Private Encounter of the Steel Kind

[Jasper Kai'el]

Encounters of the Steel Kind
Coruscant, Jedi Temple Hangar
Tags: BB-610

Blip, Pyf, Phyla

"Alright, you're doing great!"

"O-okay!"

"Is this really necessary?"

Jasper sat cross-legged on the ramp of his vessel, the Lonestar 1. He wasn't there alone. In fact, he was overseeing some simple force training. That of Phyla, a young shard he had been taking care of recently. The activity was pretty simple. Pyf, his spark companion, had a pencil tied to him. Phyla would use the force to move him in a circle around him, perfectly creating the shape on a large piece of parchment paper she was sitting on. Well, as perfect as a ten year old rock in a mechanical suit could manage with limited force training.

"Of course it's necessary," Jasper told him. "You're internal repulsorlift keeps the pencil level. All she needs to focus on is drawing. It's good for first steps."

"Alright," the small orb buzzed. "But I highly doubt that this is an efficient use of my functionality, Jasper."

"Oh relax," the knight brushed off with a grin. "You're helping with something really important."

"Yeah, Mr. Pyf," Phyla's synthesized voice chimed in. "If I wanna be a Jedi, I gotta practice."

The spark whirred in slight irritation before conceding.

"Okay," the droid finally agreed. "I'll do it for Miss Phyla. That's it."

As Phyla continued to practice, Jasper's astromech Blip came rolling down the ramp, happily reporting that the calibrations on the vessel had come up clean. That was good news, especially after the rough landing they had coming in from Denon.

"Nice work, buddy," Jasper nodded, giving the droid a warm smile. "Looks like we'll be able to get airborne again soon..."

Jasper's sentence trailed off as something caught his eye. It was the faint glow of something in the distance, just behind a nearby crate. It seemed watching, but clearly inorganic. A photoreceptor eye perhaps? That part of the hangar was covered in shadow, so it was a little hard to tell.

"Anyone over there?" the knight called out.

Drawn by all the activity, no doubt.

 

[BB-610]

| LOCATION: New Jedi Order Temple, Coruscant |
| TAG: Jasper Kai'el |


The Jedi Temple was as precious as ever. Even after all these months, rolling through its halls and casually strolling past wandering Jedi still felt like a privilege BB-610 didn't deserve. Over a year ago, if one were to ask the droid where he thought his life would end up, he most certainly wouldn't have answered with 'working for The Galactic Alliance', much less 'living with one of the most infamous Jedi Masters this side of the galaxy'. Valery had called him over their commlink, asking him to retrieve some data cards from the Temple for when she returned home, and BB-610 had done just that. Ever as loyally obedient, the diminutive astromech exited the elevator to the Council, whistling a tune he'd been taught by Valery and Jalen not too long ago.

No Jedi paid him any notice as they walked beside him. Nobody had done any different in The Eternal Empire, either, but the sound of delicate footsteps upheld by sophisticated grace alongside the whirring of his motors resonated something much deeper within his core: he didn't feel like a simple tool among these people. BB-610 felt as though they co-existed, and that was the stark difference that had now gotten him perplexed as to why he'd ever associated with Imperials to begin with.

Making his way down a small flight of stairs, mindful of his spherical chassis, the distant sound of voices caught his attention. Gently reaching the end of the steps, BB-610 twirled his head to pinpoint the noise's source, curiosity piqued; something that had only escalated upon the identification of what appeared to be a slender, humanoid droid. Musing that he had time to spare before needing to head back to Valery's apartment, BB-610 slowly rolled towards the scene, ensuring as little noise as possible was made as he inched between boxes, black plating lending itself nicely to the Temple's shadow as the droid peaked around ever so inquisitively.

He stood corrected. In addition to the droid he'd seen, there were two others - one of them a BB unit just like him - as well as a human male with a striking resemblance to Jalen. They appeared to be in some sort of activity, and BB-610's untapped curiosity simply grew in size every second. It was a surprise to him, but he had just realized how little of an effort he'd put into examining other human and droid relations, as the astromech seldom interacted with many of his kin. Such a perplexing notion, so deep in pensive thought that he'd completely forgotten the fact that he was staring.

"Anyone over there?"

Jumping at the voice his way, BB-610 let out a startled beep, rolling backwards as he lowered his head in shame. Sheepishly, the astromech bweeped and chirped to say that he didn't mean to disturb them, shaking his head and tweeting in low binary as he added that he was simply curious as to what they were doing.

 

[Jasper Kai'el]

Coruscant, Jedi Temple Hangar
Tags: BB-610

"Hey, I know you," Jasper reacted with a grin when the BB unit chirped out a response. "You're with Master Noble, yeah? When we ran the corridor a few days back."

The little droid had given some smart suggestions in that battle. Jasper was pretty good at remembering the sound of unique droid speak, especially given how much he worked with droids in the hangar.

"Yeah, no worries," the knight assured. "We're an odd bunch. Just... doing a little force training."

Pyf was the first to drift over ever so slightly, scanning the BB unit.

"Curious fellow, aren't you," the orb whirred. "Designation GH-PY447, but you may call me Pyf. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Blip followed, melodically chirping out a greeting to his cousin model. Phyla's mechanical body awkwardly wobbled for a moment as she turned to see the new arrival, a crooked smile forming across her synthetic face. The shard was still getting used to her new motor functions.

"Hi!" she greeted in a chipper tone. "I'm Phyla! What's you're name?"

"Okay guys, let's take it easy," Jasper chuckled a little. "I think our friend here is a little shy. Uh, right. Jasper Kai'el. Nice to meet you in the flesh, or metal for you I suppose."

Poor little guy. Jasper was pretty certain that whoever he had been with before Valery was a terrible person. He knew what that looked like. Blip had been abandoned, and was pretty easily scared early on. Even now to some extent. It was probably best they didn't overwhelm the BB unit right away.

 

[BB-610]

| LOCATION: New Jedi Order Temple, Coruscant |
| TAG: Jasper Kai'el |


Pausing, BB-610 was - once again - surprised to see that his intrusion hadn't been met with malice. Incredulous, the droid tilted his head, eyeing the human up and down before slowly beginning to inch over to him, cautious and hesitant but nonetheless willing to try and trust the organic. He nodded, idly running back an internal recording of the battle Jasper had mentioned; voice recognition finding a match, the astromech perked up, noticeably more relaxed now.

Before BB-610 could get a word out, however, he was met with one of the many droids, a rather intriguing model as the astromech rolled back ever so slightly, still somewhat skittish. His fellow BB unit promptly followed, redirecting his attention as BB-610 returned a shy chirp in getting, only for half of his binary to get cut short by the third of the droids. Needing to glance up at this one, BB-610 found her fascinating, cooing in awe as she towered over him, seemingly unbalanced and yet presenting a certain element of grace. It must have been the pretty hair.

Entirely overwhelmed, BB-610 lowered his head along the curve of his shell, feeling small and cluttered with his thoughts scrambled. He was hardly used to speaking to many people to begin with, let alone four at once. Jasper's intervention was a breath of fresh air, relief flooding the droid's system as he took the time to compose himself.

Collecting his thoughts and glancing between the four of them, he bweeped out that his designation was BB-610. Curious, he brought his attention over to Jasper, tweeting and chirping as he said that he thought droids couldn't be Force sensitive.

 

[Jasper Kai'el]

Coruscant, Jedi Temple Hangar
Tags: BB-610

"Oh," Jasper reacted, grinning a little. "She isn't a droid. That's just the body that she's using."

"Yup," Phyla nodded, her head wobbling ever so slightly. "I'm in here!"

The shard very dramatically pointed to the chest of the droid body she was inhabiting. Jasper laughed ever so slightly before continuing to speak.

"She's a carbon-based lifeform," the knight explained. "We call them shards. There used to be an order of Jedi composed of them, but I'm unfortunately not too familiar with the history."

"Most curious," Pyf chimed in, "Our friends designation doesn't seem to have been recycled for some time. It seems that he has some history to him."

"Don't we all," Jasper sighed.

He figured that was the case. Droids with longer active times tend to show the most internal damage. It was pretty clear that the BB unit had been through a lot. Abuse so often imprinted itself in the mind, even the inorganic. Jasper knew what it was like to be left behind. Literally and figuratively. He could sympathize with the droid's timidness.

"You're in good hands with Master Noble," he assured. "She helped me find my place too, in a way. Guess we have something in common."

 

[BB-610]

| LOCATION: New Jedi Order Temple, Coruscant |
| TAG: Jasper Kai'el |

"Oh, she isn't a droid. That's just the body that she's using."

BB-610 almost visibly lit up, now paying complete attention as he gazed at the female, eyeing her rather incredulously as his poor, artificial mind was promptly flooded to the brim with question after question. Inching closer to her with thinly-veiled curiosity, BB-610's optic dilated in wonder, glistening as he inspected Phyla's chest, cooing softly while he marvelled. Whatever Jasper had referred to, the astromech had no recollection of within his memory banks, and with him not being too much of an expert on the matter, there was sadly little information he could pry out of the boy. Perhaps the droid could pester Valery or Kahlil about it-?

"Most curious. Our friend's designation doesn't seem to have been recycled for some time. It seems that he has some history to him."

Realizing he had been deep in thought, the sudden comment got BB-610 to jump, startled and somewhat embarrassed, circuits warming in fluster as though Pyf had just scrutinized an intimate secret he hadn't intended to tell. Bashfully, the droid nodded his head, bweeping quietly as he informed the group that he was nearing a thousand years of age, and that most of his days had been spent deactivated. Despite that, however, the astromech displayed very minimal signs of wear and tear, with processors and servos functioning as perfectly as the day he had stepped off of the assembly line. He was getting on in his years, but if there was one thing BB-610 could commend about The Eternal Empire, it was that they had kept him as update to date.

"You're in good hands with Master Noble. She helped me find my place too, in a way. Guess we have something in common."

Glancing around to face Jasper, the droid mused on his words, attentive. It was hardly a surprise that the number of people Valery had helped currently sat - to his knowledge - in the double digits, but it sparked a tang of empathy from the astromech all the same. Rolling over to him, BB-610 bweeped and chirped, quietly asking him how Valery had helped him, before adding another set of clicks and tweets to further ask if she'd helped him take in his three friends.

 

[Jasper Kai'el]

Coruscant, Jedi Temple Hangar
Tags: BB-610

"You look good for almost a thousand," Jasper joked, trying to lighten the mood a little. "Even with a little help us organics don't age that well."

But he did continue to listen, getting a tone of sympathy from the droid as he asked how Valery had helped him. That was a long story. It felt like forever ago. How old had he been? Seventeen?

"I was in exile for a while, self imposed," the knight explained. "When nobody came forward to train me, I thought that I had failed. I ran away. When I came by to go through my records to find out where I was from, she helped put me on the path to coming back... Finding out what I was... Accepting it. Now she's probably the one person I'm aspiring to be. I guess you could say I wanna be like her when I grow up."

It was a funny notion, seeing as he was an adult, but he very much aspired to be a Jedi like she was. A leader, a teacher... a parent. She seemed so ready to take on the weight of the galaxy. Jasper hoped that he may be able to as well one day.

"I guess in a way she helped me take these guys in," he shrugged. "Or put me on a path to anyways."

"Are you gonna become Sword of the Jedi!?" Phyla asked, her synthesized voice filled with excitement. "That would be awesome!"

Jasper laughed. Of course Phyla thought of Master Noble's title first. She was a kid, after all, and it was the first think that he had told her about the Jedi Master. He needed to take her to meet Valery in the flesh sometime. She'd probably get along well with Vera.

"It's more metaphorical," Jasper explained with a grin. "I doubt I'll ever be qualified for such a position. But who knows... Maybe I will. I'm never really certain about anything."

"You're Master Noble's friend, right?" Phyla asked Bee. "I've never met her. What's she like?"

 

[BB-610]

| LOCATION: New Jedi Order Temple, Coruscant |
| TAG: Jasper Kai'el |


BB-610 listened attentively, utterly captivated by Jasper's tale and thoroughly pulled into the vision of such a relatable scenario. It never ceased to fascinate him just how much an organic and a machine could have in common despite their radical differences. Cooing softly as he nodded along, the droid understood perfectly what Jasper had said, down to the gentle intonation of his words. BB-610 had very little experience to relate to 'growing up', but there nonetheless existed a sense of warmth between the two of them. Humans had role models, they grew and changed. Machines were designed to stagnate, to remain ever fixed on the same programming they had been activated with. But the want to be half the person Valery Noble is? BB-610 understood that all too well.

"You're Master Noble's friend, right? I've never met her. What's she like?"

The astromech was almost taken aback by the question. Not because of any impending awkwardness, nor the notion that he had no idea on what to reply with, but simply because BB-610 had never had anybody ask him such a thing before. Very frequently was it Valery introducing him to people. The droid had no script, yet his mind was brimming with answers - he just had to put them into words.

Bweeping quietly, BB-610 told Phyla that Valery was incredible. She was kind, loving, and stronger than anybody he's ever seen. He paused, as though to reflect on the things he'd said. How inspiring she was as a person, as a friend— he truly didn't believe he deserved her. Deciding to continue, the astromech chirped some more binary, adding on that Valery had taken him in when nobody else would. She was the first person to have given him a chance, wanting to help his problem that others had opted to ignore.

Glancing back to Jasper, BB-610 clicked and tweeted as he told him that he knew how it felt to feel ignored, and that nobody else should have the power to dictate how you feel. Solemnly nodding, he continued, bweeping as he told Jasper that he, too, had been abandoned and went his entire life thinking he was in the wrong.

 

[Jasper Kai'el]

Coruscant, Jedi Temple Hangar
Tags: BB-610

​

"Abandonment is more common that I first thought, I find," Jasper remarked. "It's easy for people to not care, or simply not have the means of supporting someone. The Jedi are really good at taking in those left behind, in some regards. Some don't have a better option. Some don't get an option. There's still the issue of those who aren't force sensitive."

Jasper turned, looking out of the hangar door at the sky. They were all out there. Burning homes, passed on families, left in the gutters of war-torn planets.

"I'm gonna do something about it one day," the knight decided. "I'm gonna go out there and give people what they need to get back on their feet. Eventually, I hope. There's still a lot of work I need to do."

"Master Noble sounds Nice," Phyla finally decided. "I hope I get to meet her."

"I'm certain there will be plenty of time for that," Pyf chimed in. "After all, Jasper has a meeting of great importance with the Sword of the Jedi very soon.

Jasper chuckled, grinning a little.

"That's still on the down-low, remember?" he reminded his companion. "Can't go letting the cat out of the bag so soon. Although..."

The knight turned to Bee, a warm smile spreading across his face. The little astromech was just the kind of droid his project could benefit from. Perhaps he'd be up to volunteering a bit of his time.

"I've got something big in the works, and I need a bit of help," Jasper informed the droid. "Ships need co-pilots and mechanical aids, we'll need translators, and I'm sure there will be much more to do. If you come across any wayward droids, I'd appreciate if you sent them my way. I want to find them a place as well."