A long time ago
in a galaxy far, far away…

STAR WARS
Expanded Universe
TUSKEN

On the hot and hostile desert planet of Tatooine lives a species that has never been understood. They are nomadic and travel across the great dune seas in search of food, water and supplies. This group of people is called many things by the other natives of Tatooine but is primarily known as Tusken Raiders or Sand people.

These Sand people try and keep to themselves but often times they DO raid moisture farms along the deserts edge. The raids usual end in the deaths of the farmers and throughout the centuries on the desert planet the Tusken have earned the respect and fear of their neighbors.

Though events are occurring now that will change the course of the future for one of the younger clansmen in his tribe. It is a dark time and only through his courage and knowledge of the Force will his people survive…

ChaPTeR I

Kanton stood on the edge of the cliff watching the two suns of Tatooine set. He was different then the other men his age, and the elders knew it. He had that special leadership skill that came to only a few. Today was the peak of his life as a Tusken Raider. He had just entered manhood and his first task to truly become man was to spend one entire night on the summit of Skelpters Mountain, with just a gaffi stick. The elders, of his tribe, told daunting stories about the mountain, that monsters lived there and that they fed on Tusken Raiders. So far, the worst thing he saw was a few wild banthas.

He was watching the sky when it happened. It was quick; before he knew it he was sprawled across the ground unconscious.

He slowly opened his eyes, in a drunken matter. The first thing he noticed was the sky was dark. He looked behind him and saw a fellow Tusken rummaging threw a pile of rocks. It was Tantos, the all-time bully of their tribe, also the sworn rival of Kanton.
“ What are you doing here Tantos?” Kanton asked. Tantos’s day on the mountain was in a week. He was supposed to be training for it. Why would he waste his time coming here, thought Kanton.

“I’ve had it with you, Kanton.” Tantos whispered.” I’m tired of you always being in my way. Without you, they will come to me to be the new tribal leader, because there won’t be any other qualified nominees.”

“What are you going to do?”

“Hehehe, simply get you out of my way. How does this sound? I come up here to check on you, only to find you being eaten by a ‘monster’.” Said Tantos. He picked up a rock and threw it at Kanton. Kanton jumped to the side, the rock missing him by inches. It rammed into the wall of the mountain and fell to the ground. Instantaneously, the mountainside started to fracture and a group of rocks fell off. In the center of the rocks was a little satchel. Kanton walked over and grabbed the satchel and opened it. He pulled out a metal cylinder handle.

It was covered in buttons of all shapes. He looked at the buttons, trying to figure which button to push first. He came to the conclusion that the largest button was the central one. He pushed it. Abruptly, the blade of a sword came out. But it wasn’t like a sword at all. Swords were made of metal; this was made of energy. It was a green energy blade. He waved it around listening to the sizzling sounds it made. He brought it down on a portion of rock. It cut right through!

“Unbelievable.” He whispered to himself. He started cutting more rocks. The blade could split rock!

Tantos walked forward and grabbed the satchel and pulled out similar device.” Give me one!” He yelled. He turned it on. This one was different to the other one; it had a blue blade rather then a green one.

” Whom needs a gaffi stick when they have this?” he laughed. He turned back to Kanton. “This is just the tool to kill you!” He ran at Kanton with his blade swinging in every direction. Only once did his blade get near to touching Kanton, but Kanton blocked it and kicked Tantos in the stomach, knocking him to the ground.

Tantos got up and looked Kanton straight in the eye. He ran at Kanton again screaming. Both their blades met many times each clash close to frying one of their faces.

Tantos grabbed a rock and threw it at Kanton, “Dodge that.” Kanton watched as the rock came flying toward him. Not knowing what to do he cut the rock in half with his blade.” Why won’t you just die?” howled Tantos.

“ It is because I am destined to be our leader. The elders have foreseen it. You will never be leader. I won’t let you.”

That infuriated Tantos to the point of destruction. He ran at Kanton with his blade pointed at him. Right before the blade would hit Kanton’s skin he swiftly moved to the left. Sadly, Tantos was going too fast to stop, and he flew off the cliff.

“Nooooo!” Screamed Kanton. Even though Tantos tried to kill him, he felt he still didn’t deserve that death.

Tantos screamed at the top of his lungs: wailing his arms and legs in every direction until he hit the bottom on his back. He died on impact.

Now Kanton had to keep an eye out for Tantos’s friends who would no doubt try to get vengeance on Tantos’s death, if they found out. But now Kanton had a new weapon; this energy blade. He had to leave without delay for his tribe. To tell everyone Tantos was dead and to show the elders this new weapon he found in the stone. As he descended the mountain he saw the other sword. It was smashed into pieces. Obviously Tantos dropped it when he fell.

He grabbed all of the remains and placed them in his pouch slung on his shoulder. Maybe he could repair it with a little help from his brother, Kakerot, who specialized in fixing the odd and bizarre.

When he finally got to the ground he looked to his left to see Tantos’s blood-spattered carcass being eaten away by small bugs and lizards. Kanton scared the little creatures away. He had to do something for Tantos. Then he knew what to do. He pulled his blade from his pouch and cut pieces of rock. He covered the corpse in stones and rocks and just walked away.

He had to walk 6 miles to get out of the mountain range where his bantha waited for him. On his way to the bantha he started to envision what to tell the elders about Tantos. He didn’t want to tell them the real story. He didn’t want them to think that Tantos was pure evil.
Following many hours of thoughts on the subject Kanton decided to tell them that Tantos brought him food and got killed in an avalanche of stones. But would they believe it? They knew Tantos despised Kanton and would never bring him food.

Finally he got to his bantha, but he was getting thirsty. It was only two more miles to his tribe. Hopefully they would have a meal ready for him when he got back.

When he got back everything looked the same as it did when he left just the day before. He walked through town to the last tent. This was the prevalent tent in the tribe. It held the elders in it. As he walked to the opening he was blocked by one of the guards of the elders. He looked at Kanton and said, “ Welcome back Kanton, it is good to see you still alive. The elders are busy at the moment with visitors. You cannot go in.”

“ Visitors? When was the last time we had visitors? I don’t remember every seeing any.”

The guard did not loosen his grip on Kanton’s shoulder. “ Never. That is why you cannot disturb them.”

“This is more important.” As Kanton said that he ran into the tent leaving the guard outside.

Inside he saw the four elders: Tanok, Judak, Ramuk, and Talen. Talking to them seemed to be two humans, a pilot and a jedi. Talen looked at Kanton and nodded.

“ Hello Kanton. Good to see you.”

There was udder silence for what seemed like hours. But Judak broke the silence by saying, “ What is on your mind Kanton?” Right then Kanton knew he had to tell them the truth about Tantos’s death.

“ While I was on the summit Tantos attacked me and tried to kill me, but he lost his life in the attack. He fell off the mountain trying to kill me with these energy swords we found.”

The reaction he got from the elders was unexpected. They remained calm as if nothing happened. “How do we know you didn’t kill him?” asked Tanok. Tanok was Tantos’s father and would no doubt believe nothing Kanton would say.

This time it was the Jedi who spoke. “ He is telling the truth. But tell me Kanton about these energy swords.”

Kanton opened his pouch and pulled out the sword. “ It looks like just a handle until u push the button and it turns on. Kanton turned on the energy sword. The green blade sizzled in the air.

“It’s a lightsaber.”

All the Tusken Raiders in the room were confused. “ A what?” asked Talen.

“A lightsaber, a Jedi’s weapon. Tell me Kanton, where did you find this?”

Kanton was happy he was in the conversation now. “ Inside the rocks on the mountain. There were two of them. Tantos grabbed the other one and attacked me with it. We fought and when he fell he dropped it and it landed on the ground smashed. I have it in my pouch.”

“I guess we found our temple,” said Dash Rendar, the pilot. He walked out the entrance and to his ship.

“ What mountain is this?” Asked the Jedi eagerly.

“ Skelpters Mountain.” Responded Kanton.

“ Thank you. If you need us, we will be at Skelpters Mountain.” Said the Jedi. He too then left. Leaving Just Kanton and the elders.

“ Well Kanton, show us this lightsaber you speak of.” Said Ramuk. Kanton pulled out the lightsaber and activated it and waved the green blade in front of the elders.” Incredible.” Mumbled Ramuk.

“ Kanton, if you haven’t heard yet, we are leaving the planet.” Said Judak.

“ We are? How? Why?”

“Yes we are. We have stumbled upon two Dreadnaughts and a few small fighters. We feel it is time for us to progress to other planets.”

Kanton started to walk out the door and then turned around, “ Why?”

“Each day we lose a tribe member to one of the predators of the desert, including the Imperials. Just recently we got a report from a spy that the Admiral is planning an extermination of our species.”

Kanton just stood there imagining storm troopers invading their village blasters blazing, killing innocent souls everywhere, and no one ready to fight.” We need to fight back. Surely if all the tribes came together we could beat this Admiral’s forces. We could get help from this Jedi and his pilot.”

“We are already summoning all the other tribes. We are planning a defense to get us off the planet. I would advise you to go pack up. We are moving to a safer place.”

Kanton walked out the door and toward his family’s tent. He walked past many tents with parents packing stuff away in sachets and kids talking to friends about moving. Some families were already packed and taking down their tents. He looked at his and saw that it was all ready down and his possessions were packed. He was about to yell something to his brother, who was looking at something in his hand, until two Tusken grabbed him and threw him up against a large rock behind a tent. They were the friends of Tantos’s friends. There names where Renton and Dalton. Renton grabbed Kanton’s bag and threw it to the side while Dalton punched Kanton across the face. Kanton tried to fight back by kicking Renton straight in the face, but it only inspired Dalton to punch him again across the face.

“We heard what you did to Tantos. You’re a murderer! You killed him with your bare hands you beast!” Screamed Renton. He then pulled back his hand to punch Kanton when his fist was grabbed by another hand. Renton turned around to see the large body of Kakerot, Kanton’s brother.

“ Let’s play fair, shall we?” With those words Renton turned around to face Kakerot, only to meet his fist. With Renton downed it left two versus one. Dalton jolted the other way and ran as far as he could back to the village.

“Thanks Kakerot.” Said the recovered Kanton. They both hugged and went back to their tent, leaving Renton on the ground holding his swollen cheek.

***



“What makes you assume this?” asked the Admiral.

“All the tribes have united sir.”

“Hmm, possibly a spy?”

“That is what I am thinking sir.”

Ushner thought to himself, Should it be harder to kill them all together? Probably not, I can kill them all at once. He smiled. His life was finally going the right way for once.

ChaPTeR II

The dark lord looked out of the viewpoint of his colossal sith training ship. All he thought about was why Emperor Palpatine wanted to talk to him. His ship, the Chu’unthor, was the Emperor’s secret project to bring back the sith. It had been in production for many years training abdicate young men who have possibility of becoming sith. He walked down the hallway of the training ship passing droids, apprentices, storm troopers, and officers. Finally he came to the door of his communication room. He raised his hand at the door button and pushed it with the Force. The door hastily opened. He walked inside and knelt on a small circle. Suddenly, the image of the Emperor came up in front of him.

“ I give you my dark greetings my master.” Said the dark lord. He looked at the gruesomely deformed face of the Emperor.

“I have a mission for one of your youths, Darth Telinus.” Said the Emperor. “Send your finest apprentice to the planet Tatooine, there he shall help Admiral Ushner in destroying the Tusken Raiders. They are planning to leave the planet. I do not want them to infest my galaxy with their scum. It is also believed that a Jedi is on the planet looking for old Jedi ruins. Your sith shall destroy the sand people and kill this Jedi.”

“I will send my best your master.”

“ Very well, that is all at the moment.”

“ Thank you my lord.” The image of the Emperor went blank and Darth Telinus stood up. He was at the age of thirty-eight, but still was quick with a lightsaber. He wore clothing like a Jedi, but his was completely black along with his cape. He turned around to see the door open revealing an officer. “ Officer, go get me Darth Denstros.”

“Yes sir.” The officer turned around and left. The door shut. Darth Telinus stood there for a minute and thought to himself about if he should send his best apprentice. Well, it would make great training for the boy. He started to walk to his personal room. As he passed the training room thought he should take a look at his apprentices at work. He entered to see several apprentices at work dueling attack droids equipped with lightsabers. He glanced around to see many crimson blades striking others ones. He then saw in the far back his supreme apprentice, Darth Denstros; with two blades in hand fighting three attack droids. Lord Telinus walked toward him walked toward him. Denstros had short black hair and a handsome face. He was wearing long black pants and no shirt at the moment. On his back was a large tattoo of a dragon. His bare chest was covered in sweat.

He swung both sabers at the opposite sides of the neck of one droid, decapitating it, and then brought both blades at the feet of another droid making it defenseless against any other attacks. Denstros somersaulted over the last droid and brought one blade right threw its chest. With all three droids downed he looked at Lord Telinus and deactivated both sabers.

He bowed and said,” What does my master think of my victory?”

“ You did excellent my apprentice. Again you have shown me that you will be a great Sith lord. But now you will leave your training. Your Emperor needs you.”

Denstros looked up,” What does he ask of me?” Telinus motioned for him to stand.

“He wants you to go to the planet Tatooine and help an Admiral destroy the recede Tusken Raiders.”

“Why would he need a sith? Doesn’t he have enough troopers?”

“ There is reason to believe there is a Jedi there.”

“ A jedi? Why would there be a jedi on Tatooine?”

“They are looking for the remains of an old jedi that is told to have had extreme powers in the way of the force. The jedi will no doubt try and help the Tusken in escaping. This is the chance to complete your training. When you return you will be a sith. ” At that, Denstros left to his chambers to prepare for his voyage.



Kanton opened his bag to show his brother the broken lightsaber. He dropped the pieces on the ground in front of Kakerot.

“Hmm, I’ve never seen anything like this before.” Said Kakerot. He looked at the pieces and studied them for quite a bit. Kanton just stood there wondering if his brother would be able to repair it.

“ Give me some time with this and I think I’ll get it working again.” He declared.

Just as he ended saying that, shouts of joy were heard not that far away. Kanton looked behind him to see Tusken gathering. There were thousands of them.

A little kid started to run toward the group. Kanton stopped him and asked,” Hey, what is happening?”
“ The other tribes have come,” alleged the little kid. He then started running again. This time so did Kanton. He ran as fast as he could till he was right next to the group from his own tribe. He heard the leader of one of the tribes silence all the others. He then stood on someone’s shoulders and began talking.

“ Today we are not known as many little tribes, but as one race together! Now we will move to the mountains for shelter till it is time to depart this planet.”

Everyone started to cheer. They all grabbed their belongings and began their long journey toward the mountains.


Admiral Ushner looked out the window of his luxurious accommodation. From here he could see his forces preparing for the assault. This would be his most finest victory and surely get him off this good for nothing planet. He started to walk down the a set of stairs when he was greeted by his second in command, Captain Nova.” Yes captain?”

“Well sir, the men are ready whenever you are sir. Also, it is believed that the sand people have moved to the mountains. They most likely know of our attack sir,”


He walked outside to be greeted by an assemblage of storm troopers. They escorted him to the landing strip where a ship had just landed. It was a Lamda shuttle. Usually holding people of high importance. The hatch opened and a dark object walked down it.

The dark object walked to Ushner and slightly bowed in greetings. Ushner nodded to this man. He wore a black hood and black cape. The man took off his hood to reveal the face of a handsome face man.

“Are you Admiral Ushner?” asked the man.

“Yes. You must be the sith the Emperor has sent us?”

“My name is Lord Denstros.”

Ushner held out his hand to shake, only to get an awkward look from Dentros.

“Well, I hope you, umm, enjoy your stay here. Capt. Nova here will lead you to your room.” Said Ushner. He nodded to Nova to escort Darth Denstros away. As they walked away, Ushner wiped the sweat off his face and looked at the storm trooper to his left.

“ Did you feel that? Pure…evil.”

Nova led Dentros up a flight of stairs leading to a small apartment on the second level. Nova opened the door. Dentros walked in.’

“ Hopefully this will do.” Said Nova. He wiped the sweat off his face.

“ It will.” Said the Sith in a dark crisp voice. He took off his cloak and placed it on the bed and looked at the captain.” Tell me when we will attack.”

“Of course.” With that the captain left the dark lord to himself.

When Denstros was sure Nova was gone he opened a little transporter that was in his pocket. He turned it on and entered a few digits. Instantly, Lord Telinus’s image appeared.

“ Have you arrived Denstros?”

“Yes master, we plan to attack tomorrow soon. These sand people have no chance. They are said to be hiding in the mountains. I sense more than one Jedi. One is inexperienced though. I shall be able to destroy them both easily.” Said Denstros.

Darth Telinus rubbed his chin and smiled,” Perfect, you are indeed a skilled sith. You will make us all proud. Follow the Admiral’s order until you have a chance to kill these jedi.”

“Yes master.” Denstros bowed and the vision of Lord Telinus vanished. Denstros stood up and looked around. He went to his balcony and looked at the city. He saw a man walk suspiciously next to a building and around a corner. Could this be a spy?

Dentros put on his cloak and jumped off the balcony and followed the wary man around the corner. He looked behind him. There was no one there. He turned back around to see a blaster aimed at his head.

The man looked frantic, he said. “ Who are you? Why are you following me?”

Denstros kept his calm.” I am death.” Just then the man looked down to see the sith’s lightsaber in his stomach.

The man mumbled something as he fell to the ground. Darth Denstros looked at the speeder on the other side of the street. This must have been a spy telling the Tusken about the attack. He will have to inform Ushner, he thought.

ChaPTeR III

Kanton was walking next to Kakerot collecting rocks for a wall, for the defense. He held his lightsaber in hand with a small satchel in the other. He walked around slicing rocks and putting them in his bag. Breaking the silence he said,” Do you think we will survive this?”

Kakerot looked at him,” Maybe, if we get lucky. Though we do have an Empire trying to stop us.”

“ I think we will. We have to. We can’t lose.”

Kakerot walked toward Kanton and patted him on the back,” Lets hope your right.”
They both got on their banthas and started to go back to camp. The suns were pushing down on them like weights. Or that is at least how Kanton felt. He glanced over at Kakerot. He looked like he was feeling the same as he did.

Kanton looked over at the mountain to his left. He saw something, a dark figure. Looking at him. Kanton shook his head and blinked. He glanced back at the same mountain. Nothing was there.

Finally they got back to camp. They walked in during a meeting. All the leaders were there.

Ramuk was the one talking.” We have a list of all those who will be in the defense team. While the rest of the people go in the first transport. The others will protect it till it is out of danger. When this is accomplished the remaining people will get into the second transport, under the safety of the fighters, and will follow the first. Any questions?”

A Tusken in the back yelled,” Who is leading the ground forces?”

“Kanton is,” replied Ramuk.


***

Dash Rendar sat on the boulder overlooking the campsite. Would they get off the planet, he thought. He didn’t know. Not many races survived a full-fledged attack from the Empire. But maybe they had a chance. Not all species had a jedi with them.

He looked up at the stars, and laid back. There were thousands of stars up there. All sparkling like gems in the sky. He closed his eyes gradually.

The sound of falling pebbles came from behind him. He instantaneously opened his eyes. He didn’t move a muscle in panic of scaring away whatever was watching him. The sound came closer, and closer, and closer. When it was close to him he slowly moved his eyes in its path.

It was an Imperial Scout. His speeder bike was 50 feet behind him. The Scout kneeled next to Dash and slowly extended his hand for Dash’s blaster. Dash swiftly grabbed the scout’s hand. And pulled the man forward, while pulling out his blaster. Once his blaster was in hand and aimed at the scout’s head he took a deep breath.

“ Why are you here?” asked Dash.

“ This is my search sector. We’re looking for them.” The scout nodded toward the camp, fearfully.

Dash grabbed the nozzle of his blaster and whipped the scout over the head with the butt of the blaster. The guard fell to the ground unconscious. Dash stood up and looked around. Scouts never come alone. To his left he saw four speeders, with scouts on them.

He jumped to his feet and ran toward the downed guard’s speeder bike.

He sat on the seat and hit the ignition button. He grabbed the two maneuvering controls, and positioned his feet on the altitude pedals. The speeder bike began to move. Slow at first, but gaining speed quickly.

Dash saw the four other scouts ahead. They were heading toward the city. He had to stop them. He pushed the speed button on the control panel and his bike zoomed toward the others. He was catching up to the first of the four.

He franticly looked around for the control to the blaster cannon, attached to the bottom of the speeder. He saw a red button and pushed thinking it was the right one. But instead of firing, a small screen came up in front of him. On it was what looked like a map of the area he was in. Also on it was him and the four other scouts. Dash was about 50 feet away from the first scout now.

The scout pulled out a small blaster and aimed at dash. Dash turned missing the blast by inches. Likewise, Dash took out his blaster and shot at the scout. He hit the rear of the bike.

Dash came alongside the first scout. The scout aimed his pistol at Dash. Dash bumped into his speeder making him drop the blaster. The scout hit him back. Dash grabbed the blaster in a small compartment on his own speeder and aimed at the scout. Dash shot and the scout flipped off the speeder and fell to the ground dead. Dash pulled back from the loose speeder as it rammed into a mountainside.

Dash saw the other three ahead of him. He looked at his screen. They were only 20 miles away. He slowly started to catch up to them. Before he knew it, he was five feet away from both of them. He aimed at the scout to the left. He shot the scout’s foot. The man howled and sped up.

Instantly, The front of Dash’s speeder exploded. He fell to the ground hard. He lay there for a moment focusing his blurred vision. He looked up to see a stormtrooper talking in a radio, in his helmet.

“Yeah, He looks dead to me, sir,” said the stormtrooper. Dash just lay there acting dead. The man picked up Dash’s blaster and threw it aside. He looked over at the two scouts who had parked their speeder bikes.

“He is dead,” yelled the trooper, to them. They nodded and activated their speeders, heading toward two At-Sts that came into view. When stormtrooper left Dash didn’t get up. He was too weak. He just stared into the night sky. He sighed as he slipped into an unconscious state of mind.


***



Dash slowly opened his eyes. The sun was up. He remembered the stormtroopers and the speeder bikes. He lifted his head. To his left was a group of mountains. In all other directions there was only sand. He went for his blaster. It wasn’t in his holster.

He sat up and rubbed his sandy hair. His blaster was split-in-two. He jumped up onto his feet. He started to walk toward the mountains. Suddenly, his feet just gave in and he fell to the ground. His throat was dry. He needed water. He choked up some sand and spat it out again.

He raised his head to see a small patch of shade about 20 feet ahead of him. He began to crawl toward it. What felt like hours past by while crawling for that little shade. When he finally was under it, he laid against the wall of the mountain. He slowly closed his eyes and fell asleep.


***


“ So, you killed the spy?” asked Admiral Ushner. He was walking down a long hallway. To his left was Darth Dentros.

“Yes,” said Denstros. He had his hood on at the moment.

Two stormtroopers walked up to Ushner.

“We are ready to go, sir,” one of them said.

“Good,” replied Ushner,” Prepare to move out. We will be triumphant soon.”

ChaPTeR IV

Kanton walked around the several tents. They weren’t complex tents like the ones seen in tribes. These were just a few long sticks with a cloth draped over them. They were no higher then 5 feet. A Tusken couldn’t stand in it. It was just made for its purpose, to sleep in. They would be left behind when the Tusken Raiders left.

There were no people in the tents. No people walking down the single street-like path in between the two rows of tents, no one in the large tent at the end of the two rows. All the people were in the outsized field far-off west from where Kanton stood. He walked past all the tents and walked toward the hill that overlooked the field.

As he reached the tip of the hill he looked down to see the crowd of Tusken going over the battle plan. The plan relied mostly on luck. They didn’t have much change against those blasters. All they had were gaffi sticks. All they had were the small group of Tusken with rifles that would be put on the hill overlooking the battlefield.

Kanton stood there for a moment. He had to be prepared to guide that army into battle against an unconquerable force. He kicked the rock next to him and curved around. Standing there was the jedi.

“ Feeling ok?” asked the jedi. The jedi looked at Kanton, but it wasn’t like he was looking at him. More like he was looking through him.

“ How can I lead these people into a fight they can’t win.” Said Kanton.

“ You seem positive you can’t win. Why?”

“ Because we can’t. We aren’t going to get anywhere near those stormtroopers. They will shoot us before we are even in range of attack!”

“ Have more faith. People can to impossible things in the heat of battle.”

***



Admiral Ushner opened the hatch of the At-St. His assault force was on the move. They were 20 miles from their target. He looked to his left to see the sith on some type of speeder bike. The bike started to speed up.

“ Where are you going?” shouted Ushner.

Denstros looked over to him and said,” I’m going ahead. I want to wipe these jedi before you attack.”

The speeder bike then accelerated out into the open desert.

The admiral smiled. This would be too easy. Nothing could stop them now. He looked up above him to see a squadron of Tie fighters fly overhead. He grabbed his comlink.

“ Don’t go ahead of us.” He said into the comlink. He waited for a moment, and then got a response.

“Roger.”

Ushner went back into the At-St and closed the hatch. He walked over to his seat behind the driver. To his right was Captain Nova.

“ So far, so good.” Said Ushner. Nova smiled.

“ This will be a fine day for the Empire.” Responded Nova.

***



Dash woke up dazed and confused. Minutes later he remembered what had happened and remembered where he was. He was still lying against the mountain in the shade. He felt a sharp pain in his wrist. He looked down to see a little lizard nibbling on it. Dash gave out a little yelp and began to violently shake his hand in the air. The lizard eventually let go and wobbled away in defeat.

Dash began to get up and walk slowly toward a path to his right. He got there with the occasional stumble and leaned on a rock. He looked up toward the summit of the mountain. He laughed for no reason and turned around to look at the desert. A dark object blocked it. Dash took a moment to grasp what this dark object was. It was the sith the jedi had told him might show up. Dash grabbed the closest hand-size rock and threw it at the sith. It just deflected it with his hand. Dash stood there for a moment. He closed his eyes. When he opened them the man was gone. Dash fell to his butt and caught his breath. When he felt he had enough energy to fight he jumped to his feet and ran farther up the mountain. He ran until he came to the edge. He then turned around to meet the eyes of his predator.

“ Come on! Come and get me!” yelled Dash. He grabbed the largest rock he could find and threw it at the Sith. The man just cut it in two with a lightsaber. Dash grabbed two more rocks and threw at the same time. The Sith exposed a second lightsaber and cut both rocks.

“Damn, You are just packed of surprises. Aren’t you?” taunted Dash. The man in black started walking closer to Dash.

Dash closed his eyes when he felt the burning in his arm.

ChaPTeR V

A young Tusken came running over the hill. He was waving his arms in the air and yelling something. He ran up to Kanton and fell to his knees breathing heavily.

“ Calm down. What did you see?” asked Kanton. The kid looked up at Kanton and pointed in the opposite direction.

“ The Imperials are coming!” the child yelled. Kanton jumped to his feet and ran over to the Jedi.

“ They’re here! We aren’t ready!” said Kanton. The Jedi looked out to the horizon.

“ Well, you better hurry.” He calmly said. Kanton shrugged and ran over to the large crowd of warriors.

“ Come on! The Imperials are here. Grab your weapons. Tell the others. Meet me on the field. Quick!” Kanton yelled. The group started to run and tell others. Soon all the men knew the Imperials were here.
***

Admiral Ushner looked through his binoculars. He saw the sand people running around crazy. He chuckled to himself. They seem a bit….unprepared, he thought. This attack will be over in minutes. We go in, we kill, and we leave. It’s as simple as that.

Captain Nova’s vehicle stopped next to Ushner’s At-St. Capt. Nova sternly saluted the Admiral. “ Shall we advance, sir?” he asked.

The Admiral glanced up at the sky, and then back at Nova, “ Full scale attack. I want to crush them with one blow.”

“ Roger.” Said Nova. He then raised his hand in the air and made a motion to the other vehicles. They all started to close in on the Tusken.

***


Kanton ran to the head of the large group of fighters. It made him sick to his stomach to see all the large machines walking toward them. He looked behind him and he saw a bunch of scared men with sticks. He lifted his lightsaber and ignited it. The green blade simmered under the hot sun above.
Before he knew it, they were upon him, and the battle had begun. Laser beams were going in every direction, hitting and killing many men. But the stormtroopers weren’t walking anymore. They had stopped thirty feet away. Why weren’t they coming at us, Kanton thought? Then it dawned on him. They were going to stay a distance and just shoot us all. He thought about this for a minute, while blocking shots with his saber.

Then Kanton did something he would never have done if he thought about it. He raised the lightsaber into the air and ran at the enemy. He just ran at them. When he reached them he went crazy. He swung the saber at everything that moved. He was surprised he hadn’t been killed yet. Then he stopped and looked around. A dozen stormtroopers were dead on the ground around him. Then the pain came. He felt a extremely painful sting come to his leg. He looked down at it. It was now covered in his own blood. He looked to his left to see an enemy soldier aiming a blaster rifle at him. Kanton just stared at him.

A gaffi stick slammed into the nozzle of the rifle, throwing it to the sand. Then the same stick hit the trooper in the chest, killing him. Kanton looked at the man holding the gaffi stick. It was Renton, Tantos’s friend.

“ Don’t just stand there,” said Renton, “ Fight!” At that, Kanton lifted his lightsaber and looked up in front of him. There were a half a dozen At-Sts shooting at the Crowd of fighters. They were even shooting their own men, as if they didn’t care.

Kanton turned back to Renton, “ We need to take out those machines!”

Renton nodded and pulled out a small radio, “ Kakerot, Time to show yourself. Bring your team out and destroy those At-Sts. Got it?” He put the radio away and gave Kanton the thumbs up. Kanton shrugged and ran at a stormtrooper, lightsaber in hand. He grabbed a medium size rock from the ground and slammed it against the trooper’s helmet. The man fell to the ground like a doll. Then the sky filled with a loud noise. Kanton looked up. He saw 6 X-Wings fly over by and shoot at the At-Sts. One laser beam shot straight through the center of one, while another beam shot of on its two legs. It fell to the ground destroyed.

Kanton turned to Renton smiling and saw it again. It was the dark figure he had seen earlier. Kanton felt a chill down his spine. It felt as if the figure was watching him. Kanton ran toward it. He wasn’t even caring about the battle. This figure was calling for him. He could feel it.

***


“ Sir, you have to get out of here!” yelled the officer in command of the At-St Admiral Ushner was in. “ We are sitting ducks. You can’t take the chance. Get out of here and go toward the mountains till the battle is over. It should be safe over there. He take this.” The officer handed Ushner a blaster rifle.
The Admiral jumped of the At-St and kicked a scout off a speeder bike and used it to get to the mountains.

***


Kanton slowly walked up the rocky trail. He had his lightsaber in hand. He lost sight of the dark figure on his way here. He looked up into the sky and saw one of the Dreadnaughts lift off. He smiled and resumed climbing. Then came the hissing sound. It came from behind him. He slowly turned around, and there standing was the dark figure.

“ So, we finally meet. I’ve been expecting you,” the figure said. He grinned.

“ Who are you?” asked Kanton. He gripped his saber with both hands and stood in attack position.

“ He’s a Sith,” said a voice from behind Kanton. He turned around and standing there was the Jedi. “ I didn’t know any still existed other than Palpatine and Vader.”

“ Well, surprise, surprise,” responded the Sith, “ You can call me Darth Dentros.” At that, he lunged at Kanton with both his lightsabers aimed at him, but the Jedi whipped out his own saber and blocked the hits. Kanton fell to the ground stunned.

“ Get up!” yelled the Jedi. Kanton jumped to his feet and activated his lightsaber. For a moment he just watched the jedi and sith fight each other. Even though the sith had two lightsabers, the fight seemed even. The Jedi was deflecting all of Dentros’s hits and even made a couple of his own.

Then came Kanton’s turn. Dentros kicked the Jedi in the chest sending him to the ground. Kanton leaped at Dentros and swung his lightsaber at him. Dentros parried it. Kanton swung again, but this time going for the legs. Dentros jumped into the air and flipped over Kanton. Kanton turned to face him and both their lightsabers met.

***


Ushner frowned as he looked at the battle from afar. It looked as if the sand people were going to win. That wasn’t good. He would have to get back to his base and nuke the area. That would rid the universe of this scum. He felt a nozzle touch the back of his neck.

“Don’t move,” came the voice of Dash Rendar. Ushner dropped the binoculars and the rifle and put his hands in the air.

“ Please don’t shoot,” he pleaded. Ushner felt Dash push him forward, and pick up the rifle.
“ Don’t worry. I’m not going to shoot you, unless you make me.”

Dash looked to his left and saw the Jedi and Kanton fighting the sith that Dash encountered earlier. He led the Admiral toward them.

***


Kakerot flipped a number of switches above him and watched as two proton torpedoes shot toward a near At-St, destroying it. He smiled as he took a hard turn left, back toward the center of the battle.

***

The Jedi watched as Darth Dentros and Kanton fought. Both moved swiftly. Kanton parried most of Denstros’s attacks. He could feel the Force moving through him. It was a feeling he had never felt before. It was stronger then it had ever been before. He felt of the sith’s attacks before they were made. Dentros made an unexpected move, he through it at Kanton like a boomerang. Kanton dived to the ground, missing the hit by inches.

“ You both are weaker then I thought,” taunted the Dark Lord. As Kanton began to rise, the sith used the Force to push back to the ground and slide several feet away. He then turned around and blocked an attack made by the Jedi. The Jedi spun his lightsaber in his hand and dodged all of Dentros’s hits. Kanton then felt something behind him. He turned around and saw Dash Rendar coming toward them with a man. \

Dentros struck at the Jedi’s feet, but he parried it. The Jedi lunged forward with his lightsaber pointing at Dentros, but he jumped to the side. The sith then took the offensive side. Swinging his lightsaber, each hit being parried, but the sith could feel the Jedi weakening. He could not block them forever.

***
Kakerot watched as the two cruisers full of Tusken Raiders flew into space. It made him glad to see them escape. Now all that was left was to get the fighters below out of there and into a cruiser. He aimed both his lasers at the Imperials, and continuously fired at them. He saw as the Tuskens began to outnumber the Imperials and drive them back. He looked up above him as one of his wingmen exploded, and a Tie-Interceptor flew through the explosion. Kakerot jumped on his tail and fired at him. His shots missed. He took more aim, and again fired. The Tie exploded. “ Yahoo!” he yelled into the comlink.
***

Both the Jedi and the sith stopped fighting and stared at each other. Both retracted their lightsaber. Kanton stood and pointed his lightsaber at Darth Dentros.

“ Who are you?” asked the Jedi.

The sith smiled. “ Death.” He activated his lightsaber and pulled his arm back for the swing, when a laser blast shot and blew the saber into pieces, burning Dentros’s hand. Dentros growled and grabbed his hand in pain.

Both Kanton and the Jedi looked in the direction of the shot, and saw Dash Rendar, at the edge of the cliff, with his blaster aimed and smoke coming from the barrel.

“Miss me?” said Dash, with a grin on his face. Next to him was the Admiral. “ Look who I found trying to run away.” He pushed Ushner in front of him.

Kanton felt his lightsaber slip out of his hands. He tried to grab it in midair, but it was too quick. He watched as it landed into the hands of Dentros.

“It’s not over yet,” Said the sith.

***


Kakerot looked over at the cliff where Kanton was fighting. He saw the dark figure grab Kanton’s lightsaber and activate it. Kakerot, aimed right below the figure and fired his lasers once. The hit startled the man. He turned around and looked at Kakerot waiting for more shots.
***

The Jedi moved quickly. When the sith turned around, the Jedi activated his lightsaber and struck the sith across the back. The sith dropped the lightsaber and fell to the ground dead.

Dash felt the heat of a blaster shot hit his leg. He fell to his knees and turned around to face his attacker. It was an Imperial Officer carrying a blaster rifle.

Ushner’s hopes rose. It was Captain Nova. If Nova killed the Smuggler, maybe he could get away.

Dash returned fire instantly. All the shots missed. He slowly rose to his feet, and tried to move around to become a harder target to hit, but his wounded leg wouldn’t let him. He stood there and fired at the Imperial. Finally, a shot hit the man in the chest. It killed him instantly. He turned to look at his hostage, but he had run away and was out of sight.

Kanton looked down at the battlefield, “ The Imperials are withdrawing!” It seems we did survive, thought Kanton. He saw all the surviving fighters cheering. Cheering their victory. He looked over at the Jedi, who was holding both lightsabers.

“ We won, Jedi.”

***
Cheering filled the large banquet room on the cruiser, the cheering of winners. Kanton stood next to the Jedi in the pack of the room. On his other side was the pilot, Dash Rendar. After a few minutes, the cheering stopped and everyone looked around not knowing what was going to happen next. Music began to play and they walked forward, passing all the people on each side, clapping for them. When they reached the front of the room. They turned around. Standing in front of the people were the heroes of the battle, Kanton, the Jedi, Dash Rendar, Kakerot, and Renton.

Kanton leaned over to the Jedi, “ I’m glad we won.”

“ Yes, but I am curious about where this sith warrior came from. It is believed that only two sith are alive, Darth Vader and the Emperor. I must discover this secret, and stop the production of more of his kind. Will you come with me?”

“ No, my place is with my people. They need me.”

“ You are good, Kanton. The Tusken are lucky to have you. Good luck on all that awaits you, and May the Force be with you.”

With that, they both looked forward at the crowd of people cheering for them, cheering for their cause, and their new life.


*Special Thanks to Icebreaker, my editor and supporter throughout my long process of making this story and Vader for kindly making me my AWESOME story poster*

5/29/2002 2:38:04 PM
(Updated: 5/29/2002 2:38:55 PM)
(Updated: 5/29/2002 2:39:55 PM)

Comment on this fan fiction!