boxofmisfits | Strange Droid

When the Stormtroopers returned to the Admonitor, they had a box with them, claiming that they got a good deal on it and thought the Grand Admiral might appreciate it. Opening up the box had revealed a droid, but not like any Thrawn had ever seen. While he'd seen droids within the Empire, none were quite this human looking. The lead Stormtrooper, Commander Balkin, said that he felt Thrawn might appreciate it as an art piece or collector's item. Balkin said that the seller hadn't known what world the droid came from, or what culture made it.

Thrawn accepted the droid and took it back to his office. The droid wasn't like any he'd ever seen before, even after cross-referencing various models dating back to the Clone Wars. He'd even looked at droid models from the Sith Empire and Old Republic, and it matched none there either. The strange synthetic skin was interesting, as Thrawn could see no real reason for it. Perhaps it had covered the unit's entire body once.

Thankfully, Thrawn had figured out which wires went where within the droid, and had found a way to hook it to a battery that would give it enough power until it could recharge itself. After some fiddling, Thrawn managed to boot the droid up.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Doubt it'd have been as successful if—" He began and then pondered. Why had that worked if droids were so common? One would think that they'd have known that he was bluffing given that if he exploded himself then the girl would have been left all on her lonesome.

"I think I was a relative unknown at the time. What I am, I mean."

But mechanical people were obviously common here. Even though he hadn't seen anyone who looked like him during his admittedly rather short time switched on rather than off.

"Has to have been a while ago."

"Perhaps."

Perhaps Valentine had been in a part of the galaxy that didn't have droids. The Ascendancy didn't have droids, didn't even really know about them until that incident with the Trade Federation. Perhaps Nick had been imported from the inner galaxy to the Unknown Region, where the general population was unfamiliar with droids, and thus Valentine could easily fool them with his bomb ploy.

"Droids are not terribly common in this part of the galaxy. Are you familiar with the Trade Federation or the Clone War?"

"No."

Neither of those rung a bell. Once again he could practically feel his CPU overheating and he had to lean back against a nearby chair as he tried to process what there was in his memory. He remembered the life of Nick Valentine. Remembered his girl. Remembered Eddie Winter. Remembered a planet with plenty of humans. He didn't remember which planet that was though.

He remembered flashes of other things. That case. A man who didn't seem human in a red coat. An office with a young woman manning the desk. A city that hadn't been entirely friendly to him.

"I remember a planet that didn't look like it was doing too hot. But I also remember it before it went to hell but those memories aren't mine."

Nick had been a cop, he seemed to remember. Details were out of reach though.

But he and Nick were different people in different times with different careers.

"After that it's mostly flashes. Don't know how I got to the museum I used to be kept in and don't know how I changed hands afterwards either."

"You have another's memories? Fascinating."

Thrawn didn't even know that was possible, and it opened up a whole set of implications. Cloning done not by creating a whole new person, but by simply uploading the flash learning into a droid's body. Thrawn didn't even know that there were droids with that kind of processing power, capable of holding a lifetime's worth of memories.

"A museum actually sold you to a private collector?"

"The original Nick Valentine. He was a cop, I think."

That would explain a lot about what he could remember. Those memories were what had allowed him to be a detective so he was grateful he thought. Even if it was weird to remember a life that wasn't yours. To not be fully your own person.

"It did. Eventually the kids stopped tapping on the glass and visited less and less. Rather than put me in storage and spending time and money on preserving me when I wasn't earning them anything, they sold me to someone with dreams of restoring me."

A fun little project to work on.

"He, uh. Wasn't exactly trained in that type of work."

"I see."

Thrawn could understand having a project, and he liked having projects. There was even a time when he'd been mildly interested in Clone War droids. Perhaps he could get in touch with Jorj Car'das and see if he could dig up any leads on Valentine. He'd retired and gone into seclusion, but Thrawn knew how to find him.

"Rest assured, that I knew what I was doing with you, and if you choose to see my robotics team, they are all highly educated in such things."

"Yeah. Nothing seems to be missing."

Parts of him had been with the rich man. And unlike him, Thrawn had him up and moving again. Talking too. It was nice to be functioning again. He tapped more ashes from his cigarette into the ash tray, pondering.

"Will you be pressin' the off button on me when I'm not in use?"

He didn't know where his off switch even was but it seemed awful risky to him to keep an unknown around and wandering freely.

"Or do droids get put into some kinda storage when they're not needed?"

Like a communal room where they wouldn't get in anyone's way. Nick had to admit that this was new to him.

"Only if you prove to be a threat to myself, my crew, or my ship. Harmless as you may seem, assassin droids are often disguised as otherwise mundane protocol droids, so that they may get close to their targets." The HK series was like that.

"You will only be put in storage if you cease to function, or we have to deactivate you for safety reasons."

Nick couldn't help but grimace a little. The idea of someone hitting his off button wasn't exactly a nice one now that he wasn't turning off on his own. It had been so long since he could walk. Or talk.

But he did understand he was property here. Not really seen as his own person.

"Suppose it doesn't reassure you if I say I've never hurt anyone who didn't have it coming."

Any assassin would likely say the same.

"Not sure why you didn't check what I am before turning me on though— you hold your own against assassins often?"

"I am confident that I would be able to defend myself had you attacked me."

He had a pistol, he knew how to fight hand-to-hand, and Valentine was old and possibly in need of a tuneup. Thrawn wasn't worried.

"I think if you wanted to hurt me, you would have done so by now."

"As I said... Can't say I recall ever hurtin' anyone who didn't have it coming. You seem a reasonable man so I don't expect I'll want to give it a try."

Of course his memory was in tatters. But he had said recall after all. Not a definite statement that he absolutely never had hurt anyone. And he didn't feel much like an assassin even outside the original Nick's memories.

"Pretty sure an assassin could choose a long con too... But I am pretty sure I'm not one. It's been a while since I was capable of speech and movement I think."

And he didn't feel like anyone had messed with his programming either. Of course he wasn't sure he'd be able to tell if someone had.

Edited 2026-05-15 02:01 (UTC)

Strange Droid

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject