Private Bygone Days

[A'Runda]

Location: Tatooine
Tags: Madalena Antares | Braze

The galaxy has become so chaotic now. So many new borders and boundaries shifting and clashing where they wouldn’t before. His role as a warden of the sky had become far more needed now. Outlaws, Corrupt Authorities and Robber Barons took advantage of these treacherous times. Using the chaos as a ladder to uplift themselves.

For A'Runda, chief among these upstart empires was the Black Sun Syndicate, an organization that has outlived republics and empires but has now seen itself thrusted into the role of a galactic superpower. Creating many new problems for the justice seeking nomad.

Another of these new factions was the High Republic that was now the interstellar authority that found Tatooine within its sphere of influence. A’Runda himself had a hard time remembering when was the last time a galactic faction claimed the desert planet. Still he used his homeworld as something of a base to routinely retreat and plan his own incursions into the stars.

Currently the tusken has just gotten done with a bit of a trek through the desert with his dewback companion. Once he had returned to his ship his Jawa friend came scampering out of the vessel, clearly agitated. Cursing and waving around some old piece of technology from within their ship.

“What’s got you in such a mood friend?” A’Runda asked the Dute as they scampered up to the mounted tusken. The Jawa began to explain that the piece of technology had been beeping non-stop for hours in their ship while he was out getting some fresh air with their dewback. A’Runda narrowed his eyes from behind his red goggles. “Hmm, well let me see.”

Then the Jawa tossed it up to him before marching back to their ship. “Be lucky I didn’t scrap the thing for parts…” Dute muttered as they left.

With the piece of beeping tech in his hands now A’Runda looked over it. Having a hard time recognizing what it was. Likely forgotten as some piece of dusty junk. Wiping it down some he noticed a flashing icon, depicting a pointed circular symbol. Something he hadn’t seen in quite a long time now. “Madalena?” The tusken questioned before fidgeting with the device a little more and ceasing its beeping. Could it just be old tech malfunctioning? A’Runda by now has seen and done enough to know that true coincidences are exceedingly rare in this galaxy…

 

[Madalena Antares]

A'Runda Braze

---

Tatooine. Krak Tatooine. If there was a planet Madalena disliked enough to vote for the supernova'ing if its mere existence, this gargantuan ball of dust was it. The two suns, endless sand, and… Well, did you really need more reason than that? Sure, there was a whole family history wrapped in these dunes too, but right now the same twin suns baked the desert in unrelenting heat, and she was doing her best not to let it get to her without dipping into the Force.

Her old and trusted speeder (X) ate the distance between her and Mos Espa in smooth, fast bursts, the wind tugging her hair into a wild halo that occasionally whipped her cheeks like tiny glass shards. Debt was debt, be it in credits, artifacts, or blood, and the leader of the Wild Hunt had never been forgiving on such matters.

But then the beacon had gone off.

It was buried so deep in her comm panel she'd forgotten she'd kept the signal active. Forty years, and not a single whisper from it. Who in the nine hells would expect it to chirp now, of all places? She didn't frequent this wretched planet. But yes… She knew who it belonged to. Some things you never forgot. Some things you never wanted to forget. Her fingers had hovered over the controls, and for the length of a single breath, she'd nearly convinced herself to ignore it. Nearly.

A quick flick of the speeder's front steering yoke thing, and she was carving a new path through the dunes. The death of a few Hutts could wait. The Force had a strange sense of timing, and when an old sort-of-disciple's mark lit up after years of silence, you didn't just let it blink itself out. There had to be a reason for it to happen on this day, in this time.

The signal grew stronger.

And then she saw him, silhouetted against the sand on a dewback, some bit of tech clutched in his hands like it might explode. Her lips curved into something that wasn't quite a smile as she throttled down, letting the speeder hiss to a halt just behind him.

She swung off without ceremony. The scars on her face, remnants of the day her face had quite literal fallen off her because she'd caused something ancient to detonate without proper gear, caught the sunlight, stark against the faint, constant glow of her green eyes.

"Still works," she said with a grin, her gaze focused on the device, "I'm just as surprised as you are."

 

[Braze]

TAGS: A'Runda Madalena Antares

Braze had a bit of time to kill while a certain someone racked their brain over how to handle a rather tricky dilemma. He wouldn't solve it for them, at least, not yet, but he could do something else in the meantime. The very least he could manage was to bring A'Runda a replacement for his missing blaster.

And so, he'd set himself to the task, chasing the man's trail through little more than word-of-mouth and the faint ripples of rumor. Each lead carried him further across the sector until it finally led him here, this quiet, dusty stretch of nowhere.

From the cockpit of his Ashwing, he spotted a familiar silhouette against the landscape. A slow grin tugged at his lips as he angled the fighter down, the vessel's sleek wings catching the light in a glinting flash. He descended with the easy precision of a pilot who knew his ship as well as his own heartbeat, dropping lower and lower until the dust swirled beneath him.