High Noon on Jakku

"High Noon on Jakku" is a short story by Landry Q. Walker that was published as an eBook on December 1, 2015, and was later published in print inside the anthology Tales from a Galaxy Far, Far Away: Aliens: Volume I on April 5, 2016. The story was written like a classic western.

Publisher's summary[]

A renegade droid causes problems for Constable Zuvio on Jakku.^[3]

Plot summary[]

On a boring day on Jakku, Constable Zuvio was managing paperwork without CZ-1G5, as the droid was nowhere to be found. When CZ-1G5 did show up, Zuvio found the droid's lateness and behavior unusual, but before he could investigate further, an explosion occurred outside of the office. Zuvio rushed to the scene alone where he found a damaged banking ship that belonged to the Kubaz banker Rikard Lovas, who regularly appeared on Jakku to manage financial transactions of credits for the Western Reaches Exchange and the people of Niima Outpost.

After reaching the scene and a quick inspection Zuvio found that the cargo hold was emptied and that the computer core held no financial records at all. Although Lovas claimed that such a task was impossible due to the core's encryption, Zuvio noticed that the core used the exact same kind of encryption module that was located in his own office. Zuvio quickly suspected CZ-1G5—who was equipped to access such modules—due to the droid's earlier behavior. Leaving his deputies Drego and Streehn to investigate the scene Zuvio returned to his office to find that CZ-1G5 was gone, having taken the office's weapon supply and a speeder bike with him.

Zuvio grabbed the only weapon he had left, a small blaster pistol, and planned to take the office's second speeder into the desert to look for the rogue secretary droid. CZ-1G5's trail was easy to spot for the seasoned lawman, as the office speeders hugged the ground when they flew and left distinct patterns in the sand. The trail led to an abandoned freighter that had been hastily converted into a two story moisture farm by residents that had long since moved on.

After kicked his way through a window on the second story where he encountered a larger droid force, including the broken-down astromech droid B33, a RIC-series general labor droid, a WED Treadwell repair droid, a DD-13 medical assistant droid, and an MSE droid. Zuvio fought the lot of them, playing to their deficiencies and causing the droids to wipe themselves out. As Zuvio recovered from the melee he spotted CZ-1G5 running from the room but as he gave chase is path was cut off by an EG-6 power droid that had the constable office's supply of grenades strapped to it.

After catching up to the droid Zuvio noticed that a restrain bolt had been placed on CZ-1G5. Though questioning from Zuvio, CZ-1G5 inadvertently revealed that the robbery's real mastermind was none other than Rikard Lovas, the banking ship's owner. Satisfied, Zuvio talked peace one last time before finally being forced to shoot the droid.

Upon returning to Niima Outpost Zuvio found that his deputies had independently discovered that Rikard Lovas was responsible. However Rikard had cornered the deputies with a DT-17 attack droid. With quick thinking and good aim Zuvio dispatched the droid and Rikard was arrested.