Chapter 28 - Attacking the Temple

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 continues... :')

~ Amina Gila

Obi-Wan has hardly made it into the hanger at the Temple when he feels it. The sudden disturbance in the Force. Thousands of life-presences blinking out all at once. The Force itself is crying of wrongness. All in a flash, the light of the galaxy itself seems to dim.

He comes to a complete stop next to his fighter. What could have happened? Surely the Separatist's attack couldn't be that serious? But the disturbance isn't only from Coruscant. Whatever happened, it's spread all across the galaxy.

Then, there is a sudden surging turmoil through his bond with Anakin and his rather weak one with Ahsoka. First confusion, then dread, anger, fear... whatever happened has hit them also.

Obi-Wan doesn't get any farther than that before his commlink beeps.

"Master Kenobi," Master Windu's voice crackles over the comm immediately. The generally calm Jedi Master sounds unusually concerned. "We have just heard word that General Grievous is leading a group of droids and clones on the Temple. All Jedi must return immediately."

"I'll return to the Council chambers," Obi-Wan replies, breaking the connection.

The clones, too? But Sidious was dead. He couldn't have had time to give out the order. That's when it hits him. Dooku. It had to have been Dooku. He must have known of the clones' chips and taken matters into his own hands unless this was some sort of contingency plans. But now the Jedi are being attacked on both sides with no one but a few de-chipped clones to help.

But what's going to happen to all the Jedi who already are heading up to join the space battle? And Anakin and Ahsoka... what's happening to them? They may be very good fighters, but that doesn't mean they'd be able to handle this. Fives and Echo are the only one of the 501st who had their chips removed, and Echo is still down here at the Temple recovering, along with another group of recently de-chipped clones.

It doesn't take long for Obi-Wan to reach the Council chambers. He can see the shuttles descending already, converging on the Temple. They need to discuss the situation quickly and figure out what they're going to do, or the chaos will be even worse.

The situation is dire. Only half the Council members are present, since many of them are off planet, including Master Yoda.

"The Separatists are jamming our off-planet transmissions," Master Gallia informs the moment Obi-Wan enters the Council chambers. Just like he was afraid of. They have no way of getting the news off planet. Other than him, only Gallia, Windu, Depa, and Shaak Ti remain.

"With an attack like this, we stand little chance of achieving victory," warns Obi-Wan, looking out the windows again. Any moment now the battle is going to break loose. "The only way out is evacuation."

Windu nods his agreement. "We will need time. I can lead some of the other masters as a front line of defense to slow down the droids and clones and let the others escape."

"We must delete or remove all sensitive information from the Temple archives," reminds Shaak Ti.

"I will go to the front defenses as well," decides Depa. "It will take many to hold them off along enough."

"Obi-Wan and Shaak Ti, go to the archives and delete all the important information there," Windu orders. "We cannot risk letting it fall into Dooku's hands. May the Force be with you."

With a final exchange of farewells – for Obi-Wan can't shake the feeling it will be the last time he ever sees them – they all hurry out of the Council room to their tasks.

The Temple's alarms are going off as Obi-Wan and Shaak Ti hurry to the Archives and immediately get to work in the area that can only be accessed by the Council. Most people have already left, and it's not long before they find themselves alone.

They work together as fast as they can, knowing every minute counts. Obi-Wan can feel the battle raging down by the main entrance almost immediately, but now it's spreading to several other areas as well. The struggle is only getting worse, the number of deaths increasing faster and faster. Right now, though, he needs to focus on the task at hand. When everything in the life he's lived is in the middle of being destroyed, that is no small matter. Obi-Wan almost finds himself wishing Anakin was here. Machines have always been his former padawan's specialty, not his own.

Everything has begun the deletion process when Obi-Wan senses danger rapidly approaching. Four lightsabers – two green and two blue – stab through the door at once, cutting a hole. Once they're retracted, there is a momentary pause before the remains of the door is thrown inside. It hits the ground with a loud clatter.

The two Jedi Masters move slightly apart, standing in front of the controls, igniting their lightsabers. Somehow, the battle has already reached here.

General Grievous stalks into the room, all four lightsabers in his hands. Around a dozen MagnaGuards with electrostaffs are behind him. They spread out, equal numbers on either side, as a group of destroyer droids roll in with dozens of super battle droids following. This... certainly doesn't look good.

"Crush them!" shouts Grievous, "Make them suffer!"

Obi-Wan throws up a hand, Force-shoving one of the destroyer droids back into the group behind it. It rolls out of the room and back down the hall, crashing into a wall out of sight. Shaak Ti throws back several more of them, which collide with the line of super battle droids behind them, crushing a large number.

The same moment, the MagnaGuards all march forwards and attack. Obi-Wan takes a step back, watching as the groups split in half to fight each of them. He parries the first blows as the three in front advance on him. They swing for him again, and he moves in a nearly a blur, blocking their strikes as he backs off. His defensive style of fighting is going to be the only way he'll be able to pull through a fight like this.

He Force-shoves three of the droids away as his blade swings between the electrostaffs of the others, blocking each strike before it can reach him. As the three get back to their feet again and stalk forwards, he lunges at the other two, slicing one of them in half before his lightsaber swings through the head of the second.

He whirls at the sudden danger he senses through the Force, blocking the strikes of the three he'd previously thrown off. The headless droid lunges at him again also, flailing blindly. Blocking a few more slashes, he Force-throws the headless one hard into the wall. It falls, not getting up again. The same moment, one of the electrostaffs lands a blow on his arm.

He kicks the droid to the side, stabbing one of the other droids through its middle. The remaining ones attack him again. He dodges their attacks, using any opportunity he can find to destroy them. Thankfully, it doesn't take much longer to cut them down.

As the last one falls to the ground sparking, Obi-Wan looks over to see how Shaak Ti is doing. She's still battling the last two MagnaGuards. He would have gone to assist her, if the destroyers and super battle droids in the front hadn't all open fired on him.

Obi-Wan spins around to face them, swinging his lightsaber to deflect away the never-ending stream of blaster bolts. This isn't going to work. He'll never be able to destroy all of them like this, especially not when reinforcements are probably on the way.

As the first of the super battle droids begin to collapse from the deflected shots, he Force-throws one of the destroyers backwards. It rolls into the droids behind it, crashing into the ones behind that. He jumps over them, landing next to the other line of droids. Obi-Wan's blade swings through several of them, before deflecting a few shots straight back at the droids shooting, then cutting down a couple more.

Shaak Ti finally takes the down the last of the MagnaGuards and immediately turns her attention to Grievous. "Foolish Jedi," growls the cyborg, a green and a blue lightsaber activating as he blocks her blow.

That gives Obi-Wan an idea. He backs off a few steps as the droid continues shooting at him before Force-jumping to the other side of the room, landing close to Grievous. The droids can't shoot at either of them anymore unless they're going to risk killing their general.

"General Kenobi, you are a bold one," snarls Grievous, shoving Shaak Ti backwards before his arms split in half and he activates two more lightsabers. Obi-Wan swings his blade forwards meet Grievous'. Three of the blades clash with his – the last one Grievous pointlessly spins over his head for no good reason. Meanwhile, the super battle droids in the doorway stand ready to fire at a moment's notice.

Shaak Ti jumps into the battle again and the six blades clash furiously. Drawing back from the fight for a moment, Obi-Wan calls one of the nearby electro staffs lying strewn about on the floor to his hand and attacks Grievous with that also. The thing isn't his preferred weapon of choice, but it makes it a lot easier to fight the four-armed maniac.

The duel continues at full intensity before their blades finally clash into a saberlock. Grievous suddenly raises a foot, grabbing Shaak Ti and throwing her across the room at the droids. The move makes Obi-Wan's lightsaber slide, his blade cutting through one of Grievous' arms.

The cyborg stares down at his hand in shock for a moment before letting out a furious nonsensical growl and lunging forwards, the intensity of the strikes forcing Obi-Wan back a few steps before he throws him into the wall. The droids are now shooting at Shaak Ti who doesn't notice Grievous stalking up behind her, though careful to stay out of range of the firing. If Obi-Wan can't do something soon, he knows she's going to die.

The moment he hits the floor, Obi-Wan hastily scrambles to his feet, calling his lightsaber back to him. He sprints across the room towards them, but a moment too late. Everything seems to happen at once. Grievous lunges forwards, his blades swinging for the Togruta Jedi Master. She tries to jump out of the way while still blocking the droid's strikes, but a couple shots hit her at once, sending her lightsaber flying from her hand. With a gleeful growl of victory, the cyborg stabs one of his blades through her side.

Obi-Wan reaches them right as Shaak Ti collapses to the ground. She's never going to survive this. Maybe if she got immediate attention... but even then, it's only a maybe. And there's no way she'll be getting medical attention any time in the near future. Not when the whole Temple is under attack. How many others have already died? How many are even left by now? What's even happening to Anakin, and Ahsoka for that matter? Are they even – no. He can't think about that.

And he can't fully deny that he's at least partly fighting from anger when he attacks Grievous again.

**w**

Ahsoka doesn't even try to conceal her horrified gasp at the sight of the Temple. Even from their fighter, she can see the clones and droids completely surrounding it, blocking every entrance. She doesn't exactly trust the Jedi, or believe in them very much – probably the aftereffects of Dooku's training as much as she hates to admit it – but seeing the place like this...

"Oh, Force," Anakin breathes, equally horrified. "Come on! We gotta clear those entrances."

She nods with grim determination, letting Anakin fly the ship towards the Temple. He rounds the side of it, probably deciding it's best not to take the front entrance. That wouldn't help anything. Ahsoka can clearly tell even from here that the doors are open, and there must be a battle going on right inside. Instead, he circles around to where multiple side entrances are.

Ahsoka controls the guns, firing down at the area where droids and clones alike are guarding. She does her best not to think about the lives blinking out of the Force as the area explodes. The droids don't even have time to register the ship coming by the time they're already destroyed. Anakin dives down and up again to let Ahsoka fire across the area. It's cleared, but that's drawn the attention of some nearby clones who are rushing towards them.

"Bring us up!" Ahsoka yells worriedly.

"That's what I'm doing!" Anakin shoots back, sending the ship zipping straight upwards as the clones start firing. Actually, there might be a Destroyer or two down there, she realizes grimly.

For a moment, she doesn't see anything though the Force is clearly warning that something is coming. Ahsoka glances back and forth, then behind her. Vulture droids. "Great," she mutters under her breath, spinning the guns around to start taking out the vulture droids one by one.

Anakin sends the ship diving downwards away from the Temple to avoid being stuck by the sudden barrage of blaster bolts. The droids start coming down after, and the Jedi Knight lifts the fighter skyward again.

"Get those off us!" Anakin orders.

"I'm trying! But you're crazy flying is making that difficult!" It takes a moment, but Ahsoka finally manages to regain control of the guns. She hits one of the vulture droids almost immediately, sending it spiraling into another. Two more to go. She tries not to wince as the blaster bolts miss their ship and strike some nearby buildings, flames spreading across the area. They need to confine the damage. At least they need to avoid letting civilians get hurt as much as possible.

Anakin abruptly reverses direction and dives back towards the Temple. He cuts upwards and skims right over the top. One of the vulture droids crashes right into the side.

"Now you're destroying the Temple too!" Ahsoka complains.

"Look, there was no one right there, and that's hardly a concern. Buildings can be repaired, People... can't."

Really, she hates that logic, but it's the truth.

"Get ready," Anakin warns, "We're going to shoot out the main entrance."

"The main entrance?!" she hisses. What is he even thinking? There are way too many forces there. "Are you serious? We'll get shot down! Besides, we were supposed to be going to find Master Obi-Wan!" And she really, really does not want to wait to find him. The battle inside is fierce, and there's no saying if they won't get inside until too late.

"Hey, I'm worried about him too," Anakin replies, but his voice still radiates determination though it's slipped into something a bit more comforting. "But right now, the ship can do more damage than anything else. If we can clear up the entrances, that will do the most help."

Ahsoka sees there's no arguing with him anymore, so she turns her attention back to the guns. It's so... strange to think of Anakin being... logical instead of rushing straight into this. Honestly, she'd been expecting him to run right in there and nearly get himself killed, her being the one to try to keep him logical. Did Sidious' death already change that much about him so quickly? Or is it that he has someone else to worry about? She shakes off the strangeness, refocusing on the situation at hand.

"Come on!" Anakin dives across the Temple and brings the ship back down, straight towards the entrance.

She opens fire as soon as it comes in range. The explosions rip across the platform. The troopers who weren't killed or destroyed in the initial blast whirl around to look up at them, before starting to shoot at the ship. She fires another laser bolt, grimacing at the death and destruction it causes. Most of the nearby people are thrown to the ground from force of the explosion.

Anakin flies the ship closer forwards so she can take a few more shots. Almost everyone at the main entrance is down now. The only forces left are going to be inside, which she's certain is an awful lot. From out the viewport of the ship, she can see that more droid and clone reinforcements are heading this way already. Oh, great.

The ship finally flies into the air, preparing to fly away from this part of the Temple. "We'll try to stop anyone else from coming here," decides Anakin.

A sudden explosion rings out, the blast striking the wing of their ship. "So much for that!" Ahsoka yelps as she's thrown sideways, head slamming into the side of the ship.

"Hang on, this landing could get a little rough!" Anakin warns.

"Crashes are rough. Landings are not," Ahsoka offers.

"Then it's a crash landing!"

The ship descends towards the top of the Temple, skidding to a stop, leaving a trail of sparks and smoke behind. Ahsoka decides not to comment that now they're really damaging the building.

Anakin shoves his side door open, jumping out of the ship. "Come on," he calls as he breaks into a run.

"I hope you're not planning to dramatically enter by jumping off the roof!" she yells after him as she attempts to catch up. He ignores the remark and doesn't break his pace.

The Jedi Knight leads the way over to the edge of the roof, and they climb down into a nearby vent.

"Where too now?" asks Ahsoka as they drop to the floor a good distance down. She's frankly surprised as to how well they can fit through the vents, but then again, given how large the building is, she should have guessed the ventilation shafts would be large enough for both of them to fit through easily. But how does he know them so well? Anyway...

"Now, we're going to find Obi-Wan. I'll follow our bond, but we're going to run into some chaos on the way," Anakin cautions.

Ahsoka nods, following her master as he takes off through the halls. Even here, though there's no one in the immediate vicinity, she can hear the sounds of constant blaster fire. With the forces the Jedi are being attacked by, she knows the number of forces they destroyed on the outside will do little, but at least it can keep the people inside safe for a little longer. Everything is in chaos here. Ahsoka suspects they hardly had any time to prepare before the battle broke out, but she hopes they're escaping. Maybe they can try to help hold off the forces, but for now, they need to find Obi-Wan.

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