Star Wars - Kenobi

Orrin knew it wasn’t water; after all, Veeka was drinking it. Since her twin brother’s death, the twenty-one-year-old had decided to do all the living he’d missed out on. And Jabe, at sixteen Orrin’s newest farmhand, was doing his best to keep up with her. They were in the middle of describing how they’d killed one of the Sand People to Tellico, who sat numbly as he bobbled his unknowing baby on his knee. The farmer’s blaster sat on the sand, nearby, unfired.
    When Veeka noticed her father’s approach and grim expression, she grinned awkwardly. “Whoops. Sorry,” she said, quickly passing the flask to Tellico. “Here, buddy. Drink up.” The frazzled young farmer looked blankly at the container.
    Orrin rolled his eyes and barged in. “Sorry is right.” He snatched the flask and threw it behind the shed. He glared at Veeka. “Get these people some water. Now.”
    Smirking, Veeka ambled off, Jabe in tow. Orrin sighed. His daughter had the amiable attitude that Mullen lacked, but her interest in others was a centimeter deep. Both his children had missed the empathy ship.
    It fell to him, as usual. Orrin knelt before the young farmer and his infant. “You all right?”
    Tellico spoke quickly and excitedly. “Yeah. I’m amazed you got here so fast.”
    “There was some luck. My hands and I were working the towers on the west range when you activated the Settlers’ Call. We were halfway here before the folks at the oasis even got to their speeders.”
    Orrin knew there was luck, true—but also good design. This was how it was supposed to work. When a homestead activated the Call, everyone in this part of the desert moved. If settlers were armed and had a ride, they followed the sirens to trouble. If not, they mustered at the Pika Oasis, where guns and vehicles were garaged behind Dannar’s Claim, the area’s general store. The alarm at the activating location had a different sound from the others, but all started with something calculated to spook any Tusken: the recorded howl of a krayt dragon. That had been Orrin’s favorite touch.
    “Well, it’s a wonderful thing, sir. Worth every credit.”
    Orrin smiled humbly. “Tell your friends. It’s for all of us, really.”
    “Her dad—Lotho—never wanted us to buy into it. But—” The young man broke off, and looked away. He clutched the baby tighter.
    “You forget about all that,” Orrin said. “But I want you to remember something for me, if you can. The Tuskens. What can you tell me?”
    Tellico looked to him urgently. “Oh, it was Plug-eye, all right. No mistaking it. Where the right eye was—”
    “Right from where you’re lookin’?”
    Tellico pointed to his right eye. “No, right eye. It shines .”
    Orrin started. “What, like a cybernetic?” That sounded absolutely crazy.
    “No, sir. More like a crystal. It caught the light when I looked—and I couldn’t take my eyes off it.” He shivered in the suns. “Scared the life out of me.”
    “I don’t doubt it.” Orrin scratched his chin. “Anything else?”
    The young farmer paused. “The robes were different, I guess. No bandolier. But really, I was so focused on the eye —”
    Orrin stood and patted Tellico on the back. “Forget it, son. Now let’s get you and Tyla taken care of. Annileen will put you up at the Claim as long as you need.”
    Orrin watched as the farmer and child departed. Mullen stepped to his father’s side. “Any help?”
    “Nope.”
    Mullen sneered. “And he had a shot on Plug-eye and didn’t take it.”
    “I don’t think that boy would know his blaster from his spanner.” Orrin looked behind him and chuckled. “Now where’s that flask?”
    Veeka and Jabe walked up from the house. “I thought you didn’t want me to drink this early,” Veeka said.
    “You make me drink,” Orrin said. He turned to look at Jabe, fresh-faced and thrilled to be here. The boy was the age his Varan—Veeka’s twin—had been five years earlier, when tragedy struck. It was one reason Orrin had taken him onto his maintenance crew: Jabe was a sunny presence.
    But Orrin knew what awaited the kid at home. “Boy, when your mother finds out I let you go out with the posse, they’ll need to make room for me on the pyre beside the Tuskens.”
    Veeka opened the maintenance hatch of her sporty landspeeder. “You want to hide back here, runt? You’ll just fit.”
    Jabe blushed at the teasing. “It won’t be that bad,” he said.
    “Oh, yes it will.” Orrin