A/N: This story is based off the "Pathways" comic from Star Wars Clone Wars Adventures Volume 8. You can read it for free with an account on internet archive by going to books books to borrow search "star wars clone wars adventure vol. 8". It's also on youtube if you search "The B1 battle droid that deserted the droid army and became a farmer". That's where I initially got the idea for this story. If you want the actual physical book you can get it at thriftbooks dot com or if you know some other third-party book seller then search for it on there.
"Settle him down here for now," Todd said, guiding the B1 onto the floor of the barn.
"I'll set out and find some parts for this old fella, that old battlefield is nearby, there should be plenty of spare limbs for him there" Henry said, kicking away some of the straw on the ground around the broken B1.
"Alright, I'll clean up the place and get the droid ready for some tinkering," Todd walked over to a far corner of the barn to get a broom.
"I'll see you in a bit," Henry walked out, starting the short trip over to the battlefield.
The rolling hills that were a common sight on Antamont was littered with scrap metal, circuitry, and dead clones and droids were only a mile away. It didn't take long for him to find enough parts that he deemed satisfactory for their needs. Henry took one look at the prairies in their entirety with a heavy heart. Thousands of pieces of scrap metal and white armor dotted the grass fields. All of it the result of hundreds of battles that had taken place on the planet. Both sides fought with a ferocity unlike he'd ever seen before. All for nothing. Neither side seemed to have won. The Confederacy lost thousands of droids while the Republic lost thousands of clones. But it wasn't the military powers that had lost the most. No, it was the farmers and those who once lived on the planet as shop owners. Thousands of fields were rendered useless by the battles. The soil had been ruined, if not by the metal, then by the Republic—or rather, the Empire's factories being constructed for military use, further destroying the surrounding environment. The war had produced a blight that bit back at everyone who had been involved in the conflict.
On the short trip back, inside the grasp of the all encompassing forest of the planet, Henry caught sight of the carcass of their old hover-tractor. It was still embedded into the ground after hitting a mine that had nearly killed him. A reminder of the sorts of things they could afford back before the war and everything that had been consumed by it. Sunflowers had sprouted all over the body of the machine, painting the brown rusted metal into a yellow and green. His mind wandered as he carried the spare parts through the littered battlefields, or graveyards now. He could still see the faces of his mother and father. In particular, he could almost imagine the way they'd changed over the years. From young and hopeful with a cheery expression that came around often, to their withered sagging faces, all light gone from their eyes. Antamont once held a prosperous future but that had gone away the minute the war had entered the picture. Perhaps it would've recovered had the Empire not continued to devour the soul of the planet. At one time, companies from all over were clawing for the prospects on the farm planet. Life was good then, there were no worries of war or famine, only of food for livestock and what the evening would bring. Now the war and it's ensuing carnage was all he could think about. Perhaps even without the war, his family wouldn't have survived anyways. They had enough food to survive for the time being but things had begun to look dire. Neither him or his brother backed down from the fight, however. Antamont was their home and it always would be. It was where their family had made a life for themselves and where they would die and they would not die so easily.
Bits of straw crunched under his foot, drawing him back into reality.
"Got some parts, did ya' get him all set up?" Henry said throwing the small heap of metal and circuits on the ground.
"Yup, looks like he's out of power and has some wires loose up on his head. Also needs a new arm and some metal to weld his face back together. Other than that he's all in one piece," Todd set his hands on his hips, looking over the B1. He noticed a streak of exposed metal across the droid's nose, wondering just how he'd earned such a scar.
"You were supposed to see which wires he's missing, I already saw the arm and the face" Henry shooed Todd away from the droid to get a closer look.
"Oh. Well you were always the one with an eye for technology, not me," Todd said putting his hands up in defeat.
Henry shifted the exposed wires around the droids head, 'Was it red, green, blue, or green, blue red?' He thought. Soon enough, his memory corrected itself, "I can get him fixed up. Looks like nothing critical was affected, we've got the parts here though, might as well do it now. You get the generator ready to power him up"
"Already on it," Todd said rushing out of the barn.
Henry grinned at the sight of the mostly intact droid before him. The brothers had gone looking for many years throughout all the battlefields they could find looking for one semi-functional droid and finally, here was one. It still wasn't enough to fill the many missing hands they had lost during the war but at the very least they could ensure the farm continued even after their death's came. Todd came to mind when he thought of the many years they'd spent since the end of the war trying so hard just to continue pushing forward with their business. He was sure without him, there would be no farm. Even if sometimes his hardheadedness got in the way of things.
Henry shook his head, 'Always doing things the hard way, without machines,' he thought to himself. He could almost hear the buzzing of the laser-saw that had almost cut off his own arm. He snapped out of the nostalgic trip down memory lane once he began thinking of the others.
'No point in souring my own mood like that'
For the rest of the day, Henry spent tinkering and troubleshooting with the B1. It was in impeccable condition considering all other droids in the area had been reduced to heaps of metal scrap. He had some experience repairing all sorts of automata and machines but none for warfare. Thankfully there was just enough similarities between standard droids and battle droids to make the necessary repairs and return the B1 back to peak efficiency. His head was all back to normal with the wires stuffed back into place and he'd replaced one of his arms with a new one.
"Todd did ya' get the generator going!?" Henry yelled from inside the barn.
"Yeah!" Todd yelled back, walking in with the wheeled generator close behind him, "Is he ready?"
"Bring it closer here," he said lifting the B1 up into a sitting position.
After a bit of tinkering with the droid's internals, Henry hooked him up to the generator and powered it on.
Nothing happened.
"What's wrong?" Todd said looking over his brother's shoulder, "Isn't he supposed to start movin' around?"
"He just needs some time to charge"
"Oh, right," Todd scratched at his head, "If you need me I'll be in the house"
Henry looked all over the B1's body for any sort of indication of a power switch but there wasn't any. It seemed it was here that his expertise ended. They were droids after all. The farm had gone without a one for a long, long time. The repairs he'd made were based on hazy memories. He picked up the rest of the parts and set them aside to be put away in case the B1 was to malfunction.
For the rest of the day, Henry and Todd went about their usual duties collecting the crop, getting it into storage, and tending to the animals.
Soon the day came to an end with no activity coming from the droid.
"Did he power up yet?" Todd said, looking over the shoulder of Henry who had been staring at the barn for a long while, stiff as a statue.
"No, I don't know if I fixed him up right or not, maybe I messed with the wrong wires. Never dealt with a battle droid before. We'll see tomorrow, I guess," he said. The grass underfoot crunched with the shift of his weight.
The two went to their bedroom situated in the farmhouse overlooking the area. It sat in what acted as a small clearing in the sea of trees that surrounded all of their lands. In front and to the right were the fields where they planted all of their crops and directly to their right, the main barn where they kept all their animals which weren't many. A cozy location for the brothers and their small humble business.
At first, Henry couldn't sleep, even with the peaceful sounds of nature he'd grown accustomed to over the years. The thought of the droid waking up in the middle of the night haunted him. They'd locked the barn doors and shut them tight but even with that, he was worried. Questions barraged his mind but as each one came up, he shot it down almost immediately, or at the very least tried to. Eventually the exhaustion of overthinking things finally overcame him and he fell asleep.
R-DA9 B1:~$ Booting main systems...
R-DA9 B1:~$ Testing for discrepancies…
R-DA9 B1:~$ None found
R-DA9 B1:~$ Attempting connection to control module…
R-DA9 B1:~$ ERROR: module could not be found
R-DA9 B1:~$ Booting to local memory
R-DA9 B1:~$ Main system modules loading…
A myriad of checks and errors appeared on the B1's optical receptors. R-DA9 ran a few more tests on his system as a force of habit. He scanned the room with his night vision enabled.
Something crunched beneath his hands. He looked to the ground and accidentally picked up a handful of the pieces of dried grass littered all around the building. A scan showed that the material was straw, nothing to be worried about but nonetheless, it drew his curiosity.
'Why is there straw in a building? Do they not clean this place? And...where am I?' R-DA9 thought to himself.
Chirping and rustling came from all around the building as if he were being watched.
His head swiveled from side to side with a soft hiss. Directly to his left was a pile of hay bales, stacked four high inside of an empty pen. On either side of the building were single columns of more empty pens, some with no straw inside, others were filled with the material.
'Have I been captured? He thought. All of his internal processes froze as an unsettling question crossed his mind, 'What happened?'
There were still files stored in his memory unit. All of them dated from several years ago. He opened each of them, one by one.
He recalled the grappler droid's grief as it realized the pointless nature of their fighting and the fear that struck his mind in the final moments before he powered down one last time. He remembered the serenity as he relished in the brief days of peace he had left, knowing there was no way to avoid the inevitable. He remembered stalking the battle taking place nearby, grieving for the droids that would never feel the liberty of freedom. He remembered being afraid of powering down just as the grappler droid had been. Every memory from before Antamont were of various battles. In some he had fallen and others he'd left unscathed. But none of that mattered now.
R-DA9 struggled to get up, a pull on his body left him fighting to stay balanced. He looked down to see a thick plastic cable leading directly to a bright yellow generator. The battery percentage on his display indicated he only had three percent charge. Thus, he opted to sit back down. There was no point in wandering around the building anyways, it was most likely locked.
'I wonder, will they torture me?' The B1 shook his head at the thought, 'I still don't know if I'm captured or not yet'
Seeing as there was nothing to do but contemplate his current situation, which almost always led to overthinking and a waste of energy, he powered down into sleep mode. Perhaps in the morning he could he figure out what to do, but one thing was certain...
He was alive.
Against all odds, he was alive.
A warmth blossomed within his chassis as if his hardware was overheating.
The joy of freedom was beginning to grow within him once more.