Revenge of the Wizard (HP x Star Wars)92.50%

Chapter Thirty-Seven: Variables in the Equation

Star Wars + Harry Potter Crossover

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Chapter Thirty-Seven: Variables in the Equation

"So tell me how and why my father died."

The question startled Vader. He was expecting many things from Anakin Skywalker's son, but not that.

The young Jedi sat calmly in the cell, bereft of lightsaber and hope, with a poise that Anakin Skywalker was never able to find in his life. He stared at Vader with a frank openness that spoke more of Padme than Anakin, despite having the same shade of eyes as Anakin did.

Vader stood on the other side of the force field, arms crossed over his chest plate, staring in heavy silence at what his life could have—no, should have—been. "Dwelling on the past is useless. Be conscious of the here and now."

"That sounds like something Obi-Wan would have said," Luke noted. "You're going to try and murder Anakin's daughter and pull me into the same slavery that destroyed him. I believe I have a right to know. Why did my father die?"

"Anakin Skywalker was a fool," Vader snarled.

"I think the proof of that stands before me."

Anger lashed out in the Force, slamming Luke against the far wall. The young Jedi did not resist at all. Rather, he went completely limp and let the anger flow over and through him. "The Emperor will teach you respect," he said.

With a sad shake of his head, Luke said, "No, he will kill me. I won't turn. I cannot. And he will be forced to kill me. Or, more likely, he will demand that you do it. And you will, won't you? Because my father is dead. You killed him, just like Obi-Wan said."

Around them, the Executor hummed faintly as it blasted its way through hyperspace. "There is only a Sith Master, and a Sith Apprentice," Vader noted. "There is no room for weakness. Your sister is strong with the Force, but you are stronger."

"And because I am stronger, I will bend but not break," Luke said. "Obi-Wan always said Leia was a lot like her father, even though she looked more like her mother. She had a sharp passion and a fiery temper that she sometimes had a hard time keeping control of. I'm glad she found Harry. More importantly, I'm glad he found her. They've strengthened each other and helped each other recover. Him from the loss of his wife and family, and with them his world. Her from the loss of her family, her world, and being tortured by the twisted slave who was once her father."

"Enough!" Vader shouted.

"Never!" Luke's sudden burst of volume surprised Vader enough to silence him. "It will never be enough! You didn't just betray the Jedi, you betrayed your own wife! You betrayed your own children! And for what, Father? What happiness has Palpatine brought you? What have you accomplished besides slaughter and hatred? You have an Empire built on fear, and no matter what you do eventually it will fall. All you had to do was admit your marriage. Do you think Yoda or the old Council would have ejected you from the Council during the war?"

"Yes, they would have," Vader said quietly. "Just as they ejected my own Padawan for a crime she did not commit. Even then, they were blinded by the Dark Side."

"And so are you," Luke said. He sat back down and took a deep sigh. "I do not wish to die, Father. I wish to live. I want to find a woman to love as my father did, and raise children to study the Jedi arts. I want to grow old with my family and friends, and pass into the Force loved and remembered. And because of that, I will never, ever turn to the Dark Side. You may as well kill me now."

~~Revenge~~

Luke swayed under the oppressive feeling of the Dark Side of the Force as he and his father stepped into the Emperor's chambers aboard the obscenity of a ship that was the Force Eclipse. They took a shuttle over as soon as the fleet arrived in the Avalon system, and the moment Vader let him into the chamber, he felt the aura of the Emperor's evil even before the creature's orange-tinted eyes began boring into his own.

Despite the evil on board, Luke had noticed that the interior of the Force Eclipse felt different than the Executor. For one, the walls were all an off white instead of the harsh metallic grey that dominated Vader's command ship. At occasional points he saw potted plants of various types, and he swore there was at least one or two actual green, grassy parks within the ship.

It was as if the commander of the Force Eclipse was simply more humane than Vader was.

But the creature he now faced, within the ostentatious chamber that looked out among the stars, felt anything but human. "You have grown powerful in the Force," Palpatine hummed with a greasy, metallic grin. "Yes, great power. Your father too, was powerful. By now you must know that he can never turn back from the Dark Side."

"I realize that you believe such to be true," Luke acknowledged.

"You think he can return?" Palpatine laughed. "Foolish, naïve boy."

"I cannot turn him back, this much I accept," Luke said, bowing his head sadly. "But neither can you turn me."

"Oh, you think so?"

Luke had to fight not to lose his footing as a terrible cracking reverberated through the Force. To the young Jedi's horror, space beyond the large port windows shimmered before a whole planet appeared before them. He could sense the mages on the world crying out in pain and alarm.

Overhead, an urbane voice announced, "As you are no doubt aware, Majesty, Avalon awaits you."

"Your sister has given me something I and the Sith have been searching for," Palpatine said with a metallic grin. "Do you know what that is, young Skywalker?"

Luke raised his chin but did not answer.

Palpatine turned his throne until he looked out at the planet. "Can you feel them, young Skywalker? The ancient stones of Adega? Jedi and Sith alike have been searching for them for thousands of years, but all it takes is one primitive mage to find them."

"Because they were created by his forebears," Luke said.

"Yes. And they have made him immortal." The Emperor stood before walking slowly around his throne. "Lord Vader severed Potter's limbs on Adega. And within hours he was whole. We placed inhibitors in his eyes, and yet he overcame them. He can be tortured just short of death, and recover. And though he looks like a teen, in fact he is twice the age he appears. And now, your dear sister shares this power."

Luke fought against a surge of panic. "Your sources of information are badly…"

"My source of information is the Force, boy," Palpatine spat. "Your sister is now truly powerful—she wields both mage craft and the Force. And because of that, she is now stronger than you. Admiral Thrawn?"

A voice responded over the speakers. "Yes, m'lord?"

"Prepare a shuttle for the surface."

"Very well."

"And the boy, Master?" Vader asked.

"He is no longer of use to me," Palpatine said dismissively. "Kill him. When I return, I shall be immortal and powerful beyond reckoning. And only your dear daughter, with all her passion and hate, will be worthy as my new apprentice."

Vader ignited his lightsaber and approached his unarmed son as Palpatine made his slow, ponderous exit from the ship. He cackled as he walked. "Jedi," he called out, enunciating the punch line for his own, personal joke.

Luke, unarmed and still bound in stuncuffs, shook his head before turning to face his father. "Before you kill me," he said softly, "I deserve to know what really happened on Mustafar."

~~Revenge~~

"Harry, stop!"

Harry turned and looked at Leia, concerned by her expression. They had finally broken through to the command level and were a mere hundred meters or so from the over bridge of the massive ship. "What is it?"

She knelt down and cradled her head in her hands. With a grunt of effort, he could feel her pushing through the Force, as if struggling against a hidden barrier. Instinctively, he reached down and grabbed her shoulder, opened his Occlumency barriers and pushed power through his contact.

Behind them, Madine stepped toward them. "What is it?" he asked.

Leia, though, continued struggling against something Harry could only partially sense. Even so, he opened himself entirely to her. She reached up over his shoulder, gripped his hand, and with that extra touch pulled at his magic almost as strongly as the ward stones on Adega did.

Though he did not understand entirely what happened, he felt a shift, almost like a crack in reality, as Leia broke through whatever barrier she strove against. And with that crack, her head shot up and she sucked in a deep breath. "Oh Force," she whispered. "It's a trap. It's all a trap."

"The bridge?"

She spun and grabbed Harry's hand. "No, it's not just a trap for us! Well, yes, the bridge is a trap too. It's going to blow the moment we step into it. But I mean this all is a trap for everyone —Jedi, Sith and Mages! Harry, Thrawn's going to destroy us all!"

He felt her certainty as if it were her own. "How?"

"The Emperor is going down to Avalon for the ward stones," she said. "I saw him going, in the Force. He's blinded by his own thirst for immortality. Vader is fighting Luke, and is blinded by his own self-hatred. We're blinded by our need to save Avalon. Harry, he's going to kill the Emperor, Vader, Luke and I, all the Jedi and all the mages. He planning a coup, Harry. He wants an Empire with no Sith, no Jedi, and no mages. He's going to kill Luke!"

"Well then, we have a new destination, don't we?" Harry said.

~~Revenge~~

Vader raised his blade; Luke stood still, staring at him with eyes from right out of Vader's memories. And suddenly, everything shifted. Both men staggered as their senses deadened and the force left them.

From the ceiling, strange cradles lined with what looked like tree branches lowered down with odd, reptilian creatures hanging on them. At the same time, the far door opened and a squad of ship marines rushed in, their black helmets and uniforms acting as a stark contrast to the normal white of Stormtroopers.

"What treachery is this?" Vader demanded.

The marines did not hesitate or speak before they opened fire.

Luke, unarmed and bound, could do nothing. He was therefore surprised when Darth Vader stepped between him and the marines. Though the man did not have the Force, he was still a powerful cyborg. Even so, many of the shots go through his defences. He heard the Dark Lord grunting and roaring in rage and pain as he rushed forward in the only tactic he had available.

He made it five steps before falling to his knees. Then, in a stunning move, he spun and tossed his red sabre to Luke. "Destroy the creatures!" the dark lord roared.

Not one to ever give up, Luke caught the sabre, and with one leaping jump from the Emperor's throne managed to kill the beast directly over his head. Suddenly his senses returned, but only to tell him that the rest of the room felt dead to the Force. But now that he had the Force with him, he was able to deflect the sudden onslaught of blaster fire from the marines.

He heard shouts and more blaster fire from outside the hallway, and suddenly rebel soldiers spilled into the room, led by Leia and Harry. His sister stumbled when she came into the Force-dead fields, but it did not immediately affect Harry. However, the marines were caught from behind and quickly fell under the rebel onslaught.

Rebel soldiers surrounded the fallen Sith Lord, while Luke stepped down from the throne. Leia rushed to him, hugging him tightly. "What's happening?" she asked. "Why is the Force gone?"

Luke pointed to the beasts. "I don't know what they are, but they deaden the Force."

Harry, listening, nodded and pointed a hand at one of the creatures. A flash of green light struck it and it fell dead. "Men, shoot the beasties," Harry ordered.

In seconds, the room was clear. Leia, meanwhile, was staring down at the still form of their Father. "I sensed a trap in the Force," she said. "This was all part of Thrawn's plan—he plans to kill all Force-sensitive and magical people in the galaxy. When the Emperor is on Avalon, Thrawn is going to fire the superlaser on the planet. Sith, Jedi, Mages—we all die."

"Kriffin' hell, he's alive!" one of the soldiers shouted as he jumped away from the slowly moving Vader. Luke, however, ignored the alarm and knelt down beside his fallen father. Vader rolled onto his back, his right arm flopping uselessly.

"Get me my com," the Dark Lord said in a weakened voice.

"Luke, you can't trust him," Harry said.

"He stood between the marines and me," Luke said to the older man, before pulling Vader's com unit from his belt. He activated it at his father's insistence and held it to the mask.

"Admiral Piett," Vader said weakly.

"Yes, m'lord?"

"Thrawn has betrayed the Empire. He has attacked me and plans to murder the Emperor himself. Order the squadron to attack the Force Eclipse."

The other line paused for the longest time, before Piett said, "M'lord, are you sure? You are still on board."

"I am sure. Destroy this ship at all costs."

"It'll be done, m'lord," Piett snapped. The connection ended and Vader visibly sagged in Luke's arms. His chest was riddled with blaster wounds.

"It is all I can do," he whispered through a wheezing, broken respirator. "You asked what happened on Mustafar, my son? Through my own rage, idiocy and blindness, I lost everything I every truly wanted. I lost you, your sister, and my wife. By my own hand, I lost my family."

"Yeah, you did," Harry said over Luke's shoulder. Then, to the twin's shock, he stunned the Dark Lord, flipped an old coin onto the being's chest plate, and Vader disappeared.

Luke shot to his feet, Vader's sabre in his hand. "What did you do?"

"Stunned him and sent him to Avalon," Harry said. "If we survive, and he survives, then we can talk more. I figure if anyone can survive a Portkey through space that long, it's a man in a hermetically sealed, space-worthy biosuit. Madine, can you get all the other units online?"

"They're reading," Madine said.

"All units, this is Potter. The Executor and Vader's squadron is about to attack the Force Eclipse. Full retreat—get back to your assault shuttles. And if any of you mages out there can cast Fiendfyre, do it. Go now!"

He snapped the connection shut and looked around at his men. "You heard the message, people. Let's get out of here! All hell is about to break loose!"

~~Revenge~~

Chewbacca's concerned growl tore Han's attention away from the landing bay he was attempting to close on the Force Eclipse. What he saw made the base of his neck tingle and his stomach twist.

The Executor, itself as long as the Force Eclipse if not as large on sheer bulk, had changed its course, along with all of its escorting destroyers, and was suddenly bearing on the larger dreadnaught. Space exploded in a storm of turbolaser bolts firing so thickly it obscured the planet below them.

"Oh shavit!" Han muttered. Ignoring the silent running order, he punched up Bria's com. "Tharen, this is Solo. The Imps are firing on each other!"

"We know!" came the slightly breathless response. "Get the hell out of there, Han. We're retreating too!"

The Force Eclipse began to swing about with surprising speed, forcing the Falcon to swerve violently itself on full burn. As Han watched, the ion pulse cannon fired. The Executor was manoeuvring away from the huge weapon in the same way the Force Eclipse tried to manoeuvre toward it, but the cannon blast still swept through some of the Executor's ships destructively. Meanwhile, he saw other ships begin to fire on the Executor as well in what could only be described as an absolute frag fest.

"Right," Han muttered, astonished by the destruction all around him. "Let's get out of here. Open up a Gold Channel Communication to the fleet. They've got to know what the hells is happening here!"

~~Revenge~~

"Captain Pelleon," Grand Admiral Thrawn said with unflappable calm.

"Yes, Admiral?"

"Order all fleet elements to engage Death Squadron. It appears Lord Vader has betrayed the Empire."

"Yes, Admiral. All fleet elements are moving to engage."

"As soon as they have engaged the enemy, break formation and realign the superlaser to the coordinates I am sending to you."

"Yes, Admiral."

When he terminated the connection, Thrawn returned to his review of the tactical information pouring like water into the tertiary bridge. Thrawn accounted for many things in his plan, but even he had difficulty accounting for the variables of the Force and Magic, which was why he fully intended to forever remove those variables from the equation. He was watching the security feeds outside the primary bridge when he saw Princess Leia kneel down as if in pain. He caught the security audio as she used the Force to discern his plan when it would not, and should not, have been otherwise possible.

He knew Vader was dead—not even the Dark Lord of the Sith could have survived so many blaster bolts. But he would not ordinarily believe the Jedi Skywalker would aid the Dark Lord, nor that the Dark Lord call on his forces to attack before then. Still, it was a possibility he took into account because of their familial bond, which is why his fleet outnumbered Vader's Death Squadron by a sizable amount. While it was an unfortunate set-back, he had no doubt he would overcome.

The one thing that left no margin for error, though, was the Emperor. His tracker on the Emperor's shuttle had it landing in the mountains of the north continent, and he absolutely had to make sure the superlaser fired at those coordinates. Only when the Emperor was dead could he move forward with his plans to reshape the Empire into what it should have been—a bastion of peace, stability and control for the whole galaxy.

~~Revenge~~

The rebels ran. They did not walk, they sprinted back through the halls they had fought so hard to get through, often times tripping over the bodies of their own fallen comrades. There was no time to think of the dead, only the living.

They encountered more resistance, but like before the mages made the difference, charming open locked doors and distracting soldiers. The automated systems were still down from their initial passage, but the ship was filled with massive numbers of soldiers that made every step a challenge.

Even so, they ran. And as they ran, Harry Potter threw out little puffs of fire that struck the metallic walls around them, and somehow began to spread like a disease. Their unit broke through the final, hastily wrought barriers to the corridor where they burned through the hull. Harry conjured a ladder and started waving people up.

Luke and Leia stood on the other side, along with a unit of their heavy weapons people, to hold the line for the retreat. Stormtroopers continued to arrive in a corridor that was already stacked shoulder-high in some places with the dead. The Jedi twins acted as the shield while the rebel soldiers pounded the incoming Stormtroopers with blasters and portable, mounted laser cannons.

Harry joined them, and with a wave of his hand reshaped the pile of bodies into a thick wall that cut off the Imperials. "Go, everyone else is through."

The two Jedi motioned for their soldiers to go first, and only then did they climb up the ladder. Harry was half-way up when his transfigured barrier blew, but he didn't care. The moment he was in the shuttle, he shouted, "Seal the hatch and take off!"

He reached the cockpit where Luke was already flying and Leia took the co-pilot's seat. Harry took the weapons station. Behind them, Stormtroopers and marines shot out of the hole as the shuttle's departure created a sudden vacuum that could not be sealed except by closing a corridor filled with Imperial fighters. Around them, green bolts of destruction were raining down onto the battered hull of the insanely large ship, and up from the ship in response.

Directly above them, the Eclipse pointed down like a giant dagger trying to stab at the very heart of the larger ship.

"Take us back to Avalon," Harry told Luke.

"Can you tell if the other shuttles made it?" Leia asked.

Harry checked the communications consoles and pinged the other shuttles. "Last one's leaving now," he said. Then, frowning, he said, "We took massive losses. I'm not sure our first plan would have ever worked. No word on the fleet, though."

Leia frowned but continued their flight through the raging civil war that had somehow erupted around them.

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.

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