Private A New Life

[Cailen Corso]

A NEW LIFE
A Star Wars Story

Location: Workshop; Jedi Temple, New Cov
Tags: Silas Westgard
Objective: Reconnect with a good friend
Soundtrack: Sprouting Potatoes

Cailen took a step back to admire his handiwork. It had been weeks, maybe even months, since he had an opportunity like this. Propped lifelessly on the workbench before him was the nearly completed frame of a classic pit droid. The Padawan found it on one of his regular excursions into the thinner, safer reaches of the jungle that surrounded the perimeter of the Jedi Temple. The poor thing was rusted beyond repair, caked with mud and moss. Forgotten. Abandoned. For now.

He wiped his oily hands on his trousers, looking over the droid with keen eyes. He'd rebuilt bots before, but never a pit droid. It was a new and welcome challenge that Cailen was glad to accept. The past few months had been turbulent to say the least; It was nice to unwind and focus on something small. Something that didn't beat to the tune of war.

Satisfied that he'd made as much progress as he could for the time being, the young Jedi took to a nearby stool. He continued to study the little droid, wondering what interesting new things it would get into when it reawakens.

Its memory core was intact, for the most part, but appeared to have suffered water damage and decay. A result of decades of weathering. Cailen wasn't sure how much the droid would remember of his previous life, but the prospect of starting fresh is always excited. And to be there for the little guy when he powers on into a new life?

Cailen wouldn't trade that for the world.

 

[Silas Westgard]

Location: New cov
Objective: Help Cailen with a project
Tag: Cailen Corso

In the new Cov temple, it had been a long day of training for Silas. Since the early hours of the morning, he had been doing more conditioning training for the upcoming assignments. If he ever lacked Master Valery would know, there was nothing she didn't miss but thankfully Silas didn't mess around with things like this. He was almost as strict as Valery when it came to development, which wasn't a bad thing but sometimes it didn't allow him to have the much needed downtime everyone deserved.

Coming out of the mess hall with a plastic cup of caf in his hand, he began to move his aching body to a place where he knew Cailen would be. He heard that the fellow padawan was in the temple, so he didn't see why he wouldn't pay him a visit. Walking up to the door, he carefully pushed it open and and leaned against the doorway with a sip of his drink "I had a feeling I'd find you here" he grinned before walking over to Cailen himself. Placing the cup on a workbench, he gently wrapped his arm around his chest and teasingly ruffled his hair "What you up to here Cailen?" the teen chuckled as he took a step back and looked at the old droid.

"Where did you pick up this little guy?" he asked curiously, leaning forwards to examine the stark condition he was in "Stars, he must have been out in the elements for a while..."
​

 

[Cailen Corso]

Location: Workshop; Jedi Temple, New Cov
Tags: Silas Westgard
Objective: Reconnect with a good friend
Soundtrack: Sprouting Potatoes

"I had a feeling I'd find you here."

Cailen knew that voice anywhere, though it had been quite a while since he last heard it. He turned to be sure it really was his brother.

"Silas!" the boy exclaimed, wrapping his arms around the older Padawan.

"Where did you pick up this little guy?"

"On the edge of the jungle," Cailen said, beaming. "He was just stuck there, buried under a bunch of mud and moss."

He turned to inspect the droid, clearly impressed with his progress. The dirt and weeds had been cleared away, revealing the poor thing's rusted chassis and damaged extremities. Cailen had spent a considerable amount of time cleaning and restoring it, but there was still a lot of work to be done before the droid was up and about again.

"Stars, he must have been out in the elements for a while..."

All he needed was some time, a little bit of servo oil, and lots love. Cailen looked to Silas, his eyes full of excitement.

"Do you wanna help me fix him?" he asked earnestly.

 

[Silas Westgard]

Location: New cov
Objective: Help Cailen with a project
Tag: Cailen Corso

"Strange, I wonder how he got out there by himself" the whole thing raised more questions than answers, but either way he was confident Cailen was going to fix the small robot up to his former glory. From the looks of it, he had already cleaned him up good already. Although, there were still things that needed to be done.

Looking at the boy with a sip of his caf and a raised brow, he was unsure if he'd be any help to a builder like Cailen. Even if that was the case, it still made for some good bonding time together "Sure, I don't mind getting my hands dirty" the teen said with a smirk, setting his drink on a nearby bench so he could roll up his sleeves. He wasn't entirely sure where to start, yet with Cailen guiding him he doubted he'd be lost for very long.

Kneeling down beside him, he gave him a playful nudge on the shoulder "Go on then, what have we got to do first?"
​

 

[Cailen Corso]

Location: Workshop; Jedi Temple, New Cov
Tags: Silas Westgard
Objective: Reconnect with a good friend
Soundtrack: Sprouting Potatoes

Cailen giggled at the jab, excited by the opportunity to tinker with Silas. All too often, the Padawans were swept away in the ever-flowing current of training, dueling, and surviving. Moments like this come only once in a very long while.

"Go on then, what have we got to do first?"

"Right," the younger boy said with a start, pointing a finger to the droid's rusted casing. "I cleaned him up really good - scrubbed off the dirt and mud, pulled out all the weeds - but almost all of the damage is from this..."

He gestured to a blackened score mark along the side of the pit droid's chest. Even beneath the veneer of rust and stains, Silas would easily see the scarred metal. Cailen sighed in frustration.

"Something - or someone - gave him a pretty nasty shock, I think. Whatever it was knocked out most of his internal hardware."

Cailen flashed Silas an optimistic smirk before crossing the room and grabbing a rucksack. He fumbled through it, clanking the bag's contents around until he withdrew a small metal case with the moniker 'Cai' etched carefully into the lid. It was a gift from his mom, a handheld tacklebox used by technicians on Anaxes to strip old droids for useful salvage.

He returned to the older boy's side and popped open the box, revealing a humble assortment of utensils Silas likely had never seen before. Some were more common tools used in various fields, but the majority of Cailen's kit were specially designed for droid dismantling. Or, in their case, repair. The boy picked a small screwdriver and held it out handle-first.

"Do you want to do the honors?" he beamed.

 

[Silas Westgard]

Location: New cov
Objective: Help Cailen with a project
Tag: Cailen Corso

Upon further inspection, Cailen had done a good job at scrubbing him up. The droid was probably in far worse condition before Cailen had stepped up to the plate, even then did the boy have more work to do "If that's the case, everything inside will probably be fried along with it" he said while his finger lightly rubbed against the metal scorch. At the same time, Cailen went over to a bag and took out a few utensils to help undo the damage the previous owner had done to the poor pit droid.

"Thank you very much," he said with a nod and smile before taking the screwdriver from his hands. Slowly, he went behind the robot and started unscrewing a latch on its back "I'm going to see if my thoughts are correct..." he said as a screw fell on the table below. Silas placed the screwdriver back down and gently opened the latch to peer inside "Well, it's not as bad as we thought" Silas said with a small motion to come over "A few of these look scorched to oblivion. While others look pretty untouched. The only thing is, I don't know what they belong to" he said honestly with a step back to give Cailen space

"Did you want to fix the inside or should we see what we can fix on the outside first?"
​

 

[Cailen Corso]

Location: Workshop; Jedi Temple, New Cov
Tags: Silas Westgard
Objective: Fix up the droid
Soundtrack: Sprouting Potatoes

"Stars..." Cailen mumbled as he peered inside the droid, marveling at the dark, sooty interior.

"Someone really hurt you, huh...?"

He examined the damaged components, seemingly making mental notes of what parts were damaged and which ones would need to be properly tested before they were deemed intact. After several moments, Cailen pulled back and nodded, satisfied with his findings.

"Inside first!" Cailen said with glee, flashing Silas a grin.

"I think I have most of the parts in my room on the ship. We need..." he trailed off as his eyes examined a mental list of components.

"... a locomotor, an extra memory bank, and probably a reel or two of wiring."

 

[Silas Westgard]

Location: New cov
Objective: Help Cailen with a project
Tag: Cailen Corso

"Whatever hurt the droid clearly didn't him in his space," he said with a sigh as he momentarily shifted aside to let Cailen have a closer look inside. Listening closely, he nodded in agreement when Cailen decided to fix the inside first "Okay, before we get those parts help me take out the destroyed ones in this poor guys body" he said with a short chuckle, getting up to take another sip of his caf.

"By the way, how long have you been doing this for?" he asked curiously, putting the drink back down so he could rejoin his fellow padawan "You seem pretty excited by fixing these poor things back up. I probably would be too, If I knew what I was doing" Silas laughed, his hands reaching to the hatch on its head to take out the memory bank.

"I would try and learn it, but I sense I'll be knighted soon. Once that's been done I'll probably have very little time to myself, especially if I'm thinking of taking on a padawan"
​

 

[Cailen Corso]

Location: Workshop; Jedi Temple, New Cov
Tags: Silas Westgard
Objective: Fix up the droid
Soundtrack: Sprouting Potatoes

"Since... well, forever," he said, aware of how cheesy it sounded.

But it was the truth. Growing up on Anaxes could hardly be done without picking up a wrench and a blowtorch at least once - it was impossible when both of your parents were scrappers. The droid chopping came straight from his mom, Brenna, who working as a refurbisher on Anaxes Station. His dad's line of work focused on stripping discarded starships for useful tech.

Both of their skills were passed along to Cailen growing up, instilling him with a sense of fulfillment from seeing old technologies repurposed and given new life.

"There's something really special about taking something that's broken and forgotten, and giving it a second chance," Cailen said, his words incredibly wise for a young teenager.

"Everything deserves another go."

"I would try and learn it, but I sense I'll be knighted soon. Once that's been done I'll probably have very little time to myself, especially if I'm thinking of taking on a Padawan"

Cailen let out a gasp, wide eyes looking to Silas.

"Really?! That's so cool!" he exclaimed, probably a bit more excitedly than intended. He reigned in his energy with a nervous chuckle.

"Erm... I mean, congratulations! You're definitely going to be a great Knight."

A moment passed before the Padawan's excitement bubbled back. He just couldn't help himself.

"A really cool Knight!" he added with a grin.

 

[Silas Westgard]

Location: New cov
Objective: Help Cailen with a project
Tag: Cailen Corso

From the sounds of things, Cailen had been doing this his entire life, devoting himself to saving lowly droids who were needlessly cast away. He couldn't imagine how many he had fixed in his short lifetime "I'm certain you know what you're doing then" he said with a smirk and a playful nudge to his shoulder "What you're doing is amazing, selfless even. Keep it up Cailen, soon enough you could be passing it onto the younger generation who roam these halls"

Silas grinned from his reaction to possibly becoming a knight soon. He wasn't excited as Cailen was, but he was eager to see what was ahead of him "Ha, I wish I could show the same enthusiasm. I am excited to be given such a great honor, but you need to understand that they'll be expecting much more from you. I can't help but be nervous at the same time" he said honestly, well aware of the new hurdles that were going to be ahead "One day you'll be at the same stage as me and you'll understand how I felt"

The padawan reached over and ruffled the boy's hair "How's your training going anyway? are you taking in Valery Noble teachings?
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