jumped in beside him. The farmers followed suit, and into the desert they sped.

They approached the canyon which drops down into the Jundland. The browns and the golds of the sunset revealed a beauty which was sorted for the romance of lovers and out of place for the enterprise at hand. The canyon opened its reddish arms to them with a charm which promised blood lust. The speeders fell into those arms and skimmed the canyon base, trailing a monstrous plume of dust behind them.

Huff was in the lead, his speeder at full throttle. He controlled the wheel with one hand and a bottle of intoxicating nectar in the other, which fueled his sermon.

Nade asked, "What if we can't find them?"

"They can't hide from us." Huff planted the bottle to his lips and threw his head back, taking down another swig, "All we have to do is sniff, and we will find the stinking bastards."

The two suns were now sliding over the horizon, and stars were twinkling in the sky. Like a swarm of bees, the twenty or so speeders flowed through the canyon. High above, on the canyon shelf, a lone Tusken Raider spotted the caravan. He lifted his head and called out, unknown to the traveling farmers deep in the echoes and reverberations of their machines. Another Tusken raised his head across the canyon and made a similar call, which was carried by another and another along the walls of the canyon.

A settlement of Tusken Raiders was far in the Jundland, fires blazing, Tuskens ambling from homestead to homestead. One stopped his walk and tilted his head. He heard a hissing and whining piping through the canyon, getting louder, coming their way. In front of a cloud of dust, out of the shadows of the canyon, the speeders approached and came to a stop. All the Tuskens made a halt of their amblings and stared curiously on the visitors.

Huff stood in his speeder and the farmers dropped out of theirs, weapons by their sides. Huff called out, "Okay you vile, stinking, putrid gutter slimes. Pack your stuff up and leave."

The Raiders, who could not understand a word, only stood motionless in wonderment.

"Okay boys. Show them something they will understand," said Huff. The farmers raised their blasters and aimed the weapons on the homestead.

Some of the Tuskens ran instantly back in to their homes, some quickly shoved their children behind them, and some remained motionless, staring in wonderment. But one Tusken Raider came forth from the pack, seeming to appear from nowhere. He was tall and broad, and around his neck was adorned with many smooth colored stones hanging from leathery twines.

The war lord looked on the farmers, and stood his ground.

Huff said, "You must be the chief. Good. List-en to me. Pack – up - and – leave." The war lord stood motionless. Huff jumped down from the speeder with his bottle before him like a weapon itself, and he marched boldly into the face of the warlord, "Did you hear me you big pile of bantha droppings. I said get your people and get out here, or do I have to make an example of you first?"

Huff looked back at Nade, "Show this Sand Spit we mean business."

Nade aimed his blaster straight for the warlord, who never flinched, keeping his gaze directly on Huff. Then a guttural sound rolled from the warlord in poppy little chunks as his chest heaved. Huff stepped back, shocked and confused. He had never heard a Tusken Raider make this sound; it was very similar to a human laugh, a form of communication which transcends all language. The war lord continued to chuckle, but Huff certainly did not get the joke.

The farmers had gotten the joke. Each of them was slowly placing their blasters on the ground while looking up to the sky around them. Huff could hear the clatter of the weapons being laid to the ground, he turned and was shocked once again, "What the hell are you idiots doing?"

None of them answered and still, gazed into the sky. Huff was in a rage, "I asked what you think you are doing? Pick those blasters back up you stupid…"

Nade was tapping Huff on the shoulder, Huff exploded, "What is it Nade?"

Nade nervously looked upward and pointed up with the same finger he had been tapping Huff with. Huff looked upward and his mouth dropped open at the same time he dropped his bottle. The dizzying nectar splashed as the bottle broke to pieces, as had Huff's plan.

High up along the canyon rim, a hundred or more Tusken Raiders stood looking down on them with their gaffs held high above their heads. Huff could hear the war lord still chuckling behind him. He turned his head to the war lord and issued a, "Hunh," to mean, "isn't that surprising.'