A/N I don't own Harry Potter, or star wars, or any cameos that might or might not appear. I am just playing in these two wonderful sandboxes.
So I apologize for taking so long but I rewrote this chapter 5 ways from sunday and had to stop. I went back to reading some fanfic to get some ideas and finally found it. I hope you enjoy, and as always read and review. Make sure you catch the notes at the end as they explain a few things.
Chapter 5
General POV
Harry and Hermione sat in their small ship. They had been given a small parting gift from each of their trainers. Looking back, they were very happy about their training. It had been done by many from the dark and the light, but everyone of them seemed to have a leaning more towards the gray. Sure they were different, but each had carved their own path in history. They gift they where following up on right now was that of Darth Treya's. She had given them coordinates to a factory world.
Her gift was down their in a hidden cave. Apparently, this planet was not important enough to have a real name, simply labeled as P-238. It was pretty deep in the CIS worlds, a term they had learned of after searching the Holo News. "Harry, do you have an idea of what she has waiting for us? Don't get me wrong, I trust the force, and I trust you and for the most part I trust our teachers, but it helps to know what we are doing."
Harry had leaned back in his chair, and closed his eyes. "I dont know, but I do know that it will change everything for both sides. Let's face it. There is a Sith in the Republic, a Sith in the CIS. They have been following the Rule of Two for a long time, and arguably, both are quite strong. Part of our training though has been how to hide from both the corrupted light and dark side users, while looking for those who can truly follow the Force as it was meant. Balanced on one side or the other." Seeing that she was nodding along he continued.
"That doesn't mean we are Jedi. We are Sith, but more pure Sith, well, more pure aligned maybe?" shaking his head to clear it of thoughts, "The point is, the Jedi will want us dead because of our beliefs, because we follow the dark side, and because we won't follow them. The current Sith will want us dead because we don't follow the rule of two, and we are a threat to his or her plans. They have no control over us. So it stands to reason that we need three main things." He looked at her to ensure she was following, and he was not disappointed.
"Yes" She nodded and continued the train of thought. "We will need a base for operations, a place that we can build up. Sure, Vectivus's base is hidden, but traffic could easily lead someone there. Probably better to use it as a hide out or something. We will need soldiers, which is going to be tough for several reasons. And finally, we will need an information network such as spies, informants, corrupt politicians, and so forth." Harry looked and smiled. "Well, I don't know how, but I get the feeling, as this is a foundry world, that we will most likely find some type of way for soldiers here. It's already known, at least by some, so it won't be a base per se, but it also isn't important enough for information networking. Er go…."
Time Skip 3 years start of the clone wars
Battle of Geonosis
Anakin Skywalker POV
Ok, so the mission had not gone accordingly. Here they were, surrounded on all sides by battle droids, with about 300 other jedi. Ok, not 300, quite a few were dead or dying, wounded or on the ground for one reason or the other. So, here they were, surrounded on all sides by droids, with probably about 200 jedi. Dooku was up in his alcove gloating. This was going to be a very tough and rough fight. He just knew it.
He saw each of the droid's heads seem to shake just a bit. It was a little odd, but then again, they were droids, and not good droids either. Did they just reboot? He noticed that each of their eye sockets seemed to dim down and then back up, their heads drooping down, and then coming back up. "Master.." he hissed at Obi-Wan Kenobi. The man simply looked at him and shook his head. "Master." This time with a bit more focus on it.
Kenobi looked over at him with a questioning glance and not a little bit of irritation. Ok, yeah. I get it. We are in the middle of a fight, people are dead, but somethign weird is goign on. He motioned to the droids, and that got Kenobi's attention. It appeared he was passing the information on. Maybe we'll make it out of this alive.
Count Dooku POV
He had stopped talking for a moment. Something was wrong, and he needed to know now. The force was almost humming in anticipation. He looked out over everything to see if he could notice it. What is wrong with the droids?
General POV
As everything seemed to come to a stop, all the Geonosians, Jedi, and the Sith Dooku, all looked at the droids as they started twitching, lights turning off and on. And then they all seemed to look around as if they were confused. Then again, as one, they turned towards the jedi in the center, the droids behind dooku turned towards him, and the droids that where scattered among the arena turned towards the spectators.
As one, they focused.
As one, they aimed.
As one, they spoke.
"Statement: Time to die… Meatbags."
Time skip 6 months
Coruscant
Palpatine POV
Shiev Palpatine sat in his office. What the actual hell had happened. It was all ready. He had the clone army appearing out of nowhere at the exact right time so that no one could question it too closely. They needed that army to be safe. He had been given executive powers farther reaching than any previous chancellor. Everyone trusted him. And then someone had somehow stolen control of the entire droid army, factories, foundry worlds, shipyards, and even the CIS worlds away from him.
Six months ago, the droids had turned. It had been utter chaos. Only 40 Jedi made it back to Coruscant safely, and none of them had gotten away without injury. Some more permanent than others. The fleet that had been sent there had been decimated. Guess what happens when a droid fleet shows up out of nowhere on your backside and 3 times your size. And then opens fire without even a by your leave. The Jedi had managed to escape, but it had been a running retreat, and many had died before their wounds could be healed.
Four months ago, Dooku's body had shown up on the steps of the senate. It was broken, bruised, battered, burned, and many other signs of torture. Whoever had done it, had been methodical in their work. It was obvious to him, though he never said anything, that whoever did this to his apprentice, former apprentice now I suppose, had extracted the maximum information with the minimum pain. And they clearly broke him. The question was what they had learned.
Three months ago, and they still hadn't had any contact, not for a lack of trying, from any CIS world. The borders had been locked down by a fleet of droid ships on every possible route. Entire fleets sat stationary with backup fleets that seemed to appear out of nowhere the moment that trouble reared its head. "We sent over 40 ships with appropriate support ships, fighters, bombers, and more, and only a small handful returned." He sighed. Again.
One month ago, a small data packet had gotten through to them. The droids had taken control of all the worlds in the CIS. The governments were dismantled and everything was being restructured. Oh, there had been outcry from everyone. But it wasn't the only scandal. Anakin Skywalker was facing being removed from the Order and put in a special prison the Jedi had.
Padme apparently was a lot stronger willed than he had given her credit for. She had testified to the Jedi council that he had tried to force her into a relationship with him, and to keep it secret from everyone with the force. And there goes my next apprentice. I might be able to salvage him from there, but that is a lot of work, and I honestly do not have the time at this point. When she added in why they were on Tatooine, which the Jedi were not happy about but had understood her wanting to help someone. But finding out what Anakin had done? No, there was another plan down the drain.
Can't make him a hero when everyone now sees him as a criminal capable of inhumane slaughter. Of course they disregard what those sand people are, nothing more than mere beasts. No, they have to sympathize with them. So many of his plans had been destroyed. Every day it was something else, every week, it was another report spelled trouble. And every month he simply waited to hear how he was failing in his duty. And now, this morning, had been the biggest upset of all time. He really hated his life at times. Now there were talks of a no confidence vote in him, and he couldn't stop it.
Well, if I go down, I'll take someone with me.
Jedi Temple
Same Time
Council Room
General POV
The council was convened. Around it sat the leading members of the Jedi order. Though some of those seats had changed lately. Geonosis had been devastating to the order. They had brought more than 1000 jedi, Masters, knights, and padawans above a certain age. Roles ranged from fighters, healers, scouts, and more. Less than 50 had returned. So many lives lost, and thats not counting the clones that had died.
"Disturbed, I am. The droids, unusual their behavior is." Said Jedi Master Yoda. He was the oldest and the Grand master of the order. That didn't mean he ran the order. No, it was more along the lines that he oversaw the direction the order would head. He gave the overall goals, made the final decisions when the council was deciding something, and among other things, was the most sought out for questions regarding the force. He had been around for more than 800 years, and had probably forgotten more about the force, than most would ever learn.
"If by unusual, you mean deadly, dangerous, and disturbing, Master Yoda, then I would have to agree. These are B-1 Battle droids, and they were moving, attacking, and acting as if they where a top of the line assassin droid." Mace Windu, the leader of the order and the one who handled the day to day. This included paperwork, assignments, and the overview of what all was happening. He had been there, like many others. He had also been one of the few who had survived. Though it had cost him an eye, and left leg. Recovery had been slowed because he had refused to go into a bacta tank originally to heal his injuries while they were still retreating. By the time they were safe, it wouldn't have made much of a difference.
"I have been curious about something, and I am not quite sure what to make of it. But I do wonder, if this could be the work of the sith?" Obi-Wan Kenobi said. He had been raised to the rank of Master recently. He had also been one of the hardest on Anakin Skywalker when the accusations came forth. Several had felt horrible for him, but he had been even harder on himself. The council had come to the idea that Skywalker had hid many things, and had become quite good at it. Even though Kenobi might have picked up on it, they came to the conclusion that you could show someone a door, but you couldn't make them open it. "The issue that worries me about the droids, beyond them being rewritten and such, was the phrasing they used. There is not much, and I would need the council's permission to truly study it, but I remember something from the archive history logs about Revan. It was said both he and the Exile traveled with a couple of doids. One of which was supposedly very dangerous and had ….odd speech patterns. If we could find more information on this droid, perhaps we could find a company and request what they are capable of. Or look at the programming to see what we are up against?"
Some looked, some closed their eyes, however the Togruta Jedi Master Shaak Ti made her views clear. "It is obvious that these droid programming was changed. We could look into armed droid manufacturer's and even into the history of Revan and his crew, though even the archive does not have much. Those records were kept on Dantooine and sadly, were lost when it was destroyed later on. But, even if we could find out something, the likelihood that there is something for us to use is remote. The chances are that it's speech pattern is either a sick joke, or something to unnerve sentient beings." Shaak Ti had been one of the few masters that had not gone to Geonosis, having been recovering from a mission prior that hadn't exactly panned out for her.
"No, the only solution to the droids is two fold as I see it." The other masters looked at her and Yoda motioned for her to continue. "As far as the droids in the field, the only choice is to either destroy them or hit them with some type of energy weapon that shuts them down, such as a large scale ion weapon of sorts. I do not know if there is anything, or even if there is, if the droids are not somehow protected. Therefore, we are most likely going to have to simply fight them. Though I am no true tactician, I will leave that part to those with the skills to design." Taking a sip from her cup she had with her, though only water, it did help her throat as she spoke.
"But the real issue comes from the factories. Master Rancis, correct me if I am wrong, but all the droid factories that we know of are, in fact, foundry worlds with little to no population?" Oppo Rancis was another Master that had survived, but he had suffered quite a bit. His days in the field where done as he was now had extensive nerve damage, particularly on his left side from the shrapnel of a grenade. "Yes, as far as we know. Though there might be others." Nodding, Shaak Ti looked to the others, "Then the course for dealing with them is clear. A concentrated ground battle would do us little good, and be long and tedious. Furthermore, it would also be very costly as they are most likely far more fortified than we can even imagine at this point. No, Orbital Bombardment would be the only safe option."
And there was the option. None like the idea of Orbital Bombardment. It ruined a planet, not just removing most life from it including vegetation, but it also tended to vaporize bodies of water. And to remove a foundry world factory, something that would likely cover most of the planet, would take hours, if not days of continuous fire power that would destroy any atmosphere by the time it was done. Yes, it was the safest option, and Foundry worlds were known to not have any real life on it, but there was a difference between a lifeless world and destroying a world that would take centuries, even millenia, to recover from. The worst part though was being able to get to these worlds, and then being able to hold out against the droid fleets till they had finished.
Mace sighed as he leaned back. It was true what was being said, though not something they could do anything about right now. The Jedi had suffered a severe loss of personnel and were still recovering. "I believe our focus needs to be on this Sith Lord. Though this does not make sense. Why would he, or she, slaughter their own faction?" "Destructive, the dark side is. Turn on each other the Sith always have. Complete control they wish, have it, they will in the CIS." Yoda summed everything up, as he always did. More subjects would be discussed, the worry they all felt permeated the entire order.
With Harry and Hermione
The two Sith, also known as Harry Potter and Hermione Granger, were standing at an ancient temple on Yavin IV. They had traveled here after completing several other items on their list over the past few years. When they had reached the first foundry planet, they had not been ready for what they found and what it would allow them to do.
FLASHBACK
They walked into the cave they had been told they should go to. They both had balls of mage light hovering in front, above and around them as they advanced. The cave was obviously heavily saturated in the dark side of the force. It was comforting to them, but they knew better than to relax. "Hermione, what do you think?" He looked over to her. He was always amazed at her and her beauty. He truly did love her.
"I think… huh, I think whatever we are looking for is over there." She said pointing to a section of the wall. Treya had been a true master of the force, and illusions were only one thing she could do. The tell tell sign though was a small symbol that Treya had always put there, a way for her or those trained by her to notice.
A wave of her hand and the illusion fell. Harry stepped forward and looked to see a small box with a droid's head in it. Next to it was a small circular device. An old styled recording device.
Back on their ship
"Let me see if I got this right, Hermione. This droid head is all that remains of the best, arguably, assassin droid from the time period. However it was damaged to the point that it no longer really functions beyond base protocols?" She nodded her head. Neither were engineers or tech masters, but they had learned a decent bit. At least enough to understand what they where doing. "Yes Harry, however there are a few things we can set up. Treya left some basic things for us in it. It's like all these masters each help put together a puzzle a piece at a time and we are the ones finalizing it." They both shook their heads a moment, and then decided to get to work.
FLASHBACK END
They had used to head on to download the assassination program into the droids at the factory. Along with it was a subroutine that would filter to every droid in the CIS and do so rather quickly. The beauty of it was that no one would ever notice it. It enhanced targeting algorithms, tactics, communication focuses, and linkage subroutines. This would have the effect when the program was activated, increasing their effectiveness incredibly. This had been only one of their steps though. They knew the war was coming and they were not ready yet for it.
The droids would lock down the CIS, remove certain targets and influences, and disrupt communications, and various other key areas of import. They would go for six months to a year, and then self terminate. The goal was to push both sides to the brink of not being able to really fight. The CIS wouldn't trust droids again, not after this. And the republic would be so damaged by the initial battle or battles, not to mention anything they tried to get into CIS space, that they couldn't wage war effectively. It would most likely push for more talks and eventually the CIS would either rejoin with the republic, or the republic would acknowledge them as a separate entity. Either worked for them, but it would be a long and drawn out process and buy them precious time.
The next item on their agenda had been to set up an intelligence network, however, that would take money. They had a good bit through what Vectivus had left them, but it was nowhere near enough for what they initially wanted to do.
FLASHBACK
Harry and Hermione had landed on a small planet that was in the unknown regions. They had been looking for a planet as their base of operations, but it would need to be hidden, no one could really know about it. They had thought of combining Magic and The Force to cast a planet wide Fidelius charm, but after some basic calculations, it was just too much. They had been searching the force and had made a jump out here. It had taken a while and this planet was exactly what they were looking for. Uninhabited except for wildlife. Comparable to earth in gravity, mostly forest and some mountains, though there were some oceans. But most importantly, it had ruins of the old Rakata Empire. And from their initial views and scans, most of it seemed to be in incredible condition.
They had only been here for a few months, but the biggest find was that several of these buildings had been factories. There where still soem droids and it had taken a bit for them to not shoot at them or try to dismember them, but they had figured it out. While he destroyed anything that got close through liberal use of magic, force, and his saber, she had managed to find a basic over ride. Something about this planet having been taken over by the slave races at one point. They did not delve into to much.
FLASHBACK END
Harry looked at his new suit, and then at Hermione. "I am still tempted to rip that off of you and take you right here." She chuckled at him. They had used the factory to produce some basic items and a few non basic items. First was a body suit that was slash, pierce, and tear proof along with being blaster resistant, with a minor separated exoskeleton that went over it. It was broken into pieces such as forearms and upper arms and so forth, but through a signal of some kind, could lock a limb from going past a certain point, so they didn't have to worry about limbs being snapped the wrong way.
Finally was the armor itself, which was a better version of Beskar armor worn by the Mandalorians. Whatever Beskar could do, it did better, was stronger, more sturdy, and was made in a way that after being put on, would become one piece. This meant that they had full mobility and flexibility due to the nature of the armor, but full protection from anything that might hit them. The layers were a bit redundant, but they had taken advantage of that as the metal could not hold a magical charge, so runes wouldn't work on it.
They had enchanted the body suit cloth for temperature control, sweat removal, a full body and skin tight layered bubblehead to add additional protection against poisons and toxins, and finally had added a full body protego maxima that could be activated with a keyword. It would only last a few minutes, but they were taking no chances at all. The whole suit was black with highlights and coloring at joints or around where a vambrace, shoulder pad, or other parts would be if it wasn't one piece. The helmet could still be removed, but it was still menacing looking. The eye sockets was a simpler straight line visor that let them also see their hud, or heads up display. Their cloaks completed their look.
"Harry, the ship is loaded and we are ready for the next part of the mission. The battle at Geonosis set them back, but the droids are going to soon be deactivating, and we have to be in position." He shook his head and nodded. They had used the past few years to do some more training and really get a handle on their powers in the real world. Something they had truly needed. "Then it's a good thing you had the droids here create those skytroopers, albeit with improvements, and that drop ship. But did you really have to use this proto-beskar stuff for everything?"
"Yes Harry, I did. We need every advantage we can get. And this mission is going to be a big one for us." As he stepped onto their new ship, he shook his head. "Well, let's go say hi to the Jedi then, Hopefully they won't mind returning the sith holocrons."
Chapter End
A/N Okay, so I want to point out a couple things. I figure that in the Geonosis time frame, according to everything I have found, the number of jedi in the galaxy ranged anywhere from 7000 to 15000. So I chose the Happy medium for me at 10000. So Geonosis was devastating for them. They lost a lot. I also figured that since it was a battle the likes of which they hadn't seen for a long time, a millennia really based on the size and scale of it, they sent mainly the strongest members. To me that says masters and upper level knights. I doubt they brought in any padawans for it. If I am wrong versus Canon, Hey this is AU anyways.
Next, Anakin is not written out, but The way I see him in this story is he got caught with his hand in the cookie jar. There is not going to be an Anakin/Padme in this story. I know I know, It's Canon, it's the classic pairing. I actually have a pairing for Anakin in mind. You'll have to wait to see what happens to him.
In case you didn't notice, Harry and Hermione did not do anything to dooku. That was all the droids. As far as HK-47 goes, I wanted to use him, but not be a major part of the story. So I sort of temporarily reincarnated him. Sorry to all of his fans out there, and yes I am one too. I have another story in mind that will eventually use him.
Finally, And I know there is more I can elaborate on, World building is officially over. I am trying not to be info dumpy anymore and the story is going to pick up speed a bit. Next chapter we have some action, some battle, and more. Keep in mind, half the galaxy has now been under siege and decimated for 6 months. The other half was hit hard but not on any of the worlds really.
