The ship was hit again. It's deflector shields were still working on sixty percent and the damage was irrelevant. The Captain ordered to respond fire, and the cannons started to shoot. The countless laser shots were flitting between the Republic and the Separatist battleship.
They were fighting in the Outer Rim, and the Separatist battleship guarded a Separatist base on the planet below. But the Republic cruiser seemed to be much stronger than the Separatist one.
A squadron of Republic star-fighters left the hangar of the cruiser. The fighters were led by a Jedi star fighter. In the fighter was sitting Jedi Master Zaro Kun, a human from Corellia. He had a lot of experience in space battles, and he was one of the best pilots of the Jedi Order. He had taken part in many space battles, and had proved his skills many times before.
'Watch out for the fighters!' said someone from the Republic cruiser, who was in radio contact with the fighter pilots.
On the command bridge of the ship, was standing the apprentice of Zaro Kun, the Jedi Padawan, Odalon. He was born on Tanaab, and Zaro Kun had discovered his Jedi skills himself. Odalon was not a very talented Jedi. He had had medium results as a Youngling, and later he became the Padawan of Zaro Kun, who asked him to be his apprentice.
Odalon learned the ways of the force, and he managed to finish most of his missions with success, but he has never been on a mission on his own. He has been taught to use his lightsaber, but he never fought as good as the legendary Jedi like Obi-Wan Kenobi, Mace Windu, Yoda or even Anakin Skywalker.
But at the command posts Odalon was always better than most of the others. He had a talent to make good decisions in narrow situations. His Master also realised, that Odalon had good strategic abilities, and he usually gave him tasks, in which he didn't have to fight, but make strategic decisions, and instruct the troops.
Some Separatist droid-controlled fighters were arriving from the Separatist battleship and immediately got behind the Republic ones.
'Break up!' ordered Zaro Kun, and the Republic fighters immediately followed his order.
Zaro Kun was an excellent pilot, especially when he had to dogfight. He gave accurate shots without using the targeting computer, because he used the force to hit the enemies, and it was faster and more effective.
'Don't let 'em hang on your tails!' shouted Zaro Kun.
In a dogfight like this, for the Republic pilots it was harder to win, or just survive, because the droid-controlled fighters could follow them better than the human-controlled ones. They simply didn't feel the pressure, because they were machines, so they could take narrower turns.
But this fact couldn't stop the Republic pilots from destroying as many Separatist fighters as they could. And while the fighters were dogfighting all around the battleships, Odalon saw, that the Separatist ship was losing it's deflector shields.
Then, suddenly Odalon felt something strange. Something, that he couldn't identify, and he thought, it was just a bad feeling. But, if you are a Jedi, bad feelings always have a significant reason, and just seconds after this thought, Odalon saw, that the communications officer received a message.
He raised his head, and noticed a holograph in front of the clone Commander, who was going to be leading the ground attack against the Separatist base on the planet below. He tried to listen carefully, because he wanted to hear the conversation. He closed his eyes, concentrated, and he heard a couple of words:
'… execute order sixty-six!...' said the holograph.
'Which one is order sixty-six?' Odalon asked from another clone trooper, who was standing next to him.
'I don't know. That's a secret order, which is only known by the high-ranked Commanders.' answered the trooper.
'I have a bad feeling about this.' groaned Odalon quietly. He stepped to his communicator to inform his Master, but suddenly the clone Commander set his own communicator off, and turned to Odalon.
The clone didn't wear his helmet, so Odalon could see his face, and the Commander's eyes were telling him, that "I'm sorry sir. An order is an order."
The Commander raised his gun, and pointed at Odalon. The Jedi reacted immediately. He got down, behind the control panel and drew out his lightsaber. The laser blast crashed the wall above the Jedi's head.
Odalon didn't know what to do. He wanted to survive so he raised the lightsaber, and cut down the clone's hand, who was standing next to him. The clone Commander shouted something, but Odalon didn't understand. He just jumped to the door and left the bridge as fast as he could.
A couple of shots impacted behind him. Then he turned around, closed the door, and crashed the controls with his lightsaber. After he deactivated the weapon, and started to run. He was heading to the hangar to steal a fighter and leave the cruiser, before all the clone troopers get the order.
Odalon wanted to warn his Master, but he needed some kind of communication system to contact him. Unfortunately it seemed, that the communicator, he can reach easiest, is in his Jedi star-fighter.
While he was running, he heard the Commander speaking, whose voice was coming from the loudspeakers. He instructed the clone troopers of the cruiser to kill Odalon, when they meet him. Then he heard that the Commander was telling the fighter pilots to kill Zaro Kun.
Odalon reactivated his lightsaber and he killed the two clone troopers, standing on the corridor in front of the elevators. The troopers didn't even had the time to draw their guns after they heard the Commander's words.
The Jedi got into the elevator, and pushed the button which indicated the hangar's level. He kept his lightsaber active in his hands, and tried to calm down. He felt, he's heart beats much faster, than it used to.
'They will be waiting for me in the hangar.' Odalon thought. As he looked at the elevator's computer screen, he saw, that the hangar was now only two levels below him. He immediately pushed the button above the hangar's one, and the elevator stopped on that level.
Odalon jumped out of the elevator to the corridor, and headed to the staircase. He didn't met any clone troopers on his way to the hangar's door. As he opened the door by using the force, he saw four clone troopers, pointing their guns at the elevator.
Odalon stepped into the hangar, and hid behind a clone fighter. He could see about seven clones in the hangar. They were more than he could easily defeat, but if he could lure three or four of them out of the hangar, he could escape with one of the ships.
He was waiting for a few seconds and then he heard a trooper swearing. He looked at the troopers, and he saw, that three of them are standing in the door of the elevator. The Jedi thought that he could make them get into the elevator with a force push, and send them to one of the upper levels. If he has a bit of luck, they won't realize what happened before they get too far to stop the elevator and come back to kill the Jedi in time.
He concentrated for a moment to gather his force power, then he pointed at the troopers, who fell into the elevator. Odalon used the force again, to push one of the elevator's buttons, and he looked at the closing elevator door satisfied.
In the next second he was almost shot by another clone trooper. He activated his lightsaber and got back to his shelter. Some other laser shots flitted next to him, and damaged the wall of the hangar.
Odalon estimated that three other clones were standing about ten meters further, and one more was standing at the elevator. He gathered his force power again and pulled the gun of a trooper. The blaster stopped in the air, just before it reached his hand. The Jedi caught it, and shot three or four times in the direction of the clones.
He heard that the troopers got into shelter, and he immediately climbed on the Republic fighter, next to him. The cockpit was open. Odalon shot some other laser blasts at the clone troopers while he sat into the fighter.
As soon as the clone troopers tried to shoot him again, the fighter's engines were already roaring. The Jedi closed the cockpit, and the ship slowly raised from the hangar's floor.
The magnetic force field which guarded the hangar was turned off by a well-timed force action of Odalon, and the Jedi flew out of the Republic cruiser's hangar, while the clone troopers were shooting at him.
'Master! Can you hear me?' shouted Odalon. As he looked out through the windscreen of the fighter, he saw dozens of ships, dogfighting in the space. The Separatist battleship was now completely trashed by the countless laser shots and rockets, and most of the Separatist star fighters had already been destroyed too.
'What's happening?' asked someone. The voice came from Odalon's fighter's communication system. The young Jedi immediately recognised the sound.
'Master! The clone troopers turned on me! They're trying to kill us!' said Odalon.
'I know. They're shooting at me. And they don't listen to my orders.' replied Zaro Kun.
'What should we do now?' asked Odalon.
'Head to the planet! Try to land!' ordered Zaro Kun.
Odalon turned his ship to the planet. He didn't really want to join the dogfight, because he knew, he's not as good as the clone pilots. But the radar screen of his fighter indicated two small spaceships following him, and the distance between the Jedi and the clones was decreasing with every second.
Odalon knew, they can't escape from the clones. The star-fighters didn't have hyperdrive engine, so they could only land on the planet and hide. But the clones had technology, which was good enough to find them anywhere. They could survive for only a couple of days or maybe one or two weeks before they will be spotted.
'They're on your tale.' said the Jedi Master to his young apprentice.
He was right. Odalon's fighter was now in the range of two clone pilots. The Jedi didn't have time to manoeuvre. The clone fighters started to shoot laser bolts at his fighter and the first salvo crashed the weak deflector shield of the fighter and damaged the stabilizers and the cannons.
'Evade!' shouted Zaro Kun.
Odalon pulled the rod control to get out of the clones' range, but the two pilots couldn't have been shaken off so easy.
'I'm right there! Just hang on for a few seconds!' shouted the Jedi Master.
The clone pilots were trying to finish the Jedi off, but Odalon managed to evade them. The success didn't take long. The clones got on Odalon's tail again.
But before they could shoot another salvo at Odalon, some laser bolts flitted between them. The clone fighters were confused for a second, but than they realised what happened and they knew what to do.
The two clones broke up. One was still following Odalon, but one turned to another direction. Zaro Kun decided to follow the one on Odalon's tail. This time he used the computer to target the clone fighter, because he didn't want to miss the target. As the computer indicated the target, he pulled the trigger, and the bright laser bolts tore the clone pilot's ship apart.
At the same time the other clone started to shoot at the Jedi Master's fighter. Zaro Kun didn't have time to evade. His Jedi star fighter blew up in the space, and the millions of small chips of metal were flying all over the explosion in every direction.
Meanwhile on Corouscant...
Darth Vader, the young Sith knight stepped into the Jedi Tample. Behind him was marching the 501-st. legion. Hundreds of clone troopers invaded the Temple, and the whole battle took less than one hour.
Vader drew his lightsaber and killed the first Jedi who got in his way. The young Jedi, who was now laying on the floor next to Vader's boots, was just about to ask "Master Skywalker" about the newest events of the war.
'Leave no one alive!' shouted Vader.
Jedi knights turned up on the corridors of the Temple, and most of them died before they could draw their lightsaber. These clone troopers were the most precise in the galaxy. They were fast and accurate, and they followed their orders merciless.
Vader stepped into the elevator and left the fighting clones and Jedi in the main hall of the Temple. He had to take care of the hiding Jedi Younglings, before they could only try to escape. However, the escape from the Jedi Temple was almost impossible, because of the clone fighters and troops, waiting outside the temple.
The door of the elevator opened and Vader stepped into the Jedi Council Chamber at the top of the Temple.
Some Jedi Younglings were hiding in the chamber. It seemed, that no one stayed here to guard them. One of the Younglings stepped to Vader and asked for help.
Darth Vader, the evil Sith knight looked at the young boy. He thought, that this boy will become one of the narrow-minded Jedi when he will grow up. This boy will become one of those, who fooled and betrayed him. This boy is one of them, who keeps him back from saving his wife from the certain death. He activated his lightsaber.
'No!' shouted someone from the elevator, but he was too late. Vader killed every single Youngling in the Council Chamber, and now the unarmed, dead bodies were laying on the floor all around the Sith knight.
Khal Seda, a Jedi knight stepped into the chamber. He was a tall, strong man from Chandrila. He became Jedi knight by completing his probe three years earlier, just after the Clone Wars started. He was holding his lightsaber in his hand, ready for a battle even against a powerful Sith knight.
'What are you doing Skywalker?' he cried looking at the dead Younglings. 'You killed them! You betrayed the Jedi! You turned on us! What do you think? They were just children.'
'I'm not wasting words on a Jedi!' said Vader.
'I can't let you do this.' said Khal Seda.
'Then try to stop me!' Vader raised his lightsaber and pointed on the Jedi. Khal Seda raised his weapon too, and waited for Vader's attack. The Sith moved forward and slashed but Seda countered the attack.
The rustling lightsabers made strange lightning-looking phenomenons in the highest room of the Jedi Temple when they hit each other. The Jedi and the Sith were fighting fearlessly, and during the battle they crashed the windows of the Council Chamber.
Suddenly Khal Seda stepped backwards, and lowered his lightsaber. He raised his empty hand and used a force push to knock Vader to the wall. The Sith groaned, but he answered with another force push. The Jedi expected the attack and he deflected it easily.
Vader realised, he need more powerful moves to defeat Khal Seda. He pointed on the Jedi with his mechanical hand and concentrated all his hate into one force strike. The bright force-lightning lashed out of his metal fingers.
The Jedi couldn't defend himself from the lightning, and he fell to his knees. The lightsaber slipped out of his hand and fell to the floor. But as he raised his head and looked at Vader, he saw, that the Sith was also kneeling. Vader's lightsaber was still in his hand but deactivated. And Darth Vader's mechanical arm was smoking and sparkling.
'What is that?' asked Vader staring at his hand which he couldn't move now. 'What's happening?'
Khal Seda saw fear on Vader's face. The Sith knight slowly realised what happened. His force-lightning damaged also his mechanical arm, causing a shortstop.
Seda pulled his lightsaber back into his hand by using the force, and he attacked Vader. The Sith knight was fast enough to counter his attack, even with his left hand.
As Vader pushed his lightsaber away, Seda saw pain and anger in the Sith's eyes. He saw, Vader's up to something, but he wasn't fast enough. Darth Vader's mechanical hand crashed into Seda's face, and the Jedi felt the blood flowing from his face.
Seda barely dodged Vader's next slash, and he fell to the floor. He knew, he lost the duel, but he was not dead already. Maybe he could escape somehow.
Vader stroke on him. Seda tried to deflect the attack with his lightsaber, but the Sith managed to cut his side. Seda yelled because of the pain. He could only kick Vader's leg to hold the Sith back for some seconds.
Seda looked at his side, and saw the scar on his body. It was not a really serious injury. If he hadn't have to fight with the injury and he got to a doctor in a few hours, he would be surely heal in a week.
'Get to a doctor...' Seda thought.
He knew a doctor, living on Corouscant, who was a good friend of him. If he could escape somehow maybe he could ask for help from him.
Seda gathered his power and used the force to get to the broken window. Vader was behind him with his lightsaber and he was ready to kill the Jedi. Seda stepped through the window and jumped, before Vader could cut him.
Clone star-fighters were flying all around the Jedi Temple, and Seda used the force to land on one of them. He felt, he broke his leg, but he didn't care about it. He only wanted to get in the ship and fly away.
The clone pilot tried to keep the ship flying straight, but suddenly the cockpit opened. Seda tore the booby-hatch off with the force. The clone pilot reached for his laser pistol, but the Jedi caught his head.
Seda accidentally pulled the helmet off from the pilot as he tried to break his neck. He hit the pilot's head with the helmet, but the clone caught his hand. He raised the pistol and tried to shoot the Jedi.
Seda cried out in pain. His hand was bleeding and two fingers had been torn by the blaster shot. He snapped to the pistol with his other hand. The clone and the Jedi were fighting for the weapon, and they completely forgot about the ship.
The fighter was getting lower and lower, and suddenly crashed into the ground.
A few minutes later a group of clone troopers found the remainders of the ship. It was completely ruined. They found a dead clone pilot in the broken cockpit, but no one else was around the vessel.