Chapter 5 Parabellum
Chancellor's Chamber
Taking a moment to congratulate himself on a plan nearing completion, he suddenly sensed something was wrong. He reached out to see what the warning was when he felt Skywalker's Force presence leave the system. Eyes flew open wide. "No." This wasn't foreseen. Skywalker was supposed to stay on Coruscant as his personal liaison to the Council. He would be unable to manipulate his dreams with him off planet. His mind rushed through certain scenarios as he stood and began pacing the floor. There was little time before his final plan would be enacted. Granted, he could delay a week or two if needed. Why would the Council send away Skywalker now, after the request he had just made? The possibilities were endless and Sith are traditionally paranoid, but Sidious considered himself a logical thinker. There was little likelihood the Council had discovered his secret; otherwise, Yoda and Mace would be at his door- a possibility he needed to ensure didn't happen. Perhaps his men saw something that would point the way towards an answer. First, Skywalker's faithful Admiral Yularen. The Admiral was an old soldier loyal to his office with a keen eye for detail. Without his knowing it, he had been chosen as Skywalker's captain to keep the impulsive youth out of trouble, although that didn't always work. Still, he could always be counted on to give a report.
Yularen answered the comm of the bridge within a few minutes.
"Good evening, Admiral. I trust your men are enjoying a well-deserved shore leave."
"Indeed, Chancellor. We are wrapping up a few minor details before myself and the bridge crew go on leave ourselves."
"Excellent news, after your long campaign, you and General Skywalker certainly need a rest," Palpatine said smoothly.
"The General actually just left on a private mission," Yularen said.
Palpatine looked surprised. "Oh, dear. I was hoping your general would have time to enjoy his rest. I'm surprised the Council would allow Skywalker to leave so quickly."
"This appeared to be a Senate mission your excellency," Yularen said. "Probably a more calm mission than most we have been on."
Palpatine was now more confused than ever. "A Senate mission? I don't recall giving an order from my office."
"Certainly appeared to be, sir. Several Jedi including Kenobi and a small detachment of Clone troopers to escort a Senate aid, sir. Given the recent protocol on a travelling diplomat, there was ample protection and they left in an unmarked transport, sir," Yularen replied.
Palpatine paused a second to digest the information. "If you could give me a report on the personnel of this mission and any updates, I would appreciate it, Admiral. "
"Of course, your Excellency, good day, sir." Yularen cut the transmission.
As much as he wanted to interrogate Yularen about the personnel of this Senate mission, he knew it didn't make much difference. Skywalker was off on a crusade of some kind and there were only a few senators that wouldn't ask permission first- namely Amidala, Organa and Mothma. He seethed but what mission could be so important it required several Jedi? There were only two possibilities, and both made his blood boil. Either some slime on the Separatist council, probably that coward Gunray, wanted to make peace talks before he finished the war or the Senate had gotten word that his now completely useless former apprentice had retaken Mandalore. Regardless of whether it was Maul or Gunray, or both, they would be wishing they had never been born by the time he was through with them. Especially, if they cost him an apprentice.
Hyperspace, Twilight II
The good thing about escaping Coruscant was the numerous hyperspace lanes available. This made it impossible to block outgoing traffic from the deep core. As such, after Vestara had quietly made sure there were no homing beacons placed on the Twilight, she was convinced they were safe for a while. Due to a left-over part of her Sith upbringing, Ves was by far the more serious and paranoid of the pair. Ben had inherited his father's optimism, yet thankfully still possessed his mother's ability to not rush into a situation without thinking first, at least usually. So why flee Coruscant instead of confronting Sidious? Orders. Ben was as powerful as his father was at his age, but they were specifically directed by the Council not to seek a confrontation with the Sith Lord. Why? Time. It all came down to timing. Not everything was known as to why Skywalker fell. Ahsoka, Obi-Wan, and Yoda had many theories but no proof of any of them. Even with R2 being Anakin's droid, the only thing for sure that was known was that the switch seemed to come overnight. How does one avoid becoming an alcoholic? You keep him away from the bar. And that was exactly what they were doing now. Keeping Ben's grandfather away from the Emperor seemed the surest way to avoid a fall. Also Luke believed Anakin would be ultimately responsible for the fall of the emperor. So no confrontations with the Dark Lord until Anakin was ready.
Other reasons were more pragmatic. First, as much as no one wanted to admit it, the galaxy needed to be armed to face the coming Yuzang Vong invasion. Sidious would love his Navy even if his megalomania insisted on super weapons at a later point. Also, more importantly no one knew what kind of contingencies Palpatine had in place. Order 66 would almost certainly go out as soon as the news hit that the Chancellor had been killed. The list of information Ben gave Yoda should keep Sidious from destroying the Order as completely as he did the last time. The Order would still suffer a serious wound, but this time their destruction should not be so complete. While Ben was duelling with the master in the Temple,Vestara had personally installed Master Kenobi's recording telling the Jedi to go to cover. The signal was set to piggyback on the "return to Coruscant" signal so that away from Coruscant the warning would broadcast instead. Hopefully, any on-planet Jedi would see the Temple going up in smoke and stay away. The final reason was that any changes made had to be last minute so their enemy had no time to change his plans. It was like waiting for a tie fighter to commit to a strafing run before dodging the other way. Vestara was grim over the future they would have to face but was confident there would be few pure rivals to the group.
Yoda, in his journal, had made many comments on the Sith of this time. Maul, for all his ability to kill Jedi in a straight lightsaber fight, was not a very powerful a Force user. His lack of ability to use Force lightning suggested strongly he had only been trained to be an assassin, like Ventress, possibly before Palpatine had ascended to the top of the rule of two. It was a clever tactic. The Sith had secretly added a weak third non-member to hide the true Master of the Sith order. It had kept the Council blind to the fact Dooku was only the apprentice for the first two and a half years of the war by employing Ventress.
Dooku had been a powerful Jedi before he became a Sith and had fought Yoda, Kenobi, and Skywalker through the course of the war. Yoda noted that his Force powers in their duel, while stronger than they once had been, were still no match for the likes of Sidious. Yoda initially suspected he had simply learned Force lightning and in his fallen state believed himself stronger than even him. Yoda even mocked him for it. Later, once Yoda had battled the Emperor, he strongly suspected the Sith was instead not teaching his apprentices anything that might prove a threat and was deliberately holding them back. Vader never even used Sith Lightning despite being more than strong enough to use it- probably after being lied to that it would affect his suit. He suspected Palpatine taught Dooku Force lightning only because he had to give his new apprentice some crumb of power he didn't have as a Jedi master. Dooku was out of the equation with his death at the hands of Skywalker, Ventress was keeping a low profile and would likely not be an issue. Maul could pose a problem, for despite his relative, to a Skywalker, lack of Force power he was still a cunning and dangerous enemy. That left Sidious, his Inquisitors, and his Hands.
The Hands were trained only as assassins. Mara Jade, the best of the Hands, still required years of Force training at a later point. Ahsoka and many others noted the Inquisitors were not especially strong, due to the Emperor's fear of them ganging up on him. The main problem would be whoever the Emperor chose as his new apprentice, as the Emperor rarely, even in the later days of the empire, left Coruscant. Training a new apprentice would take quite some time, possibly several years. Hopefully, by that time they could make a move against the Empire.
Vestara returned to the center room where everyone was gathered at a table. Obi-Wan saw her and called everyone's attention.
"Alright everyone, now that we are all here maybe we can get a semblance of what is being planned on this trip?" Obi-Wan asked.
"Very well," Ben stated. "For those of you not Force users, I apologize for the long periods of boredom you will have to endure for quite a while."
"So this is a vacation?" Jesse asked.
"Not quite," Ben replied. "Though I recommend taking full use of your down time. Everyone here is on what is perhaps the most important mission of the Clone Wars though as far as most will be concerned the war will be effectively over for you."
Rex looked at him sideways. "Does this mean if we succeed the war's over but if something goes wrong we get shot at?"
"Pretty much, but expect to get shot either way but hopefully no time soon," Ben answered as he looked at the troopers. "Gentlemen, the mission we are on will either end with us either saving the Republic or running for the rest of our lives as traitors if we fail. Do either of you have a problem with that?"
"Could we have some clarification on 'traitors'?" Jesse asked.
Vestara noted the entire room got uncomfortable at the statement.
"Sure. To put it simply, there is a high ranking official in the Republic who is the Sith Lord behind the Clone Wars. Our mission final is to expose him for what he is- a manipulator who has ordered the Invasion of Naboo, several times tried to assassinate Senator Amidala, and been the sole chess player behind the Clone Wars. If we fail, he will have us on every wanted poster from Coruscant to the outer rim to silence us. Succeed and we save the Republic from a Sith Lord. Any other questions?"
Anakin and Obi-Wan had both known this for some time but were unaware that these Jedi knew it. Anakin himself was surprised that Sidious had not been apprehended the day of the battle of Coruscant.
"How high are we talking?" Rex asked.
"Nosebleed levels," Vestara put in. "But for now, our only mission is the training of one Knight Skywalker. And keeping the senator safe."
"Why isn't hunting this Sith a priority?" Rex asked.
"It is," Obi-Wan said."The Council has dispatched several people to look into the possible identity of this Sith Lord. Our friends here are to help teach us how to deal with a more dangerous enemy from the outer rim. I was unaware that dealing with this Sith was part of this trip."
"Only the fact we may have to deal to with him ourselves or the fallout of his presence if the worst should occur," Ben answered and looked at the troopers.
The two men looked at each other. "There's no way I'm going through the Clone War just to answer to another Sith," Rex said with Jesse nodding in agreement. "You suspect he will attempt a coup d'etat if the war doesn't go his way?"
"Something like that," Vestara answered.
"The Jedi would be there to escort him to a cell if he tried," Anakin stated.
"I hope you're right," Ben said softly. "However, I believe you will soon need a location for our first stop on our grand tour."
Anakin nodded. "Yes, we're coming up shortly on where we make course adjustments."
"Excellent," Ben said and handed him the coordinates of a planet only a short jump away.
Anakin nodded and went to make the necessary adjustments.
"Gentlemen, in the meantime I suggest everyone have their gear. We will be changing ships rather abruptly," Ben said with an innocent smile and followed Anakin to the cockpit.
"You know I'm not sure what bothers me more: that the Republic has a high-ranking traitor or that that smile looked just like General Skywalker's when we're about to do something crazy that he considers fun," Jesse noted.
Padme laughed from her seat. "I saw that, too. Maybe we should be prepared for something crazy."
Cockpit of the Twilight, 1 hour later
Anakin brought the ship into the atmosphere of a planet only a short jump away from Coruscant. He was confused when the people on board were asked to stay near the ramp. The planet was itself unremarkable- lightly populated for a core world as it had no hyperspace route leading anywhere other than into the deep core. With no necessary resources, the side of the planet they were on wasn't even populated nor had a control tower.
Master Solo was in the co-pilot seat making the necessary course changes. Once he was satisfied, the master pulled out a comm link and said, "Seven for pick up."
An acknowledgment came through the other side.
"Alright let's go," Master Solo told Anakin as he stood to leave. "What do you mean? I got to land the ship."
"We're not landing the ship. We're crashing it and I don't want to be on board when we do," Master Solo said calmly as he opened the back hatch and left the room quickly.
Anakin's eyes went wide as he followed. In the back the hatch opened as a Corellian ship came into view.
"I knew it," Jesse muttered under his breath. "Going to have to watch that kid."
"Surely your training included in-flight transfers," Vestara said, walking up to the group gathered.
"Of course, sir," Jesse said standing up straight. "Just commenting on the fact there is little change in the command around here."
"I will jump first, Kenobi will jump with the two of you, and Skywalker has the senator. Any more questions?" Vestara looked pointedly at Jesse.
"Uh, no sir," Jesse replied.
Vestara nodded. As she looked at the ship coming up under them, her face went pale with surprise. She shrugged it off almost immediately and jumped down onto the other ship.
"I wonder why they would pair up those two," Jesse wondered aloud, now that the scary girl was off the ship.
"Because I married her." Master Solo walked into the room with Anakin in tow.
Anakin and Padme both looked shocked at the casualness of the statement. Obi-Wan already knew. The troopers just looked at each other.
Master Solo continued,"Our courting involved being chased by Sith Lords, lots of lightning, and a tournament to the death where we were married on me being named the winner. I will give the full story one day when we're not on a crashing ship. After you, gentlemen."
If their helmets had been off, the troopers' mouths would have been wide open by this point, but they were able to maintain their professional calm as they jumped next with Kenobi. Skywalker followed with Padme. Ben was last. R2, of course, used his rocket boosters. Vestara was on top of the other ship slowing down the fall of the non-Force users, so they didn't hurt themselves upon landing. Ben had been so preoccupied by the others' reactions to his story that he only registered the lower ship when he landed on it. "How in the Galaxy," he thought to himself when he realized he was somehow standing on his uncle's beloved Millennium Falcon. He glanced at Ves, who confirmed with a nod. Somewhat shaken by the coincidence, he followed the others down the stairs into the ship.
Anakin, Ben, and Obi-Wan made it to the cockpit quickly enough for Anakin to see the Twilight II go up in flames.
"Another successful crash-landing, Master," said the voice from the pilot's chair.
At the sound of the voice, Anakin turned from watching the flames of his third-most-beloved ship. "Snips," he said, as he gave Ahsoka a bear hug.
"Guys, who's flying?" Ben said, as he dived into the copilot's chair, straightening up the controls and making for space.
"Master Solo," Ahsoka said. She reached around, activated the nav computer for their jump. Ben kept the Falcon in the planet's shadow where the planet's only control tower couldn't see which way they were jumping. The current nav computer was not as fast as the one his uncle had apparently installed, but it did its job locking in the jump. And like he had done dozens of times without thinking about it, he reached over and pulled the lever, launching the ship into hyperspace. Their journey was now truly begun.
Coruscant, Jedi Temple
Kit Fisto was enjoying his break from the front lines. He, like so many others, had been trapped in the outer rim sieges for the better part of the year. Word now was hitting the front that after the Separatists had lost so much material in their attack on Coruscant, the Republic armies had finally broken through. He sincerely hoped that meant the war would be over soon and maybe he would take on another padawan learner. For this reason, he was casually watching the initiates train in the courtyard when the Grandmaster came up behind him.
"Anyone in particular you are thinking of?" Yoda inquired.
"Not yet. I was thinking it was perhaps time to start looking, though," Kit answered with his trademark smile.
The Grandmaster humphed as he sat down on the bench next to him and watched the younglings play. "Perhaps help you I can in this regard," Yoda said cryptically.
"Oh no, not another Qui Gon Jinn moment where you pick the apprentice before the teacher is ready," Kit said with mock horror.
Yoda gazed on the crowd. "Nothing like that. A mission, perhaps, with the younglings where you can spend time and decide for yourself."
"Any particular ones in mind?" Kit asked, still partially believing he was being set up with someone that had already been chosen.
Yoda nodded and whispered conspiratorially, "All of them."
Kit's eyes widened. "All of them?"
Yoda nodded. "Along with a few other masters, the teachers, of course, and some knights who all need to take an apprentice."
"Alright, when does this field trip leave?" Kit asked.
"Tonight," Yoda said.
Kit blinked. "Is there a reason for this haste or was I simply the final person you had to convince?"
"A combination of both," Yoda answered. "A few other things I need to gather. See you off on your journey, I will."
With that, the Grandmaster left the bench and walked back towards the building. Kit Fisto wasn't sure what to make of it, but being naturally good natured, he decided to roll with it. Besides, what could possibly go wrong?
Jedi Archives
Master Nu was not having a good day. It began with a group of children deciding to reorganize an entire section based on the color of the book covers. Then her top aide had called in sick from the healing halls and she hadn't had time for her coffee. She was finally brewing a fresh pot when the Grandmaster came in with an order to further throw her day into shambles.
"Master Yoda," Jocasta said in greeting. "Please do not tell me Master solo has lost the great holocron."
Yoda looked at her and sighed. Obviously, this was going to be a day when she was cranky and frankly, he didn't need it. "No, he has not," Yoda answered. "A vacation you need, perhaps."
Jocasta huffed. "Of course I need one. I think this place is about to go to wreck and ruin."
Yoda would have paled if he could at the remark. "Yes, a vacation mixed with work might suit you. Too long you have been inside these walls, Master Nu."
"Really, Master Yoda, this is hardly the time. My work…," Jocasta started.
"I insist, leave tonight you will," Yoda interrupted a bit harsher than he meant. "Take with you the secret artifacts and the items our enemies must never get their hands on and scatter them throughout the galaxy. Take your aides with you and any initiates you think might be best for archivist work." At this point he reached into his robe and pulled out a device. "This device is set to your Bioscan. It will allow you to delete the entire Jedi archive from anywhere in the galaxy if you can get a holonet connection."
"Master Yoda, will you tell me why I'm doing this?" Jocasta, by this point, had gone pale.
"Because if the unimaginable happens, I don't want to get caught completely unprepared," Yoda said firmly and walked out the door, leaving a befuddled archivist alone with her thoughts.
Yoda was sorry he had to give his old friend the harsh treatment, but they had no time for the committee which Jocasta would invariably have demanded. The device he gave his friend to delete the archives had been given to him by Ben before he left. With luck the Temple would be empty of its younglings and the archive's secrets before midnight. He wasn't sure how to get the healers to leave. If he attempted to further evacuate the Temple, the Sith Lord would undoubtedly notice something was wrong with his plans. He could only hope they would be ready when the storm struck.
Chancellor's Office
Sidious was seething mad. Yularen's report only further convinced him someone was deliberately undermining him. To no surprise at all, it was Amidala that left with the Kenobi-Skywalker team. Oh, it was supposedly an aide, but he had seen the old "Amidala switcheroo holofilm" one time to many for it to work on him anymore. A few more Jedi meant they would be expecting a fight, which lent more credence to Maul being to blame. His spies in Death Watch indicated that Maul had set the whole thing up to get a rematch with Kenobi. The problem with that theory was finding the reason for taking Amidala with them, unless they wanted her to negotiate with the planet's governor. Surely neither Kenobi nor Skywalker would want to risk Amidala in a firefight with Maul after the Duchess had been killed. For that reason, it still made more sense to blame Gunray or one of his ilk,but so far Grievous's spy network hadn't found any evidence that the coward had gone beyond thinking of betrayal. However, Gunray could always be counted on to look after his own hide and, with his vast fortune, it was still possible that he had paid off someone. Palpatine seriously hoped Skywalker or Kenobi would finish off which ever one it was. He hoped Skywalker would do it in anger. Wait. Now there's an idea! Gunray or his cronies could critically wound the esteemed senator with a carefully calibrated weapon- one that would have her lingering long enough for Skywalker to come crawling back on his hands and knees for more information. Palpatine sat back and paused. It would be a little more problematic if their destination was Mandalore, but it wouldn't be too difficult to have a bounty hunter waiting for them. "Yes." A smile crossed his face. This might work out better than he hoped and if Kenobi died, all the better. He frowned. He was sensing more and more that something was astray with his plans. The typical dark nudges from the Force were more frantic than usual, saying that he shouldn't delay. However, he was denied any vision of what could be wrong with his plans.
No, he couldn't delay much longer. It would take at least ten to twelve days for Skywalker's junk ship, the Twilight, to reach the outer rim, meet with Gunray, then return to Coruscant. The Twilight also wasn't receiving messages, so he had been unable to manufacture a crisis to make Skywalker turn around. It would be much more difficult to turn Skywalker after order 66, provided he survived. That was always a risk. 10 to 12 days, he thought grimly, didn't leave much time and the population may start wandering why the war was continuing and demand that the Senate engage in peace talks. While that problem could be dealt with easily, it would make it more difficult to stage his rise to Emperor. No, he would have to position his bounty hunters and hope for the best. The last thing he needed was Mace and Yoda both walking in, demanding his resignation before he was ready. His battle with his "little green friend" six months prior showed him the old troll was, unfortunately, still roughly his equal despite his advanced age. No, he wasn't going to risk losing all the power of the galaxy in a fistfight with Yoda. While Skywalker was powerful, he had not yet aged into anything close to his full power. At this point in time, Anakin was more powerful than most of those on the Council. He often stoked the boy's ego by saying he was the most powerful Jedi, but in truth he and Yoda still had Anakin beat in pure power by a parsec. When Anakin grew into his full power, however, he and Yoda would be dwarfed. The thought of that much power at his command was extremely tempting and he had spent years attempting to mold him into his own apprentice. The thought that Maul or Gunray might have ruined everything caused his holopad to shatter. He forced himself to calm down. No, it would do no good to reveal himself by accident.
He had to continue with his plans. Skywalker had 12 days to get back to Coruscant. Everything must be ready by then, with or without him. In a few days he would unleash one of the last Separatist armies against the home world of the Wookies. The agreement the Republic had with their leadership required Master Yoda himself to lead the GAR forces in the event of an attack on their world. He would also reveal the location of General Grievous, requiring the Jedi to send one of their other Council members to kill him. That would leave Mace with only a couple of masters left to try to arrest him, hopefully unaware he would be coming in against the Sith Lord. Those were odds he could handle. Mace would be perhaps more of a challenge than any of the others, but if his new lightsaber form proved problematic, Sidious could always simply throw him out the window.
With that thought he pulled out a replacement pad to see what bounty hunters were available for work on Mandalore.
Authors Note
Yes the millennium falcon is the primary ship in this book. For those who have not read James Lucernos millennium falcon book the ship came off the assembly line 40 years prior to the fall of the republic. We're just going to assume the butterflies in time pulled the Falcons mission to coruscant from the battle of Coruscant to a year prior. Thank you for the continuing reviews and follows/Favorites on my first time story.
ClaireR89 thanks for the review but I need more context on what you mean by holes? Certain things like how does anakin know obi wan knows about him and padme will be revealed via flashback at a later point (This story is already written to completion). Other smaller things like how did Ben and Vestara dissappear from young ahsoka is simply the adult ahsoka pulling them back into the world between Worlds like Ezra does with ahsoka in rebels. but I leave those to the viewers imagination. I will say that the device Yoda gave Jocasta and the device vestara used in the computer system was designed by Zakarisz Ghent slicer to Tallon Karrde and Booster Terrick.