Chapter 91: Conquest Complete!! (Part 2)

THE YOUNGLING TRAINING ROOM, JEDI TEMPLE, CORUSCANT:

Grandmaster Yoda was as usual teaching the younglings about the force when suddenly he felt the feeling of shock and awe being transmitted through the force. Master Yoda thought, " Happened something big has, to make the whole galaxy feel shock. Meditate on this I must."

Before, Grandmaster Yoda could meditate, the surprised shouts of younglings attracted his attention. Master Yoda exclaimed, " Immediately recede from the force you all must." It was a testament to the influence that Yoda had on the younglings that they immediately receded from the force. Master Yoda let out a sigh of relief and thought, " Protected the younglings must be, at all costs. Can't expose them to the darkness of the galaxy at this stage, we can. Can damage the mental balance in the younglings, this could? What had happened to the galaxy to cause such..."

Grandmaster Yoda suddenly felt a massive presence slowly revealing itself in the force. After a few seconds, the presence was completely revealed and caused much shock and horror to the aged Jedi Master. Grandmaster Yoda thought, " If the presence is an enemy of the order then, the order will not survive." Grandmaster Yoda could sense that the whole order was gripped in shock and fear. As Grandmaster Yoda was planning to bring the order under control, a strong male voice reverberated in their minds, " MY SUBJECTS!!"

SHEEV PALAPATINE'S P.O.V:

Sheev Palapatine was furious. He thought, " I had thought that I hated the Jedi Order the most followed by my master but now, I hate Fortis Family the most. My decades of planning was ruined because of them. I had thought that by using Nute Gunray, I would be able to turn the public opinion against the Trade Federation. This would force The Senate to take action against the Trade Federation and through some clever manipulation, the other galactic corporations would also be included. This would lead to birth of tension between Senate and Corporations. I would have then used the corporations to wage war against the Republic. The inability of Senate in helping Naboo in time would have given me the position of Chancellor.

But then, Fortis Family interfered and everything derailed. According to my spies, the actions of the higher ups of the Trade Federation was due to the orders of Fortis Family. I had thought to escalate the conflict between the criminals and Fortis Family to sow discord in the Galaxy but the criminals were defeated too early. This proved that Fortis Family has an extensive network of spies and the capital ships under their control are at least in hundreds. If I could bring Fortis Family under my control, I will able to cripple the Republic very easily, paving the way for my empire. But, the fate of the family will not be good. I will....."

As Sheev Palapatine was thinking about what kind of horrors and torture he would inflict on the members of Fortis Family, he felt a massive presence slowly reveal itself in the force. Palapatine was quite shocked and thought, " Whoever this is, I cannot take a chance on whether this presence is hostile or not. I must leave Coruscant and go into hiding. I will observe and plan later on, getting to safety is first priority. This presence is making it literally impossible to sense anything in force. It's like when you look at the star, you would not notice the flashlights shining below as the light on star eclipses their light."

As Sheev Palapatine was running towards his starship, he saw that few metres ahead, four tall men were blocking his path. The men opened fire on him and Palapatine saw numerous blaster bolts flying towards him. Palapatine took out his lightsaber and ignited it , bathing the corridor in red light. Palapatine drew on the dark side of the force and ducked, twirled, blocked and deflected the bolts back at his attackers while retreating back the way he came. Palapatine was also keeping an eye out for any ambush from behind. As Palapatine was ready to duck behind a pillar for cover, a strong male voice reverberated in his mind, " MY SUBJECTS!!"

This caused Palapatine to lose focus for a second and several blaster bolts struck his upper body. Palapatine cursed the voice and threw a nearby stand at his attackers. His attackers didn't pause their attack and dodged the stand. Before Palapatine could do more, he exprerienced a force pull which pulled him in the line of fire and his body got riddled with blaster bolts. Palapatine tried to use the pain to draw on the dark side but a blaster bolt to his head ended his life. The Sith Lord was not even able to have any last thoughts before he died.

The man standing in the center took out a comm and spoke, " Mission Accomplished. Pull back the backup forces. Yes, we will follow the standard procedure." The man waved his hand and burned the body to ashes and after that vanished the ashes while the others repaired the corridor to his former condition. The man said, " Let's move to our next objective, The Jedi Temple." The men simply vanished from their places as if they were not there in the first place, leaving behind a sparkling clean corridor and a confused cleaning droid which arrived a few minutes later.

GENERAL P.O.V. :

Alexander continued when he had the attention of everyone in the galaxy, " YOU HAVE RECEIVED INFORMATION ABOUT ME AND MY EMPIRE. YOU ALL ARE NOW ALSO A PART OF MY EMPIRE. THIS WHOLE GALAXY HAS BEEN CONQUERED BY ME. ALL THE 64.5 QUADTRILLION BEINGS LIVING IN THIS GALAXY ARE MY SUBJECTS. AS YOUR KING, I PROMISE YOU THAT YOU WILL NO LONGER HAVE TO LIVE IN UTTER POVERTY ON POLLUTED PLANETS, EAT SUBPAR FOOD, DRINK CHEMICALLY TREATED WATER, WATCH AS YOUR CHILDREN BECOME A SHELL OF THEIR FORMER SHLEVES AS THEIR DREAMS AND ASPIRATIONS ARE CRUSHED. I WILL NOT LIE, THERE WILL BE RICH AND POOR IN MY EMPIRE BUT NO ONE WILL HAVE TO SLEEP WITHOUT A ROOF WITH EMPTY STOMACHS. YOU WILL ALL GET THE SAME FACILITIES AS THE PEOPLE SITTING AT THE TOP GET. SAME FOOD, SAME WATER, SAME EDUCATION, SAME OPPORTUNITIES AND SAME LIVING STANDARDS. THEIR CHILDREN AND YOUR CHILDREN WILL HAVE THE SAME STARTING LINE. WHAT A PERSON ACHIEVES IN HIS LIFE, DEPENDS ON THE HOW MUCH EFFORT HE PUTS IN. I WILL EQUAL THE STARTING LINE BUT THE REST WILL BE UPTO YOU. I HOPE THAT YOU WILL GRASP THIS CHANCE WITH ALL YOUR MIGHT. MY PEOPLE WILL GIVE YOU FURTHER INFORMATION ON THE CHANGES THAT WILL TAKE PLACE...."

As the speech ended, Alexander sensed a wave of happiness from the lower sections of the society and a feeling of unsatisfaction from the upper echelons of society. Alexander shifted and arrived before the Jedi Temple. Alexander found that his men had already surrounded the temple. The Jedi had shut their doors and multiple cannons were pointed at them while some Jedi Knights stood guard.

Alexander peered into the past and saw that while he was giving his speech, Grandmaster Yoda had activated all the defensive measures of the temple and also was transporting the younglings and padawans to special Jedi starships with the librarian in company along with few Jedi Masters. A battalion of Jedi Knights was standing behind the heavy doors and more were assembling.

The Jedi High Council was hurrying towards the main gate, sometimes, living on the highest tower of your headquarters is really a bad decision. All the Jedi had determined expressions and Alexander could sense their will to fight to their deaths in force. Due to the agreement with The Jedi Order at the time of establishment of PTO, the order now had 1 Million Jedi under them.

Alexander watched as orders to go into hiding was given to all the Jedi who were not on Coruscant. Alexander stepped forward and said, " OPEN THE GATES AND DISARM THE CANNONS." The gates rumbled and slowly started to open while the cannons shut down and went inside their compartments. A majority of Jedi who were a part of The Jedi Order were from the newly settled planets. The Jedi Order was throughly inflitrated by Alexander's subjects. Around 80 percent of the Jedi were his subjects.

Alexander ascended the stairs of The Jedi Temple and transmitted his message to all the Jedi in the temple, " MY FELLOW FORCE SENSITIVES, I AM ALEXANDER FORTIS, A FOLLOWER OF THE ANCIENT JEDI ORDER WHICH TAUGHT TO EMBRACE OUR EMOTIONS. THE CURRENT TEACHINGS OF JEDI ORDER DOES NOT LET YOU UNDERSTAND ALL THE ASPECTS OF THE FORCE. IT LIMITS YOU, HINDERS YOUR UNDERSTANDING OF FORCE. THE NEW TEACHINGS SAY THAT EMOTIONS LEAD TO DARK SIDE BUT HAVE YOU EVER THOUGHT, ' WHY THIS HAPPENS? WHY EMOTIONS LEAD TO DARK SIDE?'.....NO, NONE OF YOU HAVE EVER THOUGHT ABOUT IT AND EVEN IF SOME OF YOU HAVE THOUGHT ABOUT THIS, YOUR MASTERS WERE LESS THAN HELPFUL IN THIS MATTER. I AND MY FOLLOWERS WHO ARE SEEKING TO RE-ESTABLISH THE ANCIENT ORDER, CAN TEACH YOU THIS. COME JOIN ME AND GAIN THE TRUE UNDERSTANDING OF FORCE."

Alexander sensed that some Jedi who were not his subjects were intrigued but didn't make a move. The High Council was still on its way and would arrive in atleast 5 minutes. Alexander continued, " SOME OF YOU ARE THINKING THAT I AM A SITH LORD BUT I AM NOT. I CAN SENSE THE YOUNGLINGS AND PADAWANS WHICH ARE BEING TRANSPORTED TO THE STARSHIPS KEPT IN THE HIDDEN JEDI HANGERS...." Alexander's words alarmed all the Jedi and they all activated their lightsabers and drew on the force. Majority of them had activated the lightsabers to lay down their lives for their Emperor while the rest were ready to lay down their lives for the order.

Alexander continued, "...I CAN ASSURE THAT WHATEVER YOUR FINAL DECISION WILL BE IN REGARDS WITH THE MERGING OF BOTH THE ORDERS, THE YOUNG ONES WILL NOT BE HARMED. BUT, ONLY ONE ORDER CAN REMAIN IN THE GALAXY. MY PEOPLE HAVE ALREADY DISPOSED OFF THE SITH LORD AND HIS STUDENT. THE SENATE LORD WAS A SENATOR AND HIS STUDENT WAS KILLED BY MY ARMY ON NABOO. NOW, ONLY THE JEDI ORDER REMAINS. IT's YOUR CHOICE WHETHER YOU WILL CHOOSE THE PATH OF SALVATION OR PATH OF RUINS. I WILL GIVE YOU 5 MINUTES BEFORE BEGINNING THE ASSUALT. YOUR HIGH COUNCIL WILL ARRIVE HERE BY THAT TIME."

Alexander was not grandstanding because he liked it. Alexander initially planned to have all the non conquered Jedi Master and Knights assassinated but stopped himself. The Jedi Masters had valuable experience in force and were very knowledgeable in it's usage. Alexander's men had inflitrated the Jedi Order and also had many Jedi masters but no one was on the high council. The knowledge that they held was much more valuable than normal masters.

There were many secret documents that required the unique access codes of the Jedi High Council to open and there were also some written documents hidden behind vaults which required the scanning of atleast 3 High Council members. The five minutes delay would be enough to completely block all the hyperlanes and normal space routes leaving from the capital and also, block the airspace above all the Coruscant. It took 4 minutes for The Jedi High Council to arrive at the main gate. Alexander spoke up, " You arrived one minute early. You ruined my prediction."

Mace Windu stepped forward with his purple lightsaber and said, " It was our pleasure to disappoint you. Now, leave while you can. I don't sense the taint of the dark side from you so you are not with the dark side. Your presence tells me that you are neutral. If your speech about the ancient order was true then we are brothers in force, I don't want to kill a fellow brother but if the situation calls for it, I will not hesitate." After saying this he adopted his Vaadpad stance and following his lead, all the Jedi also adopted their preferred stances.

Alexander just stared at them waiting for the confirmation of the blockrades. Alexander spoke up, " You are right that we are brothers in force but The Jedi Order has allowed much strife to occur in the Galaxy over the years by limiting it's scope of interference. Your order had sacrificed billions of lives in order to preserve the so called peace of the galaxy. You have lost your way while chasing after the meaning of force. I cannot allow such an order to remain in existence. We are pacifists so we don't carry lightsabers....."

Mace Windu snorted and said, " You are not a pacifist. If you were a pacifist, you would not have given the threat of assualt on the Temple, five minutes ago. You are manipulator and a good one at that but this will not work on me. Now, FIGHT!!" Mace Windu drew in force and moved towards Alexander in such high speed that to normal eyes, he was nothing more than a blur. But, in Alexander's eyes, Mace Windu was as slow as a snail.

Alexander simply poked Mace Windu on his chest and Mace Windu flew back with double the speed and got skewered on the lightsabers that the rest of the Jedi were pointing towards Alexander. Screams of shock and sorrow came out of the mouths of the Jedi as Mace Windu died. Alexander spoke, " You killed your own council member. This is so morbid."

The Jedi let out shouts of anger and ran towards him. Alexander simply executed a powerful force push that splattered all the Jedi in The Temple's walls. Alexander turned to look towards his men who were standing behind him and said, " Are you all here to watch a show? Maybe you would like to get splattered on the walls like them. Go, the rest of converted Jedi have already secured the temple only the hangers remain and few areas of resistance remain. Our men inside will open the doors and you will capture all those inside. Don't harm the young ones." The men nodded and quickly moved inside.

The converted Jedi were discretely disposing off the non-converted while all this drama was going on. Alexander had killed all the members of the High Council present at the main gate as the hangers had 4 members of high council who were not combatants. There were non-combatants in the council also but as they were usually busy with managing the different affairs of the order, they rarely attended the meeting.

JEDI HANGERS, BELOW THE TEMPLE:

Grandmaster Yoda let out a sigh of grief as he sensed the deaths of various members of his order. He spoke out loud, " Betrayed by our brothers and sisters we were. Clouded our senses with his presence he had. Cannot trust anyone anymore we can. Transport the young ones we should. Cannot believe in the words of that man, we can. Pay for this he will." As Grandmaster Yoda moved towards the starship, the hanger doors leading to the temple opened and many converted Jedi and Alexander's men rushed inside.

Yoda said in a grim voice, " Stop them here, I will for long as I can. Leave immediately you all must. Protect the younglings at all costs." Yoda drew on the force and jumped in the crowd of people and started a bloodbath. Limbs and heads started flying as Yoda spoke, " Betrayers and Murderers, you all are. No mercy will be given to you. All of you will die as I continue to live." Yoda's short frame made it quite difficult to target him. But, with so many people targeting him, Yoda also gained some cuts and burns on his body.

Alexander was watching all this from the control room of the temple. The converted Jedi present in the hanger had already sabotaged the engines of the starships. The ships were now capable of only leaving the atmosphere of Coruscant and would die out after that. The Kingdom's capital ships would then pick up the starships and bring them back to Coruscant. Alexander knew that Yoda was stubborn fellow and would not submit to him so Alexander had decided to have him killed. The Jedi attacking Yoda were the cannon fodder which only served to tire Yoda out. Alexander knew that Yoda knew this but the hope of seeing the younglings moving to safety was the thing that kept Yoda motivated.

The starships rumbled and swiftly flew out. Yoda let out a sigh of relief and renewed the battle with increasing intensity. A man came up to Alexander and said, " Your Highness!! Our radars cannot sense the Jedi ships. They also are equipped with a shielding technology that makes normal cameras also ineffective. What should we do?"

Alexander concentrated on force and easily found the ships. Alexandra relayed their position to the cloaked capital ships above Coruscant and sensed through the force as the ships were captured through advanced tractor beams. Alexander shifted his attention to Yoda and saw that Yoda was on his last legs. A converted Jedi took his right hand off while another injured his leg. Yoda in his last gamble, summoned a heavy crane upon the converted Jedi and flattened quite a few. Alexander watched as Yoda took a lightsaber to his head and died. Alexander let out a sigh and said, " Now, the conquest of suns only remains."

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