-8-

"I know it's gonna be hard, Padme, but could you please tell me more about Order 66?" Anakin asked.

Padme bit her lip, hesitant. It was painful remembering that horrifying time, but she blamed herself for allowing Palpatine to come into so much power, to begin with... and it was one of the reasons why so many people didn't trust her anymore, but they'd forgotten how frustrated she had been with Valorum and the senate doing nothing about the blockade she had let her naivete and lack of experience let Palpatine manipulate her. Logically she knew it made little difference, as Palpatine would have worked on a way to gain power long before that horrifying night.

"When the Order went out, Jedi across the galaxy just died. Bail and I boarded his ship, and we went out looking for any Jedi survivors when we found Yoda, and then Obi-Wan and Ahsoka," she said although just the thought of the rescue and the return to Coruscant would bring about changes that she still had nightmares about, "Obi-Wan and Ahsoka had been on a mission, with Master Plo Koon on Mygeeto when the Order came through. Plo was killed, but Ahsoka and Obi-Wan were only just able to get out alive. They didn't elaborate too much on how they were able to escape, and we didn't ask."

"What happened then?" Anakin asked.

"A message was being broadcasted from the Jedi Temple instructing them to return to Coruscant, and the way was over," Padme said.

"But that was a trap! If anyone managed to get away from the clone and the battles, they would just walk into the trap and get killed. And how could they even think for a moment they'd be safe?" Anakin went on as the full scale of the poorly thought out plan to trap the Jedi survivors entered his mind, "There would have been millions of clones on Coruscant. What made them think they wouldn't get caught out?"

Padme had had a long time to think about this and even then she had been wondering if the Palpatine and Maul had thought through the plan at all. "I don't think Palpatine thought that out, Anakin. All I know is when we returned to the capital, Bail and I were summoned to a senate meeting. In the meantime, Yoda, Obi-Wan, and Ahsoka all went to the Jedi Temple to shut down the transmission and to find out what happened."

Padme took a deep breath and looked down. This was going to be agonising for Anakin to hear, and even worse for her because she was going to have to tell her husband what she knew.

"Little did I know, but that would be the last time I would ever see Ahsoka or Master Yoda alive again," she said.

"What?"

Padme lifted her eyes, tears welling up in her eyes. She was more sad for Ahsoka than she was for Yoda. She had never truly been friends with the little Grand Master on the same level as she had been with Sabe, Ahsoka, Dorme, Satine, Bail, Breha, or Obi-Wan. "Yoda and Ahsoka are dead, Anakin. While Bail and I were at the senate where we listened to Supreme Chancellor Palpatine," she spat out the former rank used by the Sith Lord, "become Emperor Palpatine. He transformed the Republic into the Empire and crowned himself emperor while offering excuses he was doing it to create a stable and safely secure society in the wake of the Jedi's betrayal. He showed himself as a scarred and deformed figure who was taken by surprise by the attack, but it was all just a sick act."

Padme paused to take a quick breath - for Anakin, it seemed almost as if she were trying very hard to stop herself from becoming truly sick. "While Palpatine was rewriting the galaxy and turning it into the Empire, Obi-Wan, Yoda, and Ahsoka were touring the Temple. There were bodies everywhere of younglings, apprentices, everyone. I only found that out when Obi-Wan gave me the full story later."

Padme paused again, and Anakin had to really be patient.

-8-

"Obi-Wan returned to the apartment late at night, just after they'd gone to confront Palpatine," Padme said finally, "and he was a in terrible state," she added, her expression sorrowful and haunted. "Yoda and Ashoka were both killed. When Obi-Wan got here, he had only just managed to flee with his life, but he didn't tell me what happened as he was almost hysterical."

Okay, now he was worried.

Reeling from the pain of losing Ahsoka, Anakin now wondered what kind of state his old master was in now. He had been there when Obi-Wan had lost Qui-Gon on Naboo. While the Jedi Knight had been…upset and even resentful towards his former master for having the responsibility of having an apprentice foisted into his inexperienced hands, he had eventually been unable to let go of Anakin, but there had always been a distance between them. But when Obi-Wan had lost Siri Tachi, and then Satine when that animal Maul murdered her on Mandalore, Anakin had been worried, truly worried, his friend would give into the Dark side, and murder Maul.

But Obi-Wan had always been one to keep his composure; the thought he had been hysterical scared Anakin.

"He told me he went to the Jedi Temple, and he showed me a bag stuffed full of Jedi holocrons," Padme said.

That sounded more like the Obi-Wan he knew.

"Did he say anything about what happened in the senate?"

"No. I think he was on automatic when he went to the Temple and stole the holocrons, and he let himself break down here," Padme said. "He was here in my apartment for 3 hours before he had to leave, but he'd told me enough about what actually happened to let me know he'd failed to end the Sith, but I don't know the details because it upset him to talk."

Anakin smiled sadly at his wife. While he would have been happier knowing the details of what happened in the senate, he couldn't blame Padme for not knowing. "Do you know where he went?"

"No. I gave him a ship to use as his own, but we both agreed Palpatine would likely be watching me when I remembered how I was a part of a delegation that tried to persuade him to let go of his emergency powers and return democracy to the senate, and any communication would likely see both of us caught. There are occasional reports of Jedi out there in the galaxy, but that's all they are, Ani; rumours. I don't know if any other Jedi survived the purges."

Anakin watched in worry and concern as his wife looked away. "What's wrong?"

Padme closed her eyes, "It's this screwed-up galaxy, Ani," she whispered tiredly. "Being an Imperial Senator is vastly different from being a Republican Senator. Palpatine has been systematically stripping the senate of its powers for years, long before he even declared the Republic the Empire. Anyone brave enough to speak out against him… disappears, and they're never seen again, or they are charged with treason. The Empire does not tolerate treachery. Palpatine has no intention of ever letting it go. He loves being the Emperor of the galaxy," she finished in a whisper that was full of agony.

Anakin felt her pain through the Force. He knew how dedicated to democracy his wife was, and the fact she had to watch quietly or be killed while everything she loved about the Republic was taken from her, angered him even if personally he felt what Palpatine had done was likely going to happen at some point.

Padme went on, "Palpatine's moved into the Jedi Temple, Ani. He did it out of spite against those who tried to kill him, but everyone who knows the truth about who he really is knows he's doing it deliberately to spit on the memories of the Jedi."

"I know," Anakin had found out what Palpatine had done shortly after he'd woken up.

Padme went on, "Shortly after Order 66, that toady Mas Amedda arranged a burning of the Jedi's lightsabers. Everyone in the galaxy seemed to have forgotten all the Jedi had done for them, for the war effort, for their sacrifices. Amedda had every lightsaber thrown into the pyre, and Palpatine himself took great pleasure in slowly revealing the lightsabers of Master Windu and Yoda, and throwing them slowly into the fire, but there was no sign of the Jedi's bodies."

Anakin had listened with growing anger at the way the Order's weapons were disrespected. A Jedi's lightsaber was a symbol of the Jedi's commitment to peace. The thought of them being wantonly destroyed hurt, but what worried him the most was why his wife had emphasised the plural form bodies….