Beta'ed by Mad About the Boro
Chapter 1
Harry again found himself spinning through darkness, but unlike last time, there was no pain.
He saw a glowing dot in the distance, it kept growing and growing, until it looked like the gateway he just walked into.
As he approached the gateway, he slowed down and at the last second he felt ground under his feet. He walked the last few steps, coming out on top of a mountain.
He heard shouts coming from down below and, when he looked over the ledge he was standing on, he saw a bunch of black cloaked men advancing on one of the hobbits.
He was about to jump down and help, when the hobbit vanished.
Harry looked confused for a second, before activating his mage sight. He saw one of the hooded guys, now glowing white, stab the hobbit in the chest with a dagger.
Harry jumped down, swung his shotgun up and unloading a wall of tungsten buckshot on the robed demons.
He had shot three of them ,when Aragorn showed up with a torch and sword in hand.
Harry saw how much they feared the fire, so he flipped the switch on his shotgun, and fired again.
This time, glowing red hot buckshot came out, with a long tongue of fire trailing behind it, setting the creature's robes on fire.
It screamed and flailed around.
Harry repeated this four more times, setting the rest of them ablaze. He then pulled his sword, and cleaved the head off of the last creature he set fire to, and the arm of the one to his left.
The other three saw their fallen comrade, and ran from the mountain, dragging the bodies behind them.
Harry pulled one of his 1911's out and rained tungsten cored lead down on them, as they fled. He kept shooting until they were out of range.
"That's right! Keep running, you foul beasts! The next time I see you, I'll know what to do. You're all dead!" Harry yelled, at them.
When he turned around, he saw Aragorn with his sword out, standing in front of the hobbit.
"You shall not have the ring bearer!" He decreed, brandishing his sword.
"Move aside, before I have to hurt you. I have to treat his wound." Harry said, walking towards the hobbit.
"Leave now! Before I am forced to kill you." The ranger replied.
"Look, I don't have time for this. I will hurt you if you don't let me through." Harry said, raising an eyebrow.
When Aragorn didn't move, Harry drew his sword.
"My mission was to protect you, but I will drop you on your ass if I have to." Harry said, finding the situation less funny by the second.
The ranger still didn't move, so Harry attacked. It was swift and vicious. In second Aragorn was on the floor, his jaw felt like it was cracked, and his sword went flying off the mountain.
"Now go sit with the other hobbits, before I really hurt you." Harry ordered, pointing to the group of hobbits huddled together in a corner.
Harry walked over to Frodo, and bent over to look at the stab wound.
"That looks really bad." Harry observed, pulling out a vial of bacta.
"No mortal medicine can heal this wound. The blade was cursed." Aragorn said, moving closer.
"In that case, let's try magical medicine." Harry replied, as he ripped the shirt away and ran his glowing hand over the wound, but nothing happened.
"Well, this is going to be harder than it looked. I'm going to have to get a scan of it." Harry mumbled, as he pulled out his TAB and expanded it.
He turned to the ranger, still sitting on the ground.
"Get the rest of the hobbits, and follow me." Harry instructed, picking up the hobbit and carrying him into the TAB.
Aragorn looked into the TAB and saw the huge house inside. He then looked at the outside again.
The other Hobbits, however, didn't really care about the fact that the huge house was inside a small black cube. They followed Harry inside, hoping Frodo was going to be okay.
Aragorn followed the hobbits inside.
He saw Fordo laying on a shiny steel table, without a shirt, and the man in black was standing over him casting spells out of his glowing hands, with no staff.
"This poison is deep. I have no idea what it is." Harry commented, scratching his head.
"It is evil." Aragorn stated.
"Really? In that case, this might work." Harry said, holding out his hand.
A bright white light came out of his hand, and shot into the black wound. As Harry poured more light into the wound, Frodo looked less pale.
"What are you doing, Wizard?" Aragorn queried.
"Pouring raw, clean, magic into his body to counter act the dark magic; but we will need to get him to a healer soon. Do you know where we can take him?" Harry asked, starting to feel the drain on his core.
"The only person that can heal him is Lord Elrond, the elf king of Rivendell. It's where we were going. It's a few days ride from here." Aragorn supplied, following Harry out of the black box with the hobbits close by.
"Really? That's not going to work for me. Is there a path off the mountain?" Harry asked.
"Yes, this way." Aragorn supplied, leading Harry down the trail, with Harry lighting the way with a big ball of light.
When they reached the bottom of the mountain, Harry handed Frodo off to the ranger.
"Here, hold him for a second." Harry pulled something small from a pouch on his belt and set it on the ground.
A wave of his hand later, and a military green 1994 Land Rover Defender popped up. Harry opened the back door.
"In you get, Hobbits." The three hobbits jumped in. "Aragorn, put Frodo across them. Guys, hold on to him tightly. This is going to be a very bumpy ride." Harry instructed, waving five point safety harness around them to hold them down.
"You sit up front, and tell me where we're going." Harry ordered, holding the door open for him.
"What kind of magic is this?" The ranger enquired.
"British Engineering. And enchantments up the arse." Harry replied, shutting the door after strapping him in.
"What about Bill the pony? And all of our things?" Asked one of the hobbits.
"Right. I almost forgot. " Harry said, summoning everything off the mountain; including the Gateway.
He opened the rear hatch of his truck, and packed everything into the back, including Bill the pony shrunk down to the size of a dog.
Harry opened the second TAB he made for them, and floated the gateway into the front hallway. He then shrunk it back down and handed it, and his sword, to Aragorn.
"You're going to need this. Sorry for tossing it off the mountain." He offered, starting up the engine. He flipped on the head lights, the flood lights, and the six lights on the light bar on the roof.
"Okay Ranger, Point the way." Harry said, activating the protection runes on the dashboard, and the big off road tires.
"It's this way." Aragorn said, pointing to the left.
"Okay, everyone hold onto something." Harry said, before dropping the truck into gear and punching it.
For the next four hours, Harry tore across the forest with everyone holding on for dear life. When they got to a gap in the trees, Harry spotted a woman riding a white horse.
"STOP!" Aragorn yelled.
Harry slammed on the break, and the SUV slid to a stop.
"What?" Harry asked.
"I know her. She can help us get into Rivendell. Arwen! We need to get this hobbit to your father. He's been stabbed with a morgul blade." Aragorn solicited, trying to get out of the harness.
"Relax, tough guy; I'll show her." Harry said, hitting the release on his seatbelt, and walking around to show her Frodo in the back seat.
"He was stabbed about four hours ago. I pushed a lot of raw magical energy into him, and it seemed to slow the poison, but he really needs a good healer. I take it you're an elf?" Harry asked, looking at her ears.
"I am, and you're a wizard?" She asked.
"Kind of, it's hard to explain. We need to get to Rivendell as fast as we can. If you would like to ride along with him, I can shrink your horse and put him in the back with bill the pony. I'm sure he would love the company." Harry offered, showing her Bill in the back trunk, laying down in a pile of camping gear and packs.
"I guess you can, if it's not going to hurt him." she said, waving her horse over.
"It won't hurt him." Harry assured, shrinking the horse and strapping her in next to Sam.
Harry mounted up again and turned around.
"Alright, every one hold on." Harry said, taking off.
Two hours and Marry getting sick later, Harry's SUV was hit with an arrow.
He slid to a stop again. And jumped out of the truck.
"Are you kidding me!" He muttered, before yelling,. "WHO SHOT THAT!?", pulling his sword with his right and his 1911 in his left.
"I did, what is that beast?" queried an elf, strutting up to the SUV with his bow out and two friends.
Harry shot him in the shoulder.
"It's the work horse of the British military. Now, we have wounded and an elf. Let us pass, before you both share in his fate." Harry demanded.
One of the elves was tending to his fallen brother, while the other had Harry at arrow point.
Arwen, having watched Harry get out, hit the release on her harness and came out.
"Let us through, and tell the others we are coming." She ordered.
"And Harry, fix him." She said, pointing to the fallen man.
"Fine. But it was a through and through, I didn't hit anything vital." Harry grumbled, waving the hole closed.
"Now, let's move people, I'm losing days here." Harry said, jumping back into his truck.
It was slow going through the dense forest, and a few times, Harry tested the shield charm around his SUV. But in the end, they made it to Rivendell, around mid day.
Elrond met them at the gate, and took Fordo as soon as Harry pulled him out of the back seat. Harry got all of the rest of their things out of his Defender, and re-shrunk it. When he was done, he looked at the group looking at him.
"What?" Harry asked.
"What kind of Wizard are you?" Arwen asked.
"One not of this world. Now, I need a very quiet place, to be left alone in. Can you point me in the right direction?" Harry asked.
"Yes. If you will just follow me, please." She said, leading him to a room on the third floor, with an open roof and comfortable chairs.
"Will this do?" She asked.
"Yes. Thank you." Harry said, falling to his knees and dropping into the Force.
"Mother Goddess?" He asked.
Harry's world went black, and then he was sitting in his meditation room again, and she was there.
"You called for me?" She asked.
"Yes. I'm guessing you've been keeping track of what went on so far?" Harry asked.
"I have. You're being a bit brash, don't you think, Harry?" She said, raising an eyebrow.
"Am I? I didn't really notice. I'm trying to get this over with, so I can go back home." Harry said, shrugging.
"I take it you don't like Aragorn?" She enquired.
"I have nothing against the guy. I can see what you were saying, though. He needs the journey to gain the power to lead. As it is, he's a bit light on leadership." Harry said, pouring himself some tea from the pot.
"Yes. Without my help, he is a bit… less skilled. But, now you see why you're needed here. Without you, tonight would have been a disaster. He was supposed to fight off that group of Ring Wraiths." She revealed.
"I see why you brought me on, but now that they're in Rivendell, I'm guessing they're going to be sticking around here for a little while?" Harry asked.
"Yes, a few months." She said.
"Right. After I give your champion the TAB, I would like to go back home. I have a very bad feeling, that something happened, while I was gone." Harry confided, ominously.
"I will open the portal, when you are ready." She said.
"Thank you. I'll be ready to go soon." Harry said, downing the rest of his cup and rolling his neck.
Harry came out of his trance, to find Arwen sitting in a chair watching him.
"I asked to be left alone." Harry said, smiling.
"You didn't know I was here." She said, smirking.
"True." Harry allowed, standing up and stretching.
"How long was I out?" Harry asked, looking up at the darkening sky.
"You missed lunch. It is now dinner." she enlightened, watching him.
"Do you know where the Ranger is?" Harry asked.
"Down the hall, in the dining room." She replied, pointing to the door.
"Thanks." Harry said, walking out.
Harry found Aragorn sitting with the other three hobbits, eating at a big table.
"Aragorn." Harry said, as he walked up to him.
"Wizard." He greeted, standing up. "Thank you for getting us here so fast. Without your… Truck?" the word rolled oddly off his tongue. "It would have taken us days to get here. Days, I fear, Frodo did not have." Aragorn said, bowing his head slightly.
"I was sent by the Mother Goddess to help you, but now I must go. Before I do, I need to tell you a few things. Do you have the black box?" Harry asked, holding out his hand.
"Yes." Aragorn said, handing it over.
"This is a portable house." Harry said, placing it on the floor and expanding it.
"Give me your hand please?" He requested.
When Aragorn held out his right hand, Harry grabbed it and cut the palm with his knife.
"Place it on the box." Harry instructed.
When he touched it with his bleeding hand, the box glowed. Harry waved the cut closed and motioned for the hobbits to come over.
One by one, he repeated the process. When Marry was done, Harry pulled the door open.
"This is a house." He said, inviting them in. This TAB was different from his own.
This TAB had dark wood walls, and only two floors. The first floor was split up into three big rooms.
A huge entry way, housed the gateway and the staircase to the second floor.
A big main room, with a few couches and chairs of different sizes for both hobbit and man to sit on. All of it was covered in leather and fur.
A huge fireplace, for cooking and heating the room.
A big table, for eating on and a kitchen area with a big sink and wood burning stove.
The other room was a big bathroom. With a huge tub, a walk in shower, a bank of three sinks, and two water closets.
Harry showed them how the water worked, and how the toilet flushed. This amazed them all.
The upstairs had a second bathroom, to match the one downstairs, and five bedrooms.
Each room had a fireplace, and two beds.
He took them back downstairs, and showed then the huge walk in pantry.
"Anything you put on the shelves will stay fresh." He told them, adding to their wide eyed stares.
"The last thing I wanted to show you, is this panel by the door. This button shrinks the TAB. This one cloaks it. So at night, after you gather fire wood, you get everyone inside and hit these two buttons. This will give you cover from anything trying to get you. This button activates the screen, and shows you what's outside." Harry explained.
Walking outside, he showed them how to shrink the TAB, and how to expand it. He walked back inside, and over to the gateway.
"This is the portal, between my world, and yours. If you need me, for anything, I want you to call out to the Mother Goddess, and she will tell me. If I come through the gateway, and the TAB is shrunk down, it will vibrate to let you know I'm here. I'll see you around." Harry finished, walking through the gateway.
Harry once again spun around in the void, and walked out the other side with just a little bit of a stumble.
When he came out in the ritual room, he saw two Sentinels standing guard by the gateway. As soon as he saw them, they stood tall and bowed.
"Master Potter, Sir! The council is waiting for you, Sir!" Greeted the Sentinel on the left.
"You," He said, pointing to the guard on the right, with the knight robes and armor. "Walk with me, and tell me what the hell is going on." Harry commanded, walking out the door.
In the halls, he saw Sentinels walking around in full black ceramic plate armour; and Clone troopers, in black armour, standing at attention lining the walls.
"What the hell happened?" Harry demanded, looking at all the war gear.
"Sir, Master Yoda and Knight Kenobi ran into a Sith apprentice on Kamino: Count Dooku. He knew they were there. He brought a drop ship, full of battle droids, with him, and tried to blow up the clone production facility. Master Yoda fought Dooku off, while Kenobi repelled the droids with a few companies of clones, and the bounty hunter Jango Fett; but they managed to disrupt production for two weeks, and Dooku got away. Dooku, with the help of his droid General, Grievous, have waged open warfare across the galaxy. The Council is trying to stem the flow of blood shed through talks on the Senate floor, but they didn't know how to combat the Separatists as we don't have the troops, or a plan of attack, to stop the march of the droids. The Senate is in total chaos. Everyday, more planets fall under the control of the Confederacy, controlled by Dooku. Twenty-five so far, Sir." The knight briefed him, whilst leading Harry to the Council room.
"Where are the Shadows?" Harry asked.
"Knight Kenobi and Padawan Skywalker are in charge of temple security, and Knight Potter and Padawan Ventress are in charge of the senate, by request of the Chancellor." The knight explained.
"Right," Harry said, deep in thought as they made it to the council chambers.
"I'm gone for 33 days, and the whole galaxy falls apart." Harry said, exasperatedly, rubbing his hands over his face.
"Spread the word, I want all Shadows to report to the council chambers ASAP. I want every available Sentinel, and every clone trooper, ready for war and standing by in the large training room, in an hour. Spread the word over the Shadow network, for full withdraw, and return to Temple for all non-vital Investigators in the field. Work with Moe on how to do it." Harry ordered, tiredly.
The knight bowed and ran off.
He really needed to see his wife, & his daughter; and he needed about ten hours of sleep.
Harry took a deep, cleansing, breath and stood up tall, before walking into the room. Stepping into the center of the room, he waved a chair into place and dropped into it.
"What did you guys do? I was gone for a month, and we are losing a war that you let happen." Harry complained, shaking his head.
"Good, it is, to see you as well. Master insubordination." Yoda quipped, smirking.
"Yes. It's good to see you, Harry; now, how are you going to fix this?" Mace asked.
"Why are you asking me? You lot are the brains behind this group, you fix it." Harry replied.
"Yes, but it would be a lot faster, if you did it for us." Qui said.
"You know, you're right. It just so happens, I have a plan to fix it all. I'll lead a special forces unit, of mixed Sentinels and clone troops, to war with the Sith. We go from planet to planet, destroying the Separatists droid armies. Collecting the scrap metal as we go, to rebuild the planets they took over." Harry started.
"Through years of sabotages, and Shadow missions, I've been able to keep the droid production quality down. Half of the droids can't shoot straight, and the other half are made of such cheap metal, they might fall apart from basic walking around. I've kept them from developing a good individual link-up, so they still need droid command ships, and command post, for orders; but they can be self reliant if both go down, running on last orders, until an uplink can be reestablished." He explained
"This means we can do this like Naboo, for the most part; but after I blow through taking out the command points, a second wave needs to come through and clean up the droids. When we've dropped the droid armies, I'm going to hunt down every Sith I can find, and kill them all." Harry finished, laying out his plan.
"I knew this day would come, so I've been preparing for it. For the past year, I've been in constant contact with Marcus Draymak. We have an agreement. If war breaks out, like this one, then he would supply me with anything I needed to fight it; as long as I keep the Draymak corporation moon safe, and we hire his company to do the cleanup, and rebuilding of the planets. I can be in the air in as little as a week, and I'm pretty sure I can knock out half of the Separatist movement in as little as six months. Figure they will talk surrender in seven. I say we crush them, and break the Banking clan and the Trade Federation at the same time by fighting them to the last man. Figure a year of fighting." He expounded.
"I would like Knight Siri Kenobi, Padawan Ventress, and Padawan Skywalker to head up protection of the Senate, the Temple, and Shadow Network to start with. Then, I want her to hand it off to a Sentinel of her choosing in a few months. I also want the two of them to have Knight powers, and rank, until this war is over and we can evaluate them for Full Knighthood. I want Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi and Master Plo Koon to head up the secondary attack force that will handle clean up." He continued to instruct.
"I will be taking my wife with me to run the space assault. We are calling in most of the Sentinels, and splitting them up between the two attack forces. I want the rest of the Jedi to keep up the peace, and keep up the missions the Sentinels do, as best as you can. I want supply ships to keep delivering aid to poor planets. I want criminals caught, and punished. I want the whole galaxy to go on living, like this war is not even going on. I want the Separatists to be totally freaked out. I want the people living on Separatist planets to turn on their rulers. I want them to be fighting their own people, as well as us. I want chaos, and panic. That way we can make the people fight back, against the corrupt politicians that sided with the Separatist movement." He explained.
"Then, we will show up. I'll scout the command posts by myself, with a small unit. Once we mark them all, Luminara will hit their command ships from space, and her wing commanders will decimate the command posts in EST's. At that time, my attack force will drop in, and start taking out the rest of the droids still standing. After a week of heavy fighting, we hand it off to Obi-Wan and Plo; to finish off the last of the droids, capture the leaders, and leave them in the hands of their people. Then, the Draymak cleanup crew will come in, and start fixing things. Figure, maybe… three weeks… for a big army, and two for a smaller one." Harry finished, with a smirk.
No one said anything for a few seconds after he was done with his speech. They all just looked at him wide eyed. Then Mace started clapping. The others soon joined in and, before long, everyone was cheering.
"Proud, I am." Yoda told his formed student.
"I thought you would come in here, and yell at us for letting the galaxy fall apart, and then walk out ranting. I never thought you would be this prepared for a war." Mace stated, excitedly.
"That was inspiring." Qui-Gon commented.
"Yes, well, it's not going to be all fun and games. This is going to be open combat. I plan on taking very little casualties, but that doesn't mean this is going to be a bloodless war. Figure for every planet we take, we are going to lose a thousand clones, and maybe a Jedi or two, at best. Tack on a one in front of those numbers, for a really tough fight. Now, I can take on the very worst missions myself, and I can give Obi-Wan the second worst, but this is still going to be a war. We are going to see death. This is going to mess some Sentinels up. I've seen it before. I'm going to ask for volunteers, and I'm going to hand pick the Jedi I take with me. The group is going to be vetted very harshly for any signs of cracking, and I'm going to rotate them out as often as I can. I'm going to set up a few liberty camps in the area. I don't want to win this war quickly, at the cost of the lives of my fellow Sentinels. It's bad enough they do the majority of the policing of the galaxy. I don't want them getting killed, because I pushed the war along too fast." Harry said, deep in thought.
"Very thoughtful, you are, my apprentice. I will also be joining you on the battle field, as well." Yoda asserted.
"As am I." Mace concurred.
"Good, I could use the two of you to run the third string attack group, and clean up with the Draymak people. You two can also help smooth over the clean up and restructuring of the governments. In fact, you should hand pick a few Consulars to go with you. I will have Moe get started on your ship ASAP. Hopefully, it will be ready in a few weeks." Harry said.
"What kind of ships are you building, Harry?" Mace queried.
Harry pulled out a holo-projector, and turned it on.
"Marauder class corvettes," Harry said, showing then the ship diagram. "We doubled the number of turbo cannons to sixteen, and added ten quad rail torpedo racks. It has six shield generators & six hyper drive engines. We tripled the space inside. We magically expanded the crew cabins into barracks, to hold a thousand troops, and fifty Jedi. It's faster than a destroyer, and stronger than three cruisers, put together. We built a derelict ship, with the six shields, and it held up against three of our Marauders, for an hour. If it was shooting back, it would have taken the three ships out in a matter of seconds, and nothing the enemy has can produce that kind of firepower. They have magic cloaking and shielding added, on top of that. They can house enough troops and equipment to take over a few planets, without having to refuel and restock, and piloted by a crew of two shifts of six Slicers. We expanded the hanger bay to fit twenty Draymak ESTs, instead of fighters, and you know what one of those can do." Harry effused.
"We had five Marauders built, before I left. We should have eight by now, if Moe kept up production. I also have Talia working with bounty hunters to bring down Gundarks, to make leather and ceramic plate enchanted armour, for the Sentinels. I've got Draymak shipping crates of weapons to our warehouses in the lower levels of Coruscant, every day for the past six months. I'll have Moe start packing the ships, and getting them ready. That's assuming he hasn't already. The Sentinels and clones will be carrying these." Harry expounded, pulled a small gun out and dropped the shrinking charm.
"This is the Draymak SAR-1x rifle. It takes two magazines. The first is a one hundred shot blaster power cell, and the other has fifteen thermite slugs." Harry explained, hand ejecting a few bullets and tossing them around to different members.
"The slugs are heavy enough to drop a tank. The blaster can drop a droid from two hundred yards out. We will also be handing out these." Harry said, pulling out a handgun. "This is the new Draymak XL-12 auto Slug thrower. Both of these weapons are new, and every one made so far have been shipped to us. I've had teams of Slicers enchanting them by the crate load to be silent, and lighter, in the Draymak factory; before shrinking the crates, and loading them on EST's for transport here. With these two weapons, along with a Vibroblade sword I designed, we have a silent and deadly force that can show up in the middle of the night, and take down a droid force in hours, without even being seen." Harry finished.
"How long have you been putting this together, Harry?" Mace asked.
"Six months for the Marauder class ships, but we've been building our fleet of enchanted Draymak ESTs for years. It was supposed to be the ship of the Jedi fleet, but now we are going to be using them as fighters and drop ships. We have about a hundred of them by now. The guns have been coming together for a year. We have a whole warehouse full of them." Harry informed them, taking a drink from his flask.
"What is our first move, Harry?" Qui asked.
"My first move is to freak out the Senate. I want to know who's with us, and who's with the Sith. I also want to look at how strong they are in their choices. If we can start by liberating a few 'on the fence' planets, then it can make our campaign go a little smoother. Also, it will give our green troops something easy to cut their teeth on to start. I'm going to talk to Chancellor Bail Organa, and see what he has to say. Then, it's over to the Senate for a bit of recon. After that, I'll have a better idea of what I'm looking at. I'll come back here when I'm done, and we can hammer out a map of where we're going first." Harry said, looking about as tired as he was, which was something new for the Council.
"Do whatever you think is necessary, Harry, you have our full support." Mace assured.
"Good to know; but I want you to remember those words in five months, when we're faced with the very darkest days of the war. This is going to be a hard fight. It's going to cost us money, supplies, clones and Jedi. I'm going to do everything in my power to limit the losses of Jedi, but it's going to happen. Figure our worst case scenario, is about 175 Jedi and 100,000 clones. Keep that number in mind when we've lost 75 Jedi, and we're faced with the assault on Geonosis. I can tell you this, if I was taking Consulars and Guardians into battle, we would see triple the numbers of casualties, Jedi and clones. Sentinels were created for this sort of thing. It's still going to hurt us. We won't be back to normal for a while after this. 175 Sentinels is about half the Investigator in the Order." Harry warned, looking sad.
He knew what was coming. If he could, he would lock his family away in a tower and never let them come with him.
"Know what this is going to cost us, we do." Said Master Yoda, coming to stand by Harry.
"I will feel the loss of every one of them." Harry said, softly.
"A burden of being a leader, it is." Yoda said, patting Harry on the shoulder.
Harry found all of the Shadows in the sitting room outside of the Council chambers. Luminara ran into his arms kissing him. Asajj came up behind her, and joined the hug.
"I've missed you so much. As soon as you left, everything went wrong." She said, holding him.
"I know. I heard all about it. This is going to be a long year." Harry said.
"You have a plan for dealing with this?" Obi asked, pulling Harry into a one armed hug.
"You know I do. We are going to hit them fast, and hard. I need to go see Bail first, but when I come back, we can go over it all." Harry said, looking at his watch.
Siri walked up holding a bundle of blue cloth.
"Harry, meet your nephew: Rani Kenobi. He's three weeks old." Siri introduced, handing Harry the bundle.
Harry looked down at the small baby boy in his hands. Reni had his father's big blue eyes, and his mother gold hair.
"Hello, little guy. I'm your uncle Harry." He said, kissing the baby on the head.
As he did, he cast a spell. Instantly he felt the connection wash over him. Now Reni was linked to him, like the rest of his family. Harry would know if he was hurt, or in trouble.
He handed the boy back to his mother, and kissed Siri in the forehead.
"He's perfect, just like his mother. Let's hope he also got your brains, and didn't take after his father. We don't need another dim witted Kenobi running around." Harry quipped, smirking.
"Hey! I'm not dim witted." Obi retorted, slinging his arm around Harry's shoulder.
"You did good, brother. You found your soul mate, and now you have a son. I'm proud of you." Harry said.
"That means a lot to me, brother." Obi said, hugging his wife and child.
"The Jedi and Clones you asked for are down in training room one." Plo supplied, grasping Harry's arm in greeting.
"Good, we are going to need them soon. Keep them entertained, and tell them we are going to war." Harry said, to Plo as he took a drink from his flask.
"What are you going to talk to Bail about, Harry?" Anakin asked.
"The traitors and spies sitting in the Senate." Harry replied.
A short meeting with Bail gave Harry some more of the information he desperately needed; but until he stormed into the senate meeting, he would still have some unanswered questions.
He came back and talked to his family over lunch.
Harry ate a hearty meal to make up for the ones he missed over the last thirty-eight hours. Sitting at the table with all of his family made Harry smile. They were only missing Padme. Looking at them, his smile turned sad.
How many of them were going to suffer, because of the war? How many would he lose?
His wife looked at him, and saw the look in his eyes. She shared his somber smile, as she held his hand.
Harry made a promise right there and then. He would not lose any of them.
He didn't care if he had to take every mission on by himself, he was not going to lose them. Coldly, he stood up and waved the Blade robes on. He pulled out his gold saber, and clipped it on to his belt.
"It's time." Harry said, in his deep gravelly voice.
It was a sight that put fear into everyone standing on the street. Harry lead fifty Jedi Sentinels, and a hundred clone troops in black armour, up the wide street that ran between the Jedi Temple and the Senate building.
As they saw them, people on the street gave them a wide birth.
Harry walked the steps of the senate building and, with two hand gestures, the group spit in half and took the halls to the left and right.
Harry continued to the Jedi box. When he walked into the box, he floated it up to the Chancellor.
Bail called him out.
"Can we help you?" He asked Harry, with a barely repressed smirk.
"The Jedi Order would like to make an official declaration of war against the Confederacy of Independent Systems." Harry stated calmly, causing the Senate to explode in objections.
"And what will your declaration entail?" Bail enquired, smirking. Being a friend to the Jedi had many advantages; being in on the plan was one of them.
"As the Jedi Order is a power in the Galaxy for good and the Separatists have sided with the Sith, the power behind much of the evil events in the Galaxy, then we, the JedI order, are going to have to eradicate the Separatists." Harry declared to much gasping.
"A bit extreme, is it not?" Bail queried.
"I think not! The last time we allowed the Sith to gain power, we had mass death and the sacking of whole worlds. We, the Jedi Order, cannot let the darkness spread to other worlds. Today the Sith, through there falsehood of a separatist façade, control twenty-five worlds. If we don't act now, that number will grow. We must cut them down, now!" Harry exclaimed, passionately.
"What of the innocents on those worlds? What of the people? Surely you cannot call yourself a peace keeper, after you kill so many in your quest to stomp out the Sith." Bail cried, in outrage.
"That depends on their level of involvement. If they are an unwilling participant in the Sith plot, if they joined out of fear, if they are being threatened into housing droid armies; then no harm shall befall them. We will move swiftly to clean up the blight on their world, and send aid to help them fix any damage incurred during the fight. Like with the conflict five years ago on Naboo, everything was put back in it's place, and order was restored. But any world I find working with the Droid Army controlled by the Sith, will be shown less mercy. For if you work with the Sith, then you are an agent of the darkness, and you will be dealt with accordingly." Harry promised, ominously.
"The Senate cannot grant you a declaration of war, without offering you an army; and since the Republic has no army, the declaration cannot proceed." Bail stated.
"It matters not. We have an army. We only came here to warn you all of what is to come. Now that you know of our intentions, it would appear we have separatist spies amongst us." a mixed team of two Sentinels and four clones stood at the doorway to the separatist boxes.
"You have one chance to leave peacefully, now, or you will be treated as an enemy spy, tried, and hung. If you coerced into joining the separatist movement, then tell your escort as you leave. This information will get back to me, and I will help you out of the unfortunate situation you find yourselves in." Harry said, before waving his hand and had them all pulled out of their boxes.
"Thank you for your time, Chancellor." Harry said, disappearing from the building, and leaving a panicked Senate behind.
Harry reappeared in the Council chambers, and let his Blade robes fall away.
"The announcement went about as well as I thought it would. I have a few informational meetings to attend to, but I will have a full game plan, with troop deployments, in two days. I expect to be in the air by the end of the week." Harry informed, bowing.
"Keep us posted, and let us know what we can do to help you." was Mace's only response.
"Will do." Harry assured, bowing out of the room.
When he got back to his rooms, he saw a mad house. There were twenty Sentinels standing around, talking to each other.
Siri, and Plo were sitting at the big dining room table, looked over maps and stacks of files. He was nursing a glass of scotch, and she was nursing little Reni.
Moe was talking to Obi and Luminara. Ani and Asajj were circulating around the room, passing out tea and finger sandwiches.
When he stepped into the room his wife shot up and came over to him.
"What's going on?" Harry asked.
"Everyone is here to help. The Shadows are here to help you plan, and the Sentinels are here with information, and they also want to be the first to volunteer." Luminara explained, leading him to the head of the table.
"Good. The faster we get this all together, the faster I can get some sleep." Harry said, falling into his seat. Asajj came over and handed him a cup of tea, and a meat sandwich.
"Thank you sweetie." Harry said, hugging her.
"Dad, not in front of the others." She said, blushing.
"What?" Harry asked.
"You're embarrassing me." She said, in a whiney voice.
"No I'm not." Harry said, looking around at the other Jedi in the room. Most of them were smirking.
"Honey, never feel embarrassed about showing your loved ones affection. Besides, you can kick almost everyone's ass in here. If they give you a hard time, just give them the death glare I showed you. Go ahead." Harry encouraged, winking at her.
Asajj stood up, rolled her shoulder, and let her face drop into a cold death glare.
She looked at the rest of the Sentinels, and they all looked away. When she looked back down at Harry, he had the proudest smile on his face, which set her off.
"That's my little girl." Harry praised, pulling her down to sit on the arm of his chair.
"Now, why are the rest of you here? Let's start with you." He said, pointing to Bant.
"Harry. The Mon Calamari fear for their lives, they joined the separatists out of fear and dirty politics." She said.
"Right. Good to know." Harry said, waving two white boards on stands into existence.
"My precious little girl." Harry said, handing Asajj a black marker. "Can you write that down on the left board?"
"Sure dad." She said, writing Mon Calamari on the board.
"Bant, do we know what the troop deployment numbers look like?" Harry asked.
"Two frigates and two battalions of aqua droids; but the planet is split, with the Mon Cala people wanting to stay in the Republic, and the Quarren being paid off to start the war. They are being overrun every day." Bant said, sadly.
"Asajj, write that down. Bant, we are not going to let this bloodshed continue for long. You have my word, but we might need to strike somewhere else first. A water world is a very hard place to fight the kind of war we need to fight." Harry said, standing up and taking her shoulders in his hands.
Looking her in the eyes he nodded to her asking for her understanding.
"I know Harry. It's just hard to hear." She acceded, nodding back.
"Then you can start doing something about it. I need you to organize the Slicer class, and get them to expand the small closet in the hallway, outside of the Council room. We need a war room." Harry instructed, waving a set of blueprints out of thin air, and handed them to her.
"Put the kids to work, and I'll work on a plan to help your home world." He promised.
"Thank you, Harry." She said, walking out with her head held high, and a bounce to her step.
"Okay, who's next?" He asked, taking his seat again.
"Harry, I need to go next, we have a lot to cover." Moe said, standing up.
"What's up Moe?" Harry asked.
"Well, Marcus Draymak took all the money we gave him for the ships and guns, and put it back into the company. He expanded the factory, the work force and the R&D labs. He managed to deliver all of the weapons and ships three weeks ago. Marcus took the time since then to work on a few things he thought you might like. The first is this." He started, pulling something out of his pocket and putting it on the floor in the space between the couches.
He expanded it into a huge turret.
"This, Harry, is the ASF Rail Cannon turret. It fires these three foot long metal rods, like a huge rail gun. The best part is, they hold an EM charge." Moe continued, holding up a long blue rod.
"Fifty per loader, or continuous fire if it's on a ship with a belt feed system. Hit a droid capital ship with thirty of these, and there won't be anything left. He sent me two hundred of them. I took the liberty of adding two of them to every Marauder, and one on ever EST." Moe finished, smirking.
"Good. I like it when Marcus gets back into the R&D lab. What else did you bring me?" Harry asked.
"Isn't the rail gun turret enough?" Moe asked.
"I know you're holding out on me. What do you have for me, Moe? Something shiny?" Harry asked, smiling
"You're right." he admitted, pulling out a shrunken case and expanded it in front of Harry. Inside was a black and white Blaster pistol. "It's called the Scourge Gun. It combines a heavy blaster pistol, and a high powered EMP slug launcher. They don't have a ton of these, but they sent us a few crates, to try them out."
"This is nice, but I know you Moe; you started out with the turret, so I know you have something better. Come on, hit me with what you got." Harry said, smiling.
Moe always knew how to get him excited. This was like Christmas.
Moe shrank the turret and put it away. He replaced it with something and waved his hand.
A huge mechanical suit of armour was revealed.
"This is the first Draymak Walker Assault Mech Suit. I know you want to do a lot of stealth assaults; but if you ever want to go full assault, you're going to want a few of these. They're equipped with a ray shield, heavy blaster, grenade launcher, EMP slug thrower. And with a hard point on each shoulder, we can add almost anything, from rockets to a flame thrower." Moe effused, pointing to the parts as he talked.
Everyone was looking on in awe, but Harry had a smirk on his face.
"Moe, it's time for your grand finale. You said Marcus got back to the lab. If he went back to the lab, that means a ship. Now, show me what the master builder has cooked up for me." Harry said.
"You know, you take away all my fun, Harry." Moe said, shrinking the Mech suit.
He pulled out a big toy ship model and put it on the table in front of Harry.
"You are looking at the Draymak Durma TF-4 Long-Range Freighter/Transport. This is the future of the Draymak ship line. He's going to make three different sizes. A small 25 meter long ship to replace the EST's line, a 50 meter long ship to replace their Viper class heavy transport ship, and lastly this big boy that comes in at just under 76 meters long. When it goes into production it will have a lot of creature comforts, like a droid ran kitchen, ten staterooms and a big entertainment lounge. But for you, he gutted his floor plans down to bare bones, and started with an eye towards military application." Moe explained, handing over deck plans.
"As you can see, he combined three staterooms into an enchanted big barracks, to house a thousand troops. A large mess hall replaced the kitchen. A trauma bay, with forty beds, took out the infirmary. A huge armoury took over another stateroom. He expanded five of the other six staterooms, into luxury bunks of ten for the Jedi. He turned the last stateroom into a luxury apartment for the captain of the ship. He gutted the cargo bay, and expanded it to hold a flight of twenty ESTs, with room to spare. It has twenty hard points, to add anything you want weapons wise. It's got the same Hyperdrive, and shield systems as the Marauders we are using, so nothing can knock it out of the sky. The best part about it, is that he's going to give us the first twenty of them for free. He wants us to use them as our capital ships. We are his testers for this. He can start production as soon as more scrap metal comes in, because they are running out of raw materials. He is also willing to start production on the smaller EST sized ships, if you want to use them instead of ESTs." Moe finished.
"So, when we start scrapping droids and ships, he can start making me some of these?" Harry asked, playing with the model.
"Yes. He has three of them done, so far, but if you want any more you need to start destroying the enemy." Moe concurred.
"Do we have any of the three" Harry asked.
"You mean besides the one in your hand?" Moe asked, smiling.
"You mean you shrunk a capital sized ship! Are you crazy?" Harry said, placing the ship down softly.
"Don't worry about breaking it. The damned thing is practically indestructible. That one is yours. Note the black paint job and the black dragon design. This one is called the Black Dragon, and I can tell you from testing, she is a real war bird. I have six torpedo racks, four Rail canons, and ten turbo laser cannons set aside in the warehouse, waiting to go on her; pending your approval." Moe said.
Harry picked up the Black Dragon again and looked her over.
She was a real beauty. She looked like a bird of prey, with her swept back wings and hooked beak.
"I agree. Add four more Rail Canons, and only six laser cannons; but aside from that you got it right. I love the paint, and I think the Black Dragon is going to be our flagship. What do you think, my better half? Would you like one?" Harry asked, holding up the Black Dragon.
"I like it, can I get one in purple, please?" She asked.
"I know you two so well." Moe said, holding up a purple Durma, with a gold eagle design across the wings. "I have a flight of twenty ESTs with black paint jobs docked in the cargo bay of the Black Dragon, and a flight of twenty gold ESTs on the Golden Eagle."
"Thank you very much, Moe, once again you go above and beyond. Tell Marcus we will take two more of these, as well as a flight of fifty of the smaller 25 meter ships, to start with." Harry said, shaking Moe's hand.
"Now, on to the rest of you. What do you have for me?" Harry asked, sitting back in his seat.
Two hours later, Harry was fading fast as the last Sentinel gave his report.
"Sir, Rodia has been taken by force. The people were placed into concentration camps. The Separatists have four Capital ships around the planet, and four battalions of droids holding the planet, sir." began Knight Caleb Marick, an Investigator and team leader from Rodia. "I can tell you this sir, the Rodians are a very peaceful people. In my six years on the job stationed there, I've spent most of my time stopping outsiders from taking advantage of the Rodians. I've only had to put a few of them away for doing bad things. For a whole planet, that's pretty good, sir." said Caleb.
"Good work, Caleb. I expect you to accompany me on the recon of the planet, your knowledge of the world will be most helpful to us; and with the way you talked about the people, it sounds like you want to be there when we take it back." Harry observed.
Caleb stood tall and saluted Harry.
"Yes sir. I would like that very much, sir!" Caleb said.
"Good. That's what I want to hear Sentinel! Go see to your men, and be ready to march out by the end of the week." Harry ordered.
When Caleb left, Harry looked at the people left.
"Well, he is definitely not going to be marching out with me on the front lines. Obi, you take him for the second wave group. He can lead men, but he's never killed anyone yet. I want killers." Harry said, tiredly.
"Sounds good to me." Obi said.
"So kid, what's the butcher's bill? How many Planets joined the Dark Side willingly?" Obi asked Asajj.
"As far as we know, six of the twenty we have information on, but we need more information on those other five planets to be sure. We know Geonosis and Christophsis are with the Seps, being the home world of the droid army and the Banking Clan's home world, respectively. We can also add Neimoidia and it's three purse worlds to the list of places we have to fight heavy resistance. Plus, we have Druckenwell, the ship building world of the Seps. We also have Mustafar, which I say we hit first. If we take Mustafar, we can cut off the Seps source of raw metal and we can hand it over to Draymak, so they can use it." Asajj said, writing and reading as she went.
"My, we are taking after our father, aren't we?" Obi teased, smirking.
"You leave my little evil genius alone. She learned from the best, after all." Harry said, standing next to Asajj.
"You did good, Sweetie. Very well thought out. Keep up the good work, but don't stay up too long. I'm beat. I've been up for forty-eight hours, and I need sleep. I'll look over your work in the morning, and help you, but I like the way you're working so far." Harry praised, kissing her on the cheek.
"Thank you, daddy!" She said, blushing.
"Anakin, help Asajj, or just listen to her as she works; she has a good mind for what your Master calls evil plotting. It's good for a Shadow to know this stuff. Just because Obi has no calling for it, doesn't mean your education should suffer." He said, patting Anakin on the back as he walked to the bedroom.
As soon as he closed the door, he started dropping things. First thing to go was his weapons rigs. Next was his duster, which he tossed over a chair. His heavy vest went next, along with heavy leather pants. Last to go was his black button down shirt.
He was about to drop onto the bed when he heard.
"Shower first! You smell, and I don't want to sleep next to you smelling like that." Luminara ordered.
"Fine, but I'm dead tired, so you have to wash my back." Harry said, with a tired smirk.
"I haven't seen you in thirty-three days. I'm dying to get you naked." She said, walking up to him with a predatory smile.
"In that case…" Harry said, waving a silencing charm at the door.
"It's been a day for me, and that's way too long." Harry complained, grabbing her around the waist and walking into the fresher.