Chapter 13 – Tatooine

They reached Tatooine after traveling in hyperspace for several hours, the trip was shorter than planned as the hyperdrive was more performing than the original one. Layan profited from the travel to Lyn everything to know about piloting, even if she would still need time to memorize it and experience to proficient in it.

Getting out of hyperspace, they saw a brown and yellow world with not speck of blue or green, this world appeared lifeless and inhospitable.

"Wow, I knew that Tatooine was famous for being a sand world but it's pretty surprising, there is no trace of water or vegetation from up there."

"The rumors are true you can only find sand and more sand in this world, but it has some advantages, it's one of the best places to buy illegal and stolen goods. Or to hire a bounty hunter."

Layan said with a giggle while piloting the ship toward the surface of the planet. Mos Eisley was his destination as Bespine was already founded but was currently only a small settlement, it will flourish under the Empire.

"You know this world?"

"I worked as a server in a cantina in Mos Eisley before meeting my master. So, yes, I know this world and the peoples living on it. "

He landed the ship on the spaceport of Mos Eisley with Lyn in toes. Her appearance drawn some bad attention but a show of Layan blaster at his belt and a dark glare were a sufficing warning for the moment, but Layan knew those that wanted to sell her would come to find him with helpers.

"Stay close to me. Being a pretty girl isn't an advantage in this world."

The two suns of Tatooine were high in the sky, the day was extremely arid and bright, for someone not used to it like Lyn it was almost suffocating. The suns reflecting on the sand were hurting the eyes, this world itself was hurting the living beings on it.

"There is a rumor on Tatooine saying that in the past, this world was beautiful, covered in gigantic oceans and greenery, one of the jewels of the galaxy."

Layan story got the attention, so she listened attentively while they continued walking toward their destination.

"What happened?"

"Who knows? Several rumors exist and contradict themselves, according to one of them, it was a mass coronal ejection from one of the suns that hit the planet, under the extreme heat, everything burned and the silicate underground became glasses and later sand. According to another, an old Sith ritual related to immortality took place on Tatooine making of it what is it now. And the last one says that during the time of the Rakata's infinite Empire, Tatooine was bombarded from space and under the heat emitted by the impact the silicate became glasses like in the first one."

Lyn was a bit surprised, but what took all her attention was the second possibility. She would never have believed that a force-user could be so powerful. The jedis are said to be powerful warriors, but this is some crazy level shit.

"There are only rumors? No proofs?"

"None of them can be proved, as it aged far too back in our history, we don't have any written proof left, and the fact that the history of the galaxy is riddled with war destroying our knowledge of the past isn't helping."

Mos Eisley seems to be a part of the planet itself, all the constructions were of a yellow color almost identical to the sand of the planet. All the structures were similar looking with a dome shape as a roof and a few moisture collectors' devices on the outside.

Layan knew all the old-timers that were here on Tatooine ever since before the blockade of Naboo, so he didn't lose time and headed for them to talk business and buy what he needed.

The place he was searching for was one of the biggest buildings of Mos Eisley, it was the best place to find illegal or stolen goods. The man holding this shop was a rhodian always ready to strike a good deal and with good connections to Jabba, if someone tries to trick him, he will have a blaster hole between the eyebrows.

Stepping inside, he headed directly toward the counter and talked to the Rhodian.

"I would like to buy military equipment and a few other things."

The rhodian looked at him more seriously and put his hand discreetly on his blaster at his waist.

"A few blasters, Missile launcher, A295 sniper rifle, DC17M, Z-6 rotatory blaster cannon, all of it in at least 2 exemplars and 30 grenades of all types: standard, shock, magnetic, sonic, gas and maybe some hellfire."

"Shouldn't be a problem, I have all of it in stock."

The rhodian said while thinking about Layan order but he was interrupted by the said man.

"I'm not over, to that you will add several military optics, 2 speeders 74-Z, and 2 IG-100 MagnaGuard."

"How do you know about this?"

The rhodian was by Layan knowledge of the separatist droid as it wasn't used and is still a secret for now.

"I know it, that's all. Do you have some in stock?"

"Yes, but it will cost you."

"Don't worry about this tell me the total and then I want it to be delivered at the spaceport. I'm sure you will be discreet, if someone I know of learns that you stole their secrets droid, I'm sure I won't hear about you anymore."

This idea gave goosebumps to the Rhodian, he may have some connections with Jabba but he won't protect him against the assaults of the separatists. After that, they watch as the Rhodian's employee put everything he ordered into a big transporter and followed them to the spaceport. Once there, they loaded everything on the ship and were almost ready to go, just one stop left.

Heading toward a small decrepit shop, even in Tatooine standards, they felt glares following them. They would take care of it later, now they steeped in the old shop, it was the best place to find antics and rare jewels on Tatooine.

Layan knew this man, a Toydarian or more accurately will know this guy because that man tried to double-cross Jabba and was punished for it. Layan was still working at the cantina by the time that man was punished by Jabba and eaten by a savage beast in front of a crowd as a result.

That merchant has who knows how gotten his hand on jedis frozen into carbonite and try to sell them without Jabba knowing it. Not only did he tried to not pay the fee to the Hutt, but it also attracted the Empire's attention toward Jabba in a bad way.

The vengeance of the gastropod was ruthless and set an example for all those who would try to fool him again.

Inside, the shop was tiny, the said future dead man was standing with a bored expression behind the counter. Behind several antiquities were exposed, the counter had a vitrine with jewels exposed in it.

"I'd like the best quality servomotor and hologram projector you have, and if you could find me gauntlets in cortosis, it would be good."

Layan skipped the greetings as people on this world shouldn't even know what 'hello' means and got directly to the point, he could already feel those who were following them encircling the building.

"Cortosis isn't cabbage, don't have it."

Layan was a bit disappointed in not finding what he was searching for, gauntlet in cortosis wasn't really important but he found no interesting Jedi relics in the vitrine. This guy was a Jedi fanatic, usually, he would have almost everything you could hope for even under the Empire rule he continued to build up a large collection of Jedi stuff.

"Give me that gem here."

He paid the Toydarian merchant and left with the gem, a Durindfire crystal in hand and Lyn carried the bags full of servomotors. He finally obtained everything needed to build a lightsaber. He bought all the other necessary pieces in his previous shopping stop, except the focusing crystal, most of the necessary pieces were pretty common. He was able to fight for himself with blaster but walking without a lightsaber on him make him feel naked.

"Lyn stay behind me. Your admirers are here."

Putting the crystal in his breast pocket, he draws out his two DC15s from the holsters and starts shooting where he felt his foe hiding before they could shoot. They were 8 men hiding, and with the first two shots, their number was reduced to 6.

His foes were of the Sriluur race and apparently weren't expecting to be discovered and shot before they could even threaten their targets. Lyn hid in the corner of the building they just left and watched as he shot their aggressors with perfect accuracy.

Layan was walking leisurely while shooting them down, half of them were already dead and the few left alive wanted to flee but felt something holding them in place and could only watch with despair as blaster bolts pierced their skull.

Looking around once the battle over, he saw a few people looking a bit afraid on the streets, at the corners of the streets he felt a few people looking with interest but dismissed them as unimportant.

"Let's go. On Tatooine, the Hutt law is supreme and I don't want to meet Jabba for the moment."

(Not for now, the time has not come for Jabba to become a pawn on my chessboard.)

With that thought in mind, they headed toward the ship and left Tatooine headed toward a forgotten world at the other end of the Hutt space.