The Tinkerer

[Bay]

Bay gritted his teeth as he stuffed tools and parts into a duffel bag from the cramped quarters he shared with Cox and Jaden.

He felt like a damned fool. What had he been thinking back at the restaurant? He wasn't some counter-spy agent, he was a blasted mechanic!

He zipped up the duffel bag and strapped it to his back.

It was stupid of him to have been so impulsive. He should have just stayed still, or at the very least, ask permission to try and do something. Now all that was left of his droids were little bits of scrap and slag. Little bits that he was determined to at the very least rebuild his favorite from. Not to mention that that the city was on high alert now.

He glanced down the hall. Shadows flittered by and he sighed. He didn't want to work in the cargo bay's engineering station, or to be in the ship at all truthfully. Talking to anyone else right then felt like too much, especially if that someone was Cox.

Bay clenched the duffel bag as he thought of Cox. He had, in so many words and actions, said that Ni, or anyone else, didn't matter as long as the mission was fulfilled.

Bay walked to the exit ramp, trying as best he could to not draw attention to himself.

He had met more heartfelt droids than that ruthless slimy piece of worm-ridden filth. He had no idea if he was going to be able to work with someone who cared so little about the people around him. Bay would have given up an arm if he had people that really cared about him growing up, and as far as he could tell, here was Cox throwing them all away for something as silly as 'the mission'.

Bay reached the ramp and glanced behind him, hoping no one had noticed him. He pushed the button and the ramp opened up with a loud and noticeable hiss.

"Shit," he said grimacing at the hydraulics, "Fine, whatever."

He walked outside, just underneath the ship, and pulled out an anti-static plastic sheet and laid it on the ground. He then meticulously put the parts and tools on top it and sat crossed legged in the middle as he began to work.

[Duncan_Starchaser]

After having finished talking to Cox Duncan began looking around the ship for Ni he wanted to talk to her about what had happened as well. Plus he wanted to talk to her about going on a little mission for him. That was when he found Bay sitting in the work shop tinkering about. "Bay I wasn't looking for you, but since I found you I have something I'd like for you to work on."

[Bay]

Bay tightened the last screw on the new droid. He picked up the silver sphere, turned it over a few times, checked the wiring, and moved the joints. Everything looked good. He pulled one of the legs out and flipped the switch. The little droid emanated a whirling sound and beeped.

"Beep twice, please." Bay said but the droid remained silent.

He sighed, "Well, shit."

Bay had inspected the hardware and all the tests had come back green, that meant that the software was fried and so were all of his logs. He packed up and headed back inside, he could work with his data-pad, but it would be faster to use the Engineering station.

Within a few minutes, the little droid was walking back and forth on the shop's bench. It was working again, but all of the droid's memories were gone.

He sighed again, "No one to blame but me."

"Bay I wasn't looking for you, but since I found you I have something I'd like for you to work on."

Bay turned around and saw Duncan, standing behind him.

"Oh hey Duncan." Bay caught himself and stood up and gave an awkward salute, "Um, I mean Duncan, sir!"

[Duncan_Starchaser]

"Duncan is more than fine while we're here bay." Duncan told him. "I need use of your talents. I don't know if you are aware of this, but Gadeon, Ashla, and Unna have been invited to the palace by one of the high lieutenants of the OPA that is governing this world. I want to not only be able to keep track of them. But I want to be able to see and hear everything that they do. But it has to be small enough to not draw suspicion as well as not be detectable to the enemy." He added and then as if he thought of something. "In fact might want something for Ni, since she's going to try and gather some intel from that officer from earlier. Maybe something that could be a piece of jewlery?"

[Unna Hi Chaanu]

"Absolutely not," Unna said as she emerged.

[Duncan_Starchaser]

Duncan turned around when he heard Unna. He must have been so distracted that he hadn't heard her enter. "Absolutely not to what?" he asked trying to judge how much she had heard.

[Unna Hi Chaanu]

Unna stood in the doorway with a serious expression and spoke in a very straightforward manner as she stared into Duncan's eyes. "I have known Graff and his inner circle for years. I am currently on cordial terms with them and that can be used to our advantage, but not as you suggest by wire tapping us. I refuse to have a part of that, because I believe our best position is that of liaisons and negotiators, rather than spies. We are not dealing with naive individuals. I believe they would check and it would be foolish to risk my current relationship to them just so you can listen in. I am confident that we will live to tell the tale. I believe that tracking comms is perfectly reasonable and would expect them to agree."

After a brief pause, "As for Ni, bug her as much as you please. The trust and respect of this officer likely bears no significance to the Galaxy. My relation to Graff and his lieutenants does. If there is any chance of peaceful resolution, as grim the possibilities may seem, we must not give them reason to think of our crew as untrustworthy."

Unna continued to keep her gaze on Duncan.

[Duncan_Starchaser]

"You are being short sighted. Yes you might have a good realtionship with Graff and his people now, that doesn't mean that will remain so." he told her. "Also simple trackers won't tell us if you've been captured or if your something else goes wrong that will cause me to have to go in and save you. As Commander of this mission I can't risk all your lives on the simple fact that Graff was once your friend and still considers you as such or else you could suffer the same fate as Aurro. As for detection I'm sure you heard I asked Bay to create something that couldn't be detected. There are ways to do that, difficult yes, but still possible." he told her.

[Bay]

Bay stayed very still and very quiet, glancing between Unna and Duncan.

He had no idea what they were talking about. He wondered if that's how a child felt when their parents fought.

[Unna Hi Chaanu]

Unna continued to fix her eyes upon Duncan, "I would not define my relationship to these individuals as great by any means. However, it is a relationship in which we are respectful, despite all we have done to each other in the name of war. I ask that you trust that this team can observe and report competently without someone secretly watching from behind the scenes. There is always a risk in concealing anything and I believe that we can succeed without such tactics. I will agree to wear a tracke, which I believe is perfectly reasonable, but I refuse to wear a surveillance device in secret. I trust that I will be safe and you trusted me to be safe when I had lunch with Graff and Jenna. Why not now?"