Saga In All Probability - March Essential OC Challenge, OT era, Rebels, one-post

Title: In All Probability
Author: Thumper09
Timeframe: Less than a year after the Battle of Yavin
Characters: Rebel OCs
Summary: Damage from a dogfight forces a hasty decision.
Notes: This is my entry for the March Essential OC Challenge: "Between a Rock and a Hard Place. Create a scenario that puts one or more of your OC characters into a situation in which a choice must be made between two options. The options are mutually exclusive, and either choice would produce an undesirable outcome for the OC(s)."
This story is admittedly an experiment for me. This is also my third attempt at posting it on the boards due to server and browser errors. Either the third time's the charm, or the universe is trying to tell me something.
Disclaimer: Universe = not mine. Universe = Lucasfilm's. Characters = mine + Jim's (you know who you are). Lucasfilm + not suing = me + happy. Profit + me = 0.

Constructive criticism is most welcome, either in the thread or in PM.

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Nothing.

There was nothing.

And then...slowly...there was something.

His mind began to become active again. First one quick flash. Then another. Soon an automatic reboot program kicked in. Subroutines worked their way through him, shaking him out of his stupor. He became aware that his internal gyroscope was spinning.

At last the R5-D4 droid's optical sensor came online, and he activated it while the rest of his systems recovered and caught up. The white and green astromech first saw the top of the X-wing he was inserted into and copiloting, and beyond the fighter was a background of stars all lazily spinning around the X-wing's nose, or rather, around an axis at a 34.8 degree angle to the X-wing's longitudinal axis and 6.3 degrees to its lateral axis. That would account for the actions of his internal gyroscope.

Nanoseconds later, the droid noticed that there was no vibration coming from the fighter. The only times it was like that was when the fighter was powered down. That, coupled with the odd but slow spin, indicated an off-nominal condition for the craft while in space. By using a nearby moon as a reference point, the astromech determined that the X-wing was still moving forward with a considerable speed due to its earlier momentum.

A light-speed access of his memory banks provided more information. The R5 remembered with perfect clarity launching on this advance patrol with his pilot. He remembered entering this system and only discovering after it was too late that it was an Imperial-held system. A brief skirmish with a Skipray Blastboat led to a bright flash of blue and then nothing. There was a 97.68994% probability that the blue flash was from an ion cannon and it caused his own systems to shut down as well as the X-wing's, and the snubfighter's shutdown and subsequent uncontrolled flight would have caused the slow spin while it continued to hurtle forward.

The astromech plugged into one of the sockets that allowed him certain interfaces with the snubfighter, and he beeped a query for the status of his pilot.

"Botch! You're back!" replied his pilot, whose designation was "Darin," over an internal comm line. The organic spoke more quickly and in a tone of voice varying from 6.2% to 25.1% of an octave higher than he usually did. "We got ioned. Are you okay?"

Botch whistled an affirmative, then tried accessing the X-wing's sensors, external communication, diagnostics, weapons status, shield status and life support status.

He'd already learned the inoperative condition of each on his own before his pilot even began to explain in his slow, clumsy language. "We're in a bit of trouble here, Botch. Everything's offline. Luckily Ten managed to destroy that Skipray or we'd be dead already. If I could only get this thing restarted?-"

His pilot stopped speaking, proving for the 262nd time his basic inability to do even the simplest multitasking effort. It made no sense to Botch why organics didn't have multiple processors to increase efficiency. That should be the hig

 

Good work!

I'm impressed with the mechanical language you used here... I've never been put into the head of a droid before, it was interesting and an impressive POV to write from.

His pilot stopped speaking, proving for the 262nd time his basic inability to do even the simplest multitasking effort. It made no sense to Botch why organics didn't have multiple processors to increase efficiency. That should be the highest priority on their upgrade list.

I like how Botch would be puzzled at human inefficiency.

 

Thumper, Botch is a wonderful character to read

I loved the voice you gave him - so evolved and righteous, as a droid that had to deal with the primitive function of organic minds would be. And the device of a conflict in his self-preservation protocols was an awesome way to illustrate the 'rock and a hard place'. Even if he was able to reconcile it very quickly with his droid logic

The end result is a great commentary on making difficult decisions, reflected to us mere humans by a droid who knows better.

Great response!

 

Sorry for the delay in responding. No biscuit for me.

Rau_Fang: Thanks! I wasn't quite sure if a droid POV would work, and the language was definitely tricky. I'm glad to see they turned out okay. (Thanks to Data on ST:TNG and Marvin in HHGttG for a lot of the inspiration!) Poor Botch has one of the more..."inefficient" humans to deal with, too, which really causes human inefficiency to be highlighted for him. Thanks for reading!

LP: Thanks for the comments! Botch is a fun character to play around with, LOL. I'm happy his "voice" came across well. I'm the type of person who can agonize over the smallest decision, and sometimes I wish I could see things in a more black and white manner like Botch sees them. Thanks again!

-Thumper

 

I liked this. It comes from a unique perspective and is very well written.

 

Wow! thats all I can say. I love this little droid. He had such a great charecter, I loved it.

 

Thumper! Long time no see

I got so exciting to read about Darin and Botch again. I love your OCs in all their forms, and this just adds an awesome dimension to one of the more marginal characters. You wrote the machinations (oh yeah, machinations) of a droid brain very well. I liked that he suggested Darin's brain needed an upgrade. I suspect Quiver would say the same thing

Great entry, Thumper!

 

Excellent story! Botch is highly likeable! Great OC! I think his views and the way he deals with sentients is very realistic. My entry to this challenge is about a droid as well, but I chose to write him more like a human because he isn't really that intelligent and because it fit the story better.

Great stuff!

 

Very unique fic! Writing for a droid is even tougher than writing for Yoda (I have files hidden in deep, dark places that are testaments to that), but I think you did a good job.

All of the challenge entries are great, and the winner will be more than deserving. Best of luck!

 

I love droid OCs! Botch is no exception to this rule. He had a good "voice" and his thoughts were very believable. Good job!

 

Thumper! I love it! Great job writing from the droid's POV; it worked very well, and I liked all of the droid's commentary on human behavior. It is quite a wonder that we ever manage to communicate at all!

I also like the little detail that the pilot doesn't know about this choice the droid has to make, even though it directly affects him. One of those little things that can happen that you never even think or know about - it's pretty cool that you chose a moment like that. I think that's the strength of giving the choice to the droid.

Anyway, fantastic work!

 

Great fic, and I loved your droid.

It was completely irrelevant whether Botch thought Darin was trying or not, but Botch didn't mention that. The R5 had learned long ago that organics, especially his pilot, often said things that had nothing to do with the original statement, question or situation. How the organics managed to communicate with each other was something that eluded even Botch's advanced logic circuits.

Those droids! Always dissin' us humans!

 

UnderCoverJedi: Thanks very much for reading and for the compliment! I'm glad you liked it.

CodyMonKenobi: Thank you! Botch is a fun character to play with, LOL.

MJS: Good to see ya! Where ya been? Thanks for the comments. Botch needs more screen time, but it's hard to get with so many other characters competing for it.

Oh, you bet he does. Every single chance he gets. Thanks for reading!

Darth Muis: Great minds think alike, huh? Thanks very much for the comments! I'm happy my attempt at a droid perspective came out realistic.

Onoto: I've never tried writing Yoda--I'm too afraid. Thanks for the compliments, and good luck to you as well!

whiskers: We need more droid OC's, I say. I'm glad Botch's voice and thoughts seemed to work. Thanks for reading and commenting!

Hey, 'Nanner! Thanks a bunch for the compliments! Heh heh, it's fun having a headstrong, non-memory-wiped droid who can go off independently and do things his pilot either doesn't know about or takes for granted. It makes character development/interaction and even plot development considerably easier and more entertaining (to me, anyway ). Thanks for reading!

BigE: Thanks for the reply! Heh, and here I thought the humans were the ones always dissin' the droids.

Thanks to everyone for reading.

-Thumper

 

Reading from the point of view of droids is always great and you did a good work on this one. Excellent dilemma too!

His pilot stopped speaking, proving for the 262nd time his basic inability to do even the simplest multitasking effort. It made no sense to Botch why organics didn't have multiple processors to increase efficiency. That should be the highest priority on their upgrade list.

Great comment. Loved it!

 

It's probably difficult enough to write a fun droid if you've got George Lucas sitting next to you describing exactly how a droid's inner circuitry is wired. Great job!

 

Sorry, yodas_waiter and KoolKoal. I've been bad about replying in a timely manner.

yodas_waiter - Thanks for your compliments! I'm glad you liked that line--it's one of my favorites here too.

KoolKoal - heh heh, I would love an opportunity like that 'cause I actually do have some inner circuitry questions. Thanks for reading and for commenting!

-Thumper