Chapter 2
We drank the night away, laughing and joking. For their tough appearances, the two of them had a sense of humor. They never really told me what it was they did. All I knew was that Andronikos was the captain of some ship and Casey accompanied him along with an entire crew. I figured whatever it was they did, it wasn't legal.
It was starting to get late and I had swoop bikes to work on the next day, so I told them I needed to get home.
"Hey, don't go home alone. It's full o' scum out there. You can't even fight sober, I can't imagine what you'd look like fightin' drunk," Andronikos chuckled. "Hop in my speeder, I'll give you a lift back."
"You're drunker than even me! You shouldn't be drivin' a speeder in your condition," I slobbered back.
Casey stood up and put her arm around my shoulders, leaning on me for support. "He'll be alright. Ya shoulda seen him when we got surprise attacked by Imperials out in deep space. I still wonder how we made it out alive with how hammered he was."
"I'm even better when I'm drunk," said Andronikos, the clearest he'd spoken since I met him.
The rest is a bit of a blur. They convinced me to climb in the back of their speeder, and I gave them directions to get back to my humble abode. I quickly fell into a deep sleep as they zoomed through the city of Anchorhead. It seemed as though I had just closed my eyes when all of a sudden I was being shaken awake.
"We're here, sleepy-head!" Casey lightly slapped my face with a smile.
I clambered out and began to make my way toward the front door. I was so out of it that I didn't notice something that would have tipped me off of what I would find once I'd open my front door. Well, I wouldn't have made even made it to my front door if it weren't for my two new friends. As I stumbled toward the door, I fell over and did not have the willpower or coordination to lift myself up. Andronikos and Casey climbed out of the speeder and draped my arms over their shoulders. We stumbled together to get inside my shelter. Upon opening the door, I couldn't believe my drunken eyes. My house was completely empty. All of my furniture, all of my tools, and just all of my possessions were gone. We looked upon a barren homestead, as if no one had lived there at all.
"Are you sure this is your house?" Casey inquired.
"I'm sure," I muttered, trying to comprehend what I was looking at.
"Good. That means I came to the right place." I heard theat voice before. The Devaronian spoke from behind us outside the front door. "No kills my friend and humiliates me without a price."
"Give the man his things back and I won't blast you between the eyes." Andronikos pulled a blaster out of its holster, but the Devaronian pulled out a flash grenade and set it off as Andronikos raised it up. I wallowed in pain as the immense amount of light entered my dilated pupils. It wasn't long before we heard the sound of a speeder start up and drive away.
"Damn! The bastard stole my speeder!" growled Andronikos.
I started to regain my vision. Trying to comprehend what had happened, I began to wonder how he even knew I lived here. I began to pat myself when I realized he had pickpocketed the datapad that stored my ID.
I looked up and saw Andronikos run out the front door firing his blaster at what was now a vast void where his speeder used to be. When it seemed he realized there was no use, he marched back inside with his head held high. "Looks like we have some business to take care of."
"What do I do now?" I stammered. He took everything, even things that weren't mine. My house was full of my clients' equipment. Not only would I have to repurchase my own things, but I was going to have a lot of angry bikers to answer to.
"You take back what's yours."
"How? I can't track him down. Even if I could, I can't fight or shoot a blaster! I don't have anyone to help me!"
"Yes you do," said Casey, putting her arm around my shoulder, "You have us."
"Why don't you join our crew? We could use a mechanic like you," Andronikos offered, folding his arms across his chest and looking me over.
"What do you guys do, anyway?" I asked, semi-interested.
"You could say that we look for alternative ways to get rich…" Casey began to explain, but I cut her off before she could elaborate. I had already heard enough.
"You're pirates, aren't you? Just a bunch of petty criminals! You're no better than he is!"
"Morally, perhaps not. But we are definitely better at being criminals than he is," Casey chimed.
"I can't stain my good record."
"Look, that son of a Hutt has your ID. He can now alter it and pose as you as he runs from the law. Your record is going to be stained whether you like it or not." Andronikos told me how it is. "You have nothing here. It's going to take years restoring your good name. Plus, you have better chances of sticking with us than you do facing all your angry clients by yourself."
He had a point. There wasn't much I could do. I took a deep breath and made the craziest decision I had ever made in my life. From this decision stems all the other crazy decisions I would soon make. "I'm in."
"Good. Now let's go hunt us some scum."
"Welcome to the team!" Casey said smiling.
"Let's make our way back to the ship."
What was I doing? Was I really going to give up my simple life on this remote planet for a life of crime just because all of my material things had been stolen? Yes. Yes I was.