AN : Thanks for all the interest in this story! Here is Chapter 12!
Anakin barely dodged the unexpected attack, Palpatine sneered at him as he unleashed another burst of dark power. Anakin rolled toward the door.
"Running are we Anakin? It really is a shame you don't have the vision I thought you had," Palpatine said, his voice dark with rage.
"Your recruitment speech needs work, Chancellor," Anakin retorted, pulling the table in front of himself with the Force to block another attack. Then he ducked out the door and ran to the room Obi-Wan was in. Once there he opened it and called out to Obi-Wan, "Come on, we've got to get out of here and warn the Council,"
"Warn them of what?" Obi-Wan asked just as a bolt of dark power hit the wall, "Oh, never mind."
Palpatine moved far faster than either Anakin or Obi-Wan would've dreamed possible from the older man, his face twisted in rage.
"You do have a way with people Anakin," Obi-Wan said, hiding his shock at Palpatine's totally changed demeanor, then a new shock when the Chancellor threw another burst of power towards Anakin, instinctively Obi-Wan threw himself in front of his friend and the dark energy played over his body, scorching his hair and clothes, burning his face. Anakin quickly pulled a wall panel with the Force and put it between Obi-Wan and the Chancellor. Obi-Wan fell with a deep thud, limp and seemingly lifeless.
"One down, one more traitor to go," Palpatine said.
Palpatine raised his hands to attempt to finish Anakin, but Anakin was faster and collapsed part of the ceiling blocking Palpatine's attacks and advance for a time. Wasting no time Anakin pulled Obi-Wan's limp body up onto his shoulders, not taking time to even check if he was alive. Anakin ran as fast as he could to the hanger bay, pulling chunks of ceiling down during his flight. Finally, they reached the hanger bay and Anakin used the Force to destroy the door mechanism sealing it shut, then he turned to see a new problem, General Grievous.
"Now, I will have my revenge, with your own lightsabers!" Grievous said, pulling Anakin's and Obi-Wan's lightsabers out of his cloak, then his arms split and the new arms took two more lightsabers from the cloak as he removed it from his frame.
"I don't have time for this," Anakin said and reached out with the Force to pull his and Obi-Wan's lightsabers from Grievous' grip.
"That won't help you, Jedi," Grievous said.
The two lightsabers Grievous had in his possession started spinning very fast, the blades becoming disc of light, Grievous advanced intent on dicing Anakin with his blades. Anakin held his position until just before the blades reached him then he jumped over Grievous, taking off the hands that held the sabers in mid air, and landed facing the back of Grievous but before Anakin could behead him, Grievous kicked Anakin in the stomach and ran. Instead of going after him in pursuit, Anakin went back over to Obi-Wan and clipped Obi-Wan's lightsaber to Obi-Wan's belt. He then hoisted Obi-Wan back up and headed to the nearest ship.
"Mace! Anakin Skywalker is contacting us, he needs to speak to you as soon as possible!" a young Padawan said to Mace.
"It is about time," Mace said, and followed the Padawan to the communications room.
"Jedi Skywalker, where have you been keeping yourself?" Mace said.
"It is a long story, Mace and we don't have time for it right now. I have made a grave discovery. Chancellor Palpatine is the Sith Lord we've been looking for,"
"How do you know this?" Mace asked.
"He knows of the Force, he also knows the Dark Side. He tried to recruit me as his apprentice," Anakin said.
"If this is true, our worst fears have been realized, we will move quickly on this, Anakin. Return to the Temple as soon as you can," Mace said.
"There is another matter I need to deal with first, Master. Obi-Wan's been seriously hurt and I don't think he'll survive a trip to Coruscant," Anakin said.
"I understand, use your best judgment, Skywalker. May the Force be with you," Mace said.
"And with you, Master," Anakin said.
Mace hurried to collect other Masters and then headed to the Senate building where they were told that the Chancellor was off planet currently. Mace took the other Masters to the spaceport to await the Chancellor. Hours later, after the sun had well set, the Chancellors shuttle arrived.
"Is there something I can do for you, Master Jedi?" Palpatine asked as he walked down the shuttle' ramp, followed by his honor guard as well as a detachment of clones.
" In the name of the Galactic Republic and the Senate I arrest you for high crimes and treason against the Republic," Mace said.
"I am no traitor, Master Jedi. The only traitors I see are you and your pathetic Order. Clones, execute Order 66!" Palpatine said and the clones raised their weapons.
"Clones, stand down," Mace said hoping it would work, he was disappointed and started blocking blaster fire with his lightsaber. Then in a surprise move, the Chancellor produced a lightsaber with a crimson blade.
Palpatine attacked with a speed and ferocity that belied his age, with the Jedi distracted by the clones fire he quickly cut down three of the Masters, all but Mace fell in seconds. Mace started trying to deflect the fire to Palpatine, which Palpatine was able to deflect back to Mace in a sparking, deadly game. Palpatine soon tired of that stalemate and unleashed his dark power on the Jedi Master. Mace was able, somehow, to continue deflecting the weapons fire and block the Sith's attack, however he wasn't as accurate with his deflections and Palpatine was able to attack him with his blade. The fight continued to the edge of the landing pad. Palpatine then used the Force to force Mace over the edge of the platform Mace responded with a near perfect defense, but all of the effort left a gap in his lightsaber defense that Palpatine exploited, cutting Mace on the leg, allowing the Sith's Force attacks through. Mace blew off the edge of the platform, then, still in the terrible grip of Palpatine's dark power came back, dark bolts of power covering him, burning him.
"I wanted to look you in the eyes as you died, Jedi," Palpatine said.
"You won't destroy the Jedi or the Republic, the remaining Jedi will stop you," Mace said through the nearly unbearable pain.
"You don't see what I've done, do you?" Palpatine said, taking his lightsaber and holding the blade lightly on Mace's hand. Mace screamed in pain.
"Even if the Jedi do kill me, which they won't, the Jedi are finished. The people will see them as the tyrants they are!" Palpatine said.
"The only tyrant I see here is you!" Mace said, making one last effort, calling his lightsaber to him, but Palpatine was faster. Palpatine took Mace's head off at the shoulders, and let the body fall to the platform.
"Collect that, I think I'll have it stuffed," Palpatine ordered the clones, pointing to Mace's head.
"Yes, sir," one of the clones said.
Palpatine went over to the clone commander and said, "Have the 501st get ready for an assault on the Jedi Temple, kill all of the Jedi there, except for the crèche. I will deal with them myself," Palpatine said.
"Yes, My Lord," the clone commander said.