Private One Man's Trash

[R6-X13]

Fresh off the job, Sana found herself in some remote corner of an isolated farm settlement in the forests of Agamar, just barely big enough to warrant a starport (a term too nice for the glorified strip of dirt). A Rodian loan shark had wanted extra muscle to help “remind” the locals it was time to pay up, but the poor farmers and spice junkies hardly needed convincing beyond the sight of the blaster at her hip. The work had not been glamorous, and it certainly hadn’t been lucrative, but it was work, and the merc certainly needed the credits wherever she could get them. Her tastes were too expensive to pass on an easy payday.

Now a few credits richer, she was left to her own devices for the first time since touching down in the boonies, alone on an empty dirt road only occasionally broken up by the odd ranch or store.

Before she could settle on whether to cut her losses and leave this forsaken place or try to find a cantina or something to squeeze some entertainment out of the trip, a sudden shock from behind caught her off guard. A pit droid of all things had crashed into her.

With what was hopefully an apology in binary, it unceremoniously sprinted away toward some sort of scrapyard down the path, ducking into a shop buried in the middle of the mess of metal. Once the initial shock from the impact had passed, though, it was becoming increasingly clear, either through a lack of experience on the droid’s part or her own time as a small fry criminal, it had just stolen her pay.

Sana Kinree

 

[Sana Kinree]

Sana was no stranger to shakedown work. In her past, it was the bread and butter of the criminal gang that she had run with. The main difference now that she was doing it freelance was that she got a lower cut. Not ideal, especially since she was on this backwater planet, but at least it paid enough to get her off this rock.

She was reaching for a smoke when the pit droid bumped into her, resulting in a couple muttered curses as the thing sped off. Sensing that it had stolen her pay, she tucked the smoke away into a pocket in her jacket before sprinting after it, her pistol coming to her hand as she let off a couple warning shots.

"Kriffin'... O'course... Backwater piece of..." She managed between breaths. Whoever owned this thing was going to pay. Of that she was sure.

R6-X13

 

[R6-X13]

Sprinting after the jumpy repair droid, Sana would quickly come to its hiding place, a shoddy prefab with a hand-painted sign proudly displaying “DARVO’S DISCOUNT DROIDS: REfurb and REpair” front and center. Sounds of wheezing laughter and sparks poured through the cracked doorway, as did a cloud of oh-so-familiar smelling smoke. Tobacco, and a hint of oil.

Not that she had time to stop and smell the flowers; she had a little thief to catch. Following it in, she's greeted by an oversized Besalisk in the center of the room, seated and hunched over a pile of mismatched droid parts. One set at least, the entire room was packed with busted metal and wires burying any surface not already covered with tools.

“Woah-ho! Watch where you point that thing, eh?”
Spotting Sana and her freshly fired pistol, the grease-stained alien nonchalantly tosses up his top pair of hands in surrender while the other two continue working. His eyes stick to the merc, though they occasionally drift down to check on his repairs. The diagnostic light of a detached R-unit's head in front of him flickers to life for just a moment as he kept prodding at its circuits. The pit droid, meanwhile, was nowhere in sight, though it could be hiding anywhere in the room amongst the scrap or further in behind the mechanic.

Spoiler: Big Darv

Sana Kinree

 

[Sana Kinree]

Sana struggled to get her breath as she walked into the shop, her gun in her hand as she panted heavily. Pointing it towards the Besalisk, she breathily worked to get her breath out of her strained lungs.

"Pit droid... Need t'see it... NOW."

Her words were punctuated by a small cough, as well as the jabbing of the tip of the blaster pistol in the direction of the man. There was a scowl on her face as she took a small look around, but her gun never wavered from where it pointed.

 

[R6-X13]

“Oh, pit droid? I see.” He rocks his head back and lets out a long, exasperated exhale. “Come out, then.”

At its master’s request, an over-sized optical sensor peeks out from behind the chassis of some sort of stripped agribot in the corner, quizzically cheeping.
“And bring whatever you’re hiding back there with you.” A disappointed chirp this time. “Going to get me killed, these things.”

The little droid sadly saunters out, head hung low as it clutches Sana’s rightfully earned chits in its hands. Whether that was out of remorse for what it had done or being caught was yet to be seen. Nevertheless, it holds its ill-gotten gains out for her.

The Besalisk (the eponymous Darvo, presumably) relaxes just a bit as he lowers one of his hands to take a drag from his cigar. The flashy thug probably wasn’t going to shoot him at this point, or at least she’d get the droid first. Plenty of time to clonk her with a spanner. He could de-escalate things though, maybe even make a sale if he played his cards right. She certainly looked like she had some credits to waste.

“Don’t hurt the merchandise, now. Lower the gun and we can do some business. I’ll even throw in an uh, ‘Apology Special.’”

 

[Sana Kinree]

As the pit droid stepped out from behind the stripped droid, she lowered her gun and approached it, swiping the credit chit from its little hands with a scowl. Tucking them away in her jacket, she turned her attention back to the Besalisk, still holding her blaster. At least it wasn't pointed at him now.

"Oh, a special deal? Quite the racket y'got goin'. First you lure people here with your little buddy then you offer 'em exclusive deals?"

She rolls her eyes, before she looks briefly around the shop. Most of the stuff here didn't look to be in working order, and what was so far didn't interest her. She tilts her head at the Besalisk, letting out a small sigh of annoyance, "Talk, then. Whaddya got?"

 

[R6-X13]

"Racket? You think this was me?" The mechanic's wide lips stretched into a snarl. He may be in some backwater junk heap fixing glorified tractors for a living, but a man has his pride! "No, it was this."

Setting his finer tools down, the Besalisk forcefully slapped the side of the detached R-unit's head. A loud clank! rang out from the conical piece of metal. All at once, the lights lining it blinked back to life; it seems he must've hit a switch.

"Woah, boss! Some sorta bum's holding up the store!" squawked a shrill, feminine voice from the astromech's head, and a utility saw from its body, wildly swinging at the air in front of it. Sana was nowhere near close enough to be at risk, but they made the attempt just the same.

"No, you bucket of bolts!" He slaps the droid's head with the flat of his hand again, drawing a sad whimper from the bot as the weapon retracted. "It's a customer. One your nonsense pissed off enough to rush in here with a blaster!"

"It was funny! And free creds, if ya didn't snitch… Sorry, lady."

Sana Kinree

 

[Sana Kinree]

It could talk? Things just get better and better.

Sana sighed, looking at the detached body flailing its saw in her general direction. She didn't know a lot about droids, but astromechs had enough of a reputation that she knew that this was probably among the more minor hijinks that the unit had gotten up to. She had to admit that she respected the hustle out of the thing, though.

"...Riight." She lets out another annoyed sigh again, gesturing to the Astromech's detached body, "Y'got any recommendations? Most o'yer stuff looks pretty uh..." Sana struggled to come up with a diplomatic way of putting it, then forwent it altogether. The man had eyes. She didn't need to lie to him, "Kriffin' scrappy. Not lookin' to pay that much for any of this."

Now that she thought about it, R6 units didn't typically talk. They were pretty much universally known for their shrill beeps, occasional screams, and sassy whistling noises. This one must've been modified pretty heavily.

R6-X13

 

[R6-X13]

"Scrappy? Say that to my sensor, ya no good-" Another smack to the mouthy droid's head.

"Recommendations, huh? Take it your, eh…"
His eyes drifted down to the woman's six-shooter and her gaudy getup.
"Your line of work doesn't call for farming equipment. S'mostly what I do here, though I work on more interesting models in my spare time. Like this hunk of junk."

The R6 unit chirped proudly, "Boss says I'm special."

"Yeah, yeah. I'll show you my stock."
The Besalisk rocked forward like he was going to get up, then stopped, leaning just over the astromech's body. He held up a hand, signaling the human to wait a moment, while another hand used an oversized finger to scrape ash from his extinguished cigar. After absentmindedly flicking it to the floor, he held the cigar to the droid's casing.

Sana didn't know much about droids, but astromechs didn't usually come with built-in lighters.
This R6 did; an arc welder crudely retrofitted into a gilded one.

"Pay an off-world scrapper to haul in whatever he finds every now and then. All sorts of oddities and antiques from piecing together scrap, you know?"

Now on his feet with a relit cigar clamped between his lips, Darvo cocked his head toward the back door and started walking off.

"Wait! Put my head back on, boss!"

Sana Kinree

 

[Sana Kinree]

This thing could light cigs?

Sana's attention was piqued. Reaching into her jacket, she produces the slightly crumpled cigarette she had planned to smoke before she was rudely interrupted by the pit droid earlier. She holds it out to the astromech's body, curious if it'd light it for her.

"Farmin's not my thing, no. A pit droid could be good, I don't know all that much 'bout flyin' ships or maintaining 'em."

She doubted that Darvo had anything that could actually fight, but she wanted to see the range nonetheless.

R6-X13