A/N:Much as I love doing this fic, I can't wait until I'm done with it—it'll be the very first multi-chapter fic (since my three-part Skyrim one, and that was more of a trilogy of one-shots than a real multi-chapter fic) that I've ever completed. It'll also mean more free time to work on my other plot bunnies, as well as continue my jumpchain fic.
Disney owns Star Wars. Bend the knee or be destroyed.
As I emerged from the breach into the skies above Coruscant, I had only a split-second to look around before my freefall began; in that split-second, though, I noticed the Negotiator slowly moving towards the temple. For a moment, I wondered if my alterations to the Order 66 code had failed; I had little time to dwell on it, however, as I needed to focus on the Force, letting it guide me to avoid getting hit by any speeders as I fell. It wasn't so different in feeling than using Soresu; you feel a subtle mental "nudge" of sorts, telling you where to move and what to do.
Spread-eagle to help slow the fall.
Lean left.
Left.
Lean forward.
Right.
Left.
Wait.
Wait.
Wait.
NOW.
At that last nudge, I quickly enhanced my physical durability as I used telekinesis to further slow my fall and position myself upright at the last second. The result was that I landed feet-first on the roof of some poor guy's speeder, probably scaring the daylights out of him.
"Choi?! Kee chai cun kriff kuta?!"
I carefully slid through the passenger-side window, ignoring the Dug's rant and replying in Huttese.
-"Take me to the Jedi Temple! Hurry!"-
"Otoh noto wo kark jeedai poodoo, du kriff wompity!"
One of the few things I didn't learn of Huttese from Master Ceelia back when I first started were what the curse words meant; considering this guy's tone, though, no translation was needed.
Padme was still trying to come to terms with everything that had just happened as she arrived on the bridge of the Negotiator; thankfully, Fives was there to help explain.
"So Obi-Wan planned all of this? How did he know?"
"Yes to that first question, Senator. As for the second," Fives replied with an exasperated smirk, "to be honest, Senator, I never really have a clue how the General knows half the things he knows; I've always just assumed it was a Jedi thing."
"Senator Amidala, I wish these were better circumstances, but..."
Padme shook her head in response to the holocall image. "No time for formalities, Duchess Satine. I don't exactly know what's happening myself, but if I had to guess, he's either at the temple overseeing its evacuation... or fighting Palpatine alongside Ani."
"I could hardly believe it myself when Obi-Wan contacted me last night," Satine said; the first-name basis confirmed a couple of Padme's suspicions about the Duchess and Kenobi, but she remained silent as the former continued. "To think that the supreme chancellor was behind everything... in any case, whatever happens you, the Jedi, and whoever else may require sanctuary will be safe in the Neutral systems. Mandalore may not have much of a standing fleet—we are a pacifist society now, after all—but thankfully some of our other allies in the League had the foresight to build something of a small fleet up just in case. I disapproved of the notion of 'enforced neutrality' at the time, but for now it seems to be an unfortunate necessity."
"Should Palpatine win, I fear he may not respect that neutrality, enforced or no. But a fleet will definitely be of use; if my guess about Obi-Wan's plan is correct, he wants us to help set the stage for an organized rebellion in that event. So long as Bail Organa and Mon Mothma received my calls in time—and I don't see why they shouldn't have—between the four of us, we will add Alderaan, Naboo, and Chandrila to the League of Neutral Systems, which should be enough to support an effective rebellion; let us pray that it will not be necessary."
Satine frowned, a distant expression on her face. "I already am praying, Padme."
"As am I."
A moment of understanding passed between the two before it was interrupted by Fives. "Senator, Duchess, I'm getting a call from Mon Cal. Apparently the General contacted one of their military leaders, and they'd like to lend their support as well."
Kenobi. It could only be Kenobi.
Count Dooku observed the ongoing feed from his spies on Coruscant and Mandalore with a rather calm expression; behind that expression, however, lay mounting frustration and anger, though carefully focused. He had certainly not seen this eventuality coming; in retrospect, he realized his arrogance in believing that he alone would have access to knowledge of the other world—after all, up until recently there had been no sign at all that Kenobi's padawan had revealed anything to the Jedi Order—but there was no other explanation. Somehow, Caller had informed Kenobi of everything. It had to have been immediately after Kamino; had Kenobi known earlier, they probably could have prevented that battle altogether.
Ruminating on the past is useless; the dejariik board has changed, but all that means is that I have to move even more quickly than before. The alliance he is setting up is clearly meant to be a stronger analogue to the Rebel Alliance of a different time; should Palpatine emerge victorious, the resulting civil war should grant me time to further consolidate my fleet in preparation for my invasion of Earth. If not, the Galaxy will be united, and I will simply have to send what forces I already have through the portal and use Earth as a sanctuary in which to build more while the Jedi and the Republic fumble around for a way to replicate our technology.
A Galactic Empire or a Rebel Alliance, drained from fighting a civil war, he could easily defeat; a Galaxy united would be far more difficult.
Never did I suspect that I would genuinely pray for Sidious' victory...
He switched off the feed and sent a holocall to his new apprentice; it was not long before the young man in question answered.
"Yes, my master?"
"Inform the Supervisor of Research and Development that their timetable has shifted; they are to complete construction of the portal array on this ship by the day's end."
"Construction is nearly complete, but it may take longer than that. What should I say to them?"
"Inform them that their new Emperor commands it. Should that fail... kill the Supervisor in front of his men, then promote his second in his place. That should provide sufficient motivation."
"As you wish, my master."
As the holocall ended, Dooku turned to take one last look at Serenno through the bridge viewport; a wave of nostalgia, tinged with regret, passed through him as he did so. He quickly crushed it and steeled himself for what was to come. The course is set and the die is cast. What will be, let it be.
"Pushee, kankee chuba jeedai schutta!"
-"Sorry about that again, thank you, bye!"-
As soon as the speeder was safely over the Temple platform I leapt out and broke into a run as the cursing continued, fading off into the distance; I was in such a rush that I almost ran straight into Ahsoka.
"Kevin?! How did you get b—"
"No time to explain, we—"
"Kevin, there's something bad down in the archives and it might blow up the temple! The Council and a bunch of other Masters are dealing with it, but we're evacuating on the Negotiator just in case!"
The Negotiator... so I did do it right, hopefully. Better leave whatever's down there to the Council—
No sooner did the thought cross my mind than I got another nudge from the Force. Now, the Force doesn't really talk, per se, but you get feelings that are occasionally strong enough to put into a general sentence that kind-of-sort-of carries the meaning in a way non-sensitives can understand; this one was pretty clear to me, despite the fact that the best wording I could give to the feeling is pretty vague (again, the Force is impossible to really describe if you're not sensitive):
Every spark of light makes a difference.
Judging from Ahsoka's expression, she felt it too; our simultaneous response confirmed it.
"Down to the archives! We need to hurry!"
Yoda had told Obi-Wan once about a mysterious warning from a Jedi he knew long ago; of the Sith, there are always two: a master and an apprentice. From the time the war began up until Kamino, he had always believed Dooku to be the master. The man certainly fit the image of a Sith master; arrogant, manipulative, and intimidatingly powerful in the Force.
Now that he was faced with the true master, however, Obi-Wan would never make that mistake again; the only true frame of reference with regards to Sidious' skill and power he could think of was that of Yoda, and perhaps even stronger than that. In short, Sidious wasn't simply a man, but a true monster. It took everything Obi-Wan had just to avoid death half the time, whether from the creature's lightning, its fierce telekinetic strikes, and its waves of darkness... to say nothing of its skill in swordplay, which was on a level he had not seen in ages. Its attacks came in seemingly random staccato bursts in which Obi-Wan could barely see the blade, and those few power attacks it used were enough to nearly make his bones rattle with the impact of parrying. Had Kenobi been alone, he would have likely died in mere moments.
But I'm not alone, he assured himself. Anakin—my friend, my brother—is here. And the Force is with us.
Indeed, while the straits were dire, both Jedi were slowly beginning to adjust to Sidious' impossible speed and power; a true battle between Darkness and Light was being waged in that room, with the fate of the galaxy at stake.
Sidious roared; the Darkness responded to its call, surging forth. Anakin and Obi-Wan stretched out with their feelings and met the attack head-on together; the Light guided their blades and steadied them as they pushed back the shadows. The Dark Lord of the Sith sent waves of lightning at Anakin, who deftly stopped it with his lightsaber before retaliating with a powerful Form V strike; Palpatine sent out a telekinetic surge that forced the Chosen One back, only to find Obi-Wan in his place as Anakin rushed to flank. The two Jedi fought in perfect tandem, acting as one.
And still the fight went on. For all their unity, Palpatine was still a monster, and its strength had not abated; the only sign that they had any chance of winning was the growing frustration on its demonic visage and the angry growls it unleashed.
"Damnable Jedi! Fall! Die! Kneel before the power of the Dark Side!"
"You've already lost, 'Chancellor'," Anakin replied with a determined stare. "You've been exposed for what you are; your reign is over!"
"Heh... hehehe... hahHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
The demoniac howling laughter erupting from their enemy sent chills through the two Jedi.
"You're right. I gambled and lost. But if I perish... THEN SO SHALL THE JEDI!"
A wave of darkness beyond any other they had experienced threw them back and shattered the windows as Sidious raised its hands in the direction of the Jedi Temple, chanting in a tongue that sounded every bit as obscene and vile as the thing itself; it was then that Obi-Wan realized, to his horror, what it was doing.
"Watch as your precious order dies in darkness!"
Within the Temple archives, some of the greatest Masters of the order—council and otherwise—stood in a circle around the Sith device, focusing their power against it. Without warning, it surged forth with evil energy, nearly taking them by surprise; they barely had time to brace themselves against it, let alone push it back.
Jedi Master Ki-Adi-Mundi felt genuine horror for the first time in nearly half a century. Such power... how could we have missed this hiding deep within our temple? In spite of that horror, he renewed his focus as best he could as the Council chanted the Jedi Code.
"Emotion, yet peace!"
The darkness surged as the Light battled it.
"Ignorance, yet knowledge!"
The Masters focused their collective will to stem the evil tide.
"Passion, yet serenity!"
The darkness surged yet again, slowly breaking its confinement...
"Chaos, yet harmony..."
The Jedi buckled as the darkness came forth to swallow them—
"Death, yet the Force!"
The Masters turned at the two new voices as Ahsoka and Kevin joined the circle, adding their relatively meager strength to bolster the power of the Light; suddenly, the Darkness halted in its tracks. The chanting continued, now emboldened by the voices of the two padawans as the shadows were repulsed.
"Emotion, yet peace!"
"Ignorance, yet knowledge!"
"Passion, yet serenity!"
"Chaos, yet harmony!"
"Death, yet the Force!"
To those who were not sensitive to the force, nothing would have been seen or felt; to those who were, a blinding wall of pure light shot through the heart of the Temple, bathing it in its glow as the darkness was banished.
"No... impossible..."
The power of the Wall of Light was felt all the way in the Senate building as all three combatants stared in shock at the towering beacon of light coming from the Temple; even the darkness filling the room seemed to shrink back in fear of it.
"Impossible... The Dark Side... there's... it's not..."
With a terrible growl, Sidious turned its gaze back to the two Jedi. "YOU! YOU'VE RUINED EVERYTHING! DIE—"
A flash of red. A flash of blue.
"I... I... n-no..."
Two lightsabers deactivated; a body staggered back in shock, falling out the window towards inevitable death.
With a gurgle, not a roar; with a pitiful blink, not a final surge of power; without grandeur nor glory.
Thus died Darth Sidious.
I did my best to give Sidious a good run before his comeuppance; now all that's left is the real villain of this fic, and an epilogue. Read and review, and I'll see you next chapter!