R2's fingers curled subconsciously, his arms slipping off the edge of the bed to open wide in a stretch.
Wrong. This was wrong.
His shoulders pushed back against the firm mattress, back arching up as though he had some reason to feel uncomfortable, or muscles that he would feel the need to stretch.
Wrong. Terribly wrong.
Bending at the middle, the astromech rose to a sitting position, odd coloured eyes slowly blinking open. R2's head slowly twisted as he surveyed the room, noting that it was unusually dark, and completely vacant save for the droid.
Wrong. Wrong.
His circuitry was humming, the currents causing his internal systems to warm. He let his eyes fluttered closed for a moment, the energy slowing and his boards cooling with practiced ease. That was when he realized.
R2 had closed his eyes. Eyes like a human has, not the visual sensors he had lived with for so many turns. His head dropped forward a bit, proof that it was attached to some kind of appendage that would allow for such a movement as looking down. Slightly tanned fingers curled, and uncurled, curled, and uncurled, with R2's will. Hands, like human modeled hands.
His head snapped back up with the sound of footsteps approaching the large sliding door, which was fitted with a small window. A window just large enough for R2 to catch a glimpse of the unfamiliar character. He quickly fell back, flinching slightly as the top of his head bumped against something hard. Flinching! He had actually felt the bump!
The sound of heeled boots clacking against the floor echoed through the metal room, and R2 willed himself to keep his eyes closed as the figure approached the bed. There was a sequence of beeps and clicks over his head, supposedly some sort of electronic system meant to monitor him.
"Seems like you're doing well R2-D2. Some astromech droids don't make it through the change well. I'm sure your master will be very pleased to hear so. Mine too, I think. A success like yours is worth noting." There was a faint sound of a heavily exhaled breath, before the steps slowly retreated. "Also, you don't have to pretend that you're asleep, or shut down. We've supplied you with enough power that you should feel energized enough."
R2 slowly opened his new eyes, just catching the flowing back of a long, darkly coloured jacket. Of course the first words that really struck his mind were the statement that he had "made it through the change well". What change? Was this incident the one that led to his new humanoid body?
Once again slowly lifting himself into a sitting position, he began to wrack his memory banks, trying to think back on what had happened just before his waking up. He could clearly bring up the data that was given to him about a mission just past the planet Naboo. R2 had followed suit into a large aircraft, temporarily serving the pilots of the resistance at General Organa's order. His memory supplied him with the image of BB-8 rolling to his side, just on the heels of Master Dameron, and a rich red, mechanical hand waving to him from the ship opposite as the platform slowly lifted up until secure.
He was placed up near the accessible top chambers of the aircraft. As an astromech droid this was where he could be most effective. However, over each turn of his life R2 had developed a sort of personality, most likely due to the fact that every master that he had ever accompanied had detested the idea of wiping his memory bank, if not for the fact that he was a good companion, then for the vast amount of irreplaceable and invaluable information that he held. So, instead of simply staying where he had been placed, he roamed about the airship.
The pilots didn't seem to mind, most of them warm and welcoming to his presence, while others simply shooed him away. R2 let out a string of garbled beeps as he came up on the cabin where Poe had been placed. Due to the pilot's most reputable flying R2 had come to know the man, mostly through Poe's interaction with the general and through his own interactions with BB-8. However, that was enough for R2 to go on.
The astromech rolled into the room, his tripod figure of wheels gliding smoothly against the floor until he had pulled up beside the leather seat where the pilot was stationed. He let out another series of electronic beeps, and Poe gently set his hand on the top of R2's dome, a smile curving up the edge of his lips.
"Hey R2."
No questions were asked of course. Everyone who had been around the resistance's base for long enough after R2 had gained enough power to actually be active, knew of R2's behavior and how it was recepted by the general herself. R2 was hardly treated like a droid anymore it seemed. He spent most of the journey there in that cabin, shutting down once to maintain energy status, BB-8 at his side. (If Poe was somewhere, it was very likely to find the small round droid in his presence.)
This particular mission had little to no risks associated with it, the only possible bumps being a small asteroid field. However, that area was completely avoidable with a good pilot. The ships were simply hauling people and machinery to an area where a separate base was to be established, something of a backup camp due to the fact that their opponents had more than likely caught wind of the current housing base of the general despite the bases being kept secret and heavily guarded. This way there would be little chance of a mishap.
R2 could just make out the surface of a slightly green tinted planet through the front facing windows of the ship. He let out a string of high pitched beeps, and Poe looked over at the droid, a small smile on his face.
"I've never been before, so I guess I'm sort of excited too R2."
BB-8 let out a low whine, and spun his head once in a sort of agreement. The co-pilot glanced over at the two droids- which were now stationed on either side of Poe's seat -before turning back to look out the windows, giving his head a small shake. The man had no clue how to understand Binary.
The large group of ships landed smoothly, the long day darkening into night as the last of the cargo was unloaded onto the planets unusually green surface. R2-D2 hadn't seen so much green since he was on Endor. His head turned slightly as he heard the familiar sound of mechanical joints, and his sensors picked up a familiar feed. C-3PO waddled over to where the astromech was stationed, already uttering complaints about the trip over to the planet. R2 turned his head back in the direction of the other members of the resistance, some turning and heading back towards the two droids who had stayed by the openings of the cargo doors of the ships in case any more help was needed.
A small group was to go back to the main base, where they would look over the primary stronghold of the resistance as well as set up connections to the new base. Poe's earlier co-pilot made his way onto a slightly smaller ship than the one that they had traveled to the planet on. The man made a small waving motion to signal to the droids that they should follow him. C-3PO threw a skeptical and nervous glance over his shoulder before reluctantly following behind R2, who was already at the top of the boarding ramp.
R2-D2 was shown to the main internal power systems of the ship as the only astromech droid that would be aboard, while C-3PO followed the pilots into the cockpit. R2's head spun once, taking in his surroundings in the mechanized room. An array of vibrantly coloured lights lit up the room, making it bright despite the lack of lighting. There were several input ports where he would be able to access the ship's main servers, which made his job that much easier. It seemed like the vessel had been designed with the robot mechanics in mind.
An unfamiliar face of a young boy with a messy mop of light brown hair poked around the frame of the mechanised door. He couldn't have been older than 17 at the most. Though, R2 may not be the most knowledgeable on organics, so he may have been slightly off with his calculation (that was really more of C-3PO's forte anyway, R2 had little to no use for that kind of information). The boy was wearing a dark brown jacket with what looked like a handmade resistance patch sewed onto the sleeve.
"Hi. Wow. Okay, so you're the R2 unit. Wow. Okay cool. Cool." The boy stammered a bit, his voice was a light tenor, his words twisted. He had a dipping and slightly awkward accent that made his mouth into strange shapes as he talked.
R2 let out one long beep, an affirmation, before plugging into the systems as the ship started up. He ran a full check of the vessel, finding no abnormalities.
"Um. I'm, uh, I'm Arkin. Resistance mechanic in training." The boy's dark brown eyes, which seemed to swallow up the whites of a normal human's eyes, darted around the room as if trying to make sense of the systems surrounding him. "They told me to come in here. That I could help?"
He seemed very unsure, and R2 let out a few questioning beeps, something that was lost on the boy. Arkin shook his head, his eyes dropping to the floor as he moved over to one of the control panels that was above R2's reach.
"I'm sorry. I don't know what you're saying. I suppose I could guess, but I hardly think that it would do either of us any good…"
Really? R2 thought. They're going to give me an organic with no way to communicate to each other? Those bastards.
He let his head spin around once, flashing his sensor in what was meant to be something of a reassuring manner. He really didn't need any help, so the boy would be fine.
The ship ascended smoothly, only going through a small rough patch as they exited the atmosphere. The boy sunk to the floor, something that R2 found strange, and beckoned to him.
I'm not a pet. I do not move to be coddled. He beeped once, but the boy continued to wave his hand at the droid as though it would entice him to move over. However, R2 was saved the humility of being treated as a pet as the ship jumped into hyperdrive, the boy's hand slamming down onto the floor as they began traveling at light speed. Some mechanic. Seems like he's never been on a ship before.
The rest of the trip seemed to go smoothly. R2's assistance was hardly requested, and the boy didn't beccon him to come over again. However, R2 did roll over to Arkin's side beeping at him in a way that he was sure had to make sense, despite the fact that he couldn't understand the direct translation of the droid speak, in order to aid the boy as he fiddled with the switches.
Then, without any warning, a high pitched siren began to wail, the majority of the light in the room shifting to a vibrant red. Arkin's head snapped up, eyes shifting away from the controls in a panic. WIthout hesitation the boy scrambled out of the room, leaving R2 to tend to the mechanisms himself. Whimp. You can't leave your post at a time like this, you idiot. Quickly plugging into the drive of the vessel, R2 scanned the ship for damage, finding an oxygen leak on the belly of the ship, and a dangerous rip down the machine's side.
The pilot's voice echoed through the cabin. "R2, do you think you can get the weapons online? My connection is down."
R2 let out a garbled string of beeps as the ship shook violently, quickly connecting the cockpit to the weapons system, and getting the guns online. He let out another string of beeps, disliking his position and the fact that despite what he could feel, and the damage he could see via the ship's database, he was uninformed of what was going on.
"R2, it seems as though we're being shot at!" C-3PO's concerned trill sounded out over the sound system. "The pilot requests your assistance in activating the ship's shields." The ship once again shook violently, and a notification took over R2's vision, showing new damage to the back of the ship, dangerously close to the power systems. "R2 hurry!"
He twisted his probe, sorting through the mechanisms embedded in the ship's mainframe, working as quickly as possible. With no time to notify the front of the ship, R2 began to raise the ship's defense, but the shield was too slow.
The next shot from behind hit the power systems directly and ignited the spare fuel cartridges that they were toting back to the base. In a moment R2 was flung back from his station, ripples of electronic currents climbing up his probe and running through his system. His vocalization and movement capabilities spun out of control, filling the room with a jumbled mess of deafeningly loud Binary, his dome spinning uncontrollably.
The ship shook once more violently and the lights sputtered out along with the sounds of the engine as R2 was thrown back against one of the metal panels. Then there was an unsettling sound before a high pitched whine gave way to a rocking explosion. R2 could vaguely make out the pilots harried words, the high whine of a young boy's voice, and C-3PO's frightened babbling over the sound of his malfunctioning systems. A shock ran through his circuits, and R2 let out a short screaming noise...and then...everything went black.
Hey guys! This is part 1 of a little series that I'm working on, so I hope that you like it!
Let me know what you think. Feedback is always appreciated!
~Castor