The Rebel Faction

Tatooine, what a hell hole to be stuck on. Well, stuck may be too permanent sounding of a word. It was more that he had to be there because of a target he had been following. Unfortunately, that target decided he wasn't going to hide in one of the major spaceports and would rather go hide out with moisture farmers and other small settlements across the dunes. It made searching for him a vastly entertaining ordeal. Because of that he had to pay for multiple days at the spaceport in case he wasn't able to return for an extended period of time. He wasted away two weeks of fees to make sure that he had adequate time to find the scrub he was after.

The scrub hadn't done anything that drastic other than forget to pay back a fee to a wealthy loaner. Although that loan had been in upwards of 500,000 credits and was over a year late. The assignment wasn't even to try and get the money anymore, the loaner had decided that it wasn't worth collecting anymore and that the scrub simply needed to be killed. That scrub was Eric Fosx, a small time merchant who had needed the loan to make up for having to eject a shipment when being pursued by authorities while he was carrying a large amount of illegal weaponry. All Stein could think was that Eric figured being in debt to a loaner would be less dangerous than being in debt to a group of outlaws who wanted the weapons.

Finding the man hadn't actually been as difficult as he thought it would be. People who tried to hide in these smaller villages were easily noticed by the locals because of their small size and lack of travelers. Talking with them got him to follow Eric's trail very easily. The toughest part? Getting transportation between the small towns without having to walk was the most difficult. But he got lucky most of the time and had to load up with water for two walks. He was very grateful for his armor when that had to happen, it was able to keep him fairly cool in the heat and kept the sun out of his eyes. It intimidated some of the locals and he knew they all knew why he was after the man. Sometimes that made it harder to get information from them but a couple of credits could make someone turn a blind eye and tell him where he was going.

---

The farm that the scrub Eric was hiding in was just a few hundred feet in front of him. The man who had taken him in his speeder, Mr. Olson, was kind enough to agree to wait for his return from the farm. With, of course, a little bit of help from a couple hundred credits. Either way it happened though it happened. Unslinging the DLT-19, he cradled it in his arms as he marched towards the moisture farm clad in his black armor. The readings on his visor told him the temperature and it gave him the distance to the target before him.

Sighing as he spotted a small figure running out of the house, quickly followed by a woman, he realized that this may not be as straightforwards as he was expecting. With the old man waiting for him, Stein couldn't just massacre the entire group. No, he had to just do what he came to do. Shouldering the heavy blaster rifle again, he unbuttoned the holster for his WESTAR-34 so he could quickly grab at it.

The woman quickly noticed him and he could see her posture straighten as he neared her. "Excuse me ma'am." The helmet adding a slight mechanical sound to his voice as he spoke, "I am looking for Eric Fosx. I've been informed he is taking residence here." The small child ran over and was quickly cradled in the womans arms, "I need to find him, and I would hate to have something happen to the young one." Voice was emotionless as he said so. Killing the child would be effortless and wouldn't weigh on his conscience at all. It wasn't like he was going to do anything in life. He would be trapped her as a moisture farmer for his entire life.

Her face showed fear when he mentioned her girl and she quickly pointed inside without hesitation. Bringing his hand to his head, he tapped the top of his visor in thanks before drawing the WESTAR-34 from its holster and holding it out in front of him. "Mr. Fosx?" It wasn't hard to spot him sitting at the table with a blaster in front of him and a newspaper in his hands. As soon as the newspaper lowered enough for Stein to see the mans face, a face that immediately saw who he was and showed fear, a bolt leaped from the end of the WESTAR-34 and singed through the newspaper and kicked the man backwards out of his seat.

----

With the sun going down and it being day eight of his search. Stein decided he would take a rest instead of traveling this night and sleeping in the speeder. Walking through, he spotted a large gathering near the center of the town and waded over to see what was going on. Easily parting people in front of him with a touch of his hand to where they looked to him and immediately moved out of the way.

Apparently it was a trial of some sorts. Pushing his way towards the front, he could see a Rodian shouting something in his language. He cared little about what he was saying but as he looked over to the bloodied body of the captive, his eyes widened in surprise. There, arms chained up and naked with the exception of blood and heavy lacerations, was Ishara. He stared for a moment trying to make sure that was who it really was. "Ishara..." he said under his breath. The person next to him glanced over, but Stein had already turned away and parting his way back through the people who were standing to see the witch being prosecuted.

The next day he spent scouting out the area that they would execute Ishara at. It wasn't difficult to figure it out as everyone knew that she was going to be executed. He didn't wear his armor and instead dressed in local clothes that he had purchased the day before. The shackles that she would be strapped to were there already locked so no one could get locked in as a prank. Although Stein wouldn't be surprised if the kids had found a way to do it anyways. He was even more glad that he wasn't the only person looking at the execution area. Other people wanted to see where the witch would be executed.

That was the next question he had. Why the hell were they calling Ishara a witch? Last he knew she had come out of the military and had a period of being a bounty hunter just like him. Paths had crossed a few times and she seemed capable in what she was doing. But to call her a witch? He'd never seen anything to give any proof to that accusation. Then again, this was a more backwater area and Ishara could have used some newer weapon they hadn't ever seen before and they attached that to music. Whatever it was she was on trial for, it had to be something serious that they would beat and abuse her so badly.

With the area scouted out enough, Stein went through local shops gathering what he needed to get. Assorted fuels, gunpowder that the locals used for their hunting rifles, a few canned goods of food and then he set off towards the small junkyard that they had. It would have been larger but he was informed by the owner that the Jawa's had recently come by and purchased a large amount of their goods and dropped off much less than they normally would have. In the junkyard he gathered up as many metal shards as he could get, glass chunks, nails, rocks, and wiring.

Paying the junkyard owner for the equipment was a little odd as the man stared at him as he looked at the goods Stein was buying. He commented under his breath that he was just buying junk but Stein just shrugged and didn't worry about it. The man took his money and was probably happy that someone bought that stuff so he didn't have to worry about cleaning it up at another date. Getting help from a mechanic, Stein was able to get parts for creating remotes and other such transmitting devices before he called it a day for shopping.

Returning to the room that he had rented out, he quickly put everything away and departed for the center of the town where they would be continuing the trial on Ishara. He squeezed his way into the front to clarify for the last time that it really was Ishara, and it wasn't easy to tell but it certainly was the woman. Apparently she had killed one of her guards and was being scolded. Not that it would matter much in the outcome, she was already set to be executed. Now all Stein needed to know is when that was.

Tomorrow.

That wouldn't leave him much time, that would be it for sleeping tonight. He didn't bother waiting for them to take her away and instead pushed his way out of the crowd and back to the room he was renting. Aside from Ishara, he appeared to be the only person from out of town visiting at the moment.

He spent the rest of the day and until midnight working on turning everything he had gathered into fragmentation grenades. Canned food containers made excellent containers for such things. Stein also produced three containers that instead of exploding, would burn their fuels to provide a dark smoke to cover the escape of the duo. Making two thumb sized explosives, he made sure to set them separate from the rest of the fragmentation grenades. Using the wire he created a multitude of transmitters that he could set off the grenades with. Linking up the transmitters to a custom made remote, he double checked that they were linked to the correctly labeled receivers before setting the receiving devices into the fragmentation and fuel burning grenades.

With that completed, he placed all the grenades into a leather bag and suited up into his armor. Activating the night vision, he thanked the desert for making the night so cold so many people would not be out at all. Making his way towards the execution area, he unclipped his WESTAR-34's holster to have easy access in case someone was going to try and stop him. If this didn't work out, he would have to bust Ishara out using total force. This way, well, it wouldn't be more discrete but it would make it so he didn't have to try and defeat the security of the prison.

Planting the fragmentation grenades in the dirt and sand around where the people would stand, he couldn't help but smirk at the thought of seeing the chaos that would ensure once he triggered them. Burying the fuel burning grenades around where she would be shackled, he made sure to cover everything with sand and spread it out to look like it hadn't been disturbed. At the pole where her hands would be shackled, he pulled out his knife and began working at digging out a very small area and pressing the thumb sized explosives at where the metal chain was attached to the pole. Covering it back up with a piece of wood he departed from the scene.

Now it would simply be to arrive for the execution tomorrow and get Ishara out of there.

Clad in his black armor, Stein stood in the doorway into someones house who had long since gone to go and see the execution. The mob was visible from where he stood and he could see the battered and bloodied form of Ishara being dragged towards the crowd, which parted to allow her to pass before closing behind her. The next part would be more difficult to time as he couldn't set off the charges early or she would still be shackled or a fragmentation grenade could strike her and this entire operation would be for naught. So he waited a time before spotting three torches held above the crowd heading towards the center. While it was nothing more than a logical assumption that she was now attached, it was the best thing he could go off of without hearing her screams as the flames licked away her flesh. And by then it would be a wasted operation as well.

Pulling out the small remote, he flipped off the protective clear plastic covering and switched the lever that armed the remote. Looking up again, the torches continued to near before his gloved hand flicked the first row of switches. Three fragmentation grenades went off almost simultaneously in the crowd. The roar of their explosions being overcome by the screams the assorted pieces of shrapnel caused as it tore through the flesh of the townsfolk like butter.

Their dominance over the sound though ceased as he fired off the next array of switches. Three more fragmentation grenades rocked the crowd as it sent another deadly assortment of shrapnel, predominately nails this time. The crowd was in full panic and beginning to flee while screaming, "witch!" at the top of their lungs. The torches lay on the ground and the black robed body of one of the three torch bearers sat unmoving on the ground.

Still the fireworks continued. The third row of switches set off the three fuel burning grenades which quickly began spewing dark black smoke into the air. Thus making site to Ishara impossible. Getting out of the doorway, Stein immediately took off in a run towards where she was shackled. His weaponry and armor shifting up and down as he ran. Hand still on the remote, he fired off the last series of three fragmentation grenades before he entered the black smoke he had created and activated the heat vision in his helmet.

Firing off the two thumb sized explosives that he'd placed next to her shackle plants; causing wood to splinter off the pole and into where the crowd would have been. Stein let the remote drop into the sand as he quickly swept Ishara up in his arms and continued running. His feet finding its way to the ground while he dodged stepping on the dead or writhing bodies of those unlucky enough to have been directly in the blast radius. While it wouldn't be the smartest move he could do, he had to get out of the town and that meant going directly into the desert of Tatooine. Which was doable since he had the location of the nearest city already known and he would just have to use a compass to find it.

With little less than a full canteen of water, he pounded out into the desert until he was over a dune and out of the line of sight from the city. Kneeling down, he set the woman down into the sand and quickly pulled the small medical kit that sat on his lower back off and grabbed out two bacta patches. Tearing both open he handed her one, "set to work, Ishara. Get as much of your front as you can before it dries." Grabbing the other one himself, he held her up by her shoulder in an upright sitting position before going to work on the gashes on her back with his own. It wasn't long before it was blood soaked and he had to grab out a third one to continue working at her back. But the bacta was able to close up her wounds and stop the bleeding. "When we get out of here we'll have to submerge you in a bacta tank for these." Voice still holding a mechanical undertone from the helmet.

Tied around his left leg like a large bandage over his armor was a poncho that he quickly removed and handed to her. "Put this on, that sun will burn your flesh up other." He paused, "the suns, rather." Working on putting the medical kit back on his back, he looked over at her. "Oh thats right," he finished attaching the kit before undoing the clasps that held his helmet tight and peeled it off his head. Blinking a few times to adjust to the brightness that came without the visor, he curled the helmet under his left arm and extended his right hand to her. "Stein Hall. You looked like you were in a bit of a situation back there."

Holding the unconscience woman in his arms, Stein set her down into the sand and pulled his helmet back down over his head. Letting it seal back on, he set it for the northwest and picked Ishara back up. Holding her across his chest, he got to his feet and started trudging through the sand. If she was unconscience she would use less energy and he hoped that she would be able to survive until they find whatever it was she was directing him towards.

A few hours passed as he trudged and he began to fear that the suns may actually drop before he was able to get her to safety. Feeling her start to move, he found cover towards a rocky outcropping and waiting to see if she knew where they were. Luckily for the duo, this was where she was intending for them to go. Carrying her inside he watched as it darkened before all light was gone. He would have reatched up and activated a light but instead he found her crawling her way out of his grasp and towards a door.

As she worked at a panel that appeared out of the rock, he watched as the doors opened and the lights lit up to reveal a hanger with a ship inside of it. Stein had never been an expert at starships so he had no idea exactly what it was, but it looked somewhat like a freightor. Helping the poncho covered girl to her feet, he helped her to the ship and then up and into it. Directly towards the medical bay, he figured he could explore the ship after she was under medical care. His next hope of course being that there was a medical droid on board.

When he spotted it and Ishara fired it up, he did what he could to help the medical droid before being shuffled out of the bay. Going to the bridge of the ship, he fired up the internal lights and other life supporting systems. Making sure to close the ramp in case anyone decided to follow them into the cave. That would be a serious pain in the ass to wake to seeing a Tusken Raider walking inside of the hull.

Finding a cabin, not knowing whether it was hers or not, he liberated himself of the armor her was wearing. He knew it would be some time before the girl was in any condition for him to have any chance of exchanging words with her, so he found himself taking a shower and cleaning up. Grabbing out a fresh stock of clothes, he pulled on a new shirt and pants, keeping his WESTAR-34 holster at his side, before going out and looking over the cockpit. Opening up the transmitter, he started listening over local frequencies and it wasn't long before he could hear that he was wanted now as well.

"Well shit, that is the end of my ship." He sighed and leaned back in the chair. He wouldn't have much choice but to leave in this thing now. Getting up and out of it, he walked over to a seat outside of the medical bay and sat. It wasn't like he could do a whole lot until the woman came around. Thumbing at the WESTAR-34 he didn't think he would have to use it, but one never knew how much to trust another Bounty Hunter. He'd saved her life but that didn't mean he wouldn't take it if she turned out fo be a problem.

When the droid did come out, Stein got to his feet and listened as it spoke. There wasn't much he could really say to the thing and just nodded as it turned and left. "Fuck, another day." Cussing for a few minutes and just bumming around for another couple, Stein finally decided that he may as well get cleaning his armor out of the way. Working on it took him an hour or so. Getting something to eat. After that, he ran through system checks on his armor and worked on cleaning the sand from his weapons as well. Working into the early morning hours cleaning and then spending time on the holo-net, he decided to bed down and that there really was no reason to get up early tomorrow. He might even be able to catch up on some of the sleep he'd lost during this chase.

Keeping the WESTAR-34 on the nightstand, he rolled over and drifted to sleep.

Stein was shaken away by a sound in the room. It didn't take him more than a second to realize that someone else was there. A breath could be heard and the sound of someone moving about. Without making a sound, he rolled onto his back and looked to see that someone was indeed moving about. Whoever it was had blond hair, so it wasn't the dark haired woman he had brought in. Grabbing the WESTAR-34 off of the nightstand next to him, he had just leveled it at her when she turned around to face him.

He wore nothing more than the pair of shorts he'd gone to bed in, and was now staring down at the robed blond intruder. One bolt at this range would knock her into that closet and that would be the end of it. He'd be awake and could then go check on the condition of Ishara.

Raising a brow at her claims, he lowered the blaster only slightly just to make sure that she didn't try to pull a fast one on him and pull a blaster out of the robe she was wearing. Getting off the bed, he grabbed up the holster for his blaster and then clothes he left laying on the floor and departed to allow her to dress. Quickly dressing himself, he went to the medical bay to make sure that it was here.

It was. Still that didn't set a lot of his alarm out. She was still a fellow hunter and that meant could very well see him as nothing but being in the way. And Stein had no intention of being cut down by someone who he had saved. Deciding to wander around while she got dressed, and if she was like all other women he'd run across, he would have a good ten minutes to burn, Stein went into the cargo hold and looked to see what she had stored.

Flashlight in hand, he weaved between boxes of arms and ammunition before seeing the lights go on. It made him jump slightly as it didn't seem like that much time had passed. Pocketing the flashlight, he turned to find the blond; certainly something that he would have to get used to; and followed her towards the fighter she had parked. Old ship, was the first thought to go across his mind.

Nodding his head to her allowing him to question her, he started, "alright, first off, why the hell are you on Tatooine and how did you let some half ass, sub-par police force capture you? Second, what in the hell is the Black Nebula Legion and what were you doing with it?" Both questions he didn't know the answer to. Though he could guess at the first, she was chasing down someone and it turned into a trap. The second? He'd heard of them but never paid them any heed. A bounty was a bounty, and he was going to cash in on it whether it was a two bit farmer or the Emperor himself.