Palpatine snickered at the Jedi as he allowed himself to go to the ground as the man continued to bring his lightsaber down onto him. Palpatine had no problem with fending off the blows from his position. No, this was for the security cameras. He knew that he couldn't be seen from the camera's vantage point. That meant that what was filmed was the Jedi repeatedly bringing his blade down.
He heard the attention of the other operagoers turn toward the Jedi and he knew he'd waited long enough. He used his force lightening to take the man by surprise and then used the force to call for his guards to step into his private box from just outside it and shoot the Jedi. He knew that all that the others saw was that he was down on the ground and the Jedi was bringing his weapon down onto him. He fought a grin as he put his own blade away before others who would be rushing in to show concern for him could make it past his advisors who would try to delay them for a moment.
He stood and acted appropriately shaken and directed his people to seize the security footage so that he could display it before the senate. He then headed out with his retinue of followers, fighting past the reporters who were always around when he left the security of his office or apartments. With the footage in hand, he had it clipped so that it first showed Mace joining him for the opera and the two of them speaking, then the two of them standing and facing one another. He'd held his own lightsaber with his body blocking it from view of the camera. Then he was on the ground before he'd brought his weapon up to his defense. The opera box blocked the view of the weapon being used against the Jedi. So, on camera, it only looked as if the Jedi had flipped and had attacked an unarmed man.
He told all who asked that he had squirmed and rocked back and forth on the ground to avoid the blade and he saw that most, if not all, believed him. This had turned out better than he had expected. That meant that there was nothing to stop him from the next phase in his plans. And the senate would play a big role in it.
Padmé Amidala accepted Ahsoka's hand to help her into her senate repulsorpod. The other woman was dressed as one of her handmaids to allow her to go unnoticed. It was the only way that either she or Jesse had allowed her to come here for the emergency meeting that had been called. Apparently, the Vice Chair of the Galactic Senate had called for the meeting thanks to the Droid Army's attack on Kashyyyk. She wasn't sure what the senate could do but she had a duty to represent her planet and the sector that it was in by being at the meeting.
In the repulsorpod Jar Jar Binks was already waiting for her. Ahsoka took great care in making sure that the man didn't recognize her since subtly wasn't his forte. If he knew she was there, the rest of the senate chamber would as well.
"Senator, me'm so glad to see yousa. Do yousa know what disa meeten be about?"
"Not exactly, Jar Jar. Hopefully, the meeting will begin quickly so that we can all do what we need and then leave. I have better things to do than be here this late in the evening."
"Not to mention, yousa needen to getsa yous rest per da litta una."
Padmé nodded and took her seat. Ahsoka stood at her side as the small group waited and watched for nearly a half an hour before the Vice Chair began the meeting.
"I'm afraid that the issue that we'd originally called this meeting for must be set aside. It is with great sorrow that I must inform this body that tonight there was an attack on the Chancellor's life. He has been taken to an undisclosed location for his own safety, but I have been entrusted with showing this evidence to the Senate."
Overhead there was a massive holographic video footage that showed Master Mace Windu first speaking with and then attacking the chancellor with his lightsaber. As gasps went up all over the massive chamber the man continued, "As you can see, the Jedi attacked Chancellor Palpatine unprovoked and without cause. We are fortunate that the clone troopers who were assigned to him acted quickly and dispatched the traitorous Jedi. And we have reason to believe that this was a mass conspiracy on the part of the Jedi. This Jedi was part of their High Council and would have acted on behalf of all Jedi."
Padmé stood and activated her pod's engines to move forward to the middle of the chamber much to the displeasure of Jesse who was on it with her as her personal guard.
"I refuse to believe that the Jedi have worked together to attack the chancellor. We must not condemn an entire group of people based on what scant evidence we have been shown. I do not know what happened in that private box, but I do know that the Jedi wouldn't work together to betray the Republic. I beg of you. Do not act in haste."
Mas Amedda had hoped that this woman would have been dispatched already. Hadn't that been Palpatine's plan? He looked around and saw that she had too many supporters to discount her pleas out of hand. "Very well. We will allow them to prove their innocence to this body. They will be asked to send an envoy to speak before a committee. If the committee hears and finds what they have to say to be believable then they will face no retribution. But if they find that the Jedi knew and helped to plan this assault on democracy then they will face judgment."
Padmé looked to Ahsoka and saw that she was thinking the same thing as she was. How could they prove their innocence? Shouldn't the senate committee instead be charged with proving their guilt?
When the meeting was adjourned, she left with Jesse and Ahsoka and as soon as she was on her private speeder, she called to ask for someone at the Jedi temple to meet with her. She had a hard time getting anyone to speak with her. Finally, Master Fisto agreed to meet with her. He'd wait for her speeder at the landing pad.
She wrung her hands as the trip to the temple took what felt like hours, but she knew it really took less than a quarter of one. All around her were other speeders with more clones from Jesse's Regiment. Their way of protecting her on the move. When she saw the Nautolan she smiled weakly since the man had that way about him. He always appeared to be cheerful. Or at least, he usually did. When she got out of her speeder it quickly became clear that he knew about the accusations against both Master Windu as well as the Jedi Order.
"Master Fisto, I wish my visit wasn't for such dire circumstances." She once more had to rely on both Jesse and Ahsoka as she got out of her speeder. "But I need to inform you of what just occurred at the senate meeting."
"We felt a disturbance in the force and then our communications became jammed with many individuals seeking answers. I'm afraid that there isn't many that we can offer at the moment." Kit looked at the handmaiden and smiled. "Ahsoka, it is nice to see you again. I'm sure that Skywalker will feel the same way when he returns."
The Tagruta nodded but didn't remove her cloak from over her head. She knew that the Jedi would know who she was, but her presence wasn't to protect the senator from the Jedi. "Is there a way that we can go inside and discuss things in private?"
Kit Fisto paused before nodding. "Follow me."
The trio waited for a few squads to join them while the rest would remain outside until they were needed. It was felt that there would be no place safer for the pregnant woman than the Jedi temple. She was led to where visitors were taken in the few instances that they were allowed to meet here at the temple and asked if she was alright when she had to pause on her small trek to the room. She nodded despite the fact that each day it became more difficult to walk this much.
The temple, itself, was fairly quiet. The younglings had all been put to bed and the activity that she was used to seeing the few times she'd been allowed to come to the temple had been called to a halt for the evening. When she was steered to a chair in the room for the meeting, she was quick to ask about the other masters that she had dealt with in the past.
"Where are Master Kenobi and Master Yoda?"
Kit Fisto smiled before he informed her as he sat across from the woman, "We received word that both Dooku and Grievous are on a planet in the Outer Rim. The two of them took a team of Jedi to face them both. In fact, they should be on the planet now. We are hoping that we can end this war soon."
Jesse listened from the side but had to add, "Except for the fact that it's been learned that the chancellor is actually behind the war on both sides."
The Jedi looked at the clone in surprise. "And why would you say that?"
"First the chips being removed from all of us clones that the Jedi could, then Master Skywalker sending our regiment to protect the Senator. We were informed to not allow the man to be alone with her and to only allow clones who have had their chips removed to be part of the security that he asked to have set up for her. That would be overkill unless the man was a true danger. Rex suspects that you've learned that the Chancellor is a Sith. Which would then explain the precautions."
The Jedi took in the clone for a moment before nodding. "No doubt Skywalker discussed this with his captain."
As Kit spoke, Jesse tilted his head as he heard an order go out over his comm. The thing was the order didn't sound familiar.
Ahsoka thought back to the times that she'd met the chancellor in the past and after a moment it didn't take long to connect him with the Sith that the Jedi have been looking for since the beginning of the Clone War. She'd never felt comfortable around the man. She was about to say something when she felt an intense sense of dread and pain. It caused both her and the Jedi Master to double over for several moments. When she was able to straighten back up, she looked to see both the senator and the clone were looking to make sure that she was alright. Jesse had even put an arm around her to keep her from falling to the floor. Across the small room she saw where Master Fisto had leaned more into the chair that he'd been sitting in while speaking with Padmé.
"What happened? Are you alright?" She asked both Ahsoka and Kit Fisto.
"There was a great disturbance in the force," Kit said as he sat up and focused on what he'd just experienced. "A large number of Jedi cried out in the force before being silenced. Somehow, they have been killed."
Jesse furled his brows. "An order went out over the comm to all clones just prior to the two of you doubling over. I heard, Activate Order Sixty-Six. But I don't recall that order from my training. It could be now that I don't have an inhibitor-chi-"
"You are not compelled to follow through with the order. Thankfully we were warned to have the chips removed from as many of you as possible," Kit lowered his eyes since he knew that it had been slow moving in removal of the chips from those clones out in the field. After all, not all Jedi had the right medical equipment nearby to remove the chips from their clone troopers.
"What are you talking about? What chips?" Ahsoka and Padmé both asked in confusion.
"It's a long stor-" Master Fisto was interrupted by Jesse's comm device going off.
"Sir, there is a regiment of clone troopers being delivered just outside of the temple and they are marching toward the entrance. We are positioning ourselves to prevent them from coming in, but they have started to fire upon us!"
"I'll call for reinforcements. Whatever you do, do not let them pass!"
"What could cause clone troopers to march onto the temple?" Ahsoka asked in confusion.
"The same thing that caused many clones to turn on their Jedi Generals!" Jesse turned to the door where the two squadrons were waiting just outside it. After opening it he addressed the men there. "The temple is under attack. But your orders from General Skywalker remain the same. We must protect the senator at all costs."
"Yes, Sir!" The men all answered as one.
"I should go and join the other Jedi preparing to guard the temple," Kit said as he turned to Ahsoka. "You should remain here. I know that Skywalker would want you to be his last line of defense."
Ahsoka nodded as she removed her cloak to prepare to fight if the chip-controlled clones made it this far. She just wished that she had more time to find out what was causing the clones to turn against both the Jedi as well as their brothers.
Across the city the young man who had been taken out of the lower levels of Coruscant nearly two weeks ago watched as the news reports went over the airwaves. He didn't know much about the chancellor or the Jedi but the clone troopers who had been assigned to remain with him seemed to think very highly of the Jedi who was their general. He wondered where the women who had come to get him and taken him in had gone. They had only said that they had something important to take care of. He sat in the sitting room and wondered what he was supposed to do other than pull things up on the holo-net.
Even that was a luxury that he'd not had many opportunities to indulge in and access it where he'd been living for the last couple of years after the small orphanage that had once been his home had closed down due to lack of funding. When it closed Alexsandr had joined several other kids his own age to get by. They would find an abandoned building and live there until they were run out only to find another. Usually going down further into the city each time. To be honest, he never expected to ever actually see the sun, much less the moons, from where he laid his head at night.
Alexsandr looked over at the table where some texts were left for him. The woman had said that they needed to do something about his schooling, or lack of it, and had the datapad books brought to the room where he was being allowed to remain for the moment. Having nothing better to do he grabbed a datapad and started to read over it. He figured that it was better than sitting here with nothing to do. He started going through them one at a time and quickly tackled the stack that had been left for him. He was reading through one more when he finally fell asleep on a couch that was more comfortable than he'd ever sat on before coming to this suite in the care of the kind senator. It never even occurred to him that he should have gotten up to go to the guest room that he'd been given to stay in.
That is where he was when he awoke several hours later by the women who had taken him in.
Jesse called for the rest of the 501st to join the clones at the Jedi temple to fight off their brothers who were obsessed with bursting into the temple and dispatching the residents inside. He'd never thought that he'd be battling against his brothers in this way. Fighting to keep them away from the temple that was filled more with sleeping children than anyone else.
He ordered for his men to set their blasters to the wide-ban stun setting since he didn't want to kill his brothers. They didn't have a choice in what they were doing if what he'd learned about the chips was true. The other men didn't realize that they were being manipulated in some way thanks to the chips that the cloners had placed in their brains.
As he and his men were pushed back, he ducked behind a pillar just on the inside of the entrance of the ancient temple. He looked around and spotted a man who was supposed to be on Utapau leading the charge; Count Dooku. The man force pushed many of his men and struck down those who were close enough to him with his lightsaber. The Sith was here and leading the clone troopers in their attack against the Jedi.