Chapter 25: Shocks, Helping Out and the Commonwealth

Star Wars + Harry Potter Crossover

Chapter 25: Shocks, Helping Out and the Commonwealth

110 BBY - 105 BBY

3542 - 3537 ATC

Spero/Kammia/Yinchorr

Harry didn't know why but, when he first came home, he had half suspected that his city and planet would have been changed beyond all recognition. He was wrong, happily so, and found that Droid Hermione had done a fantastic job of keeping the population balanced with the needs of the planet. This was helped by her decision to terraform nearby planets and systems for their use.

When he returned he had quickly realised that, no matter the frustration that it sometimes caused him, allowing her to develop fully without a mindwipe (risky decision that it was) was incredibly useful. If she had been given regular ones, as the Republic often did with their droids she never would have learned enough, developed enough, to remain effective and essentially planting the seeds and then running the newly christened Commonwealth in his absence.

The Commonwealth itself was growing at a steady pace. Already the twin facts of their efforts to provide medical aid to the Outer Rim right under the Republic's nose, not to mention their relative technological advancement compared to most of those frontier worlds, and the increasing pressures by 'business' entities such as the Trade Federation and the Hutt Cartel it was projected that (at the absolute minimum) their would be around eighty systems in the Commonwealth soon enough.

That translated to, at full capacity, over one hundred and twenty worlds that would eventually fall under its banner.

More good news was that the Longbottoms condition seemed to be the result of some light (but very specific) brain damage. While on Earth, magic or not, that was a very large problem but Nicolas Flamel and Harry were almost certain that within a few weeks to a month both of them could be in cloned bodies. With legilimency and a little luck they would be able to fully rehabilitate and lead normal lives soon after.

The bad news that Harry received was both personal and Commonwealth wide. The latter news was two fold. The first, and least alarming, were some aggressive former trade partners known as the Yinchorri.

They were, as of yet, an unaffiliated world that firmly believed in the old adage that Might is Right. They also believed, however wrongly, that it should be their might and their people leading a war that they wanted among the stars.

Then there was also the greater threat of the continuing pirate attacks, almost in great unending waves it seemed, that to Harry's attuned senses were tainted with the Dark side of the Force. It didn't particularly surpise Harry that something like this had happened though as the Sith must have been aware, at least partially, of the Commonwealth's existence and aside from any personal issues that they might have with the Potter line they would never stop trying to get the resources of the Commonwealth under their control in one way or another.

What neither enemy had taken into account was why he had needed such a large and magically expanded Hangar.

Though the earliest models of his ships were both completely droid manned and almost carbon copies of both the old Interdictor and Hammerhead cruiser classes, though with runic modifications, they had largely been relegated to patrolling the Commonwealth's space and planetary defence forces.

The Geo Forge, assisted by what was now a veritable army of droid workers, was now creating a new class of ship, one that had been partially stolen from the Jedi R&D archives and also bought through less than legal means.

The new class of ship were the state of the art mark twelve Centurion Battlecruisers. They boasted increased firepower, ship carrying capacity and a much larger crew complement as standard. Nic was also hard at work repurposing every scrap of runic knowledge that he had or could research to further improve their capabilities and this was only assisted by sheathing them in N.A.S.

Not only was New Atlantis Steel magically charged, allowing them to take more runes and be powered for longer without the need for a contingent of Magi on board, but it was also lighter than the standard armour and gave a durability that rivaled Phrik or Cortosis far outstripping the plating on any other ships in the Galaxy.

In fact the only plans that were not based off of some ancient or stolen technology were the new fighters that came with the ships. They were diamond shaped with two powerful lasers housed near their front tip and were further split into two types beyond their basic design.

Said basic model was for mundane pilots or droids and called the Mark I or Blackbirds. It was pure black and, like all the models, was armed with thirty missiles or bombs. It was hoped that soon Nic would add suitable shrinking charms so that each fighter could be both interceptor and bomber but, although he was very close, he hadn't managed it quite yet on the standard design.

Nor had he managed it on the Mark II's and they were similar in looks to their predecessor except that they had a white stripe down the middle and were designed solely for Force Users. They were often referred to as Whitebirds because of their paint job. Every system they had had been augmented so that a Force User could fly the ship well beyond normal safety limits to such an extent that it was dangerous, even deadly, for anyone else to try and fly them.

The Mark III's were designed for the Magi and they too had a large strip down the middle though this time it was blue and they were also called Bluebirds. They used runes, currently powered by the pilot, that increased speed, deflector strength and the power of the weapons if they managed to work at all (they hadn't been tested fully). These were the only ships that were mass produced at present that could be both Interceptor and Bomber

None of these designs had been tested in a true battle however and, if it wasn't for the external threats, they wouldn't be for quite some time.

The final set of fighters were unique. Designed specifically with Luna and Harry in mind they had a silver starburst painted on their undersides. These were truly marvels of Nic's (and the Geo Forge's) abilities. The best of the Mark II's and III's went into the Starburst's creation with all of the enhancements of both as well as somehow (most likely expansion runes) managing to fit a small hyperdrive in them for emergencies.

The more personal problem that Harry had was more than a little embarrassing to him. The Government of the Silver Commonwealth, its Parliament, included one seat for every system it had along with one for both the city of New Atlantis and Fide.

That wasn't a problem for Harry at all as the problem came with what they had decided to do next as they had created a second tier of government. This was a difficult subject for him because though the Council would form both the highest court and a legislative body that would make decisions for the Commonwealth as a whole they wanted him to lead it.

They wanted to make him King. Granted he would be a constitutional Monarch and not an absolute one, but still, they wanted to make him King.

He had refused.

They had then voted again and came back with the same result.

He had refused again and so they eventually stopped asking and simply did it anyway. To appease his foul mood at the news they had elected to make him, with his Godfather's laughter in the background, a prince rather than a king.

The newly dubbed Royal Council was then formed with twelve seats in all. Each member was chosen from a list of names, in their respective fields, to form it and each was titled Lord as a measure of respect.

For example there was a Lord of Colonisation and Expansion, a Lord Public Works and a Lord of Public Health to name just a few. There were also seats for the head of the Armies, Grandmagi and the Grandmaster of the Knights of New Atlantis (which Luna held currently by default).

The only two differences between their seats and Harry's was that he was not chosen by anyone beyond his initial coronation and that, when the Royal Council voted, he had two votes instead of one. He was insistent upon that (rather than the larger share of power they wanted to give him thought he did have a yearly veto) and the people that had done this to him, led by his Godfather, had given him his small victory as they had effectively won the war.

He was now titled, to his chagrin, His Royal Highness The Silver Prince of the Commonwealth Harry Potter. Some had, at his begging, simply started to call him Prince Harry though very few would do more than that like just call him Harry which annoyed him further.

Luna found his discomfort hilarious and the faces that he pulled very cute and her laughter had lasted for months especially when she realised that every time she brought it up he would have a face like a smacked puppy.

The Nation hadn't helped him at all. In fact, in collusion with both Flamel's amongst others, crafted both him and Luna new sets based on his old design. They were both burnished to a silver shine and made from N.A.S. to match his new title.

On the right breast was the chosen symbol of the Commonwealth (a silver star above a flaring lightsaber crossed with a rune encrusted sword) and on both of their left breasts was a white enameled phoenix that looked a lot more like Chime than not.

The major differences between his old armour and this new set included, aside from the new material being much more magically conductive, was the fact that it now included lightweight pieces that partially covered his arms and legs. Thanks to it being much lighter the armour could do this without hampering his agility too much.

His mask was also now blank and spelled not only to be see through but also, with a simple mental command, to melt back and forth between its mask form and a simple silver circlet on his brow.

Given that it was largely goblin made it was not only crafted to the highest standards but was layered with protective enchantments and runes. They had even gone so far as to include a small hidden survival knife in one vambrace. In the other they transferred the workings of his previous vambrace from his old armour with ease.

Like the mask could move itself into the circlet the armour could melt into the vambraces at his wrists. This would leave him in his now standard Tomuon wool and Dantooine cloth Jedi robe and it seemed to Harry that Nic had not only been teaching the Nation a few things but, for their part, they were also truly enjoying being able to use their natural gifts through wands once again.

Luna had further enhanced the gift for Harry (and her own while she was at it) by thoughtfully and carefully imbuing both sets with the Force using an old Holocron that Harry had found when he first went through the Veil.

The final two pieces of news, neither good nor bad, were the changes that magic had made to Spero. It was hardly surprising though as every time that the Geo Forge was used it added more magic to the already enriched world and that had, over the years, impacted everything.

Most of these changes had little to no effect as just because there is magic in something it didn't necessarily mean that things would begin to change especially with the randomness of natural magic.

It did have some small changes on plant life (the transplanted Magi were were excitedly discussing what new potions might eventually be made from them and even debating if these new plants could be used) but the major change was to the longest dwelling wildlife and chief among those was the dragons.

It didn't enable them to talk as they lacked the vocal cords and they were still bound by their anatomy after all but, it did harden their scales and sharpened their claws. They also had their intelligence increased but as they had been living and dying on the world for hundreds of years it shouldn't have been surprising.

Although they couldn't speak in a traditional sense they could now, sort of, communicate in basic images and had essentially adopted the people of Spero as part of their nest.

It had been a gradual process though, for both them and the local populous, and required many negotiations over the years. The wild phoenixes had acted as both willing mediators and sometime translators over the years before this detente could be reached.

It had also required designated 'wild' hunting and breeding areas where it was unsafe and unwise for anyone to venture in them except the phoenixes of course.

Then there was his home. The home that he knew, that he had caused to be built, had been utterly demolished.

The deconstruction wasn't really planned or out of some whim but rather the effect of it being the nexus of the excess magic that was being produced by the Geo Forge far below. A good portion of the land that it had rested on had risen, thanks to the unpredictability of natural magic, a few hundred years ago about three hundred and fifty feet into the sky and stayed there.

It happened so very suddenly that a great deal of structural damage was done and the best that the Magi could do was place magical inhibitors on the land to stop any more unexpected accidents.

Instead of simply repairing the huge amount of structural damage Droid Hermione had instead taken the opportunity to simply remake it from the ground up.

There were now two massive wings coming off the now much larger building. The center of the building was going to be (once they had the numbers) a fully functioning training center for the Knights of New Atlantis or Silver Knights with Chapter houses planned across the Commonwealth.

The right wing was Nic's workroom and center for all espionage performed throughout Harry's new demense. Harry was uncertain what exactly was going on there but decided, for many reasons, that it was better that he did not know.

The left wing held the Royal Council Chambers and other offices to do with that particular branch of government while the tower that sprang from it became his own private quarters (and hid the most dangerous Holocrons) that would hopefully one day echo with the laughter of his children.

The center tower was given over to the storage of all magical knowledge that they did, or ever would, possess as well as the history of both the Commonwealth and all of its inhabitants magical or not and would even grow to include knowledge on the Republic, the history of Wizarding Britain and the early days of Spero itself.

There were sky bridges connecting each of the towers that soared almost like the thin rising wings of a great bird in flight and, when the sun hit it, the white building was bathed in a warm golden light.

Their historian and now Chief Archivist of Histories was another frequent visitor to the newly dubbed Prince's Manor in the form of dentist turned archivist Emma Granger. Both she and her husband Dan had come along with a new ship of refugees, the first since the Royals reasserted their rights, and the ship mostly contained a mix of Merfolk and Veela but also Hermione's parents.

Hermione herself hadn't come with them instead choosing to head to Hogwarts and help the remaining remnants of the former Wizarding Britain whose world she adopted. The fact that she had refused to come had hurt both her parents and Harry deeply. Luna had somehow known of his pain and visited him once he knew that she was not coming.

Flashback Begins

Standing on his balcony and looking out over his shining city in the dark night Harry was consumed by guilt. He could have gone to his friend earlier, years earlier if he had to, and he believed that he could have convinced her of the truth.

"The risk was too great" Luna spoke interrupting his thoughts.

"But I didn't give her enough time" Harry replied the anguish clear in his voice.

"You gave her all the time that you had. You had just over two hours and it wasn't your fault that she wasn't there when you arrived and it's not like you could have moved the timetable at the last minute".

"It wasn't hers either"

"No of course it wasn't and I don't pretend to understand her decision but I do understand yours" she stated.

"I failed her"

"You made a choice and so did she. She chose the Wizarding World and you chose to put the safety of everyone you love, including her, and this whole place above satisfying her feelings or your desire to reconnect sooner than was wise".

"I came for you" he stated. "Straight away I came for you"

"And I know you. If she had been there you would have taken her with us as well. Neville could escape notice only because your enemies, our enemies, underestimated him and he was a pureblood. That was not true for Hermione in either case".

"I still could have told her long ago" Harry said.

"And the risks remained the same" She moved forward and hugged him from behind before continuing "You know what would have happened if Snape or Dumbledore had read her mind. Harry... Dumbledore directly or indirectly killed tens of thousands of his own kind and countless muggles in pursuit of his dream if you take into account his active participation in Grindelwald's rise and his inaction in Voldemort's. Imagine, just for a second, what any of those three would have done with the Geo Forge, let alone what we have all built and continue to build here".

"They would have used Hermione and discarded her without a second thought for all of this and then...Hell...Hell for the Earth, Hell for the Republic and the Sith laughing as they, at best, watched it all".

He sighed, thinking of the young girl that he had met on the train and the friendship that they had made so long ago at a place that had changed both of their lives forever.

"I just wish that I knew why she has chosen the course she has. You are telling me that choices are permanent and sometimes we make the wrong ones and I understand that but... I still feel like I have failed her and still want to know why".

"Then use it" Luna responded sharply. " They say that failure is the greatest teacher. Well I intend to be around and your friend for a very long time so learn from it and be better. We may never know why she chose what she did but, if there is an answer, I will find it".

Harry disengaged from Luna and laughed hollowly thinking that every single time he learned a life lesson like this he lost a friend.

"We have all made our beds haven't we?" Harry said bitterly.

"And we all must lay in them" replied Luna sorrowfully.

"You said that you intend to be around for a long time?" Harry asked hopefully changing the subject.

"Well there is no use me trying to figure out what we have if I die of old age before we manage to figure it out let alone enjoy it".

"We?" he said taking her hand understanding her point. They shared a smile and looked at each other for a very long moment. "Well if we're going to do that allow me to introduce you to the slightly disgusting world of blood bags and cloning…"

He took her by the arm and led her inside. As he did so he tried to put aside the pain he was feeling and concentrate on the future.

Flashback Ends

I always thought, Harry reflected, that once I got home there would be more time for Luna and I but, given my need to set up the Council, Luna's own training and the planning to repel the twin threats of the Yinchorri and the pirates it seemed that they had less time than ever at the moment.

Dan Granger had been instrumental in helping form the plans to fight these new threats. Before he was a dentist he had been a major in the S.A.S. and long before Harry had returned Droid Hermione had instituted a mandatory two year service in the military for all citizens due to the attacks.

Some chose to join special organic only units or craft but most simply went where they were sent. After their mandatory term was up most decided to make use of the many schools, universities, markets and business that the multitude of worlds had to offer.

The biggest draw, in the early days of Harry's return for example, were the massive construction efforts involving several underwater pre-planned cities for the merfolk that were beginning to arrive. These cities were not just going to be on Spero but elsewhere. In fact, when complete, there would be at least one in every planet of the Silver Commonwealth that had anything approaching an ocean.

It was especially attractive since, aside from a nice pay packet (the Commonwealth accepted Republic Credits, Galleons, and both muggle Pounds and the credit chips that were Harry's version of the same currency), they offered free education courses that prepared people nicely for their future in the greater Galaxy that they found themselves in.

There were of course many that chose to join the Police Force or the Army thereby more permanently putting their previous training to further use though the amount that they did that varied greatly not only on cultural lines but racial ones as well.

The Nation, for example, largely evenly split themselves between designing and creating new weapons and technological marvels or joining the Armed Forces. Standard Army and Navy gear was either created, or in some cases reproduced, by the Goblins first so that they could improve on previous gear of its type.

At present the standard gear consisted of a goblin forged curicass (made from phrik laced steel), a standard heavy blaster and a finely made goblin short sword. The Goblin's themselves eschewed using the blasters that they reproduced instead preferring a form of collapsable melee shield that they carried on their backs when not in use that could defect fire so their swords could do their work.

As Harry and Luna walked, arm in arm, through the streets of New Atlantis, enjoying the quiet morning and crisp, but still slightly chill, air and they easily dodged a small group of Hogwarts aged children giggling as they passed.

Thanks to Headmistress Flamel, Sirius, Xeno and a few muggleborn Curse Breakers that had felt the desire to teach the Institute was already up and running. There were still some positions available however and Harry privately hoped that the elder Longbottoms would become professors for Neville's final years if they had any desire to do so.

Looking at the clear blue sky, almost teeming with the magic of Spero, he saw how the few people that were out and about at this early hour enjoyed the city that he had helped to create. He enjoyed how peaceful, almost idyllic, it was here far from the enforced calm of the Jedi Temple or the battlefields that he had known.

The beautiful girl whose arm that he was holding made it almost perfect to him. They were both enjoying the peace that seemed to blanket their home. Though things got in the way Harry felt more connected here, more free and more happy than he had ever been in his life.

"What are you thinking?" Luna asked looking at his happy serene expression and meeting it with both the open and honest face that he loved and her wide blue grey eyes staring deeply into his own. An unspoken resolution seemed to flitter across her face for a moment as if she could tell what he was thinking and decided something for herself.

"I see my future" he responded without thinking and then blushed as, with the fact that they had just dodged children, the double meaning sunk in for both of them. She blushed as hard as he had and then bit her lip.

"I see mine too...someday" then chastely and gently pecked his lips with hers before quickly disengaging her arm from his while he was in a daze. She then laughed and moved off before he could recover his wits as they did have a busy day after all.

Luna was in charge of dealing with the Yinchorri problem and, with Dan Granger along to supervise and help, she had command of over twenty Hammerhead Cruisers with one of only two (that had been made so far) of the Centurion Battlecruisers named the Hope as her flagship.

She was heading with her group for the heart of their space while Harry led another, in his flagship the Silver Flame, to the Pirates Haven.

Kammia

Tracking the pirates by triangulating their most likely position proved to be fairly easy given the amount of times that they had attacked Harry's people and led him and his fleet to the formerly uninhabited world of Kammia.

Before coming to this world the planet was just one of the many that on a list, kept in both the Jedi Archives and the Exploration Corps of the Republic's central Archives, as both a promising and uninhabited world that had great potential as a Agriworld.

The colonisation of planets required both time and money. Combine that with the fact that the Republic was vast with almost 1.3 million worlds scattered within its borders and the fact that the Republic, the great organism that it was, was not in an expansion phase the world had languished for years.

It was only one among many after all, of possibly thousands of worlds, that were waiting for a true scouting and colonisation effort. The only reason Harry remembered the name from the list was that he had occlumency at his disposal.

He was completely unsurprised that it had been forgotten or that the Republic was currently unaware of his Commonwealth because, quite simply, what they lacked in military might, thanks to the Ruusan Reformation they more than made up in sheer size and internal bickering.

It was no longer forgotten it seemed. On the largest landmass was a citadel that was clearly the home based of the priate group that had been harrassing the Silver Commonwealth.

They called themselves the Dark Hand and even had a rudimentary shipyard on the moon of the planet. Around the shipyard were eight Cruisers, several defence systems and two destroyers. Clearly they were getting ready for another raid to test the defences and most likely pillage his domain.

That in and of itself was not particularly disturbing, they were pirates after all, but the emanations of the Dark Side coming from the closest destroyer did worry Harry a lot more than the ships themselves.

Thanks to the rudimentary (and still experimental) expansion charms on the Hammerheads their complement of Diamond Fighters (all Mark I's) was greatly increased. The basic complement of fighters in the originals had only been twelve but now each craft comfortably carried fifty.

They had also removed almost all cargo space and, in Harry's droid fleet at least, each of the older model ships were now housing 1,000 HP-30 infantry doids each. The major difference between them and their predecessors (aside from improved combat algorithms) were improved armor and the fact that the droids legs were designed to be seamlessly stored in their torso allowing for more storage space

Both the Hope and the Silver Flame had the newest cutting edge improvements and although the Hammerhead class was soon to be replaced with similar ships as fast as the Geo Forge, the building droids and the Factory could produce them. All they were waiting for was these 'trial runs' as it were to hopefully fully test their own modifications.

The Hammerheads had never faced this many ships at once as the pirates preferred to stretch the Commonwealth's defensive line thin in hit and run attacks. A full scale conflict like this simply hadn't happened before with the pirate ships usually outnumbering them three to one as the defending forces were out of position guarding (or traveling to guard) as many planets as possible.

Immediately on their arrival back into real space the enemy ships detected them and, moving in formation, began to open fire. The blue glow as the barrage of lasers hit their shields like raindrops was comforting to Harry especially when the droids on his bridge pointed out that they were holding and no damage was being reported.

The pirates then launched their fighters and bombers. Like an angry flock of birds a mass of them flew at high speed towards his line and, at a rough count, there were somewhere between one hundred and one hundred and twenty of them coming.

"Charge point defense lasers and all turrets" commanded Harry watching their approach through his viewport.

"Yes my lord" stated the nearest droid.

Even as he gave the order a screen flashed and Harry could see without being told that the closest destroyer was activating it's thrusters trying to leave the system to flee and, given the fact that the pirates were outnumbered two to one, Harry wasn't really that surprised.

"Have the first six carriers deploy all fighters. Focus all large ship fire on that destroyer. It is not getting away today".

"Yes my Lord" this time the voice came from SE-4 (Ship Executive) the bridge commander when Harry was not onboard.

Even as the fighters began to clash with each other Harry's ships, still under fire, turned their guns upon the destroyer's engine section. The flare of it's shields was visible from even this distance as they immediately began to strain under the continuous fire.

Harry's fleet with their enhanced engines began to close the gap between the two groups even as they continued firing and attempted to surround their foe.

Even as the shield of the enemy dreadnought began to weaken the distance between the two shrunk to such an extent that Harry could almost see into the enemies bay as it spewed more ships and it's point defense shot at his Blackbirds though, for the moment, most of the shots missed.

Even as this was happening the fighter to fighter combat was heating up as each side fought for an advantage. The sheer number of fighters made them look like a beautiful boiling cloud of fury and, if it wasn't for the explosions as they fought each other and scored hits, it would have been entrancing in the same way that a open fireplace was to some as it crackled merrily on a particularly juicy log.

Soon enough though two things were clear. First many of the charms and runes that were placed on his fighters did not work. In fact many were actually detrimental to the ships themselves as they began to fail and take other systems with them.

Even without ordering it Harry knew that there would be a team of droids recording the data for analysis later so that hopefully this problem would be fixed if it was at all possible.

Second Harry could see that despite their faults through sheer weight of numbers, if nothing else, the enemy fighters were losing the battle for dominance of the battleground. It would only be a matter of time before his bombers could be sent out without fear of being intercepted before they reached their targets.

The combined hits on the enemies shield paid off soon enough as before they were able to get into position to activate their hyperdrive the shield failed and the engines collapsed under the bombardment in a ball of fire that was quickly extinguished by the cold vacuum of space.

As soon as this was apparent the other pirate ships began to close ranks and, heedless of the damage that such a maneuver would cause them, moved to protect their injured leader. The tactic worked as their overlapping shields significantly reduced the damage that was getting through to their de facto capital ship.

Then, to Harry's Force Senses, it was almost like a dark and disgusting oil spread invisibly over the entire battlefield infecting everything in it like a revolting and disgusting stain that would not, could not, come off.

Suddenly the tide began to turn against Harry's fleet.

His fighters found themselves out of position and quickly overwhelmed and many of the shots fired from his ships cannons inexplicity began to miss. His Blackbirds even began to collide with each other as they tried to avoid enemy fire. It seemed that every action that his blackbirds took was wrong and that his carriers were simply unable to damage a now invincible enemy.

Battle Meditation, thought Harry, an interesting and rare gift. I've read about it but never seen it...no Jedi has in centuries. I'd have prefered not to experience it either especially not in this situation.

Harry could see, from his vantage looking over the whole battle, that the enemy was focusing all of its ships return fire on the closest Hammerhead. Though the runes that enhanced the shield were supposed to extend shield life it was not handling the strain well. Soon enough the entire ship exploded in a ball of fire.

It happened much more quickly that it should however and the most logical conclusion that Harry could draw was that a similar thing was happening to the ship as to what happened to the fighters.

Harry glanced at the incoming data and instead of improving the ships power as they were supposed to, when they overloaded, they damaged or destroyed the very emitters that they were supposed to enhance.

"Launch all remaining fighters and bombers. Have the interceptors cover the bombers as they make their run on the enemy capital ship".

Even as Harry gave his orders he was already beginning to leave the bridge. The four hundred mix of fighters and bombers left seconds after he began moving as per his instructions as well as from all of his other ships. "I'm going to my ship. SE-4 you have the bridge".

"At this rate the losses will be be too severe to maintain any attack for long" SE-4's synthesized voice was somehow carrying a note of warning.

"I know" Harry replied " though no Jedi has dealt with Battle Mediation in centuries I researched it and though I sadly lack the gift I am aware of a way to defend against it...at least partially. Imagine the possibilities of such an ability.".

Harry could already feel the strain on his mind as he fought through the power that was like dark treacle trying to soak his mind and he could only imagine the strain on the Darksider on the other ship.

"I am not programmed to imagine" Harry heard even as the bridge door closed softly behind him as he left.

It was clear that he needed to disrupt the Battle Meditation and very soon before his forces were decimated. Harry needed to even the playing field and the quickest way to do that was to take the fight to his adversary and so he moved swiftly to his Starburst.

As Harry felt the canopy of his fighter close above his head and the systems hum to life he was comforted by the hiss of the cockpit sealing even as, with a loud whoosh of the fighters engines, he was launched into space.

It was a massacre.

Harry almost immediately dodged burned out debris and slowly exploding craft as he flew out. He joined the tail end of the four hundred ships leaving the Silver Flame against the eighty or so remaining enemy craft.

Once the Battle Meditation is disrupted, thought Harry, and the reinforcements from other ships join these Blackbirds my fighters should clean up nicely.

Using the fact that he was able to shield himself, if only partially, from the effects of his enemies Battle Meditation he was able to destroy a few pirate ships as he crossed the void between the Silver Flame and the enemy capital ship.

His success however drew attention, especially given that all other ships were failing to hit more often than not, as it caused six enemy fighters to break off and begin to hunt Harry. Harry obviously was not a fan of this new development as they began to approach in an attack run.

He dove steeply and then sharply spun between two burning husks of diamond fighters that had smashed into each other. His chances rose as his computer registered two impacts on the burning husks behind him.

He then as soon as he was clear, using his enhanced reflexes and pushing his fighter to its limits, spun sharply on the spot and opened fire destroying two more.

The downside of that was that was that he was in prime position for the other remaining two to rain hell down upon him as they hurtled past.

Although he used every trick that he knew it was a struggle to stop himself from being killed instantly and he moved his ship through some very dangerous twists and turns to avoid being destroyed by the direct hits of his enemies.

Still several glancing impacts rocked his ship and a whole host of warning lights blared red from his cockpit in warning and pieces of his ship scattered under the assault.

The blasts fell all around him and he struggled to move out of fire but he eventually was able to move around and then behind one of his enemies.

Getting the low tone of a missile lock from his console Harry smiled grimly even as he fired a pair of missiles at one of the two remaining and blew it from space in a satisfyingly large explosion.

His grin was short lived however as, in the meantime, the last ship had lined up into an almost perfect position and it was only a warning from the Force that allowed him to angle his ship so that the cockpit was not hit.

Unfortunately his left thruster was.

The sudden loss of power on one side had him spinning through space towards the enemy ship. Through his disorientation (as well as his fear of being blown apart any second) Harry managed to reach out with his mind and temporarily steady his Starburst.

Thankfully the fire suppression systems were still working and they, along with the vacuum he was in, made short work of the fire on his damaged thruster. It was clear however that nothing could be done to restart it.

With his shields damaged to a dangerous level as well as being rune based it was clear that he was in no condition to fight even if he disregarded the heavy fire that he was still under.

Harry was now firmly of the belief that, with their faulty nature, the only reason the runes still worked even partially in his Starburst was that he was actively forcing his magic to make them work but he couldn't keep that up forever as it was quickly beginning to drain him.

Lacking any other choice as going back to the Silver Flame would mean directly facing his last opponent (as well as failing to stop the Battle Meditation) he headed directly for the enemy ship as quickly as he was able to manage.

He didn't manage to land in the enemy hangar so much as crash in a shower of sparks and flame. Thankfully the hangar was empty as he punched his canopy and Force Leaped out of the burning wreck moments before it exploded and alarms began to blare throughout the three closest levels of the ship to the hangar.

"SE-4" Harry said thankful that his comm worked with both this ship and the Silver Flame being so close to each other. "Can you read me?"

"Yes my Prince?" Harry winced at the title but still continued with his conversation.

"With any luck the battle should soon shift back in our favour. When it does I need you to destroy the remaining fighters as soon as possible and then send a squadron to reinforce me here. The rest should help with the bombing runs on the other ships".

"Understood my Lord".

Quickly moving towards the nearest elevator he focused his senses on the deep ball of darkness that he could sense. From what he could tell the inky blackness was concentrated somewhere near the bridge of the ship most likely, if the Darksider had been there for some time, in a meditation chamber just off of it.

The darkness was so deep to him that, in some ways, it was more real to him than the corridors that he moved along. The corridors were mostly deserted as well which helped him make good time and Harry thought that he might actually get to the bridge unmolested until he heard a shout.

"Jedi!" Screamed a pirate as, although a lot of people were off attacking Harry's fleet, there were still people on board that had responded to the alarms and the closest and fastest had already found him.

This first response group was four men strong and were running full tilt to subdue or kill him.

Harry called his blue lightsaber to his hand (he found as the years went on he used his green one less and less) and ignited it. In his other hand he held his ebony wand already glowing with his desire to remove these obstacles from his path.

Seconds later the four men were dead, three from his saber and one from an explosive hex, and Harry was moving on. Twice more he encountered teams like this and quickly dealt with them before he managed to enter the bridge corridor.

Harry did not know why but the alarms that had blared in the hangar were absent here and had been silent for many floors.

It could have possibly been a trap or it could have been simply that they thought sending twelve people were enough but Harry's luck was not to hold as the first door that opened on the bridge level was a barracks for ground troops and, worse for Harry, there were almost fifty pirates inside.

Not having the time to deal with them fully, as with every second more of his fleet was failing, and as even with his skills fifty well armed and prepared pirates would have taken him a great deal of effort to deal with and it would have likely given him more than one injury in these enclosed spaces no matter what he did.

Quickly, dropping the wand and using the Force, he pushed the nearest men back into the others and, closing the door, he first put his blade through the access panel for the door. Then he lightly scored the edges of the door effectively welding it closed.

That dealt with them for the moment.

Harry then entered the bridge proper and put away his wand trusting in the slightly more limited though more fluid ring in case he needed to use more force powers quickly.

On the bridge the startled faces of twelve officers who, until the door opened, were clearly helping to direct the enemy fleets attack. From their shocked looks on their faces it was clear that they either didn't know he was coming or expected him to be delayed for much longer than he had.

In their defence it wasn't very likely that they had faced a Jedi in combat before and that they dismissed their prowess in combat as simply legends. Even if they had been in close contact with the Darksider they tended to fight explosively rather than strategically, if they chose to fight at all, and generally preferred to use their gifts to cause fear.

The fact that this 'legendary prowess' was likely to be dismissed by them and the fact that they had no true understanding of what he was capable of was something he fully intended to exploit.

From his early training he knew that Banite Sith were trained in both combat and intrigue and though given their Grand Plan they were more likely to work from the shadows it didn't mean that they always did. He also knew, from his time researching history as a Jedi, that the various Sith Empires of old more than once separated their Darksiders into classes to cover all bases.

Though he hoped his current nemesis was a Darksider that was lost to his baser instincts he wasn't taking any chances.

One officer (most likely the commander of the ship given the pomp that he dressed himself in) reached for the alarm nearest him but was unable to reach it due to the fact that Harry's lightsaber flew out neatly bisected him before he had a chance to touch it.

The others in the room had already begun to fire on Harry even before the lightsaber had fully left his hand.

Thankfully Harry was not defenceless without his lightsaber as, at the same time that they were beginning to fire, a shield had erupted from his outstretched ring hand. It flared brightly as it absorbed the bolts that would have otherwise killed him and continued to protect him until the lightsaber flew safely back into his palm.

The very next shot was deflected by his blade, it's course taking it almost completely across one side of the room to the other, where it impacted on another man's face. The hit pirate soundlessly fell to the floor as the heavy blaster bolt had burned his face into a charred and crumpled mess.

Needless to say the fact that most of his face was now missing or in the wrong place made him quite dead.

Harry weaved among them like he was in a choreographed dance of death deflecting fire as he did so. He threw one man with the Force into another so hard that, when they hit the wall behind them, he heard bones snap.

With a twist of his free hand another fell with his neck snapped at an odd angle even as his lightsaber moved to impale another, his face frozen in a rictus of agony, in the belly.

Harry's combat style was ruthless and efficient as he economically dodged an enemies shot while bringing himself closer to his targets. Every step moved him into position for a strike, every swing of his blade either deflected a shot or landed in flesh with a hiss and scream. Every twitch of his hand caused a spell to fly bringing death and agony to his foes and soon enough all of them were dead.

Still his greatest test was yet to come. Outside the death and destruction was rising for his side (though Harry was privately grateful that the organic fighting forces were with Luna rather than him given their heavy casualties to date).

Even so soon, if he did nothing, all his fighters would be destroyed and the assault on his remaining Hammerhead's would increase to the point that all that would be left were heaps of scrap. He couldn't, from a strategic point of view, allow a clearly hostile force to use such a devastating gift against the Commonwealth ever again.

Activating his armour for the first time and feeling it flow over his body like cool water he made a final check of himself. His blue lightsaber was in his hand, his green deactivated on his belt, his ring on his finger and his ebony wand attached to the underside of his wrist.

He was ready.

He moved to a nondescript but somehow still menacing door just to the left of where he entered nd with a casual wave of his hand and the lightest touch of the Force that he could manage he opened the door.

The sight that greeted him was a traditional Sith meditation chamber. Spartan, dark and exuding an aura of menace that a serial killer would envy it was the evil beating heart that controlled the pirates and watched over the entire battlefield like a lord of old.

The transparisteel window that overlooked the battle allowed anyone working in the room to marvel at their victories as the full scope of their plans came together and instantly know if any other the plans that they had made needed to be changed due to enemy interference.

It was also clearly perfect for a user of Battle Meditation.

The kneeling figure that was in the centre of the room wore traditional Sith Robes that hadn't really changed in design for centuries. The cut was more than comparable to Jedi Robes but where the latter seemed to emphasize humility and poverty (unless like Harry you chose to make them out of rich materials) there was an element of danger about these.

It was almost as if, Harry thought, that whoever made these knew that they would feel the blood of thousands, metaphorically or not, stain them.

As Harry looked closer the male, and it was a male, seemed to be an unassuming middle aged Bith. Then the Sith opened his eyes slowly and the lurid yellow light of the Dark Side radiated from their depths screaming the man's contempt better than any words ever could.

The Bith stood, nimble and light on his feet, gracefully rising to stand almost shoulder to shoulder with Harry and carried an unlit lightsaber in his hand (that Harry had little doubt was blood red) as if he was born with it.

"Finally you have decided to accept our invitation Harry Potter" hissed the 's eyebrows rose as, to him, whoever these people were they were lunatics. Only madmen would equate attacking and attempting to kill thousands as an invitation after all.

"That's Prince Harry to you" he replied with sarcasm dripping from his tone and then made a logical leap "Darth…?"

"Venamis. As you can see from the view outside" he continued even as another Carrier belonging to the Commonwealth exploded "I am the master of this battle".

"What?" Harry responded having noticed the hate filled anticipation in Venamis's eyes. "Did you expect me to scream something like 'Not anymore!' and charge you like a foolish Jedi?"

"You were trained by your father...the last Jedi Lord" the Bith responded with venom.

"Perhaps you'd prefer me to act like you and pointlessly monologue about how gifted I am?"

"Tell me" spat Venamis "did you enjoy sleeping for all of those centuries? Did you dream?"

"I have no idea what you mean" responded Harry with ice in his voice.

"Of course you do. Did you think that the Sith Order wouldn't realise that you had replaced yourself with Holodroids? They were well made certainly but we do have spies everywhere. Given your age in relation to what was known about William Potter it was easy for us to deduce that you are his son and though we don't understand why you slept it hardly matters".

"I'm impressed" Harry lied "though you have no spies in New Atlantis".

"Do we not?" Challenged Venamis with amusement in his voice.

"What" said Harry "exactly do you want?"

"Your factories for one, some money and access to any holocrons you have. Nothing too taxing for someone like you". The Bith's demand had the virtue of being blunt and direct at least.

"No" Harry responded in kind.

"Be reasonable. If you don't give me what I want I will just take it" said Venamis sounding as if he was trying to soothe a wild animal.

"I said no".

Without another word Venamis ignited his lightsaber and Harry's eyebrows rose at the fluid stance that the Bith took. It was clear to him, having studied with some of the greatest swordmasters that the Jedi had, that Venamis was at least very gifted if not a true natural with the exotic weapon.

All Harry could do was ignite his own and call his other, often unused, lightsaber to his hand and ignited that one too. There was a tense moment as both men stared at each other neither willing to give ground and both detesting everything about other.

Soundlessly they suddenly and violently launched at each other so quickly that it was impossible to tell who moved first. In the early probing exchanges each admitted to themselves that their opponent was very skilled.

Harry was, at the very least, fluent in a multitude of styles by this point and even had achieved mastery in some and utilised that to fluidly move between forms and heighten his unpredictability.

Venamis, for his part, was clearly a master (or near enough to make no difference) of Form II and that form was designed solely for situations such as these. The tight quarters of the room that they were fighting in only highlighted that fact.

The Sith himself was struggling to deal with his mounting frustration even as he was trying to keep a great deal of his concentration on the all too fragile web that formed his Battle Meditation.

He had expected, in all honesty, to subdue or kill this bastardised Jedi quicky and he was rapidly coming to understand his mistake. He had never been tested so much, not even by his Master, as he had by so far by this Silver Prince.

Despite himself Venamis found himself struggling to control his anger rather than mastering it and using it and because of that more and more of this attention was slipping from where it should be to the lightsaber battle itself.

On the plus side for the Bith the amount of frustration and anger that he was feeling fed directly into his hatred for his opponent and that, in turn, enhanced his skill and power.

Ducking under a return swipe that would have taken his head clean off if he hadn't moved Harry managed to land an enhanced kick into the Sith's chest that slammed him violently and very hard into the viewport behind him.

The fight continued with hissing and clashing blades for a long time and, in a brief lull, Harry realised that his dual blade technique was not working as well as he had hoped. He also knew that he had to end this fight quickly or, no matter if he won here or not, he would ultimately lose.

Given the time constraints he put away his other lightsaber and decided to switch tactics the next time he had even half a moment to do so.

He felt the ring respond to his magic so much that his whole hand was almost tingling with the need to release his powers even as his enemy leapt back into the fray and Harry shifted from his last choice of Form VI to his preferred single blade friendly Djem So.

He was seeking to power through his enemies guard of classic (and superb) Makashi through sheer brute force as finesse didn't seem to be getting him very far. It also allowed him more adaptability in terms of using his powers or magic.

Soon enough they both found themselves in a saber lock as Venamis made a slight error that he was able to capitalise on. Venamis opened his mouth obviously thinking that this would be a good time to taunt Harry and weaken his resolve but Harry had other ideas.

Using the Force enhanced strength that Form V was famous for he managed to maintain the saber lock one handed and, though he could not maintain that for long, a second was all that he needed.

A cutting curse launched from his open hand that travelled deeply into the side of the Bith's head. Though he had intended to hit the center of Venamis's head, thanks to his own connection to the Force, Venamis had moved enough to limit its effectiveness.

It did however shatter the fragile connection between Venamis and the Battle Meditation and both men felt it shatter like glass dropping from a great height.

The shock of the unexpected attack and the backlash of that power failing was almost enough to end Venamis as Harry's saber came within a few millimeters of ending his existence.

"You think that you have won?!" Venamis screamed. The aura of darkness around them both pulsed and then drew closer to the clearly enraged man as he began to summon Sith Lightning. "Here is what the Sith think of your victory!"

A stream of lightning almost a foot thick flew towards Harry as Venamis gave all of himself to utterly destroying this annoying irritant.

Instead of trying to stop or deflect such raw power with his blade he instead dropped it, knowing that from its size alone that the weapon was unlikely to deflect it all, and instead buried himself in the deepest part of the quiet and universal domain of the Force that he could manage.

This was not, the first time that he fought an angry Sith after all.

For the first few seconds, when the lightning struck his palm, Harry felt like he wasn't himself. Not that he was in pain but simply because he was that deeply engrossed in the ebb and flow of the universe and that made anything else, even this, seem so small and inconsequential.

Honestly, Harry thought, what use were names, emotions, dates, or even time when confronted with even the barest hint of the majesty of all creation?

The circuit of lightning completed in Harry's palm with a loud crackle of hatred but he did not let it end there. He used himself as a circuit and channeled it across his body, while adding a portion of his own power to the mix, and out of his other hand in a display that was over three times as strong and far outstripped the one that hit him.

From being so deeply in the Force Harry was desensitised to the world around him, almost as if the physical world around him was paper thin, and he then watched in a detached and clinical fashion as the lightning struck his enemy hungrily.

After watching the power force his enemy to the floor and hearing his screams Harry eventually let the flow stop. He didn't know how long it took for him to do so as time was still quite an alien concept for him at the moment but Venamis was alive.

If barely.

"I need to find out what you know" stated Harry as clinical as if he were discussing the neutering of a dog only to be met with pure defiance oozing from the face of Venamis. Harry moved forward and soon was brutally ransacking the Sith's mind.

Images flashed through his mind. It was clear that not only was the Bith's mind utterly vile and reprehensible but that Venamis was fighting him with everything that he had. As Harry began trying to rip information from his enemies mind he felt first the fear and then a deep anger.

Most disturbingly, after a long moment, he felt satisfaction.

Dark tendrils seemed to grapple with Harry's mental construct like a giant shadowy octopus. It's many limbs tried to ensnare him and reach around him trying to pull him deeper and deeper in.

The Sith's plan became apparent soon enough as in the centre of the Sith's mind was a pit radiating a hungry nothingness.

It was clear to Harry that Venamis was getting desperate, having little defence against Harry's magical crafted construct with his own abilities, and Venamis had stopped trying to force Harry out but was now drawing him deeper in.

Venamis was destroying his own mind.

This was not out of some sense of true loyalty to his absent master, the Sith cured their apprentices of that weakness amongst others soon enough, but rather out of fatalistic spite.

Venamis had apparently decided that he was going to destroy Harry no matter the cost.

With a great wrench of both the Force and magic Harry was able to crack and break the bindings on himself and force his way free from the unique mental attack.

Unfortunately the Bith's mental satisfaction was well deserved as Harry had taken some time to do this, relatively speaking, and almost all of the information that Harry wanted was no longer there. This was not helped by the damage Harry had caused in simply freeing himself as, in fact, that had helped the process of destruction.

Feeling the nothingness begin to expand ever faster towards him Harry knew that he had to escape before it reached him. If it did manage to get to him it would suck him in like a black hole and result in a painful personality death as it ate his construct.

Harry made a desperate mental grab for what information he could while avoiding his own destruction, leaving Venamis a mental vegetable, by his own hands, seconds later and even Harry was surprised by the unorthodox nature of the Bith's assault.

Though innovative Harry supposed that he should have expected an assault like this as Banite Sith had survived by keeping as many of their secrets as they could at any cost.

In the end the only pieces of information he received was a name and seeing that the battle outside was, quite predictably, now easily swinging back into his forces favour he quickly headed back to the hangar.

On the way he passed the door to the barracks where men still struggled to open the door that he had sealed but he didn't stop to help them. If he did they were likely to simply kill him and then look for a way to escape and so he left them to their fate.

He waited, somewhat impatiently, for one of his fighters to come for him (with the reinforcements that were no longer strictly needed). He also trusted that his fleet would deal with the remaining pirate ship while leaving this one until last as he was on it.

As a mental exercise while he waited he began to compile a list of problems to send to Nicolas so that he, among others, could try and fix these flaws from his ships designs. After all, even without the Battle Meditation, this battle could have so easily ended completely differently.

In the end he was only able to get a small scrap of information from Venamis's mind and that was only a single name. This would also be sent along to his head of R&D (as well as unofficial spymaster) for analysis and further work.

Harry dearly wanted to know everything there was to learn about Rugess Nome.

Much later after the battle was finally done and he had eaten and meditated to restore his strength Harry was about to set his course home when he received a holo transmission.

It was from Nicolas and, needless to say, he took the call in his private quarters.

As the beam of blue light left his desk console and solidified into an image of his friend Harry couldn't help but smile warmly at the man.

"Nic. How are you?"

"Fine my Prince" and then the alchemist smiled even as Harry winced. "Although I do have some bad news as I don't think that the rune clusters currently used on the ships will ever work in their current configuration. There is simply no getting around that fact that heavy concentrated fire is simply too much for the clusters to absorb. Once they reach a certain point a cascade failure is inevitable as they become more and more unstable…".

"Then the shields fail and the ships explode easily enough" said Harry guessing the end of his friend's thoughts.

"Exactly. I am working on another idea that, though less useful, will be less rune intensive. On the plus side I don't think that we will have to scrap those from your fighter or the magi ones but only tweak them to be less demanding as they have an active magic user as part of the circuit. If you could give me more staff I would happily work on improving their armament though?".

"When they are trained you will have them" Harry promised. "You mentioned another idea?"

"Yes" replied Nic " instead of the old sets what if…" At that moment a particular beeping sounded throughout the room.

"I'm sorry to cut you short but that's Luna's tone. Can we finish this talk later?"

"Of course my Prince" Nic responded with a smirk and cackle before he disappeared.

"Why must he torment me?" Harry asked the empty room before he turned and accepted the call from Luna only to see her distraught face. "Luna? What is the matter?".

Even the blue lightform that she projected through the emitter showed that her eyes were discoloured and that she was (and likely had been for some time) crying as fresh tears were still falling down her face.

"I killed them Harry" she said "I'm a monster".

"Tell me what happened" Harry replied patiently. He knew, from his own bitter experiences, that simply telling her that she was not would not help. It had never really worked for any guilt he was feeling anyway.

"My fleet arrived and destroyed theirs and that was easy enough. The problem was that as that happened the rest of the able population just kept getting into whatever could fly and never stopped trying to board us. The Goblins had a field day" Luna began.

"As expected" Harry interjected. "Their might equals right philosphy combined with their general xenophobia makes them predictable up to a point".

"We contacted them after their main ships were lost and tried to make them stand down through negotiation but….they just wouldn't listen".

"No. They would see that as a half hearted attack and a form of weakness. At least that's my understanding of them. What was your next step?"

"They were preparing ground to ship missiles they were loaded with the very best of their ordinance from what we could tell". Luna spoke softly the subject matter obviously not only new but very painful for her. "I destroyed them" her voice had, by the time of this simple sentence, become full of sadness and self loathing.

"All of them? Did you glass the planet? Destroy the solar system?" Asked Harry.

"No! I destroyed the city that the weapons were coming from, as well as their entire leadership that was in the city, from orbit. I then sent down teams to strip any and all technology that we had traded to them over the years".

"You" asked Harry "destroyed Tol-Kachorn?".

"Utterly" she sobbed. "There was barely anything left in the crater I made".

"You are not a monster" he said firmly.

"I am" came her quick reply and just as firmly.

""Luna… the Sith are monsters are we agreed on that?" He waited until she could firmly nod and then continued " They would have done everything that I suggested that you might have done and so much worse. They would have at least glassed the entire planet and slowly killed the generation that spawned their leaders before they even landed on the planet itself. Trust me, though Banite Sith are generally more sneaky than their historical brethren they would have done something just as horrible or worse before the end".

"I still did what I did" she pointed out.

"And not only were there far worse things that you could have done but you felt bad about what you had to do as well. The Sith never would have cared….a monster wouldn't care".

"Really?" She asked in a small, timid and childlike voice.

"Really" he affirmed.

Her crying slowed and eventually stopped as Harry kept reassuring her that she was not a monster and she eventually seemed to lighten under his caring gaze. All Harry wanted to do at that moment was hug her and try to take away her pain.

That would have to wait however as no one had yet worked out how to hold a hologram.

The Galaxy was often a hard and horrible place and tough decision were becoming the norm, especially for them, and it made Harry very sad that she had to learn that lesson so early in her life in the greater galaxy.

Eventually the long conversation that followed (with Harry almost constantly reassuring Luna) he moved back to the main bridge, lost in thought over his worry for her pain, before looking up to see all the droids awaiting his command.

"SE-4 take us home".

After she had calmed down and spoken to Harry Luna had one final call to make as something had been nagging at her for quite some time. With a flick of her wrist the hologram of the person she wanted to speak to appeared in front of her.

"Lady Luna?" asked Nic quizzically " Is there something wrong?".

"I'm not sure yet. It's just...I've been thinking alot...about Hermione...something has been nagging at me ever since Harry told me the details of the visit." she replied.

"Oh?" Said Nic even as his face closed up and almost became like stone to her. "What about her?".

"It took me all this time to figure out what was missing... but...I think there might be something wrong with her. I'm tempted to go back to Earth and find out what but first I thought I'd call you to ask your opinion first and, if necessary, ask you to keep Harry out of trouble".

"And this theory is based on?" He probed.

"The fact that she didn't hug Harry, the Hermione that I knew always hugged Harry, and that led me to think that maybe she was not in full control of herself. I know it sounds far fetched…"

"Because it is".

"But can't we do something about it?" Luna asked even as Nic sighed seemingly weighing his response.

"You can't but I might be able to" seeing that she was about to object Nic held up his blue hand and she waited for him to continue. "First, as much as we would all like to help her if what you believe is true, you and Harry are the only ones able to train more Knights at the moment not to mention your other responsibilities in the Commonwealth".

"But she is our friend!" interjected Luna hotly.

"Which leads me nicely to my second point. You cannot be impartial about whether she is acting of her own free will or not and think….think for a moment how this might impact Harry".

"What do you mean?" Luna asked.

"If you are right" began Nic "then we would need a way of getting back to Earth and finding her without Harry knowing and a damn good extraction plan. I mean you of all people saw how affected he was after her parents turned up without her. Like it or not, if we tell him, he would go tearing off to try and help her regardless of the risk to himself and...cooler heads are needed".

"We could ask Chime or one of the other phoenixes" suggested Luna.

"They can flame only one person at a time and that would be a great disadvantage for anyone going in. As for extracting her that way….I know from my spies and Augusta that it is now common knowledge that Harry has a phoenix (thanks to a leak in Augusta's security that has been plugged) and Hermione, more than most, would be prepared for what they can do" responded Nic.

"So we need a plan?"

"Not yet. We need more information first because, quite frankly, you could be wrong and this could all be a result of her own choices. We need to determine which before deciding how we will act and even if we will act at all".

"You don't believe me?" she asked.

"It's not whether I believe you or not but let me play devil's advocate here. If we went to Harry now and told him there was hope for her and we somehow, someway captured her and it all turned out to be her choice what would that do to him?" He countered.

"It would crush him all over again" she responded firmly. "I can't afford that to happen to him".

"Neither can the Commonwealth" agreed Nicolas.

"So what do we do?" she asked.

"Keep it to ourselves for now. I'll set my spies to watch and wait and if they find proof to act on we will find a way to do so. The only other way is if the situation changes on Earth and we have a legitimate reason to go back there in force...then we might be able to capture her and speak to her before trial".

"Trial?" Asked Luna a little shocked.

"She did rebel against the Crown" he said and Luna sighed admitting his point.

"I don't like this" she said simply.

"Neither do I" he responded "but like it or not we all have other responsibilities now that cannot be put aside because someone might, in a million to one shot, be innocent without any proof".

"So what do we do?"

"I send my people, very quietly, to look for the proof and no one tells Harry..."

"And if we find proof?"

"Then we go" Nicolas said firmly "straight away. We will use every method to bring your friend home".

"I still don't like it" she responded.

"Neither do I but the fact is we have things now that are bigger than us as individuals and that need our attention". His voice softened at the look on her face " If there is proof I will find it I promise you no matter how long it takes….but it won't be quick".

"I understand" she responded as, as much as she wanted to disagree, he did have a point. "Bye Nic".

With that the conversation ended and Luna turned her mind back to the Commonwealth and Harry even as she tried to put both Earth and Hermione out of her mind and concentrate on the problems she faced now.

Far away from them all a woman sat in shadow was reading reports from her spies in the Outer Rim and, after she was finished, she lent back in her expensive hair and laughed. Her hands were almost caressing the new report in her hand, as one would a lover, that rested on her deep brown antique desk.

He's back, she thought triumphantly, and he's not alone.

She knew what was going to happen now. She would watch and she would wait. She was nothing if not patient and she would make everyone pay for what had been done to her.

More than anyone she wanted Harry Potter to suffer, the pain she had felt was rightfully his in her mind, but it would be applied at exactly the right time.

This had waited a long time, she concluded, it could wait a little more.

The unnamed woman in shadow smiled viciously into the dark and empty room.