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Having never previously deigned to lay a foot on the sun-scorched, amber flatlands of Tatooine and its vast dunes of golden sand, Zara had little idea as to what she should expect upon her arrival. Following the discovery of a few stormtroopers the day prior that the plans to the Death Star had been exported to Tatooine via one or more droids, Zara had been commanded to go immediately to Mos Eisley: the logic of the Empire being that if any rebels were to flee the planet, this spaceport would be the ideal place to find a sufficiently skilled pilot.
According to the information conveyed to her by the stormtrooper detachment, they had discovered the owners to whom a troop of Jawas had sold the droids, but upon raiding the homestead, had failed to find the machines. Zara found the stormtroopers' incompetence astonishing. Droids were loyal and obedient; they would not simply wander away from their master and mistress, as the troopers seemed to imply. There had to be another who belonged to that household and they would be the key to finding the droids and thereby, the blueprints to the Death Star.
It had been Vader who had ordered Zara to pursue the plans onto the exquisitely hot, shining globe of Tatooine - a command she had unfalteringly obeyed, although a slight sentiment of confusion pricked at her. Normally, Vader fulfilled all tasks as significant as these himself, alongside Zara. Why then had he been so averse to stepping foot on Tatooine?
She had been in Mos Eisley for several hours now, arriving by use of her vortex manipulator - a glistening, silver bangle that had been gifted to her by Kaz, when his grandfather, the Emperor, had bestowed upon Zara the privilege of being the Empire's only assassin. A vortex manipulator was cheap and nasty space travel, which never failed to cause waves of nausea to drown Zara, each time that she used it. Regardless, it was efficient and permitted her to materialise almost instantly on whichever planet or moon she desired - given that it was relatively close - without need to source a ship. For work like hers, where stealth and discretion were paramount, it was perfect.
Due to her rapid arrival, Zara had been able to wander and observe the spaceport town to great detail. Pale, erect stone structures, once majestic and awe-worthy, now bleached white by the binary fury of Tatoo I and II, swarmed together, seeking refuge from the sweltering heat. The place was a hub bustling with life and vitality. The cracked paths were swarmed by a myriad of alien races, milling quickly in and out and around the array of surrounding pourstone buildings.
Sandflies nipped Zara's porcelain skin and buzzed infuriatingly around her head. One landed on her arm which she pinched, successfully killing the infernal pest. As she passed under a low-grade concrete archway, a brisk gale whipped the rough sand around her ankles, causing her to curse the dreadful climate of Tatooine and its burning twin suns.
