Chapter 4

After returning home from Toshe Station, Arakai looked around the shack. He hadn't realized how crowded the small building had become.

"Hey Shetka!" he called, "Is it just me or should we maybe consider getting a bigger place?"

"Shetka's off on a shipment run," Amee commented, coming out of the bedroom, "He won't be back for several hours."

"I see," Arakai responded, "What about you? Don't ya think we could do with a little more space?"

"Well it would be nice, I guess…" Amee trailed off.

"Well I brought some fresh krayt bacon for supper, do think we should attempt to cook it on our own or just roast it in the sun?"

"If you did either of those it would be wasted for sure." Amee put in, "Let me cook it. I'm a million times better than you."

"You realize a million times zero is still zero, right?" Arakai joked.

"Go put it in the kitchen already," Amee laughed, "And don't worry, I'll get to it before it spoils."

Arakai went over to the kitchen and set the meat on the counter. On Mandalore we had iceboxes, but here we just have sandboxes. Arakai looked around their kitchen. Besides the small table, the counter, and a crude oven, there was nothing else to see.

"Well I'm gonna look around on the holonet to see if there's any other places within walking distance of Tosche," he called out to Amee.

"Or you could see if there's a landspeeder you can get. It would make Shetka's life a lot easier."

She has a point, Arakai thought, but I want more room. I mean, at least another bedroom. That's justifiable, right? He exited the kitchen and sat down on the sofa. Who am I kidding; a landspeeder is a much better idea. We can survive here for a little longer. He opened up the holonet and started searching for decent sales. Amee went into the kitchen a little while after and began to prepare the food. As Arakai looked through all the different makes and models of the landspeeders, he found that he liked the idea more and more.

"You know I never got to thank you for saving my life," Amee said from the kitchen.

Arakai looked up from his research. "It was nothing, anyone else would have done the same thing," Arakai assumed.

"That's just it," Amee started again, "they wouldn't have. Even my own masters wouldn't have bothered."

"I'm sure that's not true…" Arakai tried to reassure her.

"But it is, though," Amee corrected, "out here it's too dangerous to care about anyone but yourself. Something as small as losing an investment could cost you your freedom, and in turn maybe even your life."

"But on Mandalore-" Arakai began.

"This isn't Mandalore," Amee gently cut him off, "What you did was brave and honorable. Some might have even considered it foolish. That's why I'm so thankful. Had it not been for you, I…"

There was a pause as the two considered of the possible consequence of Arakai not rescuing the rich couple.

"Let's not think about it," Arakai concluded. He would have continued his search for a speeder had he not noticed the tears rolling down Amee's face. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"Nothing," Amee answered.

Arakai got up from the sofa and walked into the kitchen. "Why are you crying?" he asked again.

"I'm just happy to have a chance… I just…"

Amee turned and gave Arakai a huge hug. "Thank you so much," she repeated over and over, tears strolling into Arakai's robes. Arakai returned the hug softly saying, "It's okay, it's okay." The two remained in the embrace for a few more seconds before Amee regained her composure and said, "Alright, alright, snuff I'm ok now. I'm ok. I'm gonna finish supper now."

"Amee, I will always protect you," Arakai promised, "I swear I'll never let anyone hurt you again."

Amee didn't reply but did sniff a few more times as she continued making the food. Arakai walked back into the front room and sat back down on the sofa with the intention of finding a good speeder suitable for "the family", as they referred to themselves as now. Don't worry Amee, I will always be there for you.

After about a week, Arakai, with help from the family, decided on a landspeeder to purchase. He and Amee went out to pick it up from the SoroSuub Corporation. On the way back from the dealership they were caught in an attempted robbery.

"PUT IT DOWN MAN!" Arakai shouted at the robbers.

"Jabba'll have our skin if we don't pay 'em and your speeder will do quite nicely!"

"You don't need to shoot anyone! Just put it down and we'll all walk away from this!"

"Arakai just give them the speeder!" Amee cried from terror.

"Yea! Do what the girl say!" another robber chimed in.

"There's no need for violence! Just put the weapons down and I promise I won't report you or anything!"

"Like heck we will!" yelled the first robber, "I'll blast your noggin off and then sell your speeder and your girl before I put anything down!"

"NO PLEASE!" Amee shrieked. That was more than enough for Arakai. He leaped off the speeder, did a half twist in the air, and landed on the second robber's head, instantly breaking his neck. "SHOOT!" shouted the first robber as he fired several blasts, missing each time. Arakai quickly drew his blaster pistol and fired once, hitting the man dead in the eye. Then he turned to the third, who was charging at him with some sort of blade. He grabbed the man's hand, twisting his wrist against himself, and thrust the blade into his ribcage. The robber wailed in pain and fell to the ground. Arakai breathed heavily as he stood over the fallen robbers. Amee was still crying in the speeder.

"Don't worry," Arakai rushed to her, "they can't hurt you anymore. They're gone, they can't hurt you."

"I know," she whimpered, "I just didn't want to be a slave again."

They hurried home to show Shetka the new speeder.

"Took you long enough," Shetka said.

"We got held up by some bandits who apparently worked for Jabba," Arakai replied.

"Well, what happened?" Shetka asked.

"They don't work for Jabba anymore, that's what." Arakai said.

"Well, while you were gone Auskey showed up," Shetka began, "Said you're done working there. He found himself a slave so he doesn't have to lose half of his pay daily."

"Well isn't that unfortunate," Arakai sneered, "Never liked that guy anyway."

"You know, The Far Reaches of Space has grown enough to support all three of us now," Shetka pointed out, "Who needs that old Trandoshan fool anyway?"

"Yeah right," Arakai affirmed

"Hey!" Shetka exclaimed, "You got a scuff on it! I knew you were a lousy driver but I didn't know you were that bad."

"That's from the blaster fire, Shetka," Arakai replied

"So I figured," Shetka responded, "Haven't had it for a day and the resale value has already tanked."

"Heh heh, sorry," Arakai laughed. The three friends then went inside for some much needed rest.