The Dune Sea
Tatooine
A blood red sun rose over the sands of the Dune Sea. Its desolate beauty was mesmerizing. The lifelessness was cold and hard, a true testament to the harsh reality that was life on Tatooine.
A fortress was located in the middle of the dune sea, a giant brown cube of rusty, sun scorched metal on a sandy cliffside. Once a home for the infamous Jabba the Hutt, after the Rebel Alliance had the Huttese crime lord assassinated it had been abandoned and fallen into abandonment. Travelers of the Dune Sea, even the infamous Tusken riders, avoided it, and some even whispered that it was haunted, though by what, nobody ever seemed to be able to quite specify.
In truth, the palace had found a new lord after many years of abandon, one worthy of its bloodthirsty past owner. He had many titles. Murderer. War criminal. Warlord. None of them were flattering, but to war criminals, such things were lofty at best, and never truly mattered. The only thing that did matter was power.
Most knew him as the Krayt Lord.
As a member of the sect known as Pius Dei, the Krayt Lord had raised a small army of human volunteers to wage a ruthless and violent conflict against the Tusken riders - known among the locals as the Sand people. Entire Tusken villages had been massacred and burnt to the ground under his command, and its men, women and children killed and dumped in mass graves.
The lack of a formal government on Tatooine meant that people like the Krayt Lord could roam freely with little to no one to stop them from carrying out their bloody carnage. And the only ones who really stood to stop them were their enemies. In the case of the Tusken riders, this was unlikely, as organizing in any larger formation had many times proven too big a task for the desert nomads.
With dawn, the massive gate into the dark interior of the fortress opened, and four or five repulsor vehicles left at high speed. Two of them were scout speeders, but the other three were Imperial troop carriers. The small convoy made a beeline northward, even farther into the Dune Sea beyond Mos Eisley.
* * * * *
Gancko's Spacepad
Tatooine
The Mandalorian stepped out of the smuggler's vessel, down onto the desert bed. He looked around, silently, identifying any potential threats before it was too late. The small spacepad was not Mos Eisley Spaceport, just as he had requested. It was a simple landing platform in a small chop shop compound outside the city, with just enough room for a single standard sized transport to land. A perfect place to drop off passengers who did not want to be seen arrive onto the planet.
A crew of droids seemed to work the spacepad, and only a single person, a haggared looking human man named Gancko, seemed to run it. He wore a dirty blue overall and something that had once been a hat. When he came out to see the ship land, Gancko immediately approached with hurried steps, sensing an opportunity to make credits.
"Fifty credits to park your ship here, Mando." The old mechanic croaked with a worn, craggy and whiny voice. Tesla Cadera looked at him without a word, and as the smuggler's ship took off again and changed directions towards Mos Eisley, the Mando tossed the human a small pouch of credits.
"I was never here." He said. The human opened it and studied the credits inside quickly, then agreed;
"You got it, Mando. Safe travels."
"How do I get to Jabba's Palace?"
Gancko frowned and looked confused. He knew of the fortress. Even to this day it was known by the name Jabba's Palace. However, it was said to be abandoned and haunted since its last owner's sudden death many decades ago, and few braved that particular region of the Dune Sea, and never for good reasons. And none ever went to Jabba's Palace. In fact, it was the first time Gancko had ever been asked to provide directions to that hellish place.
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