The card Savage Motivation in the Hutt Mercenaries deck reads: "Exhaust this card during an Imperial figure's activation and choose an adjacent Rebel figure. Roll 1 yellow die. That figure suffers damage equal to the damage results. If the figure is a Mercenary figure, roll 1 blue die instead."

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My question is - can you use this on a figure that is adjacent to a Junk Droid? Companions can't "use abilities on class, item or supply cards". Does this count as "using" the ability? Or just meeting a requirement that allows you to use the ability?

I think after a previous BGG discussion I would say that Savage Motivation is the imperial player's ability that only uses the space that the Junk Droid figure occupies for the condition of the ability. The ability is not used by the companion nor is it affecting the companion, so it would be allowed.

https://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/1733870/junk-droid-and-hidden-detonators