The hatch was slow to open, grinding against the side of the hull as it slowly lowered to reveal a rough, scoured landscape. The dry earth supported low, gnarled scrub and squat trees that bent with the prevailing wind. Off in the distance, the broken towers of a city were visible through a haze of dust.

As was a thin column of smoke, too far away to have been caused by the crash. "This planet is still inhabited." Trapped on an isolated world among the memories of their destruction, the natives might have acquired some of the same character as those he had selected to survive the Dominator. But without the Force to bring them under control, they would be nothing more than an obstacle.