CHAPTER THREE: THE RISE OF A BOUNTY HUNTER
A thirteen year old Harry let out a grunt of pain as he crashed into a Durasteel wall of the incomplete Super Star Destroyer known as the Executor. He angrily glared at the person that had been responsible for throwing him against the wall in the first place. The person in question was an eighteen year old man with dark brown hair that had been mostly buzzed off for practicality reasons. The older teenager also had cold brown eyes from years of harsh training under the strict guidance and tutelage of Darth Vader. The brown haired teen was wearing an Imperial combat uniform that had seen years of wear and tear at the hands of said ruthless tutelage. It was only due to the mysterious teenager's constant mending of the uniform that it was even remotely wearable and useable for him.
"Give up already, Harry. We both know that you can't beat me after spending three hours training with my master on harnessing your force powers." The mysterious teen commented as he deactivated the red-bladed lightsaber that he was wielding in his right hand.
Harry had to mentally agreed with his fellow apprentice's assessment as he struggled to get himself free of the Durasteel wall that he was currently pinned to by his friend. However, due to the stubbornness that the former Earthling had learned from Boba Fett and his own inherent stubborn attitude, he wasn't about to give up so easily. He briefly looked down at his own deactivated lightsaber that lay several feet in front of him. If he could only break free and retrieve his lightsaber then he would be able to continue the fight.
"Sorry say this, Starkiller. But I don't give up, no matter what." Harry commented as he slowly began gather what little remaining strength he had left in order to break free from his friend's grip.
Starkiller eyebrows shot up in surprise as he felt through the force the young Mandalorian's attempt to gather what little power he could bring to bear against him. While he didn't want to harm his friend as much as he already had, Vader had made it clear that they were to fight to the death unless he said otherwise. When the two of them first met, Starkiller had thought that he was being replaced as Vader's apprentice and went out of his way to show contempt towards Harry, who simply shrugged it off. Eventually, he came to realized that Vader was simply training the boy into becoming an extremely powerful future ally in overthrowing the Emperor.
"Harry, you're exhausted to the point that I was able to overpower you easily when it should have taken a lot longer." Starkiller warned as he thumbed his lightsaber's activation button in case his younger friend did something extremely stupid.
That's when he noticed out of the bottom of his eye the lightsaber that Harry had been using during their spar was starting to move slightly like it was being called back to Harry's hand. At least, that's what he thought for a few minutes until he heard the faint sound of his master's breathing. How long had his master been standing there in the shadows and watching their duel, the eighteen year old honestly didn't know as Vader had the ability to sometimes show extremely levels of uncharacteristic stealth on occasion.
However, that sudden slip in concentration was enough for Harry to break free from the Force Hold that Starkiller had on him. But unknown to Starkiller, Harry wasn't going for the discarded lightsaber lying on the ground. No instead, he was going to tackle the unsuspecting sith apprentice and force him to fight on his terms.
"That's quite enough, Harry. You have completed the objective of your final lesson." Vader spoke as he stepped out of the shadows and summoned the lightsaber lying on the ground.
While it often irritated the Sith Lord that Harry would use both sides of the force, the man had to respect his unofficial apprentice's decision. Not very many people would be willing to openly use the light side of the force with so many imperial officials on look out for any Jedi that managed to survive the initial Jedi purge and escape notice of the Empire until now.
"Starkiller, I have a new assignment for you to complete." Vader commented as he walked towards the two force users like he had a very specific purpose in his mind.
Instantly, Harry and Starkiller kneeled before their master out of respect for the man who put them through absolute hell during training.
"Jedi Master Rahm Kota, he is currently attacking a critical Imperial shipyard. Destroy him and bring me his lightsaber." Vader spoke as he gave his first apprentice his assignment as he walked past the two teenagers towards the bridge's window to look out into space.
Harry had to resist the urge to gasp at the idea of a Jedi Master being able to survive both the Great Jedi Purge and subsequent Imperial crackdown for the last sixteen years completely unnoticed. However, something unnerved him about how the Jedi Master was now openly attacking an Imperial Instillation. It actually sounded like General Kota wanted to be found by the Empire.
Starkiller slowly rose to his feet and gave a slight bow to the Sith Lord.
"I shall leave at once, master." The eighteen year old submissively spoke as he moved to leave to prepare his ship.
Harry remained kneeling as he patiently waited for Vader to address him. However, it seemed that Vader was quite finished giving out instructions to his first apprentice.
"The Emperor cannot discover you. Leave no witnesses. Kill everyone onboard, Imperials and Kota's men alike." Vader spoke as he turned around to make his point perfectly clear.
Harry knew that Starkiller was about to speak out about killing the Stormtroopers that guarded the shipyard and mentally urged his friend to not provoke Vader. It seemed like for several moments that Starkiller was going to disobey the mental request that he had no means of hearing.
"As you wish, my master." Starkiller spoke before bowing again and leaving the bridge.
Immediately after his friend left, an eerie silence had fallen over the room with the only sound coming from Lord Vader's breathing apparatus. For a few minutes, neither he nor Harry said anything to each other.
"I have an assignment for you as well, Revan." Vader finally spoke using the name that Boba Fett had given him after he came of age in the eyes of the Mandalorian culture and completed his training.
Vader had found it fitting that Harry had been given the name of the Sith Lord that had been largely responsible for founding the rule of two.
"When Boba Fett first brought you before me, you were nothing more than a malnourished child with an unbreakable will to survive. Now you are a Mandalorian bounty hunter trained in the ways of the force and the Emperor's Imperial Guard." Vader commented offhand without facing his second apprentice.
At the mentioning of the time training under one of the Emperor's Imperial Guard, Harry flinched. The yearlong training regime that he had spent under Master Ved Kennede had been an absolute nightmare. To further add to the already difficult training Boba, Vader and Master Kennede had openly forbade him from harnessing the force during training. But despite this handicap, he had managed to survive and endure the training if only by the skin of his teeth.
"What is it that you require from me, my master?" Harry asked as he looked down at the bridge's floor in order to avoid making contact with Vader polarized lens covered eyes if the man turned around again.
He knew that if their eyes made contact then Vader would mostly torture him for being disrespectful to him. The Sith Lord was well-known for killing Imperial officers if they displeased him in some way, which was something that Harry had seen firsthand.
"You are to investigate the reports of Jedi activity on the planet Jabiim. If you find any Jedi on the planet, kill them and bring me their lightsabers." Vader ordered as he continued to stare out the starboard window.
At the mentioning of Jedi, Harry frowned. Unlike Vader or his adoptive father Boba Fett, he never really developed any hatred towards the now defunct religious order.
"As you wish, lord Vader." Harry spoke in a quite tone as he slowly rose up and bowed in the same way as Starkiller did before leaving the bridge to begin his own preparations.
Thirty minutes later, Harry was performing the final sequence for takeoff as he sat in the pilot's seat within the cockpit of his personal transport, the Black Sabre. The ship had given to him by Lord Vader before he had been sent out on his very first training mission as his student. The ship itself was a near identical copy of Starkiller's own personal ship, the Rogue Shadow. In fact, the only difference between the two ships was the symmetrical wings on the Black Sabre that he had personally installed and the modification of the space cabin into a room full of holding cells. The ship was perfect for a bounty hunter as it could allow him to fly in close to his target and make an easy catch before anyone realized what was going on.
However, for some reason he had this gut feeling that he was about see something that would forever change his already extraordinary life. He quickly brushed off that gut feeling and tried to focus on the mission at hand. With his focus returned to the upcoming mission. The Mandalorian Earthling gently piloted his ship off the ground and out of the hanger bay into the vacuum of space.
Meanwhile back on Earth
Cho Chang let out an annoyed sigh as she pretended to listen to Professor Cuthbert Binns drone on about one of the numerous goblin rebellions that had taken place in Europe. Like everyone else going to school at Hogwarts, she always found the history of magic to be the most boring subject to study. This was in despite of the fact that she had been sorted into Ravenclaw, a house that took great pride in being the wisest of the four houses that made up Hogwarts.
"The only reason why I was put into Ravenclaw is because of my weird ability to read a person's body language. Heck, the only reason why I was accepted into Hogwarts in the first place was because Dumbledore needed someone to fill the position as a token minority." Cho bitterly thought to herself as she rested her head on her History of Magic book.
It was true that Cho was only one of two people that were currently going to school at Hogwarts and had Asian features, the other being a third year student by the name Sue Li. The two of them were actually extremely close to each other due to the fact they were often treated even worse than the Muggle-born witches and wizards. She knew how people whispered behind her back about how the Ministry of Magic should expel her from Hogwarts, but ignored them and focused on her studies. Despite the fact that she was on Ravenclaw's Quidditch team, she had only a few friends as few people wanted to hang out with her unless they had some sort of less-than-honorable intentions. The best example would be her fellow seeker Cedric Diggory, who had only wanted to date her because he wanted an exotic looking girlfriend.
However, what nobody realized was that Cho wasn't actually Chinese descent like everyone believed her to be. The truth was that her parents had been born on a planet called Eshan and fled to Earth a few years after the rise of the Galactic Empire to avoid persecution for being supporters of the Jedi Order. From what her parents told her, they had been able to get forged documents from Gringotts Wizarding Bank that granted them British citizenship. So when she was born four years later, her parents had been able to successfully integrate themselves into English society without raising any suspicions of the natives.
"I just wish I could visit Eshan just once in my life, so I can see how my people lived on a daily bases." Cho mentally wished to herself as she recalled how her parents taught her everything she knew about her heritage as an Echani.
Like many other second generation children of immigrants, Cho had always felt more connected to place that she had been born in than the place that her parents originated from. However despite this lack of connection to Eshan, she still wanted to visit the planet. But due to the threat of her being enslaved by the Galactic Empire and the ridiculously strict quarantine that the Emperor had put around the Sol System, her beloved parents had flat out refused to allow her to leave the planet.
Little did Cho know, she was about to have an encounter with one of the galaxy's deadliest bounty hunters.
Okay, here's chapter three for you guys. I put that last bit with Cho in, as a way to get her into the story.
So until next time readers, Hoorah to Ashes!
