Faction An Accident Waiting To Happen

[Cedric Grayson]

​

The ship was larger than anything Wilhelm had ever flown in before, so much so that he felt like it might swallow him up entirely if he delved too deep into its lower levels. Even still, childish curiosity urged him to wander. The privateers were an odd bunch: the sort of thugs his mother would have run off in a heartbeat back at the homestead, but they had been kinder to him than most of the 'decent folk' he'd come across since leaving Dantooine. They paid the boy little mind as he scurried about the corridors, and just as he had expected, Wilhelm was often lost. It was an inevitability that he would eventually find himself in the engineering chamber, though to his surprise he found it to be mostly empty.

It took him nearly an hour, but he eventually managed to wander back to the quarters he and R1-3G shared. The droid had become something of a trusted companion since leaving Hoth: more so than the others aboard the ship anyway. Wilhelm had little mind for machines, but he certainly wanted to - it just so happened that R1 made for the perfect guinea pig.

The boy wasn't entirely honest with R1 about his intentions; only that he wanted the droid to follow him down to the engineering chamber for some convoluted purpose. He didn't intend to take his new friend apart or anything of that sort, but perhaps he could do a bit of tinkering, maybe slap a proper blaster onto the droid's chassis in the process.

The bay was a mess of workbenches, discarded parts, and poorly organized tools all scattered in no particular assortment around the relatively small room. The smell of gun oil and recently used hydrospanner greeted him as he walked through the doors, his nose scrunching up as he was unsure as to whether he liked the scent or not.

"So,' Wilhelm coughed into his fist, "I uh, I didn't exactly bring you here just to look at the bay." He'd turn to his newfound companion. "I thought maybe I could fix you up a bit - I mean, not that you need fixing or anything. You're pretty cool the way you are, but maybe we could put a blaster on you, or in you or...whatever. I just think maybe you should be able to protect yourself a little better, what with everything that happened back on Hoth."

Or really to protect me.

The youth peered at R1 with wide, hopeful eyes. "Would that be okay?"

Ben Acrax

 

[Crane Baxa]

There was a soft banging noise coming from the bay area as the Chadra-Fan had a pair of black goggles on along with tools scattered around him. Grabbing a larger sledge hammer, he would swing on the inside of a rather large armored suit, gutting the whole design inside out. Loud clanging noises can reverberat throughout the entire hanger bay, smashing through another support section. Grabbing onto it with one hand, he would throw it out as he climbed partly into the suit and looked up, smashing out part of the optical relay system as it sparked for a moment as there was a lot of swearing done in Chadra-Fan, a series of squeals and chittering as a rather large part of the exoskeleton was immediately shot out like a cannon onto the wall and shattered into a thousand pieces.

"Finally that is out! Now to redo the entire framework again for my height, reinstitute lever controls and proper AI protocol."

Grabbing a small lever, he would lean in and start shoving it through a small opening in the back as it already had some pre-cut holes put into it, most likely since he made this design before. Looking to the side, he would notice the R1 droid nearby as he chittered for a moment, speaking up.

"Oi! What is going on over there? The old bucket got problems?"
R1-3G Cedric Grayson

 

[R1-3G]

"I've sure got a problem if THATS the way I'm getting modified." The astromech retorted. He swivled his head to Wilhelm. "You didn't tell me I was going to get an operation from Dr. See over here". His little C1 arm pointed disapprovingly at Ben.

Cedric Grayson
Ben Acrax

 

[Cedric Grayson]

"Well," Wilhelm scratched at the top of his head as his young mind fought for a proper answer. "I mean, I didn't know Mister Ben would be here." That much was true enough. He'd seen the magic - no the Force - that the Chadra-Fan had called upon back on Hoth. The rat-man was a large part of why they were all still breathing. The youth was certainly thankful for that, but he admittedly found himself a bit intimidated by that as well. Aside from that strange storm, he'd never seen such a powerful display of the Force's power.

Perhaps these legends about the Jedi weren't entirely exaggerations.

The boy paused as Ben turned his beady black eyes on him. He did his best to swallow his apprehension: ma always said you couldn't make a proper decision with a foggy mind. "Problems? No problems?"

He glanced sidelong at R1-3G . "You don't have any problems right?"

The youth didn't wait for an answer. "We were just exploring Mister Ben. Well, exploring and maybe looking to do a little bit of..." What had the old mechanics back home called it? "Tinkering. Gonna do some tinkering. See R1 can't really defend himself that well right now and I uh...I thought I could help."

Ben Acrax

 

[Crane Baxa]

"Ben is just fine...Mister is just...strange."

Honestly he would refer Compneer again but that time had long past. Touching at his left ear, something he always been sensitive about, he would walk on over and look up and down the R1 droid as he listened to the complaints and the possible tinkering with droids. Hearing that the droid was partly defenseless, he could only give a strange smile as he walked backwards and went to an old tool bench, pulling out some tools.

"Tinkering is a good trait to have if you know what to do. Let me help, I done tinkered my own droids. Z series, the R4s, Scrubbers, the Holovids...I messed with Droidekas to Sentinels, I can help reprogram executables to ensure proper extraction of weapon, reloading functions and even proper aim statistics. But the first thing overall that needs to be picked out...is what a droid wants for a weapon."

Grabbing some older modules from the bottom drawer, he would slam them onto a small trolley that was about his size as there was multiple old R-Series parts as he slowly wheeled them over as it creaked a few times.

"Let's go over the basics. A blaster will always do the job but specialty tools do the job better. On the left is the more common stun attachment feature, a sonic blaster that just rings the ears out of everyone. Right on this one is the all time classic, the flamethrower, never fails and generally never runs out of ammo due to it being linked to the heat exhaust. Just add a little gas on the internal structure by having a filter for hydrogen. This really old one is a Carbonite Projector, turn the dimwits into the stone and kick them aside! There is also a few oddball ones here as well...the old slugthrowers, concussive blasts, grenade throwers....oh and my personal favorite, the old gravity generator. Point and watch them smash straight into the floor, provided they aren't strong enough, perfect non-lethal fun!"

The Chadra-Fan would go on...and on about these attachments as he was extremely knowledgable about droids...perhaps there is a bit more that he knows than he lets on.

Cedric Grayson R1-3G

 

[R1-3G]

R1 lightly tapped Bens head as he rambels on. "Slow down Sionver. you said you have flamethrowers yes?" R1 whispered to Wilhelm "If I get that I can finally fullfil my 3 minuite long dream of burning stuff for fun!"

Ben Acrax
Cedric Grayson

 

[Cedric Grayson]

Mister Ben - or rather just Ben - seemed to talk for ages. Wilhelm's limited attention span was stretched to its absolute limit as he tried his very best to keep up. It wasn't a lack of interest that left the boy a bit confused, but the excessive jargon and the myriad options offered. His brow furrowed in such a way that he looked more like an angry Kath Hound pup than a boy trying to concentrate.

"That's a lot," Wilhelm mumbled plainly, "But it all sounds good. Good for stopping bad guys anyway." Wilhelm's view of the world was childish and simplistic. The concept of fluid morality was far beyond his relatively limited scope of understanding: there was good and evil, good men and bad men, and as far as he was concerned, they were the good guys.

It only made sense that anyone opposed to them was a 'bad guy' as far as the boy was concerned.

"I feel like a sonic blaster would be really bad for you in particular Mist-... Ben." The youth snickered and held his hands up against his head in imitation of Ben's rather large ears. "Flamethrowers are really cool. I've only ever seen them in holovids though. I dunno if setting people on fire is the nicest way to stop them," his nose scrunched up in distaste.

A brow was lofted as R1's appendage bumped against the crown of his head. "A three-minute dream doesn't sound like one you should really go after R1," the youth protested, "But if it's what you want, it's what you want." He shrugged his little shoulders.

"Gotta be honest Ben," no respectful honorifics was a little odd for the boy. "I dunno the first thing about any of this stuff. I was just gonna bolt a blaster to R1's dome."

In retrospect that wasn't the greatest idea he'd ever had. He just assumed it would work.

"If you can show me, I'd like to figure out how," the boy paused and looked to R1. "What all can we even fit on you? You aren't very big."

R1-3G , Ben Acrax

 

[Crane Baxa]

"Believe it or not, flamethrowers are a great way to scare bad guys and cover an escape. No one ever wants to be caught on fire. If his dream is to catch stuff on fire, why not make it a reality."

Grabbing the right tools as his head was tapped again which made a small hiss like noise, he would go behind the R1 unit and start with a few drills to disassemble bits and pieces to check the insides as it looked like some person in a horror show made this droid. How in the world it was still working was beyond him but with his gift in the Force and his technical know-how, he can most likely make it work however he pleased. Grabbing a small tank with a compressor, he would start to find room and try and work it into the system as he spoke out loud.

"Well yeah, Sonics are not good for people with big ears...never use them against Biths, their heads literally explode. Second of all, bolting a blaster on his head can give a lot of problems. Having a blaster on a droid in public is generally illegal unless they are classified as a guard droid. Most seen with a blaster are shot instantly unless in certain parts of the galaxy. As for how much room there is, kiddo there is a lot of places you can hide drugs, weaponry and even stashes your mother does not want to find."

Getting some wiring set up, he would string a bit inside a small section to where an extender arm would be as he gave some instructions, moving his head a bit into the droid.

"Well wiring is not something I think you should do first...let me handle that. Right now I will teach you how to disassemble the auctuator arm. That one he has seems a bit old and right now, not in use from the wiring in here. Press on the top right the little fold down, it will reveal a small switch. Flick it and pull, that will remove the paneling on the acuator arm and all you have to do is pull it right out since the wiring is all disconnected. Then grab the flamethrower one on the table and slowly put it in place and reattach it through that switch method. Real simple work."

Cedric Grayson R1-3G

 

[R1-3G]

"H-HEY! I DIDN'T KNOW YOU WERE GOING TO TAKE STUFF OUT!"

His arm wiggled and he banged against his plating creating a loud and very irritating noise.

 

[Cedric Grayson]

"Quiet R1! We're only trying to help." Some small part of him sympathized with the droid. He'd probably be a little upset too if someone carved out the back of his skull and started fumbling around with his brain. Still, this was all to help better the little droid, and as far as Wilhelm knew, machines could not feel any sort of pain.

"What's a Bith?" He asked absentmindedly as he did his best to keep track of what Ben was doing. There were no droids back on the homestead, and he'd only ever come across a handful when ma brought him into town. The wiring and little 'electric bits' were all quite foreign to the boy, but he figured he could start to understand things with a bit of practice.

Fortunately Ben wasn't a terrible teacher.

"I mean, R1 is kind of a guard droid." He mumbled as he peered over the Chadra-Fan's shoulder to get a closer look. "He will be after this anyway. I'd think flamethrowers would be a lot more illegal than blasters."

His eyes narrowed as Ben began to remove the arm. "What's an actuator?" He mumbled as he pressed on the indicated fold. The switch popped out just as Ben said it would. The paneling shed away, revealing the droid's little robotic appendage. Wilhelm was uncertain as to whether the Chadra-Fan was being truthful about just yanking the thing out, but he elected to trust the little rat-man. All it took was a strong tug to pull the arm free.

"I got your arm," Wil snickered, waving the little appendage around at R1 as he went to grab its replacement. The new arm was a helluva lot shinier and heavier than the last, and Wil struggled to carry it back over. With a bit of effort and finagling, he fumbled the new arm into its socket with a satisfying click.

"Did I do it right?"

Ben Acrax, R1-3G

 

[Crane Baxa]

"OW YOU BLASTED LITTLE SNOT OF A DROID!"

With his legs dangling out a little, he gave a swift kick upwards onto the dome with part of his foot to show to knock that crap off. Struggling a bit inside due to this, he tried not to pull on any wires as he struggled to keep a hold of some that he honestly needed. Being shaken around like a rag doll was not something he really wanted to mess with. Hearing the question on what a Bith was, there was a long sigh as he knew he had a lot of teaching to do as he spoke about them.

"They are generally bald, very big head and play instruments really well. They are talented musicians mostly however if to loud of a noise is heard, their heads explode so never fire Sonic on them unless you wish to kill them."

Wincing a bit as he touched an exposed wire, he would pull on it as he started to see the old actuator being removed as he slowly tied the wire through special sections up front as he spoke out loud, answering the boys question.

"Thing is, the law cannot inspect a droid just because of hunches or any of them "We can check anytime" crap in most sections. Most turn a blind eye if they do not see it. Worst case, sometimes a bit of credits can sway them long term but out of sight, out of mind is the best secrecy and security."

Hearing the got your arm, he gave a small grin as it reminded of himself when he was younger, building his first droid from scratch. Pulling on the auctuator once put in, he would start wiring it from the inside as he mumbled a bit, fiddling with the settings and attaching the hoses.

"Yeah you did. Need a little time to get the hydrogen hose hooked up and soon, we will have a fire breathing dragon!"

Cedric Grayson R1-3G

 

[R1-3G]

"Noooooo My apendege! Thats my favorite! It has so much history to it! And besides, now I have all these usless tracks on me now... "

He felt the new arm being added to his body.

"So what model is this arm from?" He asks Ben.

 

[Cedric Grayson]

R1 was indeed a blasted little snot.

Wilhelm couldn't help but giggle at the whole affair. This was far and away from the farmwork that had dominated his life back on Dantooine, and even further from the isolation he had suffered back on Illyria. At least here the thoughts of those around him did not invade his mind so pervasively, and he found he rather liked working with his hands. There was a satisfaction to it that he could not properly place - it was similar to the feeling he'd had after finishing a long day's work back on the farm.

Ma would have been proud.

"Big bald heads," Wilhelm mumbled as he eased back to let the Chadra-Fan do his work. "Sounds like my father. Don't know if he was very musical though," the boy's nose scrunched up in displeasure at the memory, or rather the lack thereof. The old man had been noticeably absent for the majority of his short life, only showing up briefly every now and then to make sure the farm hadn't been burned down. Wilhelm had only been allowed a terribly short amount of time with the man before his untimely death, and the youth had still not processed that fully.

In the back of his mind, Wil knew his parents were dead, but the longer he ignored that dreadful fact and lived in the moment, the longer he could ignore the pain that came with it.

"Ma always said bribery was wrong," he mumbled, "But I guess if it's to protect R1 I could do it. Not that I have any credits to begin with." Poor as dirt, as they said.

He took a few wary steps back after Ben started talking about dragons. "Is it uh...safe to shoot a flamethrower in here? Do you even call it shooting with a flamethrower?"

R1-3G , Ben Acrax

 

[Crane Baxa]

"Eh I will just make sure the arm is added to the pile wherever you situate yourself. As for the arm, the R8 model perhaps? A bit old but it works, one of the modified ones probably from the Hutt Cartel."

Wiggling himself out, he would slowly seal back up the backside as he heard Wilhelm talk about his father, more so under his breath. He somewhat understood how he felt, his Father was only there for a short period of his life, never really staying for long and left the Chadra-Fan to his own devices. He had to give him away to parents that were supposedly good people except in a few weeks...he shook his head, not wanting to dwell on those memories for now. Hearing though about the bribery, he finished tightening up the bolts as he spoke his mind, standing up as he put his hands on top of the R1 and leaned forward towards the boy.

"Yes it is wrong...no one should need to bribe anyone for anything. I am going to be honest, in my business, I was the bad guy, plain and simple. I stole from the richest people in palaces, I took entire starships without much effort, I even ransomed off a person whom made so many enemies, they wanted their hands on that person first. No, I never been truly a good guy but I know how the galaxy had worked and I know how to keep the people I care for safe. That was what was always important to me, nothing else."

He looked away at that, something painful was felt from him as it was getting close to an uncomfortable territory as he heard Wilhelm be a bit cautious as the Chadra-Fan shrugged but brought over an old sheet metal and propped it up with a few metal pipes. Going over to the side, he grabbed a fire extinguisher as he shook his head.

"Long as we stand back, have proper equipment and know that R1 is not a psychopath, we will be fine. Let it rip R1, just be aware it may take a second or two for the Hydrogen to cycle through for the first few times!"

R1-3G Cedric Grayson

 

[R1-3G]

"Speaking of father figures mine dumped me in an incinerator." He said without skiping a beat. And then a massive burst of flame shot out of him. several less than metal things around him began to burn.

"Wow, I could really 'Warn some people' with this" He began to dial the heat down and the fire slowly shrank to a more manageable size before turning off completely.

 

[Cedric Grayson]

Wilhelm didn't understand much of what Ben was talking about when it came to models or whatever they were. Some kind of classification for droid parts, or at least that was what he figured.

He was keen to listen to the Chadra-Fan and shove his own worries to the side. The idea of Ben being any kind of ruffian seemed laughable at first, but the image of the storm quaking at the little rat-man's touch was still vivid in Wil's mind. He certainly didn't seem like a 'bad guy' as far as the boy was concerned. Here he was teaching him droid stuff entirely free of charge, which was far more than most beings were willing to do.

"I'm sure you had good reasons," Wil stammered, unwilling to truly believe that Ben had ever been anything less than a paragon. Perhaps he wasn't a saint, but no one was perfect, or at least that was what ma had always said.

"The guy you ransomed probably wasn't the best kind of person," he added tentatively. The complexities of life were still very new to the boy, and he couldn't see the Chadra-Fan taking advantage of good people. It just didn't make sense.

He jumped back as the flamethrower roared. It was a lot louder than he'd expected, and he could feel the heat of it across his entire body despite standing on the complete opposite side of the room. Despite his initial fear, flamethrowers were still very cool, and Wil couldn't help but crack a large toothy grin.

"That's awesome!" He almost shouted, giggling with near manic energy as the flame began to die out. "Sorry about your dad though R1 - wait, how do you have a dad? Do droids...do the thing?"

Ben Acrax, R1-3G

 

[R1-3G]

Cedric Grayson
"No, but my first owner was a sort of father to me, I guess."

He tries to grab for something to put out the small flames only to remeber his total lack of an arm.

"Ben, you think you could re-attach my arm?"

 

[Crane Baxa]

"Yeah...I had my reasons...but uhh...ahh hell. The guy was wanted at the time by multiple people for conning out multiple people, including a government out of some highly expensive starships. At the time, I had an operative known as Kithan Lane. Due to his profession many years back, he did not want to be publicly announced and at the time...I helped run an auction house down near Coruscant known as the Gilded Rose Auction House and the crowd was very big with some popular names from around the galaxy, multiple representatives ranging from the Hapans, the Republic, all the way to the Empire and the Krath, even those of Black Sun and the Zann Consortium. Anyway...I decided to...announce a last item for the night. The mans life, in chains to the highest bidder. I never saw the crowd get so extremely hostile in my life, they all wanted a piece of him. In the end, he went for two hundred and ten million credits to a lady in the back row, a lady in another crime family. I never knew what happened to that male and possibly, that was for the best."

"If you ask if I regret it...yes, I do at some points. At the time, he was a public menace to society...but I did not think I had to throw him to the wolves the way I did that day. Honestly, it was one of the few tipping points that perhaps, I was not made for that life."

The Chadra-Fan seemed rather honest with his words, giving a sigh as he then heard the droid spoke of his own father figure before turning on the flamethrower, a albeit perfectly.

"Mhrmm, how Poetic."

Seeing how the droid used a flamethrower at the same exact moment, no other lines seem to suffice. Even the line about warning people, he said nothing as he slowly walked over and used the fire extinguisher, putting out a lot of flames in a hurry. The flamethrower did its job and now he merely had to wait to see if it was more combat effective or show off effective in the long run. Hearing that R1 wanted his arm reattched, he obliged by taking the arm and attaching it to a more empty socket area, an upgrade area as Wilhelm said a strange...question.

"Sure...okay, droids do not...do the thing. R1, do not even go into that other route, that I do warn. Droids are created, not bred. Either by motherboards produced in factories...or in this ones case, a creation of multiple and programmed in its own unique way. When one says "creator", it can refer to its point of activation as its "birth" and can either be traced to a factory or simply...to a basement, a room in the household or even possibly on top of a roof. It all depends but if he tried to throw you into an incinerator, safe to say that person failed."

With a soft click and messing with a few wires, the arm was ready for use once again.

R1-3G Cedric Grayson

 

[R1-3G]

R1 waited silently for Ben to re attach his arm. " Or maybe..." He whispered in an eerie tone after it was attached. "HE DID SUCCEED!" He exclaimed while wiggling his small arm around. "AND I'M A GHOST THAT'S COME TO HAUNT HIS NEXT OF KIN!"

"Nah I'm just messing with ya, thats only happened once. Legends say he's still out there though"

"Alright doc, whats next?"

Ben Acrax
Cedric Grayson

 

[Cedric Grayson]

"I dunno what all those consortiums and stuff are, but they don't sound good," Wilhelm mumbled as he examined R1's chassis to the best of his ability. The flamethrower had been quite impressive, but Wilhelm was an inattentive child, and his mind wandered faster than he could truly keep up. He listened as best he could as Ben explained his reasoning. It sounded good enough to the boy.

Good guys and bad guys, everything else was immaterial.

"That makes sense," he added as Ben explained the idea of a creator. "And...that also makes sense. I didn't really see how droids could do the thing. It was kinda weird in my head."

Once again, the boy spoke far more than he needed to.

The youth looked to Ben curiously as R1 asked his question. "Yeah, what's next? Flamethrowers are cool but I'm sure we could fit more stuff on him."

The boy paused. "You're the first astromech I've met that can talk R1, so I wouldn't put the ghost thingy past ya," the boy giggled, "Or maybe you're a Sith spirit trying to hide what he is, huh?"

R1-3G , Ben Acrax