“The Red One” - From a Certain Point of View

"The Red One", by Rae Carson, puts us inside the dome of R5-D4. This story takes place more or less concurrently with the previous two entries, "Stories in the Sand" and "Reirin." The author gives new life to R5-D4, which actually mimics to some degree an old EU Infinities tale, Skippy the Jedi Droid. This version is quite a bit less far-fetched, but we see that the new canon continues to mine the old EU for ideas, and in some cases, nearly resurrects those old stories. Nevertheless, the story is decent, and continues the book's concept so far (minus the preceding tale, "Reirin"), of telling tales from the points of view of minor characters that we see in the movies.

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WARNING: This is a plot summary of the short story, spoilers ahead:

R5-D4 has been on the sandcrawler for 4 years, ever since his mind was last wiped. His existence has been miserable, with no potential buyers having any interest in an old astromech. The jawas have even let his routine maintenance lapse, and R5 is barely functioning His gears are caked with dust, sand, and grime. He can barely turn his dome, and his photoreceptors are so badly covered with dirt that he can barely "see." He wants nothing more than to find a new owner who will take care of him. One day, the jawas approach him in the cargo hold of the sandcrawler. R5-D4 braces for the end, hoping it will be quick. But rather than destroy the old droid, the jawas work to clean off the accumulated grime, and give a few drops of lubricating oil to him. They mention something about a buyer at the next stop needing an astromech, and R5 couldn't be more excited. He decides to power down so he's fresh for the next day. While the crawler moves along, R5 suddenly awakens to the realization that another astromech is trying to short-circuit him. R5 defends himself, and takes stock of a high-end blue and white R2 unit that was trying to sabotage him. The new droid apologizes to R5, and tells him that he's on an important mission on which the fate of the galaxy rests. R5 can't believe this rubbish, although when R2 mentions something about the Rebel Alliance, a faint spark of memory tugs at him from deep within his circuits - missed by the mind wipe. He dismisses it, and tells this R2-D2 that he just wants to find a new master that will take care of him. R2 decides to pull back, and tells R5 he will not try to hurt him anymore, but begs R5 to let him be selected so he can continue on his mission.

Soon the sandcrawler stops, and the jawas gather some of their droid wares to decend the ramp and be put on display for an old farmer. The farmer selects R5. He can hardly believe it. He proudly rolls forward, while the old man also selects that new golden protocol droid. R5 turns to see R2 signal to him - begging him to stop - that the fate of the galaxy is at hand. Something about R2's signals spurs R5's long-buried circuits to life. R5 remembers that years ago, he was part of the Alliance. He can't remember exactly how, but he realizes that he has a role to play. He decides to overload his own circuits, and sets off an internal explosion that stops him in his tracks. R5 left himself damaged, but still operational. The teenage boy he was following called out to his uncle. The old man angrily confronted the jawas, and decided to take R2-D2 instead. As the blue droid rolled past R5, he thanked him, and said he would never forget what R5 did to help save the galaxy. The jawas brought R5 back into the crawler. Later, the arrival of Imperial stormtroopers confirmed the importance of R2-D2's mission. R5 hid himself to stay safe from the blaster fire. When the troopers had departed, R5 let himself out of the sandcrawler, and rolled on. He knew he would find a master who would repair him and take care of him.

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