Same Song Different Verse

by Selector

Harry thought he had seen it all. As it turned out, not so much.

10. Chapter 10

Same Song Different Verse

Chapter Ten

The Dread Lord

The week went by with the older group 'relieving tension' as the younger group called it and the younger group giggling like mad. Everyone was again watching Mon and Obi wan and the build up to Nabooan Independence day was at a fever pitch.

SSDV

On Coruscant the preparations for the Nabooan independence celebration had built to a high pace as well. Palpatine watched as the scouts filled in locations and fleet movements and the fleets assembled to jump off in time to be there for the celebration. He was happy to provide fireworks for the Nabooan slut and her frogs.

SSDV

Harry looked in the tank and shrugged "Today, at high hyperspace speeds down the now cleared lanes so they can be here to put their boot on Apailana's neck day after tomorrow. Figuratively speaking."

Ahsoka lifted a brow "And you are so calm how exactly?"

Harry grinned "I have the Marauder. Get me close to the bridge of the lead ship I will apparate over and bring you back their admiral's head."

The girls gaped at him.

Alpha One offered "Republic One has control of a hundred thousand battleship main battery caliber weapons Master. You would need to jump out of their range to have a chance before she killed them. Five parsecs to be safe."

Apailana smirked. She had talked to that AI. She was vicious, skilled, unscrupulous, and protective of Harry. A sweet girl, erh, computer. Whatever!

SSDV

Admiral Thrawn was on the bridge when the ship, the first of a new class, dropped out of hyperspace and disassembled itself down the hyperspace lane.

Vader had run to and leapt in a TIE fighter minutes ago. His fighter was miraculously untouched as it dropped through a massive hole that bloomed in the ship before him. He left it powered down. Mines. That had to have been a mine. They would flock to any signature now that they had been tripped. He watched screaming in rage as the fleet was torn to pieces. The whole fleet as it had been traveling all in one group. A sharp thrust to the heart and done! Thrawn had spoken so eloquently.

Tarkin nodded as the front wave of his fleet dissolved in the hyperspace tank and ordered the rest of the waves back to post along the line to defend from the attack he was sure was coming from the east. The mines continued to pursue and harass. He lost three more ships of the line and several returning scouts.

In the Emperor's situation room two admirals and a captain fell to the floor, dried out husk, as the lightning snapped off. No one made a sound. Palpatine stalked out to his private office.

Darth Vader watched as thousands of Lucrehulks appeared, maneuvered and tractored the remains of the Grand Fleet into their hulls and once full left again. They picked up bodies and all clearing the hyperspace lane. As one got to close he ignited his engines, got clear and jumped to hyperspace from the back edge of the swath of destruction. He managed to stay ahead of the mines.

SSDV

Harry smiled at how happy the Force was and stood behind Apailana and the Gungan leader on the stage after walking behind them in the parade trying to be invisible. Apailana in full makeup wasn't having it and drug him forward in his mirror polished black armor and cape. The crowd roared and the Gungan band struck up again. The holonet reporters spotted. News of what was happening in space was scrolling across the bottom of holo screens in flashing red letters.

The droid ship settled into the pond on Byss and dropped its payload then left as quietly as it could. It settled on the furthest of the five moons and turned its camera and sensors towards Byss, this was repeated on forty nine planets or moons of gas giants in the core.

SSDV

Later that week Harry was following Apailana and her entourage in full dress, armor and black dragon hide over robe, down the main street of the capitol city in the afternoon when a holo reporter with her breast nearly falling out of her suit jacket top stuck a microphone in his face "How do you answer the accusations that you are starting a revolt of non-human species and your Harem of non-human Jedi females are the leaders and have mind tricked all the former Senators?" Harry blinked.

"Or that you have included underage Nabooan women and are using them for unspeakable purposes and to reward the non-human Senators that are following your orders Dread Lord?"

Harry pinched the bridge of his nose "I'm going to kill Bars Hnad."

"So, your next plan after crushing the flower of the Empire with your unholy alien horde is to kill the Chief of the Banking Clan Chiefs, Dread Lord?"

"No I am killing him for sticking me with that title. Look you seem like a nice red lady, why don't we walk and talk? I don't want to lose sight of Apailana. Lots of people we don't know around here. Call me Harry. What is your name, if you don't mind me asking? Oh and what species are you?"

"I'm Luxa D'pow Dread Lord. I'm a Zeltron. We thought you might not hurt me since you do seem to collect non-human base females."

"Harry Luxa, do you mind if I call you Luxa? I don't collect females. I have been blessed that all these lovely young women have decided to help me and teach me. I come from the far reaches of unexplored space you see, and was not really prepared for life in the Republic. The ladies have graciously allowed me to stay in their company."

Luxa beamed at him "Luxa is fine Dr, erh, Harry. So, when did you arrive in Republic space?"

Harry sighed "Right at the time the former supreme chancellor stabbed the Jedi Order in the back and issued order 66 to have their own soldier's mutiny and kill them in his attempt to usurp the authority of the people and take over the galaxy. I was able to play some small part in helping to get the word of his treachery against the free peoples of the galaxy out."

The Republic watched and fell into those green eyes and that open honest face. No Jedi displayed emotions like this. This was a man just trying to make his way in the world. Or at least half the republic did. A part of the rest of it nodded along knowingly. That would be just like that weasel Palpatine. Hadn't they just told the boys at the bar and the wife he was a slime? The other part of the rest were hanging on his every word minus that tiny fraction that was sitting in their moms basement looking at their holo screens with nearly square eyes, catching all this in the picture in picture while their massive holo game ran and they desperately fought each other for control of the holo world and all the hot women in it. Another part was too busy looking down an impressive red cleavage to care no matter what Harry said or did.

Mon, who as always had key word searches running, burst in to the Republic conference level of the grounded control sphere and turned all the holos to this when Luxa first waved boobs and microphone at Harry and they all sat stunned as he gave a class in self-deprecation and aw shucks and never told a single lie or the whole truth.

"Now why did you come to talk to me Luxa?"

"Hmm Harry? Oh there is a holo from the Empire that claims you have done all kinds of things and have destroyed half the Imperial Navy as they moved out to reestablish law and order in the galaxy. You and your far from base, alien hordes."

Harry blinked "I was right here making sure Apailana was safe. I think everyone saw me at the parade earlier this week. Least I could do for her after she has helped me like these other fine folks. You folks cameras have been following me every step for weeks now."

Luxa breathed "She's a lucky lucky girl."

Maris grabbed Apailana's hand as it went for her light saber and she hissed "He has it, it's working. The half of the Republic that hasn't fallen in her cleavage is falling in his eyes. You can have her skinned for a purse later."

Harry chuckled "Oh I'm a lucky fella just to know her. She'll make some young man a fine wife someday."

Luxa smiled "I heard that was going to be you Harry?"

"Well when she is of an age to marry I won't be young anymore will I?"

Jocasta Nu was doing some math in her head and gasped "It's not possible." Yoda looked at her and she huffed "He is base human." Yoda smiled mysteriously and left it.

Luxa took Harrys arm by wrapping hers behind his and resting her hand on his forearm. Shaak stepped in front of Aayla. The doubles kind of body checked Apailana along and Harry smiled, looked at Luxa and ambled. "Now about that far from base alien hordes comment from the failed chancellor?"

Luxa huffed "It was insulting to everyone not a human Harry."

Harry looked sad and shook his head "People like that always fall back on trying to stir up prejudice when they fail don't they? I mean look at you! A fine figure of a lovely red young lady out here in the galaxy trying to make a living and he would do what? Replace you with some pale, high strung, badly educated, core world's rich girl, with no life experience who didn't know a Larty from a Vulture droid? No thank you. I much prefer ambling along with you as everyone enjoys themselves on this fine Nabooan day.

Now of the ladies and gentlemen who have helped me so much, well there is Celeste Morne a human. Aayla Secura a Twi'lek, Shaak Ti a Togrutan and a couple Wookies and well, I just can't tell you how many others. I'm grateful to them all. You know I don't even know what most of the species are.

I think we all play well together, learning each other's strengths, helping each other with our weaknesses. It's worked so far anyway. As far as law and order? Well the local police out here are still there. Local governments still run. The Jedi still look for threats from outside after, or in in spite of their losses, caused by the jealous and inadequate former senator from this very planet. I think everyone should say thank you to all the Jedi they see for soldiering on in the face of their great pain. I know I'm very grateful. The police and local militaries as well. I don't think we need a disgraced former politician from a great planet who disgraced both noble races that inhabit it telling us about law and order do we?

I think we all need to help our Local, Planetary, System, Sector and Republic government and the Jedi root out these corrupt humans and others who would use prejudice and ignorance to ty to harm us."

Harry looked away into the middle distance on the holo and Mon moaned "Sorry Obi wan I'll have that!"

Obi wan nodded absently "How do you feel about sharing."

Bail snorted "Idiot just made himself the real Emperor."

Breha waved "Shhhh! The shows on!"

Harry looked at Luxa again, sincerity shining from him "That's not an excuse to let our own prejudices out to play though is it? I mean lots of the folks who have been helping me and fighting the failed chancellor and his bureaucrats are human just like us. Well not you. That is the prettiest red."

Luxa smiled blindingly at Harry "Now Harry, what was that about killing the Chief of the Clan Chiefs of the Banking Clans earlier?"

Harry blushed. Mon moaned again. "Bars Hnad. Bars has helped me out a lot. He is a great guy. One of the pillars the Alliance was and now the Republic is built on. Brilliant guy. This thing with Apailana came up and everyone was kind of freaked out and well the Naboo Governor called me Dread Lord and Bars well he laughed and started calling me that to get under my skin. I'm just Harry you know? I've had some luck, but what I have really had is the help of a lot of good people of every possible species. I've just tried to contribute as they seemed to be doing the right thing. Helping people. Say let me introduce you to some of them."

Mace Windu snorted "That devious bastard."

Garm looked at Clynda and she laughed "I am not having a daughter so you can put her in the harem. Ours are already married."

Breha smiled and Bail face palmed.

Bars popped up in a holo looking stunned. Mon chortled "Yes we saw."

Bars nodded "The Empire is running a whole propaganda campaign. He hasn't even seen it. That reporter obviously surprised him with it. Not only did he put a Zeltron whose specialty is befuddling men in the palm of his hand and have her purring, he destroyed the empires propaganda campaign point by point."

Jocasta smiled "He has fought at least three fully realized, and up until then successful, dark lords and won. Dark lords who used the Force like he does and had years of experience. He was at the top of an order like the Jedi, in line to be the Grand master. He fought, in single combat, the leaders of nine incursions from a parallel dimension or different reality while commanding the forces of his world fighting others. He was the defacto if not in fact Grand Master of his Order, Fleet Admiral, and General of the Army. The things he knows I estimate would take a lifetime for a Jedi Master to learn."

Yoda nodded "Older than he looks our Master Potter is. More experienced as well."

Breha blinked "He looks twenty five or so."

"Master Potter's story to tell this is. Done well he has. Pulled the Dark Lords teeth again. Capitalize on this we must."

Gial Ackbar popped up "Militarily not much more can be gained. We can continue to draw the noose tighter but we will eventually have to fight a real fleet engagement or several. Also some of those ships were of a new Super Dreadnought class. Our yards will need to work up a counter."

The Wookie rep growled and yowled and his droid deadpanned "Mines seem to work."

Bars nodded "Commercially the Republic is fully employed and highly productive. We are bleeding the empire white on non-base workers, gold and other metals, fuel as the lucrehulks go in empty and come out full. I think we give it a few months and continue to build and see if Idiotine makes another mistake.

Mon blinked "In empty and out full and they don't burn it up?"

Bars shrugged "The Dread Lord sent us some rune sets and the astromechs have been putting them on. We have force sensitives that can uh start? Power? Whatever they can make them work. Fuel consumption is down to ten percent so we put just enough fuel in them to get them wherever they are going in the core plus ten percent and they come back full and we store it. They have the fuel producing devices as well. The tankage and space inside the hulls is massively expanded as well, Like Republic One and the party barge now. We keep the paying passengers to the second deck, It isn't magically expanded. We take the fuel in payment for the food and garbage hauling from worlds who don't have gold or other trading materials. We sell it on, for a small profit of course."

"Emperor and the richest male in the galaxy. I take it back Garm, I'll see the doctor." Clynda announced. The room broke up laughing.

Luxa D'pow followed Harry and company all day. She finally had to leave at his bedroom door and she sprinted off the command sphere and into a speeder. She had to go home sleep and get cleaned up. She was invited tomorrow too! Well sleep after an appointment with Mr. Feelgood. Mr. Human Feelgood.

Aayla folded her arms and tapped her foot. Harry sighed "Enemies close. The press can be worked to our advantage. We will do what we called embedding with her and see if we can make her ours."

Tis'wedu snorted "She is already yours. Bring her to bed anytime. You could have mated her in the street and she wouldn't have cared."

Harry grimaced "She is like a Veela with no control."

Aayla asked "Veela?"

Harry shrugged "Near human species, can turn into giant birds of prey and throw fire balls. They exude a pheromone and magic related to mating and are universally beautiful women. Most men get lost in the pheromone and the magic. Me, well you know how I am about unwanted mental intrusions. Pheromones, or hers at least, give me a headache."

Aayla hugged and kissed him "How about wanted intrusions into Twi'leks?" The younger women squealed and fled.

SSDV

In the morning Luxa was waiting bright and early. A B3 escorted her to Harry's bedroom and after she turned the camera off let her in. She looked around at all the women and Harry and sighed. Harry chuckled "Come on, come over here and sit down. It isn't over yet. We just wanted everyone to meet you and have time to talk." Luxa smiled and sat in the armchair facing them. "Did you know you are force sensitive?"

Luxa blushed a deeper red. "Not enough to be a Jedi."

Harry chuckled "Maybe enough to be a Force Mage though. I am going to ask you for an oath that will prohibit you revealing anything we don't want you too. After that you can be our reporter and stay with us. We will do our best to give you enough news so you can make a good living. Meanwhile we will try to teach you how to use the Force."

Luxa swooned "Who do I have sex with first?"

"Ask Aayla."

"What?"

"Aayla was my mate first here, anything else is up to her. After her then Shaak, Celeste, Maris and Ahsoka. Roganda, Tis'wedu. Apailana and her girls are too young for that yet and we will burn that bridge when we get to it in five years." Harry supplied.

Apailana rolled her eyes "Four."

Tis'wedu snorted "She passed out."

"Go away Harry, we'll handle it." Aayla gave him a shove.

He walked out and went down and nearly turned around and went back when he stepped out and everyone on the ground turned to him and bowed with a fairly uniform "Dread Lord."

Jocasta laughing at his horrified face stopped him and started them chuckling. He sighed "BARS!" Now they all really laughed.

Aayla drug a still stunned but head on a swivel having Luxa up in the standard exercise clothes later "Armor."

Harry nodded "Yeah people will be after her."

"Promises, Promises Dread Lord."

"Luxa! Not you too! Didn't we cover that yesterday, and this morning?" Harry looked horrified. The women and girls chatted as Harry did armor for Luxa. She then got drug off to meet the women of the Senate. The males bowed at Harry. Who lit his lightsabers scattering them, except for Mace Windu. Harry gulped and legged it. Mace chased him and the others watched and laughed.

At the end of the day Luxa sat in the Senate lounge "So we exercise like models, work like spice miners and he really is like that interview he gave? That wasn't some clever ploy to frack Palpatine over?"

Mon snorted "You are going to need that armor. And a room on this boat. Who knew a reporter was a Repub symp."

Luxa snorted "Phhhtttt those core world nerf herders see me and those like me as life support systems for sex organs. Where did you get powerful, dark and dreamy? Are there more like him somewhere?"

Bail and Garm laughed "No, sorry. You'll have to ask Aayla for the story." Bail supplied.

Breha shrugged "Look at what Jocasta has on him and ask questions, that oath will make you show the stories and holos to us, or them at least, for approval. You don't have a family out there that could be used against you do you dear?"

Luxa shook her head. "No actually. OK let me cut up what I have and we can review it today and I can send it to keep my producer off my pretty red arse. We'll start all 'being intresty' before we get in depth and give the Dread Lord the Galaxy."

Bars laughed in his holo "Another convert."

"He is going to find a way to punish you, you know?" Luxa arched a brow.

Bars smiled "Every time he does it makes us another fortune. I will find a way to endure it I'm sure."

Luxa nodded as she got out her specialized data pad "So why didn't the Republic Credit collapse, it is a fiat currency after all."

The others watched amazed as Bars got a rigorous grilling in his own field of expertise by an apparent expert of at least his level.

SSDV

The Imperial palace was eerily quiet. Since the holo news today the emperor had killed fourteen. Not, apparently, on purpose but the lightning kept getting away from him. The rest did their job in silence and left as soon as they could. Bad news was now being relayed to the Emperor by holo.

Arden Lyn looked around and chuckled "I'm working for the wrong dark Lord."

"Disloyalty will not be tolerated." Darth Vader stepped from a shadow.

Arden snorted "It never is. So how did you live through that debacle? The force saving you for something?"

Vader tilted his head slightly "Perhaps."

"Sucks to be you then." Arden turned and walked away. Ameesa joined her at the doors. "Time for us to catch a freighter apprentice."

On Byss a dark acolyte looked at the grass sprouting around the ornamental pond and thought it was nice to see things growing again.

SSDV

Harry looked up from his table and nodded. He walked to the room in the palace the council was meeting in. He was deep in thought.

They had been on Naboo three months, things were very settled. Orderly even. The probe on the Byss moon had relayed three data burst when it detected packages of a like size being sent. Everything appeared to be fine on Byss. Ship traffic, construction both in orbit and on the surface. All calm. The only thing of note was a drop from the first sensor reading of force energy to the last. A noticeable drop. The other probes were much the same, this bore watching. "Harry?"

"Aayla?"

"Where do you think we should build a new temple?"

Harry frowned "Schools in every sector. Decentralize and power down. It makes the leaderships job a bit tougher but its safer and, well, shouldn't the most experienced have the toughest jobs? Send the kids home for holidays or let the parents come for holidays if possible. Make them self-sufficient and preferably able to defend themselves and go to orbit then hyperspace if they had to. When they aren't using that power for themselves they can share it to the planetary grid. It could be a source of income for them as well."

Yoda opened his mouth clapped it shut then Mace chuckled "Well we are sucking the Core dry of credit with produce from the Agricorps. Although what the hell Dread Lord, suddenly our force sensitives have jobs and you brought in automated machinery?"

Harry shrugged "Low powered or folks who didn't want to swing swords. R+D, although Jocasta has most of them. Potions brewers, rune carvers, all of that. Stuff has to get done that can't be done by droids. Crops droids can do. Troop to task we called it."

Bars nodded from his holo "What was it Harry? If a Force sensitive can stand up, see lightning and hear thunder we have work for them? As it turns out Force sensitive or not. Not all the senses are necessary either. Manpower is a bit of a problem. We are feeding droids in everywhere we can but nothing beats sentient beings for some jobs."

Mace snorted "We've sucked the core dry of all of those already. The ones that want to leave. The Empires propaganda has convinced some you are the thing that goes bump in the night Dread Lord."

Harry grinned and Aayla slipped a small blue hand over his mouth and gave him a glare. His shoulders slumped and Bail made a whipping motion and a fffchhhh sound. Breha thumped his ear.

Garm laughed then offered "All very domestic, but we are still technically in rebellion."

Apailana huffed "Technically? She arched a brow. "That desiccated failure called me a whore. I'm going to shoot him in the face."

The Wookie rep lifted his arms and yowled. Several other representatives cheered. Yoda sighed.

Ackbar spoke up from his command chair. "Desultory skirmishes continue along the now stable frontier of the Core worlds aside from the salient we have in the line near Alderaan. Those skirmishes are more deliberate and constant. Oddly, the droid Lucrehulks continue to ply the trade routes virtually unmolested. They send aid to casualties among the droid ships on their side and we do the same on our side. All very civilized. It is nerve wracking. The Empire continues to build forces, at least fleet units. And recently some attempts have been made to break out to the north east along the Perlimian trade route with scouts being shadowed to Wayland. A planet that had disappeared off electronic charts. The thousands of droid scouts deployed when you took over the CIS fleet have found it and others again Dread Lord."

Everyone pulled up the data and Mon paged through several reports and then huffed. "Cloning cylinders. Twenty odd thousand at Wayland."

Harry smiled and Stass Allie leaned over to Shaak "Your mate is planning another surprise for his friend the Emperor."

Ackbar coughed "I believe I can help with that."

Bars nodded "I may be of some assistance too."

Harry paused and then grinned "Time for a trip round the Republic and then to Ilum. I might have an errand or two to run on a planet here and there as well. Lots of Padawan needing crystals don't you think?"

Yoda rubbed his chin then nodded and the planners in the Command council, the Jedi council and the Republic council sighed and got to work. A shot at the Dread Lord and recovering his sewed in forces from Wayland would be to much for Palpatine to resist.

SSDV

Harry and company were walking down the main street of the capital of Naboo just out being seen when he snapped a hand out, caught a slug and summoned someone with the other hand. Ameesa Darys landed at his feet.

Arden Lyn went to slide back in her position eighty degrees away and froze at the snap hiss of a lightsaber and the heat on her neck. Celeste nodded "Smart. Now don't move or I will kill you."

Arden shrugged "I came to talk to the Dread Lord."

Farris growled "We have holos."

Aayla smiled at Harry after healing his hand, the dueling shield he thought onto it had been still coming up to his normal impervious "Thank you, but I felt that."

Harry nodded "Two are better than one. Apailana?"

She held up a finger tapping away on her padd. Celeste walked up with Arden and Harry wrinkled his nose "Vampire? Oh no that thing there. Hmmm. Dark sider anyway, before you got that thing. Well doesn't mean you can't be useful."

He looked at Ameesa "Fallen Jedi?" Celeste nodded. "Just kill it then?"

Ameesa struggled to a sitting position in the ropes she was wrapped in "Kill me? She is some kind of demon and you are just going to let her live and kill me?"

Harry shrugged "Thank Yoda, he has mellowed me. A year ago you would have already sublimed to gas. She has never been anything but a dark side user. Lots of dark users where I come from. Doesn't make them evil, just a different set of morals. My school even had a house for them, Slytherin. They didn't run around killing their brothers and sisters. Well some did but I killed most of them before I graduated. Then I killed their parents, brothers, sisters, cousins, aunts, uncles, a couple of their dogs and a snake or two."

Arden grinned at him "Dark plus penis makes evil nearly a hundred percent of the time in my experience. This is going to be fun. Think you can make it where I don't need this thing? I mean, I did bring you a present."

The others gaped. Harry laughed "My apprentice is going to want words over your delivery. Her planet you see. She is a little touchy about killing people here. How did you get this one down here? You I got, you just wanted my attention."

Arden shrugged "Locked her in a closet, didn't tell her where we were going. She is so scared of me she can hardly think anyway. Kill four or five hundred under dwellers one morning and she pees herself. Big bad Jedi. Hey you know that robot guy, Vader was a Jedi too. Skywalker."

The Jedi blinked and Ahsoka closed her eyes "Oh no. I was hoping it was a nightmare." Maris hugged her.

Arden grinned "Two presents."

Harry sighed "Slytherin. That last wasn't a present. Most of us figured."

Arden tried the word out "Slytherin, Slytherin. I like it."

Harry chuckled "I'll show you a book later. Ah Master Koon."

Plo Koon looked at Ameesa "Ameesa Dayrs." Ameesa sighed.

Harry led the group back toward their area "You're going to have to swear some oaths."

Arden nodded "If you agree to end them when I ask."

Harry nodded. "I will have to wipe your memory before you leave if you do. If it was just me fine, but there are youngsters involved who can't protect themselves."

Arden nodded and then looked at the women around her and smiled "If I live." Harry chuckled. Arden got swept away in the crowd of girls.

SSDV

Arden Lyn stood watching the Queens Guards spar with the martial art she was teaching them. Apailana stood beside her lost in though. A group of her friends and classmates had just left from a visit. "You can't go home again Majesty."

Apailana nodded "I knew that a week after being elected. No, I'm just wondering why it's so different for me. They think about boys and class and speeders and clothes. And I do too but I think more about armor, sabers and blasters. Along with fleet tactics and planetary investments."

Arden grinned "Somebody else already picked your boy."

Apailana favored her with a glare "Please. If he wanted it to be different I really couldn't stop it. Luxa would start a PR campaign and I would be out on my shiny, armor plated ass. Maybe it's true though and that might have made me a better Queen. I don't have to work through all that poodoo."

"And I can redirect those hormones into something useful." Arden smiled.

Apailana snorted "I am still going to get good enough to beat your ass for bringing that idiot to shoot Harry."

"Who knew he was a light sider and wouldn't move or would step in front of a shot so no one else would get hit? I did have the idiot use a slug thrower. If I had wanted more than his attention I would have used a blaster. Much faster shot. Though with him he might have still caught it. He is quick. Oh and all those lightsaber burns don't count?" Arden arched a brow.

Apailana smiled "From the outside he does appear a bit of an uncaring dictator. Though Luxa and he have softened that right up. Only in here is his true nature obvious. As in the clones. Everyone thinks of the clones as human so they fret over them. Harry knows they are programmed biological machines with predetermined life spans and abilities. He really isn't happy with the Cloners. He doesn't treat the clones like machines though. Even the droids that look like machines he treats well."

"But instead of crushing the Cloners under his heel, he lets the Senate work on them. Light sider." Arden nodded.

"Harry says it's doing what is right over what is easy and our rights end where the other fellow's nose begins." Apailana nodded.

Arden shrugged "Come on light disciple let's see what you have today. Is Harry tapping Luxa yet?"

"Trying to make me mad won't help you. I am one with the Force."

"Please, you are one with sleeping across his door like a loyal guard Wookie. Do you girls keep a schedule of who he bangs?"

"Oh we should! We could do pattern analysis."

Arden stopped and was thrown to the sand. She laughed "So not all the way light side then."

"Still female." Apailana smiled tightly.

Depa frowned on the raised platform that had been built by the exercise area "She is dark but not of the dark."

Adi Gallia nodded "Not evil Harry says."

"Fall to the dark side more of the dark oriented do Master Potter says as well. Arden Lyn was or is from before the schism. Before true Jedi. She did not fall, she was always dark." Yoda offered.

Depa sighed "Master Potter's world is at once more complicated and simpler than the one I inhabit."

Bail Organa strode up "Why he does so well with politicians and warriors. Unbending on evil though. The schedule for the new progress is on your padds. Mostly a closer to the core course with a few excursions. One to the Hape cluster. How are we doing on Knight Darys?"

Depa squared her shoulders "She is on the confinement ship. Amazingly, and despite her intent, she had not killed anyone in cold blood yet. She had only killed when pressed. We are working with her. Master Potter has suggested a purification ritual but we want her to realize why she should change first. Arden Lyn's purification ritual having virtually no result as it did opened a whole philosophical debate about light and dark, good and evil. Master Potter says light and dark are the same, a force of nature and only intent can be good or evil. He also says because intent is good, doesn't preclude evil."

Bail looked at his empty cup "I need more caf before we get into that."

Adi smiled "Nearly the universal reaction. A stop by Alderaan? More temptation for the Emperor?"

Yoda shrugged. "He must go to Wayland. On our terms this battle will be."

Harry, Aayla and Shaak worked as they watched Maris and Ahsoka with Roganda and Tis'wedu. "Those two will be ready for master trials by the time we make it back to Ilum. Their padawans for knights' trials. All three of them, those doubles and guards as well." Aayla observed.

"Their Magic would be at OWL level now, passed that really and by then will be passed NEWT level. Roganda and the others will be post OWL but pre NEWT probably. Its a bit surprising how fast people here pick up magic. Maybe all that familiarity with the Force and the Jedi prepared them." Harry added. Harry went by the much tougher US standards. Test from a nation where ability was everything and blood didn't matter. It wasn't the utopia they had thought coming out of the blood wars. People were mostly asshats and loved their opinions after all, but the standards were much higher. You didn't start a fight with an American magical on bluster unless you were a complete idiot. They went quick and hard from the first insult, nothing less than intentional grievous bodily harm. Usually with the intent to maim. And that was just for a barracks or barroom brawl. Bit hotheaded the Americans.

Shaak looked to where Arden was working with Apailana her doubles and guards "Your apprentices are not far behind Harry, in any of their training."

"I wonder what Yoda will do." Harry watched them.

Aayla snorted "Call them all Force Mage Knights. Maris and Ahsoka Master Force Mages. What are we going to do when they all want in our bed?"

Harry blanched. Shaak chuckled "Run and hide apparently. You like them, they like you, we all get along, relax. You need heirs."

Harry rolled his eyes "Did I ever mention Centaurs? Body of a horse and torso of a man or woman. Sentient. Seers nearly every one of them. Favored bows and arrows."

"But you don't know how it happened Harry." Aayla pointed out.

Harry rolled his eyes "If you get off birth control we will find out. I found a reference to creating new species in a book I inherited. The ministries outlawed the practice on my home world but it involved Basilisk venom and phoenix tears in a human and somebody dying. I think we have all the ingredients already. So my luck is you will get off birth control and we will have sextuplets."

"Oh! I hope one of each primary color at least!" Aayla clapped her hands in front of her chest. Harry face palmed. Shaak laughed and laughed.

Mace looked over at them "Aayla will be pregnant in a month."

Obi wan sprayed caf over the railing. Plo Koon nodded "The Dread Lord needs heirs."

Obi wan turned "I'm going back to bed."

"Good, you need heirs too." Plo nodded.

Mon walked into Obi wan and kissed him "Told you. Different species Mace. They haven't even seen the geneticist."

"I have great confidence in the Dread Lord." Mace allowed.

Jocasta Nu walked over "You read that latest translation too then. If it could or can happen, it happens to Harry."

Mace nodded "And yet he comes out on top of it most times."

Yaddie shrugged "Karma. Rewards from the Force."

Adi chuckled "Or the Force having its way with him, as he says."

Obi wan sighed "Not another religious discussion. It's not even nine in the morning."

Mace shrugged "How far are we from having all the books he had with him translated Master Nu?"

Jocasta shrugged "The droids are done with the school books. The librarians are checking them to make sure. The reference books mentioned in them are next. The others? A thousand years? Hermione Potter must have copied several hundred books a day or had people helping her. The librarians are checking the droids work and trying to make the process faster. Learning a new language a month is a bit trying even for the droids. It is getting faster as we build up the numbers of people knowing the different languages. We have an AI working on it all now so the concepts and theories that are actually repeatable are getting cleaned up. One of the problems is the level of power controlling what is actually possible for each individual Force Mage. That and belief in their own abilities. There is some debate over whether Harry is actually stronger than everyone else or just has unshakeable belief in his own ability and the Force.

Meanwhile the archivist droids have to ask him questions all day while he walks around doing magic seemingly unconsciously. We still haven't gotten explanations on some of the contents of his trunks. Plus we turn up books in there too, literature, science, history, fiction all in different languages of course. Things he and his troops salvaged from battlefields. Pieces of art, objects. Anything you can imagine. Broomsticks charmed to fly even. We get him to explain things as we can."

Mace smiled wryly and nodded as he turned back to watch Harry and the Potter Clan. There had been Jedi clans before Rusan. This was just a post Rusan clan. He nodded to himself.

SSDV

Palpatine stood on the balcony of his temporary retreat on Byss. The planet always calmed him. This visit seemed to be working wonders. Sucking the anger right out of him. His thoughts were clearer. Consolidation of the Core, that was the key.

Let the rebels make the next move. Well after he evacuated everything from Wayland. That was a loss but as it was cut off deep in rebel space well it had to be. With effort it could be turned from a loss to a setback. He had plenty of time after all. He cackled a bit.

Yes let the rebels deal with the trash and beat it into some kind of order then he could attack the strong points and collapse them and have a mostly intact magnificent empire, all built on the efforts of this Harry Potter and the Nabooan whore and her lover the Dread Lord.

He would have to talk to his spy's about why they referred to them like they were the same person. Sure they dressed the same but the Dread Lord was so powerful he blurred holos while this Harry Potter had been on the holos for hours with that Zeltron slut and her huge cleavage. Harry Potter had none of the signs of the dark side either. The corruption that set in. The Dread Lord was a Dark Lord obviously. Why even the name was catchy. Palpatine sighed. He needed a marketing firm like that. Darth Sidious. Dread Lord. Which one of those caught the imagination more?

Could that be it? Was the Dread Lord a construct of the banking Clans to keep the others in line? Bars Hnad had after all run his game under his very nose after all, and snatched half the wealth in the galaxy right out from under him using this Dread Lord/Harry Potter construct.

Palpatine laughed. It was delicious. Bars Hnad might as well be fucking the Nabooan whore himself! He had found a handsome gigolo to beguile the outer worlds and the whores. He had educated him and trained him and now was using him and someone, probably a bounty hunter that had fallen to the Dark Side as this Dread Lord. Well played Bars well played.

Now Vader to keep the core worlds in line Tarkin to hold the line of the Core worlds minus that incursion centered on Alderaan that was mined nearly solidly, how had that happened, and consolidation while he grew his Sith acolytes. Palpatine glanced across to the Imperial Academy and smiled. After Wayland's evacuation.

SSDV

Harry worked on the door he was building and the archivist droid followed his every move. He was lecturing as he worked and the best and brightest students of runes and arithmancy were hypnotized.

Ahsoka snorted "He lost me about four permutations ago." Shaak shushed her.

Aayla smiled and pulled those that were lost away "We can watch the Droids holo later. Let's spar with Arden. We can talk to her about the Inquisitors as well. I have a bad feeling about that."

Maris nodded "Ominous name notwithstanding. Why do evil wankers spend so much effort dreaming up these idiot names?"

Farris smiled "Wankers? Harry rubbing off on you some more?" Maris smiled at Farris who held up two fingers. She had caught it when it left her mouth. The others chuckled. All these languages, an endless source of embarrassment and humor.

SSDV

Harry was sitting in the holo Senate, A new virtual Senate chamber and looking around amazed like everyone else. He had his own seat? Hover office? Whatever it was and was surrounded by Bail and Breha, Garm and Clynda, Yoda as the Jedi representative and Apailana for Naboo. Mon was there as well and with Bars and the Ranger General who was representing all the Ranger organizations, they formed a central block directly across from the empty Chancellors seat. There were thousands of people here, beings rather.

The representative for Kashyyyk stood and growled and yowled and Harry rose, getting the gist, before the protocol droid was even through speaking. He bowed "I thank the Wookie people for their confidence. However, being new to these reaches of the Galaxy I do not feel my skills currently would serve us, the free beings of the galaxy, as well as say Bail Organa of Alderaan. I therefore must decline humbly and submit Bail Organa in my place."

Apailana beat Garm to it "Naboo seconds the nomination."

The Senate susurrated for a moment and then the Wookie yowled some more. Harry smiled. The droid said "Well that's done. What's next?"

Bail rose and smiled "I think we should have at least an affirmation vote."

Ninety percent of the virtual hover platforms front lit green and Garm laughed "You're done for, go on. Breha can be Alderaan while you play Chancellor."

Bail nodded "Thanks, I think." He disappeared for a moment and reappeared in the chancellor's seat. In reality he had walked across to another chair in the senate lounge on the control sphere and keyed up the holo connection in it. "So now for this first session the agenda has already been determined and we have quite a few votes to get through. The first being the representative from Thrusta's request to clarify Harry Potters position by declaring him the Defender of the Republic."

Mon who had fought this tooth and nail called out surprising nearly all members as she had touched nearly all of them in her campaign to halt this "Second!"

Harry rose and Bail looked at him "Before the Senate votes, I again voice my objections to being singled out for doing what any being would do and helping to defend those who are less able to defend themselves against bigotry and tyranny."

The Bothan Senator rose "Call the question Chancellor. We have heard, and are ignoring, the Dread Lords' arguments. We have decided to use him as our shield and sword." He smiled and gave Mon a short bow.

Bail nodded and the yellow section of the lights beside him lit. The reply was over ninety percent green from the Senate with a few abstentions and no reds. Harry sat and the Senate chuckled as Aayla poked him and said "Don't pout. You were going to do it anyway. The meetings aren't bad now we have this virtual space."

The Bothan nodded "Something else one of your employees came up with Dread Lord. Very efficient. We set up our droids, they peruse and synopsize the legislation in circulation, we decide what we like and then we vote. All so civilized." He seemed disappointed by the lack of chances for back room deals and power plays on the Senate floor.

The meeting continued for an hour working through the pro forma, easy votes, Laws, a basic few about capitol crimes. Taxation, already agreed to and a sliding scale for individuals and corporations. All of the minutia of government.. Debates on new issues would come next week and votes the week after. It was all very calm and orderly.

Later, in their quarters Luxa popped the latches on her armor, shimmied out of the armored bikini bottom and got in the shower. She looked around "What? With that armor he has seen it all anyway. Going back to my place takes forever."

Aayla laughed "Four decks down." Luxa waved her off and got in the pool sized bath.

Maris shook her head "Gave up on your producer?"

"Turns out he is gay. I don't mind but he should have said. A girl only has so many good years." Luxa leaned her head back on the edge of the pool.

Harry grinned "This must be a spectacular one then."

"Thank you. Still no. I have some more fishing in the small pond to do before I jump in with the biggest shark in the ocean."

Farris laughed "Not even a tumble?"

Luxa lifted her head and arched a brow "If I ever do that it will be over. It's all Dread Lord all the time or nothing. If nothing comes along by baby time we will talk then."

Harry grunted "Why am I always the back up."

Aayla arched a brow and Harry ducked his head under water. Aayla nodded. The women laughed.

Calliss, a double, smirked "Dread Lord problems." The laughter kept on for a while.

SSDV

Harry sat at his table and shrugged "Gateway stations. Half in the ward line half out. Old Lucrehulk hulls would be perfect. They get off the interstellar ship, or get decanted from the passenger container, walk through the ward line to a Larty. If they make it across the ward good, if not arrest them. Map and put buoys on the ward line. The buoys could serve useful purposes. Guidance systems, scanning systems, defensive weapons platforms, Holonet relays, or hotspots, all kinds of things. We could use something like those mine bodies for the bouys. Until the system is up and running if you are a revolutionary or terrorist stay home. Trusted status for Droid cargo vessels without passengers. I don't know how to get around the ward without breaking it and breaking a ley line tied ward would probably kill whoever did it. The containers can go on a slow line for servicing and break down and be loaded on the next ship that needs them.

Oh freight transfer stations too. I mean some money could be made off people that hated you right? Even if their ships can't get passed the wards."

Yoda blinked and Mace groaned "You just made another fortune didn't you?"

Bars nodded "Yes, yes he did. Amazing. Ask him a question and money pours out. 'Dread Lord Defense' I think."

Yoda rubbed his chin "And dark siders that can pass the wards?"

Harry shrugged "Obviously if they mean the populace no harm they could. Individual's maybe. You will still need planetary security forces. The wards aren't a panacea. Jedi will still be needed to hunt down people who go bad, light or dark. Like the Aurors. We had the Ministry Law Enforcement Squads where most Aurors came from, well really the Law Enforcement squads then the Hit wizards then the Aurors. Bit of a pyramid. Like padawans to knights to masters. So LE squads ran patrols and did normal policing. Aurors chased dark idiots or creatures. They did investigations too. When the shit went really bad there were the Hit Wizards. They went in hot and took down everyone then the Aurors sorted it out and handed back off to the MLE squads. I was thinking I would make Arden a Hit Witch once she gets her magic and blaster skills up to speed. Already deadly with a sword and hand to hand and needs something to do. She can start training Hit Wizards and Witches."

Depa puffed up and Harry glared at her. Her plait wrapped around her neck and lifted her about an inch then dropped her. "I've said. It's about intent. That is a hair care charm. Lavender Brown could strangle a thousand minor demons at once with it. You really didn't want to piss her off. She would skin you with an exfoliating charm. Her getting turned into a werewolf made her really dangerous."

Aayla sat up along with Celeste "She was a wrackghoul?"

Harry chuckled "Hermione used to say her time of the month was just a little worse than a normal witch. If it was a bad one she said being able to turn and eat idiots who were pissing her off would be a relief. Werewolves only changed at the full moon. We were working on it. It was like rabies but had a curse component that affected squibs and full magicals."

Celeste sighed "I wish you had not destroyed the Muur Talisman. We might have been able to reverse the curse."

Harry ran a hand down her arm "And someone else could have ended up cursed. We can still work on the plague."

Mon snapped her fingers "Which reminds me, the probe reported a drop, a plateau then another drop. The time of the plateau correspond to the time the Emperor was on Byss. The others didn't do that."

Harry frowned "He replenished the evil by his presence? That sounds like a tier three or higher demon. I think we need to put sponges on all these planets with high dark side readings and see what happens. I will make some more if we need them."

Yoda nodded "To make one how long?"

Harry shrugged "A year? Less probably. I've done a few now. We found three in Egypt. Luna deciphered and copied one of them. It took her and a team about a year. Once the droid has it though droids can carve them but it takes a week to power up the rune sets and a cleansing ritual after. Our wounded did them. They could work up the rage to channel the dark enough to initiate the runes. One of those pain curses I told you about works great. Cleansing ritual after that of course and a purge. That's actually good for the wounded though. They get to work off their rage and the cleansing ritual and purge clears the potions break down by products from their systems. Lots of psychobabble about that too. We'll need basalt. Nothing else will work, well not for a full on one capable of going in a demon portal. Flood basalt is best. I have a scientific description. I've done some preliminary carving just to show what is possible. Those little ones are granite though. Maybe why that one behaved so differently. I'll put it on the schedule of classes."

Jocasta looked at the bag of sponges he had tossed on the table and bit her lip to keep from asking how many wounded they had that even his medicine and magic couldn't make whole. She looked up and saw Staas Ali looking at her with a like expression. Staas nodded and said quietly "What the light can do."

Harry looked around "Mon has mine and Apailana's proxy for the Senate, we are going to test the portal I made."

Bail frowned "I still say Mon will take over the place."

Mon pinched him. Breha glared at him and thanked her. After Harry and company left Mon turned to Depa "You are going to have to let it go."

Depa sighed "The teachings of a lifetime."

Mon shrugged "And your guilt over Bariss Offee and Ahsoka Tano and how you handled that. It's in the past Bariss is dead, and Ahsoka Tano has put it behind her. Mistakes were made."

Yoda nodded "Wisdom this is. Two weeks we have before the fleet departs. Make ready we must."

SSDV

Harry and company put a varna from the twenty they had brought in front of the medical droid got it scanned and Harry levitated it over the portal and dropped it. They watched on holo as Jocasta caught it and the medical droid on the other end scanned it. Jocasta nodded "Subject one readings the same. Slightly elevated adrenalin."

Harry smiled "See you tomorrow."

Ahsoka grinned "Where to Harry?"

"Second star to the right and on til morning Soka."

Ahsoka looked out the cockpit, picked a star, shrugged and when the sensors and astronavigation computer had a lane she took them to hyperspace. They were going out six days and doing a Varna a day. Then they were turning back and receiving Varna and sending them for six more days. If that worked they were leaving a portal on Naboo and one of the Knights in R+D would pick up Jocasta's part of the experiment. They would figure out where else to put the door's linked across a nanometer of null space after that. Besides they were still finding the upper limit of how many could be reliably linked.

Meanwhile they had time to relax a bit and bond. They loved Luxa but it was a strain being on display all day every day. She need a vacation too and a chance to get ready to travel the galaxy with them. Getting rid of her apartment on Naboo, things like that. Bars had her money in management. With her very active participation. He was following her investments with his own and Harry's. They were making a fortune. Mostly in companies and investments Bars had or would never consider. He got an AI started on analysis of her moves. People just thought some people had a nose, or the gut instinct, for certain markets. In Bars experience that was because they didn't know how to analyze what they were seeing.

Republic One AI watched the Marauder with scouts and any Republic ships near the Marauder were given warning orders in case someone did something foolish. She was tied to its more limited, but rapidly improving AI. Something the Astromechs had done without telling anyone. Soon they would have it capable of being a full Avatar for her doubling her capacity and giving her a lifeboat. They had the massively expanded astrogation processor spaces to work in after all.

SSDV

It happened at a party thrown by the Chandrilla embassy. Someone got a little drunk as they often do and said what they really thought "He is the champion of the non-humans. He left the core worlds to die under the heel of Palpatine's evil boot." This loudly, too loudly honestly, in a mixed crowd of species and sexes.

Breha stood her full height turned like a laser turret and the Queen of Alderaan gave it to the lout with both barrels. "While you fought with all you had to free your money and liquidate your property in the Core and were starting on the Colonies space. Your defense of your riches is an epic tale we all want to hear I'm sure. Did you even have a human carry your riches off planet for you to save even that one? What would you have him do sir?"

"Send in his droid army to rescue them of course!"

Arden Lyn laughed "You're an idiot. They can leave whenever they want. On Coruscant alone at over three thousand unloading and loading facilities, ships unload, take on passengers and cargo at loading stations and leave. One ascending, one descending, one unloading and loading simultaneously, all day every day at every facility. It takes about four hours for one to turn around a full load of containers once the loading and unloading bridge is connected. They aren't even full anymore. At least of passengers. All anyone has to do is show up pay a modest fee and leave. They can even leave just by signing a labor contract.

Their money can be moved to the Banking Clans and they can live in luxury on any of thousands of worlds in the expansion region, mid or outer rim. Hell, in the outer rim they can buy or claim their own planet. In wild space or the unexplored regions, they just need to find a planet and occupy it.

They stay because they are grasping prejudiced scum slopping at the trough of the spillage of a Sith Lords wealth. They stay because there are those lessor than them, in their opinion, they can look down on and enslave. They stay because they are afraid. The dregs of humanity too scared to leave too stupid to survive staying. The Sith Lord will use them and then throw them away when he is done with them.

As always, they convince themselves that they are loyalist and seek others of their ilk for affirmation. What they really are is cowards. Too afraid of risk of themselves or their wealth to leave.

Already his minions are set on each other to provide him entertainment. Thrawn was a Chiss. Humans, and all other races, died in his fleet along with clones. Tarkin is human and his crews made up of the same mix as Thrawn's. Tarkin was more cautious and now is the Grand Admiral of the fleet. Fighting off those below him to stay on top of the ever shifting pile of the Emperors favor.

When the Emperor comes for your miserable planet in a year or two, which is what you are really afraid of, will you fight, or roll over and give him your wives, daughters and obedience? Accusing the Dread Lord of cowardice while he is not here being bold talk for a fat man cowering behind him at a dinner party. A fat man who hasn't even opened his wallet to pay anything for the defense being provided to him. Why he does it I don't know. I know I wouldn't." Arden turned on her heel and strode away. The human slunk away, tail between his legs.

Mon snorted "And the Dread Lord has another admirer."

"Mon!"

"What Breha? You know it's true. I think I'll ruin that fat bastard just for fun though."

Garm nodded "I'll help."

SSDV

Harry rubbed the back of his head "So tie it to the wards in case anyone gets access to one and Bobs your uncle. If we need to be here or Alderaan or wherever, step through the door that leads to that planet and there we are. We already put them on every planet of every system we stopped in for twelve days. The girls got lots of exercise putting them in and putting up the fidelius charms. So are we all packed?"

Aayla smiled "Or between ships and nearly. We are but the others have some more to do. The Jedi will pull the training area down and pack it away. They may leave it and we will just build others as we need them."

Apailana nodded "They are leaving it and a few of the older Masters for any Force sensitives that want training. Naboo is to get one of the first temple ships. I tried to give them a building or the ground but they want a landed ship."

Harry nodded and stood "Want to take a walk downtown Ladies?" Luxa clapped like a little girl.

Maris snorted and then asked "So Bars got the Auror Academy, MLE School and Hit Wizard School ships ready yet?"

Harry waved "They'll never do that."

The girls looked at each other grinning. Harry could be so naïve.

SSDV

A month later a stunned Harry was being introduce to the heads of the Auror Academy, MLE and Hit Wizards. Although he already knew Arden. He also met the first classes. All the force sensitive members of the Republics planets police and local military, or as many as could fit on the ships. A lot of this first load were the potential new trainers. They were totally funded by the Member states of the New Republic. Ships and all. Arden was even paid by them. Master of the Hit Wizards and Witches and Commandant of the Academy. Harry was pretty sure they were going to regret that. Arden didn't take crap from anyone.

SSDV

Luxa put an anti-hover holo ward on the hallway to Harry's door and the lift, and moved into the room the Padawans weren't using. When asked she replied "It's the only place I feel safe out of my iron pants." The Padawans started a pool.

The fleet went back around going to different planets two hyperspace weeks apart. The Jedi collected Force sensitives who wished to join along the way in the week long layovers. When they could Harry put a portal on the planet for them. Rather he showed the Jedi the technique, the droids cut the pieces, did the welding and carved the runes then the Jedi teams activated the portals on the world and tied it to the Temple ship the student was going to or the Progress fleet Temple Ship if their sector didn't have a temple yet, after the group of Recruiters put it somewhere under a fidelius. The Varna still hadn't shown any ill affects so all the Academies and the Senate ship as well as the party barge got warded portals. A team of Jedi, Rangers and droids began installing them. Most teams actually. It was another income stream for the Jedi and Rangers, doing the maintenance and installation. Those social political ones as Harry called them cost the people who wanted them or the governments involved a pretty penny. They also came with a maintenance contract and were technically leased to them not owned by them. The things even worked in hyperspace which drove the scientist nuts.

The party barge had to have a permanent staff assigned and was leased out for meetings, conferences and parties. It had started as a neutral ground thing and grown by leaps and bounds. Now it had security and wait staff, kitchens that could cater to any race, a Maitre de hotel in the form of a B3 along with front office staffed by droids and technicians to help with whatever information technology was needed. It wasn't cheap either and was in high demand. After all most of the VIPs in the New Republic had already been there, seen the facilities and liked them. The Republic press had a set of rooms for their near permanent presence. Doors were installed all along the main deck on the outboard wall except for where the docking ports were. Each door could only take a hundred connections. So as one filled another was put up. A B3 and squad of B2s assigned to it and everyone who used it checked with no exceptions. The B3s now carried Tasers. A shocking development, pardon the pun, as the darts didn't need wires and had a range of about a hundred meters. Law enforcement was clamoring for those and Bars was happy to make them in a factory using just droids as they didn't use the force at all. That factory ran continuously. Harry's trunks were full of things like that.

SSDV

The Emperor began planning again. He would feint toward Alderaan if the idiots stopped there and send a party to Wayland to recover his property. The important thing was getting the cloning chambers.

Of course they would challenge this so it needed careful preparation. He could put the oldest fleet units into the fight toward Alderaan with main goal of seizing and holding the junction of the Hidean way and the Perliman trade route to clear it for the force going to Wayland. The Clones and Technicians there could begin packing the labs and cloning equipment and everything else in the facility. The evacuation force could arrive, load and depart with as short a presence there as possible.

SSDV

Harry worked on a sponge for a couple of hours a day in the bay of Republic One under the unblinking eye of a process control droid dedicated to just that. When he wasn't working on it the droid was measuring it to the nanometer, and a factory of droids copied what he had done on twelve sponges apiece. Basalt of a specific type made the owner of one rocky planet very wealthy. It also grew that planet whole cities underground. It actually was rather lovely. It was like one of the city planets but upside down and the in-demand apartments and buildings fronted on the air shafts which were all standard sized to fit a lucrehulk for loading and unloading. Transport and residential halls radiated out from the air shafts as they were dug. The bottom of the shafts were water storage and had ward stones sunk in them and the surface was all agriculture, leveled and sculpted with the tailings from the mines after they were processed with the waste and everything of value extracted from them. The first crops were those that grew best in poor ground and then it ramped up to others, crop by crop year by year. The planet didn't ship any waste off world. It was all consumed on the fields of the surface.

The visit to the Hapes cluster was quick and a bit stiff but maybe the ice was broken a little.

Harry looked at the thing parked next to Republic One and laughed. It was a sphere perhaps twice the size of a standard control sphere, absolutely bristling with weapons. Torpedo tubes, laser cannons, mass drivers like his on the Marauder and the ammunition for them like he used now. Ammunition, basalt that didn't make the grade for spheres with an iron core poured in them, was shrunken until it dropped in the loading tray from a hopper containing thousands. Every weapon that could be jammed on it really. Between every muzzle, opening, longitudinal and lateral track for mass driver muzzle devices or antenna a vulture droid perched. The latest model vulture droids. It was all droid so it didn't have crew areas or their associate life support and waste collection. Just ammo storage behind armor, shields and wards with armored power generation buried somewhere in it. It was semi-autonomous. It had the rune driven fuel producing caps eliminating tankage. In a new wrinkle the reaction mass tanks for the sublight engines were eliminated in the same way, large diameter reaction mass producing caps. Harry had wondered what those were for. A B3 controlled it from Republic One at least as far as telling it to shoot or stop shooting. Its sensor data fed the holo tank on Republic One. It didn't have an AI just redundant astromech cores for navigation and flight and redundant fire control cores. It linked to the Republic holonet but could still function autonomously if the nets were jammed. It used banks of fuel producing fill pipe caps and reaction mass tank caps feeding redundant propulsion and attitude control systems. Bars nodded "Bit of a test bed. We hope to get it in combat and then we can make it better."

"Uh, Bars if it is in combat won't I be?"

Bars blinked "Well no. The plan is to send it to intercept whoever as far away from its mother as possible. The AI on Republic One has control of it."

"Oh. I thought you were mad about the death threats there for a minute."

"Speaking of which have you slept with Luxa yet? We're getting close to one of my days in the pool." Bars arched a brow.

"Apailana!"

"Eeep!" The Queen of Naboo legged it. The command council fell out laughing. They were in tears when the doubles, guards, Roganda and Tis'wedu edged to the door and shot off after her. Luxa pouted at Harry and he walked away grumbling.

SSDV

Jocasta watched Harry working on the dark sponge. He had cut it in half, hollowed it out saving the material leaving about a six inch thick shell and was drawing sections all over the inside of it in chalk. He would then come back and carve the runes. He was consulting a thick book as he did so. All of the chips from the carving were sent to the pile of rock he had carved out of the sphere. That was inside a rune circle which was drawing the Force away from it leaving the waste rock completely dead in the Force. A process control droid, his favorite protocol droid and an archivist droid were watching his every move.

Jocasta was also looking at a sheet comparing readings on planets they had already put sponges on. Or rather teams of Jedi or Jedi Shadows had put them on. There was a great debate going on as it appeared the sponges were really absorbing the Force tainted by, corrupted with, or something with evil intent or evil as Harry defined it. The debate was over whether or not this would leave the empire with dark users like Arden. As you might imagine it was a heated argument. Arden was no joke and when aroused was scary for everyone, Mace Windu and Yoda included. Only Harry smiled and motioned her to come on and fight after she had gotten angry. They used staffs on each other. Harry called them quarterstaffs. Broken bones were not unusual in those matches.

The rune sets he was carving and that book he was counsulting had pages of were causing some consternation as well. There were whole languages of runes in there. Another Archivist and first contact capable protocol droid were working on the book. The book itself was an illuminated, hand written, dragon skin leather bound book on real parchment. A priceless work of art. Jocasta got dizzy looking at it sometimes. Librarians from far and wide were clamoring for images from the book even though they couldn't understand a word of what it contained and would probably, unless they were Jedi, never be allowed to learn these languages.

In the Jedi and Command council a debate was raging over what to do with the fallen Jedi the Shadows were bringing back. Harry had shrugged and said "Purification ritual, purging draughts until you get clear fluid and if they fall again execute them. They can't be saved, they have to save themselves."

The dark side users that weren't corrupted were given to Arden and if they survived and she judged them worthy they took oaths and became Republic Hit Wizards and Witches. If they could find their core and do occlumency to a high enough level. If not they worked somewhere for Potter industries with everyone watching them.

Surprise! Arden had learned occlumency or its equivalent in her youth and didn't understand how the Jedi and Sith of today didn't know it. Really couldn't, freaked completely out couldn't, and didn't know how all the Jedi hadn't fallen to the dark couldn't. More religious discussions, as Bail and Garm called them, ensued. Legillemency was known to her but she was not a practitioner. Aayla had set on Yoda again about suppressed knowledge and the Librarians and Archivist were looking at everything they could find starting as far back as they could find it an asking Harry and Arden questions.

The Hit Wizard program was also a training ground for healers and potion makers. All of the Academy ships were really. There were a lot of Force sensitives who didn't want to be Guardian, Sentinel, Shadow or Consular Jedi or researchers or work in a potions factory. Bars and Harry were working on schools and jobs for them and the tent idea was looking like coming true.

The Republic would soon have enough of each, Law Enforcement, Hit wizards and Aurors to take over from the droid armies on worlds they had to establish law and order on that had not made it to a planetary government yet. Of course the police patrol droids would still be there so it would be transparent to most citizens until a pair of coppers showed up rather than a droid squad. The droids were leased at cost to the Republic and then the sector or planetary governments. Policing protocols had just been pushed to all combat capable droids and B3s. The new B4 models would have it as well. As the occupation forces were relieved by local forces they were brought back for rebuild and upgrades then pushed out to the fleet or to other worlds as needed in twenty thousand droid, armor heavy, infantry division sets.

The Consular path Jedi were ecstatic to have jobs setting up governments on those planets and getting them in relationships with like-minded young governments either in their system or somewhere else in the New Republic.

All in all, a happy busy Republic. Oh, and official lunches and dinners on the Party Barge one week in three. Meeting the people who someone, maybe even themselves, considered important in the New Republic. Breha, Mon, Clynda and a staff form Bars ran that with Obi wan. The Potter Ladies grew host, literal host, of female friends all over the Galaxy. Well, minus the core worlds.

Harry pretty much tried to ignore that part of it but he was still polite to everyone. Most of the time. A few had ended up getting interrogated then arrested. Which was better than having to duel the Dread Lord or having assassin droids show up at your house.