In person, Mason Lorwyn was much taller and reedier than Harry had originally thought. Harry was pretty tall for a human, but Lorwyn had to have been nearly seven feet tall. Lorwyn both looked down on him, and looked down on him. That didn't bother Harry though. He was quite used to it.

"Please, show us to where the theft occurred," Harry said diplomatically. He suspected that playing nice would ultimately not matter, but he did it anyways. It would take more than one encounter to break someone out of their preconceived notions.

Lorwyn didn't respond other than to beckon for them to follow. The path from the hangar wasn't a straight walk, as it meandered through one of the gardens. Harry wasn't actually sure what season it was on Chandrilla, but all the trees, bushes, and flowers were in full blossom. Harry recognized none of the species, as they were all native to Chandrilla, and they all had their unique beauty. They were mostly bright greens and blues with the occasion blue, and small bird-like creatures fluttered intermittently throughout.

The structure that Mason Lorwyn led them to was the one that Harry had dubbed the museum, and rightfully so. The outside reminded Harry of an ancient Roman building, though a modernized version of it. instead of stone, it was made of a dark painted metal, the same that was used for many buildings across the galaxy. All of the adornments, such as the columns and overhangs, were done simply for aesthetics rather than structural support. It was clear that Lord Hartwick had a lot of money.

Lorwyn opened the main set of double doors and ushered them inside before closing them behind them. Inside it was a bit cold, which surprised Harry. It hadn't been that hot outside, though Harry had traveled to so many different planets with different climates that he really didn't notice the temperature too much unless it was on the extreme end of either spectrum. But, he distinctly noticed that temperature had to have been at least fifty degrees colder than outside.

Harry was cold, and he at least had some warm clothes on. Aayla wasn't wearing much at all, other than her cloak. Yet, she seemed entirely unaffected by it. She was tough.

The second thing Harry noticed was that the entire building was dark. It wasn't pitch black, but the only lighting seemed to be from the exhibits themselves. It really did seem like a museum to house one man's collections. It felt sterile and lifeless. Harry didn't like it.

"Is there a reason the lights aren't on?" Harry asked.

"The light are on," Mason Lorwyn said. "Some pieces of the collection are light sensitive. There security system does not require light so it is not an issue."

Clearly, Lorwyn was just as cold and sterile as the room was. Regardless, Harry took out his wand and tapped himself on the head, before pausing briefly and doing the same to Aayla. She stifled a gasp before composing herself just as quickly and continued on as if nothing had happened. He had cast darkvision on both of them, giving themselves some improved visibility in the low-light conditions.

"I get it," Harry said. "Show me where was the blaster stolen from."

Mason Lorwyn led him down the main curated hallway which, despite being quite a large room, held less than a dozen exhibits. All but three of them were broken, and transparent metal and glass were strewn all over the place. Harry wasn't terribly into art or history, so the contents of the various displays did not interest him all that much beyond their connection to Lord Hartwick and the theft.

The display case that once held the stolen blaster was tiny, or had been before it had been shattered and strewn all over the ground. The display itself was nothing more than two sets of metal prongs used to prop up the blaster, and each prong had some padding on it to not scratch it. There was a small light emitter built into the stand that highlighted the object in question. Simple stuff. The blaster, as indicated, was nowhere to be found.

"What can you tell me about the blaster?" Harry asked of the liason. "What makes it so special and valuable? Pretend that I know nothing about the history of them."

"Pretend?" Lorwyn said with a snort. "The Dylex Blaster was named for Nython Dylex, a pioneer of his field. He lived over five thousand years ago, and his work was a fusion of the even older laser-type weapons that were prevalent back then, and the common plasma-based weapons we use today."

"How does it differ from what we use today?" Harry asked.

"It uses magnetic rails to launch and control the plasma, rather than electron emitters,' Lorwyn explain. "As such, it was a much slower firing gun, but plasma had not yet been harnessed as a weaponized tool before then, at least not in a portable form. It was a huge step forward."

"Right," Harry said. "How many prototypes of this kind exist? Is it a unique piece?"

"Unique? No. Extremely rare, yes. My Lord knows of six other pistols, two of which are in public museums and the rest in private collections. Additionally, there are eight rifles, with half of them in public museums, and two cannons intended for spaceship use, both in public museums.

"Considering that there are fifty million inhabited systems, I would say that this blaster qualifies as extremely rare," Harry said.

"Indeed. It is worth noting that there is a possibility of others existing, but those are what my Lord knows of. It would be the crown jewel in many collections, so those who have them rarely keep it quiet. Though, such a proclamation requires an increase in security."

"Yet such security can be for nought when the thief is an inside man. How long did this man work for Lord Hartwick?"

"Majordomo Everett had been here for twenty years," Lorwyn replied. When he got down to business and was talking about something he had intense knowledge of, the man wasn't actually that bad.

"Was the blaster in Lord Hartwick's collection before or after he arrived?" Harry asked.

"After. It was acquired slightly over seven years ago."

"So probably not a long-con then," Harry pondered. "To sit idly by for years, waiting for the perfect moment? Doesn't seem likely."

"I am inclined to agree," Lorwyn said.

"Are there other kinds of prototype blasters out there?" Harry asked.

"Certainly," Lorwyn replied. "Every weapon that gets manufactured goes through the prototyping process.

"Not all of them are using experimental technology," Harry pointed out.

"That is true," Lorwyn conceded. "But there is always experimental technology being researched, even today. However, few are as historically significant as the Dylex Blaster."

"Right. How often do these come up for sale?"

"Almost never," Lorwyn said. "And it's almost always at auction. There's too much risk with a private sale. Majordomo Everett threw away twenty years of friendship and loyalty for a payday. Many men would throw away much more for much less."

"That does bring up the question of how easy it would be to sell one of these things once stolen," Harry said. "Surely, there would be a lot of interest, even at its theoretical value. But, it doesn't seem like the thing you can just take and sell on the black market without taking a huge hit. It's a hot item. It's stolen. People interested in buying one of these things will likely know that. That will deter a lot of would-be buyers."

"But not all of them," Lorwyn said.

"But not all of them," Harry echoed. "So, as I see it, that leaves two possibilities. If he stole it on a whim, that makes him a huge target. Why pay for something when you could kill a man and take it? If someone is willing to buy a stolen item, chances are they are willing to kill a man to get it, especially when its of this value. And it's just a single man, so it's an easy target. If this was merely a theft of opportunity, it wasn't a well thought out one."

"And the second possibility?" Lorwyn prompted.

"That he has a sponsor. That he has a buyer already lined up. To take such a risk without having a guaranteed payday makes little sense to me. Perhaps he shopped around for a buyer before he stole the thing. That doesn't leave a large window of time, but for an item like this, he wouldn't need much. Hell, working here for as long as he did, he probably already had a bunch of people interested in owning a priceless piece of history. You will help me get a list of those people when I am done here. That will be our starting point."

"I can do that, but what is the catalyst point? Why now, as opposed to a month ago, or a year ago? The timing makes no sense. What is the motive?"

"Good question," Harry said. "Without having met the man, I'll guess he wasn't too fond of Chancellor Palpatine crowning himself as Emperor. The holonet is in uproar over it."

"That doesn't make sense," Lorwyn said. "My Lord is none-too-fond of the proclamation either. Very few on Chandrilla are. But, it's not like we are marching down the streets in protest. Many are waiting to see how things play out, and more than a few are optimistic. This knee-jerk reaction does not remind me of the Everett I've known for so long."

"We'll find out one way or another," Harry said. Leaning down near the broken display case, Harry carefully took a piece of sterile cloth out of a pouch and picked up one of the shards of glass. Aayla leaned in close to watch Harry as he worked.

The shard from the case was quite thick. It only took a glance to see that it was transparisteel, which was the same material used to make starfighter canopies and the like. It could resist light blaster fire quite easily, and there was no way any sort of hand tool could get through it.

"What's on the property that can break through transparisteel?" Harry asked. "Can't really blast or hack your way through this stuff. Breaking through this would need some planning."

"We have a tool shed, but all the tools are still in their places," Lorwyn said. "It was one of the first things we checked. I doubt he would take a construction cutter, use it, and then return it."

"And the security vids show nothing?"

"He knew how to disable them," Lorwyn said. "He did work here for twenty years after all.

"Fair enough," Harry said. He took a moment to calm himself, and reached out with his senses. Legilimency was not something he threw around for fun, as there could be some severe side effects depending on the target species. Even some humans could be quite resistant, and no one took kindly to mental intruders.

Harry did not think the man was involved, despite his disposition, and a quick peak confirmed that. Using legilimency wasn't like reading a book. It was more akin to deciphering emotions. Lorwyn was very plain-faced. There was a deep seated feeling of distrust, which Harry attributed to offworlders. There was a feeling of loathing tied to that as well, which Harry attributed to himself being the cause. The man likely didn't like bringing in outside help to do a job he felt could be handled internally. Furthermore, there was a feeling of extreme hatred, more than Harry was expecting, again centered on himself. Harry knew he hadn't ever done anything to the man, so Harry got the sense that something personal had happened to him involving a bounty hunter in the past.

None of that surprised really Harry. He didn't really need to legilimency to figure that out, as it was written all over his face. What he did learn was that Lorwyn was not personally involved, and quite truthful about knowing nothing about the crime other than what was mentioned. Still, Harry was at a loss. All he could do was to continue to look for clues elsewhere. Knowing how Everett broke into the security displays would go a long way in knowing his motivation.

Aayla took the cloth-wrapped shard from Harry and inspected it with her own eyes. Carefully, she turned it over in her head, examining the edge. "I think I have an answer," she said. "I've seen this kind of damage before."

"Oh?" Harry asked.

"This was done with a lightsaber," she declared. "It can cut cleanly true enough, but the heat it puts off can turn transparisteel brittle, causing it to fracture like this. I'm sure of it."

"That's Interesting," Harry said. "Good job." He turned to Lorwyn. "I don't suppose a lightsaber was stolen from here as well?"

"There is a lightsaber here," Lorwyn confirmed. "But it was not stolen. In fact, it's still in its case."

"Really? Show me."

The case with the lightsaber was all the way on the far wall of the museum, quite a distance from where the Dylex blaster had been. Like the other displays, it had its own lighting, and as described, the case did not look like it had been broken in too, nor did the displays on either side of it.

Inside the case was a single lightsaber. It was slightly on the smaller side, and was of the traditional silvery metal casing with grips attached. Harry didn't actually know what they were made of, but it looked pretty normal.

"Whose is it?" Harry asked. "Anyone living?"

"The Jedi who owned it died over one hundred and twenty years ago. He was a Mirilian who went by the name Turlov Jaageniro."

"Never heard of him," Harry said.

"Nor I," Aayla added.

"I don't know much of his history, only that he had died at the hands of a bounty hunter hired in revenge. The bounty hunter kept the lightsaber as a trophy for many years until he too met his end. Eventually, it ended up in Lord Hartwick's collection."

Reaching into another pouch, Harry pulled out two pairs of disposable medical gloves. He handed one pair to Aayla while he put the other on and began to inspect the display case. It was no use looking for clues if he was going to contaminate the evidence with his own presence, so it was always best to be prepared.

Leaning in closer to the display case, Harry ran a hand down the corner edge, feeling for flaws. Nothing seemed amiss at first, even when he tapped on it. It was quite sturdy, and in one piece. No one had tampered with it, at least not obviously.

But then, on a hunch, Harry grabbed both sides of the case and simply lifted. To everyone's surprise, the case lifted up freely.

Harry set the display case off to the side. "Well, who needs to break in when you can just take the top off?" Harry stated.

Leaning in once more, Harry inspected the inner seam of the case, where the case sat up against the ledge. There was some sort of electrical locking mechanism, maybe magnetic, maybe not. Whatever it was, the mechanism seemed ever so slightly bent. Clearly it was enough to open the case without triggering an alarm or anything.

"When was the last time on record that this case was opened?" Harry asked.

Lorwyn blinked owlishly for a moment before reaching for his datapad. He scrolled threw a few options before finding the information he was looking for. "On record, two months ago for routine maintenance."

"Who signed off on it?" Harry asked.

"The majordomo," Lorwyn replied. "He signs off on all maintenance."

"So, the majordomo has a lot of access," Harry mused. "Enough to bypass security, and possible knowledge of a faulty display case. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that we're not going to find any evidence of him contacting anyone outside of the norm. He would have covered his tracks. So, we won't be able to find who it is directly. But, with this type of item, I am willing to hedge that he would still need to have some prior knowledge of potential clients. That list is going to be more important now."

"I will forward it to your ship," Lorwyn said. "Lord Hartwick has had many dealings over the years, so the list is quite extensive."

"I'm sure not everyone on that list will be able to afford such an item," Harry said.

"That is true. But some of those people might know someone who does. Who's to say who is a middleman and who isn't?"

"Everyone is a middleman in some fashion, just not everyone knows it," Harry said after a moment of contemplation. He turned to Aayla. "What can you tell me about the lightsaber? Maybe there's a clue."

With careful glove-covered fingers, Aayla plucked up the lightsaber off the cushion it was resting on and brought it up to her eye level. "It's old," she said. "The story could be true. But, it feels too light. Lightsabers, despite the name, tend to be pretty hefty. There's a lot that goes into the construction of one."

"Is there anyway to see when the last time it was used?"

Aayla shook her head a she carefully examined the button on the lightsaber. "Most lightsabers are designed so that the blade only remains lit when the button is depressed. But, conventional design also has a back-straddling latch that can be toggled using the Force to keep the blade on, if the user is proficient in the saber-throw technique. This lightsaber seems to be missing it."

"Is that common?"

"No," Aayla replied. "Pretty rare, in fact. I don't know why anyone wouldn't have it, since it's a technique that can be learned by anyone. Though, I wonder…"

Aayla delicately fiddled with the topmost half of the cylinder, the part above the button and near where the emitter was. With a deft twist, the cylinder clicked and popped open. She took once glance at the insides before declaring, "It's empty."

"What do you mean?" Mason Lorwyn asked.

"I mean, it's a fake."

"It can't be," Lorwyn said. "I've seen it working before."

"This one isn't doing anything," Aayla said. "The thief must have taken the real one and swapped it out with this fake. And, the thief must have used the real one to break into the other cases."

"So it was premeditated then?" Lorwyn asked.

"One thing doesn't necessarily lead to the other," Harry said. "We don't know when the lightsaber was stolen. That could have happened months ago. Perhaps Everett is a Force-wielder, or hired someone who owned a lightsaber to help with the break in.

Harry paused a moment to collect his thoughts. Then, he turned to Aayla. "How rare do you think lightsabers are?"

"If you asked that question a week ago, I'd have a different answer," Aayla said. "There were over ten-thousand active Jedi, each with a lightsaber, some with more than one. That number never fluctuated too much. However, most lightsabers are retrieved when their owner's fall, though some small number fell into their slayers hands as trophies. General Grievous had at least four."

"I have seen other bounty hunters with them," Harry said. He mulled over the new bit of data for a moment before continuing his thought. "Rare, but not ultra-rare then. Still, it leaves me to wonder. Did Hartwick purchase a fake? Did Everett know it was a fake? Or was it real, and Everett swapped it with a fake one to conceal its use in the crime? If the swap happened two months ago, then the whole situation with the Emperor is just an excuse to put the crime into motion."

Harry paused again to think over the situation and Aayla chimed in with her thoughts. "This lightsaber might not have anything to do with this at all. It could be a completely different lightsaber. They're rare, but they are available on the black market."

"That's possible," Harry said. "Still… he stole many other items from here, why bother covering how the crime was committed when you know who committed it? Perhaps there's a motive in the exact items he stole. Why don't you show me the others?"

"As you wish," Mason Lorwyn said. He led them off to the nearest damaged exhibit. "Here was the necklace of Mikala Muon, 16th Empress of Duro."

Lorwyn pulled up a picture of the necklace on his holo display. It was quite extravagant, and must have weighed several pounds. It was definitely the type of piece an empress would wear, though Harry thought it was more gaudy than pretty.

"How long ago did she live?"

"She lived over a thousand years ago," Lorwyn replied.

"Geeze, and how did such an artifact come about to be owned by a random lord on a human world?"

"The same way any item does," Lorwyn said with a sneer. "With money. A thousand years is a lot of time for an object to travel."

"Fair point," Harry conceded. "Alright, what else was stolen?"

"Over here was the coronation scepter of Hern the Horrible, conqueror of Ithor," Lorwyn said. "The Ithorians are known as a peaceful species, but there are exceptions to every rule, and Hern was the worst of his kind. The scepter was stained with blood from where he had used to to crush his brother's skull an hour into his coronation feast. Hern did not tolerate any claimants to his throne."

"Gruesome," Harry said. "What else?'

Lorwyn lead him over to the next broken display and repeated the process. At each display case, Harry inspected the damaged pieces, finding the same lightsaber-damaged material. "The False Mirror of Malastare, which is said to have been imbued with an evil power by a Sith long forgotten to time. The legend says that any who look upon the mirror will instantly age ten years, though I don't believe that rumor since it has been displayed here and elsewhere for decades with no ill effect.

"A curious artifact with a dark past," Harry said. "It could have been true at one point, but such things tend to fade with time, just as that Sith's name."

"Could be," Lorwyn said dismissively.

Harry took his time inspecting the display case. It was a larger one, as the mirror had been huge. The picture that Lorwyn showed them didn't really do it justice. Stealing it would not have been an easy feat.

While the display case was shattered over the floor, Harry noticed that on this particular one, it wasn't a terrible clean job, as if Everett had been particularly worried with accidentally damaging the piece inside. Pieces of the transparisteel were still attached to the pedestal itself, and upon examination, Harry noticed blood on one of the edges.

"Perfect," Harry said. He took out another piece of cloth out and carefully dabbed the blood with it. He showed it to both Aayla and Lorwyn. "Looks like our man might have cut himself trying to knock the damaged transparisteel off. His blood could be useful."

"How so?" Lorwyn asked. Aayla looked curious as well.

"Well, I'll have the droid on my ship run it to see what kind of blood it actually is. You can tell a lot about a man from his blood. Stress levels and things like that. Perhaps there's something in his blood that will tell us of his motivation, or whether he was in a rush or under duress. A disease, perhaps. And, if it is actually Everett's, when we capture him, we'll be able to get a positive ID, even if he's altered his appearance. You can change your face, but you can't change your blood."

"At least that's something," Lorwyn muttered. "Lord Hartwick will be pleased that Everett has left proof of his crime."

"If it's actually Everett's," Harry corrected. He folded the bloody cloth up and tucked it away. For all Harry knew, the blood could have been planted there in some sort of elaborate trap. He would find the truth. There was plenty more that could be done with the blood than just having a droid run a diagnosis. "We shouldn't get ahead of ourselves. I'll follow this lead to wherever it takes me, and that might not even be Everett."

"That is prudent of you," Lorwyn commented idly. "Shall we go to the next item?"

"Please," Harry said.

Lorwyn led them over to the next display case, which was just as smashed as all the previous ones, except for the blood. "The item that was here may be one your associate is aware of," he said. "The Bracers of the Warrior-Princess Uirim'noji."

"They were a symbol of her dynasty," Aayla said. "They disappeared when slavers looted the entire village and kidnapped everyone there. Sadly, there's been so many slaver runs on Ryloth that one is barely any more notable than the other."

"Interesting," Harry said. "Aside from some monetary value, I'm not sure why anyone would steal them, yet leave others behind. That mirror couldn't have been easy to move, so why take it? Now, how many more items were stolen?"

"Seventeen more," Lorwyn said.

Harry sighed. It appeared he would actually be doing a lot of work for this bounty.

435345345

It was nearly two hours later when Mason Lorwyn had finished going over the final item that had been stolen. There had been far too many of them for Harry to give any particular one any attention, and he was sure he had already forgotten half of them. He'd have to consult the lists that Lorywn would send containing Lord Hardwick's notable clients, as well as a list of all the items stolen and the ones not stolen. There was a lot of data that he needed to go over.

"Alright, I've seen enough here," Harry said at last. He was doing his best to not show his boredom, though Aayla hid it better than he did. She, for her part, at least pretended to be interested. "There's one last thing I want to see here before I examine and evaluate the evidence. I'd like to see where Everett was sleeping."

"His lodgings?" Lorwyn repeated. "If you insist. I doubt you will find anything there, but at least I can tell my Lord that you were thorough, if nothing else."

"Great," Harry drawled. "Show us the way, if you would."

Upon exiting the museum, Harry felt like he would burst into flames. They had been inside the museum for so long that Harry had almost gotten used to the sterile coldness. Aayla, who had started to shiver slightly despite her extensive training, relaxed ever-so-slightly upon feeling the new warmth wash over her. It didn't matter how much training someone had - when standing in near freezing temperatures for several hours while wearing clothing that was at most slightly less revealing than a swimsuit, the effects would be felt.

They were brought through another colorful garden with a multitude of gentle insects flying around. The smell was quite pleasant, though one always had to take care when around foreign species. Chandrilla may be a human world, but ecosystem was as foreign to him as Felucia's.

Going through a side entrance, Mason Lorwyn bypassed the majority of mansion proper and took them straight to the staff quarters. Majordomo Everett, despite being the highest ranked member of staff who wasn't Lord Hardwick himself, slept in the staff quarters like everyone else, albeit with his own private room.

What small part of the mansion that Harry did get to see was impressive, but not overly so. There's only so many times one could see overly-extravagant wealth without getting tired of the whole facade. He lived in a spaceship cabin that was eight by ten feet without the use of expansion charms, and that was enough for him. All the stone statues and gold dinner sets meant nothing to him when he had the infinite vastness of space as his home. He wouldn't give that up for a billion credits.

Everett's room was posh, and intentionally so. So much that it actually stuck out a bit, as if he tried too hard to fit in. Like, there was an expensive tapestry hanging up, but the single blanket on the bed was practically threadbare, and the construction of the various pieces of furniture were acceptable at best, but since there was a fancy crystal vase on top, few people noticed.

"What are we looking for?" Aayla asked.

"We're just seeing if anything is out of place," Harry said. "He doesn't appear to have left in a hurry. The bed is made, all the doors on the storage compartments are closed all the way. Plenty of clothes and personal belongings are still here. I'd say that he knew what he was doing well ahead of time, just based on what I'm seeing here, and he was just waiting for the right moment to do it."

Truthfully, there wasn't anything particular he was looking for. There were no secret messages, no hidden weapons, nothing that would incriminate Everett of any crime whatsoever. Subtle use of his magic revealed nothing as well. Everything was clean, but lived in. It was unexciting, to say the least. Hardly the den of a deranged criminal mastermind with an agenda.

"I've seen enough," Harry said after a few minutes. Aayla had turned up as much as he did, which was nothing. "I have one last question though - how did he escape? All the items he took would have taken more than a single trip."

"He took a speeder into the city," Lorwyn said. "There are thousands of transports in and out every day, so it's impossible to tell which one he took."

"The holovid showed nothing?" Harry asked.

"Acquiring the holovid from a city could take weeks," Lorwyn replied. "Hence, Lord Hartwick is looking for a resolution quicker than that. Though, if you fail in your task, that is one of the options he could pursue."

"That's not the only reason Lord Hartwick hired me, is it?" Harry asked suspiciously. "I don't like being played false, and I feel like there's something going on that I'm not aware of. You have your own security force here. I bet the speeders here all have trackers of some sort. Lord Hartwick is very influential and very wealthy. Why hire a bounty hunter? We don't typically do detective work."

"You've got it exactly right," Lorwyn said. "The only missing piece is your lack of understanding of the social climate here. Lord Hartwick is wealthy and influential because of how he does business. What do you think will happen if word gets out that his own majordomo stole half of his collection and escaped with barely a trace? His peers would think that he wouldn't be able to run a household. And, if he can't run his own household, how could he be expected to do business? If any of his peers so much as caught wind of what happened here, his reputation would be ruined. That's why he sought to hire a bounty hunter like you, someone with no connection to this planet at all. A bounty hunter could be here for any number of reasons. Need I say more?"

"Ah, I think I understand now," Harry said with a long drawn-out sigh. "It's not so much what was stolen, more the fact that something was stolen at all. No worries, I can be discrete. Well, I'm going to deliberate for a bit on what I've seen with the information you've sent to me. I'll report my findings in a few hours. I would be much appreciative if you lead us back to my ship."

"So be it," Lorwyn said. "If you don't have something in a few hours, my Lord will be most disappointed."

"I'll keep that in mind," Harry replied.