Chapter 46 - What's not Broke...

Little changes for Huyang. Earlier in the day he sat in a cell waiting on the Pirate Captors to decide what to do with him. Now, he sits and waits for Thief to decide what to do with him. 'But at least your limbs are still attached', the droid reminds himself. If he were a human, surely Huyang would be sighing.

The Pirates outside have been trying to get in for the better part of the day, and trying to convince Thief to open the door for them the rest of it. Huyang doesn't know if he should be encouraging their "rescue" or not, but he would surely laugh at their efforts so far, if his humor-chip didn't need repairs. All the Pirates have done is beg, demand, then beg some more. Huyang thanks the Makers that none of them were ever selected to join the Jedi order. But then, some education could've done them well.

"Aco-oooo!" The Pirate captain drawls. "Listen, I've been playing this nicely. If you don't open that hatch…" The pirate captain never does finish his threat, but Huyang logs the change in behavior from begging to threatening in his files for further analysis later.

Thief looks unperturbed by the threat, as he barely looks up from the ship's computer. On which he's been playing a game of sorts in which he steers and mans the guns of a little fighter ship which has somehow ended up in the middle of four perpendicular asteroid belts. His shooting has been nominally average at best. Huyang thinks the meathead could use an upgrade. Definitely before Huyang ever intends to get in a ship with him.

"Hello, hello," a new voice plays on the ship's comms.

'No, not a new voice,' Huyang thinks. 'Vocal sample match. Identity confirmed: Obi-Wan Kenobi. Status: Jedi. Latest rank: Master. This is good. Oh hydrospanners, this is good news!' If Huyang could he would be smiling right now.

Thief barely looks up at the new voice.

"Hello, Aco-Ness, my name is Ben and I'd like to talk to you." says Kenobi again.

'Ben, I should add that to Kenobi's file on known aliases. Gee, I hope he's not going to go about the same pattern of begging, and demanding that the other Pirates have been doing. But then amongst his other aliases is "The Negotiator." Perhaps I should be encouraging Thief to communicate this time.'

"Hello," whispers another voice.

"Hmm, This one sounds like an adolescent. Seventeen year old human male, I estimate." Huyang says out loud. He is about ninety seven percent sure of his estimation. He does have a lot of experience with younglings of varying ages.

"Hi, my name is Luke Skywalker. Is there anything you need, or- or want? We are here to help."

'Luke Skywalker. Could he be Kenobi's Padawan? Last my files were updated, he had no Padawans. But then his previous Padawan was designated Anakin Skywalker. Though the exact probability of such occurring is one hundred ten-thousand five hundred eighty three to one.'

"I sense no deception coming from the boy." Huyang adds. Of course his deception sensing chip is as fried as Corellian Boonty Chips, but leaving that unsaid, it barely qualifies as a lie. Huyang received his tactical rhetoric programming from one of the younglings he'd taught. Jedi Master Windu was not a fan of it.

"Look, I know rules can suck, especially when they come from bogus ideas about what is best for you. But I really want to understand. Why are you in there?" Skywalker II asks.

Something beyond Huyang's perceptive abilities makes Thief stop his hand movements over the computer controls. Thief stares out into space. Huyang's empathy chip delivers an error report trying to read Thief's face.

Thief reaches up and presses a button on the ship's comm unit. "Luke?"

"Yes, I'm here. Can you answer my questions?" Skywalker II sounds excited.

"Questions?" Thief's expression gives Huyang another error report trying to process it. What comes through is that the expression is fifty percent confused and thirty percent enraged. The remaining twenty percent is a mix of pain and fear.

'Thief sure is a complicated Meat Bag.'

Thief's breathing rate increases and Huyang is unable to predict what he'll do next. Suddenly Thief shouts at the comm device, "You can tell the boss he's going to die!"

"Woah there buddy," Skywalker II sounds as perplexed as Huyang's servers are right now! "Those are strong words...Uh, can you tell me more?"

'Okay, now I know that boy is under the tutelage of Kenobi. Ninety nine percent likelihood. No one but the Negotiator would be trying to get him to talk after a statement like that.'

"No." Thief's facial expressions read at about seventy percent fear. He stands up and begins to pace, holding the commlink in his hand "No, no, no." Then in a moment he stops moving and pain flashes across his face, but so brief the droid suspects it may be another error. A second later, Huyang reads him as having a neutral face of no emotions at all. "Orders," he says.

"No orders, is that one of your complaints or is it a demand?" Skywalker II asks.

The fear is back in Thief's eyes. "Get away from here before!" Then Thief's face became washed over, as if he was on one of those drugs meatheads insist on poisoning themselves with. "Before cool rivers, running in the meadow…" Thief's hand drops the commlink. "Before everything is peaceful and nothing is wrong ever again."

Huyang just sits there staring and trying to contemplate what is happening. 'The probability values are low, but then drug use might explain a few things about my idiosyncratic captor.'

Thief sits back down and resumes his play at the ship's computer. Several minutes later, he stops his game and looks up when he hears a noise in the other compartment of the ship. He stands, and walks towards it with ninety percent curiosity on his face.

Huyang takes this opportunity to insert his splicer-finger into the computer terminal. Little known fact, but Mark Four Architect droids are not built with splicer-fingers. Huyang acquired his about thirty years ago. A matter of weeks after one of the regularly scheduled Gatherings, he was brought out again for a single youngling. Why this youngling had not gone with his age-mates in the last gathering, Huyang was never told. The boy proved to be very skilled at understanding mechanics, and he would have built his lightsaber in record time, only he proved to be easy to distract as well. To most younglings, the trip to get their kyber crystals is one of their first trips in outer space, but this one kept marveling that the ship had a shower, of all things.

That boy's Master, Master Kenobi actually, decided to offer the youngling the chance to look at Huyang's systems, if he'd focus on the tasks at hand. Well, by the time that trip was over, Huyang had several upgrades, and would have had more if Master Kenobi hadn't put his foot down at the ones which were illegal everywhere outside of Hutt Space.

Those upgrades were installed later, as this youngling had an unfortunate habit of losing his lightsaber. That or maybe he just enjoyed seeing Huyang so much he couldn't keep himself away. Huyang likes to think so.

Huyang enjoys these memory files. The padawan's upgrades were not so popular amongst other Jedi who liked things to stay the same. So much so, that when this Jedi's turn came up to lead the Gathering, the other Jedi conveniently scheduled him to be otherwise occupied and had his Padawan do it. Other Jedi take to the philosophy that if it's not broken, it doesn't need fixing. That is why Huyang always liked Jedi Knight Skywalker, now designated Skywalker I. The boy's proactive mind would serve the Jedi well, he calculated.

Now, Huyang's upgrades used to enable him to connect with the Crucible, his old ship, with the Makers rest her parts. She was a really good friend, and would sometimes wake him from his hibernation between gatherings so they could spend time together. This ship he and Thief are on now is not the Crucible, however, and it's circuits are not used to his entry. He's been trying to get past a firewall and access it's computer, but it is slow work.

'There.' Huyang's just made it in and he goes to introduce himself to the ship, designated TX Stormchaser. It's only polite, after all, he is traipsing around in her networks. She communicates in binary, which to Huyang is like a mother tongue.

01000111 01110010 01100101 01100101 01110100 01101001 01101110 01100111 01110011 00100000 01010100 01011000 00100000 01010011 01110100 01101111 01110010 01101101 01100011 01101000 01100001 01110011 01100101 01110010 00101100 00100000 01001001 00100000 01100001 01101101 00100000 01001000 01110101 01111001 01100001 01101110 01100111

"Greetings TX Stormchaser. I am Huyang."

01001001 01110100 10000000011001 01110011 00100000 01101110 01101001 01100011 01100101 00100000 01110100 01101111 00100000 01101101 01100101 01100101 01110100 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101

"It's nice to meet you," TX replies. She seems pleased to finally have someone to talk to.

01001001 00100000 01101000 01100001 01110110 01100101 00100000 01100010 01100101 01100101 01101110 00100000 01101001 01101110 00100000 01110100 01101000 01101001 01110011 00100000 01101000 01100001 01101110 01100111 01100101 01110010 00100000 01100110 01101111 01110010 00100000 01110011 01100101 01110110 01100101 01110010 01100001 01101100 00100000 01110011 01100101 01100001 01110011 01101111 01101110 01110011

"I have been in this hanger for several seasons," TX continues.

01010111 01100001 01110011 00100000 01110011 01110100 01100001 01110010 01110100 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01110100 01101111 00100000 01110100 01101000 01101001 01101110 01101011 00100000 01001001 10000000011001 01100100 00100000 01100010 01100101 01100101 01101110 00100000 01100110 01101111 01110010 01100111 01101111 01110100 01110100 01100101 01101110 00100000 01100001 01100010 01101111 01110101 01110100

"Was starting to think I'd been forgotten about," TX adds.

01001001 00100000 01100001 01101101 00100000 01100111 01101100 01100001 01100100 00100000 01110100 01101111 00100000 01101101 01100001 01101011 01100101 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 01110010 00100000 01100001 01100011 01110001 01110101 01100001 01101001 01101110 01110100 01100001 01101110 01100011 01100101

"I am glad to make your acquaintance," Huyang replies.

01001001 00100000 01100100 01101111 00100000 01101110 01101111 01110100 00100000 01101101 01100101 01100001 01101110 00100000 01110100 01101111 00100000 01110011 01110100 01100101 01110000 00100000 01101111 01101110 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 01110010 00100000 01110100 01101111 01100101 01110011 00101100 00100000 01001001 01110100 00100111 01110011 00100000 01101010 01110101 01110011 01110100

"I do not mean to step on your toes, It's just…" Huyang is interrupted.

01010111 01101000 01100001 01110100 00100000 01101001 01110011 00100000 01110100 01101000 01101001 01110011 00100001 00100000 01011001 01101111 01110101 00100000 01100001 01110010 01100101 00100000 01100001 00100000 01100100 01101001 01110011 01110100 01110010 01100001 01100011 01110100 01101001 01101111 01101110 00100001

"What is this! You are a distraction!" TX near shouts at Huyang. He sees what has upset her. Another program is trying to breach the firewall now.

01001110 01101111 00101100 00100000 01001001 00100000 01100001 01101101 00100000 01101110 01101111 01110100 01101000 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01101111 01100110 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 00100000 01110011 01101111 01110010 01110100

"No, I am nothing of the sort." Huyang defends himself.

01010111 01101000 01100001 01110100 00100000 01101001 01110011 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 00100000 01110000 01110010 01101111 01100010 01100001 01100010 01101001 01101100 01101001 01110100 01111001 00101100 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 00100000 01100011 01101111 01101101 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01101000 01100101 01110010 01100101 00100000 01101010 01110101 01110011 01110100 00100000 01110111 01101000 01100101 01101110 00100000 01100001 00100000 01101000 01100001 01100011 01101011 01100101 01110010 00100000 01101001 01110011 00100000 01110100 01110010 01111001 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01110100 01101111 00100000 01100001 01100011 01100011 01100101 01110011 01110011 00100000 01101101 01111001 00100000 01110011 01100101 01110010 01110110 01100101 01110010 01110011 00111111

"What is the probability, you coming here just when a hacker is trying to access my servers?" TX questions.

00110101 00110100 00110011 00100000 01110100 01101111 00100000 00110001 00100000 01100001 01101100 01101100 00100000 01110100 01101000 01101001 01101110 01100111 01110011 00100000 01100011 01101111 01101110 01110011 01101001 01100100 01100101 01110010 01100101 01100100

"Five hundred forty three to one, all things considered," Huyang states. One of the upgrades Skywalker I installed was a statistical analysis program. Most often used in gambling casino droids, the boy had to argue with his Master to let him. Huyang remembered the youngling had gone on about all the practical uses of said programming, and about how he installed it in another droid he'd built some seasons ago. Out of trash he'd gathered himself! Of course this brings up the obvious, what was a Jedi youngling doing in the trash? Huyang had lodged a formal complaint with the council after that, and he assumed Kenobi did the same. Now he's just thankful that he has the programming. If good for nothing else, it does impress the feminine AI programs. Huyang can see the attraction flame in her programming. He's winning her over.

01000001 01100011 01110100 01110101 01100001 01101100 01101100 01111001 00101100 00100000 01110100 01101000 01101001 01110011 00100000 01101001 01110011 00100000 01100001 00100000 01100111 01101111 01101111 01100100 00100000 01110100 01101000 01101001 01101110 01100111 00101110 00100000 00100000 01001001 01110100 00100000 01101101 01100101 01100001 01101110 01110011 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 00100000 01100110 01101111 01101100 01101011 01110011 00100000 01101111 01110101 01110100 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 01110010 01100101 00100000 01110100 01110010 01111001 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01110100 01101111 00100000 01100111 01100101 01110100 00100000 01101001 01101110 00100000 01101000 01100001 01110110 01100101 00100000 01110011 01101111 01101101 01100101 00100000 01100010 01110010 01100001 01101001 01101110 01110011 00100000 01100001 01100110 01110100 01100101 01110010 00100000 01100001 01101100 01101100 00101110

"Actually, this is a good thing. It means the folks out there trying to get in have some brains after all." Huyang interprets. He delves into his memory files and plays it for TX.

01001111 01101000 00101100 00100000 01110100 01101000 01101001 01110011 00100000 01101001 01110011 00100000 01110011 01101111 00100000 01101001 01101110 01110100 01100101 01110010 01100101 01110011 01110100 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100001 00100000 00100000 01000001 00100000 01101000 01100101 01101001 01110011 01110100 00101100 00100000 01100001 01101110 01100100 00100000 01100001 00100000 01110010 01100101 01110011 01100011 01110101 01100101 00100000 01100001 01110100 01110100 01100101 01101101 01110000 01110100 00101110 00100000 00100000 01001001 11100010 10000000 10011001 01101100 01101100 00100000 01101100 01100101 01110100 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 00100000 01101000 01100001 01100011 01101011 01100101 01110010 00100000 01101001 01101110 00100000 01101110 01101111 01110111 00101110 00100000 00100000 01011001 01101111 01110101 11100010 10000000 10011001 01110110 01100101 00100000 01100111 01101111 01110100 00100000 01110100 01101111 00100000 01110100 01100101 01101100 01101100 00100000 01101101 01100101 00100000 01101101 01101111 01110010 01100101 00100001

"Oh, this is so interesting! A heist, and a rescue attempt. I'll let the hacker in now. You've got to tell me more!" TX excitedly requests.

"Waiting for whom?" The Pirate Captain Venham repeated his question when all he got were worried looks. "I've known Aco-Ness all my life. We were both orphaned young. He knows no one else. Not well enough to expect…"

"I'm sending the droid to connect to the ship's computers. Get a list of recent communiques sent and received," announced the Freighter Captain Ben. His young associate, Luke, was the one who moved to the controls. "I'd like to see the door of the ship."

Venham obediently led him there. When they got to the door, Ben placed his hand on the panel. Then the weirdest thing happened. Ben closed his eyes and the door clicked open.

Venham was aghast. "J-j-je-jed-jedi," he stuttered. There would be no denying it now.

Ben moved his shoulders to unwind them. "I want to warn you. I have had suspicions since we first talked to Aco-Ness. Your man might not be in control of his own mind. Be prepared."

"No. No, I won't let you go in there." Venham did the only reasonable thing a man in his position could do. He reached for his blaster and held it at the lowlife.

Ben held his hands up, but his face stayed calm, as if he really didn't believe Venham would shoot him.

"Come on now. I made you no threat, and I know you're not the type of man to do such a thing." Ben said, almost as if he read Venham's mind. "You boys were raised with honor."

"I won't let you lay a hand on Aco. He's like my brother," Venham insisted. He hoped he sounded more intimidating than he heard in his own voice. Stories about the Jedi's cruelty spread like wildfire when he was a kid. Sure the ones about them eating younglings who stayed up at night were probably exaggerations, but the others? Venham didn't want to find out.

"I won't harm your brother. I want to help him. Free his mind from what is controlling him, if I can. I have a friend who's like a brother too. I'd want the same for him."

Venham stood there frozen with indecision. A part of his mind knew he should just shoot the Jedi there and then. 'But then what if what he's saying is true? What if he really can help Aco-Ness. And if I shoot him, what would I do with the other one? He's probably a Jedi too, but he's still a kid.'

As Venham was making up his mind, that boy ran over. "Uncle Ben!" Luke was hyperventilating.

'Uncle, do Jedi have families too?' Venham was starting to feel bad about his reaction earlier. Just starting to.

"I hacked the ship's computers, and." Luke gasped for breath. "The communiques, they're to the Black squadron. ETA is…" Luke looked down to read his timepiece, "Right now."

Suddenly a loud bang and a clunking sound could be heard outside. Someone was landing.

Without thinking, Venham pushed his way through the now unlocked door. 'Thanks Jedi.' And he found Aco-Ness walking into the front cabin. "Aco, just what did you do?" He reached out to shake the man.

Aco only growled and pulled out a knife. Venham screamed as he stabbed him.

Hello Again,

Bonus Points go out to anyone who can guess what arcade game Aco-Ness is playing on the ship's computer.

And I received no answers to my inquiry last week, so I decided to use my version. At least in Huyang's perspective, it's true. I imagined youngling Anakin meeting Huyang and making his own lightsaber and I couldn't imagine him not wanting to fiddle with Huyang's servers. Plus I assume all older Jedi who need to make a new lightsaber at least have to have it approved by the professor, if they don't get their parts from him also. And Anakin is notorious for losing his saber.

Making Huyang have a conversation with the ship he's on is something I didn't have planned until I did it. I hope the way I wrote the binary doesn't make it difficult to read. It does break up paragraphs a bit. I had to use a converter program online to get the binary, so it should translate back. But I'm no computer expert, so I really don't know. And I reallydidn't intend to have him flirt with her, that kinda just happened when I was editing. Anyways, now that I've written TX as a character, and not just a junked out ship, I may need to figure out how to save her too. Good thing Anakin's on this mission. ;)

And if it's not clear, that second hacker that TX and Huyang sense is Luke. So Huyang helps him too.

P.S. Sorry about that cliffhanger, I originally just had them yell at eachother, but then this popped into my head and I like it better. ;)

Next chapter begins where this one left off. I think this next one will at least have another surprise for you. Whether it will actually conclude this mission or not remains to be seen. I'll see you then.