Jess was the one to find the broken droid, languishing under a pile of other broken machines in a corner behind the base. There was a glint in the shadows which simply drew her eye.
"Testor," Poe called.
It was a BA unit, but with much of its black paint worn away. Its shell was battered and gouged, in a way that didn't suggest wear and tear or battle damage.
"C'mon Jess." Poe was, like all of them, dressed in First Order uniform - an engineer. Jess, her face largely unknown to the enemy, was in officer garb. "Shuttle's not far but we can't linger."
She lifted a girder away for a better look, and felt a twinge in her chest. This was deliberate harm, meted out with armoured boots and gun-butts. Someone had done this to the little droid.
Poe was standing over her, trying to look authoritative in a way that wouldn't look suspicious if someone saw. His hands kept twitching as though he wanted to put them on his hips.
And then, as if responding to her hand on its metal shell, it moved. Lights flickered blue and red, and its head turned stiffly to look at Jess. plaintive string of beeps emanated from a crackling speaker unit.
"Hey, little pal. What's your name?" A strained squeak answered her, and she wiped away some grime and found its designation. "BA-9, huh? I'm Jess, Jess Pava. We're with the Resistance, so don't shout, but… we're getting you out of here. "
She turned to her commander. "Please, Poe," she implored him.
It was a fait accompli , but he still tried to reason with her. "Jess, how are we gonna lug him-"
"Her," Jess said.
"Her. Still, how are we-"
"It's alright, chief." Finn crouched down and took the inert droid in his arms. Jess could swear that under the Stormtrooper helmet, he winked at her. "I got this."
/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\
The rest of the mission went without incident. They made it to the hangar on time and got aboard the Falcon and the fighters, where Chewbacca, Kaydel, Rose and the Scrappers waited. Another discreet, successful mission. Then they slipped out into the void, made the jump to hyperspace and headed for the nearest base.
That turned out to be an uninviting lump of ice and rock called Rujkavel, home to an old Clone Wars stronghold. Jess knew it, though, and seeing it brought a smile to her lips. She knew this one.
Jess had been in the scouting party that found the world, a couple years before the war began. Back when she was only on droid number two, and everyone still assured her that she'd just been unlucky to lose her first.
Poe, Kaydel and Finn went to present their haul of stolen schematics to the commanders. One more weapons system that the First Order wouldn't use to harm the Galaxy any time soon.
Snap Wexley, now captain of Blue Squadron, had also been on that scouting mission. By chance, he and his pilots were here too, and when he sought Jess out, he found her in a small engineering chamber with Rey and Ki'rii. They'd powered down the little droid and had just finished assessing the damage. Now they had to start fixing her.
"So what's the reasoning here?" Snap asked. "Start with a droid that's busted already?"
Rey looked up and shot him a reproachful look. "Less snark, more helping your wingwoman please. The small welder and the ocular lens, if you could."
"It's alright, Rey." Jess gestured to the droid. "Be honest, Snap. Surely of all people, you'd understand that I couldn't just leave her."
"True," he conceded, passing Rey the requested parts. "We'll want to get some new circuits in the probes. The BA units were always a little iffy in that area."
Jess shook off the tease as Snap leant his technical skills to the repair efforts.
But she found herself wondering just why she was doing this. Maybe the Great Destroyer nickname, and the teasing that went with it, was starting to get to her. Was this her subconscious attempt to "break the curse"?
/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\
Snap advised her to hold off powering up BA-9 until they had her in a relatively confined space. The Millennium Falcon seemed as good a choice as any, and Rey was happy to let Jess start up the newly repaired astromech in the main hold.
Jess sat, cross-legged on the floor. Rey and Kaydel watched from the dejarik table as BA-9 slowly came back to life, hesitantly moving. They'd cleaned out several mechanisms and rewired a number of other devices, and BA-9 tried them out with growing confidence. She looked a little less battered too, though she was now a patchwork of worn black gloss and bare metal.
She warbled her thanks to Jess. "Hey, you're welcome," Jess smiled. "Wasn't just me anyway, I had some help. See her?" The droid pivoted to follow her pointing finger. "That's Rey. She's our Jedi, and she's good with droids too."
Rey gave a hesitant wave.
"That's our comms officer Kaydel, next to her, and then this old bucket here-"
R2 disagreed with that description, and introduced himself as a venerable astromech of fine pedigree and many years' distinguished service.
"Well, that's Artoo. Now, we have got another astro round here somewhere…"
In retrospect, what happened next was probably inevitable.
BB-8 rushed in, babbling with excitement. And BA-9 squealed in fright, swivelled so quickly that she seemed to leave the ground for an instant, and fled with a high-pitched trilling, trampling Jess's fingers as she went.
"Kriff!" Jess swore, massaging her fingers. Kaydel took off after the droid.
Rey stalked over to BB-8. "That was too much ," she said crossly, emphasising her words with two firm prods of her finger.
BB-8, to his credit, looked thoroughly chastened.
"Uh, Rey," Kaydel reported, "she's under your cot."
Jess turned to Rey. "Mind if I go in, pal?" Rey nodded, and she stepped through the doorway.
She left the lights off. In any case, she could see the faint gleam in the shadow of Rey's bed.
"Hey little gal." She got down and crawled over on her elbows. BA-9 regarded her nervously. "Heeey. Don't fret, you're fine. BB-8 didn't wanna scare you, he just got excited."
An apologetic boop sounded behind her. BB-8 poked his head around the corner. BA-9 shrank back a little at the sound, looking fretfully towards the other droid.
"I think he just wants to say sorry," Jess said. She sat up. "C'mon, come on slow. We've plenty of time."
Gradually, BA-9 emerged from under the bed, now sounding curious. BB-8 gave Jess a questioning look, and when she nodded, slowly approached. A string of apologies followed, segueing into BB-8 proudly talking up the Resistance and his friends.
He left out the bit about the Great Destroyer of Droids.
/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\
The next day, Jess started to take BA-9 around the base, starting in the early mornings to beat the crowds. Today she'd decided to bring her along to the hangar. There was a little more bustle her and besides, she and the rest of Black Squadron had some maintenance to carry out.
She tried not to have her spend too much time around the other astros, except for BB-8. The little droids gossiped as much as organic beings, after all.
"This is Black 3," she told BA-9, as the astromech wound her way around the A-Wing. "I used to fly an X-Wing, but this is quicker. Get in close and take the bad guys out before they even see ya."
Another beeping query.
"What am I doing up here? Oh, going over some of the weapons systems, fixing up the backup loops on the targeting array…" She stuck her head over the side. "Wanna look?"
Upon hearing BA-9 reply in the affirmative, she turned around and hit the switch for the astromech cradle. The droid warbled appreciatively as she was lifted up.
"Bit of a different view to what you're used to, I bet?" The First Order, despite their callous attitude towards droids and just about everything else, didn't care to use them on their fighter craft. Their astromechs were bound to an assigned hangar or a starship for the duration of their working life.
BA-9 seemed to prefer the view from here, and told Jess as much as she joined in with the work.
"Cool. So, BA, do you think you might wanna fly with me in this thing?"
The astromech responded that yes, she would. Gladly.
Jess grinned, but then her smile faded. "Then… I've got a confession, BA. Got a reputation I really should've told you about before."
And then BA-9 went ahead and said it first. BB-8 had quietly brought it up two days ago.
Jess gawped. "And you're…"
The astromech's head bobbed. She was still happy to fly with Jess.
"I think," Poe broke in. "That what your little friend here is trying to say is that one you've almost been turned to scrap by one owner, facing danger alongside a good one isn't quite so scary."
BA-9 agreed.
Poe turned the full power of his grin on Jess. "I think you've got your copilot, Testor. Tell you what, gimme and BB-8 five minutes, how about we circuit the hemisphere? Let BA-9 get used to the ride."
Jess and her droid exchanged a look, and nodded. "Sounds good to us."
/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\
That evening found Jess and BA-9 reunited with Rey and Kaydel, in one of the workshops. The time had come, Kaydel and Jess agreed, to give the droid a fresh look.
"So, just gonna do a sample for the highlights." Kaydel's voice was a little muffled by her facemask as she pulled her goggles on and picked up the first sprayer. She took a piece of scrap metal from the bench and doused it with deep green paint.
Up on the bench BA-9 rolled forward, tilting her head down fractionally to inspect. Kaydel had already gone over her with the main coat, restoring her glossy black colour.
"Like it? Now how's this one?" Kaydel coated another chunk of metal a vibrant metallic pink.
"I didn't realise Kaydel was this into arts and crafts," Rey murmured, leaning against the wall.
Jess regarded the Jedi, raising an eyebrow at how Rey seemed oblivious to the admiring way she looked at Kaydel. "Connix is big on pretty things."
She looked at Rey, and tried to decide if she was ignoring the remark or oblivious to it. Those two, she thought despairingly.
"Oh, you like that one?" Kaydel pointed to the third sample, a bright silvery blue. Her answer came in a series of enthusiastic bleeps. "Uh huh? Great, let's get started!"
Jess approached as Kaydel started arranging the stencils on BA-9. "Kaydel, mind if I help out?"
"Sure," Kaydel smiled and passed her a can, plus goggles and a mask. "She is your droid, after all."
/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\
"Pava, we're up!" Poe's voice rang through the galley. "We've got an incursion in the Belderone System."
"The mission?"
"Spike the First Order's guns. We go in, mess with the Destroyers so it's not worth them following through with the attack."
"Got it. BA-9!" She beckoned and BA-9, now resplendent in her new colours, came rolling after her.
They followed Poe into the hangar, seeing Rey and her crew pile aboard the Falcon. Snap and the rest of Blue Squadron were already aboard their fighters.
"Ready?" Poe asked her.
"Yeah, I just gotta - BA?"
Jess cast around her before she spotted her droid, staring up at the A-Wing. She turned to Poe, worried, but Poe smiled and put a hand on her shoulder.
"Don't worry just yet, Testor." He pointed.
BB-8 trundled up to BA-9 and nudged her gently, cooing encouragingly. BA-9 chattered back, head bobbing, and scooted over to Black 3.
Jess raced up the ladder and slung herself into her seat, just in time to see BA-9 rise into place. She gave her the thumbs up, and BA-9 returned it with her welder, a gesture she must've picked up from BB-8.
Black Squadron took wing, zipping up the gravity well towards the open void. And as she went, Jessika Pava found herself grinning. The only people who had to worry about the Great Destroyer, from this day onward, were the First Order.