Bright neon signs lined the dark street of Plazir-15, they were almost blinding as they reflected off of the shiny black flooring. It was easier to take in my surroundings when we weren't chasing down a massive battle droid on a rampage.
"Let me do the talking in there." Bo-Katan said as we walked towards the droid bar.
"Why is that?" Din asked. I looked over at him with my eyebrows raised. My husband may be good at talking to a multitude of different species, but droids are an entirely different story.
"Because I wanna get the information fast and get to the fleet." Bo-Katan stated
"So do I, what's your point?" Din asked, I tried hard not to snort at him as images of him kicking droids came to mind.
"You cannot talk to droids in a...civilized manner." I tried to speak gently, not wanting to offend him.
"Exactly. You kicking droids is really not helpful." Bo-Katan stated in a more blunt manner.
"I figured out which one was malfunctioning, didn't I?" Din asked rhetorically.
"Yes, you did. You handle the beating up, Bo can handle the negotiating." I said with a smile as I bumped my shoulder playfully against his.
"And what will you do?" Din asked with an amused tone as he bumped me back.
"Save your ass when the beating up goes wrong, of course." I said, my smile only grew wider as we continued to bicker back and forth.
"This is the address." Bo-Katan said as we came up to the entrance of the droid bar. Din walked up to the door and pressed the button on the control panel to open it. The door hissed open and Bo walked in first. Din gestured with his hand for me to go first. I gave him a grateful smile as I stepped through the door after Bo-Katan.
The sound coming from the bar was lively and cheerful as they enjoyed themselves without anyone around, I almost felt bad as we stepped through the doors into the bar. The music and the talking immediately halted as they all turned to look at us. The atmosphere immediately felt awkward and tense as the droids stared us down.
Bo-Katan took the lead as we began to walk down the steps towards the bar. The droids stayed completely silent as we walked through the bar.
"I don't think they get many of our kind here." Din muttered
Din, Bo and I approached the bar and a droid finally decided to speak up. "Can I help you?"
"That depends. Is this the Resistor?" Bo asked
"This is." The droid replied
Din tossed the spark pad onto the table. "That spark pad was found on a rogue battle droid."
"We give out lots of spark pads. What are you getting at?" The droid asked
"There has been a string of malfunctions that all point to this oil can." Bo stated
"You can check my registry. We are in full compliance with planetary hierarchical..." The droid was cut off when Din suddenly picked up a small taser from the bar and held it up to him.
"If you don't start answering questions, I'll yank your memory circuit and dissect it back at the lab." Din threatened. All of the droids started to shift uncomfortably and some of them even started to try and leave the bar.
"Nobody leaves." Din stated firmly as a translated droid attempted to leave.
"A word." Bo muttered to him with a fake smile.
"Stay where I can see you." Din stated to the bartender droid as the three of us moved away from the bar.
"What are you doing?" Bo-Katan whispered angrily to Din
"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.
Just as my fingers brushed against the metal hilt, the assistant droid suddenly beeped and switched on its lasers. My heart jolted in my chest as Din grabbed my arm. "Get down!"
Din and I hid behind one of the desks as Bo and the Lab Tech hid behind the other. I flinched as the droid began to spin in circles and destroy anything and everything with its green lasers. Bo attempted to shoot at the droid but it was to no avail.
I reached into my belt and grabbed my saber. I ignited the saber just as I stood straight up and ran towards the droid. I dodged the laser beams with precision, thanks to Master Skywalker. The moment I was close enough to the droid, I brought the blade down onto the top of the droid and cut it in half, fully destroying the droid.
Din walked over to stand beside me, he placed his hand firmly on my shoulder and squeezed gently to show his appreciation and pride.
"They're still active." Bo-Katan said. The poor Lab Tech looked shocked as she stared at the burnt and singed droid on the floor. She then turned around and went back to her computer that held the data for the sub-particles.
"These are the sub-particles. Curious..." the lab tech said as she zoomed in on them.
"What?" Din asked
"They're actually nano-droids." The Lab Tech said
"How did nano-droids get into the Nepenthé?" Bo asked
Din reached out to point at something on the screen. "What's that?"
"The striations? Just an aberration in the metal. Probably malleability limitations at this scale." The lab tech said
"No. It's writing." Bo said as she looked closer. I lent in to get a better look and try to figure out what it says.
"Rotate the perspective." Din said. The lab Tech did as he asked to reveal that they were right, there was writing.
"It's a chain code." The lab tech said
"If it had a chain code, then we should be able to determine its point of origin." Bo stated
"In theory. Let me see what I can find out. Yes, here we are. They were originally manufactured by the Techno Union. Been in cold-storage for ages. The chain title says it didn't arrive on Plazir through Droid Acquisitions. How strange..." the lab tech said as she looked through the records
"How did it arrive?" Din asked
"They were requisitioned by the Security Office." The lab tech said
"Is that unusual?" I asked curiously
"It's illegal." The lab tech said as she turned around to face us. "There's no record of this transaction on the government registry. These droids were ordered by an individual." The lab tech stated
"Is there a name?" Din asked
"Our head of security. Commissioner Helgait." An image of the old man who had shown us the security footage before appeared on the screen. My eyebrows raised and I shot a look at Din. I guess we have to make a visit to the security office again.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The turbo lift doors opened to reveal the familiar security room. The commissioner in question was sitting behind his desk in the same place we had left him.
"Commissioner, we have some questions for you." Bo-Katan stated with a coy tone of voice.
"Sorry, I have to check the data farm for anomalies." The man disregarded us with a wave of his hand.
"We know about Nepenthé. And the nano-droids. They didn't malfunction. You programmed them to disrupt and attack." Bo-Katan stated
"You're coming with us." Din stated, causing all of the workers to turn and look at the man in question. The commissioner suddenly stood up and reached for the bright red button on his desk that would shut down all the droids.
"Everyone, freeze! If I trigger this failsafe, it will convert this planet's docile workforce back into battle droids and unleash them upon the unsuspecting citizens of Plazir! Don't make me do it." The man exclaimed. So he lied before, that button wasn't for shutting droids down.
"There's no way out of this commissioner. Give yourself up." Bo-Katan tried to reason with him.
"Give up? I never give up. I didn't give up to the corrupt Republic, I didn't give up to the Empire, and I won't give up to you." The commissioner stated firmly
"You were a separatist?" Bo asked
"Separatist is a pejorative term. I support democracy. Count Dooku was a visionary. He was cut short in his prime by the Jedi enforcer..." Bo-Catan had clearly had enough of him as she fired a taser at him and knocked him unconscious. I can't say it wasn't satisfying to watch him fall to the floor.
"Politics." Bo-Katan said
"Nice one." I said with a small smile. The man groaned as his body jolted from the electricity, and I can't say that I felt any remorse.
A/N- apologies for the late update ❤️ what would you like to see next in this fic?