Note: This is one of the few, if only, chapters where Varus does not play a crucial role. I didn't want to overload Varus with too many plots all simultaneously. He has a lot on his plate, and I want to keep Varus to his room, looking up information on the Miraluka.

Something I want to mention is that this chapter is kind of a love-hate relationship for me. On one hand, I love how I portray everyone except Anakin and Padme. On the other hand, I hate how much it focuses on them. Anakin is primarily a main character only in reference to his relationship to Varus, that's the only thing with him in this story, but in this episode I have to take it beyond that for a while. I don't like the fact that I had to do that, I don't like how I portray him, frankly, he feels shallow when I take him away from Varus and Ahsoka. The 'romance' crap is completely overdone with the thousands and thousands of FF on him. I tried to balance it out with some stuff from everyone's favorite Mandalorian and Wookie (If you know where he came from.) and just how similar they are in so many ways!

Actually its based on how similar they are that the whole relationship between Mando'a and Kashyyk will in the future.

Also. I am close to crying. The previous episode, and the way it ending, is among my favorite pieces of the entire fiction. To me the primary steps along the way has been his mind-wipe, meeting Anakin, having fun with Jar Jar (for me at least), encountering the Revan Holocron and having some character development along the way, promising himself to one day remember, and then the last episode where Maris escapes and one of Palpatine's worst fears is shown in his face.

This isn't exactly a spoiler, but I wanted to return Darth Nihilus in a subtle way that explodes with a bang at the very last sentence. So that made it one of my favorites.

But while I hoped, and wanted for the same joy I took in the episode to be reflected on my readers, I guess I wasn't prepared for their response. After reading all the reviews I actually twirled in circles with a stupid grin on my face. xD And I had to hold back crying. I still am. Q.Q I'm so psyched that what I write is having the impact I intended for it to have, not necessarily in your need to review, but in the context of your reviews telling me how each chapter effects you.

Thank you so much guys.

I hate this episode, but it's necessary. I wish I could just skip along to a lot of important things and move on, but alas, the story needs to be done one step at a time. I can't just skip to the end and go "the butler did it." Although in this case it would be more along the lines of "Varus did it."

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Not even the clothes on my back.

Episode 9 - A Day in the Republic Part 1/2

Summary: Starkiller, apprentice to the deceased Darth Nihilus, was tricked by Darth Sidius into becoming a puppet of the Jedi through a force mind-wipe. He was renamed Varus Wynn and assigned to Anakin Skywalker as his second Padawan alongside Ahsoka Tano.

Following a lead from the former Sith, Starkiller, they found hostile droids unlike anything Skywalker recalled the Confederacy producing and skeletal remains. As well as a Sith Holocron linked to Revan that was implanted into Varus's mind.

The following investigation shed light on the fact that the Star Forge was still alive, and the Dantooine Council had left the information classified, hoping no one would investigate too deeply. Anakin Skywalker was assigned to follow the trail of Revan left in Varus's mind to find the Star Forge for the Republic.

Thus far they have landed on Dantooine and entered an ancient tomb of the Infinite Empire. Inside Ahsoka and Varus both encountered illusions. Ahsoka's illusion was of her team fighting in an evil, choking place in Coruscant. She ended the illusion by entering the fray to stop them and was met by a Sith Varus. Meanwhile, Varus encountered a version of himself, twisted and dark by the temple, and was forced to end the illusion by promising to himself to eventually remember who he was. They recovered the coordinates to five locations that would piece together the coordinates of the Star Forge.

Varus returned home and moved out of the Temple. After a blood scan, he looked into information that was contradictory. He wasn't human. He was a Miraluka. The Jedi had been wrong on his profile information.

Despite the Jedi's hopes, sins of Starkiller's past are catching up to Varus. Maris remembers him after Starkiller murdered her Master, and sees him in the Temple. She has been told it is classified, and to leave it alone. She spent time in mourning, and has improved while Ahsoka was gone, but then someone kidnapped her and took her to a dark place on Coruscant. There, he talked with her, and showed her who her true enemy was.

And an unknown power is having the Jedi be legally stopped and contained in their travels for a very short time. Obi-Wan has investigated the matter and found that a large number of Jedi who are stalled eventually come to find difficulty in the Force for some unknown reason. A call to find the 'Manager' and bring him in for questioning was made, but he was found dead. A woman stole his belongings from his corpse, and the investigation was turned to her, but she evaded their efforts and appeared in Palpatine's office. There she confronted him as a Sith and presented the mask of Darth Nihilus.

Anakin opened the door to his home, or rather the home to his wife, Senator Padme Amidala. Her actual name was Padme Skywalker by marriage, although not officially, and she wasn't even his wife, so far as the galaxy was concerned. There were witnesses to their marriage, so it was binding on a spiritual level, but they wanted to keep it secret. She would be removed from office, and he would be cast down from the order and declared a 'fallen Jedi', and exiled in a manner left to Sith.

They were happy and kept their home warm, and that was enough. Padme looked up from where she was seated on the couch with reports and papers scattered all across the room. On the other couch was a Wookie.

"General Skywalker." She greeted with a warm smile and cheery heart, in their public manner. Her eyes drifted to the armored, one-eyed man along with Anakin and nodded. "And I heard of you, Senator Izthark."

"Oh, no…" Izthark groaned. "Please no title. You make me sound like a damned politician."

"Oh. I'm sorry, I thought-" She dropped her smile and looked to Anakin in confusion.

Anakin confirmed, "Izthark, you are a politician now. Get used to it."

"I'm a messenger, not a politician."

"Same thing around here." The Jedi Knight retorted.

"Damn…"

"Aaaanyway," Padme returned with a fresh smile, now that everything was cleared up. "This is a friend I wanted you to meet." She waved to the Wookie, who stood at the gesture. "I-We felt if you were going to start your way into gathering allies among the Senate, that you start with one who values many of the same principles."

The Wookie walked up to Izthark. The two males stood eye to eye. While a Wookie was a good two feet taller than the average human, the Mandalorian's, as a sub-human race, were not your average human. Shorter, yes, but only by a few scant inches, and he was not about to be eyed down and surrender first.

The silent stare went on, and on… and on. Anakin looked between them, and asked his 'wife'. "So, how was your day?"

She rolled her eyes and left the room into the kitchen. "Same old, same old…" The Jedi followed her into the kitchen and helped her with getting everything ready. She handed him plates and he positioned them, he stole a kiss. He pulled out a roast and put it in the oven, and she stole a kiss.

"Are they still at it?" Anakin asked.

Padme peeked around the doorway. "Yep."

Large muscular arms enveloped her, and she bit her lip to not giggle. "Good, come here."

Izthark broke the hour-long stare by head-butting the overgrown rug. The Wookie took a shocked step back, and the staring continued a moment. The Mandalorian's lips lifted in a smirk, and the Wookie let out a loud guttural laugh.

Izthark sniffed the air and turned towards the kitchen. "Is something burning?" He wondered. The Wookie senator shrugged. The two of them walked into it and gaped openly at the billowing black smoke coming from the oven.

The Wookie rushed over, opened it, and an explosion of fire swept over him. A Wookie, being a giant natural fur ball, does not mix with fire. His fur caught on fire.

"Idiot." Izthark cursed under his breath. He grabbed the closest cloth to him, the table cloth, and pulled it off, sending all of the tableware flying, and threw it over the Wookie. He grabbed the fur ball and after throwing him to the ground, tumbling him around, and patting him down, the fire was off of him. The Mandalorian inserted an armored hand into the oven, pulled out the black 'coal' thing out of the oven, and threw it out the window. Unfortunately the window was still closed at the time and glass flew out along with the roast.

A few seconds later there was a loud thud and some old lady screamed.

"Are you good?" He asked the Wookie. The Wookie nodded his thanks and stood up, and they surveyed the damage.

Anakin came running out of the deeper part of the apartment. The plates and silverware were broken on the floor, the table cloth was burned black and the Wookie had embers on him, his oven was black, smoke was everywhere, the window was broken, and Izthark's armored hand was smoking slightly. The Jedi's first thought was that Varus had come into the room at some point. "What happened here?!"

"You decided to heat your oven with coal and fire." Izthark replied.

Anakin gaped a bit, but shut his mouth. "That was a roast!"

Izthark raised an eyebrow. "Not anymore." Padme came out as well and gaped in open amazement at the condition of her apartment in the last… ten minutes. "And why are the two of you sweating and out of breath? Where were you?"

Anakin glanced at the Senator a moment and said flatly, "Jogging."

"Jogging." Izthark repeated in stark disbelief. His singular eye examined them. Their sweat, their hyper-red cheeks, their dilated eyes, the ruffles of their clothes, and became the first person in the galaxy to finally come to the correct answer about them. Fortunately for them he judged it as none of his business. "Ok."

Izthark turned to the Wookie Senator. His eye drifted up to the small candle-like flame flickering unnoticed at the top of the beast's head. "Who are you, anyway?"

The Wookie growled tiredly, "Zaalbar."

With the dinner ruined they had a number of choices. Eating out or ordering. Padme believed it hardly up to decorum to provide the two Senators with anything cheap and fattening (not that the two of them didn't take that as a direct challenge in their ability to maintain their weight) and they opted to eat out themselves.

Anakin turned slightly in his seat to note how the two Senators were. To his pleasure, the two of them had hit it off quite well. If you count arm wrestling and arguing over 'the ethics of family honor executions' to be all well and good. Judging from their smiles, that would be a resounding 'yes'. He figured if he got them as simple as playing cards, they would be screaming and fighting like a pair of children over a simple game like 'slap it'. (Their version would be 'punch it'.)

"Good choice." He whispered to his favorite Senator.

She smiled appreciatively. With the two of them only able to snatch few minutes here and there in secret, the few things they did say and do went a lot further, in both good and bad ways.

She turned the hovercar down another highway and the Senate building came into view. "Ok, boys." She hollered to be heard over the wind. "We have a choice between a diner, a restaurant on something specific, or, my personal favorite, a buffet."

No response. The two of them were focused intensely on their arm wrestling. Anakin raised a hand slowly and opted for the buffet. Considering how she was in the same hovercar as two testosterone-based muscle freaks, and one who burned through calories just by thinking. More food it was.

They parked on one of the many Senate travel pads. "Ok, boys. We're here." She turned in her seat and found the two were still deeply entranced in their rivalry. She sighed, climbed out, and purposefully slammed the door so loudly it shocked Izthark and resulted with him having his arm slammed down so hard he twisted his wrist. The Wookie won.

"How can you two arm-wrestle twenty-eight times in a row?" Anakin asked in bewilderment.

Izthark climbed up and flexed his arm. An audible pop came and he regained feeling in it. "I've heard it said, 'Let the Wookie win'. Well, the same could be said for us."

"Ohhh, yeah." Anakin whispered to his secret wife. "They are going to be best friends."

"Alas, I do not think I have the strength in my arm anymore to break our tie." The Mandalorian finished. Zaalbar looked visibly disappointed.

The Senate building was a gigantic dome shaped structure. All around it were levels upon levels of landing pads, and the tower base from the planet base miles below all the way up was facilities and private organizations exclusively for the Senate. However, the doors were not open, and a large crowd had assembled on the landing pad before each door. Two million workers gathered when they should be inside working.

A gap in the crowd separated at the sight of a famous Senator, just as famous Jedi Knight/General, a massive man in armor, and a Wookie.

"What is going on?" Padme asked one of the guards in front of the door.

"Will not open, Maam."

"Oh, I can see that, but why? Is the Senate in session?"

"Even if the Senate was in session, they wouldn't be locking the doors on everyone." Anakin thought out loud. "No, the lights are off, and the guards are just as confused as the rest of them… I sense very few living things in there."

"I can't say for certain, sir." The guard said nervously. "There hasn't been an emergency beacon."

"Of course not, the beacon is tied into the power." Padme sighed.

"Your Senate tied in its emergency systems in with everything else? Really?" Izthark asked in disbelief.

"It was a proposal we were pushing to change, but the war has everyone's focus centralized on other matters." The senator replied.

Anakin walked up to the door and felt something was wrong. Deeply wrong. The Force as a whole felt weak, its echo's nothing more than feeble whispers desperately calling out. The Light was all but gone, and to an extent even the Dark Side. In its place was something cold, empty, and darker than anything he had ever felt. To an extent it even came from the guard. Without warning, he removed his lightsaber and plunged it into the door.

"Sir!" The guard jumped.

"No one follow unless your armed. " Anakin pushed his saber up and around to slowly form a door. "You, call for teams of Jedi Masters to come. Something is very wrong."

"As if it wasn't obvious enough already…" Izthark sighed.

The plating fell through and Anakin stepped in with his lightsaber drawn. The inside of the Senate building was dark as well. The others followed in. Padme with a pistol, Zalbar with a crossbow, and Izthark… "Is that thing legal?" Anakin asked.

"Nope."

The guards looked to follow through, but the General refused them. He ordered them to stay and the four of them entered the darkness. "Why did you tell them to stay behind?" Zalbar wondered in his language.

"A kind of Force illusion was placed over them. They should have been trying to retake control instead of just sitting around."

"Retake control." Padme repeated. "A Jedi took control of the Senate building?"

"No."

"Ani, Sith don't use illusions."

"Your right, they don't. It's not a Dark Side skill. They go for explosions and power more than dealing with reality versus fiction."

"Then what did?" Zalbar wondered.

"Not sure." Anakin said darkly. They pushed through the darkness. Every side room, every closet, everything was empty. The building was empty of life. "I felt the Force, but it's not Dark nor Light. It's almost… an absence."

"Translate." Izthark said.

"I can't! It's just…" Anakin sighed. "The senate isn't here, the light is out, the doors are locked, the guards are all illusioned, and no one has cared to notice, and what is that whistling!"

"I don't hear anything." Padme said.

"Nor I." Zalbar barked quietly.

"Your hearing things." Izthark said.

"I am not- hold it!" Anakin stopped short at the sight of a red-robed figure patrolling the next turn. The figure had broad shoulder pads, adorned helmet and plating, a spear in his hand, and was patrolling the hall. The Royal Guard didn't notice the, but for that matter he didn't seem to be noticing anything was wrong at all.

"Great a senate guard." Padme said. "Wait… not good."

"Yeah, he is under the influence as well."

Izthark took aim at him, but Zalbar held him back. Anakin said, "Let's avoid any confrontations for now. We need a terminal."

"Terminal. This way." The senator said. Padme took them back and down another turn. They weaved and moved through the halls quietly past several patrolling Royal guard until they came to a Senator's room. It wasn't her's.

The Jedi jumped onto the terminal while the other's watched the door. It took only seconds for Anakin to hack in. "You would think a Senator would be smart enough not to make his or her password so easy…"

"What was it?"

"Password."

Izthark laughed.

"Don't laugh, you're one of them." He remarked. Izthark shut up and growled.

Anakin access the Senator's permission access files as an O.S. pipe and redirected himself around to the cameras. As predictable, the cameras showed static, but it wasn't just a few, they all were. The odd thing was, the cameras were shown as working in diagnostics. He pinged the hardware and received a return acknowledgement. He traced the route of power and information, and it all looked correct. The life signs showed the Supreme Chancellor was still in his room with someone else, probably his attendant, and there were the single or dual patrols all across the building.

The cameras linked to routers, which linked to servers, which linked back to routers, then to terminals and TV's. The routers, the servers, the power, the cameras, the lighting, the doors, and everything else was shown as working, but yet they were being held down by some invisible force.

Unless it was The Force…

But never had he heard of someone using the Force in such a delicate manner as to tamper with hardware and keep it on and off at once. It was one thing to use a technique on people to manipulate their thoughts. The Force was so intertwined with life and thought that it was almost like an order that the Force knew how to do on its own. You only had to will a person to think one thing, and he would, provided your will was stronger than theirs. But a machine? Never before had Anakin seen techniques intertwined with the Force…

Except he had.

The sector. The droids he found in Sector 7207. The Holocrons. Even the experiment at the Star Port.

Some Jedi believe it to be Czercha, they were always working and building in science. Czercha had a hand in everything from genetic mutation, to weapons, to star ship build plans, even to things that were illegal like planet-destroying weapons and small arms that a Jedi could not resist. It was not something the Jedi minded for the Czercha to do. In fact it was useful for someone to invent things, both good and bad, so that all could know what was good and what was bad.

So did the Czercha attack the Senate? No, they wouldn't do that. Their biggest buyer was the Republic. So it wouldn't be technological.

Still, the Force. Sith employed lightning, and lightning was directly related to hardware. But any amount of lightning from a Sith would burn out the hardware and make its manipulation useless.

But then the hardware wasn't being manipulated to begin with. It was being restrained! The door was being kept shut. No programs he ran could open them. He opened the magnetic locks and nothing opened. They were being forced shut by an invisible force! The cameras were showing things, but nothing was being seen as though they were covered in a kind of fog. The lights, the life support systems, everything that usually ran was being pushed down and restrained. It had nothing to do with lightning. It was something else, something more precise and dangerous and cunning. It was something calculating and so much darker than raw emotion.

Anakin had walked the halls of the Senate for years. Being friends with several Senators had its perks, but never before had he felt the halls and walls so dark. It felt as though everything good and whole about the place was being squashed down. He didn't have claustrophobia, but it felt like the walls were pressing in all around him, squeezing him, sucking out his energy and dimming the Light within him.

It was a contradiction of what the place had always been, always was, and still is. The Force within the building was at war with itself. But it was a war unlike any he had ever felt. Warm and cold air could cause hurricanes, but this wasn't light and dark, this was Light and something empty… and hungry. The Light with its radiance was being eaten and only fed the darkness like a… a… black hole.

"Ani." Padme said worriedly.

Anakin flinched at the words and looked up at her in open-eyed bewilderment. He checked himself and found he was sweating, he was pale, he was having trouble breathing. When had he been so worked up? When had he lost track of everything?

"How long was I standing here?"

"Almost ten minutes." She looked at him cautiously. "Are you alright? Your pale and breathing heavy. I never see you out of breathe. Ever."

"I'm fine, for now, but we need to get the Chancellor out of here." Anakin replied.

If whatever this alien Force energy was, that could make him lose sense of himself this deeply, who knew what it could do to everyone else. No wonder the guards weren't doing anything. It was invading everyone and everything around it and taking control like a plague.

They left the room, only to run into a royal guard. The royal guard immediately lighted his lightsaber spear and charged them. Zalbar raised his rifle, but the guard 'Pushed them away.

"The Senate guard just might have a problem with that!" Izthark barked. He drew out a vibroknife and blocked the lightsaber-spear.

Ahsoka woke to hands grabbing her and taking her. She reacted. She kicked, she punched, she drew the Force out and sent her attacker flying across the room. She willed her lightsaber to her hand and ignited it. With experience from having been on battlefield and battlefield for the last few years, she was up, armed, ready, and lunging in before her opponent ever landed on the floor.

Her green lightsaber showed the face of Maris Brood.

"By the Force! Maris!" Ahsoka yelled exasperatingly. Her adrenaline, having no purpose now, left her shaking. She turned off her saber and fought to control her beating heart. "You scared me half to death! Don't do that… And where were you?! I came back and you were-"

"He's a Sith, 'hsoka!"

…

"What?" Ahsoka asked in disbelief. This is what Maris had woken her about? They already knew there was a Sith on Coruscant, or at least Maris believed there was. That was precisely one of the many, big reasons she wanted Maris to share her apartment for the time being. "Maris, we already know that."

Maris's eyes expanded to an unbelievable size. Frankly, Ahsoka was starting to feel a bit panicky. Her friend disappears, appears out of nowhere rambling on about stuff they already knew, and now is looking like that's some kind of new revelation. Now Maris was shaking her head as though she couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"Maris." Ahsoka tried. "Where were you? You have any idea how worried I was?"

"You knew!?" Maris yelled furiously, completely ignoring Ahsoka's questions. "How can you already know and not do anything! Do you have any idea what he has done to me!? You, what you're doing to me!? Everyone. The Jedi, they know, but they don't care! They just tie it all up in classifications while he comes after me and you-"

"Maris." Ahsoka took the time to breathe in and out, slowly. She then said as calmly as possible, even though she was coming down from an extreme adrenaline rush and Maris was freaking out like a madman. "We already discussed this. You said a Sith was chasing you. I asked you to move in with me so I can watch over you, you agreed. Do you not remember this?"

…

Maris simply stared at her. Ahsoka continued more desperately, "Don't you remember?"

Maris had difficulty restraining the emotions boiling all around her. Fury, confusion, anger, sadness, these emotions and more all raged within her. Tears overflowed from her eyes and she gagged on her own heart. She cried, "Yes, I-I'm sorry. I shouldn't have lost it. but… Are we talking about the same thing?"

"I don't know anymore." Ahsoka sighed. She put her lightsaber on a side table and held her friend close. "How about we just start over… Let's start with what you been up to since I left, and where on Coruscant you were when I got back?"

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