Worth: A Star Wars Story

40. The Krayt Pearl

The Krayt Dunes, as the Tuskens called them, stretched out for what felt like miles across the horizon and vanished beyond it. It was punctuated by massive canyons that jutted up from the rolling landscape in high, dark walls. Talani had opted to stay behind to work some negotiations out with the tribes like she had planned, and I think we were all happy to be able to go into this without needing to watch an ambassador constantly. We were gathered up two or three to a Bantha and followed the Shaman, the Reqte Chief, and Rath, who guided us through the desert until we came to a rather high canyon wall that seemed like it was splitting our path in two. The banthas almost seemed to know instinctively where to go and entered into a large cave that I hadn't even noticed at first, and we soon found ourselves in relative darkness as we travelled along, eventually emerging on the other side to a much, much larger segment of canyon dotted with caves where I could see Tuskens poking their heads out of.

"They live up there?" Hex leaned over and asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Makes sense. Keeps them off the ground, and if there's a Krayt living nearby, can't say I blame them," I replied, looking up and catching sight of some of the Tuskens beginning to climb down, weapons strapped to their backs and hips.

"Around here," Ryder chimed in, "the Krayts are likely the least of their problems."

We had briefed ourselves on the native wildlife of Tatooine before coming, and it seemed like the entire planet was out to kill every living thing on it. Talen had mentioned that the planet was host to all sorts of species of fauna, some rather dangerous flora, and remnants left behind from ancient wars fought over the planet and abandoned by corporation who sued it as a dumping ground for dangerous technology. Even the Tuskens had apparently built up a mythos around the areas and no one within their right minds ever went there.

Oh, but for some reason, building your home near the mouth of a Krayt Dragon den was somehow safer than three thousand year old ruins, naturally.

Why wouldn't it be?

We halted as the chief of the Dunes and a cadre of heavily armed warriors stormed up to Rath and the Reqte Chief's banthas. K'a'sharada stayed back with us, but I saw his  thumb discreetly switch the safety off on his cycler. I couldn't tell exactly what was going on, but the Dun chief wasn't happy about whatever it was. Talen leaned over, shifting his weight on the Bantha, "He's accusing the Reqte and Canyon tribes of being complacent with the Pykes. The Reqte Chief is trying to talk him down."

"Is it working?" I asked, prompting my entire squad to look over at him inquiringly. I think we were all mostly trying to decide if we needed to fight or not.

"Mostly. Reqte is relaying to him the situation about the pearl. He's not looking pleased, but a rite is a rite, and they need to work together to do it," Talen shook his head as we all watched the retinues dismount and decided to do the same.

The Chiefs looked like they were getting pretty heated, and even Rath was starting to look anxious. I doubted he held much sway with the Dunes. Luckily for us, we had someone who did. The Shaman pushed past his Chief, and at his arrival, I saw the Dunes Chief give a bow of respect and greeting, and several others in his group all did the same. The Shaman held some serious sway over these people, that much was for sure. I heard him begin angrily speaking to both chiefs, the throaty language of the Tuskens punctuated by harsh gestures as he seemed to be doing us the favor of relaying our mission fully to the now fully engaged Dune Chief.

Talen turned to us, voice dropping as low as he could go while we could still hear him. "The pearl. They think that a new saber could bring peace to the Clans and help stop the Pykes. Besides gifting it to the next Shaman, they think it's part of a bigger vision. That's why the Chief asked us to do this."