Chapter 36: The First and Last Days of the Empire

Star Wars + Harry Potter Crossover

Chapter 36: The First and Last Days of the Empire

A/N: due to the fact that I'm now a father and my wife/beta and I have a 1 month old these last two chapters have only been edited with Grammarly. You have been warned.

19-18 BBY

3634-3635 ATC

Year One of the Imperial Calendar (1IC)

Holonet Broadcast

Welcome to the new and improved Imperial News Service. After the betrayal of the Jedi and the resulting fallout we, along with many others, rejoice in this new era of peace. The safety and security that is provided by both Emperor Palpatine and the Imperial Senate is a welcome change from the corruption and waste of the former Republic.

That is not to say that we have recovered from everything that has happened recently as we have had many shocks to our people. The betrayal of the Jedi almost overshadowed the fact that we managed to win the war against the C.I.S..

Still we have risen to the challenge and have created a truly caring and responsible government in the well oiled and efficient Empire that we have become.

The good news does not end there. Though the Emperor leads the charge against the follies of old not all of the Jedi betrayed us. Former Jedi Kara Durvan, once a well respected member of that corrupt Order, found the courage to help end the High Council's nefarious plot and even led twenty five like minded Jedi to serve the Empire against those traitors.

With the Emperor's blessing they have formed a new Order that will always put the needs of the Empire first and they are called the Inquisitoris.

She herself is not only a lauded hero of the glorious New Order but also leads these brave Force Adepts and has been named Special Advisor to the Emperor himself despite suffering life threatening wounds when she bravely resisted her former Order's betrayal.

Reports of the Silver Commonwealth's involvement in the plot are, at this time, still rumour and are being investigated at the time of this broadcast as is the supposed murder of Princess Luna Potter by fleeing Jedi factions.

More news on that as it develops and, coming later today, an interview with the head of the Emperor's press core.

Spero

David, former Lord and now Silver Prince of the Commonwealth, would have been amused by the latest string of propaganda coming out of the capital and into Empire controlled space under other circumstances especially as their sheep like populous ate it up.

He wasn't concerned by the actual content as he was sure that there were already brighter minds than his already preparing a suitable response that would, no doubt, be broadcast soon by hacking the very same systems that Palpatine legitimately used.

It was hardly the first salvo in a war of words and impressions that had begun before Operation Knightfall but was simply more overt now that the Empire had 'won' against the Commonwealth.

It was however the first that directly cast doubts about the virtue and insinuated the 'evils' of the Commonwealth. The Empire had no idea what they had awoken however as the Commonwealth was more war ready than ever before.

As he sat in the Council room (with the circlet of his father and symbol of his own rule on his head) he knew that he didn't want this, at least not this way and not for a very long time past this one if ever, and it was only the warm hand of his lover that had kept him steady over the last few days.

Bless, he thought, Ahsoka Tano.

He looked up and smiled into the face of the woman he loved and couldn't help but admire, even now, how beautiful she looked even in the full armour of a Knight of the Silver. Though the age difference between them was great the fact that they were devoted to each other was clear.

He could still remember when she had turned up as a lost and broken former Padawan who, at the advice of her former master and friend, had thrown herself into her new training with a gusto that caused her to soak up the new knowledge like a sponge.

She had wanted to learn everything that the Silver Knights could teach her (and the history of the Commonwealth itself) and it was in one of her many pursuits of that knowledge that they had met.

He hadn't wanted to pursue her at first as, after all, she was new to this way of life and significantly younger than he was but he had tried to be helpful and be an easy going sounding board for her.

It had actually been she that had made the move on him after they had spent some time together and it was only when she had kissed him that he realised exactly how much she had wormed her way into his heart,

The two had fallen in love but, he was not as recognizable as his parents and it was only after they had gotten together that he had admitted he was the Lord David. Though he had never lied to her he had been specifically vague and it had taken some fast talking on his part to smooth things over.

She had not been pleased with his deception.

Still, he thought while casting his mind back, I do need her now more than ever especially after what happened with my father.

-LAFA-

One Week Ago

It was the quiet sound of the opening door that alerted Harry to the fact that someone had entered his private study and, thanks to his Force senses, he could tell that it was his son. The waves of concern and grief that echoed off the younger man made him more than distinctive enough to his father.

That didn't stop him packing his nondescript bag while leaning over his desk. His eyes flickered to his circlet, the symbol of his office, that also rested there.

"You missed the funeral" stated David and the neutrality of that statement cut Harry far deeper than any anger could have done. The care, compassion and understanding that echoed in the voice of his son almost made Harry flinch.

His son took in the study and, from the far away look in his eyes, Harry could see that he was becoming half lost in memories of brighter times and of the family that laughed here. It was almost as if they could both see the twin shadows of the past, a boy and a girl, begging their mother for piggybacks and their father for a story.

"Yes" Harry's tone was equally as painful for his only son. A voice that, to him, had always been filled with love now seemed full of a tired and gaping emptiness while his once expressive eyes were now still like a deep pond.

Once so emotional, now they gave away nothing.

"What happened?" David asked and Harry knew that he wasn't talking about missing the funeral but something far more serious.

"An adaptive virus. It was deliberately introduced to the systems that regulated the temperature on all of her clone pods….they essentially cooked to death".

"Do we have any idea who did it?" David pressed.

"They were careful enough that I have no idea who did it and neither does anyone else" Harry began and David's eyebrows rose at the idea of his father and uncle Nic being stumped. "That does not mean that we don't both know who was ultimately responsible for it".

"You can't just go off running after him" argued David and neither man was unsure of the 'he' who they were both talking about. "The Commonwealth needs you".

"The Commonwealth needed both me and Luna but that time has passed. Now they need a kind, compassionate leader that also has steel in their soul….more important than that they need a mortal ruler".

"Why?" David asked while being confused, if only slightly, by the way this conversation was heading.

"In all of my very long life I have noticed only two things relevant to this discussion. The first is that as you age spontaneity is much harder to accomplish and to adapt to. Everything changes faster and that ability to adapt, to be spontaneous, ironically becomes essential".

"And the second?"

"That the old adage is not always true. Great age does not automatically bring great wisdom".

Harry swiftly swung the now full backpack onto one shoulder. He only had that, the belt that was fast becoming Commonwealth standard issue for the military (including an armour upgrade much like Harry's circlet) as well as his lightsaber and his distinctive blaster hanging from holsters attached to the belt for protection.

"If all goes well" Harry said into the long contemplative silence that his words had caused "I'll see you again at the end of all of this. You are the Silver Prince now...look after both the Commonwealth and, more importantly,your sister".

"What about Chime? Where is she?" David asked only now noticing the phoenixes absence.

"I have no idea" Harry said quietly into the still room. "She left the day your mother died and I haven't seen her since".

And that became the first day of David Potters reign as the Silver Prince. He was not lifted to the throne by rapturous applause or ceremony but instead, by his father's quiet and somehow sad footsteps fading into the distance.

-LAFA-

"The Imperial Representatives are here" a servant droid announced from the doorway and it's dispassionate synthetic cadence jolted David back to the present even as Ashoka sat down quietly next to him. Though she would remain silent, for an added air of mystery against the Imperials, her eyes looked at him and were filled with both sorrow and understanding.

"Send them in" replied David softly.

In marched four human men (it seemed the Empire was already showing xenophobic tendencies) as if they owned the place. Each wore a black uniform that was both crisp and utterly spotless. It spoke to the newness of the Empire and almost screamed at it's militaristic intentions.

"Lord David" said the leading man "I thought I had a meeting with the Silver Prince?"

Though the unnamed man's voice was polite his eyes were intensely mocking. His entire body language was deeply dismissive of the new Silver Prince, his paramour and basically everything that the Commonwealth stood for.

"And indeed you are" responded David icily. "My father abdicated last week and, at that time, I became the Silver Prince".

"Well then" said the still unnamed man pompously clearly trying to lead the conversation. "I, Ambassador Demarko, am here to state the Emperor's wishes in regards to the Commonwealth. These" he said pointing at the men behind him "are my assistants".

"And those wishes are?" David asked using a tone of curiosity to hide the anger that was barely evident (and completely missed by the Ambassador) in his voice.

"To facilitate the resumption and expansion of trade between our two nations" Demarko replied smoothly and with a great amount of condescension.

Then the man tried to show a face of artful regret though, to both David and Ashoka, it was easy to see the falseness of it...so easy that they didn't need their senses to know how untrue it was. "Sadly, with your father not giving the Empire any notice that he would stop trade two weeks ago we will require some modest form of compensation".

"Are you really that fucking stupid?" David asked, his own mask slipping away and revealing hs cold anger. His voice effectively poured cold water on the arrogant man's posturing which was exactly the point

"What do you mean?" Demarko bit out, barely managing to not bark at the man in his own home.

"What happened two weeks ago?" David asked, talking as if to a small slow child which caused the man to flush even as he began to formulate his answer.

"The Republic turned into the Empire" stated the man with a quick withering glance at Ashoka. "So?"

"So our agreement was with the Republic not the Empire" David barked back and, having grown tired of the falseness in the man's behaviour (as well as his arrogance), injected the iron that his family was known for into his voice.

"But they are one and the same. By the Force the Empire was born from the Republic!" Demarko protested.

"Not according to every contract that we had with the Republic. Paragraph two hundred and seven, subsection seventy four and I quote 'If the government of either party undergoes a significant legal change they shall give their trading partner one months notice. This is to facilitate a review of all standing contracts. Failure to notify a party of such a change shall render any and all agreements null and void'".

"A mere technicality" Demarko spat.

"And yet" replied David while smiling humorlessly "you were, no doubt, about to try the very same thing to get more blaster gas and perhaps even some credits as your 'compensation'"

"The fact remains that the Empire requires your goods" stated Demarko with the threat clear in his voice. "I am here to make sure that the Empire gets them".

"Why?" David asked, with a false note of innocence in his voice, and a piercing look on his face. "Is the Empire not at peace? What enemy could your Empire need that much blaster gas for?"

"Hmm" replied David "I suppose that the fact that your army has grown with fresh Clone Troopers that were apparently ready and waiting despite the fact they take ten years to mature would create quite a demand".

At the Ambassadors furious and shocked silence David internally chuckled. He knew that this 'Ambassador' was a vicious and cold hearted soldier that would happily smash a babies head against a wall if ordered and not, in any way, a diplomat.

He also knew that they were fully aware that his father was no longer leading the Commonwealth and this entire exercise was orchestrated by the Empire to try and control the Commonwealth while it went through a period of perceived weakness.

"No?" David continued "Well perhaps you can tell me why the droids of the C.I.S have not been disbanded but are instead slowly being reprogrammed and refurbished to serve the Empire? While you're at it you can also tell me why the factories are not closed down and why it has just started to arm its most effective units with experimental weapons that carry an anticoagulant in their blaster bolts and one that resists, stubbornly, every known healing method?"

"How do you know that?" Demarko almost screeched even as his assistants shifted nervously behind him.

"I am afraid that I am not at liberty to say how at this time….I'm sure you understand" David answered smugly.

"The fact remains" Demarko said after a long moment to collect himself "that the Empire requires what you have".

"It may have escaped your notice" replied David with true acid in his voice "but you are not in the Empire".

"I would hope" Demarko said with the same acid in his voice and a clear stare at Ashoka "that the rumours that you are harbouring Jedi turn out to be false especially after what they have done to the Empire. If not our relationship will sour dramatically".

"As opposed to the special relationship that we have now?" David asked sarcastically though, to Demarko's credit, he didn't rise to the obvious jab.

"Rather than any special relationship I would say rather that it is a debt of honour that you owe us. It was after all the Inqusitoris led by Special Advisor Durvan that…" Demarko began smoothly only to be silenced by the clearly enraged face and raised voice of the Silver Prince.

"DO NOT MENTION THAT WOMAN'S NAME TO ME!" David thundered and his power both magical and that of the Force saturated the room with a ferocious intensity.

Even as it did he jumped up smoothly to his feet, his dominant hand resting on the hilt of his unlit lightsaber and several things happened almost all at once.

The 'Ambassador' and his assistance all reached towards hidden blasters that the Commonwealth Security Service knew they had (and that had been subtly deactivated before entering the room).

At the same time six Knights of the Silver that had remained hidden by the Force and four Magi hidden by their magic quickly subdued the men before they could find out exactly how useless their weapons had become.

Ambassador Demarko ended up, quite swiftly, on his knees and more than a little frightened.

Then again, having two lightsabers so close to your throat that they were causing light burns from the heat alone would do that to most people.

The assistants were not treated quite so well as they were ruthlessly (and brutally) knocked out. The crack of their breaking bones and loud thumps when they hit the floor underscored the Ambassadors precarious position even further.

"You are extremely lucky" said David in a quiet and deadly voice "that you are dealing with me at the moment and not my father. If you had been foolish enough to say that to him you and your assistants would be trying to learn how to leave with your heads separated from your body".

"But…" the man began to stutter only to be quiet when one of the blades was pressed closer to his neck.

"Be silent" David commanded with all of the power of his station and his blood in those two words. "We are not the sheep that you normally shovel your own brand of shit to and we will not simply accept anything you say at face value. We know what happened to the Silver Princess, my mother, and unless you want a war you will go home and tell your superiors to turn the traitor Kara Durvan over to us with all haste".

"It will take some time" Demarko managed to gasp out albeit with great difficulty.

"There will be no talk of agreements, old or new, until that is done. You are dismissed Ambassador". David's words were colder than Hoth even as he watched the panicked man being literally dragged out of the door along with his assistants.

"They will attack us almost as soon as that poor bastard returns...if not before" said Ashoka the minute they were alone. "His own assistants might even kill him on route to try and avoid the death the Emperor will give all of them when they return".

"Of course he is dead...one way or the other" replied David with no sympathy for any of them before turning his mind to more important matters. "The Emperor wants our resources and will never allow such a threat to his rule to exist, especially so close to his seat of power. The new weapons they are building alone tell us that".

"Yes. They may not know how they work but, thanks to our treatment of the Jedi at Geonosis, they have seen how effective our potions are and those weapons are clearly designed to neutralise that edge".

She paused a moment and then added "They also know that they are geographically larger than us and believe that they have more troops than we do. Why wouldn't they attack us?"

Her question was, of course, rhetorical.

"It's a good thing that we are prepared then isn't it?" he answered while giving his girlfriend a quick kiss. "Fancy clearing our heads by trying out that new speeder that I got last week?"

"Another one?" She laughed as she took his hand. "You really are your father's son. Come on then...scare me half to death and give me enough thrills to last a lifetime".

"As my Lady commands...though that is generally what the backseat is for" she giggled and blushed. "Before we get to that though we need to call up Anakin. We need to stop or slow down the Empire's production of droids".

"Anakin? Not Qui-gon?" Ashoka asked.

"No" he replied as, though not as clearly as his father or especially his mother might have done, he sensed a gentle nudge from the Force. "It's Anakin that is needed".

He did smile though as he had made sure that the new speeder he had bought, unlike the last one, had a very large and very comfortable backseat.

He wouldn't be smiling later that week when he would be quietly informed by Nicolas that the virus that had destroyed his mother's clones had done the same to his father's

This time there would also be no confusion over who had done it as the sample that was used was delivered to his father in one of his last requests as sovereign before he abdicated.

His father had effectively made himself mortal.

-LAFA-

Coruscant

Harry would have smiled as his feet touched the concrete floor of The Republic's capital but, he couldn't bring himself to summon enough emotion to do that at this moment, weighed down as he was by the emptiness within him.

With his cowl pulled up, a runic glamour bracelet that changed his features and carrying a conjured piece of wood as a makeshift staff (not to mention the fake limp that justified its use) he was not only the definition of unremarkable but unrecognisable as Harry Potter.

He had finished the last leg of his roundabout trip with the stop before this one being Tatooine and with many others in between. If anyone had any inkling that Harry Potter was here not only would they have trouble tracking him now but, hopefully, they would be lost by the many changes to his journey.

All of which was bolstered by a masterful fake identity chip as well as completely submerging his Force signature into the background hum of the planet. With so many lives (each with their own spark of the Force no matter how miniscule) on the world it was very easy for his own power, properly attuned, to be lost in the ocean of other signatures.

His robe was a bland and muted green rather than the black and silver accented ones of the Silver Knights or the more famous dun ones of the average Jedi as both would obviously cause him problems right now.

And 'problems' in the Empire lead to death sentences.

That did not mean he was unarmed however as underneath his robe he had his prototype belt with the armour deployed but without its helmet and ready to be deployed at a moments notice.

The helmet was based upon the older design that he had once used as a Bounty Hunter and Assassin albeit with an up to date heads up display.

He also still had his bracer full of darts, ring, lightsaber and blaster hidden throughout his person and therefore he felt prepared for almost anything.

He nodded to himself and, with his mental checklist done, he knew it was time to get to work.

-LAFA-

Two Weeks Later

Kass Jeth was a former Jedi Knight that, like the rest of the Inquisitoris bar Darth Victorious, was captured by the Clone Troopers that he had trusted his life to for years when they had stormed the Temple and changed his life forever.

His conversion to the Dark Side of the Force had been quick, desperate and painful. Since then though he hadn't regretted his decision in the slightest as he found he really enjoyed his new lifestyle.

He was a human (just as the Empire preferred) male that was often overlooked as a Jedi Knight until the war. He had been rather good at combat though and, like many Jedi that were, he had felt the subtle disapproval of the High Council.

He had resented that and the general populouses low opinion of Jedi in general over the last few centuries as well as especially (with notable exceptions) during the Clone Wars had added to that and made it fester.

In short, he had been an easy convert and the respect that he enjoyed now he was free of the Jedi was like a fine wine for him.

People moved aside for him when he walked down the street and his dark brown hair was always styled at the best of places as well as in the latest fashions for free. Far from being a pseudo monk (as he once was as a Jedi) he now only needed to twitch a finger and a bed partner, willing or not, would come to him.

He even ate at the best restaurants, got the finest clothes and the best weaponry that the Empire could offer and again paid nothing.

As much as he enjoyed his new life it was not however, a complete bed of roses for the man.

Many of his brethren had been killed by someone or several someones and, of the twenty five Inquisitors that had originally formed the new Order, only sixteen remained.

As they hunted an apparently dire threat, with his own personal opinion being that it was an escaped Jedi Master that was hunting them, he was paranoid enough to take one of the new experimental blasters that were being produced for himself.

Just in case it was one of his own kind that was hunting everyone else he kept it very secret and hoped that, if it came to it, the secrecy would save his life.

There was also the fact that, apart from anything else, it would hardly be a surprise if that was the case as none of them from the Emperor down to the lowliest adept trusted one another in their own individual struggles for power.

The only exception to that was Darth Victorious and that he had realised early on but, no matter how powerful she was or how wise in other aspects (and she was much more so than him on both counts), he was her superior in one important area.

He knew and accepted what he was rather than allowing delusions of love (which she could neither admit to nor the Emperor himself shared) to blind him not only to who and what he had become but also, the new realities of the Empire.

Still, that distrust had led to what he was doing today. Instead of doing meaningful work or having his fun he was heading towards the newly built Inquisitorial Compound.

It was not, as one might have thought, in the old Jedi Temple as that was currently a trap for foolish Jedi and would later (as long as the Emperor's plans didn't change) become the new Imperial Palace.

Instead then they had been given this newly constructed compound that was built over the ruins of the recently destroyed Commonwealth Chapterhouse.

After he entered his authorisation code on the small panel at the door and inside the small, squat and frankly ugly building he couldn't help but marvel at the power of whatever explosives had destroyed the building. Not even the foundations had been left and, more than that, he couldn't help but think about all the knowledge that the Empire could have used that was lost.

When he entered the main room he lounged on one of the many sofas that were in the almost jarringly opulent main meeting area. These sofas were arranged around a very large and sophisticated communications blister that helped them service the Empires needs.

Aside from that there were only two other rooms.

There was an armoury on the left-hand side and a training room/torture chamber on the right with the first being secured with many air gapped redundancies and the second being soundproofed as he knew from personal experience that the screams of their victims, apart from anything else, could put a large dampener on dinner.

Though some of the others, he thought, believed the noises improved dinner…. barbarians.

He didn't have long to relax though as nine other Inquisitors entered and sat around the communicator in a rough circle as the machine hummed to life and gave a burst of bright blue colour that formed an image that they all knew very well.

"My lord" all of the Inquisitors said both in the near reverence and in unison as the Emperor's face coalesced out of motes of light.

As had become the norm these days the man's image was more than partially obscured by the long black robe and cowl that he favoured. It also neatly covered the wreck that the man's right eye had become.

"I have good news" the leader of the Empire replied in his distinctive tone. All subterfuge was gone from his voice now as he sounded less like the benign Senator that he'd pretended to be for so long and now more like the apex predator steeped in death that he actually was. "We now know who is hunting you but, the cost of this information was the death of six of your fellows".

"Can I ask" said Kass "if Darth Victorious is aware of this?"

"She is not" Palpatine snapped obviously annoyed at both the question and the presumption behind it. "She is currently on Geonosis overseeing the reconstruction and the refurbishment of the droid factories and then will coordinate research teams seeking a new source of blaster gas".

As he spoke his one good eye glared at them from the little that they could see of his scarred face and they all knew that no more questions would be tolerated by the Sith lord. No one gave two seconds thought about the fate of those of their number that had already died as it was not in the nature of the Dark Side to dwell on the weak.

"This morning there was an explosion on the other side of Coruscant that killed your fellows and, though much information was lost in the resulting shower of shrapnel and damage, an image of Harry Potter has been recovered. It is clear now that the former Silver Prince is hunting you".

"What would you have us do?" Another Inquisitor asked risking the Emperor's wrath.

"Find him and kill him before he kills you obviously" Palpatine spat before abruptly ending the conversation by cutting the transmission.

Kass Jeth was sure that he was not the only one in the room that suppress a shiver of fear. For once this was not caused by the Emperor himself but rather the idea of fighting another living legend like Harry Potter.

They had all heard about him as Jedi, in fact he had become required reading amongst many of their insular professions, and all knew that he not only killed Dooku but had stood toe to toe against Grandmaster Yoda himself.

Now that man wanted them all dead.

"How exactly will we find him?" The same female Inquisitor that had questioned Palpatine asked and, to his disgust, she was unable to keep the tremor of fear out of her voice.

Before anyone could answer her however there was a loud and grinding noise coupled with an alarm started to blare into the room.

"I think" stated Kass dryly "that won't be a problem".

-LAFA-

Harry smiled slightly as the little ball shaped hacking droid did the first of its two tasks by letting him into the Inquisitor Compound and then, almost effortlessly, entering the lockdown command after he had done so as well as scrambling the unlock code so that only Harry's new one would work.

Sadly all of that did set off alarms (the lockdown procedure did create a lot of noise after all) even as Harry began to move to the door in front of him.

Harry's robe fell to the floor and the runic glamour (that had been changed so often with random passers-by over the last few days) melted from his body like water as he slowly moved into an attacking position.

To that end the armour flowed out of his belt and cocooned him in the safety of steel and the Commonwealth's magic.

Before he could do anything else though two Inquisitors opened the door that he was facing and, later in the perfect vision that was hindsight, he was grateful that they could only come at him in that number as they were hampered by the door frame itself.

The close quarters did inhibit him somewhat as well but, thankfully, Darksiders of any sort were not often known to work together as a well oiled machine and therefore, though they did quite well as a unit, there were small openings.

Every single one of which Harry exploited as he began to cut them down as quickly as he could. He was fully aware, after all, that their greater numbers could eventually take him out. There was also the fact that there was one, not quite so stupid, Inquisitor that was furiously and desperately accessing the security console built into the large communicator.

Four of these traitorous former Jedi had already fallen when their not so stupid compatriot gave a cry, half of happiness and half of fear, as the internal defences came online.

Harry tensed knowing that he would be unable to do anything to stop the sixteen heavy turrets that were coming out of the walls and was not only hampered by the design of the building but also by the fact that he was fighting two competent Force users at once.

"Error" said a voice that was both mechanical and seemed to echo around the room even as two more Inquisitor's fell due to their momentary surprise at this unexpected development. Harry on the other hand smiled darkly as he knew that this ment his droid had completed its second task. "Activating the appropriate protocols".

He had learned, long ago, that proper planning and reconnaissance counted for far more than foolishly charging in with your hot blood pumping and disengaging your brain even if you had the fury of the righteous powering your blows.

"You thought" said the voice, though now it was not the emotionless one of a computer, but rather, the prerecorded (and very angry) voice of the Emperor Palpatine, "to betray me? Now you will spend your final moments contemplating your utter arrogant folly as I destroy you".

And with that the guns turned and, using advanced computer systems to individually identify each Inquisitor in the room, opened fire with their heavy reinforced batteries.

Meanwhile Harry's hacking droid kept him happily invisible to the guns sensors as they relentlessly began their bloody work.

-LAFA-

As Kass heard that prerecorded voice he knew that he was already dead.

Some might think that he would have regretted the choices that had led him to this point in his final moments and that he might even have felt some guilt over his part in hunting and killing so many Jedi both with his inaction during Operation Knightfall and his actions afterwards.

Those people would have been wrong.

He regretted nothing save the fact that he was going to die.

That being said he was understandably annoyed, as he enjoyed his new life and found the power that came with being one of the Emperor's favoured intoxicating, to be dying now as he had only just begun to receive the benefits and respect that he truly believed he had always deserved.

It was with that in mind (and a horrid snarl on his lips) that he flicked his experimental blaster to burst mode and quickly pulled the trigger three times. Nine shots, in three tight seperate groups, burst from the weapon before he was killed by the defences of the Compound.

-LAFA-

Harry was very good and did feel the bolts coming before they landed anywhere near him but two things stopped him escaping completely.

The first was that he was tired. Simply put he was very out of practice at doing so much himself for so long and he hadn't accounted for how draining that would be when combined with watching the building without sleep for a full three days

The second was that, no matter how skilled he was, the limiting nature of his position did leave him with very few options as he was still in the door frame. Given the limited distance between them Apparition also wasn't an option.

So he did the only thing that he could and gave himself over to the Force trusting it to provide him with the highest probability of survival.

His lightsaber hummed as it batted away the first set of blots that would have otherwise smashed into his head. The second set would have hit him in the shoulder if he hadn't half twisted his body and gone into a voluntary fall which allowed the shots to smash into the wall behind him

The third set did hit him despite his best attempts to contort his body out of their way. The first of which was both absorbed by and opened up his armour (the defensive strength of which was lessened by both the limited distance between them and the nature of the experimental weapon) and the second and third landed on vulnerable flesh.

The two shots easily overpowered the phoenix tears in his blood and left burning agony in their wake.

At length the sound of firing weapons stopped echoing around the room as the last of the Inquisitoris died even as they frantically tried (and failed) to survive. Harry stood among the carnage wincing as he felt his wound almost gush blood onto his boots. Even as he reached for his emergency medical kit he managed to survey his surroundings.

Five of the sixteen heavy gun emplacements were destroyed by the panicked Inquisitors as they died and the entire area was wrecked with sofas, consoles and personal items scattered throughout the place burned, misplaced or utterly ruined.

As Harry found and then clumsily began to pour phoenix tears on his deep wound he cursed himself for a fool. He did this because, as his hand had searched through it contents, it had wondered over a pepper up potion that he could have used to stay alert and would have replaced (at least temporarily) his energy.

He honestly hadn't thought of it and that, as much as anything else, showed him how out of practice he was. After all training was one thing and real life experience was a completely different beast.

He hissed as the fluid hit his open wound and began its work.

Stepping over the bodies of the dead he hurriedly looked for an undamaged console and, as soon as he found one, his fingers fairly flew over the interface looking for the information that he wanted.

He was also very aware that emergency response teams and the Empire's police would soon be crawling over this place and he didn't want to be anywhere near here when they did finally arrive.

Thankfully for him his ball droid had returned to him, per its basic programming, and was available to help speed up the process. After all no lockdown was truly perfect and those droids were designed to be small and take advantage of any tiny gap or weak point.

Once he was finished he was surprised to find that the wound hadn't fully sealed, let alone healed, and could only tear a small portion of his robe and use it as a makeshift bandage.

Then he hobbled off slowly and painfully less than two minutes before the Empire's armed response team broke down the reinforced main door as the ball droid had helpfully opened the back.

-LAFA-

Palpatine growled at his advisors and, with his eyes flashing a bright orange, they scattered out of his private chambers like the cowards that he knew they were.

He really wanted to see the fear blossom in their terrified eyes as he killed a few (it would help his mood at least) but he managed to restrain his impulses...if only barely.

It had only been five days since the death of his Inqusitoris and he was short on people after all and that, frankly, was the least of his problems. He was also on edge because the Dark Side (which was so long his ally) was quiet and he had a nagging feeling that information he needed was somehow being held from him.

He was the Sith Lord, the Master of the Dark Side, and nothing should be hidden from him.

One of his largest problems was that Darth Bane's great revenge was far from complete. Almost one thousand Jedi, including Padawan's and Younglings, had managed to escape and managed to do that in a way that he couldn't figure out or trace.

He knew that the Silver Knights, led by the late Princess Luna, had been there and both the Knights that were with her and the Jedi had left in the same inexplicable way. Beyond that he was once again stymied in learning any more.

It seemed that every monitoring device and camera had been disabled in and around the Temple area and those near the Chapterhouse. This all made him think of yet another growing problem that he was loathe to admit that he was potentially struggling with.

The possibility existed that there was a spy in his ranks. He needed to know how anyone knew that Operation Knightfall was coming as something had to have been leaked somewhere.

That was one of the many reasons he had sent his Apprentice away to Mustafar as the rather minor but important task of putting the droid factories to full use (and therefore replenishing the weakened and underpowered formerly Republic Army) was important.

That being said if the spy, whoever that might be, worked or was in any way connected to his Apprentice then she (as their most powerful weapon) would be out of play. It would also allow the new droids to be more easily absorbed into the Empire's Army.

The need to do this might have been called overkill as the Clone Troopers currently numbered just over one and a half million Clones but, the new Imperial Intelligence Service had almost no information that was reliable about the foreign power.

The reasons that he had to deal with the Commonwealth now rather than later were many. They were too independant and disrespectful, they were either indirectly or directly involved in too many of his plans that had gone less than perfectly (and rumoured to be involved in far more).

Then, of course, was the overwhelming lack of blaster gas in the Empire and the fact that the Commonwealth was sitting on more than enough to serve his needs.

Without that, even with their own and the incoming C.I.S reserves, there was a severe shortage and coupling that with his personal desire to continue to clone more troopers using Spaarti Cloning methods that were far faster (though inferior) than previous methods made it far worse.

If nothing else however, when he had the Commonwealth under control, he would need his Clone Troopers (inferior or not) to maintain his rule over such a vast space and could not wait a decade or so for those Troopers to mature.

Given the Commonwealth's technical expertise and history of its founder he wouldn't trust droids anywhere near them. The Spaarti Cylinders would provide another one million clones within the year.

Not to mention the fact that he was trying to crack the knowledge of the lost and esoteric technique known as Essence Transfer and a viable supply of brand new clones would help.

Granted every original Clone Trooper would have three times the skill of the newest batches but he could always make more and the eventual on the job experience would significantly lessen the gap in skill between the two groups.

All of these factors not only unsettled the new Emperor but it also meant that the Empire had to move far faster than he would like. Though every action did have it's upsides as he was reasonably certain that his enemies were all banding together inside the Commonwealth's borders waiting for a single hammer blow to destroy them.

He only had confirmed reports of one well known enemy not doing well and it was his belief that Yoda, the former Jedi Grandmaster, was being sheltered by the wookies and therefore effectively neutered.

Still he couldn't help but want to tear that entire system apart to get to and torture that little rat for everything that he had ever represented. That pleasure could wait for a while though he did enjoy fantasising about it.

A sick grin adorned his face as he took a moment to imagine the Jedi Masters face as he screamed. Sidious would bring him to the point of death again and again.

That grin was wiped from his face as some of the disquiet in his mind was given shape by the Dark Side of the Force.

Though the most skillful members of the Commonwealth managed to elude the majority of his senses and any form of vision from inside the Commonwealth was especially taxing given the high amount of Force sensitives and the aura they produced (as well as, unbeknownst to him, runic protections and a cadre of Knights actively trying to block his sight).

An individual outside those protections that hadn't fully finished their training however was much easier.

When he realised what the vision was and who was in it he cursed aloud and quickly ordered a good portion of the Red Guard over to help his Apprentice. He didn't know if they would be there in time as much depended on his Durvan's skill and her ability to survive.

If she doesn't, he thought, she's not worthy to be my Apprentice anyway.

He was still worried though as it wasn't every day that Darth Victorious faced a war hero like Anakin Skywalker. The Man Without Fear was a former Jedi (now most likely a powerful Silver Knight) and was a formidable opponent so strong in the Force that Sidious was still bitter that he hadn't got to him first.

As well as possibly being the Chosen One.

Now it was too late for that and, one way or another, that danger had to be removed. He turned all of his attention, his surveillance devices and all of his formidable senses to the fight that was soon to happen far away.

He had to know as soon as possible as, depending on the way that the fight went he would need anything from a medic to a short list of new Apprentices to choose from and every second would count as the true fight with the Commonwealth was coming.

To that end he had already quickly ordered a full out attack on Commonwealth Space, aimed primarily at their capital, as the Empire really needed to force them on to the defensive and they would hopefully have a good stockpile of blaster shots or gas.

He also needed to break their firmly closed borders open for future attacks and the shock of the loss of Spero to the Empire would do that well enough.

All he had to do now was watch and wait.

-LAFA-

Lady Sarah was literally an ageless beauty. Unlike her brother, the Silver Prince, she had taken her parents path into functional immortality but, at that moment, she was also other things that counted for more.

Her office was functional and to the point that the the only decorations being models of the various aircraft that the Commonwealth had produced over the length of its existence framing the otherwise bare walls. The only other ornamentation were six large monitors (that looked like thin glass screens) fanned out at the edges of her desk.

In short, though expensive and tasteful, the office itself screamed the fact that before and above everything else (including being the daughter of the first Silver Prince) her first love was and always would be aviation. She was a pilot and (like her father at times) a thrillseeker by nature.

Her eyes, as green as her fathers, scanned the reports of the latest battles that had happened between the Commonwealth and the Empire.

Only a day after her brother expelled the 'Ambassadors' of the Empire war had erupted along their borders and it was clear that they not only wanted war but thought that they were more than prepared for it.

They had launched three fleets attacking at Serenno, Aldis and Korriban (the first and last not so much soft targets full of people but rather two strategic rallying points) and were confident of their victory...at first.

With the exception of Korriban the enemy fleets had been heavily damaged or destroyed outright and were forced to withdraw far back into Imperial space. Even their one victory was barely that as it cost them over seventy percent of their forces to take the otherwise dead world.

The Commonwealth's losses (apart from Korriban) were, thanks to good planning and vigilance, minor.

Then they went on the offensive and the eight fleets that they dispatched consisted largely of about thirty Centurion class Battlecruisers as well as their support craft each. They blazed across the Empire's territory, cutting and burning as they went.

When they hit military targets, which was the thrust of the first part of the campaign, they offered no quarter. They killed each and every military unit, organisation and outpost that they could find as they travelled on their bloody path.

Builders and medical support appeared on those worlds soon afterwards as they began the long process of absorbing the frightened populous into the Commonwealth. They issued the obligatory tattoos, brought back a free press, and built hospitals as a matter of priority.

Coruscant was currently being left untouched.

Hundreds of individual words had fallen or were besieged in the past few weeks and, despite the occasional loss, the Empire had pulled its forces back (largely to better protected worlds and high value targets) to rally and regroup.

Though Sarah was aware of all of this she did not see this personally as she was in command of both the ground based Home Guard and the Silver Arrows.

The Silver Spear class had recently replaced all small fighters other than the latest versions of the Starbursts and, like most Commonwealth technology, was both an offshoot of ancient (but often superior to modern equivalents) designs and an amalgamation of the best parts of earlier models that they had produced.

Thanks to the battery technology that the Commonwealth had discovered there was no longer a need to seperate the fighters by who was using them. The good training of their pilots coupled with their superior technology helped turn the tide in more than a few otherwise close battles

Her elfin face and it's delicate features (all of which she had inherited from her mother) snapped to focus on a particular screen as the proximity alarms began to sound and quickly activated her communicator even as she absorbed the information as soon as it came in.

"An Empire fleet, damaged by our space stations, is entering the system" she reported to her brother and his face, much more of an amalgamation of both of their parents than hers, became intent as it appeared on a corresponding screen and he crisply answered.

"How many?" The Silver Prince asked.

"The sensors report fifteen ships approaching Spero from outside the gravity well of the system and in various states of damage and repair".

"Get the Silver Arrows in the air. At my signal be ready to break off and head towards Cadi".

"The gas giant?" Sarah asked, first with puzzlement and then concern. "You can't mean….surely the Sleepers will do?"

"You have your orders commander" David replied after shaking his head.

"Yes my Prince" she responded automatically and was, within moments, outside her office as well as leading her pilots to their ships. She also had no doubt that her brother was organising both the Home Guard (as Commander-in-Chief) and his own defensive measures against the approaching fleet.

-LAFA-

On Mustafar Silver Knight Anakin Skywalker watched from a distance as the former Jedi Master Durvan, now Darth Victorious, was slowly preparing to leave the planet.

He knew that, perfectionist that she was, she was taking her time to get everything right for her beloved Emperor and was grateful that she was unaware that the reinforcements of Red Guards that had been somehow ordered to her position had been neutralised on route by the nearest Commonwealth fleet.

Though how, he mused, anyone knew they might be needed baffles me especially as I only know through hidden noise pulses hidden in the background static of Interstellar communication.

He didn't want her to have any help because though he was powerful he was honestly not certain of hers. He was also currently unaware of the intricacies of the Commonwealth droid spy network.

Then again, though he was loathe to admit it, while he was technically in the same power class as both Harry Potter and Palpatine having the potential did not mean that in reality he actually matched them.

Especially given Harry's age and the depths of depravity to which Palpatine had sunk.

He smiled as he knew that, when she eventually decided to, she would find that she wouldn't be able to leave this Force forsaken planet.

While Durvan had been busy issuing orders and increasing the production of droids to serve the Emperor's needs (which required the building of much more advanced machinery on the planet to keep up with the demand) he had been busy too.

He had planted, by way of reprogramming a few cleaning droids, several E.M.P devices on board her ship and they would soon turn her ship into nothing more than a nice sculpture.

He was thankful for his Commonwealth education in that regard as,though he had always been mechanically gifted they really had fostered his instruction to heights that he doubted he could have ever reached alone even with Jedi assistance.

Placing E.M.P's by proxy, even specially hardened systems, was almost child's play by this point as he was aware of most systems weaknesses and this knowledge had only been bolstered by necessity of the war with the Empire.

His ship would be the only option for leaving this planet but, not being a foolish man, he had it well hidden over an hours walk away and given the volatile nature of the planet it would be very hard to find if you didn't know (at least roughly) where it was.

He quietly approached the main manufacturing building from the other side than the one that Darth Victorious was on. He was out of her eye line and relatively free to sabotage anything and everything that he could before finally confronting her.

And face her he would. She had betrayed everything that she had ever stood for and for the most contemptible of reasons….her own lust for power, control and need to be right no matter the cost to anyone else.

She had murdered the closest thing to a family she ever knew for it. Brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, favourite aunts and uncles and tried to kill children….no one was spared her anger and lust.

She had also killed one of the kindest and beautiful soul's that Anakin had ever met and left a hole in anyone that knew her that would never be filled. The wound might scab over and he was sure that the majority of people would continue on with their lives.

But it would never heal.

She will pay, he thought even as he moved to begin his work, for all of the death and destruction...for uncle Harry and poor Aunt Luna. She. Will. Pay.

-LAFA-

Admiral Benok felt a deep satisfaction fill him as he stood on his bridge and saw, far in the distance, the Jewel of the Commonwealth approaching.

All he could think of were the riches that would soon be his. He might even, once the ground troops had cleared the area, take his pleasure amongst the locals as he had heard that Lady Sarah in particular was a beauty.

He was looking forward to that almost as much as everything else he might get combined as he loved it when his prizes resisted.

Most of the riches would go to the Empire of course but he knew that he would be well compensated and, if the rumors of her beauty were true, she would be his especially if he was granted the request of becoming the new Imperial Governor of Spero once everything had been settled.

As far as he could see the planet only had one lonely Centurion class Battlecruiser as a defense and it was woefully inadequate to protect the system from what was coming.

Though, in the privacy of his own mind, he couldn't fault them overmuch as he was certain that the Commonwealth had stretched itself quite thin assaulting the Empire and even one Centurion class was worth roughly three imperial ships in any engagement.

Added to that they had clearly trusted the space stations that were placed strategically on the hyperspace route here and that his own fleet had destroyed.

To his fury they had managed to damage one of the largest fleets that the Empire or even the Republic had ever assembled. When he had begun this journey he had command of over forty ships and now, thanks to the Commonwealth's defences, he was down to seven fully functional ones with another eight almost completely ruined before battle could begin.

Perhaps then, he mused, it wasn't so stupid to have only one ship protecting the spiritual and ideological center of the Commonwealth as surrounding it in a fleet would only inspire a level of panic that was, at best, counter productive.

He had every reason to believe then that the battle would be quick….. vicious certainly but short nonetheless.

The fact that, only moments later, his helmsman reported that from their scans the enemy ship was staffed solely with older generation Commonwealth droids only reinforced that point.

-LAFA-

Harry groaned as he replaced the bandage on his side once again.

He was lightly sweating as he dropped and (with a muttered word) incinerated the rag. No medication he could find could heal the wound and no spell lasted for any length of time against it.

He had come to the quiet conclusion that he had relied too much over the centuries on the enhanced properties of his blood and Chime's companionship as, even if their were more advanced spells he could try, he knew no way of stopping the blood loss.

And Chime no longer responded to his call.

In short he was dying and, without his clones as the ultimate backup, this death would be all too final for him.

That was okay, he thought, as maybe there is a reason for death. Humans aren't supposed to live forever after all. When death does come for me I will go with a smile in the hope of seeing Luna again. Like my ancestors before me….I will greet him like an old friend.

I just, he concluded, have one more thing to do.

Rising out of the half dark alley that he had hidden himself in over night Harry Potter moved towards the Imperial Senate building and the attached offices/living quarters of Emperor Palpatine.

He had his task and he had his weapons.

The ring that he had used for so long comforted him with its light weight as did the partially disassembled and hidden lightsaber in his belt (not the emergency one usually there but his own).

He did have to leave his blaster behind as it would have taken power, either in the form of magic or several mind tricks, to keep it as the eagle eyed security would never allow it under war time restrictions. He had the feeling that he would need as much power as he could spare.

Hood up and with a glamoured face for good measure he walked towards the main entrance and quickly found his way inside. He fortified himself for what was to come even as he had no expectation of survival.

At the same moment, several levels above, Palpatine was considering the fate of his Apprentice and the attack on Spero.

The final attacks were about to begin as all the pieces were in place.

From this either the final days of the Empire would begin or Palpatine would have his Dark Empire and more power than even he, in his corrupted state, could even imagine.

Where Anakin hoped for justice (with a shade of revenge), where Durvan hoped only for herself and her own goals and where Palpatine desired dominion Harry only hoped that, at the end, he could find some peace.

Regardless the cycle of death and destruction that had begun when the followers of each side of the Force had separated would end with what came next.

The fate of the Galaxy, often precarious and all too often affected by the ripples of actions more than the actions themselves would be decided soon. In the end there would either be an Empire of self destructive blood and death or something new (or very old depending on your philosophical perspective) entering the stage.

Far away and unheard by all, save one, a phoenix sang.