Chapter 2
Arakai woke up. It had now been a few days since he had been discharged. He got out of his cot and went to go find something to eat. He found Shetka already awake.
"Hungry?" Shetka asked.
"You know you really should get a job as a cook," Arakai said simply, "seeing as you enjoy it and you're good at it."
"You know, you should consider personal security. It's probably a decent line of work," Shetka said to him, "considering your qualifications and all."
"Qualifications indeed," Arakai moaned, "kicked out of a secret branch of the military that we really can't tell anybody about."
"Well it's either that or be a mercenary for hire." Shetka offered.
"And be just like that Jango guy who got us in this mess in the first place," Arakai said, "no thank you. I'd never be hired to ruin someone else's life for good. Not in a million years."
"Who said you'll be ruining lives," Shetka joked, "It's more likely you'll just end them instead."
"Not helping," Arakai chuckled.
"Technically," Shetka put in, "you get to choose what job you take and who hires you. It doesn't have to be a bad job."
"Well maybe so," Arakai responded, "but I still don't like the idea."
"That's fine, but you should find work somewhere," Shetka replied, "you're a smart man Arakai, but you tend to do stupid things. Sometimes I feel like I'm the only one keeping you alive."
"That's 'cause you are," Arakai said sarcastically.
After they finished breakfast, the two friends decided to go find a job. Shetka applied at three different diners for a job as an assistant chef, but Arakai looked elsewhere. He thought that with his background in mechanics and science he could find a job in a speeder repair shop or something of the sort. But his search was in vain. When he and Shetka came home, he had to put a profile on the holo-net hoping for a job offer.
The next day, Arakai checked his profile to see if anything came in.
"Anyone want you?" Shetka asked.
"Well there's someone down in Fitcher sector, but he's offering a slave's wage." Arakai replied.
"So no wage at all then," Shetka joked.
"There's one more at a parts dealership but it's all the way on Tatooine." Arakai continued.
"Tatooine!" Shetka sounded surprised, "How did you get a job offer from Tatooine?"
"I don't know," Arakai said, "but he's offering a lot more. Says here they are expanding to be a larger franchise and need more employees. Someone who knows how to work a motivator, ya know."
"Anything more on them? Do they have a rep or something?" Shetka inquired.
"No," Arakai answered, "That's pretty much it, but the wage is 30 wupiupi a day."
"Well it's up to you if you want to go off world," Shetka remarked, "To be quite honest, I'd rather work for the guy in Fitcher sector."
"Yeah, but for 30 wupiupi a day? You can't find better than that anywhere." Arakai said, almost excited, "I'm gonna do it."
"You'd leave everything you know and love behind just for a good wage?" Shetka questioned.
"Not much left to know and love, is there?" Arakai muttered.
"I guess not," Shetka said, "I'd better go withdraw my applications then."
"You're coming with?" Arakai asked.
"I didn't leave the Mandalorian military just to say goodbye." Shetka said.
"We'll need a pilot."
"We are pilots."
"We'll need a ship."
"Are you trying to convince yourself not to go?" Shetka asked.
"Maybe," Arakai said. He really wasn't sure that he was ready for this. It would be the first time he had ever left the Mandalorian system. "No, I'm going," he assured himself, "I have to."
"Alright then," Shetka said and they both set to packing. It didn't take long because they didn't have a whole lot to pack. They soon made their way to their local spaceport. The journey was a long one. The flight was about 5 hours through hyperspace. When they arrived they exited the space bus and viewed for the first time the desolate, desert world that was their new home.
"We're gonna die here, aren't we?" Shetka commented.
"You realize you're not funny, right?" Arakai replied.
"I can try to be," Shetka defended.
Slowly but surely they made their way to Arakai's new place of work. There was a huge sign above the door which read Tosche Station: Quality Power Converters Since 1977. They entered the building and made their way to the front desk.
"We're here about the job offer." Arakai said
"Ah, are you the Mandalorian?" the lizard-like man at the desk hissed.
"Yes, yes I am." Arakai responded kindly.
"Yessss, I knew it. I could tell by ssssweaty facccessss. Obviousssly not climatizzzzed," said the reptile, "My name isssss Aussssskey. Come in. We have much to talk about."
Arakai and Shetka went further into the shop. There were spare parts and deactivated droids everywhere. "Assss I told you before," Auskey's raspy voice went on, "I reccccently exsssspanded my businessssss to gain higher benefitssss. I knew I would be shorthanded, but the reward would have me ssssset for life in a few yearsssss and thhhat, my friend, issss an offer I couldn't refusssse."
"Yeah, no kidding," Arakai said half-heartedly.
"Anyway, about your pay," Auskey continued, "I was thhhinking we maybe cut the wage to 20 or 25 a day. Eh, what do you think? Sssstill a good wage, and I can make room for ssssome other employeessss."
"You said 30," Arakai insisted, "I didn't come all the way from Mandalore just to have my wage get cut."
"I undersssstand your conccccern, but let me-"
"No," Arakai cut Auskey off, "30 or no deal. That's final."
"Eeeeh no deal then." Auskey said, "Lasssst time I made a deal with an outlander I losssst a valuable piecccce of merchandisssse."
"And by merchandise you must mean slave." Arakai accused.
"Hey," Shetka whispered to Arakai, "25 isn't that bad. Just take the deal so we can be on our way. Like you said we didn't come all this way for nothing."
"Fine." Arakai said to Shetka. He turned to Auskey and said, "25. No less."
"Deal." Auskey hissed once more. "I exssspect you here at one-quarter rotation every morning ssssharp. You'll ssstart in tomorrow." The two shook hands and the Mandalorians went on their way. As they walked through the streets, they took note of their surroundings. Sand was everywhere. That was apparent to everyone.
"I never knew how much I hated sand until I landed here." Shetka said.
"You got that right," Arakai agreed, "I haven't seen so much sand in all my life."
Suddenly there was screaming. "They're coming! They're coming!" someone shouted. People began to run frantically toward any open doors. Blaster fire erupted soon after. People kept screaming, "Slave raid!" and ducked for cover. A low-flying ship swooped overhead. Several pirates jumped out and opened fire on the townsfolk. Arakai and Shetka looked at each other and grinned.
"And here I thought all that training would never pay off." Shetka said, blaster pistol in hand. Together the two Mandalorians fought of as many pirates as they could. However the confusion and chaos they became separated. Arakai saw some pirates attacking a rich couple and went to stop it. He knew they had nothing to do with him, but something deep inside him made him feel responsible for their lives.
He ran up behind one and wrapped his arm around the man's throat, squeezing as hard as he could. The other pirate turned toward him, raised a blaster pistol to his head, and fired. Almost instinctively, Arakai threw the pirate he held in the way and ducked, forcing the bolt threw his enemy's shoulder, and then he jumped and kicked the pistol out of the second pirate's hands, sending it onto a table next to them. Before the pirate could reach for the gun it Arakai grabbed his arm, slammed it on the table, and snapped it in two with a thick, metal bar he picked up off the ground. The pirate screamed in pain before being abruptly silenced by the bar coming down on him a once again, this time on the head. Then Arakai's focus shifted back to the first pirate and when he saw he was attempting an escape, he picked up the pistol and put two more bolts threw his head and heart.
As the pirates lay at his feet, he looked to see if everyone was okay. The rich couple was fine but there was a young girl lying under a fallen shelf who looked badly injured. He lifted the shelf off of her and picked her up off the ground.
"P-please don't k-kill me," she stuttered.
"I'm not here to kill you," he said. Turning to the couple he said, "She needs medical attention."
"Well I don't recommend taking her off the premises," said the wife, "She'll blow up if you do that."
"Why would she-oh…" Arakai trailed off. It was then he realized that she was a slave.
"So what do you plan to do to us," said the husband, who obviously thought Arakai was a pirate.
"Nothing," he said simply, "In fact, I guess you could say I came to rescue you."
"How can we ever repay you?" asked the wife.
Arakai saw an opportunity to better a life and he took it. "Give her to me. Let me nurse her back to health."
"Surely there must be something else." the husband responded. But he could see in Arakai's eyes that there was nothing else he would accept. "Fine," he said, "then you'll have no payment then."
"Wait!" the wife exclaimed, "If he wants her let him have her, slaves are a dime a dozen anyway."
"Oh alright," the husband conceded, "but you'll need this to deactivate the detonation device."
"What's her name?" Arakai asked.
"Amee," the wife said, "her name is Amee. She's almost eighteen."
"Alright, find cover and stay put," Arakai instructed, "Don't move unless you absolutely have to and don't get in the way."
With that, he lifted Amee up and ran off to find Shetka.
