Lost and Longing.

Harry just watched, letting the hacker look over the file without comment, his expression relaxed and unperturbed at the silence. Though Ahsoka's eyes kept glancing back and forth between the two of them.

"That's quite an extensive list of terms, people and objects you've left me. But… there's no context, no planet of origin or anything. Very curious," The hacker said intrigued. "And which one is the one that you said you'd pay the 40,000 for?"

"It's the one at the top. The rest are mostly curiosity on my part more than anything. But any information that at all relates to him, and the money is yours." Harry nodded his head at the datapad for emphasis.

"And if I find out he's alive?" The hacker asked almost offhandedly, curiosity in the modulated voice.

Ahsoka saw a look of pure surprise on Harry's face. As if he hadn't even considered that possibility before. After he got over his surprise, that looked blended into a look more intense than any expression she had seen on Harry's face before. "You find him alive and can provide a location for him, I'll give you 500,000 credits." Harry said intently.

The hacker met his expression for several seconds before replying slowly "That's an awful lot of money for someone who might not even exist."

Harry seemed to relax and shrugged a little bit and chuckled, "Perhaps, it wouldn't be the first fool's errand I've been on in my life. If it is, it probably won't be the last."

The hacker frowned a little bit, sliding the datapad off the table and depositing it in his robes. "I'll poke around and see what I can find. But I have to say, if I find him… or any of them, I doubt you'll manage to collect. Especially if you continue with the company you keep."

Harry just tilted his head curiously.

The hacker hesitated a moment before it's voice dropped to a near whisper while it jerked its head slightly at Ahsoka. "The word is out on the… former Jedi. Bounty on her is sky high. Every two bit bounty hunter in the area has been watching for her, and is now in or around this bar. I almost left the instant I saw her sitting with you, but this is one of the bars considered neutral territory. So I'm as safe as possible."

Ahsoka's eyes widened as she looked around furtively as if she could tell who was who, but her gaze fell on Harry who hadn't looked away from the hacker, nor did he seem at all surprised by the information. "Those are mostly just the two-bit ones, or the overly ambitious. The good ones are already back at your ship. That's how they knew you'd landed, the word was out on your method of arrival. If you want to remain inconspicuous in the future, you may want to change that. Red and gold, called the Gryffindor. Very distinctive." The hacker said.

"I like my ship." Harry replied with a small smile and an easy shrug.

"That's a shame, because I doubt it'll ever fly again. If it's not already blown up, then the bounty hunters there have already rigged it to explode." The hacker replied. "They really want the amount on the head of the former Jedi. They aren't even paying lip service to your guild code." "I'll take my chances. My mechanic is the protective sort. I highly doubt my ship's going to be rigged to explode with him on the job," Harry replied with a small smile, making no comment about the fact that the hacker had identified him as a bounty hunter.

Ahsoka realized that the slicer had probably dug up what he could on Harry before showing up to the meeting in the first place, especially as whoever Harry was acting as a courier for clearly used someone different for this exchange.

"The price on her head is high enough to convince bounty hunters to work together to get the price." The hacker commented.

"Before they all betray one another hoping to secure the bounty solely for themselves," Harry interjected with bland disinterest.

"Of course," The slicer replied. "My point is that you might want to warn your mechanic to get out of there before he gets himself killed."

"Dobby will be fine. It's the bounty hunters that ought to be concerned. Especially when he's feeling protective." Harry grinned slightly and shook his head. "He can be a little overzealous sometimes."

The hacker regarded him silently for several moments before nodding slowly. "You may be confident, but be careful. Even the good ones may be a bit desperate. They're hoping to beat Cad Bane to the prize. It also seems that Aurra Sing was somehow… sprung from the tomb that the Jedi's poster-child Twi'lek managed to bury her in. She's supposedly around here as well." The hacker said, the modulated voice flat and very soft, barely reaching their ears.

"Sing is Force-sensitive," Ahsoka whispered. There was actually a fair amount of concern that spread through her, which she ruthlessly used mental exercises provided by the Order to squash.

Cad Bane and Aurra Sing were notorious Bounty Hunters, not just because of how much destruction they caused in order to capture their targets, but for how they repeatedly and had successfully targeted the Jedi Order. Cad Bane had gotten the best of Ahsoka more than once and it was only through the intervention of her Master that she was still alive. That caused her eyes to flick toward Harry instinctively. Harry's voice was calm, and filled with assurance as he glanced at her, "Relax. I knew they'd made us before we stepped into the bar. They're not going to get you. I can't have a student for less than a week, I'd be a worse teacher than Snape ever was."

"I hope you have a backup way to get off the planet. Your ship is a lost cause. Even if you dump the Jedi, there's no way they'd let you get to it." The hacker said. "And if you did, they've probably got it rigged to blow."

Harry shook his head slightly. "Trust me, my ship is safe. Anyone tries to damage it and… I foresee it ending poorly for them." The hacker raised it's eyebrow at that but didn't comment on it. Harry's attention once more locked on to the slicer. "Thank you for the information on the bigger names and about those that we'll find back at or around our ship. An additional 20,000 will be in the account on that data card within 48 hours. It's yours." The slicer widened their eyes slightly and then nodded.

"You should probably head out before us. Don't want you getting caught in the cross-fire if some moron decides to get an itchy trigger finger in here," added Harry as his eyes flicked toward the bar once and narrowed slightly.

"Pleasure doing business with you. I'll be in touch if I find anything. Assuming you survive," The hacker got up without preamble and departed the table without another word.

After a few moments silence, where Ahsoka did her best to not stare around the room and gauge the threat levels of the now known bounty hunters that were present, she had a sudden thought.

Now that she was aware of it she could spot several of one of the ones who were trying and failing to be circumspect about watching their table. Of course now that she saw it, it seemed like everyone who's head moved or eyes glanced in their vicinity were sizing them, and more specifically her, up for targets.

.

.

.

🧿Visit my site at tiendup for more advanced content...🧿

🧿Read the complete novel in PDF, available at my Store!…🧿

https://fictiontopia.tiendup.com/