Private Belly of the Beast (Bee)

[Darth Carnifex]

It was over before it began.

They had come following a nebulous lead of Sith activity within Alliance space, drawn to a rural agrarian world with minimal modern infrastructure. Upon this world was a large grain refinery, accounting for near seventy percent of the world's food production which was then simultaneously distributed back to the rural farmers and exported to neighboring systems. The reports had indicated potential Sith sightings in and around the refinery, as well as in nearby villages. Though not much of the claim could be substantiated, the mere mention of Sith was enough to warrant an investigation.

A group of Jedi Knights and SIA operatives were dispatched to verify the claims, alongside a small cadre of droid assistants and companions. They came in under cover of night, dropping off a few klicks from the refinery before making the rest of the way on foot. Entering the refinery was easy, there was practically zero security; which was quite odd for such an important facility to the world's economy. That should have been their first indication that something was amiss, for before long they were set upon by dark forces.

The attack had come without warning, the Force remaining silent until the attackers were already upon them. Red blades flashed, clashing with green, blue, and yellow. The lesser Sith were an equal match for the Jedi Knights, and they quickly traded losses. It wasn't until He came that the tide turned against the Jedi. He stretched forth His hand, shadows lengthening as the dark power swelled, and He snuffed out the Jedi's life with a crackle of blood red lightning. These Jedi Knights, practically children, could not hope to stand against His power. However, as it turned out, a few Jedi were still alive writhing on the ground in pain. They Sith set upon them, binding their hands and confiscating their weapons. They would be brought back to the temples.

He looked over the scene, accounting all the Jedi both dead and living. Most of the SIA agents had perished as well, save for a small handful that He wanted to interrogate. All the droids were destroyed as well.

Wait...

His eyes narrowed as He counted the broken mechanical bodies.

One was missing.

BB-610 ​

 

[BB-610]

| TAG: Darth Carnifex |


He wasn't sure if he would ever truly get used to missions without Valery, but he knew it was in his best interest to try. She provided hope, comfort, and reassurance during the times he needed them most, and while plenty from the Galactic Alliance would treat him nice enough, it never felt the same. BB-610's years of activity and experience had broadened his image among the ranks of his fellow droids; he'd survived battle after battle, tailing the Sword of the Jedi, with a total of zero memory wipes to revert him back to factory settings. The astromech had no right involving himself in the affairs he did, but the need to help his friends never once stopped him from diving head-first into danger that astromechs simply weren't designed for. To his very own surprise, BB-610 had become an unlikely hero, which is why it unfortunately didn't surprise him when he was assigned to missions outside of his comfort zone.

He'd fought Sith before-- he'd worked with them before, recalling his regrettable past serving the Eternal Empire, and so he knew a lot more to their strengths than one might initially think. BB-610 wasn't a combatant by any means, nor could he even fathom taking on a Sith one-on-one, but he could rest well knowing that he wasn't going in totally blind. He was nervous, sure, but if he'd been able to thwart a Sith with the aid of Valery and Corazona, then surely a squadron of Jedi would be able to handle this with relative ease. The statistics lined up perfectly, and their odds of survival were considerably higher than usual. Despite the jitters in his servos, BB-610 wasn't feeling too bad about this mission. Things would be okay.

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The smell of ash and ozone was strong, bitter brimstone clouding the air. In front of him lay bodies, lifeless in pools of crimson, and the stillness of the moment never provided an ounce of comfort. The silence was deafening, and BB-610 could only watch in abject horror as his allies succumbed to their wounds, fingers twitching for the last time and shattered lungs gargling a final shaky exhale. The attack had been devastating in ways that the astromech couldn't have possibly foreseen; these Sith weren't like the ones he'd seen, and that terrified him. Fight or flight had saved his life, as the droid remained hidden behind a stack of crates, body trembling with an overabundance of fear.

This is it.
This is how it ends.

He missed Valery. He missed her so, so badly. Even with his central optic trained firmly on the ground, the photoreceptors dotting his shell were granted the grim image of the few survivors being dragged away by their captors. One Sith remained, and BB-610 didn't need to calculate the odds to recognize how little a chance he had. The BB unit cast a wayward glance over to the broken remains of his fellow droids, hoping to simply wait out the Sith's departure, praying he would leave, satisfied with the blood on his hands, so the astromech could call for help. The crate's metal door creaked as it swayed, startling the droid into backing up and into one of the other cages, knocking it to the ground with a clang and forcing the droid from his hiding spot and into the open.

For what felt like an eternity, BB-610 locked eyes with the Sith, caught like prey in headlights. It took him all too long for reality to crash back into him, but when it did, the astromech wasted no time. In an instant, the vents of his tool-bay disks dispensed a cloud of smoke, body beginning to rapidly spin in place as to disperse the smoke and envelop the area in a thick mist. And just like that, BB-610's motors whirred to life, speeding the opposite direction as fast as his body could roll, fleeing desperately toward the nearest outing: a small gap beneath some scaffolding, swirving past pipes and crossbeams that led to a refinery tower.

 

[Darth Carnifex]

There was a great clamor, the Dark Lord's head swiveling toward it's source. He stared down at the small astromech, and the astromech focused it's single photoreceptor back at Him. For a time, they stood there, staring intensely at one another; as though daring the other to make the first move. The droid broke first, spinning in place across the grated metal floor as spoke billowed out in great noxious plumes from their spherical body. They then sped away in the opposite direction, put as great of a distance between themselves and the towering Sith Lord as was physically possible.

For the Dark Lord's part, He seemed in no great hurry to give chase. Initially only watching the droid panic and flee before leisurely following with a measured methodical gait. His thundering steps echoed throughout the corridors, like the tolling of a great and terrible bell. He made no effort to give a determined chase, rather slowly tracking the droid's movements despite line of sight having been broken almost immediately after their initial encounter.

When their chase brought the droid some momentary safety, the pathway being obstructed by scaffolding and piping, the Dark Lord paused in His pursuit. He cast His gaze about the opening, which was far too small for one such as Him to adequately pass through. But rather than search for an alternate route, the Dark Lord merely stretched His hand forward. The metal pipes snapped closed, crushed tight as though ensnared by an invisible vice. The gap widened significantly, the Dark Lord brute forcing His way through were the merest exertion of effort.

He stepped onto the floor of the refinery tower, looking about for any signs of the droid. For a moment nothing happened, and the silence in the tower stretched on unbearably. Then, without warning, the Dark Lord's voice cut the silence.

"I recognize your model, droid. I encountered many of your kind. How strange for one of your make to still exist, given the enormity of your lineage's crimes." Even to a droid's audioreceptors, the Dark Lord's voice was altogether unsettling. There was evidence of another voice layered beneath what most people perceived, a slight feminine purr that seemed wholly out of place and otherworldly. "Reveal yourself now else you prolong what has already been writ."

BB-610 ​

 

[BB-610]

| TAG: Darth Carnifex |


BB-610 rolled as quietly as he could, navigating the steel maze of pipes and wires, hoping that the Sith would simply leave. Truly, how valuable a target could he be? A tiny, harmless astromech, hardly worth the time or effort to deliberately seek out, surely. Peeking his central optic through some scaffolding, he kept his gaze fixed on the Sith, observing him in complete silence. He wasn't leaving. Like a predator playing with its food, the Sith was content on dragging their game of cat and mouse on, which only terrified the droid even further.

The screeching of metal was deafening, with the man giving chase as he ventured onto the tower in calm pursuit. BB-610 trembled, an uneasiness washing over him as though the man were staring right through him, urging the astromech to press forth, inching around corners in a desperate attempt to distance them even further. He could still see the Sith, a few levels beneath him as he paced, while the astromech scaled stairs to the best of his abilities, the silence between intermitted booms of a dark, sinister voice proving to be far from comforting.

BB-610 paused, reasoning with himself. Valery wouldn't run. Valery would fight, she would demand answers. But he wasn't a Jedi. He couldn't fight, not right now. There had to be ways-- ways to hide, to distract, to come out of today in one piece. Scanning his surroundings, it was the refinery tower's data port that provided the first semblance of solace he'd felt in hours.

Refusing to provide any sort of reply to the Sith's words, the astromech instead neared the port, his scomp link inserted swiftly inside to access the tower's systems. In a matter of seconds, a nearby construction cane whirred to life, turning to whatever direction his scomp link did. It swayed, the array of huge, concrete pipes that the hook block were holding swinging in motion as the droid manipulated the crane and aimed it directly toward the Sith.

The pipes clashed through scaffolding, split in two as they came tumbling down to the ground, momentum building until finally the crane swerved en route to the man. With the click of his scomp link, the crane's trolley was disengaged, and the concrete pipes were sent flying towards him. Should the Sith not intercept their journey, the pipes would slam into the tower's side with an unceremonious CRASH as they dented steel and threw the place off-balance.

BB-610 wobbled, falling to the tower's handrails as it succumbed to its weight. He hadn't managed to see if the Sith had been hit or not, but regardless, with the refinery tower beginning to slowly fall, the astromech's liquid cable launchers fired their cords to some nearby crossbeams, hoping to swing to the other side as he jumped from the tower.

 

[Darth Carnifex]

Silence answered the Dark Lord, but He knew the droid was listening. The faint whir of the orbiculate motor across the metal floor drew the Sith's attention, and the Dark Lord slowly began to move towards the source of the sound. In comparison, His own steps were unsubtle; loud, thundering footfalls that heralded certain doom for the small astromech. However, their own hypothetical doom would be averted as a nearby construction crane jerked to life, it's large payload swinging dangerously as the crane spun around towards the Dark Lord.

CRASH!

The crane slammed through the scaffolding, it's cargo disconnected at the height of the swing. Permacrete pipes, heavy and large, soared towards the Dark Lord like oversized javelins. The first few sailed straight past Him, striking the wall at His back with resounding force. The next few were more tightly compact, aimed straight for His center mass. But, before they could reach Him, they suddenly and violently shifted mid-air; their entire momentum brought to a screeching halt. They slammed into the ground at the Dark Lord's feet, buried several feet before stopping.

With a loud creak and groan, the damage was done. The tower was beginning to list at a wild angle, loose pieces of equipment and machinery tumbling across the floor as the entire room began to sag where the pipes had struck the wall. The Dark Lord was unperturbed, adjusting His stance to better stand upon the rapidly shifting floor. He walked as though His boots were magnetically adhering to the floor, effortlessly scaling the crashing tower even as it began to crash in on itself in earnest.

A cloud of smoke and dust rushed up from the tower as it collapsed, blanketing the area in a thick smog of sooty particulates. Should the astromech choose to look back, they would see the fallen tower obscured by this miasma of dust. But a shadow moved amongst the cloud, and if positioned correctly, they would see the Sith Lord emerging from the smoke. What were once pieces of the refinery floor moved through the air, the Dark Lord using a series of jagged metal strips to walk up through the air one step at a time. The pieces would be procedurally replaced, moving back and forth up the line as the Sith Lord continued to walk, creating His own staircase from the ruins of the tower.

But then, suddenly and without warning, a piece of metal would fly up from the tower like a spear towards the astromech. It came from a great distance, and thus could be anticipated with enough reaction. It primarily seemed less of a lethal strike and more of a probing attack; enticing the astromech to move in a great hurry. It wouldn't be long before the Sith reached where the astromech was, discarding the impromptu steps with a dismissive gesture.

"You cannot run forever, access your logic circuit. None of the Jedi in your entourage could, what chance do you have?"

BB-610 ​

 

[BB-610]

| TAG: Darth Carnifex |


BB-610 rocked from side to side, balance thrown off by the worsening tilt of the partially damaged tower. There was only so much his internal magnets could do, and with enough weight inching to one side, the droid finally succumbed to the forces of gravity, body breaking into a quickening roll against his will. There were very few times he envied an R-series astromech, but he couldn't help but wish for their jet thrusters as he slipped from his railing, plummeting downwards. Thankfully, his liquid cable launchers weren't too bad an option, as they fired a striking grapple hook that tethered to some of the scaffolding across their makeshift arena.

Securing his grip, the cable tightened in an instant as the droid's momentum carried itself into a swing. Glancing behind him, BB-610 caught sight of the Sith marching through smog, undeterred and unfazed; the astromech may not be one with the Force, but it didn't take a Jedi to know what his opponent was leading into. Photoreceptors surveying the area, it wasn't until a piece of metallic debris was flung at him that he reacted. Trying his best to swerve to the side, BB-610's momentum simply didn't allow for such a manoeuvre; with a piercing shriek, the shrapnel scraped along the droid's chassis and severed his grapple in two, releasing his grip and sending him falling to the ground with an undignified crash.

A splatter of oil met the floor beneath him, seeping through his damages, providing a continuous trail as BB-610 nudged himself along, visibly weakened from the Sith's assault. It's a sluggish crawl, barely managing to gather any noticeable distance between the two of them, but that's yet to stop him. A warbled, mechanical grunt left his voicebox, struggling to regain his energy. The astromech peered around, a wounded animal counting down the seconds to its demise, as he stared at his opponent, almost beckoning him forward with how harmless a target the droid really was.

...deceptively so, as the furthest tool-bay disc located behind the droid and out of the Sith's sight opened up to reveal its lighter, ready to ignite should the Sith make any attempt at closing their distance. If so, with his act still kept up, BB-610's torch would kiss the trail of oil he had deliberately let loose, chasing its length and growing into a roaring fire, scorching embers engulfing the area around them. Beginning to back away, his body perfectly fine beyond some minor dents, the astromech aimed his oil dispenser, sending a few pints worth of the stuff flinging towards the Sith.

 

[Darth Carnifex]

One of His projectiles struck, carving a horrendous gash into the astromech's chassis. The small droid tumbled to the ground, clattering loudly against the metal floor, before rolling away like a wounded beast. The Dark Lord watched unempathetically, tracking the droid's movements with His withering gaze. They leaked oil in their wake, a black smear not unlike deep, dark blood. The stench was evident, a heavy chemical odor not unlike unrefined petroleum. The blow had ruptured something, a dangerous injury for a droid.

There was little else to run to, the Dark Lord had the lone droid cornered. The chase had been less frantic from His perspective, the Dark Lord toying with His adversary rather than outright seeking their destruction. It was a scrappy little thing, full of determination and cunning. Far removed from the other droids in the Jedi's entourage, who all fell too easily to the ambush as had their organic compatriots. This one was different, set apart, elevated. There had to be a reason, and whatever the reason clearly intrigued the Dark Lord's curiosity.

Plus there was something oddly familiar about it, something imprinted into the droid's chassis. Like a scent, but different.

An echo in the Force.

It was then that the Dark Lord committed to uncovering this mystery, and to possess the droid for Himself. He had it cornered now, there was nowhere it could go. But, the little droid's cleverness knew no bounds. Out of sight, it set alight the oil trail which it had created in it's flight. Fire leapt up, spurred along the oil's trail, until walls of flames began to spread all about the refinery floor. There were already other flammable objects in the vicinity, and they too caught fire and began to burn. Within moments, the blaze had moved far beyond the droid's initial intentions, and threatened to engulf the entire refinery.

But the Dark Lord was unperturbed, He'd walked through infernos more hellish than this and survived. Still, He paused to regard His new environment and adapt accordingly. This gave the droid ample time to lop several pints of flaming oil in His direction. The first splattered against the Dark Lord's armored chest, a glob of flaming oil burning bright against the glossy black plate. He swiped it away with His left hand, spraying smaller specks of oil to the floor below. The others He was more aware of, side-stepping them or blocking them with a wave of His hand; the power of the Force readily at His beck and call.

And it was the Force again that He'd soon call upon, reaching out towards the droid. He did not aim at their whole but rather at the unit's domed head, which was fixed to the spherical body by magnetic casters. His beckoning hand awaited, reaching out ominously amidst the raging pyre around them.

BB-610 ​

 

[BB-610]

| TAG: Darth Carnifex |


BB-610 stared, servos worn down, central optic dilated. Crafty as he were, the astromech's bag of tricks was beginning to run low, and as the Sith pressed forth with little beyond a slither of inconvenience from the droid's efforts, the fear well and truly began to seep into BB-610's consciousness. With no where to go, he had no other option but to back up, slow and steady, the path wearing thin as the Sith advanced faster than he could back away. As fruitless as he knew it were to be, his last resort would be to bargain.

With a shaky bweep of quiet binary, the droid begged him to stop. Curiously, the Sith's movements indeed ceased, but not without malintent; in a matter of seconds, with an outstretched arm and curled fingers, an unseen energy began to pull at the astromech's head as though the man were keen to rip it straight off. BB-610 cried, reeling himself back to the best of his ability, but the Force was far too strong for his diminutive body to resist. Despite the efforts of his chassis' internal magnets trying to keep his head anchored to the curve of his shell, the Sith's power finally peeled it from his body, the abrupt cut in tension sending it flying backwards while the dome head was flung forward and straight into the man's hand.

Thankfully, he was relatively unharmed. While an R-series astromech would have ceased functionality altogether following the beheading, BB-610 operated perfectly fine, with his body still more than capable of movement. His head, however fine it may be, was still nonetheless at the mercy of his pursuer, and it did little to stop his terrified tremblings.

Silently, his body began to churn its electricity, electro-shock prod whirring to life from within his chassis. The most he could do was fearfully stare at the Sith grasping the flat of his head, praying that the end result wouldn't be the droid's destruction, all while he bided his time as he redirected most of his shell's processing power into generating as much voltage as possible.

Until it was fully charged, BB-610 simply whimpered, a warbled chirp meeting the air as he asked the Sith why he cared so much about one worthless little droid.

 

[Darth Carnifex]

"Calm yourself, little droid." Despite the Dark Lord's best attempts to sound soothing, the deep rumbling of His voice conveyed anything but. Still, He held the upper hand for the moment, with the small BB's head clasped comfortably between His fingers. He held it up so that it was eye-level with the Dark Lord, those cruel eyes staring directly into Bee's fearful little photoreceptor. "Had I wished your destruction, you would not be quivering in my hand as you are now. But remember that I can grant you such destruction in an instant, if you choose to further vex me." His eyes briefly turned to the droid's body several feet away, still connected via a remote neural link.

Meticulously, the Dark Lord began to study Bee's head, His eyes wandering over every seam and fused plate. The droid was clearly Imperial-coded in design, and He'd seen many similar astromechs in the service of the First Order. Without an identifying model number, the Dark Lord didn't know if He could exactly tell when and where the little droid was manufactured. Implying that the droid still went by the same identifier as it had under the First Order, of course.

He turned it back over so that Bee's photoreceptor was pointed back at Him. "Quite a journey you've had, little droid. Why don't you tell me some things about yourself. Where were you manufactured, what was your serial number? Is it the same as your current number? Who owned you then, and who owns you now? Answer all of my questions truthfully, and I will allow you to leave this place. Any energy spent fabricating a lie will be paid in kind, understand?"

BB-610 ​

 

[BB-610]

| TAG: Darth Carnifex |


The droid struggled, wriggling fruitlessly within the man's grasp. There was little he could do, and while his nerves persisted with petrified trembles, BB-610's efforts gradually died down, accepting of his capture. Once again, it was in his best interest to adhere to the Sith's words, and so he bweeped, binary quiet, while he guided his holoprojector downwards. In a matter of seconds, it flickered to life, the hologram of a man clad in Imperial get-up displayed right before the Dark Lord.

Hands behind his back, he spoke, "Designation BB-610, My Lord; the latest in our batch of maintenance droids to patrol our dreadnought." A calm and clear inflection in his voice, stanced upright and addressing an unseen figure. "The First Order routinely monitors them. Should they step out of line, we've insured of ways to keep their protocols fixed." The projection was far from perfect, suffering frequent blips that muffled words and tore at its image -- the astromech had been subject to a plethora of memory wipes, and the man displayed before him was no longer familiar. All he provided were empty statements and glimpses of pain, lingering at the back of the droid's memory banks. The figure was a stranger, but the abuse he had suffered at the officer's hand was as visceral as it had been all those centuries ago.

With a low whirr, the holoprojection fizzled away. BB-610 chirped soon after, stating that he was manufactured by the First Order, but the weekly memory wipes no longer allowed him to remember much. As far as he was concerned, his First Order was long gone, succeeded by another presence of the same name. A new projection met the floor, this time granting the view of a cloudless sky above a sandy oasis as he watched a starfighter leave him behind.

The sun lowered, the moon rose. BB-610 never once moved. Days passed, then weeks, months; years and years of stasis, yet the droid was clearly awake and present. He waited for them to come back, but they never did. Decades turned to centuries until his systems shut down from a lack of power, his recordings backed up via black box system. Once more, the holoprojection was dismissed with a click.

Bweeping, the astromech mentioned that he had been abandoned by the First Order, and that a chance reactivation hundreds of years later sparked an urge in him to find a home for himself. BB-610 refused to elaborate on anything else; the Eternal Empire went unmentioned entirely, as did how he ended up in the hands of the Galactic Alliance. The droid narrowed his optic, musing on the Sith's final question.

Who owns you now?

BB-610 chose his words carefully. Valery Noble sprang to mind, his gut reaction, but he would sooner die than rat her out. He was unaware of the Dark Lord personally, and while he seemed to fit the description of a man spoken about by Kahlil, the droid still remained blissfully ignorant.

Giving a mechanical scoff, the BB-unit replied, stating that nobody owns him anymore.

Valery had said as much. He wasn't her property. He was family.

 

[Darth Carnifex]

"I see."

A droid cast out of time, a relic of a bygone era. It was quite fascinating. He'd met so few beings that had existed long before the age He grew up in, but it was not uncommon to find such individuals. Why, even Valery Noble was a woman from the galaxy's distant past, kept in stasis until she reawakened far removed from all that she had known and cherished. Some beings possessed significant longevity, and merely lived through ancient events without having been put into stasis, but those were quite rare.

The Dark Lord's fingers pressed firmly against the little droid's chassis, digging deeper dents into the dark metal. Not enough to compromise it's integrity, but enough to cause duress. He could feel the movement of electricity within the droid's body, and had the droid expended energy to fabricate a lie He would have sensed it. But there was nothing of the sort, the droid has spoken truthfully, or perhaps omitted certain details to prevent the energy expenditure from ever taking place. Regardless, He wasn't receiving the information He'd wanted to hear.

"Little astromech, you are withholding information from me. It is not wise. You were part of the Jedi team sent to investigate this facility, which implies that you possess enough standing with the Jedi to be assigned to such missions. You were not part of the initial roster." The Dark Lord implied that He'd been aware of the identities and composition of the team being dispatched to the plant, which in itself carried sinister connotations. Someone had let it slip that Jedi were going to be here today, and that they'd bring a very specific number of droids along with them. Little Bee was not among those listed, he was an unknown variable, and that was why the Dark Lord was so interested in him.

"The Jedi would not trust a random droid, not one who used to be part of the First Order, even if it were centuries ago. They must know you, they must trust you, and that must mean you have powerful Jedi backing you. Which Jedi are they, little astromech? Give me their names. Do not try my patience, for unlike my power, it has it's limits."

BB-610 ​

 

[BB-610]

| TAG: Darth Carnifex |


Well, it was worth a shot.

The astromech struggled, at wits' end, a deep panic surging through him. BB-610 cried, knowing it to be pointless to beg and plead, yet for as much as he feared for his life, he couldn't bring it in him to sell his family out in exchange for his continued existence. Valery had done so much for him, she had given him a home, the support and the love that he needed to find a purpose in the galaxy; to go back on all of that and put her in danger at the first sign of defeat by a Sith's hand would strip away the integrity that he'd amassed throughout the years. Again and again, BB-610 had put himself in harm's way to protect the ones he loved, knowing full well that it may have killed him, and so if keeping his family safe meant getting destroyed by the man before him, then his only regret would be not being able to say goodbye to them.

With a shockingly defiant bweep, BB-610 announced that he wouldn't tell the Sith anything else. His binary was shaky, still blatantly fearful, and yet the droid had bitten past that fear. He thought back on the footage he'd shown, on the life he used to live. Serving the First Order, recalling the abuse at their hands and the hate they saved for him, nothing more than a tool for them to use. The gravity of his situation weighed heavy on him, mingling with the welling anger that he felt from reliving his prior days - both past and present were terrifying for him that it clouded his droidbrain, getting the BB-unit writhing, trying to toss and turn out of the Sith's grip.

He'd experienced terror before, but not like this, not in so long. It was so visceral, all over again, the memories of the First Order strobing in his mind, laced with the Sith in front of him, his struggling growing wilder as he squirmed and squirmed and squirmed, crying increasingly louder as the image of Valery and Kahlil took a backseat for a final frame of Imperial soldiers, stood beside him as they observed their Supreme Leader.

His efforts ceased.
His body jerking once, then falling still.
And for the first time in years, his central optic flickered, blinking from its usual blue before finally settling on a bright red.

BB-610 craned his head around, gaze studying the Sith. His First Order programming had reactivated, a kink in his programming that he'd only recently improved on, and so he stared - emotionless, completely still, devoid of the personality he'd expressed so clearly leading up to their struggle. His optic readjusted, and he nodded, recognizing Him as his superior.

His holoprojector enabled, the astromech aimed his projection beside Him, displaying an assortment of photos captured in his lifetime. Of Vera and Aris, of Corazona von Ascania , of Kahlil Noble . The individuals his inferior programming recognized as his family, and at the center of it all was none other than Valery Noble - his owner.

 

[Darth Carnifex]

The Dark Lord watched curiously as the small droid struggled in His grip, and then fell silent and still. The moment passed quickly, warm blue photoreceptor bleeding to an angry red. They regarded one another in a new light, no longer predator and prey; but master and servant. Then, the droid turned it's photoreceptor away, and the air was filled with the holographic light of half a dozen beings. All of the them were immediately recognized by the Dark Lord; for He knew all of them well.

"Good," cooed the Dark Lord of the Sith, "Very good."

He walked to where Bee's body lay motionless, crouching down to place the dismembered cranial unit back onto the magnetic mount. Body and head were reconnected in an instant, the droid brought back to full operational status. The Dark Lord raised one hand, and snapped the fingers with a deafening crack. From the nearby corridors emerged several hooded figures, their faces obscured by shadow and wrapping. They approached the droid and knelt down as their Lord rose once again.

"Copy the astromech's memory banks, and then wipe it's memory to the point before that. I don't want it's master suspecting anything. When you're done, throw it out into the wilderness and bring the facility down." The Lord spoke, and the servants obeyed. They were well prepared, producing a scomp cable attached to a portable data-drive. They accessed the data port on BB's chassis and plugged it in. Once they'd found the memory drive, they'd begin to meticulously copy and transfer the files onto the data-drive. They wouldn't tamper or erase anything they were copying, they'd wanted the extraction to go unnoticed. Whenever they would finish, they would erase only a small segment of BB's memory involving the programming glitch and the data extraction.

Then, after shutting the astromech down, they'd start to drag it out and away from the facility.

Towards the nearby wooded area.

BB-610 ​