The Deck Hand

Chapter 1: The Mission

The little blue Astromech grumbled as he moved forward, following the tech's instructions as he prepared to move into the crate that would smuggle them through First Order territory. Batuu was far enough away that it would be a LONG ride. Not to mention the round-a-bout way they'd have to take to get there. With the mission ahead of them, they couldn't be too careful.

"Be quiet, Artoo," the golden droid beside him scolded, lightly rapping the top of his head. "The last thing we need to hear for the whole ride is your complaining."

R2-D2 gave a short retort, spinning his head to stare incredulously at C-3PO's face. 'Me?' he quipped. 'Me? Complaining?'

"Oh, I do hope this will be smooth," C-3PO groaned, even after what he'd JUST said. "And that nothing goes wrong."

"Don't worry, Threepio." The droid tech smiled (R2 believed his name was Teg), giving the protocol droid a friendly pat on the shoulder. "You'll be on Batuu's surface before you know it. And a contact will be waiting for you by the time you arrive."

R2-D2 ignored the impulse to roll his eye as he turned in place, letting Teg finish clipping him into the container.

"You good?" the tech asked, holding his hands up, ready for any last-minute adjustments. R2 trilled an affirmative, settling in place.

"Good luck!" Teg straightened, giving R2-D2 a salute and a smile before the crate shut. He understood how important this mission was. The Resistance was steadily growing. But after that... disaster several months ago, R2's friends could use all the help they could get.

The planet Batuu was in the Outer Rim, out of the way, but the center of enough trade routes to be the perfect spot for a Resistance outpost. Not to mention that they'd had some success with recruitment there. R2 had to get to Batuu with the coordinates of the new base and bring the info that the resistance members there would need to help them get established.

But what was there to worry about? R2 had done missions like this a hundred times before, with C-3PO and without. Whatever could happen, R2-D2 was sure that through their long lives in this galaxy, they had seen and survived much worse. R2 shifted in place, too alert to power down, and settled in for the long ride ahead of them.

Little did they know how well-founded C-3PO's worries had been. Or that their contact would never arrive on Batuu in time.

Or that the future of these two droids would fall into the hands of a young woman who had no idea they were coming.