Chapter 5 – Order 66

Author's Note: In which the Jedi confront Sidious while Order 66 and Vader hit the Temple. Also, reunions. :')

To the Guest who reviewed: I completely agree! Order 66 is just as awful for the clones as it was for the Jedi. Having to turn on their generals would have devastated so many of them. Like the 501st (if they had been forced to turn on Anakin), and the 212th, and the Wolfpack (I can't remember their batallion number rn). And the clones and Jedi having to kill each other... *sobs* It's awful.

~ Amina Gila


In an instant, all three Jedi have their lightsabers ignited, just in time to block Sidious' wild, furious attack. He's wielding two lightsabers and is fighting to kill. "I'm going to enjoy this," he taunts, blade crashing into Obi-Wan's.

"Obi-Wan, to the Temple you must go," Yoda orders, even as flips around the room, raining blows down on the Sith Master. "Hurry. Defend and evacuate immediately we must."

The last thing Obi-Wan wants to do is leave, but Yoda is right. One of them has to go warn the other Jedi, and Windu and Yoda have the best chance at defeating Sidious. The most logical choice is Obi-Wan, and so, he goes, extinguishing his blade and racing from the office, using the Force to increase his speed. He comms Ahsoka and Shaak Ti along the way, telling them briefly what has transpired and warning them to prepare. When he leaves the Senate, he flies faster than he ever has before. Time is of the essence and lives are at risk. They have to hurry.

**w**

Ahsoka does her best to ignore the choking feeling of darkness, despair, and death in the Force. She doesn't – can't – think about how many Jedi are probably dying right now. All she can do is help organize at the Temple. The younglings in the creche and the initiates are the first to leave, of course. It hurts to know that they'll likely have to fight the clones, their men, but Ahsoka doesn't let herself think about it.

Instead, she focuses on ushering the children into the underground tunnels and networks beneath the Temple. They're dangerous, but it would be far more dangerous for them to stay. This is their best hope of escape. With them go several experienced Jedi Masters who will be more than capable of defending them should it prove to be necessary.

Obi-Wan gets back in the midst of all the chaos, and he nods to her before getting involved in the last-minute preparations. Already, Ahsoka can hear the approaching gunships landing a distance from the Temple – so that the air defenses which are mounted don't shoot them down – and she can sense the incoming wave of thousands and thousands of clone troopers.

"You should go with the others," Obi-Wan tells her, expression drawn and pale; he looks more worried than Ahsoka has ever seen before.

"No," she insists fiercely, "I'm staying here with you."

"Ahsoka..." he trails off with a sigh, probably knowing that she can be stubborn when she wants to be, and he'll never be able to convince her. "Be careful," he says instead, "And may the Force be with us all."

With those words, he leads her to join in the defensive line near the front of the Temple. They'll never be able to stop the clones, but they can at least manage to slow them down long enough for the younger Jedi to escape. Hopefully. They'll die here, Ahsoka knows, but somehow, she's alright with that. Anakin is gone already too, and... she can't imagine a life without him. It's okay. She has no regrets, except that she'll never be able to talk to her older brother again.

**w**

When the order comes through, Vader is already ready and waiting. His master had told him that his job would be to lead an army on the Temple to destroy the Jedi, and it's an objective that he views with more than a little apprehension. He's one person. One person against... thousands. Even with an army, Vader doesn't think it will be enough. It seems a bit foolhardy almost to think that the Jedi could really be destroyed in their own home.

And, he has to admit, that loath as he is to admit it, there is a part of him which doesn't want to do this, though he doesn't know why. This is what he was trained for, right?

"Nervous?" Tyrannus' voice is amused.

Vader scowls at him. "It seems... wrong," he confesses finally, giving in to the desire to talk to someone about his internal conflict. "There are children there, right? Even if the adults are all complicit in the destruction of the galaxy, what about them?"

Tyrannus is quiet for a long moment, expression pensive. "What did Sidious tell you to do?"

Vader is unsure if Tyrannus is asking because he genuinely doesn't know or if it's because he's trying to make him understand something. "He wants everyone in the Temple dead," he responds, fists clenching. Saying it aloud makes it seem that much more real.

There's another pause as the other Sith considers his words. Presumably. The Force shifts around them as if – as if something changed, as if Tyrannus decided something which has massively changed the future. Vader has never felt anything like it. "Go there," Tyrannus instructs finally, "And do what Sidious told you. If you think some Jedi should be spared, then spare them. I'll deal with Sidious."

Vader stills. "What does that mean?" For a reason he can't explain, something akin to fear is clawing at him, some buried instinct screaming at him to protect his master. He might be horrified by what Sidious is asking of him, he might not want to carry through with those instructions, but at the same time, he still cares about Sidious.

Tyrannus studies him. "Sidious must be stopped, and that is what I'm going to do," he says finally. "Go now. The Jedi are corrupt and complacent, and they must be destroyed, but I think you will be able to distinguish between those who deserve death and those who should live."

Wait, what? How is he supposed to decide something like that? "So... what are my instructions?" he wants to know.

Tyrannus looks as if he wants to sigh. "Go to the Temple. Remember what Sidious said about the Jedi. I'll handle everything else."

And what is he supposed to say to that? His apprehensions haven't exactly been assuaged, and he doesn't really trust Tyrannus to do what he said he would. He doesn't really have a choice though, does he?

No, he realizes, he doesn't. Sidious will take 'no' for an answer, and the army is waiting for him to lead them. With more than a little resentment, Vader reaches out to the Force the way he's been told and leave to do as he's been told. He's good at following instructions, after all.

**w**

Vader leads the clones into the Temple with a single-minded determination. His master told him that the Jedi tried to kill them – all of them – so they must be destroyed. They're tearing apart the galaxy, letting millions of innocents suffer for their actions. His red lightsaber hums oddly in his hand, but he doesn't let it faze him. His missing memories might have made it harder for him, but that doesn't mean he's an entirely different person. His kyber crystal ought to respond to him the way it always has but...

He shrugs it off. He has a mission to complete. The Jedi will pay. Vader doesn't need surface memories to instinctively recall his years of training, of fighting. He cuts down anyone and everyone who stands in his path. He doesn't know the layout of the Temple, but he knows enough of the basics to direct his army to the most important locations. No one is supposed to be allowed to escape... although Vader thinks he'll bend that particular rule.

The Jedi put up a valiant effort to stop the advance, but they're outnumbered at least five hundred to one. It's useless in the end. He finds a sort of thrill at the power which courses through him, giving him a seemingly unlimited strength and stamina. It's so easy to toss the Jedi in his path into the walls or snap their necks with the Force while he deflects their lightsaber attacks. His master trained him well for this. He doesn't remember any of it though. He wishes he did. He wishes he could remember the Jedi's betrayal of him.

Vader moves away from the main hall to a side one, following two Force signatures which seem oddly... bright to him for some reason. He strides cautiously, hood pulled up over his head and shrouding his face. The Force shrills a warning, and he ducks in time to avoid a blue lightsaber strike which might otherwise have taken off his head. His red blade crashes with his opponent's blue one, and he surveys the man. He's immensely skilled – Vader can feel it in the Force – and something about the determination in his blue-gray eyes is familiar for some reason.

Some deeply ingrained part of Vader, a part he can no longer remember, screams at him, begging him not to hurt this man. He's important. Vader cares for him, even if he doesn't know why. But – but his master has given him orders, and he can't... His train of thought is cut off when a female Togruta lunges towards him a blue lightsaber in either hand. He whirls to block her, using the Force to push back the man.

"Anakin?!" she exclaims incredulously.

Vader narrows his golden eyes at her, the Dark Side slowly beginning to slip from his grasp in his confusion. That name... He should know that name. At least, he thinks he should. "I don't know who that is," he hisses finally, twirling his lightsaber. They're not attacking him anymore; they're standing there and staring at him with horror and shock echoing into the Force. "I am Darth Vader, and I will destroy you."

He lunges towards her, his lightsaber crashing against hers. The man instantly moves to defend her. "Anakin, stop," he pleads, deflecting all of Vader's assaults, though he makes no move to actually attack back. "This isn't you!"

Vader falters again, frowning. He knows that the Jedi betrayed him, and his master warned him that they would try to confuse him, but there's something there in the Force, in his mind, just out of his reach. "What do you mean?" he asks slowly in confusion. "My master has trained me for this since I was a was but a child. This is my destiny. This is my purpose, and you won't stop me." Inhaling slowly, he holds up his red blade preparing to attack them again.

They both pale at his words, gaping at him in a speechless silence. "What did they do to you?" the man whispers, his voice shaking. "What did they do? You were captured by them, and we thought you dead." He's telling the truth, the full truth. Vader can feel it in the Force. But then... does that mean that his master was the one who was lying?

He remembers, suddenly, the training missions with Tyrannus, the way the elder man occasionally stumbled over his name, as if trying to say another. He remembers feeling a deep-seated satisfaction in Sidious when he pulled on the Force the way they told him to. And it makes him wonder. Is it possible that he was once a Jedi, that he once had a different name, that he was captured by the Sith? And if so, what happened to his memories?

"I..." he begins, hardly sure what to say to them, how to explain, "I was in a crash... right?"

The duo exchanges a look. "Yes," the man confirms, "You were. You were presumed dead when we couldn't find you."

"That's what my master told me too," he admits, noticing the way the man flinches when he says, 'my master.' "He said that I was injured, that I lost my memories as a result."

"Maybe," the Togruta says dubiously, "But I think that they did something to you. If you were injured badly enough that you lost your memories, then how are you walking around?"

That is... a good point. It's been a week – or thereabouts – since Vader first woke up. The crash must have been fairly recent, or so he's assuming. He couldn't have been unconscious for more than a few days. Something definitely isn't adding up, but he doesn't know who has been lying to him and for what purpose.

None of them have a chance to continue their discussion further, because their attention is drawn by a massive shift in the Force. The darkness saturating the air seems to diminish somehow, and the constant barrage of pain and death subsides. It's as if everything... stopped. What happened?

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