Windu stood at the command deck of the star destroyer next to Admiral Tarkin. He wasn't a fan of Tarkin and the feeling was mutual, but his philosophy on weapon design was certainly cost efficient, he'd give him that. Fewer fighters meant fewer hands on-deck you need to feed, clothe, shelter, and in replacing them with largely automated turbolaser cannons they could do just as much damage for a fraction of the cost. He still had a lingering sense of irritation from his holocall earlier. Did that clone really believe such stupid rumors? He'd have to ask him about his "sources" later, a little mind trick would get him to talk without issue. Whoever it was, they were clearly out to get the Jedi Order. He honestly wouldn't be surprised if Chancellor Sinube had put them up it. Damned lizard was itching at the chance to storm the Temple.

The blue lines of hyperspace swirled in their eternal dance about the ship as they made their way to the Outer Rim. He didn't care if he had to search every system in the galaxy personally, Palpatine's superweapon could not be permitted to exist. They would find it and destroy it, if it was the last thing he did. Windu sensed a trooper coming up behind him, "I trust there's something important you wish to tell me soldier?"

"Yes, Senator. An urgent message for you."

"How urgent?"

"Coruscant is under attack."

The Jedi an Admiral both turned to face the Zeltron man in shock, and shouted in unison, "What?!"

"General Gallia is on the line for you, Senator and she's-" Windu pushed past him and stormed towards the holotable, projecting Master Adi Gallia nursing a wound, a cauterized stump where her hand used to be.

"What happened?"

"Sith attack, Palpatine's followers were hiding in the Temple the entire time."

Windu grimaced, so that clone wasn't going insane at all, "So I've been told, how are casualties?"

"Almost thousand Jedi knights and masters are dead or severely injured. I don't know how many Republic troopers or"

"Lost troopers don't concern me if those terrorists are still alive."

"Barely. There are maybe a hundred left, the remaining Jedi can handle them without issue."

"I sense you're about to tell me what they can't handle."

"Palpatine is here."

Windu turned to Tarkin, "Turn the fleet around."

"We can't just turn around in hyperspace! It's not physically possible!"

"Then when is the soonest we can get out of hyperspace?"

"In three days!"

"Fine, then in three days we make an immediate return to Coruscant."

"Yes, Senator."

Sidious could feel MacGuffin's rage through the Force. As Republic gunships and a random freighter laid waste to the area around the half-ruined Jedi Temple. Good, that little Jedi pest would be brought to the Dark Side just before he killed her. Apparently, the Jedi had managed to steal her back from his former apprentice. Good, that traitor spawning cadet branch of Bane's dynasty was the last thing he needed to worry about. Laughing at the chaos around him, Jedi, cultists, and apparently an independent group of Dark acolytes in a three-way frenzy with thousands of bodies scattered around them. He stepped over the body of yet another dead apprentice. He'd really have to keep the next one in a bubble or something just to keep them alive long enough to succeed him, assuming he hadn't fully figured out immortality yet. He had a theory going but couldn't test it just yet. Gràinne would make an excellent test subject.

Serpeness allowed every bit of rage course through her veins, tempering it just enough to keep her from outright murdering the rival before her. She could still pull the memories out of him when he was dead, but it was significantly easier if he was still alive to share them himself. His disgusting cackle only served to anger her more.

"Good, little one, good!" Palpatine mocked, "Let your hate flow through you. Give in to your anger, every moment become more my ack!" He felt the Force grip around his throat as Serpeness lifted her hand.

His devoted followers, those who were still alive anyway, saw their god king's plight and immediately turned from trying to kill the Jedi to trying to save Palpatine, firing every weapon they had at the armored Togruta. She didn't even bother blocking the bolts which ricocheted off her Baskar. "There is no escape," she hissed. Slamming Sidious into the floor hard enough to leave a crater she turned and blasted the remaining CAWL away with the Force, forcing them to reengage with the Jedi survivors in order to break through to him in addition to fighting off the remaining Sith attackers

Now he saw her armor's style. Ah, so Dooku was able to train her fully. Meaning he had a rival, and those pathetic imbeciles were probably her assassins. Well "pathetic" being relative, as they were holding their own quite well against the remaining Jedi despite their being few in numbers. "Imbecile!" he snarled, "You have disrupted the grand plan twice now, and that I cannot allow. Now, young MacGuffin, you will die!"

As Sidious unleashed a torrent of lightning Serpeness grabbed a distracted Jedi with the Force and used him to block the attack, almost instantly killing him. As she struggled to maintain her meatshield's placement, she flung the Darksaber at Sidious with the Force. The older Sith stopped it just centimeters away from his face, cackling madly to further incite her anger. The pair's rage melded together and battled for dominance like a whirlwind in the Force until they were both blasted back from the explosion of the storm. Palpatine recovered first and stood to his feet, blasting Serpeness with lightning, reveling in her screams of agony.

Ahsoka was locked in battle with a Jedi Master, while Anakin stood behind her against the Jawa Sith Lord, one of only three of Gràinne's followers still alive on the ground. Blocking her attacks with her main blade Ahsoka managed to disarm her, literally, before throwing her back with the Force and laying into Poblithes, who despite facing down two incredibly skilled Jedi Masters was able to hold his own seemingly without breaking a sweat, even chuckling as he flipped about to evade their onslaught.

Gràinne felt as though she were on fire, her phobia in full power essentially froze her in place save for her cries of pain. However, the Dark Side was fueled by fear. Finally breaking free of her instinct to freeze she tapped into her fear, her pain, her desperation, and reached through the Force to Palpatine's hands. Gripping them with the Force she broke every bone in his hands and closed them into shattered fists. His own confusion and panic was evident as she pulled him towards her, gripping his throat with her hands. Strangling the elder she looked him dead in the eyes, "You will tell me what I want to know. Teach me what you never taught my master. Then, when you have outlived your usefulness, you will die."

Palpatine spat on her helmet.

"So be it," Serpeness declared, snapping his neck with her armored hands. Serpeness felt a shift in the Force, memories she never had suddenly flashed before her eyes, raw power filling her, lifting her from the ground. In a flash, she witnessed millennia of Sith warriors in battle, a man in a ventilator mask leading a charge at the Jedi Temple, Sith warriors on Ruusan, combative trials of long-dead Dark Lords, earning their place at their masters' sides. All races, men, women, some she had no idea what they were: Twi'leks, humans, Pantorans, Rodians, Gun-guns, Muuns, Bith, Kaminoans, Zygerians, and even a Hutt. All the visions came to a halt, and she fell back to her feet where she stood. Around her loomed the phantoms of tens of thousands of Dark Lords, before her the red, haunting visage of Darth Bane.

The Dark Lord's spirit eyed her before proclaiming, "A thousand generations now live in you… Sith'ari." Much to her surprise, the phantom bowed before her, followed suit by the thousands of Sith who lived before her. All kneeled to the ultimate culmination of their work. By the hands of Darth Serpeness, the Jedi would finally fall. However Serpeness was not satisfied with this knowledge just yet. She saw among the spirits that of Darth Plagueis. She knew now that she had succeeded in her endeavors. Paging PT-77, she ordered an immediate evac. They had won.

Aayla Secura and Barriss Offee were leading the endeavor to find Master Yoda in his exile. The pair had started on Tatooine and were hoping for any leads to Yoda's location in Moss Eisley. All they had found was something about a pirate base in Beggar's Canyon. "Come on Flora," Aayla beckoned to her service sheep, Angus's great-grand-lamb. Barriss swore those things were getting smarter by the generation, but she didn't say anything about it, maybe sheep were semi-sentient like Rancors or Monkey-Lizards? Flora had apparently learned how to read at some point, and Aayla swore she did not teach her that.

"So, you think taking out the pirates will do anything for us?"

"Well it won't get us any further away from finding him."

"Fair point," Barriss replied, holding the binoculars to her eyes and looking at the pirate base. "There has to be at least thirty there. maybe more inside."

"Probably," Aayla retorted

"Wait, is that an IG unit?" Barriss asked, handing the binoculars to Aayla.

A few minutes of continuous blaster fire later and the IG was eventually pinned down and forced to self-destruct. Aayla Fisto remarked, "It was, and now I'm counting two living pirates."

"Well that makes our job easier. Thank you, serial killer droid."

Carnage lowered the ramp to the Falcon, beckoning Gràinne and Poblithes to leap into the ship, meanwhile Vengeance was firing the cannons at everything that looked remotely like it was still standing, which wasn't much. At this point the flames from the hangar had spread to engulf half of the Jedi Temple, four of the five spires had collapsed, and the remaining walls were crumbling. Padawans and younglings were evacuating from the Temple alongside injured knights and Republic troopers. The fighters which had been pursuing them had either turned back or were destroyed. Poblithes was the first of the four Sith to leap onto the Flacon's ramp, followed by Carchara, Desolata, and finally Serpeness, who gave her sister a mock salute and winked at Anakin. The two Reformed Jedi lifted their hoods and slunk away into the evening. The battle had taken most of the day, and they needed to find a way back to Teth as soon as possible. They may not have been able to stop Gràinne's assault on the Temple, but it was hardly the invasion they had feared. At the very least, they could now rest easy knowing Palpatine was finally, finally dead.

Serpeness contacted her regent, who promptly kneeled and asked, "My Empress, how was your assault?"

"A success, although we took heavy losses. We left with fifty-six and only six made it out."

"A tragedy, but the mission was a success?"

"Yes, the Jedi Temple was all but demolished, their ranks of trained warriors all but exterminated, and the pretender to my title has died by my hand."

"Ah, a most rewarding victory, milady. Songs will be sung of this day, and our brave warriors' sacrifice."

Aayla managed to scare off the two remaining pirates by simply igniting her lightsaber, and as she kept an eye out for any survivors the IG unit may have missed Barriss cut through the blast doors of the main building. She could sense a powerful presence in the base, but it did not seem either friendly or hostile. Pulling the cutout from the door out of their way, the Jedi entered the warehouse and searched with their eyes and with the Force. Barriss eventually found the source of the presence, within a little hover pod. Curious, she opened it and immediately fell in love. "Aww!"

"What?" Aayla asked, curious as to what could have prompted that response in a pirate base, "What's, oh Force, it's adorable!"

Barriss was simply cooing at the infant inside. They may not have found Yoda yet, but they found a baby of whatever he was.

A/N: I'm sorry for the delay, a lot of chaos going on in my life atm. School starts back in a few days so it could be a few weeks before I can properly update again. I'll try to do at least twice a month, that's my goal.