Disclaimer: I wish I could take credit for creating Star Wars, but alas, I am not George Lucas, and I have no intention of getting sued.
Summary: As Qui-Gon, Anakin, and Bant protect the Republic from Darth Sidious, another Sith Lord emerges – Qui-Gon's presumably dead, former apprentice Obi-Wan Kenobi. Can the Jedi save the Republic, or is it already too late? The third story in the Jedi Trials series.
Author's Notes: Here's another chapter for my lovely reviewers. Just for future notice, I'm planning on redoing my room (I don't know when) which means that my computer will disconnected until it's done. When I find out when I'll be redoing it, I'll try to write a couple chapters ahead of time so I can post them at regular intervals instead of making you guys wait a couple weeks for one chapter.
Revenge and Regret
By Kekelina
-----
Chapter Three: The Escape
-----
The planet-sized city of Coruscant was famous for not only its size, but also for being a city that never slept, for while it might be night in part of the city, it was also morning and afternoon in other parts of the giant city. It was currently late morning teetering on the edge of early afternoon at the Senate. Representatives and senators from the thousands of star systems walked the halls quickly or lazily, depending on the urgency of their business. Senatorial aides rushed about carrying stacks of datapads and durasheets, looking as frenzied as ever. A meeting was scheduled for later that day, and every Senator wished to be properly ready when he or she made his or her argument or proposal.
But despite the urgency lingering in the Senate hall, there was one person there who felt no such need to rush around in such an absurd manner. This person – this man – had once been a Senator from the small, beautiful planet of Naboo. He had served well under Queen Amidala until one horrible day when the Trade Federation had invaded the capital city of Theed and had taken over the elegant planet.
Of course, no one had ever expected this humble senator to have been behind the invasion, and thus his plan had worked out perfectly. He had manipulated the Queen into casting a vote of no confidence in Supreme Chancellor Valorum and had then gotten enough support to be nominated and eventually elected to the position of Supreme Chancellor – and no one had suspected a thing.
For ten years he had served as Supreme Chancellor of the Republic, and in all those ten years, he had never once been suspected of being the Sith Lord. So, after ten years of gathering support in the Senate and the rest of the Galactic Republic, he had decided it was finally time to move on with his plans. He already had half the battle won, for he basically controlled the galaxy, but he knew he would need help with the second part, so he had found himself an apprentice.
Although he already had an apprentice by the name of Darth Tyranus, he knew that Tyranus could never be the powerful apprentice he needed to continue forward. He had known it from the first moment that he had approached the ex-Jedi, so he had kept his eyes on a few other choices throughout the years.
The first and most obvious choice was Anakin Skywalker, the Jedi's supposed Chosen One. Palpatine was sure that together he and the boy could achieve many things, but the boy's meddling old Master had made sure that Anakin had stayed far away from his influence, to Sidious's dismay. Therefore, after years of trying and failing to turn Skywalker to the dark side, he had traveled on to choice number two.
At first, he wasn't sure he would be able to turn the newly Knighted Obi-Wan Kenobi, for he was also the former Padawan of Qui-Gon Jinn, Skywalker's Master, but after watching the Jedi from a distance, Palpatine had discovered a hidden emotion in Kenobi: Jealousy. A whole new world of possibilities had opened up to the Dark Lord upon the discovery of that emotion, especially when he had found out it was directed at none other than Anakin Skywalker. Sidious had found his new apprentice, but the question now was how would he get him to turn away from the Jedi?
After much deliberation, the Chancellor had decided that his turn would have to be sudden and painful, an experience that would cast doubts about the Jedi and expand his jealousy ten-fold. Sidious had hired a bounty hunter by the name of Jango Fett to capture the Knight and take him to an underground prison on the dark world of Korriban. There, Kenobi had been tortured, suppressed by the dark side and beaten until he had come to realize that only the dark side could give him what he truly wanted: Revenge. Obi-Wan Kenobi had died pathetically in that prison, and a new being named Darth Dementor had risen and taken his place at the right hand of Palpatine. The Sith Lord's plans were all coming together now, it was just a matter of time.
However, time was a luxury he didn't have right now because for the first time in ten years, the Jedi had realized exactly who Palpatine was, and they were on their way to destroy him. Yet, Palpatine did not rush about his office as he gathered up what he would need. He walked slowly and deliberately as he packed up important datapads and flimsies, including his plans for the ultimate weapon. He had more than enough time to escape the Jedi team sent to destroy him; foresight was a wonderful thing. A part of him wished he didn't have to leave, for his plans were much easier to perform from the plush office of Supreme Chancellor. However, he knew that if he did not leave before the Jedi arrived, his plans would not proceed at all. He simply wasn't ready to take over the Republic at this moment; there was still work to be done. Therefore, he would flee…
-----
Tap. Tap. Tap.
Yoda took a step and sighed. For the almost nine-hundred-year-old Jedi Master, the walk through the Senate was a tiring task, but the weight of their task made it even more so.
Throughout his years, Yoda had seen much. He had seen heartbreak, tragedy, joy, anger, revenge, and betrayal…but never in all his years had he expected to see this. He had never expected that he would be walking through the Senate to arrest the Chancellor of the Galactic Republic. He had never expected to find out the Chancellor was anything else but a good man, but he was. And here Yoda stood.
Chancellor Palpatine was a Sith Lord. How was one to react to such news? How was one to explain such a predicament to Younglings? Yoda had learned how to comfort those in grief and explain to them that the dead weren't really dead…just passed into another realm…but this was something entirely different, and Yoda didn't know how to explain it.
They should've seen what he was. He was right underneath their noses, but the dark side had been clouding their vision for years now, ever since Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan had returned from Naboo with Anakin. If only they had realized that he was the one blinding them…
He shook his head. No, it wasn't good to think this way. What ifs would get him nowhere. They were a distraction, and distractions were dangerous. If they were not quickly subdued, they could spell certain death. Yoda hadn't lived all these years to be bested by his mind's wanderings.
"Master Yoda?"
Yoda rose his head to find his good friend, Mace Windu, looking down on him with concern. Yoda's green eyes moved past the dark Jedi Master and saw Ki-Adi-Mundi and Kit Fisto also looking at him with the same concern that Mace's face held. Unnoticed by the venerable Jedi Master amidst his musings, he had stopped walking altogether, standing in the middle of the luxurious hall with a far away look in his eyes.
"Humph," Yoda grunted as he tapped his gimer stick on the floor and started walking again. "When almost nine hundred years you reach, be so easy for you it will not."
Mace nodded at the thought and slowed his pace to match the Jedi Master's as they trekked the long walk up to the Chancellor's office to save the Republic.
-----
Lightsabers ignited to life. A Red Guard flew across the room and hit the wall with a sickening thud while another moaned as a purple blade cut through his midsection. The path to the Chancellor was clear, but something didn't feel right.
Too easy it was, Yoda thought. And it had been. Only three security guards and two of the Chancellor's personal bodyguards had been there to keep the four Jedi Masters from entering the Chancellor's office. They hadn't even tried to stop the Jedi. Blaster bolts had been horribly off-target, and they hadn't called for back up to help protect the Chancellor. There was only one explanation for such behavior:
The Chancellor had known they were coming.
Yoda frowned at the thought. Foresight was rare among Force-sensitives. Yoda had visions every so often, and he knew that other Jedi in the Temple did as well, but foresight was different. Foresight allowed you to see what was coming before it got there. It did not require sleep, only meditation…though the level of meditation depended on how powerful the being was. A Sith Lord with foresight could lead to the end of the Jedi Order, for a surprise attack was key in successfully defeating the Sith. Without that advantage and the increasing darkness inhibiting the Jedi's ability to use the Force, the Jedi would be finished.
Throwing his anxieties into the Force, Yoda hobbled into the Chancellor's office, emerald lightsaber leading the way, to find it completely deserted, just as he had thought. Yoda's large ears drooped in defeat.
"He must've known we were coming," Kit said aloud in dismay, echoing Yoda's earlier thoughts.
"But how?" Mace questioned. "A tip-off?"
"Are you suggesting there is a traitor in the Temple?" Ki-Adi-Mundi asked Mace, disbelief dripping from every word.
"No, I – "
Yoda sighed and cleared his throat, silencing the others. "A powerful being, he is, to have seen us coming before we arrived."
"Foresight?"
After a moment of reconsideration, Yoda nodded slowly. Yes, foresight had to be the answer to the puzzle.
"I do not think the Chancellor is powerful enough to have such a gift," Mace refuted, hooking his lightsaber back onto his utility belt.
With a sigh, Yoda looked at his friend sadly. "Then think wrong, you do. Blinded us for years, this Sith Lord has. Powerful is he to have kept his identity hidden from us for so long. Underestimate him again, we should not."
-----
Dementor swung his crimson lightsaber around in yet another flawless movement. He was practicing yet again with the training droids, and it was starting to get boring. Every day was the same. He awoke early and meditated, drinking up the dark side for hours on end. After eating the morning meal, he would walk around and harass a few droids, then study the ancient Sith holocrons his Master had given him. After finishing his midday meal, he would practice his lightsaber techniques until they were perfected, and if there was any time left before night fell, he would slip back into meditation again until his stomach pulled him out for the last meal of the day. He would then look over a datapad or two for about an hour before going over to his sleep couch and collapsing on the spot.
In the beginning, this schedule had been rigorous and demanding on Dementor, but after weeks of nothing but this, Dementor's body had become used to all the exercise again. Repeating the same schedule day in and day out had become just slightly less than exciting.
He hadn't been outside since his mission to Latan, and he was getting restless. Cabin fever, the space pilots called it. Every day since his return, he had been stuck in his Master's hideout underneath the Sith Temple on Korriban. He would've liked to do some exploration of the ancient Sith Temple, but his Master wouldn't let him. Nor would he let him return to Coruscant and wreak havoc upon the Jedi. Dementor was considering destroying all the droids in the hideout just so he could spend the entire day putting them back together. At least it would be a change of schedule.
Dementor whipped his lightsaber around in an arch and ripped through the hovering training droid beside him, letting it crash to the ground. Even destroying training droids, no matter how many times he struck them with all his anger, had lost its appeal. He wanted to get out of this confining, smells-like-a-bantha prison.
"Soon enough, my young apprentice," a chilling voice replied suddenly. "Soon enough."
Dementor whirled around in surprise. "Master?"
-----
The Other Author's Notes: Palpatine has escaped the Jedi…what will that mean for the rest of the galaxy? I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, and as always, please review!
Author's Edit: 8-21-2007