Shadow's Odyssey: A Star Wars Story

Shadow was in a dark room. He couldn't see anything, but he heard laughter. Sick, twisted laughter. Shadow couldn't move; he was frozen in the empty void. The creepy cloaked man leered at him from the darkness.

"You cannot hide from me. I can see your thoughts. You're not as strong as you pretend to be, are you? Not deep down inside. I see your fears, your failures, and they are many!"

"Shut up! I'm the world's most powerful lifeform!"

The cloaked man laughed. "If you're so powerful, then why is this girl dead?"

He lifted the lifeless, decaying corpse of a human girl no more than twelve.

"Maria!"

Shadow shot up out bed and fired a Chaos Spear. It left a scorch mark on the wall. The door to the room slid open and Shadow almost fired another Spear at the clone who entered.

"Whoa!" Deck held his hands up defensively. "Is everything okay sir?"

"Fine! Everything's Fine!" Shadow inwardly cringed. That had been a little too loud.

"Then, what happened to the wall?"

"…That's not important. Are we there yet?"

"Actually yes. That's what I came to tell you."

"Good. Let's go."

After everything he had gone through since arriving, Shadow had been exhausted and used the ride back to Kamino as an opportunity to rest. But while he was less tired, the headache was still present. Shadow ignored it as he walked out of the ship and onto the landing platform where all the clones greeted him.

"Looks like you guys have been busy too." Shadow remarked, eyeing the large crowd.

There were a few cheers, but most stared at Shadow in fascination.

"We've almost freed everyone. The only remaining enslaved clones are on Coruscant." Deck explained.

"Well then, we better go get them."

"Well there's a little bit of a problem. There's a massive Separatist blockade guarding the planet. As much as we want to help them, we think challenging that blockade will result in more lives lost. But it's not all bad. One of the Jedi actually agrees with what you are doing and is going to help."

"Who is this guy?"

"Anakin Skywalker. General of the 501st legion. Even after we removed the chips from their heads, they still stood by him. They fought harder than anyone else to stay on the battlefield with him. And they went with him to fight for Coruscant. And the most amazing thing, he apologized to us! Even after he was left for dead on Sullust!" Deck spoke with the excitement of someone who had never been apologized to before.

"Well, at least one of those Jedi is respectable. Still, I think it's best if I go help them."

"…so, we need to surrender."

The Chancellor sighed. "This is truly a tragic day for the Republic. Alas, I agree we have no choice."

He activated the holoprojector on his desk and contacted Dooku.

"Ah, Chancellor Palpatine. I assume you've made your decision?"

"We have. You've won. We'll meet you on Mustafar to discuss the terms of our surrender."

"Excellent. I will send a shuttle to pick you up."

While the Chancellor and the Jedi Council waited for the shuttle to arrive, Mace Windu contacted Master Luminara, who was back at the Temple.

"We're leaving you in charge of the Temple while we're gone. Make sure no one tries to leave the planet until we say so. Especially Anakin."

"Understood."

Another holographic figure joined Liminara's. "You talking about me?"

"Yes, Anakin. We know you don't agree with our decision to surrender."

"We can still win back the loyalty of the clones."

"You said that when you arrived at Kamino, the first thing they did was try to shoot you down. Even if you could win back their loyalty, you would never be able to do it in time. The Separatist fleet is right there! They're ready to wipe out Coruscant! We need to do what's best for the people of the Republic. Even if that means giving up."

"Well if the war is over, then we don't need the clones anymore. So, there should be no problem with me taking the remaining clones back to Kamino." Anakin rationalized.

"I doubt the Separatist fleet is going to let you do that. Look, just don't try anything until we're through with our negotiations."

Obi-wan joined in the conversation. "Think about it this way Anakin. You want the clones to be free, not blown up by the Separatist fleet, right?"

"I already got past it once."

Obi-wan made an exasperated noise. "Anakin, we are surrendering, the fight is over. Just stay in the Temple and don't do anything."

"I hate to interrupt, but our ride is here." Palpatine called.

"We have to go. Anakin, just please do what we tell you to do for once. I promise we'll get the chips out of the clones eventually. Until then, just be patient." Obi-wan pleaded.

Mace put away the holoprojector and they got on board the shuttle.

The shuttle landed on the volcanic planet of Mustafar. They saw Count Dooku waiting at the entrance to the fortress with General Grievous by his side and two Manga Guards behind them. Obi-wan immediately noticed that Dooku was walking with a cane.

"Greetings, Jedi."

"Ready to begin negotiations, we are."

"That will not be necessary."

The doors to the fortress opened up, and six destroyer droids emerged. The Jedi ignited their lightsabers.

"Protect the Chancellor!" Windu ordered.

The twelve Jedi masters formed a circle around Palpatine. Obi-wan stood ready to defend against the destroyers. However, the droids did not fire. He instead, heard laughter. It was a sickening laugh that sent the slightest chill down his spine. The strangest part was that the laughter was not coming from Dooku or Grievous. Rather, it was coming from directly behind him.

He turned his head around and saw Palpatine with a huge smile on his face. He only saw it for a brief second, before a sharp, stinging pain filled his entire body.

The entire Jedi Council was zapped with Force Lightning, causing them to collapse. Palpatine drew a hidden lightsaber from his sleeve. He stabbed it into Coleman Kcal as he tried to get back up.

Plo Koon, also struggling to get up, muttered in shock, "It can't be!"

Palpatine went to decapitate him, but his strike was blocked by Windu's saber. Grievous ignited four blades and leaped at the Jedi. He struck down Oppo Rancisis, and Stass Allie. He then saw Ki-Adi-Mundi stand back up and ignite his blade. Grievous charged at him and his attacks were so fast that the Jedi was barely able to block them. He was forced to continuously step backwards. He backed up farther and farther, until he was at the very edge of the landing platform. He had nowhere left to go. He defended as best he could but Grievous sped up his attack. A fast, hard swing knocked Ki-Adi off balance, and he fell back but managed to grab the ledge with his hand. He looked down and saw the river of lava below him. Grievous laughed as he stood victoriously over him.

"Burn in hell, Jedi!"

He sliced off the hand that was holding on to the ledge. The Jedi plunged into the lava.

Mace Windu dueled Palpatine alongside Plo Koon. "You're the second Sith Lord."

"Yes. And now you will die!"

Palpatine began to choke Plo Koon with the Force. Mace rushed the Sith with his lightsaber. But Palpatine knew he would do this. As Windu swung at him, Palpatine pulled Plo Koon close to him. Mace tried to stop his swing, but it was too late. His lightsaber had already sliced halfway through Plo Koon's head. He stepped back in horror as his friend collapsed to the ground. Palpatine laughed at Windu and shot more lightning at him.

"Get back to the ship!" Saesee Tiin shouted, already running for the ship.

Unfortunately, Dooku had been waiting for this. He signaled the Magna Guard in the watch tower to fire a rocket at the ship. The ship and Saesee went up in a ball of fire.

Grievous attacked Yoda. However, Yoda easily sent him flying with a powerful force push. The destroyer droids opened fire on master Yoda, forcing him to defend against them.

Obi-wan attacked Count Dooku, who up to this point had stood back and watched. He drew his lightsaber and they locked blades.

"Tell me Kenobi, do you still believe it is impossible for the Sith to be controlling the Republic?"

Obi-wan remembered what Dooku had told him on Geonosis. His heart sank all the way to his toes.

"I gave you a chance to be on the winning side Obi-wan. And you chose poorly." Dooku pushed Obi-wan back with the Force. "And now you will die."

The two Magna Guards that were standing behind Dooku engaged Obi-wan.

Eeth Koth attempted to attack Palpatine from behind while he was engaged with Windu. However, when he ran up behind him, Palpatine pulled out another hidden lightsaber and impaled him without even looking.

Shaak Ti and Kit Fisto were engaged with Grievous. They got into a blade lock, and Grievous quickly switched a lightsaber for a blaster and shot Shaak Ti. He then kicked Kit Fisto in the stomach and when he doubled over, Grievous grabbed the Jedi's head with his foot and slammed it against the ground.

Yoda lifted all the destroyer droids with the Force and threw them into the lava. He then turned his attention to the Magna Guards, who were fighting Obi-wan. He raced over and sliced them both in half. They looked at Mace who was being shocked with more Force Lightning.

Palpatine turned his attention to the two remaining Jedi masters. They both knew they were not going to win this fight. Yoda hopped onto Obi-wan's back and he began to run away. Palpatine was about to pursue them when he heard a lightsaber ignite behind him. He turned and saw Mace Windu getting back up again.

The two locked blades. Then Mace felt a burning pain in his chest. He looked down and saw four lightsaber blades poking out of his chest. He dropped to the ground and saw Grievous pick up his lightsaber before everything faded to black.

Palpatine watched as Obi-wan and Yoda disappeared into the wild lands of Mustafar. Grievous began to run after them but Palpatine stopped him.

"Don't bother. Without any food or water, they'll die out there. If they're going to try to escape the planet, they'll have to come right back here to us."

A battle droid approached them. "Uh, sir? We've detected an unidentified ship entering the system."

"What kind of ship?" Grievous demanded.

"Uh… we don't know. It looks like it was cobbled together out of a bunch of random parts."

"Shoot it down." Grievous ordered.

"I can't sir."

"Why not?"

"Because here it comes right now."

"Idiot!" Grievous shoved the droid aside.

The ship came down and landed. Palpatine stared curiously at the small, rather ugly ship. Like the droid had said, it appeared to be made out of various droid parts. But who would build a ship like this? And why would they come here?

"Let's go see who it is."