Standard Disclaimer: I own nothing in regards to Harry Potter or Star Wars. All properties therein are those of their creators. I am only a writer working on my skills with worlds and characters that I love.

Note: We've arrived at the end here, and the rise of the eventual sequel. Y'all are either going to love where that sequel goes or hate it. Either way I cannot wait for the reviews. Mwahahahahahaha.

Chapter Thirteen - The Final Charge

"You want to run that by me again, old man?" Harry glared through the particles of the holo-projector into the annoyingly serene visage of Master Yoda.

"Heard me, you did."

"Yeah, but you're not making any sense. The Jedi Temple was a spaceship this whole time?"

"Multi-system starship and orbital station it is."

"And you want to join my empire?"

"Join, no. Exist within it we would. Trust you to let us meet our Jedi mandate, we do."

"You do realize I have problems with that mandate right?"

"Working to adapt and change we are. Know we do, that remain the same we cannot."

"And you are amassing all of your clone troops for one final push into Seperatist territory to finally end this war instead of letting your senate draw it out with bureaucracy as they have been?"

"Yes. Request your support we do. Ask of you, Master Kenobi did?"

"He did. But you called before I could give him my answer."

Beside Harry, Obi-Wan was nodding his agreement. "Please, Emperor Rache. Our navy can cut a line to the capitol planet on its own, but our forces will be bogged down at once upon arrival. We need your numbers to help even the odds in our favor and give us time."

The Sith wore a contemplative expression on his face as he moved to sit on his throne to think it over. "You do realize that this will effectively end my empire's neutrality. If we join you in this attack and it fails to end the threat of Palpatine, the Separatists are sure to retaliate against my people. Furthermore, if Thrawn is right, and your experience is to be believed, the Republic would then use my temporarily weakened state as an excuse to invade as well."

"A great risk, we know it is." Yoda's ears lowered with the seriousness of his words. "But ask we do, that you help us end the suffering of the galaxy."

Harry's brows rose, "You would trust a Sith to bring peace?"

"We would trust you." Obi-Wan spoke softly, but with conviction. "You have shown us who you are, what you stand for, and what you value. And while your Sith ways are still new and strange to us, we accept them as a part of the living force. We believe in the vision of the future you represent, Emperor Rache."

From behind the throne then came the voice of the Grand Admiral. "Why draw this out, my liege? We both already know what you are going to choose."

Harry smirked at the Chiss as he came into view of the projector and acknowledged his point with a nod. "Very true. Thrawn, ready the fleet and alert my battlemaster to ready Deathwatch for combat."

"I'll comm Battlemaster Wren at once." (Harry had named Ursa Wren head of his generals after the battle for Zygerria. Hence the title of battlemaster.) Thrawn bowed to his liege and took his leave.

Turning back to the floating image of Yoda he said, "Send your ships, Master Jedi. The Free Empire of the Sith stands with you. Now, and for as long as my family may reign."

The green alien bowed his head with gratitude and signed off. Kenobi too visibly sagged with relief. "Thank you, Harry."

"No thanks are necessary, my friend. Though you'll need to be the one to tell Satine we're going off to fight again. I'm not gonna be the one getting that disapproving glare this time."

The Jedi cringed before nodding his agreement. He was not looking forward to that conversation. "How long until your forces can move?"

"Not long at all. All of the ships not already bound to defend our borders are already in transit for the Nal Hutta operation. They can be rerouted with ease. I'd say two weeks tops to join up with your Jedi brethren and then it's straight on to the capitol."

The blond man smiled widely at that proclamation. "Then it's finally time for this war to end."

"Seems to be a lot of that going around lately. But hey, we got two weeks." Harry hopped off his throne and clapped his best friend on the shoulder. "Go, spend time with Satine, maybe make that second kid she clearly wants."

Blushing heavily at that prospect being so readily spoken, the Jedi asked, "And what will you be doing?"

"The same, but a lot more intense. I've got a fucking harem to satisfy after all."

And indeed he did. For the next two weeks between plotting out the strategies of the assault, approving battle plans with Thrawn and Ursa Wren, and making sure everything was going as smoothly as it could be, Harry spent his time and nights with the loves of his life, catering to their every desire.

He made love to Shaak Ti more tenderly than ever in their relationship, both alone and with others of their little family. Asajj wanted him desperately in the middle of the mess hall and he was happy to oblige. The two ended up having incredibly loud and passionate sex in front of two hundred cheering and hooting crewmen and crewwoman. Bo Katan tied him to their bed and had her way with him. Hermione wanted to make love in the middle of his meditation chamber with floating holograms of his collected library rotating all around them. And Zannah… sex with Zannah had become a lesson in acrobatics and flexibility. Honestly, Harry wasn't even sure what to call half of the positions they took part in.

The funny thing though, was that when he touched base again with Kenobi later on, the man actually looked even more exhausted than he did. When he asked why that was, the answer sent him into a massive fit of laughter. Apparently Harry had been right on the money with the idea that Satine wanted another child, and she was working on making it happen with Obi-Wan with a vengeance.

Two Weeks Later

Prime Minister Palpatine was not in a good mood, but that seemed to be par for the course these days. His initial hope for a full planetary assault on Coruscant had been derailed the moment actual combat had begun and battle lines were drawn. Entire systems needed protection, and far from Dooku's previous assurances, droid production was not meeting the demand. Every battle seemed to go from bad to worse, not because they were losing, but because they were not winning… or even advancing. Every time the Separatists gained a new system another was lost in turn, turning his grand war into an endless game of enforced neutrality.

This wasn't how it was supposed to go. He was supposed to be leading both sides from the shadows, moving the big pieces where he wished until it was the perfect time to spring the trap. And then that new Sith just had to show up out of nowhere and ruin everything. He even had the gall to start his own Empire and produce a Force damned heir! Now if he tried the same thing with his confederacy he'd only be copying the bastard.

He'd thought he was sure to score a massive advantage with Mandalore. Grievous was his best general and he'd been provided with more than enough droids to conquer a world ruled by a pacifist and her government. Instead, the Sith had interfered once more and his plans were ruined, along with an entire invasion fleet. Grievous had retreated to the far ends of the galaxy and gone into hiding, fearing his wrath; and he was right to. The next time Palpatine saw the cyborg he was going to crush his chest with his mind!

Now here he was, performing the same job he had in the Senate. Watching over a group of squabbling planetary representatives as they argued for their own system's advancement and favorable trade agreements. It was necessary in order to keep their resources behind his war effort, but the old Sith Lord longed for the eventual day he could disband this makeshift congress and instigate his singular rule and authority over them all. Yes, there were several present that would meet with an immediate demise the moment they were no longer necessary or useful.

His musings, and the meeting's proceedings, both were suddenly interrupted as the congress chamber's lights suddenly dimmed and a massive hologram of a blue skinned man's face rose into existence over all of their heads, filling the ceiling and staring down at them all at once. 'What the hell?!'

"Greetings, members of the Confederate Congress." The clear alien's voice was cultured, clear, and noticeably accented in a way that denoted a man speaking a second language. "I speak to you now on behalf of the Emperor of the Free Empire of the Sith. I have been authorized to inform you that we have joined the offensive side of the Republic, and will be bringing our full might to bear upon you in short order. Furthermore, I have been directed to offer you this one chance to surrender to us now, peacefully, before combat becomes a necessity. You and your home systems need not be brought forth to struggle and die before a war fought against two enemies instead of one."

Sensing the fear from his underlings (and for once not reveling in it) Palpatine decided he needed to step up and regain their confidence. It wouldn't do for them to begin questioning the side they currently all sat on. "Now see here, whoever you are-" He began, only to be cut off.

"My name is Grand Admiral Thrawn, and this is your only chance and warning. I require an answer from you all at this moment."

"I speak for the Confederacy." He tried again.

"Do you?" The alien raised an unimpressed eyebrow as his massive face moved to encompass the rest of the governing body. "Does he truly speak for you all?"

A clearly nervous Neimoidian stood to answer for the assembly, wringing his hands frantically as he did. No one had expected an interruption such as this in the halls of their government building itself. He couldn't even think how this outside hologram had made its way in here when that particular system was on a closed circuit. "I-Indeed, the Prime Minister speaks for our congress in matters of war… which this seems to be."

"Truly? Fascinating. But I digress…" His piercing gaze rolled back to the Prime Minister. "Will you surrender to the Empire? Yes or no?"

Palpatine sneered at this invader. This… alien, who had the gall to demand an ultimatum of him. Him! The Lord of the Sith! "It is unequivocally a no, Admiral Whoever You Are. The Confederacy does not recognize your Empire, nor does it acknowledge the scant possibility of you forming any possible threat to ourselves or our member systems. We will however be treating this threat as an act of war. Prepare yourself for our rapid response to this outrage!" 'There' he thought, 'counter his threat with your own. Show strength and the sheep will fall in line.' and indeed, he noticed a few faces looking at him with renewed hope. Until the interloper began to speak once more….

"Very well. Your choice has been recorded and received. Whatever happens next, you asked for it." His face disappeared from the ceiling, shouts of fear, outrage, and inquisition broke out, and three things happened in rapid succession.

First, a series of loud booms shattered the windows of the chamber. Second, air raid sirens began to warble out, and third… the interplanetary alarm began to sound. It could only mean one thing. One horrible thing that should not have been possible. Palpatine ran to the nearest shattered window and looked outside, coming face to face with the sight of Republic advance bombers dropping their payloads across the city. If they were here then their main force couldn't be far…but that was impossible! Raxus was in the center of the Confederacy, so it should have been beyond what any single fleet could hope to reach! Furthermore, he'd made sure the war was so far reaching that no force large enough for a pure assault could ever be gathered to attempt an attack on the Confederate Center. He ripped his comm from his belt and activated the direct line to his commander of planetary defense.

"Commander Crichton, report at once!"

"Prime Minister, Palpatine!" The man's voice was high, strained, and clearly stressed beyond all reasonable means. "They came out of nowhere! Hundreds, no, thousands of ships. It has to be every vessel in the Republic Fleet!"

"What is their formation? Can they be strafed, outflanked, where is their main command ship anchored?"

"I-It's not, sir. None of them are."

Palpatine grew very still at those words. "What exactly are you saying, Admiral?"

"This force isn't following any standardly recorded protocol. There is not a single anchored ship beyond the attack line directing this offensive. Every single one is moving directly toward us. It's a mass charge with no fallback point, sir!"

"Damn it!" Palpatine threw his comm at the wall, causing it to shatter, before drawing another one from his pocket (he'd broken enough over the previous months to deem it wise to carry spares). He dialed the general of the ground defense forces and ordered them mobilized to his position. He needed numbers, and he needed them now.

The Rancor

Harry stared ahead through the flashing lights of destruction and had to grin. Even with the element of surprise, the flotilla of Republic ships would still have had a murder of a time getting to the central planet that was their target… if Harry's Mandalorian fighters hadn't conformed to Thrawn's new battle tactic upon arrival. The moment the enemy was engaged, the flotilla committed to their forward momentum, not even stopping to fight. Meanwhile, the fighters had begun a constant clockwise rotation pattern around them all, eating the damage of defensive fire as they did. The beautiful thing about it though, was because they were always moving, no two shots hit the same ship, making it so every hit was received by a fully powered defensive shield, and giving the damaged shields time to reload before the next salvo could land. To an outside observer, the fleet almost would have looked like it had an electric drill bit surrounding it, and it was beautiful.

Thousands of military hardened cruisers, battleships, and flagships surrounded by their even further hardened allies. Harry honestly wasn't sure a force of this size had ever been seen before in one place in the history of the galaxy. Had they stretched out in single file they perhaps could have stretched the distance between two planets. The Jedi temple was amongst them as well, offering its armor and strength, however every Jedi that had once been inside it were now in the hold of the Rancor, boarding the shuttles. They were as committed as the rest of the army and navy they had provided.

His women stood beside him, sharing in the view, and Hermione had to ask, "Harry, shouldn't we be fighting back? Or sending a few ships at least to harry the enemy and keep their attention off of us?"

"No, Mione. We push forward and engage in the ground assault. We'll need the troops ready to land, and Thrawn will require every ship available to hold the siege from outside forces. It'll be risky enough without cutting into our numbers too soon."

"Why is that, Master?" Asajj inquired.

"Because we have completely committed ourselves to this course." Obi-Wan answered for him, approaching with Satine on his arm. "Once we reach the capitol all of our forces will be confined to the one location, giving the Seperatist defenders basically unlimited room to operate around us. That's not counting the ships that are bound to show up via hyperspace. Essentially, we'll be voluntarily giving up the high ground."

"But it will be worth it." Harry declared as the glowing orb that was Planet Raxus drew close enough to completely fill his viewport. "Right now they are following orders, but when those orders stop coming, their will to fight will end with them. Our navy needs only to hold the line until we cut the head off of this snake."

Shaak took his right hand in her own and smiled into his eyes, "Then let us do some cutting, my love."

It took another twenty minutes to get in range of the planetary body for the shuttles to launch. Twenty minutes of keeping track of the rotary defense and worrying that something could go wrong, but finally the alarms started to sound signaling that the time was nigh. "To the shuttles!"

Everyone started running to the hold where the beautiful sight of every battle-ready Jedi in the galaxy along with their clone escorts could be seen already strapped into their respective vehicles and waiting for the hanger doors to open. Harry's group joined them happily, boarding the only remaining craft and strapping themselves in. As the countdown to liftoff began, he told Satine who was staying behind, "Tell Thrawn to focus only on maintaining the defensive line. Battlemaster Wren has full control of the ground troops to engage the defense forces. I'll be leading the Jedi for the main assault."

"I'll let him know. You are off to the capitol building then?"

"Indeed." The hatch closed and the shuttles broke away from the main fleet, hurtling toward the planet in the thousands. To those that have not witnessed a full siege complement in flight… it is a thing beyond words. A sky blotted out by the invading force, all sound erupting in the whirring roar of engines in flight, and all conscious thought involved with the knowledge that every city in the world would soon feel the force of enemy shock boots landing to bring hellfire with them. The only difference in this case, was that all of that force, might, and power was being directed at one city and one city only. These invaders didn't care about the planet itself, oh no, they wanted the capital.

The pilots were immediately forced to begin ducking and weaving to avoid defensive artillery fire and as they did Asajj began to wave her hands in the air as if she were in a human roller coaster. (Harry had once told her it was a human way of dealing with nerves) It was a small act of levity that was soon followed up on by the rest of those present.

"Coming up on the Capitol Congress Building now, sir!" The pilot commed to the hold where they were all situated. "But we have a problem."

"What is it?" Harry asked back.

"One of those artillery shots nailed the landing gear. We can't set down outside it anymore."

"That's no problem, captain." The emperor grinned impishly at his suddenly very nervous companions. Just take us in anyway."

"Sir?"

"Crash us through the fucking skylight, captain."

"Understood, sir. The building is absolutely massive so I can't imagine I'll miss it."

The air screamed beyond the hull of their craft, and explosions continued to rend the air until finally one final crash jostled them all in their seats until their momentum finally ceased. An instant later a thunder of similar crashes announced the arrival of the others, and a series of muted thumps insinuated that others had landed on other points of the Congress building. It was time. All present removed their restraints, drew weapons, and as the back door hissed its descent they sprang out, ready for action.

For what was about to happen, no true description could ever be given by any mortal who fought in it. So hectic was the fighting, so close the quarters, that it became an instant bog of violence, destruction, and blaster fire. The defenders had been ordered there the moment the planetary alarms had begun wailing, and they were ready for trouble. The moment the invader's doors hissed open to reveal ignited lightsaber blades, they charged and opened fire.

At once, Harry did the same, blocking the fired bolts at the same time as the rest of his fellows and running with force enhanced leaps across the ground, his women close on his heels. For a moment, the briefest of moments, before the clash was finally met between them in the center of the chamber, Harry allowed his mental awareness to grow to encompass the hundreds of Jedi that stood with him. The Jedi that had overcome thousands of years of fear and mistrust for Sith to follow him into this conflict, and with their own minds willingly reaching out to him in turn, he grabbed hold and drew on the force and all of his passion, pain, and love and spread it through those links. At once everyone present felt their strength and speed increase in leagues and bounds in the midst of the force meld, and then the fight was met.

Crimson blaster bolts became a constant whine, lightsabers hummed as they slashed, spun, and stabbed in the most beautifully macabre dance of death imaginable, vibroblade bayonets tried to hit anything vital that they could, and everywhere one looked, people died. Though the attack had been swift and sudden, over one thousand men had been roused from the city barracks and moved here before the crafts had landed and even if they fought for the wrong side, they were passionate and loyal. A worthy set of attributes… if that same passion hadn't been feeding Harry and Asajj a constant stream of power.

Indeed, the two warriors were a storm unto themselves, slicing wide arcs through the enemy with their double bladed sabers, Shaak hot on their heels. Bodies were cleaved in two, lightning reduced entire units into twitching, blackened husks, and slowly but surely they advanced. Hermione and Bo running overwatch overhead with jetpacks blazing and rifles firing with pinpoint accuracy.

Through his mental bond Harry knew three things about this situation. First, though they were heavily outnumbered, the Jedi were going to win. They were too fast, too strong, and too powered by the force for any other eventuality. It was just taking a while for the enemy to learn that fact because there were more of them and numbers bred confidence. Second, all this fight was doing was slowing them down and giving Palpatine time to potentially escape. His antics at the Senate already showed that he had a penchant for secret passages. Third, he needed to advance. The Sith could literally feel Yoda and Windu giving him impulses of pursuit. The message was clear. 'We have this handled, get a move on.' so that's just what he did.

In Orbit

Thrawn stared out the viewport of the Rancor much as his emperor had a short time before, taking in the labors of his work. The siege force had leveled out into a defensive line of iron, blockading the world below from any support or aid, so that part had gone exactly to plan. Even the massive force that had popped out of lightspeed to try to push through had been within his parameters of possibility and pushed back effectively. The annoying thing, however, was the extra number that had risen from a nearby factory planet and made their way to aid the separatists. Apparently those drones were further along their production time than intelligence had projected.

"Sir! Those drones are pushing hard into our left flank. If nothing changes they could break through!" A bridge officer called out.

"Calm yourself, Lieutenant." Thrawn responded. "This too has been planned for."

The officer, along with the rest of the bridge crew openly gaped at the Chiss. "Come again, sir?"

"I said that this has been planned for. Oh not this direct threat to be sure, none of us knew how far along these drones were. But there was always a possibility of an outside force getting involved. In preparation, our emperor made a few calls."

As if waiting for his cue, the telecom operator announced, "Grand Admiral, we have an incoming transmission."

"Put it through."

The comms crackled and buzzed for a second before a voice familiar to every soldier in the republic came through. "Oy, is this Admiral Thrawn?"

"Speaking."

"Ah! Good. Listen, I'm Jango Fett. Your emperor promised me and mine a metric shit-ton of credits for getting involved here. Now where do ya need us?" As he spoke, one hundred new craft shot in from the depths of hyperspace, and a running hologram list of names and promised bounties started rolling in front of Thrawn's glowing red eyes. Jango Fett, Aurra Sing, Ax Tagrin, Cad Bane, Cato Parasitti, and countless more. Indeed, the emperor had clearly been busy to have called this hive of scum and villainy up to aid in his defense.

Thrawn tried to maintain his military discipline, he really did, but in the end he couldn't help the dark smile that crossed his lips. He knew exactly how dangerous these people, and by extension their spacecraft, were. "I believe at the moment you would be best served as marauders, protecting the left flank by attacking the drones that are trying to break through."

"Roger that, and let that Sith pal of mine know that we're all counting on getting into that legendary trove of whiskey he hides away as a bonus. We want the good shit!"

"The good shit!" The call was taken up over the comms of all the other bounty hunter radios.

"I'll let him know." Thrawn agreed. "Thrawn out." He closed the transmission and turned back to his astonished bridge crew. "Well? What are you looking at? We have a siege to defend, people."

Raxus Congress

Even though the main chamber was full to bursting with defenders, the hallways weren't any less well defended. Harry and Asajj got around that by simply lighting them up with lightning as they ran, and letting Hermione and Bo finish them off behind them with their blasters. At that rate it only took a few minutes to actually reach the congress chambers and when they did they found a governing body in the midst of chaos and terror. It got even worse when Shaak Ti killed the three guards standing by the door they burst in through. Now that wouldn't do at all.

Harry pointed his hand to the ceiling and cast a concussive spell that shut them all up at once. "Alright you wide range of fuckers! My name is Emperor Rache of the Sith Empire. As of this moment you're all my bitches, get it!"

When no one spoke up to contradict him he nodded, "That's what I thought. Good to know you are aware when you're beaten. Now, where the hell is Palpatine?"

One of the congress members, a well dressed brunette in a silver cape pointed out the back door. "He took off that way mere moments ago… after word came in that Raxus was besieged."

"Sounds about right, the coward." Harry nodded to the woman, "I like you. Get these lot in line and if you offer no resistance to the Jedi that follow me then no harm will come to you. Understand?"

"Y-Yes, lord Emperor." The woman nodded.

"What is your name?"

"Mina Bonteri."

"I'll remember it." Harry promised before turning to the indicated door and waving his women after him. "Come on, any craft he has waiting for him will take several minutes to power up so we can still catch him if we hurry."

They agreed with his reasoning and together they took off once more down the far hall. It wasn't too hard to find their target. Now that they were in such close proximity, Harry could literally feel the dark side energy emanating from the monster ahead of them. It also seemed he could feel it on him as well, as eventually that feeling stopped running away, and began to get closer.

"He's waiting for us." Harry grunted out, forcing his breathing to slow and settle as they grew nearer. It was a verrrryyyyy big building they found themselves traipsing through, and no matter how good your cardio was it still sucked to move through it at speed.

"Yes, and he is very angry." Shaak noted, sending her senses out to the same place he had.

Asajj finished for them, "He's chosen his position well. The walls are two close to flank him by going around."

"True. Asajj, you're with me. Shaak, look for a chance to get over and behind him. Hermione, Bo, keep him occupied with blaster fire."

"You think he's dangerous enough to need constant attacks from all of us?" Hermione inquired.

"I think that this man is the successor of a long line of Sith training, and he spent decades preparing for this war. He's dangerous with a capital D."

A few seconds later it was beyond the time for any words, as they finally turned a last corner and there he was, waiting. Sheev Palpatine, Prime Minister of the Confederacy of Independent Systems, former Lord of the Sith (before Harry took the title), and all around galactic asshole was waiting with a cruel smile on his face and twin lightsaber hilts in either hand.

"Lord Rache, I assume."

"Emperor Rache, is his proper title." Bo Katan snarled through her helmet speaker.

"Now, now, no need to be rude." Palpatine crooned, "Especially seeing as you've saved me the trouble of having to hunt you down. This siege has utterly ruined my plans for this galaxy, even more so than what you did to me in the senate by revealing who I was. Now I can pay you back at once instead of hunting you."

"Yeah, Dooku couldn't shield his mind for shit. Made getting all your secrets easy as pie." Harry said, noting the way a vein was beginning to bulge in the other Sith's head at his words. "Was he really the best a crackpot like you could do for an apprentice?"

"He was perfect!" all signs of control slipped from Palpatine's face in an instant. "A Jedi master so disenfranchised with the Republic that he was willing to do anything to fix the corruption, even bend to my will! He was charismatic, popular, and a natural born leader of men, you fool!" The twin blades lit up in his hands and everyone else reacted in kind. "I'm going to enjoy watching you die, boy." Sheev hissed. "My only regret is that I won't be able to make you watch your little companions and that miserable whelp you call a daughter scream first!"

"Ah!" Harry roared and shot across the distance, Asajj right beside him, sabers flashing with light and power to land in unison upon Palpatine's own. He actually seemed surprised at the strength of the blows, but all the same he held his ground and pushed them back as Shaak flew over him. He made to slice at her in his second of respite, but Harry sent a wave of lightning at him that the older Sith caught on instinct, before sending it back in a wrist thin wave that nailed the former wizard right in the chest and sent him flying bodily backwards through the hall.

"Harry!" Hermione shouted, only to be brought back to the present by Bo Katan grabbing her arm.

"He'll be fine, you know how strong he is, but right now he needs us to keep this guy busy, so do your job."

"You're right." Hermione leveled her rifle on the Sith, so fast with his blades that he almost appeared to be dancing as he dueled Shaak and Asajj at the same time. "Let's make this fucker bleed."

As his companions were getting back to work, Harry was picking himself up off the floor. And rubbing at his newly blackened beskar chestplate. 'Well,' he thought, 'this must be what it's like to be a tidal wave fighting a scalpel.' And indeed, that was the best analogy he could think of. Now, Harry was not exaggerating here. In terms of raw power he was on par with Master Yoda. Indeed, Palpatine didn't rank nearly that high in strength or force sensitivity, but what he did have in leaps and bounds was control. The older Sith had refined his abilities in the force to the point that he could do so, so, much with a fraction of the power Harry, Yoda, or even Anakin Skywalker would require. The lightning attack was a prime example. For an attack that small Harry should have been able to just brush it aside with his mind, but Palpatine's will had been stronger, and the end result had spoken for itself. Note to self, don't get hit like that again.

He got to his feet, brushed the dust off his legs and summoned his now deactivated lightsaber to his palm once more. Then he took stock of the situation one final time. As he did, he thanked both the force and magic that he'd brought all of his girls with him. If even one less had arrived to this fight it clearly wouldn't have lasted this long. Shaak and Asajj were doing an excellent job keeping Palpatine focused on melee combat instead of resorting to use of the force, while Hermione and Bo kept him using using only one blade to hold off the Togruta and Dathomiri while making use of the other to block their blaster fire. He clearly didn't have enough attention to spare to focus the blasts back at the shooters, and for that the younger Sith was infinitely grateful.

Thinking back on the fight so far Harry decided there was really only one way to go here. Force abilities would not work, and he knew from training with Hermione that spells could be batted away just as easily as blaster fire. That left melee combat, a fact that brought a new smile to his face. He'd been thinking about something for a while now and had been dying to give it a try. Well, no time like the present.

With a snap-hiss he activated one blade of his saber, took a two handed grip, and launched back into the fray. Asajj and Shaak were too focused on the duel to acknowledge his presence with words, but they did move to seamlessly let him in to join the fray, and together they harried Palpatine with an array slashes and stabs that pushed him back to the nearest wall and held him there. Pushing ever more, wearing him down further, and making him angrier and angrier until at least he pushed out with a wide burst of the force that knocked the two women back several steps. Harry smirked, this was more than wide and unfocused enough for him to power through it, and the slight delay it brought Palpatine's reaction time was perfect for his next strike to set up.

With a final roar he positioned his saber up high and brought it flashing down. Palpatine proved as exceptional a duelist now as when he began by snapping both of his blades into a cross guard over his head, but that too was all according to Harry's plan. An instant before the three weapons would have made contact and locked, Harry pressed the button to deactivate his blade, then when the arc of the swing carried the hilt past the guard of his foe a millisecond later he snapped it back on again and finished the strike.

All was quiet for several seconds as a faraway look of disbelief seemed to cross Sheev's face. Then it lost all expression altogether, and his body fell to the ground in two diagonally sliced halves, his sabers clinking as they rolled along the stone floor.

At once Harry hit the comm device on his wrist and pointed it directly at Sheev's crumpled corpse. "Thrawn, are you getting this image?"

"Yes, my liege." The Chiss's cultured accent came over the line.

"Good, then broadcast it out to the entire attacking force. Hell, boost the signal and send it to the entire galaxy if you can."

"Understood, sir. Your will shall be done." Thrawn clicked off the line.

As he lowered his wrist and slowly regained his breath Harry suddenly began beaming with delight and summoned those same sabers to his free hand. At Shaak's confused look he smiled and turned to Asajj. "Kneel."

"M-Master?" Ventress was still gasping to reclaim her breath after the exertion of her fight.

"Kneel." He repeated, and this time she listened, going to her knees before him with suddenly wide eyes as what was about to happen suddenly became clear in her mind.

"Darth Jagerin, my apprentice, long have you served at my side and learned at my feet. I have witnessed your progress through many battles and many tribulations, and now, after the defeat of Darth Sidious I know that you have learned everything I have to teach you. And I say for all to hear that no student has ever had a more proud master."

With a fresh hiss he ignited his own blade and gently bobbed it from one of the Dathomiri's shoulders to the other before bringing it back to rest at his side. "From this moment forward your time as an apprentice is at an end, and I bid you rise as my equal. A knight and lord of the Sith Order."

With tears falling freely from her eyes, Asajj did so, only to be presented with Sidious's sabers. "To the victors go the spoils. Will you let me spoil you?" He asked with a smirk.

She answered by ripping the weapons from his palm, pushing him against the wall, and shoving her tongue in his mouth as one of her legs swung around his hip.

"Do not worry, my love," Shaak noted happily as she began to shoo the others out of the space. "We will give you some space to celebrate and begin preparations for the formal surrender."

As they left, Shaak's comm blinked on and she answered, "Hello, Grand Admiral Thrawn."

"Greetings, Jedi Master Ti. I have been trying to call the emperor with little results."

"He is otherwise engaged with Asajj."

"Of course he is." The Chiss groaned, much to the amusement of the women listening in. "Such an irresponsible master I've shackled myself to. Anyway, you might be pleased to know that once the image of Palpatine's corpse was displayed over the wideband the Seperatist forces did as expected and surrendered. It seems without a leader to spur them on they have lost the will to fight."

"Very good, Admiral. Please continue with their roundup and disarmament and we shall handle the Congress's formal surrender."

"Understood, maam. Thrawn out." The line went dead. And the Jedi led her companions back to the Congress floor. Finally, this war was over.

The Next Day

Aboard the Rancor

Harry sat in his customary throne as Yoda stood before him and addressed a wall of screens displaying countless identical faces. These were the clone captains and commanders of the Grand Army of the Republic, and the grandmaster of the Jedi Order was giving them a choice.

"-And why that is, the Jedi order has left the Republic." The green being finished summarizing the Jedi exodus. "Our choice it was, and now a choice you too have before you. A clone army we used to fight this war, because an army with a soul is what we desired. The ability to think, to feel, to decide for yourselves the courses of your lives." He stamped his staff on the floor to emphasize his next words, "Over, the war is. Decide your next move, we cannot for you. For yourselves it now falls, to decide the fate and direction of your lives. Tell you, the senate will, that you belong to them. Say now, do I, that you belong to yourselves and your conscience. Free men you are, and free men you will be. Your choice is your own."

The volume went dead as the hundreds of men conversed with each other to hash out their options, but it resolved itself a lot faster than Harry thought it would. He supposed that it made sense when every clone had a base mind formed off of the same person. Their lives would change and shape them, but it didn't mean they didn't share a lot of the same values. One in particular, a clone with yellow tinted shoulder pauldrons activated his microphone to speak for the collective.

"Yes, Commander Cody." Yoda acknowledged the man.

"Master Yoda, I speak for all of my brothers when I say we'd like to follow where you go. We were born to defend the Republic, but we've done that. This war is finished, and, well, the senate has only ever looked at us as a resource, not as men. It's you, the Jedi, who helped us to feel alive, and to know what it actually was to truly live at all. If you are relocating to the Empire then we would trust in your judgment of its character and choose to as well." His eyes turned to the emperor, "That is, of course, if we have your permission to join, Emperor Rache."

Harry smiled warmly at the clone and nodded. "My empire would be happy to have you."

"Then I will inform the men." Commander Cody saluted and one after the other the screens disappeared, eventually leaving Harry and Yoda alone on the bridge.

"Yoda, do you realize what has just happened here?"

"Know, I do." Yoda hobbled over to Harry and placed a three clawed hand atop the human's. "Take care of the Republic, I ask of you."

"You know that I will. Now, what do you say to heading down below to the whiskey chamber?" At Yoda's raised brow he elaborated, "Where else did you think I'd hide my best bottles? Anyway, Jango and the other bounty hunters are on their way there already, so if you want to go before my entire stock is drained we should hurry before they drink the room dry."

With an ecstatic sound of glee, the vaunted Jedi grandmaster hopped into the air, flipped twice, and landed smugly on Harry's back. "Faster we will go, if carry me you do."

"I should have figured." Harry laughed as he stood up from the throne. "Let's go. I have a particular vintage of Mandalorian moonshine I've been dying to share with you this time."

One Year Later

Zygerria

As he watched his daughter meander about his office, Harry couldn't help but smile. She was walking all over the place now, being both incredibly curious about the world and a nightmare to her Dathomiri bodyguards to keep track of. That in itself had been a surprise for him, but apparently not for Asajj. It seemed swearing her clan to Lily's defense had been literal, because not even a month after the siege of Raxus a dozen Nightsisters had arrived on his world, knelt before Lily's bed, and slit open their palms to declare their blood for hers. At the moment though, they were simply acting as makeshift babysitters and governesses. However, if Lily proved to be anything like he was in his youth then it would only be a few years before such protection would certainly be needed. Now however, he was just enjoying being a father, and watching his little girl grow and experience the world around her.

The galaxy had changed a lot in the last year. The confederacy folded into the borders of the Empire without much fuss after Palpatine fell, and with the loss of both the Jedi and its standing army, the Republic joined soon after. The Chancellor had been the most outspoken about fighting off the 'encroachment of such a hostile power' but he'd been found shot in his office the day before the actual vote to join was to take place. To this day no one knew who'd killed him, and most didn't really care to find out.

With the last threat to peace dealt with, a time of great healing and advancement followed. The damage of war was being repaired, medicine was progressing rapidly with all the money formerly meant for ships and weapons going toward its research, and for the first time in a long time for many, the dream of a brighter future seemed to be shaping up to reality. Especially with the clones having elected to work as a mobile police force, ensuring that the Empire's laws were being followed on all of its worlds. There would be no more senator's advancing on the broken backs of their people with them out performing their self-assigned duty to their chosen home.

His happy musings were interrupted, however, when a knock came at his office door and Thrawn entered, dodging the nearly running Lily with ease and making his way to the emperor's desk with a rather thick binder in his hands.

"Greetings, my liege."

"Good morning, Thrawn. You know you can just say 'hello' right?"

"At least one of us needs to maintain decorum, sir."

"I disagree, but whatever. What do you have for me there?"

Thrawn tapped the binder, almost nervously, with the fingers of his right hand before gently setting it down on the desk and opening it. Inside were pictures of something that looked vaguely like an alien clothespin with a glowing blue orb shining at the circular end. (Best description I could think of.) Based on the size margins printed at the bottom it had to be absolutely massive.

"What is this?"

"Emperor Rache-"

"Ahem!"

He sighed, "Harry. You will recall I once told you that my people watch over the Unknown Regions for outside threats and dangers?"

"Yes, I do. You were never really clear on what they were."

"That is because there are a great many, only some of which we know well enough to name."

"And this is one of those threats?" Harry asked.

Thrawn… shrugged. He actually shrugged at that question. "We do not think so. Indeed, this appears to be a machine of some sort. It was found just at the edges of your territory and the Unknown Regions. The Chiss have recently decided that it is better if it is your problem, seeing as they have other concerns further in their own territory."

"I guess I can see the logic there. Did they have any intel or ideas about what it could be?"

"Well, they have had our best linguists and scientists going over the engraved markings along what we think is its hull. The best we have managed to piece together so far, is that it is a machine capable of bridging the gap of travel between different galaxies, and it is called a Mass Effect Relay."

The End


Note: Ahsoka and Anakin will get more time in the planned sequel.