defy the tyrannous stars
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
- Intent: To create an NPC for Zark based on a cool older droid model that can act as a confidant and companion.
- Image Credit: The Clone Wars
- Role: Valet, Aide-de-camp, Bodyguard
- Links: N/A
- Age: 15 years of active service
- Model: Modified BX-Series Droid Commando
- Appearance: Although apparently quite well maintained from all appearances, the underlying wearing on what remains of his original chassis belied Bee Ex's true age. It doesn't take much to tell that this particular model is a true antique, albeit one that someone went to a lot of trouble to refurbish with great care. The external framework otherwise remains true to the original design, the only alterations being the custom paint job and the Galactic Alliance markings where Separatist markings would usually be.
- Name: BX-32, Bee Ex
- Loyalties: Zark Pulsar
- Notable Possessions: E-5 Blaster Rifle, Vibrosword, Stun Baton, Electrobinoculars, Fusion Cutter, Security Spike
- Personality: While for the most part as stolid and rigid much in the way most combat droids can be, in rare unguarded moments Bee Ex can be unusually inquisitive for a droid of his model, and even occasionally capable of what might pass for a deadpan sense of humor, although it is difficult to tell how much if it is self-aware. It is perhaps for these reasons more than any aspect of its functionality that Zark has kept it around for so long, continuing to tinker with it years after first reprogramming its FOF identifiers and reactivating it. Over time and familiarity, it is possible that some of this growing curiosity and other quirks is a matter of projection on the part of the owner, but it likely has more to do with the heuristic command processes he had stripped from the wreck of an old IG-100 MagnaGuard model, allowing Bee Ex to manage a variety of tasks from his usual combat protocols to his duties as Zark's aide to even limited piloting capabilities.
- Combat Function:
+ Gladiator Droid
+ Self-Motivating Heuristically Programmed
- Antique Design
- Beyond Expected Service Life
- Post Traumatic Stress Malfunctions
- Crossed Wires/Mixed Programming
HISTORICAL INFORMATION
The first three years of Bee Ex's operation were spent serving in the Separatist droid army during the Clone Wars. Then the war was over, and while countless of Bee Ex's compatriots were destroyed beyond repair in the conflict he had made it through with his core systems unscathed. Deactivated, shoved into storage, and quickly forgotten and buried under the mounds of datawork that went with the chaos of a post war galaxy. It would not be for hundreds of years later that his systems would be restarted, the only remaining functional model recovered by scavengers from the wreck of a bulk transport freighter. Sold to the local droid fighting pits in the nearby Kathol region for a quick profit, Bee Ex's innate commando droid programming allowed for him to survive far longer than any droid would ever be expected to in such a ruthless environment, spending six years in the pits before meeting his current owner for the first time.
On the trail of the captain of a pirate corvette gambling at the establishment, at the time privateer Captain Zark Pulsar happened upon Bee Ex in the middle of what would most likely have been one of his final fights, as the sum total of damage he had received was reaching the upper limits of his tolerance levels. As if sensing something deeper behind the gladiator droid's photoreceptors, the Jedi Knight disabled both droids' restraining bolts as he chased the pirate through the middle of the match. In the anarchy that erupted immediately after, the privateer almost lost his quarry, but to his astonishment he was aided by the very same BX model he had freed. For the first time completely unrestrained and without orders since he came into being, Bee Ex had sought desperately for a function, preferably one that would offer him a way out of his present torment and a possibility of continued operation, and had made an intuitive leap uncharacteristic of his design's limitations.
Bringing BX-32 onto his crew, first for hired muscle and simple mechanics and then, as he saved up enough every so often to purchase compatible upgrades from Bee Ex's era, outfitting the droid with self-motivating heuristic protocols. Bee Ex had only just been emerging onto a new level of droid intelligence when Zark's privateer career ended as he joined the Galactic Alliance Defense Force. At first not having the kind of sway among High Command for personal quirks like a droid aide as a simple line captain, he instead elected to leave Bee Ex to partially oversee and safeguard the original Fort Dawn space station on the southern Galactic Alliance border. When the naval officer finally returned as he promised he would, and with a much larger space station in tow no less, the human used his status as a Commodore of repute to take Bee Ex back into his service as personal aide and bodyguard.
He also returned to a much different droid, for Bee Ex had used the intervening time, relative seclusion, and freely available HoloNet connection to make fuller use of his heuristic algorithms. His programmed personality now has facets that sometimes surprise even his owner. It has not been a completely flawless transition, however, as this minor awakening in awareness has given Bee Ex a deeper understanding of his past life in both the Clone Wars and the fighting pits. Coupled with the alterations to his baseline firmware, and Bee Ex can be prone to mild outbursts as well as bouts of argumentativeness that border on melancholy.
