Chapter Text
“Anakin!” Obi-Wan called, stumbling after him through the wreckage. “Anakin! For Force sake slow down!”
“Come on, Master!” Anakin laughed. “Where’s your sense of adventure?”
“Anakin, what you call a ‘sense of adventure’ I call a death wish, and at this rate you’re going to get us both killed moving so recklessly through these ruins." Obi-Wan grumbled.
Anakin snickered. “Oh, come on. This place is sturdy, and any booby traps would have been triggered a long time ago by wild animals or overzealous archaeologists.”
“You really shouldn’t sound so happy about that.” Obi-Wan said. “What is it you expect to find down here anyway?”
Anakin shrugged. “I’m not totally sure, but the Seps thought this place was important. I'd like to find out why.”
“Let’s find out more carefully if you don’t mind.” Obi-Wan said.
Anakin chuckled. “Where’s the fun in that?”
They continued through the ruins, Anakin checking every nook and cranny while Obi-Wan trailed along behind him.
“Whoa!” Anakin cried suddenly.
“What is it?” Obi-Wan asked, running over.
“A droid.” Anakin said. “A really old droid. It looks like it’s in half-decent condition too." He reached into the corner where the copper-toned droid had been stuffed and started to pull it out.
“I seriously doubt this droid is the reason the Separatists were interested in this place." Obi-Wan said.
“But it might know why.” Anakin said.
“Anakin, it’s been deactivated for ages. Its memory drive is probably irreparable even if it did know.” Obi-Wan said.
“It’s worth a try.” Anakin said. His blue eyes twinkled with anticipation, and Obi-Wan knew there was no dissuading his former padawan on this. Anakin was dead set on finding this droid’s secrets.
Obi-Wan sighed in resignation. “Fine. But you'd better have an awfully good reason to give the council for pouring resources into this.”
“Relax!” Anakin said, levitating the droid into the air. “They'll be fine with it.”
“Anakin, they’ve never been ‘fine' with your shenanigans and you know it.” Obi-Wan said.
~~~~~~~~~~~
“Good to see you’re back Generals.” Rex said as Anakin and Obi-Wan approached. “We've got things all cleared up here. Did you find what you were looking for?”
“Maybe." Anakin said, motioning to the droid that was levitating beside him. “We'll find out once I access this guy’s memory.”
“Master! You’re back! Is that a droid?”
Rex nearly jumped out of his skin at Ahsoka's sudden appearance. The kid was getting sneaky. He'd have to talk to Anakin about potentially teaching her espionage. She'd be awfully good at it if she could learn how to pull off an act a little better.
“Yes, Ahsoka. It’s a droid.” Anakin said. “Don’t you know what they look like after fighting them in so many battles? Should I worry about your eyesight, padawan?”
Ahsoka rolled her eyes. “I meant why is it here? It’s obviously not a battle droid, or any droid I've ever seen.”
“That’s because it’s ancient." Obi-Wan said. “An HK model, protocol droids in use during the Sith Wars, briefly. They weren’t terribly popular.”
“Why not?” Ahsoka asked.
“No idea.” Obi-Wan admitted. “the only real information about them in the archives is that a Jedi Master named Revan owned one and it proved to be a great help to him."
“Cool.” Ahsoka said. “Still weird that one showed up here.”
“Well, we did find it in the ruins.” Anakin said.
Rex wasn’t sure whether or not he ought to be concerned about his general. On the one hand, the droid was deactivated and probably rusty from sitting so long unused. Anakin only wanted to access its memory right?
Then again, when his general wore that expression, it almost always meant trouble on the horizon. Anakin Skywalker was more trouble on his own than a whole class of cadets, and Ahsoka was cut from the same cloth. Rex could only hope this droid wouldn’t somehow enable his general and his vod'ika commander to get into even more trouble.
Knowing his luck, though, that’s exactly what would happen.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ahsoka suppressed a growl as she heard Anakin poking around inside the droid. How did he expect her to meditate while he was making so much noise?
“Master!”
“Quiet, padawan. Still your mind.”
“Aren’t you supposed to be meditating with me, Master?”
“I am meditating. I meditate best if I have a droid to work on."
Ahsoka opened her eyes. “Well I clearly don’t. It’s too loud right now. I can’t focus.”
Anakin glanced up at her. “You seem to focus just fine on the battlefield. That’s noisy too.”
“That’s different.” Ahsoka said.
“It’s not really. You prioritize what’s important and filter out the chaos.” Anakin said. “But the battlefield isn’t the only place you'll need to be able to do that. So you’re going meditate even while I'm making noise repairing this droid.”
Ahsoka groaned in frustration.
“I had to learn this too, you know.” Anakin said. “You’re just the next in a long line of padawans to be submitted to this torture.”
“How did master Obi-Wan distract you?”
“Focus, Ahsoka.”
“…it was sand, wasn’t it?”
“Snips!”
Ahsoka bit back a snicker as she both heard and felt her master start moping.
She sat for a long time trying very hard to sink into the ebb and flow of the Force without being distracted by the noise. She felt she was almost there when an inhuman screech echoed through the room, and probably the entire ship.
“Shoot! Shoot! Shoot!” Anakin muttered, rushing to fix whatever had just gone terribly wrong.
“Statement:” said a synthesized voice. “I am unable to carry out your request, Master. Request:”
The droids next words were full of pain, though as far as Ahsoka knew, droids weren’t programmed to feel pain.
“Make it stop, Master! Make it stop! I beg you! Whatever you have done to me reverse it immediately!”
“Working on it!” Anakin snapped.
The door to the meditation room hissed open and Rex and Obi-Wan entered.
“Everything all right in here, Sir?” Rex asked.
“Just fine, Rex.” Anakin said. “It’s under control.”
Just then, the droid started to flail its limbs, nearly hitting Anakin in the face.
“Oh yes.” Obi-Wan said. “this situation seems quite well-handled."
After a few more minutes, Anakin had finally seemed to fix everything and got the droid on its feet. “There. I think I got it.”
“Statement:” The droid said. “Affirmative! My sensors show that I am returned to peak efficiency. I must thank you, Master. An existence of perpetual deactivation is an utter waste of my genius engineering.”
“I think know why the HK-50s were unpopular now.” Obi-Wan muttered.
The droid turned to face Obi-Wan. “Exclamation: HK-50?! Don’t insult me! I am far superior to those ineffectual, self-absorbed, meatbag-like buckets of bolts!”
“If you’re not an HK-50 unit, what are you?” Anakin asked.
“Answer: I am HK-47, the original HK assassin unit, made by Darth Revan himself. At your service, Master." The droid said.
“Assassin unit?” Obi-Wan asked at the same time Ahsoka exclaimed “Darth Revan?”
“Affirmative.” HK-47 said.
“But Master Obi-Wan, didn’t you say Revan was a Jedi?” Ahsoka asked.
“He was.” Obi-Wan said. “He was a hero. He was briefly a Sith, but returned to the Light and defeated the Sith empire of the time.”
“Recollection:” HK-47 said. “Ah yes. It was a glorious victory. It was an honor to be able to help blast the traitorous meatbag Malak.”
“So you were made to serve the Sith?” Ahsoka asked.
“Negative." HK-47 said. “I was made to serve my master. That was originally Darth Revan, but I have had many owners since then. Some Sith, Some Jedi, Most neither of the above.”
“You identified me as your Master.” Anakin said.
“Of course, Master.” HK-47 said. “My previous master is long dead, and it was you who saved me from an existence of decaying away unknown and unappreciated. I may have been inactive but I was not completely unaware of my surroundings. It is quite obvious to me that you intended to fill the void left by my previous master.”
“Anakin.” Obi-Wan said. “You can’t keep him.”
“Warning: Don’t order the Master around, meatbag!”
“Hey.” Anakin said. “Be nice. Come on, Obi-Wan, why not?”
“An assassination droid, Anakin? The council will never allow it.” Obi-Wan said.
“Well, we are at war.” Ahsoka said. “He could be helpful."
“The small meatbag is observant.” HK-47 said. “Indeed, I am most skilled in combat, and I am also programmed for protocol and psychiatric uses, though I do so love violence."
“Rex, please, talk some sense into these two.” Obi-Wan said.
“Actually, I agree with them” Rex said. “The clanker is definitely unnerving, but he's willing to help and we need all the help we can get."
Obi-Wan sighed deeply. “I don’t know what to do with you, Anakin. I really don’t."
The comm on the wall crackled to life. “General Skywalker, we're receiving a distress call. Looks like a team got stranded on an enemy planet.”
“Set a course!” Anakin said. “Well, HK, looks like you'll get a chance to show us what you’re made of.”
“Oh, thank you Master!” HK-47 said. “I do so look forward to terminating whatever organic meatbag has earned your ire.”
“We fight droids.” Ahsoka said.
There was a long pause.
“The enemy army consists of droids?” HK-47 finally said.
Ahsoka nodded.
“Analysis: The fact that you are all still alive informs me that these combat droids are even more useless than the last time I woke up! I shall be most eager to rid the galaxy of these substandard droids."
“Glad to hear it.” Anakin said.