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The first sign the Womp Rat, and the world of his fellow pack mates was about be turned upside down, was a dull roar that sounded overhead. The second sign was a shadow that moved him in a blink of an eye, which really weirded him out. Shadows weren't something the wildlife of Tatooine were used to appearing out of nowhere. Had he bee anything resembling a sentient creature he might'v recognized these as the signs of some sort of craft flying overhead. And had he been a well informed sentient he might've realized it wasn't just one thing, but three Kihraxz fighters streaking overhead, at a low altitude.
The sound of the fighters however served to cover up what would have been the third sign approaching. As it was, the Womp Rat was quite startled when a sand dune nearby appeared to explode, only for something large, loud, and predatory looking to the diminutive rodent, to appear in its wake. Needless to say the pack of Womp Rats scattered at that point. But as the tops of more sand dunes exploded, more monsters of metal appeared. It would impossible for all of the roughly 20 rats to get out of their way. Some were run over as though they weren't even there. Others fleeing were shot at, by those who were either bored, or natives of Tatooine who saw them only as a pest which populated into numbers far beyond control.
Needless to say it was a bad day for the Womp Rats of the South Dune Sea. Especially since they didn't have to put up with things like this as often as their northern cousins. But if it was a bad day for them, it was a worse one for the true targets of the metal monsters.
Grace Alask stood at the turret in the back of her Sand-rat, Baby. As it exploded over the next dune, she got a glimpse of their real target. The orders the small band of Sand-rats and the singular tank following them had been given were pretty simple.
Leave no survivors.
Grace really hated Tuskens. Then again, most Tatooine natives seemed to really hate Tuskens. Raiders weren't really the "get along, go along" types. They had a reputation that went far beyond Tatooine for being rather nasty, and they certainly weren't going to give the TEF a big kiss on the cheek. Especially not when they were operating an area the Tusken's had been unchallenged in for centuries. A lot of their work was going to have to be pushing them back, before anything else. But Grace didn't mind, as Tuskens weren't exactly going to be taking her prisoner. She'd heard a rumor that one of their coming of age rituals involved going out, finding some dangerous creature, and then attempting to torture it to death for as long as possible. She sincerely hoped that was a rumor.
All in all they weren't really a group she had a problem shooting at, so when the Sand-rat bounded over the sand dune, she squeezed the triggers. The quad-barrel blaster cannon lit up, and red bolts went everywhere. It wasn't just her, but the gunners on the other three Sand-rats as well. Behind them, Grace heard a loud boom as the Rill Tank that had been following them made its presence known, further devastating the Tuskens that been encamped there. It was only a small band from what Grace had gathered, and it had been harassing patrols on the edges of the city before fading into the desert before anyone could catch them. But not this time, enough was enough, and already the TEF was establishing a doctrine that favored responding to threats with overwhelming firepower. The word "overkill" seemed to have been outside the vocabulary of members like Trina Toren, the woman who had dispatched them, in Grace's opinion.
Once they'd decided to go after the small band, flights of fighters had left the TEF base to pinpoint and track their location, while the team of vehicles Grace was in waited out in the desert to get word for which way they needed to go. Once the Tuskens had attacked this time, they'd been tracked, and now they had nowhere to run. As a result the engagement was rather brief, and before Grace knew it, there was nothing to shoot at. She wasn't sure if she'd hit anything to begin, but the combination of blaster and cannon fire had done their job. What was left...wasn't exactly pretty and Grace was glad they were already speeding away before she got a good look at what was left of the Raiders and their mounts. There wasn't much reason to stick around, it wasn't as if the Tusken's had anything they wanted. As the adrenaline from the moment faded, Grace realized she'd just been in her first real life or death situation. If the Tusken's had been a bit more prepared, she was right there on the turret....anything could have happened. Despite the desert heat she felt a chill as that realization sunk in.
The ride back to the city was uneventful but hot. Grace looked at her hands, and hoped she didn't get stuck with turret duty again any time soon. She much preferred driving the vehicles than operating their guns. It was less exposed there. Plus, you always got pelted by sand when you were on top of a vehicle like the Sand-rat, and that was never any fun. Some people liked making things go kaboom, but it wasn't for her.
Grace had taken to wearing her teal jacket and her green goggles to keep both sand and sun out of her eyes. Nevertheless, the exposed parts of her hands were still red, by the time the armored group had turned and started to head back to Mos Esther. It had been a rather quiet ride back for her, you couldn't exactly socialize with anyone when the only people nearby were sealed up to enjoy the air conditioning and avoid bullets.
The city itself was something Grace would never have expected to see in her life. It ranged from eerie in places where just ruins remained, to cheery and full of life where the TEF inhabited. The group was untested, except for skirmishes like the one Grace herself had just been in, but by and large spirits were high. Many were too young to have fought in the big war, although just about everyone had been effected by it, when you lived as far way as the Arkanis sector was, those had more to do with how things had steadily declined since then.
As the half track passed by the outpost and into the ruins, Grace carefully stepped off the turret, and kicked the back of the cab to let them know to slow down so she could get off. She didn't feel like heading back to the spaceport just yet, and she'd been standing without really walking for hours so a little walking to stretch out her muscles was a welcome relief in her opinion. As the vehicle slowed to a crawl, but didn't stop, Grace grabbed her rifle and canteen of water and hopped off.
After a bit of walking, Grace arrived at the Esther Theater, near the heart of the city. It was as good as any place to relax in the outdoors. The ruins nearby shielded it from the suns unless they were right overhead. She took a seat at the outer ring of the stone theater, and started to take off her black boots. No matter how hard she tried, they always filled with sand, which was mightily uncomfortable, so she held them one at a time upside down, tapping them to get all the little particulates out. Se doubted she'd ever really be able to get all of them, but at least they'd be more comfortable to wear. Before slipping the back on, she sighed and took a drink of water from her canteen. Running her hand along one of her lekku, she felt still more sand clinging to her drop out. She was definitely going to need shower sometime soon. But for now he was fine, relaxing in the shade. She had grown to be more used to the sand, due to her living on the planet her entire life. Odds were someone would be by before too long. There weren't a lot of other places outside of the spaceport for people to just hang out yet, and staying in the Spaceport alone started to feel confining, at least to Grace.
