The New Rebels
By: Tellemicus Sundance
#01: Rebellious from the Start

Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey
July 4, 2015 (Earth time)

Harry Potter was having a very bad summer. Well, that wasn't to say that he was being bullied, abused, or otherwise tormented but he was stuck back with his relatives in the Muggle World once again. They were a horrid bunch, willfully and pridefully ignorant and self-righteous. And though he was bound by Wizarding law to never use magic in front of Muggles, his aunt and uncle drew immense pleasure in reminding and tormenting him on that fact whenever they could.

But that by itself isn't why he was having such a bad time. He had grown accustomed to this type of behavior from them over the past few years. No, what was really getting to Harry was the simple fact that he knew of nothing that was happening in the Wizarding World since his departure from Hogwarts. He had tried to get a subscription of the Wizarding newspaper, but his relatives often chased away the delivery owls and burned the papers whenever they found them. Of the times that he managed to get the paper himself, he didn't find any evidence that drew his attention. There were no mentions of Death Eaters, no attacks in either the Muggle or Wizarding Worlds, no mysterious disappearances. There was nothing. It was as though the Wizarding World was carrying on, happily and willfully forgetting or ignoring the simple fact that the most powerful Dark Lord recent times had come back to life. It was a horrible, knowing that the dark lord and his lunatics were out there and being unable to find any type of evidence that hinted towards it.

Frustrated and unwilling to stay in the house, the 14-year-old wizard headed outside and started taking a brief walk around the neighborhood. Not too far from the house, but enough to get some breathing room. He ended up in one of the local parks that he didn't know the name of, idly swaying on the swing. The summer was rather hot this year with some pretty heavy humidity, making it seem wetter than it was. Hands in his pocket, Harry was sorely tempted to use his magic wand that was hidden in his pocket to cast a small cooling charm on himself. It was so tempting, but he restrained himself.

Looking about, Harry caught a glimpse of numerous people walking about, minding their own business as they went about their lives. 'You guys have no idea how lucky you are,' he thought morosely. 'No idea of how much danger has come back into the world and how likely it is that he'll send his followers to kill and curse you just because you don't have magic. I guess ignorance truly is bliss.'

Glancing up at the sky and seeing the sun making its descent towards the horizon, Harry let out a heavy sigh as he pushed himself to his feet. The walk back to that prison he called a home was spent in equally sullen and dark thoughts, feeling his spirit darken as he drew closer. Entering through the front door, since that granted him a quick and hopefully unimpeded route straight to his room, Harry quickly took off his shoes and tried to quickly and quietly rush upstairs.

"Where have you been, boy?!" Uncle Vernon called from where he was seated in his usual recliner in the living room, watching the news. Though how he noticed Harry's presence was unknown to the boy.

"Out…for a walk," Harry answered, midway up the stairs. "I'm going to my room now. I'll be quiet."

"You better be! I don't wanna hear another peep from you for the rest of the night!" Uncle Vernon snapped.

"Yes, Uncle Vernon," Harry sighed out, more out of obligation than anything. He knew the rules of the house (in regards to himself at least) quite well after all. Climbing the rest of the stairs quickly, in an attempt to escape before either his aunt or uncle could bother him further, Harry headed for his own room.

"Oi, Potter!" a voice called from his cousin's room. "Come here for a second!"

Sighing heavily, Harry stopped and stepped into his cousin's room, not stepping past the threshold. Inside, he found his heavy-weight blonde cousin seated at his desk, his new computer up and showing what looked like some kind of cartoon on the monitor. Glancing around the room, Harry found himself stopping and blinking in some surprise. Dudley was in many ways a perfect product of his doting parents and their beliefs. He was raised to believe that he was an overly talented and special child, able to do no wrong. And why shouldn't he be? He was a perfectly normal boy, no unnatural freaky magic about him. He would grow into a strong and brilliant young man, get a job as a doctor or manager of some important business, get married and raise a family of his own. A completely normal life that any parent would hope for their child. But they had also raised him to hate and fear magic, which admittedly made some sense to Harry nowadays. They taught him that magic was a terrifying thing and that those who used it were demonic beings or devil-worshipers or something of the sort.

But what he found decorating his cousin's room now strongly conflicted with everything Harry knew about Dudley. There were posters, toys, videos, games, and even books (that part really threw Harry off since he knew his cousin hated reading anything!) that lined his room. And all of them were centered around the same theme: Star Wars. While Harry may not have been as exposed to the rest of the world as most other teenagers his age, even he knew what Star Wars was. And what especially caught him off guard was that he knew for a fact that magic existed within the franchise. Sure, it may have been disguised with a different type of name, but the fundamental principles remained the same (as far as Harry was concerned). And that is what had thrown Harry off-kilter right now. Why would his cousin, who was raised to despise magic, sudden become an apparent fanatic of Star Wars with its 'space magic'?

"I didn't know you were into Star Wars," Harry said lamely, still somewhat dumbfounded by this discovery, as he continued looking around the room.

"Hey, haven't you seen some of the stuff they're coming up with nowadays?!" Dudley asked, spinning around in his chair as he pulled his headphones down around his neck, to better hear his cousin. "Sure, some of it is not as good as the old stuff, but it's got potential to be great!"

"I…see," Harry said, his gaze focusing momentarily upon what his cousin was watching. Now that he was paying closer attention, he could see that it was apparently a Star Wars cartoon. He could tell because he recognized the H-shaped pods of those flying craft that those black-helmeted guys just landed on the ground. Shaking his head to clear it and refocus his attention on Dudley, he said, "So, what is you wanted, Dudley?"

Things hadn't been all that great between the cousins this summer. That was mostly because, early on, Harry had discovered that Dudley had recently gotten involved in narcotics with his 'little friends' as Aunt Petunia called them. Dudley even went as far as to steal money from his parents so he could buy the stuff, and then try to blame the theft on Harry when/if it was discovered. Thankfully, that potential conflict had been somewhat averted when Harry bluffed Dudley into thinking he was now old enough to be considered 'responsible' with his magic and thus able to use it during the summer when 'in private'. Now, Dudley mostly kept to himself and tried not to involve Harry…unless his friends were somehow involved, then all deals were off.

Standing up from his chair, Dudley pulled off his headphones and pulled out something from his pocket. "I found this when I was visiting the theater earlier today. It looked…freaky, so I figured I'd better bring it to you."

Holding out his hand, Dudley offered to Harry what looked like a golden movie theater ticket. It was so golden that even in the dying evening light, it seemed to gleam with an unnatural yellow hue. Humming thoughtfully, Harry reached forward and carefully took the offered ticket from his cousin, turning and flipping it, examining it to the best of his ability.

"Curious," he murmured, feeling a very, very slight tingling of magic skirt across his fingers as he handled the ticket. "You're right, Dudley. This is magical. I can feel it."

"What does it do, Potter?" Dudley asked, backing away reflexively now that it had been confirmed to be magical.

"I…I don't know," Harry admitted. His curiosity getting the better of him, he reached into his pocket and withdrew his wand. Ignoring Dudley's gasp of fright at seeing the hated and feared magical tool, Harry brought his wand up to the ticket and gently started poking and prodding it. As he did, little sparks of golden magic blinked off the corners of the ticket. Because he was holding it, Harry could feel it as that faint tingling sensation of magic within the ticket began to grow stronger the longer it remained in contact with his wand. "Curious."

"Wh-What are you d-doing?!" Dudley asked, trying and failing to put up a strong front.

"Trying to determine what kind of Charms or Curses this thing has on it," Harry admitted. 'I wish I could use a diagnostic spell to see what they are, but the risk isn't worth it.' "Maybe I can…" Harry muttered as he channeled a bit more power through his wand and into the ticket.

It happened in a flash. Literally.

One second, Harry and Dudley were standing in Dudley's room with Harry prodding a golden ticket with his wand. The next second, a blinding golden void suddenly filled the air around the cousins, originating from the ticket. It was so bright that Harry could see absolutely nothing else but the light, not even his arms when he reflexively brought them up to his face to shield his eyes. All noise and sound disappeared, transitioning into a silent, even deafening, silence as the light swept up around him and Dudley. Then, fittingly, like a light bulb going out, the golden void rapidly vanished and the noise of the world around them returned.

"Wha-What happened?!" Dudley cried out in surprise, jolting backwards and collapsing onto his rump, rubbing his eyes to try and clear them of the spots that still plagued his vision.

"I don't know!" Harry admitted, also trying to rub his own eyes clear. "That wasn't supposed to happ—What's that music? What's that noise? Do you hear that, Dudley?"

Dudley stilled momentarily, stretching his hearing as his eyesight slowly began to clear. "Yeah, I do. Sounds like a…parade?"

"You sure?" Harry asked, confused as his sight was beginning to return as well. "Doesn't sound like any type of parade I've ever heard of before."

Finally blinking away the last of the spots, he looked around and blinked again. "Wait a minute, this isn't right. Where are we?!"

Feeling a strange warmth in his fingers, he looked down and watched in muted horror and incomprehension as the ticket he held rapidly disintegrated into golden sparkles that quickly faded. He quiet muttered, "That can't be good…"

"I…don't know…" Dudley answered slowly, fear and uncertainty rising in his voice. "But I…I swear I've heard this music before!"

The pair of them had somehow been transported elsewhere, that much was immediately obvious. They were standing in an alley of some kind. The buildings looked different from any they'd seen before, reaching at least three or four stories tall. The skies above were completely dark, not the slight orange, red, purple, and blues of evening that had been present outside their windows seconds ago. One side of the alley was empty as it led off into another street of the place they were in. The other end of the alley, and the one they were closest to, had a line of people stretching across it as they watched a line of traffic pass by. Then, before Harry's eyes, he watched as what was clearly a type of two-legged armored vehicle of some sort went strutting past the alley, loud clanking and thunking sounds accompanying each step it awkwardly took.

"What the bloody hell?" Harry stuttered out, confused as he stared up in incomprehension as the vehicle disappeared around the corner. Dudley gasped deeply and loudly as he too watched the thing strut away.

"No way…" Dudley gasped out, eyes wide and staring. As Harry glanced over at his cousin, he had just enough time to see a look of dawning realization and a smile spreading across his face. "No way!"

"What is—Hey! Wait!" Harry called out, reaching to try and catch Dudley, who suddenly ran forward for the alley end. Groaning out loudly, Harry ran after his cousin, pocketing his wand as he went. Catching up to his fat cousin just he was reaching the end of the alley, Harry grabbed his arm and tried to pull him to a stop. "Don't just go running off like that! It might be dangerous!"

"Shut up, Harry!" Dudley snapped, now grinning quite broadly as he continued pushing his way forward until he reached the front of the crowd. Gasping out again, he stuttered, "I-I knew it! I knew it! Bloody hell, this is awesome!"

"What is so great, Dudley?" Harry demanded as he came up behind him, following in his cousin's considerable wake and making quick apologies to everyone he passed for his cousin's rudeness. As he too reached the front, Harry came to swift stop as he took in the sight before him.

It must be said that it was a rather grand sight to behold for someone who had never seen such things before. Both sides of a rather large avenue were lined with crowds of people, all cheering and celebrating. A loud instrumental music, which did sound very familiar, was blaring from a series of speakers. A convoy of those weird walker vehicles and what looked like hovering boxy tanks to Harry were traveling down the center of the road in a rigid and uniform line. Displayed proudly on large television monitors and large red clothe banners was a symbol that looked like a black and white flower of some type.

"What's going on?" Harry couldn't help asking. "Where are we?"

"You mean you really can't tell, Harry?!" Dudley demanded, spinning to look at his cousin with a gawk of disbelief. "None of this looks familiar to you?!"

"Obviously not, Dudley!" Harry snapped, glaring at his cousin.

At the far side of the street where all of the vehicles were heading towards, a woman dressed in a blue dress and wearing some type of large metallic hat or crest began speaking, her voice echoing through the area from the loudspeakers, "CITIZENS, I AM MINISTER MAKETH TUA. GOVERNOR PRYCE SENDS HER REGRETS, BUT SHE WAS INVITED TO CORUSCANT TO CELEBRATE WITH EMPEROR PALPATINE HIMSELF!"

Dudley ignored the woman as she continued making her speech to the masses. Instead, he just stared at Harry in open disbelief. But then he seemed to collect himself and looked around quickly. Finding what he was looking for easily enough, he grabbed Harry by his shoulder and spun him around, facing him off towards what he'd seen. For several long moments, Harry just stared out at the masses, not truly seeing just what his cousin wanted him to. That is, until he caught a glimpse of a man in white armor, many men actually. There must've easily been several hundred of them lining and mingling with the crowd. But what truly caught Harry's attention was the strikingly familiar white and bulbous helmets they all wore.

"St-Stormtroopers?" Harry stuttered, not truly believing what he was seeing. "But aren't they…?"

"You're really slow right now, Harry," Dudley grinned at him. "The magic ticket must've brought us into Star Wars!"

"But…But that's…" Harry literally couldn't find the words he was looking for as the ramifications of what he just realized started seeping in. "Even with magic…that's impossible!"

"Then how do you explain them?" Dudley asked, gesturing slightly to the side towards the people that were standing around them.

Looking around, Harry realized that the crowd they were standing in wasn't filled with just people. There were many different types of creatures spread throughout the crowd. And while nearly all of them were wearing clothing that closely resembled humans, their body features and appearances made it pretty obvious they were anything but. And while Harry was certainly no racist like many in the Wizarding World, a deep well of fear suddenly flooded inside him as he started looking around wildly at all of the creatures.

A sudden burst of dazzling fireworks and explosions lit up the night sky above them, momentarily spooking Harry into grabbing his wand. Thankfully, his self-restraint prevented him from casting any spells in the crowd. Nonetheless, the reassuring feeling of the familiar smooth wood in his palm quickly helped calm him down, if only slightly.

"That's right!" Dudley gasped out, staring up into the sky at the display as well. "If we're where I think we are, then that means—" A second burst of fireworks lit up the sky. "The rebels are about to att—"

A third burst of fireworks lit up the night…from under one of the wings of a TIE fighter that was on display. The force of the blast launched the relatively light-weight starfighter careening haphazardly into the air, destroying its wing and mutilating the cockpit pod. The blast also knocked the group of government and military officials closest to it off their feet. Immediately, the surrounding crowd panicked and ran. The stormtroopers rushed forward, trying to regain control of the situation and keep everyone in line. But it was a futile effort as they were outnumbered several dozen to one.

"Come on, Harry!" Dudley yelled over the crowd, grabbing Harry's arm and pulling him off to the side and back down the alley. Seeing no better option, Harry let himself be pulled along for a bit.

As they ran through the alley, across another street, and into a second alley, Harry finally had enough. He pulled up short and crouched behind a couple of crates, heaving for a breath. Dudley didn't argue, also breathing very heavily since he wasn't used to running so much. Turning to his cousin, Harry snapped out, "What was that?! You knew what was going to happen! What's going on here?!"

Despite himself, Dudley couldn't stop himself from grinning up at Harry. "Honestly, why are you asking me? I don't know how we got here! You're the wizard, remember?"

"…Fine, but you still didn't answer my question!" Harry snapped back. "How did you know what was going to happen?!"

"Remember what I was watching on my computer before all this?" Dudley asked.

"Not really," Harry admitted, frowning as he tried to remember. "I remember seeing some of those TIE fighters landing and what looked like some type of bar or restaurant with an alien bartender. But I wasn't really…That's where you think we are?!" Harry cried out, as the pieces suddenly snapped together with crystal clarity.

"Maybe, maybe not," Dudley admitted, still wearing that same grin he had been since they arrived. "Maybe the tickets took us to a dimension that's similar to it? I don't think we're actually in the show, though. That'd be just weird...and scary."

"You're taking this rather well," Harry remarked, shaking his head to try and clear it and think calmly again.

"Of course I am!" Dudley declared loudly and proudly. "WE'RE IN STAR WARS! Do you have any idea how many geeks, nerds, and fans would kill to get this opportunity?! I LOVE IT!"

Despite the situation, Harry found himself grinning along with his cousin, encouraged by his enthusiasm.

"Over here!" a filtered voice called out, causing both boys to turn towards where it came from. Two stormtroopers entered the alley and spotted the resting duo, quickly turning their weapons upon them. "Halt! Hands in the air!"

"Not good," Dudley muttered, glaring over at the approaching troopers before turning his attention to Harry. "Harry? A little help, please?"

"What?!" Harry snapped. "Are you crazy?! Even if we're here, I can't just—!"

"Hands up!" the lead trooper snapped, both he and his partner raising their blasters threateningly. "Now!"

It was more the tone of the Imperial that changed Harry's mind than anything else. That sense of superiority. As though, because he wore the armor, he was automatically three steps higher and greater than the boys, no matter who or what they were. Drawing out his wand as he turned to face the trooper, Harry glared at the man as he said, "How about…NO!"

A bolt of red light erupted from Harry's wand heading straight for the trooper, who'd frozen in surprise at the unexpectedly fast retaliatory strike. Impossibly, when the bolt struck the man dead on in his armored chest, the spell ricocheted off to the side and dissipated as it hit the wall of the alley. Despite the reflected shot, the impact of the attack still hit the man with the force of a hammer blow and knocked him backwards off his feet. His partner took one quick glance down at him before immediately turning back and opening fire.

Harry stared in dumbfounded shock. The armor had reflected his stupefy spell! How was that possible?! He was so shocked and distraught over this that he failed to notice that the second trooper was attacking. Thankfully, Dudley wasn't crippled into inaction and, seeing Harry freeze, quickly knocked him aside and off his feet. Harry fell to the ground with just barely enough time to miss the blaster bolts heading his way. The jolt and the passing heat of the missed bolts quickly brought Harry back to his senses, allowing him to roll and spin back to his feet, conjuring a translucent shield around himself as he did. The trooper continued to fire into the shield relentlessly, causing Harry to gasp and strain as he fought to keep his shield active through the barrage.

Acting on impulse, Dudley charged forward from the side and slammed all of his considerable weight into the trooper. The man was so focused on trying to bypass Harry's shield that he was utterly blindsided by Dudley. Grabbing the man around his waist, Dudley hoisted him up and continued to run towards the nearest surface he could reach, which happened to be the crates they were near. Slamming the man's back into them, Dudley let out a cry as he lifted and pummeled the man multiple times against the crate before spinning and throwing the man's pained form to the side.

"Not bad, Dudley," Harry couldn't help admitting, for once glad that his cousin was a rather skilled brawler and boxer.

"Thanks-ssss!" Dudley hissed as a wave of blue electrical energy suddenly washed over him, sending him to the ground in agony.

Spinning around, Harry had just enough time to realize that the first trooper had recovered. But then a black and white armored fist slammed into his face, shattering his glasses and causing stars to explode behind his eyes. Harry was only vaguely aware of a wooden crunching noise happening as he tilted and collapsed inelegantly to his side, his hand striking the wall at an awkward angle. As the stars cleared from his eyes, he glimpsed a very familiar wand laying on the ground just in front of him, snapped cleanly in two and only held together the feather that was contained within.

Before Harry could gasp or cry out in horror, a stun bolt struck Harry's back full on and his world faded into electrical pain and darkness.


Capital City
Imperial Compound, Detention Cells
2 hours later…

"Well, this is a fine mess you've gotten us into," Harry grumbled.

"And how is this my fault?" Dudley asked, glaring halfheartedly over at the wizard.

"You're the one that didn't do the 'sensible thing' by getting rid of that ticket as quickly as you could," Harry remarked, meeting Dudley's glare with equal force. "Isn't that what your dearly beloved parents would've wanted you to do? Isn't that what they raised you to do?"

"Yeah, maybe they did," Dudley admitted, surprising Harry. "And you're right, maybe I should've gotten rid of it. Let's just call it a 'lapse of judgment' on my part."

"Oh, there's no way I'm calling it that," Harry said. "And there's no way you're living this down. I will guarantee that!"

Before Dudley could make a reply, the door to the cell they were in suddenly slid up into the ceiling. A tall, strongly-built man with massive sideburns and a beard, dressed in an armored uniform, stood at the entrance. With his hands calmly set behind his back, the man descended the steps, glancing at the two boys with a look of total confidence and superiority on his face. "I am Agent Kallus of the Imperial Security Bureau. And you two are…?"

"Boba Fett," Dudley said sneering up at the man he easily recognized. He ignored Harry and Kallus's pointed glances at the blatant lie as he gestured towards the dark-haired wizard. "This is my cousin, Anakin Skywalker."

"Why are you guys even holding us prisoner?" Harry asked, trying to keep things calm and orderly. "We haven't done anything wrong."

Kallus couldn't help raising his brow when he saw just how heavily the boy was squinting. Clearly, he suffered from poor eyesight, which was something of a novelty in a galaxy that had such incredible medical care. What was more curious was the fact that the boy or his parents hadn't gotten his sight improved yet. 'Something to make a note of for later examination.'

"If that were the case, then you would've had no reason to attack and seriously wound two stormtroopers," Kallus countered. "So, why don't you tell me just what you were doing and we can skip all the unpleasantness."

"It's like he said," Dudley said. "We were just watching the parade, ran when the celebrations went up in flames, then two troopers ran up and tried to arrest us."

"We weren't doing anything wrong!" Harry reiterated.

"You know, I might have been inclined to believe you," Kallus stated, glancing between both boys, analyzing their expressions closely. As far as he could tell, aside from the obese boy's lie about their identities, they had been utterly truthful. But… "However, we've run your images through the Imperial records. Imagine my surprise when we were unable to find anything on a pair of boys that match your profiles."

"You do know that there are a lot of worlds that still aren't connected to the Imperial network, right," 'Boba' pointed out, rolling his eyes. 'Anakin' glanced at him again with a raised brow.

It was byplay that Kallus saw and quickly realized that the fat boy was the ringleader, for the moment at least. Anakin gave off the vibe that he was unhappy about being stuck in this situation with his cousin. If their family dynamic was anything like most families in the Coreworlds, they probably didn't get along very well. Kallus was inclined to believe that they were indeed from the Coreworlds, specifically from Coruscant, based on their unique dialect of Basic.

"That is an excuse, we all know it," Kallus stated. "Do you know what happens when we capture unidentifiable citizens who are guilty of aggravated assault, resisting arrest, use of an unregistered firearm, probable interference of Imperial records, and lying to an ISB agent?" Both boys glanced at one another for a moment before returning back to staring at Kallus, identical frowns on their faces as their faces hardened in defiance. "Soon, you will be transferred to a secure facility where you will undergo quite the…ordeal. You will break. You will inform the Empire of everything we wish to know. Then, we will decide what to do with you."

"You think we're rebels?" Though it was phrased as a question, it was quite obviously a statement. Dudley's eyes were narrowed as he clearly tried to figure out what Kallus's game plan was. "You think we're trying to join up with the rebels here on Lothal, don't you? Then that also means that you want to use us as bait for a trap. And, even if by some chance they don't come to rescue us, we will still be transferred as you just said we will be."

Despite himself, Kallus found himself rather surprised. The obese boy was clearly quite a bit more intelligent than his brutish appearance suggested. He had figured out almost exactly what Kallus intended to do. To make matters even more interesting, this was something that wasn't a common occurrence. He could tell that much just based on the surprised expression from the dark-haired boy. Kallus guessed that, of the two, the dark-haired boy was generally the more intelligent and respectful one, yet the obese boy's knowledge and astuteness were not qualities that his cousin had known he even possessed.

"Let me poke a hole in this grand plan of yours, Agent Kallus," Boba continued on fearlessly. "They don't know about us. They don't even know we exist, honestly. They won't come rescue a pair of nobodies who have nothing to offer their cause."

"Perhaps," Kallus said, nodding in agreement to the boy's point. "But that doesn't mean this trap is designed exclusively for these rebels." Turning around, he ascended the stairs. Pausing before he closed and locked the cell, he glanced back at them as said, "Enjoy your stay, boys."

Once the door was sealed again, Harry immediately turned to Dudley and said, "What was that all about? And Anakin? As in Darth Vader, right? What gives?!"

"When we escape, do you really want the Empire to know our real names while they're hunting us down?" Dudley asked, looking over at his cousin.

"Escape? You seriously think we can?" Harry asked, unable to believe this was the same fat kid who'd bullied and tormented him all of his life while simultaneously having a deep-rooted fear of all things 'freakish'. And this was practically the pinnacle of what was considered 'freaky' by anyone's point of view! "In case you didn't notice, we're unarmed, surrounded by highly-trained troopers, and trapped in a dimension we know nothing about! How can you honestly believe we can escape?"

"Correction," Dudley said, grinning over at Harry. "We're in a dimension that you know nothing about. I, on the other hand, know quite a bit about it! Just stick with me and everything will be A-Okay."

"Ha!" Harry snorted, turning away from his cousin with an angry frown. "Trust you? That'll be the day!"


Imperial Star Destroyer, Vindicator
Orbit of Lothal
3 days later…

Agent Kallus was as good as his word.

The boys had been forced to wait several days in that same cell, utterly bored out of their minds with rising tempers. During that time, Kallus made every effort to 'discreetly' get the word out about the capture of two aspiring rebels that had been captured and were suspected of involvement with the Empire Day attack. It was a lie, of course, but one that he manufactured to help sell the deception. But after three days of no action, Kallus was forced to carry out the official transfer or risk exposing his plot to the rebels.

That was how the boys finally found themselves in a new prison cell. This holding cell was just like the previous one. It had no bars, no windows, no furniture, nothing that could potentially be used as weapons for an escape attempt. Not that they would've been all that useful. There was nowhere aboard the ship for a prisoner to go. Even had there been, the two occupants were locked inside a room with no windows and two posted guards outside it. Harry knew he should've been trying to escape, but he also knew it would ultimately be pointless. They were alone and powerless, trapped in a cage awaiting a fate that would be decided by those who didn't care who they were or what their backgrounds were. It was a situation he was all-too-familiar with, having essentially escaped similar circumstances four years ago when he learned of his heritage. But this time was also rather different than back then.

'How is this possible?' he wondered for the umpteenth time. 'I know magic can do wondrous things and is never logical in the Muggle sense, but this is just ridiculous! Dudley, this is all your fault!'

"Will you sit down and calm down?" Dudley asked from where he was seated on the stiff and uncomfortable bench.

"You know why I can't," Harry snapped angrily. "My glasses are broken. Without them, I can't see. My wand is broken! Without it, I can't use my magic! Without my magic, we can't escape!"

"And pacing like that is so much more helpful," Dudley said sarcastically. "Will you quit it already? I'm trying to think up an escape plan."

"Oh really?" Harry demanded, turning hotly towards Dudley. "And just what were you planning on doing? Calling for your mommy and daddy to come save you like you always do? I don't think even they could appeal to these guys' stupidity to let you go!"

"No," Dudley admitted, surprising Harry yet again with how incredibly calmly he was taking their situation. "But, unlike you, I happen to have a lot more…experience with this than you. Let me think."

"Experience, he says," Harry muttered as he finally turned and took a seat on the bench on the opposite side of the cell. "How much experience could you have by watching the telly and reading a couple of books?"

"You'd be surprised," Dudley said, smiling as an idea came to him. "Now, will you stop whining like a little bitch and shut up! Honestly, you'd think you would've learned after what happened during Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull."

"…What?" Harry asked quietly, raising his eyebrow at the fuzzy image he could see of his cousin.

"Remember? When they were stuck in the jungle, just before the big chase scene?" Dudley said, grinning slightly over Harry as he saw the sudden comprehension light up his face. That movie, however good or bad it might've been, was one of the few that Harry had been allowed to watch when growing up. As such, he quickly understood just what his cousin was hinting at.

"Oh, right…" Harry said, before his face suddenly morphed into an angry grimace as he started raising his voice. "Well, a lot of good it does us now! Look at us! Stuck on a stupid spaceship and being judged by a bunch of dunderheads who barely know how to hold their weapons the right way! Yeah, a lot of good it's done us right now!"

"I said to quit yelling, you scrawny little pansy!" Dudley countered, just as loudly and seemingly angrily. "At least I was actually able to take my guy down! You got shot in the back by a guy who probably had eyes as bad as yours!"

"You wanna make something of it?!" Harry roared, angrily standing to his feet and moving threateningly over to Dudley.

"Yeah, maybe I do!" Dudley shot back, snapping to his feet and throwing a punch at Harry. And it wasn't just for show, it was a real punch that struck Harry right in his gut. But, as they both knew, Harry was rather accustomed to getting beat on by Dudley and easily sucked up the pain, throwing his own punch. His punch, though weaker than Dudley's, connected to Dudley's cheek and sent him to the side from the force. Roaring loudly as he climbed to feet, Dudley charged Harry bodily, tackling him to the ground.

As the pair tussled, the door to their cell suddenly opened as the two guards rushed inside to try and break up the fight. But as they reached the bottom of the cell and moved towards them, the boys suddenly separated and attacked. Harry grabbed the blaster from his guy, lifting and bashing him in the helmet with its shoulder stock. As the man recoiled from the stunning blow, Harry spun the blaster around and pulled the trigger, shooting the man in his lightly armored stomach. Harry stared in shock at what he'd done as the man went down with a shout of pain, not moving much as he life ebbed away. Dudley merely grabbed the ankles of his trooper and yanked his feet out from under him, sending the trooper to the ground as he rose up and body slammed down on the man. If not for the armor, that body slam would've likely crushed the stormtrooper's ribs and quickly killed the man.

"Good idea, Dudley," Harry said quietly, forcing himself to resolutely look away from the man he'd killed. His cousin took the blaster from his downed trooper for himself before rushing for the exit. Moving up to the hallway above, Harry cautiously peeked out and found the hallway utterly abandoned. Looking back at his cousin as he exited the cell, he asked, "What's the plan now?"

"Get out of the detention cells, find a ventilation shaft, sneak to the hangar, steal a ship, and escape," Dudley summarized, already heading towards one end of the prison hallway, seeing the exit.

"Not much of a plan," Harry remarked, squinting hard to try and see where they were going as he cradled the blaster close to his body.

"Maybe, but it's all we got," Dudley said, hoisting his blaster.

As they reached the end of the hallway, they found a pair of officers working the monitors and keyboards. Or, at least, they were supposed to be. One was leaning back in his seat, legs up on the console with his arms tucked behind his head. The other was leaning down onto the console with his arms cushioning him. Both were sound asleep, snoring fitfully. The cousins shared a smirk as they easily crept past the snoozing guards and out into the hallway beyond.

The hall was wide, open, and utterly barren. Moving along, they kept themselves alert as they searched for a vent they could pry open. They soon found one in on the floor about a dozen meters away from an intersection with another hall. Pulling the grate off proved much more difficult then they'd hoped, but again Dudley's considerable weight played to their advantage. Once Harry had managed to pry one of the corners off enough for Dudley to get a grip, he simply leaned on it and started applying his weight on bending and pulling the vent's bolts out of the wall. Travel through the vent proved very slow and tedious. Not only were they trying to be quiet, but they had little idea of where they were going.

Coming upon an intersection between it and another vent, Dudley stopped and looked across at the different ways they could take. Quietly, he muttered out, "Which way now?"

Having calmed down considerably since they'd managed to escape and were now on their way, Harry looked over his cousin's shoulder, trying to make up his own mind of which direction to go. And it was as he was doing this that he felt…something. It was a sensation he'd felt all his life, but had actually gotten a fair bit stronger since he'd attended Hogwarts. It was his magic, he knew. Sometimes, especially during times like Quidditch games, he could feel it reaching out to him. And this time it was like a guiding hand was gently pushing him onwards, encouraging him to take the…

"Left," Harry whispered, attracting Dudley's attention. "We go left."

"How do you know?" Dudley asked, confused.

"I…I just do," Harry said, looking uncertain but also resolute. He was putting his trust in his magic. It had never led him wrong before, why would it start now?

Dudley opened his mouth to argue before he stopped, blinked, and nodded. Squeezing his way into the somewhat narrower duct, Dudley pushed and pulled his way through. "I really hope you're right about this."

"Yeah, me too," Harry whispered. But despite his confusion, he felt no less sure of his choice. In fact, if anything, he felt even more certain that they'd taken the right route. However, travel was much slower now, Dudley's size was working against them.

Then, after what must've been a half an hour, they felt the temperature in the duct beginning to drop. And the farther they went, the colder it got. "Why's it getting so cold?"

"Maybe…maybe we're close to the hangar?" Dudley guessed. "I read that the shielding they use to protect the atmosphere doesn't work on the air temperature. All open hangars are always freezing cold because the vacuum of space sucks all the heat out."

"How do you know that?" Harry asked, not sure if he was impressed or not by Dudley's knowledge.

"Because I love Star Wars," Dudley replied bluntly, grinning over his shoulder awkwardly. Turning his attention forward, his grin widened as he said, "I see a grate ahead! We're almost there!"

Five minutes later, they discovered that prying grates open from the inside was so much easier than the outside. Though the edges were sharp, once Dudley was able to use his sleeve to protect his fingers, it was a relatively simple matter to unbolt the screws just enough to loosen up the grate and gently lower it to the floor. Slipping out of the grate and sliding up behind a series of cargo crates, Dudley peeked out at the hangar bay they found themselves in. He quickly counted twenty TIE fighters that were standing on the bay floor, alongside a troop transport shuttle. If his guess was right, those particular ships were there because they were undergoing some kind of maintenance. However, lining the walls and hanging from racks above were even more TIE fighters, but they didn't seem to be as crowded by work crews as the group in the center of the floor.

"Well, we reached the hangar bay," Harry pointed out, now crouching next to Dudley as he too took in the scene. "What now?"

"We need to steal a ship, but there's a few problems with that," Dudley said as he sat down behind the crate. Harry copied him, turning to glance at him. "We need a pilot. I don't have a clue how to fly any of these ships. And we need a ship that we can actually escape with. One that's fast, has weapons, and, most importantly, shields."

"Oh yeah, TIE fighters don't have shields," Harry said as he glanced around the hangar bay. As he was doing so, something caught his eye or rather a series of things caught his eye. He stared at the ship that was locked into a cradle on the wall. It was clearly a TIE of some sort, but it had some pretty drastic differences to the TIE fighter that he was most familiar with. Notably, the curved and pointed wings. It was then that he felt it. That same feeling from earlier. His magic was gently tugging and nudging at him, beckoning him towards the TIE.

"Yes," Dudley was saying. "And that's even just assuming that we're still close to a planet that's got a breathable atmosphere! For all we know, we might've been better off back in our cell than—"

"Dudley, follow me," Harry interrupted, no longer able to ignore or resist that feeling anymore. "I've got this."

"What?" Dudley asked, watching as Harry turned and started creeping along the wall. Frantically, he hissed out, "What are you doing?!"

"Follow me!" Harry repeated back to him. "I've got this!"

"What?" Dudley repeated as he quickly and not nearly as gracefully started following. "What are you talking about? Got wha—Wait, do you mean to fly? Do you even know how to fly a TIE fighter?!"

"I can fly anything," Harry asserted with full confidence. And it was true. He'd found that out over the years since entering the Wizarding World. "Wings, no wings, engine-powered, bestial, magical, or mundane. If it flies, I can fly it!"

Dudley didn't try to argue the point further. He knew what they were already doing was something that very few others would've attempted, or even gotten as far into. What they were attempting bordered on the insane when considered under realistic circumstances. Sure, the telly show made it seem easy but he had also read many of the books and knew just how difficult it could be. Escaping from the custody of the Empire, much less from inside a Star Destroyer, was nearly impossible. Nearly.

The very impossibility of it worked in their favor. They could not be prisoners trying to escape, because prisoners aboard Star Destroyers simply did not escape. It was this sense of surety and security, and maybe even arrogance, that allowed the two boys to sneak from one unlikely hiding spot to the next, oftentimes avoiding a tech or mechanic's attention by the skins of their teeth. This game continued for several long minutes as they made their way closer and closer to the vehicle that caught Harry's attention.

The craft they were heading towards quickly drew Dudley's appreciative attention, easily recognizing it as an Imperial TIE Interceptor. 'I didn't think they'd already started production of these yet. Maybe it's an advanced prototype for Special Forces or something?' If one discounted the origins, its dark angles took on a deadly beauty. No one stood near it, no techs, no maintenance workers, and no guards. What reason could there be to have a guard beside a ship inside a Star Destroyer? The entry hatch was open, open and inviting, almost beckoning.

A tech droid came toward them, trundling along the open floor. Despite keeping his attention on where he was heading and the approaching droid, Harry could almost feel his cousin's mounting tension, excitement and fear at the sight of the droid. But they maintained their pace and hiding spot underneath a section of the racks the TIE was parked on. The droid continued on its way, not seeming to notice them, which relaxed Dudley very slightly. Then, as the droid passed and with none of the personnel in the hangar paying attention, the two boys quickly mounted and scurried up the stairs towards the open hatch of their desired vehicle.

The interior of the TIE Interceptor was spotless. Droids and techs had done their work well, leaving it ready for the pilot's return. Harry let out a heavy sigh of relief as he settled himself into the pilot's seat while Dudley quietly closed and sealed the hatch above them. Looking at the controls laid out before him, Harry examined them closely, even as he busied himself by strapping and locking the flight harness around his torso. Though he didn't know too much about computers and mechanics, Harry's instincts were telling him that a fighter like this one would be naturally forgiving, its computational components engineered to compensate for pilot miscues and oversights. He knew he would be relying on the likelihood that the ship itself would automatically correct for any minor mistakes in judgment, its own form of 'magic' as far as he was concerned. But only minor mistakes, he still had to fly the thing.

Movement behind him caused him to glance back over his shoulder. Dudley had taken up residence behind the pilot's seat, gripping it tightly since there were no extra safety harnesses to use. Harry grinned back at his fat cousin as he blindly reached forward and started flipping switches and pressing buttons at random. Whether due to luck or something else, the console and display suddenly lit up as the starfighter started coming online. "You know, Dudley, I think you might be right. Being here might not be so bad. I've always wanted to fly Star Wars spaceships!"

Before Dudley could do more than grin in reply, the engines suddenly roared to life. Grasping the peculiarly shaped control stick, Harry nudged the stick forward and felt the craft vibrate but otherwise not move. Changing direction quickly, he pulled backward and downward slightly and the ship rose up out of its cradle with an almost dainty grace. Realigning the stick slightly, he tried urging the craft forward towards the massive open bay doors and the planet below. Unfortunately, the ship was still tethered to the support lines. Cables twanged as they went taut, holding the Interceptor to the cradle.


Inside the main control room of the hangar bay, a confused tech turned from his console to the officer passing close behind him. "Sir, we have an unsanctioned departure from Bay Ten."

The Imperial Lieutenant halted, turned, and stared out the sweeping port that overlooked the hangar floor. At the far end, he could see the fighter craft still struggling to decouple from its support cabling. Neither the apparent lack of preflight movements nor the fact that cabling was still engaged made any sense. That they were occurring simultaneously suggested a serious miscarriage of duty—or the inconceivable. "Get me communications with that vessel. Alert ship command, notify Captain Putz, and stop that fighter!"

Throughout the Vindicator, confusion expanded exponentially. Departments were alerted that normally went idle while the ship was in orbit around peaceful planets. Off-duty personnel were roused to the sound of alarms ringing on their personal communicators. Contradictory commands flew back and forth between confused sections. A large majority of those alerted responded slowly and reluctantly, confident that what they were responding to was nothing more than a drill.


No such illusions afflicted the hurriedly assembled stormtroopers who were struggling to push a heavy weapons platform into position on the hangar deck. The musical spang of cables snapping away from the TIE Interceptor pressed them to move even faster. The officer in charge was shouting, but no command could ready the cannon quicker than its energizing program allowed. It would take another moment or two to fully power up.

Seeing the threat that was being prepared on the other side of the hangar, Harry set his thumbs upon the small red buttons at the top of the control stick, aiming blindly. A series of massive green blasts from each of the four sharp wingtips filled the hangar as he fired upon everything, cringing each time he saw a body go flying. Internal weapons emplacements shattered. Troopers and the mobile cannon were obliterated. Parked TIE fighters and the other Interceptors were reduced to rubble, fragments of fuselage and wings bouncing off the deck, ceiling, and walls. One collective laser burst demolished the hangar control room. Where moments before there had been calm, now there was bedlam, alarm, and laser fire.

The latter was extinguished when the Interceptor lifted, spun on its axis, and Harry (once again feeling a faint guiding touch) pressed a random button on the console. The button instantly switched from red to green, having its departure mode finally be successfully activated. It had been locked down by the hangar controllers, but when Harry had imploded the operations center, all electronics that were usually controlled from there had gone neutral. Thus, the TIE Interceptor had no trouble resolving the problem, automatically issuing the necessary directives.

"Eat that, ya stupid imps!" Dudley cheered, having thoroughly enjoyed watching Harry demolish the hangar.

Angling the Interceptor, Harry pulled back sharply on the yoke, causing the starfighter to lurch as it shot forward at incredible speeds. "CHHHEEEEE-HOOOOOOOOOOO!" Harry cheered, relishing the acceleration and freedom of flight as they shot out into space. "THIS BABY REALLY MOVES!"

Seeing that his cousin was intending to fly straight for the planet, Dudley quickly leaned forward and grabbed at Harry's arms. "Wait, wait! Bad idea! If we rush back down there now, they'll be able to shoot us down with their heavy cannons! We need to go back and disable or destroy a few of them before we can land safely!"

"Sure!" Harry agreed easily, already swinging the craft around and flying back towards the massive profile of the Destroyer. "I wanted to get some payback on these bastards anyway!"

'This isn't a ship, it's me,' Harry told himself as he gleefully manipulated the control stick. It was a part of him, an extension of his own body, just like how he always felt whenever he rode his Firebolt back at Hogwarts. As massive sprays of green turbolasers started filling space, lancing out towards them from the immense starship, he whirled and spun the TIE Interceptor, utilizing mostly his own instincts and that guiding magical force he was still feeling, practically ignoring the predictors and targeting computers as they flashed and glowed on the joystick in his hands.

Swooping back under the mothership, he danced back and forth through the gaps and openings, executing maneuvers beyond the abilities of all but the best of pilots. Several skirted the edge of possibility as he sprayed his own laser fire into the exposed and too-slowly rotating cannon turrets. But Harry didn't care, he was free and he was flying. Seeing a particularly large weapons emplacement up ahead, he unleashed his fire upon it, leaving a blazing trail of carbon burns and damage along the hull of the destroyer until he struck his desired target remorselessly.

Seeing the large emplacement erupt in fire and debris, both boys cheered loudly as they shot out from under and behind the behemoth. Pulling downward fiercely on the yoke, the fighter pulled up into a sharp climb before spinning around and approaching the Destroyer from behind. Leaning forward again, Dudley pointed forward as he said, "See those large balls there? Those are the shield generators. Destroy those and the entire ship is defenseless."

"But we're not here to destroy it," Harry reminded him. "Just need to make them not want to chase us."

"Then destroy just one of them," Dudley suggested, shrugging unconcernedly.

"I suppose," Harry agreed, already squeezing the firing buttons.

Unlike earlier, the laser fire impacted an invisible barrier around the command tower and the generators, not having any affect whatsoever. Frowning at that, Harry wondered why the shield hadn't been working earlier. Then he realized why: because he'd been flying very close to the ship's hull! Grinning like a madman, Harry threw the Interceptor into a dizzying series of spinning dodges as he evaded the defensive fire from the cannons up top. Settling on a line of attack, he prepared to dive once more towards the heart of the Star Destroyer, a bug attacking an elephant.

But it was a bug with a very nasty bite.


On the main bridge of the Vindicator, Captain Putz peered down upon the holo-table. The hologram showing was a blue outline of the Star Destroyer with flickering red sections highlighting damaged areas and a small circling icon signifying the stolen TIE Interceptor.

The captain could barely believe what he had been told. Not only had the prisoners escaped, they had managed to find their way down to the hangar bay, find and steal a ready-to-fly fighter, and blast their way free. And it wasn't just any fighter either, but one of the still limited preproduction models of the soon-to-be mass produced TIE Interceptor! Though he only had six of those unique ships aboard his vessel, it was a great privilege and hinted towards better things in his future if things went right. But now, his potentially bright career was in jeopardy! By a pair of teenagers, no less!

If the proof had not been right in front of him, making a treacherous nuisance of itself as the Vindicator's perceptors strove to keep track of the stole fighter, Putz would not have believed such a thing was possible!

A very slight shudder ran through the deck. One of his lieutenants was speaking to him, barely managing to keep his voice even, just as shaken by the events taking place as Putz was. "They've taken out an entire bank of defensive weaponry. And they continue to attack. The trajectory suggests they're after our shield generators! They're not running."

Putz didn't understand. It was beyond comprehension. Prisoners ran from prisons, they didn't stick around to assault their jailers. The action smacked of an unshakeable wish to commit suicide. Then again, they were just teenagers, probably not realizing the true extent of their mortality. But, on the other hand, how could a pair of random teenagers perform all of these actions and yet still live? What he knew of the escaped prisoners strongly suggested a desire to live. What had happened to change them? Or, Putz thought, was the profile that had been drawn up by the psytechs simply wrong?

Formal profile or not, of one thing he was now certain: they had badly underestimated what had seemed to be just a pair of random Lothal children.

"Intensify the forward firing batteries!" Putz commanded. "I don't want them getting any closer to our hull!"

"Yes sir!"


Banking sharply to the side and narrowly dodging a pair of turbolasers, Harry cried out exultantly. "I think they're on to us, Dud!"

"Just keep to the plan!" Dudley asserted, having knelt down to the floor and was fiddling a series of wires under a panel he'd opened. "Turbolasers are meant for capital ships, not starfighters! They can't hit us unless you make a mistake!" Finally finding a distinctive pair of red and blue wires that were strapped together, he yanked on them and pulled them out of their sockets. A small glowing red button on Harry's console went dead, but he paid it no mind.

"That's good to know," Harry said as he brought the TIE down and started buzzing along the upper hull of the destroyer. As the command tower came rushing up, he pulled back on the stick and opened fire. Because he was once again under their shields, his lasers easily impacted one of the domes with only minimal resistance from its metallic coverings. Under a short barrage, the ball exploded spectacularly as Harry dove under the section of the command tower it was located on.

"Generator destroyed," Harry said, swinging the Interceptor around and making a mad rush for the planet below them. Just as Dudley had predicted, the Star Destroyer didn't offer up any type of retaliation or impede on their escape now that they had too many problems of their own to deal with.

"Level off, Harry," Dudley said, gesturing towards the tips of the Interceptor's wings that were starting to gain an unnatural glow. "You're descending at too steep of an angle!"

"I know that!" Harry snapped, glaring at his cousin but still complying with his command. "I'm just trying to get away as fast as possible and the steeper we go, the faster we go!"

"But the Interceptor has no shields!" Dudley reminded him. "That means that you can only enter at so steep of an angle without burning us up! Pull up!"

Growling loudly, Harry complied again. Rather than making a nearly vertical dive, they were now merely in a very steep one. Much to Harry's annoyance, the red glow upon the wingtips soon faded back to its normal coloring now that the dive wasn't so sheer.

It was a quiet few minutes as they descended down into the atmosphere, rushing through and past the clouds until they leveled off again after reaching the lower atmosphere. As Harry concentrated on flying the ship and looking for a potential spot to land and hide, Dudley was fiddling with one of the monitors. He was having quite a bit of trouble making sense of it because he couldn't read the galactic script. But what he couldn't read, he could easily understand the icons that were upon the monitor.

"If I'm reading this right," Dudley said, sounding rather uncertain. "Then the capital city is about 150 kilometers east of here. There looks like another couple of small towns and villages about 50 to 100 kilometers to the west, north, and south of here."

"Well, since you're the expert here," Harry said, lacking the barbs that he used to have in his tone these past few days. "Where should we go? The capital seems like a bad choice though."

"Let's head…due west," Dudley said, gesturing to the side. "That's where the smallest settlement is that I can find and it looks like there's a lot of hills or rocks in that area we could hide this baby in for the time being."

"…Good idea," Harry said, swinging the fighter to the side before leveling out again.


(Author's Note) Clearly, I've been watching far too much Star Wars Rebels lately. What with the epic Season 3 finale and so many new info of upcoming movies and teasers that we've been and will be getting, Star Wars has been on my brain a lot recently. Besides, I've been wanting to do a HP/SW crossover for a while, but have been waiting to in order to give Rebels a chance to flesh out and give us some plot points to work with. Now, I feel somewhat more assured at being able to make a suitable story.

If the story or characters don't feel right, I apologize right here and now. I haven't gotten this story beta-read and I will freely admit that I don't know as many of the characters nearly as well I wish I did. So, I'm seriously going to be relying on you guys to tell when/if I mess up on their personalities, potential reactions, and personal motivations.

In other words: PLEASE REVIEW!