Spectre: Whooza! New chapter within the month as promised. Now where getting close to one of the greatest lightsabers in history. BUT next chapter would mostly focus on a certain Clone Wars duo. So enjoy the chapter and leave a review!P.S. Refrain from using spam comments.
Chapter 38: A New Order
The Jedi Temple was filled with smoke, visible enough for the people of Coruscant to see from a certain distance.
Many resisted the urge to look away at the cruel spectacle, as everything they had live and stood in ruins within a short time's notice.
"For thousands of generations...the Jedi Order stood the tests of time. Sunrider, Revan, Shan and countless others against the likes of Nihilus, Valkorion and Traya for lifetimes ..." Master Mundi uttered in complete sorrow. "And yet we count as thousands against two, fell to Sidious and Vader in a single night..."
Many tried to unhear what the Cerean had said, the aspect of them being so damn ignorant of what the Sith were planning and them being caught under his thumb to the point that they became unwitting tools under him.
To Obi-Wan, Padme, Rex and Ahsoka, none wanted to associate Anakin to the Dark Lord who destroyed everything he had fought for, but it was becoming harder for them at every moment passed. But none wanted to give up on the Jedi Knight they all knew.
At the Temple courtyard, Obi-Wan and Yoda fought groups of incoming Clone troopers of the 501st Legion, deflecting dozens of blaster fire expertly and deflecting several back to the 501st troopers. Yoda jumped to completely sever a 501st trooper's arm before throwing his saber to another's chest.
Anakin turned away from the scene, seeing the men he cared so much trying to kill the two surviving Jedi.
Rex was horrified at the sight of his brothers being slaughtered by the two Jedi he had respected the most, despite their belief that they were doing it against their will.
Yoda and Obi-Wan only gave him and Anakin an aplogetic nod, not wanting to come to this as well.
Obi-Wan managed to take down the troopers in front of him, and Yoda deflected the blaster bolt onto the last trooper standing, deactivating his lightsaber as the trooper landed face-first.
"Bring up every file on Clone trooper 5555." Ahsoka instructed one of her droids to hack into the ship's database in the hopes of discovering what Rex was trying to tell her before he went crazy.
Her astromech droid beeped and began carrying our its tasks as Ahsoka stood by and watched for intruders. Thus far the clones hadn't made it to this droid storage bay but it was only a matter of time before they arrived.
"With Masters Kenobi and Yoda searching the Temple and the others, Force what could have happened to them, we can only rely on Padawan Tano for answers regarding our question about the Clones", Saesee Tiin professed for the whole Council, seeing that no one else could do the task.
"Commander Rex's hesitation saved her at the last second...", Depa further added for the Padawan. "But as to how Clone Force 99 is immune is what we do not know"
Ahsoka looked at her future with a keen eye, trying to figure out what caused Rex and the rest of the 332nd to turn against her, eager for answers as the rest.
"Okay Rex… what am I looking for?" Ahsoka mumbled as she scanned through the various files and documents her droid was projecting holographically.
Most of the files were meaningless to her, just bites about his service record or deployment history. But one stood out, an x-ray image, something about his brain, but chunks of the report were missing or redacted.
The file switched to a hologram of a Kaminoan giving some kind of report. "An independent investigation confirmed that the clone trooper CT-5555 experienced a malfunction with his inhibitor chip. Both the senate committee and the Jedi council have accepted these findings. However, a grievance report was filed by CT-7567."
Ahsoka massaged her chin in thought as the recording came to an end, figuring that that was probably what Rex was trying to direct her to. "R7, bring up that report."
Her droid beeped in the negative, unable to comply.
"It's sealed? Try Anakin's pass code, 8108." Ahsoka said, her astromech beeped several times as the code was accepted and it was granted access to the file in question. It's holoprojector came alive again and a recording of Rex began to play.
"I already know this report is gonna fall on deaf ears. Haah… but I owe it to Fives to record what I saw. I'm… not sure I believe it myself, but… there's a possibility that the inhibitor chips the Kaminoans put inside of us have a… purpose that we don't yet fully understand."
Everyone turned to the Togruta Master, their attention focused on the after mentioned chips. "Master Ti, what are these chips that Commander Rex has spoke of?"
Shaak Ti held her chin in deep thought as she turned to explain for them. "According to the inhibitor chips are made as a safeguard for their to prevent clone troopers from being overly independent and aggressive, their true function was intended by Jedi Sifo-Dyas to be a safeguard against control by rogue Jedi"
"For short, a leash that restrains a Rancor from causing further damage?", Windu guessed, which caused some of the Jedi to frown at that description.
"Not the way I want to describe it, but yes", Shaak To reluctantly confirmed. "But the Kaminoans insisted it to be a failsafe in case any Clone went rogue"
Her answer caused everyone to come up with their own conclusions regarding the Clones, from the 150 Contingency Orders to Order 66, but none could come up with a definite conclusion.
"Fall back! Fall back!" A Clone yelled as his squad was forced on to retreat. Those still on their feet continued firing at an unseen approaching threat to no avail.
Before the Clone who gave the retreat order could get away, he was bowled over by a flying Clone trooper. As his comrades continued shooting, an unamused Maul rounded the corner, blaster bolts continued flying by him harmlessly, none of the clones able to aim accurately with the force messing with their minds.
The Jedi were wide-eyed to see Maul dealing with the Clones just as easily as if. they were droids, that is only because he was saved by Ahsoka.
But at the same time, they pitied the Clones who were dealing with him. Because unlike the Jedi, they do not know how to deal with a Sith, even if he was a former one.
Making a pulling gesture, Maul ripped a section of the wall away, knocking over a clone with the sheet of metal. It served as a shield from stray bolts yet still left him free to demolish the Clones with his force powers, throwing them around the corridor like ragdolls.
Once his makeshift shield was starting to have more holes, he discarded his shield but laying it flat and sending it shooting towards the Clones at neck level.
Two bodies hit the ground, followed shortly by their helmets.
"And to think Maul didn't a lightsaber to deal with his adversaries...", Obi-Wan muttered.
Using the force to rip more metal panels free and sandwiching clones with bone crushing force, Maul used the panels as his next set of shields before sending them shooting towards the Clones again with deadly accuracy.
Rex resisted the urge to cry out Ridge's name, feeling terrible for the poor Clone as he survived all the way from Christophsis, only to be murdered when the war was about to end.
"Ridge is down! Maul's advancing towards the main hangar!" The patrol sergeant shouted as his squad was being picked off one at a time, none of their weapons capable of standing up against an enraged Sith lord.
"You must seal the blast doors." Rex ordered through the comm link.
The clones hurried to do as instructed as Maul's annoyance with their blaster fire grew and he started tearing the guns from their hands with little more than a thought.
As the doors began to seal shut, the sergeant was the last one to flee through. But his escape was halted when he suddenly rose into the air, held aloft by the force. Then he was shooting back towards Maul as the madman reeled him in.
As his squad desperately tried to pull him back towards safety in a macabre tug of war, they weren't strong enough to overcome the force pull. The sergeant continued being pulled in close, arm outstretched and the door sealed completely around it.
Everyone hissed at the poor Clone's predicament, though some may say that they deserved it.
Maul rolled his eyes at the desperate attempt at survival. None of them would be leaving this ship alive once he was done here. At least he got what he came for, the communicator would prove useful in tapping enemy comms, nice of the sergeant to leave it behind along with his arm.
"Not even the Younglings survived...", Obi-Wan said in a hollow tone as he looked at the bodies of the fallen Jedi, be it Knight, Apprentice or Master.
Anakin whimpered as he recalled the gruesome deed he had committed against them, while Mace only glared at him for being reminded at that part.
"Killed...not by Clones", Yoda replied, his tone was equally saddened and hollow as Obi-Wan's. "This Padawan...but by a lightsaber..."
Obi-Wan knelt down to mourn one of the fallen Jedi, before turning to Yoda. "Who...who could have done this?"
Inside the control center of the Separatist bunker on Mustafar...Wat Tambor was adjusting the gas mix inside his armor Poggle the Lesser was massaging his fleshy lip-tendrils—Shu Mai was fiddling with the brass binding that restrained her hair into the stylish curving horn that rose behind her head—San Hill was stretching his bodystocking, which had begun to ride up in the crotch—Rune Haako was shifting his weight nervously from foot to foot—While Nute Gunray spoke to the holopresence of Darth Sidious.
"Without Dooku and Grievous leading them, the rest of the Separatist leadership have no other options than them being led by Sidious", Luminara said, recalling their now leader-less struggle.
"At this point, they have no choice but to surrender", Plo Koon added.
"The plan has gone exactly as you promised, my lord," Gunray said to the Sith's hologram.
"Yes, indeed. Thanks, in great part, to you, Viceroy", Sidious told them, unknown to them that their usefulness has come to an end. "And when my apprentice Lord Vader arrives...he will take care of you"
"I don't like the sound of that...", Anakin uttered to whatever his future had in mind.
Yoda reluctantly nodded his head in pity for them. "Tools they were", he somberly said, knowing their unfortunate fates. "Discarded, they will be"
"But Anakin would just arrest them right?", Padme said to the other Jedi, but was simply met with unenthusiastic silence
"He'll arrest them...right?"
As soon as Palpatine's hologram disappeared, the door cycled open.
A tall cloaked figure, slim but broad-shouldered, face shadowed by a heavy hood, stood in the doorway.
"No...no...I despised the Separatists for all they were, but I wouldn't kill them...", Anakin uttered to himself in denial of looking at his future.
Mace however, wasn't buying it.
"Welcome Lord Vader! We have been expecting you!", Gunray enthusiastically greeted the Sith Lord. The cloaked figure stepped inside and made a gesture with a black-gloved hand. Blast doors slammed across every exit. The control panel exploded in a shower of sparking wires.
The cloaked figure threw back its hood.
San Hill recoiled, hands flapping like panicked birds sewn to his wrists.
"On behalf of the leadership of the Confederacy of Independent Systems, let me be the first to—"
"Very well. You will be the first."
A fountain of blue-white plasma burned into his chest, curving through a loop that charred all three of his hearts.
Everyone was stunned at the sudden callous murder, their mouths were left agape as they tried to register what was going in.
The Separatist leadership watched in frozen horror as the corpse of the head of the InterGalactic Banking Clan collapsed like a depowered protocol droid.
"The resemblance," Darth Vader said, "is deceptive."
Bail slipped into the rear of the Naboo delegation's Senate pod as Palpatine thundered from the podium, "The attempt on my life...has left me scarred and deformed...."
At Kamino, Clone Force 99 and an entire legion of clone watched the Chancellor's hologram, hearing his words with outward enthusiasm. "You can say that again!", Wrecker joked, glancing at Echo.
Many in the Council wanted to snicker or find humor in Wrecker's words, but couldn't if it weren't for what they are dealing with right now.
"But I assure you, my resolve has never been stronger!", he continued, as the crowd before him clapped in applause. "The remaining Jedi will be hunted down and DEFEATED! Any collaborators will suffer the same fate! The war is over! The Separatists have been eliminated and the Jedi rebellion has been foiled! We stand on the threshold of a new beginning!"
"All the patience and careful manipulation of the Sith have come to this...", Shaak Ti marvelled at the Sith Lord's machinations. "Along with the power and authority he wielded as a politician..."
"Ignorant we have become...", Yoda admitted. "Allowed Sidious to take over, we have..."
Within the Separatist leadership bunker's control center were dozens of combat droids.
There were armed and armored guards. There were automated defense systems.
There were screams, and tears, and pleas for mercy.
Everyone bristled at the horrific scenario that lay before them, while Anakin shook his head more further as he tried to shake off the memories he had gained from all these dark deeds.
None of them mattered. The Sith had come to Mustafar.
Poggle the Lesser, Archduke of Geonosis, scrambled like an animal through a litter of severed arms and legs and heads, both metal and flesh, whimpering, fluttering his ancient gauzy wings until a bar of lightning flash-burned his own head free of his neck.
Shu Mai, president and CEO of the Commerce Guild, looked up from her knees, hands clasped before her, tears streaming down her shriveled cheeks.
"We were promised a reward,'' she gasped. "A h—h—handsome reward—"
"I am your reward," the Sith Lord said. "You don't find me handsome?"
Kit Fisto was horrified at this Dark sense of humor. "What kind of twisted insanity has the Dark Side done to Skywalker?"
"If there is anyone that Skywalker could have hated..." Plo Koon began, realizing what this meant for Anakin. "That would be the Separatist Council for all they had done since Geonosis"
"Please!" she screeched through her sobbing. "Pleee—" The blue-white blade cut into and out from her skull, and her corpse swayed. A negligent flip of the wrist slashed through her column of neck rings. Her brain-burned head tumbled to thefloor. Wat Tambor and the two Neimoidians scampered along a hallway toward a nearby conference room.
The Sith Lord was in no hurry to pursue. All the exits from the control center were blast-shielded, and they were sealed, and he had destroyed the controls.
The conference room was, as the expression goes, a dead end.
"Is this how far you have fallen you have, Skywalker?", Windu spoke up in anger towards the Jedi Knight. "Relishing the suffering of others for the sake of the Dark Side's power?"
Anakin only buried his eyes in complete regret and self-loathing, uttering to himself that he never wanted any of this to happen.
Within the Senate, Palpatine continued his address to the crowd before him, releasing unmatched vigor and determination. "In order to ensure the security and continuing stability... the Republic will be reorganized... INTO THE FIRST GALACTIC EMPIRE!"
"And this is how the Empire is born...", Obi-Wan uttered in disbelief. "Out of careful planning as well as lies and manipulation"
"And so is the Sith's Grand Plan to rule the Galaxy", Depa reluctantly added.
Padme couldn't believe what she was hearing. Everything that she, Senators Organa and Mothma had fought for, died at the hands of a tyrannical dictator.
"So this is how Liberty dies...", Padme lowly professed with Bail beside her. "With thunderous applause..."
"And everything that we had fought for generations", Saesee Tiin added as a hollow reminder of their failure to stop the Sith.
"I have recalibrated the code, warning all surviving Jedi to stay away", Obi-Wan said, as he worked on one of the consoles in the Archives.
"This should warn the others on what is happening at the Temple", Plo Koon remarked in relief.
"But then, we have no choice but to stay in the shadows...", Shaak Ti somberly added.
"For the clones... to discover the recalibration a long time it will take", Yoda said to his fellow Jedi. He began to leave the area, until he heard Obi-Wan calling for him.
"Wait. Master", he said, walking over to one of the holorecordings. "There is something I must know"
How much more he would have to suffer for a I have done?, Anakin thought to himself, bracing for the revelation.
"If into the security recordings you go, only pain will you find", Yoda warned him, but Kenobi continued on.
"I must know the truth, Master", he insisted.
He played the recording, only to be met by a gruelling sight as he watched his own apprentice dueling and eventually killing Serra Keto, followed by Cin Drallig. "It can't be", he uttered in complete disbelief. "It can't be."
"You have done well, my new apprentice", Sidious praised as Anakin knelt down before him. "Now, Lord Vader... go and bring peace to the Empire"
Anakin clenched his fist as his rage was focused onto the man who had manipulated him for years, taking all kind of self-restraint to not march into his office.
"I can't watch any more", Obi-wan said, turning off the recording.
"Destroy the Sith we must", urged Yoda, thumping his cane, but Obi-Wan was not willing to do so.
"One of them will have to take the other..", Mundi pointed out. "Which would leave Master Yoda going against Darth Sidious while Master Kenobi deals with Skywalker"
Both Anakin and Obi-Wan shook their heads as they could not picture fighting themselves to the death.
"Send me to kill the emperor", the bearded Jedi asked Yoda, not wanting to fight his own apprentice. "I will not kill Anakin."
"I would not advise you to do so, Master Kenobi", Kit Fisto told his fellow Council Member. "If Kolar, Tiin and I could not, I cannot imagine you besting Sidious for all your skill in Soresu"
"To fight this Lord Sidious, strong enough you are not.", Yoda pointed out.
"He is like my brother. I cannot do it."
"Twisted by the dark side young Skywalker has become. The boy you trained, gone he is. Consumed by Darth Vader."
All the good memories that Anakin and Obi-Wan had together came flashing back before them, desperately hoping that there could be another way. Of all people, Ahsoka and Padme never imagined that these two would try and kill the other, as their brotherhood was what defined them the most.
Relenting, Obi-Wan continued. "I do not know where the Emperor has sent him. I don't know where to look"
"Use your feelings, Obi-Wan, and find him you will", Yoda said to him.
Darth Vader left nothing living behind when he walked from the main room of the control center.
Casually, carelessly, he strolled along the hallway, scoring the durasteel wall with the tip of his blade, enjoying the sizzle of disintegrating metal as he had savored the smoke of charred alienflesh.
"This isn't me...", Anakin lowly said, hatefully glaring at his manical future. "Just stop!", he begged.
"Gone, the Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker was", Yoda mournfully professed. "Consumed he is, by the Sith Lord, Darth Vader"
The conference room door was closed. A barrier so paltry would be an insult to the blade; a black-gloved hand made a fist.
The door crumpled and fell.
The Sith Lord stepped over it.
The conference room was walled with transparisteel. Beyond, obsidian mountains rained fire upon the land. Rivers of lava embraced the settlement.
Rune Haako, aide and confidential secretary to the viceroy of the Trade Federation, tripped over a chair as he stumbled back. He fell to the floor, shaking like a grub in a frying pan, trying to scrabble beneath the table.
"Stop!" he cried. "Enough! We surrender, do you understand? You can't just kill us—"
The Sith Lord smiled. "Can't I?"
"Anakin, please stop!", Padme begged, not wanting him to further fall from his sanity to become a complete maniac.
"We're unarmed! We surrender! Please—please, you're a Jedi!"
"You fought a war to destroy the Jedi." Vader stood above the shivering Neimoidian, smiling down upon him, then fed him half a meter of plasma. "Congratulations on your success."
"The sadism of a Sith...", Mundi said in complete horror at the cold-blooded murders of the Separatist leaders.
Obi-Wan closed his eyes, wiping a few tears at seeing how far his brother had fallen, how he had broke Qui-Gon's promise to him. "Forgive me...Master...", he tearfully uttered.
He looked behind him, his crimson-yellow eyes were visible to the galaxy for the galaxy to see.
Yoda's ears lowered, realizing he was too far gone to be convinced.
Ahsoka was already crying as she saw her Master's complete fall to the Dark Side, where she felt two hands embraced her and she looked up to find Rex in anguish, still trying to find solace of all of this.
The Sith Lord stepped over Haako's corpse to where Wat Tambor clawed uselessly at the transparisteel wall with his armored gauntlets. The head of the Techno Union turned at his approach,
cringing, arms lifted to shield his faceplate from the flames in the dragon's eyes. "Please, I'll give you anything. Anything you want!"
Depa finally had the courage to bring Caleb over to her arms and shield his eyes, unable to bear seeing the war hero of the Clone Wars to become a genocidal maniac of a Sith Lord.
The blade flashed twice; Tambor's arms fell to the floor, followed by his head. "Thank you."
Darth Vader turned to the last living leader of the Confederacy of Independent Systems. Nute Gunray, viceroy of the Trade Federation, stood trem-bling in an alcove, blood-tinged tears streaming down his green-mottled cheeks.
"The war...," he whimpered. "The war is over—Lord Sidious promised—he promised we would be left in peace... "
"His transmission was garbled." The blade came up. "He promised you would be left in pieces.''
"His fall is complete..", Mace finally spoke up, as if his tone indicated he was right all long. "No matter how much you try to defend him, he is a Sith Lord with nothing to care in the galaxy but power"
"When was the last time you saw him? Do you know where he is?"C-3PO's photoreceptors registered the Senator's flush as she lowered her eyes and said, "No."
Three years running the household of a career politician stopped C-3PO from popping back out and reminding the Senator that Master Anakin had told her just yesterday he was on his way to Mustafar; he knew very well that the Senator's memory failed only when she decided it should.
"Padme, you must help me," Master Kenobi said. "Anakin must be found. He must be stopped."
The Senator wasn't sure whether or not her refusal to help Obi-wan. She knew that Anakin had to be stopped, but her future knew no better. But she didn't want the two of them to fight one another because. of her, and the mere thought was already a dagger pierced to her heart.
Anakin only held a hand onto his wife's, wanting to provide comfort of the troubling times they are going through.
"How can you say that?" She pulled back from him and turned away, folding her arms over the curve of her belly. "He's just won the war!"
"A war orchestrated by the Sith, Senator", Windu corrected her.
"The war was never the Republic against the Separatists. It was Palpatine against the Jedi. We lost. The rest of it was just playacting."
"Just as Maul had said back at Mandalore..." Shaak Ti recalled the hollow reminder that they went through.
"It was real enough for everyone who died!"
"Yes." Now it was Master Kenobi's turn to lower his eyes. "Including the children at the Temple."
"What?"
She wouldn't have believed him..., Anakin thought. For what is worth Padme, you. have to help Obi-Wan...
"They were murdered, Padme. I saw it." He took her shoulders and turned her back to face him. "They were murdered by Anakin.''
"It's a lie—" She pushed him away forcefully enough that C-3PO nearly triggered the security alert then and there, but Master Kenobi only regarded her with an expression that matched C-3PO's
internal recognition files of sadness and pity.
"He could never... he could never... not my Anakin..."
"He...he gave up everything for my sake...for our son Luke...", Padme sobbed, realizing the lengths he had went through since the trauma of him losing his mother.
Master Kenobi's voice was soft and slow. "He must be found."
Her reply was even softer; C-3PO's aural sensor barely recorded it at all.
"You've decided to kill him."
Master Kenobi said gravely, "He has become a very great threat.
At this, the Senator's medical condition seemed to finally overcome her; her knees buckled, and Master Kenobi was forced to catch her and help her onto the sofa. Apparently Master Kenobi knew somewhat more about human physiology than did C-3PO; though his photoreceptors hadn't been dark to the ongoing changes in Senator Amidala's contour, C-3PO had no idea what they might signify.
At any rate, Master Kenobi seemed to comprehend the situation instantly. He settled her comfortably onto the sofa and stood frowning down at her.
"Anakin is the father, isn't he?"
Mace and the rest of the Jedi, sans Anakin who was shocked at the revelation, turned to Obi-wan in utter disbelief, realizing that he had willingly withheld this secret from them. "You knew, Master Kenobi?", Windu demanded an explanation from Obi-Wan, who remained firm at protecting his brother.
"The Jedi are known to keep secrets from its members", Obi-wan proclaimed, his resolve not faltering. "I do not see anything wrong keeping mine as a Jedi from the Order either"
Padme held onto her tears, trying to find the strength to make any sort of excuse to dissuade him from going after Anakin. But he continued.
"I am not blind, Padmé. Though I have tried to be, for Anakin's sake. And for yours. Anakin has loved you since the day you met, in that horrible junk shop on Tatooine. He's never even tried to hide it, though we do not speak of it. We… pretend that I don't know. And I was happy to, because it made him happy. You made him happy, when nothing else ever truly could."
Padme's whimpers turned to sobs as she learned how much Obi-Wan protected them even if what Anakin did was against the Code they had followed loyally.
Anakin turned to Obi-Wan, tears threatening to leave his eyes as he learned of what his Master had been hiding from him. "Master...why didn't you tell me? That you knew all along?"
Obi-Wan could no longer hide it, as he held his apprentice's shoulder. "I have done so, not as a Jedi. But as a brother. And not just for you and for Padme, but to the Jedi and the Republic as well..."
Obi-wan turned to leave, not before looking back at her, in sorrow.
"I'm so sorry"