A Third Sun (Lemmy)

[Cassy]

From the very moment she'd barely escaped Dxun with her life, she wondered if she'd ever see Esmerelda again. She had no idea why she involved herself in such matters with her over and over again; now it was on the verge of breaking Cassandra down.

She'd managed too make her escape after she'd attempted to help Esmerelda transport some "items" she'd gotten her hands on while on Dxun. Cassandra saw this as a good opportunity too get some intel on what the Mandalorians had been up too since open war began. Even managing too land her Jedi Hammerhead without being detected.

A critical mistake; as they didn't make it off the planet together. In fact Esmerelda was likely being held prisoner by the Mandolorians if Cassandra was assuming things to be correct. However the red Twi'lek had gotten out of some very tight spots and slippery situations; Cassandra hope and prayed with each moment that she watched the stars slip by that her friend was O.K.

She didn't enjoy losing anyone in any way. One could say this was a weakness; some would say it was a strength. At the moment, her emotions were controlling her. Something she'd trained against. However being on an unauthorized mission into Mandolorian territory, barely escaping with her life, and making a startling discovery; propelled her into making another split second decision.

She would go home, to Tatooine for the first time since she'd left as a kid...over a decade ago; and have her new discovery brought back into an operational state. Hopefully a more than operational one, given she found the right mechanic in Anchorhead.

An HK-51 sat lifeless in the passengers seat, harnessed down, flopping forward; slumbering. It was worn down, durasteel coating chipping off in various places. It's old wrist mounted systems had been broken, along with several other joints. Everything on it looked worn, she just hoped that it's memory was somewhat intact and that it could regain it's functions at all. She was no slouch when it came too taking a part and putting back together Droids, but she was more skilled at programming them than actually fixing them.

Hopefully, she could return home with the Droid in towe fully operational. Who knew however...what she'd find once she went there.

"Looks like we're almost there." Cassandra spoke to the HK-51 needlessly as it sat there, she'd been doing it for more than an hour to keep her nerves down. Both from what had just occurred on Dxun and from her excitement at the green light now blinking on the console in front of her, signaling they were arriving at Tatooine.

A bright flash and a twist, and out into view jumped Tatooine, it's twin suns spiraling around it in the void's of space. A wonderful sight to behold. The moment plastered itself into Cassandra's memory as the great shadows of the suns swept over her ship as it approached. The moment she'd been longing for...seeing home again. Her old house....what awaited her there? For now, she'd attempt too get her sleeping steely companion back functional. If all went well, she could sleep at home tonight.

"Home." the thought almost fascinated her. Her home had been the Jedi Temple for so long, but she never lost her desire too one day see her family again. A problem in the eyes of some, but too her, it was the desire to know where she came from that burned bright. Tatooine needed too be set upon by her, one way or another.

The atmosphere of the planet approached in her battered Jedi Hammerhead. A few yellow lights began blinking on as she passed through the atmosphere. Signaling a few possible problems after the battery it took from the Mandolorians before the jump too Hyperspace.

'The golden clouds break, into a vast desert spanning ahead.'

The moving sand beneath the ship looked like pure water, as canyons and mountains abound stretched out in all directions. All in the same brown or golden hue. Cassandra took it all in; bringing up a see through VR Command Screen in front of her. Clicking on the panel in front of her, the words 'Anchorhead' appeared on the clear blue screen as she typed the location into the navigation systems. After a few distance calculations; the ship steered itself into auto-pilot gently; lifting slightly and heading into the direction of Anchorhead.

"Almost there, Lucky." her country accent trailed off, echoing lucidly throughout the ship. Cassandra had coined the HK-51 already, considering in her memory there were scenes of her twisting through space as her ship was getting battered attempting to escape the moon of Dxun. All while the droid sat lifeless next too her, strapped in as her lucky rabbit's foot.

The sand continued to stretch out, as Cassy exhaled feeling at ease somehow. Eventually, after about twelve minutes, Anchorhead came into view. She joined rank with several other ships headed in, some easy going traffic. Some ships were headed out of the city. It's tan domes and architecture being just as Cassandra had seen in her studies of it; although it was different approaching in person. More exciting. Why had she avoided Tatoonie for so long?

Eventually, after pulling into the city and finding a lot where several other ships had parked; the thrusters on her Jedi Hammerhead kicked in, knocking sand around a bit. As her craft extended it's landing gear and rocked onto the ground softly, engines powering down.

"Well...let's see if we can't wake you up somewhere here Lucky, this is where I'm from ya know." she spoke to the droid again for no reason. Unstrapping herself, and it.

She looked around her ship; finding a droid transport stretcher without too long of hesitation. She grabbed a blanket from her quarters after securing the HK-51 onto the metal stretcher, and wrapped most of it's frame up. It's face, and most of it's lower body. It's legs still sticking out.

After securing it; she moved over too the crafts ramp control panel inside; pressing one of the few buttons on it as the ramp opened up the exit, allowing the sand and light from Tatooine to pour into view. Cassandra wrapped her black outer robes around her, covering her mouth slightly in somewhat of an Arabic style before grabbing onto the metallic stretcher and pushing her way down the ramp. Her feet hitting the ground of Tatooine for the first time in over a decade.

The sand whipped around her feet; a little, her cloaks billowing softly in the wind. In the lot were a few unknowns of various species, Cassandra made her way out of the lot's sandy walls and onto the main fairway of Anchorhead. It was laced with many shops and taverns; people moving all about here and there. Not too crowded though surprisingly; as most people were either inside an establishment or on their way out with some sort of goods in towe.

Cassandra pushed the metal stretcher through the streets, surprisingly not that out of place amongst all of the things being moved too and fro here. She was searching for just the right place...when her eyes fell on a certain shop as she continued to cart the covered HK-51 around; slowing the push of the stretcher cart to a near halt as she passed by.

[Lemur, The Kool-Aid Guy]

It had been a rather dicey week in Tashra Gly's household. As was the way of teenagers, even ordinarily nice ones like the Togruta girl, sometimes the party who felt the most wounded decided to be a sore loser. And Tashra was extraordinarily sore over the recent... kerfuffle.

There had been a man, a very handsome man, who had been very interested in the girl. He'd thrown about fancy words that made Tashra swoon, and she'd been readily convinced to run off to the stars with the handsome stranger at the drop of a hat.

The problem was that her dad, or her STEPdad as she couldn't help but think of him, had stepped in and forbidden it. Her best efforts to find love and romance were foiled based upon the fact that Darrin Manali was a... A... Big meany-pants with no sense of romance.

How poor Sinya dealt with him, Tashra didn't know.

The Togruta teenager sat in the corner of the droid shop and scowled omnidirectionally, the way she had for the past few days. Her normally sunny face was clouded and the girl was obviously unhappy. In fact, she wanted everyone to know just how unhappy she was. The world had to know that Tashra Gly had loved and lost.

"Would you stop it Tashra? It's been a full week."

In true teenage-fashion, Tashra threw her arms up in the air and launched into the dramatic monologue that proved she was, in fact, a teenage girl.

"Stop it? All you did was RUIN my first relationship! I loved him DAD!"

Darrin sighed. "You knew him for two hours in a cantina. You didn't even know where he was from."

Logic was no weapon against teenagers, as Tashra wasn't even fazed.

"Two hours was enough to know I loved him!"

Darrin raised his own voice now.

"Dammit Tashra, he was twice your age! Do you realize how creepy that is?"

"Yeah? Well... Love conquers all, right?" Tashra replied, certain of her own wit and wisdom.

"Sweetie, you can't fall in love with someone after two hours. What you had was a crush. That's all."

The Togruta girl's cheeks felt hotter than double noon as she stared at the dusty floor of the shop, unable to come up with some rebuttal. Instead she folded her arms and stared at a disassembled astromech before her.

Why was life so hard?

[Cassy]

Cassandra stared at the shop for awhile; after about a minute, she looked up at the shop attempting too find some sort of sign. A few more moments of decision making, and she decided with a nod too herself that this was the place she'd take a chance on. For some reason the place just 'oozed' with mechanic professionalism, she'd seen many areas like it around the Temple; and on different planets.

As she neared the entry way too the shop; she heard some noises that sounded like an argument.

"....."

She continued too listen in for awhile, unwrapping her robes from her face and then pushing the cart too her side and holding onto it with two hands while HK-51 still slept. Now; she could clearly hear that this was an arguement. A good one too, between father and daughter. The word "DAD" blared in such a way that Cassy didn't even have to hear the rest of the conversation. The Jedi waited until she heard a brief respite, then heard some simblance of silence before calling out.

"H----hello? Is.....the shop still open?" she said eventually. She waited patiently for anyone too head too the entryway into the mechanic's area / garage too meet her. She stood in the entryway, taking in the shop in all it's mechanical wonder. She was always good at programming droids for certain functions, even changing them. A skill that became useful on her various escapades into the Galaxy. If she could incapacitate a Droid, she could change it too suit her needs; whether immediate, temporary, or permanently. However...making them; and in retrospect, making them 'go' was not her forte. Which was why she was here.

She continued too wait patiently until one of the people that the two voices belonged too approached her. She hadn't seen either of them yet from where she stood. She looked down too HK-51, still covered in a blanket and hidden from plain sight.

[Lemur, The Kool-Aid Guy]

Tashra and her 'father' stared at each other for a long minute, and it seemed there was going to be some new development, right up until the voice of a customer called out. At that point, the disagreement was halted, and business took over.

Both of the figures walked out to the entry and Darrin spoke up as he looked over the customer and noticed the covered droid she was pushing on a hoversled.

"Hello there, sorry about the noise. How can I help you?"

Tashra folded her arms across her flat chest, covering up the Aratech logo on her pale yellow shirt. The Togruta teenager watched passively with her amber eyes, but they kept creeping back to the covered droid with curiosity.

She felt the need to disassemble something, to fix something. That was the surefire way to make her feel less angry at dad for being so stubborn when it came to love. Why he didn't see her point of view she didn't understand. After all, it felt so real for her...

The teenage mechanic walked over and lifted the blanket, and immediately let out a

"Eep!" Tashra squeaked excitedly. "It's an HK! An actual HK series droid!"

Such droids were exceptionally rare, and Tashra had never seen one before. What she knew was only rumors and pictures she'd seen on occasion. But she still knew enough to identify it.

"Where did you get it?" The Togruta girl asked breathlessly and with wide eyes.

[Cassy]

Cassy wasn't the least bit surprised when they both responded too her call; they worked here together, that was very interesting. A small smile crept upon her face, she'd wished that she'd been able to get to know her father...perhaps even work with him sometime; even though that would've been "un-lady like" she didn't care. She would've been glad too do whatever made him happy.

As they rounded the corner; Cassy laid eyes on first a somewhat gruff, but handsome middle aged human man, and then a very adorable Togruta female teenager. The elder of the two spoke up first. Cassandra lowered her hood, making her response less ominous or suspicious, once her features were fully revealed.

"Well, I need maintenance done on my droid; probably the works. It won't turn on, probably needs a new power core. It's joints are likely rusted and need replacing as well. It's weapon systems don't seem that messed up, but they'll likely need to be replaced as well---" Cassandra's voice trailed off as she raised an eyebrow at the Togruta teenager, who walked up next too her hoversled with her arms crossed. Man she had attitude; Cassy could tell that immediately. With a yank, she removed the cover.

Her response provoked a bemused look, as Cassy's eyebrows raised and her mouth curled a little. 'Yes it's an HK...but at what cost?' Cassandra thought of Esmerelda, the Red Twi'lek popped up into her mind again. Screaming for Cassy to retreat with the HK.

".....Some Mandalorians." she answered simply. Not wanting too explain their entire escapade too Dxun, and how she'd probably lost her best friend there. The sting of pain when even thinking of it was just about too much too bear. "He was like this when I got hold of him..." Cassandra didn't say anything more; just wondered if Ezzy was somewhere up on Dxun in the wilderness perhaps, hungry and tired of running from Mandalorian scout parties. After all; they were relentless with their prey. She would go back there in the next few days, hopefully with HK-51 beside her, find Esmerelda and escape.

She stepped to the side of the hoversled and up too the counter.

"Well...how much do you charge for full maintenance, along with the replacement of any parts and weapon systems that are out of order?" she asked the human man standing a few feet from her. "I've decided Lucky's all yours too work on...so have at him." she looked towards the Togruta female with a nod and a huge smile; adding in a wink and a tilt of her head upwards to signal that it was OK for her too take off with it to begin maintenance immediately. She could tell the girl really liked what she did; it only took a few moments too deduce it.

Cassandra hadn't revealed her lightsaber truly; although the human male had probably caught a glance of it under her black over robes; other than that her attire had perhaps given her away. But she wouldn't say anything unneeded, unless asked.

[Lemur, The Kool-Aid Guy]

While Darrin discussed the price, Tashra approached the HK droid and pulled away the sheet, appraising him with a critical eye.

He was much like Perry had been when she'd first got him, namely what some would consider a lost cause. There was rust all over him, and an attempt to move his limbs failed completely. Even the joints were rusted shut. And aside from the problems with the structure, there would also be issues with the electronics inside.

Was probably going to take a week of hard work in the Togruta girl's opinion, probably counting the time it took to get adequate spare parts.

"I think it's gonna take 'bout a week," Tashra said as she looked at the woman. "I think it's also gonna be real expensive to find all the needed replacement parts. Wherever this guy was for the past few years, it has to be freaking humid. He's rusty as can be, but I can fix him."

The girl turned to the shelving and grabbed a can of lubricant and started applying it to one of the arm sockets. If she could loosen it all up there, she'd be able to remove the arm and clean out all the gunk by hand.

It was going to be good when it was done, that was for sure.

"Oh yeah, also, I don't know how much of his original programming is intact yet. If we were lucky then his central processor was shielded inside, but if we're not, we might have to install a completely new one. If you'd like I can, like, find out about that processor so we can give you a full estimate. That estimate is still gonna cost a fee though, because we aren't 'zactly a charity. If you know what I mean."

[Cassy]

Cassy looked down upon the droid with a somber expression, she then nodded to the Togruta teenager's comment about it taking somewhat near a week.

"Alright..." she murmured once, now realizing the credits on Esmerelda's ship were about too come in serious handy. She walked near the young girl when she removed the cover from Lucky fully. She greased his joints, before giving him more inquisitive looks. She could tell that the girl really liked; scratch that, loved what she did. She spoke next about his programming, Cassandra had a little bit more to say on that matter.

"Well....I'm pretty good at writing and altering programs. So once he's up and turned on, I'll have a look...but let's see about that new processor anyway; just incase." Cassandra nodded, pushing her hair back behind her ears by habit.

"I'm not worried, I'll spare no expense." she reached into her robes and removed 5000 credits. "This is just too get you started; more when you finish." she dropped it onto the counter in front of the human man and bowed, before raising her hood above her head. Her black robes covered her arms and dropped too the floor, her hood completing the wraith like look with the exception of her beautiful face visible underneath. She walked closer too the teenager.

"I'll be your bodyguard during the duration of this...while you go get parts and such; they'll likely be expensive and I wouldn't want anyone too try and boost the parts you buy off you before you can get them back here..." Cassandra was also from Tatooine, and while she trusted this girl, she didn't trust all the residents of Anchorhead with her credits. "You won't even know I'm there...I'll just follow at a distance in the stores and merely watch your back in general; as things go. Keep an eye on things around town if you will." in actuality she meant she was going to be keeping watch on the shop. Even if she wasn't going to be sleeping here; she'd make sure during the next week that no one "messed" with this Togruta and her surrogate.

"I have a ship...if we need to go anywhere further than a speeder would take us, there's a speeder on board as well if you'd like to borrow it." Cassy nodded to the young girl with a smile. "I'll take my leave now; I'll be outside but not far." with that, she grabbed her hood at it's sides around her face and tugged on it once before stepping out into the sandy sunshine; watching folks go too and fro immediately as she stepped back out into Anchorhead.

[Lemur, The Kool-Aid Guy]

Tashra blinked as the woman pulled out more credits than she'd ever seen before in an unexpected twist. By the time she'd recovered, the human woman was mentioning she'd be serving as some kind of protection, which was even more confusing.

"Bodygua-" she started to repeat hesitantly, only to clam up as she elaborated and mentioned it was for securing the parts, which made sense. It was also a little disappointing actually, as for a fleeting moment Tashra had been thinking they might have been working for the Exchange secretly. That would have been a pretty interesting adventure.

"Ah," The Togruta girl said with a nod. But swiftly the human woman vanished out the door again, and Tashra stared at her father as she held the enormous pouch of credits in her hand.

"I-I, dunno what to do with all this money dad."

Darrin reached out to take the pouch. "I do. It's going into the safe. Have fun Tashra, this droid is all yours to take care of."

The Togruta girl nodded and cracked her knuckles before tackling the problem of the droid, ultimately calling on Perry to use his superior strength to compensate for all that rust. But a midday turned to afternoon, and afternoon to evening. The sun was down and the stars were out by the time Tashra actually stretched. Her back popped in the movement, and she surveyed her work.

The HK droid lay disassembled on a workbench, with all the parts needing replacement set into a neat pile. There was also a pile of components that could be repaired, and a pile of functional ones. Luckily the teenager had already memorized where everything went and what everything did.

"Hey Perry, you see if you can get the rust off of the connections, I'm going to get something to eat."

"Yes your honor," The droid said in his customary formal tone.

The Togruta girl walked out of the shop and into the living area, heading straight for the kitchen where she found a bowl of soup on the counter resting for her. She reheated it and took a spoon in her grimy hands, flopping onto the couch and pulling out her latest romance novel. She thumbed it open and began to read as she moved the spoon to her lips.