The Deep Core. The oldest known region of the Galaxy. Populated by so many stars that traveling through it was exceedingly dangerous. Dangerous, that is if you didn't know exactly where you were going. Fortunately, the Jedi did know. Upon arrival at the rendezvous point, Master Yoda had the ships wait for 5 standard days to give survivors time to reach the rendezvous. It saddened him that so few had survived. Over 7,000 Jedi, dead. For a being who could remember when the Order numbered in the millions, seeing so few left saddened him deeply. While waiting for other survivors, Yoda had spent his time meditating, as he suspected a great number of Jedi had. In that time, he had come to realize the extent of the changes the Order would need to make. Convincing everyone else would be the hard part.
For Anakin, the waiting was the worst part. He had volunteered to fly ahead, make sure Tython was still secure. Master Yoda had declined, stating that Anakin would be needed here in case Palpatine caught on to where they had gone. Anakin suspected that what Yoda really meant was that he would prefer if Anakin spent the time meditating and try to come to peace with everything that had happened. He did try. And he had to admit, that he was at least partially successful. His mind did feel much clearer than it had in a long time. He probably owed a Yoda a thank you for that. Had it really taken the near death of the Order for him to become the Jedi he should have been all along? Anakin shook his head. One more thing to meditate on. He really should have paid more attention to Obi-wan when he was a Padawan. Then maybe he'd actually have the hang of this.
_
As soon as Padme had disconnected, Ahsoka flew into action. Though she was technically no longer a Jedi, she had little doubt as to how the Sith would view her. Fortunately, she was still enough of a Jedi that she hadn't acquired much in the way of belongings. She even still dressed like a Jedi. Luckily, she had just finished building a new pair of lightsabers. She had a feeling that she was going to need them.
Right as she reached the spaceport she felt the Force almost literally scream in agony as countless Jedi were snuffed from existence. It was enough to drop her to her knees. It was just her bad luck that a squad of Clones was passing by just then and one of them happened to see her lightsaber.
"JEDI!!!" the Clone shouted.
Before anyone else could react, she was up and into the attack. Batting blaster bolts aside with one blade and slicing through the Clones with the other. "Well," she thought, "there goes my plan for a nice, quiet get away. Guess its time for Plan B." Unfortunately, she didn't really have a Plan B. Deciding that her odds weren't going to get any better, she made a break for it and reached the landing pads. This is when being Skywalker's apprentice really paid off. She could instantly look at a ship and just know it was what she needed. Or not. So it was now. Bounding up the ramp, she slapped the controls to begin closing it as she rushed past them. Reaching the Cockpit, she immediately began an abbreviated power up sequence. As soon as power was up, she flipped on the shields, hit the repulsors and rocketed up into the Coruscant sky chased by a hail of blaster fire. "That didn't go so bad," she thought. Now, to head to the Rendezvous.
_
Deciding it would be best not to take a direct route to the rendezvous from Coruscant, Bail instructed his ship's pilot, Captain Antilles, to make several indirect jumps to throw off anyone who might be tracking them. It was on the second redirect that he began picking up emergency distress signals. Over the next day, the Tantive IV picked up over a dozen Jedi who had managed to escape the Clones but lacked a hyperspace capable ship. Among these survivors were Jedi Masters Shaak Ti and A'Sharad Hett. Once Bail and his crew had determined that there were no further distress beacons, he ordered his ship to the Rendezvous.
Upon his arrival at the Rendezvous coordinates, Bail, Padme, and the surviving members of the Jedi High Council met aboard his ship. Bail was deeply saddened to find that half the Council, including his friend Mace, were no longer with them. But Bail was, above all else, a politician. There was business, very important business, to attend to now. He would grieve for his friends later.
To Padme, it seemed like forever before an agreement was reached. Bail would provide intelligence from within the Senate of what was happening in the Republic. He and Padme would begin a quiet recruitment of Senators that would be willing to oppose Palpatine. This would be more difficult for her as, to the rest of the Galaxy, she was being reported as dead, killed by the Clones that had attacked the Senate. She had tried to argue with the Jedi that she would be much more useful if she returned to the Senate. While they agreed that she likely would be, Master Yoda had put the final nail in that coffin by reminding her of whose children she carried and that with Sidious now lacking an apprentice, he would likely take them to train and kill her out of hand. Judging by the looks on the faces of the rest of the Council, Yoda apparently hadn't quite gotten around to telling them about her and Anakin. Just wonderful she thought. On the plus side, they really couldn't afford to expel Anakin from the Order at this point.
Of course the truly difficult part of the assignment she and Bail had was convincing the Senators they contacted that the Jedi weren't behind the attack on the Senate and that it had actually been orchestrated by Palpatine. And to do it without letting it slip that the Jedi were still alive, still determined to end the threat of the Sith for all time. At least not until they were certain they had that Senator's support. The Jedi for their part had decided to briefly take some time to heal and center themselves and would then begin doing what they could to disrupt Palpatine's plans and generaly make life as difficult for him as they possibly could.
After Bail had left, informing them of a Senate meeting the Chancellor had called, the Jedi began discussing what they would have to do once they reached Tython. No one really knew what they would find there. Jedi records indicated that, at one time, there was a fairly substantial Temple on the planet along with numerous Landing Pads, Training Grounds and Meditation Groves. But these records were nearly a thousand years old. The records also mentioned that a number of maintenance droids were left behind to care for the Temple and associated infrastructure, but it was doubtful if any of them were still active after over 900 years. One thing the Jedi did have in their favor however, was the fact that a fairly large percentage of the Jedi Service Corps had survived. The AgriCorps, MediCorps, ExplorCorps and EduCorps would be invaluable in resettling Tython.
_
Admiral Wilhuff Tarkin looked out over Mustafar. The Separatist traitors actually believed they would be safe here. Now that he no longer had to worry about the Jedi's moralizing, his orders were clear and simple. No survivors. He would personally lead the strike team to the surface.
It was all over quickly. The Clones gunned down every last one of the alien scum. He made his way to the communication console and transmitted the order to shut down the Separatist droid armies. Finished with that, his only remaining task was to contact the Emperor, as Palpatine was soon to be known.
_
Palpatine's address to the Senate was broadcast live over the Holonet. Everyone on the shuttle sat in stunned silence as he deftly manipulated and played the Senate. Hearing how Palpatine twisted the facts to suit him, Padme had to admit a grudging respect for him as a political operative. Of course, she quickly dismissed it remembering what he'd done to get his power. Hearing him utter the phrases, "the Republic will be reorganized into the First Galactic Empire, for a safe a secure society," and "By bringing the entire galaxy under one law, one language, and the enlightened guidance of one individual," made her deeply afraid for the future. Unlike most of the beings listening to the speech throughout the galaxy, she was very well aware of exactly what Palpatine meant. Hearing him announce a new position of Regional Governors that would report directly to him, made the Senate even more powerless than it already was. And the rest of the speech only got worse. By the time it was over, she was practically physically ill. The Jedi were little better.
"The remaining Jedi will be hunted down and defeated!" Those words continued to echo within Obi-wan's head. The applause that followed just seemed to amplify it. After that, Palpatine's declaration that the Republic would be reorganized into an empire felt somewhat anti-climactic. How could they not see what Palpatine was doing? Were they so blind? Hadn't the years of war taught them anything? Dark times were definitely ahead. Padme had said it best he thought, "So this is how liberty dies-to thunderous applause."