CH-61

Aayla nodded a little bit. A small smile crossed her face, briefly. Her former Master was one of few words and she had known him long enough to understand he communicated a lot more than what he said with a small amount of words. He may no longer be her Master, and she had earned her own title of Master, but he would always care for her. Now he was concerned for her, not just her safety but also her well being since he remembered being sent on a mission like this. However, he was also communicating that he trusted her to make her own decisions and her judgment.

"May the Force be with you, Master Secura." Obi Wan said quietly and earnestly as a farewell.

"I think, just maybe, it's finally with us all again." she replied softly before disconnecting the Holonet call.

She sank back in her chair and closed her eyes. She had made her decision to follow this path in the Force.. now the hard part.

Convincing Harry Potter to let her stay beyond their landing at Kashyyyk.

After she pressed the button to disconnect herself from the holo conference feed, Aayla felt exhaustion begin to set in as the events from the past few days finally lent their weight down upon her. It had been five minutes since its conclusion, and the rutian Twi'lek still had not moved from the co-pilots seat she had used to communicate with the High Council.

She desperately wanted to doze off, or at least drown herself in the nothingness of meditation. Her incredibly long day, and one that was filled with both danger and shocks to her system had been draining on her. However, she had too much to do before she could allow herself to rest.

She had done what should've been the hardest part of her now self-imposed mission. She believed she had gotten the High Council to back off of their observation of Harry, as well as allow her to continue to follow in his…journey… path… wake… crime spree.

Truth be told, it wasn't actually easy to distinguish between them all at the moment.

But, only now, did she realize that the true hardest part lay before her. She had to convince Harry to let her stay with him and Ahsoka beyond their arrival upon the planet Kashyyyk. And she had not the slightest clue as to how to even begin that conversation.

He didn't trust her. That was a given. He presumed she was a spy, a potential assassin in the making, and/or a would-be kidnapper to Ahsoka Tano. Those are just the things he had said to her face, she wondered if there was more he hadn't said to her.

She knew she was probably premature in her conversation with the Council. She had spoken like her decision to go on this venture was a settled and foregone conclusion, as if she was sure she could follow through. Unfortunately, as of now, Aayla fully anticipated that Harry would kick her ass out the moment after they landed and tell her "Don't let the ramp hit you on its way up."

How in the name of the Whills could she convince him otherwise?

Suddenly, a stray thought hit her. Maybe it was best to start small.

"Minnie?" asked Aayla hesitantly as she keyed into the comm that she had seen was connected directly to the droid.

"Yes, Miss Secura?" responded the droid after a brief pause.

"The holocom conversation I just had, do you know if the ship kept a recording? If so, can you save it in case Harry would like to view it later?" Aayla asked. She had been amazed when she found out that Harry had his protocol droid able to flit between the odd looking mobile unit she saw, and the ship as a whole.

Harry had mentioned that it was merely for convenience sake, being able to have the droid complete various tasks that might require communication or possible real time information. The droid couldn't control any physical aspect of the ship.

"The ship automatically logs all holocom calls for a period of 72 hours, though they tend to be infrequent. So your previous holocom call was recorded and accessible for another 71 hours and 49 minutes, Miss Secura." The droid responded in her prim feminine tone.

Aayla nodded looking a bit relieved. She was glad the ship saved them because she hadn't thought about recording the session beforehand. "Do me a favor, can you save the file beyond that on a permanent basis until I ask you to delete it?"

There was a brief pause before Minnie responded forthrightly, "File saved, it will only be deleted if asked to do so by yourself, or Miss Tano or Mister Potter as they have more authority than you do."

She could prove how much she did or didn't tell the Council with that recording if necessary. Then she realized that she might need it to open the conversation and make her case in the first place.

She sighed a little bit before pushing herself to her feet. She noted that the avian animal, which had never left the cockpit was looking at her. Though Aayla couldn't really say the animal had an expression or even that the expression changed, she felt that the bird was staring at her with a bit less malevolence now. Of course that could just be her imagination overacting with a bit less guilt after deciding to save the holocom call.

She headed out of the cockpit and wandered into the depths of the ship. She moved quietly through the cargo hold. Every few meters she paused and looked around at the cots. The former slaves were all sleeping, most of them curled up in groups, but all of them sleeping quietly. Aayla could feel the sense of the Force active in the area, in a different way than it had been before but she couldn't see anything out of the ordinary, beyond the still expanded space. It was still something her mind still refused to deal with.

She moved quietly through the area, not wanting to wake any of them and headed toward the back, past the rooms that were currently being used as the brig, keeping an eye out for Harry.

She passed into the back toward the engine only to stop as she passed a compartment to the side. The door was open, and Aayla could see Harry leaning against a wall with his arms crossed.

Ahsoka was walking back and forth in the small space. Aayla could see her mouth moving and Ahsoka gesticulating wildly but couldn't hear anything. She also noticed the fact that the room was filled with shelves containing tools, datapads, and other items, all of which currently seemed to be shaking noticeably.

K̾o̾-̾f̾i̾

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