Knightfall: Part 4

Obi-Wan was once the most promising pupil in the Jedi Order. Despite the initial rejections of several Masters when he was but a youngling, he found his place in the order soon enough when Qui-Gon Jinn reluctantly took him as an apprentice. He had learned much from Qui-Gon, and despite some earlier brushes with defiance, became what some had called a model Jedi.

Then came the Sith. A heavily tattooed Zabrak had attempted to kidnap the then queen of Naboo. He had been wounded in the battle, Qui-Gon had been killed. Then the council had gone to battle to liberate the planet of Naboo, and Jedi died. He had taken it hard; blaming himself for all that had happened and became increasingly determined to prevent it from happening again. He had been goaded by a young teenager years later to take increasingly more drastic steps to do so.

It was no surprise that he fell.

His "reign of terror" as a dark Jedi wasn't to last, however. Only one Jedi set out to stop him: Siri. Lost in the crimson haze of the dark side, even she couldn't reach him at first. They fought on the rain-soaked buildings of Chandrila and in the end Obi-Wan had literally disarmed his former love. It was the finishing off part that he didn't have the heart to do. He submitted himself to the Jedi council, fully expecting to be exiled to some uninhabited planet for his misdeeds. Instead, he had been confined to a Force-nullifying cell for a year and then retrained.

Now, Obi-Wan almost wished he hadn't. The dark side beckoned to him as he crossed blades with Darth Vader, wanting him to unleash the anger that simmered deep inside the Jedi. Avenge Siri, it called out to him. Make this pretender pay for what he's done. He pushed the dark voice down and succeeded. Never again would he give in to those thoughts and emotions. He answered with compassion, strengthening his own body.

With a shove, he threw Vader back, the young Sith backpedaled slightly. K'Kruhk took advantage of the opening, the Whiphid Jedi Master swinging his lightsaber into the open space. Vader managed to bring his own blade up in time to parry the devastating strike and then twisted around, sending a slash towards the chest of his attacker. K'Kruhk blocked the attack and fell back a step, allowing Obi-Wan to slash towards the young Sith. That, too, was deflected away.

With the Force providing a much needed boost, Palpatine leapt from senate pod to senate pod, eager to reach the level where Grievous guarded. Behind him were Quinlan Vos and Mace Windu; the two Jedi leaping towards the Sith Lord in two different directions, trying to flank him.

Sidious turned towards the two Jedi and concentrated. Using the Force to rip two senate pods from their moorings, he hurled them towards them. Quinlan Vos didn't have the opportunity to leap clear of the attack as the two senate pods collided. He felt himself tumbling through the air and then violently hitting the ground. By the time he would regain consciousness, the whole thing would be over.

Mace Windu leapt off of his perch when the attack came, trading senate pod for senate pod in his mad dash to neutralize the former chancellor. Another pod was hurled his way, and he dodged it just the same. Finally, he was on the same level as Palpatine, only several meters away. The Sith turned to run towards the nearest exit and Mace followed. By the time that their swords clashed again, both were just stepping foot into the hallway. Alone, Mace slipped entirely into the Force, his love for combat burning like an overheating reactor. He attacked three times, each strike so quick that it was difficult for Palpatine to know exactly where the next attack was coming from. Windu's violet blade moved so quickly that only a single purple streak was present in the air. Yet Palpatine managed to block them all. This was Vapaad, and it was being matched.

Desperation clouded the dark side of the Force as Darth Vader continued his attacks on K'Kruhk and Obi-Wan Kenobi. The young Sith could feel the danger that his own master was in, and his location. "I'm afraid that I'll have to finish this now," he growled, pouring even more of his hatred and anger into his attacks, bending the will of the Force to himself more than ever. An attack pounded down K'Kruhk's blade and then jutted into his chest. Seriously wounded, the Whiphid Jedi Master slumped to the floor.

Obi-Wan backed away, feeling that at this moment he could not defeat the rampaging Sith. He reverted his combat stance to Soresu, a primarily defensive form of combat. He backpedaled, trying to find a weak point in Vader's attacks. He blocked strike after strike as he moved back, each parried attack angering his opponent even more.

"I…don't…have…time…for this!" Vader cried between attacks. He continued to send several power-filled attacks Obi-Wan's way. He then pushed the Jedi with the Force, knocking him back to the wall. With another simple power, he toppled the unconscious body of K'Kruhk onto his most recent victim. With all three of the Jedi that had been sent to stop him neutralized for the moment, he took off at an inhuman speed towards his master.

Darth Sidious parried the too numerous to count strikes from Mace Windu as the Korun Jedi Master was deep into Vaapad. The attacks came out of nowhere, and were so swift that they were difficult to parry. Sidious held on, however, and continued the battle. He sent a strike of his own headed towards Windu's midsection, dodging so that he wouldn't be beheaded. It was no great surprise that Mace was able to deflect that shot.

"You will not destroy us, Master Windu," Sidious taunted, spitting out the name of the Jedi Master he was fighting. "None of your kind have ever destroyed the Sith before."

"No," Windu warned, knowing history, "you do that perfectly well by yourselves." He continued his assault, playing slightly more conservative with the Vaapad than he did before. He spun around and sliced towards Palpatine's midsection, hoping that it would end the fight right then.

Sidious blocked the attack and retaliated. For several minutes the stalemate continued. Each step backwards that Sidious took brought the two combatants closer to Grievous, who was now 20 meters away in the curved hallway.

Windu blocked another one of Palpatine's strikes and was prepared to deliver a potentially killing blow. Then the burning began. Thanks to his enhanced combat reflexes, it began at the base of his spine and the continued on its way, burning organs and tissue as it severed his spine. Mace Windu snapped out of combat mode and watched as the tip of a red blade emerged from his chest. As he fell dying, he could hear the voice of Sidious praise his killer. "Thank you, Lord Vader."

"Not a problem, Master," Darth Vader replied as he picked up his lightsaber. "The others have been incapacitated, it's time to make our escape."

"No, my apprentice, we must not leave the planet for the time being," Sidious replied.

"Master?" Vader questioned.

"We must go to the Jedi Temple. The Sith may have lost for the time being, but we shall take as many of the Jedi out as we can!" he ranted.

Somehow, in Vader's mind, this mission didn't sound as suicidal as it would have to a normal dark Jedi. Even Ventress would have considered this to be too bold, Vader grinned. "Excellent thinking, Master," he finally replied. "Follow me, the shuttle is just this way."

"The clones are too many outside, my apprentice," Sidious stated. "Our battle droid escorts are too few. They would shoot us down the second we lifted off."

"A hostage, then," Vader suggested. "Where are the senators?"

"In a safe location, my apprentice," Sidious said before telling him which level the emergency bunkers were located. "They are likely to be heavily guarded, however."

"Wait with Grievous," Vader simply said, pulling the hood of his dark robe over his head. "I'll be back in a few minutes."

He walked to the nearest turbolift and pressed the button that corresponded to the level where he needed to go. The emergency bunkers were placed in one of the bottom levels of the senate building, the walls around them heavily fortified to sustain the falling rubble that would certainly occur if a turbolaser shot hit the building around it. Nearly a minute later, the doors of the lift slid open and Darth Vader stepped out, expecting a squad of troopers awaiting him.

He paused outside of the lift. His master had told him to turn right, but the Force was screaming at him to go left. He took a step to his right and stopped. Every nerve in his body told him that this was the wrong path to choose. He withdrew his foot, and then pivoted around, taking the left path.

He walked for meters, until finally he knew why the Force had led him there. A full squad of heavily armed clone troopers surrounded the door of what Vader assumed to be a refresher station. They were guarding somebody, and he smiled. So this is why the Force led him to this passageway. Before they even knew of his presence, the guards were felled by a gout of lightning that coursed over their bodies. Vader approached the door and waited.

It didn't take long for the senator to walk out, and he immediately grabbed her by the arm and pulled her completely out of the doorway. "You're coming with me, senator," he growled as he dragged her towards the turbolift. "Don't do anything stupid that would force me to destroy you."

Padme Amidala stopped struggling as she heard those words from the mouth of what she had known as a monster. The stories of Darth Vader's atrocities on the numerous battlefields were a testament to this and she knew that if she gave him any excuse whatsoever, she would join the other innocents in death. Maybe, just maybe, she prayed, the Force would have pity on her. At the moment, however, it didn't look good.

Obi-Wan knew that he should be chasing Vader and Sidious right now, but there was one thing he had to do. If he left now, he would never have the chance to say these words again. "I'm so sorry, Siri," he said, watching as she slowly died, "for everything. I was foolish back then, and so clouded with anger. I never meant to hurt you. I've always loved you." She could hear that declaration, having passed away the moment before those last words left his lips. Obi-Wan Kenobi picked up her fallen lightsaber and took one last look at her body. He then glanced over to the unconscious K'Kruhk, whose wound was already beginning to heal at a quicker than nature rate thanks to the Whiphid's proficiency with healing trances.

With these last movements, Obi-Wan ran towards the nearest turbolift. It was then that the tidal wave of Mace Windu's slaying hit him and all other Jedi.