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Beads of sweat rolled down Tom's forehead to his chin and dripped off as he sliced the stems of a vegtable plant. The small collection droid beside him rolled in tandem with his chopping, efficiently catching the plants in it's container.
Dana, his young daughter, sat in the grass a few feet behind him. She picked at a flower she had found. "Daddy? Can we get a garden?"
Tom stopped his work and rested on his chopping tool. The confused droid stopped soon after. "I don't know, honey. I only get to the citadel once a month, and I might not have enough credits to get some seeds."
"But Mommy said that we had some seeds at our storage in the citadel!"
"Really? Well, I'll talk to mommy and we'll see."
Then Tom could see someone walking toward them. It was Lare, a Duros pilot who often purchased crops from Tom. They had been friends since before Tom's Oovo years, but he still hadn't bothered to call Tom by name. It was very difficult to differentiate emotions on a Duros, but he didn't seem normal.
"Urgent news, human." Said the Duros in broken basic. "I pass unfamiliar frieghters to farm. They say message to me. Say 'We take action if you come close'. I suspicious so I come warn you."
Tom shrugged it off. "Well, if they were Cerean that would make sense. Cereans aren't to happy about outsiders, especially with non-native technology. Just keep your distance and you'll be fine. They don't intend to harm you."
Lare's arms were crossed and his head was cocked slightly to the right. "Sure, human. Sure. You probably right. Sorry to disturb you. Have you harvested Goldfruit?"
"Yeah, help yourself. Just give the credits to my wife." As Lare walked away, Tom began to think about the visitors Lare told him about. He knew he was probably just messing with his mind, but something lingering within him gave him a bad feeling. He looked back at Dana and smiled. She had a beautiful smile. "Dana, go back to the house with mommy, alright? I'll call an escort." He paged one of his security droids to escort Dana to the house, which was about a kilometer and a half away from where they were. They had quite a few acres of land.
"Why?" She cried.
"I think a storm might roll in. I don't want you getting caught out here with me."
"Fine." She grumbled. The droid arrived awaiting direction.
"Take her back to the house and then continue your patrol."
"Roger Roger." croaked the droid. Perfectly straight, blaster in hand, it marched right alongside Dana. There wasn't any storm coming. He just didn't feel it was safe to have Dana out here after what Lare said. He knew Dana wouldn't leave without an acceptable excuse.
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I'm the sensible, tactful, and non Jewish Sam.
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