I'm back! New chapter! Uh...don't know what to say, so let's jump in. Enjoy, everyone!
"You see what I mean now?" Drakken asked as he and Freya made their way back to their office. "I doubt anybody else on this ship could take out five training droids single-handedly like that."
"Ye didn't do too badly yerself, Drakken me darlin'. Yer gonna have to teach me to shoot like that one day."
"Sure…if you teach me how not to get my ass beaten in every fight I end up in." Drakken chuckled, rubbing his shoulder where a training droid had punched him.
They reached the hatch leading to the office and barracks of Delta-7, and Commander Tharcourt halted. They had been gone for the requisite time Ekks had asked for, spending most of the evening in the training hall and going for a walk around the ship. He felt a tinge of nervousness at the possibilities that may lay within the metal door in front of him. He shook his head and huffed a sigh.
"You know something, Thorne…part of me is terrified to see what Ekks has been up to in our absence." He said. Freya giggled.
"He asked fer a few hours, an' we gave 'im five. I wonder what he's managed t' do with R-5?" She pondered. Drakken's hand halted just over the door controls and he shot a glance toward Mets, who was standing guard. The scout trooper shrugged.
"Cha…don't look at me, sir. When I came on duty, there was this box in there marked 'Sensitive Material', and the place looked like a laboratory."
"Outstanding..." Tharcourt muttered. He opened the hatch and cautiously entered the room, taking note that it did look like some kind of laboratory, mixed with a workshop. Wires, droid parts and tools were everywhere. The two troopers had brought in a diagnostic computer on a stand, and a rolling tool-cart was in the middle of the commons-room floor. There was a welder next to the caf dispenser, and a GNK power droid was standing by one of the benches, saying its title repeatedly.
"Well…they certainly 'ave been busy, 'aven't they now?" Freya remarked. They turned their attention to the corner of the room where the destroyed astromech had been placed earlier. Ekks and Lago were standing in front of a sheet that had been pinned to the wall, forming a curtain over their work. Drakken gave them a curious look.
"Well troopers?" He asked. "There a motive behind all the melodrama?" Ekks grinned.
"He's not completely done, sir." Lago explained. "We just need to make a few fine adjustments, but I was able to get the new CPU to mesh with the original, and I got all of the servos to communicate with the new motivator too. That was a job, seeing as the new one isn't made to interface with the rollers of a standard R-5 unit. And the vocabulator…"
"Lago." Drakken interrupted. "I have no idea what you are saying."
"Oh…" The young stormtrooper said. "I suppose you want to see him."
"That would be nice, yes."
"Well boss…" Ekks began. "This unit isn't like any other in the Empire, so it's kinda appropriate we have a droid that matches our…unique personality." He grabbed the sheet and tugged it free from the wall. It fell away, revealing the droid they had been working on.
R-5 retained his original cylindrical astromech body and legs. Instead of his cone-like head, he now had a flattened round one with multiple eye-like sensors. The new black head was vaguely insect-like with its cluster of photoreceptors and lenses, and the two antennae on top. Five spindly black arms protruded from the droid's gray and black body, poking through small holes cut into the shell of the astromech's chassis. The head looked somewhat familiar to the commander and he couldn't help but comment on the new look of the unit's automaton.
"Is that…" He pointed toward R-5. "…a Viper droid?"
"Actually sir, it's a Viper Security droid." Lago explained. "The Viper probe droids are bigger. This is a newer model, made for patrolling installations and prison guard duty. It has most of the same features, just in a smaller package."
"Uh-huh…" Tharcourt mused. "Does it work?"
"Mostly." Lago answered, and activated the droid via its power button. A reddish glow appeared in the lenses on the new head, which looked from side to side for a moment.
"Whurrnurr…murrnurr-nur-murrnurr." The droid spoke.
"Yes, you have a new head." Lago replied with a chuckle. "You have a few new parts." The droid waved its new arms about and rocked slightly from side-to-side.
"Brununun…nunun…murrrp." It said, then seemed to shudder for a moment. Its head spun back and forth a few times, then it spoke again.
"Looks like it has a bit of a glitch in it." Ekks said. "Gonna have to work that out tonight." He let out a sigh. "Item fifty-one on the list."
"Yeah, but he'll be perfect in another day or so." Lago said confidently. "Right R-5?"
"Nunurn-meneep-blurrrmmmmp." The droid answered, waving one of its arms.
"Oh really?" Lago shot back. "What do you want to be called then?"
"Beedeep-burmp-nurnur. Menenehp bwoop bwooomp."
"Uh…okay."
"What'd he say?" Freya asked.
"He said Ekks inspired him, ma'am. The serial number on his new head is 'GL-1T-C4'. he wants to be called 'Glitch'." Freya smiled happily and knelt down.
"Aww. I love it!" She exclaimed and extended a hand toward the astromech. "It's good to have ye back, and better than ever, Glitch." Glitch beeped and rolled over to the ensign, who hugged the droid. "Ye know, I owe ye one too fer taking that shot fer me."
"Burnurrp bomp nurn-murn-nurn bwurmp."
"He said take better care of yourself and he'll call it even." Lago translated. The droid rolled over to Drakken, who looked down on it with an upraised eyebrow, then sighed and pat Glitch on the head a couple times. The astromech let loose with another line of droid-speak. Ekks laughed into his hand.
"What did he say?" Tharcourt asked.
"He said, um…" Lago stammered. "That you're still okay for a human…"
"The stick?" Drakken grumbled.
"The stick…sir." Lago said, trying not to laugh.
"How does a nice memory wipe sound?" Tharcourt asked coldly. Glitch honked nervously. "Eh, you saved Freya, tin can. I'm starting to warm up to the idea of having a droid around." He gave the astromech/security droid a half smile and it made a happy sound. "Thanks, troopers." He said.
"No prob, bossman." Ekks returned with a two-fingered salute. "Like I said, we have a little more to do. He should be good to go by morning.
"Well, I'm going to go fill out an after-action. Any of you need me, I'll be in the office." The commander stated, before leaving the two troopers to their work.
Tharcourt fell into his desk chair, and drew a datapad from a drawer as Thorne sat at her own desk. He tapped the screen a couple times, then began typing away, penning the narrative of their last mission. He made sure to omit the part where he purchased illegal weaponry with Imperial funds, though he did make a note that going in dressed in civilian clothing had been a tactical success. He heard the distinct sound of something heavy rolling across the floor, and glanced sidelong as Freya rolled her desk chair over to him, propelling it along the metal floor with her feet like a kid would do. He fought the urge to chuckle.
"Ye sure ye don't need me t' write that report?" She asked, placing her elbows on his desk and propping her head up on her hands, looking at him sweetly.
"Nah. There's some things I want to omit…for various reasons." Drakken answered. "I think it better to avoid the trouble it would cause if I mentioned them."
"Aye." Thorne sighed. The mission had been weird in certain spots for sure. "So yer goin t' blave yer way through yer work..." She mumbled.
"Huh? What did you say?" He asked, barely looking up from his tablet. "Something about me having true love in my work?"
"Och neu. I said t' blave. T' blave is t' bluff, Drakken. E'erybody knows that. I certainly did not say true love."
"Oh." Drakken said softly, continuing to type. Freya narrowed her eyes.
"Includin' the part where ye smoked that bounty hunter?" She asked.
"Yep."
"An' the thing with the guy an' all?"
"Uh-huh." He droned. She rolled her eyes.
"An' the dancin' Twi-Lek girls an' the space battle?"
"Yep." He said. She smirked, catching him not paying attention, or she thought she did until his eyes flicked over to her and he grinned devilishly.
"I especially liked that part." He stated. Freya couldn't help it. She burst out laughing, and Drakken went back to typing. He sighed. "I'm leaving out us finding that dead jedi…and I want you to keep it on the down-low too."
"Sure, Drakken." She nodded. "Hey…I wanted to ask…"
"Hm?"
"Whasit with you an' those people?" Thorne asked. "I get the feelin' ye ain't too fond o' them." He finally stopped writing his report and sat the datapad down on the desk.
"You really wanna know, huh?"
"Aye." She answered. "Anything that bothers you is me problem too." He formed a pyramid with his fingers and held the apex to his lips.
"Right…well…" He began, "It's not really what they did, Freya…it's what they were, and what they didn't do, I suppose."
"Can ye vague it up a lil' more fer me?" She commented dryly. He smirked.
"You grew up back then hearing about them. Depends on who you asked, they were either these noble warriors for everything good and right in the galaxy, or they were mystical monks who were some kind of police force for the Republic. I guess the truth probably lay in between." He explained. "The Jedi were some kind of religious order. Though that alone is enough to get me switched into cynical mode, they went around keeping order. Imagine that, Thorne; a bunch of religious nuts with magic powers, running around in a sovereign galaxy with freedom of religion, acting like police based on their own little beliefs."
"Soons kind a' bad." Freya agreed.
"Yes, well…when the war broke out, the Republic put them in charge of the military." Drakken continued. "Priests with swords leading a modern army in combat. It's a wonder the clone army did as well as it did. The problem was I guess…they decided, or maybe it was the republic that decided, which worlds were important to them…and which ones weren't." Freya's eyes widened, and her lip trembled a little.
"No…they didn't…" She muttered. She saw the pain in his eyes in the moment before he spoke.
"They left Garos IV to the seps. Abandoned us. Oh, they came to help us alright. Had a great big pitched battle I saw with my own damned eyes. Thousands of clones killed, probably more droids. Wrecked my city. Razed the forest I played in. Turned fields into craters. The last I saw of the republican army was four cowardly Jedi bastards jumping into the last transport off the planet, leaving wounded clones to the seps and leaving my people to fend for themselves." He balled up a fist, and for a moment, Freya thought he was going to bring it down against his desk. His hand shook, and he slowly opened it, and placed it over his eyes like someone who had just seen something terrible.
"I never forgave them that…" He muttered darkly. "And I later heard that they completely abandoned the Outer Rim to the enemy. You are so damned lucky, Freya…that the CIS didn't find your world."
"I am…so sorry, Drakken." She whispered, placing a hand on his.
"Then they turned on their own government at the end of the war. Tried to assassinate Palpatine…tried to take over." Drakken said softly. "I was young. Gods, I was young, and I had scrapped thousands of clankers. I never got the chance to kill a Jedi." He let out a low growl. "That's why I was mad when we found that one in the desert, love. I was pissed because when I saw him, I knew then and there that they were still alive, and because I wasn't the one who killed him."
"Drakken…don't do that, me darlin'." Freya whispered sadly. "Don't let it eat you up like that." He gave her a helpless look. "I'm so sorry fer what 'appened to ye back then. Wasn't right fer 'em to abandon yer world like that, and I'm right glad they got wot they deserved fer it. People do, I think…get wot they deserve." She smiled sadly. "And you sure as 'ell don't deserve to carry it aroun' yer neck like this."
"Mm. Can't help but hate them…" He muttered. "And I'm not an angry person. I try not to be at least." He noticed Freya giving him a stifled smile. "What?"
"Oh Drakken…yer the angriest man I ever knew." She said softly.
"Oh?" Drakken asked half-heartedly.
"Ye merked an officer fer beatin' on a friend." She reminded him. "I heared ye cleaned out a nest o' rebels almost single-handedly cause ye went an' got yer dander up. I seen you about ready t' kick a dead body because he had the gall t' be deceased. An' how many times ye 'bout been choked by Laird Vader fer talkin' back?"
"I am who I am." He shrugged. "Somebody's got to be."
"Ey." She called lightly, making him look up again. "Yer also the feckin' sweetest man I e'er met, and the best mate somebody could have." She said seriously. "So don't be lettin' a bunch a' dead old space wizards make ye crazy, Drakken Tharcourt." He smiled a little.
"Sure." He returned. "I swear. Sometimes you act like you're my mother."
"Well somebody's gotta take care o' ye." Thorne huffed with a conceited smirk. Just then, as if on cue, the desk beeped. Drakken grumbled and pressed the blue button by the comms set, and a holographic, full-body image of Veruna appeared standing on his desk.
"Drakken, like where in the name of the void have you been?" She greeted. "I've been tryin' to reach you all afternoon, handsome." Freya growled a little. She looked up and down the two-foot-tall image of the ISB agent, having never actually seen this mysterious Veruna until now. Veruna noticed the ensign in the periphery of the camera on the desk. "Oh, Ensign Freya Thorne. It's good to finally meet you, sweetheart. How are you? Keeping Drakken out of trouble?" She smiled.
"Tryin', ma'am." Thorne answered, unsure of how to speak to the intelligence operative.
"Oh, don't be so shy, Thorne. I don't bite…much." Veruna quipped, and chuckled to herself. "You are one awesome, hardcore girl in battle, and I like your style…in every sense of the phrase." She added the last part with a wink. Tharcourt rolled his eyes.
"Oh…thanks, ma'am." Freya said, and gave a nervous smile. She didn't know what to make of this Agent Veruna. The woman was close to Drakken's age from she could see, and she oozed self-confidence and sexuality. Freya could see that she had light-colored highlights in her hair, and wore stylish makeup, all making her look a decade younger. Her tight-fitting pants accentuated her lower body perfectly, and she wore a pair of knee-high, stiletto-heeled boots. Thorne felt herself growing jealous, and couldn't help it.
"The important thing you needed to reach me about all day?" Drakken interrupted impatiently.
"Oh yes. Imperial intelligence let me know what happened on Tatooine." She stated. "If I had known the rebels had an operative there, especially one smart enough to ID you, I would have warned you, or gone there and removed her head for you, sweetie." Freya clenched her teeth at the way Veruna spoke to Tharcourt. She hated feeling this possessive of Drakken, but this flirty, attractive woman was practically throwing herself at him. She got the feeling that Veruna was a bit of a slag.
"I appreciate that, Veruna." Drakken said dryly. "But we took care of it. Thorne made a sarlacc very happy."
"Damn, sweetheart." Veruna remarked, looking over to Freya. "Thanks for saving our Drakey, but remind me never to piss you off." She giggled, and Thorne had a short mental image of Agent Veruna being dragged screaming toward a sarlacc, and her considering whether or not to save her. She chided herself, and imagined that her mother wouldn't be too happy about her little girl being so envious. She huffed a sigh.
"Aye, she 'ad it coming." Freya said.
"So rebel intelligence knows who I am." Tharcourt mused. "I guess its going to be harder to show my face in public now."
"Oh, don't worry about that." Veruna replied. "They don't know exactly what you look like. They know you're a tall, dark-haired officer that travels in a shuttle with a zany mix of Imperial soldiers, and that's about it. They don't even know the names of your men…" She looked off-screen at something. "…just that you have a Deathtrooper and a sniper. You're on their top twenty kill list, but I don't even think you're on their radar yet, Thorne." Freya didn't know whether to feel happy or slighted about that.
"So, she likely didn't know who I was until she saw the others, and put two and two together." Drakken stated.
"And if you two killed her before she got a description out, it's likely nothing's changed." Veruna shrugged. "I thought you might like to know though."
"Yeah, I was actually kind of curious about the whole thing." Tharcourt said. "Thanks for the intel." Veruna smiled.
"No prob. Just be more careful out there. You wouldn't want my life to get boring, would you?" She replied with a caring tone.
"Oh, certainly not." Drakken scoffed. "And deprive you of your entertainment?" He raised his eyebrows knowingly. Veruna grinned nervously.
"I totally don't know what you could be talking about, sweetie…" She responded in a suspiciously sweet voice. Drakken reached into a desk drawer and held up a tiny camera, two wires dangling from the back. Veruna narrowed her black-rimmed eyes. "Yeah, okay…I was wondering what happened to my feed."
"Come on, Zala." Drakken grinned. "You're ISB. I figured you would know better than to try to hide one behind my favorite caf mug." Veruna sighed.
"I'm just doing my job, Drakken." She groaned irritably. "So shoot me. You won't find the next one though."
"Oh, you're on." Tharcourt shot back. Veruna stuck out her tongue childishly. Freya scowled at the banter. Veruna was super cute, and she suddenly felt like the awkward, skinny girl in academy again.
"Our mission is on, by the way." Zala informed him. "Two weeks from today. You help me get the guy I'm after, and I might end up owing you a favor."
"Oh. I don't know what I would do with a favor with ISB." Drakken said dismissively.
"Well…it could be a personal favor." Veruna cooed. Drakken was oblivious as he rolled his eyes and sighed. Freya caught it though; Veruna bit her lower lip for just a moment.
"Alright, well…I have a report to finish, and these troopers don't keep themselves in tip-top shape."
"Oh, okay. A girl can take a hint." Zala sighed. "I'll be in touch about our mission. It was great finally talking to you, Freya. You two have fun. Veruna out." With that, the image disappeared, and Tharcourt shook his head.
"Sorry about that, Freya. Veruna can be a little…much sometimes. You get used to her though…mostly." He looked to see Thorne sitting with her eyes narrowed and a frown on her face. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing." Freya stated coldly. That's what she said. Her mind was saying "What do you think is wrong, Drakken? She's sexy as dammit, and I look like a duffel bag full of kneepads that got kicked down the stairs, and she wants to bed you, you lovely, perfect idiot." But at least what she said sounded better.
"You sure?"
"Aye, I'm sure. Jes annoyed about ye goin' off on a big secret mission without me." Thorne said. It was technically only half a lie.
"Oh. You know I would bring you if I could." He explained. "In fact, I'm not totally sure what exactly the mission is, just that she sequestered me to go." He sighed. "I owed her a favor anyway, and I figure a little side-mission with the ISB won't be much of a problem…hopefully."
"Mm." Thorne hummed lacklusterly. She didn't like the idea of Drakken going on a mission with the ISB agent. At least she got the feeling that as much as Veruna threw herself at him, the man did not reciprocate her feelings. That was a silver lining at least…
"I'm going to finish this report and send it up the food chain. If you don't want to be bored, you can go check on the children." Tharcourt said, and Freya chuckled a little. The unit did sort of feel like some strange family, with Drakken as the father, and the men on the team had made comments to the same effect. She didn't feel quite like the mother yet, mainly because she was still sort of new. Then again, there was Daraay's attitude toward her. She somehow managed to make Freya feel both like a superior officer and a little sister to the Deathtrooper. Then there was the incident where she had overheard Gallen, Mets and Lago talking about 'The Old Man' just as she reached the open hatch of a room. Gallen had made a comment about Thorne being the "Really attractive step-mother". She had blushed deeply and returned from the way she had come in short order.
"Ye sure you don't need me help?" She asked, hoping to spend a little more time with him.
"Nah, I think I got it." He answered. She nodded and stood, and rolled her chair back behind her own desk. "Oh, and Freya?"
"Yeah?"
"Thanks."
"Fer wot?" She asked. He smiled.
"Being someone I can talk to." He said. Freya smiled back, and walked over. Before he could say anything, she leaned over, kissed the top of his head and walked out of the office.
So the team has their droid back, and he's better than ever...well sort of. And we've finally figured out why Drakken hates Jedi so much. Can you blame him though? From his point of view, they abandoned his world to the seps, not to mention that Tharcourt's views on religion are almost as intense as his views on government.
His mission with Veruna is coming up quickly, and it's an arc that I had a lot of fun writing, and I'm sure will make for an entertaining read for all of you. But we have a little more to get through until then. The next chapter will be up soon, so don't forget to tune in next time as Commander Tharcourt does paperwork, Ozzel wants expense reports and Thorne tells stories about growing up on Breoh'Lar. Insane action! Until then loyal readers, cheerio!