Calmness and patience were two traits valued highly by the Jedi order and normally General Aayla Secura had no trouble adhering to them. Yet on this dark Felucia night Aayla found calmness to be in short supply. She had left her troops to set up camp whilst she and Commander Bly scouted ahead and tried to find a way around the seemingly endless droid patrols. No single encounter would spell disaster but one after another they wore down the numbers of the Republic.
At the back of her mind Aayla felt that familiar mental tickle – a sense that something was wrong. All sentient beings worried, that was an unchangeable fact, but Aayla knew her worries weren't something to be ignored. They came from the force. Aayla analysed it. It wasn't about the war, at least not exactly. It was something else. Bly said something but Aayla barely heard him. She came to an abrupt halt. Aayla searched the sky, searched it with more than just eyes. She reached out with the force. But the force was - different. It was riddled with pain, with death. She felt parts of the living force simply disappear. It was like the stars going out. One by one.
Bly spoke and this time Aayla heard him clearly. His voice cut through the pain she was feeling like a knife. "I have a communication" she heard him say. Bly was turning on his holo-communicator. Dread slithered into Aayla's gut. Aayla saw a hologram appear. Aayla couldn't tell who it was, the hologram was facing away from her, hooded and robed. The hologram spoke. It was the Chancellor! The voice was familiar and unfamiliar at the same time. It was unmistakeably Palpatine yet his voice was deeper. And rasping. With a sense of dawning horror Aayla realised she was hearing the voice of Darth Sidious.
Darth Sidious spoke. "Commander Bly, execute Order 66."
Bly acknowledged. "Yes my lord."
Aayla's head was spinning. Order 66 was a contingency order to eliminate the Jedi in the case of a rebellion. Why had no one checked the contingency orders?! What was the standard of proof required for this order to be carried out? None of course. The Sith weren't interested in proof were they. Bly wouldn't be carrying out the order if the Chancellor had made a mistake. There was no mistake. The Jedi order, which had survived for millennia, would be destroyed. Tonight.
She looked over at Bly, the man which she had trusted with her life. The man who had fought loyally by her side for three years, who had commanded her troops. The man who was about to kill her. Bly aimed his rifle straight at her head. Aayla's brain screamed at her to grab her lightsaber but her hands didn't seem to be working. Aayla saw Bly hesitate for a fraction of a second and then raise his rifle just a little higher. Aayla closed her eyes and waited to die – no – to become with one with the force. That's what they had said would happen back in the Jedi temple. Her heart pounded. The blaster screeched...
Moments passed. Cautiously, Aayla opened her eyes. Strange. She was still on Felucia. Bly had dropped his blaster rifle. He seemed to be staring at point above Aayla's head. Aayla turned and saw what he was looking at. The mushroom directly behind her bore a scorch mark just inches above her head.
At last Bly spoke. "I can't do it. You're not a traitor to the Republic. You can't be." The helmet's comm gear couldn't quite filter the doubt out of Bly's voice.
Aayla felt strength return to her. "It's a coup" she ventured. "With the Jedi dead and the Grand Army on his side the Chancellor has no one left to oppose him."
"Yeah!" said Bly enthusiastically, visibly gaining confidence. "That'd be the sort of thing Palps would do, the slimy bastard."
Without warning Aayla collapsed. Aayla saw the warm Felucia night disappear and be replaced by a vast duracrete and transparisteel vista. Billions of lights flashed from endless towers, walkways and skylanes. Coruscant. Directly ahead of her she could see a giant cube-like building adorned with towers in the corners. The Jedi temple! Then she saw the clones. Thousands upon thousands of clone soldiers marched up the steps of the temple, rifles at the ready. They proudly wore the blue stripes of the legendary 501st legion. Leading them was a man, shrouded by a hood and by the dark side of the force. A Sith lord. Aayla was at the door. It opened and the Sith lord and his clones entered the temple. The Sith lord approached the first Jedi he saw. The Jedi looked up.
"Greetings master S-" he began. Then he saw the clones. The Jedi's mouth fell open. The Sith lord smoothly decapitated him and, with the briefest of hand gestures, he motioned the clones forward. Isolated shots rang out. Suddenly alarms were wailing and bleary eyed Jedi began to appear. The clones abandoned all restraint and charged, laying down a volley of blaster fire. Jedi after Jedi fell to the floor, cut down by the pride of the Grand Army. The temple echoed with the sounds of battle. The screech of the blasters, the hum of the lightsabers, the explosions and the screams of dying Jedi and clones.
The scene changed. Aayla was a Dark Lord of the Sith, striding through the corridors of the Jedi temple. Aayla marched with purpose, with determination and perhaps, with a twisted sense of pride. Yet fear and desperation clawed at her heart. A Jedi charged towards her. "Traitor!" he screamed. Aayla laughed. She raised her hand in claw-like shape. The Jedi's hands darted to his throat as his face turned blue. The choked Jedi crumpled but Aayla did not notice. She was already moving on. Her destination came into view. The council chamber. Aayla stepped over the threshold and a youngling approached her, his face full of fear. The youngling started to speak...
The scene disappeared. Aayla was lying on the ground at the base of one of the Felucian mushrooms. She was slick with sweat. Bly was leaning over her, his helmet off and his dark eyes filled with fear. Aayla retched and Bly leapt back.
"What was it?" asked Bly. "What did you see?"
"I, I" Aayla began. Her voice wavered and then broke. All Jedi strength left her and Aayla curled up in a ball and sobbed. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Bly hovering awkwardly, looking highly discomfited. Aayla began again. "I saw the Jedi temple get attacked by the 501st. All the Jedi inside, the men and the women and the children were, were ..." She fell silent. "I saw a Sith lord. I woke up as he was about to kill younglings."
"The 501st did this?" asked Bly. "Whoever could issue an order like that is..." he stopped himself. "We're supposed to be soldiers, not butchers!" spat Bly. Then he looked up curiously. "General, what is a Sith lord?"
Aayla felt a sense of wonder. He doesn't know what a Sith lord is? Immediately, Aayla was cross with herself. Why should he? After all the Sith had been out of sight for over a thousand standard years. The recent suspicions about the existence of a Darth Sidious was strictly 'need-to-know' and even the clones who had been helping the investigation were unaware of the true nature of their target. The Chancellor had known of course. He had been told to be extra vigilant! Inside, Palpatine must have been laughing fit to burst. How would she ever explain to Bly the thousands of years of emnity between the Jedi and the Sith. Aayla tried to sum it up in a single line. "Sith are Jedi who have turned to the dark side. They have turned to evil and serve only themselves."
Bly looked satisfied with this explanation. Suddenly he was on his feet. "General" he warned. Aayla unhooked her lightsaber from her belt. She could sense it. Clones were heading straight for them. And they wouldn't be taking any prisoners.
- Notes:
Here's the second chapter then. Now from Aayla's point of view. It covers some of the events of the end of the last chapter. I've seen from EU novels how hard it is to write Jedi so I hope it's ok! Quick reminder that none of this is canonical. Especially the events in the Jedi temple. I stopped short of depicting Anakin (who's eyes Aayla is seeing the second part of that vision through) killing the younglings as I don't want Aayla to know Vader = Anakin yet. Hope you enjoy this second chapter! I'll get a third chapter done soon.
- edit, I've made a few corrections to make it read more easily.
