A MESSED UP DESTINY

A STAR WARS STORY

Chapter 34

Disclaimer: Disney owns everything and I make no profit from this.

Hello there everyone and welcome to chapter 34 of the story! This might end up being a bit shorter than usual, but that's only because there are some very specific things want to explore and address in this chapter. The story picks up not too long after where we last saw Anakin, who is still making his way to Padme's new and 'more secure' position, since she was moved from her apartment, which is still in shambles by the way. Also, this chapter is the second to last one in the Coruscant Arc, and we'll be moving to the Blue Shadow Virus Crisis once it's over and done with, but there is one more short chapter I'll need to write beforehand, which is really important and can't be skipped. I won't say anything else now, and instead let as get started with no further interruptions.

So…without further ado…let's dive right into chapter 34!

Good Soldiers Follow Orders! Having taken down the deadly Trandoshan Bounty Hunter Bossk, Anakin is making his way to the Coruscant Guards' Headquarters, where Padme and her family are being questioned as part of the investigation behind the attack meant to take their lives. Meanwhile, trouble is brewing in the Undercity of Coruscant, as a squad of the Chancellor's personal Troopers cause a ruckus in an attempt to find and eliminate General Anakin Skywalker before he can make his way to the Senator's position…

Coruscant, Undercity, Anakin's point of view:

Traversing through Coruscant's Undercity, a haven for criminals and scum of all kinds, undetected would simply be impossible, even for someone like me. Doing so unrecognized however, that was another matter entirely. In an attempt to hide my identity from those around me, I had pulled my hood as far down as it would go, and had put a Force Illusion in place so that anyone looking would see only darkness underneath. Since this particular variant of the technique was not perception-based, it would also work on security cameras and droids, with only extremely powerful Force Sensitives being able to see through it, assuming they were actually looking, that is.

Still, not a risk I wanted to take, especially since the Two Sisters, the Sith Phantoms that had abducted Siri only a few days ago, may not have been the only ones existing on Coruscant, though Revan's men were still investigating that, always looking out for the next sighting. After all, on a planet such as Coruscant, with amounts of death and suffering to rival battlefronts on the frontlines of the War, the Dark Side was present in massive amounts, it would undoubtedly tempt more Phantoms to try and escape the Netherworld of the Force by using those dark and twisted energies and I wasn't taking any chances in my half-injured and exhausted state.

Not wanting to think about Bossk at the moment, nor the way I 'dealt with' him, I continued making my way to the Coruscant Guards' Headquarters, where Padme had mentally informed me that she and her family were still being questioned by Commander Thorn about what happened at her apartment. Upon receiving this information, I had advised that she be as open as she can with him, since I recalled Thorn was a dutiful soldier and above all, a good man. He'd do all he could to keep them safe and secure while working to find the person behind the attack, even though I knew he never would, or even if he somehow did, wouldn't live to tell the tale.

After taking an elevator and quietly riding it until I was on back on the surface, I began walking in the direction of Padme's Force Presence, careful to keep a good eye on my surroundings. Attuned to the Force as I was, I couldn't help but notice another familiar presence, that of Clone Commander Fox. He was on patrol at the time, nowhere near Padme, but I couldn't shake the memory of him killing Fives out of my head.

He had never been my favorite Clone after that, and even as Darth Vader I'd only tolerated him if I absolutely had to, which was something I'd refrain from this time around. Fox was a good soldier and while I wasn't about to stir up conversation if I ran into him, I'd do my best to be civil to him. I had already avenged Fives by killing the Commander in another lifetime, and the memories that brought up were enough to make me stay away. Even if they weren't, I'd still steer clear from Fox, since looking dead people in the eye and pretending I hadn't been the one to kill them was never easy, and it would be much harder when it came to those I knew personally once upon a time.

Turning my mind's eye away from the Commander and his men, I continued searching the streets for signs of trouble, since Sidious had already shown he wouldn't back down this time, not until Padme was dead. She'd have to be extremely careful from now on, because when Sidious wants something, there will always be an army's worth of 'good soldiers' to do his bidding for him. It's how Fives had died. Sidious had known he was a liability, had given the order to Fox, and the Commander had taken the shot. Good Soldiers were meant to follow orders, and I could no longer blame him for doing just that.

A nearby shout stopped my train of thought, and I could sense fear and pain through the Force, emanating from a few streets down. I never even considered walking the other way, and dashed to where the shouting was coming from, only to see a group of Clones holding a Rodian man at gunpoint, nearby civilians either panicking or yelling for them to let him go, but none of the Troopers paid any mind, and I immediately understood why upon seeing their armor.

The entire squad wore armor far different from the standard Phase One Clone Armor that had been given to the rest of the army, with some defining features from Phase Two clearly distinguishable if one knew where to look. However, the important thing was the color of the armor. Painted a dark purple, it was the signature color of Sidious' personal Clone Legion, composed of the most brutal, blindly obedient and stone-faced soldiers in the GAR, even including some minor behavioral modifications on occasion.

Darth Vader had read through hundreds of reports about their missions, finding that each and every one of them was simply Sidious' dirty work being done for him. Hunting deserters, executing strikes against his political opponents, fearmongering to give the CIS more reason to fight the Republic, executing whole settlements to keep his pet projects a secret, guarding bases that no one else knew of like the one on Byss or the Death Star itself during the years of the Republic…

These guys were no joke, their special brigade unit having assisted with the attack on the Jedi Temple, hunting down anyone who managed to get out and away from the 501st. They were specially trained to handle anything, and injured as I was, I'd rather not pick a fight with them…but I wasn't about to let them terrorize innocent civilians either!

Stepping forwards and lowering my hood, I called out to the Commander, hoping I'd distract him from the Rodian long enough for the man to escape, since there really was no hope of convincing them not to kill him. Those Clones would blow up a chamber full of Cadets if given the order to do so, and they really weren't worth the title of 'Clone'. The GAR only had good men in its ranks and these scumbags were soiling everyone else's good name.

"Commander! Stop right there!", I ordered and to my own surprise, the Clone in question turned to me, clearly indifferent to my title as a Jedi Knight.

Taking the safety off his blaster, he placed it right on the Rodian's forehead, but didn't fire just yet, not that I would have given him the chance. "General Skywalker.", he addressed me, not a smidge of respect in his tone. "You're interfering with a Republic Operation. Protocol dictates I give you a warning before opening fire, so I suggest you leave. We can handle this traitor.", the Commander said, his tone dripping with malice.

Considering the amount of civilians that might get hurt in a firefight, I decided to try and talk him out of it, even though I knew it was futile. "And what has this man done?", I questioned, bringing the attention back to the Rodian. The man in question was shaking in fear, but I could see the faintest glimmer of hope in his eyes when he noticed I was there. Lot of good that's going to do if I can't stop Sidious' lackeys…

Recognizing the order for what it was, the Commander decided to comply, his men's sights and blasters still focused on their hostage. They were unmoving and bored, wanting to finish the job as quickly as possible. Their emotions betrayed as much. "This man is a traitor to the Republic. He was caught stealing from a vendor, aiming to sell the item and help fund the Separatist War Effort. Insurgence will not be tolerated, and I've been ordered to neutralize all traitors I can find.", the Commander answered, indifferent to the situation.

Wanting to mark where I stood, I shot him an unimpressed look before responding in a cold tone, ensuring that my point would get across. "I sense this man has done nothing wrong. You have no physical evidence and therefore Republic Law dictates he is innocent until proven guilty. I suggest you call for the Coruscant Guard. They can escort him to the police, where he will be questioned regarding this matter.", I replied, the Rodian looking like he was about to cry out of gratitude.

"Negative sir. I've received orders to make an example of all traitors.", the Commander countered, motioning for one of his men to come forward. The second Trooper aimed at me with his blaster as the Commander did the same, the rest of his squad mimicking their leader. Seeing that I wasn't deterred by their stunt, he spoke again, tone much more hostile than before. "General, I'm going to have to ask that you leave."

Slowly moving my right hand until it rested on my saber, I decided that continuing this discussion was utterly pointless. I would get nowhere with them. "Please! I was just looking for something to buy! They knocked me down and dragged me he-", the Rodian man tried, but he was cut off by a nearby Trooper who hit him with the blunt end of his blaster.

"Silence, traitor!", the trooper yelled, and that was when I decided to do something more than just talk.

Calling my lightsaber in hand, I ignited the blade, pointing it towards the Clones. "Let. Him. Go.", I ordered, and they shifted their attention to me completely, giving the man a chance to run away. I nodded to him reassuringly, and he dashed away, nearby civilians helping him get away as the Commander tried to fire a shot at the crowd, only for the bolt to freeze in mid-air, thanks to my use of Force Freeze.

The Clone Commander physically growled at me before opening his mouth to speak again, and I knew that a fight was inevitable. The only question was whether I should kill them or not… "You've interfered with a Republic Operation, are charged with Obstruction of Justice and are to be punished with a subsequent execution, General.", he said before turning to look at his men, blaster still aimed at me.

"Kill the Jedi!", he ordered, and the crowd all scattered in different directions as I began deflecting their shots with my saber.

"Surround him! He won't last long!", a Trooper shouted, taking pod-shots at me as he tried to get behind me. Unfortunately for him, I would not allow such a thing.

Picking the soldier up with the Force, I flung him into the nearest wall, careful not to get shot while doing so. Had I not have inhaled Dioxis and been in a speeder crash beforehand, this would have barely been a fight, but my senses were still dulled and exhaustion was beginning to kick in, but I wouldn't let Sidious' lackeys beat me.

Their blaster fire soon began to overwhelm me, and I had to use the Force to direct their shots at my saber in order to minimize movement. The deflected bolts still hadn't hit any of them, since they had experience dodging blasters during battle. Things were not going my way, and the Clones were definitely getting an edge over me. I could still try to Force Crush their armor to kill them, but I couldn't muster the energy to do it for all of them at once and Force Drain wasn't an option if I couldn't get an opening through all their projectiles.

Suddenly, I felt a sharp sting in my left shoulder and registered and one of them had managed to land a bolt on me…but that would be their last mistake. Focusing on my hatred for Sidious and the injustice his cronies had nearly committed, I focused my efforts on a simpler ability than most other times, preferring to use Force Speed over something that would exert me further. It still did the job, as all the Clones saw was a blue blur before being stabbed or cut open by a lightsaber, and in barely a second, the Commander was the only one left standing, his blaster chopped in half.

To his credit, he didn't give up, trying to kick me in the knee, but I simply Force Crushed his leg, allowing myself a satisfied smile at the crunching sound his bones made as they snapped and were then shattered inside his body. A grin found its way to my face as the Commander cried out in pain, but I wasn't going to stop. I would make him feel the fear, the same terror he had brought upon that poor Rodian, and the last thing he would look at before I killed him would be the eyes of the one fighting for justice, for the freedom and safety of those under Sidious' tyrannical oppression…

But first…I made sure to at least try and get a confession out of him. After all, if I could get him to admit that the 'kind and benevolent' Chancellor of the Republic was the one who'd given him his orders, Sidious wouldn't be able to worm his way out of the consequences this time.

Probably understanding what I was about to do, the Commander bit down the pain and spoke, defiant to the last second of his pathetic existence. "I will never talk, Jedi scum!", he said with gritted teeth, prompting me to laugh in his face.

"Oh…you most certainly will…", Vader's voice replied. "There is no escape from me, Commander…", it continued, and the Clone shook in fear, but did his best not to let it show, instead shooting Vader a confident smile behind his helmet.

"I don't think so, sir. Best of luck in future missions, General", he answered, voice dripping with as much sarcasm as the blood pouring out of his leg.

I sensed what he was about to do a second too late, and didn't managed to stop him before he pulled a vibroblade from his belt, stabbing himself in the heart before his dead body fell over, causing me to snap back to reality. The civilian was safe, the aggressors subdued, but my source of intelligence on Sidious was dead. A partial success in regards to the objective, and now that I was done, I had to go check on my Angel. She's probably shaken up by what happened. Better go talk to her.

Taking one last look at the Clone's body, I figured there may still be some use for him, so I sliced his head off with a flick of the wrist, intending to toy with the inhibitor chip inside his brain. After all, the more information I had on how these things worked the better our chances at stopping the Emperor from using them to enact Operation Knightfall, or any other contingency order placed inside the Clones' heads.

Using the Force to gently pull the aforementioned chip from the dead Clone's brain, I deactivated my saber, letting the head fall to the ground, no longer useful to me in any way. That's when I noticed Commander Fox and two of his men staring at me, utterly horrified by what they were seeing.

Not wanting to hurt anyone who didn't deserve it, I calmly placed the saber on my belt and took a slow step forward, preparing to explain what had happened, but Fox was quick to pull his blaster out, firing a shot in my direction. For a moment I thought he'd killed me, but then I looked behind me, seeing the corpse of the Trooper I had previously flung into the wall, blaster still in hand. Understanding that the Commander had just saved my life, I opened my mouth to thank him, but no words came out. Instead, a deep darkness overcame me, but it wasn't cold and hateful. Rather, it was warm and inviting, beckoning to close my eyes for just one small second. I resisted, trying to keep my attention on Fox, but everything went black on its own as I felt the last bits of strength leave me.

Coruscant, Jedi Temple, Anakin's point of view:

My eyes suddenly snapped open as memories of my fight with Sidious' Troopers flooded my mind, and I barely registered that I was laying on something soft before I felt…her. Padme was here, wherever here was. Knowing this, I felt my muscles instantly relax, worries leaving my head and my thoughts starting to clear like the sky of clouds after a heavy storm.

"Padme?", I heard myself ask, my voice dry and still feeling groggy.

From what little I could see, Padme's head snapped to attention and she practically jumped out of her chair to get closer to me, worry and concern radiating from her presence in the Force instead of the usual warmth and compassion that any Force Sensitive could always find there.

"Anakin!", she shouted at me, sounding relieved. "I'm so glad you're okay!"

Wanting to reassure her, I smiled at her, using my organic hand to rub one of her shoulders, trying to offer comfort. "Come one Senator, you should know a couple Troopers can't take me out.", I teased her, refraining from using her name since the room I was in began looking more and more like the Halls of Healing, so Master Vokara was probably around and I didn't want her dragging Padme away.

"About that…Commander Fox was the one to bring you in. He flew you over personally, then called Thorn and he told us about the fight. He want to talk to you…and is waiting outside.", Padme said, sounding saddened by the Clone Commander's presence, but I was quite pleased with what she'd just told me, since this was an indicator that perhaps I had misjudged the Coruscant Guard's leader.

Smiling at her, I sent a mental message of 'we need to talk once I'm done with this, it's important' and Padme nodded in response, thankfully understanding that this was neither the time nor the place for a Sidious-related discussion. Deciding to see this affair to the end and maybe, if possible, gain a new ally inside the Coruscant Guard if I ever needed him, I nodded back, and Padme helped me move into a sitting position.

"Bring him in.", I said calmly, ready to face the man who had once murdered my friend, and also just saved my life…

And…scene! There you have it everyone, chapter 34 of A Messed Up Destiny! I swear to Force you guys I could just keep up on Coruscant for the entire Book, but I only need to resolve the Commander Fox storyline before I move to Naboo and Mandalor, and considering what those chapters will bring, I think it's worth the wait for just a little bit more time. Seriously though, I promise the plot is moving soon.

Anyways! With that out of the way, let's dive right into the exposition!

Firstly, Anakin's demeanor this chapter. This is a more generic thing, but if anyone remembers what was said in the last chapter about Anakin seeing Vader's face in the mirror, this is continuing here with Anakin hearing Vader's voice as he speaks to the Clone Commander. It's going to be a reoccurring theme of his two sides, Anakin Skywalker and Darth Vader, being in control at different points throughout the story, and Bossk's death from last time was only the first example of this, excluding some minor stuff in Shadows of the Sith if anyone remembers.

Anakin originally rushes in to help whoever is in danger, but when he is almost defeated (after being weakened by the Dioxis and his fight with the Bounty Hunters last chapter) by the Clones, his survival instinct kicks and in and Vader is now in control. There's still some of Anakin there, but Vader is the more prominent one during the second half of this fight.

Secondly, the Clone Troopers. As Anakin himself explained, these guys were handpicked by Palpatine to do his dirty work around the Galaxy during the time of the Republic, simply because they were brutal, ruthless, extremely efficient, and had absolute and blind loyalty towards the Republic, and therefore Sidious as Supreme Commander.

They are meant to heavily differ from your run of the mill Clone Trooper, being far worse than even some Separatists the GAR faced during the War, and much more like Imperial Stormtroopers than even some Imperial Recruits themselves during the late years of the Empire. These Clones will appear again, though there will be some time before we see them once more, and for good reason.

Thirdly, Commander Fox. What Anakin said about him is correct, seeing as Fox really is a good soldier and they (according to what the Clones were raised to believe) are meant to follow orders to the letter. I myself honestly can't blame Fox for killing Fives since Palpatine most likely ordered him to do it (under circumstances probably), knowing he'd be put in a position where the commands would apply.

I'm not saying that what Fox did wasn't bad, just that I can understand why it (probably) happened. Also, we'll be seeing some good old Fox Redemption really soon. This starts with saving Anakin's life and continues on further into the story, but saying anything else would spoil the surprise.

Lastly, I'd like to note that this chapter is a turning point. It is now more than ever that Sidious is heavily gunning for our heroes and more examples of his traps, as well as the consequences for fighting against him, will become evident real soon. Keep an eye out for subtle developments as the story progressed and prepare for the return of a powerful Sith Lord, someone who will help tip the scales against Sidious for the remainder of the story. He's coming soon, so you guys better be ready…

Next time: Horrified by an incident involving a fight between Clones and Jedi General Anakin Skywalker, as well the subsequent death of the men attacking him, Clone Commander Fox is left with many questions and few answers, so he searches for them through the only person who can tell him what he wants to know. Meanwhile, having failed to kill Anakin Skywalker once again, Darth Sidious prepares to unleash a new kind of Hell on his home world of Naboo as Anakin and Fox pay a visit to the Senate in search for evidence of the existence of mysterious inhibitor chips inside the Clones' heads…

That's all for now everyone! Reviews are always welcome, whether it be to ask question or to chat, and I'll see you all next chapter, but until then, May the Force be with you!