I scratched the back of my head as I stared at my half empty glass of B'loon Ale. I then looked up to gaze into the orange skinned beauties dark eyes. I laughed as smiled stretched across her face from my joke that I had just entertained her with. My hand reached for my glass of ale .

"So what tale do you have for me today Tymbal?" she asked as she leaned forward , her body half leaning across the table as she stared playfully into my aging eyes. I took a sip of the sweet ale and wiped my lips with my brown robed arm as I placed the glass back on the table.

"What sort of tale are you in the mood for my lady?" I asked as I gave the young twi'lek a wink. I had no idea why she liked to visit with me. I am an old man y'know? My hair was as white as the moon of H'del and the skin upon my face was beginning to droop. Then again, I had been living in the Outer Rim now for over Sixty- five years.

"I have a tale for you my lady." I said with a slight smile. I had been entertaining her with my jokes and stories for over a year now. Some I think that I have even repeated to her but she didn't seem to mind.

"Yes?" she asked as she batted her eyes in my direction as she lowered her body back into her seat.

"There was a time in my life when I encountered a man most strange . I saved him from a band of hostiles out here in these very deserts." I said with a raised brow , nodding my head to push the points of my... err "heroics".

She laughed at my words then leaned forward resting her head upon her propped hands. She smiled as she bit her lower lip.

"It's true. I Tymbal V'sic of Kaladore , Knight of the Bo'gus Empire saved a mighty warrior from certain death in these badlands." I stated matter of factly as I finished off my sweet blue ale. I raised my hand to the service droid for another.

"Oh tell me of your heroics then "great" Tymbal." she said smirking in my direction. I smiled back as I began my tale.

"There was once a mighty bounty hunter who called himself Sorben Tarnus. He was a tall mighty man whose great skill and cunning earned him many contracts. He had taken a contract that lead him here to deserts of Tatooine. It was here that he found himself in quite a mess."

The service droid arrived with a fresh ale for consumption. Jasenda listened intently never allowing her sweet smile to fade.

"You see.." I began "..he took a contract on a droid runner named Visco Kinzeer. Visco was a clever devorian who stole droids from traders, sand merchants, and local farmers. With the amount of traffic Mos Eisley hosted, it made finding droids rather easy. He would thieve the droids then sell them to the Jawas rather cheaply. He could afford to do this because the droid supply on this dustball was so high."

I took a drink to moisten my mouth then glanced up to Jasenda who was still all ears.

"Then Mister Kinzeer slipped up and stole a shipment of droids from two hutts. Crimelords Jabba and Barherst had gone in together on a rather large shipment of droids for their own personal use and Visco decided to take these droids for himself. Visco's raid was bold and daring, not to mention unwise. He took heavy casualties but managed to get the entire shipment unscathed. He was also put on Jabba and Barherst most wanted list. A general call for bounty hunters was made against Kinzeer."

"So thats where Tarnus gets involved." Jasenda asked as her expression faded into one of seriousness now.

"Exactly my sweets." I said as I took another sip of ale. "Tarnus was recommended by Barherst to Jabba to capture the devorian dolt who was foolish enough to steal their shipment of mechanical wonders. Tarnus arrived with a few days to seek out Kinzeer and take him in to meet the justice that was to be distributed by the two hutts. After a mere day of searching, Tarnus found Kinzeer dropping off some supplies in a hidden cache out in Beggers Canyon."

"And?" Jasenda asked as she leaned forward.

"Tarnus demanded that Kinzeer surrender or he'd be forced to kill him. Kinzeer wasn't going to give up so easily so after a few words were spoken between the two men a firefight ensued. In a matter of seconds Kinzeer was laying dead on the ground . Sorben didn't want to kill the devorian but Visco gave him no choice. At least that is what Tarnus told me." I tilted my head to the side as I finished off another drink.

"So exactly why now did Tarnus need rescuing? It sounds to me that he defeated that droid running devorian pretty good." Jasenda reclined in her seat again as she queried.

"Well..." I continued as I leaned forward. " One of Visco's blast hit Tarnus."

"Oh?" Jasenda interjected with a concerned face.

"Visco carried with him two weapons. One was a DL-44 blaster pistol and the other was Intek Ionization pistol of great power. Visco had drawn the wrong weapon and an ion bolt grazed Tarnus right across his helmet. Since his helmet was ionized, he lost all of his sensors, comm, and his armor weapons systems. Tarnus wqas going to just use his jetpac to get out of the canyon then walk the rest of the way back to Mos Eisley but those plans were ruined by the ionization blast."

"So he had to walk out of Beggers Canyon? That place is crawling with Tuskens!" Jasenda exclaimed.

"Yes it is.." I said " ..It is also frequented by those who would fall Tarnus."

"Go on." Jasenda barked.

"Tarnus walked for a good thre kilometers before night began to fall. His watchful eyes and ears replacing the sensors that he had once relied on. Of course, his helmet reduced his perception just a little.That little could have saved him from what happened next."

"What exactly was that?" Jasendas eyes widened.

"Tarnus was blasted from a hidden position in the rocks. He fell to the ground *clunk!* as his senses were shut off by the blast. He knew nothing until he awoke within the strange confines of a large mobile fortress."

"Not Tuskens?" Jasenda asked.

"No." I said " Tarnus awoke surrounded by wires and junk. He noted from his dazed state that there was an awful lot of movement just meters before him. He stated that his head hurt and that his armored body was sore. A strange device had been placed on his chest. He tried to pull it off but it would not budge. Seeing that the devices removal was futile he crept forth to investigate where exactly in Hells Seven Circles he was."

"Tarnus knew that he was in some sort of large vehicle that was moving roughly across the terrain. He then came upon the movement that he had noted earlier before him. There were at least five dozen functioning droids of various types moving about before him. Some took note but ignored the hunters presence. Tarnus shook his head in disbelief. He was aboard a Jawa sandcrawler. He had been captured by a group of Jawas who had mistaken him for some sort of fancy Imperial droid."

Jasenda laughed at the thought of a mighty bounty hunter being captured by the small desert raiders, not to mention that he had been mistaken for a droid! I chuckled to myself.

"Tarnus thought that he could straighten everything out when the sandcrawler reached it's destination and the Jawas came down to retrieve their merchandise to be sold to whatever town or farm the great crawler decided to stop at. He laughed at his situation as he sat among the droids. One old protocol droid sat silently next to Tarnus for the next two hours. Tarnus tried to communicate with the silver droid but the droid sat unresponsive. His luck had surely changed from good to bad. He had been captured by Jawas and he had a mute protocol droid as a friend for the journey."

Jasenda laughed to herself again .

"So finally.." I said as I waved down the service droid for yet another drink. "..the crawler came to a halt. Within moments the bay that was filled with droids and of course Mister Tarnus was invaded by the short little yellow eyed hooded critters. They selectively lead out a few droids to be sold at this stop. Tarnus felt a jolt shoot through his armor by the device that had been placed upon him."

"A restraining bolt?" Jasenda chuckled.

"Indeed it was a restraining bolt. It functioned because of the wiring within the armor that Tarnus wore. He was not a happy hunter as he tried to convince the Jawa that lead him out that he was not a droid. He told them over and over again that he was a human but they did not believe him ."

"Tarnus was lead out before a small group of people who were part of a small farming community out in Dewgrass Sea. He stood at attention within a row of a dozen or so droids. He argued with the Jawas the entire time but finally ceased his attempts of proving that he was human after being jolted by the restraining bolt at least a dozen times. Frustrated and numb, Tarnus stood still. He glanced to the silver protocol droid for some sort of support but that droid remained silent as well. He rolled his eyes beneath his helmet as his situation didn't look like it was getting any better. He kept trying to get his helmet release to function but the controls were still frozen by the ion blast received by the Jawas. All seemed grim."

I nodded to the droid as it delivered my drink. I took a quick sip.

" The farmers were amazed by the droids that the Jawas had brought them. Most seemed to be in good repair . There was also this strange droid standing before them. Many thought that it was some sort of fancey Imperial assassin droid that the Jawas had lucked up upon and avoided even looking at it. Then there were those who suspected that the strange droid was not a droid at all but a man. I was one of those." I pointed a finger towards myself as I took another drink of the sweet ale.

"So how'd you get him?" Jasenda asked raising her brow in my direction. Her sweet eyes piercing my soul.

"Well, I talked to the Jawas who held their position to the the false fact that Tarnus was a droid. They pointed out his servo motors, his data ports, and the fact that his head was not a helmet because it had no obvious release mechanisms. I finally asked them what they wanted for Tarnus and settled up with the desert mershants. Tarnus was relieved that I had purchased him. I took him to my place for the evening and assisted him with getting his helmet removed. It took several hours. The ion blast had fried his circuits something good. He paid me back what I had spent and threw some extra my way for troubles."

I looked over the top of my raised glass as I took a gulp of cool ale. Jasenda smiled.

"So thats how you saved the mighty bounty hunter known as Tarnus?" she flirted.

"Indeed I did." I said with a smile.

She leaned forward as I sat my drink down. I smiled at the orange skinned beauty as she rested half her torso atop the table.

"You are a funny old man." she said as she placed a peck on my cheek. I smiled as she rose to walk away.

"Leaving so soon?" I asked as she came by my side. Her arms drapped around me as she moved to stand behind me. He head rested against mine.

"Yes I am." she smiled." I have to go see about getting a droid for my uncles bar."

I laughed as she hugged me farewell.

"But don't worry Tymbal, I'll be back for more stories." she gracefully walked away.