After Amidala, the three Jedi, the medical crewmen, and Senator Organa left the ship, Harry stayed on and let go of a long held in sigh. Slowly, he meandered over to the cockpit. It wasn't the first time he would be a part of a rebel organization. This time he was actually prepared, and he wasn't destined to be the one to deal the fatal blow to the Dark Lord. That was a burden off his back.

He sat in the pilot's seat for a few minutes, just staring at the display, his eyes unseeing. He was simply contemplating everything that had happened and had led him to that moment. It had been a crazy couple of days. Locating missing Jedi would be quite tough, but doable as long as they didn't figure out how to mask their presence. He had found Aayla Secura that way, though it was much easier to do when they were on the same planet. Unfortunately, it was quite possible that the Emperor would track them down that way as well. He had no idea what the Emperor could or could not do, but it was prudent to assume the worst. He half-hoped that they would figure out how to mask their presence, if only to avoid that fate.

Just as he was about to hit the button to raise the ship's ramp, he heard the sound of footsteps quickly walking up it.

Harry swiveled his chair around, and to his surprise, Aayla Secura stood there.

"Did you forget something, Master Secura?" Harry asked curiously.

"No," she said. "But, as you may remember, I don't exactly have a ship. The Jedi Order is dissolved, and all of its assets unavailable. Senator Organa cannot just hand over a new ship to a known Jedi either, as that would eventually be traced back to him."

"Right," Harry said. "Well, in case you've forgotten, I am a bounty hunter. That will not change even if I am aiding your group."

The Jedi nodded. "That's why I want to be on your crew."

"I don't have a crew," Harry pointed out.

"Then I can be the first," she said.

Harry sighed. "I'm not sure you know what you're asking."

"I have nothing," she said firmly. "I have two lightsabers and the clothes on my back, which as you can see, are filthy and torn. All I have is my mind, and my abilities. And my allies, which I hope includes you. I've talked with Master Yoda, and he agrees that it's a good course of action. Being mobile is a good plan."

"I get that," Harry said. "Anything is better than nothing, etc etc…"

Harry paused, and stopped himself from venting. He would be a giant target if anyone ever figured out he was working with a Jedi. He had spent years avoiding notice by taking marginal low-risk jobs. But having her there would would get the Emperor's inevitable hunter squads after him, as well as any bounty hunter who was willing to ignore that he was also a guild member, which would be also be inevitable once the bounty was high enough.

Then, there was also the logistics. All of his profits went to himself. But, with an actual crew to pay, he'd have to make a fund for ship maintenance, a slush fund for emergencies, his pay, and then his crew pay. There would have to be an actual pay table. That was annoying, but ultimately part of the job.

Was it worth it? Aayla was strong and extremely talented, and would be an asset. There was no doubt about that. Her mere presence alone would be enough to complete some jobs, and it might even give him access to more jobs that might have otherwise been unavailable. Plus, if hunter squads actually came after him at some point for aiding the Jedi, he'd rather have a Jedi on his side than without.

"Nothing worth doing is ever easy," Harry said after a moment. "Very well, welcome aboard, Master Secura."

"Thank you." she said. She planted herself in the co-pilot's seat once more. "Oh, and I would like to amend something I said to you previously."

"What's that?" Harry asked.

"It's no longer Master Secura," she said. Her face was slightly downcast. "It is a title I have earned, but since the Jedi Order in its current form is no more, it is no longer appropriate to call me that. It also draws attention, so you can just call me Aayla."

"If that's your wish, Aayla," Harry said.

Harry waited a moment to see if anyone else was going to suddenly pop up the ramp into his ship before pulling the ramp up and querying the Tantive III for a departure vector. Once that was received, he powered the ship up, pulled up the landing gear and ever-so-carefully piloted the ship out of the hangar. It was a very tight fit with Kenobi's ship parked practically on top of his, but he made it out unscathed.

"Where are we going first?" Aayla asked once they were out.

"First, we're resupplying," Harry said. "I'm running low on supplies, and that's doubly so with two of us here. Plus, this might be the friendliest port we'll come across for some time."

"Makes sense," she said.

"We don't actually have to get off the ship for it," Harry said. "Alderaan is an advanced planet, and they have automated systems for this sort of thing. Watch." Harry pulled up a menu on the display and started checking off various categories. The computer calculated how much fuel he would need, and then he started adding various supplies. Frozen food for a month, some fresh food as well, and supplies for Aayla. "Is there anything you need?"

"Nothing I need, no," Aayla said.

"Let me rephrase that," Harry said. "Is there anything you want?"

"I… I do not know," she said.

"Is there any particular type of food you want? Something you particularly enjoy? What about clothes? Here - pick." Harry shifted control of the menu over to Aayla. "Just make sure you get at least one thing in a style that won't immediately identify you as a Jedi. Like, something that will hide your lightsabers. We can get you some proper armor like mine at a later time. Something like that is best purchased from a specialist rather than a menu."

Aayla hesitated at first, but then begrudgingly picked out a few sets of basic clothes as well as some particular exotic fruit she liked.

"There, see that wasn't so hard, was it?"

"No," she muttered. "It's just… living without the backing of the Jedi Council is going to take some getting used to."

"They live on inside of you," Harry said. "Remember their teachings, but… adapt."

"Perhaps," Aayla muttered.

"Plus, you have to set a good example for Amidala's kids. They're the future of your order."

"That is true," she said. "But, I don't think I'm the type of example they should live up to. I've always been one of the more critical members of the council, and now I've signed on to be on a bounty hunter's ship."

"Well, you win some, you lose some," Harry said nonchalantly. "You can't win them all."

"Yeah, well, the last few days have shown us that."

Harry nodded grimly and initiated the supply order. Aldera was the capital city and the best supplied, so that's where he took the ship. Alderaan was an advanced enough planet that it had an assortment of docks, anything from hangars on the ground, to space docks in orbit. Harry chose the middle option and picked one of the city-based "floating" docks.

The dock was essentially just a dock on top of a building, though the dock itself was situated on top of a transport elevator, which itself was housed in a large cylindrical pillar. At the top were several platforms, each one used to dock a ship for repairs, restocking and refueling. The building was little more than a hotel with conference rooms and the like.

Harry piloted the Revenge to the dock automatically assigned to him and carefully took the ship in. Then, it was just a matter of waiting patiently as the automated systems did their thing. Harry wasn't lazy, but being able to do everything without having to get up out of his extremely comfortable pilot's chair was a great luxury. The only thing he had to do was flip a switch to lower the ramp so a droid could bring the standard supply crate aboard.

To unpack it though, he actually had to get out of his seat.

"Well, since you're part of my crew," Harry stated. "I guess I can show you a few things."

Once the fuel and supplies were paid for, Harry walked over to the crate and pulled out his wand. With a tap of the wand against the crate, the lid popped open, revealing many industrially wrapped packages. With a wave, all the packaged food stuffs floated into the air and soared into the mess hall, where they then sorted themselves away. Almost as an afterthought, the package of Aayla's clothes floated over to her.

"That was an impressive display. How did you micromanage so many at once?" she asked curiously. "And what's that stick?"

"This stick is no ordinary stick," Harry said. "It's a focus. The wood is attuned to you, and the core is from a Force-sensitive animal. In this case, a unicorn."

"What's a unicorn?" she asked.

"Er, it's like a four-legged beast with a horn," Harry said awkwardly. "It's completely silver, except when it's young, in which case it's gold. Only those of pure-heart can get near one."

"Interesting," Aayla said. "But what does the stick allow you to do, exactly? I could feel you using the Force, but it was muted, almost."

"It's a tool," Harry said. "Like, your lightsaber is an extension of your will, this wand is an extension of mine. The Force is like a blunt object, but a wand turns it into a scalpel. It's the difference between using the Force to push an entire wall down versus using it and knocking a small insect off of it."

"So, it regulates it?" she asked.

"Sort of," Harry said. "Think of it like a blaster pistol versus a turbolaser. The pistol is capable of much finer work with minimal collateral damage. Similarly, using a focus to channel your power allows you a degree of precision that would be impossible to obtain otherwise."

"I think I understand now," she said. "That was a good example. Is that something I can learn?"

"Using a wand isn't something that is learned, not exactly," Harry explained. "It's probably not too different than learning a lightsaber form. Like, you learn one early on, and you slowly master it over the years. But, there's a reason you learn it young - because you're more impressionable. That becomes an issue when you're older because it becomes harder to learn a new technique when one kind has been ingrained in your mind for so long."

"That's true," Aayla said. "It's much more difficult, but not impossible."

"Right. You can certainly try, and I'm willing to help you," Harry said. "The only issue is that I don't have a wand for you. They're custom fit. A random one might work, might not. Worse case scenario, it blows up in your hand and splinters fly everywhere. But, I do have some. We can at least try."

"I'd like that," she said excitedly. "This is interesting."

Harry put in the launch procedures before leading Aayla to the armory. One of the armor lockers wasn't quite what it seemed, and with a wave of his hand, it popped out slightly and spun around, revealing a rack of about twenty wands.

"Go ahead, pick one up and tell me what you feel," Harry instructed.

Aayla picked up one of the wands, a slender one about nine inches long, made of a pale yellow wood. She waved it and it jumped out of her hand in a flash of sparks and bounced off the ceiling. "Wow," she said. "I wasn't expecting that."

Harry replaced the wand on the rack and let Aayla try the rest. The results were more or less the same every time.

"I felt something, but I'm not really sure what it is," Aayla said.

"It's like the feeling of wearing shoes that aren't quite the right fit," Harry said. "They work, but not really. Every wand is different, just like every person is different. It's just about trying to find the right match. Tell me, what's it like to use another Jedi's lightsaber? You can, right?"

"We can," she said. "But every lightsaber is different. We make them ourselves. They fit our hands perfectly, and we learn to know their shape and size better than we know ourselves. To use another's feels awkward and clumsy, but you could."

"Same thing applies here," Harry said. "We'll have to make you a wand, but finding the right materials will be difficult. I've never made one for someone who wasn't from the same planet as me, so I have no idea what will work and what won't. But, if we're travelling around a lot, we're bound to find something that works. In the meantime, I can still teach you some things. There's plenty you can do without a wand."

Harry secured the wand rack and flipped the locker back around so the armor was facing outwards once more. What Harry didn't say was that none of those wands worked all that well for him either. Those were all experiments in trying intergalactic materials. The wands were functional, he just didn't know for who.

Exiting the armory, Harry made for the mess hall and immediately dug into his new tea stash. One good thing about rich planets like Alderaan was that they almost always had a great selection of exotic tea. He picked out a white tea that he had never had before and went about to start making it.

"Would you like some tea?" Harry asked. "I've found that it's a good way to ground myself after something stressful has happened."

"I'll try some," she agreed.

It only took a few minutes to craft, and it was delicious. Though truthfully, it was rare when he found a tea he didn't like. He was just glad that his ability to obtain tea did not disappear when he left the Earth. There really was no reason to go back to that miserable planet.

Sitting at the mess hall and enjoying his tea, Harry brought up their long-term mission."I guess we should try and find some of the surviving Jedi now that the ship is supplied," Harry said. "It's not going to be easy though."

"I'll try and reach into the Force again," Aayla said, also sipping tea. She made a weird face at the taste, but continued to drink it. "Even reaching out to Yoda was quite difficult, and he was the most attuned of the Order, and specifically searching for me."

"I'm going to prepare a scrying spell," Harry said. Aayla nodded and closed her eyes, slowly putting herself into a meditative state. Upon noticing this, Harry made his way into the under-storage compartment to get his scrying basin. He hadn't done a proper scrying ritual in a few months, so he didn't keep it on hand. Scrying was useful when he didn't have a specific target in mind, as it allowed him to focus and narrow down his search until he found what he was looking for. When he actually knew his target, such as with the majority of his bounties, a scrying spell wouldn't help as much unless he wanted to focus on their environment. Scrying also had a annoyingly high failure rate, as it was a bit finicky.

Scrying wasn't too difficult of a spell, but it wasn't taught at Hogwarts. It was not something that the Ministry wanted as public knowledge as it was a powerful spell, and setting up protections from such spells was time consuming. Harry knew that first hand, as he had spent months performing it as he travelled along the English countryside with his two best friends, hiding from Voldemort.

The spell fell partially under the realm of divination, if only because it followed a lot of the same procedures in narrowing probabilities until the final answer was the most likely to happen given a specific dataset. At its core, that's what divination was to someone like Harry, who did not have any innate divining ability. It's why Hermione loved Arithmancy despite hating Divination.

The scrying bowl was stored with a bunch of his other miscellaneous objects. Sneak-o-scopes and dark detectors were just a few of the various baubles he had of dubious quality. The scrying basin was a thin stone bowl about an inch deep and about the size of a dinner plate. As soon he took the bowl, Aayla suddenly screamed.

Rushing back out of the storage compartment, Harry found Aayla hunched forwards and clutching at her head. There were tears running down her cheeks. He ran over to her and placed a hand on her back and leaned in close. "What happened?" he asked urgently.

"It was…" Aayla started. She winced in pain as she still clutched her head. "It was like a thousand voices screaming through the Force. I felt Obi-wan still in orbit, but as soon as I tried to feel beyond this system, I was assaulted by the echoes..."

"Are you going to be okay?" Harry asked. "I can get some medicine…"

"It'll pass," Aayla said. "I wasn't expecting it to be that sudden." She paused for a minute to settle her breathing. "I don't think we'll be finding any Jedi like this, not if they're farther than a planet away."

"I'll try a more direct approach," Harry said once it was clear to him that Aayla was okay. He turned away from her and carefully set the scrying basin upon the table. "Think of this as a lens, of a sort. It can help look for a person, or a place, with enough care. I'm going to try and focus on a Jedi's presence."

Harry tapped the bowl with his wand, and suddenly the the surface of the bowl ripplied and turned glassy blue with magic. After a moment, it smoothed out, and Harry held his hand over it. He concentrated, imagining the same exact feeling that he used when he had found Aayla on Felucia. If they weren't suppressing their presence, he would have a good chance of finding them.

Feeling the magic start to build up in the scrying bowl, Harry concentrated harder. His target was simple: Jedi. The magic of the spell would latch on to the nearest sensation if done properly. Visualizing the Jedi was difficult, as there were many from all different species. Instead, he focused on the feeling, the magic. He knew what the Jedi felt like in the Force, had felt them many times before. He applied that same feeling now, through the scrying spell.

The magic in the scrying basin flared up and before Harry could even shout a warning, the entire thing exploded, sending shards of jagged stone all over the room. Aayla gave a quick shriek of surprise as she covered her eyes with her arm.

Harry was left standing there awkwardly with his hand hovering over nothing. There were a few flecks of blood on his face from where bits of stone had flown by. "That… was unexpected," Harry said calmly. "I guess it was too much to hope it would be that easy."

"Nothing worth doing ever is," Aayla replied, tentatively lowering her arm as she did so.

Harry nodded and waved his wand. The broken pieces of stone flew back to him and rearranged themselves on the table, only to fall into a pile once more.

"The Dark Side is strong," Aayla said. "Stronger than it's ever been before. It will not let anyone peer through the Force. Master Yoda might still be able too though. He's much stronger than I am in that art."

Harry waved his wand again and the stones again moved into the shape of the scrying basin. This time the pieces seemed to spark and fizzle as they reformed the bowl. After a moment, Harry was successful, but he still let out a frustrated sigh. "This isn't going to work half as good as it used to, and clearly it was already not working," Harry said with some annoyance. "Getting a new one is going to be tough. But, if you think Yoda can give us some guidance, I'm all for that."

"I'll send word to him," Aayla said.

Upon storing the repaired scrying basin away, despite being little more than a paperweight now, Harry returned to the cockpit and planted himself heavily in the pilot's seat. Aayla took the co-pilot's seat and quickly sent a message off to Yoda while Harry contemplated their next move. "Well, there's nothing for it, I guess. Let's do some business, shall we?" Harry decided. "We can search for some of the Jedi as we go, but it's easier when we have a destination in mind. Let's find us a contract. Actually, no, why don't you pick one out to be your first?"

"If you insist," Aayla said. Harry swivelled the bounty display over to her, listing the various bounties available. When Harry had taken his last bounty, they had still been living in the Republic. Now, it was the Galactic Empire, and many people didn't like that. There were millions of bounties, and not nearly enough bounty hunters to go around. They had their pick of the bunch.

Aayla spent a fair amount of time just going through the program. The interface was quite interesting, and it was a whole world she hadn't really explored before. She knew of bounty hunters, had even fought a few before, but she hadn't really thought about what went on behind the scenes.

The Rowena's Revenge was in deep orbit by the time Aayla had finally found something that interested her.

"Posted nine minutes ago," she said. "The advisor to a local head of government has gone missing, and he needs to be found. Betrayal is suspected, but they do not have the manpower to conduct a proper investigation. Fifteen thousand credit reward for information leading to his discovery."

"Doesn't sound too hard," Harry replied. "Where's this located?

Aayla read the next line before noticeably pausing. "Mandalore."

"Aren't they going through a civil war or something? Nah, forget it. I wouldn't go into that hotbed for a hundred thousand, let alone fifteen. Find something else."

Aayla nodded her head and scrolled through a few dozen more options before finding another. "Posted fourteen minutes ago," she said. "A priceless pre-Republic blaster prototype was stolen from a private collector. Ten thousand credits for it's return. Is ten thousand enough to consider?

"It's a decent amount," Harry replied. "Where was it stolen from?"

"An estate on Chandrilla," Aayla said. "It's a core world, though I've never been there."

"I have," Harry said. "Nice place, though it has its bad side. We actually passed it on the way to Coruscant from Felucia, and again on the way here. It's not too far. Good find."

A small smile appeared on Aayla's face from the praise.

Harry immediately hit the "accept" button and forwarded a call to whoever it was. The bounty did not give the name of the client on the main page, though now that he had accepted the bounty, he had access to the contact information.

The holo display lit up a few second later with a tall obese human sitting regally in a large throne like-chair. There was a guard on either side of him, as well as what looked like a protocol droid and another well-dressed man. "Lord Hartwick, state your business," the obese man said in a bored tone.

"Harry Potter, answering your bounty on some stolen property."

"Ah, yes," the man said contemplatively. "Unfortunate business, that. Upon hearing of the Emperor's new dictates, my majordomo took it upon himself to raid my estate for some quick credits and fled the system, likely looking for refuge as far away as he could get."

"Not a fan of the new self-appointed title, was he?" Harry asked.

"Few people are," Lord Hartwick said. "But there is little to be done about it. Before long, business will continue as usual. However, I want what is mine back, and I want you to track him down, and track down the fence he had passed the items onto if necessary. The only one I really care about is the blaster, but I will pay an extra 250 credits for each additional item of mine that you recover intact."

"It seems like a man like you would have your own resources to track down such a man," Harry pointed out.

"A man like me obeys the law, including jurisdictions," he said. "You are my resource. Bounty Hunters have all but free reign to do as they please these days, and I would have you use that ability."

"Fair enough," Harry said. "I will have to visit your estate of course. I need to familiarize myself with what I'll be searching for."

"Certainly," he said. "You'll have the coordinates transferred to you momentarily. I have other business to attend to, so your contact will be my chief curator, Mason Lorwyn."

Whereas Lord Hartwick was massive, Mason Lorwyn was slender and reedy. He was older too, with huge grey eyebrows and a well kept moustache. For some reason, he reminded Harry of a prairie dog. Harry's immediate impression was one of intense distrust, but he didn't care that much as long as he got paid. Lorwyn's face was already set in a sneer as he looked down upon Harry, as if a bounty hunter was beneath his consideration.

Harry was used to it.

"I'll be in touch," Harry said. "I'm en-route now."

Harry toggled the display off, ending the conversation. Turning to Aayla, he commented, "Well, that went about as expected," he said.

"Are clients usually like that?" she asked.

"Hartwick seemed pleasant enough. Lorwyn is the kind of person that I encounter most often. They hate hiring a bounty hunter, but they turn a blind eye and do what they think is necessary. They look down upon you out of a sense of self-importance, and to pretend that they're morally superior."

"Typical," she said. "It's good to know some things don't change across species. So, what's the plan?"

"I've done this kind of job several times," Harry said. "They usually play out the same way. The thief never works alone. There's always someone else on the inside helping them out, and keeping tabs on how close the investigation gets."

"That must be Lorwyn," Aayla said immediately.

"Nah," Harry dismissed. "He seems the type, but it's too obvious. I'd sooner guess that it's Hartwick himself. Personally calling in the bounty hunter, and being up front with them, is the perfect cover for robbing his own estate. He has an excuse as to not have to deal with us directly as well."

"To what end?"

"Perhaps a change in allegiance, or maybe he just wants a change of scenery, or he's looking to restart his life with a new identity elsewhere. But me? If I were to guess, I'd say insurance fraud. If this guy is willing to pay ten thousand to play into the ruse, then this guy probably stands to make hundreds of thousands, even millions."

Aayla paused for a moment, carefully choosing her words. "What if… what if it's just as it seems? No ulterior motives?"

"That's… just so boring," Harry said.

"I think you've spent too much time floating through space on your own," she said. "Your imagination is getting the best of you."

"Eh, you're probably right," Harry said with a wave of his hand. "But you're here now. You can help reign in my flight of fancies."

"So what do we do?" she asked.

"I tell you what," Harry said. "If you're right, and everything is on the level, you can pick the next mission as well. If I'm right, I get to pick."

"I won't do anything that is against my code," Aayla said. "All because the Jedi Order is in shambles doesn't mean I will mutilate my own beliefs."

"Nor will I ask you to," Harry said. "It's just a friendly bet. I mean no harm by it."

"Well, you're the captain," Aayla said. "And it's your ship I've fostered myself on. I agree to your terms."

"I'm glad that's sorted," Harry said with a small smile. He pulled up the coordinates that had been sent to him and cross referenced them to the planet's grid. A cursory scan told him that coordinates were legit, which was always a good start.

There was some truth to Aayla's words. In the vast blackness of space, inside a ship sixty-five feet long all by himself, a wandering mind was not always healthy. Staring into the the void for too long would irrevocably damage the psyche. But, it was Harry's choice. There was a reason that he hadn't partnered with someone until then, and that was mostly because he valued his independence very highly, and now there was someone who was depending on him for work, and pay.

Going through hyperspace could be tedious, though Harry didn't particularly mind. But he'd admit that it couldn't be healthy for just a single person. Being trapped inside one's own mind had been the downfall of many. He hadn't felt any adverse side-effects yet, but would he recognize them if he did? An insane person didn't know they were insane.

Harry had to monitor the helm the whole time as well. Autopilot existed, and Harry made judicious use of it, but hyperlanes could be extremely dangerous. It was nearly impossible to take a ship in a straight line due to all the stars and other celestial bodies, and even the well-charted hyperlanes had some danger. There were alarms and such on the ship if it started to go off course, but he couldn't exactly go to bed while going faster-than-light. He wouldn't have enough time to react if something went wrong.

More than a few nights had been spent in his captain's chair after he had accidentally fallen asleep. That was often the result of multiple thirty hour missions. Some hyperlanes could take days, depending on where he was going and the amount of traffic and bends he had to calculate for, while simple paths to a place like Chandrilla would take less than an hour.

There just wasn't really a good opportunity to get a good night's rest, unless he wasn't actually on the job. He prefered drifting in orbit to get his rest as opposed to docking at a hangar or space station, but the truth was that without a partner to watch his back or monitor the ship, neither was all that safe either. It would be nice to be able to get a proper sleep without worrying about everything turning pear-shaped. He had his own failsafes, but there was little he could do if his ship decided to veer into a star, or collided with a another ship at cruising speed.

Chandrilla was a little closer back to Coruscant than he wanted to go, but it wasn't Coruscant itself. It was the home planet of the Senator that Bail Organa had mentioned, Mon Motha, though Harry knew literally nothing about her. However, if they were going to be loosely affiliated with each other at some point to overthrow the Emperor, that would likely change at some point.

Like Alderaan, Chandrilla was a beautiful planet. Even more beautiful, perhaps. On the surface, it reminded Harry a bit of Earth. But, that was only if the Earth had managed to curtail its rampant overpopulation and pollution problems. Chandrilla was an ideological paradise where all of its wars were fought in the political arena, and there were more artists than police officers. If anything, that made its inhabitants more ruthless, as the word "no" was simply an invitation for a debate.

The traffic in orbit wasn't as bad as Harry had expected. There was still a lot of uncertainty as to what was going to happen in the newly formed Galactic Empire, and Chandrilla would not be that great of a refuge spot due to its close proximity to Coruscant. The planet wasn't even that well-equipped to deal with refugees, as most of the population was found in towns and villages, not in metropolises, and that's the way they prefered it. It wasn't a very industrial planet either.

Lord Hartwick's estate was on the far side of the planet and it had an entire medium-sized lake to itself. The estate was made up of six buildings, each with different uses. The main building was best described as a mansion, and would likely be where Lord Hartwick himself slept. There was as second, smaller building attached to it that probably housed the servants and guards.

It was clear that Lord Hartwick was very well off. Most people who could spend ten thousand on a bounty usually were, which is why Harry's position as a bounty hunter was actually quite well suited in trying to recruit people to their cause. If they had money, they likely had an opinion on the situation, and were also likely to offer some form of support, if approached carefully. That was the long-term plan, at any rate. First, he actually had to complete the mission.

One of the smaller buildings was some sort of storage building. Harry's first impression was that it was likely used for some sort of gardening purpose, as the entire estate was filled with beautiful and very carefully cultivated gardens.

The fourth building was the hangar. It may have been the largest building on the estate by sheer volume. It was large enough to hold a dozen ships the size of the Rowena's Revenge, or maybe more. No doubt that Lord Hartwick's private luxury cruiser would be parked in there, as well as whatever speeders he used to get around on the planet itself.

The fifth building was the security building, and was at the entrance to the estate. There was a long pathway that connected the estate to other parts of the countryside, for speeder use only, and there was a fancy monogrammed gate and everything. It was very posh.

The final building was the building that Harry really cared about, and that was the museum. Harry didn't know if it was actually referred to as the museum, but that's what he called it. It's where rich folk keep their cherished works of art and significant pieces of history on display, at least the ones that weren't in the actual mansion proper, except no one gets to see it except for themselves and their staff. It's a bit narcissistic.

Harry queried the local flight control and got an automatic approval in response. Lord Hartwick must have done his due-diligence and put the Revenge on the list of approved ships. That always made things better, and Harry was thankful for the small details. Loads of times, the person hiring him often made his life as difficult as possible, as they would hire a bounty hunter yet do their moral due diligence by protesting his profession in as annoying a way as possible.

Upon coming in low, he was directed towards the hangar. The doors opened upon his arrival, revealing two large SoroSuub luxury yachts, each one a fair deal larger than the Rowena's Revenge, both in length and width. In addition, there were a handful of smaller security vessels and about fifty speeders all in a line on the far wall. All of the speeders had a different set of livery on them, as well as a number. They were probably racers of some sort, though Harry hadn't seen a track on his approach.

Parking was second nature to Harry. With the automated docking formula, Harry only had to hit a few buttons to land the ship. Such was the convenience from being on a high-tech world. More often than not, he had to do it the old fashion way on the backwater planets his bounties led him to, such as recently on Felucia. It was a convenience he tried not to get used to, in order to keep his piloting skills sharp.

Once parked, Harry turned to Aayla. "Casual gear only," he said. "We're not expecting a fight, but it's always best to be prepared. Make sure your lightsabers are covered up - we don't want to blow your cover too early."

"I understand," she said.

Harry took Aayla to the armory once more. He went over to the middle armor locker and popped open the door. The armor wasn't anything special. In fact, it looked about as non-specific and generic as they came. It was best described a long jacket, though it was a bit more than that. It was more like a cross between a cape and a robe. It wasn't anything he made himself, though he had added the customary protections that he was used to. It was a style of outerwear that people native to Pamarthe would wear. A few years back, he had voluntarily spent a couple of months on the planet and had grown accustomed to some of their traditions, and that particular jacket was one of the things he had grown to like. It was the outfit that would be most associated with him, if he were to ever be put on a poster somewhere that wasn't on Earth.

For arms, Harry opened up one of the drawers containing blaster pistols and harnesses, and handed one of each to Aayla. The blasters weren't anything special, but they didn't have to be. The harness was the type that holstered the gun on the side, rather than the hip, for freedom of movement.

"Small problem here," Aayla said after trying to harness on. "It's way too tight."

Harry turned to look at her after putting his own harness on, and immediately identified the problem. Harry was decently muscular, though he wouldn't consider himself built. It was mostly just on-the-job conditioning. The holster was adjustable to where it fit perfectly snug to him, and wouldn't bounce around or rub back and forth.

Aayla, on the other hand, was extremely fit and slender. One would think that would make the holster fit easier, but she was also quite busty, and the holster didn't sit properly upon her form.

Harry's eyes must have lingered just a few seconds too long as Aayla quickly remarked, "As you can see, I am neither male, nor human."

"Yeah, I figured that out," Harry said dryly. He took the harness back and threw it it back into the drawer and pulled out a more traditional hip holster instead. "This should work better."

The Jedi quickly looped the holster onto her leather belt, next to her offhand lightsaber. She kept one on each side of her body for easy access. "That'll work," she said. "I just hope I don't have to use it. Jedi are not trained to use blasters."

"It's easy," Harry said. "Just point and pull the trigger. There's nothing fancy about this one. We shouldn't need them, but there's no reason to announce your presence as a Jedi unless absolutely necessary. This is mostly just for appearances - an unarmed bounty hunter would be suspicious."

Aayla nodded. "I'll just go get my new cloak, and I'll be ready."

"Sure," Harry said as Aayla disappeared off into the cabin she had claimed as her own. She returned a few minutes later wearing a brand new set of leather clothes to replace her worn and burnt ones, including a new headband. It was kind of amazing that they were considered standard and traditional conservative Twi'lek garments when they barely covered anything, though Harry wasn't complaining too much. In addition, she had a long leather cloak of the same color that was big enough to encapsulate her whole body, covering up her lightsabers. It even had a special hood big enough to hide her lekku in.

"Will I pass as a bounty hunter?" she asked curiously.

"Nah, not enough scars," Harry said. "But as a bounty hunter's assistant? I guess we'll find out in a minute."

The last thing Harry did was take a belt with many pouches out of the armor locker and fastened it to his waist. It contained all the bits and bobs he would need for an investigation. Once that was done, he went and hit the button to open the ramp.

Already waiting for them at the bottom was Mason Lorwyn, who looked none-too-happy about his assignment. The distaste and contempt upon his face was as plain as day. Harry couldn't help but just smile in response.

"Well, let's start, shall we?" Harry said, closing the ramp behind him once Aayla joined him. "This should be fun."