Chapter Twenty: The Hand of the Empire

Star Wars + Harry Potter Crossover

A/N: Chap 19 review responses are in my forums like normal. Thanks for reading.

Chapter Twenty: The Hand of the Empire

"When do you think you'll be able to come?" Leia asked two days later, as the Phoenix Redux was making its way back to Avalon. "Obi-Wan said we're ready to go get our crystals at last."

"I'll be on a shuttle the moment we land," Harry promised. The princess looked especially lovely today, with her hair down in artful loops that fell around her neck. Of course, from the neck down she could have been a boy for the thick, gender-neutralizing thermal uniform she wore. "What's the weather like on Hoth?"

"Very funny." She stuck her tongue out. "I swear I almost had frostbite this morning climbing out of the shower. We have to use sonics because the water will freeze before it even reaches the faucet. We have meteor showers almost every day, and something has been killing our Tauntauns. But I can't imagine the Empire would ever come here."

"That's the point, I guess," Harry said. "So, almost a year. We should have an anniversary or something."

One of those eyebrows rose. "An anniversary for what? I don't think you've ever even taken me out to dinner."

"There was that one time, on the Death Star."

"You didn't pay, so it doesn't count."

Harry chuckled. "I can't wait to see you."

"I can't wait either. I have a surprise for you, though, when you come. You'll…"

The signal ended seconds before the whole ship shuddered violently. A sudden shift in momentum shot Harry against the wall of his quarters with bone-breaking force. He landed on the floor and groaned at the feel of his clavicle grinding against itself. However, he could also feel his magic pooling to begin healing it. The red klaxons came on moments later as Harry rushed from his quarters onto the bridge.

No one else on the bridge had fared any better than he did. "Who's not hurt?" he shouted at cancelling the klaxons.

"I'm alright," Maria said. Akallaa also indicated he was unhurt. Unfortunately Booker and Malkin were both unconscious, as were most of the others.

"What happened?" he asked.

It took Maria a moment to regain her seat. Around them, the whole ship vibrated like a plucked string. "Gravity wells," she said. She added, "Look outside, Harry."

Startled almost as much by the fact she used his given name as by her expression, Harry glanced out the narrow viewports of the single-level Immobilizer bridge and felt his insides go cold.

He could see Avalon hanging in far the distance like a beautiful blue and green marble. But more immediately, he saw a dozen other Interdictor cruisers closing toward their position. "How?" he whispered.

"They have us," Maria said. "Harry, the gravity is going to rip us apart! The hull is redlining."

Harry did not generally swear. As a normal matter of business, he thought people who cursed constantly and without cause were at best stupid. Staring now at what was bearing down on him, he said, "Holy fuck. Maria, how far away from Avalon are we?"

"Nearly one and a half million kilometres," she said. "Even by Portkey, it would be a five minute trip in open space!"

While Portkeys provided some protection against the debilitating effects of the vacuum of space, the protection deteriorated at an exponential rate by the distance involved. A ship-to-ship jump of ten thousand kilometres was enough to tax most people. A five minute Portkey ride over millions of kilometres could easily be deadly, although bubblehead charms would help a little.

"Make a Portkey," Harry ordered.

Maria nodded grimly, conjured a rope and then enchanted it. Harry meanwhile summoned all the injured bridge crew members together toward her, levitating them as gently as he could in the violently shaking bridge. "I'll stay and save the rest," he said. "Go."

Maria tapped the rope that now wrapped around all the injured personnel, but nothing happened. Her eyes widened even as a violent tremor made her loose her footing. "Embostelhada! It didn't work, Potter! Have the Empire made wards?"

Harry tried Disapparating just to his quarters, and then groaned in pain as his magic rebounded within him. It didn't feel like a ward, though. Wards created defined barriers. This felt like the air itself was sucking at his magic.

The com system came alive as someone outside of the ship hacked into their system.

"I trust I have your attention?" The voice sounded calm, collected and overwhelmingly confident. "This is Grand Admiral Mitth'raw'nuruodo. You might know me by my Galactic Basic name Thrawn. While we still cannot see your vessel, you'll be interested to know that graviton particles exist simultaneously in all dimensions. We cannot see you, Harry Potter, but we can detect the gravitons of your gravity well generators. And as you have no doubt seen, our own gravity well generators can reach across that remarkable dimensional envelope of yours with ease. We are going to rip your vessel apart, Mr. Potter. You are all about to die."

Gravitons. What little Harry knew about them was what he gleaned from the mind of Daroon Holdig a year ago, and Holdig did not know much. He knew the particles were what gravity well generators created and projected. And that was about it.

But if they were being inundated by these particles, then it must also have been the gravitons that were blocking all their attempts to escape by magic.

"Open a channel," Harry said.

Akallaah roared his opinion of that. Maria just shrugged and opened the com.

"Admiral Thrawn, this is Harry Potter," he said with forced calm. His mind raced with different possibilities. "If you cease your attacks, we will surrender."

The response was a dry, sardonic laugh. "So you can teleport away, Mr. Potter? Just because we cannot replicate your talents does not mean we do not recognize them. We have been watching you very closely these past few months. No, I do not think we will cease our attack. However, if you make your ship visible and offer your complete surrender, we will lower the intensity of the attack long enough for your crew to be taken into custody. I am not a barbarian, Mr. Potter. I do not believe in killing unnecessarily, and there is much the Empire could learn from you."

Harry bowed his head, shaking with rage. "We have three minutes before the ship goes," Maria whispered.

"We can't escape if we're dead," Akallaah added.

He looked up at Maria. Though they were close in age, she looked old enough to be his mother. "Do you agree?"

"I do, Captain," she sombrely.

"Akallaah?"

"Yes."

With a glance around the still mostly unconscious crew, Harry stepped to his second in command, who was also the secret keeper of the ship since he could not be secret keeper to both the planet and the ship. "It's going to hurt," he said softly.

"Pain is an illusion," Maria lied.

With the palm of his hand to her forehead, Harry pulled the secret of the ship's location and identity from her very soul, and doing so abruptly ended the Fidelius. Maria did not cry out, but she shook as she collapsed into the chair at the station she used to open the com moments before.

"I can see your ship, Mr. Potter," Thrawn's voice echoed through the bridge. "Quite remarkable. Troop shuttles are en route. Any attempt to impede their boarding will be met with lethal consequences. You and your crew will be taken into custody. I must say I look forward to meeting you."

The shaking of their hull eased. Instinctively, Harry tried to Apparate again, but there were still sufficient graviton particles in the area to block the attempt with a painful rebound. Through the windows he could see dozens of large shuttles approaching them.

"Put me on ship wide," Harry said. At Maria's nod, he said, "Attention, this is General Potter. In order to save the ship and crew, we have surrendered to a superior Imperial force. All magicals are to either magically pack or destroy your belongings. If you have a chest, shrink it and attach it to your person with the strongest charms you can. I don't want a single magical artefact left in the open. All other crew and passengers; do not resist. We'll figure something out when we can."

Akallaah reiterated the orders in Shyriwook to the freed, but now recaptured slaves, while Harry ran into his quarters. He didn't have much, but it was enough that he did not want anything to fall into the Empire's hands. When he returned to the bridge, he was happy to see Booker awake, though still groggy. Malkin hung protectively by the man's side.

"Enemy ships have docked," Maria said. "The crew reports troopers are boarding in strength. Our people are standing down."

Harry looked around at the shaken crew. "Whatever happens, it's been an honour. At the first opportunity, Portkey to Avalon if you can."

Just minutes later, the lift onto the bridge opened and a group of ten Stormtroopers spilled out with their weapons at the ready. "Hands up! Drop all weapons!"

Since most of Harry's elderly crew was already incapacitated, there was not much of a response until Akallaah raised his great, hairy arms and roared his assent.

All ten troopers turned and fired as one gestalt unit. Ten red blaster rifle bolts slammed into the Wookiee, burning through fur and flesh alike as he stumbled backward until he fell dead to the floor.

Enraged and without thinking, Harry stomped his foot and cast a blasting charm. The gravitons might have interfered with magical travel, but they did nothing to impede his magic otherwise. The blast struck the centre Stormtrooper, causing him to explode like a bomb. The other nine died instantly. Meanwhile, Harry rushed to the Wookiee's side.

Akallaah, who lost his mate and son but found meaning again on his ship, was already dead. He stared up at the ceiling of the command deck with slightly dark eyes.

"I'm disappointed in you, Captain Potter."

Harry turned and faced his enemy for the first time. From a purely physical perspective, he could have been human. He was bipedal, with pentadactyl hands, two eyes, two ears and generally symmetrical features. He also had deep, dark blue skin and solid, almost insectoid-red eyes. He wore a crisp, shining white uniform with gold epaulets at the shoulders and his rank insignia on his chest. He glanced around the bridge with obvious interest before he walked over the bloody pulp of his own soldiers toward Harry. Behind him, dozens more Stormtroopers spilled into the bridge.

"I've heard so much about the Emperor's Magician," Thrawn said as he looked without emotion on the tableau of Harry kneeling by his Wookiee officer. "Your rescue of Princess Leia of Alderaan and incapacitation of Darth Vader is something of a legend, even in the Empire. And yet here you are, threatening the lives of yourself and all those around you by disobeying an order and killing my men."

"They murdered an officer of this ship," Harry snarled.

"They put down a beast. An escaped slave," Thrawn said, as if it were the most reasonable thing in the world. "And because of that, three of your crew will be killed for every one of those men."

He looked about the bridge and raised one brow. "Your crew appears to be somewhat…old. I find executions of the old distasteful. It shows a lack of respect. Don't worry, though, I'm sure we'll find more appropriate targets among your crew."

"I could kill you where you stand," Harry snarled.

"Of that, I have no doubt. It is a foolish man to deny the evidence of his own eyes. If you do so, all those under you will die the deaths of legends. Their deaths will last for weeks on end; maybe even years. I'm told the Emperor cloned the man who failed to ensure the Death Star had no weaknesses, and transferred his consciousness repeatedly so that he could kill him five times over."

The Grand Admiral took a step closer. "I see rage in your face, Magician. I know your pride is telling you to fight to the last man. You could kill me, this is true. But is your pride more valuable than the lives of your crew?" The man spoke with an urbane, almost British cadence.

Looking into those red eyes, and Harry had absolutely no doubt that Legilimency and even the Imperius would fail on this being. Those eyes projected a powerful, completely natural mental shield. "Admiral Thrawn," Harry said, though it hurt more than any words he had ever said before. "We surrender."

"Of course you do," Thrawn said, as if it were the only possible outcome of the discussion. Perhaps it was at that. "Corporal?"

A squad of Stormtroopers spread out among Harry's crew, and for the first time he noticed the collars they had hooked to their belts. He made no offer of resistance when one of the troopers snapped the collar on him. They did the same for the rest of the crew, even the injured ones.

"An unfortunate necessity precipitated by your unique abilities," Thrawn explained. "If you attempt to teleport away, the collar will explode with sufficient force to remove your head. And your collar acts as a master to the rest. If you die, all of your people will die with you. It will also encourage you to do as I say quickly. Observe."

Thrawn tapped a blinking square on the back of his hand. Suddenly Maria screamed and fell the floor as blue sparks shot from the collar into her neck. It lasted only a second, but when it was over Harry's XO gasped and wept from the pain.

The Grand Admiral, meanwhile, watched Harry's face intently. Harry, recognizing within himself how close he was to losing control, sank himself deeply within his Occlumency until his emotions numbed just enough to be endured.

"Better," Thrawn said with a nod. "You see, with the proper enticement, even you can control your more primitive instincts. Corporal, bring them, please."

Harry glared but said nothing. When all the bridge crew were secured, the troopers dragged them to the lift in groups of ten. The Imperials left Akallaah there on the floor, like trash. When they reached the hangar level, they emerged into a hall lined with fifty more Stormtroopers, all carrying repeater rifles.

Thrawn led the way as if on a triumphant march, while his captured slaves were dragged sullenly behind him. They emerged into the hangar deck, where hundreds of Stormtroopers were pushing the few X-wings the Alliance had granted them for their raids through the atmospheric shields to drift in open space.

Harry saw his crew on their knees in the middle of the hanger, shock-collars on their necks and e-web placements all around them. What he did not see, however, were any of his Wookiee crewmembers.

"What did you do with the Wookiees?" Harry asked.

Thrawn did not turn around as he continued to lead them toward the other captives. "Unfortunately, Captain Potter, under Imperial law escaped slaves must be euthanized." Thrawn even managed to sound saddened by the fact. "It is a waste of resources, really, but I promise they died quickly. A painless gas in the hold of your recent liberations, and blasters for those parading as crew members. I find the bandoleers your people gave them rather humorous."

On the far side of the hangar, he saw their conscripts up against a wall. Attan Friddell stood amongst them, weeping in terror. Thrawn also saw them, and said, "Corporal?"

"Defected conscripts," the Stormtrooper said instantly. "Found them trying to hide in engineering."

"There appear to be thirty."

"Yes, sir."

"How fortuitous," Thrawn said. "We get to both make an example of Captain Potter's indiscretion on the bridge while also doing a public service. Have them shot, Corporal." What Harry found almost as horrifying as the order was just how calm and reasonable Thrawn managed to sound while giving it.

"They're just kids!" Harry shouted.

"Another requirement of the law, Mr. Potter," Thrawn said. This time, he truly did sound saddened. "They were uniformed personnel who elected to serve a hostile force against the Empire."

"We compelled them too!" Harry lied. "They had no choice."

"Of course they did," Thrawn countered. "They could have died honourably, or refused your offer and returned to the surface with the rest of the crew you spared. Most of whom later died by your fire, I must inform you. They chose to join you instead. I promise, captain, if I spared them now, they would be thoroughly tortured on Coruscant before being killed. At least this way, I can give them a quick, clean death. This is not something I enjoy. But then again, you do owe me three deaths from your crew for each of those Stormtroopers you killed. Either way, their deaths are upon your head."

Harry surged forward, on the verge of casting magic, when his collar went off. Having lived through Voldemort's Cruciatus curses Harry did not scream out. The agony of it did steal the strength from his knees, though, dropping him to the floor.

"Please don't make me take further steps, Captain," Thrawn said with that maddening, reasonable calm. "It would be a shame if I had to kill the Emperor's prize."

Attan was looking right at Harry, tears running down her cheeks, when the Stormtroopers opened fire. He watched her eyes widened and her mouth form a pained, gasping "O" as the first bolts slammed into her stomach, followed seconds later by three more to her chest. She was dead before she hit the ground, along with the twenty-nine other young people who Harry thought he was saving.

"I do not debate the morality of the Empire," Thrawn said softly. "I read the files on you. I know that in the truest sense you are the aggrieved party. You were justified in your desire for revenge, and I know that the losses you've extracted from the Empire are just a fraction of the losses to your world."

Thrawn turned and looked Harry in the eyes. "It is because you are the protagonist in your story, Captain, that I must be as cruel as I am. You are a hero to your people, and so they must be shown that against the might of the Empire, even their heroes will fail and die. I do not enjoy it, but I recognize the necessity of it. If nothing else, I trust you have learned the foolishness of challenging power so far beyond your own. Magic tricks alone will not be enough to save you."

"There is a magic I will show you someday, Thrawn," Harry grated in a hoarse, torn voice from the shock collar.

"Perhaps. But not today, Captain Potter." He turned to his trooper and said, "Get them aboard, Lieutenant."

Harry let the Stormtroopers push him and the rest of his crew aboard the shuttle. The only survivors were the Avalon volunteers themselves. He couldn't even see the twenty two surviving Muggle pilots of their Starfighter squadron.

He glanced once more at the pile of bodies left to lie against the far wall, and for one blurry moment thought he saw a flash of red hair amongst them. The troopers roughly shoved them onto the floor in the middle of the shuttle and formed a defensive circle around them. Harry watched the ramp, but Thrawn never boarded with them.

Closing his eyes, Harry reached out with his senses as Master Yoda taught him. Though he'd spent the past few months fighting more than training, he did practice what he learned from the Jedi master every night. He reached out to all his companions and he recognized every one of them, all two hundred witches and wizards. The spacious shuttle held them and another two hundred attentive Stormtroopers, all with their weapons keyed right at them. The corporal now had control of the shock collars.

Harry could feel when they left the artificial gravity field that held the Redux in thrall. Though he wasn't conscious of it while in it, the moment they left he felt as if a heavy, smothering blanket had been lifted off. With that interference to their magic gone, a whole realm of possibilities opened up. But there were still the choke-collars to deal with.

Harry knew from his research that choke-collars were an effective means of detaining Jedi and Sith. Fortunately, Harry was neither. Sinking so deep into his Occlumency he scarcely felt human, Harry consciously reached out with his magic to every single collar all at once. It was the most difficult thing he'd ever done, not because of the amount of magic required, but because of the sheer concentration needed to visualize every collar at once. Without Yoda's Jedi mental cantrips to help, he doubted he could have done it at all.

Once all the collars were tagged by magic, he unleashed a power no Jedi or Sith ever had: a simple, Third Year switching spell.

Two hundred Stormtroopers found their helmets replaced by choke collars. Two hundred witches and wizards found their collars replaced by helmets. And because the collars were sensitized to the biometric readings of their prisoner, and those readings all changed at once, the collars all ignited at once.

Two hundred shockingly loud cracks ripped up and down the ranks of Stormtroopers as the explosives liquefied their heads into a red gel against the inner walls of the ship. Harry vanished the helmet and the cuffs on his hands, and a moment later Apparated directly to the cockpit of the shuttle. Harry splayed out his hand and the four person bridge crew all vanished with an abrupt shout from the pilot before they reappeared a second later on the other side of the transparisteel canopy in open space.

Harry sank down into the pilot's seat. A moment later, a grim-faced Maria joined them. He continued their original course toward the nearest Star Destroyer's docking bay. "We have nothing on this thing that can destroy that ship," she noted.

"Yes we do," Harry growled. "I'll be back."

He disappeared with a pop and appeared seconds later in the hangar of his former star destroyer. Stormtroopers and uniformed technicians stared in shock as Harry lifted both hands, and with a shout unleashed all the rage he felt in the form of demonic fire. Men and women screamed as a flame as large as a building emerged from Harry's hands in the shape of a dragon. With a roar, the Fiendfyre immediately began consuming everything around it.

With a pop Harry returned to the shuttle seat. "Full throttle, gun it toward Avalon," he said. "As soon as we're skimming the atmosphere, I want everyone to Apparate down."

"What about you?" Maria asked

Harry snorted. "I have a date with a space princess." A second later he added, "Maria, I won't do anyone any good trapped on the planet. Out here, I might be able to make a difference."

"What about us?"

"I'm tired of getting my people killed," Harry told her bluntly.

"Yeah, not your choice," she said. "Earth was our home too. The Empire killed our families just like yours. It's not your call to tell me whether I can fight them or not."

With a sigh, he said, "Fine. At least go back and Portkey the wounded, and anyone else who wants to go."

This she agreed to do with a nod. As she left, the space around them began to burn with torrents of turbolaser fire from Thrawn's taskforce. Harry activated the navicomputer and began calculating a hyperspace jump. Twice the whole shuttle jerked violently under impacts. Several blinking lights told him it was beginning to lose ray shield integrity.

"Hurry up back there!"

He heard a staccato cadence of Disapparition pops behind them. The old voice of Booker called out, "That's it, Captain. Get us out of here!"

Maria ran back into the cockpit and took the co-pilot's seat. "Looks like we have a course. Punch it, Potter!"

Gritting his teeth with a silent promise to make Thrawn pay, Harry shot the troop shuttle into hyperspace before the fleet of interdictor cruisers could capture the shuttle again.

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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.