Have no fear, Grubkiller is here.
So this is part 16 of my story, 'Rise of the Empire'.
Sorry that it took me so long. I've been pretty busy with school and work lately.
Hope that you all enjoy
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Utapau, Pau City.
Back on Utapau, with the loss of General Grievous' guiding hand, the Separatist Army was falling apart. The Confederate Naval forces were completely routed due to pour leadership. Battle Droids were constantly losing ground and fielded man - or rather, droid - power undern the weight of the Grand Army, with help from the locals, who were tired of kowtowing to the CIS, and wanted payback, riding their winged creatures into battle.
All of the CIS commanders were dead or had fled in terror.
The last remnants of Grievous' forces were reduced to directionless pockets of droid resistance.
But the Republic still had its hands full. Republic warships had to deal with suicide droid fighters, and troopers from the 212th still had to fight street by street in the urban combat, hoping to route out the remaining droid army presence, who weren't programmed to give up.
Level 10, makeshift Republic command center.
Back in the Republic's command center, in the hanger where Obi-Wan and Grievous first fought, Commander Cody was surveying a holographic version of the battlefield with his officers, directing his troops to move higher up the sinkhole, and deeper into the streets and buildings.
But just as he ordered more of his troops around, Cody's com-link started to chirp.
He walked off and pulled the device from his belt and activated it.
A small hologram of a mysterious hooded figure appeared out of the device in Cody's hand. The way the figure was dressed and the mysterious aura that surrounded him confused the veteran officer. he was about to ask who the hell he was, was the figure spoke first.
"Commander Cody," the figure said in a decrepitude and sinister voice, "The time has come."
The clone officer was confused, and he could feel his impatience rising. 'What the hell are you talking about?' He thought to himself.
But the figure of Darth Sidious continued.
"Execute Order 66."
Suddenly, all of the confusion and impatience that was rising inside of Cody vanished, only to be entranced with resolve, obedience, and a sort of confidence, as if the order set off something deep inside of him that was buried for years.
As if this is what he was truly bred for.
"Yes, my lord," Cody said as he flicked off the com-link and looked off in the distance, up the walls of the sinkhole. He could see a man with a lightsaber riding a large lizard up the wall, moving from platform to platform.
All of the memories of Cody taking orders from - and fighting alongside - that man had either disappeared or were simply irrelevant.
But either way, good soldiers follow orders.
Cody looked back at his men while pointing at the lizard-mounted Jedi.
"Blast him!"
High above the carnage, Obi-Wan rode his lizard, Boga, up the wall while under fire from a squad of battle droids that occupied the landing platform above him. He deflected their blaster bolts and used a force push to knock them onto their backs long enough for his lizard to climb over the ledge.
"Uh oh!" The droids all said in unison before a large lizard started stomping on them.
The remaining droids tried to blast them, only to be downed by their own fire, or knocked over the side by a large scaly green tail.
A pair of droidekas rolled out of the shield-gate that led to the platform to assist their droid comrades. They rolled around the lizard to try and outflank it. But as soon as they stopped and unfolded, they were charged and head-butted by the lizard off of of the platform.
Meanwhile, Obi-wan had dismounted, and was fighting a grappling droid. An upgraded Super Battle Droid, with energy blades for arms, which could deflect lightsaber blows. They were developed by the Separatists, which, like the magna guards, gave Jedi knights a run for their credits.
Obi-Wan Kenobi slashed his lightsaber back and forth across the droid's arms, pushing it back with each swing. He eventually combined the force with a saber swing, which pushed the droid off of the edge of the building, where it plummeted to the streets below.
The Jedi master nodded his head approvingly, before he turned around to walk back towards his lizard, hoping to go through the shield gate and link up with his men on a nearby highway. That's when he head the familiar buzzing sound of an approaching gunship.
He turned around and saw that the doors were opened, revealing a squad of clone troopers, who were presumably here to land.
"You're too late to help me here, troopers. Head up to the next platform." He said.
One of the troopers shook his head. "I'm sorry, sir. We're no longer required to follow your orders."
Obi-Wan was taken aback. "What did you say, soldier?" He then got his answer in the form of the gunship rotating. Then he turned back to run away, just as the ship unleashed a storm of laser fire. He managed to avoid most of them and jump onto his lizard, which bellowed in agitation. He whipped the reigns on the lizard, prompting her to jump off of the platform and run up the side of the sinkhole, still avoiding blaster fire. But then an explosion from a pair of rockets blasted the lizard off of the wall. Obi-Wan lost his grip and shouted as he fell off of the lizard and back down onto the platform. As he bgan to lift himself off of the ground, he saw his lizard shriek and bellow as it fell past him and plummeted into the water at the bottom. The stunned Jedi watched in shock as his ride just disappeared, before he finally jumped to his feet.
He then looked around, shocked at what just happened.
For a moment, he started to suspect that this was a dream, or that he was crazy. But when he looked back at the shield gate, he saw another squad of clone troopers rushing onto the platform.
When they saw him, they raised their blasters.
'This was most definitely not a dream,' Obi-Wan thought as his own men opened fire on him.
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Mygeeto.
On the crystal world of Mygeeto, The Clone and Droid armies were fighting for control of the city. A long bridge connected the two sections of the city. The Republic side and the Separatist side.
A massive snowstorm is raging hard over the crystal landscape, casting everything in the distance in a gray and white fog.
Ki-Adi-Mundi and Commander Bacara were leading their Galactic Marines from the 21st Nova Corps in a fight to take the other side. There was even an spec ops element from the 501st that was sent here by the Chancellor to secure Kyber crystals for a secret Republic project.
As the Republic began to advance across the bridge, several Octuptarra tri-droids towered over the CIS positions on the other side. They fired their heavy cannons and mortars at the bridge. One detonated beneath a Republic artillery unit, causing a large explosion that sent the vehicle flying up into the air, and several troopers over the side.
General Mundi advanced in front of his men, deflecting blaster bolts from a squad of advancing Super Battle Droids. He then turned back to his men.
"Come on!" Mundi called out, rallying his men to follow, before he charged towards the Droid army, ready to slice through them.
Clone troopers from the galactic marines battle the droid armies across a long bridge.
Ki-Adi-Mundi uses his light saber to deflect enemy fire. Clone commander Bacara exits a Gunship near the start of the bridge. He rallies his marines to attack the city, but then gets a message on his comlink. He stops and moves to one side as a hologram of a cloaked Chancellor Palpatine appears on the comlink in the palm of his hand. He moves further into the shadows.
"CC-1138 . . ."
"Yes, sir."
"Execute Order Sixty-Six." Darth Sidious commanded.
"It will be done, sir."
The Chancellor's hologram fades, and the clone commander snaps the comlink closed and looks to the center of the main bridge leading into the CIS controlled portion of the city, where Ki-Adi-Mundi is leading the charge. The clones run across the bridge and come to a halt, a series of clicks and beeps notifying everyone in earshot that they were ready to fire.
Ki-Adi-Mundi turns around and notices that his men aren't following him. Instead, they are fanning out around him and raising their weapons, all while staring at him, unfazed by the blaster fire that flew passed them from either direction. Sensing what he feared was about to happen, he slowly raises his saber, just before his own men is blasted by at him.
The Cerean Jedi Master expertly deflects most of the blaster bolts, sending them into the ground and air, and even back at those who fired on him. As Bacara's men began to take casualties, they started to fan out and pour on more fire, eventually overwhelming the Jedi Master's defense. Ki-Adi was eventually hit in several spots, forcing him to drop his saber in pain, and fall to the ground.
Later, as the clones carried Master Mundi's corpse away, the rest of them carried on the battle like nothing had ever even happened.
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Felucia.
Felucia was a muddy, fungus infested jungle world in the outer rim. Since it was one of several important worlds that surrounded the CIS capital on Raxus, the Seps dug their metal feet into the fungal muck that covered the surface, forcing the Republic to head for that alien hellhole, in an effort to drive them out.
The Republic fought the droids for months, as well as wild Acklays and flesh-eating diseases. Many good men, like the troopers of the 182nd Legion, lost their lives fighting here.
Ad soon, there efforts would pay off.
A column of Republic walkers marched across the forest floor, their metal legs clanging with every step. The strange calls of the alien forest creatures of Felucia suddenly stop. The Jedi Aayla Secura and her clone troopers from the 327th Star Corps, and surviving elements of the 182nd, marched down a path that was carved through the fungal trees, toward a large cluster of jungly hills, where the bulk of the CIS army was dug in.
A company of Spider tanks awaited them. The Four legged droid tanks are already being engaged by another Jedi, a female Mirilian, and a company of clone speeders, while the Republic task force led by the Venator-class Star Destroyer, RSV Intrepid, started to saturate the CIS-held hills with heavy turbo laser fire.
"Steady. . . . steady . . . Wait for my signal," Aayla said, ordering her men to get ready to strike.
But instead, they all began to look around for 'other' signs of the enemy. Clone Commander Bly moves up behind the Jedi.
"Bly, what's wrong? Do you see anymore droids nearby?" She asked as she began to scan the trees on the side of their path, afraid of ambushing droids that might have been waiting for them.
"No." Bly said just before he blasted her in the back. The other clones fire on her as she hit the ground, making sure to put her down.
Further up the path, the Mirilian knight is hacking away at droids as her men advance. Meanwhile, an AT-TE column advances towards them. However, they don't realize that the Republic tanks that were meant to reinforce them were taking aim. They fired, and soon the Jedi, her men, and the entire droid company, were all wiped out in the ensuing artillery barrage.
Or so it seemed.
The Mirilian Knight miraculously survived, hiding from the clones, using the force to suppress her injuries. But then she became angered when she realized that the clones betrayed her. That anger then led to hate and pain, which would one day make her an excellent holder of the title Seventh Sister.
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Kashyyyk, Republic observation platform.
Master Yoda drops his gimer stick, clutches his chest, and rests against a wall.
The disturbance in the force that he felt earlier was getting stronger and stronger. It was as if hundreds of voices were all screaming for a split second all at the same time, before suddenly disappearing.
And then silence.
And it kept repeating over and over and over again.
Kachirho sea wall/beachhead.
Down on the beachhead below, the Droid Army's push on the city gate appeared to be over. Republic gunships from the nearby Star Destroyer, that was parked inside the city, flew over the battlefield, launching their missiles at several Multi-Troop Transports, blasting them to smithereens. Then, several walkers and turbo-tanks flew over the charged out f the city, stomping on, or blasting away at the retreating droid army.
Wookies join the fray, ripping the invaders apart with their bare hands.
Meanwhile, back at the city gates, clones and wookies stacked destroyed Droids while others assess the damage to their equipment. A Jedi Knight, Luminara Unduli, talks with several clone officers standing in a circle around her. Suddenly they reveal their hidden pistols and blast her before she can even react.
Jedi General Quinlan Vos is riding on top of a Clone Juggxrnaught Tank, which is running over dozens of droids like they were nothing, firing dozens of missiles at the droid landing ships on the other side of the lake.
The unorthodox Jedi Knight, who was on the verge of leaving the order to be with his pregnant lover, stood on the top of the tank with several clone snipers, who picked off surviving droids, while Master Vos deflected blaster bolts.
But unbeknownst to any of them, the main cannon of a second tank slowly swings to point right at him and his squad of clones.
The cannon fires, and Quinlan Vos and his clone squad disappear in a huge explosion.
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Cato Neimoidia.
In the skies above Cato Neimoidia, Plo Koon is leading a squadron of ARC-170 star-fighters, patrolling the skies for any signs of Separatist activity. As they flew through the cloudy skies, above the iconic bridge cities, one of the pilots was watching a hologram of Darth Sidious.
"Execute Order Sixty-Six". The holographic figure.
"It will be done, My Lord." The pilot responded.
Plo Koon flies his ship towards a landing pad, where he planned on meeting with Commander Wolffe and the wolfpack.
"There they are. Land on the nearest platform." The Kel Dor Master ordered. But instead of complying with his order, they drop back and start blasting away at him from behind. Blue laser bolts fly past him, a couple of them grazing his wing and his droid. "What is the meaning of this!?" Plo asked into the comm, as he started to take evasive maneuvers.
But the pilot didn't respond. They just kept firing on him.
Plo Koon tried to take evasive maneuvers. But eventually, the Kel Dor Master's fighter took too much damage, and exploded. Plo Koon shielded his eyes as his flight control panel exploded in his face. Then he was flung forward into oblivion when his ship disappeared in an explosion that inadvertently ripped through a building that housed several platoons of the Wolfpack, led by Commander Wolffe.
With their Jedi target eliminated, Wolffe, and several of his injured men, would become disenfranchised after what happened today, having already removed their chips on top of everything, and would one day defect from what would one day become the Empire.
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Saleucami.
Three Speeder Bikes race through the forests of Saleucami, traveling past a field of dead clones and droids, and flying passed dozens of burned out tanks.
A Jedi, Master Stass Allie, is in the lead.
The two clones following her drop back and blast her, causing her to speeder to fly of control. It flew into a tree and exploded, before a piece of the speeder bounced off and hit the ground, scarring off a flock of beards that were feasting on the clone corpses from the previous battle.
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Mandalore.
Back on the planet Mandalore, the people of Sundari were returning to their homes and helping to rebuild the city.
While Captain Autem's Task Force from the Republic Navy maintained a defensive posture in orbit and hunted down what was left of Maul's fleet, the troopers of the 501st Legion - or rather the temporarily named 332nd Legion - provided security by protecting the docks and allowing the people and materials to flow back into the city.
But as recovery efforts and counter-terror actions were underway, the fighting in the city-center was still raging hard.
Clone Troopers and Mandalorian Militiamen were moving block-by-block, clearing out any building that was still being held by Maul's remaining forces. Republic Tanks and Walkers blasted into the buildings.
Republic and Mandalorian star-fighters engaged one another in the planet's low orbit.
Meanwhile, on the roof of the royal palace, the few remaining weapon emplacements were knocked out for good, with Republic artillery zeroing in on the target, allowing the Allied forces to quickly gain the upper hand.
Up above, Maul's fleet was crumbling, as ships were continually ripped apart by the superior Republic Navy. As the Republic warships blasted away at the shadow collective ships, explosions blossomed along their hulls, with debris falling from the sky. Because of the Navy's successes, the Grand Army was continually being reinforced.
At the palace itself, Captain Rex and Kryze's troops made it onto the roof. When they ran up the stairs, missile and blaster fire suddenly came out of nowhere and demolished several allied troopers.
"Take cover!" Rex shouted.
Everyone ran for cover. The firepower coming from the guard towers on the roof wasn't showing any signs of letting up.
"We've got to get break through. Me and my warriors will draw their fire," Kryze said as she took a running start and rocketed up into the air with her men. They flew around, dogfighting with Maul's super commandoes. It was working. Yellow laser bolts and missiles started shifting towards Kryze and her warriors.
"Let's move!" Rex called out as he moved out of cover to advance on the enemy emplacements, firing his dual blasters.
His troopers followed him.
"Alright grunts, time to earn your pay," Sgt. Boomer shouted as his team blasted away at the enemy troopers as well. They were soon followed by Lieutenant Bow and Sgt. Kano's reinforcements.
One clone with a rotary cannon kept Maul's troopers pinned down. "SUCK LASER, TERRORIST SCUM!" He shouted.
Several clone sharpshooters hung back to provide sniper support. They picked off several Shadow Collective grenadiers and gunners, who had been giving their brothers a hard time... until now.
Despite their best efforts, the enemy was still too well dug in. Rex's men were pinned down, and Kryze's Night Owls were being swatted like flies.
A miracle was needed. Lucky for the allied forces, it came.
A hail of Republic artillery fire rained down from several different locations, and hammered the rooftop. Any structure that rained fire on allied forces was wiped out or pounded into slag. After a few salvos, the bombardment subsided. The clones moved along the roof to see the bodies of their enemy littering the rooftop. While they scanned the rooftop for any signs of hostile contacts, Rex held his finger up to a button on his helmet comm.
"This is Captain Rex. The rooftop is secured," he said.
Suddenly, a lightsaber began to spin out of no where and cut through several clone troopers. "Not Clear! Not Clear!" Rex said as he and his men ducked underneath the spinning blade. It curved back and was caught by Darth Maul, who came sprinting across the roof, cutting down anyone clone that got in his way.
Soon, Ahsoka came sprinting after him, with Jesse, Kix, Echo, Hardcase, and about 15 others bringing up the rear.
"Stop Him!" Ahsoka called out.
As if on cue, Kryze's men used their flame vambraces to put up a wall of fire between him and his escape path. Maul was forced to stop. Ahsoka came charging in after him, sabers at the ready. Maul turned to face her. The two of them dueled viciously. The dark lord pushed her back into the wall of fire that Kryze's men put up.
But she had other ideas. With their sabers still crossed, Ahsoka flipped over him and used the force to summon a shockwave that she blasted him with. The force of the blast sent him flying through the wall of fire.
There must've been some unexploded ordnance there, because an explosion went off in the fire wall just as Maul flew through it. He came out the other side and hit a wall. Darth Maul had several cuts, bruises, and mild burns on his body. He also suffered some minor damage to his robotic limbs, and was pinned down by fallen debris.
Ahsoka jumped through the firewall with a battle cry, her arms crossed over each other, ready to decapitate the fallen sith with her extended blades.
Maul used the force to summon his blade. But before it could enter his hand, Ahsoka chopped it in half, and allowed the two halves to hit the wall.
Maul, with his saber captured or destroyed, closed his eyes, ready for the blow, which would never come. When he opened his eyes, he was surprised to see that Ahsoka's blades were crossed right in front of his neck, their tips burning into the wall on either side of Maul.
She wasn't trying to kill him, but the look on her face and the fact that she was showing her fangs made it look like she wanted to. That's when every clone and Mandalorian on the rooftop surrounded them, aiming their blasters at the red-skinned Zabrak.
"What are you waiting for? Strike me down!" Maul dared, "Or are you just afraid?"
"I would do what he says," Bo-Katan said from behind Ahsoka as she picked up Maul's Darksaber off of the ground, "Just so we can shut his big fat mouth."
Ahsoka's resolve hardened for a moment, and her grip on her blades tightened, and for the briefest moment in her life, she was willing to take one out of anger, as justice for all that Darth Maul, the leader of the Shadow Collective, and architect of Mandalore's misery, has done.
But before she could deliver the killing blow, Ahsoka began to hold her head, as it to suppress a headache. But what she was feeling ran deeper than an any physical pain that she could ever hope to feel.
"Commander, what's wrong?" Captain Rex asked with concern.
"I..." She said before she winched a little in slight pain, "I sense something. A tremor in the force. Like... like someone's in danger."
The clones wanted wanted to help. But they weren't sure what to do in this kind of situation. The force was a mysterious entity that he had no jurisdiction in. But before he could ask her if he could do anything to help, his com-link began to chirp. He answered the com-link, and several other clone officers did the same around him, like they were all getting the same message at the exact same time.
He answered it, and a shadowy figure wearing a hood over his head appeared out of the hand-held device.
"Captain Rex, and officers of the 501st Legion," The figure said, "The time has come. Execute Order 66."
Rex was taken aback and confused at what he was just told to do. But then, as the hologram of the hooded figure disappeared, he could see Lieutenant Bow and several of his men moving through the crowds. They were all staring at Ahsoka, who was still holding her head as if still massaging a headache.
As Bow's men inched forward and began to spread out behind Ahsoka, and some of them began to power up their weapons, Rex was suddenly met with memory flashes from the battle of Ringo Vinda... when Tup executed Jedi general Tiplar. And like Tup, these men - the helmet-less ones anyway - looked like they were entranced.
"Oh No!" Rex said quietly as he remembered the inhibitor chips, like the one that he had cut out of his head, and then convinced some of his brothers to do the same.
Suddenly, a pair of clones walked up to Ahsoka before she could kill Maul and one of them hit her in the back of the head with his rifle stock. Ahsoka shouted in pain before she fell to the ground. When she struggled to get back up, one clone drove his boot into her back and kept her pinned.
"What... what are you doing!?" Ahsoka asked, as tears began to stream down her face.
The clones didn't answer. Instead, one of them pointed his blaster at her head, ignoring her pleas as he prepared to pull the trigger.
But before he could, Rex sprung into action and immediately pulled out one of his sidearms and fired. A ring of energy flew towards the trooper that had Ahsoka pinned and overcame him. He screamed as his organs were overloaded and went into arrest. The clone Rex hit, fell to the ground unconscious.
Rex breathed in and out, almost uncontrollably, as he realized what he had just done. Then he looked around and saw that everyone - the Nite owls, his men, and Ahsoka - were all looking at him like he had several heads.
Ahsoka was still on the ground, stunned, and her watery eyes were bugging out of her skull.
"Rex... wh-what's happening?" She asked before she was cut off by what she saw.
In her peripheral vision, she could see Bow's men aiming their blasters at her. And then, before the next shots rang out, her predatory instincts kicked in, and she used the force to pull her lightsabers off of the ground and deflect the hailstorm of blaster bolts that came her way.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Rex shouted.
But her men didn't listen to her. Instead, the rogue clones spread out, trying to fire on her from every angle possible. Even more troubling was that several more clones weren't even trying to help her. Some of them even just started trying to detain Rex, who was using his dual DC-17s to stun his own men.
She expertly swung her lightsabers even more viciously, bouncing their plasma bolts away from her direction and into the rogue clones, injuring them but not killing them, much to the astonishment of the crowd, who, along with the Nite Owls, continued to stare in disbelief, not knowing what to do. But then Bo-Katan started firing on the clones that were attacking Rex and Ahsoka.
Her warriors started exchanging fire with the clones, who they soon learned were no slouches, as both sides started to take casualties.
"Stand Down! That's an order!" Rex shouted, in another vain attempt to get them to stand down.
But he didn't get through to them. They kept advancing and firing.
That's when a burning pain grazed the back of Ahsoka's left shoulder. She staggered in pain and dropped her guard, allowing the rogue clones to move further and surround her, training all of their weapons on her.
She then took a glance to her left to see that Rex was tackled to the ground and cuffed, but still continued to kick and struggle, to no avail.
Then Ahsoka looked up at her men, looking at them in shocked horror, and tears began to build up in her eyes. But she closed her eyes when she realized that her fate was sealed.
Her life started to flash before her eyes. Every time, from when Plo Koon took her to the temple, when she first trained with Yoda, when she became Anakin padawan, when she left the order, the night she spent with Lux skinny dipping in that artificial pond on Coruscant, to the last time she saw Anakin, and tears started to stream down her cheeks.
Suddenly, another hail of blaster bolts flew through the air.
But they weren't for her. She opened her eyes when she heard the screams of dying clones, and saw the rogue clones being hit in the chest by blue blaster fire. She looked back at the palace, just in time to see Vill, Coric, Boomer, and Kano's men rushing out of the palace's lower levels. She even saw Jesse, Hardcase, Echo, and Kix rushing down to save Rex and try and put Bow's apparent betrayal down.
Her tears became those of joy when she realized that not all of her men had betrayed her.
But then they immediately went back to sadness when she looked at the seen in front of her, as brother fought brother.
She couldn't tell who was on who's side at that point, as clones started cutting each other down on the rooftop that they just secured not a minute ago.
But through the noise of battle, she could hear someone calling out to her. "Get out of here, Commander! We'll hold them off!"
She couldn't tell who said it. Probably Rex. But it didn't matter. As much as she wanted to stay and fight, and not leave her loyal men behind, she had no other choice. She had to run. Run fast, and vaulted over the balcony, and into the lower levels. Clutching her burning shoulder, she ran as fast as her legs could carry her, and she didn't look back.
She just ran.
Ahsoka Tano was, once again, on the run from her own men.
As this was happening, Darth Maul was just smiling, as his captors started tearing each other apart.
'Looks like it has finally begun,' he thought to himself, laughing at the irony that his Master's plan saved him indirectly.
Using his Sith training, he reached out with the force and grabbed the Darksaber hilt from Bo-Katan's hip while she was distracted. When the hilt flew into his hands and activated, he started to swing at the debris that pinned him down.
But his captors noticed.
"Maul's getting away!"
"Hold Him!"
The Nite Owls started to pull back hard on the cables they used to restrain Maul, and a few others started to aim their wrist-mounted blasters at him. He deflected all of them, despite the fact that he was restricted by the cables. But nonetheless, several Mandalorians were felled by their own blaster fire. Maul then swung the blade around and sliced the cables.
The Sith Warrior was free.
"Stop him!" Bo-Katan shouted.
She and her warriors surrounded Maul from above and from around him. Aiming their vambraces and blasters at him. They all fired simultaneously, but the red-skinned Zabrak spun around like a majestic demon cat, and swung his sword viciously. Two of Kryze's warriors even used their flame vambraces, only to witness the flames only surround him and not engulf him. This was due to Maul using the force to put up a barrier around himself.
He then clenched his fists and began to choke all of the warriors around him, including Bo-Katan.
"No!" She tried to choke out, before Maul force pushed the warriors in every direction, where they were slammed into the ground and walls around him.
He smiled when he saw that no one was in his way, but before he could do so, Bo-Katan managed to fire a dart at one of Maul's mechanical legs, which blossomed into a blinking, flower shaped object, which transmitted his location to her wrist comm.
She then saw Ahsoka Tano jump over the ledge and deep into the palace to get away from the carnage.
As Captain Rex tried to stop his men from firing on Ahsoka, the Nite Owls, and each other, Bo-Katan decided that it was time to leave. She and her remaining warriors jetted off into the sky, avoiding blue blaster fire as they did.
"Ma'am, where are we going?" One warrior asked.
"Are we going after Maul?" Another asked.
"No. We're going after the one person who can." She said as they jetted off in the last direction Ahsoka was seen running off to.
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Coruscant, Chancellor's Office.
Darth Sidious stands alone in his private office, absolutely pleased with himself as call after call, clone unit after clone unit, the Jedi were being wiped across every planet of the war-torn galaxy.
Illuminated only from a hologram projector beam from above. A small hologram of a clone officer stationed on Kashyyyk stands in front of him.
"Commander Gree. The time has come. Execute Order Sixty-Six," he said to the clone commander that was serving under the Grand Master of the Jedi Order.
Kashyyyk.
"It will be done, My Lord." Gree said before he snapped off his comlink and walked across the platform.
A vista of waterways, high green mesas, and giant tree cities serves as a backdrop for the fierce battle outside, as clones and Wookies fight against what's left of the Separatist Droid Armies, with treaded tank-like vehicles.
Yoda watches from the balcony, as Chewbacca and Tarfful stand on either side of the Jedi Master as he watches the battle below. Commander Gree and one clone scout trooper walk onto the balcony toward Yoda.
Yoda doesn't acknowledge them, and continues to stand, looking over the battlefield below. When they are close enough, the clones reveal their weapons and prepare to fire.
But faster than the clones can reveal their weapons, Yoda swiftly ignites his lightsaber, leaps in the air with a battle cry, and beheads both clones.
Chewbacca and Tarfful growled in surprise. But their confusion disappears as more clones rush onto the platform, firing their weapons at Yoda, who jumps onto the holo-table to start deflecting blaster fire.
The Wookiees join in, and fire back at the clones. When the last clone hits the ground, Yoda scanned his surroundings. When the coast was clear, he nodded his head and put his saber away, before using the force to grab his cane.
Realizing that they had to go, Chewbacca puts his arm out, and Yoda uses it to climb up and rest on Chewie's shoulders, as they rush out of the building, leaving the clone bodies behind.
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Jedi Temple, Coruscant.
The battle for the Jedi Temple is turning vicious, as the Jedi Masters, Knights, and Padawans fight desperately to hold off the attacking clones, who were just hours ago their faithful allies.
Thousands of clones have rushed into the temple, and have spread throughout, searching the library, the living quarters, the towers, and the training and mess halls, hunting down every Jedi they can, before surrounding and overwhelming them with concentrated blaster fire.
Jedi Master Shaak Ti did her best to organize a defense of the temple. Taking command from the main hanger bay, she managed to scramble several Jedi fighters up into the air, trying to hold off the Clone Army, while also trying to get shuttle loads of younglings and their masters evacuated into the air. But with the Coruscant Home Fleet blockading the airspace, that immediately proved fruitless, as shuttles and fighters were shot down.
She also led several counter attacks with the Temple's greatest swordsmen, and the Temple Security Guards, who fought the clones tooth and nail for every inch of the Temple. But she soon realized that the Clones and blockade were not their only problems, nor their biggest.
The biggest problem was the former Jedi Knight leading them.
The so-called chosen one.
High up above the carnage, in the Jedi Council Chamber, a group of terrified Jedi younglings are huddled behind a corner, hiding behind the empty chairs that belonged to the Jedi Council.
That's when Darth Vader entered the room, being able to sense the fear coming from this room. That's when one youngling came out from behind his hiding place, and walked up to the figure.
"Master Skywalker, there are too many of them. What are we going to do?" The little boy asked, hoping that the experienced Chosen one had an answer.
That's when the hooded figure looks back at them with an emotionless look on his face, and didn't offer a verbal response. That's when Skywalker ignites his lightsaber, and the young boy stepped back, a look of terror spread across his face.
Padme's Apartment.
C-3PO and Padme, look out the apartment window. They are stunned into silence, as they watched the Temple burning in the distance, causing an orange glow to light the city for miles in every direction.
"The Chancellor's office indicated Master Anakin returned to the Jedi Temple." 3PO informed, "Don't worry, My Lady. I am sure he will be all right.
That's when Padme crossed her arms over her chestsuddenly burst into tears and began to cry into her hands. More than anytime in her entire life, she wanted the father of her child back in her arms immediately.
Jedi Temple, Beacon Control Room.
As the fighting in the nearly deserted, and ruined, temple began to 'die' down, and clones continued to mop up and secure the building, a squad of clones rushed through the building. They were here to bring news to Lord Vader, who had just arrived here, fresh off of his Jedi murder spree.
As they rushed through the room, which had mainframes that flashed blue and green, they found Darth Vader, who was tampering with the mainframe, and guarded by a pair of Elite clone Assassins.
"That will bring any surviving Jedi home... where I will be waiting for them," Vader said when he finished tampering with the mainframe.
He turned around, and saw the clones who had just rushed in.
"Lord Vader, a Jedi has penetrated our upper level defenses!" The clone officer informed.
Vader looked at the clone with a stern look, but wasn't focusing on him.
"Yes," he finally said, "I sense... Cin Drallig. I'll deal with him." He turned to the menacing clone assassins that had escorted him into the room. "You stay here and protect the beacon," he said before he walked off. "Guard it with your lives."
The city planet is covered in a hazy glow. A column of black smoke can be seen rising in the distance. Bail Organa's Speeder flies overhead, straight toward the smoke.
The Jedi Temple is on fire. Large plumes of smoke billow toward the sky as the senator lands his Speeder on a Jedi Temple platform. A squad of clone troopers stand guard at the entrance to the Temple. They lower their guns as Bail gets out of his Speeder and walks toward them.
"What's going on here?!" He asked as he continued walking.
Clone Commander Appo, the leader of the 501st, walked to meet him. "There's been a rebellion, sir. Don't worry, the situation is under control." Appo said.
Bail continued walking, thinking that their story was a joke. But before he could enter, Appo and the other clones barred him from further entry.
"I'm sorry, sir. No one is allowed entry." But Bail kept walking. In response, the clones point their guns at Bail and cock them. "It's time for you to leave, sir." Appo finished.
Bail was intensely nervous as he froze in place. Realizing that any wrong move meant death, he began to slowly step backwards. "And so it is."
The Alderaanian viceroy/senator reluctantly heads back toward his Speeder. Suddenly, several blaster shots ring out. Bail turns just in time to see a ten-year-old Jedi padawan fighting the clones. Several more clones, who are pursuing from the hanger, join in the fight.
Appo pointed at the young Jedi. "Get him! Shoot him!"
The Jedi youngling sliced through two of the clones. He even swung his blade at Appo, graving him below the kneecap, and knocking him down. A forth clone raised his rifle, but was cut across the chest as he fired.
Several more clones start firing at the Jedi, several bolts flying past him, and towards Bail. The Senator jumps for cover behind his Speeder, starting the engines and pulling out his blaster pistol. He then peaked his head over cover to watch the fight.
The young jedi deflects several bolts away from himself and back at the clones, cutting a couple of them down, before he is overrun and shot.
"NO!" Bail shouted.
The clones all turn to him, and raise their blasters.
Bail then jumped into his speeder and grabbed the controls, which takes off before he is even in the driver's seat. As some clones check on the jedi's body and help an injured Appo to his feet, they fire at Bail's speeder as it disappears into the cityscape.
"Don't worry about him!" Appo shouted, waving at his troopers to cease fire, "Let him go!"
The senator struggles to pull himself into the Speeder as it races along through the cityscape. Finally, he climbs in, just as the Speeder is about to hit a building. He steered it clear of the building just in time, and races away.
Jedi Temple Communications Center.
On the roof of the now-burning Jedi Temple, Lord Vader stormed the upper levels of the Jedi Temple with a squad of clones. What he saw were a couple dozen dead clone troopers and dead temple security guards. But judging by the amount of armored pieces that were scattered across the room, he could tell that a Jedi's hand was in this.
They moved further and further into the heavily damaged room and saw many more clone bodies, which were also in pieces, reinforcing the notion that powerful Jedi were up here, making a final stand.
When they walked through the now-ruined communications center, a decapitated clone trooper helmet clattered across the room from out of nowhere. The clones all tensed up, but Vader just looked at the plain white helmet with no emotion.
"Be on your guard, boys," the clone Sergeant
Then, as the sounds of swaying lightsabers neared, the clones raised their blasters at the doorway, just in time to see a human female Jedi jump into the doorway. She had two green lightsabers
She wore a tan skirt, with a matching tunic and leggings, while also wearing a burgundy cloth that wrapped around her supple bust, and a matching pair of boots. The woman stared at Vader and his men with barely hidden disgust.
"You shouldn't have come here." She said.
Vader looked right at her with an almost amused, and somewhat disinterested, look in his eyes.
"Serra Keto." He said. "Cin Drallig's greatest pupil has come to greet me."
Vader's clones raised their blasters and started firing on the Jedi Knight, but she expertly deflected all of them. Some of them flew back into the clones that fired them. A few more flew towards Vader, who easily deflected them, before raising his one flesh hand to unleash a new power that he had just learned thanks to the anger and hatred that coursed through him.
Sith Lightning.
The arc of lightning came as a surprise, but it was nonetheless one that Serra was prepared for, as she crossed her blades together, absorbed the direct lightning strike, and then swung her blades, propelling the deadly energy back towards Vader and his men. While the clones were cooked alive inside their own armor, Vader raised his hands to absorb the energy back into his hands.
But just as that happened, Serra was on the offensive, swinging her two blades at him with a vicious precision. Darth Vader deflected the blows that came his way, and managed to make the experienced knight stagger back a little. But then Serra started using telekenesis to start hurling objects at Vader, who chopped them up with ease. But then a massive pillar was thrown at him, and he had to jump back in order to avoid it.
A cloud of dust was kicked up, blinding the Sith Lord. He then used the force to push the dust away and clear his vision. He looked around the absolutely torn up room to look for his prey. He looked up to a balcony above him and saw Serra looking down at him. She then ran through a doorway.
Vader followed.
The hunt was on.
Jedi Temple Rooftop, Pre-Dawn.
Darth Vader eventually found himself on the roof of the Jedi Temple, while on the hunt for Serra Keto. He eventually followed her through one of the training rooms at the base of the Tower of Knowledge, and out onto the roof of the Temple's main structure.
The night sky was choked with smoke from the fires that raged across the rooftop, and Republic Star Destroyers continued to hover in the air around the temple's airspace.
Vader found Serra already on the roof, twirling her lightsabers around, and getting ready for another fight.
"I'm getting tired of these pathetic games that pass for saber skills among you Jedi," Vader said, annoyed, "Where is your master?"
Serra just smiled.
"Why don't you look around?" She said as she gestured with her blades all around her.
Vader looked around, and saw several Jedi Knights and Temple Guardians jump over the roof's edge, and down from the towers around him, activating their lightsabers as they did so. He also saw a few dozen Temple Security Guards grappling up over the edges of the roof, with their blasters at the ready.
At the head of these Jedi, who represented the best swordsmen in the Order, was Blade-master Cin Drallig.
"It's over Skywalker," Master Drallig declared, "You're outnumbered and surrounded."
After a few long and silent seconds, Vader finally spoke.
"No," he said before he activated his lightsaber and allowed lightning to course at the edge of his fingertips, making the Jedi and guards tense up, "This is where the fun begins."
Cin Drallig just frowned, before gesturing to his allies. "Take him."
On Master Drallig's orders, the Jedi began to advance on Vader. But before they were within striking distance, several loud buzzing noises grew closer and closer. Everyone looked around in confusion, before they saw several Gunships flying from the cruisers above.
The Jedi looked up in horror as they unleashed a volley of missiles on the roof. Everyone either ducked for cover, dove out of the way, or were killed on the spot.
When the gunships were above the roof, several dozen clones began to rappel down from their passenger bays, firing their blaster one handed as they did so, before battling against the Temple Security Guards. Cin Drallig, Serra Keto, and a couple other Jedi Knights also tried to help them, but they weren't enough to force the clones back, but a bloody battle ensued, causing vicious casualties for both sides.
While this was happening, the other Jedi and the remaining security guards were trying to subdue and kill Vader, who was making life difficult for them. Or rather Short.
Vader charged at one Jedi, did a circular kick in the air, and delivered a swift kick to one of the Temple Guardians, sending him to the ground, before driving his blade through his robed torso. Another Guardian tried to attack him from behind, but Vader swiftly turned around and clenched his fist, making the Jedi warriors float in the air, holding his throat in the process. He was then thrown over the side after having his windpipe crushed.
Clone snipers began to pick off the security guards from the gunships, while clone blaze troopers moved in to fry the Jedi up close. But as they did this, Serra finished them off from behind by slicing their fuel lines open, and torching them with their own weapons.
"That's two more for me," she said.
"I wasn't aware that we were keeping score," Cin Drallig said before he turned around to see his best student rushing off to fight vader, who was still fighting two Temple Guardians. "No, Serra, wait! We have to take him together!"
But she didn't listen, and continued to rush towards Darth Vader, who was just slicing through one Guardian's torso with his saber, before turning around to fry the other one with Sith lightning.
Serra readied her blades and charged towards Vader, before pouncing at him, blades pointed forward while shouting out a battle cry.
But Vader didn't have to break a sweat. All he did was turned around, bashed Serra's blades out of her hands with his saber, before using his other hand to grab a hold of her neck. As this was happening, Cin Drallig finally caught up with her and began to swing his blade at Vader, who began to parry his strikes with one hand, while still choking Serra with the other.
Soon, the life was drained from her face, before a sickening crack came from her neck.
"NO!" Cin Drallig said before he put an extra bit of power behind his strike, only for Vader to meet his.
They were both caught in a saber lock, which lasted only until Vader disengaged and began to strike even harder against Cin Drallig. The Sith lord's strikes bacame to much for the Jedi blade master, and her began to step back to avoid the strikes. He jumped back, and cut down several clones who tried to subdue him from behind, before jumping out of the way of Vader's lightsaber throw. As the Jedi's feet cleared the path of the spinning blade, vader clapped his hands together, and used the force to push Cin Drallig back through a wall of debris.
On the other side, Drallig slowly got up on his feet, just as he saw Vader jumping towards him, with his re-summoned lightsaber pointed downward. Cin jumped out of the way just before Vader plunged his blade into the roof. Vader looked over his shoulder, and was frustrated to see Cin Drallig land behind him.
Both warriors looked at each other with clear disdain for each other, before Master Drallig charged towards Vader, who turned around to meet the Jedi reinvigorated assault.
Both warriors danced around each other, striking out and parrying one another's strikes. Eventually, they were caught in another saber lock, but Cin had a trick up his sleeve. He leaned back in order to make Vader lean into the lock, only for the Blade master to kick Vader over his body, and send him into the ground. He then turned around to finish Vader off. But when he was close enough to deliver the finishing blow, Vader ducked into the Jedi's stance and plunged his blade up into his abdomen.
Cin Drallig winced in pain and anger, before looking down at his wound. Realizing that he was succumbing to his fate, his face relaxed, and when Vader withdrew his blade, the Jedi master fell to his knees. He looked on in horror as the clones finished off the remaining Jedi on the roof, and the last of the security guards. The last thing he saw was the lifeless, pen eyes of his greatest pupil, who lay dead with the rest of her fellow Jedi.
Master Cin Drallig collapsed to the ground in a crumpled, lifeless heap, his spirit becoming one with the force.
Satisfied that the job was done, Vader walked away from his clones, who were securing the rooftop, and over to the edge of the roof to observe the Ventor-class star-destroyers hovering in the pre-dawn sky, above the still burning temple.
"This will be a day long remembered," he said to himself. "Soon, the Jedi will be no more".
"I couldn't agree more, my apprentice," said a voice behind him.
Vader turned around to see Darth Sidious walking up to him while surveying the carnage, past the clones who stood at attention, with several red-cloaked royal guards escorting him. The newly christened Dark Lord took a knee and bowed his head.
"The traitors have been taken care of, Lord Sidious," Vader said.
"Good . . . good . . . You have done well, my new apprentice. Do you feel your power growing?" Sidious asked as he looked down at his kneeling apprentice.
Vader hesitated for a second, but eventually answered. "Yes, My Master."
"Good. Now, Lord Vader, now go to Mustafar as we discussed. Go and bring peace to the Empire."
Vader nodded his head. "It will be done, My Master," he said before he stood up and began to walk away, through the carnage-soaked ruins of the Jedi Temple, eventually going down to the hanger to have Artoo come pick him up with a ship.
When he was in the air, he didn't immediately go to Mustafar as planned. He had somewhere else he had to be first.
And it was to visit the person that he did all these horrible things for to begin with.
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Well folks, that was 16 of my story, the Rise of the Empire.
Hope you enjoyed this retelling of the events that kicked off the Great Jedi Purge. Ahsoka is on the run, Maul is free, the 501st is tearing itself apart, and the Jedi are all but extinct.
Anyway, the next chapter will focus on Obi-Wan, who makes a daring escape from his own men.