c10

Going to the Chapel

The group arrived in orbit of Alderaan and, as they were staying a while, put the control sphere of Republic One on the ground outside the Fidelius wards of the Royal Lodge.

It was a much different experience from their first arrival. Alderaan's close geosynchronous orbit fairly bristled with weapons platforms. At the poles were two new small moons. Lucrehulks that had been enclosed into full spheres and were bristling with weapons. They had no atmosphere and were all sensors, weapons and vulture droids. As soon as they arrived they received a automated warning to stay in orbit no closer than the platforms. It took only seconds for Republic One AI to disregard all that and take over the planets weapons in orbit. Sorting that out took a few hours. Breha finally stepped on the government and gave Republic One control of the planets droid based defenses. Things in orbit suddenly traveled rigid, predictable paths and did exactly as expected in accordance with Alderaan air and space control regulations, or a cloud of vulture droids descended on it, if what ever it was resisted it soon became an abrupt warning, followed nearly immediately with a close warning shot. Several young nobles lost major points with their romantic interest and friends as pissing yourself was a faux pas. The organics in the space control system control rooms watched nervously then relaxed. Breha received a few reports and went and talked to the AI. The AI began moving copies of herself to the two planetary defense spheres. Breha's technicians went to install the necessary redundant memory and processing cores in those spheres.

They had doors to the Academy and Jedi ship and Harry, on a lark, had put them on sheets of druasteel with braces so you opened a door in midair and stepped through to your destination. He thought it was funny anyway. The girls just rolled their eyes, even after he explained the movie and made a flip book of it. The Royal Palace got a door in a public hallway that led to another in the Royal Lodge. Warded like Hogwarts or Gringotts of course. Intent wards, Harry hadn't done that and found it happening a bit puzzling. The runes were right there, but he would have never put them in that particular order. It was a mystery for now, but thy worked so he shrugged and left it.

Citizens on worlds widely separated began wondering what was going on as The Dread Lord and party would be seen first on their world and later that day on another. There was a holo channel that was all Dread Lord all the time. Luxa ran it on about an hour delay. It quickly became a legendary power of the Dread Lord. He could be anywhere at any time. Harry would have laughed if he knew how crazy the girls wanting just that thing from that store on X to go with the skirt in the commerce center on Y was driving Imperial intelligence. Him looking for things he remembered in junk shops on seemingly thousands of different worlds whenever he had an idea or needed one and just going there didn't help. The things he bought in those places and the discussions with the shopkeepers were just scrambled enough so you couldn't really tell what it was or how much it cost on the holo's.

Luxa had a deal with Republic One AI. Republic One got to use the Holo cams watching Harry and the others and she did the OPSEC censoring on the holo feeds from those cameras.

Harry agreed with the older Ladies in waiting that the skirts they were matching those shoes and other things to were really belts. The girls really didn't care about that as all anyone was seeing was flesh toned, clothing color matched, or contrasted full coverage armored pants, cuisse, complicated joints over the knee that took real skill to make, like the elbows and shoulder joints, and greaves. Which had cushioning charms inside them now so you could dent the duracrete if you dropped on it full speed. Hadn't that been embarrassing! Oh and triggered another slap injury test series. The charms didn't help with those, they were less than a millimeter thick after all, but they made the armor so much more comfortable they stayed.

The Jedi Council licensed the doors from him and now Padawans and younglings got one for their homes if they had one and their families allowed it. Those were connected to the school ship the padawan was attending, usually in their sector unless they had some special skill or need only served on a different school ship somewhere.

The diplomat, scholar, warrior, monks of the Force were suddenly a lot more scholar than anything else. Keeping up with the knowledge being gained from the Dread Lord required a couple of hours of study a day.

Bars, of course, was looking at the possibilities of banks of public doors, but local governments were skittish, how would they control that? What were the long-term effects yada yada, an endless litany. Plus, or perhaps the real issue, the things cost a fortune and had to be maintained perfectly and not just everyone or any five force sensitives could charge that rune set. And it was hard to figure out a way to capture the income stream of public use. The Senate doors had people like elevator operators, stupid but well, you know, people. Senators still had sentient organics answering their holo's. They, the operators, also were security for the Senate hull.

The Senate hull was making the Bothans happy as it was seeing more and more use. Every sector or planet with a senator had a magically expanded standard loader droid container and outfitted them as they liked. It was a nest of intrigue of course, and had its own police force. A job Harry wished on no one, but the people that did it passed veritasserum questioning and swore oaths. Oaths to the Republic.

The scouts were dropping doors on unoccupied worlds or bodies at the same time they dropped ward sets. Those doors were being connected to doors on Republic One.

Halfway through their two month stay on Alderaan Harry woke up, walked to the tank and watched B3 One Delta put the Sphere of Destruction, or SoD as he liked to call it, to work. Tarkin had led with his oldest ships of the line firing away at everything, including rocks, to clear the mines which still managed to take some out and then another wave to engage the Republic fleet. He didn't fare as well against the uprated Subjugator class battle cruisers that were now the Republics ships of the line. Several emergency portkeys dropped Jedi on the Temple ship in the infirmary and non-droid Officers on the hospital ship though. The Rangers hospital hull was receiving a steady stream of casualties as well.

Vulture Droid carriers, inspired by the mine racks, and needing nearly no modification to the existing mine racks in the spares train of the mine program, just able to make it to hyperspace deployed millions of them and more and more mines were laid off their rack ships.

Lucrehulk hulls converted to mass driver platforms maintained a devastating fire on all sides of the penetration. Quad cannon mounts on those ships were busy destroying masses that survived passing through the imperial fleet and were on course to one of the Republic mass driver platforms. They also performed as a unified networked defense against imperial fighters. Republic One AI and her twined selves were in the background doing that sort of thing automatically. Her power consumption ratcheted up to near the sphere she was resident on being in hyperspace. Reaction mass, water, was diverted to cooling and steam was being dumped through her attitude control jets with the nozzles widened to maximum so they produced nearly no thrust and in balanced opposite side pairs. It was actually fairly lovely, The giant, now red and gold, sphere wreathed in clouds. The lawns and gardens downwind were getting a gentle mist of water.

The planetary wards and defenses of New Republic worlds in the tip of the bulge all the way down to the chunks of Anaxes got a light test then the planetary defense Ion cannons kept up their fire on anything not squawking the correct code. Those worlds fleets weren't being quiet ether. If it entered their space and didn't squawk the friend or foe identification correctly it was engaged immediately.

Vader took a group of the newest and fastest Star Destroyers in the super dreadnought class to Wayland once Tarkin's fleet cleared the mines to and at the intersection of the hyperspace routes. Tarkin disengaged but only withdrew a few light hours and the command council had a meeting. Bars had the information they needed this time rather than Mon. "An Imperial force intends to invest Wayland."

Harry grinned and One Delta sent the SoD hurtling to try to catch them in normal space in orbit around Wayland. It had by now been fully tested and some rather spectacular techniques worked out using it. It was a bit slow in comparison to the empire ships, at least in hyperspace. In normal space it spun like a top in any direction and the weapons fired as they bore. It had appeared as if imperial vessels were hit with masses from nowhere as they were moving sideways nearly as fast as they were moving forward. The astromechs had adjusted those trajectories on the fly and were very excited to be allowed a free hand to work as fast as their processor cores allowed.

Ackbar nodded "As soon as the salvage fleet clears the lane we will mine it and prepare for Tarkin holding the door open for their return. Meanwhile I will move some units to the hyperspace lane turning and see if we can't mine that and knock them out of hyperspace to fight.

I will have some fleet units in the north push down to Wayland to join the SoD in that fight."

Mon frowned "Depending on what the SoD can tell us about that unit's composition. Meanwhile we might want to move elements to contain this break out."

Garm nodded "Though I think they are only after whatever was in that base on Wayland."

Harry nodded "They don't know we know that though, so let's punish them as much as we can. Flex at this hard like we think it's a major break out, go on the offensive all around the core world's boundary, shell Coruscant if we can. Shell any we can get to from orbit, the imperial government facilities anyway. He wants an enemy, let's be one. If we have enough assets launch a spoiling attack at the orbital yards and planets in the Corellia sector. Get a picket of Lucrehulk mass driver platforms facing the lanes and as soon as anything is detected in hyperspace other than us saturate the lanes in masses from the mass drivers. Tarkin is leading with remote controlled near hulks. Let's make him spend those.

We need to get some people looking for what spin his propaganda machine is going to put on this and work to counter it. If nothing else than by getting the truth out there. I think our first line though should be us responding to this 'unprovoked and dastardly attack' In fact I have a speech from a memory of a documentary for our propaganda people to review."

Mon rolled her eyes "Public relations and News people Harry."

Harry blinked "Yeah those."

The command council grinned and Ackbar started sending instructions. Reconnaissance in force and by fire started nearly immediately with Providence class ships.

SSDV

Three days later the SoD popped out of hyperspace a day behind the imperial fleet led by Vader and opened a withering fire on the imperial elements investing Wayland and the planet itself.

Darth Vader fought hard for eighty hours before they got everything from the base in the mountain. Thousands of vulture droids with apparently inexhaustible fuel and reaction mass and hundreds of Lucrehulk class battle ships attacked his Flotilla in waves that appeared, dumped more vulture droids, let go broadsides and disappeared to be replaced by another wave just far enough out of line to require reorienting guns or ships to engage them. That and some new type of ship that was all weapons and had some kind of hypervelocity rapid fire mass driver. It spun crazily and darted around as if it was in a holo simulation, continuously firing a nearly solid stream of masses. If attacked by fighters it fired thousands of medium twin turbo laser batteries. If you let up your fire on it for an instant, torpedo's streaked away from it and wandered around looking for a chance to attack you. If they got within a kilometer they detonated in a fireball that ate portions of ships within that kilometer circle. They apparently had inexhaustible fuel and reaction mass as well. He was out of fighters, nearly out of ground troops and his ships, though new when he took them out were leaving pieces, bodies, flimsy and gas plumes behind as they maneuvered. At least there were no mines.

Elsewhere Tarkin had had to split his fleet and call up reserves to try to stop the penetration that lost them the Corellia sector and let the Republic occupy the capitol world and begin the ground fight to take it from the minority empire sympathizers who had tried a coup and the fight on its orbital yards to take them.

Coruscant planetary defenses were sorely tested by another Republic Fleet and he was steadily pushed off the hyperspace lane turning and out of position to support Vader's return.

The empire elements along the picket on the empire side were engaged and in some cases pushed off the picket line or destroyed all around the core worlds boundary.

Only a general mobilization of the fleet offered hope and for every fleet unit they could get underway five Lucrehulks two Providence and a Subjugator class showed up in the tanks. Along with one of those Force forsaken mine racks and another of those vulture droid racks. Or at least that is how it seemed. They were appearing around the core though and not necessarily where they could affect the battle for the hyperspace lane crossing. It didn't stop them from driving toward the nearest empire unit guns blazing. Or sitting at extreme range, masses spewing into empire systems at near hyperspace velocity. Several planets or sectors that had not kept up planetary defense learned the hard way the navy wouldn't necessarily save you.

Finally, Vader returned, got knocked out of hyperspace, started clearing the mines, and after a melee battle, that nearly set space ablaze, the Imperial fleet withdrew in a shambles to a stronger line and held. The Republic moved up, spewed mines everywhere and then began policing the battle space. Tarkin looked and sighed. They had lost everything except the Core and even then, the bulge had expanded to include the smoking ruin of Corellia and nine other systems. The Republic left a barren field as they withdrew behind the thousands of active mines they left at the new picket line, leaving nothing in their wake, like a plague of locust. They took the pieces of Anaxes even.

The Emperor had congratulated them on a job well done. Tarkin wondered if the man was operating in the same reality as him.

SSDV

Harry came through the door to Republic One, ran to the atmospheric shield on the front of the hull and looked at the ball. "Poor SoD." The girls gave him sympathetic looks. The Sphere of Destruction had performed magnificently, but was savaged. Fires burned in serval locations fed by gasses leaking from engineering and weapons spaces and impact craters dotted its surface. Crippled droids crawled about its surface trying to effect repairs, pieces of droids littered the areas near the craters.

Aayla sighed and hugged him "We'll get you a new, better, ball Harry."

Harry looked at her and smiled sadly. The girls rolled their eyes. Roganda said "Come on Harry. We'll get the Idiot back and finish the sponge and the droids will make millions of them. We'll seed them everywhere and shoot them into the inner core." Harry lit up.

He worked the next twelve hours on the sponge as reports came in and the Republic took stock of what they felt was a victory. On paper it certainly was. The Empire had no units left it had had when the clone war ended Army or Navy. It had lost another nine Core systems and two more were now threatened and on the front lines. Coruscant had been bombarded from orbit, to desultory effect to be sure but bombarded, and the people panicked. With nine core systems shields and defenses not holding there was at least some reason for concern and by the time the herd got done with it it was the hysterical end of the known universe and life as they knew it.

The Empire holonet of course painted it as the gallant forces of the empire repelling the non-human invaders and the Republic holonet went with the truth. Well with a bit of FDR influence, Maybe some Churchill in there too. "We will fight them in space, we will fight them in orbit of our allies' worlds, we will fight them on the ground. We will never give up." In Harry's voice laid over scenes of those very things. Harry had blushed. If the girls at home ever saw this they would take the piss out of him for years.

Heavily edited holo from Luxa showed Harry giving the instruction to punish them and cheering beings and hardworking droid crews serving smoking gun emplacements and sparking shield generators. Fighters of all types locked in deadly combat, ground forces of droids and humans led by Jedi fighting Clone units and imperial sympathizers on Corellia. Calm officers of all species tensely watching holo tanks, blurred for operational security, along with holo footage of what was being called the Dread Lords weapon in space single handedly battering multiple massive star destroyers into flying junk yards, imperial fighters and cruisers into expanding balls of plasma, finally the savaged SoD receiving aid from the droids of Republic One and so he was further lionized. He rolled his eyes.

SSDV

Aayla drew her saber and cut the first pair of tossed panties into five pieces before they hit the ground and that didn't happen anymore. They were walking down the main street of the government center of Corellia at the time. Live footage of Harry levitating massive pieces of building off trapped survivors and then healing them in front of everyone's eyes, including his ever present archivist droid, didn't help. Arden Lyn standing over him with lit sabers did. It didn't matter at all that hundreds of Jedi and a group of girls were doing the same things in the same shot. It was all Harry all the time.

The command council shook their heads and laughed until they hurt themselves. The senate would declare him overlord of the universe or something. He went two weeks constantly in motion, fighting, healing, rescuing civilians. More and more haggard and with the women of his close circle and the Jedi in general performing at heretofore, at least to the general populace, unseen levels, all with holo cams following their every move. All suitably blurred as Republic One AI thought necessary for OPSEC. Harry healing children who were balls of bloody rags when they were brought to him in front of the entire Republic and most of the empire stopped the galaxy in its tracks. Him chopping a slaver or just a rapist to pieces with a giant knife, that made the body rot or something, in front of those same eyes got them all moving again.

Harry fell in bed at the end of a tough few weeks and woke up twenty hours later with Arden of all people being his blanket. She moved straight in that day.

SSDV

Luxa talked to her belly "Come on, baby time!" Harry pounded his forehead on his work table. Aayla slid a rubber pad under his forehead and kept talking to the Knight that had gotten her attention. Breha, Clynda and Mon had to walk away, they laughed until they cried.

Mace looked at his padd the next day and sprayed caf over the exercise area "Dark Jedi led by the Sith Lord Dread Rape Corellia? What the frack? Look at this picture, it's Harry levitating half a building off a basement full of children. That girl, that one right there, just threw a pair of panties at him! The pieces haven't hit the ground yet from Aayla chopping them to up! Depa is in the background using the Force to unfold a speeder to get a trapped passenger out." Obi wan collapsed laughing. Mon had to take him to lie down. Mace went and chopped up a block of basalt that had failed inspection with his saber. Harry shrugged sheepishly and went back to getting beaten on by Aayla, erh sparing, yes that's what it was. Yoda made a dusty kind of noise that grew and improved into a bit of a mad cackle. Yaddie glared at him. "Yes, puzzling this is." He broke up again and had to toddle away.

Bail lay his head back on the conjured armchair he was sitting in. "Fracking Dread Lord."

Breha could only nod. Leia and Luke giggled and waved chubby arms.

They finally loaded up and moved on to the next world on the list. The exercise, sparring and learning of magic continued apace.

SSDV

Out in the wider Republic the Dread Lords daily schedule was pieced together and all kind and manner of preventable sports injuries became common until Roganda and Tis'wedu along with Farris sat down with Luxa and did a piece on beginning exercises, starting with stretching. The next thing that happened was white stretch sports bra crop tops and compression shorts became scare, along with good cross training footwear.

Luxa started a piece where she passed on questions from the wider galaxy to the younger girls. Makeup, none. Hair, braided tight to the skull and out of the way, excess wrapped tightly in something suitable, The grey recycle cloth worked if that was all you could get, or braided and those braids made into buns over the ears, or a sock bun for out of exercise. Harry had shown them that one. Washed and brushed out daily. While you are washing your hair or at least using a fresher on it you might as well be in the fresher or shower. Some moisturizer appropriate to your species after the shower. Diet mostly fruits and vegetables with a moderate amount of protein, not fried, and few carbohydrates, no processed food unless nothing else was available. Clean water or whatever liquid you needed. But above all make sure you get enough and if you aren't holo these numbers (the local Jedi Council or Republic office holo number along with Bars recruiting office number). Potter Industries ration and hygiene packs marked for your species and sex if nothing else. Available for free from any droid police unit. Exercise, demonstrations for indoors or out, on a ship or off, with a partner and without. Upper and lower body groups. Some kind of aerobic exercise, at least twenty minutes a day at your target heart rate. Instructions on finding your target heart rates. Homework help or the holo sites to use for study help. Boys not until we are older, on and on for an hour a day.

Maris and Ahsoka got suckered into the same thing for the older female crowd and Aayla even gave up an hour for the fully mature females with Shaak and Celeste.

You couldn't watch those holo channels unless you were a verified female and they were guarded jealously. Males got used to the channels being shut off and them glared at until they left the area during the live hours.

Bars noticed a uptick in grades and work production and those hours were blocked out of work for female workers. Harry was of course then roped into the same thing for males. He press ganged Jedi Padawans, Knights and Masters into helping. Bail and Garm got press ganged as well.

Harry was starting to get worried again as everything was running so well. He wasn't even being called to tough cases of wounded and injured as much. He would have to investigate why. The medical bays on all the ships were still mostly full from the reports. Then he came in the hold one morning and there was a droid loading platform with what looked like a catapult on top of it or maybe a siege engine with a sponge in a sling? Cup? Something, and a grapple or manipulator arm. The girls were all over it. "Ladies."

"Morning Master." A chorus.

"What is this?"

Roganda was spokes Padawan "Well as we know, there is a black hole at the center of the galaxy, or at least according to theory. Also, according to theory, they can absorb infinite amounts of energy, radiation, matter or whatever. So if we slow launched a sponge at the center of the galaxy and the Force is everywhere as we are taught and so the dark or evil side is everywhere as well wouldn't the sponge be slowly drawn to the black hole soaking up evil all the while and then disappear in the black hole? Poof!"

Tis'wedu picked up "So if we had a Lucrehulk loaded with sponges and it went an hour in Hyperspace, dropped out, then slow or soft launched one at the black hole wouldn't they eventually clean the Empire of evil?"

Maris nodded "Meanwhile the Lucrehulk could be an intelligence gathering platform. And drop sensor packages. Maybe slow launch them as well, on a useful trajectory. We could repair one of the shot up ones just for droids and load it down with sensors, sponges, older rebuilt astromechs and B1 and two squads to keep people from being, well, people, put on fuel and mass caps and send it off."

Ahsoka got into it "Or a couple, one from each side going the same way round and if the sponge landed on a planet and survived well then that would be fine and if it didn't POW! One less Empire world full of enemies."

Harry rubbed the back of his head. "OK, so what runes are you going to need to unshrink the sponges in the launcher cradle? Then we can do away with that arm and a droid can just put one in there. Or a hopper like the SoD mass drivers. One for the sensor packages too. The sensors could be manufactured on board." Class was back in session.

SSDV

On Byss Palpatine chuckled at the holo stories of the Sith Lord Dread and his dark Jedi. He had his cloning chambers, he would soon get another legion a month. The scientist and engineers could copy the chambers and the number would only increase. The Empire had stayed at wartime production levels. The yards were turning out super dreadnoughts and his secret weapons were coming along nicely. The humans in Empire space were terrified and in his pocket. Yes, consolidation, and then Alderaan would be sacrificed followed by Naboo and wherever Bars Hnad was clearing the way into the wider galaxy and his benign rule.

This rebellion was useful after all. He hadn't realized how quickly he would need an enemy once he had won the against the CIS. Bit of an eye opener there. Of course Bars construct Dread filled in nicely. Yes, yes it delayed his plans for Hutt space, the Ascendancy and Hapes but it was just a delay. Those plans needed more work anyway.

Dread had given him a moments pause with that healing. That was a new skill for a Sith. At least doing it without the screaming. Then of course he had chopped those men who were simply following tradition to rotting pieces with some kind of dark artifact so it was all even in the end. Perhaps even better. Mercurial moods of a Sith lord and all that. The Propagandist could work with that.

Now which minion was getting above themselves and who could he set on them?

SSDV

Bars shrugged "I like it. We have a lot of Lucrehulks barely space worthy for organics. We can put a few of the oldest into this. The ones that would require the most refitting to be fully useful again. The new models are so much better. We might as well get value out of them rather than scrap metal. The ladies do have a point, or many points."

Harry sighed "Now we will have to drop one on a dark world and see what happens."

Bail grunted "You are a softy. You do realize these people are the enemy, right? What kind of Sith Lord are you?"

Aayla barked "No kind! Uh sorry. Bit moody lately."

Breha worked on her padd and a medical droid trundled in. Aayla squirmed a bit then the droid said "Twi'lek female, mixed species fetus both healthy."

Harry levitated her to his lap and sat hugging her and smiling. The girls buried them in a group hug. Clynda sighed "Oh boy, here we go."

Luxa smiled "I have the campaign ready. By the time it becomes obvious it will be passé.

Celeste nodded "And put paid to this Sith Lord nonsense. The first thing they lose is the ability to procreate."

Breha sat up "Oh a wedding! A State wedding!"

Aayla snorted "Harry is my mate, I am his." The discussion got really interesting immediately.

SSDV

"Felucia! In a cave!" Breha looked at Aayla in despair.

"It's where I first saw Harry. When he was healing me after he stopped the Clones from killing me."

Sighs went up around the work area. Breha glared at the women present. She looked at Harry "Harry?"

"Where ever Aayla wants. A handfasting we decided though."

Aayla nodded "Bound by the living Force." More sighs. Solemn nods from Jedi Masters. Breha thought she might be having a stroke, the pain behind her right eye was so bad.

"Powerful wards the planet now has. Strong in the Force was always Felucia. Read this book on handfastings I must." Yoda added.

"Of course it does. Well let's get working on a guest list then." Breha nodded tightly.

Harry grinned "We can invite Palpatine. Put an end to the civil war now."

"Very droll Dread Lord." Breha smiled and replied, in a rather brittle voice.

Harry sighed "I'm sorry Queen Breha. Bars send Breha whatever she needs."

"Of course Dread Lord. Might I suggest white for My Lady's armor and leave it as a under layer to her traditional dress?"

Harry blinked "Hmmm hadn't thought about that."

"Your black will be fine Harry. White is too clone like though. Perhaps orange or yellow." Aayla tapped her chin.

Breha smiled and relaxed a little. Obviously, she was going to have a bride to work with after all, for a while there it had appeared to be that this was going to be a wedding at blaster point. Which would be a scandal, as would a wedding that was not an EVENT, with its attendant minor scandals and chatter. She had thought Aayla more politically astute than that. The damnable clone war had taken a lot out of her apparently. She narrowed her eye's looking at Harry, or maybe something else.

Bail looked at Garm as they stood some distance away "So there is that then."

Garm nodded "Poor Harry."

Bail snorted "Poor Harry has half the hottest women in the galaxy. He also has most of the money and does whatever he wants. Poor Harry. Are you all right Garm?"

Garm sighed "The sword of Gryffindor. A poisoned, force imbued, weapon of his family thousands of years old. Poisoned with that acid he used on the Muur Talisman, but not destroyed by it like pure gold was. That he got to absorb that acid by jamming it in a sixty foot long, force imbued, snake that can kill with a glance when he was twelve years old. From inside its mouth! That memory is the most horrifying thing I have ever seen. I don't think I have ever seen someone so single minded and purpose driven."

Bail nodded "It's the demons, those upper class ones, that do it for me. Fighting them at all first, and then the upper level demons one on one with just the Force?" He shuddered. "Maybe the Force is paying him back for being a complete bitch to him for years. Can't think why else the girls all get along so well. Would have expected them to have had a giant fight by now, maybe Harry to be missing a few pieces. They do have light sabers and he does sleep near them." Garm looked at Bail with a raised brow.

SSDV

Three days later a thoughtful Yoda came to Harry "Twenty two Jedi or Jedi and non-Jedi couples handfastings on the spot you saved the Order want."

Harry grinned "I can take us to it. Uh, wait a minute. Which spot? Where I stopped those meat robots from killing Aayla, where we sabotaged the armory, or at the cave where I healed Aayla and woke her up?"

Yoda frowned "Ask I will." nodded and walked off, still thoughtful. The girls all jumped up and down with their hands over their mouths. Harry looked at them and rolled his eyes. It wasn't just the Padawans either. Jedi Masters were acting like teenagers.

As it turned out the memories of the whole of the first few days had to be reviewed and recorded into a holo presentation, edited by Luxa and put on the women's channels of course, Harry got a little skittish from the looks he was getting. The holonet crashed five times. Then a consensus among the brides was reached, that the landing field where Aayla and Harry had contacted Shaak was the seminal location. The cave was deemed private to Aayla and Harry, and no one wanted to be married where the clones shed Jedi blood, even though it all worked out in the end. "Now go back to the start and lets see it again. Pass me that pillow." Seemed to be the reaction to the presentation on the female channels of the holonet. At least at all the watching parties that sprang up.

The girls knocked some designs together of a clone legion headquarters, just a frame with floors, in white painted structural durasteel. They assumed the original duracrete pad would still be there. The alter being as close to the spot where the holo terminal Aayla used to call Shaak was, as anyone could figure out using Harry's original map and the holo anyway. The design was in a virtual space on the holonet. By the time they got it where they wanted it between the twenty two brides it was very nice. A memorial even.

Harry was digging in his trunks for seeds, bulbs, and cuttings to force grow. Roses of course, anemone, baby's breath, calla lily, carnations in pink, red and white, mum, daffodils, freesia, daisies, Then he had to get Neville's book on the language of flowers out which of course led to some planning for the area surrounding the venue. It also led to Neville's book going on the holonet. He was also doing a ward scheme on the structural members and the astromechs were already cutting members and carving runes. They had a foundry and mill in an expanded space in what used to be the service spaces under the hanger floor and was now a magically expanded industrial complex. Harry had expanded the space to the limits of his magic and fixed it with Runes. They could probably build ships in there in pieces that would just fit the vulture droid elevators and assemble them on the deck.

The other Lucrehulks in the command fleet grew the same type spaces. The Party hull was a processing plant, ship yard, arsenal, droid production plant and storage depot.

Anytime it was stopped, any of the Command fleet was stopped really, the ships tractored in scrap and anything else near them in space that didn't appear to be someone else's property. If it couldn't be used as anything, to include being reduced to a nano powder and used as reaction mass, it was sent to the nearest stars gravity well in a non orbital trajectory.

Luxa broke the wedding story, outside the women's channels, and the Republic exploded. "I told you, I don't know why you are so surprised Fred." Wives and girlfriends huffed at significant others.

"Well he hangs out with all those females, I didn't think he would tie himself down like that, Martha. He is a young man. No need to rush. Besides those women's channels are mostly gossip."

"Tied down?" Martha, or whoever, with arched brows, replied in dangerous tones.

SSDV

Palpatine read the report and snorted. Bars was at it again. This time using a Twi'lek. Hmm, what could he want from Ryloth, besides slaves?"

SSDV

Harry shrugged "Most of them have their ships now, it is a pretty clean shot, along good routes we control. We'll wait a month. The Padawan can use some experience in the Jungle."

Maris nodded "And we can jump over to Sith space, drop off some sponges. Yavin even."

Arden nodded "Ossus is right down the lane. Lots to see and do."

Celeste nodded "We should put one on this wheel thing."

Jocasta leapt in "The Library on Ossus to salvage."

Breha arched a brow and Shaak nodded "And twenty six weddings of Jedi to attend or for most officiate along with Yoda, Harry."

Harry blinked at the ever increasing number and looked at Breha "See fun."

SSDV

A week later they had erected the skeleton of the building. Only the dressing rooms and WC's had floors, walls and ceilings. Harry had dropped seeds and nearly had to draw his saber to free himself from the explosion of vegetation, and a battalion of B1 droids had taken over and trimmed and trained under his inexpert guidance but with Neville's books. The thing looked like something out of every girls dreams of an outdoor wedding venue. The climbing roses bloomed continuously and changed color and shape to match the next brides themes and colors. How it knew was drawing teams of researchers. Harry got to work on wards. Anti-insect, humidity control and temperature reduction first. Rain and sun protection after that. The sun protection one left a soft golden light inside the temple, as people were calling it, that made the women's eyes misty. Then he had to go back and modify them to let in beneficial insects. The whole thing hummed with the Force. Harry was a bit puzzled as it wasn't his doing. The Force seemed to be doing it all on its own. The holonet networks had thousands of reporters with their attendant clouds of holo drones running around. Harry was glad the focus of that assault battalion was not on him.

Harry got some other B1s and put up a real building and artfully disguised it as a low hill and it was a catering facility. Another frame was erected to be the reception area. Menus drew commentary from the Republic at large. Food Channel talking heads watched the drones cooking and taste tested everything, raving about technique, presentation and flavor. Twenty-eight rehearsals scheduled, and four days of partying later, and they had done their first two handfastings. Everyone had looked at the ivy Harry had force grown from cuttings out of stasis on Felucia or rather Felucia had force grown and then watched as it sank into two Master's wrists. It was a simple ceremony with words full of meaning and a glow signifying its completion. The mark of the ivy was like a tattoo. One of those brides was not a Jedi and it sank into her and she glowed as well. The women loved it. All the women, of the entire Republic, the empire too using sliced receivers, from eight to nearly dead.

Bars launched a full droid control ship and its compliment of droids to handle what he was certain was about to be the primary location females wanted to be married in the galaxy. He got the AI running the shipping concerns working on packages from nearly no credits to millions of credits. Luxury travel was still not cheap. A bride and groom could sign a labor contract to pay, or, if they had to, extend their existing.

The regular holonet and the Jedi loved it as well, everyone really. Harry picked a place nearby and set some ivy cuttings. He watched them take off through the week and strangle a thorn tree forest to death. He worried it would take over the planet. It finally slowed and then took up a normal kind of feeling and the B1s got it under control. For a few days it had felt super charged in the Force. It also killed that thorn forest or coopted it or something, it was a bit strange. The B1s were training it onto the edges of the forest all the way around the enormous rammed earth star port. The roses were running as vines in it as well. They and the ivy made an awesome natural barrier Ackley and rancor couldn't get through. Insects barely could. The B1's were turning the whole starport into several gardens in a landscaped park. Bars sent cargo hull after cargo hull full of prefab parts and built a hotel. An enormous low rambling hotel no part more than three stories tall, and a residence for Jedi to use while they were there handfasting couples. Harry and Felucia hid that artfully with a low rolling set of hills as well. Harry had needed somewhere to put the dirt and rock from the foundation and Felucia covered it in flowers, grasses and young trees.

One of the last cargo hulls Bars sent brought ten Lucre hulk reactor and generator sections and suddenly Felucia's power grid was not so rudimentary. Four Planetary defense hulks took up station around the planet. One of them had an AI on board. A droid division landed on and fortified the rammed earth star port the CIS had used in the battle for Felucia.

A week, and fifteen weddings in, a propaganda piece about slave bindings of Dark Jedi hit the Empires nets, but now everyone knew and ignored it. Even the Fat Bastard, who Mon was keeping swinging slowly as if in a gibbet as she took his credits, reputation and social standing away piece by piece. Ignored is the polite way to say every holo commentator, news person or celebrity in the Republic had a go at getting a laugh at Palpatine and his propaganda. The Republic was after all watching, more glued too, live holo feeds from Felucia and its environs and the holo news networks had commentators of every stripe talking continuously about everything. Republic Ones AI was running traffic control and planetary defense, while turning the Felucia defense AI into a clone or twin of herself. Thousands of Lucrehulks from planets or sectors showed up. Weddings were scheduled from one in the afternoon local until seven pm local. Five more reception venues went up.

Bars provided Felucia a police force, modest Navy and Army and a governor, with an administrative staff. The towns on the planet experienced the rain of credits that happened wherever Harry and the girls went.

Mace negotiated for farm land, Bars for mineral, and other natural resource, rights. Felucia was suddenly not a poor backwater world. Its people were left blinking in surprise, near shock really.

Then, live on the holonet for an entire day, Harry and Aayla were handfasted. It was at the cave which now had ivy and roses crawling up the mountain behind it. All Harry could remember was Aayla was beautiful and it was a gorgeous day. That gold armor under Twi'lek traditional dress was spectacular on her. Oh and that he had never seen roses that metallic gold or bright blue before. Ravenclaw's wished they could do blue and polished bronze as well as Aayla did. The barely there baby bump enhanced her rather than detracted as well.

The approach to the cave was lined with dignitaries from thousands of worlds and Jedi. In the cave itself, left as it had been when our group departed for Alderaan long ago, the feeling of the Force rising brought a respectful hush to anyone who entered. The alter was erected on the sealed, polished, concrete (really opus signinum, it was an ancient magic) floor where the operating table and then the bed had been. As Aayla and the brides party passed holos of the inside of the cave came to life in front of the crowds and on the net and most of known space paused and watched the simple, deeply meaningful, ceremony. No one asked why Harry's arms had ivy tattoos halfway to his elbows. One of them black.

They stayed at the reception, which had taken over the entire wedding venue, until Maris and Ahsoka had enough, and after the happy couple had danced with everyone who was anyone in their lives, hustled everyone in the Marauder and they disappeared for a week.

SSDV

They caught up with the command fleet at its next stop. Harry read the reports and snorted "I have to leave more often. Look how much got done without me."

Shaak Ti grinned and the other women laughed at Breha's groan. She had become something like the Regent of the Potter commercial and political empire with Harry gone.

Bail looked at Harry "Guess what we found on Corellia."

Harry smiled "Full plans for all Empire ship types for this and the next generation." Bail pouted and got laughed at. Harry chuckled "It was a Navy Yard Bail, they had to know what to build. Your hackers have had a while to work, sorry, slicers. I assume you have analyst and Bars' geniuses running over them to see if we can beat them and then make them unbeatable?"

Bail smiled again. "Why yes we do, Dread Lord."

Harry gave him an even look and he grinned impudently.

Yoda changed topics "Many Padawans we will have at Ilum. Groups Masters will take."

Harry and the others nodded and listened as the plan and a schedule was laid out. Harry blinked at the numbers "Well I see you caught up on force sensitives Mace."

Mace snorted "Not per capita. There are still very many who go into the Aurors, Hit Wizards or law enforcement. Plus research and development. This is a huge bump in the total number of force sensitives. An increase in the percentage of the population in fact. Single digit increase, but still."

Harry frowned and Yoda offered "The shroud falling has done this believe we do."

Harry nodded "Hermione is going to dive into this as soon as I can get her here. That gives me the willies though. We probably should do some more research on that shroud thing."

Aayla grinned "We will figure it out Harry."

Breha narrowed her eyes. She didn't think Aayla was talking about the shroud.

SSDV

Harry and Aayla got loaded into the Marauder, it taken over by Republic One AI, and flown on a parallel course to Republic One under her guns for a week. Shaak controlled access to them, and became the sort of Regent.

After their actual time alone honeymoon Harry and Aayla brought the Marauder back to Republic One and things again settled.

The girl's project had gone ahead and Harry had gotten serious about the sponge. Jocasta and the Archivist put the holos involving Runes from translation, individual runes, their meaning and purpose, syntax, all the way to writing sets, inscribing, carving and then activation methods together into a package. The Archivist had Harry trained and he talked as he worked. The Spheres construction had covered every language Harry knew of and every method he knew to complete. It was a mastery in Runes then post master work to true understanding past the doctorate level. The illuminated tome was included in the holo page by page as a reference.

Harry was amazed. "If they complete this they should be able to do anything I can do. It's all there." Jocasta smiled and showed him the transfiguration and charms holo syllabi. "How did I manage three courses syllabi in two years?"

Apailana laughed "You work like a loader droid twelve hours a day and use the Force continuously. The archivist droids catch it all and then Jocasta and her people arrange it all into syllabi."

Jocasta nodded "You will have to approve defense but we have come to understand it's mostly Transfiguration and Charms, along with hex's and curses, with Jedi like combat training and knowledge of Force sensitive creatures and their abilities. Potions is complete. Once we had the reaction tables, and ingredient preparation techniques that is really chemistry with a bit of a twist. Of course it is all patented or copy written under your name. Bars has a fee arrangement that is not even onerous and only applies to commercial volumes of brewing. The individual potions masters are advancing the art and may achieve that creepy little speech you gave those poor younglings."

Harry blushed. He had Snaped a group and 'put a stopper in death' had sent them running to Aayla and she had been very firm with him about it. "Man causing me trouble and he's been dead so long I hardly remember him. So you don't need me anymore and I can take the girls and go wandering?"

Jocasta arched a brow "Healing? And who would explain all these things we are translating from the books you had? The things still coming out of those trunks as well. Why potions have to be made in vessels of alloys of elements with molecular weights from forty seven to eighty nine or synthetic crystal?"

Harry sighed "OK Healing I can do. Though that seems to be about power and the Healers connection with the Force. I can't explain most of the stuff in those books without tearing it all down and researching it. I have no idea why cauldrons are like that. They just are. Apparently the thickness of the cauldron matters as well, even past the thing melting if it is to thin."

Jocasta nodded "You can go be a pervert hermit once you have finished all that."

Harry thumped his head on the rubber pad Maris Force pushed under it. She shook her head "You get to do all but the hermit part now, stop whining."

Yoda nodded from his carpet hovering nearby "Trials we must have for your Padawans and your Knights Padawans. MLE, Auror and Hit Wizard regulations and procedures must we write. Decide on including the completion of a sponge being a part of a masters duties as well."

Mace nodded "Then of course there is the minor distraction of a galactic civil war."

Harry thumped his head some more. Younglings, Knights and Masters in the area smiled. Ahsoka poked him "Don't be a lazy Dread Lord." The crowd laughed.

Harry turned his head and gave her a glare "Me? Is the sponge launcher ready?"

Farris sighed "That needs a better name. Sponge launcher sounds vaguely gross."

Apailana derailed everyone "I want to put a sponge on Naboo. We will monitor it and if it goes critical we will put it in empty space. I'm thinking some kind of cradle that could automatically drop it in a portal and the other side of the portal put out in clear space."

Breha nodded "What a good idea." The conversation really got going then. Harry smiled, Apailana and all her girls were geniuses. It was so much fun! At least when it was new and different stuff. Well somewhat new and different. Asshats were asshats, no matter the species or location. They always seemed to follow the same pattern. Harry chuckled darkly and Brea frowned at him muttering about reading the rules.

SSDV

Palpatine studied the reports from the scouts out in wild space and frowned. Yuuzhan Vong. Their technology was amazing. Of course they had refused contact. Killed any being not Yuuzhan Vong as a matter of fact. They were set on invading and conquering the galaxy. His mind arts had been able to make some headway but not deter them, in fact it seemed to incite them. He needed that technology. His agents were able to penetrate fewer Republic worlds all the time and the information he paid for from citizens was too general in nature. He had female agents watching those women's channels of the Republic holonets but sorting rumor from truth was a bit difficult. Females had always operated in some other universe. Still it was his most valuable and most up to date source of information. Plus the classes on those and the children's channels were improving life in the Empire. He cackled a bit. Thank you Dread, or rather Bars. "Darth Trade Bar." He cackled and grinned. The aids near him backed up a bit.

The Republic Senate was bogged down in ensuring the rights of every citizen as he had known they would be. Bars droid fleets and armies though had him stymied. He needed a change of paradigm.

From the core he could send fleets above the plane and find one of these world ships. Yes the Vong technology would be his. Or no ones. Palpatine shuddered at the amused feeling he got from the Force.

SSDV

In the Republic the Grand tour continued. There were doors going up nearly everywhere so it was a bit deceptive. They could all be anywhere at any time. Apailana did audiences on Naboo. They slept on the Republic One control sphere though, she, the AI, liked it that way, or in a house the concerned government gave to Harry, one of the governments, and Bars worked over and then put Droids to securing, droids under Republic Ones control. She got a bit fractious when Harry was out from under her eyes. When he was all the ships and droids in the area headed for his last known location as fast as they could go. Harry had houses in most sectors. Nice places, with killing ward sets. Life improved and though there was still unrest among the Humans about the core worlds and their massive human populations and what might be happening to them the droid ships continued to deliver food, haul recycle, clean the hyperspace lanes and the space near them. and wealth continued to change hands.

Jedi and Harry moved to whatever world needed them with the opening and closing of the appropriate door, mostly.

It was a bit of a mutually agreed partition between the Empire and the New Republic. The war was one of propaganda right now.

SSDV

In the Senate indulgences were given as the Dread Lord and his obviously pregnant First talked quietly and sometimes just sat smiling at each other. Until of course credits got involved. In this case an enormous tax on slave holders.

Bail tried a couple of times to get Harry's attention to have him reply to a rather snide comment from a member and finally managed. Harry looked at his padd and nodded "Double the amount."

The Senate took several minutes to get back under control and Bail looked at Harry. Harry shrugged "Droids are cheaper, the leases on them per year cost lest than the food a slave would consume, the clothing they would require and the original cost of acquisition. Droids do a better job and don't corrupt society. It really doesn't matter though as eventually I will eradicate both the practice and those who cause or participate in it as other than a slave."

A senator for Senex leapt up "Is that a threat?"

Harry shrugged "Because of the Force and my connection to it I am likely to live a very long time. I have the means to ensure everyone in the galaxy gets at least a ration bar of whatever type they need to sustain themselves every day and the required liquid to go with it. I fully intend to. So selling one of your children to keep the rest from starving won't ever be required again.

Selling them to get them to a better environment won't be necessary either as we work with all of our technology to improve the environments of the planets for the people, flora and fauna in the Republic.

I intend to ensure all sentient beings are educated to a level where they are competent to function in society.

I will stomp on the beings who are causing harm to others if the Local, Sector or Republic government does not.

I live simply, my needs are few and my fortune is vast beyond comprehension. I have the means, the motivation and the time.

If you haven't noticed I can go to any planet whether I was born there or not, the wards do not prevent me. I intend no ill towards any people. Individuals however, now some of them are a different story. Take that as you will.

In my view government should prevent harm to the people who set it up, ensure they are provided for so that they can at least live and educate them so that they can be productive and provide a source of taxes to minimally maintain the government. Governments should ensure that the people they work for have the opportunity to determine their own fate as long as that does not interfere with everyone else's or anyone elses right to the same thing. After that everything should be up to the individual. Exceed the base education. Be a great and popular artist. Thrill the galaxy with your dance, prowess in sports or acting. Be the very best farmer in the galaxy, bring forth wonders of art, music, science, literature, whatever they want.

A threat? No, consider it notice." Harry was by now standing and his eyes were glowing green. The magic was flowing from him in shimmering waves. The Senex senator had frozen in terror.

The Bothan senator smiled "And along the way you make a hundredth of a credit on everything they need and employment in Potter Industries is the ultimate goal of every worker."

Harry pulled his magic in and his eyes dimmed, then he shrugged "Bars was a bit insistent about the credits."

The Bothan chuckled along with the rest as Bars glared at Harry. "And everything above base needs? You do control most of the means of production."

Harry smiled "And I will charge all the market will bear. Which increases your tax income and lets me get on with my simple philanthropy. If you don't like it no one is stopping you from building a plant or buying or leasing the land and hiring workers or farmers and or leasing droids as long as you comply with the laws proposed by and approved in the Senate, Sector and Local government."

A Dalusian Senator frowned "And how does your leasing of the military droids to the Senate play into your vision?"

"Provide for the common defense is the way one people on my home world put it." Harry shrugged.

The senator from Dalusia continued "So if we wanted to replace them with something else?"

Harry shrugged "I'm not making any credits off of them am I Bars?"

"No Dread Lord. The lease is amortized to recover initial and operating cost with a modest amount for R+D of replacements. In the case of combat loss we are paid the remaining value."

"They are good droids though. I am sure they could be lumber jacks, farmers, miners, foundry workers or street sweepers on any number of unoccupied worlds. Some sentient beings can't even occupy due to the atmosphere or the lack there of. The scouts find new worlds all the time. Please feel free but I would ask that there is a competition, supervised by the commanders as to what force preformed the best." Harry looked at Bail who nodded along with Yoda and Mon.

The Bothan asked "And these new worlds, who do they belong too?"

Harry smiled "Well I found them, or my droids did, in my ongoing effort to root out Imperial forces. We ward them. I'm sure we could work out a reasonable lease." Bars grinned predatorily. Bail face palmed. The Senate exploded.

SSDV

Later in the command council Yoda looked at Harry "Necessary the distraction was why?"

Harry shrugged "It gives them something they think is important to distract them from Mon and Garm trimming the laws down to something sensible. Something that can be enforced reasonably. It also helps keep them off the new Senators from the planetary governments we have finally managed to stand up, or back up in some cases. The lawyers are sure our position is unassailable."

Mace nodded "Well played. Just when I start thinking of you as Harry you remind me you are in fact the Dread Lord. It will take those a hundred years to realize what you did. Now are you ever going to stop taking force sensitives for the Aurors, Hit wizards and MLE squads?"

Harry frowned and looked at Shaak who nodded "They do get most, however the ones that have the ability and desire flow to the Jedi academy. The Jedi however lose some to the academies now as they don't make it through the Youngling, Padawan, Knight, Master cycle. Mace is concerned as they, the planetary governments, take the ones that would have worked in the Agricorps. We get quite a few in Potter industries as well. Or rather Bar's does."

Harry smiled "Hard to keep them on the farm when they could have the exciting life of a flatfoot? The factory floor is so much more glamorous than the life of a roving ambassador or a intenerate warrior? Ever heard of droids Mace? They can run a hoe all day and all night. Haven't we had this conversation? This time it isn't even me. Well the new ones you are losing aren't. It's their planetary Governments. They pay them, we just set the standards and run the training so it's all uniform." Mace glared at him. Harry smiled and held Aayla's hand.

"I knew there was a reason we didn't let people marry." Mace grumbled and got burning glares from females, Jedi included, and laughed at.

Celeste tapped her chin "Depa is still single isn't she Aayla?"

Mon recovered from the general laughter after that sally and looked at Harry "So we are just going to consolidate and wait on another error from the Sidiot?"

Harry smiled "Sidiot, I like that one. We have, in fact, about a thousand years of work to get through Mon and that was before the recently discovered, or rediscovered planets. We found a bunch of console things in the salvage from ancient battles that have better maps than our current ones. They even update for stellar and Galactic motion. The Astromechs had some kind of electronic orgasm over them."

Ahsoka standing behind Harry shoved him "Eww Master!"

Harry smiled "The scouts are launching to confirm them as soon as they are built and outfitted. We will keep improving weapons and droids and spinning the applicable technology out to civilian ventures, but until we build a little more, certainly more organic population, I don't think we can bite off any more of the Empire even if he does make a mistake. Would we try to help them, yes, but it would be a strain and really I have a pregnant wife and other things to do."

Shaak nodded "Like marry me next and Maris and Ahsoka after that then Celeste and of course Apailana if she is still deluded enough to be a part of this thing. All the doubles and guards if their brains fail them. Meanwhile we have Padawans and classes and work. Well it gets a bit much even for Dread Lords." Arden cleared her throat. "Sorry, and fit our Dark Lady in there somewhere. Plus she is the only one that can reach these dark siders. Even if she does it by just beating the snot out them until they get it."

Arden shrugged "It's how I learned. If it isn't broke don't fix it yeah? Besides that only works on the females. Harry will eventually have to kill the penis carriers. One fall is to many for them."

Celeste nodded "Meanwhile we are bringing in all sorts. Former Padawans a lot of them. Ventress and Sinj, people like that. They will take effort to reform even if we can. They need to be tried, serve their sentences and then be made productive. We need to review how Masters are given Padawans. How often we see them back at an academy, and other Masters look at their Padawans as well. The Knights Padawans aren't so much a problem. Perhaps as a Master of the team is there providing extra eyes."

Aayla nodded "We need to get Master Kura in for an evaluation and perhaps some time with us. She trains great Jedi but when they 'go off the script' they do it in a big way. All these independent Masters without Knights and teams are somewhat the same. The practice may need to be if they come across a force sensitive youngling, that youngling goes straight back to the closest Academy ship or at a minimum a team."

Mon nodded "I like it. Meanwhile the Empire has launched hundreds of scouts along the z axis both up and down. There are rumors of an extra galactic race with technology he wants."

Harry sighed "The Sidiot will have us all in another war, an extra galactic one this time. The Chiss, Hapes, Hutt now this. Anything you can develop on capabilities Mon. We can put R+D to work on them."

Mon nodded "Your distraction might pay more benefits than we think."

SSDV

Six months later, and just before Roganda, Tis'wedu, Apailana the guards and doubles trials of Knighthood, Harry was pulled out of sleep and went to the holo tank in the Sphere grounded back on Naboo. He watched as a massive empire fleet launched on the z axis up and then turned and went to hyperspace. He nodded and sent scouts after them by doing the same thing, using the z axis to get clear of the galactic plane. He turned and went back to bed.

Over the next months and with the girls now Knights and Maris and Ahsoka officially Masters they got holos of destroyed ships and the scouts picked up samples to bring back. Harry blinked when he saw his first whole alien body "Minor demons. Level seven maybe. Could be eight, depends on the magic."

"No way." Celene breathed.

Farris waved "Send a sponge boat out there, not like we don't have plenty. The sponges haven't soaked up enough evil, or whatever it was on the demon plane, to cause any of them to detonate. They just seem to suck in anger or any bad emotion or the Force that has been corrupted by it. Even that one on the dark Jedi confinement ship just keeps working, no glowing, no nothing. The sponge boat can do early warning for us too in case the Empire misses one of these."

Arden nodded "The sponges don't hurt the dark side at all. Seem to help actually. Much better than that cleansing ritual. Just lay on one for an hour or so. Helps your back too. Philosophical debates aside, don't we want to get some salvage ships out there to pick up whatever is recyclable? That's a lot of metal."

Aayla nodded and a B3 started sending orders. Harry drummed his fingers. "Send a squadron of SoD IIs as well. Have them mop up any Imperial remnants. If they won't surrender. If they surrender put them on a confinement hull and we will figure out what to do with them. Somehow I don't think we want Palpatine having this technology. Besides these things are, from all reports, kicking the shit out of the clones. Storm Troopers they call them now. The quality has slipped from when those Caminoans were doing the cloning and training apparently."

Shaak frowned "Should we inform the council?"

Harry nodded "We will but this is on my own credits. I have a bad feeling about it. Plus its extra galactic so do they even have a say?"

Harry did inform the command council and they had the same questions, and came to the same conclusion. After much debate the Senate agreed as it was extra galactic, and not taking away from the defense of the Republic, it was Harry's decision. They did not want their leased forces or the Jedi committed to it though. Yoda agreed with Harry something was wrong. Not the least being the apparent genocide being committed by the Empire as it launched another fleet to follow up the first. As they were just collecting scrap and doing rescue then confining the rescued, and only with droid lucrehulks, the galaxies garbage trucks, their surveillance operations were ignored. The SoD IIs hadn't had to engage anything. Nothing was surviving the battles.

They watched as mind bendingly large and animalisticaly fierce battles were waged with planet sized ships being destroyed by massed fleets of star destroyers, clone armies waged war to gain and maintain control of others, all in an obvious attempt to harvest technology. The enemy, now they knew, called the Yuuzhan Vong, fought to the last, then detonated their ships, or the ships detonated themselves as they were alive, sort of.

While they watched over three years as this titanic struggle was waged Harry and Shaak were handfasted on Felucia, then Maris was handfasted to Harry a week later at the same place. Ahsoka was handfasted later at the Royal Lodge on Alderaan leading to a planetary party. And Celeste was handfasted to Harry on Republic One. Arden was happy being a mistress, it fit her image.

Master Kura came and stayed a while with Clan Potter and then moved on again. She did take a taciturn Knight with her along with a team of equally taciturn Rangers. All female. Harry rolled his eyes. The women of clan Potter added the Kura Team to their schedules of holo calls. Harry's comment of "Half the population has vagina's, they need to get over it." drew glares. Then as soon as he went back to whatever he was doing head nods. The women of the clan agreed as those particular members of the galactic population had light sabers or blasters and vibroblades as well and were very proficient with them. Their pay was the same as any other Jedi or Rangers of the same rank and they got assigned missions in accordance with their abilities and records. They really didn't have anything to prove.

Aayla tossed out "Maybe they are just that way."

Farris nodded "Hard, lonely probably too, if you only associate with people who think like you right?"

Yoda arched a brow and Harry shrugged "Before we got winnowed down there were problems with sexual assault in some of the forces. It wasn't about sex, it was about dominance. It happened to males as well as females. Probably more males than females as the forces at the beginning were eighty percent or better male. I don't know whether all that training we did fixed it or all of the ones inclined to it got eaten because their mates weren't eager to help them. Maybe a bit of both and we eventually got it under control. Mostly by prosecuting the hell out of offenders, their commanders if they didn't stomp on that as well. Nothing wrecked a unit faster. Wrecked units, well they got worked over pretty hard.

In the civilian world it was probably worse.

People didn't help themselves or each other by adopting extreme philosophies of any type however, which they were doing about the time of the first incursion. If there are people in it there has to be compromise eventually. Well no, but if you want to live. Same problems with my first dark lord. Purist, only associating with other purist for generation after generation. Must of been like dating your sister there after a while eh? Anyway, as the planet was getting close to carrying capacity, competition for resources picked up. All that peace, love, lets get along, goes out the window when you are out of water.

Potter Industries pays based on ability and we don't tolerate any of that type of thing." He grinned "Gets me lots of employees from other companies. I hope."

Everyone in the area blinked. Mace sighed "It's always something with you. What if its just the right thing to do."

Harry laughed "Doesn't mean it can't pay for itself. I proposed and voted for a bunch of laws to make things equal. I don't do civil enforcement by law remember. The Republic retained that to themselves and the Jedi. Only if the local, system, and sector law enforcement can't handle it, and the Jedi can't or don't, do I get involved, if its not a emergent threat." He beamed at Mace.

Mace glared "Fracking Dread Lord."

Harry hopped up and lit his saber. Mace grinned and lit his. Harry legged it. Mace chased him laughing. The rest of the command council sighed. The meeting was over apparently.

SSDV

The Republic solidified into a true nation and Harry stayed as its defender with overall control of the military. The gargantuan ninety percent droid military, that when called on fought under Jedi Generals and Admirals and the small cadre of professional military men and women Gial had seen to the training of. Along with the various Ranger's in support of course. Weapons were improved as technology advanced, both through original research, then research into the weapons recovered from the battle space where the Empire of Humans fought the Yuuzhan Vong in a genocidal war of attrition.

As the Empire used clones there could, in the end, be only one winner. Harry. Well two, the New Republic also, they got any spin off technology. Well Bars if you were being technical, but as he only took a fee and used Harrys wealth to fight Harry was the far and away winner as the Empire required more and more resources and Harry had them on hundreds of planets. And in the end they got most of the metals and plastics back to sell again as the salvage fleets cleaned the battle space. They also cleaned their way out to the battle space and back to where ever they were going along a different route each time, putting now standard loader droid and pallet sized doors wherever there wasn't one. While dropping a sensor package every parsec. Asteroids, rock, ice, comets, junk they ran across. It all went into gaping maws of the salvage fleet and came out clean blocks, containers, or standard tank pallets of raw material ready to be sold to the Empire, used by Harry's industry or whoever else paid for it.

Meanwhile the droids on core worlds still mined the undercities, beings still found their way to freighters passenger compartments and then to Rebel space and Harry's industries.

When the command council thought the conflict appeared to be nearing a close, Harry or rather Bars shut down the flow of material or rather made it arbitrarily hideously expensive and vast stockpiles grew on worlds Harry controlled. Or just in space in the case of the already processed salvage that was waiting its turn into the factories.

One spot in space had so much raw salvage, that the ships had sorted but not yet processed when they reached that spot, put in it the pile had its own gravity and formed its own rogue planet. The scientist were thrilled watching what they claimed was a model of how the planets formed. Harry was skeptical that magically worked to the limits of the expansion charm and droid run Lucrehulks dropped a full load of sorted scrap into like piles every few minutes on forming planets. It could simulate meteorite bombardment but he didn't think so.

SSDV

It was the fourth year and Apailana walked in Harry's bedroom. Aayla grinned, rolled off him, and Harry woke to the Queen of Naboo sliding down him. Roganda and Tis'wedu lifted their heads and nodded.

Farris and the other guards and Celene and the rest of the doubles sighed. "Thank the Force! I was losing my mind. Dibs." Farris said. Celene looked at her "Saber, flimsy, sponge?"

Apailana turned to them "Do you mind?"

Arden chuckled at the ongoing tournament "Apparently not."

Harry picked her up by the butt and carried her back to her, or the rather the Knights room. He was a little busy to try the spiral stair, or apparition.

SSDV

Breha looked at her in the morning and arched a brow. Apailana rolled her eyes but smiled, and blushed a little. Clynda huffed "Finally. Now what are we going to do about Mace and Luxa."

Mon shrugged "Cheer them on?"

Apailana offered "Strip them naked and dump them in the western dune sea?"

Luxa walked up and sat down "Come to my handfasting in three months?" The males fled the squealing. Harry summoned Luke to save hm. His son Sa'james was in a pack on his back, his leku sticking straight up and pointing different directions, and he had his son Sirius Po in his arms. Sirius was holding the cutest little montrals ever as his echolocation was disoriented, the daughters were all with their mothers. Leia leading the pack of them.

SSDV

The first command council after Mace's wedding to the hottest reporter on the net, a glorious exercise in the media going all out for one of their own, and taking place on Alderaan, Mon informed them "The last world ship escaped and is on a course that will take it under our galaxy and to another. It is out of reach of the Empires ships. Darth Vader killed the leader of the Yuuzhan Vong in single combat and it broke their purpose."

Bars nodded "The Salvage fleet is finishing cleaning the battle space and the Empire is limited to the resources it possessed at the close of our last engagement with them."

Ackbar nodded "Their weapons have improved but so have ours and we have equivalent armor and shielding with the addition of wards. They don't know it but we are, we believe, back to the stalemate. Your wedding to Naboo we think will draw a strike and we are preparing accordingly Dread Lord. We should be able to remind them it is a stalemate with the SoD mark Vs."

Mace nodded "I should hope so, the things are the size of moons. The Jedi are moving to their post in command and we will be prepared for the stalemate to resume."

Bail sighed "Do we break it? We could by simply shutting off their food and water."

"Until they have an advantage or break the stalemate I don't want to do that. I think most of the people in the empire are just trying to make their living and live their life. Unfortunately the best of the worst have risen to the top if that makes any sense.

We eliminate the best of the worst in combat operations with little risked besides droids which is a shame but in the end what they are for. Like the clones they have no other reason to be. The Jedi commanders are at some risk, but if they don't want to be with the B5 upgrades we can pursue the war and still I think achieve the stalemate. The war is a way to eliminate the worst actors of the Empire and then eventually get to Palpatine.

They don't really bother with the common human and we are evacuating non-humans and force sensitives constantly." Harry shrugged.

Bail nodded "The Senate still does not want to take the offensive."

Mon snorted "Surprise, surprise, but in this case they may be right and I do agree with Harry. I think we can maintain this unofficial détente we have and continue to hollow out the empire."

Arden and Celeste smiled and Celeste commented "And their dark side users will come out into the face of Shadows, Sentinels, Hit Squads and Aurors. They are in for a shock."

"Golden age the Republic is in. Saved the Dread Lord and us a problem has Palpatine by mistake. His darkness leads him to dominate it does. Yuuzhan Vong reasoned with could not be. Felt the force they did not. Wait we should as sponge boats search intergalactic space. Another use Palpatine may yet have."

Harry froze as something built in the Force. Aayla looked around wildly and grabbed him "Harry!"

They all watched as four black clad figures dropped from thin air to the deck plates in a waft of sulfurous air. Several Jedi lit sabers. Harry goggled as the lead figure stood, turned around and looked at him then narrowed her glowing cinnamon brown eyes "Harry James Potter what did you do?" She put her fist on her hips and tapped her foot, tink tink tink….

Arden snorted "I recognize that look. More wives Harry?"

Daphne Greengrass rose and looked at Harry then at Arden. You could sense the darkness rolling off of her. "Four not enough Potter?" Harry winced.

Luna climbed to her feet, glared at Daphne "Thanks for the hand." Looked at Shaak and froze. "Harry you found one, more, you found them you found them!" She jumped up and down clapping her hands.

The last had landed in a crouch and rose with a ball of fire in her palm that she waved away.

Harry slumped unconscious. Hermione blinked "Bloody hell. Coward." She looked around, glared at Harry again and tried. "Hello. I'm-"

Aayla smiled and spoke English "Hermione Jane Potter. That is Daphne Potter Greengrass, you are Luna Potter Lovegood and you are Gabrielle Potter Delacour. I am Aayla'secura Potter."

Pretty much everyone had learned most of the languages the books from Harrys trunk were written in by now. There were books in all the modern languages and most of the ancient ones. Lots translated now but sometimes interpretation could be wrong. Better to get it from the source.

Mace put his face in his hands "What the frack? Fracking Dread Lord!" Mace had shifted to English, a bit unconsciously.

Daphne chuckled as she caught that "Haven't heard that one in a while. Not since that tier two in Brisbane begged for its life while Harry skinned it alive."

Celeste poked Harry "You never told us that story husband."

Hermione frowned and scanned him "Occlumency reboot, magical exhaustion as well, but he is recharging rapidly. He must have anchored our transit, give him a minute. The English is going to make this easier. Did he have a stone or just wave his hands?"

Mon put her chin on her hand, her elbow was on the table where she had leaned forward "Someone get Jocasta and an archivist droid I think we can get the whole story from the ladies Potter while he's out. You Potter wives have been holding out on us. Pillow talk is one thing, but four pretty, witchy, wives back in the home reality? No wonder he is always trying to find a way back."

The four new Potter wives arched brows and Aayla waved a hand "Or to take us and him back and forth rather. At least that is what it had morphed into. We work on it about an hour a day. The physics along with the arithmancy is a bit complicated."

Hermione snorted "I can imagine. No need now. That was the last one. We killed the rest of the demons on that whole plain with the sponges, and Harry killed the King on the way through when he came apparently. We just mopped up the remnants. We brought all of our stuff." She turned her wrist and Aayla looked at the five trunk socket, two wand holster. She saw the trunk holster and compartment belt around her waist in the gap in Hermiones dragon hide robe.

Arden was looking at Daphne. Daphne smiled a predatory smile back at her and sighed in what was probably the sexiest voice ever in this galaxy "I have so much to teach you, my apprentice." Arden swallowed nervously.

Bail blinked and Obi wan shuddered "I didn't know you could be that dark and alive."

Gabrielle and Celeste had locked eyes and then nodded to each other.

Luna looked around "So Dark Lord probably." She sniffed "Oh demons, but they are dead, or gone. Oh he has learned, he tricked the dark lord into fighting the demons with, golems? Clones? Ewww! Prejudiced population supporting the dark lord. When are they not? Harry of course working with the light. Oh an elf, whoa not an elf. The daddy of all elves maybe. You my friend are nearly pure magic. Uh, you and the missus might want to get busy though. Last of your kind and all that. It's not asexual reproduction. It still takes two."

The whole room looked at Yoda and he blushed. Mace fell over. The whole room was frozen in shock, Hermione barked "Luna! For goodness sake, look what you did."

Bars sat down in his hologram "Oh my."

Gabrielle looked at him "A ghost?"

Bars shook his head "Technology Mistress Potter Delacour. I am actually on a planet several par- uh, well, far, far away."

Jocasta ran in the room and beamed at the newcomers "Finally! Now we can get the real story!"

Luxa toed Mace "All right Babe? I got to get this. Sorry." Mace rolled into a ball and waved a hand gasping.

An hour later things had settled somewhat, Hermione and Aayla were sitting together. Hermione looked at Harry "So marrying a Queen. She is awful young, you did try to talk her out of it right?"

Harry sighed "For years."

Apailana barked "Hey!"

Hermione looked at her "It's always like this around him. You seem a nice girl, run while you can. You can have some nice, pretty, prince and not have to deal with all this."

Apailana snorted "My planet was invaded, the dark lord's apprentice ruined our most popular modern Queen and led her to her death. I think I'll take my chances with Harry."

Gabrielle grinned at her "Bon. Good for you. Now let us discuss this wedding. Are you bringing your ladies to the harem?" Harry blushed.

Apailana chuckled "They are bringing themselves plus Jedi Knights Roganda Isamren and Tis'wedu, in their own time and if they want. You'll meet them all in our quarters tonight. They are out on a mission right now."

Bail brightened "Harry you are going to have to get a bigger boat."

Hermione blinked "We live on a boat?"

Harry sighed "Starship, and we can do magic Bail. We can make the space bigger."

Hermione sighed and looked at her notes "Sponges, portals, wards, magic in space, space, hyperspace, why this reality feels so magical. We have so much to check."

"Hey it all worked." Harry defended.

Daphne chuckled "Everything works for you and probably for Yoda too Harry. The rest of us have to be right. And use the right spells not just point and will it so. Well those not mated to you. Now where did you find my apprentice? We looked for so long for one with the darkness that had not fallen to it."

Harry looked at Arden sitting in the chair with Daphne looking a little glassy eyed "She was in stasis for twenty-five thousand years because of some talisman, that apparently, my appearance in this reality broke. It, or she, sucked the life and Force, magic, whatever out of several of the death eater equivalents of this reality and then came and found me after she decided the Voldemort equivalent of this reality was an idiot. Used a minion to take a shot at me to get my attention. Killed a few of the dark Lords minion's on her way to me. Surprised me showing up in the bed one day."

Daphne rolled her eyes "Power Harry, it's about power. We had this discussion at least forty years ago. When I seduced Hermione to get in your bed. We will discuss subtlety my apprentice."

"TMI Daphne. Aayla babies?" Hermione steered the conversation back.

Aayla opened her mouth and then snapped it closed and started again "Where are your kids?"

Luna pointed at Harry "Well half are in there and half are in us. You don't want to have kids with demons running around. It took all we had to protect the few we had. Now that we killed all the things I expect Earth is going to be the diaper planet for a while. We had just cooked a set for friends who were no longer able to when this last incursion happened.

Hermione, we need to figure out making that gate work both ways as well. Something is going to go on in the other reality Harry is going to need to take care of. Hmmm maybe not Harry. Maybe a lot of people. Beings? Anyway, it's going to be interesting. Harry was never the brightest student but we can look at what he tried first. We can get a few of these ships to our reality and get mankind, and the other species, spread out a bit. Keep all of our eggs from being in one basket so we won't have to fight or die if we missed a demon or two on their plane. Or on earth."

Mon looked at Jocasta and she smiled "Give me a year and I'll have the whole story pieced together."

Mon nodded "Let's start with 'cooking a set'."

Hermione smiled "After we get Harry married to the last ones I'll help lay the whole story out. We have pensieves, if Harry didn't find his in that mess he calls trunks. Now we'll need to review the instruction Harry gave. He is a fabulous teacher, one of the best, but he is a little light on theory. Mainly because he doesn't need it, but it will help your students who are not as powerful as gods."

Mace blinked "Harry is a god?"

Hermione looked at Harry "You haven't told them."

Harry sighed "It didn't come up."

"And you just want to be Harry, not the immortal master of the personification of death. Vacation over, back to work." Luna gave him a glare and nudge with a foot.

Bars grinned "Dread Lord indeed!"

Mace pinched the bridge of his nose "Fracking Dread Lord. Fracking Immortal. A fracking god or demi god. Well that explains some things. Millions of years old probably."

Harry rolled his eyes "Fifty, sixty odd at the most. Hard to track in this plane."

Ahsoka smirked "Cradle robbing pervert."

Harry huffed "I told you all."

"Holding out again Ladies Potter. We are going to talk about this." Mon glared around at the girls.

Breha sighed "I am tired. The children need put down for a nap. Harry needs to go make his stateroom or the mansion bigger. How about we have dinner in the great hall in the lodge at seven local."

Hermione looked at her "I'm sure we don't want to be a bother. We can find something. If Harry is out of money I have a little gold, some platinum too."

Bars fell over and disappeared from his holo laughing. Breha chuckled "Harry and Bars somehow made Harry the richest man in the galaxy. You, all of your co wives and all of their children's, children's, children, perhaps the entire population of your planet will never have to work again."

Luna nodded "Being an abused slave, tortured to death several times by a dark and light lord for seventeen years, then having to fight for your and our lives for forty more built up some good karma. Told you so Harry."

Harry blushed "Come on. Nobody wants to hear about that Luna, it's all in the past. I'll show you the stateroom then the house Breha and Bail let us use. We can figure out what we want to do to it."

Luxa sighed as they disappeared "He is so wrong. Everyone wants to know about that."

Staas arched a brow at Adi "So that's how he knows what the light can do."

Mace sighed "Frack me."

Obi wan nodded "Quite. And then a genocidal war for his races survival, with demons. The immortal Master of Death itself."

Yoda nodded "Pity the demons you must."

Garm nodded "Poor bastards never had a chance."

Mon frowned "I think I'll save my pity for those that aren't murdering, raping, sentient eating bastards, the demons got what they deserved. The ones here so far too."