Chapter 37: The Final Chapter and Epilogue

Star Wars + Harry Potter Crossover

Chapter 37: The Final Chapter and Epilogue

19-18 BBY

3634-3635 ATC

1 IC

Spero System

Sarah was more than a little annoyed by her brothers orders (though she would follow them of course), not least because now she was a pilot without a ship as she had to perform a crash landing, but thankfully she did manage to do it by aiming for the small hidden platform inside Cadi's gas atmosphere.

With the quick and sure steps, her tailored combat boots echoed in the silence of the small room building that the landing pad was connected too. It was only the thin and small artificial shell of atmosphere that stopped the corrosive nature that the planet was made of from killing her outright as well as destroying the platform in its entirety.

"Are all of our fighters disengaged?" She asked as soon as her nimble fingers had activated the communications console in the almost spartan room.

"Yes, sister dear" came the exasperated voice of her brother. "They acquitted themselves very well, by the way, thanks to your training, as despite the odds they had very few losses".

"The ground batteries?" she couldn't help but press.

"They and the sky trenches are holding back the enemy though I do not know how much longer they will hold by themselves. The Sleepers are being prepared but, given their size, it will take time and you must start now".

"Yes, my Prince" she replied formally. "If this doesn't work you can't worry about me. You have to get the Sleepers out and save as many as you can. If that happens I will likely…."

"Be dead?" David said softly as he finished her sentence. She could almost see as well as feel the concern that he had for her swim around her body like a comforting blanket as well as the ever-present resolute drive to save their people. "I love you" he finished after a moment.

"I love you too….Mum and Dad would be proud of you...I know I am. Beginning Stage One of the Wave".

Sarah looked around the state of the art laboratory/weapons control room that she was in and wondered for a brief second if she really could activate the first (of two total) Superweapon that the Commonwealth had at its disposal.

Her face hardened as she remembered that these people that she was about to kill were there to rape, murder, torture and loot her home. She had the resolute nature of her father and a small amount of the almost endless empathy that so exemplified her mother.

That being said she had the images of what they would do at the forefront of her mind. When she had to weigh the cost of those that would die if she did nothing against those that she would have to kill there really wasn't a choice.

She didn't hesitate for a single second as she quickly activated Stage One.

From deep within the volatile gases of the planet several hundred small rune etched crystals (that were the work of centuries in secret) and the targeting panel of the computer bloomed into life even as she turned to it.

She took aim.

-LAFA-

The gases that made up Cadi were, in theory at least, perfect for turning into blaster bolts and highly corrosive but they hadn't been touched at all so that they could be used for the Wave.

These gases were not something that Admiral Benok was prepared for but, in his defence, a planet shooting the superheated and focused gases that it was both made up of and made the majority of most blaster shot had never been thought of before.

He also trusted in the very strong and military grade shields that his fleet was equipped with and that, as it turned out, to be a very large mistake.

Shields, no matter how powerful or uniquely designed, worked on a very simple principle. It all boiled down to the simple idea of forming a thin but high powered cover of energy as the sensors detected an incoming attack.

Where that failed Benok was in the simple fact that a torpedo or a blaster bolt was a highly concentrated burst of energy concentrated into a point that quickly faded once it either hit a shield or was redirected away.

They did this because, frankly, the power requirements of maintaining a shield would be too much for even the most advanced ship and the technology to create a sustained beam on a scale smaller than at least a moon-sized battery did not yet exist. It would also be exorbitantly expensive to both make and run.

The gases, however, were not focused in the same way even through the specially designed lenses.

This was important because, instead of focusing the energy into one short and explosive point, the gas was not so controlled and acted much more like some massive flamethrower of the corrosive gases.

Each of the small lenses worked independently, thanks to the advanced targeting computer, and collectively shot several hundred separate blasts at different targets.

The smaller craft that didn't have shields were quickly consumed by the acidic and volatile substance while most of those with shields were overwhelmed as they were assaulted on multiple points and they too fell into utter chaos and destruction.

Admiral Benok watched in horror, open-mouthed, as all but the best defended of his ships were consumed under the fury of his enemy attacks. He never felt more grateful, at that moment, that his shields were the best and most advanced prototype that the Empire produced.

If he didn't do something soon though even his shields would soon fail and he would soon be dead.

"Reroute all power from every non-essential system. I don't care if we need to close down entire decks..the shields must hold" he commanded quickly. "Power weapons and prepare to bombard Cadi into oblivion".

For the first time since realising that he would have to command a mixed crew (he really should have stopped thinking of the droids as both the enemy and clankers) and losing the majority of the ships that he had been assigned he was glad of droids.

They never panicked, never hesitated and weren't unnerved by the loss of so many allied ships. They only had the cold hard certainty of their programming at the cost of being rather rigid in their actions and being somewhat less effective than Clone Troopers in their fighting abilities.

Not that the Clone Troopers themselves reacted that poorly as they were, above and before all else, professionals and it was generally only the civilian auxiliaries that panicked. Still, he took comfort in the cold faces and their lack of reaction.

The droids moved to their tasks and but, before they could get into position or open fire, Cadi showed both its true colours and its latest surprise.

"By the Force" gasped Benok in horror.

The viewscreen showed that, far below on the planet, a large flattish crystal (that was at least fifteen times the size of any of the others that had been seen so far) was rising from the murky depths of the planet.

All of the others were now forming up around it in the rough shape of several telescopes (but in reverse) with the larger piece covering them at the top and aiming at the last remaining ship.

All thanks to Lady Sarah activating Stage 2.

-LAFA-

Every world that inhabited the Spero System activated their planetary shields. Using standard technology they were far too expensive to run for long but, like most things in the Commonwealth, the Magi had used magic to both power it and make it easier to run.

The one Commonwealth ship that had defended the planet was venting atmosphere and little more than a ruin. That being said the escape pods had all safely landed before the shield activated (as it was left on auto-targeting and fire until they failed) and they were ready for the second stage to begin.

Rather than the flamethrower like beams, the gas giant had launched before it now launched a thick ribbon-like wave. The superheated gases spread throughout the entire system like an unending tide only dissipated by the shields that it hit.

Everything that it hit, except the sun which seemed unaffected by the new fuel source that it impassively took, was destroyed by the devastating attack.

It was also the last thing that Admiral Benok ever saw.

As soon as the wave had finished the Silver Prince, knowing that the enemy was vanquished, nodded to the unit commanders around him and began to speak.

"Get the shields down as soon as we can and send someone to retrieve my sister straight away" he commanded. Even as a young private, pressed into the role of messenger, moved to obey, he continued to issue orders in a dry and clinical tone "Wake the Sleepers".

Everyone around him stopped what they were doing for a moment as that order sunk in and then shuddered slightly. They found themselves almost pitying the remaining forces of the Empire.

Despite the many years of planning and popular thought neither Harry or Luna were true Seers (she was one at one point but, when Harry fixed her abilities, she merely had a very high aptitude with the Force's version having lost her magical version and she hadn't been one since that time) and the Sleepers were originally a contingency against the idea that they may have missed something.

The fact that neither magic or the Force were perfect in passing along information was a given. That and, with all the losses that the Commonwealth had suffered as a whole and David had suffered personally, the Silver Prince was clearly pissed.

When Harry had first colonised Spero he had carved out an ever-expanding hangar and had started making things right from the first. He had not only made things to sell and support the infant economy but ships and droids as well though that was obviously in secret.

The majority of which he had deactivated and placed in the hangar below the city of New Atlantis and over time, to those in the know, they had become known as the Sleepers. Harry had continued the practice right up until he had abdicated in favour of his son.

Within minutes of his order ships, fully crewed by droids, of every design that the Commonwealth had produced began pouring into the system like a great swarm of angry and violent locusts.

The ships, once considered an emergency home guard and then later both a reserve for any ships and droids lost as well as an emergency source of troops, was now being used as the main thrust in the all-out offensive that was the Commonwealth's firm response to the attack.

A message was also sent out calling in the many favours and debts of honour that the Commonwealth had gathered throughout the centuries calling parts of all known space to war.

At the end of the Clone Wars, the newly christened Empire had a troop strength almost 1.8 million strong with more soldiers being produced daily from all of its corners whether through biological training, cloning or droid factory.

The Commonwealth had, on paper at least, two million soldiers readily available at the same time.

That they had not released the Sleepers then had mostly been at Luna's urging to try and find a way to save as many innocent lives as possible. She was always more forgiving and kind-hearted than the rest of her family.

She had also felt that the mere knowledge that the Sleepers existed (if it was more widely known) would have caused the Republic to view them as an immediate threat and would invite a devastating war to their very doorstep. The Empire itself did not care one way or the other as they merely wanted what the Commonwealth had.

Then again, no matter how benevolent the neighbour, an army of four million combat ready droids that had absorbed the latest in fighting algorithms from every single one that died throughout the years would raise a few eyebrows.

And the Empire could never be described as benevolent though the Commonwealth was set to make them regret the attack orchestrated upon their very heart.

-LAFA-

Coruscant

Despite feeling more than a little woozy from blood loss (and being as white as a sheet) Harry smiled grimly as he carved the last rune in place.

To be that meticulous with his flagging strength was, perhaps, the most difficult thing that he had ever done but he persevered. In the end, his will was not to be denied and he managed to carve runes into key strategic places in both the Senate's underbelly and more than a few (as a contingency) near Palpatine's connected apartments.

Thankfully, given both their relative simplicity and the fact that Harry felt more than a bit of his own magically charged blood fall into the work, he didn't need any magic batteries to charge the work as he had none.

He slowly replaced the bindings on his wound, wincing as he did, as they had once again become too sodden with blood to be effective even as he meditated on the best way to do what he soon had to do.

He opened his eyes that were as hard as emeralds and as unforgiving.

He was prepared.

-LAFA-

Mustafar

They couldn't really be that foolish, thought Anakin, could they?

That particular idea came only when he had entered the complex only to find it deserted (or at least functionally so as there were a few guards) even as he, virtually unopposed, scanned through all construction and distribution commands for the complex.

What made it more than a little foolish and into the territory of outright stupidity was the fact that this factory controlled six other slaved facilities throughout the entire sector and any changes here would be transmitted to them in mere minutes.

When he had swept the complex he had also found that the entire Separatist leadership was dead at the hands of a lightsaber. Knowing that Grievous was dead at the hands of Obi-wan and given the fact that Palpatine was too busy being Emperor as well as the fact his apprentice was here it wasn't hard to work out what had happened.

The traitors had, in turn, been betrayed and the Clone Wars were well and truly over. Just a few short years ago that would have been the cause of many weeks of celebration for Anakin but now, after everything that had happened, he merely raised an eyebrow and silently moved on when he found them.

Scanning through the communications records of the factory for a moment he learned that a cache of Imperial Troops was on their way to secure this factory and that, combined with the fact that the C.I.S was now a snake without a head meant that the passwords to the system had been commanded to reset.

From an outside source.

It appears, thought Anakin, that the Emperor planned this very well.

He accessed the very latest of communications on a whim born of experience trying to prepare for the unexpected and found that Palpatine had planned far more than that. He followed the trail further back and he found, right in front of him on the screen, records of missives that proved Palpatine was funding and guiding the Separatists from the very beginning.

Oh, it was nothing overt until very recently. In fact, aside from the last construction order, it was merely a disturbing and logical pattern of circumstantial evidence that was subtle until the pattern was laid out in front of you.

Then you would have to be blind not to notice.

For example, throughout the war, there were always enough droids to balance out the Republic forces. Always. There was never a shortage or an interruption that was not swiftly overcome and, more damning than that, the factories themselves did not but could produce far more droids than they had during that time...with the notable exceptions regarding the times they engaged the Commonwealth.

Further in most battles were the droids would clearly win the found themselves (after heavy losses on both sides) being ordered inexplicably out of position or withdrawn for no good reason.

Except that their losses, thought Anakin, could be replaced and the Jedi had no such luxury.

Then there was the last construction order of around forty ships and the required droids to fully man them.

This was not such an unusual order in theory but, what was unusual, was the fact that the order had somehow been kept hidden from the very leadership that built the place until they were dead. It appeared that the information was in fact designed to only allow its security protections to fall if that happened.

It was also buried quite effectively in a subdirectory dealing with the shipping of raw materials, mostly foodstuffs, to the desolate planet.

The final nail in the proverbial coffin was the fact that this new fleet was not programmed to respond to the C.I.S at all but, as of a few weeks ago and a software patch, that of the newly formed Empire instead.

Then the fleet left the records of the factory as it was delivered to an undisclosed planet somewhere near the Core.

If, thought Anakin, the Emperor had ordered a fleet to be built in secret to be used against his enemies no wonder these factories weren't showing their full capability until now.

It was easy, with the Emperor's favourite lapdog having killed the C.I.S. leadership to connect some disturbing dots about their target and he assumed that this was the fleet that had recently attacked Spero.

To be safe though he immediately used his encrypted Commonwealth comm codes, after planting a delayed virus in the factories system, to warn them of the creation of the fleet...just in case.

Then his face blanked as he shored up his spirit and began to move with a slow and deadly purpose.

Ready to face Darth Victorious.

-LAFA-

Darth Victorious growled deep in the back of her throat as, the minute that she had tried to turn on her ship's systems, they had failed. She knew that it was theoretically possible that such a failure was not the result of sabotage but the odds were infinitesimally low.

Besides which, she hadn't gotten (and managed to keep) her position as the Emperor's right hand by not seeing every possible threat to her that she could or by being careless.

She knew she would prepare for a trap regardless of the odds anyway even as she reached for her lightsaber. She hoped that it was a trap as whoever had set it must have a way off this world and she was already relishing taking that (and any other) information from them.

If it turned out not to be one then she knew that it would be a simple matter to call a ship to come and get her. A boring wait no doubt but still, a simple matter.

Soon, she thought as she gazed back at the giant manufacturing plant on Mustafar, all of the factories will be reactivated to serve the Empire. All it will take is the new software patch and some combat upgrades for the Commonwealth to tremble at the might of the Empire. Potter and his ill-begotten diseased progeny will burn slowly under the weight of my power.

Her dark thoughts were interrupted quite effectively when she walked through the main complex doors. She came face to face with one of the people that she most wanted to kill (outside of the Potter's themselves) in the form of Anakin Skywalker.

She really had no choice but to attack.

-LAFA-

Palpatine has clearly been teaching her things, Anakin thought ruefully as he dodged a blast of lightning, and he may be a bastard of the highest order but he is also clearly a good instructor.

A small clinical part of his mind noted that she was using a hybrid form ( a mixture of Forms II, VI and VII with the barest hints of Form I to round it out) and though they tended to have their own unique weaknesses he could admit that her form, at present, was quite effective.

That being said because it was a hybrid form it was, by its very nature (when compared to the main ones), both very adaptable and yet somewhat diluted in its strengths.

He hoped to use his own mastery of Form V to power through her defences but, given her skill, it would be neither quick or easy….if it was even possible at all.

As their sabers began the age-old dance that had echoed through the Galaxy since the first sundering and the creation of the Sith Anakin was thankful. He was thankful for his training under both Harry and Luna as it was not only some of the happiest times of his childhood but, more importantly, gave him the balance needed for this contest.

"Tell me..." Dark Victorious asked almost conversationally except for the dark edge to her words. "Were you close to the little blonde whore?" Did she sneak into your room at night while her husband slept? Did she teach you everything you needed?"

A standard Jedi's training would have left them off balance and floundering at this verbal thrust. Although they would undoubtedly see the emotional attack for what it was the simple fact that it was seeing to provoke such strong emotions would leave them unsettled and vulnerable.

He was much better trained and much more in touch with his emotions than that. He merely smiled and deftly avoided falling into that simple, but effective, emotional distraction. From the time that he had first begun instruction on Spero he had slowly become, different title or not, a Silver Knight rather than a Jedi.

Now he was one in name as well but the fact remained that the teachings of the two orders, at their very core, were fundamentally different.

Where a Jedi would seek to banish emotion to better focus on the Force the Silver Knights instead sought to understand and balance them.

Every method of doing this was unique to the individual. Some balanced the Dark Side of the Force and its impulses with similar recollections based on love for example but, like Harry, Anakin was never very good at multitasking in combat in quite that way as it took too much of his time and attention.

Instead, for him, it was like he created a closed tube in his mind of good impressions and feelings (far too vague and unfocused to truly be called memories). He then used this to completely cover his darker side and feelings with one end of the tube attached to where they began and the other spread to the end of his limbs.

This crude but effective method allowed him to use emotions such as hatred, fear, disgust and anger while being insulated from their more negative effects. Even this rough form of balance had taken him years and was still an effort to maintain.

He suspected it would be for the rest of his days even if he did find a better way.

His blows gained more power and speed as she continued to try and unnerve him, no doubt sensing at least part of his anger and assuming that her technique was working, even as he was both perfectly clear-headed and analysing her fighting style.

As they moved through the factory complex, causing a lot of collateral damage as they did, Anakin had no problem summoning enough emotion to keep increasing the strength of his blows.

This woman had not only betrayed everything that she had once stood for but she had also killed the woman who was, in every way that mattered, his aunt. She was also one of the kindest and compassionate people that he had ever met.

Expelling his emotions in this fashion not only helped him fight but was also oddly cathartic as well.

-LAFA-

How, thought Kara, is this whelp still fighting?

Granted Skywalker was always known to have an impressive aptitude with the Force but, even with his almost mountainous strength in the Force, his fortitude and skill were almost inhuman to the woman.

She had known Jedi Masters that would have fallen to her skills or passed out in exhaustion by this point and be swiftly slaughtered for their trouble.

To her, it felt that every blow at her was a sledgehammer against her defences and she found herself having to slide the blows rather than outright block them. Her muscles groaned under the seemingly relentless assault and her palms felt like they were dripping with sweat.

She even found herself unable to use the Force to strike back as she needed every bit of her power to simply stay alive and, even though she felt her frustration rise, she found that she didn't have the half second needed to focus enough to use it anyway.

Then, with their faces almost touching while in a saber lock, she saw his expression change as if he had figured something out and then all hell broke loose.

With the next few swipes she was forced back against a wall and she felt panic as the steel settled against her back almost like a prison...or a coffin.

The next attack pushed her blade back so far that she almost lost her grip and it damaged nearby machinery with a hiss and the smell of burnt metal.

The following backslash scored through her clothes and bit deeply into her breasts as she screamed her fear, pain and hatred in her mechanical tones.

Her yellow eyes stared into his oddly impassive face even as he cut her lightsaber (and the hand holding it) in half.

Her breathing came through in a wheeze, which in and of itself was a testament to the damage that the Commonwealth had already done to her, and she said nothing as the looked at each other in an odd moment of stillness.

"You know" Anakin said "I thought I'd have more to say to you but.." he impaled his lightsaber through her chest as he spoke the last words she would ever hear "you're not worth it".

Her last sight was of him walking away from her, as if she was nothing and already beginning to be forgotten, and then the darkness descended and she knew no more.

-LAFA-

The minute that he had done it Harry realised that he had made a mistake.

With his face covered by the cowl of his robe, he knew that he drew more than a few curious stares and it hadn't seemed unreasonable, at the time, to use a light Force Trick on Palpatine's secretary to find out if he was still in his apartments.

Though this had worked and she had told him what he wanted to know he could also tell that she was trained, perhaps not in the Jedi or Sith way, but enough to both recognise what he was doing and resist.

This made a kind of twisted sense as there were ways to train someone's resistance without teaching them Force abilities or even them needing to be Force Sensitive at all. He knew he should have seen this coming especially given what her employer actually was

Her eyes had widened the minute she had the words compelled from her and, in his weakened state, he was not quite fast enough in knocking her out to stop her hitting the small and well-concealed alarm button on her desk.

Then again, with a knowledge that was bought through hard years of experience, he knew exactly how badly his body was failing and that it would only be a matter of hours now (if he was lucky) before he collapsed.

Unlike every other time, this had happened he knew that, after the unconsciousness and death that inevitably followed, he would not wake in a new body but whatever was next...whether it be the chaos of Darksiders or the loving arms of his wife.

He, therefore, ignored the alarms as in his current state he found them inconsequential.

He then headed for the simple corridor, on his unsteady feet, that was between him and his target. As he did so his lightsaber responded to his will and the pieces of it floated into (and assembled itself in) his waiting palm.

He opened the door only to come face to face with twenty red-robed guards. They were not only heavily armoured, with visors that completely covered their faces, and well trained but they were also armed with Force Pikes.

They were also jam-packed into the small space and ready, even eager it seemed, to kill him.

Harry grinned tiredly and his own saber lit his pale and sweaty face. He moved in with his lightsaber. The combined might of magic and the Force burst from him even with his first step.

-LAFA-

Palpatine heard their dying screams of course but, found himself remarkably calm as he stood behind his desk. He had no sympathy for weakness and he was of the simple opinion that if the guards couldn't stop the intruder then they didn't deserve to survive.

He had no other thoughts regarding their welfare as such compassion had been burned out of him (if he ever had any at all) years ago.

The first time he had an indication that it was Harry Potter attacking and not someone more predictable like Master Yoda was when the body of his last guard was used like a battering ram.

To smash through his private door.

Even as that happened he felt the door further back from that (that lead back out into the main building) close and lock with a powerful wave of the Force.

No Jedi, he thought, would be either that callous or that efficient.

"Ahh...the former Silver Prince" spat Palpatine casually. "How are you? You don't look well".

If an objective observer was in the room they would be able to do nothing else than agree.

Harry's face was as pale as bone and his breathing was both quick and raggedly shallow. His skin was clammy and, even after such a short time, his bandage was soaked through with his own blood once again.

So much so that it almost appeared as if he had spilt a great deal of dark red wine on his robes.

"The same could be said of you...you one-eyed bastard. Then again...you look pretty good for the son of a Hutt and a Kath Hound…." Harry answered even as a flash of anger rippled across the Emperor's face.

Despite the best surgeons in the Empire giving it their all the long jagged scar on his face remained, a reminder of when his victory had been stolen from him, and his right eye had turned milky and unseeing.

Mace Windu and Harry Potter had effectively lanced clean through the orb with broken glass and both his monumental pride as well as deep anger stopped him getting an artificial one.

He had also refused a replacement because it fostered the idea of him being truly injured rather than a scarred war hero and the simple fact that his mastery of the Force managed to compensate easily enough.

"You do know that you cannot survive this?" Palpatine continued while palming and activating his lightsaber.

"Who said I wanted to?" Harry's short reply baffled the man even as Harry moved in to attack and Palpatine reflexively launched Force Lightning at his foe only to have it absorbed by one of those strange Magi Shields.

What followed was as beautiful as it was brutal.

Two undisputed masters of their respective orders fought, parried and weaved about the room. Both used all forms of lightsaber combat to counter the other but, both also fell back on their preferred forms more often than not.

Sidious preferred the raw destructive power of Juyo while Harry slipped often into the controlled strength of Djem So.

Palpatine was invigorated as he hadn't faced a challenge this intense in years as even Windu hadn't tested him this much. Harry, on the other hand, though grievously injured was resolutely single-minded in his desire to kill the newly crowned Emperor despite his failing body.

"I have done my research on you" taunted Palpatine and he received no response except an increase in the speed of the other man's attacks. "Tell me...exactly how did you live so long?"

Again there was no reply and so he continued with a question that was somewhere between a shot in the dark and an educated guess. "Did you enjoy being a blunt tool for the Sith all of those years ago?"

That did get a reaction and he capitalised on the minor shock that Harry felt (and the minor misstep it caused) to throw him, with the Force, up and out into the corridor towards his private entrance to the Senate room.

His prey (for that was, in his mind, what Harry was) landed badly and groaned on the ground even as the former Silver Prince's hands fluttered lightly over his wounded side.

Palpatine stalked towards him talking all the while.

"I wonder how many secrets you have gathered over such a long life. Even a fool such as you must have found one or two interesting things over the years...other than your petty tricks with the Force".

"I didn't" gasped Harry as he summoned, from somewhere deep within him, the ability to stand. "I didn't enjoy it. I take full responsibility for my part in what happened but I was manipulated and used. At least the majority of people that I killed had weapons in their hands and all would have killed me given half a chance...what is your excuse?"

"I need none" Palpatine replied scathingly as he lifted Harry by the throat "I am the Dark Side and the Dark Side is me. I am Sith and it is the nature of the weak to fall under the weight of the strong".

Neither man noticed the small recording orb far above them that caught Palpatine's impromptu speech but, to be fair, they were far too busy with their encounter and it was designed not to be noticed.

After the fight, the edited footage (carefully altered to protect certain Commonwealth secrets) would be released across the Holonet and forcing the Empire to admit that they were under the command of a Sith.

This would create a political tornado that could only benefit the Commonwealth during the new but ongoing war.

Without another word Palpatine, eager to both force his dominance on Harry and painfully extract all secrets that he could, entered the weakened man's mind.

Given Harry's fragile state Palpatine was startled by the sheer strength of the man's mental shields and he was further shocked by what the man did next.

With a laugh that was almost half a sob, Harry simply let his barriers (made of both the Force and magic) fall into nothingness.

What he found made Palpatine do something that he hadn't done since his own master died and he became the Dark Lord of the Sith...he shivered in fear.

Where most men's minds were either organised structures of information (albeit unique to each man's way of thinking) or a random jumble of disorganised but interconnected chaos. Harry Potter's was different.

There was.. almost nothing. Like a black hole deep in space, it's darkness was chilling in utter alienness.

It wasn't the dark that the Sith were used to seeing as there was no hunger for power or control there and there wasn't even a sliver of the kind of hope that you might feel in a Jedi's mind.

The despair and grief that it was made of was a heavy thing and acted almost like a great wet blanket on his mind making his mental probe (as well as his thoughts and reactions) sluggish and clumsy in response to it.

It took almost every scrap of the admittedly strong willpower that the Emperor had to push through it. He was desperate to find something else that he could use as leverage, anything else, as even the smallest buried secret might have allowed him to find purchase in this quagmire of a mind.

Eventually, he succeeded though it didn't do him any good as the only motivation that he could find in Potter's mind was simple enough.

To see him dead at any cost.

Too late he realised his mistake as, in going so deep, he had managed to surround himself by more of the despair than ever before. It was like trying to wade through a soul-crushing mud that clung to every part of his mind and caked it in its oppressive weight.

He could not push any further than he already had and it took almost all of his remaining skill and strength to extricate himself from Harry's mind...so great was the man's grief.

By then Harry had managed to both recover (as much as he was able given his physical condition) and react accordingly.

Palpatine's first sensation, once he had returned fully to the confines of his own flesh, was one of blinding pain as Harry landed a furious blow to the man's jaw.

He then found himself being lifted and thrown through the air, by the Force and by hand no less, into the Senate Chambers.

-LAFA-

Harry almost regretted throwing Palpatine so hard as he felt something in his wound tear as he did.

He had to bite back a scream as he did so and, if he wasn't imagining things, he was already much more unsteady on his feet after the act. He braced himself on the wall and moved like a much older (chronologically at least) man as he half walked and half shuffled towards the person who had caused so much misery.

As soon as he got through to the Senate Chambers he had to Force Jump away from his goal and land in a random Senator's podium given the fact that Palpatine threw another one of the identical podiums straight at him.

He landed heavily because of his wound and he was also acutely aware that every movement, strenuous or otherwise, was beginning to cost him far too much (both in terms of him defeating Palpatine and in relation to his own longevity).

He figured that turnabout was fair play though and forced Palpatine to dodge podiums as well.

The two men made an interesting study in opposites.

One desired power above all else and his never-ending hunger for it drove everything that he did. The other simply desired to drag a power hungry fool down to oblivion and was happy to go along for the ride as long as it worked.

One was, despite his bodies advanced age, fluid in his movements. The other, despite his more youthful body, was slow, careful and almost stationary by comparison due to his injury.

Palpatine sculpted the Force to his will. Each movement was calm and deliberate (seemingly at odds with the rage that Harry could feel with his senses) with every gesture taking a few moments to turn any inanimate object that he wanted into a deadly weapon.

Harry, on the other hand, cared less and less for his health and he also didn't care about anything else except killing Palpatine. It showed in every action that he took especially because he was doing something every Force User was taught never to do.

He was opening himself up to the Force...without any safeguards.

Even as Harry felt the strength of that incalculable and eternal energy begin to burn through his broken frame (slowly killing him in the process) he found a sense of peace as he had never felt more connected to anything and everything in his entire existence.

Reality bent to his will like hot wax melting in the sun even as his right hand spewed forth the power of the Force and his left hand launched spell after spell, transfigured creature after transfigured creature.

All of which meant that Harry could stay relatively still in the building while Palpatine bounced around like a pinball trying to both avoid the many and varied attacks that came at him in a seemingly unending stream of violence and counter-attack at the same time.

Harry was oddly reminiscent of a conductor at that point. Twitches of his fingers directed conjured or transfigured animals, caused parts of the building to explode or change and launch everything that he could at the Galactic Emperor.

It was a testament to Palpatine's hard-earned skill that he managed to evade these things with only minor injuries.

There was a reason why Force Users didn't open themselves up in this way and, in his injured condition, that reason became a reality for Harry far quicker than it might have otherwise.

Lungs burning, arms shaking with exhaustion, his side feeling like it was on fire and with blood pouring from burst blood vessels in his ears, nose and mouth Harry couldn't help but half collapse against the podium he was in coughing wetly.

-LAFA-

Palpatine smirked as he used the Force to casually float down next to his enemy and he revelled in the hostile looks that Potter was sending him.

"Oh well done!" Palpatine said clearly amused and intrigued by the power that had been thrown at him. "I can't wait to find out what other tricks of yours I can observe and then eventually copy once you are properly… motivated".

"Well" replied Harry, as his legs seemed to buckle under the weight of his body, and he slid to the ground. "That's something to look forward to at least".

Palpatine laughed cruelly and almost found himself wishing that Harry Potter wasn't quite so dangerous or well connected as, under different circumstances, he would have made an excellent apprentice.

The flip side of the coin, of course, was that without being that dangerous or powerful, Palpatine doubted that he would have ever noticed Potter in the first place and the irony of that was not lost on the darkly amused man.

"Well," Palpatine said secure in his victory "I am glad to be of service".

"Oh don't worry" Harry replied, his voice now noticeably stronger, and with a dark smile all of his own "you've done more than enough by getting within arms reach of me".

"So?" Palpatine remarked with pure scepticism lacing his voice. "You are exhausted and dying. You couldn't levitate a pebble at the moment...let alone use the Force to harm me".

"Sadly true. However, you are labouring under three misconceptions. Admittedly they are misconceptions that I've helped, in a roundabout way, to reinforce but they are still in error nonetheless".

"I doubt that" dismissed Palpatine.

"First" Harry continued as if the man hadn't spoken "that you have survived in this fight, to this point, due to your own powers and not as part of a design of mine. Second, you are deeply wrong in thinking that all my talents and abilities are Force-based. In your arrogance and hubris, you seem to have forgotten that there are other powers in the universe that you cannot or do not access".

"And third?" Palpatine asked with his voice still full of disbelief but, intrigued in spite of that.

"Did you know that it's not just creating animals that fall within these other powers but that some of us who can do that can also turn into them as well?"

-LAFA-

Harry watched with a morbid and detached fascination as Palpatine began to spring away from him and back towards the man's former high perch even as he felt his change from man to animal begin.

His wounds did not heal from one form to another (but then they never did with the Animagus transformation) and he was still effectively drained of almost all Force ability at the moment.

Even his lightsaber had been absorbed, along with his clothing and other items, into his animal form so he did not have that as an option….not that he had the thumbs to use it.

What he did have was almost 240 kg of muscle and coal black fur ready to spring into action. Combine that with razor sharp claws and teeth, made only more deadly by the magic that imbued his entire form, and the argument could be made that he really didn't need another weapon.

Then he unfolded his wings. The bright white underside of which was stark against both his dark coat and the dark grey Senate Chambers.

The wings spread wide and allowed him to fly very quickly, the magic in them seeming to almost draw the air to them, and he was able to catch up to his quarry with relative ease.

The lion was the picture of snarling fury, with his claws outstretched and his maw opened wide, ready to rip and tear this fragile looking man into pieces.

The mass of muscle and flesh that was Harry slammed into Palpatine, who had half turned in an effort to avoid being hit, and both were spun about due to the jarring impact with Harry's wings flaring reflexively to try and maintain altitude as well as position.

Palpatine's Force presence flared as he sought to do the same.

Harry was grateful at that moment that his form was feline based. Unlike his Godfather's canine form cats had one large advantage when compared to dogs. Dogs led with their muzzles but cats...cats bit and mauled.

As his powerful jaw snapped at Palpatine's head (which the man barely avoided) his front claws, like daggers, bit into the man's shoulders as his paws clamped down. This allowed him the purchase to bring his back legs up and strike.

They raked into Palpatine's belly, again and again, turning the man's intestines to bloody ribbons.

Still, Palpatine managed to find the will to bring his lightsaber into the action even through his screams. The hot plasma of the blade bit deeply into Harry's already injured side and he howled in agony.

Then he blasted a distracted Harry away with a tremendous (and barely focused) blast of Force energy. Palpatine was almost blind with agony by this point from the wounds that he had taken in those few bloody seconds.

He took a moment...which was a mistake.

Harry had managed to partially control his spin and angle his wings so that he came back in a fast loop. His left paw managed to catch Palpatine's throat and, even the blood gushed from this new claw wound, both men (one still in the shape of an animal) fell to the floor far below with a resounding thud.

Harry couldn't hold his form any longer and changed back into the old man in a young broken body that he had been before his transformation (albeit with far more damage to his frame).

Harry knew, at that moment, that he was already dead and he was just stuck waiting for his body to get the message. He doubted that he had more than a few moments before that happened.

With great difficulty he managed to turn his head, the rest of his body shattered in more places than he could count, and watched the would-be Emperor gasp out his last breath.

Harry smiled a bitter smile and, his job done, died right there on the Senate Floor.

With his death, the simple (but highly effective) blood magic activated in the runes that he had placed. They blazed to incandescent life and exploded collapsing both Palpatine's private quarters and the entirety of the Senate in on themselves.

A fitting tomb for Harry Potter, the Silver Prince, if there ever was one.

-LAFA-

The news of the battle and it's outcome spread like wildfire thanks, in no small part, to the highly edited recordings and transmissions from the small droid that was present throughout the majority of the fight.

All combat had ended and in his Council Room David Potter, the Silver Prince, sighed.

The battles between the newly minted Empire and the vengeful Commonwealth had not ended with Palpatine's death though they had been both very bloody and very brief.

In the end, the largely leaderless Empire had fallen due to a combination of infighting for the vacant top spot and the strength of the Commonwealth's attack.

It had fallen almost as fast as it had formed and almost all the former Imperial Territories that remained, tired of blood and war, had joined the Commonwealth with only fifty worlds seeking to form the 'Republic' once again.

Now, he thought, the real work will begin. It will take decades, perhaps centuries, to fully mesh that many worlds into the Commonwealth though the work is already underway. Dad would have hated the paperwork and mum would have been in every field hospital that she could.

He was interrupted in his musings by the arrival of two Silver Knights and his sister. He looked up from his seat and the table that he had been looking at, but not seeing, and at the face of his last remaining family.

"Sister dear?" David asked. "Do we have an appointment?"

"No," she said as the two Knights moved to guard the room against any and all comers. Her tone turned frosty at her next words "Two Jedi are here to see you".

The arrogance of them, he thought, to turn up now...after everything has finished.

"Send them in" he replied while his voice sounded like steel.

Soon enough Jedi Master Yoda along with, David was disappointed to see, a healthy looking Master Windu behind him.

"Greeting Sire," said Windu. Yoda said nothing even as his old eyes scanned the room and quickly dismissed the two Silver Knights as unimportant.

"Why are you here Windu?" David asked coldly ignoring, for the moment, Yoda's presence.

"To oversee the return of our Knights, Padawans and Masters of course" replied Windu.

"Important, their education, is" stated Yoda firmly.

"Why" David queried morbidly curious. "It's not like we are holding them captive after all".

"We need to train the newer generations properly. We do have a Republic to protect after all" stated Windu firmly.

"Not according to the reformed Republic you don't" interjected Lady Sarah.

"Only a small misunderstanding, that is..." stated Yoda.

"Not according to them" rebutted David "and not according to the new treaty signed between the Commonwealth and the Reformed Republic. They do not want you….I believe they said something on the lines of failing in your duties, especially your former Grandmaster here, and allowing the Sith to grow right under your nose as it were".

"They even asked us to deal with any and all of your….transgressions" added Sarah once again.

Both Yoda and Windu scowled at that idea.

"Going to kill us, are you?" Yoda half asked and half accused to which Sarah snorted and David outright asked.

"Kill the Jedi?" David's voice was both incredulous and more than faintly mocking. "Certainly not. Despite what many of your Order have tried to say about us" here David looked pointedly at Yoda "we are not anything approaching the Sith".

"What then?" demanded Windu arrogantly.

"We will take the twelve Masters, the triple score of Knights and Padawans that you have left and do exactly what your Order has historically done to 'certain' misguided Force Orders in the past. We have built several orbital space stations around Dagobah and you will, at the order of the Senate of the Republic and by the recommendation of the Silver Commonwealth, be exiled and monitored there for the good of all".

"For how long?" Mace demanded. "You have also miscounted...as, apart from the Jedi that we are here for, there are thirteen Jedi Masters, not twelve".

"You will be there until, like the errant and arrogant children you are, you have learned your lesson" David answered quietly.

"And if we will not go?" Windu asked even as both Jedi slowly moved their hands towards their lightsabers.

"Then we will not force the Jedi" David answered easily and both Jedi showed their surprise at that and fractionally relaxed until his next words. "You would, of course, be fugitives in both the Commonwealth and the Republic as members of a restricted organisation disobeying the law. You could always try to seek your fortunes in the Unknown Regions but...I wouldn't try Hutt Space...they would love to collect Jedi I'm sure...but you wouldn't enjoy it".

Both Jedi shuddered almost imperceptibly.

With no money, no support or supplies their choices were few.

Even with the Force to help provide for them the chances of them succeeding at finding a place to start over or thrive were slim. Added to that they understood the unspoken idea that it would be a permanent exile and they would literally never be able to come home again.

Both Jedi also knew that fighting here would be the height of stupidity as, at a simple call, they could easily both be dead on the floor even if they managed to kill all those in this room.

"To exile, we will go" stated Yoda as if they had any other choice and, after a long look at Windu, added "our remaining members?"

"Ahh yes" Lady Sarah replied, "I thought we'd hit that little snag".

At that moment over twenty Knights of the Silver, many former Jedi among them entered the room. To a man, they had hard and unforgiving faces as well as lit lightsabers. They formed a loose circle around Grandmaster Yoda even as Sarah stepped forward and began to speak in a slow and formal tone.

"Former Grandmaster, now fugitive, Yoda the Commonwealth charges you with the aiding and abetting of a known murderer by the name of Count Dooku. It also charges you with failing to stop the infection of the Republic by, and the rise of, the Sith as was your duty. That failure is, perhaps, the most dangerous and damning as it led to the Republic almost being destroyed".

Mace Windu, at that point, made a noise as if to object but was silenced by the harsh glares of both Lady Sarah and the Silver Prince.

"The last charge is further compounded as another Sith and former Jedi, one Kara Durvan, was under your personal tutelage and endorsement while being both unstable and falling to the Darkside. You even" here Sarah sneered openly "allowed her to rejoin the war effort and effectively removed all supervision, minimal though it might have been, from her".

"How do you plead?" asked the Silver Prince with a face more reminiscent of stone than flesh.

"Your right to judge me, I do not accept" was Yoda's stern reply and David only sighed sadly but without surprise as he had more than half expected this.

"Take him" commanded David and, seeing as the ancient Jedi was about to pull his lightsaber irrespective of the odds, the two Knights of the Silver that had come in with Sarah sprang into action.

The woman ripped the lightsaber from Yoda's claw-like hand even as the man, with an absent-minded gesture, broke through the former Grandmaster's significant protections and ruthlessly held him frozen in place with the Force.

The other Knights moved as a cohesive unit, bound Yoda, and took him away even as Windu stood there impotent and furious. After a long moment, Windu spoke while keeping his hands well away from his weapon.

"What happens now? What about any students that might wish to come with us or ones we might find?"

"You are effectively the new Grandmaster and you will lead your people into exile. As for those you came for...when they first arrived they were given time to make their choice with no pressure from us. After seeing how...well...your Order has performed in the recent past they have decided to become Knights of the Silver and are therefore not your concern".

Mace was, soon afterwards, ushered out a defeated and broken man even as the two siblings shook their heads one last time and Jedi arrogance and hubris.

When there was only the two original Knights, Lady Sarah and himself David thought that the surprises were over for the day...but he was wrong.

He caught the knowing looks between the two unknown Knights and his sister and that caused him to both study their current body language and how they had fought.

There was a certain elegance to their simple manoeuvres that simply was not found in most Knights and spoke of years of practice. Their body language was not that of new Knights that had only just found their balance nor were any of their mannerisms the same as the longest teachers.

That should not be possible. Though he didn't know every single Knight he did meet with the main teachers at least once each every year and his own training had taught him to catalogue how they walked, talked and moved.

It was a fact of life that students, like children, learned more than tactics and philosophy from their instructors. They unconsciously picked up mannerisms and habits as well and both of these Knights had none of those that were present in the main instructors.

They are, he thought with a dawning realisation, present in both me and my sister.

"Mum? Dad?" He asked in a whisper and barely daring to hope.

"Hello, son" Harry's rich voice soothed him even as the man's unfamiliar features melted away and revealed the familiar features and his mothers did the same.

"How? Why?" David asked both confused and, frankly, hurt by the revelation of their not quite so permanent deaths.

"That" answered Luna "is both a very long story and the deception is completely my fault".

-LAFA-

Flashback

Unknown Location

Harry opened his eyes, surprised that he even had eyes at all, and stepped out of a state of the art cloning chamber.

"Hello, my love" said a voice that he never thought he would hear again. The sound of it soothed his soul and brought tears to his eyes.

Before he could respond it was joined by the soaring and beautiful song that could belong to no other animal than a phoenix….his phoenix.

Then Harry's brain felt like a wave of fire was moving slowly through it changing things as it went. It was a welcome pain however as not only did it mean that he was not dreaming but, it also released previously hidden information in its wake.

He remembered The Plan.

Luna had known, from the moment that the possible futures she could discern had solidified into one where Harry and Palpatine would meet head-on, that the most important part of the fight would be a mental battle between the two.

More than that, she had confided in him that in every future she had seen he was injured. Sometimes it was one wound, sometimes it was many but he was always hurt.

In one future he had a broken leg that limited his mobility and caused a great deal of pain. In another, he had lost both of his eyes and used only the Force to see. In another and particularly chilling future he was almost completely cybernetic by the time of the battle with his brain encased in a rune encrusted hardened automaton.

In all of these futures, Luna was alive….fighting, always fighting, far away from him.

In all of them, Harry failed and Luna fell in her grief at the loss of him only to die in a multitude of ways later on.

In a good eighty per cent of the futures, Palpatine managed to rally the Empire with the information and skills that he managed to rip from Harry's mind before he killed him.

Sometimes the reversal of fortune was immediate and sometimes it was after years of warfare. Two things were certain however and the first was that the Empire, bolstered by its new innovations and the ruthlessness of Palpatine, always won.

Second Harry was left, at absolute best, a destroyed husk of what he was and a mental vegetable.

Given this knowledge, Luna was understandably distraught and she had taken steps to correct this dreary outcome.

Hence The Plan.

Harry remembered that they had tried for months to improve his mental defences. Three to eight times a day (with the help of select Magi and Knights under vows of secrecy) they practised.

They had soon figured out that a strong emotional component was the key.

That was all they were able to do however as, no matter what they tried and no matter how much they trained, Luna's visions of the outcome did not change. With every new memory that he dredged up, with ever new feeling summoned, she would simply sadly shake her head.

Nothing was working.

To put the problem simply Harry had more skill in general than Palpatine and they were both in the same region of power but, when it came to a mental battle, Palpatine had an edge over Harry on two fronts.

The first was that Palpatine had spent far more time (comparatively speaking) on mental attacks than Harry. He was, in that field, an artist at using the slightest mental weakness, distracting thought or desire to his own advantage. To make matters worse his skill was hard-earned whereas Harry's wasn't learned but rather a 'gift' from the destruction of Voldemort's Horcrux and therefore more of instinct than art.

The second (and perhaps most important point) was the difference in the two men's mindsets. Harry, possibly apart from his time as a tool of the Sith, was not vicious and did not take pleasure in the death of others.

He was unyielding in his goals and would do exactly what was necessary to further them and protect his people he could be cold and ruthless but he was never cruel for the sake of being cruel and he had never developed a taste for causing pain in others.

Palpatine, on the other hand, was a true sadist and those ways of thinking, although sometimes only a fractional distinction in practice, were all too important.

The invasion of someone's mind, either by magic or the Force, was at its core an attack on someones most intimate self. It was a form of violation that defied description as much depended on how much damage the attacker wanted to do and what they were searching for.

In the hands of Palpatine, that skill would be the worst form of rape and he would enjoy such an invasion and take strength as well as pleasure from it.

It had been Harry that had realised a simple truth. If the rules of the game did not agree with one….then one must change the rules.

All of that knowledge meant nothing to Harry at this moment as, as soon as he could be sure of his own legs, dived forward and swept his wife off her feet and inhaled the scent of her hair.

"I missed you" he said brokenly.

"So did I love...so did I" was Luna's heartfelt reply.

"It was so horrible" he whispered while softly weeping into her hair.

"I know my love" she soothed "I know. Your utter despair managed to work where everything else failed though...it kept you alive and brought you here to me. Better you were in pain for a while and alive than loved for a short time and dead".

-LAFA-

"So it was all contrived?" David asked his parents much later.

"Of course it was and as soon it was possible mum contacted me" interrupted his sister. "To save us, all of us, from Palpatine and his Empire they did what they had to do".

"And" added David even as he proved he was his mother's son "it gives you both a chance at a peaceful life. The Galaxy thinks you are dead and it should stay that way. If they knew otherwise they would never leave you alone...especially now".

"You're right about that" said Harry in a serious tone. "It's also your time for the crown...too much paperwork". Although his father's hatred for any and all paperwork was legendary David doubted that was really the reason.

"So it was Mum that destroyed all of her clones?" David questioned his parents.

"Of course" she answered. "The only future I ever saw where your father stood a chance….only a chance mind you… I was dead. We tried other options, tried to find other ways, but…"

"Fate is a bitch" her daughter finished on her mother's behalf.

"So they 'recovered from 'death' and found you?" David asked his sister.

"Of course. Who better to understand what they had been through than someone who was both another 'Immortal' and family. The Galaxy isn't really suited for us on the centre stage or rulers...not really… remember our lessons about power, prices and the Balance".

"The greater the power, the higher the price and, thanks to the Balance you are never done paying for as long as you use it and often after you put it down...if you can" David said softly.

"All of us who live this way " added Luna "will have to fade into obscurity eventually. Besides everyone pays unforeseen prices". She shrugged "That's the price of a linear existence… actions with consequences that we can never foresee or truly grasp the effect of….not totally".

"So you are leaving then?" David asked his parents and after they both nodded he added to his sister "and you are going with them?"

"No brother dear" she answered. "It's not my time, not yet and not for a long time I hope, but it will come one day. Besides, do you really think that I would leave to your own devices? I also think that our parents deserve some alone time and I might just cramp their style".

"Watching his parents turn as if to leave caused a pang of great sadness to wash over him and they, sensing that, turned back for a moment.

"Just because we are leaving now it doesn't mean that we won't be back. We'll be back from time to time as and when we are able. We will always be there if you need us" Harry said firmly.

"It might be with different names and faces" added Luna " but you will always know who we are...just as you should always know we are proud of you both….always".

"What about Chime?" David couldn't help but ask even as they began to walk away.

"Who do you think guarded your father's new body while it waited for him" Luna called back over her shoulder.

Both Harry and Luna had finally begun to take their first steps unchained by Force visions or prophecy and without the overwhelming shadow of a threat on the horizon...for now at least.

-LAFA-

Afterword

There this secret family history ends, passed down from generation to generation so that we can not only understand the family secret but, more importantly, where we came from.

This has been compiled from the personal journals of the first two Silver Princes, Luna Potter and Sarah Potter. The grandchild of David also added to this book by Flow-walking their lives as and when he could.

I decided to add an afterword to this journal that was passed to me and make it available to every family member on their twentieth birthday.

This I have done so that each member can make as informed a choice as is possible. A free choice it must be, after all, between Immortality and eventually fading away or the transient beauty of mortal life.

Remember, all who will read this, that each choice carries a price. If you learn nothing else know that whatever your choice is you will never stop paying for it.

Such is life.

For the record I have chosen a 'normal' life while my two brothers have chosen Immortality and, as such, I have been the new Silver Prince for just over a week.

The cycle of life and death never ends and the Balance always wins in the end.

Life does not allow for happily ever after and even for us much has been lost to time. We do know more than a few things, however.

Most importantly, if you have read this book, the Commonwealth still exists. It thrives now (at the time I write) and the enchantments on this book are tied to its survival...if it fades so does this book.

For the historians among you (or simply the curious) Qui-gon retired from his post soon after the war with the Empire ended. History records that he became an instructor, philosopher and gardener in the Chapterhouse that was near Anakin's mother's restaurant.

The nature of their relationship is not recorded.

Lady Sarah, long after her brother had passed away, eventually stocked a ship and headed into the unknown.

It has become something of a tradition for those that choose the longer path to do so as has the fact that with that you also renounce any claim to the leadership of the Commonwealth.

It took Prince David the rest of his life but he truly earned the epitaph of the Builder. He fully amalgamated the Commonwealth with the Sectors of the former Republic. He also expanded our borders far into the unknown even as we do so today.

Like during the time of the war with the Empire peace remains the goal, not the current state. The Hutt Wars are in full swing even as we discover new territory and they are further and further isolated.

We are winning the war as it enters its third year.

The Republic is now nothing more than a memory. Its long and glorious history now merely consigned to the past as the remaining worlds are valued members of the Commonwealth.

As for Anakin? He fulfilled the Jedi's prophecy, at least in a sense, and brought balance to the Force by becoming Qui-gon's successor.

He instructed more Knights than anyone on record (of those that didn't take the long path at least) and even managed to find various groups that had previously hidden themselves from the judgemental Jedi and add their teachings to our own.

He had four children with his wife and his family now serve, if not on the Council itself then the Parliament under it, loyally. They are also friends of the Royal House and those that share Anakin's gift are often faithful bodyguards and advisors.

The blood of House Potter is still blessed with the twin gifts of Force and magic.

The story of the Jedi Order is, quite sadly, much less fruitful.

Some still live as they ended, by necessity, their prohibition on procreation. They sadly show no signs of learning anything greater than their own views and have instead rewritten history in their exile.

They now view, from what we can tell, Grandmaster Yoda as some sort of saint and more of a martyr to their cause with every passing generation. The only upside to this is, thanks to repeated inbreeding, their powers also weaken every year.

We are devils to them...ones that have unjustly imprisoned them and caused all of their problems. They cling to the idea of a Golden Age that history records never actually existed...especially as we have recovered evidence of the Sith since Darth Bane.

The Force save me from revisionist history and the wisdom of fools. The best of luck to you my beloved unknown kinsman.

Yours,

Robert III the fifteenth Prince of the Silver Commonwealth.

-THE END-