War Child--Rogue One

XLVI

I have a headache.

Not pounding, not crippling, but annoyingly there.

Like something just barely out of place that bothers you just so.  I take some pain medication and drink some water, and it's a little less there, pushed under a rug.

Linami is the same as yesterday.  I sit by her the whole day.  At one point, they lift her so she's sitting straight up, saying something about draining fluids or something like that.

I take the opportunity to sit behind her on the bed and run the brush I grabbed from the crate through her hair, detangling it and gently braiding it away from her face.  I tug a bit hard every once and a while, hoping that it will snap her out of her current state and tell me to knock it off.  Her head just rolls over to the other side of the brace.

Eventually, the meddroids send me home to my new barracks.

I sit on the plastic mattress, trying to work up the motivation get under the covers and sleep. On one hand, I'm so tired that I'm about to drop off right now, and on the other hand, I'm not sure I could sleep if I tried.

I end up just laying on top of the still rumpled bed from this morning, staring at the foreign ceiling.  The next day goes nearly the same.

On the third day, I'm kicked out.  I come back to the barracks and poke around the things I haven't unpacked.

I find the disassembled droid.

I've nothing else to do.  I may as well fix the bloody thing.

Linami has a tool kit in one of the bags, so I dig it out, trying not to breathe the scent wafting off her clothes, and lay the pieces of droid in front of me.

My first try leaves the head backwards, and the second reveals an extremely tall, black droid.

He springs to life and swings his arm towards my head.  "Back!  Rebel Scum!"

I pull out the droid disabler, and, with a crackle, the droid goes limp.  I take off the head again and open it to find its data disk, which I plug into my own datapad to edit.

I've got to reprogram this thing.  It could prove helpful while Linami is recovering.

The problem is I don't know how to reprogram an imperial droid, especially not one so complex.  A little rolling one, say an R2 unit, would be easier, just wipe the memory and they're all good to go.  This one has bias programmed into the chip itself.  I remove the chip and swipe through the library of manuals installed on my datapad until I find one on droids.  I miss dinner, but finish the whole book, and work until midnight on reprogramming the unit.

One of the call numbers that appeared when I first plugged in the data disc was K-2SO.  By reason of deduction, I figured out that this droid responds to that as its name of sorts.  I don't think I'll change it.  The name doesn't mean it's allied with the Empire.

The "attack first and ask questions later" protocol doesn't work for me.  Neither does the whole "chase X-Wings down until they're gone" one.

I'll have to change those.  Maybe I could disable the protocols in their entirety, and let him—I've decided it's a him—have his own mind and autonomy.  But he'll still have to work for me.

Over the next few days, I spend my waking time with Linami or the droid.  I haven't eaten real food for a week now.

Gaspard decides to intervene.

"Cass!"

I turn.  "Don't call me Cass."

He raises his hands in surrender and raises an eyebrow.  "I just wanted to accompany you to dinner."

"I'm not going to dinner."  I turn down the hall to my room.

He grabs my arm.  "Yes, you are.  You need to be strong so when Linami wakes up, she recognizes you."

It's a pathetic reason, but it's enough.

I end up downing three trays of food, much to his guffawing amusement.  I'm finishing a roll, leaning back on the seat, when an officer comes up.

"Captain Andor."  He snaps to attention.

I heave myself out of the chair and salute.  "Yes?"

"Senator Bail Organa and Princess Leia Organa have just landed."

"I didn't know they were coming."

"You haven't been to many of the briefings lately..."

I fix him with a look.  He clears his throat and apologizes quickly.

I dismiss him and retrieve my tray.  "Duty calls," I say with a tired sigh, and walk back to my barracks to find my officer's uniform.

I show up next to Mon Mothma just as the Organas are disembarking.  It's been nearly six years since I last saw Leia.  She has certainly grown up.

Two huge buns are plastered over her ears.  Her hair must be nearly to the floor to make those.  We don't have the luxury of having that long of hair here. The longest anyone wears theirs is the middle of their back.  Even that is too long for mechanics or infantry runners.

She shakes our hands sturdily, and greets us each with a smile.

"Mon Mothma, Captain Andor," she says.

"Princess," I nod.

"I hear you married Linami," Leia says with a smile.

I glance away. Bail Organa taps her arm, and she glances at him. He shakes his head.

"Captain Andor, would you give the Senator and the Princess a tour of the base?" Mon Mothma asks.

I nod, even though I don't really know the whole layout. And I tell them as we leave. "I've spent most of my time in the medbay and my barracks, but I'll show you what I do know, and the rest we'll discover along the way." I crack a half smile.

They smile politely.

Leia doesn't seem to know about what happened to Linami yet, but she'll know soon enough.

The tour is short, and, to my surprise, I find out that we have catacombs under the base itself. A brief tapping around lets me inform the Senator and the Princess that they are intended to be used in the case of an attack by the Empire.

They leave that same day.