A New Life

968 ARR
Jedi Enclave, Dantooine, Dantooine system, Outer Rim Territories

Harry awoke disoriented and with the mother of all headaches. He really should have expected that the immediate transfer of so much information directly into his mind wouldn't be a painless affair but he didn't think about that when he made his choice.

Looking around blearily, he saw that he was in a somewhat bare, utilitarian room. The walls were plain grey duracrete. Along one of the walls was a desk with a simple chair. Next to the desk was a set of shelves containing the texts and holocrons Death told him about. The bed he laid on was along the wall across from the desk. On the same wall, not far from the foot of the bed was a simple manual door, probably to the fresher. Another door—this one an automatic so it probably led outside—was on the far wall.

After gathering himself from the disorienting experience of having 18 years' worth of new knowledge crammed into his head, Harry felt that a long, hot shower was what he needed to get rid of his headache, so he went to the first door, idly noting that he was totally naked.

The inside of the refresher was almost as if it was from a normal flat on Earth. A shower—luckily not a sonic but a real one—a sink and a toilet. It was also stocked with the necessities like soap, shampoo, dental products, razors, shaving cream and the likes. After taking stock of the equipment in the room, Harry went about actually getting that hot shower and preparing for the long day ahead.

After showering and drying off, he exited the fresher and noticed a footlocker at the foot of the bed that he didn't notice after waking up. It had an electric lock panel on the front but according to the lights, it wasn't locked. Opening it, he saw that it contained a few sets of clothing in the same style and colour. Simple white underwear, tan coloured trousers and tunics, dark brown hooded robes and two pairs of dark brown leather boots similar to riding boots on Earth. Harry dressed himself in one of the sets provided for him, then he turned to the door leading outside when yet another thing he didn't notice before caught his attention.

There was a portable holoprojector on the desk. Feeling that it probably contained vital information for him, he stepped up to and activated it. As it came to life, the holographic image of a beautiful human woman appeared above the projector. If she was from Earth, Harry would say that she had mixed Asian and Caucasian features with fair skin and dark hair. Since she was entirely blue—being a hologram—he couldn't tell her eye colour. She wore an ornate looking armless tunic with pauldron-like shoulders and had a strangely long lightsabre attached at her hip.

'Welcome, Harry Potter, to the abandoned Jedi Enclave of Dantooine!' she said. 'I am Jedi Grand Master Satele Shan and it was me who placed everything you'll need on the start of your journey here.

'I'm sure you're wondering about how I know your name and why did I leave these supplies to you. At the time of the recording of this message, the war with the Sith has almost reached its end. A few weeks ago I was meditating in the Jedi Temple of Tython when the Force has shown me a vision about your arrival in our galaxy, and that you'll need some supplies which I'll have to provide for you,' she said, then drank from a glass she took from outside the projection's field of vision.

'As I said, you're at the abandoned Jedi Enclave, on the planet Dantooine. This Enclave was once destroyed by Darth Malak, former apprentice of my ancestor, Darth Revan who later turned away from the Dark Side of the Force and became a Jedi once more. Then it was rebuilt and housed the remaining Jedi Council members after the First Jedi Purge. They were later killed by Darth Traya, and after that the Enclave was abandoned.

'In the Enclave, you'll find what the Force had shown me to gather for you. In your room there're Jedi clothes, hand written tomes of both Jedi and Je'daii origin and Jedi holocrons. Among these holocrons there is one of special importance—thus it was placed on its own shelf—because it was the last holocron created by my ancestor, Revan, before his disappearance from known space. Since it is your destiny to become a "Grey Jedi" like Revan was after his redemption and use both sides of the Force, I advise you to learn all you can from first the Jedi texts and holocrons, then the Je'daii texts, and at last, from Revan's holocron,' Satele said and took another sip of her drink.

'You'll also find training lightsabres in the Training Hall of the Enclave. They cannot cut but they will sting and slightly burn anything they touch. As you advance in your studies, there will come a point when you'll need to build your own, real lightsabre. At this point you'll need to venture outside the Enclave and find the Crystal Caves not far from it. It is there that you'll find your own crystal to build your lightsabre with.

'Additionally, there're a few training droids to help with your training. They aren't as good as a real opponent but they will do for the time being. Also, there is a starship in the hangar that you can use to travel. It's a Fury-class Imperial interceptor, produced by the Sith Empire. It was a gift from a redeemed Sith Lord who had it built shortly before his defection to the Republic. It's a state of the art starship right now, equipped with advanced sensors, strong shielding, dual twin laser cannons, missile launcher and a Class 2 hyperdrive system. While it was designed as a two-pilot ship with an additional captain, it can also be flown by only one person,' she explained.

'You're probably wondering how all these could be useable after almost four millennia. The answer is that the Enclave—along with its hangar—was hermetically sealed and flooded with inert gas after I placed your equipment here. The system was set so that when a human life-form was detected inside the complex, the gas was vented and replaced by a breathable atmosphere. This way everything should be in the condition I've left them there.

'And now, I bid you farewell, Harry Potter. May the Force be with you on your quest!' she finally said, then the projection shut off.

'So, I really have everything I need aside from money and food,' Harry thought after hearing Satele's message. 'From what I know about Dantooine, it is an agricultural planet with wide, open plains and a good variety of wildlife. I can hunt for my food until I settle into my new life, and after that, I'll probably be able to use my ship to search for some work to earn the money I need to live comfortably and do my duty.'

Harry then decided to explore the Enclave. Since his room was on the sublevel of the complex, it was the first place he'd investigated. There he found the old Archives which were emptied, classrooms, a droid storage room which had his training droids, and the security centre. There he accessed one of the terminals and created his own security clearance and added his biometric data to the system. This way he could bring online the internal security if it was needed—since it was disabled to allow him unfettered access to the facility—and could also open the outside gates and the hangar bay's roof since they were set to allow no-one in or out.

After this Harry ventured to the main level of the Enclave where he found the Training Hall, a circular gathering chamber, a courtyard, a few rooms, the outside door and the hangar bay.

It was this hangar bay that really caught Harry's interest, because in it was a starship—his starship—that had a really utilitarian design but was beautiful in its simplicity.

The Fury-class Imperial interceptor was a large ship. While its designation as an interceptor was misleading—because the size and armament placed it in the light corvette class—it was really too big for its real purpose, to be a transport for independently operating Sith Lords. Of course, because of its sheer size, its interior was really comfortable and spacious. It even had amenities that normal sized personal transports didn't normally have, like a fully functional medical bay, conference room, crew quarters and a quite spacious room for the captain. While Death didn't make Harry into a connoisseur of starships, he knew enough to really start gushing over the ship. It was everything he could've ever wanted in a personal starship.

In the following months Harry trained himself in accessing the Force and the powers it provided. He also retrained himself in the use of his magic after calling the Elder Wand to himself.

Just as Death said, most of his spells—like the Stunning Hex and the Blasting Hex—were overpowered and he needed to relearn regulating his magical output. Other spells—like transfiguration and conjuration—were much more difficult but doable, especially in the case of transfiguration. Conjuration was only possible on a small scale. He could conjure animals and objects below a certain size with relative ease but once he tried to create something bigger than himself, it became almost impossible and the item would only last a couple of minutes. Multiple conjurations were also short-lived. For example, he could conjure up two lions to fight for him for about two hours, but if he conjured three or four, they would only last ten and five minutes respectively. Conjuring more than four was impossible, no matter how much power he poured into the spell.

Luckily apparation and portkey making were also possible, which would make his life easier if a sudden escape became a necessity.

With the Force, it was simpler. To Harry, using it felt like using a hammer compared to magic's scalpel. Of course, with his magic becoming more like a dagger or sword instead of a scalpel in this galaxy, there wasn't that much difference, but when he compared it to how he'd used magic in his own galaxy, it was really noticeable. The basics like pushing, pulling and levitating things with the force were easy for him. Getting used to precognition and meditating on the Will of the Force was much harder. Enhancing his physical properties was also quite hard for him since he'd never done anything similar with magic.

He was also learning lightsabre combat under the guidance of the holocron of Jedi Battlemaster Kao Cen Darach. He was already quite proficient in the first lightsabre form, Shii Cho. Master Darach said that soon they'll move onto the second form, Makashi. Master Darach was on the opinion that Harry should learn the basics of all six main lightsabre forms, after which they'll be able to see which style would suit him the best.

During this time Harry supported himself by hunting the local wildlife and gathering edible plants and vegetables growing on the fields surrounding the Enclave. While there were a few small settlements near him, he hadn't dared to venture into them because he didn't have money to buy anything and he also wanted to avoid hard to answer questions about his appearance on the planet.

After little more than five months into his new life, during one of his meditation sessions, the Force sent him a vision of warning and urging for action. In his vision he'd seen a beautiful blue and green planet—Naboo the Force whispered to him—that was under a blockade. He'd also seen a handmaiden next to a girl in regal clothes, distressed and fleeing the planet in the company of two Jedi. He could see a Zabrak male with burning yellow eyes searching for them. He could also see the same Zabrak fighting the two Jedi after they returned to the planet and killing the older one after the two were separated. The Force was urging him to save that Jedi but also to not reveal himself to either the Jedi or the Sith.

968 ARR
Naboo, Naboo system, Mid Rim

Harry was patiently waiting outside the sensor range of the Trade Federation Droid Control Ship in his ship, deeply immersed in the Force. He could sense that the Jedi from his vision already arrived on the planet and were about to infiltrate the capital.

Opening his eyes, he promptly brought online the ship's engines and made a micro-jump through hyperspace towards the planet's side opposite of the Droid Control Ship. While there wasn't a jump point there that could be used for intergalactic travel—that jump point, or at least the part of the hyperspace corridor closest to the planet, was controlled by the Trade Federation's ship—there wasn't any gravitational obstacle to jumping there from in-system if one positioned themselves correctly, which Harry did. This way the planet itself masked his arrival from the Federation.

After the jump, Harry descended into the atmosphere and went towards the capital city of Theed. Of course, he couldn't land anywhere in the city; however, the city was bordered by forests where he could hide his ship. He flew low and fast across the planet's surface, almost scraping against the treetops, using the Force to avoid any Trade Federation patrols.

At last, a few kilometres from the city, the Force guided him towards a large clearing in the forest's canopy, where he landed the ship. Harry shut down his ship then grabbed his hooded robe and exited. He didn't bring a lightsabre, even a training one, since that would lead to unwanted scrutiny if he was spotted somehow. After locking down the boarding ramp, he started to run towards Theed.

As he neared the city, the droid patrols were increasingly hard to avoid, so after a while he started to use the Disillusioning Charm. While it didn't provide true invisibility, it made Harry harder to detect in both the visible and infrared spectrums of light. Sadly, as his experimentations on Dantooine proved, it didn't work in the ultraviolet and microwave spectrums; however, it wasn't a problem currently, as the Trade Federation didn't bother to install such sensors into their cheap, mass produced battle droids.

Harry had a plan to save the older Jedi which the Force whispered its approval of. He slowly made his way towards the vertical shaft he's seen in his vision and stood flush against the wall opposite of the ray shields which would separate the two Jedi. He was still disillusioned but he also wove a Notice-me-not Charm around himself, so he wouldn't be discovered. Then, he waited.

It wasn't long before sounds of fighting and explosions reached him. He knew that the time was near and that he would only have one chance to save the man the Force wanted him to save. A short time later he could already see the two Jedi fighting against the Zabrak expertly wielding a red-bladed sabrestaff.

Seeing the Zabrak fighting, Harry had no illusions about his chances against him in a straight-up, lightsabre to lightsabre fight. Luckily he had no intention to fight him that way, or to even fight him to begin with.

The moment Harry waited for came not much later, when the ray shield separating the Darksider and the older Jedi opened then closed before the younger Jedi could come through it. Harry could see that the Jedi struggled against the Zabrak's frenzied fighting style—which had to be Juyo from what little Master Darach let slip about the seventh form—and would not last long without the aid of the younger man on the other side of the ray shield.

The crucial point of the fight was when the Darksider pushed up the Jedi's lightsabre—making him exposed to attack—and punched the him in the nose with the hilt of his lightsabre then immediately set himself up for a stab to the older man's midsection. It was at this moment that Harry hit the Zabrak with a silent Confundus Charm—which while invisible, still could be felt in the Force; however, the Darksider was so focused on the fight, he didn't notice it until it was too late. This caused him to falter and miss the Jedi with his thrust.

This gave enough time to the Jedi to gather his wits from the blow to his nose and swing his lightsabre down from where the Zabrak pushed it, cleaving the Zabrak's chest in half from right shoulder to left hip, ending the fight.

The older Jedi stood above the body of his fallen opponent, panting from the exertion, when the ray shield opened and the younger Jedi came running to him with a shout of 'Master!'.

'I'm all right, Obi-Wan,' said the older man, reassuring the younger, who was apparently his Padawan.

'You did it Master! You've killed the Darksider!' exclaimed Obi-Wan.

'Yes, I did, though not without a little extra help from the force,' said the Jedi Master while glancing in the direction of Harry.

'So he had sensed the Charm even in his dazed state,' thought Harry, clearly impressed by the Jedi Master's instinctual connection to the Force. 'However, it seems that the Force tells him not to reveal me yet and he heeds its call. I'm quite sure that he is one of those I need to save in the end. He seems to be the type who understands that the Jedi's first duty is to the Force itself, and their duty to their superiors in the Order and to the Republic only comes second and third to that.'

'A little extra help, Master?' asked the Padawan, clearly confused.

'The Dark Side is a treacherous ally, Obi-Wan. It can leave the user at a moment's notice if the conditions are right. Clearly, that's what happened to my opponent. I felt a surge of the force and he faltered in his thrust, missing me and giving me the opening I needed.'

'I defer to your wisdom in this case, Master,' Obi-Wan said, clearly placated by the half-truth.

'As you should, my young Padawan. Now come, the Queen may still need our help,' the man said while walking through the opening ray shield, the younger man hot on his heels.

Harry waited for them to leave the plasma refinery complex before he dismantled the Notice-me-not Charm and slowly made his way outside. While he was curious what would happen in the aftermath of the battles, he already did his duty and had a feeling that the place would soon be crawling with Jedi Masters because of the dead Darksider. So, he did the logical thing of going back to his ship and leaving the system before anyone could detect and question his departure.

[Author's Notes for the Chapter]

I know that this chapter came much later than promised. I'd like to apologize to all my readers for this. Sadly, life came up, and I couldn't write first because of work then because I was ill. Furthermore, since my Star Wars knowledge aside from the movies, the Clone Wars series and the one novelization I've read (Revenge of the Sith) comes mainly from Wookieepedia articles, much research was needed for this and later chapters.

I also start to see that without writing a story-outline I'll become lost very soon. I had three or four versions in my head just for this chapter and it was a serious mental process to amalgamate them and weed out the unnecessary parts.

So, we really started to move along with the story. This chapter also had a little action, though not much. Later chapters will have much more. This was just a sort-of warm-up for me and for you as well :) Be ready for the story sometimes moving out of Harry's point of view, because I plan to introduce parallel story-lines to show important events Harry isn't present for. ;)

I would also like to thank you all who read, favorited, followed and/or even reviewed this story! I was honestly surprised how much views this one had in the first day and how much reviews it got even with only two, somewhat introductory chapters up. Thank you again! :)

I won't make promises about when the next chapter comes because this last two days shit really hit the fan at my workplace and I'll probably be fighting to remain in my job... I made a few stupid mistakes that could mean serious fines to the company. So unless I can mitigate the problem, I'll be out of job real soon :( Nevertheless, I'll try to update before Christmas ;)