Chapter 48: CH-48
Harry looked unperturbed at their reaction, and shook his head at Aayla sadly, "The Jedi Order and these... Sith… I've heard so much about, seem to have no concept of what magic, or your 'Force' if you prefer can truly accomplish."
He gestured at Ahsoka, "Ask her, if you take the oath, that is. I've spent hours describing just the basic subjects I was taught as a teenager in one of my people's schools, and hinted at dozens of other subjects along the way."
Aayla glanced at Ahsoka, to see Ahsoka's head bob in acknowledgement.
Harry turned to look at Ahsoka with a brief smile as he addressed her, "What we've discussed barely scratches the surface."
Harry turned his head back to Aayla, his expression serious once more and his eyes piercing hers like they were reading her soul. "Am I dangerous? I assume the bodies in our brig answer that."
"Am I threat to the Order? I could be. But… hell, Dobby could also be a threat if he got it in his head that he was protecting me by doing so, and I didn't countermand the idea," Harry sighed a bit, this time more in irritation, "As it is, Dobby is well aware that he is not supposed to help me unless I ask for it… or tell him otherwise."
"Do I intend to harm the Order? Not unless they go out of their way to provoke me for some reason. If that happens, I doubt I'd have any qualms about destroying them, much like I've done to any cult or movement that I've ran across in my life that felt they could tell me how to live my life..." Harry looked at the two women who were both frowning and exchanging looks at that statement, matching looks of confusion spread over both of their features.
Aayla stared at Harry. That was never a statement that she had ever expected to hear. She had honestly not suspected him of being a Sith, and this kind of attitude was one that the Sith never had in regards to the Jedi Order. The dislike was common, usually it was hatred. But Harry was expressing something else. Utter apathy. He didn't like the Jedi Order… but didn't seem to focus any ire at them. In fact he just didn't seem to care about the Jedi Order, except as a possible annoyance. She had no idea how to deal with that.
After a long pause, Harry slowly turned his chair back to the main console and started ship's repulsorlift engines, "Dobby? Is everything taken care of and the ship secured?"
"Yes, Master Harry Potter, sir!" Dobby's voice called out though he didn't appear.
"Good, thank you. Go back to the Cargo hold for now and watch the women back there to ensure they're okay and aren't jostled by take-off." Harry ordered and then called out, "Minnie, do we have clearance to depart?"
"Er, may I remind you, sir, that we are on Nar Shaddaa, Mister Potter?" The droid's voice responded.
"Oh… right. Flight plan optional." He chuckled a bit and then shook his head moving his hands to the ship's controls. The rising pitch in the sound of the engines made it clear that the ship was preparing for take off.
The ship lifted off to silence in the cockpit.
Ahsoka was the first to react to what had happened. She flashed Aayla a smile, and touched her hand quickly, before she turned to the instruments in front of her and began to make adjustments, and check readings.
Aayla stood for a few moments longer, as the realization that she had been accepted aboard came slowly. When she finally gained a hold of her senses, she whispered, "Thank you, Harry." then sat down and strapped herself into one of the navigation officer's chairs behind the pilot and co-pilot's seats.
Harry didn't acknowledge her whisper immediately, though she was sure he had heard it. That bird of his followed her movement with its head and continued to glare at her, but it appeared to be a least slightly less vicious than before.
Maybe.
They took off and blasted off of the moon and rose through the atmosphere in a matter of two minutes. Nar Shaddaa had no restrictions on when the transition from repulsorlift to sublight engines could occur, as the moon was already polluted almost beyond salvation. Aayla was surprised that there were no ships that tried to prevent them from take-off.
"Harry, what kind of sensors do you have on this ship?" asked Ahsoka suddenly her focus on one of the readouts.
He glanced over at the screen Ahsoka had keyed up, and he smirked, "A little bit of this, a little bit of that."
She gave him an exasperated look, and continued, "No really, I don't recognize half these displays and readouts, and I've been around most of the bleeding edge military sensor packages in the galaxy for the last two years."
"Slum around in the Galaxy a bit, and you'll find that there are many things out there that Sienar, Incom, Subpro, KDY, and Rendili wish they'd dreamed up for their ships, much less actually developed." Harry grinned a little bit. "Why? See something interesting?"
Ahsoka nodded slowly, "I... think so." She pointed to the display, "There are some sort of ghost signatures out there that are only being picked up by this one scanner… the other two show absolutely nothing."
Harry glanced over and hummed thoughtfully. "Oh that scanner, something an acquaintance of mine developed based on an idea I described to him. It's useful for picking up objects without power or whose presence only registers physically. It's an extremely advanced version that combines what my world calls sonar and radar. It doesn't use sound waves or radio waves, too slow obviously, but the concept is the same, just with an energy base I was able to provide an emitter and receiver for. What are your thoughts?" Harry asked Ahsoka curiously.
He was fairly sure he knew what was going on, but knew better than most how just providing all the answers could hurt someone far more than letting them take a little extra time to figure it out on their own.
"I… think… it's two stealthed or powered craft that I think normal sensors, short of some of the stuff SkyGuy plays around with wouldn't be able to see." Ahsoka ventured as she looked to Harry for confirmation.
He nodded, as if he had been expecting it. "Your friends, Cad Bane and Aurra Sing weren't among the bounty Hunters we picked up or made an attempt on us. This could be either or both of them, about to make their run on us. Or it could be two other bounty hunters hoping to take a shot and being smart enough not to enter the chaos on the ground."
Ahsoka quickly hit some buttons on the console in front of her. "Shields are now at full, Harry." She stated, though she was somewhat surprised that activating the shields didn't seem to cause too much of a drain on the power cells, because the ship's speed didn't slow.
She took a look at the amount of energy the shield capacitors put out and winced. She hadn't noticed before but the shield emitters on this ship... sucked. A couple of blasts would take them out of the air.
K̾o̾-̾f̾i̾
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