CH-26

"She did not approve of the former professions of her son's wives. She did not like that he took mistresses, and she definitely did not like that some of the others I paid were frequent guests at their manor after that. I'm not sure who told her but she never forgave me for setting it up. She gave me a death glare whenever I visited after that," Harry shook his head with a sigh, "Didn't stop her from doting on her great-grand babies though."

"I'm… not even sure what to say to that." Ahsoka stated as she tried to envision what Harry was saying.

Harry shrugged and glanced around the bar, his eyes seeming to analyze each individual though he didn't stop on any one in particular.

"What are you looking for a hacker for?" Ahsoka asked finally trying to go back to their initial topic of conversation. It was a habit she was becoming accustomed to as Harry occasionally went off on random tangents in their conversations.

"I want to see if they can find some answers to questions I have, and what happened to someone that may never have existed." Harry's responses were short as his eyes scanned the crowd. He was unsurprised when not a minute after he waved off a barmaid that someone abruptly slipped into the seat across from them.

The person was also hooded and cloaked, and even had a piece of cloth over their face. Ahsoka couldn't even identify the species beyond the vague definition of humanoid. The only thing that was visible were the eyes.

"I thought I'd be meeting one person," The voice was low but was obviously coming through some sort of modulator to further distort and conceal the person's identity.

Harry glanced over at Ahsoka before he shrugged slightly and turned back to the figure "She's a friend, unrelated to our business. What's the pass phrase?"

The figure's eyes narrowed slightly in response "Ah yes, I received your message and decoded it. It said that is how you'd recognize me. I'm not sure I have this right… 'Draco Dormiens Nunquam Titillandus'."

Harry relaxed after a moment, "That's right." He leaned back in the booth, and put his arm over the back, consequently over Ahsoka's shoulders.

"Interesting pass-phrase," The hacker commented. "I couldn't get it translated."

"It's in a language that no one currently out amongst the stars in this galaxy should speak and translating would not be simple, at least not without a lot of time and effort. It would actually take tracking a single language back to it's roots, though no one seems to know what those roots constitute of. Perfect for a challenge question," he shrugged lithely.

Harry reached across the table with his free hand and placed a package in the exact center which none present had noticed was in his hand up to that instant.

Ahsoka, barely schooled her feature when she felt the tiniest disturbance in the Force when her eyes finally 'noticed' the package. The package was off the table in an instant and opened up by the hacker quickly, inside was a datapad.

The figure they were speaking to was already hooking up their own much more complicated datapad to the small one that had been in the box. The figure's eyes were flicking over it's own datapad quickly. "Once I verify that this is what I demanded. I believe our business is concluded."

Harry shook his head, "Not quite."

The figure stiffened and looked up from the datapad, a hand diving into his robes, clearly for the reassurance of a blaster.

Harry held one hand on the table, his fingers spread, the other open and palm facing the suddenly suspicious hacker.

Ahsoka felt another small burst from the Force, this one unfocused, and felt a calming influence spread to the unknown person across from her

She'd known Master Kenobi to be a master of that particular 'trick', but never had she seen anyone use it with such fine control that it was likely felt no further than the back of the being's seat opposite them.

Harry spoke quietly, his tone soothing, though firm. "Peace. Not a threat. An opportunity. I want to hire you."

The figure narrowed his or her eyes a moment, "And if I say I'm not interested?"

Harry frowned a moment, and then shrugged. "Then I thank you for your time and we go our separate ways. I heard you were the best, that's why I asked to do delivery on this particular job."

"I was curious as to why he trusted someone new with this delivery, it would have been quite costly to replace if you failed to deliver it." The figure said.

"He owed me a favor, and mentioned the task in passing. I just took the opportunity." Harry shrugged. "I don't make promises I can't keep and I promised to deliver it to you. Free of charge, in fact, just for the opportunity to talk with you."

The figure regarded him for a moment. Before the eyes flicked back to the datapad, and a few moments later seemed very satisfied with what was found there. The figure disconnected the datapad and turned it's eyes to stare at Harry for nearly a minute.

Then the figure seemed to shake slightly in amusement. The mirth came through even through the voice modulator. "Okay. You delivered as promised. I'll bite. What is it you want to hire me for?"

Harry shrugged slightly and with a movement of his fingers slid a data card onto the table. The cloaked figure once more looked down but this time didn't pick up the card.

Reading the suspicious look on the being's eyes Harry explained. "A simple information search. I'm basically trying to find if any of the people or items named or described on that card existed historically or not. I have exhausted every other avenue I can think of, at least alone."

The figure's eyes reflected puzzlement before it tilted it's head in obvious curiosity. "Historically? What system? How long ago? What kind of timeframe?"

"I don't know." Harry shrugged, "I can't even provide a system or a starting point for you. Truth be told I can't even confirm that any of them actually do exist. I mean historically or presently. It's completely open ended."

The hacker tilted their head slightly. "That's… not very much to go on. How much is this information worth to you?"

Harry paused a moment, "Depends on what you find. On the card is an account with 30,000 creds simply for accepting. Sight unseen. You find any information on any of the people, terms or artifacts listed especially if they dovetail with any circumstances listed and it's an additional 10,000 credits. Even if that information is considered merely myths or legends on a planet."

Harry tapped his finger on the table. "There's one name with descriptive details on there that's highlighted above the rest. You find information on him, where he lived or died, or even any unverified legends that matched the descriptions I provided. Any bit of information at all and there's 40,000 additional creds on top of the rest."

Ahsoka was surprised, she had no idea what specifically Harry was looking for. He hadn't volunteered that. She could tell he was reluctant to talk about it, and she hadn't really asked though now she was very curious.

The hacker frowned a bit and it's hand flicked forward to swipe the datacard, plugging it into the datapad thoughtfully. After a moment the figure began to scroll through the information on the card, eyes flickering rapidly over the information, tapping the datapad occasionally.

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