Chapter Eight: The Call of Home

Star Wars + Harry Potter Crossover

A/N: Chap 7 review responses are in my forums like normal. Thanks for reading.

Chapter Eight: The Call of Home

-Home is where Kyle Katarn says it is.

Kyle finally returned to Bastion on the fourth day after the attack. Harry felt his master almost the moment he entered the system, and could not help but fidget nervously. It had been months since he saw his master, and he deeply missed the grouchy old man.

Of course, Kyle could not come immediately to fetch his padawan. So, Harry waited and tried to meditate for hours as Kyle did whatever it was he had to do, before at last he sensed his master's presence approaching. When the door opened and Kyle walked in, Harry felt a sense of shock at just how old the Jedi Master appeared.

Just in the past few months, Kyle had lost weight and his face looked thinner and even a little gaunt. He moved slowly with exhaustion as he came in and went straight for Harry's bed. Harry felt alarm when Kyle did not even acknowledge him; instead the old Jedi laid down on the bed with a sigh.

"Kyle…master, are you alright?"

"Just tired, Harry," Kyle said gruffly.

"Were you hurt?"

Kyle must have heard the fear in Harry's voice. "Come lay down, Harry," Kyle said.

Hesitantly, Harry climbed up onto the bed and lay beside the old Jedi. Kyle smelled faintly of smoke and sweat. "Allana told me what you and Kol did," Kyle said. His voice emerged as a reedy whisper. "Kol also said that he would have died if not for you. We are all very, very proud of you."

Harry's cheeks burned. "I thought pride was a bad thing."

"Pride for one's self, perhaps. But pride for another is not, and I have a great deal of pride in you, Harry." Kyle closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

"Did you and Master Skywalker find out what happened?"

"It was the Hapans, just like Allana suspected," Kyle said. The old Jedi told Harry the full story.

The Hapan Consortium allied itself with a new order of Sith that called itself the One Sith, though it had dozens of agents despite the supposed Rule of Two. Though Kyle and Ben were not successful in tracking down the leader of the new Sith order, they were able to find out who was funding the assassination attempts.

Allana Fel, as the biological daughter of Jacen Solo and Tenel Ka, was also the Chume'da of the Hapan Consortium, and upon Tenel's death would become Queen Mother of the Hapan people. However, the noble houses of the Consortium had a deep distrust and even hatred of the Jedi and the Empire. Allana, as a trained Jedi and Empress Regent, embodied everything they feared and hated—she would be a Jedi Queen.

And so they followed the traditions of their people and made agreements with the One Sith to kill the entire Fel line. To support the sole Sith assassin who made it into the palace, the Hapans supplied almost a thousand mercenaries and armament to make even the palace waiver. They smuggled the attackers in using low-level Imperial officers who accepted bribes in the belief the soldiers were merely illegal immigrants to Bastion.

The whole conspiracy fell apart from the inside. While Allana and her loyalists viciously cleaned out the Imperial Navy, the Hapan Queen Mother herself was taking even harsher steps in the Hapan Consortium to deal with those who tried to assassinate her daughter and grandson. In the short term, it looked as if the Empire and Jedi had won the day.

"I sense a 'but' though," Harry said.

"We never found the main body of the Sith," Kyle said. "The very idea of a Sith Order that does not follow the Rule of Two is disturbing. Ben is deeply troubled by it, and has placed the whole Jedi Order on alert. We don't want to see a return to the days of the Sith Wars."

The idea was frightening to Harry as well. "Master, what if…"

Harry stopped when he realized Kyle was sound asleep. With a sad smile at his master's exhaustion, Harry pulled the bed's comforter over the old man before resuming his position beside him. There was a strange comfort in having his master so close, especially after such long isolation, and so Harry himself drifted off the sleep.

~~Katarn~~

~~Katarn~~

Harry's dreams that night were very odd, among the oddest he had ever had. He dreamed he was walking through an ancient, primitive stone castle lined with strange, metal suits of armor and portraits that moved and watched his every step as he drifted through the halls.

After some interminable time, he arrived in a long, open hall large enough possibly to fit a pair of TIE fighters on their racks. The walls were lined in huge stained-glass windows depicting odd scenes of old wizards battling fantastic beasts. The ceiling, however, showed clouds, lightning, and a rain that only fell a few feet before disappearing.

In the center of this strange hall sat a small table. On one side sat Dumbledore in baby-blue robes with his beard thrown casually over one shoulder. Opposite him sat a scintillating shadow without any discernible features save for a pair of red eyes. And between them, watching the table, stood a pensive Luke Skywalker.

Harry moved closer to the strange tableau, and as he grew closer he saw they were playing an odd variation of dejarik. Only, instead of the round hologame tables that filled the game room at the Jedi Academy on Ossus, the opponents played on a square table. Instead of holofigures, they played with astonishingly detailed figurines. The closer he came, the more detail Harry could see in the pieces. He realized this was Chess, the Earth equivalent of dejarik.

Not all pieces were people. Some looked like horrid monsters or giants. The shadow moved a piece that looked like a snarling, rabid Bothan, and Dumbledore responded by moving his own snarling Bothan to block it. The shadow advanced a figure in black robes and a silver mask, and again Dumbledore moved his own black-robed and silver-masked figure to block the advance.

The shadow moved forward a cup with an ethereal blue light, and the figure that Dumbledore moved was that of Harry Potter himself, wielding a lightsaber. Harry saw immediately that Dumbledore was putting himself into a vulnerable position, creating a Dejarik Fork. With the cup in place, the shadow could take either Harry, or the silver-masked man.

"A foolish move," the Shadow said.

"But necessary regardless," Dumbledore said.

The shadow took the cup piece, and with it knocked Harry's figure down. The moment Harry's piece fell he felt a sharp sting in his stomach.

Speaking for the first time, Luke looked sadly at Harry. "The time has come, Harry. I'm sorry, but it is time for you to go home. Your destiny has called."

The sting became a deep, grinding pain.

~~Katarn~~

~~Katarn~~

Harry woke to an empty bed and a discomfort in his stomach, which he first attributed to his dream. Reaching out with the Force, he quickly located his master in the adjoining fresher and sighed with relief.

When Kyle emerged a few minutes later, fully dressed and with his gray beard trimmed, he looked better than the previous night. His color was better, though he still looked slimmer than what Harry remembered.

"Good morning, Harry," the Jedi master said. "Hurry and shower. There is to be an awards ceremony this morning."

"What?" Harry felt his stomach twist. "I didn't think Jedi received awards!"

"We don't," Kyle said. "But for the sake of politics, you and Kol do. You both displayed the bravery and skill of fully trained Jedi despite your ages, and in so doing saved the life of the Emperor. Trust me, even Ben realizes how important this is. So, get dressed and put on your best robes."

"Yes, Kyle."

Dressed and cleaned as best he could, Harry returned to his quarters to find Kyle decked out in full Jedi regalia, something he'd never seen before. It somehow made his master look even more intimidating than normal. When they emerged into the hallway, Kyle led him to one of the many turbolifts of the palace.

They emerged in a small but luxuriously appointed anteroom that had an astonishing view of the city below, reminding Harry of the sheer size of the palace tower. A moment later, Kol walked in with Master Geffen and his parents, Master Skywalker and his wife Vestara. Vestara wore her crimson Imperial Knight armor, while Ben wore the same Jedi regalia as Kyle. There was nothing to mark him as the Grandmaster, save the sheer presence he projected into the Force. It was startling to Harry to realize that Ben was, at least in terms of presence, more powerful than Kyle was.

And with them stood Ansaki Taan. "Harry!" she said, smiling in delight.

Harry could only stare at the seventeen-year-old padawan for a moment before blinking away his shock at her appearance. She was a girl no longer—she looked like a grown woman. He smiled and bowed to her from the waist, before she shook her head and pulled him into a hug. "It feels like it's been forever! Look how tall you've grown!"

Harry could have said the same thing—she was still taller than him. But as he looked at her, he could see her delight and happiness at seeing him, but also something else that made his stomach hurt for reasons completely apart from his dream. She saw him as a boy.

"It happens, Taan," Kol said as he walked up to stand beside his friend. "You look great yourself. Did you have an adventure?"

Ansaki nodded, causing her montrals to quiver. "It was a challenge. The Hapan Consortium does not like Jedi. We were attacked five different times while we were there helping the Queen Mother. But we got it done!"

"So, Harry, why didn't you come see us?" Kol asked. "Taan's been here all day."

"I didn't know I was allowed to leave my chamber," Harry said.

Behind Kol, Vestara blinked in surprise. "What, did you think you were a prisoner?"

"Well, no," Harry said with a blush. "I just thought everyone was busy and I should remain where I was."

Kol rolled his eyes. "Force, Harry, you don't have to be perfect all the time!"

"No, but if I ever find you storing adult holovids, we will have words," Kyle said.

Kol looked as if he'd been slapped, while Harry's cheeks burned incandescent. The effect was ruined with Ansaki's laughter. "And to think the Sith-trained are supposed to be the cruel ones."

Kyle shrugged. "He's going to have plenty of time for girls to undo all of my training later, there's no point in rushing into it. Now, then…what's wrong, Harry?"

Harry had not said anything and kept his face blank, but Kyle could sense his discomfort through their link. "Just a stomach ache, Kyle. I guess I'm just nervous. I'll be fine."

Kyle gave him a long, searching look before nodding. "Well, don't be too nervous. Neither one of you will have to speak."

The door opened and a tall, blue-skinned, red-eyed Duros walked in bedecked in a sparklingly white robe of state with medallion of the Galactic Federation of Free Alliances symbol hanging from a gold chain on his chest. His bald head gleamed under the lights of the anteroom. Behind him came the Empress Regent herself.

"And these are our young heroes?" the Duros asked.

"Yes, Minister," Allana said with a smile at the two padawans. "The boy with the reddish hair is our cousin Anikol Skywalker. Beside him is Padawan Harry Potter."

The Duros's large red eyes stared unblinking at the two a moment. "Quite remarkable, the courage you have shown," he finally said. He straightened and regarded Ben. "And you as well, Master Skywalker. When I asked you to assist with this matter, I could not have imagined the task bringing danger to your family."

"The Force was with us," Ben said. "It was an honor to serve."

The Duros then turned to Kyle Katarn. "And I must say, Master Katarn, how surprised I was to see you a part of this. The last time we met, I believe your exact words to me were 'Vong would use droids before you see me again.' And yet, the Yuuzhan Vong still deplore droids, and here you are."

Kyle merely nodded his head. "What we want, and what we need are often different things, Minister Braan. As my friend said, it is an honor to serve."

The Duros, who Harry now realized was one of the Triumvirate ministers who served as the executive branch of the Alliance government, smiled calmly at the equally calm Katarn. "And you found another Padawan."

"He found me, Minister," Kyle said. "And it has been my honor to guide him to the Force. As you can see, he has already played an important role."

"Indeed, he has. All of you have," the Duros said, deciding to let Kyle off the hook for whatever it was he did before Harry met him. "The Emperor himself will be granting your awards, and I will be there to witness. It is a great thing you have done. Thank you."

With that, the audience ended and the two heads of state left the small room. When they were gone, Vestara looked at Kyle and said, "What did you do to him?"

Kyle shrugged. "He was Secretary of Defense and the Jedi Liaison before Luke died. I had to tell off someone, and it was never any fun telling Luke off. He'd just smile and shrug it off."

Ben laughed. "Yeah, I can't tell you how many arguments he won with mom doing that."

Harry's stomach twisted into a tight knot that had nothing to do with nerves, or even emotions. It felt as if someone had punched him. Still, he put on a smile, struggled to calm himself with the Force, and when the aide came he walked out with the others onto a stage.

Tens of thousands of people filled an auditorium that at first looked as if it were open to the sky, until Harry saw light reflecting off a transparent dome. The moment he and his fellow Jedi appeared, thunderous applause filled the chamber. Harry felt as if he were being pummeled from the visceral power of the sound, but he managed not to stumble at all. Kol said something, but Harry couldn't hear for the din around them.

Ahead, he saw nine-year-old Anakin Solo Fel standing in rich, purple imperial robes with a ruby-encrusted circlet around his red hair. Behind him stood Allana, resplendent in a form-fitting purple and crimson dress. Harry noticed that she wore an intricate framework of gold lace and rubies in her hair, which made it sparkle as she moved her head.

He did not hear anything she said when she spoke; his ears still roared with the applause even after it ended. He knew she spoke—he could hear the sound of it, but he did not understand the words themselves.

Before he knew it, Kyle nudged him and he stood and walked to where Kol was already standing. Nik carried a heavily jeweled gold necklace and draped it around Kol's neck; Kol had to bow down for the shorter boy.

The Emperor returned to the podium to take the second heavy chain and walked to Harry, who did not have to bow down so far. Through the incredible sound of applause, the boy-ruler's voice sounded oddly clear. "You are my kin now, by proclamation and right, Harry Potter of House Fel. Should you ever need it, you will always have a home in the Empire."

"Thank you, your majesty," Harry managed to say. His smile strained as a deeper pain boiled up from not just his stomach, but behind his sternum. He kept his feet, though, as tens of thousands of sentient beings rose to their feet to applaud the two young heroes who saved their Emperor's life.

Finally the presentation came to an end. A strong hand fell on Harry's shoulder and he looked up at Kyle's concerned face. "I sense something is wrong, Harry. Describe it."

"Pain in my stomach and chest, Kyle." He did not mention the dream he had been fighting all day to forget. "But I'll be okay. I don't sense anything physically wrong, so it must be nerves."

"If it gets worse, tell me," Kyle said in a flat, brook-no-dissention voice.

"I will."

The two joined the Duros minister and several high-ranking members of the Imperial Moff College for a reception and luncheon after the presentation. Ordinarily such a function would be a dinner that would run until the early hours of the morning, but given the ages of the honorees, it was served as a lunch instead.

Harry and Kol both sat at the head table next to Anakin, and Harry knew it was a huge honor and a testament that the Emperor thought of them not just as heroes, but as friends and kin. The fact that he and Kol were actual cousins did nothing to dispel the honor the seating represented.

Harry gritted his teeth and sat through almost an hour of toasts before food was served. Hoping the pain in his middle was just hunger, he started to reach for his cup when the pain in his stomach spiked. A snippet of blue light arced like lightening from his finger to the Ithorian crystal glass, and the cup's stem split into two crystal legs and started running down the length of the table to the shock of two moffs and an Alliance admiral.

"What the krif was that?" Kol said, momentarily forgetting his language.

Harry looked at his friend in dismay. "I didn't mean to!"

Suddenly what had been a dull ache turned into a blazing agony, like a steel-coated fist slamming into his stomach while on fire. The agony pushed him back from the table; inexplicably his plate caught fire, erupting in a column of white flame that ended with the plate and the salad on it reduced to ash.

Harry fell from his chair, clutching his stomach while guards jumped in between him and the startled Emperor. Kol ignored them and ran to Harry's side. "Harry, what's wrong?"

Before he could answer, Harry felt the constricting feeling in his gut and in the blink of an eye he was no longer on the floor by the table, but teen feet off the carpeted floor in the center of the space created by the U-shaped alignment of tables. He heard worried shouts as he fell, only to be caught in the firm grip of the Force.

To his relief, Kyle vaulted his table and started rushing to his side even as he lowered him to the ground. Harry curled up into a fetal ball as the pain increased so bad any hope of controlling it with the Force was lost, and he reared his head back and screamed.

He could not see it, but the walls around him suddenly turned green. Every dish on every table flamed into ash, while all the goblets jumped to their crystal feet and started running back and forth as if they were alive. Dignitaries scrambled for safety from the midst of chaos, certain they were under attack.

Kyle's grip was firm as he bundled Harry into his arms. It was the last thing he remembered before passing out.

~~Katarn~~

~~Katarn~~

"I don't understand how it's even possible. We've had reports of goblets running out of the palace into the city proper, and facilities has reported that any paint applied to the walls turns green instantly. They cannot find any reason for it."

The voice was strong, feminine and beautiful.

"Allana, it's a power native to the boy's planet." Kyle, then. Kyle and the Empress Regent were talking.

"I've never even heard of this Earth. Has it even been charted?"

"It's deep in the Unknown Regions, and I went there precisely because it was not charted," Kyle said dryly. "The world is a century away from any space travel, at least. They have a small subspecies of humans who are able to manipulate the Force in ways no Jedi or Sith have ever been able to, or at least not since antiquity. I studied them enough to suspect it was a different evolutionary branch of Force-users. They found a means of focusing their power, whereas the proto-Jedi used ways of enhancing themselves to use the power."

"To give life to inanimate objects?" Allana demanded. "Derdi, my primary HRD, came into my chambers crying. A droid was weeping, Kyle, with real tears. Somehow she was human, truly human. It only lasted an hour, but for that hour she was a living, breathing, feeling human being. How can any being do something like that?"

"I don't have an answer, Allana," Kyle said. "It's just how the Force expressed itself through his people. He didn't mean to disrupt anything—I sensed he was in pain from the moment he woke this morning. And if he stops pretending to be asleep, perhaps he can give us some information about what's happening."

Harry opened his eyes, fully aware that the pain remained, though not as intense as at lunch. "I'm sorry," he said, surprised at how hoarse his voice sounded.

"Don't be sorry, be detailed," Kyle said brusquely, even as he handed Harry a glass of water and gently helped him sit up to drink it.

"I had a dream last night," Harry said. "Master Luke was in it, and that old wizard, Dumbledore. He was playing a strange type of dejarik with a shadow that had red eyes. The pieces on the board were people and monsters. I was on the board, Kyle. There was a piece there that had my face."

"What happened?"

Harry described the game and Dumbledore's intentional sacrifice of Harry, and then echoed Master Luke's words.

"What does that mean?" Allana asked.

"It means exactly what Luke said," Kyle said. "Luke's already appeared to the boy—one subject of prophecy to another. It's time for us to return to Earth. Harry has a heavy destiny—there is a true prophecy concerning him and a Sith-like dark lord there."

"Is there anything we can do to help?" Allana asked. "We could dispatch a star destroyer to assist with this dark lord."

Kyle smirked. "As tempting as that is, it would do more harm than good. The planet appears to be xenophobic, not just of aliens, but most likely of Harry's subspecies as well. If they were exposed, there could be repercussions. We'll go alone."

To Harry's surprise, Allana hugged the grouchy old Jedi before kissing him square on the mouth. "I missed you, Kyle."

"I know, Allana. But what you're doing here is important, perhaps more so than anything any of us have ever done. You're creating a dynasty with a constitutional framework to keep it honest for many generations. I couldn't help you there, and I'm too old anyway."

"You aren't that old," Allana said. "Most humans can make it to two hundred if they take care of themselves."

"And haven't been beaten, shot, burned and stabbed as many times as I have," Kyle said. "Take care of your son, Allana. Take care of your Empire. I'll take care of my padawan."

Allana nodded, and then turned to Harry. To his surprise, the aloof-seeming woman hugged him as well and kissed his cheek. "Thank you for saving my son," she said to him. She released him and left the room.

"We need to leave immediately," Kyle said. "That was almost certainly a Force vision you had, and we need to contact Dumbledore to find out what the hell is happening down there."

"Yes, Kyle."

"Can you walk?"

Harry nodded and gingerly let his legs slide from the table to the floor. The pain in his stomach lessoned, but was still there. Before he could take a step, the door opened and Kol rushed in, followed more sedately by Ben Skywalker. "Stang, Harry, are you okay?"

"Yeah, mostly."

"Ben, I need to get him back to his homeworld," Kyle said.

"A message from the Force?" the Grandmaster said.

"You're dad told him to go home," Kyle said with a shrug.

Ben accepted it easily. "Then it's time for him to go. Your ship is already fueled and provisioned. How long to return him?"

"From Imperial space, only a few days," Kyle said. "Truth is, we stayed longer than either of us anticipated. It was…it was a good trip. For both of us."

Ben smiled and took the old Jedi's hand. "It was wonderful to have you back, even if only for a while. When will you return?"

Kyle looked back at Harry, then to Ben. "I don't know, Ben. It was always my intent to retire to Earth permanently."

"Then it has been my greatest honor to have known you, my friend," Ben said simply, before pulling Kyle into a long, warm hug. "Take care of yourself."

"I always do."

"Wait, you're leaving?" Kol said, staring from Kyle to Harry. "Just like that, you're leaving?"

"I'm sorry, I have to," Harry said.

"Why?"

Harry placed a hand on his stomach. "I…I think something very bad will happen to me if I don't return. But…" He suddenly found it hard to speak. "You're the best friend I've ever had."

Kol looked as if he were about to say something when Harry's simple statement brought him up short. "You too, I guess," he said. "Krif," he muttered, wiping at his eye. He then pulled Harry into a hug. "If you can, come back. You and me, we're a team, and we're not done yet."

"Skywalker and Potter," Harry said, fighting back an urge to cry. "Hey, Kol. Remember. Emotion."

"Yet peace," Kol said, sniffing. "Take care of yourself, Harry. And don't you dare forget me."

"How could I?"

And with that, the two friends parted ways.