The Past Speaks

Posted on Sun Apr 5th, 2026 @ 10:31pm by Bomoor Thort & FA-1S & G2-O7
Edited on on Mon Apr 6th, 2026 @ 8:25am

1,121 words; about a 6 minute read

Chapter: Chapter VIII: Broken Chains
Location: Armoury, The Red Raptor
Timeline: Several days after "Rippling Consequences"

The armoury had settled into a comfortable kind of chaos over the past few days: scattered but in such a way that made sense to the Ithorian that navigated it. Tools lay in loose constellations across the benches, coils of wiring draped like vines over edges and rejected trial components lay in a loose heap in the far end of the room. Yet, work progressed steadily as problems were solved one by one and the final pieces came together.

G2‑O7 trundled across the floor, projecting a rotating scan grid over the central workbench. The astromech had started to take to the project after its initial hesitation - the repetition and single-minded focus suited the droid and its dome swivelling with brisk, purposeful motions as it followed Bomoor's instructions. Newly roped into this project, Agent Valla's NX‑series droid loomed in the corner, its insect-like legs retracted into its conical frame, with its photoreceptors dim. A section of its lower chassis was conspicuously absent: the part it had 'donated' after a long exchange of rusty, reluctant binary and Bomoor’s unrelenting reasoning.

The Ithorian paused beside the bench, letting his gaze settle on the skeletal form of FA‑1S, now stripped of all its useless rusty exterior, but now almost completely re-assembled in humanoid form. The ancient automaton looked markedly different now. The motivator, a prize recovered from the asteroid archive, sat nestled deep within the torso housing, already pulsing with a soft, steady rhythm. It had taken two days of careful calibration and three improvised adapters but it worked. For the first time since its rediscovery, Faze had a heartbeat of sorts.

The gyroscopic stabilisers had been fitted next, a hybrid assembly of the salvaged NX components and some very specific power couplers from a junk vendor on Corulag. Faze himself had guided much of the process through the console, offering precise corrections and the occasional pointed critique of Bomoor’s technique.

Now, only one major subsystem remained offline.

The vocabulator.

Bomoor exhaled slowly, resting a hand on the droid’s cranial plating.

"We’re nearly there," he murmured, more to himself than to the machine. The photoreceptors were dark, but the crystal matrix within still thrummed faintly with silent intelligence.

G2‑O7 chirped a questioning note, with Bomoor had become more adept at interpreting now.

"Yes," Bomoor answered, straightening up, "Let’s see if we can give Faze a voice."

He gave a final prod with his long finger and the adapted slot begrudgingly accepted the new vocabulator. As though in confirmation, a flicker of static coughed from the audio unit and the photoreceptors also pulsed briefly.

"Okay then," Bomoor sighed, part of him doubting the progress they had made and whether they were really ready for this next step, "Let's boot up again and hope we don't need the terminal this time."

Reaching around to the droid's back, he flipped the main switch on the droid's body, which now had its own power cell nestled within the exposed chassis. Bomoor's eyes flicked to the terminal again to check the boot sequence:

// POWER SEQUENCE INITIATED
// PRIMARY MOTIVATOR: ONLINE
// GYROSCOPIC ARRAY: CALIBRATING...
// CRYSTAL MATRIX: STABLE
// VOCAL SUBSYSTEM: NEW HARDWARE DETECTED
// ATTEMPTING INTEGRATION...

A low harmonic thrum resonated through the droid’s chassis. It was not quite a sound, more of a vibration that Bomoor felt in his chest. The photoreceptors brightened from dead black to a faint ember glow.

The console continued:

// VOCABULATOR INTERFACE: SYNCING
// LATTICE RESONANCE: ACCEPTABLE RANGE
// AUDIO OUTPUT: CALIBRATING...

Static once again spat out of the vocabulator emitter grille, light a heave of trapped breath being released. But no words yet. Another pulse of static, louder. Then a tone, oscillating between low and high frequency in a regular pattern as though testing its range before beginning to become less regular. It was not binary, but rather the fingerprint of a vocal harmonic finding its voice.

Then it snapped silent again.

// VOCAL CALIBRATION COMPLETE

"STATUS..." a smooth resonant baritone fell out of the droid's static jaw like a ventriloquist's dummy, "Vocal subsystem operational. Phonetic structures are now stabilised."

Below the voice was a resonance: artificial, yes, but less like that of a hollow speaker and more like the thrum of a lightsaber crystal at low output. It felt ancient, yet alive. Behind Bomoor, the NX droid's photoreceptors brightened and it raised itself upwards with renewed interest as the new voice continued:

"ACKNOWLEDGEMENT: Bomoor. Allow me to register your presence verbally as additional confirmation. ANALYSIS: Your reconstruction efforts have been unconventional, but nevertheless effective."

A measure of excitement gripped Bomoor as the words on the screen were brought to synthetic life before him.

"Good to finally hear your voice, Faze," he offered his own acknowledgement, looking to G2 who spun its dome around to meet his gaze before they both turned back to the limp droid propped up beside the bench.

"Shall we see if your motor skills are any better this time as well?" Bomoor continued, "We incorporated your previous adjustments but we may be able to tweak on the fly, now you can give feedback as you go."

Faze's photoreceptors flickered briefly before resuming their steady glow.

"CONFIRMATION: Your proposal represents a logical progression." his voice hummed alongside a gentle clicking as his limbs began to receive power, "ANALYSIS: Motivator is responding to input and all limbs receiving stimulation. Attempting to find a stable centre of mass at ship's current gravity."

The droid's legs swung down with a clank, finding the floor and then gently adjusting the foot plates to rest against the metal floor. Then, like a wave rolling up its wire-filled body, the rest of the droid straightened upright, jerking occasionally as though it would fall but catching itself until it was completely vertical.

"OBSERVATION: This floor is of acceptable suitability," Faze spoke calmly, pausing briefly before adding, "CLARIFICATION: Structural integrity is within optimal parameters for continued bipedal operation."

G2‑O7 emitted a delighted chirp, as if personally vindicated by the assessment. Bomoor's mouths widened with his own appreciation.

"Sounds like a tour of the ship is in order, then," the Ithorian stood up, his full height delivering him just a few inches above the already tall droid, "I think everyone would like to formally meet you."

Faze’s head rotated with a soft servo‑whirr, photoreceptors narrowing as he processed the statement.

"ACKNOWLEDGEMENT: A tour will facilitate environmental mapping and provide further feedback on my gyroscopic stabilisation." There was another processing pause in his vocalisation, before adding:, "CLARIFICATION: I am… amenable."

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