Hey guys
So here is another chapter
Do not own Star Wars or anything related to it
Few hours later in Palpatine's office
Palpatine is behind a desk with a full head of white hair and his usual red robes.
Sitting in a chair near the desk is a woman close to Anakin's age, with being dressed in green and yellow expensive robes. Her brown hair is pulled back into a bun and her eyes hold a fire within them.
Both Palpatine and the senator rise to their feet as Obi-Wan and Anakin walk into the room with the doors automatically closing behind them with the two Jedi giving a slight bow in greeting.
"I'm so pleased you both could come, though I wish it was under better a situation than this" Palpatine said.
"As do I" Anakin said towards a man who has become an ally and friend within the Republic Senate.
"May I introduce the senator of Naboo Padme Amidala. These are Jedi Knights Obi-Wan and Anakin Skywalker" Palpatine said.
"Pleasure to meet you" Obi-Wan said.
"Same to the both of you. Now let's get down to business, I don't need protection I need you to find out who is trying to kill me" Padme said.
"In all good time, Senator Amidala. We were sent here to keep you safe and we are planning on doing just that" Obi-Wan said.
"I have a security team, I am not in need of the Jedi's help in that regard" Padme replied, lightly upset.
"Yes, and that same team was killed in the attack on your life this morning. While a new security team will be assisting you, I want the Jedi to help given I fear the attackers may try again" Palpatine said.
"And we are a lot harder to kill" Anakin said.
"Very well," Padme said reluctantly coinciding.
"You can use my penthouse during your stay in Coruscant" Palpatine offers.
"Thank you, I shall do that" Padme replied.
Nighttime in a sitting area outside of a bedroom
Anakin is sitting on the floor with resting his back against the wall with thinking over these past hours. Palpatine is asleep in another part of the penthouse and Padme is in the room behind him. Palpatine offered them some spare rooms as well, but they declined given the obvious reasons for wanting to stick close to the senator.
Of course, Anakin will admit this to no one, not even Obi-Wan but he does find Amidala very attractive.
Hearing footsteps Anakin looks over to see Obi-Wan enter with walking over and sitting down on the floor across from Skywalker.
"So, did you get the security camera set up?" Obi-Wan asked, stroking his beard.
"I did but she covered it with a cloth. I don't think she likes us watching her" Anakin said.
"You did try to stop her?" Obi-Wan asked.
"Well you know royalty, they don't exactly like being told what to do. Of course, in her case she is used to enjoying her freedom, so to suddenly be more restricted I can more understand that" Anakin said.
"Plus, she's scared so we are just easy targets" Obi-Wan said.
"True. Which she's got one of those Artoo droids inside to alert us if any trouble occurs and with some luck, we won't lose the senator" Anakin said.
"I don't believe in luck" Obi-Wan replied, then glancing around "The better question is why you aren't using that couch over there?"
"The material is too soft, which at times still makes my back uncomfortable" Anakin said.
"Right," Obi-Wan said, understanding since his friend is referring to his past as a slave and the punishment he endured, then adds "Well if it's not a problem for you I'm using it."
"Go ahead" Anakin replied.
Obi-Wan gets up with walking over to the couch and laying down on it. Letting his thoughts drift to just what he said moments ago for calling Anakin his friend, something he means completely. Though there are times where his attachment to Anakin as one would a brother goes beyond what the Jedi code allows.
He does his best to be a Jedi and uphold the code, no matter what with never faulting. After all, that's how he was raised at the temple, the Jedi are his life. So, to have attachments leads to selfishness which easily leads to the dark side.
Only there is a small part of him that considers Anakin a younger brother regardless and hates it all the same because due to the Jedi's code he can never tell him. He knows that if the choice came down to Anakin having to choose between him or the Jedi order, Anakin would choose him without a second thought.
In the deepest part of his soul, Obi-Wan wonders if he would do the same and dreads the answer.
Clearing those thoughts from his mind, Obi-Wan closes his eyes appearing to be asleep, but very much awake.
Meanwhile, Anakin is doing the same only to suddenly hearing what sounds like glass breaking from the room behind him, causing Anakin to leap to his feet. Glancing over at Obi-Wan to see the Jedi is on his feet as well. Turning to the door Anakin watches as it suddenly opens as Padme comes rushing out, followed by a droid.
Entering the room both Obi-Wan and Anakin see the window glass broken as four men are climbing inside, from a small speedster on the outside. All the men are dressed in the usual mercenary gear of black clothes and rifles, with various other weapons.
However, one obvious thing is they all have the same faces, so Anakin and Obi-Wan realize quickly these are most likely the Separatists clones.
"Now before this gets any worse, is there any chance we could talk about this peacefully?" Obi-Wan asked, despite knowing it will probably do no good.
The men in response raise their weapons with pointing them at the Jedi who remove their lightsaber hilts and ignite the blue blades. The clones begin firing as Anakin and Obi-Wan expertly deflect the rifle bolts, as they move in closer.
Quickly Anakin removes one clone of his right arm sending him down to the ground in pain and puts his blade into the chest of another clone, killing it as well. Rapidly Obi-Wan brings his lightsaber across the upper body of the third man seriously injuring the man with sending him to the ground.
The fourth clone seeing his friends go down within about a minute turns with fleeing out the window and getting on the hovercraft with beginning to drive away.
Running towards the window Anakin leaps out and after a tiny moment of debate Obi-Wan follows as they manage to land on the very back of the speedster.
Nearly falling off and despite the clone's attempts at shaking the Jedi Knights off into a very steep fall downwards into the city below they manage to climb on it. The clone pulling out his blaster pistol goes to fire, only for Obi-Wan using the Force moves the guy's arm just enough the clone ends up firing into his own control panel. Which Obi-Wan notes in unhappiness that is not what he wanted.
Despite the clone's best attempt, it's clear he's losing control and heads towards the roof of a nearby building, which he crashes into. However, Obi-Wan and Anakin managed to jump off in enough time, where they land onto the roof rather hard.
After a few moments of being dazed both the Jedi Knights manage to get to their feet, with glancing over at the wreckage. Running over Anakin and Obi-Wan take one look at it and seeing the dead clone who died upon impact.
Glancing over towards Skywalker's burn wound on his right side "You need to get that looked at" Obi-Wan replied.
"I will. Palpatine has a medical room at his penthouse" Anakin said.
"That can easily work since we can still keep a watch over the senator" Obi-Wan said.
"Well if the Separatists are behind this, then this whole situation got much worse" Anakin said.
"I would have to agree. However blindly rushing into assuming things will do us no good" Obi-Wan replied.
"Good point, let's get moving" Anakin said.
Turning around with looking around to see no visible means of leaving the roof, Anakin steps over with picking up his lightsaber. Pressing the button to ignite it the Jedi Knight crouches down and starts cutting a hole in the roof.
Later inside a medical room at Palpatine's penthouse
Anakin now with his upper body shirtless is sitting on a bed, while a black, humanoid looking droid applies cream to his burn wound. Meanwhile, some feet away is Obi-Wan leaning up against a wall, and a few feet away is Padme sitting in a chair watching Anakin, concern clear in her eyes.
"So, what happened to the clone mercenaries?" Obi-Wan asked.
"One died from their injuries and the other committed suicide from a hidden toxin capsule. I recognized the symbol from one of their jackets, they are clones from the Separatists" Padme replied grimly.
"That's what I feared" Anakin said, just as the droid finishes.
"I'm not sure we can avoid war now, maybe if we keep this under wraps" Obi-Wan said.
"That might be for the best. I know some people who can easily dispose of the clones and keep this quiet. If the public learns about this, the outcry will not be good" Padme said.
The droid brings over a new tunic and undershirt for Anakin who puts them on. Suddenly the door opens as Palpatine enters with a very grim look on his face, as Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Padme turn to look at him.
"I'm afraid if you were discussing any hope for keeping this quiet and peaceful that will not happen. I just got word that more of these clones have attacked various other senators across the Republic" Palpatine said.
"How many are injured or dead?" Obi-Wan asked, dreading the answer.
"Thirty senators are dead and ten or around that many are injured, along with multiple civilian families dead or injured. Some senators like Garm Bel Iblis and Mon Mothma managed to escape without injury. Also, the Separatists have claimed responsibility" Palpatine said.
"Well this is going to start an all-out war," Padme said.
"I somehow don't see these massacres sitting well with the average person from worlds that have succeeded," Anakin said.
"It won't. The leaders who have formed the organization that is making the decisions I have a feeling will no doubt get serious backlash from the citizens and from their own inner circle" Padme said.
"It's actually worse than just the dead senators. The Supreme Chancellor was killed by them as well. Since Finis Valorum has died it falls to me to become the new Chancellor" Palpatine said.
"Congratulations despite the horrible circumstances behind this" Anakin said.
"Yes, horrible indeed. I didn't exactly ask for this role and Valorum is, was a good friend of mine" Palpatine said, with some sorrow.
"Given the present situation, we are going to need order and a strong leader to pull together with this current crisis. Unless we want the senate to dissolve into a chaos and possibly the Republic itself" Padme said.
Eyeing him suspiciously "And we know you didn't cause the attack on the Chancellor to assume power?" Obi-Wan asked.
"I assure you I did no such thing" Palpatine replied.
"Right, you're a politician so people like you are always lying about something" Obi-Wan said.
Glancing at the man "And you're a Jedi, a corrupt organization rapidly losing its presence across the galaxy" Palpatine said.
"We are not corrupt. Only those who fall to the dark side and give into selfishness become corrupt. Like I said how do we not know" Obi-Wan said but gets cut off.
"Enough Obi-Wan. The last thing we need is an argument. Vice Chancellor Palpatine is a valuable ally and a friend who has come to our aid more than once. So far he has not shown any signs of corruption" Anakin said.
"You are still at times a Padawan" Obi-Wan replied.
"Are not you the one who always tells me to keep my emotions under control, something right now you're not doing. Besides, you don't see your friend Senator Bail Organa as corrupt" Anakin said.
"Your right" Obi-Wan replied with a sigh, drawing on the light side of Force to calm his emotions.
"I have to the senate and figure out how to handle this until tomorrow, where I can call for an emergency meeting" Palpatine said.
"I'm going to contact the Jedi council and get the update from what's going on there. I'm going to try to get as many members as I can here on Coruscant to help along with some of our Force healers" Obi-Wan said.
"I don't think I'm in any more danger" Padme said.
Shaking his head "They've tried to kill you twice, I don't think giving them a third time is a wise move. The Separatists may be using this as a chance to do even more damage. I'll stay here" Anakin said.
"I agree with Anakin" Obi-Wan said.
"Ok" Padme said.
Palpatine and Obi-Wan along with the medical droid walk out of the room then after a moment, Padme and Anakin both leave.
I hope you all enjoyed this. As always let me know what you think.
So, as you can tell the plot has picked up as we have gotten into the beginnings of what will be the Clone Wars
Originally, I was going to have Anakin and Obi-Wan end up on the roof where they battled Count Dooku but after writing it a few times, just wasn't working and I had to much going on, so I scrapped having Dooku around.
The clones actually being the enemy is prior to the release of Episode II, the general consensus among fans was that the clones were the antagonists in a war against the Republic and the Jedi, and most Expanded Universe material written prior to Attack of the Clones film seemed to support this belief.
In the Thrawn trilogy done by Timothy Zhan is really the first time we ever got possible hints for what the Clone Wars was, and in those novels, the references were made to the clones being the enemy.
Chose to go with that and to get rid of the droids which I frankly to be kind of uh ridiculous.
The reason why I made Palpatine already a vice-chancellor is because I knew I was going to have the main chancellor get killed off. And just making Palpatine as vice chancellor simply made him get the main office work easier.
Now for Obi-Wan, we get a chance to get inside his head and see how the not having any attachment rule is a struggle for Kenobi given how close his relationship is with Anakin.
When writing this I kind of surprised myself for how actually exploring the no attachment rule in further detail then just merely to give Anakin romance problems with Padme opened doors for stuff like what Obi-Wan struggles with.
Oh, Palpatine's line of the Jedi rapidly losing its presence across the galaxy was originally going to be part of a side plotline that showed up in a few spots to help explain why Han doesn't remember the Jedi or believe in the Force in New Hope.
Then after I actually studied Han's lines of dialogue in New Hope a bit deeper than just the common myth among the Star Wars fandom for what Han meant, I discovered something else altogether.
Han Solo never said he didn't believe the Jedi didn't exist, just that he didn't believe in the Force.
Because Han a part of what said "Hokey religions and ancient weapons" is the ancient weapon is referring to the lightsaber so wouldn't take much to associate a lightsaber with the Jedi.
Moving to the next chapter we get into Anakin's backstory in this new version of events for a tease of what is upcoming
Until next time