Chapter Two: Rebirth of The Tribesman
The Twin Suns climb into the arid skies of Tatooine during the early morning hours. A large, squat toad-like creature called a worrt was lying in wait for hapless prey to walk into its path under the sandy dunes, while a small pack of huge, reptilian dewbacks licked the little bit of cool, morning dew in the desert off of their backs. The camp of the Tuskens of the I'Ka Tribe was just starting to awaken, as Banthas groaned and Tuskens began gathering gourds beneath the vast sands. As for Boba Fett, who still wore his tattered, raggedy white jumpsuit, he was engaged in yet another fiercely intense duel with the female Tusken Warrior, A'Garrha.
As the two danced around each other in the middle of the I'Ka camp, the initiate swung his longer, wooden training stick around with as much ferocity as he could. A'Garrha swung her gaderffii stick with calculated precision, blocking each and every one of his strikes as they came by, while also teetering out of the path of more forceful swings, both her dark robes and dreadlocks soaring around her. Boba didn't quit; it wasn't in the spirit of the Fett name. He gripped his stick even tighter than he had already been, as if he were choking the very life out of it.
A'Garrha made her move, a surgical strike at Boba's defenses. He immediately backflipped out of the way, with a twirl of his staff for additional flair. Landing on his feet, he began to bash repeatedly against A'Garrha's defenses. The twists and parries of her staff grew lethargic. Slowly, yet surely, Boba was going to win.
A'Garrha then let go of her staff, dropping it right next to her in the sands. Seeing his chance, Boba rushed in to gently, yet firmly tap her in the chest, signaling his victory. Instead, A'Garrha rolled out of the way, grabbed her staff and hooked Fett's, with an accuracy unparalleled among all warriors, save perhaps for the Mandalorians. She hurled his staff into the air and quickly jabbed Boba in the chest. For the smallest second Boba felt the pain rushing through his body. The sharp prick of the staff's sharp spike. The sensation of defeat rushing through his entire being. Then his pain crashed, dissipating into nothing but a little shock.
Stumbling backwards, Boba watched A'Garrha twirl her staff before she began making forceful, yet deliberate gestures.
"You were holding it wrong, Stranger from the Great Maw," she signed to him.
"No," Boba argued, confidently gesturing as he spoke. "I was holding it the same as you, A'Garrha."
Boba went to pick up his training staff, returning with it, adamant that he was correct. He gripped the staff, as if he were choking it, yet again.
"Don't strangle the staff," explained A'Garrha, signing more gently this time. "Let it breathe with you."
A'Garrha walked over to the son of Jango and touched his hands softly, getting his fingers to loosen up. However, she ensured they were still firmly wrapped around the gaderffii stick. She then walked away, picking up her staff and gesturing for A'Kagri to come and learn alongside Boba; they were both students in this together. The Tusken warrior then calls for a band of six lesser warriors to encircle her, armed with training gaderffii sticks of their own. She gives a loud call, commanding them to attack her with as much ferocity as they could.
With a thundering roar, they do. The first two warriors, both male, engage the senior warrior with a barrage of flailing swings, but she parries their attacks with the fluidity of a river down a mountain creek. Boba notices she is holding the staff with the grip she showed him. Swiftly counter-attacking, A'Garrha taps the pair, each on the shoulder, signaling them to retreat.
The next two, a pair of females, attempt to dodge each of her attacks, but dreadlocks flying, the senior warrior swipes them in the sides with the spiked club at the end of her staff, causing them to stagger and retreat.
The last pair, both a male and female, attempt to fling sand into A'Garrha's mask, the male's job, while the female attempts to hit the senior warrior from behind. Instead, they both end up with their backs on the ground, after A'Garrha's wave-esque combat "washed" the two away. A'Garrha grunts an expression of gratitude to the lesser warriors who get up and walk away. She then looks at a stunned Boba, whose jaw has dropped as low as it ever has, and A'Kagri, who watches with apparent admiration and longing.
Boba looks to A'Kagri and she looks back. Their message does not even need speech or signing to be conveyed: "We have to learn that!"
"Huru Ruhr Hrhrhrhr Hrh-hurf-hurf-hurf!" a deep, rumbling echoed across the desert.
As several Tuskens, including A'Garrha, frantically armed themselves with cycler rifles and rapidly took position, Boba, alongside A'Kagri swiftly rushed behind a small sand dune, accompanied by her massiff, who cowered meekly behind them. Watching cautiously from behind the little dune, Boba quickly caught sight of what appeared to be a Krayt Dragon, long, serpentine beasts of the desert. Wait, he realized, This is no beast. In fact, this was a machine, a heavily armored hovertrain, levitating above the sands, to be exact.
At the head of the train was a rusted tank engine, shaped like a slugthrower bullet. On top of it was a massive ion thruster, blasting energy and fumes out into the desert air. Following this tank engine, were several lines of carts, each forming segments of this mechanical serpent. And on each of these carts, there was a symbol resembling a diamond with a central eye and two accompanying spikes emblazoned on the sides. This was a symbol familiar to Boba; the symbol of the notorious Pyke Syndicate. So they were running sansanna spice, their infamous drugs from Kessel, on Tatooine now.
As the Pykes' train slinked its way through the desert at blinding speeds, Boba watched with a small gasp, as blaster bolts issued forth from the carts, mowing down a few Tuskens who had taken aim in an attempt to protect the Tribe. One wayward bolt struck a Bantha, while others hit a few of the Tribe's children. The outsider of the Tribe then noticed an adolescent male Tusken, who wore flowing black robes, rush out towards the others, armed with a cycler rifle. He had definitely had enough of the abuse of his tribe, for not even the children were spared.
"Urrrrrrgghhhhhh!" he roared, as he rushed into the line of fire.
"Errrhhhhh!" A'Kagri cried, as she attempted to rush after him.
Boba grabbed her back, knowing she would be killed as well if she rushed out. A'Kagri struggled and gave several protesting gestures, yet the son of Jango held on, firmly.
Within moments, the adolescent male was struck with a blaster bolt. Yet he kept going. Another bolt, accompanied by two others came as well. He stumbled, yet still rushed forward, ready to avenge his tribe's children. Boba and A'Kagri then watched motionless, as a barrage of blaster bolts finally laid down the brave adolescent, who collapsed after a brief stand against the ruthless Pykes. The Pyke train then rode off into the desert, slinking away, like a serpent who had bitten an innocent child.
A'Kagri finally broke free of Boba's grasp, rushing over to the limp corpse of the fallen, yet courageous Tusken male. Fett watched her with a cocked head, as she made several grunts that could only be described as crying. Boba walked over to A'Kagri, trying to lay a hand on her shoulder in a gesture of comfort. Instead, his hand was slapped away. She turned to him and began signing.
"That was U'Kahrmo, you idiot!" she scolded. "He was Chief U'Kaghho's eldest son and heir, Stranger from the Great Maw!
She paused before signing solemnly, "He was my brother."
Boba took a step back, unable to even reply to A'Kagri. He recalled how the Clones of the Grand Army of the Republic viewed each other; as brothers. Boba had not viewed them in the same light, for, of course, he was Jango's son, not just another clone. However, A'Kagri's grief over her brother made Jango's heir shiver with a feeling he could not exactly describe.
Perhaps, he thought, Each of my brothers aren't just another clone either.
By the time night fell on Tatooine, the Tuskens had already created a hill of their dead large enough to light the pyre. Boba saw it wasn't just the men who died, but the women and, as he had known, the children too. A'Kagri was flanking her father, Chief U'Kaghho, as he removed a ceremonial pin on his deceased son's face wrappings and handed it to his daughter; she was now the heir to chief-hood, if she were to earn the respect of the tribe.
The outsider of the Tribe's solemn gaze went to the broken form of U'Kahrmo, who lay limp. So much potential as Chief. So much time to spend with his sister, who Fett had made a friend of. As U'Kahrmo's body was added to the pyre, A'Kagri remained silent, her tear glands having presumably been dried up by that point. Boba, taking a sip from a black melon, walks off to get some space from the suffocating tension in his heart. Would U'Kahrmo have still been alive had Boba not held A'Kagri back? Probably not and both of them would be dead. Yet Fett still wondered.
His reflection was interrupted by the sound of speeder bikes, racing across the desert. The Nikto Gang from the homestead. This land belonged to the Tuskens. It was theirs first and for countless eons. Yet so many of these thugs, Pyke, Hutt, Nikto, and even Human would dare disrespect the rights the Sand People had to this planet. Boba would not stand for this disrespect to his people any longer.
With one last long, intense glare at the direction of the Nikto Gang and all off-worlders who disrespected the rights of the Tuskens, Boba marched his way back into the camp.
"Stop the train?!" inquired Chief U'Kaghho, his gestures and tone implying shock and a small dose of skepticism.
Boba was in the tent of the Chief's family. A'Kagri was absent, having left when Boba arrived; clearly she still blamed Boba for allowing U'Kahrmo to die.
"Yes," Boba replied with signing and spoken words. "I need a rifle and staff. I'll be back by morning."
Chief U'Kaghho deliberated, with several strokes to his chin.
Boba waited a minute.
Then two.
Three.
Four.
By the fifth minute, U'Kaghho nodded, tapping his gaderffii stick. The quest was approved. Boba nodded back respectfully in thanks, walking over to the corner of the tent to grab a cycler rifle and his training staff. As Jango's heir began to walk out, U'Kaghho made a bellowing call.
"Is this about U'Karhmo?" he signed a question. "That wasn't your fault, Stranger from the Great Maw. A'Kagri is just grieving her brother."
Boba ignored the Chief, for Fett knew that U'Kaghho knew the answer already. Besides, even if the death wasn't Boba's fault, he would make it right anyway.
"Yahaha!" roared the Niktos of the Kintan Striders speeder-bike gang.
Camie, a young adult human female from the area around Tosche Station, and her friend Fixer have had to put up with those thugs for what seemed to amount to an eternity. The once lively, little establishment frequented by folks from humans to rodians had been all but overrun by lowlifes like the boisterous Striders. Nine of these leather-jacketed hooligans were visiting the premises tonight. Filled with nothing but their yells and the bashing of metal, as one Nikto was frustrated at losing a Republic-era space shooter game, causing the beeps of the game to vibrate, Tosche was not what it used to be.
Fixer sat idly by, as did the owner/bartender of the joint, but Camie tapped her foot and played with her fingers. This wasn't right. She shouldn't stand by. That's not what Luke would have done. But what could she do against the armed, violent Striders? Suddenly, one of the Nikto thugs reached into an old chest by the corner of Tosche Station and grabbed a few small vehicle nodes.
"Those were Luke's power converters," Camie whispered to Fixer. "I have to speak up."
"Camie don't," replied Fixer.
She stood up anyway.
"Hey, those were my friend's!" she scolded the Nikto Thugs.
All eyes turned to her.
"What did you say, miss?" growled one of the Striders, arming his electrically-charged stun baton.
"Those power converters belonged to my old friend, Luke Skywalker!" she declared, masking any fear she had.
There was silence for a moment. Soon enough, that gave way to roaring laughter, insulted by Camie's seemingly outlandish, yet true declaration.
"Bad joke," snarled the thug speaking with her. "You'll pay for that!"
Before Camie could react, the Nikto already had her by the neck, his scaly, noseless face breaking into a grin, as he jabbed her in the side with his stun baton. Camie began to scream.
"Camie!" called Fixer, before he was held to his chair by another of the Nikto gang.
The Niktos guffawed heavily, as Camie was about to be speared in the face by the electrified tip of a stun baton. A few of the Niktos even placed bets on how loud her final scream would be. Their barbaric fun was interrupted by the mechanical clank of the doors, sliding open from behind. Everyone's gaze went to the door from Camie, Fixer, the Niktos, and even the inattentive bartender. The Nikto holding Camie dropped her at the sight of the visitor.
Standing at the entrance was a heavily scarred stranger in a raggedy, tattered white jumpsuit. The man was covered in what appeared to be acid scars, with them having melted off his eyebrows. Despite his beaten appearance, he bore an intense, soul-piercing quality in his gaze that seemed somehow familiar to the patrons. Besides, he was armed with a Tusken's cycler rifle and what appeared to be a cruder version of their gaderffii sticks. Every one of the Striders scrambled to grab a stun baton, dagger, or spiked club, as the stranger brought out his crude gaderffii stick, grasping its shaft gently, yet firmly. Time seemed to slow, as the stranger and the Niktos stared each other down.
One moment.
Two moments.
Three moments.
Fett, the Stranger from the Great Maw, recalled what A'Garrha had demonstrated earlier, when a Nikto thug charged at him, sending a few tables clattering to the ground. Allowing his staff to breathe with him, Boba let his instincts guide his attack into a vicious, yet elegant swipe into the Nikto's forehead, with an audible cracking of bone accompanying the strike. One down, eight to go.
One of the other Niktos, threw a knife at Boba, only for him to swiftly pluck it out of the air by the handle, its blade mere moments from striking him in the face. Reacting immediately, he took the knife and plunged it into the chest of another thug. Two down. Seven left.
Three of the other thugs encircled Fett, armed with their stun batons, knives, and one club. Two of the thugs lunged at him, one with a stun baton and another with a knife. Boba immediately kicked the knife-wielder's weapon hand, sending his blade right up his throat. As for the other attacker, he simply caught the thug's stun baton with his staff, as A'Garrha had done to him so many times before. Acting fast, Boba hurled the baton away from the thug, flipping him around, before smashing the bones in the back of his neck with a single strike of the training staff. Four down. Five left.
The thug with the club, made a grimace in disgust. The Nikto then gripped it, as if he were strangling the neck of some bystander. By contrast, Boba allowed his staff to "breathe" as he got ready to fight. The thug swung the club with as much ferocity as he could. Fett twisted his staff, flowing with it, as he blocked the blow. The thug swung again, with more force than before. Boba swung back, redirecting the blow into the machine for the space shooter game, causing it to erupt into sparks. The Nikto thug began flailing his club violently, in an attempt to break Fett's defenses. Though Boba was able to block each and every blow, he seemed to be growing weary.
Fett watched as the Nikto saw a chance to strike, letting go of the staff, as this member of the Kintan Striders made contact between their weapons. As the Kintan Strider was about to make his attack in the opening, Boba ducked, swiped up his training staff and bashed the undefended face of the Nikto thug, dealing a fatal blow. Camie, Fixer, and the bartender all cheered enthusiastically at the death of the gang, with the bartender rushing to offer Boba a drink.
"Thank you for taking care of those thugs!" he cried out in appreciation. "What is your name?"
Fett ignored the owner, knowing there was still work left to do, for four thugs had fled Tosche Station. Marching into the frigid desert night, Boba armed himself with a cycler rifle. Taking aim into the darkness beyond, he fired four times. Sure enough, he heard the sound of sand-padded thuds and the silhouette of four leather-coated Nikto bodies dropping dead. Fett put away the rifle and walked over to the site of the Nikto's corpses. In addition to having taken their lives, Boba found something else he could take from them near their corpses: their nine speeder bikes.
He smirked, having gotten what he came for.
Back at the Tusken camp, U'Kaghho is frantically pacing back and forth from his family's tent, while other Tuskens tend to the Banthas and other tasks. With him are a few of the I'Ka Tribe's best snipers, armed with cycler rifles, ready to strike anything that crosses their path. As a massiff attempts to eat a black melon lodged in the sands, a humming noise echoed from the desert beyond.
The snipers immediately took aim, awaiting the orders of Chief U'Kaghho. Approaching them rapidly is a train of long flying machines. U'Kaghho looks closer, using a pair of binoculars he had obtained in a trade with another tribe. At the head of the train rides a familiar, heavily burned face. The Stranger from the Great Maw has returned! Raising his hand, U'Kaghho signals the snipers to stand down, as he strides over to greet this friend of his Tribe's.
As he sees the Chief of the I'Ka Tuskens approaching, Boba promptly parks and dismounts the speeder bikes he had strung together with a rope borrowed from Tosche Station. Standing before U'Kaghho, Boba smiles respectfully.
"I am back," he begins to sign and speak. "With a gift for the Tribe."
Clank, bang, clank, bang! The sound of crashing metal echoes from behind Boba. Turning around, the son of Jango witnesses the Tuskens viciously bashing on the lead bike with their gaderffii sticks. They intended to destroy.
"Wait! No! Stop!" Boba quickly shouted at them.
These Tuskens got the message from Fett's tone alone and looked to him.
"I will teach you how to ride them," he explained, signing in their language as well.
The Tuskens looked at him, each with cocked heads. One even tried to continue dismantling the speeder bike. Boba turned to U'Kaghho.
"Why destroy the gift?" he asked and signed, seeking clarity.
"Our ancestors used such machines," explained U'Kaghho, calmly gesturing. "But they disrespected the land. The gods allowed a race of demonic builders from the sky to destroy the world as punishment. These machines remind us of our forebears."
"But you respect the land," argued Boba, carefully explaining via sign as well as speech. "I can teach you to use my gifts without disrespecting the land. And I know I can teach you. Because you and your Tribe respect the land. And I respect all of your Tribe."
U'Kaghho paused, stroking his chin. To Boba, it seemed the Chief had never thought about whether one could both respect the land and use advanced technologies before.
He replied in sign, "You make a good point, Stranger from the Great Maw. But why do we need these machines?"
Boba stepped forward, readying his hands to make the point clear. "This is how we stop the train," he explained, while putting his hands together to sign "stop".
U'Kaghho tapped his staff; this plan was approved. Boba turned to the Tuskens. They were ready to stand up to the off-worlders and fight back.
By the time the twin suns had climbed to their peak, towering above the vast, shifting sands of Tatooine, Boba had prepared and fixed up a speeder bike, the one the Tuskens attacked to be exact, to be used in a demonstration to the nomadic warriors, about five of whom were lined up, including A'Garrha. Even A'Kagri watched from a distance behind her fellow tribesmen, though she still seemed reserved with the Stranger from the Great Maw after her brother was killed.
The bike was about five meters in length, much of it composed of the blaster cannons that ended with a durasteel covering that bore the symbol of the Kintan Striders, though Boba had elected to scratch three diagonal marks into it, making the bikes that of the I'Ka tribe rather than the Nikto gang's. The main body of the bike was little more than exposed engines and machinery, partly covered by plates of durasteel. Controlling the contraption, were a pair of handles that could be thrusted forward or backward.
Boba mounted on the seat and, looking at the five Tuskens, moved his hands forward, as if thrusting the handles of the speeder bike.
"This makes it go," explained Boba, before giving the sign for "go".
He pulls his hands back, saying and signing, "This makes it stop."
As a young male Tusken, fiddled with the foot platforms of the bike, Boba repeated himself in both sign and speech.
"Go, stop," he explained, moving his hands forward and back.
A'Garrha and the other Tuskens cocked their heads, ever so slightly, though A'Garrha seemed to have a better grasp than the others by the way she nodded.
Boba began rocking up and down, grinning as he said, "Like a Bantha! Yes?"
All the Tuskens began nodding as well. They understood. Boba dismounted and stepped aside, pointing his hand at the bike, offering a Tusken to get on. A young male volunteered, confidently climbing onto the bike, his head held high. Boba repeated the gesture of "go" and "stop", before the young male twisted the handles of the speeder bike. However, forgetting to thrust forward, the young male was sent rocketing backwards with the bike into the vast desert beyond. Boba sighed and ran after his volunteer.
When Boba led the Tuskens on their first speeder bike round, it was apparent that they were going to struggle. As he looked behind his right shoulder, he saw a male Tusken adjusting a lever on the handles, causing the bike to growl and vibrate. Quickly, the male readjusted the lever to its original position. Looking to his left shoulder, he saw A'Garrha accidentally knock the tip of her bike into the sands. So even she, greatest warrior of the I'Ka tribe of Tuskens, had trouble. Meanwhile, Boba noticed A'Kagri carefully eyeing them the entire time.
As for the next lesson, Boba knew the Tuskens would need to be able to jump in order to get onto the Pyke's train, or even to just escape death by getting onto another's bike. As he and the Tuskens rode again, he gestured at a Tusken from A'Garrha's bike to jump onto his. The Tusken leapt with a majestic grace. By contrast his landing was as unceremonious as could be, with the Tusken bouncing right off Boba's bike and crashing into the sands.
At least he didn't end up in a sarlacc's maw, Boba quipped in his head.
Next, Boba went to the Chief's tent, hoping to teach A'Kagri how to signal using a small mirror he found at Tosche Station. He only found Chief U'Kaghho and ended up teaching the Tusken leader instead, showing how the light of the suns could be reflected to create flashes.
Suits a leader to give the signals, Boba noted.
As Boba went on with training the I'Ka tribe, they grew better and better. Their landings soon began to match the grace of their leaps, though one time, a Tusken somehow fell off after making a perfect landing. During the next phase, he explained that the train would go far faster than their current pace, hitting the accelerator. He was sitting with A'Garrha, when his action made them suddenly blast forward into the desert.
During their final lesson, Boba was getting several successful leaps, when A'Kagri finally approached him. Suffocating tension began to strangle his heart, when he recalled U'Karrhmo's death.
"I'm sorry," he began to apologize and sign, solemnly. "I would ha-"
"Let me learn to avenge," A'Kagri signed, interrupting him. "It wasn't your fault."
Boba's eyes briefly widened before he grinned. However, he then questioned the safety of having a child use a speeder bike on such a dangerous endeavor. But then again, Jango had allowed him to do far more dangerous missions when he was even younger than A'Kagri, who was about ten standard years in age, based on their previous conversations.
"Alright," he affirmed, signing in conjunction. "But you sit with me."
A'Kagri accepted this answer with an affirming nod.
Soon after this, Boba began practicing his forms with A'Garrha again, both twisting their staffs. While he was able to defeat a bunch of Nikto thugs with the same grace as she had defeated him, such thugs were no match for even a junior Tusken warrior, let alone a full-fledged one. Together practicing with them was A'Kagri, who was wielding a staff more akin to Boba's training weapon, rather than her small twig, which was passed down to a younger child instead.
A'Garrha then gave a challenge stance, leading the two to engage each other in another mock duel. Holding his staff lightly but firmly, Boba flowed with the movement of his staff as he engaged the senior warrior. Parrying her strikes with the grace of a rushing river, he began to wear down her defenses.
Yet Boba kept his guard up, as he knew she was prone to faking him out. However, A'Garrha's grip was still firm, signalling to him that this was no trick, Catching the spiked club end of her gaderffii stick with his smooth, rounded club, Boba flipped the weapon out of her hands and lightly pushed her in the chest in the small opening he created. She stumbled backwards before regaining her footing. A'Garrha caught her staff and offered her hand to Boba, who shook it. He had finally moved to the next phase of his training.
As Boba prepared to continue sparring with A'Garrha, the boisterous bellow of an I'Ka watchman echoed through the camp. Everyone, from the gatherers to the warriors to the herders, turned their gaze to the watchman, who continued to cry out. Those Pyke snakes had returned on their train. It was time to fight.
As Boba and the others rushed to the speeder bikes, several Tuskens grabbed and passed cycler rifles amongst each other, ready to supply backup to the mounted warriors, as others got the youngest children and banthas to safety. A'Kagri scrambled to join Boba, but her father, Chief U'Kaghho, stepped in her path, stopping on his way to provide signals. She looked to him, only to get an affirming nod. This was her rite of passage as a warrior.
As Boba, A'Garrha, and eight other Tuskens swiftly mounted the bikes, armed with gaderffii sticks, his eyes darted around, searching for A'Kagri, who was to ride with him. Fortunately, the young Tusken girl joined him quickly, getting seated behind him. He smiled at her, imagining how his father had always smiled at him on their Firespray-class gunship, that Jango had called Slave I.
The team fired up their bike engines, as the gunners took aim from behind the sand dunes. Boba looked to A'Garrha and the rest of the Tusken crew, before looking to U'Kaghho, who flashed the mirror at them. They were ready to attack and went blasting off into the desert.
Sitting on his chair in the engine room like a throne, a red-robed, leather-armored Pyke captain wearing a small golden mask, Yuaq Tolsite, had been tasked by his superiors in the spaceport of Mos Eisley and the obsidian palaces of Oba Diah to lead the shipment of sansanna spice to the Pyke refinery built into the side of a canyon, deep in the vast deserts of Tatooine. His family were no stranger to the rougher jobs of the Syndicate; in fact, his older brother, Quay, once worked in the notorious mines of Kessel, brutally working slaves until they met their pitiful doom.
Taking a snort of spice from a small metal tube, spraying the rust-colored dust of the drug into the surrounding air, the thin, gangly train captain chuckled and slowly turned to the train's gunners. They were lanky, with thin frames, three fingers, and oversized, greenish grey to brown heads each wearing a circular mask over their tiny faces. On each side of their heads were two small crests and beside their chins were two elongated breathing tubes, stained a rusty brown color with spice. Yuaq looked similar as well, being a Pyke himself.
"We are crossing the Dune Sea!" Yuaq called with his smooth, silky, yet menacing voice. "Prepare to fire upon those savages! They will not stop the spice! Heheheheh!"
The Pyke gunners all roared with laughter, ready to fire upon their Tusken game, as Yuaq pressed a button on the train's holographic communicator. He needed to make a call with one of the Pykes'- contacts.
"Yes, what is your business?" asked the formal voice of a female.
"Pyke Hovertrain TN-8113, transporting the Spice as planned," he answered. "You will send us help in case anything were to happen, right?"
"Of course," replied the woman. "And, I apologize for your brother. It was simply business. He had no worth to me."
"Right," hissed Yuaq. "You're lucky I'm no Fife or Marg Krim. If so, I would have had your head on a wall for that-"
Bang! The train trembled violently, cutting out communications and nearly knocking Yuaq off his chair.
Moments ago, Tusken snipers and Pyke gunners were exchanging fire, as Boba and the crew blasted over a wave of sand in the Dune Sea on their way to attack the train. Rushing towards the train, he took note of the shower of blaster fire raining upon them from the serpentine vehicle. Soon enough, a bike carrying two Tusken riders, was blasted away into the sands. He had nine members of his crew left, including himself. When was Chief U'Kaghho going to signal his men?
Within seconds, he caught sight of several Tusken sniper blasts issuing from the dunes. These beams struck several Pykes with an accuracy honed by years of hunting in the harsh sands. As Boba's crew lined up with the train, he gave them a brief hand signal. Catching sight of this, they hurl grappling hooks into the air, with them quickly embedding into the thick metal walls of the train. Boba watched a Tusken behind him climb the ropes in an attempt to take the fight to the train, only to be shot down by a Pyke. Seven members left. Seething with grief, then rage, Boba backed up his and A'Kagri's speeder bike and opened fire using the cannons, blasting the Pyke away and rattling the train.
Though most would have been knocked off by this blast, the Tusken attack force, some of the I'Ka tribe's finest youths, ended up making it to the top of the train. A'Kagri too attempted to scale the Pyke train, having climbed over on the rope path Boba had provided, only to have her throat caught in the vice-like grip of a Pyke's three long, spindly fingers.
"NO!" cried Boba, desperately hurling an extra grappling hook.
The hook flew through the eye-plate of the Pyke's mask, piercing his light red eye and into his brain, killing him instantly. The literally string-eyed Pyke immediately dropped A'Kagri who immediately clung onto the side of the train. Boba rode over to her, grabbing her by the arm and swiftly getting his young friend back onto the speeder bike. Another Pyke then blasted the engine of Fett's bike, causing it to erupt into sparks and then embers. They needed to get off.
Boba looked to A'Kagri, signalling her to hold on to his back. Grabbing the rope, coming out of the Pyke's eye, he leapt with his friend as the speeder bike burst into several fiery pieces. They landed gracefully on the side of the train cart, getting a grip on its metallic edge. Another Pyke looked to his fallen comrade, head slumped out of the open window, gasping at the sight of a rope coming out of the dead Pyke's eye. Soon enough, he felt a club of wood hooked around his neck and he too was out the window. Within minutes, Boba and A'Kagri joined the other Tuskens at the roof of the train.
Staggering to get his footing, Boba looked to A'Kagri, helping her up.
"You stay behind," he told her.
She grunted in protest.
"You may be killed!" he argued back, signing.
"I have to avenge my brother," she countered. "I can't forgive these off-worlder scum!"
Before Boba could speak, the words of that Jedi, Mace Windu, echoed through his head.
"You're going to have to," the Jedi had told young Boba coldly, in response to being denied forgiveness over the murder of Jango.
Boba could not repeat those same words to A'Kagri.
Turning to face the engine, Boba roared out a cry of battle and led all the Tuskens, A'Kagri included, in a charge to the front of the train, gracefully jumping the gaps between the carts. A Pyke popped his oversized head out of a hatch in the roof only to be picked up by the shot of one of the Tuskens, using a cycler rifle. As another Pyke popped out, Boba swiftly knocked him off with his training staff. The party mowed through the coming Pykes, swiping, bashing, and kicking them out of the way. As they leapt to the next train, three Pykes, blasters held in their long spindly fingers, popped up and began to open fire rapidly. They struck one of the Tuskens in the chest, as Boba and the others took cover. How would they get out of this?
Meanwhile, A'Garrha was still on her bike, speeding alongside the train. She soon caught sight of the firefight on the roof of the train. Thinking as fast as any survivor of Tatooine's deserts, the senior warrior turned her bike and thrust it forward, rocketing right at the side of the train. Leaping off and grabbing the side of the train, A'Garrha watched as the speederbike made a fiery crash into the side of the train, cracking some of the connectors, though failing to sever them.
Back in the engine room, Yuaq took notice, giving a growl. He then began quickly turning a few knobs and twisting a few handles, before turning up the acceleration by pushing forward on a lever. The Pyke captain cackled as the ion engines began to heat up, glowing with blue light, and enormous amounts of heat blasted out of the turbine on top. The train jetted forward at an even greater pace.
Though the rapid acceleration created a whiplash that almost tore off A'Garrha's arms and sent the entire crew flying off the roof, they held on, fueled only by their sheer determination. A'Garrh soon began to climb ferociously towards a door, grasping it and shoving it open. Boba watched this from the top, watching as several Pykes were sent hurtling into the sands below, as she made her way down the narrow halls of the train. Soon enough the Pyke gunners giving the group trouble were dragged back into the train and A'Garrha's familiar dreadlock-surrounded metal mask popped up instead, followed by her shoulders. Boba, A'Kagri, and a third Tusken began to rush forward.
They were still going! Yuaq snarled with anger as he fiddled with more knobs, adjusting the speed to its maximum pace and pushed a lever.
Back on the roof, Boba noticed the engine radiating with a brilliant blue light, as he and A'Kagri's third Tusken companion leapt in front of the engine turbine.
"Watch out!" cried Boba.
It was too late. The Tusken was charred and sent flying, as the train rocketed forward. Boba attempted to grab the Tusken, as did A'Kagri, but were hopelessly short in reach. They looked at his flying corpse and then at each other. Again, their gaze delivered the message without the need for speech or hand signals: Not another Tribesman!
As the train rocketed by a vast herd of Banthas, Boba and A'Kagri, both instilled with a blind fury, charged forward. As several more Pykes popped out and climbed onto the roof, they beat and stabbed each with their training staffs. Soon though, the Pykes grew to outnumber the pair.
As the Pykes prepared to hurl the two off to their doom, A'Garrha took notice and began to fight her way to the pair, knocking down several Pyke Guards. Such graceful flow, Boba thought as he watched her fight. He needed to fight as well! With renewed energy, Boba and A'Kagri continued their fight, swinging their staffs into several Pykes, sending them hurtling into a sandy grave. However, a Pyke was able to pin Boba down, pushing on his training staff. He looked at the turbine of the engine, which was beginning to glow a brighter blue. Thinking fast, he kicked the Pyke into the air- and into the line of the engine's thruster.
"Duck!" he cried to A'Kagri.
As she did so, the turbine blasted with a brilliant blue light, scorching the Pyke and sending him soaring into the desert, as the same engine had done to their fallen tribesman. Boba plummeted with A'Kagri towards the desert floor as well. However, instead of crashing into the desert sands, Boba was able to grab onto the railing at the side of the tank engine. A'Kagri quickly grabbed onto Boba's leg and climbed onto the railing, offering him a hand. Taking it, he climbed to his feet. They looked to one another one more time before rushing towards the front
In the engine room, Yuaq was roaring and hissing with fury, as equipment began to smolder and smoke, sparks flying everywhere. The room was full of the sounds of the alarm and the crackle of failing machinery. Desperately trying to adjust the knob, he was caught unaware when two intruders burst into the engine room through a side window, shattering it.
"Stop the train!" ordered Boba, pointing the spiked tip of his gaderffii stick at Yuaq's throat.
A'Kagri rushed behind Yuaq, pointing her stick at his back. They had outnumbered him. Looking once at the console and then at his two attackers, Yuaq quickly grabbed a blaster and quickly pointed it at his throat. Before he could pull the trigger, Boba bashed the Pyke captain in his oversized skull with enough force to knock him out, yet not enough to kill. A'Kagri needed her vengeance.
The problem? The train was rushing at top speed to who knows where. Whenever it reached its destination, the train would crash. Boba looked out the window to witness the top engine erupt into flames, metal plates hurtling away. He frantically tried adjusting with every little knob, handle, or button on the control console, yet nothing changed. He then tried pulling the brake lever, utilizing every single bit of strength worthy of both the Tuskens and his father. However, as the train rocketed forward, the lever got jammed.
Looking to A'Kagri, she offered him his training staff. Nodding, he shoved it into the gap between the lever and its holder, lodging it so he could pull. No- so they could pull. Together, Boba and A'Kagri grabbed the training staff and pulled with all their might.
A second past.
Then another
Then a third.
Then a fourth.
Then, the engine's brilliant blue light began to dim. Within a few more seconds, it had faded. Boba and A'Kagri braced themselves as the train tipped slightly and collapsed into the sands, driving up what seemed like a sandstorm's worth of dust from inside the engine room. As the train came to a screeching halt and the dust settled, Boba looked out the window, seeing A'Garrha, the other Tusken, and two more on speeder bikes arriving to park next to the engine room. Of the original crew of eleven, at least they had six survivors. Soon enough, Boba looked further to see the others of the Tribe rushing from beyond the rocky, desert landscape to claim the spoils of this battle, such as more advanced blasters and other useful pieces of equipment. They had won.
"Which one of you is second-in-command?!" Boba inquired of the surviving Pykes, all seated, surrounded by Tusken warriors.
Taking a sip from a black melon, Boba sat on a few crates like a leader on his throne, A'Kagri by his right hand, as if she were the heir. The two were flanked by Tuskens and A'Garrha, who held the Pyke Captain hostage in front of A'Kagri.
A Pyke wearing a reddish-brown mask stood up.
"I am," he answered, his voice smooth, silky yet with a cold tone. "But you already have our leader, Yuaq Tolsite, so why ask?"
Boba's gaze pierced through the mask of the Pyke second-in-command, causing him to shake a little.
"Did you order the attack on this Tribe?" Boba asked, calmly, though threateningly.
"You have the wrong Pyke," answered the second-in-command, his voice quivering. "Yuaq always gives the orders. He is the leader of this operation."
Boba prompting turned around, heading to A'Kagri, who had been holding A'Garrha's gaderffii stick. He nodded at her, prompting the young Tusken to stand up, dragging the senior warrior's heavier staff as she did. Moving his gaze to the Pyke Captain, he ripped off Yuaq's gilded mask, revealing the Pyke's undersized face. Yuaq's eyes were cloudy and a psychedelically light red, like something straight out of a spice trip. His mouth was stained a rusty brown with spice, just like his breathing tubes. The Pyke's nostrils, openings to an internal sensory organ, were slit-like and snake-like, flattened against his face.
Boba gave A'Kagri a gentle hand signal, and she responded by hoisting A'Garrha's gaderffii stick into the air. The Chief's daughter then brought down the clubbed end of the staff upon the Pyke captain's head with as much force as possible for a child. Yuaq Tolsite briefly screamed in terror, before he collapsed to the ground, rivers of yellow blood oozing from a gaping hole in his over-sized skull. A'Kagri had her vengeance.
Turning back to Yuaq's second-in-command, Boba answered his initial question, "Because you are now the leader."
The now-leader of the Pyke crew swallowed nervously and tentatively reached his hands towards his reddish-brown mask, removing it to reveal his spice-stained face. Boba sized up the new leader with his eyes alone.
"Are you going to kill us?" the Pyke leader inquired. "As you killed our Captain."
"Depends on how you answer," Boba replied coldly.
The Pyke leader took a deep inhale through his long breathing tubes.
"Are you carrying spice?" Boba tersely asked.
"What do you mean by 'spice'?" the Pyke leader feigned ignorance.
"Sansanna spice from the slave mines of Kessel," Boba clarified, almost growling in his tone.
"I am unsure," replied the Pyke leader. "Our Captain knew the answer. But your little friend killed him."
Plunk! A few Tuskens dropped a crate, causing a cloud sparkling, rusty brown dust to blow out into the winds. That was spice.
"This doesn't look for you," Boba noted, sipping from the black melon and then offering it to A'Kagri.
The Pyke leader shifted around, before composing himself.
"We thought you and your friends were uncivilized raiders," he explained, coldly. "We were trying to protect our route. On Captain's orders, of course."
Boba stood up, giving the Pyke leader and his crew an unwavering, intense glare that caused them all to shake.
"These sands are no longer free for you to pass," Boba explained, with a snarl. "These people lay ancestral claim to the Dune Sea. And they have for time immemorial. If you are to pass, a toll is to be paid to them."
He stepped even closer, his stride calm and in control.
"Any death dealt by passing freighters will be returned tenfold," he continued. "Now go back to your Syndicate with these terms. Your lives are a gesture of our civility."
The Pyke nodded nervously.
"Now walk," he commanded. "Single file in the direction of the high sun, you shall reach Anchorhead by sunset, if you leave now."
"But we'll be killed," protested the Pyke. "We'll die of thirst without our water cart."
"You travel under the protection of the Tuskens," Boba assured, though not with warmth. "We'll give each of you a black melon. You'll survive on its milk as these people do. Now go."
He gestured at the direction of the twin suns in the distant desert; it was time for the Pykes to leave. Seeing the ferocity of the Stranger from the Great Maw, the spice-dealing syndicate members chose to follow his command.
Boba then looked proudly at Chief U'Kaghho, who had joined the fray. Suddenly, the sound of rushing water caught everyone. A few Tuskens had burst open the plug on the train's water cart. Soon, all the warriors were bringing looted buckets to the makeshift fountain, gathering this lifeblood of the desert. Boba looked at A'Kagri, then both looked at her father. He nodded proudly. They had done well.
A frigid gale pierced through the night, as Boba sat with A'Kagri, Chief U'Kaghho, A'Garrha, and other Tuskens under his tent around a warm, toasty campfire. A Tusken shut the tent to protect the tribe from the wind, as U'Kaghho began to tell their people's history by sign and grunts.
"There are many different Tusken tribes," he explained. "Since the oceans dried, when the Builders destroyed the Old World, we all have become Riders upon the Sands. When the off-worlders came, those like us stayed hidden. Other tribes survived by killing."
Boba watched U'Kaghho shudder when signing the next part of the story, stopping as if he were considering withholding this section from the Stranger from the Great Maw.
"And some tribes have become downright barbaric," he signed.
Fett widened his eyes. Never before did he ever imagine hearing such a loaded word coming from the hands of a Tusken Raider, who many across the Galaxy already considered "barbaric", though Boba of course knew otherwise.
"What do you mean?" he asked.
"There was once a Tribe that interacted much with outsiders," explained U'Kaghho, "Though they were traitors to our people, they were still peaceful. However, when a Tusken stranger came into their midst, this all changed. This stranger spoke of a black-armored demon of the off-worlders with a blood-red blade and dark powers. The leading shaman of the tribe, a wicked sorcerer, heard this and believed the demon to be a god and began to worship it in the most vile ways."
U'Kaghho shuddered.
"He now leads his clan, the Demon Tribe, in raids against other Tuskens," he continued. "Takes the boys to be sacrificed to his false god of the off-worlders and the girls-"
U'Kaghho looked at A'Kagri and wrapped his arm around her, keeping his daughter close. He did not need to continue for Boba to get the idea.
"The Demon Tribe would never exist without those off-worlders," U"Kaghho concluded. "And we would never hide."
Boba looked at each of the Tuskens solemnly.
"You shouldn't have to hide," he declared, signing. "You are warriors."
U'Kaghho looked to Boba, briefly considering this thought.
"The off-worlders have machines," he replied, shaking his head.
"You too have machines now," gently retorted Boba, before he began picking up individual piles of sand and pouring them. "And you know every grain of sand in the Dune Sea."
Nodding in gratitude, U'Kaghho picked up a small, well woven, basket with intricate wave-like designs, symbolizing Tatooine's lost oceans, and offered it to Boba, explaining, "I have a gift for you."
Boba's eyes lit up with intrigue.
"You are a good guide, Stranger from the Great Maw," explained the Tusken Chief. "Now this gift will guide you, from within your head."
Boba opens the basket, discovering a small legless lizard with unblinking eyes and a pointed snout, the size of A'Kagri's little finger, which made the tiniest little squeaks, as it flicked its tongue in and out. Fett looked to U'Kaghho, ready to thank him, when the chief threw dust into his eyes, causing the lizard to be startled. The tiny, limbless creature quickly scampered up Fett's mouth and down his throat. Soon, the warrior started to experience a throbbing pain in his skull. Coughing and groaning, Boba's vision began to blur the images of U'Kaghho, A'Kagri, and A'Garrha, as his world began to spin. The voices of the Tribe began to echo as well, as a ringing began to pierce his eardrum.
The next moment, Boba had found himself wandering in the desert night. It would have normally been freezing, but his head throbbed so much that he couldn't even focus upon the cold. Panting as he stumbled across the desert, Boba briefly saw flashes of oceans, as he imagined himself morphing into his armored form. Collapsing to the ground, he weakly looks up, catching sight of a leafless tree on a lone island in the middle of a turbulent, stormy ocean, moonlight filtering through thick clouds.
Giving several heavy, labored breaths, Boba walked towards the leafless tree. Looking into its branches, he saw the red, beady eyes of several Jawas, chattering amongst themselves, as they watched him from the branches. Soon enough, the branches of the tree wormed their way around him, strangling the Stranger from the Great Maw, as the sarlacc's tendrils once had. Reaching for help, Boba witnessed flashes of his past, from being strangled by the sarlacc to being held back by a Jedi Master, as Aurra Sing abandoned him.
Eventually, he came to the image of him gazing into the t-visor of his father, Jango's, helmet. Then came a flash to the halls of a city on the turbulent ocean world of Kamino. Boba is rushing to the window, as his father flies away on Slave I, leaving him alone in the halls. As the branches tighten, images of his triumphant rise climb out of the sands besides the sarlacc's maw sped through his mind. He was not defeated. With a triumphant cry, Boba snapped one of the branches binding him, breaking free of the tree's grasp, the turbulent waters roaring, as he did so.
By morning, A'Kagri's massiff is lying down beside its master, who is fidgeting with a bucket, anxiously awaiting both her rite of passage hair-letting ceremony and more importantly, the return of her friend, the Stranger from the Great Maw. The massiff's thick scale eyes open and it immediately stands up. A'Kagri takes notice and quickly looks into the distance. A silhouette appears from the searing desert air. The Stranger has returned! A'Kagri calls out to her tribe, catching all their attention, leading them to call out. She and her massiff rush to greet him.
Boba Fett staggers into the camp, hoisting the branch he broke off from the tree, exhausted from a night of trekking through the desert. There to greet him are A'Kagri, A'Garrha, and Chief U'Kaghho.
"Show me the branch," U'Kaghho requests.
Boba nods and does so. The Chief inspects it. The branch is of a good length, about 1.2 meters. It is aso of a good girth, the width of a polearm weapon. U'Kaghho nods, as Boba hands the staff to A'Garhha, panting. He then walks into the Tusken tent, eyes shut, together with A'Kagri.
Within the tent, Boba is stripped of his jumpsuit, his waist and legs wrapped in a black Tusken kilt and loincloth. The Tusken robers first wrap his acid-burned torso in a sheet of dark cloth, going over his shoulders, then around his biceps. The Tuskens then wrap long bands of cloth around his forearms and around his neck, before cloaking him and covering the top of his head with its hood.
Boba opens his eyes and turns to A'Kagri, who had been undergoing a similar ritual, the rewrapping of her head-cloth to expose her hair; this was a sign of maturity in the I'Ka Tribe's culture. He sees that she has a mane of curly dark brown waist-length locks that seem to be almost human in structure. Her head-cloth, now rewrapped, resembles a turban, held together by her brother's pin, which now designates her as heir to the I'Ka tribe's chief, her father.
The two emerge from the tent, now new individuals, facing their proud tribe, who give several bellowing cheers for their new beginning. Taking off his hood, Boba walks with A'Kagri, as they march with dignity across the desert. They soon arrive at the massive remains of an ancient ship, two banthas in height and half of a semicircle shape. There A'Garrha and a Tusken smith await Boba, who is ready to forge his own gaderffii stick.
Approaching A'Garrha, Boba is handed his branch, which he in turn hands to the smith, bowing reverently. The smith sets the branch on his table and hacks away at the excess branch with a metal knife. Grabbing a simple, yet beautifully carved saw, the smith demonstrates to Boba how to refine the branch into a gaderffii stick. Boba sawed strips of the branch away and hammered flakes from his stick for hours, shaping it into his weapon. He would work with the smith to scrape and chisel designs onto the branch, until he was satisfied with the product.
Attaching strips of metal and smelting the staff into a makeshift oven, the smith reinforced the wooden core of the staff before forging a metal spike that slid into a hole on the bottom of the staff. Boba then broke off metal plates, which he fastened to the metal spike to place into the end of the metal spike, as part of the propeller-esque design. Lifting the staff one more time, Boba slid his staff into the fire, forging it into completion. Looking to A'Garrha and then A'Kagri, Boba proudly showed off his handiwork: a completed bronze-colored gaderffii stick.
That night, Boba and his two companions return to the camp, where the entire tribe is sitting around a blazing campfire. Twirling the staff proudly, he allows them to see the full length of it, all 1.1 meters of weapon. U'Kaghho nods proudly, as do A'Kagri, A'Garrha and everyone else. As a drummer pounds an upbeat tune out of his instrument, Boba and A'Garrha give their ready stances, with A'Kagri standing beside Boba's flank. They then twirl their staffs, Boba's and A'Garrha's completed, with A'Kagri's being wooden. Soon, the other Tuskens join in, as they all begin to march around the fire, twirling and thrusting their gaderffii sticks once in a while. Boba and his tribe begin to yell booming chants to the rhythm of the drumming, as they make their rounds.
Now a full member of the I'Ka Tribe, Boba Fett is no longer the Stranger from the Great Maw. He is now the Warrior from the Great Maw.
Author's Note:
Hello again,
I hope your weeks are going very well and that you have enjoyed the second Chapter of my reimagining of The Book of Boba Fett. This was such a fun chapter to write, with the train scene being the highlight, as it was probably for most watchers of the show. I also hope you are enjoying my take on Boba Fett and the expanded humanization of the Tuskens; they actually have names now. And yes, I redesigned the Pykes to be more in line with their The Clone Wars counterparts (aside from turning their noses into that of Voldemort's), which I hope the TCW fans among you will appreciate.
Additionally, as mentioned at the start of the book, I am a close friend (in-person) of fellow writer, LP Marcus Writes Fanfiction, who publishes on this same site. As a close friend, I would like to recommend his work to all of you, not just because he is my friend, but also because he is an excellent writer with a lot of experience. His work includes the Legends-timeline Illumination Trilogy (his magnum opus set centuries after Return of the Jedi, about a Jedi civil war) and Clone Wars-era Scorcher's Chronicles, detailing the adventures of a diverse unit of the GAR, comprised of both Clones and Volunteer forces, as they make their way through the prequels' seminal conflict. Go check him out, he is on my favorite author's list.
Lastly, I will continue the tradition of highlighting an easter egg, hidden in my text, for discussion. Last week's was about me dissing George Lucas for the "Han shot First" debacle (Han was the only one to shoot), through having Boba remember Pantoran Chairman Papanoida's (played by Lucas himself) insisting on Han being self-defensive against Greedo. Hope you enjoyed that fun reference!
As for this week, there is a KOTOR reference buried somewhere in the text of this chapter. I hope you enjoy it!
Thanks again for the unprecedented support guys!
Best wishes,
-Benedict Sky