Kess wasn't sure why she wasn't expecting it, but a lot of people hung out after knock off to help with the work on Artoo. She took over a big empty spot near the repair sup desks and rolled out a powder blue static proof mat. Kayla helped her get Artoo safely on top of it and Ashten rolled over the astromech diag station to plug him into when the whole thing was over. Chewie straddled a broken chair to hand tools over from a tall toolbox. Wedge parked his butt against the edge of a desk to watch it all. Threepio was babbling on about how worried he was when Han and Leia strolled up too.

Chairs were pulled around and crates were squatted upon. Kess got everything prepared, made sure they had all they needed, then sat on her bum in front of the dead droid and waited for Luke to arrive before they got started.

Kess used the opportunity to ask Threepio questions about their history together just so she'd know what to look for. It was true; Threepio assured they were already together for their last memory wipe, approximately 29 years ago. All agreed that was a very long time for a droid to go without a memory wipe, noting again that's why Artoo was the only astromech with which Five worked so well.

Kess eyed Wedge across the group, but she didn't pose the question aloud.

She didn't need to. Wedge shrugged an answer anyway. "Five's the fastest bird we've got because they've been paired up so long. I'm not going to wipe her unless we have to wipe him." He gestured at sleeping Artoo.

Kess petted the droid again.

Han looked over and gave Wedge a deliberately arched eyebrow.

Wedge shrugged his hands and laughed, more at the Minister of State lounging amongst the gathering than anyone else. "Give me another X-wing to replace her with and I don't have a problem."

Leia grinned like she already had secret endeavors in the works, but she didn't say anything to confirm or deny.

A few minutes later, Luke trotted around the corner like he'd been running the whole way and said hello while he was catching his breath. As he sat down on the ground by Kess, she offered over static-dissipating hand lotion and made him put on an ESD strap on his ankle like a tending mother. He rubbed his hands together as Kess opened the little door by Artoo's left arm.

Luke took a deep breath and meditated a moment as Kess unwrapped the new chip from its case.

He saw the new chip resting carefully in her palm when he opened his eyes. He saw Ashten holding out the hot solder pen within reach of his other side. He then took the iron and passed it across his own lap to hand it to Kess.

"You sure?" she asked, taking in hesitantly.

Luke nodded and scooted back so she could get closer. "You know what you're doing more than I do."

In the crowd behind them, bodies shifted and eyes exchanged glances.

Luke and Kess focused. The chip wasn't the hardest part; it was the memory. The chip went in within a minute, but sorting out the memory cards and setting them back in the right slots was what took concentrated effort and triple checks. It took more than an hour. Kayla had to go and quietly bid goodbye without too much distraction. Other random onlookers got bored and left too, leaving behind only the 'family' plus Wedge and Ashten.

Luke and Kess had already unhooked all connection to Artoo power cells so he wouldn't short himself out with all this. They agreed to give the guy a cold boot so he could check everything on the way up. With the diag unit wired into his face, the power connector at his hip, four hands and two faces shoved together to peer into his guts, and an audience in breathless hope that this was successful, poor Artoo may as well have been a sentient human undergoing serious surgery.

Finally, Luke and Kess retreated from their knees to sit on the floor again. Kess paused her finger on the switch. "Ready?"

"Yeah, wake him up." Luke motioned her to go ahead and combed his hair from his eyes.

The droid hummed a little and blinked on one light at a time, ticking incoherently as his primary functions checked themselves before moving on to higher ones. His dome spun entirely around once, then it spun back around the other way, clicking back to Zero Position like a true robot. One by one, his doors flipped open, reached out tool arms and folded themselves back in.

Kess scooted back to give him room and shared a grin of hope with Luke. So far, so good.

When all that was done, all movement and lights paused for a long beat. Then Artoo's blue/red flashed back and forth like he was blinking, and his optic spun around like an eyeball trying to find focus. Faces were already smiling but no one said anything yet. (The real test was yet to come.)

The dome shifted back and forth to look at all the people glad to see him awake, shifted a little more to see he was back on Yavin 4, Pad 14, with the Falcon parked where it should. Luke. Check. Threepio. Ashten. Check. Han. Check. Leia. Check. Wedge. Check. Chewbacca. Check. Kess. Check.

And that's when his personality came roaring out.

Artoo swiveled his head to Kess, angled on his shoulders to cower over where she sat in front of him, narrowed his blue eye back to an angry red, and reached out a power connector to zap her knee, accompanied by a long rude warbling sentence.

"Yikes!" she retreated, but she was laughing with everyone else with overwhelming relief. She assured the bionic man as she rubbed her own knee. "I deserve that."

Ashten had the reader in her hand and read what he said. "Well, his profanity's back." She announced with a smile.

Threepio wailed on, "Artoo! It's so good to see you awake again!" (Leia calmly turned her head over to order him, 'shut up, please.')

As Artoo asked Luke if everything went all right on the trip, Kess climbed to her feet and took over the chair by the diag station. Ashten's eyes were already stuck on the first set of readings.

"That's weird."

Kess tried to look over her shoulder at the droid, but couldn't take her eyes off the strange readout. "Threepio? You said the last wipe was 29 years ago?"

"Yes, Lieutenant. I can retrieve the exact date if you like."

Both she and Ashten were squinting harder at the screen now. "No, no. It's okay—

Luke's voice was stiff. "What's the matter?"

"He doesn't have a wipe date." Kess told him, finally settling in the chair to get to work.

Ashten hovered over Kess's shoulder read the screen. The green woman muttered pessimistically, "I've never seen a droid without a wipe date that wasn't fresh off the factory floor."

Everyone shut up. Already they were finding information missing from Artoo's brain. Shoulders stiffened and breath silenced.

But Artoo seemed to take all this like they were overreacting. He beeped.

Ashten read, "He says he's never been wiped."

"That's impossible," but Kess wasn't the only one to say that.

Threepio prattled on about how he and Artoo were wiped together. He proceeded to pull up the exact date as proof.

But Artoo interrupted him. And his personality was obvious in his extended sentence to the other droid.

Threepio angled to argue back. "Why would they wipe you and not me? That is entirely inappropriate."

Artoo rattled a shrug sounding answer.

Threepio went silent for a beat and straightened again. "May 21st of 3258 of the Lothal Calendar, Captain Antilles—

Luke and Leia both got whiplash to look back at Threepio, then they looked at each other.

Artoo tittered impatiently and swiveled his dome to aim an optic out at a space on the floor beside Luke's knee.

"What?" Kess asked, all now eyeing the twins smiling at each other with an odd humor.

"That was our birthday," Luke explained lightly. He was going to ask something else but Artoo was already showing his proof with a pale blue holo-memory playing out on the floor.

It was all from Artoo's short point of view. The holo image moved as he and Threepio walked with a human for few steps until they stopped in front of a captain in an Alderaani uniform. Artoo's focus was on the captain for most of it, but they heard another man speak. "Captain Antilles. I'm placing these droids in your care. Treat them well. Clean them up. Have the protocol droid's mind wiped."

At the end of it, while the recording of Threepio was freaking out about it, Artoo's view had turned to the man who gave the order.

Leia's eyes bulged to globes. She flashed with laughter. "That's my father!"

Han's knitted his eyebrows.

"King Organa," she clarified. "That's my father. And he's so young that capture!"

Luke's mouth hung open. He waited until the rest of the pleasant shock in the room had settled before he narrowed one eye and gestured at Artoo. "Is there any more of this recording?"

Artoo whistled and Ashten read it off. "He wants to know how much of it you want?"

Kess wasn't the only one who was a little lost, but they all quieted and watched with interest.

Leia realized what Luke was on about and opened her mouth, "You don't think—

Han was the one to blurt it out, "What's going on?"

Luke specified to Artoo, "Did you witness any babies being born that day?"

Wedge blinked, "You really want to watch a holo cap of your own birth?"

Leia shook her head quickly and explained to the questioning group. "No, but it might get us pictures of our mother."

"Ah ha," was the overall sentiment, and all were more eager now to see what the droid had in his brain.

Artoo had whistled and Ashten read off, "He said he was in the other room for that part."

Luke grinned and nodded at the floor.

Leia asked. "Do you have any caps of her? Padmé Amidala?"

Artoo beeped once and Ashten read, "Many."

Luke looked Artoo in the eye and chortled, "Well, we're going to download all of those if you don't mind." He turned to hand tools back to Chewie.

Artoo beeped a 'whatever'.

Kess muttered to Ashten, "Let's run a full diagnostic on his memory base."

Chewie cocked is head and hooted a question at the droid.

Artoo beeped an answer. Ashten read again, "Many."

"You're kidding!" Han blurted.

"What?" Luke said in alarm. "What'd he ask?"

Chewie pointed at the ground and gave Artoo an order.

The droid swiveled his optic back and shot out a glowing, blue, four-inch snapshot of a tall, young man in Jedi robes.

Luke's mouth could've collected bugs. Leia turned her chin with a squeak, "Is that who I think it is?"

Han lowered his elbows to his knees and chinned at Artoo. "How much memory of him do you have?"

Artoo shut the image off so he could answer the question. Ashten read, "Nine hundred and seventy eight terabytes."

"Of just him!?" Luke shouted.

Artoo beeped affirmative.

"Why so much?" Han queried hard.

Artoo whistled and Ashten read with a strange grin. "He says Anakin Skywalker was his master for thirteen years."

Luke rubbed his eyelids with his fingers.

Artoo beeped again and Ashten read, "He says that's why you two fly so well together. 'You fly like he did'."

Luke's eyes popped open again with a disbelieving hitch.

Leia dropped back in her chair and dropped her fingers to her forehead. "You've got to be kidding me."

Luke rolled his head with a giant sigh at the droid and shrugged his hands with a whine. "Why didn't you tell me you had all this?"

Artoo's tones shrugged again. Ashten read (fighting a smile), "You didn't ask."

Luke dropped his head from his shoulders and tried not to cringe with laughter at his own lap.

Kess gestured for the diag unit, "Are we ready for the full diagnostic?"

"Wait a minute," Luke gestured with both hands for all conversation to halt so he could grin out a new question at the droid. But then he paused. His eyes went up to the air to think how to word what he was going to ask for.

Leia figured it out first and angled her head. "Artoo, were you at Mustafar?"

Artoo beeped affirmative and Ashten read, "He said he's been to Mustafar four times."

Leia blinked patiently. "Were you at Mustafar the same time as Obi Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker?"

Artoo beeped affirmative.

Leia inhaled hard and glanced over her shoulder to make sure no one else had wandered up to listen to all this. Luke dug his fingers into his bangs to react to a rotating stomach. Wedge crooned a deep, pale, 'woah.' Han rubbed his hand loosely over his mouth. Kess swiveled hard around in the chair with her own gaping surprise, "Are you talking about . . . when. . . ."

Chewie murmured an order at the droid and motioned to the empty space on the powder blue mat.