Rough landing

A new sound comes through the rumbling dissent of the wind: The whining roar of a starfighter's atmospheric turbines as it rockets above the dunes from the north, dodging the thrumming blasts of energy cannons fired by a similar fighter in hot pursuit. The fleeing fighter, bobbing and weaving between spiraling columns of sand whipped into a frenzy by the wind around Sharpeye and Whitestripe, dips its port wing drastically to avoid another shot from the pursuer. Too much dip, however. The wingtip catches in the crown of the dune and suddenly the fighter is spinning out of control, rolling and roaring, sending a rain of whistling shrapnel skyward as it is torn apart while shedding velocity in a fatal series of somersaults along the dunes. Within moments, the ravaged shell of the smoldering fighter is half-embedded in a not-too-distant dune, while the pursuing fighter zooms off into the night sky, its quarry neutralized.