(AN) This was a plot bunny I couldn't get out of my head so I had to get it on paper. This story can be a standalone or inserted during the Easter break of third year. (recommended, chapter 17) Since this is an AU story, the ISS station is in orbit already and has been for some time.
Disclaimer: As usual, I don't own Harry Potter or Star Wars. Just having fun with the characters. This is written for entertainment purposes only and I make no money from it.
The Elders Take a Side Trip
Harry and Hermione are sleeping peacefully one night while on their Easter break when they start having a dream together. In the dream, the Potters are flying along on one of their patrols around Hogwarts School when a face starts to form in front of them. They pull up and hover over the forest waiting to see what's going to happen. The face is semitransparent and forms into a fuzzy outline with indistinct features. They can see the mouth move and a voice is heard in their heads.
" . .rr.s.s.s.s,," it echoes.
"We are here Creator," they answer while asleep in their bed.
"You are to go to Alderaan in the Leggit Galaxy to prevent the mass killings that took place there long ago." The voice echoes in their heads," The galaxy lays in ruins now because of it. Your staves have been made impervious and will stand up to the power you need to complete your task. Your probes have been updated with what you need to know about life in that galaxy. There are two dark lords, a master and an apprentice. The apprentice can be redeemed, the master cannot. Do what needs to be done. A ship has been provided for you to protect certain people you will meet. When you wake, phase to the ship and fly it though the portal you will see. You will know what to do."
"We hear and obey Creator," Harry and Hermione answer while sleeping.
The next morning the pair awakens at their usual time and after packing, head down the stairs to the kitchen for breakfast.
"Hermione?" her mother asks," we felt a presence last night while we were asleep. Is there something going on we should know about?"
"Yes mother," Hermione replies," Harry and I are going on a mission off planet. We will be back tomorrow your time. The mission is not dangerous to us as the place we are going to just needs a kick in the rear, so to speak, to get back onto the correct path."
"Okay Hermione, you and Harry be careful and stay safe," she says with tears starting to form.
"We will be alright mum," Harry assures her with a hug along with Hermione right behind.
"I can't help it," Mrs. Granger says with a sniff," It's a mother's duty to worry about her children. Even when her children have abilities like yours."
"I know mum," Hermione says into her mum's shoulder," It really will be okay."
The teenagers stand apart from their mum and Harry summons their trunks to take with them. The trunks float down from their room to stack themselves next to the pair where Hermione puts her hand on top and the teens, along with their trunks, fades away.
The Potters reappear in what looks like a large room with windows and computer banks all around. They look out the windows and see the stars and space all around them as well. Off in the distance they can see the portal shimmering against the backdrop of the stars. The couple explores the ship and finds their stateroom with a bed, closet for their things, a desk with two chairs and an attached bath. There is a note on the desk.
This ship is yours to keep for all eternity.
It has a cloaking device for staying hidden.
It is also impervious to all weapons, same as your staves.
Give the ship a good name, use it well.
T.C.
They discuss the ship naming in their heads and come to a consensus.
"We Christen thee the Phoenix," Harry and Hermione chant as one.
On the desk is a computer monitor and keyboard. Hermione turns it on and the monitor shows a schematic of the ship. The ships outline looks exactly like the ship in the movie "Forbidden Planet" except the saucer part two hundred meters across and one story thick to accommodate the living and working quarters. The schematic shows there are several staterooms around the disk, two larger rooms with bunks for troops if needed, along with science labs, an infirmary and a kitchen/dining area. The bridge, where they arrived, is at the top of the bubble section with a three hundred and sixty degree view. The rest of the center section is where engineering is and all of the things that make the ship work. There is a lower hold with several large objects in it and they proceed to go down to the hold to see what is there. When they arrive, the door slides aside as they approach and they see several large obelisk type structures covered with runes inside, along with the landing struts folded up against the wall.
"These must be the planetary shield transmitters that our probes told us about," Harry says running his hand up one side. The obelisk stands about eight meters in height and has hand holds for the Elders to grab when moving them. On one side of each obelisk is an indented outline of Harry and Hermione's staves.
"This must be how we are to activate the devices Harry," Hermione says while he walks over to hers to take a look.
"I agree," He says," I think we are supposed to set these up on Alderaan when we get there to protect the planet from something."
"I suppose we better get to it then," Hermione says," It's a good thing our probes know how to operate this thing."
"The ship is tied to our minds," Harry says," All we have to do is think about where we want to go and it will take us there. Otherwise, we would need a full crew. This ship was made especially for us, with room for a crew if we need one sometime in the future."
The Potters take the lift back to the bridge and take their seats at the controls. When they look outside the windows they can see the wings of a large white Phoenix painted over the black disk with the center bubble as the body. They place their hands into the molds on their seats and will the ship through the portal. A soft humming sound builds up around them as the ship moves through space towards the portal and with a shimmering effect it passes though.
Unbeknownst to the Potters, the American and the Russian governments have taken to heart the statements made by the elders on the news and are grateful they are here. In the international space station, the astronauts are watching the ship on their monitors from a camera mounted atop of the station. They see a blue shimmering effect pop into place around the ship and lights start to rotate around the disk as it powers up. The lights soon become a blur as they speed up until the ship appears to have a single light around the perimeter of the disk. The crew watch as it gracefully moves towards the portal and disappears through it. The station crew, being from mostly military backgrounds, recognizes that something important must have called the elders away.
"Good luck on your mission," the commander says," Come back safely."
"Da," the Russian contingent agrees.
Since they are traveling through time as well as going some distance, the trip takes about twenty minutes instead of the instant translation that is normal for portal travel. When they come out on the other end they see a beautiful blue/white planet ahead of them and head towards it. An alarm sounds on the console in front of Harry and Hermione and a screen pops up in front of them with a schematic of the planetary system they are in. It shows the five planets of the system and a large metallic moon like object that is entering from outside the orbit of the farthest planet. It is outlined in red, indicating it is bristling with weapons and hostile to the system.
"We need to get those shields installed before that thing gets here," Hermione says grimly," How anyone can make something so disgustingly devastating is beyond my understanding."
"Protect the planet first and get rid of that thing second," Harry agrees, then maneuvers the ship towards the north pole of the planet.
The communications array lights up with an incoming signal," Unidentified ship, for your own safety, leave the system now. Our intel tells us that moon that is entering the system has the power to destroy this planet. We have no defensive capability and cannot protect you. The maker help us all."
"This is the Phoenix," Hermione answers business like," Get all of your people underground to the shelters. We will protect your planet from them."
On the ground, the defense force commander tells the communications officer to sound the alarm.
"Sound the alarm son," I don't believe they can actually do anything against that moon but it won't hurt to follow her orders just in case."
The officer sounds the alarm and the population proceeds to the underground shelters in an orderly fashion, just as it was drilled into each individual. The galaxy has been at war for twenty years and the people are used to the drill. The commander boards his personal ship and follows the unidentified ship as it descends to the planet. He catches up to them and sees a large round flat disk like ship with lights rotating quickly around the disk section above him and notices a bird of some kind painted on the bottom of the dull black hull.
"Must be what a phoenix looks like," he thinks.
He watches as the ship hovers over the north magnetic pole. A set of double doors opens on the bottom of the bubble section and he watches as what looks like a small girl floats out of the doors, followed by an eight meter tall obelisk type object. She places the obelisk on the ground and lays a stick like object against the side of it. The obelisk starts to glow brightly and the girl flies quickly back through the doors and the ships starts to accelerate quickly away. He follows as best he can.
"That ship is fast," He thinks," Never seen that design before, or girls that can fly for that matter."
He follows the blip on his scope, figuring out the ship is going to the other pole and heads there. The commander watches as the same procedure happen at this pole except when the girl activates the obelisk a powerful blue light shoots out of the top and starts to spread around the planet. He flies his ship quickly into the upper atmosphere where he observes as the light envelops the planet and then disappears.
/
Earlier on the metallic moon:
Grand Moff Tarken and Darth Vader are standing on the command deck when a lieutenant walks up to report:
"We are entering the Alderaan System now sir,"
Tarken turns to the aide and says," Very well, have the princess brought up."
"Right away sir," the aide salutes and runs off.
"Now, we'll see if some other form of persuasion will loosen her tongue." Tarken says.
While they are waiting on the princess, Darth Vader suddenly sways on his feet and falls to one knee. At the same time someone shouts.
"Sir, another ship has just appeared above the planet."
"That's impossible, you can't translate from hyperspace that close to a planet, put it on the screen," Tarken orders.
"What happened to you?" he asks Vader quietly after fifteen minutes of waiting for him to get up," It looked for a minute you were going to pass out. It wouldn't look good for you to be on your knee when the princess arrives."
"I felt a massive disturbance in the force," he says," That ship is the source."
They look up at the screen where scanners show a white birdlike creature on a black background of a round disk.
"If it wasn't for the planet in the background all we would be able to see would be that creature, whatever it is," Tarken says, then," How long till we are in range?"
"Another ten minutes sir," an officer calls out in answer to the order.
Just then Princess Leia is brought before him and Tarken dismisses the smaller ship from his mind as inconsequential.
"Governor Tarken," she says condescendingly," I was wondering who was holding Vader's leash."
"Charming, to the last," he says back at her," I am about bring this station on line and demonstrate its full power."
She looks at the planet on the screen, recognizing it as her home.
"No," she says weekly.
"Then give me a military target instead. Tell me where the rebel base is," He insists.
"Dantooine, they're on Dantooine," she says dejectedly while looking at the screen.
"See there Vader, she can be persuaded," Tarken says and then orders," You may fire when ready."
"What," she says?
"Dantooine is too remote to be an effective deterrent, but we will get to your friends soon enough," he says as he turns to watch the screen for the results.
The princess sags against Darth Vader as she too watches the screen with dread in her heart and face.
On the upper hemisphere of the station is a crater like area where several beams of green light shoot out and combine to form a larger single beam which then shoots out towards the planet. The beam lances toward Alderaan and when it reaches the planet it is absorbed by a blue shimmering shield that lights up as the beam strikes it. The shield goes invisible again as the beam stops.
Tarken is staring incredulously while Princess Leia stands up straighter with a relieved smile on her face knowing there is a defense against this weapon. Darth Vader pulls his light saber and ignites it as a small white light starts to coalesce about a meter above the floor in front of them, getting brighter and brighter, bringing guards from everywhere. When the light fades, in its place stand two beings in dark maroon cloaks with their hoods up standing slightly shorter than the princess while holding what looks like fancy walking sticks. The being on the right waves its free hand causing a wave of white light and every piece of electronics in the room stops working. From there the light sweeps throughout the whole ship, shutting everything down. Fifteen blaster bolts from various guns converge on the pair and are reflected harmlessly away.
The shortest of the pair looks over at the guards and whispers," Sleep."
The guards all drop to the floor sound asleep; you can even hear one or two of them snoring.
An Aide runs up to Tarken while watching the pair with one eye," Everything is shut down except for gravity and life support. We are adrift. If we don't get power back soon we will fall into the planets gravity well."
"We can't have that, can we," One of the beings says with a female voice in a strange accent."
She waves her hand again and the navigation systems come back up.
"Please move this thing into a stable orbit until we decide what we are going to do next," she says.
Tarken nods to the aide who looks over to the being and says," Thank you ma'am."
The one that gave the order nods back to the aide and both of the beings let go of their walking sticks, which stand in place, waiting. They reach up and pull their hoods back revealing their faces. To the astonishment of the whole group, looking back at them are a young male and female human.
The male spots Vader's light saber and says in that same strange accent," What a cool looking torch. It even has a red light beam; may I?"
He holds his hand up; summoning what he thinks is a torch causing it to fly to his hand. He waves it around a bit causing the others to back away. The female smiles at his antics. The pair notices the reaction of the other and look at the beam more closely.
"Looks solid," He stays while reaching out with his other hand and running his finger along the blade. She reaches out for a feel as well.
It hums a little louder and sizzles a bit where their fingers touch. He waves it about some more hitting the floor accidentally leaving a gouge behind. He waves his hand and the gouge disappears.
"Sorry about that," He says. Then spotting the switch on the side; turns it off.
The blade shrinks back into the handle and he hands it back to Vader.
"Thank you," he says.
Vader nods, knowing he is way outclassed. He decides to stand and observe so he can report to his master what he is witnessing.
Tarken seems to come to his senses and finally asks, "Who are you?"
The two turn to him and say in unison," We are the Elders of the Universe."
"Elders," Princes Leia says," you look like younglings."
"That's because we are," the female says," My name is Hermione Potter and I am fourteen years old. My husband Harry is thirteen. Elders, is a title given to magical people with certain power levels. Harry and I were created by the Creator of all things. And one of our tasks is to prevent what is happening here."
"What do you mean by Creator?" Vader asks," And what's magic?"
"The Creator is the entity that made the universe," Harry explains looking at Vader," Magic is a form of what you call the force. It is on a different frequency and can do a lot more than the force. For instance. For the lovely lady."
Harry conjures a bouquet of flowers and hands them to Princess Leia. She sniffs them and a smile lights her eyes, despite where she is at the moment.
"They are called Everlasting Roses and will never need watering. They will keep your room smelling nice year round." He says.
"Why don't you explain why we are here Harry," Hermione says, getting Harry back on track," I think the Grand Moff is getting restless and I would hate to have to hurt him to keep him from trying something foolish. He thinks we are just a couple of younglings and have no business interfering in his war. He doesn't like that we turned off his toy."
"Thank you Hermione, I was getting off track a bit," Harry says giving her a kiss, which brought another smile to Leia's face. She so wished this war could be over so she could have a normal life. She didn't know she was about to get her wish, though not in the manner she wished for.
"The reason we are here is to put an end to this war," Harry says," This galaxy has been put into quarantine until you can stop the fighting and learn to live in peace."
"How do you put a galaxy in quarantine and what does it mean?" Leia asks for the group.
"We can't," Hermione says," But the Creator can. What it means is that you are confined to this galaxy until the quarantine is lifted."
"I still don't understand," Leia says," Why would we want to leave the galaxy?"
"Colonization," Harry says," Where we come from, Humans have colonized twenty eight galaxies so far with ours being the newest and still not fully explored."
"Maybe colonization would give you more elbow space so you wouldn't feel hemmed in and want to fight your way out," Hermione says," Even though we studied your galaxy's history on the way here, I still can't figure out why you were always fighting. We haven't had an interplanetary war in over a billion years."
"Were," Leia asks?
"Caught that did you? Harry remarks," We come from about a thousand years in your future. Still just a drop in the bucket compared to the billions of years we have been colonizing galaxies. This galaxy, in our time, has been extinct for nine hundred years. That means if we don't change things now, your galaxy has less than one hundred years left to sustain life."
Hermione continues," I look around here and only see humans, but I can read from your minds that this galaxy has a large variety of sentient species. Your dark lord has a phobia about non humans. Apparently when he was a young man his wife was accidentally killed by a.. What do you call a tall being with lots of hair? Wears a sash across his front."
"Wookie," Leia provided.
"Right," Hermione says," The Wookie was being chased by a large animal that had gotten loose and didn't see the young man's wife when he ran around a corner and even though the Wookie tried, he couldn't save the woman from the animal. The young man blamed the Wookie for her death. He became the Dark lord, who in his madness, had his scientists concoct a bio weapon that would supposedly kill off all non-human species. It worked, too well. It killed off everything that wasn't human, including the animals and plants. Humans starved to death and poisoned themselves trying to eat the dead animals."
"So, you can see why we want to stop this madman before he kills off the galaxy," Harry says," He is not redeemable and must be dealt with."
Harry turns to Vader and says," You, on the other hand, can be redeemed. I can see in your mind that you think you are responsible for your wife's death. That is not true. Your so called master made you believe that so he could manipulate you into doing his bidding. At the time he told you that, she was very much alive. She died a couple of months later in childbirth thinking you were dead. She knew the children would be looked after but couldn't live on without you."
"You said children," Vader says," As in plural, more than one?"
He can feel a spark of hope developing inside his soul after all these years.
"Yes," Hermione continues," Your wife. What was her name?"
"Padme" he answers," Padme Amidala Skywalker."
This causes Leia to look up at Darth Vader surprised. She had heard that name before when she was very small but didn't know who it was.
"Padme," continues Hermione," Gave birth to twins. One of them is standing next to you."
Leia gasps loudly and covers her mouth with her hands while moving away in revulsion.
"Leia," Hermione says gently, getting her attention," You need to understand that your father was younger than you are now when he met your current dark lord. A good manipulator knows the right words to say and the right things to do to get what he wants. A young impressionable boy would have been no trouble for him at all."
"How do you know all of this at your age?" She asks, starting to understand that she might have her father back.
"We told you we are the Elders of the Universe," she answers," What we didn't tell you is that the Creator had a direct hand in our creation and Harry and I are a soul bound couple and immortal. That's how were able to touch that light sword and not get hurt. We honestly didn't know it wasn't a torch or what Americans call a flashlight. A device used to shine a light in a dark room to see with. It looks just like one. Anyway to get back on track we are being fed information from the Creator as we stand here. We have Nano-Probes in our blood that give us perfect recall so we will remember everything we see and do for the rest of our lives. We have never had to take the life of a sentient being and hope to keep it that way. Our abilities give us other solutions. We have the ability to bind the dark lord's magic or force powers. This will make him ordinary like most of the galaxy and you can punish him as you see fit."
"Ma'am," one of the navigation offices calls out, recognizing who is really in charge here," A small ship has just come out of hyperspace. Its ID matches a ship that blasted its way out of Mos Eisley Spaceport. What do you want me to do?"
Hermione closes her eyes momentarily in concentration. She smiles as she opens them.
"Leia, that ship has your twin brother on it along with someone else you might know," Hermione informs her," Why don't you talk to him and let him know it is safe to land on this ship. His name is Luke."
"How can you tell," She asks?
Hermione looks up at Darth Vader, who is sitting down with his head in his hands shaking with emotion.
"Ask your father," with you three being of the same blood you should be able to sense each other.
Leia tentatively walks over to her father and puts a hand on his shoulder. He looks up at her and says," I wish I had known. I would have taken you and your brother and disappeared somewhere so Palpatine couldn't find us. I wish I could take this mask off and look on you with my own eyes."
"I believe you father," Leia says," I wish you could too. I will call my brother and bring him here."
"Why can't you take the mask off," Harry asks?
"I was burned badly in a lava river when I was young. This is what made me think I had killed my wife. She was there when I and Obi wan Kenobi fought. He tried to save me, but I wouldn't listen. Palpatine already had me brainwashed by then. I lost both my legs below the knees and my arms below the elbows. My lungs were severely burned by the hot gases so I need this suit to breathe. By the time I learned bacta could have helped me too much time had passed. Something else Palpatine didn't tell me."
"We can't do anything about your mechanical parts but Hermione and I have been able to heal organic parts pretty well so far. We can try if you want. The worst that would happen is you would still be confined to the suit," Harry says.
"Please," He says," I want to be with my children and I don't want them to see the monster I became because of the dark side of the force."
While Harry and Vader are talking, the group from the Millennium Falcon is escorted onto the bridge. As they enter the room Leia is talking to Luke, filling him in on what's happened so far, she then pulls him over to listen in on the Elders.
"That's one other thing I'm not sure I understand." They hear Harry saying," There is no such thing as the dark side of the force or the light side. There is only the force. It's the same with magic, it is all about intent. If you have the ability, it is what you do with it that defines you. You can use a light side ability for dark reasons same as you can use a dark ability for light reasons."
"I don't understand," Vader says," I have always been taught otherwise."
"Same here," interjects Kenobi.
"Okay, two examples then," Hermione takes over to let Harry rest a bit," Example one. From your mind I see you have an ability called force lightning. Hurts real bad when you are hit with it."
The two Jedi nod affirmative.
"Suppose you are out with a friend on a field trip on a wild planet with no technology around. What if this friend has a heart attack and his heart stops. You have no medical supplies as you didn't think you would need any for a simple hike. With force lighting you could use a small jolt to restart your friend's heart. We have a similar spell called the cruciatus curse. Feels like you've been electrocuted and sets all of your nerve endings on fire. That's why it is called an unforgivable curse or a dark curse. It was invented for the very reason I just mentioned. A mild cruciatus could restart a heart that has stopped. Now for the light side. Levitation is taught to first year magic students. That student could then take that ordinary spell and levitate a sleeping person over the edge of a cliff and drop them. That is definitely a dark intent for a light spell, so that is what I mean by 'it is all about intent'. Do you understand now?" Hermione finishes.
The two Jedi nod assent. Harry stands next to Hermione and with a wave of his hand he conjures a foam matt for Vader to lay on. Vader looks around at the others standing around him; especially his teacher Obi wan.
"Go ahead," he says," I want my brother back."
Vader lays on the matt on the floor where Harry and Hermione kneel on either side of him.
Hermione says," I'm going to put up a shield for two reasons. One, we don't trust the Grand Moff. He just tried to blow up a planet with two billion people on it."
The Wookie and Smuggler each take up a position next to the Moff.
"Reason two is we need a sterile environment and the shield will also protect us and the patient while we are concentrating on healing his internal organs."
A blue shield pops up over the area around the three people. Harry and Hermione place their hands above his chest, where they start to glow, moving them up and down. Vader's lungs are healed along with his other internal organs. New skin is regrown and hair grows on his head. During the healing process they also heal his mind from the corruption put there by the dark lord.
While everyone is distracted by what is going on Grand Moff Tarkin does something stupid. He knows normal shields will stop a blaster bolt because it is made of energy but a shield won't protect you from a solid object such as a rock falling on your head or a fist in your face. He still thinks of them as two younglings because of their size and age.
"Jedi have healers that can do what they are doing," he thinks to himself, working hard to counter all of their tricks," They must have an interdictor ship hidden out there that disabled my battle station."
He is really trying hard to convince himself it is all a trick. In his desperation, he reaches slowly into a hidden pocket on the inside back of his uniform jacket and pulls out a vibroblade that extends silently to sixty centimeters long. He cries out and runs at the shield and swinging the now sword like knife at the heads of the Potters. The instant he hits the shield he is thrown back with such force, he hits the wall on the other side of the room, breaking his neck in the process.
The Potters are totally unaware of the incident, or anything else outside the shield.
"Oh well," Leia mutters to herself," One less trial to conduct when this is over."
Soon, it gets quiet in the room. There are no more sounds from the respirator on Vader's suit. Harry and Hermione open their eyes and see that their patient is breathing normally. With a wave of his hand Harry vanishes the mask and respirator, allowing their patient to sit up.
He takes a deep breath and says," My real name is Anakin Skywalker. Thank you, Elders. If they will have me, I would like to get to know my family."
He now looks like an older version of Luke Skywalker who walks up to him and asks," Are you my father?"
"I am your biological father and would like to be your real father if you will let me," he answers.
Luke and Leia hug their father while Obi wan goes over and shakes his brother's hand, glad to have him back.
Harry and Hermione walk over to retrieve their staves which have faithfully stayed put, waiting on their users. The couple gives the family time for a reunion by walking over to the operations officer and asking.
"We would like to bring our ship aboard. Do you have a docking bay large enough to allow for two hundred meters wide by fifty meters tall?
"I don't understand the reference," He says.
Harry conjures a meter stick and gives it to the officer," This is one meter."
The officer takes a scanner out and after making an adjustment scans the stick and then checks his monitor screen and says," Yes sir. Docking bay 137c is large enough."
"Thank you," Harry says," I will park it there."
Harry walks over to Hermione and informs her," I'm going to bring the ship aboard so we can load passengers for the trip to wherever this Palpatine is."
"Okay Harry," she says," He's been trying to contact this ship and I've been sending him false reports to keep him happy and make him stay put till we get there. His mind in so easy to fool, using our method memory implanting. He thinks he has been in constant contact with this ship and even thinks Tarkin blew up the planet. He stays in his rooms and doesn't bother with the feeds he would normally use to get his information. We better hurry though. We may only have a day maybe two before someone gets the truth to him."
"Good thinking sweetheart, I'll get the ship while you get everyone who is going ready. The main gun on this ship has been rendered inert and not repairable, but there are still over thirty million people on this device we need to account for," Harry says," You might talk to the two Jedi and see if they have any ideas."
As he starts to walk away from Hermione the smuggler comes over and introduces himself.
"Han Solo, Owner and Captain of the Millennium Falcon," He says sticking out his hand," I heard you say you are going to bring your ship in. Can me and Chewie come. I boast the fastest ship in the quadrant and would like to see yours."
"Every captain is proud of their ship Mr. Solo," Harry says with a smile," Hermione and I share the duties on our ship."
"Please call me Han, Mr. Solo makes me feel like my old man," He says," Anyone that can fly a ship is alright by me regardless of age."
Chewbacca walks up and grunts and growls at Captain Solo.
"We're going to my ship Chewbacca, Harry says," Would you like to come?"
Chewbacca growls again and nods, wondering how they were going to get his ship without a shuttle.
Harry laughs and says," Each of you take one of my arms and don't worry Chewbacca, you can't hurt me."
"You can understand him," Han asks?
"Of course, can't everybody," Harry asks back?
Han laughs while Chewie chuffs and the next thing the two know they are in a different place.
Now Harry laughs," Surprise! Feel free to look around but don't touch anything. The equipment is all geared for me and Hermione and won't work for anyone else. Han You can take Hermione's seat and guide me to docking bay 137c."
"Okay kid," he says sitting down," Look for a bay in the center channel a bit larger than your ship. It should have blinking lights around it to guide you in."
"Okay, Thanks Han. Here I go," Harry says.
Han watches as Harry puts his hands into the molded slots on the arms of his seat. He notices subtle movements of Harry's fingers as he maneuvers the ship. The background hum increases slightly as the ship moves along smoothly around the moon sized ship looking for the bay assigned. He eventually finds the bay and triggers the communications array.
"Imperial Starship Death Star One, this is the Phoenix requesting permission to dock in bay 137 Charlie." Harry says sounding like a professional.
"Permission granted, Welcome aboard Phoenix."
"Thank you, Phoenix out," Harry responds.
"We really need to rename that ship," Harry mutters.
Han laughs," You have good ship to ship protocol Harry."
"Thanks," he says with a grin, "Must be universal as the same protocol is used back home."
Officers and crewmen have been watching the strange ship as it flew around the larger ship and are now gathered at the ports to watch as the saucer shaped ship makes a perfect touchdown on the three landing struts. Harry stands up and grabs both of his passengers and phases them back to the control room of the Starship.
Hermione walks up to Harry and gives him a kiss and pulls him over to the front of the control center, where everyone can see them, officers and crew alike.
"I would like to see the senior officers for the command crew for a conference." Harry orders.
Several officers walk up to the front and one of them show the way to a conference room just off the command deck. Everyone from the Falcon is there as well.
Harry stands at the head of the table with Hermione next to him," Here is the problem we want your help with as the command crew. First this star ship needs a new name. I think Death Star One is not appropriate. There will never be a Death Star Two. Second, we can sense over thirty million people on this ship. That's a lot of people just to go around popping planets with your ray gun, which has been rendered inert by the way. Your station defenses still work if you need to defend yourselves from pirates or other bad guys. Let me make myself perfectly clear. Emperor Palpatine will no longer be in power after tomorrow. I know it will take time for word to get out that the war is over but I would like to use this starship as a base for helping planets recover from the war and to rebuild the economy. If this is worked out right, all the people on this ship will continue to get their salaries and have jobs as long as they want."
"Princess Leia," Hermione calls out to get her attention," The fine details can be worked out when we get back from our mission, but we feel you, with your connections in the rebel government, and Han with his connections in the smuggling community will be great assets to have to get this started. The Creator gave us a lot of information about your galaxy, but you all have lived your whole lives here. We believe in delegating responsibilities out to the proper people and then let them do their jobs. You can advise us of good personnel to hire, good sources for supplies and with a ship this size we can move a lot of cargo and people around. This ship could be a moving commerce center along with any number of other things. We could eventually make it the premiere place to work and if everything works out, commission other ships like this to be built for civilian reasons."
"You surprise me again Hermione," Leia says," For younglings; you seem to be well educated and have a good understanding for economics and other disciplines."
"Remember I said we had Nano-Probes and perfect recall," Hermione asks as a reminder?
Leia nods that she remembers.
"I'm not sure what your education levels are here but back home we own and run our own magical school, are the magical King and Queen of our country, and hold several PHDs in non- magical education. That is the highest you can go on our planet in education. We also have the highest education we can get from the Intergalactic Community of Planets, which is what we call all of the planets of the twenty eight galaxies that have been colonized so far. The only reason we are students is to learn about magic, which is our form of the force. "Hermione says," I should mention that Harry and I are special cases. Most of the people back home are just like you and live ordinary lives and have families. They have their normal magic users that have to be trained from age eleven to learn to control their magical cores as you have your force users that start getting trained at younger ages than we do."
"Why do you start at eleven and not younger," Obi wan asks?
"Magic is a lot stronger than the force, but is created the same way the force is here. By life in general. For the average magic user in our world, their cores don't stabilize enough for controlled training until around the age of eleven. It usually starts manifesting itself in the form of what we call accidental magic at the age of eight, but is not stable enough for formal training." Hermione concludes.
"Next up," Harry says," Who wants to be a part of this mission? You can go with us and stay in the ship if you want to watch the show from there, or if you have a need to be there for something else you can hitch a ride. We leave in two hours."
"How long will it take to get there?" Han asks," We can go in the Falcon if you like."
"Less than five minutes, once the portals are established," Harry says matter of factly," We at least need someone to guide us to where Palpatine is."
"I'll go," Anakin volunteers.
"Count me in," Obi wan adds.
Everyone from the Falcon volunteers along with a couple of the officers from the command crew. The command crew is all sold on the idea of a civilian life with good paying jobs and is hoping Harry and Hermione can actually do what they say they can do.
The group all travel to the docking bay where the ship is docked and get their first real look at the Phoenix. Two hundred meters across is bigger than it sounds when looking at it inside a docking bay. It is definitely bigger than the Falcon but was no problem for the large starship to dock. Harry leads the group up the stairs built into one of the landing struts and opens the airlock to enter the ship. Once everyone is on the bridge Harry conjures comfortable seats allowing a good view forward. Harry and Hermione assume the two command chairs with the hand and arm indents and starts the ships power systems. The communications array comes alive and Hermione calls out.
"Imperial Starship Death Star One from the Phoenix, permission to depart," She says.
"Permission granted Phoenix. Good hunting and come back safely," the comm officer intones.
"Thank you, we will see you in two days. Phoenix out," Hermione says.
The ground crew watch as the lights start rotating around the saucer section as the ship lifts a meter off the floor of the docking hanger. The landing struts retract and the ship glides smoothly out the opening into space. Once out into the open Harry flies the ship away from the mother ship a few hundred meters. The coordinates for the portal is inserted into the computer by their minds and the portal coalesces and expands in front of the ship.
"Death Star One, "Hermione sends to the bigger ship," do not be alarmed by what you see. They cannot see us from the other end and we are going to cloak before we go through."
Everyone on the big ship is glued to a monitor to watch what was happening and hear the transmission. They watch as the ship becomes invisible to their eyes and radar sensors. A few seconds later the portal collapses and the show is over.
On the outer edge of the Corsucant system a light flares briefly as the ships transcends through the portal and disappears. System security notes the flash as a reflection and doesn't investigate since no ships are detected in the area.
Harry and Hermione pilot the ship safely through the traffic and approach the planet.
"Looks like a planet size city," Hermione comments.
"It pretty much is," Leia confirms.
"Look for a spire in the northern hemisphere that is taller than the rest and you will find the palace," Anakin directs.
"We can sense his presence, now that we are this close," Harry says," We will home in on that."
"Will he be able to sense you two," Leia asks?
"Not if we don't want him to," Harry answers," right now, we are keeping our auras suppressed."
"You will have to land at the lower section to have enough room," Anakin says while pointing at the palace in the distance.
Harry and Hermione steer the Phoenix in a gentle bank over towards the palace and find a large open area around the base of the palace pyramid.
"They must want to have an unobstructed view with all this open space," Hermione comments.
"If the Phoenix wasn't cloaked, you wouldn't have gotten even this close without being fired upon," Leia says," Good thing you're invisible to the sensors as well. How are you planning on getting into the Emperor's throne room?"
"That's easy, we are going to walk in, right behind Darth Vader," Harry says and waves his hand at Anakin.
Vader's helmet, with mask and respirator, appears on the floor next to Anakin who picks it up and puts it on with the help of his daughter.
"Everyone else stay here for now. We will be back shortly," Hermione commands," We will send you and everyone else in the galaxy a visual feed. This will allow every living being to witness what we are going to do."
Harry phases them to a deserted corridor down the hall from the main lifts.
"Can you hide," Anakin asks, "if not I will have to shackle you to justify you being with me."
Harry and Hermione look at each other and smirk. The pair disillusions themselves and cast a silencing charm on their feet.
"No one will know we are behind you," Harry's voice sounds right next to Anakin, who starts a little,"
Anakin nods and then starts walking down the corridor to the lift. As they are walking Hermione sends a signal out with her mind that interrupts all news and entertainment feeds, causing all of the view screens everywhere to show the back of Darth Varder's cape, billowing as he walks. The view is from about half way up his height since Hermione is quite a bit shorter than Anakin. Hermione decides this won't do as she needs the populace to see and hear everything, including being able to see her and Harry when they appear. She conjures a news camera droid which she cloaks and silences, then wills it to follow them. The scene on every ones view screen shifts a little higher. After Anakin enters the correct security code, the doors to the lift open for the trip to the highest level where the throne room is. People are gathering around view screens all over the galaxy as word spreads. No one has seen the Emperor's throne room and do everything they can to stay out of his way. Everyone is wondering why a camera droid is following Darth Vader in the first place.
Palpatine is sitting on his throne reading a report from one of his spy's on his paad when the lift doors open. He looks up to see his apprentice and servant walk in.
"Why have you come? You are supposed to be on the Death Star monitoring the situation with Tarkin." He says harshly.
"That isn't needed anymore," Vader says for all to hear," Tarkin is dead and the Death Star has been neutralized. I only have two things to say to you Emperor."
"They better be an explanation for your previous statement, or you are going to wish you were dead when I get finished with you," he promises as he gets up from his throne menacingly.
Anakin reaches up and to the surprise of the Emperor takes his mask off. Of course this gets all of the populace's attention as they finally get to see the face of the man who terrorized anyone that got too near him.
"I am no longer Darth Vader," He says," My mind has been healed from your corruption and I have taken my real name of Anakin Skywalker back."
Harry and Hermione moves in front of Anakin to protect him if necessary.
Anakin continues," The other thing I wanted to say to you is I brought visitors from another Galaxy."
Harry and Hermione fade into view in front of Anakin to the amazement of the viewers.
"They're just younglings," The Emperor says harshly," What do I need with younglings. Get them out of here, Guards."
The red robed guards start forward and Hermione raises her hand and says," Sleep."
The guards all fall on the floor asleep, just like the ones on the Death Star.
Palpatine immediately launches a stream of force lightning at the pair who just stands there and looks back at him. The emperor tries again to no effect. He is starting to be afraid for the first time in a very long time. He pulls his light saber out and ignites it.
"Oh goody," Harry says happily, putting on a show," you have one too. I think I will keep this one, since you won't need it anymore."
He conjures the light saber to him and runs his fingers along the blade," This feels different he says to Hermione who also feels the blade.
"It is different," Anakin supplies," Each light saber is constructed individually by each Jedi as they reach that point in their training. The sabers take on the traits of their builders. While you can use another's saber, it won't feel the same as your own."
The emperor sits back on his throne while Anakin is talking all the while trying his mind powers on the younglings. He tries choking them, crushing them and draining them with the force, and they just stand there like nothing is happening. Who are these people?
That galactic audience is enjoying the show. This is the best entertainment they have had in twenty years of living in fear. They are shocked and then delighted at what happens next.
"Who are you," The Emperor asks in dread," What do you want?"
"What do we want?" Hermione says," We don't want anything from you. We are here to end the war and your reign of terror."
Harry and Hermione move together and each takes a hand of the other. They lift their staves and rise up off the floor slowly to about a meter of height. An ethereal wind starts to swirl around the room and picks up speed blowing anything loose around. Anakin's robes are billowing fiercely in the wind as he moves off to the side to get out of the way. Everything is being broadcast to the galaxy at large where the people are all glued to their screens.
"We are the Elders of the Universe. Ethril Palpatine, you have been judged by the Creator of all things to be unworthy of wielding the force. The judgment is you are to be stripped of all your powers and removed from office forevermore."
The Elders point their staves at Palpatine and beams of light emit from each of them; Green/Blue from Hermione and Red/Yellow from Harry. The beams hit the Emperor and he screams out as his powers are stripped from him. As the galactic audience watches, the Emperor starts to shrivel up and turns to dust. Harry and Hermione cut off the beams of light.
"That wasn't supposed to happen," Hermione says with tears in her eyes, we didn't mean to kill him." She starts crying along with Harry. While the audience watches with compassion for the younglings and joy in their hearts that the Emperor is finally dead and gone, Anakin walks over to the dust and feels it with his fingers, then he walks over to the two crying younglings and wraps them in his arms.
"While your actions ended his existence," he says to them," you didn't kill him. He died of old age. He was using the force to prolong his life and when you took it away he aged and faded away like he should have done long ago. It is not natural to do what he did. You did the galaxy a great favor by getting rid of the evil that was corrupting us."
Harry and Hermione have red eyes and are sniffling as they hug Anakin, then each other.
"You will make a great father Anakin," Hermione says with a sniff," Can we call you Uncle?"
"You can call me Uncle Ani," He says back to them.
"Okay Uncle Ani," Harry says," Let's go home."
He and Hermione get on either side of Uncle Ani and Phase back to the Phoenix. Harry and Hermione receive a warm welcome from everyone.
Luke walks up to Harry," Does this mean we are cousins now?"
"I'd like that Luke," Harry says and gives him a one armed hug of comradeship.
Harry and Hermione sit in the command chairs of the Phoenix and de-cloaks the ship before lifting off, giving the whole populace a look at the saucer shaped ship with the white Phoenix painted on the top and bottom. As they rise up through the atmosphere into outer space an Imperial Executor Class battle cruiser, the former Emperor's personal ship, opens fire on the Phoenix. The blaster bolts all fly around the Phoenix without a single hit.
"That's enough," Hermione says, very upset pounding on the console in front of her with her fist, putting a large dent in it. I guess they want another demonstration. Well we will give them one."
They turn the ship quickly toward the star destroyer and stop in front of the bridge domes so the commanders can see them clearly. The commander's watch, as the Elders each stand up from their seat and walk to the center of their bridge. A round cylindrical shield appears around them up to the center top of their bridge. A hatch opens up and they rise up out of their ship and float there with no suits on, just a blue glow around them. The pair moves towards the bridge of the capital ship and appears to fade right through the main window and the two are soon standing right in front of the commander. Harry and Hermione are seething with anger and their eyes are glowing with power.
"You people can't take a hint can you," Hermione rants," You're so called Emperor is no longer with us and you still want to fight a war. BEGONE!"
With a wave of her staff the crew of the ship, all three hundred and twenty thousand of them, find themselves standing in the open area around the palace.
The Elders then will the Phoenix to move out into the clear. When it has moved sufficiently far enough away, Harry and Hermione fly up to the ceiling of the ship and cast a massive feather light charm to change the mass of the ship and move the ship sideways far enough out of orbit to not be a navigation hazard but still close enough to be a lesson. When they have the ship where they want it, they phase out side and fly towards the tip.
"Corkscrew Harry," she sends.
He nods his understanding and flies to the other side and hovers there. With twin beams of red light coming from their eyes they start cutting the ship up. They fly faster and faster around the ship as they work their way towards the back. Other ships have converged on their position to see what is going on. All they can see is a blur of red light as the ship looks like it is going through a large rapidly rotating cutting torch. When the Elders are finished the ship slowly starts to drip apart. The scavenger ships close in and start trying to salvage everything they can cram into their holds. Harry and Hermione cast a fireworks spell above the ship that says in very large letters:
FREE FOR THE TAKING HELP YOURSELVES
COURTESY OF
THE ELDERS OF THE UNIVERSE
That was all the hold backs needed to see and went in as well to start salvaging what they could get.
"I hope they get the idea now Harry," Hermione sends," looks like we may have to stay here a while though."
"That's okay Hermione," Harry sends back," I kind of like it here. No matter how long we stay, when we return to our time it will still just be a day later to mum and dad."
"Yea," she sends in agreement," we can help with the reconstruction and make sure the galaxy is on track to have the quarantine lifted."
Harry and Hermione stayed for fifty years, never aging physically, but gaining a lot of experience. They met Yoda through Obi wan and trained with light sabers and the way of the force, while teaching Yoda a thing or two about magic. It was a sad day when Yoda passed and that is when the Potters decided they needed to go home. They didn't want to watch all of the others pass from old age while they stayed young. Everyone gathered to watch as the Phoenix phased through the portal back to their home galaxy.
On the other end the astronauts watch as a light starts to form outside the station. A portal forms and the Phoenix materializes bit by bit as it passes through. The Elders fly the Phoenix over to the station and stand alongside. The couple phases into the station and greets the astronauts. Hermione walks over to an empty section and conjures a new computer station. She sits down in the chair and turns on the screen. She types a few commands into the computer using a flat surface with the typewriter keys glowing below. While she is typing Harry floats to the crew quarters and stops inside. He places a hand on a bulkhead and a green glow passes though the station. The crew quarters are reconfigured to have bunks for males and private rooms for females. Harry conjures a gravity plate and phases it into the floor. He adds a section for the exercise bicycle and adds a weight set. He walks back into the main area where all the computers and controls are.
"Okay everyone, gather round," Hermione says.
After everyone is close enough to see the computer screen which is virtual in nature.
"This is something we learned on our mission," She says," we went back in time to another galaxy on the other side of the universe. We spent fifty years there learning and gaining experience in space travel and other things. We are upgrading your station to make it safer for you to live and work in. We already added a gravity plate to the living quarters so you can eat and sleep normally. This way your muscles and bones won't deteriorate over time making it possible to stay longer if you so desire. We will leave this part of the station free of gravity for your experiments. The glow you saw was Harry converting the material of the station to Trinium. It is the metal we build our star ships from and it will keep your station from being damaged by hits from space junk and micrometeorites. The workstation we just installed has a permanent power cell in it that will run the station indefinitely. You can lose the solar batteries or if they are fold-able. Just retract them and use them for emergencies. The type of power cell used in this workstation has never failed or run down. The data in the computer has schematics for the Phoenix so you can send them to NASA and the Russian Federal Space Agency for study. You will find it is easy to understand and develop. We are also going to make the Phoenix available to each of your governments to bring supplies and crew. That should save both of your countries a lot of money that can be spent on more productive things. Study the data and when you think you are ready we will test you and teach you how to fly the ship. Call us and one of us will come and get you to take you home."
Harry extends the docking tube from the Phoenix to the stations docking port and opens it up for the astronauts to take a tour.
"We will leave the ship here for now and you are welcome to walk around and examine everything. The manual controls will work in training mode only and will not actually operate the ship since it is configured for us only. That is why one of us will need to fly the ship until you can build your own. You also don't have to conform to this shape either. Any ship you design does not have to be aerodynamic to fly as you can see. If you want to design one like the shuttle that's in use now you can make it bigger since you won't have to use rockets to achieve orbit. The way the ship is designed now, you could fit the whole space shuttle in the cargo hold," Harry says," Please take care of her and if you decide to use the staterooms you are welcome to the showers as well. Don't worry about running out of water or how must waist that might accumulate. It is all taken care of by the ship automatically."
"You two are trying to spoil us," The American commander says," We don't know what to say for your generosity."
"You can inform your governments that our long term goal is to bring this planet together under one government and eventually add Earth to the Intergalactic Community of Planets," Hermione answers," We don't expect it to happen overnight, but with our help and the things you are learning through your experiments, we will eventually get there. We are hoping we planted a seed today that will take root and grow. Good luck Ladies and Gentlemen. May your efforts and labors bring advancement and hope to the world."
Harry and Hermione each take the hand of the other and phase back to the room at home where it is near midnight. They switch to their bedclothes and quickly fall asleep.
While they are asleep they start to have that same dream again and the voice is heard.
" . .rr.s.s.s.s,," it echoes in their heads.
"We hear Creator," They say in their sleep.
"You have done well," it says," You did not kill or cause harm. You have been rewarded."
"Thank you Creator," they say again in their sleep," We live only to serve you."
The next morning they awaken at their usual time and get up to start their day.
"What a dream Hermione," Harry says to her still a bit sleepy due to the time change," I dreamed we went to a galaxy far, far away and a long time ago."
She laughs at him and says," You've been watching too many Start Wars movies."
He just laughs with her and they go down the stairs to breakfast, not noticing the two cylindrical objects on their desk.
When they arrive in the kitchen they are surprised when their mum and dad both give them big hugs. It has been fifty years for them and they hadn't thought of the emotional parting they had with her.
"How did the mission go," mum asks?
Harry and Hermione look at each other and run upstairs finally understanding what the Creator meant about being rewarded. They spot their light sabers and clip them to their belts.
"I'm not leaving this behind ever again," Hermione says.
"Me neither," Harry says," George Lucas must be from that galaxy. Even the names he used in his movies are the same. I guess to him, we would be legends from a thousand years ago."
"I wonder how many other people are from somewhere else and we just don't know about it," Hermione speculates.
"We may never know Hermione," he says," we may never know."
