Ask One Girl's Trash...

[Curse]

Curse worked desperately to implement the opposite of her current programing, not to destroy but to rebuild. IF she could just get this thing in working order, she could turn the tide in their favor. She paused for a moment as blaster fire broke out outside, fearing the worst. But the blasters just kept firing, indicating Eisa had survived the initial volley and was continuing to survive. Was she evading their fire? Or was she actually impervious to blasters? Was this person she had met even an organic or some kind of super droid?

These were all questions that could be answered later. Nothing was indestructible, human or droid, and Eisa still clearly needed help. Curse continued going about her work, gathering up any potentially useful parts she could find and hastily grafting them on to the vehicle's frame. It wasn't pretty, but it would function. Probably. At the very least the Junkers would be distracted by one of their tents exploding.

With everything (hopefully) in working order Curse crawled up to the vehicle's console and powered it up. There was a pained whir and a puff of black smoke before it began to jaggedly stand up and move. //Success!// Curse chirped triumphantly, and leaned forward on the controls.

The Junkers outside would indeed be distracted from Eisa, as suddenly a large misshapen lump rose in the top of one of their tents, and then started moving forward. Finally, a thoroughly rusted and monstrous looking AT-RT emerged from the tent, lumbering forward at the command of a little buzz droid. // Why don't you pick on someone approximately twice your size? // The Pistoeka rattled in what she hoped was a threatening tone. If she wasn't threatening, her mount certainly was. As she pulled on the trigger a laser blast exploded forth from the vehicle's barrel, blowing up a speeder bike parked nearby. The Junkers were instantly in a panic, dropping their weapons and fleeing for their lives. Curse's reaction to this was to release her best imitation of a maniacal laugh and start blasting indiscriminately into the buildings and piles of junk around them.

@Topher

 

[Eisa Wex]

Just as if things couldn't get any worse, not only was her means of defence gradually eroding away with each and every shot that came a little bit too close to physically evade - but now some vehicle was now starting to power up. Clearly the Junkers were that adamant on not trading with the fiery haired stranger and her errant companion, that they must of been bringing out the heavy weaponry. A resigned sigh escaped her lips before she took a deep breath, her brow furrowing as she concentrated her mind onto channelling the Force - figuring that whatever was being fired up was going to take just more than a metal staff that was now on its last legs of forming much of a viable defence.

Like the spacer, the Junker's attention was starting to shift towards the vehicle that was now firing up and starting to rise up from under the canvas covers that concealed it. As the canvas started to tear away, and reveal the rusted form of a bipedial vehicle that by the looks of it was a relic of the Galactic civil war, the fiery haired spacer stooped down into a crouched position, her remaining hand opening up as she allowed the Force to well up and concentrate in preparation for unleashing towards the war vehicle. The concentration building up as the walker started to fire indiscriminately towards the junkers, the camp and seemingly everywhere else.

A sudden expression of bemusement and confusion washed over Eisa's features, as her eyes fell upon the droid that was piloting it. Chirping out a somewhat strangely specific taunt, before letting out a series of chirps in quick succession. Had she not understood droid binary speak, it would have gone over her head, but the artificial series of ha ha ha's only made the human completely stop in her tracks in a moment of pure bemusement and confusion - if it were possible for living sentient to suffer an information over load and subsequent logic core crash, Eisa would be at this point understanding what it would be like for a droid to simply be unable to compute what the Kriff was going on.

"What in the flying Kriff" was the only thing that Eisa could do to react to the bizarre sight, watching the little buzz droid that had scampered off, pilot and manoeuvre the walker, firing at the the fleeing Junkers as it drove them out of their own camp.

 

[Curse]

Curse continued to fire randomly around the camp, destroying whatever machines and vehicles the poor Junkers had managed to rebuild. The camp's inhabitants didn't seem to mind too much though, too busy fleeing into the scrap covered hills like stampeding iriaz. Once all was said and done and the camp had been reduced to a smoldering ruin the little Pistoeka turned her engine of destruction so it was facing Eisa. The machine lumbered forward laboriously until it was right in front of the human and then lowered itself down, powering off.

Curse leapt up from the controls and hastily crawled down the face of the vehicle, scampering down the barrel of it's gun and coming to a halt right before Eisa, now at eye level with her. // Did you see that? // The droid exclaimed like an excited child. // I just broke so many things! Completely beyond repair! // She chittered giddily and nuzzled her head against the AT-RT's laser canon almost affectionately. // Oh I like this thing! And you! // She perked up and crawled forward, getting very close to Eisa's face as her photoreceptors zoomed in on the human. // You were amazing! You beat up all those Junkers like they were nothing! And you don't have a scratch on you! How did you do it? What kind of modifications are you hiding? //

While the droid rattled off her questions it was clear that they were safe now. The Junkers wouldn't be coming back any time soon, unless they brought an army with them. It seemed they had their pickings of the camp, what was left of it that was. Much of what might have been valuable had been destroyed in the buzz droid's rampage. Hopefully they would be able to scrape some useful parts out of the rubble. Not that Curse seemed to care in the moment. She was too busy simultaneously bragging over her own destructive accomplishments and fawning over Eisa's.

@Topher

 

[Eisa Wex]

The look of bewilderment and confusion lingered over the spacers features as she just stood and stared at the droid atop the walker, a raised eyebrow arching on her features as Curse scampered over the body of the war machine and down the barrels of the blaster cannons before perching on the muzzles of the weapons. A wash of statements and questions fell over her ears as the buzz droid rapidly rattled off its barrage of binary droid speak.

A look of concentration formed on Eisa's features as she processed the verbal deluge from the droid, whist she was able to understand droid speak - it had been a while since she had to rapidly converse with a droid. "Well it'll certainly be handy for hauling that replacement engine back to the ship" Eisa commented as she gestured to the walker, before her attention returned back the destruction that now surrounded her, the smoking heaps of molten slag and burnt detrus that the immediate surroundings of the camp had been reduced to. Her attention was brought back to the buzz droid as it confessed its fondness for the war machine and her, before questioning about what modifications she was hiding.

A puzzled expression crossed Eisas features, at the implication that she was carrying concealed modifications to her body. The only modifications she had were the cybernetic augmentations that were visible, that coupled with Curses earlier suggestion to use the hidden magnet from earlier. After a moment the wave of confusion was washed away by sudden clarity, in the realisation that the droid would see the use of the Force as concealed functions and magnets within its logic processors.

"No hidden modifications I'm afraid" Eisa confessed with a slight shrug, before pointing to her cybernetics "these are just standard exo skeletal limb augmentations" she added with a slight smile forming on her lips, before they pursed up in thought "But before I had to have these implanted, I was training to be a Jedi Knight" she explained, after coming to the hasty conclusion that perhaps it might not be wise to be coy about her abilities, when the one asking the question is perched upon a war machine.

 

[Curse]

Curse tilted her head slightly as Eisa revealed her true nature. Of course! A Jedi, that would explain all of her abilities. The buzz droid had never met a Jedi as far as she remembered, and thought their abilities must have been greatly exaggerated. But clearly that wasn't the case. But something else the human said caught her interest.

//You were only training to become a Jedi?// She asked curiously. //So you aren't actually one? Their standards must be very high then if you failed to meet their prerequisites despite your own capacity for destruction.// Curse wasn't sure if the human would take that as a compliment or not, but was trying to convey her respect for Eisa. She hadn't had this much fun in the company of an organic for a very long time.

//Anyway, let's find your engine!// She chirped, wanting to finish their mission. Even though she preferred destruction to repairs she recognized Eisa's desire to fix her ship, and found herself more eager to help the human now. Leaping down from the AT-RT she scurried off into the scrap heap, scanning for any signs of compatible parts for Eisa's ship. Despite the extensive damage she had caused to the camp she was still able to find an engine mostly in tact. As she crawled up onto the machine for closer inspection she calculated that with some repairs it should be able to be returned to functionality. At least until they could reach a port where better quality parts could be found.

//Promising...// She chittered out mainly to herself before looking back in her companion's direction. //This should work! We'll need something to tie it to the AT-RT though.//

@Topher

 

[Eisa Wex]

A curious expression crossed the woman's features as the droid rattled off its conclusion that Eisa was a failed Jedi, part of her wondering whether a droids thought process was that literall in how it reviewed everything thing. Whilst she supposed if she wrote it all down on paper, that she was training to be a Jedi, and that she wasnt now a Jedi she could come to roughly the same conclusion, but with a larger question as to the events in between that lead from one event to the other.

Though it seemed for the moment at least that the reasoning for her leaving the Jedi wasn't because she failed the tests would have to wait as the droid scampered off through the various mounds of wreckage, before chirping that it had found an engine and that she needed some form of rope to tie it to the war walker. Stepping away the fiery haired spacer walked over to the remnants of the msny tents that the droid and its newly acquired walker had leveled.

"I wouldn't say it was a case that I failed their tests" Eisa spoke out as she knelt down beside some tarpaulin, her hands untying the rope that was fashioned to it. "I spent my whole life being brought up as a Jedi, I was a Padawan to one of the members of the council, and I was almost ready to be knighted" she continued revealing to the droid just what her life as a Jedi was leading up to, yet not really knowing whether the buzz droid would comprehend yet alone really care too much for the revelation.

"I left the Jedi after I rushed ahead of the other Jedi to rescue some hostages. In my eagerness I lost my arm to an explosive mine that was left as a trap. The hostages were saved, the mercenaries caught, and yet despite it being a successful mission, they cautioned me for being reckless and impulsive, and that I should have waited for the mercenaries to give their demands first" she continued, before coiling up the gathered lengths of rope around her arm and leaving them slung over her shoulder. Before turning her attention towards gathering up the tarpaulins, figuring that they would help protect the engine from the elements and debris as they traveled back to the ship. "It was whilst I was recovering, I came to realise that the Jedi life is not one for me, I wanted to go out and explore and help people in my own way, without every one of my actions getting held up against some impossible standard and followed by some lecture about being wrekless and reminded about my arm as what happened when I rush into things" she confessed as she slung the rolled up sheeting under her arm and walked over towards curse and the engine. "Geee thanks, I didn't notice I had this metal arm bolted to me after my left side was blown to shreds by a frag mine" Eisa concluded, her voice dripping with sarcasm as the set the tarp down over the engine and started to strap the rope around the various anchor points Curse was pointing out

 

[Curse]

Curse listened with interest as Eisa explained her history. Organics always seemed strange to her in that they were created not having a programmed purpose, and had to find one on their own. She couldn't imagine how difficult that must be. The human said her desired purpose was to 'help people', but Curse personally felt Eisa's abilities would be much better suited to sabotage. Not to mention it might be less likely to result in serious damage as she had already experienced. Of course that made her recall her former owner and his own attempts at sabotage...

The buzz droid remained thoughtfully silent as she started directing Eisa how to secure the engine for transport back to the ship. She never spoke of her previous owner with other organics, as it was still a sensitive subject to her even after all these years. But she had to admit she liked Eisa a lot, perhaps even enough to call her master. If the human had any need of a sabotage droid that was.

//Your own way...// She beeped out as she looked up at Eisa, photoreceptors adjusting again. //You're like my old master. He wanted to be a pod racer, but he wasn't very good at it. So instead of giving up he just did things his own way. By cheating.// She tilted her head. //Well... Maybe you're not exactly the same. But you're both very unconventional when compared to other organics.// She looked down. //Correction: You are. He was.// Curse hesitated a moment before scurrying back to the AT-RT and beginning the process of starting the machine up again to carry the engine back to the ship. She didn't want to think about that after all it seemed.

@Topher

 

[Eisa Wex]

She couldn't help but allow for a moment of contemplation pass as she assessed whether the spherical droid's assessment of her being unconventional when compared to other organics was a compliment or not. It was at the best of times a a cluster kriff for the Spacer's mind to comprehend whether Droids being too literal in their phrasing was just a matter of the quirks of their language programming and personality matrices or whether it was truly intentional.

Figuring it was perhaps just better to take it as being a complimentary assessment, rather than being something to worry over the fiery haired spacer, nodded in acknowledgement as a slight smile curled on the edge of her lips. "Well I guess it's better being unconventional rather than the same as everyone else" Eisa responded with a slight shrug, as she walked in pace with the weaponised walker as it dragged the replacement engine back towards the Rim hopper. Her eyes narrowing as she moved her gaze away from droid atop the warmachine for a moment to fall upon what looked like a never ending sea of scrap metal in various states of decay and disrepair.

"I Guess without something breaking convention, things would be just as boring as picking over the same scrap piles for years on end" The spacer offered as she turned her gaze back towards the Buzz droid, lips pursing in thought as her thoughts lingered over the buzz droid and the never ending piles of scrap that surrounded them. Part of her wondering just how long it would take for her to consider putting the business end of her blaster a closer look , if all she had to keep herself occupied was sifting through the endless sea of corroded metal. Whilst she figured that for her it was driven by her longing to venture out in the stars that made her see that there would not be much of a life for her on Lothal Minor - she could not help but wonder whether the Droid was happy in it's life on this world.

"Actually, how do you find it here?" Eisa inquired after a further moment's thought, her gaze moving up to meet the droid's crimson photorecpectors as she arched an inquisitive eyebrow. "It must be boring out here? picking through all these corroded scraps" she continued with her line of questioning, but before she could realise just what she was about to say - knowing that any sane ship operator would know better to openly invite a bonafide sabotage droid onto their ship. "Cos if you want, can do with a mechanic on my ship" the fiery haired spacer offered. "So long as you keep the ship flying and not falling apart, you can fly with me"

 

[Curse]

As the pair trudged along back in the direction of the Rim Hopper Curse got stuck reviewing old data from her memory, playing back time spent with her old owner. Then she perked up as Eisa asked her a question. She stopped the AT-RT in it's tracks and turned to look down at the human.

//Hmm? How do I find it?// She asked, and then took a moment to consider. //Well there are plenty of things to disassemble and sabotage. but it does get rather boring from time to time. Maybe I have been here too long...// And then Eisa made a very surprising offer. Join her crew? As a mechanic? She wondered if the human had learned nothing from their interactions so far, but was oddly flattered by the request nonetheless. //Repairs are not my primary function.// She warned, taking a moment to focus in on the human curiously. //But... I suppose I can make an exception...//

She climbed down from the walker and hopped on to Eisa's shoulder, looking her directly in the eyes. //This would of course not give you freedom to alter my programming. I am not going back to being some poor man's astromech. I can keep your ship in good working order, but I expect you to take me places where I can break things.// After a few more moments of thinking the buzz droid reached out and poke the spacer's nose. //And no memory wipes!// She backed up a bit to give her some space, and immediately switched back to a more cheery tone. //If those terms are acceptable, than yes, I will join you.//

@Topher

 

[Eisa Wex]

Cocking her head to the side as the buzz droid reacted to the offer to join her as part of the crew on the Rim Hopper, her lips pursing a little in thought as she listened to the little droid's terms as she scrambled off from the war walker and onto her shoulder. She wasn't to alter the buzz droid's programming, well that was an easy condition to abide by - after all she knew all to well that she had no ability when it came to programming, and knew better than to attempt otherwise run the risk of making the droid think it was some form of shrubbery rather than a semi sentient droid.

As for taking Curse to places where she could break things, well that can be achieved. The thought crossing the spacer's mind that there certainly would be opportunity to do so, as well as being a potential means of earning a few extra credits towards keeping the ship going as a side line income - having a little sabotage droid that wants to break things would be a good means of getting into the scrapping and salvage market. "Oh don't worry, I wouldn't attempt to touch your programming or memories, aint got a clue about coding" Eisa spoke out offering a tentative grin and a nervous laugh. "As for breaking things, I'm sure we can hit up some junker sites on our travels" Eisa offered with a wide smile forming on her features. "Reckon we can certainly make a tidy profit in the scrap markets between us. But..." She continued before pursing her lips in thought for a moment, figuring that there would still need to be an amendment to the ground rules. "Can't go scrapping things that will land us in trouble bud" she added, putting a bit of clarity on what she would hope would be a simple enough request.

"Little things here an there can live with, but please don't go pissing off any crime or war lords" the fiery haired spacer resumed after a moment, before a wide grin formed on her features as a playful glint flashed in her emerald hued eyes. "Unless its someone we are planning on pissing off" she added before offering up her cybernetic hand up towards where the buzz droid was perched, to gesture for a hand shake. "Deal?"

 

[Curse]

Curse was actually quite relived to hear of Eisa's illiteracy with coding. She had assumed that given the human's knowledge of archaic binary she must have been an expert on droids, but it seemed her skills were more geared towards hardware rather than software. And how Eisa intended to employ her talents as a saboteur weren't of particular interest to the Pistoeka either. Naturally she would want to make a profit off of her, just as her previous master had, and Curse was completely fine with that so long as she got to carry out her function. Eisa's one request in return was understandable, but still a bit disappointing.

//Reasonable,// The droid replied with a soft whir. //I shall make every effort to constrain my sabotaging to those you designate as a target... Or those too stupid to notice...// Thankfully Eisa's request was worded vaguely enough that Curse could get away with breaking things and falling back on the excuse that she didn't know the human wouldn't approve. But she did intend to at least try to stay on her new master's good side, she liked this organic. Reaching out with one of her pincers she would grasp one of Eisa's cybernetic fingers and move it up and down in her best imitation of a handshake.

//Deal.// She agreed before hopping back onto the AT-RT and climbing back onto it's controls. //Now come on, let's go. I've still got a lot of work to do. Respectfully, your ship wasn't in the best of shape before I got to it and if I'm flying on it I want to make sure it can actually get to it's destination...// She looked behind her briefly as she started moving the walker forward again. //Not to mention the Junkers will be back, and in greater numbers...// Despite her words the buzz droid was actually quite excited to be working with someone again. She had been on her own for far too long. Not to mention she seemed to have stumbled on the perfect fit. What better team could there be than a devious sabotage droid and an unhinged ex-Jedi?

@Topher

 

[Eisa Wex]

A broad grin crossed the fiery haired spacer's features as the buzz droid agreed to the terms, albeit the slightly altered ones. Whilst every sane part of her would be jumping up and down waving huge red flags to the prospect of having a bonafide sabotage droid running wild on her ship, but that part of her was more than likely the years of Jedi teachings still knocking about in her head - teachings that while to a degree relatively useful.... to some extent, but by kriff they sure as hell was a path for a boring life. One that she had sought to try and distance herself from, seeking a life of adventure out among the wider galaxy, seeing where her antics and Force would take her - though hopefully the life threatening situations would be kept to a minimum at least....

As the droid jumped off from her shoulder to remount the war walker that she had acquired and now was clearly had a knack for controlling, part of the spacer couldn't help but wonder just how easy it was for the little droid to adapt to use equipment designed for use by larger sentient humanoid species - perhaps if things got a little hot in space, it might be an idea to see if Curse would be able to man the defensive turrets. If the elation the buzz droid had shown at gunning down the Junker camp atop the AT-RT was anything to go by, sticking Curse behind the controls of the turret might cause the droid to have a meltdown!

A bemused expression crossed Eisa's features as Curse proceeded to comment on the overall state of repair that the Rim Hopper was in, the condemning comment that the droid wanted to make sure that they actually got to their destination caused a raised eyebrow to arch on her features as she came to a sudden halt. "Hey, The ol girl flies alright" Eisa retorted, as she gestured towards the dormant ship sitting further up the path they were heading along. "Maybe most of the pipes and cabling are a bit haphazard, and there may possibly be a slight tiny issue with one of the washroom outlets where the water comes out electrified! But i think i've not done too badly" she continued, her cybernetic hand casually rolling as she rattled off her weak defence over the state of ill repair her ship was in - yet then again in her own eyes for being a one woman crew of the ship, she had done a fair enough job keeping the ship in a semi working state.

As the pair approached the loading ramp of the ship, Eisa quickened her pace ahead of Curse and the war walker, so to unlock and lower the boarding ramp to the ship, it seemed that for the best part the Junkers they had encountered were mostly located within their camp, and the Rim Hopper had been untouched. All that there was left to do for the time being was to clear a path for Curse to bring the walker and the replacement engine into the ship, before assisting the newest member of the crew with installing the replacement engine, as well as any other repair work necessary to get the ship functional enough so they could lift off and find somewhere safer.

//OOC: Thinking good enough spot to end the thread?