They traveled the whole day before finding a group of Tuskens and camped with them. They were all tired so they decided to sleep for the night and continue traveling the next morning and with the first light of the next day, they continued their way to Mos Pelgo. After long hours on the road, they finally reached the town. Din slowed the bike as he drove through the street, seeing the people looking at them distrustfully.
He stopped the bike in front of a canteen and got off with Juno soon following as she picked up the child from the bag. Din walked in first and saw only the bartender was there so he went to him while the kids slowly walked inside and next to Din.
"Can I help you?" Asked the bartender.
"I'm looking for a Mandalorian." Answered Din.
"Well, we don't get many visitors in these parts. Can you describe him?"
"Someone who looks like me." Answered Din dryly and Juno tried not to snigger.
"You mean the Marshal?" Asked the bartender.
"Your Marshal wears Mandalorian armor?" Din questioned.
"See for yourself." He replied and they turned to look to the doors where a man, wearing the armor, stood.
"What brings you here, stranger?" Asked the Marshal.
"I've been searching for you for many parsecs." Said Din.
"Well, now, you found me. Weequay, two snorts of spotcha." Said the man. The bartender pulled out a bottle and two glasses and the Marshal took them, walking to sit at a table. "Why don't you join me for a drink?" This made Din and Juno confused. She knew that Din never took his helmet off in front of someone else and it made her question the man. Their confusion only grew when the man took off his helmet and set it down. "I've never met a real Mandalorian." Din stayed quiet, getting angry at the man for wearing the armor when he wasn't a Mandalorian. "Heard stories. I know you're good at killing. And probably none too happy to see me wearing this hardware. So, I figure only one of us walking out of here. But then I see the little ones..." He pointed to the kids, Juno crouched next to the child inspecting a vase. "...and I think, maybe I pegged you wrong."
"Who are you?" Asked Din.
"I'm Cobb Vanth, Marshal of Mos Pelgo." He replied.
"Where did you get the armor?" He asked again.
"Bought it off some Jawas." He answered and drank some of the spotcha.
"Hand it over." Demanded Din.
"Look, pal, I'm sure you call the shots where you come from, but 'round here, I'm the one who tells folks what to do." Said Vanth.
"Take it off. Or I will." Said Din as he walked closer to the table.
"We gonna do this in front of the kids?" He asked and both kids looked at them, the child cooing.
"They've seen worse." Replied Din
"Right here, then?" Vanth asked.
"Right here." Vanth sighed and stood up. Both men stared at each other, waiting for the other to make the next move, when they suddenly heard and felt the ground rumbling. Vanth walked to the door to look outside as Din checked on the kids. When Juno nodded, silently saying they were fine, he walked out as well as alarms started beeping.
The people outside started screaming and running inside their houses as something under the ground came rushing through the town and killed one of their banthas.
"Maybe we can work something out." Said Vanth. Inside the canteen, Juno picked up the child who hid inside the vase and went to stand next to Din.
"What was that?" She asked him.
"A krayt dragon." He answered.
~
"That creature's been terrorizing these parts since long before Mos Pelgo was established." Vanth started explaining as he lead them through the town. "Thanks to this armor, I've been able to protect this town from bandits and Sand People. They look to me to protect 'em. But a krayt dragon is too much for me to take on alone." He stopped and looked at Din. "Help me kill it, I'll give you the armor.
"Deal. I'll ride back to the ship, blow it out of the sand from the sky, use the bantha as bait." Proposed Din.
"Not so simple." Disagreed Vanth. "The ship passes above, it senses the vibrations,stays underground. But I know where it lives."
"How far?" Asked Din.
"Not far." He replied.
~
They were on their way to the place the dragon stayed. Din with the kids on his speeder bike and Vanth on his own next to them. They have been riding for a while when Vanth started talking.
"You don't understand what it was like." He started explaining. "The town was on its last legs. It started after we got news of the Death Star blowing up. The second one, that is. The Empire was pulling outta Tatooine. There was blaster fire over Mos Eisley. The occupation was over. We didn't even have time to celebrate.that very night, the Mining Collective moved in. Power hates a vacuum and Mos Pelgo became a slave camp overnight." Hearing that, Juno looked down sadly. It somehow reminded her of what happened on her home planet. "I lit out. Took what I could from the invaders. Grabbed a camtono. I had no idea it was full of silicax crystals. I guess every once in a while, both suns shine on a womp rat's tail. I wondered for days. No food, no water. And then, I was saved. The Jawas wanted the crystals. They offered their finest in exchange. And my treasure bought me more than a full waterskin. It bought my freedom."
They traveled for a while longer before they heard a noise and stopped. Din quickly got off the bike, pulled out his rifle and pulled Juno, who was holding the child, behind the bike, waiting for something to happen, as Vanth did the same. The growling continued when a mastiff emerged from behind a rock, snarling at them, soon followed by others joining it. Din lowered the rifle and stood up, shouting at the creatures in Tusken. They stopped and watched as Din moved around the bikes.
"Din? What are you doing?" Whispered Juno nervously.
"What the hell you doing?" Asked Vanth. Din motioned to them to wait while he approached the creatures. He started speaking to them in Tusken while both Vanth and Juno looked at him confused as one of the mastiffs came rushing to him. Din crouched down and started patting it.
Juno snorted, surprised at what she was seeing. Din turned his head to her and signaled for her to come closer. She put the child in the bag down before she slowly joined him. When she was next to him, Din took her hand out, letting the mastiff sniff it and then placing it on the creature. She chuckled as she started patting it. "I must admit, he's weirdly cute." She mumbled and Din smiled under his helmet.
Suddenly, Tuskens joined their mastiffs and Din stood up, speaking with them in their language. This fascinated the young girl, knowing that the Mandalorian was full of surprises.
"Hey, partner, you want to tell me what's going on?" Asked Vanth who was still confused as Din turned to him.
"They want to kill the krayt dragon, too." He explained.
~
That evening, they were sitting around the fire with the Tuskens. Vanth and Din next to each other and Juno and the child sat on the ground in front of Din, leaning against his leg, while he spoke to the Tuskens. Juno's attention was drawn to one of the Tuskens near them as he held out something for her and Vanth. She took it and looked up at Din in question.
"What am I supposed to do with this?" Asked Vanth.
"You drink it." He answered. Juno hesitantly took a drink, finding the taste weird but not as terrible as she expected.
"It stinks." Replied Vanth.
"It's not that bad." Said Juno and turned again to Din. "How do I thank them?" She asked. Din took her hands and guided her through the sign a few times before she did it herself. The Tusken signed something back and she once again turned to Din.
"He said that you're welcome and that you're kind for respecting them." He translated and Juno smiled at them.
"That's cute. But I'm not drinking this." Said Vanth.
"Do you want their help?" Asked Din.
"Not if I have to drink this." He replied. And the Tusken started talking more loudly.
"He says your people steal their water and now you insult them by not drinking it." He translated for them. "They know about Mos Pelgo. They know how many Sand People you killed."
"They raided our village. I defended the town." Said Vanth loudly.
"Lower your voice." Told him Din.
"I knew this was a bad idea." He said and threw the thing in fire which made the Tusken stand up angrily.
"You're agitating them." Warned Din.
"These monsters can't be reasoned with." He said as he stood up as well. "Sit back down before I put a hole through ya! I'm not going to say it..." he was interrupted by Din who stood up and activated his flamethrower. This made Juno jump slightly, not expecting the situation to get like that.
Din started to talk in Tusken to them before Vanth spoke again, now more calmly. "What are you telling them?"
"The same thing I'm telling you. If we fight amongst ourselves, the monster will kill us all." He explained and both Vanth and the Tusken sat back down before Din continued. "Now, how do we kill it?"