Harry Potter, The Jedi That Would Not Die
Chapter 27 – Ships, Slugs & Slime
As the CR90 corvette class survey ship exited hyperspace the crew came face to face with the dark green and white sphere that was Dagobah.
"Your Highness," greeted the Captain as their V.I.P came onto the bridge. "We have arrived in the Dagobah system."
"Very good Captain," replied the Senator, moving forwards to one of the viewing ports so as to get a better look at the planet. "Locate the position of the previous expedition on the surface and set us down as close to it as possible. Also start trying to contact them. It might just have been a problem with their long range transmitter."
"Yes sir."
"Sir," interjected another office, "Another ships exiting hyperspace."
"Identification?"
"It appears to have been a Consular-class Cruiser originally but it has had extensive modifications."
One of the control panels beeped.
"Incoming comms signal."
"Let's hear it," replied the Senator walking over to the comms station.
#This is Jedi Padawan Harry Potter aboard the Jedi cruiser Raven calling Alderaanian survey ship Organa III, I'm trying to reach Senator Bail Antillies?#
Smiling the Senator tapped a button on the control panel and responded.
"Harry, its Bail. You made very good time; we only got confirmation of Jedi assistance just before we left Alderaan."
#We have made quite a few improvements to our ship,# came a female voice.
"Hermione?...It's good to hear your voice. We have set a course to land near the previous crafts landing sight."
#We shall meet you down there,# came the response before the Raven did the most ridiculously sharp manoeuvre and rocked away towards the planet.
"I've never seen a ship that big turn that quick before," exclaimed the Captain. "I know that ship has been modified but theirs has to be a good twenty years older and more modern than this ship and the Organa III would never be able to pull off a manoeuvre like that."
"When it comes to flying ships few are as good as Harry Potter, even in the Jedi Order," remarked the Senator. "Head for the planet Captain."
"What does the base look like to you Hermione?"
"Plenty of life signs but none human, humanoid or a humanlike species from the database."
"Any signs of a fight?"
"No evidence of a large scale attack if that's what you mean. I'm seeing some residual scorching from blaster bolts but not enough to be from a fire fight, the base does look wrecked though, but that may be due to native species wandering in since it was abandoned."
"I'm bringing us into land in the clearing in the canopy beside the other survey ship."
"You might not want to do that Harry, the grounds not very stable; there is a danger of the ground sinking away beneath us. It looks like the land under the previous survey ship has already shifted as the ship has sunk in up to the thrusters; we will have trouble getting it out. There's also not going to be enough room for the Organa III and the Raven on that area of ground, despite the fact that the Raven is only about two thirds of the size of the Organa III. Unfortunately there is no solid ground large enough for the ship nearby, only swamp and as the previous ship is between our two ships in size and it sunk I don't imagine this ground will hold either ship for more than a few hours before they start to sink too."
"Hmm, awkward...Did you get a chance to fit the repulsorlifts I ordered?"
"I thought you were joking about that," she questioned turning to look at him.
"Why would I joke about it?" he asked, turning to look over his shoulder while brining the craft in to hover over the only landing area.
"Well its silly, why would a spaceship need a repulsorlift engine? They are designed to allow land based vehicles to hover over the ground, the only time this ship is on the ground is when it's landed and we have landing gear for that."
"It was to allow us to easily move the ship over the ground. If we ever had to sneakily approach somewhere on the surface of the planet that had scanners we could simply turn on the repulsorlifts, lock the vertical steering and fly the Raven over the surface of the planet. As far as the scanners would be concerned, if they could even detect us flying so close to the ground, we would look like a land barge rather than a ship which would make us look less dangerous."
"Well I wish you would have said that before we needed them. What else could we do?"
"We could use the Force or a spell to levitate the ship?" suggested Harry.
"Be sensible Harry," she sighed. "In order to use the Force we would have to stay permanently by the ship which would defeat the point of us being here and a spell would absorb far too much power to levitate something this big over such a long time."
"Well whatever we decide to do we had better do it quick, Senator Antillies will be here soon and he will want to land," he replied, before pausing as her brow furrowed as she thought of something. "Hermione?"
"Harry, how good are you at shrinking charms?" she asked with a twisted smile.
"Not too bad, but I...NO...No, no, no, no, no. You are not shrinking my ship!"
"Our ship and why not?" she asked, still smiling wickedly at her idea.
"You can't shrink a ship!"
"Why not?"
"It would take too much power," he argued, not quite believing that that was the only argument he could think of.
"We can do it together. You just land the ship, we shrink it and then Senator Antillies can land his ship as well."
"But what about the maintenance droids?"
"They'll be ok, it's not as if they are going to leave the ship."
"Yes but...but..."
"Good, then let's do it."
"Your Highness, it appears as though there might be a problem."
"What is it Captain?" Bail asked, going over to the Captain who had just walked over to the viewport from where he had been standing over the helmsman. Problems were something that he really did not want on this trip.
"Sensors indicate that we might have an issue locating a good landing location, the area around the previous expeditions base camp appears to be quite unstable and made almost entirely of swamp."
"Where have the Jedi landed their ship?" he asked, moving over to the sensor station to see the readouts for himself.
"They have put down on the only stable bit of ground nearby Sir, though judging from its size both ships will not fit on...on..." he started before trailing off at something he was seeing out of the viewport before exclaiming "What the!"
"What is it Captain?" asked the Senator, looking up having never heard the Captain sound stunned before.
"Unless I am very much mistaken your Highness, the Jedi's ship...It's...It's...It's shrinking Sir."
"Shrinking!" exclaimed Bail, going over to the viewport to see for himself, how could a shi... "I don't believe it."
"We're not hallucinating are we Sir?" asked the Captain uncertainly.
"The exact same thing?" came the reply. "Get Harry on comms."
"Yes your Highness," replied one of the officers, before touching several controls on his station. "Comlink established."
"Harry?"
#Yes Senator?# came the reply.
"Should I be getting myself and my Captain checked into the medical bay or am I really seeing your ship shrinking?"
#You are really seeing it Senator and despite the fact that Hermione and I are the cause of it I can scarcely believe it myself. You should be clear to land in just one minute, I'll explain when you disembark.#
It was a very curious Alderaanian Prince who descended the ships ramp towards the two Jedi Padawans.
"It's good to see the two of you again," he greeted warmly, resplendent in his formal white robes.
"Likewise Senator," replied Hermione.
"Where are Master Coleman and Knight Secura?" he asked, looking around them to see if the were inside the perimeter of the base.
"They did not accompany us on this trip Senator," explained Harry. "The Council thought it was time for our first solo mission so our Masters remained behind."
Bail was initially shocked but quickly recovered, he k new the two Jedi were more than capable without the presence of their Masters. "Well congratulations then, but before we say anything else, I must know...Please explain how it is that your ship seems to have shrunk into nothing before my mind unravels?" he asked, unable to contain himself any longer from the question that he had been burning to ask.
"Not into nothing Senator," Hermione replied with an odd look at the absurdity of the statement, before stepping aside to reveal a model of the Raven no more than two foot long sitting on the ground behind them.
The Senator did not even speak, but his jaw hit the floor as he knelt down to inspect the miniaturised ship.
"How in the galaxy did you...?"
"It's a technique we are taught on our home world," she explained. "It's not perfect though, that shrunken skip still weighs the same as when it was at full size, so don't try moving it as even the smallest piece although much more delicate on this scale still ways several tonnes."
"Can this area of ground support the weight of both ships?" asked the Senator, not taking his eyes off of the Raven, but managing to quickly grasp that although the situation seemed impossible it did seem to be the case.
"Not for long," Harry replied. "We are going to levitate the ship to the centre of the research station in a few minutes. The ground under the centre of the base is stronger than the ground out here. Once the Raven is secure in the base and the Organa III is in space doing its orbital survey we can also try retrieving the CR70 that the previous expedition came on."
"You can do that," Bail asked, turning to them in shock. "I know Jedi are able to move things with their minds but I never thought you could move something of that size."
Harry and Hermione exchanged a knowing smile before turning back to him.
"Every padawan says that the first time they are instructed to move a large object," explained Harry. "It's not about the size of the ship; it's about a jedi's control of the Force. We should be able to do it together if the engines can be fired to help free the ship. The main problem will be overcoming the suction from the swamp."
"You two never cease to amaze me."
Walking into the camp through the partially collapsed perimeter wall, they discovered quite the mess had been made of Alderaanian base; a lot of the structures and equipment had been knocked down or damaged, there were signs of limited small arms fire and there were splashes of dried blood on the grounds and walls, but no sign of any bodies...At least not human ones.
What there was in large numbers were a huge variety of native animals that seemed to have taken up residence in the expeditions absence. There were a huge variety, there were large numbers of snakes coiled around the antenna arrays, several large mammals with strange luminescent patches on their chests, some varieties of lizards, several sorts of rodents, some that seemed to fly as well as other rather strange ones with leaf shaped structures on the end of their tails, but to the humans the four most distinctive creatures that could be seen in the camp were; a large seven foot flying reptile sleeping on top of the large generator, a huge nine meter slug that was slowly munching its way through the remains of a very large lizard that was lying dead on the ground, a large white structure that seemed to be a tree of some sort that had rapidly grown in the centre of the base, but strangest of all were a few odd looking birds that seemed oddly fascinated by the approaching group, especially the two young Jedi who they stared at intently.
"We seem to have some uninvited guests," remarked Bail. "I suppose it's easier to have them come to us than to have to go hunting for them, but I would rather they not be in our base in such numbers."
"We should be able to remove most of them fairly easily," agreed Harry.
"Without harming them," Hermione added quickly.
"Of course."
"You are assuming that the creatures will want to go and will allow themselves to be herded," pointed out Bail.
"That won't be as bigger problem as you think," replied Hermione, before turning to Harry. "Together?"
"Together," he replied before turning to the camp full of creatures, before adding a side comment to the Senator. "Don't move unless an animal tries to run through you. You are in no danger."
Bail's brow furrowed in confusion at this before feeling the atmosphere around them begin to change; it went from being merely humid and damp to including a powerful presence, the feeling of being watched and being in danger permeated his mind.
Drawing his blaster, he looked around urgently for the source of the feeling which was making him very alarmed. He could see that a lot of the animals were feeling it to as many were looking around frantically or making for the jungle as fast as their legs or wings would carry them.
Turning to the Jedi to see if they felt it too, he saw looks of deep concentration on their faces as they focused on something before their faces slowly started to relax as the feeling ebbed away to return to how it was before.
"What was that?" demanded Bail, still turning in circles looking for whatever had caused the feeling.
"That was us," replied Harry with a slightly wicked smile at his behaviour.
"We did say you were in no danger," added Hermione.
"What on Alderaan did you do?" he demanded again.
"We simply used the Force to create a strong feeling of danger," she replied.
"A mind trick?" he asked, his breath still laboured.
"Sort of," she continued. "Though it's not as powerful as a mind trick. Instead of imposing a suggestion on one person we created a general feeling in the minds of all those nearby, there was no actual attempt to control any of the creatures just to give them that uneasy feeling you felt and let their instincts guide them. It affected you less as you are sentient but as you can see it sent most of the animals running for cover."
"Please don't do it again," he requested, slowly holstering his gun. "At least it cleared the camp."
"Not everything went," replied Harry gesturing to the remaining creatures.
The large flying reptile, the giant slug, the odd looking birds and of course the tree still remained.
"Why didn't they go?" asked Bail.
"Well the tree obviously could not move," explained Hermione. "But the reptile and the slug are most likely either two high up on the food chain to have many other creatures to worry them or are too dumb to even feel the Force affect."
"What of the birds?"
"I can feel them, they must be Force sensitive," explained Harry.
"What! How can an animal feel the Force?"
"Quiet easily," answered Hermione casually. "What are we but intelligent animals?"
"There are many lesser animals in the galaxy that feel the Force but most are not able to actually use it," elaborated Hermione. "These birds probably can't actually use the Force in any way but can sense it which is why they were not affected by what we did. They probably perceived it as we would a hologram; they could see the affect but knew it was not real."
"Moving passed the Force sensitive birds as I don't think they are going to be a threat," interrupted Bail, still quite shaken by the display of Force powers. "How are we going to get rid of them?" he said directing his hand towards the other remaining creatures.
"The usual way," replied Harry, summoning his lightsaber to his hand as Hermione did the same thing without him. "Slug or bird?" he asked.
"Bird," she replied igniting her lightsaber and starting towards the reptile that had woken up when all the other creatures had fled.
The slug had not moved at all and was continuing to eat from the carcass next to it.
As the young Jedi approached the beast Bail watched as it raised its head towards her before climbing to its feet and faced off against her.
It roared, spreading its wings wide in a threatening display, using its wings to make it look bigger and more dangerous. This of course did not work on the young Jedi who swung her lightsaber in an arc before dropping into a defensive posture.
The creature charged straight her, doing a combination of leaping and gliding to cover distance as quickly as possible, its razor sharp teeth and talons bared as it approached. Bail watched from a distance as the young Jedi stood her ground; if it were not for the fact that she was a Jedi he would have thought her as good as dead.
As the beast reached her and swung its talons forward, Hermione casually side stepped and threw her arm around in a figure of eight arc. There was a pair of lightsaber slicing sound followed by the sound of breaking bones as the body landed and rolled followed immediately by the beasts severed talons and head which rolled end over end and came to rest in front of the shocked Senator.
"Could you not have just wounded it or scared it off?" he asked, quite surprised by what she had just done, he always considered her very nonviolent and was quite surprised that she had just killed the creature.
"We tried scaring it and it did not work," explained Hermione, clipping her blade back onto her belt and walking back towards him, ignoring the sounds coming from where Harry was about to fight the slug. "And wounding it would have been cruel; being a predator any wound that I would have given it that would have driven it off would also make it more difficult for it to hunt which might have resulted in it starving to death. I could have tried trapping it or stunning it of course but judging from the nest like structure that it's built on top of the generator it would likely return, killing it quickly and painlessly was the most logical and the most humane thing to-"
She was cut off by an explosive sound from the direction of the slug followed immediately by several tones of slug insides which splattered them both as well as most of the surrounding area in large boiled clumps of flesh.
After making sounds of disgust at the horrible stench and the fact that they were now both covered in warm lumps of slimy flesh, they both turned to see Harry standing next to the now almost entirely non-existent slug, covered completely in the horrible mess he had just created.
"Harry," Hermione began disbelievingly, "Please tell me you did not just put a superheated weapon into the side of a creature that is almost one hundred percent liquid without thinking what would happen to said creature when it is very rapidly heated up?"
"Ok...I won't tell you," he mumbled back, not moving his mouth more than he had to, probably because he was so completely covered in slug guts that if he opened his mouth he would be eating it as well as wearing it, but one thing that was very evident was the highly annoyed look on his face.
Looking away Bail sighed; examining his ruined clothes and began wondering if this outfit would be beyond saving before the sounds of laughter started filling the air.
Looking up he saw the usually logical young Hermione doubled over in laughter.
A few seconds later Harry's shoulders started to vibrate as he joined in while Hermione dropped to the floor, laughing so hard that she could no longer stand.
"You're both mad."
AUTHOR'S NOTE: For those of you who have been asking me when Voldemort will be dealt with, well we are in the Voldemort dealing ark now so just hang in there so that I can set up the scene we will deal with his reappearance.
Also someone asked what the purple lightning was a couple of chapters back that Hermione uses, it's a Force power in the EU called Ionize or Droid Disable that can disable or destroy electronics but is relatively harmless to anything biological.