"You're wasting your time. You can't reason with droids." Din stated firmly.
"Their behaviour is programmed. All they do is reason." Bo-Katan stated
"They're also programmed not to harm organically. How's that going?" Din asked
"Look, you are not helping. Just because the malfunctioning droids happen to visit here doesn't mean that this one is in on it." Bo stated firmly
"I want to help." The droid behind the bar suddenly spoke up.
"You want me to pull your hearing sensors too?" Din snapped as he spun around to face the droid.
"We are worried that if these horrible incidents continue, we will be..." the droid trailed off nervously
"You'll be what?" Din asked
"There are concerns among my customers that we will be replaced." The droid said
"By what?" Din asked
"Humans. Most of us will be refurbished and reprogrammed. Some droids on Plazir date back to the separatists. The New Republic would send them to scrap. But here on Plazir, they are given a second chance." The droid explained
"Well, those catastrophes don't help your argument." Din stated
"Exactly. That's why we need your help. We don't want to be replaced. We still have a lot to contribute. Human life is so short. They don't ask that much of us. Organics created us. It's the least we can do." The droid explained. The droids began to beep and chatter at his explanation. I turned my head to see them nodded and flashing in unison.
The bartender droid then took the three of us behind the bar in the backroom so he could show us something.
"Do you have a record of what each of the suspects ordered?" Bo-Katan asked as we sat down on the empty chairs in front of the droid's desk.
"That is not how it works here. There is no selection of beverages as with organics. Here, droids are served Nepenthé." The droid explained
"What's Nepenthé?" Din asked
"It is a viscous lubricant that protects against mechanical wear while delivering program refreshing sub-particles." The droid explained
"So Nepenthé reprograms the droids that drink here?" Din questioned
"It patches the programming as the commands of the mainframe change." The droid said as he opened up a small box that was sitting on his desk and began to finger through the different cards inside. He then paused on one and pulled it out, holding it to his face so he could scan it. "It seems the malfunctioning droids all imbibed from the same batch of Nepenthé."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I stood between Din and Bo as the lab tech pulled open a metal door to reveal the lifeless body of the battle droid we had taken out. My saber slashes were evident on the droid's body. The metal tray slowly came out of the drawer with a quiet hum.
"These are the remains of the latest malfunctioning droid." The lab tech said as an assistant droid came over and began to extract something from within the droid. Once the droid was finished extracting the substance, it beeped and the lab tech took the small vial from it.
"We're looking for programming sub-particles." Bo-Katan said as we followed the Lab Tech to a computer.
"Yes. Let me isolate them." The tech said as she placed the vial into the computer.
"All right, let's see if they give us a reading. The particles are definitely present." The Lab Tech said
"What are the chances that they're still active?" Din asked. A strange feeling began to arise within me at his question, a feeling that I recognised to be a warning sign for danger. My hand automatically fell to the hilt of my saber.
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Across the Universe | D. Djarin
Fanfiction"I'll find you again. I Promise." Celeste always knew she was different, she just didn't know why. But when her parents where killed by the empire, she was sent on the run. Alone and in a large galaxy, Celeste turns to bounty hunting so she can sur...
The unexpected culprit
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