Lost and Longing.

Ahsoka narrowed her eyes and then returned Harry's smirk with one of her own. It was rare she received a chance to needle Harry that was as gift-wrapped and presented on a platter as Dobby had just provided.

"So… I assume there's a story behind, the 'Great Master Harry Potter'?"

Harry grimaced and held up his hand as he realized this joke had been turned around on him. "Please… please don't get him started. You can always talk to him later."

He glanced around the docking bay once more before he raised his voice. "Minnie!"

There was a few seconds pause and then a slight hiss as a hatch near the cockpit opened. The odd looking protocol droid that Harry owned pushed it's torso out, but came no further as it was several meters to the ground. "Yes, Mr. Potter?" The robot asked.

"How bad is the ship's computer, Minnie?" Harry asked, irritation leaking through his voice.

"Nothing is broken, Mr. Potter. Everything just seemed to be erased. All maintenance algorithms, navigational charts, and even basic functions and diagnostics seem to have been wiped. It works… as in it turns on, but it doesn't know how to do anything else. Only manual functions are operational at the moment. I suspect that we have even much at our disposal only because of the… unique modifications you've made to the ship." The droid replied dutifully.

"It sounds like they hit it with some sort of… ionic charge to short everything out," Ahsoka said as she moved forward towards the ship while in thought. She turned suddenly to Harry, "If they erased your ship's computer then you'll need everything, an R2 unit can get you navigational charts and basic functionality, but getting your ship working will require an entirely new computer, or at least installation package."

Harry sighed visibly, "An ion charge. I knew that kind of attack sounded familiar. Bloody fantastic. That will take a few hours to fix."

His irritated gaze fell on the pile of stunned bodies before he quickly looked away and began to pace. Ahsoka could see the irritation on his face as he walked to and fro. The problem seemed simple enough to her at least. The only question in her mind was whether they could fix it and leave before some bounty hunter got lucky and figured out a way around whatever magical protections Harry had thrown up to protect them. Eventually, something resolved in Harry's mind, because he suddenly looked quite thoughtful and began to speak, more to himself than her or Aayla, who he was still dutifully ignoring.

"Okay, I would assume one of these idiots owns a ship. Probably several of them, right? Unless they were pirates on a bloody big ship." he asked rhetorically. Then he continued on without waiting for an answer

"So, here's what we're going to do," he said as he turned his attention squarely to Ahsoka.

"I'm going to put a stronger ward up to protect the ship and surrounding area. No one's getting through here while I've got that up. Then, we're going to toss each of these bozo's in my brig, and turn them over to the wookiees when we get to our next stop. If any of them have bounties, great. If not then the wookiees can decide on what to do with them."

Harry chuckled softly, and Ahsoka had to think very little to guess what Harry was imagining. Wookiees weren't the biggest fan of pirates and the bounty hunters and pirates in the bay would likely spend several years regretting their career choices before they were freed.

Of course there was always the possibility that they wouldn't survive what the Wookiees did to them. The wookiees tended not to treat their prisoners with kid gloves. "However, first thing's first! I am going to wherever they docked and take all their stuff from them." Harry rubbed his hands together. He completely ignored the way that Aayla's eyes narrowed at the confirmation of him outright stating he intended to commit a criminal act. In fact he seemed completely oblivious or apathetic to her presence entirely.

Ahsoka gawked at the convoluted and likely risky plan he came up with, "If you've got as much money as you claim, we could just buy a new computer from one of the local chop shops instead. We don't need to steal one of their computers to use. Uninstalling it from their ships and installing it in hours could take a day or two at least."

"Psh, who said anything about stealing one of their computers for me to use? I don't need to do that, I have a backup computer. It's just time-consuming and irritating to install it and reboot everything," Harry shook his head, "Nope, I'm feeling vindictive at the moment. They inconvenienced me, I'll... inconvenience them. It's like… galactic karma."

Ahsoka fixed Harry with a stare, which he met and then grinned unrepentantly. "Okay, so it's me being childish and petty! There are times I tend to think of them as the same thing."

He looked away from Ahsoka as his brain seemed to catch up with the fact that not only did they have another guest, but that the Twi'lek was currently standing there looking at him like he was insane and seemed to be experiencing complete brain lock.

His eyes locked on her, "And what's your story, Blue? I take it you're the dumb arse Jedi who actually attempted to land on Nar Shaddaa in a completely undisguised ship known to be used by Jedi, complete with Republic markings? Especially after someone seems to have declared open season on Jedi… or at least former Jedi."

Aayla glared at him balefully and bit her tongue for several seconds. Rather than get into some sort of back and forth or war of words with the man, she turned to Ahsoka "I was dispatched by the Council to Nar Shaddaa to investigate all the Bounty Hunter's converging here. When I landed my ship, I felt a disturbance in the Force. It was unlike anything I've ever felt before. So I went to investigate."

She then actually looked a bit chagrined, "I was a bit reckless in how quickly I left the ship, not checking to see that my arrival drew a lot more attention than I meant to."

Ahsoka listened closely with narrowed eyes, Harry's expression had gone blank a few moments after she started speaking.

"I was worried the hunters had found another Jedi mark to take down especially as I heard that Cad Bane was lingering about. I've lost enough Jedi brothers and sisters to that bastard. I followed my senses to a bar where there was … chaos," Aayla explained watching Harry.

With the shock of the presence of the naked bodies everywhere she just now realized that she couldn't sense him at all in the Force. The complete absence of what should have been both his Force and emotional presence was rather off-putting to her, and a massive distraction as well.

"Chaos?" Ahsoka asked, a brief smile crossing her face as she glanced at Harry's curiously unreadable expression.

"No one was dead, at least not yet... though a couple of people took blaster bolts… people were raving about monsters and wild animals and that someone somehow releasing a zoo inside the bar." She turned looked back and forth from Ahsoka to Harry, with suspicion clear on her face.

.

.

.

🧿Visit my site at tiendup for more advanced content...🧿

🧿Read the complete novel in PDF, available at my Store!…🧿

https://fictiontopia.tiendup.com/