Ascension - Jedi: Fallen Order (Fanfic)

Chapter 48: Unrealistic Expectations

"Turret, cargo hold, main hold, holoterminal, boarding ramp, engine room, my quarters, the bridge." I explained, pointing everything out as we walked through the Tyrant. ZA-N3 followed closely behind, looking in the direction of everything I gestured to. "I'll be outside in the hangar bay re-organizing supplies if you need me. I want you memorize this ship from the inside out and be prepared to leave within the next three days."

"Of course, Captain. I'll get on it right away." He said, before floating off around the corner. My new droid partner's voice chip I'd grabbed allowed him to sound like a young man. It made me miss N6's loud and obnoxious banter, as N3's made him sound like a people pleasing adult which reminded me of Cal.

I'd finished putting N3 together a month after the incident on Daltarra, having devoted double time on the DS-1 Project and molding my day to day to work with Tarkin. Because of this, all of my projects were done way ahead of schedule, allowing Tarkin to tell me to wait for further instruction until the projects could be caught up with. This gave me free time to deal with personal projects, and an errand or two for Vader if he so wished it.  Today, there had been nothing of note to wake up to, nor had I been called to do anything, so I took it as having a day to myself. I wore relaxed clothing, leaving my mask in my quarters, just wanting to be...myself for once. 

Taking a tablet with me that I'd left on the bridge, I walked out  to the pile of supplies sitting near the open cargo door, either marking of good supplies or deleting the bad. Using the force, I lifted all of the heavy cargo into the cargo hold, making neat, easily accessible piles along the walls before securing them down. 

"Captain?"

I poked my head out of the door as I finished securing the cargo, seeing N3 near the door, staring up at me with those glowing yellow eyes. 

"I've memorized everything as requested, and also analyzed all of the logs of repairs and did cross checks. Everything is in perfect working order, and we should be ready to set out ahead of schedule." He said.

I was sure a surprised look was plastered to my features, because he continued to explain the reason why.

"Whoever was in charge of repairs did an excellent job. Was it you?"

I shook my head, hopping down out of the cargo bay. "My other co-pilot, Ensix. She was in the middle of working on it a while ago, but you are her replacement."

"Oh, I see. Well I hope to not be a disappointment to you then." He said, sounding hopeful.

Letting out a humorless hmph, I got busy stacking the expired supplies while N3 watched. 

"Do you want me to call you anything else besides captain, Captain?"

I set down the last box before turning to him. "Stas, or Captain when it is with anything but the two of us. My name is Y/n, but you are never ever to call me that unless we are alone. Do I make myself clear?" When N3 nodded, I nodded in return. "Good. Any slip-ups in front of the wrong person and I'm dead."

"You can call me N3, or Zane. I remember that's what my old friends used to call me. At least, it's what I recall in my memory bank," Zane chuckled, keeping his tone light-hearted, "if that's okay with you."

"Um, yeah that's fine...Zane." When I said it, I laughed quietly to myself, now seeing why he offered that name. "Why don't you stay out here. I'll head inside and fire up the Tyrant. Let me know if you hear anything weird."

Standing between the two front seats, I pressed the sequence of buttons before flipping up the on switch. Zane was standing where I could see him at the nose of the ship. The engine came to life, winding up to that familiar humming. Zane held up a finger before disappearing, coming back around the right and gave me a thumbs up. I powered down, heading outside down the ramp where he met up with me.