Part 1
Space is vast, but not vast enough to mask the sound of the Imperial Forces attacking Tantive IV. The attack can be heard not only from the shots fired at the ship but also from the stampede down the hall, just ahead of D-0R4 and L-17Y.
D-0R4 moves hastily beside her acquaintance, wishing she, too, had wheels on the bottom of her feet. Instead, she has to force her long, robotic legs to move at a fast enough speed to keep up.
A blast hits what D-0R4 estimates is the ship’s reactor, causing a loud noise to echo and the rest of the ship to shake. She jumps.
“Did you hear that?” L-17Y gives no response. “This is madness! Oh, we are doomed,” D-0R4 brings her silver hands to her face.
L-17Y, the bronze cyborg with strikingly red hair and freckled skin, rolls her eyes. “ We are not doomed. You’re doomed. I’m fine.”
More soldiers run past the two droids, preparing for the battle they’re about to face. The Imperial ship has magnetically overtaken the Tantive IV through their Docking Clamps– the Troopers should enter any second now.
D-0R4 shakes her head, and yet, her silky white hair does not move at all. “There will be no escape for the Prince this time.”
Just then, metal clanks from above. Then again. And again. Both droids look up, one more curious than the other. Groups of men with white helmets and blasters spread down the hall, covering as much area as they can. It is clear there is something worth protecting on this ship, but D-0R4 wishes she were anywhere but here.
Immediately after, an explosion comes from the door at the end of the hall. The white interior is now burnt and broken, and in its replace are Storm Troopers. The soldiers in white armor do not hesitate to shoot their soon-to-be prisoners. The hallway fills with red and white light, but D-0RA doesn’t stick around long enough to see the end of it.
Men are falling left and right, so instead, D-0R4 grabs L-17Y and pulls them both into a connecting hallway. However, the two are cut off by more gunfire as they attempt to cross into a small compartment room.
“This is absurd,” D-0R4 cries, but L-17Y shoots her an excited look followed by a wink. Then, L17Y slides across the floor on her feet as if the hall is a runway, and the gunfire never hits her. “Did you just wink at me?” is what D-0R4 says, but what she’s thinking is: how the hell did she just do that?
D-0R4 takes a shaky breath before following the other cyborg. However, she’s much less happy about it, as she ducks and dodges the gunfire. It takes her thrice as much time to get across.
When she finally does make it to (short-lasted) safety, she cannot seem to find the droid who coaxed her into here. The room is overtaken by large pipes and a multitude of buttons along the walls and ceiling.
“L-17Y, where are you–” but before D-0R4 can finish, she catches a glimpse of the girl-droid past the shutter doors down the left end of the room. The room is dark, and she can’t quite make out who, but someone is with L1. He is in all white, and a dark curl escapes the hood of his coat as he leans forward, carefully pressing one of the buttons on L-17Y. Just as quickly as D-0R4 sees him, he disappears, and L1 makes her way back to 0R4.
“Okay, what was that, where were you?” D-0R4 can’t believe L1 is fooling around at a time like this. Afterall, they are quite literally being attacked.
“You’re so angsty!” L1 replies. “Come on,” she takes off naturally down the hall, moving like her life doesn’t depend on it.
“Where are you going??” cries D-0R4, yet she follows anyway, through the ship and to an… escape pod????Oh, bother.
“Get in,” L1 ushers.
“Absolutely not. We are not permitted in here,” D-0R4 refuses the plotless demand.
“ Get in , you mindless philosopher,” there’s a hint of humor to L1’s words, but D-0R4 does not have the time for jokes.
She cuts back. “Don’t call me that, you rusted over half-breed.” To be fair, both of them are half human, half droid, so the insult is a bit hypocritical, but D-0R4 does not care. “Get out now before someone sees you,” she says, with attempted authority.
“We have a mission. I need to deliver these plans to Tatooine,” as she says this, L1 extends a small, computerized arm from inside her actual arm and plugs it into an outlet inside the pod. In D-0R4’s opinion, L1 was created with way too many gadgets. L-17Y begins setting up their escape.
“Mission? Plans? Did you hit your head or is this your martyr complex acting up again?” D-0R4 asks, genuinely wondering. “I am not getting in–” a loud noise rings in 0R4’s ear, and she looks over to see that gunfire has hit just to the right of her head, and there is more being fired close to her.
L1 smiles at D-0RA’s fright. “Getting in yet?”
D-0R4 looks down to see that she had jumped halfway into the escape pod during the blast. Well, now she has very little choice. “If you get me deactivated for this, I will kill you,” she moves the rest of her body into the pod, and the doors close.
L1 releases the pod from the ship, and they are launched into space. D-0R4 watches through the small circular window as they spin, the stars seemingly following their path. The Imperial ship gets smaller and smaller as the droids fall to the planet below.
“Are you sure this is safe?” D-0R4 asks.
L-17Y smiles tightly. “Nope.”
***
Prince Regulus Organa is currently being manhandled by troopers in white bulky armor. How charming , he thinks, sarcastically, as they take him through a door, not allowing him to walk perfectly fine by himself. When they enter the room, standing in front of him is the Sith Lord, Darth Vader. Most people would be crapping their pants at the sight of his dark helmet and long cape, but of course, Regulus is not impressed.
“Darth Vader. This is bold, even for you,” Regulus looks at Vader with bored authority. “When the Imperial Senate hears that you’ve attacked a diplomatic ship–”
Vader cuts off his words like a knife. “As if you were on a mercy mission, your Highness,” his voice is distorted by the helmet he wears. It comes out deep and angry. “Several transmissions were beamed to this ship by known rebel spies. Now, tell me what happened to the plans they sent you.”
Regulus furrows his eyebrows convincingly. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he’s always been good at lying. “I am a member of the Imperial Senate on a diplomatic mission to Alderaan.”
As convincing as the Prince is, Vader does not buy it. He raises his gloved finger and points it aggressively at Regulus. “You are a part of the Rebel Alliance and a traitor.”
Just then, a man with blonde hair past his shoulders walks up, meeting Vader’s stride. Regulus thinks looks even more pretentious than the rest of the idiots surrounding him.
The weasel-man speaks, unfortunately. “Lord Vader, the battle station plans are not aboard this ship– we’ve searched everywhere– and no transmissions were made,” Regulus hides a smile. “An escape pod was released, but no life forms were detected.”
Vader turns his attention to the Prince. “So, you’ve hidden the plans on an escape pod. Clever,” he turns back to the man beside him. “Send an attachment down to retrieve them. See it personally, Commander Malfoy.”
Ew. Malfoy.
“Yes, sir,” replies the commander, and he sets off in the opposite direction.
“Take him away,” Vader signals to the troopers who still have their fingers around Regulus’ arms, and they pull him down the hallway. Brilliant.
***
See, we landed safely is the first thing L-17Y thinks as she and D-0R4 land in Tatooine, a desert planet located in the galaxy ’s Outer Rim Territories. They start walking through the desert, L-17Y has a mission, and she is only focused on that, so she can’t be paying attention to her very whiny acquaintance.
“How did we get into this mess?” D-0R4 asks, complaining, L1 tries not to roll her eyes while her companion keeps rambling. “I really don’t know how. We seem to be made to suffer. It’s our lot in life.”
L-17Y doesn’t want to be mean, really; and it’s not that she doesn’t like 0R4, on the contrary, but everyone gets on her nerves pretty easily. To avoid being mean she just focuses on getting moving, “We should be walking faster, I need to do something important,” she says.
0R4 makes a noise of frustration, “I’ve got to rest before I get deactivated or something. It’s too hot on this planet,” she complains as they keep walking and just face more sand and… sand again. “What a desolate place this is.” L-17Y understands 0R4, this isn't the most beautiful place to be walking around without knowing where you are going but, she really, really, needs to get her mission done.
So she just starts walking, “I need to be going this way, are you going with me?” L–17Y asks because she is not a droid without modals.
D-0R4 looks at her in disbelief, “Where do you think you’re going?” the other droid asks as if she can’t believe who she ended up with. L1 doesn’t reply and just starts sliding across the desert, “Well, I’m not going that way. It’s much too rocky. This way is much easier. What makes you think there are settlements over there?”
L-17Y snorts, “Just look at the way you want to go, it’s just sand, there won’t be settlements over there. Instead if you look at this way it is clear that we can find life,” the droid answers as a matter of fact. She can’t see it but she is pretty sure 0R4 is rolling her eyes at her while she says, “Don’t get technical with me.”
Okay, she is getting impatient now, “0R4, I have a mission, we need to be going this way and faster!” L1 says as she sprints to look at her companion with a face that can show her how in a rush they truly are.
“What mission? What are you talking about?” D-0R4 asks, frowning. L-17Y rolls her eyes, “I’ve told you we had a mission before, can you listen to me?” she probably sounded a little mad but, can you blame her?
“I’ve just had enough of you. Go that way. Those little wheels won’t get you far away from here, you rusted half-breed,” that insult again, L1 thinks. The blonde cyborg starts walking away from her in the opposite direction, “And don’t let me catch you following me, begging for help because you won’t get it!” D-0R4 shouts as she keeps going away faster.
L-17Y watches laughing, “I won’t need it, blondie ,” 0R4 just fastens her walk and L1 laughs even harder while she turns to keep going the way she first intended to.
It’s a long walk and the weather doesn’t help but, luckily, she can slide; her little wheels work just fine, thank you. L-17Y wonders if D-0R4 is okay out there and hopes that she isn’t deactivated but, it’s too late now to come back and check for herself. She carries on her trip in order to get the mission done once and for all, the droid is whistling a song as if nothing can bother her. The path is very rocky and full of mountains, it’s a beautiful yet desolate path. L-17Y comes to a jolt as she hears something that comes from one of the mountains, she looks around trying to understand who or what is there but nothing seems to happen.
Just then, a few rocks fall from the mountain; shit, L1 thinks. “Who is there? Show yourself, coward!” she yells pretending that she isn’t scared and playing brave, oh, if 0R4 could see me now… She sees two bright eyes hidden on the mountain behind some big rocks, and as soon as the eyes and her green bright eyes make contact, the unknown being sprints away. L-17Y, being the reckless cyborg she is, follows the eyes until she notices that whoever has them isn’t alone; she hears more of them talking and slows down her pace. Suddenly, a Jawa, short rodent-like native of Tatooine, appears in front of her wearing a brown hooded robe, L-17Y could only see its yellow-ish brilliant orbs, until the Jawa shoots her with a particular weapon, making her connections malfunction and deactivate. The Jawas are known for scavenging the deserts of Tatooine in search of any scrap metal, droid or mechanical part left behind, L1 knows exactly what is coming. She screams and falls to the floor.
When L1 opens her eyes again, she is in what looks like a container of some sort, surrounded by other cyborgs and droids. Lovely, I’m gonna end up being a slave. Thank you so much, prince, she thinks, bitterly. The cyborg starts walking around to find a way to get out when she hears a familiar sound; there she is, D-0R4. If L1 sighed with relief at the sight of her, she won’t ever tell a soul.
“L-17Y, it is really you!” 0R4 shouts, sounding strangely happy about it. The droid goes for a hug but then, the container starts moving and they fall to the floor. “I feel like this is going to be a long night,” L1 says, resignedly.
As she predicted, it was a long night, the container was extremely uncomfortable and, apparently, D-0R4 had the great idea of waking her up by tapping her forehead and shouting “Wake up! Wake up!” L-17Y is going to murder her one of these days. “I’m awake, you piece of smelly metal,” she tells her, while knuckling at one of her eyes. Abruptly, the container stops its way and the door opens, “We’re doomed,” 0R4 says once again.
The Jawas get in the container and give the droids orders. Two of them stop in front of L1 and 0R4 and speak in a foreign language. By this L-17Y starts getting annoyed, she has something important to do; she can’t be bothered by all of this. They have to get down the container, it seems like they stopped in front of a typical house from Tatooine; L1, 0R4, and other droids as well are being exhibited. Fuck, we really are doomed.