TN-421

For the past nine hours, Exio Sil and his skeleton crew of three, have been poorly navigating the unorthodox terrain of space beyond the fringes of the outer rim, trying to track down the rumors of a murderous Sith practitioner hiding out among the deep stars.

His apprentice, Frances Sand, currently had her hands fused to the navigational controls as she guided their light-freighter through an enormous, frozen-asteroid-field.

TN-421, an early model protocol droid which Sil rescued from the dunes of Tatooine, was plugged into the navigational computer, doing everything it could to assist Frances in finding the right paths through the ice-field. Hunter was down below in the cargo bay, doing what Hunter did best; keeping Exio company.

Sil was in a deep state of meditation. This was something he would often do when facing formidable obstacles. His master had taught him all of the magnificent powers that could be unlocked when your heart rate slowed; turning off the body while simultaneously increasing brain function. Exio had come to understand that the physical world in which he existed, wasn’t the only realm caught in the fathomless spider web of space.

A hulking alarm suddenly ruptured through the ship, breaking Sil from his sleep. As usual, he saw what he always saw when waking from one of his meditation sessions, Hunter’s bright, yellow eyes peering deep into his own. Hunter was a three year old Charhound, rescued by Sil on the hot planet, Elphrona.

His coat was a muted mixture of black and gray with rich orange and red spots freckling his hide. His legs were long and muscular with two-inch, razor-sharp, black claws protruding from the overgrown fur on his paws.

“Who’s my good boy?”

Hunter replied with a proud bark, then rolled over on his back, tempting Exio with the privilege of rubbing his belly. Sil may have been a cunning Jedi Knight, but he was no match for Hunter’s divine influence. The hound snorted and moaned in delight as Exio weaved his thick fingers through the dense fur, “You’re my good boy.”

Booming over the ship’s intercom was the familiar, but highly frightened voice of his apprentice, “Master! We’ve been hit pretty bad. We need you up here, now!”

Realizing the severity of the situation, and recognizing the fear in Sand’s voice, Exio removed his hand from Hunter’s belly, re-clipped his leather belt which holstered his light-saber, rolled up the knitted mat he used to kneel on during his meditations, and headed to the ship’s cockpit with haste. Without having to say a word, Hunter knew his duties and closely followed his master to the front of the ship. Always the loyal protector.

When Sil finally reached the bridge, his eyes could see the chaos that was quickly unraveling. It had to have been an enormous hunk of ice because the damage was too severe. Electrical circuits were sparking, sending tiny balls of fire sailing through the room. Warning sirens were blaring, the overhead lights were flashing on and off with ominous speed, a few water pipes had ruptured, spewing hot streams of water through the air, and the cockpit’s main window was cracked from corner to corner.

At the center of the chaos was a sweaty, scared and overwhelmed Frances Sand. She was bouncing back and forth from station to station, like a well-oiled droid, trying to put out the fires and patch the pipes. TN-421 was plugged into the navigational computer, but because of the ship-wide electrical failures, he too was short-circuiting.

His head, arms and torso were all spinning uncontrollably and he was making horrid, system failure warning sounds. Hunter let out a low growl of concern, then barked loudly to acquire Sand’s attention. She spun her ahead around in pure panic and locked eyes with her Master.

Exio peered deeply, then used the force to help calm Frances’ nerves. She felt the wave of relief wash over her like the warm waves of her home planet. Breathing in deep, she closed her eyes and slowed her heart rate. As the world soothed around her, she heard his voice speak inside of her head.

“What happened, Frances?”

Sand was still learning how to communicate telepathically, so she responded verbally, “It was a rogue ice-meteor, Master. The largest one I’ve seen since we entered the frozen field. It was twice the size of our ship, and it slammed into our starboard side, disabling our hyper-drive.”

Exio listened and evaluated the situation with lightning speed. He looked down at Hunter and found the hound’s powerful eyes staring back at him. He kept his voice calm yet commanding, and uttered two words to his dog, “Kill power.”

Hunter spun on a dime and disappeared into the belly of the dying ship. As his furry tail faded into darkness, Sil turned back around to face Frances and the evolving destruction. She was ankle deep in sizzling water trying to patch a ruptured pipe, when an electrical panel suddenly blew away from the starboard wall, thrusting large flames into the claustrophobic cockpit.

The heat from the flames were so intense, Exio could feel the hairs on his arms singe and smoke. Frances quickly jumped onto her seat to avoid being electrocuted from the live wires which fell into the water from the exploded panel. TN-421 was still plugged into the navigational computer, and was now being fully electrocuted from the deadly water.

Exio watched as the iron, and metal droid began to smoke, then catch fire. Horrified for his crew, he closed his eyes and focused on the splintered glass.

He reached out his right hand, and took a deep breath.

With a twitch of his finger, a single piece of glass broke free from the window and flew straight into Exio's hand, causing the vacuum of space to suck the life out of the flames which were engulfing the cockpit.

As the fires died, and the room cooled, Exio used the force to return the shard of glass to the window, sealing it shut once again. The lights then suddenly, and finally stopped flickering, and the engines died. Exio knew what had happened and let out a sigh of proud relief.

Hunter had done his job.

With the power off and the fires extinguished, the water was now safe and the crew of four could now regroup and figure out a plan of survival. Frances had finally finished patching the remaining pipes, and Exio was carefully placing the exposed wires back into their wall compartments.

Hunter had made his way back to the cockpit and was playing the part of overseer, making sure everyone was safe. Exio finished safely replacing the wires then checked on TN-421.

Unfortunately, the droid was too far gone. The fire had spread too fast and melted all of its inner-mechanisms. Exio, Sand and Hunter took a moment of silence to bid their friend farewell.

The droid had navigated them out of many dangerous altercations, saving their lives on countless occasions. Frances, with help from her master, lifted the droid from the brackish water, which was no longer electrified, and brought him to the rear cargo bay.

They proceeded to wrap the droid in a large piece of burgundy silk, with a leather sash tying the fine silk tight. The two Jedi stood, closed their eyes, and muttered heartfelt words of solace in silence. When they finished their prayers, they exited the cargo bay, sealed the air-tight doors, then with a heavy heave of the cargo bay release lever, freed TN-421 from service for the final time.