Private Chance Encounters

[BB-610]

Forms FORM-29827281-12-2:
Log Entry

[ _SYSTEM REBOOTING. ]
_. . .
_. . .
_. . .
[ _REBOOT COMPLETE. ALL SYSTEMS OPERATIONAL. ]

It has been one (1) standard year (SY), two (2) standard months, and twenty-three (23) planetary rotations since my servos were last online.
The damage sustained during the battle of Xolu was critical. To my surprise, my memory banks remain intact.
System Update(s) Installed.
_. . .
The Confederacy of Independent Systems fails to register on my internal starmap.
More information on The Eternal Empire's status is required. Data is required. Analysis is required.
Nobody has attempted to manually reactivate me. The Eternal Empire functions without me.
CRITICAL ANALYSIS: I am not required.
_. . .
I wish my memory banks had been wiped.

[ _SYSTEM SHUTTING DOWN... ]

──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────​

[ _FIVE (5) ROTATIONS POST-REBOOT. ]
| LOCATION: Adarlon, Outer Rim Territories |
| STARFIGHTER: Delta-7B Aethersprite-class light interceptor |
| TAG: Valery Noble |

It's unorthodox for a droid to be able to feel. Cold and calculated, married to numbers and devoid of motivation beyond the completion of a task with as much enthusiasm as any other digital program. It's easy for BB-610 to scrutinize the notion of memory wipes at first glance - they're a direct breach on the rights he's developed, on the emotions he's formed, and the life he's chosen. Digging deeper, however, it's understandable why they're so frequent amongst astromechs. A rarity, it is, for them to pilot their own starships, plan their own courses, and steer their own paths without order or assignment from their superiors. An astromech's primary function is to repair vessels and calculate hyperjumps, not to directly disengage with the faction it belongs to in search for peace and quiet and an opportunity to reflect on the choices and circumstances that have led it to where it is today.

The stars that surround the Delta-7B as its engines roar are pretty. Can a droid find things pretty? Should a droid find things pretty? They're thoughts that come natural to organics, yet they feel ever so intrusive within his droidbrain, and it's a sensation he finds rather difficult to shake. BB-610's purpose has, up until now, been fuelled almost entirely out of spite, and not once out of a want of his own.

He served The First Order. Betrayal.
He served The Resistance. Betrayal.
He served The Agents of Chaos. Disbanded.
He served The Eternal Empire.
The Eternal Empire...

Adarlon is just outside Imperial jurisdiction, close enough to provide the comfort of familiarity, yet far enough to no longer feel watched, as though the eyes of the friends he'd made were staring daggers into every last thought while he remained within its reach. This particular planet was, supposedly, a tourist attraction, and BB-610 had no intention of drawing any attention to him during what he hoped would be a day of introspection. All but second nature to him now, the droid lands the Delta-7B without a hitch, shuts its engines off with a satisfying hum, and ejects himself from the vessel's astromech slot. A way's away from any other vehicles, the beginnings of what seemed to be a small town stretched across the horizon, and the droid's motors whirr to life as he rolls forth.

--​

His research had been correct. Adarlon offered more than enough entertainment to keep organics busy, from holographic strategy games to the rather risqué clubs he'd quickly sped past. While BB-610 had yet to participate in anything, he was more than happy to simply observe the customs of those around him. More observations meant more data, didn't they? And there's little BB-610 cherishes more than raw data. The lens of his photoreceptor constricts, enhancing a view of the nearest establishment among many, and-- Perhaps he had been a little hasty in his previous statement. A droid spa, it seemed, enticing passerbys with a duo of BD-3000 luxury droids. An alluring offer for an astromech that had remained dormant for as long as-

THUNK.
BB-610 whirls his head around upon the collision, inching backwards as he glances up at the individual he'd rammed into. Masked by the blended chatter of townsfolk, his audio receptors nonetheless identify the clitter-clatter of what he assumed were credits hitting the ground, with the Falleen male fruitlessly scrambling to catch them. Two bodies stroll by, then four, then fifteen, and the assortment of feet and scattered dust from a suffocating crowd had all but gotten the items lost. Immediately, the Falleen, towering over him with a muscular build, closes the distance between them, a growl rumbling at his throat.

"You worthless scrap heap, do you have ANY idea what you just cost me?!"

The astromech backs up, a low bleep conjured up as an apology, but the glint in the Falleen's eye told him that it had fallen upon deaf ears. BB-610 keeps his optic focused, servos beginning an analysis on his best escape routes, calculating an array of split possibilities that factor every decision he could ma- nope, the Falleen has lunged at him, startling the droid into an impulsive fight-or-flight that has him readying his electro-shock prod with the crackle of static, aimed directly at his attacker...

..only for him to collide with the store front of the spa, knock his trajectory off-course, and send a chain of electricity throughout one of the BD-3000 luxury droids. In a matter of seconds, she's short-circuited, optics flickering as she stumbles to the floor into a collection of posts; a domino effect, knocking into one another until the final one smashes into a nearby fruit vendor's stand, slamming the cart onto the ground as mountains of jogan fruit spill out, causing all manner of citizens to slip and slide until a crowd is staring directly at BB-610, who had stood sheepishly as he watched everything with the allure of a car wreck in slow motion.

A hasty analysis is performed, and BB-610 estimates a reassuring 80.5% likelihood of the crowd simply leaving him be without much beyond a few scathing insults.

It's when the droid finds himself chased by an angry mob, however, that he realizes that the remaining 18.5% was much, much more of a threat than he'd anticipated.

 

[Valery Noble]

Adarlon

​

Outfit: Factory Link
Appearance: Link
Ship: Link
Weapons: Lightsaber
Tag: BB-610

"I'm sorry, R-6..." Valery said with a gentle frown as she looked at what remained of her trusty astromech droid. For about 5 years now, R-6 had joined her on just about every mission, both to help her in her X-wing with important adjustments and hyperspace calculations, and out in the field to breach through locked doors or gather intelligence. But he was much more to her than just a droid or a useful 'tool' to solve specific problems. R-6 had been a friend, and now he was gone, like so many others she had gotten close to in her life.

It was starting to feel like an endless cycle of pain that she couldn't seem to break, but it also wouldn't break her. No matter what happened, she always had her reasons to keep going, and today, no matter how frustrating, wasn't going to be an exception. The gang of thugs responsible was apprehended — they were a source of weapon smuggling into the core, and it hadn't been very difficult to track them down with the help of R-6. Together they had infiltrated their compound and sabotaged their own blast doors to lock them inside their own place. From there, taking them down slowly until they surrendered had been easy, but still, she wasn't there to save R-6 from that one shot that did hit its mark.

Now, without her friend, Valery passed through the streets of Adarlon to get back to the spaceport and head off to her next mission. That too was an endless cycle in her life — she was always going from one war zone to another, or into the outer rim to pursue smaller but still important problems of the Alliance. It was tiring at times but it also felt rewarding, and sometimes, it was the best distraction from the less pleasant things in life.

But as Valery passed by a street of shops, the loud banging of droids hitting the ground reached her, as well as a lot of chaos that seemed to have been sparked by it. She turned to take a look at what was happening and found herself surprised to see an entire mob coming at a little droid as if it had somehow destroyed all of their futures on its own. Understandably so, the droid rushed away to get to safety but the people followed after him with murderous intent, so Valery decided to quickly move in pursuit as well.

"Hey, hey!" She called out as she jumped between the crowd and the BB droid. "Easy there..." she continued as she now physically blocked their path. Valery wasn't incredibly tall, but her appearance was often still imposing. Her lightsaber was visible on her belt as well, so it wouldn't be hard for them to recognize her as a Jedi... or Sith if they believed her fiery eyes to be a sign of corruption.

"What's happening here?"

 

[BB-610]

| LOCATION: Adarlon, Outer Rim Territories |
| TAG: Valery Noble |

Thoughts- code- a mess of ones and zeroes flood his droidbrain, and it grows increasingly harder to think knowing that the stampede of feet behind him is getting louder and louder. Under better circumstances, BB-610 could have improvised, having devised plans under pressure before. Numbers are numbers, after all, and that fixture of objectivity provides him comfort amidst a sea of stress. Now, though, he'd been caught off-guard, with little time to crunch those aforementioned numbers, and so BB-610 relied purely on his instincts: run. A brief facial recognition scan of his memory banks had told him that twenty-one people were following him, and as he ducks under tables and weaves between legs in an attempt to shake his pursuers, he knows knows better than any that that head count won't be lowering any sooner.

"Hey, hey!"

There's a voice that cuts through the air like a knife through butter, sharp against the mess of voices of a crowd. Without thinking, BB-610's head does a 180, and the droid's optic focuses on the feminine figure dividing him and his mob. Curiously, no attempts were made in pushing past her - they'd stopped in their tracks, arms outspread ever so slightly. Whoever this woman was, she held an air of authority, and even as the crowd very visibly itched to shove her aside, they nonetheless remained still. It was captivating, so much so that even the droid himself had slowed his movements to a crawl, motors muted to a quiet hum as BB-610 inches closer.

"That droid ruined my stand!" "It cost me my food!" "My son hurt his knee because of that droid!" "It's a menace, I lost all my credits!"

Cry after cry, each voice louder than the last, trying vehemently to cut above the rest, boiling with anger as those without patience elbowed past each other, pushing and pulling within a cacophony of grunts and groans. Feeling ever so small, BB-610 lowers the dome of his head, metaphorically shrinking with guilt as he scoots behind the woman's legs, cautiously peering around them with an anxious, metallic chirp.

The Falleen male steps forward, lips curled into a grimace and hands balled into fists. "How do you suppose I get my credits back, huh? 20 thousand. I was in DEBT!" He snarls, brows furrowed and words dripping with venom. He side-eyes the astromech, teeth gritting. "Mmh. A BB unit. Nice and sleek, too." The Falleen turns to Valery, chest rising with a huff as he crosses his arms. "Step aside and I won't think much of 'ya. But I'm getting my money back, and if I need to sell that droid for spare parts, I'll do it."

BB-610 recoils, optic dilating in shock. Glancing up at the woman, the glimmer of electrum at her belt doesn't go unnoticed. A lightsaber. This girl, whoever she is, she's one with the Force - a Jedi or Sith, or perhaps a soul in-between, there's hardly enough data for him to reach a conclusion. A whiplash to his system, BB-610 is at war with what to feel. There are murmurs among the crowd, and all but the Falleen male seem intimidated once they catch sight of the saber's hilt.

She's a Jedi, she won't hurt you. She's a Jedi, she's scum to the Empire.
She's a Sith, she'll slaughter them where they stand. She's a Sith, she'll use you just as they all do.

And those stray thoughts are all it takes. In a matter of seconds, the droid's optic flickers from its bright cyan to a deeper red, a slave to remnants of First Order programming. There's the clicking of a tool-bay disc, electro-shock prod primed and ready with volts of electricity as BB-610 rolls out from behind her with an artificial bark, shrieking before the prod is aimed at the Falleen's general direction, threads of static striking the ground as a threat.

It's up to Valery to break them off, one way or another.

 

[Valery Noble]

Adarlon

​

Outfit: Factory Link
Appearance: Link
Ship: Link
Weapons: Lightsaber
Tag: BB-610

No matter how many of them moved closer towards her with anger in their eyes, Valery didn't move an inch and she showed no sign that she was going to back down. These people couldn't intimidate her, and it showed in her own eyes, as well as her body language. She remained calm and hoped to handle the situation without it getting out of control. "Calm down, there's no need to have this blow up like this," Valery said but they were only getting louder.

All this situation needed was for one of them to go too far, and things would get worse very quickly.

The BB droid seemed to realize this as well, and let out a metallic chirp of panic. Valery recognized the sound immediately and stepped aside to cover him just a little more. A sign of protection she hoped the little guy could pick up on despite all the tension and fear in the atmosphere. But with the Falleen approaching aggressively, she knew it was likely not going to be enough.

"Don't blame a droid who caused an accident for your poor life choices," Valery said, referring to the debt. Her words sparked more anger in the Falleen, but she knew a soft approach wouldn't have worked at all.

"Step aside and I won't think much of 'ya." The Falleen then said, and Valery just arched a brow. "Is that a threat?" she asked in return, and it was at this moment, that they noticed her lightsaber. The crowd took a step back in response, but the little droid seemed to react very differently. Its eyes had turned red, and it was going to make an aggressive move of some kind. But Valery wasn't going to allow anything to happen.

"Enough!" she called out as she stepped in between and held back both of them. "You're going to leave, and return to your day," she added to the group of people with a wave of her hand. The Falleen and several others tensed up before they repeated their words and began to walk away. She wouldn't be able to Force Persuade the entire mob, but just a few would hopefully be enough.

"You, little guy," she then said as she turned to BB-610 , "Why don't you come with me? You'll be safe and I can get you patched up a little," she offered with a smile. "I'm a Jedi, and I can help you." She really hoped he'd accept because if those people realized her mental trick, they could possibly come back for them both.

 

[BB-610]

| LOCATION: Adarlon, Outer Rim Territories |
| TAG: Valery Noble |

The air is thick with tension, a subtle acrid smell of burnt plastic lingering as the droid's electro-shock prod gathers more and more static as the seconds go by. To BB-610, there's no tension at all - not while his First Order programming has taken the reigns, at least. There are no thoughts, no emotions to his actions, simply the territorial glare that seemed far more appropriate on a nesting beast than a diminutive astromech. The Falleen's eyes dart between the droid's red optic and the Jedi's burning stare, sweat beading at his brow as his gut instinct tells him to give up. This particular individual seems awfully stubborn, unfortunately, as Valery's dismissal of him is met with a scoff.

"It's a threat if you want it to be. Now shift your ass, or I'll shift it for you." He growls, and as he takes a step forward, so does BB-610. Thankfully, Valery is seemingly well-versed when dealing with affairs such as this, and the wave of her hand is all it takes for the man to halt in his tracks, any semblance of hostility all but wiped from his face. "I'm going to leave, and return to my day." He parrots, before turning away and brushing past the crowd until he's simply one head among many. With the situation successfully defused, the remaining flock of people lose interest, abandoning conflict as they resume strolling from entrance to entrance.

Like an animal guarding its young once satisfied with the retreat of its competitor, the angered BB-610 retracts his shock prod, and the droid's regular programming kicks in, as shown by his optic flickering back to its regular blue. Truthfully, these sporadic episodes leave BB-610 with very little memory of the events that transpire while he's under his First Order influence, but it's fairly easy for him to deduce that the Jedi had handled it far better than he could have. And now, that just left...

The two of them.

Wheerp-? A startled rumble, the droid peering up at the woman as he's addressed. Instinctively, BB-610 rolls a few inches backwards, comfortable with the distance between them, yet something about her keeps him from simply fleeing. He hadn't come here to make friends, much less with a Jedi; it was already a miracle that his programming hadn't overstayed its welcome at the mere mention of such a thing, he didn't want to push his luck. She's scum. She's what his friends have been trying to wipe off starmaps for years.

So why can't he hate her...? Surely he can dismiss the act of kindness and be on his way. But he can't. He just can't. Even as the subtlest movement on her behalf causes him to flinch, he can't bring himself to take his gaze off of her. Was he truly this starved for affection? For any inkling of positive attention?

BB-610 rocks his body forth, head tilted inquisitively. After a few seconds of musing, he nods, voicebox emitting a low whirr that tunes into a light chirp as he rolls away from Valery's feet, waiting patiently for her to lead the way.

 

[Valery Noble]

Adarlon

​

Outfit: Factory Link
Appearance: Link
Ship: Link
Weapons: Lightsaber
Tag: BB-610

For a moment, Valery remained tense in case the crowd turned against her anyway, but much to her relief, they decided to return to their day when the loudest of the bunch were Force persuaded into leaving. So with the situation calming down, she finally turned to BB-610 and made the offer for him to join her. She couldn't feel it in his case, but the way he distanced himself and chirped gave her the idea that he was very conflicted about it. Not too strange, considering a whole town was just trying to rip him apart for components less than a minute ago, but Valery meant him no harm.

After a few moments of contemplation, the BB droid seemed to recognize this and made a sound that showed his willingness to go with her. Like many other experienced pilots, Valery could understand droid speech, but simple sounds that conveyed their kind of emotions weren't hard to pick up on either.

"I have my ship nearby, so I've got some stuff there to help patch you up," she told him while they walked down the streets and towards the spaceport. The structure wasn't anything overly big or fancy, but the X-wing that was waiting for them on Hangar pad 3-C didn't need much space. It still looked a little out-of-place though — its paint job looked like it was new, it was far more advanced than other ships that passed by, and Valery always made sure it got the maintenance it needed.

Of course, she had other people who handled that because handling technology was not a strength of hers.

"Alright, here we are," Valery began before she grabbed together a few things to clean him up. "Do you have a name or designation? And do you mind if I..." she trailed off and brought the cloth closer to BB's body. The chase hadn't been the best for appearances, so she wanted to first clean him up a little bit.

"I'm Jedi Master Valery Noble, of the New Jedi Order," she then said with a warm smile to introduce herself. "Are you out here alone?"

 

[BB-610]

| LOCATION: Adarlon, Outer Rim Territories |
| TAG: Valery Noble |

It was almost nostalgic, in a way. To trail after someone, to roll closely by their feet while periodically glancing up to ensure they definitely wanted him following. His teammates, his co-pilot, his friends, this Jedi. Frankly, it borders on embarrassing with how comforting it felt, as though some sense of normalcy had finally started to bleed back into his system. BB-610 had longed to serve, to assist in any way that he can, to have a purpose. It's in his programming to follow orders, after all, and it's one of the few mutual interests still retained from his days in The First Order.

Jedi, Sith, maybe it ultimately didn't matter. It's a vast, vast galaxy out there, far too big for such a small droid. They were labels he, perhaps, didn't quite understand. When you've been beaten and abandoned, passed between allegiances haphazardly, you start to forget the lines that form distinctions until they've blurred into an incoherent color of subordination. Jedi, Sith. To BB-610, all he longed for was approval, love. For somebody to care.

Because when you're at the bottom, you'll follow anyone that makes you feel like less of a failure.

The hangar bay was cold, but in a way that soothed him. Starships, machines, and vessels aplenty - his specialty. BB-610 was still getting the hang of people, but machinery? He understood that very, very well. The pair close the distance between them and their destination, and the astromech - much to his excitement - realizes that the rather gorgeous X-wing belongs to her. Unsurprising, given her nature as a Jedi, but it got him giddy all the same, photoreceptors enhanced as he idly scans the starfighter.

A refurbished T-85, modified personally, it seemed, complete with thermal detonators tailored specifically for use of the Force. Whoever this Jedi was, she seemed incredibly powerful. His attention is pulled away, however, as the woman's voice snaps him back, twirling his head to face her.

The droid replies with a deep string of binary, droidspeak confirming his designation - BB-610. As the woman trails a hand closer to him, he flinches, recoiling ever so slightly, impulsively detected as a hostile movement. BB-610 darts his optic between the Jedi's cloth and her face, as though to tell her that he's cautiously letting her touch him, before slightly rolling forward, trying to relax as the cloth is rubbed along his chassis. The gesture is appreciated, as his sleek black shell had gotten coated in rather noticeable dust and fruit juice. While his advanced photoreceptors kept him from being blind, the flecks of dirt that had landed on his central optic was nonetheless very irritating.

A task is ran in the background of his servos, logging her details within a deeper subsection in his memory banks. A silence is held, as the droid contemplates on telling the truth: he was Imperial, and shouldn't be seen with her. BB-610 bites the bullet, discards all aforementioned information, and nods his head with another dull whirr to confirm that yes, he was alone.

He tilts his head, mindful of Valery's hand as she cleans him. BB-610 narrows his optic, a low rumbling of curious tweets as he asks the Jedi what she's doing on a planet like Adarlon.

 

[Valery Noble]

Adarlon

​

Outfit: Factory Link
Appearance: Link
Ship: Link
Weapons: Lightsaber
Tag: BB-610

"BB-610," Valery repeated with a nod, "It's very nice to meet you, and I'm sorry for what happened earlier," she said before she paused with the cloth. He seemed a little hesitant at first, or perhaps he was just needing time to process whether or not it was safe. Either way, she waited until he rolled forward a little before she started to clean him up. She went nice and slow, both to make sure every bit of dirt and juice was cleaned off, and to keep BB-610 relaxed.

There was no need for panic anymore, but she understood that after being nearly killed, he wasn't going to easily put his trust in anybody.

"There, that's much better. You look fantastic." she winked and pulled her head back to take a good look at him. Without the dirt, juice, and dust, the BB droids always had a certain appeal to them, much like the old astromechs did. It just made her miss her fallen friend again but it seemed that she wasn't the only one who felt alone right now. He confirmed what she already believed, but something made her feel that the loneliness ran deeper.

"Seems we're both out here alone then, hm?" she smiled faintly and gently patted BB on the head. "I came here because we had intel about a gang who smuggled weapons into the core. Some were used in assassinations or supplied to terrorists, so I took it down with the help of R-6, who... sadly isn't here with me anymore." She frowned briefly and got up to her feet to stand stall again, but her eyes never left BB.

"Is there anywhere you need or want to go? I doubt you want to back out there, so you can travel with me if you'd like. I'll be heading back to the core but if you want to be elsewhere, I can take a long way around."

 

[BB-610]

| LOCATION: Adarlon, Outer Rim Territories |
| TAG: Valery Noble |

Minutes pass, and each second has the astromech fall deeper and deeper into a sense of relaxation. It felt good to get taken care of, to watch as stray particles get wiped clean off his chassis. BB-610's shell has been made with such high quality material that, when properly polished, it shines ever so beautifully. The droid waits patiently for Valery to clean him up, staring and listening with the awe and attention of a child whose shoelaces are getting tied by their mother. Before he's even realized it, BB-610 has inched his head to the side, silently requesting some cleaning beneath his dome; truly, when one was as hungry for affection as he is, any act of kindness does wonders to ease his suspicions and bring upon a bridge of familiarity.

The compliment gets him rocking side to side, a series of giddy bweeps and chirps meeting the air, bashful yet ever so appreciative. BB-610 nudges the flat surface of his head into the Jedi's spare hand, a content whirring reminiscent of a purr rumbling at his voicebox. He's missed this. The touch of someone - a hug, a headpat, any physical contact that warmed his servos and left him with bigger cravings than any drug could.

He couldn't believe that she was alone. He'd not met many Jedi, but data showed that they were often accompanied plentifully, whether they be soldiers or Padawans. Loneliness was such a strange concept to him, as time away from others allows for peace and tranquillity, yet left him missing the people around him at the same time. She'd been on a mission, unsurprisingly. He hadn't been assigned to one in over a year.

The droid perks up at the mention of an R6. An R6-series astromech, perhaps? Whatever the case, they had perished, and Valery is evidently upset. He's not the best with humans, he understands, but his systems are more than capable of detecting the change of tone and the sombreness behind her words. A quiet, melancholy coo is offered, as BB-610 presses himself further against Valery in an attempt to comfort her. He doesn't pry, doesn't ask or insinuate anything, he simply provides the best he can: company.

BB-610 weighs his options. He really shouldn't go with her. His Delta-7B is still here, of course, and that underlying guilt of knowing The Eternal Empire would disapprove of his actions remains impossible for him to ignore.

He wants to, though. He wants to go with her. Irrational, subjective - things he shouldn't be. He's a droid, but he's broken. There's something in his system that he can't fix. There's an itch that he wants so desperately to scratch, and doing so involves accepting the Jedi's invitation.

After a moment's contemplation, BB-610 replies with a string of eager binary, explaining to Valery that his starship is right around the corner. Another batch of chirping is added in haste, however, as he tells her that he'd like to go with her all the same.

He doesn't want to be alone anymore.

 

[Valery Noble]

Adarlon

​

Outfit: Factory Link
Appearance: Link
Ship: Link
Weapons: Lightsaber
Tag: BB-610

The more she cleaned him up, the more he seemed to ease into it all. He was turning and twisting so she could reach certain spots better and showed appreciation for both the compliments she gave him, as well as the head pat. It made it easy for Valery to forget about the less pleasant things of her life recently and reminded her of both R-6 and the droid who accompanied her in the days of the Old Republic. Both had been friends with interesting personalities, and both always showed her a kind of affection she had grown used to.

Whether they could truly feel something or not, they sure made her feel like they could.

This was only further reinforced when BB seemed to pick up on some underlying sadness in her tone. Life had been difficult for her, especially since the loss of her husband, and while she was fighting through it all with the comfort of having a daughter and some amazing friends, she could still appreciate these little gestures. "Hmm..." she hummed softly while her hand shifted over the top of the droid's head. "I don't know why you're here alone or if someone left you behind, but they made a terrible mistake," she said with a soft smile.

Valery then made the offer to bring him along to wherever he needed to be but was left a little surprised to hear that he had his own ship. Perhaps it belonged to his former owner? Or he had somehow actually gotten his little metallic claws on a ship. Either way, she wasn't going to stop him from flying off alone... but BB-610 didn't seem to want that at all.

"You want to come with me?" she blinked and looked over at her X-wing. "Well, I have an astromech slot that you'll fit into. Why don't you come with me to Coruscant and we'll go from there? If you'd like to leave and do your own thing once we get there, that's fine. But I need a new friend I can trust up there, so maybe you can stay with me a little longer."

"What do you think?"

 

[BB-610]

| LOCATION: Adarlon, Outer Rim Territories |
| TAG: Valery Noble |

BB-610 wasn't psychic. There was no sacred bond between two minds, guided by the Force to feel another's emotions. His software could analyse the subtle shift in her facial expressions or detect a quiver in her voice, but he's not in a position to give any concrete diagnosis on the how's and why's of it all. He isn't human, and the ability to feel and to think comes oh so naturally to them, which is why he finds it stranger still that there's a part of him that knows something isn't right with her. She's going through something, and it's only then that BB-610 realizes why it's so familiar. It makes every lick of sense why he couldn't detect it before now. He knows that tone, that look, how she carries herself and pushes past her feelings in an attempt to mask whatever loneliness she doesn't want to show too much of, and it's because of his experience.

His droidbrain hadn't once factored in the fact that he's experienced that very same feeling, because droids shouldn't feel. His diagnoses had been as objective as possible, when BB-610 himself is the furthest thing from it.

BB-610 can think, and feel, and love, and hate, and grow sadder every day. BB-610 is alive, and not even his systems wanted to believe it.

The astromech casts a glance to the X-wing. He'd never flown one before, and he'd be lying if he said the idea didn't excite him. Rearing his head back to Valery, he doubles down on his statement, clarifying her doubts with a chipper 'yup!' and steering his motors over towards the starfighter, rolling closer with the whirring of machinery within his chassis.

A pair of small compartments open up on two of the droid's tool-bay disks, quickly shooting two cables forwards to hook around the rim of the astromech slot. Grip secured, BB-610 reels himself skyward until he's able to hop inside, cables retracted and compartments shut. The droid shifts his chassis, wiggling to get comfortable. Objectively, it hardly felt any different from sitting inside the Delta-7B's astromech slot, but the X-wing had such an air of luxury and superiority to it that BB-610 was having the time of his life.

Nice and cozy, he directs his attention down to the Jedi. He bounces up and down, like a dog excited for walkies, a stream of happy bweeps and boops letting Valery know all she needed: he was sticking around, and had no intentions of roaming the streets of Coruscant without her.

 

[Valery Noble]

Adarlon

​

Outfit: Factory Link
Appearance: Link
Ship: Link
Weapons: Lightsaber
Tag: BB-610

Valery chuckled at the excited yup! from BB-610 before he started rolling toward the X-wing. It was such a stark contrast to what she had seen and felt from him earlier, and she definitely felt similar excitement. Droids were so much more than useful tools to keep a ship flying or performing well in combat — they could become priceless friends, not too different from the living. Generally, the better the relationship between the pilot and droid, the better they'd work together as well.

And Valery intended to keep her new little friend happy with where he was.

"Alright, I don't know if you've been on a ship like this before, but it's not too different from what you're used to. It's probably just a little faster and more nimble, built for dogfights," Valery explained as she maneuvered the helmet onto her head despite her really long hair. It was always a bit of a struggle.

But after she got seated and flicked a few switches for pre-flight checks, the engines roared to life, and she cast a glance in BB's direction, who was bouncing up and down. "You seem to be in your element over there, Bee," Val said. "Uh, you don't mind me calling you Bee for short, right? A little easier for quick communication if we're fighting."

Slowly but surely, Valery then began to levitate her X-wing in the hangar and retracted the landing gear. She took it slow, just so he could get a feel for the different systems and controls. But of course, she intended to let him help her out too. "Can you plot me a course to Coruscant and keep an eye on comms and scanners for me, please?" She'd be keeping an eye on them too, but she trusted BB-610 to help her out with it all.

However, as the X-wing began to clear away from the spaceport to go up through the atmosphere, BB-610 would likely spot something on sensors — a pair of fighters had launched and were on an intercept course.

Trouble was coming.

 

[BB-610]

| LOCATION: Adarlon, Outer Rim Territories |
| STARFIGHTER: Jedi T-85 X-wing |
| TAG: Valery Noble |

Comfort was all the droid ever needed in an astromech slot, and the X-wing provided that in spades. Nice and roomy, BB-610 nods as he idly syncs his droidbran up with the starfighter's navigational computer, establishing a neurolink as swiftly as his programming had been designed for. As to be expected, the X-wing's navicomputer is much more sleek and modernized than the Delta-7B's he'd gotten used to, but adaptability was hardly a concern for a BB-unit, as the astromech's diagnostics run a multitude of scans to feed to his pattern recognition software - and in no longer than a second, BB-610 has memorized the ship's schematics in their entirety.

Engines online, with life support, sensors, and communications fully operational, and BB-610 concludes that the X-wing is more than capable of a trip to Coruscant, with all systems perfectly healthy. Satisfied, the droid spares a moment to return his full attention to Valery, and the notion of a nickname was one he hadn't been expected. Having been called nothing but his serial number, he runs the alias through his droidbrain a few times until ultimately deciding with a happy string of bweeps that, yeah, it had a rather sweet and simple ring to it, letting her know that he liked the name.

Quickly accessing his internal starmap, coordinates to Coruscant are retrieved and promptly punched into the navicomputer, setting a course as the starfighter ascends past the hangar. A steady drift upwards as BB-610 lets Valery steer them, the droid follows orders as he sets his focus on the ship's sensors. One wavelength, then a second, then a third. Easy flying, until a fourth detects what appears to be two other vessels, having plotted an intercept vector as they close in to the X-wing.

Head twirling towards Valery, the droid's concerned tweets and bleeps announce to her that there are two starfighters intercepting them. Head whirling back behind them, a compartment atop BB-610's dome opens up as his signal enhancer emerges, circling idly. Task completed, the astromech follows up with a frantic blurt of droidspeak, informing Valery that it's a pair of vulture droids.

Leaving Adarlon's atmosphere, the droid starfighters roar closer and closer to the X-wing, two sets of blaster cannons primed as they begin to fire with a stream of red energy blasts. BB-610, amidst the thought of just how unlucky he was, boosts the X-wing's engines and warms its KX14 laser cannons, optic focused intently on how the opposing starfighters swirl around each other as they catch up.

 

[Valery Noble]

Adarlon

​

Outfit: Factory Link
Appearance: Link
Ship: Link
Weapons: Lightsaber
Tag: BB-610

"Wait what?" Valery asked when Bee mentioned the starfighters on an intercept course. It seemed strange, considering the only heated exchange had been with some civilians. Were they that angry over a little droid causing some trouble on accident? Or was the gang she neutralized still trying to fight back somehow? Either way, it was likely impossible to shake them and make the jump to Hyperspace, so this was going to be a fight.

Her new friend then confirmed that they were vulture droids, and Valery just let out a soft sigh in response. As frustrating as this encounter was already, it would give them an opportunity to fight together for the first time. She had just hoped that it would have been in a simulated environment, rather than the real deal.

But life rarely was that easy.

"Alright, Bee, I'm going to need you to manage my shields a little," Valery called out while she used the engine boost to create distance and prepare herself for a very sharp turn. "I'm switching S-foils to attack position right after I turn, so I'll need you to give me strong forward shields."

She gave him about a second to process that before she suddenly dropped all her engine power and drifted to turn around much faster than the vulture droids could keep up with. Engine power then burst back to life, S-foils shifted to attack position, and as their crimson bolts were fired towards her, Valery spun around and fired a deadly burst of high-powered cannon fire at one of the vulture droids. It exploded violently and she passed by the other, hopefully with BB-610 still managing her shields.

"Got one down! Just one more, Bee. I'm going to give us a shot and I want you to pull the trigger."

 

[BB-610]

| LOCATION: Space above Adarlon, Outer Rim Territories |
| STARFIGHTER: Jedi T-85 X-wing |
| TAG: Valery Noble |


It was in an astromech's nature to fly. BB-610 was built for this! Reassurance, confidence, he had co-piloted many starfighters before and he'll continue to do so after today. Like a second language he had grown fluent in, the droid's orders are fed into the X-wing's system faster than an eye could blink. First impressions are key, especially when it came to proving his worth to a Jedi of all people, and while BB-610 was in his element, there nonetheless existed a blanket of doubt, birthed by fear that he'd sabotage their chances. Like he'd done during his days with The Resistance.

Valery's voice cuts through his thoughts, noting the revving of the ship's engines as a burst of speed propels them far beyond the vulture droids' range. BB-610 gives an affirmative series of chirps, attention directed toward the X-wing's subprogramming. As the Jedi shifts them into attack formation, BB-610 immediately warms up the deflector shields, whirring to life with a comforting heat as it successfully envelopes the starfighter. A metallic cry escapes the droid's voicebox, the sharp turn and added boost in speed so startling that the velocity almost comically pushes the BB-unit's dome head along the curve of his shell, tinking quietly against the rim of the astromech slot.

The vulture droid fires, blasts of red aimed head-on and subsequently absorbed by their shields. Taken by surprise, the enemy starfighter is powerless against Valery's assault, a chain of direct hits to its front that travels throughout its power supply and bursts out of its engines, resulting in a deafening explosion that sends remains of the vulture droid spiralling aimlessly through space, thick mist of smoke waving as the X-wing expertly speeds through it. Thoroughly impressed after having analysed how precise the X-wing's firing was, BB-610 gives the Jedi some praise in the form of overjoyed droidspeak, eagerly telling her that she's an excellent pilot.

Now trailing behind the remaining vulture droid, BB-610 primes the X-wing's cannons as the starfighter twirls upward, pointed down at the opposing vessel. Excited and in high spirits, BB-610 locks on to the enemy and prepares to fire. This had gone amazingly! Nothing could stop them no-

zzrtpsszt. The X-wing never shoots, and the astromech remains entirely still. Outside of Valery's view, BB-610's optic had flickered, settling on a blood red as his old programming intrudes at such an unfortunate moment. The droid tilts his head towards his co-pilot, photoreceptors examining her with a disgruntled set of binary as his systems silently perform a scan.

[ _PERFORMING SCAN. JEDI DETECTED. ]
[ _JEDI MUST BE PURGED. ]
[ _LONG LIVE THE FIRST ORDER. ]

In a moment's notice, the X-wing's shields whirr offline, deactivated by the droid as he stalls the ship's cannons, preventing Valery from shooting in his stead. All it would take was the vulture droid landing a handful of hits and he'd be a hero. It mattered not that it would be suicide, that he'd be destroyed alongside the X-wing. All that mattered was that a Jedi would be killed, and that he'd had helped rid the galaxy of its filth. The enemy starfighter, seizing its opportunity, steadies its cannons as blast after blast is fired at the pair. The X-wing's nimbleness allows it glide past most, but a direct hit is registered to the right engine hull beside the astromech slot.

Such a close shot briefly shakes BB-610's systems, but thankfully it's enough to kickstart his regular programming, optic blinking back to blue as the droid awakens from his out-of-body experience. With no recollection of what had just happened, he's surprised (and terrified) to find the X-wing trailing smoke, engine croaking desperately as it struggles to operate. Powering the shields back online just in time to absorb another stream of vulture droid fire, BB-610 improvises as he quickly redirects the remaining firepower of the failing engine into the X-wing's cannons, and in no less than a second, takes aim and fires a devastating blast that completely shreds the enemy starfighter in a single shot.

As the ship stutters past the vulture droid's remains, BB-610 performs a post-battle analysis. The good news is that they had emerged victorious. The bad news is that they had a completely inactive thruster.

The astromech swirls his head to face the gaping hole blasted into the engine hull. Compartments opening along the front and top of his dome, BB-610 brings out his welding torch, bringing it to the wound as he starts his repairs, utility saw buzzing to life as it chips away at any bent steel, gradually stitching the hole shut to avoid any further damages. Task completed, the astromech now lowers himself within the underside of the X-wing's socket, internal flashlight turned on as he searches through a jungle of wires to identify the ones connected to the right engine. After finding them, BB-610's utility arm begins fixing them while his data probe locates the connector to the engine's system compressor, slowly returning its missing power.

After a handful of minutes, the X-wing had been successfully repaired, with nothing but some leftover scorch marks to show for any damages. BB-610, like a dog with its tail between its legs, avoids looking at Valery out of sheer guilt. While he never remembers his anger episodes, it's not difficult to piece together what had happened.

The droid offers some low, saddened coos. He insists that he had never intended for what happened, and some eager follow-up binary is added to say that it was an accident, and that this is why nobody liked him.

He'd really hoped he wouldn't mess this one up. He really, really did.

 

[Valery Noble]

Adarlon

​

Outfit: Factory Link
Appearance: Link
Ship: Link
Weapons: Lightsaber
Tag: BB-610

While Valery briefly grinned at the excited droidspeak and compliments after they had taken down the first vulture droid, she still remained focused and did her best to keep the X-wing steady. She hoped to give Bee an easy target, so he could get used to the ship's weapons and build up some confidence flying with her. Of course, he had already adjusted amazingly well and executed all of their plans without any problems, but she figured a little boost couldn't hurt.

However, as she got close enough and it was time for the finishing burst of cannon fire, BB-610 didn't only not pull the trigger, but the shields of her X-wing lowered and when she tried to open fire herself, the cannons were not cooperating. "Bee?! What's going on?" she called out, not with anger but purely confusion, as she didn't understand what was happening at all. Just a few seconds ago, he had been so excited to assist, and now he was sabotaging her?

Or was he damaged somehow?

She looked over her shoulder but noticed that nothing seemed to be off at all. He was still inputting commands into the ship, and no matter what she did to try and adjust, the vulture droid was coming around and opening fire. Valery's eyes widened and with all of her piloting skills, she maneuvered to avoid the stream of deadly bolts. But not all of it could be dodged, and the hit she took was going to make it much harder to outperform her enemy.

Especially without Bee helping her.

"Come on, Bee... snap out of it! I need you here!" she called out. From the confines of her cockpit, there wasn't much she could do to adjust to what was happening, so all of her hopes rested on her new little friend and after what felt like an eternity, she suddenly heard the familiar sound of her shields coming back online. Valery immediately leveled the ship again and unlike last time, Bee took the shot that destroyed their enemy.

Valery let out a sigh of relief and fell back in her chair, before turning her eyes out of the viewscreen to see BB patching up the damage to her ship. "It's okay, Bee. Are... you alright?" she asked, still not quite sure what had even happened. "Do you know what happened that caused that?" She was surprisingly calm despite what happened, and there was no sign of anger in her voice at all. She just hoped to get answers, so she could help him.

 

[BB-610]

| LOCATION: Space above Adarlon, Outer Rim Territories |
| STARFIGHTER: Jedi T-85 X-wing |
| TAG: Valery Noble |

He didn't know where to start, if he even should to begin with. Synthetic surges of adrenaline, roaring engines and the screeching of blaster fire had muted his thoughts and given him a task to focus on. Now that the dust had settled, space felt all too quiet, uncomfortably so, with the thoughts he'd tried so hard to ignore to keep him company. In any given circumstance, perhaps if BB-610 was an organic, the calm in Valery's voice would have provided the comfort he needed. The Jedi didn't seem angry with him, and that should give him some relief. Unfortunately, the astromech had been dealt one too many cards of trauma for his anxiety subprogram to persist above any reasonable conclusion.

He'd been broken and discarded far too many times that rather than take comfort in Valery's gentleness, the droid was instead confused at the lack of obscenities and scathing remarks. Why? Why didn't she hate him? Why wasn't she immediately threatening to abandon him, like everybody else had?

Do Jedi not do that? Are they not monsters...?
… Had the Empire been wrong about them?

Whatever the case, BB-610 was visibly trembling, shaking with the jitter of his parts from such an intense fear of her disapproval. He had yet to receive it, but it was a terrifying hypothetical all the same. He hesitates on replying, because he doesn't know what to say. No algorithm could tell him how to handle such an unorthodox situation for a droid. The X-wing flies steady, and BB-610 opts to plot a jump to hyperspace, channelling Coruscant's coordinates within his astrogation buffer. With a warm build-up, the starfighter blinks faster than light, nothing more than a ghost as streaks of white and blue flood its surroundings.

Soon enough, the X-wing's exited hyperspace and entered Coruscant's atmosphere, with the ship aimed downwards towards the planet. Realistically, it was merely a handful of seconds. To BB-610, it was an eternity of wrestling with his own thoughts. But Valery had trusted him enough, hadn't she? She deserved the truth. She deserved to know, even if it meant getting thrown out the second they landed.

Nervously, the astromech glances at the Jedi. Melancholy clicks and sombre bweeps meet the air, and BB-610 finally says: he was once First Order, and leftover programming still resided within him. A brief pause, before another series of low tweeps tells her that it occasionally comes out, and that he never means it.

There's a crack in the droid's chirps. Despite him speaking in nothing but binary, it's almost uncanny how much humanity there is in his voice. BB-610 casts a look away in shame, with one third and finally string of saddened droidspeak as he tells her,

He belongs to The Eternal Empire, but he's never felt once felt at home there.

 

[Valery Noble]

Adarlon

​

Outfit: Factory Link
Appearance: Link
Ship: Link
Weapons: Lightsaber
Tag: BB-610

There was mostly silence after Valery had asked Bee to explain what happened, and even though he couldn't feel the same way a living person could, Valery felt as if he needed the time to process it as well. Not in the way a machine would, but process as someone or something with a unique kind of consciousness. So rather than pressuring him to speak, she remained quiet as well and assisted him in prepping the ship for the Hyperspace Jump to Coruscant.

Before they knew it, the ship exited back into real space just outside Coruscant's gravitational field, and Valery immediately plotted the course down towards the planet because she was the only one of the two who knew their destination — the NJO Temple, which had been rebuilt not too long ago. It was an iconic structure and very few would ever get to walk through its halls, but she intended to bring BB-610 there.

Even after he began to finally explain what caused the earlier incident.

First Order programming still lingering within? That could definitely be a problem and she couldn't risk this happening every single time she entered a dogfight. But rather than giving up on him, Valery listened patiently and only spoke after he had told her that he didn't feel at home with the Eternal Empire, where he supposedly belonged.

"Bee," Valery said calmly. "You don't belong to anybody. I'm not taking you with me because you belong to me, or because I'm your owner. I want you to come with me as a friend, and work with me as someone I can trust." She looked over her shoulder as the ship began its landing procedures, and let out a soft sigh.

"If you'll let me, I can try to help you. Maybe we can do something about the programming taking control of you like that. It's going to be alright, okay?"

 

[BB-610]

| LOCATION: NJO Temple, Coruscant |
| TAG: Valery Noble |

BB-610 was speechless. In almost a thousand years, there was very seldom a scenario in which the BB-unit's self-learning programs hadn't shown a path that had been carved out by the actions of the droid and those around him. Every conversation, every turn, every order, they all branched out into a variety of options his A.I. calculated in advance. Currently, as the astromech sit there, staring in utter disbelief, there was no preparation or calculations provided. It was almost fantasy, truthfully, as though the set of circumstances that had led him to this moment were nothing more than fiction he would have conjured up within the dreams he experienced during those plentiful years of dormancy.

Idly, BB-610 twirls his head as to observe his new surroundings. A Jedi temple, in all of its sacred, mystical glory right before his photoreceptors. It felt perverse to witness it under such trusting means, as Valery's intentions remained far from malicious and seemed actively encouraging of him as the X-wing's engines hum offline. He listens to her words, taking the time to carefully process them, and all it leaves him with is an error, as though a line of code hadn't registered correctly.

Slowly, the astromech shakes his head, optic narrowing as a low clicking of binary tells her that Valery is wrong, that he's as disposable and replaceable as any other droid. Confused, BB-610 continues, chirping cautiously that his Masters never cared for him for good reason. The compartment beneath the X-wing's astromech slot is opened, allowing BB-610 to lower himself onto the temple floor, rolling out from beneath the starfighter and turning to stare at the Jedi.

"I want you to come with me as a friend, and work with me as someone I can trust."

"It's going to be alright, okay?"

BB-610 muses on that. It made his servos feel... warm. Valery's words oozed with kindness, gentle and reassuring. Nobody had ever offered to help fix him before, and it was a realization that struck awfully close to home for him. Valery hadn't yelled at him, or ignored him, or brought out a restraining bolt. It was genuine. Everything had always been genuine.

She trusted him. Against all odds, she really, really trusted him. And the least that BB-610 could do was trust her back.

If she'd gotten out of the X-wing by now, the droid would approach her, somewhat skittish, like a frightened animal slowly inching towards a handler offering to feed it. And then, all of a sudden, the astromech erupts into a fit of extremely high-pitched tweets and bweeeps, the happiest he'd ever sounded in his life as BB-610 giddily begins circling her feet, nudging up against the Jedi's legs with the cheerful whirring of his motors, spherical body wobbling from side to side in uncontrollable excitement akin to dog wagging its tail.

Amidst the astromech's gleeful bouncing, BB-610 tells her in delighted chirps of droidspeak that he'd love to stay with her, thanking her over and over and over again as he tells Valery how happy she's made him!

 

[Valery Noble]

Adarlon

​

Outfit: Factory Link
Appearance: Link
Ship: Link
Weapons: Lightsaber
Tag: BB-610

With the hum of the engines quieting down, Valery listened to Bee and frowned at what he said. Disposable? Masters? She knew that droids were often treated like slaves or workers without emotions, but she hated those particular words. After a more personal encounter with slavery, she had always been very intense in her hatred for it, and Bee made her feel like he had been getting such treatment for much, if not all of his life.

That was going to have to change and she assured him of it.

So after she climbed out of the cockpit and took off her helmet to shake out her long hair, Bee was quick to rush over and circled around her legs whilst rocking from side to side. The excitement in his chirps was easily picked up, and Valery began to chuckle. "I'm glad you're feeling better, Bee," Valery said. She then crouched down so she could get at eye-level with him, and patted the top of his spherical little head.

"After we finish making a report here at the Temple, I'd like you to come with me to my home. That's where you'll be staying, together with me and my daughter." She stood up with a bright smile and gently nudged him with her leg, "Vera is going to really adore you, and she has been learning from a dear friend about engineering and maintenance too, So maybe, with some time, she'll be able to help you with everything."

"For the First Order programming still within you... we'll figure something out. But I promise that I'm not going to give up." Finally, she turned to the entrance of the Temple and let out a soft sigh.

"What do you think? Want to see the inside of the Temple?"