Bay's day out

[Bay]

Day 1 on Coruscant

Bay picked up his latest creation, a modified mouser droid. It’s programming was simple, patrol the ship for nano-droids, if found, contact Bay and emit an EMP pulse. It would take a few seconds to charge, leaving the droid vulnerable during that time, but it was the best he could do with the limitations of the parts. Worse case scenario, it would serve as an early detection system.

Bay beckoned his NR-5 over and handed him the droid, “Here, take this and plug him in next to the other one. How’s your ‘nest’ going?”

The NR-5 chirped and responded in a monotone voice, “The Faraday cage is almost complete. It should be finished in two more hours.”

Bay nodded, “Good. If either of these two send out their warning signal, you’ll only have a few seconds to get inside. Otherwise your circuitry may be damaged. Do you understand?”

The droid nodded and took the mouser droid to be charged next to the other one. The two of them looked exactly alike. Two little boxy black boxes on wheels. You could almost think of them as a matching set, or even twins.

Or clones.

Bay closed his eyes and leaned back.

“Oh god,” he thought, “I’m a clone.”

He hadn’t allowed himself to think about it during the last two days. He kept himself preoccupied building the droids. But now, after arriving on Coruscant and most of the group preoccupied with their own things, he found that he had the time to think.

“What does that even mean?” he wondered. “How much of me is even really me and how much of it is by design?”

He looked at his little collection of droids, at his tools, and his data pad.

“Definitely the technological knack was by design, but what else?”

He looked down the hall from the Engineering station, hearing muffled voices from the other people on board.

“Maybe wanting to be useful? That would make sense. It would definitely make me a better servant to a master or a corporation.”

He sighed and decided he should stop thinking about it. If there was one thing he could say about who he was, was that he was an engineer and that meant he solved practical problems, not philosophical ones. He looked around the cargo hold.
“What problems can this Engineer solve?” he murmured.

That’s when he heard giggles coming from the adjacent cargo room, followed by the tell tale rhythmic thudding sounds. Sounds he had heard at least a few times during their trip.

He sighed and reached into his pockets, plucking out his modified credit chips.

“I think I need to take care myself first.”

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“She’ll treat ya good! When you ride her, it’ll feel like silk. I promise ya, she’s the best in the lot.”

The Rodian clasped his hands and smiled.

Bay scratched his chin and his eyes looked up and down.

“I don’t know. I was hoping you could show me one that’s a little bigger? One that you wouldn’t mind being rough with?”

The Rodian smiled and nodded, “Oh sir, this lady is tough! I’ll admit she’s a little bit on the smaller side, but she can handle whatever rough treatment you put her through. I speak from experience. She’s tougher than she looks.”

Bay paced, trying to make up his mind, “How many people you think we can fit inside?”

“Oh she’ll handle six easily, more if you don’t mind putting a few in the back.”

“Ok, but I notice that she’s missing her...”

“Ah, you noticed. Listen it’s no problem. She’ll get you there. She may not have her teeth no more, but for your price range, she’s a bargain!”

Bay focused on the small freighter. She had seen better days and Bay wasn’t crazy about her not having any weapons, but the salesman was right. For his price range, this ship was a pretty good deal. He had inspected the engines himself.

“Alright, it’s a deal.”

[Akirapryde]

The Rodian nodded as the pair shook hands. “If you will come with me, we can make this official,” he said as he motioned Bay to follow him to a nearby desk. “You won’t be disappointed with her. She is a fine ship. Her previous owner was very good with her. And you will find that her registration is still active.” He smiled and laughed, “there won’t be any custom issues.” He paused and turned to Bay, “you’re not planning any trips around Azgard space, are you?” He smiled and patted Bay on the shoulder, “oh, forget it. I don’t think it should be a problem anymore.” He turned to continue to walk towards the desk when he saw a woman walk in.
 
It didn’t take Bay much to realize that the woman was very shy by the way she moved. She was dressed in a dark brown servant dress. She wore a simple black apron with a light brown leather belt around her waist. Her head and shoulders were concealed by a bright colorful cloth. This cloth was wrapped around her head and hung low over her shoulders and back. Part of the cloth covered her face. Bay could tell the stains on her apron were from oil and hydraulic fluid.
 
The Rodian motioned towards the desk, “please have a seat. I will be right with you.”
 
Bay could overhear the conversation from the desk as the Rodian walked up to her, “Zay, what’s wrong?” There was genuine concern in the Rodian’s voice.
 
From under her apron, she pulled a power converter that was clearly burned up. “It failed, Skee” she said speaking to the Rodian.
 
Skee took the power converter, “I don’t understand.” He started to examine it, “I made sure it was top of the line. How could it have failed?”
 
Zay sighed, “he pressed it too far, too fast.”
 
Skee looked up from the converter and noticed she was making sure that her face was covered, “Zay……” he said in a serious voice then lowered his tone. Bay could barely hear it when Skee spoke, “….show me…”
 
Once more Zay sighed as she allowed the vail to slip from her face. Her skin was smooth and tanned. Her hair curled and black. For Bay, it was like looking at the sister he never knew he had. It didn’t take long for Bay to recall that his production line had both male and females within it. She was a clone just like him. What else stood out was the bruised eye and mark on the face. Her lip had been spilt as well. It was clear that she had been slapped around by someone much larger and stronger.
 
“Zay…..”
 
She reached forward and rested a hand on his, “Skee….please…I just need a new converter.”
 
He shook his head as he continued to whisper (Bay can overhear it), “Zay, remember that impound job I couldn’t unload,” he said then motioned to Bay, “I just found a buyer. There is no overhead on this one. I can use the credits to hire a bounty hunter…..”
 
She waved a hand to stop him, “Then what Skee….go to jail for killing a ranking member of the Senate’s IOC?” She glanced around before speaking again, “Skee, just give me a power converter, I have to home. He wants his bike fixed before he gets home.”
 
Skee walked over to a shelf and picked up a box, “Zay,” he said as he walked back, “he will kill you one day. You must get out of there.”
 
She took the box, “I tried that before. He found me,” Skee waved off an offer to pay for the box. On that she pulled up the vail to cover her face and turned to walk out. “You remember, don’t you?”
 
Skee looked down with great sadness, “I remember, and I am sorry.” Skee couldn’t say anything else as he watched her leave. “I remember how he nearly killed you, Zay…” he whispered (Listen Check, DC15)

[Bay]

(Listen Roll: 9)

Bay's eye widened as he overheard the conversation. He leaned forward as he tried to subtly listen in to the rest of it, but a slow moving clunky ship passed nearby, completely obscuring any further voices from the salesman and the woman.

He sat back and grimaced.

"It's none of my business," he said under his breath, "Nothing you can do about it."

He then shook his head violently.

"Just like a good little clone," he murmured angrily.

He pulled out his pocket droid, "Follow the woman until she's alone. Don't let her see you. Once she's alone, contact me."

He rolled the little droid to a wall and watched it climb up to an air vent. It gingerly unscrewed the screen, climbed inside, and fit the screen back in place. Bay sat back down and waited for Skee to return to the office.

[Gar]

Bay receives a message com from Ni. "Hey, Bugsie! Where you at? I have something I'd like to tell you!"

[Akirapryde]

Skee walked back to the desk, "I am so sorry for the delay," he said taking his seat. He drew in a deep breath as he glanced towards the doorway that was now empty. He turned around and reached for a folder. On the base of the Rodian's neck, Bay saw a bar code.

The Rodian turned and laid out the papers for the purchase. "You will be most pleased with your new ship." He heard the comlink going off. He smiled, "it would appear that interruptions are the order of the day, today."

[Bay]

Bay smiled nervously, "Uh yeah, please excuse me."

"Hi Ni, I'm actually about to finish a little shopping. Let me call you back in a few minutes."

Bay finished the transaction is silence. He tried to work up the nerve to ask about the barcode on the salesman's neck, but decided it would probably be too rude to do so.

Skee took the signed paper-work and reached across the desk to shake Bay's hand.

"Congratulations on your new purchase," he said smiling, "I'm sure you'll be quite happy with it."

"Thank you, I should be ready to pick it up in a day or two."

Bay shook the Rodian's hand once more, and stood up to leave. Once outside, he contacted Ni once more.

"Hi Ni, I'm all done. Do you want to meet anywhere?"

[Gar]

Ni answered the com with her usual cheerful smile. "Bugsie! So happy to hear from you! You like the planet so far?" she waved and gave him a little wink, "It is nothing major, I just have a tiny favor to ask! Would you like to meet outside the ship?"

[Bay]

"Uh, well, it's definitely... something." Bay swallowed, "But sure, I can meet you. I'm heading back now."
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Bay spotted Ni as he walked to the base of the ship and waved.

[Gar]

Ni was wearing her usual leather attire and fiddling with the gadget she won from Admiral Tarkin. Her head popped up when she noticed Bay from the corner of her eye. The Zeltron waved happily and ran up to him, taking him by the hand and gently pulling him into a nearby, secluded alley of the dock with an urgent, "This way, Bugsie!!"

Once they were between some crates and trash she stopped, turned, and put a finger to her lips, giggling softly. "You have to promise me you won't tell the others!" Ni told him emphatically, "I don't want Gaddy Daddy to find out but I also need someone to know where I am in case we need to go on a mission!--because I won't always be able to wear my com--Can you promise, Bugsie?" She pressed her hands together as if she were begging and smirked mischievously.

[Akirapryde]

Bay received a message from his droid,

Message: 4805C, 500 Republica, Federal District

Along with the message came a short vid of the woman named Zay walking through a large apartment. She knelled down next to a Speeder Bike and started to work on it. From behind Bay could see a similar bar code.