A/N:

To whom it may concern;

I have been looking for a Beta, but of the many people I messaged, only one ever responded and that was to deny my request.

As such, I will make a more open request and ask that anyone willing or able to act as a Beta for my story, please PM me.

Thank you, and enjoy the chapter!

Chapter 4

The I.G.B.C.

A week following the… Events on Geonosis found Anakin Skywalker and his master, Obi-Wan Kenobi, in the council chambers, recounting the events leading up to the bloody battle from their own point of views.

Or more precisely, Obi-Wan recounted his side whilst Anakin looked out the window, deep in his thoughts.

As he thought, he flexed his metal hand, hidden by a black glove. A parting gift from the esteemed Count, and a stark reminder for Anakin just how far out of his league he was in that fight.

"Padawan Skywalker." Mace Windu cut off Anakin's introspection, making the Padawan jump.

"Yes, Master Windu?"

"Recount the events from your point of view, including the… shall we say appearance of a trio of mysterious individuals?" Anakin scowled at the Jedi Master, which the man did not visibly react to, before setting into his story.

"As I had been ordered, I stayed with Senator Amidala on Naboo. She was staying at a personal villa for much of the time. Nothing of note happened, that is until, while we were out in one of the expansive fields around the villa, a trio of men appeared-"

"What were you doing in some misbegotten field around the Villa?" One master asked, but Mace Windu glared at the master, cutting off any answer Anakin might give.

"That is hardly relevant, there are more pressing matters to attend to. Continue, Padawan Skywalker."

"As I was saying, one of them appeared before the other two. He landed in the grass no more than a few meters from us. He was of an average build, dressed in what I could only guess to be the attire of some Corellian aristocrat's suit. The other two followed no more than a moment later, together. When they both landed, only one of them retained consciousness. This one, after a few seconds of getting his bearings, attacked the one he fell through with. The one he was attacking got the upper hand and killed him with some sort of disguised blaster."

"Disguised blaster?" Windu asked, sounding more than a little skeptical. Anakin nodded slowly, trying to remember what the weapon looked like.

"It was… Short, maybe a foot long. It looked like a stick, though I never had a chance to get a close look. It was thin, far too thin to be a blaster, yet at his voice, it fired."

"The body that we gathered had no markings, however." Another master pointed out, narrowing his eyes in suspicion. Anakin could only shrug hopelessly, he had no better way to describe the weapon.

"Continue, Padawan Skywalker." Windu said with a wave of his hand, silencing the murmuring that had followed the master's words. With a dip of his head, Anakin continued his story.

"The survivor then moved on to the first man, waving the… well, stick over him. Whatever it was that he did woke the still unconscious man up. The conversed for a bit before embracing one-another several times, almost as if they couldn't believe to see one-another…"

"Able to read people so well, we did not think you could, young Skywalker." Master Yoda said with a smile and a chuckle, causing the padawan in question to go a little crimson.

"That was Senator Amidala's assessment." Anakin said rather bashfully. Before Windu could press him to continue, Anakin went on.

"Upon both rising, I… Questioned who they were. Both spoke a language I had never heard before, clearly confused as to what I was saying. The first, this one had a strange scar on his head, and the other had strange, Corellian vest, asked me several questions in his strange tongue before becoming clearly irritated. Without so much as a warning, both raised their short sticks and began firing."

"They opened fire on you?" Windu asked, raising an eyebrow. Anakin nodded slowly, clearly confused at the turn of events.

"Yes, the shots were… Unlike anything I had ever seen. They were a mix of colors. The first shot the scarred one had used on the man he had fallen through with was green, but what he fired at me was a mix of vibrant colors. They weren't plasma, there was no heat accompanying each shot, and they just… Vanished on my blade."

"Vanished?" Mace Windu asked, leaning forward and steepling his fingers. Anakin tried to think of the words to explain what had happened.

"It was like… When blaster fire meets a lightsaber, there is a flash and a distinct sound? When the orb, their shots were like pulsating orbs instead of bolts, met my lightsaber they just vanished. No flash, no sound, they just…" Anakin made a movement of his hand like something disappearing into a puff of smoke.

"Gone."

"Strange… Strange…" Yoda said slowly before Anakin continued.

"Eventually the scarred one barked another order, it went… 'Stupefy Maxima'" Anakin tried to mimic the strange language, finding it unfamiliar on his tongue.

"After that, nearly a dozen red orbs shot out at the same time, and I was unable to stop them all."

"You were hit?!" Mace demanded, suddenly looking Anakin up and down as if to make sure there was no sudden injuries on his body.

"Yes, I thought I was dead. I woke around twenty minutes later. Whatever they had done had knocked me out cold, no matter what the Senator did I wouldn't wake up. They took the speeder we had used and later the ship was had arrived on…" Anakin faltered for a second.

"What is it?" Mace asked, to which Anakin narrowed his eyes in concentration.

"Something strange happened while I was out, however. The Senator said that, while I was unconscious, the scarred one forced open my eyes and stared into them for a few seconds before recoiling, clearly in pain…"

"Are you saying he may have read your mind?" One of the masters asked with an incredulous tone, earning him a sharp glare from another.

"You read the reports, whatever they are, they aren't natural-" The master fell silent, realizing there were two present that was not privy to whatever information was being discussed. Mace let out a long, drawn out sigh, putting his face to his steepled fingers. Without any pressing from Obi-Wan or Anakin, he explained.

"The body we obtained on Naboo was… Not normal. It was human, however there were lingering traces of the force."

"They were… Force users?" Obi-Wan asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Hardly, more like… Beings of the force."

"Of the force?!" Obi-Wan and Anakin exclaimed at the same time, earning some glares from the gathered masters.

"So it seems. The body, based on our healer's diagnosis, was filled with the force. It seemed they drew on the force, not from the area around them like a Jedi or, dare I say, Sith. No, they drew from within themselves. Of course, some among us refuse to believe that…" A few huffs came from around the semi-circle.

"But, we have only the evidence provided to us. Did you feel anything, Padawan Skywalker?"

"Ah- No, master. It didn't… Occur to me to keep an eye out for their force signatures…" Anakin said, bowing his head in embarrassment.

"However, I believe there is more to your story, Padawan Skywalker. What were you doing on Tatooine when your orders stated that you specifically remain on Naboo?" Mace asked, making Anakin flinch at his disapproving tone. The Padawan had long since learned that him pleasing Mace was next to impossible, of course, as his master said; 'Breaking rules certainly does that to an authority figure'.

"Prior to… The events on Naboo, I had been having… Visions of my mother's death." No one reacted visibly, so Anakin went on.

"After I had come around, we were stuck on Naboo for another week as a number of doctors and officials wanted to check on me, then it took another three days to acquire a ship… On the last day, the visions stopped, leaving me with this… Emptiness." Anakin said, not able to truly explain his feelings in that moment. It felt as if a part of him had died, had been forever lost.

"We… Went to Tatooine, where I followed the trail to… a Tusken Raider camp…" One of the masters gasped, the Anakin didn't know who. Mace had dipped his head slightly, now looking at the ground.

"She was… Dead by the time I arrived…" Yoda let out a long sigh, his eyes closed and his ears lowered.

"Dangerous, looking into the future, is. Show you one of many possible futures, there are… Unfortunate, it is, that your mother has died. Let her go, now, you must. Lead to the darkside, regret can." Anakin lowered his head again, fearing the masters may see the growing tears in his eyes. Obi-Wan, while stunned that his Padawan never told him this, put his hand on the younger man's back in a calming gesture.

After a moment of silence, Yoda spoke again.

"Unfortunate, it is, that so soon after the ordeal on Geonosis, another task, we have for you." Mace picked up from here, it was common knowledge that Yoda giving any missions was a pain in the ass to sit through, simply because of how he spoke.

"Our spies in the underground bounty hunting leagues had warned us that a number of high level officials in the Republic have had massive bounties put on their heads. They were put through the Intergalactic Banking Clan, whose policies protect clients anonymity. We believe that they were put through by Count Dooku, but that isn't what's important. Until the Clone Army can be fully established on Coruscant, all of these officials are targets and under constant threat. You two will be tasked with defending Sate Pestage, advisor to Chancellor Palpatine. His Villa is protected by more than three hundred men and women of the Senate Guard and Commando, but there are still a number of threats to security. You two will remain there until discharged by the new police force. May the force be with you." Both Obi-Wan and Anakin bowed to the master.

"And also with you." Both left, thinking on different things.

Obi-Wan thought on the mission, what they would need to do to help security.

Anakin, however, thought only on his unbridled rage and thirst for revenge, directed at two individuals that he believed were singularly responsible for the death of his mother…

The 'Marauder', landed on a massive skyscraper overlooking Sate Pestage's villa, dropped its ramp, allowing Sirius and Harry to step out. Both wore simple, darkly colored clothing. Embarrassingly enough for both of them, neither could cast a fully working disillusionment with any level of competence. Thus, they both chose a single color so that they could cast a chameleon charm with little problem.

Not that they had to worry for very long about being seen if all went to plan.

Both kneeled at the edge, Sirius a little further back as he nervously looked down at the city streets kilometers below.

"What, scared of heights?" Harry asked with a confident smile that hid his own terror at being so high. He had been atop a skyscraper in New York, once was enough for him.

"Pee off!" Sirius snapped, still trying to get a hand on Basic while trying to mix in British slang.

"'Piss', Sirius, the word you are looking for is 'piss'." Harry consoled as he raised the binoculars he had found in the ship, looking at the villa, or more importantly, its security.

They had traveled for a little over a week, in which Harry and Sirius rapidly planned their heist-murder-possible kidnapping. In that time, Sirius was given the crash course to end all crash courses, and had a very basic understanding of… well, Basic.

"'Piss', 'pee', it all sounds the same!" Sirius exclaimed, his voice full of mock anguish.

"You poor, poor thing." Harry deadpanned, lowering the binoculars and pulling out what seemed to be a simple tin can.

"There's a sniper on the roof, get ready." Harry held it out to his godfather, who, with a pout and a huff, grabbed the other end.

"'Cosmonaut'" Harry said, activating the portkey. They both felt the familiar pull behind their navel as they were dragged to their position. It lasted no more than a second before both landed, Harry losing his footing before falling.

Sirius was still standing, and in one fluid movement, stunned the hitherto unaware sniper.

"Good show, Harry." Sirius said with an smile, making Harry mutter to himself. The former offered him a hand, helping Harry to his feet. Harry walked over to the downed sniper, flipping him over to reveal the fulling closed, black faceplate. He struggled for a minute or two before finally getting the man's helmet off. Harry forced the unconscious man's eyes open, jumping into his mind with the help of legilimency.

Access codes, patrol patterns, the works.

"Okay, got it. Ready step two." Harry stood up, waving his wand over himself. His clothing changed to match whatever was behind him nearly perfectly, like looking through glass. Sirius did the same, disappearing from sight briefly. Harry tapped his glasses with his wand, illuminating Sirius with a pink light.

A marking charm, Sirius would be visible to Harry so long as he had his glasses on. Sirius did the same, putting on a pair of sunglasses-like object they had found on the ship and tapping them.

"Homenum revelio." Harry murmured, allowing him to see anyone that was below him. There were four more guards in the room below, and probably more than that many security cameras. However, they had already planned for this. Harry put the end of his wand to the metal roof. A small hole appeared, allowing it to slip through with little trouble.

"Pungens grumus." Harry murmured, a massive cloud of smoke pouring from the end of his wand. The entire room was filled in no more than a second, the only way for the smoke to escape out the small hole he had made, and now closed.

The spell, the 'smoke-creating' charm, was created by George years after the war had ended. It was sold to the Auror department shortly after Harry took the helm, mostly because the prankster was a little worried what it would be used for after its predecessor was used for far more nefarious deeds.

Below, the soldiers scrambled to find a window to open crashing into things the human-detecting spell did… detect… and one-another. Harry traced a meter by meter-and-a-half square of roof with his wand. The moment he finished the box, it dropped, or would have had it not been for Sirius, who had been standing at the ready. He lifted his wand, the chunk of metal following and levitating over the opening. Both, silently, dropped down, the muffling spell on their feet stopping any sound that was made.

"Get a window open!" One of the guards snapped, standing near a wall that he was feeling, trying to find one of the windows.

"I'm trying!" Harry and Sirius moved towards the nearest wall, letting the chunk of metal drop and fuse back into place. Harry placed his wand on the palm of his hand, murmuring 'point me the door'. The wand twirled, facing to their right. Both crept over to the door, listening to the guards arguing amongst themselves as they tried to find a window.

Harry pushed the button to open the door, cringing as it whined open, not that any of the guards noticed. One had gotten the window open and was flapping his arms in a vain attempt to make the smoke leave faster. Another amusing little side effect of the spell was that it was impossible for a human, or any creature, to force the smoke to move. Magic could easily dispel it, after a few minutes.

Harry and Sirius slipped into the hallway, closing the door behind them as smoke billowed out to follow. Harry pulled out his holocommunicator, showing him a diagram of the villa. He looked up, seeing nothing but an empty hallway with a turn at the far end. Wordlessly, both rose to their feet and crept silently towards it, keeping their eyes and ears open for anyone or anything that might catch or spot them.

They slinked around the corner, finding an elevator. Harry pushed the button to call it before pressing to the wall next to the doors, Sirius doing the same opposite from him. After a few moments, the elevator gave a small 'ding', revealing two men dressed in blue suits and blue hats. One was carrying what Harry assumed was a toolbox at his side.

"Wonder what those idiots broke this time…" The toolbox carrying one muttered, walking past Harry and Sirius as if they weren't even there. His partner followed closely behind, also not sparing the duo a glance.

"Whatever it was, there's no way it can be creating that much smoke!" Once they turned the corner, Harry and Sirius slipped into the elevator, the former pushing a button for the third floor, where the security room was located…

Obi-Wan and Anakin walked down the halls of the villa, both conversing in low tones about a number of topics, none of which seemed overly important to anyone who may have been listening.

"- I find Master Ti's appointment to the council perfectly-" Obi-Wan was saying before something cut him off mid sentence, some sort of force coming over him.

"Master?" Anakin asked, stopping as well and turning to face his master, an eyebrow quirked up in confusion. Obi-Wan was staring at a duo of Senate Commandos down the hall, or at least, try to. It was as if some sort of compulsion was trying to make him look away from them, to ignore them and write the duo off as under his attention.

One was walking with the typical military precision of a soldier, rifle held firmly in his hand, barrel resting on his shoulder. The other was more lax, his rifle held loosely in both hands, his posture more hunched.

"Master?" Anakin repeated, snapping Obi-Wan out of his stupor.

"No time to explain, follow my lead." Obi-Wan murmured to his padawan before marching up to the odd duo. Confused, but now equally suspicious, Anakin followed.

Once Obi-Wan got close enough, whatever the two had been discussing abruptly ended.

"Troopers." Obi-Wan said casually, eyeing both of them for a reaction. The far more proper one snapped a salute immediately, straightening his back even further, if that was possible. The other, far slower to react and needing to look at his partner before realizing what he was doing, snapped off a very sloppy and unprofessional salute.

"Sir!" The first said, his voice sounding… Odd to the Jedi, but he wrote it off.

"What is your identification, trooper?" Obi-Wan asked the first, who rattled off a long and complicated list of numbers and designations.

The gist of it was; 'SC-7732'.

The other was far slower on the que, but he just rattled off the necessary numbers.

In the worst basic he had ever heard in his life, and he had heard a Wookie try to speak the language.

He was 'SC-1909'.

"Very well, as you were, men." Both walked off, past the two Jedi.

"Straighten your posture, trooper!" Anakin added, clearly directed at the sloppy, unrefined one. The man didn't react until his partner crammed an elbow into his gut.

"He means you, you twat." The man snapped in a harsh whisper, using a word that Obi-Wan had never heard in his life.

"Twat." Obi-Wan echoed, to which Anakin just shrugged.

"Probably some clone insult?" Obi-Wan brooded on that as the duo disappeared around a corner, the strange compulsion disappeared with them.

"A lot of good your 'notice-me-not' did." Sirius muttered to Harry from inside the helmet he was wearing.

They had made it to the barracks, and much to their luck, a duo of troopers were waiting inside, changing out of their armor at the end of their shift. It was a simple job of stunning them and cramming them inside their lockers, after ripping some information out of their minds.

Apparently they were clones, all of them, forced to serve in the grand army of the Republic. Odd, for such a futuristic society to have slave soldiers…

Harry tried to teach to Sirius the long title of his armor's true owner, but the man could barely wrap his mind around the first part, so Harry decided that would be good enough.

A few minutes later, they found themselves outside the door to the security room, trying to draw their wands from under the armor.

"Coming from the one stomping around like a moron." Harry snarked back, casting a human-detecting charm and finding only one man inside, sitting and facing the wall opposite the door.

"It's not my fault this thing is tight in the 'land down under'." Harry mouthed 'land down under' a few times before he got it.

"Oh, my ass!" Harry snapped good naturedly, standing up straight again.

"Want to see?" Sirius said, moving as if he was intending to drop his trousers.

"Now is not the time for a literal dick measuring contest, Sirius!" Harry said, putting up a hand to shield his faceplate.

"Anytime is a good time for a dick measuring contest, that's rule one of the 'Marauder Handbook'!"

"I thought rule one was 'never get caught'?"

"... Rule number two is 'Anytime-"

"Okay, okay! Let's just get this job done so you can fantasize about the days you could see Remus's, Wormtail's, and my dad's willies!" Sirius paused at that as Harry entered a code into the panel next to the door.

"Wait, are you calling me a poofer-" The door slid open, ending the conversation far too late. The guard, dressed in the same blue uniform as the engineers who went up to fix their entrance upstairs, turned his head slightly to look at the newcomers.

"What do-" Harry raised his wand to aim at the man as Sirius raised his blaster to aim at the camera on the wall, both firing at once.

"Imperio!" The spell took hold as the camera went up in smoke.

"You know, for an ex-Head of Department in the DMLE, you seem to have no problem using unforgivables."

"I haven't used 'crucio' yet, have I? No, you can blame Hermione for that one. She passed legislation that legalized the usage of unforgivables by law enforcement if it was necessary."

"Who decided if it was necessary?" Harry gave a slightly sadistic grin at that one as he sheathed his wand.

"Me."

Both turned their attention to the screens, showing numerous rooms and people.

"You, show us the cameras in the advisor's office." Harry ordered the worker, who immediately set to work without a word or sign of hesitation. Two of the screens changed, showing two different angles of the same room. It was a sizable office, a well dressed man sitting in the middle at a fairly large desk, staring at something out of frame.

"There he is." Sirius said, leaning in to look at the high definition picture of the office.

"Turn off those cameras… You know what? Turn them all off." The guard did as he was told, all the screens went dark.

"Now, destroy any recordings the cameras have of the last three hours." The man did as he was told, ripping wires and pieces out of the nearby console.

"Okay, let's get to work." Harry said, indicating out of the door and back the way they came.

"Ladies first."

"Rude." Sirius commented, walking back out into the hall. Harry followed, closing the door behind him and tracing his wand along the crack between the door and doorframe, fusing the two together. Once his job was done, Harry led Sirius back to the elevator.

"Once we get to floor four, we'll need to see what we're up against." Harry said, pressing the button for the aforementioned floor. The door closed with a small 'ding', lurching up towards the office of the advisor.

"What if we're looking at a lot of people?" Sirius asked, setting his blaster down and adjusting his helmet.

"Smoke the room and stun anyone inside."

"Sounds like a plan." Sirius said, picking the blaster back up as Harry waved his wand, casting the 'human-detection' charm. Much to his chagrin, there were more than a dozen men in the room, and one person that he assumed was a secretary.

"Bugger, we've got a bunch of them." Sirius looked at Harry before casting the charm himself.

"Oh, joy." Harry couldn't tell if that was sarcasm, or if the man was actually itching for a fight. Harry wasn't ashamed to admit he was feeling some level of anticipation at the prospect of getting to stretch his proverbial wings again, damn Gryffindor spirit…

The elevator reached the floor, and with another small 'ding', slid open into the room. Harry didn't spare a second, waving his wand while saying the incantation for the smoke-conjuring charm. Within a second, the room was full of a thick, black haze that no one could see through.

"What the hell?!" One soldier called as Harry and Sirius recast the human-detection charms. With a nod to one-another, they began firing stunners. When the first armored soldier fell, the other realized there was more going on then they thought, one of them even going as far as to blindly fire into the smog.

Harry took care of him with a wordless stunner before moving on to the screaming secretary. The last couple fell without incident, both men trying to find the door to the advisor's office.

"Clear?" Harry called, turning slowly to see if they missed anyone.

"Clear!" Sirius responded, rising to his full height somewhere near the secretary's desk. Harry lifted his wand, murmured an incantation, and watched as the cloud of smoke was sucked back into the tip of his wand.

"Whoa… You need to teach me that!" Sirius exclaimed, pulling off his helmet and setting it on the desk. Harry gave a slight smile, doing the same.

"After the job." As Sirius stripped the rest of the way down and unshrunk his clothing, Harry cast another human-detecting charm, revealing Pestage in his office alone, clearly aware something was going on in the next room, but not confident enough to check what. For a moment, Harry was confused why he hadn't called any guards, but when the elevator gave a small jingle before closing, he knew they had limited time.

"Come on." Harry said, not bothering to change as he walked towards the door.

"Wait!" Sirius called, hopping on one foot to try and catch up while trying to get his boot on the other. Harry pushed a button to open the door, revealing Pestage crouched behind his desk. Apparently, the man didn't see his face or the multitude of fallen guards behind Harry, because the man stood back up with a sigh of relief.

Before he could speak, however, Harry raised his wand. A red orb slammed into the man's chest and threw him back into his seat.

"I thought the bounty wanted him dead?" Sirius asked, walking in behind Harry and taking the office in.

"Yeah, but one thing I learned when we took down criminal enterprises back after Voldemort fell, never leave any capital behind for the successor." Harry explained, walking around the side of the desk and to the console setup facing the now unconscious man.

"Wait, you guys robbed criminal enterprises?!" Sirius asked, raising an eyebrow in shock, and maybe even a little pride.

"'Rob' is such a strong word. So we didn't report a little… extra payment. Big deal!" Harry said, his voice clearly lined with humor, but Sirius was having trouble figuring out if he was being honest or not.

Harry turned the console on only to find a prompt for a password.

"Damn, ennervate." Harry said, pointing his wand at the unconscious Pestage. As the man came around, Harry waved his wand again.

"Imperio." Pestage immediately sat up, any semblance of confusion or signs of him just waking up gone.

"Sirius, can you fuse that door shut?" Harry asked as he moved out of the way of the console and allowing the advisor to sit closer. Sirius closed the door in question and drew his wand, tracing where it met the doorframe.

As Sirius worked, Harry murmured a list of directions for the advisor to complete. After a few moments, Harry found the man's accounting logs. They went back as far as a decade. As Harry searched for passwords and access codes, a few of the deposits and withdrawals seemed a little… Off to the wizard.

"Wait, show me that last one." Harry said, pointing at the screen. Wordlessly, Pestage did as he was told, opening the report in question. It was a transfer of money the advisor made. He was paying a 'Hondo' to raid outer-rim systems and trade routes for… years now. Odd, it was almost as if he were… Fueling people's anger at the Republic for not helping them… His message inbox from the same time told the same story, planets requesting help from the Republic through the advisor, but the Republic 'just being unable to help'...

Anything Harry wanted to say or think on was stopped by a single beam of blue light passing through the door, leaving yellow, melted metal being left in its wake.

"I think it's time we leave." Harry said, rising now that he had what he wanted. Harry waved his wand over Pestage, stunning him then shrinking him down to a handheld size. Carefully gripping the advisor, Harry tried to grab the portkey in his pocket before remembering the suit of armor.

"Bugger… Sirius, get over here!" Harry barked, using one armored elbow to smash the screen of the console before kicking the system itself, breaking it. Sirius ran over, grabbing Harry's arm just as the beam of light completed its circle.

"Sherbert!" Harry said, and with the familiar pull behind his navel, he was whisked away, back to the 'Marauder'.

"Sherbert?! The activation word was 'Sherbert'?!" Sirius demanded as they ran up the ramp and into the ship. Harry ran past G-222, stuffing Pestage into his hand.

"Keep an eye on him, and yes, Sirius, I did! Get on the gun!" Sirius grumbled under his breath, but climbed up the ladder nonetheless. Harry reached the cockpit, finding T-4 in the pilots seat. Not wanting to wait for the droid to move, Harry got into the co-pilot's seat.

"Get us out of here, T-4!" Harry said, strapping in.

"Of course, sir." The droid said pleasantly, pushing a few buttons on the console before easing the ship up, far smoother than Harry could ever manage. They flew right past the now buzzing villa and out into the atmosphere, no one harassing them or even trying to question who they were.

Until they exit the atmosphere and entered the range of one of the dozens of space stations.

The 'Marauder' rocked as something caught them, much like what Jabba's gunboats did over Tatooine… Weeks ago now?

Wow, time sure does fly…

The tractor beam brought them to a complete stop, the only thing stopping Harry from slamming his face into the dashboard being the inertia dampeners.

"What's going-" Harry started, but his answer came in the form of a hologram. A man, dressed in a crisp military uniform, appeared, speaking with a harsh voice.

"Coruscant space is now closed, you are being brought aboard this space station to be searched. Please have your licenses prepared." When the hologram vanished, Harry swore, looking out the side of the cockpit, out towards the massive space station in question. They were being dragged towards it, with no clear way to get out.

"Damn-it! Can our laser cannon take care of that tractor beam?" Harry asked T-4, who turned his dark head to look up at Harry.

"No, sir. The only weapons on the 'Marauder' that could 'take care' of the tractor beam on that space station would be the proton torpedoes."

"Oh joy…" Harry said slightly sullenly, slumping down into his seat and trying to figure a way out of this one. T-4, once again, spoke before he had time to plan.

"There is a way to turn the ship sir, if you will allow me to fly at my own discretion." The droid said, cocking his head as far as he could, given the rigid make of his model. Confused, Harry nodded his confirmation, he had not known of any droid he had thus far dealt with asking for permission to do something.

T-4 did not waste a second. He turned off the leftmost and middle engine, allowing the ship to spin in place for a second. He turned the other two engines back on once the ship was lined up with the space station. T-4 pushed the targeting module for the proton torpedoes just as the communicator turned on, revealing the same officer from before.

"Unidentified freighter, stand down-" T-4 hit a button, turning the communication off.

"Oops." He said with the same pleasant tone of voice as he pushed the trigger for the torpedoes. Four launched from the bottom of the ship, glowing an orangish-red. One of them was shot down by the cannons on the station, but the other tree hit their marks, all around the tractor beam. The torpedoes, as Harry observed, were not set to destroy, but the detach. Evidently, the station was not designed with a tractor beam built in, and the torpedoes blasted whatever held the two together. With no energy being pumped in, the tractor beam released the Marauder. With nothing stopping it anymore, the ship rocketed towards the station for a second.

A console, what Harry assumed was a radar, went off, drawing T-4's attention.

"Sir, there are two wings of fighters converging on out position. I estimate that we will not have enough time to set hyperspace coordinates and make out escape before they reach us. Shall I disperse of the fighters?" The droid asked as if it were discussing the weather, catching Harry off guard.

"By all means." Harry said, sitting back as T-4 set to work. The droid eased the ship around, facing the next nearest station. Some twelve fighter, likely one wing, was hurtling towards them.

"Where's the other wing?" Harry asked, looking around for another dozen of the T-shaped craft.

"They would be behind us, sir." T-4 responded, his words followed by the report of the gun on top of the ship roaring to life, firing at something behind them. Harry didn't question why the droid was flying the towards the fighters, he wasn't much a pilot and didn't know much in terms of dog-fighting.

It didn't click with him that it was his protocol droid piloting them into combat.

As they drew closer, the fighters began firing. T-4 easily maneuvered the larger freighter around, avoiding the bulk of the green blaster bolts. Once their own guns were within effective range, T-4 returned fire. Most of the fighters were quick enough to avoid the return fire, but two were not so fortunate. One lost their wing from a blast, crashing into its neighbor before both went up in flame.

The 'Marauder' blew past the rest of them, putting both wings of fighters behind them. T-4 didn't turn the ship to rengage, instead continuing on his path to the next space station.

"Uh… T-4?" Harry said, looking at the droid, who did not respond. The ship rocked a few times as the pursuing enemy fighters landed a few hits, not that they did anything.

Once within range, the space station grabbed them in its tractor beam, but it seemed T-4 was planning for that. All the fighters over shot them, some being forced to scrambled to avoid colliding with them or eachother. From there, Sirius and T-4 took down another seven, the latter just turning the ship in place to track fighters with the forward cannons. As the fighter moved around for another run, T-4 fired off the torpedoes. This space station was, clearly, not the same as the other. T-4 launched off twelve, just obliterating the entire area of the tractor beam. T-4 turned the ship and barreled away from Coruscant, deeper into space. The fighter at this point were back on their tail, but T-4 showed no sign of stopping.

"Master? Will you set coordinates for Scipio?" T-4 asked politely, turning the ship to avoid another hail of blaster fire.

"Right, right." Harry turned on the hyperdrive console, finding and putting in the coordinates for 'Scipio', the headquarters for the Banking Clan. T-4 turned the ship in the direction they needed to go before throwing the hyperspace accelerator forwards. They ship jumped into hyperspace, leaving in its wake the remains of their attackers.

Harry let out a breath he didn't know he was holding in, slumping back into his seat as the ship moved through hyperspace.

"How… How did you do that?" Harry asked T-4, slightly worried about the answer he would get. Knowing his luck, the droid was secretly a reprogrammed assassin.

"I was formally a protocol-assassin droid, programmed to infiltrate fortresses or the bases of the enemies of 'Mama' the hutt." T-4 explained, rising from his seat.

"Y-you were an assassin droid? Who's 'Mama'?!"

"'Mama' is the name that I am programmed to associate with the grandmother of Jabba the Hutt. Excuse me, sir, but I must rest, all this excitement could fry my circuits!" And so Harry was left thinking about how a droid like that could kill a man.

The 'Marauder' dropped out of hyperspace a few days later over the frozen planet of Scipio, the atmosphere protected by over two dozen space station and dozens more cruisers. The moment they exit hyperspace, the console screamed in alarm that they were being targeted. Before Harry could even call on T-4 to take the helm, a hologram jumped to life. The person, or more precisely, alien, was tall, with thin limbs. His, based on his voice, face was thin and tall, like the rest of him. However, it also seemed to lack a nose, reminding Harry a little too much of Voldemort.

"State your business." The being ordered, ignoring all pretence of formality.

"We're here to collect on the bounty place on Sate Pestage." The being snorted, somehow, before checking the datapad in his hand.

"One of them… Okay, Bounty Hunter, we have set a landing zone on the planet, security will be waiting for you." The hologram disappeared and the console told Harry where he was supposed to land. Harry pushed the intercom button, mostly because he didn't want to go back and get Sirius.

"Oi, Padfoot, get dressed, we're landing!" Harry let the button go and eased the ship down, past the massive cruisers and far smaller gunboats. They past into the atmosphere and the clouds hiding the ground away from view.

The planet, Harry noted, was very mountainous. There were a few cities dotted around, and smaller foundries built into the side of cliffs, but most of the land was uninhabitable.

Harry landed where he was designated to, finding several guards, as the being up in space warned him there would be. As he landed, Sirius stepped into the cockpit, smoothing back his hair.

"We're here?"

"Yeah, do you have Pestage?" Sirius held up a small box with holes in it, too small for the shrunken man to climb through, but big enough to let air through.

"Okay, let's go. Leave your blaster, don't want to make a bad impression." Harry said, taking his own off of his hip and setting it on the dashboard before rising, tucking his shirt back in. Sirius did the same, carrying Pestage at his side.

The duo made their way to the ramp, opening it and stepping down, met at the end by another one of the strange beings, Muuns, if Harry recalled.

"You claim to have killed Pestage?" The being droned in a nasally and high voice.

"More or less." Harry said with a shrug as the ramp closed behind them.

"'More or less'?" The Muun asked, disbelief in his voice as he looked them up and down, his eyes naturally drawn to the small container Sirius was holding.

"More or less." Sirius repeated brightly, shaking the container a little. The Muun narrowed his eyes, but eventually let out a defeated sigh.

"Follow me, but do not make any sudden movements." The Muun ordered, nodding to the others. The other four formed a square around Harry and Sirius, all armed in what looked like a mix between stun batons and police batons. The party marched up to a duo of titanic double doors, which began closing when they passed. The streets of the city busy with life, beings, both humanoid and not, going about their daily business. The leading Muun led Harry and Sirius to what looked to be a simple platform with railing around it. At the front was a console and a very thin droid with a an oddly bent head, like a bent pipe. Aside from that, it's only other noticeable feature was its dark grey exterior. The Muun stepped up, followed closely by Harry and Sirius.

"OOM-3, take us to the citadel." The Muun ordered as he approached.

"Roger, roger." The droid said in a high, monotone voice, putting some instructions into the console. The platform rose, nearly making Sirius and Harry lose their footing. It set forwards, the Muun and droid not even reacting while Sirius and Harry were forced to hold onto the railing to stay balanced. Harry didn't even notice the guards were all left behind until they arrived at a palace sized building. Several more droids, exactly like their driver, met them at the front.

"Good morning, Captain." One of the droids said, speaking to the Muun that had led Harry and Sirius this far.

"OOM-22, take these two through the standard security procedures. By then, Director Lesser should be done with his meeting."

"Roger, roger." The droid said, turning towards Harry and Sirius.

"Please, follow me." Harry and Sirius shared a look but obliged the request, following between the grey droid, the others following close behind. The 'Captain' was left behind as they entered the citadel, where more droids were waiting. OOM-22 led them straight to the rest of the droids, who were, evidently, security staff. These ones were all painted with red on their heads and chest, contrasting with the dark grey. One of them had yellow instead, which was the one that met them.

"Commander, Captain Thuun requested you use standard security protocols for these two… What is your business here?"

"Ah… Claiming a bounty?"

"... Bounty Hunters." OOM-22 answered the already answered question.

"Roger, roger. Okay, strip down." The commander said with what sounded like a completely serious voice.

Sirius and Harry were led up to the Director's office, both trying to get their clothing proper arranged again. Their droid escorts seemed margianaly more at ease with them, not that a single one lowered their blasters. Maybe that was just a set feature…?

The duo were led through a never-ending maze of hallways and elevators until, finally, they reached the office of the 'Director'. Just as they approached the door, it slid open, revealing two more droids dragging what looked to be a human-lizard cross out. The being's chest was smoking, evidently where a blaster bolt had struck it.

The droids escorting Harry and Sirius didn't even acknowledge the body or their comrades, walking up to the doorway.

"Director Lesser! There are two Bounty Hunters here to meet with you!" The leading droid chirped, its voice the usual high pitched monotone. Clu Lesser sighed, sliding back into his seat and setting a smoking blaster pistol on his desk.

"What do they want?"

"They… Why are you here?" The droid turned to speak to Harry and Sirius, making both of them look at the droid in shock. How could they forget to ask why the duo was even there.

"Here to… Claim the bounty on Pestage?" Harry said slowly. The Muun sighed, pinching where the bridge of his nose should have been.

"Of course… Send them in." The being said, waving Harry and Sirius in. Both walked past the droid into the expansive office, the doors shutting noisily behind them. Clu Lesser steepled his fingers on his desk, hand still near the blaster pistol he had probably used to kill the lizard-man.

"I assume you know the requirements for proof of the kill?" The Muun said, clearly bored after having this conversation several times previously. Harry looked to Sirius, nodding his head towards the desk. The marauder obliged, lifting the small container he was carrying and opening one side. Clu Lesser, clearly not expecting much, showed his interest by leaning forwards and bring his face closer to his hands. Sirius tilted the box slightly, the miniature Pestage sliding down onto the desk.

Whatever Clu Lesser had been expecting, it wasn't that. The Muun leaned closer to look at the miniature, narrowing his eyes in what Harry assumed to be confusion and maybe a little anger.

"We knew you wanted the ring Pestage wanted, but we decided; 'hey? Why not bring the whole thing?'" Harry drew his wand and waved it over Pestage, giving no warning for Clu Lesser as the man suddenly grew back to his full size. The Muun gave a surprisingly girly scream as he fell out of his chair and scrambled back, now staring at a fully-grown Sate Pestage, the only differences between when he went missing and now being the stubble he had started growing and the general dirty state his clothing was in.

"Y-you… How…?" Clu Lesser said, stumbling around on his words as two of the droids moved forwards to help him up. Harry put his wand back into his jacket.

"Magic." Sirius said simply, his face emotionless and his voice a deadpan, though Harry could tell he was fighting back a grin.

"Mag-" The Muun's voice cracked and he cleared his throat, trying again, "Magic?!"

"Magic." Harry reiterated, folding his hands behind his back and keep up a wide grin. Clu Lesser looked from the unconscious form of Pestage to Harry, to Sirius and back to Pestage, his mind clearly trying to make sense of what he was seeing.

"Do it again." Clu demanded. Harry and Sirius looked at one another before HArry drew his wand and shrunk Pestage down to a child's toy size. Clu tentatively leaned forwards and picked the former advisor up, studying every inch of them man.

"Outstanding…" Clu murmured before carefully setting him back down. Harry undid the shrinking charm on the man, allowing him to return to his full size.

"Is he dead?" The Muun asked, looking back up at Harry as he finally got over his initial shock. When Harry shook his head, Clu just grabbed the blaster on his desk and shot Pestage in the side of the head.

"The contract said for him to be killed." The businessman seemed to take over Clu's shock, trying to find the best way to cheat Harry and Sirius out of as much money as possible.

Not that Harry blamed him all that much, after all, he hadn't seen the full extent of their collective powers.

Harry made a show of sighing, rubbing the back of his neck and shaking his head.

"Damn, a pity that. And I had all this blackmail material we made him give to us from his personal computer…" Harry said, holding up a data chip. Clu looked up immediately, his eyes locking onto the small chip held between Harry's fingers. The greed that filled his eyes reminded Harry of the goblins back in Britain, and made his heart sting as he was forced to remember the home he had left behind.

"H-how did you make him do that?!" Clu asked, his eyes moving from the datachip to Harry's eyes.

"Perhaps a demonstration?" Harry asked, pointing his wand at Clu. The droids all reacted immediately, their blasters aimed at Harry and Sirius.

"T-that won't be necessary! We can deposit the entire bounty into your account!" The Muun squeaked, putting his hands up and backing away. Harry gave a kind smile, lowering his wand.

"Good, however, we're going to need an account."

"Oh… Well, the cost for opening an account is-" Clu stopped talking as Harry raised his wand again, granted, it wasn't pointed at the minister.

"O-of course, we can negotiate that later on!"

"A new account isn't necessary." Harry pulled out another data chip, holding it so that Clu could see it.

"We'll be claiming Sate Pestage's account." Harry said with a confident smile, flicking the data chip up before catching it in his hand.

"How did you get that?" Clu asked before remembering Harry's wand.

"Wait! I don't need an answer to that. The problem is, Republic law states…"

"Oh, I'm sure you'll find a way around that." Harry responded with a wink, sheathing his wand. Clu sighed with relief before remembering his position.

"The council is going to love hearing about this one…" Clu said, tapping his thumb on his desk as he spoke, before an idea seemed to come to his head.

"Hey… Can you shrink larger things than a human male?"

"Depends…" Harry said after a moment of thought.

"On…?"

"How much money's on it." Harry said, crossing his arms. Clu scowled before rising from his desk.

"Before we discuss payment, maybe I should show you what we need shrunken, and moved."

They arrived at a hangar in the lower levels of the citadel, where several bus-tanks waited, all being loaded up with literal hundreds of the strange droids, these ones a bright tan color.

"These are Multi-Troop Transports, the main vehicle the Confederacy uses to cart around battle droids." Clu explained, indicating around the hangar that had, roughly, two dozen of them.

"If they're for the Confederacy, why does the neutral Banking Clan hold them?" Harry asked as they walked down into the hangar itself.

"Let's not ask any questions we don't want answered, eh?" Harry thought on that for a moment before shrugging, he wasn't really interested in getting involved in galactic affairs.

"As I was saying, these transports were dropped off here when the Confederate convoy carrying them was intercepted by a Republican fleet. We've been meaning to use our own transports to move them, but there have been… Complications…" Clu said cryptically, wringing his hands slightly as he spoke. Harry raised an eyebrow at this, but decided not the pry, after all, he didn't want to get involved.

"Where do we come into this?" Sirius asked impatiently, looking at one of the nearest transports, which had just been loaded up.

"Well, we need a… Ship to transport them, however there are few smugglers that utilize heavy enough transports to carry them. However, if one, or in this case, two people could shrink the transports down and move them, well…"

"Get to the point, Lesser, what are we looking at in terms of payment." Harry said, waving his hand dismissively as he spoke.

"150,000 credits per transport." Clu said simply, his voice straight as Harry and Sirius did the math on that.

"3.6 million?!" Sirius exclaimed just as Harry figured it out. Sirius looked at Harry, nodding vigorously as a sign of his agreement to the terms.

"Where do you want them?" Harry asked, not ready to appear too gung-ho on the idea, even though that amount of money sounded more than sufficient to him.

"A planet named Krant, one of Dooku's lieutenants there require reinforcements." Clu explained, not that Harry had any clue where 'Krant' was. He guessed it was deep in Republic space, so quickly formulated a plan to get paid more.

"Krant, eh? Pretty dangerous, out there…" Harry said, rubbing his fingernails off on the front of his jacket.

"Of course, we will pay 1.2 million upfront, the rest when you return." Clu countered, Harry nodding slowly.

"We want 100,000 on us when we leave, the remaining… What, 1.1 million? Yeah, put it all in our new account when that's opened." Harry said, turning back to the 'MTT'.

"Of course, Mr. Potter. We shall have that done by the time you leave." Clu said, sounding excited as he spoke.

"Good, you know, director? I like you, maybe when we get back I might give the Banking Clan a discount on that data chip." Harry said with a wink before drawing his wand and holding it above his head. Sirius quickly ran to the other side of the transport, raising his wand as well.

"On three, Sirius!" Harry counted down, then they both cast.

"Reducio." The transport gave a whine that turned into a squeak as it was shrunk down to a boxcar size. Sirius knelt down and picked it up, giving it a few tosses.

"Like a brick made of metal!" Sirius said, tossing it to Harry, who caught it with ease. Clu flinched as they tossed a clearly expensive piece of military equipment around.

"Please… Don't do that." Clu begged as Harry held the miniature under his arm.

"Don't worry, Lesser, we won't break your toys. Get us our money, we can get the rest of these quickly enough…"

"I don't see why you were such an arse to him." Sirius said as they loaded the last of the MTTs onto the ship.

"I know his kind, never give them an inch and always keep them on their toes. I'll have to review our finances when we get back to make sure he didn't leave out any… unmentioned costs." Harry said, making quotes with his fingers as he closed the ramp behind him. Sirius thought for a moment before shrugging, setting the two he was carrying down on the ground.

"Okay, fine. I'll give you that, but maybe try not pissing off the cash cow in future, eh?" Harry snorted, setting down the transports he was carrying.

"Please, he's too scared of us to do anything… yet." Both made their way up to the cockpit, finding T-4 at the controls.

"T-4, set course for 'Krant'." Harry ordered the droid, taking the co-pilot's seat.

"Krant, sir?"

"Is that a problem, T-4?"

"Krant is on the other side of the galaxy, Master Harry." Harry looked at T-4 for a second before leaning back in his seat.

"Bugger me… Set course, best not waste any more time than necessary."

"General Shen-Jon, Admiral Foerst spotted a light freighter breaking the blockade. Its headed for the planet's surface." Shen-Jon, Jedi and, more recently, general, looked up to the clone speaking to him.

"Thank you, Captain, keep me informed where it goes, was it with the separatists?"

"Unknown, sir. It didn't respond to any of the hails, according to the Admiral." Shen-Jon nodded slowly, looking back at the holotable in front of him. It showed a massive CIS fortress where Count Dooku's apprentice, Sev'rance Tann, was holed up with his padawan, Naat Reath. Numerous AT-TEs and heavy artillery guns bombarded the fortress, but it was still standing. The droids were in no hurry to sortie out and meet them in the field of battle, preferring to hide in their fortress…

Shen-Jon fought down his rising anger, and forced himself to think of a plan.

"Commander Tipper, what is the current status of our light walkers and tanks?" Shen-Jon asked the yellow marked soldier standing opposite of him. The trooper put in a command on the table, bringing up the walker depot.

"We've got twelve walkers and seven TX-130s ready to move on your command, we'll have double that in an hour when our supply ship returns."

"Reath doesn't have an hour, gather the light tanks and a trio of our heavy guns, three squadrons should be enough."

"Right away, sir." Shen-Jon nodded to the officer before leaving the table and walking a few feet away. He pulled his holocommunicator off his hip and contacted the fleet. Admiral Foerst appeared immediately, a middle-aged coruscanti man with a fairly large beard nearly pure white.

"General?"

"Admiral Foerst, how goes the battle?" The Admiral looked out the viewport on the Venator before responding.

"These Seps are at the breaking point, we have nearly reached their capital ship. Another few hours and they'll either leave or be destroyed."

"Good, keep me informed."

"Sir." The hologram flickered out, leaving the Jedi with his thoughts.

The Jedi General and his forced met near on of the walls of the base, just out of range of its defences.

"Sergeant, you and your men will push in the moment the wall falls, we'll need room so spread out and read for our tanks to follow in. Don't waste time, we need to move fast." The clone nodded his head and pulled his helmet back on.

"Don't worry, sir, speed is our motif." The trooper ran over to the walkers waiting nearby, mounting his own as a trio of heavy guns were moved into place. Shen-Jon turned back to the red armoured Captain.

"Are the tanks in position?"

"Yes, sir."

"Good, order the guns to fire when ready."

"Sir." The Captain pointed at the wall while looking over at the gunners. One of them gave a small salute before all three eased their guns down to the wall, aiming straight for the center. There was a brief pause before the guns rocked, bright blue balls of energy hurtling into the metal walls.

With large blasts, the ground shook violently, but the wall was still standing. The trio did not let up their rain of fire, continuing to fire into the wall as it rattled and bent under the barrage.

"Almost… There!" The Captain shouted, putting up an arm to protect his unhelmeted eyes from the bright flashes. Shen-Jon did the same, trying to peek out at the wall to see if it was still standing.

After a few more moments, the wall went down, blasting apart in all directions. The moment the guns fell silent the walkers pushed forwards, easily passing through the opening and entering the compound. Blastfire immediately erupted inside.

The Captain and Shen-Jon drew their weapons, the former donning his helmet.

"All units, push in! Move-move-move!" One of the TX-130s rushed forwards, crashing through the remaining wall blocking it from entering. The rest of the tanks followed it in, clones riding them in as transports.

"Let's go, Captain!" Shen-Jon ordered, igniting his lightsaber and running through the opening. The clone was close behind, his blaster held tightly in his hands.

The fighting beyond the walls was violent, the large Super Battle Droids and smaller B1s fighting for every inch of ground as the clone troopers pushed in. Shen-Jon left the Captain behind at the wreckage of one of the TX-130s, leaping over a few of the other clones and into the midsts of battle droids. His lightsaber glided through droid after droid, felling them with little effort on his part. One of the droid tanks advanced on him, its anti-personnel cannons firing large, red bolts down on him. Shen-Jon leapt over the bolts and onto the top of the tank, kneeling on the door inside.

"Grenade!" He called to some nearby clones, putting a hand up. One of the reached behind his back, on his belt, before tossing the grenade up to the Jedi. Shen-Jon caught it, bringing the lightsaber around in a circle and using the force to through the metal door aside. He twisted the top of the detonator and threw it in before jumping down, landing in a dive. The grenade detonated, destroying the tank from within. As it crashed into the ground, the clones pushed up further, more reinforcements spilling in from the opening.

"Captain, I need a few of your men, I'm going into the compound!"

"Yes, sir! Oddball, Orion, Cobalt, go with the General!" The clone captain ordered a trio of cline nearby, indicating towards Shen-Jon.

"Sir!" All three clone sprinted over to their Jedi General, blasters held in their hands.

"Follow me, boys! Let's get my padawan back!" They left the fight behind them, cutting their way into the base itself.

"We need reinforcements, they have a Jed- AAAAAH!" The commander droid dropped as its head was chopped off, leaving Shen-Jon standing over its corpse. He, once again, fought back the pull of the dark side. Looking up at a massive door, Sev'rance Tann's hiding place. Before he could speak to the trooper that accompanied him, an intercom came to life.

"Well, if it isn't our star Jedi!" The voice belonged to the Sith Acolyte, high and mocking.

"Give it up, Tann, you've got nowhere left to run." Shen-Jon ground out, looking around for the source of that sound. Her laugh was strangely innocent sounding, given her position and leanings.

"Hardly, Jedi. However, I'm far more interested in fighting you then fighting my way out. How about this, come up and face me, alone, or it'll be your padawan's life." Shen-Jon's eyes widened as his grip on his lightsaber tightened.

"You whore!" He snarled, the rage and fear evident in his voice. She giggled again, making Shen-Jon's anger reach new heights.

"That's not the Jedi way, Master Jedi." She mocked.

"Very well, Sith, I'll accept your terms. Open the door." She didn't respond verbally, instead opening the door. Shen-Jon turned to the troopers, who were all watching him from inside their helmets.

"Wait here until I return."

"Sir?"

"That's an order, trooper."

"Yes, sir." Shen-Jon deactivated his saber, walking through the door. The moment he stepped past the threshold of the doorway, the door slammed back shut. There was only one way up, a large, spinning, flight of stairs. The Jedi began the trek up, one hand on his lightsaber.

Red and Blue clashed as Shen-Jon and Tann fought, both trying their damndest to kill the other.

"Oh, yes, Jedi. I can feel your anger, your thirst for revenge!" The woman giggled as she avoided another one of Shen-Jon's heavy strikes and brought her saber up to decapitate him. The Jedi blocked the hit and went to run her through the chest, but again, she was too fast for him.

"Are you going to become Dooku's new acolyte if you kill me?" She asked, grinning as another one of his rage filled swings missed him by a large margin.

Another few hits and Tann opened her mouth to taunt the Jedi again, but whatever it was she was going to say was cut off by the base suddenly shaking as something hit it and blew up. Tann was thrown off balance for a moment, and that was all Shen-Jon needed. With a quick, upward swing, Tann's arm fell away. She cried out in pain, falling to her knees as her arms flopped to the ground, still holding her lightsaber. Shen-Jon leveled his lightsaber at her neck, its blue light illuminating her stunned face.

"So, this is it?" She asked, no sign of her amusement left in her voice, "You're going to kill me?" Shen-Jon didn't respond, just held her at blade point.

This seemed to anger the Sith, who spat out her next words.

"Savor your victory while you can, Jedi! You and your kind are soon to be extinguished!" Shen-Jon narrowed his eyes, moving to spear her through the neck with the blade of his lightsaber.

The force offered him no warning, Tann suddenly went flying backwards, the shock on her face telling him she didn't expect this to happen, either. As she landed with a muffled 'oof', her arm and lightsaber followed, landing right at the feet of a… Strangely well dressed man.

"Who…" Shen-Jon began, his anger forgotten for a moment, replaced by confusion. Had he missed this man during the duel with Tann?

The man raised what looked to be a stick, pointing it at Tann, who was trying to get up. A red light came from his wand and she dropped, not moving again.

"You know, mate. I had a simple job to do, come in, deliver the transports, leave…" The man said, pinching the bridge of his nose as he spoke. To punctuate his words, Shen-Jon's holocommunicator turned on, clone Commander Tipper's voice coming through.

"S-sir! You aren't going to believe this! Droid transports just appeared in the middle of the base- AAH!" His hologram vanished as something destroyed his console, leaving a stunned Jedi.

"Just wanted to come over, tell the head lady we delivered her droids, and what do I find?" The man indicated towards Shen-Jon with a gloved hand.

"A crazy guy about to shish kabob her. Two things." Harry put up two fingers from his gloved hand.

"One, never kill a disarmed foe, its bad practice. Two, never mess with my source of income." The ceiling suddenly exploded, a freighter, likely the same freighter Admiral Foerst warned Shen-Jon about, lowered in, twisting to face Shen-Jon. Its ramp lowered as the man knelt down and picked the body of Tann up in his arms, letting her head lean on his arm instead of hanging limply.

"I'll be taking this, but don't worry, I'm not leaving without giving you a parting gift! Sirius!" 'Sirius', a taller man with a goatee, threw three tan boxes down between the mysterious man and Shen-Jon. With the wave of his own stick, all three grew to full size MTTs. Shen-Jon ignited his lightsaber, shock still on his face even as their guns lowered to aim at him.

Suffice it to say, Master Shen-Jon and his padawan would never report to the council what happened here.

"Sirius, get on the gun! Tell T-4 to get us the hell out here!" Harry said as he ran to the medical bay, carrying the blue skinned woman and her arm.

"I know I said you needed to get a woman, Harry, but I meant ones that were in less than two pieces!"

"Sirius, I swear to Merlin…" Harry left his threat towards his godfather open ended as he entered the engine room. Harry made it into the medical bay.

"Droid, get me a table open." The medical droid turned to Harry, saw the woman, then activated one of the operating tables. Harry laid the woman down on the metal table, placing his detached arm next to her.

"Get her strapped down." Harry ordered as he made sure she was situated properly.

"Sir?" The medical droid asked, walking over to Harry's side of the table and reaching for the detached arm.

"Do it! We need to reattach her arm, and quickly!" Harry's words were punctuated by the ship rocking under heavy fire as they escaped the planet.

"How was her arm detached?" The droid asked, strapping down the poor woman's other arm.

"Laser Sword." Harry said, doing the same for her legs and over his torso.

"Lightsaber? It is impossible to reattach-"

"Stop telling me what's impossible and get over on this side to hold her down!" Harry ordered the droid, drawing his wand and waving it over to woman. She let out a gasp, trying to sit up but restricted by her bindings.

"W-what?! Where am I?!" She demanded, looking at the droid and then Harry.

"My ship, lay down, we need to reattach your arm…" She looked at her arm, paling as she seemed to remember what had happened.

Well, paled as much as she could, given her blue complexion.

"Reattach?!" She repeated as the medical droid pushed down on her chest, forcing her to lie back down.

"Yes, reattach. Keep her held down, this is going to hurt…" Harry placed her arm to her shoulder, putting the end of his wand.

"This is going to hurt…" Harry said before he began to mutter a spell, reattached the skin. The woman hissed, but was unable to do much more than seeth inwardly thanks to her bindings and the medical droid. It took all of two minutes, but for Harry and the woman, it felt as if it took an hour. Harry sighed, lowered his wand and rising. The woman relaxed, panting.

"That… That wasn't so bad…" She said, trying to sit up again, but stopped by Harry's hand on her shoulder. Harry gave her an apologetic grin, forcing her back down.

"Sorry, love, but that was the easy part."

"E-easy part?!" She demanded, trying to move her fingers, but much to her fear, none reacted.

"We reattached the skin, but the arm and shoulder were cauterized. To completely reattach the arm… Well…" Harry clicked his tongue and cringed as he thought about it.

"It isn't very fun."

"You're speaking from memory?" She deadpanned as Harry offered another half-hearted smile.

"Sorry. Hold her down… Will this break?" Harry asked, grabbing some cylinder-shaped object from the nearby desk.

"No, sir. It should not break under any strain she could manage. Why… Oh." The droid said as Harry stuck it between her teeth.

"Bite this and think of anything but the pain." The woman gave a pitiful whine, looking up at him. Harry knelt down as the medical droid re-assumed its position at the woman's arm. Harry, with little preamble, set to work.

The moment he started, the woman was screaming, writhing against the medical droid. Harry was struggling with his work as she kept moving.

"Don't let her move!"

"Would it not be better to sedate her?" The medical droid asked as it put its weight down on her.

"No! She has to feel it, so I can know if it worked! It hurts hell of a lot more if I restart! Its okay, love, we're… Halfway there." Harry said in the most comforting voice he could manage. Her only response was to scream in agony more, so Harry continued his work.

Two-thirds of the way through, something snapped loudly, drawing Harry's attention. The object that he had placed between the woman's teeth had broke.

"I thought you said it wouldn't break!" Harry shouted at the droid.

"It wasn't supposed to, sir. However, little is known about her-"

"Oh, fuck you!" The woman screamed, struggling even more.

"Maybe later, love!" Harry said, setting back to work.

"Go to hell" She shouted back, tears streaming down the side of his face.

"You sound like my ex!" Harry quipped, finishing his work. The woman immediately relaxed, dropping out cold. Harry sighed, falling back and using the desk behind him as a backrest. Harry rose to his feet as the medical droid checked her.

"Impossible… Her arm seems like it was never lost in the first place!" The droid exclaimed, but Harry just waved dismissibly.

"Yeah, yeah… G-222, get in here." Harry ordered into his wrist comm. The door opened, revealing the security droid.

"Watch her, come get me when she comes around."

"Sir." The droid responded, stepped out of the doorway and allowing Harry to leave. Harry, after stepping out, yawned loudly, the spells he used taking a lot out of him.

He needed a nap…

Chapter 4, done.