CH-2

Harry ran his hand over the side of the box, Ahsoka had gone back to studying her glass so as not to be too nosy, but she looked up sharply when she felt a small surge in the Force.

Harry was either oblivious or unconcerned by her sudden interest in his actions as the box opened up from a seam that hadn't appeared to be there before. Inside the box were packages of several different sizes that Harry idly began sorting through. He piled several datacards into one pile, and a couple of other packages that seemed to be small lumps into another. The packages that weren't data cards seemed to disappear into his jacket with quick movements.

Harry hummed softly before shutting the case and running his hand over it again in a curious gesture before pushing it back across to the bartender who took it without hesitation to store it in the back again. "Anything interesting?" she asked curiously

Harry shrugged a bit as he slid a card into a datareader to begin perusing it. "I dunno, we'll find out. Though… I wonder if you 'accidentally' slipped any more pictures of yourself in there like the last time I was gone."

The bartender winked at him. "You'll just have to check all the data cards to find out won't you?"

Harry chuckled as he took a sip of his tea, idly flicking through information on his reader, humming and seemingly oblivious to anyone around him.

Ahsoka was still watching him curiously when she felt something press against the back of her head.

"Don't move, Jedi." A harsh voice said from behind her.

Ahsoka froze, realizing that it was the business end of a blaster that was currently resting against the back of her head. She cursed herself for being so distracted as to let someone sneak up on her. She also cursed her lack of a lightsaber as it would no doubt be coming in handy right about now.

Leaving the Jedi Order had been a rather spur of the moment decision that afternoon after the courts had been forced to see that she was innocent. She, rather stupidly she admitted in retrospect, didn't reclaim her only dependable weapon.

She attempted to go another route, by attempting to bluff her way out of the situation. She spoke slowly trying to inject terror into her voice, "J… jedi? Me? N..No, I'm not, you've got the wrong person." She attempted to subtly use a mind trick on the person, though not even being able to see them hindered her effort somewhat.

She was not at all helped by the snort from the human, Harry. She couldn't tell if he was laughing at her situation, or her clumsy attempt to manipulate the person behind her while under stress. The laugh was most assuredly directed at her though.

She wondered what kind of person could laugh at a person facing this misfortune and wished she'd get a chance to make him think twice about laughing at someone in trouble. Otherwise he simply sat there continuing to read and take another sip of his tea, seemingly unconcerned with the situation developing beside him. Unfortunately, the attitude was matched by many others in the bar, they were either unconcerned or glancing over to make sure the business didn't involve them.

Ahsoka Tano was unsurprised by this, well aware that was how things worked in less reputable areas. No one wanted to intervene for risk of getting themselves drawn in and possibly eating a blaster bolt for their troubles.

The bartender was looking over past Ahsoka's shoulder and to each side with wide eyes, something Ahsoka took to be a relatively bad sign. That meant there were more than just the one behind her.

She could hear the sneer in the voice as it replied. "Don't try to lie, we saw your trial on the holonet… Me and the boys Laughed up a storm when the Jedi looked like they'd eaten dianoga poodu at the end, in fact." There was a chuckle from at least two others behind her.

"But now the words out that you're no longer with the Order, and that just means that you have no backup here, little Jedi." The voice continued with scorn.

Ahsoka frowned wondering how on earth the word had gotten out that she had turned down admittance into the order. It had only happened a few hours ago!

"You will bring in a very nice bounty from any one of several very interested parties." The voice continued, the barrell of the blaster not moving from the back of her head. "I'm just happy me and my guys were already here, and lucky enough to run into you first."

Ahsoka's eyes widened and she couldn't keep the look of shock off of her face. Not only had word circulated that she was out of the order, but somehow she had a bounty placed on her head? And people willing to collect on it? Especially here on Coruscant, a system that wasn't exactly friendly and welcoming to any bounty hunters that ventured through.

There was no missing the excitement in the voice of the man as he continued to speak, "The bounty on you is six figures, nearing seven if you're alive!" The excitement dropped and his voice turned grim again. "But I don't want any of your Jedi tricks, I'll happily take the dead bounty if you even think of giving us trouble."

Ahsoka couldn't help the scowl that crossed her face. Being put on trial as a traitor to the Republic was not one of her best moments and now at least one of the enemies she made working with such a high profile was looking to bite her in the ass.

She squared her shoulders and tried to sound as calm and confident as possible. "Look, I don't want any trouble."

The person behind her didn't so much as hesitate, "Good, then you'll put these binder cuffs on." as a pair of binder cuffs clattered onto the bar counter beside her. She looked at them and looked at the counter for anything she might be able to use as a weapon with surprise on her side. Unfortunately the only thing within reach was her cup and she had no idea how many people were holding blasters on her.

"And if I don't?" She asked, stalling for time as her mind raced. She'd be a lot less likely to escape or put up a fight if her hands were cuffed especially if she couldn't manage to get uncuffed.

"Well, the bounty on you dead is just fine with us too. Alive is just worth a good deal more. And they haven't specified just how alive you have to be." The sneer in the tone was obvious once more.

Ahsoka started to turn to face the speaker, but the barrell of the gun pressed against her head stopped her as much as the harsh. "I told you, you move you're dead. Do anything I don't like you're dead. Either put on the binders or we settle for the dead part of 'dead or alive.'"

The voice brooked no nonsense or options and Ahsoka could sense that he meant every word he said. She was tempted to push him back with the Force but that probably wouldn't stop him from pulling the trigger on his blaster and then she'd be dead.

Even if she did manage to make him miss, she also had no idea if any of the others had their blasters pointed at her or how she might manage to avoid all of them.