Welcome back, everyone! Happy 2025! It's been a long time, I'm writing on a completely different continent compared to my last chapter. Big changes have been happening in my work life which unfortunately pushed me away from fanfic writing for a bit. But I'm determined to come back and make a dedicated push to progress this story. The home stretch is here, and I want to thank all the patient souls who have been along for this journey!
I'll answer all the kind reviews from the last chapter and let you get on with the reading. Thank you always for your continued support and feedback.
-RKF22: Yes he does! :) That's why we love him. Glad you're enjoying it and hope you like how this will all play out.
-Monkey D Conan: it's tragic I agree, but it's a testament to how vulnerable a population can be when leaders choose to actively manipulate them. Tried to show that at least one person could see through the deception, and hopefully inspire others. Glad you're excited for what's to come!
-TheEmeraldMage: Thank you so much and can I just say all your reviews have given me such excitement to keep writing this series. Your enthusiasm is infectious and I'm happy you're enjoying the story. Also, not to be a stickler, I believe Luke drank a different sort of weird creature milk in The Last Jedi, not the blue Bantha milk. But I still completely agree with you that that whole scene is giga caca. Not too much unlike the Obi-Wan show which I feel deserved a small nod. Feels like such a slam dunk to make a banger Obi-Wan series, all the materials are there. I have no idea how they could fumble it so hard. Anyway, glad you're liking it and can't wait to catch you in the next one!
-Pally The Second: Glad you're liking it! I'm also excited to get to the time travel. That's still a few more chapters away but will kick off ACT 2 in spectacular fashion.
-stars90: I'm leaning on the side of good, but I'm definitely biased :)
-HG4EVER69: I get where you're coming from and you're not the only one to have leveled that criticism. In hindsight, if I had to do it all again, I would make more of an effort to deviate from the original films, but being able to just transcribe some of those iconic lines just makes me nut, I'm sorry. Being able to write the scenes on Dagobah between Luke and Yoda with the movie as a reference was just so much fun. But I hear you, point taken.
-Guest: Heck yeah! I'm excited too! And glad you're enjoying the story, it's good to have you on for the ride.
-Tq3942: Ask and ye shall receive...
On that note, I give you all chapter 42. Enjoy!
Ahsoka felt oddly calm as she walked a few steps behind Rex and Cody. The odds had never been this dire or the stakes this vital, but she was able to keep herself centred and alert. She could also sense that her two Clone companions were in a similar state.
It felt good to be back with Cody and Rex, the latter especially. Their first-ever meeting on Christophsis, which felt like a lifetime ago, had not been on the best of terms. He had felt she was an overconfident rookie, and she had seen him as an overbearing stickler. Both assumptions were disproven before long. The Clone Wars began and ended with Rex by her side, and she sincerely hoped that the Empire would end the same way.
"I thought the Imperial presence would be more… substantial," Cody mentioned over their comms. "We're several blocks from the Temple but all we've got are the occasional patrol."
"Under the Empire, fear keeps people in line," Ahsoka said, bringing her hood further forward. "They're not concerned for any mass uprising over this execution. And the location makes it nearly impossible for a small group to successfully free Obi-Wan."
It struck her how little Coruscant had changed. It seemed that whether it was under the Republic or the Empire, those on the lowest rungs of the ladder continued to be ignored.
"Good thing we're not just any small group, commander," Rex replied confidently. "We're coming up on the sewer access."
Rex gestured towards a side alley which they quickly ducked into. A bit further ahead was a service door that led into the maze-like structure of Coruscant's sewer system. Unfortunately for them, a maintenance crew was busy chatting and smoking deathsticks just in front of the entrance.
"Care to do the honors?" Cody asked Ahsoka, having seen this scenario play out many times before.
"My pleasure," she replied as she approached the sewer workers.
"Can we help you?" one of them asked gruffly.
"You will all take a long break," she enunciated, waving her hand out through the Force.
"We will all take a long break," they all replied in unison.
"If anyone asks, you never saw us," she added.
"If anyone asks, we never saw you."
And with that, Ahsoka led the Clones through the service door and into the sewers.
"That never gets old," Rex remarked fondly.
Yoda chose to stick to the rooftops which were much less hectic than the packed streets below. It also offered him a relatively unobstructed view of the Jedi Temple, which despite the circumstances, brought him a measure of serenity.
It had been his home for nearly 900 years, and always felt like a beacon of calm amidst the hyperactive atmosphere of Coruscant. He was never a fan of the Capital Planet. The Force was weak here. There was hardly any nature left, everything was man-made, processed, unnatural… no doubt something that had played in Palpatine's favor when he hatched his scheme to destroy the Jedi.
As he jumped to the next rooftop, he picked up a small ripple through the Force. Barely perceptible, but Yoda's senses were second to none. It didn't seem threatening and was gone as fast as it appeared. But the old master could not shake how familiar it felt.
He stopped for a moment to reach out through the Force, hoping to better sense his hidden follower, but they had made their Force presence completely invisible.
"Friends, we are," Yoda called out around him. "No need to hide yourself."
The Force remained still, no one answered the old master's call. Yoda patiently reached out through the Force, trying to find this mysterious person.
"Why do you hide?" he asked gently. "What do you fear?"
Again, silence.
No… not quite. Yoda detected a faint glimmer through the Force.
"Hmmm, much suffering I sense," the old master spoke compassionately. "Immense loss, betrayal… much darkness I see. But surrender the light, you have not."
Then suddenly, it hit him. He recognized this presence. It had been so long, but he could not forget it…
"Hello, old friend."
The voice came out of the shadows a few feet away from Yoda. He could make out the outline of a hooded figure and the faint glimmer of a lightsaber on his belt.
"Survive you did…" Yoda wondered in amazement. "How? Why not reach out to us?"
"I… almost didn't make it," the figure confessed. "I could feel myself slipping, so close to rejoining the cosmic Force. I drew on some… dark emotions to keep myself alive. Hatred, revenge, pain…"
"And not abandoned them you have," Yoda muttered with a concerned look as he tried to get closer.
"That's close enough," the figure held out a mechanical hand to keep the old master at a distance. "I can imagine why you're here. All I ask is that you stay out of my way."
"Plan to kill Sidious, you do," Yoda surmised, shaking his head.
"And that damn apprentice of his," the repressed bitterness in his tone was palpable. "The one who plunged us into this hell."
"Vengeance? A Jedi seeks not—"
"Don't patronize me!" the figure cut in. "The old Jedi ways are what lead us here. We were careless, dogmatic in our teachings, and unfamiliar with the Dark Side, which allowed Sidious to blindside us. Master your inner darkness, do not reject it. You told me about a similar experience you had during the Clone Wars, did you not?"
Yoda remembered it perfectly. In the twilight of the Clone Wars, the ghostly voice of Qui-Gon Jinn led him to the Force Priestesses who put him through various trials on his path to learning how to maintain his consciousness after death. One of these trials involved facing a dark manifestation of himself. He could only defeat it by accepting it as a part of him, though not one which would ever control him.
"Accepted my darkness, I have," Yoda conceded, backing away from the figure. "But a tentative alliance it is. Always present your darkness is. Ready to unleash if careless you become."
"I am not careless."
"No… you simply seem to care less," Yoda countered. "Only interested in fulfilling your desires you are."
A tense silence followed that statement. Yoda and the mysterious figure observed each other for a long moment.
"And what do you plan to do about it, old friend?" the figure asked. "Are you going to stop me?"
"Hmmm… I will not," Yoda replied, though the sadness in his voice was audible. "You act for the wrong reasons, but enemies, we are not. Now, wish we could be friends again, I do."
The figure let pass another long pause. It was tough not to feel compelled by Yoda's empathetic words. But he had a job to do; one that was over twenty years in the making. He had bid his time, trained, and pushed himself beyond his limits, lurking in the shadows, patiently waiting for the day he could take out Vador and the Emperor in one fell swoop. This was the best opportunity he had, even if it came on the execution day of a good friend.
"I'm not planning on making it out tomorrow," the figure finally confessed. "My goal is Sidious and Vader, but I will cause enough chaos for you and your team to free Obi-Wan."
Before Yoda could refute him, he sensed the Force presence suddenly disappear, leaving him alone on the rooftop.
"Hmmm… may the Force be with you, old friend."
The old Jedi continued his journey across the rooftops towards the Temple.
As the day began to break, Luke and Mara carefully weaved through the packed crowds of people being funneled towards the parade grounds.
The crowds had to go through a security screening which the two Force users were keen to avoid. They peeled away from the main crowd to scout out the best way through.
"Let's skim the perimeter," Mara offered. "There should be a service entrance."
"Let's go."
Luke led the way along the wall that ran around the gathering site. They made sure to keep their heads down, even though it was only a matter of time before that no longer mattered.
Eventually, they reached a single Stormtrooper, guarding a door. Luke and Mara casually walked up to him.
"How many guards are behind that door?" Luke asked through Force suggestion. He had perfected his technique so that he could be more direct with his questions and orders.
"Just me and Jeb," the Stormtrooper obediently replied.
"Call him out here," Luke commanded.
"Jeb, come out here," the Stormtrooper spoke into his communicator.
A few seconds later, Jeb the Stormtrooper opened the door. But before he could react, Mara waved her hand in front of him and spoke commandingly:
"You do not see anything suspicious."
"I do not see anything suspicious," the soldier replied.
"You will lead us inside."
"I will lead you inside."
Luke and Mara followed and closed the door behind the two Stormtroopers. They were at the far end of the parade ground, next to some tents and equipment crates.
Before they could fully take stock of their situation, Luke felt a jolt through the Force, just before two Stormtroopers emerged from the tent, arriving within inches of him and Mara.
They raised their blasters, Mara was about to ignite her lightsaber before Luke reached out through the Force and unleashed a commanding:
"SLEEP!"
It didn't work on the first try, but it caused enough of a momentary lapse in the Stormtroopers' consciousness for Mara to take out her blaster and stun them both. She did the same with the two guards they had entered with.
"That was too close," she let out a strangled sigh.
"The unofficial slogan for this mission," Luke tried his best to be humorous, but his tone betrayed him. He had no idea how Han did it. "Let's take their armor."
It took more time than they'd have liked to hide the four unconscious bodies and change into the stolen Stormtrooper gear. It was a first for Mara, but it reminded Luke of when they had freed Leia aboard the first Death Star. It felt like a lifetime ago…
"Let me do the talking," Mara said. "Hopefully I can put my time with the Empire to good use."
"Works for me," Luke replied from under his slightly oversized helmet. "How are we doing on time?"
They each glanced at their synchronized chronos. They had three standard hours before noon; three hours to save Obi-Wan.
"The speeches should have begun by now."
"TK-345, come in."
Mara gestured to her ear and signaled for Luke to be quiet as she answered the transmission.
"TK-345, reporting," she replied, trying to hide any trace of femininity in her voice.
"You and TK-601 patrol around the inner wall heading towards the stage," the commanding officer announced without a shred of politeness. "Make sure no civilians act up, but keep it above the belt. Cams are everywhere."
"Copy. On our way now."
Mara kept it short and sweet, but was thrown off-guard by what she heard next:
"I wish they'd just fry that Jedi scum and get it over with. Can't believe we're putting up all this pomp over a single blaster shot."
Mara kept her cool as she had only seconds to come up with a plausible response. Luke shot her a look; she imagined it was a look of concern underneath the helmet. She racked her brain, but in the heat of the moment, all she could come up with was:
"Understood, sir. On our way now."
She cursed herself for such a weak response. Her body tensed up as she nervously awaited a response, but it never came.
"What happened?" Luke asked as they walked in step along their patrol route.
"A chatty SO," Mara whispered as they passed a pair of Stormtroopers.
"Problem?"
"You'll know when I do," she tried to keep her tone light but it was hard to disguise the edge in her voice. "We can see the stage now."
Luke tried not to focus on it too much, even though the Jedi Temple was an awe-inspiring structure. He understood why the Emperor wanted it destroyed. Few other buildings in the galaxy elicited such fascination and mystique.
Some high-ranking Imperial officer was delivering a boilerplate speech from behind an oversized podium. Luke could just barely make out Grand Moff Thrawn and Grand Admiral Tarkin in the stands, and looming over them both was Sidious himself. He was surrounded by his Red Guards, and shrouded in darkness, as seemed to be his habit.
"Can you see Obi-Wan?" Luke resisted the urge to crane his neck towards the stage.
"They must have him under that tent," Mara replied. "They'll probably reveal him at the last minute.
Luke kept his quickening heartbeat under control. They were close to him, but there was still a galaxy of things that could go wrong before they could get Obi-Wan out safely.
"Any sign of Vader?" Mara asked.
"Don't see him. And he's pretty hard to miss," Luke replied. "If he is here, he must be inside the Temple."
Mara could feel the pit in her stomach tightening. Things were going well for now, but the blind spots kept piling up. It was hard to shake the feeling that one of those blind spots was about to bite them in the rear.
As they finished their patrol of the inner wall and arrived closer to the stage, they were greeted by a no-nonsense-looking colonel.
"Report," he ordered. His voice was the same as the one that had ordered Mara over the comms.
"Perimeter is clear, sir," Mara responded, trying to loosen up and lean into her new role. "Civilians are acting orderly. No signs of suspicious activity."
"Understood," the colonel snipped back as if offended at how long Mara had been talking. "Go standby the north entrance and await further orders."
"Yes, sir!"
Luke and Mara could not even exchange a glance as she gave an exemplary salute and marched towards the north entrance. This was the part of the mission where they improvised… again.
The colonel then turned his attention to Luke. The young Jedi's stomach sank when the colonel's gaze turned suspicious.
"You're not TK-601… you're much too short," he muttered. "What's your designation?"
Luke thought about using Force suggestion, but he wasn't confident it would work on this man who seemed much sharper than the average Stormtrooper. They were also surrounded by people who could easily overhear their conversation.
"TK-587, sir," Luke responded quickly. He had made a rookie mistake back on the first Death Star: not learning the designation of the soldier whose armor he was wearing.
"I asked TK-345 to patrol with TK-601. Why in all the hells are you here?"
"TK-601 had a medical emergency, sir," Luke smoothly improvised, trying to draw on some of Han's legendary confidence which he had always envied. "He asked me to take his place, as a favour."
"Oh good, you did him a favor, did you?" sarcasm and contempt dripped off the colonel's every word. He silently let his gaze sink through Luke's helmet, likely hoping the pressure alone would suss out any suspicious behavior, but Luke remained unflappable.
Eventually, the colonel broke the gaze and spoke into his communicator: "TK-601, report."
Every second of silence that followed was agonizing to Luke. He had to salvage this mess somehow.
"I can go get him, sir," he offered.
"You will go join that line," the colonel aggressively pointed to the row of Stormtroopers separating the crowd from the elevated platform where the execution would take place. "And I will sort out all this nonsense, mark my words. You'll be receiving a heavy demerit for this behavior, soldier. I have half a mind to dishonorably discharge you here and now."
I think you have even less than half a mind, you brainless thug.
As much as he wanted to verbalize that thought, Luke, of course, kept his composure and saluted the colonel.
"Yes, sir. Thank you, sir."
"And don't you even think about turning around," the colonel added ominously.
Luke did as he was told, fitting in between two other Stormtroopers, facing the sea of people that he could barely see the end of.
He could not use his communicator to contact Mara. Not only would he be overheard, but they couldn't risk any comms getting picked up. Thankfully, during their planning phase, the two Clone veterans had given everyone a palm-sized device that could send out short-wave messages in binary through a series of clicks. They were limited in range, but impossible to detect.
He sent out a message: SAFE?
A few seconds later, Mara responded: YES. MUST ACT SOON.
Luke was hard-pressed to disagree: WHEN COLONEL FINDS BODIES WE GO.
Mara replied: COPY.
Luke thought that was the end of their communication, but the next binary words that came through imbued with more strength than his Jedi training ever could: LOVE YOU ALWAYS.
ALWAYS, was his answer.
Now he had to make sure he kept that promise in this world, not the next.
After an endless trudge through sewer sludge, Ahsoka, Rex, and Cody finally made it within the walls of the Jedi Temple. They had emerged in one of the lower archive levels which had been entirely ransacked.
"That smell's never going away," Rex groaned as they took a few moments to regroup.
"I swear I felt something run along my leg," Cody muttered, certain there was a life form in all that sewage.
Ahsoka was quiet as she ran her hand along one of the walls, passing over the charr of blaster impacts. She picked up a faint echo through the Force: a distant plea for mercy, cut short.
"Some Jedi tried to escape down here," she said quietly, trying to deepen her connection to this fading echo. "But they were found… they had younglings with them…"
"Some of them must have managed to escape through the sewers," Cody offered. "Those tunnels are a maze. Only Jedi could find their way out."
"Then I pity the younglings and the padawans," Ahsoka spoke, almost more to herself, trying to purge these dark emotions in anticipation of the task ahead. "But you're right… someone must have escaped through here."
Rex made his way over to the large stone door to peek through. He couldn't hear or see anything.
"Clear," he reported back to the others.
Ahsoka brought up a holoprojections of the Temple's layout. They were several levels below ground, almost directly below the Temple Spire.
"What do you see boys?" she asked the two veteran Clones.
Rex gestured for Cody to go ahead.
"I don't think the Empire can completely raze the Jedi Temple," the Clone explained as he crouched closer to the holomap. "The amount of explosives required would be ludicrous, not to mention the damage to anything and anyone nearby."
"Our Bothan spies were certain they wouldn't try an aerial bombardment," Ahsoka chipped in, watching them both intently. "Do you think they're right?"
"With the Emperor and all his higher-ups so close by?" Rex asked rhetorically. "Not likely. A barrage from a Star Destroyer would certainly level the Temple and most everything around it. When you're hurtling massive lasers from the sky, accuracy is a moot point."
"Agreed. I wager they'd opt for controlled detonations around the central structure," Cody gestured to large pillars beneath the five spires. "If they can cause the spires to collapse inwards, they'll ensure massive damage with limited impact to the surrounding area."
Ahsoka nodded at how Cody had laid it out. It all made sense to her. The Empire wanted to make a statement, they needed striking visuals of a destroyed Jedi Temple that they could propagate across the galaxy.
"What do you think, Rex?"
"I agree with Cody. Security should also be fairly light if it's filled with primed explosives."
"Do you think they've finished setting all of them up?"
"They could still be making final preparations," Cody said after glancing at his chrono. "I don't think any one of them wants to explain a misfire to The Emperor."
"Alright," Ahsoka turned off the holomap. "We make our way upstairs, locate the bombs, locate someone who set them up, and have them tell us how to deactivate them."
"Sounds like a plan, commander," Rex said approvingly.
"Let's do it," Cody confirmed.
And with that, all three of them left this horrific archive room and started making their way towards the surface.
Warrant Officer Leenus had been granted a private green room where she could unwind before she was called out. The whole situation felt surreal. It was as if she was a guest on one of those talk shows she'd occasionally seen her sister watch on the holo. She could picture a producer knocking on her door and going: 'Warrant Officer Leenus? They're ready for you.'
But instead of going on stage to discuss her role in the latest holodrama or the new holobook she'd written, she was going to realize one of the most important executions in the history of the Galactic Empire.
"No pressure," Leenus muttered as her eyes fell on the blaster.
It rested in a padded carrying case, ominously staring back at her. It had been outfitted with a receiver tied to the trigger. It would allow the detonation of the Temple explosives to be synched perfectly with her blaster shot.
Leenus did her best to steady her nerves. Today was easily the most important moment in her career, no, her life. She had been chosen alongside twenty of the best and brightest officers in the entire Imperial Army, and out of all of them, she had ultimately been selected for this historic day.
Yet somehow, she did not feel as excited as she would have liked. As she watched the holo-broadcast of the various Imperial officers giving their speeches, the whole execution felt so distant; as though she was not truly the one pulling the trigger.
As her thoughts wandered, Grand Admiral Tarkin started wrapping up his speech, marking the two-hour mark before the execution. Leenus checked the time; it was right on cue. Grand Moff Thrawn was next, followed, finally, by the Emperor.
The impending reality of her situation gave Leenus slight nerves, but she did her best to reign them in. She focused on Thrawn's speech to distract herself. The Chiss's oratory skills were second to none. Whenever the cams showed the audience, they were all hanging off of his every word.
"Peace and security must never be taken for granted," Thrawn declared, his powerful voice amplified by various speakers. "That is where the Jedi and the former regime failed. Their arrogance, complacency, cruelty, and institutional secrecy prolonged the Clone Wars year after year, causing terrible loss of life and strife all across the galaxy. Today, we take a small step towards writing those wrongs and closing the history holos on this glorified mercenary group. Today, I have the honor to-"
CRUNCH!
Leenus jolted as she heard the 'crunch' through the broadcast and in person. Before she could wonder what it was, the answer came: the entire central spire of the Jedi Temple was slowly crumbling over and moments away from crashing onto the concourse behind Thrawn.
She sprung up from her seated position, grabbed the execution blaster, and bolted out of the green room. She ran as fast as she possibly could past all the terrified Imperials who could only watch as the spire made contact with the ground... and all hell broke loose.
Thank you all for reading! I'm setting the goal to upload again before the end of the week, here's hoping I don't break another promise to you all. Thanks again for your patience and support. Hope you enjoyed the chapter, let me know your thoughts in a review and I'll catch you in chapter 43!