I have proved it! Bad things DO happen in threes! In this case it was the combined evils of writers block, illness and my computer going kaput. It's finally back from the shop now though, so here is the first of two chapters. I'll post the other one in 48 hours (in case any reviews give me an idea to change it a bit).
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Star Wars.
Spoilers: PS/SS, CoS, PoA, GoF, OotP and HBP. Star Wars Ep I, Ep II and Ep III.
Summary: An incident in space causes Anakin and Obi-Wan to land on a planet in the Unknown Regions. There they will discover a whole different way of using the force, and secrets long kept from both the Jedi and Sith Orders. Will eventually be an AU ROTS.
Brackets are a master-padawan bond.
(Padawan speaking) - Anakin in this case
(Master speaking) - Obi-Wan.
'Thoughts'
"The past or spells" (the past is usually in a flashback but not always.)
"Intercom"
This is slightly AU(apart from the obvious reasons) because Anakin still has both of his arms. Dooku used a force throw to chuck him into a wall, knocking him unconcious. Also, Harry has no glasses. For some reason I can never picture him with them.
This chapter: Plotting and Planning with Senator Amidala.
Chapter 5 – Visit to the Senator (Or The Chapter With a Lot of Talking)
When they reached the council chamber, Hermione and Ron took seats in the waiting area, and Harry knocked.
"Enter."
They walked into the council chambers and stopped in the centre of the room. Obi-Wan and Anakin bowed as was customary, but Harry just inclined his head slightly.
"We have decided to accept this agreement, however, whilst living in the temple you must not attempt to convert any more jedi." said Mace.
"Of course. I wasn't planning on trying to convert people at all. I simply show them another way to live, it's their choice if they want to enquire more about it."
"Well don't. I'm going to be blunt with you. I don't trust you or your Order. I don't know your motives. The only reason most of us are permitting this is because there are so few jedi left that aren't younglings or padawans. We need assistance. That is why we are allowing Obi-Wan to remain on the council."
(It's nice to know they have so much faith in us) Anakin said sarcastically.
"Well, since I'm here we may as well have this discussion now. There's a sith in the senate."
"Assumed this we had."
"Still, its good to get confirmation." Plo Koon said, trying to diffuse the situation.
Harry turned to Obi-Wan with a pleasant look on his face that still somehow managed to convey 'Don't tell them it's Palpatine'. "Obi-Wan and Anakin know a bit more."
Obi-Wan stepped forwards. "It is someone who Anakin and I are familiar with, as we both recognised the force signature, just not who it is specifically."
"All I know for sure is that it is not Senator Amidala." added Anakin. "I am close enough with her to recognise her force signature instantly."
"That's a point." said Harry, turning to Anakin "Do you think she would be willing to help us? I have an idea." He then turned towards Yoda "If that is all?" then walked out.
"So what's the idea?"
"I'll tell you on the way to the Senator. Would it be better to use a speeder do you think?"
"Yeah."
"Right. T3, go keep an eye on the 'Spirit Storm' please. MInT, can you turn into a speeder that we can all fit in please? Including HK."
As MInT transformed, Anakin quickly leapt into the drivers seat before anyone else could.
"It's a good job the Senators apartment is only a minute or so away." Obi-Wan commented.
"Why's that?" asked Hermione. Just then Anakin took off. Only a few moments had passed before she said "Never mind, I know now." Before clamping her mouth shut and trying not to be ill.
"So Anakin, why did you stand up for this senator in particular?"
"I've got two words for you," Obi-Wan replied before Anakin could "she's Padmé."
"Ah the mysterious girlfriend. I assume she can be trusted?"
"Of course, why?"
"I'm thinking maybe we shouldn't let on about the irú. If someone asks directly then fine. Otherwise it might be better if they think that you two are still jedi and we're just visitors to the temple, especially in the Chancellors case."
"Why?"
"Think about it Anakin. In the meeting, the masters mentioned how much stronger your force presence was. Ooh, that reminds me, I'd better fake mine to be lower, hold on a tic…there. Anyway as I was saying, you're stronger. That might be the perfect bait to lure our sith out of hiding. It might not work as well if he knows of our Order, since anything he can offer you will already be able to learn, and he won't be able to invent stories or gloss over details as you will already know the doctrine and the actual histories will be available to you."
"Not knowing that would make it easier, that's true." Obi-Wan agreed.
"We're here. Since I'm to be bait, I suppose I have to be nice to him?"
"We all do. Openly, as far as we are aware, all he is is the Chancellor of the Republic."
"Looks like we'll get a chance to test our acting skills. His presence is coming from Padmé's apartment."
"Right. HK, stay here, if anyone tries to steal or damage MInT, you can deal with them as you wish. Give them a warning first though."
"Pleased Affirmation: Yes Master. I will take great enjoyment in splattering their body parts all over the pavement."
"Who programmed this droid?"
"Revan, it's a family heirloom. After you Anakin."
"Some jedi are here to see you Milady"
"Let them through."
They turned the corner and, just as they knew he would be, they saw Chancellor Palpatine sat on one of the couches across from the Senator. He greeted them immediately.
"Ah, Knight Skywalker. And Master Kenobi. I see you have returned from the Unknown Regions, without any trouble I hope. Won't you introduce me to your companions?"
"Of course Chancellor. This is Harry Potter, Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley, and I must admit that without their aid, the mission would have lasted much longer."
Just then, a handmaiden walked in with a tray bearing two cups. She placed it on the table.
"Before you continue Anakin, would any of you like some caf? There should be some left." the Senator asked in a regal tone. They all nodded except Hermione.
"I'm sorry to be a bother Milady, but do you have any soothing teas? I'm afraid my stomach didn't appreciate Anakins' flying."
Padmé laughed lightly. "I keep some furbian blend on stock for just such an occurrence. I must admit, I usually require a cup or two after being one of his passengers."
"Hey!"
"You are a bit…reckless Anakin." commented Obi-Wan.
"Am I the odd one out here, 'cause I didn't think anything of it?"
"Yeah well you're just as bad Harry." said Ron "So you probably don't even notice."
"Et tu, Ron?"
"Excuse me, what?"
"Oh don't mind them Milady, they tend to do this frequently."
"Perhaps I should continue?" asked Anakin. They all nodded. "We ran into a few problems, namely we were attacked by some Separatists. Although we defeated them, the ship was damaged and we had to land on a nearby planet. The natives weren't very advanced, so we thought we would be stranded there for a while, until I could piece together the parts we needed.
"Fortunately for us, it turned out that we weren't the first Republicans to land on the planet, these three's ancestors did as well, and one of their ships was intact and fully maintained, so they offered to bring us back to Coruscant for a chance to see the Republic for themselves. That's why we brought them here. I heard that Padmé was returning for Naboo soon for a short while, and was wondering if they could accompany you, considering we will be thrust back into the action soon."
"I see. Then perhaps we can continue our discussion on the militarisation of the Nexone sector at another time Senator." Palpatine said, before rising.
"Of course Chancellor. I shall make an appointment as soon as possible. Eirtaé, show the chancellor out please." This was to the handmaiden who had returned with the drinks then stood behind the Senator.
Harry seemed to zone out after making a brief hand gesture that Obi-Wan took to mean 'keep talking'. So he said the first thing that came to mind.
"What was all that about?"
"The Nexone sector is a collection of gas planets. Obviously they are uninhabited for the most part, but there are several mines there as the planets are a source of nexhalate (hence the name). The mines are too small to belong to the mining guild, and may end up one of the few sources of nexhalate not under Separatist control.
"The Chancellor used one of his new powers to militarise the entire sector, but none of the surrounding planets belong to the Separatists either, so I feel the troops should be sent to the war zones instead to speed up the end of the war. The mining guild is still open to our negotiations, we should be trying to settle the matter over theconference table, not with more soldiers."
"Wow, you're really passionate about this aren't you?" remarked Ron. "You're like Hermione with Spew." (Ignoring Harry, who had come back to himself by this point and was frantically shaking his head.)
"It's S.P.E.W. Ronald! And the improvement of lives and prevention of the loss of those lives will always be important." Hermione lectured.
"I'm concerned about the effect this war is having upon the Chancellor," Padmé began, but Harry held out a hand to stop her.
"There are 5 cameras and 2 hidden microphones in this room. I'm sorry if they are for your security Milady,but it is vital that this information is private, for your safety as well as ours. That being said, so you mind if I…?"
"Go ahead." Her jaw had tightened. "Only 2 of those cameras are mine."
"Ron? Mione? Will you…?"
"Sure." They wandered in a few directions, saying "Obscuro!" every now and then. When they were sat back down Harry held his wand out and called "Mufflatio!"
"What was that you just did?" asked the Senator
"I'll explain later, basically we stopped the cameras from seeing anything, and all they will hear now is buzzing. They'll think there's a problem with the feed or something. Its just a temporary solution though, you'll have to hold all the conversations you wish to keep private somewhere else or invest in a signal jammer I suppose."
"You were saying Milady?" Obi-Wan prompted.
"Ever since the war began, Palpatine has…changed. He used to be concerned with ways to better the Republic, but ever since he was given those emergency powers all he is concerned with is gaining control of the Separatist planets again. Usually by force. It's like he has become a whole different person. He has forgotten what the Republic stands for."
Anakin glanced at Harry who nodded. "He hasn't forgotten. He just doesn't care."
"What?"
"Perhaps you'd better introduce Harry."
Padmé turned to her confused. "But he already has."
"Not completely. Padmé this is a personal discussion okay? We need you and your opinions not those of Senator Amidala."
"Okay Ani I'm listening." she said curiously.
"Harry's' ancestors were not exactly regular Republicans. They were members of both the Sith and Jedi Orders who felt that their doctrine was incomplete or wrong. They formed a third Order of force users. Harry here is a knight or that Order."
"What about the other two?"
"Ah now we get to the part you wanted to know about. The people of my planet have learnt a way for those less in tune with the force to access it. This so-called 'magic' is completely different to the regular ways of using the force the three Orders utilise. Hermione and Ron here are a witch and wizard respectively. By the way, before we discuss anything else, I want to test something. 'Mione, give Padmé –may I call you Padmé? – your wand. Right. Just give it a wave."
She did so, and the window that took up an entire wall shattered. Hermione took her wand back and repaired it.
"Thought so. Congratulations, you're a witch!"
"What?"
"Basically," Hermione began "it means you have a midi-chlorian count of at least 5000. We would need to get you a personalised wand though, as you can see, you don't get very good results with someone else's. Harry? What's the plan?"
"Well first of all we'd better explain what's going on." He turned to Padmé. "Since Obi-Wan and Anakin decided to join our Order, they have been able to pierce through the veil of the dark side. When we got to Coruscant, Anakin noticed almost immediately who the sith was."
Anakin leaned forwards "It's the Chancellor. That's why we never mentioned anything whilst he was here, and that's why it was so top secret. Palpatine has been manipulating this war from the beginning, since Naboo. I hate to say this, but it is possible the only reason for the blockade was so that he would end up as Chancellor."
Padmé looked horrified, before calming down and saying "That actually makes a lot of things make more sense now. What are you going to do about it?"
"There's only 2 things we can do really. Try and redeem him, and if that fails, get him to reveal himself. Anything else would cause an uprising, and we really don't need that to happen in the middle of a war where the other side is also controlled by a sith. That's where Anakin comes in. From the sound of it, he and Palpatine are quite close, which means Anakin is probably being groomed to be his apprentice in case Dooku dies. That's why we didn't mention the irú. There is a chance Anakin can get the Chancellor to revert, but if he can't he will probably be the first to be told about Sideous."
"Why don't you just tell the jedi?"
"They would either deny it or try to kill him. Aside from the turmoil I mentioned previously, everyone deserves another chance, even a Sith Lord."
"We thought maybe you could help keep an eye on him Padmé. If he does anything too extreme then we would need to move on to Plan B."
"We have a Plan B?" Harry and Ron asked in unison.
"Find a way to replace the Chancellor subtly, either by getting him voted out (somehow) or by killing him and finding someone who can fake him, like that Tonks friend of yours."
"Not necessary. One of us could use an old irú technique. Maybe Obi-Wan since he seems to have the knack for illusions." He paused. "Anyway would you three like training in magic as well? We could use some of the spare wands I've got until we have time to go back to earth. Plus it gives you two a cover to the general populace."
Padmé looked at Anakin "What does he mean?"
Before answering, he slid off the couch and onto his knees. "I've wanted to ask you this for a long time but the Jedi Code forbade me. Now I'm an irú, not only is it permitted, it is in fact encouraged. That being said, Padmé Amidala Naberrie, will you do me the great honour of giving me your hand in marriage?"
She gasped then started smiling. "Oh Ani of course I will!" Then hugged him trying not to cry.
"I'm sorry to spoil this moment, but it must be said. Since Anakin will still seem to be a jedi, the knowledge that you are married will have to be restricted to those that you can trust – close friends and family."
She nodded calmly. "As long as my family knows, that's all that matters. I'll tell them when I go to Naboo, if there's cameras here it is possible that the holo is bugged."
"Good thinking. So, should we leave you two to your wedding planning? We need to get settled in at the temple anyway and I'm sure Obi-Wan would like to catch up with some of his friends."
"Yeah I'll see you later."
"I'm driving on the way back" Obi-Wan began "I can only handle so much stress in one day." They all laughed.
"Oh, In case I don't see you, lets all meet up at my rooms at 8 tomorrow. I want to begin training. We'll probably start with katas, then sparring, then a force technique that you don't already know."
"Alright, see you tomorrow."
They all said variations of 'bye', then Obi-Wan, Harry, Ron and Hermione all headed back to the speeder. When they got there, they found the remains of what seemed to be a gammorian.
"Did he try to steal MInT?" asked Harry.
"Affirmation: Yes. I warned him before shooting as you requested master."
Harry paused, appearing to stare at nothing for a moment before getting in the speeder. He then groaned and put his head in his hands. Hermione instantly began to fuss at him.
"What's the matter Harry? It's not Voldemort is it? I didn't think he'd be able to reach this far."
"No it's just I need to remember to give HK more precise instructions. I just saw what he did and he didn't give the gammorian any time to back away. It was just 'Warning: I am going to shoot you meatbag' then he shot them. I sure do hope it wasn't just an innocent passerby who hadn't seen that make of speeder before."
"You needn't worry. I hate to be prejudiced, but the fact of the matter is that as a whole gammorians tend to be petty criminals. I've never come across one that wasn't." Obi-Wan responded. "Anyway, here we go."
He started MInT up and began driving back to the temple. The journey took twice as long as before, but Hermione seemed to enjoy it more, staying calm enough to ask about various buildings and their history. When they got back to the temple, MInT transformed into her droid form again, before heading off to the 'Spirit Storm' to fetch T3.
"Do you know your way to your quarters?" When they nodded he continued "Then I'm going to go visit Luminara. I saw her on the way out and I haven't spoken to her in several months." He lowered his voice to a conspiratorial tone. "Besides, she makes the best snorlap cookies."
"Okay we'll see you tomorrow then." Harry said before following the other two to his quarters. After they had entered he turned to them.
"I think with the training it's probably going to be best if you two teach them magic so I can focus on the force. We can't afford for the training to take too much time."
"It's fine, besides, Ron and I can use the spare time whilst you're training to look for more Horcrux-related spells."
"I don't know about you two but I'm tired." Ron put in. "I'm going to bed so I can get up in time to see you train."
"Good idea Ron, me too. Goodnight."
"Night."
As Harry was getting into bed, he couldn't help but think that tomorrow wasn't going to be easy, especially since the training rooms were public.
How very right he was.
TBC
A.N. And the results of the votes are in! Potential pairings are as follows:
Harry: Cindrae/Aayla Secura
Obi-Wan: Eirtae/Randon Jedi
As you can see, they both tied, so ifyou prefer one of these two to the other, then say so in your reviews. Otherwise I'll just decide on my own, although I do have pairings in mind anyway.
Next Chapter: Training, arguments and the Order of the Phoenix...
Review Replies
crtrk: Thanks. I'll probably post the Doctor Who one when I put up the next chapter to this. I don't think I'd be able to write a SW/Star Trek crossover, as I haven't really seen the show, only bits and pieces every now and then. However, there is a story (that for some mysterious reason I can't seem to find anymore, I just spent 45 minutes looking) that definately has potential, so if I come across it again I'll tell you the name.
Shawn Pickett: Thanks. More Council-bashing will come soon (although to be honest it's maily just Mace-bashing).
kirallie:Genius! why didn't I think of it? Can we say Mace, pranking, a camera? Revenge is sweet! Mwahahaha! (Now to think of something embarrassing enough...)
Sean Malloy-1: I'm still thinking about the whole Ron/Hermione situation. If they DO break up though, it won't be for a while. I've got plans! I don't know why but I've decided to make Mace even more uptight than usual, and people even only going so far as snogging in the temple will set him off. A force-induced wedgie? Hmm...evil ideas begin to form in my head. (Laughs maniacally).
Thanks also to korrd, Anubis, GunSmoke2 and HarrySlytherinson for their reviews.
As a side note, in case anyone cares my profile has now been written.
Bye for now,
Amethyst Sylph