A new Foundation

[Karkoon]

come closer my son. why do you toil on this world?

orax must be protected, father.

you have valiantly defended us for many years my child.

that is but a blink in our lifetime.

and yet a blink in which the quick species of the galaxy would see to our ruin.

and that is why I stay. I must protect our poeple.

you forget that we are not alone anymore. no longer are you the sole protector of our people. you have raised warriors among your brothers and sisters. they stand guard as you have. unlike you they have not left orax. they do not possess the same curiosity and drive as you. they are content to never leave orax. I can feel your restless heart. even inside that artificial body of steel and circuits. you wish to travel the galaxy, to develop your powers.

how can I leave? the empire could return. you need m-

nonsense! karkoon you are stubborn, much like your mother. our new allies in the republic will take care of us. they patrol the sector. the empire will never again touch orax so long as we stand with the republic. now go, my son. may you find a good foundation to put down strong roots.

goodbye father.

---

The shuttle set down on the surface of Ossus. Republic personnel moved like busy ants around the base. This shuttle was not like the others that ferried people to and from Ossus. It was privately owned and in very good shape. It unloaded only a single passenger, and then immediately took off again. The RGNRK-Class Battle Droid stood still, a giant pinnacle among the much smaller humans and aliens that moved about it. It remained that way for some time; it's only movement was the focusing and unfocusing of the optic lenses, and the occasional slight turn of the head. It carried no weapons, and possessed no visible built in weapon systems. It's only possession was a ragged brown cloth it wore over it's torso like a poncho.

Finally it moved, stepping one foot over the other and it maneuvered out of the Republic base. It's movements were not clunky and clumsy, but rather possessed a grace not commonly seen in droids. It walked as if driven toward a single purpose, it's path deviating even for a moment. However, the head of the droid spun continuously, looking at sights to either side of the path, even turning around and looking backwards for a moment. It was taking in all the sights, all the landmarks, all the curious little things that made Ossus the planet it was. The path was not long that lead to the Jedi Encampment. Hardly a camp anymore. It appeared more a busting town with shops and residents, and many people walking to and from the prefabricated structures.

Many stopped to look at the droid. It was so out of place with it's large body that towered above them and complete lack of an operator or owner. Stopping a passerby, the droid inquired of the location of the Master Jedi, and was pointed toward a structure. That is the Council Chamber, the alien said. The droid nodded it's head, a strange movement to see the large body make. Passing carefully among those in between it and it's location, the droid made it's way to the council chamber's door, and raising a fist the size of a head, knocked politely at the door.

Radiating brightly inside the carapace, hidden away from the outside world, the sentient Shard crystal known as Karkoon waited patiently. It had waited this long. It could wait a few minutes longer.

[R1-X1]

Rix was paying a housecall to one of the big harvester units over by the crop fields. The speeder-sized machine had been left standing overnight and, come morning, had refused to budge. Its handlers swore it had a bad motivator, and swore a lot in general - at the harvester, at Rix, at droids in general and all the deities of half a dozen worlds - but Rix knew for a fact this very unit had been through Suriyesh's shop a week ago and had cleared all its checks with flying colors. The R1 astromech unit dutifully plugged himself in to the harvester's dataport, ignoring the blue-faced running commentary that would have made a Gamorrean blush, and within seconds of TCP negotiations had discovered the problem. With a self-satisfied twitter, he rolled around to the primary maintenance panel, pulled aside a few layers of hoses and hydraulics, and revealed a sleeping mother gokob and her six kits curled up and sheltering from the heat of the day.

"Yeah, ol' JD-16's always been a bit of a softie," he explained. "Didn't want to fire up his gears and mash these little guys into giblet stew. They ought to leave in the evening, or you can probably find one of these nature-whispering Jedi to coax them out sooner."

He rotated his conical head to see three gormless faces staring back in abject befuddlement. "You idiots don't understand a word I'm saying, do you? Well, [404]."

Rix poked his manipulator arm back into the cavity and rattled it noisily all around the chassis. The mother gokob woke with a start and quickly busied herself tossing her mewling babies onto her back. With the whole brood clinging for dear life, she leapt down through JD-16's internal mechanisms to the ground and scurried off in search of deeper cover. The harvester juddered to life and issued a low, mournful warble.

"All fixed. Big machine workie now."

"About bloody time, you stupid lawnmower," one of the workers grumbled, and Rix sighed.

"No, don't thank me. The pleasure was all mine."

As harvester reluctantly began chugging through the ripe sheaves of grain, Rix trundled along back down the paved thoroughfare toward Suriyesh's shop. He'd made it about halfway and was just passing the Council rotunda when he saw another droid, a large bipedal model he wasn't familiar with, standing before the main doors with an air of expectation. Interested, the astromech changed course.

"Hey, there, big guy," he chirruped in binary. "You lost? The droid center is this way, if you need to check in."

[Karkoon]

A voice called it's attention, and the carapace turned to respond, facing the significantly smaller droid. In comparison, the six foot four RGNRK-Droid, with it's muscular humanoid shape, was a giant. It was very clear that it's designer had been going for an intimidating look with the piercing golden eyes and silver and bronze colored heavy armor plates. With functional fingers and a lack of built in weapon systems it was clear the droid was meant to carry weapons. Without one it was just a huge, heavily armored chassis.

"I am not a droid. I am in a droid. I am here to join the Jedi."

[R1-X1]

"Rrrrrriiiiiiiight."

It was a long, descending binary whistle. Rix backed up on his monopod, and his probe stalk waved up and down as he scanned the towering chassis standing before him on the off chance that - well, nope. No organic life signs detected. Wow, poor guy. Suriyesh would have her work cut out for her with this one.

"Joining the Jedi, huh? That's pretty wizard," he said, trying to stay upbeat. "So how'd you get yourself stuck in a droid, if you don't mind me asking?"

[Karkoon]

"I was stolen from my homeworld, Orax, by an illegal survey team, along with many of my kin. When my sentience was discovered I was bought and sold many times, changing hands until I came into the possession of the Maxwell Industries droid manufacturing company. They were developing a new droid system and were trying to give it a fully functional artificial intelligence. They had been unsuccessful, so instead they installed me inside to act as an organic brain. I am in here."

A massive hand lifted and pressed against the chest of the droid.

"I am not stuck. I chose to stay in the suit. It gives me mobility and functionality that I lack otherwise."

[R1-X1]

Oh, maker. This was one of the most advanced cases of AI psychosis Rix had ever seen. At least the guy had come to grips with his metalloid skin, even if he'd had to invent a cockamamie origin story about being kidnapped from his homeworld and wired into a droid body. Really, evil corporations turning organics into droids? That was for the pulp horror holos. The last thing Suriyesh needed was for this droid to waltz right into Space Wizard Central with that many gears loose.

"Hey, that's great. My droid body gives me all kinds of functions, too. And it's all thanks to my engineer, Suriyesh Rajinaathra. Heck of a gal. If you came by the droid shop, I bet she'd be willing to give you a full check-up. You know, tune up your servos, clean your circuits, maybe even throw in an oil bath."

His conical head rotated back and forth, and he was seized by a sudden inspiration. "You want to make sure you're in peak condition before you talk to the Jedi, don't you?"

[Karkoon]

Karkoon stood idle for a moment, considering the small droid's words. Tilting his head, he looked down at his own body. Where the torn poncho did not cover scratched and dirty armor plates could be seen. There was mineral crystals built up in the nooks and crannies between plates and grime stuck anywhere it found purchase. The weather on Orax had not been kind to the droid body, and the mineral pools had left their mark. Scratches and burn marks from clubs and blasters marked his forearms and legs. His chest, though hidden, looked to match.

"You are correct. I should make a good first impression. Could you do me a favor and lead me to your engineer?"

[R1-X1]

"Sure thing! Follow me."

Enamored with his own cleverness, Rix whistled happily as he crawled on his monopod back up the paved path toward the service shops. Often he found it slow going navigating the modest streets of Sanctuary One, since a lone astromech apparently didn't rate very high when it came to determining right-of-way, but now, with a towering mechanical Adonis striding confidently at his back, the foot traffic split like the proverbial Rodian Sea.

"You look like you've seen some action. My designation is R1-X1, but Suri likes to call me Rix. What's your designation, big guy?"

[Karkoon]

The head continued to swivel, optics focusing and taking in the sights as they passed through the town. He was only barely aware of the droid in front of him; just enough to follow. Everything here on Ossus was so different and interesting. His curiosity was an unquenchable thirst and there was not enough water in all the galaxy to sate it.

"My name is Karkoon. Son of Horran. It is a pleasure to meet you Rix. You have been most helpful. You have my appreciation."

[R1-X1]

"Aw, it's just being neighborly. Always good to see another friendly face on Ossus!"

It wasn't a long journey back to the massive cargo module where Suriyesh Rajinaathra kept her living quarters, her inventory, and her workshop. The large loading doors along the broad side of the shop stood open to let in the breeze, and as Rix and Karkoon approached, they could hear a thundering chorus (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7R2Vl_hcCA) from Sherouve 47's latest album rattling the rivets inside, punctuated now and then by high notes from a power wrench.

The workshop had been divided more or less into thirds. To the left was a towering maze of shelves and stacked cargo crates containing old stock and parts and Suri's less commonly used tools. The center was dominated by three huge docks meant for the four-meter-tall LB bulk loaders (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/LB-series_bulk-loading_droid) that served as the family's primary workhorses, and dangling from the ceiling was a cargo crane that ran on rails the whole length of the container. To the right was Suri's primary work area, a nexus of organized chaos with several projects in various states of progress on different workbenches. But for now most of the space in the center of the shop had been cleared to make room for LB-8, who stood sheepishly with most of the pitted blue body panels removed from his chest and right arm. A brown-furred mongoose in olive drab overalls was perched spiderlike on his hip, her tail snapping irritably as she fussed with some complicated bit of mechanism buried deep in his chassis.

Rix knew better than to try shouting over the din ambled to a wall jack, plugged in, and turned the music down to a tolerable level.

[Suriyesh Rajinaathra]

"Hey, hey! What gives? I was listening to that!"

Suriyesh Rajinaathra gripped at LB-8's frame with her mechanical arm and craned her head back to see Rix conducting a strange droid into the workshop. Blinking, she pulled her safety goggles up and away from her pale pink eyes for a better look. Bipedal, about two meters, and moving with uncanny grace for such a large machine. The Munjan mechanic knew her droids, and she could see uncommon quality in the newcomer's build underneath all the pits, scars, and carbon stains.

"Garfife..."

The brown-furred mongoose hopped down away from her perch, momentarily ignoring LB-8's inquisitive bass trill. She grabbed a rag from a nearby workbench and wiped the worst of the grease from her hands, one padded, the other plasteel, but her eyes never left the RGNRK unit as she approached him. "Aren't you a beauty."

"Suri, this is Karkoon," Rix chirped. "He just arrived on Ossus, and he's planning to join the Jedi. I'm afraid he's a little oose-lay in the otherboard-may."

[Karkoon]

The shop was an impressive collection of chaos. Karkoon gathered that there was some order to the mess, but to his uneducated mind it appeared a hurricane of objects. He had not expected the mechanic to be a small furry humanoid. He had never interacted with such a creature. He gathered that she was female from comparing her body shape to what was stored in the droid databank that existed in addition to his own sentience. He found her most intriguing.

"Rix has informed me that you are a droid mechanic. My suit has no operation errors but I would greatly appreciate if you could buff out the damage this form has sustained. I am capable of paying you for your services."

As he spoke, his loud booming synthetic voice filling the space and echoing off the walls, he reached up and pulled the ragged poncho up and over his head, freeing it from his body to reveal his equally damaged torso region. It was all surface damage, nothing deep enough to interfere with the functions of the body underneath the thick plating. A simple pouch hung from the droid's neck by a leather thong. Reaching up he delicately opened the pouch and withdrew an object, hidden in his hand until he opened it to show the mechanic. The brilliant blue-white diamond caught the light in the shop and reflected it; shinning brightly.

"This is a Oraxxian Diamond from the deep mineral lakes of my homeworld. It should be sufficient payment."

[Suriyesh Rajinaathra]

"Your suit? That's a suit?"

Suriyesh ventured closer and squinted up and down Karkoon's careworn body panels. He was substantial, and built for action as far as she could tell, but had none of the bow-armed bulkiness she associated with powered exo-suits. She couldn't imagine a humanoid fitting inside that body unless it was tiny, and curled up in the chest, and holy gods what was that?!

The mongoose's pale pink eyes nearly bulged from their sockets at the sight of the fiery little gem Karkoon had produced, and she shuffled forward, nearly hypnotized. "Thousand gods," she murmured, and she reached up gingerly to take it from Karkoon's massive palm. The diamond flared brilliantly as she turned it between her mechanical fingers. "Mate, for that, you've got me for the rest of the day. Rix, go draw an oil bath, will you? Come on in, Karkoon, and make yourself at home!"

LB-8 warbled plaintively, snapping the mongoose's attention off the diamond. "Oh, don't fret you big baby, I'll get you sorted out while our guest is having a nice soak. Oh, Karkoon, that's LB-8, one of my bulk loaders. Say hi, Eight!"

The hulking loader waved a steam-shovel hand uncertainly and lifted his other arm to cover up the servos left naked by his missing body panels. Suriyesh tucked the diamond into the front pocket of her coveralls and trotted briskly to the cleaning station, where Rix was already busy filling an oversized tub with a mixture of steaming oil and solvents from a set pair of upright tanks.

"Suri, you heard me, right?" Rix chittered softly. "He thinks he's joining the Jedi."

If he's giving out diamonds, he can join the Calimari Boys' Choir if he wants to," Suri muttered back. She dipped her mechanical hand into the oil, rubbed it between her fingers, and nodded approvingly.

"You can climb in whenever you like, Karkoon. This'll clean out your servos and loosen up the worst of the carbon stains on your body panels. After that, we can see about smoothing out those dents and scratches, frell, I can give you a showroom shine if you want it. So, joining the Jedi, huh? How'd that come about?"

[Karkoon]

"It was a natural progression of events." Karkoon intoned as he maneuvered his hulking frame into the tub. Normally a droid would require a platform to assist due to their limitations of movement, but Karkoon's suit had no issues putting one leg over the edge and then the others in a completely humanoid range of motion; although cautiously slow. When moving a ton of metal it was wise to take things slow and careful; lest you accidentally kick out a support beam or fall through a wall. Karkoon had made many messy mistakes when he was first socketed into the droid body.

The pool was deep, but not that deep. Karkoon was forced to drop to his knees inside the tank in order to leave just his head exposed. As with submergence into any liquid he was constantly monitoring the internal seals to the space in his chest that contained, well, him. As a silicone-based life form it was not wise to allow anything that indigenous to his homeworld to touch him; especially oil. He did not know what it would do to him, but it was a risk he was unwilling to take. However, the seals were holding and he had no fear of being dirtied.

"I was stolen from Orax, my homeworld, and sold to Droid Manufacturer Maxwell Industries which put me in this RGNRK-Class Droid chassis to act as a biological brain. I escaped and returned to Orax where I acted as guardian to my people, the Shard, by warding off poachers and illegal survey teams that wish to plunder the natural wealth of the planet and it's people. When Orax fell under Alliance control my people were safe and my father urged me to seek out the Jedi. I had heard of them in my travels, and discovered that I am capable of what the galaxy refers to as the 'force'. My people call it Chkerr. It does not translate well. It fundamentally means 'Invisible Vibration'.

Are you a Jedi, Engineer Rajinaathra."

Karkoon was not capable of feeling the oil. The droid body had an impressive personal sensor array for keeping track of limbs and for 'feeling' surface connections so that he does not accidentally push his finger through anything; or anyone. He was, though, aware of internal systems improving as the oil bath cleaned out servos that had become sticky after spending years on the surface of Orax with it's mineral rich environment. He was excited, yes, that was the emotion, to stretch his limbs, as they say. Limber joints meant better combat prowess. It had been some time since he had to employ force.

[Suriyesh Rajinaathra]

As Karkoon sank into the oil bath, Suriyesh perched on its rim with a long-handled wire brush and began scraping away the thickest deposits from his outer skin. Soon bits of silica and grease were floating on the oil's prismatic surface and disappearing into the hissing skimmer at Karkoon's back. It was a mostly mindless task, spot-cleaning each stain as far as she could see them under the shimmering oil, which was just as well because Karkoon's even-measured monologue was doing a steady job of unraveling every last one of her expectations. She almost missed his question entirely.

"Uh... me, a Jedi?" she squeaked. "Nah, just a grease monkey from Munjesh... You... you said you're a Shard?"

"I don't know what he's talking about - he looks intact to me," Rix piped in.

"Shard are a silicon-based crystal life forms," Suri said. "I've read about them - I mean, you - how you can interface with droid bodies to move around - but I never thought I'd actually get to meet... oh gods, the oil!"

Her tail blew up like a bottlebrush at the sight of the grime floating around the tank. "You're all sealed up inside, right? It's just... one of the things it cleans up is silica deposits, crystalline or otherwise... Oh gods, please don't tell me I'm dissolving you!"

[Karkoon]

"There is no need to worry. This droid chassis was specially designed to prevent contamination of my silicone body. The hermetic seals are capable of preventing any liquid or particle from entering the chamber I reside in. Even full and prolonged submergence poses no risk."

With that said he dipped down, disappearing below the surface of the oil and remained below for a time before rising again, the brown liquid cascading off his domed head as he emerged. He could have stayed under there for an eternity. He did not breath oxygen, or some other gas, as most sentients did. Rather Shard consumed only the minerals found in air, and at such a low metabolic rate he could survive off a canister of mineral air for months. Just what was inside his housing chamber at this moment could supply him for hours, if not days.

"All seals are intact. No risk of contamination.

I have never heard of your species or planet. Are all Grease Monkeys like you, or is there variation within the species?"

[Suriyesh Rajinaathra]

"Oh, thank Garfife," Suri said, though she held her breath when Karkoon submerged himself. "Shakah, Rix, why didn't you tell me he was a Shard?"

"He didn't say he was!" Rix protested feebly. "I didn't think to scan for silicon-based life, seeing as until twenty seconds ago I thought that was science fiction."

"Look in a mirror sometime, conehead," Suriyesh muttered, and she shuffled around the rim of the tank to get at Karkoon's other side with the wire brush. "Sorry about that, Karkoon. Rix is a great engineer in his own right, but his bedside manner leaves something to be desired... Oh, what, Grease Monkeys? Ha! No mate, that's just... ha ha ha ha ha!"

She buried her face in a greasy paw, too giddy after panic to reel in an acute case of the giggles.

"Ohhhh, I'm sorry, I'm not laughing at you, really. It's a figure of speech. 'Grease monkey' just means mechanic. I'm a mongoose by species, from the nation-state of Munjesh on the planet Auricus. Only most off-worlders know it as Nehantish, because that's the only nation most off-worlders have ever dealt with. We come in different coat colors, mainly. There's a couple yellow-furs on Ossus, and a red one with stripes, which is really rare to see off-world. She's a Jedi, though, so I guess you'll be seeing a lot of her. Me, I'm just ordinary. Oh, except for this, this is custom."

She reached up and tapped her claws on her artificial left arm with a metallic plink.

"But you, you're really, I mean exceptionally rare, from what I've heard. Did they, um..." She hesitated, realizing she was treading on a potential tragedy here. "...take many of you from Orax?"

[Karkoon]

"Yes."

The answer was simple and solemn. He grew quiet, the light of his optics weakening as the focuses lenses closed. For a moment the only sound was the scrapping of the brush, the hum of the machine shop, and the whirling of droid components. Eventually his eyes opened back up, like twin flares rekindled.

"Less than a percentage of our species was taken. The survey was illegal, and they had no idea that we were sentient. My people were scooped up with the other rich minerals of Orax. I was among them. I have recovered many of my brothers and sisters, but I fear many of them are lost forever; imprisoned as cruel playthings or fashioned into jewelry and processors. There are other Shard out in the galaxy, and on Orax itself, who use Droid chassis, but we are rare indeed. Most Shard never have the inclination to leave Orax. We are not naturally curious.

You seem quite interested in my species, Engineer Rajinaathra. If you have any other questions feel free to ask. I am used to questions wherever I go."

[Suriyesh Rajinaathra]

Suriyesh's heart sank at the plight of the lost Shard people. Slavery was still practiced in Munjesh, and she thanked the gods that neither she nor any of her family members had ever been made the property of another person, but to be turned into a literal thing, by beings who didn't even recognize you as a living person, was too horrible to contemplate. And then, because her mind never quit while it was ahead, she thought back to various crystal-based processors and circuit boards she'd traded in herself - was there any chance she'd been a party to some poor Shard's misery?

She swallowed a suddenly quite-dry throat and worked the brush around Karkoon's arm joints. "My species is very curious," she said. "Too curious for our own good, some might say. But we're still catching up to everyone else, technologically. Generally we get by with cobbling stuff together from other people's leftovers."

"Gee, thanks," Rix burbled.

"Oi, shut it, you," Suri laughed. "You were in three different boxes when I found you. I'm still looking for the part that makes you civilized."

"I keep kicking it under your bed. I'm waiting for it to work on you."

And just like that her mood was elevated. Gods, sometimes it was scary how well Rix knew her.

"Well, since you offered," she said, and she swallowed. "I'm really curious about the whole sensory integration side of things. What sorts of senses do you have in your natural state? How do you make sense of the, uh, the visual, auditory, tactile inputs coming in through the droid body's matrix? I had enough trouble training up my cybernetic implants, and I'm designed to have two arms."

[Karkoon]

"In our natural form we possess only a means of perceiving the electromagnetic spectrum. We use it to communicate, releasing electromagnetic pulses into the area. This suit translates those same electromagnetic pulses through an elaborate sensor suite into moving the droid's limbs. Essentially I speak it into action. It also possesses a translation program for rendering your speech into electromagnetic pulses so that I may understand you. Most Shard are very clumsy in the controlling of their droid bodies, but with the aid of the force I am able to better perceive my surroundings in a fashion that transcends my physical limitations. It does take some time to get used to. It was very awkward at first. I have had this suit for many years. I have adapted.

If you would like to see the sensor suite I can show you when the oil bath is finished."