Chapter Thirteen: Escaping The Station

Star Wars + Harry Potter Crossover

A/N: Chap 12 review Responses are in my forums as normally. Thank you all for reading.

Chapter Thirteen: Escaping The Station

The air grew thicker, which allowed Harry to breathe deeply. As he did so, an array of hurts and bruises made themselves known. Ordinarily his magic would be healing everything at once, but as depleted as he was, everything was going slower than normal.

With a groan at the effort, Harry pushed himself back to his feet and looked around to see what was left. Captain Antrose was gone, likely sucked through the window. Sheddis' body had been dragged by the vacuum from his office and now sprawled on the floor in the middle of the space. The young lieutenant, though, squatted down by a cubicle with an expression of terror. Though it took much more concentration than it should have, Harry renewed the Imperius curse on the lieutenant and ordered him to go to this station and look up the status of the repairs.

"Repairs are moving quickly," the lieutenant reported dully. "The damage was minimal, and we had parts in place. The repair should be done within the hour."

"Open a secure channel to the ship's bridge," Harry ordered.

When the connection came online, Harry saw a worried Fleur looking at him over the two-dimensional monitor. "'Arry, are you alright?"

"Yeah, had to fight a space wizard."

One elegant blonde brow rose. "Is that why you look like shite?"

"Yeah. You should see the other guy. He should be passing in front of your windows any second now. How's Maria?"

"She's cursing you in Portuguese," Fleur said. "The ship has an amazing medical bay, though. The robot there is already taking care of her. She said to tell you how lucky you are that it was not her wand arm."

Harry shuddered at the thought. "Thank Merlin. Repairs will be done in an hour. I'll be over as soon as I can. I may need some help, though. That space wizard was tough, I'm nearly tapped out, and that replenishing trick the friendly space wizard showed me requires time I don't have. I have a couple of Dispparations in me, and not much else."

Fleur pursed her pretty lip. "If you need us, 'Arry, just send a signal."

"Yeah, I will. We're almost there, Fleur."

Because it required no active magic on his part, Harry summoned his cloak and disappeared from view. He would later claim to his crew it was because he knew the operation had gone wonky, but in truth it was just his normal paranoia. However, in this case the paranoia saved his life. Just seconds after going invisible, a squad of four Stormtroopers rushed into the command deck.

"Hands up!" the Stormtroopers demanded.

The lieutenant, still under Harry's control, was too slow to respond. "He's compromised, fire!" one of the troopers ordered. Despite being one of their own officers, the four Stormtroopers did just that, gunning the unfortunate lieutenant down without hesitation. Harry, shaking his head, moved as quietly as he could under the cloak toward the door.

He slowed when he reached it, however, when he saw a grid of barely visible red lines criss-crossing the still-open passage. Behind it, he saw three e-web automated blaster cannons, almost fifty Stormtroopers kneeling with their weapons pointed at the door, and behind them more Stormtroopers at stiff attention with their weapons at the ready.

"Room appears to be clear," one of the four Stormtroopers said. "Bring in the deep scanning crew. Remember, the rebel has a new type of cloaking device that can only be detected through resonance scanning."

That was new. From his stolen memories of Lieutenant Holdig, Harry knew what resonance scanning was—sound waves at above-human perception would almost certainly detected him even with his cloak. The cloak hid him from sight and most perceptions human or electronic, but did not actually remove him from the physical dimension.

He started to Apparate when he smelled something that made his magic tingle. With his depleted magic, it took some effort to cast a bubble-head charm, but he was glad he did. The deep scanning crew arrived wearing gas-masks. These imperials were smart.

Still invisible, Harry walked to the corner by the door and placed his hand on the floor. It took sweat-inducing effort, but he managed to conjure a small, single spark of Fiendfyre. The spark would grow to consume the whole station, but only with time. Nothing but an absence of fuel would put it out. It did not even need air, the fire was so deadly. But with just a spark to start, he likely had half an hour before it became anything worth noticing.

Harry Apparated out of the command deck and had to fight to keep from passing out with the effort. Where's Leia to help me when I need her? He thought to himself. Or old Kenobi, for that matter.

If he had more magic, Harry would have tried to do something more direct to the platoon of Stormtroopers that surrounded the command station, but at that moment he could not risk it. A quick look out of a transparisteel window revealed the droids and slaves putting the dome back on their stolen ship. A quick repair job indeed.

A search of the station's directory revealed the slave quarters were one deck down. Harry took the lift and emerged in a completely different world. Where the station above was brightly lit with little touches of home, the lower level looked and smelled like a dungeon, with cells filled with huge, stacked cots.

Wookiees sat dejectedly in the rooms grunting to each other, while still more were coming in from the airlocks. Still invisible, Harry moved into the cell. Immediately the Wookiees began sniffing the air and growling warnings.

There were security cameras in the cell, so Harry did not dare reveal himself. Instead, he whispered. "I am a friend. Do not let the Imperials know I'm here. Who is the elder here?"

In Shyriwook, the Wookiee growled out, "Cell 6."

"If I give you the opportunity, would you and your brethren escape?"

"Only fools and madclaws seek enslavement," came the barked response. For a Wookiee, it dripped sarcasm.

Harry snorted, and then walked out of the cell into the narrow corridor. He saw a human overseer in light grey with a hefty stun baton looking about with narrow eyes. He must have been either an extraordinarily brave man, or stupid.

Or he has another weapon I can't see.

Legilimency did not require a great deal of magic, so Harry did not hesitate to walk up to the man under his cloak and dive into his mind. He realized immediately that it was not bravery that allowed the man to walk so freely among creatures that could rip him limb-from-limb with ease. It was confidence. He had a dead-man switch tied to slave implants in every one of the Wookiees.

There was a second switch in the control room as well that would allow the shipyard commander to, with the touch of a button, kill every Wookiee on the station.

Reduced almost to school yard jinxes, Harry cast a petrificus on the overseer, followed by a low-level sleeping charm. Before the man could tip over, Harry caught him and propped him up against a support beam. He heard Wookiees sniffing and growling interrogatories at each other, and when he turned around he buried his nose in a mat of grey fur that kept going up and up.

The creature growled dangerously and grabbed him by the shoulders despite being invisible. The ease with which he hoisted Harry into the air was disconcerting to say the least. "I'm a friend!" Harry gasped.

"Show yourself!" the elder growled.

"If I do, the Imperials will know I'm here and kill you all! I know about the implants in your heads. My name is Harry Potter with the Alliance to Restore the Republic. Before that, I was a friend to Shewtalla the Wookiee. We were both slaves on Despayre. I tried to save your people there but failed. I came to try again for her memory. That ship out there is mine, and I want to take you all with me when we leave."

The great pepper-grey Wookiee put him down. "The white heads above will shoot us if we flee. If they do not, Sheddis will kill us with his bombs." The elder pointed this out with a series of grunts, growls and howls.

"I can safely evacuate all of you to the ship," Harry said. "But I need the ship's repairs done first. How long until they're done?"

"Twenty-minutes," the Elder said.

"Okay, please listen. Soon there's going to be an alarm. I've planted a type of firebomb in the command centre that they will not be able to stop. They'll put you all in lockdown while they try. When that happens, my people will return with the means to transport you to the ship. It will be most effective if you group yourselves into ten each. How many Wookiees are there total?"

"Fifteen hundred," the Elder said.

Harry frowned. "I thought there were over four thousand."

"There were." To human ears Shyriwook sounded like grunts, barks and growls. But once one learned the language, it was incredibly emotive. There was no doubt from the sadness and loss communicated in the Elder's growl that the others were all dead.

"No more, then," Harry said. "Leave the overseer as he is. We'll return as soon as we can."

The Elder nodded and released him. It took far more concentration and effort than normal, but Harry was able to Apparate to the bridge of his ship. And then his legs gave out.

"Harry!" Blinking in an effort to focus eyes that, though corrected with Muggle surgery years ago, sometimes still seemed slow when tired, Harry saw Charlie and Bill leaning down on either side. "Is everyone here?" he asked.

"Yeah, the away team said you were fighting some kind of dark lord!"

"Yeah, he kicked my ass."

"Did you win?" Charlie asked.

"Of course, that's what I do. Help me up." With the two brothers' help, Harry sank into the captain's station chair by a holographic tactical array. "Does the station realize the ship is compromised?"

"No, Fleur has the boarding party all paralyzed under her allure," Bill said with a smirk. "As far as the station is concerned, you must have snuck aboard without anyone the wiser. Supposedly they'll be done with repairs in about twenty minutes. But…"

"But what?"

"The planetary garrison has been alerted," Charlie said. "The ship's crew is being recalled. They have almost a thousand people planning on boarding this ship, and as pretty as Fleur is she can't subdue that many people with her allure alone. Once they get here, the gig is up."

"Well, that's not the real problem," Harry said. "I lit a spark of Fiendfyre in the command station, and all the Wookiees have explosives in their heads."

"Yeah, that's a problem," Bill muttered. "What is it with you and fire, Harry?"

"I'll tell you, someday. It involves Dumbledore and a lake full of Inferi." He took a deep, shuddering breath. "Start making rope Portkeys. I want the away-team ready to Portkey to the Wookiee slave quarters as soon as possible. We'll need to bring the overseer too since he has a dead man switch with the Wookiees. I'll have to go first to lead them, then they can Apparate in on me."

"You can barely stand," Bill noted.

"Yeah, noticed that. Have any pepper-up potion?"

Charlie snorted. "We haven't had pepper up potion since before the Imperials bombed the planet. We used up our supply in Britain during the first few days fighting."

Harry sighed. "Yeah, I remember. I used quite a few myself."

Now that he wasn't surrounded by people trying to kill him, Harry he tried to recall specifically how Obi-Wan helped him replenish his depleted magic after the Death Star, but though he could remember the feeling perfectly, he could not recall specifically how to achieve it.

"Bugger. Get on the Portkeys, I'll work something out."

The Brazilian away team, men and women in their forties and fifties, returned to the bridge. They were the youngest and fittest of his volunteers. He noticed how they looked at him with a lot more respect than just an hour ago. It was a look he grew accustomed to as Mage General when his people saw him in action. There was recognition in their eyes that yes, he actually did know what the hell he was doing, and that he was really good at it.

"We're going to be rescuing space Sasquatches," he told them. "They are sentient, technologically savvy creatures. Though they cannot speak Basic, they can understand it perfectly. You can probably use a translation spell if you know it and that would also work. There are fifteen hundred, and we need to Portkey them all to this ship. And we have to do it fast. We have… Charlie?"

"Fifteen minutes," Charlie said.

"Fifteen minutes to get them all over here," Harry said. "After that, we have Fiendfyre and lots of angry Imperials to choose from when trying to pick which way we want to die. Any questions?"

There were none. With an effort of will, Harry forced himself to stand and walk over to them. "How are the Portkeys coming?"

"I've finished ten," Bill said. The strain of making the Portkeys showed in the red of his face.

"We can help," some members of the away team said. Four of them knew how to make Portkeys as well, and together they had twenty done in minutes.

"We can't wait," Harry said. "I'll take the first batch with me. Alvarez, come with me. Two more come over when you have at least twenty ready."

He and Alvarez appeared with a loud, clumsy pop in the middle of the slave corridor. The Wookiees stood and backed away in surprise. Harry activated his cloak and Alverez quickly disillusioned herself. Harry quickly found the Elder Wookiee.

"Do you have the first group ready?" he asked.

"Behind you." Harry turned and saw a grouping of ten of the creatures. Once again he was reminded just how very big they were.

Alvarez muttered a curse in Portuguese. "They are very big," she noted.

"Yep. Elder, have twenty groups ready, they'll be going out very quickly, ten at a time. Alvarez, I need you to activate the Portkeys. I'm tapped out.'

"Sim. Come, big ones. Time to go!"

Still shrouded in her disillusionment charm, Alvarez took one of the twenty ropes and handed it over. "Each of you grab it, and do not let go. You will not like the ride, but it will take you safely to our ship. Do you understand?"

At the chorus of growls, she put her wand to the rope and said, "Portus."

The Elder grunted in shock when the ten Wookiees disappeared. "Next!" Harry called.

As narrow as the corridor was, it was difficult for the Wookiees to move around freely. This, Harry thought, was the intent behind the architecture. Still, the next group quickly formed and was gone, followed by a third and fourth. Two more of his away team arrived with more Portkeys, and the Elder finally began to think they would make it.

~~Revenge~~

~~Revenge~~

"Oh fuck me," Charlie muttered.

Bill looked up in alarm at his brother's declaration and then followed his gaze to the command module that rose up from the centre of the large station, of which their berth was only one of six, though the others evidently were not functioning because of the lack of staff and available slaves.

The inside of the module glowed with bright orange light so bright it was visible even from their distance and shone almost like a beacon. "Oh yeah, the Fiendfyre," Bill muttered.

A cloud of orange flame exploded out from the module, consuming it entirely in the maw of what actually looked like a demon. Most Fiendfyre took on the shape of animals, but in the vacuum of space the fire looked as if it were truly a product of hell. It did not burn as hot or as fast as it would within the atmosphere of a planet, but it still burned and began creeping down the module toward the station proper.

"Will someone in the next group tell Harry his fire fetish is about to come back and burn him?" Bill said.

~~Revenge~~

~~Revenge~~

Harry knew the fire had matured when all the station alarms went off. "Well, figures," he muttered. Alverez was gone; having handed out all her Portkeys and the next group was as well. They returned for more while the third group handed out theirs. The Wookiees were moving as fast as they could, while Harry stayed near the Elder and the still-petrified overseer.

"How are the repairs coming?"

"Five minutes," the old Wookiee barked. "What is happening? Is this the fire bomb?"

"Yep."

The next group included forty Portkeys, and Charlie Weasley. "Harry, that fire is…"

"Yeah, I know. Did you pull in more enchanters?"

"Yeah." He then saw the Elder and his eyes widened. "Wow, you are beautiful. And they understand basic?"

"I understand you just fine, red one," the Elder said.

Charlie's eyes bulged even more, and to Harry's utter shock, he growled back. "I understand you. Teach me your tongue?"

His perfect imitation shocked the Elder almost as much as it shocked Harry. Meanwhile, the Brazilians were wide-eyed as they virtually threw the Portkeys at each oncoming column of what seemed like an endless stream of Wookiees.

"Can the Portkeys handle twenty at a time?" Harry asked.

"As big as these Wookiees are?" Charlie said. "Not a chance. They're showing up coated in ice and it's not even a half-mile trip, that's how much their weight is straining the magic. We'll just have to keep at it until…"

The whole station shook violently. "Well," Charlie said, paling. "Maybe we could fit twelve per Portkey."

"Twelve!" Harry shouted. "Twelve per rope!"

"How are you doing this, Unsighted One?"

"Magic," Harry said. "We're wizards. Like Jedi, only more awesome."

"Not to mention cocky," Charlie said. The next group arrived and the old one popped away. The Wookiees were running now and grunting in fear as a deep, terrible roar rumbled through the station arm that housed the slave section. The air began to grow hot, but more than the heat was a sense of impending doom that was as much an effect of the demonic fire as the heat was.

"It seemed like a good idea at the time," Harry muttered.

Charlie glared at him.

"Last groups coming up!" Harry didn't recognize the voice, but he was very pleased to see an end at last to the line of Wookiees. "Last Portkey is for us!" Harry shouted.

The last group of Wookiees disappeared, and the remaining Brazilian ran to join Harry, Charlie and the Elder. Before Charlie was able to activate the Portkey, the wall behind them glowed red for a moment before it suddenly bulged and melted away before a horrifically smiling ball of yellow-red flame.

"Portus!" Charlie screamed.

A second later, Harry stumbled against the Elder on the bridge of the star destroyer. The Elder roared his discontent with the travel method, which Harry secretly agreed with. It was a rough ride, even for a Portkey, which meant the people making it themselves were straining their magic to do so.

He looked up in time to see Bill shouting at Booker and Madam Malkin, who were both manning the actually flight controllers. "Take us out, bugger the moorings!" Outside the bridge, it seemed as if all of space had come alive with billows of evil orange flame.

"TIE fighters and assault shuttles are in-bound!" another of the older witches manning the bridge called.

"We're about to die," Booker added dryly. "Just thought I'd get that out there."

"Not if you move us you old coot!" Malkin shouted.

The shipyard was built along a singular plane, and so rather than try to back out Malkin and Booker put the huge ship into a steep dive down and away from the station, toward the on-coming TIE-fighters and assault shuttles.

Harry stood with the others, every hair on his body standing on end, as the Fiendfyre reached the arms of the berth where they were just moments before. The flame billowed out like arms reaching to embrace them in flame, but the ship had moved just far enough that the fire barely missed them. And without out any air to fuel it, the Fiendfyre could not shoot itself out like it might have on Earth.

"Excellent," Harry said. "Now…"

And that's when the TIE fighters and assault shuttles began to open fire on them. The ship rocked under the combined assault. Charlie ran passed them to the controls, where he replaced Booker.

"Can we return fire?" Harry asked.

"With what? We don't have anyone manning our guns!" Charlie shouted back.

Elder roared, and as if on cue the Immobilizer's own quad laser cannons suddenly coughed to life, seemingly of their own volition. Charlie put the ship in a barrel roll as if he were riding a broom and not a 600 meter star destroyer, but in the process brought the ship's larger guns to bear on the incoming ships.

A Wookiee's battle cry answered the Elder over the intercom. "Huh," Harry said. "Wookiees. Gotta love them."

Not only did the Wookiees know how to repair Imperial equipment, they evidently knew how to use it. The first five fighters to cross their bow evaporated in brief plumes of fire as the interior atmospheres flamed out.

The assault shuttles, which were large enough to hold hundreds of soldiers or even a few fighters, were harder to take down. The Wookiees remarkable aim, however, held the shuttles back while the stolen destroyer rolled again to skim the atmosphere on an escape vector.

"Charlie, we need to get out of here!" Harry asked.

"No, really? Cor blimey, Harry, you're as bad as Ron said you are sometimes," Charlie muttered. "I'm entering a random jump. Don't want to lead them back home, do we?"

Outside, the planetary horizon began to thin as the star destroyer literally bounced off the atmosphere before managing a path away from the planet. That's when the old Phoenix, following its pre-programmed routine, slammed into the burning shipyard. The explosion shattered the already dying structure and sent shards of flaming metal flying in every direction. One piece hit an assault shuttle and gave the Fiendfyre a new target, which it began to consume gleefully.

Unfortunately, other pieces began to head down to the surface of the planet. "Bill, do we know how many people are down there?" Harry asked with a sick feeling in his stomach.

"Arbentraal IV, according to the computer, was uninhabited except for the Imperial Compound and a large research facility on the far side of the planet," Bill said.

Harry took a deep sigh of relief. "Good. Because when that Fiendfyre hits the ground, there won't be anything to stop it."

And with that, Harry managed four steps toward his quarters before he passed out from magical exhaustion.

(A/N: Yes, he really did pass out. Just like he did sometimes in the books when magically exhausted.)

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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.