Chapter 12: The Unapproved War

Star Wars + Harry Potter Crossover

Chapter 12: The Unapproved War

A/N: This is probably my last chapter till late september/early october as I am both moving (in two days) and then soon after going on holiday.I hope everyone enjoys what I have written.

764BBY

2,889 ATC

Almania/Auyemesh

Kalo Lak sighed in annoyance. The twenty eight year old man smoothed his pristine uniform even as his deep red tunic marked him as one of the Je'har Home Guard, often called Blood Shirts by their detractors, and rubbed his forehead in frustrated resignation as he remembered the last four years in comparison to the rest of his life.

He remembered his early childhood and how he having been born into the Second Caste (of five) did have it's privileges. His early memories were tinged with love as he remembered his parents and his friends. He had always known however that those privileges were tempered with the knowledge of his duty.

As he was not born of the First Caste he knew that his was born to serve them and he also looked forward to joining the army, as all of his Caste would, and crushing their enemies while protecting the enlightened rule that the ruling families of the Je'har maintained. He would, then and now, fight to the death for it if necessary and he left home to start his training at age twelve.

Those were good years, he thought, full of friends and fun while they were learning the necessities of their craft.

After basic physical conditioning he had been assigned to the prodigious Stonian Military Academy in the middle of the Capital and which was down the street from the center of the true government and in his opinion the center of the Galaxy, that was embodied by the Great Dome of the Je'har.

The Dome was more than just a simple Senate or a Parliament, its architecture spoke to the endurance of the Je'har. Its ageless columns supported their greatest leaders amongst the First Caste, it was nestled in the heart of the City and was surrounded not only by the Academy but by some of the greatest museums ever to exist full of priceless art, rich history and lessons for anyone wishing to be enlightened ready to be taught.

He had excelled at the Academy and he had quickly risen through the ranks, first as a trainee and then later in the field. He had taken the lessons espoused by his instructors to heart. He, and others of the Second Caste, were to be the sword attacking the Je'hars enemies and they were to be the shield protecting not only the First Caste but those poor idiotic souls that were of the lower Castes.

Rising from the rank of private to a colonel had been the highlight of his career to that point. He had never dreamed that he would have managed to rise so high and Kalo remembered all the feelings of joy and elation when his rank was bestowed upon him.

That was five years ago and, like anything, those wondrous days could not last as since then everything had fallen apart for the Je'har.

At first it had been little things, things that if you weren't paying attention could easily slip your notice, like lightning raids by malcontents in the Fourth and Fifth Castes for food and medical supplies.

The Third Caste (which was pretty evenly split between the Security Forces and artisans) was not concerned as even among the enlightened peoples of Almania there were misguided troublemakers and they were for the most part harmless.

"If they were not then the traitors would be shuffled along the slave market" remarked one nameless Security Officer at the time "After all it has been a year or so since we have sold any traitors or people from the Fifth Caste and the one thing they have in common? They all breed like rabbits" he had said with a grin.

Kalo wondered how much the nameless man who reported to him would have grinned if he had known the true endgame of these rebels. He also wondered (if only briefly) where that man was now and silently concluded that, like the majority of the Security Force, he was probably dead in a ditch somewhere.

The little things had progressed swiftly into more troublesome issues, Kalo remembered with deep bitterness, and where they had at first seemed harmless they soon became anything but.

Kalo looked out at the Auyemesh skyline trying to regather his wandering thoughts.

Once that view would have left him with a deep sense of pride and accomplishment as only the most distinguished officers ever got to live on any part of Auyemesh. It was the greatest reward for their lifetime of service to be able to live on the idyllic moon of the First Caste and, though they did not live with them, they could seek out and learn from the best and the greatest that the Je'har had to offer.

That was how it used to be.

All of that had changed however because, quite frankly, the Security Forces had not done their job well enough and had themselves become targets of attacks that managed to at first impede and then cripple them. This had allowed the malcontents to blossom into a fully fledged guerrilla force and then later a true rebellion.

A rebellion under the command of Tor Dalon.

Kalos mind raged at the mere idea of the man even as his body, due his years of military training, remained perfectly at ease. Due to the man being of the Fifth Caste leading an army at all let alone being the slightest bit successful at it as far as he was concerned.

Instead Dalon should have been thankful to even be breathing, he thought, after all the Fifth Caste dealt only with the dead and waste and as such should have felt privileged to even be within the same Galaxy as their betters.

That was more than he could say for some of them now as the Home Guard had killed quite a few of them in the last few years but he knew that the cost was too high. Not right away of course as, at first, it had been like sport hunting the rebels like frightened rabbits running in the long grass and it had almost seemed too easy in those first six months.

Then came Cade Benek.

To think that such an idiot had not only managed to somehow graduate from the same prestigious Academy as him but was the cause of all this trouble. It was Kalos private opinion that some half forgotten and malicious God from ancient times had caused the feckless, argumentative and idiotic man to be born in the prestigious Second Caste and be the cause of so much strife.

The idiot (and that was the only epithet that Kalo could give him now in his mind) had taken a break from hunting and taken a fancy to Dalon's wife which, while not something that Kalo had ever partaken of, was Benek's right as a Second.

No what inspired Kalo's contempt was not only the fact that he had arrogantly demanded it, as if they would just simply cower at his feet immediately and thank him for the privilege, but he had also demanded the use of Dalon's younger sister as well.

Never mind the fact that that Dalon's sister was barely ten or that he had arrogantly stormed into the man's home while doing so. Those little irrelevancies of fact seemed inconsequential to Benek. Worse when Dalon had protested Benek had decreed that Dalon should have the privilege of watching him take his pleasure on the two women even as two of his men had moved to hold Dalon down.

Now Kalo did not begrudge the idiotic Benek the right to do with the lowest Caste as he pleased. He had been after all, like Kalo himself was, their better in every way by virtue of his birth.

Decorum must be maintained however and such things were, in the main, handled in private as you simply did not give in to your pleasures in public with the lower Castes watching. For more...exotic...requirements (such as an underage girl) it might have also been best to soothe ruffled feathers with credits rather than make a man watch the forrnication.

That lack of forethought and decorum had been the idiots undoing, thought Kalo, and the cause of all of their current problems.

Dalon had, seemingly through force of will alone, broken free of the of the men holding him but not until Benek was done with Dalon's wife and was becoming forcefully entwined with his younger sister. Dalon had managed to grab a blaster and then a knife from his captors and proceeded to kill the hardworking guards that were simply following the orders of a foolish man.

They had managed to kill his wife in the crossfire but it seemed that with the rape and death of his wife (really what else was she good for?) and the near rape of his sister Dalon had vented his anger at his betters in a truly despicable way.

He had used the stun setting on his blaster to subdue his enemies. This allowed him the time to both secret away his sister and then tie up the idiot. He had proceeded to perform (at least according to their few spies), in the depths of his dark and twisted anger no doubt, horrors upon the man with many tools which culminated in cutting off his manhood with a red hot knife and then forcing the idiot to eat it before he was finally allowed to die.

Worse than that he had promptly fled with his sister and joined the rebels rather than wait and face justice like any true citizen should have done.

The guard had suffered a further setback because the people who had witnessed the attack (they had hidden like rats before the torture began) had called him a liberator, as if the evil thing that he had done had been in some way right.

Later that liberator had managed to rise meteorically through the ranks of the thrice accursed rebels and eventually became the threat that he was today. Still many things could have been different if only he (and his superiors in the Guard) had been allowed more men.

Trying to shake away the traitorous thoughts as he knew that it was not his place to question he couldn't help but think that things could still have gone differently as the Guard numbered over 300,000 yet barely 1,000 men plus mercenaries were released to deal with the rebel threat. The fact that the rebels, at the time, were barely 5,000 strong and were mostly peasants meant that few were worried.

The war could have been resolved before it began if only Dalon had not somehow managed to get word to the Senate which would, in and of itself, have been manageable if it had not in turn garnered the attention of Potter Industries. He had however and then everything had changed.

After all the rebels had two heroes in this contained but insufferable war. Jedi Knight William Potter, prodigal knight and charismatic leader was the other bane in the Je'har's existence. It wasn't so much that he was a Jedi, although that would have been bad enough given their skills, it was also an heir to the great conglomerate that was Potter Industries.

The true Je'har government was understandably cut off from any further help, beyond those that had already thrown their proverbial hats in the ring, as no one wished to anger the Galactic company. To put it another, more accurate way, Potter Industries had better contacts in the Senate than the Je'har did and was most likely using them to block any further parties from joining the war.

Sadly for his side's war effort his former superiors had argued that the argumentative nature of the rebels would lead to their own destruction. However there seemed to be little, if any, friction in the ranks of the rebels let alone between the two men. They did only act in concert occasionally, Dalon seemingly in charge of the Northern Theatre of operations and Knight Potter the South, with at least nominally, Dalon in charge according to the few spies that they had managed to have among the rebels.

He sighed knowing that it was incredibly hard to keep spies alive among the rebels because units were often rotated or shared between the two leaders and it seemed that Potter almost plucked their true intent from their heads and soon enough they were found out and dealt with.

The rebels had no problem gaining spies for their part he was sure. It seemed that the locals of Almania loved Jedi Potter as not only did he supply, through family connections, much needed arms and medical supplies in the early days of the campaign but he also worked tirelessly healing as many as he could.

That, he mused, was probably why he gained the appellation of Jedi Lord which was a title that had not been in use since before the Ruusan Reformations and almost certainly infuriated the Jedi Order.

The Jedi Order themselves had, at first, been vocal in their support of the Je'har and the condemnation of Knight Potter's arbitrary destruction of the sacred way of life on Almania. Liberal media had, with the twisting of words and ideas, turned most against them however and now the Order was silent.

This was mainly due to the fact that trust in the Order was now at an all time low and they were busy trying to repair their own reputations. Where once they were respected they were now distrusted and where once children were gladly turned over to the Jedi for training now some had begun to try and hide them. All Jedi were treated this way except Knight Potter.

His face was seen all over the Holonet (as was Dalon's) along with Holo Journal articles decrying the evil's of the Je'har from the liberal media. By all accounts the sheep that lived in the Core lapped it up and viewed him, unlike the rest of the Jedi, with a reverence bordering on hero worship.

If Dalon was the head of the rebellion movement then it was clear that Potter was the heart.

In short while Dalon was the leader and the General of the rebellion the Jedi Lord was at first a healer and a trainer only to then become a defacto Colonel in the movement.

They of course did not call themselves rebels or even the movement as both names were not only vague but, from a military standpoint, neither helped with propaganda or recruitment. Instead they called themselves the Democratic Union of Almania or the DUA for short.

As if that would ever work, thought Kalo snidely, Almania existed to be ruled by the Je'har and the lowest classes existed to live or die at the whims of their masters however those masters saw fit.

He slowly poured himself some brandy still staring out of the window and looking at but not seeing the beautiful landscape.

Thousands upon thousands had flocked to the traitors cause which of course meant that by the time that the 300,000 strong Guard had been fully employed to combat the threat they had not only become entrenched and fortified in the North but there had been devastating guerrilla attacks in the South.

In the North Dalon had made them pay for every single bloody step to such an extent that it sometimes felt that he was just sending his men into a meat grinder. He also had recruitment and training centers set up so that the DUA now numbered somewhere in the region of 170,000 combatants though it was hard to get an accurate number as that was still fluctuating.

The Southern Theatre had been just as bad as the North though in a different manner as as soon as the training of new troops could be left to other officers safely (and therefore self sustaining) the Jedi Lord had taken three hundred of his best troops as well as the 625 droids and deployed behind enemy lines deep into the south using stolen speeders to always be on the move harassing the enemy and making them exceptionally hard to track. These attacks had stolen supplies, raided granaries, looted armouries and disrupted regular lines of supply to the Guard. It was often reinforced by units from the north.

The Jedi unit, known as Sabre Battalion, had not stopped at striking at and stealing from supply lines (as the Guard had by the Second year managed to stop almost all of Potter industries shipments to the planet). They had managed, through some trickery, to almost completely gut the air support section of the Guard.

Ordinarily that would not have been a problem as they could have either requisition or bought more for the task but it was not possible now.

They could not requisition any more because any ship they had was currently trying to block Potter Industries from landing with more supplies and, worse for them, they could not buy anymore due to the Potter's influence in the Senate stopping some of their natural allies in the Senate from helping them.

Indeed the blockade that they had was matched by one from the Senate that allowed for the fact that the ships that were then blocking trade ships were well within their rights to do so but that, on pain of the full weight of the Republic, those ships that were designated to stop traders could not be requisitioned as military ships and that effectively removed all air support for both sides.

This meant that Czerka, while quite happy to send arms and medical supplies (for the appropriate fee), would not send in any more troops or heavy equipment for fear of loosing much more lucrative contracts in the Senate. The only thing that the Je'har had going for them that the rebels did not were the Nova Guard.

These trained soldiers had arrived in force sans ships and tanks due to the blockade but more than eager to remove the stain on their reputation that was such an ignoble defeat given to them by Knight Potter. As much as it pained Kalo to admit most of the impressive victories on the Je'hars part were more down to the intervention of the Nova Guard and luck rather than any tactical greatness of the Home Guard.

For years the battle had raged, in one form or another, and despite his best efforts the Je'har were slowly pushed back further and further south but they had remained firm in their convictions until the Battle of the Hill one month ago.

Kalo shuddered as he remembered that horrible day even though it had gained him the leadership of the Guard.

One Month Ago

Kalo Lak dived into the Great Dome feeling the flesh on his legs and torso bruise as he landed heavily and wheezed for breath while he heard the firefight ping all around his ears.

"Where the hell is Third Battalion?" he screamed at his comm officer who was hiding behind the next nearest pillar.

"They are three miles away sir" came the equally loud response from the comm officer. "Command believes that the main thrust of the enemy's force is there and this is just a feint" even as the young man said that both he and Kalo were blasted off their feet from a mortar shell exploding very close to them.

As soon as the ringing in his ears stopped and sporting a now bloody leg thanks to a new nine inch gash down the length of it Kalo screamed in the unfortunate man's ear.

"Does this look like a feint to you?!" The man's eyes widened as he finally understood that the idea that they, the Home Corps which was a unit the comprised 50,000 men, had been deceived. The rest of his army were being held back by a token harassing force if the enemies three Corps emblems were anything to go by.

The fact was it had worked and the Home Corps was now cut off and surrounded and cut of by almost three times that number brought a wry smile to his lips. The fact that they were doomed to hide in this ancient symbol of Je'har justice and power until they were either killed or dragged out screaming almost broke his heart.

Their only hope it seemed was to hold out until reinforcements arrived, if they ever arrived at all.

Kneeling down and taking careful aim with his rifle at an annoying rebel who had started to get far too close to killing him.

"Cheeky Hutt" he muttered while helping said rebel get cooler by placing a brand new hole in their left eye. "Get on the line" he demanded " and tell command that the Dome is under attack by the main enemy force and that we require reinforcements now!"

In his peripheral vision he saw his comm officer start to scream down the phone even as more and more of his unit was steaming into the Dome entering all access points as they sought the relative safety of the structure with nowhere else to go.

He quickly called to his men to start forming rudimentary barricades knowing that the small mortars that the rebels had would do little against the ancient structure and to settle in for the long haul.

"Sir" shouted a bloodied sargent from somewhere deeper in. Kalo turned his weary eyes to the man and saw, through his own blood covered face, wounds that bled sluggishly from the sergeants arms and legs as well as numerous blaster burns of shot being partially stopped by his armour. The sergeant looked afraid and Kalo did not have to wait long for the bad news "Sabre Battalion has been sighted Sir. They are coming in fast".

The fear that the sergeant felt seemed to leak from him so thickly that it seemed almost a physical thing in and of itself and it swamped, like bitter smoke, the distance between the two men. Off to the side the comm officer began to shake and rock from side to side.

It appeared that the poor comm officer had, between the brutal attack that had overrun their original position and the fact that they were under assault from a force that was not only three times their size but led by a Jedi, lost his head. That assessment did not include having to watch your friends die or being blown apart by mortar shell either.

He eyed the man who couldn't have even seen his twentieth year yet and cursed the DUA as they forced his plans to change once again.

"Tell the men to start laying charges all around this area and will someone get me an estimate on where the enemy line is weakest" he half screamed still looking at the slowly rocking man child that was almost next to him.

Kalo sighed. He sympathised, he really did, but this was war. So without a word he made the judgement that the comm officer would not be easily broken out of his hysteria and, mindful of the other man's equipment, he took careful aim and shot him dead.

We have no time for histrionics or cowardice, he thought, already dismissing the corpse from his mind as he tried to think of how not to join him in death.

Then, adrenaline pumping in his system making colours brighter and images almost too sharp and almost surreal to his eye he calmly (at least on the outside) took up the comm unit receiver. There was no holo component as that relay had been heavily damaged and disabled during the early days of the war as had all short range comms.

This meant two things, first that long range communication was of very limited functionality. Instead of being able to have conversations instantaneously both sides were reduced to sending information in data bursts and then waiting for a reply through their jury rigged systems.

From Kalo's point of view the second thing was by far the most annoying as the short range comm network had suffered similar damage necessitating people carrying around massive packs on their backs that were able to broadcast the signal sufficiently between one another.

Poor bastards, thought Kalo eying the body of the now deceased man child in the corner, it's one thing to carry a rifle around but quite another to carry that monstrous thing on your back.

"This is Home Guard Corps First Battalion Colonel Kalo Lak….is anyone receiving" he stated, as calmly as he could, hating that this system of communication was not only cumbersome but also so archaic that it did not allow him to see who was on the other end.

"Voice identity confirmed" the female voice on the other end of the line was cool, calm and oddly detached "Report".

"Requesting reinforcements. We are pinned down by Sabre Battalion… say again we are pinned down and request reinforcements...please advise". The next four seconds were the longest of his life so far. It was the next sentence out of the nameless and seemingly uncaring woman's mouth that made his stomach drop however.

"We are unable to provide support at this time First Battalion. We advise a fighting retreat if at all possible". That one sentence crushed him as surely as if he had been shot in the chest by a turbo laser. They were truly on their own and every minute they were dying by the dozens with little safety and almost no idea of where to go.

The sergeant returned and from this close Kalo was able to make out the name on his uniform as he took the explosives switch from the sargent.

"Thank you Sergeant Ramos" he said smiling tightly and with just the right amount of professional detachment.

"You are welcome Sir. The explosives are all around the structure as well as the central support column. When they blow not only will the pillars shaped charges blow outwards and kill anyone around them them but the Great Dome's reinforced marble roof will fall directly down killing any enemy unlucky enough to be inside".

"And us along with it" came Kalo's sardonic reply.

"Yes sir" Ramos responded tiredly.

"Good" Kalo said bitterly while a dark smile fleetingly crossed his face as he digested the news of his impending death.

If they were coming to kill him, he thought somewhat resigned to his fate, then he would damn well make sure their precious Jedi Lord would die with him and his men. That did not mean that he was happy to die, quite the contrary, however he would do his duty as he had always done.

Then, as if the universe itself believed in the righteousness of the Je'har a military runner (yet another concession to the damaged comm network) came with some news that made his hopes for survival soar from the pit in his stomach where they had previously been languishing.

"Captain Elon of the third skirmishers compliments Sir" said the breathless runner " he wishes to inform you that they have broken through a weak point in the enemy lines and are holding the gap open for us for as long as they can. He reports the way is clear to the last loyalist Skyport".

A wave of nostalgia, completely out of place in the battlefield, hit him then as he truly realised deep down that his home was lost. Wherever they went now, under the command of the Je'har it would not be the streets of his youth that he would ever walk again. The Great Dome, eternal symbol of Je'har might, would fall to rubble and he had to accept that Almania had truly fallen to the rabble, to the usurpers and the rabble.

"Very well let's leave and quickly" said Kalo even as the two junior men crisply saluted and he felt them fall in behind him as he raced as fast as he could, firing at any enemies that came close, towards the breech in the enemy's lines.

It was inevitable that some of his men would have to be left behind, if only a company's worth. They were doomed from the very beginning and were allowing their brothers and sisters a chance at survival so he had no hesitation in assigning them to die. They were of the Second Caste after all, just as he was, and they all knew that there was a distinct possibility that they would have to risk their lives (and possibly die) for the Je'har just as he might. His expression didn't even flicker then as he ordered the closest company to hold the Dome.

He knew that the 250 resolute men would do their duty.

He ran, along with the rest of his men, and regardless of the righteousness of their cause or the fighting nature of the retreat, he knew that he had lost at least half of his 50,000 man unit and that he would likely lose a lot more before he was free and clear of this battlefield.

As he cut down any rebel in his way he was still doing his best to keep informed of the whereabouts of Sabre Battalion and trying to do both was taking all of his training and skill. Eventually however he did manage to fight his way clear and look down upon the Great Dome of the Je'har from the top of a small hillock.

The Great Dome of the Je'har was the symbol of civilization and elegance (as far as he was concerned) as well as the center of any enlightened man's Galaxy.

Fitting, he thought, that the most important piece of architecture of the Je'har government would, in its final moments kill one of the biggest threats to peace and order that they had ever known. That threat was known as Jedi Knight William Potter

As he saw the distinctive lightsaber wielding figure enter the Dome he managed to wait three long breaths of time before gently, almost lovingly, setting off the explosives. Time seemed to slow for a moment as he waited for the explosives to go off. His momentary instinctive panic that they would fail to go off did not even have a chance to fully form as they exploded in the exact manner that he was advised they would.

With a distinctive thump and a large cloud of dust (not to mention the original explosive blast itself) the Dome fell and he couldn't help but come to the conclusion that the destruction of such a glorious relic was a small price to pay to damage the rebellion and kill the majority of Sabre Battalion as well as their Jedi leader.

Present Day

Seven hundred troops had made it out with him. Seven hundred out of 50,000 was not just a defeat but a complete catastrophe as with that battle they not only lost so many men and their capital but they also lost the last loyal Skyport.

This meant that at least another third of the remaining Guard were caught behind enemy lines and those that did not swiftly surrender were picked off as they tried to reach hidden safe houses by the now rising Fourth and Fifth Castes as they, sensing the change in the air, rose up and mercilessly killed them. They of course claimed to be freedom fighters but Kalo knew what they really were.

They were murderers.

Due to that and due to the desertions that followed the first wave of violence when the Home Guard finally managed to regroup at Auyemesh the formerly 300,000 strong Guard had been reduced to barely 25,000 and leaving him, as the senior most officer, in charge. The final piece of bad news that had filtered back to the Guard was that, though severely depleted by the explosion and its aftermath, Sabre Battalion had survived the attack. More than that so had there Jedi Lord commander.

By this point the Nova Guard seeing blood in the water had left and the blockade had disappeared soon after. Their personal honour was tempered by the desire to not anger the likely victor anymore than they already had and with the loss of resources they had suffered after the loss of Almania they also knew that payment would be long in coming, if at all.

Kalo doubted that Potter had any friendly feelings for him at all at this point. In fact, if it had been Kalo in his place, then killing Potter would have been pushed to the very top of his to do list.

That the rebels were coming to remove the remaining Guard was no longer in question. Thankfully the Guard had improvised anti-ship guns strewn throughout the planet and they also had enough men to man them for years. Though given the Caste of the majority of the populous on Auyemesh recruitment was a large issue for the remaining soldiers.

The upside of the blockade disappearing was that they did have enough pull in the Senate to get some supplies, under the table so to speak, especially from certain parties that were opposed to Potter Industries including almost every business leader of the planet of Cato Neimoidia.

He thought that they still had a chance, though of the original fifty First Caste ruling Je'har families that had ruled this planetary system (for as long as history had recorded much of anything on Almania) thirty four had been killed while trying to flee to safety in the early stages of the Battle of the Hill. A further fifteen of the ruling Je'har, along with their bodyguards, had been killed by either Dalon or the Sabre Battalion in any number of skirmishes before and after the battle.

"Status Colonel?" came the voice of Alon Rouan, last surviving member of both the Great House of Rouan and the ruling Je'har Council, while the man himself sat on a throne like chair in the back of the room.

"The Guard is 25,000 strong and our allies in the Senate predict that we can expect a resolution allowing us to hire a brand new mercenary army within the year my lord. The same resolution would allow us to gain a large loan to finance the army though I do worry about incurring that much debt".

"It is not your place to worry about such things but mine" was the harsh and authoritative response from Rouan. "On that note we may soon be able to replace the lost Je'har with certain members of new families of the First Caste and return things to how they should be" the man's watery blue eyes firmly focused on Kalo "assuming we can hold out that long?"

As Kalo was about to answer that of course they could the main power reactor that supplied the turrets, as well as the city, their energy as well as the three backup generators bust apart in a violent explosion. That meant that not only was there a sudden blackout but that the turrets stopped working.

Kalo had a sinking feeling at that moment that Rouan was wrong and that the last stand of the Je'har had begun.

Elsewhere on Auyemesh

Some time earlier Harry was lost in a particular thought.

Having a building fall on you hurts, Harry mused, though magic and the Force are both great helpful tools when it comes to ensuring your survival.

Sadly most of the mixed unit that was with him was destroyed in either the blast or when the roof collapsed inwards. Thanks to the cramped conditions forcing the men close to one another he had managed to save a few hundred with the useful combination of a momentary Force Push followed by a snap Protego. Naturally neither had held long at all but it had managed to stop the larger chunks from turning those near him into jelly.

Sadly most of them where Potter droids and when it came to the humans of Sabre Battalion only around twenty had managed to be close enough to be saved.

When it came to the natural assault on Auyemesh this had lead to a unique problem as, in one of their last acts as a functioning governing body, the Je'har had outlawed any and all Potter droids and by now the Potter industries lines styles were so famous that you could tell one at a glance even if you were unsure of the particular model.

This edict had meant very little when it came to Almania as the populous was already in semi open revolt against the Je'har when he had first arrived but Auyemesh was the new seat of their power and if he had taken a single Potter droid the mission that he was now on would have been over before it began.

The mission codenamed Vanguard was, like most of the DUA's plans simple in theory and exceptionally difficult to pull off in practice.

First by using stolen transport shuttles and having bribed a member of the Senate for legitimate supply ship transponder codes as well as taking a ridiculously roundabout route they had arrived at the moon with the inhabitants unaware that they originated from Almania.

Harry had then disembarked, in the early evening, with his four teams of ten into the Skyport nearest Central Command. Thankfully for the men with the rapid retreat of so many of the Je'har's Blood Shirts there were not only plenty of spare uniforms to use as disguises but, thanks to the almost blended nature of the remaining enemy units in Auyemesh, it was unlikely to be noticed that the uniforms were torn or from different units.

Central Command was not only where the last of the Je'har were located but it was also the main access to the power grid (having been like many things on this planet repurposed in recent months) albeit fifty levels apart according to their spies.

Pulling out his trusty Sorosub S-5 Blaster, reasoning that no matter how useful his dark blue saber would be at this point it would simply be too distinctive, Harry signalled and three of the teams moved off towards their own targets.

Harry and his team waited, wondering around the Skyport, moving around boxes and appearing to help out in the general clean up and maintenance of the area, for the prearranged twenty five minutes that it would take for the other teams to get into place. They then moved slowly down to the guarded fiftieth floor.

There they were stopped by the three men who were guarding the floor. The guards were only briefly able to stop them and none of the three were able to raise the alarm with two falling to well placed throwing knives from Harry's men and the third falling to a well placed shot of Harry's Sorosub.

In their defence to being somewhat lightly guarded manpower at this time was at a premium and their anti-ship guns had kept the DUA at bay since the Battle of the Hill and, as far as the DUA's spies were able to gather, the three men were part of a six man team that had done twelve hour shifts all of those days.

Human nature being what it was boredom and complacency had set in after a few weeks.

These things, thought Harry, killed far too often in war. It wasn't always about grand tactics or superior training. Tiredness, complacency and hubris would kill just as often as not.

He nodded the all clear to his men and, keeping watch on his arm display at the time, pulled out a chip designed by the DUA smuggled in by way of the synthskin underneath his left hand.

When the time was right he placed it into the dataport at exactly the same time as three other teams were putting similar devices into the backup generators across the capital though unlike those devices, given the sensitive location, Harry's had no explosive component to its program.

The fleet that was waiting needed no signal as the three explosions would be signal enough for the waiting ships. Though fleet might have been the wrong word to describe such an odd assortment of ships as these were not the smoothly designed ships of the Judicial Forces but rather this fleet was made up of any ship that the DUA could get its hands on.

That meant that, along with the few standard dropships and military grade carriers there were also frigates that were at least a century old, requisitioned pleasure yachts, derelict freighters that could barely fly and beaten cargo vessels.

Ordinarily not the safest fleet (or even the most inspiring) especially against planetary defences.

This time however they would serve, if only adequately, as when Harry left with his men electricity began to arc from the single computer in the otherwise bare room behind him. Within ninety seconds both he and his men were clear and, though there was no fiery explosions behind him (due to Dalon's desire for the last ruling Je'har to stand trial) the three explosions not only lit up the night sky as one but informed him that the next stage was to begin.

"Men" he barked "with me". They moved with grim purpose, shedding their disguises as they went, but it wasn't until they hit the floor below the Je'har's penthouse rooms in Central Command that they encountered serious resistance in the form of thirty Blood Shirts as well as twenty heavily armed members of the Je'hars personal guard.

The time for subtlety had passed, Harry knew, igniting his lightsaber's blue blade.

He then dove swiftly into battle firing quickly and accurately, sensing more than seeing his shots,even as he jumped over the first of the personal guard and his men began firing from behind cover. With his lightsaber swinging, his blaster and men firing, along with letting the Force fully guide him to where he should be and where he was to aim his opponents did not stand a chance.

Kalo Lak knew that the world as he understood it was knew that there would be no great renaissance for the Je'har, no resurgent army to take back what was lost and no way of reclaiming the glories of the past.

Alon Rouan however did not know any such thing as, in his life, he had always known that people reported to him and that, if he willed something to happen, it was done. So he began to ask a lot of questions about the noises coming from the other side of his locked door that all basically boiled down to queries about what was happening..

To Kalo however they were mostly white noise.

He could have answered with the truth, he could have said that the noises they were hearing were the Guard dying for the Jehar in glorious combat. The screams and the smell of cauterized flesh robbed him of any desire to answer so graciously. He could have simply said that the rebels had come to either arrest or kill them, after

all, it had the virtue of being the plain truth.

If he had had the audacity, which as a true soldier of the Second Caste and servant of the Je'har had been trained out of him long before, he may have even expounded that at least as martyrs their cause would be remembered. Instead he felt almost perversely philosophical and it showed in his answer.

"The end of our world Lord end of our world". He even sounded slightly bemused in response to the questions despite his bitter tone.

"Well what are we going to do about it?" Rouan demanded even as Kalo shook his head at the idea that such a long lasting and beautiful society could have been brought to such a low point and bitter end so quickly. After all in less than a decade a society that had existed largely unchanged for almost 25,000 years it seemed that it was all about to end.

Kalo slowly poured himself a drink. The burn of whiskey helped remind him of better times and he wondered, if only for a moment, if all he had left now were his memories of better times and if those memory might warm him while waiting for a hangmans noose.

Sipping his drink Kalo noticed, as if from far away, a dark blue blade appear in the middle of the locked door only to then almost gently move up and trace the outer edges of the frame. Kalo put down his drink and slowly began to prepare himself for what was to come. He drew his trusty twin blasters and waited.

Though he could hear fighting in the streets as the majority of the Guard did its duty and sought to defend against the invaders. Given the fact that they were outnumbered and after the explosions had knocked out almost every military defence system Kalo knew that it was a futile effort.

"Die I suppose" came the long awaited and monotone response.

Before Rouan could respond and register his obvious objections to this idea the door fell to the floor in hot glowing pieces after the lightsaber had done its work.

In stepped both Harry Potter and ten of his men looking completely unconcerned by the occupants of the room.

It was silly but a part of Kalo couldn't help but be impressed that despite the fact that the Jedi was wearing robes that were bloody and torn and despite the fact that they had clearly been washed more in a stream than a city (as had the Jedi himself) he somehow seemed more inspiring for that fact.

His Je'har master in contrast was dressed in finery that, despite the man sweating profusely in them, were probably worth more than some complexes on the planet. Rouan was certainly dressed well but, unlike the Jedi, he struck a figure almost as inspiring as mouldy fungus.

When it was clear to him that the Jedi was the more impressive of the two Kalo somehow irrationally hated him more in that moment for that more than anything else he had done in the entire conflict. The feeling swiftly passed and under other circumstances Kalo he might have found the entire line of thought absurd or humorous but now, after all of this conflict, he was just tired.

"Hello" came the calm voice of William Potter revolutionary and Jedi Lord.

"I demand" screeched Rouan only to be cut off by a gesture from the Jedi that caused the smaller man's mouth to clamp firmly shut.

"You demand nothing" stated the Jedi as he suddenly felt all of Jedi Potters attention focus solely on him.

Harry for his part, when scanning the room with all of his senses, was impressed with Kalo Lak. The man radiated no sense of fear into the Force and their was no great sense of hatred emanating from the man. All that Harry could feel from the man was a great sense of weariness and resignation. Harry's respect for the man rose further at the fact that he could sense no despair.

Harry's eyes flickered back to the now speechless Rouan and his expression soured. The Force was almost screaming this man's thoughts. Rouan was the epitome of arrogant indignation but it wasn't an indignation over the attack per se but ran much deeper.

Tracing that indignation led Harry past Rouan's inability to speak and the attack on his office (that after all might have been understandable) wasn't hard. In fact his thoughts were broadcasting so loudly Harry almost didn't need occlumency to understand what he was thinking.

Rouan was indignant that anyone would dare contradict him. Worse he was the product of a system that ingrained in him the idea that he could do no wrong and that outside of a select group of people like him people existed to serve his whims. It was inconceivable to him that people were designed for anything else or that his will would not be made manifest.

Worse than that the injustices in the systems, the slavery, the abuse and a thousand other things swam from Rouan's mind and into Harry's. To say that Harry was disgusted by the man would be a large understatement.

Instead of wallowing in the cesspit that was Rouan's mind Harry instead turned back to his long time adversary Colonel Lak and for the first time ever these two men, so often pitted against one another, were staring at each other in the flesh and face to face.

"Let's have a drink together shall we?" asked Harry conversationally. The tone he used was more appropriate to a Coruscant downtown bar then the final moments of a war that had raged for years. Both men moved, scanning their surroundings automatically like the battle weary soldiers that they were, towards the small wet bar in the corner and the small table beside it.

Kalo holstered one of his blasters while keeping a wary eye on Harry and served himself another whiskey and sat down. Harry, for his part did not drink, he merely looked on amused at Kalo's caution.

"What happens now" Kalo said blunty still having one of his blaster trained on Harry who, in turn, had long since deactivated his lightsaber and appeared completely harmless.

"Well" Harry responded "You could shoot me with that blaster". Harry smiled humorlessly at the idea "Though of course I would be against that" he jerked his head behind himself "and these men would surely take offense".

Kalo snorted at the idea that he might even succeed in shooting Jedi Potter even at this range as, if his finger were even to twitch, he had no doubt he would be dead in an instant.

"Or" continued Harry "you and your friend here will be taken to stand trial for your crimes".

"And die either way I suppose?" countered Lak.

"That remains to be seen" Harry said "Though I would be willing to put in a good word for you….only you".

"Why would you be willing to do that?" asked Lak incredulously.

"No one else has ever dropped a building on me" deadpanned Harry to which Lak could do nothing other than bark out a laugh. After a moment Lak spoke again

"No...really why would you do it?"

Harry sighed and thought a moment about his response.

"I am tired of war. Jedi are warriors of course as the Galaxy is hardly safe but that is not all we are. We are poets, healers, diplomats and philosophers as well as many other things and although I will never make a passable diplomat and I am a good warrior that is not all I am. If I press the point home then this system would have no chance to heal and I would not be being all that I am".

"I'm not sure I understand" said Kalo Lak.

"That's okay as I'm not sure I completely understand either" said Harry with a smile.

"You are a very odd man" blurted Lak somewhat surprised by himself.

"I know" was Harry's simple response.

"If you were tired of war why not try for a peace treaty before now?" Lak pressed as he put away his remaining blaster.

"We did" Harry answered easily while nodding his head at Rouan while reaching over and pouring Lak another drink "but he always refused".

The two men sat in an oddly easy silence as the power of the Je'har was crushed and the Galactic history of the system was changed forever. The fires from the fighting illuminated their faces as Harry finally poured himself a drink. The island of quiet was only broken by the clash of steel and the sound of blaster fire as Harry's men guarded the two most important prisoners of war.

A few weeks later as a slightly rejuvenated Harry slowly walked up his ship ramp when Tor Dalon, now president of the Provisional Government (until elections could be held) approached him and signaled him to stop.

"Where are you off to my friend" oddly, but perhaps understandably due to the fact that Harry had spent much of his time behind enemy lines during the wars five year duration, they had rarely met in person. Still somehow their acquaintance had deepened into a true friendship.

"Home" Harry responded with true regret "as soon as our techs were able to get the long range communications back up properly to signal our victory the Jedi High Council demanded my presence. I've only been able to put them off this long by stating how much I needed to recuperate".

"Well" Dalon said false cheer lacing his voice "if they throw you out the Almanian System will always have a place for its Jedi Lord. In fact as far as both the people and Government are concerned you will be the only Jedi allowed here for some time".

Harry smiled and neatly avoided commenting on the average Almanian's view of the Jedi as a whole.

"Potter Industries will be here within a day" said Harry and, with a shrug of his shoulders Dalon accepted the change of subject with good grace. "They will help with training a true security force, rebuilding and medical supplies and will be provided at cost for the first five years. Here" he said passing Dalon a datapad "is a list of all the droids that will be arriving here from tomorrow".

At the list Dalon looked like he wanted to weep. His people were injured, broken and so poor that the wider Galaxy had written them off as a bad investment. Here Potter Industries was, once again, bucking the trend as the sheer number of droids that were coming (mostly building and medical droids) would mean that many who were doomed to die in pain would instead survive.

Unbeknownst to Dalon at the time the building droids had orders not to leave until all rebuilding was complete. A small gesture on Harry's part to help his friend and repair some of the damage that he had, at least partially, caused.

It was also a gift from one friend to another in need.

Harry smiled, was grabbed in a bear hug by his friend, and then began to move up the ramp stopping only to call over his shoulder "One favour? Replace the Dome with something else. It's an eyesore….or it was".

"Done" called Dalon chuckling quietly at the idea that they would ever reconstruct the Dome.

Within the year the Provisional Government would be replaced with the Democratic State with Tor Dalon as its first Prime Minister serving his first decade long term.

Within three years the new Government House would be built on the site of the Dome and, apart from being where the Parliament met, it would quickly become known as a marvel of modern Architecture.

Within five years Potter Industries would become the major intergalactic employer on the planet. The moons would become massive factories and Almania itself becoming a major show room and Galactic trade hub for Potter Industries new speeder making arm.

Forty percent of the company was owned automatically, in a cooperative like arrangement, by the people of Almania and a further ten percent was owned by the Government itself. It's success ensured that Almania would never be disregarded as an insignificant backwater again.

In that spirit the name of the company was voted on by the Almanian Parliament and, despite Harry's vocal protests, the majority of the system were happy with the name and soon the speeders themselves were one of the most versatile on the market having incorporated the copyrighted Potter Modular Technology (ModTech for short).

The company was called Potter's Triumph.