Artoo's Encounter, Chapter One (standard:Fan Fiction, 1672 words) [2/7] show all parts
Author: Tanada	Added: Dec 14 2002	Views/Reads: 2835/2084	Part vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
Luke and Artoo make friends and influence people on a Federation Starbase.

Click here to read the first 75 lines of the story


"Go ahead Captain." 

"Commander, your R2 unit I believe you called it, its in the process of
disassembling my Shuttlepod Conrad. I'm sure you can appreciate the 
fact that we do not wish to damage your R2 unit, but we also can not 
allow it to continue without a proper explanation." 

"I'll be right there Captain!" Luke quickly jogged to the turbolift and
was whisked to the docking bay, where sure enough Artoo was happily 
beeping to himself and surrounded by a pile of components clearly 
removed from the Conrad. 

"Artoo, stop that right now, what are you doing?" 

"Beep boop blahp bop!" 

"Captain do you have a translator droid around here?" 

"We use a Universal Translator Commander, but it does not interpret
machine languages." 

"Very well we will have to use the computer in my X-Wing, it has a built
in translator so that the Pilot and Astromech droid can communicate." 

"All right then, we can repair the Conrad so no permanent harm has been
done but I am curious as to what exactly your Astromech droid I believe 
you called it?" Luke nodded, " what your Astromech droid was attempting 
to do." 

A few minutes later at the X-Wing things became clearer. "All right
Artoo, why were you disassembling the Conrad?" 

" SUBLIGHT DRIVE OF VESSEL CONRAD PERFORMS AND  OPERATES BY SUBSPACE
DISTORTION AND MASS LIGHTENING EFFECTS. OPERATING PRINCIPLE UNKNOWN, 
ATTEMPTING TO DETERMINE HOW THIS EFFECT IS ACCOMPLISHED." 

"Artoo, you know better than to disassemble a strange ship without
permission!" 

" APOLOGY OFFERED." 

"I'm sorry Captain McDonnell, Artoo was just curious about the operating
principals of your sublight drive. I assure you he meant no harm, I 
should have made it clear to him that we are just visiting and this is 
not an alliance base where he could study a strange machine without 
permission." 

"Very well Commander, as long as it doesn't happen again I'm sure it
won't cause any trouble. In fact if you wish I can provide a set of 
schematics for our Impulse drive technology, say as a gesture of good 
will?" 

"Why that is very kind of you Captain, I'm sure Artoo will be
fascinated. In fact if it is as intriguing as he hints I'm sure it 
would be a worth while technology for him to study. It seems to be 
rather prevalent in this area." 

"Yes Commander, impulse drive is the main form of intrastellar
propulsion, while warp drive is our main means of interstellar drive." 

"Interesting, then perhaps we could arrange an exchange of useful
technologies?" 

"I'm sure Star Fleet would be willing to do so Commander, in fact we are
designing a new class of ship called the Peregrine fighter. Your X-Wing 
is a fascinating ship, perhaps we could license it's design from your 
government for our own use?" 

"That is a very generous offer Captain, would your government be willing
to join our Alliance against the Empire?" 

"Well to be completely honest Commander, we are in a precarious position
right now. The Dominion forces use clones which are rapid grown, giving 
them the ability to replace their losses and rebuild their reserves 
faster than we can defeat them. Until the Dominion is defeated we are 
in no position to assist anyone." 

"What make's you think that the X-Wing design would tip the scales in
your favor Captain?  Surely it would take months to build the fighters 
and train pilots to use them?" 

"If there is one thing we have learned from fighting the Dominion
Commander it is this, with industrial capacity replicators we can mass 
produce whatever design we choose, and in the case of your X-Wing we 
would also have to produce Astromech droids wouldn't we?" 

"Yes Captain, and I believe you would find them useful on your fleet
vessels, they are the backbone of damage control and repair in both the 
Empire and the Alliance." 

"Really Commander Skywalker? Our ships use breach containment
forcefeilds until we are able to reach a repair facility like 
Spacedock." 

"Captain for give me, but what if you are in a sustained battle or cut
off from your bases? Surely you don't leave the breaches in place?" 

"Actually Commander, we have backup systems for all our vital
functions." 

"As you wish Captain. May I offer a demonstration?" 

"Certainly Commander." 

"Very well, Artoo have you received the information on Impulse
Propulsion?" 

" CONFIRMED SCHEMATICS AND SPECIFICATIONS RECEIVED AND COLLATED." 

"Very well." Taking his Light Saber in hand Luke walked up to the Conrad
and before anyone realized his intent sliced the port nacelle in half. 

"Commander what are you doing?!" Captain McDonnell shouted, angered at
seeing his favorite shuttlepod callously damaged. 

"A demonstration Captain, Artoo, repair the Conrad I seem to have
damaged it." 

"Beep Whistle" And before the astounded eyes of the Star Fleet Captain
and the personnel present R2D2 did exactly that, disassembling, welding 
and testing, reassembling and retesting the nacelle. 15 minutes from 
the start of the procedure the nacelle was back in perfect health, only 
the band of unpainted durainium where R2 had used his molecular welder 
to repair the slash was visible. An astounded engineer examined the 
repair with an engineering tricorder. 

"Well?" Captain McDonnell asked impatiently. 

"Captain I don't know how that little fellow id it but this nacelle is
within point 1 % of original specifications. The only difference 
between this nacelle now and a new one is that it has lost a minuscule 
amount of mass in the cutting process." 

"Astounding! Commander, how could your Astromech droid manage such a
feat? I saw it but I still find it hard to believe!" 

"Captain Astromech droids have been refined over the last 4,000 years of
spaceflight. Artoo here is about 40 years old and has served on a 
number of vessels. Unless someone has wiped his memory on transfer he 
could repair any of those ships to this day." 

"You're saying that given a set of technical standards this R2 unit
could repair any ship it was assigned too?" 

"Of course Captain, that is what he was designed to do after all." 

"Just how far do his capabilities extend Commander Skywalker?" 

"Given the time and raw materials Captain,  Artoo could build an X-wing
from raw stock materials." 

"I see," Captain McDonnell said, quite stunned by this revelation, "and
what would you require to license the R2 design Commander Skywalker?" 

"Let me put it like this Captain, I am willing to license you to 2
designs, R2 is one design, the X-Wing is a second design. I know Artoo 
contains the designs of at least one more fighter and that of a 
Corellian Corvette. In exchange for the designs of the X-Wing and for 
R2 model astromech droids I will expect your Federation to supply on a 
1 to 1 basis X-wings, R2 droids to go with them and pilots to fly and 
fight for the Alliance." 

"Commander I'm sure you are aware I can not make any agreement for the
Federation, but I assure you I will pass along your offer with my 
recommendation that it be agreed too." 

End Chapter One 


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