War Room,

Jedi Temple,

Coruscant.

"Skywalker, I need you and Master Kcaj to head over to The Vault," ordered Master Mace Windu to his two fellow council members.

"What's The Vault ?" querried Anakin. "I've never heard of it."

"The Vault is a secret Jedi station that houses some of the Order's most valuable artifacts as well as some Sith artifacts," answered the Skustell Kcaj to Anakin. "But more importantly, The Vault also houses many dark side abominations, both natural and of those created by Sith sorcery."

Anakin nodded his head in understanding, it appears there are a lot of things that the Council keeps secret, thought Anakin to himself.

"If The Vault is such a secret, why do we have to secure it ?" asked Anakin curiously.

"Who said anything about securing it ? There is something in The Vault that we need," answered Windu. "Our seers and sages can only cloud Palpatine for so long. We need something that can fully shroud us from the Force and cloud his senses. To make ourselves invisible through the Force."

"And the Vault has something with that much power ?"

"Yes," answered Master Kcaj, "it's called the Yoke of Seeming. It's a Sith artifact that shields a being from the Living Force, effectively clouding the user's presence in the Force."

"I read about that artifact before in the archives," stated Anakin while stroking his chin, "wasn't it destroyed by the Jedi sometime during the Mandalorian War ?"

"That's what the official reports states Skywalker," answered Windu, "but in reality, we kept it hidden in the Vault for further study."

"The Jedi of old recognised the potential of that specific artifact," continued Kcaj, " and how it might be useful to the Jedi under the right circumstances."

"But wouldn't something with that much dark side power corrupt the area or the person which it is attached to ?" inquired Anakin to the two more senior council members.

"Yes it would," answered Windu, "that's why there is another artifact that you and Master Kcaj have to recover to counter-act the dark side influence of the Yoke of Seeming, which is the Dawn Shard."

"The Dawn Shard ? I've never heard of that before," stated Anakin.

"Neither have I," echoed Master Kcaj.

So even some members of the council are not kept entirely in the loop," thought Anakin to himself. Guess I'm not alone after all.

"As it should be, until now. The nature of this artifact meant that only the Grand Master and the Master of the Order are to have information on it until the right time arrises. The artifact in question, the Dawn Crystal, was a crystal that was created by the earliest Jedi scholars. It had the ability to banish any traces of dark side energy in an area or a planet," expained Windu. "But the crystal as a whole was destroyed by the early Sith as they recognised its power and the threat it posed. Although the Sith destroyed the crystal as a whole, they failed to destroy the shards. The largest shard was recovered by the ancient Jedi and placed in safe keeping, although its power greatly diminished." Windu stopped for a moment to let the information sink it before continuing, "But it is still had the ability to keep the dark side energies in check and prevent it from spreading which is what we need at the moment. Can I count on you two to retrieve the artifacts ?"

"Don't worry master, we'll retrieve the artifact," answered Anakin confidently, "how hard can it be."

"Do not get too overconfidence Skywalker," chastised Windu, "although the Vault is a secret, there are other dangers present in it. Kcaj, this is the authorization key needed to enter the secret vault. Not even the warden has it."

Kcaj took the key card that Windu handed to him and proceeded to place in into one of his belt's pouches. Windu turned to Anakin, "And Skywalker, this is the coordinates on where the station is located. And remember, do not bring your astromech with you." Anakin proceeded to take the data card from Windu before placing it in one of his pouches on his belt like Kcaj did.

"May the Force be with you," wished Windu to the two departing Jedi before turning his attention back to his work.

Republic Command Center,

Kashyyyk

Jedi Master Quinlan Vos entered the command center's briefing room. The briefing room was empty save for Master Yoda who was waiting for the Kiffar Jedi Master.

"You summoned me Master Yoda ?" said Vos as he knelt down before the diminutive Jedi Grand Master.

"Yes, yes," replied the elderly Jedi, " a mission for you I have."

"What sort of mission master ?" queried Vos.

Master Yoda reached for something in his belt pouch, "To the edge of the Shadowland you must go. Hand this to the Wookie Chieftain of the village at the edge you must," requested the Grand Master as he handed an amulet to the Kiffar Jedi. "Understand what it means the Chieftain will."

Vos nodded his head, " Shall I bring a squad of troopers with me ?"

"No, bring the clones you must not," said Yoda as he shook his head." Alone to the edge of the Shadowland you must go."

"I understand Master," replied Vos before getting up.

"May the Force be with you," blessed Yoda to Vos before Vos exited the room.

Forward Command Center,

Llanic, Outer Rim.

"General Corobb, we have managed to break the Seperatist's right flank," reported CC-1134 or other wise called Razor to the Ithorian Jedi Master Roron Corobb who had just taken over the campaign from a fellow Jedi, "the Seperatist are trying to reinforce their right flank with their left. But it's a stop gate measure at best."

"Thank you Commander," thanked the Ithorian Jedi, "I will join you on the front shortly. "Thank you General," said Razor while saluting before he left the FCC.

Master Corobb turned to his Padawan Drake Lo'Gaan who was busy looking at planetary charts to come up with a strategy for the remainder of the campaign. "Padawan, I want you to go into the city and acquire an unmarked transport from the spaceport." As per Plan Zero, all active Jedi across the galaxy were placed on high alert and were told to be cautious. Trusting no one, including their clone troopers.

"Does this have to do with the plan Master ?" queried Lo'gaan

The Ithorian just nodded.

"I'll get right on it Master," replied Lo'gaan before putting down his datapad and making his way to the FCC's exit. Lo'gaan turned around to face his master, "May the Force be with you master."

"And with you my young Padawan."

500 Republica Tower,

Residence of Bail Organa,

Coruscant.

"The Supreme Chancellor is a threat to democracy itself," voiced Senator Mon Mothma from Chandrilla. "Over the past three years, the Supreme Chancellor has been systematically passing amendment after amendment. The Constitution is in tatters."

"I have to agree with Mon Mothma," echoed Bail Organa, "the Supreme Chancellor has become the Republic itself and wields almost absolute power."

"So what can we do ?" asked Senator Riyo Chuchi of Pantora.

"What do we do ? We fight Palpatine and his growing power base, by ending the war on peaceful terms" voiced Senator Fang Zar. "Or We could follow the actions of our fellow esteemed Senator from Corellia," said Fang while pointing to Senator Garm Ben-Iblis.

Garm folded his hands, "I'm flattered that you want to take my stance Fang, but I only did so because Corellia could. Contemplys Hermi is a clause that is only applicable to to the Corellian system."

"I think reaching a peaceful end to the war is the only way that could probably force Palpatine to hand over his emergency powers," stated Senator Padme Amidala to the the rest of her colleagues. "The end of the war would mean that Palpatine would have no use for emergency powers and elections could be held."

"I wish I could have your idealism Senator Amidala. But it's not that simple. Palpatine would continue to keep his emergency power as long as the threat of the Seperatist lingers above us. In the interest of security, more of the war hawkish senators would vote to let him keep his powers. Only the total defeat of the Seperatist will Palpatine be forced to relinquish his powers," said Garm Ben-Iblis to the young Senator from Naboo. "The only way that Palpatine will lose his power base if you want a peaceful end to the war is if you ,Senator Organa and the rest of you who has a seat relinquish your positions on the Loyalist Committee. That way, it appears that he has lost the support of what has been his most trusted advisors during the course of the war"

"But doing that could be misconstrued as treason," voiced a concerned Giddean Danu from Kuat.

"It could," said Senator Fang Zar ,"but continuing to support of Chancellor that is increasingly dismantling the freedoms and liberty and what the Republic stands for is far more treasonous."

Silence fell over the entire room. "The road to freedom and liberty has always been a hard one, and more so if its being threatened by the very person that espouses it. Therefore we have to stand strong against it. Stand strong against Palpatine," stated Ben-Iblis to the rest of the Senators gathered.

"I agree," echoed Mon Mothma

"As do I," said Fang Zar

"I agree that Palpatine has become a threat to the Republic itself," said Organa to the gathered Senator, "but we cannot be hasty and should be cautious. We don't know what Palpatine has planned for people who would go against him and his will."

The rest of the Senators nodded his agreement with the statement that was made by Bail Organa. "Very well then, I hereby call that this is the first of hopefully many meetings for the Delegation to Restore the Republic."

So it has come to this then, mused Amidala to herself.