"That went smoothly enough." Obi-Wan commented as they walked the busy streets of Coruscant.
"Smoothly?" Anakin responded, his right eyebrow raised, "Didn't you find the amount of battleships around Coruscant to be at all disturbing? And then the fact that Coruscant security measures are like what they were before the clone wars?"
Obi-Wan kept looking straight ahead. "Lower your voice, we don't want to attract attention to ourselves."
They walked on in silence until they reached the entrance to the Temple. Stopping before the massive doors, Anakin and Obi-Wan looked at each other before lightly using the Force to nudge the doors open.
Entering through the narrow opening, the large, heavy doors loudly shut, leaving Obi-Wan and Anakin in darkness.
"Hey, who turned out the lights?"
"Anakin?"
"Yeah?"
A blue lightsaber came to life and lit up Obi-Wan's face. "You're not being amusing."
Anakin sighed and lit his lightsaber. "Sorry Master." As he walked next to Obi-Wan, the icy feeling he had felt since they entered the Temple grew.
The corridor was dark and quiet, way to quiet. Anakin pressed his lips together until they became a thin white line. There was something on the wall. Anakin approached the wall where there were spots of something. Once he got close enough, Anakin realized what it was. It was dried blood. His heart beating fast, Anakin took a step back. At once the lights in the corridor came on as Obi-Wan fiddled with some wires in the portion of the wall that he had cut through.
Turning slowly around, Anakin thought his heart had stopped beating when he saw the terrible sight. A sound between a cry and a sob escaped Anakin's mouth; even Obi-Wan lost his composure. The sight before their eyes was horrifying.
Jedi, young and old, were pinned along the walls. Dried blood stained the floor and walls, and upon a closer look, Anakin and Obi-Wan saw that some had been killed with a lightsaber, and others shot by blasterbolts. Whoever had killed them had pinned the Jedi to the wall with metal nails and then left them to rot.
Anakin shook his head furiously, tears running down his face. Who would do such a thing? The answer quickly came to him. The Sith was responsible for this massacre.
After several long minutes, Obi-Wan regained his outward composure and walked over to Anakin who was still staring at the dead Jedi. He laid a hand on Anakin's shoulder and gave a gentle squeeze. "They are one with the Force now." Even as he said those words, Obi-Wan found it hard to accept. So many Jedi were dead, slaughtered. How can one simply accept the simple fact that these Jedi were one with the Force now?
Anakin did not speak, instead he began to walk down the corridor.
Obi-wan silently followed Anakin and they took the turbolift to the Council chambers. Perhaps there would be a Council recording that could give them some insight to what had happened after Anakin and He had disappeared.
Anakin stepped into the Council chambers first and then suddenly backed up, almost tripping over Obi-Wan in the process.
After helping Anakin steady himself, Obi-Wan entered the chambers and stopped when he saw what had caused Anakin to retreat. A large statue made out of silver and bronze stood in the middle of the room. Around the statue were corpses of younglings. The figure had his lightsaber raised in a triumphant manner and… Obi-Wan paled when he recognized who the statue was.
Anakin retreated to a corner of the reception hall, drew himself into a fetal position and buried his face in his hands. Palpatine is the Sith Lord? He was the one we were looking for all along? But, how could he be a Sith? He was always a friend to me, someone I trusted. How could I have not seen his deception? Why didn't the Council see it?
"We better leave. It's not safe for us here." Obi-Wan spoke, drawing Anakin out of his thoughts.
Wiping his eyes with his hands, Anakin looked up at Obi-Wan. "We can't leave them like this." His voice trembling as he spoke.
Obi-Wan nodded. "I agree, but that might not be wise. Doing so may alert the Sith to our presence if he has not sensed us before now."
Swallowing hard, Anakin stood up and followed Obi-Wan to the turbolift.
"Whatever possessed you to try to fight a Sumne?" Zanthis' friend remarked, as he threw a towel at Zanthis.
Zanthis glared at his friend as he wiped the sweat from his face. "For the record he was the one who started it."
Zanthis' friend laughed in disbelief. "Admit it, you provoked him first, Zanthis."
Throwing the towel onto a bench, Zanthis turned on his lightsaber. "Would you like to rethink your words, Lixion?"
"Why would I want to do that?" Lixion asked, his blue eyes sparkling with mirth.
Hissing between his teeth, Zanthis sprang at Lixion and struck at Lixion's side with his lightsaber.
Grinning, Lixion swiftly ignited his lightsaber and blocked the blow. "Nice, but not good enough."
"You are pathetic." Zanthis responded.
"Really?" Lixion asked. "I thought pathetic means that…" He didn't finish as he concentrated on defending himself from the incoming objects that Zanthis was Force throwing at him. After he redirected the various objects, Lixion launched a flurry of lightsaber strikes at Zanthis, all of them perfectly blocked. "Now back on the subject of the Sumnii."
Zanthis Force leapt over Lixion and attempted to attack Lixion from behind.
Lixion anticipated the move and moved his lightsaber behind him, perfectly blocking the blow and then slowly turned to look at Zanthis.
"He did too start it! All of his kind started it!" Zanthis told him in a loud angry voice. "They destroyed my family and they did the same to yours."
"That's no excuse to provoke him the way you did. If the Emperor found out…"
"He won't." Zanthis interrupted.
Lixion shook his head and disengaged his lightsaber. "You are just setting yourself up for more trouble."
"It is unwise to lower your defense." Zanthis responded, swinging his lightsaber at Lixion's neck.
Lixion ducked and rolled away from Zanthis and then stood up. Touching his blond hair, Lixion felt a few pieces of charred hair. "Now I really do need a haircut." He muttered before igniting his lightsaber and going after Zanthis.
Managing to hold the tray of food with one hand, Han typed in the code to enter Leia's quarters. The door slid open and Han walked in and went into the living area. There he found Leia sitting curled up on the couch with her eyes closed.
Placing the tray on the coffeetable, Han sat down on the couch next to Leia. "I brought you some lunch."
Leia opened her eyes, glanced briefly at the food and then shook her head. "I'm not very hungry right now."
Han wrapped his arm around Leia's shoulders and Leia laid her head on his shoulder. "I talked to Lando. He's making the arrangements right now for us to stay at the beach house that he owns. Did you find someone to take over your work while we're gone?"
Leia shook her head and sighed. "There was no need to. Mara, as always, decided to take care of that for me. Winter is now in my office, that's why I'm out here. Winter told me that Mara told her that my vacation starts today and that to tell me that she had already informed Mon Mothma that I will be taking a much needed vacation."
Chuckling, Han kissed Leia's forehead. "Well then sweetheart, should you start packing or did Mara already do that too?"
"No she didn't, at least she better not have." Leia responded, closing her eyes.
"Good, then I'll go pack what you need and you can eat." Han replied and stood up to head to Leia's room.
"Han!" Leia protested, eyes wide open. "Don't you dare! I can pack my own clothes!"
Grinning, Han sat back down on the couch and took the tray of food and laid it on Leia's lap. "As you wish Princess. Now eat. It was not easy trying to convince the chef to make you this meal."
Leia looked at the food on the tray and realized that it was her favorite meal. "Oh." She looked back up at Han and smiled. "You didn't have to."
"No, but I wanted to." Han answered.
Leia took a small bite of the vegetables on her plate and then continued to finish the rest of the meal off while Han contently watched her.