"Look," said the human, "I don't like this any more than you do, and complaining won't make it any faster."
"Don't patronize me," said K-2SO. "You're not the one with the restraining bolt."
"You're right. The Empire doesn't give humans second chances."
"That's not because we're an empire," K-2SO explained. "It's because your brains are frail and unstable."
"'We'?" said the human. "Really?"
"Just because I don't serve as a high-ranking officer doesn't mean I don't share sympathy with my organization's goals."
"It was a rhetorical question."
K-2SO remained quiet. The human was being irrational in returning him to his base instead of immediately destroying him. If he was stupid enough to continue, K-2SO would use that information against him and all the other rebels. And if he thought better...Life was brief. K-2SO could calculate more in half a second than the humans could strategize in an hour, probably. He would not shrink from whatever was allotted for him.
The human avoided him for most of the transit through hyperspace, which suited K-2SO fine. He had learned various things about rebels, conflicting things. There were rumors of Partisans who had little trust in automata and would just as soon sell you for scrap and use your intelligence, and pacifist senators who acted like their governing body still held power. This man had come alone. Foolish. Perhaps his group were fewer in numbers than other branches.
Why had the rebel attacked Rudein, anyway? K-2SO had little data on the moon where he had been posted. Strange. Officer Maril had been killed in the skirmish. But before he'd died, he had ordered K-2SO to do something. Hadn't he?
Well, he had his programming, and whether it had come from Maril or not, it would suffice. He would record what he could of this captain.
Eventually, the ship made landfall on a backwater world humid enough to melt his circuits. "Stay here," said the rebel, needlessly. "If this doesn't work, they'll scrap you."
He was baiting him, K-2SO decided, trying to make him ask "if what doesn't work." He would live, or he would die, and there was no sense extrapolating. Ideologues were less flexible than droids, sometimes.
A few minutes later, and the human was standing over him, avoiding the restraining bolt as if it was radioactive. He had another device, though, that he was trying to plug into K-2SO's ports. Some kind of virus?
"Just deactivate me," he said. "I'd rather die than serve your cause." But even as he said this, he wondered. Why was the Empire so devoted to his loyalty? What had it done for him?
"Hold on, Kay," the human said, "hold on-"
Something didn't add up. "How do you know-"
A surge of data. Cassian defying rebel orders to reprogram him the first time. Gossiping with protocol droids about their tiresome human companions. Davits Draven wearily agreeing to allow him to accompany Cassian on missions. Probabilities and improbabilities changing, collapsing, reconfiguring. Cassian trying to make backups of him, just in case.
"How long...How much have I missed?" Kay stammered.
"This was from two weeks ago," said Cassian. "Or it should be. What do you remember?"
"The last thing I said to you was 'this is a stupid idea, but you take too many risks with your own life as it is, so if you let me go into danger to I'll play along with your little game.'" He had agreed to the archive, and then...
Cassian's face reflected a relief that would have prompted less skeptical beings to thank the Force, and he quickly released the restraining bolt. "I'm sorry," he said. "Kay, I'm sorry, but you-I had to-"
"I was not myself," said Kay. "I am only myself, my free self, because of you."
Cassian's muscles relaxed, slightly, but he was still troubled. Did he think Kay regarded him as a creator, that equality was impossible between them?
"Is there anything I told you in the last two weeks that would be important for me to know?" he asked. "Had our relationship changed significantly since this backup was made?"
"No."
"I remember-I have had great fondness for you for some time. I have not wanted you to be overly protective of me as a consequence, and so I did not mention it. But in the event that I am reset, again, I want you to know-"
"Me too, Kay," said Cassian.
Things were not right with the galaxy, Kay knew, but at least in their small corner some order had been restored. "If I may ask, who killed Maril?"
Cassian blinked. "You did. You were very, uh, brave. His underlings weren't too happy about it, though."
"That is not fair. The one time I actually defeat a threat to you, and I can't even remember it? How am I supposed to apply to be trusted with a blaster now?"
Cassian laughed. "Just be yourself, Kay."
A harder challenge than it seemed. But with Cassian, he could try.