Getting this chapter up has been a pain and a half. Here's an extra chapter for how long it took to get chapter 3 up!
A small, gnarled hand braced itself against the corner of a run-down street corner. Yoda, Grandmaster of the Jedi Order and Master of the Council, hobbled along the undercity of Coruscant, feeling all 880 of his long years. He set a slow pace and not a single soul helped him. He did not have his twisted, wooden cane. He did not have a hoverchair. All he had were his worn feet and the feeling that he was very, very old. Much too old. His Jedi robe was lost somewhere along the line of his fall and subsequent waking up hours later. So too, was his lightsaber. Though, at the moment, he had a feeling that there was no great loss.
For the first time in a long time, Yoda felt the comfort of the force. Like an old friend who hadn't been able to reach out in a long time, it bolstered him, gave him the will and purpose to move on with his weary and broken limbs slowly, terribly slowly, towards the Jedi Temple. At least Darth Sidious was dead.
He huffed, stopping for a moment, and breathed heavily before continuing on his way. He'd grown accustomed to a lot of pain over the years, and the force dulled it better than any pain reliever he'd tried. Yet still, it was agonizing. He pushed the pain and feelings away into the force.
He had plenty of time to think on his long walk. Reflect on the war, on the status of the Jedi as warriors. On his own complicity in the near destruction of the Galactic Republic... and possibly the Jedi Order. Already, the Clone Wars had brought out much in him that he was not proud of. One thing Yoda has come to learn in his great age is that he is no longer cut out for the kinds of battles he once was in his youth. The fight on Geonosis took much out of him, and it was only a very small duel with his old apprentice, turned Sith Lord.
Then, though it had been less so than other Jedi Masters and Knights, Yoda was sent across the galaxy on diplomatic missions that turned into battles and fights. He had been sent to the frontlines and seen the horrors of war that made him feel centuries older. He had dueled with dark acolytes and had cut down thousands of battle droids.
How had the Jedi Lords of old done this? How had they faced war after war, battle after battle without feeling the same weariness that was now felt across the Jedi Temple? Had the dark shroud over the force been present then as it is now? Is it fate that the elderly must always be tired in the face of war and battle?
Yoda reflected some. He wasn't sure that one could win a war anymore. He was not as confident in the light as he had been just over a year ago.
He was no longer made for this. He felt as if he was a bit of butter that had been scraped over too much bread. He was thin, weary, and worn, and that's not even speaking about his physical body. The force could heal all wounds, yes, but there was a wear and tear that even that could not heal forever. The body grew old, and so too, did the soul.
He knew his death was approaching. Had known so for a long time. Before, it had been decades till, maybe a century at most. But a battle with the most powerful Sith Lord in recent history, far more powerful in many ways than himself, and then a subsequent fall so vast it was nearly unsurvivable if not for his small stature and reliance on the force.
It will not be long now. Not long at all.
He didn't need a lightsaber any longer; he'd had his fill of battle. Perhaps he doesn't even have enough left in him to lead any longer.
Mace would be the one to lead the Jedi through these next trials. A clear line through the future had to be walked. There was a foreboding in the force. One that whispered of great trials and tests to come. And Yoda would not be there to see it through.
The war was not yet over. Palpatine may have pulled and twisted the strings, pitting the Separatists and the Republic against each other in the name of the same dark plan to gain more power, but feelings and hatred ran deep throughout the galaxy. It was not just put there by Palpatine. War had already been inevitable decades before this, they had just been too blind to see it.
He gasped aloud as he placed his foot down wrong and brought back the pain from his impossibly long fall. He only needed to make it a little further to get to the temple now.
Yet... in this stillness and pain, he heard a voice call out to him in the force, clearer now that the shroud of the Dark Side had lessened. A voice he had not heard in a very long time.
The morning sun cast its light across the industrial hell-scape that was The Works within the Industrial District of Coruscant. Once the gleaming powerhouse of the entire galaxy, it produced and manufactured goods, weapons, and technology on which the entire galaxy depended in seemingly impossible quantities. However, costs and taxes increased, tariffs and fines were implemented, and a crackdown on the ethics of many manufacturing companies slowly drove the businesses off of Coruscant and elsewhere in the galaxy.
Now, the land was filled with vast, burned out buildings and towers. The entire land was filled with gas, smoke, and vapors pouring off the factories that still stood. Most of the Coruscanti stayed far away from this place.
The Works were just more evidence of the Core-world mindset and the mismanagement that caused corporations and businesses to move towards the outer rim, and thusly, the Separatist cause. It was only fitting that this would be the place of Palpatine's secret hideout, likely one of many.
There was evidence that this was the place where Count Dooku met with Palpatine and was able to hide and land on Coruscant without anyone in the Republic knowing. High-level authorization codes from the Chancellor himself opened many doors and silenced many questions.
The building, a run-down, decrepit tower, looked unassuming from the outside, and many buildings and factories in this area were dangerous or even lethal depending on what was produced within them. Nobody would ever guess what was inside.
Inside, the place was luxurious. The place was filled with artifacts dating back further than anything many of the Jedi Shadows crawling around had ever seen. Dating back further than even the Jedi Temple itself, statues of ancient Sith and the old Sith Wars were littered about, and a dark side ritual room had already been found and subsequently avoided for the time being. The place was filled with the dark side of the force, and Mace Windu was having a hard time keeping his temper.
The entire building was filled with Jedi Seekers, Shadows, and Investigators, all of whom had a healthy resistance to the dark side. The first batch of Jedi have been rotated out already. Prolonged exposure was, of course, dangerous, and there were few Mace was willing to let stay and risk it.
Mace stood there, looking through a datapad that contained some very concerning information.
Throughout their investigation, which originally started in Palpatine's office, they found a comm device that bounced off a transponder hosted somewhere in The Works, which led them here. They then began to search the main computer and database hosted here, which had much of its data encrypted or destroyed.
What wasn't, however, was concerning. Lists of names were on one file. Bounty Hunters used by the Dark Lord, his dark side agents, and senators within the Chancellor's pockets, whether knowingly or unknowingly. There was a spiderweb of connections the Chancellor had made throughout his tenure as Supreme Chancellor and first as Naboo's Senator.
Mace notices a cloaked, masked Jedi making his way over and puts down the datapad for a moment.
A gruff, synthesized voice speaks, "Master, almost all the names we've found either lead to dead ends, likely fake names, or evidence that the agents have gone to ground," the voice gains some noticeable frustration, "They likely had advance warning."
Mace releases some of his frustration to the force. They would likely be dealing with this web of lies, deceit, and corruption for years to come.
"Well, we expected that, in some sense. Coruscant wasn't built in a day."
"No... but still. It's unlikely that me or my seekers will find anything else today. Let me know if you find anything else."
"I will. Thank you." Mace released a steady breath. They simply did not have enough time.
Already, the Senate has called an emergency meeting later in the morning, only a couple hours away, and Mace needs to have something to show them by then. If it isn't very convincing...
He investigates the shatterpoints laid out before him, looking into possible futures. They're clearer now, but not much more so than before Palpatine's death. The dark side had grown too strong for too long for anything else.
A shatterpoint lies before him. If he doesn't have something very good to show the Senate today, the fate of the Jedi within the Republic may still be suspect.
Mace looks at the datapad again and finds something more suspect. Something seen only by himself and one other.
He sees plans, barely scraps, and mostly garbage data, encrypted and deleted beyond repair. What has become clear, however, are plans to craft and twist a new apprentice. One far younger and more powerful than Dooku. Plans that have come to light date all the way back to Palpatine's time as a senator.
Plans that seemed to include a young boy from Tattooine, who got swept up in things beyond his understanding.
It spoke of a relationship. A record of strategy, lies, and twisted relationships to draw out the anger and grow the attachment. To use and abuse the relationship between a Jedi Knight and his secret wife. A relationship that should never have occurred in the first place.
It spoke of Knight Skywalker. The next apprentice in the long line of Sith.
It spoke of Darth Vader.
Mace Windu wept.
At first, Obi-Wan thinks he has passed into the Living Force.
He looks and sees a kaleidoscope of colors reflecting in weird dimensions and with strange frequencies. He sees streams of flowing rainbows moving in and out of this meta-physical plane.
Seeing beauty in a way that he has never seen before.
He feels the light swirl around him and deposits his essence into an ever-flowing stream. It pulls at him, gently, pulling him away from the natural world and all that he's ever known.
It feels calm, soothing, and blissful in a way that nothing ever has. How good would it feel to let go? To become one with the Force, the way all creatures must someday do.
And yet... something within him pulls in protest. He could not go. Not yet. It isn't time.
But the light knows this too, and so the stream diverts in response. Neither flowing into the great beyond nor returning to the land of the living. Instead, it takes him and casts him into the in-between.
His vision widens, and suddenly he has form once again.
He is standing in ankle-high water. It was so dark as to be almost black, and it stretched out before him as far as the eye could see. All of it still and unmoving. There is mist, almost white in color, floating and swirling atop the water.
Obi-Wan looks and notices something strange. His right leg seems vibrant in a way that the rest of his form is not. He reaches out to touch it with his right arm, before noticing that that limb, too, is glowing. The limbs he remembers losing in a duel just before he was here.
Upon investigation, he finds that the rest of his body is dull and almost lifeless. It looks pale and sullen compared to his glowing limbs.
A word from beyond seems to reach his ears.
"Luminous beings, are we, not this crude matter!"
It makes him chuckle, and it feels familiar to him, even though he knows he's never heard it before.
Suddenly, an orb of glowing light rises from the water in front of him, vibrating and emanating with the force before it shatters into golden dust.
The dust seems to swirl and take form until, there before him, stands Qui-Gon Jinn. His old Jedi Master.
Obi-Wan is bewildered, so much so that he can't even speak.
Qui-Gon seems to smile. "Ahh... young Padawan, it is good to see you."
Jedi Master Mace Windu does not have much time to grapple with what he's learned. Instead, he must rush off to an emergency meeting in the Senate to deal with the death of the Supreme Chancellor.
There is little Mace enjoys less than standing before the Senate Body. He loves the Republic, perhaps too much in some ways, but the Senators? The less said about them, the better.
The Senatorial Rotunda that hosted the Galactic Senate Building on Coruscant was a building of luxury and wealth. It dominated the skyline in much the same way the Jedi Temple or Executive Offices of the Republic did.
Many who walked the Coruscant grounds and undercity saw the building as a symbol of everything wrong with the galaxy. It was filled to the brim with senators that cared little for the people they represented and those that needed help and support across the galaxy.
Instead, it was filled almost entirely with those that cared only to line their own pockets and the pockets of their friends.
Now, the rotunda is nearly surrounded by starships and news vehicles just outside the no-fly zone, all looking to get shots and information on those entering and leaving the Senate. More importantly, they are looking to get pictures of the Jedi.
Mace was aboard a Coruscant transport with Masters Adi Gallia and Oppo Rancisis, the two Jedi Masters on the Jedi Council who were not injured or killed in the fight with Palpatine. They sat in silence, and there was an uneasiness that was much deeper than only a few days prior. It had seemed like the death of Count Dooku was going to bring only good news regarding the war. To learn that the leaders of both factions were Sith Lords would not bode well for the public perception of the Jedi.
Sadly, the news had already broken across Coruscant, and likely, the galaxy. As far as the public knew, the Jedi had shown up at the executive offices of the Supreme Chancellor late at night and assassinated him in a bid to seize power for themselves.
Never mind the fact that the Supreme Chancellor was a Sith Lord and a Separatist. Never mind the fact that the Jedi had the legal authority to do as they did.
The court of public opinion had already branded them as traitors.
The consequences of his actions seemed to be unraveling before him. Anti-Jedi sentiment had been on the rise for a long time, but it had never seemed this serious. Not an hour passed that Mace didn't regret thinking through everything that went down just the night before.
Master Yoda had been found on the steps of the Jedi Temple, deep in a force trance, and taken to the medical center. Obi-Wan had apparently seen some improvement, and Mace still needed to speak to Knight Skywalker. If Mace had practiced more caution, perhaps Master Tiin might've still been alive.
They were very lucky that things had turned out the way they did. That this was a good result, one where the Jedi were hated, the Republic turned against them, and the war continued onward, spoke very dark things about the future that might've been with Palpatine holding all the strings.
Now, they had to deal with all the puppets who didn't have their puppet master. Mace felt a grave premonition in the force... this would not be a fun meeting before the Senate.
What few knew is that the Jedi Order held a Senatorial Pod within the Galactic Senate Building. It was rarely used these days, but it was useful when the Jedi had something to present or a reason to speak in front of the Galaxy. Mace stood in it now, next to his Jedi compatriots, and looked down upon the rest of the Senate.
Mas Amedda, Palpatine's Vice Chair, seemed to have disappeared, similarly to all Palpatine's agents. Thusly, there was no executive member who could preside over the Republic Senate. Instead, the senator who had called the emergency session stood in the middle of the Senate, where only days before the Supreme Chancellor had announced Dooku's death.
Senator Bail Organa of Alderaan is the moderator, and despite his friendship with the Jedi, Mace had a feeling that would not make him act with any bias.
The Senate itself was a mess. Almost every single senatorial pod was filled with their representatives. Usually, even when free, senators would miss meetings for 'more important' things, like lining their pockets or wasting money on expensive lunches. Not today.
Today, the Senate building was a cacophony of noise. Yelling and screaming before the session had even began. Between yells of "Treason!" and "Traitors!" to the milder "Separatists!" and an overall angry attitude directed towards himself, Mace did not expect this to go well.
Padme Amidala, Senator of Naboo, sat in her Senatorial Pod, trying to process everything that had occurred. The Supreme Chancellor had revealed himself as a Sith to Anakin. Then, Anakin told the Jedi. A Jedi Master was killed, Ahsoka, Anakin, and Obi-Wan boarded a medical LAAT back to the Jedi Temple, and then Mace Windu spent the rest of the night and early morning stonewalling the Senate until this emergency session.
Ahsoka had sent a single message, early in the morning, saying, "We're all alive. Obi-Wan is gravely injured. Anakin killed Palpatine. He isn't talking."
A strange calm has settled over Padme these past few hours. She hasn't slept, but between speaking with Bail and formulating her own plans, she is perfectly, terribly calm. There will no doubt be accusations thrown at her in the coming days. Chancellor Palpatine was the last Senator of Naboo. He was, in some sense, her confidante in the Senate.
She was always aware that his politics were different than hers. He was more prone to action and wanted to solve an issue no matter the cost. It hadn't seemed so bad only a few days ago. Now, though?
It all seemed to spell out something much more terrible. Padme didn't know what to think. Not about the Chancellor, not about the Jedi... and not about Anakin.
Anakin was hurt. And in some ways, he was still very damaged by the things done to him when he was younger. Between growing up a slave, and then being inducted into the Jedi Order... there was much wrong about their relationship. She'd always known this, of course. But it was fun to have a tryst with a Jedi. To be in love with someone so passionate with a secret so scandalous.
But with the same sense of calm that had settled over her and had settled over her during the times she'd entered battle or feared for her life, she recognized that something would have to change.
She would be investigated. Questioned and looked at closer than possibly any other for her shared heritage with Palpatine. For his assistance in her ascension to the position of Queen and later Senator. That attention would uncover the many mistakes Anakin and she had made in the past couple of years.
The Jedi would find out, and maybe so too, would the Republic. She loved him, but would love be enough for the coming months?
Bail Organa only has the appearance of comfort as he stands in the position that was normally held by the Supreme Chancellor or the Vice Chair. The noise within the Senate Chambers calls back to just before the Clone Wars started, when the walls echoed with the yells and cries of various senators, all wishing to have their voices heard before the session began.
Bail looks at the chronometer on the screen in front of him as it ticks to 10:00 in the morning. He clears his voice slightly, and prepares to do what he has never been comfortable doing. Taking control, forcing others to listen to his words, and exhibiting his authority—this was a role better fit for the Supreme Chancellor.
Bail Organa, Prince Consort and Senator to the Queen of Alderaan, was an even-tempered, well-spoken, but reserved man. He did not want power, nor was he interested in keeping the power he did have for any longer than necessary. But what he did know was that he was a man that many listened to.
He was the man who spoke out for peace in the middle of the war. He was the man found on the front lines, delivering supplies and food to the dispossessed and those looking for refuge. Though he was never a man to brag, he recognized that his actions in just the past few years had given him a voice that many listened to. Respect gained from the more moderate faction in the Senate.
Even his political opponents, those that originally called him a Separatist for his words, could no longer contest that he had the Republic's best interest in mind.
So, when he had spoken to his faction about who should call the emergency meeting and who should moderate the session, there had really only been one option.
His voice, singular, cutting through the outcries and white noise of the chambers, "Order! I will have order in this session, or we will never finish what we came here to do."
Much of the noise was cut away, though there were some who waited for the noise to die out to call one last "Traitors!" at the Jedi.
A Senate Cam droid, flying on its repulsorlifts up to record Bail's face. The slightly intelligent droid sat and waited for him to speak.
His voice rang out, still calm but unamplified, "We've come here today to ascertain the truth of events that occurred last night around 22-hundred hours in the Executive Chambers of the Supreme Chancellor between certain Jedi Masters, including one Jedi Master Mace Windu, Jedi Grandmaster Yoda, and the former Supreme Chancellor. Jedi Master Mace Windu...I would like your account of the events from last night."
The bald, Korun Jedi Master stepped forward to the edge of his pod and looked out over the rest of the chambers with his stern face.
Bail had many reservations about the Jedi, but he understood that, for the most part, they were a moralistic warrior religion, and that had the best interests of the Republic in mind. Certain Jedi, like any other group, were less trustworthy or more prone to mistakes than others.
He had spoken to Yoda many times, and in some cases, about Jedi Master Windu, and so he knew that much of Windu's reactions towards things were filtered through his unique connection to the Force. Still... if he hadn't known better, Mace Windu looked like a man untroubled by his actions last night. As if executing the Supreme Chancellor of the Republic was an annoyance more than anything.
He could only imagine how those who knew nothing of the Jedi saw Master Windu.
The Jedi Master spoke, "Last night, I received word from a Jedi informant, close to the Chancellor. He had received some troubling information regarding the Supreme Chancellor."
A Neimodian yelled out, "Who was the informant?"
"That is confidential."
A chorus of grumbling and whispered words rose around the chambers, somewhat disbelieving and somewhat angry.
Mace continued, "I was with Jedi Masters Yoda, Saesee Tiin, and Obi-Wan Kenobi, wandering the temple grounds. We had all sensed a disturbance and a foreboding warning from the force. When the informant reached us, they told us that Supreme Chancellor Palpatine had revealed himself as a Sith—"
The noise in the Senate rose and cut Windu off.
Cries from senators reach Mace's ears and only serve to increase his annoyance.
"OUTRAGEOUS!" cried one Senator.
"Impossible!" another.
"Treason, you should be executed before the High Court!" That one was perhaps a bit aggressive.
Palpatine had managed to twist the Senate so completely around his finger. The moderates, while disappointed, had been behind Palpatine himself. A wise, kindly old man who wanted the best for the Republic and perhaps had an overly judicial hand. They knew he was slightly authoritarian, but not the full extent of it.
The extremists on one end had already been rooted out of the chambers years ago when the Separatists seceded.
That left a Senate that was composed of Palpatine devotees and staunch supporters of the war and authoritarianism. And now, after his death, they were seeing red towards the one who had killed their figurehead.
Bail Organa seemed to be trying to get control over the chambers, but to little avail as the cries grew louder and showed no signs of stopping.
Mace, however, wasn't dealing with it today. He bunched the force around his vocal chords and silenced the chambers, "Enough!"
"I am going to continue my testimony, and you are all going to listen. Then, I will be submitting the Jedi's findings and reports to the council for all to see. The evidence is damning, I do not require you to believe it. It is truth."
Mace felt the resentment and anger around the Senate, but there wasn't much they could say in protest. He was a Jedi, a General of the Republic, and he had rights here that they did not.
The only one who could overrule him was the moderator of the session, who didn't seem to be intervening.
Or the Supreme Chancellor, of course.
Too bad he was dead.
"After receiving word of these grave accusations, the Jedi Masters I was with all boarded a LAAT and headed to the Executive Building. The entire building was empty. There were no guards or other personnel, and we made our way to the Supreme Chancellor."
A murmur spread throughout.
"When we arrived, I used the powers granted to me as a Jedi Master of the Jedi Council, in accordance with the Ruusan Reformation, which this Senate passed over a thousand years ago, which gave me the right to arrest and investigate any person, up to and including the Chancellor of the Republic, if I believed they had committed a treasonous act or were a Sith."
The chambers rose in volume again, and a modulated voice was heard calling out, "You shouldn't have that right!"
Mace glared at the Ithorian who had spoken. "Whether or not I should have that right is unimportant in these circumstances. I do have that right. We lit our sabers in defensive positions. The Chancellor then committed an act of treason. He used the force to grab a red lightsaber and then attacked us."
There was apparent disbelief throughout the chambers. Palpatine had the appearance of a kind old man who sometimes had trouble getting around. He was spry for an elderly gentleman, sure, but to attack four armed and experienced Jedi Masters? It seemed preposterous.
"We dueled. At the end of the duel, Master Tiin was killed, Master Kenobi lost two limbs and was in critical condition, and Master Yoda had been thrown through the Chancellor's window into a several hundred-story fall. He survived but is also in the medical center."
He looked out over the rest of the senators of the Republic, trying to look as many of them in the eye (or eyes) as possible.
"I do not care if you believe it or not. Regardless, proof enough for his arrest and execution was found on his personal computers, datapads, and in a safe house in the industrial district. I've given you the liberty of uploading all the data the Jedi are releasing at this time to the Senate database. Good day."
With that, Mace Windu turned around and walked out of the Senate chambers, flanked by the two Jedi Masters that came with him.
In those files was a wealth of incriminating information. Hopefully, enough to convince enough of the Senate that Chancellor Palpatine was a Sith Lord and had been supporting both sides of the war.
Almost all the data they had found within the 12 hours since his fight with Palpatine had been uploaded. He only held back Palpatine's plans for Anakin. Although he had many questions, he needed to ask Knight Skywalker in the coming days, through this time he had come to respect him, in a sense.
The man could be a brat from time to time, and prone to too much anger at the flip of a switch, but when it came down to it, he was willing to do what needed to be done. That did not, however, excuse his use of the Dark Side and his actions recently. A fine line needed to be walked. What the Jedi sought was justice. Too often, the pursuit of vengeance and death could be disguised as something noble.