Rusty, Tac and The Commando Droid had been waiting outside the medical hut, which had since upgraded from the pitiful tent from before. R4 was inside by Jake's still unconscious body, his shoulder wounds covered in bandages, and a bacta pack next to him flowing bacta into him via a syringe. Clank laid a few beds away from him, his massive weight requiring 2 beds to keep him up, The Bugs had mostly fixed his injury, but the B2s central stabilizer had been damaged. The parts required to fix it were immensely rare, thankfully the B2 could still walk, however without the help of the stabilizer to balance his top heaviness, the droid wont be getting anywhere fast.
Jake's blaster wounds thankfully cauterized most of the blood, any bleeding left was patched up by the Geonsonian doctors. upon getting to the village, Jakes droids dragging him and Clank, the Geonsonians didn't hesitate to get straight to helping them, even though the bugs don't really care, being a hive mind and all, but the un harmed droids (mostly Rusty) were thankful anyways.
------------3 hours later---------------
Rusty could be seen wandering the area surrounding the medical hut, Tac was sitting on a bench next to the Commando droid, and R4 had shut down next to Jake, who still wasn't awake. Rustys thin form halted as a villager came up to him.
"excuse me dear...could you come help me with something?.." an old woman spoke, she was wearing several rags, and was slightly hunched and skinny.
"uhh.....sure" Rusty said, he would rather stay near Jake, but its program had calculated that Jake would prefer this course of action.
As Rusty was led away by the woman, Tac and the Commando sat on the bench, noticing the B1s depart.
"I wonder what that unit is doing" Tac stated
"probably going around helping these useless organisms" The commando droid spat.
Tac turned its oddly shaped head, its broken eye flickering as it stared at the droid next to it. "they are not as useless as you believe" Tac informed the Commando
The Commando let out a mechanical scoff "you are incorrect, they are weak, and lack any durable armor and weaponry"
"Affirmative" Tac responded, confusing the Commando "they may not be physically powerful, but i have calculated they have one major advantage over any droid"
"and what is that" the Commando asked
"Spirit....this term confused me at first, but i learned it when i began fighting with our commander Jake.'' The Commando droid didn't see where this was going, but stayed quiet.
"I have concluded that under several kinds of pressure, humans perform better than even the Separatists' best models...going as far as choosing to sacrifice themselves for what they believe in" Tac stated his definition, the Commando droid processed this for a moment, before deciding to just back this up to process later, only responding with "Interesting..."
Rusty had been taken to the old woman's home, a small shack, and he immediately detected the issue. a large section of the roof was missing, seemingly ripped off by storm. Rusty didn't even need the woman's orders as the B1 began to repair the roof, placing tile after tile, climbing up and down the shaky set of stairs, sand passing through the wind, creating a relaxing howl. despite Rustys circuits being electrocuted with panic at Jakes current state, it felt oddly calm, working away at the roof, the wind, the kind stare of the woman as she watched the droid work, helping out ever once in awhile handing materials up to Rusty, before complaining about her back, and sitting down again. the B1 eventually finished his work on the roof after around an hour and a half, *A nice distraction* it thought *now back to the commander* Before the droid could march away, the old woman laid an arm on the droids shoulder and gave a him a warm embrace, pulling away she said "Thanks alot dear, thats been quite the problem" Rusty didn't know how to process this, sure Jake gave him kindness, but his program had only associated that with Jake, not every organic. his vocabulator at a loss for word, the droid muttered "Roger Roger '' and waked back to the medical hut.
Jake stirred in his bed, his eyes slowly opening to the near blinding light if the medical hut, 2 Geonsonian Doctors flew to his side and helped him sit up, he had a large wrap across his shoulder, as well as a sack that held said arm in front of him, he had a few wraps on his legs, which where probably injured from previous conditions. R4, detecting his movement, quickly turned on and screeched in happiness, the droid's head spinning widely. The commotion caused Rusty, Tac and the Commando to peak inside.
"SIR?!?!"" Rusty yelled, causing Jake to flinch in his direction, he held his head.
"hello..guys..." Jake said in a slurred low voice
"I am joyful that you are still in existence." Tac said in a monotone voice.
with a slight chuckle Jake shook his head, he then swung his legs to the side and gave a long sigh. The Commando stared at him.
"You're judging me I assume?" Jake asked sarcastically as he turned his head to him
the Commando stared at him a bit longer "you are weak....your flesh....disgusts me"
"Take that back!" Rusty accused, stepping one foot towards the commando with a light clank, the Commando turning its head to the B1, Rusty shrinking back immediately.
"don't worry Rusty." the B1 looked at Jake confused, R4 also gave a question beep "its his choice if doesn't like organics...i don't blame him...you guys have been ordered around since you've been created" Jake turned to the Commando "if you wanna go.....your free to leave..we won't force you" The commando droid stared intently at Jakes statement.
"but sir....even for a Commando Droid, his survivability his less then 34.81%" Tac stated.
"I'm sure he knows that...but if he's willing to take the chance....we won't stop him" Jake then painfully got up, and patted the Commando on the shoulder, the droid stepped back slightly. "i know you've chosen already.....just be careful out there" Jake gave the droid a warm smile.
The Commando stared at Jake, its white eyes glowing with confusion. The BX turned and left the tent, being followed by the others, With Tac and R4 helping Jake's wobbly form to get out of the hut. walking a few steps, the Commando picked up his sword and blaster, which he left outside of the tent, clipping it to his back. The droid turned back to look at the group....
"Thank you human...my programming deems you interesting" The commando turned and walked away towards the gate, the sun blazing on its metal head. Jake and the others stared at him.
"Droid!" Tac exclaimed, the Commando Turned
"Remember what i stated" Tac followed. With a nod, the Commando turned the corner of the gate, and vanished. The group of four stood outside a bit longer, Jake wore a face mixed with sorrow and contempt, Rusty looked at the floor, Tac continued to look at the Gate, maybe hoping he would return, and R4 lowed out a low beep.
The group entered back into the medical hut, they could examine their feelings later, as of now, Clank was still shut down, and despite the repairs, he wasn't going to be running anytime soon. Still affected by the events of a few seconds ago, they turned on the B2, watching as his rigid features seemingly began to vibrate, and its eyes glow their normal white. Clank lifted his form into the sitting position upon the 2 beds holding him, the beds squeaking in pain with every movement.
"good to have you back buddy" Jake slurred
"Are you functional commander?" Clank asked in his low gargling voice.
"Roger Roger" Jake replied with a laugh
Clank, not getting the joke, said "good..." he moved his body to look around "i only count four allies, where is the BX Commando Unit"
silence followed...
"He left" Rusty said in a shaky voice
Clank stayed silent as he turned his form and got off the beds, standing on his repaired legs.
"..."
Of course...the group had seen this coming a mile away, but now that it's actually happened, the group didn't know how to react. one commando droid wont survive out there, sure it had solar power, and pretty good weapons. but where would he go, what would he do? Jake motioned for the droids to head home, thanking the medic bugs, they exited the tent and walked to Jakes speeder. the silence only broken by R4s treads crushing the sand. as the sun set on the gloomy day, the sky seemed to shut off as the bright reds and oranges were faded away by the gray clouds and black sky.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
The Commando droid walked alone, wandering for hours in the harsh landscape....he looked behind him, all he saw was sand for as far as his photoreceptor could see...he turned back and continued to march, before stopping suddenly, staring into the dark sky.
Without a mission or master.....what purpose does it serve?
without orders...without war...the droid's programming had nothing to read, nothing to scan.
without a purpose.....
the Commandos program could only conclude one thing..
a droid with no purpose..
means NOTHING.....