Space Wizard

or

Yer a Space Wizard, Harry!

07

There was a knock at the door, some time later. Reaching out with the Force, I felt another woman on the other side. This one felt much more serious in her purpose for being here. Not a servant of some kind.

"Enter," I called, and a moment later the door slid open.

A somewhat older but still beautiful human woman with dark hair and a severe expression walked in. She ignored the two women making out on the table and the one fingering herself to completion in my lap as I rubbed her back. Moving over to the couch, she offered the badge Exal had given me and a datapad. "The results of the appraisal were good, honored customer. Very good. The material provided has been judged as highest rank. This is an agreement authorizing the Grand Hutta Auction House of Nar Shaddaa to put the materials up for sale and collect a ten percent commission off of the sale. Please sign with your retina scan and thumb print."

Taking the tablet, I pushed a bit more Force into my head and allowed my cybernetic eye to speed read everything. Finding no hidden clauses or dangers, I signed it as instructed and handed it back, then pocketed my identification badge. She clicked something on the pad and handed it back. "This is our estimated low end sale price for the materials."

I read the number and barely contained a whistle. "Your low end estimate is three million? That's together—?"

"Each. Six million total. And yes, low end."

I need to get back to Korriban and buy that roll I sold back. I don't think he knew what he was getting.

"Sounds good," I nodded. It sounded better than good, really. "Why so much?"

"The Hutts will pay good credits for Force resistant materials. We've only rarely had something of quite this quality come through our halls." Taking the pad back, she tapped at it again and handed it back once more. "This authorizes us to pay twenty-five percent of the expected low sale price up front. If you would allow us, we would like to wait and hold the materials for a few months in order to spread the word and drum up excitement. Three months should be sufficient for word to spread to both the Empire and Republic and attract a sufficiently large selection of bidders and spread… rumors in order to incite a bidding war and further increase the price. We will provide you with a secure, anonymous holo transceiver and contact you once the sale completes. If that is acceptable, please sign here. Otherwise, if you like or if speedy access to funds is a concern, the Grand Hutta Auction House of Nar Shaddaa could buy the materials outright for fifty percent of the projected value."

"I'll take the twenty-five percent and let you sell it," I said, once more reading through before signing the document.

"Excellent. I assumed that one of your illustrious order would know the value of patience, so I took the liberty of bringing a secure communication device along," she smiled, digging into her pockets and handing me a communicator. "It has been a pleasure doing business with you, honored customer, and we at the Grand Hutta Auction House of Nar Shaddaa hope for many more such business opportunities. If you come across any more finds of this quality, please, do not hesitate to bring them to us. Please, stay and enjoy yourself. If you like, I can supply a list of lots coming up in tonight's auction."

"Sounds good," I agreed.

She tapped the pad again and handed it back, before standing. "If you'll excuse me, I'll return momentarily with your credits."

The woman left and I leaned back again as the girl behind me resumed cutting my hair. Pulling the green girl on my lap closer, I began reading over the list—which came with pictures attached.

I scanned through the entire list, but nothing really caught my eye. Eventually, the supervisor or whatever she was returned with a metal briefcase. "Here you are, honored customer. Would you like to count it?"

I opened the case and eyeballed the contents, before closing it again. "No, I trust your organization's reputation." Which was a complete lie as I'd never heard of them before today, but the way she perked up a bit at that and swelled with pride, it hadn't been the wrong thing to say."

"Very well. Then I bid you a good day and favorable return."

She left us alone and, after checking with the girl cutting my hair and finding she was mostly done, just playing with it now, I had a look at it in the mirror she supplied. My hair had been cut down to something neater than the mess it was, but still longer than I usually liked. On the other hand, Exal had this thing about playing with my hair, so… I'd leave it. It looked kind of familiar, but I couldn't really put my finger on why.

And she had completely removed my beard, after trimming it down and playing with different styles. Frowning, I asked about it. "Why'd you cut off my beard?"

"You, you look very… fetching without it, honored customer. Much younger."

Yeah, that was kind of the problem.

Reaching up, I rubbed at my bare face. The girl on my lap brought her hand up, rubbing it against my smooth skin, her thumb trailing over the scars on the right side. She brought her face in close and kissed my cheek, before the cheeky girl flicked her tongue out and licked at my jawline. "I think it's very nice~."

"I guess it's fine then," I chuckled. Using the Force, I removed any leftover pieces of loose hair from myself and my clothes. Grabbing the green-skinned girl, I lifted her up and gently set her to the side before standing. "Well, it's been fun, but I do have business to attend to."

"Aww~! Really?!" the green-skinned girl pouted as the two who had been making out made sounds of displeasure as well, as they got off the table and made their way over.

Opening the case, I pulled out four thousand credit chips. "Girls, thank you for entertaining me," I said, before handing out one to each.

With that, I gathered my helmet/mask and pulled it back on, before taking the case and communicator and leaving the room. Pulling out my datapad, I checked the area map and considered my next destination.

I have a lot of money now, with more on the way. Why not invest in making sure we stay alive? Hiring mercs is great and all, but a droid that I own, whose loyalties won't change with application of credits or on a whim, might be best.

Taking the taxi, I made my way to a droid shop to have a look.

What I found there filled me with… mixed feelings. On the one hand, droids were cool. On the other hand, while humanoid protocol droids were a thing, there was a severe lack of robo-girls. No androids, no gynoids, just cold, ugly metal. I remembered hearing somewhere, way back on Earth when we were discussing potential D&D campaigns, that cybernetic Terminator-like droids were a thing, or at least were or had been at some point.

The shopkeeper, of the same species as the one that had owned Anakin in Episode 1, had no idea what I was talking about when I asked, however. "Droids that look like humans? Bah! No such thing!"

But, even without robussy on tap (and I suddenly realized that I wanted robussy on tap at some point in the future), droids were still cool.

Looking over the selection, I found a squat tin-can style astromech that stood out a bit from the others. It felt dangerous in the Force. "What's with this one?"

"That hunk of scrap? You don't want it!" the small, long nosed, flying alien flitted over and kicked the deactivated droid in the head.

"What is it and what's it do?"

"That trash can is UP-2. Experimental 'Urban Pacification' line. Failed line. They were meant to be used for policing actions, but the people who coded them got a little, ehehe… bloodthirsty, if you know what I mean! They forgot they were working on a droid for the civilian sector and instead cranked out a bunch of little sadists and battle junkies."

"So it works?"

"Too well. Their decision tree may as well read 'shoot first, shoot second, shoot again just to make sure.'"

Humming, I inspected the bot a bit closer. "It's armed?"

"To the metaphorical teeth!" the critter—Toydarian!—exclaimed. "Long and short range blasters, flamethrowers, missile launchers, arc disruptor, plasma cutting laser. It has a fabricator built in to collect materials and fabricate new ammunition and can plug into any standard charging port to recharge its energy weapons."

Nodding, I asked, "How much?"

"Ahh… I couldn't let it go for less than a hundred thousand credits."

"You can't let the experimental, failed, bloodthirsty droid no one wants go for less than that?" I scoffed. "Twenty."

"Twenty?! Why would you offer me thirty? I told you I couldn't take less than two hundred for it, human! Don't even open with an offer less than forty!"

"Fifty thousand. Take it or leave it."

"You're really putting the screws to me," the critter whined. It made a disgusted sound and spat off to the side. "Let me think about it."

"I also need some parts, while I'm here." He perked up at that. "Arms. Wheeled legs. A body. A head with some good sensors. Motivator. Hover units."

The Toydarian hummed, scratching its chin. "Alright. You buy all that, I'll let the droid go for…" It made a face. "Forty-five. But not less!"

"Sure thing."

With that deal haggled out, I picked out the parts I wanted with a bit of help and paid. The owner even threw in a little hover cart to carry it all. Finally, he activated the droid and transferred ownership to me.

"Hey there, UP-2. I'm Harry. You ready to go cause some trouble?"

The droid beeped, booped, and whistled as it looked up at me. I raised an eyebrow as I realized I could understand it. I grinned. "The sort of trouble I need a little troubleshooter for. That is, someone who finds trouble and shoots it."

The droid whistled and I nodded as I held the door open for it. "So, how do you feel about upgrades? I'm thinking I might just equip you with a lightsaber for shits and giggles."

Another whistle and beep. I winced. "Ooh. Yeah. You really are at the right height for it. So, UP-2 is kind of a mouthful. How's 'Upto' work for you?" It whistled a question and I grinned. "As in 'Up to no good.'" An affirmative whistle this time. "Oh, you and me are gonna get along just fine, Upto."

We loaded up in the car and made for my next stop—the market, where I hoped to buy some hardware.

Weapons.

I was looking to buy weapons. Blasters. Thermal detonators. Even a cannon.

Bitches love cannons.

Exal shivered briefly, a thrill of excitement running through her as her nipples hardened and she felt herself grow warm and wet.

Harry must have found something… entertaining, she mused, before turning her attention back to her datapad.

Sitting in the top floor of Caesa's Palace with an excellent view out the window beside her, she waited for the first prospective interviewee for the job. Imperial Intelligence had been downright helpful for a change and put her in touch with someone who knew someone. She had immediately scheduled to interview the leader of a mercenary company, with a second interview scheduled later in the day for a reputable slicer and 'infiltration and exfiltration expert.'

Thief. She was consorting with jumped up thieves with fancy titles for themselves.

But needs must. If it meant getting the job done, then she could put her pride as a noble and Sith aside and do what needed to be done. All for the opportunity to kill her master and secure a future for herself… and her apprentice.

Several presences in the Force approaching drew her from her thoughts. Looking up, her golden eyes found the lift. A moment later, it opened and a group of people walked out. She assessed them as they moved with a quiet hum.

Twenty people total, all of them wearing armor in a dark green and black camouflage pattern. They looked to be mostly humans, but there were a few standouts among them. A green Twi'lek woman wearing some kind of camouflage netting. A pair of Wookie, wearing even more armor than everyone else around them. A gray Zabrak woman. A Devaronian man.

"You the client? Exal Kressh?" an older man walking in the front of the group asked.

He had a neat beard and his hair was trimmed down short, all of it brown with the beginnings of silver starting to show. He was very physically fit from what she could tell under his armor, and the man had a minor presence in the Force. Likely a Force sensitive child who had been missed by either the Sith or the Jedi, who grew up without training it beyond a vague 'sixth sense.' But to still be a soldier at his age, a successful mercenary even… Exal had a good feeling about this.

"I am," Exal nodded, before gesturing to the seat in front of her.

"Alright." The older man sat down and held out a hand across the table. "Name's Pliskin." Exal shook the offered hand. The man sat back as his subordinates arranged themselves behind and beside him, some of them standing, others taking chairs from other tables, the Twi'lek posting up by the window and looking outside. The Zabrak woman took the seat to his immediate right. None of them were armed, seeing as they had come through security to get into the hotel/casino—as opposed to being registered guests and Sith, like herself and her apprentice, who were allowed to have weapons on the premises.

"Make your pitch."

Exal raised one fine black eyebrow. "Excuse me?"

The man grinned. "I'm not coming begging for work. You're pitching a job to me and my crew. We'll decide if it's worth it or not."

Part of her hated the attitude—the sheer audacity of the man. Another part of her, however, appreciated the tactic for what it was. Attempting to put the client on the back foot.

"Very well. The job is to breach and clear a recently unearthed research facility turned tomb on Korriban. Our objective is on the bottom level, behind a thick security door."

The man raised a skeptical eyebrow, looking at the Zabrak to his side. "Sounds too simple," she muttered.

"Agreed," Pliskin agreed. "What sort of resistance are we expecting? You said it was a tomb. Wild animals? Some droids? Need more details."

"Let me show you." With that, Exal tapped away at her datapad and pulled up the video feed Harry's drone had taken. She slid it across the table and Pliskin took it. His people crowded around as the video began to play from the beginning.

"Well, at least someone's got some brains and decided to scout the place ahead of time, Boss," the Zabrak commented.

They watched as the drone entered through the pipe and went down, before encountering zombies. "What the fuck are those?" Pliskin asked.

"Zombies," the Devaronian shuddered, drawing the attention of the others. "Reanimated corpses. Old Sith magic. Dark stuff."

Speeding up the video, they watched and occasionally commented about enemy numbers and how they sometimes reacted to the drone's presence—seeming to notice something was there but not actually going after it. Finally, they got to the end and several of them let out sounds of surprise at the feed cutting out. Backing the feed up showed them what Exal thought was a Leviathan. Immediately, there were denials and disagreements from the group.

Exal and Pliskin met eyes as the man considered it. "It's dangerous."

"It is," she confirmed. "Otherwise, we would have gone in ourselves."

"I'm not going to throw my people's lives away."

"I'm not asking you to," Exal shook her head. Taking back the tablet, she asked, "What's your normal rate?"

"Two mil. That doubles if we see combat. Plus supplies and fuel costs."

Nodding, she asked, "How many people in your crew?"

"Twenty, plus pilot and co-pilot."

Exal wrote down a number and handed the pad back. "Total. To divide how you see fit."

The arguments fell silent. Looking up, the man in charge of the mercenary company asked, "You're serious?"

"Absolutely. My master has agreed to fund this expedition, no matter the cost. Half will be deposited up front. If, by some unfortunate circumstance, someone dies you still get that number."

"We could have a million each and a mil to go to the company," someone in the back muttered, and that kicked off other mutterings.

Exal sat back and smiled. Waiting, as she felt the Force shift in her favor. Pliskin's face pulled into a severe frown. "Could you give us some time to think about it?"

"Absolutely," she agreed. "However, there is a stipulation. With that payout, you lay no claim to anything in the vault. That goes to myself, my associate, and my master."

"Understood. Let's—"

Warning blared in the Force, from outside but approaching quickly. Time felt like it slowed to a crawl for Exal as her heart hammered in her chest. From the window, what she assumed was the team's sniper or scout called, "RPGs!"

What happened next, she couldn't quite explain. Instead of throwing up a Force bubble to save herself, she grabbed the scout and yanked her through the air towards them, before throwing up a barrier between them and the window.

Something exploded. She felt something rip through the barrier and slam into the left side of her head, rocking her head back. And then there was another explosion, and another.

Exal fell, and her world went dark.

"What do you think, master? Is it good?"

I hummed quietly, chewing on the morsel of food the Mirialan slave girl held out for me to take. She was young. Not a child, but way too young to be here. Or at least, she should be. But that wasn't the way this moon, this sector of space, or even this entire galaxy worked. She felt like light, sweetness, and hope in the Force. In fact, she was one more among many who felt like a Force sensitive. I hadn't been able to resist calling the green skinned, bright blue eyed girl over when some green lizard fucker looked like he wanted to get to fucking her right then and there. He was annoyed, but… mind tricks are tricksy.

"It's good. Thank you, sweetie." I hadn't asked her name. Not yet. I had a feeling that if I did, I'd get attached and wouldn't be happy leaving her here. Well, I wasn't going to be happy with it either way, but if I got attached I was probably going to try to talk Exal into taking her back with us. I even had a couple of arguments lined up already. It could be useful to have a domestic slave around to cook, clean, and take care of chores. Not to mention, she was an absolute joy to be around. She was just so innocent. Something I didn't think was possible in a place like this. It was like finding something more precious than a diamond laying around in a shit heap.

She beamed a happy smile and offered up my cup full of amber liquid—basically the same stuff I'd had at the auction house, but without the extra fruit flavoring. Apparently, you were supposed to add your own fruit flavoring to the base concoction, but honestly? I thought it was better without it. Like an old fashioned Italian cream soda or something. It was just one of the many samples of drinks the waitresses had brought me when I'd asked for one of everything non-alcoholic or intoxicating to try, but one of the best I'd found.

I took a sip and refocused my attention on the little project in front of me. Upto beeped and I rolled my eyes. "Quit your bitching. You're the one who said you didn't want to be shut down for this. I told you I'd need to open you up if you wanted that upgrade."

"Hehe~! Can you really blame him for being upset, master? I'd be upset too, if you put me on the table and just spread me open in front of everyone," she said, as she reached out with one hand and gently stroked Upto's chassis. To my surprise, the droid actually quit his bitching.

My hand twitched where it was connecting up a new arm to hold the miniature lightsaber I'd constructed. Slowly, I turned a look on the girl. Seeming to realize what she'd said, she blushed a deep, dark green. "I, I, I… I didn't mean it like that! Honest~!"

So cute. I want to tease her more. Damnit, just think how great that would be to have around!

Chuckling, I turned back to the droid. "Don't worry," I said, and she relaxed slightly. I couldn't resist adding, "If I put you anywhere to spread you open, it'll be my bed, and only for me and my friend."

"Maaassstteeerrr~! Don't tease meee~!"

Fucking adorable.

Finishing up with Upto, I moved him off the table and had him test out his new upgrade. A hatch opened on his front cover and a small mechanical arm shot out, on the end of which was a small lightsaber hilt—nothing fancy, just a short hilt with a standard blade. The arm actioned back and forth, up and down, and in every direction it was capable of moving. Then, it retracted and popped out a hatch on the back and did the same. After a few moments, Upto made an affirmative whistle and bleet.

"Glad you like it, buddy. Now, let me work on my new toy."

"What are you going to build, master Jedi?"

I paused, before reaching out and laying a hand on the slave girl's and sending her a smile. "I'm not a Jedi, sweetie."

She paled, and for the first time, I felt her fear. "O-oh. Then, then you're… the other one?"

"A Sith?" I asked, and she nodded. "I am. But don't worry. No harm will come to you while you're with me."

Biting her lip, the green girl nodded once. I petted her hand and pushed reassuring feelings towards her in the Force. After a few moments, her smile and happy feelings returned and I turned back to my work. "What would you like to try next, master?"

"Mm… that one," I pointed at a finger-food sized bit of something that looked like sushi covered in sauce. Well, all of the selections were finger-food sized. That was intentional, I guessed probably because what she was doing for me was something I had seen done on the casino floor and in the restaurant. I had claimed a private room of the restaurant and gotten the okay from the manager to work on my stuff here, so no one was bothering me.

I began putting together my new project while the scantily-clad slave girl pressed herself into my side and watched with interest, occasionally offering different food and drinks to try. Focusing on the Force and the parts in front of me, I began assembling what I wanted. Some parts were used wholesale, others exploded into their constituent pieces, as something began to take shape. It looked kind of vaguely like a dog, maybe. Quadrupedal, but with articulated hands for all four 'feet,' and the ability to rotate its hands out for wheels. The hover units installed in it weren't enough to make it fly given the load I was going to put on it, but it would greatly reduce the load it would be expected to be under, making it very fast and maneuverable. The head was crammed full of sensors and cameras.

"You're gonna be a good boy," I muttered as it came together on the table. "Good doggo and best boi…"

Small blasters and a flamethrower were integrated into it, followed by the piece I had dumped the most money on today: a laser cannon. Yeah. That's right. I built a droid with a mounted gun emplacement. The droid's intelligence wasn't that great—that's not what I was going for. I wanted something that could move quickly into position and navigate around obstacles, enemies, and enemy fire on its own, but not something that might contemplate its own death. Something that could serve multiple functions. Being a mobile weapons platform was one function. Another was for carrying gear—either on itself or by pulling it. It had built in bays for my current fleet of drones, so I wouldn't have to carry those everywhere and could instead just install them and launch them as needed.

In the end, what I got was something about the size of a protocol droid, at least in length. It hopped down off the table and shook itself, exactly like a dog would. I watched through its sensors as it took in its surroundings and in turn broadcast them to myself and Upto.

"I name you… D0-G0. Doggo. Say woof."

Doggo barked and I grinned. Beside me, the slave girl clapped happily. "That was amazing, master!"

"Thank you, sweetie," I said, reaching up and petting her hair, earning a pleased sound from the girl.

"Yes, quite amazing."

I blinked, looking over to my right, to the other side of the slave girl. I blinked at what I found there. A woman sat in a chair, eating my food and drinking from a bottle of wine she brought with her. She was blue, with smokey blue hair and red eyes. Short. Very curvy. Dressed in brown boots, very form fitting black pants, a light gray sweater, and a black jacket. She also had a very small presence in the Force. Not obscured, just… very withdrawn. As if she spent every waking moment hiding who and what she was.

"Where did you come from?"

"Hm?" the Chiss, at least I think she was a Chiss, woman asked. "Oh, I've been here a while. Since just after you started playing with that," she nodded towards Doggo. "Just waiting for my appointment upstairs."

"Well, speaking of, I need to check in."

"Of course."

Putting the weirdo out of my mind for the moment, I turned to the slave girl. "Want to come upstairs with me and meet my friend?"

"Yes!" she nodded, smiling happily before bouncing up out of her seat. "Let me just go let the manager know I'm going with a customer!"

"Sure. I'll be here," I agreed, giving her a playful swat on her perky little ass as I sent her on her way. She really is just too damn cute. I'm convinced. We need to keep her. Or at the very least, offer to get her off this shithole and somewhere safer. We don't even have to keep her. Buy her contract out, set her loose somewhere with some money. The only problem with that is that we're not running a charity and I don't want to pick up every gutter rat I see. …But in this case, I think it's worth it.

With that decided, I picked up a random drink to try.

The world seemed to slow around me as I felt sudden danger in the Force, coming from outside. Extending my senses, I picked up… dozens of people rapidly approaching in vehicles. At the same time, things moved through the air towards the upper floors of the casino/hotel from all the buildings around us—things that felt dangerous all by themselves. Red painted itself into the lobby ahead of me, visible through the open door and the open floor of the restaurant. For a moment I wondered what each of the little lines was… before I realized they signified intent to attack, and danger.

And there running happily through the middle of it all was the slave girl, only just now turning her head to look out the doors as her emotions shifted from happy to confused, then scared.

I reached out with the Force, but I was just too slow.

The lobby erupted into blaster fire—red bolts filling it and mowing down guests and staff alike. The green-skinned girl disappeared in the hail of blaster bolts, but I felt when she took a hit—her pain and fear standing out above everyone else in the lobby.

From somewhere above, I felt more than heard a series of explosions… and then pain ran through me, from deep in the Force. Pain, and fear, as I felt an echo of what Exal felt. And then nothing, as she went suddenly silent.

My heart lurched in my chest, then started racing as I felt her again a moment later—mentally screaming in agony and fury, but alive.

And then I was moving, grabbing my helmet/mask off the table and pulling it on as I went. The Chiss woman dove for the floor and kicked a table over, before taking out a blaster and aiming towards the entrance.

Behind me, Upto bleeted a warning but I ignored it, as I sent Doggo the commands to follow and guard—the new bot zipping along after me on wheels. I reached out with the Force and shoved, parting the crowd between me and the lobby so me and my droids could make it through—incidentally throwing them to the ground, where they would likely be safest anyway.

I made it into the lobby just as the blaster fire stopped. Risking a glance outside, I saw several vehicles had parked outside and were disgorging troops. I ignored them for now, making my way towards where I could feel the girl. Part of me wanted to go to Exal, yes, but… Exal was a Sith and better than me, and she was pissed. For a Sith, that was basically running on rocket fuel. She could take care of herself. The slave girl, on the other hand, could not.

I found the girl buried under one of the larger patrons. Shoving it off of her, I winced at what I found. She was just… gone from the waist down, entrails hanging out and blood pouring out with every heartbeat. It wasn't pretty and she would be screaming if she had breath for it. There was nothing I could do to fix this. But…

Kneeling beside her, I took her hand and laid a hand on the side of her head. Pushing the Force into her, I grabbed hold of her pain and crushed it under sheer force of will. The girl's eyes lit up as she smiled up at me, her body relaxing, breaths coming slower. Only a moment later, she was gone. The brightest, most innocent, most pure soul I had felt to date and she was just… gone.

The Force alerted me to danger and I shifted behind a column as more blaster fire tore into the building. For a moment, my mind spun with questions, wondering just what the fuck was even going on, let alone why.

That's when I remembered.

"—in local news, B'lagio the Hutt has declared war on his rival Ca—"

A flash from the news, earlier that day. The slight bit of lag, a very slight difference in audio and video. The woman's lips had continued to move, right up until I changed the channel. The syllables she mouthed, before the screen changed.

Caesa the—

Caesa the Hutt. Whose hotel/casino we were staying in. B'lagio the Hutt, who had an equally large hotel/casino barely a mile away. Both of whom were listed as sponsors on the screens of the auction house when I passed through this morning.

I looked around the hotel lobby as the fire from outside stopped again. At best count, over thirty dead or dying. Upto taking cover behind a column with Doggo, screeching to get my attention. My eyes drifted back to the girl. I turned my Force senses inwards, to my connection with Exal. She was still hurt, still pissed, but definitely still alive.

I didn't want anything to do with Hutts or Hutt politics. I was just here on a damn job. But then, so were these people. The girl. Exal.

All of this… for what? Territory? Money? Because one slug said something the other didn't like and it took offense? It's so fucking senseless! Just… fuck. Fuck!

They were all dead, they just didn't know it yet.