Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Star Wars

Hope you are all okay, sorry for the delay but when you see the size of this chapter maybe you might see why it took me so long.

In regards to Li'anna, I will admit that I forgot her when I was writing the chapter, I will have to update my list of characters on the profile page in future. Sorry!

This chapter will introduce a new faction to the galaxy that was suggested to me as a crossover and I liked the sound of. I have to make a few changes to make it fit into Star Wars but I will take a shot at Dune. I have tried my best to familiarise myself with it but I did have to make some changes.

Review Responses from the Last Chapter…

Starpottergeek = Appreciate the compliment! The Keldabe class is online now and I will bring in the Aggressor class will come in eventually. I have done as much research as I could for events in this time and the tsevukeans were one of them. Yondu? Probably won't bring him in sorry. Tarkin will face punishment for this. Eeth Koth is now in hiding and maybe in the future. Cal might not figure as prominently but he is there. Ahsoka gets an adventure of her own in this chapter. Anakin will meet some more in the future. Lelia will remain an Ordo as Dave Filoni has stated that in Mandalorian society the one from the weaker family takes the name of the more powerful one. Sabine has a different reason to leave this time. A cousin to the Skywalkers. I will think about it.

red demon161 = They will.

Sanders7201 = Perhaps but I don't have any idea just where you would find them now.

Lightning89 = Yes, Luna does have a pairing, its an OC but she will be happy. They took the fighters to humiliate the Naboo, not much beyond that and from what I have seen they aren't that great as fighters. I don't know if Revan's has a grave as such, Yavin 4 would be the best bet since its where he was finally defeated. Much of his knowledge was in the vault he left on Rakata Prime. I have wondered about those crystals but wasn't sure. I might do it.

Mighty Ares = I don't intend to bring that planet in, Yondu I am on the fence about as if I do him how long before people are demanding I do the full Guardians of the Galaxy? If Yondu does exist he will be one of Stakar's people. Mara might appear in the future but I am not sure, Tarkin will have a real headache to deal with soon. Luna will be, she gets a pairing in this chapter.

Callum Runchman = I thought it might be nice to expand on them a little since we know so little about them. Thank you for the support!

Antex-The Legendary Zoroark = I am very glad to hear that you are enjoying this story. Not the Yuuzhan Vong, they don't figure in this story I was just hinting at them. I know, Tatooine was made the desert it is by the Rakata. Mara Jade might appear but only if there is a good enough reason, I was just hinting at her since I like her character.

DarthEmrys = Just happy you liked it! I know, the Ordo Family isn't perfect and that will be addressed a little in this chapter. Vader is something I only intend to use during really important moments, he isn't going to be a villain that the heros just beat up every time, it takes effort. In fact, I would say that at the moment only Haron and Anakin could defeat a Vader. Mara might appear, not sure its just if I can find a good enough reason. In the shadows is not the Vong or the Chiss or the Sith Cult. The race is one that I already introduced. The Lifebringer? Not entirely mine, according to Wookieepedia there is such a station it just has only been hinted at.

raw666 = Thanks!

Blaze1992 = Sorry no, besides given what the Mandalorians think of clones they wouldn't have used it anyway. This is something I think the current makers of Star Wars fail to get is why would the Empire feel the need to be kind and waste resources when they can just conquer and enslave them? I mean look at history, there is nothing to really make them mollify their behaviour.

A Guest = Thanks. Not the Vong correct, but not striking from the shadows either. I already introduced the new faction as you will see.

Joe02 = Thank you, that being said he will face challenges, there is a faction who might.

More Review Responses at the end of the chapter…

13 BBY - 987 ARR

Chapter 32 - Emergence

Mandalore, the Mandalore System…

The great Lifebringer was now resting on Mandalore's surface, the surface now looking very different to the barren desert. The sands had been replaced with jungles that while humid had no animal life, insect life from the nearby moons and other planets had been brought in to maintain the biosphere but so far animal life had yet to be added.

The ship itself was powered by solar winds and the planet's own rotation which honestly was incredible but it got the results. Now for the first time in living memory, Mandalore was more than just a desert, the domed cities where now no longer a necessity but would be maintained as survival centres should it ever be needed.

Plans were already in motion to have the Lifebringer moved to other worlds that had been devastated so they too could be restored. It had to land on the surface to actually start regenerating the biosphere and could take a year to do it properly but it was highly effective. Ara was directing the program and planning out a priority list for all the planets that could be made verdant by this machine.

Elsewhere though, the news was not so positive.

Gyloth, Mandalorian/Imperial Border…

A far-flung outpost in the Mandalorian Territories, Gyloth was just an insignificant planet with nothing much there and so it had been here that the Empire had launched their second invasion of Mandalorian Space.

It was a combined ground and space battle this time, so in fact it was two battles in one.

Duke N'Val was commanding in space, using a new ship that he and his people had just introduced to the Mandalorian Fleet.

The Viper Mark 2 had been much more of a success than any of them had anticipated, it was a fast attack interceptor with the ability to fight any Imperial Fighter deployed against it. Combined with the U-Wing Bomber and X-Wing it was now one of the most coveted fighters for its incredible agility, replacing the Fang-class in the fleet.

And now, they had an improved model, the Viper Mark 3.

It was based on the same basic frame as the Mark 2 but slightly larger as a number of advancements and improvements had been made after observations made by engineers and pilots alike. For a start the hull plating was thicker, making the ship more robust and was equipped with better control surfaces like ailerons that drastically improved its manoeuvrability especially in an atmosphere but also in space with the more powerful thrusters that all could oscillate, so despite being heavier it was equal to the lighter Mark 2 in speed and agility. This also allowed for a larger fuel tank.

It still had the same two front mounted laser cannons that the previous version had but it held its missiles inside the hull rather than on wing mounted racks like the Mark 2.

This was the first test of the new design and it was in the hands of one of the best pilots Fenn Rau, who was loving the fighter.

He twisted it through extremely tight turns and flips around TIE fighters, smirking as they went down with ease. He was definitely recommending them for full fleet deployment.

- x -

Below on the rocky and barren surface of Gyloth the ground battle was no less intense, the main fighting around the mountain ridge where the Mandalorians held their position against the Imperial army. They had all their heavy artillery deployed, Basilisks and Canderous assault tanks alongside snipers picked off approaching Imperial units as they tried to push forward. The fighting was intense and the large Imperial Walkers lumbered slowly along with the awkward and unsteady ground alongside their smaller counterparts and Stormtroopers.

Haron was personally directing the ground battle, looking out at this he had the Imperials in a fairly tight area and rather than call down the busy fleet in orbit, he raised his hands now he the enemy where he wanted them and decided to use some magic to turn the battle in their favour.

"Fiendfyre." He called out.

The elemental fire burst free from his hands and surged towards the enemy, Haron was surprised as he honestly found it much easier to control this time then it had been in the past, maybe due his force training and greater experience he thought but he had to concentrate deeply regardless to make sure it did as he commanded.

The fire swirled around the battlefield, the Stormtroopers stood no chance and the smaller walkers despite being metal soon burned in the intense flames, Haron felt the pain of trying to control it but he could endure it.

Then he turned his attention the larger walkers and concentrated the flames around them. The joints fused under the great heat and soon the walkers couldn't move before the flames began to melt their way inside.

The Mandalorian warriors looked on with awe as their Mandalore cut down their enemies with powers they had never imagined and were in awe, seeing what the force was capable of in their hands.

Reijar, Ordo System…One Week Later…

"The Mark 3 Viper performed superbly; it may be more intensive to learn to control but they are the perfect fast interceptor for the fleet." Fenn Rau reported to the council. The council looked pleased with the report and the decision was made to put the ship into full production, the VR training technology would be helpful in training new pilots for the tricky fighter.

"I take it you have all established your own teams?" Haron asked them and they all nodded, referring to the ministries or the beginnings of ones anyway that would help the council conduct their duties across their territories.

"I have established a judge on every Mandalorian inhabited world and moon. Men and women that can be trusted to handle legal affairs on behalf of yourself and all clans and houses." Ijaa said with an almost proud look in his eyes.

Haron nodded, trusting Ijaa's integrity and judgement as one of the most honourable and dutiful men that he had ever met.

"So, what do we do to retaliate against the latest invasion?" Duke Sarek Ralmiz asked with a cold eagerness. The other members of the council except for Luna and Neville all looked at him with eagerness, Haron and his two friends frowned before Haron told them.

"We can't mount another invasion right now. In time yes but our people are busy at the moment with establishing our new domains. We will instead turn to another weapon in our arsenal to express our anger. Neville, is it prepared?" Haron asked his friend, who nodded, not liking this weapon but it was the best way to hurt the Empire without risking a costly invasion.

"The ship is prepared, tests on the missiles have been even more promising than we hoped." Neville said. The other looked at him with confusion before Haron explained.

"Along with other weapons from the past we discovered there was one other, the stealth missile. Missiles that are near completely invisible to sensors and armed with a considerable payload. The original design with some upgrades was as useful now as it was then once we modified one of the old Providence-class ships to carry them, but when we expanded the design to include a small droid brain, a small faster than light unit and a fuel tank, with the help of a magnetic accelerator like the one we fitted to the ship they can make one short range hyperspace jump." Neville said.

The look of shock and awe at the announcement was enough to make Haron, Deera, Neville and Luna smirk a little. Revan had left the stealth missile technology in his vault but it was Mandalorian scientists that had taken it to its full potential.

"It is only a short-range jump." Deera told them quickly so they understood its current limits. "The Launching Ship has to be within one system of the target or it won't have the range but still, if used sparingly given how complex the missiles are and the risk to the mothership then they will be most deadly."

Haron nodded, they had many weapons that were incredible most of them coming from Revan's Vault but they had issues and they certainly couldn't risk the Empire getting hold of them so they had to be used sparingly.

"Do you have a target?" Eliza Kane asked them with an excited grin on her face.

"Oh yes." Haron said intending to hit a real jewel in the Empire's crown this time.

Imperial Naval Space Station Validusia, Validusia...One Week Later…

The massive space station above the planet Validusia was easily one of the biggest and best equipped service yards in the entire Empire. Its massive docking berths allowed even the largest Imperial vessels to be serviced here including the brand new Secutor class Star Destroyers, rushed into service to make up for recent losses and to project strength given their immense size. All the ships of the class, six currently were being fitted out here.

The Missile Launch ship had travelled with a small fleet for protection under complete communication silence to get to the target undetected, sneaking deep into Imperial Territory before taking careful note of its position relative to the target before the magnetic accelerator on the front came to life. While firing the sheer amount of power it required meant that all engines had to be stopped and all power channelled to the accelerator.

The Missiles were slowly loaded into position and armed, the targeting being done with the utmost care to make sure they hit the target although the small droid brain put in them would make sure of that.

The accelerator was now fully charged and ready, it was time for launch.

With a blast of energy, the afterburner on the missile engaged and was sent flying through the accelerator which gave the missiles' small hyperdrive the power it needed to get into hyperspace. Once the first one was away the next one followed, followed by the next and the next until the supply was spent.

In the Validusia system the Imperials were quite secure, the impressive defences they had put up would keep out any potential intruder and they were a way into Imperial Space so they felt secure.

Then the main spire on the orbiting drydock was hit.

The explosion nearly ripped it in half and it was followed moments later by another explosion on the central support column which buckled and the gravity of the planet began to tear at the space station.

Then while the Imperials were confused at the sudden and completely invisible attack, another hit the central defence control station nearby, followed closely by another hit to the central column on the shipyard which finally severed as more explosions hit all around. The ships in drydock all still tethered to the space station as it started falling apart and fell towards the planet below.

Imperial Palace, Coruscant…The Next Day…

The reaction of the Empire to the sudden and as of yet unexplained destruction of a vital facility and most of their new fleet of Secutor class Star Destroyers was one of complete shock and a good deal of fear and panic since they had no idea of just who was responsible.

The Emperor who had just finished extracting the secrets of one of these Dathomiri witches was far from concerned, the station could be rebuilt and was thinking of his visions of late instead.

He had seen a clouded area of space, somewhere they might allow him to break his enemies.

Looking at the star charts he realised just where his visions were leading him and smirked as at last, he saw a way to bring the most dangerous of his enemies down low. The means to destroy them and ensure the so-called alliance of his enemies fell apart.

But then he felt something sudden, a great disturbance in the force…something had happened he thought confused. A shift in the balance of power and not one from any of the factions he had ever considered.

Commenor, The Colonies Region…

The massive space ports of Commenor were always busy, there was never a single moment of inactivity regardless of what was happening in the galaxy, war or peace they were never silent.

Being on a junction of different trade routes made it a highly important world, a Core World in everything but its galactic position.

But this also made it extremely vulnerable.

The large number of incoming and outgoing ships also made it difficult to immediately tell friend from foe.

A fleet of ships though coming out of hyperspace was noticed, they were largely Imperial warships though so at first the officers though it might be a taskforce moving through to assist in operations at Validusia after the recent disaster as had been happening frequently over the last few days. That hesitation would prove disastrous.

Freighters filled with unstable hypermatter fuel rushed forward and smashed themselves into the star destroyers and defence satellites, causing incredible explosions that destroyed or crippled them. That was exactly the point as the ships ploughed on, opening fire on everything that came into range, tearing them apart whether they had people on them or not.

The people of Commenor looked to the sky with confusion as they heard the sound of engines approaching the surface, they began to panic as they finally got a look at whoever it was.

Dropships like none of them had ever seen before accompanied by Tie Fighters with rough blood-coloured markings strafed the ground sending many running in terror at the sudden attack, the drop ships opened doors on the side and dropped cables which soon had vicious and heavily armed Kalderans swinging down the cables and snarling vicious war cries in their native tongue but the moment they hit the ground they began shooting at just about anything that moved! Aliens, Humans, Droids they didn't care. If it wasn't Kalderan, kill it…that was their new mantra.

So that their people would never be threatened again.

They moved through the cities and spaceports killed everyone they came across while tearing the place apart, destroying and stealing anything useful. Smoke rose all around the cities as large commandeered freighters took the looted cargo away before they lay the rest of the cities to waste.

Few would be left alive after this raid and it was sent across the galaxy as other raids fell on other worlds while the Kalderans emerged with a roar, taking the rest of their sector and slaughtering any species other than their own. Their raids spreading further beyond their space and sowing fear of them across the galaxy.

The Hutts, thinking since they had nothing to do with the situation tried to strike a deal with the Kalderans who had now taken all the ships the Empire had them building before the uprising and put them to their own use. The Hutts hoped this might be a useful and profitable alliance but the Kalderans without hesitation killed the envoy and fed his corpse to wild animals.

Word of this spread across the galaxy very quickly, the fear of the Kalderans and their raids striking deep into the hearts of every world around them or even remotely close. Fortifying themselves in any way they could.

Great Jedi Library, Ossus…

Yoda had been meditating on the discoveries he had made since his rather ill-advised journey into the crystal chamber. Reaching out through the force he had even managed to reach Bendu and while perhaps not as deep into the light as the Jedi would have liked he was Yoda thought with a smirk very insightful and the Grandmaster had learned a great deal in their chats.

He was in the process of writing a new text of his own about the discoveries he had made since his rather incredible encounter with the crystal chamber which was now sealed off to prevent others from facing such a trial given the great toll it took.

Yoda had honestly never been happier, the old being thought with a smile. He was learning more about the force each day and so were the others here, their colony was slowly growing with the first Jedi/Ysanna younglings being born. It had caused a fair bit consternation in the older and more traditional Jedi but the celebration had been a truly joyous occasion. One that still brought a large and warm feeling to his heart.

But then he saw the Partisan Jedi again, which replaced his smile with a frown.

Saesee Tiin, Yoda thought with his thoughts deeply troubled. He had always been one of the hardest and most severe Jedi but since the fall of the Order he had become even worse. His forceful recruitment of Jedi and wilfully exposing those that were hiding to either leave them with no choice but to join him or run from the Empire. Some Jedi who had tried to hide had been killed due to that Yoda thought with deep sadness.

But their ruthless and many times bloodthirsty actions unsettled him even more, they cared nothing for the damage they caused. They had fallen and not even realised it Yoda thought sadly and knew something had to be done. This was too dangerous a situation to ignore any longer.

So, he reached out through the force, knowing just the pair of Jedi to deal with this.

- x -

Hidden Path Base, Bogano…

The next bunch of children and their families were coming in and making themselves as at home as possible given the circumstances of their urgent relocation. The Inquisitors were doubling their efforts to find surviving Jedi and people with the potential to become Jedi. Anyone with even the vaguest connection to the force was now a target and regretfully they hadn't managed to get to them all.

Obi-Wan sighed as he saw a pair of younglings that by rights should be safe at home tucked in their own beds, instead they were roughing it here.

Sometimes he really wished he could just disappear himself but he wouldn't allow harm to come to these poor people so he stayed.

Watching Kalifa guiding the new arrivals to the safe area they had set up made him smile a little as she had become so capable and strong. He honestly was as proud of her as he was of Anakin, both of his students had come so far and learned so much. It eased his tired and battered soul to see them both doing well.

His chain of thought though was derailed by the sight of the person who had flown them here, an undercover member of the Hidden Path who risked her life day after day to keep them one step ahead of the Empire…Tala Durith. She posed as an Imperial Officer and spied for them but whenever she was around Obi-Wan they both became awkward. There was no real reason for this as they were both perfectly friendly with each other and neither had any reason to dislike the other but for some reason they were just awkward around each other.

- x -

Vergesso Asteroid Field, the Outer Rim…

Anakin was sat behind the controls of an X-wing chasing down Tie Fighters that had gotten a little too close for comfort, his hand was firmly on the control stick as he moved the ship through the belt and fired his lasers, determined not let them survive to report back on the new joint Rebel Alliance/Liber 8 base they had been constructing in the area.

It was both a small service yard for their limited fleet with the ability to build a few smaller vessels, the local asteroids which were much more stable than a normal asteroid belt also meant it was good place for flight training.

Anakin managed to get the Tie Fighters in his sights before he pulled the trigger on his control stick and blasted them out of the stars.

He smirked a little wondering just who they had training these pilots as they were amateurs, clearly put in the cockpit with only minimum training.

Then he like Obi-Wan was hit by a sudden vision of the Partisans and what the Jedi and them were currently doing.

They saw Saesee Tiin was flying over an Imperial Factory and dropping a large canister that split open and released a sickly brown gas that spread out with a blast of air. It fell to the ground and the civilian workers and Imperials who weren't Stormtroopers started choking from the gas and the wind blew it straight into the settlement that surrounded the factory.

Many of whom would have died from the gas before a V-Wing came down and deployed a team of Jedi and Partisans all wearing gas masks which ambushed the Stormtroopers and dying people. Stealing a cache of proton bombs and other weapons from the facility and then flying off with their stolen ordinance.

Both Obi-Wan and Anakin saw it and frowned with a disturbed look in their eyes as who knows how many innocent people the Partisans had killed with their gas.

Both of them showed how much of a moral code they shared as they turned to their former apprentices.

"Kalifa, see if you can find Master Vos. I think we will be needing his help." Obi-Wan told his former student who nodded confused but did as he asked.

Anakin meanwhile turned on his comm system and called his own current apprentice.

"Kahr, get Allara to meet us. I think we have a mission to attend to." Anakin said which Kahr like Kalifa was confused by but did as they had been asked. In truth he would see if Kagame would come with them too but he doubted it since he and Padme were both busy with devising new plans and caring for the children.

Mandalorian Shuttle, Edge of Mandalorian Territory…

The tight confines of shuttle were awkward for Cal and Merrin as they sat there, the budding romantic tension between them was keeping them both silent. But finally, Merrin couldn't help but ask a question that was nagging at her.

"Okay Cal, just where are you taking me?" She asked him and Cal checking their location as they were about to drop out of hyperspace decided to finally tell her as this was their 'date'.

"One of the most beautiful sights in the galaxy, I always wanted to see it…and I wanted for you to see it with me." Cal admitted reluctantly. It was true he had learned about this place while studying at the temple and always wanted to see it for himself but never had the time until now.

And he was sharing it with her.

Merrin was unsure what to make of that before they dropped out of hyperspace and she saw what they had come to see for herself.

A red giant lay in the distance and around it was an enormous belt of ice that seemed to simmer, between the different pieces of ice, coloured bursts of light moved in between them. It was hypnotising and both stared in awe at the sight.

"It's beautiful." Merrin said with her eyes wide at the sight before her. "What makes it happen?"

"No one knows. People have tried to find out but no one ever has." Cal told her with the same look of awe in his eyes, while he had read about the place but it was quite a different thing to see it with his own eyes.

Merrin honestly felt confused as she had never felt this way for a male before but as she looked at the incredible sight that Cal had decided to share with her, that fluttering sensation in her stomach came back and she blushed, her cheeks darkening before she leaned across and kissed him.

Cal was caught by surprise but soon was kissing her back, pulling her over onto his lap as they continued making out both caught up in their own passion.

Reijar, Ordo System…

The jungles of Reijar were the place that Haron and Deera had learned from their uncles, to hunt, to track, to shoot, to fight. Many lessons that had carried them far in the galaxy had been learned here and it was now the place where they themselves became the teachers to the next generation.

All of Haron's children; Markus, Astoria, Corridan, Li'anna, Siri and Tyus sat with Mari their cousin Deera's own daughter. Not to mention Sabine and Tristan were also present to learn alongside the rest of their extended family. Grahuur and his mate and their cubs too were present if they had anything to add.

"Technology is a crutch." Haron told the children as he and Deera stood there both completely serious. "It is all well and good when it is working but if it doesn't, or it is taken away from you then most people are completely helpless. In this day and age basic survival skills are rare." Haron told them.

"So, we are going to teach you how to survive." Deera said feeling very odd as she felt like it was yesterday that she was receiving these lessons alongside her brother, now she was the one giving them. "The environment can provide nearly everything you need to survive if you know what you're doing. The three basic priorities for survival; water, shelter and food although not necessarily in that order. What is available depends on the environment you are in, but for food that will often mean hunting." She said before taking bits and pieces from around her to assemble a basic snare.

The children watched in rapt attention and then she intentionally triggered it, allowing it to catch her wrist. Both her and Haron smiled a little as they knew how much the children had to learn.

"There is no prey that cannot be caught." Haron told them. "Whether it is intelligent or not any creature can be caught with the right trap. Remember that lesson as it applies to other things than just hunting for food." Haron told them before moving on to rudimentary weapons.

"The right weapon is just as important." Haron said holding a makeshift javelin in his hands. "Poor quality weapons will break but if you work them into better ones, they will serve you well." Haron told them before taking a knife and stripping away excess wood on the javelin so it would fly through the air easier and sharpened the point before throwing so it buried itself in a target not far away.

The children were wide eyed with awe, Haron and Deera shared a look of amusement as they realised that they had a lot to teach them all, they had already taught these things to Lelia who was almost ready for field duty however much they feared it.

For Deera it meant she had more free time as Lelia began to assume the responsibility of running House Qarl as was her birthright, something Deera secretly treasured since she could spend more time with her daughter and wife not to mention she was working with Professor Mors to establish a Science Collective.

A body that not only brought scientists from all over Mandalorian Space to discuss ideas and theories but would actively look for potential scientists in the youth of their people, special children so their gifts could be identified and nurtured.

But for now, she was a teacher to her own daughter along with her nephews and nieces she thought with a smile, they were getting old she thought to herself ironically but didn't mind. It was sad though she thought as both Haron and her were now older than their own mothers had lived to be. She had never met her own mother but through the force she dreamed of her sometimes, despite the terrible thing that she had done, Deera knew she would have adored Mari.

It was a shame that none of them had grandparents she thought looking at the children but at least they were safe and had family that loved and adored them, uncles and aunts aplenty. Love cost nothing but it was the most valuable thing you could give someone she thought as she alongside her brother continued to teach the next generation.

- x -

Luna meanwhile was deep in thought; she had been wondering if what Harry had told her about using Fiendfyre being easier to control was due to their increased connection to the force or something deeper. It could be many things she thought with confusion, she had tried it out herself and it was she admitted much easier.

She would have to put more thought into this, Luna thought before she was interrupted by someone.

"Excuse me, Lady Lovegood." A nervous voice said and Luna turned around to see the archaeologist she and her organisation employed to seek out force sensitive sites for them to explore.

He was a nervous man, a true genius in the field but around people he was totally clueless and very nervous but a real gentleman and a good-hearted person which she appreciated.

"Hi Edric." She said to him with a warm smile on her face that held him completely spell bound as he showed her the latest leads he had turned up before asking her in a voice so shaky it might have been done in an earthquake.

"Would…would…would you let me treat you to dinner?" He eventually managed to blurt out before he lost his nerve. Luna smiled, wondering how long he had been practicing this very proposal. She had sensed his feelings for her some time ago but since he had not acted on them neither had she. Now it seemed he had finally gotten the courage to ask her out Luna thought with a smile and told him gently so she wouldn't scare him.

"Of course. When did you have in mind?"

Nar Shaddaa Orbit, Hutt Space…

Vysa smirked as she sat at the conference table of her Lucrehulk'sstate room, her guards stationed around the room as she sat across from Talon Karrade who had come to her through some mutual contacts.

"The Underworld Alliance is a growing force and with much to offer. We have hiding places, sources of our own. Connections all over the place." Talon said and Vysa cut him off.

"But so do we. Cut to the chase, you need larger shipyards that won't rob you blind and can handle larger warships. A steadier supply of arms. Places to hide where the Empire won't go. In short you want to ally with us." Vysa said with a smirk.

"Yes." Talon Karrade admitted bluntly. "The Hutts are making it difficult to use their facilities without draining us of credits. Access to Mandalorian shipyards and factories would be a real important edge in our expansion."

Vysa nodded, understanding his position and in some ways empathising with it but she was representing the Mandalorians today. Honestly, she still couldn't believe that Haron had empowered her to act on his behalf and make binding agreements with them using her own judgement to make the best deal for their people. He had told her it was not just a matter of trust; she knew the Underworld after being a part of it for so long so she knew how to handle herself around people like Karrade, better than anyone he knew so when the choice of who to send came up it had been her.

She wasn't sure her brother wasn't crazy but she shrugged to herself, it was fun to watch people squirm.

"I'll be straight with you Karrade. The Mandalorians are unlikely to like the idea of criminals using their territory after not only the Time of Chaos as they refer to it, but then there was the Shadow Collective's Invasion of Mandalore."

"We understand that, we don't intend to base ourselves on any of your inhabited worlds." Karrade said quickly. "A few small outposts and a breakers yard for ships we take, not to mention the ability to access Mandalorian shipyards and purchase arms. That is all we are asking for. Especially given Terrick's new ship and its rather impressive needs." Karrade said before nodding out of the window to the rather impressive achievement of his Underworld Alliance. Vysa raised an eyebrow at the sight of an Imperial Star Destroyer surrounded by Ravager vessels.

"You captured an Imperial Star Destroyer?" She asked impressed if it was true, her people had managed ships just like it in the past with the use of Null Cannons but the Underworld Alliance didn't have those, so if they had achieved it, that was impressive she thought with a conceding nod.

"We hijacked it from drydock." Karrade told her. "One of my men Booster Terrik took it, calls it the Errant Venture. It's a great ship but we need a proper shipyard that can maintain a ship that size. The Hutts would make us pay through the nose to use one of theirs, the only ones who have the right facilities are your people."

"A breakers yard, for the ships you capture. And access to our shipyards not to mention the ability to purchase weapons. I think we can come to an arrangement." Vysa said with a smile, impressed at their gall to actually steal a Star Destroyer and get away with it. What they were asking for wasn't unreasonable and it had the potential to benefit them both.

They would be watched of course but she didn't think they would be too worried about that, not when it gave them sanctuary from the Empire without the ruinous fees of the Hutts.

Reijar, Ordo System…

Lelia was sitting in her room at the compound working on her pad, smiling as she worked on creating her idea for a new ship.

She was so engrossed in what she was doing that she failed to notice Ara coming in to the room. Nor when Ara saw what she was working on.

"Lelia, did you create that?" Ara asked with genuine interest.

The suddenness of it made Lelia jump and drop the pad which Ara caught with the force and pulled to her hand.

"Ara!" Lelia said still in shock and seeing Ara now had the pad was feeling very embarrassed at her early efforts being seen so soon by a woman that been both an older sister and almost surrogate mother during her early years. "I…I."

"This is very impressive." Ara told her with surprise as she had no idea that Lelia was interested in ship design. Despite her young age and relative untrained state, the girl had managed a fairly advanced design, clearly based on the Aden class it was simplistic at the moment but the principle of it was remarkable.

"Really?" Lelia asked almost shocked as she had almost expected Ara to laugh at it. It was so basic and she had really wanted to work more on it before she let a single person see what she had been working on.

"Absolutely. When they all get back, we are going to show these to the others. This is excellent work and with time and the right help you could really make this into something." Ara told her with a smile, an actual warm one that she would only show her closest friends and family. She felt Lelia's unsettled emotions and asked. "What's the matter? You have gift, you shouldn't hide it."

Lelia was silent with her own uncertainty; she hadn't shared this interest of hers with anyone yet and wasn't at all confident in her ability.

Ara sighed, knowing there was nothing she could do that would help here.

This was something Haron, Deera and Vysa would have to fix.

Sembla, Outer Rim Territories…

The Rift Alliance Taskforce was orbiting the planet Sembla, home world of the Vurk. The planet was a relatively undefended one but still occupied by an Imperial Research Station which was experimenting to harness the large amount of geothermal energy the planet could produce given its unique conditions, the damage this did to the environment was of little concern to them or the strip-mining employed there either. The Vurk in areas where it wasn't happening didn't see the evidence so they did nothing while those that did were enslaved and treated brutally.

Although not a high priority planet, the Rift Alliance had decided to liberate it.

In orbit Mon Calamari cruisers battled with the few Imperial Ships around while the New Separatist Alliance as the holdouts had renamed themselves deployed ground forces to the surface. The Mandalorians and Wookiees both had brought units to assist in the battle and leading them was Trilla and Din, accompanied by Chewbacca.

"The seas are shallow and we'll be fighting on land; you won't need to get wet." Trilla assured the Wookiee who didn't look pleased at the idea of going for a swim.

"I wouldn't either with all that fur." Din said smirking, finding it funny that the big strong Wookiee would be afraid of a little water but the sudden growl made him take a step back. "Okay, I get it." Din said quickly.

The laughing went out around the landing barge, Wookiee and Mandalorian alike which made Din feel foolish and embarrassed. He was however with Trilla the commander of the landing force which was now finally ready to deploy.

The large door opened and immediately they were surrounded by blaster fire as they ran forward into the heart of the fight.

The Wookiees led by Chewbacca joined with the Mandalorians at their side, blasters in hand while Trilla had a lightsaber in her other hand, blocking and deflecting blaster bolts back at the enemy.

The Imperial forces were small and easily overcome, breaking open the slave pens so the Vurk could escape, some of whom even picked up Imperial weapons and joined in the fighting. Trilla used magic to force the door open, parting it before leading the rest into the building.

It didn't take long for them take over the place and cheers went up as they achieved victory.

Village, Shili…

The village life was a remarkably…simple existence Ahsoka thought as another day passed.

She honestly had been used to a much faster pace of life so having a day when the same thing happens over and over again had both an appeal in its certainty while also driving her mad with boredom at the same time.

But one thing that would make her stay regardless was her family she thought with a smile, as she had gotten to know them, she had discovered a lot of things about herself too. Some of the foods she liked were the same as her parents, unconscious habits too.

But more so was her younger brother. Yul'xe had an enthusiasm about him that reminded her of herself at that age, so eager to learn and she was thankful to be able to teach him what she knew of the force not to mention help him avoid some of the mistakes she'd made. She had never thought to have an apprentice of her own even though she honestly didn't feel it right to think herself a master.

Either way though Ahsoka thought with a smile, Yul'xe was coming along leaps and bounds. He would have made a fine Jedi Ahsoka thought but wouldn't wish that life on her younger brother. He was currently out hunting with his friends she thought as she helped prepare a new dwelling for a young couple.

Then she felt a sudden and harsh disturbance in the force that made her drop the vase she was carrying, making it shatter on the ground and she almost in a panic ran out of the house leaving everyone confused at what she was so worried about all of a sudden.

- x -

In the forest nearby Yul'xe was showing off his new force powers to his friends, entertaining them with his new empowerment when a terrible sonic blast hit them. Their senses scrambled by the harsh frequency of the attack and making blood seep from their ears and noses until they passed out. Yul'xe fought the longest but even he could hold out forever under the unforgiving assault.

Falling to the ground and a moment later the noise stopped, a smirking older human male with grey hair who stepped out of the tree line and looked down at the unconscious Togruta and picking Yul'xe up with ease, walking back to his waiting ship. Putting him in a force cage, one of several in his ship and not all were vacant.

Ahsoka only arrived as the ship was taking off, too late to stop it but thankfully old habits die hard and she still wore the utility belt the Jedi had given her, she thought quickly and threw a tracking beacon from her belt onto the ship and with the power of the force it latched on, transmitting the moment it was secure.

As Ahsoka watched the ship carrying her brother disappear she snarled in anger, vowing there and then to follow him and get her brother back.

Border of Mandalorian Space…

There was an area of space near to Mandalorian Space and Wild Space, somewhere that spacers just didn't go. A region of over a fifteen-hundred-star systems that was swamped by a radiation that while not dangerous to organic life made it extremely difficult to navigate. The source of the radiation was debated but what wasn't was that for over ten thousand years this region had been cut off from the galaxy with the few that dared go inside never finding their way out again.

But a ship appeared on the edge of Mandalorian Space, a ship of a design that was in no database. It looked positively archaic to modern eyes with very awkward and even hull arrangements and very bulky engines. But it parked itself on the edge of Mandalorian Space and began transmitting signals in very old basic.

The transmitters were extremely large but their ancient design limited their range and they demanded a great deal of power. If a random patrol had not been passing close to the area at the right moment the Mandalorians would probably have remained unaware of it but they did pick it up.

"To whoever may be listening, this is Lady Jessica of House Atreides of the Pasdisahah Imperium. We are in need of assistance. Civil War has engulfed our people and it was vision that led us to this place…in the hope of finding a way to save ourselves."

- x -

It didn't take long for the message to be translated and then relayed to central command, who responded quickly and mobilised a taskforce to intercept the strange vessel.

Aboard the Ferocious leading the taskforce Haron and Neville watched with confusion as they finally got a look at the ship first hand, bulky, flat with many corners. The technology on it seemed ancient compared to the rest of the galaxy but there was a powerful presence aboard the ship that they both felt immediately. Someone maybe two who were strong in the force.

"A small shuttle has departed the ship sir. Shall we intercept it?" The Officer of the Watch asked Haron who looked at it for a moment with everyone hanging on his word.

"No." He said surprising them all. "Let them dock. Full security team to the hanger bay. We need to find out just what we're dealing with."

"Yes Mandalore." They all echoed before he and Neville went down to the hanger bay to meet their new guests.

"Are you sure this wise? No one has had contact with these people for ten thousand years." Neville asked and Haron shrugged.

"Wise? Probably not but I have to follow what my instincts tell me, this is important. How I can't say but I feel it." Haron told his long-time friend as they made their way to the hanger bay. He could feel his friend's concern which he thought very wise, but there was no profit without risk.

The small shuttle entered the bay as they arrived and the number of guards all wearing their beskar armour watched like hawks for any sign of trouble.

The shuttle landed and the small ramp descended, revealing a pair of tall and armoured if oddly armed guards coming down the ramp first. They had knives and old-fashioned swords combined with old fashioned projectile weapons, the Mandalorians honestly wanted to scoff at their old weapons but then the final two members of the party descended down the ramp.

One was a young boy, teenager at best with dark hair and hazel eyes, he walked with an intense look in his eyes, also studying all that was around him.

The woman at his side was older, in her thirties but was still a stunning woman with dark auburn hair and enchanting hazel eyes, just like the boy showing them to be mother and son especially with how closely they stood together.

Haron and Neville though felt that she and her son were the source of the force presence they had felt, both were very strong in the force not just raw power but both had some training, the mother far more than the son. Given the age difference that was to be expected but the fact a force culture had evolved there surprised many of them.

"Greetings." The woman said, her accent smooth and refined, definitely highly educated. "Thank you for responding to our call, please forgive the intrusion into your space but we are in a desperate situation."

"Understandable, I assume you are the Lady Jessica." Haron said and with her nod of confirmation he gave her his name. "I am Duke Haron Ordo, Mandalore and leader of the Mandalorians. This is my trusted friend and comrade in arms Neville Longbottom." Haron told her introducing them both.

"Indeed, it is a pleasure to meet you." Lady Jessica said politely before introducing her own companion. "This is my son and heir to House Atreides Paul."

"Greetings." Neville said with a nod of the head. "Shall we retire to a more comfortable setting to discuss just why you have come into our territory."

"Yes, I think that would be best." Lady Jessica said, looking at them with interest as she had as many questions about them as they did about her.

- x -

Retiring to the ship's conference room the four of them sat around a table while Lady Jessica described the situation inside the Imperium.

"The Imperium has as you know been cut off from the rest of the galaxy for a long time. We formed our own small empire and under the Empire peace was largely maintained, but as House Atreides grew more powerful and influential the Emperor became jealous and scared that we might usurp him so he set us against the only other house as powerful as us…House Harkonnen. But then they begin using weapons the likes of which we have never seen." Lady Jessica said with a worried look on her regal face.

Paul took out a rifle from his back and put it on the table. "The new weapons punch straight through our armour but they don't always work. The anti-proton radiation disrupts them." Paul told them and both Haron and Neville frowned when they saw the blaster rifle that Paul had put on the table.

"E-11. Standard issue Imperial Stormtroopers." Neville said with a sigh, both of them knowing now just who was backing the other house.

"If they gained access to the Imperium, that would give them no less than three routes into our territory that aren't reinforced. This matter concerns us both." Haron said with gritted teeth. They had assumed no one would be able to navigate the Imperium as all the anti-proton radiation screwed up navigational systems and technology. But if the Empire managed to gain control of it then they could launch a massive invasion of their territory bypassing all existing defences.

"House Harkonnen recently increased the tension by assassinating the Empire of the Imperium himself and the spacer guild by holding the Navigator world hostage." Lady Jessica said with a worried expression. "If the situation continues like this, we are sure to fall, a vision led us here in hopes we would find help."

"I will consider it. I must now consult with my advisors." Haron said before saying. "If you require refreshments, please inform the guards they will see to it."

The guards nodded and Haron left the room quickly with Neville at his heels. They went to a nearby cabin and put an emergency call through to Professor Mors and Deera. Both thankfully responded quickly. He explained the situation and then asked them.

"Is there anything we can do about the radiation? Can we modify equipment to resist its effects?" Haron asked them and the Professor thought for a moment smiling.

"Yes, anti-proton radiation is so rare you hardly find it anywhere apart from the Imperium but we did find some machines that generate it in the Iokath sphere. When we realised the droids there were unaffected, we studied some and found they had circuits that were hardened against it. We can integrate them into other things like weapons if we use the Iokath factories." Mors said with a pondering look in his eyes. "We can even put them into navigation computers and hyperdrives to make them function there."

"Good, if you equip House Atreides and help them win their war, we secure not only our flank but make an ally that has the potential to really be a new force on the galactic stage with our help." Deera said with an interested smile, what they might have to offer she didn't know but there was bound to be something.

Haron nodded, it would take a long time to get them up the rest of the players in the galaxy but the Pasdisahah Imperium was a potential new power that could tip the scales of power in the galaxy.

"We will make the offer, besides making sure the Empire doesn't gain control of them benefits us in the long run. Begin production of anti-proton proof equipment as fast as possible." Haron said before letting them get back to what they were doing and get the factories on Iokath working on their new project. They nodded and disappeared as the transmission was cut.

"Involving ourselves in another war?" Neville asked wondering if this was one step too far. Haron could only sigh as he to be honest would rather not do this for the sake of their own people but for that same reason they had to do it.

"It is the only real option. Our people and even when combined with our allies are not strong enough to take the Empire. Defend against yes but not take over it completely when they are united. It might take years for us to reach that point but we will get there especially as resistance grows across the galaxy. The Imperium is a big risk but the reward might be far greater." Haron told him and Neville nodded, seeing his point.

Unless they were able to shatter the unity of the Empire somehow then it would remain too unified to break quickly. The more people that fought with them the better their chances to not only protect themselves but to get enough people together to finally one day tear the Empire down.

Returning to the conference chamber they saw Lady Jessica and her son sitting there calmly, Haron smiled under his helmet and told her as she sensed his presence.

"You are lucky Lady Jessica, for not only are we willing to arm you with weapons that will work better than the ones the Galactic Empire has been providing to House Harkonnen but other advantages as well. We even might be able to provide some more…covert assistance." Haron offered and Lady Jessica nodded with a smile coming to her face.

"That would be most appreciated Mandalore. House Atreides will not forget this." She assured them, perhaps forming an alliance that would benefit both their people for a long time to come.

The Wheel, Space Station…

Ahsoka had pushed her fighter to its maximum speed to pursue the one that had kidnapped her brother, the beacon had led her here. The infamous space station known as the Wheel; she knew all about the place from all the stories she'd heard.

Sneaking her sabers in had been hard enough but following the hunter was even harder, the Wheel was so full of confusing sensations she could feel through the force it was impossible to pick up on the hunter but she managed to sense an echo of her brother and ran towards it, desperately hoping to catch him this time.

She arrived in the landing bay to see to her amazement thugs fighting someone in a cloak wielding a green lightsaber! Ahsoka was momentarily stunned at the appearance as she hadn't seen another Jedi in a while now and to her anxiety, she saw the hunter's ship begin to take off. Dashing forward she rushed towards it hoping to stop it before it could take off but it fired its lasers at her, making her dodge to avoid it till she could activate her sabers.

The other Jedi had noticed her presence and cut through the remaining thugs, both of them getting a look at the destination board which listed it was heading towards an Imperial Facility with an ID number although why it didn't say before it rushed out of the bay.

Ahsoka stared after it with her heart aching at the near miss, she had almost had him she thought with anger creeping in and it seemed she wasn't the only one. The Jedi let out a screech of frustration which sent a chill through Ahsoka, turning in shock and glad to have her sabers in hand as she knew that voice!

The Jedi turned to her in turn and was as surprised by her, lowering her hood so for the first time in years, since the courtroom back on Coruscant they saw each other.

"Barriss!" Ahsoka said in shock.

"Ahsoka!" Barriss said back just as shocked.

Both of them were older, not that much older that they didn't recognise each other instantly though. Barriss wore her hair longer now, tied back in a braid while Ahsoka's montrals where much larger than they had been. The tense air between them was enough to distract them both from the situation temporally.

"Give me one good reason I shouldn't cut you in two?!" Ahsoka said with distrust written clearly on her face especially as she recognised the green saber Barriss was holding as belonging to Master Unduli.

Barriss though wasn't keen to waste time arguing with Ahsoka.

"I don't have time for this! Do you know who that was? Crovan Dane! The Empire's little freelance force hunter, he hunts down force sensitives and delivers them to the Empire!" Barriss said almost snarling at Ahsoka. "I need to find out where he's gone!"

"I got an ID number. I can find him." Ahsoka said coldly, hardly surprising given their history and given the animosity flowing between them you would never have thought they were once best friends.

"Did you? Because I saw a second part to that code and I got that part! He took someone from me and I will get her back." Barriss challenged her. Ahsoka gritted her teeth as she realised that she had only seen the first part of the number which meant she needed Barriss's half to find just where the hunter had been going.

"So…what now?" Ahsoka asked her sharply, not liking the idea of working with Barriss again, any more than clearly Barriss was to work with her, although the mention of the hunter having taken someone from her intrigued as to just who could mean that much to Barriss.

If she was telling the truth Ahsoka thought, knowing better than to trust anything Barriss said.

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me Ahsoka thought but with anger knew that she had to work with her to find that facility.

"I have some contacts that can get us the information we need. Come, walk in front of me or beside me. But I won't let you be behind me." Ahsoka told her firmly and Barriss nodded with her teeth visibly grinding against each other.

"Fine." Barriss agreed out of desperation, walking alongside her as they both reluctantly extinguished their sabers and walked out of the hanger bay.

Caladan, Pasdisahah Imperium…

Caladan was a lush and verdant world that was the ancestral home of Atreides, the planet had been a highly successful one under their leadership so when the Imperium's Emperor had demanded that they take up control of Arrakis as well they had taken great steps to ensure they kept a firm hold of their home world.

When the ships of House Harkonnen had come, they had mustered their own ships to defend it as regardless of Arrakis being potentially more important due to the spice found there.

House Harkonnen was mobilising a large force for this battle, large numbers of Ballista, Crushers and frigates had been deployed not to mention swarms of accompanying Kindjal fighters.

House Atreides meanwhile had many of the same ships but fewer in number, House Harkonnen due to their weapons being superior and having such a large fleet were confident in their victory and planting their flag on Caladan.

Paul stood on the bridge of his command ship, the recent assassination of his father making him the head of House Atreides now. His most trusted advisors all standing with him; Thufir Hawat the head of their security, Gurney Halleck their warmaster, Duncan Idaho a close family friend and their swordmaster and of course his mother Lady Jessica.

"I just hope these new weapons of yours work Duke Atreides." Gurney said as he saw the size of the fleet against them but Paul who had seen firsthand what the improvements the Mandalorians had made to their ships could do and turned to Duchess Ceta Farr who was here as their observer who nodded that they were ready.

"All ships." Paul said with his voice slightly trembling with the weight of command but managed with the encouraging looks of his family and friends to give the order. "Raise shields and open fire."

The Atreides ships had replaced their traditional bulky laser emitters with turbolasers donated by the Mandalorians while the shields that enveloped their ships and the white/yellow blasts erupted with great force from the Atreides ships.

The Harkonnen ships were shocked at their enemy now having the same weapons as they but not only were they more powerful than the Imperial versions evident by the deep gouges they made in Harkonnen ships before they could even come into range to shoot back.

Smaller ships were being torn apart while the larger ones could take the damage to get close enough to shoot back. But unlike the Mandalorian turbolasers their versions spluttered and struggled to work before having to be restarted as the radiation messed with them. Not to mention their blasts were intercepted by shields, something the Harkonnen shields couldn't have reliably.

The Kindjal fighters darted forward in hopes of supporting their larger ships but then the third major upgrade the Mandalorians had made was revealed. Smaller laser cannons dotted all over the hulls of Atreides ships, they tracked their targets with computers that were able to keep up with all their fast-moving targets and shredding them to pieces.

Paul was entranced as were the others by the sheer power and effectiveness of these weapons, having seen some of the technology aboard the Mandalorian ship earlier he realised just how far behind his own people were and that was something he decided to change.

He would new to lean on his new allies much but from what little they knew of them the Mandalorians honoured their word when they gave it and more to the point, they wanted allies much as he did.

This could be the beginning of a very valuable alliance for both their peoples.

Desert, Jedha…

Anakin landed his ship, Kahr and Allara behind him immediately started unstrapping themselves from their seats with grim looks on their faces as they like him knew a confrontation was in the offing. According to the information Kagame had managed to dig up the Partisans were here on the holy planet. The idea of them using this place as a base to launch their campaign angered Anakin a little but he suppressed it. He had to remain in control of himself given what he was about to be confronted by.

They saw three other small ships were waiting, given what they were facing Kagame had worked hard to find them some other Jedi to assist them in this situation. Anakin exited the ship followed by Allara and Kahr, standing there to greet them were another three Jedi, including one that he was extremely grateful to see again and have at his side during all this.

"Anakin." Obi-Wan said with a smile as they came over and gave each other a hug. Allara and Kalifa did the same, it had been so long since they had seen each other.

"How's the family?" Obi-Wan asked, wanting to know how the children and Padme were doing. Anakin smiled, wishing the children had more time to get to know their surrogate uncle.

"All good, growing so fast." Anakin told him and Obi-Wan nodded glad to hear it before looking to Kahr.

"How is your new apprentice coming along?" He asked and Anakin told his former master proudly.

"Kahr is doing well, advancing quickly. I see Kalifa has finally been knighted." Anakin commented and Obi-Wan nodded with a proud smile.

"She earned it." Obi-Wan said proudly before Anakin told him.

"You should take another apprentice. You taught us both pretty well." Anakin said seeing how strong and confident Kalifa had become after learning under Obi-Wan who smiled.

"I probably won't. I think I'm getting too old for this." Obi-Wan said but a scoff came from nearby.

"Speak for yourself Kenobi. I still got plenty of years left in me." A familiar voice said.

"Master Vos, good to see you again." Anakin said and shook the man's hand, Quinlan shook back and with his particular smirk told them.

"Glad to hear you got a woman and some kids Skywalker. Wish I could be with my wife and son right now but here we are." Quinlan said which made Anakin and Obi-Wan blink in surprise.

"You've got children?" They both asked and Quinlan laughed before telling them.

"Yeah, my girl Khaleen and our pair of boys." Quinlan said with a look of pride in his eyes before turning to Obi-Wan. "You found anyone yet Kenobi?"

"He's got a sort of girlfriend now." Kalifa piped in which made them all look at her in surprise Obi-Wan especially.

"Really?" Anakin asked with a somewhat hopeful look in his eyes. He hoped Obi-Wan would find someone, he had given up so much for the galaxy, he deserved some happiness.

"Yeah, her name's Tala." Kalifa teased, knowing full well that despite the tension between them they had done nothing yet but wanted to have a little fun. She had no doubt Master Kenobi would make her pay for this later but it was too much fun not to do it.

"Tala?" Quinlan asked with a glint in his eyes and Obi-Wan honestly wished a hole would just swallow him up but was spared further embarrassment by the arrival of the two other Jedi Master Kagame had managed to find.

"Greetings, it has been some time." Bultar Swan said with a small smile at being around so many Jedi again after hiding for so long. She had not been neglected her own training, quite the contrary, she had been training harder than ever while building a small life for herself. Anakin smiled as he greeted her, one of the first to agree with him that the Order needed to change and had been a big help in developing his understanding of moving meditation.

"Greetings, it has indeed. Too long." Anakin said as they shook hands.

"I had personally never thought to be around so many Jedi again, but what the force wills must be." A Bothan male with a groomed white beard while the rest of his hair was greying from its original brown. None of them were particularly familiar with him but knew of him.

"Master Kai. I had not expected you to come out of hiding." Obi-Wan said, Kenobi as a former member of the Jedi Council he was technically the superior here although that hardly mattered these days. But he nonetheless greeted the other master.

"I hadn't either." Kai Hudorra told them with a weary look in his eyes. "But what these rogue Jedi are doing is wrong. They are killing thousands, maybe tens of thousands with their actions and dragged the Jedi's reputation more through the mud than it had been already. They were making it easy for the Empire to label us as villains and spreading distrust. It must stop."

The mention of the renegades ended any good atmosphere that the meeting had, all of them frowning as they knew these fanatics had to be stopped but not wanting to do what they all knew in their hearts had to be done to achieve it.

Now in silence they all turned and walked towards the Partisan Hideout, easily guided by the presence of other Jedi in the force, even if none of them considered the Partisan Jedi as real Jedi anymore.

They saw the guards but weren't bothered by them, fear of the Jedi they sensed which did little to improve their mood as they walked into the base.

Saw Gerrera was there to greet them alongside the one they had come so far to see. Saesee Tiin stood there without a hint of humility or worry at all. Keelyvine Reus, Jaizen Suel, Renij Jaa, Onli Shi'en, Melik Galerha, Aven Rolk, Sanya, Nam Poorf, A'Sharad Hett and Torhaa Phaa stood alongside him. Clearly, he had managed to recruit more Jedi to his cause the newcomers all thought with dismay, wishing they had found a better path than this.

Anakin especially when he looked to Hett who had once been a close friend, he had hoped his old friend might listen to reason but he wasn't going to hold his breath.

"Saw, best leave us. We will deal with this." Saesee told Saw who took one look at the group with disdain and anger before leaving them as did the guards, now only the Jedi stood in the room facing each other.

"What are you doing Master Tiin?" Obi-Wan confronted the Iktotchi male who scowled at the sight of them.

"I am actually fighting the Empire, securing a future for the Jedi. Unlike most of you." Saesee scowled at them before looking in particular to Anakin and Quinlan, both of whom had he had issues with in the past.

"What future?" Quinlan challenged, not willing to let them being talked down too. "Ruining whatever good will we have managed to claw back after all the Empire's rancor dung? Is that what you think is helping the order?" He said with an edge of threat in his voice which was not received well by the others, all of them keeping their hands close to their lightsabers.

"Silence Renegade." Saesee snapped at Quinlan which only angered the Quinlan more as Tiin loved to drag out his own flirtation with the dark side which was hypocritical as Tiin had done far more damage than he had ever caused and was much further down the path to the dark side than he had ever been.

"Master Tiin, this is not the Jedi way." Kai interjected already feeling very worried at all the tension in the air. "All of you must know that. To kill so many, cause so much destruction that people fear the Jedi rather than respect or listen to them." He implored them hoping that they might show some sign that they realised this was wrong.

But there was nothing, all of them looked him with no small amount of disgust and no guilt at all.

"I am at least am avenging all the Jedi that died at Palpatine's hand and taking the fight to him." Saesee scoffed at their words.

"You have killed tens of thousands at least! How many more before you realise you are achieving nothing!" Obi-Wan said which provoked a reaction from Saesee Tiin, proving just how far he had fallen by igniting his lightsaber and leaping straight at Obi-Wan, he moved so fast they had no time to react but Kai Hudorra stepped forward and gasped as Saesee struck him down.

The Jedi were shocked, completely stunned as they watched the old Jedi Master fall. Not able to believe what Tiin had just done but they all recovered very quickly and drew their own lightsabers and ignited them, Tiin's own Jedi doing exactly the same. However, while Anakin and Obi-Wan had brought fewer Jedi with them than Tinn had, those that came with them were experts.

Tiin himself was faced by Obi-Wan who surprised Tiin with a strange blend of From 2 fencing and the cleaves and lunges of an altered Form 4. Not his usual Form 3 which Tiin found hard to judge. Obi-Wan was in complete control of himself regardless of what happened, Kai's death was a shock but he would not lose control over it. Tiin however was a mess of rage and struck wildly at Kenobi.

Kahr was finding his large frame something of a hinderance in a fight but his crossguard lightsaber was excellent for saber-to-saber fighting. Torhaa Phaa was not at all skilled in this sort of fighting as he had not encountered any real situations that he would need to fight against another lightsaber duellist. Kahr had been trained by Anakin though and knew to handle himself.

He battered his way through the clumsy defence of Torhaa and kicked him hard in the leg which forced him down on one knee where Kahr ended him with a single effortless stroke.

Allara meanwhile was fighting with Aven Rolk and Sanya, the two trying to double team her but she had been trained by easily one of the finest lightsaber duellists of the modern age, all those sessions with having to block stun blasts had sharpened her reflexes and reactions to a much greater level, meaning she could keep up with both of them at the same time. But that was to her advantage as Anakin had brought a secret surprise just in case a fight broke out.

Aven Rolk was struggling to break through the solid defence of Allara but he failed to notice a certain droid waiting in the wings nearby until it was too late and a metallic slug was buried in his head, the slug thrower used by HK-47 being incredibly lethal in his hands. This left Sanya vulnerable as HK-47 dropped the rifle and engaged his flame thrower arm, something her lightsaber couldn't defend against.

She screamed as the flames hit her but it was only for a moment as Allara ended her life with a single stroke of her lightsaber. She nodded gratefully to the droid and he just said.

"I claim both those kills little Jedi."

Allara despite the situation rolled her eyes, that droid really got on her nerves.

Vos meanwhile was engaged with perhaps the most dangerous of Tiin's Jedi, Keelyvine Reus. A Jar'Kai user she had two lightsabers and had been trained in the art of lightsaber combat by Dooku himself. This made her an extremely dangerous opponent who was as swift as she was precise.

She was swiping away at him with vicious, accurate strikes and clearly trying to kill him, Quinlan almost snarled at this. They had come to talk to them and they had killed Master Hudorra in cold blood and were now trying to kill them too.

Quinlan felt no need to hold back, not only attacking with Form 4 which he had educated in by his own master but also the Form 7 Juyo fighting moves he had learned from Sora Bulq during the war when undercover as a Dark Acolytes.

The chaotic mix of these styles caught Keelyvine by surprise, she found him being hit with a ferocious assault that she struggled to repel and then to make matters worse he kicked her with a hard hit to the stomach, she fell back winded and Quinlan was on her in a moment which she was barely able to meet. He then managed to grapple with her and elbow her in chest, which winded her even more but she was hardly one to give up.

She slashed at him, forcing him back but he parried the strike and then blasted her with the force, the constant changing of styles confusing her so she couldn't find a way to defeat him. She was hurled back int the wall and hit it hard, sure some bones must have broken with the hit but before she could look up, Quinlan was there stabbing her through the gut with his lightsaber. Her eyes widened in shock but Quinlan just pulled his saber free and stared at her with contempt as she died.

Bultar Swan was not the most aggressive duellist the order had seen but she was a master at martial arts and had kept herself trained and in a good shape, this allowed her to keep up with two opponents at once. Jaizen Suel and Nam Poorf, both attacked her together sure they could defeat her but her solid defence and acrobatic style of fighting meant she was extremely hard to pin down, but what made the fight even harder was occasionally if they did manage to get close, she would hit them with unarmed combat moves and catch them off guard.

As Nam tried to engage her in a blade so Jaizen could get a strike in, Swan parried instead and delivered a move from the deadly Teras Kasi martial art that she had mastered. Striking at his shoulder hard with a Striking Sarlacc, breaking the arm at the joint. He cried out in pain but given it was also the arm that held his saber so he dropped it allowing her a brief window to end him and she took it, a single slash to the torso ending him in an instant. Jaizen saw her partner go down and was immediately enraged, charging straight at Bultar with fury but Bultar demonstrated a rather secret skill that no one knew she had but had been practicing for the last few years.

She lashed out with a blast of emerald green lightning, catching Jaizen completely by surprise who was stunned by the blast that while nowhere near as harsh as the blue lightning employed by Darth Sidious it stunned the female dark jedi which allowed Bultar to impale her through the gut.

Kalifa was proving to have taken many lessons of her master's form 3 fighting as she repelled the fast and fierce attacks of Renij Jaa, an Iktotchi Jedi Knight like Saesee Tiin and just as aggressive. She sidestepped and parried his attacks before switching to Form 2 fighting she had learned from her master, swiping at his joints, taking a knee an arm before impaling him through the chest.

Anakin easily defeated Melik Galerha before being faced with his old friend A'Sharad Hett. They scowled at each other and Anakin challenged him.

"I had thought you were better than this Hett." Anakin said with fury but A'Sharad was scowling back just as hard.

"At least I can take responsibility for myself Skywalker!" Hett said back as they locked blades with each other, referring to the slaughter of the Tuskan village. Anakin said back.

"Have you? Killing the innocent to fuel your anger? You don't even think about the things you do." Anakin snapped at him before they began to trade blows. Anakin had come a long way from that person that used to spar with Hett. It had been before he started training with Tuwan and received the teachings of Revan, his powers and skills had more than tripled since they had last met. Hett to his credit though had become stronger too.

They battered away with their lightsabers, fierce showers of sparks erupting as they clashed but Hett was so far into the dark side now he could only draw on that now, slipping deeper and deeper each day. He had no-one that was close enough to pull him back and no one who he would listen too. He had nothing left to lose so the wildness of his attacks was almost animalistic in how savage it was.

Anakin though had everything to fight for, a family and a belief in what they were doing. Fighting to restore peace and freedom to the galaxy, more so he was now in control of himself. Using both sides of his nature and of the force to make him all the stronger reinforced by that belief.

He easily matched the two blades of Hett, managing to grab one of his wrists and twisting hard so Hett was forced to drop one of his blades which Anakin stamped on hard, breaking the hilt.

That enraged Hett who lashed out with his remaining saber but Anakin easily countered those moves with his incredible mastery of Form 5. His heavy cleaves and counter attacks battering away at Hett who was soon on the back foot as he clearly was too dependent on using two sabers. He blasted Anakin with a force push but Anakin repelled it with ease which seemed to surprise Hett but Anakin was hardly done yet and used the force forms Tuwan had taught him to enhance his own powers.

Now moving with a speed that seemed impossible, he resumed his attack seeming to be everywhere at once as Hett tried to defend but it was a delaying action only as Anakin was just too much for him to handle, ending it with a swift decapitation.

Anakin stared down at his old friend with dismay that he had allowed himself to give in to such things but understood as he himself had nearly done it too. He just wished Hett had someone to pull him back like he had.

Anakin then pivoted around and then stabbed Onli Shi'en in the gut, who had been rather foolishly trying to creep up on him. Not today Onli, Anakin thought with anger that the situation had happened in the first place.

That left only one fight still going on, Saesee was fighting Obi-Wan.

The two Jedi Masters fought each other with completely different temperaments, Saesee was enraged his anger eating him up inside and twisting him into a rage filled beast.

Obi-Wan was the complete opposite, he was in complete control himself, focused and alert on his surroundings. He led the fight onto the beams that held the roof up above them, letting the difficult battlefield keep Saesee off balance as he lunged and cleaved, meaning he was constantly in danger of falling off. Obi-Wan however was keeping careful attend to his footwork and launching the jabs of Form 2 which was perfectly suited for this terrain.

They moved between each beam and along them with a very fast pace, but Obi-Wan kept the fight exactly as he wanted it, waiting for the best moment to strike.

Then it came as Saesee Tiin tried to leap over Obi-Wan to attack him from behind but the force was with Obi-Wan who pivoted around and stabbed Tiin straight through the chest.

Saesee stilled, not able to believe he had been bested by the passive and weak Kenobi, falling to the floor. Obi-Wan landed beside him, looking at all the dead Jedi and feeling a great deal of sadness that they had allowed their fear and hatred to control them, that in fighting to defend the order they had betrayed all it stood for.

"I suppose, we should give them a burial." Vos said with disgust as he looked at the fallen dark Jedi before concentrating on Kai. The sight of his body made all of them feel grief even if they hadn't known him that well, to lose your life not at the hands of the enemy but of your own people was horrible.

"They may have forgotten that they were Jedi…but that doesn't mean we have too." Bultar added with a mournful look in her eyes at their lost colleagues. They all nodded in sad agreement, just because they had lost their way didn't mean they had to abandon their own morals and beliefs too.

- x -

A short while later they all stood around a burning pyre as the dead were given a proper Jedi funeral, all standing in silence as they watched them burn. They stayed quiet for some time before finally they walked back to their ships.

"The Rebellion could really use your help." Anakin mentioned to Vos and the others who all smiled slightly before Bultar admitted something.

"Sorry Anakin but no. I didn't mention it earlier but you and Vos are not the only ones who are 'not alone' anymore." Bultar said with a warm smile having overheard them speak of those things earlier when they met.

The news surprised them all as it had never occurred to them that Bultar might actually have a family of her own now but were glad as no one should be alone. The Dark Jedi they had just faced were proof of that.

"Good to hear." Vos said with a smirk. Allara meanwhile had a question to ask.

"Masters? Can I take Onli Shi'en's ship? It's a Firespray-31 patrol ship. I could really do with a ship of my own." Allara asked and it was rather crass to ask such a thing at a moment like this but the Anakin sighed before telling her.

"Fine take the ship, better than it going to rust anyway." He then turned to the others even HK-47 and told them. "Thank you for standing with me. I know this wasn't easy and it will haunt me for some time…but we had to stop them. Who knows how much damage they would have done if left unchecked." Anakin said proudly to have fought with them despite the circumstances.

- x -

Saw meanwhile was infuriated at them slaughtering his people, deciding from this moment on that if a Jedi didn't help, they were to be avoided or killed.

The mission was far too important to let them interfere again but fortunately he wouldn't be without Jedi for too long hopefully as Saesee Tiin had managed to find more Jedi in hiding and some with leverage that he could use against them. It might take a while but he would get some good fighters from this he thought with certainty.

Reijar, Ordo System…

The civil war in the Imperium was now turning firmly in House Atreides favour, the successful defence of Caladan had managed to sway some of the other houses away from House Harkonnen including a good number of the Salusian Militia giving them a much stronger fighting force and letting them take the fight to their enemies.

Paul Atreides was visiting Reijar today on the advice of his mother, she had thought it good to learn a little from Haron who already was a successful leader of his own people as if things went their way, House Atreides might be ruling the Imperium soon.

To that end they were fighting with swords, Paul did well having been trained in such things his entire life but the combat experience Haron had was too much and he easily disarmed the boy. Haron stood over him and then threw the sword back.

"You learn far more from failure than you do from success." Haron told him calmly as the boy got back to his feet. "You use an aggressive fighting style, which can be a good thing but only if it is balanced enough to keep you from overextending yourself."

"Easier said than done." Paul said having been knocked on his ass several times by the Mandalore.

"But worth it in the end." Haron assured him before imparting some wisdom he had learned along the way. "You serve your people as their leader as much as they serve you as your subjects. I would give my life to protect them especially my family and devote my time and effort to keeping them safe. They know that and it reassures them. Despite the situation making sure they know you are there is important."

"But how can I do that?" Paul asked as Haron's words hit home. "Be a leader worth the position?"

"By making sure you stay grounded, stay focused on the task at hand. There is no real rulebook to leadership but the best thing you can do is have something that reminds you what is important like my family does for me." Haron told him and Paul nodded before saying.

"My mother has said that Princess Irulan Corrino has expressed interest in being married to me. She's a daughter of the last Emperor of the Imperium, she's smart and well connected not to mention my age so it's a good match but…" Paul said and Haron knew exactly the problem from the reluctant way he said it.

"But you don't love her." Haron said with an understanding voice knowing that feeling all too well.

"Yes." Paul said reluctantly. "There's another girl Chani, she's been my lover since I could take one and a friend for even longer." Paul said with a longing in his eyes and voice.

"It might surprise you to know this." Haron said deciding to share his own experience. "But my wife and I were an arranged marriage too. And I had another girl I wanted to marry instead."

"You did?" Paul said with shock as he had seen Duchess Ordo playing with her children and the love that clearly existed between her and her husband so he was shocked to hear they had been put together against their will.

"Yes, an old agreement between two families we were powerless to get out of." Haron admitted. "Ginny as she was known was perhaps the passionate girl I had ever met before then and I loved her so much. I was going to marry her before this agreement came up and separated us. There were reasons we just couldn't break it and so I had to let Ginny go and wed Ara instead. Ara wasn't exactly eager to be married to me either. It caused a lot of tension and cost me many friendships, Ara and I didn't know how to make the most of our marriage till finally we both talked it through together and shared our feelings with each other so we knew where we stood. We decided to make the most of it, to not waste our time and get to know each other properly. To work on our marriage."

"If you both work on it, there is no reason you two can't have a good marriage." Haron said as he gave the boy advice that would hopefully help stop him and his future bride from going through the same issues he and Ara had once had back on Earth. "What does Chani think of this?" He asked and Paul frowned.

"Not sure." He admitted reluctantly. "I haven't said anything yet."

"Then your first move is clear. You and Chani need to talk and perhaps Princess Irulan should be a part of this conversation as well if you are going to marry her. If you are not willing to give Chani up and are still going to marry Irulan then you all need to find some agreement between the three of you and if not…then you may have to make some hard choices or indecision might be as dangerous as making the wrong one." Haron told him seriously. "What does Irulan want? What does Chani want? What do you want? These questions are the ones you need answers too if you are going to be a husband or a leader. Difficult decisions will be put before you every day and you can't run from them, you have face them and sometimes you will need to compromise. Give up what you want or do things you don't want too to get the job done. I don't like some of the things I have had to do but I did it because at the end of the day countless people rely on me as your people will rely on you. It is a heavy burden but only when you see it like that can you be the leader your people need you to be."

Seeing the boy was having a hard time dealing with this information Haron decided to distract him so he could have some time to process it all.

"There is something I have to show you as well, perhaps something that will interest your force culture the…Bene Gesseritt as they are called, I believe." Haron said before pulling the Darksaber off his back and igniting it.

The black blade simmered into existence and Paul was immediately struck in awe of it. Haron smiled knowing the attraction before explaining what it was.

"It is called a lightsaber, a weapon of considerable utility. The blade can cut through most materials with ease along with flesh, but it can also deflect blaster fire back at the enemy among other things." Haron said as he twirled the blade around, the hum it made singing in the air. "Unlike a normal sword the blade is never at rest so the utmost care and special training is needed before you can begin to use one. So…shall we begin?" Haron said with a smile as he tossed him a training saber which Paul took an ignited, creating a thin yellow blade which he studied for a moment before lunging forward, Haron easily parried the move as he let Paul get used to the weapon so that one day, he might teach his own people to make use of such a weapon.

YT-2400 Light Freighter 'Dasher', Unknown Space…

Ahsoka honestly didn't like being in such a confined space with Barriss but since her fighter could only take one person and she wasn't going to let Barriss out of her sight she had no choice if she wanted to find her brother.

At least she had shared the other half of the code and now she was talking to her best contact in the hopes he could tell her just where to go.

"The ID code you sent me was hard to identify but I managed to find out it refers to a highly guarded facility on the planet Nur. I can't say more beyond that." Bail Organa told her sadly.

"Okay thank you Senator." Ahsoka said before asking. "Can the Alliance?" She started to ask before he interrupted her.

"Sorry Ahsoka, but the Alliance won't be spending anyone." Bail said looking completely apologetic before adding. "Mon Mothma has been refusing to commit to any kind of military action. Garm has been doing it but his resources are stretched at the moment."

Ahsoka sighed with dismay as she realised there was no help coming from the rebels.

"Thank you, Senator." Ahsoka said before closing down the transmission. An angered Barriss snarled with anger.

"That pathetic bitch and her token measures is going to be the cause of so much trouble!" Barriss said, dropping herself into the pilot's seat with a dramatic thump. "What about your Liber8 friends? Can they help?" Barriss asked intently.

"No." Ahsoka said with annoyance at the way Barriss was acting. "Liber8 is trying to help friendly worlds fight off Kalderans and the Empire alike. They haven't got the forces to spare."

"A suicide mission, that's what this is. We can't do it alone." Barriss said as she leant back in her chair in despair. Ahsoka felt almost as dejected as she did, knowing it would be almost impossible to get themselves in, find what they were looking for and get out without outside help.

"Who is it?" Ahsoka asked not able to stop herself from asking anymore. "Just who are you risking your life for?"

"That is not your concern." Barriss told her sharply but Ahsoka told her.

"I am going to be risking my life for whoever it is just like I am for my brother! I should know, although why you would care after you betrayed everyone who ever gave a damn about you is something I cannot understand." Ahsoka snapped at her finally letting out the anger she had been trying to hold back.

That got a reaction as Barriss flinched like she was hit by a slap to the face, she sagged in depression as she sighed remembering just what lines she had crossed back then before finally admitting to Ahsoka just who the Empire had taken from her.

"My daughter." Barriss said quietly and in pain at the reality of it all.

"Your daughter?" Ahsoka said sitting up in surprise, not able to believe what Barriss had said.

"Yes, my little girl." Barriss said with a depressed look. "When I escaped from prison during Order 66, I decided to try and blend in with the places I found myself and that included dating. I am not ugly regardless of what some people would think." Barriss said with a look at her before she continued. "I got involved with a man and I ended up pregnant. He ran off and left me holding the baby and I raised her by myself ever since. Then Dane took her. Took my little Celeste." Barriss said with fear for her child on her face as clear as the tattoos. "Abducted her from school while I was working." She said bitterly knowing she was at not being there to protect her.

Ahsoka was honestly shocked, having never imagined Barriss with a child. She had always been so much of a loner, she now could see how isolated Barriss had been back at the Temple, apart from her there was hardly anyone in her life and when they had drifted apart, she had not even noticed. She did feel bad about that but what stuck with her the most was that Barriss seemed to think that she thought she was ugly.

"I never thought you were ugly Barriss." Ahsoka said surprised. "Why would you think that?"

"Because I was always second best." Barriss told her, finally letting her insecurities out. "Not as strong as you, not as bright as you, you had a better master than me, a far better career as a Jedi than me. You were always better."

"What do you mean?" Ahsoka said in disbelief. "You are powerful, you are more graceful than I could ever be. You think things through while I rush in and get myself in trouble. You are a natural healer and I can't even begin to do it half as well as you. We're different Barriss but not better than the other. Just skilled in different things." Ahsoka said sadly, not understanding how Barriss could thing so little of herself when she had so many gifts. Perhaps Luminara had been a worse master than she had known Ahsoka considered, shattering Barriss's own confidence and self of self-worth.

Barriss was silent as she thought about it, not sure she was able to believe it. Knowing Ahsoka wasn't a liar she had to think she meant it although that she could think anything good of her after what she had done was a major surprise to Barriss.

"I wanted to join you, when Skywalker started forming his own little Jedi." Barriss said sadly. "I really wanted to be there and learn from Master Tuwan like you all did, but Luminara wouldn't let me and I was too timid to go against her. Then I saw you with all your new friends like I didn't exist. I…I just got so mad." Barriss admitted knowing how foolish she had been back then.

"I missed you there." Ahsoka said sad now too as she remembered the day in question and realised that she hadn't been a great friend to Barriss either. "I went looking but Luminara wouldn't let me see you."

"Sounds like her." Barriss said bitterly, remembering her old master with anger before saying something she knew she had to say. "I am sorry, for what I did. I know that isn't enough for…all of it. But regret it every day and I missed you, what we had. I know I can never make it up to you and we can never really be friends again but I am sorry."

Ahsoka honestly was touched by the apology late though it was. She had no idea Barriss was that insecure inside, if she had she would have tried to let her know how brilliant she was. If she had maybe they might still be friends now.

This only made her more determined to find Yul'xe and Celeste. There was one last person she could call for help and so she sat up and told Barriss.

"I can reach out to one more person, someone who has the means to help us." Ahsoka said before activating the comm relay and before Barriss could ask who she was contacting a hologram appeared before them although Barriss was kept out of view.

"Ahsoka. It's been a while." Haron Ordo said as he appeared in full armour. Ahsoka nodded with a smile on her face.

"I know and I am sorry for having to reach out to you at all but I have a problem. My brother and a few other force sensitives have been kidnapped by the Empire and taken to an Imperial Outpost on the planet Nur. Do you know anything about the place?" She asked him getting serious.

Haron was silent for a moment before asking her sternly.

"Ahsoka, please tell me you are not going to try and assault that Fortress by yourself." He said and she could almost see the look of disapproval in his eyes even though he was covered by a helmet. She told him quickly.

"I am hoping not too but I need to know what it is." Ahsoka said eagerly and Haron gave a sigh before telling her.

"Fortress Nur is the headquarters for the Empire's Inquisitors." Haron told her which made a chill run down both Ahsoka and Barriss's spines as they now understood just why their loved ones had been taken. "A heavily guarded installation where force sensitives are broken and forced to become hunters for the Emperor."

Both Ahsoka and Barriss knew for certain now there was no way for them to rescue their loved ones without help but it was a big favour to ask for his help. So Ahsoka made an emotional plea as she knew how much family meant to the Mandalorians.

"Haron, please…he's little brother and I know that at least one little girl was taken from her mother. They're in danger. I need your help." Ahsoka pleaded with him and both of them held their breath as he considered their words. Haron being a father himself knew how he would feel if one of his children ended up in the hands of the Empire, so he understood their fear.

"I can't spare a large force right now, but I can get something together." Haron told her which instantly rekindled both their hopes. "Meet them at these co-ordinates and be ready for a real fight."

"Don't worry, we will." Ahsoka told him and smiled again. "And Haron, thank you. I owe you."

"You should be careful with that statement Ahsoka. One day someone will collect." Haron told her.

Dathomir, the Outer Rim…

The Liberation of Dathomir had been a year in the planning, while Merrin trained intelligence units had been scouting all of the different Imperial facilities on the planet and waiting for the Imperial Surveillance Facility to be as close to completion as possible before they struck.

The Invasion Force had assembled centred around a Lucrehulk commanded by Bo Katan, she looked at the strange planet with foreboding as something about it just made the hairs on the back of her neck stand to attention. She turned to Cal Kestis and Merrin, Cal was wearing his usual armour but Merrin had been given a suit made of the special steel they had discovered recently. She looked striking Bo Katan said with her Nightsister colours painted on.

"Are we prepared?" Bo Katan asked not really wanting to waste time with a planet like this but it was the will of the Mandalore and she did see the advantages of both the planet and the people.

"All is ready Lady Kryze." Cal said respectfully and she nodded, glad of the respect he showed.

"Then you had best get to the hanger, its time." Bo Katan said with a smirk, knowing it was the first time she had led a planetary invasion and was pretty proud of herself and would be even more so if it went well.

"Then let's move." Merrin said and both of them apparated to the hanger bay, Cal still was somewhat unnerved by the sensation but Merrin was taking it in her stride having already had similar abilities before she started training with the Akaan.

"Yes Ma'am." Cal said with a grin as he walked with her to the transport along with other warriors, Basilisk war droids and Skytroopers.

The hatches closed and the transports lifted off, flying out of the hanger and towards the surface accompanied by Vipers, X-wings and Scurrg H-6 bombers for assistance and protection.

- x -

The Imperial Prisons were designed to keep prisoners in, so their outer defences were not as tough. They had no ships in orbit to support them and only limited ground-based forces.

Tie Fighters were scrambled to intercept them, the Vipers being better at atmospheric flight broke off to intercept them while the X-Wings and H-6s began to strafe the ground units, the bombers also using their missile and torpedoes to attack buildings and ground fortifications, clearing the way for the troops to land.

Landers and troop carriers came down and began to discharge the landing force, Mandalorians and Skytroopers accompanied by Basilisk war droids all raced out of the landers with heavier Rancor models following behind. They began to attack the scattered and confused Imperial ground forces while Cal and Merrin led a team of Mandalorian female warriors into the main prison complex.

- x -

"The communication channels are jammed sir. We cannot contact anyone." The officer at the communication station. The fear on his face was truly a sight to see and it would under other circumstances have given the man in charge a great sense of satisfaction but not when they were facing a full-blown invasion.

"Break through!" Taron Malicos told him sternly with his hand around his throat for a moment till he let the man free to try and work. Lank Denvik, a visiting Imperial Intelligence officer was surprisingly calm about the situation despite the fact they might all be dead soon or in some Mandalorian interrogation chamber. Taron however then noticed someone was missing.

"Where is your little protégé?" Taron asked suspicious of the sudden absence but didn't give Lank a chance to answer as he took off to find him.

- x -

"It's alright Kata!" Bode said as he ran with his daughter in his arms, rushing towards the landing bay in hopes of stealing a ship and using the chaos of the battle to escape with his daughter. He hated being forced to work for Lank, for the sake of his daughter he tolerated it but this was perhaps the best chance to be free.

"Daddy! I'm scared." Kata said as she clung tightly to him before suddenly, she saw something he didn't over his shoulder. "DADDY BEHIND YOU!" She screamed out in fear and Bode on instinct threw Kata away from himself which was the only thing that saved the little girl's life as a saber was impaled through his chest.

Bode gasped as Kata screamed, looking at Taron Malicos who was holding the saber with a disgusted look in his eyes.

"I knew you couldn't be trusted." Taron said with a revolted look in his eyes. "Maybe some time with the Inquisitors might make your daughter worth something." Taron said taunting him with what would happen to Kata now. Like him she had the force, untrained for the moment but strong enough to be an Inquisitor.

"You…bastard!" Bode said as his voice broke with the effort and pain of trying to stay alive but Taron pulled the saber out and kicked him over, Bode looked up at his terrified daughter and smiled as much as he could for her and told her with his remaining strength.

"I love you; I will be with you always remember sweetie. Me and mommy will be with you always." Bode said with his breath failing him, he knew he was dying and nothing could stop that now but he wanted his daughter to know he loved her and that she would be the last thing he would see. Kata nodded, with tears streaming down her face as she scrambled towards him and he was able with little strength he had left to wipe her tears away and kiss her cheek before finally succumbing to his wounds.

"How sweet." Taron mocked as he stared down in disgust while Kata clung to her dead father sobbing her eyes out. But as he reached down to grab the little girl he was suddenly hit by a blast of green magic.

"Get away from that child!" A female voice said with a Dathomiri accent. Kata managed to look up along with Taron and saw two figures approach dressed from head to toe in armour. Kata was still too raw from her father's death but they had hurt the man who killed daddy so she hoped they would be good.

"Killing a father right in front of his child. Just when I think the Empire has run out of ways to make me sick, you go one better." A male voice said and both of the two new figures drew lightsabers. Two dark red blades with a smoking effect to them and a solid blue appearing as Taron struggled to his feet.

"Maybe this might be worth my time, after all." Taron said as he drew his own lightsabers, both red blades.

The two armoured figures ran forward and put themselves between Kata and Taron to make sure she was as safe as possible. The space was tightly confined but just large enough to fight and while Cal kept him busy with a rapid exchange of saber strikes, Merrin used her Nightsister magic.

Taron found the floor beneath his feet shifting and changing, letting him fall through it like quicksand and Merrin snarled at him as he went under.

"Dathomir will have you." She said using her magic to bury him as deep underground as she could manage. Taron struggled but despite his own dive into Nightsister magic he was no match for the much more powerful and better trained Merrin.

Cal kept his saber lit though as he checked the area was secure, turning he saw the girl kneeling over her father's body and had a flashback of himself kneeling over Master Tapal's body as he died. Turning off his saber he shared a look with Merrin who nodded and they went over to her and knelt down, putting a hand on her shoulders each.

"It's alright little one. He is at peace now and you are safe. We will not let anything hurt you." Merrin told her, actually taking off her mask so the girl could see her face. Cal did the same and the girl who was still sobbing said.

"He's…my daddy and my mommy's dead."

That hurt both of them too as they could feel her grief through the force, Cal made sure he was looking her in the eye before saying.

"I lost a father, when I was a few years older than you are now." Cal told her with pain as he remembered his Jedi Master and his demise, even after all this time it still hurt him deeply. "He died to save my life and I think about him every day. Know that your daddy is with the force and watching over you."

"Really?" Kata asked him, her eyes red raw and desperate while Merrin in a maternal gesture stroked her hair gently.

"Really. But do not worry young one, me and Cal will help you now, we won't let anything happen to you." Merrin told her to comfort her. Kata lunged forward and wrapped her arms around Merrin who held her a little awkwardly, not really knowing what to do around young children but gently wrapped her arms around her and letting her cry into her shoulder, knowing this pain herself all too well.

Cal surprised her by wrapping his arms around both of them holding them so all three were huddled together on the floor.

They stayed like that before Bo Katan found them and smirked.

"Lovely little family." She mocked, the ex-Jedi/Mandalorian, the Nightsister and their adopted daughter. Cal and Merrin were too angry to be embarrassed though and Merrin said sharply to her.

"This little girl has just lost her father, her only remaining parent. Show respect." She said with a glare that was actually intimidating and Bo fell silent before telling them what she had come to say.

"The leaders of all the clans are here in his prison and they are demanding an audience with us all."

"Then let's get to it." Cal said before Merrin put her hand to his shoulder and told him.

"I will. I know them and they know me, you are male and they will not listen. Take care of her." Merrin said and told the young Kata. "I will need to go and speak to some people now; Cal will make sure you get something to eat. I'll be back soon." Merrin reassured Kata who still clung to her hand but reluctantly let go while Merrin gave her a warm smile before she went off to meet with the various 'mothers' while Cal led Kata away so they could find her some food and arrange for her father to be laid to rest.

- x -

The various mothers were squabbling like children when Merrin arrived and she sighed, seeing again how they had been so easily conquered by the Empire. As a people, as a whole they were extremely powerful with the force and their magic. Together they were capable of so much belong the Jedi and Sith in some ways but they were completely divided she thought sadly. She used her magic like Luna had taught her, amplifying her voice to make it louder.

"SILENCE!" She called out.

Her voice was so loud that she managed to get all of them to stop arguing.

"This pathetic squabbling allowed the Empire to take over our world before!" Merrin said fiercely not giving any of them the chance to interrupt. "If you had all stood united this would never have happened. All the power we have! If we had been together, we could defend our world." Merrin said with anger as they listened to her.

"I was forced to leave and look for help to save us! I was just lucky to find it." Merrin said gesturing to Bo Katan who was standing at her side. "Better yet they have agreed to make sure we aren't threatened again. They will use the station they built to watch for any more Imperial Ships but the fact remains, we need to be unified. Singing Mountain, Howling Crag, Blue Coral Divers, Nardithi Nightsisters, whatever clan you belong too. We can't be caught unprepared again!" Merrin said forcefully, eager to make her point.

"What do you intend we do about it?" Augwynne Djo said, leading of the Singing Mountain Clan and one of the strongest leaders on Dathomir. Merrin had been terrified before she had seen them arguing like they had been when she came in, they were no better than her she thought with realisation. Just people regardless of their position.

"Choose a leader, a great mother that can keep the peace!" Bo Katan said with annoyance as she had little respect for them if they couldn't pull themselves together in the face of such a dangerous threat.

That made all of them look at them dumb founded, not able to belief what was being suggested.

"What you say has never been done before." Another Mother, Amaya Kymeri said with bitterness given the long running issues between them. "Who could we even choose anyway? All of us would be accused of favouring one clan over the others."

"Choose Merrin." Bo Katan said which shocked all of them not least Merrin herself who had never been informed that this had been what the Mandalorians had wanted from the beginning. "She has no allegiance to any of your clans and yet from what I have been told she has studied with many of you. She understands your ways and has seen the wider galaxy, she knows how to see the big picture. What better candidate is there?" Bo Katan asked earnestly.

The mothers all looked very unsettled at the idea and Augwynne stood up and declared.

"I will meditate on this, we all should. It is a big decision." She said and Merrin nodded, shaken slightly because if enough voted in her favour she might become the leader of Dathomir.

They all went to their own former cells to meditate in private and before Merrin could ask Bo Katan what she had done the older woman had vanished, making a hasty retreat to avoid her questions.

Merrin frowned as she considered just what burden this placed on her but realised the benefits too. She could bring much to her people not least of which was protection. Walking out to see Cal and the girl they had found she smiled as she saw the girl playing a little game with Cal, feeling some enjoyment despite the horrible circumstances. She had no intention of being a mother, not yet anyway but now she was honestly considering an adopted daughter she thought to herself with irony.

Sometimes the Force or fate or whatever it was took these decisions out of your hands.

She went over to join the game, the girl hugging her again and telling her that she was named Kata. She was warm and loving girl, trusting them quickly Merrin found and she couldn't help but like her straight away. Being leader of this planet would let her give this girl a home, stability and future training Merrin realised as they all sat around the table. Whether Cal would be willing to stay with her she had no idea but she hoped he would. The Imperial Intelligence officer they'd captured could be their gift to the Mandalorians for their help in liberating the planet.

It took a couple of hours but eventually the mothers all finished their meditations and returned to the meeting room where Merrin was waiting for them with Bo Katan and Cal and Kata at her side. Seeing a male armed disturbed some of them but none questioned it.

"We have all thought deeply on it." Augwynne said with concern but got to the point. "It is clear to us all that you are right. If Dathomir is to ever become more than it is now, a Great Mother is needed and as your friend pointed out…you are the best candidate…So I name you with the authority of all the clans assembled here…Great Mother of Dathomir."

Merrin wanted to yell but suppressed it, knowing she could do much with this and ensure the protection of their world. She could even bring secrets she had learned from the Akaan here she thought but knew that would need to be done carefully.

"Then as my first act as Great Mother." Merrin said doing her best not to be nervous as Cal and Kata both gave her encouraging looks. "All clans will hold a celebration. We are free of the Empire and it is time our sisters and even our brothers truly enjoyed themselves." Merrin said and a cheer went up as she ordered what amounted to the biggest party in their history.

Fortress Inquisitorius, Nur…

The headquarters of the Inquisitorius was an imposing building, a single spire that rose out of the water protected by turbolasers, it had no energy shields or other defences as not only was most of the facility underwater but no one thought that anyone would be so stupid they would try to attack the place.

A single landing bay existed for ships coming and going, an Imperial Shuttle carrying supplies arrived as usual, it had all the usual security checks and codes to pass through unchallenged. It landed and the crew began unloading their supplies but unknown to the Imperials a small spider droid was hiding on the hull, it untucked itself and unseen by the busy Imperials ran quickly across the landing pad and into the facility, looking for a computer terminal and when it found one, connected briefly to it, transferring a rather nasty computer virus into the system.

The droid then retreated into the nearby ventilation ducts so it wouldn't be discovered.

The virus was a special one, given specific instructions to disable the turbolasers, security systems and communications, preventing the facility from calling for help or interfering with the attack that was coming.

A single Star Destroyer was in orbit, standing guard over the facility and the moment the Mandalorians could be certain that the facility couldn't reach out for help a Null ship jumped in accompanied by a small fleet of ships including a Lucrehulk. The Null ship had already prepared before it jumped and fired the blast of purple energy, striking the Star Destroyer hard, rendering it helpless as bombers and smaller warships along with the Lucrehulk began to strafe it before they could begin to recover.

While the ship in orbit was being taken apart Kom'rk dropships alongside D-77s spewed out of the hanger and rushed down towards the surface and specifically the fortress.

The personnel assigned to the facility were confused by the sudden systems failure but understood the moment the dropships appeared; the Inquisitors sensed the threat but could do little as the dropships fired their lasers to strafe the landing zone so it was clear.

As the Imperials were either cut down or dived for cover one of the D-77s came close and opened its ramp just as the only Inquisitor present on the platform threw his saber at one of the landing ships and smashed its rear mounted engines which spluttered and started failing, leaving all the warriors little time to bail out before it smashed into the water below.

But another of the ships got close enough to the platform and Mandalorian shock troopers leapt out, flying around the platform to strafe any stragglers that remained while Ahsoka and Barriss leapt from the ship and landed on the pad. The Inquisitor charged at them with his lightsaber but Ahsoka already had hers in hand and lit, trading a few blows before bisecting him at the waist.

Barriss blinked, having not expected her to be so ruthless but didn't wait around and leapt over the pad to cut down the few remaining Imperials who remained. Leaving the pad secure and more warriors arrived to charge the facility while others went to assist the currently sinking damaged dropship.

The two Mandalorian leaders of this assault who also happened to two of their force users, the Akaan Ahsoka thought with curiosity as she looked at them joining the fight, their strange looking lightsabers cutting through the Imperials as they launched themselves into the facility, Ahsoka and Barriss ran after them, eager to find their loved ones.

- x -

Leading a good portion of the ground forces was Din Djarin, eager for the fight but still deeply unsettled by this place. From what he had learnt, it was designed to hold and torture force sensitives until they were broken into being Inquisitors for the Empire…even children.

That enraged him, Din thought with disgust. The idea that poor innocent younglings were torn from their families and tortured to serve the revolting old man and his empire.

So, when they came across Imperials, organic or droid he and his warriors showed no mercy.

Stormtroopers, Interrogators, officers it didn't matter, none were high enough to be worth sparing anyway he considered and pressed the attack, killing all the Imperials they could find.

Then they came across a real challenge he thought with sense of anticipation, one of the Inquisitors.

A black skinned Twi'lek appeared before them and Din gritted his teeth as they had no Akaan or the two Jedi with them but he thought with his confidence returning, his people knew how to stop one of them.

He and his men surrounded the Inquisitor who was spinning his stronger whirling lightsaber around to try and fight them off but Din waited until the last possible moment and hit him with a repulsor blast. The shot was well aimed and managed to catch the Inquisitor by surprise, knocking his saber from his hand and leaving him defenceless. Din fired his cable as did the other members of his team, wrapping the Inquisitor down before firing their gauntlet mounted blasters. The Inquisitor wasn't able to move out of the way and had only the thin Imperial standard issue armour on, it was nowhere near strong enough to resist their weapons. The Inquisitor struggled but soon went down to their overwhelming fire.

- x -

Near the cells Roon and Makla were fighting a battle of their own, a pair of Inquisitors had found them, engaging them one on one in an attempt to bring them down.

They were human they saw but hardly a challenge for them, more vicious than dangerous and the pair channelled their magic, hitting them both with full body bindings before cutting them down on the spot.

Both looked down at their work with satisfaction before checking the cells, most thankfully were empty but to their disappointment that some of the cells were full. Opening them they saw a number of younglings emerge, the oldest was sixteen they thought with anger but the youngest looked only four years old! They thought with their anger rising before reassuring them.

"It's okay now." Makla told them, the male Kage was hoping that with time they could be healed of their trauma and whatever programming the Empire had managed to force on them and Roon was in full agreement and told them.

"We'll get you out of here, come on." The Male Duro told them with a smile, even taking off his helmet so they might trust him.

The younglings for good reason after all they had experienced at the hands of the Empire didn't do so quickly. It was actually the youngest that took to him first, reaching out with his small hand but it was start he thought with relief.

- x -

Ahsoka and Barriss meanwhile were focused solely on finding their respective family members, cutting down anyone that got in their way. Arriving in a long corridor though that was labelled as a vault they could feel their loved ones were close but on the other side of the vault, so they would cross it as the fastest way there.

But what they found there horrified them.

This was no vault they realised as they saw the orange preservation units that lined the walls on at least two levels going along a fair way.

It was a tomb.

Bodies frozen like insects in amber were all around them, they looked on with horror at the scene around them, not able to believe that the Empire would go to such grim lengths. They saw Master Coleman Kcaj's preserved body hanging there with an expression of shock on his face. They looked around and saw even a youngling with the training helmet still on was preserved here like some twisted trophy room.

But there was worse to come, personally for both of them.

Ahsoka looked and saw to her own horror that she recognised two of the corpses personally, Jinx and O-Mer looking only a bit older than they had the last time she had seen them after their escape from the Trandoshans. She had no idea just when or how the Empire had found them but they had and now here they were frozen with an expression of horror on their faces.

But Barriss was in for an awful shock of her own, in the tank opposite the ones that Ahsoka was staring at she saw Luminara Unduli, her dead body preserved for all to see.

But they both then sensed a threat and saw the same hunter that had snatched the ones they loved preparing to ambush them just like he had Ahsoka's brother. Barriss, already infuriated by everything snapped and lashed out, grabbing him with telekinesis around the neck. She pulled him forward and impaled him on her now lit lightsaber before throwing the body aside.

Both wasted no more time and ran from the room, not wanting to see anymore and finally emerged into the main torture chamber and their hearts stopped as they saw two people strapped to electrical torture beds. Yul'xe had plenty of marks and bruises but looked otherwise okay.

The girl opposite him was only five years old! Ahsoka thought with disgust at the Empire torturing someone that young and innocent. She was Mirialian with the same olive-green skin as Barriss and the same dark blue eyes, the only thing slightly different was that she had a slight purplish tint to her hair. Both prisoners perked up when they saw them but then fell silent and cowered as an older man with an almost skeletal appearance and wispy white beard appeared from a catwalk nearby.

"I always find it works best when two people can see each other suffering as they are not only dealing with their own but each other's too." The old man said with excited anticipation, he honestly looked almost orgasmic over causing pain and his form was thin like he hardly ate but his eyes burned orange and dark side aura that surrounded him was extremely bitter and twisted. Neither Barriss or Ahsoka dared to move or even speak with their loved ones in such danger though.

"See for yourselves." He said activating the arrangement and both Yul'xe and Celeste screamed out as pain briefly which tore at Barriss and Ahsoka, and froze them in place until the dark sider stopped.

"Both subjects are coming along quite nicely." The old man said and intense anger speared through Barriss and Ahsoka, both of them blasting him with the force at the same time while Ahsoka ripped the controller from his hand.

The old man sailed backwards but stopped himself before he slammed into the wall, he let loose a torrent of force lightning at them both with a delighted look on his face, it was a fairly strong blast of it and both of them had to hold their ignited sabers tightly to block it.

Both of them managed to catch each other's eyes and knew in their hearts what they had to do, to save their loved ones.

Barriss finally trusted Ahsoka to protect her from the lightning, letting her saber fall to the side while Ashoka trusted Barriss not to stab her in the back while she was unable to defend herself.

Barriss took a deep breath and let loose as powerful a force scream as she could, using all her fury and anger at the man who had tortured her daughter.

In the middle of his lightning attack the old man couldn't defend himself against her scream and was blasted backwards with considerable force, his face wide with the unbearable sound of a Force infused scream.

Barriss held him there for a good while before she couldn't keep up the attack any longer and fell to her knees ending it, but he was still suffering its effects which allowed Ahsoka to cross the distance and with a single stroke of her lightsaber ended his life.

Both Barriss and Ahsoka were breathing heavily struggled to their feet towards their loved ones, breaking them open with the force and Yul'xe and Celeste rushed forward, wrapping them in their arms. Ahsoka held her brother but looked on as she saw Barriss kissed and hugged her daughter tightly with such maternal concern it honestly struck her in the heart.

She had never imagined to see Barriss full of so much love and joy, it made her look like a completely different person. Ahsoka honestly was confused as she had now seen three faces of Barriss; the calm Jedi Padawan, the angry and resentful traitor and a kind and loving mother who cared for nothing more than her daughter's safety.

Which one was she really Ahsoka thought with confusion to herself? Did she change who she was or were they all the same person just different facets?

Ahsoka didn't know but what she realised was that she had to be better with people to understand them, not to mention the sight of this and her own experience with her family had made her realise just what she was missing. Some of the men in the village had approached her but she hadn't accepted any of their interest.

Maybe she should Ahsoka thought with a slight longing, she wondered if she might find someone that would look at her like Anakin looked at Padme.

- x -

Later Ahsoka accompanied by her brother to the landing pad where she saw the young children that had been prisoners here and saw the Mandalorians giving them some food and trying to comfort them.

She could feel the force inside them, pure and untainted which made her smile. Barriss, she noticed had sneaked off with her daughter but Ahsoka didn't begrudge her that, she thought with a smile glad they had finally dealt with what had happened and just glad to have saved their loved ones.

Din, she noticed feeling his confident presence in the force saw her and approached.

"I see you found him. Good. We managed to wipe out a good number of Inquisitors." Din told her looking around as Roon and Makla boasted of their achievements in battle.

"More will be out there; we shouldn't drop our guard." Ahsoka warned him and she could feel Din rolling his eyes even if she didn't actually see it.

"Yes. We know that." Din told her in a deadpan voice.

"What about the children? The Hidden Path I am sure will take them in." Ahsoka said and felt the tension rise the moment she mentioned the Jedi, knowing she had made a misstep.

"We will do our best to return them to their families and if the families' consent, we will move them all to our territory or other Rift Alliance worlds so they are safe. No child will be indoctrinated to the Jedi on our watch. If they have no family, there are Mandalorian families who will take them in." Din told her aggressively and Ahsoka realised despite having a common enemy the Jedi and Mandalorians were still marred by centuries of conflict and different ideological beliefs. She saw the warriors around her become more tense and some even reached for their weapons including Roon and Makla.

Ahsoka realised immediately that she was over stepping her boundaries and nodded, keen to avoid a fight when her brother was so close and he was getting more nervous she noticed so she quickly spoke.

"I understand, now I must return with my brother to our family." Ahsoka said and that seemed to relax them she noticed with some relief.

"Then we bid you a safe journey. Oh, the Mandalore sends his regards. Says you are still the best assistant he ever had." Din told her as he remembered the message his leader had given to him to pass on.

Ahsoka smirked a little at that but was glad to hear that Haron Ordo thought well of her, friends were worth their weight in credits she thought with relief and if they were going to defeat the Empire someday then they would need all the friends they could get.

Giedi Prime, the Pasdisahah Imperium…

The original home of House Harkonnen had become one of their bastion worlds and a place they could store the weapons given to them by their Imperial Allies which were more important than ever as the war with Atreides raged on.

The Mandalorians like the Imperials though were not averse to bending the rules a little or outright breaking them to secure victory.

A Mandalorian Special Operations Team there for had been dispatched to, deal with these weapons and leave House Harkonnen deprived of them.

The team was in and out as fast as possible, they didn't even bother to land merely dropped bombs over the facility and disappeared before the locals had a chance to react.

The explosions ripped through the facility and detonated the unused ordinance inside, making a second explosion even larger than the first and reduced the facility to ruin. It was so powerful in fact that it flattened all the buildings within two miles of facility with so much being stored there.

This left House Harkonnen dealing with a major crisis, one of their strongest and most important assets was now weakened by the great disaster and worst still they had lost their stockpile of ammunition and tibanna gas. They still had some left over but it would be quickly drained as House Atriedes made its big move.

- x -

Kaitain, Pasdisahah Imperium…

The forces assembled by House Atreides were extensive, not only did they have their own ships and troops with them but they had Fremen, units of the Sardaukar who accompanied the remaining forces of House Corrino who were keen to reclaim their planet, the great Heighliners of the Spacer Guild and a number of other houses who had pledged their support once it became clear just who was going to win this fight and the Harkonnen forces had been driven from their base world.

The Mandalorian observers were astonished at the enormous Heighliners, easily the most enormous ships they had ever seen. They were mostly cargo ships from what they could tell but when fitted with weapons they could become the most powerful juggernauts imaginable. Many were just carrying the invasion force for the ground portion of this battle but some had been armed for fighting in space.

Paul Atreides was staring at the planet from his command ship, amazed at how much the situation had changed from the way it used to be. Now he and his family stood on the verge of victory over House Harkonnen when a short while ago it had seemed like they were on the edge of certain defeat.

He saw his ships open fire on the House Harkonnen. Driving them back steadily towards the planet, Paul was grimly anticipating the ground battle, a lot of people were going to die and while it was to keep the Imperium from becoming a puppet state of the Galactic Empire it troubled him all the same.

Deprived of their special weapons it didn't take long for the Atreides forces to force their way and Paul along with his personal guard accompanied their forces to join the ground assault.

- x -

One Hour Later…

The city was as chaotic as it was possible to imagine, all over the city pitched battles were fought and many were dying on both sides. Paul was enraged at this as he personally led the assault on the palace.

Harkonnen guards were waiting there but Paul blasted them with a force wave and his own guards shot them with blasters to stop them getting up.

Ruthless but he honestly didn't care as the end of the war was in sight.

Chani was at his side, wearing combat armour and doing her best to support him as both a fighter and a lover. He hadn't managed get up the nerve to try to convince her to talk with him and Irulan to see just how they might make this work but he wasn't exactly eager to have that conversation.

Paul frowned but his attention was stolen by the sight of Imperial observers and his sworn enemy, the man that had ordered his father killed and the previous Emperor to ensure that he would rule as the puppet of the Galactic Empire.

Baron Vladimir Harkonnen, his fat frame on the throne which belonged to the ruler. Between Vladimir and his Imperial masters was a team of Sardaukar that had stayed loyal to him led by Vladimir's two nephews, Count Glossu Rabban and Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen.

Paul stood before them and the old fat Baron glared at him.

"If you think I or my family are going to beg for our lives then boy you couldn't be more wrong. I saw a gamble for supreme power and I took it. It is how one grows to be great, by taking advantage of their opportunities. Now let this war end, one way or another." Vladimir said without fear.

Paul would have admired the strength of his conviction if he didn't hate him so much for masterminding the death of his father.

"It will end, today." Paul said as he pulled a strange looking cylinder-shaped object from his waist while Chani looked on in confusion as did most of the others although the Imperial Observers looked at it with shock as they knew what it was.

"Knowledge imparted to me by my own allies, the Mandalore himself taught me to create this." Paul said as he held the object in front of him and with a low hum an orange-red coloured blade burst into existence. The Mandalore had taught him all the components needed, how to build it, where and how to harvest the crystal taken from a small vein on Arrakis itself and how to awaken the force with it. Trained him to use it and heightened his ability to enhance his physical prowess.

Paul charged forward, his saber slicing cleanly through the bladed weapons of the Sardaukar warriors before ending them with a single cut each, closing in on the two Harkonnen men Paul was no less efficient in his movements, beheading one and then slicing deeply into the chest of the other.

The speed at which he did it completely shocked them, as did the power of the weapon he now wielded but instead of wasting any more time with words and plunged his weapon's orange blade straight into Vladimir's chest.

The old Baron was so shocked he was only able to look down in disbelief, not able to believe such a weapon existed.

Paul pulled his lightsaber free as his guards took the Imperials prisoner, knowing the Bene Gesseritt would soon be doing their best to learn the secret of such weapons. He would permit it as he had the Mandalore's word that none of his people would give the secret of the lightsaber to anyone else. They would help advance their technology but no more than that.

He turned and saw others had now arrived, his mother the Lady Jessica along with his younger sister and all their family retainers, representatives of the groups that had joined him, the Mandalore and his observers and among them was his biggest problem.

Chani and Princess Irulan.

The two stood apart, both as different as night and day but both very strong willed. Chani was a fighter, tough and with a razor-sharp focus and could endure anything. Irulan was strong too but in a different way, politically and with her words not to mention a certain cunning that came with being brought up in the Imperial Court, she could dominate it and probably smooth over any issues that arose within.

She was also brave, when her father had been assassinated by the Galactic Empire, she had brought whatever units of the military that remained loyal to House Corrino to their side including the Sardaukar and much information that had proved vital to the war. Finally, unlike Chani Irulan was a trained at least partly by the Bene Gesseritt and had the potential for a good amount of power inside her even if she had never unlocked it for herself. Any children they might have could be stronger than either of them.

One would be a good Empress and the other a good wife and he couldn't pick between them. One was possibly the love of his life and the other could do a great deal of good for the Imperium and help him in his new role as its ruler.

Paul rallied his courage as he saw his mother, Chani and all his family's retainers along with the Mandalorians look on encouragingly, making his first speech as Emperor.

"Today this war for control of the Imperium ends, losses haunt both sides but with time we will not only rebuild but grow stronger." Paul declared to them all, many of which had expected to return to their isolation. "The outside world has intruded on us and we can no longer ignore it, our isolation has left us behind much of the galaxy and this war proved our vulnerability. With the aid of our allies and new friends the Mandalorians we will not only catch up with the rest of the universe so we will never be caught off guard again. They have already invited us to join the Rift Alliance, a union of other nations like ourselves that wish to live free of the oppression of the Galactic Empire."

Paul was still not done yet as confusion and worry spread through the crowd as this sounded like the end of life as they had known it but Paul and some others knew that had already happened and it was impossible to go back, not now outsiders knew ways to enter their borders.

"We will find our place but only when we are ready will we emerge, there is much work to be done." Paul before getting to the bit he had been dreading. "To ensure the stability of the Imperium, I will take Irulan Corrino as my wife while I assume the throne. Chani will be our trusted companion." Paul declared, it unsettled many and he could also feel the disapproval of the Mandalorians as they saw he was trying to have his cake and eat it as they said.

Both his lover and his politically useful wife at the same time.

His mother Lady Jessica he could tell was deeply concerned about this arrangement and Paul in his arrogance had forgotten that it was best to speak to people before getting them into an arrangement that neither had agreed too.

Chani and Irulan looked at him in shock before turning to each other with narrowed eyes. Paul swallowed wondering just what he had gotten himself into.

- x -

"I hope you have a plan if you intend to have both of us." Irulan said shortly as she stood in front of Paul with anger in her eyes and her latent power starting to spike, object shaking slightly around her. Chani noticed this but decided to just get to the point as she looked at Paul as if he had grown another head.

"I had no expectation of being your wife but I hadn't expected to have to share you with another woman." Chani said just as cross with him for this. Paul honestly was wondering just what he had been thinking when he came to that decision. If he wanted a smooth rule then he should take Irulan, if he wanted love then he should go with Chani.

"I understand your anger." Paul said trying to relief the tension and failing miserably as they both glared at him. "I am not sure what I was thinking but I think if we talk about it, we will find some arrangement that makes us all happy." Paul said leaning forward and taking Chani's hand as if to hold it to comfort her but she pulled it back.

Irulan noticed his obvious feelings for Chani and felt them through the force even if she was not that skilled in it. She frowned and told him with scorn.

"I am not going to be so hostage or trophy wife just so you can have your favourite concubine and have children with her on the side while I am left alone." She told him and was about to storm out of the room when Paul rushed over to stop her and said quickly, eager for her not to leave.

"I am sorry Princess. I know you deserve more than that. You would not be my wife and empress in name only, I would not be averse to having children with you." Paul told her and then asked her a question when she said nothing in return. "What would you ask of me?"

Irulan stared at him, assessing his worth before asking with a slight relenting in her anger.

"I would like to spend time with you, to see if marriage will work between us. I am something of a historian." She admitted looking almost sheepish about it like she was embarrassed by it and Paul was actually surprised as he hadn't known that about her. "I would like to write a history of House Atreides, chronicling your house from the beginning to its ascension to the throne. Would you help me with that?" Irulan asked now surprisingly nervous.

Paul was surprised and wondered if it was some kind of ploy but even if it was it was something he would deeply like to see done. He nodded eagerly and told her with a warm smile.

"That would something I would like very much. I look forward to spending time with you and maybe you might be willing to do one with the Fremen too. Chani might spend time with you to achieve that, so you can get used to each other." Paul suggested.

The smile on Irulan's face disappeared so fast it was within the blink of an eye; Chani didn't look particularly thrilled either. Paul sighed knowing they had a long way to go.

- x -

The Mandalore Haron Ordo entered sometime after with his own sister Deera Ordo and both shook their heads at his situation. As Haron had warned him indecision could as dangerous as the wrong decision and now he was faced with two women both of whom were mad at him for putting them both in this position.

"Well, I would wish you luck but I think that isn't going to be enough to get out of this mess." Haron told him smirking under his helmet.

"Indeed." Deera said with a teasing laugh.

Paul frowned but knew they were right and that he had created this mess for himself and would need to fix it by himself. Still Paul thought with determination to change the subject he had other matters to speak to them about.

"My mother is taking charge of the Bene Gesseritt, she will get them straightened out." Paul said with a smile, if anyone could it was his mother but there was something else that he had to tell them, something his mother had only just discovered.

"When she entered their secret vaults, we found they were keeping a lot of secrets from us. Some we are only beginning to understand but apparently there were two that will interest you." Paul continued before picking up a box from the table and opening it. "When the Bene Gesseritt began, they did not emerge from nowhere, the basis for their initial abilities came from this before they found they couldn't open it anymore." Paul told them opening the box.

Haron and Deera peered inside and both blinked in surprise, not having expected to find one of these here. It was a largely crystal construct in the shape of an icosahedron. It had a bright simmering light inside it that changed colour as they looked at it.

"A holocron, a Jedi one no less." Haron said with surprise, not having imagined that but it did make sense that the Bene Gesseritt might have had something to get them started.

"I was hoping you would recognise it; we are giving it over to your safekeeping since you clearly know more about such things than we do." Paul said and Haron with grateful surprise took the box and wondered just what secrets might lie within. Paul however had something for Deera too. He pulled out a folder of extremely complicated mathematical formula and detailed blueprints for some kind of machine and offered them to her as he explained.

"The Bene Gesseritt have been many things over their history but one of them was scientists." Paul said. "They studied the radiation in hopes of irradicating it but made a different discovery during their efforts. They imagined that by bombarding protons and anti-protons together they could disperse the radiation but instead it created an incredible explosion and release of energy while generating more protons and anti-protons. They took that discovery and tried to design a reactor that makes use of that reaction but it proved too unstable with our technology at the time. But you have a much greater understanding of science and technology than we do, maybe you might be able to make something from this." Paul said with a hopefulness in his eyes.

If they were able to then this might actually be they have a renewable and self-sustainability power source of considerable strength, perhaps more than they knew and while it would take them some time to see how viable it was but the excitement that Haron could sense from Deera made him believe it was possible.

Haron nodded and told him.

"This is a great gift, both of them." Haron told him and tried to reassure him. "You have made the first step as Emperor, just take it one day at a time. Don't try to think about everything all at once. That's a weight no-one can bear." Haron warned him and Paul nodded, feeling incredibly uncertain about his new role but Haron was right.

You can't build an empire in a day, nor deal with all the problems of one either Paul realised wearily, although he knew it might take significantly longer to get Chani and Irulan too to trust him.

Reijar, the Ordo System…

Weddings were special occasions for a Mandalorian, the creation of a new family and the unifying of two or more larger ones.

This one however had the Haron, Ara, Neville, Hannah, Deera and Vysa worried.

"Are you sure about this?" Ara asked wondering if Luna was doing this too soon. She had only known him a year and dated for less than that. It concerned them that she might be setting herself up for being hurt.

"You could wait a little longer, maybe live together?" Deera suggested, like her sister-in-law she was worried Luna was getting married too soon.

"Yeah, he might be a bantha to live with." Vysa said, despite her rather fast relationship with Eliza they had been together for longer before tying themselves together.

"Guys." Luna said with a smile, understanding their worries and was touched by their concern for her wellbeing. "This is my choice, I have watched all of you fall in love and make your families, even the Mareks although they were married when they got here. I know it's fast but I know it's what I want. Edric is the first one I have honestly seen myself spending my life with."

She was so firm in her conviction that despite their own misgivings about they allowed her to do it, Haron himself walking her to the altar and stood with the others and all the children as Luna took a husband for herself. Lelia however was distracted, Deera noticed and decided to see what was bothering her tonight.

- x -

Later that night, Haron, Deera and Vysa all went to see Lelia.

They had all been told about what Ara had discovered about Lelia, all of them feeling guilty as they had clearly been neglecting their responsibilities as her family.

She was sitting on her bed with her pad in hand, sensing them as they approached and looked up. The three older Ordos all looked at her before Haron told her with a sigh.

"We own you an apology." Haron told her with a sad look on his face. Lelia looked confused and Deera told her.

"We haven't been there for you like we should have been." Deera said looking sad that they hadn't noticed her insecurities.

"Or told you how awesome you are." Vysa said as she came to sit next to her. Lelia was confused at what they were talking about and didn't think they had been ignoring her at all.

"But…" Lelia said and Vysa put her hand up to stop her before telling her what they meant.

"We should have been making sure that you know that you are gifted, you are loved and will we have no doubt that whatever you do with your life you will be incredible at it." Haron told her with a serious look on his face but a slight smile appearing as he finished that sentence.

"I'll never be as good a leader, a scientist or underworld expert as you." Lelia said with a downcast look but Vysa gently took hold of her chin and made her look at them in the eye.

"You are yourself." Vysa told her with a smile. "A bright, caring and loving young woman who is going to be amazing. Just because you are the beginning of your journey doesn't mean you can see end yet."

"Yes, who knows what you might do in your life. And we are going to be there watching proudly as you do." Deera added now also sitting on the bed herself next to Lelia.

Lelia was really touched and could see that they meant what they said, she managed to say after a while.

"I get it, thanks."

"Good, because I don't want to have to yell it in your ear till you do." Vysa said with a smirk and they all had a laugh before Haron said.

"Ara showed us your designs. It's impressive." Haron told her which made her blink in surprise especially when he added. "Really impressive. You have a real talent for design and I am going to ask Duke N'Val to help you develop it. He knows and has the best ship designers in our territory and if anyone can help refine your gift its them. If you want too of course." Haron said hoping not to force her into something she didn't want but he hoped she would do it as she would realise her own worth.

Lelia was a little overwhelmed by this, not having expected it but was touched they felt like this about her. She was the youngest of her siblings and had always felt like it, they were overprotective of her and now they were encouraging her to develop her own talents.

"I would like to spend more time with you all. If that's okay?" She asked nervously knowing they all had other responsibilities and they all smiled before telling her.

"Absolutely." Deera said with a wink and they all laughed before going to do something, just the four of them. Playing a game or two, spending a dinner together or something like that, just them so they could bond as a family.

Imperial Palace, Coruscant…

Palpatine sat on his throne, feeling that even in failure, victories could be made.

True they had failed to take over the Pasdisahah Imperium and acquire its territory for their own use and secure a route into Mandalorian territory but there had been a small victory he thought with a smirk.

Apart from capturing one of the Bene Gesseritt who he would delight in taking out his frustration on while he drew out all their secrets, he had acquired a supply of the spice Melange, he had been delighted by the way it stimulated his own connection to the force to a higher level than it had been before and slowed the degeneration of his body, it had bought him years extra life if he used it carefully till the Imperial Intelligence service were able to secure a more permanent supply or the scientists managed to create a synthetic version. He had been warned of the mutative properties of the drug but it would be managed by the cloned body parts he was creating and as soon as he mastered essence transfer then he would be able to move himself into a new body as required, freeing him of this rotting shell he thought with some thrill of having a healthy body again.

The loss of most of the Inquisitors and their fortress hardly even registered with him as they were both weak and disposable. He had already ordered a new facility on Mustafar would be built for them given its presence in the dark side.

But as he took his next dose of Melagne, he smirked knowing that in the end he would not only be the one that ruled the galaxy but the one and only master of the force.

There we are, hope you all enjoyed it. Please leave a review to let me know what you thought.

The Mark 3 Viper is based on the ship from Battlestar Galactica Blood and Chrome.

The Kalderan drop ship is based on the Esperia Prowler from Star Citizen which was suggested to me by Starpottergeek as a ship for this story.

Since I couldn't find much information on exact dimensions, I made the Heighliners about eighteen thousand metres which is a thousand metres less than the size of a super star destroyer.

The Pasdisahah Lightsabers resemble katanas in case people wondered.

More Review Responses…

hallaba = Thank you! I am glad you like them!

KingSayan = Appreciate you saying that! I have no intention of abandoning this story.

dan . lew . upg = Hope you like it.

Dragon master 124 = Thanks! I might do if I can find a use for it.

garethhbell = I might have done and forgotten; I see your point. The K-Wing did cross my mind but I am probably not going to bring it in for this story.

Azai Jin,Guest, rmw5763 = Thank You!

Xemenon = I know, I wanted to do something different myself so I dug into their lore and found reference to a station that terraformed.

Tech-nin = Thanks for the reference, proof its possible.

Mari Wollsch = I know, I will try not to make that mistake again.

kauan . plopes03 = She might be in future, who knows.

ShadowbaneXX = The Vong are being hinted at but I will admit that they won't appear in this story, no more secrets from Earth though.

FenrirPeverell = Thank you!

honesh = They will start to, one of the ones you mentioned in this chapter. Bare in mind a lot of the battles have been at a distance but they will use magic when it suits the situation.

Walli = Happy you enjoy it! Understood, I am planning to slow it down a bit soon.

Lukemaster = Not really. Never heard of that till you mentioned it.

DeluxeHipster194 = She might appear later, not sure just yet but I wanted to hint to her since she is an awesome character.

EternalAnglo94 = Sorry, star maps of Star Wars have never been that consistant so afraid not.

HowlnMadHowie = Awesome work!

Eliazar Chandra = There is an arc for Thrawn in the future of this story. Can't really say anything more than that at the moment.

BlackWatcher1234 = Thanks, I know I didn't mean to but I forgot her. She is fine but I just missed her this time sorry! Those two? Yes, there is a plan for them. I hadn't heard that but I can admit they will be appearing in the future.

Regtech = Indeed they are.

frankieu = I go into the power source in this chapter. Thought I might do something a little different with it.

stacygrrl2002 = I really am glad to hear that you have enjoyed the story so far.

Isebas = Maybe like you say but it takes a year to fully terraform a planet so maybe not that powerful.

That2-one3-girl4 = Thank you!

mr1980rivera = I hope so too. I am happy to hear that you are enjoying the story!

AnimeFan13579 = I had never thought of that. But it isn't like the Titan from Titan A.E. as it can't build planets, and it takes a year to terraform a planet not like the Genesis Device.

WhiteElfElder = I know, but the Kalderans were treated so harshly by humans especially they just can't think of them as people anymore, just as monsters. That drove them to become monsters themselves.

savitarsurffer = The Foundry, I have a plan for that but not yet I'm afraid. Thanks! Not the Vong! Not in this story anyway. Its something that is very rarely touched on in Star Wars so I thought it might be worth a go.

Karenisfired = I try to update both at the same time so that is largely what slows me down.

Jebest4781, tf330129, RoyalTwinFangs = Thank you! I appreciate your support!

Next Chapter - The Galactic Civil War continues spreading to new planets while House Ordo faces changes.