5Emsee is basically an original droid character, a mouse droid given to Luke by Vader to keep him company and for…. other reasons as this story proves.
Writing Interludes and AU's of my main story seems horribly self-indulgent. But maedre, who I dedicate this chapter to, said I should post it, so here goes nothing. Hope you'll enjoy.
ooo
MSE-6/d2187, manufactured in year 15 after the founding of the Galactic Empire, in the droid manufacturing company Rebaxan Columni on Chad and commissioned for delivery and maintenance service aboard SSD Executor, powered up at the pre-set time. His audio receptors picked up a distinct rhythmic noise indicating that his master, the young prince, was still fast asleep. Emsee wedge himself out the boy's grip, his small wheels working hard to escape the arm that tucked him in. All the ruckus had not yet managed to wake the prince.
Emsee, as his young master had dubbed him, had spent months and months dutifully rolling through the corridors of the vast battle ship delivering datapads with encrypted messages and fixing small technical issues. That was until one day when his day-to-day assignments had then brought in disarray when he had delivered the classified update from the Military Headquarter on Imperial Center to Lord Vader's quarters. The Dark Lord hadn't dismissed him and instead assigned him a top secret mission. The little droid had dutifully taken on his new assignment and waited in the dusty maintenance corridors for his target objective, the young prince of Alderaan.
Time and again Emsee had led him through the maze of dark pathways from his rooms to the hangar he was designated to go and back. Emsee had never strolled far from the small hatch through which the human would clamber, so he would be always ready should his services be needed.
This way he had noticed when his young master had climbed through the hatch one day when there was no meeting with Vader scheduled. It was the day when the prince had first invited him into the quarters under the hatch. And the day in which Emsee's orderly existence had been thrown down the trash compactor for the second time.
A force shut down had wiped his memory for days after incident. And the next thing saved on Emsee's memory chip was an extensive hard- and software update. Lord Vader personally taken care of upgrading his appendages, circuits and communication abilities. Vader had also added a huge amount of data on his newly advanced memory chip to ensure Emsee could fulfil the set of tasks he was to accomplish: keeping his young master happy, save and sound.
Now Emsee knew everything he needed to know about the care and health of human sub-adults. He could detect elevated temperature and other small signs of early illness. He knew which room temperature, light and sound configurations should make his young master feel most comfortable. And he unobtrusively monitored the prince's sleeping pattern to compare it to the ideal pattern a human of his age should have.
Luke Organa's sleeping pattern was far from ideal. Emsee processed the data of the last night. The result was dismal. According to Emsee's calculation his master should sleep for another standard hour at least. But there was no time for that.
Emsee wheeled to the wall and extended his utility arm to plug into the small computer connector. He increased the lights in the room. The prince stirred on his bundle of blankets but still he didn't wake up. Emsee beeped annoyed. He knew how unhappy his young master would be if the humans bringing him breakfast would find him still sleeping on the floor.
Emsee plugged again in the outlet and increased the lights further. This time the boy didn't even move. Emsee connected once more with the computer to raise the lights to its brightest setting. The computer feedback warned him that the level of light was not suitable for human occupation. But it seemed to wake the young master. He groaned and rolled over to cover his face from the blinding lights shining down from the ceiling.
Emsee beeped a greeting.
Luke Organa fell silent again. The little droid disconnected from the outlet and rolled over to his master's resting place. For a short moment everything was silent, then the rhythmic noise started again, indicating his human had fallen asleep again.
Emsee beeped again, the loudest he could, but it had no effect. Curse his makers that his sound output wasn't louder than this. If only he had the shrill horn of the oxygen leak alert or the blaring proximity alarm on the bridge. His young master would surely hear that.
Emsee instead rolled forward to nudge against the prince's arm, sprawled on the floor. That at least did get a reaction.
"… ly five more minutes…" his human mumbled.
Then the young prince rolled over again, turning his back to Emsee. The little droid checked his build in chrono. Five minutes would be too long. His calculations based on the analysis of the food delivery pattern of the past week told him that the door would open in 3.37 standard minutes.
Emsee extended his multitool arm and prodded his master. A grunt interrupted the rhythmic noise and the arm flailed to bat him away but missed by a wide margin. Again the prince fell silent.
There was no more time. Desperate times called for desperate measures. Emsee wheeled back two full length and charged. The pointy end of the multitool poked deep into his master's side. The reaction was immediate.
"Ouch!" The prince shot up, rubbing his side. "What was that for?" he said annoyed as he spotted Emsee on the floor.
Emsee chuckled, then set off a series of tones that sounded, according to his database, closest to alarm chronos humans used to wake up at a pre-set time. The prince's eyes widened.
"Why? What time is it? Did I sleep in?" He looked up to the chrono on the wall. "Oh no! No, no no!"
The prince jumped to his feet and almost lost his balance, still entangled in the blanket. He shrugged it off and grasped the mess of pillows and blankets in a messy bundle. He dashed for the bedroom. The little droid watched him dump the roll on the designated resting area that his young master never used. He then disappeared into the small fresher unit.
Emsee couldn't compute why the prince did not want to peruse the ergonomically suitable resting area to power down at night. Emsee had tried to convince him by calculating that his sleep would be on average thirty-four percent more restful, but his human still refused. The door to the fresher opened again and the prince hastened back. With a jump he landed on the couch, breathing fast.
"Okay, okay, I think we are good!"
But they weren't. Emsee's visual receptors spotted a pillow on the floor. It must have fallen from the prince's hastily assembled bundle. The little droid screeched. He extended his pincer and snatched the corner of the pillow to pull it into the bedroom.
The mechanic click of the locking mechanism of the main door drifted to them and his young master tensed. He quickly brushed a hand through his hair to flatten out some still messy strands.
Emsee calculated the time he would need to pull the pillow into the adjacent room. Too late. Instead he rolled in the opposite direction, pulling the pillow behind the couch and out of sight.
It was not a moment too soon.
There was a sharp knock on the door and it slid to the side. His young master ignored the two stormtroopers bringing his breakfast as he usually did. Even though they delivered his food, the prince was always very uncomfortable whenever they appeared. His heartbeat was faster than it should be. Emsee watched them attentively to make sure they wouldn't go too close to his master and upset him further.
The second the door had shut behind them again, the prince jumped to his feet. He bent down to pat the little droid. "Thanks, buddy, that was close."
Emsee whistled, pleased by the praise.
"Okay, so another boring day ahead of us. What are we going to do to pass the time?"
Emsee beeped and rolled toward the small conference room where the food tray was waiting for his master.
"I'm not exactly… Fine, breakfast it is." said Luke Organa.
His master sat down to eat. But all too soon he pushed away the tray and got up again. Emsee analysed the leftovers to monitor the prince's daily nutritional intake. His little data processing circuits spat out a warning. With the half-eaten breakfast the prince had only eaten an average of eighty-two percent of the necessary amount of food for a human his size and age over the past forty-eight standard hours. Three percent less than the acceptable degree of variation.
Emsee's programming left him no choice. He extended the small radio dish. Something that didn't go unnoticed by his young master.
"No, no, stop it. Don't you dare!"
The prince dived to catch him, but Emsee was prepared. He sped forward between the legs of the chairs as fast as his four wheels would carry him and into the living room. Behind him with an almighty crash, the prince collided with the table.
"It's not funny, stop it!" his young master shouted. "Look, I'm eating it, just a bit later."
The little droid retracted the small radio dish in time for the prince to emerge in the door.
"Thanks," Luke Organa said sourly.
Emsee made an apologetic noise.
The prince frowned. "You already contacted him, didn't you?"
Emsee launched into a flurry of excuses beeping wildly as he tried to convey everything from his programming forcing him to do so, to the faulty programming of his young master that led him to such behaviour in the first place, to the concern he felt that the prince's refusal to eat that worried him down to his circuits.
Despite the lack of a translation screen for the binary code, Luke understood him, as usual. "It's okay, buddy. You meant well." The prince flopped down next to him, crossing his legs. "What do you think, will he take less than an hour to show up?"
Emsee whistled.
"Yeah, you're right, last time he was here in much less time." Luke Organa patted Emsee affectionately. "You know what, I'll ask him if we can have some tools and I can try to upgrade your wheels, how would you like that?"
It took less than thirty minutes until the door to the quarters opened again and Lord Vader entered.
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