V-18

V-18, a droid belonging to Ram Jomaram, the Jedi Padawan, resided on the planet of Valo during the High Republic Era. Jomaram painted V-18 purple because of him's rectangular shape, so that he would not be mistaken for a storage container. When Jomaram was looking into a security problem at Crashpoint Tower, a communications tower just outside of Lonisa City, he improved V-18's movement capabilities to serve as a mode of transportation. During the Nihil attack that followed, the Bonbraks Tip and Breebak equipped V-18 with additional enhancements, such as weapons and more effective propulsion systems.

Biography

Service on Valo

During the High Republic Era, Ram Jomaram, a Padawan of the Jedi at the Valo Temple on Valo, had V-18 as his property. V-18 had existed for multiple years by the time Jomaram owned him. V-18 worked with the Jedi Padawan in his garage, along with numerous Bonbraks. V-18 was often put into sleep mode and placed on starships because he looked like a crate, which led Jomaram to give him a purple paint job.

Investigating Crashpoint Tower

As the people of Valo were getting ready to host the Republic Fair in Lonisa City, V-18 realized that an alarm had gone off on the security perimeter of the nearby communications tower called Crashpoint Tower, and that communication systems were failing. V-18 planned to inform the Jedi Masters of Valo, as per protocol, but couldn't find them in the temple. After discovering the Masters were busy, he visited Jomaram an hour later. V-18 interrupted Jomaram, who was using the Force to find the problem with a speeder bike belonging to the Galactic Republic security team, which annoyed both the Padawan and the Bonbraks because of his loud greeting.

V-18 informed Jomaram about the security breach after telling him where the Jedi Masters were and that the communications were not working. Jomaram wanted to look into the problem right away, but didn't have a quick way to get there, so he decided to give V-18 a mobility upgrade to use as transportation. V-18 was unsure about the upgrade, but admitted that he would like it, and quickly became excited as Jomaram and the Bonbraks started working on him. Jomaram got on V-18 after upgrading him and piloting the droid out of the city and into the Farodin Woods, where Crashpoint Tower was located.

As V-18 and Jomaram got closer to the communications tower, someone shot at them with a cannon, and Jomaram pulled himself and the droid behind something for protection. The attacker got away on a speeder, and V-18 asked Jomaram what to do next. Jomaram wanted to chase after the attacker, even though V-18 warned him not to.

Characteristics

V-18, a droid with masculine programming, possessed a bulky, box-shaped body and short, retractable legs. Jomaram painted his plating a vibrant purple to prevent people from mistaking him for a crate. On each side of his body, he had yellow sensor eyes that glowed. His eyes would sometimes flicker, either because he was impatient or because of a programming error, though Jomaram thought V-18 could blink irritably on purpose. The droid also had a sleep mode. Jomaram later changed V-18 to serve as transportation by adding a propulsor unit from an old crop sifter and a saddle with foot pedals to control speed, but he didn't put in a brake system at first.

V-18 behaved in ways that Jomaram didn't understand, such as not telling him right away about the perimeter breach at Crashpoint Tower, even though he said it was urgent, or waiting an hour before talking to Jomaram about it because the droid followed protocol. He made his voice higher and louder because he was excited to see Jomaram and because the matter was urgent when he greeted the Padawan. The droid was proud of his body and protested when Jomaram and the Bonbraks started working on [him](/article/gender], insisting that he couldn't be upgraded, but he quickly became excited about getting a mobility upgrade.

Behind the scenes