Chapter Twelve – Wookiees
Harry next travelled to Tatooine to check out the sarlacc there. Since Tatooine was a desert planet and sarlacc generally liked moist environments, he was curious if the sarlacc on Tatooine was different. It wouldn't hurt to get a sample anyway.
While travelling there he managed to consult his books and read of a way to make a working bathroom with magic. Inspired, he expanded his small Captain's cabin and built a nice sized refresher in the corner. It contained a toilet, a large tub big enough for six, and a large separate shower all with running water. Plenty of it hot when needed.
Harry stayed in there for a good thirty minutes on his first time to try it. He was smiling big when he came out. Unfortunately, he noticed that they had come out of hyperspace early. OP came rushing into his cabin to tell him. Harry was standing there in his birthday suit having just dried himself with a wave of his hand.
"Harry, it appears we have more pirates to deal with. They wish to talk to the captain. Their ship is much bigger this time."
"What is it with pirates these days? Did they all crop up after the war?"
"There has been some reporting of pirates and slavers becoming more active, Harry."
"Inform them that I will be there shortly to converse. Meanwhile, I'll get dressed for the occasion."
"Right away, Harry," Op said as he turned and headed back to the bridge.
"Now, what to wear for our guests?" he pondered.
When Harry arrived on the bridge, he was taken aback by the size of the ship they were facing. It was definitely bigger. As he recalled it was a Mandalorian Dungeon Ship, which was a heavily armored prison ship, well over 750 meters in length with 10 Quad Turbolasers. They required a very large crew and could hold thousands of prisoners.
"I wonder where they got a hold of this Mandalorian prison ship?" Harry asked aloud to no one in particular. "This can't be good… for anyone. Well, let's see what they want."
Harry activated the speaker.
"This is the captain speaking. What can I help you with?"
"Ah, Captain," said a gravelly voice, "so nice of you to join us. As you can see, we have you out-sized and out-gunned. Please pull forward into our cargo hold. Your ship will fit nicely. If you don't comply then we will be forced to obliterate you from space. That would ruin a perfectly good ship and droids, not to mention cause unnecessary loss of life – mainly yours."
"Well, since you put it so nicely then I'll certainly be there soon. Save a spot for me, will ya?"
Harry closed the connection and turned to his droids. He had six of them now, although MT mainly stayed in the med bay.
"I want you guys to do the same as last time and stay on the ship. Do not leave it. I'll be back when I'm done."
"Yes, Harry," answered OP while the astromech droids beeped in reply.
Harry flew his ship into the bay of the large ship before setting it down.
"Finish up for me QE while I go greet them at the ramp," Harry said rising from his captain's chair.
QE beeped and took over shutting the ship down all the way, as Harry left and walked off toward the back of the ship and the loading ramp. Soon, the green light came on to indicate the ramp could be lowered. Harry started the ramp and began walking before it finished lowering. The welcoming crew saw his boots first, then his legs and so on.
He was dressed in all black and had one of his black dragon hide wizarding robes on with a hood. The hood was up and his face was darkened beneath it. He slowly walked forward as the ramp stopped moving. His manner was casual and uncaring.
There were at least twenty slavers with blasters waiting on him. All were pointed right at him.
"Have the rest of your crew come out slowly as well," one of the men shouted.
Harry just shook his head slowly, signifying 'no,' and kept walking in that casual, slow manner.
"Comply or we will open fire," the same man shouted.
Harry wasn't worried because he had already put up a translucent full-body shield. He never broke stride as he headed straight for the one that shouted at him.
The man fired his first shot at Harry but the shield became obvious as soon as the baster shot touched it. The shield just soaked it up and it never reached Harry. The slavers were shocked at that but they all opened fire at the same time to stop him, as he kept walking. They thought they could break his shield with enough blaster shots but instead the shield was strengthened.
When Harry came within a couple of feet of the leader, he stopped as they continued to unleash all their blasters on him, even at point blank range. The shield was so strong now that Harry barely had to concentrate on it.
Suddenly he was moving and jumping all over the place. His hands came forward and red beams of light kept shooting out of them. Every time one of the red lights hit a pirate, he or she went down and didn't move again. Harry was all over the place, constantly moving, jumping, and casting Stunners. The leader was the first one hit. Some were pushed, pulled, or thrown into others. Before long, all the slavers in the cargo hold were unconscious.
Harry removed all their blasters and any other tech they had, placing it all in one of his spare pouches. He then tied them all up magically. He left them in the middle of the hold and continued on his way.
There were three large doors into the hold and one regular-sized one. Harry warded all three of the big ones so no one could use them then headed for the regular-sized one.
"QE, close the ramp and don't open it for anyone except me," he said into his communicator.
"Beep, beep."
Harry made sure the ramp was closing before he left to look for more slavers and to see if they were carrying any prisoners. He warded the door behind him then slowly made his way to the cells, subduing many slavers as he went and collecting their weapons and tech.
When he finally found the cells, his fears came true. The prison ship was now a slavers ship and there were somewhere around 2,000 Wookiees and a few hundred other species like Twi'leks, Zeltrons, and humans. The latter groups were obviously for the sex trade.
The prisoners watched as Harry systematically took out all the guards in front of them. Then he lowered his hood and talked to the slaves. He had them pass the word around so all would know what was going on. They all learned that the slavers had tried to capture the wrong person and he was now going to free all the slaves.
He was hoping to get some help subduing the remainder of the slavers. After that, he would gladly let them have the ship to get back to their home world and would appreciate if they helped the other non-Wookiee slaves once they were safe at home.
The Wookiees readily agreed then watched as Harry dumped all the weapons and tech that he took off the slavers. He wanted the Wookiees to have some weapons to use. With a wave of his hand, the locks all unlocked and they were free. They put the guards into the cells and locked them again. Harry had a feeling if the guards were awake and able to fight back then they would have had their limbs torn off based on how they were thrown into the cells.
The Wookiees decided on some teams to go hunt down their captors while Harry took the remaining Wookiees and the other slaves back to the Cargo Hold. Once they were inside and told to wait, Harry sealed the door again and headed straight as possible to the bridge. The Wookiee attack teams also knew that was his plan. They were searching the rest of the ship and securing it.
Most all of them had heard of Harry Potter and the role he played in the Mandalorian Wars. They had no doubt about his abilities.
Harry was still lightened so put on the speed as he made his way through the ship. He was moving so fast that the few slavers he subdued rarely saw him coming. When he finally made it to the bridge, there were at least thirty slavers working at the stations, most of them Trandoshans.
The captain was a rather large and imposing Trandoshan who watched in amusement as Harry zipped through his bridge knocking out all of his crew and tying them up. When Harry was done and only the Captain was left he stood in front of the large lizard.
"If you think I'm scared then you're thinking wrong. I've fought Jedi and Sith before. I'm still here and they are not," he said in his gravelly voice as he prepared for battle.
"There's only one problem with your statement. I'm neither Jedi nor Sith." Harry lowered his hood so the Captain could see his face. "I'm a wizard. Ever fought one of those? Highly doubtful since I'm likely the only one in this galaxy."
"Can't say that I have but I'm still not worried."
"You should be because right now there are several large teams of Wookiees taking over the ship and I imagine they will be joining us on the bridge momentarily."
"Then I will kill you quickly before they arrive."
"Expelliarmus!" Harry cast silently.
Harry let the blaster sail right past him. The Trandoshan looked at his empty hands in shock, then pulled himself together.
"No matter, I prefer the blade," he said pulling his sword from behind his back and holding it out in front of him, ready to strike. It was an impressive sword.
"That's a very nice blade. However, I prefer my hands," Harry replied with a smile.
The Trandoshan looked at Harry with a confused expression before he decided to attack. He started to swing his blade but was surprised when his sword was no longer a sword. It was now a stuffed animal, a snake to be exact.
If he was confused before, he was really confused now. He dropped the snake on the floor and backed up a step.
"What are you?"
"I told you. I'm a wizard, a mage. You know, a person who uses magic? Where I come from magic is real and it's not the Force. Some things are similar between the two, but not all things. Are you feeling all right?" Harry took a step toward him but the Trandoshan took a step back fearfully. "You look a little off color, if you don't mind me saying. How about you take a little nap? Perhaps you'll feel better later."
Harry pointed his finger at the Trandoshan and a red light hit him, knocking him out. He followed up with Incarcerous that tied him up.
"Although I doubt you'll feel better once the Wookiees get a hold of you."
Harry removed the transfiguration from the sword, shrunk it, and then pocketed it. He inspected the bridge after that and the instrumentation as he waited for the Wookiees to join him. It was a rather large ship. Two teams of Wookiees showed up a couple of minutes later.
"Are we all secure?" Harry asked.
The Wookiee roared and nodded his head in affirmation.
"I can only understand some of your language so I'll try to keep it to yes and no questions. That way I'll understand better. Although, I do have a protocol droid on my ship that can translate for me if we need it."
The Wookiee nodded.
"That reminds me. I left all the others in the Cargo Hold for their protection. I locked it down while we took control of the ship. There are also around twenty slavers in there that I took down first. There knocked out and tied up like these on the Bridge. I recommend throwing them all in the cells where they had you. Then you can deal with them back on Kashyyyk with your government. However, I'm turning them all over to your people to deal with. I want nothing more to do with them. Is that understood?"
The Wookiee nodded again.
"I trust you all know how to fly this thing and can get back home in it?"
They all nodded.
"Good. Keep the ship and do with it as you wish. However, I wouldn't mind having a few of the astromech droids to take with me. I take it some of you will stay here on the Bridge to man things?"
They nodded again.
"Okay, those who are not staying follow me and I'll unlock the Cargo Hold so you can collect the others and the slavers. My ship is there too so I'll take my leave shortly so you can be on your way."
Harry and several of the Wookiees went back to the Cargo Hold while others carried the slavers on the Bridge to the cells, leaving around thirty to operate the ship. Harry took them to one of the large doors and when he removed the wards, they saw many relieved faces on the ones that met them. The twenty slavers were still out so were taken to the cells along with the others that were already placed there.
One of the older Wookiees started growling and roaring orders and that got everyone moving. Harry had QE lower the ramp and asked OP to join him so he could translate. OP made his way down the ramp so Harry introduced OP to the Wookiee elder. OP translated for Harry while the Wookiee spoke.
The leader thanked him profusely for rescuing them from the slavers. He invited Harry to visit Kashyyyk soon. There were many families who would like to show their appreciation for his help, the leader assured him. He also let Harry know that they knew of him from the wars and his exploits were legendary. It was a privilege to call Harry Potter friend and offered him help should he ever need it.
They chatted a little more before Harry asked him if there were any special trees or plants on Kashyyyk. He explained that he was collecting samples from different planets and would come there right after he finished on Tatooine if Kashyyyk had any he could collect.
The Wookiee leader assured Harry that Kashyyyk was full of trees and plants that were special. He explained that the forest floor was dangerous so the Wookiees lived in the top of the trees and that there were no trees on any other planets as large as the trees on Kashyyyk. The planet was also heavy in the Force.
Harry thanked the leader and assured him he would come by after he finished at Tatooine. Before he could leave, the Wookiees presented Harry with five of the astromech droids to take with him. Harry was very thankful for that.
With final farewells said, Harry and his droids left on his ship leaving the Wookiees and the others on their own.
oOo
Harry had never seen so much sand in his life and two suns were just too much. Cooling charms were heavily used… constantly. Harry had read about a special wood found on Tatooine called Japor Ivory but it was so rare of a find it was doubtful he would find any.
Given that was the only plant besides the sarlacc on Tatooine Harry was interested in; he decided to skip looking for the rare Japor Ivory wood and concentrate on the sarlacc. There was no point in staying on this too hot planet longer than necessary.
He was able to get directions to the sarlacc pit so he rented a speeder and made his way there. Low and behold, there were many people standing around looking at the thing. It was big but not near the size of the one on Felucia. The people stayed just out of reach of its tentacles
Harry spoke to a few of them trying to understand the attraction they had for it. When he explained that he wanted to collect a sample, they looked at him as if he were crazy. He explained about his quest to collect samples of different plants and animals from different worlds. He told them about the bigger sarlacc on Felucia and his collection of different rancors and the Acklay.
After Harry froze the sarlacc with Immobulus and collected a good section of tentacle, shrunk it, and then stored it, the onlookers were more impressed. One of them even came up to him after he released the sarlacc from the spell and told him of Krayt dragons on Tatooine. He even knew the approximate location of one, he said.
Harry thanked him and looked it up on his datapad. There were two subspecies called the Canyon Krayt, which was the smallest, and the Greater Krayt, which was the largest. They were highly sought after due to the precious pearls found in their bodies. The man who told him about them was pretty sure the one he knew of was the larger one, but he never got close enough so couldn't be certain.
Harry immediately headed that direction on his speeder. When he got close, he could detect the Krayt Dragon was near just because he could sense it. He found it at the back of a massive cave. It was definitely huge, around 60 meters, with five horns and eight legs. Like most dragons, it was resistant to magic. Harry applied the feather light spell and pulled his light saber. It was time for battle.
Harry supposed a head shot would be the best approach again and perhaps the heart would be the sought after piece for a wand core. Readying himself, he leaped into the fight, igniting his lightsaber at the same time.
"Pssshew Nnnnnnnnn…."
The sound and the glow drew the dragon's attention.
Suddenly Harry felt like everything was in slow motion and he was just a spectator as he floated on the air toward the dragon. The dragon was slowly opening its great mouth with rows of sharp teeth to meet him. Then just as suddenly, the dragon quickly dove into the sand floor and disappeared out of sight.
According to his datapad, they were able to move through sand as quickly as water. Sometimes they even hid in the sand for long periods of time waiting for their next meal. He should have anticipated that, he thought. He landed softly where the dragon previously was and looked around quickly.
When the hair on the back of his neck stood straight out, Harry jumped again and narrowly avoided the dragon that came up underneath him breaking through the sand and rock as if they were nothing. He turned in mid-air and cast lightening from his hand at the beast. It struck the dragon but it seemed to pay it no mind as it continued to fly up then head straight down again into the sand, where it disappeared once more.
Harry decided to stay on the move and be ready when it appeared. He levitated a rock across the way and dropped it from high up. Suddenly the sand broke again and up came the dragon in that very spot. Harry was ready this time though. When the dragon cleared the sand completely and was making his turn to head back down, Harry pointed his hand at the sand and transfigured it into permacrete.
The dragon hit the permacrete floor of the cave headfirst and crumpled into the floor dazed from the unexpected resistance. Harry quickly went in for the kill while it was stunned but the dragon jumped and turned ready to fight before he could get there. It snapped with its massive teeth at Harry but he barely managed to avoid them as he twisted and turned himself in mid-air, passing right by the dragons head and between two of its horns.
Harry landed on the back of the cave wall and leaped back off toward the dragon again who was busy turning to try to get to him. Harry shifted his body to align it with his target better and just managed to land on the side of its giant head. He quickly climbed and ran to the top of its head and shoved his lightsaber straight down into its brain.
The great reptile let out a roar that rattled Harry's teeth and vibrated him to the bone but it didn't die. It started trying to shake Harry off. He must not have reached the brain. Harry held onto his light saber and stuck it as far as he could into the dragon's neck as he tumbled off the beast. He kept a hold of it as it cut all the way down the side of the neck. Blood was pouring out of the wound and soaking Harry in it.
Harry landed on the floor of the cave and immediately leaped away from the dragon. When he landed, he turned around and watched as the Great Krayt stumbled and wobbled around with its throat cut. When it turned so Harry could see into the neck he had opened up, Harry cast a strong cutting curse right into the wound that deepened the cut further and caused the dragon to pause and try for another breath.
Not wanting to see the dragon suffer any more, Harry ran quickly until he had a good angle on the cut. Then he cast a strong Blasting Curse straight into it, killing the dragon.
Harry quickly cast the Stasis Charm and sat down immediately, not believing that he was stupid enough to take on a Great Krayt Dragon of this size. If he ever ran across another one, he decided to try to converse with it or just avoid it completely. Since he was messy already, he decided to see if any pearls were inside the dragon. There were quite a few, but of course, this was an older dragon.
Thinking back on the fight though, it seemed odd that the dragon took evasive maneuvers from the get go. Given the size differential between it and Harry why didn't it just stand and fight? Harry would only be a small snack at the most to the great beast. It fled and tried to take him out by sneak attack.
However, it only took to the sand once Harry ignited his lightsaber, he remembered. It seemed to hesitate then dove. Harry wondered if the dragon had fought a Jedi before and possibly was injured by their lightsaber. Or, perhaps, it was a Sith after the pearls and he didn't succeed. The dragon was definitely avoiding the lightsaber.
He must be a lovely site, Harry thought, covered in the dragon's blood. Harry cast some cleaning charms on himself but knew a good shower was in order. After he shrunk the dragon, which took a while, and bagged it up, Harry apparated back to his ship and straight into his shower. He undressed in there and placed all his clothes, tools, and collectibles on the tile floor in the bathroom, just outside the shower. Those items were to be dealt with later.
For now, he just wanted to feel clean again.
oOo
Kashyyyk was different and the trees were understated. They were just too big to ignore. Harry definitely had to get some samples to take with him. The reception was unexpected as well. The Wookiees were treating him like a hero. Harry wasn't sure how to respond to all their attention. Even the other non-Wookiee slaves wanted to thank him in various ways. It was difficult to say no so Harry ended up taking a few days off for fun and relaxation.
The Wookiees had contacted the Jedi Temple about the slaves so they were arranging for the Galactic Republic to send a ship to collect them and take them back to Coruscant. From there they could go anywhere they liked, and contact anyone they wished.
Harry excused himself and went exploring. The giant trees the Wookiees lived in were called Wroshyr trees and they were magnificent, standing around a kilometer high. He went away from the Wookiee homes and into the forest more before he took any samples. He decided to retrieve extra samples since he wasn't taking an entire tree.
Making himself light again, he jumped from limb to limb as he went lower and closer to the forest floor. He wanted to see what it was like lower down, especially since the Wookiees said it was dangerous down there. That must mean dangerous creatures and dangerous creatures might be good for his collection. Harry continued to explore the various depths of Kashyyyk.