Like it says on the tin, this thread features a little tale to get you inspired and get those creative juices flowing.

A prologue if you like, to Mos Espa.

Mos Espa

First Strike: Episode I

The Alliance to restore the Republic has won its first critical victory against the mighty Galactic Empire with the destruction of the Emperor's new super weapon; the Death Star during the Battle of Yavin. Though victorious Rebel forces have had to flee the system, their hidden base revealed, and in the months since the Alliance has searched far and wide for a new secret base of operations with the Imperial Fleet in hot pursuit.

At last elite Rebel Pathfinders have successfully discovered a viable new location in the Hoth system. With initial surveys completed Alliance Central Command have agreed to make Hoth their new base. Fearing that even heavily encrypted coded transmissions could be intercepted, trusted couriers have been dispatched to deliver the coordinates of the new base to the Rebel Fleet currently spread throughout the galaxy...

The dusty brown orb of Tatooine bursts forth into view as Eben Vaile's craft drops out of hyperspace. The trip so far had been long, but he was on the last leg now. Once he had made a quick stop off in Mos Eisley for refueling he should be but one jump away from his final destination, and then his valuable package would be delivered and his vital mission completed. As always he had no idea what was on the data module he was carrying, it was sealed in a security cylinder which could only be opened by the code key of its intended recipient. In this case the Commander of the fleet currently stationed in space near Hypori.

Eben adjusted the attitude thrusters of his Corellian Agrippa class light courier vessel as it crossed over the terminator from night to day, and rotated so that Tatooine's harsh blistering surface now lay beneath him, passing close to one of its moons he prepared for final approach to the city port of Mos Eisley.  Once within range of the sprawling desert metropolis he transmits registration codes, falsified of course, and receives telemetry data for a flight path to his designated hanger. Floating over the drum shaped structure, landing struts unfurl from beneath the craft's hull and with the cutting of sublight engines and a final firing of thrusters it comes to rest on the hanger floor, exhaust gases pluming forth from vents in its belly as the ship's engines wind down to stand by mode. Releasing himself from the pilot's concussion chair, Eben spots through the transparasteel viewport a service droid approach his ship as he collects his gear and moves aft towards the boarding ramp.

Datapad in hand the service droid dutifully waits for his latest customer to arrive. Eben strolls down the ramp and hardly breaks stride as the droid comes along side and walks with him.

"Welcome to Mos Eisley sir. I have you booked in for the standard refueling and servicing of your vessel, and of course mooring fees for your short stay on world. If I may trouble you for payment we can get right along with the job at hand."

Eben removes a credit cylinder from a hidden pocket in his jacket and passes it over the data receiver of the droid's pad, data scrolls down the screen to confirm payment.

"That will do nicely sir. All services should be completed by 09:30 hours local time. If there is anything else I can do for you, please don't hesitate to..."

By this point Eben has already mounted the stairs that lead up to street level leaving the service droid in his wake. Breaking through the arched entrance to the hanger complex into the bustling crowds of Mos Eisley, all manner of creatures and denizens pass him by as he gets his bearings, momentarily blinded by the binary sunshine. He recognizes the area, and Chalmun's Cantina shouldn't be far from here, just enough time to make it there, get something to eat and head back. He pulls his jacket around him tight and braces himself for entering into the relentless flow of life before him.

Enveloped in relative darkness and greeted by the warm muggy fog of various spices and smokes Eben steps over the threshold of Chalmun’s Cantina and steps down into the main bar area, past a wall mounted droid detector, these sort of establishments were not fond of uninvited mechanical visitors, and what with the events of the Clone Wars several decades ago and the part droids played in it, who can blame people for not wanting them around? The usual shady clientele were present as always, spacers from across the galaxy in all shapes and sizes. Moving over to a free alcove Eben takes a seat and gestures for a waitress to come over and take his order. They don't serve much food at the Cantina, and what they do serve isn't great, but he hasn't come here for the food or the service for that matter. It is locations like this where an astute observer can gauge the mood of the galaxy. As he tucks into his plate of food he keeps his eyes and ears open drinking in any stray information he can. A Duros pilot is talking about the mysterious fate of the planet Alderaan and how nobody seems to have a clue what happened there. The barkeep mentions how the Empire seem to be suggesting that the Rebellion may have had something to do with it. Another barfly continues by declaring that the Empire have put out a bounty on any suspected Rebellion member or sympathizers head so large that any Rebels would simply turn themselves in just to get the reward. The figures at the bar laugh and continue to drink their beverages, and Eben continues to eat his meal. Out of the corner of his eye he picks up on the attention of a figure leaning in the darkness of an alcove across the other side of the bar, swathed in protective desert robes, Eben catches a glimpse of light shining on metal beneath them. Armor perhaps? He catches the man's eye, and immediately wishes he hadn't, the face human, but terribly scarred, half concealed under a hood of bandages. Eben realizes coming here might not have been the best idea after all, and quickly looks away and swiftly finishes his meal. Leaving some credit chits at his table he gets up to leave, glancing over his shoulder he realizes the shadowy figure is no longer in the alcove. Not good, not good at all.

Eben emerges once again into the hot desert air of the dusty streets of Mos Eisley, looking this way and that he doesn't spy the man out here and quickly joins the flow of the crowd and heads back towards his hanger. Coming around a street corner there is a sudden clap of thunder and the ground beneath his feet shakes violently throwing all in the street to the ground. A fountain of fire erupts in the distance and hot fragments of debris rain down on the street. A large piece of hull paneling clatters down onto the street before him after bouncing off of the wall of a nearby building. Eben instantly recognizes it as part of his ship. Looking up at the rising column of black smoke he realizes he won't be leaving anytime soon. He has somehow been compromised.

He runs across the street down a side passage away from the location of his hanger, breaking out into a larger street he quickly glances around himself assessing the situation, still no sign of that mysterious figure, a bounty hunter most likely. He grasps hold of his bag and feels for the contents inside, still secure. He then spies a youth in a speeder just pulling out and moves to flag him down.  The speeder slows to a halt and the human teen at the driver's wheel looks up at him.

"Can I help you Mister?"

Eben then fishes out his credit cylinder and prepares to make the kid an offer he can't refuse.

"Yeah, I'd like to buy your landspeeder off you, but I need it right now, how does ten thousand credits sound to you?"

The teen's eyes grow wide as he just can't believe what he's hearing.

"Ten thousand!?"

Eben sits on the landspeeder's hood and passes the kid the cylinder, while all the time scoping out the immediate area for threats.

"Check it out, it's genuine, but come to a decision quick kid."

Verifying its authenticity the youth grins from ear to ear, his eyes growing even wider. Eben fingers the hold out blaster within his tunic, just in case he has to get a little more persuasive, he really doesn't have time for this.

"You've got a deal Mister!"

Eben releases his grip on his pistol and jumps off the hood of the speeder.

"That's great kid, now get out."

Eagerly the youth vacates his seat as Eben swiftly slides in, and the kid marvels at the heavily loaded credit cylinder and stashes it in a pocket as Eben guns the engines and leaves him in a cloud of dust.

"Damn, with this much credit I should be able to afford one of those new XP-38s!"

Eben rockets away from the outskirts of Mos Eisley, and when in open desert he slows to consult the speeder's onboard navi-computer, the screen flashes up with the immediate area. Mos Espa isn't too far, and so deserted these days that it is almost a ghost town, that'll do, just a little north of here. He sets up the route and then floors the throttle again and speeds off into the unforgiving desert sands.

Constantly checking aft for anyone following him Eben then delves his free hand into his bag and fishes out a sophisticated high powered comlink. Setting the controls he keys it to an emergency frequency which the Alliance has managed to equip its agents with which uses the Empire's own Holonet subspace transceivers to bounce signals across the galaxy. Setting the comlink to record he speaks into the receiver.

"Central Command this is Agent 1138, have become compromised on route to Hypori Sector Command, mission incomplete, current location Tatooine. I suspect there is, or are Bounty Hunters on my trail and am taking steps to ensure that the package does not fall into enemy hands. Will off load security cylinder unobserved and activate secure transponder beacon in accordance with standard emergency protocols. Agent 1138 signing off."

Keying off for the end of the recording Eben then hits the transmit button which scrambles the message and then sends it in a high power burst transmission to the nearest subspace transceiver. Then secure in the knowledge that his transmission was successful he drops the comlink into the passenger seat, pulls out his holdout blaster and fires twice at the device causing it to erupt in a shower of sparks burning the upholstery. He then turns his attention fully to the way ahead. On the horizon he spies what must be Mos Espa and adjusts the controls of the landspeeder trying to coax every last ounce of speed out of the engines.

Eben cuts across the outskirts of the quiet town and slows down to a less distressing speed as he enters the streets, he sees a few locals, but nothing too suspicious. He passes by a dilapidated junkyard, seeing mountains of mechanical debris within. Finding the security cylinder within all that junk would be near impossible. Coming around to pass by the yard again Eben makes sure that there is no one around, and slowing slightly, but not stopping, he grabs the security cylinder, activates the beacon, and tosses it over the wall into the junk pile. He then floors the throttle once more and heads for the edge of town and the open desert.

The best thing he can do is keep moving, as far away as possible from the location of the security cylinder, with any luck he can lead any pursuers he may have picked up away from the prize. Once far enough away he can hole up in the mountains for a time until the heat is off, or a Rebel Strike Team arrives to recover the cylinder. Breaking him from his thoughts Eben spies a strange shadow on the desert floor ahead of the speeder.

"I have a bad..."

In mid sentence Eben looks over his shoulder aft and is momentarily blinded by the suns, and then the silhouette of a swoop bike bleeds into his vision, and it is all too close. A fist swings out from the figure riding the swoop, and then there is nothing for Eben but bright white light.