A/N: This story in some ways was inspired by Injustice: Gods Among Us, and the way it depicted Superman and other members of the Justice League gradually morphing into authoritarian rulers. What if something similar happened to the Jedi Order? I've had this brewing for a while as a thought experiment, and I hope you guys like it.

Chapter One: The Best of Intentions

"General Amidala?"

Padme stood up from her office chair aboard the Tantive IV, brushing a strand of greying-brown hair away from her eyes. "Yes, Captain Antilles?" she replied.

"General, we're on final approach to the Yavin base."

"Thank you, Captain," replied Padme, smiling gently.

Padme and her forces had to constantly remain on the move. Staying in one location too long risked exposing their whereabouts to the Inquisitors that were hunting both her and her inner circle. She placed her hand on the painting of the Naboo lake country that hung above her desk and gently traced the arches of the rolling hills where she and Anakin had once been so carefree.

It had been years since she'd actually seen Naboo in person. But she'd seen plenty of smuggled holovids of it the past few years, with scenes of Theed burning and her people being oppressed by the regime's forces.

Padme closed her eyes sadly. The regime.

It had now been almost thirty years since the current regime had taken power on Coruscant. Thirty years since the fall of her beloved Republic.

Thirty years since Anakin's...she couldn't finish the thought.

As she opened her eyes again and gazed out the window of her office into the swirling emptiness of hyperspace, a part of Padme still felt shocked about just who she'd been rebelling against the past three decades.

The tyranny of the Jedi Protectorate.

THIRTY YEARS EARLIER

"I am going to end this! Once and for all!" declared Mace Windu, glaring fiercely at his conquered enemy.

Supreme Chancellor Palpatine lay shriveled before him, lit in the purple glow of Mace's lightsaber, hunched in the frame of his own office window, and gazing up at Master Windu with an awestruck and terrified look on his face.

"You can't." Anakin approached Mace, having just arrived. "He must stand trial!"

Mace glanced at the impetuous young Jedi Knight, but only for an instant. He refused to take his eyes off Palpatine for even a second. The treacherous Chancellor was too deadly to leave anything up to chance.

"He has control of the Senate and the courts! He's too dangerous to be left alive!" replied Mace, sizing up his opponent for the kill.

"I'm too weak!" bleated Palpatine "Oh! Don't let him kill me! Please!" Mace wasn't buying his act for one second.

But Anakin was.

"It's not the Jedi way!" he replied, with a note of desperation in his voice. "He must live!"

Mace glared at Palpatine, biting his lip, sizing up the Chancellor and weighing his options. The anger in his eyes betrayed the fact that he was still leaning towards performing an immediate execution.

Palpatine could see it in Mace's eyes. His own eyes grew wider in desperation, silently pleading Anakin for help. "Please don't..."

"I NEED HIM!" exclaimed Anakin, as Mace began lifting his lightsaber.

Mace swung his lightsaber upwards over his shoulder and clenched his teeth.

"Please don't!" exclaimed Palpatine, his yellow eyes now completely wide in horror.

"NOOO!" exclaimed Anakin. He reached for his lightsaber, but in that moment, Mace blew him away to the door of the room with a powerful Force push. Anakin tumbled into the door, collected himself, and looked up again...

...just in time to see Palpatine unleashing a volley of Force lightning. But Mace, fueled by anger, just pushed through it. His lightsaber reflected the lightning back at Palpatine, as it had before, but only for an instant. Because in that one instant, Mace pushed all the way down, and his lightsaber sliced through Palpatine's hands and then his torso. Palpatine let out one final, horrible groan, and then fell backwards.

The Supreme Chancellor of the Galactic Republic was dead. Killed by a Jedi Master.

Mace deactivated his lightsaber and stood silently over Palpatine's smoking corpse.

Anakin staggered to his feet and his jaw dropped as he took in the scene. "What have you done?!" he gasped.

"Fulfilling my destiny," replied Master Windu as he stood powerfully over the corpse, the wind from the open window causing his robes to billow around him as smoke continued to curl upwards from the Chancellor's ruined body.

Anakin struggled for words. "I...you...killed him." Anakin's heart was racing. Palpatine had claimed to be the only hope of saving Padme from dying in childbirth. Now that possibility was closed. Mace glared at Anakin. "Yes. I killed him. The oppression of the Sith will never return. And now, young Skywalker, we need to contact Master Yoda."

Anakin was still numb. He stood silently as Mace sat down in Palpatine's chair and commandeered his desk comm to contact Yoda on Kashyyyk.

The wrinkled face of the Jedi Grandmaster appeared before them, floating ghost-like over Palpatine's desk. Mace explained the situation as Anakin paced restlessly around the room.

"Hmmm." Yoda furrowed his brow in thought. This was an unexpected turn of events. "Secure the Senate, we must," declared Yoda. "Even more unstable, the galaxy is about to be. Make our case to them, we must do immediately."

"I agree," said Mace, nodding. "We must move quickly. Our enemies are relentless."

Yoda continued to frown. This whole situation was frankly terrifying, even for him. They were now in completely uncharted territory. "Return to Coruscant, I will. For now, ask Senator Organa to call an emergency session of the Senate. Send a delegation we must to calm them."

Mace nodded. "I'll ask all the Jedi Council members to immediately return. In the meantime, we must keep the Chancellor's death a secret until we can address the Senate together."

Anakin, still dazed, watched as Yoda and Mace planned the Jedi Order's next moves to protect and stabilize the now leaderless Republic. Anakin, in his heart, knew that they meant well and that they were trying to prevent a galactic slide into anarchy.

But he couldn't help thinking, "I have a bad feeling about this."

TO BE CONTINUED!