[Story Build] Flashback - Recruiting The Experts

  Naruun and Hayk meandered out across the dunes. It seemed like it had been hours that they had been under the twin suns, and each rise and fall in the sand had begun to look the same. Anchorhead had become indistinguishable from a mirage on the horizon, if it were even visible from here.

  'What is it we're looking for again?' Hayk asked Naruun, hoping there was some good reason for this venture.

  'We are trying to find a friendly tribe of sand people that is rumoured to live in these parts. They may help us find and hunt the Krayt Dragon on Ket. It sounds like the creature has become quite a problem for the locals, and the Kettons are a fairly peaceful people, with little knowledge of such vast creatures as Sarlaccs or Krayt Dragons. Hunting these creatures is part of the local Ghorfas way of life, just as war and death used to be the path of our people.'

  Naruun was referring to a job that he had recently accepted in the Hapes Cluster. Apparently, the Kettons had found a Sarlacc in the sands of their world, and had been told by some foreign smugglers that the Greater Krayt Dragons of Tatooine actually hunted mature Sarlacci. The smugglers eventually agreed to transport a Krayt Dragon to Ket to hunt the Sarlacc, and once the Krayt Dragon had matured enough, it did kill the Sarlacc, but then the Krayt became a problem... a problem the Kettons were not prepared to deal with. The Hapan Queen had heard rumour that there was a tribe of Tusken Raiders that were sort of friendly with outsiders, lived in peace, and sometimes traded with moisture farmers in the area. She requested that Naruun try to invite these Tuskens along for the hunt, as their knowledge could be useful, and hunting these creatures was part of their culture.

  So now they trudged through the sands, based only on the rumour of some locals of areas that the sand people frequent.

  'We should be in one of the areas that the tribe is normally seen, now, so hopefully we'll find them soon,' Naruun said expectantly.

  Hayk saw a flash of motion a long way off on one of the dunes.

  'Or maybe they've found us. We seem to be surrounded,' Hayk said warily.

  'Aha, so you saw them too... it is good to see you are still learning. Keep walking. These aren't part of a hunting party; the village is near-by.'

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  Hayk and Naruun approached the Ghorfa village. A massiff growled as they approached, and a man, dressed entirely in dark cloth, barked some kind of command, and the reptilian creature went quiet, but watched the two intruders intently, ready to protect it's people in an instant. Naruun walked up to this Ghorfa, and used sign-language to communicate a greeting. The Ghorfa returned the gesture, then made more gestures.

  'He says he is the village chief. He is asking why we are here,' Naruun translated to Hayk.

  After this, Naruun and the chief began a long conversation of gestures, as Naruun explained the situation. After a long while, Hayk began to pick up certain gestures' meaning, and slowly became aware of most of what was being said. At this point in the conversation, Naruun was telling the chief that the Krayt Dragon lived on distant world, at which the chief seemed surprised that Naruun would want to take any of his kind off-world. The chief also told Naruun that his people felt a connection to Tatooine, and that no Ghorfa should leave this world's desert. Naruun explained that the Krayt Dragon was in a similar predicament, living on a world it wasn't supposed to be on, and that his tribe could help reconnect the creature with the desert of it's home. He assured the chief that the creature's body would be returned to Tatooine with his tribe's hunting party, and that they would be free to do with it as their people saw fit.

  After a time, the chief nodded, then used gestures to speak: 'I will go. And these two here also. We may not prefer to go out among the stars, but the Great Dragon should also find it's rest in these sands.'

  Naruun and the chief clasped hands in agreement of each-others' terms.