Chapter 20: Traces and Veils
21 BBY, Mustafar
Harry whistled a joyful tune as he walked without a care in the world. Of course, that was greatly contrasted by his surroundings: the bubbling rivers of lava, the dry black ground, the dry air. Really, Mustafar seemed almost created as the greatest recreation of hell that they could, with fire and brimstone all around them. It was certainly not a pleasant place to live, and he guessed that, were it not for some of the rare materials that could be found on this hellish planet, no one would have wanted to live there.
Still, the place had been filled with activity in recent times, with the Jedi being involved and all. Though he was glad to have met Fay, the Jedi woman without a Lightsaber. She was a rather interesting person, both her personality and her connection to the Force. After all, it was not often that Harry met someone with so much life force, all of which seemed to be topped off by the Force itself, which made her soul very dense.
It was enough to keep her alive when she really shouldn’t be, pretty much as long as she maintained this connection to the Force, and honestly, she could have probably lived for thousands of years if she wanted to.
It had been fascinating to meet a Jedi that was actually a Peacekeeper. Honestly, Fay’s presence had gotten him to respect the Jedi Order, especially if there had been others like her. From what he had seen so far, especially with the war, the Jedi seemed more like warriors than the opposite, so that had been a good surprise, enough that he felt like he could trust her with Satele’s Holocron.
The wizard snickered to himself at the thought of his little prank with the Holocron. The crystal that was used as a base had attuned itself so much to the Force Nexus beneath Tython that Harry got a nice idea to replicate it for the one beneath the Jedi Temple.
That would serve the lightning flinging freak right, putting a bounty like this on Harry’s head.
Hopefully, he’d be having a hard time; Harry certainly wasn’t looking forward to being hunted down by every Bounty Hunter in the galaxy. Well, at least things were not going to be boring, but that was Harry being very optimistic. After all, when had things ever been boring in Harry’s life… ever.
Back to Satele’s Holocron, it had been a very helpful find, mostly with getting started with his research regarding the Force, mostly how to use magic as an intermediary to use it, and to have it amplify its effect. He also had somewhat of a better grasp as to what the Jedi and Sith were capable of, which was very nice.
Satele was also much more level-headed than the Jedi High Council, obviously knowledgeable, and he felt like the Jedi could need the push. He’d probably go back to Coruscant to check in on her, but from the fact that Fay was practically vibrating in excitement (thought serenely, of course), the Jedi would respect her advice, even if she was essentially a sentient crystal that imprinted on the personality of a dead Grand Master of the Jedi, or something. And it wasn’t like he needed her help anymore, with the loot he found in Tython.
With that memory, a stray thought appeared in his mind, “Should I have returned the rest of the Holocrons to the Jedi?”
He had found a lot of things as he walked around Tython. The robot inferi fortress that he destroyed had been filled with the inferi Jedi’s Lightsabers, which was a very nice haul, and he did try to explore things a bit, picking up anything he found interesting.
This included a few Holocrons, though these ones were obviously not sentient and more like repositories of knowledge, though not Sith ones, like the one that possessed Anakin back in Maridun, which was a shame.
The wizard tilted his head in consideration, before shrugging, “Nah.”
That was a silly thing. He already gave them a solid with Satele’s Holocron, though that had been more her decision than his. Besides, he could eventually use the Holocron if he’s feeling curious about the Force. He had no doubt that he had barely scratched the surface of the nature of the Force with Satele, and the Holocrons would be there for later.
Harry had to admit that he wouldn’t have ever considered the whole ‘Following the will of the Force’ thing without Satele’s guidance, and it was certainly a cool experience. From the sounds of it, it felt like a mixture of Felix Felicis and the classical curse of living in ‘interesting’ times. Danger and reward, all at once.
Of course, Harry wasn’t planning on letting anything influence his own soul, which the Force would inevitably do when he used it to follow its currents, for good or for ill. He ended up crafting a guidance spell to act as an intermediary, which had guided him to Fay, and then, the old broken robot.
Speaking of which, Harry decided that it was time to focus on his new find, which he removed from his pocket space, and let it float down slowly towards the ground. It was certainly in rough shape, with most of the metal having rusted away, the wires inside being visible and half-filled with dust. Though, to be honest, it had survived much more than he expected given the hostile environment.
Still, he wondered why the Force had brought him all the way to Mustafar for just this droid, and so, he shrugged and said out loud, “Reparo!”
Harry’s magic rarely interacted well with electronics, but the Force did not have such compunction, with the proof being the existence of Rakatan technology. And so, Harry did not aim the spell at the droid itself, but mostly used it as an intermediary to the Force, making it actually be what was repairing the droid.
Harry felt a small ripple in the Force; a brief, almost synthetic melody rang out to his senses, as the droid’s steel began to mend, rust disappeared, and wires closed, tucking themselves back in. Though the spell did nothing to the missing arm.
Then, the droid’s eyes lit up, and the thing almost leapt from the ground, its single arm moving towards Harry’s throat. The wizard casually flicked his hand to telekinetically send him flying back, only for the droid to activate something from the base of his feet, magnetic clamps if he had to guess, stopping him from being pushed too far away.
It turned to him and finally spoke up, “Observation: A Jedi. How nostalgic.”
Harry didn’t answer as the droid jumped at him, probably hoping to take him by surprise, only for it to remain floating in the air with a small flick of his hand. As it remained upright, it continued to reach for things all around its chassis.
The wizard raised an eyebrow as it continued to do so, only to slump down in disappointment, “Alarmed Observation: This chassis contains approximately ninety-eight per cent fewer weapons than I remember. Sombre Statement: To think that I would encounter a Jedi before acquiring so much as a single respectable weapon.”
He couldn’t help but snicker at that answer, “Oh, you seem to be mistaken. I’m not a Jedi.”
“Sceptical Statement: Meatbag, you are currently levitating me with your mind and are carrying a Lightsaber.”
Harry looked down and saw the Lightsaber hilt faintly showing itself on his belt, while being partially hidden by his jacket. It had been one that he had picked up from the Jedi Inferi that had attacked him back on Tython. What? Sure, him, he liked to carry around a laser sword. He had a lot of them in his pocket space, though he was mostly keeping them aside so that he’d research the crystals that were used in their construction.
Still, it was interesting that the droid picked it up so quickly, and that made his estimation towards his capability much greater. He gave the robot a more respectful look and spoke up, “Nevertheless, I’m no Jedi or Sith. Just a traveller who picked up a few tricks and a few things. Still, it’s impressive that you recognised it so quickly. You’re not your average battling droid, are you?”
“Affronted Statement: Battle droid? Meatbag, I am an assassination droid. The very suggestion that I could be mistaken for one of those mass-produced collections of faulty programming and cheap Durasteel is nothing short of slander.”
Harry smiled in amusement despite himself. That droid was certainly… personable. Most that he had seen before had little to no personality in them, but this one seemed to have one in spades. T7, on the other hand, was mostly mechanical, dedicated in his role as the pilot of Harry’s ship more than anything else, and he respected that.
He still didn’t know exactly what an assassination droid was, but he could guess from the title. Though, given how quickly he fought against basic telekinesis, and how he adapted to it with the magnetic clamps, there was more to him than meets the eye.
Curious about his capabilities, he asked, “Say, how good would you say you are with a blaster pistol?”
It might have been a trick of his mind, but Harry swore that he saw the droid’s eyes brighten in joy. “Proud Statement: Exceptionally. Though blaster pistols lack the artistry that Disrupter rifles and plasma grenades have, they are perfectly acceptable weapons.”
“That’s good since we’re being surrounded,” Harry then threw his blaster pistol, the one that he… liberated from Rex, towards the droid’s lone hand, and let him fall on the ground, “I’m assuming that you’ll be able to make do.”
The droid looked at the blaster in what almost looked like wonder, as a group of green humanoid creatures with scales all over their faces appeared all around them, their blaster rifles aimed towards Harry.
One of them, who was better dressed than the others, spoke up, “Harry Potter! You will come with us.” The wizard continued to look at them, with a raised eyebrow, “We have no compunction against collecting your bounty with your corpse.”
Harry hummed casually as he put his hands in his pockets, “I have a feeling that you lot are on the unsavoury side of the law. Am I wrong?”
His answer was ominous snickering from all around them, but Harry honestly didn’t need an answer. Using his Arcane Hearing, he could almost hear a synchronised song of the malice that every single one of them felt, a snippet of the evil deeds every single one of them committed. Well, he had assumed that they weren’t good people, but it was nice to have the confirmation.
Still, the leader spoke up, “You will surrender your weapons.”
Harry tilted his head and realised that they were talking about his Lightsaber. He forgot about it being a weapon, since he didn’t use it. Shrugging, he threw it on the black sand, not that it would change much.
Still, they seemed to focus on the droid, who spoke up, “Confused Query: Was that directed at me, Falleen scum?”
The leader of their attacker bristled at the insult, and Harry smiled, mostly proud at the fact that he finally learned their species’ name, instead of calling them lizard people in his head.
Still, the Falleen leader let out an irritated growl, “Yes.”
“Dismissive Statement: No.”
That was when things went south immediately, as the droid began to fire at them indiscriminately, expertly dodging their blaster fire, while screaming, “Pleased Statement: Die, meatbags!”
It probably didn’t help that Harry put up an illusion of himself that most of the Falleen fired at, as the droid picked them apart one by one, though he was hit more than a few times, but he tanked those hits surprisingly well. It honestly was impressive how agile and quick the robot was, especially as he grabbed one of their corpses and used it as a shield as he approached them, knowing that he could only be hit so much.
Still, he noticed some of the Falleen having come with Speeders, since they likely called for backup, a pretty smart move, all things considered. Seeing that he should probably contribute a bit, he did something that he would admit he wanted to do since he saw the Jedi inferi do it.
He levitated the Lightsaber, which had been lying on the ground previously. The sword ignited itself and began to move on its own towards their enemies. The first thing it attacked was the Speeders and their riders, before he guided it towards the rest of them.
Deciding that he’d rather not deal with the hassle of more backup, Harry moved the Lightsaber towards the Falleen leader, only for his eyes to widen, as he felt a tiny bit of resistance that stopped the Lightsaber from skewering him.
That stopped him cold, as he finally took things seriously. He immediately telekinetically grabbed the Falleen and summoned him to float before Harry. The man struggled futilely, trying to somehow break Harry’s hold on him, but failed miserably.
Harry walked forward and moved towards the hulking man, whose eyes darted around in panic. He reached his hand towards the object that had grabbed his attention, the thing that stopped the Lightsaber, even if it was for a moment.
It was a necklace made of a metal that Harry had not seen before, but that was not what made him tense. It was the symbol that it had been forged to, a circle bisected by a line, and surrounded by a triangle.
The Deathly Hallows.
He had seen it before back in the Rakatan temple, and yet, here it was again. He ripped it from the Falleen’s neck, earning him a wince at that, and he asked jovially, “Well, isn’t that an interesting trinket? I wonder what it is…”
The Falleen grew confused at his question, and grunted out, “The… Black Sun… will come for you…”
Why did that name sound familiar? Ah, yes, he remembered. He had heard it somewhere on Coruscant, a criminal syndicate if he remembered correctly. It came up once or twice while he was robbing that shipment, but he didn’t particularly care about them.
While an interesting piece of information, Harry shrugged, “That’s cool, not the question I asked you.”
The wizard flicked his hand, and the Falleen was thrown up into the air, probably as high as a skyscraper, while screaming in fear. Harry whistled as he waited for him to fall down, which he did, just a foot off the ground. The man seemed almost spluttering in fear as he asked, “I don’t know! I just found it. Please, no more… no more…”
Harry gave the man a wide smile, “See, was that so hard? Now, why don’t you tell me where you found it, and I’ll be on my way.”
“Tatooine!” The man yelled out desperately at him, “I found it on Tatooine!”
The wizard let go of his telekinesis and bowed to him, “Thank you for your cooperation.”
He quickly put the necklace in his pocket and summoned his Lightsaber back, deactivating it and putting it on his belt.
That was, of course, when the droid just shot the Falleen dead, and Harry turned to look at him. He struggled not to chuckle at the comical sight as the one-armed droid had three blaster rifles tied around his chassis, “Delighted Observation: This level of gratuitous violence is very impressive… for a meatbag, even a Jedi.”
“I'm not a Jedi.”
“Dismissive Statement: Of course not.”
Harry chuckled at that and answered with the droid’s sass by summoning the blaster pistol that he had given to the droid earlier, mostly out of pettiness, but also because he had grown fond of the weapon.
The droid obviously was not happy with it, “Outraged Statement: Theft. I have been robbed.”
“It was my blaster.”
“Counterargument: It was in my possession.”
Harry chuckled at the droid’s argument and looked at the rifles strapped to his chassis. The robot did the same before turning to him, “Resigned Statement: Very well. I shall permit this injustice to stand.”
As the wizard rolled his eyes, the droid continued, “Curious Query: Should I expect this level of violence to be a common occurrence around you?”
He rubbed the back of his head in slight embarrassment and answered, “It does happen more often than I’d like. The large bounty that’s apparently on my head probably doesn’t help. I’ll have to look into that…”
“Announcement: I have reached a decision. Determined Statement: I shall accompany you.”
Harry gave the droid a smirk and answered sarcastically, “Really?”
“Affirmative Statement: I refuse to miss the quantity of gratuitous violence that such a bounty is likely to attract.”
The wizard’s smile widened at that answer. After all, what else would he expect from the bloodthirsty droid? “Well, I suppose that introductions are now in order. I’m Harry Potter.”
The assassination droid hesitated for a few moments before answering, “Statement: I am designated HK-47.”
“Well then, HK-47, let’s make our way back to my ship.”
“Query: And where are we going?”
Harry's fingers briefly brushed against the necklace hidden in his pocket and answered, “Tatooine. We’re going to Tatooine.”
AN: I had a lot of fun writing this chapter. As I said before, I’m still getting the hang of writing a Star Wars story, so bear with me if anything feels off.
As for this chapter, I thought to focus a bit on the HK-47 find with Fay that was a couple of chapters back, and also show a bit of his capabilities without going overboard. At least, I hope that I didn't when I used a small attack team from the Black Sun on Mustafar. We'll see them a bit more in the future. I'm so excited to write about Tatooine, though. There's so much potential there.
As usual, I don’t mind rewriting this chapter depending on your feedback, so please let me know what you think and if you have any suggestions.