Republic Executive Building, Coruscant
Sidious looked away as the holograms shifted. On display above the Sith Lord's desk were a dozen news channels being broadcast simultaneously on one half of his ceiling and a map of the known Galaxy on another. With how badly things were going, it was amazing that no one had made a serious attempt on his life today.
Amazing and inconvenient.
Rotating his chair a hundred and eighty degrees, Sidious faced the wide window behind his desk. In the left corner of the view, part of the Senate Rotunda was visible. Aside from the blaring blue lights of hundreds of police speeders and gargantuan Coruscant Guard juggernaut tanks surrounding the building, today could be any other evening in the Federal District.
"My Lord, Grievous reports that he is about to brief the Separatist Council," Sly Moore said. Seated on the opposite side of his desk, Sidious could sense her look up from a datapad. "But he is having difficulty convincing the various corporate factions to stop their advances into Republic space."
Understandable, Sidious thought with a frown, imagining how feverish the mood must be on the other side right now. With the Republic in chaos, the Separatists would be eager to press their advantage. Now for the solution who will dissuade them from that course. "And Tarkin?"
"He is ready to jump on your command and is asking if you wish to speak with him personally."
Sidious closed his eyes tiredly. "Tell him I'll speak with him once he is in the Klegger Corporation Mining Facility, and the Separatist Council is lying dead at his feet."
"Very well, my—"
"And," Sidious interrupted, "Tell the Governor his mission is top priority. If he needs to requisition reinforcements from outlying sectors, they will be at his disposal."
The Umbaran began frantically typing those messages, and Sidious rotated back towards the desk, looking not to Sly Moore but to the round blast doors at the end of the long hallway filled with sculptures.
A few moments went by, and doors opened, admitting Vice Chancellor Mas Amedda. The Chagrian had a bruised face and held a cold pack to his eye. "Where—Where is Dar Wac?" he asked, limping over to the desk.
"Dar Wac announced his retirement today," Sidious said in mock cheer, referring to his Rodian secretary. Former secretary. "What happened to you?"
"I was assaulted on my way out of the Senate Chambers! Respectfully, my Lord, I really could have used her!" the Chagrian huffed, pointing to Sly Moore. "Or Sate Pestage… Or Kagi!"
Sidious put on his most consoling tone. "You did well."
"Thank you, but I would have preferred a heads up. I had no idea that by suspending the Senate, I would be putting my life on the line!"
"Should I have put myself in harm's way?" Sidious asked softly.
"No—I didn't mean—My Lord, you can't possibly think… never!"
Smirking thoughtfully, Sidious nodded. It honestly was not a bad idea. If, after suspending the Senate for a state of emergency, his face and not Mas Amedda's had been bruised by a rabble-rousing Senatorial aide…
It still wouldn't be quite enough to justify storming the Jedi Temple. Not quite.
A flicker of green from above drew Sidious's attention. He looked up to one of the newsfeeds being broadcast live from the Jedi Temple, where a figure wearing dark brown robes had a lightsaber ignited.
"It appears that a Jedi is approaching us now," said the anchorman, a black-haired human male with fair skin. "Master Jedi, do you have any statement—AHHH!"
Up until the end, the anchorman was completely unafraid. A dog would have even known to be afraid, Sidious mused to himself. It was not until a lightsaber was literally coming down on his head in full swing that the anchorman cried out. He fell to the ground, cut from head to torso
The camera shook violently, then fell to the ground as this apparently murderous Jedi began attacking everyone in sight. Rolling on the ground, it angled upwards as the Jedi stepped over it. His hood fell down, revealing a green-skinned Rodian.
Mas Amedda gasped in shock, collapsing into a chair. Fear crossed the Chagrian's bruised face, accompanied with a horrified confusion over what exactly Sidious had done to cause this.
This was matched by a twisted smirk forming in the corner of Sidious's mouth. The fear was delicious.
Sly Moore's eyebrows furrowed as she, no doubt, recognized the apparently murderous Jedi's true identity—Dar Wac, the Rodian who had tendered his letter of resignation less than an hour ago.
"Oh dear, it's as I have been saying all along! The Jedi have gone completely mad," Sidious cackled.
The footage cut out, but other news crews present in the area surrounding the Temple had shifted the directions their cameras were pointing. Two other stations were now zooming in as Dar Wac ran at a group of Coruscant Guardsmen. Lacking any Force abilities and completely untrained with a lightsaber, the Rodian didn't even make it five paces before he was gunned down.
"That's it," Sidious sighed, muting the volume as every reporter on the planet started speaking into the camera in shocked elevated voices. "Get me on the line with Commander Rex. It is time to put an end to the Jedi once and for all."
Sly Moore spoke into the communicator on the Supreme Chancellor's desk. A few moments later, she looked up, concerned by the response.
Sidious had heard it too. "What do you mean Commander Rex has gone AWOL?!" he barked, now standing on the opposite side of the desk behind Sly Moore. Then he remembered. That night when Ahsoka went to Dex's diner and— "Who is in charge down there?!"
"Commander Appo and Captain Vaughn are missing too. We've been taking our orders from Major Bow."
Stepping back in shock, Sidious gasped. He had known Ahsoka's removal of inhibitor chips was a serious cause for concern, but it was not until this moment that he understood the extent. She must have specifically targeted the commanders of the 501st. It was as if Ahsoka had not only known about the inhibitor chips, but also precisely which Clones she could de-chip to cause the most damage to the Sith Grand Plan.
How could Tano have known that I would use the 501st to storm the Temple? How is this possible?
When Sidious snapped out of his reverie thirty seconds or perhaps a minute later, Sly Moore and the Clones were in a heated argument.
"I'll need to hear it from the Chancellor himself, ma'am. Commander Cody has given orders not to move in without his direct authorization due to the situation elsewhere."
"The Chancellor has ordered me to—"
"You shall hear it from me then Captain," Sidious snapped, regaining his composure. "Storm the Temple immediately. Kill any who resist. Capture any who surrender and secure them in the Temple's Detention Bloc."
"Yes, my Lord," the Clone said on the other end.
Sidious terminated the call and looked back through the viewport. Attempting to expand his awareness, he reached out in the Force, searching for Ahsoka. Satisfied that at the very least she was not present on Coruscant, he relaxed somewhat.
"Good news my Lord," Sly said, drawing Sidioius's attention to her. "The Coruscant Guard has located Senators Organa, Amidala, and Se'lab. Getting probe droid footage now."
"Let's see it."
The tangling web of different holoprojections switched off momentarily, replaced now with a single scene. A BARC speeder and a Rian 327 were pulled over on a landing platform, surrounded by a dozen Coruscant Guardsmen who had arrived in two LAAT/le transports and three BARC speeders. Their vehicles were arranged in a semi-circle around Padmé's. Sidious recognized the location as a few blocks from the Senate Rotunda.
From the view projected by the Arakyd, Sidious could see the faces of Padmé Amidala, Bail Organa, and Polo Se'lab, but he could only see the backs of their guards who—most peculiarly—were facing the other way, looking off towards the Rotunda. There was something very familiar about two of them, but Sidious's own sensitivity to such things had been seriously dulled. He reached out with the Force and felt two of them were human and male, but nothing more specific.
But still. There's something so familiar… So familiar if I could just—Oh!
The figure dressed in blue Bothan Marshal fatigues looked left and Sidious gasped aloud. The supposed guard was not a Bothan at all but clearly another species—Shistavanen.
"My Lord," Sly said, "They are awaiting your orders."
Sidious pushed the strangeness of a Shistavanen working in the Bothan secret service aside and turned his attention to Bail Organa, who was attempting to talk his way out of this. "Have them bring Senator Amidala here," he ordered, a plan from this fortuitous situation beginning to form in his mind. He could certainly use Padmé to get at the Chosen One. "Bail Organa and Polo Se'lab are, instead, to be brought to the COMPOR Arcology."
Sly relayed the orders and then looked up to face the Sith Lord. "What of their guards?"
"They are to be detained and—" Sidious's eyes widened in horror as the two human guards, dressed in Alderaanian and Naboo RSF garbs, turned around. "Oh no! NO!"
"What is it?!" Mas Amedda asked, then he too recognized their faces.
"No! NO! NO!" Sidious shrieked in a ghastly croak.
Three lightsabers were now ignited, one purple, one green, and one blue. Somehow, Anakin Skywalker, Mace Windu, and Voolvif Monn had concealed themselves; either that or the light side of the Force was now clouding Sidious's vision.
In any case, the problem of Bail Organa and the Senate opposition would not be solved just now.
o.o.o.o.o
ANAKIN SKYWALKER
"You can't blame yourself," Mace Windu said, jerking Anakin's attention away from the skewered body of the Clone he had just killed.
At Anakin's feet was a body with a lightsaber gash of burned flesh and melted armor, bisecting a Clone Captain's torso from shoulder to thigh. All around on the landing platform were the bodies of fallen Clones. These were not the first living beings Anakin had killed, but killing former allies, former brothers in arms, was something else.
"We had no choice, Master Skywalker," Voolvif growled, tugging at Anakin's elbow to wrench his gaze away.
Padmé stood at his other side, tugging on his other elbow. "Ani, we really need to go. Others may have seen us, the media, even everyday citizens."
Anakin looked up to the lanes of traffic and towering skyscrapers all around. She was right. Mace Windu was right. The Chosen One did not have time to feel guilty.
"I can drive the BARC," Mace Windu offered.
"And I can drive my own speeder," Padmé added, tugging harder on Anakin's sleeve. "Just sit in the passenger seat—"
"No," Anakin said, shaking his head. "I can drive—I mean… I can drive, m'lady."
"OH JUST STOP IT WITH THIS CHARADE ALREADY!" Senator Se'lab snarled, drawing all eyes on him. Padmé and Anakin both turned to face the Bothan, who was standing in front of one of the Clone's BARC speeders, his cape billowing in the breeze. "I mean…" he stammered, looking less certain when he regarded Padmé's horrified expression. "I'm sorry Senator Amidala, let's just—the sooner we reach the Senate the better."
When they got back in the air, Anakin began taking deep breaths, trying to center himself and focus on his surroundings as he flew at the front of the group. The skylanes were busier than would be expected, given not only this current state of war between the Chancellor and the Jedi, but also that just this morning, Coruscant had been under siege.
Anakin awoke to the sound of an extremely loud honk. He swerved to avoid a head-on collision with a speeder truck.
"Skywalker!" Mace Windu yelled from below.
"I'm alright," Anakin yawned, decreasing his altitude to get into the correct lane of traffic. It dawned on him that he hadn't slept in nearly two days.
"No you're not!" Voolvif Monn snarled, waving at Anakin angrily from the passenger seat of Padmé's speeder.
"I'm…" Anakin stared ahead at the Senate Rotunda, slackjaw. "Uh…"
Flashing blue lights twinkled in the distance all around the Senate Rotunda, visible from a few kilometers away. That was the first sign there might be a problem. In the twilight after the sunset, the courtyard around the Rotunda seemed to be swallowed in a sea of darkness, but the darkness moved, and Anakin could sense the presences of thousands—perhaps hundreds of thousands of people. As they zipped closer to the crowd, hovering overhead, Anakin could make out a few posters with vague slogans like "VOTE NOW" or "PALPATINE=TRAITOR." The sea of people seemed to be mostly against Palpatine and the Clones.
When they got close enough to the Senate Rotunda to see the steps, dark rectangles were silhouetted against the interior light of the Senate Rotunda, positioned directly in front of every access point to the building. A few seconds later, it became obvious to Anakin that these were lines of Juggernaut tanks, with Coruscant police speeders flashing their blue lights positioned evenly between them. Overhead, a few LAAT-series gunships circled the area.
"I don't think we should fly over those tanks," Anakin yelled, coming about in mid-air over the crowd. He pointed to a landing area for visitors, elevated on a platform over the sea of people. In the middle of the plaza, it was at least two kilometers from the Rotunda itself. "Let's land over there."
"Good idea," Windu said, following Anakin in. The Master of the Order's voice was calm, but Anakin could sense relief that they were parking.
There's no way I would have crashed, Anakin thought with a frown, protesting inwardly at Windu's line of reasoning. But he forgot all about it the moment he pocketed the keys to the BARC speeder.
"Okay, so what's the game plan?" Anakin asked when Polo, Bail, Padmé, Windu, and Voolvif formed a semi-circle in front of him.
"Let's just try to get through this crowd on foot," Bail said, "Our Senatorial credentials will allow us access."
"Assuming the Clones aren't trying to assassinate you all," Windu said darkly.
"I agree, Master Jedi," Polo growled cautiously, "Walking in and expecting everything to go perfectly is just foolish."
"Well then, do you have a better idea?" Anakin snorted. "No? Thought so." Short-tempered, he spun around angrily and walked towards the crowd.
"Anakin," Padmé hissed, "ANA—"
"Don't use my name!" Anakin yelled, balling his fists as he glared at Padmé. Noticing several eyes from the crowd were on him, he lowered his voice, "I mean, sorry m'lady. And sorry for my rudeness Senator Se'lab… We really shouldn't make it obvious who we are."
"Skywalker is right—I mean… He is right," Windu muttered, correcting himself. "Make no mentions of the order or our names."
"Yeah," Polo whispered in an urgent growl, "We are all household names. We must avoid using any names as we approach the Rotunda!"
Anakin wasn't quite sure he agreed with the Bothan Senator that they were all household names. He certainly had never heard Polo Se'lab's name before today. But still, as he used the Force to gently part the crowd and make his way through, he made an effort to follow that advice.
By now, they were still just under two kilometers from the Rotunda. In ideal circumstances, it would have taken twenty minutes for three elegantly-dressed Senators to walk that far. In crowded conditions like this, Anakin was worried it could take hours.
But less than a minute into their journey, they walked past a news crew. A blonde haired human female reporter was narrating the scene loudly to her alien camera and sound crew.
"...been suspended. It's been less than half an hour since the state of emergency declaration and the crowds are still growing. You can feel the anger in the air. People—beings of all species are—hey! Bail Organa!"
Realizing that Bail hadn't even been wearing a hood, Anakin cringed so hard his shoulders drooped.
Bail Organa's mouth hung open in astonishment as a microphone was thrust in front of his face.
"We have the Senate opposition leader right here," the reporter announced proudly, "and also Senator Amidala and…?"
"Senator Polo Se'lab," snarled the Bothan.
"Polar Say Lub, the young… Klatooinian Senator?" she stated as a question.
For a moment, as Polo bared his fangs, it looked like the Bothan might bite the microphone and the hand holding it. His offense at being mistaken for a member of the flat-faced species from the north end of Hutt space was so intense that Anakin could feel it in the Force.
Bail Organa began speaking though, before Polo could protest. "Yes, that is me… Well, us," he added awkwardly, giving Padmé and Polo a curt acknowledgment.
"What is your reaction to the closure of the Senate?"
"Closure of the Senate!" gasped Bail and Padmé in unison.
"You haven't heard?!" asked the reporter incredulously, eyes lighting up. "Vice Chancellor Mas Amedda suspended the Senate about thirty minutes ago."
"Looks like we need a change of plans," Anakin said. With a wide sweeping gesture, he urged the Senators back toward their speeder. Three steps later he found a microphone thrust in front of his face.
"Don't I know you?" the reporter asked.
"Uh… no ma'am," Anakin said curtly, then continued walking.
As the reporter aggressively followed them, her voice became more pleading. "Senators, I feel you owe us at least a word."
After fifteen seconds, when the reporter was still following them, Padmé finally turned around and said, "We disagree fundamentally with closing the Senate at this critical juncture."
"That's… that's ALL you have to say?!"
By the time they returned to the speeder where the crowd was less dense, the reporter had finally given up.
Anakin could not fathom how Palpatine could foil their plan so easily. "He just closed the Senate! He can do that?!"
"Legally, not really," Bail sighed, gesturing towards the Senate Rotunda. "But he has the troops. He has the tanks. With the military on his side there is nothing we can do about it."
Anakin kicked the rear of his BARC speeder in frustration, letting off a yell. "THIS IS RIDICULOUS! You can't just cancel the Senate!"
"Excuse me," Polo growled at Anakin in annoyance, then held his datapad up to his ear, "I am taking a call… It's the Junior Representative of Bothan Space. Yes, Shidar?" A voice that was too quiet for Anakin to make out the words, but which sounded like a Bothan female's, came through the datapad's small speaker.
"I'm getting a call from our Junior Representative," Padmé muttered, withdrawing a comm from her pocket. She spoke loudly enough for Anakin to grasp half of the conversation. "Jar Jar? Yes, Jar Jar I can hear you. No, I haven't been able to get into the Senate building. Yes, I was on the HoloNet… That was me, not one of my handmaidens. I know the Senate building is closed."
"CoCo Town… wait, Dex's Diner?!" Polo snarled in disgust. "Shidar, you can't be serious! That establishment is no place to—it was Representative Binks's idea?!"
"Alright Jar Jar, your timing is impeccable," Padmé said, then unilaterally decided for the entire group without asking. "We'll be at Dex's Diner as soon as possible."
"We should have brought Obi-Wan," Voolvif muttered, sitting down in the front passenger seat of Padmé's speeder. "He loves that place."
Anakin snorted at that remark and mounted his BARC. Without much further discussion, the two speeders were off, cutting diagonally between the skylanes on its way to CoCo Town. LAATs piloted by Clones flew overhead, moving in the opposite direction back toward the Senate Rotunda.
There was a vague sense of fear in the air which Anakin couldn't quite explain. It wasn't his own fear. It certainly wasn't Voolvif's or Windu's fear either. It wasn't even coming from the Senators.
It took a few minutes for the fear to become defined enough for Anakin to make anything out, and when the fear resolved itself into something concrete, one thought permeated through Anakin's consciousness.
Younglings. He could sense the Wookiee Gungi, the Nautolan Zatt, the Rodian Ganodi, and others whose names he did not know, but whose Force presences were very familiar and very frightened.
"Skywalker! Where are you going?!" Windu yelled into the night air, using the Force to amplify his voice.
"Not so loud!" Anakin yelled back in reminder, then added, "Younglings are in trouble." He had already descended through two layers of speeder traffic before Windu and the others decided to follow. Trusting his instincts, he accelerated as fast as he could, leaving Padmés speeder behind in the dust.
Windu's voice came through the console beneath the BARC's steering column. "Skywalker, slow down! We can't keep up."
Anakin shook his head out of habit, though he was too far away for anyone in the other speeder to see his head movement. "They're in trouble, can't you sense it?"
"Yes, but we need to stay with the Senators. We can't expose ourselves—"
"Then take them to Dex's Diner, Master Windu," Anakin snapped. As of Ahsoka's knighting, Anakin was a Jedi Master and he was tired of being talked to like he was still a Padawan. He pushed on the acceleration lever, bringing the BARC's speed up so dramatically that the wind hurt his eyes. Even at this speed, dread rose in his stomach. Once again, Anakin found himself on the back of a speeder bike racing to the rescue, and he felt the all too familiar dread of being too late.
Off in the distance, he saw an LAAT/le painted in Coruscant police blue, trailing smoke while being fired upon by two V-wings. Against shielded targets like that, a speeder bike was fairly useless even if it could match their speeds.
But he could provide a distraction. Without hesitation, Anakin ignited his blue blade and held it up into the dark sky like a beacon.
Come on, break off. Leave those Younglings and cops alone, Anakin thought, wishing he could pour his will into the Force and make the Clones do as he commanded. Come on! Just stop attacking that ship. Stop and—
Inexplicably, when Anakin was still at least half a kilometer away, both of the V-wings began to slow down. For a wild moment, Anakin thought he had successfully performed some sort of feat with the Force—that he had actually reached out through the Force and influenced the Clones' minds from hundreds of meters away. But things only made even less sense as the scene unfolded further.
Bright blue flames trailed behind each of the V-wings, burning with heat so intense he could feel it even at this distance. While the Coruscant police transport continued flying away unhindered, both the V-wings began smoking, their ion engines howling and causing the air to crackle. Their continued laserfire became more inaccurate by the second.
Without even realizing it, Anakin let go of the accelerator completely and sat there floating in mid air. His mouth hung open, completely slackjaw
How am I doing this? I must really be the Chosen One. I must— "What the?!" Anakin cried out in amazement.
In desperation, both of the V-wings fired a concussion missile without a lock, hoping to at least force the police gunship to crash. However, both of the missiles only made it a handful of meters before they were stopped in mid air completely. Their sudden decrease in acceleration was no doubt interpreted by their guidance systems as an impact, and the warheads exploded, catching both V-wings in their blast radius.
The explosions weren't close enough to completely destroy the V-wings, but a second later, both ships were falling down into the urban canyon below, smoke trailing behind them as the canopies blew off and the Clone pilots ejected, followed by their spherical Q7 astromechs.
Sweating profusely from the heat and his own emotional state, Anakin let out a sigh of relief. Realizing his lightsaber was still ignited, he quickly deactivated and clipped it onto his belt.
{"To the Senators, you must return,"} echoed the familiar wizened voice of Yoda in Anakin's mind.
"Master Yoda?!" Anakin intoned aloud, looking frantically in every direction around himself. "Where are you?!"
{"On top of Indigo Tower."}
Breathing rapidly, Anakin's eyes darted to one of the skyscrapers, a blue-hued building he assumed was Indigo Tower. At the very top, standing next to a massive repeater antenna, Anakin thought he could make out a tiny figure. Pressing the accelerator lever, Anakin glided a hundred meters closer and could make out a cloaked green figure waving at him.
"Did you do that?"
{"Did I do what?"} Yoda asked, his voice still echoing in Anakin's mind rather than his ears.
"Did you save those younglings?"
{"Know the answer to that question, I think you do. Now go. Return to Master Windu and the Senators."}
Anakin nodded, yanked at the BARC's control yokes, and drove off as quickly as he could.