c8

Money, Politics and Jedi, Oh My.

SSDV

On the other end of the galaxy Ameesa Darys was losing a fight for her life. So were her companions. They had come on this woman, Arden Lyn, as she was working on understanding a scout's ship. She had surprised them and torn them to pieces, with nothing but her feet fists and a vibro blade. Oh and the Force lightning. Can't forget that. Tremaine was down and Torbin, well what could you expect from a talking head? Lyn sucked them dry with force lightning as she tore them to pieces. Ameesa threw her lightsaber down and raised her hands "We're on the same side! We all fight for the dark! I will take you to the Sith Lord, he could use you!"

Arden grunted and waved the vibro blade at her "Make this work." She jerked her head at the scout ship.

SSDV

Darth Vader traveled with a fleet to stamp out a system rebellion in the southwest just inside the core worlds boundary. He was ready. Too bad the rebellion was nearly over and that system was now prostrate and devoid of anyone who disliked the empire. The Rangers who had started it had moved on to the next system to do the same thing taking their new friends, all the working starships, weapons, and most of the food and fuel from the system with them. Vader would arrive to complete anarchy. The Rangers continued to fight their way clear of the core.

SSDV

Harry looked at the box, shrugged and tried an unlocking charm. It worked, the lid popped up and he petrified the woman with the red eyes. Droids rolled her over and Harry applied basilisk venom to the golden scorpion looking thing on the back of her neck. Of course that's when it all went wrong. The thing leapt at him and he felt it or something it was doing trying to get through the bubble head and the anti-nundu charms. It was also smoking as the basilisk venom ate through it. He cast fourteen spells at it in the wink of an eye before he finally transfigured it to water and it shank into the yellow sands. Of course there was the vapor and the scream and then some face looking at him, he bound the soul and hit it with a killing curse for luck.

He had the droids take the woman in the shelter. Felt several more attacks and nodded. He switched the purging draughts into her and started the purification ritual. While the droids stripped her. The result was nasty. He and the droids cleaned the woman up and looked at her eyes which were green tinged with red. He gave her another round in spite of her glare. He changed his and her clothes, coveralls, under the spray of disinfectant.

Finally he did it one more time and got nothing and the woman passed out. After switching a vial of tears, a nutrient potion and a liter of electrolyte solution, into her he walked to another shelter, was hosed down with disinfectant, as were the droids and the woman, walked into one last shelter and they all were hosed off again before he stripped, left the clothes there, air locked through to a clean room and put on a fresh set of isolation clothes and dressed the woman in the same. He walked, levitating the woman, to a Larty already marked as a biohazard while the droids rode on the outside in hard vacuum as a droid piloted and a medical droid apiece ran every test possible on the two organics and the air in the shuttle.

The box was meanwhile going through its own decontamination. Everything else was being torn down and burned. The box and the droids would ride an open Larty up after their decon.

The command council watched on a holo feed. Bail looked at Luke and Leia "Are our inoculations effective against dragon pox?"

Breha nodded then shook her head "The precautions seem a bit extreme?"

Aayla spoke up "Harry has antibodies in his blood to several bio warfare agents especially used against force sensitives. A poison, that's what he used on the talisman, and a healing agent better than Bacta. It took us until now to separate out all the components of his blood. The children, along with all the force sensitives, will get those inoculations."

Maris frowned "Wasn't much of a fight. She is supposed to be all Jedi Shadow."

Shaak Ti shrugged "It would be difficult to fight with black ooze coming from every orifice even if he hadn't paralyzed her. She will have her revenge I would assume." Everyone winced. Poor Harry.

SSDV

Master Celeste Morne was up and around by the time they made orbit of Korriban. She was quiet. Speaking to Yaddie for now. She watched as the ship the others transferred too dropped from orbit and landed. Suddenly blue white lights flew out of the Hanger bay and a giant grazer with horns charged the Sith temple and drove right through it! The dark side of the force shrieked in agony. Celeste smiled.

SSDV

On Coruscant Palpatine went into convulsions. On the bridge of the star destroyer Darth Vader froze, only his prosthetics keeping him upright and in the far rim Ameesa Darys gritted her teeth and thrashed in her bunk. Arden Lyn watched and chuckled. People shouldn't mess about with things they didn't understand.

SSDV

It went on and on as Jedi fanned out in teams around the planet collecting Sith artifacts and bringing them to Harry if they could not dispel the magic using finite or the basic curse breaking charms they knew. Which did actually work most of the time. When every stone on the planet was cursed, even the dirt it seemed, it was a bit of a project.

Harry gave a beginner to master class on curse breaking. Resorting to drops of Basilisk venom, a somehow stabilized mixture of nitric, hydrochloric and hydrofluoric acid, soul bindings and killing curses more than once. The killing curses made the Jedi ill. Harry doing the cleansing ritual and purges made them look at him awed again. He knew what it was going to cost him and never hesitated to do what needed to be done.

Celeste was confused. Jedi using Sith alchemy and sorcery to destroy Sith artifacts. She watched and waited. She had only felt darkness in the one they called Master Potter and that only because he had fought it for a long time. Nearly losing to it more than once. You could tell if you had experienced the same thing. He felt like she did. They spent two days then went to hyperspace leaving Korriban a smoldering cinder in the Force. Once Harry, the most sensitive besides Yoda, and Yoda agreed there were no more point sources of darkness.

Celeste looked at the catalog of objects raided from the Sith home world and shook her head. They had never been this effective in her day. She sat in on the council meetings, listened to the people and understood what Harry was doing. He was annihilating evil, not the dark. So few of these could understand the difference. She looked at Yoda and knew he knew. Aayla and the others in Harry's group knew as well. Maybe not the Padawans but they would figure it out. Apailana knew. Celeste stayed close to Harry and watched him and his group quietly. The Padawans Roganda Ismaren and Tis'wedu along with Apailana and her handmaidens were getting the most intensive training she had ever seen. Now, using what the High Council was calling Force Mage skills to break those objects recovered from Korriban, everyone was getting intensive training.

The Jedi Masters were being trained as well. Each of them had an object at each skill level assigned to them and were studying the holo's produced by the archivist droids and then under Harry's supervision breaking the curses on the objects. Master Potter was a teacher without parallel in the practical applications of Force manipulation.

Some of them were very evil soul containers and Harry kept those in a warded space only he had access too. He and an archivist droid spent some time in there each day working on those while everyone watched. He was the antithesis of evil.

Who wasn't being trained were Jedi Shadows. She spoke to Jocasta Nu the leader of the council of Knowledge about it. Jocasta had smiled and told her she had found her purpose.

Celeste found herself being nearly worshipped by the padawans onboard this gigantic vessel and just to get them quiet enough so she could watch Harry she started teaching a class a day. An archivist droid started following her around too. She glared at Jocasta who arched a brow back.

SSDV

Harry one day laid out a hectare of kyber crystals and Celeste, along with others, walked up and down the rows. She froze as one sang to her. She stretched out her hand and it leapt to her just as Harry touched her shoulder, she woke up in his arms completely and utterly sated and content. She blushed to her roots. Harry smiled "Your hair is so heavy."

"What?" Harry nodded where her synsilk wrapped plait that hung to her thighs was over his shoulder. Celeste took the steadying arm as he put her on her feet. "You should be around to help me with it when it's wet." Harry grinned and his green eyes sparkled. Celeste blushed and glared at him.

He chuckled "That crystal will make a powerful wand. Like Roganda's and Apailana's. Do you want to try and find a piece of wood? We can work on your wand."

Celeste opened her mouth, looked around at the sparkling eyes from the Masters and Knights of Harrys group and the glares from the Padawans, and snorted leaving off the comment about the wood that was currently pressed to her belly "Where are the samples?"

Harry led her to a medium freighter everyone had been putting fragments of whatever force imbued wood they found in. Celeste walked the rows and stopped at a thick, planed, polished board. Harry grinned "Should have known. Part of the lining of the oubliette you were in. Harry measured her and took a piece of the wood. He went out to his work bench and Celeste watched and asked questions as he worked. Celeste asked "Could I not make my own wand, like my saber?"

Harry nodded "You could, but its better if your magic doesn't touch it and no one's magic touches it before yours does when it is complete. About the only magic that won't effect how it bonds to you is a healing charm. I'll handle it with gloves or rags before I give it to you."

Apailana asked "Why was there wood in a technological stasis chamber?"

"The researchers theorize it was to isolate the technology from the Force and the Force from the technology." Shaak replied.

Celeste nodded "It's actually two layers of wood. One Force sensitive and the other not. From the same tree but the heart wood and the sapwood. This is the force sensitive side, the heart wood. It actually has the property of absorbing the force."

Harry nodded "Like hardened military or flight grade electronics. Magic, the Force, blows out light duty or not hardened printed circuits and electronic components. We will have to find this wood. If it can absorb the Force and then discharge with some stimulus I have a project in mind for it."

Celeste nodded "Kingwood. It grows on Ossus."

He finally handed the dark, nearly black, wand to Celeste and a flash of light and shower of sparks lit the hold. People cheered as had become normal. Celeste became a part of the group.

Celeste also gathered a group of Knights and young Masters male and female who were offended by the idea of Dark Jedi. She smiled and started Jedi Shadow training.

The second party, series of meet and greets, in the orbit of Telos occurred and was as much a success and less tiring than the first. Several more ward stones were placed as close to ley line nexuses as possible. The more lines the better. The locations were already prepared as were the stones so Harry just needed to activate them and drop them in, then blood them with the blood of as many force sensitives as could be found on that world and pick one line to keep the ward book. This became the standard practice and they moved the convoy two weeks in hyperspace, stopped had a meet and greet week, while they placed wards on as many worlds as they could reach in a week, all the while learning and teaching. During one of those training sessions Obi wan looked at Mace Windu on the catwalk over the sparring area "Master Morne has the same type of saber style as Master Potter but slightly different."

Mace nodded "Its a combination of moves from all the styles, combined into something that fits their physique. The parries are attacks even, no flourishes, all efficiency in the attack. If they move it is to set up another attack and to put the most power behind it."

Yoda nodded "Meant for melee combat against many enemies this is. Combined with Master Potters ranged and area Force Mage attacks deadly to armies it would be."

Obi wan frowned "Is it possible that the forms were refinements of these moves? Refinements and combinations of them into something that looked elegant in the sparring area?"

Mace nodded "The forms do look better. I hate to think it was that shallow. Perhaps an aid to teaching?"

Yoda nodded "With parries added. All are not as strong as Morne and Potter."

SSDV

In the Empire, the reports started to paint a picture for Palpatine of a powerful Jedi, not Yoda, who was uniting the Jedi who survived order 66 and did not turn to the dark. He upped the training of his hands and acolytes and the search for more of them. There was also this politician uniting the Republic as they called themselves. Which one to pursue first? He needed intelligence. The damn Banking Clans failing to fall had hurt his plan. As had the Trade Federation and rebellious worlds joining forces. The loss of the CIS fleet had been crippling on top of the loss of the Republic Fleet and the Clones. So much for inbuilt redundancy.

His agents of other than base species were nearly useless. The Falleen had failed him and needed punished but had turned and started a war in Hutt space when they weren't slaving on planets in the empire. They would need to be suppressed. Vader could work on the pirates and slavers while they built their forces and gathered intelligence. Meanwhile he could train this Arden Lyn. Darys had been punished and it was time for her next mission. Something that would show his displeasure. Assassinating the Falleen leader or a Hutt perhaps. Or letting Lyn use her for her own purposes. Palpatine smiled. Yes she was terrified of Lyn. He would give her to her. Now a new inquisitor who was able to chase down and eliminate Jedi, not talk about it. He really needed to work to find competent people.

The lights of the Light side of the force were ever decreasing in number. True the Dark had somehow lost nearly as much in the latest paroxysm but it balanced and Wayland was online now. Hard to keep supplied and difficult to move clones from but it was on line and working.

SSDV

Celeste walked in the bath nude with her plait coiled on her head after exercise one morning and the others froze. She huffed at them and they restarted. In the cold bath she looked at Aayla "You are first among equals. Him if anyone but no one yet."

Aayla smiled and hugged her and passed her to Shaak. Maris hugged her next after Shaak and smiled "Us too but maybe a little more than nothing so far. Still not mated yet."

Ahsoka hugged her in welcome nodding along with Maris "Same for me. If not him no one."

Harry lay his head back on the rim of the pool "Do I get a vote?"

Five simultaneous no's later he lifted his head. Ahsoka shrugged "You proved you would happily kill poor Aayla. Shaak had to step in and save her."

"What?" Harry asked. The women broke up laughing.

Roganda looked around her and Tis'wedu's cold pool full of hot teens and shook her head "What are they doing to the Master now?" Apailana blushed furiously and the others broke up giggling.

Celeste got her first support charm that morning and narrowed her eyes at the innocent faces she received back from the Masters and Knights.

That day they started on armor. Celeste was a font of information. Harry was making a ward map for the armor and chuckling. The politicians watched with arched brows. Harry chuckling boded no good for someone. Someone of the dark persuasion.

As they worked their way around the outer rim the Republic settled. There were some spectacular pirate chases and slaver raids being broken up in the empire. This Vader seemed competent enough, if a bit slow. The Rangers were always a step ahead of his heavy forces and nibbling away at his lighter units and scouts.

The Banking enforcement fleet had collected some debts and Ackbar was reporting more and more probing as the lines firmed up. Harry sat at his table with a prototype set of Padawan armor and Roganda in a unitard being his model, to her mortification, as everyone watched him fit the pieces on her "So we got most of the outer rim planets warded or will have them done by the time we reach Naboo. We should sweep back closer in and do another run."

Mace blinked and Yoda chuckled "Alone you think you are Master Potter?"

"Erh what?"

Roganda poked him "Use your words Master." She got chuckles and looked smug.

Harry tried again "Beg pardon? I don't think I am alone but I don't understand Master."

Yoda shook his head "Watched you we have, taught us you have. Teams of Masters, Padawans, Knights and Rangers wards in our wake have placed."

Harry pushed the chest piece up and latched it and Roganda eeeped. Breha came and put her hand in an arm hole. Roganda flinched "Your Majesty!"

"Shh child. Master Potter this needs to be looser."

"Slap injuries."

"Pardon?"

"It's plate armor. Nearly impervious. A projectile or blaster bolt will accelerate it into her and cause what we knew as slap injuries. Not a problem with soft armor. Even with plate for males. Females are hard to fit as they change sizes through the month. We can either turn the top out like an angled shelf and leave her upper chest unarmored or we can make full cups and armor the upper chest. I can put runes on it and link it to the individual in female's cases. The armor will shrink and grow with her through her cycle and in younger girls cases, well it will just accommodated them. Erh human females that is. To a point anyway. It will probably work for females in general. Mammalian females anyway." Harry explained. Roganda blushed furiously. Tis'wedu blanched, knowing who the 'mammalian' test case was going to be. In front of everyone and a thousand holocams too.

Yoda tapped his wand that that was his walking stick and it sparked on the table in front of him "Master Potter, while we contemplate this aspect of armor, the wards are rather violent with people. The ones that have been in place the longest. Several people killed most grotesquely in starships coming in to planets have been. We can only blame the wards."

Harry nodded "Intent wards. In atmosphere it would bounce them. I bet the wards are slamming them against the insides of the ships."

Jocasta Nu nodded "That matches the rather lurid descriptions."

Harry nodded "Investigate those people and you will find they intended ill toward someone or more probably a group or the people of the planet. It will cut down on the external scum the local police have to deal with. Won't stop someone who develops ill intent inside the wards. Unless they leave and try to come back of course. Hmmm I think it's almost surely the populace of the world too not the government or individuals as we use blood from as many beings of the planet as will give it."

Mace Windu snorted "Deal with them without a mop and bucket you mean. Did you not tell us about this on purpose?"

Harry sighed "Its standard on my world. In the base rune set. I forgot about it to tell the truth. We didn't have space travel either. I could rework the base plea but we would have to replace all those sets."

Apailana spoke from her table where she was waving a stick practicing wand movements "Not on Naboo's please." A chorus of agreement rose.

Celeste cleared her throat "Now armor and breast? This was ever a problem and the compromise was a tight fit which as the cycle progresses can impact your breathing."

Aayla nodded "What if I am pregnant?" The hold froze and Aayla snorted "I am not, however what about females who are and are used to wearing armor."

Harry scratched his head "We pretty much kept females from battles once we knew they were pregnant. They drew demons like nothing else. Past a certain point the armor won't fit so I think then you would have to go without."

Harry unlatched the breast plate from the back plate took it off over Roganda's head and laid it out etching several runes on the inside of both pieces but especially in the cups and across the abdomen, then had her power them and add a drop of blood, which amazingly soaked in the metal. He put the breast and back plate back on, latched them together and everyone watched as it molded to her like a second skin. Roganda eeped and pulled her robe on and closed. Her breast plate had nipples! Hard ones!

Harry chuckled "Sorry, I'll fix that."

Celeste pulled her robe open and looked at her critically. She nodded. Apailana nodded and one of her doubles asked, "Is it possible to make it match skin tones?"

Harry smiled "And how would you do that young lady?" Class was suddenly in session. Roganda got more mortified when armored bottoms were drug out and she was shaken into them. They were high wasted and not high cut, more skin tight shorts with no legs rather than her normal panties. Then a discussion about changes in that part of females happened.

SSDV

Two weeks later and very few Jedi were not found in armor. Jocasta Nu had even created a set for herself. Helmets were not popular but making lightened body armor engraved with runes and charging from the user and the Force were becoming part of a Padawans passage into Knighthood. The auto sizing for females had the same strings as Roganda's top plus one to smooth over the nipples and a release feature on the bottoms so they could be gotten off. They had cleaning rune sets on all the pieces. Harry never wanted to hear about bloating or feminine hygiene again. The males did the same thing, liking the tight fit and everyone wore it under clothes except for Harry who wore an open robe over his when it was needed. It had the runes for the dueling ward and bubble head laid in the arms, neck, waist, and at the ankles. Harry made it so the bubble head would go active and cover the whole head closely. Melina, one of the doubles, had helped with that and had to take a hair regrowing potion which made Harry another fortune, from older males mostly this time. Hair did not like hard vacuum and the cold and heat of space.

They had also found a way to add a synthetic rubber sole to the armored boots to give better traction.

Harry favored extremely utilitarian unembellished designs so of course everyone else did too. It was polished to a mirror finish and a reflective rune set applied for laser based weapons though. Apailana started a trend among female senators and VIPs when she and her doubles and young guards created sets that matched their skin tones or makeup exactly, like a chameleon but faster and more exactly a match. You really couldn't see the armor until they moved and a muscle didn't. Or they wore an open neck and you could barely see where the armor stopped.

As they learned the process Knights, Masters and Padawans were besieged with people wanting armor. Finally, a price was decided as the people making it were providing value and a thousand credits or the equivalent was not unreasonable. The material was after all mostly transfigured scrap metal. The ones making the armor were free to give it away if they wanted to but plain armor was considered to be worth a thousand credits. The Jedi made armor for their Rangers.

Oddly the female Knights, Padawans, and Masters services were most in demand. Husbands and Mates wanted their wives or mates protected and now! The children that were old enough to be close to their full growth as well. That armor evolved and some was strikingly beautiful. Apailana and her girls were paid a royalty for the color charm rune set. Of which most was set aside for charity. Lots of ladies suddenly showed up for exercise. The sizing charm only went so far either way.

There was, of course, experimentation going on already to see what material made the best armor.

SSDV

Breha looked at the governor of Naboo's holo image "Apailana has asked for this?" The command fleet had turned south after crossing the galactic north just inside the outer rim territories.

"Uh no actually." The Governor blinked as he answered.

Mon laughed "You can forget it then. He will not agree to a betrothal to the Queen of Naboo if she does not wish it. His ladies to include their Padawans do not agree to it and he won't touch her with a ten meter pole until she is of age at which point she will no longer be Queen and someone else will."

The governor grimaced "Apailana has been elected Queen for life. The experience of losing Padme Amidala deeply affected the people. They seek to avoid a repeat of that. They wish to tie her to someone who will defend her at all cost and against all comers. As the petition states 'destroying the galaxy if necessary. If there is no Queen of Naboo, let there be no life.'

Obi wan sighed "Even for diplomatic language that is a bit overly dramatic."

Bail chuckled "He is just the one for the job though."

The governor nodded "Yes quite. It wasn't even the children's vote this time. The whole world is mad for them both. The Queen of Light and her Dark companion."

Staas Allie shook her head "I heard him tell Master Morne 'Those that fear the dark do not know what the light can do.' I fear this may be true in his case."

Yaddie nodded "Touched by dark those two. Bathed in it, nearly drowned in it. Surfaced from it and defeated it they have. Dangerous they are. No limits to what they will do in defense of the Light. Injure them though it does. In opposition to a Dark Lord one labored in the halls of her mind for three thousand years. The other defeated the King of the Darks highest minions in single combat multiple times. Perhaps, nearly certainly, the King himself.

Perhaps ties to the light they both need. Master Secura is a tie. Master Ti is an anchor for Potter and Secura. Maris Brood another tie and Ahsoka Tano. The Padawans Roganda and Tis'wedu are bright lights. Tied to Master Potter has Master Morne become. Careful we must be to surround them with light. They will lash out powerfully at the dark. For good or ill."

Obi wan nodded "It is a bad idea to keep this from them. Especially as he fosters this openness."

The governor sighed "The Holo networks are running with the story tonight. There is a petition for a vote."

Bail threw up his hands "This must be the emperor at work. Backing Master Potter into a corner is a really bad idea. No offence, but Naboo is a bit of a backwater. How did the fate of the Galaxy become do entwined with Naboo popular politics."

Breha frowned "Is that possible? Is this a plan of Palpatine's to destabilize the Republic? As for the galaxy being tied to their popular politics, well they have the only system where the will, or opinions for the majority of all beings is represented and judged. Anyone can start a petition. If it gains enough support it becomes a vote, if passed it becomes a law. If you were born on Naboo your vote counts if you can make your choice known, and the majority rules. You are not allowed not to vote unless you are judged incompetent."

"Naboo internal politics aside, for him it couldn't happen at a better time. We have a meet and greet tonight, we are more south than north. People have had months to prepare for this one, it will be a weeklong event, every lunch and dinner. It will be all anyone can speak about. First it is those two themselves, second, she would be joining a polygynous marriage. It could also distract him. Oh, we know it won't but Darth Sidious can't know that." Garm offered.

Yoda finally spoke "Tell them we will now. Get ahead of this we must."

Harry was holding forth on transfiguration when the group arrived and Breha put down a holo projector. The governor of Naboo appeared. "Majesty. You have been elected Queen for life."

Apailana blushed and sputtered. The girls hugged her. Harry narrowed his eyes "And the bad news?"

"Ah, most perceptive Dread Lord." The governor prevaricated.

Bars appeared first among many holo projectors that were laid down.

Harry pinched the bridge of his nose. "Haven't heard that one in a while."

Most of the people there froze for a second as did the holos. Bars chortled "Dread Lord. I like it."

"Bars I will come find you."

"Your pardon Dread Lord."

"Grrr!"

Aayla sat on Harry's leg "Harry, Bars stop playing, this is important. Governor you were saying?"

"Majesty there is a petition, that already has enough signatures to force a vote, to betroth the Queen of Naboo to the Dread Lord." It was funny in hindsight, as no one expected sweet little Apailana to explode in quite such an incandescent ball of rage. It wasn't too funny to the girls scattering from the armored arms waving or the accidentally sonorused voice detonating.

Harry regained his wits first and flicked a silencing charm on her. Bail wriggled a finger in his ear "Always these little Nabooan Queens exploding across the galaxy. Must be the hormones."

"Bail!"

"Yes dear?"

Bail and Harry turned to Breha and winced at Apailana standing with her fist on her hips and her foot tapping, tink tink tink, on the metal deck plates. Harry arched a brow "Uh gentlemen I believe our part of this conversation is yet to come. Perhaps a look around the other arm. I need to find some scrap anyway." He led the males away.

Yaddie sniffed "Cowards. Where are you going governor?"

The governor hunched his shoulders "Nowhere Master Yaddie." Yaddie nodded and ended the charm on Apailana with a "Finite."

Harry looked into the other side of the hold a half hour later and found the ladies sitting around with cups and a lively though not deadly discussion going on. There were even smiles. He sighed and looked at the males "Once more into the breach dear friends."

Garm nodded and straightened his vest "As you wish Dread Lord."

Harry growled "What is that governor's name? I am going to kill him. He had to say that in front of Bars as well."

Bail laughed "This is going to be so much fun."

Harry glared at him "If you didn't have kids. What does Breha see in you?"

"No idea." Bail grinned, unrepentant.

The other males chuckled, even the sternest Jedi masters.

Harry led them back and smiled at Apailana and then Aayla and the girls. "So that's done then."

Aayla nodded "Yes, you will be married to the Queen of Naboo on her eighteenth birthday."

"What? Who? Me?" Harry spun around and the women fell about laughing. The males chuckled.

Roganda face palmed "Some Dread Lord you are Master."

Harry pouted "Glad I can provide entertainment. Apailana, no matter what any vote says, you will do what you want."

She beamed at him "Good, and if I still want on my eighteenth birthday I will marry you."

Harry sighed "Are we really going to let them win?"

Apailana rolled her eyes "No first we are going to investigate this to see if Palpatine is behind it. Then we are going to continue as we are and if something happens it happens and if not in four years we will campaign to change it and win the vote."

"Thank Merlin. Erh not that I don't like you and you aren't bright and pretty or anything."

Apailana laughed "I'm thirteen Harry. You haven't figured out Maris and Ahsoka yet. Let's not even talk about Celeste, Roganda and Tis'wedu. Plus you are a boy and Aayla probably had to hit you over the head with a boob or something. I'll have to ask Master Ti if she had a head injury, I mean getting involved with you?"

Roganda and Tis'wedu scowled and said "Oi!" simultaneously. Aayla was drumming her fingers on the table and the white plate over Shaak's left eye had risen

Harry was really pouting now and the women were having a great time. Finally, Harry was saved by time when Breha cleared her throat and announced "As fun as watching the Queen of Naboo disassemble the Dread Lord is, we do have to get ready Ladies. It is nonstop for the next week." The men rose and the ladies left.

Harry looked around "Well that went much better than I thought it would. Who wants to spar?"

Obi wan stepped up and lit his saber. Harry leapt on a table and lit his and a shota he had built. He leapt from table to table like an over amped Errol Flynn. Suddenly there were chandeliers and staircases that lead nowhere and big fat candles in candle holders. It was a fun afternoon. The ladies watched smiling and occasionally wincing at holo's as they got ready.

Celeste smiled watching Harry. Aayla and Shaak chuckled. Maris and Ahsoka rolled their eyes and Roganda and Tis'wedu watched still learning. In this case male management, oh and transfiguration, maybe a little about sabers.

Harry bounced in, showered, Roganda shaved him, he sprinkled compliments hugs and kisses and then led them all smiling to Apailana's quarters, which had been moved under his and a spiral stair between them installed and hidden from mundane as she was always in his Padawans apartment anyway. Harry sprinkled more hugs and kisses got barked at over smudging makeup, rolled his eyes, and then led them all to the door to the party barge. Which was in this case the only ship not rafted in a triple row along the planets equator. It had hundreds of ships in a holding pattern waiting to land in a bay or dock and disembark passengers.

The Command Fleet as it was known had gained ships of all types from hundreds of worlds. Those ships were under Republic One Battle Command Sphere's AI's control as long as they were in weapons range of Republic One. The AI ran their sensors weapons and engines. There wasn't a lot the nominal owners could do about it as it could use the base command code and just take the ships and the droids on them over remotely. There had been a bit of a flap about it. Harry had quashed that with a shrug and a "You don't have to be here."

Harry smiled and everyone got into a position as directed by a B3 forming the head of the receiving line. Harry set the tone when the first local VIP approached him "Congratulations Master Potter!"

Harry leaned forward and whispered conspiratorially "It's a girl."

Apailana yelped "Harry!"

"Yes dear?"

Breha watching sighed "It's going to be one of those evenings. Go speak to him." She shoved Bails arm.

Bail blinked "What? Me? Why me?"

Mon chuckled "The Dread Lords eloquence is contagious."

The guest that night were treated to an all the way on Harry and he infected the girls. Apailana's older handmaids were scandalized. The locals loved it all. The reporters were going nuts. Aayla smiled. This was the first time he was truly carefree and happy since she had known him, nearly a year now. If a shock like today brought this on she would have to make it happen more often. Her eye fell on Celeste who paled "Not until I'm ready."

Shaak Ti smiled "Is one every truly ready for a super nova."

"You've been hanging around that council to much, or looking at those movie books again." Celeste fired back. Aayla laughed and hugged them both.

After while they were in their quarters Apailana punched Harry in the gut "It's a girl! What were you thinking?"

Harry rolled off the couch on the floor and she sat on him and punched him some more. He rolled around laughing trying to defend himself weakly. She finally got tired of beating on him and used him for a chair. He lay slightly winded and smiling.

Roganda smiled "It did pull their teeth."

Farris the closest double blew a raspberry "Like that will keep the idiots at home from thinking it's a brilliant idea and voting for it."

Celeste shrugged "When we have to kill a few million empire troops the blush will wear off."

Celene a guard sighed "That will just make them confident they have picked the right mate for Apailana. Erh not that they haven't. Uh…damn it!"

Harry chuckled "Fell in that trap. I know what you mean. Hungry. I only had those little cracker things all night, who wants a roast nerf?"

The girls, all burning calories like he was, nodded and Harry ordered up dinner. The Archivist droids had watched him cooking too and the protocol droids could imitate his style to the degree, second and microgram of ingredients.

The medical droid that had been added to Harry's droid entourage kept up with everyone's calorie intake, vitamins and minerals and their meals were tailored to them specifically. Designed, with their physiology in mind, to keep them at the peak of fitness. It coordinated with the droids who cooked for clan Potter. As a side benefit poisoning Clan Potter was impossible. Not that it would have worked in Harry's case anyway. The medical droid scanned everything around the clan all the time.

SSDV

Allanteen Six was the next stop and Harry toured the shipyard there. The women had to smile as he scampered over the yards and the vessels there with the foremen. If you were a VIP looking to meet him you had better have brought some work clothes. By the time the first dinner rolled around he owned the yard workers and Bars already owned the yard. Or Harry did but Bars managed it and was getting his people in to run it at the yard foremen's direction or for them, sort of.

They spent two weeks in the area and a thought occurred to Harry. He was working at his table as they worked their way down the convoluted route to Bothawui, the main hyperspace lanes having been only partially reopened "Why couldn't we make ward sets, put them on planets in the core and inner core, and blood them with the blood of every dissident on the planet and one of us and we hold the ward book?"

Jocasta Nu chuckled "Don't you know?"

Harry shrugged "I think it would work. We need a world to test it on."

Mace Windu grinned fiercely "Coruscant."

Stass Alli spoke up "Bibringi."

Harry looked it up on his padd. "Hmm good test and it strips the yards there from him. I can-"

Yoda glared "Stay here and finish your tour and your teaching and we will send several of the Shadow trained when Master Morne says they are ready. Your Padawans, Apailana included, not ready are for that yet."

Celeste nodded but looked at Harry apologetically "It makes sense. The Shadows need to spread out in the empire and start eliminating the Dark Jedi anyway. They might as well carry ward stone sets with them. We can do several while we gather intelligence and they finish training then we can see what happens. The planets with yards in the core edge of the colonies space."

Harry nodded "Maybe dark sponges first. I mean if we have to take those yards we will be the ones meaning to harm the populace won't we?" He looked up at the quiet to see a beaming Apailana and Bail with his face in his hands while Obi wan talked fast to several, older, Nabooan handmaidens. "What just happened?"

Mon smiled "You have infected Master Yoda and he said something plainly that we all know already but hasn't been spoken out loud to now."

Harry arched a brow and Shaak Ti sighed "He called Apailana your Padawan and said she wasn't ready for you to take her on clandestine missions to the Core worlds."

"She isn't really, but she is doing well. Sorry Apailana." Harry looked at her table and saw the Governor of Naboo collapsed in his hologram. Harry blinked. Aayla sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose.

Bail nodded "Nabooan Queens, I'm telling you."

Breha nodded this time. Garm had to walk away he was laughing so hard.

The entire time in hyperspace was tense as the Senate, Naboo and the Jedi Council argued back and forth over Apailana's status. Yoda let the holos of her training, sparring and studying play in the background of all the meetings while he called her a Force Mage Padawan. Breha and Bail, with two force sensitive, now blood adopted, children came down on Apailana's side which three quarters of Naboo had joined. The governor was fighting a valiant rear guard action, a truly forlorn hope, as push come to shove someone would start a petition and force a vote.

Harry, when asked shrugged "As long as the holonet stays up she might as well be here as there. She has an audience chamber here in her quarters. I don't stop her from running Naboo or try to influence it. We'll bring her home for whatever celebrations she needs to be there for. Like this trip really. We'll be there for Independence Day. She can take meetings by Holo as effectively as if she was there the rest of the time, be safer too. She gets to meet more of the other leaders and influence them here. I'm not averse to stretching my legs on Naboo for a while either. It sounds like a lovely planet."

That comment spun the Republic into high gear and overnight there wasn't a room to rent anywhere on Naboo for that month. The orbital slots went next as everyone realized their Lucrehulk could potentially be ready by then and hold thousands or they could lease a ship. The equatorial geosynchronous orbit was reserved for the fleet. The governor had to have a lie down when he saw the guest list. Harry told Bars to get some people to help him. Apailana gave him a peck on the cheek for that and he smiled as she blushed and was drug away by the Padawans, now including the doubles and guards.

Master Billaba huffed and lectured him about treatment of ones Padawans. Harry looked interested and nodded alertly while his hands carved runes on a project he was working on. A dark sponge he called it. He used it for an hour or so a day to demonstrate rune carving and runes in general. A bit of a lecture aid. It was the size of a large marble really but he had engorged it. The girls hid their faces. After Depa left Aayla shook her head "If you ever do that to me I am going to make you spar with no magic."

"What? Me? Do what?" Ahsoka rolled her eyes and Maris pinched him. "Oww! Hey aren't we supposed to be having sex before you can abuse me, or have kids, or something."

Garm arched a brow "Interesting. How exactly would that law or guideline read Dread Lord?" Harry pouted.

Aayla explained "Act like you are listening when you are really working and ignoring me." The archivist droid filed most of that away in the clan Potter files in the restricted archive.

SSDV

Gial and Bars watched the Republic Holos and nodded. They started moving fleets and armies. Gial Ackbar planned to mine the Hydian way and the Corellian run. He had always wanted to see if that would really work. The Empire was arrogant enough to try a major move down hyperspace lanes. He wanted to get his mine laying ships inside the colony region all the way to the Outer Core so all haste had to be taken. The mines could be set and stay at the edge of the lane until a certain time or signal.

Mon got the Bothans and the rest of the network working to find that time and all the other data Gial wanted. The Republic AI's dug into the files and as far in the empire nets as they could get looking for ship signatures. They hit the jackpot when one broke into a security bouy on a deep core route.

The fleet came out of Hyperspace and took up orbit three weeks before Harry said they would be there and Harry the girls along with Apailana and her girls launched in the Marauder with three sets of stones and a ley line map. The three major interstices of lines on the planet had wards the next day.

The stones had been interesting as the blood banks on the planet had contributed three different drops of each donation they had at Apailana's request. It was a lot of blood. The stones sucked it right up. Harry had them all feed him power as he charged the stones. The things glowed as they sank to bedrock in the shafts. He wanted these ready to go ASAP. By morning they were all back on Republic One and in the holos could be seen doing their normal exercises.

The Party hull became the keystone of the next layer of ships joining the ring around Naboo. It was rafted to Republic One at a fidelius warded docking port. Alderaan's Lucrehulk hull rafted to it on the port side, Chandrila starboard and Kashyyyk to its stern, or the outward facing side anyway. The other arrivals rafted to those in the same way. The gaps in the hulls were turned to the port or starboard at forty five degree angles to facilitate ships using the giant bays and Republic One AI took over their self defense weapons, B3 droid defense squads and sensors. The paths between the docking ports were patrolled by those B3s. The normal stops at planets for meet and greets went this way and by now the ships were used to it mostly and minimal jostling for position occurred. You knew what Republic One's AI thought of how you were cooperating with her master by what position your Lucrehulk got. On the southern side of the line the Bothan's Lucrehulk became the key hull on the bottom of that row of Command fleet Lucrehulks and the crowd grew from there.

Half of every day was spent in meet and greets all over the planet and the other giving or taking instruction. Last thing at night they checked the holo tank repeater in Harry's study/command room to see what new developments on fleet dispositions had occurred. Both main hyperspace routes to Naboo grew lines of mines right at the border of the Outer core parallel to the hyperspace lanes. The sensors of the mines began feeding the Republic computers which displayed the data in the holo tanks or used it for higher definition of their maps. Scouts and agents appeared at minor route crossings. They also dropped sensors on the way to those. The food/garbage fleet began dropping a cloaked sensor package with a tiny reactor, a fuel rune cap on its fuel and reaction mass line and generator every parsec. Those sensors scurried to the edge of the hyperspace lane on alternating sides and went dark and quiet, passively sensing and sending burst transmissions when they detected like size data packets passing in hyperspace. They were invisible in the vastness of space. All the data fed the Republic tactical holo tanks and AIs. The trap was set if the Emperor took the bait.

Meanwhile teams of Jedi and Rangers and their Generals and Admirals moved to place wards and join units and fleets.

Last but not least, Gial positioned a fleet in the south west aimed like a dagger for Byss. It looked like a normal patrol fleet but it has specific instructions and equipment. Yoda had a bad feeling. Harry was still unsure about that as the fleet was a bombardment fleet. They also carried dark sponges which were really time bombs. After they fed off the dark side long enough they became unstable. The marble sized one had destroyed a good sized asteroid the probe they left had reported. It took a month but it happened, one of the five cubic meter volume spheres would probably crack an imperial planet like an egg.

Harry sighed and Shaak nodded "It is up to Palpatine Harry. If he leaves us alone we will leave him alone."

Celeste qualified that "Aside from hunting down all the dark Jedi. Sith too."

The advertised day of the visit to Naboo finally arrived and the first ships appeared in orbit and the invitations flowed in. The rafts swelled alarmingly. Harry stopped by the holo tank after the shower of holo's he had to reply too and while waiting on the girls, who were taking some care since they would be on display today, he blinked at the lines growing on nearly all the hyperspace routes out of the inner core and core. He punched a button and Bars appeared "Dread Lord?"

"Stop that. Uh, why are we mining the galaxy?"

Bars laughed "We have the things. They were a thing in Republic military strategy for years, maybe hundreds of years, and a Trade Federation company was paid to produce them and store them in caches at or near to what the military people tell me are choke points at the edge of Core space. They are modified Vulture droids, or the Vulture droids are modified versions of them, I haven't quite gotten that straight yet. Bit chicken and egg. They are loaded in ships that are really racks for a million mines and are just sitting in space. The ships are automated as are the mines. Trade Federation computers of course so they are yours now. They have just enough processing and propulsion to get themselves and their mines in position and to function as controllers for the mines. Given enough lead time. They aren't exactly fast by modern standards. Normally they sit somewhere in space with photovoltaic panels deployed waiting on a signal. The mines, the same processing power, plus sensing to target themselves and just enough propulsion to catch a ship in hyperspace, so we activated all the ones in the inner core and as Mon's people feed us signatures we are feeding it to them.

As we can manufacture them, droid crews are are putting your fuel and reaction mass devices on the rack ships at their fuel intake and reaction mass tankage line caps. They slowly fill the rack ships tanks allowing us much more utility from them really. Any mines that don't succeed can be recovered, serviced, modified to liquid fuel, micro reactors, their processing and sensors upgraded and refueled, perhaps your caps installed, which none of us had realized. It's a whole program with replacements and spare parts in train, and repair droids, everything really, sitting out there for however long just waiting on the proper codes. There has been a little pilfering over the years but we have now put squads of B3s on the racks with some upgraded B2s each to stop that. Gial said a battalion sized element with the B3s in command."

Harry frowned "And you don't trust Palpatine to take the bait."

Bars frowned "He didn't get to be Supreme Chancellor and manage both sides of a fake war being stupid all the time. I think he has become unhinged but we could see a moment of inspiration. If I was him, while all eyes were focused on you and most of the Republic Leadership on Naboo I would strike for the Banking Clans or the Trade Federation yards in force with a feint at Naboo to hold our attention. Nearly a perfect setup for the mines. I doubt we will ever see a chance to use them like this again. Additionally this takes them away from him forever."

Harry nodded "Gial knows I assume. Now what are these lucrehulks near the minefields doing?"

"The mines were his idea. The more he and his staff dug into them the more excited they got. It's a bit of a thing with them and our hired military analyst and staff. It is the considered opinion of the staff and the risk managers that your Command fleet has enough firepower to hold off whatever he might throw at Naboo. That is without Republic One taking over every weapon system and sensor within a parsec of your location. The Hulks are just reporting to us. They are powered down unless they have to defend themselves. Salvage after the battle is their job. They are the reconditioned ones and have no organics aboard. Most of them cant even maintain atmosphere anymore, well not all over. They all have at least a deck for SAAR operations. It has a medical bay and bacta tanks. Containerized of course. The passenger sections of the mixed hulks have those now as well. That actually speeds processing of the new workers and gets them to work that much faster. Only the ones who need specialized care go to medical at the destinations now. We are doing testing and job offers are made aboard as well."

We are going through metals at a ridiculous pace. These are a part of the solution, the other is droid maintenance workers finding and putting scrap metal from the core worlds in the garbage stream. Between us and the Empire scrap metal is becoming worth its actual value. Miners, mine engineers and mining droids as well. If this continues we will denude known space of metals.

We have even gone so far as looking at historical battles and have started salvage operations where the cleanup from them piled the remains.

We are turning up some interesting things in the recycling operations. All kinds of useable equipment and intelligence. It will take us and the counsel of the first knowledge years to get through it all."

Harry frowned thoughtfully "Have the droids mine the empire city planets under layers while we still have access. Do we have a portable processing plant? They could set up operations deep down and ship processed metals and the empire would provide the power. Strip as much as we can. Don't make them unsafe, but perhaps not so robust. Map them for us at the same time. Might as well prep them for eventually taking them and terraforming them back the way we discussed."

Mon popped up, she was one of the few with access to the Republic command holo tanks "Wow, they don't call you Dread Lord for nothing, you devious hunk of man you."

Harry smiled "Morning Mon. How is Obi wan?"

"Fine Dread Lord." Obi wan stepped up beside Mon. Harry sighed and rolled his eyes. Obi wan knew he hated that.

Mon looked at Harry's face and winced as he smirked. Harry grinned "I won't-"

Aayla walked up beside Harry and squeed jumping up and down. The Republic military and command holo tank network dissolved in, well gossip or drama or something for a moment. Gial finally appeared and asked if they were through discussing relationships of state and could he get on with the business of defense. The girls drug Harry away got support charmed and ran off to Mon's quarters working padds with Harry following.

Mon spluttered as she was inundated. Harry found her food preparation area and took it over. Obi wan assisted him.

Apailana and all the younger girls were very distracted. Shaak replayed the morning in her mind and chuckled. They had all gotten support charmed too in the rush and Harry was at his excited best. A handful of young pert breast in each hand had probably added to the excitement. She watched the younger girls be challenged to pay attention all day long. When they went to bed at the unheard of hour of eight, as soon as they were done with or as early as they could get away from the affairs of state and studying she told the others what had happened. Harry blushed furiously. Ahsoka smiled evilly "So a good hard run in the morning then."

Maris laughed "They will be exhausted. You don't think they are sleeping do you?" Harry put the pillow over his head.

SSDV

In the morning the tired Padawans, Doubles and Guards lined up with the rest for support charms and Harry hesitated. Celeste arched a brow and Aayla made a shooing motion. He growled and charmed the girls and they made exercise energized and smiley.

Breha looked over her tea cup at them and frowned slightly. Clynda who had captured Leia this morning followed her look and smiled "They got support charmed yesterday by accident. Apparently, it's very pleasant."

Breha sighed "All of them?"

Clynda shrugged "The body guards and doubles are selected to be as much like her as possible. The Queen of Naboo is a bit of a package deal. Why they don't date or marry when they are Queen really. Uncharted space here."

Apailana was happy to show the places she had grown up and the group toured Naboo in a Larty dragging a tremendous tail and sprinkling Republic credits everywhere. The people were ecstatic. First as they got to see and meet the Queen and Harry and then as the plague of locust descended with overflowing wallets. Food, handcrafted items, clothes, fabric, everything went. Nabooan dress became common across the Republic upper echelons. The ladies were very conscious there would be formal occasions in the near future and a nod to the host world culture was expected and appreciated.

SSDV

Across the Galaxy the Emperor took charge of the military planning. They had an opportunity to decapitate the forming Republic and he was not going to pass it up. The intelligence all pointed to the Republics massive numerically superior, though obviously individually inferior, military pulling toward the galactic south and east with a fleet of second tier ships to the north and west. Those must be a feint to draw his attention and hold him in place while the Nabooan tart secured her protector and political ally. Or maybe it was two individuals. The little tarts were perfectly capable of spreading for any number of idiots. They had always fucked everyone but him after all.

The Banking Clans were left with their salvaged and rebuilt enforcement and collections fleet in the extreme north east. Laughable at best. Those ships and droids had already been chopped to pieces once by Venators, Acclimators and Clones. They were of no moment. The cruisers and frigates to the north and west weren't even capable of penetrating heavy ship shields much less planetary shields. The picket line around the core was a bit thin so a concentration of force should break it. No it was time to strike at the heart of the Republic. Its wallet. He reviewed fleet dispositions and started movement to the Banking Clans worlds. All of the new fleets would converge at the edge of the outer core in a grand armada and sweep all before them. Now who to put in charge. Vader was capable. He would lead the ground forces.

Hmm this strategy was pointed out by Admiral Thrawn while Tarkin cowered on Corellia recommending the old tired deliberate set piece attack on Naboo. Thrawn could command. Yes shake Tarkin up a bit. Tarkin could run a feint in force at Naboo with the oldest capitol ships, if it succeeded fine. Thrawn would have the newest and most powerful. Palpatine chuckled.

Arden Lyn listened to the emperor cackling from her place in the shadows and, not for the first time, wondered if it was something about the dark side that drove males insane. No matter, chaos followed them and in chaos the dark flourished.

Her plans and schemes were all succeeding and she was pulling in gold, not those credit things, real gold, with both arms and a foot.

She turned her mind to the enemies she could reach. Vader was possible. Tarkin definite. She needed to work her way up the chain and eliminate the threats light and dark under her, twenty five thousand years and nothing had changed, at least in politics. Right now this apprentice of hers needed more training. Maybe giving her to a clone unit for their entertainment would motivate her? She had managed to kill the inquisitors she had given her too. They were barely Jedi though. They must have been librarians or social workers or something, lawyers maybe, they talked enough for it. Light siders liked that kind of thing, educating and helping people. As if they deserved it.

SSDV

Naboo and the Republic followed the Queen on hover cams all day every day. They watched her train, practice and govern, instead of it breeding contempt they fell in love. Here was a young woman trying her very hardest to be everything she could be for her world. The Dread Lord was not her only Instructor but he was far and away the one everyone loved. You could see the care and concern as he watched her. And if someone or something moved to fast in her vicinity and ended up looking down a saber blade or chopped to pieces, well that was right wasn't it. One should have a care around the Queen.

SSDV

Maris flopped on the bed at the end of a long day and huffed "I am so glad the fracking holo cams can't come in here."

Ahsoka nodded "Just when I forget about the things, one nearly runs over me."

Aayla stated firmly "I spoke to the Nabooans, they are making them back off further. They didn't account for Jedi abilities."

Shaak smiled "Or armored boobs." The others chuckled then laughed. The hovering holo cam had hit Ahsoka right in the right breast. It had not survived. The Republic did however get an action close up of armored Togrutan breast.

SSDV

Garm watched the tailor flee, nearly in tears, and handed Bail the credchip. Breha narrowed her eyes "What are you two doing?" The conference floor on the grounded control sphere ground to a halt.

Bail shrugged "Betting on how long it takes for Harry to run another tailor off."

Clynda blinked "What? What tailors? He will be in his armor. Give him a cape and there you are. Mirror polished black goes with anything the girls could think to wear. What idiot sent tailors?"

Mon laughed "The high-class women of Chandrilla think armor is inappropriate for the Consort of Naboo. The Ladies of the court of Naboo agree."

Lars Kren growled and wufffed in the way Wookies had and his protocol droid deadpanned "Good luck with that." Bail and Garm grinned at him. The Wookies were a favorite of Harrys. The first one he had seen had gotten him very excited about 'Big Foot', 'Yeti' or 'Sasquatch' and the possibility a Wookie ship had crash landed on earth. It had reenergized his search for his home world. Him wrestling them in the sparring area stopped everyone. Harry and the Wookies enjoyed the all out physicality of those sparring sessions. Harry starting to win a few and then most of them was making him the Wookies hero. The Dread Lord beating a Wookie was a badge of honor among them.

SSDV

In the Padawan quarters Roganda looked at Tis'wedu "We have to tell him. I am wearing out my magic using hygiene charms. The charms in the armor are great but they take a minute or two. Plus my nipples are sore from being hard all day."

"Are you sure you won't eventually get used to it?" Tis'wedu asked.

Roganda arched a brow "Sure, I am going to get used to the Master playing with my breast all day. Today when he looked at me and smiled he rolled and pulled my nipples. If I ever get used to that I will take the celibacy vows as he won't do me any good then."

Apailana spoke up from behind the two "It's just you and me. The others don't orgasm fifteen times a day."

Celene her guard spoke up "Celeste too, chilled her right out or does when he looks at her. All of you he was touching when you found your crystals. He still gets the rest of us but not as often."

Roganda nodded "We need to talk to Aayla and the others. We will have to send Harry off somewhere."

Apailana nodded "The Wookies. He wants to talk to them anyway, and loves sparring with them."

In the bedroom of the suite they were using in the Royal apartments of the palace Ahsoka moaned as Harry rubbed the light oil down her Leku. She shuddered and leaned into him for support. Harry grinned. Aayla toed him "Goof you are supposed to be frustrated and hold her down and take her. Not enjoy her orgasm nearly as much as she does."

"She doesn't want to be taken yet." His oily hands moved to her neck and Ahsoka rolled her back bringing herself forward between his legs and moaning again. "It's good for her to wait as well."

The older women waited and Maris nodded when he stayed quiet "And you didn't add that stupid comment about her finding someone else, better. You've accepted the truth. Now you should do better about the Padawans. Guard your lecherous thoughts."

Harry snorted "I don't have any lecherous thoughts. Well not then or about them. It's a bit tied to me though which is why witches on my home world did their own, had their girlfriends do it or their boyfriends if they were serious. It can be applied to other parts of your anatomy, even mine as well. Some couples in school got carried away. If I am happy it wants to make you happy. I can't really stop it. Well short of arithmantically deconstructing the spell and redoing it and I am a little busy."

Shaak nodded "They can do each other then. Later we can deconstruct and reconstruct that spell or one of the Knights can do it as training."

Harry nodded and moved to Ahsoka's back working out knots "Now why hasn't the idiot attacked?"

Aayla lay down and curled around Harry "Creating some overly complicated diversion and main effort. Probably, at least that is the estimate right now."

Maris snorted "Every day he doesn't only helps us. Leave it or he could not and we will have wasted millions of tons of fuel and hours of labor."

Ahsoka sat up and arched her back to help Harry with a knot "Are we sure about not coding the empire scouts into the mines for anything other than sensing?" Harry asked.

Aayla nodded against the hip her head was near "The recycling fleet can handle scouts, as can the Progress fleet and the Blockade fleets as well. My worry is him striking toward the Chiss Ascendancy and into the unknown regions. We have thinned that part of the blockade to set the trap."

Shaak nodded "He wouldn't though. He has the core worlds. He was getting them under control and Jedi free. We baited this trap heavily both ways. If he is successful either way he could gain control of the Republic."

Maris frowned "But he can't be successful. Not really. Even if he went for the Banking Clans and was successful the Blockade feet could sweep through the core and take it from him. They could spear for Aargau and we would have a new bank, and the other half of the money in the galaxy."

Harry nodded as he dug into a knot at the base of Ahsoka's spine. "He is accepting risk in order to gain control early and end the war." Ahsoka grunted, growled, surged up, turned around and sat on Harry. He slid into her core as she locked her lips to his and twined her arms around his neck. The others blinked then giggled.

Shaak offered "Well, she got ready."

SSDV

In the morning, after waiting, Roganda was elected leader and she palmed the door switch and slid in the bedroom on cat feet. The others, curious, as teens ever were, followed her. The younger girls looked around at the bodies, all nude, in various poses. Master Ti was mounted on Harry. Fortunately, there was a sheet across their middles. The others were covered in bite marks, hand prints and the odd abrasion. Roganda lead the girls back out, they did the charms on each other and went to exercise. Apailana sighed as they left "I was right, mountains of boobs and a spectacular ass."

Neela, a guard, grinned "With teeth marks now." The others gaped then giggled madly.

Breha and Clynda observed from the leaders lounge while feeding the babies. Breha laughed "Maris and Ahsoka got tired of waiting I'll bet."

Clynda nodded "Mon too. Obi wan is missing and he isn't on a mission." The two looked at each other and giggled madly as well.

On the ground outside Yoda nodded "Good Padawans Ismaren, Tis'wedu, and Apailana. Masters indisposed you responsibility take." The Padawans blushed "Share your run I can?" Yoda summoned his pack.

Maris woke up, leapt up, and reached for her armor. Harry caught her by a foot and pulled her in the bed "Let's see what they do."

What they did was keep Yoda engaged in teaching all day. He smiled beatifically. Mace frowned and grumbled, as when Yoda was teaching he was leading the Order. The other Council members hid smiles. They would have to get Roganda to give Master Windu a break tomorrow and have him teach. Stass Alli looked at Adi Gallia who nodded "About time."

Depa Billaba frowned "Depravity!"

Jocasta Nu rolled her eyes "You are going to have a long way to fall if it ever happens to you Depa. It will be very entertaining. If you don't loosen up."

Yaddie nodded "Or all the way to the dark if you do not deal with emotion other than suppressing it." Depa and the others frowned thoughtfully. "Everything in its time Masters. Deal with your emotions you must. Not rule them, accept them and move on. This was the mistake we made after Rusan and with the new code."

SSDV

Admiral Thrawn looked at the clock and nodded "Signal the scouts to proceed." Admiral Tarkin at the same time gave the same order.

Palpatine looked in the holo tank and nodded as the scouts accelerated away from the fleets.

SSDV

Arden Lyn moved to the edge of the deck of the cargo lifter as it descended the vast air shaft "It's gotten taller."

Darys nodded "It's not safe below the thousands."

Arden looked at the rising stream of laden lifters and felt the thump as they passed, one every five seconds, and shrugged "Safe for droids. The Lower levels were never safe. The thousands were close to the upper city in my day."

Dayrs grunted "Droids aren't food."

Arden smiled "This could be fun then." She looked at her nervous apprentice "Don't worry we aren't going any deeper than the protein production levels. Twelve hundred you said. We'll jump at twelve fifty and Force sail to the landing. Where are these lifters taking all this crap?"

Dayrs shrugged "Recycling, heading to the waste stations. Level thirty two seventy, in most sectors. Bulk receiving as well. Grains, proteins from off world, fish and plankton for the tanks, specialty items, water. All on droid freighters. Most of the passenger capacity in the Empire too. They take away the trash and the sewage after the protein plants get through with it."

Arden shook her head. "Otherwise we would drown in shit while buried in trash. Got it. Never eating a ration bar again."

Dayrs smiled tightly. "Our target is a suspected Jedi. Some of his coworkers reported him."

SSDV

Harry met a stern faced Roganda at eleven, Harry was leading the older women and she tried to be upset through the hugs and looks that ensued and just couldn't. Harry got left as the girls had to go talk. He sat at his table under the bright sky working on one thing and another and answering questions or giving classes with his ears burning.

When the girls came back he was brewing a potion with substitute ingredients under several charms. The R+D Jedi with him were all watching closely. As was his Archivist droid and a Process Control Droid now. This was the first all this galaxy skelegrow. A deceptively simple potion that was notoriously finicky to brew as most of the process was energetic and it could go exothermic if not monitored closely. The Queen had declared the area they worked in off limits to holo cams to howls of protest. Harry put up a ward. Hover cams died in droves. The holo networks and paparazzi got the message. Oddly long lens images were blurred as well. Obi wan when he showed up looked at the ward and glared at Harry who shrugged "Didn't think of it."

Jocasta nodded "Hence your archivist droid companion."

Mace watched the process holding his chin "This is what you used on me?"

Harry nodded "I vanished your bones in the injured limb, sliced off the healed over end of your stump and other wounds down to clean undamaged tissue regrew the soft tissue with a potion, another potion for nerves, one for muscle, another for connective tissue, and then potions for blood vessels and skin. Lymphatic system, if needed got another potion. Gave you several other specialist potions for other injuries and types of tissue then used skelegrow, for your bones.

I surgically debrided your eye socket preserved the remains of the optic nerve which were, thankfully, undamaged and then used some more specialist potions and a charm to hook the regrown eye to the nerves. Bit lucky there as that only works about half the time. I do know of a prosthetic eye that is functional but it would have taken a while to make one of those.

Then just to cover old injuries you got the cure all potion and some others. That cream for the scars you are still applying every night until the deep parts of the scars fade as well I hope."

Mace sighed and nodded "Do the bottles have to be skeletons?"

Harry blinked "It's traditional." Celeste started the laughter at Harry's offended face.

Aayla looked at Obi wan and tapped her neck. Obi wan frowned at her and she finally drug him off and brought him back minus the hickey but with a blush a few minutes later. Mon smirked when Breha arched a brow at her. Clynda rolled her eyes, it was like high school all over again.

SSDV

That night Harry looked in the Holo tank as the last twenty four hours replayed at speed. He looked up "Scouts."

The older women of his group nodded. Roganda asked "They missed the minefields?"

Ahsoka nodded "They are in hyperspace. The mines are just at the edge of the hyperspace lane powered down except for sensors. Their propulsion is chemical then a small hyperspace generator puts them on their target. They'll attack the engines and sources of radiation so the command decks and weapons. They aren't very accurate which is why they weren't used much in the past but anything cruiser size and larger they should hit."

Tis'wedu nodded "At hyperspace speeds. The kinetic energy alone might destroy a ship."

Maris nodded "Most probably will destroy a ship."

Harry blinked "There are millions of mines out there. Are you telling me one will kill a ship?"

Shaak shrugged "At the settings now each capitol ship will get a hundred mines attacking it from each minefield. They can fight back and do have automated anti mine defenses. At least up to Venators did. I doubt the empire dropped it from the designs. They probably didn't improve it though. A hundred should overwhelm the defenses. If they don't the successive lines will. At least that is what the doctrine says. These are blocking minefields and can only be overcome by a deliberate breach, a slow and costly operation. Clones in suits boarding the mines and placing demolition charges or their destruction by direct fire. Either would activate them and they would attack anything in range not issuing the correct identification code."

Apailana asked "Do Sith have battle precognition?"

Celeste nodded "They do. These mines though aren't using the Force, they aren't alive. A powerful Sith will sense danger but I am not sure what they could do about it."

Harry rubbed the back of his head "So send the dark sponges or not?" Apailana arched a brow, Harry explained "On my world a dark side user used dark magic to open a portal. It was to the, or terrifyingly a, demon plane. He lost control of it of course and of the horde of demons that came out of it. The way we closed them was to fight our way to them drop in a five cubic meter spherical ward stone we created and then defend it until it absorbed the dark energy locally and then it would drop through the portal as it collapsed and detonate on the demon plane. The backlash usually wiped out everything within ten miles of the portal in all directions but that didn't really matter as the demons killed everyone anyway. We apparated away or portkeyed as soon as the sponge dropped past the event horizon. You haven't gotten up to that memory recording yet in the history you all had me write, or record rather.

You had to kill all the demons or they would open another portal. Took us a while to learn that. Oh and apparently what happened on our plane was nothing as to what happened in theirs because after the first ones they were really pissed.

Some people got upset about art and architecture but well, against people dying?" He shrugged eloquently.

Apailana stepped up to him and hugged him. A twenty mile diameter circle was bigger than the capitol city of Naboo, Theed. She could barely imagine the horror.

Celeste nodded "Byss Harry. We will see if that balances the force. If the other sponge boats get in that will be fine too. We only got fifty of the boats ready."

Ahsoka nodded "And it hammers one of his main bases from what the spies turned up if it goes off. If that wasn't still planning stage."

Harry sent an order and shrugged "How did he build this all? Or rather start it all. Without an active portal I have no idea how long it will take. It took hours with a portal. That one on that asteroid lasted weeks and that whole rock was just evil. It felt like a portal and that sponge was tiny. It shouldn't have been able to hold that much."

Aayla nodded "We should have tested one on Korriban."

Maris shrugged "Ziost. Any of the worlds in Sith space are measured and documented and wouldn't be much of a loss."

"We are assuming the droid boat can deliver them. The core is all controlled hyperspace lanes and fortress planets. The fleet being gone to attack us might be the only reason they get there. If the cloak fades for a second whichever one will be destroyed. And then we are assuming there is enough dark energy to fill it then rupture it." Shaak supplied.

Harry shrugged "I got a bag full of them. Shrunk down like gob stones. We made thousands."

Aayla nodded "You should make one for the archivist droid."

Harry winced "I think it will be a planet killer. I mean we had wards on earth and it still did damage. Those planets have no ward and will get the full force of the blast, If nothing else it will probably leave the planet with very little of the Force. I am working on the one, that training aid, the beach ball sized one, off and on. It's a great course in runes. It teaches everything." A long discussion ensued before the younger girls pushed them all in their bedroom and went to bed themselves.