Chapter Thirty-Two: Brief Stars

Star Wars + Harry Potter Crossover

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Chapter Thirty-Two: Brief Stars

Because Commander De La Rosa knew the secret of Avalon's Fidelius, even if she could not share it herself, she was able to pilot the Alliance shuttle to the colony. Harry and Leia waited for them outside the colony wardline, between the wizard and Jedi campuses where their own assault shuttle rested.

The Rebel shuttle was half the size of Harry's assault shuttle, but even so was still easily as large as a DC-10 from Earth—if not in length, then in general bulk and weight. Like most Imperial Shuttles, which is how the rebel ship started its life, this one had a tri-fin configuration, with the two lower fins rising up on either side as the craft landed.

The ramp lowered to reveal not just De la Rosa, but Harry's entire Phoenix Crew, safe and home for the first time in months. She paused just a few feet from where Harry waited, took one look at him and Leia, and grinned. "Where's the ring?"

"I'm working on it," Harry said with a happy smile.

Their next guest, though, surprised Leia. The man was most definitely not a wizard. He wore traditional Jedi robes, but his were black over brown, as opposed to brown over white or tan. He shaved his head save for a single knot of white hair held in place with a single tie. However, what marked him were his eyes—pure silver pierced by small black sensors. The eyes were synthetic. Moreover, one of his hands was equally synthetic, and he didn't bother with synthflesh to hide the fact. He moved with an odd gait that made Leia suspect he had at least one artificial leg as well.

The old Jedi walked past De La Rosa, leaned over to Leia, and sniffed. "You're not a Jedi anymore," he said, jerking an artificial thumb at De La Rosa. "You're one of her kind."

"I can still wield the Force, Master Kota, just like Harry," Leia said, having known the man for years.

"So can your man, but I'm not training him either," Rahm Kota, Jedi Master and retired general, said with a nod to Harry. He spoke in a harsh, uncompromising tone, but Leia knew he meant no harm. He simply never compromised. "It's a shame, you were shaping up to be a fine Jedi. Obi-Wan never did know what to do with you. Good man, but he had narrow vision sometimes."

He stretched and popped his back. "I sense the others. Where's your brother?"

"This way, Master Kota," Leia said.

She paused when his hand touched her shoulder. In a surprisingly gentle tone, Kota said, "I'm not your master, Leia. You've moved into realms of power I cannot and will not follow. And frankly you've known me too long anyway. I might not have been there to hold you when Bail passed into the Force, but I promise yours weren't the only tears. He was a great man, and a dear friend."

Leia's lip trembled a moment before she embraced the beaten-up old warrior. "Thank you, Rahm. Come, I'll introduce you."

Luke was already standing outside of Yoda's home when they arrived. He was dressed not in Jedi robes, but the same Alliance casual uniform as he wore on Adega. Nonetheless, he bowed from the waist. "Master Kota, I'm Luke Skywalker."

Kota stood intently looking at Luke, then back to Leia, then finally to Luke again. "You've got your father's looks and power, boy. But that heart is entirely Padme Naberrie. She was a good woman; I still haven't figured out why she married your father."

"Sometimes good girls like bad boys," Harry speculated.

Leia hit his arm, but Kota didn't take it as a joke. "You're probably right. Look at the Princess and you. You have death and darkness wrapped around you like a cloak. Of course, she does too, now. She didn't back when I saw her last."

Luke looked alarmed at this, but before he could say anything the three younger Padawans stepped outside. Tim stiffened when he saw Kota. Peter put a protective arm around Carrie, but none spoke. Kota hobbled his way to them, studying them each intently with his artificial eyes before nodding. "Yes, the Force is with them," he said. "This is a good place for me to finish my life. You, Skywalker, Master Yoda filled your head with traditional order values, correct? No attachment, no love, no marriage. No kids. No emotions, no reality. Witches like these people are all of the Dark Side, right?"

"Yes, Master Kota."

"It's all Bantha poodoo. Yoda's race were asexual—they reproduced through budding and then adopted genders only to fit in with the predominantly bi-gendered galaxy. He had a personal grudge against romance in the Order because he felt it got in the way of training. Never mind what bonded Jedi could do together. He's dead, and the whole damned Council is dead, and now it's just me, and you. You could beat me in a fight—I can see that just looking at you. But I have ten holocrons from the most powerful Jedi in history—four of whom were married and had kids—and forty years' experience on you as a Jedi knight and master."

Kota paced between Luke and the younger students. "Potter asked me here because he suspects there will be more Force-potentials born here. Given the way this whole place is lit up in the Force, I believe it. The question you have to ask yourself, Luke Skywalker, is what place you wish to have in it. Do you feel you are qualified to teach these Padawans?"

Leia didn't realize she was holding her breath as she waited for Luke to think things over. She released her breath, though, when she saw his shoulders slump. For some, it might be a sign of defeat, but on Luke it was a relaxation. "No, Master," Luke said at last. "I know I'm not—I've only had a little over a year of training, and most of that was centred on being able to fight Lord Vader. I'm not ashamed to say I'm glad you're here."

Kota took Luke's shoulder in hand. "That's because, while you may have you father's power, in matters of the heart, mind and soul, you are truly your mother's son. You are a Jedi Knight, and you will make a fine master. Have no doubt that you will have a Padawan to train when you are ready, and will be a fine man to lead the order into its future. But until then, I'll be here. I have a good twenty years left, if I'm not too stupid."

~~Revenge~~

~~Revenge~~

That night, the Wizenmeet hosted Kota for dinner. Leia watched with equal parts amusement and alarm as the old Jedi charmed Rosmerta. He listened intently as Harry shared what he knew of the true origins of magical life on Earth, and merely nodded over a cup of new wine.

"You're not the only group to start like that," Kota said in that gravelly voice. The tone sounded less abrupt, Leia noticed, after Kota had a few glasses of wine. "The Fallanasi were an ancient offshoot from Tython, back when the Jedi were just scholars and not an organized order. The Witches of Dathomir are a more recent example of divergent Force traditions, and some of the power they express is not too dissimilar to yours. The problem with the Jedi was that the Order was old—eons old. We had so much history dragging at our heels it was difficult for the Order to see forward. While it made my soul bleed to feel my brethren die, historically the Jedi have always been stronger in the generations following a purge, when we were able to look forward. It keeps us balanced."

"So you don't think all witches and wizards are evil?" Rosmerta asked with one arched brow.

"Only you, dear lady, and I'm not sure that's a bad thing," Kota said.

Leia didn't bother to hide her laugh; Rosmerta didn't even bat an eye. "So what do you plan to teach your Padawans?"

"That the Jedi are not omniscient, that we're not omnipotent. That we're not the source of all wisdom, and that humility is more important than abstinence or isolation. The Jedi were never meant to be rulers, we were meant to be scholars of the Force and protectors of the people. Nothing more, nothing less."

"A remarkably wise outlook, Master Kota," Speaker DeVilla said. "Quite different than Master Yoda."

Kota shrugged. "Yoda was almost a thousand years old. Palpatine rose up like a snake right under his nose, and he never knew until it was too late. I respect the old gnome—he had a knowledge of the Force I will never in my life equal. But he was perhaps the most blind of us all, precisely because he had so much history he forgot how to look forward. I'm just a man—I've won battles, and lost them. I lost my arm, my leg and my eyes, and none of that felt worse than losing my own Padawans or friends. Yoda believed that good would always triumph. I believe from bitter experience that good only triumphs when good men actually try and sacrifice for a greater goal."

"Yoda said there was no try," Luke blurted.

"Precisely," Kota said with a surprisingly sober nod.

~~Revenge~~

~~Revenge~~

Leia found Harry on the porch that night. Clad only in a silky sleeping gown—a gift from Councillor Weasley—she sat beside him and absorbed his warming charm against the Avalon winter.

Before she could say anything, Harry pointed to a brief flurry of flares, barely visible. "What?" Leia asked.

"Bodies," Harry said. He did not sound particularly upset or angry, simply sombre, as if he knew what was happening was horrible, but unavoidable. "During the day, no one noticed. Not all of them will be pulled into Avalon after all—those ships further out will eventually fall into the sun. But there are probably a quarter-million bodies in decaying orbits. Lady Sofia speculated the bodies were so infused with the magic from the wards that they were able to interact with the planet's atmosphere and gravity despite the Fidelius. I killed them."

"Harry, you didn't…." Leia began.

Harry silenced her with a kiss. "I know I didn't do it alone, but I did do it. And they deserve to be acknowledged, Leia. Enemies or not, I killed them, and I won't just ignore or dismiss that fact. They deserve respect, if nothing else."

Eventually, Leia agreed and sat with him, watching as brief stars flared across the sky.

~~Revenge~~

~~Revenge~~

The price the Alliance paid for its new fleet, to put in metaphorical terms, was not the fish, but the fishing net and the lessons to use it. Avalon did not have the population to support even one of the Imperial ships they recently emptied, but given the fact that somehow ion weaponry could interact with matter even under a Fidelius—as could artificially generated gravitons—there was a general feeling of fear that it would only be a matter of time before the Empire developed a way to destroy them.

Everyone on the Wizenmeet agreed that as a people the Mages (a new term to distinguish them as a people from, say, Jedi or baseline humans) could no longer afford to survive on magic alone. And so, instead of ships, the people of Avalon demanded the means to build and expand their own infrastructure.

They still had the five neural interface chairs Harry initially brought to the colony. What the Alliance provided were basic educational programs. It turned out that some types of information was more easily transferred than others. Written and verbal languages and basic mathematics were easily imparted, but that was a transfer of rules only. The user still had to be able to use the rules with their own mental prowess.

Engineering programs, for instance, utterly failed on young children who didn't have the capacity to make the mental calculations of an adult. And so the Alliance provided a suite of programs most educational institutions across the galaxy used for their young, along with five more neural interface chairs and a fusion generator powerful enough to provide for the whole of the planet Earth at its height, not to say the small colony. Children were given the equivalent of the first six years of their education in a matter of minutes, and that's where the true gift came in.

Though Harry did not see them on the shuttle that brought his people back, along with Rahm Kota the Alliance packed ten general education protocol droids, each able to provide a broad-level of education as advanced as post-graduate level work in almost every conceivable area of science, mathematics or engineering.

The second gift was equally important, if not subtle. The ship itself looked grotesque—a large flying brick with insect-like mandibles that landed two days after Kota. It was roughly twice the size of the assault shuttle as it rumbled down to the surface, but having used the neural interface with the ship's operational manual, Harry knew it was perhaps the most important thing the Alliance could provide.

It was a mining droid. The ship could latch onto an asteroid or meteor and literally eat it, using the exotic fission and fusion reactors within its core to reorganize the matter into various materials just like the massive droids on Despayre did. It was not even a third of the size of those droids, but then again Avalon was not going to be building any Death Stars any time soon either. However, the Avalon System had a large and robust Ort Cloud with more than enough raw materials to allow for a significant mining operation without having to plunder the natural resources of their magic-rich world.

And best of all, the Alliance provided blue prints on how to make their own mining droids with the materials the first ship could produce. The future seemed unlimited.

If they could just survive the war.

~~Revenge~~

~~Revenge~~

Luke piloted the Fidelius-charmed assault shuttle, of course. Harry no longer bothered to feel jealous about the younger man's superior flying skills, even using a temporarily conjured quicksilver hand that would have to be replaced as soon as they reached the Alliance. Instead, he studied the Jedi surreptitiously, while Leia spoke to Maria and the small unit of witches and wizards who volunteered to replace the older ones that had come home at the back.

Harry had mixed feelings when he saw that Toby Guerin, the only convicted felon on Avalon, was among them. If Harry remembered correctly, the boy would have just turned seventeen which made him of legal age. Bill, Fleur and even Rosmerta assured Harry that the Wizenmeet had reviewed the boy's request to fight and approved it, with certain conditions. He wore a magical tracer that would ensure any Mage could find him, and having volunteered, he was now committed to serve the entirety of his service in a military function.

Not surprisingly, it was Maria De La Rosa who challenged his presence. "Why are you here, Guerin?" she snapped in her best Auror voice.

"What other good am I?" he asked. He spoke with both despair and genuine curiosity. "Mr. Weasley said I was a decent enough fighter, and maybe out here I can…do something better than clean out rubbish bins. I mean, maybe I can save someone or do some real good."

Thus, the young wizard joined forty-nine other witches and wizards aboard the assault shuttle as they flew to rendezvous with the Alliance fleet. They left the smaller Rebel shuttle on the planet just in case Kota or the young Padawans needed to leave. Luke's X-wing remained in the cargo hold of the Assault Shuttle, along with Harry's stolen Blastboat.

They emerged at the rendezvous point and Harry whistled at the amassed fleet. The former Imperial fleet of Avalon was already there, assembled with dozens upon dozens of Mon-Calamari heavy cruisers, dreadnaughts, Imperial -style star destroyers and frigates. It was the largest assembly of ships Harry had ever seen.

Luke talked their way into the docking bay of Home One with a flight controller made nervous by an invisible ship. It was Harry's first time on the mobile command headquarters of the Rebel Alliance. When they walked down the ramp, he was surprised to see an older woman with auburn, almost red hair waiting for them. She was flanked by General Madine and Admiral Ackbar, both of whom he recognized from their holographic conversations.

"Leia, I'm so glad you could make it," Mon Mothma said with a genuine, though muted smile. She hugged the younger woman, but then stepped back and looked at her closely. "You've changed," she said, sounding slightly accusatory.

"She is a Mage now," Harry said.

Mon Mothma blinked once before looking from Leia to Harry. "Yes, I suppose I can see that. It is a pleasure to finally meet you in person, General Potter." He accepted her hand graciously. Her grip was so light it felt as if she were just barely caressing his fingers. "Your contributions to this endeavour cannot be understated."

"Glad to help."

"Those ships will be a great help," Admiral Ackbar said in a voice that sounded like a heavy smoker with pneumonia. "I am as of yet unsure how you managed to attain them, however."

"We magically removed all the crew with intent to do us harm off their ships and into open space," Harry said.

The three officials of the Alliance stilled at that news. "All of them?" Mon-Mothma whispered.

"Their bodies still streak like stars in our sky," Harry confirmed sombrely. "It is something we hope we never have to do again. But we will never again allow our world to be destroyed like Earth was."

"What sort of…" Ackbar began.

Madine, however, spoke over Ackbar. "Could this weapon be adapted for use on other targets outside of your home system?"

"No," Harry and Leia both said. Harry further clarified. "The device is an ancient artefact of my ancestors. It is keyed only to me, and now Leia, and cannot leave the world where it is anchored. We have anchored it to Avalon. We will never allow it to be used as a weapon of mass destruction."

Ackbar actually sighed in relief, while Madine looked irritated. Mothma merely smiled. "Well, it is time, come. We were waiting for you to arrive to do our briefing. Commander Skywalker, it is good to see you as well."

"Thank you, Mon," Luke said.

It was not a long walk—the main briefing room was located on the same level as the primary hangar bay of the ship. Harry scanned the crowds of officers and command staff for familiar faces and almost stumbled when he saw Captain Han Solo sitting next to an attractive woman with shoulder-length red hair dressed in green fatigues.

"There's a familiar face," Harry noted.

"He joined shortly after Hoth," Leia said. "He was recruited by Commander Bria Tharen there because of help he provided that saved her from a disaster on Toprawa. They're quite the item, I hear."

"She looks tough."

"She's a Special Forces Infiltrator," Leia said. "She is tough."

Luke separated from Harry and his sister to sit with his fellow pilots, all of whom jumped up to shake his hand in glad greeting. More than a few gave the odd silver appendage strange looks, but no one spoke of it. No one gave the same consideration to Harry, but then again he had always been an independent faction. He noticed, however, his people stayed right behind him as he sat with Leia at his side.

Finally, after everyone settled down, Mon Mothma took to the centre of the circular briefing room. "My friends, events have come together in a way we never thought possible, leading to an opportunity we cannot ignore. With the new additions to our fleet courtesy of our allies, the Mages of Avalon, and with critical errors made by the Emperor itself, the time has come to strike."

At a wave of her hand, the room darkened while a hologram appeared. "Data brought to us by the Bothan spy network has finally revealed the exact location of the Emperor's new Battle Station. We believe construction began even before the first of its kind was destroyed. We also know that the weapon systems of this Death Star are not yet operational. Most importantly, however, we have learned that the Emperor himself is personally overseeing the final state of construction onsite. He is there, away from the safety of Coruscant for the first time in many years. It is a target we cannot, and will not, ignore. Too many of our friends among the Bothans died to bring us this information for us not to seize this opportunity. Admiral Ackbar?"

"You can see here, the Death Star orbiting the forest moon of Endor," Ackbar continued. Harry fought an urge to offer the creature a cough potion. "Although the weapon systems on this battle station are not yet operational, the Death Star does have a strong defence mechanism. It is protected by an energy shield, which is generated from the nearby forest moon of Endor. The shield is planetary in both scale and energy and would be able to withstand almost any bombardment. Additionally, we have learned that the Death Star has a network of artificial gravity wells built around the entire structure. We will discuss the reasons for this momentarily. In order to even attack the structure, the shield must be deactivated. Once the shield is down, our cruisers will create a perimeter, while the fighters fly into the superstructure and attempt to knock out the main reactor."

As he spoke, the holographic animation depicted their projected battle plan.

"Damn," Harry whispered. Behind him, he could hear De La Rosa echoing his thoughts.

Ackbar looked directly at Harry. "General Potter, I am told the inclusion of the gravity wells may have something to do with Mage attack tactics?"

"Yes," Harry admitted. "It can be used to block our teleportation techniques. Ordinarily, my team would be able to teleport onto the station with a bevy of weapons and do damage where you needed us to. That won't work this time."

Several of the other command staff stared in disbelief at Harry's casual use of something that was deemed scientifically impossible eons ago. Harry, though, continued. "However, we have other tools we can use. It's not as secure as we once believed, but we can encapsulate several ships in dimensional envelopes that would make them all but untouchable during battle. You could park one off the Death Star and just unload assault concussion missiles into the superstructure until it comes apart. Another possibility is to do the same thing with a ship loaded to the brim with whatever you can pack into it to make it blow. Slave it and send it into the middle of the Death Star, then we remove it from the dimensional pocket and blow it."

"You're sure this is something you can do?" Madine asked with an intense stare.

"With my team to assist, absolutely," Harry said.

"You bring up the reason why we delayed this briefing until your arrival," Madine said. "During the last Death Star attack, you provided this service to several Y-wing fighter-bombers. Can you do this for capital ships?"

"By myself, no," Harry said. "But with my team, yes, we can."

"Then it sounds like we have a great deal of work to do," Madine said with an eager gleam in his eyes.

~~Revenge~~

~~Revenge~~

That night, after a marathon eight-hour planning session, Harry and Leia left Luke so he could go get a new hand, went on a tour of the ship. Both were aware of the many eyes that followed their progress, but neither sensed any hostility. More often than not they received smiles or nods of respect. Though Harry's face may not have been well known, word of his exploits with the Phoenix Redux made the rounds, especially when Maria and his former crew members joined the Alliance on a full-time basis during his round of Jedi-training and the staff of the Alliance got a chance to know mages personally.

Leia's fame was at once more subtle and yet more endearing. He knew from their many conversations that she joined formally the moment she came of age, but informally was involved as early as sixteen. He knew Bail Organa was one of the founding members of the Alliance, and that word had come out that Leia was also the biological daughter of Senator Padme Amidala Naberrie of Naboo.

People liked her. Some people liked her a lot.

The missile came out of nowhere and pulled Leia away from Harry before he could react. When he did, he let his hand fall because it was not an attacker that had Leia wrapped up, but a friend. "Leia!"

"Winter!"

The two young women hugged tightly while smiling and laughing. Finally, they parted and Harry got his first look at Winter.

The woman looked striking with her naturally white hair and icy blue eyes. She had a lovely face—even more so than Leia, if he were honest with himself, but she did not have the spark of determined strength the princess had. "And you must be Harry Potter," she said. Her tone sounded challenging, but Harry accepted her hand firmly.

"And you must be Winter. It's a pleasure to finally meet you in person."

"Likewise," Winter said. "As it's been almost a year since we've spoken, would you mind too much if I stole her away for a few hours?"

Harry shrugged. "She goes where she wills. If I'm lucky, she'll go with me sometimes."

"Smart answer," Winter said approvingly. She and Leia disappeared as fast as Winter first appeared, leaving Harry alone in the middle of Home One. He hadn't gone two steps toward his assigned quarters when he found himself standing in front of Luke Skywalker, now with two hands. The right looked slightly paler than the left, but the artificial hand was otherwise perfect.

"Commander," he said.

Luke looked unsmiling at him, and said, "Darth Vader is going to be at Endor, I feel it. And I'm going to confront him."

Bugger me.

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Author's Note: As always, 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.