Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi(My Version)

14

Nobody in the Rawk starship barn was a droid specialist, but they were all good with machines and had rudimentary knowledge of astromech design. After they moved R2-D2 to the bottom level of the main house, everyone took turns working on him. Even Ahnah showed up, again in her Kiffar Guard uniform, to help her mother and step-brothers as they peeled apart R2's casings and examined his insides.

They removed the datacard with only a little difficulty. The thing had been fried by the power surge that had roasted R2 and so had some of the droid's internal processors. Droo found replacement parts for most and quickly installed them. She insisted that the surge hadn't damaged any of his core systems, which did little to calm C-3PO. The protocol droid staggered back and forth while they worked, muttering constant recriminations on himself.

"Oh, this is all my fault," he babbled. "I was the one who suggested we use Artoo to read those datacards! I invited his doom! Curse my defective processor! I should have stayed on that junkyard on Socorro! Then none of this would have happened!"

As she stood next to Jariah and watched Droo work, Ahnah muttered, "That's the most neurotic machine I've ever seen. Is he always this bad?"

"This is slightly worse than usual," Jariah replied. He didn't blame Threepio for getting upset; hell, he was worried about Artoo also. He just wished the protocol droid would shut up and was damned tempted to walk over and flip the shut-off switch on the back of his neck.

Eventually Droo announced, "I think I've done all I can here. Let's try to switch him back on."

"Oh, thank you, Mistress Rawk," babbled C-3PO. "If you've repaired him I will be in your debt forever! My devotion will be unparalleled, it would shame even a Wookie!"

"No need to get hasty, goldenrod," said Cade. He and Deliah stood watching on the other side of the room. "Let's see if it works first."

Skeeto and Micah closed up R2's panels and stood the heavy droid up onto all three feet. Droo went around behind him and touched the activation switch at the bottom rim of his dome. In the breathless silence they heard the faint spark of the droid's electric synapses flaring, and then a few of his lights blinked on.

And then, with a miserable groaning sound, everything shut down again.

"Oh, it's hopeless!" wailed C-3PO. "He's done for! Doomed!"

"Threepio, shut the hell up," Cade said. "Droo, you wanna try again?"

The woman tapped R2's activation button, and this time nothing happened at all. His metal carapace stayed dark and still. She shook her head. "I'm sorry, Cade. I did what I could, but I'm no droid expert. I know a few I could get you in touch with. I gotta say, though, Artoo's a really old model, and the Force knows how many weird modifications he'd had over the decades. Even a good droid doctor's gonna have a hard time making sense of him."

She knew better than to suggest they just give up on him. Jariah asked, "There docs on Kiffex?"

"Kiffu, actually. Just a short hop away."

"It's worth looking into," Cade sighed. "Give me the names, I'll check 'em out."

After rattling them off Droo added, "I'm sorry I couldn't do more."

"Ain't your fault. This was just from freak malfunction. Artoo being as old and patchwork as he is, something little could set him off the wrong way."