Harry Potter and the Dark Lord of the Sith

Chapter 25.

Hermione thought she was prepared for anything. She was wrong. She thought the journey would be difficult, maybe even dangerous. She was ready for that. She was not ready for how boring it would be. She used the four-point spell several times a day to make sure they weren't walking in circles. Every day, the sun rose ahead of them, and set behind. The river was always to their left, and flowed in the same direction as they headed. But despite all that, everything around them looked the same. Trees, trees, all of the same species, similar to a maple, but much larger. No clearings, no hills, nothing. The only interruptions were small creeks they had to wade across, flowing into the river. It has been seventeen local days--which were a bit shorter than standard days--since they arrived. Since they walked at least ten miles a day, Hermione figured they were almost two hundred miles from where they started--but it looked exactly like it did there.

They tried to hunt, but failing to find any animals or birds, they gave up wasting time and energy. They ate mostly nuts from a shrub that grew everywhere, like the maple-like tree, in this forest. They also caught fish from the river... well, at least the creatures looked somewhat like fish, although they had three eyes, purple or blue scales, and propelled themselves by water jets. But they tasted good... at first. Having no cooking utensils and no additives of any sort, they couldn't vary the flavor. Hermione was sick of "fish", of nuts, and most sick of looking at trees. At least Wedge was good company. If I were alone, I'd be insane by now. No, a voice in her head told her, if you were alone, you'd be dead by now. She wasn't sure which would be worse.

To alleviate boredom, every night, they would tell each other stories about what they did before they met. Hermione was worried they were going to run out of such stories before a rescue party came. Fortunately, today was Wedge's turn.

"How do you know Nelir?" she asked, casually.

"I was going to tell something else, but if you want to know..."

"Well?"

"Her full name is Nelir Gelaph," he began. "She was born on Coruscant, where her parents worked under a contract for the Republic government. They were killed towards the end of the Clone Wars. Things were happening fast back then, and the Emperor already moved against Coruscant's non-human population when she found out. She lost her job, and what little money she had saved up could only get her as far as Corellia."

"And you met her there?"

"Yes. She was a talented starship engineer, but Corellian companies wouldn't hire her. So she worked as a mechanic at my father's fueling station."

"Why wouldn't they hire her?"

"There's a lot of discrimination on Corellia... not so much specifically against non-humans, like the Empire, but against all non-Corellians, human or otherwise."

Hermione raised her eyebrows. "That's odd. The Corellians I've met--"

Wedge smiled at her. "The Corellians you've met," he said, "all have one thing in common. They left Corellia. Voluntarily."

"Uh-huh."

"I am not that eager to return, either. There isn't anyone for me to return to. That's why I left in the first place." He stared off into the distance.

Hermione didn't press him further. "So Nelir couldn't get a job anywhere except your father's station."

"I wouldn't go that far. There were many other small establishments that wouldn't have cared what world she was from. But none of the big companies. Essentially, they didn't trust her not to make off with their secrets. And it happened on a local level as well. Once, when I was ten, I remember how she came into the shop in tears. She was arrested and had to pay a fine because--get this--someone thought she smelled bad."

"I didn't notice her smell at all."

"I did, when I met her, but I actually liked it. And I got used to it. And do you know what my father told her then?"

"What?"

"That whoever did that should have seen a doctor about his nose. Those were his exact words. And then he paid her back the fine. Then, when she went home, he told me to remember that incident if I ever felt the temptation to judge someone by how they smelled... or looked, or sounded."

"Did you ever find out who hauled Nelir in?"

"No, I never bothered. My father always said it was petty, and wouldn't do Nelir any good. And then, about a year before my parents were killed, she left us. She said she saved enough money and would go back to Mon Calamari."

"It took her that long?"

"There weren't--still aren't--commercial transports to Calamari. The Empire forbid them. She had to hire a private ship."

Hermione smiled. "Han Solo, before his rehabilitation?"

"Worse. The guy was a part-time space pirate who decided to join in a heist while she was aboard. He was killed, and Nelir was captured by the ship's security force and essentially condemned to slavery for life--technically, she had to work off the value of the loot her pilot's partners made off with. No one believed her story, of course."

"So what happened?"

"For a while, the Alliance used the ship she was on as a meeting point for agents--passing information about future raids, holos of Imperial atrocities, the like. When we get back, you should ask Major Ors, if you get the chance. She was deep into that. Agents record such meetings, and one review tape that I saw captured her image in the background. I immediately knew it was her."

"So what did you do?"

"That part was simple. I just booked passage on the liner and made contact with Nelir. She sabotaged the ship to take us out of hyperspace in the middle of nowhere, and I left in one of the ship's shuttles and took her along."

"You stole a shuttle?"

"I have no qualms about that. The captain of that ship approved enslaving Nelir. As far as I'm concerned, he didn't get a tenth of what he deserved."

"That explains a lot..."

"What?"

"Well, when I met her, Nelir seemed somewhat..."

"Reserved?" Wedge offered.

"Yes, that's it."

"I know, it's not an easy thing to witness. She lost so many friends in the war that she's afraid to make new ones."

"I hope she'll make an exception for me."

"I think she will." He put his arm around her. She didn't resist it. Instead, she just sat there, looking at the night sky, thinking about what Wedge said... and about Wedge himself. She always liked Wedge as a friend, but... would there be more to their relationship than simple friendship? Could there be? Should there be? She shook her head. Such thoughts are best left till morning. She stood up.

"We should sleep. You're standing first watch tonight, Wedge?" She prepared to lie down.

"Yes."

"Good. Wake me up in four hours."

"I will. Good night, Hermione."

"Good night, Wedge."

XXXXXXXX

When Harry landed, Yoda and Luke were preparing another exercise involving standing upside down. But he felt that he had to do something else...

"Master Yoda," he asked, "may I--"

"Forbidden you, I have not. Always, you may have. To do or do not, decide for yourself you must."

Harry nodded, took his lightsaber, and headed into the forest. Since they came there for the first time, every other day Harry went to the dark cave and sat in front of it, practicing controlling pain in his scar. Now, he could easily stop that pain in the clearing. He knew the real test, however, was to go inside, and he was determined to do it.

In front of the cave, it always felt cold. Harry reached into the Force, shielded himself from the pain, and climbed down into the cave entrance between the roots of a huge tree. Like everywhere else on Dagobah, the cave was full of fog, and smelled of decay. Harry went forward, listening. Only what you take with you, Yoda said when Luke asked what was in there. Okay, that probably means that it's not some dark creature I have to fight... But then what?

He got his answer. A black robed figure was standing in front of him. The person lifted his hood, revealing a familiar, pale, scarred face. Lord Voldemort.

Harry lifted his lightsaber. In response, the dark wizard ignited his own red blade and attacked. Harry parried, then launched his own assault. Voldemort switched his saber to one hand and drew his wand with the other.

"Protego!" Harry shouted moments before Voldemort's spell hit. His hand shuddered. This shouldn't be possible. Our wands don't...

Voldemort's lightsaber nearly cut him in half. Harry fell on his back, desperately deflecting the dark lord's attacks. Reaching into the Force, he pushed his enemy.

Incredibly fast, Voldemort was thrown back. Not expecting that, Harry stood up, and saw, ahead of him, Voldemort clinging to a vine hanging over a deep chasm.

Harry looked at his lightsaber for a moment, and threw it. It spun in the air, severing Voldemort's support. The dark wizard fell. Harry summoned his lightsaber back and shut it off.

Then something fell next to him with a thud. Harry jumped up, reigniting his weapon. He looked at the object. It was a body, dressed in black robes.

But the body wasn't Voldemort's. Harry didn't need to see the face to know that. Voldemort was much larger.

Harry lifted the body's hood and gasped.

The face was Ron's.

Then, in front of his eyes, the face changed shape and turned into Hermione's.

"Oh, no..." Harry could barely breathe.

Then the body vanished into thing air, and Harry heard a cold, mocking laugh that chilled him to the bones.

Harry spent the return trip brooding on what he saw. He was no closer to understanding what happened. He wanted to know what Luke saw when he went in. His best guess was that the cave was sort of a reverse of the mirror of Erised. That however, did not helped him to understand what he saw.

When he got back, he saw Luke in his flight suit, standing next to his X-wing. "And sacrifice Han and Leia?" he was saying.

"If honor you what they fight for... yes!" Yoda declared.

"Luke!" Harry ran up. "You're leaving?"

"Han and Leia are in danger. I have to help them."

"Wait for me." Harry started to get his own flight suit.

"If you choose to face Vader," a new voice said, and Harry noticed a ghost-like figure of the old man he saw Vader cut down on the Death Star, "you will do it alone. I cannot interfere."

"Do this, you must not," Yoda spoke to Harry. "Complete your training you should."

"I can't let Luke go off alone," Harry replied. "You yourself said we must work together."

Yoda looked at him, scowled, and said, addressing both of them, "Strong is Vader. Mind what you have learned. Save you it can. And separate you must not."

"I will," Luke replied. "And I'll return. I promise."

"Don't give in to hate," the ghost of Ben Kenobi advised them. "That leads to the dark side. And stay together. It may save you both."

Harry wanted to ask this man so much... but there was no time. He smiled from the cockpit of his fighter. Luke already lifted off. Harry followed.

They were already in orbit when Harry's scar tingled. He got it under control... and when he reached the Force to do it, he saw it. It was only a short glimpse, but he registered incredible detail. And there was no mistake about what he had seen.

"Hermione!" he cried out.

"What?" Luke asked.

"Hermione. She's in danger."

"Are you sure?"

"Are you sure about Han and Leia? I saw it through the Force." Harry raised his voice a little, not liking that Luke doubted him. He breathed out, calming himself.

"Okay. Where?" Luke asked.

"I don't know. A city in the clouds..."

"That's what I saw, as well. Bespin--that's what Yoda called it," Luke whispered.

"What if there's another place like that? If there is, and we go after Han and Leia first, we'll be too late for Hermione. And..."

"And vise versa. It's a risk we'll have to take," Luke replied, slightly angry.

"Obi-Wan and Yoda did tell us to stay together..."

"Right. If we're on the same planet, we'd at least be able to get to each other quickly."

I hope it's close enough, Harry thought. "CueSeven," he ordered his astromech, "set the coordinates." The droid made a happy-sounding chirp.

"See you at Bespin, Harry." Luke's fighter vanished into hyperspace.

Harry stretched out with the Force and tried to send a message through it.

"Help is on the way, Hermione," he said to reinforce it. Then he pulled on the throttle and departed the Dagobah system.