Chapter 5: Shady Deals

An endless expanse of stars was unfolding before him. They zoomed by like car headlamps, throwing him deeper and deeper into their centre. Every time one sped by, he felt a flash of heat, and a handful of tiny coloured marbles would trail in its wake. Each marble carried a faint smell; sweet, bitter, musty, dusty, watery…

All were different. All were tiny, so miniscule he could have pinched them between his fingers. And yet he couldn't help but feel a strange affection for the odd one as it sped past.

Then, all of a sudden, everything stopped. Stars were winking out one by one…No, they were being blocked by something approaching him. It was an eye; a giant, pitiless grey eye. It forced its way past and sent him tumbling out of the way. Its baleful gaze turned toward one of the marbles; an aquamarine one with streaks of white across it.

Fear gripped him. He didn't know what was going to happen, but he couldn't let it. He had to protect it!

There was a horrible droning sound, and then there was a burst of green light. There was a scream echoing inside his head, so loud that it drowned out everything else.

It was his mother's scream.

It was Cedric's scream.

It was his own.

Harry awoke with a gasp, sweat pouring off him so intensely that he almost thought he'd been dropped into a tub of water. He grabbed for his glasses, but his hands were shaking so badly they slid out of his grip and smacked him in the face. Harry gave a huff of irritation, but strangely, the discomfort seemed to help him refocus himself. He picked his glasses up again, putting them on more properly. That dream…it wasn't the first time he'd had a nightmare that ended with a burst of green light and a scream. Yet it had felt different, somehow…

The door of the stateroom hissed open, and Ron strode in. "Oh, good, you're finally up. Han says we'll be landing in about an hour, so we need to get ready."

"We're landing?" Harry flung himself out of bed, nearly falling flat on his face in the process. He just barely managed to stumble onto his feet, seconds before he would have crashed into Ron. "Sorry."

"'In about an hour', I said. Blimey, I've never seen you get out of bed this fast," Ron said with a wry grin as he dressed haphazardly. "Not even for treacle tart."

Harry ignored him. It was hard to say what it was that made him enjoy takeoffs and landings. Maybe it had something to do with how much he loved to fly. Perhaps, if he tried hard enough, he could convince Han to teach him how to pilot the ship? "Okay, ready." He blinked at Ron's smirk. "What?" Ron pointed to his left hand. Harry looked at it, and saw that he'd somehow put a sock over it instead of his left foot. "Oh." He fixed it hurriedly, face heating slightly as he heard Ron snigger. "There. Let's go."

They left the room, finding the rest of the group waiting for them in the mess. "G'morning, sleepyhead!" Han said by way of greeting. "You just missed us getting the last few things ready. Lucky you, eh?" He grinned at Harry's guilty look. "Anyway, I wanted to let you know a few things before we land. You know how much the Hutts mess with things on Tattooine? Well, it's worse on Teth. Officially, it's Empire-controlled; but if that was all, we wouldn't be bothering with it. It's more like a Hutt world with an Imperial wrapper. Gangs just under the surface, a black market, and on top of that it's an agriworld."

"So…why find work there?" asked Ron.

"Where there's risk, there's reward. And we need to meet someone anyway."

Neville nodded. "O-okay. So…what are we doing?"

Han snorted. "You? You're staying on the ship with Chewie. You too," he said, looking at Luna. "I only need three to help carry the cages."

"'Cages'?" asked Luna, and Harry heard something a little less dreamy about her tone.

"Well, I'm not gonna let 'em run around the ship for a day and a half! Besides, they nest in dark tunnels, so they'll prefer a dark container to a bright ship corridor anyway."

"…Oh. That's good, then."

"Why are we the ones transporting them, anyway?" asked Hermione, frowning at Han. "No offense, but you don't really look like you're in the business of animal handling."

Han shrugged. "That's the great thing about me, kid; taking orders from no one but you means you can be in any business, if you're good at it. Plus there're credits to be made, which helps when you want to eat."

"But why us specifically? Why doesn't the person just ship them themselves?"

He stared at her for a few moments, and she stared right back. Finally, he chuckled. "Okay, fine. The Empire has a strict system of taxes and permits in place, even for bug farming. You pay them to be allowed to own your land. You pay to be allowed to raise the things you want. You pay to be able to sell them. You pay to transport them. And then, after all that, you better hope you have some credits left over, because you gotta pay to make sure there aren't any 'accidents' with everything else. Most can't afford all those things; not if they want to actually survive. So people like me…like us," he said, looking pointedly at them, "are around to step in. Ease the burden a little bit. So we transport things for people at a more reasonable price than the Empire and their credit-squeezing."

"We smuggle them, you mean," said Ron.

Neville frowned at Han, while Hermione's eyes narrowed. Luna didn't seem to care much, and Ron actually seemed a bit excited. Harry watched Han carefully, waiting for his response.

"Yeah," Han said with a wry grin. "We smuggle them. Problem with that?"

"But that's illegal!" Hermione said, shocked.

"So's traveling without an identicard," he said without a change in his expression. "How's that workin' out for you?" She didn't answer back, though she looked like she would quite like to have. "…Look. I know this probably isn't your first career choice. But if you want me to get you back to 'Earth', wherever it is, it's gonna take resources. And those aren't free. It'd be one thing if you had your own ship and got to pick which jobs to take and which to turn down. But I don't get much in the way of options; not with the Empire looming over everything."

"So you'll just take anything, then, if it pays?" challenged Hermione.

Han looked over to Chewbacca. "Well, Chewie? Have we turned anything down that would have lined our pockets otherwise?"

The Wookiee growled something that Harry didn't quite catch all of, but it was clear what his intention was: there were things that were off-limits. Doubtless there were more specifics to it; Luna's eyebrows were slightly furrowed.

One of the consoles beeped, and Han listened to it for a moment before addressing them once more. "We can finish this later; we're about ready to drop out of hyperspace. Harry, Ron, I want you up with Chewie and me. The rest of you strap in and wait until we land."

Harry hurriedly followed Han and Chewbacca through the corridors until they were in the cockpit, with the swirling vortex of hyperspace visible through the screen. They each took their seats, and Han tapped several buttons and switches before setting his sight on the lever near the center of the dash. "Dropping into realspace now." He gently pushed the lever forward, and within moments the vortex disappeared, stars coming into view as a large purple orb seemed to grow to massive size before them before stopping abruptly.

"Looks like a great purple marble," Ron muttered. "You sure it's dangerous?"

Marbles… Harry frowned, thinking briefly about the dream he'd had…before shaking himself and refocusing on the planet.

Han was chuckling. "I'm sure. But that's not all bad; means that they've got better things to do than look closely at what we'll be carrying." He motioned for them to keep quiet as he flipped a toggle near him. "This is the Millennium Falcon, contacting Peroon traffic control. Requesting permission to land."

A few moments passed, and then a voice responded, tinny over the connection. "This is Peroon traffic control." It sounded like someone who would much rather have been sleeping, and Harry distinctly heard a stifled yawn before it continued. "Please hold while we check your identification." A few more moments passed. "You have been cleared to land at docking bay 14. Please note that all landing and export fees must be paid within one standard day to avoid additional fines."

"Roger that."

"Peroon welcomes you and we hope you enjoy your stay." The voice didn't even bother with any emotion; no doubt the person it belonged to had repeated those words so many times they'd lost all meaning.

Han flicked the toggle back off. "Always a pleasure." Harry watched him closely as he brought them into the atmosphere, trying to keep track of all the buttons and switches in use. It was difficult to do as they came close to the spaceport; he could see it sprawling out before them, a web of buildings and starships in the middle of a mass of multicoloured fields. Harry wondered to himself if they had anything in the way of food on the planet that they could fill their stores with. It was nice to have rations to sustain them, but ration packs weren't quite the same as a proper meal.

Han and his copilot eased the ship down, landing at their designated spot. Unlike the desert planet they'd found themselves on before, the ship bays were not set into pits in the ground. Rather, these were more like dirt lots of varying sizes, with scaffolding around them. As they set down, he caught a glimpse of one of the scaffolds unfolding over the ship before it dipped out of sight from the viewport.

"On the ground," Han muttered. "Okay. Here's the plan. Chewie, you keep Luna and Nev with you on the ship." The Wookie growled something disapproving. "I know, I know. But he's only willing to meet with me alone, and I want this ship ready to go at a moment's notice in case things go south." Chewbacca growled, but it was much less fervent than his previous objection. "…Close enough. Now, you two," he said, pointing at Harry and Ron, "and your bush-haired friend are coming with me. First step is to transport our new cargo and get it secured. Once we've got that, I want you to stay onboard with everyone else while I meet a, er…'friend', so I can pay a few fees."

"Fees?" asked Ron. "What fees?"

Han fidgeted slightly. "…It's not something I'd like you to get involved in. Let's just say some friends help me find some of my jobs, and I owe them some of the profits in return."

"But that's-"

"Drop it, kid." It was strange; he hadn't raised his voice, scowled, or even changed posture at all. And yet the stern tone of his words brought the discussion to a rapid halt all the same. There wasn't any anger in his voice, nor any sort of offense taken.

Could it be…fear? But for what?

Walking through the streets was again new. The desert planet's buildings had seemed to be made of adobe, and there were many archways to allow shelter from the harsh desert sun. …Or suns, rather. But this planet's city had simple tamped dirt pathways, and the buildings seemed to be made of curious white material; Harry couldn't tell if it was stone, plastic, or steel, but the buildings it made seemed sturdy enough. Off in the distance there were tall, white walls that blocked off a group of tall, white buildings. They seemed clean, and yet it somehow did nothing to make them look more inviting.

Unlike those buildings, though, the ones they were passing looked more lived-in. The strange thing about them was that they seemed as if they'd been dropped in place somewhat haphazardly; almost none of the buildings' walls lined up with their fellows, and the roads rarely ran straight for long. Yet the buildings were weather-worn, and if he had to guess, they were probably older than him; ten or even twenty years, maybe. They reminded him of a catalogue Aunt Petunia had been looking at when he was younger; full of pre-made homes that could be put up or taken down in a fraction of the time that normal houses could.

…But then, why hadn't anyone bothered to move these buildings in so many years?

"Han," muttered Hermione as they walked. "How old is this city?" Harry blinked, surprised he hadn't been the only one to find it odd.

Han chuckled. "If I remember right…'bout fifteen or sixteen years now. This planet used to belong to the Hutts, but after it got dragged into the Clone Wars, the Republic decided to scrub it clean of shady deals while they were here; gangs, black markets, everything. They just about had it too, until the Republic collapsed. When the Empire rose up they decided to stake their claim on it. They dropped all these buildings down, stuffed 'em with people, and announced this city was the new capital. The new government decided they couldn't be bothered to do any policing unless it hurt their funding."

"And the gangs came back, didn't they?" Ron asked, looking around them suspiciously.

"Yeah. You're not gonna find 'em just staring everyone down, though. Even in a place like this they won't attack us in the open." He held up a hand to silence further discussion. "We're here."

They were nearly at the edge of the settlement. Han knocked on the door of a dwelling that seemed to be twice the size of most of the others. It slid sideways, revealing a woman with dark hair and two circles on her forehead. "Hello. We're here to pick up an order for return. Tann Duriyan requests express delivery." She looked around at the rest of them, shrugged, and motioned for them to wait, ducking back into the building. Soon, a long, floating crate was being pushed back out. Harry put his hands on it, and was surprised at how easy it was to move despite its obvious weight. Two more were pushed out, which Ron and Hermione each took, and she followed the last one out. Once the door was closed, she held out a hand. Han dropped a credit chip into it, and she nodded. "No refunds," she muttered, and promptly returned inside.

They made their way back to the ship, Han leading them. He'd told them not to speak until they returned and, reluctantly, they'd complied. Of course, the instant the cargo door had closed…

"I thought these were supposed to be cages!" exclaimed Ron. "What are these things? And how are they floating?"

"They are cages; the panels take on the appearance of metal when they're darkened. Less questions that way. And what do you mean, 'how are they floating'? Repulsorlifts, obviously. What, did you think they were floating on a magic cloud or something?"

"W-well…"

He rolled his eyes. "Of course. Look, I've ordered Chewie and the others to stay on board. I have to go meet with a business contact, and I want the rest of you to wait here too."

Hermione's eyes went wide. "But you could get in trouble. Maybe if-"

"No ifs. You heard me." He didn't even look at them as he turned away and walked back out the cargo door.

Ron looked at the man's retreating back, and then at the other two. "…We are following him, yeah?"

Hemione rolled her eyes. "Obviously. Come on."

They just barely managed to get him in sight before he met someone. Of all the aliens they'd met so far, this one had to be the strangest; it looked like someone had replaced a human head with an entire squid, and made the skin orange and scaly. The two chatted casually, but from their current distance Harry couldn't make out what they were saying.

"They're headed that direction," murmured Hermione, gesturing towards what looked like a storage building of some kind. "Should we cut them off?"

"No," said Ron. "If we do that, we might get him in trouble and ruin the whole plan with the bugs. We'll give them a few seconds after they enter before we do."

Hermione nodded, and waited for the two to get inside before motioning them forward. Hermione drew her wand rapidly, stopping the door in its tracks before it could shut properly; Harry couldn't quite hear what spell she'd cast, but he had to appreciate how quickly she'd reacted. All three squeezed in, taking a few moments to look around.

They were standing in what looked like a large warehouse. Huge crates were piled up several feet in the air, and smaller ones were stacked into piles just as often as they were left scattered about. "We won't be able to hear anything from here," whispered Ron. "We need to get closer."

"Come here," Hermione whispered back. "I can Disillusion the two of you. Just promise you'll be careful." The two of them nodded, and they heard the footsteps of their quarry come to a halt.

Harry peeked around a large box; they'd stopped in the center, in the middle of a loose ring of small crates. "There they are," Harry said softly. "Hermione, once you've used the charm on Ron and me, go and hide back by that crate we came in. If something goes wrong and you can Stun them, then go for it."

"Okay," she whispered back, still looking slightly nervous. "Remember, be careful, you two."

"We will, now hurry!" he urged her. She rapped him smartly on the head, and he felt that familiar cold sensation trickling down him as the charm took hold. She did the same to Ron, and Harry actually got to see him vanish, more or less, from his flaming red hair downward as his body took on the color of the container behind him; it was both impressive and eerie. Carefully, he placed a hand behind Ron's back before he faded from sight completely. "Okay, we're ready," he whispered. "Stay by those crates until we get back." She nodded in his general direction before creeping back to the crates. Slowly, Harry led Ron toward the area near the centre of the warehouse, straining his ears to catch as much of the conversation as he could.

"…paranoid even for you, Tekles," Han was saying, his right hand on his hip.

"And I 'just think' that being paranoid keeps me alive, especially in this business," shot back the creature with the octopus-like head. "You have them?"

Han reached into his vest with his left hand, pulling out the cards they'd gotten from the blue aliens on Gamorr. "Count it if you like, but it's there."

"I'll count it just the same, thanks." The creature plugged them into the device on his wrist one after another; it emitted a soft chirp every time, which seemed to satisfy him. He stuffed most of the odd cards into his own pockets, but handed two back. "I'm surprised; Jabba expected there to be some trouble with payment."

Han took the cards, smiling. "I'm a man of many talents, Tekles."

Tekles made an odd wheezing sound that might have been a snort. "I'm glad to hear it. I presume the new job will be a simple affair for you."

"Sounds easy enough; three bugs on a one-way journey to their buyers."

"Yes. And they had better all be alive and well-cared for when you drop them off, or the deal is off, and Jabba will have your neck, boy."

"Aw, I didn't know you cared, Tekles. Now, my fee?"

The alien sighed, pulling a single card out of another pocket. "There. You'll get the rest on delivery. On successful delivery." He handed it to Han. "And the status of our, ah…investment?"

"Safe and sound."

"You had better be telling me the truth, Solo. The new job would get you in trouble if it falls through, but if that merchandise gets lost or stolen, it'll get you a death mark."

"I told you, it's safe. I take care of my ship, which means you have nothing to worry about. Now just tell me who to deliver it to and I can get it into the customer's hands that much sooner."

The alien sighed. "Very well. The buyer will meet you in orbit over Klatooine. Then go take a trip somewhere for a month or two while things cool down." He made another wheezing snort. "Don't look so disappointed. You can test your precious ship against the Run another time, but for now you've got more than enough to worry about."

Harry saw movement out of the corner of his eye. He turned his head and had to suppress a surprised gasp; shadows were moving through the warehouse, and he was sure none were Hermione.

"Her name is Dann Rei, aboard the Opportunist. Give her the name of the friend we discussed, and she'll let you aboard to-" He broke off suddenly.

"I know," said Han, almost too quiet for Harry to hear. "Okay!" he called out, looking casually around. "If you're gonna make this a party, we'd at least like to meet face to face." Harry noticed that the whole time his right hand hadn't left his hip, not far above his gun.

Was he expecting this? Harry wondered. He tapped Ron's shoulder, pulling him as close as he could to whisper directly in his ear. "Wait 'til they show themselves. Get your wand ready, but don't fire curses wildly; only do it when you know you'll hit. I'm going to get closer." He caught the faintest motion where Ron's head would be; it was almost certainly a nod. Harry patted him once on the shoulder and edged closer to where Han was, hoping beyond hope that their attackers wouldn't just start firing in every direction; he may have been difficult to see, but as he'd become aware after years of using the Invisibility Cloak, not being seen didn't mean you suddenly weren't solid. He drew his own wand, hoping that they could be quick enough to prevent harm from coming to Han.

A figure stepped forward, and as they did, Harry saw that they had a face so full of wrinkles they would have looked like a prune, had their skin not been gray. Long, braided hair dangled from the back of their head like double whipcords, and a twisted smile split their lipless face as they casually spun some sort of gun around their left pointer finger. "Well, well, what do we have here? Is this a deal, going on in our warehouse?"

"What's it to you?" snapped Tekles, reaching for a gun of his own.

"Ah ah ah," the creature reprimanded, the gun suddenly stopping and pointing at Tekles. Nearly a dozen more beings stepped forward out of the shadows. Some of them looked like the speaker, while others were human; regardless, all had guns of their own at the ready. "No need for that. You just hand over those credits you've got on you, and maybe we'll leave it at that for today."

Tekles looked around at them. Harry did as well; at least two of the humans had tattoos on their faces. One of them was a black mark that almost looked like a sun. "This is a Hutt warehouse," the octopus-headed creature growled. "Black Sun thugs have no place here."

"That's where you're wrong, fishbait," one of the humans said. "You're not the only ones with Hutt bosses."

"Now now, let's all be reasonable," said Han, whose hand Harry suddenly noticed had inched closer to his weapon while his attention had been elsewhere. "How about a deal? Maybe we give you fellas an equal cut of the profits instead. You get paid, we get paid, and our bosses get paid. Everyone's happy. Besides, if we start filling the air with blaster bolts, the Empire's gonna come knocking."

The speaker scowled at Han, and then paused. He tilted his head back and forth as he considered the offer. "Hm…tempting, I'll admit. Though…that bribe we paid the customs officer should keep him away for another twenty minutes or so." His grin returned. "I have a better deal. You give us ninety percent of what you've got now, and half of the profits from whatever deal you're making here, and we let you walk away. I'd take it, if you value your life."

Harry saw Han's frown, and he knew that the "negotiations" weren't going to last much longer. They had the element of surprise, and he had a straight shot at the leader. It was now or never.

"Expelliarmus!"

The being's gun sailed through the air toward Harry, and he caught it, fumbling slightly with it. He hadn't even got a proper hold on it when it went off, jolting slightly and sending a red bolt in the direction of its owner, who had stumbled backwards and fallen flat on his bottom. The bolt flew just over his head, burning a small circle into the wall beyond him.

"Stupefy!"

A jet of red light whizzed through the air, striking the individual Han had been speaking to. He promptly collapsed behind the rough ring of crates he and Han were in the middle of.

The wrinkle-faced creature sputtered for a moment, and then snapped "Well, don't just stand there, you laser-brains! BLAST HIM!"

Utter pandemonium erupted as bolts of red flew every direction. Harry happened to see one of their assailants collapse, but then a stray bolt lanced across where Ron was and he heard a sharp intake of breath. "Ron!" he whispered.

"I'm fine, just get them!" he whispered back.

Harry got a proper grip on the gun with his left hand, but it shook slightly. I've never fired a gun before; I'll be lucky if I hit anything at all, much less what I aim at. His grip tightened on his wand. Whatever; I don't need it as any more than a distraction anyway! "Confringo!" he yelled, pointing his wand at a group of smaller crates stacked up halfway to the ceiling. A ball of orange light leapt from his wand, exploding forcefully against the crates and causing them to cascade downward like an avalanche. He saw two, maybe three of the unknown individuals collapse under the rain of boxes, but two more escaped with no more than glancing blows. "Accio firearms!" The guns in the hands of the two that had escaped flew towards Harry; they paused, bewildered, at the sudden absence of their weapons.

"Stupefy!" yelled Ron from somewhere to his right. A jet of red light struck one of the dumbfounded individuals, and he crumpled to the floor. Another jet of red struck the other one, but this one left a circular burn and seemed to ignite the man's clothes temporarily before extinguishing.

Han, Harry thought, trying to suppress the squirming sensation in his stomach. He was starting to feel winded; he wasn't sure how many spells he had left in him, but he couldn't afford to waste them. The gun in his left hand seemed to become slightly heavier. Maybe…if I just fire near one of them…

"Someone else is here!" the leader yelled. "Spread out!"

"Stupefy!" Hermione's voice rang above the din, and another of the assailants fell, but it cost her; she'd leaned out to get the best aim and was too slow returning to her cover. The one closest to the fallen crook fired at her, and Harry saw the shot hit her in the shoulder, knocking her to the ground.

"HERMIONE!" bellowed Ron. "Conjunctivo!" A spell hit the man in the eyes, and he shouted in pain as his off-hand went to clutch at his eyes. To Harry's worry, the man began blasting in all directions with his other hand. He prepared to Stun the man, but there was a shout of "There!", and he had to dive in the direction that Ron was to tackle him out of the way as several bolts of red flew at the places they'd just been. As he rolled onto his back, he noticed with a shock that he could see himself properly again. Ron as well; there was a long burn across his stomach where the earlier shot had grazed him. There was another shot, and suddenly the warehouse went quiet. Strangely, it didn't feel any less tense…and then he realized why.

"Well, well, what have we here?" the leader jeered, pointing his weapon at Harry and Ron as he approached them. "So you hid a few backups nearby in case of a double-cross, did you? And with personal-scale cloaking; I think you've got more than enough credits to recoup my losses." His eyes moved from them to Han. "One wrong move, smuggler, and I'll fry your little helpers. But I might be persuaded to be forgiving; dropping all of my crew does mean no one to share the rewards with. Hand over all your credits, now, and I might let you leave here alive."

"You really think I can trust that?" challenged Han, his voice cold and hard. "When you just blasted your own man?"

"Consider it a warning. This is your second." He leveled his pistol to point straight at Harry's eyes. "There will not be a third."

Harry's mind raced, his heart pounding, and yet he knew there was nothing he could do quickly enough to save them. Ron was still facing to the side, and both his wand and his stolen weapon were facing the creature's feet. If only I could cast non-verbally…! But chastising himself did no good. This was the end.

…I'm sorry, Ginny. We couldn't save you.

Suddenly, something smashed the man right in the face; one of his compatriot's guns! The man's hands went reflexively inward, his weapon aiming at the ceiling rather than Harry's face. Without even thinking, Harry clutched the objects in his hands tightly; the gun in his left hand went off, striking the man in the foot. With a roar of pain and surprise, he stumbled backwards, another bolt of energy striking his occupied arm as he did. The gun flew out of his hand, and he fell over, suddenly mirroring Harry in his pose.

Han walked closer to the man, his face a hard mask of cold fury as he stood over the gang's leader.

"W-wait, we can work this-"

BANG!

The man twitched, and spoke no more. Han holstered his pistol, and turned to Harry and Ron. His face softened, no longer full of hatred but still filled with more than enough anger. "Here," he said, offering a hand each to Harry and Ron. They took them, and he pulled them both to their feet. "…You weren't supposed to be here." Hermione approached them, clutching her injured shoulder and wincing in pain. "…I've got some stimpacks back at the ship. We'll get you patched up soon. For now…" He sighed, and there was a complex mix of emotions before his casual expression returned. "…it looks like you did okay for yourselves." Harry and Ron grinned nervously. "…But I don't know what the hell you were thinking!" he shouted.

"We were worried!" Hermione yelled back. "We came to make sure you were okay!"

He closed his eyes and took a long, frustrated breath before letting it out in a huff. "Any reason you blasted my contact?" Han asked, glaring at Hermione.

"We couldn't risk him seeing us. Not with our…er…" She glanced at her wand. "…special equipment. So I got him out of the battle before we appeared."

"…But now he's dead."

"No, Stunned. We can bring him out of it. Watch." She pointed her wand at the alien.

"Er, Hermione, wait…" Harry began, but she'd already committed to the action.

"Rennervate." She tucked her wand away, and Harry and Ron hurriedly followed suit as the creature stirred.

"Ugh…what the Fornax just happened?" Tekles said, rubbing his forehead.

Harry hadn't even had a chance to respond before Han cut in. "Those Black Sun twerps tried to rob us blind. One of them must've set for stun; looks like he got you pretty good there."

"He sure did…wait, hang on…" He looked up at Harry. "Who are you?"

"They're my crew," Han said. "I had 'em hide just in case someone decided to interrupt our deal."

"Hrm…so after all that, you were even more paranoid than me…" He gave a raspy chuckle as he got to his feet. "You'll go far in this business, Solo."

"What about them?" asked Ron, gesturing to the unmoving bodies littering the warehouse.

"Hmm…are they dead or stunned?"

"A little of both," replied Han promptly.

"Your crew didn't have the stomach to kill, hm? Pity. Still…might be able to work with this. How long has it been since the fighting started?"

"About five minutes."

"Please tell me you didn't clean out their pockets."

"We didn't."

Tekles nodded. "Good. In that case, I have a few calls to make. Leave them here, it'll make things go smoother." He nodded to Harry, Ron, and Hermione. "My thanks, you three…whoever you are. Now, Captain, I believe you have somewhere else to be. You understand your instructions, right?"

"Right. Take care, Tekles." Han walked over to the body of the gang leader, yanking the gunbelt off of him and handing it to Harry. "…If you're gonna keep that blaster, you'll need a way to carry it."

Harry blinked, noticing that he was still holding the blaster in his left hand. "Oh…right." He tied the belt around himself, temporarily tucking the blaster under his shoulder as he did. Once it was properly in place, he tucked the weapon into its holster. The weight was slightly awkward, and yet…it felt oddly comforting. Almost as if he had suddenly gained another wand to use strictly for combat.

Han chivvied him and the rest of them along, and they began moving briskly to keep pace with him, tucking their wands back into their robes as they left the warehouse. After a minute, he spoke. "I thought I told you to stay on the ship. Ordered you, in fact." His tone was stern, but it seemed that his face couldn't bring itself to match.

"You 'ordered' Neville and Luna to stay on the ship," replied Hermione, with a trace of her old bossiness. "You just told us we should, not that we had to."

He was fighting a grin now. "Just my luck. It's not just kids I get stuck with, it's with five kids that go outta the way to be a pain in the cargo hold."

It was odd how little anyone in the city around them seemed to care about their injuries or damage to their clothing. They returned to the ship with little fuss, and the instant they were inside, Han hurried them to the mess.

"Now, I'm not gonna lie," said Han, rummaging through several open boxes. "What you did was stupid and reckless. Not to mention you got yourselves hurt doing it." He found what he was looking for, drawing out…another gun?! Harry flinched, before realizing it wasn't a gun at all. It was…some sort of silvery pen-shaped cap attached to a large apparatus in a shape vaguely like that of a gun; there was even a trigger. "You're hurt worse, you first," he said to Hermione. She stepped close to him, looking nervous. "It's fine, it's just bacta. Hold still." He pressed the tip of the cap against her injured shoulder, pulling the trigger. There was a sharp hiss from the object, and a short gasp of pain from Hermione, and then he removed it.

She touched her wound absently. "It…it doesn't hurt anymore."

"Don't pick at that. It should be healed by morning, but if you open the wound again you'll need another shot, and I don't have a lot of these to waste." Hermione went to sit down at the table. He motioned Ron over, pressing a button on the end of the apparatus. There was a brief sizzling noise, and Harry saw the cap flash orange for a moment before it was silver once more. "Now, back to what I was saying. You shouldn't have gotten caught up in all that back there. You could've been killed." He pressed the cap against Ron's stomach. The same process happened; trigger pull, hiss, gasp of pain, and then the object was retracted. "But…thanks." He gave them a small smile, and then looked around at all of them. "…Because you just saved me a long lecture from Chewie."

"What?!" sputtered Ron, glaring at the man. "We saved you from a lot more than that!"

"Not really," he said, again pressing the button that made the cap light up briefly. "I've got a few tricks up my sleeve too, you know." He looked at Harry. "Were you hurt?" Harry shook his head. "Good." He tucked the apparatus back in the box, shoving it away with his foot. "…I don't suppose you're going to tell me about those sticks, are you?"

Harry frowned. "It's…a long story." He looked down, thinking of the world they had yet to return to; about Hogwarts, and Voldemort, and Ginny, and Snape, and all the rest of what was waiting for them when they returned.

"Not one with a good ending, is it?" Harry said nothing. "…All right. Another time, then." He stood up, walking towards the engineering section before stopping again. "…When we get to Sakiya, we'll have a little more time to get things in order for our last stop. Since I can't stop you from poking your noses where they shouldn't be, maybe Chewie and I can at least make sure you can handle yourselves in a fight." And with that, he left.

Ron let out a long sigh, practically collapsing onto the seat next to Hermione. "Phew…that was something else. I dunno about you, but I'm beat."

"You said it," said Harry. Whatever it was that limited their magic in this place, it was making him feel as if he'd run a mile. "All I want to do is go back to our room and sleep for a day."

"Hear, hear. This 'bacta' stuff sure makes me dizzy." He yawned loudly. "Well, might as well head back before I fall asleep right here. C'mon, Hermione." He stretched his arms out, yawning again, and was just about to get up when he frowned. "…Er, Hermione?"

They both turned to look at her. She was already dozing, her breath making the ends of her hair sway.

Ron chuckled. "Always reaching something first, our Hermione. Harry, mind helping me with her?" Both of them took an arm, and together they supported her between them as all three returned to their room. Ron didn't even stay awake long enough to bid Harry good night, slumping into his bed seconds after they'd gotten Hermione to hers.

Harry climbed into his own bunk, and felt the ship shudder into a liftoff. Darn, he thought, yawning. I wanted to…see the…

And then he'd fallen asleep too.

CHAPTER END

I was hoping to have this up yesterday, but...*shrug* Anyway, here's another one for you! As always, feel free to let me know what you thought of it.