There was a staccato of soft silver bells as the skies of Coruscant opened up, the gleaming silvery liquid striking the rough duracrete surface of the Galactic Republic's city-planet capital. Slightly above the sound of the pattering rain, and the general, muted sounds of the hectic life on the capital world, was the pounding of the bass drums, the drums of war. Seven thousand members of the Galactic Republic's finest clone infantry division, The 501st Regiment, marched along stoically, all of the members marching in strict cadence, none breaking stride or perfect tempo with their comrades, their brothers. As one, the clones checked their weapons and clicked their ammo packs into place on their weapons. As a follow through reserved for their more...lethal missions, they flicked their safeties off and instantly switched their blaster rifles from the 'stun' setting to 'kill'. From the view of the many citizens in the skies, or the fire support teams in gunships above, a lone Jedi led the troops through the twisting streets of Coruscant. He never broke pace, nor changed his deadly rhythm. In fact, the air around him seemed to pulse in vibrant, unseen waves. All the citizens in his path fled, none even looking back to watch his undeterred stride. The target of this march was made evident as the Jedi stepped onto the first step of the Jedi Temple. The earthen robed man raised his fist to the sky, a silver gleam escaping his closed fist. A brilliant beam of blue energy erupted from within with its characteristic snap-hiss, the unmistakable sound of a lightsaber igniting. The rain sizzled and hissed like a nest of krayt dragons as it touched the energy sword, and tapped softly on the plastoid shells of the clones before running off the shells in small streams of water. The large stairs of the temple did nothing to halt or slow down the inevitable wave of troopers, their tide seemingly endless against the precipitating gun-metal gray sky. Two Jedi stood on the steps, hands clasped behind their backs. The taller of the two Jedi wore plain, unassuming brown and white robes in accordance with the vast majority of the Jedi creed. The second Jedi, however, was far more...liberal with her choice of clothing.
She had a dark grey robe covering a jet black under-robe with crimson red trim. They both calmly surveyed the approaching army, neither making a move. They waited until the lead Jedi was almost upon them before exploding into action. They moved in perfect tandem, the shorter of the two women igniting a curious weapon with multiple strands of a mix of matter and energy. The second Jedi, the taller and more conservative of the two, ignited her viridian colored lightsaber and settled into the opening stance of Form Three. The shorter of the two Jedi had already leapt forward, and landed directly in the path of the Jedi leading the clones.
"Always on the move..." Karina Seltoi said in exasperation to herself as she watched her sister in all but blood Jasmine Greenleaf dart forward.
"What is the meaning of this, Skywalker?!" Jasmine asked, an edge to her voice that could cut through a lightsaber.
"That name no longer has any meaning to me, Jedi." The tall man spat the last word as if it were a swear, a vile edict reserved for the worst traitors to exist. "It is Darth Vader now, traitor. Defend yourself!" The man formerly known as the Chosen One sprang forward, his blue blade weaving a deadly whirlwind of Djem So as he attacked his opponent. Jasmine cracked her lightwhip downwards, the tendrils of energy angled for his legs. It was a masterful, deceptive attack on Vader's legs, the dozen strands all striking from a vastly different angle. Jasmine was a master of wielding the lightwhip in combat, and was truly matched by just three in the prestigious order in physical combat; Mace Windu, whom was the Jedi Master responsible for creating his own variant of the Seventh Form Juyo (Vaapaad); Yoda, the current Grand Master of the entire order, and master of Form Four, or Ataru; and Obi-Wan Kenobi, Master of the Third Form of lightsaber combat, Soresu, the masterful weave of defense helping keep the strands at bay. Anakin Skywalker, at his peak as a Jedi Knight couldn't hope to match Jasmine, as he did not have the patience required for her focus to break. Now as a Sith, his anger a tempest of power whirling across the steps as if there were gale force winds breaking across the ancient, elegant stones, he could hope to match her, not needing the patience to wait for a mistake. In three lightning fast maneuvers, her move was redirected, one of the strands actually lopping off a lock of her hair. She hissed in surprise, but refocused instantly, her arm a blur as her lightwhip crackled and spat in the downpour. Vader was hard-pressed to fend off her masterful attacks, his own sapphire blade spitting and hissing as it blocked every strand. He slipped from Djem So, falling into Soresu, hoping for the lightwhip to tire Jasmine out. He quickly discovered that one never lets their guard down when dueling Jasmine Greenleaf. The Jedi Knight smelled blood, and went for the metaphorical crimson flow. Her attacks increased three-fold, both in ferocity and speed. She seemed to be everywhere, her lightwhip an extension of her body, a wreath of energy around her as she exploded forward. Her eyes were narrowed, her muscles taut, and her robes were dancing around her ankles as she spun and whirled about, getting the maximum velocity for her weapon's strands. She slashed side to side with the whip and reversed the grip, slashing to the left now. She followed through with a well practiced overhead crack of the whip, one that she tugged back at the last second, letting the crystal shards at the end of each strand scorch and shred Vader's robes. She misjudged the kinetic energy of the whip, the crystals burrowing into Darth Vader's flesh. He shrieked in rage, and lashed out with the Force instinctively. Jasmine threw her arms up in a futile gesture to protect herself, but the unrivaled raw strength of the Chosen One in the Force battered her aside as if a hurricane was striking. She was hurled away from Vader, landing in a boneless heap at the base of a pillar. The young Sith Lord turned to Karina as Jedi flooded out of the temple to attack the clones, a rainbow of lightsabers meeting a hail of sapphire death. His golden eyes narrowed, and he began to advance on the Jedi Knight.
"Ahhh, the Head Gardener of the Order. I'd be a fool to attack such a...master of the lightsaber." he jeered.
"The Force is my ally, young Vader,not my servant. I will stop you from the wholesale slaughter you plan to do here, Darth. You shall not pass, not while I have breath in this body." was her cool response as she moved her viridian colored blade to the en garde stance.
"That can be arranged, Seltoi." He growled before launching himself forward. She backpedaled, her lightsaber meeting his in a shower of sparks. Her lightsaber was pushed almost all the way to her own body, but she disengaged her blade only to try a surprise strike at Vader from her small knowledge of Makashi. He was caught off balance, but like the master of combat that the fallen hero was, he recovered almost immediately. He seemed to gain steam and drive, pushing his opponent to the edge of the steps. Her back foot scrabbled at the very edge of the steps, a couple of pebbles tumbling to the streets below. His next attack wasn't easy to repulse, but she had to in order to stay where she was, and not take a plunge to her death.
"I grow tired of this, Jedi." Vader snapped, his right hand waving in an insignificant gesture upwards before clenching into a fist and punching forward. Karina tried to scream, but the air couldn't get to her lungs, her vocal cords. She dropped her carefully attended lightsaber as she instinctively grabbed for her throat. Her struggles stopped as her back impacted into the far wall of the temple, a loud crack sounding across the landing as her back shattered under the force of the blow, and as she spasmed, her head slammed against the wall. She fought to keep her eyes open, but the warm black that was flooding the edges of her vision was soothing...comforting. She surrendered, allowing the black to swim in and overwhelm her. The last thing she saw was Vader taking on three Padawans at once, none of the three a challenge for the angry Sith Lord.
High above the battle, a single Jedi sat in a darkened room, the only light a sliver tapping against the bottom of his door. He felt the anguish of his brethren, his creed as they fell in droves outside the temple. His head was bowed, sorrow wracking his body as he felt the death of his family. A surge of powerful emotion rippled through him, and with it came a phrase, a phrase that had been a curse and a blessing since Mace Windu uttered it twenty years ago in front of the council. The voice that spoke the accursed phrase was a low hissing, the whispering of ghosts and demons. Awaken, Sword of the Jedi. His head jerked up abruptly, and his eyes snapped open. With a fluid motion, he rose from his kneeling position on his floor to a standing position. His body unfolded, muscles and joints popping from misuse after a long meditation. He flicked his wrist, allowing his lightsaber to slip from a holster on his wrist. It fell neatly into the palm of his hand, and seemed to sink into the palm. With a slight rolling of his right thumb, the wheel ignition system clicked into place, a purple blade hissing softy into existence. With a wave of his free hand, the hood of his robe settled into place. His door slid open soundlessly as he approached, and slammed shut behind him once he entered the busy hallway. Jedi were rushing each and every direction, some carrying wounded and theres rushing off to battle in the lower levels. As the seven foot tall man swept by each Jedi with nary a whisper of his robes, each and every Jedi he passed stopped and silenced instantly. The awestruck effect was shattered moments later when a Knight shrieked from below, "They're after the Younglings!" The man shifted into motion, becoming a dark blur as his robes flapped behind him. The man leapt off the high balcony, spiraling to land amidst a cluster of clones. The clones went flying as the Jedi landed, a storm of dust billowing away from him. The half a dozen clones that had surrounded him twitched on the ground before becoming still...and staying still. He ran forward, using the force to enhance his speed beyond normal human abilities, pushing his muscles beyond their limits. His feet left the ground, his sprint suddenly shifting to a darting leap as he drew a second lightsaber in his left hand, its crimson blade whirling through the air to slide through the seams of a troopers Armour, cutting off his life abruptly. He darted to the side, a missile shrieking harmlessly past his ear to explode into the far wall. He extended his free left hand forward, his palm facing the heavy trooper who had fired the explosive projectile. With a scream, the clone went flying back, slamming into the wall less than a heartbeat later, his plastic armor shattering into little white shards from the force of the impact. The giant Jedi then waved his hand, slowing time down for but an instant as he caught the shards before they hit the ground. Before the trooper had even continued his final fall, the Jedi had caught the shards with the Force, turned the shards around, and sent them hurtling at clones trying to sneak up on him from behind. Three shrieks and three heavy thuds were all he needed to assure himself that they were in fact, dead. The dark robed man dodged a laser bolt, extending his left hand again to call the red saber home. The two blades twirled in an eerie tandem, seeming to have a mind of their own as the Jedi launched forward, his lightsabers eviscerating his opponents before they could even bring their blasters to bear. They spun around, deflecting two bolts from the front of his body to hit two troopers running up from behind him. The Jedi didn't bother to spare a glance to the fallen clones, running towards the sounds of the younglings screaming. His sabers snapped to a sharp salute before his booted foot smashed through the door of the council chambers, spurring the rear most clones to start to turn towards the new threat. They didn't fully complete their turns before their heads fell separate from their bodies, a couple of the heads rolling a bloody circle on the once pristine floor. The rest of the clones spun and fired, but the Jedi Master raised his hand and time slowed to a crawl. He could see everything clearly, the blue lasers winking at him lazily. His sharp mind honed by years of meditation calculated the path of the energy beams, and had already set his lightsaber on an intercept course. He could see the younglings trying to escape the grips of their captors, and could see one dead youngling on the ground at least. With a wave of his hand, time came back to real speed, and three clones collapsed with redirected lasers striking their helmets. Three more fell instants afterwords, two gutted by a crimson lightsaber, one decapitated by a purple saber. The two blades spun and whined again, deflecting the blue bolts reaching at him back at the soldiers shooting them. Within moments, three dozen clones lay dead on the floor, mostly from their own blaster fire. Five younglings had perished before he could get to them, sadly. But not one more would lose their life today. He would see to it personally.
"Master Rigotti! Thank you!" one youngling called before rushing in to hug the Jedi Master. He returned the hug, checking each child in the Force, making sure they were as they seemed, and in fact, physically fine. He beckoned for the children to follow, and made the universal signal to stay silent. They all nodded their heads in agreement, and padded silently after the giant man. He led them out the remains of the door, and through a twisting sequence of hallways and corridors to finally reach the hangar bay. The sound of running feet made the Jedi Master turn, and with a look, his padawan slowed to a stop.
"Master, clones are breaching the Library. Master Jucasta Nu is dead. What would you have me do, Master?" tears were running little rivulets down his padawan's face as she said this. The strict Librarian had took Casi Coltello under her wing before Keiran Rigotti, the Jedi Master who saw her potential when no one else would, the Master who chose her as a padawan, almost an adopted daughter when no one else would bother to think of taking her on as a padawan learner.
"Take these children to The Avenger, my Padawan. Guard them with your very soul. I shall be along shortly." His voice growled and rumbled in the tight confines of the hangar bay, and his apprentice could tell...her master was angry.
"Forgive me Master, but what are you going to do?" Casi asked quietly.
"I'm going to end this menace, Casi. It is something I must do on my own. The force is calling to me in strange ways, its will will be shown if I follow the path that Destiny seems to have decided for me. Don't fret Padawan, I shall not be joining the Force today. I've too many battles left in these old bones." He winked at his apprentice, and hugged her softly. "Be safe, Casi. I shall meet in less than one standard day. May the Force be with you."
"May the Force be with you too, Master." Casi Coltello replied softly after he turned on his heel and waked away.
"Alright children, follow me please. Master Rigotti wants us safely away from this dreadful mess. Keep as quiet as you can, please." Casi said to the younglings in a low voice. She was trying to distract herself from thinking about her Master's impending danger, and focused on the here and now, which was getting these young children of between 6 standard years old to about 8 standard years old. She would be relieved as soon as she got these children onto the Avenger, Master Rigotti's personal and unofficial flagship. Every man and woman of the crew was fanatically loyal to the Jedi Master, stemming from a rout in the deep Outer Rim where they accidently ran into a fleet of Separatist ships that were quick to cut off their escape route. The resident Jedi Master, instead of surrendering, had instead moved to attack position. One capital class Star Destroyer against a fleet of five capital class Seperatist ships with their support frigates and patroy skiffs. It should have been over before it began, yet it wasn't. What should have been a Seperatist rout became one for the Republic. Somehow, either through his sheer command of the mysterious Force, or through brilliant tactical maneuvering, maybe even a combination of the two, the Seperatist fleet offered a white flag within an hour. Several ships were listing badly, yet all the capital ships remained...intact, for the lack of a better descriptor. Somehow, Master Rigotti had disabled the ships. Unbeknownst to any outside of his Padawan, or any of his officers, he had kept the fleet as his own, and secreted it in orbit around Malachor V. The ancient Sith world was deleted from any Republic records by time, cast aside from the pages of history. Now, due to Casi's frantic pleas for help from the Reprise, a ship in the pilfered fleet, a massive fleet was being reawoken. Ancient Republic and Mandalorian ships from the Mandalorian wars millenia ago that Master Rigotti had salvaged began rebooting after a long hibernation. Dozens of ships came to life, all systems shooting into the green.
"Padawan Coltello, I read you loud and clear. ETA is one standard hour. Do you acknowledge?" The captain of the Reprise asked her.
"Captain, I needed you here twenty minutes ago. This is turning sour, fast. I need to get these children out as soon as I can. Any suggestions?"
"I'll send out the frigate Vegeance. It should arrive within ten minutes, as its stationed close to Coruscant. Is that acceptable, Padawan?" The captain asked.
"Yes, Sir. It's better than I could have hoped. Thank you! May the Force be with you."
"May it be with you as well, Jedi Coltello." The captain signed off, and Casi breathed a long-held sigh of relief. Help was on its way, and all she had to do now was keep the children hidden until that help arrived. Suddenly, her job wasn't so difficult. She settled her back against the cool stone wall, and gathered the children close...
A dark blur rocketed trough the lower level of the Temple, sometimes dodging clones or debris in the hall from a great battle that was still raging deeper in the massive building. The blur was actually a man, a Jedi Master by the name of Keiran Rigotti. Keiran sometimes extended a hand, and clones would go flying away from something important, or just out of his way. He burst around a corner, and picked the lone clone up with his bare hands. The clone gave a scream of shock before Keiran tugged on both of his arms, in the opposite direction. There was a loud pop as the troopers arms slid out of their sockets, followed by a loud shriek. Having finished with him, the Jedi Master gave the clone a disdainful toss off the high balcony. A loud scream reached his ears, followed by a muffled thud. He gave a satisfactory nod, and ripped the doors of the Library off their hinges with a swirling maelstrom of Force energy. Expecting to see the Archives jam packed with battle, he was shocked to find it an empty tomb of dead clones and Jedi. Many Jedi victims had lightsaber wounds, confirming his theory that the Sith were behind this. But which Sith was it? Darth Sidious? Or was this his new apprentice, culled from Darth Tyrannus' Sith Acolytes? That was neither here nor there, but he needed to know whom remained from the High Council. He knew Master Kenobi, Master Yoda, and Master Mundi were away from the Temple. Some of the other Masters on the High Council were away as well, but not as renowned. Anakin Skywalker hadn't been heard from in awhile. Now that was a Jedi Knight that was untouchable in battle. He needed to find Skywalker. Falling into the Force, he felt the young mans aura, an aura that was angry and rippling with Dark Side energy. Sith energy. Skywalker was a Sith Lord now...That was the menace he needed to destroy.