Of MSE-6 and Men

At precisely 08:00.01 hours, MSE-6-G735Y, a repair droid belonging to the MSE-6 series, powers up from its dormant state and is deployed to the Maintenance Unit situated in Sector AA-345 of the DS-1 Orbital Battle Station. The stormtrooper identified as TK-421 tasks it with delivering a scanner servo to fellow stormtrooper TK-450 at Docking Bay 228. Upon receiving the component at Docking Bay 228, TK-450 questions the delay, noting that twelve starships are awaiting scanning crews. G7 ceases to pay attention partway through the conversation, prompting TK-450 to remark that the droid's programming clearly originates from TK-421, whom TK-450 believes would be unable to withstand pressure from figures like General Cassio Tagge, Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin, and Darth Vader.

Upon its return to Sector AA-345, TK-421 praises the droid, affectionately calling it "G7," for its unparalleled speed among mouse droids in the fleet. TK-421 even envisions establishing a racing enterprise with G7 on Coruscant. He shares his feelings of confinement on the station with the droid. While he appreciates the station's calming aesthetics and flattering lighting compared to the bleakness of Lasan, he dislikes his demanding stormtrooper duties, particularly the constant wearing of a helmet, which is adversely affecting his skin. When he instructs G7 to observe him, the droid interprets this as a command to activate the holorecorder and proceeds to record TK-421 removing his helmet to lament a blemish on his chin, comparing its size to that of a Kowakian monkey-lizard. Subsequently, the droid enters standby mode.

Later on, TK-421 reactivates G7 and directs it to deliver a HypnoHypodermal Injector Needle C-7R for an IT-O Interrogation Unit in Detention Block AA-23. There, G7 is accessed by an individual who is later identified as Lieutenant Blagg. Blagg is in a rush because someone will soon be there to make sure the prisoner's interrogation will start on time, and Blagg asked for the infuser needle two subcycles prior. Blagg tells G7 to leave quickly, and because his Gamma level security clearance is higher than TK-421's Lambda, this overrides TK-421's cargo delivery order. As G7 speeds away, it collides with an Imperial officer arriving from the turbolift, causing him to fall. G7 recognizes the officer's Alpha One security level, and its own holorecorder matrix was damaged in the collision. The high-ranking officer discusses with Blagg the possibility of melting the droid for scrap and reprimanding the trooper who dispatched the droid in such a poor state at a critical moment for the Empire. The damaged G7 malfunctions and displays the recording of TK-421 complaining about his pimple. The officer comments on TK-421's appearance and instructs G7 to replay the entire message. Given that his Alpha One security level surpasses all known commands and subroutines, G7 attempts to obey, but it is unable to because its holorecorder has an unrecoverable failure.

Blagg inquires whether they should begin interrogating the prisoner, but it will be done by Darth Vader, who enjoys the work. Having received reports about Blagg, the officer is present only to ensure Blagg adheres to the schedule. Blagg defends himself, stating that he is working as quickly as possible despite the equipment delays, which he is about to blame on TK-421 when the officer interrupts him. The officer states that he is going to ice his bruised hip and will personally address the stormtrooper who sent the willful droid. Blagg's sole responsibility is to prepare the interrogrator droid for Vader without offering excuses; the officer says he does not want to rush Blagg, but the prisoner must tell them all that she knows. After criticizing G7 and confirming it can still move and navigate, the officer sends it to enter sleep mode in his officer's quarters in Sector GM1-A.

Upon its next activation, the officer informs G7 that it took him a few cycles to repair the droid's holorecorder and replace its wheel treads to prevent it from dirtying his expensive new carpet. The officer describes himself as an old man who still remembers his Academy lessons on basic droid mechanics. He tells G7 he is about to record a holomessage for G7 to deliver to TK-421, along with an item he has placed in its cargo bay. The officer then invokes Imperial Protocol Alpha One, which overrides all previous directives given to the droid. He commands G7 to shunt the instructions it just received and associated subroutines to the officer's personal ephemeradata-neurocloud, and to not produce geosync data or conduct routine uplinks to the Imperial network; after the instructions are carried out, they will be expunged from the droid's memory.

Back in Sector AA-345 with its memory missing, G7 is greeted by TK-421 after he views the holomessage and is surprised but flattered that he has caught someone's eye. He muses that if he plays things right, he can get a transfer for himself and G7 to Coruscant, and maybe anything else they want. TK-421 describes the sender as a graysuit who went through the Academy and therefore will find a backwater military grunt appealing. After engaging the holorecorder, TK-421 affects an accent and says he will report to the officer's quarters at once and that it would be an honor to repair the officer's aqualeisure unit, but first he will shower with the antibacterial nanofoam that the officer sent him. TK-421 also adds flattery about the officer's skill in repairing his MSE-6 droid before disengaging the holorecorder, and sending G7 to deliver the message while he makes himself presentable.

In the officer's quarters after another memory loss, G7 hears TK-421 thanking the officer for repairing his droid. The officer invites TK-421 to come inside after removing his armor to avoid tracking grease or other residue on the Coruscant fiberweave carpets, which TK-421 recognizes. The officer tells the trooper to set the armor next to the bed on the chair made from veermok hide, then TK-421 is to go about his business in the aqualeisure unit while the officer prepares for a meeting with the Joint Chiefs. The officer whispers to the droid to execute Imperial Protocol Alpha One, resulting in another memory loss.

Some cycles later, TK-421 awakens G7 in Sector AA-345 and the droid detects he has been upgraded to Beta security level. TK-421 tells it not to worry about its choppy memory; the officer calls this an abundance of caution, and G7 should not take it personally. The officer is very busy and stressed because he is responsible for everything on the station, and although he maintains an icy exterior with other people, he drops it and can just be himself and laugh when he is alone with TK-421. The stormtrooper asks G7 to trust him that it is better off not seeing the messy, complicated human-being stuff. He shares good news about securing a transfer for himself and G7 to station security up on the 300 level, which the officer assured him is a cushy gig. TK-421 next plans to get assigned to the officer's personal detail; after that, he will get them transferred to Coruscant and enter G7 in the droid racing circuit while living in the officer's penthouse, which has a balcony overlooking the Imperial Palace. TK-421 then receives a transmission ordering him to guard a captured light freighter and sends G7 to the officer's quarters.

The officer asks G7 if it has a delivery from TK-421 or is there for another reason, then dismisses his own questioning and tells the droid to bring TK-421 to him immediately, as he is still keyed up after giving an explosive presentation earlier that day. G7 detects that TK-421's helmet geosync beacon is in Docking Bay 327. Intercepting the beacon's path at turbolift bank L301-E, G7's proximity sensors detect three bioforms and initially identify an unknown Wookiee alongside the beacons for TK-710 and TK-421. However, there's a biological anomaly; the bioform wearing TK-421's armor has a negative variance in height from TK-421's stored biodata. G7 is on alert and attempting to reconcile the discrepancy when the suddenly-threatening Wookiee growls in an aggressive display. The droid executes self-preservation flight mode and flees at top speed to Sector AA-345, where it enters sleep mode and loses its memory again.

Upon awakening three cycles later in Sector GM1-A, G7 learns from the officer that TK-421 was murdered by rebels who stole the trooper's armor and stuffed his body into a crawlspace. The officer vows to avenge TK-421 by annihilating the last pitiful dregs of the Rebellion. The officer admits that he had plans for TK-421 and for them together. At that point, G7 receives a report of an explosion on 100 level, Sector GM1-B, Corridor L104E. G7 attempts to leave, but the officer orders it to ignore the ongoing inconsequential attack and instead witness the battle station's awesome destructive power. He orders the droid to follow him to the command bridge after a short delay and stay out of the way while they both watch the destruction of the rebel base.

During the journey, G7 is caught in an explosion and suffers catastrophic damage. As the station enters firing range, the droid is picked up by a stormtrooper who offers to clean and repair G7 after the battle. The stormtrooper is interrupted mid-sentence while observing that G7's streaks of carbon scoring look like racing stripes.

"Of MSE-6 and Men" was crafted by Glen Weldon for inclusion in the From a Certain Point of View anthology, which Del Rey published on October 3, 2017. This anthology commemorates the 40th anniversary of Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope, the 1977 film that launched the original trilogy. The collection features 40 short stories told from the perspectives of supporting characters in the film; "Of MSE-6 and Men" adopts the viewpoint of the Death Star mouse droid, now known as MSE-6-G735Y, that Chewbacca intimidated. The story is structured as a series of system logs from the droid, along with overheard dialogue. Characters making their first appearances are given names, including the previously unnamed stormtrooper whose armor Han Solo donned. While the droid cannot identify non-stormtrooper characters by name, readers can deduce their identities from contextual clues.

Weldon expressed his amazement with a sample of the audiobook adapation, having thought his story may not be adaptable for the audio format, and complimented voice actor Jonathan Davis. On the release day, he reminded people to check out the audiobook.

Following the release of Star Wars: Episode VIII The Last Jedi, a sequel trilogy film from 2017, Weldon addressed a theory linking the "broom boy" Temiri Blagg to Lieutenant Blagg, a newly introduced character in his story. Weldon stated that he simply created a Star Wars-sounding name and was not consulted by Lucasfilm Ltd. regarding it.

Several stories within the anthology, including "Of MSE-6 and Men," present conflicting timelines for the events of A New Hope. In "Of MSE-6 and Men," Darth Vader begins interrogating Leia Organa at the start of the cycle. After 2.52 cycles, the officer prepares for a meeting with the Joint Chiefs, followed by 7.52 cycles before Alderaan's destruction and the capture of the Millennium Falcon. Finally, 3.73 cycles elapse before the Battle of Yavin. Conversely, "An Incident Report" by Daniel M. Lavery depicts the Joint Chiefs' meeting and Darth Vader's Force choke of Conan Antonio Motti occurring on one day, with Alderaan's destruction on the subsequent day. "Eclipse" by Madeleine Roux suggests that multiple days pass between Breha Organa's learning of the Imperial Senate's dissolution and Bail Organa's arrival to report the Tantive IV's destruction; another two days pass before the Death Star destroys Alderaan. "End of Watch" by Adam Christopher places the Death Star's presence at Scarif and its capture of the Falcon three days apart. "Duty Roster" by Jason Fry situates the Battle of Scarif and the Battle of Yavin a few days apart, whereas "Grounded" by Greg Rucka separates them by one week.

The stormtrooper identified as TK-710 was previously referred to as "TX-4120" in the 2015 Star Wars LINE Webtoon, a comic series originally released in Korean. LucasBooks executive editor Jennifer Heddle has said the series is in a grey area regarding its canonicity.

TK-421 describes the penthouse apartment on Coruscant as facing "the Imperial Palace ruins;" however, the location has not made appearances in ruins during this time frame.

The veermok species was introduced to the current Star Wars canon in the 2014 novel Tarkin, penned by James Luceno, as a subspecies native to the titular character's homeworld, Eriadu. A trial in his youth involved surviving and defeating Eriadu veermoks in their territory, the Carrion Spike, to learn formative lessons about controlling and breaking others with terror and violence; he subsequently named his personal starship the Carrion Spike. In the 2020 Marvel Comics Star Wars series, Tarkin decided upon his sole protégé, Ellian Zahra, through a task that involved hunting an albino veermok and her fellow candidates on Eriadu.

While the officer's identity remains unconfirmed within the story and by its author, Weldon has alluded to it via his Twitter account. When directly questioned about whether the character is Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin, he has twice responded with an animated GIF of Tim Heidecker shrugging from the "Balls" episode of Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!. Prior to publication, he tweeted that his forthcoming story would feature a droid entangled in the "gay demimonde" aboard the Death Star; he liked a response from another user who said that "The Grand Moff brings his own demimonde." The day after the anthology's release, he posted a screenshot of a mobile browser search for the phrase "tarkin gay," accompanied by an image of Cersei Lannister smirking and raising a glass of wine as she watches her plot unfold in the Game of Thrones episode "The Winds of Winter". He then liked a reply that paraphrased Wilhuff Tarkin speaking to Darth Vader about Leia Organa. The following day, he joked about releasing a single in response to a tweet asking which new Star Wars release had suggested Tarkin is gay. After he tweeted about the Disney Channel's announcement of its first gay character, stating his fondness for gay villains, he liked a reply questioning the classification of Tarkin as a villain. In the days leading up to Halloween, he shared a couple's costume idea featuring images of Tarkin and TK-421, feigning a lack of opinion on the matter.