Chapter 27 - Chaos on Coruscant

DISCLAIMER: We do not own Star Wars or any of the characters in it, though we wish we did. xD

Author's Note: In which Order 66 begins. :')

~ Amina Gila

Anakin can't shake a serious sense of foreboding as he and Ahsoka fly up to their cruiser. And he's pretty sure it's not simply because he and his padawan technically are supposed to be staying at the Temple right now. Seriously, they could hardly stay there when the very center of the Republic is under attack in a battle that could potentially determine the fate of the war. There may be plenty of other Jedi who could handle it, but still. If Coruscant is lost, the war will be lost. Besides, if they do enough, maybe the Senate will think twice about wanting Ahsoka handed over. He can only hope. Law is law, and they more than likely won't make an exception, anyway.

Ahsoka and Anakin are heading towards the front of the ship when it hits him. Anakin stumbles to a stop. Something is wrong, so very, very wrong. The Force is screaming of danger. Of death. He presses one of his hands to his head at the sudden onslaught of feeling. People are dying, he can feel it. So many. What's happening? Why is this happening?

"Anakin!" he faintly registers Ahsoka calling his name, sounding about as panicked as he feels. As much as he tries, he can't get himself to move. The Force is crying of the pure wrongness of whatever is happening. Instead of fading, it's growing and growing. This is Dooku's doing, of that he is certain, but he doesn't know what's happening... "Master!"

"People are dying," he manages finally, shaking his head. "I don't know what's... happening..."

"I sense it too," Ahsoka murmurs gravely. Anakin forces himself forwards, stumbling unsteadily but remaining upright with impossible effort. The knowledge that she felt it hardly makes him feel any better. It was strong enough that he doubts any Force-sensitive, even completely untrained, couldn't have felt it. He pulls his shields up the best he can, trying to block it out. It's hard. It's always hard not to focus on the death he's surrounded by.

The doors to the bridge slide open and the two of them step inside. For a long moment, no one moves before all the clones start turning towards them. Rex's helmet clatters to the floor. Fives is standing a short distance from him, tensed as if ready for battle.

"Rex?" Anakin asks finally when the clone doesn't move. What's wrong? The clones surrounding them suddenly raise their blasters, taking aim.

"Ahsoka..." Anakin warns, the horrifying realization finally hitting him. Someone – Dooku – must have issued the Order. That's why he had such a strong feeling on the importance of de-chipping the clones, especially secretly. Some of them may not be affected, but now it's too late. For everything.

"No, I'll do it," Rex says before suddenly spinning around, aiming his blasters at them. "Stay back!"

Anakin can tell that he's trying to fight off the effect of the chip from the horror on his face and how his hands are shaking, but he's failing. For a long moment, everyone stands in place, and Anakin can feel the Force somehow managing to tense even further around him in an almost protective manner. Then everyone leaps into motion. Both of Rex's blasters fire at once, and Anakin ducks aside. Fives – the only clone besides Echo in the 501st who's been de-chipped – is the second to fire, a stun-bolt taking down Rex. It was so fast no one even saw it coming.

Anakin runs forwards, leaping onto a communication console in the center of the room. Ahsoka jumps up behind him, all three lightsabers igniting at once, Anakin's blue and Ahsoka's white. They stand back-to-back in the center of the room, lightsabers spinning as the other clones start firing at them.

They need to take them all down and get out of here. Anakin doesn't want to kill them. They've fought by his side since the beginning of the war, and he knows it's not their fault this is happening. That hardly makes him feel better about it. It's sickening Sidious was going to use the very men the Jedi had fought side-by-side with from day one against them. It's been well over a year since the start, not quite two, but Anakin and the 501st especially had established very close ties. Having to fight them now is... hard, but he can't let himself get distracted.

Fives continues shooting stun bolts at the others, running forwards to join Anakin and Ahsoka in the center of the room as some of the clones start turning their attention to him. Artoo beeps worriedly in the background, but there really isn't anything lot he can do to help right now.

Anakin has no idea how the chip works, but it must have been activated in all the clones at once. He can sense a group heading straight for them from the hall they entered the room through. Not happening. Reaching out with the Force, Anakin slams the door shut, only for one of the others to slide open and a group to start pouring it from that side instead.

They need to make their escape, and fast. He starts deflecting the shots up into the ceiling, sparks falling down around him.

Artoo rolls up behind one of the clones, electrocuting him unconscious before moving on to the next one. Anakin throws several of them into the wall with enough force to knock them unconscious as a few of them turn and try to shoot at the droid. Nope, not happening. No one touches his droid. Normally Anakin might have some words for Artoo knocking them out like that, but at least he's helping.

Several of them lunge forwards at Anakin, only for one to be promptly stunned by Fives. Anakin Force-shoves the others backwards. The one in front trips over Artoo and falls to the floor, who hastens to render him unconscious as well.

Another shove catches the clones in the doorway, throwing them out. Ahsoka takes the opportunity to slam the door shut again before they can try entering.

Soon there's only a couple left who aren't either unconscious or injured. Anakin and Ahsoka deflect a few more shots up into the same spot of the ceiling before there's a sudden explosion. Smoke and sparks fly everywhere as a hole is blasted through the ceiling right above them.

"Come on! We have to go before more start coming!" Anakin hisses. He darts over, picking up Rex. They're not going to leave him behind. He wants to do something about all of the others too, but the most they can take with them is one person, since more than likely, they're going to get attacked on the way out.

"Yes, sir," agrees Fives.

The three of them scramble up the hole in the ceiling to the next level as the doors to the room start opening again. Anakin glances around the fortunately empty hall. They'll need to move fast if they're going to escape. Artoo flies through the hole, landing behind them as they take off running.

Anakin is honestly surprised at how fast they make it to the medical area. Mainly, they have Artoo to thank, since he closes off any blast doors through which clones could come on the way there. Making sure the doors to the room are sealed, Anakin immediately has the droid get to work on Rex, scanning him to find the chip.

Finally, the droid beeps its report. "What? But that's not possible," Ahsoka protests.

"But the chip has to be there," Anakin exclaims, "Check again."

He can hear movement on the other side of the door. The clones have figured out where they are. They need to take care of Rex, and then make a hasty escape. Anakin loathes the thought of leaving any of his men behind, but he has to be realistic. He knows there is nothing else he can do. Maybe they can come back for the rest later, but trying to save them will hardly help if they all get themselves killed because they didn't even leave the cruiser. And, Anakin knows, he'll have to fight his way all the way out to the hanger bay.

"Maybe it's not picking it up because it was already activated," suggests Fives.

"That's a possibility," Ahsoka concedes.

Anakin paces around the room, doing his best not to think about what's happening everywhere else. Dooku must have given out the Order. He doesn't want to think about exactly how many Jedi – and clones – have died over the past ten minutes. And the Temple... they need to get back to the Temple! The Separatists were also attacking, and with no one to help the Jedi on Coruscant, they're going to be overwhelmed. Obi-Wan was still planet side too, or at least Anakin hopes so. If he is, that will give Anakin a bit more time to get down there to help him out. Otherwise, there wouldn't be a whole lot they could do. Then again, the lead clones of the 212th very well might have the first to be de-chipped, Anakin doesn't really know.

"Artoo, if they override the door controls, you'll have to seal it fast," the Jedi Knight warns the droid finally.

"Have you found anything yet?" Ahsoka asks in concern, looking to the droid still scanning Rex. It's beeps in the negative. Great. He'll have to try something else. It's like, even though he's unconscious, his mind is too chaotic for the scanners to pinpoint irregularities. The only way to find it is by calming it, which... is bad.

"I have an idea," Anakin murmurs, stepping over to Rex. He admittedly knows very little about Jedi healing techniques, but this was one he wanted Obi-Wan to teach him, and he instantly banishes the thought from mind, not wanting to dwell on it. Slowly, he reaches out to rest his hands on either side of Rex's head. He can't find any calm from the Force right now – everything is in too much turmoil – so instead, he digs deep within himself. "I am one with the Force, and the Force is with me." He reaches out, touching the clone's mind, feeling the turmoil within. Anakin tries to let himself focus solely on his deep caring for Rex, his determination not to let him go, as he delves deeper. "I am one with the Force, and the Force is with me."

It's as though their minds are momentarily woven together, Anakin slowly ripping his way through the tangled mess the chip seems to have made of Rex's mind. And if he works his way down far enough, he can feel it, a faint abnormality.

Suddenly, the droid whistles excitedly. "You found it?" Anakin demands, instantly snapped back to reality. "Get him under and remove that thing, now!"

Artoo beeps questioningly. "I don't know if it's going to work, but we don't have any other choice," Ahsoka replies. He sees her eyeing him, no doubt wondering how he knew what to do, but that's something they can talk about later. If there is a later.

"It should," Fives offers hopefully, moving to stand next to the bed as the medical droids get to work on the operation. It's obvious he's worried, but they all are. Anakin does his best not to think about how the clone must feel having to fight his own brothers, instead focusing on the situation at hand. Getting distracted will make everything worse.

"Get ready on the door," Anakin warns. He can hear them still working on getting it open, and it's only a matter of time now.

Anakin turns and steps in front of the bed Rex is lying on, fully intent on protecting him at any cost. Ahsoka and Fives stand on either side of him. He waits a moment longer before igniting his lightsaber. The door starts sliding open, and one of the clone's steps forwards to hold it up. Ahsoka's white blades instantly hiss to life, as the clones outside open fire.

The duo swings their lightsabers, deflecting all the blaster bolts back out into the hall, or into the walls. Anakin Force-shoves the ones in front backwards, but more instantly move forwards to take their places. Fives shoots a stun bolt at the one holding the door open, and it slams shut again. Artoo plugs himself into a port on the wall, sealing it closed.

The clones start cutting through only a moment later.

Anakin spins around as Rex slowly sits up behind them. "Rex! Are you okay?" he asks worriedly.

"Are you alright?" Fives echoes, hurrying to his brother.

"Yeah. Yeah, General, I'm okay. I'm sorry for what happened earlier. I almost killed you."

"It's fine," Anakin assures, one of his hands dropping to Rex's shoulder.

"It's not your fault," Ahsoka murmurs.

"Do you know how widespread this is?" Anakin asks. He suspects the answer already, but he needs to hear it. He needs to be certain.

"It's all of us. The entire Grand Army of the Republic has been ordered to hunt down and destroy the Jedi Knights," Rex replies.

The seriousness of the situation has the room settled with a sense of tension Anakin's never felt before, despite the many battles he's been through. None of them were anything compared to this. Instead of being at war on one front, they're being forced to fight on two. "And the Separatists are simultaneously attacking us. We're fighting on both sides," he realizes numbly. This is a fight the Jedi will never win.

"The order they gave out, it included all of the Jedi except for you, General. But then there was a specific order given for you." Rex adds. That's... odd. Why is there a specific order on the chips that's meant solely for Anakin? He supposes he's really not surprised. Sidious wouldn't want him to be killed along with all the Jedi since he wanted him to become his apprentice, but at the same time, the Sith would also want to have an easy way to eliminate him if it became necessary.

Anakin has no idea what it is that Dooku is planning, but all he knows is that the dangers probably go as far as to include the Jedi sympathizers. He hopes not, but of course they would. That includes Padme. He needs to get back down to Coruscant's surface!

"Wait a minute... wasn't it Dooku who gave the order?" Ahsoka asks warily.

"Yes, it was," Fives answers.

She scowls. "Of course, he'd do that."

"What?" Anakin finally manages to ask, a strange sense of numbness settling over him.

"He happens to hate you for some reason," she explains. Oh. Oh well. The feeling is mutual. Anakin's always going to hate him, too. "And now, we have to get back down to the surface to help!"

Anakin nods. "Of course."

"I'm not sure this is a fight you'll be able to win, even you, General," warns Rex. Normally, Anakin would have had joked in response, but definitely not today.

"I hate to say so, but I agree," Ahsoka sighs, looking down at the floor for a moment.

"The least we can do is go down there to fight and ensure there are as many survivors as possible," Anakin replies. "I'm sure there's some secret exits from the Temple. If we move fast, we might even be able to break through one of the main ones. Maybe."

"We can come with you," Fives declares. "We can help."

Anakin is already shaking his head before he even finishes. He knows they aren't going to like this, but he won't risk them. "No, you can't. You need to go. It's too dangerous for you to come. We can split up after leaving the cruiser. Go to Naboo. It will be safe there until we can figure out what's happening."

No one has a time to object before Anakin glances back over his shoulder, realizing the clones outside have finally finished completely cutting through the door. "Get ready!" he warns, spinning around and pulling out his lightsaber. He raises his hands, Force-shoving the door down the hallway. It throws back the clones behind it, knocking them all down several rows back.

He steps through the doorway first, his padawan one step behind. They spread out, Anakin on the right with Rex behind him and Ahsoka on the left with Fives behind her. Between their skill and the stun-bolts of the only de-chipped clones aboard, it doesn't take long to clear the hall. Artoo rolls along behind.

"Come on!" Anakin calls, taking off down the hallway for the hanger, "But to warn you, I'm sure the hanger will be the best guarded place of the entire cruiser."

"That's a comforting thought," Ahsoka grumbles.

Again, thanks to Artoo, their route is mostly clear. The progress is far slower than Anakin would like, since they have to keep stopping for Artoo to close off the doors and cut off any clones who might be coming to the hall they're in, but he won't complain because at least they're getting somewhere.

Finally, the four come to a stop in front of the hanger doors. Anakin immediately senses dozens of life presences on the other side. He pauses and steps back. "It seems like they've got this rather firmly barricaded."

The clones exchange worried glances.

"We'll have to go through, anyway," Ahsoka sighs with almost defeat.

Anakin lowers his gaze for a moment. It's the only way off the ship, especially since they don't really know where in space they are. "Artoo, open the main hanger doors," Anakin orders, steeling himself against the fight that is sure to come. He can try not to kill anyone, they all can, but there's only so much they can do. The hardest part is knowing his soldiers aren't even in control of their minds. Nothing that's happening is their fault. It's Sidious' and the Kaminoan's.

Artoo rolls over to a nearby computer port, plugging himself in, preparing for the upcoming fight. The droid whistles affirmatively.

"And try to get some of the clones out of the way," Anakin adds.

The droid whistles again, and the doors slide open.

He takes a deep breath, glancing across the hanger. Dozens of clones, probably close to a hundred, are lined up, facing the entrance.

Jesse is in front. "Hang on," he says into his comm, "We have Skywalker, Tano, and the Captain here. Send all remaining troops to my position."

Also what Anakin was afraid of. Artoo needs to drop some of the platforms to get them out of the way. If they're lucky, they can get past the clones straight to the shuttles without getting injured, because he can guarantee that with this many people, that's exactly what's going to happen. But still, he can't deny how much this hurts, because these are his men who he's stood beside since the beginning. Still, he does his best to force those feelings back. He has to focus. All that matters now is that him, Ahsoka, Rex, and Fives get out of here, so he can return to the surface and help Obi-Wan. After that... maybe he can try to help his men later. He dares not think he'll lose them all.

"Company, ready? Fire!" Jesse orders. The clones immediately start shooting at the four of them. Anakin positions himself in front of Rex, deflecting away the shots as Rex shoots stun bolts from behind him. Ahsoka is in front of Fives, doing the same.

Ahsoka stumbles a bit, her left lightsaber slipping from her grasp as a blaster bolt grazes her arm. It clatters across the floor behind her, but she continues fighting, reaching out to grab it again.

Anakin hears Artoo whistling as the parts of the floor in front of them start dropping. A small group of clones is left standing on the very edge. He runs forwards, throwing Jesse over the edge after his brothers. Ahsoka is a few steps behind. Her white blades slice through several of the clones' blasters, and she throws them over the edge as well. Behind them, Rex and Fives hastily stun the remainder in that group.

Anakin glances up, spotting another group of clones that didn't get dropped down to the level below. He runs forwards towards them, a Force jump carrying him across the gap between there and the opposite edge of the next section. A wave of energy explodes outwards, hurtling many of them to the ground, several being knocked to the level below.

"Did I ever tell you how crazy you are?!" hisses a wide-eyed Ahsoka on the other side of the hanger.

But as reckless as his distraction was, most of the clones in the group are focused on him now. When Rex and Fives start shooting at them from behind, they're momentarily caught off guard, and several of them are down before they even realize what's happening. By the time the clones in the back rows start turning around, Ahsoka is ready and waiting in front of Rex and Fives.

Anakin returns his full attention to his part of the battle, knowing full-well that even a momentary distraction will likely mean death. He finds himself reaching deeper into the Force than he has in a long time, if ever. Some of them start moving forwards, spreading out to surround him. At least that gives the other two a clearer shot at them.

It's not until a burning pain rips through his leg, jerking it out from beneath him and bringing him to his knees, that he realizes exactly how stupid that probably was. Attacking dozens of clone troopers – the ones who had largely learned his reckless methods of fighting – at once without anyone else by his side may not have been the wisest choice. At least he's keeping a lot of their attention off Ahsoka and the others.

That's the moment Ahsoka decides it would be a good idea to jump herself, landing in the middle of the battle. Lightsabers spinning, she cuts through a good four blasters at once and throw the clones down to the level below. "Master!" she calls, running to Anakin as he scrambles back to his feet.

"I'm okay," he insists, using the Force to dampen the pain the best he can, and returns his attention to the clones. It's fairly easy, given that he feels quite detached from his body right now, as he always is in battle. Between the two of them working on one side, and Rex and Fives on the other, taking down the remainder is a fairly fast process. The two clones hurry over to meet up with the Jedi as they make a run for the shuttles.

When they come over to Anakin's side, he notices that Fives had been shot in the shoulder somewhere during the fight, but he's still moving fine, so he does his best to suppress his worry and keep moving.

As they run towards the fighter, danger suddenly flares through the Force. Anakin spins around, ignoring his throbbing leg. Maybe it was worse than he'd originally thought. There is another large group of clones running through the still-open hanger doors, blasters raised. "Oh, great." Of course, they had to choose right then to show up. Jesse and the others will likely be arriving from down below momentarily.

There is no time for this. "Fire up the engines!" Anakin yells over his shoulder, "Get those doors closed!" The second is directed to Artoo. Hopefully, the trusty little droid has stayed clear of danger through this...

Rex runs forwards to take his place behind Anakin. Ahsoka darts over to one of the shuttles, scrambling inside to do as he ordered, though she's clearly not terribly happy about it. Fives hurries over to another. The two back up towards the fighters. "Once we get out of here, you'll have to leave the planet immediately," Anakin warns, just to make sure. If anyone disobeyed those orders and tried to help him, he can be sure Rex and Fives would. But on second thought, there might be something else they could do that would help him a great deal.

"As soon as you take off, see if you can contact Senator Amidala. Tell her what's happening. She needs to leave the planet." Anakin's lightsaber swings back and forth, deflecting the blaster bolts to the side as he speaks. He pauses for a moment, glancing back as he hears the sound of the engines firing up. "She's a Jedi sympathizer, and they're going to be endangered too."

"Yes, sir," calls Rex.

Artoo rolls towards them, beeping.

"Stay with Rex," Anakin commands. He's not sure taking the droid with Ahsoka down to the Temple would be a good idea.

It beeps affirmatively, rolling past him. He hopes he makes it out of this and sees the droid again.

"Engine's ready!" Ahsoka yells over the sound of blaster fire. She stands inside it, lightsabers swinging it in front of her. "Come on!"

"Go!" Anakin yells to Rex.

Firing a few final stun bolts at the approaching clones, Rex and Fives take off the for the shuttle. As soon as he's safely inside, Anakin scrambles into the other fighter alongside Ahsoka. Both ships blast off out of the hangar bay, diving down towards the surface.

As they descend, Anakin spots more Separatist forces heading down as well. This is not looking good. More and more, he's beginning to get the sickening feeling that the main purpose of the Separatist attack was to aid in destroying the Jedi. He can only hope Rex and Fives will do as he asked, because really, he and Ahsoka need to head straight for the Temple. He wants to go find Padme and make sure she's okay, but he's going to go where he's needed most. If there's a choice between seeing if she's okay and going to help Obi-Wan, he doesn't even need to think about what his decision will be.

The Jedi are the main target, and if Rex and Fives move fast enough, Padme should be off the planet by the time Dooku sends someone after her.

As they get closer, he finally can make out the scene at the Temple. Clones and droids, now working together, are swarming all around the structure. He can clearly sense the amount of death inside. Even being through as many battles as he has, nothing can prepare him for what he knows he's about to encounter down there. It would be so much easier if he didn't know the clones were practically being mind-controlled. Killing them when he knows that does not sit well with him at all.

Anakin does his best not to think of the fact he very well might have lost the 501st completely, but right now he has to focus on finding Obi-Wan.

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