Chapter 35: Knightfall

Star Wars + Harry Potter Crossover

Chapter 35: Knightfall

19 -18 BBY

3634 - 2635 ATC

Present Day

Kara Durvan screamed in ecstasy as both she and her lover reached their peaks and lay down next to each other on the ridiculously expensive sheets of his bed in his decadent personal chambers.

She had learned so much since she first accepted his help and her eyes had been well and truly opened.

She told herself that she wasn't in love with the man beside her and she knew that he wasn't in love with her. Instead, their lovemaking was less about actual love and more about a struggle for dominance.

She also told herself she had few illusions especially as she initiated it soon after she has been recalled from the war but, despite all that, it was still enjoyable and she did have some feelings for him whether she admitted it or not.

She was not sure when her views on the universe had changed, not the exact date at least, but she knew where.

She had been in command of a small detachment of Clone Troopers in the small backwater world of Lugesh evacuating refugees before the next assault from General Grievous could begin. The problem with that was that there were too many humans that lived on the world that were nomadic by nature and also quite clannish in their outlook.

That made them very difficult around up even to save their own lives.

-LAFA-

Six Months Earlier Than Present

For the Force's sake, she thought irritably, why must the Hawk Clan be so stubborn? But no... they have to travel for their silly hunting rituals and they can never leave any single person behind. Never mind the fact that it puts me at risk as well as the others... tradition must be maintained.

She ground her teeth against her own irritated thoughts not quite aware of the box that housed all of her negative emotions cracking deeply (as it had slowly been over the past few weeks) more and more almost literally splitting wider and wider hour-by-hour.

It leaked her constrained and condensed emotions, that had only become more powerful and vicious from being bottled up for so long, like a fetid and weeping sore. It had begun to change her, all unnoticed, with the very first tiny crack.

Her current warped, frustrated and un-Jedi like thoughts were a prime example of that.

Standing as she was at one of the last Space Docks entrances waiting for the stragglers to turn up she could not help her thoughts though. As almost every other evacuation ship had already left the system disguised as freighters, trading ships, slave ships and even a cruise liner or two, she understood the stakes.

She just found it very difficult to actually give a damn.

The idea was that anything that was considered unimportant on threatening was used as they were even trying to get people out on garbage ships just in case they were stopped as they exited the system into the wider Galaxy.

But now the Separatists were in the system and even beginning to land on the planet increasing the risk not only of discovery but, also to the lives of everyone that had gone before and everyone still on the ground including the refugees and herself.

On the one hand, they were only a few people left but on the other, the majority of those that were left was the slowest being mostly old and lame.

It would make much more sense, she thought as she saw an elderly couple come from the dense tree line that was blocking her long distance vision, if they were left behind for the good of all.

She immediately on reflex tried to crush that very uncharitable notion, however, her heart was not in it and it was more of a perfunctory attempt than one infused with the conviction of the Jedi Order.

As the couple half ran and a half hobbled towards her she cursed as they were followed by droids... lots of droids.

She threw her lightsaber into the action and it arced out and decapitated the leading three but, before she could do more, many more of them were advancing and opening fire already.

Not many attacked her though as although a lightsaber-wielding Jedi was clearly the greatest threat she was not their main target and their programming fixated on the elderly couple who almost fell to a moment of concentrated fire.

"Please help us!" Screamed the woman holding onto a man that could have been her father or her husband even as his body shook under the weight of six or seven direct hits and she herself took two high in her legs.

Kara wanted to shout herself at the utter uselessness of that request. Not only was the man clearly dead (or would be as soon as his brain caught up with his body on the matter) but the woman would now only walk slower if she could even put aside her grief to do so.

So much weeping and wailing during combat, she thought even as she battled a few errant shots back to the droids destroying a few, how pathetic.

In hadn't really occurred until that moment that she had been standing there, like a proverbial statue, rather than rushing in to help them as a Jedi was taught to do but, she couldn't even muster up the vague notion of pretending to try and help them before now.

The flying lightsaber was more a reflex to save herself rather one to save them, she admitted deep in her mind, and she took a millisecond to see if she was okay with that.

Nature, she thought, never rewards the weak.

Still, they asked for help and in the next moment, after the elderly woman called out, two things happened that changed the course of her life forever.

First, and most important, the box inside her well and truly broke even as she half staggered under the emotional shock of her perceptions changing and as (unbeknownst to her) her thinking was well and truly tainted as well as being shifted away from serving others and more towards self-interest.

The line between light and darkness, love and hate, selflessness and selfishness, was often much thinner than most people were ever comfortable admitting.

Then, immediately afterwards, she had what she could only call an epiphany.

She was more important than those two who were calling out for help. She was simply more valuable and it was that idea that drove her next action.

What, she thought, after all, could they do to help the war effort compared to her? How could they turn the tide with the broken aged bodies or achieve victory when it was needed the most?

She was more important and so her needs took precedent and she knew this down to her very core.

Essentially, at the moment, good for her was good for the war and what was good for the war was good for the Republic which she was supposed to serve.

The doomed couple were merely distractions that she could not afford.

So, before she even thought about it, her lightsaber flew out once again and killed the two who needed her as what she needed, at that moment, was to simply survive.

Before the droids could regroup and turn their weapons on her she turned and fled to the last ship and was gone before the majority of the C.I.S. forces on the planet could be alerted to her location.

It didn't even occur to her until later that she had just murdered two people in cold blood and, when she realised that, she was disturbed.

She wasn't concerned that she had actually done it and that, oddly enough, disturbed her more than anything until a final thought came to her that soothed all of her doubts.

People change in war, she thought, and I am needed to win this conflict so that we can face the greater one with the Commonwealth to come. If there are any problems, which I doubt, they must be put aside until I have done what I need to do.

Still, she eventually decided that she would talk it over with the Chancellor later as he was always there to listen to her no matter her problems or his busy schedule.

3 Months Earlier Than Present

At first, she had been disturbed by the simple fact that she hadn't been disturbed.

Then she had spoken to her friend Chancellor Palpatine (in person of course as this was too sensitive to do in other ways) and told him everything as, by this point, as far as she was concerned they had no secrets from one another.

It wasn't even all one-sided, advice wise, as he often brought her attention to small problems that he was having either in the Senate or with her fellow Jedi and at first it had confused her that he was having any trouble at all with the Jedi.

At first.

Now she understood. That understanding had begun when she realised, embarrassingly late, that he never asked for her advice as a Jedi. Never did his questions begin with her title but rather her given name and his voice almost caressed the syllables in its decadent silken tone.

She felt restrained and near disgusted with the Jedi as they not only questioned her but, also the great man that was both her friend and doing the very difficult job of leading the Republic during these trying times.

That was one of the reasons why she had not informed the Council about her continued meetings with the man or even that she was currently on Coruscant at all.

In fact, as far as they were concerned, she was recuperating on a long slow journey back from Bespin and was due to report on her progress concerning her part in the war effort within a week.

"I foresee" began Palpatine over the first course of one of their many dinners "that you may have a problem when you report in".

"I don't think so" she disagreed "I just don't need to tell them everything that I have done since I left the Temple".

"That is not quite what I meant" argued Palpatine.

"Oh?" Kara then felt herself flush briefly at her own inelegant response.

"It is my understanding that Jedi can sense an….aura…maybe even get the sense of a person's experience from the Force... is that true?"

"Yes" she answered "though it is more complicated and less precise than what you probably imagine except with certain very rare abilities and no living Jedi possesses those...I would know...every Force User would".

"Still" Palpatine answered "do you not think that it is a risk that someone like Master Yoda might sense your experiences and try to keep you from the war once again?".

"Perhaps..but there is not a lot I can do about it except avoid the few with strong senses. I find it so frustrating that they can't see that we only do what we have to do to keep the Republic strong".

"A conflict that, as bound by dogma that we know average Jedi are, they don't even see coming" he agreed swiftly.

"So" Kara said neatly turning the conversation back to the original point. "How do I stop their narrow-minded and pig-headed views stopping me from doing what we need to do to win this war?"

"We...you need to achieve victory" Palpatine stated with conviction and a certain amount of relish in his voice. "I know a man….he helped me attain some of those artefacts… and he is neither a Jedi or part of the Commonwealth. He has managed to remain hidden from both although each would seek to control or harm him if they could ever lay hands on the man. His services may be expensive but I'm sure that he could teach you many methods to control your aura".

"He's not….a Sith..is he?" She asked with just a shadow of worry in her voice.

"I have known him for years. If he was Sith surely he would have killed me by now? I also doubt that he would charge so much for his services".

"I don't want to put you out of pocket so to speak. You do remember that Jedi don't use money except in special circumstances".

"I remember" Palpatine said with his warm and near flirtatious smile enhancing the feeling of care that permeated his words. "I do get the bill after all, or the Senate does, for everything they need. You forget however that House Palpatine is wealthy in its own right and I can easily afford any expense he might charge. Think of the training as my own meagre efforts to both help someone I care for and the war effort itself".

"Thank you" She responded gratefully. "What is the man's name?"

"I warn you he is quite abrupt but... useful. I would also assume that you can learn a lot more than just hiding your aura from him".

"I might need it too if the war to come proves to be difficult" she said quite shrewdly. After a moment she asked again "What is the name of the man?"

"Sidious….the man's name is Sidious. I'll send him a message and I'm sure he'll contact you shortly".

"Good" she said even as Sidious smiled behind the bland politician's mask that he often wore.

Two Weeks Ago

Thanks to her friendship with Palpatine and his introduction to the mysterious Sidious she managed not only to confound the Jedi that might have questioned her story but, also give them the impression that she was such a paragon of the Jedi way that they had commended her commitment to the Orders ideals.

Oh, she thought, the ironies of life.

They had wanted to send her directly back to the front with Grandmaster Yoda being especially proud of how strong and sure Kara Durvan had grown in the force but, she had refused citing the fact that she needed time to fully digest what she had learned.

In truth, the only things that she wished to discover were more of what Sidious had to teach her.

She had learnt the 'true' history of the Sith and how there had been two groups to diverge from The Brotherhood of Darkness at the end of that horrible time.

The first, she was told, was founded by the visionary known as Darth Bane.

All he wanted to do was reorder the cult of Force Users back to the ancient origins found in the Legions of Lettow. He had wanted to simply learn more about the Force free from both of the restrictions of the Jedi and the all-consuming hatred of The Brotherhood.

He tried to learn from the bitter lessons of both the then recent past and the Legions of Lettow (who had also been crushed by the Jedi) and had decided that any direct action enforcing this belief would be more than foolhardy.

As such, he and his apprentice had retreated to the shadows to learn in peace.

Though she had initially baulked at learning anything about the Sith she found herself intrigued nonetheless.

Not much at all was known to the Jedi about the ancient Legions of Lettow and, if there was one thing, one weakness, that most Jedi (especially Masters) suffered from it was the desire to learn more about everything to do with the Force.

She had also discovered that the second group of unnamed Sith had carried on the hatred that they were born from against the Jedi and (surprisingly enough) the Banite Sith.

They had even gone so far as to remove all traces of themselves from standard Galactic Records. It was only the Banite Sith that still remembered their diseased cousins and knew enough to be wary of them, even occasionally fight them, as time went on.

Even so, according to the Sith records, they had infiltrated them and the Jedi on at least one occasion for each Order.

According to her enlightening teacher the infamous (at least in certain circles) Darth Gravid had been one of them and the damage that they had done to the relatively peaceful Banite Order was beyond counting.

Even now, centuries later, they were still recovering.

They had also been responsible for both the Progressive Movement among the Jedi and the Clone Wars erupting in the first place as Dooku was one of theirs as well... at least until he failed them.

As hard as this tale had been for her to believe at first, not to mention how fanciful it seemed, she found herself entranced by Sidious's almost hypnotic voice (and the documents he provided as proof of his claims) and, as he weaved a glorious story involving secret battles against one another on forgotten world's and desolate places, she believed him

It was more than that though as, quite frankly, she was hooked.

There were two other things that made her believe the 'true' story of the Sith. The first was when he had finally lowered his hood and she realised that her longtime friend Palpatine and her teacher were one and the same person.

The second was when he had drawn a connection from the last non-Banite Sith (a man called Darth Vectivus) that they had been able to successfully track and the first Harry Potter.

It all began to slot into place for her then especially when she saw recordings of the Potter progenitor being trained ruthlessly, even brutally, in the ways of the Dark Side.

They, the entire family, had orchestrated the destabilization of the Republic even as they carved out an Empire of their own even if they didn't call it that. They had masterfully weathered all possible opposition and managed to set them against each other.

It made sense to her why Palpatine had become Supreme Chancellor then, especially after he admitted to being the sole remaining Banite Sith, as he was simply trying to repair the damage done to the Republic and heal it's broken state in time to face the new threat.

Of course, given his unique situation, he couldn't have gone to the Jedi Council with any of this and neither could she without giving him away. At this point however she was unsure whether she would want to even if she could be assured that he would be believed.

"Chancellor?" She asked when his historic tale was done. "I do have a couple of questions?"

"Ask away" he said smiling at her as they were, once again, eating dinner in his private apartment. He knew that the key to a good lie was to weave a small amount of truth amongst a larger lie and draw logical conclusions between the two until all was accepted as fact.

This he did very well.

"Why have the Potter Family" here she spat the hated family name, much to Palpatine's internal delight "been able to do so much damage to everyone?"

"At first" he replied with just the right amount of a lilting sorrow in his voice. "We did not understand what they were doing. Honestly, we weren't even aware that they had survived for a very long time and by the time that we realised they were still around that they were already acting against us".

"In the history that you have taught me, you said that the Potters were responsible for the Progressives but, the Jedi Archives state that William Potter was a staunch Traditionalist. How can he have been both for and against them?"

"William Potter" Palpatine said slowly "was a lightning rod for change by design. How better to control your agenda from afar than by becoming its opposition? Don't forget that it was also William Potter's murder of the 'dark' Jedi Hakk that transformed the Progressive Movement into Jedi policy".

"I guess I can see that" she replied somewhat dubiously.

"I am almost prepared to deal with the Potters and their Commonwealth but, I do have a few problems".

At the mention of dealing with her hated enemy, Kara's eyes snapped to his face with an almost unnerving and laser-like focus. The fire in her eyes told anyone that would care to look that she would do anything she could to stop them.

"What problems? How will you deal with them?" Kara's questions came out quickly as if in a fever inspired rush.

"I have managed" he began with a certain amount of pride leaking into his voice "to use one of their tricks against them. I have been able, as Sidious, to get the command codes for the C.I.S droids main manufacturing plants. I have also, fictitiously of course, set Sidious up as one of their longtime secret backers and newest ally now that Dooku is gone"

"That's wonderful" Kara exclaimed. "We could end this war tomorrow".

"I know" said Palpatine with an artful amount of regret colouring his face. "But if we shut them down then we would be facing a far more numerous enemy to the north of us. Instead, I would prefer to….take control of them".

"The Droid Army?" She questioned and, at his reluctant nod, she bit back her instinctive denial to think it through. Though she wasn't particularly a fan of the idea she eventually nodded to both him and herself. "That is tactically sound….but it would mean stretching out the war until you could get to a place to use those codes".

"That brings me neatly to my larger problem. As you know both the Senate and the Republic are riddled with corruption. The Jedi would not listen to me if I came to them with this particular problem and would only be taken advantage of by the pro-Commonwealth sympathisers that are infested throughout both bodies. I see no other option but to stay here…. I must stay here…." He then laughed sourly "I'm in the unenviable position of being able to end this war but being unable to act".

"Is there anything that I can do?" Kara asked even as he subtly pushed images of the 'Republic's' victory at her and she seemed to latch onto the idea of the pair of them standing side by side as the Commonwealth as well as the Potters burned around them. "I really would do anything to help".

"There is one thing…. you could become my Apprentice and act in my stead" he said.

Even as the first words were coming out of his mouth he saw how she instinctively began to baulk at the idea as, even though she didn't particularly believe in them anymore, the beliefs of the Order were well ingrained in her psyche having been raised by Jedi in the Temple.

"Of course" he added, "if you don't want to do that I fully understand but it would help bring down the Potters as well as save both future Jedi and the Republic at the same time".

"I…" Images of standing over the broken forms of the thrice-cursed parties flew through her mind and she quickly got out of a chair and then fell to her knees. "For the good of all I am ready to serve…. my Master" she answered passionately.

Palpatine privately amused on how wonderful a deep and abiding hatred could be when it came to controlling what someone would do.

"Then rise…. Darth Victorious ….my Apprentice and force our will upon the Galaxy" Palpatine intoned and he couldn't help but allow a certain amount of smugness out in his tone at these words. "We will start with Operation Knightfall very soon".

Such was the hold that the man had over her that it never occurred to her to question why she had to become his apprentice to achieve victory against both the Separatists as well as the Commonwealth.

-LAFA-

Present Day

"It will happen today" Luna said.

Before she had spoken Harry had been holding her, sitting in the countryside of New Atlantis, and watching the sunrise over the city that was created as much by her as it was by him.

The lights below the hill on which they sat began to turn on as the people below started to wake and prepare for the day and, as the couple watched, they both felt ascent of immense care and pride that what they had begun had allowed freedom of various kinds for so many.

It was simple moments like this that made all the struggle that they both had been through all the more worthwhile even though they did not get to do this that often.

"I would ask if you were sure" began Harry even as his wife gave him a mildly harsh look that was only just softened by her slight smile "but it is you".

"We must be prepared".

"And the Jedi?" Harry couldn't help but ask.

"Will adapt or slowly perish without us even if we succeed" was her frank reply.

"Can't we save them?"

"No. Everything has its time and even the British Empire failed in the end" Luna said softly and with a wistful sadness in her voice.

"I know. I was around during that... sort of" he replied thinking of his periods of long 'sleep' and momentary bouts of wakefulness.

"If we try to save the Order with everything that we have now it's all for nothing as any lessons it does learn will be as forgotten or misremembered as Korriban, the Exile or Revan. That's not to say that we can't try and help them just that we can't do it with our full forces and we might even be able to do so with minimal risk of bloodshed… comparatively speaking".

Harry looked sharply at his wife as he began to detect what was left unsaid by her. It was a thing that they rarely spoke off and, if he was completely honest with himself, one that scared Harry half to death.

"It's that time as well then" he began shrewdly. "Isn't it?"

"No one" she responded while looking deeply into Harry's concerned eyes with her own beautiful silver blue ones "is immortal…. not truly... though we are close enough".

.

"But now?" Harry half asked and half begged "With all of this going on?"

Harry's arms spread out like some great god of old encapsulating all of the people that lived on their world. it was almost like he was trying to gather them all into his arms and protect them from anything that could happen to them in the future.

"Every utopia becomes a wasteland. With our lifespan we are in the annoying position of being able to see it happen if we wish. It won't matter if the Commonwealth lasts for over ten thousand years …it will fall one day. I don't want to be here to see that even if I am only functionally immortal".

"And if any part of our plan goes wrong?" Harry asked.

"Then I prove, once and for all, that we are simply very hard to kill and not immortal at all" was her response.

Luna's entire being radiated her sadness at that idea and her eyes, so unique and expressive, glistened with unshed tears as she tenderly stroked her husband's face.

"Then the Plan better not go wrong because I intend to be with you for centuries yet at least. I'll call Anakin and get him to come here as soon as he can" Harry grumbled as he slowly separated from her and stood, the mood broken, though he did still hold her hand.

"And I will use our sources to tip off the Jedi" she replied. "Oh and Harry?" She called even as he began to move off. He turned back and slowly studied her face as if he had never seen it before or never would again.

"Yes, my love?" He responded even as his brain began to turn to the tasks at hand.

"Prepare the surprises... we will need them" this time her voice was well and truly grim.

"At once my dear" Harry said with a flourish and a forced smile.

-LAFA-

"You will begin in fifteen minutes, my Apprentice" Sidious said wanting to savour the moment of his Grand Plan's triumph. "Be ready to initiate Operation Knightfall".

"Yes, my Master" said the former Jedi turned Darth Victorious even as the woman turned and began to walk slowly towards the Jedi Temple and tapping her comlink to signal the 501st.

As she was about to leave he signalled her once again and, with all the iron authority that she had come to expect from the man who had been her friend and the man who was now both her lover and Master, spoke.

"When you are done you must proceed to Mustafar and end this war so that we can begin to actively fight the next one".

His plan ran into a small snag almost as soon as he had finished communicating with her however as his network of spies reported that four Jedi Masters, led by the famous Master Windu, were heading to his office even now.

He doubted that they were coming simply to have a cup of tea and chat with him.

When they arrived he was already prepared and, as a precaution, had already ordered a three-hour blackout of all long-distance communication. He had also retrieved his lightsaber from the statue near his desk where it had sat and waited for many years just for this day to arrive.

They really had no idea, he thought darkly, who they were dealing with.

-LAFA-

Mace Windu clamped down on his emotions and centred himself, drawing on the peaceful essence of the Light Side of the Force for comfort, as he exited the Chancellors private lift and was thankful for the resolute presence of the Jedi Masters that had come with him.

If what his source said was true (and though a quiet and mysterious one they had never been wrong before) then he was about to enter the battle of his life. He had never imagined, in the age of peace that he had been born into before the war, that he would be fighting as a general let alone entering the lair of a very powerful Sith Lord.

"Master Jedi" Palpatine began, as the man slowly rose from a relaxed position behind his desk, but as he moved Windu could almost see the predator hidden beneath the benign exterior. "How can I assist you today?"

"Chancellor" Windu responded giving a slight nod of his head to the man and in a very formal tone of voice. "You are under arrest".

From the brief look that crossed Palpatine's face (before the man's mask slipped firmly back into place), any doubts that Mace had about his informant ended with a soundless crash.

"On whose authority?" Palpatine asked and, knowing that the game was up, he allowed his true feelings for the Jedi to drip from his voice like a corrosive venom.

"On the authority of the Jedi High Council and the Senate you claim to serve" Windu replied.

Windu, to his credit, seemed completely unruffled by the hatred that the man was almost literally pouring into the Force.

As one the Jedi activated their lightsabers and moved forward slowly and, even though he was sure he knew the answer, form dictated what he said next. "Will you come quietly?"

"I" said Palpatine, with a sickly sweet smile that reminded all in the room of a grinning corpse, "think not".

And with that Palpatine's own lightsaber activated and the Chancellor screamed his rage as he flew at them.

The ancient dance of Jedi versus Sith had begun in earnest once again.

-LAFA-

One of the best-kept secrets of the Commonwealth were their portals.

They were created as a pale and more limited imitation of the Veil of Death that had sent Harry so far in moments, though their creation had not been easy nor had it been quick.

Though imperfect facsimiles of that ancient and dangerous device and it's compatriot on Dantooine they were different and the few people that knew about them called them Gateways.

Less than one thousand people, from concept and construction to use, knew of their existence.

They were designed specifically not to travel through time, Harry was wary enough for that to be hard encoded in them from the very first, and like the gates they were based on they were paired devices.

Each gate was also powered either by the ambient magic of the world on which they sat or a series of magical batteries. They allowed, simply put, instantaneous travel between the two points.

The paired nature resulted in the creation of the so-called Nexus Room on Spero. The magic in the air managed to easily support the hundreds of numbered gates that were in this room and there were even a series of gates to move around the ever-expanding building itself.

Due to range concerns this wasn't the only Nexus Room, but it was by far the largest, with the next nearest one in size only housing five Gateways.

There was at least one Gateway in every single Chapterhouse they ever placed.

Each Nexus room had a Gateway that connected to Spero and this allowed travel over tremendous distances within minutes. They hadn't been used yet as, the minute they were, the knowledge of them would be disseminated whether the Royal Council wanted it to or not.

Even Harry, without checking the records, was unsure of how many Gateways actually existed.

With Coruscant being both so strategically important and close to Spero its Chapterhouse had a direct Gateway. This was the Gateway that they were going to use now.

As Harry prepared to give the order to do exactly that, with his wife and three hundred of his best Knights behind him, he was aware that (thanks to encoded transmissions) preprogrammed droids were already attaching and activating the magical batteries on the other side.

If anyone were watching them they might be confused as it appeared that all of these people were staring at an empty archway made of unremarkable stone (the runes were carefully hidden as there was nothing wrong with being extra careful).

That wouldn't have been the oddest thing however as each of them was dressed to look like, at least at first glance, a run of the mill Jedi as it was important for many reasons that they did not overtly advertise that the Commonwealth had anything to do with what was about to happen.

For those in the know, those truly in power or those that would find out it gave the Commonwealth the one thing that all political entities wished to have….plausible deniability.

At the appropriate time, and with a wave of his ringed hand, the archway shimmered into life and a soft white glow permeated the room coming from the centre of the arch which had been so empty moments before.

"Let's move out" Harry growled as he was still uncomfortable with what he knew was going to happen and, as one, they began to move both with Harry and Luna applying glamours to their rather recognisable faces as they did so.

-LAFA-

Kara Durvan, Darth Victorious, strode down the ceremonial walkway with five hundred of the 501st behind her (and fifty more concealed at the secret back entrance with explosives and orders to bury it) and she mentally checked her resolve.

She not only felt firm in it but actually revelled in it.

The old Orders were dead, she understood that now, as thanks to the Potters and the ever-growing threat of the Commonwealth (not to mention the vision of a better future) there was no other choice than what was to come.

It simply had to happen this way. the Banite Sith would no longer be bound by the rule of two but rather many would be held under the benevolent rule of Palpatine and, through her role as his chosen apprentice, her.

The older Jedi have to die, she thought, they are simply too hidebound and too corrupted to be saved. Once that might have made me sad but, as they have already fallen for the Commonwealth lies they are simply too weak to be of use in the New Order.

She could almost see it now. A brand new order would rise from those younglings and a few useful Jedi willing to see the truth and it would be called The Inquisitorius.

Led by her in name of the new (though it wasn't official yet) Emperor.

Lost in her thoughts she was startled when she saw a line of adult Jedi several ranks deep blocking her path. Seeing their numbers she signalled for reinforcements while briefly wondering how they had managed to keep that many Jedi back from the Frontline but, she had no time to dwell on that as she began to bark orders for the battle that was about to begin.

-LAFA-

Harry and Luna's forces had arrived, in staggered groups, twenty minutes before the newly christened Darth Victorious but they have been anything but idle in the meantime.

As soon as they had arrived (and while Luna was meditating on the near future) Harry had contacted the seventeen free droids that they had placed, over time, throughout the Temple.

Given the innocuous nature of the droids, the skeleton crew of Jedi due to the war and the late hour, it was simple enough for the first twelve to begin carefully downloading any information that the Commonwealth didn't have (mostly knowledge on and instructional hologram meant for select Masters on Vaapad as well as a few other things from the Great Holocron).

The final five were split between placing a timed worm into the Jedi system and a message into the transmitter, just in case, that would both change the signal and encrypt it beyond any easy means of stopping or changing it.

Then they sent a simple command that would activate the evacuation alarms when the time was right.

Almost as soon as that was done (the orders were quite complex after all) Luna had returned to let him know that the enemy was coming.

"I'll stand ready, right here with you, and we'll ferry the Jedi out" he said hopefully as he did not wish to leave her side.

"You can't" she answered while raising an eyebrow at Harry's indignant snort. "There are about to be sniper and heavy artillery nests on the surrounding rooftops".

"Someone else can do that" he argued.

"Not as well... or as quietly" she pointed out "and that is what we need right now". She looked at him full in the face and briefly caressed his cheek " I know you don't want to do this. The truth is I don't want to do it either but we knew, almost from the very beginning, that this was a possibility".

"Fine" he grumbled half-heartedly "but only because I have to... and because you asked".

"Remember" she pointed out "what happens now is about the children, about saving them, not about me".

"I know" he answered quietly even as he pulled out his Sorosubb S-5 blaster and use that along with the Force to vault to the nearest rooftop. Then he heard his wife's voice as if it was right next to his ear.

"When you are done grab a speeder and head to the balcony of the Chancellors office. You will be needed".

Then like the Bounty Hunter/Assassin he once was he waited and internally grumbled about well-meaning but demanding wives even as he attached a silencer to his weapon.

When the fight came it was almost the complete definition of anti-climactic.

Three separate groups of six Clone Troopers moved up to adjacent rooftops. They were armed with sniper rifles, heavy rocket launches and in one case a portable light turret as well as their standard equipment respectively.

The snipers were currently the biggest threat as the turret would take a few seconds to set up and the rocket launchers, as the last group, was still getting into position.

Tapping the small computer on the side of his bracer and making a few selections he then began to aim it towards the snipers.

With the sound of six soft puffs of compressed air, each clone trooper was violently introduced to basilisk venom and, before they could even begin to react, they were already dying.

Using the spike on his weapon and the Force he once again moved both to get himself into position for the next group and, just in case anyone was looking, to make himself harder to hit.

Having used almost half of the darts that he had Harry instead used his blaster and, guiding the bolts with the Force, swiftly downed the next group. He took comfort in the fact that this groups rockets would not be used against the defenceless Temple.

His combat knife fell from its secret compartment and into his hand as he swung into the midst of the last group of clones.

Every single piece of armour ever made had weak points and Harry, having seen the clones many times as well as having many reports from spies on the construction of their protection, used that fact to his full advantage.

With a whisper almost as soon as he landed the combat knife went through one clones throat even as his blaster shot another one through the right eye.

Even as the startled men began to react he kicked one into another, threw his knife into a third and snapped the neck of a final one.

Thanks to his Force-enhanced limbs the two that had been kicked didn't even have a chance to rise as he brought his blaster to bare and killed both before they could try and stand.

Hesitating for a moment, once his grisly work was complete, he heard the sound of blaster fire being reflected off of lightsabers and had to fight the urge to go and help his wife.

He remembered her words though and knew she wouldn't have asked him to do something without there being a point to it. With his reluctance clear in every step he took he found the nearest speeder and quickly stole it.

He knew that the quicker he did whatever he was supposed to do the quicker he could return to his wife.

-LAFA-

Luna, using Form IV and still glamoured, was darting back and forth between enemy lines almost like a fast and angry session of waterfalls. She spent much of her time in the air using anything, from people to buildings, to spring from and land with devastating viciousness (not to mention almost ruthless effectiveness).

She was far from the only Ataru Master on the battlefield but she was, by far, the most effective.

That wasn't to say that each other 'Jedi' in the line didn't do a fair to a good job of balancing their own forms inherent strengths and minimising weaknesses while managing to form a cohesive unit.

Though some of theirs had become injured they had prepared well and it was the advancing clones that died by the scores even as more and more reinforcements began to arrive.

The only sound, other than those of battle and the dying, was that of the Jedi evacuation alarm. It was harsh, strong and shattered the relative stillness of the night.

Some of the disguised Knights, using a portable platform that they had carried through in pieces, were at the hidden back entrance and quickly ferrying the Jedi as well as the young Padawans to a nearby assembly in the backstreets of Coruscant.

The Clone Troopers that were sent there had been easily dispatched as they hadn't expected any sort of resistance until they had set up their explosives.

Then Darth Victorious, her eyes glowing a baleful yellow, entered the fray at the main entrance in earnest as she had grown tired of watching the mostly one-sided fight.

-LAFA-

This, thought Darth Victorious, cannot go on. They will not stop me from claiming my victory. These people cannot be Jedi….they fight too well as a unit.

She had a point.

Historically Jedi had rarely worked in teams larger than two or, in the case of the Clone Wars, as generals leading many other non-Force Sensitive groups and frankly it showed in how well they worked together.

Added to that she had spent many years working (or as she now thought...wasted) and learning under the corrupt system that was the Senate and the Republic. She knew most of the Jedi, at least by sight, and although it wasn't like she knew every single one of them three hundred was a very large group especially after the war had taken its toll.

She recognised no one.

That alone would tell her that these people could not be Jedi as, like most discerning groups, theirs was a rather insular society. More than that it took literal decades to become a Jedi Knight and the chances that she would have missed seeing three hundred of their number gaining that rank was very low.

Nil actually.

This realisation took less than a blink of an eye for her and led directly to understanding exactly who these people were. When that happened she had a predictable reaction.

Her anger surged and hot bile almost literally filled her mouth.

She searched the faces for one of her main targets, namely anyone with the surname Potter, and when she couldn't find them that fact only served to increase her rage.

She then turned that feeling and her full attention to the biggest threat to her plans that she could find.

That appeared to be a fake Jedi Knight with light green eyes and dark brown hair.

She (and from this close she could tell that her enemy was a she) was cutting through Victorious's army with such ease that, more often than not, they didn't even have time to target the woman before they died from her sweeping but precise blows.

The pale green light of the woman's lightsaber mocked her and highlighted the fact that both the Jedi and the Commonwealth were obstacles to the plan of bringing order by destroying the corrupting influence of the Potters.

It also didn't help the fact that the false Jedi, all of them, were using their Force powers on the walkway to great effect easily sending what should have been a uniform and cohesive attack into disarray.

Many, for example, were pushed to their death off the side of what was effectively a very large bridge.

As Darth Victorious moved forward a blast of lightning left the hand that wasn't holding her own lightsaber and, as she stared into her own blades green depths, she dearly wished that it was blood red.

A reflection of her current anger and newfound power.

The two women soon clashed (with her opponent almost contemptuously redirecting her Force attack onto the 501st with her own weapon) and the devastation around them soon became so great that there was almost a foot of dead space filled only with bodies.

Her muscles settled into the routines that had been drilled into her since childhood and she began to use every advanced form that she had learned from both her new Master and the Jedi to end this threat to future peace and stability.

-LAFA-

Sidious was, frankly, enjoying himself.

It felt very good to finally let his mask fall free and truly, openly, embrace who and what he was.

He had not killed anyone with his lightsaber since before he killed his own Master and assumed the mantle of Dark Lord of the Sith.

Almost all of the Jedi had been nearly deliciously arrogant in their attacks and he had revelled in their screams as they paid the price for that by falling under his blade. Their dying gasps were music to his ears and the smell of burned flesh was a heady aphrodisiac that helped strengthen his connection to the Force.

All he managed to finish with ease except Master Windu.

And he, thought Sidious as they duelled, is being annoyingly stubborn about clinging to his pathetic life.

Take right now for example. Sidious executed a complicated manoeuvre that should have led, in six quick moves, to beheading Windu and yet the man (and his irritatingly purple lightsaber) managed to parry the final fateful blow, if only at the last moment.

The only upside was that the mounting frustration fed his powers even more.

-LAFA-

Luna was glad that she was fighting with her own body under a glamour rather than with polyjuice because the potion might have thrown off her centre of balance.

Though she was more skilled than her enemy the newly named Darth Victorious was attacking with a ferociousness that was difficult to match and, at this point, the woman did not give a single thought to the lives she extinguished in her pursuit of Luna...even her own troops.

Luna, on the other hand, spent as much time defending other Jedi as she did herself and like a pinball rocketed herself time and again between her own people and Darth Victorious. She had no such compunction when it came to the Clone Troopers however, often using the Force to simply pull them into the enraged woman's path or as human shields to protect herself when needed.

Victorious used her Clone Troopers in a similar, but different, manner. Almost every time that Luna felt she was getting the upper hand in the fight she would, more often than not, find a Trooper pushed close to her and be forced to defend an attack from them rather than press her advantage.

Needless to say, as she had foreseen, all of this made it very difficult for Luna to land a killing blow. Both of them, by this point, were not only tiring but had light burns and gashes all across their bodies.

Knowing what had to come next Luna began chanting under her breath and even as she moved, blocked and parried her magical core was being syphoned away for the spell.

When she felt it complete it left her mouth like a warm golden breeze and dissipated in the air less than a second after being formed. The satisfaction that she felt at that moment was odd to describe as she knew that her part in being an instrument of fate was done to the best of her ability.

The future that she longed for was one step closer to reality.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw her remaining Knights moving towards her and, aside from Darth Victorious, no one but the dead clones were at her feet. She could also feel Harry out there somewhere and sent him all the love that she could.

Bottom line the Jedi were now safe and she knew what had to happen next.

She pressed a hidden button on her belt and began the first of a series of blows with only one possible conclusion.

Soon enough she felt the searing pain in her chest that she expected even as Darth Victorious entire jawbone, a piece of her tongue and part of her throat were taken by Luna's blade.

She looked down and saw what she expected to see. The Darksiders blade was hilt deep in her, piercing both her lung and part of her heart. The blade was pulled violently from her body even as both women began to fall.

"Harry" she gasped as the nearest Silver Knight rushed to catch their falling princess in her arms even as the Jedi Temple, now clear of everyone, exploded into pieces with a resounding crash and a veritable tidal wave of dust.

-LAFA-

Windu knew better than most Jedi about the Darkside and its pull given the fact that his Vaapad form required the user to use their enemies own darkness against them without giving in to their own.

They essentially made themselves part of a never ending circuit that took the enemies negative power, added their own darkness, and turned it back on them. It was also a very difficult line to walk as the temptation to give in to the seething mass of power only increased the longer it was used.

All of this meant that, of all the Jedi in the Republic, he knew that he couldn't win this as he truly grasped the depths into which Palpatine had bathed in death, destruction and the ways of the Sith.

But if he couldn't defeat his foe he would do his damn best to take the man with him as his own oath to the Jedi and the Republic required no less.

-LAFA-

Sidious attacked again and again. He was a swirling mass of power and hatred that was dismantling everything that Windu could bring to bear and throw all of that, Sidious was amused.

He was, after all, playing with his food.

With an internal sigh of regret Sidious blew the irritating Jedi off his feet as, although this was deeply entertaining to the man, he had other things that he had to do today.

Then he summoned every ounce of feeling that he had built up over his long life against the Jedi and launched a deep purple spread of lightning.

This wasn't just lightning though (and even that had always been one of his favourite powers) but more like an unending tidal wave of energy.

It danced and crackled over Mace's currently prone form and, if it wasn't for the Jedi screams, almost anyone might have found it beautifully mesmerizing.

Of course, Sidious did so anyway.

-LAFA-

Mace Windu was in agony.

He felt like every single cell in his body was on fire and, if it wasn't for the fact that he could both see the lightning as well as feel his body twitching like a rag doll, he might have assumed that he was.

Then again lucidity was often difficult through your own pain and screams.

There was only thing that Mace had going for him at that moment and that, oddly enough, was the memory of his defeat at the hands of the Silver Prince.

He had learned the lesson of arrogance in combat well and, in his reinforced robes and limbs, (not to mention electrically resistant as they were often fighting droids with E.M.P grenades) he had a surprise for the Chancellor of the Republic.

It was agonizing and painfully slow even moving his hand to the secret compartment on his mechanical leg but if nothing else, Jedi were known for their impressive willpower and there was a reason Windu was already a legend among them.

He drew out a small sphere and, with a flick of his wrist that was as much a spasm as it was a lob, it landed miraculously at Sidious's feet.

The man noticed, of course, as the bright red colouring of a small plasma grenade was very hard to miss but in such confined quarters all he could really do was turn away and try and use the Force to shield himself from the blast.

When the explosion came (with a bright flash of light and resounding boom) neither man faired all that well as the strength of it blew out the large expensive windows.

Windu had several pieces of shrapnel peppered throughout his body and one of his mechanical legs was gone with only a smoking ruin of flesh and metal where it once was.

Palpatine, despite his best efforts, had not fared much better. Though he had all of his limbs his right one was effectively useless and hanging from his side like so much dead weight and his face was covered in blood.

The reason for this blood was that a long jagged piece of metal had scored across the Sith Lord's face and completely ruined his right eye.

Still, thought Windu through his own pain, that only seems to irritate the man more.

That was his last coherent thought as Sidious gestured and he felt himself lifted off the ground and thrown violently through the now open window.

-LAFA-

You know, Harry thought to himself, when you go out for a nighttime joyride admittedly fast but stolen speeder you don't expect it to be literally raining Jedi. Ahh, the amusements of life.

Swerving said stolen speeder towards the falling Jedi Master Windu was child's play although catching the beaten and barely conscious man did take a fair bit of effort on his part.

Driving one-handed was fairly simple and it was needed as he did need his spare hand to delve into the pocket of his belt. That he then quickly force-fed a half resisting, half-conscious Mace was more difficult but he managed.

Even as he turned the speeder towards the Commonwealth Chapterhouse the wounds on the man began to close forcing out of his body many shards of glass. Harry had no illusions that he had helped the man but he would need much more advanced healing before he was anywhere close to well.

Even the man's stump of a leg improved, though only marginally, and although there were rituals and spells that could restore the limb but, not only was the man never likely to see them, the price for them (at least a fully functioning restoration) was also generally quite steep.

As Windu began to wake up, if groggily, Harry let the glamour on his face collapse and began to weave even faster through Coruscant traffic while keeping a wary eye out for any approaching Security Forces or Clone Troopers.

"Wha.." Mace began.

"You're welcome Jedi" said Harry quietly.

"Are you the…" Mace tried to ask still not seeing clearly yet.

"Silver Prince yes. You have no idea how much I dislike that title sometimes".

"You chose it" the injured Jedi answered as his mind finally began to clear.

"Actually I didn't… it was more of a compromise".

"I'm sure" stated Windu with the disbelief clear in his tone.

"Actually" said Harry icily as he moved into land next to the Chapterhouse "it was. I think that if I were you I would be more trusting of the man who saved my life and then stopped me bleeding to death".

"I'm sorry" said Windu while wondering to himself exactly how Harry had done that. "I'm clearly a bit overwrought"

"Strong words" replied Harry while snorting, torn between the urge to yell at the man for not apologising and for saying it in the first place, "for a Jedi".

As Harry jumped out to help the one-legged Jedi inside he staggered and almost fell.

He knew what it was, of course, as he and Luna had developed the spell based on the Fidelius Charm and had tested it thoroughly years before.

The spell, such as it was, removed specific sensitive information from a targets (and anyone connected to the target) mind and simply left a trigger phrase in the mind of the caster to release the bound knowledge.

It was often used by high ranking organic members of the Commonwealth Spy Network on members that ran the very real possibility of being captured.

It was a very useful system but not without its flaws.

Harry, for example, couldn't tell what exactly had been hidden without the code phrase spoken by Luna that would release his memories but, by utilising Occlumency, he was able to quickly determine that there were several holes in his mind regarding something very important that he and Luna had spoken of.

After a moment all he was able to retrieve was a feeling of deep worry.

Panicking slightly he quickly searched for the remnants of the Padawan Bond that they once shared and, though it had been many many years since he had been her teacher, he should have felt something from it. He desperately searched for some echo, some after image or hint as to where she was or what had happened.

Instead, he found nothing.

Which means, thought Harry, that she's either actively blocking me or…. all her clones are somehow dead…. and so is she.

At that moment the last of the Knights sent to the Temple arrived at the Chapterhouse and they were carrying a body. It was one that he knew very well and, at first, his mind refused to recognise who exactly was in front of him.

Her body. Luna's body.

"What now?" Windu asked bringing Harry forcibly back to the here and now.

"Go through the Gateway for now…. ask your questions later" snapped Harry even as he took the body of his wife from the firm arms of the softly weeping Knight and feeling as if his world had just ended.

Sensing, perhaps a little belatedly, that he had pushed the Silver Prince too far Mace Windu didn't resist as three Knights that guarded the Chapterhouse manhandled him through the Gateway.

In the end, Harry was the last one through, staring balefully back towards the Supreme Chancellor's office, until he left quietly, saying absolutely nothing. As he did so he activated the last explosives that the Commonwealth had brought turning the Chapterhouse to rubble a mere second after he left.

It firmly severed the connection to Spero and Harry knew that, in many ways, there was no going back for anyone after everything that had happened here tonight.

-LAFA-

Palpatine ignored the pain as he approached the ruins of his desk and managed, somehow, to activate a prearranged signal.

Far across the Republic and in all of its battlefields his image and three words spread that changed the course of history forever.

"Activate order 66".

A Chancellors Guard rushed into the room and, ignoring the wreckage, spoke.

"My lord…. your Apprentice" the man stuttered fearfully of the Chancellor's bloody visage.

"Take me to her" he demanded, sensing something gravely amiss, in a harsh and grave tone. "Now!"

Almost all of the battered, beleaguered and war-weary Jedi died at the hands of their Clone Troopers. Almost nine thousand of the roughly ten thousand recorded Jedi (padawans and younglings included) died in the following days although history would record three notable exceptions.

Jedi Master Yoda killed those that were trying to end his life before they could kill him and both Anakin and Obi-Wan Kenobi survived as well although the reason that latter survived was more because of the former's help than anything else.

-LAFA-

Ironically, thought Obi-Wan, if we were still fighting on the Northern Front I might not be in this mess so, in a sense, the Commonwealth is helping to kill me.

The fact that he was surrounded by Clone Troopers and with his back against a half-collapsed wall with many of his Jedi brothers and sisters dead around him illustrated his point clearly.

Frankly, it was only the Commonwealths intervention in the Northern Front that had allowed enough free Clone Troopers to track him and his group of fleeing Jedi after the first failed attempt and here, in this desolate and war-torn place, he was about to die.

He closed his eyes and centred himself in the Light Side of the Force that he had served so faithfully and for so long while he waited for his end to come. In what he assumed to be the final moments of his life he only hoped that he had done enough, that he had helped more than he had hurt, and that it had all mattered.

Only, his death did not come.

Instead, he heard the sounds of heavy turbolasers and he opened his eyes to see the sprawled bodies of most of the clones that had threatened him.

He also saw a small all-black scout ship heading his way and, before he could decide whether to fight or flee, it turned in the air and he saw that the cargo ramp was open and his brother in all but blood was standing on it.

"Obi-wan" shouted Anakin while throwing out a high tensile steel cable "let's go".

He grabbed the line as if his life depended on it (which it did) even as Anakin began to pull him in and the pilot, whoever that was, began to move the ship away even as more Clone Troopers arrived and began firing.

"How did you survive?" Obi-wan couldn't help but ask as soon as the cargo ramp was closed and he was protected from fire by the hull.

"It helps to have three Silver Knights as semi-permanent bodyguards" stated Anakin dryly.

"Where are we headed?" Obi-wan pressed.

"Spero. The city of New Atlantis to be exact" Anakin answered. "The other survivors are there".

"I see" said Obi-wan quietly.

"I doubt it" was Anakin's cryptic reply.

The Republic was clearly no longer safe for the Jedi that had served it for so long especially as not all those that were targeted were killed. The strongest, the very few that had managed to survive for a time, had been captured instead.

The Galaxy had changed almost beyond all recognition in the last few days and everyone would have to deal with that.