'I can't see a damn thing out here, Jeghn!" Ralen shouted ahead of him. His human vision prevented him from opening his eyes in the storm. He was walking blindly, holding on to the back of Jeghn's tunic. "It's okay, we're almost there!" The Bith shouted behind him. Bith had far superior vision then humans, and had huge black eyes that bore a protective membrane, preventing any kind of small particles from disrupting their vision.

"We're here!" Jeghn shouted."Okay" Ralen heard a noise,then a yelp. "Let me go! I'm sorry for intruding!" It seemed as if Jeghn was jerked away from him, and Ralen fell to ground.

"Jeghn where the hell did you go!?" Ralen yelled at nothing

"Ralen," then he heard a gag "help me!"

Ralen hopped to his feet and lunged himself forward. In an instanst he fell through a cloth door covering and onto a hard packed floor.

He picked himself up again, and pulled his over shirt off of his head, throwing it to the side. He looked ahead of him and saw that Jeghn was being held in a head lock by a Zabrak wearing battle worn Mandalorian armor. "Freeze, intruder" came a voice to Ralen's left. He turned to see a human, wearing a tattered gray shirt and no shoes, holding a pistol aimed at his head.

"State your business here, outlander." the man ordered.

Ralen took a step back, lifting his hands "I'm Ralen Hlaano, and this is my friend, Jeghn Jago. We just left Mos Eisley but we lost our speeder to the storm. We need shelter."

"Oh, oh well you can stay in our tent if you wish, outlander." the man nodded, then lowered his weapon. "Anubis, release the Bith." he ordered. The Zabrak let Jeghn go. He fell to his knees and lifted a bony hand to his throat, as if trying to loosen up his air passage. At that Jeghn looked up chuckled at the grim faced Zabrak "You have got one hell of a grip there!" he complimented. "Why...thank you." He smiled. The other human walked a bit closer to Ralen and heald out his hand "I'm Raine Arkana." Ralen smiled and took his hand, shaking it "Pleasure to meet you, Raine." He smiled, and turned, pointing to the Zabrak "Thats Anubis Tide. He's a bounty hunter. And him over there," Raine shifted his finger to the other side of the tent to a human, wearing a red and green robe "That's Battosai, the goof troop." he chuckled. Ralen smiled and raised his hand nervously "Ha, hey, nice to meet you guys" ."Hello!" Battosai waved to him "We're Tatooine Underground." Raine explained.

"Tatooine Underground? I'm sorry, I ain't heard of you guys. Then again, we're not too fluent here on Tatooine." Ralen replied to the hiding question.

"Yeah, well, we're just getting started. But I predict we'll be big in the future! I've got this great plain." Raine assure him as he sat down on his large air bag in one corner of the tent. Ralen nodded

"What exactly do you guys do?" he asked

"Mercenaries." Raine replied

"Mercenaries, huh?" Ralen continued

"Yeah, well right now we're just doing a bit of work here and there for different people. What do you and the Bith do? I forgot to ask if you were the law or not." Raine said, looking down a bit, then back up, his eyes meeting Ralen's

" Well, no, no we're not the law. Hell no. We're smugglers, actually." Ralen said nervously, yet relieved they believed him. These looked like the kind of guys who wouldn't trust a soul.

"Smugglers, eh?" Raine laughed "Sounds fun"

"Yeah, real fun..." Ralen said scarcastically.

"So, you and the Bith the only guys in the business or what?" Raine asked.

"Nah, no, it's me, Jeghn Jago the Bith, a Trandoshen named Jax Mar, and a Rodian named Chibo Geedo. We've all known eachother forever. Heh, seems like we've been in the business forever, too. We're all real close, just like brothers. Always got eachother's. Don't know what I'd do if I lost one of my boys." Ralen smiled a bit.

"Your a Naboo Hlaano?" Anubis, the Zabrak, said, walking closer to Ralen. The young man chuckled a bit

"Yeah, yeah I am. Ralen Hlaano. How did you know?" he asked.

"You bear the Hlaano family crest of Theed. I'd thought either you'd killed a Hlaano and stole it from then, or if I didn't know better I'd say you were Heggin Hlaano's son." Anubis explained, pointing to the shiny stone pendant that hung around Ralen's neck

Ralen quickly lifted his hand and positioned the pendant between his thumb and index finger, outlining the grooves that made up the crest symbol with his fingernail.

"Yeah, Heggin was my dad. He died when I was...really young. How do you know him?" Ralen asked as he began to reflect on the brief memories he had of his father.

"I heard about him in a prison on Rori. I was told he piloted a gunship in the latter days of the Clone wars. One of the last to stand up to Palpatine's idea of an Empire. Got shot down after dropping that Wookie family off at the rebel base."

Anubis told him as he paced to the left and right, only lifting his head as he finished every other word.

Ralen nodded "Yeah, yeah that's right. He died when I was only two. I have almost no memory of him at all."

Anubis smiled, and nodded "Oh, well, I was just making sure." he said, and walked back to his chair, picked up his pistol, and began to tweek at the aiming device.

"What ya got in that there bag, pretty boy?" Battosai pointed to the satchel full of credits by Ralen's side. Jeghn looked up from the game of Solitaire Sabacc he had began to play, and closed his eyes, hoping that after getting Ralen's answer, which hopefully would be a lie, they wouldn't investigate on it's contents any further.

"Uh, well" Ralen studdered for the right words to say "Uh, accelerator couplings." he said reassuringly.

"What you got them for" Battosai questioned, not leaving the comfort of his seat.

"Killed a Toydarien Merchant. These were the only things I could find that I could run out with before the storm troopers got there." Ralen looked away for a moment to make sure that Anubis and Raine were still occupied, and luckily enough they were.

"Oh, okay. Just makin sure won't nothin illegal." Battosai snickered and began to laugh.

Jeghn let out a deep breath and opened his eyes "Good one, Ralen."

Ralen turned around and looked at Raine "So, do you know how long this storm is supposed to last?" he shrugged.

"I don't know for sure. Don Maggio's men say it's supposed to last all night, but we really don't know." Raine said calmly.

"What!? All night? Do you have a speeder that can take us to Anchor Head, or something? We have a cruiser waiting for us there! We have to get there tonight!" Ralen steamed, trying very hard not to make it seem like he was angry, and good thing it worked. Raine Arkana, and his friends, did not look like people to be messed with.

"Your out of luck, man. None of us are going out there, and we don't have any speeders. It's too dangerous, anyway. We'd get torn to shreds." he reminded Ralen.

The dashing Ralen Hlaano turned back around, then shifted to his former position "Torn to shreds? By what? Krayt Dragons don't come out during storms." Ralen cocked his head to the right and quirked a brow.

"No, Ralen, not by Krayts. We never have to worry about Krayt Dragons. We're worried about Tusken Raiders."

"Tusken Raiders? Never heard of them. What are they, some kind of womp rat?" Ralen chuckled

Raine stood up, setting down the engine appendage. He walked over to a small wooden table and picked up a rag, wiping the grease from between his fingers. He then stopped about a foot from Ralen, throwing the rag to the side.

"It's not a laughing matter, man. Tusken Raiders are terrible wandering monsters of no mercy. They wear rags, from their victums, wrapped around every single part of their body. Their eyes, big, black holes, shielded by cracked goggles, so they have no trouble getting around in sand storms. They carry terribly sharp pikes with them, curved at one end and rippled at the other." Raine explained with an eerie tone to his voice.

"Oh...that suprisingly makes me want to mess my pants." Ralen nodded assuringly

" I heard from the son of a Tusken raid survivor, old man Owen Lars. Said they took two legs from his father. Pappy used to tell him stories about Tusken Raiders at night just to freak him out. Told him that they spat blood from glands in their cheeks to blind their victums long enough to impale them with the rigid end of their gaderiffi pikes." Raine looked down for a moment.

"Oh, yuck." was the only reply Ralen could stomach at the moment.

"Yeah so, nuff' about that...let's hit the sack. I'm beat. We'll set you and Jeghn over there up for Anchor Head at sun rise." Raine promised.

*********************************************************************

"Wake up Ralen!" came a whisper from behind him. "Mmm..I love you too, Kinsy. Yeah, let's make more babies. Two thousand one, two thousand two..." was his reply. Battosai laughed.

"Haha, who is Kinsy?" he asked, looking back at Jeghn

"His girlfriend, on Naboo." the Bith explained

"Is she good looking?" Battosai tilted his head, wanting to know more

"Yeah, a knock-out. She's rich, too! Her house is like, uh, a castle!" he chuckled

"Oooo, nice!" the goofy human laughed

"You two jiblet heads shut up!" ordered the Zabrak, who was just infront of Battosai.

Jeghn and Battosai shut it quickly. Neither wanted to have a score to settle with Anubis. Looking at his battle scarred armor would be enough to halt any mere being in their tracks. He sounded serious, too. Dead serious.

"Ralen, you have to wake up!" Raine said, shaking his shoulder. Ralen opened up quickly, looking up to meet eyes with Raine.

"What's up? I was having a good dream." he said.

"I'll bet." Battosai and Jeghn chuckled

Raine's finger quickly bolted to his mouth "Shhhh. Yeah, well, we have a little problem." He whispered. Ralen sat up, rolled to his right, and balanced on one knee.

"What's wrong?" he whispered

"Tusken Raiders are outside of the camp. See?" Raine pointed to the far corner of the tent.

Sure enough, Ralen saw three ghost-like, cryptic shadows creeping around the tent, heading for the entrance. He looked to the side, seeing that Jeghn, Battosai, and Anubis all had their pistols drawn. He then turned his gaze quickly, and Raine had his weapon ready, too. Ralen let out a deep breath and pulled his Z-508 blaster pistol from it's holster and readied it. Putting his left hand on the ground for support, he lifted the blaster to his chest.

The shadows creeped closer and closer to the single length of cloth covered the entrance. Raine and Anubis aimed their pistols, chest length, at the cloth covering. Ralen did the same, as well as Jeghn and Battosai.

With a screach, and an ear piercing battle cry, three ghostly Tusken Raiders tore down the cloth covering and into the tent. At once blasters were set off. The first fell to his knees, then flat onto his face. That was Raine's hit. The second Tusken Raider tore a meter from the entrance. Battosai shot at him, but the bolt missed. His mistake was quickly repented, however, by Anubis. A hot bolt of plasma hailing from Anubis' 876-JKP Mandalorian pistol hit the creature just above his right ear. His skull cracked, and as he fell to the ground his brain oozed out of the flaming cracks that now led up and down his lifeless face.

The third, realizing he was outnumbered, turned around and began to flee. Battosai and Anubis both shot, and missed. Raine and Jeghn shot at the same moment, and their bolts entertwined, hitting the Raider in his Achilles heal. As the monster fell, Ralen fired a bolt, and hit the Tusken in the back of his neck, killing him instantly. This all happened in a matter of 15 standard seconds.

"Gentleman," Battosai said calmy "the crap has literally been scared out of me."

Anubis turned around and tapped him lightly on his right shoulder "Shut up."

Jeghn lifted his forearm and wiped a drop of sweat from his pompous forehead, and stood. Anubis holstered his blaster and snickered a bit. Ralen looked to Raine and smiled

"Good job, Raine." he complimented

"You too, man." he nodded

Anubis stood now "Come. There could be more. We can not let them escape." he looked to the four others in the room.

"Do we have to?" whimpered Battosai

Everyone else in the tent looked up at the standing Zabrak bounty hunter, as if all of them had the same question. They weren't cowards of course, but they were dealing with Tusken Raiders. They didn't want to die.

Anubis chuckled a bit "Yes." he said flat out, and began to walk in the direction of the entrance.

The others got up and sighed, trudging to the door. With Raine in the lead and Jeghn at the rear, they slowly peeked out of the entrance. The Squad Leader Raine waved to the others that the coast was clear. The group all went outside of the tent. To their suprise the sand storm had died down to a few gusts of wind here and there.

They all walked a few feet from the tent and hurdeled into a group. Raine turned around and faced the rest.

"Coast is clear. Looks like if there were anymore Tusken Raiders they fled once they heard our blasters." he chucked

However, Raine Arkana was mistaken. In a flash, a Tusken Raider jumped from the top of their tent and landed infront of them, blocking the entrance. Everyone jumped back in suprise, Battosai falling to his face. The Tusken lifted his gaderiffi staff high above his head and let out the same ear piercing battle cry that his friends had.

He then lunged himself forward, spitting blood at the group. Jeghn, being blinded completely fell forward. The Tusken Raider saw this as an oppurtunity, so he took the jagged end of his pike, and impaled Jeghn completely with it. Ralen jumped back as the blood from Jeghn's wound spouted out like a fountain and permenantly stained his white under shirt. There was a loud yelp, and the Raider and Jeghn both fell to the ground.

Ralen's blaster was still smoking as he holstered it, quickly running and getting on his knees infront of Jeghn. He looked into the Bith's large black eyes, then down to the blood spouting from the gaping wound in his gut.

"Oh, no, fix. No, Jeghn! Come on!" Ralen whispered, feeling his own eyes glaze over.

Jeghn's gaze turned and he looked Ralen directly in the eyes. "I'm not...not gonna make it man," Jegh coughed up blood.

The thick red substance flowed from the Bith's circular mouth, through the folds of his upper and lower lip, then rolled down to his neck as if there were several fresh wounds that suddenly spouted around his face. Battosai rolled over and and stood on his knees at Jeghn's feet. Raine walked a bit closer. Anubis, however, stood back in the shadows.

"Don't...don't talk like that, Jeghn. You'll be fine." Ralen assured him.

Jeghn simply shook his head. "Just...remember me like... I always was...Ralen, my bro..ther..you.." he couldn't say anymore.

"No, no, bro, don't talk like that. Your gonna be just fine. We'll get you back to the ship and patch this all up. Tomorrow night we'll be on Naboo livin up Theed. Okay?" Ralen stopped for a moment and stared into the eyes of his dying comrad.

"Okay, Jeghn? Okay?" at that, for the first time in so long, young Ralen Hlaano felt his heart break. Jeghn Jago, his best friend until the end, had just died in his own hands.

Ralen fought hard to keep back the tears, and shook his head "Oh, no. How could this-oh no!"

Raine shoke his head and rested his palm on Ralen's right shoulder "I'm sorry, man. It happens. I'm really sorry."

Ralen let Jeghn's head fall to the ground. He lifted his hand slowly and ran it down the front of the lifeless Bith's face, shutting the lids to his once promising big black eyes. Ralen let his hands fall to his knees, leaving another permanent bloody hand print upon his pants. He stood up and took in a deep breath, then turned to the three mercenaries that made up the Tatooine Underground.

"Yeah, yeah. It happens." Ralen sighed

Anubis looked down and patted Ralen's back "His death was not in vain. There was nothing he, you, nor any of us could have done to save his life. It was simply something that was meant to happen."

Ralen smiled and nodded to Anubis, then to Raine, and last to Battosai, who was still on the ground looking at Jeghn.

"Now, come on you guys. Let's go back to sleep."

***********************************************************************

"You sure this thing will hold?" Ralen asked Raine as he started up the engine to the speeder bike the Tatooine Underground had given him.

"Of course she'll hold, man! We found her abandoned in the Dune Sea about a week ago. Fixed her up myself. She may not be perfect, but she'll get you to Anchor Head, then you can trash her to the Tusken's." Raine retorted in a rather cheerful way.

"Well, I better get going. Jax and Chibo are going to start wondering where I am if I don't get to the Goddess Beauty in time." Ralen said as he burned the accelerator.

"Yeah, yeah. It was good meeting you, Ralen Hlaano." Raine smiled

"You too, Raine Arkana." he smiled, then looked up to the twin suns of Tatooine, momentarily mending his broken heart and giving him a new found sense of hope "Perhaps we'll meet again some day, when all this fighting stops." he suggested

"Yeah, maybe." Raine chuckled.

Ralen turned around and rested his eyes upon the irregularly shaped patch of sand near the tent where they had buried Jeghn earlier that morning. He nodded and said to himself under his breath,

"Goodbye, Jeghn."

Ralen shifted his weight again and waved good-bye to Battosai and Anubis. They waved back, and for the first time Ralen saw Anubis smile.

He burned the accelerators again and nodded to the human standing beside his new speeder.

"Good bye, Raine. Thanks for everything." he smiled as he started to speed off. He turned around and waved behind him to Raine and the rest of Tatooine Underground. After he saw them return their waves he turned back around, facing the vast Dune Sea that lay before him.

"Anchor Head, here I come!"