Chapter 6

Sand, sand and even more sand. That was the first and probably most lasting impression Olin had of Tatooine, that and the heat. Small wonder Skywalker was known to complain about the weather all the time, and small wonder he'd been so aghast at the splendour of Coruscant. Knowing intellectually what a planet was like and then actually being there were two entirely different things.

Skywalker had not spoken a single word during their voyage through Hyperspace, he was clearly uncomfortable returning here, and Olin was even more determined to find out what was going on. The first words he had spoken since leaving Weitun was when he had requested permission to land from the local authorities. They came into Mos Eisley to land at Docking Bay 94, and without even acknowledging Olin's presence, Anakin shut down the engines, locked out the computer and walked off the small ship. Olin collected his own belongings and followed. Their cover story was they were here to scout trading opportunities for trade with especially the local moisture farmers, but going by the lax way the sorry excuse for local customs was handled, he doubted that it was necessary. Even the local Imp garrison had exactly no Stormtroopers among it, instead relying on what were probably second or third rate troops and the usual misfits.

"Where to?" he asked. Skywalker looked around a bit.

"The cantina is over there, but we won't have to go there. The music is awful. We... we need to get transport- there is a dealership over there."

The plan was to buy one, as it created less of a paper trail, even here on Tatooine as used speeder dealers were far more likely to take cash and no questions asked as they had no interest in getting back their merchandise. Afterwards they were to meet with a contact and decide their further proceedings. It was very possible that Jabba was not present on Tatooine at the moment, something that Republic Intelligence had been unable to really determine, but he usually was around at this time of the Hutt year.

As they passed through the outskirts of the town, Olin saw that it was riddled with crime to the point where there was spice trading on the open street, within full view of the Imperials, which led him to believe that they were either bought off or already so jaded that they did not care. With anyone else in the speeder Olin would have tried to speculate on why that was in spite of the threat posed by the sand people. Or because of it? There was the possibility that the reason why the Empire had yet to squash the threat lay in the substandard quality of the troops stationed here, and given by how they acted, or failed to to so.

Oddly enough it was Skywalker who broke the silence when the buildings were long behind them and the endless desert landscape had taken over.

"The salesman said that the Tusken Raider territory begins with the Western Dune Sea, south-west of the Jundland Wastes, so we should avoid that area."

"Where does our contact wait for us?"

"Anchorhead."

Olin consulted his Datapad and frowned. "That's clear the other way from Jabba's Palace!"

Skywalker sighed. "Believe me Olin, I don't want to go down there any more than you do, but that's where he's supposed to meet us. The Tuskens won't attack us there... probably, but you should never underestimate their treachery."

It was odd for Skywalker to despise someone so, but maybe it was because he had grown up here, and because the history of the Tatooine residents with the Tuskens was not a good one. That much he knew.

"Any idea who he is?"

"None."

Neither Jedi spoke as the speeder raced south, the Monotony only broken by the occasional rockface stabbing out of the everpresent sand.

"What's that?" Olin asked suddenly when he spotted smoke on the horizon. Skywalker frowned.

"Unless something changed, there are no settlements over there."

The sense of death both Jedi felt through the Force was overwhelming, so there was no discussion when Skywalker gunned the throttle and changed course towards the smoke.

The Jawa Sand Crawler was on fire from front to end, which explained the smoke. It was surrounded by Banthas and the inevitable Tusken raiders. Olin was astonished when Skywalker didn't even bother to stop the speeder and jumped off it and into the middle of the Tusken group, sabre alight. He slashed around himself, attacking the Tusken with a fury that Olin had never seen, but what happened next amazed him even more. The Tusken slowly backed away from the figure with the blue lightsabre, but it seemed that they were more scared of it than of Skywalker. Odd to say the least.

Skywalker too seemed to be surprised by this as well, he remained weary and only shut off his sabre when the last of the Tusken had mounted their beasts and was out of range of their primitive rifles.

"What was that all about?" Olin asked.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say they were raiding for supplies. But this is unusual, because they would never attack anything this large. Going by how they seem to have stopped it... that fire was too precise for Tuskens. It's the sort of thing I'd expect from a Stormtrooper." He utterly ignored that Olin was talking about something else entirely.

Instead, Skywalker clipped his sabre back to his belt and closed his eyes, visibly fighting for emotional composure, in a way Olin hadn't seen since the War.

"We need to bury them by their rites."

Olin didn't bother saying that they had someone to meet, nor did he wonder if that would include the Tuskens Anakin had slain. So they went to work.

Skywalker surprised him when he personally added the dead Tuskens to their own funeral fire, showing remorse had having to kill them. Might this even have something to do with why everyone was worried about his returning here?

An hour later they were back on the move, neither saying a word. Skywalker poured it on, as they had to reach Tosche Station before dark.

The town itself turned out to be a collection of buildings in the Tatooine style and Olin doubted that it would be easy to find quarters there. Skywalker had briefed him on where they were to meet their contact, behind one of the cantinas that served the town. Neither knew exactly who their contact was, but Intelligence had arranged a signal and countersign. Said contact was supposed to have arranged for quarters and more accurate intelligence on Jabba's movements.

Anchorhead was less crime-ridden than the other settlements on the planet, and had grown significantly, according to Skywalker. That was probably because of the Imperial compound a few miles south of the town, which was supposed to secure the region against Tusken attacks but apparently did a poor job of it at the moment. The city itself was fairly light on stormtroopers on patrol, most of the Imperials here enjoyed what passed for shore leave and the 'nightlife' such as it was catered to them. Still, there was enough local traffic out of the brand-new space port for two additional spacers not to attract any attention.

Skywalker needled the speeder into the back-alley. From their perspective the bulding that contained the Cantina was backlit by the holosigns on the front, and between two dumpsters filled with refuse that neither Jedi cared to examine any closer stood a hooded figure. In the dim light of the damaged streetlights the figure stepped forward.

"Elek Sato, I presume?"

"Simo Deccol at your service."

Sign and countersign had been exchanged properly, so the Jedi slightly relaxed their vigilance.

"Now I didn't expect them to send you, Anie. You swore you'd never come back here."

Skywalker furrowed his brows, clearly trying to place the voice. When he did, he smiled for the first time since setting off for Tatooine. "Kitster Banai, is that you?"

The man smiled. "Yeah."

Skywalker stepped forward and hugged Banai, who had to be an old childhood friend. "So what turned you into a seditious element?"

Banai's face darkened. "Later. First I have to get you off the streets."

Skywalker's friend led them to the edge of town, into one of the older, poorer sections and the sort of hut that section of the population inhabited, one central area and three rooms going off to the side. Seated along the table, Banai began to brief them.

"Your timing could be better. Jabba isn't here at the moment, but he's slated to return in a few days. He was off to the homeworld, so there's no telling what mood he's in. Probably not a very good one, given that the Tuskens have resisted all his attempts to buy them off."

"Have things gotten that bad?" Skywalker asked.

"Probably worse. Normally the Tuskens are too primitive to go for this sort of thing, but given how they've started to consolidate their lands and behave more like a proper, unified army rather than a pack of thieving nomads he probably thought it was worth the try."

"I thought so." he said and related what had happened with the crawler.

Banai frowned. "That's bad, Ani. Either one of the tribes acted against whoever is calling the shots back there and we find their corpses outside the town in a day or two, or the Tuskens are pushing against the settled areas."

"That has happened before?"

Olin was far too fascinated at how Skywalker seemed to have changed to partake in the conversation. His dislike of the Tusken was still evident in the way he talked, but it wasn't the hatred Olin had come to expect. His reply to the prospect of a massacred tribe of Tuskens was... repugnance, not at the Tuskens as a whole but at the idea of them being all killed or reasons that were beyond trivial by his standards. Then why had he reacted as he had to the incident on the way here?

"About a year ago, yes." Banai said with a nod. He bared his teeth and shook his head. "Last time this happened the Imps bombed the nearest of their villages out of existence."

"For Jawas?"

"No," came the reply with the shake of his head, "not because it was Jawas, but because it was only an hour out of Mos Eisley. Since then they haven't dared go out of the Dune Sea."

"Force Kit, someone is leading them, and not bad at all, it seems."

"The Imps officially deny it, but that's exactly what's going on. They have been acting odd since just before the Clone War."

"How so?"

"Just before first Geonosis something happened that made the Tuskens withdraw deeper into the Dune sea than anyone can remember. No one saw hide nor hair of them for three years."

"Why was that?"

Olin was so astonished that he nearly fell off his chair. Skywalker's voice was inquiring and betrayed nothing to anyone who didn't know him very well and was not a Force user. To Olin however his mental defences slipped for just a second, and Olin sensed a flash of revulsion, regret and disgust. And...guilt! What was more, not something he had experienced per say, although there was some of that, but something he had done. What on Earth could Skywalker have done that would drive a people like that? It certainly was something of a nature that those around him had a desire to keep secret, and all of a sudden Olin was angry, not at Skywalker but rather at the Council. They were so unwilling to risk a Scandal to their precious hero that they kept something like this secret, and once more Skywalker was getting away with it.

Now what?

The mission came first of course, but what would he do afterwards? He knew that he would have to confront Skywalker over this, before they were gone from this planet.

tbc

Ahsoka's part in this Episode is supposed to be the main plot, so if I follow my outline, we won't revisit Tatooine for a few chapters.