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The Saga of the Chosen One, Chapter 1
By TVfan
Coruscant, Jedi Temple
Anakin sat alone in the Jedi Temple's council chambers, his head in his hands. The other full fledged jedi had left the temple for either personal matters or matters that related to the war. Most of the Masters were involved in some measure of activity in dealing with the Clone Wars, which had been ravaging the galaxy. Obi-Wan was of on Utapau, presumably hunting the Confederacy's last real general. Yoda was on Kashyyk dealing with the droid invasion of the planet, and Master Windu had taken a group of Jedi to Palpatine's office, to arrest the Chancellor.
Arresting the Chancellor. Anakin knew this had to be strange to anyone on the outside that the Jedi, the guardians of peace and justice in the Republic were going to arrest the leader of the Republic. But, Anakin knew that anyone on the outside would not know that Palpatine was really a Sith Lord, trying to conquer the galaxy. These facts should have been at the front of Anakin Skywalker's mind, but they weren't. His thoughts dwelled on his wife and their unborn child and what Palpatine had promised him. Palpatine's words echoed over and over in his mind.
"You have great wisdom," Palpatine had told him, "Anakin, I want you to meditate on my proposal to know the power of the Dark Side. The power to save Padme."
"I won't let you die, Padme" Anakin said weakly into his hands, fear etching his voice.
Then in a moment, he raised his head with much more anger visible and growled, "I WON'T!"
As Anakin got up to leave the Jedi Temple a disembodied voice spoke out to him before he even reached the door.
"Then stop helping Palpatine," the voice warned.
Anakin stopped immediately. His anger and fear washed away by curiosity.
"Who's there?" Anakin asked.
"An old friend," the voice said.
Anakin rushed his hands to his lightsaber, but did not ignite the blade.
"Who are you?" Anakin demanded, "Show yourself!"
"Very well," the voice answered.
Anakin's eyes widened as spectrum image of a man slowly appeared in the middle of the council chambers. He was nearly transparent, and mostly appeared to have a rather blue glow to him. He looked very much like Obi-Wan, but his hair was obviously longer.
"You!" Anakin exclaimed, dropping his lightsaber.
"Yes, me," the spectrum image of Qui-Gon Jinn answered, "How are you, Anakin?"
"But you're dead!" Anakin exclaimed.
"Yes," Qui-Gon nodded.
"How are you here?" Anakin asked, "And alive?"
"Actually, I'm still dead," Qui-Gon corrected, "But my spirit, my soul if you will, has become one with the force. Apparently it allows me to communicate with those who are still alive."
"Why are you here?" Anakin asked, "If you were coming back, wouldn't you go to Obi-Wan? He was your apprentice before I was his."
"He was," Qui-Gon nodded, "But Obi-Wan doesn't need me at the moment. You do."
"What do you mean?" Anakin demanded, some of his anger beginning to return.
"What were you thinking of, before I arrived?" Qui-Gon questioned.
"Don't change the subject," Anakin growled, "Why do I need your help?"
"Because you're falling to the Dark Side," Qui-Gon said bluntly.
"WHAT?" Anakin roared.
"Your own reaction shows it," Qui-Gon replied, "If it weren't the case, you wouldn't have yelled and you wouldn't be preparing to activate your lightsaber. Remember, Anakin, I'm already dead."
Anakin looked down and saw that his fingers were hovering directly over the buttons that would switch on his lightsaber's blade. Sighing he hung his weapon back on its belt.
"What do you mean I'm falling to the Dark Side?" Anakin asked in a demanding voice, "I can't be falling to the Dark Side. I killed Count Dooku to save the Republic."
"Yes, but it is more recent events that are prompting your fall," Qui-Gon answered, "What were you thinking of before I appeared?"
"Padme, sir," Anakin answered.
"Palpatine has promised to save her for you, hasn't he?" Qui-Gon asked.
"How do you…?" Anakin gasped.
"Remember, I'm one with the force," Qui-Gon sighed and was quiet for a moment and then spoke again, "Anakin, I'm not going to judge you for what you have done with Padme. Privately I think Order has been wrong to forbid a union such as yours. May I ask why Palpatine has been promising to save her?"
Anakin stood dumbfounded at all of this. He was quiet for a few seconds before he spoke again.
"I've been having visions," Anakin said, "Visions of her dying in childbirth."
"Have you told Palpatine this?" Qui-Gon asked.
"I never even told him that we were married," Anakin answered, "We had to keep this quiet from everyone because of the Order's rules."
Qui-Gon's image nodded before continuing, "Then how is it that Palpatine knows that she's in danger? He's only a politician."
"He's more then a mere politician," Anakin answered, "He's a Dark Lord. The Master of the Apprentice that killed you, Master Qui-Gon."
"So why do you believe he will save her?" Qui-Gon answered, "You just said he was a Dark Lord, after all."
"I don't know," Anakin said weakly, not sure about what was going on, "I guess because he was the only one that seemed to offer a solution."
"That comes from the fact that Dark Side users are much more willing to use the force for their own ends," Qui-Gon explained, "He likely invaded your mind many times while you were in meetings with him, but hid his attempts so well that you didn't even know you were being probed."
"Why?" Anakin asked weakly, "Why is he doing this?"
"The facts are simple," Qui-Gon answered, "You are a jedi on the very edge of the Dark Side and probably at odds with the rest of Council, and you are powerful. This makes you an easy target for Palpatine to try and lure you to the Dark Side. He doesn't have to work to do it. As for why he's making the attempt to lure you in now is much more obvious. You killed his apprentice. He needs a new one."
"He wants me to replace Dooku?" Anakin asked.
"That can be the only explanation," Qui-Gon answered.
"He's betrayed us all!" Anakin growled angrily.
"Be mindful!" Qui-Gon warned, "Killing him in anger will only take you further down the dark path. If you kill him at all, you must not do it with hatred in your heart."
Realization of various facts suddenly came to Anakin's mind as he eyed Qui-Gon's image.
"Master Windu and other members of the council have gone to arrest him!" Anakin exclaimed, "I've got to help him."
"Of course," Qui-Gon nodded.
Anakin turned and walked toward the doors to the council chambers. As he reached them, he turned to look back at the image of Qui-Gon.
"Why are doing this?" Anakin asked.
"Because you are the chosen one," Qui-Gon answered as his image faded from view.
Galactic Senate Building, Palpatine's Office
By the time Anakin could get to Palpatine's office, he could see that he was too late. He found the three Jedi Masters that accompanied Master Windu dead on the floor of the Chancellor's office. He also saw in horror as Palpatine used the Dark Side of the force to throw Master Windu threw his office window.
"I'm too late," Anakin breathed weakly as he began walking forward.
Palpatine turned to see that Anakin had returned to his office.
"Ah!" Palpatine smiled, "Anakin, welcome back."
"Chancellor, what have you done?" Anakin asked as he looked out the shattered window to try and see where Master Windu's body landed.
"Only what is my destiny," Palpatine answered firmly, "You saw, they're traitors to the Republic. They would have betrayed you as they betrayed me if I hadn't killed them. I need you help me restore order to the Republic."
Anakin in a swift motion activated his lightsaber and pointed the point of his sky-blue blade at Palpatine's throat.
"You're the only traitor here, Palpatine," Anakin growled, "You've done everything possible to deceive the Jedi, my family, the Republic, everyone! You don't deserve to live."
Palpatine only smiled.
"Your anger makes you powerful," Palpatine said, "But I am not your enemy. It is the Republic. It is the Jedi. Think of it, they are corrupt and evil at their heart. How else can you explain my rise to power?"
"You deceived us and hid your true nature," Anakin growled.
"Think about Padme!" Palpatine said, "I can save her if you become my apprentice."
"You're probably the reason she's in danger," Anakin growled as he took a step forward, Palpatine taking a step back to avoid being stabbed in the neck by Anakin's lightsaber.
"Then join me, and she will be spared," Palpatine offered.
"If I stop your evil then you can't endanger her again," Anakin said firmly.
Palpatine scowled, realizing that something had happened that had changed the path in which the force was flowing. He was certain half an hour ago that Anakin would turn and turn easily. Something had changed that, and the young Jedi before him was quite determined to kill him.
"Very well," Palpatine growled back, "If you will turn, then you will be destroyed!"
Before Anakin could do anything to stop him, Palpatine summoned his Force Lightning and used it to throw Anakin out the shattered window that he had earlier shoved Master Windu through. Anakin quickly found himself looking some fifty stories down at the concrete ground coming up fast. His fall was broken, however, when he landed hard on the roof a Republic gunship on a patrol through the capitol area. After landing, Anakin rolled slightly and fell over the side, and would have fallen the rest of the way, if not for a clone trooper grabbing him by the back of his robes.
"You okay, Jedi?" the clone trooper asked.
Anakin looked up, dazed, do see the white and black helmet of his rescuer.
"You okay, Jedi?" the clone trooper asked again.
"Yes," Anakin managed to answer, "I'm fine."
"Need a lift somewhere?" the clone trooper asked.
Anakin's thoughts immediately turned to Padme again. He couldn't save the Jedi Masters. He couldn't stop the Chancellor, and because he didn't turn, Palpatine was sure to do something to Padme now.
"Yes," Anakin answered finally.
From his office window, Palpatine scowled angrily. He had picked that boy to be his future apprentice when he was still just a youngster, and he turned him down. Now, Anakin Skywalker would be the single greatest threat to his future reign. Thankfully, however, Palpatine was prepared for everything. After watching the gunship disappear from view he turned and walked to his desk. He quickly pressed two buttons. One, would call for his aides and for clone troopers to clean up the mess from his battle with the Jedi Masters. The other opened a secret platform near the Chancellor's pavilion that stood in the center of his office. The platform rose to reveal a single cloning chamber, the figure inside hidden from view.
"Skywalker will fall before you for his treachery to betray me," Palpatine said to the chamber, "For betraying the Republic!"
Palpatine then quietly pressed a button on the side of the chamber, opening it and releasing the figure inside.
"Since he did not join, he will feel the full wrath of the Dark Side!" Palpatine announced.
The figure inside the chamber, naked, stepped out of the chamber and knelt before Palpatine.
"What is thy bidding, my Master?" the figure asked.
"Lord Vader," Palpatine addressed the figure, "You are to dress yourself and prepare for the end of the Republic. You will go to the Jedi Temple. Do what must be done. SHOW NO MERCY!"
"Yes, my Lord," the kneeling figure of Lord Vader answered.
Lord Vader then walked calmly out of Palpatine's office into a different room. At the same time, several of Palpatine's aides and a few clone troopers entered.
"What has happened here, Chancellor?" Palpatine's chief aide Mas Amedda questioned.
A few of the other aides looked at the damage to Palpatine's office and the dead bodies of the jedi with looks of shock and horror.
"There has been a rebellion against the Republic," Palpatine answered calmly, "Jedi Master Mace Windu, these three, and Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker attempted to assassinate me."
"Thank goodness they've all been killed," Mas Amedda said quickly, "The Republic would be lost without you."
"Yes," Palpatine smiled, "Lost. Unfortunately, Skywalker still lives. Amedda, I want you to prepare a call for an emergency Senate meeting. It is time the Jedi Order ceased to exist."
Republic Gunship, in route to Anakin and Padme's apartment
"Sergeant, you serve the Republic, correct?" Anakin asked carefully.
"Yes," the clone trooper that rescued him said, "Why do you ask, sir?"
Anakin reached into his pocket and found a holo-projector. Using the force to program the device he produced an image of how he saw Palpatine in his office.
"Can you tell me who this is?" Anakin asked.
The clone trooper looked at the image carefully before answering, "That is the Lord and leader of the Republic."
"Your chief function is to obey the laws and government of the Republic?" Anakin asked.
"Yes, sir," the clone trooper asked.
"Good," Anakin said firmly, "Then you are not to listen obey to this figure."
Anakin held out the holo-projector showing Palpatine's image.
"He is a Dark Lord of the Sith attempting to destroy the Republic," Anakin finished.
"Are you alright, sir?" the clone trooper questioned, "The Lord and Leader of the Republic is not a Sith, whatever that is."
"He has deceived you, sergeant," Anakin answered and then addressed the rest of the clone troopers around him, "He has deceived all of us. Yes he is the Chancellor of the Republic, but his goals are to destroy the Republic from within. He doesn't believe in the Republic and once the Clone Wars are over, he intends to destroy the Republic."
The clone troopers stood in silence as Anakin finished. The lone jedi stood nervous amongst them, unsure as to how they would react.
"You propose to save the Republic?" a clone trooper asked.
"I intend to try," Anakin answered.
"And what part does the Senator from Naboo play in this affair?" another clone trooper asked.
"She is very important to me and is likely to be among Palpatine's chief targets," Anakin answered.
It was at this moment that the gunship pulled up and docked at the veranda to his the apartment that Anakin shared with Padme. Anakin slowly walked up to the pilot.
"Wait here," Anakin ordered, "If Palpatine contacts you in any way, ignore him."
"Yes, sir," the clone pilot answered.
Anakin then departed the gunship and began to walk into his apartment.
Inside the building, C-3PO had contacted a nervous looking Padme as she stood standing at a window looking at the Jedi Temple.
"My lady, a Republic Gunship has docked on the veranda," C-3PO announced, "Anakin has departed from it."
"Anakin?" Padme asked, "Why would he arrive in a gunship?"
"Because it was the only thing I could catch," Anakin answered as he entered the room.
"Anakin!" Padme exclaimed, moving to hug her husband, "Something bad is happening. Don't ask me how I know, I just know something bad is happening."
Anakin looked down, ashamed and nervous about what he had to say.
"Something bad has happened," Anakin corrected, "Palpatine is beginning to take over the Republic."
"What?" Padme asked, "He can't. The war is nearly over, and he's promised to step down once it's over."
"I doubt it," Anakin sighed, "He's a Sith, Padme. He won't step down, and he wants to rule."
"Sith?" Padme asked.
"I saw him kill Master Windu," Anakin answered, "He tried to kill me, and I fear he will kill you when he learns I've survived."
"I can't believe this," Padme said weakly, "What are you going to do?"
"I need to protect you, first," Anakin said firmly, "I need to get you to the Jedi Temple. That's the safest place I can think of."
"Anakin, what's a Sith?" Padme asked as she began to follow Anakin back toward the veranda, "I thought you killed Count Dooku and ended the Sith threat."
"The Sith are a powerful order that uses the Dark Side of the Force," Anakin answered quickly, "They have opposed the Jedi Order almost as long as there as been a Jedi Order. The two sides are mortal enemies. And Palpatine is the Sith Master that we've been looking for ever since Obi-Wan killed Darth Maul on Naboo."
"Master?" Padme asked.
"The Sith are always partnered in twos," Anakin said quickly, "Both Darth Maul and Count Dooku were only apprentices."
Padme was quiet for a moment. As they came out to the veranda, she saw the Republic gunship still sitting there. Suddenly a worried thought came to mind.
"Anakin, if the Sith and the Jedi are mortal enemies, wouldn't the Temple be the first place Palpatine attacks?" Padme asked.
Anakin paled visibly.
"Oh no!" Anakin exclaimed and ran into the gunship, leaving Padme and C-3PO to shuffle in behind him, "I hadn't even thought of that. Most of the Jedi have left the temple, but the younglings are still there. He might try to kill the younglings."
Once Padme and C-3PO were onboard, Anakin moved to the pilot.
"We need to get to the Jedi Temple, immediately," Anakin ordered.
"Yes sir," the pilot answered.
"Don't worry, Anakin," Padme encouraged, "Everything will be fine."
"Maybe," Anakin sighed, "If the temple has a transport that can get us and all the younglings off Coruscant."
Jedi Temple
Anakin got every clone trooper out of the gunship as soon as they landed in the Jedi Temple's hanger.
"Sergeant, I want you to jam and lock all entrances to the temple," Anakin ordered, "I don't want ANYONE to get in, do you understand me?"
"Yes, sir," the clone trooper answered.
"What are we going to do?" Padme asked as she and C-3PO followed Anakin as he rushed about the hanger.
"We're about to under take a full fledged evacuation," Anakin sighed, "We just need to find a transport that will work."
"Sir, that ship is functional," Threepio said, pointing to a ship nearby.
"It's not space functional," Anakin answered, "Find Artoo, we're going to need him."
"Yes, sir," Threepio answered and began shuffling away.
Padme looked around the hanger before she spotted a small freighter. She didn't know how many younglings there were in the temple, but the freighter was the largest craft in the hanger. At least the largest that would be able to go in outer space.
"What about that?" Padme asked, pointing.
Anakin turned and looked at it.
"It might work if we packed everyone in like sardines and didn't let anyone move," Anakin sighed, "And that would be including us and the clones that are with us."
"It's the best we can do," Padme said, "I don't see anything larger that can make it into outer space."
The clone trooper sergeant then returned as Anakin and Padme were debating the issue.
"All exits are shut, sir," the clone trooper reported, "The hanger exit doors have been locked, but can be opened by the remote exit inside the hanger, sir."
"Good," Anakin commented.
"What are your orders, sir?" the clone trooper asked.
"Get your men to bring as many younglings as you can here," Anakin ordered, "We need to get them out of the Temple."
"Yes, sir," the clone trooper answered.
Before the sergeant could leave however, another clone trooper came running up to them.
"Sir, madam, reconnaissance sensors indicate an entire regiment of clone troopers and a single dark figure are maneuvering overland through Coruscant's streets," the trooper reported, "They are headed in this direction."
"Tell your men to remove their helmets," Anakin ordered, "That way the younglings will be able to tell you apart from the others. Now everyone MOVE!"
Padme began to follow when Anakin stopped her.
"No, Padme," Anakin cautioned, "I want you to remain here, preferably in the ship. Threepio and Artoo will join you. You'll be safer there. Don't worry, I'll be fine."
Utapau
"You dropped this, sir," Commander Cody said as he handed Obi-Wan his lightsaber.
"Thank you, Commander," Obi-Wan said back to the clone commander.
"Don't drop it again, General," Commander Cody answered.
"I won't," Obi-Wan laughed, "Come on, there's more droids to get. We need to stop them from escaping."
"Of course, sir," Commander Cody answered.
Obi-Wan then turned his boga to go after a unit of droids that was retreating toward a different sink hole area. Commander Cody was about to follow when a holo-communicator buzzed inside the clone commander's belt pouch.
"Yes, my Lord," Commander Cody answered as he activated the communicator.
"Execute Order Sixty-Six," the holo image of Palpatine commanded.
"It will be done, my Lord," Commander Cody answered.
Cody then turned to the to other clones who nodded and began firing on Obi-Wan and his boga. Obi-Wan began blocking the shots almost immediately with his lightsaber, but a few shots hit his boga and a powerful laser blast from a Juggernaut Turbo Tank knocked the boga and its jedi rider down into another sink hole pit. The clones fired after Obi-Wan as he leaped free of his boga and dove into the pool of water at the bottom of the sink hole.
Mygeeto
Jedi Master Ki-Adi-Mundi stood no chance as his clone troopers fired on him. He was leading his troopers in an attack on the droid fortifications when the clone troopers began firing on him. Trapped between droid and clone fire, the Jedi Master was quickly cut down.
Felicia
Jedi Knight Aayla Secura was shot quickly by her clone troopers as they were hunting droids through a heavily forested region of the planet. Unprepared for such an attack, the feminine jedi was quickly cut down.
Coruscant, Jedi Temple
The hooded figure of Darth Vader lead his clone troopers toward the locked Jedi Temple. Arriving to find the doors locked, the Dark Lord activated his red bladed lightsaber and slowly began to cut his way through.
Inside the temple, Anakin tried to get as many younglings as he could into the hanger, where Padme could get them into the freighter. With each handful that Anakin collected it was becoming increasingly obvious that the freighter would be too small.
"Obi-Wan, I need your help," Anakin pleaded into the force, hoping his former tutor could hear him.
He looked down horrified at the ground level of the Jedi temple to see the doors blast inwards as hundreds of clone troopers began entering the temple, blasting at anything that looked like a jedi or youngling.
"No!" Anakin gasped and rushed to a nearby intercom button.
"This is Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker," Anakin spoke into it, "Traitorous clone troopers and a Dark Lord have breached the Temple. All jedi and younglings are to flee to the main hanger. Loyal clone troopers will see to you there."
Anakin then rushed to try and combat the attacking clone troopers to buy the younglings time.
Kashyyk
Yoda stood inside the Republic command center as the Battle of Kashyyk continued on the ground below. However, the elderly Jedi Master was not watching the battle. The jedi was focused on the deaths of each and every Jedi that he felt through the force. Something was terribly wrong. As a small group of younglings was cut down by an unknown presence in the force, Yoda was brought down to one knee as the sheer amount of death had weakened him so.
"I sense a great disturbance in the force," Yoda said weakly.
Behind him, Commander Gree had activated a holo-communicator with an urgent message from Coruscant.
"Execute Order Sixty-Six," Palpatine commanded through the device.
"It will be done, my Lord," Commander Gree answered and turned to walk towards Yoda, who still had his back turned to him.
Gree got within five steps before he raised his blaster to fire on the old Jedi Master. Gree did not even take one more step before Yoda suddenly jumped up and flipped in the air, activated his lightsaber and beheaded the clone commander.
"Much danger there is here," Yoda commented as two wookies came up to him, growling their concerns.
Yoda looked up to them.
"Fine I am, but not are others," Yoda said urgently, "Get off this planet I must."
Coruscant, Jedi Temple
The dark figure of Darth Vader approached a group of younglings on the ground level that his clone troopers had pinned down behind a statue. They had succeeded in keeping the clones at bay, and killing a few, but the Dark Lord continued onward towards them. His red bladed lightsaber standing out for all to see.
"Go on to the upper floors," Vader ordered his clones, "The traitor Skywalker and the troopers he's brainwashed are on the upper levels. Go and destroy them."
"Yes, sir," the lead clone said and led the other clones off in search of some stairs.
"Master Skywalker will save us," one of the younglings said hopefully as Darth Vader came closer.
"Don't count on it," Darth Vader growled and raised his lightsaber to strike, only to be interrupted by a powerful force shove that threw him into a pillar and the yelling of a different voice.
"Get away from them!" Anakin yelled as he caught up with them, and then commanded to the younglings, "Get to the hanger."
The younglings nodded and ran in the direction from which Anakin had come from. Anakin meanwhile looked down on the Dark Lord that lay at his feet. He quickly saw that his force shove combined with the impact against the pillar had caused the hood of the cloak that Vader was wearing to fall away. As Darth Vader stood up, Anakin looked for the first time into the cold yellow eyes of the new Sith.
"He cloned me…" Anakin gasped, "Palpatine cloned me!"
"Of course he did!" Darth Vader snarled, "The Chancellor is always prepared for when someone turns traitor."
Darth Vader then attacked with his lightsaber, but Anakin blocked the blow and tried to strike back at the Dark Lord. Vader easily blocked Anakin's attack.
"I will stop you and your Master," Anakin growled.
"Hah!" Vader snorted back, "You can't begin to imagine the life you've denied yourself. You will die here with your younglings, and then I will destroy any and everything that you have created!"
Anakin leaped up and kicked Vader in the side of his knee, forcing the Dark Lord to kneel down. Vader was however, successful in blocking Anakin's attempt to cut the Sith in two with his lightsaber.
Padme meanwhile sat in the cockpit of the freighter that had been selected as their escape craft as the last of the clone troopers that were on their side boarded the ship with a group of younglings.
"Is that everyone?" Padme asked.
"Everyone but your husband," the sergeant in charge answered.
"Great," Padme thought to herself in obvious worry.
She heard various younglings crying and asking for help. A few asked the clones what was going on. This combined with her worrying for her husband, made Padme cry to.
"Miss Padme, is there anything you want me to do?" Threepio asked from the other cockpit seat.
Padme looked up to look at Threepio and Artoo, who was next to the golden protocol droid.
"Start the engines," Padme ordered the droid, "We have to be ready in a hurry. Sergeant, is there anyway I can contact Anakin from here, since I can't get out?"
The clone sergeant got up onto his tip-toes to look in her direction. He barely saw a device that looked like a communicator sitting next to Padme's left hand.
"Perhaps if you connected the comm.-link with the ship's radio and hailed the Temple itself," the clone trooper suggested, "That's the only way."
Padme turned back and picked up the device and began to look frantically for the ship's radio. Artoo gave a quick series of beeps and activated a week laser that pointed to the radio port. Padme immediately sighed.
"Thank you Artoo," Padme sighed to the droid and then screamed frantically, "This is Senator Padme Naberrie Amidala to the Jedi Temple. Anakin, all the Younglings are on board the transport. Get back here now!"
"Your wife is calling!" Vader taunted as thrust his red bladed lightsaber forward.
"You won't touch her!" Anakin yelled back as he swung his own saber back, trying to kill the clone who now served Palpatine.
Vader ducked under the attack, but Anakin's blade still cut through a pillar that the Dark Lord was standing near. The pillar fell down on the Vader's position. Anakin however sensed that the Dark Lord had managed to shield himself. But while he would have preferred to finish of the clone, Anakin sensed clone troopers approaching him in an attempt to aide their leader and that there were many more headed in the direction of the hanger. He couldn't continue the battle here. Defeating Vader would have to wait for another day.
Padme was relieved to see Anakin appear at the hanger door a few minutes later. Her relief was short lived as he was followed by at least half a dozen clone troopers that were shooting at him. He barely had time to open the hanger doors and run toward waiting freighter.
"Sergeant, can you give him some cover?" Padme asked nervously.
"Yes, ma'am," the clone sergeant nodded as he and the other unhelmeted clone troopers began firing on the helmeted clone troopers and allowed Anakin to slip inside the ship while laser blasts impacted the outside hull.
"Take off now!" Anakin yelled.
"Right," Padme answered as she looked at the control panel.
It was nothing like the control panels on Naboo's fighters, and even then she could not pilot the craft in any dogfight with another starfighter.
"Padme, take off now or we die!" Anakin yelled, his own panic beginning to be repeated by the younglings.
Padme fumbled with a few of the buttons and levers and managed to get the ship moving forward. Anakin was meanwhile working his way forward toward the ship's cockpit, as he heard more shots ricochet off the side of the ship. Once he managed to get to the cockpit, he used the force to move 3-PO out of the other pilot's chair and set him rather roughly on the floor of the ship next to Artoo. Anakin quickly jumped into the chair that Threepio had been sitting in earlier.
"I'll take over from here," Anakin said quickly, "We may need to make some rather tight turns to get away from the Coruscant Defense Fleet."
Padme sat back in her chair and let Anakin take over the flying of the craft. If the controls had been similar to the Nubian ships she had piloted before, she might have argued that she could pilot the ship just as well as he could. She looked out the window of the freighter and saw a site she never thought she'd see, the Jedi Temple, burning.
"Where are we going, sir?" one of the clone troopers with them asked.
"We need to get away from Coruscant," Anakin said as he got his ship into space, only to be greeted by three Venator Class Star Destroyers and six more Acclamator Class Assault Ships.
Anakin watched as all of the ships began launching all their available starfighters.
"Great," Anakin growled, "Raising shields."
The freighter shuddered as the first turbolaser shots impacted the ship's hull. Anakin was frantically trying to program the navicomupter for a quick hyperspace jump.
"Where are we going?" Padme asked.
"I don't know," Anakin answered, "Corellia might be a good option."
"It's still a Republic world, sir," the clone sergeant pointed out, "The Chancellor is likely to have a defense fleet there too."
Anakin pulled the freighter down as he moved to avoid two attacking starfighters and one of the Acclamator Assault Ships.
"I'm trusting that that fleet is not hunting us," Anakin answered, "Besides, the Corellian government, while it is a Republic world, hasn't bought into many of Palpatine's more militaristic ideals and hasn't implemented them. That's why many of the Republic's defense contracts have gone to Kuat Drive Yards. We might be able to sneak in there and get a better ship."
"A better ship?" Padme asked, "Anakin, we have bigger problems right now then ships."
"My fighter was in Jedi Temple," Anakin answered as maneuvered to dodge another attack, "It's probably destroyed, and we need a larger ship with which we can get the younglings to a safe place and get back here unnoticed to deal with Palpatine. Corellia is known for its shipbuilding facilities, and we can get what we need there."
"Fine," Padme sighed, not wanting a fight, "Let's go."
Anakin nodded just as turbo-laser blast hit the ship and forced the ship and everyone inside it to shake.
"We just lost our shields!" Padme exclaimed, "We can't take another hit."
Anakin sighed and checked the navicomputer. It had finally processed the coordinates.
"Finally," Anakin commented, and pulled the lever, sending his ship into hyperspace.
Back in the temple, several clone troopers were working to move a pile of rubble. One of the pillars inside the Jedi Temple had collapsed during the attack and had practically crumbled to pieces upon hitting the ground. The troopers heard a voice growling from underneath the rubble and the troopers were determined to save whoever was trapped under there. After several pieces of rubble were removed Darth Vader's figure emerged violently from under the rubble.
"Lord Vader, are you alright?" one of the clone troopers asked.
"I'm fine," Vader growled back, "Do we control the Temple?"
"Yes, my Lord," the clone trooper answered, "Some of the elder Jedi in the archives were difficult to kill, but we succeed in keeping them from getting to the younglings in the hanger."
"How many Jedi were killed?" Vader questioned.
"We killed the three knights that were all in archives and about twenty younglings," the trooper reported, "One ship was successful in escaping the hanger. Most of the younglings were presumably on that ship."
"Skywalker is also on that ship," Vader growled, mostly to himself.
"Pardon, my Lord?" the clone trooper asked.
"Never mind," Vader sighed, "Continue searching the area and the Temple. He couldn't have gotten all the younglings out. I have to report to the Chancellor."
"Yes, my Lord," the trooper bowed as Vader stalked toward the exits.
Kashyyk
Night had settled upon the forest world. Clone troopers in various patrols were stalking the battlefield, checking all droids to make sure they were offline and hunting for any jedi that might have attempted to hide among the dead to avoid execution. However, they were looking for only one jedi in particular.
Yoda, along with two wookies had escaped into the hills above the battlefield. The old Jedi Master looked down at the area where the battle had occurred and sighed. He turned back to the two wookies who had uncovered a small escape craft.
"Thank you I do," Yoda said to the two wookies, "Tarful, Chewbacca, good friends you are. For your help, much gratitude and respect I have."
The two wookies growled their thanks as Yoda shut the door to the craft and launched it into space.
Coruscant, Senate Building
"So, Skywalker survived your assault?" Palpatine questioned Darth Vader upon the clone's return.
"Yes, my Lord," Vader answered, looking down.
Palpatine sighed, but quickly shrugged it off.
"No matter, I suspect he will come to us soon enough," Palpatine answered, "Are the clones finishing out the final instructions?"
"Yes, my Lord," Vader answered, "The retreat call has been issued. Any jedi that survived 'Order Sixty-Six' will return to the Temple and will be executed."
"Excellent," Palpatine smiled, "Everything is going according to plan."
Vader slowly nodded. Palpatine walked to his recently repaired office window and looked out of it for a moment. After a few seconds he turned back to Vader again.
"The Jedi are no longer a threat," Palpatine answered, "They are scattered and weak. Go to the Mustafar System, Lord Vader and deal with the Separatists."
Meanwhile Bail Organa was in the Senate's private hanger. He had seen the destruction going on at the Jedi Temple and feared that his friends, Obi-Wan and Yoda, might be among those trapped inside. When he got there, he found the Temple under attack by literally thousands of clone troopers and he saw a single freighter flee from the Temple's hanger as he arrived.
"I don't know what's going on," Bail commented to an aide, "But those clone troopers are supposed to be under the command of the Jedi. If they've been betrayed then we need to warn or find any surviving Jedi out there, before they walk into this catastrophe."
"What about the freighter?" the aide asked.
"I managed to hit it with tracer when no one was looking," Bail sighed, "We'll be able to find and help them easily. Right now, our priority is getting to any of the other Jedi."
"Of course," the aide nodded.
A few minutes later, the Tantive IV took off and prepared to enter space on its own.
Utapau
Obi-Wan was miserable and soaking wet as he pulled himself out of a pool of water that was at the bottom of the sinkhole he had fallen into. His thoughts were focused on only one question. And that was why.
"Why did they turn on me?" Obi-Wan thought to himself as he walked along the stone pathways, finding that the battle had ended and most of the clone troopers had left.
"Probably because they weren't your troops to begin with," a voice said from behind him.
Obi-Wan's eyes nearly fell out of his when he turned around. A nearly transparent image of his former master stood behind him.
"Master Qui-Gon… you're… you're," Obi-Wan managed to say, but not anything else.
"I'm still dead, Obi-Wan," Qui-Gon answered, "I'm just one with the force."
"What… what are you doing here, Master?" Obi-Wan asked, "Can you help?"
"Not in the physical sense," Qui-Gon sighed, "But I can alert you to problems. Specifically what's going on."
"What do you mean, Master?" Obi-Wan asked.
"Remember the Sith Lord that killed me?" Qui-Gon asked.
Obi-Wan nodded.
"His master has been twisting the path that the force was supposed to follow," Qui-Gon answered, "Twisting it so that the prophesy of the chosen one will fail."
"Anakin?" Obi-Wan asked, "Master, how do you..."
Qui-Gon's spirit made motions to calm his former pupil, "He should be fine. Becoming one with the force has apparently made my awareness much larger. The Dark Lord is twisting the force so that its normal flow is obstructed, and was intending to turn Anakin to the Dark Side. I believe I've managed to prevent that, but the Dark Lord's plans are continuing."
"So the clone's betrayal?" Obi-Wan asked.
"They were only part of the Dark Lord's plot," Qui-Gon answered.
"Perfect," Obi-Wan answered, "Master, may I ask may I ask why you're doing this? Just curious."
"There are apparently rules that say I shouldn't interfere," Qui-Gon sighed, "But I can't. I can't let the fact that I'm dead keep me from helping you and Anakin, or anyone else."
Obi-Wan nodded, satisfied with the answer.
"I must give you a warning before you leave, Obi-Wan," Qui-Gon said as Obi-Wan began walking again, "Beware of the times, Obi-Wan, and be mindful of every situation. There may be things that seem confusing to you or to anyone. Remember that not all things are as they appear."
"Yes, Master," Obi-Wan acknowledged as Qui-Gon vanished once more.
Obi-Wan continued his walking along the sinkhole levels. He eventually made his way back into the area where General Grievous had earlier had his headquarters. Finding a discarded fighter, Obi-Wan boarded the craft and took off. Once he reached outer space he found that all the Republic ships had left the area. Obi-Wan then began to try and contact someone that might help him.
"Emergency code nine-thirteen…," Obi-Wan began, "This is Obi-Wan Kenobi, are there any jedi out there? Anywhere?"
After a few moments a broken transmission began to come to the ship's holocommunications system.
"Please repeat," Obi-Wan said back, "You're breaking up."
"Master Kenobi?" a voice asked over the radio.
Obi-Wan watched as the holocommunications system produced an image of Bail Organa.
"Senator Organa!" Obi-Wan answered in surprise, and quickly regained his composure, "Senator, my clone troopers have turned on me. I need help."
"Master Kenobi, this ambush has gone on everywhere," Bail answered, "Lock onto my coordinates and I'll meet with you."
A few minutes later, Obi-Wan slowly piloted his ship into the Tantive IV's hanger.
"Master Kenobi!" Bail forced a weak smile, "Thank goodness you're alive."
"We have no time for pleasantries, Senator," Obi-Wan said quickly, "I fear that something terrible has happened."
"Indeed something has," Yoda commented as he walked out from behind Senator Organa, "But good to see you, it is."
"I'm going to assume your troops attacked you as well?" Obi-Wan asked.
Yoda nodded, "With the help of the wookies, barely escape, I did."
"Do you know how many jedi have survived?" Obi-Wan asked, nervous.
"We haven't heard from anyone," Bail replied, "Your and Yoda's signals were the only signals that I was able to pick up. I saw thousands of troops attack the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. One ship got out, but I don't know how many people were on it, or who was even piloting it."
"From the temple, received a coded retreat signal, we have," Yoda added, "the war is over it says."
"We have to go back," Obi-Wan said urgently, "If there are other stragglers, they will fall into trap."
"We will have to," Bail sighed, "I've been receiving communiqués from the Senate. Chancellor Palpatine has called for an emergency meeting and anyone who does not attend will immediately be a traitor."
"You can smuggle us in then," Obi-Wan suggested.
"Suggest dismantling the signal, do you?" Yoda asked.
"More things are happening then we know, Master Yoda," Obi-Wan answered, "This code. The emergency meeting. The clone's betrayal. Something is not right and we must find out what. And I can't stand aside and let other stragglers fall into what could be their death."
Yoda only sighed as he looked down, deep in thought.
To Be Continued…