A/N- Welcome to another chapter of Harry Potter and All the Skywalker chicks. It's been almost a couple of months since I last updated this story and for this chapter, I wanted things to get a bit darker in some ways. You'll see as you read the chapter.
A/A/N- You'll also see some more Metal Gear Solid references in this chapter. Those of you who have played the Metal Gear games, especially the later ones, should be able to see the references.
Chapter Twelve- Skulls and Fire
Sirius walked into the Queen's chamber on the Royal Starship, searching for Harry and Leia. 'The Queen' had asked for them to join and Sirius had been asked to find them. As soon as he entered the Queen's chamber, he saw a shuffle of movement. "Sorry Jaina. I wasn't expecting anyone else to be in here." Sirius said as he covered his eyes.
Jaina had been in a state of undress and hastily put her trousers back on. "Why didn't you knock on the door?!" Jaina asked Sirius indignantly.
"I repeat, I didn't expect anyone else to be here." Sirius replied. He looked around the room and saw no sign of Harry or Leia. "You haven't seen Harry or Leia around, have you? 'The Queen' asked me to find them." He then asked Jaina.
"I may have done." Jaina replied vaguely as her eyes darted towards the refresher.
Sirius wondered why her eyes were darting towards the refresher until he began to hear moaning coming from there. "Oh, now I get it." Sirius said before approaching the refresher and spoke very loudly through the privacy screen. "Oi, Harry, Leia, you've got about half an hour. 'The Queen' wants to see you two." He could only imagine their blushing but he took a quick glance at Jaina and then continued talking. "Don't leave poor Jaina out either. I think she's enjoying what she's hearing." Sirius then slightly opened the refresher privacy screen and, with a few movements of his wand, deposited Jaina in the refresher with Harry and Leia. Sirius then laughed as he left the Queen's chamber.
Jaina blushed as she saw a soaking wet Leia straddling an equally soaked Harry, the soaked pair joined at the hips.
"You wished to see us, your majesty?" Leia asked 'the Queen' soon after Harry, Jaina and herself entered the ship's throne room. At 'the Queen's' side was Padmé and she was trying to stop her face from blushing as she saw signs of what Harry, Leia and Jaina had been up to, namely, the messier hair and the love bites, which were quite visible. Leia was back in the white gown that she'd been wearing when she had arrived on Naboo.
"I did." 'The Queen' answered in reply to Leia's question. "I merely wished to inform you that we'll soon be arriving at Naboo and I wish for you to be at my side when we approach the Gungans."
"That's fine, your majesty. I am here to serve, however I can." Leia replied with a polite nod of her head.
Harry wondered about the plan to liberate Naboo. "What is the plan exactly? If you decide to just charge straight in, it probably won't go well." Harry asked, remembering his relatively recent experience in the Department of Mysteries.
"There is a plan, Harry Potter. However it hinges on making an alliance with the Gungan people." 'The Queen' replied with her usual stoic tone of voice.
Harry nodded and then turned to Padmé. "Padmé, do you mind coming with me for a few minutes?"
'The Queen' and Padmé shared a nod and 'the Queen' spoke to Harry. "Padmé may join you." Padmé then walked until she was alongside Harry and then they left the ship's throne room.
"What is it, Harry?" Padmé asked after they left the throne room.
"Can you show me all the settlements your people have on the planet?" Harry asked quietly.
"You've got a plan, haven't you?" Padmé asked after a moment of thinking.
Harry smiled at his currently present girlfriend. "It's not so much a plan in itself. More like, a plan to help your plan succeed."
"What did you have in mind?" Padmé asked Harry with an inquisitive look on her face.
"What's your plan first?" Harry asked Padmé. He hoped that whatever he had in mind would fit in with whatever Padmé had in mind.
Padmé cleared her throat. "I'm hoping to form an alliance with the Gungans. With them, I hope to draw the droid armies away from Theed and away from the cities. Anything else I have in mind I will reveal when I know more of what's happening on the planet. Why do you ask?" She opened up a holomap of Naboo and it automatically centred on Theed.
Harry breathed a sigh of relief. His idea to help Naboo was still possible to do. "I also want to draw out the droid armies. I'm asking about any other settlements because I doubt your capital will be the only place where any sort of resistance has formed."
"I think you're right about that, Harry."
"On my world, Padmé, throughout our history, there have been many examples of resistance movements, guerrilla groups and small armies undermining the plans of larger armies. Apparently there's a story of some commandos dropping back into their own country, which was occupied during a war a few decades ago. They apparently blew up this power station or something and began fleeing on foot. The enemy then sent around ten thousand men to hunt them down."
"And then what?"
"I think that the commandos got away and the enemy began going in circles. I think that because they sent so many men to hunt the commandos that they lost the trail and began walking over their own footsteps." Harry replied, a small smile on his face clearly visible.
"How do you think that would work here?" Padmé asked inquisitively.
"Between your people and the Gungans, they probably know the terrain of Naboo better than the droids and the Trade Federation do. Your people can probably start a fight and get away before any battle droid reinforcements can arrive." Harry pointed out to Padmé.
Padmé frowned. "I don't want innocent people to get killed, Harry."
"I understand, Padmé, I really do. Before I arrived on Naboo, I'd gone to rescue Sirius, thinking he'd been captured. I tried to stop my friends from joining me but they were very insistent on joining me. If the Trade Federation get their way, your people may not get a choice in the matter. If your people stand up and fight, if your people get hurt or killed in the fighting, then at least they get a say in it." Harry said understandingly. Harry then leaned towards Padmé and kissed her tenderly on the lips. The kiss lasted for about a minute, then Harry broke away slightly. "I'm fairly sure I remember some movie quote to describe this entire situation but I'm enjoying kissing entirely too much." He said softly to Padmé before resuming his kissing of her.
Padmé enjoyed returning the kiss and the kiss became more passionate. She swung them both around so that her back was to the holomap. Harry was taken by surprise by Padmé's action but he decided that two could play that game. Harry lifted Padmé up by her legs and dropped her on the holoprojector. Padmé gasped in surprise before grinning and pulling Harry close, not caring about the holomap being displayed around them. "How is it you're so irresistible, Harry? How is it you can make me forget sometimes that I'm a Queen?" Padmé asked Harry breathlessly.
"I don't know. Maybe because you're not just a Queen to me." Harry replied as they kissed fervently.
Harry began to lift Padmé's handmaidens top, exposing Padmé's bare stomach when they both heard the sound of a throat being cleared. They looked to see Jaina standing against a wall, grinning like a Cheshire cat. "Why is it that you're now interrupting my time with Padmé after interrupting my time with Leia?"
Jaina continued to grin. "Well, I'm interrupting you two now because I think you two are getting distracted from whatever it is you were doing. Even if that wasn't the reason why I was interrupting, I really like both of you and I don't mind watching and would've liked you two to know I was here. As for when you were with Mom- Leia, I would like to point out that it was in fact your Godfather who interrupted you two and then he used his magic to throw me into the refresher with you two. I'd also like to point out that you two were staring at me for all of thirty seconds before you two resumed doing it in front of me."
"You weren't exactly looking away. If anything, you kind of joined in." Harry retorted with an amused grin. Jaina blushed as she knew about what Harry was referring to and Padmé blushed at the possibilities of what Harry was implying.
"Anyway, our... unique relationship aside, you've got a plan, haven't you Harry? You know, for when we get back to Naboo?" Jaina asked as she looked at the unobstructed parts of the holomap. Jaina noticed that Padmé was still on top of the holoprojector. "Padmé, do you mind getting off the holoprojector? I think we should be able to see a bit more of the map, don't you? I'll help get you off later if you really want." Jaina asked Padmé with a cheeky smirk. Padmé blushed as she understood what Jaina was implying. Padmé got herself off the holoprojector and more of the map of Naboo became visible to Harry, Padmé and Jaina.
Padmé calmed herself down and turned around , placing her hands on the controls of the holoprojector. "What did you want to look at, Harry?"
"I want to see some of your planet's other cities. Maybe, if you can get the Gungans on side, one of their people can show us some of the terrain. Places where the Trade Federation's battle droids will have a difficult time."
Jaina smiled as she enjoyed the plan that Harry appeared to be cooking up. "If you're thinking what I think you're thinking, you're planning on getting as many of the battle droids out of Theed as possible and into practically useless areas. Am I right?" Jaina asked Harry.
"That's the idea." Harry answered with a nod. "Of course, we have no idea what they've got deployed down there so it might be a little complicated."
"A bunch of battle droids and Trade Federation Tanks..." Jaina said with a shrug of her shoulders and a smile that didn't hide the fact that she was being very cheeky about what she said.
Padmé moved the holomap away from Theed and continued moving it until Harry raised a hand. "Wait." Harry pointed to a town or city that had a river running through the middle of it. Unlike Theed, it had no waterfall or magnificent palace to make it stand out. "What's that place?"
Padmé looked at what Harry was pointing at and, after barely a moment of thinking, was able to identify the settlement Harry was interested in. "That's a place called Larenka-Pané. It's actually two towns divided by the river you see on the holomap. They're only connected by one bridge."
"Is there any reason why the Trade Federation might occupy that place?" Jaina asked Padmé, her eyes never leaving the holomap.
"None that I know of. But then, the Trade Federation had no reason to invade my planet." Padmé replied harshly.
"True. Then again, just because you don't know a reason why, doesn't mean they don't know why they invaded." Jaina replied.
Harry nodded in agreement. "And let's not forget about the Sith's involvement in all this." Harry pointed out to his girlfriends. "After all Padmé, Diath was prepared to hand you over to the Sith. Don't forget that."
Padmé had not forgotten but she had put it to the back of her mind until Harry and Jaina brought the matter back up. "Why do the Sith want me and my planet?"
"I don't think that they wanted you specifically, Padmé. If you weren't the ruler of your planet, the Sith would've gone after whoever was the ruler. I'm almost certain that the Sith don't even care if Naboo is liberated or not." Jaina answered
"If not Padmé or Naboo, what do they want?" Harry asked.
Jaina looked uncomfortable but was determined to answer Harry's question. "Do you remember what we told you before we got to Coruscant?" Harry and Padmé nodded. "In both mine and Rey's timelines, over a decade from now the Sith will have taken complete control of the Republic and transform it into the Galactic Empire. And I think that the wheels were already in motion long before your planet was invaded, Padmé."
Padmé was visibly angry. Her planet being invaded was one thing but being pawns in a plan to take control of the entire Republic almost made her want to confront the Sith, whoever they were and wherever they were, in person. However, she put aside her own feelings and chose to focus on liberating her homeworld. "Do you know what we were given by Jurzacka and that... Time Strategist, whatever he or it was?" Padmé asked Harry.
Harry shook his head. "Aside from the phoenix tears and that planet killing warship, which is currently the size of a small toy, I've got no clue." Harry turned his head towards Jaina. "I'm probably going to need a hand from you and probably Rey looking through all that stuff, especially looking for items or vehicles that come from the future. Me and Sirius will be able to identify weapons that originated from our homeworld but I have no clue about stuff from this galaxy."
"I don't think that should be too much of a problem for me or Rey. Of course, we probably should ask Rey first before we get her to help out." Jaina replied to Harry.
"That's a good idea. You're right. We probably should do that." Harry said.
The trio returned to the ship's throne room and found Rey, Leia and Mara in conversation with Sirius, Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan. Sirius turned his head and saw Harry re-enter the room with Padmé and Jaina. "Ah, my favourite Godson, Qui-Gon was just telling us about what we're going to do whilst we're looking for the Gungans."
"That's nice." Harry replied with melodramatic pleasantness before adding, "Whatever that is, we're not doing it."
Sirius, Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan, Leia, Rey and Mara all looked confused by what Harry's words. "We're not?" Sirius asked, looking and sounding very perplexed.
"No, we're not. Me, you and Jaina are going to be going through all the crates and cases of weapons and... things that Jurzacka and that Time Strategist provided." Harry said to Sirius before remembering what he, Padmé and Jaina were talking about a few minutes earlier. "Oh Rey, can we ask for your assistance as well. There may be stuff that us three can't identify that you can."
"Yes, sure." Rey replied with a curt nod.
"What do I do then?" Everyone turned to Mara, who had asked.
Jaina immediately spoke up. "Perhaps you should stick with us four." Jaina said pointing to herself, Rey, Harry and Sirius. "After all, your physical state is precarious. I don't think we should take any chances." Mara nodded in acceptance.
Several hours later, the ship had landed on Naboo. Harry, Sirius, Jaina, Rey, Mara and a few of the pilots remained with the ship whilst Padmé and the others, led by Jar Jar, went to look for the Gungans. "I really hope that the Gungans haven't been wiped out." Harry said with concern evident in his voice.
"They won't have been. They shouldn't be." Rey replied.
"How do you...?" Harry began to ask but he hesitated, remembering that four of his girlfriends were from the future. "You know what, I don't know why I was even thinking of asking what I was about to ask because I'm pretty sure that I know the answer."
Jaina smiled cheekily. "Don't you forget it, Wizard boy." She said with a slight giggle.
Harry and Jaina turned their heads as they heard Mara ask a question to no one in particular. "What are these? They look like missile launchers but I don't know how they're supposed to be used."
Harry and Jaina walked over to Mara, who was standing in front of some kind of crate, and saw her holding some kind of tube with some kind of shaped head at one end of it. "I recognise this. I remember it from seeing historical documentaries back on my world but I can't recall what it was called." Harry searched the crate for any kind of identification for the weapon in Mara's hands until he found exactly what he was looking for. "There we are..."
"What is this weapon?" Mara asked.
"It's called a Panzerfaust. It's an anti-tank weapon." Harry told Mara. "These are old models from over fifty years ago."
Jaina had been looking at the contents of the crate and only saw copies of the weapon in Mara's hands. "How come we've got so many launchers with warheads attached but no extra warheads for reloading?" Jaina looked around in some nearby crates but couldn't find extra ammunition for the weapon. "No. I'm definitely not finding any extra ammunition for these... Panzerfausts."
"That's probably because these particular weapons are not reloadable. From what I remember, these are disposable weapons. Once they have been used, you dispose of it and either pick up another one or pick up your gun, blaster, whatever and fight on using that."
"So once these have been fired, they are completely useless?" Mara asked dismissively.
"Well, I suppose you could always whack someone or something over the head with it and go bludgeon them to death." Harry suggested sarcastically with a sly smile.
"Come on kids, let's continue looking through all this junk." Sirius said as he walked past Harry, Jaina and Mara.
"Did he just call us all kids?" Mara asked indignantly.
"Leave it for now. I think I'm going to be pranking him later." Harry said to Mara.
"Count me in." Mara said almost immediately.
"Count me in too." Jaina said with a devious smirk.
A few hours later, they had finished going through the crates and, simply put, they had enough weaponry to arm that entire sector of space. Thousands of blasters, hundreds of Panzerfausts, dozens upon dozens of Tie Fighters and over a dozen warships from the future had been found amongst the crates and cases that had been given to them and that was just scratching the surface. The problem was that there was hardly anyone to use the weapons and equipment.
"What have you got here?" Asked a returning Padmé as she and many others returned to the ship.
"A lot." Harry replied simply. He wasn't fully paying attention as he studied his Idroid, the map of which was now showing the landscape of Naboo from a bird's eye view.
"It's true, there is a lot. It's a mixed lot. We've got stuff here from our time and there's stuff from Harry's world." Jaina told Padmé, expanding on what Harry said. "You managed to get the Gungans to fight with us, didn't you?"
Padmé smiled. "Yes, I did. Sabé acting as me wasn't working out so I had to fully step in and pretty much plead with Boss Nass to help us."
"What about the rest of Naboo's security forces? Where are they?" Rey asked.
"In hiding. Captain Panaka has sent people out to find them or at the very least, get in contact with the leaders." Padmé told Rey.
"That could take some time. Want us to help out?" Rey asked, showing evident concern.
"No need to ask, Rey. I was about to suggest that we go and scout out some of the settlements away from the capital." He brought out his Idroid, showing the map of Naboo and some markers on the holographic display. "I'm not sure why but my mind is almost fixated on that place you were showing me earlier. That Larenka-Pané place. It's almost like I'm being drawn to the place like a moth to flame."
"That's worrying, Pup. What if it's a trap?" Sirius asked, his sense of concern rising.
"We can't know if it is or not. I'm certain that the Trade Federation knows we've returned by now. At the same time, I don't think that place will be especially guarded. Seems a bit remote as far as I can tell." Harry replied.
Mara chimed in in complete agreement with Harry. "Harry's right. If I were in charge of the occupation force, I would've tried to overrun this place as soon as I'd identified the landing zone. I wonder why the Trade Federation hasn't tried that?" Harry and Sirius frowned as they tried to figure out what was going on.
"Leia, are you coming with us to Larenka-Pané?" Rey asked.
"Why there?" Leia asked confusedly.
"Could be something. Could be nothing. Harry's being drawn to the place though." Rey explained to the younger version of her former master.
"Okay, I'll come to help keep him out of trouble." Leia said after thinking for a couple of moments.
Sirius cleared his throat and drank some water from his drinking bottle. "You might want to get changed, Leia, into something more practical. I'm sure that dress is good for diplomatic occasions but I don't think it exactly suits when we're going to be in the wilderness."
"I think I agree." Leia replied to Sirius with a slow nod. "Give me a few minutes and I'll be ready to join you on this... mission."
Once Leia had finished changing into something more suitable, Harry, Sirius, Leia, Jaina, Mara and Rey prepared to depart the newly established camp. They were about to hike towards Larenka-Pané when Padmé called out to them. "Good luck." Padmé then hugged Harry and her fellow girlfriends before waving them goodbye for the time being.
On a hill overlooking Larenka-Pané, Harry, his girlfriends and Sirius were looking at the twin towns and they could also see some camps, sealed with laser fences outside the settlement. "How many battle droids can you see, Rey?"
Rey scanned the area with her binoculars, which were linked with their Idroids, and marked everything of interest. "I'm seeing a company of battle droids on each side of the settlement. A few platoons are guarding the surrounding camps. There's something else though."
Harry, Sirius, Leia, Mara and Jaina all looked at Rey with varying looks of confusion. "What do you mean there's something else?" Mara asked.
Rey continued to look through her binoculars. "There are other soldiers around. I think they're cyborgs of some kind and they're carrying weapons I don't recognise."
Harry got his binoculars out and looked at the twin towns. He almost immediately saw what Rey had seen. "These... cyborg soldiers all seem to be female. I'm just judging by their appearance. For all I know, it could just be the design of that suit they are wearing."
"You don't recognise them either, Harry?" Leia asked him.
"No. I'm not ruling out the possibility of those things being some kind of future development from my planet but, yeah, I have no clue who or what they are." Harry replied. He then put down the binoculars and stared at Larenka-Pané, a sense of unease growing within him.
"Well whatever they are, we should try to avoid engaging them. We should only fight if we need to." Sirius said, drawing his wand.
The six of them split up with Leia, Sirius, Mara and Jaina going to liberate the camps whilst Harry and Rey went into the settlement, splitting up to cover more ground.
Rey jumped over to the other side of the river and silently snuck into the settlement. The paths in the town were tight, with barely any space for two people going either way down them and the streets were so open that anyone paying even the scantest amount of attention could see any movement occurring on them. Rey used the force to create some distractions that diverted the battle droids' attention, which enabled her to sneak through the town. She stopped moving when she overheard a couple of the cyborg soldiers talking to each other.
"Why did the boss send us here to work with the cowards' battle droid machines? Why aren't we guarding the palace in the capital?" A female voice said.
"You know why. The boss expects some hostiles to come this way. He doesn't want us to become complacent as they're apparently massive deals." A second female voice said.
"Yeah... What did they say?"
"Apparently, we should expect there to be two wizards and at least two Jedi. The boss wants them captured or killed and he wants no-one to interfere with our allies plans."
"The bug mens' plans?"
"No. The other allies plans. That tattooed man under the command of that... Darth Sidious."
"I don't like that warrior. If it weren't for those inhibitors, I think I'd have nightmares about him."
"I hear you." The pair of cyborgs then began to walk away. "I hear the zombies are nearby."
"Those nearly mindless soldiers? We can do what they do."
"I think that they're around to capture the very important targets. I think they've also been given orders to slaughter the prisoners if any escape is detected."
"Well, they aren't our people..."
The pair of cyborg soldiers then moved out of earshot and Rey understood instantly that the threat to herself, Harry, Mara, Leia, Jaina and Sirius and even the prisoners was very close. Rey began making her way towards the bridge connecting the two towns. As she walked through the narrow paths and along the streets, she noticed an increase in the battle droid patrols as she approached the bridge. She darted into a nearby house to get out of sight and she heard the roars and groans of heavy vehicles moving close by, though she couldn't see what vehicles were passing through the twin towns. She was startled when she heard some pottery clatter to the floor. She readied one of her lightsabres, prepared to ignite it. She lowered her unignited lightsabre as soon as she saw what had caused the disturbance. A small boy, not much older than eight or nine years old, hesitantly emerged from the shadows. Rey let out a deep breath she didn't know she'd been holding.
"It's okay, I'm a Jedi. See?" Rey said to the small boy, showing him the hilt of her lightsabre. The boy hesitantly approached Rey and tentatively touched the lightsabre hilt. "Can you tell me what happened here and what's going on?" Rey asked the small boy.
The boy began speaking slowly, trying to explain the situation to Rey. "They came marching into the town. They caught most of the people before they had a chance to run away. Some of the other kids managed to escape by swimming further down the river or running into the forests. They built the camps and put the people in them."
"Where are your parents?"
"Dead. Those droids shot them as they tried to protect me." The boy began to sob as he remembered his parents' deaths.
"I'm sorry for your loss." Rey said mournfully. "I've got friends who can help you get out of here and get back to the other kids you mentioned. Would you like to follow me? You can help us find them." The boy nodded. "Right. We both have to be very quiet. If I signal to you in anyway to do something, you need to do what I say, okay?" The boy once again nodded. "Okay, do you want to lead me through the town? Can you get me to the bridge?"
Rey allowed the boy to guide her through the settlement, especially as he was more than familiar with the area. She figured that she could find out his name once they'd got to safety as she realised that she hadn't asked what his name was. Rey found herself led to the bridge and there just under a dozen battle droids and a few cyborg soldiers guarding her side of the bridge. Rey and the young boy hid in some bushes, trying to keep out of sight. "How long have they been around?" Rey asked the boy, pointing to the almost certainly female cyborg soldiers.
"I've not seen them before this morning. I don't think they are with the battle droids." The boy remarked with a frown.
Rey nodded. "Wait here while I deal with the guards." Before Rey could leap into action, the boy and herself saw the few cyborg soldiers in the immediate vicinity of the bridge nod to each other and leave. "Where are they going?" She asked herself, perplexed by the cyborgs suddenly leaving the area. This left just under a dozen battle droids guarding the bridge on her side. "Is it me or is this too convenient? Still though..."
Rey ignited her yellow bladed lightsabre, jumped out of the bushes and made very short work of the battle droids, slicing most up with her lightsabre. She then turned to look at the other side of the bridge and saw battle droids being sliced and cut into pieces or having their circuits shorted out by various bolts of light. Rey smiled when she saw Harry emerge from the shadows. "Do you want to come with me, kid? That's one of my friends I told you about." Rey asked when she turned back towards the boy. The boy nodded nervously, his eyes darting towards the wall of a nearby house, which had writing in a language unfamiliar to him on it. Rey and the boy began making their way across the bridge whilst Harry did the same thing from his side.
"Rey, thank god you're alright. Did anything bad happen to you?" Harry asked in relief as he approached Rey. "Who's the kid?" He then asked her as he noticed the young boy.
Rey briefly glanced at the young boy she was with before turning back to Harry. "I don't know. I figured we'd have time to find out his name once we got out of here."
Harry eyed the young boy momentarily before refocusing his attention on Rey. "Fair enough. I saw that all of those cyborgs were leaving the village, did you get any idea of where they were going?"
"No but it sounded like they knew we were coming and that any prisoners could get shot if they were detected escaping.". I'm not sure why the battle droids stuck around though." Rey remarked. A few seconds later, a mist engulfed the twin towns. "Hmm, mist... That came down rather quickly." Rey said warily.
Harry looked alarmed. He immediately got Rey to take out her communicator with a flurry of gestures. "Sirius, Jaina, Leia or Mara, where are you and has any mist fallen where you are?"
"Yes, Harry. Me and Sirius are in one of the camps and we've taken out the battle droids." Leia replied.
"Same here. Me and Jaina took out all of the battle droid guards in the camp where we are and we've begun to free the prisoners." Mara likewise replied.
Harry was beginning to look horrified. "Padmé, is there any mist where you and the others are?"
It took a moment but Padmé did eventually respond to Harry. "No, there's no mist here, Harry." Realisation struck Padmé. "You don't think-?!"
"That's exactly what I'm thinking!" Harry replied to Padmé before speaking to Sirius, Mara, Leia and Jaina. "We all need to get out of here! We'll-" Whatever else Harry was going to say was cut off by a loud roar. It was like a cross between what Harry thought a t-rex sounded like and that of a tortured whale.
"What was that?!" Rey asked, clearly worried about their situation.
"I don't know. I've not heard that noise before." Harry replied to Rey. He then saw how close they were. "We might be safer if we are a little more spread out."
"I was thinking the same thing, Harry. We are a bit easy to take out if we're standing next to each other." Rey remarked. She then turned around and spoke to the young boy. "Find somewhere to hide. Somewhere safe." Her tone of voice was such that the young boy didn't hesitate and ran into a nearby house. Once they knew that the young boy was out of the way, Rey and Harry began walking towards either end of the bridge and braced themselves for an attack, with Rey preparing to ignite one of her lightsabres and Harry aiming his wand towards the surrounding mist.
For a few moments, nothing else happened. Then both Harry and Rey thought they heard the sound of someone breathing through a gas mask. In fact, in the mist, Rey could've sworn that she saw a figure, no bigger than a dangerously skinny boy, floating through the air. Then they heard the animalistic roar again and a pair of giant hands emerged from the mist and grabbed Harry and Rey. Their sights turned black, both of them having experienced a blackout.
A little while later, Rey woke up from her blackout to find herself constrained by a giant metallic hand. She was upside down and she tried to free herself from her constricted position, wiggling her body as best she could and trying to use the force to force the giant metal hand to release her, to no avail. She felt around for any of the lightsabres she possessed but she couldn't feel any of them. Rey looked around as best as she could and saw that Harry was likewise struggling to get out of the giant metal hand that held him and, like herself, he was also upside down.
The pair of them heard the slow approach of footsteps although they couldn't see who was approaching them. "My, my... You look well rested Harry. I'm surprised you're not more scarred. Just to think, I got here a day before you did." Harry frowned in anger as he recognised the voice of the man speaking to them. "Well, well, well, I've got two people in front of me who've faced death and come out of it somewhat intact. The Boy Who Lived and the girl who sacrificed her life to defeat Darth Sidious and got resurrected. Then again, not anyone can be as lucky as you two." The man eventually stepped forward in front of them and Harry was fuming as he recognised Diath. Diath smirked at Harry as he forcibly held a person both Harry and Rey recognised: the young boy.
"Let the boy go, Diath." Harry said, almost growling the words. "You don't need him!"
Diath pondered what Harry said in a silent, mocking manner. He then replied to Harry. "You're right, Harry. I don't need him." Diath let go of the boy. He then withdrew his wand from the sleeve of his coat. "Then again, you could do with a reminder of how lucky you are to be alive." Diath pointed his wand at the boy and said the words that Harry hated and feared at the same time. "Avada Kedavra!" A jet of green light shot out of Diath's wand and struck the young boy, snuffing the life from him. Harry and Rey were both horrified and Rey had tears running up her face. "Still seems like you're the only one to survive the killing curse so far, Harry." Diath said, almost gleefully. Rapid gunfire began echoing throughout the area and Harry and Rey could hear battle droids being torn apart. "You can rest in peace... Or you can let them take you... I'll see you two in hell." Diath smirked then walked away from Rey and Harry.
The giant metal hands that held Harry and Rey let them go and they heard the animalistic roar once again as they fell to the ground. They rapidly got up and turned to see something enormous picking up Diath before turning around and walking away. Whatever it was they saw picking up Diath sounded like it was crushing many houses as it walked away from the area. Rey force pulled her lightsabres back to her whilst Harry scrambled to pick up his wand.
"What was that thing?" Rey and Harry asked each other simultaneously. They then looked around and saw that they were being surrounded by multiple squads of fast moving, zombie-like super soldiers. Their eyes glowed in the mist and they were very much focused on Harry and Rey.
"It's them! It's the Skulls!" Harry said in alarm. Rey realised that they were still at the bridge and that the Skulls were even on the rooftops. Even though they were zombie-like beings, Harry and Rey could feel the intent radiating off them. Rey ignited two of her lightsabres, the yellow bladed one she'd built herself and the one that had belonged to her version of Luke Skywalker. Harry had his wand out, aiming at the encroaching Skulls.
Then, just as Harry had experienced first hand on Coruscant, the Skulls moved incredibly fast, looking like they were teleporting across the area. Rey was immediately forced to defend when a pair of Skulls attacked with their machetes. She parried the attacks but was astonished when her lightsabres didn't cut through either of the two Skulls' machetes. The two skulls then retreated a short distance before she could counterattack. Next to her, Harry could only defend himself and was unable to launch any spells in return because of the relentlessness of the Skulls.
"Harry, we need to run! NOW!" Rey said, seeing the futility of standing and fighting against the Skulls. Harry nodded in agreement. An armoured Skull attempted to perform a leaping attack on Rey but, thanks to her heightened reflexes, she not only parried the attacks but also managed to stab the Skull square in the chest and seriously damaged its right arm. Rey remembered the information they'd been given back on Coruscant but it still shocked her to see the Skull's arm not being cut off by her lightsabre strike. Harry pulled her away from the armoured Skull and they began running away from the town, with the Skulls not only on their heels but even overtaking the pair at times. As Harry and Rey ran away from the town, they also saw confused battle droids attempting to shoot the attacking Skulls. It was clear to them that something was off with the situation but they couldn't figure out why.
They eventually shook off the pursuing Skulls, with remarkably only a few cuts and grazes. Harry and Rey returned to the hill which overlooked Larenka-Pané and collapsed to the ground in exhaustion. "Why did he do that?" Rey asked mournfully before her mood became one of righteous anger. "He's a monster!" She spat out.
"You're right, he is a monster. There's all kinds of monsters out there, he's not the only one. There's Diath, Voldemort, your Grandfather. I'm not sure about this galaxy you call home but I know my homeworld has had people who could reasonably called monsters."
Rey's expression softened. "I called Ben a monster once. It was after my friend Finn and I saw him murder his own father. I never understood why he did it. Not until later anyway. I think that he felt wronged and abandoned and the dark side gave him a chance to express his rage, his resentment... It took him to some dark places."
"I'm sure it did. Every monster has their own reasons for doing what they do and sometimes, I think that some monsters don't recognise that they're monsters." Harry remarked. "Why did I choose to come here?" He then asked despondently.
"You couldn't have known what was going to happen, Harry. You were trying to do the right thing and I think it's better to fail at doing the right thing than succeeding in doing the wrong." Rey said.
"You got out of there okay, I see." A familiar voice called out and Harry and Rey turned to Sirius and Leia approaching them. They were closely followed by Mara and Jaina. "What were those things that attacked us and the people who we had freed? Were they these Skulls that attacked you and Padmé on Coruscant?"
"Yeah, they probably were Skulls." Harry replied with a frantic nod.
"Did any of you see a bunch of cyborg soldiers patrolling with the battle droids?" Rey asked the four of them. Sirius, Leia, Mara and Jaina all shook their heads. "So just us two then?"
"Seems so." Jaina said. She then followed up her short answer with a question, "You two didn't happen to hear some big loud roars that happened to sound like a tortured animal, did you?"
"As it so happens, we didn't just hear those roars, we were briefly caught by the thing that produced those roars. It was massive. Some kind of machine with giant metal hands." Harry answered. He then turned his head to directly face Sirius. "Diath was here."
"You're sure?" Sirius asked in disbelief.
"Sirius, he walked right up to me and Rey. He used the killing curse on a kid just to prove a point. He then left us with the Skulls while he got a lift out of the area with whatever it was that caught us in the first place."
Mara frowned. "I wonder why he let you two go? You couldn't exactly get away so why didn't he leave with you?"
"It's a good question. One we don't have all the pieces to answer right now. We know some of the camps have been freed. I suggest we go back and tell what happened to The Queen and Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan. We can come back and liberate the other camps round here later." Sirius suggested.
Neither Sirius, Leia, Mara or Jaina were expecting what came next. All six of them heard the sound of gunfire ripple across the landscape. Rey, Mara and Jaina all clutched their chests as they sensed what was happening. Even Leia looked uncomfortable, wincing in dulled pain as though something was being inflicted on herself. Harry and Sirius looked at the four of them with looks of confusion but they could guess what had happened just by the sound of the gunfire.
"Hundreds of voices cried out in terror and they were made to suffer in pain before they were silenced." Rey managed to gasp out as the pain she sensed in the force threatened to overwhelm her, Mara and Jaina.
Harry knew then without a doubt that the prisoners had been massacred and, from the looks of it, so did Sirius. Furthermore, whilst Rey, Mara, Jaina and Leia were caught up in the waves of pain they were sensing in the force, Harry and Sirius heard the roaring of engines in the sky and they could see a squadron of some sort of droid fighter-bomber diving on Larenka-Pané. Harry and Sirius aimed their wands into the sky, aiming to shoot down at least one or two of the fighter-bombers. However, the droid fighter-bombers were too fast for Harry and Sirius and they dropped dozens of bombs and fired numerous missiles onto the twin towns and started a firestorm that engulfed the town in minutes. The droid fighter-bombers didn't stop however when they expended all their bombs and missiles. They circled over the twin towns and began strafing whatever buildings still stood, starting more fires. Larenka-Pané was being wiped from the face of the planet.
Eventually, the droid fighter-bombers left the area, leaving Harry, Rey, Leia, Mara, Jaina and Sirius looking at the ruined remains of the once quiet and idyllic settlement. "This wasn't supposed to go like this." Sirius said facetiously.
"I don't think any of it was, Sirius." Harry said despondently. Harry then turned away and began walking away, his shoulders slumped in defeat. Rey quickly joined him, her eyes beginning to stream tears.
Padmé, Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan and the others watched as a despondent Harry, Rey, Leia, Mara, Jaina and Sirius returned to what had become a campsite with the ship nearby. Padmé was shocked to see the six of them, especially Harry and Rey, looking so defeated. Padmé moved to ask them about what happened but was surprised when Harry and Rey walked back onto the ship. "I wouldn't ask them what happened, your majesty. Things got... rough out there."
"What happened?" Padmé ground out.
Sirius sighed. "From what Harry and Rey told us, Diath turned up with those Skull creatures and something massive and began a senseless slaughter of anyone who we hadn't managed to free from the camps around there. He apparently killed a kid in front of them."
Padmé balled her fists in anger and her mind was racing. "If the battle droids there took part..." She began but Leia cut her off before she could get too far into her rant.
"The battle droids didn't take part in the slaughter themselves. If anything, they were trying to stop those monsters."
Padmé stared at Leia in disbelief. "It's true, Padmé. The Skulls were indiscriminate in who and what they attacked." Jaina said. "The battle droids did nothing wrong but a squadron of droid fighter-bombers started bombing and strafing the settlement, I think in an effort to take out the Skulls. Larenka-Pané... is a dead town. We got some of the people away but it's as though the place never existed."
Padmé turned her head towards the ship and looked sadly at where Harry and Rey had last been seen.
Harry and Rey walked into the Droid hold on the ship, their eyes and general expressions downcast. "Rey..." Harry began but he was immediately cut off by her.
"Don't Harry. Don't say anything. Just hold me. Hold me close." Rey said to Harry, bringing him into a hug. Harry said nothing as he returned the hug. After a few minutes hugging each other, the pair pulled away slightly from the hug and, for just a moment or two, looked at each other in the eyes. Slowly, they leaned back towards each other and their lips connected.
Consumed by their kissing of each other, Rey and Harry let their emotions guide their actions, with Rey starting to take her robes off and letting out a deep breath she didn't know she'd been holding in...
A/N- I hope you've enjoyed this chapter and please review. Hopefully, I will have another chapter released around Christmas or New Year but let's see. Another chapter of either Harry Potter: Phantom Justice or Orc Empire I: Self Defence will probably get released first though.