Star Wars 2.0
Episode 6: Vengeance of the Sith
Chapter 8
Aalya Secura and Rix Haren were herding a dozen youngling Jedi trainees toward the hangar where they had a ship which could get them off the planet and into hiding. There had been more younglings, but they could not be found, so they were getting away with as many as they could.
Maneuvering them through chambers and hallways without detection was difficult. The two Jedi had to utilize their senses to the utmost degree, watching for sentries and clones and really anyone who might report them around every corner. They had even had to chop their way through some clones who tried to kill them; a task that was difficult for both of them, not for their skills, but for their will. These soldiers had been friends, trusted allies; and now the Jedi had to be the instruments of their deaths to save the children and themselves.
After several hours of hiding and sneaking, the Jedi made it to the floor with the hangars. Their ships should be ready for take-off, so they were eager to board. The two Jedi knights had their sabers lit and ready as the blast doors slid open. Thick steam obscured the large chamber. This was common when several ships landed simultaneously and they were venting fumes or gasses, or when damage to ships caused them to vent steam. Aalya and Rix hoped it was the former.
Then a tall, dark figure strode out of the obscuring mist. It bore a long, black cloak and wore a mask with a triangular grill in the shape of a frown out of which breathed heavy gasps which sounded like a ventilator that seemed to fill the room. His lightsaber grew from its hilt; a blue glow throbbing from its white hot center.
Aalya readied her blue lightsaber and Rix readied his orange one. "Keep your distance and go around it, children," Aalya ordered. The younglings did so, half of them going around one way, the other half going the other way, all keeping 40 feet or so from the stranger while Aalya and Rix closed in slowly to it.
The stranger stood where it was and lifted a hand toward the children on the right. They flew into the sky. Some of them fell back down quickly, others went all the way to the ceiling and had their heads smashed against the ceiling, or against the ships. Many that landed on the ground were groaning in pain and could barely move.
Rix challenged the beast, shouting, "Leave them be, monster!"
The beast answered him by choking one of the survivors through the Force, then throwing it across the room at the other children, who it then began to raise into the air.
Aalya charged at the beast, her rage boiling over and she yelled. She swung her lightsaber at it and it parried one, two, then three times. Its movements were effortless, as though bored with her. She was a Jedi Master, one of the greatest swordswomen of the council, yet she was no match to this beast. It waited until she had completed her series of blows, then it went on the offensive. While she parried its attacks, the beast looked over at Rix who was guarding the children and moving in on its flank.
The beast locked sabers with Aalya, then pushed her back. Simultaneously it reached its hand out at Rix and Force pulled him toward it. He was not ready, and his saber was above his head. The beast sliced through his belly, cutting him in half. Aalya screamed in anguish while the beast Force choked another child.
Aalya leaped at the beast, her saber swinging as she came down on it. The beast knocked aside her saber and swung at her. The two traded blows for a time, then their sabers locked as their faces froze a couple inches from each other. Its heavy breathing was right in her face. Her large eyes studied him. "What are you?" she asked.
"I am your ending," it said in a deep, mechanical voice. "I am Darth Vader."
Aalya knew that the beast must be slain, so she pushed away, then came at it again, trying a beat attack, then a feint, then a parry-repost. Darth Vader knocked away every attack, then grew serious. He grasped his saber with both hands and beat at the Twi'lek's saber. She tried to hold fast, but the force of his attacks was overwhelming, and her saber flew one way, then the other. With each blow she gave ground so he could not swipe her dead. She tried to counter-attack, but he hit her saber again, knocking it from her hand. She leaped over his coup de grace and landed above her saber hilt. But as she was reaching down for it, his still-lit saber flew at her through the air, and chopped through her.
The saber flew back into Darth Vader's hand like a magnet. Behind him, the blast doors closed. The children watched him in fear. They knew that there was no way out, and no way to hide from the beast that was hunting them.
Yoda's ears were folded in so they would fit under the cloak he wore that covered his whole body and face. He could not be seen on Coruscant, and he had the distinct disadvantage of being part of a rare race of people, so he would stand out if spotted.
He had returned in search of any Jedi who had survived the purge, and to learn whatever he could about what happened; and what the future held for their order. So far it did not look good. He had used the Force to reach out to any Jedi still on the planet. He detected few, and within moments, fewer still. They were being wiped out as he searched. He would need to find out who was doing the killing, but he needed to be careful to make sure he got the drop on them before the opposite happened.
He had sensed one other Jedi who had also returned to the planet, and had maneuvered himself to intercept him at the least populated spot he could find. Yoda squatted at the corner of a building, and as the fellow Jedi began to pass – also disguised under a cloak of secrecy – Yoda spoke, using the Force to throw his voice into the man's ear. "Searching for some of your own, you are."
The figure stopped and turned his head toward him. It was Obi-wan Kenobi, and he bore the same look of worry that Yoda felt. He spotted just enough of Yoda's features to know it was him, and he walked closer, standing nearby, but glancing around to make sure no one else came close. "Are we all that are left?" he asked.
"Few others have escaped," Yoda said. A complete purge this is."
"What happened?" Obi-wan asked.
"Someone waited until we were spread out to spring their trap," Yoda told him. "Few had this power."
"So what do we do?" Obi-wan asked.
Just as he spoke, a face appeared on every screen across the city. It began to speak, and its voice echoed a thousand times as it was heard across the planet. It was the face and voice of Chancellor Palpatine. He said, "I bring great tidings to the Galactic Republic. The war with the Separatists is over!" A grand applause followed. He waited for it to fade slightly before continuing. "This is a great day for peace and prosperity. But it is also a day to mourn. For a rift has formed within our peaceful government. The Jedi Order took advantage of this historic moment."
A deep roar of "Booo!" cried throughout the crowd in the Senate chambers. Much of it was spurned on by Palpatine's agents, but no one knew that, not even the two Jedi who were watching on a street corner.
The screens switched to security footage of the Jedi fighting the clone warriors. Palpatine's voice spoke over these images, saying, "The Jedi turned on our brave troops, attempting to murder them so that they may take control of the galaxy. But the clone army did not let them. They struck down the usurpers, and restored order to the galaxy!"
The crowds went wild, cheering with unbridled excitement as the images showed one Jedi after another being shot down. Yoda and Obi-wan watched with mouths agape and teary eyes as they watched the murder of one friend after another.
Palpatine continued: "The Jedi Order attempted to seize power from the people, but I stopped them with the army that I granted you, the people!" The people cheered yet again for him. "MY army has saved you all from the scourge of the Separatists, and the treachery of the Jedi!" Another round of cheers. He concluded with the words, "All will now find safety under the new form of government, ruled by me, as the new Galactic Empire!"
The Chancellor, now self-proclaimed Emperor, was drowned out by raucous roars of the crowd cheering for him. Much of it was spurred on by Palpatine's agents spread out throughout the Senate, but they had done the trick. Now everyone was cheering for him; if not in earnest, from the desire not to be seen as standing against the crowd.
Seeing this spectacle, Obi-wan said, "So this is how democracy dies; with thunderous applause."
To be continued…
