Chapter 26: Citadel

The news of that the separatists who were coming to sign the peace treaty had been kidnapped had hit Coruscant hard. Dooku had announced that due to the coward of the separatist senate he had declared himself dictator and will continue the war. The senators who had been on their way to make peace were marked as traitors and place in the most secure prison, the citadel.

Through the dread of the situation, a few heads turn towards the clones and wonder if they were capable of betraying them as the droids did for the separatist. Like the droids the clones were everywhere and very much armed.

The senate called an emergency meeting to discuss what had happened, what to do about it, and if there was time to discuss the threat of the clones. Discussions went on for about a day without anything being decided as everyone talked in circles insisting on stating their opinions on everything without offering any true direction.

While the Senate debated, the Jedi were frozen. They couldn't launch a rescue mission until the senate agreed to send one. Councilor Palpatine had been very understanding of there situation. He tried to persuade public opinion that the Jedi weren't standing down because they were cowards or warmongers but because they couldn't fight without the senate approval. But after his speeches, a majority of the groups seemed to be even more convinced that that was exactly what the Jedi were doing.

It was nerve-wracking and many of the Jedi argue that they should get involve and rescue the senators themselves. After all the separatist senators, who had fled Raxus, were begging the Jedi to do just that. They wanted the peace treaty more than ever. As the days past and the senate and Jedi still didn't do anything, the separatist senators seemed to join with the publics' anger and conspiracy theories.

The Jedi had been through a lot this last year. A lot of there faith and beliefs were pulled into question by the new order. The fact that this new order seemed to be stronger and more connected to the force and yet still had an attachment, made many of the younger generations why the old ways were so important when the newer ones were more in-tune to the force and even stopping slavery. Something that Jedi at there found inhuman and the fact that it could exist inside the republic had caused many to wonder why the Jedi serve the republic. Especially when the senate was dragging its heels when peace was just around the corner.

The final straw that broke the stalemate came in the form of a politely worded letter from Luke. It was mostly kind with a small hint of insult disguised as concern. He wrote it to reassure the Jedi by saying that the new order would be rescuing the senators. He understood that the Jedi could not do the obvious thing and obey there own code without the senate's permission so to help them the new order will do it.

It was too much even for the council. Ignoring generations of emotion control the entire order decided that they would not get sidelined by the upstarts. They announce to Coruscant and the senate that the situation had become an issue to Jedi's pride and to reinstate it they would be rescuing the separatist on their own. The Senate officially objected to the Jedi going rouge as they called it, but secretly were relieved that they had taken the matter into their own hands. Palatine had even tried to convince the Jedi to take the clone soldiers with them, after all, who knew what would be waiting for them at the citadel. But the Jedi refused, seeing the quest as an attack on their pride. The entire order was called to the citadel. Even the Jedi with their clone armies were called back, leaving their clones in charge of the battle field.

With the Jedi taking care of the separatist, there was no doubt in the minds of the senate that peace was only a matter of days aways. All thoughts turn to the last object on the docket, the clones. They were everywhere and with the Jedi gone a lot of the planets and space were only guarded by the clones. If they turn on them they could destroy the republic just at the droids were doing to the separatists. Technically they were men and had free will so they couldn't be overridden by a code. But then why would these men fight on behalf of the republic.

A few months back senator Amidala had interviewed a couple of the clones and posted them on the holonet. The purpose was to support her and Bail's bill that gave clones citizenship by making the clones human. It had another effect though, it showed the clones as slaves and not only that but the fact that they were aware of it. With the recent slave revolt and the highjacking of the droid army, the senate was forced to admit that there was no reason why the clones should remain loyal. They had nothing to lose and everything to gain by taking over and no one, not even the Jedi could stop them.

Padme decided that now will be the best time to put her bill to a vote. She stated that as citizens with citizen rights the clones would have something to protect and a personal stake in the protection of the republic. After a short debate and many weary glances to the clone guards in the actual room, the Senate voted the bill into law, freeing the clones from service. And with the war winding down, Padme was successful in getting the Senate to agree to demilitarization, taking clones from battlefields, and beginning the process of gaining their citizenship.

After the vote, Padme looked over to Palpatine and saw a grimace. He probably felt secure with all the extra guards.

Citadel

It was clear to the Jedi that the new order was already in the citadel when they pulled out of hyperspace and saw the remains of the separatist blockade. Not seeing much of a threat in space the ships decided to land right next to the citadel and the new orders ships.

The council and Ahsoka, Anakin and Obi-Wan, were the first ones off the headship and took a quick look around. The two ships seemed to be empty but besides them resting on a makeshift chair made of boxes was the droid named Roger who appear to be sunbathing.

Obi-Wan cleared his throat to get the droid's attention. Instead, the droid scream and jumped a mile in the air. "Sorry to disturb you," called Obi-Wan to the trembling droid we just wanted to know where your human charges are.

"They are in the building," stated the droid. "I'm at here standing guard." He pulled himself up. "I have help," he defended when he saw Anakin's face, "Chopper is watching the scanners and Tari is standing guard. Tari" he shouted up at a hill where someone wearing Tatooine rags was standing guard. "Why didn't you mention the ships of Jedi landing."

Tari force jumped down to the group. She stared at the droid for a minute before removing her hood revealing long red hair and green eyes. "They are not the enemy," she explained to the droid. "And it wasn't as if they were trying to sneak upon us." Roger splutter at that, he had no comeback. Tari turned to the Jedi. "I'm Tari Jade. I have heard about you Jedi. But I don't know why you are here. The new order said that they will take care of this. There is no reason for you to be here."

"Well we can't let them have all the fun," joked Obi-Wan studying the woman and her strong force presence, "where you order to stop us."

Tari studies them before shaking her head. "No you are welcome to try but all you will do is get in there way. They have already made it to the cell that was holding the senators."

"What," shouted Anakin before running off. He set off a chain reaction where all the young brash knights, who didn't want to be stand up gave chase. Ahsoka joined in the fray with her master, forcing Obi-Wan; shouting and calling to Anakin, to follow his young charges.

Tari rolled her eyes at the childish behavior before returning to her post on top of a small mound nearby leaving the council minus Obi-Wan with Roger and Chopper.

"They are just as crazy as a new order," commented Roger to Chopper, proving his lookout abilities by not noticing that not all the Jedi were gone.

Chopper's response came in a few beeps.

"Good point," admitted Roger. "The new order doesn't seem crazy when compared to their Jedi masters. The old order can't make the same excuse."

"Wait what did you say," asked Mace, scaring the droid again.

"Stop sneaking up on me," whined the droid.

"Moved, we have not," comment Yoda. "Speaking of their masters, you were. Know them, you do."

"Of course." Roger stood as straight as he could. "Back before Corran found me I was a droid in the separatist army. I fought against a lot of Jedi…and lost. But still, it took the most skillful Jedi to defeat me which just so happened to be the masters of the new order Jedis. I have all my battles recorded onto my memory drive." Roger then made a gulping sound. He didn't like the way that the Jedi masters were looking at him.

Citadel

Two hours ago

They only took two ships, the ghost and the rouge shadow, Galen's ship. Corran's archive with wings was left behind on Lothal since it wasn't cut out for space battles. Corran being the second most skill pilot took the controls of the ghost and steer it behind one of the asteroids in Citadel's orbit. Once there Corran followed the asteroid, staying in the blind spot of the defense of the citadel.

Meanwhile, Luke took advantage of the rouge shadows cloak shield and bombard the Citadels defense, making sure to spiral and twirl in-between shots so the guards wouldn't even be able to guess where the shots were coming from. Eventually, the defense was gone and the ships that were in orbit around the planet opened fire on each other, each convinced that one of them was responsible for the attacks.

When the ships were nothing but orbiting trash, Corran left the cover of the asteroid and landed on the planet below.

Luke wasn't sure if they could call Citadel a planet. The planet's core had somehow erupted centuries ago leaving almost half of the planet nothing but floating rubble with an eerily glow coming from the center of it all. The magma still hot even after all that it went through.

The planet surface was just as bad with pools of lava making up a majority of the surface and while the air was breathable, it was stuffy and so hot.

The group landed as close as they could to the citadel but the citadel itself was on top of a cliff with no incline that overlooked a pool of lava. They just barely manage to squeeze both ships into a rocky boulder squish in-between the lava and the cliff. A location that the guards hadn't bother to trap since it was assumed that no pilot could be good enough to land there.

Luke studied the cliff as his order stumbled out of the ship. "Mines had been planted on the side so if anyone did successfully manage to land they wouldn't be able to climb up the cliff. Sabine," he called, "wind report."

Sabine clicked something on her vizor readout. She let out a groan. "You were right the winds are too strong for jetpacks."

"No," groaned Corran some of the color leaving his face, "please don't tell me that means…"

"Yes," admitted Luke, he gave a bright smile, "aren't you all glad that I force you to learn sky-walking on our way here." The entire group wasn't glad but Luke preceded. "I'll take Corran," he said grabbing Corran from under his arms. "You guys come up at your own time, just don't touch the wall and Sabine," he gave her a stern glare, "don't attempt to use your jetpack you know it won't work." With that Luke floated up leaving the group beneath him.

Alina followed soon after him along with Ezra, both of them had proven to have a knack for sky-walking and had mastered it quite fast. Galen and Sabine had struggled the most, both of them prefer the more mechanical aspect of the force than the delicate control portion.

Luke touchdown on the landing that was attached to the side of the cliff where an entrance into the building lied. Luke study it as the rest of the order joined him and Corran. "It's completely sealed from the outside. There's not even a lock to fiddle with."

Ezra, who was the most skilled in this type of work examine the door as well. "There's an air vent right above it," he explained. With a wave of his hand, he effortlessly unscrewed the vent and leaped into the tunnel.

Ezra was at home in the vents, having used them often to hide and get around empire buildings. Heck, he was even familiar with the vents on the ghost ship. When he had first arrived on the ship, he hadn't developed a level of trust with the crew yet and built himself a little hovel in the air ducks. Years later and Hera still complained about how hard it was to get him out of her ship. And Zeb was never going to forgive Ezra for biting his hand whenever Zeb had tried to remove him by force.

With little effort Ezra opened up the door from the inside, giving access to the rest of the order. The group looked down the hallway. It seemed empty to those who didn't use to empire hallways. The order though could make out the cameras, blasters, and the invisible electric walls design to incapacitate anyone who wasn't careful.

"Arrowhead" formation called Luke. It was the most common formation for the group and had been designed for the sole purpose of walking down such hallways. Back in the future, the major task for the Jedi was to break out civilians and rebels out of the secure prisons.

Everybody pulled out their lightsabers and Luke took the front with Alina in the center since she had no arms and Galen in the back to hole up the rear. The rest were at the sides and everybody's back was facing the center of the formation ensuring that nobody and no blaster could hit someone's unsuspecting back. This formation also allowed Alina, in the center to quickly heal anyone who did get hit allowing the group to move confidently through an entire minefield if necessary.

The problem with the formation though was its speed. It was designed to move slowly and surely to ensure that no surprise bolts were hitting the group. Meaning that the group moved at a snail pace before the alarms were sounded and they find themselves not just up against the hallway defenses but also droids. There were also electric walls and actual walls along with a ceiling with a giant magnet design to pull weapons out for people's hands. But the group handle the droids, Ezra hacked all the walls and Alina disconnected the magnet by hitting a critical part with her charka needles.

It took a while and fighting the entire tower but the group reached the prison that the separatist senators were kept in. With quick work of his lightsaber, Luke cut open the prison. There in the cell where the senators dressed in fashionable clothes that had seen better days.

"Jedi," called Mina as she approached them. "You came we hoped you will."

"Of course" claimed Luke. "Now let's get you out of here."

It was around then that they first detected a low thumping noise as if a thousand footsteps were coming towards them. Everyone, except Luke and Alina, immediately activated their lightsabers to attack what they thought was an army of droids.

Instead, they found Obi-Wan, Ahsoka, and Anakin leading a group of young Jedi knights.

"What are you guys doing here," asked Luke looking at them in confusion, "did the senate decided to send you guys."

"No," said Obi-Wan using his diplomatic voice. The Jedi have decided to see to this matter themselves instead of waiting for the senate's approval.

"Why did you guys do that. Didn't Yoda get my message that we will handle it because we don't have to worry about upsetting the senate."

Obi-wan decided to change the subject. "You got them all."

Luke did a quick headcount. "Yep. We were just about to leave."

"Good we will lead you out." Obi-wan's announcement caused a loud cacophony as all the Jedi began to leave.

"Umm…" said Luke slowly. "We weren't going to go that way," he whispered to the group that was already far gone. The only old order Jedi that did hear him was Obi-Wan, Anakin, and Ahsoka, since they had hung back to talk to the new order.

"What do you mean," asked Obi-Wan "the path is clear, you guys made sure of that."

"Rule one of breaking into a place," explained Sabine, "never go out the way you came in. Even if it looks clear because I guarantee you that is where the ambush will be set up."

"Indeed," said Luke "we have already concluded that what remains of the droids will be massing right outside the citadel near the ships just waiting for us to take the senators outside."

Ahsoka looked nervous. "All those Jedi are heading to a kill box. We have to warn them."

"Don't worry," reassured Luke, placing a hand on her shoulder. "They won't fire on the Jedi. That will give them away and they are after the senators. As long as the senators don't show up that path is clear. Which is why we must go out another way."

"I imagine that you have a plan," asked Obi-Wan. Luke just merely smiled as he walked into the cell. On the far side from the door, he pulled out his lightsaber and began to make a hole.

"Are you crazy," demanded Anakin. "The citadel was carved out of the mountain."

Luke didn't respond. At least not verbally. He did continue to carve his hole and once he was done he took a step back so Anakin could see the opening. A giant river of lava was underneath the citadel and Luke had carved a hole right above a small winding rock path that followed the river into the distance.

Anakin looked through the hole. The heat of the lava was burning his eyes but it was still a way out, a way that no one seemed to know existed. Well except for Luke. "How did you know."

"Lava flow," explained Luke. "It was clear from the sky that the mountain wasn't blocking the river of lava that it seemed to be standing on top of. The only way that could happen is if the lava could go underneath the mountain. If the lava carved out a tunnel underground then there had to be a ridge or something created when the tide was higher."

Without waiting for Anakin to swallow this explantation Luke jumped down. "We can use the passage to get out." He held out a hand to help the senator who had been the closest to the hole. The senator looked over at his compatriots as if asking them if they were seriously going to do this before jumping down to join Luke.