“What th-!”

<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> Pscheew! Pseew, pseew!<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->

Red lightning seemed to shoot from Hyuuk’s hand, and the three joyriders fell dead in their seats, a single hole in each of them where the blaster bolt had penetrated. With little effort, Hyuuk and Uraak managed to relieve the laden landspeeder of its three illegal passengers, dumping their bodies on the side of the road.

“Tracker,” Hyuuk, a minimally higher rank than Uraak, ordered his companion, as he sat down behind the controls and revved the landspeeder up to full speed, racing through the quiet, early morning city streets.

Uraak wordlessly reached into his coat, retrieving a small data screen that was tracking the <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> Klakkon<!--EZCODE ITALIC END--> some distance away. He handed it to Hyuuk after taking a short glance, and then proceeded to dump the landspeeder’s contents over the side, spilling stolen datapads, and merchandise untidily on the street, in much the same way they had the bodies.

The speeder was now considerably lighter, having only the two Elite riding it and no cargo, it zoomed out of the city gates at such a high speed that Uraak doubted anyone had seen it leave at all. He turned around to get a better look, seeing to his relief that there was no activity back in the area they had fled.

His eyes then focused forward again, taking in the surroundings, and Hyuuk working the controls.

“Left a bit,” he uttered, seeing the erratic course change as soon as it happened. Hyuuk flicked the controls to the side an inch, then levelled off and glanced quickly at the tracker, checking that he was now on the correct course. He adjusted a bit further, and then turned his eyes forward again, scanning the landscape for any signs of their stolen TIE.

The pair sped on through the rising sun quickly, and for a few moments the ride was all but eventful.

It was Hyuuk this time, though, who spotted the change in the <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> Klakkon’s<!--EZCODE ITALIC END--> course.

“It’s stopped...” He said, the words turning Uraak’s head to face the device. “ETA?”

Uraak noticed he had turned his attention back to the forward view, scanning ever more furiously with his eyes for a visual lock on their prey. He did a few quick, mental calculations, then reported simply.

“Five minutes, give or take.”

As the sun grew higher, the pair sped on.

----------

“I said I wouldn’t hurt you, if...” Talus wheezed, steadying himself on the ceiling of the cockpit with a hand, reaching out to Terolyn with the other. “...you didn’t make me.”

She couldn’t read any emotions from the metallic voice that replaced Talus’ real speech, but could tell just by the sight of him that the oxygen depletion was definitely getting to him. He drew in a long, hard breath, trying to draw as much oxygen as he could from the air.

Terolyn threw a quick glance to the side. The in-ship sensors showed a 2% oxygen consistency in the air, something that would be seriously taking it’s toll on her if the breathing mask did not wrap her face. The lack of breathable air, mixed with the after effects of the sedative, would have knocked her out long before now, she knew.

The nausea was now almost fully taking over, and she suddenly felt herself falling helplessly into unconsciousness.

There was a pulling on her arm, and she felt that dark edge again as the blaster she had taken from Uraak flew from her hand.

“This...isn’t...yours...” Each word came separately, as Talus took breath after breath of air in between. Hoping desperately, she willed him to black out before her, to fall to the ground and lie dead whilst she waited out this horrible felling in the pit of her stomach, breathing relatively clean air through the mask she wore.

No such luck.

Vaguely, she saw Talus standing over her. He swayed on his feet, but was able to remain upright, even though he was bent almost double in what to him should have seemed cramped quarters. Being an expert Interceptor pilot had trained him to fit into tight spaces, though, and all that was worrying Talus now was the sense that any second he would take a breath, and draw no oxygen from it.

He dropped the blaster then, using both hands to steady himself as he moved away from Terolyn, and taking care to not let the weapon land anywhere near her. He stumbled over to a console a short distance from where Terolyn was, and punched in some commands, before letting out what Terolyn could only guess was a groan of defeat, and falling flat on his back, out cold from oxygen depletion.

As she watched his motionless body, Terolyn herself felt suddenly overcome with the pains of nausea. She had been fighting the sedative since she awoke, but now it came back, full throttle, seeping into her mind and willing it to sleep.

Both Terolyn and Talus lay in the cockpit, neither dead, neither awake. Both would soon be the latter, though, and within seconds of each other. It was just a matter of who arose first.

On the sensor readout, oxygen consistency measured at 3%, and rising.

----------

“There!” Uraak called out, pointing for emphasis at the fire that loomed ever closer. His hopes that it was the stolen Interceptor soon diminished, though, as the shear magnitude of the flames racked his mind, and anger overcame him as he saw the charred hull of the <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> Klakkon<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->, lying lifeless in the desert.

[[Lord, the <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> Klakkon<!--EZCODE ITALIC END--> has been destroyed!]] Uraak was quick to respond to the danger, and magnitude of the situation. However, the non-instantaneous lack of response disturbed him greatly. He suddenly found that he could not connect with Talus at all. Turning his head, he saw by the expression on Hyuuk’s face that it was not just him.

“Ysalamir?” Uraak asked.

“Probably, or worse...” Of course, ‘worse’ did not mean that Talus was dead. Knocked out, maybe, but not dead. He was their Lord, and he was all-powerful. He would not die.

Hyuuk was already signalling the <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> Carrion<!--EZCODE ITALIC END--> as he pulled the landspeeder to a halt, surveying the damage. There was no one in sight, but they were surrounded by sand dunes on all sides, and in these situations, eyes could not always be trusted.

Uraak unthinkingly made a scan for lifeforms, but turned up nothing.

“Perhaps the tyrant killed them and then crashed?” He pondered, more to himself than as a general question. It was obvious that he had not crashed. Just looking at the wreckage could tell Uraak that fact.

“No, look,” Hyuuk pointed to the solar wing panel, noting the ripping and deformation. Then he looked down and around, staring at the sand all around him.

“No, too windy,” Uraak and Hyuuk thought as one on occasion, this being one of those times. They were, of course, almost identical clones. Lord Talus had simply made some minor adjustments to Uraak’s facial features and personality, so that no one would suspect instantly by looking at them. This was why he always favoured Hyuuk to Uraak, they both knew, for he was still unsure weather or not Uraak’s brain had been damaged in the alteration.

It had not, however, Talus had found out long ago. He still favoured Hyuuk.

The Elite turned around slowly, searching for the possible direction the escapee had fled in. They had studied maps of the area before coming, even though the training exercise had not meant to be happening here. Talus could be spontaneous at times, they knew.

There were no rock outcroppings, shipwrecks, underground bunkers or caves for about another twenty kilometres, this was a fact. Logically, there could be only so many places the man could be hiding. All that covered the area was sand.

Sand, sand, and more sand.

Without speaking, both men settled back into the speeder, and Hyuuk kicked life back into it.

The <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> Klakkon<!--EZCODE ITALIC END--> had stopped moving seven minutes ago. There was only so far a walking man could travel out here, and Uraak’s scan had picked up no other vehicles or people in the area. Not even Tuskens.

Silent once more, the Elite began their search.

----------

The <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> Dawning Night<!--EZCODE ITALIC END--> had entered high orbit, and onboard, on of the pair was beginning to stir...

<!--EZCODE HTML START--> <font color="gray">


<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> "It's a fool's errand, Oman. Never travel the desert during the day and if you've got to travel it at night, where something warm.."<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->


Words that Oman had taken to heart from Cappy were now paying off.


He shifted his sweating body slightly and the sand felt almost as soft as a bed.

He had found a suitable dune, wrapped himself in the rubbery material, and slowly wormed his way into the sand.

Once convered, he could rest. Surprisingly, the sand underneath him was cold. The rubbery material would keep him warm and allow him needed time rest and collect his wits.

The wind blew overhead, and while enough sand covered him it still wasn't so much so as to keep him from feeling the Tatooine desert winds.


He heard the whine of an engine overhead once...and after a few minutes.. (perhaps 30), he heard it again.


<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> Search sweep...<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->


Soon, the craft was not heard at all..


<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> Hope they give up...<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->


His eyes closed and some time passed. He again started to stir after he thought whoever might be looking for him might have given up.


The night sky was still brilliant with starlight and as he stood up, shaking the sand off of him, he folded the rubbery material.


He looked around, picked a direction and started walking..


After a bit, he noticed some type of structures in the distance. Structures that shouldn't be there for any legitimate reasons.


He decided to investigate.</font><!--EZCODE HTML END-->

<font color = blue>The interior of the ship stopped spinning and slowly she lifted herself on her hands. Turquoise strands fell into her face, and for a brief moment Terolyn thought she had imagined everything. That is until she felt the weight of the breathing mask on her face and saw the Sith lying on the floor only inches away. She tucked the hair behind her ear as she sat up, never taking her eyes off Talus.

He didn’t appear to be conscious and she sighed in relief. Still wary, she watched him carefully as she rose to her feet. When he did not move, she chanced a quick look around. The oxygen readout was steadily rising and had reached a breathable level. Removing the breather she took a deep breath, dropping the mask into the chair beside her.

Talus had collapsed between her and the console, and the cramped cockpit left no room for her to move around him. Her tongue ran over her dry lips nervously and she drew her blaster from its holster on her hip, taking aim at the Sith. She nudged him in the side with her foot, comforted when he did not move.

She kept the blaster aimed at his head as she stepped over him and to the controls. Satisfied that he wasn’t getting up, she lowered the weapon and turned her attention to the console.

" RD, status."

‘Achieved elliptical orbit around Tatooine, life support operational, Hyperdrive engine and weapon controls off-line due to ricochet blaster fire, all other systems normal.’

She lowered her head, cursing under her breath.

" It had to be the Hyperdrive. Can you fix it?"

Terolyn’s head lifted to read the droids reply.

‘Necessary parts are available with ship supplies, zero gravity repairs inadvisable.’

She sighed again, glancing back at her unconscious passenger A thousand thoughts ran through her mind at the same time, though one more prominent than the others. He wanted something from her. A part of her was curious what a Sith could want from someone like her but another part, the sane part, knew better than to wait to find out what. He had said he wouldn’t hurt her if she didn’t make him, but she doubted that would not be the case when he woke.

" Inadvisable, but can it be fixed in zero G?"

‘Yes.’

" Then do it."

[i]Moving away from the console she stood next to Talus, staring down at him for a moment. He still had not moved.

She aimed the blaster at a spot between his eyes.....

------------------

On the outside hull of the Dawning Night, RD’s magnetic treads kept it from floating away from the ship. Its splicer and soldering iron worked meticulously to repair the short circuited Hyperdrive. The droids sensors were connected with the ships sensors, and even when it registered blaster fire within the ship it did not stop its repairs.

The lack of oxygen had, indeed, knocked Talus out, but his brain was far from shut down. On the contrary, he had known that he would be out of action for a few minutes, and had at the last second retreated to a place inside his brain where he could think, but not feel. There, he used up the oxygen reserves that his body had retained, and when the automatic parts of his body started to come online, breathing, for one thing, he had started to become more aware.

It was not one of those slow, groggy wake up calls that most people experienced as they arose from sleep, though.

No, Talus kept almost completely inside himself, until he was absolutely sure that he was ready, before snapping his eyes open.

It took less than a second for him to register the situation around him, and about double that amount of time for Terolyn to pull the trigger.

The bolt sped out at Talus, running true on it’s course, so close and so fast that the time between leaving the muzzle and impacting with a target would have taken less than a second.

Talus was faster.

Before the trigger had been squeezed, he had started to react. Talus’ leg went out first, contacting the side of the console with a resounding <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> clang<!--EZCODE ITALIC END--> which would evidentially wear away before the conflict was over. Using leverage from the foot, Talus then pushed himself around, pivoting on his tail and moving his head out of the way of the blaster bolt at the same time. In that same motion, we grabbed Terolyn’s leg with one foot, and yanked her to the floor beside him.

The blaster went down as well, spinning out of reach of both of them.

<!--EZCODE HTML START--> <font color="gray">


Oman trotted towards the structures gauging by the star alignments that the Capital city of Bestine was to the east.


<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> Pretty far to simply walk.<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->


He looked around at the black dunes...


<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> Tusken land..<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->


He was right.


<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> Moisture Farmer.... pretty far out.<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->


The entire place looked abandoned. He descending some steps which led into a tiny underground hall littered with open metal doors. Glancing into one room he winced.


<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> Slaver..<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->


He glanced warily around wondering where the slaves had gone.


Stepping back out onto the sand, he trotted over to the main house and found the entrance open.


As he entered he noted a broken gaderffii on the floor and a body across the room.


<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> Mr. Slaver, I presume..<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->


He rifled a bit through some of the former occupants drawers and belongings finding nothing of note.


The place had been scavanged clean.


<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> Tuskens or the slaves themselves.. Except?<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->


He walked over to a stone desk, it's items scattered by someone across the floor. He ran a hand over the not so smooth surface and grinned. He started feeling under the desk and soon found a hidden switch.

A stone square raised and an aging monitor came to life with a control panel directly in front of it.


<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> Surveillance.. I wonder what happened.<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->


Toggling the controls he backtracked through the dirty slaves ransacking of the former occupants place and then his mouth dropped open.


A figure in a robe was shooting the occupant in the head.



<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> Nice shot..<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->


A little more backtracking and he noted the gaderffii pulled out of the owner's hand by some unseen force.


<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> Jedi? Damn, why doesn't this thing have sound?<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->


Then the shot again came out.


<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> This is not a Jedi's method of operation.<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->


His eyes narrowed as the robed figure left, nearing the hidden camera.


<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> Her!!


The woman in the ship!<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->



He erased the surveillance machine's memory and clicked the monitor off.


<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> Very interesting..<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->


He stepped out of the house and looked about.


<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> Where to go from here?<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->

</font><!--EZCODE HTML END-->

<font color = blue>She had never seen anyone move so fast before.

One second Talus was on the floor at her feet, the next she was landing ungracefully and somewhat painfully on the floor. The blaster skittered out of her hand and well out of reach.

Pulling her knees up to her chest and rocking back, she kippupped to a crouched position the same moment he shot to his feet. She stared up at him and slowly held her hands out at her side, showing she held no more weapons. He was obviously quicker than her, stronger than her, and more powerful with his force abilities. She began to realize she could not survive a fight with the Sith.

Carefully, and never breaking eye contact, she stood.

"Who - What! - are you?!"

Talus growled, if it could be called that, and straightened, stopping just before his head hit the ceiling of the cockpit. His small, dull yellow eyes flashed over her, noting happily her display, showing him that there were no weapons left concealed in her hands.

When she spoke, her voice came out calm, slowly, although rising in pitch and intensity within a few words.

A few words were all it took for her to pose the question. The question Talus had been hoping she’d ask. The question to which he’d been mulling over the answer, ever since he had felt her presence here.

Obviously, it would be ideal if he didn’t have to kill her. It would be even more ideal if she would become his apprentice, even though he felt that that end could probably never be met.

<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> No, she is... too strong willed. Still, we could always see...<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->

He stood there for a moment more, contemplating her properly for the first time. There was a sweat breaking out on her forehead, and she was panting some, but other than that her features seemed unscathed.

He took a step forward, towering as high as he could above her, and hissed.

[[I am your nightmare.]]

----------

<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> Where to go from here?<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->

Oman was still wondering about this, his next course of action, when the direction unexpectedly chose him.

Out of the darkness, he could hear a landspeeder approaching. It was still so dark that he could not make out where exactly it was, or who was riding it, but the feeling in the pit of his stomach told him all he needed to know.

<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> Nowhere to run, damn!

Gotta make my exit quick, though...<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->

As he was thinking, the landspeeder started to slow down. He could hear it close, now, and saw a dark shape moving slowly toward the moisture farmer’s front door, right at him.

Quickly, he ducked back inside, and threw a glance back through the room, looking for anything that he could use.

<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> Table, chair, dust, support beam... support beam!<!--EZCODE ITALIC START-->

Just as quickly as he had ducked inside, Oman went back out again. The landspeeder was now dangerously close, and he knew that he would have no time to burrow under the sand as he had before. running round the back, though, Oman found just what he was looking for.

A ladder.

Pushing it up quickly, he made haste up to the roof, unholstering a blaster as he went.

<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> Only be able to take out one of them, if I’m too<!--EZCODE ITALIC END--><!--EZCODE ITALIC END--><!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->

He moved quickly to the other side of the roof, so that he could see the speeder pulling up out front. But wait, only one of-?

The stun bolt downed Oman before he could even finish the unspoken question, and Hyuuk stepped forward from the ladder.

----------

[[I am here, Lord.]]

<!--EZCODE HTML START--> <font color="gray">*Oman, of course, remained unconscious*</font><!--EZCODE HTML END-->

<font color=blue>Her heart was pounding as she waited for him to answer. His eyes bore into her and Terolyn found herself wishing she had not regained consciousness. The look in his beady eyes, and the silence that filled the ship, filled her with dread.

When his answer resonated in her head, her heart all but stopped. [[I am your nightmare.]]

Closing her mind off to him she just shook her head. " Honey, I’ll be the first to admit that you’re scary looking, but if you saw what I had for breakfast you'd know that you don't even rank close to nightmare."

~Sarcasm, the last defense of a desperate woman…~

" Now you've got five seconds to tell me why you are in my ship or you will find our just how scary I can be."

[b][i]~Good going, piss him off even more why don’t you.~

~Oh shut-up.~

<!--EZCODE HTML START--> <font color="gray">*Oman's unconsciousness turned into a much needed rest. His right hand went up and scratched his nose as he shifted into a more comfortable position. A light snore was heard.*</font><!--EZCODE HTML END-->