Summary:
Harry Potter / Star Wars-over. While leading the final charge against a retreating Dark Lord, Harry is thrown through a destabilized Demon Portal, landing on a strange world in a galaxy far far away.
Disclaimer
I don't own Harry Potter in any way. JKR has those rights... Also, Star Wars is owned by Lucasfilm/George Lucas, etc etc.
*Author's Note *
Last 'slow' chapter before the plot swings into motion. Just as the last update of this story, I could've probably skipped this chapter as well with a 1 paragraph summary of "and then they flew from A to B", but that honestly just sounded boring to me.
Again, as I stated in my other main story I'm updating at the moment, I apologize for the wait. Work's been ridiculous lately and I only have so many hours in a day. In fact I find out tomorrow if the company I'm at will activate a right-to-hire, if my contract is renewed, or if I'll be interviewing again for a new job by Nov 1st. Life's drama can be so much more stressful than fan fiction.
Inspirations: Sword and Magic by bluminous8
Chapter First Published: 2013-10-20
Chapter Last Update:
Chapter 8 – The Search for Allies
Harry's initial impression of space flight was absolute astonishment.
The moment the ship left the atmosphere was an experience beyond Harry's wildest dreams. He had been in jet airplanes before, even flown in some non-magical fighter jets as a backup pilot. But never had the pilot simply pulled back on the stick, went vertical, and left the atmosphere. He knew in advance the craft had artificial gravity, and there was a brief pang of remorse that cut through him that he wouldn't be able to have any Zero-G experiences, but it was still an memory he would always remember.
Every time he turned his head, some new concept was introduced to him. He eventually was able to gleefully sit back and not pay attention to much of it when realized he had no real responsibilities since he didn't know anything. Hyperspace speeds, sublight speeds, repulsarlift range thresholds. So many ways of saying, 'You are going X speed right now at Y vector with Z type of engine.'
However, the initial positive feelings he had towards space travel quickly vanished when he realized the one unerring truth.
Space was big.
Because the distances involved in interstellar travel were so large, trips between star systems took days due to a variety of reasons that simply made Harry's head spin. The first element of the equation was which part of the galaxy a ship started from. The second was how well the local hyperspace lanes had been charted by explorers.
Aayla had explained this particular element in great detail. A would-be traveler couldn't just point their craft in a specific direction, kick in the hyperdrive, and go. The course plotted had to be extremely tight so that the ship bypassed all known interstellar debris, stars, black holes, or anything else out there that would instantly turn a spacecraft into an intergalactic pancake.
No one went off the beaten path in the galaxy. Explorers, over the course of eons, had mapped hyperspace routes through just shy of two thirds of the galaxy. Most of that space had been part of the Republic. Some smaller governments ruled sections, such as the Corporate Sector. But, by and large, the remaining one third of the galaxy was unexplored and collectively known as the Unknown Regions and Wild Space. Privately, Harry wondered if Earth was in either of those two regions, but Astronomy was never his strongpoint back in Hogwarts, and he had no recollection where Earth's solar system was located inside the Milky Way.
All this meant Harry was now sitting in a co-pilot's seat during Aayla's and his shift in the cockpit, and he was almost completely bored out of his mind. It was a three-day trip from Felucia to Alderaan, and the twelve hours on, twelve hours off cycle had begun to wear on him already. He had hoped to finish the design and construction of the crew's quarters on the way to their destination, but so far he didn't see how he would have the time, since Shaak Ti and Aayla had decreed two people had to be in the cockpit at all times.
Aayla had been a saving grace to him, since she quickly realized he was bored and had no clue what half the instruments in the cockpit were used for. Once this lack of knowledge was brought to light, his formal education about space-flight began in earnest. Aayla was a stiff taskmaster, and he would be asked to randomly and repeatedly read a control and tell her exactly what its purpose was and what the current reading on the monitors meant. It was a slow process, but highly necessary, since Harry knew it could take a few minutes to get Shaak Ti or Maris up to the cockpit, and any help Harry could provide in the meantime could mean the difference between life and death for the foursome.
But for the moment, Harry had nothing to do since Aayla was immersed in Hyperdrive Engine diagnostics. He changed the content of his ever-unchanging sensor monitor over to a information feed, and started to read in case anything new had been released that their group needed to be aware of.
News updates were now more frequent since they were in Hyperspace and they no longer worried about signal interception from a supposedly abandoned world. Reports that interested the group had become more and more frequent, but was unfortunately offset by the fact anything sourced from the 'Empire' became more and more visibly 'scrubbed' and full of propaganda. Alderaanian and Corellian news sources appeared to be much more factual and contained numerous pieces of information that directly contradicted statements from the Empire's news agencies.
The lead headline from the Empire's news sources was still the same as it had been since that morning.
"Emperor Palpatine Survives Second Assassination Attempt from Rogue Jedi!"
"Jedi Assassin Flees in Disgrace!"
The group had been utterly shocked when it was announced that morning that Grand Master Yoda, the leader of the entire Jedi Order, had attempted to assassinate Chancellor Palpatine two days previous. The fight had apparently started in the Supreme Chancellor's office, and spread to the adjacent Senate Chambers before Master Yoda had withdrawn in defeat.
The articles associated to the assassination attempt also included security cam footage of the Chancellor as he dodged and avoided a clearly aggressive Yoda. The associated holovids were masterfully done, and at no point during the skillfully edited footage was Palpatine shown to use any Force abilities. He just looked to be very agile despite the injuries he apparently sustained during the first Jedi attack that precipitated the order to execute all Jedi as traitors.
Harry, however, was quite confused by the entire incident. He couldn't fathom why such a high-ranking official in the Jedi Order would risk the alienation of so many people so quickly after the start of a new conflict through an attack on the Dark Lord alone. The implications of the attempt's failure was something Harry could barely fathom yet, though he had a pretty good idea of what was likely to come. Visions of Nazi World War II propaganda reels appeared in Harry's head, and he soon firmly believed dramatic close-ups of the fight from security feeds would be shown overlaid with dramatic music in support of the Chancellor.
When it was finally unleashed upon the public, the propaganda which featured the failed attack would provide the Jedi's enemies with an enormous morale boost to their troops. It would further justify the Chancellor's actions in to his supporter's eyes. Harry just couldn't comprehend why this Master Yoda would have attacked unless it was a guaranteed victory. The political costs of failure were just too high, and now it seems the Jedi Order as a whole would pay for it. In the back of his mind, he couldn't help wonder if it was arrogance or senility that drove the attack, especially after Aayla mentioned Master Yoda was nine hundred years old and had been the unchallenged Grand Master of the Order for nearly three hundred of those years.
Aayla had taken heart with the news however, though it had nothing to do with the attack itself. Master Yoda had originally been stationed on the planet Kashyyyk when the execution orders went out. Her former Master, Quinlan Vos, was stationed on Kashyyyk along with Barriss Offee's former Master, Luminara Unduli. If Master Yoda had survived Kashyyyk, and managed to make it to Coruscant to attempt to attack the Dark Lord, there was a good chance her former Master and her dead friend's Master survived as well.
Beyond that, he found Aayla did not react well to news that featured the Chancellor, because in almost every article about him, a small blurb would always mention the initial 'attack' upon him. The names of the four Jedi Masters that had failed to 'assassinate' him were always prominently mentioned. Among those names was Jedi Master Kit Fisto. According to Aayla, she no longer held the deep feelings for Master Fisto she once did a few years earlier, but it was still hard for her to come to grips with the fact her close friend was gone. All Harry could do during these moments of grief was to hold on to his friend and be there for her as she dealt with her rising losses.
Harry turned his attention away from the articles related to the assassination and brought up the other big headline.
"Anakin Skywalker Sacrifices Life to Kill Separatist Leaders!"
The biggest news surrounded the betrayer, Skywalker. According to the Empire's headlines, their former ally had single-handedly ended the Clone War when he travelled to the remote world of Mustafar in the galaxy's outer rim. The entirety of the Separatist leadership council had apparently hid on the planet to lead the final stages of the war from afar. Details were quite vague from the articles, but it appeared a victorious and mortally wounded Skywalker had ordered the Droid armies to stand down.
The fact that Skywalker was dead according to the articles wasn't believed for one second by Shaak Ti. She had seen the Legion that he had brought with to the Jedi Temple. She couldn't imagine anything less sent to deal with the leadership of the Separatists, which Skywalker would always find a way to snake his way out of.
Details of the battle were extremely sparse, and Harry and Aayla both agreed that something much more must have occurred there, especially since this would be a prime thing for the Emperor to publicize. All that the Empire's news broadcasts stated was that the Separatist's leaders refused to surrender and that Skywalker went into the complex they occupied and regretfully was forced to kill the entirety of the Separatist Council 'since they had resisted capture to the last man'.
The article said nothing of how the Confederacy's Master Control Signal code that controlled the armies was taken from the Separatist leaders. There was only ever a brief mention that Skywalker was able to use it to shut down the droid armadas and armies throughout the galaxy.
Aayla was quite vocal in her complete disbelief of the report's factuality. She was adamant, in her opinion, that Nemoidians were cowards by their very nature. There was no way they would 'fight to the last man' instead of surrendering in the hopes they could escape or bribe their way to freedom later. If surrender wasn't an option, the feeble fools would've ran for it, throwing their allies into the crossfire if it gave them any chance at all of escape.
The army that the Marauder had flown above during its ascent out of Felucia's atmosphere had received its shutdown orders that very day from Skywalker. Harry knew all this was significant for some reason, but couldn't for the life of him figure out why. He tried to emulate Hermione and wrote down what he thought were all the relevant events they knew for certain had happened. Hours were spent as he simply stared at the information in an attempt to riddle out what conclusion his brain had not connected that he just knew was there. Aayla and the others reviewed the information as well but couldn't figure it out either.
He tried to put his suspicions out of mind, but it continued to sit there and stew just in the background. He returned to the main news menu, and scrolled down further in attempt to focus on something else. Once again, he saw the major headline that the Empire had touted the most over the past few days:
"Jedi Conspiracy Unmasked. Clone War Ends!"
Finally, with the Separatist Council's defeat, the rest of the at-large high-ranking members of the Confederacy had surrendered. Palpatine made a large spectacle with his announcement of the glorious end to the Clone War; how the Jedi were behind the entire travesty, and provided details how Order's members would be hunted down like dogs for bringing such death and destruction down upon the Galaxy.
The whole declaration seemed terribly over-the-top to Harry as he again watched a holo-vid of the speech, and it definitely did not play to the current general mood of the public based on news reports Harry had seen from other sources. He felt it was almost as if the announcement had been written and rehearsed in advance, and no one had bothered to update some of the key points to reflect the events that actually transpired. Despite the fact the speech seemed tailored to an entirely different audience, the Emperor seemed to adamantly still try and get that square peg in a round hole.
Harry asked for the Jedi's thoughts on the matter, and they agreed. The speech made much more sense if the events brought to light by Aayla's message to Shaak Ti had never been allowed exposure to the galaxy as a whole.
Maris had a hard time reading many of the news pieces from the Empire. Many of them were nothing but lies about the Jedi. The constant slander of the organization that had raised Maris for almost the entire sixteen years of her life really hit home. She had barely seen the war, as she had travelled quietly with her Master for the most part and never ventured to the war's main fronts. In some ways, Maris was still quite innocent of many of the harsher truths of the Galaxy, despite the horrendous ordeal she had endured after the murder of her Master.
Shaak Ti and Aayla had responded much differently to the slander. They were older, and had seen blatant lies from war-time propaganda already. However, they slowly came to understand and agree with Harry's belief that this could cause them major problems down the road from planets and systems where the Empire was the only source of news. Harry's views were cynical, and he wasn't shy in his expression of them:
"All these people on those planets know is what the Empire tells them. Growing up, the only true thing I've learned about society is, more often than not, most people are sheep. That's an animal raised on my world that is almost completely helpless and will just allow itself to be herded by whoever is loudest at any given time. People tend to believe whatever they are told and they will almost always believe who yells the loudest and most frequently. Most people have no concept of critical thinking and will just trust that those in charge know what is best for them," said Harry in one of their discussions.
"…and right now, they are being told the Jedi are the enemy. Loudly and repeatedly."
It was the Correllian News that finally gave more insight into what actually happened at the start of the whole mess. Harry re-read the article for the fourth or fifth time, simply because it was full of dates and facts that he believed were crucial to memorize due to who his companions were.
"Jedi Genocide: A Plot Years in the Making"
It was called "Order 66." A hidden directive that was given in secret to all clones in their initial programming phase years prior to Order 66's execution. There were many programming directives given to clones. They were standing orders that were widely distributed, known and memorized by all soldiers. There were many directives in the standing order sheets that were blank. Repealed Orders. Order 66 had made it through because it had been passed off as a repealed order and no one paid any attention to it.
The Order declared, if the Jedi ever acted against the best interests of the Republic, the organization as a whole were to be declared enemies and be brought down with lethal force. The only problem was that the Chancellor had been granted unilateral authority to determine whether someone had worked against the best interests of the Republic.
The Correllian news gave a rough timeline on the events that transpired. First, Master Obi-Wan Kenobi killed General Grievous on the planet Utapau. With this victory, and the death of Count Dooku a month prior, the Jedi felt the conditions were met for the Chancellor to relinquish his emergency powers as he had promised to do at the start of hostilities at Geonosis three years previous. To facilitate this, the Jedi sent four Masters to encourage this transfer of power, while at the same time they discovered it was Palpatine behind both sides of the Clone War.
Despite Palpatine's behavior and actions being clearly in the wrong, the galactic news agencies roasted the Jedi Council for their presumption four Jedi Masters were sufficient to arrest a Sith Lord. The agencies further called into question the Jedi's competence when it was mentioned they attempted to secretly arrest the highest-ranking official in the galactic government with no media present and without notifying any political or military allies. In fact, it was determined less than half a dozen sentient beings in the entire galaxy were aware of the four Master's self-appointed mission to arrest to Chancellor.
Even if they had succeeded in their mission, the political consequences of the Jedi's presumptive actions would have been disastrous for the organization.
Throughout all the articles, it was immediately apparent to the foursome aboard the stolen freighter that the fallout from that day was immense. Jedi were now hunted on all Imperial worlds, and bounty hunters had now turned up in droves to make fast cash as they chased down crippled Force users who no longer had their former unlimited resources.
The head of a Padawan currently paid out more money than some of the most dangerous jobs offered by the Hutts. The bright side of things was that Jedi were welcomed with open arms on any of the newly formed Alliance worlds, and bounty hunters who chased them were being taken down with extreme prejudice within those system's borders.
-o0o0o-
Destination: Alderaan
Time to Arrivel: 2 days
Shaak Ti gave Maris refresher lessons on the politics of the world, and Harry had gladly sat in on them to learn as much as he possibly could.
Alderaan was known as 'The Soul of the Republic' and was one the Republic's founding worlds 25,000 years ago when the first galactic constitution was signed. Located in the Galactic Core, it was a well-respected and much travelled to world. The planet was currently represented in the Senate by its very popular Senator, Bail Organa. Organa also served as the planet's Viceroy, and is married to its Monarch, Queen Breha.
In the past few days, the planet had already announced its intentions when it took a very publicly side against the new Galactic Empire. The planet had not yet drawn much of the Empire's wrath despite its location in the Core because there were other systems with much more formidable Navy's that had already actively engaged the Empire's main fleets. The newly declared Emperor also apparently realized that the political fallout that an attack on Alderaan, which by tradition did not have a standing army or fleet, would drive many of the worlds still on the fence firmly into the camp of his enemies.
This simply provided another reason for why they chose this planet first to seek aid and allies. Bail Organa was one of the few Senators that a politically active Jedi like Shaak Ti trusted. Aayla had some interactions with the man in the past as well, and said all his dealings with her had been completely honorable. He had been one of the dissenters against the Clone War, and was one of the more well-known 'quiet' political antagonists of the Chancellor. That subtle antagonism was now gone, and the planet was now politically, financially, and now newly militarily against the Empire and its interests.
"Any idea what we'll do when we get there? Or who we should try and get in contact with?" asked Harry to the group on one of the few occasions all four were in the cockpit before a shift change.
"We'll have to play it by ear," said Shaak Ti. "We don't know how the defenses in the system are now arranged, nor do we know if or how many Jedi may already have fled to the system."
"Aayla, I want you to put the suppression necklace back on that you wore before we get there," said Harry suddenly.
"Why?" she asked.
"You've seen the news reports. You're listed amongst the casualties of Felucia. If we arrive at Alderaan, and someone is able to sense four Force-capable people on a craft, they'll come looking for you and me. But if you're wearing it, and I'm suppressing my own aura, they'll only know about Shaak Ti and Maris."
"It's a good plan," said Shaak Ti after a few moments of silence as all three Jedi pondered his suggestion. "I would like to learn this Aura suppression you spoke of as well. I know I haven't had as much time to try some of your exercises, but hopefully I will in the near future."
"I'll be glad to help, Master Ti," said Harry with a slight nod. "Maris, how are you doing with finding your core?"
"Not well, I can feel the Force inside me more and more as opposed to its external energies, but… to be honest I get lost. I can't focus on a direction and I just end up wandering aimlessly. I have trouble staying on the path of the Force. I think that is why more Jedi have never done this. The idea of a source doesn't seem very intuitive when you first try. Everything I've been taught to do has always been external."
"We'll get there. It takes time, but it's absolutely crucial to a lot of really valuable skills you can eventually master," said Harry.
Shaak Ti nodded, then leaned back and stretched her back. "It's time to sleep. Are you coming, Maris? Or will you stay up here for a while?"
"Well, I probably should chaperone these two, but I guess we can trust them alone… to not wreck the ship," said Maris before she quickly moved down the cockpit access passage.
"She's getting to be quite uppity for a Padawan," observed Aayla to the remaining group.
"I like her, the longer she's around us the more open she gets. I take it she was never allowed to voice her opinions much in the past?" asked Harry.
Shaak Ti sighed, "It's certainly possible. Some Masters are very stern with their Padawan. Personally I think it stunts their social skills, which is completely debilitating if a Jedi chooses a Consular path. I think we're slowly undoing the damage that was done to her. There will be no permanent effects."
The group sat in silence for a few minutes as they pondered her words. Harry especially, since it was a piece of a puzzle about Maris that, as he looked back over the past few days, he realized he somehow already knew.
"Anyways, good night you two. Have fun staring at the star lines." Shaak Ti waved absently behind her and closed the cockpit door.
Silence passed for ten minutes as neither really moved. Both had woken up and showered roughly 15 minutes before they headed up to the cockpit. They wouldn't eat their 'breakfast' for another hour or so.
Finally, Harry needed to say something to break the lack of conversation, "I think if I stare at star lines much longer, I'll go insane."
Aayla merely rolled her eyes and gave him a light slap on the back of his head, "Stop being so melodramatic."
"I'm not being melodramatic. The voices say so."
Without even an acknowledgement of his poor attempt at humor, Aayla went back to the check of the instruments and ship's status she had been slowly performed since the shift change started.
"Any luck furnishing the rooms?" asked Aayla eventually.
"No, I've got some of the designs, but I want to fully finish the runes on the showers, baths, and toilets before anything else. I don't want someone walking in and accidentally using them when it doesn't work yet."
"Ew, didn't need the last bit of information," she said with a mild glare.
"I'm also trying to figure out the windows so they can show the outside of the ship. I also want to figure out a good way to get a communications system to work in there. Kind of failing on that though."
"Maybe make six little holes, like you did for the Mass Driver and put them somewhere near the communications station in the lounge. Run feeders into each room from that," said Aayla absent-mindedly.
"You know, that might actually work. I'd just need a place to safely hide them." Harry looked at Aayla, "Thanks."
"No problem," she said again, not hearing him.
"Something on your mind?"
"Hmm?" Aayla responded, completely distracted now.
Harry responded, just a little more loudly, "I asked if something was on your mind?"
Aayla finally looked up and brought her full attention to him, and slumped her shoulders. She looked back at the status monitor, and the article about Jedi Criminals that was still on display. "Just nervous that's all. It's a bit disconcerting to see your picture on a newscast and the words 'Executed for Treason' emblazoned over the whole thing."
Harry nodded, fully aware of what it was like when ostracized by a government. He had no idea how he would have reacted if he there was an execution attempt upon himself, only for him to somehow survive to then see people celebrate his supposed death afterwards.
"You have allies though, unlike me," Harry told her after he had recounted the story of his year on the run after his county was taken over by the Dark Lord that had murdered his parents. He went on to tell her how it had gotten worse while he spent a year on the run after the Dark Lord took over the government itself.
"You have a large group of people actively trying to help and work with you. Friends you can count on. I had friends, but people in power would never openly stand up and work alongside me. You're in so much better a position than I was, and you know we'll be right there with you."
She slowly nodded. "Thanks," he heard her whisper.
"Besides, Aayla..." said Harry, as he brought out a lop-sided grin. "You're the best looking dead-girl I know."
All that greeted this response was one very well manicured eyebrow slowly rising upwards. "For that, you'll begin my lessons now."
Harry didn't mind beginning now, after all, the ship largely flew itself through hyperspace. They had yet to run into any emergencies and it would be easy for Harry to keep one ear open for alarms while he guided Aayla through her first sojourn into her mind.
With her magical core found, Harry had instructed her in the basics of Occlumency. The benefits of such an art had all three Jedi shocked that no one in the Order had ever delved into such things, especially with how much focus upon meditation their training required. Everything Harry had showed them so far seemed natural once they had spent a bit of time thinking about it.
Before they started, Harry did his best to explain exactly what Aayla would find, while still leaving a bit of mystery to it that she could figure out and understand herself. A mindscape typically starts as a physical representation of the location that is the most significant to a person. The location could symbolize safety, or it could be a reminder of years of hell or torment that dominated a person's life.
He made sure that she understood that a mindscape could be changed as well, if a location was painful to the person, though it would require perseverance and effort. Harry's initial mindscape was that of Hogwarts castle and he had gleefully accepted it. If it had been #4 Privet Drive, Harry might have given up on Occlumency right then and there due to the trauma he associated to the location.
A very light Legilimency probe allowed Harry to tag-along on the journey, and then guide her to the center of her mind. As he landed side by side with Aayla however, he was completely lost as to where they were. It was a small area, completely enveloped within fog. His own mindscape had been like this once, but the fog wasn't nearly so thick and all-encompassing. He looked at Aayla, who was just as confused as he was, as she looked around in an attempt to ascertain where they were.
'This is your mindscape,' he told her. His thoughts broadcasted out loud since he was inside of her head. 'The center of your conscious being. All of your memories, thoughts, emotions come through this area. Right now, as you can see, it's a bit hard to navigate. You've done meditation, but you've never organized your mind. That's what we'll do first.'
'What do I do first?' asked Aayla.
'What do you think you should do first?' countered Harry.
'I have no idea, that's why I'm asking you.' growled Aayla.
'Well look around. What do you think is wrong here?'
Harry watched Aayla turn and gaze blindly into the mist that couldn't not be penetrated more than one or two meters. 'This mist that's everywhere. How can we do anything if there's all this mist?'
Harry smiled and nodded, but said no more. He realized Dumbledore was right about one thing when he simply didn't give out an answer to a question. It held far more reward for a teacher to watch a student figure out the answer and solution on their own with the barest of hints.
He tried a different angle, 'Aayla, where are we?'
'I have no idea. We're inside me, right?' she said, as just a smidgen of frustration leaked through in her voice.
'Yes, we're inside your mind. And the most important lesson I can possibly give you right now concerning all of this is the answer to this next question. Who controls your mind?'
She hesitated for a fraction of a second then said, 'I can control my mind.'
"Yes, but that's not just it. You don't just control your mind. In here…' and Harry waved vaguely around at the blurriness that surrounded them, "In here, you are a god. In here, you can do anything.'
She almost looked offended for the briefest of moments at the proclamation he made, but then he saw the answers click in her head.
'I am a god in my own mind? So if I control what's in here…' She gestured at the opaque fog that surrounded them, and received an excited nod from Harry as he knew she figured it out. 'I can remove or change anything I want?'
Harry only smiled cryptically at her. She had the knowledge now she just had to put it to use.
She looked out at the mist, waved a hand, and banishing the fog back at least ten meters. She quickly pivoted on her heal and, as she looked behind Harry, she waved her hand again and pushed more of the fog back. At an agonizingly slow pace, she made progress. Eventually the fag gave way to unveil the steps to a building, with very large statues and the beginnings of a sprawling metropolis visible in shadows along the edge of the ever-present fog as her gestures moved more and more distant fog away.
'The Jedi Temple on Coruscant,' she said as they looked over the entrance to the building.
'This place holds significant meaning to you. In my mind, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry represented freedom and safety, even though looking back it wasn't all that safe a place. You were brought to this temple after being freed from the life of a slave? So I would hazard a guess you find safety in this place as well.'
Harry watched as Aayla slowly registered what he was saying and reconciled it to her experiences Her eyes slowly settled upon the entrance to the temple and she swallowed nervously. 'I take it I have to go in there?'
She sounded hesitant to Harry, so he placed a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, it'll be fine. Remember this is your mind. In there, somewhere, you'll find a room or rooms that store all of your memories. In my mind, they're represented by pieces of paper. Other people's are represented by artwork or books. I'm sure you'll have something along those lines that's significant and understandable to you, like datapads. Find that room, and store all the information away. Organize, review, and relive it. It'll take some time. You'll end up reliving your entire life before the end. Some of the traumatic stuff you'll have to review multiple times. But you'll find afterwards your memory is better the more you review things, and abilities you barely got the hang of or had difficulty with will suddenly become easier.'
'But you have to do this alone.'
As she looked back at him, she sighed. 'You sure you can't come with?'
'I could, but I think you should start this process on your own. I can always come back later and you can show me around if you're comfortable enough. Eventually when you get to understand how I entered your mind through Legilimency, I can let you into my mind and show you my life as well, if you want.'
'I'd like that,' said Aayla, before she slowly returned her gaze to the Temple's entrance. Harry could tell she now was avoiding what she knew she needed to do. She banished more fog from the sides of the building and the sky in her effort to stave off the inevitable.
'Ok, you get in there and do your thing. You don't have to do it all at once, just remember this will tire you out as you do it. Also, time passes a lot more slowly in here then it does out there. Just remember not to over-tax yourself. When you want to leave, just make a door leading to your eyes and step through. At least that's how I always do it.'
Harry figured she wouldn't walk in as long as he was there, so he created his own door in her mind to leave. He stepped through into his own eyes, which broke the connection and placed his consciousness back in his body in the cockpit of the freighter.
He looked at his watch and noticed only about forty minutes had passed. It had felt like hours to him. A quick once over of Aayla showed a faint sheen of sweat covered her body. The first time in a mindscape always was difficult. A person never knew when to stop, and there would be no end to the amount of things one could do to improve one's mind once she started.
He figured Aayla would have enough in her to go maybe an hour or two more by herself before she would need to exit. Harry picked up a datapad from where Aayla had put it down that had the status checklist, and he continued from where she had left off. The instrumentation was now just familiar enough to him that he could read them and ensure everything was operating within the normal tolerances.
An hour later, Maris stepped into the cockpit. Harry put a finger over his lips to signal that she should be quiet, and then he gestured towards Aayla. Getting up from the co-pilots chair, he sat next to her in one of the two sensor monitoring station chairs in the back of the cockpit.
When he sat down, Maris gestured to Aayla, curious as to what was going on. "You know how she had already found her core? She's learning her first ability based off of that; Occlumency. The art serves a wide variety of purposes, first and foremost to protect your mind from mental intrusions and influences. There are also a whole host of other benefits though if you put the time in and consistently work on it. You'll end up with near perfect memory recall, and you'll find you'll perform better in stressful situations because emotions are slightly muted."
"Really, all of that? And she's learning that right now?"
"Well, right now, I assume she's either finding her memories, or reviewing all of them. She's going to end up reliving her entire life. I'm staying close to make sure that if she runs across a traumatic memory that she has someone to be with if it jars her out of her mindscape," said Harry, never once taking his eyes off of Aayla.
They both sat in silence for a while, the dim cockpit lighting completely overpowered by the bright chaotic whirl of color provided from the hyperspace star lines.
"So couldn't sleep?" Harry asked, if for no other reason than to break the silence.
"Nope. Didn't feel like meditating like Master Ti recommended either," said Maris while she watched the lightshow outside the canopy.
"Such a rebellious young Jedi," teased Harry. He took a closer look at the younger woman, and realized she would not be up in the cockpit without good reason. "Anything bothering you?"
"A little, I can't seem to get this exercise with finding my core. Master Ti said she had never tried it before, and she found it within minutes."
"You're also younger than both Master Ti and Aayla. You haven't built up that personal connection to your abilities either. You're trying to do something that wouldn't normally be taught to people on my planet at all because it's so difficult. Unfortunately, we were forced to teach it to everybody or they would've all ended up dead. It's only been three days since you first started. Just be patient with it. Everyone's different, you'll get there in the end. That's all that really matters."
Seeing that he wasn't getting through to the young Zabrek female, he added, "I'll give you the advice I finally gave Aayla before she found it. Have no expectations. Just follow your magic to its source. Don't anticipate finding anything, just focus upon staying on the path beyond all other things. Feel the energy within yourself and immerse yourself in it."
With another set of ideas to ward off her fear of not finding her core, Maris seemed a bit more relaxed. "Anything else bothering you?"
Maris was silent a few moments, obviously deep in thought over her response. Eventually she responded with, "Everything will change when we reach Alderaan, wont it?"
'It was a fair question,' thought Harry. They could very likely be thrown directly into the politics of this new war, which was largely unknown to them. Shaak Ti was a very highly ranked member of the Jedi Order, so their mere proximity to her could drag them towards more hectic events. The system itself could have hostiles in it from the Empire, and they could be shot out of the sky immediately upon entry into the system. The most unlikely, yet still discussed possibility, was that the Alderaanians themselves may refuse them entrance, which would mark a new shift in their political stance against the Jedi.
"Many things can happen, and… for good or ill, what will happen… will happen. There's no use worrying about it at the moment. We'll arrive in system, and take it from there. We have good contingencies, and we'll all look out for each other," said Harry as he tried to catch Maris' eye but failed as she kept her gaze firmly on the bright lights of hyperspace.
"I don't want to be alone again," whispered Maris. "I would be dead if not for Master Ti finding me. I don't ever want to feel alone like I did after my Master died so that I could escape."
'She's a carbon copy of me after Sirius died', thought Harry. 'But at least there's no old fossil that telling her the fate of the magical world now rests on her shoulders.'
"Your old Master died to save you. I've had plenty of people risk everything and die trying to save me. I know what it feels like to watch it happen, and not be able to do a thing about it. All you can do is make sure their sacrifice wasn't in vain. Make your life mean something, in honor of what they gave up for you."
With tears in her eyes, Maris finally looked at him and then quickly averted her eyes away. Eventually she nodded and said "Thanks for listening."
"No problem," said Harry. "Don't hesitate to talk about these sorts of things. You can trust Aayla and me if you need to talk about stuff that's bothering you. I'm sure you can talk to Master Ti about them as well. Just don't bottle them up inside. It creates doubt, clouds your judgment, and only makes you second guess yourself in the future. I learned a long time ago not to bottle up your feelings. In the end, you'll just lose control of yourself to them at the worst possible time."
She nodded again and stood up. "Thanks for listening, Harry. I'm going to try getting some sleep."
Harry stood and gave the young woman the hug she seemed to desperately need, while he simultaneously attempted to dutifully ignore the two mounds pressed into his chest. Maris still insisted to wear nothing more than the horizontal strap across her chest as a bra and nothing else above her waistline. It was an exercise in will-power to continually shout 'jail bait, jail bait,' in his head each time he was around her so he wouldn't be caught staring.
Especially with the cockpit temperature set as cold as it was.
Maris left and the cockpit door slid shut behind her. Harry shook his head and returned to the co-pilots seat before he took a deep breath and allowed his eyes to drift back to the mottled mess of hyperspace before them.
He immediately spoke aloud though, "At what point did you wake up?"
"There's no fooling you, is there," Aayla said as she snorted with amusement.
"I can cheat. I felt your conscious thoughts start broadcasting. They're now a lot clearer with the Occlumency. We'll work on your barriers soon to block all that out so people can't read you."
"You did a good job helping her. I don't think I could've helped her or talked her out of that funk she was in as well or as quickly as you just did," said Aayla with a small smile.
"Well, I'll freely admit I'm an expert in wallowing in guilt and eventually dragging myself out of the depression I've found myself in. It's not something I'm exactly proud of. I never had anyone to turn to for a very large portion of my life, so it was rather hard to open up to others when I finally did have people who would care to listen."
"Well, don't start thinking you're alone again. You have me now, I'll always listen to you."
"Thanks. How far did you get with it?"
"I found my memories. I relived quite a few of them and started making piles and figuring out how to organize it all. There's so much to go through, it was overwhelming to first sit through some of it. I got through a lot of it, but there's still so much more to do."
"Good. You realize you were only under for maybe two and a half hours total? Time goes much faster in your mind."
"Really?" said Aayla, who quickly keyed up the ships clock on her console to confirm his statement. "Oh wow, I was afraid I would be asleep the whole shift, but it just felt right to keep going. Eventually I just needed to stop though, some of the memories were just too much to go through."
"Those are the ones you'll need to set aside and review multiple times. Take the emotional weight behind them away so that reminders of them in the future don't affect you as much," said Harry.
"Speaking of blocking things, can I ask you a question?" asked Aayla with a very cautious tone.
Slightly taken aback by her abrupt change in tone and the worry he could hear from her, Harry gave her his full attention. "What's wrong, Aayla?"
"Your Occlumency is what blocks my empathy, right?"
After a moment's hesitation, he slowly said, "More than likely."
"Harry, my empathy is part of who I am. Many people know me, or think they know me. But I let very few people actually know the real me. I think part of the reason I've liked sleeping next to you is when we touch, I can get past your barriers and feel your emotions. You make me feel safer when I can feel them."
"I just wanted to ask, if you could let your guard down. Just around me. It would mean a lot to me. Sometimes I can feel your emotions slip when you're angry or excited. I just wanted to know if you would let me feel them all the time?"
Harry sat and pondered the strange request. There was nothing actually wrong with dropping his shields around Aayla. Legilimency seemed to be a very passive art in this universe. No one would point a wand at him and scream Legilimens at the top of their lungs and crash around in his head like a bull in a china shop.
Rather than answer her directly, he started to give her a bit more info on why it was a sensitive subject for him. "I'm naturally a very… paranoid person because of the life I've led. I've had people rummage around in my head. I had a psychic connection to my worst enemy embedded into my brain because of the failed attempt on my life when I was a child. It's just very hard for me to drop those barriers now. It makes me feel safer when I'm behind those walls and I know no one can hurt me."
Harry took a deep breath and said finally, "I can try to drop them around you, at least let a little bit out for you. I'll work on being more open for you."
"Thanks," said Aayla, who smile widened a bit as she felt Harry purposefully created a wide tunnel in his Occlumency shield to allow thoughts out.
"Good, you owe me a back rub then because of it," said Harry as he smiled even wider than her.
"Whatever, I would've given you one whenever you wanted. Now, you've established a precedent, and I only need to give them when you've done something well above and beyond the call of duty for me," said Aayla with a false-snooty voice.
"Oh, and here I was trying to be nice to you and fight my own natural paranoia and greatest fears while around you," said Harry as he closed off the hole in his Occlumency barrier."
"Harry!" shouted Aayla, immediately aware that she could no longer sense him. He simply smiled back at her and set his gaze back to the canopy.
"Fine," she said. "I'll give you backrubs whenever you want."
"Thank you," said Harry as he reopened the hole.
"You're mean."
"Yep."
"I will get you for this."
"Yep."
"…"
"Harry, you closed your Occlumency barriers again, didn't you?"
"Yep."
-o0o0o-
The end of that shift brought about a few more additions to Aayla's new repertoire of skills. With her core found, he began an overview of the theory behind aura suppression. She was nowhere near the familiarity with her own magic yet to do it, but it wouldn't hurt for her to start to understand the concepts behind it.
Similar to the component of Occlumency that shielded one's mind, aura suppression required one to figuratively shield one's magical core. Magical barriers were erected around it, cutting off the outward ambient flow of magic. In reality, it was the conscious act of complete synchronization and stabilization of a person's magic to the environment around them. When something was needed, like an apparition, just enough magic was instinctually let out to accomplish the task at hand, and the barriers closed upon themselves.
He explained that was why Aayla could vaguely sense his presence the day of the attack when he was following the troop column while disillusioned. The quickly used bursts of magic could be sensed, but never long enough to get a true bead on him, especially since that that burst was used to apparate to a new location.
Aayla was able to make a very thin barrier that still leaked her presence out quite a bit, but it was a start. Both Shaak Ti and Maris gave her quizzical looks as they entered the cockpit, which proved she had at least some success with ability and felt different to them. Once the newcomers realized what had happened, they both reiterated their thanks for tutelage in these skills. Shaak Ti was once again quite vocal about how she couldn't believe that after 25,000 years of existence, no Jedi had ever bothered to experiment with what they had so easily learned so far.
Maris happily stated that she had briefly caught a glimpse of her core before she collapsed in exhaustion on her bed. Harry said over the next few days, he would hopefully help both of them find their mindscapes as well.
Unspoken between all of them was the lack of knowledge of what would happen upon reaching Alderaan, and none knew if Harry would be capable of keeping that promise.
Aayla and Harry retired back to their quarters after a quiet meal in the ship's galley. Harry then worked with her and created the prototype crew quarter elements for thirty minutes under Aayla's guidance. The new space was only basic walls, furniture, and lighting to mimic the interior of the tent. The freighter itself had a sonic shower that all four now used, much to the chagrin of the females who were quite vocal with their only half-joking complaints about losing access to their bath.
Harry found the concept of a shower without water an incredibly odd concept. Using sound waves with pinpoint accuracy to exfoliate and clean was done quickly, but he slowly missed the bath as well. He had only bathed once alone with Aayla since the initial bath, and never with Shaak Ti and Maris present despite their repeated requests to join them. That was a temptation he wasn't quite ready to inflict upon himself yet.
The healing of Aayla's back continued as usual, though Aayla commented it was nice now to not have the jarring interruption in her empathic abilities as Harry would stretch and massage the scar tissue periodically during the treatments.
They both slipped into bed separately and the one who reached the bed first always turned away from the other as they slipped into the bed with their already unclothed bed mate. They still respected each other's privacy, even though they were sleeping in the nude with each other, which Harry still found to be oddest aspect of their friendship.
Not that anyone would ever hear Harry complain mentally or verbally about the arrangement.
In the end, it was always the same placement of their bodies, and tonight was no exception. Harry on his back, and Aayla snuggled into on his right side and half laying on top of him.
"So we'll reach Alderaan at 0400 Galactic Standard Time?" asked Harry.
"Yeah, should be about three hours into our next shift."
"I'll admit, I'm rather frightened of visiting this place. It was one thing being on a jungle world. It's another thing entirely to travel across the galaxy to see real civilization."
"You'll be fine. Traveling is not just seeing something new. It's also leaving behind where you came from. It's not just merely opening the doors to your future, but closing the door on your past behind you. But the place you have left forever is always there for you to see whenever you shut your eyes," said Aayla.
"Is that another Jedi proverb, because that one surprisingly makes sense for once," said Harry quite cheekily.
"No, that one's mine." She brought her hand up, and lightly traced them across his chest. "Just remember, wherever you go, I'll go. I promise."
Harry sighed, "Aayla, please don't make promises you can't keep. You have no idea where they'll send you when you meet up with more of your people."
"I know, but I also intend to keep this promise."