Chapter 19: Chapter 19 – Death Watch
Harry Potter, The Jedi That Would Not Die
Chapter 19 – Death Watch
"This isn't a good idea Harry, this is not some band of untrained pirates or smugglers, this is potentially hundreds or even thousands of members of a very dangerous military organisation who need I remind you were able to break into the capital, steal away myself and two senators and cut off your arm the last time we encountered them."
"I know Satine, but I can't wait. As you said this is Death Watch we are talking about and I won't let anything happen to either of them, not to mention all the other slaves that have been captured, there could be hundreds down there."
"I wish you would not be so reckless at times," she huffed in annoyance.
"So does Hermione," he smiled back.
"I want you to come straight here once you have rescued them."
"Yes ma'am," he replied with a grin.
"I'm serious Harry, I want to be able to check you are ok myself. Hermione told me about the time when you broke your arm on the training course at the Temple and did not tell anyone until someone accidentally bumped into you THREE hours later."
"It was nothing," he protested.
"You had large sharp bits of broken bone impaling the insides of your arm," she countered hotly. "That's an order Harry; I want to see you at the docks as soon as you are finished or else I will get Hermione to get your Master to assign you to kitchen duty for the next three months."
"That's not really a punishment; you do remember that I like cooking."
"Make that latrine duty," she countered in a quiet voice with a narrow eyed stare that almost made Harry flinch away from the holo-projection.
"Ok, ok. As long as my Master does not object I'll come to Mandalore after we finish on Concordia. It will probably be a good idea to get the slaves checked over anyway."
"Well you have my fathers and the Prime Ministers authorisation to carry out this mission on Concordia, your just lucky that Concordia falls under their jurisdiction and that my father likes you or else it would have taken much longer to get the ok for you to proceed...Be safe Harry," she smiled worriedly before the transmission terminated.
Turning back to the front of the ship he looked at the approaching moon.
"Padawan," spoke the Ranger Captain. "We have received the latest set of tracking signals from the beacons. They all seem to be located inside a fortress like building near the northern pole. It appears to be located atop a raised cliff on one side of a wide canyon. This is not going to be easy Sir."
"I didn't think it would be Captain," he replied, directing an image of the surface up through the holo-projector. "Do we have any idea of numbers of enemies?"
"None at all, there is interference in the area, probably not natural, preventing us getting a good response to our scans, we can only tell that there are life forms in the area, other than that we will have to rely on visual scanning."
"What defences have they got?"
"Only a few guards that we can see patrolling the ramparts of the fortress, but I would wager there will be more inside. A pair of twin laser turrets, one overlooking the canyon, the other over the open approach behind the castle. I do not know how we can get in without being detected Sir."
"I know how I can get in, but it will only work for me and one other unfortunately."
"A Jedi Force manipulation of some kind to make the guards not see you?" asked the Captain, intrigued. "I have heard of such things, but I did not think you would know that being so young or that it would work for other people."
"You are correct, I do not know how, to my knowledge it can't be done for others and it is difficult to do when moving...But thankfully I am not just a Jedi...I'm a wizard."
Harry was already regretting this idea, as he and one of the rangers moved across the grassy ground that approached the fortress underneath his invisibility cloak, he was very thankful that Hermione had brought his trunk with them from Earth. If only he knew how to use the disillusionment spell and he could have got the entire group across at once, unfortunately all they could do was ferry one person at a time as fully grown man and woman each used up more of the cloak than the school sized Harry, Hermione or Ron once did.
When Harry had showed them the cloak, which he had shrunk and put in his Jedi robes in case it was needed while on the mission, the Captain, after recovering from his shock, pointed out that it would be better to ferry most of them across one at a time so that they were all in the fortress at once, Harry reluctantly agreed to this on the condition that he be one of the first two across so that he could start scouting out the castle while the others were gathering as it would take quite a while to get almost the entire crew of fifteen (minus a pilot and two gunners in case they needed a distraction or needed to get out of their quickly) across the open grassy area from where they had hidden their ship behind a large wooden hill at least a quarter of a mile from the fortress.
After the first ranger had got into the shadow of the fortress with him and left to go and get the next ranger, Harry began exploring the outside of the structure. It was clear from investigating the outside of the structure that it was not originally a fortress, more like a stately home that had been converted, as such there were large open archways leading inside and open balconies on the higher levels that were major security holes, it probably once belonged to an owner of a farming estate before the moon started being mined extensively. Up ahead he could see one of the two turrets that, if he had to guess, were probably originally normal towers, if they needed to make a hasty exit they might need to be taken out.
Checking that the coast was clear he moved around to the outside of the tower so that he would be visible to the approaching rangers but not to those inside the fortress. The ascent up the tower was difficult at times as there were long area of smooth surface between the few decorative edges that were added, in the end he had to use the strength in his artificial hand to break into the wall, creating holes deep enough for hand and shoes to fit. The ascent took about twenty minutes and thankfully the sound of the falling stone was hidden by the strong wind that was whistling around the exposed fortress.
When he made it to just below the top, he used the Force to sense if there was anyone at the top of the tower. As he expected he detected a person in the middle of the metal turret built atop the tower, but as it was enclosed on the front and sides and he could see the end of the gun barrels overhanging the top of the wall he could approach from the side and not be seen.
Swinging himself up onto the top of the wall he crept around the side of the turret before drawing his wand he moved around the side and caught the unsuspecting soldier off guard, thrusting the tip of his wand between the helmet and the chest armour and cast a quick stunner. Harry and Hermione had both noticed that their spells had become more powerful since becoming Jedi, they guessed because of their stronger ability to control the Force now.
Falling back into his chair the gunner fell unconscious, leaving the approach to the castle unprotected from air assault.
"Captain, do you read me?" he spoke into his comlink.
#I read you Padawan.#
"I have knocked out the gunner in the turret on the inland side of the fortress, if we need to use the ship for a quick getaway we should not have to worry about any heavy fire that is not hand held."
#Good work Sir, we can see a couple of guards walking around the upper levels but the place seems quite quiet from here.#
"The same from here," replied Harry. "Though from up here I can see a pattern in the grass of landing legs and a faded area of grass around it; I would say that there is usually a reasonable large ship parked beside the fortress, the temporary landing of a ship delivering slaves could not affect the colour of the grass so quickly, so I am hoping the reason that we cannot see many guards is because they are not here and that they are off somewhere else."
#That would indeed make our job easier,# replied the Captain.
"I'll continue to scout the fortress and take out any guards I think won't be missed."
#I'll call one of the rangers that is already at the fortress and tell them to get into the turret you just cleared, it might be useful later if that ship comes back.#
"Good idea, tell him he can use an ascension cable, I couldn't risk it without knowing if there was anyone at the top but there is no reason why he should have to take the slow way. I'll continue scouting and taking out any guards I think won't be missed."
#Affirmative Sir.#
With that Harry, after positioning the prone form of the gunner so that it looked like he was looking straight forward and was not slumped sideways in case another of the guards looked towards the turret. Right now he wished he knew a partial body bind charm for the head, it would be very useful right now in preventing anyone from discovering the unconscious gunner until it was too late, he had to awkwardly prop the gunner so that his head did not slump accidentally.
Making his way along the exposed walkway bridge that led from the tower turret to the main fortress he had to rapidly jump sideways off the walkway, grab the edge and hold himself parallel to the walkway as a guard walked into view on the walkway that ran around the side of the fortress and connected up to the one he was on.
Not being able to see the guard in his very uncomfortable position he did not know when he was gone and as such gave him a good couple of minutes before risking pulling himself back up slightly to see the guard. Thankfully he was gone and Harry was able to pull himself back up onto the wall. After making the dash along the rest of the walkway until he had cover against the wall of the fortress he took the moment to flex his fingers which had bourn all his weight while he was hanging over the side of the wall, thank goodness for all the training that his Master had forced him to do, he never would have been able to do that two years ago.
He cautiously made his way around the side of the fortress, his main lightsaber in one hand and his wand in the other. He completed a circuit of the fortress walkway until he came up behind the bridge that connected to the other turret, but he did not go along it, aware that there was another guard on this level. Deducing that he must be walking in the same direction as Harry and had therefore moved back around to the side he was on, Harry looked up and discovered a small ledge about ten feet above his current position. Force Jumping up he landed unsteadily on it and had to steady himself against the wall. Carefully turning around he extended his powers out to the turret on this side of the fortress he touched the mind of the gunner.
You will keep looking forward. If you hear a noise behind you, you will ignore it as it will just be the other guards. Your job is to keep an eye out for enemies ahead not behind. If you understand look left then right then do you job as instructed.
He watched as the guard looked left and right before returning to look straight ahead. It was always easiest when making mental suggestions to make them as easy to follow for the subject as possible, in this case Harry just told him to do his job with a slight clause which was an easy instruction to follow. Harry usually preferred to hear the subject repeat the command back but at this distance he would not be able to hear so the looks worked as a reasonable substitute.
Turning back to the walkway around the building, he was just in time to see the other guards patrol route bring him around the corner. Judging by his stance and form, Harry guessed that he was a strict guard and very sharp, not what he was hoping for at all.
Given the protective qualities that the Mandalorian iron had against lightsabers, that left Harry only one choice if he was to guarantee to surprise the guard and not let him either cause a loud fight or signal for help. Harry hated doing this but it was the only thing he could do to insure the safety of the mission.
"Imperio."
He watched as the guard stopped instantly and stood still. After waiting for a few seconds to make sure he fully had the guard under his hold, he jumped down beside the guard and approached him. Harry hated using the Imperius Curse but Jedi mind powers were designed only to suggest and were not guaranteed to be strong enough to overcome all freewill which was what he needed to do right now.
Harry had had to rethink the three Unforgivables since coming to the Order, the Wizarding Worlds rules no longer applied to Hermione and him and so they had to think up their own rules for things using the Jedi teaching and Republic Law as a basis. The Torture Curse did not need rethinking at all, it was wrong before and it was still wrong to use it now. The Killing Curse could be justified; if you were aiming to kill an opponent (although Jedi tried not to do this) he reasoned that it did not really matter whether it was by Force, blasterbolt, curse or by lightsaber. The Imperius Curse was the one that Harry had the most trouble with; it could be argued that it was the same as the mind control that the Jedi used, though that was usually just suggestion and nowhere near as all controlling as the curse, you could not do as much with Jedi mind tricks as you could with the curse; he could tell someone to ignore what he was doing with mind tricks, he could tell someone to kill themselves with the curse. As such Harry hated the fact that he was able to cast it, he had only done so three times in the last two years and only then when he had no other option, each time it had been because he or someone he was with was in a life threatening situation and it was his only course of action he could think of at the time, he had promised himself though that he would NEVER use the curse as a method of execution or to deliberately cause the deaths of others.
"How many guards are there in this fortress?"
"Thirty."
"Why so few?"
"Most were sent on a mission aboard the Death Rattle against the True Mandalorians."
"How many slaves are here and where are they?"
"Over a hundred in the basement levels. Some have been taken up to the sleeping quarters every few hours for the men..." Harry inwardly cringed, that is what he and his Master had feared the most, if they had laid a hand on her... "Though one was taken to one of the private quarters in the highest tower and chained up there."
"What?...Why?"
"Vizsla believed she was a Jedi."
"Tor Vizsla is here?"
"Yes."
Reaching out with his mind, Harry could detect the mind of his Master, but she would not respond to his communications, she might still be unconscious.
"Does he have the Darksaber with him?"
"Yes."
"Do you or either of the gunners need to check-in regularly?"
"Yes, every thirty minutes."
"Oh shit, how long since you and the gunners checked in?"
"I checked in ten minutes ago, one gunners will check in around now and another in another ten minutes."
"Double shit," Harry swore before raising his comlink. "Captain we have a problem."
#What is it Padawan?#
"The two gunners and the wandering guard that I currently have under my mental control each have alternative check- ins every ten minutes and it's been at least twenty minutes since I knocked out the first gunner."
There was a pause before the response came.
#Did you say that you had one of the guards under your control?#
"Yes Captain," he replied confused.
#Tell him to call in that he has discovered one of the gunners asleep at his post, I will tell the ranger to get off the tower.#
"Good idea Captain, once they have replaced the gunner I can put a mind trick on both the gunners to report in as they are supposed to but to ignore our movements. How many of you are here at the moment?"
#Almost all, the last pair will be here in the next few minutes.#
"There are only thirty guards or so in total and all the prisoners are being kept in the basement levels, except for some that may be in the guards sleeping quarters, I think you can guess why, and one who is almost certainly my Master who is being kept in the highest tower."
#Good work Padawan,# came a pleased reply from the Captain at the level of intelligence gathered. #We can plan the best strategy for freeing them once we are all here.#
"There is also bad news; there are over a hundred prisoners in total, there is not enough room on the ship for that many people, we would struggle to fit half that on board, and even then the life support systems would not last very long."
#I will get the ship to signal the Jedi Temple for assistants, they might be able to spare a few transports if the signal can get through the interference, but even if they can I don't think they will be here anytime soon.#
"It's a risk we will have to take Captain. Potter out."
Terminating the transmission, Harry then issued his orders to the guard before casting an Obliviate to eliminate the last few minutes from his memory. As the guard walked off around the corner, he turned his attention back to the guard in the second turret. Going over to him he modified the instructions so that he would keep doing his check-ins as per usual as well as carry out the instructions Harry gave him.
Making his way cautiously round the side of the fortress, Harry had to duck back quickly as three guards emerged from one of the archways that led inside before heading at a quick pace towards the first turret where the guard he had cast the spell on was currently standing beside the unconscious guard.
Reaching out with his mind he awoke the soldier with a jolt to his mind as he was grabbed by two of the guards, the third instantly drew his weapon and shot the protesting guard, where he dropped to the floor dead.
Harry felt a pang of guilt, he knew he was going to end up killing several members of the Death Watch on this mission, but that gunner losing his life because Harry had stunned him still upset him.
One of the guards then took the gunners place while the other two walked back inside and the controlled guards resumed his patrol. Creeping up behind the new gunner he repeated his instructions to the new gunner, before going after the patrolling guard and after telling him to remove his comlink and his blaster power pack, making him much less dangerous he released him from the imperius and then using normal mind control instructed the guard to go about his duties but made him think he was still wearing his comlink and that his gun was loaded.
After doing this he slipped into the fortress through one of the arches, no sooner had he done so than an alarm sounded. Looking down and around he saw a pair of motion detectors on the walls inside the arch, dam he should have thought of that.
#Padawan Potter, what's happening?#
"Needless to say they know they have intruders. Break in on the ground floor and head for the basement, I will head down the middle of the fortress and divide their attention, I will meet you there. Send a ranger up the back of each turret, I say again the back, they should be able to sneak up on the gunners if they do."
#Yes sir, we'll meet you there.#
No sooner had he said that when the guard he had had under imperius rounded the corner and drew his blaster. It made the empty tone causing the guard to look at in shock, giving Harry the time to Force Push him far out over the edge of the ledge. Quickly drawing his long handled blade, he fired a blasterbolt into the guard's jetpack causing it to explode sending the guard tumbling towards the ground.
Turning, he drew his main blade and his wand again and went through the door inside the room and began working his way through the fortress.
He made sure to search all the rooms on the way down the tower and he came across what he was sure were the sleeping quarters for most of the guards, judging by the knocked over cup and half eaten meal it looked as if there had been some guards in here before the alarm went off. There were also a set of female slave attire that appeared to have been ripped off of someone, giving Harry a slightly nauseous feeling as he came to the only plausible reason for that. The owner of the garments was no longer here so he assumed she had been taken down to rejoin the other slaves.
As he continued downwards he came across several Death Watch on the way, one tried to burn him with his arm mounted flame thrower to witch Harry returned in kind until the shocked soldier toppled over giving Harry enough time to impale him. The second fired blaster fire at him down a corridor until Harry Force Pushed him into the wall behind him, knocking him unconscious. The last one got close enough to knock his weapons out of his hands but was not expecting Harry to be able to block vibro-blade knife thrusts with his wrist and was therefore quite shocked when he turned it around and stabbed him in the neck.
After several minutes he managed to navigate his way down to the basement level, unlike the rest of the building that was painted and decorated in rich furniture and fittings of a rich household the lower levels appeared to be more like servants quarters with no luxuries, added decoration, or even a coat of paint on the walls. The corridors were also much thinner permitting passing only when both parties turned sideways. When he finally made it down to the basement level he only just stopped just short of shooting the approaching rangers as they rounded a corner.
"Sir," greeted one of them as he came down the corridor towards him, followed by some of the others. "The Captain and the other half of the squad are going down to the next level. We were to wait for you to reach us then signal him so we can attack at the same time."
Nodding Harry lifted his comlink.
"Captain?"
#Yes Padawan, have you met up with the rest of the squad?#
"Yes Captain, I have taken out four Death Watch on the way down."
#We took down five on the way down as well, plus the two gunners,# replied the Captain.
"According to the information I got that's eleven down and nineteen to go," he replied. "Vizsla is here with his Darksaber as well so let me know if you find him, no offence but it will probably take a Jedi to face him."
#Are you sure that a good idea Sir, after what he did to you on Mandalore?#
"I had only been a padawan a few months by then, I have years more experience now. Besides, to my knowledge none of you have my skill with a blade so I am our best bet at beating him."
#Understood Sir, the basement levels open into a two story hall on both our floors. Let us know when you get to the balcony surrounding it and we will synchronise our attacks.#
"Affirmative," nodded Harry, before gesturing the ranger who had spoken to lead the way.
He led them to a large two floor hall at least twenty meters square with a balcony on the upper floor running all around the outside of the hall. Judging from the marks on the floor this was usually used for sparing and training, but right now the floor was covered in cowering slaves in various levels of dress tied up in rows, chained to the floor by small chains with loops that had a larger chain running through them and which were attached to the floor at each end, securing each row of slaves in place.
And scattered amongst them was what looked like the remaining nineteen Death Watch soldiers including their red caped leader.
Crouching down behind stone rail that ran the inside of the encircling balcony to prevent people from falling down onto the floor below, he turned to the rangers, and gestured for them to spread around the sides of the balcony.
"Captain, we are in position."
#Affirmative Sir, we are hidden down the corridor that leads to the lower level. We will move as soon as we hear your weapons fire.#
Harry moved to the centre of the balcony and started to make a countdown with his fingers so that the rangers along that stretch of wall could see it.
3...2...
"I know you are here Jedi," came a familiar voice from the floor below. "I knew when I captured the tail head that you would not be far behind."
"Vizsla," growled Harry under his breath.
"And when I heard the alarms go off, I knew that it had to be a Jedi that had come to rescue her; no one else could get to the fortress without being noticed. I will tell you what, if you surrender yourself to me, I will let the slaves go. I've let my troops enjoy some of them and I was going to sell them on after that, but there are those in this galaxy that would pay a great deal more for a Jedi and his weaponry."
"Wait for my signal," whispered Harry into his comlink, before standing up. "We meet again Tor Vizsla."
"Padawan Potter," he greeted with a smile. "I had so hoped I would get the chance to see you again."
"As did I," replied Harry, in reality Harry did not care at all if he ever saw the Death Watch General again but it was better for him to appear young an impetuous rather than disdaining and careful.
"Will you surrender yourself and your weapons?"
"I do what I must," Harry nodded, taking his Nimbus blade off of his back and taking his main from his belt and throwing them to the red caped solder.
"And that twig of yours," he added as he caught the blades.
Harry nodded, throwing his wand down as well.
"Very good Padawan. Now jump down and I will release the slaves, they can leave on whatever ship you arrived in."
Climbing onto the rail he jumped down onto the main level and began walking up the path between the rows of frightened, sobbing and angry slaves towards his enemy who was waiting at the back of the room flanked by a pair of guards. As he passed along the length of the hall he was sure he heard a surprise gasp of 'master' from one of the slaves.
"On your knees...Jedi," he said smugly, almost spitting out the last word.
Obediently Harry knelt down before him as the Darksaber was turned on and moved centimetres from his throat.
"Prepare yourself Jedi, you are to be executed for crimes against Mandalore, for being a part of an enemy faction, namely the Jedi Order and for aiding our enemies the New Mandalorians and in doing so ruining a Death Watch operation."
"My heart bleeds for you," Harry replied dryly, getting fed up of the formalised speech.
The blade inched closer to his neck, slightly burning his neck.
"Watch it boy, I could make this very slow and painful for you. It would be good for my men to practice against another Jedi, the last one was such a disappointment, she barely provided my men with any sport at all."
Harry bit back his comment and reigned in his emotions that threatened to flare out of control, he had to remain in control.
"I thought you were going to sell me?"
"Even a Jedi's body can be worth a lot of money, there are those who pay bounties on them."
"Are you going to let the slaves go?"
"Of course, I promised I would did I not."
"Well go on then," replied Harry.
"Not yet, seeing you die will help them to see why doing what they are told in their new lives as slaves is a good idea...Goodbye Padawan Potter."
In one swift movement he drew the blade back and swung it around, at Harry's neck.
"Now!" bellowed Harry, whilst simultaneously bringing his iron hand around and encircled the Darksaber with his hand.
The look of shock that crossed Vizsla face was short lived but almost priceless as he saw Harry grab his blade with his bare hand, but he did not spend much time thinking about it as blaster fire started raining down into the hall from all sides.
Harry kicked out at Vizsla and his guards, knocking them all off their feet and summoning his weapons back to him and igniting his main blade.
The room was instant chaos with blasterbolts being fired in every direction; the room was deafeningly loud with both the shouts of the two respective sides, the screams of some of the slaves and the shouts of determination of some of the others as they kicked out at the opponents standing within their ranks. The slaves were critical at evening the odds as it meant the Death Watch soldiers had less safe spaces to fire from, especially when the Captain and the rest of the rangers entered the room.
Harry leapt about amongst their number, hacking at their weapons and necks, whilst making his way between the rows of slaves and cutting the main chains holding them down, releasing the slaves from their bindings which really tipped the scales. Harry saw one soldier after shooting a slave in the back get buried under six other slaves who leapt up upon him and started pounding against his armour with their bound fists, he suspected more than one of the rebelling slaves was getting revenge for what they or others had been put through during their brief imprisonment.
Cutting the last chain he moved forward to engage several Death Watch who were attempting to prevent the torrent of the prisoners by blocking their route to the door, although they had no chance of stopping the stampeded which had caught the Captain and the other rangers on their level and had pushed them out of the room, they could still kill many while trying.
Somersaulting over them he landed in front of them, bringing his blade through three of their blasters in one sweep, rendering them useless, before kicking the nearest into the two behind him. Not stopping his movement he half turned and raised his blade to block the vibroblade knife being brought down towards Harry's neck. The blade impacted with his lightsaber, instantly cutting the knife in half, to the shock of the soldier who then had a stunner aimed at his neck, knocking him out of the fight.
A stabbing pain in his left arm caused him to gasp as a second vibroblade was thrust in above his elbow. Pulling back and spinning around, he Force Pushed the soldier away rather harder than was necessary because of his anger at being stabbed, sending him colliding hard with the balcony before falling to the ground floor either unconscious or dead. Growling in annoyance Harry quickly checked his would and removed the knife from his arm, before casting a quick medical charm on his arm to stem the bleeding.
Turning back to the fight he could see that the room was mostly empty now, most of the slaves had poured out of the room, unfortunately taking most of the rangers on this level with them, there were still several rangers firing down from the upper level but most of Harry's attention was distracted when he saw several Death Watch including a flash of a red cloak and a flash of several lekku disappear around a corner.
Growling he looked around to see what the remaining odds were; there were only a couple of Death Watch still standing, the rangers and fighting slaves easily outnumbered them, he had to go after the Vizsla, he was probably making his escape but Harry would place a bet that he was going to try to finish his Master off before he went.
Dashing out of the room after them he rapidly made his way to the outside of the building where he could see most of the hundred or so slaves rushing across the ground towards where the ship had been parked. As soon as he emerged through the entrance the rangers had made on the ground level he Force Jumped up the side of the building many levels at a time so that he reached the top of the building within seconds. As he made his last jump he brought his lightsaber around and smashed the glass as he passed through it, easily deflecting the blasterbolt sent his way by the Death Watch guard in the room. He brought his blade around and after impacting on his vambraces twice he managed to land a sliceto the neck, severing the guard's spinal cord. Looking around the room he saw no more guards, but he did see his Master.
Dangling from chains, which had obviously had not been part of the original room design, on her knees on the other side of the room, one of the straps for her revealing upper garment torn, but thankfully still on and mostly covering her, hanging almost unconscious by her wrists was his Master. Judging by the various bruises, cuts and other marks on her body he guessed that the Death Watch had some fun torturing her before he arrived, but as she was still dressed except for the torn strap he hopped that that was all they had done.
Rushing over to her he skidded to her side and lifted her head in his hands.
"Master! Can you hear me?"
She moaned slightly in response.
"Ha...rry..."
Smiling that she was ok, he cut her chains, laid her down on the floor and wrapped her in his Jedi cloak before activating his comlink.
"Captain, I need some help on the top floor. I have found my Master but she's in bad shape. I'm probably going to need some help getting her back to the ship. I'm also probably going to have company any second."
#Affirmative Padawan.#
As he hung up he heard the sounds of running feet from the corridor leading up to the room.
"Sir," came the voice of one of the approaching figures. "Do we really have time for this?"
"We might have lost the fortress but I'm going to make sure that Potter does not get what he came for."
The rounded the corner on the last word. There were five soldiers including Vizsla holding three Twi'lek slaves including Alema.
Harry reacted instantly, Force Pulling the three Twi'leks towards him faster than the soldiers could react. Two off the soldiers holding them fell forward at their surprise at their prisoners being ripped out of their hands and ended up on the floor. The prisoners all landed uncomfortably beside and behind Harry, their hands were still bound but other than that they had no other restraints and so quickly scrambled to their feet.
"I had forgotten Potter, how determined you were," replied Vizsla with a slightly strained grin. "Now let's test how quick your reactions are."
Realising what was about to happen, Harry swiftly switched to his more manoeuvrable shotos.
"Get behind me," he called to the prisoners who scrambled for cover as all five soldiers drew their blasters and aimed them at him.
The air was suddenly alive with blasterbolts as all five fired on him at once, Harry swung his arms around as quickly as he could using the added speed of his smaller blades to redirect more of the blasts. When he knew he could not reach a bolt with his lightsabers used his artificial wrist to block as many as possible, the strength and armour qualities of the iron making it perfect for redirecting blaster fire. His job was made all the harder because he was not just trying to block the bolts that would hit him, but he had to try to intercept every shot as they might still hit those behind him. He also resorted to trying to make each lightsaber movement block two bolts with the lower half of the blade catching one and the tip catching the other. He sunk himself into the Force, letting it direct his movements and allowing him to react faster than any non-Force user ever could hope to, but despite this he only managed to survive ten seconds before the shots overcame him and three hit home; one passing straight through his shoulder, one his right arm and the last one grazing his side.
He dropped backwards to the floor with a gasp of pain as blood started to seep from his arm and side and pour out of his shoulder to the gasping of Alema and the others.
"A valiant effort Jedi, but ultimately futile, I get to kill you, properly this time, then I get to kill that Twi'lek Jedi and I still have three valuable slaves to sell. You were actually quite lucky Jedi, we were only keeping the Jedi and the slaves here today, they were to be shipped out tomorrow, your timing was very good, it allowed you to see them all one last time."
"I'm not finished yet," gasped Harry, getting rather annoyed by the arrogance of the man, while Alema ripped of one of the lose flowing parts of her slave outfit and pressed it hard to his shoulder while the other prisoners tried to do similar things to his other wounds.
Vizsla threw his head back in laugher.
"What can you possibly bring to the fight at this point? You can't fight all five of us, especially not wounded like that. What card could you possible still have to play that would save your lives?"
"There is one thing you have forgotten about me Vizsla," he replied through slightly gritted teeth at the pain.
"Any what pray is that?" he asked bemused.
"I'm Harry bloody Potter, and not dying is my speciality, there are reekcats on Corellia that don't have as many lives as I do. And as for what card I still have to play..."
A low humming came from outside, which spread a grin across Harry's face as a shadow passed over the window.
"...How about a set of quad lasers," he retorted as the loud thrum of a ships engines and the underside of the Wayward Son came into view, its guns aimed straight in through the smashed windows.
He watched as Vizsla's eyes widened in realisation before he dived back towards the hallway. The other guards were a split second too slow as laser fire filled that side of the room, punching huge holes in them, the unbroken glass and the opposite wall, filling the room with rubble and a large quantity of brick dust.
Harry and the others who had all moved towards Aayla and had been lying over and around her, waited a good ten seconds after the guns ceased before slowly looking up, they coughed several times because of the dust before they heard the sound of winches and the sounds of boots impacting on broken glass.
Reaching for one of his lightsaber, Harry spun around only to see a group of Mandalorian security officers land in the room.
"Sir, Are you alright?" one asked as the others secured the room.
"How?" Harry asked, painfully sitting up, Alema, who had released her hold on his shoulder when they dived for cover, immediately moved back and attempted to hold her makeshift padding to his wound that was still bleeding far too fast and had covered both her, Harry and Aayla in blood.
"Medic! We need a medic in here!" the officer called over his shoulder before replying. "I gather that the Lady Satine went to the Duke and after some persuasion convinced him to send us. She also said to tell you that she thought it better to send someone to get you or you might forget that you were supposed to visit her after your mission concluded."
Harry snorted a response, before attempting to stand up and falling back to the ground as his strength gave out. Rolling to his side slightly he could see quite a reasonably sized smeared blood pool where he had been lying, his injuries must be worse than he thought, he must have nicked a vein or artery with the shoulder shot.
His vision began to blur slightly as he heard Alema's worried gasp and one of the security officers calling for a medic again.
"Help...Aayla..." he gasped before his vision greyed out and he fell unconscious.
AYTHOR'S ESSAY: Merry Christmas one and all, sorry for the longer wait this time, I've been having some trouble writing the Hermione/Coleman/Wookiee story arc and did not want to post this chapter as it puts pressure on me to complete the next in that arc.
Voldemort will be taken care of, don't worry people, but I can't do it in the middle of two other story arcs can I, it will probably be the next story section after the conclusion of these two arcs.
Nice idea Vukk, something to consider later maybe.
This will mostly be a Harry centric story, I just wanted to have Hermione given her own section of story as before her arc started she was a bit left out of this story.
Also any plot suggestions are good, especially in the Hermione/Wookiee arc.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone