ANH 'verse. Tatooine. A Mission Complete?

[astrotechmech]

He was back on the ship. He must have been. This was not merely something that need a tune-up. It was a victim, and it had all the battle damage to prove it!

"What the heck did you guys do to this thing?!? I can barely tell one part from another!"

His on-board equipment had been fixed from his earlier "scuffle" by now--for which he was glad because this thing need all the help it could get!

Comments

[astrotechmech]

"Wha--? . . . Yeah," Random replies, pulling himself out of his thoughts and moving to reattach the generator's coverings.

[random_xtras]

Hot Shot waits till the generator's safe before letting go of the tracker and transforming to a bright yellow hovercar. "Okay, now, lets see where Kia's gone to."

[astrotechmech]

"Y-Yeah," Random says nervously before transforming into a small shuttle capable of short-ranged space flight. He hovers about a yard or so off the ground and follows Hot Shot and the tracker droid.

[random_xtras]

The droid zips along at a good pace, first back toward the dome, and then off and away on a straight tangent away from it.

"She's made pretty good time," notes Hot Shot as he tears after the droid. "What's her alt?"

[astrotechmech]

Random doesn't have too hard of a time keeping up until the droid's sudden change in direction causes him overshoot in the droid's original direction and to curve back around after it.

"That she has," he agrees. ". . . a small speeder bike thing, if I'm remembering correctly."

[random_xtras]

"Whoa," comments Hot Shot on Random's course correction, then, "Built for speed? Or just a basic model for getting around?"

The wind is picking up, pushing grains of sand ahead of it.

[astrotechmech]

Random strains to remember the tech specs he saw briefly. "I don't recall."

It's coming. Come on, just a few more minutes . . . please?

[random_xtras]

Hot Shot communicates with the droid and then accelerates. "She's heading for the canyons. If the Sand People find her it won't be pretty."

[astrotechmech]

Random speeds up along with them, wanting to get there faster now there is another factor affecting her survival. "Something tells me I don't want to ask."

[random_xtras]

"Let's just say they're not very happy with us being on Tatooin."

Up ahead something flickers in the heat haze. The droid beeps excitedly.

[astrotechmech]

"That's what I was afraid of."

Random perks up at the flicker and the droid's beeping, almost accelerating before he can stop himself. He sets his scanners on the flicker, trying to discern what it was even as he gives in to the temptation and pulls on up ahead.

[random_xtras]

Even as he does the wind rises up with an audio receiver piercing shriek, trying to flip them over or blast them away with sand that blots out all other sights and sounds.

//Straight ahead! Get into the canyons!// calls Hot Shot, the transmission broken up by static.

[astrotechmech]

"Ah!" Random shifts power to his thrusters around to better compensate the wind and continues to make for the canyons.

//Already ahead of you//