Forging A New Life

[Silver Cutlass]

Mos Eisley, Tatooine, 1600 Hours.​

The sand was crisp underfoot. The air was stale and dusty. The people were rugged, some vile. This was Mos Eisley. A destination known for being perhaps the seediest place this side of the Jundland Wastes, at least to the criminal populace of the world and the galaxy. But to the normal citizens of the desert world, Mos Eisley might as well had been what Coruscant used to be to them. It was huge, and much more luxurious compared to most other little towns. You could do many things in Mos Eisley. You could buy a speeder, you could eat at a fancy restaurant, you celebrate special occasions, you could do many things here. But Lyon wasn't here to buy a speeder, or eat well, or celebrate. He was here to start a new life for himself.

Standing outside the Mos Eisley Spaceport, Lyon looked up into the sky as the old Juri-class transport headed off into space, and with it, he was left here. Not a Mandalorian Warrior, but a lost soul looking for that special missing thing within him that everyone needed. What was it? He didn't know. He hadn't a clue what he was in need of. The only thing he knew is that to find it, he needed to leave his family and search for it. And his gut told him that chances were, he'd find it here on Tatooine.

Lyon had rented a speeder, and had loaded it up with the few belongings of his he had brought with him. A couple of weapons, his winter gear, and his buy'ce. All he wore now was a set of Mandalorian beskar'gam without the helmet, and covering it, a brown robe, not unlike one the Jedi Knights of old used to wear. With his hood up, Lyon started the speeder slowly forward, cruising through the city. He had been in big cities before, including Coruscant, before it was destroyed by the dar'jetii. He had even been to Tatooine once or twice before, but never had he stayed long. Not as long as he was about to.

After some perusing through the streets, Lyon pulled to the side of the path and stopped beside a synthetic stone building with an Aurebesh sign that read PROPERTY BROKER. This was his stop. He hopped over the door and through the open top of the landspeeder, and walked on into the store, while paying some attention to the Jawa pair that eyed the speeder greedily. The inside of the building was as expected: dull and unattractive. There was a small desk at the end of the dark room with a Twi'lek woman, around the age of sixteen probably, sitting at it.

Lyon approached it, nodding to the young girl who looked up at him. "I need to talk to the Broker." Lyon stated. He didn't have an appointment. "Take a seat and he'll be with you as soon as he can." The girl replied, pointing over to one of the little seats by the wall. Lyon nodded, and sat down in one of the seats, hanging his head but leaving his eyes open, deep in thought.

 

[Silver Cutlass]

Twenty minutes later...

The teenage secretary spoke to Lyon, after a long period of silence. "Mister Gardhurst will see you now." She spoke. The Mandalorian lifted his head and took a moment to process her words, and slowly rose from his seat. He headed off through the door beside the desk, entering into a small hallway, at the end a lone doorway. He approached it, and knocked a couple times before entering on through. As was his way, he instinctively processed the room when he came in.

It was dimly lit and badly furnished, with a couch, a couple chairs, and a wooden desk in the center. A small doorway was also present in the room, probably leading to a refresher of sorts. And sitting at the desk was a small, unsightly Twi'lek man, seemingly middle-aged, wearing a blue and gold tunic. "Greetings, sir. I'm Hallo Gardhurst. My secretary didn't tell me your name, though?" He stated, wording a way of politely asking for his name without being blatant about it. "You may call me..." He pondered for a minute.

Should he really give out his full name? He wasn't really hiding out here, but he didn't want old associates paying him visits once they found out about the task he departed on. But he managed to make a good decision. "Lyon. Call me Lyon." First names were easy to remember, and he since he knew the generally sour opinion most beings had of Mandalorians, he didn't feel like encouraging strife on himself while he was here. The older Twi'lek man nodded. "Alright, Lyon, what is it I can help you with?" He asked. Lyon knew what he wanted. "A home. Somewhere outside of any towns or cities. I don't have any other wants besides those."

The answer must have surprised the man, because his eyes widened instantly and his eyebrows raised what looked to be an inch. He must not have had a lot of picky buyers. "Well, I'm sure to have some homes that fit that bill. You don't care for hiking to home, do you?" He questioned, as he started typing away on his personal terminal. "As I said, I don't care for anything else besides what I listed." Lyon retorted back at him. All he wanted was a place to stay. Nothing more. The Broker nodded and eventually found something. "Alright, I may have found something here: An old ranch over in the Kallista Heights. Has a nice homestead, along with a couple pastures and a ranch house connected to them. Not a bad place, but the owners were run off by Tuskens. Tell you what, since you're new to Tatooine, I'll give you a deal on the place: 55,000 Credits."

Lyon considered it. That wasn't a bad amount of money to pay for a small ranch. It seemed to be very cheap, especially for most homesteads nowadays, which might have meant the place was really falling apart. But hey, it was still a home, and that was all that Lyon asked for. And he had the credits on hand, as well. "I'll take it." The Mandalorian stated, as he pulled out several high-value credit chips. The Broker eyed the credits with bright eyes as he brought them closer and examined them. Once he was assured they were real, he copied some info from his terminal and handed the data card to Lyon. "Sir, your new home is waiting for you. Enjoy." He stated as he took the credits graciously.

Lyon took the card and headed out of the office. He paid little mind to the young girl at the desk as he strode out of the building, and jumped back into his speeder. He reached over into his pack of things and pulled out the old datapad he kept, and jacked in the data card. Lyon's eyes darted across the screen as a map of Tatooine was pulled up, and showed him coordinates for his new place. "Time to find my new home." The Mandalorian remarked as he started the landspeeder off, heading out of Mos Eisley and to his new place of rest.

 

[Silver Cutlass]

Several hours later...

By the time Lyon had reached his new place of dwelling it was already dusk. The twin sundown was an amazing sight, at least for someone who had never seen one before. The few times he was on the sandy world in the past he had been too preoccupied to watch the scenery. But now he saw the pair of suns, both setting over the Dune Sea, casting an orange hue over the entire landscape, the clouds in the sky darkening the light and casting shadows over the ground. But despite these shadows, that still couldn't hide the damage done to the home Lyon just paid over 50,000 credits for.

While the ranch looked mostly like what the Broker had described, he had failed to let him in on the fact that the homestead had recently been the site of a battle. The synstone was scarred by black char marks, obviously from blaster bolts, and the door, or at least what was left of it, was scattered in pieces in front of the doorway. Lyon's guess: the Tuskens that ran the last occupants out also did a number on the house. Explains why he got the place for so little. He hopped out of his vehicle, shutting off the engines, and headed inside.

The inside of the house looked little better than the outside. Indoors, the synstone was marked with blaster scorches, just like the outdoors, indicating the fight outside also continued inside. The furniture left in the parlor was destroyed, the couches ripped to shreds and the tables broken in pieces, which meant a struggle must have ensued. Lyon continued on into the kitchen. The counters were relatively unscathed, as was the bar, aside from a single scorch mark on the front of the bar, but due to the synstone it was made out of, it was little more than cosmetic damage.

That was good. But when he went on into the bedroom, something he didn't fully expect happened. Just as he had entered through the doorway, a being dressed in sand-colored wraps tackled him into the wall. After he got over the initial surprise, he turned to face his attacker and identified him. He was a Tusken Raider. One of the Sand People. They were vicious beings, who relied on raids and pillaging to provide for themselves. They were warriors, Lyon had to give them that, but they weren't Mandalorians.

Managing to get his hand upwards, Lyon grabbed a hold of the Raider's throat, squeezing hard, causing the attacker to loosen his own grip, just enough for Lyon to get some leeway to get his foot up and swiftly kick the being in the stomach, pushing him backwards, off of him. The Raider recovered, but Lyon got into a fighting stance, which put them on even ground. The Raider, being only slightly above primitive in most people's eyes, jumped first, going after Lyon the same way he had done before. But he was ready.

The Raider charged Lyon, huddled over and running. With only a good bit of timing, Lyon grabbed the back of the Tusken's head and delivered a heavy, armored knee to his face. This sent him into a dizzy, confused swirl into the ground, with Lyon drawing a heavy blaster pistol from his holster. He got down on top of the Raider and put the blaster to his head. He grabbed the Raider's head to make him stay still, and once he had him where he wanted him, an easy squeeze of the trigger resolved the situation.

Once he got back up and checked the room, Lyon went ahead and checked out the rest of the homestead and the ranch, looking for any more Sand People. He found none, and went back into the homestead. His new home was secure, at least for the moment, so he went about cleaning up. All the broken furniture in the house, any shattered appliances, and the body of the Tusken Raider, they were all dragged into a pile outside, a good distance from his house, and he started a fire to get rid of all the garbage.

Lyon stood, cloaked and armored, watching the fire blaze and burn, and just beyond his bonfire, the twin suns of Tatooine set over the horizon. This was no visit. This was now his home. Where he would stay. "For now. Once a Mandalorian, always a Mandalorian." He vowed to himself. He would return to his Clan. He would do it. When they needed him, when he found himself, he would return. And that was a promise he was bent on keeping.

/EndThread.