So, I've got a new idea, well now like it's based off a scenario started off by the user Kyuubi16 here on the site. His story "Betrayal: The Dark Heroes" (id: 11883151) is a Naruto/Teen Titans crossover and to be honest I liked the initial premise behind it which was Starfire is taken in the place of her criminal sister in the episode aptly enough named "Sisters". And I thought, "hey, this is a cool idea. I wonder what I can do with this should I insert a different character instead of anyone from the Naruto series." Then it came to me: Star Wars.
This fic chapter will change between first and third person perspectives, the first person will be told from Harry's POV while inside of single-quoted italicized blocks of text (not literal blocks though). You can see an example below labeled "Narration."
Rating: T for some violence and language.
Disclaimer: I own nothing other than my laptop and my copy of MS Word. Teen Titans belongs to DC Comics. Star Wars belongs to Disney. Harry Potter belongs to JK Rowling, Scholastic Books, and the Warner Brothers for the stories, book publishing rights, and movie distribution rights respectively. See the foreword for the full disclaimer.
XxXxXxX
"Talking."
'Narration.'
"Radio communication."
XxXxXxX
Somewhere on the border of Wild Space and the Unknown Regions.
'Being a bounty hunter is a very personal career choice, either you choose it because you live for the life of a mercenary or because you have no other choice, the later applies to yours truly. There is a very big misconception about bounty hunters is that they only hunt down those with a bounty on their head, in reality we're more like mercenaries who only work for themselves without a company behind them. Sure, there are quite a few outfits but they're continually under the watchful eye of the Empire just waiting for them to slip up, hence why most bounty hunters worked either in small groups or alone, plus you don't have to worry about guild fees.
'But who am I? My name is Harry Skirata (or Potter depending on where you're from) and I'm a Mandalorian. Now that I think about it that sounds more like a AA meeting introduction. Things to know about me? Let's see… I was born on a planet deep in the Unknown Regions roughly eighteen years ago, well at least if I go by my homeworld's solar cycle; the galactic standard year is a bit… weird to say the least, primarily because of Coruscant's twenty-four hour, three hundred sixty-eight-day year. Sometimes it doesn't transfer over to other planets easily like Ryloth, Corellia, or Tatooine who all have shorter celestial years or slightly longer or shorter days. Ramblings aside, I was found by a bounty hunter seeking out some guy who did something, I never did ask, and after completing his job took me in after finding me abandoned on a doorstep when I was an infant for whatever reason. When I asked him years later he just said "because something compelled him to." Said bounty hunter? A Mandalorian named Kal Skirata.
'When he discovered that I was strong in the Force he found some Jedi on the run and offered her sanctuary in return for training me and one other kid in how to keep our abilities a secret, after all the Empire would want to have us killed or taken away since we were still young enough to be indoctrinated. At the same time as learning how to use the Force I was trained in the traditional ways of how to be a Mandalorian warrior. Safe to say, I think I turned out quite well. I can use the Force as both a weapon and to subtly augment my physical abilities to help me do my job more effectively.'
Harry sat in a bar he frequented on a major hub world for trade. The reason? Beings seeking out people of his skillset make themselves easily found for employment. He currently sat in a corner booth dressed in his beshkar armor, his helmet and blaster rifle sitting on the table and his blaster pistols holstered and a heavily modified probe droid floating above the table ready to translate. Currently, he had two lovely ladies of two different species vying for his attention, more like it was the owner of the bar to get him to spend more money. Oh, he wished that there were more of his vode here if for only a drinking song and maybe a fight.
The night was just starting up for the bar as more patrons entered. Two of which approached his table, to which his eyes did not miss but followed as the buxom women that were with him kept coercing him to drink more. The two male figures stood in front of the table as if waiting for him to acknowledge them. They said something, but the droid translated, "We heard you do things for payment?"
"I might," I replied, to which the droid translated back; after all, I speak fluent mando'a, "but it depends on the job."
"I would prefer if this was discussed more privately."
'Sensitive information?' Harry turned his attention to the ladies currently pressing their bodies onto his sides. "Leave us." The two women pouted before begrudgingly leaving. "So, what is so secret that I had to send away the lovely ladies who can't speak your language, Tamaranian?"
"It is not necessarily what I say, but who I am," he replied before adjusting his cloak enough for Harry to see who it was.
"Now this is interesting, the King of Tamaran sitting with me at my table. I suppose I should be honored. Now, what job would you like to propose, your highness?" Harry replied while folding his hands together in plain view on the table.
"My daughter, Koriand'r, has been falsely imprisoned for a crime committed by her sister."
"I still don't see why you need me or my services, appeal the case or prove they have the wrong person."
"Because the Centaurians will not listen!" the king shouted, slamming his fists on the table. The bar owner looked at Harry, ready to pull out a particle rifle, but Harry waved him off. "They have her locked up in the most secure prison in the sector built for the vilest and despicable beings in the galaxy and the warden is keeping her like a spoil of war."
There was an uncomfortable silence as Harry thought. "If I am going to accept this job I'm going to need information. What prison exactly and what does she look like? I'm also going to need any information you have on this prison: defenses, personnel, weapons, floor plans, patrol routines, protocols."
The king pulled out a datapad which displayed a fairly beautiful redhead with green eyes wearing traditional royal Tamaranian attire. If one would choose one word to describe her one would probably choose 'hot' as the first one that would come to mind. "This is her."
Harry looked at his droid, "Scan it." The droid hopped off his shoulder and carefully examined the image. A moment later the droid turned back around, its primary lens looking him in the eye and nodded. "Do you have any further information that will aid me?"
The king sighed, probably out of embarrassment. "My elder daughter, Komand'r, was last seen heading towards the planet called 'Earth' by its local populace."
"Shit," Harry muttered.
"You are familiar with the planet in question?"
"Unfortunately, a certain subculture and I on that planet have a… history."
"Will this keep you from taking the job?"
"No. If anything I am a professional, I will take your job, but first we have to discuss payment."
XxXxXxX
Jump City, Titan Tower. One week later.
It was not easy to track her down, but Harry found the location of Komand'r. Harry had to have his personal droid, one whose memory was copied over from the original HK-47 whose droid chassis had long rusted and had implanted that new memory in a more combat oriented CIS commando droid chassis, slice into the Watchtower mainframe which had been beyond easy. After all, they didn't seriously expect a droid to latch on and hack them at the source rather than remotely. HK had mentioned they really needed to update their firewall to Imperial standards. After that, he cross-referenced any sightings of a flying redheaded, orange tinted skin girl who could fire off bolts from her hands. This lead him to Jump City where he spent the next three days sitting on a mountain with a modified DC-17m variant sniper rifle watching as these Teen Titans fought crime. He watched as they would always retreat to the T-shaped tower on the island in the bay of the city.
Two nights ago, he sent HK to download their structural mainframe in order to assemble a battle plan. After all, Komand'r would not give up without a fight and if she was lying to her teammates as he thought she was, then they'd fight alongside her. Only one option remained, shock and awe. Strike hard and quickly and disable the others so he could interrogate the traitorous sibling. Harry checked over his equipment one last time before starting his mission. His jump pack was set with high explosive homing missile attached, his trusty E-11 blaster rifle he had gotten off some dead Stormtrooper during a riot, his right gauntlet that held a hidden vibrodagger, a liquid cable whipcord, and sported a flamethrower, his left gauntlet that had a mini-missile launcher and carbonite launcher, and his full blue and black highlighted beshkar armor and matching T-visored helmet. Next were his dual, heavily modified DC-15s sidearms that held more rounds per power pack and fired on either semi or fully automatic. The last thing though, and he hoped not to use it, was the lightsaber he constructed. It was simple and elegant like Darth Revan's Jedi blade. No need to make it super fancy as he needed to be able to hide it; the blade of which being a darker blue than the generic blue most Jedi had before the Purge.
"Statement: Master, we are in position and the cloaking is active," HK stated through his headset.
"Good, stay cloaked and be ready for a hot extraction," Harry replied.
"Advisement: You would do well to incapacitate the hooded one before interrogating the Tamaranian."
"I was planning on doing that anyway, HK." Harry's modified probe droid perched itself on his shoulder like a lizard-monkey or an avian of some kind.
"Commentary: You show excellent reasoning skills, for a meatbag that is."
"Open the ramp." Slowly the ramp lowered from the belly of the ship and stopped when it reached a forty-degree angle. "Here goes nothing," he muttered before starting to sprint, the Force augmenting his already impressive sprinting speed. Reaching the end of the ramp he activated his jump pack and drew a DC-15s from its holster, he rocketed towards the window that housed the Titans' living room and kitchen from what his thermals told him, he fired a single overcharged shot before bracing himself for impact. The plasma bolt smashed into the window causing it to implode inwards. He landed in a roll and righted himself to immediately aim his E-11 and fired a stun round into the one named Raven, she collapsed into a heap on the floor, mostly unharmed. He then turned his attention to Komand'r and fired his whipcord at her, who was surprisingly still in shock and incapacitated her.
"Who are you, what do you want?!" the teen named Robin demanded.
Harry looked at him through his visor but turned his attention to the Tamaranian struggling to get free. He pulled out his sidearm again and placed it under her chin. "I've heard of you," Komand'r said in both slight fear but with more admiration speaking in English.
"Who is this, Blackfire?" Cyborg asked as Beast Boy checked on Raven who was just groaning incoherently while being unconscious.
"A bounty hunter. He mostly takes his targets alive but has been known to eliminate some who are considered the scum of the galaxy with extreme prejudice."
"You're lucky that your father wishes you to be alive, otherwise you'd be joining them," Harry growled.
"What do you want?"
"Information on the Centaurian prison."
"And why would I know anything about that place?" Blackfire questioned.
"You would know, considering you were the one that stole from them in the first place."
There was a moment of uncomfortable silence as everyone in the room processed what Harry just said. Blackfire just stared at him in fear, mostly because she had been exposed. "I don't know what you're talking about," she replied nervously.
Harry turned his attention to the three still conscious Titans. "Where did she say her sister went off to?" he queried.
"Blackfire said her sister went back to Tamaran to clear up some things with her father," Beast Boy stated.
"Well, she lied to you." Harry then turned his attention to Blackfire once more. "You can either tell me what you know, or I can rip it from your mind," Harry threatened.
"What are you doing to do? Strap me to an interrogation suite or use the mystic mumbo-jumbo that Raven uses?" she jested.
"The Holocron of Darth Revan were quite... descriptive when on the subject of interrogation and mind reading."
There was silence as the Titans wondered who this Revan was. As for Blackfire, she also did not know who Revan was but she did know that in the days of old Lords that wielded extreme amounts of power had the word 'Darth' in front of their name. "I'll tell you what you want to know!" she shouted.
"Good, because you're coming with me," Harry said as he pulled his blaster away from her chin but kept it pointed at her chest.
"WHAT?!"
"I need to make sure you aren't lying to me. If you skimp on any information you'll be in the same boat that I'm in: captured if not dead." He then took her by the shoulder and prodded her back with his blaster. "Go on."
Harry walked her towards the window when his attention was directed to the group. "Wait!" Robin shouted. "We're coming with you."
Harry turned to look and see that Raven had just woken up, his suspicions were that she was given something to wake up quickly. "I work alone." He then turned around and prodded Blackfire with his blaster.
He immediately felt a twinge of danger through the Force and fired behind him only to hit one of the explosive boomerangs that Robin used. "We're coming with you to rescue our friend whether you like it or not!" he shouted as he prepared another boomerang.
"Yeah, we'll force you to take us with you," Beast Boy added.
They then saw a red dot appear on Beast Boy's chest that came from the now decloaked ship's cargo bay. "Advisement: It would be in your best interests to not threaten my master, pubescent meatbag," HK said, his eyes glowing in the dim hold. "Query: Shall I terminate these meatbags for you, master?"
"Only if they attack. And don't go overkill, we're going to need that ammo," Harry replied dismissively as he led Blackfire into his ship.
The teens started to move into position, waiting for an attack order. HK cocked his blaster rifle and aimed. "Quotation: Do you feel lucky?"
"No, man...robot, we're good," Cyborg replied nervously as he had no idea what weapon both the bounty hunter and the robot were using, but he knew it was much deadlier than his sonic blaster.
The ramp retreated into the ship's hull and the outer door magnetically sealed, hiding the killer robot from them. The ship turned around and the engines started to power up. "Raven, can you get us inside?" Robin asked, more-so shouting over the engines.
"I think so, hold on!" she replied before surrounding the team in her black magic aura. The teens felt the extremely odd sensation of being stretched while a shadow stretched, impacting the hull of the ship.
Meanwhile, in the cockpit, Harry was running through the final pre-launch check before gunning the engines. The delta-winged ship blasted into space at speeds that a responding fighter jet was incapable of matching. The ship continued to climb rapidly. "Cat, once we break atmosphere make the jump to light speed," Harry ordered.
A female holographic figure appeared wearing the same type of armor Harry wore but had cat ears on the top of her head. "It's already done, Cap'n," she chipperly replied with a salute. She then turned her attention to holographic consoles that appeared in front of her, a visual representation of what she was doing digitally. The advanced starship breached into space before any terrestrial military could send any fighter jets to investigate. Harry watched as the so-called Watchtower appeared slowly in the forward viewport before quickly vanishing as the whine of the hyperdrive reached critical power and the ship vanished from real space into hyperspace.
The familiar blue glow and vortex of hyperspace filled the cockpit of Harry's ship. "ETA to our destination?" Harry asked his AI companion.
"T-minus ten hours from the moment we entered hyperspace."
"And our 'guest'?"
"Angry, she keeps trying to destroy the stun cuffs. It was a wise investment to have those coated in quadranium. For now, she's pacing in her cell in the brig."
"Are we still in range of the hypercomm buoy?"
"We will be in range of your very unconventional hypercomm buoy for the next hour."
"While I believe the civilization of Earth is primitive, I still enjoy their media," Harry shrugged. He then stood up from his pilot's chair. "I'm going to interrogate the older daughter. Keep us on course, Cat."
"Aye, aye cap'n."
"HK, you're with me."
"Exclamation: Oh, master! Are you going to allow me to interrogate the prisoner for information? I know many techniques for hurrying a response from the meatbag."
Harry rounded on his ancient droid companion. "Her father is paying for her to be returned alive and unharmed. I will not risk this very large payday by damaging her."
"Confirmation: Of course, master. It was only a suggestion. Suggestion: I do know of some persuasion techniques that my former master was quite proud of using."
"Do they use psychological torture?" Harry asked dryly.
"Insulted commentary: Of course not, master. Master Revan was quite proud of his 'silver tongue', being able to convince anyone to do his bidding with speech alone."
"If it comes down to me needing assistance, I'll let you know." They then disembarked from the bridge and made their way towards the cargo deck where Harry also kept his brig as well. It was a cramped space, and that was the point, to make the prison feel extremely uncomfortable. Harry walked nearer to the bars and the Tamaranian princess stared daggers at him. "Your Highness, you will now tell me about every defense this prison has from either person all knowledge to hearsay that people have uttered," Harry said as he drew put a portable holoprojector and activated it, showing a rendering of the prison. "And before you think of lying to get out of your father's punishment, those cuffs can cause insurmountable amounts of pain, and I just so happened to sync it with my heart monitor. If I die, you die. I know that Tamaranians, like Kryptonians, are extremely durable but the right amount of pain can kill even the most durable species."
Blackfire looked into the bounty hunter's visor and saw that he wasn't lying. If she could see his eyes she would have seen the deadly intent they held. She then relented and spilled everything that she had either seen personally or what rumors were around the galaxy. Harry made sure to have his probe droid to record her vitals, primarily her heart rate, pupil dilation, breathing, and for the secretion of adrenaline. While not human, Tamaranians did do some things biologically like humans do like procreation and certain biological triggers like when lying or other specific emotions regardless of how much they as a society may suppress the urge to display them. Harry was looking for the biological signs of deceit.
After hearing what she knew about the defenses Harry figured out that this was no longer a one-man job and he needed some extra help. He made his way to the small comms room that had a full communications suite with encoding capabilities. Before he entered, he felt something in the Force in three back of his mind and turned to HK, "Cloak and watch her."
"Query: Why do I need to guard the meatbag?" HK questioned with a cocked head module.
"Something feels off. As in the Force sending a slight warning, not a gut feeling." Harry then summoned his custom probe droid to him with a few keystrokes on his command gauntlet. The droid appeared a moment later, as it wasn't a large warship or anything, which landed on his shoulder and he ordered, "Search the entire ship for stowaways. If my presence is required you will find me in the middle of a call." The droid left off of his shoulder and activated its repulsorlift engine and silently buzzed off to follow his order.
Harry closed the door behind him and approached the holocomm system. He first dialed up the first of two people he knew he could count on. He waited a few minutes as the call connected and was greeted with a female voice saying, "Hello?"
"Su cuy'gar, Sabine!" Harry greeted.
Her demeanor changed from a relatively happy tone to angry. "You! How dare you call me again!"
"Udesii, vode!" Harry replied. "Surely you still can't be holding that grudge against me?" he asked innocently.
"You shot me!"
"In the foot! How else was that guy going to take me seriously? He dropped you and we both got away."
"I couldn't walk for a week so until I can return the favor I'm going to hold that against you."
Harry shrugged. "Fair enough. But listen, I have a job that I could seriously use your help on."
"Oh, that's rich. What hairbrained scheme are you on about now?"
"It is not a scheme, it's a legitimate job offer with a lot of zeros behind it."
"Sounds like a scam to me."
"Not a scam, it's a simple rescue mission to get a wayward princess back to her father paying a bunch of money for the job to be done."
"What's the catch?" she asked with crossed arms.
"She was wrongly accused of a crime and is now in a maximum-security prison."
"No."
"No?"
"No, Vod. You're on your own."
"Oh, come on! Is this still about the foot? I'll let you shoot me in the foot after the job's done."
"As tempting as that sounds, I have to decline, even if I did get to shoot you in the foot." He then watched as she reached forward for a button. "Goodbye, vod. Best of luck to you." She then pressed the button to end the call.
"Well, that was a bust. I wonder if Ordo would be willing to help out?" Harry dialed Ordo's comm frequency and not a moment later his elder brother appeared in holographic form, "Vod! I need some help on a job, would you be willing to help your younger brother out? I'll cut you in on the payday?"
"Give me the details," Ordo replied. It took several minutes before Harry finished explaining the job. "And you intended to do this solo?"
"Why do you think I called you first?"
Ordo had an expression of absolute disbelief. "Knowing you I highly doubt I was the first." He sighed, "What are your coordinates?" Harry gave the coordinates of both where he planned on dropping out of hyperspace and the prison itself. "I'll meet you there vod, try not to start without me." Ordo then closed the comm channel.
Harry walked back into the cargo hold and makeshift brig as his probe droid flew up in front of him. It let out a series of bleeps known as Droid Binary. Once it finished Harry replied, "Oh really?" After a few more bleeps Harry said, "Well, why don't we go and welcome our guests?"
Meanwhile, down in the cargo hold the Titans could feel that something was off. Really off. Even though Raven was keeping them hidden on this mystery ship they could feel as though they had already been discovered. But that was impossible, right? Raven hid them using her magic.
Harry moved slowly into cargo hold as he already knew where the intruders/stowaways were. You could use magic to hide from organics, but not sensors and droids. Harry drew his blaster pistol, a WESTAR-34, one of many he kept hidden around the ship in case he needed them, and set it to stun; after all, he didn't want to bloom a hole in his ship that would cause explosive decompression while in hyperspace. He set his HUD and sensor to infrared he looked for the hidden stowaways in the hold. He then looked right at a black void and turned the safety off.
They knew they had been made, but yet they hoped that their silence would make the bounty hunter look the other way and forget about that they were even there. The more that the bounty hunter stood in the same location, the more uneasy they felt. At last, Beast Boy said what everyone was thinking. "Is it just me, or is he looking right at us?" he whispered.
"That's because he can," Harry replied as he leveled his pistol at them. "There's no point in hiding, drop the illusion and put your hands up."
"Suggestion: It would be wise to listen to the master. You certainly wish to remain alive, yes?" HK asked. The Titans were shocked at the fact that the hunter's companion had snuck up on them without them noticing. That, and it also leveled the same very intimidating rifle that it had back at the tower. They complied and Raven lowered her spell, allowing them to be seen; they then stood up and raised their hands up in the international sign of surrender.
"So, what are you four stowaways doing on my ship?" Harry asked.
"We want to help our friend! Isn't that enough?" Robin asked in turn, to which Harry only cocked his head slightly to the side.
"And do you know how to infiltrate a maximum-security prison that you don't even know anything about through the front door and have multiple contingencies in the case one or more of those plans go to shit?"
"It can't be that hard, can it?" Cyborg asked.
"Were it so easy I would to it myself, but I had to call upon my older brother."
"See, you do need us!" Beast Boy replied.
"Are you a trained soldier in multiple forms of combat and weapons that you can pick up anything and use it? Do you have a reaction time that those with decades of combat experience and training have? How about fighting in Zero-G environments?" When they did not respond Harry said, "I thought so. Based on the fact you are stowaways I am conflicted what to do with you."
"Conflicted?" Robin asked.
"One part of me wants you jettisoned from the airlock while still in hyperspace, the other half wants to dump you on the nearest planet with an oxygen-nitrogen atmosphere."
"You can't do that!" Cyborg shouted.
"Yeah, that would kill us! Wouldn't it?" Beast Boy asked.
"Most humanoid races survive around two minutes in hard vacuum before expiring, and that's assuming their lungs don't explode from the change in pressure from one atmosphere to zero first," Harry replied.
"Then we'll fight you!" Robin shouted.
"You'd still die regardless. You seriously wouldn't think that I wouldn't have taken precautions to prevent someone from commandeering my ship? Plus, we Mandalorians? We fight to the death and make sure to take as many of our enemies with us." Harry placed his finger on the trigger, ready for anything that these super-powered teens might have up their sleeves.
"They can be useful," a female said from behind him. Harry looked and saw Blackfire standing at the bars of the brig he installed.
"Oh? How so?"
She looked at her temporary teammates before looking Harry in the eyes, or where his eyes were behind his helmet. "In the short time I've spent amongst them I've seen them fight as a team. They are brash at times and have a penchant of arresting criminals instead of taking them out permanently as to not have to deal with them again, but they have hearts of warriors."
"They certainly don't have the composure of one," Harry commented.
"True."
"Hey!" Beast Boy shouted indignantly.
"Although they can get a job done if they put their minds to it."
Harry thought deeply without taking his eyes off of them. Cyborg could fight as well as perform electronic countermeasures, although he was unconvinced that he would be able to cleanly interface with the alien technology. The girl, Raven, had magic, that was for sure; but there was something off about it, it felt eldritch in nature and not like the Force or magic of Earth. Beast Boy Harry considered a useful idiot with a complex of not giving up on his friends, he could manipulate his form into different animals from Earth and could be useful in crowd control. Robin had the look and carried himself like a leader, whether it was deserved or handed to him was a debate for another time; he was proficient in hand to hand skills that could be useful in the cramped corridors of the prison's hallways.
"It seems we are at a crossroads. Bounty Hunter etiquette says that all participants are paid for their work, which before you came in would have been split between my brother and I. But your being here has complicated the numbers. It's a good thing that you're not part of the Bounty Hunter's guild."
"Meaning?" Raven asked.
"I don't have to pay you at all."
Beast Boy sputtered, "But that's not fair!"
"You stowed away on my ship and now after this mission, I'll have to return you home which will cost me more money in fuel than I would like. Plus, I thought heroes fought evil for no monetary payment in return?" After a full ten seconds of doing an impression of a fish, Beast Boy knew that he had no argument. "Settle in and get whatever rest you can, once we meet up with my brother we'll be on our way to the prison." Harry turned to leave and stopped before saying, "Don't touch anything."
As Harry left the four teens finally breathed out, actually noticing that they were indeed holding their breaths. "Statement: You are very lucky that the master was convinced by the female meatbag that you were of use to the operation. Observation: You wouldn't have lasted long against the master, not with your current skills," HK said, rubbing their noses into it.
"Why do you say that? We're a great team," Robin replied.
"Explanation: The master has been one of the most competent masters I've had. Not as powerful as master Revan, but powerful enough to deal with the likes of you without breaking a sweat," HK replied as he left the room.
The Titans spent the next four hours being very quiet as they attempted to piss off their 'host' as he went about his business. At the end of the fourth hour, they felt the ship lurch to a stop. Harry came back into the cargo bay and waited next to a circular airlock. They hear sounds from outside the airlock as something connects to the hull of the ship. After a full minute of computer-controlled procedure, the door finally hissed open to reveal another person in the same armor that Harry wore.
"Ner vod," the older voice declared.
Harry walked forward and grabbed the arm of his brother and he returned the gesture. "It is good to see you again, vod."
Ordo looked past Harry and saw the four other teens, "Help?"
"No, stowaways who will make themselves useful if they want a ride back home."
"I assume you have a plan?" Ordo asked as he walked inside the ship. A droid walked onto the ship as well as it carried and dropped several bags that it brought on from Ordo's ship onto Harry's. Some were quite small as they were bags, but others were large plasteel cases that looked like military hardware containers.
"Of course I do, what do you think I am, some grunt?" Harry replied with a raised eyebrow. "I had to make some obvious changes," Harry added as he looked at the four teens, "but you know what they say, 'plans never survive first contact with the enemy.' I had to improvise their involvement in the plan, but it'll still work out in the end." Harry turned an eye towards the teens and asked Ordo, "You wouldn't happen to have any extra sets of beskar on board, would you?"
"Just mine and a few replacement pieces of armor and an extra helmet. Why, you get in a fight with these children and they managed to hurt you, vod'ika?" Ordo laughed.
"No, if my plan was going to work I would have had a theme going with a uniformed group rather than a bunch of random beings. It makes for a more convincing message of a mercenary force to be reckoned with."
Ordo shrugged his shoulders. "Sorry, vod. I only have pieces of armor but no full sets that everyone can use, except us, of course."
Harry sighed, "Well, we'll just have to make use of it then. Have any spare rebreathers specified for vacuum?"
Ordo thought for a moment, "That I do have. What are you thinking, vod?"
"Something completely insane if things go and hit the fan. Your armor is rated for vacuum, right?"
"It is."
"Then we should be good if everything else goes wrong. But please, make yourself at home, vod."
Harry and Ordo left to head towards the cockpit and the droid that was bringing in the bags kept doing its business until everything that it had been told to had been brought on board and left Harry's ship, the airlock closed behind it and the series of sounds that had happened before Ordo came on board had reversed as Ordo's ship disengaged the magnetic clamps and floated off as to gain some distance between them. It then leaped into hyperspace leaving Harry's ship and her passengers alone in the void of space. Harry's ship reoriented itself so it pointed towards the system that the Centaurian prison was located. The ship then jumped into hyperspace, leaving the small void that was once populated, once again empty.
XxXxXxX
Centaurian Maximum Security Prison Station. Hours later.
Harry's ship dropped out of hyperspace several thousand kilometers away from the Centaurian prison. The prison itself was based inside of the rings of a gas giant making it much more difficult for anyone to break in as it required highly complex calculations and predetermined routes along precalculated routes. Routes that were lined with anti-ship weapons meant to discourage any breakouts as well as anyone attempting to break anyone out from the outside.
Which is the reason why they were heading in the way that they were expected, but the way out was going to be much more improvised, but that wouldn't be a problem for someone like Harry.
Harry's heavily modified freighter moved without delay as it approached one of the many routes to and from the prison traveled by law enforcement as well as bounty hunters bringing in bounties. After all, only the most dangerous of people could obtain and restrain the most dangerous of intergalactic criminals. Harry watched as they flew through the cleared corridor that had no large rock or debris that led to the facility that the anti-ship weapons were tracking them.
"Unknown vessel, state your intentions," came through the radio.
Harry reached forward and tapped a button on the console, "This is the freighter Iona coming in to redeem a bounty posted by your government, please advise that the prisoner is highly dangerous."
"What bounty? We don't have anything posted."
"I'd rather not say anything more over an unsecured, open frequency. You'll see who it is in processing."
Harry didn't need the Force to tell that the other side definitely didn't like that. "Very well. Do not deviate from your course or you will be fired upon."
"Understood, control. Iona out." Harry closed the channel.
"Well, we've got our way in," Ordo commented.
The freighter flew towards the doughnut-shaped station which had several spokes that jutted out from both the outside going outwards and on the inside jutting both on the 'north' and 'south' dimensions of the station. Along the outer portion of the station were several docking bays. Not umbilical bays, but full-blown docking bays with magnetic containment fields keeping the atmosphere in. "Well that will make things much easier," Harry muttered.
"You didn't know about that?" Ordo asked.
"No, my guest neglected to mention that when I questioned her about the specs of the station." And Harry left it at that as he manually piloted the freighter towards the station as if he were following an automated program. He had to keep up appearances for the plan to work.
He flew through the magcon field and landed like a dainty butterfly would. It was then he realized how effeminate that was. He set the launch configuration so they could launch with little preparation; the hyperspace coordinates were already set for their escape vector as well as the blaster cannons primed and ready to fire. Once the configuration was set up to run he walked back to the cargo bay and unlocked the cell and made sure the Blackfire was still in her binders.
"Listen to me very carefully," Harry said to the group of teens and Blackfire, "follow my lead and don't say anything. Pretend that you're mute or that you speak another language if you need to. Let me and Ordo do the talking. If everything goes correctly then we should be in and out of there without a fight."
"What about Blackfire?" Robin asked.
"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it," Harry replied ambiguously as the boarding ramp lowered and he led Blackfire by gunpoint. Harry's probe droid settled itself on his right shoulder like a trained raptor would to its master when commanded. HK and Ordo followed behind him with their weapons in a rested position. Not wanting to get left behind the four teens joined them and followed only a few steps behind them.
They walked along but they couldn't help but look around and stare at some of the Centaurians that were looking at the group with distrust, not that they didn't blame them considering that three of the individuals around Blackfire were armed to the teeth and had bags that the Titans didn't know what was inside them. They entered an elevator at the far side of the hangar that served as a portcullis. One short ride later they entered the internal portion of the facility. The guards pointed them over towards an intake section.
Inside the intake, department was a guard behind glass doing paperwork, more than likely a secretary. "Your purpose for being here?" the secretary asked from behind the glass, not even looking up.
"Claiming a bounty," Harry replied.
"For?" he asked as he stamped some digital paperwork with his signature.
"Kommand'r of Tamaran."
The guard's eyes immediately shot to the group in front of him. Behind his mask, he was absolutely shocked. He immediately brought up a screen that accessed the database that had the records of all inmates who had come in for processing. "That's impossible, we already have Kommand'r in custody."
"Then who is this then?" Harry asked with sarcasm.
The secretary looked at both the shaded, monocolored image on the screen and the teenaged Tamaranian standing in front of him in a comedic head turning motion. If it weren't for the fact that this was a serious situation and operation that required his full attention, he would have burst out laughing at the visual humor. "I... uh... I need to call the warden."
"Please do so quickly, I want to get paid."
The guard quickly tapped buttons on his console before putting his hand to his head and said, "Sir, there's a bounty hunter turning in a bounty and we've run into a problem... No, the hunter is not violent... I am unsure if we are mistaken about one of our inmates or not... No, I'm looking at an image of the Tamaranian Kommand'r here on my console and it looks like her doppelganger right in front of me... Yes, I've checked and it is not a holographic projection. If it is it's the most advanced one I've ever seen."
"Hold on, did you say that you already had someone by the name of Kommand'r in the system?" Harry asked.
"One second, sir." He then turned his attention to Harry, "According to our records we brought in Kommand'r who was hiding out on a backwater planet."
"If that was the case, why wasn't the bounty called off? And is there the possibility that the prisoner you received was a false flag?"
The guard's eyes widened as he then fumbled in asking, "Sir, is it possible that we grabbed the wrong person?"
Harry reached out with the Force and attempted to influence the guard's mind, "It would be fair to do a prisoner exchange if you have the wrong person."
The guard's eyes glazed over and parroted, "It would be fair to do a prisoner exchange." The guard snapped out of it when yelling was heard through the headset. "But it's fair, sir." There was more shouting on the other side. "You are to turn over the Tamaranian immediately!"
"And here I was hoping that we would be able to conduct business like professionals," Harry said right before pulling his sidearm from his thigh holster and acquired the guard and let loose a burst of blaster fire that cut right through the 'protective' glass and killed the guard before he could pull the alarm. "And there goes Plan A," he lamented. Harry looked at his probe droid, "Hack it, find her." The droid quickly zipped over to the console and started working. He then tossed the one duffle bag to HK, "Get to the main reactor, you know what to do."
"Declaration: It will be spectacular! I will not disappoint you, master!" HK shouted in glee after slinging the bag over his shoulder.
HK raised his rifle and aimed it down the hallway that led further into the facility. "He'll be ok, right?" Ordo asked. Shortly after they heard blaster fire coming from further away.
"Oh yeah, he's going to be perfectly fine," Harry replied dismissively as they heard someone yell 'aiee!'.
While Ordo and Harry were having some bander and the probe droid hacked the terminal, the Titans were still in shock at the violence that the bounty hunter displayed in eliminating the guard and immediately flipped from being violent and uncaring to borderline comedic. "But... how did you... how could you kill him?!" Beast Boy said in disgust, speaking for the other three Titans. Even Blackfire was a bit shocked, not angry, just surprised.
"Do you want your friend back or not?" Harry asked. When they didn't say anything he continued, "Her father gave me carte blanche meaning I will do whatever it takes to complete my contract. Think of me what you will, I don't care, but I have a contract to complete." Harry then tapped a button on his gauntlet and the binders on Blackfire released. Harry turned to her, "Don't run off, you got your sister into this mess, you're going to get her out of it. You owe her that much." Data then streamed onto his HUD revealing the entire station's blueprints as well as prisoner assignments. Harry forwarded the information to Ordo. "Form up. We've got a cell number. Stick close and move quickly. Bob has the surveillance feed on a feedback loop but it won't be long until they figure it out and put the entire station into lockdown and I would rather be on the way out when they do that, or gone entirely."
They lined up near one of the large blast doors that slowly began to open. "Ready to show them what a real Mando can do, ner vod?" Ordo asked.
{"Terrify!", Jeff Williams. RvB Season 10 OST.}
"Indeed, brother," Harry replied as he racked his E-11 blaster rifle. The door finally opened fully to reveal several guards holding weapons and very confused expressions. Seeing the weapons in their hands they immediately rose theirs, but before the guards could issue a command or fire at them, Harry and Ordo did first, spraying the entire corridor with blaster bolts hitting every guard all without a single bolt not going astray. "Go!" Harry shouted as he started to run down the corridor, Ordo following in step next to him.
The Titans took a second to figure out what was going on, then continued after the two armored men. They charged down corridor after corridor, making turns that didn't make sense, as if the entire prison was designed to be as confusing as possible, making any escape attempt without a map extremely difficult. Harry and Ordo killed many guards that attempted to intercept them with their blasters, much to the Titans' dismay. The Titans also got in on the action. Robin using his staff and birdarangs to non-lethally take out guards. Cyborg using his sonic cannon to either knock out enemies outright or slam them into the metal corridors of the prison. Raven used her magic to knock out enemies or half phase them through walls leaving them struggling to escape a completely inescapable prison of metal. Beast Boy had long since transformed into a large ape, throttling guards as well. Blackfire was the only "Titan" who really went for the kill by firing overpowered star bolts to kill her targets.
The prison was a massive station that was a thousand meters high, although that height was because of the four spires that jutted out from both ends which formed the eight low-security wings with the single, and largest wing being in the center of the station consisting of high-security prisoners. The lower security of these high security being on the outer portions and the more dangerous being in the inner rings. If someone were to take a look at it and make a few comparisons would see that it looked a lot like Star Trek's Deep Space Nine space station. Except with straight spires instead of slightly hooked spires. The furthest ring was considered an absolute safe zone as that was where guard barracks were located as well as hangars for prison transports and other third-party transporters to deliver their prisoners. The entire station bristled with weapons to discourage attacks or jailbreaks. In between each ring "block" is a single tram system at each of the cardinal points to allow transport of both prisoners as well as supplies; this served a dual purpose of the aforementioned things, as well as a way to corral inmates, should a riot in an attempt to escape occur.
This information was all in the back of Harry's mind as he played out his plan. The team moved towards the tram and quickly captured it, the rest of the station still unaware of what was completely going on as they were fed a report of weapon misfires and radio transmission corruption. It was working, for now, however, Harry knew that it wouldn't last forever, especially as they worked their way further into the prison.
The worked their way through the fewer security wings and made their way to the maximum-security block (see: ring). It was then Harry received a transmission. "Declaration: Master, I have completed setting the charges on the reactor," HK reported.
"Good," Harry replied. "Head back towards the Iona and head towards the waypoint for Plan B."
"Query: Are you having trouble, master? Should I head towards your position?"
"No. Our ruse of this just being glitches in the system and idiot guards misfiring won't last long. They'll switch channels and figure out what's really going on, especially when we reach the cell in the cell block. Fall back and prepare for Plan B."
"Acknowledgement: As you wish, master. Addendum: The signal for the detonator is synced to your frequency to be detonated on your command." And the channel was closed.
"So, what is this 'Plan B'?" Robin asked as the high-security doors opened to the high-security area that Cyborg had hacked from the console beside it.
Harry checked his rifle's power pack. "Let's put it this way, you're going to need those rebreather masks. Try not to break them." This left the Titans who couldn't survive in hard vacuum slightly uneasy.
When the doors opened, there wasn't a single soul there. This was disturbing and made the team uneasy. "I don't like this," Ordo commented, speaking for the group.
Harry led the group forward, Ordo slightly behind him. "Guards have very little control over this area outside of keeping them inside the block. From a new employee orientation manual, that area is primarily patrolled by inmates who can keep the peace inside it. According to the manual: 'it's corrupt, however, the inmates in our pocket keep the block in line, allowing us to keep a hands-off approach'."
"So, we should keep our eyes open for inmates?" Raven asked.
"If they're on the guards' payroll they'll be coming to kill, you should do the same."
Ordo and Harry leveled their weapons in front of them and made their way down the eerily silent corridors. Finally, after nerve-racking, silent corridors, they made their way to a large antechamber of which there were dozens of cells surrounding a central cafeteria area with a large guard tower in the center. "I thought you said there wouldn't be any guards here?" Beast Boy asked.
"I said there would be less here than in the outer areas as they are patrolled and enforced for the most part by the inmates. These guys are just there to keep an eye on them, nothing more," Harry replied. "Should the inmates try to make a break for it they call for reinforcements and completely shut down any forms of exit from the block."
Robin stomped forward to grab Harry by his chest plate and pulled him close. "Are you telling me we've come on a one-way trip?" he angrily yelled into the faceplate.
Harry grabbed him by the wrist and pried it off. "Why do you think I told you to keep those rebreather masks intact and why HK was sent back to the ship: Plan B."
"And Plan B is…?" Beast Boy asked, repeating the same question that Robin had asked not long ago.
"You'll know it when you see it." That didn't sit well with any of them. "Just be ready. This way," Harry pointed his rifle towards the common area. They walked down the stairs that led into the common area and all eyes were upon them, prisoner and guard alike.
"I don't like this," Cyborg commented.
At that moment, a guard jumped in front of them. "Stop right there-!" However, he was cut off by a blaster bolt that killed him instantly. Almost immediately the lights dimmed and were replaced by a red light and klaxon alarm. The prisoners backed away slightly before trying to advance towards the ones who had weapons. AKA the team.
Harry fired his rifle on its full auto setting and sprayed the floor before their feet. The metal turned to scorched slag in front of them. "Back off," Harry warned. He then nodded towards the now deceased guard, "or you'll be next. I have no issue killing scum such as yourselves." They held their hands up in the universal sign of 'we give up.' He then turned to the team, "We need to move quickly, that alarm will summon more of them."
"Statement: I am in position now, master," HK said over the radio.
"Good. Fire on my command." He moved with the team behind him, the Titans primarily watching the prisoners to make sure they didn't make any moves on them. They finally arrived at a cell whose door was reinforced to the point of absurdity.
"I should be able to hack it," Cyborg commented, already turning a finger into a probe to start hacking.
"We don't have time," Harry said as he drew his lightsaber and activated it, the snap-hiss bringing attention to it. He plunged it deep into the door and started to cut through the super-heavy metal like a red-hot knife through any plastic object. However, as the metal was of a particular type, it took much longer to cut through it than it would to go through a metal alloy like durasteel.
"What weapon is that?" Blackfire asked.
"Rescue now, questions later." It took him a solid three minutes to cut through the metal to make a hole large enough for someone to stand up in without ducking. He extinguished his lightsaber and clipped it back to his belt. He called upon the Force and ripped the cut oval of the door away from the door itself. The thickness was at least two feet thick. Harry approached the cell and ducked walked inside. "Koriand'r?" Harry asked the darkness in English, knowing that she did know English.
"Who are you? What do you want?" a girl's voice asked back in English. The tone suggested that her will had long since been broken.
"I'm here to rescue you on behalf of your father."
"My… father?" she unsurely asked. Unsure of whether this was a figment of her imagination or reality.
"Yes. He paid a pretty credit to hire me to come for you. He wishes you to be returned to him out of the Centaurians' grasp."
"Who are you?" she asked as she looks up at him, her still lying down on the slab of metal that could only by definition called a 'bed'.
"While I would hate to sound cliché, you can just call me Prince Charming at the moment," he joked. He extended a hand to the Tamaranian princess. "Now, shall we leave this wretched place?"
She took his hand and stood up alongside him. His helmet had its night vision module active and he saw her destitute state despite her being in Centaurian hands for so little time. Tattered orange prison garb that looked both ripped from rough handling and possibly other things. She looked to be in a pitiful state and if anyone else were in this state they would probably be looking for any way to end it all.
"Yes," she replied.
"Odd question, but can you survive in hard vacuum?" Harry asked nonchalantly.
"I can fly in space, yes."
"Good enough for me." Harry led her out of the cell and into the light to which she squinted in, despite the fact that it was dimmed red light.
Robin saw his fellow Titan and asked, "Starfire?"
"Escape now, catch up later," Harry interrupted. "Something's not right," Harry said as he swept his rifle from side to side. The inmates were gone, or at least in hiding. He caught one inmate in the corner of his eye hiding in their cell. "Be ready for anything," Harry said, already bringing down and activating his rangefinder.
The speakers cracked as a voice said, "Attention assailants, you are surrounded and there is no escape." Harry looked to see many drones and other guards wielding weapons all pointed at them. "Lay down your weapons now and surrender. If you do not, you will be fired upon and you will certainly die."
Robin noticed Starfire shaking. "What is it?" he asked her.
"That's the warden of the prison," Starfire replied.
"He sounds like a cheerful person," Ordo dryly joked.
Harry activated his commlink. "HK, activate the PDCs and load the PPAP rounds and fire at the following targets," Harry ordered, using his rangefinder to mark targets making a large circle.
"Confirmation: Weapons locked and loaded, target coordinates received. Moving into position now," HK confirmed.
"Uhh, what are pap rounds?" Beast Boy asked.
"Plasma Phasic Armor Piercing rounds," Harry replied. "I would hold on to something if I were you."
Before they could ask why bullets came streaming through the prison's walls in a 'curtain of steel' that sliced both through the metal of the walls and floors alike. Any of the guards, drones, and inmates that were in the way were shredded. The walls groaned as the mass of the hull of the station was threatening to break away, but was being held by a thread.
"HK, pull away and get ready for extraction." The stream of bullets stopped. "Put on your masks and make sure they're secure." Harry pulled out a detonator rod and flicked the cap covering the button. All but the Tamaranian sisters as they were able to withstand hard vacuum. Harry then turned to Raven, "Can you create a bubble to keep yourselves in place?"
"Why do you ask?" the mystic asked.
"Explosive decompression." Her eyes widened and she immediately put up a bubble around the Titans.
Harry and Ordo checked their armor to ensure they were pressure sealed. Once Ordo nodded Harry pressed the button. There was a muffled explosion on the other side of the station. The reaction was immediate. The shield surrounding the station, the same that had been exploited by the phasic rounds, faded away. As it fell away air rushed from the open 'wound' in the station at an incredulous speed. Those that weren't secured, like the team were secured as both Harry and Ordo were currently attached to the metal floor with magnetic boots and the Titans with the magic bubble.
The last thing that held the shredded wall in place broke and it flew away with the rest of the air. Along with it went the bodies of the guards and the heaps of drones. Any prisoners that weren't dead were sucked out into space. A ship then flew into the space where the wall used to be and opened a hatch with a magcon field containing it. Harry pointed towards the ship and ignited his jetpack with controlled bursts to fly towards the ship. Ordo followed immediately behind him as he also ignited his own jetpack. The Tamaranian sisters were next as they flew right behind the bounty hunters, carrying the rest of the Titans as Raven lowered her magic shield.
Once they all entered the craft Ordo closed the hatch. Harry had already made his way towards the cockpit and took over the controls from HK. "Hold on unless you want to get a concussion!" Harry shouted from the cockpit. He didn't waste any time in punching the engines to the max and flew as to the plan that was established beforehand. Harry was slammed into his seat despite the compensator installed.
"Statement: I took care of the turrets along our preplanned flight path," HK reported.
"And this is why you're my favorite, HK," Harry commented as he flew around an asteroid that gave him the vector to enter hyperspace. Once he cleared the mass shadow he activated the hyperdrive. Once the blue tunnel of hyperspace was there once more Harry let out a baited breath. He hadn't expected too much trouble, but at least the hard part of the mission was over. "Next stop, Tamaran."
XxXxXxX
Tamaran. 10 hours later.
The Iona dropped out of hyperspace near the edge of the mass shadow of Tamaran. The flight was short and the orbital sight of the planet was… 'eh' to Harry. He'd seen prettier. Alderaan was quite pretty from orbit. Even Earth was to an extent. As the Iona approached they were hailed and once Harry had declared who he was and his cargo, he was permitted to land.
He was given coordinates to land at the palace itself. He handed off the landing procedures to HK and walked back to the boarding ramp. It lowered and standing there before him was the King himself. "Greetings, bounty hunter," he greeted in his native tongue. He looked behind Harry to see both Starfire and Blackfire were following, Blackfire trying to hide behind her sister. "I see fortune favored you and you have returned my daughters."
"I have kept my end of the bargain," Harry replied. "And my payment?"
The king snapped his fingers and two royal guards rolled out a grav-cart that had bars of precious metals and gems piled high. "Will this suffice?"
Harry took a look and looked as impassive as possible. The king had well overpaid him and then some. He could live handsomely and not have to worry about an expense for the rest of his days. "It will. Place it in the cargo hold." The king nodded and snapped his fingers once more the guards pushed the cart up the boarding ramp and led into the ship. While Harry was taking care of business the rest of the Titans had come down from the ship. He spotted them as he walked with the guards and stopped. "I would take the time to say goodbye to your friend."
"What do you mean?" Robin asked.
"I am unsure if her father will let her leave the planet for some time. After all, she is an 'intergalactic fugitive'. Her people will be able to hide her much more effectively than you ever could." Before any of the Titans could voice a reply, he went inside his ship. Harry watched the guard duo unload the payment into strongboxes that were already secured. Once they were off his ship he headed back to the cockpit to prepare for the trip back to Earth to drop the Teen Titans off. Ordo took a seat next to Harry. "You know, I'm almost tempted to pawn off these kids to you to deliver back to Earth."
"I'd probably kill them," Ordo joked. "Spacing them more likely."
"You know, I thought the exact same thing."
"No shit?" The two laughed. "So, what are you going to do with your cut?"
"I don't know. I guess I'll think of something when the time comes."
"Maybe you should pay back Sabine by bankrolling an op," Ordo suggested.
"Perhaps. Maybe that will get me on her good side."
There were footsteps on the floor that didn't belong to HK. "We've said our goodbyes," Robin stated.
"You took your damn time," Harry rebutted.
"What? You don't like saying goodbye?" Beast Boy asked. "Do you have a problem with that?"
It was at this time he let loose words of wisdom once taught to him by another. "If you never say goodbye, then you've never really left." With this, he activated the take-off procedures and leaped into space leaving Tamaran behind. He calculated the coordinates for Earth and once more jumped to lightspeed. "Plus," Harry added, "I have a feeling that you'll see her a lot earlier than you think."
"What makes you say that?" Raven asked.
"I just have a feeling, that's all."
The end.
XxXxXxX
And there we go, a full-blown one-shot done and over with. Would you believe me if I told you this has been sitting on my computer for close to a year? What if I told you this is a prototype for another fic that I'm working on? Well, it's all true.
So that fic I mentioned? Well, this was its first incarnation. The one that I want to make is a Harry Potter/Star Wars fic (no surprise there) with a bounty hunting, Mando Harry as the center of deviant events in the prequel trilogy all starting with Episode I onwards. This whole Teen Titans part? This was just an idea that I wanted to spitball and here it is. I don't have any real notes to make in this installment; I mean I could do the Mando to English translations, but I think you guys are resourceful enough to look them up on Google. Plus, if you don't know them you really don't lose anything, it's just a little addition to selling the whole Mando thing.
But what do you guys think? Interesting? No? Let me know down below as you do. And look forward to this teased idea I got cooking up. I might just post the first chapter that totally hasn't been sitting on my computer for close to a year waiting to be continued (i.e.: chapter 2) here in the repository, so you might want to keep your eyes open for that.
But until next time!
