A ship is pulled out of hyperspace and turns into the light of the distant star. Its metal a dark ebony color accented with silver and red in such a pattern to spur the imagination that it was a large bird and not a ship. The U shaped ship twisted in the light as it orientated to the solar plane of the system showing off not one but two quad laser turrets in the center of the dorsal and ventral positions at the apex of the engine tunnels. On the right side was a solid block covering the entry ramp and a space of the left looked out of place on the ship as it held a compact fighter with a retractable umbilical tube. It was mirrored by another fighter as they were sitting bottom to bottom.
A single figure could be seen coming out of either fighter and entering the ship before the tubes retracted as two astromech droids rolled over to another access hatch. One with blue and silver marking and another with a sightly darker purple and silver. The ship then accelerated as a planet came into view filled with thousands of ships in organized lines heading either to the planet or away. The unique ship seemed to float passed a line of rings that one of the occupants had no trouble identifying and another that was busy looking it up and finding it was a hyperdrive ring for the a Jedi Delta 7 Aethersprite interceptor. The young man frowned as he read about the fighter.
His blue eyes nearly glowing with curiosity as he sat behind the pilot's seat. An older woman that looked much like the boy was piloting the ship. Her brown blond streaked hair contrasting with his mess of platinum blond laced with tendrils of red. In the copilots seat was a droid that had not changed much from its gray and red accents. Behind the droid was a woman who stood calm inside her black robe only allowing her black tipped red hair to fall out of the front of her concealing hood. On top of a T5 droid sat a smaller figure with long thinly braided gray hair that seemed to grow out of a top knot. His robes had long ago been replaced by a black armored body glove. A tool belt filled with assorted pouches topped a skirt of leather straps that concealed his legs. Behind his was a harness that carried a box with two handles sticking out. His face told of great age even as he radiated youthfulness.
"Unidentified vessel you have entered secure lanes allocated to the members of the Jedi Order. You are to power down your ship and await the next Judicial customs patrol."
"Control this is the Ebon Hawk. We will not power down or change course. Authorization Y-1."
"Ebon Hawk this is Judicial control can you repeat your authorization code it seems to have been cut off."
"Control the code is Y-1, I repeat Y-1."
"Ebon Hawk the Jedi Order has informed me that you are to be detained immediately. Clearance code Y-1 has been deactivated for tens years. Associate member is confirmed dead." Everyone in the cockpit looked at the small figure on the droid who suddenly stood up. Anakin laughed as he felt the Force radiant strongly from Yoda. Jenica merely grunted lightly as the comlink screeched as it was switched through several channels. A small sitting figure was suddenly hovering over the small holo receiver.
"Dead I am not, Very much alive I am." The small figure reacted with surprise as he came to his feet. Mace Windu looked unchanged as the imagine switched from the blue to a full color rendering. His surprise was clear now that his image was projected properly.
"Grandmaster Yoda, your alive?!"
"Grandmaster you are. Dead I am not. Master I am not. Disciple I became."
"We felt that you had died, and how do you look so young?"
"Grew my hair back the Force did, old I still am. Discuss this when arrived we have."
"Yes Master Yoda."
"Titles I no longer possess." With a flick of his hand the image vanished. Everyone in the High Council chamber was in a state of shock. They had all felt what was assumed to be Master Yoda's death as he had suddenly broken the weakened bonds they had all held with the ancient master. A year had paced with no contacts or sightings of the Ebon Hawk. They then got up as one and headed for one of the hanger bays of the Jedi Temple.
A flight path appeared in place of Master Windu leading directly to the Jedi Temple. Shmi flipped several levers before she pushed the controls forward. Jenica had her learn everything she could and one of the things she found she was good at was piloting. She had to somehow be able to keep up to her son in something. Even after ten years she still could not out fly him but she had been the last one that Anakin had finally been able to defeat in simulations. Yoda had told her it was her connection to her son as she was able to feel his next moves against her. Something she could not do with Jenica or Yoda flying against her. It had been one of Anakin's greatest frustrations until recently.
The ship twisted in the air as if it was the bird it was painted to be. At the last second it leveled out just before dropping lightly on the extended hanger floor as it began to retract back inside the Temple. The ramp came down just as the extension locked into place with the last step that Mace Windu took before he stopped. Booted feet came down the ramp in unintentional unison. The young blond man was right beside his mother and some inside the hanger held up their arms as if twins sun had just come over the horizon as their inner sight was overwhelmed by his presence in the Force.
His mother was a muted blue that drowned out by her son's presence. Yoda still shined in the Force with green waves of his immense wisdom the years gave him. Next to him was the woman who had taunted and mystified the Jedi with the strength of her resolve. Her aura was all reds, oranges, and yellows of a burning fire. Not truly the dark side, but a perfect balance of the light and dark side of the Force. This moment was just a blink of an eye before the entire High Council bowed in greeting and respect.
Mace looked at the group and fully expected his bond with Master Yoda to come back, but it did not. It was unnerving as his brief connection to his old mentor had vanished as if he was not there in the Force. It was as if the four blended in perfectly with the surrounding eddies of the Force. Shmi moved forward and then to the side as she had done many a time before.
"Greetings to you gentle beings. I am Shmi Skywalker the pilot of the Ebon Hawk. I am the Bearer." her arm then motioned to her son as he stepped forward and took her hand.
"This is my son, Anakin. He is the Mantle of the Force." His blue silver eyes hold them so they can barely break away from staring. They nod to him as Yoda jumps suddenly on top of the droid next to him.
"This one is Yoda. He is the Disciple of the Whills." At this point Jenica moved forward. She pulled the hood from her head and the assembled masters and flight crew take a step back. One side of her face is as it always had been. Her tattoos flowing over her cheek, but her cheek on the other side is burned and scarred as if it took the full brunt of an explosion. Her eyes are a brighter color of gold surrounded by red.
"And finally I present to you..."
"A Sith." I have to laugh as they so calmly identify me as a Sith. A few pulled their lightsabers from their belts only to be hit in the knee by a dozen gimer sticks. Once identified they all looked back at Yoda.
"Interrupt, you should not. Jedi you all are. Your lightsaber for defense it is, never attack. Listen you should."
"Stand down, I feel no danger from these four. No shatter point to hint otherwise." The blades vanished as fast as they appeared, but their signature in the Force remained on guard.
"...Jenica. She is the Heart of the Guardian." Qui Gon was the first to move forward and he looked like he was in a total state of shock as his eyes traveled from one to the other.
"The prophecy of the Chosen One combined with the prophecy of the Heart? No it can not be."
"Master Qui Gon this is not a combination of two prophecies but realization that they are one in the same. As the Bearer of the Chosen One I should know best."
"But you travel with a Sith?" Mundi declared.
"A Jedi and a Sith, but Anakin is more. He is the Balance and in great turmoil the Galaxy will soon face. Gather your guardians, sentinels and your watchmen for a false Sith is soon to rip away the peace and plunge the Galaxy into war."
The assembled masters look worried and lost. Their pained features hiding a truth they have yet to reveal. Yoda closes his eyes for but a moment before they fly open again. His calm look twist to one of stern condemnation and the utmost of disappointment. He sighed before settling down into a sitting position on top of the droid.
"Empty the Jedi Temple has become. Younglings the only presence I feel." Master Gallia gestured to the exit of the hanger.
"Perhaps it is better we talk in a more fitting location."
"The council chambers are not the closest or the most convenient." Several of the masters chuckled as Gallia turned to guide them to the center of the creche. Anakin shared a look with his mother as the masters took various seats around the room.
"The creche center long time it has been. A clue it is." Yoda settled down on one of the smaller couches. Once everyone settled several children ran by or a carer moved from one room to another.
"Yes indeed." Master Billaba began. "You see once you left the Order we spread out to not only search for this Sith, but also to find out where you had gone."
"We hid our growing numbers to search faster by reevaluating every initiate that we sent to the Service Corps." Master Poof stated. "But it just got out of hand. In a few years the Jedi Order had grown from ten thousand knights."
"To over one hundred thousands secretly knighted Jedi." Master Rancisis revealed. "The Service Corps has grown just as much. To the point that we could no longer support the excess."
"The Senate managed to find out and we had not been kind to them with our hunt for the remaining Sith. We had over reached our mandate set in the Ruusan reformations. We had not been found out with the increase in the knights, but what revealed our duplicity was that the slaves we freed we added to the rosters of the Agricorps. The food we grew soon turned out to be not enough to even feed our growing numbers." Tiin explained.
"We had to do something. We are Jedi and the Force is with us and we were doing good. So we took from our hidden funds first and later it was so much easier to take from the Senate funds. Funds we needed to complete our missions. Every slave raid we freed more beings took them home and took their wealth to pay back the funds we were using to help the galaxy and not the Republic. The slavers got smarter, got meaner, our intel compromised." Master Koth went silent as Master Yaddle took over.
"Lost many Jedi we did. The Hutt cartels hunt us began they did. Find there credits we could not. Find their slaves we did not. Their bounty hunters found only we did. Black Sun started next then Crimson Dawn, the Crymorah and the Pike only the beginning." Master Yaddle got up from her seat and walked over to the nursery unable to continue.
"The Senate found out because we involved more and more of the Judicial forces into battles that we could not explain. We would put out one fire here and three more would start on the other side of the galaxy. We were ten times larger in less than a year, but we are still spread way too thin. We had to pull back to the Temples we reestablished. To protect the sectors that are critical to the Republic. Then a bill lead by the Supreme Chancellor over turned several rulings and agreements of the Ruusan Reformations which striped our funding. We only get enough to keep the Temple running and now have to charge larger and larger medical fees to those who seek us out for healing." Qui Gon leaned back as a little Belugan crawled up into his lap.
"Followed the will of the Force you did. Survive still the Jedi Order does." Yoda finally interjected.
"No Master Yoda the Jedi Order has been disbanded. This is the Jedi Enclave of Coruscant. We survive on donations, expensive medical procedures, charging data fees for access to our archives. We are allowed to heal the sick, raise the orphaned. We are no longer allowed to teach the young about the ways of the Force in the Republic." Yoda looked at each of them and looked to be thinking of a solution and then laughed quietly. He knew what happened in the Order even if he had not been involved these last ten years. Many times he had helped wayward Jedi in their mission to protect and defend. Many he had reminded as well of their purpose to the people and to the will of the Force. Lost many Jedi they did, but gained much much more.
"Master I am no longer. Disciple become I have. Honor this path you should. Accept the decision of the Senate you will in Recusal the Jedi Order will go." The High Council members all nodded and it was felt in the Force. A feeling that was not new to them. Then Mace Windu smiled. He handed a datapad to Yoda
"The Jedi Temple is nearly empty as we have nearly completed the copying of every record. Master Nu and Dooku have taken all the Force holocrons to include the Great Holocron to a secure location. All we will leave behind is the recorded history and all nonforce related knowledge. Dozens of systems containing temples or enclaves have been removed from our galaxy map and those of BoSS. This includes every route to and near Ilum and Tython. We were about to leave this fabrication behind. You interrupted us."
The message lasted long enough for him to read it before it erased itself. Master Yoda then cackled as he jumped up.
"Then go you must. Feel danger approaching I do. Four handle this we can."
"Impossible they are sending over these new clones that the Republic has gained." Master Trebor reported.
"Follow the will of the Force we do. Called to Coruscant us it has. Hurry you must." The various masters picked up the nearest child as many more come out of the creche rooms and rush to the oldest lifts. An old comlink on Yoda's belt beeps and he can feel the message it relays without opening it as he pulls it off his belt and drops it on the floor. Before it lands it shatters in a hundred pieces. Distant explosions start to be felt even this high up into the Temple. Anakin and Yoda race forward to the main lifts as Shmi and I vanish from sight. Shmi headed back to the ship to move it to another location that we had rented before we even left the last system we had stopped into. Disciple Yoda would go to a very secret part of the Temple to retrieve his records and holocron as Anakin and I would hold off these clone troopers. Anakin made it to the grand hall as the troopers marched into the room.
"Stop this is the Jedi Temple!" Rang out through the hall and many of the troopers faltered as the Force enhanced volume of Anakin's voice assaulted their ears as they had their pickups on manual control. The rest stopped in place as heavily armed ARC troopers moved forward to face this lone Jedi.
"By the order of the Supreme Chancellor all Jedi are to be placed under arrest. Resistance will be met with excessive force." CT 2224 bellowed through the amplifier he held and still not able to match the volume Anakin had delivered.
"Good thing I am not a Jedi." Anakin with a swift movement of his arm unhooked his cloak from around his neck. His armor was very distinctive and acquired over the last year. His other arm came around and reveal a helm that he placed on top of his head with a distinct T shaped visor. Jenica could feel the shock going through the many clones that felt similar, but slightly different. She leaned in closer to the clone she was next to and she noted the number CT-7567 marking his helmet.
"You're Mandalorian?!" Cody yelled back at the lone figure.
"I am not just a Mandalorian." A blue silver blade that matches his eyes ignites as his arm releases a dozen rockets.
"Open fire!" The clones that can open fire on Anakin who had just attacked. Jenica tapped the clone next to her and knocked him out. For some reason she liked how he felt. The Arc troopers rained fire around the room and Anakin jumped from pillar to pillar. It was like trying to draw a bead on lightning. I could see what Anakin was doing as I worked m way around to the other end of the Great Hall. With their attention draw to the other end I flew up in the air to levitate as I dropped my stealth drawing more and more of the dark side into my being.
"There is a another Jedi! Open Fire!" Before they could raise their weapons I unleashed the dark side of the Force in a storm that exploded from my body.
"Wrong again, I am Sith!" For those troopers on one end they were cut down and crushed in invisible fists. On the other side they were burned and electrocuted in a storm of the dark side. Ninety percent of the troops that had entered the gigantic room never walked out of it. As the pillars cracked and crumbled those that could have been saved were crushed under the rubble as the massive weight of the ceiling could no longer be held. In a matter of an hour the 212th and the 501st clone battalions ceased to exist. CC-2224 was carried out of the rubble while bleeding from the left side of his face by a nearly unscathed CT-7567. However, they had both been scared by the battle in other ways. As they hobbled out of the Temple and to a field hospital the foundation of the Jedi plaza rumbled before dust exploded out from the Temple.
No one saw the lone ship or the large transport that left the temple moments before. Many claimed to have gunned down the armored Jedi that had attacked them or the abomination that electrocuted everyone in her path. Not one had seen them move to the edge of the plaza, but for a brief second both Rex and Cody saw the two before they dropped off the edge. From there pure chaos reigned as clones ran furiously in the blinding dust to the Laat gunships that had taken them across to the Jedi Temple. Many more rushed across the many bridges to escape the destruction.
It would be several days before the dust would clear, but from a higher vantage point you could see the sun hitting the peak of the mountain that the Jedi Temple rested on. All the effort to copy the Jedi Archives had been for nothing as the dust had cleared to reveal that the Temple was completely gone. As millions of tons of duracrete fell onto the plaza it broke off and pulled even more duracrete and durasteel from the side of the mountain. Eighteen square kilometers of Coruscant was nothing more than rubble and areas of the city that had not seen the light of day was revealed to the denizens of the undercity.
Chancellor Palpatine looked out across the cityscape and cackled with glee as he saw the smoke beginning to rise out of the Jedi Temple. He felt the dark side rise as he felt death radiating from the Temple grounds. It was only when the side of the temple caved in did his glee diminish slightly. The politician side of his mind was shocked at the unexpected consequence as his Sith side rejoiced at the sudden chaos and death. He drew in the feeling of the dark side as it rolled in waves radiating from the temple and fear of the surrounding areas as they were shaking in unheard of ground quakes. It was not until he felt another presence in the dark side did he slam his shields tightly closed, but not before he heard a distinctly female voice scream through the dark side of the Force.
"Gotcha!" Her voice radiated triumph as his rage was replaced by fear. There was no way this being could find him even if he leaked his presence in the Force. As much as he could feel her presence was somewhere near the Jedi Temple. It was only a vague direction and nothing solid. When the Temple collapse shook the building he was in he could feel the dark side was warning him that danger was coming. He remained ignoring his aides as they pleaded with him to escape. He finally moved as he saw the rest of the temple drop below the dust cloud of the previous collapse.