FicWad

The morning light was intense though dense fog engulfed the ground like a wraith hiding and concealing all but a few feet infront of a man.

Nearly a quarter mile into the air above the countryside was a craft rocketing towards its target.

"This is Tac-One," the pilot stated calmly, "Commencing awakening proceedures."

"Azkaban copies," came the response an instant later, "Mission is go."

"Roger."

The transport dove lower, skimming the treetops as a low snarl came from the sealed drop container it bore.

"Drop is go," he stated as they passed over a large structure, releasing the trap to plumet into the void before the LAAT rose swiftly to circle, the first part of their mission complete.

xXx

Awareness touched the sleepers mind and the depths of twilight within its mind began to fade slowly.

It felt that its bindings were no longer in place as it reflexively tested its body.

A sharp and jarring impact fully roused the beast, and it lashed out tearing through the heavy metal of the container like aluminum foil.

It smelled the little prey that smelled almost like its master without the armor that it would mean injuring them would bring pain or the stench of ozone of it's lord.

These it could kill.

Flaring its wings and rising to its full height, it bellowed a challenge and lunged to attack the screaming and scattering pests.

The first Sith Dragon had been unleashed, and may the enemies of Dion tremble...

xXx

Diagon Alley's peace was shattered by the arrival of a Death Eater raid, the early morning traffic scattered.

The Aurors responded as best they could, but the wards had locked down the alley to prevent quick escapes and thus also prevented arrivals leaving the red robed aurors hopelessly outnumbered by their foes.

It was then that the rescue came, but not from who they expected.

An LAAT came in low to almost touch down while the ARC's joined the fight with their master and his bodyguard.

Captain Hades landed first, leaping not for the street level but for the rooftops.

His twin blasters out and firing as he dashed headlong across the top of the shops. Alternating fire as he walked the blaster shots up and through a trio of Death Eaters to suprised by the attack to move.

Dion and Crimson joined four other ARC's as they disembarked with a several yard drop to the cobblestone streets, the lightsabers ignition drawing attention as he advanced before his men deflecting spells left and right.

Crimson's repeater flashed as he picked off targets as the gunship dusted off to add it's own cannons to the mix.

Aboard the LAAT, Dex took aim through the site of his own weapon.

The disruptor rifle was a marksmans dream as he took aim at one of the Death Eaters and fired. The energy blast disintigrating the targer as the weapon switched to its cooldown cycle before he switched back to charging.

He paused after his second shot and leaped to the rooftops to join Hades and take up a more stable firing position.

xXx

Sev'rance Tann grinned ferally as the Clone Troopers and the Clone Commando's attacked. The sirens song of blasterfire filling the air only punctuated by the blasts of grenades and the thunderous beat of the steps of the AT-PT's as the attack on Malfoy Manor began in earnest.

Two of her masters upgraded Dementors had already entered into the battle, eliciting screams of fear and terror that sent such pleasant tingles of cold up her spine.

The Chiss darksider charged into the fray, lightsaber activated to join in the carnage that would be hers to enjoy.

xXx

Walden Macnair was still resting up after the fiasco at the ministry. He had managed to escape enroute to Azkaban on his own and apparently just in time with Azkaban in the hands of another power.

Now he was scared out of his mind as some psychotic variant of a dragon had apparently decided to attack.

The giants he had convinced to aid Voldemort in his conquest were present, but this thing had swallowed one of them whole while trashing the great hall of the ancient Slytherin Castle.

Macnair was used to dealing with monsters, he was the executioner of any beast deemed dangerous by the ministry, and had faced many dragons in his day.

Even that couldn't prepare him for this leviathan as its claws wrent stone as it lashed out, tail ripping through the stone walls as if they were but paper.

Spells were being absorbed into the creature that seemed made of naught but shadow and death, although protrusions along its spine seemed to begin to take on light as spells pounded the abomination.

Rolling away from a lunge that shattered a wall, sending a veritable avalanch of masonry down upon some of his allies and began the collapse of the roof while the mouth came at him again full of teeth longer than his leg and wickedly sharp.

He managed to force himself to fire a blasting hex down the monstrocities throat before diving for cover amidst the rubble while the scaled dreadnaught passed overhead, leaving a cloud of ash and dust in its wake.

A terrifying shriek drew his attention as he saw the Giant Chief and nearly a dozen of the largest and strongest giants charge at the monster before it was apon them.

The hardened death eater closed his eyes as he was narrowly missed by the top half of the chief as the razor sharp blade on the creatures tail sliced it cleanly apart from waist to shoulder.

The ancient wards against transport spells made retreat impossible and thus he screamed his own challenge with an Avada Kedavra, rallying the remainder of the Death Eaters and it turned, the light now impossibly bright on its back as it's mouth opened in a deafening roar.

"My god," one of the new recruits stammered before the light enhulfed them whole and the castle exploded in the release of stored power while the sith dragon roared in victory.

xXx

Harry's advance changed as he reached his foes, weapon and sith moving almost as a dance amidst the screams of the damned foes who dared attack a master of the dark side.

Then the field alley went quiet while the leader of the death eater raid began to laugh.

Turning slowly, Lord Dion saw the reason.

His enemy had deigned to enter the field of battle at last.

Finishing his last current opponent he stepped towards Voldemort, a brief flash of hope for ending this here and now.

Nodding to Crimson who responded in kind.

"I'll handle this one myself," Darth Dion stated calmly to his companion.

"Understood sir," the guardsman responded, "No interferance."

The red armored warrior changed targets, "ARC Troopers finish the mission, the lead hostile will be dealt with by our Lord himself."

xXx

Draco Malfoy watched from his room above the center of his family manor.

He stood wide eyed as his fathers allies fell back from the assault by an enemy he had heard vague and terrified whispers of in the past month.

The harsh smoke rising in a dense cloud from the burning gardens left him dry eyed while his mother frantically baricaded the door.

One of the birdlike metal things seemed to turn and stare at him for a moment midstride before continuing towards his home firing off whatever the spell that left an explosion on its target.

With his father imprisoned in Azkaban, his family fortune in the hands of Voldemort, and now his home in ruins, we wondered what was next.

All that seemed left was for him to watch his life and family burn.

A small part of him wondered what would be left with everything burnt away.

xXx

"Cover me," Sev'rance ordered as she reached the main doors, the magically enhansed barrier was resisting direct attempts to blast through.

"Roger," Breaker responded as he signaled his squad of commando's to take up position to cover the Imperial Knight as she slowly forced the lightsaber to carve through the entryway.

A signal from a comming LAAT made him grin.

"Lady Tann," he stated, "Stand back and take cover, we have another way in."

"What?" she yelled as she sensed it through the force.

"An AT-AP has been delivered to the battlefield," the commando responded, "It should be able to breach the entrance."

The chiss nodded and joined the commando squad under cover before the massive explosion caused by the mass-driver canon destroyed the wall she had been attempting to carve through.

"Alpha squad," Breaker continued, "Move, take the entrance."

Sev'rance Tann was already in motion, using the debris to form a momentary tornado within to root out survivors only to let it dissipate when Beta squad joined up to add more fire to the mix.

"Have you found the targets?" Jag asked the darksider as he and Breaker took up flanking positions.

"Upstairs," she answered, "Three floors."

"Go! Go! Go!"

"Beta Squad," she ordered, "Take and hold the Drawing-Room, Dion said there was something hidden there of value."

"Roger," Jag stated as he signaled his team to follow him as the group split up to complete their missions.

xXx

Blasting a pair of death eaters aside with the force, Harry charged his foe with a roar of anger.

Drawing the blade he had inherited from his ancestor, the Blade of Slytherin met the lightsaber with a shriek and a spray of amber sparks.

Dion's eyes widened behind his mask as he realized something else about the sword of the snake lord. It was an alchemic blade fashioned by the same beings as had forged Azkaban, the weapon was the equal of a Sith Sword.

The ancient relic and the lightsaber crashed again as the two dark lords clashed with thunderous roar while the fighting seemed to stop to watched the dual of the titans.

Neither spoke as they added their other abilities to the mix.

Avoiding a killing curse, Dion drew on the force and ripped hundreds of paving stones from the street and leaped back to send them all in a wave at his enemy.

Conjuring a wall of solid stone and forming several serpents of stone to quickly animate, Voldemort charged through the dust cloud kicked up by his walls destruction due to the stone barrage. His animated snakes attacked Harry from the sides only to be shattered with another burst from the force as the sith lord went vertical in a high spinning leap.

Blades crossed again as the magic and darkside plowed head first into one another sending a shockwave throught he alley that toppled people and shattered glass.

They broke apart both leaping to opposite sides of the alley and circled slowly blades ready.

Harry flourished and changed stances, and then in a flash both went back on the offensive once more.

A flurry of strikes by the sith lord hammered the dark wizard who managed to stave them off, but his age and lack of physical training quickly came into play. Riddle staggered back when they broke apart once more.

As Harry charged again, Voldemort brought his wand up and fired another curse.

The blood red blade met the saphire curse in a spectacular explosion as both pushed at the other for a moment before the charge slowed to a crawl. Pushing slowly through the curse, the wand of the Voldemort exploded in a fireball on contact as the spell itself shattered and threw both combatants apart to slam into the opposing walls.

"Until next time," came a familiar and high pitched voice that he recognized as Bellatrix stated right before a portkey removed the surviving Death Eaters from the battle.

Harry blinked twice and shook his head to clear it as he staggered to his feet and clipped his lightsaber back to his belt.

Panting slowly as the exhaustion reached him while Crimson aproached and caught him.

"Sir," the dependable soldier stated as he supported his lord., "Transport inbound, mission complete."

xXx

The LAAT's returned to Azkaban in the late afternoon, having spent the morning involved in two of three major conflicts scattered around the country.

Lord Dion was meditating upon his obsidian throne, mind probing the void in search of answers while watching the waves and the castle through the windows.

Everything was falling into place as his plans advanced, each missions completion moving things just one more step towards completion.

Domination of this breed of weak minded fools was pathetically easy with few real challenges, and he had known that his only real threat came from the enemy that had marked him.

Sev'rance's forces were still involved in a battle over Malfoy Manor that had devolved into an almost free for all when Death Eater reinforcements had set off a nearby gas main by either accident or sheer luck.

The three knights in the tanks were proceeding well and the "rescuee's" would soon be ready for a more "gentle" type of questioning than the other Death Eaters.

The attack on Diagon was something that would cement his power and allow him to complete the maneuvers needed to seize his first throne and take control of wizarding Britain.

A smirk crossed his lips as a moments thought about Severus Snape, a man with no alleigance save to himself, was faring after being released from his custody.

xXx

Severus staggered through town, pausing only to lean against a wall in Hogsmeade.

The mark was gone, but so was the arm it was attached to with his captors taking the easy route to fill out their bargain.

He knew that the promise to remove it if he answered their questions honestly was to good to be true, but he had been desperate.

Now he wished he hadn't taken him up on the offer and needed a new wand.

But he was free.

Free of Voldemort...

Free of Dumbledore...

Free of Hogwarts...

Free of Potter...

And yet he was now alone, and wondered just what the world had planned to pull on him next.

xXx

The return fire paused causing the clone troopers to redouble their efforts as the AT-PT's and AT-AP moved into positions to pulverize more of the manor while preventing direct damage to the areas they wanted intact.

Inside the Clone Commandos of Beta Squad charged into the room, taking cover from the furniture as they exchanged blaster fire with spells with the retreating enemies as the black cloaked wizards retreated down a trapdoor in the floor.

"Move," Jag ordered, "We can't let them escape."

"Understood," Trident responded as he rolled into position laying flat on the floor while aiming into the stone stairway that led into the deep and opened fire into the void on full auto.

Screams errupted from the whole as a stun grenade was dropped down as well, the clones following as soon as the weapon detonated.

"Stay alert," Jag warned as he entered the hidden maze beneath the manor, "Trident and Grin remain and cover the exit, Jace and Mik you take the left, Janus is with me."

A quick affirmative confirmed the plan as the team broke to hunt their prey through the tunnels.

xXx

The last of the LAAT rose from the grounds of Malfoy manor, the engine wash a calm hum compared to the mad cackle of the burning structure.

Crimson eyes surveyed the site of the battle as they circled slowly overhead.

She wanted the two prisoners to see what would happen next as she rose the detonator and removed the safety.

"And but one more step towards victory," she whispered slowly, voice carried softly on the breeze before she pressed the trigger and the ancient manor and its environs burned like the sun against the twilight.

xXx

Voldemort was brooding as he stared at the ruins of his wand and the damage to his hand that still smoldered from the remnants of the phoenix feather.

"How," he whispered slowly to almost to himself as he rose to his feet.

His servants eyes turned to face him.

"How?" he asked.

"How?" again he asked, louder this time.

"How did this happen!" he demanded of his followers, "Can any of you tell me how or why we lost that fight!"

But in his heart he knew why, that being radiated power at a rate that made those sensitive to it unable to feel any other. And that power was dark, a blood soaked shadow that sought to consume the world in its all consuming rage.

Voldemort swore to himself that he would either win or die trying. And even more he swore one more thing.

He would be remembered for he would not quietly let this upstart win.

xXx

Crimson smiled at the girl as she sat beside him.

It felt strange to have a chile that trusted him as she did, much less one who had seen so much.

And yet, he felt comforted by that.

Humming softly one of the mandalorian battle hymns that had been taught to the ARC's on Kamino before that training and programming had been added to the clone flash training that came later, he wondered if his progenitor, the bounty hunter Jango Fett, had felt the same about the one clone he had kept for himself.

She smiled at him and his heart broke as he wondered if she smiled like that for her family.

He had convinced Lord Dion to try to find her name in her head, or at least help find out what had happened to hurt her enough to make her refuse to speak.

In the end the answers were just as bad as they had thought, the sithspawn had tortured her until she had forgotten, her early life either erased or sealed behind pain that she never should have endured.

He named her then, following the information on the people the clone template had come from.

Ge'tal Runi, a name with a meaning. She was the Red Soul and part of the reason he saw the truth in the extermination of the Death Eaters.

If his genetic brother could make an entire galaxy fear him as a bounty hunter while following the path of their template, then he would at least follow his example enough to make these child killers fear his own actions.

xXx

The meeting chamber was quiet as the eyes of the entire Wizengamot turned to face the masked and caped Lord Dion of Azkaban when he rose to speak.

The recent events had crystalized the hopes now stored in the decisive action the Lord of Azkaban was taking against the menace of Lord Voldemort.

They had welcomed him with open arms into their ranks before this meeting to help deciding how to ensure a swift victory with the use of the rest of the Wizarding World.

"Friends," he stated calmly, "A great tragity has us gathered here, one that should have been prevented."

His eyes passed over the crowd, each thinking he was staring at them through his mask.

"I had believed that with the removal of the influence of the power hungry goals of Albus Dumbledore," he paused for a moment, letting the contempt in his voice at the name of the old man, "That the magical leadership of this nation would act to protect its own people from a marauding monster."

Again his eyes crossed the room, locking for a moment on the now pale white Cornelius Fudge.

"But that has not happened, the lack of protection by the ministry forces allowed many to die before my own soldiers could react," he let his words sink in for an instant, "And such, with great thought and contemplation, I am forced to call for a no confidence vote to replace the Minister with someone capable of doing what is necessary to ensure the future of our children and our childrens children!"

He slammed his gauntleted fist into the railing before his seat, the loud thump resounding through the silent chamber.

"What say you all!"

A thunderous roar was the response he got from the gathered people.

xXx

Sybill Trelawney froze while about to take a sip of tea and her eyes glazed over.

The lords of darkness have clashed,
Enemies declared by fate and choice.
Marked by the other,
Each has been left scarred.
A snake, a phoenix, and a dragon,
The three gather to war.