Writing I want to know what people think. My Star Wars story. Rated R.

[Farto the Magic]

This story is long and I want any criticism. ANY is good. Even negative criticism. The story is graphic, violent, and contains swear words. Now, for the story.
--------------------------------------------------------
Chapter One
The Emerald Fire came out of hyperspace with a flash and entered the atmosphere of Tatooine. It was a larger ship by most standards. It looked like a green oval with two turrets, on in front, one in back. The windshield was narrower than most, but wider than it needed to be, as to give the pilot and crew peripheral vision, a useful advantage. The back was raised and had blue jets coming out. It slowed down as it got closer to the tan planet. The built-in comlink sputtered, ?Unregistered ship, you do not have access to this area. Turn back or be destroyed.?
A short black-haired woman answered it, her green eyes twinkling, ?This is Lalani Karaka of the Emerald Fire. We?ve come with a cargo of sullustan gin and possibly to refuel. You can fire at us if you want, but I would doubt the citizens of Mos Eisley would like to know all their booze was blown up.?
There was a pause. Then a volley of blaster fire answered from a squad of TIE fighters. There were only four, but it wasn?t a good sign. In reality they had no gin. Technically they did, though. They had a sullustan and his name was Ginofad, Gin for short. They only needed to refuel and get some R&R.
The fighters passed over the other ship and turned around for another run. Lalani turned and yelled for the crew. Two humans, a rodian, and a t?surr came to the cockpit. The ship was rocked by more fire. One of the humans, a stern, muscular, black man, started yelling orders. ?Rene and Kelko! To the turrets! Krayd, see what you can do to help!?
The rest of the crew, a trandoshans, a sullustan, a duros, and a bothan were probably trying to repair the ship. Except for the trandoshan, Crakkis. He was probably sleeping. He could sleep through anything. He wasn?t very bright and he was a heavy sleeper, but he wielded a blaster rifle pretty well.
One of the humans and the rodian ran to their individual turrets, while the t?surr ran to get his comrades. The human got into his turret, put on a headset on and turned the turret. It popped out of a recess in the front. ?C?mon, Kelko. We gotta hold ?em off for a while.?
He heard the rodian respond, ?Yeah, I know. I?m the smart on, remember??
Rene gave a smirk and focused the turret at the bundle of TIE fighters. He wasn?t impressed with imperial tactics. They mashed all their ships into one big target. It was way too easy. He fired once, right in front of them and one of the ships exploded. This wasn?t even a fight. It was a massacre. Another fighter went down. The gunners weren?t even trying. The imperials had way too much money to try real tactics. Another fighter burst into a tiny fireball and streaked into space. The ship?s front turret went back into the recess and the back went in, too. The TIE fighter made one last attack run before the pirates went into hyperdrive. The stars became a massive blur as they zipped away.

Chapter Two
The large ship came out of orbit where they hadn?t planned. They planned on being around Malastare but, Lalani, in her haste, entered the wrong coordinates. They had no clue where they were. No astromech droid existed on this ship and the crew hadn?t been in this area before. Lalani checked the map. They were in the middle of wild space. That was not good. They were in deep. No one had charted this far. It was a miracle that they hadn?t been sucked into a black hole or some other planet.
Crakkis walked in looking sleepy. He towered above Lalani, though she was the captain. His filthy brown flight suit was stained with blood from countless battles. ?Woos happen??
He spoke in a low voice with a hiss. He looked at the map and his yellow eyes widened in fear. His pale green skin went even paler. His mouth opened and only a low hiss was heard. ?Why is we here? I thanked we was spots be in Malastare. We ain?t there.?
Krayd, Rene, and Kelko also walked in. They looked at Crakkis and shot him dirty looks. Rene looked at Lalani and gave a damage report. ?The hyperdrive went insane and that?s what brought us here. It was jury-rigged from the start and it finally gave out. Gin is trying to fix Elko?s turret. It went bad and started leaking air. The seals are broken. The shield is offline and the hull was shredded like cheese. It?s amazing we?re not dead. We?re also leaking air. It?s not much, but it could cause problems later. Oh, and Kilo?s injured, but its not much.?
Lalani looked at them in awe. They must have flown through an asteroid field and been lucky. The ship would take a month to fix and they didn?t have enough food. She made her decision. ?Krayd, look for a planet nearby that has oxygen. Crakkis, get you blaster rifle cleaned and in top condition. Kelko, see what you can do for Gin. Rene, help out Kilo if he needs it. If he doesn?t, get back in here.?
Kelko and Crakkis left to do their duties, Krayd got at the computer, and Rene stayed behind. He looked at Lalani. ?You?re really hot when you boss them guys around.?
He gave a smirk. She gave a smirk, which quickly turned to a look of grave seriousness. ?I also ordered you to do something. Move it!
Rene rushed off. Lalani leaned in her chair. It?s not fair. She got the crew and possibly killed them all. It was her first year, too. Less than a year and her crew will be dead.
Krayd cleared his throat and motioned for her to check out the computer. She reluctantly moved to the old terminal. There was a picture of a planet. It was red and covered with dust clouds. It would have to do for now. She looked at Krayd, ?Good job. You just might outrank my first mate.?
?Not a damn chance is that blue moron going to take my place.?
A bothan stood in the doorway. He was average size for most bothans, but with black hair and green eyes. His black flight suit was ripped in various places and had no boots. It had been stolen from an imperial TIE pilot. It looked better on the living, though. Krayd stood up. He towered over the bothan at an astounding eight foot four. His mane of horns nearly touched the ceiling. His flight suit was made of many others ripped up and hastily sewn back together. He looked at the bothan. ?Why can?t I outrank you? Because I follow orders??
Just then a duros walked in. He was about six foot even and had blue skin, orange eyes, and a dusty grey flight suit. He looked at the bothan, then at the t?surr, then at the captain. ?Uhhh?what should I do??
Lalani looked at him and held her finger up to her lips. It wasn?t smart to try to break up a fight like this. The t?surr are temperamental the way it is, this one in particular. Lalani slowly got to the pilot seat. She saw the planet a ways away. It would be about an hour of flying to get there. She turned her head. ?Hey, Zalmont, you wanna fly??
She got up as the bothan sat down in the seat. She turned to Krayd. ?Why don?t you go pack up the rations? Kadlo, go tell the others what?s going on.?
The t?surr and the duros left silently.

Chapter Three
The ship was coming down slowly in the dust storm. The landing gear couldn?t come down without a hammer and a lot of luck. The ship was set down next to a canyon to give it more protection from the wind, but it didn?t work very well. The roaring winds of this new planet rocked the ship and made the crew more uneasy than they already were. Every member of the crew was present in the cockpit. Crakkis tried to clean his gun, but soon discovered that the dust was stronger the he, Krayd tried to resist ripping Zalmont limb from limb, Lalani sat at the pilot?s seat watching the outside, Kelko tried to get the distress beacon going, Rene sat at the computer terminal trying to find another planet nearby, Gin played sabaac against Kadlo and winning, though neither cared. The only one not there was Shad Lumbark. He was still trying to check the damages done to the ship. The damage was so extensive that, at this point, they still didn?t see the full extent of it. The wind had them all in a somber mood. The ship gave a lurch back and then leaned to one side. The crew looked at each other. If the ship was destroyed, they were stranded. The ship gave a groan and turned over, the crew being thrown at the wall. Lalani stood up. ?Alright everyone, grab your gear, we?re going to try to find a cave. That?ll give us some shelter.?
After a brief packing time, they left the ship carrying the bare essentials. Some food, a blanket or two, some entertainment and other supplies, a jacket, and some weapons. They crawled out the emergency door on the bottom of the ship and set off for the canyon. The cold, sandy air stung their faces and the deep sand made walking difficult. After a while though, they made it to the canyon.
Lalani looked all over the canyon, searching for a cave. Her heart sank when she couldn?t find one. Crakkis looked through his riflescope for a cave and spotted one on a cliff about forty feet up. It was a straight climb. The cave was probably seven feet tall and four feet wide, though no one knew how deep it went. As they began the ascent, they noticed at once that the rock was crumbly and could give way easily. Gin went first, as sullustans are famous for their climbing abilities. Their planet is volcanic; therefore, they learned to make cities underground. Then went Krayd, Lalani, Shad, Kadlo, Crakkis, and Zalmont. The rocks were constantly slipping to the floor of the cliff and the dust blasted their faces. Once they reached the cave, they looked back down. The ship had nearly been covered in dust and debris. There was no going back now?

Chapter Four
Crakkis glanced through the cave. It was dark. And deep. Could be nasty things here. He feared that they would be ambushed and he would be killed without taking them down, too. He and he alone could see. He was the only one that had built-in night vision. He quickly took off his flight suit. Now he was dressed in a brown pair of pants. No shoes, no shirt, just pants. He shouldered his rifle and continued into the cave. No one else followed. He had to check the place. His eyes passed over the rough walls and he spotted a small pile of bones. They were large and dry. That?s good and bad. The creature has been here for a long while. As he passed his hands over the rough bone, he felt a multitude of little fractures and scrapes. Definitely not good. Something had gnawed the bones. They must have been hungry to gnaw on bones. He got back to his feet and continued deeper into the cave. He couldn?t hear the others anymore. They probably couldn?t hear him. He hoisted his gun up again, ready to fry anything that moves. The cave turned to the left and he turned his gun first, then followed it. He cocked his head to the side and heard a noise. He ran deeper, chasing the source of the noise. He emerged in a great cavern. The reptilian looked up and was horrified. Thousands of giant bats hung there. Their mouths dripped red liquid and Crakkis looked at the ground. Even more bodies were there. Not humans. Bat carcasses. They were cannibals. That?s how they stayed alive. At once, all the bats opened their eyes and dove down, attacking Crakkis. He raised his rifle and let off a few shots, then bolted to the door.

Shad sat twenty feet in the cave, waiting for Crakkis. Good old Crakkis. Good old, expendable Crakkis. The guy was as smart as a sack of rocks. Literally. Shad had no time for that moron. He reached into his pocket and grabbed a pouch full of death sticks. This one was green. They came in all different colors. He cut the top off with his knife and drank the liquid inside. He suddenly felt hyper and at peace all at once. Shad looked to the cave and thought he saw something. He grabbed his small blaster pistol and crept out, alert the whole time. He followed the path of Crakkis, almost blind, and saw the pile of bones, paying no heed. He heard a few shots echo in the cave and smiled. Crakkis was probably getting killed. Good. Better the stupid reptile than him. Shad aimed his gun at the movement from down the hall. It was Crakkis. Coward. Shad decided to defeat the baddy that had sent big, bad Crakkis running. Shad smiled at the thought of himself defeating the bad guy and Crakkis being made into a laughingstock. It was probably nothing. Shad continued until he reached a cavern. It was full of bones. He looked up. Nothing. So poor old Crakkis ran from the nothing. He saw that the place had spread into many paths. He walked to one of the middle ones and continued. The ceiling was tall in this one. Shad could hardly see. The whole place was black. He continued down the path a few hundred more feet and realized that he must be deep in the cave. It was probably a quarter-mile of cave between him and the others. Oh well, no big deal. More glory. Shad kept walking and then stumbled on a stone. He shoved his hands out to steady himself and gripped the wall. It was sticky. He tried to pull his hands off the wall and they wouldn?t come off. He looked around desperately. His blaster was on the ground. Shad looked deeper into the tunnel and saw a swarm of tiny insects coming closer. They were white and moved astonishingly fast. In less than a second the insects had overtaken him. He screamed and they piled in his mouth. Everywhere they touched burned like acid. The bugs crawled all over him and his skin began to feel red-hot. Within a minute, he was dead. The insects quickly got to work eating their new food source.

Chapter Five
Crakkis ran swiftly and got to the rest of the group. They got up and looked at him with concern. Not many things could get a trandoshan hunter to run this fast. Krayd drew his ax and went to the doorway. Crakkis looked at the rest of the group. None of them were wearing their flight suits. Lalani looked around, confused, then she asked where Shad was. Crakkis told her and she sent out a search party. Zalmont, herself, Krayd, and Crakkis went. Gin, Kadlo, Kelko, and Rene would stay behind and wait.
The party walked through the caves and Crakkis explained everything he knew. He explained the bats, the bones, and the many paths. Zalmont sighed and Lalani looked down. Krayd kept walking and entered the cavern first. He looked up and saw nothing, then he looked down and saw the bones. He sifted through the bones, looking for skulls of intelligent creatures and pulled out a skull. He held it up. ?Sharp teeth. Wouldn?t wanna meet this guy in a dark alley.?
Crakkis looked at it and then turned to Krayd. ?Still wet.?
The trandoshan smelled it. ?It?s parts of flesh. It just got eaten maybe a week or two ago.?
Zalmont looked shocked and Lalani kept looking at all the caves. Then she spoke, ?I suggest we split up. We can cover more caves and I know we could probably hold our own ground.?

Krayd smiled a toothy grin and walked off into one of the caves. It was larger than the other, as Krayd was much larger than the others. He could see decent and he kept walking. He heard a noise after a few minutes and peeked around a corner. It was another cavern. He looked at the ground and didn?t see too many bones, but when he looked up, he saw a horde of giant bats hanging from the ceiling. He stepped into the cavern, mesmerized, then looked down again. The bones here were larger. He looked up again and discovered that all the bats had their eyes open and were preparing to attack. One by one, they dropped from the ceiling and dive-bombed the t?surr. As soon as the first couple had pulled up to make another run, he brought his ax back and struck one of them in the face and killed it instantly. He watched as the bat?s body fell in the pile of bones and the warrior jumped for it. He picked it up and threw it, sending a swarm of them at their fallen comrade. Krayd tried to run for the entrance, when he felt a sudden pain in his back and shoulders. The bats had begun to bite him. Four of them were clutching onto his body and he couldn?t reach them. He had to think quickly. If he fell on his back, then they would have a clear shot at his front and he would be on the ground. In desperation, he ran to the wall and started rubbing his back on it, shredding the bats like sandpaper. Broken bits of teeth got lodged in his back and shoulders and he tried not to scream out in pain. The other bats had nearly picked the carcass of their comrade clean and they circled around for another bombing run. Krayd was ready. He drew back his ax and swung at the first one, sending it back into the air. The other bats ignored this distraction and went straight for Krayd. He turned and ran to the exit and was quickly swarmed on by bats. They bit and clawed his and he bled from nearly every part of his body. He reached the doorway and started ramming his shoulders on the rough wall and dislodged some of the creatures. After a minute or so, he lied down and began to roll around. The other bats had left him alone for the most part, eating the many dead and injured ones the t?surr left. After most of them were dead, he walked back into the main cavern. His skin was shredded and blue blood came out of nearly every pore. He drew a knife from his boot and began to cut the teeth out of his flesh.

Zalmont had his blaster pistol drawn and was moving through one of the tall tunnels silently. Silence was his thing. Every minute or so, he stopped and listened for any sign of life. So far, he heard nothing. He cocked his head to the side and closed his eyes to listen for stealthier things and still heard nothing. Then he opened his eyes and saw that the wall had a wet layer on it. He picked a rock off of the ground and stuck it to the wall and the rock didn?t come off. The bothan shuddered. It would be hard to get hair off of that. He continued for a while and stepped on a rock sideways. He began to fall, but instead of hitting the wall, he dropped to the floor. He opened his eyes and found himself staring face to face with Shad?s lifeless corpse. Zalmont gasped in horror and got to his feet. He thought for a minute and decided that now would not be the right time to panic. If he panicked, he would probably slip and get stuck to the wall. Zalmont bent over to check on his former friend?s condition. His skin was burnt off and most of the flesh on his body was gone. The bothan looked around to see what could have done this and then carefully stepped over the body. He kept going deeper in the cave. He looked at the ceiling. It was taller and had stalagmites hanging from it. He kept walking, staring at the ceiling when the ground gave way beneath him.
He slid down a ramp and landed about ten feet down. He looked back at the ramp, then at the path in front of him and was awestruck. There was a pulsating white pile of small insects. They didn?t seem to notice him or even care. The giant blob was in the center of yet another cavern, which had multiple tunnels leading to it. Out of one tunnel, a deluge of the tiny insects piled in the center room, with a number of bats in the center. Zalmont carefully sidestepped toward one of the other tunnels, trying not to get attention. The mound of bugs slowly spread out and began to lay flat. Zalmont realized what was happening: they had found him. He bolted to the nearest tunnel and blindly ran through it. The tiny insects followed, quickly. He began to stumble on a bone, then got back his balance. He looked back briefly and saw the bone be engulfed in a white ocean. The bothan ran faster than he thought his legs could move. He saw the entrance. He looked up and saw hundreds of sleeping bats and stopped, the flood of bugs less than twenty feet away and shot at the ceiling. Bats dropped and tried to fly. Mass chaos ensued.

Chapter Six
Lalani walked back toward the main cavern. She found nothing. Not that she wanted to find anything. Finding things were bad. Usually. As she stepped over an ancient, fallen stalagmite, she neared the main cavern. Her tunnel had collapsed a little ways ahead. She walked back into the enormous, rough opening and saw Krayd sitting on the floor, picking at his arms and body. She walked nearer and he turned quickly. He was skittish. Not a good sign. She put her hand on his shoulder. ?Find anything??
She picked it up and looked at it. It was coated in his blood. He pointed to a small pile of teeth and bones and said, ?Got attacked. Some kind of bat. Like Crakkis said.?
She suddenly wondered where Crakkis and Zalmont were. She knew that Crakkis could handle himself. He was a big boy. Besides, he had the best weapon of all of them. Krayd had a broken vibro-ax, and the rest of them had cheap or broken weapons. She suddenly had an urge to find Zalmont. She wondered if he was in trouble and wanted to check up on him.
Just then, Crakkis stepped out of his tunnel. ?He ain?t in here.?
Lalani had most of them together and needed to find Zalmont. ?Do you think we should find Zalmont? I mean, he?s all alone out there and there?s dangerous stuff here.?
Crakkis pulled his rifle off his back and began walking toward the tunnel Zalmont disappeared into. Lalani and Krayd followed. They immediately noticed Shad?s body and decided to continue. They had no body bags and they had thrown their flight suits off back at the entrance of the cave. They got to a steep ramp and slid down. They were in a completely empty chamber. The rough, stone edges were smooth in this area. They heard a noise and ran through another tunnel, to a chamber filled with white piles of insects and bats. Zalmont was in a corner, shooting at the bats. The bats dropped into the swirling torrent of bugs and were almost immediately skinned and eaten. Krayd shouted, ?Those are the bats that attacked me!?
Lalani looked on in horror, as they could do nothing to help him. Three bats dropped and attacked Zalmont. Lalani looked on in horror as one of the bats? head was blown off. She looked off to her right and saw Crakkis aiming his rifle. He suddenly turned it up and shot at the stone. One of the stalagmites fell and landed on the deluge of insects, turning their attention toward the new intruders. The swarm began to move toward them and ignore the bats, causing them to go after Zalmont. Krayd stepped forward, his ax ready. It was an impossible fight. He ran to one side of the small grotto and the swarm followed. Lalani watched in horror as Krayd attempted to fight a raging sea of insects. Crakkis ran to Zalmont and helped him up. They ran to the door and watched Krayd.
The t?surr warrior faced off against the bugs. His back was to the wall and the insects were advancing. Crakkis shot at the ceiling and another stalagmite came down, sending a portion of the insects flying in all directions. The swarm continued advancing. Krayd tried to jump over them and they quickly overtook him. They crawled all over him and his body burned in pain. The bats were all but gone now. The insects attempted to swarm on him and Lalani fired into the swarm. The insects concentrated their fire and Krayd kept walking to toward the entrance, slowly. His tough skin was burnt off now, the insects were not letting up. Lalani and the other two stared at him and then ran to help. They started to try to pull off chunks of them. Krayd reached the doorway and then toppled to the ground. Lalani had a tear in her eye and Zalmont was stunned. Crakkis raised his gun to the ceiling and said, ?This is for you, old buddy.?
He let loose a volley of shots and rocks, stalagmites, and other rubble came down, burying the warrior and the insects that caused his downfall. Crakkis began giving orders. ?Zalmont, get rocks so we can make a pile on Krayd and Shad. Lalani, you help.?
With that, the trandoshan left to retrieve Shad?s body.

Back at the entrance, Kelko stared out at the sandstorm that was letting up, slightly. Kadlo kept trying to sleep, but the rock was too uncomfortable. Rene and Gin played Sabaac on the floor. Gin kept winning and was keeping track of all the money Rene owed him. Kelko looked down at where their ship was. At least ten feet of dust and debris covered it. They were stuck. The storm had died down and would probably stop altogether. The others had been gone a while and he was worried in the back of his mind. What kind of trouble could they get into? The sky began to turn orange and the alien sun began to go down. It would be night soon. Kelko grabbed his flight suit and slipped it on. It was going to be a cold night. Gin and Rene finished their game and Gin would have won fifty credits, had they had money. Kadlo was tossing and turning, trying to find a decent position. A few minutes after they turned in, Rene asked, ?What if we get attacked by something? We should have a sentry.?
Gin turned over and said, ?Kelko, you go first.?
Kelko sat at the mouth of the cave and watched. He heard a noise deeper in the cave and drew his blaster. He was ready to kill the first thing that came by. It was Zalmont, Lalani, and Crakkis. They looked filthy and were covered in dust and dirt. He noticed that Krayd wasn?t with them. Or Shad, for that matter. Lalani spoke before he asked. ?Both of them are dead. Some kind of bugs did it.?
Kelko sat and stared out the entrance again. The other three bedded down for the night. The rodian began to nod off. He rested his head along the wall and closed his eyes, briefly. He let his legs dangle over the edge of the cliff. Then he fell asleep.
The rodian was awoken by a noise in the middle of the night, coming from outside. He looked out the entrance to the warren and could see nothing. He looked around and still could see nothing. He squinted and looked out as far as he could and spotted movement. Without hesitating, he grabbed Crakkis? rifle and looked out, through the scope. There were a dozen or so creatures coming.
They were skinny, stood about five feet, and were completely black. Their eyes had a faint bluish hue that he couldn?t see without the scope. He could see the points of sharp teeth sticking out of their mouths. They dressed in primitive rags, tied around their waists and some of them had rags over their heads or shoulders. Two of them were carrying large packs full of tools. There were large sticks, more rags, and a few hand-axes. The strange creatures were walking in the direction of the cave and Kelko shook Rene. The human woke up and said, ?What? I?m trying to sleep.?
Kelko pointed out the entrance and Rene gasped. They woke the others and they got their supplies ready. Lalani ordered Zalmont, Gin, and Rene to climb down the cliff, while Crakkis, Kelko, and herself would cover them. One of the aliens pointed as soon as Zalmont was halfway down and they stopped. They all went to the two that were carrying the supplies, and grabbed hand-axes and sticks. They began to sneak around them and Crakkis asked, ?Can I fire??
Lalani replied, ?Not until they show aggression.?
Zalmont, Gin, and Rene got to the ground and drew their weapons. Kelko, Lalani, and Crakkis went next.

The natives were crouched behind a hill. Rene saw that they were inquisitive. He figured that they had not seen outlanders, yet. As the others got to the ground, they dropped into a fighting position. Crakkis held his rifle up to his shoulder as the natives showed themselves.
The natives held their spears and hand-axes ready. One of them walked forward with a spear. He pointed it at Rene and the rest of the crew had their weapons trained on him. The short, black-skinned creature spoke in a strange language. He feinted with his spear a few times and motioned for the other ones. They stepped forward and the pirates had their backs to the cliff. Lalani raised her hand. If it went down, her crew would attack. The natives grabbed Gin and Kelko. They tried to tie them up and Lalani?s hand went down. Kelko kicked one of those trying to tie him down, Gin ducked, and the other fired. The native quickly began to drop like flies and then attacked.

Crakkis watched as Gin was swarmed on and Kelko tried to help him. Kadlo smacked his blaster pistol on the cliff and the front made a popping noise. The duros tossed his weapon and grabbed a rock. Crakkis was forced to retreat a few feet as one of them attacked him. It thrust its spear and Crakkis used his rifle to knock it up, then beat it in the face with the butt of his gun. It connected with a disgusting crack and the creature fell facedown in the sand. After a little while, the only surviving natives had begun to retreat. Lalani gave the order to cease fire.
The natives hastily retreated in the direction they came from, leaving the bodies of their comrades. Crakkis grabbed one of them and tied it to his back with more rope than he needed. He began to climb the cliff with the casualty. He climbed to the top of the cliff and untied it. The trandoshan untied it and dropped the rope, calling for their spears. Kadlo bundled them up and tied them to the end of the rope. Crakkis pulled the rope up and stabbed the spear into the ground. He tied another one on the top of the spear in a horizontal position and made a large T shape on top of the cliff. He used the rest of the rope to tie the bodies of the fallen natives to the T. A warning sign.

While Crakkis was busy, Lalani slowly followed the retreating natives. The only one with her was Kelko, a natural tracker. The native led them about four or five miles, to a village. The two natives quickly got the rest of the villagers? attention and they all grabbed weapons and began to march to the cliff. Lalani and Kelko ran back to the group as fast as they could.
It was getting late now, and the sun was starting to go down. After telling the others that an army of natives were coming, they began to prepare. Crakkis was already on top of the cliff and reloaded his blaster rifle, Kadlo, Zalmont, Gin, and the others reloaded their blaster pistols. She gave them strict orders to fire if fired upon. That way, there could be a possibility of peace. She only hoped Crakkis had that much sense.

Crakkis sat on the cliff, his blaster trained on the natives. There were about fifty or so natives. They moved extremely slow and stealthy, though he could see them entirely. Some split off from the group and some regrouped. After a while, though, Crakkis got confused and concentrated on the mass. They were headed straight to his comrades. Crakkis perched on the cliff and scanned the area, looking for scouts. He thought he saw movement and checked in one area for quite a while. The sand made a ripple. After a few seconds, the ripple moved quickly to his friends and Crakkis? eyes went wide in sheer terror. He watched as the ripple stopped in front of Gin, who didn?t notice it. There was no movement, so he checked for the natives. They kept coming closer. The air was filled with a resounding scream of pain and fear.
Crakkis looked down and saw Gin in the jaws of an enormous reptile, half-buried in the sand. The beast shook it?s massive jaws and Gin?s wail continued. Then the reptile went under the sand and they heard no more. Lalani ran to the cliff, ignoring the others, fear in her eyes and the others followed.
Crakkis looked and saw that the natives had all drawn rocks or blowguns and aimed at the others. The trandoshan felt a calming sensation overcome him and he felt like he didn?t want to fight, anymore. Then he saw the natives bring back their rocks and blood lust overtook him, once again. He quickly aimed his rifle at one of them and squeezed the trigger, releasing a red bolt of light. Immediately, the primordial being writhed on the ground, clutching his arm. Crakkis heard a sound and turned his head. There were five natives behind him. They climbed when he wasn?t looking, or they knew a path.
Crakkis turned and charged them all, his rifle ready. He aimed at one of them and fired, sending the enemy on it?s back, dead. The other four charged, screaming in a high-pitched voice. Crakkis brought his gun up and knocked one in the face with the butt of his gun, the others tried to overtake him and he was on the ground in less than a minute.
Three of them held him on the ground and one drew a yellow-bladed knife. The trandoshan snarled, his mouth hungry for blood. The little creature with the knife brought it to his wrist and sawed Crakkis? hand off. Crakkis brought his other arm up and the black alien let go.
Crakkis looked at the one with the still-bloody knife. He walked toward it and the other tried to get his attention. Crakkis grabbed one of them and shove it off the cliff, sending it to its unhappy doom. The one with the knife tossed it down and Crakkis grabbed it by its arm. He swung and it went down to the stone floor. Crakkis put his scaly foot on the creature?s chest and he pulled with his only functioning arm, tearing the thin arm off and sending the creature into a fit of wails. Crakkis got closer and whispered to it, in the midst of its cries of pain, ?My hand will grow back. That?s why I only took one arm. Sssss??
The trandoshan gave the creature a jerk up by its other arm and he noticed that the other two had scattered. He tossed the creature over the heads of his comrades and onto the ground. Crakkis then realized that he could no-longer use his rifle.
The rest of the crew got to the top of the cliff and looked down. The aliens were climbing up, too. Crakkis waited and as soon as the first ones began to get to the top, he stepped on their heads or kicked them, sending them to the hungry jaws of the reptile thing, which was feasting on the corpses of the dead.
Quickly, the crew was becoming overwhelmed. They had kept their territory for a while, but there seemed to be no end to the aliens. The crew got into a small group, surrounded by the creatures, which were closing in. Crakkis heard Zalmont say, ?For Krayd??
Crakkis smiled at the thought of his old buddy in this battle. He would have had fun. In a little while, the whole crew was smiling and chanting over and over, ?For Krayd.?
It was becoming a war-cry. Kelko started yelling it out and the aliens were backing slightly. They didn?t know what to think. Crakkis finally said, ?If I die here, now, I want to go down a hero, not game.?
Then the crew charged the lines of the aliens, who gave a look of horror. They slowly pressed the aliens back and reached their banner. Rene grabbed the banner and started waving it around, helped by Kelko and Crakkis. Then they charged the thickest line of aliens and were being swarmed. Rene gave a cry of pain as he was stabbed with a spear, then two more of the creatures came and started to beat him with stones.
Crakkis, seeing as he had no weapon, stole the spear of a casualty and used it to defend himself, while biting at the natives and tearing out bits of flesh. He gave a dominant roar and three of them stabbed him, one in the upper leg, one in the abdomen, and one in the back.

Lalani watched as the mighty Crakkis was slowly being taken down. She looked at Kadlo and told him that they must fight. Kadlo looked at her with respect mingled with fear, and grabbed a spear of one of the fallen and charged, screaming. He hacked at those that were attacking Crakkis and they began to thin. Lalani gave cover-fire to Zalmont and Kelko, as they flanked the creatures. Crakkis impaled one of the natives with his borrowed spear and grabbed another by the top of the head, throwing it to the ground with a crunch.
Lalani drew her pistol and aimed it at one of the creatures. It stared with open eyes as a red laser met with its head, sending it off the cliff into the jaws of the waiting reptile below.
The natives suddenly bolted in every direction and, in less than a minute, were gone. The pirates looked stunned by confusion. Then, they were blinded by a bright light. A small ship hovered in front of them. It was a Z-95 Headhunter. Old, by the look of it. The pilot looked at them and then turned and landed it on the cliff-top. The ship turned off and the pilot got out. He was a human. Lalani stepped up and said, ?I am the captain of this crew.?
The man gave a snort and asked, ?Do you have any clue how lucky you all are? A ship dropped out of hyperspace, just in range of your sensors, and they heard your distress beacon. The ship dropped out of hyperspace because of an error in the navcomputer. Those things just don?t screw up. That was one in a million.?
The man pointed behind them and they saw an enormous freighter pulling up toward them. It was obviously a newer model, by the fresh paint. They all stared as the ship opened a cargo hatch on the side and extended a ramp. The man got back in his ship and dropped below the freighter. Then, the pirates, weary and bruised, stepped into the ship.
It was nice. It had a medical bay, a small hanger for ships, and a large storage room in the back. Crakkis stepped into the bacta tank and felt the healing salve gently repairing his skin. The medical droid there did a few touch-ups on the other crewmembers the captain came down to meet the new passengers. He was a duros, which figured, as duros are natural pilots. He told them the same thing they heard from the human, earlier. Then Zalmont, Lalani, Kadlo, and Kelko went to the crew quarters to sleep. Crakkis slept in the bacta tank.
When they awoke, they were just landing on Tatooine. The ship landed and they all piled out.

Lalani sat in an open-faced bar and watched the many aliens. She knew where everyone was, but Crakkis. It was strange that he wouldn?t be present at the first bar they go to. Zalmont and Kadlo sat at a table in the back of the bar, talking to a few spacers, and Kelko was across the street, getting something to eat. She got up, paid the bartender and looked for Crakkis. She finally found him at a shipyard, buying a ship. She confronted him. ?What are you doing? Am I not a good captain??
The trandoshan smiled a toothy grin and replied, ?I?m gonna go back and rip those little things to pieces. I?m going to bring back all their heads and sell them. I got some armor, more ammo, an ax, and now I got a ship. Them little bastards best start runnin?.?
All Lalani could do is smile.