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Phase 10: Thy brother's blood

=RK=

Part 4

=RK=

Loyalist positions

Senate building

Coruscant

Howling gusts of wind and shock-waves from dull-sounding explosions cleared the grey haze, revealing it as impossibly thick mix of smoke and dust. Immediately, Ren wished he remained blissfully ignorant. From his position – lying flat on his back, he had an excellent view of the airspace above and now he could see what exactly was happening over there.

It was a pure slaughter. Whole wings – hundreds of friendly fighters were busy gleefully butchering his misguided brothers. What little air assets the rebels had were suddenly outnumbered, outmatched and to just top it all, caught hopelessly out of position. LAATs and gunships dashed down in what too often was futile attempts to dismount their human cargo before they could be shot out of the sky. More transports could be seen coming low and fast, this time with Torrent squadrons escorting them in.

A trap. All this – it was a bloody trap! Ren didn't know what happened to knock him out and cause all that dust and smoke, it couldn't have been planned. However, it didn't really matter at that point, did it? He flushed with resentment. His rebellious brothers were set up. Ren could, almost, but not quite appreciate the stratagem – offer a bait the most hot-headed couldn't refuse, set up a trap and wait for them to walk right into it. Perhaps it was better than attempting to dig them out from whatever district they went to ground, or it would have been if those weren't his brothers dying above!

As if to make up a point, a LAAT came into a steep drive in a vector that looked like aimed straight at him. A Torrent gracefully swung after it and only the transport pilot's incredible reflexes allowed him to somehow avoid the firs burst of laser fire. That manoeuvre was enough to show the LAAT's side to Ren – it was scorched, cratered and the door stood out in a half-melted wreck. The sudden bank to the right caused a Clone to swing perilously close to the busted door, but he somehow managed to get a hold of it and held for dear life.

Why wasn't the young fool properly strapped in!?

It didn't matter. The LAAT simply wasn't agile enough to avoid its pursuer for any longer. Another burst of laser fire and yet another explosion joined the macabre fireworks lighting up Coruscant's skies. The LAAT turned in so much burning confetti and unfortunately Ren had seen what that does to the people inside too many times already. At least this time it was fast – he doubted that anyone on board had enough time to feel the pain.

All during that senseless killing, there was no sound, making it appear even more wrong. Battle weren't supposed to be silent! Even with sound-dampening systems built in helmets,

combat was chaotic chorus of screams, weapons fire and explosions! This silence simply wasn't right!

Blue and red blaster bolts flew above the wounded soldier. His attention snapped back to his surroundings and he cursed himself for not paying attention. Now that the smoke and whatever nasty dreck was inside was more or less gone, Ren could see some of his part of the plaza. The defensive positions around him were in a disarray. He could clearly see dozens of his brothers scattered like broken toys. Some had parts of them twisted in unnatural angles, others missed arms or legs, yet more looked like that large shrapnel tore right through their armour leaving them as little more than bloody smear on the ground. A walker laid frozen with a huge jagged piece of metal piercing its side. Ren winced – the sheer shock would have messed up the crew something fierce. Something that large hitting fast enough to embed itself in the armour? No wonder the machine looked like someone took a huge hammer and went to vent on it.

"Max? Benny?" Ren croaked, calling for the only two people of his original squad to survive the war so far. They were lucky and emerged from everything the Seppies threw at them unscratched so far! It wasn't right that they would get wounded or worse because their own brothers! It simply wasn't!

He got a response all right, just not the type he wanted.

A damaged walker stumbled through the smoke. Its right front leg wasn't working properly slowing it down, but it came in undeterred. Soon infantry support emerged like apparitions from the haze. That direction... those weren't friendly.

Ren couldn't do a thing. When the tried to move, his body locked down in agony. Damn, he was surely messed up. Where were the medics when you really needed them?

Another wounded was even less fortunate if apparently less injured. Ren saw a hint of movement when one of his downed brothers raised a blaster using his one working arm. His stirring was enough for the advancing rogues and they weren't feeling generous. A barrage of blaster fire flash-fried the whole area where the wounded man was showing one last gesture of defiance.

"Why, damn it? Why?!" Ren spat. It was senseless! Those were his brothers, not Separatist killing machines! What was the point? Was even one with what was happening above? What did those fools hope to accomplish? Ren was both proud and furious at them. He doubted that if their places were switched he would simply lay down his weapons or go on with following orders from illegitimate source.

That however changed nothing. His brothers kept killing each other, both on the ground and in the sky.

Another wounded stirred. This time shots flew both sides, but the outcome was the same. With everyone having shields, a single burst simply wasn't enough to take out someone in a proper armour and when a whole squad shot back at someone wounded who was unable to take cover or evade, the outcome was more than predictable.

The third time was almost expected, though this time the advanced rogues didn't even wait for someone to shoot at them. Ren wasn't sure that the brother they saw moving was even armed. They either didn't care any more at this point or didn't want to take chances.

Was this how he was destined to end? His friends laying broken around him, perhaps already dead. His brothers about to shoot him like a wounded dog, while more of his flesh and blood murdered each other in an insane orgy of destruction... For the firs time in his life, Ren wondered why he was made in the first place if this was how he was about to end. They were brothers, damn it! Family! They shouldn't be killing each other because the damned to hell Senate acted as short-signed fools!

In his anger, Ren moved too much and shook in agony. The advancing Clones saw him and raised their weapons. He glared at them daring them to put him out of his misery. At least that way the pain would stop. One of them lowered his weapon when he saw him, but the others... Ren's ears were still ringing and even if they weren't he might have not heard what was said. He saw the point man shake his head and then he opened fire.

So that's how it...

Ren blinked. He should be dead already. He saw the shots coming, then a blur... and suddenly someone stood before him and the other Clones. None of the shots connected with either Ren or his saviour, who intercepted them with his blue lightsaber.

A Jedi here?! It took him a few moments to remember that General Kenobi used to be one, though this didn't look like him. Then who... Skywalker?

Yes. That had to be him. There were no other 'loyal' Jedi left on Coruscant. The few traitors still being hunted weren't going to show their faces here, where everyone would go after them for what they caused. Ren cursed being unable to hear. He was sure that words were exchanged when after the initial barrage the rouges didn't immediately open fire for all they were worth.

For few precious moments, Ren hoped that whatever Skywalker was saying might sway them. He didn't want to see more of his brothers die today!

=RK=

Part 5

Loyalist positions

Senate building

Coruscant

Anakin knew he messed up as soon as he jumped off that platform overlooking the war-torn plaza. He should have remained up there, close to the entrances of the Senate. Instead, he left the months cooped up either in a cell or home arrest get to him. While it wasn't the Jedi thing to do, he had to admit at least to himself he missed the exhilaration of combat something fierce. It beckoned to the darker part of his mind, the same one that felt tremendous satisfaction when he slaughtered those beasts who tortured his mother...

Being in combat, without having to worry about actually commanding anyone, it was simple, liberating even. It was the freest he felt ever since that debacle at Geonosis. Oh, he knew it couldn't last, nor should it. Still,... As he weaved through the chaos dispatching any rebel he could find, there was something missing and he couldn't place it. Anakin felt incomplete, desiring for something more.

He didn't get much time to think about it – LAATs deployed a whole platoon almost on top of his position before friendly air blew them out of the sky. For the next few minutes, the Jedi was busy using what little cover there was and his prodigious power in the Force to deal with them while remaining unscratched... though the armour and built-in deflector sure helped or he could have been in a spot of trouble.

That was when he sensed a tremor in the Force. It spoke of danger and Anakin didn't waste any time to respond. He got behind a wrecked walker and ducked low while surrounding himself with his power. Only then did he notice that the direction of the danger pointed at the Senate, but by then it was far too late. Blinding light followed by a deafening thunderclap slammed into Anakin. The shock-wave was strong enough to shake the multi-ton vehicle he hid behind and without the Force he didn't want to know what it would have done to him.

Gray dust, nasty looking black smoke and concealment rounds soon covered the whole plaza but not before Anakin could see that the right end of the Senate building was struck by some heavy ordnance and practically invisible by the after-effects of the explosion. At least it wasn't a proper capital scale weaponry of they would be all gone...

Padme! That single though shook him out of the shock. She should be in the building but far away from that section... would she be all right? The Senate was built to survive such punishment otherwise that hit would have been gutted the whole structure but what about the people inside!?

All he wanted to do then and there was run back to check on his wife. He shouldn't have let himself get lost in the moment and jumped down! Now it would take him too damn long to reach her, Jedi abilities or not! Anakin made for the building anyway, then paused. He wasn't going to make it in time if there was a follow up attack; he was too far away. However, how could he not at least try?! By this point there had to be reinforcements pouring in from all directions to slam the trap shut around the rebels. They would get to Padme and the others in time and Obi-Wan was in the building too. He could keep them safe, right? Keep her safe!

Anakin screamed in frustration. He knew his duty, he knew himself too. He did promise he wouldn't get people needlessly killed trying to save her again, he also promised that she was his highest priority anyway... Still, he wanted, needed to run to her side. Padme was his light, the one thing that kept him sane after Tatooine and his mother's death. Without her presence, he might have very well fallen after getting his vengeance upon the Sand People.

He took a step towards the Senate, then another and another, his mind and heart locked in conflict. Only now did he actually see the Clones injured by the explosion. They laid all around him and most were unmoving. He faltered. Could he leave them behind again? Could he betray them? For a moment it didn't matter that he had made up his mind that Padme was the most important. Until then and there, he hadn't admitted even to himself, not really, despite what he kept telling himself, how deep betraying the 501st' cut him.

Could he trust Obi-Wan and the Clones to keep Padme safe? Could he trust anyone with her? Anakin certainly didn't want to. She was his wife! He was the one supposed to protect her, even if her stubbornness was a pain to deal with... He looked at the Senate, at the broken Clones all around him and then back to the plaza's proper where the rebels were still advancing, yet all he could see was a grey haze. Anakin gripped his lightsaber hard enough that the metal protested. Through the Force he could still sense a rough estimation of what was happening. This position was shattered with no hope of holding. The reinforcements were coming in hot and would stop the enemy on the ground from reaching the Senate building itself, but they would be able to overrun the scattered survivors in this sector.

"Be all right, Padme, please..." Anakin whispered and gave the Senate a longing look before he steeled his resolve, his mind made up and he charged in the smoke.

The uncanny perception granted by the Force was a lifesaver. Whatever was in the smoke was enough to block the vision modes of his helmet leaving him to rely on only sound, which was practically useless because of the roar of the guns and the air battle. The same was true for the Clones and that meant the rebels' day suddenly got even worse. Anakin dashed through the haze like an apparition from a spacer's tale, cut through or crushed a few soldiers and was gone before their friends could find him. He probably cut through at least a company and even disabled a walker whose crew was unable to properly track him despite the machine's better sensors – he was simply too fast when enhanced by the Force.

Eventually the smoke cleared and Anakin found himself in the wrecked remains of a loyalist position – not a single Clone there was standing and most of them looked dead. An advancing rebel platoon with a walker support was busy shooting up anyone that tried to resist. That surreal sight was enough of a shock to make him pause. He had seen Separatist droids do the same when they won the field, but Clones doing it to their own?! It was unthinkable! What battle madness took over everyone?

The rebels were about to shoot another of their wounded brothers when Anakin jumped in between them and parried the incoming shots. "ENOUGH!" He roared. The Force pulsed through him, following his unconscious decree.

The rebels paused and listened. "That's enough!" He repeated in a more normal tone. "It's all over!" Anakin nodded upwards, where the sky was already visible along with the rebels few remaining fighters and all their air-mobile elements being slaughtered.

"It's not while we can still fight!" The Clone in the lead shouted back so he could be heard. "We fight for the Republic, for Democracy and freedom! We can't stand down!"

"Listen you yourself, soldier! Didn't you see what has been happening for weeks now?!" Anakin snapped. He had little do to during his house arrest but to watch the political crisis unfold with sick fascination. Thanks to Padme, Satine and Obi-Wan he knew exactly what was happening behind closed doors and that was even worse than all the dirty laundry being aired in public. "Chancellor Kenobi can bring peace and security to the Republic if people just let her do her job! You all saw what has been happening on Coruscant! It's as bad or worse all over the Core! We need a strong, sure leadership, not the useless bickering of the Senate!"

"Not if the price is treason, Jedi! We didn't let your kind's coup succeed! What made you think we wouldn't oppose the Kenobi's one?"

"There was no coup, damn you!" Anakin snapped. He would be among the first to admit that the way Satine and Obi-Wan handled the situation was sneaky and not entirely above the board... but what alternative did they have? Let the Republic fall while the Senate bickers?! Most of the Clones did agree too, didn't they?

"Damn right there was one from where we're standing!" Another Clone shouted.

This wasn't going as well as Anakin wanted. The rush of combat was leaving him and suddenly he wasn't looking forward fighting people who should by all rights be on his side. Not again, damn it! Where was Obi-Wan when you needed him? He was the silver-tongued negotiator. Anakin always had been the better one with lightsaber, not to mention as a pilot, but none of that was of any use right then and there, was it? He didn't want to cut down those soldiers, just because they were misguided fools!