Beta'ed by Mad About the Boro

Chapter 4

The next day found training room one full of Jedi.

They were all different in some way. Some of them looked fearful; some looked angry; some looked care free and happy; some looked resigned to their fate. A lot of them were pacing the floor. But some sat in the stands, trying to calm their minds and relax.

They were all very different, but all of them shared one thing in common: they were all wearing brown robes.

A little after the end of morning meal, when the last of the Jedi made their way into the training room; the doors banged open, and two lines of black cloaked Jedi marched in, with their heads held high and their boots thundering on the ground as they marched in a locked step.

At the end of the line were the Shadows, and Harry.

He looked pissed off, and he radiated power as he took his place in front of the Sentinels as they came to a stop in the middle of the training room floor.

"Who started the petition?" Harry asked softly, but yet his voice carried throughout the hall.

"I did, and as a Master with more years of experience than you, I think you went way too far this time, keeping us out of this war. We have every right, if not more of one than you do, to fight this war. You should have consulted with the rest of the masters, before deciding on a course of action." announced Master Shaak Ti, as she came forward.

"Really?" Harry asked, raising one eyebrow.

"Yes, really, and if it were not for your favoritism with the Council, you would not be in this Order. You would have been kicked out with the rest of your Sith disciples." She proclaimed in an arrogant tone.

Harry looked her over, in her big brown robes that restricted her movements. He was sure that if he hadn't have shown up here ten years ago, he would be looking at one of the highest ranking Jedi in the Order. She was everything he hated about the Order, when he first started, and everything he tried to stomp out.

She valued the new code, over the life of others.

She thought that she was better than everyone else, because she was a 'Master'.

She was cold and aloof.

To top it all off, she was only as good as her out dated training, and she didn't do a damn thing to improve herself over the last ten years.

"Did you just call me a Sith?" Harry asked, coldly.

"That's right, you Sith Dog! You don't scare me." She declared, in disgust.

Harry looked to Obi and Luminara, before looking back to Shaak Ti.

He was going to go easy on them, he really was; but this Brownie just called him out. He couldn't have that. It would hurt morale in the ranks of the Sentinels, and with the first wave leaving tonight, he needed them focused.

Harry shrugged out of his coat, and let it fall to the floor, showing off his armor and weapons.

"If you feel that I am a Sith, then it is your duty to strike me down, is it not?" Harry queried, dropping his weapons rig to the floor. "If you feel you have to strike me down, then by all means, do so." Harry invited, pulling out his simple black saber, and with a few hand gestures, his Sentinels backed up and formed a three sided box, opening up the training room floor.

Harry waved to the area. "Come Master Jedi, prove your worthiness. Strike me down!" Harry challenged, walking to the middle of the floor.

The first attack came fast, and to Harry great surprise, it was a blow to his neck. That was not the "Jedi" way. You were always supposed to go for a maiming blow first. It was the first thing that Harry threw out the window, when it came to the Sentinels.

If it was life and death, you killed.

Harry blocked the strike, as well as the next fifty from her. She was slow, weak, and she telegraphed all of her moves.

He was sure any Sentinel Padawan could have taken her down in this fight. For Harry, it was sad. If she was the best they had to offer, then he wept for the future of the Jedi Order.

When she backed off, she stood panting and dark red with anger. Harry stood in the middle of the floor, looking at her with a sad expression on his face.

When she went for the same neck strike as her opening move, in her second attack, he just shook his head.

When she got winded, after just twenty hard blows, he was honestly contemplating maiming her so she couldn't spread her lack of knowledge to anyone else. They should make every Master fight a dual against a randomly selected Knight, every year. If they couldn't win, then they should lose the rank of Master. As it was Harry was actually bored of fighting her.

When she backed off again, Harry turned to the group of Sentinels.

"Which one of you did the worst on your test two days ago?" He called out.

A short Rodian stepped forwards. "I did, sir. Knight Dula Nabin, sir." He said, looking embarrassed.

Harry remembered this kid. Good with a blaster, but sad with a lightsaber. He was perfect.

"Take over for me, son. This is too fucking sad for me to waste my time on. Maybe fighting someone so weak will boost your confidence." Harry said, and then he blocked a blow aimed for the back of his head, without looking.

Harry turned around and raised his eyebrow.

"Did you just try to cut me in two, when my back was turned?" He asked incredulously. "And you have nerve to call me Sith." Harry spat in disgust, dropping her on her ass ten feet away with his push off.

When she rolled to her feet, she saw the Rodian standing in Harry's place, with his yellow bladed lightsaber out and looking unsure of himself.

"What is this? You hide behind your disciples now?" She accused, spotting Harry sitting in a seat off to the side drinking a tall glass of green drink with a big straw.

"No, you're just so sad and pathetic, I refused to waste any more of my time on you. You are weak, slow, and you telegraph your moves. This boy will fight you. He is fresh from the trials, and this is his first month on the job. He is going to show you what it means to be a Sentinel." Harry told her, looking jovial.

Turning the Dula, he smiled a reassuring smile.

"Don't kill her, but don't hold back. Cuts and burns, but nothing permanent." Harry instructed, before waving his hand for him to start.

In the blink of an eye, Dula was on her, raining down blows with a speed and force she was not used to. It scared her, as she tried to fight back, but his speed and skill was keeping her on the defensive.

A minute after he started, she lost count of the number of blows he had rained down on her.

Worst of all, he wasn't using any style she knew of, so she couldn't predict his next attack. She saw an opening and took it. Stabbing down at his leg, she was sure this was going to end the fight. But his leg wasn't there. Looking up, she was a second too late to stop the butt of his lightsaber from smashing into her nose, and knocking her unconscious.

Dula stood over his fallen foe, and looked unsure as to what he was supposed to do. Whenever he sparred with a Sentinel, a hit like that would have resulted in a pained grunt, and a vicious attack. He never really put someone down like this.

Looking to Harry, all he got was a nod and a smirk. Dula bowed to his fallen opponent, and took his place back in line.

Harry stood up and walked over to the fallen Master. Waving his hand, she shot up of the floor clutching her nose.

"You have failed, Shaak Ti. You've been beaten by the very weakest of the Sentinel Order. The boy put you on your ass in under two minutes." Harry informed her.

Taking a few steps to get close to her, he leaned in and lowed his voice.

"You should take a seat, before I really get mad and end you right here, you stuck up Brownie Dog." Harry growled, looking her dead in the eye and showing her he was not kidding around.

When she flinched, he pointed to the stands. She bowed her head, and walked away. Harry looked to the rest of the Brownies.

"Asajj, how many Brownies are here this morning?" Harry asked.

"314." She said.

"They seem to be sitting in two sections. Why?" He asked.

"The group on the left, consisting of 176 Jedi, are here to support you in any way they can. They feel bad about the petition, and didn't know it was as insulting as it was." Asajj called out, without missing a beat.

Harry looked at the group consisting of mostly Masters and Knights he had helped in the past, including Kit Fisto, Aayla Secura, Quinlan Vos, Stass Allie, and Bultar Swan. He also noticed a group of older Padawans in black robes standing off to the side, lead by Barriss Offee. They must have snuck in during the fight.

He caught her eyes, and smiled at her. She was almost twelve now, and stood tall next to her friend from training, Ren Wyndar.

Harry then looked at the group on the right. Most of them were old Masters, and Knights about to reach the level of Master.

"What does that leave us with?" Harry queried.

"138 Brownies!" she replied.

"What's the breakdown?" Harry asked, looking at them with cold eyes.

"54 Masters, 84 Knights." She reported.

"Right. Dula, you did so well with Ti, I'm going to let you pick seven Sentinels you think did almost as bad as you did in the saber test, and move off to this side of the room. The rest of you, go take seats in the opposite side of the room." Harry ordered.

When eight Sentinels stood on the left side of the room, Harry looked to his daughter.

"Asajj, pick someone to stand with you." Harry said. Asajj looked at Anakin, and they both stood up.

"No, that's not fair at all. If it's going to be you two, then you have to use practice sabers, we don't want to kill the Brownies after all." Harry said, pointing to the rack of practice sabers.

When they both had two, he pointed to the right side of the room.

"Okay, if you want to prove you lot in this group are not worthless Brownie gundark shit; then Masters will fight those two, and Knights will fight that group of eight. Treat this like a real dual to the death, because as far as I'm concerned, you are all dead to me. If any of you ask for my help after this day, and you didn't put one of these guys on their asses, then you better pray to the Force I'm not busy and close by; because I will leave your ass out there to fend for yourselves, and I will tell the rest of them the same thing. I'm sick and tired of you Brownies calling us Sith Dogs, and then begging us for help when you're in a bad situation. If you think us Sith Dogs, then you're on your own. Now, fight!" Harry yelled, walking over to the group to the left.

The group on the right looked at each other. Master Pong Krell stood up and looked at the group. "Come on! We don't have to take this from the Sith Dogs! Let's go show these upstarts the death they deserve!" He shouted, before charging Asajj and Anakin.

Anakin looked at Asajj as he approached. "Is he really just going to charge us like this?" he asked.

"I think so. Do you want him, or should I take this fool?" She asked.

"You take this one, I'll take the next." He said, stepping back.

"Right. Thanks for sharing." She quipped, dropping into a low crouch.

When he was right on top of her, she ignited the saber and rammed it right into his thigh, dropping him to the floor. The practice saber didn't cut, but it did leave a very big burn mark. When he was down on the ground, she attacked ten more times in three seconds, leaving him nude and burned all over his body. She took his saber and tossed it to her mom.

"Hold these, Mom. They will make nice trophies for Dad." She said, before force pushing Krell across the floor and into the corner. "Who's next? You don't have to come one at a time; you are all weak and pathetic; this will go a lot faster if you attack in groups." She offered, coldly.

Harry watched from his seat next to Kit Fisto. He smirked when five Masters stood up, and walked over to his daughter. Harry waved a sound proof bubble around the group.

"That apprentice of yours is very fast, Harry. She reminds me of you." Kit remarked, smiling.

"What they don't know, is that I taught her everything I know, and she's just as fast as I am." Harry said, loud enough for the rest of them to hear, and smirking as three of the Masters joined Krell in the corner, naked and burned.

"Harry, you know most of us; we all respect you. We never wanted to do anything to make you mad at us. More than half of us owe you our lives. We just want to repay that debt by helping you win this war. We might not be as good as your group of super Jedi, but we have skills you can use, and it will help bridge the gap that has formed between the two branches and your group. All we want to do is help." Kit said.

"I understand you, Kit, I really do; but I just don't need you guys right now. I have a big enough force to run the war, and still give guys time off. However, that won't be the case by the half way point of the war. If we take heavier casualties than we thought we might, then I might have some of you guys come in and free up the Sentinels flying the ESTs. If you guys really want to help, then you can report to Master Plo Koon, and help him fill some of the jobs left open by the Sentinel's fighting this war. The other job I'm going to need you to do will be after the war. If we lose a lot of Sentinels, then who is going to police the galaxy? Like you said, I know most of you and by virtue of that fact, you lot know me. You know I don't fool around when I'm talking about things like this. I don't want you guys to feel left out of the war. I want you guys to keep things going at home, and stay ready to come into the game if the first string guys go down. Our estimates say somewhere between fifty and a hundred Sentinels may lose their lives to this war. Sentinels, not Jedi. You guys know the difference. You guys can see the difference, right in front of you. Can any of you stand up to even one of the weaker ones?" Harry asked, pointing to the group of eight Sentinels and the pile of Jedi Knights on the floor, with burns and cuts all over them.

"No we cannot, Harry." Kit conceded to much head shaking.

"Hey, don't look so down, you lot!" Harry said, making some of them smile. "They've been trained for war. This is what they do. You know I call you guys 'Peace Talkers' as a slight, but the truth is the Order needs you guys. None of them can negotiate a border dispute, or a trade embargo. They can't deal with politicians. They're made for one thing, fighting! If you don't need to kill someone, then you don't call a Sentinel. We are warriors. We fight wars, we fight crime. We fight! You guys have something we don't have. Finesse. We can't sit through a meeting in the Senate. We get called in when a team of you guys run into tougher opposition than you first thought. Now, that doesn't mean you guys can't lead troops, but why send in you guys when we don't have to? We can save you lot for when the dust clears, and we're down a lot of Sentinels. Then, I'm really going to need you guys to step up, in a big way. For the past eight years, the Sentinels have run this galaxy. Now, after this war, we are going to need down time. That leaves a gap in man power. Can I count on you guys, to fill that gap?" Harry asked.

"You know you can, Harry." Kit promised to much nodding.

"Good, Adi is going to be running the Air assault for Obi. I need you to start running your group through flying drills in ESTs. Like I said, it will help us to free up some of the Sentinel doing air assault, and it's also good to protect the core. Kit, I want you to organize that with Siri, and she will put you in contact with the guy in charge of ships." Harry instructed.

"I can handle that, we can handle whatever you toss our way." Kit said, confidently.

"Good. I knew I could count on you guys, and I want you to know, I didn't forget you; I was going to come to you today about this stuff. I needed to get my troops squared away first, you and Quinlan Vos were my next stops today, right before I left."

"It's good you remembered me, Harry. For a second there, I thought I was going to be left out of all the fun." Quinlan quipped.

"I was going to, on account of you being crazy and all, but if they stopped crazy people from doing things, I'd be grounded right alongside you, Vos." Harry said, shaking his hand.

"You know that's right." Vos agreed, shaking his hand.

"Well, I for one would like to be the first on the list of replacement pilots." Aayla offered, winking at Harry.

"Of course, my blue beauty, I would never miss you." Harry said, kissing her outstretched hand.

"Harry, you old charmer, you. Whatever am I going to do with you?" She teased.

"Nothing, my wife would kill us both." Harry said smirking, only half joking.

"Is this conversation for adults only, or can the kids join in as well?" Barriss asked, leading her group of twenty up to Harry in the stands. As Harry took a good look at them, he saw they were all from the class he taught. He was proud to see almost all of them in black.

"No, it's for you too. I see that most of you are walking the path of the Sentinel." He noted, hugging Barriss.

"Yes, Master Potter! I one day hope to walk the path of the Shadow. Most of us do. We are all hoping you take us on as apprentices." She confided, smirking.

"Funnily enough, I'm thinking about it. After the war I might take a bunch of Shadow hopefuls, and train them on Naboo." Harry divulged, and watched a few of them practically swoon.

"But, until then, I'm going to need you lot to step up your training. I know you kids have been pushing yourselves very hard in your training, but I'm afraid you're going to have to push just a bit harder. With most of the Sentinels out of contact, you lot are going to have to take care of your own training. Normally, I wouldn't tell a bunch of Padawans to push themselves harder, but you lot are going to be Sentinels one day, and Sentinels are strong. We are going to need strong Sentinels soon." Harry told them, sadly.

"We live to serve, Master Potter. We will up our work time frame, and hopefully be ready for when you need us, Master." Barriss said, bowing.

"Good girl." Harry said, patting her on the cheek. "Have you been practicing what I showed you?" He enquired, looking at one of his future apprentices.

"Yes, Master." She said, holding out her right hand. A wooden spoon materialized, and floated over her outstretched hand. Slowly the spoon shifted colour, from brown to silver; it slimmed down and a design formed on the handle. She floated the spoon to Harry, and he plucked it out of the air.

"That, was some of the best mix of charms and transfiguration I've ever seen, young one." Harry said, pocketing the spoon. He would hold on to it, and count how long it took for it to lose it's transfiguration; and then how long it took for it to vanish. The more powerful you were, the longer the two would stay. Harry once made a spoon that lasted five years. If her's lasted a full year, he was going to take her on as his next Shadow apprentice. If not, then he was still going to take her on, along in the group of Padawans.

"I want you to teach it to your fellow students." He instructed.

"I will, Master." She promised, blushing the same dark green his wife did.

"Good, the next thing I want you to work on is called the beer and the ice bucket." he said, conjuring a bottle of beer and a metal ice bucket full of water. "The trick, is to hold the bottle up in the water." He explained, floating the bottle half way up out of the water.

"Next, is to turn the water, into ice cubes." He continued, turning the water into small cubes.

"But," He stipulated, pulling the bottle out. "Not the beer in the bottle." He finished, opening the bottle and passing it to Kit, who took a drink and nodded.

"This is all about mental control. Separating the water in the bucket, from the beer inside the bottle. If you can master this, then I can teach you how to do anything. That goes for the rest of you as well. You all saw me do it. Try it. If you can do it, come to me and I can teach you a few Shadow tricks." Harry offered, smirking as he saw a few Masters looking intently at the bucket of ice.

Harry saw his daughter and Anakin walk over, so he dropped the sound bubble.

"Dad, we've taken the Brownie Masters down, what would you like us to do now?" She asked, handing him a box full of lightsabers.

"Very good. Were any of them worth your time?" Harry asked.

"None of them. In fact, she took care of most of them. I just hung back, and took out the ones trying to throw some cheap shots at her." Anakin informed him.

"Right, can you go over and call the fourth attack group over here, please?" Harry asked, looking at all the gold Lightsabers. He picked up a nicely crafted saber and thumbed it on. The blue blade was well balanced, and the saber hummed in perfect tune. "What a fucking waste." Harry muttered, shutting it off.

"Not all of us are so set in our ways. I think a few of us could take on your Sentinels, with a bit of work." Vos said, watching the young Sentinels destroy the Knights.

"I don't doubt you; in fact, I'm going to give you a chance to work on it." Harry said, as fifty-two Sentinels walked up. "Sentinels, you are the fourth string attack group."

Looking around the group, it became very obvious they were the worst of the Sentinel attack force. Instead of this fact bringing them down, it put fire in them. A drive to be better.

"You thought you were going to sit on your asses for the first three weeks of this war, didn't you?" Harry asked, and smirked when a few of them pouted, they knew him. "Well, you're not. You will train every one of these Master and Knights, to bring them up to your standards." He instructed to much booing and groaning from the boys and girls in black.

"Hey! That's enough out of you lot! These Jedi are not Brownies. They respect the jobs we do, and the work we put in to be as good as we are. I want you to treat them all with the respect their titles demand. By the time you lot get on a Capital ship, headed for the war, I want all of them to be able to pass the Sentinel Trials!" Harry commanded, with an evil grin on his face.

"You know what that means…" Harry said, getting smiles from his group.

"Harry, what does that mean?" Kit asked, with some trepidation, looking a little pale around the gills.

"Nothing too bad, Kit; just some sparring, and magic. Nothing too hard. I'm sure you will all do fine, and if you're not good enough by the time they leave; the next group, fresh from the front, can take over your training." Harry said.

"Can we sit in on some of these sessions, Master?" Barriss asked, with a cute smile.

"Yes, you may." He replied, smiling softly at her.

"Now, if you will excuse me, I have something to do." He said, taking the box of sabers over to the group of Masters just coming around now. Most of them were still laying on the floor, nursing their wounds.

"You lot are a sad example of what it means to be Jedi! If I could, I would kill you all to stop you from spreading your weak Brownie bullshit to younglings. These should go to Jedi that can use them." He said, holding up a hand full of Sabers. "I give these back to you, only because they carry the stink of shame you put in them, by carrying them. The next time one of you calls me or my people Sith Dogs, we retain the right to kill you where you stand." Harry told them, turning the box over and dumping the sabers unceremoniously on the ground.

"Fucking Brownies." Harry spat out, walking out of the room followed by all of the Sentinels, except for the fourth attack group who stayed with the other Jedi.

Kit turned to Quinlan, and they shared a shocked look. Was the split so bad that there was going to be honour duals fought in the halls of the Temple now? Neither of them knew for sure, but they did know something; they were going to back Harry. To do otherwise was crazy.

"Come on. Let's split up into groups and get started on this new training." He said, waving for the rest of the Jedi to come with him. As he passed Shaak Ti, she looked at him with tears in her eyes. He met her gaze and shook his head. Sometimes, you had to change with the times.

Later that night, two Durmas left Coruscant under the cover of darkness. Both ships were loaded down with a thousand clone troopers, thirty Sentinel warriors, and six Slicer teams.

Harry was on the bridge of the Black Dragon with his daughter; along with Pak Nooka, the XO of her first Slicer crew, Hunter, and a holo-projection of his wife.

They were only thirty hours out from Mustafar, and Harry wanted to brief the main players on how things were going, so far. These were two new ships, after all, and they wanted to talk back and forth about how they were holding up. Or rather, that was Harry's excuse. He really just wanted to see his wife.

"How is the Golden Eagle holding up?" Harry asked.

"Fine, dear. She's a good ship." Luminara replied, smiling.

"Good. I don't want any surprises. The last thing we need is for one of the ships to fall apart on us." Harry said.

"No chance of that, Harry. Was there anything else you wanted to talk about?" She enquired.

"I wanted to go over the plan one more time, if we can?" Harry asked.

"What's there to talk about? There are three capital ships in orbit over Mustafar, and a few command posts on the ground. With not a lot of stable land on the surface of the planet, there are only a few thousand droid troops on the ground, and a few workers running the refining systems. You scout the posts in the Black Hawk, we sight in on the capital ships with our weapons on the two Durmas. You give the go order, and we drop them. You bomb the command posts, and we send in the clones. Two days later, Uncle Obi shows up to take over for us. Two days after that, Master Yoda helps set up the Draymak blockade of the planet, to protect it's flow of metal to the factory. By then, we will be into day one of our fight for Dantooine." Asajj said, running off the list from her head.

"Did you memorize that?" Harry asked.

"Yes I did." She replied, sticking up her nose.

"Good girl. Well, it seems like you have it from here, Hunter and I will return to the Black Hawk." Harry said, hugging her.

"Are you sure you want to house your strike team in the cargo bay of the Black Hawk, Dad?" She asked.

"Yes. It's not like the guys are sleeping on the floor. I set up a barracks for them in the back section of the bay. In fact, it's nicer in the Black Hawk, than it is on this ship. More space for the troops." Harry said.

"He's right Commander. The Black Hawk is very big, and there are only seventy-five of us." Hunter confirmed.

"Okay. Well, I'll see you for morning meal in ten hours." She said, walking off to talk to her two pilots.

The next two days were very uneventful, as far as anyone on the two ships were concerned. Not even dropping out of hyperspace, only a stone's throw away from the three capital ships gave them much to worry about; after all, they had magical cloaking.

In fact, nothing exciting happened until Harry called in the last Command post location. That's when all hell broke loose.

"Mom, it's go time. You have command of my ESTs for the first wave of assaults. Gunners! Target the three Capital ships. Fire on my mark." She ordered, walking over to her Captain's chair and flopping down into it.

"Commander, we have lock on the three Ships." Her main gunner called out.

"Commander, the Eagle has lock as well, sir." Said her XO Pak Nooka, an older human with dark skin and white hair.

"Pak, when we have confirmation of the ESTs launch, call it out." She instructed, looking at the three soon to be dead ships, with Saber in her lap.

"Sir, we have confirmation!" Pak said.

"Gunners, FIRE!" She called out, and watched as the sixteen rail cannons lit up; and a second later, the three ships were nothing but a field of fire and debris.

"Good shooting! Pak, do we have confirmation of the EST's strikes?" She queried, feeling adrenaline flow through her veins.

"Yes sir! Stations on the Northern hemisphere are down, sir!" He called out.

"Very good, this is going better than we thought it would. Pak, keep an eye out for Seps. They might send reinforcements." She commanded.

"Yes sir!" He called back.

She stood up and walked back to her holo-projector, and called her Dad.

"Dad, the bombings are going good so far, in a few minutes I'm going to send down the troops. You coordinate their landing zones, and start the ground war; I'll keep an eye out for Separatist reinforcements." She instructed.

"Okay. You're doing a good job so far, sweetie. Keep up the good work." He complimented.

"Good luck, Dad." Was her only response.

"All targets are down, Commander!" Pak called out.

"Open transmission to the EST drop ships." She ordered, retaking her seat.

"You're live, Commander!" He said.

"All ground troops, you are go for landing! Good hunting, guys. Take your time out there and remember, you have two days to knock out two thirds of their droid forces. You don't have to push too hard out there, save it for when we run into real fighting! Good luck, and my the Force be with you!" She said, before making a cut gesture with her hand.

"Pak, keep the comm lines open to the bridge, I want to hear how things are going." She said, petting Saber in her lap.

Asajj sat there in her chair and listened to the sounds of war being projected over the speakers on the bridge.

For the first two hours, they had no casualties. She was being handed a cup of tea from her head cook, when the first casualty report came in. A trooper from the sixth fighting company based on her ship. CT-58597. Un-named as of yet, but he was the first to go. Asajj didn't know how to feel at that moment. It was one thing to talk about casualty numbers, but it was another thing to experience the death of your clone troopers.

By the six hour mark, she was numb inside. Twenty Clones. The opening salvo had cost them twenty clones, so far, and fighting was still going strong. They took out most of the easy to pick off droids, close to a thousand of them so far, but now the other two thousand were entrenched. They couldn't fall back and bomb them from the ESTs, because they needed the refineries up and running with minimal damage, so the Draymak people could start shipping raw metal to the factory ASAP. As it was, they were almost out of metal.

She was out of her seat, looking over the map on the holo-projector, when Pak called out, "Contact, sir! Three Capital ships approaching from hyperspace!"

"How far out?" She enquired, turning to him.

"Three minutes, tops!"

"Can you get a fix on their positions?" She asked, as she took her seat.

"No sir, not until they drop out of hyperspace." He said, looking back at her.

"Can you guess where they might drop out of hyperspace?" She asked, thinking about what her next move was going to be.

"With their trajectory, I can give you a very general location, but nothing to target off of." He replied, looking at his screen.

"Give the location to the Eagle. Gunners, when they drop out of hyperspace, I want them turned into scrap metal!" She commanded, coldly and she smiled when she got a chorus of "Yes sir!" in return.

A minute later, three ships came out of hyperspace. Ten seconds later, they were vaporized.

"Good shooting, boys! Drinks on me after the shift change!" She praised.

"Asajj, that was a very good call, dear," Her mother said over the comms. "We were monitoring their radio chatter, and they never even got a chance to call the ground teams." Luminara said.

"Thanks, Mom. How are the over watch flights going?" She asked.

"Good, but I think I'm going to call half the squads back to ship, because there's nothing for them to shoot at." She said.

"Do what you think is best, Mom. You're in charge of the ESTs." She replied, with a smile.

"Will do. Eagle out." Luminara said, cutting the connection.

"Pak, anything happen during the Capital ship attack?" She asked.

"Yes sir. General Potter broke through the enemy strong hold and took the main refinery, sir!" He reported, bringing the radio chatter back up on the big screens.

"Alright Dad! Now, we only have twenty more to go." She noted, sitting back in her chair. "Pak, radio down when they have a break in the fighting so I can congratulate them, and have the cook bring us up something to pick at. You boys did a good job so far, and we still have five more hours to go before shift change." She said, smirking.

The smirk fell off her face a few second later, when a casualty report came back with three more troopers dead and six wounded.

"Have one of the ESTs pick up the wounded and bring them back to the Dragon please, Pak." She commanded, stroking Saber deep in thought again.

The rest of the night went off without any more problems, and when the second crew came in for the shift change, she stood up and saluted them as they walked out of the room.

It was a scene being replayed on the Eagle as well.

During the night, Harry lead his strike team on three more breaking missions, and with the help of a few other units, they took the three refineries. It did have a cost attached to it. Twenty more troopers were down, and fifty were sitting in the Med station, bring the total up to 43 dead so far.

None from Ghost company though, so they were still working at full speed.

Asajj retired to her Captain's quarters, and looked over maps and images captured by the ESTs flying over watch. This was not going to plan at all. They were supposed to be mopping up from the night before, and pressing on to the north today; but instead, the ground commander for the Seps gave fall back and defend orders, before the command posts were taken out. Now, they were using her dad's team for door breaching, and the other Jedi attack teams as cleanup crews.

Sighing, she leaned back in her desk, and was just starting to fall asleep when Cira Armande, her second XO knocked on the door. She stood toe to toe with Asajj, with long blond hair and an air of nobility around her.

"Sir, Master Potter just reported the taking of two more refineries, but the First fighting company took a good hit in the fight, sir; they lost ten troopers and twice that many are headed up to the ship for med treatments. Surprisingly, Ghost company has yet to lose a trooper, and they've been taking point on every assault." She reported.

"That's because they're using stealth and cover in taking the front doors. Once they take the front entrance and shield rooms, they hand it off to another fighting company." She said, making a pot of tea.

Cira looked at her as she drained the tea cup and poured a second. "Sir, maybe you should take a nap." She suggested.

"I'll sleep when my ground Commander sleeps." Asajj said, rolling her shoulders.

"With all due respect, sir, you're not Harry Potter." Cira remarked, smirking.

Asajj thought about that for a second, before nodding. "True, but my mother hasn't taken a break yet." She said.

"Actually, Wing Commander Potter took dinner in her state room an hour ago, with order to not disturb her unless something good happens, sir." Cira corrected.

"Really. My mother said that?" She asked, looking shocked.

"Yes sir. Shall I have the cook send something up for you, sir?" She offered.

"I guess so. Also, bring me updates every hour, unless something happens." She instructed, shrugging out of her long tailed jacket and gun rigging.

"Right away, sir!" She said, walking out.

Asajj walked over to the leather couch in her room and laid out on it. Saber jumped up on her belly and laid his head on her chest.

"Saber, what am I going to do? We are winning this fight, but the numbers are all off. This should not take this long." She said, looking into the cat's green eyes.

The cat blinked three times, and walked over to the comm unit on the wall.

"What?" She asked, rolling over on the couch. The cat jumped up and pointed to the red button on the panel.

"What? You think I should call someone?" She asked, then she thought about what she was doing. "I must be going mad. I'm having a conversation with a cat." She muttered. The cat in question looked back at her, narrowed his eyes, and jumped up and hit the red button.

"Asajj, did you call me?" Her Mom's voice came out of the panel.

Asajj shot up off the couch and ran to the panel. "No, Mom, the cat did." She said, looking at Saber with a smirk.

"Well, that's just odd." Luminara remarked.

"Tell me about it, I wonder if Aunt Padme's dogs do stuff like this," She said. quizzically.

"I'm sure they do. Was there something you wanted to talk about?" Luminara asked.

"I guess. It's just the numbers are way off from what I thought they would be. This battle is way harder than I predicted, and I kind of feel like, maybe If I was wrong about this, then I'm wrong about the whole war." She confided in a huff, as she paced the room.

The cook came in and set a try on her desk. She thanked him, but never broke her stride.

"Honey, you have to calm down! Things are going great. We have seven of the twenty-one refineries taken, including the main refinery. Your Dad is working on another one, right now. That will be eight down, and we still have thirty hours to go before the hand off." She said, calmly.

"But we are so far behind, and we have sixty troops laying dead, right now, in the cargo bay!" Asajj disputed.

"And that number will be multiplied by a hundred by the end of this war! Pull yourself together, and think about this logically. You knew this was going to happen, you even said the best case scenario for this battle was sixty troops. So you were off in your guess; this is not the end of the galaxy, kid, this is only the start of the war. What are you going to do when you lose your first Sentinel?" Luminara asked.

Asajj dropped into her desk chair and took a deep breath. "You're right. I need to calm down." She conceded.

"That's right. Now, get some food in your system, and take a nap. Your father has control of the war, for now." She said, softly.

"Thanks for talking this over with me, Mom." Asajj said, running her hands over her face just like Harry did when he was tired.

"It's what I'm here for." She said, ending the call.

"And you, Mr. Smarty Cat. You come here, so I can scratch your tummy." She said, patting the desk. Saber jumped up and laid out on the desk with a grin on his face. "Yes, you knew what to do, gloating is not very Jedi like." She chided, smirking.

Cira knocked and came in. "Sir, Master Potter just took another refinery. The fifth fighting group reports no dead, and only five wounded, sir. I think our troopers are starting to get the hang of it out there." She reported, with a pleased smile.

Asajj breathed a sigh of relief.

"Thank you, Cira. On orders from my Wing Commander, I will be taking a short nap. Wake me in a few hours, if nothing huge happens, please." She said, pulling the tray over and looking at the bowl of stew.

Looking at the food made her think about her troops.

"Actually, Cira, ask my father if it's a good idea to stop ground movements, so the troops can get something to eat." She instructed.

"Good idea, sir. I'll run it up the line." Cira said.

"Thank you." She said, as her XO left the room.

Five hours later, Asajj stepped onto the bridge and Cira called out "Officer on the bridge!", causing all of her Slicers to stand and salute her.

"As you were. Don't mind me, I'm just the girl with the big chair." She said, dropping into her captain's chair

"Cira, anything happen while I was out?" She asked.

"Not much, sir. Ground Commander Potter ordered the Companies to stand down and get some chow, about four hours ago. He and Ghost company pushed on, and scouted out three more refineries. They took those three since then. We lost five troopers, two from Third company, and three from the twelfth company. We also took in twenty more wounded. None of them were badly hurt, and half of the troopers that came in during the night were cleared for duty; but I ordered them to barracks. No need to send them out yet, if we don't need to." She reported, looking over her notes on her datapad.

"Thank you, Cira. That was very well briefed." She said

Meanwhile, on the surface of Mustafar, Harry was on the radio with the Jedi General of Ninth Company. It was their next stop, and Harry wanted to get a lay of the land, so to speak, before they landed.

Hunter came up behind him as he glided the Black Hawk in for a landing close to the Ninth Company base camp.

"Hey Hunter, you guys ready for another assault, or do you think the boys need some time to rest?" Harry asked, turning to him.

"We are always up for a good fight, sir; but if you're willing to give us a break, then we'll take it." Hunter replied, smirking.

"Good! That's the kind of Captain I need. Never push the men if we don't have to. As you can see, we'll be doing a lot of the heavy lifting in this war, and it's better if we treat the boys with respect. They've been working very hard so far, and I'm lucky to have you guys." Harry said.

"We like the work, sir. So far, you've been very thoughtful of your planning, and I wanted to thank you for that. We're the best of the best, but it's nice to see that you're looking out for the men, sir." Hunter said.

"Of course I am. Who the hell is going to keep up with me if I lose you guys. Let's get some food, and relax for a little bit. Say… a half hour. Are any of the men injured?" He asked, standing up and walking with Hunter down to the cargo bay.

"Not really, sir. So far the worst thing we have is Thumper's sprained ankle." Hunter said.

"Good." Harry said, as they walked into the cargo bay to find Ghost Company standing in three lines, at attention.

"At ease boys, we're taking a short rest, before we continue." Harry informed them, pulling out a crate of meal bars and started tossing them out to the troopers. Harry took one and sat down next to Hunter.

"Can you guys make it through the next twenty-three hours?" Harry asked.

"We can, sir; but I wouldn't push it past that. Two days is our limit, before you start to see a fall off in performance." Hunter replied, taking a drink from his canteen.

"Good to know. My limit is five days, so I can understand that." Harry said.

"Good to know, sir." Hunter said, eating his meal bar.

"I'm going to talk to the troops. Keep track of the time, we don't want to leave the Ninth Company out there too long, or they might try taking the refinery by themselves." Harry laughed, as he walked over to the troops.

Hunter sat back and watched, as Harry talked to each one.

He was sure he saw a white glow come from his hand, as he touched each trooper on the shoulder. Hunter shook his head and smiled, he was healing them, without telling them. It was a good idea, if you thought about it. The troops get a boost of energy, and they connect that feeling with Harry's presence.

Jango was right, Harry was the best Commander he ever saw. He made sure the troops kept up with him, and he looked out for them. He even went so far as to put himself in harm's way, to protect them.

He knew this was an easy battle, but if Harry acted like this throughout the war, then he would proudly serve him until the day he died. He watched Harry approach Thumper and ask about his ankle. When Thumper lifted his leg, he saw Harry wave his hand and heal it, causing a smile to spread across the rest of the troops faces.

When Harry finished talking to the last group of troopers, he waved him back over.

"Yes, Hunter?" He asked.

"It's almost time, sir, and you need to eat after using that much magic." He said, handing him a meal bar.

"Thanks Hunter." he said.

"I'll get the boys ready. Take a load off, sir." Hunter said.

"You know, you don't have to keep calling me 'sir'. And this thing looks disgusting. First order of business is better food." Harry remarked, taking a bite; he chewed, and made a face as he swallowed.

"Defiantly, better food." Harry muttered, looking at the bar.

"I have no Idea what you're talking about. We live on those things." He said.

"Well, it's not really living then, is it? I've had MREs better than this." Harry said, making a choking face.

Hunter was about to ask him why he was making the face, when he heard the troops laughing.

He looked at Harry, and saw him wink. Hunter nodded, he was definitely going to like working for Harry.

"Right Boss, I'll get the troops ready." He said, walking over to the group. "Okay. Quit down, boys. We just about reached the end of a very long day, and guess what? We get to do it all over again. Pack it up and get ready for another day at the office, boys!" He ordered, grabbing a box of magazines and tossed one to each of them.

Ten minutes later, Harry was hiding behind a big volcanic rock about fifty feet away from a big refinery. Looking around the rock, he clocked the time it took for the guards to make the rounds on the five levels. Ducking back down, he turned to Hunter sitting next to him.

"The same as the last eight we hit, Boss?" He asked.

"The same. It's like their programming, or something." Harry said, scratching his beard.

"So, we hit it the same way we've been doing all day? Do we try for stealth, or do we go hard up the front, like the last four?" Hunter asked.

"We go hard up the front, the abrupt attack throws them off their game, and we get shot at less. Plus, I think it goes faster this way." Harry said. Looking at the troops he add. "This time, I would like Crack Shot to actually hit his target, but I'm not going to hold my breath." Harry jibed, loud enough for the troops to hear, but not loud enough for the droids to hear.

Four troopers with rail gun rifles all laughed and started ribbing the fifth, who had a bullseye with a crack drawn through it, like the no smoking sign, on his helmet. The bullseye was his own addition, but the crack was Harry's doing after he missed his two droids, which caused the whole team to come under fire. After securing the front and the shield generator rooms, Harry pulled the snipers aside and asked which one missed. When the four pointed to Bullseye, Harry waved his hand, adding the crack.

"From now on, your name is Crack Shot. You miss again, and your name will be Susan. You understand me, Trooper?" Harry said. When Crack Shot nodded in a panic, Harry patted him on the shoulder. "Relax, son, I'm not going to hurt you. I'm just going to let your friends rib you from now, until your dying day." Harry said, turning around. He smirked when the rest of the snipers started mocking him.

"Right. That's enough," Hunter said. "Everyone, get into positions, and remember your jobs this time. I'm talking to you Tiny." Hunter said, pointing to a bigger clone with a huge grenade launcher.

"What are you looking at me for?" Tiny asked, hefting his big cannon.

"Your job is to take out the turret on the left, not the one to the right and definitely not the one in the middle of the refinery wall, where our strike team is running under." Said Waxer, smacking him in the back of the head.

"I got it. I'm just as smart as you are, you know." He said, in a huff.

"If that were true, you would know your left, from your right." Teased Waxer's partner in crime: Boil.

"Enough, you two. This time, try not to draw all of the droid's fire, will you?" Harry said, smacking them both in the back of the head.

"Yes Boss!" was there stereo call back.

"Bunch of smart asses I'm working with." Harry complained, before smirking. "I wouldn't have it any other way. Let's give 'em hell, boys!" Harry said, before vanishing from sight.

"I wish I could do that." Thumper said to Odd Ball.

"Pay attention, you know how fast the Boss works." Hunter instructed, with his two guns out.

Nothing happened for a few minutes, then Hunter saw the turret on the wall drop down and hang limp. Hunter made a few hand gestures, and when the droid on the top of the refinery hit the street in front of the building, all hell broke loose.

The five snipers opened fire, dropping the patrolling droids on the walk ways. Two grenadiers stood up, and blew up the two turrets left and right of the front entrance. And a strike team lead by Hunter charged up the road, and right up to the main doors.

As they approached, the doors flew open and Harry was there, with his lightsaber in his right hand, and his 1911 in his left.

"Come on boys, you're missing all the fun!" He said, waving to a pile of droids still glowing from where Harry ran them through with his lightsaber.

With Harry at the front, they took the five rooms by the front entrance, and Harry took the security post station. In all, they killed, maybe… fifty droids. The problem with finishing the sweep of the building, was size; the refinery was huge, and there were droids stationed everywhere. It would take the Ninth Company an hour to clear the whole place, because they had to go slow. After all, the production line was still active, and hot molten metal was running everywhere on conveyer belts and in troughs.

"Hunter, have the boys hold this position, and call in the Ninth." Harry ordered, walking down the hall to a office.

With his lightsaber out, Harry kicked in the door and blocked a few blaster bolts.

"Surrender now, or you will lose an arm! I'm not fucking with you!" Harry yelled into the office. He learned fast, after almost being shot in the first refinery he took, he now did them all like this.

"You have to the count of three to toss the blaster out, and come out with your hands up!" Harry said, peaking into the office . "1...2..." Was as far as he got, before a blaster pistol was tossed on the ground by his feet.

"Good, stand up and come here." He commanded, and a Skakoan stood up, with his hands up.

Like the rest of the Klegger Corp Mining refineries they hit, the whole place was ran by a team of ten Skakoans. This one was the foreman. The rest would be hiding with the droids.

Harry tied his arms behind his back, and marched him out of the Refinery, with his troopers following him. He met the Jedi leader of the Ninth Company, a young headstrong Zabrak who's name escaped him at the moment. He was standing by the front door.

"This is the foreman of this plant. He can tell you who's in there, and where." Harry said, shoving the Skakoan into his arms. "Call us if you run into any trouble, and when you take the plant, set up a perimeter in case they manage to land reinforcements on this rock, without my daughter blowing them up."

"Will do, sir!" The Jedi said, snapping him a salute.

Harry returned it as he followed his men back onto the Black Hawk. "Hey, Hunter, how long did that last one take us?" Harry asked.

"Half hour, Boss." He said, checking his watch.

"Really? We shaved a whole fifteen minutes off our best time?" Harry asked, looking at the troopers.

"We did, Boss. It must be your leadership skills." Hunter snarked.

"It can't be yours, you spend most of the time hiding behind cover." Harry quipped in response, turning to the cockpit.

"I have to Boss, who's going to run the op. when you get shot?" He said, following him up the stairs.

Waxer turned to Boil. "Is it strange we all show the Boss so little respect?" He asked, taking a seat at the table.

"I don't think it's a lack of respect, Waxer; I think we all respect the Boss. I just think we all treat him the way we treat the rest of our clone brothers." Boil said, shrugging.

"But he's not a clone." Thumper objected, sitting down with Crack Shot.

"No, but he's a warrior, like the rest of us. You met the other Jedi. They all act a little stiff. The Boss acts like a regular guy." Crack Shot said.

"What made you ask in the first place Waxer?" Boil asked.

"I don't know? Jango said the Boss was a real crazy killer. Said he was the most feared man in the Galaxy, and he treats us better than Fett did when he was training us." Waxer remarked.

"That's because Fett was training you for combat. I'm just trying to make sure you survive it." Harry said, showing up out of thin air.

"Now, grab your gear, before I start calling you Chatterbox." Harry said smirking. "And Crack Shot, just because you think I'm a nice guy, doesn't get you off the hook with me. Fuck up again, and I'll stick you to the hull of the ship and let you ride on the outside to our next drop zone." Harry threatened, patting him on the back as he walked away.

"What did I do?! I was being nice." He protested, as his buddies laughed at him.

"Keeping troop morale up, Boss?" Hunter asked.

"I kind of have to. You're a stick in the mud. I hope you can shoot better than you hold a conversation." Harry said, smirking.

"I can shoot just fine, Boss." Hunter assured, quick drawing his blasters.

"Good, you can show me by taking point on this next one." Harry said, waving out the door.

"Don't mind if I do." Hunter agreed, leading the troopers out of the cargo door.

"That's what I like to hear." Was Harry's only response.