"And their base was destroyed?" the CorSec captain who had come to the spaceport to pick up the captured pirates confirmed with the young bounty hunter; Harry could see the woman did not fully believe him, and neither did she particularly like bounty hunters.
"Yes, one of them was hiding in some hole, blew up the reactor," he replied, something the officer he was talking to seemed to believe. "Also, these are all the non-weapon items we found on them. Had to take them away in case any of it had any hidden features, but I don't see a reason why they should not be in your evidence lockup."
With something approaching thankfulness, maybe even a tiny sliver of gratitude, the captain handed over the credit chip with the sum of 244505 credits already loaded onto it. Though he was already dreading the transaction fees, Harry would have to find a local bank that was able to give out more and smaller chips… maybe, the investment into a chip reader could be beneficial. After all, allowing them to move around charge from small data stick to small data stick without having to rely on some overly greedy money-pushers, paying hefty sums for the 'service' of simply transferring data from one storage device to another sounded like a good idea when paying out shares of bounties was going to be a regular occurrence in the future.
"Excuse me," he stopped one of the dockworkers milling all around the landing site, gaping at the sleek black Lightbringer. "Do you know where I would be able to find someone to sell me one of those credit chip readers. I want to pay my crew but paying some nerf-herder for transferring credits from chip to chip sounds like a real waste of money."
The dockworker looked at him sympathetically; yes, it rang true, obviously. Bankers were seldom well-liked, and in both the realities Harry had known it seemed.
"You have a datapad with a map?" the man asked, gesturing for the bounty hunter to hand it over. Seeing the hesitance displayed by the younger man, the worker added, "I just saw you deliver almost thirty pirates to CorSec. How stupid would I have to be to try and steal your datapad?"
Looking at the pad Harry was now handing over, he added, "Not that I would try and steal that anyway."
With a grin and a few taps, the man added two navpoints to the map Harry had gotten on the HoloNet.
"The first one is for an electronics store; they should have what you need, and maybe you can replace this travesty," he held up the datapad. "The second one is my favourite diner. Tell them Lac sent you, ask for the recommendation, you won't regret it."
With a grateful thanks, the pair (only Harry and Arden that day, as Mercer was painting speeders, while Corsek and Javoc had declined to do Merlin knew what, though it probably involved shooting at thinh) hailed a speeder cab and, after showing the driver where they wanted to go, went off.
When finally, they reached the inside of the store Lac had sent them to, Harry was momentarily stunned; subconsciously, he had expected something similar to the used speeder lot they had bought their speeders at. Instead, he entered what he had often imagined a sci-fi world might look like when he was younger. Everything had flowing lines, the staff was clothed in white, the room was light and airy and the décor almost blindingly bright. Quickly, they were picked out by one of the members of the sales staff, a brightly smiling young woman in a white jumpsuit.
"Hello, welcome to Erva Electronics. I am Ammuneel, your service rep," she greeted the two with such obviously false cheeriness it was honestly cringeworthy. "How can I help you today?"
"Hello Ammuneel, I'm Vincent," Harry returned the greeting with (he hoped) much more subdued and believable friendliness. "I'm looking to get a new datapad; I've recently been told mine is rather out of date. And I want to acquire a device to transfer data between credit chips to pay out my crew."
Faux Bubbly smiled at him widely and led him and Arden over to a long line of devices. "Then you have come to exactly the right place," she announced cheerily, pointing down the shelves filled with electronics of undefined uses. "We have models with and without a HoloNet uplink to connect to the banks and all our products come with a warranty of one standard year already included, unless you leave the planet with them."
"Yeah, it's not exactly the kind of work where I want to have a bank uplink on my ship," Harry commented and, seeing her forced smile falter for a bit to be replaced by a look of fear, he rushed to explain, "I'm a bounty hunter, mostly violent criminals. Without a HoloNet uplink will be fine. Just something you can put two credit chips inside and transfer some currency. Something rugged, if possible, so it doesn't break the first time someone shoots at our ship."
Now more fascinated than scared and after looking around furtively, Ammuneel leaned closer to Harry and whispered, "Are you the ones that took out these pirates? The stories have been going around like wildfire since yesterday that a group of bounty hunters would deliver them to CorSec today."
The young bounty hunter nodded, not exactly sure what this had to do with it.
"Thank you," the sales-rep said simply. "My brother is supposed to take a shipment of electronics along the Corellian run tomorrow, so he would have flown directly through their hunting grounds from what I hear."
Throwing another furtive glance around the room, she continued, "Look, I'm supposed to sell you the newest, most expensive model, but we've had complaints that these are rather… finnicky. Believe me, the CredFlow IIIs are better than the IVs. Maybe a bit slower, but it only costs half as much and it is so much sturdier. Just tell me exactly what you want, loudly, so my manager doesn't get suspicious."
Harry winked at the young woman, although it felt strange, seeing as he usually never did it. Still, he felt like the situation called for it.
"I would like to buy a CredFlow III," he declared with an almost booming voice, drawing the attention of the previously mentioned, and now rather annoyed looking, manager.
"Are you sure, Vincent," Ammuneel replied, actually surprising Harry with her acting skills. She was rather believable if she really had her heart in it, it seemed. "The CredFlow IV has an increase in computation speed of almost 10%, making credit transfers go so much smoother."
"No, the CredFlow III is exactly what I want," the bounty hunter declared with finality, hoping it would end this charade. "Now, I also need a new datapad."
That seemed to mollify the manager, who returned his attention to chastising another employee of his. Meanwhile, Ammuneel had led them over to a row of long tables, filled to the brim with datapads, both sleek and sturdy, as well as some relevant accessories.
"Now, Vincent, what do you need your pad for?" the saleswoman asked, actually sounding as if she wanted to give him her honest opinion this time, now that they were out of her supervisor's scrutiny.
"Something to read on, use the HoloNet, maybe organise tasks more efficiently than I can at the moment," the captain picked off the internal notes he had made earlier. "Oh, and a holo emitter and recording equipment might be nice, should we come into the situation of having to claim a bounty dead, rather than alive."
At his description, a wide smile split the sales-rep's face and she went over to a group of pads all designed in a similar fashion.
"This time I actually can, with good conscious, recommend the newest thing," she explained, picking up a sleek grey pad, lying there next to what looked like a bracelet. "The Pocket Assistant Mark III. It was built on the Assistant Mark II, obviously, based on the old Pocket Secretary. Gentik and MicroData put their heads together to build a pad with an inbuilt droid brain. The power cells don't hold all that long, really, but there's a field version mainly intended for law enforcement and independent scouts that comes with a protective hull and extra power packs."
Intrigued by the description, Harry pointed toward the bracelet he had seen earlier. "What's that?"
"That's the holo unit," Ammuneel responded. "With the miniaturised droid brain inside, there was no room for the camera, audio pickups and projectors in the pad itself, so MicroData decided to market it as a feature, instead. It's linked to the tablet itself, the range's around thirty metres, give or take. You can holo-call someone and wander away from your tab without the connection breaking."
Convinced that this might be exactly what he had been looking for, Harry threw a glance at the price advertised on a small display next to the exhibition and winced. 400 credits, plus another 50 for the field version. Sure, it was a drop in the ocean, compared to what they had earned on the last job, or even to what they had sunk into acquiring vehicles, but still. Just spending that much money only for himself, somehow felt unduly indulgent. Then, he had flash of inspiration.
"Say, what would your manager say about giving me a volume discount?"
OOOOOOOO
"You bought forty datapads?" the Leia inside the mirror asked incredulously. "You don't even have that many people on your ship."
Harry shrugged. "You told me people wanted to come onto the ship, supposedly because of the training they'd be getting here," he replied nonchalantly. "I had a feeling we would get some… reinforcements, the next time we're around the base."
The young woman on the other end of the mirror-call giggled lightly, a sound that felt incredibly alien from her. "It's cute you think that forty will be enough," she commented amusedly. "I hear Vernan and Cracken are already debating how to get you to take as many people on that ship as it can hold."
With a groan, Harry decided that he would rather be talking about literally anything else. So, he did.
"How's Solo behaving?"
Immediately, the coifed, gently teasing expression vanished from Leia's face, replaced as it had been by a reflection of her distaste for the smuggler and mercenary.
"An insufferable flirt," she complained. "Arrogant, too full of himself, cocksure; pick something. To his benefit, without a bounty hanging over his head he is less fixated on money."
"I'm…" Harry began, not really sure how he would finish. "Happy to hear that, I suppose. Luke and the old man?"
This actually made the princess smile again. "Luke has backed off," she reported happily. "He still sometimes looks at me weirdly, but it seems more like he is… I don't know… he looks like he is trying to figure something out."
For a second, the weird emotional flicker he had once seen on Kenobi's face came to Harry's mind. He asked himself whether the two could be linked, before discarding the idea again. These small snippets of emotion being so meaningful, and all were something that happened in books, not in real life. Then again, a lot of his life had been more like a weird fantasy book.
"I think Kenobi might know more about the two of you than he lets on," the young wizard finally relayed his thoughts. "Remember when I was working on that Y-wing and you activated that rune array?"
Mirror-Leia raised an eyebrow; it was rather expressive, Harry decided, especially for such a small gesture.
"You mean when I almost blew us all up?" she asked rhetorically.
"Yes, that," he confirmed. "The way Kenobi looked at you and Luke when we found out you could learn magic and use of the Force… he didn't look scared, or worried, but I can't describe it any better than that, either."
For a while, the two of them fell silent, simply basking in each other's magically transmitted presence and thinking of what else they wanted to speak about.
"I'll ask Ben," Leia finally announced confidently, though her countenance belied that attitude.
"Please wait," Harry bade her, earnestly and with conviction. "I've had such a secret held over me before, and you're going to want to have some emotional support when you learn whatever this is. I'd like to be there for you."
She mulled his plea over for a few moments, before nodding reluctantly. "I'll wait," the princess allowed. "But the next time we're all in the same place, we'll be finding out what's going on. Also…"
She had begun saying something, but never really finished; for what reason, Harry did not know, but she looked decidedly unhappy. A few steeling breaths had her back on track soon, though.
"I don't want to stay with Ben and Luke anymore," Leia finally said. "My Jedi training is not going all that well, and every time I try using the Force, I remember how much more natural interacting with your magic felt. Luke's taking to it like a fish in the water, but me…"
"I understand," Harry replied, trying to mask his happiness so as not to lead her decision in any way. "What about the Alliance? Don't they need you for… what is it you do for the Rebellion, exactly?"
"Whatever I am needed for," she replied testily. "I think I could convince Mon, Dodonna and the others as long as we keep doing, what you're already doing. You've already found us a secret hidey-hole in the enemy's backyard, after all, as well as shiploads full of recruits and weapons.
Hearing that she would not be putting her duties in jeopardy, not that he ever really thought she would, Harry finally allowed the wide smile that had been waiting to spread on his face to do exactly that.
"In that case, you'll be welcome aboard."
OOOOOOOO
"Helmsman, set course for Wroona," Harry ordered the officer who was manning the Lightbringer's steering controls when they were finally ready to depart. Only two hours before the deadline he had set, the skeleton crews for the two freighters as well as the station had arrived, allowing the wizard to let those who needed to know in on the secret of the Fidelius-hidden base.
The freighter crews, who had not needed to know, had been shocked rather effectively when two ships had appeared, seemingly out of nothing. Still, for the purpose of any future secret-divulging, he had left behind a second communication mirror, allowing him to let in anyone who needed to know.
"Yes, Captain," the former Imperial acknowledged, and Harry's corvette eased out of the hangar of the Rebellion's new base, closely followed by the Morningstar. "ETA three days, twelve hours."
Already on his way down to the training room, the captain thanked the helmsman, trying to keep his own muttering low enough not to be overheard by his crew. "Let's just hope that's quick enough for our weapons dealer."
By the time he reached the almost legendary, if also dreaded location where Arden and several of the Alliance special forces soldiers regularly treated the crew to a gruelling exercise in what they had yet to learn, he was in a much better mood already. If Leia said she could convince someone, there was little question in his mind that she most definitely could; that meant, in not too distant a future, the fierce, intelligent and beautiful princess would be with him on the Lightbringer.
He was almost giddy at the thought.
However, at least part of that giddiness was replaced by consternation when, unlike their usual travelling schedule, he did not find Arden waiting for him in the training room, staff in hand, ready to give him a good thrashing. Instead, he got a message on the datapad contained in a pouch at his uniform's belt, which he quickly opened on the bracelet's holographic display.
"Hey, Boss, I'm in the cargo hold with Mercer, Corsek and Javoc. Had an idea."
Shrugging, Harry turned his steps to the cargo bay located adjacent to the hangar, where the crew had put away the loot from their pirate-hunting mission. What awaited him there was the original team he had put together for the Morningstar, all standing around the crate filled with what the inventory manifest had called 'phrik', the material supposedly resistant to lightsabres.
"Hey, Boss," Mercer greeted and, seeing Harry's questioning look, shrugged. "Don't know why I'm here, either. Just got a message from Arden saying I should come."
Just about managing not to snicker at how willingly the much older man had followed that command, the wizard turned his look onto the Dathomirian.
"When you told me about this stuff resisting lightsabres, I remembered something some of my sisters were able to do," the witch explained while pulling an ingot of the refined material out of the crate. "Some of us were able to strengthen common materials in such a way, that they could resist these weapons just as well. These women were obviously sought after, their teachings coveted. I myself never learned it."
Without warning, she threw the ore at Harry, who managed to catch it just before the trajectory it had been flying in would have made him a soprano. However, that was soon forgotten, as he felt… he did not know how exactly to describe it, but he felt something from the material that vaguely reminded him of his wand, if much less strong. Still, it was just as right.
"I can use this to make a new wand," he marvelled, already gripping into the deceptively small pouch mounted on his belt, opposite the holster for his datapad. "Accio crystals."
What flew into his hand was a momentary disappointment, Harry had to admit. The once whole and beautiful crystal had shattered into three pieces; yet, as he looked at them, the wizard noted that none of the three pieces had suffered in their perfection, each still completely clear, each still thrumming in the Force… or magic, or whatever. Wordlessly, he handed one over to Arden who took it almost reverently.
Then, she immediately handed it back over, looking almost disgusted.
"Sorry," she shuddered. "That just felt… completely wrong somehow. I'll have to find something for myself, it seems. Hey, is there a reason for you to have only one focus? You do have three crystals, and you already know how to cast with a staff, but something shorter would be helpful when you're using a gun."
Harry stared at the three crystal parts lying on his flat hand once again. One long, thin sliver; one shorter, more bulbous shard; one wedge, formerly the middle part of the crystal and biggest of the three. Yes, something told him that he should make three foci.
A ring, a wand, a staff.
A ring, a wand and a staff.
It had a nice ring to it, he had to admit.
OOOOOOOO
Harry was sitting in his room, staring at the materials for his new magical tools. The last time he had sat somewhere, staring at something he wanted to craft with, delving into his borrowed memories had given him the answer, but he just knew it would not work, this time.
He already knew how to do what he wanted to do, had done it before, after all. He was just unsure what he was aiming for.
Frustrated after staring at the pieces of material arrayed before him for almost three hours, and also with quite a bit of pressure on his bladder (three hours' worth of it), he let himself fall back onto the bed, legs still intertwined from his cross-legged concentration. With a sigh, he arose and trotted over to the refresher unit, hoping that relieving that accursed pressure would allow him to concentrate once again.
Then, he remembered the back-then only mildly interesting lessons on the Force he had listened in on while Kenobi had been travelling on the Morningstar, and how much they had reminded him of what he had to do to access the memories locked away inside his head. Or learn occlumency, for that matter. So, after cleaning his hands, he walked back to the bed, cleared off everything but the three crystal shards, sat down and tried grappling with his old nemesis once again: emptying his mind.
It felt like only minutes had passed when, with a suddenness that had Harry jump in fright, if not literally then surely figuratively, the interloper that had breached his door had to jump back to avoid the powerful stunner that had sailed their direction.
"What the hell, Boss," Mercer complained. "I just came to tell you dinner was ready."
Shaking his head to clear the cobwebs away, the wizard turned to look at the watch on his wall, which indeed showed the time as 1803 hours. He had been meditating, as Kenobi had called it, for two hours.
"Sorry, Mercer," he said groggily, creaking his knees as he slowly worked his way up to a standing position. "I was… suppose I was meditating."
Harry could tell that his first officer was not particularly impressed by that explanation but did not seem to want to push it further.
"Sure, Jedi stuff," the former Imperial commented, without really saying anything. "Fascinating and all, but I notice that it was not the Force that destroyed Alderaan. And the more I think about it, the less I think the Jedi are that good of an idea. I mean sure, if they want to look for a planet for themselves to practice their religion in peace, no problem. Such a stringent order, you could even call them a cult, in charge of other people's lives though?"
The man shuddered a little, clearly uncomfortable with the thought of it. "From what I've learned by myself and heard from Kenobi, their religious disputes have cost billions, maybe trillions of lives."
Saddened at the thought of so much loss due to the megalomaniacal ravings of what was essentially another side of the coin that were the Jedi, Harry simply shook his head, silently. Sure, evil people would always do evil things, and good people tended to do good, even though he was acutely aware that things were seldom that black and white. Yet, the practices of the old Jedi order had appalled him as he had questioned Kenobi on them. Taking children away from their parents, by force if need be? Forbidding any worldly attachments?
Given all that, Harry was not surprised that the Emperor had been able to first mark out the Jedi as evil, before having them fade into the blackness of time. If the new order Kenobi was likely out to build wanted to have any hope of future relevance, it would probably have to do a lot of things differently.
"Believe me, I won't be a Jedi. Not now, not anytime," the wizard declared proudly. "I'm a wizard, and I would like to think that I can make up my own mind and do not need my morals dictated by… what did Solo call it?"
"A hokey religion," Mercer supplied helpfully. "Thanks for the reassurance, Boss. Don't get me wrong, I'll take the Jedi over those Sith enemies of theirs any day, but something about them still gives me the creeps. That 'no emotion' stuff is just plain wrong."
"Oh, yes, on that we can definitely agree," Harry commented. "Very unhealthy; believe me, I'm an expert in repressing emotion, especially anger. Somehow that never turns out all that well."
Both now laughing, the two of them made their way along the corridors and turbolifts until they reached the now almost empty mess hall. Only a few crewmembers were still around, some of them sitting around one of the new datapads and cheering over something they were watching on the HoloNet. If Harry had to guess, he would have said they were enjoying some kind of sporting event.
"Great, you found him," Arden snarked as the two sat down at their usual table. "Corsek and Javoc wanted to get in some more time on the range with their new guns; those two really love their toys, don't they? What took you so long?"
"We had a civilised discussion on our ideological differences with the Jedi we thought needed addressing in the future," Harry declared pompously, overplaying it to such a degree that not even he himself believed it.
"Sure," the witch replied sarcastically. "Did someone get cursed?"
"Mercer," the wizard replied with a grin. "Managed to jump out of the way, though. Better like that, really; he surprised me, and that stunner was overpowered."
Arden nodded magnanimously, wearing a satisfied smile. "Next time, hit. Makes for a better story."
Under Mercer's affronted watch, Harry nodded equally as magnanimously. "I'll do my best."
"Any luck in getting yourself a new focus?"
In between sentences, they were all now eating, leaving all of them rather curt in their patterns of speech.
"I know how to get there. Should have something by the time we reach Wroona."
"Good."
"Why should I be the one hit with a stunner?"
"Because you seem intent on barging into my room."
"He does that with you, too? And here I thought you liked me, Mercer."
"Maybe he plays for both sides."
"Like flying on both sides of the speederlane?"
"Why did I join you again?"
"Because you wanted off the Death Star."
"Oh, right."
"And we've grown on you."