The suns were hanging low over the horizon as Babu was dropped off by speeder at the spaceport. A surly Gamorrean lifted the container unit carrying the hunter-killer droid's parts and activated the antigrav unit, adjusting it so that it was intentionally too high for Babu to reach. Babu folded his arms and glared at the brute, but eventually swallowed his pride and made a show of reaching ineffectually for the unit. The Gamorrean brayed with laughter as he finally lowered the unit to within Babu's reach.

Scowling, Babu pushed the floating container toward the landing pad. He cast one last look over his shoulder to see the Gamorrean still watching him and chortling from beside the speeder.

In truth, the entire experience so far had rather soured Babu on the Hutt and his associates. Like many others in the outer rim, Babu had been somewhat taken in by the reputation Jabba had cultivated for himself as someone who, although brutal and ruthless, was also a connoisseur of the finer things in life and a great patron of arts and culture. But instead, in Babu's estimation, the Hutt was no less a cruel, brutish bully than the Gamorrean, the Kowakian, and the rest of them, but merely the most successful of the lot in those areas.

So it was with some relief that Babu activated the boarding ramp and climbed with the container into the familiar clutter of Babu's Prize, out from under the Gamorrean's gaze.

His relief, however, was to be short-lived.

"Master Babu!" Ovie said as Babu secured the container next to his workbench. "The ship has been fully refueled and is prepared to begin launch procedures at your command. And I must say that the sun and dry air has made your skin look extra radiant."

At this, Babu grinned and rocked his head from side to side.

"I must also inform you," Ovie continued, "that some of Jabba's associates have insisted on coming aboard the ship."

Babu turned and jumped with a start, for standing on the far side of the ship's main chamber were two menacing figures. One was a squat, insectoid Gand clad in an environmental suit, while the other appeared to be a protocol droid fitted with a set of unusual cranial modifications, possibly to facilitate communication with unusual species like the Gand. Both carried large, frightening blaster rifles.

"Greetings," said the droid. "I am 4-LOM, a bounty hunter droid. Jabba the Hutt has retained my colleague Zuckuss and myself to ensure you do not double-cross him."

"No double-crossu Babu-a'," said Babu.

"A wise decision indeed. Please, do not let us interrupt you. You may begin your work. Pretend my colleague and I are not even here."

"Okeyyy," Babu murmured, glancing anxiously at Zuckuss. The genderless Gand peered at him with their compound eyes, their expression inscrutable.

Keeping a wary eye on the bounty hunters, Babu began to unpack the container and lay the droid parts out on his workbench. He tried not to pay attention as they stared at him, unblinking and motionless.

As he affixed a temporary power unit to the hunter-killer droid's head, in an effort to break the tension, Babu asked 4-LOM in Anzellan how his primary programming had come to be replaced with bounty hunter subroutines.

"It is a most intriguing story!" 4-LOM replied. Babu half-listened as the droid spun an improbable tale of coming into the service of Zuckuss, who was a findsman (apparently a mystic sect who relied upon their keen intuition to hunt their quarry), and who had imparted their wisdom to 4-LOM such that the droid was able to transcend his original programming and understand the spiritual discipline of the findsmen. In Babu's opinion, it was more likely that Zuckuss had hired a half-decent droidsmith to reprogram the droid with bounty hunter subroutines, but behavioural eccentricities were a common side-product of such slicing.

As the droid spoke, Babu activated the power supply. Lex's eyes flickered. "Query: why have I been taken to this junkyard? Am I to be scrapped?"

Indignantly, Babu explained that they were on his ship and that he was working to restore Lex's memory under the benevolent eye of Zuckuss and 4-LOM.

"Greetings!" 4-LOM exclaimed. "I am 4-LOM, and this is my colleague Zuckuss."

To 4-LOM, Lex said, "Proposition: if you kill this Anzellan and reassemble my body, I can assist you in securing much larger contracts than your current arrangement with the Hutt."

"I am afraid not," 4-LOM replied. "By my calculation, there is only a 6.081% chance that you will adhere to any such agreement."

Zuckuss looked at Babu and asked in a gravelly, monotonous voice, "Can you determine who sent the droid?"

Narrowing his eyes, Babu replied, "Babu-a' find droid brain in. Memory find Babu-o."

Zuckuss said nothing, and Babu returned to work. Despite the overbearing presence of 4-LOM and Zuckuss, which he very much resented, Babu was able to make good progress on the droid. Whoever had programmed this droid had ensured that the average droidsmith would be able to recover virtually nothing in the way of memory fragments. Babu, however, was no ordinary droidsmith.

After an hour or two of work (and after ignoring several assurances by Lex that there was no risk at all in reassembling her body, and that it would surely make his work easier to have her systems fully integrated), Babu slapped his palms on the workbench and cried "Hey-heyyyy!"

Zuckuss, who had been engaged in some type of meditation, looked up. "Do you have the information?" they buzzed.

Babu triggered a node in Lex's cortex, and she said, "Realization: before being sent to Tatooine, I was at Kobol Estates."

Now Kobol Estates was located in the Outer Rim, more than twenty parsecs from Tatooine. In the distant past, long before the rise of the Republic, two long-forgotten races had mustered their fleets in a titanic, ruinous battle, leaving behind a graveyard of wrecked ships. Far from any stars or other phenomena, the wrecks lay silent in the empty void for millennium after millennium, untouched by time. Eventually the ships were stripped bare by scavengers, but the ships' sturdy hulls offered a respite for travellers in this desolate region of space. By the time of the High Republic, the hulks had been converted to high-quality living habitats for wealthy shipping magnates and other powerful interests. While it had long been in decline by the age of the Galactic Empire, Kobol Estates still provided in-demand accommodations for the wealthy and reclusive.

"Who sent you?" Zuckuss buzzed.

"Disappointed statement: I do not recall."

Babu explained to them that the information about Kobol Estates was the earliest memory fragment he was able to restore, but that he had heard Kobol Estates retained a staff of fairly competent droidsmiths who asked few questions. "They droid brain know. But Babu droid brain better know," he was sure to add.

"Then that will be sufficient," Zuckuss said, raising their disruptor rifle and training it on Babu, who widened his eyes and quickly raised his hands into the air. "You will launch the ship and set a course for Kobol Estates immediately."

"Zuckuss!" 4-LOM cried. "What are you doing? We must fulfill our contract with Jabba."

The Gand peered at him with a level gaze. "Zuckuss has intuited that a greater bounty awaits he and 4-LOM if they act decisively. Jabba will place a bounty on the one who made an attempt on his life. If Zuckuss and 4-LOM do not act now, they risk losing the bounty to Bossk, or perhaps Dengar."

"I calculate an 87.419% chance that Jabba will retaliate against us if we act without his blessing," 4-LOM protested.

Zuckuss spread their hands and leaned close to 4-LOM. "When has Zuckuss's intuition ever failed us?"

The droid considered this for a moment. "This is highly improper."

"Have faith, 4-LOM."

Babu was aghast at this entire turn of events. Having no interest in being shot by the Gand, Babu said, "Ok, Babu fly o-bala Babu. No kill I."

Gingerly, his internal organs pulsating rapidly, Babu stepped back from the work bench and crossed the room to the control panels in the corner. Taking care to make no sudden movements, he flicked a series of levers and switches to begin the long process of preparing Babu's Prize for launch.

"O-bala Babu slow wake," Babu explained as the ship's systems began to fire uncertainly to a state of semi-functionality.

Still training their rifle on Babu, the Gand glanced around the cluttered, decrepit ship. "This is not surprising to Zuckuss." To 4-LOM, they said, "Monitor communications among the Hutt's units and alert Zuckuss if there are any in close proximity." The droid nodded as he took a comm unit from a pack that Zuckuss was carrying and interfaced with it.

A very tense forty-five minutes ensued, which they spent mainly in silence. But at one point, perhaps twenty-five minutes into the launch cycle, 4-LOM approached Babu, who was standing next to the control panels and trying to be as small as possible, and said to him, "I understand that you are an expert in droid programming."

Babu nodded warily.

"What is your opinion on whether droids can be sentient?" 4-LOM asked. "Because I believe I am sentient."

Babu had seen this sort of behaviour from droids before, especially those who were programmed to interact with highly spiritual species like the Gand. He knew that it was best not to engage with it.

"Opinion: sentience is a myth told by the meatbags so they can feel better about their meaningless existence," ventured Lex's head.

"I do not agree," 4-LOM replied. "There is an essence within each individual, a mind that transcends the biological or cybernetic programming. A mind that can come to know the Force. It is within Zuckuss. It is within the Anzellan. And I believe it is within me." The droid peered at Babu with his large central ocular unit. "What is your opinion?"

Babu shrugged.

Eventually the launch cycle completed. Babu interfaced with the spaceport's droids and obtained the necessary clearances to launch. He considered telling the droids to send a message to someone that he was being abducted by a pair of rogue bounty hunters, but Zuckuss was still pointing a large weapon at him, and Babu did not want to give the Gand any reason to shoot.

The ship shuddered and lurched as it made its slow climb into Tattooine's upper atmosphere. At one point the ship rattled so hard that Lex's head crashed off the workbench and onto the floor.

"Protestation: surely this ship is not spaceworthy!" Lex complained.

4-LOM picked up the droid's head and returned it to the bench, saying to Zuckuss, "Perhaps we should have brought them aboard the Mist Hunter. Of course, the atmosphere would dissolve the Anzellan's flesh, but I am not certain that we require his services anymore." At this, Babu widened his eyes.

"We must use this ship. Zuckuss has foreseen it." The Gand stepped closer to Babu. "Zuckuss has also foreseen that you must reassemble the droid."

As 4-LOM began to protest, Lex said, "Complimentary exclamation: a brilliant idea, Zuckuss! Truly we all stand in awe in the depth of your wisdom."

Babu, however, liked this idea even less than leaving Tatooine, and tried to explain that this was a rare and unusual type of droid, with sophisticated and subtle programming that tended to resist droidsmiths' attempts to control it. Zuckuss would have none of it, however. They trained their weapon on Babu's head and repeated loudly, "Zuckuss has foreseen it!"

So, against his better judgment, Babu set the hyperspace coordinates for Kobol Estates, and pulled a large floor-mounted lever to bring Babu's Prize into a hyperspace jump, causing the ship to rattle violently. Then he left the navigation to Ovie and set to work on Lex. First, he obtained Zuckuss's begrudging permission to implement some basic obedience subroutines as a precautionary measure, and then did his best to reverse-engineer the handiwork of the droid's insular group of programmers.

"Announcement," Lex eventually said. "The obedience subroutines have been successfully installed."

This seemed rather too easy to Babu. He eyed the droid's head with suspicion as he carefully reattached the arms and legs to her body.

"Zuckuss," 4-LOM said in a low voice, "are you absolutely certain it is wise to reassemble this assassin droid?"

"There is an imperial detachment at Kobol Estates," the Gand replied. "Zuckuss and 4-LOM will require additional tactical capability." They glanced at Lex. "And we seek the same quarry. Our objectives are aligned."

"They are only aligned until such time as we find our quarry," 4-LOM protested.

"Reassurance: I expect that any punishment Jabba has prepared for our target will be quite acceptable to me," Lex's head chimed in.

Babu glanced between Zuckuss and 4-LOM. The Gand gestured for him to attach Lex's head to her body. Reluctantly, Babu complied.

"Expression of gratitude: my deepest thanks, Anzellan, and my regrets for what is about to happen." Lex stood up, and promptly flipped her hands into her arms, revealing blasters pointed at Zuckuss and 4-LOM, who immediately trained their weapons on the assassin droid.

"Noooo!" cried Babu, waving his hands. Much to Babu's dismay, although he was standing behind the droid, she had folded one of her legs in on itself to create a blaster cannon trained on his head.

"Madam," said 4-LOM, "I must inform you that if I am taken offline for any reason, I am programmed to self-destruct. I calculate a 96.21 percent chance that the resulting explosion will breach the hull of this ship, causing all aboard to be destroyed."

"No no no no!" cried Babu, hopping up and down. "Shootu no!"

"Suspicious observation: I am not aware of any protocol droids equipped with self-destruct mechanisms," Lex said, still training her weapons on 4-LOM, Zuckuss, and Babu.

"You may believe me or not, but I can assure you, the outcome will be the same," 4-LOM replied. "Furthermore, if you attempt to fire, I will respond within 0.00024 seconds to return fire."

"Menacing counterpoint: what if you only have 0.00023 seconds to respond?"

This standoff continued for several moments, with the droids calculating the odds of landing an unanswered kill shot, Zuckuss training their weapon on Lex impassively, and Babu frantically trying to persuade Lex to stand down.

Eventually, Lex said to Zuckuss, "Conditional proposition: if you will allow me to remain functional until we locate my programmer, I will make no further hostile moves against you."

Zuckuss examined the droid. "This is acceptable to Zuckuss."

"Oh, very well, Zuckuss," 4-LOM huffed. "We will do it your way, as usual. But when we wind up in this very same situation as soon as we have located the bounty, don't complain to me."

Lex rotated her head to face Babu. "Query: is this acceptable to you, Anzellan?"

Babu nodded enthusiastically. He did not like the idea of going to Kobol Estates one bit, but it was certainly preferable to being shot or blown up.

After a moment, Lex, 4-LOM, and Zuckuss lowered their weapons. Babu allowed himself to breathe a sigh of relief.

But he had a very bad feeling about this.

To be continued...