Chapter Text
Slowly Poe breathed in, held his breath for a moment and then exhaled slowly. The little spherical droid at his feet still looked up at him expectantly.
“BB, I’ve told you before, what you do is enough to help the cause of the resistance!” he spoke slowly but determined, not a bit soft, but also not too sharp. A series of soft and timid beeps was the response. But maybe I could try to do a bit more…
Poe sighed and bent down to one knee, looking into BBs’ photosensor. “BB, you are the most formidable, unique and capable little droid there is! What more do you want?” he tried to reason with the droid, which had a defiant posture. Well, as defiant as a droid that was built of a sphere and a half can look. Defiant beeps broke the silence of the night surrounding them.
I am as entitled to fight the First Order as everybody else here! Don’t you dare underestimate...
“BB, please see some reason!” Poe tried to silence to droid, holding up his hands in a placating manner. He loved the independence his droid had developed. Although it had scared him at first, to be really honest.
A mistake in the programming of the droids, their obedience in particular, had led to the decommissioning of basically all BB unites that had been build. All of the BB unites had eventually started to…well, misbehave. Arguing with the pilots during flights. Sabotaging vessels. Outright rioting against their masters.
All but one.
The one that had been assigned to Poe. The one that had hid behind Poes’ bed, when all the other droids started to wrack havoc on the base. The one droid, which had not opposed his master, but pleaded with him. Please don’t leave me! Don’t give me away! Don’t let them hurt me! I know what happens to droids, who don’t behave. I will do everything you say! I will be a good droid for you!
When he finally had been able to calm the little droid, he had taken him to the droid lab. It had taken another eternity to convince BB-8, that ‘No, we will not decommission you! We will not erase you! We just want to see what is wrong with your programming, so we can help the other BBs!’
They had looked into the programming a long time. A lot of very good tech guys had tried to figure it out, but couldn’t. Neither, why the obedience subroutine had failed, and especially not, why BB-8 had stayed faithfully by its master and not joined the other droids mutiny. There was just one thing they recognized looking at his activity and extrapolating records. Even when seemingly inactive BB-8 thought. When the tech guy first told him, he was convinced the guy tried to pull his leg. The mere thought of a droid dreaming made him snort.
“But just look at it!” the guy had said.
“Probably just a mistake in the droids activity tracker.” He had replied.
“That is not a recording!” the guy had huffed out, an unbelieving laugh leaving his mouth as he was speaking. “This is happening now!”
Thinking back, this was the first time, that he had truly marveled at a droid. They had agreed upon the fact that something had happened inside the little droids ‘head’. It had reprogrammed the faulty subroutine by itself. That’s what everybody had said, since the alternative was way to creepy. A droid evolving? Bonkers!
And as much as he loved the droids creativity, sometimes his little friends’ ideas drove him nuts.
Especially BBs’ newest idea of grandeur. It had been one evening, when BB had just gotten ready for ‘Bed’ aka. its’ recharging station.
Poe? Can I ask you something? Poe had hummed in affirmation. I have thought about something for a pretty long time now. I want to do more for the resistance!
Poe had looked up from his cot, thinking he had misunderstood BB-8. “What do you mean pal?” I want to really fight the First Order! “But you’re fighting the First Order, buddy! Every day with me!” No, I mean…really fight! “You mean with a rifle?” Poe had chuckled lowly in his chest.
Yes!
Utter silence had settled in the tiny room for a second, only broken by the squeaking of Poes’ cot, as he set up to look at the droid, a furrow on his brows. “BB?” he asked at the droid, which looked at him with a stern look. “You are a droid, you know that!” he continued, fearing another major malfunction.
I know! But I feel like I could do more, if I just…if I was different!
“BB, what are you talking about?” Poe asked in a warning tone. It took another moment before BB answered. Never mind, forget that I said that. After that, BB turned its head to face the wall. “BB? Buddy you listen?” Poe had asked, but BB had already been inactive or just didn’t react.
After that night BB-8 had continued to bother Poe with his request. And the tech guys. And this evening, even General Leia. And this was more than crossing the line. This nonsense had to stop. While Poe had mused on the past since first meeting his little droid friend, BB-8 had continued to babble about his ideas how it could help the Resistance. …if I had arms and legs I could help even more. I have researched. It would be possible to transfer my cons-
“You are an astromech droid, kriffin sake! Why do you want to be anything else?!” he spit out, his patience worn too thin. BB-8 slid a bit back, visibly shocked by the venom in his masters’ voice. Poe immediately regretted his words. For a moment both looked at each other. Silence was only broken by BB swiftly turning its’ head and rolling away in the different direction.
“Buddy, I’m sorry!” Poe shouted after his friend, who did not turn around as it entered the resistance base building. Poe sighed once more and then got up to follow the path his droid had taken before. When Poe entered his quarters this night, BB-8 was already in its recharging pod, inactive and very unresponsive.