A Galaxy of Magic

Chapter 8

Harry woke up as he normally did, with Aayla practically lying on top of him. What he wasn’t used to was Maris firmly pressed against his opposite side. He turned his head and found her still asleep. Her breathing was slow and steady, and he could feel her covered breasts pressed against his arm. Her arm was draped over his stomach, and one of her legs was resting over his, almost identical to Aayla’s position. He was trying to decide if he should wake them or let them sleep longer when Maris began to move. Her hand drifted over his stomach and down until it was very close to a certain area. She yawned before her eyes fluttered open. Harry was looking right at her when they did.

“Good morning,” he said, trying to hide his amusement. She blinked a few times in confusion before remembering that she had fallen asleep in his bed. Her cheeks grew pink in embarrassment, and they turned flaming red when she realized where her hand was. She pulled it away and moved her leg.

“Sorry,” she apologized.

“It’s okay. As you can see, Aayla always uses me as her personal body pillow,” he told her.

“I can’t help it,” Aayla suddenly said, her tired voice muffled against his skin. “You’re so comfortable,” she told him in a teasing manner. “Isn’t that right, Maris?” she asked, teasing the younger woman. Maris groaned in embarrassment and turned her body away from them, making Aayla giggle. All this movement and noise woke Shaak Ti from her slumber. She yawned loudly as well.

“I could have used another hour,” she stated, rubbing her eyes with the butts of her palms. “That was the best sleep I’ve had in days,” she commented.

“How long have we been sleeping?” Aayla asked, making no move to get out of bed. Under the blanket, her finger was tracing the muscles on his stomach. Shaak Ti groaned and reached for something on the bedside table. She looked at it and answered.

“Nine hours,” she read from the device. “That’s a bit longer than we planned.”

“It’s not like we’re on a time table. It’s probably good for you to catch up on your sleep,” Harry rightly told them.

“True,” Shaak Ti replied through another yawn. Harry tried to rub the tiredness from his face before he sat up.

“I’ll go start breakfast and let you girls have your privacy,” he told them and got out of bed. He scooped his dirty clothes from the floor and left the room.

He went straight for the bathroom and took a quick shower. After putting on some clean clothes, Harry made sure to strap his holster belt around his waist. As Aayla had said, Tatooine was a lawless place. It had nothing to do with the fact that he felt really cool with it on. He then went to the kitchen and began cooking the girls some food while they showered and got ready for the day. Aayla was the first to arrive. He set a cup of coffee down in front of her, for which she thanked him.

“So what are we going to do first?” Harry asked her as he set out the plates. “Should we go out and explore, or do we go through all the stuff I stole to find what would sell best?” he asked her.

“We’re going to go out and have a look around. We’ll see what shops are nearby, and that’ll determine what we can sell,” she told him. Harry nodded. Shaak and Maris joined soon after. After everyone was watered and fed, he had them all stand up. He then waved his hand and cleaned their clothes.

“I’ll show you how to use the washer and dryer so you can clean your clothes whenever you want,” he said.

“You know how you make the shirts we wear to bed?” Shaak asked him and continued when he nodded. “Is it possible to make me a different set of clothes? Going out in our Jedi robes would be asking for trouble, and I don’t think it would be a good idea to go out in this,” she explained, indicating what she was wearing. That was certainly true, Harry thought. Her outfit was more like a slutty swimsuit than actual clothing. Her tits and ass were almost completely exposed. She was fine wearing it around him, but Harry definitely foresaw problems if she wore it in public.

“How about something similar to what Aayla is wearing?” Harry asked her. Shaak nodded.

“That would be great,” she said. Harry waved his hand, and Shaak squeaked and jumped when her outfit morphed into something different. She looked down and saw that she was now wearing tight brown trousers and a brown tank top that showed off a generous amount of cleavage. She looked at him and raised an eyebrow.

“A bit revealing, don’t you think?” she asked with a knowing smile.

“Not compared to what you were wearing before,” Harry chuckled. “I can change it if you want,” he offered, but she shook her head.

“I’m just teasing you. This is fine,” she told him, rearranging her breasts to make them more comfortable. Neither Aayla nor Maris needed him to change theirs as well.

“I’ll change it back once we return to the ship for the day,” he told her. “Is everyone ready?” he asked them.

“We are. Remember, no lightsabers unless you have no other choice. The only question is how to keep them hidden,” Shaak said. The girls all looked down at their clothes. It would be impossible to hide them under the skin-tight fabric.

“I have an idea. Give me a few minutes,” Harry said and went straight to the cargo area. He found the expanded crate and opened it up. Using his magic, he levitated the crate he was looking for and set it on the ground. Opening it up, Harry pulled out three holster belts similar to his. He spent the next few minutes magically expanding one of the little pockets that usually held an extra gas canister on each of the belts. Once finished, he carried the belts back to the girls. “Here you go,” he said, tossing one to each of them. “I expanded the first little pocket. See?” Harry said, slipping Aayla’s lightsaber into the expanded space.

Only the topmost rim of the lightsaber was sticking out. Aayla took the belt and wrapped it around her waist. He had to admit, she looked very sexy while wearing it. Aayla pulled it out manually and then tried again using her Force powers. She smiled at him.

“That’s wonderful, Harry. Thank you,” she said gratefully.

“It has the added bonus of making our group look even more armed. That will help deter anyone looking to start trouble,” Shaak Ti added as she slipped hers around her slim waist.

“Do Jedi know how to use these blasters?” Harry wondered.

“We know how. We just don’t normally use them. Jedi prefer lightsabers. They are much more versatile,” Aayla explained. With everything settled, they exited the ship and closed the ramp behind them.

“Wow!” Harry exclaimed, squinting his eyes to keep the sun and sand out of them. “You weren’t kidding. It’s hot.”

The sun was fully beating down on them the moment they left the shade provided by the huge ship. Harry quickly hit them all with Cooling Charms, and they began their trek into the port city. As they entered the city, Harry’s first impression was that of confusion. There were things he would expect to find in a technologically advanced alien world, but that was overshadowed by the fact that all the buildings looked to be from the biblical era. The contrast was hard to believe. Species of all sorts walked the streets, and while some were humanoid like the three women beside him, others were blatantly alien.

“Any ideas where to go first?” Harry asked as he moved out of the way when the driver of a hovering car appeared that he wasn’t going to slow down for him.

“Let’s just keep walking and see what this hovel has to offer. It’s been a while since I was last here,” Shaak said as they continued on down the road. Unfortunately, their peaceful sightseeing tour was rudely interrupted. As they passed by what appeared to be a cantina, two beefy aliens burst through the door and nearly plowed over Harry as they tussled.

“Hey!” Harry cried out in English as he stumbled so hard that he was forced to catch himself by placing his hands on the hot road. Either they didn’t hear his cry of annoyance, or they didn’t care. The larger of the duo kind of looked like a werewolf from a cheesy 1980s film, and the other was blue with a stubby snout. Harry quickly noticed that no one thought this was abnormal. At most, passersby just looked and snorted in amusement at the grappling pair. Most didn’t even look. The blue snouty guy suddenly rolled the wolfman over and punched him hard in the face. The wolfman roared in irritation and used his larger size to roll the blue guy onto his back. Harry looked down at his palm and saw that he had scraped his skin a bit. He glared at the duo and was rewarded with them rolling onto his feet and knocking him down. Now there were three rolling around on the ground. Harry took the opportunity to get in a few punches to the ribs and backs of the two idiots who had knocked him down.

Aayla huffed, walked into the tussle, and grabbed Harry under the arms. She tugged him onto his feet and pulled him away from the scuffle. “Really, Harry,” she said, trying hard not to smile. “Five minutes in, and you’re already causing trouble.” Shaak and Maris laughed as they looked at his dirty clothes.

“That wasn’t my fault,” he exclaimed. “Besides …” he added quietly, looking over his shoulder only to see the two aliens still rolling around on the ground. “I didn’t come out empty-handed.”

Harry reached into his pockets and fished out two small money pouches. He shook them and heard the metal coins jingling inside. Shaak groaned while Maris giggled. “Let’s get further away from the ruckus. We don’t want to be around when they discover they’ve been robbed,” Shaak said as they walked in the opposite direction.

“Serves them right,” Harry said, looking at his injured palm again. Aayla grabbed his wrist and looked at his palm before rolling her eyes.

“It’s barely a scratch,” she snorted in amusement. Harry ran his finger down the scratch, and the skin quickly knitted back together. Aayla looked on with wide eyes before shaking her head.

“Sometimes, you amaze me,” she said humorously. Harry chuckled and handed her the two pouches.

“How much did we get? I don’t know anything about the currency here,” he asked.

“Most places use credits, but here on Tatooine, most people won’t accept them. Here, they use peggats, truguts, and wupiupi. Sixteen wupiupi equals one trugut, and four truguts equal one peggat,” Aayla said, handing Shaak one of the pouches.

“So sixty-four wupiupi in a peggat?” Harry asked, and Aayla nodded. “How much is a peggat worth in credits?” It was kind of a useless question since he didn’t know how much a credit was worth, but he still wanted to know.

“Last time I checked, a peggat was worth forty credits, so a wupiupi is worth around 0.625,” she told him while pulling coins out of the pouch and counting them. “Not bad,” she said. “There’s about thirty-two and a half peggats here,” she said happily.

“I’ve got just over eighteen peggats worth,” Shaak added.

“So a little over fifty peggats,” Aayla nodded. “That’s a decent start. At least we can afford a few supplies.”

“I suggest you girls buy some more clothes. Traveling around the galaxy with one set probably isn’t the best idea,” Harry suggested.

“He’s right. We could also use other basic essentials,” Shaak said. “Is there anything you need, Harry?” she asked him. Harry shook his head.

“I have everything I need in my tent. I’ll shop for myself once we’re financially secure,” he said while brushing the dirt from his clothes.

As they ventured deeper into the city, Harry noticed that most people were armed in some way. Most had blaster pistols on their hips like him, while others carried larger rifles. Some walked around with staffs, though he wasn’t sure if they were weapons or not. When they came upon the first junk shop, the girls walked in, and Harry followed close behind.

The building was similar to every other building in town. It was square in shape with a domed roof, and the facade looked old and weathered. The worker inside looked similar to what Harry thought of a traditional alien. It was tall and very slender with green skin. Its facial structure was dominated by very sharp and pronounced cheek and jaw bones. Covering its head was a headdress that reminded Harry of what the pharaohs wore in ancient Egypt. Another notable feature was the fact that it only had four fingers on each hand. Maris must have seen him studying the creature because she came up and whispered in his ear.

“He’s a Moogan,” she told him.

“Moogan?” he asked about the strange name. She nodded and explained further.

“From the planet Mooga,” she added.

“Of course,” he said sarcastically, making her giggle.

Aayla, being a speaker of Huttese, went up to deal with him. Harry wandered around the shop, looking over the wares. Most of the stuff looked really cool, but unfortunately, he had no idea what any of it was. One shelf was packed high with droid parts, and another was filled with datapads with scratched or cracked screens. Harry picked up a metal tubular device resembling a lightsaber hilt, except a head with two sharp prongs was sticking out of the top. Harry pressed the button on the handle, and the head extended outward, making the whole thing resemble a meat fork at a barbeque. He was certain it wasn’t a meat fork when electricity crackled loudly between the two prongs.

“Be careful with that!” the Moogan called out. Harry pressed the button again, and the electricity cut off. The head slid back into the handle. He placed it back on the shelf and joined the crew. Maris looked at him and snorted while he wore a slightly embarrassed smile.

“That was a shock stick. It’s used to help herd banthas,” Maris explained. Harry refrained from asking what a bantha was. He made a mental note to research it on his datapad when they returned to the ship. It wasn’t long before Aayla finished speaking with him. They left the shop soon after.

“He has plenty of parts for our ship out back. I’m sure most of the junk dealers here do as well. We need to make a list of everything we need to get an accurate price,” she told them.

“We can do that tonight,” Shaak said as they continued their journey.

“I’m surprised we haven’t seen anyone from the so-called Galactic Empire here yet. I figured they would’ve sent some clones in by now,” Aayla said, looking around.

“The Hutts will push back on the idea, but unfortunately for them, they won’t have much of a choice. The empire will make itself known eventually, but it’ll take time. Hopefully, we’ll be long gone by then,” Shaak said.

She led them to another junk dealer, and while Aayla talked to the owner, Harry explored the shop. The shop had pretty much the same crap as the previous shop. Harry picked up a small metal sphere that looked very high-tech. It was a bit dirty and scuffed up. It had obviously seen better days. Maris joined him, and he asked her what it was.

“It’s a high-precision engraver. You can connect it wirelessly to your datapad and upload the designs you want engraved. It hovers in place and etches your design with a laser. This one is rather old,” she said, taking it from him and examining it from every angle.

“Does it work on metal?” Harry asked, intrigued by the thought.

“Yes, on most. Some metals are extremely durable, and this probably wouldn’t work on them, but we’re unlikely to come across any of those metals,” she explained, handing it back to him. Harry nodded and walked up to the owner. Aayla had just finished talking to him.

“How much?” Harry asked in Huttese, showing him the engraver.

“For you … Twelve wupiupi,” the frog-like owner said.

“Does it work?” Harry asked. It was impossible to read the owner’s expression to see if he was telling the truth.

“Of course. I test everything I sell,” the frogman crossed his arms while blinking its unusually large and bulbous eyes.

“Eight,” Harry countered.

“Ten and no less,” the frogman told him. Harry nodded. Aayla opened the money pouch and pulled out the correct amount of coins. The frogman swiped the coins into his drawer with his webbed hand.

“Pleasure doing business with you,” he said.

When they left the shop, Aayla looked at him. “Why did you want that old thing?” she wondered.

“If it works, this thing could help us a lot. I’ll explain it later,” he assured her.

The next few hours were much the same. They visited most of the junk and scrap dealers in the area to see who had the best prices. By early afternoon, the heat had taken its toll on them. “I’m about ready to call it a day,” Shaak said, wiping her forehead. Harry’s Cooling Charms helped a lot, but they couldn’t hold back the insane desert heat forever.

“Let’s head back. We can stop at that clothing shop on the way,” Aayla responded. She was also eager to get out of the heat.

On the way back to the ship, the girls stopped and bought themselves a few more outfits, along with some other things that females typically needed. By the time they reached the ship, Harry was hot, sweaty, and definitely looking forward to a cold shower. That was the first thing he did. When he left the bathroom, he was feeling quite refreshed.

“A cold shower is just what I needed,” he told the girls, who were impatiently waiting on him. They wanted to cool off as well.

“Who’s next?” Aayla asked. “Too bad that shower’s not big enough for all three of us,” she joked.

“Use the bathtub. You can fill it with cold water,” he suggested. The girls looked at each other, and Shaak nodded.

“It’s better than sitting here in a pool of our sweat,” she joked.

“I’ll show you how to use it,” he said, leading the girls to the tub. He showed them how to choose between hot, warm, cool, and cold water. When water and foamy bubbles began pouring out of the massive spout, he turned to them.

“Leave your clothes in front of the door, and I’ll wash them. Take your time in here. It’ll be a while before our food is ready,” he said. Harry’s stomach was already growling, and he was sure they were hungry as well.

“Okay, Harry. Thanks,” Aayla smiled prettily at him. Harry went to the kitchen and began preparing their meal. Once it was cooking, Harry collected their clothes and took them to the washer. He changed Shaak’s clothes back to their normal state before tossing them in. They were cleaned in just over a minute. He then tossed them in the magical dryer. The best part of the magical dryer was that he didn’t need to worry about them shrinking. They were done soon after. Harry folded their clothes and set them in front of the door. He then went back to the kitchen to finish cooking.

Three happy females joined him half an hour later. “That’s a wonderful bathtub,” Shaak said happily. “I plan to use it often.”

“Me too,” Maris said. Harry noticed her hair was still wet, so he waved his hand and instantly dried it. She rewarded him with a smile.

After finishing their meals, Aayla and Shaak Ti went back into the ship to find out what needed to be fixed, replaced, or upgraded. Harry and Maris remained in the tent. “Do you know how to connect this to the datapad?” Harry asked, holding up the sphere.

She scooted closer to him on the couch and leaned over his pad. “Press this button here,” she instructed, pressing the button herself. The sphere synced with the datapad, and a new screen popped up. “Now let’s see if you were swindled,” she giggled and pressed an icon on the new screen.

The sphere lit up, trembled, and steadily rose from his palm. It hovered in the air, waiting for his command. “It seems to work so far,” Maris said. “Let’s go find a piece of metal to run the test program on.”

The duo went into the ship and found a flat piece of scrap metal. Maris set it down against the wall and ran the test. The sphere drifted down to the scrap and fired a thin, red laser beam into the metal. The metal hissed while the sphere sucked in the smoke and fumes being released. Harry could barely smell any of the burning metal. After a few minutes, the laser beam cut off, and Harry saw an intricate design carved into the metal.

“It works great,” Maris chirped happily. Harry was extremely pleased with the results.

“How can I add my own designs?” he asked her. She showed him how to upload files into the program. “Is there any way to scan designs from a book?” he wondered.

“Yes. That’s easy. You press this button here and point the camera lens on the back of the pad at the design. Go grab a book, and I’ll show you,” she said. Harry returned to the tent and grabbed the book he wanted. He brought it back to Maris, and she showed him how to scan and upload the entire runic alphabet within ten minutes.

“This is bloody brilliant!” Harry exclaimed, excited by the prospect of easily and quickly having a way to carve runes into metal. Maris laughed at his boyish excitement and spent another hour teaching him how to properly use the program. Once he got the hang of it, Maris left him to go help the other Jedi.

Harry was like a kid in a candy store. He had uploaded not only each individual rune but also hundreds of pre-arranged rune sets. Wanting to test it out, Harry went in search of some materials. He found a couple of two-foot-long square metal pipes that would work. He set one aside and placed the other on the grated floor. Harry spent twenty minutes arranging rune sets and bridging them together. He had spent decades studying runes, and he would wager a large sum of money that no one was better than him. Once he double-checked his work, Harry selected the area of the pipe he wanted them engraved, and then he selected the size of the desired engraving. With nothing left to do, Harry pressed the button and waited.

“Hey, Harry! Having fun?” Aayla asked as she joined him twenty minutes later. Harry looked up from his work and smiled at the pretty woman. The other two women were right behind her.

“Yeah,” Harry responded, pressing his finger to the activation rune. He began pumping magic into it. “I’m almost done.”

Harry watched the runes carefully. The flared when he began adding magic to them. Steadily, the glowing grew brighter and brighter. He was careful not to pump too much magic into them and accidentally cause them to explode. When he was happy with the brightness of the runes, Harry cut the magic, and they instantly stopped glowing. “What are you doing?” Aayla asked as she looked on.

“Just testing out some stuff,” Harry said. “I used the engraver to carve runes into the metal. Runes are like an instruction manual for magic. You can do all kinds of stuff with them,” he explained, lifting the piece of pipe and testing its weight. “Check it out,” he said, handing her the pipe. He then grabbed the other identical pipe that didn’t have runes and gave it to her as well.

“Wow!” Aayla exclaimed, testing their weight. “This one is much lighter,” she said.

“It should be stronger and heat resistant as well,” he told her. He took the two pipes and used a Sticking Charm to attach them to the wall so they both jutted out longways. “Test it out with your lightsaber. I’d like to see if the runes are working properly,” he said.

Aayla pulled out her lightsaber and ignited it. She cut through the untreated pipe with ease. Half of it dropped to the ground with a loud clank. Both ends of the cut were glowing red. Harry unstuck the damaged half and vanished both pieces. “Now try the other.”

She swung her blade down, and it immediately met resistance. The lightsaber crackled loudly against the magically reinforced metal. Aayla placed her other hand on the hilt and added more force. After a minute of trying, the metal had only melted slightly. She cut the lightsaber, and all four gathered around to examine the damage. “It barely even melted,” Maris said, her voice full of disbelief.

Harry hovered his hand over the metal to see if it was hot. He didn’t feel any heat. He lightly tapped it and felt nothing. Grabbing the pipe, he unstuck it from the wall and looked closer. The melted cut was maybe a couple of millimeters deep. He handed it to Aayla with a pleased smile.

“Not bad, huh?” he bragged. Aayla and Shaak could barely believe their eyes.

“This is insane,” Aayla muttered before looking at him. “You know what this means? If you can do this, then we could turn this ship into a fortress. That isn’t even accounting for the reduction in weight and …” Aayla continued describing all the things they could do to make the ship safer and more efficient.

“That is what I’m hoping for, but it’ll take a lot of work and a bit of time. We’ll probably need to find a safer planet,” he told them.

“You amaze me more every day, Harry,” Shaak said, shaking her head with a chuckle.

“I try,” he joked.

The group eventually went back to work. Harry furthered his experimentations while the other three continued making a parts list. When their day came to an end, Harry put some food in the oven and worked on Aayla’s back. After eating, the group was wiped out from a long day in the brutal heat. Harry went straight to bed and wasn’t surprised to see the three women join him. His favorite part of the day was seeing Aayla strip completely nude, but he was shocked when the other two joined in. Shaak Ti pulled the straps of her outfit down her shoulders, revealing her large breasts. It continued down her hips until she stepped out of it. Like Aayla, her body was completely hairless. She crawled onto the bed, and Harry couldn’t help but stare at her dangling breasts. “It’s more comfortable to sleep without clothes,” she explained, scooting close to his side. Aayla did the same on his other side.

“After seeing how comfortable you were while cuddling him, I think it’s only fair if I have a turn,” Shaak teased Maris. Maris flushed red while pushing her tight trousers down over her hips.

Maris had a beautiful body, he discovered. Her mound wasn’t smooth like the other two women's. She had a light dusting of pubic hair that covered her pale skin. She then grabbed her top and pulled it over her head. Her perky breasts fell out the bottom and jiggled around. Her nipples were stiff from the cold, and he could see her body break out in goosebumps. She quickly got under the covers to get warm. Aayla rested her head on his chest and draped her leg over his thigh. Harry was sure she could feel how hard he was, but she either didn’t care or chose not to bring it up. Shaak Ti didn’t go as far as Aayla, but she was still pressed firmly against him. He could feel her breasts pushing against him, and slowly, her nipples began to harden. She squirmed around a little, and Harry wasn’t sure if she was trying to get comfortable or enjoying the pleasure of having her nipples rub against his skin. Either way, Harry was in for a long night. He waved his hand and shut off the light.