What Could Have Been Part III: The Destined Warriors

The Droid You're Looking For

       Leia

      The next morning, Leia and Maya sat at the edge of camp munching on ration bars. As Maya chattered about Felucia's weather, Leia carefully watched the astromech droids that rolled by. She had to find one that wasn't running errands and wouldn't be missed if she borrowed it for a minute.

       "Looking for a cute X-wing captain or something?" Maya questioned teasingly. Leia snapped back to attention. "What? No!" Maya giggled. "Don't worry. I won't tell Han."

        Leia sighed. "Han..." she said to herself. She hoped he was okay. She hoped she would see him again soon. Maybe then they could talk things out. She still couldn't think of anything other than him saying "I know" over and over again in her mind. She had checked in with communications multiple times before finally settling to sleep. Han hadn't messaged her like he had promised.

       Maya waved a hand in front of Leia's face. "Felucia to Leia... Come in Leia..." she hummed. Leia blinked. "I hope Han's alright. What I really need to do though is contact my dad about getting to Onderon." She slummed back. "But Master Windu doesn't think sending out transmissions is safe right now. I need to find an R2 unit..."

      Maya hopped to her feet; beaming brighter than usual. "Well all the R2 units are in use right now but... I think I can get you the next best thing," she explained in a hushed voice. Leia gave her friend an inquisitive look. "Maya, you've got that look in your eye. I don't like that look! And what do you mean by 'next best thing'?" Maya motioned her persistently to follow.

      "I'll show you."

       "Maya what are we doing on the supply freighter? This is silly," Leia said as she followed her friend aboard the beat up transport stationed at the far end of the camp. Maya ignored her and slipped down a cramped corridor. It was dark and musty and cluttered on the rusty excuse for a ship but Leia could still see Maya's toothy smile through the blackness. "Who is sillier? The silly girl, or the silly girl who follows her?" she asked as she led the way. Leia shook her head. "That didn't make any sense."

       Maya let out a breath and tugged Leia down another narrow hall. "Here we are!" she proclaimed proudly. Leia squinted through the darkness. "Great. And where are we?" she asked with an unimpressed tone. Maya knelt down and set to work rummaging through a metal crate. "It's a storage compartment for experimental equipment. Master Windu didn't think it was necessary to unload them. Lucky for us," she added. Leia crossed her arms. "I still don't get how this is suppose to do me any good. I need an astromech droid," she reminded.

      "And an astromech droid you shall have. Just not your typical R2 unit..." Maya admitted as she dug deeper through the metal scraps. Leia's eyes widened. "So you have an R3?" she asked eagerly. Maya finally found what she was looking for. She lifted it slowly out of the container. "Not exactly..."

       What Maya set down on the floor was definitely not an R3 unit. Leia wasn't even sure if it was a droid. It had a dome, like any astromech would have, but instead of  cylindrical body, the droid seemed to sit- no roll- on what appeared to be a sphere.

       "What is that?" Leia asked as Maya flicked the droid to life. A high pitched whistle erupted from the little droid thing and it wobbled unsteadily on it's ball-like body before stabilizing. Maya grinned.

       "Meet... BB-1!"

       "BB-what?"

       Maya chuckled as the droid bumped into Leia's feet. It chirped some sort of greeting and rolled back to Maya's side. "He's just a prototype of the new astromech models, but isn't he just the cutest?" she squealed. Leia knelt on one knee and stared into the droids view finder. "He's very... original," Leia stated bluntly. Maya laid her hands on her hips. "Well his transmitter is supposed to be five times stronger than an R2 unit's. You want him or not?" she asked expectantly.