Coruscant
19 BBY (16:05:20 GrS)
Two days before Order 66…
A genuine smile had formed on Sidious's face, visible even under his hood in the dim blue light emanating from the holoprojector. "Excellent."
News had just come in that the Kestrel and its fleet had been successfully pulled out of hyperspace by a Gravity Well Generator in the Athega system.
"There is no way out for them," said the holoprojection of Admiral Scirocco, the Super Tactical Droid in charge of the Separatist taskforce. "They will be trapped and…" The holopresence was distorted under a hiss of static. "I apologize, my Lord—" *STATIC* "Radiation is at high levels interfering with—" The rest of the droid's message was lost to static. The projection flickered and died as the signal became too distorted to transmit any further.
Sidious steepled his hands in front of him for a moment, then rotated his chair slightly to the left, facing Mas Amedda. The Chagrian was seated at the opposite side of Sidous's massive desk made from genuine irontree wood.
"Still no news on Tano's whereabouts."
"Tano is long gone," Sidious hissed, rising to his feet. "The Kestrel's destruction buys us at least a few hours to get all of our pieces in place."
"Respectfully, sir," Mas Amedda cautioned, "All of your previous attempts to spark a conflict have failed. The Jedi do not seem to be in a position to want conflict with you. We will both be voted out of office tomorrow morning, so I do not see how the Kestrel's destruction wins us anything but a potential complication. There is no way forward. We must back down and hide any involvement with the Separatist cause."
The Sith Lord wasn't even angry at the Chagrian's frank comments. His grin, which had been positively gleeful, died down to a lopsided smirk in the corner of his mouth. "The Jedi Order and the Republic are on the verge of collapsing so quickly, that it will—" Sidious's boast died in the back of his throat. It felt as if someone had just splashed him with a bucket of ice water.
"Is—Is something wrong, my Lord?" Amedda asked, standing up to match Sidious.
Sidious gasped. For the second time in less than twenty-four hours, he felt genuine fear. "No, NO! The Jedi have found it!"
"Found what?!"
o.o.o.o.o
MACE WINDU
"Impossible, this is," Yoda croaked in a tone of genuine fear.
Yoda stood in front of Windu, two masked Temple Guards, and half of the High Council. They had followed the Grandmaster down a spiral staircase, then through caverns within the mountain beneath the temple, then ruins, and now found themselves standing in front of a dark ziggurat, faded red lines criss-crossing the structure. Illuminated by a rainbow of green, blue, yellow, and Windu's own purple blade, the base of the structure was the widest point. Smaller and smaller terraces ringed the structure as it went up. At the very top of the pyramid, was a giant black obelisk poking up towards the base of the Jedi Temple.
At the back of the group, Dooku laughed with dark glee. "Impossible? Master Yoda, do you not believe your own eyes?"
"What is impossible?" Windu asked, genuinely confused.
"The Darkness… Can you not feel it?" Obi-Wan asked.
"Indeed. Darkness there should not be. Nullified this structure, we have…"
Holding his saber up for illumination, Windu was not quite sure what either of them meant. Dooku was now cackling so loudly that it was beginning to get on his nerves. "Could you shut up?"
"The fools! Only now do they understand! They disbelieve the truth until it slaps them right in the face!"
Trying to ignore Dooku, Windu took a cautious step forward, then another. When he reached Obi-Wan's position, he shuddered. It was like he crossed the rubicon into the physical confines of the dark side. An icy cold fear tensed the pit of his stomach and traveled up his spine. He could feel flashes of hatred, anger, contempt. It felt like the source was coming from both the Temple itself and from Dooku behind them.
"Why is it impossible that a Sith Shrine would exhibit dark side powers?" Ki-Adi-Mundi asked quizzically.
"Nullified the darkness, we once did," Yoda muttered. "It should not have returned."
"Perhaps that was what the Sith wanted us to believe…" Kit Fisto muttered with a rare grimace. The Nautolan master's hand gripped his saber as if holding on for dear life.
Dooku's booming mocking cackles grew louder than ever. It was clear that the Force was now amplifying them somehow.
"Let's get this over with!" Windu yelled, losing his own patience.
"Don't I get to make a final statement?" Dooku asked dryly, as the two Temple Guards shoved him forward.
Windu's retort came off cold and hard. "No. This is not an execution."
o.o.o.o.o
SHEEV PALPATINE
In an almost comical whirlwind of desperate haste, Sidious rushed into the annex of his office and grabbed the dark cauldron out from the cabinet. The Sith Lord cursed under his breath when, clumsily, he accidentally spilled a drop of potion on the floor. It sizzled and smoked, sending an acrid smell into the air.
Ignoring the mess, the Sith Lord continued with his preparations, feeling the tense presences of several Jedi Masters and his former apprentice.
"On the dias, place Dooku," echoed Yoda's voice in Sidious's mind, followed by Dooku's distant screams and pleas. Sidious could not yet see the scene, but he knew the Grandmaster was referring to the old dias, where the Sith of old had executed their sacrificial victims.
By the time Sidious had begun to stir the contents of the cauldron, he could already sense a vergence beginning to form. The Jedi around the Sith Shrine were reaching out to each other, forming not quite a superconsciousness as they once had been able to under Avar Kriss at the height of the High Republic, but still a convergence of their individual goals into something greater. The sheer power in the Force now emanating from this group of Jedi caused Sidious to gasp, momentarily losing all hope.
Yet, Sidious could also sense fear among the Jedi, even Yoda. Even the supposedly incorruptible Temple Guards—both of whom Sidious had already secretly swayed to his cause. Tapping into that fear, Sidious raised his hands above the yellow-green smoke rising from the cauldron.
A push would be all it takes for the Jedi to sacrifice Dooku… A push and then the darkness emanating from the shrine will become so powerful not even 10,000 Jedi could unmake it.
o.o.o.o.o
MACE WINDU
Mace stared at Dooku as the Sith Lord was forced onto the dias. Something in this entire affair didn't sit right in his gut, as if they were playing into Sidious's hands by bringing Dooku here. But it was drowned out by a feeling he hadn't experienced in such intensity since he was last on Haruun Kal, where the Summertime War had blossomed into a bloodbath at the start of the Clone Wars. Memories of the slaughter flashed through his mind, the bodies of his own people and the Downlander colonists they fought, of his own former Padawan slipping to the dark side.
Fear and anger clawed for purchase, like it did when he saw Grievous standing over Depa, ready to land the killing blow, Kar Vastor and Nick Rostu lying unconscious nearby. Dooku had given that monster everything he'd needed to conquer Harun Kal.
Windu's knuckles turned white as he clenched his saber. The shatterpoints echoing from Dooku were beyond compare, just as he'd seen in the arena on that fateful day.
How many lives could I have saved had I slain him on Geonosis? Sidious would have taken far too long to acquire a new apprentice, the Separatists would've been in chaos. I shouldn't have hesitated out of sentimentality. Two hundred Jedi died that day, thousands of Clones and Geonosians perished in the battle, Boba Fett lost his father at my hands, all while Dooku lived.
He barely noticed the ritual Yoda was conducting, his focus solely on Dooku.
Then a vision crossed his mind, a younger Dooku standing over Master Yaddle somewhere within the Works, slowly raising his lightsaber until it was over his shoulder. A flash of blue swept the air as it descended, and Yaddle, who despite Dooku's admitted crimes, had tried to turn him back to the light, died in one fell stroke.
More visions passed his mind. There was one of Dooku turning a Wookiee initiate against their Trandoshan peer; another of confused Togorian Knight being shot dead with a manipulated blaster.
How long? How long!? We trusted Dooku and he's been betraying us for years before he ever accepted a Sith Title!
Anger surged through Mace, and he knew instantly that a trial was far too good for Dooku. He reached out into the Force, almost instinctively, to give him the strength to crush Dooku like the gnat he was.
And all hell broke loose.
o.o.o.o.o
OBI-WAN KENOBI
"What are you doing?" Ki-Adi-Mundi asked somewhere behind. The voice sounded distant amidst the ominous howling winds, and Obi-Wan paid it no attention.
But then a flicker of danger emanated from the Force, and without thinking, Obi-Wan lowered his lightsaber over Dooku's lying form. A millisecond later, Mace Windu's purple blade crashed down on top of it.
"Mace!" Obi-Wan cried out, straining against the power of Windu's strike.
The other Jedi stared mutely, not sure what was going on as Windu strained against the saber block.
"Stop this madness!" Ki-Adi-Mundi yelled over the commotion.
"He's going to…" Obi-Wan strained. "He's going to—"
A bright explosion of purple and white light cut through the darkness, momentarily blinding Obi-Wan. Metal shrapnel cut into his forehead, just above his left eyebrow, causing him to cry out in agony.
Mace Windu's cries of pain were even louder, echoing off the walls.
No longer feeling the pressure from Mace Windu's blade, Obi-Wan extinguished his own before his sight had even returned. When it finally did return, the first thing he noticed was that the purple glow from Mace Windu's saber had gone silent. In the dim green, blue, and yellow light, the Master of the Order was now stooped over, seething with rage and pain as he caressed his hands—both of which were bleeding profusely and smoking in places.
The Grandmaster was pointing his green saber in Windu's direction, tsking disapprovingly. Something cylindrical was lying at Yoda's feet amidst small bits of shattered metal scrap, smoking as it let off a few sparks.
It took Obi-Wan a second to realize what had happened. While he and Mace Windu were caught in a saber lock, Yoda had taken advantage of his own diminutive size and stepped between the two combatants. In the middle of their saber lock, the Grandmaster had swung his blade upwards, right into the base of Mace Windu's hilt, resulting in a shrapnel-filled explosion of lightsaber parts.
Before the Master of the Order could regain his focus, Yoda lowered his blade and placed the palm of his three-clawed hand on top of Windu's stomach. Windu's eyes widened as a blue glow emitted from Yoda's hand and then closed as he went limp, his breathing regular but slower than normal.
"Sorry I am," Yoda grunted to Mace Windu as he hobbled away, then turned to Obi-Wan, "And sorry I am, that also hurt were you."
Obi-Wan dabbed his eyebrow with a handkerchief. "I'll be fine. What in the name of the Force did you do to Mace?"
"No time to explain, there is," Yoda murmured, raising his green blade once again. "Continue the ritual, we must, before I can reawaken Master Windu. Gather around, raise your sabers, and—"
A disturbance rippled through the Force as they heard someone let out a sharp cry of pain across the altar from them. Followed by an exclamation from Agen Kolar as they whirled about.
"WHAT THE?!"
o.o.o.o.o
THE PAU'AN
Following ancient tradition, Jedi Temple Guards wore masks not only to hide their identities from outsiders but also from each other. The Jedi Order required not only anonymity of the select few who became Temple Guards, but a complete sacrifice of their individual identity during the tenure of their service. All in the name of impartially serving as guardians of the Jedi Temple and the Jedi Code.
The Pau'an had sacrificed everything to the Jedi Order—his name, his identity, even his individual lightsaber—and still, they did not trust him anywhere near the restricted sections of the Jedi Archives. That had been Sidious's in.
"When the Jedi Order falls," the Lord of the Sith had promised, "I will give you access to all of the knowledge the Jedi have denied you."
At this moment, the Pau'an felt more invigorated than he had in his entire life. The connection to this place, the darkside energies flowing through him, were like nothing he had ever experienced. He not only felt faster and stronger but also like he was standing on a mountain of information. To his surprise though, the Pau'an sensed a strange closeness with the anonymous Temple Guard standing beside him.
The Pau'an knew he couldn't be the only dissatisfied Jedi that the Dark Lord had courted, but to think that another member of the Temple Guard was. There was no time to dwell on this revelation. Yoda and the High Council had now resumed their attempts to nullify this place. He had to act now.
Unnoticed, the Pau'an and his compatriot climbed up the final steps, alighting at the top of the ziggurat immediately behind Coleman Kcaj. Their shared glance conveyed a silent question: What do we do now? But before an answer could form, they both stiffened, senses tingling with anticipation.
A ripple of energy coursed through the Pau'an's body, and the voice of Sidious echoed in his mind.
{"Kill Coleman Kcaj!"}
Without a moment's hesitation, the other Temple Guard lunged forward, plunging his lightsaber into the Jedi Master. The Pau'an followed suit, hoping his milliseconds of hesitation had gone unnoticed by Sidious.
Letting off a caw of surprise and agony, the Ongree collapsed to the ground, his lifeforce fading.
{"Kill Dooku!"} Sidious commanded, more insistently.
"WHAT THE?!" Kolar exclaimed. Startled, managed to raise his blade in time to block the attack from the other Temple Guard intended to end him.
The Pau'an's mouth contorted as another jolt of energy filled his body. This time, it was like an outside presence guiding his every move—not exactly controlling his movements like a puppet, but giving him strong suggestions.
Following the input, the Pau'an leapt to the side, then forward. A surge of energy rising from his chest emerged as a shriek so loud that it caused half the Jedi to cover their ears. Taking advantage of their momentary incapacitation, he launched himself at Ki-Adi-Mundi. Under his mask his eyes were wide with surprise as his yellow blade clashed against green. He didn't know he had even been capable of making such a sound.
Their clash continued, screams of exertion and battle filling the air as the two Guards pressed onward towards the obelisk at the Shrine's center, driving the Jedi back.
The obelisk, which had been inactive up to this point, suddenly brightened the cavern with blinding bursts of blue lightning. Thunder echoed off the walls as the storm hit its target—but the target was not the Jedi.
As the lightning struck, the Pau'an felt like he was drawn into the Force completely. Not that he had opened himself to the Force of his own volition, but that the Force was pouring into him from all sides. The Pau'an and his anonymous compatriot crackled with a ghostly aura. Sweat beaded on their faces under their helmets. Both felt more powerful than either could have possibly imagined.
But the power was coming with a cost. Cells all over their bodies died, frying under the dark side energy, desperate to discharge from his body.
For a brief moment, both Sith acolytes and surviving Jedi stood motionless, their gazes locked, lightsabers ignited. The Pau'an's attention was drawn to his own blade. It felt as though his crystal sang with a different energy in the Force.
Was my blade this orange before? Rolling his saber hilt over, the Pau'an forgot about the dark side energy flowing through him as he glanced more closely at his blade. Not only was it orange, but it seemed to be distorted—crackling in the same frequency as the static in his body.
"Contain them, we must!" Yoda yelled from somewhere in the maelstrom. "Protect Dooku! Prevent the Sith Lord from making a sacrifice!"
{"Kill Dooku!"} Sidious commanded.
Kenobi, Ki-Adi-Mundi, and Agen Kolar stepped forward, blades held defensively. Yoda and Kit Fisto flanked from the sides, surrounding the Pau'an and his comrade.
Doubt plagued the Pau'an's mind. He couldn't imagine how Sidious expected them to defeat the Jedi alone, even with enhanced powers.
But his doubts vanished when Agen Kolar leapt forward and struck. The Zabrak's green-bladed lightsaber clashed against the Pau'an's. There was a loud pop, a bright flash of light, and Kolar's lightsaber blade was just gone. Somehow, it had just shorted out on contact, but the Pau'an's orange blade still glowed.
Gasps of surprise cut through the air, accompanying the palpable feeling which bled from everyone present.
With a grimace Agen Kolar pressed a second button on his lightsaber, and this time a blue blade ignited.
"KOHLEN CRYSTALS!" Kenobi cried out in warning, stepping back. "NO!"
Kolar swung again, and this time the Pau'an swung back. The blue blade emitted by the second crystal in the Zabrak's blade shorted out just as instantaneously as the green. The Pau'an's strike continued through the vanishing blade, cutting into Kolar's neck.
The colder orange blade emitted by a Kohlen crystal did not burn as hot as a blade from a Kyber crystal, but it could still easily be lethal. Rather than being completely decapitated, the Zabrak staggered backwards, making a sickening gurgling sound as he pressed his hand against his jugular. He collapsed to his knees while Kenobi and Kit Fisto dragged him backwards to safety.
A cackle escaped the Pau'an's mouth, and he felt relieved. Almost deflating slightly as some of the darkness within was spent.
"Stop! With lightsabers we will not prevail," Yoda croaked ominously, stepping away and powering down his saber.
Taking this opportunity to end Yoda, the other Temple Guard leapt forward and swung, but Ki-Adi-Mundi intercepted, his own lightsaber blade blinking out of existence as it intercepted.
There was a blue flash, and the Pau'an's companion was hurtled backwards.
The Pau'an leapt forward, launching a series of slashes at the Cerean, but it was intercepted by Kit Fisto. The Nautolan master's characteristic smile was completely absent as his own saber blade shattered.
Then something set off his danger sense, careening from the left. The Pau'an followed the extra-corporeal suggestion and reached out to the left with the Force. The brick which had been hurdling at him was now floating in mid-air.
"This is impossible! The Guard doesn't use Kohlen Crystals!" Ki-Adi-Mundi shouted as he retreated to a position closer to the altar.
"Sith alchemy!" Yoda growled as he leapt away with a Force-enhanced jump.
Below the base of the altar, Windu began to stir. For a moment, the Pau'an worried that the ancient master had reversed whatever he'd done to the Master of the Order, but then he focused on the other guard who was standing back up.
It felt like something was deeply wrong. Sweat now soaked the Pau'ans gloves, and his hands were shaking. His fingers began to burn with a tingling prickling pain. He had to get out of here.
{"No,"} Sidious's voice said insistently. {"Kill Dooku! Do not waver until that task is accomplished!"}
In the background, Kolar stopped making any sound, and his presence in the Force faded. Kenobi gave Yoda a glance, and shook his head in dismay.
That will be me if this continues, the Pau'an thought with horror. As bits of him continued to die, frying out under the immense energy, taking out Dooku seemed more and more like suicide. Steeling himself, he turned away from the Jedi and took one step back—
{"COWARD!"} Sidious screamed. {"YOU WILL KILL DOOKU!"}
The Pau'an's joints locked and grinded as he twisted involuntarily, turning to face the Jedi. His comrade let off a shriek, blasting blue lightning at the Jedi.
Ki-Adi-Mundi, Obi-Wan, and Kit Fisto were engulfed in a storm, groaning in agony as the electricity bathed them.
But not Yoda. The little green enigma was holding up both of his three-fingered hands, projecting a glow the exact same color of the lightning, seemingly absorbing the energy without any ill effect.
{"KILL DOOKU!"} Sidious commanded once more.
Sweating and trembling, the Pau'an took a reluctant step forward, lightsaber ignited. He took another step, within arm's reach of Obi-Wan, who was now curled over and screaming in pain.
So focused on absorbing the incoming attack, Yoda did not even seem to notice the Pau'an.
{"KILL DOOKU"}
The Pau'an approached the altar.
Dooku let out a laugh. "Sidious is going to kill you next!"
Jaw clenched, the Pau'an held his lightsaber high. His muscles tensed. There was nothing but air between his blade and Dooku's destiny.
Before he could make another move, the Pau'an's lightsaber hilt erupted in a violent explosion. The sheer force caused two of his fingers to snap, and a cry of agony escaped his lips. Then he gazed down at the shattered remains of his weapon. Through the hole in the hilt, the crystal came loose, finding its way into his uninjured hand.
The pain seemed to break Sidious's control over him. He could move again, but he was now disarmed, and he didn't understand how. Next thing he knew, another Force—not of the dark side but the light, had him in its grip. He was flung over the side of the ziggurat, plummeting to the ground with an exhausted cry of surprise.
Falling back first, he saw a fifth Jedi now risen again. At the pinnacle of the steps, Mace Windu stood, his bloodied hand closed into a tight fist.
It was Mace Windu… Shatterpoint.
The Pau'an's descent came to an abrupt end as he crashed, helmet-first, onto the unforgiving stone surface. His eyes swam with stars as he jumped back to his feet. Grounding himself, he fought the urge to yank his helmet off and massage his head. There was still a slight chance that the Jedi would not know who he was—that he could escape, perhaps even blend in and pretend none of this had ever happened.
At the top of the ziggurat, the other Guard was now completely surrounded. He struggled violently, spraying off bursts of force lightning that Yoda redirected harmlessly away. He disappeared out of sight as Kit Fisto returned to his feet and joined in the fight.
Run! A terrified voice yelled from the Pau'an's subconscious. He obeyed, running for his life from the battle. Such is the way of the Sith, after all, another calmer voice said. Betrayal.
{"NO! KILL DOOKU! KILL COUNT DOOKU! YOU WILL KILL COUNT DOOKU!"}
Sidious's voice sounded terrified in its own right, booming so loudly that the Pau'an gasped in pain, covering his ears to no avail.
{"KILL COUNT DOOKU!"}
The Pau'an ran faster and faster, now running with a force-assisted sprint away from the Sith Shrine.
Sidious's screams continued, so loudly that the Pau'an barely heard Ki-Adi-Mundi shout, "One of the traitors is escaping!"
"Our comms are down!" a shout from Kenobi. "I can't raise the Temple!"
"Ignore him, we must. The longer we remain in this place, the more likely it is that the Sith will prevail."
The Pau'an did not even glance back to visually see whether his companion had succeeded alone. He could sense from the Force that he had already fallen.
o.o.o.o.o
SHEEV PALPATINE
By this point, it was certain that the Jedi would succeed in their efforts. Sidious sensed the shift in the Force moments before the color of the frothing mist in the cauldron transformed from an eerie green to a harsh yellow light. It took him a fraction of a second to sever his connection to the Shrine in the Depths, but that was a fraction of a second too long.
In that fleeting moment, Sidious felt a brief flash of lightside radiance. The presences of Yoda, Mace Windu, Obi-Wan, Ki-Adi-Mundi, and Kit Fisto had reached out and connected with him. Their palpable shock and surprise washed over him, panic to the point that it dimmed some of their radiance. He was certain the Jedi now knew the Sith Lord was Sheev Palpatine, Supreme Chancellor of the Galactic Republic.
Summoning his powers, Sidious wove a protective sphere of Force energy around the cauldron, mere nanoseconds before it erupted. Even through the bubble of Force energy, the flames were scorching. Sweat beaded on his brow as the flimsiplast Sith texts sitting on the desk began to smoke.
Just as the room began heating to near-crematorium levels, an alarm blared, followed by a cold mixture of water and fire suppressant raining down from the extinguishing system. Hot steam filled the air like a sauna, as more than a millennia of Sith history and art on every shelf was soaked.
But Sidious could hardly worry about that right now. Millions at a time, the detailed presences of every sentient being in the Galaxy blinked out and faded from Sidious's awareness—almost like a power outage spreading across a city. Soon, he could no longer sense particular individuals further than a few hundred meters away. It felt like he was nearly blind to the Force. His abilities to both observe and cloud the visions of the light side had now been snuffed out.
The fear was nearly overpowering, and for a moment, in the pitch-black darkness of his office, the Sith Lord wondered if he was already dead.
But then the doors to his annex hissed open, illuminating the room with a sliver of light. A droid stood in the entryway, fire extinguisher in hand.
"What in the six novas!" Mas Amedda gasped, fanning the mist away from his face. "My Lord! What happened?"
Sidious brushed past the Vice Chancellor, dripping water, first on the maroon carpet and then on the durasteel floor. When he reached his desk, he frantically booted up his holoprojector and accessed the general emergency broadcast channel.
"My Lord, shall I summon Sate Pestage?"
Sidious cast the Chagrian's query aside, swiping the water off his face. He straightened, trying to salvage an aura of dignity amidst the chaos. The Dark Lord of the Sith drew a breath, ready to issue the command that was to be the culmination of the Sith Grand Plan. Instead, it was now his lifeline.
"Execute Order 66."
To be continued…