Chapter Eleven: Merry Band of Pirates

Star Wars + Harry Potter Crossover

A/N: Chap 10 review responses are available as always in my forums. Thanks for reading!

Chapter Eleven: Merry Band of Pirates

"I have to give the woman this," Madam Rosmerta said the next morning. "She might be an utter cow and a bore, but she knows her magic."

Harry could only nod as the Lady Sofia personally led a cadre of Brazilian students, staff and alumni in clearing a tract of land in the middle of the warded circle. With deft flicks of her wand, she caused the soil to break up and plough itself in fifty-square-foot sections, while students marked out various squares to plant different seed stocks.

Meanwhile, another professor, (also Brazilian since the school was the only one that had not tied its wards into the life of its staff to survive) prepared pens to hold their surviving magical livestock.

"How's housing going?" Harry asked.

Rosmerta shrugged and nodded off in the distance where low earthen structures were already beginning to line the perimeter of the wards. "Three square miles is a tight fit for eighteen thousand people," she said. "But everyone knows it's only temporary. We met last night, the old cow and me, and we agreed that the first permanent buildings need to be a civic centre, which will double as a grain storage place, and the school. We did a rough count, and we have over five thousand kids under 17. Maybe close to six thousand."

"Not surprising, really," Harry said softly.

"We've also picked the rest of the Wizenmeet. You ever meet old Bartleby Scrivenshaft?"

"The scrivener?"

"Right. Sharp head for business, that man. Known him almost all my life—he's the one who really taught me how to balance my books. The rest of the Hogsmeade contingent knows him too, so he'll be the second Brit. The Brazilians picked two more of their people. And you're the third Brit."

"Me?"

"Why not?" Rosmerta said with a shrug. "We know you won't be around much, but you deserve a seat at the table. As much as I hate to admit it, I agreed to let old Sofia be the Prime Minister. It was easier than arguing with her."

That Harry believed. The woman reminded him entirely too much of Dumbledore. "Well, if we're going to make a government, we should make it right. Where are Bill's people?"

"Warding out the school," she said. "It's going to take years to build it, so short-term were going to build some temporary structures to house the students. If you don't mind, I could use your help with it."

"Right, let's go."

That night, Harry, Rosmerta, Lady Sofia, Bartleby Scrivenshaft, and the two Brazilians, Jose Carvalho and Adriana Melo, met inside the newly transfigured adobe structure. The temporary building would, until the new school was finished, house a projected student population of almost six thousand young witches and wizards.

The moment they sat down at the conjured table, Lady Sofia began her agenda, which consisted of her telling the others what she wanted done. She wanted all able-bodied adults to finish the school building first. She wanted a new curriculum prepared in Portuguese with her native language to be the official language of the colony since most of the students spoke it, and…

"Yeah, I'm going to have to say no," Harry said.

Lady Sofia, like Dumbledore, blinked in surprise at the unusual occurrence of someone daring to interrupt her. "What did you say, young man?" The tone was of a teacher warning a student to keep their mouth shut.

Harry grinned. "First off, Sofia, don't let my face fool you. I am forty five. I am the last Mage General of the ICW, and if I need to remind you, you're alive today because of me. I am not one of your students, and if it came down to it I could thrash you in a magical duel. I respect you for your knowledge and accomplishments, but only so far as you respect me for mine."

The two other Brazilians actually looked more affronted than Lady Sofia did.

"As for my objections, the curriculum needs to be in Galactic Basic. Every person in this colony, adult or child, needs to be able to speak it."

"Why, Mr. Potter?" Scrivenshaft asked, although respectfully. Harry knew the Brits revered him, and was conscious not to try and take advantage of that fact.

"We woke up one morning, and discovered we weren't alone in the galaxy," Harry told them. "Not only did we lose our naiveté, we lost our innocence as well. We discovered that our neighbours weren't just prats, but they were murdering, fascist pricks. We can't bury our heads in the sand and hope they go away. We need to be able to engage both enemies and allies, and become a part of the greater galaxy. Not right away, but eventually. And to do that, we must speak the lingua franca of the galaxy—that is, Galactic Basic."

"Perhaps a language potion might work," Scrivenshaft muttered as he made a few notes on a conjured piece of parchment.

"There are five chairs on my ship that are capable of transferring information directly into our minds," Harry said. "It is an example of how advanced the technology of the galaxy is. We know from our own experience that their war machines are beyond our comprehension. Well, their technology is advanced in other areas too. They had robots that can think on their own, and they have the technology to plant information right into our minds."

The other members of the impromptu government shared startled looks. "Now, before you get too many ideas, I'm going to be looking for volunteers to man the ship. There was a price for my saving you, and that is joining the Alliance to overthrow the Empire that destroyed our world. Those volunteers will have priority on the chairs. But before we leave, we'll take all but one of the chairs and their power unit and leave them here. There is a language program in them, along with programs for basic technological concepts common throughout the galaxy."

"That is…quite remarkable," Sofia allowed.

Harry nodded at the acknowledgment. "Lady Sofia, if I remember correctly you were at the ICW Charter Convention of 2000, correct?"

"Well, yes, I suppose I was at that. It was quite some time ago, though."

"Good. The revised Charter of 2000 established the magical world government. I think, here and now, that we should abolish the idea of nation-states before they get started. We are not going to survive as Brazilians or British. The only way we can survive is as magicals, working together toward a common goal."

"I do not think turning ones back on their heritage is the way to live!" Lady Sofia said.

"With respect, Lady Sofia," the younger of the two Brazilians, Adriana Melo, said. "I think Senhor Potter is correct."

"Merlin knows London is gone," Scrivenshaft said. "And if we all learn this new language, then really what is there to divide us?"

"It's more than just nationality," Harry said. "Lady Sofia, you've mentioned repeatedly how successful the magical agricultural program was at your school, which I'm guessing includes livestock. There are only eighteen thousand of us left as the whole population. If we self-segregate, what are the odds of a strong, viable population in the future?"

"I do not think we would die out, if that's what you're suggesting."

"But we would not be as strong," the other Brazilian, Jose Carvalho admitted. If Harry recalled, the man was a professor of magical creatures and was one of Charlie's group when they did the initial searches. "I actually agree with Mr Potter in this regard. We should encourage all the children of the different schools to comingle."

"And with one school, and one language, we will develop our own culture," Rosmerta said. "Why not make the Carnival an Avalon holiday? It's a new world, with a new calendar. We can name our own months, set our own holidays. Think about it, woman! We're on a new world, and there is no one else to tell us what to do."

By the time Harry got back to the captain's quarters on the ship three hours later, he felt as if his mind had been wrung out like a sponge. The Hogwarts contingent had a Pensieve, and using his memories of the convention Harry helped the others recreate the Charter of Avalon, which was based on the ICW Charter of 2000. It created a core set of instructions to form the government, including a Wizenmeet that would increase in size as their population increased. It also established a judiciary and outlined specifically the powers of the Prime Minister as an executor of the Wizenmeet's laws.

The next day Harry began recruiting volunteers for his crew. He was happy when Bill, Fleur and Charlie all volunteered, though it was not a surprise, really. Teddy tried to volunteer, but Harry took one look at Victoire's face and shook his head. "You're one of only a handful of people to complete Auror training," Harry said. "They're going to need you here to establish a law enforcement division. It's only a matter of time before those thousands of kids realize there aren't enough adults to keep them in line."

Teddy didn't fight too hard, which in Harry's mind confirmed he'd made the right decision.

Some of his recruits just made him shake his head. "Madam Malkin?"

The elderly witch, formerly of Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions, smiled gaily at Harry. "Harry Potter, you remember me?"

"How could I not? You made me stand in my skivvies first year to measure me for my formal robes."

She pinched his cheek. "And it was a delight for the girls in the back for you to do so."

"You know this is going to be a ship in battle, right?"

She waved his concerns away. "Lad, I'll have you know old Minerva McGonagall and I were both members of the Harpies, a unit of witches that fought with Albus against Grindelwald's dark wizards. I may be old, but I'm not above a good fight if necessary. You don't worry about me, laddie."

And in truth, though they might not have made the most energetic crew in the world, Harry saw a certain value in having his volunteers be older simply for the health of the colony. The younger people who were at or near child-bearing age were too important to the survival of wizard kind to risk in a possibly suicidal mission on a ship that could blow up at any time just because it was so old.

So he welcomed the elder witches and wizards aboard along with those his own age. He had the neural interface chairs running constantly, shuttling his volunteers in and out as fast as he could. They ended up staying on Avalon for twelve days, during which he recruited almost three hundred witches and wizards. When he was done shuffling them through the neural interfaces, he and Bill levitated the heavy machinery into the temporary civic centre slash silo slash barn. The structure, made up of wood prepared by magic and glazed earthen transfiguration, was the only finished structure large enough to safely house the chairs and their power generator.

"Teachers first," Harry said, something that Lady Sofia wholeheartedly agreed to.

On the day he left, the colony had managed to harvest seven out of the twelve grain crops they planted through the use of magically accelerated growth. Of the grains, amaranth, barley, flax, spelt, and a relatively new strain of wheat that made the cultivators celebrate, since it was a highly productive and nutritious grain, all thrived. Most of the melons failed, but several legumes and vegetables thrived as well, including lentils.

Aiding in the decision to depart for Harry was the fact that the local herbivores were entirely edible. In fact, they tasted a great deal like turkey. And with the knowledge that his people would be able to produce their own food, Harry decided it was time to uphold is part of the agreement with the Rebel Alliance.

~~Revenge~~

~~Revenge~~

Harry had a crew of three hundred witches and wizards for the Phoenix, some of whom were in their nineties. Granted, for magicals that was the equivalent of sixty, but it meant he did not have strong, spritely bodies running around the ship to keep it running at peak performance. Even if he did, the ship even when new required a crew of 700. The Phoenix was nowhere near peak operation. In fact it was a miracle it survived the landing on Avalon, much less taking off.

But the witches and wizards were now trained in its operation thanks to direct neural interfaces and were doing their best to keep the old wreck running. The reports of what worked and what didn't were enough to make Harry's head spin. A lone TIE-fighter could have destroyed them with a single shot.

Par for the course, Harry thought.

Once he had a fairly good idea of the status of their ship, Harry used the secure gold command channel to contact the Alliance. In mere minutes, he was connected directly to General Vernan, the head of Alliance Intelligence.

"Colonel Potter, a pleasure to finally speak to you," the holographic figure said. "I read Captain Talkar's reports of your journey when he and your loaner crew returned. It was good to learn you did experience at least some success in your rescue mission."

"Sure, I managed to save just over eighteen thousand people out of a population of almost eight billion," Harry said dryly. "It was a great success."

Vernan nodded but did not accept the rebuke. "It was eighteen thousand more people than survived Alderaan," he pointed out. "In this fight, success is relative. I know that does not ease your pain, but you must know others suffer as well. Regardless, I wished to discuss with you possible missions."

"This ship is a death trap," Harry said. "It wouldn't survive any combat."

Vernan nodded. "This I believe. However, one of the potential missions might help resolve your situation. Have you ever heard of a Type II Orbital Repair Yard?"

"No, but it sounds promising," Harry said. "At least the 'repair' part."

Holographic Vernan smiled. "I thought it might. I know from your debrief that you are intimately familiar with the Empire's propensity for slave labour. One of their favourite labour pools are Wookiees because of their inherent strength and technical savvy. We've recently learned that the Imperial Outpost on Arbentraal IV employs a workforce of almost four thousand Wookiee slaves on the orbital repair yard there. The station is guarded by a battalion of four hundred Stormtroopers, as well as a garrison on the surface. Intelligence suggests a squadron of at least one hundred TIE fighters."

"Okay, I'm waiting for the part where I have a chance," Harry said.

Vernan's shrug somehow reminded Harry of Alastor Moody. "You figured out a way for small squad of snubfighters to destroy the largest, most powerful space station ever built. You found a way to escape the Death Star with Princess Leia. With someone of your particular skill-set, I won't deign to tell you how to do anything. I merely wish to give you your targets, and leave the particulars to you."

Harry thought about it a moment before nodding. "Right, send me what you have."

The data came just moments later. When he received it, Harry called what he had labelled as his command crew together into the ripped up old conference room on the command deck of the ship, which at the moment was simply drifting on minimal power through empty space.

Charlie Weasley, Bill and Fleur, and a Brazilian Auror named Maria De La Rosa sat around a conjured table while looking over the holographic summary of data. Harry was looking expectantly at Bill the curse-breaker or Maria the Auror to instantly come up with an idea, but it was Fleur who spoke first.

"You have over three hundred magicals aboard," she said with an elegant, Gallic shrug. "Just cast a mass glamour over the ship. According to this, we are not so much larger than…what is it called…a Vindicator star destroyer, yes? So, let us be one of those seeking a refit."

Bill sat up attentively. "You know, that's a pretty good idea."

"These aren't idiot Muggles," Maria said with a shake of her head. Though she lacked Harry's immediate command experience, she'd served as an Auror for twenty-five years and had a good head. "They will have protocols to identify us. They have instantaneous communication across the galaxy and will no doubt check our identities."

"We have one thing they don't, though," Charlie pointed out.

"Magic," Harry agreed. "If we can get the ship into the dock, we can Apparate en mass to the command module on the dock. We don't even have to kill the crew; just put them all under the Imperius."

Maria looked hard at Harry. "That is dark magic."

"There are degrees I'm willing to take when dealing with the people who destroyed our world," Harry responded coldly. "The Imperius Curse is an Unforgiveable, but it's primarily an extension of Legilimency. It's not dark magic in that it will not stain your soul to use it. And if we target only the highest-ranking officers, we will only have to worry about keeping a handful under control."

"What about these alien Sasquatches? The Wookiees?" Fleur asked.

"They'll help us for a promise of freedom," Harry said. "They are not willing or happy slaves."

He leaned forward and looked at the four other witches and wizards around the table. "These Imperials are as close to evil as we're going to get. Their raised on a diet of propaganda as vile as anything Voldemort could have done. And they are, at the end of the day, despoilers and destroyers. I've pledged this ship to the Alliance to defeat these bastards, and you've pledged yourselves to this ship. So, let's make this plan work."

~~Revenge~~

~~Revenge~~

Naturally there were two ships ahead of the Phoenix awaiting repairs. One was already in the dock, while the other maintained a similar orbit a few klicks away. So far, the old security code Vernan provided, and the glamour charms on their beat-up old ship, kept the fury of the Empire from descending on them.

"So, what the hell is that?" Harry asked, pointing to the ship ahead of them.

"Immobilizer 418 Interdictor Cruiser, according to the computer," a seventy-year-old former bookkeeper from Hogsmeade said. The oldest of Harry's volunteers manned the bridge just so they wouldn't have to run around the ship too much, which included Madam Malkin among them. "According to the computer, it has a standard crew of almost three thousand. But mainly it's used to yank enemy ships out of hyperspace."

Harry blinked, and then looked around the bridge. Maria, Fleur and Charlie were all looking back with the same eager faces. "So, any way to figure out how many people are on board right now?"

"We're all one big, Imperial family," Booker, as Harry internally named the man, said. "Most of their crew is on shore leave on the planet below. They have a skeleton crew of a hundred or so people awaiting repairs to their aft forward gravity well projector."

"Do you think we could keep both ships?" Charlie asked.

"We can't afford to be too greedy," De La Rosa said. "We don't have the crew for even this ship. If we stretch ourselves to try to repair the Phoenix and steal that thing, we will be asking for failure."

"She's right," Harry decided. "This ship will not be combat worthy any time soon, and from what I understand the Alliance doesn't have the material or personnel to refit it anyway. Vernan may very well have realized that when he sent us here. But we have a means of travel the Imperials can't stop. I say we send one guided Portkey over with a beacon to lead others, and we take all but the bridge crew over and take that ship. We stay with both vessels until its repaired, then we offer the Wookiees a way out and ram the Phoenix into the shipyard."

"It is a lot prettier than this piece of junk," Bill noted.

"Okay, Fleur map out a Portkey route and make the Portkey for me—I trust your Arithmancy more than my own," Harry said. "Charlie, get the first squad together. No messing around on this—our shield charms probably won't stop blaster bolts, so we need the first group ready to use lethal magic without hesitation."

"We'll do our best," Charlie said. "How will you signal us?"

Harry tossed the man an Imperial credit chit. "Protean Charm. It'll vibrate twice to attack, once to hold the operation in case something goes wrong.

Fleur, meantime, was drawing glowing symbols in the air with her wand while she quickly worked through a problem that would have taken Harry an hour. With a firm nod, she summoned a piece of loose metal from the junk pile in the far corner of the bridge and created the Portkey. "It's ready."

Harry took the piece of metal and smiled. "Wait for my signal, and wish me luck."

"You're the Master of Death," Dela Rosa said. "You don't need luck. Only mercy."

Needless to say, the Brazilians were shaken by Harry's unofficial title. He gave the Auror a firm nod. "Noted. Portus."

He felt the familiar hook in his navel but knew from experience that the trick to riding a Portkey was to go as boneless and relaxed as you could. The ride was disconcerting not just because of the distance travelling four-thousand kilometres between ships, but also doing so through empty vacuum. He felt the vacuum sucking at his lungs, but the magic of the Portkey blunted the full effects of decompression. He did notice that it got worse toward the end, though.

He landed with a gasp, a flash of cold, and the cold, hard metal of a star destroyer's floor plating under his knee. He could feel ice crystals forming on his skin but with a wandless warming charm the crystals turned instantly to sweat. Moments after landing, he summoned his invisibility cloak and only then stood.

He realized as he walked through the wide, colourless halls something that should have occurred to him. The Phoenix was relatively easy to get around in because it was largely hollow, designed to carry large numbers of ships, armaments and soldiers. This craft was not designed to carry large numbers of soldiers, and the layout was labyrinthine at best. And worse yet, the ship was huge. Even with his new appreciation of just how big 600 meters truly was, he felt lost and small on board the largely idle and empty craft.

It finally took a computer terminal and an inquiry before Harry was able to find his way to the bridge. When he did, he discovered the bridge was locked off by two thick blast doors that required a very long security code that Harry could not even possibly guess at. He tried an Alahomora, and immediately set off an alarm.

"Bugger," he whispered as two large repeater blaster cannons dropped from the roof on either side of the door. The guns began aggressively scanning the hall while Harry stood frozen in fear and hope. Just how good was the cloak against modern technology?

Good enough.

The door opened and an ensign stuck his head out to see what happened. With a clear line of sight ahead of him, Harry Apparated four meters forward and appeared, still invisible, on the command deck. A quick glance revealed a small crew of less than twenty people. The rest must have been elsewhere about the ship.

Ghosting forward while the ensign reported what they thought must have been a computer glitch; Harry reached the captain and silently cast Legilimens. He easily sorted through the man's bored, wholly unprepared mind to pull out security codes and other essential information.

The moment he pulled out of the captain's mind, he then cast the Imperius. The captain stiffened. "Ladies, gentlemen," the captain said loudly. "Since it appears we will be here for some time, please stand at attention. There is something I wish to discuss."

The bridge crew, which appeared to be overwhelmingly male save for a token communications officer, fell into formation. With all of them gathered conveniently together, the area-wide stunning spell for crowd dispersal worked especially well. All twenty bridge crew dropped where they stood.

With the sole remaining Imperial under his control, Harry activated the protean charm on his coin. Moments later, a squad of fifty witches and wizards appeared. All of them fell to the floor gasping and choking for air. They all appeared with a thin coating of ice. "Blimey, that sucked!" Charlie announced.

De La Rosa gathered herself first and observed the situation. "Crowd stunner?"

"Works nine times out of ten," Harry agreed. "There are approximately eighty other people spread through the ship. I've legillimised the captain and know who and where they are. I'm going to summon groups of five at a time to the bridge. The ship is scheduled to move forward in an hour and we need to have control of it by then."

"Should we steal uniforms?" Fleur asked.

"Yeah," Harry said. "Those of you who know Legilimency feel free to use it on your subject. It might be a way to learn a little more about the ship. The layout is a little different than the Phoenix. But one way or the other, this is now our ship."

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Author's Note: Once again I just wish to stress just how much I appreciate Teufel1987, JR and Miles for beta reading yet another of my stories. As always, they make everything better.