Happy New Year!
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"What do you mean, you can't fix him?"
Poe glared at Orian, their one and only droid tech. The young man swallowed at his commander's angry question, but answered. "I've heard this can happen to droids who don't get their memory wiped often enough," he said, trying to maintain eye contact with Poe. "Their memory chip malfunctions and they either go haywire or just die."
"And you can't fix the chip?" Poe was starting to really get angry. The last thing he needed right now was to lose BB-8. "Recharge it, or something?"
Orian huffed. "It doesn't work that way. The chip is fried. All we can do is replace it." He seemed to whither under Poe's angry glare.
"You are not replacing it!" Poe almost shouted. "That would defeat the purpose of fixing my droid. It would just make him a different droid!"
"Sir, I'm sorry," Orian continued. "Most droids don't go more than a year without having a memory wipe done. I don't really understand why people don't do it."
"General Organa's two droids haven't had memory wipes in over thirty years," Poe argued. "They are still functioning fine."
Orian shrugged. "They don't make them like they used to," he quipped, but immediately seemed to regret it as Poe's brows lowered even further.
"Is there anything that can be done to get my droid back?" he asked, his voice deceptively soft.
Orian swallowed again. "There are a couple of droidsmiths I know that might be able to recalibrate its chip," he said. "I've heard of it, but I've never seen it done."
"And can you get in contact with one of these droidsmiths?" Poe briefly wondered where Babu Frik had gone. Zorii would probably know.
"Yes," the tech said. "But with all that's going on right now, I don't know if I'll be able to meet with them."
Poe sighed. He was right. They were currently on course for Tatooine, where one of the largest forces of Traagmol yet were rendezvousing. One of the biggest battles of this war was imminent. He pointed at BB-8. "You keep him safe," he growled at Orian. Then he pointed at the chip in the tech's hand. "And you keep that safe until we can get someone to look at it and get it fixed." He would not give up on his friend. "Lose it, and you're not only demoted, you're off this ship." Giving one last glance at his silent partner, Poe turned and left the lab.
He was moving quickly toward the bridge, his heart beating in time to the rhythmic throb of the Organa's hyperdrive, when Mikaela came around the corner.
"There you are," she said with a smile. "Where were you? I thought we were meeting for lunch?"
"I had something come up," he told her with a grimace. "Sorry."
She touched his arm lightly. "What's wrong? You look upset."
He shrugged, feeling some of his anger ebb. "Something happened to BB-8," he told her. "He just… died… last night. He had been acting a bit strange for a couple of hours, not really answering my questions, and then he just… died."
"Oh, Poe," she said with a frown. "I'm so sorry." Her voice was calming, her eyes almost hypnotic as they filled with compassion.
"The tech thinks it's because he's never had his memory wiped," Poe told her. "All my life, I've been told that it was necessary to do that, but I've known so many people who don't bother. People who like their droids to develop personalities. I know that's why I couldn't do that to BB-8."
He felt Mikaela give his arm a squeeze. "I know you cared for him, but it's not like he was doing a whole lot around here since you're not flying. Right?"
Poe gave her a mild glare. "Mik, he was more than an astromech droid, you know that." He was a friend. The only one who Poe felt he could really count on right now, in fact.
Poe felt the floor shudder and the engine sound change. They had exited hyperspace. "I gotta get to the bridge," he told her, ducking past her and running. He pulled out his commlink as he ran. "Fighters, prepare to launch!" He didn't know what awaited them at Tatooine, but he was not going to be caught off guard.
"General," Connix's voice came over his commlink. "The Traagmol fleet is on the far side of the planet."
Poe breathed a sigh of relief. "Keep an eye on them. I'm almost there."
Time to get back to work. He would have to worry about BB-8 later.
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